S I II 



S I R 



aftronomer royal, in a paper recommending the Jifcovery 

 of its parallax, Phil. Tranf. vol. li. p. 889, the nearelt to 

 us of them all. Some, however, fuppofe Arfturiis to be 

 the neareil. 



The Arabs call it Afchere, Elfchecre, Seem ; the Greeks, 

 Slrius ; and the Latins, Canicula, or Canis candens. See 

 Canicula. 



SiRirs, in Geography, an ifland in the South Pacific 

 ocean, difcovered and fo called by lieutenant Ball, in 1790 ; 

 it is about iS miles m circumference. S. lat. 10° 52'. E. 

 long. 162° 3c'. 



SIRMAN, Mad., in ^/o^r^T^,?'^, a celebrated performer 

 on the violin, who had her mufical education in a conferva- 

 torio at Venice. Her maiden name was Maddalena Lom- 

 bardini. She was a favourite eleve of Tartini, and it was 

 for her that he drew up his little traft on the ufe of the bow 

 on the violin, in the form of 3 letter, " Arte dell' Arco." 



After quitting the confcrvatorio, fhe married a German 

 of the name of Sirman, and came to England in 1773 ; 

 when her performance of Tartini's compofitions on the 

 violin was juftly and univerlally admired. But in the operas 

 of " Sofonifba" by Vento, and the " Cid" by Sacchini, 

 fhe unadvifedly undertook the fecond woman's part on the 

 ftage, as a finger ; but having been firll woman fo long 

 upon the violin, (he degraded herfelf by afluming a cha- 

 rafter, in which, though not deficient in voice or tafte, fhe 

 had no claim to fnpenority. 



SIRMARKS, in Ship-Buihling, the different flations 

 marked on the moulds where the refpeftive bevellings are to 

 be applied, as the lower firmark, fioor-firmark, &c. 



SIRMIONE, in Geography, a peninfula of Italy, about 

 feven miles from the Lago di Garda, anciently celebrated 

 under the name of Benanus, and always efteemed one of the 

 grand ornaments of Italy. From Pefchiera (which fee), 

 Sirmione appears as an ifland ; fo low and fo narrow is the 

 bank that unites it to the main land. Its entrance is de- 

 fended, and indeed totally covered, by an old caftle, with 

 its battlements and high antique tower in the centre, in the 

 form of a Gothic fortification. The promontory fpreads 

 behind the town, and rifer. into a hill, entirely covered with 

 olives ; which hill may be faid to have two fummits, as 

 there is a gentle defcent between them. On the neareft is 

 a church and hermitage, now uninhabited and neglected. 

 On the farthell, in the midlt of an olive grove, iland the 

 walls of an old building, faid to be a Roman bath ; and near 

 it is a vault, called the grotto of Catullus. The extremity 

 of this promontory is covered with arched ways, towers, 

 and fubterranean pafTages, fuppofed by the inhabitants to 

 be Roman, but bearing, in faft, a ftrong refeniblance to 

 Gothic ruins. At all events, Catullus undoubtedly in- 

 habited this fpot, and preferred it, at a certain period, to 

 every other region. He has exprefTed his attachment to it 

 in feme beautiful lines. 



" Peninfularum Sirmio, infularumque 

 ■ Ocelle, quafcunque in liquentibus ftagnis 

 Marique vallo fert uterque Neptunus : 

 Quam te libenter, quamque Istus invifo." 



Catull. 32. 



He could not, fn faft, have chofen a more delightful re- 

 treat. In the centre of a magnificent lake, furrounded with 

 fcenery of the greateft variety and majefly, apparently fe- 

 cluded from the world, yet beholding from his garden the 

 villas of his Veronefe friends, he might have enjoyed alter- 

 nately the pleafures of retirement and fociety ; and daily, 

 without the facrifice of all his connexions, which Horace 

 feemed inclined to make, in a moment of defpondency, be- 



held the grandeur and agitation of the ocean, without its 

 terrors and immenfity. Befides, the foil is fertile, and its 

 furface varied ; fnmetimes Ihelving in a gentle declivity, at 

 other times breaking in craggy magnificence, and thus fur- 

 nifhing every requifite for delightful walks and luxurious 

 baths ; while the views vary at every ftep, prefenting rich 

 coatts or barren mountains, fometimes confined to the culti- 

 vated fcenes of the neighbouring fhore, and at other times 

 bewildered and lofl in the windings of the lake, and the re- 

 cedes of the Alps. In fhort, more convenience and more 

 beavity are feldom united ; and fuch a peninfula is, as Ca- 

 tullus enthufiaftically obferves, fcarcely to be matched in all 

 the wide range of the world of waters. 



SIRMIUM, or Sirmich, a town of Sclavonia, where 

 the emperor Probus was born and killed. It is now in 

 ruins, though the fee of a bifhop, founded, it is faid, in the 

 reign of Trajan. In the year 270, the emperor Claudius 

 died here of the plague ; 40 miles N. W. of Belgrade. 



SIRMOND, James, m Biography, a theologian of con- 

 fiderable note, born at Riom in l^S')' ^^"''^ '^^ ^^^ ^^ ^ 

 magiitrate in that city. He was educated at a college of 

 the Jefuits, which fociety he entered in 1576. Being fent 

 to Pari;, he taught in a college there, and at the fame time 

 purfued his fludies with fo much fuccefs, that he acquired 

 a perfcft knowledge of the learned languages, and formed 

 a Ityle in the latter, which, it is faid, has rarely been ex- 

 celled, either with refpect to its flrength or purity. He 

 obtained fo high a charafter for erudition, that he was fum- 

 moned to Rome, in 1590, by Aquaviva, general of the 

 order, to take upon him the office of his fecretary. This 

 cfRce he held 16 years with high honour, and, in the mean 

 time, he made ufe of all the advantages of the fituation for 

 the fludy of antiquities. He cultivated the acquaintance oF 

 all the great men of that period, among whom were Bellar- 

 mine, Baiberini, and Baronio. To the latter he rendered 

 important fervices in the compofition of his Annals, elpe- 

 cially by furnifhing him with memorials relating to the 

 Grecian hiltory, tranflated into the Latin language. He 

 returned to Paris in 1608, and refided four years in the 

 houle of the Jefuits, during which he edited feveral works 

 of antiquity. He alfo entered into the controverfy occa- 

 fioned by Richer's famous treatife concerning the ecclefiaf- 

 tical ar.d civil powers, in which he appeared as a partizan of 

 the court of Rome. In 161 2 he was employed in the la- 

 bour of making a coUeftion of the French councils ; but 

 this work did not caufe him to intermit his publication of 

 ancient writings ; and a year feldom pafFed without fending 

 one of them to the prefs, with learned commentaries. He 

 was chofen reftor of the Jefuits' college in Paris, in the 

 year 161 7, continuing to occupy himfelf as an editor and 

 writer of original works. Pope Urban VIII. invited Sir- 

 mond to Rome, but Lewis XIII. would not confent to 

 lofe fo eminent a fcholar from his capital ; and in 1637 he 

 chofe father Sirmond as his confefTor. In this fituation he 

 cunduftcd himfelf fo as to merit the eiteem of the king and 

 his court. He rarely aflied any favours for his relations ; 

 but he conferred an important benefit on his native place, 

 by obt.^ining the revocation of an edift, which had tranf- 

 ferred the board of finances of Auvergne from Riom to 

 Clermont. When he quitted the court, he continued his 

 literary occupations, which he purfued to a very advanced 

 age. Huet, who, when a verj' young man, was introduced 

 to Sirmond, then 90 years of age, found him inactive in 

 body, but alert and vigorous with regard to his underftand- 

 ing and mental powers. He has delcnbed him as poffefled 

 of uncommon courtefy and elegance of manners, like one 

 who had been long converfant with important public bufi- 



Befs. 



