S P E 



S P E 



lefTed of an impropriation in Norfolk, he devoted the pro- 

 fits of it to the augmentation of the vicarac^e. 



By king James he was knighted, and on the revival of the 

 fociety of antiquarians in 1614, he attended as one of the 

 old members ; on which occafion he wrote " A Difcourfe 

 concerning the Original of the four Law Terms of the 

 Year." His zeal for the honour of the church and the au- 

 thority of the canons, induced him to write a traft in anfwer 

 to an apology for archbifliop Abbot, who had accidentally 

 killed his game-keeper, in which he maintained that the pre- 

 late by that act had ceafed from his office, and could not be 

 reinftated without a new confecration. Having in the mean 

 time continued his enquiries into legal antiquities, he found 

 that the knowledge of the Saxon language was abfolutely 

 necefiary to his purpofe, which he accordingly fet about 

 obtaining, and in 1621 he printed a fpecimen of his propofed 

 work, which was fo much approved, that feveral eminent 

 fcholars urged him to its completion. In 1626 he publilhed 

 the firft part, under the title of " Archeologus, in modum 

 GlofTarii ad rem antiquam pofteriorem." Notwithftanding 

 the applaufe of the learned, the author was not encouraged 

 by the fale of his work to pnblidi the fecond part during 

 his life, which he had fully prepared for the prefs. It was, 

 however, given to the world after his dcceafe, and the whole 

 was entitled " Glollarium Archaiologicorum." The objetl 

 of this work is the explanation of obfolete words occurring 

 in our laws ; and it is not a mere glolTary, but contains va- 

 rious entire diflertations. He next employed himfelf in a 

 coUeftion of Englilh laws and ftatutes, from the Conqucft 

 to the ninth yeur of Henry III., which was printed in 1617. 

 Having been appointed, on the recommendation of arch- 

 bifhop Laud, one of the commiffioners for enquiring into the 

 cxaftion of fees in the courts and offices throughout Eng- 

 land, he publidied, in 1628, a traft " De Sepultura," or 

 concerning " Burial Fees." Before our author had finirtied 

 his gloflary, he engaged in another confiderable work, 

 which was " A Hiftory of the Englilli Councils." Of 

 this he publiihed in 1639 the firll part, which included the 

 period from the firll introduftion of the Chriftian religion 

 into England to the Norman Conqueit. A fecond part, 

 only a fmall portion of which was ot his own compofition, 

 was printed feveral years after his death. In the fame year . 

 he inflituted a Saxon ledlure in the univerfity of Cambridge, 

 which he intended to have rendt-red perpetual, but his defign 

 was defeated. In 1639 alfo he publifhcd a treatile on " The 

 original Growth, Propagation, and Condition of Tenures 

 by Knights' Service in England," in which he difplayed an 

 extent of learning that proved his faculties to be perfcft, 

 notwithltanding liis advanced age. He lived to complete 

 his 80th year, and died at London in 1641. By the king's 

 order, he was interred in Weftminfter Abbey. After his 

 deceafe, two polthumous works of his were publifhed, viz. 

 " A Treatife concerning Tytiies," printed m 1647 ; and 

 " A Hiftory of Sacrilege," which was dellroyed at the 

 printer's by the great fire of London, and a plan of it only 

 prcferved. In 1698 birtiop Gibfon pubhihed a folio volume, 

 entitled " Reliquia; Spclmanniae," containing a number of 

 his polthumous trafts relative to the Englilh laws and anti- 

 quities. He wa."!, fays his biogi-apher, a very relpedlable 

 promoter of antiquarian learning, and a man of great pri- 

 vate worth. 



Spei.man, Edward, great-grandfon of the preceding, 

 refided at High-Houfe, near Rougham, Norfolk, where he 

 died in 1767. He had devoted himfelf to literature, and 

 made himfelf known by feveral publications of confiderable 

 worth. The firit of thefe was a tranflation of Xcnophon's 

 " Cyropedia," in two volumes, 8vo. A more elaborate 

 12 



work was entitled " The Roman Antiquities of Dionyfiug 



Halicarnaffenfis," tranflated into Englilh, with notes and 

 diiiertations, in four volumes, quarto, a work which Hands 

 high among our tranflations from the Greek language. 

 One of thefe diflertations was a verfion of a fragment of Po- 

 lybius on government, particularly that of Rome, to which 

 the tranflator prefixed a preface, applying the i'yftem of Po- 

 lybius to the Englifh government. This was printed with- 

 out his name in 1743. He alfo printed for the ufe of his 

 friends, and for private diilribution only, " A DifTertation on 

 the Prefence of the Patricians in the Tnbuta Comitia :" 

 and after his death the Rev. Mr. Lemon publifhed in 1775, 

 a pofthumous work of this writer, entitled " Additional 

 Obfervatioiis on the Greek Accents." Gen. Biog. 



SPELT, in Agriculture, a. term applied fometimes to 

 wheat-grafs, a fpecies of triticum, or wheat. It is fome- 

 times -wrhtcn Jpe/ta. 



SPELTA, in the Materia Medico, a name ufed for the 

 grain of the zea dicoccos, commonly czWed Jpelt-corn. 



SPELTER, or Speltre, a name fometimes given to 

 zinc. 



SPELUNCATO, in Geography, a town of the ifland 

 of Corfica ; 12 miles E. of Corte. 



SPENAZZOLA, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata ; 13 

 miles E. of Venofa. 



SPENCE, Joseph, in Biography, was educated at New- 

 college, Oxford, of which he afterwards became a fellow. 

 He took the degree of M.A. in 1727, and in that fame year 

 made himfelf known by " An Ellay i^n Pope's Tranflation 

 of the Odyfi'ey." This work difplayed a cultivated tafte, 

 as well as a fenfibility to the beauties of poetry, and was fo 

 favourable to the tranllator, that he fought his acquaintance, 

 and admitted him to a famihar intimacy. In the following 

 year he was elefted profeflbr of poetry of the univerfity of 

 Oxford, an ofHce which he held for ten years. After this 

 he travelled with the young duke of Newcadle, and in 

 1742, having quitted his fellowlhip, he was prefented by 

 his college to a reftory in Buckinghamihire. He refided, 

 however, at Byfleet, in Surrey, at a manfion lent iiim by 

 the duke his pupil, and thus performed the duties of reftor 

 merely by an annual vifit, attended with liberal charities. 

 In the fame year he was eleftcd king's profeilor of modern 

 hillory, at Oxford : this was a duty a= eafy to be performed 

 as the other, but he did not devote that leifure which his 

 preferments offered him to indolence, for in 1747, he 

 brought to the prefs his principal work, entitled " Poly- 

 metis, or an Enquiry concerning the Agreement between 

 the Works of the Roman Poets and tlie Remains of an- 

 cient Artills, being an Attempt to illullrate them mutually 

 by each other." This was a folio work, with plates. The 

 performance was extremely well received by the public, 

 and Hill Hands very high in the literary world, though it 

 has been flighted by fome few, who perhaps hallily con- 

 demned, before they liad given proper attenlioM to it. In 

 1754 he was prefented with a prebendary of Durham, and 

 he continued to amufc himlelf with a variety of mifcella- 

 neons compofitions that appeared in different forms. His 

 lad publication was an edition of " Holdlworlh's Remarks 

 on Virgil," with notes, and additional obfervations of hisown. 

 In the month of Augult, 1758, he was found drowned in a 

 piece of water in his own garden at Byfleet, into wiiich it 

 is fuppofed he had fallen in a fit, the water being too Ihal- 

 low to cover liim. He is charaderifed as being of a focial 

 benevolent difpolition, and being very much beloved by his 

 friends. He was Itudious to draw obfcure merit into 

 notice, of which he gave evident proofs by liis printed ac- 

 count of Stepiicn Duck ; Robert Hill, tiie learned tailor; 



and 



