SEQ 
account is as follows : Ptolemy having 
erected a fine library at Alexandria, which 
he took care to fill with the most curious 
and valuable books from all parts of the 
world, was informed that the Jews had one 
containing the laws of Moses, and the his- 
tory of that people, and being desirous of 
enriching his library with a Greek transla- 
tion of it, applied to the high priest of the 
Jews ; and to engage him to comply with 
his request, set at liberty all the Jews, 
whom his father Ptolemy So ter had reduced 
to slavery. After such a step, he easily ob- 
tained what he desired ; Eleazar, the Jew- 
ish high-priest, sent back his embassadors 
with an exact copy of the Mosaical law, 
written in letters of gold, and six elders of 
each tribe, in all seventy-two, who were 
received with marks of respect by the king, 
and then conducted into the Isle of Pharos, 
where they were lodged in a house pre- 
pared for their reception, and supplied with 
every thing necessary in abundE^ce. They 
set about the translation without loss of 
time, and finished it in seventy-two days ; 
and the whole being read in the presence of 
the king, he admired the profound wisdom 
of the laws of Moses, and sent back the 
deputies, laden with presents for themselves, 
the high-priest, and the temple. This ver- 
sion was in use to the time of our Saviour, 
and is that out of which alt the citations in 
the New Testament, from the Old, are ta- 
ken. It was also the ordinary and canonical 
translation made use of by the Christian 
church in the earliest ages ; and it still sub- 
sists in the churches both of the east and 
west. It is, however, observable, that the 
chronology of the septuagint is different 
from the Hebrew' text. 
SEQUENCE, in gaming, a set of cards 
immediately following each other, in the 
same suit as a king, queen, knave, &c. and 
thus we say, a sequence of three, four, or 
live cards ; but at piquet these are called 
tierces, quarts, quints, &c. 
SEQUESTRATION, is the separating 
or setting aside of a thing in controversy 
from the possession of both those who con- 
tend for it ; and it is of two kinds, volun- 
tary or necessary: voluntary is that which 
is done by consent of each party j neces- 
sary is what the judge does of his authority, 
whether the parties will or not. It is used 
also for the act of the ordinary disposing of 
the goods and chattels of one deceased, 
whose estate no man w'ill meddle with. A 
sequestration is also a kind of execution for 
debt, especially in the case of a bensficed 
VOL. VI. 
SEE 
clerk, of thd profits of the benefice, to be 
paid over to him that had the judgment till 
the debt is satisfied. 
SEQUIN, a gold coin struck at Venice, 
and in several parts of the Grand Seignior’s 
dominions. 
SERAPIAS, in botany, hellebonne, a 
genus of the Gynandria Diandria class and 
order. Natural order of Orchidese. Es- 
sential character : nectary ovate, gibbous, 
witlj an ovate lip. There are fourteen,spe- 
cies. 
SERGE, in commerce, a woollen stuff 
rnanufactured in a loom, of vfhich there are 
various kinds, denominated either from 
their different qualities, or from the places 
where they are wrought; the most consi- 
derable of which is the English serge, which 
is highly valued abroad, and of which a ma- 
nufacture had been for some years carried 
on in France. 
In the manufacture of serges, the longest 
wool is chosen for the Warp, and the shortest 
for the W'oof. But before either kind is 
used, it is first scoured, by putting it in a 
copper of liquor, somewhat more than luke- 
warm, composed of three parts of fair water 
and one of urine. After it has staid in it 
long enough for the liquor to take off the 
grease, &c. it is stirred briskly about with a 
wooden peel, taken out, drained, washed in 
a running water, and dried in the shade ; 
beaten with sticks on a wooden rack, to 
drive out the coarser dust and filth; and 
then picked clean with the hands. It is 
then greased with oil of olives, and the 
longest wool combed with large combs, 
heated in a little furnace for that purpose : 
to clear it from the oil, it is put into a ves- 
sel of hot soap-water, whence being taken 
out, wrung, and dried, it is spun on the 
wheel. As to the shorter wool, intended 
for the woof, it is only carded on the knee 
with small fine cards, and then spun on the 
wheel, without being scoured of its oil: 
and here it is to be observed, that the 
thread for the warp is always to be spun 
finer, and much belter twisted, than that of 
the woof. 
The wool both for the warp and woof be- 
ing spun, and the thread reeled into skeins ; 
that of the woof is put on spools, fit for the 
cavity of the shuttle ; and that for the warp 
is wound on a kind of wooden bobbins, to 
fit it for warping ; and when warped, it is 
stiffened with a size, usually made of the 
shreds of parchment ; and, when dried, put 
into the loom, and mounted so as to be 
raised by four treddles, placed under 
F 
