526 
SAC 
land, and so far distinguished himself, that he was made 
Colonel of the 20th regiment. He afterwards became Mem¬ 
ber of Parliament, Lieutenant-General, and Member of the 
Privy Council. 
fie next served under Prince Ferdinand, in Germany: 
at this time happened the battle of Minden, which proved 
the overthrow of his lordship’s hitherto unblemished repu¬ 
tation. Ferdinand sent him orders to march on a certain 
point: his friends say he misunderstood, his enemies that he 
was afraid to follow, the instructions conveyed to him. He 
rode to the prince for an explanation, but the important 
moment was lost; and, in the end, his lordship was dis¬ 
graced, and dismissed his majesty’s service. It is now uni¬ 
versally agreed, that his sentence was most unjust, and that 
he often displayed eminent courage and conduct. In 1765, 
Sackville again came into office, but was expelled in 1766, 
on account of the new ministry refusing to act with a man 
disgraced by a court-martial. 
.Soured by this malignant attack, he retired from public 
life, rarely speaking or appearing in Parliament, until,- in 
1775, he was made Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
During the above interval, the Letters of Junius were written; 
and Mr. Coventry, in his “ Critical Inquiry,” has rendered 
it nearly certain that these letters were written by his lord- 
ship. He rests this opinion on the similarity between the 
hand-writing of Junius and Sackville, on the identity of 
their style, on the necessity of some strong stimulus to ex¬ 
cite a man to hunt down a subject for so many years, with¬ 
out fame and without emolument; on the circumstance that 
all Sackville’s foes, and particularly those who had any 
thing to do with the battle of Minden, are attacked by 
Junius; that the information of court intrigues, for which 
Junius is so remarkable, Sackville could easily obtain; that 
the little of Junius’ state of life which can be gathered from 
his writings, tallies exactly with what is known of his lord- 
ship. We refer to the above work for the proofs of these 
points. Lord Sackville died August 16, 1785. 
SACLACTIC ACID, a name Scheele gave to the mu¬ 
cous acid. 
SACMARA, a considerable river of Asiatic Russia, in the 
government of Orenburg, in the mountains of Oural, which, 
flowing southwards, falls into the river of the same name. 
Its banks are thinly inhabited, but rich in mines of copper. 
SACO, a post town and port of entry of the United States, 
in York county, Maine, on the north-east side of the river 
Saco, opposite Biddeford, with which it is connected by 
three bridges. It is a considerable town, favourably situated 
for trade and manufactures. It contains a bank and 
academy, and has considerable trade. The shipping belong¬ 
ing to thisport in 1816, amounted to 4825 tons. The prin¬ 
cipal settlement is near SacoFalls, which afford excellent seats 
for mills and manufacturing establishments. The falls have 
a descent of 42 feet, and present an interesting and beautiful 
view. Just below the falls is a fine basin where vessels take in 
their cargoes; 15 miles south-west of Portland; 28 north-east 
of York, and 100 north-north-east of Boston. 
SACO, a river of the United States, which rises west of the 
White Mountains, in New Hampshire, and runs south-east 
into the sea, below the town of Saco. It is 160 miles in 
length, and has falls of 72 feet in Hiram; of 20 feet in 
Lymington ; 30 Buxton; and 42 in Saco. To the last, six 
miles from its mouth, it is navigables for ships. The mouth 
of this river lies four miles east of Cape Porpoise. There is a 
bar which will not allow a vessel of above 100 tons burden 
to pass, if fully loaded. Without the bar, and between 
Fletcher’s Neck and the mainland, is a pool wherein vessels of 
any size may lie at all seasons of the year, and take in their 
ladings at pleasure. 
SACOMBE, a parish of England, in Hertfordshire; 4 miles 
north-by-west of Ware. 
SACRA GENTILITIA, among the Romans. Beside the 
public festivals observed by the whole Roman people, and 
beside the holidays kept on birth-days, marriages, or any 
other personal account, there were likewise family feasts cele¬ 
brated annually by the descendants only of particular families. 
SAC 
They thought themselves obliged to keep these with the 
utmost exactness and regularity, on pain of divine ven¬ 
geance. Livy tells us, that a young man of the Fabian 
family, when the Capitol was besieged by the Gauls, made 
his way through the enemy’s army, in order to celebrate the 
yearly festival of his family, to the no small astonishment 
both of the besiegers and besieged. Mem. Acad. Inscript. 
vol. viii. p. 310. 
SACRA ISOLA, a small island at the mouth of the Tiber, 
near Ostia. 
SA'CRAMENT, s. [sacrement, Fr. sacremcntum, Lat.] 
An oath; any ceremony producing an obligation.—Here I 
begin the sacrament to all. B. Jonson. —An outward and 
visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.—As often as we 
mention a sacrament, it is improperly understood; for in 
the writings of the ancient fathers, all articles which are 
peculiar to Christian faith, all duties of religion containing 
that which sense or natural reason cannot of itself discern, 
are most commonly named sacraments; our restraint of the 
word to some few principal divine ceremonies, importeth in 
every such ceremony two things, the substance of the cere¬ 
mony itself, which is visible; and besides that, somewhat 
else more secret, in reference whereunto we conceive that 
ceremony to be a sacrament. Hooker. —The eucharist; the 
holy communion. 
Ten thousand French have ta’en the sacrament 
To rive their dangerous artillery 
Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot. Shakspeare. 
As we have ta’en the sacrament. 
We will unite the white rose with the red, S/iakspeare. 
Before the famous battle of Cressy, he spent the greatest 
pait of the night in prayer; and in the morning received 
the sacrament, with his son, and the chief of his officers. 
Addison. 
The Protestants admit only of two; viz. baptism and the 
eucharist, or Lord’s Supper. 
The Romanists, however, call the eucharist, by way of 
eminence, the “ Holy Sacrament.” Thus, to expose the 
Holy Sacrament, is to lay a consecrated host on the altar to 
be adored. The procession of the Holy Sacrament is that 
wherein this host is carried about the church, or about the 
town. 
In a like sense they say, the Feast pf the Holy Sacrament; 
the Congregation of the Holy Sacrament. 
To SA'CRAMENT, v. a. To bind by an oath. Not in 
use. —When desperate men have sacramented themselves to 
destroy, God can prevent and deliver. Ahp. Laud. 
SACRAMENT St. or Colonia, a city and colony 
which was held by the Portuguese, opposite the city of 
Buenos Ayres, on the shore of the riverPlata. It has a 
tolerable port, receiving some shelter from the island of St. 
Gabriel; yet it is otherwise open and exposed, and has some 
rocks and shoals that render it necessary to have a good pilot 
to steer it with safety. It was founded by the Portuguese, in 
the year 1579, under Don Manuel de Lobo, and has occa¬ 
sioned many struggles between the rival nations of Spain and 
Portugal. It was successively wrested from its founders, 
restored by Charles V. to the Portuguese, resumed in 
1750, by Spain, and finally, in 1778, ceded to the Spa¬ 
niards, who have ever since remained in possession. Whilst 
in the hands of Portugal, it flourished much by the prosecu¬ 
tion of a contraband trade with Buenos Ayres, but is 
now of very little comparative importance. The fortress of 
the island of St. Gabriel, which protects the harbour, is reck¬ 
oned a strong one; 33 miles north-east from Buenos Ayres. 
Lat. 34. 22. S. long. 57.52. W. 
SACRAME'NTAL, ad/. Constituting a sacrament; per¬ 
taining to a sacrament.—To make complete the outward sub¬ 
stance of a sacrament, there is required an outward form, 
which form sacramental elements receive from sacramental 
words. Hooker. —-The words of St. Paul are plain; and 
whatever interpretation can be put upon them, it can only 
vary the way of the sacramental efficacy, but it cannot 
evacuate the blessing. Bp. Taylor. 
SACRAME'NTAL, 
