SAVON 
surface of considerable height, whose summit was iost in the 
clouds, and covered with ice or snow, except in a projecting 
point on the north side, and two hills over this point, which 
might probably be two islands. These only were clear of 
snow, and seemed covered with green turf. Lat. 57. 49. S. 
long. 26. 44. W. 
SAUNDERTON, a parish of England, in Buckingham¬ 
shire; 6i miles south-west of Wendover. 
To SAUNTER, v. n\ [aller a la sainte terrc, from idle 
people who roved about the country and asked charity under 
pretence of going, « l (l sainte terre, to the holy land; or 
sans terre, as having no settled home.] To wander about 
idly; to loiter, to linger.—The cormorant is still sauntering 
by the sea-side to see if he can find any of his brass cast up. 
L'Estrange. 
Tell me why, samitering thus from place to place, 
I meet thee ? Dry den. 
SAUNCING-BELL. See Sancebell. 
SAVOL’K, a small river of England, in Lancashire, which 
falls'into the Ribble, near Lee; 3 miles below Preston. 
SAVOLAX, a large district of Finland, bounded on the 
east and south by Russia proper, and on the west by the 
Finland province of Tavastland. After belonging for many 
centuries to Sweden, part of this province (containing Nyslot 
and other petty towns), was ceded to Russia at the peace of 
1743, and the remainder in 1809, with the w'holeof Finland. 
It is extensive, being about 200 miles in length, and 100 in 
breadth ; but it is very scantily peopled, producing little 
com, and almost as little good pasturage, the face of the 
country being in a great measure covered with woods, lakes, 
and marshes. The woods abound with elk and rein-deer; 
the cottages are small; and the exports are limited to tallow, 
butter, dried fish, hides, arid furs. 
SAVONA, a maritime city in the north-west of Italy, in the 
Genoese territory. It is a well-built place, containing good 
churches and hospitals, but the streets are narrow, winding, 
and badly paved with brick. It had formerly two harbours, 
but one of these, spacious and secure, was filled up by the 
Genoese, to whom it was an object of jealousy : the other 
is small, arid difficult of approach, from the accumulation of 
sand and mud near its mouth. Savona was at one time a 
place of great trade, and contained 25,000 inhabitants; but 
in 1648, an explosion of 1000 barrels of gunpowder, which 
had been deposited in the citadel, destroyed the half of the 
houses. Since then it has suffered both from pestilence and 
war, so that its population does not now exceed 10,600. 
The principal articles of trade are silk, wool, and fruit; 
and heavy iron ware, such as ships’ anchors, are manufac¬ 
tured here. Savona was the birth-place of popes Sixtus IV. 
and Julius II. Columbus, if not a native, was for some time 
a resident in this place. In. 1745, sixteen French and Spa¬ 
nish vessels, laden with military stores, and lying in the har¬ 
bour, were sunk by the bombs of a British squadron. In 
1746, the king of Sardinia took the town ; and in 1810 and 
1811, pope Pius VII. resided here some time during his 
dispute with Buonaparte; 20 miles west-south-west of 
Genoa, and 60 north-east of Nice. Lat. 44. 19. N. long. 8. 
33. E. 
SAVONAROLA (Jerome), a celebrated Italian monk, 
was born at Ferrara in 1452. He was grandson of an 
eminent physician, who had removed thither from Padua, 
and who with his father was solicitous to give him a good 
education. At the age of fourteen, being enthusiastically 
disposed, he repaired to Bologna, and put on the habit 
of a Dominican friar. Some years after this he mounted 
the pulpit at Florence, but with so little success, that he 
determined to enter upon a different course. The repu¬ 
tation which he had acquired for learning and talents 
caused him to be invited in 1489, by Lorenzo de Medici, 
to return to Florence, and at this period he became a most 
popular preacher. By pretensions to superior sanctity, and 
a fervid eloquence, he hurried away the feelings of his 
hearers, and gained a wonderful ascendancy over their 
Vol. XXII. No. 1533. 
A R O L A. - 701 
minds. The success which he obtained encouraged him 
to assume the prophetic character, and to take for his 
topics the necessary reforms in the church, and the disasters 
impending Italy. While, however, he was regarded by 
the multitude as an inspired prophet, he was considered by 
many people as a mere enthusiast, and by others as a vile 
impostor. He now began not only to detach himself from 
his patron Lorenzo, but to decry his character, and pre¬ 
dict his fall. Being made prior of St. Mark, he refused 
to pay the customary visit to the head of the republic, and 
when Lorenzo came to St. Mark’s, Savonarola avoided 
his presence. Lorenzo was frequently urged to take mea¬ 
sures against him, which he refused, either from his own 
natural lenity, or from some secret respect for his character; 
and when he was on his death-bed, in 1492, the monk ob¬ 
tained admission to him, and spoke to him with the autho¬ 
rity of his functions. Lorenzo meekly answered his ques¬ 
tions, and requested his benediction. After the death of 
Lorenzo, and the expulsion of his son Piero, Savonarola 
took a leading part in the political concerns of Florence, 
and headed the citizens, who aimed at the establishment of a 
popular constitution. He declared, that he was authorized 
to pronounce that the legislative power must be extended 
to the citizens at large; that he himself had been the 
ambassador of the Florentines to heaven ; and that Christ 
had promised to be their peculiar king. Thus, by his in¬ 
fluence chiefly, the form of government was changed in 
Florence from an aristocracy to a democracy. When the 
' Florentines were courted by the other Italian states to enter 
into a confederacy with them, to oppose any second at¬ 
tempt that the French might undertake against Italy, pre¬ 
parations for which were making in France, Savonarola’s 
persuasions prevailed to have all such proposals rejected. 
He flattered them with hopes, and foretold in his discourses, 
that the calamities of the republic would be turned into 
prosperity and increase of dominion; denouncing, at the 
same time, terrible judgments to the court of Rome, and to 
the rest of the Italian states. The preacher and his pre¬ 
dictions were despised by the more discerning, yet the bulk 
of the people paid an implicit credit to him, and to all 
that he said, and among them not a few of the most con¬ 
siderable citizens, insomuch that his adherents out-numbered 
his opposers, by which means many of them were elected 
into the magistracy, and other places of the greatest trust. 
In the year 1498, a multitude of complaints against him 
having been carried to Rome, in which he was accused of 
having reproached, in his sermons, the conduct of that 
court and the vices of the clergy, he had been frequently 
summoned to appear before the pope, but hitherto had 
neglected to pay obedience to the commands of his holi¬ 
ness, on which account he was at last publicly excommuni¬ 
cated. This sentence obliged him to refrain from preach¬ 
ing for some months, till, finding his interest manifestly de¬ 
clining by his silence, he, in open contempt of the pontifical 
authority, resumed his function, asserting that its censures 
agaiust him were null and void, as contrary to the divine 
will, and public welfare, and at the same time bitterly 
inveighing against the pope and the court of Rome. This 
kind of conduct occasioned frequent tumults, for his ene¬ 
mies, daily gaining ground upon him, animated the popu¬ 
lace, who above all things abhorred disobedience to the 
pope. The pontiff, Alexander, also thundering out new 
briefs, and threatening to interdict the city, the magistrates 
commanded him to desist from preaching. Nevertheless, 
the friars of his convent continued to propagate his doc¬ 
trines, which were opposed by the religious of other orders. 
These disputes were carried on with great heat, and excited 
such animosities, that at length, to defend his cause, he pro¬ 
cured the assistance of a friar of his own convent, named 
Fra. Domenico da Pescia, who in a sort of fanatical mad¬ 
ness, proposed to confirm his master’s doctrines by the ordeal 
of walking through the flames, provided any one of their 
adversaries would do the same. The challenge was accepted 
by a Franciscan friar, and a day was appointed for the 
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