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S E R 
SERIPHOS. See Serehanto. 
SERISSA, in Botany, a genus of Jussieu's, separated from 
Lycium. 
SERJEANT, or Sergeant, a term in our Law, applied 
to sundry offices. Serjeant-at-law, or of the coif, is the 
highest degree taken in the common law, as that of doctor 
is in the civil law. 
The first mention which judge Blackstone has met wif^ 
of serjeants or cotmlors, is in the stat. of West. 1. 3 Edw. 
c. 29. But M. Paris, in his life of John II. abbot of St. 
Alban’s, which he wrote in 1255, 39 Hen. III. speaks of 
advocates at the common law, orcountors (quos hand, nar¬ 
rator cs vu/gariter appellamus) as of an order of men wel 
known ; and the antiquity of the coif appears from the same 
author’s Hist, of England, A. D. 1259. Serjeants were an¬ 
ciently called servientes ad legem, and servientes narra- 
tores; Mr. Selden adds, that they were also called doctores 
leg is; though others are of opinion, that the judges are 
more properly the doctores legis, and serjeants, the bache¬ 
lors o f law. 
Spelman observes, that however a serjeant may be richer 
than all the doctors of the Commons, yet a doctor is superior 
in degree to a serjeant, for the very name of a doctor is ma¬ 
gisterial, but that of a serjeant ministerial. Hence, the doc¬ 
tors are seated and covered when they plead, but the 
serjeants stand uncovered at the bar, excepting for their 
coif. 
As these are supposed the most learned and experienced, 
there is one court appropriated for them to plead in by 
themselves, which is the Common Pleas, where the common 
law of England is most strictly observed; but they are not 
prohibited pleading in other courts; and all judges, who, by 
custom, must first be serjeants, call them brothers. 
SERJEANTS-AT-ARMS, are officers appointed to at¬ 
tend the person of the king, to arrest traitors, and persons of 
quality offending, and to attend the lord high steward when 
he sits in judgment on any traitor, &c. 
SERJEANT, Common, an officer in the city of London, 
who attends the lord mayor and court of aldermen on court 
days, and is in council with them on all occasions, within 
and without the precincts, or liberties of the city. 
SERJEANTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD, are officers 
who execute several functions within the king’s household, 
mentioned in the stat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 12. 
SERJEANT, or Sergeant, in War, is a non-commis¬ 
sioned or inferior officer in a company of foot, or troop of 
dragoons ; armed with an halberd, and appointed to see dis¬ 
cipline observed, to teach the soldiers their exercise and other 
duty. He receives the orders from the adjutant, which he 
communicates to his officers. 
Each company has generally two serjeants. 
SERJEANT, Covering, a non-commissioned officer, 
who, during the exercise of a battalion, regularly stands or 
moves behind each officer, commanding or acting with a 
platoon or company. When the ranks take open order, and 
the officers move in front, the covering serjeants replace their 
leaders; and when the ranks are closed, they fall back in 
their rear. 
SERJEANT, Drill, an expert and active non-commis¬ 
sioned officer, who, under the immediate direction of the 
serjeant-major, instructs the raw’ recruits of a regiment in the 
first principles of military exercise. When awkward or ill- 
behaved men are sent to drill, they are usually placed under 
the care of the drill-serjeant. 
SERJEANT, Lance, a corporal who acts as serjeant in 
a company, but only receives the pay of corporal. 
SERJEANT, Pay, an honest, steady, non-commissioned 
officer, who is a good accountant, and writes well, that is 
selected by the captain of a company in the infantry to pay 
the men twice a-week, and to account weekly to him, or to 
his subaltern, for all disbursements. He likewise keeps a 
regular statement of the necessaries of the men, and assists in 
making up the monthly abstract for pay, allowances, 
&c. 
S E R 
SERJEANT, Quarter-Master, a non-commissioned 
officer, who acts under the quarter-master of a regiment: he 
ought to be steady, a good accountant, and well acquainted 
with the resources of a country town or village. 
SERJEANT, Trumpet. An officer under the Lord 
Chamberlain, whose duty it is to attend (with his six¬ 
teen trumpeters and kettle drum) on coronations, royal 
marriages, christenings, funerals, proclamations and in¬ 
stallations. On inspection of his patent it will appear 
that his duties and privileges were formerly very extensive, 
being summoned to attend the (sheriffs and judges on the 
circuit ; nor could any concert or theatrical performance 
take place, without his licence and authority. The two 
great theatres accordingly paid him a fee, till the time of 
Sheridan, who broke through the custom. 
SERJEANTY, or Sergeanty, in Law, a service an¬ 
ciently due to the king for lands held of him, and which 
could not be due to any other lord. 
It is divided into grand and petit serjeanty. See Sear- 
geanty. 
SERJIHEY ODOUK, a town of Chinese Tartary, in the 
country of the Mongols. Lat. 42. 15. N. long. 102. 
34. E. 
SERKA, a village of Sennaar; 200 miles south of 
Sennaar. 
SERKIS, a village of Caramania, in Asiatic Turkey; 50 
miles west of Konieh. 
SERLE’S ISLAND, in the South Pacific Ocean, seven 
or eight miles long, and four or five broad, with a lagoon 
in the middle. A dangerous surf beats on the shore, which 
consists of ridges of coral rock. Fish is particularly abund¬ 
ant ; and there are various species of trees. Most of the soil 
consists of white coral sand, intermixed with decayed vege¬ 
table matter, and this seems peculiarly favourable to the 
grow th of plants. It does not appear to be permanently in¬ 
habited, though visitors have found evidence that men have 
dw’elt there. Lat. 18. 18. S.long. 223. E. 
SERLEBY, a township of England, in Nottinghamshire; 
2|- miles south-south-west of Bawtry. 
SERLIO (Sebastjano), an eminent architect, was a 
native of Bologna, who flourished in the early part of the 
sixteenth century, at Venice. He travelled through Italy, and 
resided a considerable time at Rome, where he studied the fine 
arts, and made many drawings of edifices, ancient and modern, 
and he is said to have been the first who examined, with the 
eye of a man of science, the remains of ancient architecture. 
The knowledge which he acquired was given to the public 
in a complete treatise of architecture, of which he planned 
several books, and the first that appeared was the fourth in 
order, comprehending the general rules of architecture, 
which he printed at Venice in 1537, dedicated to Hercules 
II. duke of Ferrara. The other six books appeared succes¬ 
sively at different intervals, and the different editions made 
of them prove their popularity. Serlio, in 1541, w r as in¬ 
vited to Fiance, by Francis I., and was, by that sovereign, 
employed in the erections at Fontainebleau, where he thence¬ 
forth resided, and where he died, at an advanced age, in 
1578. Though, as an author, he was much attached to the 
principles of Vitruvius, in his designs as an artist he very 
much neglected them. His school of St. Roch, and palace 
Grimani, at Venice, are built in a grand and magnificent 
style. Gen. Biog. 
SERMATTA, an island in the Eastern seas; about 22 
miles long, and 6 broad. Lat. 8. 9. S. long 129. 
13. E. 
SERMESOK, an island near the west coast of West 
Greenland. Lat. 61. 50. N. long. 47. 45. W. 
SERMIONE, a small town of Austrian Italy, in the dis¬ 
trict of Brescia, situated on a neck of land projecting into 
the lake of Garda. Population 1800. It has a castle, and 
was the birth-place of Catullus, the poet; 16 miles west of 
Verona. 
SERMOCINA'TION, s. [sermocinatio, Lat.] The act 
or practice of making speeches. Unused. —The orator con¬ 
vey eth 
