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as well as dreading a popish successor, the ardour of his 
mind urged him to associate with the duke of Monmouth 
and his party; and in the history of the Rye-house plot he 
was charged with being one of six who were promoting an 
insurrection. But the part which he was supposed to have 
taken in a conspiracy for assassinating the king, was the 
plea for arresting him, together with Russell and several 
others, in June, 1683. When Lord Russell was sacrificed, 
the next victim selected by the court was Sidney; and he 
was brought to trial for high treason, before that judge 
whose infamous character is indelibly recorded in the page 
of history, chief-justice Jefferies. Lord Howard, who was 
a disgrace to the title he bore, and to that rank in society 
with which he was connected, was the only direct evidence 
against him; but the law required two witnesses for convic¬ 
tion on a charge of treason. In order to supply this defect, 
the attorney-general produced some passages from discourses 
found in manuscript in his closet, in which the writer main¬ 
tained the lawfulness of resisting tyrants, and his preference 
of a free to an arbitrary government; and without decisive 
proof that they were written by him, or that they were even 
communicated to any living person, this kind of evidence 
was admitted, in defiance of law and common sense, as 
equivalent to the testimony of a second witness. His defence 
was of no avail, and a servile jury pronounced him guilty. 
From respect to his family, the disgraceful part of his sen¬ 
tence was omitted, and exchanged for beheading. On the 
7th of December he was executed on Tower-hill, at the age 
of about sixty-one years, delivering to the sheriffs a paper 
which proved the injustice of his condemnation, and offer¬ 
ing a prayer for that “ old cause” in which he had been 
from his youth engaged. This paper was afterwards printed, 
and made great impression on the public mind. It is given 
at full length in the Memoirs of his Life. He suffered with 
the firmness, as it is said, of an old Roman. After the 
revolution, one of the first acts was the reversal of his 
attainder, and his name has been held in high esteem and 
veneration by all the avowed friends of free government. 
The following sketch of his character is given by bishop 
Burnet. “ He was a man of most extraordinary courage, 
steady even to obstinacy, sincere, but of a rough and bois¬ 
terous temper that could not bear contradiction. He seemed 
to be a Christian, but in a particular form of his own; he 
thought it was to be like a divine philosophy in the mind, 
but he was against all public worship, and every thing that 
looked like a church. He was stiff to all republican prin¬ 
ciples, and an enemy to every thing that looked like mo¬ 
narchy. He had studied the history of government in all 
its branches beyond any man I ever knew; and had a par¬ 
ticular way of insinuating himself into people that would 
hearken to his notions, and not contradict him.” Of this 
character, it is said, in the Notes to the Memoirs of his 
Life, that it was roughly and inaccurately drawn. Sidney’s 
“ Discourses on Government” were first printed in 1698, 
fob, reprinted in 1704 and 1751, and in 4to. 1772, at the 
expense of Thomas Hollis, Esq., with his letters, trial, and 
memoirs of his life prefixed. Lord Orrery says of them, 
“ they are admirably written, and contain great historical 
knowledge, and a remarkable propriety of diction; so that 
his name, in my opinion, ought to be much higher esta¬ 
blished in the temple of literature than I have hitherto found 
it placed.” Riog. Brit. Gen. Biog. Memoirs, fy-c., pre¬ 
fixed to Hollis's edition. 
SIDNEY, a post township of the United States, in Ken- 
nebeck county, Maine, on the Kennebeck, opposite Vassal- 
borough; 178 miles north-north east of Boston. Population 
1558. 
SIDNEY, a post township of the United States, in Dela¬ 
ware county, New York, on the Susquehannah. Popula¬ 
tion 1388. 
SIDONIUS (Caius, Sollius Apollinaris), in Biography, 
was born at Lyons in or about the year 430, of a distinguish¬ 
ed family, his father and grandfather having exercised the 
office of pretorian-prefect in Gaul. He was liberally edu¬ 
cated, and obtained great reputation for his literary talents, 
and especially his skill in the poetical art. Coming to the 
capital he was raised to the highest offices by several success¬ 
ive emperors. He married Papianilla, daughter of the em¬ 
peror Avitus, whose accession he celebrated by a long 
panegyric in verse, which was rewarded by a brass statue 
of him placed in the portico of Trajan. On the deposition 
of Avitus, he was made a prisoner at Lyons by the em¬ 
peror Majorian ; whose favour he afterwards obtained by a 
new panegyric. He was now employed by Majorian to 
negociate a treaty with Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, of 
whose person and manners he has left us a curious descrip¬ 
tion. For this service he was rewarded with the title of 
count. Under Severus Ricimer he defended with the most 
complete success Auvergne against the incursions of the 
barbarians. On the accession of Anthemius he was ready 
with another panegyric, and was in this requited by the 
government of Rome, and the dignity of patrician was con¬ 
ferred upon him. In the year 472 he renounced all his 
secular employments, and became a bishop. He is said to 
have conducted himself with singular piety in his new 
office, to have been exemplary for charity, and all the 
episcopal virtues, and to have fed 4000 Burgundians, when 
under the pressure of famine. He was a great sufferer at the 
siege of Clermont, and was forced to fly at its surrender, 
but was very soon restored to his see. He afterwards under¬ 
went some trouble from two factious priests, who contested 
with him the government of the church, and also from some 
who were deemed by him as heretics; and to this has been 
ascribed his death, in 487, which has been called a martyr¬ 
dom. Of the writings of Sidonius, there are extant twenty- 
four pieces in verse, marked with the debased character of 
the age, and nine books of Epistles, containing much curious 
information relative to the learning and history of his times. 
The best editions of his works are those by Savaron in 1609, 
and by Sirmond in 1652. Moreri. Gibbon, vol. vi. 
SIDRA, an extensive gulf of this name in the eastern part 
of the territory of Tripoli, in the interior of which are ex¬ 
tensive quicksands, celebrated in antiquity under the appel¬ 
lation of Sprtis, from a corruption of which the modem 
name is derived. It extends from lat. 30. 30. to 32.30. N. 
and from long. 15 30. to 19. 30. E. 
SIDRECAISSI, a small town of European Turkey, in 
Salonica, with some silver mines in the neighbourhood. 
SIDRO, a promontory of Greece, in Livadia, on the gulf 
of Negroponte. 
SIEBEN, Uhren Berg, a high ridge of mountains on 
the Moselle. On the 7th July, 1820, a vast mass of earth 
and rock became loose, and fell into the Moselle with great 
violence, forcing the water out of its channel. 
SIEBENGEBIRGE, a group of hills near the Lower 
Rhine, in the government of Cologne, so called from seven 
points which are more elevated than the rest. The highest, 
called Lowenberg, is about 2,000 feet above the level of the 
sea. 
SIEBENLEHN, or Siebeln, a small town of Germany, 
in Saxony; 17 miles w'est-south-west of Dresden. Popula¬ 
tion 1,000. 
SIEBENL1NDEN, or Hethars, a s mall town in the 
north-east of Hungary, on the river Torissa; 15 miles norths 
west of Eperies. 
SIECHAM - HOTUN, a town of Corea, situated on the 
Japanese sea; 230 miles north of King-kitao. 
SIECICHOWICE, a small town of Poland; 14 miles north- 
by-east of Cracow. 
SIEDLCE, a small town in the central part of Poland, 
the chief place of the palatinate of Podlachia. It stands on 
the river Muchawica. Population 2200; 55 miles east of 
Warsaw. 
SIEG, a river in the west of Germany, in Westphalia, 
which, after flowing from east to west, falls into the Rhine, 
nearly opposite Bonn. Its banks were the scene of military, 
operations in 1795 and 1796. 
SIEGBERG, a small town of Prussian Westphalia, in 
tha 
