450 
SPA 
have been made to introduce them. The town derives its 
chief support from agriculture and the extensive grazing 
carried on in the neighbourhood. Wool forms on this 
account a principal article of its trade, and some of the 
manufacturing towns of Yorkshire are supplied from hence. 
A literary or antiquarian society, of which Sir Isaac Newton 
was a member, was established here by Mr. Maurice John¬ 
son, an eminent native of the town; but since his death it 
has dwindled into insignificance, and is now merely a social 
club. For many centuries Spalding has been the principal 
seat of Jurisdiction for the division of Holland. In the 
Saxon times the courts of law were held here by the earls; 
and subsequent to the Norman conquest, the priors were 
invested with the judicial authority. Since the dissolution 
of religious houses, a court of sessions has been held here. 
Spalding is a place of great antiquity. Its priory, which, 
in succeeding times, became a monastery of great conse¬ 
quence, was founded and endowed in 1051, by Thorold de 
Bukenhale. Market on Tuesday, for cattle and corn. There 
are five fairs in the year; 8 miles west of Holbeach, 20 from 
Peterborough, 20 from Stamford, IG from Boston, and 100 
north of London. Lat. 52. 47. N. long. 0. 8. W. 
SPALDINGTON, a township of England, East Riding 
of Yorkshire ; 4 miles north-by-east of Howden. Popu¬ 
lation 331. 
SPALDWICH, a parish of England, county of Hunting¬ 
don ; 3| miles north-east of Kimbolfon. 
SPALL, s. [ancient French, spaule; modern, espaulei] 
Shoulder. Out of use. 
Their mighty strokes their habergeons dismayed. 
And naked made each other’s manly spallcs. Spenser. 
SPALL, or Spale, 5. [spiae/l, Su. Goth, segmentum.] 
A chip. This is a very old word in our language, and is 
retained in the Exmore and northern dialects. 
SPALMADORI, a small island near the coast of Asia Mi¬ 
nor, situated between the continent and the island of Scio. 
Lat. 38. 36. N. long. 26. 7. E. 
SPALMARA, a small town and harbour of the Ionian 
island of Cefalonia. 
SPALT, or Spelt, s. A white, scaly, shining stone, 
frequently used to promote the fusion of metals. Hailey. 
SPALT, a town of Germany, in Bavarian Franconia, on 
the Retzat; 20 miles east-south-east of Anspach, and 48 west- 
by-north of Ratisbon. Population 1200. 
SPAN, .s. [j-pan, j-ponne, Saxon; spanna, Ital.; span, 
Dut.] The space from the end of the thumb to the end of the 
little finger extended; nine inches.—A foot, the length of it, 
is a sixth part of the fathom ; a span, one eighth; a palm, or 
hand’s breadth, one twenty-fourth; a thumb’s breadth, or 
inch, one seventy-second ; and a forefinger’s breadth one 
ninety-sixth. Holder on Time. 
Will you with counters sum 
The vast proportion of his infinite ? 
And buckle in a waste most fathomless. 
With spans and inches so diminutive 
As fears and reasons ? Shakspeare. 
Any short duration. 
You have scarce time 
To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span. 
To keep your earthly audit. Shalspeare. 
To SPAN, v. a. Q-pannan, Sax. ; spanna, Su. Goth.] 
To measure by the hand extended.—My right hand hath 
spanned the heavens. Isaiah. —To measure.—Our thoughts 
■— not only bestride all the sea and land, but span the sun 
and firmament at once. Donne. 
SPAN. The preterite of spin. 
Together furiously they ran, 
That to the ground came horse and man ; 
The blood out of their helmets span. 
So sharp were their encounters. Drayton. 
SPANANTHE, in Botany. See Hvdrocotyle. 
SPANBERG, a town of Austria; 19 miles north-north-east 
of Vienna, with 900 inhabitants. 
SPA 
SPA'NCEL, s. A rope to tie a cow’s hinder legs. North. 
To SPA'NCEL, v. a. To tie the fore or hinder legs of a 
horse or cow with a rope. Common in the north of Eng¬ 
land and in Ireland. 
SPA'N-COUNTER, or Spa'nfarthing, s. A play at 
which money is thrown within a span or mark.—Tell the 
king, that for his father’s sake, Henry V., in whose time boys 
went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content he 
shall reign. Shakspeare. 
Boys shall not play 
At span-counter or blow-point, but shall pay 
Toll to some courtier. Donne. 
His chief solace is to steal down, and play at span-farthing 
with the page. Swift. 
SPANDAU, a fortified town of Prussia, in the Middle 
Mark of Brandenburg, at the confluence of the Havel and the 
Spree. It has nearly 5000 inhabitapts, mostly Protestants. 
The manufactures and the agriculture of the neighbourhood 
are inconsiderable, but the town contains a large workhouse 
and a manufactory for government account, of arms, which 
are subsequently finished at Potsdam. The citadel stands 
outside of the town, and is a regular square, with four ram¬ 
parts forty feet high, and good casemates. It is chiefly used 
as a state prison. It was taken by the Swedes in the year 
1631, but restored in 1634. In 1806 it was taken by the 
French; 11 miles north-north-east of Potsdam, and 8 west 
of Berlin. Lat. 52. 33. N. long. 13. 11. E. 
SPANDONCEA, in Botany. See Cadi a. 
SPANDRIL, in Architecture, the open space between the 
outward moulding of an arch, from its impost to the hori¬ 
zontal member or line which surmounts it. 
SPANFARTHING. See Spancounter. 
SPANGENBERG, a town of the west of Germany, in 
Hesse-Cassel; 17 miles south-east of Cassel, and 17 east of 
Fritzlar. It contains 1600 inhabitants, with a fortified castle, 
which is used as a state prison, and for keeping the archives 
of the house of Hesse. 
SPANHE1M (Frederic), an eminent theological professor, 
was born in 1600, at Amberg, in the Upper Palatinate, where 
his father held an office in the electoral court. He passed a 
very laborious life, and died in the 50th year of his age, and 
was supposed to have shortened his days by the greatness of 
his labours. His works were very numerous, and on divers 
subjects: some were political, as “ Le Soldat Suedois,” com¬ 
posed at the request of the Swedish ambassador; “ Mercure 
Suisse;” “ Commentaire historique de la Vie et de la Mort 
de Christople, Vicomte de Dhona;” “ Memoires sur la Prin- 
cesse Louise Juliane, Electrice Palatine.” These were all 
published without his name: of his theological works, the 
principal is one on “Universal Grace;” “ Dubia Evan- 
gelica;” “Epistola ad Buchananum de controversiis Eccle- 
sias Anglican®;” “ De Autore Epistolae ad Hebraeos.” 
SPANHEIM (Frederic), second son of the preceding, 
was bom at Geneva, in 1632, was likewise a professor of 
theology of high reputation. Among his works, the most 
esteemed is a summary of ecclesiastical history of the 16th 
century. 
SPANHEIM (Ezekiel), an eminent scholar and statesman, 
eldest son of Frederic, was born at Geneva, in 1629. He 
accompanied his father to Leyden, in 1642, when he was 
already far advanced in the knowledge of the learned lan¬ 
guages, and he soon acquired the esteem both of Saumaise 
and Helvetius, who, at this period, were residents in that 
university. In 1651, he was nominated professor of the 
Belles Lettres at Geneva, and in the following year was ad¬ 
mitted into the great council. His high reputation caused 
him soon after to be invited by the emperor to superintend 
the education of his only son, and in this situation he 
applied himself to gain a thorough knowledge of the public 
law of Germany. Having obtained leave to travel into 
Italy, he was charged by his master to watch over the poli¬ 
tical intrigues of the Catholic electors at Rome; and at the 
same time he made himself acquainted with the science of 
medals and classical antiquity, While out on this tour, he 
was 
