SPA 
453 
SPA 
SPARGUS, in Ichthyology, a name given by Gaza to the 
common sparus. See Sparus. 
SPARHAM, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 3 miles 
south-west of Reepham. 
SPA'R- HAWK. See Sparrowhawk. 
SPA'RING, adj. Scarce; little.—Of this there is with 
you sparing memory or none; but we have large know¬ 
ledge thereof. Bacon. —Scanty; not plentiful.—Good air, 
solitary groves, and sparing diet, sufficient to make you 
fancy yourself one of the fathers of the desert. Pope. —Par¬ 
simonious ; not liberal.—Virgil being so very sparing of his 
words, and leaving so much to be imagined by the reader, 
can never be translated as he ought in any modern tongue. 
Dry den. 
SPA'RINGLY, adv. Not abundantly. —The borders 
whereon you plant fruit-trees should be large, and set with 
fine flowers; but thin and sparingly, lest they deceive the 
trees. Bacon. —Frugally; parsimoniously; not lavishly. 
Commend but sparingly whom thou dost love: 
But less condemn whom thou dost not approve. Denham. 
.With abstinence.—Christians are obliged to taste even the 
innocent pleasures of life but sparingly. Atterbury. —Not 
With great frequency.—The morality of a grave sentence, 
affected by Lucan, is more sparingly used by Virgil. Dry- 
den. —Cautiously; tenderly.—Speech of touch towards each 
other should be sparingly used; for discourse ought to 
be as a field, without coming home to any man. Bacon. 
SPA'RINGNESS, s. Parsimony; want of liberality. 
—The same folly it will be in us, if, by the sparingness of 
our alms, we make ourselves a lank harvest hereafter. Wh. 
Duty of Man. —Caution—This opinion Mr. Hobbes men¬ 
tions as possible; but he does it with hesitancy, diffidence, 
and sparingness. Clarice. 
SPARK, s. []-pea]ic, Saxon; sparlce, Dutch.] A small 
particle of fire, or kindled matter.—If any marvel how a 
thing, in itself so weak, could import any great danger, they 
must consider not so much how small the spark is that flieth 
up, as how apt things about it are to take fire. Hooker .— 
Any thing shining.—We have, here and there, a little clear 
light, some sparks of bright knowledge. Locke. —Any 
thing vivid or active. 
If any spark of life be yet remaining, 
Down, down to hell, and say, I sent thee thither. 
Shakspeare. 
A lively, showy gay man. It is commonly used in con¬ 
tempt. 
A spark like thee, of the man-killing trade 
Fell sick. Dry den. 
The finest sparks and cleanest beaux 
Drip from the shoulders to the toes. Prior. 
A lover. 
To SPARK, v. n. To emit particles of fire; to sparkle. 
Not note in use. 
Fair is my love. 
When the rose in her cheek appears, 
Or in her eyes the fire of love doth spark. Spenser. 
SPARKFORD, a parish of England, in Somersetshire; 
4 miles south-west of Castle Cary. 
SPARK’S ISLAND, a small island in the bay of Hondu¬ 
ras, at the mouth of the river Roman. Lat. 15. 54 N. long. 
86. 5. W. 
SPA'RKFUL, adj. Lively ; brisk; airy. Not used .— 
Hitherto will our sparkful youth laugh at their great grand¬ 
fathers’ English, who had more care to do well than to 
speak minion-like. Camden. 
SPA'RKISH, adj. Airy; gay. A low word. It is 
commonly applied to men rather than women.—Is any 
thing more sparkish and better-humoured than Venus’ 
accosting her son in the deserts of Libya? Walsh. 
—Showy; well-dressed ; fine.—A daw, to be sparkish, 
trick’d himself up with all the gay feathers he could muster. 
L' Estrange. 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1583. 
SPA'RKLE, s. A spark ; a small particle of fire. 
He, with repeated strokes 
Of clashing flints, their hidden fires provokes; 
Short flame succeeds, a bed of wither’d leaves 
The dying sparkles in their fall receives: 
Caught into life, in fiery fumes they rise, 
And, fed with stronger food, invade the skies. Dry den. 
When reason’s lamp, which, like the sun in sky, 
Throughout man’s little world her beams did spread, 
Is now become a sparkle, which doth lie 
Under the ashes, half extinct and dead. Davies. 
Lustre. 
I hold my beauty. 
Wash but these sorrows from it, of a sparkle 
As right and rich as hers. Beaum. 
To SPA'RKLE, v. n. To emit sparks. To issue in 
sparks. 
The bold design 
Pleas’d highly those infernal states, and joy 
Sparkled in all their eyes. Milton. 
To shine; to glitter.—A hair seen in a microscope loses its 
former colour, and is in a great measure pellucid, with a 
mixture of some bright sparkling colours, such as appear 
from the refraction of diamonds. Locke .—To emit little 
bubbles, as liquor in a glass. 
To SPA'RKLE, v. a. [spargo, Lat.] To disperse; to 
scatter; to throw about. 
Cassandra yet there saw I how they hal’d 
From Pallas’ house, with spercled tress undone. Sackville. 
What’s become 
Of my lieutenant?—Beaten, and’t please your grace, 
And all his forces sparkled. Beaum. and FI. 
SPA'RKLER, s. One whose eyes sparkle.—What 
would you say, should you see a sparkler shaking her 
elbow for a whole night together, and thumping the table 
with a dicebox ? Addison. 
SPA'RKLET, j. A small spark. 
Night, spread o’er earth thy sable veil. 
Heaven’s twinkling sparklets to conceal. Cotton. 
SPA'RKLINESS, s. Vivacity. Not in use .—Sir John 
[Suckling] threw his repartees about the table with much 
spark/iness, and gentileness of witt, to the admiration of 
them all. Aubrey. 
SPA'RKLINGLY, adv. With vivid and twinkling 
lustre.—Diamonds sometimes would look more sparklingly 
than they were wont, and sometimes far more dull than 
ordinary. Boyle. 
SPA'RKLINGNESS, s. Vivid and twinkling lustre.—I 
have observed a manifestly greater clearness and sparkling¬ 
ness at some times than at others, though I could not refer it 
to the superficial clearness or foulness of the stone. Boyle. 
SPA'RLING, s. [esperlan, Fr. a smelt. Cotgrave.] A 
name for the smelt in the north of England, and in 
Wales. 
SPARLING FOWL, in Ornithology, a name given in 
some places, by the country people, to the female merganser, 
called more usually the dundiver. 
SPARONE, a town of the Sardinian states, in the Pied¬ 
montese province of Ivrea, with 2250 inhabitants, 
SPARRE (Eric), Chancellor of Sweden, was born in 1550, 
but from this time we have no account of him till 1578, 
when he was appointed supreme judge of Westmanland and 
Dalecarlia; and in 1582 he became a senator, govenor of 
these provinces, and vice-chancellor of the kingdom. In 
1583 he was knighted by king James VI. of Scotland; and 
in 1587 he went as envoy to Poland, respecting the elevation 
of Sigismund to the Polish throne. Within about two years 
from this time he fell in disgrace, was deprived of his employ¬ 
ments, and thrown into prison. He was likewise accused of 
high crimes against the sovereign, John III. On this occa¬ 
sion his letter of knighthood was taken from him by the 
5 Z king. 
