462 S P E 
So well they sped that they become at length 
Unto the place whereas the Paynim lay, 
Devoid of outward sense and native strength. 
Covered with charmed cloud from view of day. Spenser. 
[ppebian, to grow rich. Sax.] To have good success. 
Timon is shrunk, indeed ; 
And he, that’s once deny’d, will hardly speed. Shakspeare. 
Now if this suit lay in Bianca’s pow’r. 
How quickly should you speed. Shakspeare. 
To succeed well or ill. 
Make me not sighted like the basilisk : 
I’v looked on thousands, who have sped the better 
By my regard, but kill’d none so. Shakspeare. 
To have any condition good or bad. 
Ships heretofore in seas like fishes sped. 
The mightiest still upon the smallest fed. Waller. 
To SPEED, v. a. To dispatch in haste; to send away 
quickly. 
The tyrant’s self, a thing unused, began 
To feel his heart relent with mere compassion; 
But not dispos’d to truth or mercy then. 
To sped him thence home to his habitation. Fairfax. 
To hasten; to put into quick motion. 
Satan, tow’rd the coast of earth beneath, 
Down from the ecliptic sped with hop’d success. 
Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel. Milton. 
To furnish in haste; to dispatch; to destroy ; to kill; to 
mischief; to ruin. 
A dire dilemma ! either way I’m sped ; 
If foes, they write; if friends, they read me dead. Pope. 
To execute; to dispatch.—Judicial acts are all those writ¬ 
ings and matters which relate to judicial proceedings, and 
are sped in open court at the instance of one or both of the 
parties. Ay life. —To assist; to help forward. 
Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul. 
And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole. Pope. 
To make prosperous; to make to succeed.—He was chosen, 
though he stood low upon the roll, but by a very unusual con¬ 
currence of providential events, happened to be sped. Fell. 
SPEED, s. [j'peb, Sax.] Quickness; celerity.—We 
observe the horse’s patient service at the plough, his speed 
upon the highway, his docibleness and desire of glory. 
More. —Haste; hurry ; dispatch.—When they strain to 
their utmost speed, there is still the wonted distance between 
them and their aims : all their eager pursuits bring them no 
acquests. Dec. of Chr. Piety. —The course or pace of a 
horse.—He that rides at high speed, and with a pistol, kills 
a sparrow flying. Shakspeare. —Success; event of any 
action or incident. 
The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear 
Of the queen’s speed is gone. Shakspeare. 
SPEED (John), a considerable elucidator of the geo¬ 
graphy and history of Great Britain, was born in 1552, at 
Farrington, in Cheshire. He was brought up to the trade of 
a tailor, and was, by apprenticeship, a freeman of the com¬ 
pany of Merchant Tailors in London, when that patron of 
learning, Sir Fulk Grevilie, discovering his attachment to the 
antiquities of his country, gave him an allowance to enable 
him to quit his employment, and devote himself to study. 
His first publication was entitled “ The Theatre of the Em¬ 
pire of Great Britain, presenting an exact Geography of the 
Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the ad¬ 
jacent Isles.” This work consisted of a set of maps of all the 
counties, with the ichnography of the principal towns, and 
brief descriptions, mostly copied from Camden’s Britannia. 
His greatest work, the labour of fourteen years, entitled 
«* The History of Great Britain,” appeared in the year 1614. 
It is chiefly a compilation from preoeding authors and ma- 
S P E 
nuscript records, comprising all the events in British history, 
from the invasion of Julius Csesar to the reign of king 
James I.; and though rude in style, yet it contained more 
valuable matter, and is better arranged, than the preceding 
chronicles. Speed, it is said, was the first English writer 
who, slighting Geoffrey’s tales, fell upon more solid matter. 
He was assisted by Sir Robert Cotton, who revised and cor¬ 
rected the whole. Mr. Speed was author of a work, entitled 
“ A Cloud of Witnesses, or Genealogies of Scripture.” 
SPE'EDFUL, adj. [Sax. ppebig, lucky, prosper ousi] 
Serviceable; useful. Not in use. —Alle thingis been lefful 
to me, but not alle thingis ben spedeful. Wiclife. 
SPE'EDILY, adv. With haste; quickly. 
Post speedily to. your husband. 
Shew him this letter. Shakspeare. 
SPE'EDINESS, s. The quality of being speedy. 
SPEEDSVILLE, a post village of the United States, in 
Tioga county. New York. 
SPE'EDWELL, s. Fluellin. A plant. See Veronica. 
SPEEDWELL MILLS, a post village of the United States 
in Barnwell district. South Carolina. 
SPE'EDY, adj. [spudig, Germ. The Sax. fpebiy, is 
prosperous .] Quick; swift; nimble; quick of dispatch. 
How near’s the other army ? 
—Near, and on speedy foot: the main descry 
Stands on the hourly thought. Shakspeare. 
Let it be enough what thou hast done. 
When spotted deaths ran arm’d through every street. 
With poison’d darts, which not the good could shun. 
The speedy could outfly, or valiant meet. Dryden. 
SPEEN, WOOD, a township of England, in Berkshire; 
2 miles north-west of Speenhamland. 
SPEENE, or Speenhamland, a village and parish of 
England, in the county of Berks, anciently a considerable 
town, the Spince of the Romans. The present mansion, called 
Donnington castle, was erected out of the ruins of its ancient 
castrum. It was once the residence of the poet Chaucer. 
To SPEET, v. a. [speten, Teut., to pierce or bore~\ To 
stab.—If he came [he] bad me not sticke to sped hym. 
Com. of Gamm. Gurton's Needle. 
SPEETON, a township of England, East Riding of York¬ 
shire; 5 miles north-north-west of Bridlington. 
SPEGEL (Haquin), a Swedish archbishop, distinguished 
for great learning, was born in 1645. In 1685, he was 
made bishop of Skara, was translated thence to Linkoping 
in 1691, and, in 1711, was raised to the archiepiscopai 
chair. After the fire which took place at Linkoping in 1700, 
he contributed, by his active exertions, towards rebuilding 
the Gymnasium, a service of so much importance, that the 
remembrance of it is still preserved by an inscription on the 
front of the building. He augmented the library with a 
great number of excellent books, and on the death of his 
son, presented to it a collection of medals and coins. He 
died at Upsal, in 1714. His works are chiefly on divinity. 
SPEIGHT, s. A woodpecker . See Specht. 
SPEIGHT’S TOWN, a sea-port of the island of Barbadoes, 
situated on the west coast, near the northern part of the island, 
formerly much frequented by the Bristol traders, and thence 
called Little Bristol. It is a handsome town, containing 
about 350 well built houses, disposed into four regular and 
spacious streets, of which the longest is called Jew’s-street, 
and, with the other three, leads down to the water side. The 
planters in that part of Barbadoes called Scotland, used to 
ship off their goods here for England, which occasioned 
the building of storehouses, and a concourse of people, to the 
great advantage of the town ; but most of the trade is now 
removed to Bridge Town. It has a spacious church, dedi¬ 
cated to St. Peter, which gave name to its precinct, and is 
the place where the monthly sessions are held. The town 
is defended by two forts, besides another in Heathcpte’s bay 
some distance south of the town. One of the above forts 
stands in the middle of the town, and is mounted with 14 
gunsj, 
