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our laws; and it is not a mere glossary, but contains various 
entire dissertations. He next employed himself in a col¬ 
lection of English laws and statutes, from the Conquest to 
the ninth year of Henry III., which was printed in 1617. 
Having been appointed, on the recommendation of arch¬ 
bishop Laud, one of the commissioners for enquiring into 
the exaction of fees in the courts and offices throughout 
England, he published, in 1628, a tract “ De Sepultura,” or 
concerning “Burial Fees.” Before our author had finished 
his glossary, he engaged in another considerable work, 
which was “ A History of the English Councils.” Of this 
he published in 1639 the first part, which included the period 
from the first introduction of the Christian religion into 
England to the Norman Conquest. A second part, only 
a small portion of which was of his own composition, 
was printed several years after his death. In the same year 
he instituted a Saxon lecture in the university of Cambridge, 
which he intended to have rendered perpetual, but his design 
was defeated. In 1639 also he published a treatise on “ The 
original Growth, Propagation, and Condition of Tenures 
by Knights’ Service in England,” in which he displayed an 
extent of learning that proved his faculties to be perfect, 
notwithstanding his advanced age. He lived to complete 
his 80th year, and died at London in 1641. By the king’s 
order, he was interred in Westminster Abbey. After his 
decease, two posthumous works of his were published, viz. 
“ A Treatise concerning Tythes," printed in 1647; and 
“ A History of Sacrilege,” which was destroyed at the 
printer’s by the great fire of London, and a plan of it only 
preserved. 
SPELMAN (Edward), great-grandson of the preceding, 
resided at High-House, near Rougham, Norfolk, where he 
died in 1767. He had devoted himself to literature, and 
made himself known by several publications of considerable 
worth. The first of these was a translation of Xenophon’s 
“ Cyropedia,” in two volumes, 8vo. A more elaborate 
work was entitled “ The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius 
Halicarnassensis,” translated into English, with notes and 
dissertations, in four volumes, quarto, a work which stands 
high among our translations from the Greek language. One 
of these dissertations was a version of a fragment of Polybius 
on government, particularly that of Rome, to which the 
translator prefixed a preface, applying the system of Polybius 
to the English government. This was printed without his 
name in 1743. He also printed for the use of his friends, 
and for private distribution only, “ A Dissertation on the 
Presence of the Patricians in the Tributa Comitia:” and 
after his death the Rev. Mr. Lemon published in 1775, a 
posthumous work of this writer, entitled “ Additional Ob¬ 
servations on the Greek Accents.” Gen. Bing. 
SPELONCATO, a town in the island of Corsica, towards 
its northern extremity. Population only 800. 
SPELSBURY, a parish of England, in Oxfordshire; 4\ 
miles south-east of Chipping Norton. Population 554, 
To SPELT, v. n. [Germ., spaltcn, to divide.'] To split; 
to break.—Feed geese with oats, spelted beans, barley meal, 
or ground malt mixed with beer. Mortimer. 
SPELT, s. [jpelc, Saxon; spelte, Teut.] A kind of 
com.— Lentiles, and millet, and fitches, [in the margin 
spelt.] Ezek. 
SPE'LTER, s. A kind of semi-metal.—Metals in fusion 
do not flame for want of a copious fume, except spelter, 
which fumes copiously, and thereby flames. Ne-wton. 
SPENCE, s. Spies pence, old Fr.] A buttery; a larder; a 
store-room; a place where any provisions are kept. “Spence, 
cellarium, promptuarium.” Prompt. Parv. See also Cot- 
grave, and Sherwood. This is the old sense of the word, 
and is still so used in many places. Spens, Cornish. In 
some parts of the north, it is used for a kind of little parlour 
or inner room of a country-house. Todd .—As hotel in the 
spence. Chaucer. 
SPENCE (Joseph), was educated at New College, Ox¬ 
ford, of which he afterwards became a fellow. He took the 
degree of M.A. in 1727, and in that same year made himself 
known by “ An Essay on Pope’s Translation of the Odys¬ 
sey.” In 1747, he brought to the press his principal work, 
entitled “ Poly metis, or an Enquiry concerning the Agree¬ 
ment between the Works of the Roman Poets and the 
Remains of ancient Artists, being an Attempt to illustrate 
them mutually by each other.” This was a folio work, with 
plates. The performance was extremely well received by the 
public, and still stands high in the literary world. His last 
publication was an edition of “ Holds worth’s Remarks on 
Virgil,” with notes, and additional observations of his own. 
In the month of August, 1758, he was found drowned in 
a piece of water in his own garden at Byfleet. He was 
studious to draw obscure merit into notice, of which he 
gave evident proofs by his printed account of Stephen Duck ; 
Robert Hill, the learned tailor; and Mr. Blacklock, the 
blind poet. He had collected some MS. volumes of anec¬ 
dotes of eminent writers, communicated by Pope and others, 
which are still in the possession of the duke of Newcastle’s 
family, and from which Dr. Johnson was permitted to make 
extracts for his lives of the Poets. Gen. Biog. 
SPE'NCER, s. A butler; one who has the care of the 
spence: cellarius, Lat. Obsolete. 
SPENCER, a post township of the United States, in 
Worcester county, Massachusetts; 51 miles west-south-west 
of Boston. Population 1453. 
SPENCER, a post township of the United States, and 
capital of Tioga county. New York; 190 miles west-south¬ 
west of Albany. Population 3128. The village, containing 
the county buildings, is pleasantly situated on Catetant 
creek. 
SPENCER, Cape, a pointed rocky cape, the east point 
of entrance into Spencer’s gulf, on the south shore of New 
Holland. Lat. 35. 18. S. long. 136. 55. E. 
SPENCER, Cape, a very conspicuous high bluff pro¬ 
montory on the west coast of North America, so called by 
Vancouver, in honour of Earl Spencer. It is the west point 
of entrance into Cross sound. Lat. 58. 13. N. long. 223. 
36. E. 
SPENCER’S Gulf, a large gulf on the south coast of 
New Holland, which extends ] 85 miles into the inferior of 
the country, in a direction north-north-east. The entrance 
of the gulf from Cape Catastrophe on the west, and Cape 
Spencer on the east, is 48 miles wide. It was explored to 
within seven or eight leagues of its termination by Captain 
Flinders, who then saw land at a distance before him. Cape 
Spencer lies in Lat. 35. 18. S. long. 136. 55. E. 
SPENCER MOUNTAINS, mountains of the United 
States, in Maine; 10 miles east of Moosehead lake. 
SPENCERTOWN a post village of the United States, in 
Columbia county. New York. 
To SPEND, v. a. [ppendan, Saxon; spendere, Ital.] 
To consume; to exhaust; to waste. 
Our cannons’ malice vainly shall be spent 
Against the invulnerable clouds. Shakspcare. 
Money is brought into England by nothing but spending 
here less of foreign commodities than what we carry to mar¬ 
ket can pay for. Locke. —To bestow as expense; to expend 
as cost.—Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is 
not bread? Isa. —To bestow for any purpose: often with 
upon. 
When we can intreat an hour to serve, 
Would spend it some words upon that business, 
If you would grant the time. Shakspeare. 
To effuse. 
Coward dogs 
Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten 
Runs far before them. Shakspeare. 
To squander; to lavish.—The whole of our reflections 
terminate in this, what course we are to take to pass our 
time; some to get, and others to spend their estates. Wake. 
—To pass; to suffer to pass away.—He spends his life with 
his wife, and remembereth neither father nor mother. 1 
Esdr. —To waste; to wear out; to exhaust of force. 
They 
