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SPOKE. The preterite of speak. —They spoke best in 
the glory of their conquest. Sprat. 
SPQ'KEN. Participle passive of speak. —Would’stthou 
be spoken for to the king ? 2 Kings. 
SPO'KESMAN, s. One who speaks for another.—He 
shall be thy spokesman unto the people. Exod. 
SPOLETO, a duchy in the central part of Italy, in the 
Ecclesiastical States, comprising the greatest part of the 
ancient Umbria, and containing 100,000 inhabitants. 
SPOLETO, a town of the Ecclesiastical States, the capital 
of a duchy of the same name, situated on the side and sum¬ 
mit of a hill, near the small river Mareggia. It is large, but 
far from proportionally populous, containing only between 
6000 and 7000 inhabitants. The streets, from the uneven 
nature of the ground, are extremely steep, and, though the 
houses are in general well built, there is no edifice either 
public or private that has any claim to distinction. The 
buildings commonly noticed by travellers, are the cathedral 
and the castle: the former, occupying a commanding situ¬ 
ation, presents a front of five Gothic arches, supported by 
Grecian pillars ; the decorations of the interior display little 
taste; but from the terrace is enjoyed an extensive and 
beautiful view. The castle, situated on a high hill which 
overlooks the town, is a vast stone building, surrounded 
with a rampart. It is connected with the town by a bridge 
and aqueduct, thrown over a deep dell, and supported by 
arches of surprising height: the boldness of their construc¬ 
tion has made them be attributed to the Romans, but they 
bear evident marks of a more recent erection. Spoleto is a 
place of great antiquity, and was in vain attacked by the 
Carthaginians, after their victory at the lake Thrasymene. 
Its chief antiquities are two of the town gates, the ruins of a 
theatre, and those of a temple. The only manufacture of 
this place is of hats; 15 miles south-south-east of Foligno, 
and 55 north-north-east of Rome. Lat. 42. 44. 50. N. 
long. 12. 35. 46. E. 
To SPO'LIATE, v. a. [spolio , Lat.] To rob ; to plun¬ 
der. 
SPOLIATION, s. [spoliation, Fr.; spoliatio, Lat.] The 
act of robbery or privation.—An ecclesiastical benefice is 
sometimes void de jure et facto, and sometimes de facto, 
and not de jure; as when a man suffers a spoliation by his 
own act. Ai/liffe. 
SPOLOUK, a village on the south coast of Java, near to 
which are a beautiful grotto, and hot mineral springs raising 
Fahrenheit’s thermometer to 122° close by the side of the 
sea. The sultan of Mataram has several summer houses for 
bathing quarters, on the beach ; 104 miles south of Sama- 
rang. 
SPONDA'IC, or Sponda'ical, adj. Belonging to a 
spondee; like a spondee.—Pythagoras caused the musician 
to change the tones; and so by a heavy, grave, spondaical 
music he presently appeased their fury. Ferrand. —The 
measure of time in pronouncing may be varied, so as very 
strongly to represent not only the modes of external action, 
but the quick or slow succession of ideas, and consequently 
the passions of the mind. This at least was the power of the 
spondaick and dactylick harmony. Johnson. 
SPO'NDEE, s. [spondee. Ft.-, spondeeus, Lat.] Afoot 
of two long syllables.—We see in the choice of the words 
the weight of the stone, and the striving to heave it up the 
mountain: Homer clogs the verse with spondees, and leaves 
the vowels open. Broome. 
SPONDIAS [from the Gr. 'Znev'bw, lido, comes ermvdv), 
lihatio, rrmvheiw, the vessel for libation , and <tkqi ^eiov, 
the material of libation, as wine, honey, milk, &c.], in 
Botany, a genus of the class decandria, order pentagynia, 
natural order of terebintaceae (Juss.J— Generic Character. 
Calyx: perianth one-leafed, subcampanulate, small, five- 
cleft, coloured, deciduous. Corolla: petals five, oblong, 
flat, spreading. Stamina: filaments ten, awl-shaped, erect, 
shorter than the corolla, alternately longer. Anthers oblong. 
Pistil: germ ovate. Styles five, short, distant, erect. Stig¬ 
mas obtuse. Pericarp; drupe oblong, large, marked with 
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five dots from the falling of the styles; ten-valved. Seed; 
nut ovate, woody, fibrous, five-cornered, five-celled; covered 
with a fleshy elastic aril.— Essential Character. Calyx 
five-toothed. Corolla five-petalled. Drupe with a five- 
celled nut. 
1. Spondias mombin, purple hog-plum, or Spanish plum. 
—Leaves with the common petiole, compressed. The usual 
height of this tree is ten or twelve feet, and the stem is as 
large as a man’s leg, sending out branches towards the top, 
covered with a gray bark; these are destitute of leaves for 
some months, and in the spring, before the leaves appear, 
many purple flowers come out from the side of the branches; 
these are succeeded by fruit like plums, having a luscious thin 
pulp, covering a large fibrous stone. The leaves which come 
out afterwards are unequally pinnate, with four or five pairs 
of leaflets, about an inch long, and half an inch broad.—Na¬ 
tive of South America. 
2. Spondias myrobalanus, yellow hog-plum, or Jamaica 
plum.—Petioles round, leaflets shining, acuminate. This 
rises to the height of thirty feet or more, sending out many 
crooked irregular branches, which are destitute of leaves for 
some months: the branches have a light-coloured bark, and 
unequally pinnate leaves, with four or six pairs of leaflets 
near two inches long, and an inch broad, having deep longi¬ 
tudinal veins. The flowers come out before the leaves ap¬ 
pear; and are succeeded by yellow plums an inch or more 
in length, growing in a sort of raceme: they have large 
fibrous stones with a thin covering of flesh.—Native of all the 
Caribbee islands, and the neighbouring continent. 
3. Spondias mangifera, or mango hog-plum.—Leaflets 
oblong, quite entire; panicle racemed.—Found in the East 
Indies. 
4. Spondias dulcis, or sweet hog-plum.—Petioles round, 
six-paired; leaflets serrate, ribbed. This is a tall shady tree, 
with a handsome spreading head. Trunk thicker than a 
man’s body, upright, fifty feet high, flowering before the 
time of leafing in September. Cultivated in the Society and 
Friendly Islands of the South Sea, especially in Otaheite. 
The golden fruit hangs in little nodding bunches, and is 
esteemed one of the most tasteful and wholesome; it has al¬ 
most the same flavour with the ananas, and not only assuages 
thirst, but is given to the sick without distinction. 
Propagation and Culture. —These plants grow easily 
from cuttings planted in pots filled with rich light earth, 
and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, covering them down 
either with bell or hand glasses, to exclude the external air, 
and shading them from the sun. The best time for this is 
in the spring, before the plants put out their leaves. They 
may also be propagated by the stones, if they are brought 
over fresh. 
SPONDON, a parish of England, in Derbyshire; 3 
miles east-by-south of Derby. Population 943. 
SPO'NDYLE, 5. [cnrwSvAo?, Gr.; spondile, Fr.; spoil - 
dtjlus, Lat.] A vertebra; a joint of the spine. —It hath for 
the spine or back-bone a cartilaginous substance, without 
any spondples , processes, or protuberances. Brown. 
SPONDYLI [Sttoj/SuAoj, Gr.], in Antiquity, pellets of brass 
used in giving sentence, before the Kvxp.oi, or beans, came 
into use. 
SPONDYLOLITHOS, a name given by authors to a 
stone found in the country of Tyrol, and elsewhere, resem¬ 
bling the vertebrse of an animal. It is in reality no other 
than the vertebrse of some sea-fish petrified, as is common 
with us. 
SPONDYLUS [ovroySiAo?, Gr.], a term anciently used for 
a vertebra of the spina dorsi. 
SPONDYLUS, in Natural History, a genus of the class 
and order vermes testacea, of which the Generic Character 
is: —Animal a tethys; shell hard, solid, with unequal 
valves; one of the valves is convex, the other rather flat;. 
hinge with two recurved teeth, separated by a small hollow. 
There are four. 
1. Spondylus gaedaropus.—The shell of this species is 
slightly eared and spinous.—It inhabits the Mediterranean, 
- -the 
