S P R 
S P R 
of the joint.—I was in pain, and thought it was with some 
sprain at tennis. Temple. 
SPRAINTS, s. The dung of an otter. Johnson. 
SPRANG, The preterite of spring. —Mankind sprang 
from one common original; whence this tradition would be 
universally diffused. Tillotson. 
SPRANG, a village of the Netherlands, in South Holland, 
with 1100 inhabitants. 
SPRANGER (Bartholomew), was the son of Joachim 
Spranger, a merchant of eminence at Antwerp, and was born 
there in 1546. As he exhibited an inclination for painting, 
he was placed as a disciple with John Madyn, a painter of 
some reputation at Haerlem, and afterwards with Francis 
Mostaert. He then went to Parma and studied, under Ber¬ 
nardino Gatti, who had been a disciple of Correggio. He 
thence went to Rome, where the cardinal Farnese favoured 
him with his patronage, and engaged him to paint, in the 
Villa Caprarola, several landscapes in fresco. By the cardinal 
he was introduced to the pope, Pius V., who appointed him 
his painter, and gave him apartments in the Palazzo Belvidere. 
His first work for his holiness was a picture of the Last Judg¬ 
ment, a composition of five hundred figures, painted upon a 
copper-plate six feet high. This picture is said to have 
taken him three years to complete, and to have been finished 
with great care; and in consequence of its being highly 
esteemed by the pope, it was placed upon his tomb, after his 
decease. 
The renown of Spranger having reached the court of 
Vienna, to which he was invited there by the emperor Maximi¬ 
lian II. in 1575, and appointed his principal painter. On that 
emperor’s death in the following year, his successor, Rodol- 
phus II., continued to shew the same favour to Spranger, and 
engaged him in several works of importance both at Vienna 
and at Prague; respecting him highly, not only for his abi ■ 
lities as a painter, but also for his literary acquirements, and 
other accomplishments. In 1588 he was ennobled by his 
imperial majesty, who honoured him by placing round his 
neck, with his own hands, a chain of gold, with a medal at¬ 
tached to it. Spranger died at Prague, in 1623, aged 77. 
The style of this painter is that which was built upon the 
defects of Michael Angelo, or rather in the perversion of his 
style, by a crude and indigested adoption of its most promi¬ 
nent character, without the judicious taste and feeling in 
which it originated. It was consequently extravagant and 
bombastic, presenting inflated muscles, and knobby excres¬ 
cences for bones, redeemed only in some eyes by a lively 
fancy, an agreeable facility of execution, and a pleasing 
colour. 
SPRAT, s. [sprot, Dutch.] A small sea-fish. See 
Clupia. 
So oft in feasts with costly changes clad. 
To crammed maws a sprat new stomach brings. Sidney. 
SPRAT (Thomas), bishop of Rochester, a writer of con¬ 
siderable eminence in the 17th century, was born in 1636 
at Tallaton, in Devonshire, where his father was a clergy¬ 
man. He received his academical education at Wadham 
college, Oxford, of which Dr. Wilkins, was then warden, 
under whom he acquired a proficiency in mathematical 
knowledge. In 1657 he was elected a fellow of his college; 
and on the death of Oliver Cromwell, he gave a specimen 
of his poetical talents in an “ Ode to the happy Memory of 
the late Lord Protector,” addressed to Dr. Wilkins. This 
ode was followed by one on the “ Plague of Athens,” which, 
as well as the former, afforded proof of a warmth and readi¬ 
ness of conception. At the Restoration, like many others, 
he atoned for his former delinquency by zealous loyalty, 
and was made chaplain to the duke of Buckingham, who was 
his zealous friend and patron. He was chosen a member of 
the Royal Society; and, in 1667, Sprat published the history 
of its foundation; and obtained a high reputation for the 
elegance of the style and sentiment exhibited in the work. 
He had published, two years previously to this, “ Observa¬ 
tions on Sorbiere’s Voyage to England,” which were well re¬ 
ceived. He was successively made a prebendary of West- 
491 
minster, rector of St. Margaret’s, canon of Windsor, dean of 
Westminster, and finally, in 1684, was raised to the epis¬ 
copal bench as bishop of Rochester. This last preferment 
was considered as a reward for the service of drawing up, at 
the command of the king, an account of the Rye-house plot. 
This was first printed in 1685, and was reprinted in the fol¬ 
lowing year, after James II. had succeeded to the throne. 
The manner in which he had executed this task rendered it 
expedient for him to publish an apology, after the Revolu¬ 
tion. He had reflected on the characters of those, whose 
names have been long ranked among the martyrs to liberty. 
Of lord Russell, Sprat observes, “ that he was carried away 
into this traiterous conspiracy from a vain air of popularity, 
and a wild suspicion of losing a large estate by an imaginary 
return of popery.” His favour under the new reign was 
manifested by his appointment to the place of clerk of the 
closet to the king, and his nomination as one of the com¬ 
missioners for ecclesiastical affairs. At the revolution he 
submitted to the new government, and was allowed to remain 
unmolested in his see. His principles, however, being well 
known, he was involved, in 1692, with others, in an infor¬ 
mation laid before the privy council, of a pretended conspi¬ 
racy for restoring king James. He detected the infamy of the 
informers, and effectually cleared himself from the charge; 
but he was so much affected by the danger he had undergone, 
that he ever after commemorated his deliverance by an annual 
thanksgiving. He passed the rest of his life in the practice 
of professional duties and virtues, by which he engaged the 
esteem and affection of those with whom he was connected, 
and died in 1713, in the 79th year of his age. Besides the 
works already mentioned, he published A Relation of his ex¬ 
amination before the privy council, Two Letters to Lord 
Dorset, and A Volume of Sermons. Biog. Brit. 
SPRATTON, a parish of England, in Northamptonshire; 
7 miles north-north-west of Northampton. Population 801. 
To SPRAWL, v. n. [spraddle, Danish; spartelen, Dutch. 
—To tumble, or creep with much agitation and contortion 
of the limbs. 
Telamon happ’d to meet 
A rising root that held his fasten’d feet; 
So down he fell, whom sprawling on the ground, 
His brother from the wooden gyves unbound. Dry den. 
SPRAY, s. [of the same race with sprit, sprout, or sprig.] 
—The extremity of a branch. 
At sight whereof each bird that sits on spray 
And every beast that to his den was fled, 
Come forth afresh out of their late dismay. 
And to the light lift up their drooping head. Spenser. 
The foam of the sea: sometimes written spry.~- Winds 
raise some of the salt with the spray. Arbuthnot. 
To SPREAD, v. a. [fpjiseban, pppeban, Sax., spreyden, 
Teut. Spred was, anciently, common]—To extend; to 
expand; to make to cover or fill a larger space than before. 
Faire attendants then, 
The sheets and bedding of the man of men. 
Within a cabin of the hollow keele, 
Spread and made soft. Chapman. 
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish. Jer. 
—To cover by extension. 
Her cheeks their freshness lose and wonted grace, 
And an unusual paleness spreads her face. Granville. 
To cover over.—The workman melteth a graven image, 
and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold. Isa. 
—To stretch; to extend.-— Spread o’er the silver waves thy 
golden hair. Shakspeare .—To publish; to divulge; to 
disseminate.—They, when departed, spread abroad his fame, 
in all that country. St. Matthew. —To emit as effluvia or 
emanations; to diffuse. 
Their course through thickest constellations held. 
They spread their bane. Milton. 
To SPREAD, v. n. To extend or expand itself.—Plants, 
if they spread much, are seldom tall. Bacon. 
SPREAD, s. Extent; compass.—I have got a fine 
spread 
