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multitude in a body surrounded me, and expressed the utmost astonishment at my dress and appearance. Some stood motionless with their hands lifted up, their eyes fixed, and their mouths open, in wonder and surprise. Some burst into fits of laughter; while others with uncommon attention eyed me from head to foot. The parts of my dress which seemed most to attract their notice were my buckles, buttons, and stockings; for neither men nor women in this country wear any thing of the kind. With respect to the club of my hair, they seemed utterly at a loss in what view to consider it; but the powder they conceived to be employed for destroying vermin. Most of the children, when they saw me, ran away in consternation; and I appeared as singular an animal, and I dare say had the honor of exciting as much curiosity and attention, as a lion or a man-tiger just imported from abroad, and introduced into a country town in England on a market-day. Every time I visited the harem I was surrounded and laughed at by this curious mob, who, on my entering the gate, followed me close to the very chamber to which I was proceeding, and on my return universally escorted me out. The greater part of the women were uncommonly fat and unwieldy; had black and full eyes, round faces, with small noses They were of different complexions; some very fair, some sallow, and others again perfect ne groes. One of my new patients being ready to receive me, I was desired to walk within her room; where to my great surprise I saw nothing but a curtain drawn quite across the apartment, similar to that of the theatre which separates the stage from the audience. A female domestic brought a very low stool, placed it near the curtain, and told me I was to sit down there, and feel her mistress's pulse. The lady, who had by this time summoned up courage to speak, introduced her hand from the bottom of the curtain, and desired me to inform her of all her complaints, which she conceived I might perfectly do by merely feeling the pulse. It was in vain to ask her where her pain was seated; the only answer I could procure was a request to feel the pulse of the other hand. I was under the necessity of informing her in positive terms that to understand the disease it was absolutely necessary to see the tongue as well as to feel the pulse; and that without it I could do nothing for her. My eloquence, or that of my Jewish interpreter, was, however, long exerted in vain; and she would have dismissed me without any further enquiry, had not her invention supplied her with a happy expedient. She contrived to cut a hole through the curtain through which she extruded her tongue, and thus complied with my injunction, but most effectually disappointed my curiosity. I was afterwards ordered to look at another of the prince's wives, who was affected with a scrophulous swelling in her neck. This lady was, in the same manner as the other, at first excluded from my sight; but, as she was obliged to show me her complaint, I had an opportunity of seeing her face, and observed it to be very handsome.' It is curious to observe the childish notions of persons who have been totally secluded from the world. All the ladies of the harem expected that

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our author should have instantly discovered their complaints upon feeling the pulse, and that he could cure every disease instantaneously. He found them proud and vain of their persons, and extremely ignorant. Among many ridiculous questions, they asked my interpreter,' says M. Lempriere, if I could read and write; upon being answered in the affirmative, they expressed the utmost surprise and admiration at the abilities of the Christians. There was not one among them who could do either; these rudiments of learning are indeed only the lot of a few of their men, who on that account are named Talbs, or explainers of the Mahometan law.' Their needlework is performed by Jewesses; their food is dressed, and their chambers taken care of, by slaves and domestics. They have no amusement but a rude and barbarous kind of melancholy music, without melody, variety, or taste; and conversation with one another, which must indeed be very confined, uniform, and inanimate, as they never see a new object. Excluded from the enjoyment of fresh air and exercise, so necessary for the support of health and life; deprived of all society but that of their fellow sufferers, a society to which most of them would prefer solitude itself; they are only to be considered as the most abject of slaves-slaves to the vices and caprice of a licentious tyrant, who exacts even from his wives themselves a degree of submission and respect which borders upon idolatry, and which God never meant should be paid to a mortal.

SERAI, a building on the high-road or in large cities in India, erected for the accommodation of travellers.

SERAMPEI, a district in the interior of Sumatra, bounded on the north and north-west by Korinchi, on the east, south-east, and south, by Pakalang, Jambee, and Sungei-tenang; and on the west and south-west by the greater Ayer Dikit River, and chain of high mountains bordering on the Sungei-ipu country. It comprehends fifteen fortified independent villages, besides several talangs, or small open ones. Their entrenchments consist of large trees laid horizontally between stakes driven into the ground, about seven feet high, and six feet thick, with loop-holes for firing through. The inhabitants further defend themselves by planting ranjaus, which are small sharp-pointed rods, in the paths, and carefully concealed, which wound the feet in a distressing manner. They decapitate the bodies of their enemies, stick the heads on poles, and address abusive language to them. Those taken alive are made slaves. In general the inhabitants seem to be quiet and inoffensive. The women are ugly, and their manners uncouth. These people are very strong, being capable of carrying heavy loads during journeys of twenty or thirty days. They acknowledge themselves the subjects of the sultan of Jambee. The country produces cocoa-nuts and cassia. Of the caimal productions the rhinoceros is the most considerable; unless we except an annoying insect which drops in myriads from the trees, and being very long and slender, penetrates the clothes, when travellers sometimes strip, and go into the water in order to wash them off. Part of Serampei is hilly; it is intersected by several

rivers, and contains hot springs, near which columns of smoke are seen to issue from the earth. The inhabitants are Mahometans.

SERAMPORE, so called after Siri Ram, one of the Hindoo deities, a town of Bengal, belonging to the Danes, and pleasantly situated on the western bank of the Bhaggarutty or Hoogly River, twelve miles north of Calcutta. The territory attached extends about a mile along the river, by half a mile in breadth. The houses are of brick, plastered with mortar, and have flat roofs, with balconies and Venetian windows, but few of them are more than two stories high. There is a handsome church, and a battery of twelve pieces of cannon near the flag-staff. It carries on a trifling trade with Europe, China, &c., but is principally distinguished as the residence of the Baptist missionaries, and of the British subjects who take refuge here from their creditors. About the year 1676 the Danes obtained this site for their factory, from the nabob Shaista Khan, who gave great countenance to European and other merchants. During the short war with the Danes it was taken possession of by a British force, but soon after restored. Long. 88° 26′ E., lat. 22° 45′ N.-There are several other places of this name in Hindostan.

SERANGANI, a cluster of islands in the eastern seas, about five leagues from the southern extremity of Magindanao, and between 5° and 6' of N. lat. The largest, named Hummock, is about thirty miles, and the next in size about twenty-five miles in circumference. There is also another of inferior dimensions. This island, which is the most westerly, is very high, making a sugar loaf. Its north coast is bold: it is well cultivated, and, is called Belk. It produces most of the tropical fruits, together with rice, sugar-canes, pine-apples, mangoes, sour oranges, limes, jacks, plantains, cocoa-nuts, sago, sweet potatoes, tobacco, Indian corn, and honey. The eastern has not near so good an appearance, neither are there any cocoa-nut trees to be seen on it. These islands abound in refreshments, with which they abundantly supply ships. The articles most in request among them are white or printed cottons, such as loose gowns or jackets, colored handkerchiefs, clasp knives, razors, and bar iron: metal buttons are also in demand, and a coat is soon stripped. The inhabitants speak the same language, and are of the same description, as those on the sea coast of Magindanao, being complete Malays. They have canoes, and larger boats, armed with small brass cannon; and, like the other natives of the eastern isles, are addicted to piracy. Their prows are covered with an awning of split bamboos. The Dutch East India Company claimed a sovereignty here, but do not appear to have exercised any of its functions, or to have founded any colonies.

SERAPEUM, Lat., in archaiology, a temple of Serapis, the Egyptian deity. The most famous of these edifices was that at Alexandria. Rufinus, who witnessed it while standing, has left us the following description :-‘This vast mass of building is square, and forms an immense platform, supported on arches, and upon which stands the temple itself. The vaults of the plat

form are separated into a great number of different apartments, which afford lodging to the priests and attendants; and around are refectories, council chambers, &c. The temple itself is adorned with columns, and has walls of marble.' Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, had built this serapeum on a spot by which, for a long time before, had stood a chapel consecrated to Serapis and Isis. Both this and the new temple, however, were destroyed by order of the Christian emperor Theodosius. The statue of Serapis, according to Macrobius, was of a human form, with a basket or bushel on his head, signifying plenty. His right hand leaned on the head of a serpent, whose body was wound round a figure with three heads-of a dog, a lion, and a wolf. In his left hand he held a measure of a cubit length, as it were, to take the height of the waters of the Nile. This celebrated statue was destroyed with the temple; its limbs first carried in triumph through the city, and then thrown by the Christians into a fierce fire kindled for that purpose in the amphitheatre. The figure of Serapis is found on many ancient medals.

SER'APH, n. s. Į Heb. 8, literally, a SERAPH'IC, adj. burning one. One of the supposed orders of angels: seraphim is the proper plural: seraphic is relating to or like seraphim.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand. Isaiah vi. 6. To thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry. Common Prayer.

Love is curious of little things, desiring to be of angelical purity, of perfect innocence, and seraphical fervor. Taylor. Milton.

Of seraphim another row.
Seraphick arms and trophies.

Id.

of his nature, from the highest and perfectest of all He is infinitely more remote, in the real excellency created beings, than the purest seraph is from the most contemptible part of matter, and consequently must infinitely exceed what our narrow understandings can conceive of him. Locke.

As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns. Pope. 'Tis to the world a secret yet, Whether the nymph, to please her swain, Talks in a high romantic strain;

Or whether he at last descends

To like with less seraphick ends.

Swift.

SERAPH, or SERAPHIM, has been considered, but upon what grounds we know out, as a spirit of the highest rank in the hierarchy of angels; who are thus called from their being supposed to be most inflamed with divine love, by their nearer and more immediate attendance at the throne of God, and to communicate their fervor to the remoter and inferior orders. See ANGEL.

SERAPIAS, in botany, a genus of the diandria order, and gynandria class of plants; natural order seventh, orchidea; the nectarium is eggshaped and gibbous, with an egg-shaped lip. The species, according to Linnæus, are eleven; viz. S. Capensis; 2. cordigera; 3. erecta; 4. falcata; 5. grandiflora, or ensifolia; 6. lancifolia; 7. latifolia; 8. lingua; 9. longifolia; 10. palustris; 11. rubra. Of these the following are the most remarkable:-1. S. grandiflora, or white-flowered helleborine, grows in woods,

and flowers in June. Its characteristics are, fibrous bulbs, sword-shaped leaves, erect flowers; and the lip of the nectarium is obtuse and shorter than the petals. The flowers are large and erect, and consisting of six or eight in a thin spike; the petals are all white, and connive together; the lip of the nectarium is inclosed within the petals, is white and streaked with three yellow prominent lines. It is a native of Britain. 2. S. latifolia, the broad-leaved helleborine, is distinguished by fibrous bulbs, by ovate stemclasping leaves, and pendulous flowers. The stalk is erect, about a cubit high, and furnished with six or eight nervous oval leaves; the spike is about six inches long; the three upper petals are of a green color, and of an oval acute form; the lateral ones are a little shorter, and of a white color, with a little tinge of green. It is a native of Britain. 3. S. longifolia, the long leaved helleborine, is also a native of Britain. It has long leaves. 4. S. palustris, the marsh helleborine, grows in rough boggy pastures and marshes, and flowers in July. It is distinguished by fibrous bulbs, sword-shaped sessile leaves, pendulous flowers; and the lip of the nectarium is obtuse, somewhat serrated, and longer than the petals. The flowers grow to the number of fifteen or twenty in a loose spike. The three exterior petals are green mixed with red; the lateral ones are white with a red blush; and the nectarium is marked with red lines and yellow tuberculous spots.

SERAPIO, a Greek poet, who flourished in the reign of Trajan. He was intimate with Plutarch.

SERAPION, a physician of Alexandria. He and Philinus of the isle of Cos were both scholars of Herophilus, and founders of the empiric sect; about A. A. C. 287.

SERAPION (John), an Arabian physician, who flourished about A. D. 890. He is by some confounded with the Alexandrian, though he lived 600 years later. His works were printed at Venice, in folio, in 1497, and 1550.

SERAPIS, in mythology, an Egyptian deity, who was worshipped under various names and attributes, as the tutelary god of Egypt in general, and as the patron of several of their principal cities. Herodotus, who describes all the other Egyptian deities, makes no mention of Serapis. Tacitus informs us that he was worshipped as a kind of universal deity that represented Esculapius, Osiris, Jupiter, and Plato; and he was sometimes taken for Jupiter Ammon, the Sun, and Neptune; and the honors that were rendered to him at Alexandria were more solemn and extraordinary than those of any other place. Plutarch, Clemens of Alexandria, and Tacitus inform us, that while the first Ptolemy was employed in fortifying Alexandria with walls, adorning it with temples and stately buildings, there appeared to him in his sleep a young man of extraordinary beauty, of a stature more than human, admonishing him to dispatch into Pontus some of his most trusty friends to bring thence his statue: he assured him that the city and kingdom which possessed it should prove happy, glorious, and powerful. The young man, having thus spoke, disappeared, mounting up into heaven in a blaze

of fire. Ptolemy discovered his vision to the priests; but, finding them ignorant of Pontus, he had recourse to an Athenian, who informed him that near Sinope, a city of Pontus, there was a temple much resorted to by the natives, which was consecrated to Pluto, where he had a statue, near which stood that of a woman. Ptolemy neglecting the injunctions of the apparition, it again appeared to him in a menacing attitude; and the king immediately dispatched ambassadors to the Serapian monarch, loaded with presents. The king of Sinope consented; but his subjects opposed the removal of the statue. The god, however, of his own accord, as we are informed, conveyed himself to the ambassador's ship, and in three days landed in Alexandria. The statue of Serapis was erected in one of the suburbs of the city, where a magnificent temple was afterwards reared. This statue, according to Macrobius, was of a human form, with a basket or bushel on his head, signifying plenty; his right hand leaned on the head of a serpent, whose body was wound round a figure with three heads, of a dog, a lion, and a wolf; in his left hand he held a measure of a cubit length, as it were to take the height of the waters of the Nile. The figure of Serapis is found on many ancient medals. The famous temple of Serapis at Alexandria was destroyed by order of Theodosius; and the celebrated statue of this deity was broken in pieces, and its limbs carried first in triumph by the Christians through the city, and then thrown into a fierce fire, kindled for that purpose in the amphitheatre. As the Egyptians ascribed the overflowing of the Nile, to which was owing the fertility of their country, to the benign influence of their god Serapis, they concluded that now he was destroyed the river would no longer overflow, and that a general famine would ensue; but when they observed, on the contrary, that the Nile swelled to a greater height than had been known in the memory of man, and thereby produced an immense plenty of all kinds of provisions, many of the Pagans, renouncing the worship of idols, adored the god of the Christians.

withered; no longer green. See SEAR.
SERE, adj. Sax. reapian, to dry. Dry;
The muses, that were wont green bays to wear,
Spenser.
Now bringen bitter elder-branches sere.

He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless every where;
Vitious, ungentle. Shakspeare. Comedy of Errours.
Ere this diurnal star

Leave cold the night, how we his gathered beams Milton. Reflected may with matter sere foment.

They sere wood from the rotten hedges took, And seeds of latent fire from flints provoke. Dryden. On a sere branch, Low bending to the bank, I sat me down, Musing and sti.1.

Rowe's Royal Convert.

SERE, n.s. Of this word I know not the etymology. Can it come, like sheers, from Sax. reynan, to cut?-Johnson. Ital. serri; Fr. serre; of Lat. sero.-Thomson. Claw; talon Two eagles, That mounted on the winds, together s'ill Their strokes extended; but arriving now Amidst the council, over every brow

Shook their thick wings, and threatening death's cold fears,

Their necks and cheeks tore with their eager seres,

Chapman. SERE, in hawking, is used for the yellow part of a hawk between the beak and the eyes (see FALCONRY); but this cannot be Chapman's meaning.

SEREGIPPE, or SERGIPPE, a province of Brasil, bounded north by Pernambuco, south by the province of Todos Santos, east by the sea, and west by interior deserts. It is very fertile and well cultivated, abounding in cattle, grain, tobacco, and sugar, in all of which it carries on a flourishing trade. Its ports do not admit large vessels. Population 20,000.

SEREGIPPE, the capital of the above province, is situated on the shore of the river Vazabaris, five miles from the coast. It has a very handsome parish church, but is not a large or very flourishing place.

SERENADE', n. s. Fr. serenade; Ital. serenata, whence in Milton serenate, from Lat. serenus, the lovers commonly attending their mistresses in fair nights. Music or songs with which ladies are entertained by their lovers in the night.

Mixt dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball,
Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
To his proud fair; best quitted with disdain.

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A SERENADE is a kind of concert given in the night by a lover to his mistress, under her window. These sometimes cousist only of instrumental music, but at other times voices are added; the music and songs composed for these

occasions are also called serenades.

SERENE', n. s. & v. a.
SERENE LY, adv.
SERENITUDE, n. s.

SEREN'ITY.

substantive corresponding.

Fr. serein; Latin serenus. Calm;

adverb and

noun

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SERENUS SAMMONICUS, a celebrated physician, who flourished in the reigns of Severus and Caracalla, about A. D. 200.

He wrote several treatises on history and the works of nature; but there is only one poem extant, On the Remedies of Diseases. The best edition is that of Amster

placid; quiet: the dam, in 8vo., 1706. He was murdered, at a festival, by the order of Caracalla. He had a library that contained 62,000 volumes, which Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, his son, gave to Gordian the Younger, to whom he was preceptor.

Wherever death doth please t'appear,
Seas, serenes, swords, shots, sickness, all are there.
Ben Jonson.

From the equal distribution of the phlegmatick humour will flow quietude and serenitude in the afWotton.

fections.

Spirits live insphered

In regions mild of calm and serene air.
There wanted yet a creature might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest.

These eves that roll in vain,

Milton.

Id.

Id.

So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs.
A general peace and serenity newly succeeded a
general trouble and cloud throughout all his king-
Temple.

doms.

SERERES, a tribe of the Joloffs, in Western Africa, inhabiting the country in the vicinity or Cape Verd. They are dispersed into small republics, which unite into one body against a common enemy, and go naked. They appear to have few or no ideas of religion; but seem an inoffensive industrious people, and hospitable to

strangers.

SERES, or SIRUS, a large inland town of modern Macedon, situated in an elevated plain, at some distance to the east of the ancient Strymon, now the Carasou or Pondus. It has a number of handsome mosques, baths, and other public edifices. Its manufacture of towels and strong

linen cloth is the most noted in the Levant: those of cotton stuffs are also very extensive. The surrounding district is fertile in cotton, tobacco, and different kinds of corn and fruit. It is to this fertility, and the health of the situation, that the town owes its increase. It is the residence of a Greek archbishop. Population 30,000. Forty-five miles north-east of Salonica. SERGE, n. s. Fr. serge; Span. xerga, which Covaruvias derives from Arab. ririca, Skinner from Germ. serge, a mat. A kind of woollen

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SERGE is a woollen quilted stuff, manufactured commonly on a loom with four treddles, after the manner of rateens, and other stuffs that have a wale. The goodness of serges is known by the quilting, as that of cloth by the spinning. Of serges there are various kinds, denominated either from the different qualities thereof or from the places where they are wrought. The most considerable is the London serge, highly valued abroad, particularly in France, where a manufacture is carried on with considerable success, under the title of serge façon de Londres. The method of making the London serge is as follows:-For wool, the longest is chosen for the warp, and the shortest for the woof. Before either kind is used it is first scoured, by putting it in a copper of liquor, somewhat more than lukewarm, composed of three parts of fair water and one of urine. After having staid long enough therein for the liquor to dissolve, and had the grease taken off, &c., it is stirred briskly about with a wooden peel; taken out of the liquor, drained, and washed in a running water, dried in the shade, beaten with sticks on a wooden rack to drive out the coarser dust and filth, and then picked clean with the hands. Thus far prepared, it is greased with oil of olives, and the longest part, destined for the warp, is combed with large combs, heated in a little furnace for the purpose. To clear off the oil again, the wool is put in a liquor composed of hot water with soap melted therein: whence being taken out, wrung, and dried, it is spun on a wheel. The shorter wool, intended for the woof, is only carded on the knee with small cards, and then spun on the wheel, without being scoured of its oil. It must be remarked that the thread for the warp is always to be spun much finer, and better twisted than that of the woof. The wool, both for the warp and the woof, being spun, and the thread divided into skains, that of the woof is put on spools (unless it has been spun upon them) fit for the cavity or eye of the shuttle; and that for the warp is wound on a kind of wooden bobbins, to fit it for warping. When warped, it is stiffened with a kind of size, whereof that made of the shreds of parchment is held the best; and when dry is put on the loom. When mounted on the loom, the workman raising and lowering the threads (which are passed through a reed), by means of four treddles placed underneath the loom, which he makes to act trans

versely, equally, and alternately, one after another, with his feet, in proportion as the threads are raised and lowered, throws the shuttle across from one side to the other; and each time that the shuttle is thrown, and the thread of the woof is crossed between those of the warp, strikes it with the frame to which the reed is fastened, through those teeth the threads of the warp pass; and this stroke he repeats twice or thrice, or even more, till he judges the crossing of the serge sufficiently close: thus he proceeds till the warp is all filled with woof. The serge now taken off the loom is carried to the fuller, who scours it in the trough of his mill with a kind of fat earth, called fuller's earth, first purged of all stones and filth. After three or four hours' scouring, the fullers' earth is washed out in fair water, brought by little and little into the trough, out of which it is taken when all the earth is cleared: then, with a kind of iron pincers, or plyers, they pull off all the knots, ends, straws, &c., sticking out on the surface on either side, and then return it into the fulling trough, where it is worked with water somewhat more than lukewarm, with soap dissolved therein, for nearly two hours; it is then washed out till the water becomes quite clear, and there be no signs of soap left; then it is taken out of the trough, the knots, &c., again pulled off, and then put on the tenter to dry, taking care as fast as it dries to stretch it out both in length and breadth till it be brought to its just dimensions. When well dried, it is taken off the tenter, and dyed, shorn, and pressed.

SERGEANT, n.s. Fr. sergent; Ital. serSERGEANTRY, gente; from Lat. serSERGEANTSHIP. viens. An officer whose business it is to execute the commands of others; his office: for the legal use see below. When it was day, the magistrates sent the serActs xvi. 35. geants, saying, Let these men go. Had I but time, as this fell sergeant, Death, strict in his arrest, oh! I could tell. Shakspeare. Hamlet.

Is

This is the sergeant,
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought.

Id. Macbeth. None should be made sergeants but such as probably might be held fit to be judges afterwards.

Bacon.

Grand sergeantry is that where one holdeth lands of the king by service, which he ought to do in his own person unto him: as to bear the king's banner or his spear, or to lead his host, or to be his marshal, or to blow a horn, when he seeth his enemies invade the four seas, or else to do it himself; or to bear the the land; or to find a man at arms to fight within king's sword before him at his coronation; or on that day to be his sewer, carver, butler, or chamberlain. Petit sergeantry is where a man holdeth land of the king, to yield him yearly some small thing towards his wars; as a sword, dagger, bow, knife, spear, pair of gloves of mail, a pair of spurs, or such like.

Cowel.

SERGEANT, in war, is an uncommissioned officer in a company of foot or troop of dragoons, armed with a halberd, and appointed to see discipline observed, to teach the soldiers the exercise of their arms, to order, straighten, and form their ranks, files, &c. He receives the orders

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