with a woman of great reputation for piety, who told him, with joy, that a sermon on Ps. cxix. 130, preached by his father thirty years before, was the means of her conversion. Being strongly inclined to the ministry, Mr. Say entered as a pupil in the academy of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Rowe at London about 1692, where he had for his fellow-students Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Isaac Watts, Hughes the poet, and Mr. Josiah Hort, afterwards archbishop of Tuam. When he had finished his studies, he became chaplain to Thomas Scott, esq. of Lyminge in Kent, in whose family he continued three years. Thence he removed to Andover in Hampshire, then to Yarmouth in Norfolk, and soon after to Lowestoff in Suffolk, where he continued labouring in word and doctrine eighteen years. He was afterwards copastor with the Rev. Mr. Samuel Baxter at Ipswich nine years; and lastly was called, in 1734, to succeed Dr. Edmund Calamy in Westminster, where he died at his house in James-street, April 12, 1743, of a mortification in his bowels, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.

In his funeral sermon, preached by Dr. Obadiah Hughes, and afterwards printed, a due elogium is paid to his ministerial abilities; and, soon after his death, a thin quarto volume of his poems, with two essays in prose, "On the Harmony, Variety, and Power of Numbers," written at the request of Mr. Richardson the painter, were published for the benefit of his daughter, who married the Rev. Mr. Toms, of Hadleigh in Suffolk. The essays have been much admired by persons of taste and judgment. And the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1780, p. 568, has rescued from oblivion some remarks, by the same judicious hand, from the margin of a copy of Mr. Auditor Benson's "Prefatory Discourse to his Edition of Johnston's Psalms, and the Conclusion of that Discourse, 1741."

In the preface to his works, we are told that Mr. Say "was a tender husband, an indulgent father, and of a most benevolent, communicative disposition, ever ready to do good, and to distribute. He was well versed in astronomy and natural philosophy; had a taste for music and poetry, was a good critic, and a master of the classics. Yet so great was his modesty, that he was known only to a few select friends, and never published above two or three sermons, which were in a manner extorted from him." Among the modern Latin poets Broukhusius was his favourite; among the English, Milton, whose head, etched by Mr.

Richardson, is prefixed to his second essay. A letter from Mr. Say to Mr. Hughes, and two from Mr. Say to Mr. Duncombe, with a Latin translation of the beginning of "Paradise Lost," are printed among the "Letters of Eminent Persons deceased," vol. I. and vol. II. His characters of Mrs. Bridget Bendysh, grand-daughter of Oliver Cromwell, in the appendix to vol. II. first appeared (without a name) in Gent. Mag. 1765, p. 357. In the same volume, p. 423, "The Resurrection illustrated by the Changes of the Silkworm" is by the same hand. And some of his poetical pieces are in Nichols's "Select Collection, vol. VI.

Mr. Say had collected all the forms of prayer on public occasions from the time of archbishop Laud, which after his death were offered to the then archbishop of York (Dr. Herring), but were declined by him as "never likely to be employed in compositions of that sort for the public, that work being in the province of Canterbury." Yet, unlikely as it seemed, this event soon happened.'

SCEVOLA. See ST. MARTHE.

SCALA (BARTHOLOMEW), an Italian, eminent as a statesman and man of letters, when letters were just reviving in Europe, was born about 1424, some say 1430. He was only the son of a miller; but, going early to Florence, he fell under the notice of Cosmo de Medici; who, observing uncommon parts in him and a turn for letters, took him under his protection, and gave him an education. He studied the law; and, taking a doctor's degree in that faculty, frequented the bar. After the death of Cosmo in 1464, Peter de Medici shewed the same regard for him; and Scala, through his means, was trusted by the republic in the most important negociations. In 1471, the freedom of the city was conferred on him and his descendants; and the year after he obtained letters of nobility; he was then secretary or chancellor of the republic. In 1484, the Florentines sent a solemn embassy to Innocent VIII, to congratulate him on his being raised to the pontificate; when Scala, one of the embassy, delivered a speech so very pleasing to the pope, that he was made by him a knight of the golden spur, and senator of Rome. In 1486, he was made holy-standard-bearer to the republic. He died at Florence in 1497; and left, among other children, a daugh

1 Gent. Mag. See Index.-Abp. Herring's Letters.-Wilson's Hist. of Dissenting Churches.

ter, named Alexandra, who afterwards became famous for her learning and skill in the Greek and Latin tongues.

During his life-time were published the abovementioned speech to pope Innocent; another speech which he made as chancellor of Florence, "Pro Imperatoriis militaribus signis dandis Constantio Sfortia Imperatori," 1481; and "Apologia contra vituperatores civitatis Florentiæ," 1496, in folio. His posthumous works are four books, "De Historia Florentina," and " Vita di Vitaliani Borromeo;" both printed at Rome in 1677, 4to. This history of the Florentine republic was written in twenty books, and deposited in the Medicean library; but, as only four of these books and part of a fifth were finished, no more have been thought fit for the press. He was the author also of "Apologues," and of some Latin and Italian "Poems." Some few of his letters have been published; and there are eight in the collection of Politian, with whom Scala, as appears from the correspondence, had the misfortune to be at variance. Politian probably despised him for being his superior in every thing but letters, and Scala valued himself too much on his opulence. Erasmus also has not passed a very favourable judgment on him: he represents him as a Ciceronian in his style. Scala's daughter Alexandra, above mentioned, was no less distinguished by her personal beauty, than her literary acquirements. She gave her hand to the Greek Marullus (See MARULLUS); and Politian is numbered, among her unsuccessful admirers; a circumstance that may in some degree account for the asperities which marked his controversy with her father. She is said to have been assisted in her studies by John Lascaris, and Demetrius Chalcondylas. In evidence of her proficiency, we are told that she replied to a Greek epigram, which the gallantry of Politian addressed to her, in the same language and measure; and in a public representation of the "Electra" of Sophocles at Florence, she undertook to perform the principal female character, which, according to Politian, she did with great success. She died in 1506.1

SCALIGER (JULIUS CESAR), a very learned and eminent critic, was born, according to his son's account, April 23, 1484, at Ripa, a castle in the territory of Verona, and was the son of Benedict Scaliger, who, for seventeen years, commanded the troops of Matthias, king of Hungary, to

Tiraboschi.-Gen. Dict.-Gresswell's Politian.-Roscoe's Lorenzo.

whom he was related. His mother was Berenice Lodronia, daughter of count Paris. From the same authority we learn, that Scaliger was a descendant from the ancient princes of Verona; but while other particulars of the birth and family of Scaliger are called in question, this seems to be refuted by the patent of naturalization which Francis I. granted him in 1528, in which such an honourable descent would unquestionably have been noticed, whereas in this instrument he is called only "Julius Cæsar della Scala de Bordons, doctor of physic, a native of Verona." When therefore, his critical asperities had raised him enemies, they did not fail to strip him of his royal origin, and instead of it, asserted that he was the son of a school-master (some say an illuminator) of Verona, one Benedict Borden, who, removing to Venice, took the name of Scaliger, either because he had a scale for his sign, or lived in a street called from that instrument; and although Thuanus seems inclined to consider this story as the fabrication of Augustine Niphus, out of pique to Scaliger, it is certain that the royal origin of the Scaligers has always appeared doubtful, and we have now no means to remove the uncertainty.

He was taught Latin at home, and, according to his son, had for his preceptor John Jocundus of Verona, whom he himself in various parts of his works mentions as his master:; · but even this circumstance his opponents are not disposed to credit, and tell us, that as he was the descendant of princes, it was necessary to provide him with a preceptor like Jocundus, who was a man not only of high character, but a gentleman by birth. They also add some circumstances which certainly make it doubtful whether Scaliger really was taught by Jocundus, because it was neither by his knowledge of Latin, nor by philosophy or theology, that Jocundus acquired his reputation, but by his skill in the fine arts. (See JOCUNDUS.) It appears, however, less questionable, that at the age of twelve Scaliger was presented to the emperor Maximilian, who made him one of his pages, and that he served that emperor seventeen years, and gave proofs of his valour and dexterity in several expeditions, in which he attended his master. He was at the battle of Ravenna in 1512, in which he lost his father and brother Titus, whose bodies he conveyed to Ferrara, where his mother resided, who some time after died with grief.

His father dying in narrow circumstances, Scaliger found himself almost without a maintenance, and therefore resolved to enter into the Franciscan order, for which purpose he went to Bologna, and applied himself vigorously to study, especially to logic and Scotus's divinity; but changing his views of the ecclesiastical profession, he again entered into the army, and served some time in Piedmont. A physician, whom he knew at Turin, persuaded him to study physic; and accordingly he prosecuted it at his leisure hours, while he was in the army: he likewise learned the Greek language, of which he had been entirely ignorant till then. At length, frequent attacks of the gout determined him, at forty years of age, to abandon a military life, and devote himself entirely to the profession of physic. In this he had already acquired both skill and fame, and the bishop of Agen, being indisposed, and apprehending some need of a physician in his journey to his diocese, requested Scaliger to attend him. Scaliger consented upon condition that he should not stay at Agen above eight days: there, however, he conceived an attachment for a young lady, said to be not more than thirteen years of age, and remained at Agen waiting for her parents' consent. That obtained, he married her in 1529, lived with her twenty-nine years, and had fifteen children by her, seven of whom survived him. Whatever his origin, he must have been now a man of some consideration, for this lady was of a noble and opulent family.

After his settlement at Agen, he began to apply himself seriously to those general studies which made him most known in the literary world. He learned the French tongue at his first coming, which he spoke perfectly well in three months; and then made himself master of the Gascon, Italian, Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Sclavonian. During these studies, he maintained himself by the practice of physic. It is probable that he had taken a doctor's degree in this faculty at Padua; for, the letters of naturalization, which were granted him by Francis I. in 1528, give him this title. As he began his studies late, it was proportionably so before he commenced author, none of his works having appeared until he was forty-seven; but he soon gained a name in the republic of letters, which was both great and formidable. From this time, composition and controversy employed him till his death, which happened in 1558, in the seventy-fourth year of his