and Bairaktar caused the latter to be dethroned. The character of Selim commands respect. He was a humane and educated sovereign, whose intentions and measures were good. But the nation was too far sunk to be easily reformed—S. D.
SELJUKIDES, a Turkish dynasty which was established in Persia during the thirteenth century. Its founder was the renowned Seljuk, who, having been expelled from Turkistan by the khan of his tribe, passed the Jaxartes at the head of a numerous band of followers, and settled in the plains of Bokhara, near Samarcand, where he embraced the Mahometan religion. Seljuk was killed at the age of one hundred and seven, in a war against the infidels, and was succeeded in the chieftainship of the tribe by his grandson, Togrul Beg. The high military qualities of his followers attracted the attention of the Sultan Mahmoud, who invited them to cross the Oxus, and to occupy the country of Khorassan. Mahmoud soon began to reap the fruits of this mistaken policy. The Seljuk tribe were a horde of shepherds and robbers, inured to fatigue, hardy in their habits, and trained from their infancy to the use of arms. They harassed the neighbouring tribes by their petty inroads and plundering, and rendered themselves so formidable to Mahmoud, and especially to his successor, Massoud, that the latter was forced to bestow on them an extensive grant of territory. They afterwards defeated him in a general battle, and under Togrul Beg, whom they now elected king, invaded Khorassan in the year 1042, and finally expelled the descendants of Mahmoud from the eastern provinces of Persia. Togrul subsequently overran the whole of that country, made himself master of Baghdad, and obtained possession of the person of the khalif. The conqueror treated the commander of the faithful, however, with profound veneration, was constituted by him the temporal lieutenant of the eastern and western divisions of the empire, and obtained in marriage the hand of the daughter of the khalif's successor. He died a few months after, in 1068, and was succeeded by his nephew, Alp-Arslan, who has been praised by all historians for his justice, valour, and generosity. He achieved the final conquest of Armenia and Georgia, successfully defended his new dominions against an invasion of the Romans, defeated and took prisoner their emperor, Romanus Diogenes, and generously restored him to liberty on payment of a moderate. ransom. His son, the famous Malik Shah, who succeeded to the throne in 1072, subdued Syria and Egypt, and extended his authority from the Mediterranean to the wall of China. He built many colleges and mosques, and was a liberal patron of learning and science. One of his lieutenants captured Jerusalem, which remained for twenty years under the sway of the house of Seljuk; and it was the cruel treatment of the christian pilgrims to the holy city, during that period which gave rise to the famous crusades for its recovery. On the death of Malik Shah, his dominions were torn by intestine feuds, and as a natural consequence were ultimately divided among his four sons, the eldest retaining the throne of Persia. Togrul III., the last sovereign of the Seljukian dynasty, was slain in battle by the sultan of Kharasm.—J. T.
SELKIRK, Alexander, the original of Defoe's celebrated character of Robinson Crusoe, was born in the year 1676 in the village of Largo in Fife. His father was a thriving shoemaker, an elder in the kirk, and a strict disciplinarian. Young Selkirk, who was the seventh son of this worthy man, received a good education at the parochial school of Largo, where he was taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and navigation. At an early age he showed an inclination to follow a seafaring life; and having been cited in August, 1695, to appear before the session for laughing in church, he ran away to sea, to escape the disgrace with which he was threatened. After an absence of six years, which he is supposed to have spent with the buccaneers, Selkirk revisited his native village, and soon fell again under the censure of the session, on account of a quarrel with his brothers. A few months later he left his father's house a second time, and joined, in the character of sailing-master on board the Cinque Ports, in a buccaneering expedition under the celebrated Captain Dampier. After cruising for several months along the coast of Mexico and South America, and capturing several prizes of no great value, they sailed for the island of Juan Fernandez to take in provisions. Fierce dissensions had long raged among the crew; and Selkirk was so disgusted with the conduct of the captain, a quarrelsome and ferocious ruffian named Straddles, that he resolved to remain on that island. Scarcely had his resolution been carried into effect and his comrades left him, when he bitterly repented of the step he had taken. It was now too late, however, and he was obliged to exert himself to provide for his subsistence and safety on his solitary domain. This he did with considerable ingenuity and success, with the help of his gun, a hatchet, knife, and a few other useful articles which were put ashore with him. He remained alone on the island till June, 1709, a period of four years and four months, when he was rescued by a Captain Rogers, the commander of another buccaneering expedition, who visited the island to take in water. Selkirk joined the expedition, which was eminently successful, and reached England in 1711 with £800 for his share of the booty taken from the Spaniards. He revisited his native village, where he formed an attachment to a young girl, whom he married and took with him to London. He went to sea again in 1717, and ultimately attained the rank of lieutenant in his majesty's ship Weymouth, on board of which he died in 1723. An account of his singular adventures was published by Sir Richard Steele in the Englishman shortly after his return to England, and was ultimately embodied in the immortal Robinson Crusoe. It is not known whether Defoe learned Selkirk's story from his own mouth, or from Steele's narrative.—J. T.
* SELLON, Priscilla Lydia, mother superior of the Devonport and Plymouth sisters of mercy, born about 1820, is venerable as the foundress of the first religious sisterhood in the reformed English church. Her charitable work, commenced single-handed amongst certain poor of Devonport in 1847, sanctioned in the following year by the bishop of Exeter, and carried on with the consent of her father. Captain Sellon, has grown from so small a beginning until now three several houses—the Abbey, Plymouth; the Priory, Bradford; and S. Saviour's, London—obey her as their head. Her system has not been developed without opposition and the din of controversy; and after a while the diocesan saw fit to withdraw his name as visitor from the association, though he still expressed his cordial sympathy with it. The following statement gives some idea of the many offices of love discharged by the sisterhood. In 1849 Miss Sellon took charge of the public cholera hospitals at Plymouth and Devonport; and for three months herself, with the sisters, laboured in them. She founded, and worked with marked success, a naval college to train poor boys for the queen's service; opened an industrial institution for women; and established lodging-houses for the poor. S. Raphael's hospital near Maidenhead, worked by the sisters, was intended especially for the relief of cases not admissible in the public hospitals, and of convalescents in need of country air and good food; and during the last eight years Miss Sellon has carried on a printing-office, where young women are taught the trade as a means of maintenance.—C. G. R.
SELWYN, George, a London wit and social celebrity in the reigns of George II. and George III., was the second son of Colonel Selwyn of Matson, near Gloucester, who had been aid-de-camp to the duke of Marlborough. George was born in 1719, educated at Eton, whence he proceeded to Oxford, then travelled abroad, returned to Oxford, and was expelled for an audaciously profane jest. In 1751, on the death of his brother and father, he inherited the family estates, and entered parliament, where he commanded two votes besides his own. He was a considerable placeman, holding four well-paid sinecure offices at once. His acquirements were considerable, his disposition kind, even his wit rarely ill-natured—
" 'Twas social wit, which, never kindling strife,
Blazed in the small, sweet courtesies of life."
He died on the 25th January, 1791.—(George Selwyn and his Contemporaries, by J. H. Jesse, 1843.)—R. H.
SELWYN, William, an eminent barrister, was born in 1774, and was educated at Eton and at Trinity college, Cambridge He was first of his year in classics, and obtained the chancellor's medal in 1797. The same year he was admitted of Lincoln's inn, and was called to the bar in 1807, when he joined the western circuit. One year previously he had published the first part of his useful law-book on "Nisi Prius." Together with Mr. Maule he reported the cases in the king's bench for some time. He was recorder of Portsmouth, king's counsel, and treasurer of Lincoln's inn. He directed the legal studies of the late prince consort. He died at Tunbridge Wells, July 25, 1855. The able and energetic bishop of New Zealand is the second son of Mr. Selwyn.—R. H.
SEMIRAMIS, Queen of Assyria, a mythical personage, is commonly regarded by ancient writers as the founder of Babylon
