Acte Additionnel which his old friend and countryman, Benjamin Constant, had assisted to indite. Napoleon expressed a wish to see the author, and an interview took place which Sismondi has described with his usual detail in letters to his mother, who had gently reproached him for his adhesion to the emperor. After the battle of Waterloo Sismondi returned to Geneva, where he was coldly received. He retired to his study. He had lost his father in 1811; in 1817 he followed the remains of Madame de Stäel to the grave, and in 1821 his mother died at Pescia. Two years before he had married Miss Allen, an English lady, whose elder sister was the wife of his friend Sir James Mackintosh, and in her accomplishments and tenderness he found solace for the rest of his days. With the exception of occasional journeys to France, Italy, and England, he passed the remainder of his life at a country house he had purchased near Chêne, about three miles from Geneva. In 1840 his health began to fail. A painful disease, cancer in the stomach, did not interrupt his labours. On 30th March, 1842, he spoke before the constituent assembly of Geneva. On the 9th of May he wrote the last sentence of his history. On the 13th June he was correcting proofs for the press, and on the 25th he breathed his last. For list of works see Querard; see also memoir prefixed to his "Political Economy," 8vo, London, 1847.—R. H.
SIXTUS I., Bishop of Rome about the beginning of the second century. He is said to have been elevated to the see of Rome in 120, and to have been beheaded in 139. The church reverences him as a martyr.
Sixtus II., Bishop of Rome, was an Athenian by birth, and a philosopher of the Academy. He was elevated to the papal see in 257, as the successor of Stephen I. In the persecution of the christians under Valerian he suffered martyrdom.
Sixtus III., Bishop of Rome, became pope in 432. In the dispute between Cyril of Alexandria and John bishop of Antioch, respecting the Nestorians, he endeavoured to act as a mediator and peacemaker. It was he who is said to have sent Patrick, the apostle of the Irish, with full credentials. His death took place in 440. He has left several epistles.
Sixtus IV., Pope, a Franciscan monk, who was raised to the see of Rome in 1471, and died in 1484. He supported the conspiracy of the Pazzi against Lorenzo de Medici. Cardinal Riario, his nephew, was present when Lorenzo's brother was assassinated. After the attempt had failed, and the leading conspirators were put to death, including the archbishop of Pisa, the pope excommunicated Lorenzo and all concerned in the plot for putting the ecclesiastic to death. But the Florentine clergy sided with Lorenzo, and held a synod, in which an accusation was drawn up against the pope for having been accessary to the conspiracy. As Naples joined with Sixtus against Florence, and the latter place was in danger, Lorenzo went in person to Ferdinand of Naples on behalf of his country, and succeeded in detaching him from the pope, who soon after was reconciled to the Florentines. In 1482 the pope entered into an alliance with the Venetians for the purpose of depriving the duke of Ferrara of his dominions. But the king of Naples and the Florentines sided with the duke. When the emperor interfered and threatened to summon a general council, the pope made peace with the duke, and counselled the Venetians to follow the same course. Because they refused he excommunicated them. Yet they soon after took his advice. His character deserves no respect, as he was selfish, ambitious, unscrupulous, and meddling. Under his sanction the inquisition was introduced into Spain. He was addicted to nepotism and simony. It is also said that he had sons, one of whom became Julius II. His nephews, if not his sons, were certainly enriched by dishonourable methods.
Sixtus V. (Felix Peretti), Pope, one of the most able popes, became a Franciscan monk in 1534, and soon acquired great reputation for his uncommon knowledge of scholastic philosophy and theology, as well as of Roman literature. In 1544 he taught canonical law at Rimini, and in 1546 at Siena. After passing through many gradations and offices, in which he conducted himself with ability, prudence, and moderation, and exerted a good influence both on Pius V. and Gregory XIII., he was chosen pope, 1585. Immediately after his election he showed a vigour and independence which astonished the cardinals who had raised him to the throne. As a temporal sovereign he took a lively interest in the affairs of Europe. His policy was to weaken one country by means of another, and so to make himself independent of all. His plan of bringing Germany back to its former subjection to Rome failed; yet he moved the Emperor Rudolf II. to persecute heretics. In like manner, he did not succeed in bringing Russia and Egypt under the power of his sceptre. He was well pleased to see the overgrown power of Spain humbled by Elizabeth of England. Sixtus had a complete system of private police and espionage, by means of which he was well acquainted with everything that took place in Rome and its neighbourhood, as well as in more distant places. Hence he extirpated the numerous outlaws and robbers who infested the city and its environs. His justice was summary and severe against them. He fixed the number of cardinals at seventy; and enacted that all bishops of catholic Christendom should repair to Rome once within three, five, or ten years. In theological disputes he observed a wise neutrality. He embellished Rome with many useful buildings, which afforded the means of subsistence to thousands, such as the Vatican, the obelisk before St. Peter's, &c. He also provided a printing establishment in the Vatican, from which issued, under his editorship, the Septuagint (1587), the Vulgate (1590), and the works of St. Ambrose. He also founded various colleges. On the whole, he was more of a politician and man of business than a theologian. His practical ability was very great. Sly, cautious, wary, cold, reserved, he astonished those around him by the shrewdness of his answers. His mental qualities made him more feared than loved. In administrative talents he excels all the popes of the last three centuries. Sixtus V. died 24th August, 1590. His life has been written by Tempesti and others.—S. D.
SJÖBERG, Erik, better known by his pseudonym Vitalis, an eminent Swedish poet, was born in Södermanland on the 14th of January, 1794. His parents were poor. Young Sjöberg had from the first a delicate constitution, which incapacitated him for manual labour. But he loved books and learning; and through the kindness of some friends was sent to a school at Strenguäs, where he formed the acquaintance of Nicander, then a boy attending the same seminary, and who also afterwards greatly distinguished himself as a poet. The friendship of the pair was of the closest kind. In 1819 they studied together at Upsala, and it was at this time that they both achieved their first poetical success. Sjöberg, however, still continued poor, although he had reaped renown by his writings; and the sensitiveness and pride of his character impelled him to decline any proffered help. In 1824 he left the university, and endeavoured to gain at Stockholm a livelihood by literature; but in two or three years he sank under the pressure of penury and the accumulation of misfortunes. He died of consumption on the 4th of March, 1828. A collective edition of his poems was published after his decease. The melancholy career of Sjöberg, so fitly denoted by the name he assumed in his earliest works—Vita-lis (life a struggle)—can never be contemplated without profound interest and regret. His lyric poetry bears the distinctive marks of genius. In Sjöberg also, notwithstanding the dreariness of his earthly lot, the humorous faculty was remarkably developed; and among his happiest efforts are some of the productions of his comic muse.—J. J.
* SJÖGREN, Andreas Johan, a distinguished philologist, is a native of Finland, and was born in 1794. He studied at the university of Abo, and in 1819 went to reside in St. Petersburg, where his first production, a treatise on the Finnish language and literature, was published in 1821. He was subsequently appointed librarian of the Romanzov public library. Sjögren has written various excellent works on linguistic subjects. Perhaps chief among these is his "Ossetic Grammar and Vocabulary," which appeared in 1844, and is remarkable for its accuracy and comprehensiveness.—J. J.
SKELTON, John, an English poet and ecclesiastic, descended from an ancient family in Cumberland, was born towards the end of the fifteenth century. It is not decisively known whether he was educated at Oxford or Cambridge, or at both. Both universities claim the honour. It is certain, however, that he distinguished himself at Oxford as a poet, for he was poet-laureate to that university about 1489, and there translated some of the Latin classics. Some aver that he was also poet-laureate to Henry VIII.; but his connection with the court has not been thoroughly defined, as it is also said that he was only a graduated rhetorician employed in the service of the king, and that all his productions were in Latin until the time of the Reformation. Skelton was in holy orders, and became curate of Trompington in 1507, and also rector of Diss in Norfolk; but the
