under her master's head, released Karmata, and restored the key to its place. The next morning the governor found his prisoner gone; and the accident, being publicly known, raised great admiration: Karmata's adherents giving out that God had taken him into heaven. After this he appeared in another province, and declared to a great number of people that it was not in the power of any person to do him hurt; notwithstanding which, his courage failing him, he retired into Syria, and was never heard of more. After his disappearance the sect continued and increased his disciples pretending that their master had manifested himself to be a true prophet, and had left them a new law, wherein he had changed the ceremonies and form of prayer used by the Mahometans, &c. From this year (278) these sectaries gave almost continual disturbance to the caliphs and their subjects, committing great disorders in Chaldea, Arabia, and Mesopotamia, and at length established a considerable principality. In the 279th year of the Hegira died the caliph Al Motamed; and was succeeded by Al Motaded, son to Al Mowaffek.

In the first year of his reign, Al Motaded demanded in marriage the daughter of Khamarawiyah, sultan, or caliph, in Egypt; which was agreed to, and their nuptials were solemnised with great pomp in the 282d year of the Hegira. He carried on a war with the Karmatians; but very unsuccessfully, his forces being defeated with great slaughter, and his general Al Abbas taken prisoner. This caliph also granted to Harun, son to Khamarawiyah, the perpetual prefecture of Awasam and Kinnisrin, which he annexed to that of Egypt and Syria, upon condition that he paid him an annual tribute of 45,000 dinars. He died in the year of the Hegira 289, and was succeeded by his son Al Moctasi, who proved a warlike and successful prince. He gained several ad. vantages over the Karmatians, but was not able to reduce them. The Turks, however, having invaded the province of Mawaralnahar, were defeated with great slaughter; after which Al Moctasi carried on a successful war against the Greeks, from whom he took Seleucia. After this he invaded Syria and Egypt, which provinces he recovered from the house of Ahmed Ebn Tolun. The reduction of Egypt happened in the 292d year of the Hegira, after which the war was renewed with success against the Greeks and Karmatians. The caliph died in the 295th year of the Hegira, after a reign of about six years and a half. He was the last of the caliphs who made any figure by their warlike exploits. His successors Al Moktader, Al Kaher, and Al Radi, were so distressed by the Karmatians and numberless usurpers who were every day starting up, that by the 325th year of the Hegira they had nothing

SARAGOSSA, or ZARAGOSA, a city in the north of Spain, on the south bank of the Ebro, the capital of Arragon, and the see of an archbishop. It is surrounded by an earthen wall, and has twelve gates: the town being built on the site of the ancient Salpuba, which was enlarged by Augustus, and thence called Cæsar

left but the city of Bagdad. In the 324th year of the Hegira, commencing November 30th, 946, the caliph Al Radi, finding himself distressed on all sides by usurpers, and having a vizier of no capacity, instituted a new office superior to that of vizier, which he entitled emir al omra, or commandant of commandants. This great officer was trusted with the management or military affairs, and had the entire management of the finances, in a much more absolute and unlimited manner than any of the caliph's viziers ever had. Nay, he officiated for the caliph in the great mosque at Bagdad, and had his name mentioned in the public prayers throughout the kingdom. In short, the caliph was so much under the power of this officer, that he could not apply a single dinar to his own use without the leave of the emir al omri. In the year 325 the Saracen empire, once so great and powerful, was shared among the following usurpers :-1. The cities of Waset, Basra, and Cufa, with the rest of the Arabian Irak, were considered as the property of the emir al omra, though they had been in the beginning of the year seized upon by a rebel called Al Barilli, who could not be driven out of them. 2. The country of Fars, Farsistan, or Persia, properly so called, was possessed by Amado'ddawia Ali Ebn Bulya, who resided in the city of Shiraz. 3. Part of the tract denominated Al Jebal, together with Persian Irak, which is the mountainous part of Persia, and the country of the ancient Parthians, obeyed Rucno'ddawla, the brother of Amao' ddawla, who resided at Ispahan. The other part of that country was possessed by Washmakin the Deylamite. 4. Diyar Rabia, Diyar Becr, Diyar Modar, and the eity of Al Mawsel, or Mosul, acknowledged for their sovereign a race of princes called Hamdanites. 5. Egypt and Syria no longer obeyed the caliphs, but Mahomet Ebn Taj,who had formerly been appointed governor of these provinces. 6, 7. Africa and Spain had long been independ

ent.

8, 9. Sicily and Crete were governed by princes of their own. 10, 11. The provinces of Khorasan and Mawaralnahar were under the dominion of Ai Nasr Ebn Ahmed, of the dynasty of the Samarians. 12-14. The provinces of Tabrestan, Jorjan or Georgiana, and Mazanderan, had kings of the first dynasty of the Deylamites. 15. The province of Kerman was occupied by Abu Ali Mahomet Ebn Eylia Al Sammani, who had made himself master of it a short time before. 16. Lastly, the provinces of Yamana and Bahrein, including the district of Hajr, were in the possession of Abu Thaer the Karmatian. Farther particulars respecting the history of the Saracens will be found under the articles already referred to, and particularly under SPAIN, where they were more generally styled Moors than either Saracens, Arabs, Moslems, or Mussulmans.

Augusta, corrupted subsequently into Saragossa. The canal of Arragon approaches it both east and west. It is a large place, built throughout of brick, but the houses are seldom above three stories in height; and the streets generally narrow and crooked. But there is one long and wide street called the Cozo, and two bridges

be found some wicked enough for any employment, and the art of corrupting has constituted great part of the French system of war. During the night of the 28th the powder magazine, in the area where the bull fights were performed, which was in the very heart of the city, was blown up, by which fourteen houses were destroyed, and about 200 persons killed. This was the signal for the enemy to appear before three gates which had been sold to them. And, while the inhabitants were digging out their fellow citizens from the ruins, a fire was opened upon them with mortars, howitzers, and cannons, which had now been received for battering the town. Their attack seemed chiefly to be directed against the gate called Portillo, and a large square building near it, without the walls, and surrounded by a deep ditch; though called a castle, it served only for a prison. The sandbag battery before this gate was frequently destroyed, and as often reconstructed under the fire of the enemy. The carnage here throughout the day was dreadful.

Augustina Zaragoza, a handsome woman of the lower class, about twenty-two years of age, arrived at this battery with refreshments, at the time when not a man who defended it was left alive, so tremendous was the fire which the French kept up against it. For a moment the citizens hesitated to re-man the guns. Augustina sprung forward over the dead and dying, snatched a match from the hand of a dead artilleryman, and fired off a six-and-twenty pounder; then, jumping upon the gun, made a solemn vow never to quit it alive during the siege. Such a sight could not but animate with fresh courage all who beheld it. The Saragossans rushed into the battery, and renewed their fire with greater vigor than ever, and the French were repulsed here and at all other points with great slaughter. 'Lefebvre probably was so indignant at meeting with any opposition from a people whom he despised, and a place which, according to the rules and pedantry of war, was not tenable, that he lost his temper, and thought to subdue them the shortest way, by mere violence and superior force. Having found his mistake, he proceeded to invest the city still more closely. In the beginning of the siege, the besieged received some scanty succors; yet, however scanty, they were of importance. 400 soldiers from the regiment of Estremadura, small parties from other corps, and a few artillerymen got in; 200 of the militia of Logrono were added to these artillerymen, and soon learnt their new service, being in the presence of an enemy whom they had such righteous reason to abhor. Two four-and-twenty pounders and a few shells, which were much wanted, were procured from Lerida. The enemy, mean time, were amply supplied with stores from the magazine in the citadel of Pamplona, which they had so perfidiously seized on their first entrance, as allies, into Spain. Hitherto they had remained on the right bank of the Ebro. On the 11th of July they forced the passage of the ford, and posted troops enough on the opposite side to protect their workmen while forming a floating bridge. In spite of all the efforts of the Arragonese, this bridge was completed on the

14th; a way was thus made for their cavalry, to their superiority in which the French were mostly indebted for all their victories in Spain. This gave them the command of the surrounding country; they destroyed the mills, levied contributions on the villages, and cut off every communication by which the besieged had hitherto received supplies. These new difficulties called out new resources in this admirable people and their general,— ‚—a man worthy of commanding such a people in such times. Corn-mills, worked by horses, were erected in various parts of the city; the monks were employed in manufacturing gunpowder, materials for which were obtained by immediately collecting all the sulphur in the place, by washing the soil of the streets to extract its nitre, and making charcoal from the stalks of hemp, which in that part of Spain grows to a inagnitude that would elsewhere be thought very unusual.

By the end of July the city was completely invested, the supply of food was scanty, and the inhabitants had no reason to expect succor. Their exertions had now been unremitted for forty-six days, and nothing but the sense of duty could have supported their bodily strength and their spirit under such trials. They were in hourly expectation of another general attack, or another bombardment. They had not a single place of security for the sick and the children, and the number of wounded was daily increased by repeated skirmishes, in which they engaged for the purpose of opening a communication with the country. At this juncture they made one desperate effort to recover the Torrero. It was in vain; and convinced by repeated losses, and especially by this last repulse, that it was hopeless to make any effectual sally, they resolved to abide the issue of the contest within the walls, and conquer or perish there.

'On the night of the 2d of August, and on the following day, the French bombarded the city from their batteries opposite the gate of the Carmen. A foundling hospital, which was now filled with the sick and wounded, took fire, and was rapidly consumed. During this scene of horror the most intrepid exertions were made to rescue these helpless sufferers from the flames. No person thought of his own property or individual concerns every one hastened thither. The women were eminently conspicuous in their exertions, regardless of the shot and shells which fell about them, and braving the flames of the building. It has often been remarked that the wickedness of women exceeds that of the other sex; for the same reason, when circumstances, forcing them out of the sphere of their ordinary nature, compel them to exercise manly virtues, they display them in the highest degree, and, when they are once awaked to a sense of patriotism, they carry the principle to its most heroic pitch. The loss of women and boys during this siege was very great, fully proportionate to that of men; they were always the most forward, and the difficulty was to teach them a prudent and proper sense of their danger. On the following day the French completed their batteries upon the right bank of the Guerva, within pistol-shot of the gate of St. Engracia, so called from a

splendid church and convent of Jeronimites, situated on one side of it.

On the 4th of August the French opened batteries within pistol-shot of this church and convent. The mud walls were levelled at the first discharge; and the besiegers, rushing through the opening, took the batteries before the adjacent gates in reverse. Here general Mori, who had distinguished himself on many former occasions, was made prisoner. The street of St. Engracia, which they had thus entered, leads into the Cozo, and the corner buildings where it is thus terminated were on the one hand the convent of St. Francisco, and on the other the general hospital. Both were stormed and set on fire; the sick and the wounded threw themselves from the windows to escape the flames, and the horror of the scene was aggravated by the maniacs, whose voices, raving or singing in paroxysms of wilder madness, or crying in vain to be set free, were heard amid the confusion of dreadful sounds. Many fell victims to the fire, and some to the indiscriminating fury of the assailants. Those who escaped were conducted as prisoners to the Torrero; but, when their condition had been discovered, they were sent back on the morrow to take their chance in the siege. After a severe contest, and dreadful carnage, the French forced their way into the Cozo in the very centre of the city; and, before the day closed, were in possession of one half of Saragossa. Lefebvre now believed that he had effected his purpose, and required Palafox to surrender in a note containing only these words: Head-quarters. St. Engracia. Capitulation!' The heroic Spaniard immediately returned this reply :- Head-quarters, Saragossa. War at the knife's point!'"

The contest which was now carried on is unexampled in history. One side of the Cozo, a street about as wide as Pall Mall, was possessed by the French; and, in the centre of it, their general, Verdier, gave his orders from the Franciscan convent. The opposite side was maintained by the Arragonese, who threw up batteries at the openings of the cross streets, within a few paces of those which the French erected against them. The intervening space was presently heaped with dead, either slain upon the spot or thrown out from the windows. Next day the ammunition of the citizens began to fail; the French were expected every moment to renew their efforts for completing the conquest, and even this circumstance occasioned no dismay, nor did any one think of capitulation. One cry was heard from the people, wherever Palafox rode among them, that, if powder failed, they were ready to attack the enemy with their knives-formidable weapons in the hands of desperate men. Just before the day closed Don Francisco Palafox, the general's brother, entered the city with a convoy of arms and ammunition, and a reinforcement of 3000 men, composed of Spanish guards, Swiss, and volunteers of Arragon: a succor as little expected by the Saragossans as it had been provided against by the

enemy.

The war was now continued from street to street, from house to house, and from room to room; pride and indignation having wrought

up the French to a pitch of obstinate fury little inferior to the devoted courage of the patriots. During the whole siege no man distinguished himself more remarkably than the curate of one of the parishes, within the walls, by name P. Santiago Sass. He was always to be seen in the streets, sometimes fighting with the most determined bravery against the enemies, not of his country alone, but of freedom, and of all virtuous principles, wherever they were to be found; at other times administering the sacrament to the dying, and confirming, with the authority of faith, that hope which gives to death, under such circumstances, the joy, the exultation, the triumph, and the spirit of martyrdom. Palafox reposed the utmost confidence in this brave priest, and selected him whenever any thing peculiarly difficult or hazardous was to be done. At the head of forty chosen men, he succeeded in introducing a supply of powder into the town, so essentially necessary for its defence.

This most obstinate and murderous contest was continued for eleven successive days and nights, more indeed by night than by day; for it was almost certain death to appear by daylight within reach of those houses which were occupied by the other party. But, under cover of the darkness, the combatants frequently dashed across the street to attack each other's batteries; and the battles which began there were often carried on into the houses beyond, where they fought from room to room and floor to floor. The hostile batteries were so near each other that a Spaniard in one place made way under cover of the dead bodies, which completely filled the space between them, and fastened a rope to one of the French cannons; in the struggle which ensued, the rope broke, and the Saragossans lost their prize at the very moment when they thought themselves sure of it.

'A new horror was added to the dreadful circumstances of war in this ever memorable siege. In general engagements the dead are left upon the field of battle, and the survivors remove to clear ground and an untainted atmosphere; but here-in Spain, and in the month of August, there where the dead lay the struggle was still carried on, and pestilence was dreaded from the enormous accumulation of putrefying bodies. Nothing in the whole course of the siege so much embarrassed Palafox as this evil. The only remedy was to tie ropes to the French prisoners, and push them forward amid the dead and dying, to remove the bodies, and bring them away for interment. Even for this necessary office there was no truce, and it would have been certain death to the Arragonese who should have attempted to perform it; but the prisoners were in general secured by the pity of their own soldiers, and in this manner the evil was in some degree diminished.

A council of war was held by the Spaniards on the 8th, not for the purpose which is too usual in such councils, but that their heroic resolution might be communicated with authority to the people. It was that, in those quarters of the city where the Arragonese still maintained their ground, they should continue to defend themselves with the same firmness: should the enemy

at last prevail, they were then to retire over the Ebro into the suburbs, break down the bridge, and defend the suburbs till they perished. When this resolution was made public, it was received with the loudest acclamations. But in every conflict the citizens now gained ground upon the soldiers, winning it inch by inch, till the space occupied by the enemy, which on the day of their entrance was nearly half the city, was gradually reduced to about an eighth part. Meantime, intelligence of the events in other parts of Spain was received by the French--all tending to dishearten them; the surrender of Dupont, the failure of Moncey before Valencia, and the news that the junta of that province had despatched 6000 men to join the levies in Arragon, which were destined to relieve Saragossa. During the night of the 13th their fire was particularly fierce and destructive: after their batteries had ceased, flames burst out in many parts of the buildings which they had won; their last act was to blow up the church of St. Engracia; the powder was placed in the subterra nean church-and this remarkable place-this monument of fraud and of credulity-the splendid theatre wherein so many feelings of deep devotion had been excited-which so many thousands had visited in faith, and from which unquestionably many had departed with their imaginations elevated, their principles ennobled, and their hearts strengthened, was laid in ruins. In the morning the French columns, to the great surprise of the Spaniards, were seen at a distance, retreating over the plain, on the road to Pamplona.

The history of a battle, however skilfully narrated, is necessarily uninteresting to all except military men; but, in the detail of a siege, when time has destroyed those considerations which prejudice or pervert our natural sense of right and wrong, every reader sympathises with the besieged, and nothing, even in fictitious narratives, excites so deep and animating an interest. There is not, either in the annals of ancient or of modern times, a single event recorded more worthy to be held in admiration, now and for evermore, than the siege of Saragossa. Will it be said that this devoted people obtained for themselves, by all this heroism and all these sacrifices, nothing more than a short respite from their fate? Woe be to the slavish heart that conceives the thought, and shame to the base tongue that gives it utterance! They purchased for themselves an everlasting remembrance upon earth-a place in the memory and love of all good men in all ages that are yet to come. They performed their duty; they redeemed their souls from the yoke; they left an example to their country never to be forgotten, never to be out of mind, and sure to contribute to and hasten its deliverance.'-Southey's Works, 3 vols. 4to., pp. 405–421, Vol. I.

SARAH [Heb. 7, i. e. lady], and SARAI [Heb. i. e. my mistress], names of the patriarch Abraham's wife. She is supposed to be the same with Iscah, the daughter of Haran, Abraham's younger brother by a different mother, and consequently the sister of Lot. Her beauty and consequent danger in the courts of Egypt and

Gerar; her entertainment of the angels; her barrenness till her ninetieth year, with her miraculous conception and the birth of Isaac in her ninety-first; her turning off Hagar, with her death and burial in her 128th year, are recorded in Genesis xii. xviii. xx. xxi. xxiii.

SARASIN (John Francis), a French author, born at Hermauville, near Caen, in Normandy, about 1604. He studied at Caen, and afterwards went to Paris; where he became eminent for his wit and humor. He afterwards travelled through Germany, and, upon his return, became secretary to the prince of Conti, whom he prevailed upon to marry the niece of cardinal Mazarine, in reward for which he is said to have received a large sum. But the prince, afterwards hearing of his venality, dismissed him, which is said to have brought on his death. He published, 1. Discours de la Tragedie: 2. L'Histoire du Siege de Dunkerque: and, 3. La Pompe funebre de Voiture: inserted in the Miscellanea of Menage; to whose care he left all his MSS., from which Menage published a 4to. vol. at Paris, in 1656, and other vols. in 1675; consisting of various essays in prose and poetry, which are esteemed. He died in 1654.

SARATOGA, a county and town of New York. The county has a population of 33,000, chief town Ballston. The town is twelve miles north-east of that place, and gives name to several mineral springs. The most noted, those of Saratoga and Ballston, are the most celebrated mineral waters in the United States. They are strongly impregnated with carbonic acid, and contain also carbonate of soda, muriate of soda, supercarbonated lime, and a carbonate of iron. They are much frequented, during the warm months, by gay and fashionable people, as well as by invalids. The principal springs in Saratoga are Congress Spring, and Rock Spring, which are situated in the west part of the town, seven miles N. N. E. of Ballston, twelve west of the Hudson, thirty-two north of Albany. Here is a large, handsome, and flourishing village, with a post office, a Presbyterian church, and boardinghouses which afford excellent accommodations for visitors. Saratoga is memorable as the place where general Burgoyne surrendered the British army to general Gates, October 17th, 1777.

SARATOV, an important province of Russia, situated on the Wolga, partly in Europe, and partly in Asia; having on the one side the country of the Don Cossacks, and on the other that of Astracan. Containing an area of 91,000 square miles, its population is so thin as not to exceed 1,000,000; and a great part of the tract to the east of the Wolga is so impregnated with salt as to be in many parts unfit for the growth of vegetables. Of the salt lakes in this quarter, the most productive is that of Jelton. The country to the west of the Wolga is fitted partly for tillage, and partly for pasturage. The great danger to vegetation here is from locusts, swarms of which often appear in summer. Attempts were made in the last century, by the Russian government, to improve particular spots by German settlers; and these colonists form the chief merchants and manufacturers of the country; but their success has been very limited.