Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

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)out 1200 Angolares, descendants of a shipload of Angola slaves
recked at Sete Pedras in 1544, who still retain their Bunda speech
id peculiar customs.
St Thomas was discovered about the close of 1470 by the Portu-
aese navigators Joao de Santarem and Pero de Escobar, who in
le beginning of the following year discovered Annobom (“ Good
ear They found St Thomas uninhabited. The first attempts
- colonization were Joao de Paiva’s in 1485 ; but nothing perma¬
nent was accomplished till 1493, when a body of criminals and of
omm Jews tom from their parents to be baptized were sent to the
land and the present capital was founded by Alvaro de Carminha.
onsiderable progress had been made by the 16th century ; but in
567 the settlement was attacked by the French, and in 1574 the
,n<mlares began those raids which only ended with their subjuga-
on in 1693. In 1595 there was a slave revolt; and from 1641 to
844 the Dutch, who had plundered the capital in 1600, held pos-
cssion of the island. The French did great damage in 1709 ; and
i the course of the century internal anarchy reduced St Thomas
) a deplorable state.
See Dr Greeff’s papers in Petermann’s Mitteilungen, 1884, and Globus, 1882,
ol. xlii.
SAINT-VICTOR, Paul de (1827-1883), one of the
hief masters of a very ornate style in recent French litera-
are, was born at Paris in 1827 and died there in 1883.
le was of noble birth and inherited the title of count, but
irely used it, his political principles being democratic,
-aint-Victor began as a dramatic critic on the Pays in
'851 and subsequently wrote in many journals. In 1870,
uring the last days of the second empire, he was made
ispector-general of fine arts. Almost all Saint-Victor’s
fork consists of reprinted articles, the best known, and on
he whole the best, being the collection entitled Hommes
t Dieux (1867). His death interrupted the publication
f an elaborate work, partly reprinted, partly developed
rom formerly printed papers, entitled Les Deux Masques,
i which the author intended to survey the whole dramatic
terature of ancient and modern times. Saint-Victor’s
ctual critical faculty was considerable, though rather one-
ided; but his position in French literature is likely to
e, in an inferior degree, something like that of Mr Ruskin
r English. He owed a good deal to Theophile Gautier,
ut he carried ornateness to a pitch far beyond Gautier’s,
-a pitch which may sometimes deserve the epithet
barbaric.”
ST VINCENT, an island in the West Indies, discovered
y^ Columbus in 1498, is situated in 13° 10' N. lat. and
0° 57' W. long., 100 miles to the west of Barbados; it
i 18 miles in length, 11 in breadth, and has an area of
32 square miles. Volcanic hills cross the island from
orth to south, intersected by beautiful and fertile valleys.
11 the north-west is the Souffriere, a volcanic mountain
5000 feet), of which the last violent eruption was in
812; the crater is 3 miles in circumference and 500 feet
i depth. The climate is humid and tolerably healthy
werage rainfall nearly 80 inches). In 1627, when Charles
granted St Vincent to the earl of Carlisle, it was peopled
7 Caribs; in 1672 it was given to Lord Willoughby, and
1 1^22 was granted, along with other islands, to the
uke of Montagu by George I. After hostilities with the
rench and Caribs, it passed definitively to Great Britain
1 1783. Immigrants were afterwards introduced and
antations cultivated ; the chief products are sugar, rum,
classes, and arrowroot. The capital is Kingstown (popu-
tion, 5593), the total population of the island being
|,200, including 2700 Europeans and 30,000 Africans,
ic island was formerly under the general government of
^an(ls’ Barbados being headquarters; but
I88o Barbados was made a separate government, and
icna a, St Vincent, Tobago, and St Lucia were placed
icier a governor. The legislative council of St Vincent
composed of official members and others nominated by
e crown. In 1883 the revenue and expenditure were
spectively £34,509 and £32,962, the debt being £2840.
towage entered and cleared was 172,989, the imports
201
and exports being valued at £148,286 and £166,752 re¬
spectively (sugar exports, 9250 tons).
ST VINCENT, Sir John Jervis, Earl (1734-1823), a
distinguished naval officer, was born at Meaford, Stafford¬
shire, on 9th January 1734. His father was counsel and
solicitor to the admiralty and treasurer of Greenwich hos¬
pital. Young Jervis was destined for the law, but early
showed such a strong predilection for the sea that he ran
away from school in order to become a sailor. Accordingly
in 1748 he was placed on board the “Gloucester” under
Commodore Townsend. Six years later he rose to be lieu¬
tenant, and in 1759 he distinguished himself so much at
the siege and capture of Quebec that he was promoted to
the rank of commander. In the following year he was
made a post-captain. He commanded the “Foudroyant”
in July 1778, when the memorable rencontre took place be¬
tween Admiral Keppel and Count d’Orvilliers, and bore a
very distinguished part in that action. In 1782, while in
command of the same vessel, he captured the French ship
“ Pegase,” of 74 guns and 700 men, off Brest Harbour, and
was rewarded for his exploit by being made Knight Com¬
panion of the Bath. In 1784 he entered parliament as
member for Launceston, and he afterwards sat for Yar¬
mouth. Conjointly with Sir Charles Grey, Jervis was
appointed to command an expedition sent out in 1793
against the French Caribbee islands, and, though the rainy
season and the yellow fever prevented the full success of
the British, they were able to obtain possession of Mar¬
tinique and St Lucia, and to hold Guadaloupe for a short
time. In 1795 Jervis became full admiral and succeeded
Lord Wood in command of the British fleet in the Medi¬
terranean, where he rendered important service in blockad¬
ing the French fleet in Toulon, and protecting English trade
in the Levant. On 14th February 1797 he won his most
celebrated victory. With only fifteen ships of the line,
seven frigates, and two sloops he encountered off Cape St
Vincent a Spanish fleet of twenty-six sail of the line, twelve
frigates, and a brig, and completely defeated it, capturing
four of the enemy’s largest ships. For this great triumph,
which had a most important effect on the prosecution of
the war, Jervis was created a peer by the title of Earl
St Vincent. He still further distinguished himself some
months later by his resolute and sagacious conduct in re¬
pressing a mutiny in his fleet when off Cadiz. In June
1799 he resigned his command in consequence of ill-health,
but was shortly afterwards placed at the head of the
Channel fleet. On the formation of the Addington ministry
in 1801 he was made first lord of the admiralty, and in
that important office, which he held for three years, the
great capacity for business with which he was endowed by
nature shone forth in all its lustre. By means of the cele¬
brated Commission of naval inquiry he was enabled to ex¬
pose a vast extent of corruption in the public service and tu
lay the foundation of a system of economical administration.
He grappled boldly with the monstrous and deep-rooted
abuses brought to light, and by his vigour, honesty, and
energy succeeded in rectifying them. In 1806, at the age
of seventy-two, Lord St Vincent was again called upon to
take the command of the Channel fleet and to head an
expedition to the court of Portugal, in which he displayed
great talents and address. Advanced age and impaired
health led to his final retirement from public life in 1807,
but he survived till 13th March 1823, when he died in his
ninetieth year.
See Brenton, Life of Earl St Vincent; Lord Brougham, States¬
men of the Times of George III.
St VITUS’S DANCE,1 or Chorea, a disorder of the
1 This name was originally employed in connexion with those
remarkable epidemic outbursts of combined mental and physical ex¬
citement which for a time prevailed among the inhabitants of some
parts of Germany in the Middle Ages. It is stated that sufferers from
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