The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 387

ST. CLOUD (5), a town in the dep. of Seine-et-Oise, France; occupies an elevated site near the Seine, 10 m. W. of Paris; the fine chateau, built by Louis XIV.'s brother, the Duke of Orleans, was for long the favourite residence of the Emperor Napoleon, since destroyed; a part of the park is occupied by the Sevres porcelain factory.

ST. CYR (3), a French village, 2 m. W. of Versailles, where Louis XIV., at the request of Madame de Maintenon, founded an inst.i.tution for the education of girls of n.o.ble birth but poor, which was suppressed at the time of the Revolution, and afterwards converted into a military school by Napoleon.

SAINT-CYR, LAURENT GOUVION, MARQUIS DE, marshal of France, born at Toul; joined the army in 1792, and in six years had risen to the command of the French forces at Rome; fought with distinction in the German and Italian campaigns, and in the Peninsular War; won his marshal's baton during the Russian campaign of 1812; was captured at the capitulation of Dresden in 1813, much to the regret of Napoleon; created a peer after the Restoration, and was for some time Minister of War; wrote some historical works (1764-1830).

ST. DAVIDS (2), an interesting old cathedral town in Pembrokes.h.i.+re, on the streamlet Alan, and not 2 m. from St. Brides Bay; its cathedral, rebuilt after 1180 in the Transition Norman style, was at one time a famous resort of pilgrims. On the other side of the Alan stand the ruins of Bishop Gower's palace.

ST. DENIS (48), a town of France, on a ca.n.a.l of the same name, 4 m.

N. of Paris, noted for its old abbey church, which from the 7th century became the burying-place of the French monarchs. During the Revolution in 1793 the tombs were ruthlessly desecrated; there is also a school for the daughters of officers of the Legion of Honour, founded by Napoleon; manufactures chemicals, printed calicoes, &c.

ST. ELIAS, MOUNT, an isolated, inaccessible volcanic mountain in the extreme NW. of Canada, close to the frontier of Alaska, 18,010 ft. high; has never been scaled.

ST. ELMO'S FIRE. See ELMO'S FIRE, ST.

ST. eTIENNE (133), a busy industrial town of France, capital of department of Loire, on the Furens, 36 m. SW. of Lyons; has been called the "Birmingham of France"; is in the centre of a rich coal district, and produces every kind of hardware; the manufacture of ribbons is also an important industry; there is a school of mines.

SAINT-eVREMOND, CHARLES MARGUETEL DE SAINT-DENIS, SEIGNEUR DE, a celebrated French wit and author; won distinction as a soldier, and rose to be a field-marshal; his turn for satiric writing got him into trouble, and in 1661 he fled to England, where the rest of his life was spent; wrote charming letters to his friend Ninon de l'Enclos; enjoyed the favour of Charles II., and published satires, essays, comedies, &c., which are distinguished by their polished style and genial irony; was buried in Westminster (1613-1703).

ST. GALL (230), a NE. canton of Switzerland, on the Austrian frontier; its splendid lake and mountain scenery and mineral springs render many of its towns popular holiday resorts; the embroidery of cottons and other textiles is an important industry. ST. GALL (28), the capital, is situated on the Steinach, 53 m. E. of Zurich; is a town of great antiquity, and celebrated in past ages for its monastic schools; its magnificent mediaeval cathedral has been restored; the old Benedictine monastery is used now for government purposes, but still contains its famous collection of MSS.; embroidering textiles is the chief industry.

ST. GOTHARD, a noted mountain in the Lepontine Alps, 9850 ft. high, crossed by a pa.s.s leading from Lake Lucerne to Lake Maggiore; since 1882 traversed by a railway with a tunnel through from Goschenen to Airolo, a distance of 9 m.

ST. HELENA (4), a precipitous cliff-bound island lying well out in the Atlantic, 1200 m. off the W. coast of Africa; belongs to Britain; celebrated as Napoleon Bonaparte's place of imprisonment from 1815 till his death in 1821. Jamestown (2), the capital, is a second-cla.s.s coaling station for the navy, and is fortified.

ST. HELENS (71), a thriving manufacturing town of Lancas.h.i.+re, on Sankey Brook, a feeder of the Mersey, 21 m. W. by S. of Manchester; is the chief centre of the manufacture of crown, plate, and sheet gla.s.s.

ST. HELIER (29), capital of Jersey Island, on St. Aubin Bay, on the S. side; is well fortified by Fort Regent and Elizabeth Castle, on a rocky islet near the sh.o.r.e; has a college, public library, &c.; fis.h.i.+ng and s.h.i.+pbuilding are important industries.

ST. IVES, 1, a town in Cornwall, 8 m. N. of Penzance, the inhabitants of which are chiefly engaged in the pilchard fisheries. 2, A town in Huntingdons.h.i.+re, on the Ouse, 5 m. E. of Huntingdon, where Cromwell lived and Theodore Watts the artist was born.

ST. JAMES'S PALACE, an old, brick-built palace in Pall Mall, London, originally a hospital, converted into a manor by Henry VIII., and became eventually a royal residence. It gives name to the British court.

ST. JOHN, a river of North America, rises in the highlands of North Maine and crosses the continent in an easterly direction and falls into the Bay of Fundy after a course of 450 m., of which 225 m. are in New Brunswick; is navigable for steamers as far as Fredericton.

ST. JOHN (39), embracing the adjacent town of Portland, chief commercial city of New Brunswick, on the estuary of St. John River, 277 m. NW. of Halifax; has an excellent harbour; s.h.i.+pbuilding, fis.h.i.+ng, and timber exporting are the chief industries; has a great variety of prosperous manufactures, such as machine and iron works, cotton and woollen factories, &c.; does a good trade with the West Indies.

ST. JOHNS (26), capital of Newfoundland, situated on a splendid harbour on the peninsula or Avalon, in the E. of the island: is the nearest port of America to the continent of Europe; has oil and tan works, &c.

ST. JOSEPH (103), a city of Missouri, on the Missouri River (here spanned by a fine bridge), 110 m. above Kansas City, is an important railway centre; as capital of Buchanan County it possesses a number of State buildings and Roman Catholic colleges; does a large trade in pork-packing, iron goods, &c.

SAINT-JUST, LOUIS FLORELLE DE, a prominent French Revolutionist, born at Decize, near Nevers; as a youth got into disgrace with his family and fled to Paris, where, being bitten already by the ideas of Rousseau, he flung himself heart and soul into the revolutionary movement, became the faithful henchman of Robespierre, and finally followed his master to the guillotine, having in his zeal previously declared "for Revolutionists there is no rest but in the tomb"; "he was a youth of slight stature, with mild mellow voice, enthusiast olive-complexioned, and long black hair" (1767-1794).

ST. KILDA. See KILDA, ST.

ST. LAWRENCE, one of the great rivers of North America; issues in a n.o.ble stream from Lake Ontario, and flowing due NE. discharges into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, forming a broad estuary; is 750 m. long and from 1 to 4 m. broad; the scenery in parts is very grand, notably in the expansion--the Lake of the Thousand Isles; is navigable for large steamers as far as Montreal: the Ottawa is its chief tributary; in winter navigation is suspended on account of the ice.

ST. Lo (10), a town in Normandy, on a rocky eminence 60 m. SE. of Cherbourg; has textile manufactures; was the birthplace of Leverrier.

ST. LOUIS, 1, One of the great commercial cities (575) of the United States, capital of Missouri State; situated on the Mississippi (here spanned by two fine bridges), 21 m. below its confluence with the Missouri; is a handsomely built city, and equipped with every modern convenience, entirely lit by electric light, &c.; has s.p.a.cious parks, two universities, public libraries, &c.; is a centre for 18 railroads, which with the great river-way enables it to carry on a vast trade in grain, cotton, wool, furs, live stock, &c.; its tobacco manufacture is the greatest in the world. 2, Also capital (17) of the French colony of Senegal, in West Africa.

ST. LUCIA (42), a rocky, forest-clad island in the West Indies, the largest of the Windward group; exports sugar, cocoa, logwood, &c.; capital is Castries (8).

ST. MALO (12), a strongly fortified seaport of France, on the Brittany coast (department of Ille-et-Vilaine), at the mouth of the Ranee; the old town is built over the Rocher d'Auron, an islet connected with the mainland by a causeway 215 yards long; there is a good harbour, and a considerable amount of s.h.i.+pping is done; potatoes, dairy-produce, and some cereals are exported. It was the birthplace of several distinguished French authors and sailors.

ST. MICHAEL'S (126), the largest and most fertile of the Azores, 40 m. long by from 5 m. to 10 m. in breadth; is of volcanic origin; yields cereals, oranges, &c.

ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, an islet, forming a precipitous granite ma.s.s, in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, connected with the mainland by a low causeway pa.s.sable only at low tides; a fine old castle crowns its rocky height, and a small fis.h.i.+ng village lies sheltered on the northern side.

ST. MICHEL, MONT, a remarkable islet in St. Michel Bay, SW. corner of Normandy, 18 m. W. of Avranches; is formed of a single cone of granite, 242 ft. high, crowned by a historic Benedictine monastery; on the lower slopes is built a little fortified town; a causeway 1 m. long joins it to the mainland.

ST. NAZAIRE (26), a flouris.h.i.+ng seaport of France, on the Loire, 40 m. W. of Nantes, where large sums have been expended in improving its s.p.a.cious docks to accommodate an increasing s.h.i.+pping-trade; its exports, brandy, coal, wheat, &c., are mainly from Nantes and the interior.

ST. NEOTS (4), an old market-town of Huntingdons.h.i.+re, on the Ouse, 8 m. SW. of Huntingdon; has an interesting old parish church, a corn exchange, and iron and paper works.

ST. NICHOLAS, the patron saint of boys, who was fabled to bring presents to good children on Christmas eve; was bishop of Myra in the 4th century, and had taken a special interest in the young.