SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, literary critic, born at Southampton; graduated at Merton College, Oxford; was engaged in scholastic work for a number of years at Manchester, Guernsey, and Elgin; in 1876 settled in London, and made a reputation for vigorous and scholarly criticism, devoting much of his time to French literature; elected to the Chair of English Literature in Edinburgh University, 1895; is the author of a “Short History of French Literature,” a “Short History of English Literature,” besides several volumes of essays, &c.; b. 1845.

SAIS, a city of ancient Egypt, on the delta, on the right bank of the W. branch of the Nile; gave name to two Egyptian dynasties founded by natives of it, was a religious centre, and eventually for a time capital, the temple of which was said to contain a veiled statue which became a subject of legend.

SAIVAS, in the Hindu religion the worshippers of Siva, one of the two great sections of the Hindus, the worshippers of Vishnu being the other.

SAKI, a beer of alcoholic quality made in Japan from rice by fermentation.  It is drunk hot at meals, and is in a small way intoxicating.

SAKUNTALA, in Hindu mythology a benignant female character, made the subject of a famous drama of KALIDASA (q. v.), translated in 1789 by Sir William Jones.

SAKYAMUNI (i. e. the solitary of the Sakyas), the name given to Buddha, one of the tribe of the Sakyas in Northern India.

SALA, GEORGE AUGUSTUS, a well-known journalist, born in London, of Italian and English parentage; had some training in art before he began writing for Dickens’s Household Words, &c.; lived a busy, rambling life; founded and edited Temple Bar; acted as war-correspondent for the Daily Telegraph; author of several popular novels, “Captain Dangerous” and “Quite Alone” among them, and books of travel, “A Trip to Barbary” and “America Revisited” (1828-1895).

SALAAM, an Oriental term of salutation meaning “Peace,” especially among the Mohammedans.

SALADIN, sultan of Egypt and Syria, the hero of the third crusade on the Saracen side; a man of noble and chivalrous character; served first as a soldier under Nureddin; rose to be vizier of Egypt, and ultimately sovereign in 1174; distinguished himself by the capture of Damascus, Aleppo, &c., and entering the Holy Land defeated the Christians at Tiberias, thereafter taking Jerusalem and laying siege to Tyre; found in Richard Coeur de Lion a foeman worthy of his steel, concluded a truce in 1192, and died the year after (1137-1193).

SALAMANCA (22), an interesting old city of Spain, capital of a province of the same name, occupies a hilly site on the Tormes, here spanned by a Roman bridge, 110 m.  NW. of Madrid, long famous for its university, which in its heyday (16th century) numbered 8000 students, now fallen to 400; holds within its surrounding walls many fine old cathedrals, colleges, and other buildings; its industries are greatly fallen off, and consist mainly of cloth, linen, leather, and pottery manufacturing; in this neighbourhood Wellington won a great victory over the French on July 22, 1812.