SOUTHWELL, ROBERT (1561?-1595).—­Poet, b. at Horsham St. Faith’s, Norfolk, of good Roman Catholic family, and ed. at Douay, Paris, and Rome, he became a Jesuit, and showed such learning and ability as to be appointed Prefect of the English Coll.  In 1586 he came to England with Garnett, the superior of the English province, and became chaplain to the Countess of Arundel.  His being in England for more than 40 days then rendered him liable to the punishment of death and disembowelment, and in 1592 he was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower for three years, during which he was tortured 13 times.  He was then put on trial and executed, February 22, 1595.  He was the author of St. Peter’s Complaint and The Burning Babe, a short poem of great imaginative power, and of several prose religious works, including St. Mary Magdalene’s Teares, A Short Rule of Good Life, The Triumphs over Death, etc.

SPEDDING, JAMES (1808-1881).—­Editor of Bacon’s works, s. of a Cumberland squire, and ed. at Bury St. Edmunds and Camb., was for some years in the Colonial Office.  He devoted himself to the ed. of Bacon’s works, and the endeavour to clear his character against the aspersions of Macaulay and others.  The former was done in conjunction with Ellis and Heath, his own being much the largest share in their great ed. (1861-74); and the latter, so far as possible, in The Life and Letters, entirely his own.  In 1878 he brought out an abridged Life and Times of Francis Bacon.  He strongly combated the theory that B. was the author of Shakespeare’s plays.  His death was caused by his being run over by a cab.  He enjoyed the friendship of many of his greatest contemporaries, including Carlyle, Tennyson, and Fitzgerald.

SPEED, JOHN (1552?-1629).—­Historian, b. at Farington, Cheshire, and brought up to the trade of a tailor, had a strong taste for history and antiquities, and wrote a History of Great Britain (1611), which was long the best in existence, in collecting material for which he had assistance from Cotton, Spelman, and other investigators.  He also pub. useful maps of Great Britain and Ireland, and of various counties, etc.  In 1616 appeared his Cloud of Witnesses confirming ... the truth of God’s most holie Word.  His maps were coll. and with descriptions pub. in 1611 as Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain.

SPEKE, J.H., (see under GRANT, J.A.)

SPELMAN, SIR HENRY (1564?-1641).—­Historian and antiquary, b. at Congham, Norfolk, studied at Camb., and entered Lincoln’s Inn.  He wrote valuable works on legal and ecclesiastical antiquities, including History of Sacrilege (pub. 1698), Glossarium Archaeologicum (1626 and 1664), a glossary of obsolete law-terms, A History of the English Councils (1639), and Tenures by Knight-service (1641).  His writings have furnished valuable material for subsequent historians.  He sat in Parliament and on various commissions, and in recompense of his labours was voted a grant of L300.