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good the several exactions* and to re-port the names of all such officers tothe King, that they might be instantlycashiered. This regulation was issuedon the 7th of February, 1661.

SAISIR, Fr. to seize, to take suddenpossession of any thing.

SAKER, originally,signifies a hawk;pieces of artillery being often deno-minated from birds of prey. Thesaker carried a shot of five pounds anda quarter weight : the diameter of thebore was three inches and 9-lGths; thelength eight or nine feet. See Can-non.

SALADE , Fr. This word literallymeans salad. It likewise signifies a headpiece. The French use it frequently ina figurative sense, viz.

Donner une Salade a quelqiiun , Fr.to give any one a good dressing.

Regiment: de Salade, Fr. a term ofridicule which the French frequently ap-plied to small new made corps; such asour independent companies, which werelevied for rank only.

The men belonging to these corpswere also vulgarly called mangeurs desalade , salad-eaters.

SALAM ANDRES et serpens, Fr, Inthe Nouveau Dictionnaire Militaire ,published at Paris , in 1801, by A.T.Gaigne, this article is thus described:Brittle vessels, made of earthen compo-sition, are filled with these venomousanimals, care having been previouslytaken to let in the air by small apertures.When a storming party is on the pointof ascending the breach, these vesselsare suddenly thrown down by the be-sieged, and being broken, the enragedand hungry inmates are scattered amongthe soldiers, to their no small surprizeand discomfiture. In order to renderthem innocuous, the assailing partyshould have salt in their havresacks, bythe application of which upon the ser-pent’s back, he is immediately benum-bed, and is ultimately destroyed.

SALE, state of being venal; price.

Sale of commissions. The sale andpurchase of commissions, though notunknown in other services, is of generalusage in the British : the navy, the ma-rines, and the royal artillery excepted.Commissions in the British army aresold for various purposes; sometimes toidemnify individuals for their originalpurchase; sometimes as rewards for gal-lant and meritorious actions; sometimes

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as a provision for the widows orchildrenof deceased officers; and sometimes forthe relief of an indigent gentleman, orlady. Such multiplied channels for thedisposing of an article, which is alwayscalled for in a country abounding inyoung men of fortune and expectations,must naturally produce all the specula-tive commerce of bargain and sale ; andas London is the grand emporium ofevery species of traffic, official or other-wise, it is not wonderful that a mostlucrative system of brokerage shouldbranch out of, or rather he spuriouslyconnected with, the regular agency ofregiments : Nor can it be prevented, solong as the partial agency of corps issuffered to continue. In Vol. I. 6thedition, of the Regimental Companion,a necessary caution is thrown out forthe benefit of young purchasers. Wewish it were within the limits of thisundertaking to enter at large into thesubject, and to couple our observationswith what was proved in the House of Commons in 1809.

SALAMALEE, a Turkish salutation;a very low bow.

SALIAN priests, twelve persons,among the Romans, whose particularduty was to take care of the Ancdium ,or sacred shield, which was believed tohave been sent by the gods to Numa Pompilius . These priests were attendedby a certain number of maids, who werecalled the Salian virgins. It is furthersaid, in tradition, that when the shieldfell from Heaven, a voice was heard tosay, “Rome shall be mistress of theworld, as long as she remains possessedof this shield.” At the commencementof the month of March, in every suc-ceeding year, three festival days wereinstituted, during which period no bu-siness could he transacted of any sort,nor any functions of a civil nature heperformed. The author of the NouveauDictionnaire Militaire (from which wehave chiefly extracted this article) ob-serves, that many writers have men-tioned ancilium as a javelin. “But Ihave satisfied myself,” continues thesame author, “ by a reference to manyold established authorities, that the an-cilium was a shield which was worn bya particular sort of militia called Anci-listae, that threw javelins.”

SALIENT angle, in fortification, thatwhose points turn from the center ofthe place. See Eobtificatiok.

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