MICHAEL THOMAS, was born at Snelstone, a village in Derbyshire, in January 1780. He was descended, on the father's side, from Sir Ralph Sadler, one of Queen Elizabeth's ministers; and his mother's family had been French refugees at the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He was educated principally at home, his father having intended him for one of the learned professions; but when about eighteen years old he was induced to join his brother in business at Leeds, where he continued until called into public life by the ministerial proposal of the Catholic Relief Bill. On a vacancy occurring for the borough of Newark, in March 1823, Mr Sadler, being invited to become a candidate, immediately complied, and triumphantly carried his election, though opposed by Mr Sergeant Wilde, one of the ablest and most energetic members of the bar. Mr Sadler distinguished himself by a long and eloquent speech delivered against the Roman Catholic claims on the 17th of the same month; and during the continuance of the discussion he was the great champion of the Protestant cause. At the general election of 1830 he was again chosen for Newark; and in 1831 he took his seat for Aldborough in Yorkshire. At the first general election under the Reform Bill, Aldborough having been disfranchised, he became a candidate for the new borough of Leeds; but though highly esteemed by a large number of his townsmen, his reputation as an anti-reformer preponderated over his less equivocal merits, and he lost his election.

In his public career Sadler was generally associated with the old constitutional Tories. To the policy of free trade he was also most decidedly hostile; nor was he less unfriendly to the settlement of the currency question, which he considered should have been effected upon a more equitable adjustment. He was likewise very hostile to the Reform Bill, to which he recorded his objections in a speech when seconding General Gascoigne's motion, the effect of carrying which was the dissolution of Parliament. For Ireland he always expressed the deepest interest, and twice introduced a poor-law bill for that country into Parliament. During the last session he sat in Parliament he was almost constantly occupied in prosecuting the bill he had brought before the legislature for the protection of children employed in the manufactories, and which is familiarly called the Ten Hours Bill. This measure was referred to a select committee, of which Sadler was appointed chairman; and it is believed that the fatigue and responsibility thus imposed on him, of collecting the mass of evidence contained in the report, laid the foundation of his long and fatal illness. Neither, after all, were his efforts successful in passing this measure. Sadler was some years a member of the Royal Society, and author of several works, the most important of which are,—Ireland, its Evils, and their Remedies; and An Essay on the Law of Population, in two volumes, written principally to controvert the opinions of Malthus. A third volume, intended to complete this treatise, the author was engaged upon at the time of his death, which took place at New Lodge, near Belfast, on the 29th of July 1835. Sadler's disease appears to have been an incurable affection of the heart, brought on by severe study and intense anxiety. At the time of his death he was the leading partner of the firm of Sadler, Fenton, and Company, of Belfast.

Sadler, Sir Ralph, an eminent English statesman, was born of a good family at Hackney in Middlesex in 1507. His shrewdness and address in business early began to lead him to promotion. While a mere child he was serving the secretary Cromwell with great acceptance. In his eleventh year he attracted the notice of the king, Henry VIII., and a series of appointments was the result. He was made clerk of the hamper, one of the gentlemen of the privy chamber, and a knight. His services were employed in dissolving the religious houses, and rewarded with a large share of the rich spoils. Above all, several successive embassies to Scotland were entrusted to his management. In 1537 he was sent thither to strengthen the English interest; in 1539-40 he was commissioned to persuade the Scottish king, James V., to cast off the supremacy of the Pope; in 1541 he went back to enforce this same counsel; and in 1542 he was appointed to settle the proposed match between Edward, Prince of Wales, and Mary the infant queen of Scots. Nor did Sadler's want of success on all these various occasions affect his prospects. Fortune still remained constant to him. On Henry's death in 1547, his name was found in the royal will as one of the councillors to the sixteen nobles who were entrusted with the guardianship of the young king. In the same year he was appointed treasurer to the army sent against Scotland, and for his great services in rallying the repulsed cavalry he was dubbed a knight-bannercet on the battle-field of Pinkie. Even the relentless vengeance of "bloody Mary" did not injure his prosperity. During her reign he lived in peaceful seclusion on his estate near Hackney. On the accession of Elizabeth in 1558, Sir Ralph Sadler came once more into a sphere of active employment. He immediately became a member of Parliament for the county of Hertford, and a privy councillor. Not long afterwards his intimacy with the affairs of Scotland recommenced him as a fit person to take up his abode in the town of Berwick, and to support with secret supplies of money the Scottish lords of the Congregation in their resistance to their Polish queen-dowager. A number of years were spent in less obtrusive business; and he was then, in 1584, appointed keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, in the Castle of Tutbury, an office which he discharged with great honesty and humanity. His last service was to repair to Scotland to pacify the king's indignation on account of Mary's death. He returned worn out with the labours of a long life, and died at his lordship of Stanion in Hertfordshire in 1587. Sadler's State Papers and Letters were published in 2 vols. 4to, Edinburgh, 1809. Prefaced to that edition was a memoir by Sir Walter Scott, which has also appeared among that great author's prose works.

Sadoletto, Jacopo, a learned cardinal, was born at Modena in 1477. Leo X. made him and Peter Bembo his secretaries, an office for which they were both well qualified; and Sadoletto was soon afterwards made bishop of Carpentras, near Avignon. He was made a cardinal in 1536 by Paul III.; was employed in several negotiations and embassies; and died in 1547, not without the suspicion of poison, for corresponding too familiarly with the Protestants, and testifying too much regard for some of their doctors. His works, which are all in Latin, were collected in 1607 at Mentz, in one volume 8vo. They consist of a commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, a work on Education, a disputation in two books, on the merits of philosophy, and a poem on the discovery of the group of the "Laocon" at Rome. His sincere piety and love of letters have led him to be compared with Fénelon.

Saffi, or Asaffi, a town of Morocco, in a barren valley between two hills, on the shore of the Atlantic, not far from Cape Cantiro. It was formerly a place of much European trade; and until 1641 belonged to the Portuguese, but now it is gradually decreasing in size and importance. The roadstead in front of the town affords good anchorage. Pop. about 9000, of whom 3000 are Jews.