Squier, Miles Powell, D.D., an eminent Presby- terian divine and educator, was born in Cornwall, Vt., May 4, 1792. The family was of P>nglish origin, set- tling in Connecticut in the days of the Pilgrim fathers. He was trained with assiduous care, and at fourteen en- tered the academy at Middlebury, Vt., where he pur- sued his academical studies; graduated with honor at Middlebury College in 1811, and at the Andover Theo- logical Seminary, Mass., in 1814 ; was licensed to preach the same year, and immediately began his labors as a supply to the Congregational Church, Oxford, Mass.; thence he removed to Vergennes, Vt., where he remained till tlie spring of 1815, when he accepted an appointment of missionary to the western part of New York State. He was ordained May 3, 1816, by the Geneva Presbytery as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, N. Y., which relation existed till 1824. In 1817 he was a commissioner to the General Assembh' of the Pres- byterian Church which met in Philadelphia; in 1825, after closing his pastorate in Buffalo, he spent a short time in agricultural pursuits for the benefit of liis health ; in 1826 he accepted the secretaryship of the Western agency of the American Home Missionary So- ciety at Geneva, N. Y., in which work he spent eight years; in 1833 he was occupied in superintending the affairs of the Geneva Lyceum, which he had founded, at the same time supplying the churches at Junius, Newark, Castleton, and West Fayette, N. Y., and in the winter of 1839-40 the Southwark Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. In 1845 he was induced to visit Be- loit, Wis., where it was proposed to establish a college, and he resolved to identif}' himself with it. In 1846 the charter was obtained, in 1847 the corner-stone was laid, and in 1849 he was elected professor of intellectu- al and moral philosophy, entering upon his duties in 1851. The subjects of his lectures at Beloit College were as follows: The Truth of Relifjion: — The Method and the Acquisition of Knowledfje : — Mental and Moral Habits: — The Value of a Philosophical Mind: — The Value of Moral Sciences: — The Generic Properties of Mind: — Philosophi/ and its Uses: — and Elements of Moral Science. In August, 1861, he went to Europe to attend the Evangelical Alliance in Switzerland, and while abroad he received the attention due his high position as an eminent educator. He lectured in the college for the last time in 1863, and by reason of de- clining health he made arrangements for a successor, he retaining a place in the catalogue as emeritus pro-
fessor. For several months before his death he mani- fested an uncommon degree of interest in the promotion of the Kedeemer's kingdom. The interviews with his friends relative to his departure were most gratifying and instructive. He longed to depart and be with Christ; and after charging each member of the house- hold to minister in every way to the health and hap- piness of his wife, he passed gently away, June 22, 1866. Dr. Squier was a man of note and eminence, fully up to the times in which he liveil. He frequently represent- ed his presbyterj' in the General Assembly, and at the time of the disruption of the Presbyterian Church was one of the leaders of the opposition to the Old-school party. Frederick E. Cannon of Geneva, N. Y., writes of him : " Intellectually, he belonged to the small class of original, independent, self-reliant thinkers, metaphys- ical in the cast of his mind, receiving no dogmas or conclusions without careful investigation, and fearless in announcing and maintaining the positions which he had taken. Having great faith in intellectual culture, he devoted his life and fortune mainly to the great in- terests of popular education, and schools, colleges, and seminaries are the monuments upon which his name is most distinctly inscribed. Religiously, he was evan- gelical, earnest, and progressive. His practical relig- ion was based on broad and comprehensive views of providence and grace. He was always and everywhere prompt to urge the claims of Christ upon all the un- believing, especially upon young men, and to press the Church of GOd to a higher and bolder standard of spir- itual life and work." Socially, he was genial, kind, and cordial. His home was always open to the ministry, and at no man's board were they more cheerfully wel- comed or more generously entertained. He was fre- quently a contributor to the periodical press, and was the author of. The Problem Solved, or Sin not of God (N. Y. 1855): — Reason and the Bible, or the Truth of Revelation (1860): — Miscellaneous Writings, with an Autobioffraphy, edited and supplemented by Rev. James R. Boyd (Geneva, N. Y. 1867) :— and The Beimj of God, Moi-al Govei-nment and Theses in Theology. Upon these subjects Dr. Squier bestowed his mattirest thoughts. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1867, p. 818; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Authors, s. v. (J. L. S.)
Squillery, an old English term for scullery, e. g. for the scullery of a monastic house or episcopal pal- ace.
Squinch, or Sconce, a small arch or projecting course of stone formed across the angle of a tower, etc., in Gothic architecture, to support the alternate sides of octagonal spires, lanterns, etc., above. Sometimes the overhanging side of the spire or octagon is supported by a series of projecting courses of stone (as at Tong, Salop), which answer the same purpose as the arches, but are more substantial because they have no tendency to ex- pand the walls, which is always to be feared when the arched squinch is used. The straight squinch is often emploj'ed externally, as at St. Cross, where it is used to carrj' the alure, or parajjct walk, across the angle at the junction of the choir and transept with the tower. The construction of the arched squinch, or trompe, was a fa-