Part 413 (1/2)
STAFFA (”pillar Island”), an uninhabited islet of basaltic formation off the W. coast of Scotland, 54 m. W. of Oban; 1 m. in circ.u.mference, and girt with precipitous cliffs, except on the sheltered NE., where there is a shelving sh.o.r.e; is remarkable for its caves, of which Fingal's Cave is the most famous, having an entrance 42 ft. wide and 66 ft. high, and penetrating 227 ft.
STAFFORD (20), county town of Staffords.h.i.+re, on the Sow, 29 m. NNW.
of Birmingham; has two fine old churches, St. Mary's and St. Chad's, interesting architecturally, King Edward's grammar school, and Stafford Castle finely situated on the outskirts; is an important railway centre, and noted for its boot and shoe manufactures.
STAFFORDs.h.i.+RE (1,083), a midland mining and manufacturing county of England, wedged in on the N. between Ches.h.i.+re (W.) and Derby (N.), and extending southward to Worcester, with Shrops.h.i.+re on the W., and Leicester and Warwick on the E.; with the exception of the wild and hilly ”moorland” in the N. consists of an undulating plain crossed by the Trent, and intersected in all directions by ca.n.a.ls and railways; embraces two rich coal-fields, one in the ”Black Country” of the S., where rich deposits of iron-stone are also worked, and one in the N., embracing the district of the ”Potteries”; famous breweries exist at Burton; Wolverhampton is the largest town.
STAGIRITE, THE, ARISTOTLE (q. v.), so called from his native place Stagira.
STAHL, FRIEDRICH JULIUS, writer of jurisprudence, born at Munich, of Jewish parents; embraced Christianity; wrote ”The Philosophy of Law”; became professor thereof at Berlin; was a staunch Lutheran, and a Conservative in politics (1802-1861).
STAHL, GEORG ERNEST, a German chemist, born at Ans.p.a.ch; was professor of Medicine at Halle; author of the theory of PHLOGISTON (q. v.) and of ANIMISM (q. v.) (1650-1735).
STAINES (5), a pretty little town of Middles.e.x, on the Thames (spanned here by a fine granite bridge), 6 m. SE. of Windsor; St. Mary's church has a tower designed by Inigo Jones; has breweries, mustard-mills, and other factories; in the neighbourhood are RUNNYMEDE and COOPER'S HILL (q. v.).
STAIR, JOHN DALRYMPLE, 1ST EARL OF, eldest son of James Dalrymple (1619-1695) of Stair (a distinguished lawyer in his day, who rose to be President of the Court of Session; wrote a well-known work, ”Inst.i.tutes of the Law of Scotland”; as a Protestant supported the Prince of Orange, and by him was raised to the peerage as viscount in 1690); adopted law as a profession, and was called to the bar in 1672; got into trouble with Claverhouse, and was fined and imprisoned, but in 1687 was received into royal favour, became Lord Advocate, a Lord Ordinary in the Court of Session, and subsequently as Secretary of State for Scotland was mainly responsible for the Ma.s.sACRE OF GLENCOE (q. v.); was created an earl in 1703, and later was active in support of the union of the English and Scottish Parliaments (1648-1707).
STAIR, JOHN DALRYMPLE, 2ND EARL OF, second son of preceding; entered the army at 19, and fought with his regiment, the Cameronians, at Steinkirk; studied law for some time at Leyden, but went back to the army, and by 1701 was a lieutenant-colonel in the Scots Foot Guards, and in 1706 colonel of the Cameronians; fought with distinction under Marlborough at Venlo, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and, as commander of a brigade, at the siege of Lille and at Malplaquet; was active in support of the Hanoverian succession, and subsequently in the reigns of George I.
and II. filled important diplomatic and military posts (1673-1747).
STALACt.i.tE, a cone of carbonate of lime attached like an icicle to the roof of a cavern, and formed by the dripping of water charged with the carbonate from the rock above; Stalagmite being the name given to the cone formed on the floor by the dripping from a stalact.i.te above.
STALYBRIDGE (44), a manufacturing town of Ches.h.i.+re and Lancas.h.i.+re, on both banks of the Tame, 7 m. E. by N. of Manchester; is of modern growth, and noted for its large cotton-yarn and calico factories, iron-foundries and machine-shops.
STAMFORD (8), an interesting old town, partly in Lincolns.h.i.+re and partly in Northamptons.h.i.+re, on the Welland, 12 m. WNW. of Peterborough; was one of the five Danish burghs, and is described in DOMESDAY BOOK (q. v.); a ma.s.sacre of Jews occurred here in 1140, and in Plantagenet times it was a place of ecclesiastical, parliamentary, and royal importance; figures in the Wars of the Roses and the Civil War of Charles I.'s time; has three fine Early English churches, a corn exchange, two handsome schools, Browne's Hospital, founded in Richard III.'s reign, and Burghley House, a n.o.ble specimen of Renaissance architecture; the _Stamford Mercury_ (1695) is the earliest provincial newspaper; the district is mainly agricultural.
STAMFORD (16), a town of Connecticut, situated amid surrounding hills in Long Island Sound, 33 m. NE. of New York; is a summer resort, and has iron and bronze foundries, etc.
STAMFORD BRIDGE, a village of Yorks.h.i.+re, on the Derwent, 9 m. NE.
of York; the scene of Harold's victory over the invading forces of Harold Haarf.a.ger on September 25, 1066.
STAMP ACT, a measure pa.s.sed by Grenville's Ministry in 1765 enacting that all legal doc.u.ments used in the colonies should bear Government stamps. The Americans resisted on the ground that taxation without representation in Parliament was unjust. Riots broke out, and the stamped paper was carefully avoided. In 1766 Pitt championed the cause of the colonists, and largely through his eloquence Government in that year was induced to repeal the Act.
STANDING STONES, rude unhewn stones standing singly or in groups in various parts of the world, and erected at remote periods, presumably in memory of some great achievement or misfortune, or as having some monumental reference.
STANDISH, MILES, one of the Puritan fathers, of Lancas.h.i.+re birth, and a cadet of a family of knightly rank in the county; served in the Netherlands as a soldier, and went to America in the Mayflower in 1620, and was helpful to the colony in its relations both with the Indians and the mother-country; is the hero of a poem of Longfellow's.