Part 414 (1/2)
STATIONERS' HALL, the hall of the old Company of London Stationers, incorporated in 1557, who enjoyed till the Copyright Act of 1842 the sole right of having registered at their offices every pamphlet, book, and ballad published in the kingdom. Although no longer compulsory, the practice of entering books at Stationers' Hall is still found useful for copyright purposes. The register-rolls of books entered at Stationers'
Hall have been carefully preserved, and are of the highest value to the literary historian.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS, steps in the pa.s.sage of Jesus from the judgment-hall to Calvary, or representations of these, before each one of which the faithful are required to kneel and offer up a prayer.
STATIUS, PUBLIUS PAPINIUS, a Latin poet, born in Naples; lived at Rome, flourished at court, particularly that of Domitian, whom he flattered, but retired to his native place after defeat in a compet.i.tion; his chief work is the ”Thebas,” an epic in 12 books, embodying the legends connected with the war against Thebes; he ranks first among the poets of the silver age; a collection of short pieces of his named ”Silvae” have been often reprinted (61-96).
STAUBBACH (dust stream), a famous waterfall in Bern, near Lauterbrunnen, 8 m. S. of Interlaken, with a sheer descent of 980 ft.; in the sunlight it has the appearance of a rainbow-hued transparent veil, and before it reaches the ground it is dissipated in silvery spray.
STAUNTON, HOWARD, a famous chess-player; was an Oxford man, and led a busy life as a journalist and miscellaneous writer in London; won the chess champions.h.i.+p in 1843, and did much to extend the scientific study of the game by various publications, ”The Chess-Player's Handbook,” &c.; was also held in high repute as a Shakespearian scholar; published well-annotated editions of Shakespeare's works and a facsimile of the first folio (1810-1874).
STAVANGER (24), a flouris.h.i.+ng port of Norway, on a fiord on the SW.
coast, 100 m. S. of Bergen; is of modern aspect, having been largely rebuilt; has two excellent harbours, a fine 11th-century Gothic cathedral, and is the centre of important coast fisheries.
STAVROPOL (657), a Russian government on the Caspian Sea, the inhabitants of which are chiefly nomads and breed horses, with a capital of the same name (36) on a hill, a modern town and a prosperous, both in manufacture and trade.
STEEL, SIR JOHN, sculptor, born at Aberdeen; studied at Edinburgh and Rome; made his mark in 1832 by a model of a statue, ”Alexander and Bucephalus,” and soon took rank with the foremost and busiest sculptors of his day; his works are mostly to be found in Edinburgh, and include the equestrian statue of Wellington, statues of Sir Walter Scott (in the Scott Monument), Professor Wilson, Dr. Chalmers, Allan Ramsay, etc.; the splendid figure of Queen Victoria over the Royal Inst.i.tution gained him the appointment (1844) of sculptor to Her Majesty in Scotland, and on the unveiling of his fine equestrian statue of Prince Albert in 1876 he was created a knight (1804-1891).
STEELE, SIR RICHARD, a famous English essayist, born, the son of an attorney, in Dublin; educated as a foundationer at the Charterhouse and at Oxford; enamoured of a soldier's life, enlisted (1694) as a cadet in the Life Guards; in the following year received an ensigncy in the Coldstream Guards, and continued in the army till 1706, by which time he had attained the rank of a captain; a good deal of literary work was done during his soldiering, notably ”The Christian Hero” and several comedies; appointed Gazetteer (1707), and for some two years was in the private service of the Prince Consort, George of Denmark; began in 1709 to issue the famous tri-weekly paper the _Tatler_, in which, with little a.s.sistance, he played the part of social and literary censor about town, couching his remarks in light and graceful essays, which const.i.tuted a fresh departure in literature; largely aided by Addison, his old school companion, he developed this new form of essay in the _Spectator_ and _Guardian_; sat in Parliament as a zealous Whig, and in George I.'s reign was knighted and received various minor court appointments; continued a busy writer of pamphlets, &c., but withal mismanaged his affairs, and died in Wales, secured from actual penury by the property of his second wife; as a writer shares with Addison the glory of the Queen Anne Essay, which in their hands did much to purify, elevate, and refine the mind and manners of the time (1671-1729).
STEEN, JAN, Dutch painter, born in Leyden; was a _genre_ painter of the style of Rembrandt, and his paintings display severity with sympathy and a playful humour; he is said to have led a dissipated life, and to have left his wife and a large family in extreme dest.i.tution (1626-1679).
STEEVENS, GEORGE, commentator on Shakespeare, born at Stepney; in 1736 edited 20 of Shakespeare's plays carefully reprinted from the original quartos, and in 1731 his notes with those of Johnson in another edition; a further edition, with a number of gratuitous alterations of the text, was issued by him in 1793, and that was the accepted one till the publication of Knight's in 1838 (1736-1800).
STEIN, BARON VON, Prussian statesman, born at Na.s.sau; rose rapidly in the service of the State, and became Prussian Prime Minister under William III. in 1807, in which capacity he effected important changes in the const.i.tution of the country to its lasting benefit, till Napoleon procured his dismissal, and he withdrew to Austria, and at length to St.
Petersburg, where he was instrumental in turning the general tide against Napoleon (1757-1831).
STEIN, CHARLOTTE VON, a lady friend of Goethe's, born at Weimar; Goethe's affection for her cooled on his return from Italy to see her so changed; she never forgave him for marrying a woman beneath him; letters by Goethe to her were published in successive editions, but hers to him were destroyed by her (1742-1827).
STEINMETZ, CARL FRIEDRICH VON, Prussian general, born at Eisenach; distinguished himself in the war of 1813-1814, and inflicted crus.h.i.+ng defeats on the Austrians in 1866; fell below his reputation in the Franco-German War, and was deprived of his command after the battle of Gravelotte, but was elected Governor-General of Posen and Silesia (1796-1877).
STEINTHAL, HEYMANN, German philologist, born at Grobzig, in Anhalt; studied at Berlin, where in 1863 he became professor of Comparative Philology, and in 1872 lecturer at the Jewish High School on Old Testament Criticism and Theology; author of various learned and acute works on the science of language; _b_. 1823.
STELLA, the name under which Swift has immortalised Hester Johnson, the story of whose life is inseparably entwined with that of the great Dean; was the daughter of a lady-companion of Lady Gifford, the sister of Sir William Temple, who, it is conjectured, was her father. Swift first met her, a child of seven, when he a.s.sumed the duties of amanuensis to Sir William Temple in 1688, and during his subsequent residence with Sir William (1696-1699) stood to her in the progressive relations.h.i.+p of tutor, friend, and lover; but for some unaccountable reason it would seem they never married, although their mutual affection and intimacy endured till her death; to her was addressed, without thought of publication, the immortal ”Journal to Stella,” ”the most faithful and fascinating diary the world has ever seen,” which throws an invaluable flood of light on the character of Swift, revealing unsuspected tendernesses and affections in the great satirist (1681-1728).