729 



STILL, JOHN. 



STILLINGFLEET, EDWARD. 



730 



406 and the beginning of 407, by Vandals, Alani, Suevi, Burgundians, 

 and other Germanic tribes. In Gaul these barbarians were opposed 

 by Constantino, a man who had shortly before been raised from the 

 condition of a common soldier to the rank of emperor by the soldiers 

 in Britain, and now made himself master of Gaul and Spain by entering 

 into a league with some of the barbarians. Stilicho indeed sent Sarus, 

 the Goth, to Gaul, but without success, and Houorius was for a time 

 obliged to leave the rebel in the undisturbed possession of his conquest. 

 Alario in the mean time became impatient, and having advanced 

 with his army as far as yErnona on the frontiers of Italy, he sent 

 ambassadors to Ravenna to demand the promised subsidies. When 

 the ambassadors arrived, Stilicho left them at Ravenna and went to 

 Rome, where Honorius was then staying. Stilicho, who was convinced 

 that it was dangerous to make such a formidable neighbour as Alaric 

 ;in enemy, was willing to continue the peace with him, and to grant 

 his requests. He laid the matter before the Roman senate, which, 

 with a spirit not unworthy of ancient Rome, declared that the demands 

 of the Goths should not be complied with, and that destruction would 

 be preferable to such disgrace. The influence however of Stilicho 

 and his party, whose object only was to preserve Italy from new 

 devastations at a moment when Gaul was in the hands of a rebel and 

 of barbarians who might easily be induced to march southward, was 

 so great, that nearly all the senators at length were obliged to give 

 way, and 4000 pounds of gold were granted to Alaric under the name 

 of a subsidy. (Zosim., v. 29.) The desire of Stilicho to maintain 

 peace with Alaric was interpreted by his enemies as a treacherous 

 partiality for the enemy of the empire, and all the calamities under 

 which Italy had been suffering were imputed to Stilicho. Even 

 Honorius now began to fear and suspect his minister ; and this feeling 

 was fostered by a cunning hypocrite of the name of Olympius, whom 

 Stilicho himself had introduced to the court, and who had gained the 

 confidence of the emperor. 



In May 408, Arcadius died, leaving a son, Theodosius, eight years 

 old. Honorius proposed a journey to the East to regulate the admi- 

 nistration. Stilicho represented to him the difficulties and dangers of 

 such an undertaking, and in consequence it was determined that 

 Stilicho should go to Constantinople. An army, which was to march 

 against Constantine, was assembled near Pavia, and Honorius went 

 thither to inspect it, while Stilicho was making preparations at Bologna 

 for his departure. The eunuch Olympius represented to -the emperor 

 fliat Stilicho was conspiring with Alaric, that he intended with his 

 assistance to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, and that it formed 

 part of their design to restore paganism in the empire. (Olympiodorus, 

 ' ap. Phot. Cod.,' 80.) He also contrived to influence the soldiers at 

 Pavia, who revolted, and on a given signal killed several of their prin- 

 c'fpal officers, who were represented to them as the friends of Stilicho. 

 As soon as the intelligence of the revolt at Pavia had arrived, Stilicho's 

 friends advised him to march against his enemies; but he hesitated 

 till it was too late. His friends, for the most part barbarians, left him 

 with indignation at his want of resolution. At midnight, Sarus, the 

 faithless Goth, made an attack upon Stilicho's tent, and cut down his 

 guards. Stilicho escaped to Ravenna, and took refuge in a church. 

 He was treacherously induced to come out, and as soon as he had left 

 the threshold he was put to death by Count Heraclian, who was 

 waiting for him with a band of soldiers, on the 23rd of August, 408. 

 His family and his friends were persecuted, and many of them put to 

 death. (Zosim., v. 34.) 



The history of Stilicho has come down to us in a manner which 

 scarcely enables us to choose a due medium between the extravagant 

 praise of Claudian and the charges of his enemies, or of such writers 

 as were obliged to join in the general clamour that was raised against 

 him after his fall. 



(Mascow, History of the Antient Germans, vol. i., book viii., sect. 2, 

 19, English translation ; Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of 

 the Roman Empire, chap. 29 and 30 ; C. F. Schultz, Flaviux Stilicho, 

 cin Wallenstein der Vorwelt, ein Beilrag zum letzten Tkeile der Rom. 

 Geschiclite ; &c. 



STILL, JOHN, the son of William Still, of Grantham, in Lincoln- 

 shire, was born in 1543, and became a student of Christ College, 

 Cambridge, where he took his degree as Master of Arts. In 1570 he 

 was appointed Lady Margaret's Professor in the University : he after- 

 wards held livings in Suffolk and Yorkshire, and was successively 

 Master of St. John's and Trinity Colleges. In 1588 he was chosjn 

 prolocutor of the Convocation ; and in 1592, he was raised to the 

 bishopric of Bath and Wells, which he held till his death in 1607. 

 Bishop Still is said by Fuller to have been " one of a venerable 

 presence, no less famous for a preacher than a disputant." He left a 

 large fortune, chiefly derived from lead mines discovered in the 

 Mendip Hills during his possession of the see. The historians of the 

 drama concur in believing him to have been, in his youth, the author 

 of a coarse but humorous play, which, till the discovery of 'Ralph 

 Roysier Doytter,' was held to be the earliest extant work known in 

 England by the name of a comedy. It is called, ' A ryyht pithy, 

 pleasaunt, and merie Coinedie, intytuled, Gammer Gurton's Nedle; 

 played on stage not long ago, in Christe's Colledgein Cambridge. Made 

 by Mr. S., Master of Art,' 1575. 'Gammer Gurtou's Needle' is in 

 Hawkins's ' Origin of the English Drama/ and in the second volume 

 of Dodsloy's ' Old Plays.' 



STILLING, JUNG JOHANN HEINRICH, a celebrated German 

 Pietist, was born at Griind, in Westphalia, in 1740. Hia father 

 Wilhelm Jung was a charcoal-burner, to which trade he was also 

 destined, but circumstances favouring his becoming a tailor, he chose 

 that business, though he soon relinquished it for a situation as teacher 

 at a school. Dissatisfied with this, he returned to tailoring, and 

 continued it till several of the gentry befriended him, and took him as 

 private tutor to their children. He contrived to save a little money, 

 which enabled him to pursue his studies, and went in consequence to 

 Strassburg, and studied medicine thera It was there he became 

 acquainted with Gothe, who took a great liking to him, and has 

 sketched his character with great fondness in several passages of the 

 'Dichtung und Wahrheit' (books ix. and x.). It was at Gothe's 

 suggestion that he wrote his interesting autobiography ('Lebens- 

 geschichte'), to whom he had often related it. Stilling practised as 

 physician for some time in Eberfeld, and in ] 778 was appointed pro- 

 fessor at the Kameralschule of Lautern, and in 1787 at that of 

 Marburg, and in 1803 at that of Heidelberg. He died in Karlsruhe, 

 1817. 



As a physician, Stilling's great talent was in diseases of the eye, and 

 he is said to have restored upwards of 2000 persons to better sight. 

 As a writer, he was very popular, and the sect of Pietists in Germany 

 (somewhat similar to our Methodists) look up to him with great 

 affection. "The great element of his character was an invincible 

 and intense faith in God and an immediate providence, ever at hand 

 in the time of trouble, and Which momently preserved man from 

 evil." The most celebrated of all his works is the 'Theorie der Geis- 

 terkunde,' which, as well as his autobiography, has been translated 

 into English by M:\ Jackson. A complete edition of his works was 

 published at Leipzig, in 13 vols. 8vo, in 1835, edited by Dr. J. 

 Grollmanu. 



(Stilling's Lebensgeschichte ; Gothe's Dicht. und Wahrheit; Con- 

 versations Lexicon.) 



STILLINGFLEET, BENJAMIN, grandson of Dr. Stillingfleet, 

 bishop of Worcester, was born in 1702. His father, originally a 

 physician, and one of the professors at Gresham College, afterwards 

 entered into holy orders, and held the livings of Wood Norton and 

 S wanton, in Norfolk, at the time of his death in 1708. His widow 

 was left with four children in very straitened circumstances, but 

 Benjamin was so fortunate as to obtain a good education at Norwich 

 grammar-school, where he made considerable proficiency. In April 

 1720, he entered as subsizar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he 

 took the degree of B.A. in 1723. Soon aftewards he quitted the 

 University, and became tutor to the son of Mr. Wyndham of Felbrig, in 

 whose family he remained till 1726, when he became a candidate for a 

 vacant fellowship in his own college, but was not successful, owing, as 

 he believed, to the opposition of Dr. Bentley. After this disappoint- 

 ment he spent many years at Felbrig, and in 1737 accompanied the 

 son of Mr. Wyndham to the Continent. On his return to England the 

 father of his old pupil settled on him an annuity of 100Z., on which 

 sum and the produce of his literary labours he subsisted for three 

 years. The friendship of Mr. Price, whose acquaintance he had made 

 when at Rome, now enabled him to take up his abode in a small 

 cottage near that gentleman's seat at Foxley, in Hertfordshire. An 

 indifferent state of health first led him to pay attention to natural 

 history, which he afterwards cultivated with great success. In 1759 

 he published a collection of 'Miscellaneous Tracts on Natural History,' 

 which consisted of translations from the writings of Linnaeus and his 

 pupils, calculated to develope the principles of that great botanist. 

 Mr. Stilliugfleet's preface to this work did much towards rendering 

 the Linnsean system popular in this country, and constitutes his chief 

 scientific merit. 



'A Treatise on the Principles and Power of Harmony,' published in 

 1771, which is an abridgement of Tartini's ' Trattato di Musica,' was 

 the only other work which appeared during his life ; but he left at his 

 death six volumes in manuscript, of a collection towards a 'General 

 History of Husbandry,' of which an analysis is given in his biography 

 by Mr. Coxe. Mr. Stillingfleet died in London, on December 15, 1771, 

 leaving behind him, besides his scientific reputation, the character of 

 an excellent scholar, an elegant poet and musician, and a most amiable 

 and estimable man. 



For further information concerning him the reader may consult 

 Mr. Coxe's very interesting work, 'The Literary Life and Select 

 Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet,' London, 1811. 



STILLINGFLEET, EDWARD, son of Samuel Stillingfleet, was 

 born at Cranbourn, in Dorset, on the 17th of April 1635. He was 

 educated at the grammar-schools of Cranbourn and Ringwood, and at 

 St. John's, Cambridge. He entered the college in 1648, and obtained 

 a fellowship in 1653. .After taking his degree of M.A. he was private 

 tutor successively in the families of Sir Roger Burgoin, at Wroxhall, 

 in Warwickshire, and of the Hon. Francis Pierrepoint, of Nottingham. 

 Here he began his 'Irenicum.' In 1657 he was presented to the 

 rectory of Sutton by Sir R. Burgoin. 



Stillingfleet commenced his public life as the advocate of moderate, 

 almost of latitudinarian opinions on ecclesiastical affairs. In the year 

 1659 he published his first work, which was entitled ' Irenicum, or the 

 Divine Right of particular Forms of Church Government examined.' 

 A second edition appeared in 1662, with an appendix on the Power of 



