733 



STIRLING, EARL OF. 



STODART, JAMES, F.R.S. 



734 



powers of a variable quantity ; aiul for this variable arc to be substi- 

 tutt-d different numbers increasing from unity. When the given series 

 is not susceptible of having its sum expressed in finite terms, the 

 factor is an infinite series, and then the formula expressing the sum is 

 also an infinite series; but being highly convergent, the summation of 

 a few of its terms gives a very near approximation to the value of the 

 given series. The second part of the work relates to the interpolation 

 of terms between those of any given series : the values of the inter- 

 polated terms are found agreeably to the method of Newton, and 

 there are added several theorems for facilitating the processes by 

 which they are obtained. There are also given various formulae for 

 approximating to the quadrature of curves by the method of equi- 

 distant ordinates. 



In the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1735 there is a paper by 

 Stirling ' On the Figure of the Earth and on the Variations of the 

 Force of Gravity at its Surface ; ' and a second edition of the 

 'Method us Differentialis ' was published in 1764. 



NT I KLING, WILLIAM, EARL OF. [ALEXANDER, WILLIAM, EARL 

 OF STIRLING.] 



* STIRLING, WILLIAM, author and M.P., is the only son of the 

 late Archibald Stirling, Esq., of Keir, Perthshire, by Elizabeth, 

 daughter of the late Sir John Maxwell, Bart., of Pollock. He was 

 born at Keumure, near Glasgow, in 1818, and finished his education at 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1839 and 

 M.A. in 1843. Inheriting ample wealth, and at liberty to follow the 

 bent of his own tastes, he turned his attention to subjects not com- 

 monly much studied by Englishmen the art, literature, and history 

 of Spain. He travelled and resided in the Peninsula, in order to 

 study these thoroughly. In 1848 he published in three volumes his 

 'Annals of the Artists of Spain;' this was followed in 1852 by 'The 

 Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles the Fifth,' an interesting account 

 of the occupations of Charles after his resignation of the cares of 

 empire and retirement to the monastery of Yuste; and in 1855 

 appeared Mr. Stirling's last work, entitled ' Velasquez and his Works.' 

 While these writings and his intimate knowledge of Spanish art and 

 Spanish history have given Mr. Stirling a high reputation in literature, 

 he has also connected himself with politics. In July 1852 he was 

 returned to parliament as member for Perthshire, which county he 

 has since continued to represent as a moderate Conservative. 



STJERNSTOLPE, JONAS MAGNUS, was born on the 8th of 

 December 1777, in the parish of Stenquist, in the province of Soder- 

 inanland, in Sweden, of respectable parents, but who were so poor 

 that they could afford to give him only the most ordinary education. 

 His unusual abilities however attracted the notice of Baron Fletwood 

 and some of his friends, who put him to school at Strengnas, where 

 he soon distinguished himself, and whence he was afterwards sent to 

 finish his studies at Upsala. He seems to have been very scantily 

 provided for, since, in order to eke out his means of support, he was 

 obliged to give lessons and employ himself in translating novels for 

 booksellers. At length an event occurred in 1802 which he himself 

 has described as a most propitious revolution of fortune, namely, his 

 being taken into the family of M. Beskow, a merchant, as tutor to 

 his two sons, one of whom (Bernhard) has distinguished himself as a 

 poet, and has edited some of Stjernstolpe's posthumous pieces, with 

 an interesting biography of their author. From this event however 

 no permanent advantage to his circumstances seems to have resulted, 

 for notwithstanding his attachment to his studies, he determined to 

 renounce his prospects in any of the learned professions, and to 

 accept a small appointment in a public office (the Krigs-Expedition), 

 devoting only his leisure time to literary occupations. These con- 

 sisted at first merely of translations of Miiller's ' Siegfried ' and other 

 German romances, to the extent of about 30 volumes. It was then 

 that Beskow, wishing to assist him, offered him a situation in his own 

 counting-house, with a salary more than double of what he then had ; 

 but he rejected the well-meant proposal, saying, that he preferred 

 drinking water and writing verses to drinking wine and casting up 

 accounts. Though he himself might not consider the labour of trans- 

 lating drudgery, that kind of it in which he first engaged was certainly 

 unworthy of his talents. Therefore although it is to be regretted 

 that he did not undertake some original work of similar extent, it 

 was not without advantage to the literature of his own country that 

 he afterwards transplanted into it some of the productions of such 

 writers as Cervantes, Wieland, and Voltaire. Besides ' Don Quixote,' 

 ' Oberon,' and some of the tales of Voltaire, his translations of this 

 class include those of Pope's ' Rape of the Lock,' and Blumauer's 

 ' ^Eneis ' (which latter poem he completed by adding the three last 

 books, and which is considered to be in many respects even superior 

 to the original) ; not to mention a number of minor pieces, both from 

 ancient and modern poets. Among his original productions, which 

 are comparatively few, the principal are, ' Lunkentus,' a dramatic 

 popular tradition ; the 'Argonauts ; ' and his comic tales in verse. 



Notwithstanding his decided taste for works of fancy and humour, 

 satire, and wit, his reading extended to others of a very different class, 

 to mathematics and the physical sciences, geology, and astronomy, to 

 which last study he was greatly attached. According to his biographer 

 Beskow, the same remarkable sort of contrast displayed itself in his 

 conversation, for he would pass alternately from the gayest and 

 liveliest topics to the most serious from the most playful to the most 



profound. His conversational powers were in fact of the highest 

 order : it was there that the originality of his mind fully displayed 

 itself, for he possessed such extraordinary improvisatore talents, that 

 he would delight his auditors almost an entire evening by a continual 

 flow of wit and eloquence, which carried away both hunt-elf and his 

 hearers. These captivating qualities and the amiableness of his 

 personal character, his frankness and his disinterestedness, caused his 

 society to be greatly sought after by all who were distinguished in 

 literature and art ; whence it was said of him that he was not only 

 known to all Sweden, but intimate with one half of it. He constantly 

 refused however to become a member of any literary society, for which 

 institutions he entertained no great respect. His epistolary corre- 

 spondence was very extensive, and was marked by the same qualitie 

 as his conversation, though hitherto but a few specimens of it have 

 been published by his biographer* He had commenced a translation 

 of Ariosto, but did not live to make any great progress with it, being 

 carried off by a paralytic attack on the 17th of September 1831. 



(Beskow, Minnesteckning.) 



STOBJS'US, JOANNES, a native of Stobi in Macedonia, whence he 

 derives his name Stobscus, lived either at the end of the 5th or in 

 the 6th century of our era. Respecting his life no particulars are 

 known. We possess through him a number of extracts from ancient 

 Greek writers. He collected them in the course of his extensive reading 

 from more than five hundred authors, both in prose and in verse, and 

 put them together, and arranged them according to subjects for the 

 use and instruction of his son Septimius. We are thus indebted to 

 Stobseus not only for an immense number of fragments of well-known 

 ancient writers, but some authors would be altogether unknown to us 

 if Stobaeus had not {.reserved their names, together with some of their 

 sentiments. The words of Greek poets are of course quoted verbatim, 

 but in regard to prose writers he followed two different methods ; 

 sometimes he quotes the author's own words, and gives us real 

 extracts, and sometimes he gives a mere summary or epitome of what 

 his author contained. He himself called this anthology from Greek 

 literature, 'Av0o\6yiov eK\o-yS>v, atro^Bfyfjicirofv, vnoQt\K<av, and divided 

 it into four books. But the work has come down to us in a somewhat 

 different form. In our manuscripts it is divided into three books, 

 which form two separate works. The first and second books are 

 usually called 'E/cAo-yal tyvviKal, oiaKtK-riKal, KO.\ j)0ucal, and the third 

 ' Ap6o\6yioi', or Sermones. It has therefore been supposed that one 

 book of Stobseus is lost, but it is more probable that the 'Sermones' 

 contain the third and fourth books in one, according to the original 

 division. It is true that the third book at present consists of 127 or 

 128 chapters, while in the time of Photius the two last books together 

 only contained 100 chapters. This difference in number however 

 may be accounted for by supposing that some of the larger chapters 

 were divided by copyists into two or more smaller ones. 



The editio princeps of the 'Eclogse' is that by W. Canter, fol., 

 Antwerp, 1 575, with a Latin translation. It was reprinted, together 

 with the ' Sermones ' (the first edition of which was edited by Triu- 

 cavelli, 4to, Venice, 1536), in fol. Geneva, 1609. C. Gesner published 

 three editions of the ' Sermones/ under the title, ' J. Stobaei Sententias,' 

 Tigur., 1543; Basil., 1549; and Tigur., 159, with many arbitrary 

 alterations. The best modern edition of the ' Eclogse ' is that by 

 A. H. L. Heeren, with notes and a Latin translation, 2 vols. 8vo, 

 Gottingen, 1792-1801 ; and the best edition of the ' Sermones' is that 

 by T. Gaisford, 4 vols. 8vo, Oxford, 1822, reprinted at Leipzig, 1823 

 and 1853, in 4 vols. 8vo. A complete edition of both works of 

 Stobaeus has been published by Tauchnitz, 3 vols. 16mo, Leipzig, 1838. 



(Scholl, Geschichte der Griech. Lit., iii., p. 395-414.) 



STOCKS, JOHN E., M.D., was born in 1822. He was educated 

 for the medical profession at University College, London. Here he 

 distinguished himself in his classes, and especially attached himself to 

 the study of botany. He obtained an appointment in the East India 

 Company's service, and soon distinguished himself for his acquaint- 

 ance with plants. He was sent to Scinde and Beloochistan to report 

 on their vegetable riches, and returned laden with specimens and 

 information. He came back to England about the year 1854, intend- 

 ing to work up his numerous materials for publication. His health 

 however failed him, and after having deposited his collections at Kew, 

 he retired to Dottingham, near Hull, where he died in September 1854. 



STODART, JAMES, F.R.S., a maker of surgical instruments and 

 superior articles of cutlery in London, who, like his fellow tradesman 

 Mr. Pepys [PEPYS, WILLIAM HASLEDINE] acquired distinction as a 

 man of science, chiefly however by its application to his own business, 

 for he did not make philosophical researches, though he became the 

 companion and friendly assistant of those who did. Mr. Stodart's 

 public history is connected, in a remarkable manner, with that of a 

 peculiar description of steel. Some years prior to the beginning of this 

 century, Dr. Helenus Scott, of Bombay, afterwards first member of 

 the Medical Board of that Presidency, transmitted to the President of 

 the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, specimens of a substance called 

 by the natives of India, by whom it was manufactured, Wootz, which 

 was considered to be a kind of steel. Its nature and properties were 

 investigated by Dr. George Pearson, F.R.S., a leading chemist of the 

 time, whose results were read before the Royal Society and published 

 in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1795. Various professional 

 and other persons, at the instance of Sir Joseph Banks, concurred 



