STENTOR STEPHEN BATHORI. 



401 



much more rapidity than is possible in the common 

 mode. Tachygraphij ' (from ra%v, quickly, and 

 ya.$<S) signifies the same art, as far as its object is 

 expedition ; and as this is generally the chief thing 

 aimed at, and the use of abbreviations is only the 

 means, tachyyraphy would be the preferable name, 

 yet stenography, or short-hand, has been generally 

 adopted. Even the Greeks and Romans made use 

 of this art, though in an imperfect state, for the 

 sake of taking down oral discourses. Their steno- 

 graphy consisted of a number of arbitrary signs, not 

 reduced to rules, which, of course, rendered the 

 learning of it very difficult. In the eighteenth 

 century, professor Taylor of Oxford reduced steno- 

 graphy to rules, and Bertin, in France, simplified 

 it still more. In 1824, appeared, in Paris, the 

 fourth edition of Conen de Perpean's Stenographic, 

 and the second edition of Grosselin's Vocabulaire 

 Stenographique, with a theory. William Harding's 

 Universal Stenography, on Taylor's principles 

 (London, 1825), is the most complete work on 

 this subject, on which nearly 100 works have ap- 

 peared in England during the two last centuries. 

 The reporters of the parliamentary debates for the 

 English newspapers do not make much use of steno- 

 graphy. See Newspapers. 



STENTOR; a warrior of the Greek army before 

 Troy, of whom Homer tells us that his voice was 

 equal to that of fifty others; hence the phrase a 

 Stentorian voice. Juno assumed his form, and en- 

 couraged the Greeks to fight valiantly against the 

 Trojans. 



STENWYCK, OR STEENWYCH, HENRY, the 

 elder, born at Steenwych, in Flanders, in 1550, 

 was the disciple of John de Vries ; and, following 

 the steps of his master, he became celebrated for 

 his delineation of the insides of convents and 

 churches of Gothic architecture, viewed by the 

 light of torches or lustres, to which his perfect 

 knowledge of chiaro-scuro, and the lightness and 

 delicacy of his pencil, gave a surprising effect. His' 

 pictures are very rare, and bear a high price He 

 died in 1603. 



Henry Stemvyck, the younger, son and pupil of 

 the preceding, copied his father's manner, and was 

 thought frequently to equal him. He was intro- 

 duced by Vandyke to the court of Charles I. ; and 

 he painted many pictures in England, where he 

 died, in what year is unknown. 



STEPHEN. Besides the first martyr of the 

 Christian church, who was stoned to death (Acts 

 vi. 9 15, and vii. 53 60), there are two saints of 

 this name Stephen I., a pope and martyr of the 

 third century, and Stephen I., king of Hungary, 

 who, towards the end of the tenth century, intro- 

 duced the Christian religion into his dominions, 

 and was therefore canonized. His successors re- 

 ceived from the pope the title of apostolic majesty, 

 which is still borne by the emperor of Austria, as 

 king of Hungary. 



STEPHEN, king of England, son of Stephen 

 count of Blois, by Adela, fourth daughter of William 

 the Conqueror, was born in 1104, and invited, 

 when young, into England by his uncle Henry I., 

 who gave him the earldom of Mortaigne, in Nor- 

 mandy, and large estates in England. He likewise 

 procured for him in marriage the heiress of Eustace, 

 count of Boulogne. For these favours Stephen 

 professed the most grateful attachment to the king, 

 and was most zealous in taking the oath for securing 

 the succession to Henry's daughter, the empress 

 Matilda, or Maud. No sooner, however, did that 



TI. 



monarch's death take place than he hastened from 

 France to England, and laid claim to the crown for 

 himself. (See Henry /.) Having ingratiated 

 himself with both nobles and people, he was at 

 once received as king in London; and the concur- 

 rence of the clergy was obtained by Stephen's 

 brother, the bishop of Winchester, aided by the 

 oath of a nobleman of the late king's testifying his 

 intentions in favour of his nephew, while on his 

 death bed. David, the king of Scotland, marched 

 an army into England, and Carlisle and the county 

 of Cumberland formed the price which Stephen 

 was obliged to pay for peace. He was, however, 

 able to subdue the opposition of the nobles of Eng- 

 land, and was also invited by the barons to take 

 possession of the duchy of Normandy. Another war 

 with Scotland followed, which was terminated by the 

 battle of the Standard, in which the Scots were 

 entirely defeated by the northern barons. The em- 

 press Matilda landed in England, with her brother, 

 the earl of Gloucester, and, being joined by several 

 powerful barons, a civil war ensued, which proved 

 one of the most calamitous in the English annals. 

 Stephen performed his part with vigour and cour- 

 age, but, being taken prisoner in 1141, his party 

 was broken up, and Matilda was acknowledged 

 queen. The haughty conduct of the new sove- 

 reign excited an insurrection against her govern- 

 ment ; and, being invested in Winchester castle, 

 she escaped with difficulty, while the earl of Glou- 

 cester was taken prisoner. Stephen was exchanged 

 for the earl, and the war was renewed. Matilda 

 was induced, by the death of the earl, to retire to 

 Normandy ; and the contest was carried on by her 

 son, Henry Plantagenet, who, in 1 153, landed an 

 army in England, and was joined by the barons of 

 his mother's party. An armistice, however, took 

 place, and it was agreed that Stephen should reign 

 during his life, that Henry should succeed him, 

 leaving to William, the son of Stephen, his father's 

 patrimonial estates. On the death of the king, the 

 following year, Henry quietly ascended the throne. 

 (See Henry II.) Stephen died in the fiftieth year 

 of his age, and the nineteenth of his uneasy reign. 

 Had he succeeded fairly to the throne, he possessed 

 talents which would have enabled him to fill it with 

 honour. His resistance to the encroachments of 

 the clergy and the see of Rome were spirited and 

 creditable ; and he was active and able both in the 

 cabinet and the field. 



STEPHEN BATHORI, one of the most dis- 

 tinguished kings of Poland, was descended of a 

 noble family in Transylvania, where he was born 

 in 1532. His prudence and courage had already 

 (1571) raised him, through the suffrages of his 

 countrymen, to the dignity of prince of Transylva- 

 nia when, on the death of Sigismund, a powerful 

 party in Poland, under count Zamoyski, called him 

 to the Polish throne. Another party had chosen 

 the emperor Maximilian II. ; but Stephen was 

 gradually joined by the whole nation, and the death 

 of Maximilian left him without a competitor. He 

 maintained the royal dignity with vigour, and de- 

 fended the kingdom successfully from foreign ene- 

 mies. After three successful campaigns against the 

 Russians, who had invaded Livonia, he forced the 

 czar Ivan II. (1582) to restore all his conquests in 

 that province; he obliged the Cossacks to submit 

 to the Polish laws, and established three supreme 

 tribunals of justice for the whole kingdom. His 

 toleration was shown in his mildness towards his 

 Protestant subjects, and, when urged to extirpate 

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