408 



STEWARTSTILES. 



were dated, in succession, the Philosophical Essays 

 in 1810; the second volume of the Philosophy of 

 the Human Mind, in 181;}; tin- Preliminary Dis- 

 sertation to the Encyclopedia; the continuation of 

 the second part of the Philosophy, in 1827 ; and, 

 finally, in 1828, the third volume, containing the 

 Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers of 

 Man ; a work which he completed only a few short 

 weeks before his career was to close for ever. 



His death occurred on the llth of June, 1828, at 

 Edinburgh, where he had been for a few days on a 

 vi<it. He was interred in the Canongate church- 

 \anl, and a monument has been erected to his 

 memory, on the Calton hill Edinburgh. 



Mr Stewart left behind him a widow and two 

 children, a son and daughter; the former of whom, 

 lieutenant-colonel Matthew Stewart, has published 

 an able pamphlet on Indian affairs. 



STEWART, GILBERT, an eminent portrait pain- 

 ter, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1757, 

 gave early manifestations of his fondness for the 

 pencil, and was sent to London, where he was 

 placed under the care of Benjamin West. In the 

 execution of portraits, the pupil soon surpassed the 

 master. In 1784, he was established as one of the 

 first portrait painters of London, and had, in the 

 exhibition of that year, several full lengths of dis- 

 tinguished individuals. He lived elegantly and 

 gayly ; but it is believed that, notwithstanding his 

 great success, he was obliged, by pecuniary dis- 

 tresses, to remove to Dublin. In 1790, he returned 

 to his native country, from which he never again 

 departed. He resided successively in New York, 

 Philadelphia, and its neighbourhood, Washington, 

 and last in Boston, continuing to paint with un- 

 abated power, although for years racked with the 

 gout. Soon after his return to America, he painted 

 the best portrait of Washington. The head he care- 

 fully finished, but never completed the remainder. 

 He made several copies, all varying from the ori- 

 ginal. His death occurred at Boston, in July, 1828, 

 and such of his works as could be collected were 

 exhibited for the benefit of his family. Mr Stew- 

 art was gifted with uncommon colloquial powers, 

 and his genius for portrait painting was of the 

 highest order. 



STEWART, JOHN ; commonly called Walking 

 Stewart, from his pedestrian feats ; an eccentric in- 

 dividual, who wandered, on foot, over a great part 

 of the habitable globe. He was born in London, 

 and, having received the rudiments of education at 

 the Charter-house, was sent out, in 1763, as a wri- 

 ter to Madras. Before he had been in that situa- 

 tion quite two years, he wrote a letter to the direc- 

 tors, telling them that he " was born for nobler 

 pursuits than to be a copier of invoices, and bills of 

 lading to a company of grocers, haberdashers, and 

 cheese-mongers ;" and a few weeks after he took 

 his leave of the presidency. Prosecuting his route 

 over Hindoostan, he walked to Delhi, to Persepo- 

 lis, and other parts of Persia, traversing the greater 

 part of the Indian peninsula, and visiting Abyssinia 

 and Nubia. Entering the Carnatic, he obtained the 

 favour of the nabob, who made himhis private secre- 

 tary, and to this circumstance, he, in his latter days, 

 owed his support,the British house of commons voting 

 him 15,000 in liquidation of his demands upon the 

 nabob. Quitting the service of this prince, he set 

 out to walk to Seringapatam, where Tippoo Saib 

 compelled him to enter his army, with a commission 

 s captain of sepoys. After serving for sometime 

 in this capacity, Sir James Sibbald, the commis- 



sioner for settling the terms of peace between the 

 presidency and the sultan, procured his liberation. 

 Stewart then started to walk to Europe, crossing 

 the desert of Arabia, and arriving at length safely at 

 Marseilles. Thence he proceeded in the same manner 

 through France and Spain to his native country ; and, 

 having walked through England, Scotland, and Ire- 

 land, he crossed the Atlantic, and perambulated the 

 United States of America. The last ten years of his 

 life were passed in London, where he died in 1822. 



STEWART, ROBEHT, marquis of Londonderry. 

 See Londonderry. 



STHENIC DISEASES. See Brown, John. 



STHENO; one of the Gorgons, q. v. 



STICHOMANCY (from ',%, a line, verse, 

 and fcat-rua, prophecy) ; a kind of divination, in use 

 even among the Romans. Verses from the Sibyl- 

 line Books were written on small slips of paper, 

 which were shaken in a vessel, and one of them was 

 drawn out, in order to discover some intimation of 

 future events. Something similar has often been 

 practised by Christians, putting a pin at hazard be- 

 tween the leaves of a closed bible. The verse 

 which was pointed out served as an oracle. Even 

 at the present time, this is not unfrequently done 

 by the superstitious; and some sects even resort to 

 it for guidance on important occasions. See Bibho- 

 mancy. 



STICK, GOLD ; an officer of superior rank in 

 the life-guards, so called, who is in immediate 

 attendance upon the king's person. When his 

 majesty gives either of his regiments of life-guards 

 to an officer, he presents him with a gold stick. 

 The colonels of the two regiments wait alternately 

 month and month. The one on duty is then called 

 gold stick in waiting ; and all orders relating to the 

 life-guards are transmitted through him. During 

 that month he commands the brigade, receives all 

 reports, and communicates them to the king. Sil- 

 ver Stick : the field officer of the life-guards when 

 on duty is so called. 



STIGMA (Greek) ; with the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans, a mark impressed with a hot iron on the fore- 

 heads of slaves who had run away or committed theft. 

 The Greeks used a if, signifying <p<v>t>ros (fuyiendus) 

 or ipivxrixos (runaway), and the Romans an F, signi- 

 fying fur orfugitivus. A black colouring substance 

 was put in the wound. Such slaves were called 

 stigmatici, inscripti, literati, friyftanai, yriyuns. The 

 Samians, who freed many slaves, and admitted them 

 to office, were called in derision, jroKvyta.ppctToi, 

 literati. This name, however, may have had ano- 

 ther origin, as many believe. Prisoners of war were 

 also branded, as the slave traders now brand the 

 negroes with the marks of their several owners. 

 (See Slavery.) Recruits were also burned in the 

 hand, generally with the name of the general. This 

 was not considered a disgrace. In some countries 

 criminals sentenced to the galleys are branded in a 

 similar way to this day. 



STILES, EZRA, a president of Yale college, was 

 the son of the reverend Isaac Stiles, of North Ha- 

 ven, Connecticut. He graduated in that institution 

 in 1746, with the reputation of being one of the 

 greatest scholars it had ever produced. He then 

 studied law, but subsequently devoted himself to 

 theology, and settled at Newport, as pastor of the 

 Second church, where he continued from 1755 to 

 1776. During this and several succeeding years, 

 the enemy were in possession of Newport, and the 

 inhabitants of the town were scattered. Doctor 

 Stiles was solicited to preach in several places ; he 



