S R S 



S T A 



S RIM ANT, an appellation of refpeft ufed in the third 

 pei-fon to the Pefkwa, or chief perfon of the Mahratta em- 

 pire. See Peshwa. 



SRINAGUR, in Geography. See SirinaguRw 

 SRIPADA, a name, or word, ufed amonjr the Hindoos, 

 meaning a divine footllep, for which fuppofed impreffions 

 they have a very reverential feeling. On the top of tlie 

 lofty mountain on the idand of Ceylon, which European 

 geographers call Adam's peak, the Hindoos fancy there is 

 a fripad ; and accordingly pilgrimages are made to it from 

 diftant parts of India. Vifhnu, it is faid, alighted on this 

 fpot, and left the holy and indelible impreflion. In the 

 neighbourhood of temples, or at their thrcniold, it is not 

 unufual to fee a flat ilone embofled or engraved with the 

 impreflion of two feet, joined from heel to toe ; fuch being 

 the attitude of adoration : and it is faid that fuch Itones are 

 the laft terrene fubftance preiled by the feet of the unhappy 

 viftims of fuperftition, who burn themfelves ahve on the pile 

 of their hufbands. They ftep from thefe flat ftones upon 

 the pile, and then appertain more to the next world than to 

 this. The next Hep is into the prefence of the gods ; or, in 

 the cafe of temples, to their holy place. 



The Hindoos are not the only people who have a venera- 

 tion for the myftical impreffions of feet. The fripad above 

 mentioned on Ceylon was faid by our early zealous mif- 

 fionaries to have been left by Adam ; they endeavouring to 

 eftabhdi the faft of that chofen idand havmg been the Eden 

 of our firft parents. (See Lanka.) In the holy land, 

 miraculous fripada, or footlteps, are Hill fliewn and reve- 

 renced, as left by the laft prefliire of our Saviour on the 

 earth. On this fubjeft the reader will find fome interelting 

 difcuffion in Dr. Clarit's Travels, vol. ii. p. 584. 



SRIRANGA, a name of the Hindoo god Siva. The 

 name is Ranga, with the epithet Sri prefixed, meaning holy 

 or blefied. (See Ranga, Siva, and Sri.) Seringapa- 

 tam, or Seringapatan, means the city of Sriranga, or of 

 the holy Ranga. 



SRIVIRUPAKSHA, a name of Siva, the deftruftive 

 or transforming power of the Hindoo divine triad. Viru- 

 pakflia is faid to mean with three eyes, Siva being fo gifted ; 

 and hence named rW/o/faw ; which fee. (See alfo Siva.) An 

 eminent Sanfcrit fcholar tranflates the name Virupakfha, 

 •' with a difagreeablc countenance." The epithet Sri pre- 

 fixed means blefled or divine. See Siil and Virupaksha. 



Madame Dacier, in a note on the ninth book of the 

 Iliad, has a pailage applicable to the mythological fubjeft 

 of this article. The ancients, flie fays, gave the name of 

 Jupiter not only to the god of heaven, but hkewife to the 

 god of hell, as is feen here by the epithet of " infernal 

 Jove," and to the god of the fea, as appears from Efchy- 

 lus. They thereby meant to (hew, that one fole deity go- 

 verned the world ; and it was to teach the fame truth, that 

 the ancient ttatuaries made ftatues of Jupiter, which had 

 three eyes. Priam had one of them in that manner in the 

 court of his palace, which was there in Laomedon's time. 

 After the taking of Troy, when tlie Greeks fliared the 

 booty, it fell to the lot of Sthenclus, who carried it into 

 Greece. 



Siva, the Indian Jove, is, in like manner, deemed vari- 

 oufly the god of the three regions of the univerfe, as de- 

 noted by his three eyes, trident, &c. See Parvati and 

 Trisula. 



SRODA, or Svoda, in Geography, a town of the 

 duchy of Warfaw ; 14 miles S.E. of Pofen. 



SRSEM, or SiJUM, a town of the duchy of Warfaw ; 

 20 miles S. of Pofen. 

 SRSERED. Sec Serat. 

 Vol. XXXIII. 



SSE-TCHUEN, a town of Corea ; 33 miles S.W. of 

 Tlin-tcheou. 



SSIDA, a town of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon ; 18 

 miles S. of Fitaqua. 



SSIERPSCH, a town of the duchy of Warfaw; 16 

 miles N. of Ploczk. 



SSOKAL, a town of Auftrian Poland, in the palati- 

 nate of Belz ; 10 miles N.E. of Belz. 



SSUUS, a town of Japan, on the N. coaft of Niphon ; 

 20 miles S.E. of Noto. 



ST, an indeclinable term, chiefly ufed to command filcnce. 

 The Romans had thefe two charafters written over the 

 doors of the eating-rooms, as who fhould fay, fed tace, or 

 Jilenllum tcne. 



Porphyry obferves, the ancients made a point of rehgion 

 of it, not to fpcak a finglc word in paffing in or out of the 

 doors. 



STAAL, Madame de, \a Biography, an ingenious French 

 writer, firll known by the name of Mademoifellc de Launay, 

 was daughter of a painter at Paris. Her father being 

 obliged to quit the kingdom, fhe was left in a ftate of 

 poverty. She had enjoyed the advantages of a good edu- 

 cation at a priory in Rouen ; but her patronefs dying, flic 

 was under the neccffity of engaging herfelf as bed-chamber 

 woman to the duchefs of Maine ; who foon difcovering 

 the talents of her fervant, employed her in all the theatrical 

 entertainments which flie gave at her feat of Sceaux. For 

 fome of thefe De Launay wrote verfes, and for others lite 

 formed the plans, and thus obtained the perfeft and un- 

 limited confidence of her miftrefs, and the friendfliip of all 

 the men of wit and letters who frequented that court. Fol- 

 lowing the fortunes of her miftrefs, flie was involved in the 

 difgrace incurred by the duchefs during the regency of the 

 duke of Orleans, and was two years a prifoner in the 

 Baftille. After her liberation, the duchefs, as a reward for 

 her fidehty, married her to M. de Staal, lieutenant, and 

 afterwards captain, in the Swifs guards. From her own 

 defcription, flie appears to have poflefled few perfonal at- 

 traftions, yet her gallantries were a great fource of the 

 vexations with which her life was difquieted. She fome- 

 tiraes loved without a return, and flie fometimes attrailed 

 attentions to whicli flie paid no regard. She died in 1750, 

 and after her deatli were printed, in 3 vols. izmo. " Me- 

 moirs of her Life," written by herfelf. Thefe are agree- 

 ably written, and in a pure and elegant ftyle. There has 

 been added a fourth volume, containing two comedies afted 

 at Sceaux, entitled " L'Engoument," and " La Mode," 

 the chief merit of which is faid to confift in the fpright- 

 linefs of the dialogue. Her memoirs have been tranflated 

 into the Englifli language. 



STAATEN Land, in Geography. See New Zea- 

 land. 



STAATSBERG, an opulent farming neighbourhood 

 in Clinton, Duchefs county, New York, in which is a poft- 

 office ; 70 miles from Albany, and 10 from Poughkcepfie. 

 STAATZ, a town of Aurtria ; 5 miles W. of Falken- 

 ftain. 



STAAVIA, in Botany, was fo called by Dahl, in com- 

 pliment to Mr. Martin Staaf, of Gottcnburgh, a great 

 patron of botany, and an adiduous difciple of the great 

 Linnins, to whom he formerly communicated many natural 

 produdlions from China. — Dahl. Obf. Bot. 14. Tliunb, 

 Prodr. 41. Wilhl. Sp. PI. v. l. 1144. Ait. v. 2. 35. 

 Poiret in Lamarck Ditt. v. 7. 363. (Lcvifanus; Schrcb. 

 Gen. 149, excluding the reference to Gasrtner. ) — Clafs and 

 order, Penlandria Monogyn'ia. Nat. Ord. Rhamni, Jufl". 

 Gen. Ch. Common Calyx hemifplierical, many-flowcrcd, 

 4 P imbricated, 



