S T A 



to the neareft hofpital ; befide which, the offender is to a(]< 

 pardon of the offended on his knees, &c. ready to receive 

 from him a like number of blows with a ftaff ; which, on 

 fome occafiona, the latter may be obliged to give, if he 

 have too much generofity to do it of himfelf. 



By another regulation of the marlhals in 1679, he who 

 flrikes with a ftaff after receiving blows with the fift in the 

 heat of a fray, is condemned to two years' imprifonment ; 

 and to four, if he (truck firft with the fift. 



Staff, A, is ufed as an inltrument for taking acceffible 

 or inaccellible heights. For the manner of operation, in 

 taking the height of an acceffible objeft, fee Altitude. 



Inaccedible heights may likewife be taken by means of two 

 ttaves. This muft be done at two flations in a right line 

 from the objeft, at each of which the ftaves are to be placed 

 in fuch a manner, that the fummit, or top of the height, 

 may be feen along their tops in the fame right line. Thus, 

 fuppofe A (PtofXIII. Geometry, fg. 17.) the fummit of 

 the objeft whofe height is to be mealured, D E, F G, the 

 two ftaves at the firft ftation ; and R N, K O, the fame 

 ilaves at the fecond, fo placed, that the points FDA, 

 K N A, are in the fame right line. Through the point N 

 let there be drawn the right line N P, parallel to F A : 

 ■wherefore in the triangles K N P, K A F, the angles 

 K N P, K A F, are equal ; alfo the angle A K F is com- 

 mon to both ; confequently the remaining angles K P N, 

 K FA, are equal. And P N : F A :: K P : K F. But the 

 triangles P N L, F A S, are fimilar ; therefore P N : F A :: 

 N L : S A. Thence alternately K P : N L :: K F : S A; 

 i.e. as the excefs of the diftanceof the ftaves at the fecond 

 ftation above their diftance at the firft, is to the difference of 

 their lengths ; fo is the diftance of the two ftations of the 

 fhorter ilaves, to the excefs of the height fought above the 

 height of the fhorter ftaff. Wherefore S A may be found 

 by the rule of three ; to which add the height of the ftiorter 

 ftaff, and the fum will give the whole inaccelfible height, 

 AB. 



Staves may be ufed for meafuring any diftance : fuppofe 

 A B {Jig. 18.), to one of whofe extremities we have accefs. 

 Let there be a ftaff fixed at the point A ; then going back to 

 fome fenfible diftance, in the fame right line, let another be 

 fixed in C, fo that both the points A and B maybe covered 

 or hid by the ftaff C. Likewife going off in a perpendicu- 

 lar, from the right line C B, at the point A, let there be 

 placed another ftaff at H : and in the right line C G K, 

 perpendicular to the fame C B at the point C, and at fuch a 

 point of it K, that the points K, H, and B, may be in the 

 fame right hne, let there be fixed a fourth ftaff. Let there 

 be drawn, or luppofed to be drawn, a right line, H G, pa- 

 rallel to C A. The triangles K H G, H A B, will be 

 equiangular : wherefore K G : G H (= C A) :: A H : 

 A B ; ». f. as the excefs of C K above A H is to the dif- 

 tance betwixt the firft and fecond ftaff, fo is the diftance be- 

 twixt the firft and third ftaff to the diftance fought. Tr. 

 Praft. Geom. p. 22 — 25. 



St.\ff, Almucantar's, Augural, Back, Crofs, Fore, Paf- 

 toral. Whip. See the articles. 



Staff, Jacob's, See Radics AJlronomlcus. , 



Staff, Qjmrter. See Quarter. 



Staff, Ward, See WwiD-Staf. 



STAh-F-OJieers, in Military Language, &c. See Of- 

 ficers. 



Staff, Field. See Field. 



Staff, Regimental, confifts of the adjutant, quarter- 

 mafter, chaplain, furgeon, &c. 



Staff, in Heraldry. See Bastov. 



Staff, in Muftc, Riga, Ital., Portee, Fr., the five pa- 



S T A 



rallel lines upon which, and between which, mufical cha- 

 rafters or notes are written. 



Guido Aretin, the great improver of the modern mufic, 

 is faid to be the firft who introduced the ftaff, marking his 

 notes by fetting points (.) up and down them, to denote 

 the rife and fall of the voice ; and each Ime and foace he 

 marked at the beginning of the ftaff, with Gregory's feven 

 letters, a, b, c, d, e, f, g. 



But others will have the artifice of an older date ; and 

 Kircher particularly affirms, that in the Jefuits' library at 

 Meffina, he found an old Greek MS book of hymns, above 

 feven hundred years old ; in which fome hymns were written 

 on a ftaff of eight hues, marked at the beginning with eight 

 Greek letters. The notes or points were on the lines, but 

 no ufe was made of the fpaces. 



The ingenious and learned Dr. Burney has proved that 

 parallel lines were of higher antiquity than the time of 

 Guido. It appears from an ancient MS. treatife on mufic 

 by Odo the monk, written about the year 920, that lines 

 began to be ufed in the tenth century. They were eight or 

 nine in number; and at firft, the fylkbles of the pfalm or 

 hym.n that was to be fung, were placed in the fpaces be- 

 tween thefe lines : after this an alphabetic charaftcr was 

 placed at the beginning of each line, capitals for the grave 

 founds, and minufcules for the acute : to this kind of nota- 

 tion fucceeded points, a fcale formed of which Dr. Burney 

 has given from a traft written by the great mufical monk 

 Hubaldus, wdio flouriftied .ibout tlie year 880. He has alfo 

 produced three examples from ancient miffals, one of which 

 was written about the year 900, cited by P. Martini, in 

 which only one line is ufed to afcertain the predominant 

 found of the chant ; a red line for the clef cf F, and a 

 yellow one for that of C : and this, he fays, feems to have 

 been the firft time that a line was drawn through notes of the 

 fame elevation, and the origin of clefs, which are only 

 Gothic letters corrupted or disfigured. 



Vincenzo Gallilei fays, that a little before the time of 

 Guido, the points were placed on feven lines only, without 

 ufing the fpaces ; perhaps in imitation of the feven firings 

 of the lyre. The regular ftaff of four lines was not gene- 

 rally ufed till the thirteenth century. Kircher, indeed, 

 fpeaks of Guido's ufing five lines and five fpaces, but, as 

 Dr. Burney fays, without authority. However, though 

 lines without (paces, and fpaces without lines, had been ufed 

 before the time of Guido, he feems to have firft fuggefted 

 the ufe of lines and fpaces together ; and thus the lines, 

 which by fome had been made as numerous as the notes, 

 were reduced to four : a number which, in miffals and rituals, 

 of the Romifh church, has never fince been exceeded. In- 

 deed the ufe of a line for each note above mentioned, may 

 never have arrived at the knowledge of Guido, who fpeaks 

 the language of an inventor, with refpeft to lines and fpaces, 

 more than on any other occafion : and, if he be allowed the 

 invention of hues and fpaces, clefs will of courfe accom- 

 pany them. Burney's Hift. of Mufic, vol. ii. p. 34, &c. 

 p. 87, &c. 



Staff, in a Ship, a light pole erefted in different parts 

 of a ftiip, on which to hoift and difplay the colours. The 

 principal of thefe is reared immediately over the (tern, to 

 difplay the enfign ; another is fixed on the bowfprit, to ex- 

 tend the jack ; three more are erefted at the three maft-heads, 

 or formed by their upper ends, to (hew the flag or pendant 

 of the refpeftive fquadron or divifion to which the (hip 

 belongs. 



Staff, Futtock, or Puttoch-Jlaff Rigging, are (hort pieces 

 of rope, ferved over with fpun-yarn, to which the (hrouds 

 are confined at the cat-harpins. Thofe for the lower and 



top-ma(l 



. 



