S T E 
571 
S T E 
awl-shaped, pungent, revolute, roughish, sessile leaves, about 
an inch long. Flowers axillary, erect, sessile, about the 
base of each branch, very beautiful, with a rich scarlet tube 
an inch long, and a yellowish-green limb, making a singular 
but most agreeable, contrast. Drupa the size of a small pea, 
invested with the brown chaffy calyx.—Native of the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Port Jackson, New South Wales. 
STENAY, a small town in the north-east of France, on 
the Meuse, with a population of 2300. It has some iron 
works, and is a fortified place, but was taken by the Aus¬ 
trians in 179*2 ; 21 miles north-north-west of Verdun. 
STENBOCK (Magnus), a distinguished Swedish general, 
son of Gustavus Otto Stenboch, a general under Charles X. 
and XL, was born at Stockholm in 1664. He was educated 
at Upsal, and in 1683 he set out on his travels, and having 
entered into the Dutch army, he served several campaigns 
with the allied forces in the Netherlands, and on the Rhine, 
under the princes of Waldec and Baden. He distinguished 
himself so much by his bravery and good conduct, that he 
was, in 1697, appointed to be colonel of a German regiment, 
then in the garrison at Wismar, where he employed his leisure 
time in composing a work on the art of war, entitled “ The 
Swedish Military School,” which, however, he did not find 
leisure or inclination to publish. He accompanied Charles 
XII. in almost all his expeditions, and contributed by his 
skill and exertions to the victory obtained at Narva. In the 
Polish campaign, till 1706, he sometimes accompanied the 
king and the main army, and sometimes was intrusted with 
the command of detached bodies employed chiefly in levy¬ 
ing contributions; a service for which he was exceedingly 
well qualified: he was also employed in constructing bridges 
over such rivers as the Swedish army had to pass, on its in¬ 
cursions into Poland, and on its return from that country. 
In the year 1706 he attended the king to Saxony, where 
he was appointed governor of Scanio. When he arrived 
there, he found every thing in the utmost confusion; the 
most shameful abuses had been committed; and in order to 
put an end to them, and deter others from similiar practices, 
lie put the laws into most severe execution; but a war 
breaking out put a stop to his plans of reform. When in¬ 
telligence of the Swedes being defeated at Pultava reached 
Frederic IV. of Denmark, he made preparations for the in¬ 
vasion of Scania. Stenbock\was appointed to oppose him; 
he put himself at the head of 8000 old troops and 12,000 
new levies, and went in pursuit of the Danes, who were 
committing incredible ravages in the country. There was 
no time to clothe the newly raised troops in military array ; 
of whom the greater part was dressed in frocks, and had 
pistols tied to their girdles with cords. They attacked the 
enemy; and what was wanting in order and discipline, was 
amply compensated in zeal; and these raw troops completely 
defeated the regular army of the king of Denmark. The 
Danes quitted Sweden with great precipitation, having first 
killed their horses, and destroyed by fire their baggage and 
magazines. They left behind them about 4000 wounded 
soldiers, of whom the greater part died, as well by the infec¬ 
tion from the dead horses, as by the want of food, of which 
they had been deprived by their own countrymen. After 
Scania had been freed from the ravages of the enemy, Sten- 
bock’s first care was to strengthen the fortifications of Chris- 
tianstad, being a place of great importance, for the defence 
of that part of Sweden. The activity which he displayed 
on this occasion, induced Charles, the year following, to en¬ 
trust him with the direction of another enterprize, to the suc¬ 
cessful and speedy execution of which great importance was 
attached. This was to repair, as speedily as possible, with 
several regiments to join the troops in that province and to 
proceed afterwards, under the command of Stanislaus, to meet 
his Swedish majesty, on his proposed return from Turkey. 
In this measure he was thwarted by the senate, and he expe¬ 
rienced many difficulties which he did not anticipate; of 
these, one was the want of money. He, however, went to 
Stockholm, and exerted himself so successfully, that he col¬ 
lected, in the course of a month, more than 300,000 rix- 
dollars, and fitted out some vessels for his intended expedition. 
In the course of his voyage he fell in with the Danish fleet, 
by which he was attacked, and more than thirty of the 
Swedish ships were lost. In consequence of this unfortunate 
event, Stenbock drew up a paper in vindication of his own 
conduct. After this he took Rostock ; and having received 
a considerable reinforcement of troops, gained a memorable 
victory, in 1712, over the Danish and Saxon forces: he then 
proceeded to the army in Holstein, and having burnt Altona, 
was, in the month of May, 1713, hemmed in at Tonningen, 
by the combined Danish, Saxon, and Russian army, in such 
a manner, that he was obliged to sign a capitulation. Being 
now a prisoner, he was conveyed by order of his Danish 
majesty to Copenhagen, and so closely confined, that he was 
separated from all his attendants, except two domestics, who 
obtained leave to wait upon him, and was in other respects 
subject to great restraint and severity. At length, exhausted 
by misery, chagrin, and disease, he drew up, in the beginning 
of the year 1716, an account of his sufferings, to serve, to 
use his own words, as a consolation to his distressed relatives, 
and, at the same time, to preserve his name and reputation 
to posterity. This work was printed in 1773, in Lonbom’s 
“ Anecdotes of celebrated and distinguished Swedes.” He 
died in 1717, and was interred with military honours, in the 
garrison church of Copenhagen. After the conclusion of 
peace, his body was conveyed to Sweden, and deposited in 
the cathedral of Upsal. Stenbock was a man of talents, and 
always held in high estimation by Charles XII. In his poli¬ 
tical sentiments he adopted the system of his father-in-law, 
the celebrated Oxenstierna. He spoke his sentiments with 
freedom, and gave such advice as he thought most conducive 
to the good of his country. In speaking of the Polish war, 
in one of his letters, dated June 20th, 1702, he says, “ ac¬ 
cording to every appearance, unless providence interfere in a 
very remarkable way, war will be declared against the repub. 
lie. How we shall get out of it God only knows. For my 
part, I would run no risk, but in a war really undertaken on 
just principles.” He had no share in the deposition of 
Augustus, for whom he had a sincere esteem. He incurred 
considerable blame for the severity which he exercised at 
Altona, and the ministers and generals of Poland and Den¬ 
mark wrote to him complaining of his cruelty on that occa¬ 
sion ; but Stenbock, who considered this measure, however 
harsh, as a just retaliation for the conduct of the Saxons and 
Danes at Stade, which they had bombarded and burnt to 
ashes, replied, “ that he proceeded to such an extremity, in 
order to teach the enemies of his sovereign, in future, not to 
wage war like barbarians, and to cause the law of nations to 
be respected.” 
STENCH, s. [from jcencan, Sax.] A stink; a bad 
smell. 
Death, Death; oh amiable and lovely death! 
Thou odoriferous stench, sound rottenness. 
Arise forth from thy couch of lasting night. Shakspeare. 
Dryden has used it for a good smell. 
Black bulls and bearded goats on altars lie, 
And clouds of savoury stench iuvolve the sky. Dryden. 
To STENCH, v. a. To make to stink. Not proper .— 
The foulness of the ponds only stencheth the water. Mor¬ 
timer. —[For staunch, corruptly.] To stop; to hinder to 
flow.—They had better skill to let blood than stench it. 
Kinpr Charles. 
STE'NCHY, adj. Having a bad smell. 
Far nobler prospects these 
Than gardens black with smoke in dusty towns, 
Where stenchy vapours often blot the sun. Dyer. 
STENCILLING, a method of distempering walls in vari¬ 
ous patterns like paper. 
STENCZICZ, a small town in the south of Poland, in 
the palatinate of Sendomir; 20 miles east of Radom. 
STENDAL, or Stendel, a town of the Prussian states, 
formerly the capital of the Old Mark of Brandenburg, but 
now 
