■and retired life, amusing liimself with hooks and his pen ; in parti-cular, he engaged largely as a volunteer in a periodical miscella-neous paper called the World, in which las contributions have adistinguished degree of excellence. He died in 1773, leaving acharacter for wit and abilities that had few equals. He distinguish-ed himself by his eloquence in parliament on many important oc-casions. He was an active promoter of the bill for altering thestyle; on which occasion, as he writes in one of his writers to hisson, he made so eloquent a speech in the bouse, that every onewas pleased. Lord Macclesfield, one of the greatest mathemati-cians in Europe , and who had a principal hand in framing the bill,spoke afterwards, with all the clearness that a thorough knowledgeot the subject could dictate; but not having a (low of words equalto lord Chesterfield, the ialler gained the applause from the former.The high character lord Chesterfield supported during life, re-ceived no small injury soon after his death, from a fuller display ofit by his own hand. He left no issue by his lady, but had a natu-ral son, Philip Stanhope , Esq. whose education was for many yearsa close object of his attention, and who was afterwards envoy ex-traordinary at the court of Dresden , but died before him. Whenlord Chesterfield died, Mr. Stanhope ’s widow published a course°f letters written by the fattier to the son, filled with instructionssuitable to the different gradations of the young man’s life to"'bom they were addressed. These letters contain many fine ob-servations on mankind, and. rules of conduct; but it is observabletnat he lays a greater stress on exterior accomplishments and ad-dress than on intellectual qualifications and sincerity; and allowsgreater latitude to fashionable pleasures than good morals will jus-dty. Hence the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson justly observedof these letters, that “ they inculcate only the morals of a whore,With the manners of a dancing-master.”
STANLEY , a town of England, in Gloucestershire ; 12 miles“• of Gloucester, and 107 W. of London . Lon. 2. 16. W. Lat.51. 40. N.
STANNARY, [from stannum, Lat.] relating to the tin-works.
Stannary, is also-used for the mines and works where tin isdug and purified; as in Cornwall , Devonshire, See.
Stannary Courts, in Devonshire and Cornwall , courts held•or the administration of justice among the tinners therein..Sl'ANTON, a town of England, in Lincolnshire ; 16 milesE. of Lincoln, and 129 N. of London . Lon. 0. 2. W. Lat.53 -J8. N.
S TANTZ, or STANZ, a town of the Helvetic republic , in thecanton of Under Walden ; 8 miles S. E. of Lucern , 29 S. of Zu-tlt 'b and 42 E. of Berne.
.STANYHURST, Richard, an Irish historian, poet, and di-Yj ne > born at Dublin , about 1545, and educated at UniversityCollege, Oxford. He afterwards studied the law, at Eurnival’sail d Lincoln’s Inn ; but turning Roman Catholic , he went to theContinent, where lie entered into orders; and, at Brussels , wasi) e chaplain to Albert, archduke of Austria, then governor of.Spanish Netherlands . He published several learned works;i 't'dilarly, 1. Harmouia, sen Catena Dialectics in Porphyrium ;■l. ' *4*0. 2. De Rebus in Hibernia Gestis; 4to. 1584. 3. DeBatricii; 12mo. 1587. 4. The first four books of Virgil ’s
English hexameters; 12mo. J583. He died in
t0 & UNZA, [stanza, Ital.] a number of lines regularly adjustedltl aca other; so much of a poem as contains every variation of
STA e >°- re ' at * on °*” rhyme.
,] er * APE LI A, a genus of plants of the class pentandria, and or-iiio-1'| Syna. Calyx contorted ; nectary a double little star cover-°f & tl S on 6als. There are 49 species. They are chiefly nativesex * ens ' ve deserts called Karro, on the western side of the
ST i n ec Elate CXX1X.
S’TaprS ^ 'THE EAR. See Anatomy, and Sound .•bei 0(1 - rlYL/EA, Bladder-Nut; in botany, a genus of plantsder, the class pentandria, and order trigynia ; natural or-
COl >nat n . at * - Calyx five-parted ; petals five ; capsule inflated,s Pecies 6 ’ see ^ s two, globular, with a wart. There are three
insect-e^PT EINUS, a genus of animals belonging to the classthe f ee i’ , an< order coleoptera. The antennae are moniliform ;feiigtij oT/T * 0U1 ' ' n number ; the elytra are not above half the
Yor Ule abdomen; the wings are folded up and concealed^ 1 v.^-no, 200.
. M -. . -J- -r -i,
under the elytra ; the tail or extremity of the abdomen is single, isprovided with two long vesicles which the insert can shoot out ordraw back at pleasure. Gindin enumerates 117 species, of whichfive only are natives of Great Britain.
STAPLE, signifies a public market, whither merchants, fkc.are obliged to bring their goods for sale ; as the Greve, or theplaces along the Seine, for sale of wines and corn, at Paris , whitherthe merchants of other parts are obliged to bring those commodi-ties. Formerly, the merchants of England were obliged to carrytheir wool, cloth, lead, and other staple commodities of thisrealm, to expose them by wholesale ; and these staples were ap-pointed to be constantly kept at York, Lincoln, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Norwich, Westminster, Canterbury, Chichester , Winches-ter, Exeter, and Bristol: in each of which a public mart was ap-pointed to be kept, and each of them had a court of the mayor ofthe staple, for deciding differences, held according to the law-mer-chant, in a summary way.
Staple Commodities, such wares and merchandizes as arecommonly and readily sold in a market, or exported abroad ; beingfor the most part the proper produce or manufacture of thecountry.
STAR , jn astronomy, is a general name for all the heavenlybodies, which, like so many brilliant studs, are dispersed through-out the whole heavens. The stars are distinguished, from the plue-nomena of their motion, &c. into fixed, and erratic or wanderingstars: these last are again distinguished into the greater luminaries,viz. the sun and moon ; the planets, or wandering stars, properly socalled ; and the comets. See Astronomy.
Star, is also a badge of honour, worn by the knights of thegarter, bath, and thistle. See Garter, and Heraldry .
Star, in fortification, denotes a small fort, having five or morepoints, or saliant and re-entering angles, flanking one another, andtheir faces 90 or 100 feet long.
Stars, Falling. See Ignis Fatuus, Meteor, and Meteo-rology.
STARAJA RUSSA, a town of Russia , in Novogorod, 40 milesS. of Novogorod. Lon. 33. 2. E. Lat. 57. 40. N.
STARBOARD is the right side of the ship when the eye of thespectator is directed forward.
STARCH, or AMYLUM , is a preparation from wheat, ob-tained by steeping the (lour of that grain in cold water, thenstraining it through a cloth, and suffering the farinaceous particlesto subside. Jn many places, however, it is manufactured in thefollowing manner: Pure wheat is put into tubs of water, and ex-posed to the heat of the sun, to induce a proper degree of fermen-tation ; the water being changed twice every day, for six or eightdays, according to the warmth of the season. When properlysoftened and fermented, it is poured into canvas-bags, which areworked or beaten on a board, placed over an empty vessel, in or-der to extract the meally part. When such vessel is filled with theliquid Hour, a reddish fluid appears on the surface, which must becarefully skimmed, and pure water added ; when the whole oughtto be briskly agitated, and allowed to subside. As the sedimentincreases, the water is gradually drained, and at length the starchis formed into cakes, which are cut in small pieces, and dried foruse. Good starch, when dry, is pulverulent, tasteless, withoutodour, insoluble both in cold-water and ardent spirit: on the ad-dition of boiling water, however, it forms paste, or pastry. It isone of the constituent parts in all meally or farinaceous seeds, fruits,roots, &c. of plants; though some vegetables contain a muchlarger proportion of it than others. 1 hus, the M ake-Robin, andWhite Bryony, afford more starch than potatoes ; and the Salep-roots, especially those of the Meadow-Orchis, for the greatestpart, consist of that valuable substance. Starch being the basis ofhair-powder, and also of extensive utility for domestic purposes,various experiments have been instituted, with a view to ascertainsuch vegetables as might be advantageously substituted for wheat.The following is the method adopted by Mrs. Gibbs, for preparingstarch from the roots of the \V ake-Robin ; for which the Societyfor the Encouragement of Arts, &c. in 1797, presented her withtheir gold-medal. She observes, in her communication, that suchroots are found in the Isle of Portland, in the common fields,whence they may be dug out, cleansed, and pounded in a stone-mortar with water. r I he whole is then strained, and the starchsettles at the bottom : a peck of these roots produced, upon an7 X average,