introduced ingenious imitations of the style of the most celebrated Roman poets, of which there are many translations, including those published by Addison, in the Guardian. STRAFFORD, Sir Thomas Wentworth, earl of, au eminent minister and statesman, was the eldest son of sir William Wentworth, of an ancient family in Yorkshire. He was born in London, in 1593, and entered of St. John's college, Cambridge. After leaving the university, he travelled, and, on his return, received the honor of knightbood. The death of his father, in 1614, gave him possession of a large fortune; and he was soon after appointed custos rotulorum of the west riding of Yorkshire, in lieu of sir John Savile. In 1621, he was chosen member of parliament for the county of York; and when Charles I asserted that the commons enjoyed no rights but by royal permission, sir Thomas Wentworth, already distinguished for ability, strenuously called upon the house to maintain that their privileges were rights by inheritance. In 1622, he lost his first wife, of the noble family of Clifford, and in 1625, married Arabella, second daughter of Holles, earl of Clare. On the convening of the new parliament, in the same year, he was one of the six popular members who were prevented serving their country in that assembly, by being appointed sheriffs for their respective counties. He submitted to this arbitrary act in silence; and, soon after, the duke of Buckingham, alarmed at the measures taken against him in parliament, made him overtures, which proved ineffectual, and the favorite revenged himself by obliging him to restore his office of custos rotulorum to sir John Savile. When Charles, among other expedients for raising money, had recourse to a forced general loan, Wentworth refused to pay his contribution, and was first imprisoned in the Marshalsea, and then confined to a range of two miles round the town of Dartford. This restraint was, however, removed when it became necessary to summon a new parliament, in 1628; and he again took his seat for Yorkshire, and became one of the most conspicuous advocates of the petition of right. As he had now proved the strength of his abilities, high terms were offered him by the court, which he finally accepted; and, in 1628, he was created baron Wentworth, and some months afterwards a viscount and privy-counsellor, and on the resignation of lord Scrope, nominated president of the north. The assassination of Buckingham, soon after, freed him from a powerful enemy at court, and he became so influential in the king's councils, that his powers in the four northern counties, over which he presided, became enormous; and his commission contained fifty-eight instructions, of of which scarcely one did not exceed or violate the common law. In the exercise of this authority, he displayed equal haughtiness, impetuosity, and ability, and, by his strictness in levying exactions, increased the revenue in his district to four or five times the previous amount. Having assiduously cultivated the friendship of archbishop Laud, he was selected by that prelate to proceed to Ireland, as lorddeputy, in 1632. He greatly improved the state of the country, both as regarded law, revenue, and trade (the manufacture of linen being of his own creation); but, at the same time, nothing could be more arbitrary than his system of government, it being his boast that he had rendered the king as absolute in Ireland "as any prince in the whole world could be.” On the first symptoms of resistance to the royal authority, he counselled the strongest measures; and after the failure of the king's first expedition against Scotland, he was sent for from Ireland, and created earl of Strafford, and knight of the garter. He returned with the full title of lord lieutenant, with a view to gain subsidies and troops, in which he fully succeeded; and, again repairing to England, took the command in the north, but found himself obliged to retire before the Scottish army, and retreat to York. Charles was now by his necessities obliged to call the long parliament; on which Strafford, aware of the enmity which he had inspired among the popular leaders, wished to return to his government; but the king, hoping that his great talents would be serviceable, encouraged him by a solemn promise that "not a hair of his head should be touched by parliament." Strafford's apprehensions were well founded. The very first movement of the party opposed to arbitrary power, was to impeach him of high treason, with which charge Pym appeared at the bar of the house of lords, November 18, 1640. The articles of impeachment, at first nine in number, were afterwards increased to twenty-eight, the object of which was to convict him of an attempt to subvert the fundamental laws of the country. As in the case of Laud, it was easy to prove that he acted as a friend and promoter of arbitrary measures, but not to substantiate any particular fact to justify a capital charge. Although treated with the extreme of legal rigor, and debarred the assistance of counsel, his own great abilities and force of mind supplied every deficiency; "And never man," says Whitelock, the chairman of the impeaching committee, "acted such a part, on such a theatre, with more wisdom, consistency and eloquence, or with greater reason, judgment and temper." His defence, indeed, was so strong, that the original impeachment was deserted, for the unjustifiable proceeding of a bill of attainder. The bill passed by a great majority; and so great was the animosity borne towards him, that the house of lords was intimidated into compliance. The king, who had imprudently endeavored to stop the bill by his personal interference, had not sufficient firmness to redeem the pledge of safety which he had previously given, but yielded to the advice of his counsellors, backed by a letter from Strafford himself, who urged him, for his own safety, to ratify the bill. This act has the semblance of being truly heroical; yet it is probable that he did not think that the king would have been swayed by it, since, being assured of the fatal truth, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and, with his hand on his heart, exclaimed, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men; for in them there is no salvation." His conduct, from this time to his execution, was in the highest degree composed and noble. At the scaffold, he addressed the people, expressing entire resignation to his fate, and asserting the good intention of his actions, however misrepresented. He fell in the forty-ninth year of his age, lamented by some, admired by more, and leaving behind a memorable but certainly not an unspotted naine. The parliament, not long after his death, mitigated his sentence as regarded his children; and in the succeeding reign, his attainder was reversed. He married three times, and, by his second wife, left an only son, and several daughters. (See Macdiarmid's Lives of British Statesmen.) STRALSUND; a town of Prussian Pomerania, capital of a government of the same name, formerly capital of Swedish Pomerania, on a strait which separates the island of Rugen from the main land; 120 miles east of Hamburg; lon. 13° 32′ E.; lat. 54° 19 N. population, 15,800. It has a safe and capacious harbor, admitting ships of fifteen feet draught. It was formerly one of the principal Hanse towns. (See Hansa.) It has considerable trade. Corn is the principal article of export, of which there are sometimes shipped from 30 to 40,000 quarters. It contains a government house, town house, public library, &c. The aspect is gloomy, the streets narrow, the houses low, built of brick, and remarkable for being pointed at the top. (See Pomerania.) STRAMONIUM (sometimes called Jamestown-weed), a species of datura, is now common in waste places throughout the U. States, as well as in Europe. It belongs to the solanea, the same natural family with the tobacco and nightshade, and amply sustains the poisonous character of the tribe. The stem is herbaceous, fleshy, two or three feet high, and branching, furnished with large angular and dentate leaves. The flowers are large, and the corolla funnelshaped. All parts of the plant exhale a strong and nauseous odor. It is one of the most dangerous of narcotic poisons; and when taken internally, produces vertigo, torpor, and death. Goats, however, eat it with impunity. In small doses, it has been employed with advantage in convulsive and epileptic affections; and smoking the dried leaves has proved beneficial in asthmatic complaints. STRAND; a street in London, running from Westminster to London proper. It was formerly the road which connected the two towns, when they were entirely distinct from each other, and received its name from its position along the Thames. STRANGLES; a disorder which attacks most horses, and generally between the ages of three and five years. When strangles occurs in the stables, and now and then also in the field, it proves a severe disease, and shows itself under the appearance of a cold, with cough, sore throat, swelling of the glands under the jaws, or behind and under the ears. Sometimes there is not much external swelling, and the tumors break inwardly, and nature effects a cure. At others, they break outwardly, and sometimes disperse. When the swelling lingers, poultices are preferable to fomentations. Peal recommends blistering the part, to promote suppuration. The horse should be kept very cool, and bran mashes, with warm water, should be his principal support, unless the complaint last long, and produce much weakness, when malt mashes should be substituted. Bleeding is only advisable when the early symptoms are violent. STRAPPADO; a barbarous military punishment, now abandoned. It consisted in having the hands of the offender tied behind his back, by which he was drawn to a certain elevation, by a rope, and then left to run suddenly towards the ground, when, being stopped with a sudden jerk, his shoulders were dislocated. This was also one of the punishments of the inquisition, and of many criminals in Italy. STRASBURG (anciently Argentoratum); a city of France, capital of Lower Rhine, formerly capital of Alsace, situated at the conflux of the Brusche and Ille, half a mile west of the Rhine; lon. 7° 45 E.; lat. 48° 35′ N.; population, 50,000, of which one third are Protestants. It is an ancient, strong, and commercial city, of semicircular form, built on a plain, and divided into several parts, by canals, over which are several bridges. The houses are chiefly of a red stone, lofty, but often heavy and inelegant, built after the German manner; the language and customs of a majority of the inhabitants being still German. A few streets are wide and straight, but most of them are narrow. The fortifications are extensive, divided into the old and new. The citadel is a regular pentagon, lying to the east, and with its out-works extending almost to the Rhine. Strasburg is a bishop's see, and contains a cathedral, six Catholic churches, seven Lutheran, and one Reformed, two hospitals, two theatres, two public libraries, a botanic garden, a medi- . cal school, a high school, a royal and a Lutheran academy, or university. The cathedral, or minster, founded in 1015, and not completely finished till 1365, is one of the most distinguished specimens of Gothic architecture existing. Its tower, 474 feet high, is ascended by a stairway of 725 steps, and is a masterpiece of architecture, being built of hewn stone, cut with such nicety as to give it at a distance some resemblance to lace. The tower was planned and begun by Erwin of Steinbach, after whose death, in 1318, it was continued by his brother John. The clock is also a masterpiece of mechanism, for, besides the hour of the day, it describes the motions of the planets. The Protestant church of St. Thomas contains a splendid monument, erected by Louis XV, to marshal Saxe. This city is famous in the history of the reformation; and the two principal Protestant seminaries in France are at Strasburg and Montauban. It is favorably situated for trade, in a fertile and well-cultivated country, the Rhine connecting it with Switzerland on the one side, and with Netherlands on the other. The exports are corn, flax, hemp, wine, and spirituous liquors; also linen, sail-cloth, blankets, carpets, hardware, leather, cotton, lace, tobacco, and snuff. Guttenberg (q. v.) is said to have invented the art of printing at Strasburg, in 1436. The ancient bishopric of Strasburg, in Alsace, lying on both sides the Rhine, has been secularized, and is now incorporated with France and Baden. (See Alsace.) It contained 500 square miles, with a population of 30,000 souls. STRATEGY (from the Greek oroarnyia, military command, military skill); the art and science of leading armies, the art of conducting military operations; a branch of military science, which has only of late been treated separately, and in a certain sense contradistinguished to tactics, which treats of the mode of disposing troops for battle, of directing them during its con tinuance, and of all the exercises, arms, &c., necessary to fit them for action. Some writers on strategy have run into extremes, as is usual in treating of subjects whose limits have not been settled. Bűlow (q. v.), for instance, has attempted to reduce this branch of the military art to the geometrical_calculation of angles, lines, &c., in his Theory of Modern Warfare-a work which was opposed by Henry de Jomini (q. v.) and other French writers. The latter, in his Traité des grandes Opérations Militaires, avoids Bülow's fault of theorizing, and founds his views more on the results of actual experience, especially on the campaigns of Frederic the Great and Napoleon, but falls, in his turn, into partial views, by insisting constantly on the principle of keeping forces concentrated, and leading them by the shortest possible way to meet the enemy. He has forgotten that all armies are not so trained for battle as the troops of those two great generals, and that the forte of all generals does not lie in the conduct of an engagement. His theory of internal lines of operations, therefore, though correct in certain cases, cannot hold good so universally as he represents. Though the principles of Bülow will never be adopted in their whole extent, yet he did considerable service to military science, by directing attention to what is now called strategy, as a particular branch. To the works mentioned in the articles Bülow and Jomini, we may add the archduke Charles's (q. v.) Principles of Strategy, illustrated by the Description of the Campaign of 1796, in Germany. STRATFORD UPON AVON; a town in Warwickshire, England, upon the Avon, ninety-four miles north-west of London, celebrated as the birth-place and burialplace of Shakspeare. The house in which he is said to have been born, is still shown; that in which he resided after his return to Stratford, and died, was pulled down, in 1759, by a clergyman who bought the place a few years before. The same person cut down the famous mulberry tree, planted by Shakspeare. The church contains the monument and bust of Shakspeare. The latter was originally colored to resemble life, and, in 1793, was painted white, by order of Malone. These coats of paint have much disfigured the characteristic markings of the bust. This monument was erected within seven years after his death, and contains the Latin distich cited in the article Shakspeare. On the grave-stone beneath are the following lines, attributed to himself: Good friend, for Jesus' sake, forbear STRATH, in Scotland, is generally understood to mean a valley broader than a dale or glen, which receives its peculiar appellation from a river passing through it, as Strathbogie, Strathspey, &c., or some particular characteristic, as Strathmore, the Great Valley, &c., which traverses Scotland on the south side of the Grampian mountains. STRATUS. (See Clouds.) STRAW. In the manufacture of straw hats, the culms of several kinds of grasses are used. The Leghorn straw is the culm of a sort of wheat sown on poor soils, and cut green. Rye straw is much used in this manufacture. The straw is cut at the joints; and the outer covering being removed, it is sorted of equal sizes, and made up into bundles of eight or ten inches in length, and a foot in circumference. They are then to be dipped in water, and shaken a little, so as not to retain too much moisture: the bundles are afterwards to be placed on their edges, for the purpose of bleaching, in a box which is sufficiently close to prevent the evaporation of smoke. In the middle of the box is an earthen dish, containing brimstone, broken in small pieces: this is set on fire, and the box covered over and kept in the open air several hours. It is the business of one person to split and select the straws for fifty others, who are braiders. The splitting is done by a small machine, made principally of wood. The straws, when split, are termed splints, of which each worker has a certain quantity: on one end is wrapped a linen cloth, and they are held under the arm, and drawn out as wanted. Plaiters should be taught to use their second fingers and thumbs, instead of the forefingers, which are often required to assist in turning the splints, and thus much facilitate the platting; and they should be cautioned against wetting the splints too much. The finest hats are made in the neighborhood of Leghorn, whence they are exported in great numbers. The Dunstable manufactures in Bedfordshire, England, are of a fine quality. The plaiting of straw has also been recently carried on very extensively in Norfolk county, Massachusetts, and the plait is of excellent quality. In the English plait, the straws are flattened in a hand mill, previous to working; but in the Leghorn, the pressure is applied after the plaiting is made. STRAWBERRY (fragaria). This is one of the most wholesome and most delicious of our fruits. The pulp is light, melting, and, notwithstanding, but little watery, and does not undergo the acetous fermentation in the stomach. It exhales a most delightful perfume, and the flavor is exquisite, especially immediately after being plucked from the stem. The plant belongs to the natural family rosaceœ, together with the rose and raspberry. The root gives out several long, slender, creeping shoots, which take root at intervals, and form so many new stocks; the leaves are composed of three leaflets, supported on a long foot-stalk, which is provided with stipules at the base. From the midst of the leaves arise two or threesimple, slender, silky stems, from four to six inches high, and terminated by a few white flowers, disposed in a sort of corymb. After flowering, the receptacle increases, acquires a pulpy and succulent consistence, and finally a red color, when the strawberries have attained maturity. The strawberry is easily cultivated, and numerous varieties have been produced; some of great excellence have been obtained recently. It forces well, and, with a little trouble in choosing a succession of sorts, may be had almost every month in the year. An open situation, and rich, loamy soil, rather strong, is required for most varieties; and from their large mass of foliage and flowers, they must, till the fruit is set, have copious supplies of water. The row culture is most convenient, and frequent renewal ensures vigorous plants and large fruit. A palatable jam, wine and vinegar are prepared from strawberries; and they are sometimes preserved entire, in sirup or in wine. Besides the cultivated strawberry, we have a wild species, common in most parts of the U. States. STREAKS; the uniform ranges of planks on the bottom or sides of a ship, or the continuations of planks joined by the ends to each other, and reaching from the stem, which limits the vessel forward, to the stern-post and fashion-pieces, which terminate her length abaft. STREETS, PAVEMENT OF. (See Pavement.) STRELITZ (Russian, strielzi, or strelzi, guards); the life-guards of the Russian ezars, until the reign of Peter the Great. They were instituted in the latter half of the sixteenth century, by Ivan Wasiliewitsch, and formed, also, the standing infantry of the empire, amounting, sometimes, to 40,000 men. Their numerous privileges and their frequent insurrections rendered them as formidable as the Roman pretorians (q. v.), or the Turkish janizaries. (q. v.) Peter the Great dissolved the corps in 1697, in consequence of an insurrection, put several thousands to death, and banished the rest to Astrachan. Having been guilty of some disturbances here, they were entirely dispersed and destroyed in 1705. STRETTO (Italian) signifies, in music, that the movement to which it is prefixed, is to be performed in a quick, concise manner. STRIKE; a measure of capacity, containing four pecks. STRIKE, among seamen, is a word variously used. When a ship, in a fight, or on meeting with a ship of war, lets down or lowers her top-sails at least half-mast high, she is said to strike, meaning that she yields, or submits, or pays respect to the ship of war. Also, when a ship touches ground in shoal water, she strikes. And when a top-mast is to be taken down, the word of command is, Strike the topmast, &c. STROGANOFF; a distinguished Russian family, descended from a merchant, Anika Stroganoff, who, in the sixteenth century, resided at Solwytschegodzka, and gave rise to the discovery of Siberia. The czar Ivan granted to Jacob and Gregory Stroganoff the desert country along the Kama, from Perm to the Ssülwa river, and on the banks of the Tschussowa. They were originally fur-traders, but, to defend themselves against the Siberian and Nogaian robbers, were allowed to build forts and, collect troops. They also administered justice, suppressed insurrections, and, in fact, protected the northprotected VOL. XII. east of Russia. They had extended the Moscovite territory to the chain of the Ural; and when the Mongolian conqueror of Siberia, Kutschjum, intended to destroy the settlements of the Stroganoffs, on the Kama, they received, May 30, 1574, a grant of the enemy's country, which allowed them to settle on the banks of the Tobol, to wage war with Kutschjum, and to work mines. They offered five bands of robbers, commanded by revolted Cossack hetmanns, employment in their service, exhorting them to give up their dishonest mode of life. Thus the Cossack Jermack and his companions were induced to leave the Wolga, and, being joined by many additional forces collected by the Stroganoffs, entered Siberia. The country was conquered after three battles, and the taking of Kutschjum's camp by storm. The capital, Sibir, was captured, October 26, 1581. (See the Chronicle of the Stroganoffs, Müller's History of Siberia (in German), and Karamsin's History of Russia.)—A descendant of Anika, baron Gregory Stroganoff, since 1827 a member of the council of the Russian empire, is proprietor of the important salt and iron works in Perm, established by his ancestors. From 1805 to 1808, he was Russian ambassador at Madrid; afterwards at Stockholm, and in the memorable period of 1821, at Constantinople, where he distinguished himself by talent, firmness and humanity, in the most critical conjunctures, and labored strenuously to protect the Greeks and the Greek church. STROKE OF THE SUN (coup de soleil). When the direct rays of the sun, during the hot season of the year, are allowed to strike for some time upon the skin, an inflammation is produced, accompanied with blisters and sharp pains. After a few days, the inflammation ceases, and the epidermis peels off. If the head is exposed to the sun, the brain is sometimes affected in a similar manner. The blood collects in great quantities, the vessels become swollen, the face and eyes appear red, and violent pains in the head follow. A feverish heat pervades the whole body; lethargy, or suffering which prevents sleep, apoplexy, with or without extravasation of blood, or an inflammation of the blood ensues, and often terminates fatally. Exposure by sleeping in the sun is particularly dangerous. STROMBOLI. (See Lipari Islands.) STRONG, Caleb, LL. D., a governor of Massachusetts, was born in 1744, at Northampton, in that state. He gradu |