Stockings were introduced into England with knitting in 1501, when Queen Elizabeth was presented with a pair of black knit silk stockings by her tirewoman, and immediately discontinued the cloth hose she had previously worn. The Scotch claim the invention of knitting, and a French company of stocking-knitters established at Paris in 1527 took for their patron St. Fiacre, who is said to have been the son of a King of Scotland. (See Netherstocks.)
Fig. 632. Stola. Costume of a Roman Matron.
Stola, R. (στολὴ, lit. an equipment). The robe worn by Roman matrons; it consisted of a wide tunic with long sleeves. It came down to the ankles or feet, and was confined at the waist by a girdle, leaving broad loose folds over the breast. The pallium was worn over the stola. It was the distinguishing dress of the Roman matron, and the meretrices or divorced women were forbidden to wear it. The stola was also worn by a certain class of priests. (See Pallium, Toga.) (See Fig. [632].)
Fig. 633. Stole.
Stole, Chr. This term, a synonym of orarium, denoted, with the early Christians, according to Fleury, a piece of fine linen which was worn round the neck. It was used as a kind of pocket-handkerchief, long before the introduction of Christianity, by the Romans, who named it indifferently linteolum, strophium, and sudarium. In the Christian Church it is represented by a narrow band of embroidered stuff, and worn over the left shoulder by deacons; and across both shoulders by bishops and priests. It is sacred to the memory of the cloth with which the Saviour is alleged to have wiped away the sweat from His face as He passed to the Crucifixion. (See Sudarium, Orarium.)
Stone Ochre. A pigment. An earthy oxide of iron. (See Ochres.)
Stone-ware. (See Pottery.)
Stopping-out. In etching, arresting the action of the acid on the fainter lines of a plate, by covering them over with a preparation called stopping-ground, while the deeper and broader parts corrode. (See Etching.)