[Stannary], a general term used to cover the tin mines of a specified district, the miners themselves, and such customs and privileges as appertain to the workers and the mines. In England the term is specially associated with the stannaries of Devon and Cornwall, which by an Act of Edward III. were conferred in perpetuity upon the Prince of Wales as Duke of Cornwall, who holds the title of Lord Warden of the Stannaries. Special Stannary Courts for the administration of justice amongst those connected with the mines are held in the two counties, and are each presided over by a warden and a vice-warden. Up to 1752 representative assemblies of the miners, called Stannary Parliaments, were held. Appeals from the Stannary Courts may be made now to the higher courts of England.
[Star-Chamber], a court which originated in the reign of Edward III., and consisted practically of the king's ordinary council, meeting in the Starred Chamber, and dealing with such cases as fell outside the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery; was revived and remodelled by Henry VII., and in an age when the ordinary courts were often intimidated by powerful offenders, rendered excellent service to the cause of justice; was further developed and strengthened during the chancellorship of Wolsey, and in the reign of James I. had acquired jurisdiction as a criminal court over a great variety of misdemeanours—perjury, riots, conspiracy, high-treason, &c. Already tending to an exercise of unconstitutional powers, it in the reign of Charles I. became an instrument of the grossest tyranny, supporting the king in his absolutist claims, and in 1641 was among the first of the many abuses swept away by the Long Parliament.
[Stars, The], are mostly suns, but being, the nearest of them, at a distance from us more than 500,000 times our distance from the sun, are of a size we cannot estimate, but are believed to be 300 times larger than the earth; they are of unequal brightness, and are, according to this standard, classified as of the first, second, down to the sixteenth magnitude; those visible to the naked eye include stars from the first to the sixth magnitude, and number 3000, while 20,000,000 are visible by the telescope; of these in the [Milky Way] (q. v.) alone there are 18,000,000; they are distinguished by their colours as well as their brightness, being white, orange, red, green, and blue according to their temperature and composition; they have from ancient date been grouped into constellations of the northern and the southern hemispheres and of the [zodiac] (q. v.), the stars in each of which being noted by the Greek letters, as [Greek: alpha], [Greek: beta], according to their brightness; they all move more or less, and some go round each other, and are called double according as there are two or more of them so revolving; besides stars singly visible there are others called [clusters or nebulæ] (q. v.).
[Stars and Stripes], the flag of the United States, the stripes representing the original States of the Union, and stars those annexed since.
[Staten Island], 1, belonging to New York State (52), and comprising the county of Richmond; is a picturesque island (14 m. long), 5 m. SW. of New York, separated from Long Island by the Narrows and from New Jersey by the Kill van Kull and Staten Island Sound; pretty watering-villages skirt its shores, and Forts Richmond and Wadsworth guard the entrance to the Narrows. 2, A lofty, precipitous, and rugged island, snow-clad most of the year, belonging to Argentina, lying to the SE. of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by Le Maire Strait (40 m.).
[States-General], name given to an assembly of the representatives of the three estates of nobles, clergy, and bourgeoisie, or the Tiers État as it was called, in France prior to the Revolution of 1789, and which was first convoked in 1302 by Philip IV.; they dealt chiefly with taxation, and had no legislative power; they were convoked by Louis XIII. in 1614, and dismissed for looking into finance, and not convoked again till the last time in 1789, for the history of which see [Carlyle's] "French Revolution."
[States-Rights], doctrine of the contention of the Democrats in the United States that the several States of the Union have all the rights, powers, and privileges not expressly made over to the central government, and by extremists even the right of secession.
[Stationers' Hall], the hall of the old Company of London Stationers, incorporated in 1557, who enjoyed till the Copyright Act of 1842 the sole right of having registered at their offices every pamphlet, book, and ballad published in the kingdom. Although no longer compulsory, the practice of entering books at Stationers' Hall is still found useful for copyright purposes. The register-rolls of books entered at Stationers' Hall have been carefully preserved, and are of the highest value to the literary historian.
[Stations of the Cross], steps in the passage of Jesus from the judgment-hall to Calvary, or representations of these, before each one of which the faithful are required to kneel and offer up a prayer.
[Statius, Publius Papinius], a Latin poet, born in Naples; lived at Rome, flourished at court, particularly that of Domitian, whom he flattered, but retired to his native place after defeat in a competition; his chief work is the "Thebaïs," an epic in 12 books, embodying the legends connected with the war against Thebes; he ranks first among the poets of the silver age; a collection of short pieces of his named "Silvæ" have been often reprinted (61-96).