Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/740

 Valerianos and Tibartius were beheaded. Cecilia was offered her life, if she would sacrifice to the idols; bat she refused, and was thrown into a caldron of boiling water. St. Cecilia is said to hare excelled so greatly in music, as to have drawn the angel from the celestial regions by her melody.  STEELE, MRS. ANNE, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Steele, a dissenting minister at Broughton, in Hampshire. She is the authoress of many of the most popular hymns sung in churches. She also wrote a version of the Psalms, which showed great talent. She died in 1779.  STENGEL, FRANZISKA VON, at Manheim. She has written many historical romances, and gained considerable celebrity in her profession.  STEPHENS, ANN S., a native of Derby, Connecticut. In 1831 she was married to Mr. Edward Stephens, and soon after removed to Portland, Maine, where her literary career commenced. In 1835 she established a periodical called "The Portland Magazine," which was edited by her for two years, and attained considerable popularity, owing, chiefly, to her own contributions to it. In 1837 Mr. and Mrs. Stephens removed to New York, where they have since resided. Soon after her settlement in that city, she became editor of "The Ladies' Companion," and subsequently editor of the "Ladies' National Magazine;" an interesting and popular work. She has also been a regular contributor to most of the leading American periodicals. For one of her stories, "Mary Derwent," she received a prize of four hundred dollars, yet it can by no means be considered her best. In truth, she is one of the most successful Magazine writers of the day; and her sketches and novellettes, if collected, would fill several volumes. As a poetess, Mrs. Stephens is comparatively but little known; the few pieces of hers that have appeared are marked by the same picturesque detail and easy flow of language with her prose sketches. She excels in drawing pictures with her pen—in placing before her readers, by a few graphic lines and glowing words, a character or scene, whether in high or low life, amid the palaces of royalty or the wild depths of the western forests, with such vividness and power that it seems to stand real presence" before the eye.  STEPHENS, KATHARINE, daughter of a carver and gilder, was born in London, September 18th., 1794. She gave early proofs of her musical abilities, and on the 23rd. of September, 1813, made her débût on the stage, at Covent Garden Theatre, as a vocalist, and was received with great applause. She continued for a long time the principal female singer on the English stage. Her character was always unimpeachable.  STEWART, HARRIET BRADFORD, born near Stamford, in Connecticut, on the 24th. of June, 1798. Her father. Colonel Tiffany, was an officer during the revolutionary war, but he died while his daughter was very young, and