Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/466

 442 T A S T A all time ; her ideas are mostly second-hand and frequently super- ficial. But nothing save a very great talent could have shown itself so receptive. Take away her assiduous frequentation of society, from the later philosophe coteries to the age of Byron, take away the influence of Constant and Schlegel and her other literary friends, and probably little of her will remain. But to have caught from all sides in this manner the floating notions of society and of individuals, to reflect them with such vigour and clearness, to combine them with such not inconsiderable skill into connected books, is not anybody's task. Her two best books, Corinne and De I Allemacjnc, are in all probability almost wholly unoriginal, a little sentiment in the first and a little constitutionalism in the second being all that she can claim. But Corinne is still a very remarkable exposition of a certain kind of sestheticism, and De I'Allemagne is still perhaps the most remarkable account of one country by a native and inhabitant of another which exists in literature. This praise, and it is very high praise, can be given to Madame de Stael. But the merits which it allows are not merits of the class which secure readers for ever. Neither in style nor in thought was she of the first class or perhaps of the second ; and besides thought and style nothing will save books. Baron Auguste de Stael edited, as lias been said, the complete works of his mother in seventeen volumes (Paris, 1820-1), and the edition was afterwards re- published in a compactur form, and, supplemented by some (Euvres InMites, is still obtainable in 3 vols. large 8vo (Didot). The Considerations and the Dix Annees dExil had been published after Madame de Stael's death. There is no recent reissue of the whole, and the minor works have not been reprinted, but Corinne, Delphine, and De I'Allemagne are easily accessible in cheap and separate forms. Of recent works on Madame de Stael, or rather on Coppet and its society, those of MM. Caro and Othenin d'Haussonville may bo mentioned. In English there is an elaborate biography by A. Stevens (London, 1880), full of information, but unluckily not at all critical. (G. SA.) See vol. STAFFORD, an inland county of England, is bounded xxi., on the S.E. by Warwickshire, S. by Worcestershire, W. ^J!:* 6 by Shropshire, N.W. by Cheshire, and E. by Derbyshire, just touching Leicestershire. It is of irregular outline, and has been likened to an elongated and compressed pear, somewhat tapering at both ends. Its greatest length from north to south is 53 miles, and its greatest breadth is 35 miles. The area is 748,433 acres about 1170 square miles. Surface and Geology. Although the general aspect of the county is that of a plain, it has been pronounced "rather a subalpine or hilly district"; but its highest hill, Axe Edge, is only 1756 feet above the level of the sea. In the north the land is undulating and very picturesque ; the hills here are the loftiest in the county, as Axe Edge, Cloud Thorpe, Mow Cop, and other hillocks and mounds called " edges." These are mostly composed of millstone grit. In the south we have sandstone, gravel, limestone, and basalt, represented respectively by Kinfare Edge, Barr and Cannock Chase, Sedgley, and Clent. The prin- cipal rivers are the Trent, the Tame, the Sow, the Penk, the Stour, the Blythe, the Tern, the Churnet, the Lyme, the Smestow, and the Manyfold ; of these the Trent is the most important. The Severn has a short part of its course within the county, traversing the coal-field at Arley. The Dove separates Staffordshire from Derby- shire. Several of the rivers are well supplied with fish. Geologically the county is included in the New Red Sandstone district of England, and is of the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic systems of formation. It is rich in limestone and coal. According to Mr Garner (Natural History of the County of Stafford], the following is a sum- mary of its geological characters : the Polley coal-field occupies 51 square miles; the South Staffordshire coal- field (excluding about 11 miles of it situated in other counties), 65 ; the Silurian limestone, &c., in the south of the county, 16 ; the Rowley basalt, 1 ; the Clent basalt, 2 ; the Arley coal-field, basalt, cornstone, &c., 7 ; the mountain limestone, 40; the Cheadle coal-field, 18; the Chiddleton coal-field, 1 ; the Meerbrook coal-field, 4 ; the millstone grit, 100 ; the New Red Sandstone (marl, gravel, rock, sand, and peat), 825. The county is very rich in fossils. In the coal, the limestone, and the Silurian deposits the remains of marine animals and plants are especially numerous. The museums in several towns have good collections of corals, calamites, and ferns ; and probably the finest examples of trilobites and encrinites have been found in this part of England. The teeth of the Meyalichthys have been found in the coal strata, and the Dudley museum contains a specimen of J/. hibberti, nearly entire. The county is very rich in mineral productions. In a single year 12,000,000 tons of coal and 1,173,866 tons of iron have been obtained. The greatest quantity of iron is raised in the north and of coal in the south. Of the places at which the various products are found may be named Birch Hills for anthra- cite coal ; Hanley Green for peacock coal ; Longton for cannel coal ; Wednesbury for haematite iron ore ; Langley Close for grey marble ; the Rowley Hills for basalt. At Bilston casting sand, at Kingswiuford fire-clay and fire bricks, at Tutbury alabaster, at Powke Hill black marble, and at Hemley Green red ochre are produced. In Decem- ber 1885 an important discovery of coal was made near Dudley. Mr S. Blewitt has driven from the Grace Mary pits about 250 yards towards the Ivy House estate, through the igneous rocks, and come upon a large area of the best hard coal, about thirty feet in thickness, and some thirty acres in area. Climate and Agriculture. As regards climate the county shares the characteristics common to the midland district of England. Agriculture, though not its distinctive feature, forms a very import- ant item in the industry and wealth of Staffordshire. The returns for 1886 furnish the following report : in corn crops there were 94,273 acres ; roots, artificial grasses, &c. , 43,343 ; clover and grasses, 46, 832 ; permanent pasture, 412,566 ; fallow, 7203; orchards, 1188; market gardens, 866; nursery grounds, 233; woods and plantations, 34,911. From the same returns we learn that the number of horses em- ployed in agriculture was 16,031 ; unbroken horses and brood marcs, 7802; cows in milk or in calf, 74,868; cattle under two years old, 56,224; two years and upward, 25,922; one-year-old sheep, 142,955; sheep under one year, 106,950; and pigs, 48,569. The total number of proprietors in the county was returned in 1873 as 43,371, possessing 638,084 acres, producing an annual rental of 3,630,254. The estimated extent of waste or common laud was 7809 acres. Of the owners 33,672 owned less than one acre each. Eight proprietors were owners of more than 10,000 acres each, viz., Earl of Lichfield, 21,433; Earl of Shrewsbury, 18,954; Lord Hatherton, 14,901; Marquis of Anglesey. 14,344; Sir J. H. Crewe, 14,256; Duke of Sutherland, 12,744; Lord Bagot, 10,993; Sir T. F. F. Boughey, 10,505. Manufactures. The manufactures of Staffordshire are of a very varied character. Almost everything which is made of iron is manufactured in one town or another; and it would only be tedious to enumerate the almost infinite variety of goods produced. Wolverhampton and Willenhall are famous for locks, Cradley for nails, Oldbury for railway carriages, Walsall for spurs, bits, and saddlery, Tipton for anchors, Smethwick for glass, Soho for steam engines and hydraulic jacks, Wednesfield for keys, Bilston for tinplate wares, and Bloxwich for bits. Thanks to the labours of Josiah Wedgwood and Flaxman, the pottery work of Stafford- shire ranks among the most famous manufactures of the kingdom, and Etruria is a household word wherever the admirable and artistic Wedgwood ware is known. The ale produced at Burton- on-Trent finds a market in almost every civilized country in the world, and in some that can scarcely be so described. Communication. The county is admirably provided with rail- ways, canals, and tramways. The main roads are excellent, and are well maintained and kept in capital condition. Administration and Population. The population in 1861 was 746,943; in 1871 858,326; and in 1881 981,013 (males 492,009, females 489,004), an average of 1'31 persons to an acre. Stafford- shire is in the Oxford circuit, and is nearly all in the diocese of Lichfield. The seat of the bishopric and the will courts are at Lichfield. The assize town is Stafford. There are five hundreds, each having two divisions : North Totmonslow (Leek) and South Totmonslow (Cheadle), North Pirehill (Potteries) and South Pirehill (Stone), North Oiflow(Burton-on-Trent) and South Offlow (Walsall), East Cuttlestone (Rugeley) and West Cuttlestone (Gnosall), North Seisdon (Sedgley) and South Seisdon (Kinfare). The county has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into twenty-two petty and special sessional divisions ; and there are 247 civil parishes and sixteen poor law unions. The municipal boroughs number twelve : Burslem, population 26,522; Burton-oii-Trent (partly in Derby- shire), 39,288; Ilauley, 48,361 ; Lichfield, 8349 ; Longton, 18,620; Newcastle-under-Lyme, 17,508; Stafford, 19,977; Stoke-on-Trent, 19,261 ; Tamworth (partly in AVarwickshire), 4891; Walsall 58,795 ; "VAiest Bromwich, 56,295 ; Wolverhampton, 75,766.