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STR his trade. His talent for composition developed itself soon after this; and in course of time he organized an orchestra of his own, and gave promenade concerts on the same plan as those of Lanner, to whom he became a powerful rival. His remarkable ability as a conductor brought the playing of his little band to a rare degree of perfection, and the great attraction of this, was heightened by the peculiar charm of his music. He wrote with great rapidity, and his publisher, Haslinger, was therefore interested to give immediate publicity to everything he produced, and so afforded him great pecuniary assistance in his enterprises. In 1838 Strauss came with his band to London, where their playing created a sensation far beyond what the importance of their concerts merited. He had previously travelled with success through Germany, Belgium, and France. His waltzes and galops have been universally popular. They are characterized by most fluent and piquant melody, and by brilliant, original, and eminently effective orchestration. Strauss was a good violinist, and played solos occasionally at his own concerts. His son succeeded him at the head of his orchestra, but afterwards dismissed the band, and applied himself particularly to the study of the violin, and he is now classed among the foremost players upon this instrument.—G. A. M.  * STRICKLAND,, authoress, was born in 1806, of a Suffolk family, a branch of the Westmoreland Stricklands. She was the third of six daughters, who were carefully educated by their father, Mr. Strickland of Reydon hall, Suffolk. She had been an authoress for many years, when in 1840 she commenced the publication of an extensive work—in the preparation of which she had been assisted by her elder sister, Elizabeth—the well known series of historical biographies, "Lives of the Queens of England from the Conquest to the death of Queen Anne." It was completed in 1851; and from 1850 to 1859 appeared her "Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses connected with the regal succession of Great Britain," opening with Margaret Tudor, the queen of James IV., and closing with Sophia, electress of Hanover. Miss Strickland's latest contribution to historical biography is a volume of "Lives of the Bachelor Kings of England," published in 1861.—F. E.  STRICKLAND,, geologist, was born at Righton, a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, on 2nd March, 1811. He was the second son of Henry E. Strickland, and grandson of the late Sir George Strickland, Baronet, of Boynton. Even in early boyhood Mr. Strickland showed a decided taste for geology and ornithology—branches of natural science in which he was afterwards highly distinguished. At the age of sixteen he became a pupil of Dr. Arnold, then resident at Laleham. In 1828 he was admitted a student of Oriel college, Oxford, and took his degree for M. A. in the spring of 1832. During his stay at Oxford he prosecuted his geological studies under Dr. Buckland. In 1835 he accompanied Mr. W. Hamilton, secretary of the Geological Society, on a geological tour in Asia Minor. On his return he devoted himself with great zeal and ability to the study of home geology. In 1846 he married Catherine, second daughter of Sir William Jardine, Bart. When the state of Dr. Buckland's health rendered him unfit for the work of his chair at Oxford, Mr. Strickland was appointed his geological successor, and entered on his duties as deputy-reader in geology in 1850. In 1853, when examining certain cuttings on the railway line near Retford, he was struck by a passing train, and died instantaneously. Mr. Strickland's contributions to science were important. His earliest paper is dated 1827; his last, No. 125, was read at the meeting of the British Association, 1853. Of these, among the most valuable are—"Memoirs on the Geology of Asia Minor" (Trans. Geol. Soc. 1836-37); "On Drift" (Memoir and Papers of Strickland, part ii. p. 90); "On New Red Sandstone System" (ibid. p. 3); "On the Malvern Hills" (Phil. Mag., 1851); "On Geology in relation to the studies of the University of Oxford" (Memoir and Papers, part ii., p. 207); "Birds of Asia Minor" (ibid. p. 223); "Report to British Association on state of Ornithology" (ibid, p. 235); "Report to same on Nomenclature of Zoology;" "Affinities and Analogies of Organized Beings" (ibid. p. 401); "The Dodo and its Kindred," London, 1818.—J. D., T.  STRONGBOW, the surname of, Earl of Pembroke, a famous English nobleman of the illustrious family of Clare, who took a prominent part in the conquest of Ireland in the twelfth century. Dermot M'Murrough, king of Leinster, having been expelled from his dominions on account of his tyranny, applied for assistance to Strongbow, who having impaired his patrimony by expensive pleasures, was easily induced to enter into a treaty with the exiled monarch, on condition that he should receive in marriage Eva, the daughter of Dermot, and be declared heir to his dominions. Strongbow's influence obtained for the king of Leinster the assistance of two other powerful barons, Robert Fitz-Stephens and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, who preceded him on their voyage to Ireland, and by their valour and military skill soon reinstated Dermot in his sovereignty. Not contented, however, with his restoration to his former rank, and in direct violation of a treaty by which he became bound to dismiss his foreign auxiliaries, Dermot formed the ambitious design of dethroning his rival, Roderick king of Connaught, by their aid, and even of obtaining supreme authority over the Irish. He therefore despatched a messenger to Strongbow, urging him to hasten his arrival. The earl immediately sent over a detachment to the assistance of his ally, and soon after followed in person, at the head of a strong body of men-at-arms and archers. The superiority of their arms and discipline obtained for them an easy victory over the Irish troops; and, in conjunction with Dermot, Strongbow soon made himself master of Waterford, and took Dublin by assault. At this juncture the king of Leinster died, and the earl succeeded to the throne in right of his wife, that prince's only daughter. The Irish chieftains, however, resisted his claims, cooped him up in Dublin, and reduced him to the greatest extremities. But at the head of a select body of ninety knights, Strongbow suddenly attacked the Irish camp and put the numerous host to rout. King Henry, jealous of the conquests made by his own subjects, now commanded their immediate return; but Strongbow and his associates appeased him by offering to hold all their Irish acquisitions in vassalage to the English crown; and the earl was not only restored to favour, but was appointed by the king seneschal of Ireland. Strongbow died in 1177 at Dublin, and was buried in Christ church cathedral, where his monument still remains in good preservation. He left an only daughter, the heiress of his princely dominions.—J. T.  STROZZI: a patrician house of Florence, in politics of the Guelph and Neri party, took root also in Mantua and Ferrara. The following persons of this name were eminent in the state, or in the world of letters:—, astrologer and captain of the Florentine host, died in 1010.— upheld the popular against the burgher-aristocratic interest in Florence. In 1379 he, with his colleagues, obtained a triumph. This in 1381 was succeeded by a reverse; after which he withdrew to Mantua and planted the Strozzi family in that city.—, of Florence, was born about 1372, and died at Padua in 1462. He witnessed the siege and surrender of Pisa in 1406, and was employed on missions to various courts between the years 1411-34. In the struggle of the Albizzi against the Medici, Palla sided with the former, though without adopting the extreme views taken by some of his party, and Cosimo de' Medici was banished; but a reactionary movement in due course reversing their positions, Palla in his turn tasted the bitterness of an exile which for him proved final. In his native city he had been the munificent patron of letters; now in his Paduan retirement he solaced himself with study and literary avocations, and lived peacefully on into a green old age. A share in that revival of letters, which is usually ascribed to the Medici, should in fairness be credited to him.— or attached himself to Niccolò III., marquis of Este; quitted his native Florence, and founded in the fourteenth century the Ferrarese branch of his house.—, of Ferrara, son of the above, poet; died probably in 1505. He held offices in the state, and his literary remains include some autobiographical Carmina.—, of Ferrara, son of the above, poet; born about 1480; found murdered 7th June, 1508. The motive of the crime is conjectured to have been jealousy. He left poems, both Latin and Italian, and is classed by Ariosto, in the Orlando Furioso, among the illustrious poets of the age.—, a wealthy citizen and dignitary of Florence, opponent of the Medicean rule, and restorer of republican government to his native city; voluntary exile, unsuccessful soldier, and captive subjected to torture in the hands of his enemies. He committed suicide in prison in 1538; having first drawn up a paper commending his soul to the mercy of God, his body to sepulture in a free state, and his native Florence to the consideration of the emperor. By some Filippo Strozzi has been enshrined as a martyr of liberty, by others branded us a man 