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 408 STOWELL STRAFFORD vols., London, 1829); "Lectures on the Sa- cred Poetry of the Hebrews," from the Prcelec- tiones of Lowth, with notes (Andover, 1829) ; "Introduction to the Criticism and Interpre- tation of the Bible" (vol. i. only published, Cincinnati, 1835); and "Origin and History of the Books of the Bible " (part i., the New Testament, Hartford, 1867). II. Harriet Elizabeth Beecher, wife of the preceding. See BEEOHER. STOWELL, William Scott, baron, an English jurist, born in Heworth, Durham, Oct. 17, 1745, died Jan. 28, 1836. lie graduated at Oxford in 1764, and was elected a fellow, and soon after a college tutor. In 1774 he became Camden professor of ancient history in the university. In 1779 he was admitted at doc- tors' commons into the faculty of advocates, and in 1780. was called to the bar. He made a specialty of ecclesiastical and admiralty prac- tice, and within a few years was appointed successively registrar of the court of faculties, judge of the consistory court, vicar general of the archbishop of Canterbury, and advocate general. In 1798 he was made judge of the high court of admiralty, which office he occu- pied for 30 years. He was elected a member of parliament for Downton in 1790, and was one of the members for the university of Ox- ford from 1801 to 1821, when he was made a peer. He was a brother of Lord Eldon. STRABISMUS. See SQUINTING. SIR ABO, a Greek geographer, born at Ama- sia, in Pontus, Asia Minor, about 54 B. 0., died about A. D. 24. He studied rhetoric under Aristodemus at Nysa in Caria ; was a pupil at Amisus in Pontus of Tyrannic the gramma- rian, and at Seleucia in Cilicia of Xenarchus, a peripatetic philosopher. At Alexandria he studied under Boethus of Sidon, also a peri- patetic; and at Tarsus under Athenodorus, a stoic. He travelled in Syria, Egypt, Crete, Greece, and Italy. He wrote " Historical Me- moirs," which are lost, and a " Geography." This work, which embodies all the geograph- ical knowledge of the age, is divided into 17 books ; the first 2 treat of cosmography, or the description of the earth in general, and the other 15 give accounts of particular countries. Fragments of the 8th and 9th books were dis- covered in 1875. Among the best editions are those of Casaubon (1597), Kramer (1844-'52), and Meineke (3 vols., 1852; new ed., 1864). There is an English translation by Falconer and Hamilton (3 vols., 1854-'7). (See GEOGRAPHY.) STRADELLA, Alessandro, an Italian musician, born in Naples about 1645, assassinated in Genoa in 1678. He was a singer, violinist, and composer. At Venice he was employed to teach Hortensia, a noble Roman lady of great beauty, with whom a Venetian noble- man was in love. Stradella and Hortensia fell in love and eloped to Rome. Assassins hired by the Venetian found them there, but were so moved by Stradella's music and singing at the church of St. John Lateran, where he was directing the performance of his oratorio " St. John the Baptist," that they informed him of their purpose, and that they had abandoned it. Stradella and Hortensia fled to Turin, where they were favorably received by the duchess regent, and were married. The Ve- netian hired other assassins, who finally suc- ceeded in wounding Stradella, but he recov- ered. The next year he and his wife went to Genoa to arrange for the performance of an opera which he had composed at the request of the city. Here other assassins rushed into their chamber and murdered them both. His principal works are the Oratorio di San Gio- vanni Battista and Laforza deW amor pater- no, opera seria (Genoa, 1678). STRADIVARI, or Stradiyarins, Antonio, an Ital- ian violin maker, born in Cremona in 1644, died there, Dec. 17, 1737. He was a pupil of Nicold Amati, and his first violins, made when he was 23 years old, as well as those which he made during the succeeding 20 years, were, in form and style, reproductions of the works of that master. As early as 1668 he began to use a label with his own name, as follows : " Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis faciebat, A. D. 16 ." For many years the form of his instruments varied; but about 1686 he ac- quired his peculiar style, which is very mani- fest in all his subsequent works ; although he had three manners and three periods, during one of which, the middle, he produced what is known as the "long" pattern. His pro- ductions consist mostly of violins, violas, and violoncellos, though he also made some viols of six and seven strings, as well as mandolins, guitars, and lutes. His instruments are distin- guished alike by their external beauty and the superiority of their tone. He was the first to finish his instruments neatly on the inside. He generally selected and cut his wood with great care, and studied the proportions of thickness and breadth most conducive to so- nority, the form of the outside line and of the sound holes (in which he attained great ele- gance), and the lustre and durability of his varnish, and thus produced works that no subsequent maker has been able to rival. So precious are these instruments in the estima- tion of connoisseurs that the possessors of the finest of them are well known. One, carefully preserved under glass, has never been touched by the bow, and is known as la pucelle. The "Dolphin," so called from the richness and variety of the veined wood of its back, for- merly belonged to the marquis de la Rosa. The fineness of the wood and the perfection of its form render it the most beautiful work extant of this maker. Others of his famous violins were owned by the late grand duke of Tuscany, M. Allard, Viotti, Artot, and Count Cepol. Several were in the collections of Mr. Goding and Mr. Joseph Gillott in England. Superior specimens command in the market prices ranging from $1,000 to $3,000. STRAFFORD, a S. E. county of New Hamp- shire, bordering on Maine ; area, about 675 sq.