Chapter Steadfast to Sterling of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

red, and as it fades turns blue. Some call it penthea, but henceforth (he says) it shall be called “Astrophel.” It is a pure fiction that Stella died from grief at the death of Sidney, for the afterwards married Charles Blount, created by James I. earl of Devonshire. The poet himself must have forgotten his own lines—

Ne less praiseworthy Stella do I read,
Tho’nought my praises of her needed are,
Whom verse of noblest shepherd lately dead [1586]
Hath praised and raised above each other star.
Spenser: Colin Cloufs Come Home Again (1591).

Stella. Miss Hester Johnson was so called by Swift, to whom she was privately married in 1706. Hester is first perverted into the Greek aster, and “aster” in Latin, like stella, means “a star.” Stella lived with Mrs. Dingley on Ormond Quay, Dublin.

Poor Stella must pack off to town …
To Liffy’s stinking tide at Dublin …
To be directed there by Dingley …
And now arrives the dismal day.
She must return to Ormond Quay.

Swift: To Stella at Wood Park (1723).

Steno (Michel), one of the chiefs of the tribunal of Forty. Steno acts indecorously to some of the ladies assembled at a civic banquet given by the doge of Venice, and is turned out of the house. In revenge, he fastens on the doge’s chair some scurrilous lines against the young dogaressa, whose extreme modesty and innocence ought to have protected her from such insolence. The doge refers the matter to “the Forty,” who sentence Steno to two months’ imprisonment. This punishment, in the opinion of the doge, is wholly inadequate to the offence, and Marino Faliero joins a conspiracy to abolish the council altogether. —Byron: Marino Faliero, the Doge of Venice (1819).

Stentor, a Grecian herald in the Trojan war. Homer says he was “great-hearted, brazen-voiced, and could shout as loud as fifty men.”

He began to roar for help with the lungs of a Stentor. —Smollett.

Stephano, earl of Carnuti, the leader of 400 men in the allied Christian army. He was noted for his military prowess and wise counsel. —Tasso: Jerusalem Delivered, i. (1575).

Stephano, a drunken butler. —Shakespear: The Tempest (1609).

Stephano, servant to Portia. —Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice (1598).

STEPHEN, one of the attendants of sir Reginald Front de Bœuf (a follower of prince John). —Sir W. Scott: Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Stephen (Count), nephew of the count of Crèvecœur. —Sir W. Scott: Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Stephen (Master), a conceited puppy, who thinks all inferiors are to be snubbed and bullied, and all those weaker and more cowardly than himself are to be kicked and beaten. He is especially struck with captain Bobadil, and tries to imitate his “dainty oaths.” Master Stephen has no notion of honesty and high-mindedness: thus he steals Down-right’s cloak, which had been accidentally dropped, declares he bought it, and then that he found it. Being convicted of falsehood, he resigns all claim to it, saying in a huff, “There, take your cloak; I’ll none on’t.” This small-minded youth is young Knowell’s cousin.—B. Jonson: Every Man in His Humour (1598).

Stephen (St.). The crown of St. Stephen, the crown of Hungary.

If Hungarian independence should ever be secured through the help of prince Napoleon, the prince himself should accept the crown of St. Stephen.—Kossuth: Memoirs of My Exile, 1880.