Chapter Stockton to Strype of S by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Stockton to Strype

Stockton, Francis Richard (1834-1902).—born at Philadelphia, was an engraver and journalist. He became well known as a writer of stories for children, and of amusing books of which Rudder Grange (1879) is the best known. The Lady and the Tiger was also highly popular. Others are Adventures of Captain Horne, Mrs. Null, Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine, The Hundredth Man, Great Stone of Sardis, Captain’s Toll-gate, etc. His work was very unequal in interest.

Stoddard, Richard Henry (1825-1903).—Poet, born at Hingham, Mass., worked in a foundry, and afterwards in New York Custom House, wrote a Life of Washington, but is chiefly known as a poet, his poetical works including Songs in Summer (1857), The King’s Bell, The Lion’s Cub, etc.

Storer, Thomas (1571-1604).—Poet, born in London, and ed. at Oxford, wrote a long poem, The Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal.

Story, William Wetmore (1819-1895).—Sculptor, poet, etc., born at Salem, Mass., was intended for the law, but became a sculptor and an eminent man of letters. His writings include Roba di Roma (1862), The Tragedy of Nero (1875), The Castle of St. Angelo (1877), He and She (1883), Conversations in a Studio, A Poet’s Portfolio (1894), etc.

Stow, John (1525-1605).—Historian and antiquary, born in London, son of a tailor, and brought up to the same trade. He had, however, an irresistible taste for transcribing and collecting ancient documents, and pursuing antiquarian and historical researches, to which he ultimately entirely devoted himself. This he was enabled to do partly through the munificence of Archbishop Parker. He made large collections of old books and manuscripts, and wrote and edited several works of importance and authority, including The Woorkes of Geoffrey Chaucer, Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles (1561), afterwards called Annales of England, edition of the chronicles of Matthew Paris and others, of Holinshed’s Chronicle, and A Survey of London (1598). It is sad to think that the only reward of his sacrifices and labours in the public interest was a patent from James I. to collect “among our loving subjects their voluntary contributions and kind gratuities.”

Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher (1811?-1896).—Novelist and miscellaneous writer, daughter of Dr. Lyman Beecher, a well-known American clergyman, and sister of Henry Ward Beecher, one of the most popular preaches whom America has produced, was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1811 or 1812. After spending some years as a teacher, she married the Rev. Calvin E. Stowe. Up till 1852 all she had written was a little vol. of stories which failed to attract attention. In that year, at the suggestion of a sister-in-law, she decided to write something against slavery, and produced Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which originally appeared in serial form in a magazine, The National Era. It did not at the time receive much attention, but on its appearance in a separate form it took the world by storm. Its sale soon reached 400,000 copies, and the reprints have probably reached a far greater number. It was translated into numerous foreign languages, and had a powerful effect in hurrying on the events which ultimately resulted in emancipation. Her later works include Dred, The Minister’s Wooing, Agnes of Sorrento, The Pearl of Orr’s Island, and Old Town Folks. Some of these, especially the last, are in a literary sense much superior to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but none of them had more than an ordinary success. In 1869 an article on Lord Byron involved her in a somewhat unfortunate controversy.

Strickland, Agnes (1796 or 1806-1874).—Historical writer, daughter of Thomas Strickland, of Royden Hall, Suffolk, was ed. by her father, and began her literary career with a poem, Worcester Field, followed by The Seven Ages of Woman and Demetrius. Abandoning poetry she next produced among others Historical Tales of Illustrious British Children (1833), The Pilgrims of Walsingham (1835), Tales and Stories from History (1836). Her chief works, however, are Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest, and Lives of the Queens of Scotland, and English Princesses, etc. (8 vols., 1850- 59), Lives of the Bachelor Kings of England (1861), and Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, in some of which she was assisted by her sister Elizabeth. Though laborious and conscientious she lacked the judicial faculty, and her style does not rise above mediocrity.