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STAPLETON (THOMAS), a celebrated controversialist on the side of the papists, was born at Henfield, in Sussex, in 1535, of a genteel family from Yorkshire. Having been educated at Canterbury and Winchester, he was removed to New college, Oxford, where he obtained a perpetual fellowship in 1554. In the same reign, which was that of Mary, he was made prebendary of Chichester; but on the accession of Elizabeth, left the kingdom, with his father and other relations, and settled at Louvain, where he distinguished himself by his controversial writings against Jewel, Horne, Whitaker, and other eminent divines of the English church. He also visited Paris and Rome, but returned to Louvain, where he translated Bede's Church History into English. He then became regius professor of divinity in the new university of Douay, and canon in the church of St. Amoure. He became a Jesuit, but again relinquished the order, and returning to Louvain, was appointed regius professor in divinity there, canon of St. Peter's, and dean of Hillerbeck. He died in 1598, and was buried in the church of St. Peter at Louvain. Clement VIII. had invited him to Rome, but he did not choose to go. This pope, it is said, intended to bestow upon him a cardinal's hat, and that this honour was prevented by his death. He was, however, so great an admirer of Stapleton's writings, that he ordered them to be read publicly at his table. Cardinal Perron, who was an eminent author himself, esteemed him, both for learning and acuteness, the first polemical divine of his age; and Whitaker himself, seems to allow no less.

His chief works are, 1. "Tres Thoma; seu res gesta S. Thomæ Apost. S. Thomæ archiep. Cant. et Thomæ Mori." 2. "Orationes funebres," Antw. 1577. 3. "Orationes Academicæ miscellaneæ," 1602. 4. "Orationes Catecheticæ," Antw. 1598. His works were published collectively at Paris, in 1620, 4 volumes, folio. To which is prefixed his life, by Hollendum. His epitaph is extant in Pits.'

STATIUS (PUBLIUS PAPINIUS), an ancient Roman poet who flourished in the first century, was born at Naples, and descended of a good family by his father's side. His father was a rhetorician, a man of probity and learning, and also a poet, although none of his works are now extant. Our author discovered an early inclination for poetry,

1 Tanner.-Pits.-Ath. Ox. vol. I. new edit,-Dodd's Church Hist.-Fuller's Worthies.

which was so much improved by his father's instructions, that he soon was introduced to the first geniuses of the age, and afterwards to the emperor himself, by his friend Paris, the player, at that time one of the chief court-favourites. His literary merit gained him so large a share of the emperor's esteem, that he was permitted to sit at table with him among his ministers and courtiers of the highest quality, and was often crowned for his verses, which were publicly recited in the theatre. And, although he once lost the prize in the capitol, the frequent determination of the judges in his favour created him the envy of Martial; who piqued himself much on his extempore productions, and has therefore never mentioned Statius in his account of the poets, his contemporaries. The "Thebaid," finished at Naples, and dedicated to Domitian, was received at Rome with the greatest applause, as Juvenal has told us in a celebrated passage, which, however, is thought by some to have been nothing more than a sneer. In this passage, which begins

"Curritur ad vocem jucundam et carmen amicæ, &c." Dr. Warton thinks it cannot be doubted that Juvenal meant to be satirical, and to insinuate obliquely that Statius was the favourite poet with the vulgar, who are easily captivated with a wild and inartificial tale, and an empty magnificence of numbers. Statius had, however, no sooner finished his "Thebaid," than he formed the plan of his "Achilleid," a work, in which he intended to take in the whole life of Achilles, and not one single action, as Homer has done in the Iliad. This he left imperfect, dying at Naples, about A. D. 96, before he had well finished two books of it.

When he was young, he fell in love with, and married a widow, daughter of Claudius Apollinaris, a musician of Naples. He describes her in his poems, as a very beautiful, learned, ingenious, and virtuous woman, and a great proficient in his own favourite study of poesy. Her society was a solace to him in his heavy hours, and her judgment of no small use in his poem, as he himself has confessed to us in his "Sylvæ." He inscribed several of his verses to her, and as a mark of his affection behaved with singular tenderness to a daughter which she had by a former husband. During his absence at Naples for the space of twenty years, she behaved with the strictest fidelity, and at length followed him, and died there. He had no children

by her; and therefore adopted a son, whose death he bewails in a very pathetic manner. It appears that he sold a tragedy called "Agave" to Paris, already mentioned, and that what he got by this and Domitian's bounty had set him. above want. He informs us that he had a small country seat in Tuscany, where Alba formerly stood. With regard to his moral character, from what we can collect, he appears to have been religious almost to superstition, an affectionate husband, a loyal subject, and good citizen. Some critics, however, have not scrupled to accuse him of gross flattery to Domitian: and that he paid his court to him with a view to interest, cannot be denied, yet his advocates are willing to believe that his patron had not arrived to that pitch of wickedness and impiety at the time he wrote his poem, which he showed afterwards. Envy made no part of his composition. That he acknowledged merit, wherever he found it, his Genethliacon of Lucan, and Encomia on Virgil, bear ample testimony. He carried his reverence for the memory of the latter almost to adoration, constantly visiting his tomb, and celebrating his birthday with great solemnity. His tragedy of "Agave" excepted, we have all his works, consisting of his "Sylvæ," or miscellaneous pieces, in five books, his "Thebaid" in twelve, and his "Achilleid" in two.

Statius, by the general verdict of modern critics, is ranked among those authors, who, by their forced conceits, violent metaphors, swelling epithets, and want of just decorum, have a strong tendency to dazzle, and to mislead inexperienced minds, and tastes unformed, from the true relish of possibility, propriety, simplicity, and nature. Dr. Warton, in his "Essay on Pope," who translated part of the "Thebaid," has many just remarks on authors of this cast, but allows that Statius has passages of true sublimity, and had undoubtedly invention, ability, and spirit.

We must not confound Publius Papinius Statius, as some have done, with another Statius, whose surname was Surculus; or, as Suetonius calls him, Ursulus. This latter was, indeed, a poet, as well as the other; but he lived at Tolosa in Gaul, and taught rhetoric in the reign of Nero.

The best editions of Statius are these: that of Gronovius, 12mo, 1653; of Barthius, 2 vol. 4to, 1664; and the Variorum, L. Bat. 1671, 8vo. The best edition of the "Sylvæ,” is that "cum notis & emendationibus Jeremiæ Markland,

Lond. 1728," 4to. There is an English translation of the "Thebaid" by Lewis.'

STAUNFORD, or STANFORD (Sir WILLIAM), an eminent lawyer in the sixteenth century, was the son of William Staunford, of London, mercer, and the grandson of Richard Staunford of Rowley in Staffordshire. He was born in 1509, at Hadley in Middlesex, where his father had purchased some property, and had married a London lady of the name of Gedney. After studying for some time at Oxford, he applied to municipal law in Gray's Inn, and soon acquired reputation for knowledge of his profession. In 1545, he was chosen autumn-reader to this society, but did not read until Lent following, owing, as Wood says, to the plague the year after he was appointed attorney-general. In 1551 he was double Lent reader at Gray's-inn, made serjeant at law the next year, and queen's serjeant in 1553, when Mary came to the throne, as he was a zealous adherent to her religion. In 1554 he became a judge of the common-pleas, and the same year received the honour of knighthood. He died Aug. 28, 1558, and was buried in Hadley church. While both at the bar and on the bench, he was much esteemed, and obtained no small fame by his writings, which still perpetuate his name. They are 1. "Placita coronæ," in French, 4to, 1557, and often reprinted from that time to 1607. 2. "Exposition of the King's prerogative," printed with the former. He left also many MSS. His "Placita corona" were published in an epitomized form, by Walter Young, Lond. 1660, 8vo. and 1663.2

STAUNTON (SIR GEORGE LEONARD), secretary and historian of an embassy to China, was son of a gentleman of small fortune in the county of Galway, in Ireland; and sent early to study physic at Montpelier, where he proceeded M. D. On his return to London, he translated Dr. Störck's treatise on hemlock, and drew up for the "Journal Etranger" in France a comparison between the literature of England and France. About the year 1762, Dr. Staunton embarked for the West Indies, as we find from a farewell letter written to him by Dr. Johnson, given by Mr. Boswell in his life of that great man. This epistle is replete

1 Preface by Lewis.-Crusius's Roman Poets.-Vossius de Poet. Lat.-Dibdin's Classics.-Bowles's edition of Pope's Works.-Saxii Onomast.

Ath. Ox. vol. I.-Tanuer.-Fuller's Worthies.-Lloyd's Worthies.-Dodd's Church Hist.

with excellent advice, and does equal credit to the writer, and the person to whom it is addressed. Dr. Staunton resided, for several years, in the West Indies, where he acquired some addition to his fortune by the practice of physic; purchased an estate in Grenada which he cultivated; and had the good fortune to obtain the friendship of the late lord Macartney, governor of that island, to whom he acted as secretary, and continued in that capacity until the capture of it by the French, when they both embarked for Europe. Having studied the law, while in Grenada, Dr. Staunton filled the office of attorney-general of the island. Soon after lord Macartney's arrival in England, he was appointed governor of Madras, and took Mr. Staunton with him (for he seems now to have lost the appellation of doctor) as his secretary. In this capacity, Mr. Staunton had several opportunities of displaying his abilities and intrepidity, particularly as one of the commissioners sent to treat of peace with Tippoo Sultaun, and in the seizure of general Stuart, who seemed to have been preparing to act by lord Macartney as had been before done by the unfortunate lord Pigot. The secretary was sent with a small party of seapoys to arrest the general, which he effected with great spirit and prudence, and without bloodshed. On his return to England, the India Company, as a reward for his services, settled on him a pension of 500l. per anuum; the king soon after created him a baronet of Ireland, and the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of LL.D. It having been resolved to send an embassy to China, lord Macartney was selected for that purpose, and he took his old friend and countryman along with him, who was not only appointed secretary of legation, but had also the title of envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipotentiary bestowed on him, in order to be able to supply the place of the ambassador in case of any unfortunate accident. The events of this embassy, which, on the whole, proved rather unpropitious, are well known, and were given to the public in two quarto volumes, written by sir George. This account is rather to be considered as a proof of learning and observation than of genius and reflection. The subject itself was highly interesting, but it is certainly not rendered very much so in the relation. However, it is on the whole a valuable work, and creditable to his character for knowledge and diligence. And when we consider the short time he took to compile these volumes, added to the

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