STIRLING, JAMES HUTCHISON (1820-1909).—­Philosopher, b. in Glasgow, and ed. there and at Edin., where he studied medicine, which he practised until the death of his f. in 1851, after which he devoted himself to philosophy.  His Secret of Hegel (1865) gave a great impulse to the study and understanding of the Hegelian philosophy both at home and in America, and was also accepted as a work of authority in Germany and Italy.  Other works, all characterised:  by keen philosophical insight and masterly power of exposition are Complete Text-book to Kant (1881), Philosophy and Theology (1890), What is Thought? or the Problem of Philosophy (1900), and The Categories (1903).  Less abstruse are Jerrold, Tennyson, and Macaulay (1868), Burns in Drama (1878), and Philosophy in the Poets (1885).

STIRLING, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL of (1567-1640).—­Poet, s. of A. of Menstrie, and cr. Earl of S. by Charles I., 1633, was a courtier, and held many offices of state.  He studied at Glasgow and Leyden, and wrote among other poems, partly in Latin, sonnets and four Monarchicke Tragedies, Darius, Croesus, The Alexandraean Tragedy, and Julius Caesar (1603-7), the motive of which is the fall of ambition, and which, though dignified, have little inspiration.  He also assisted James I. in his metrical version of the Psalms.  He d. insolvent in London.  The grant of Nova Scotia which he had received became valueless owing to the French conquests in that region.

STIRLING-MAXWELL, SIR WILLIAM (1818-1878).—­Historian and writer on art, s. of Archibald Stirling of Keir, succeeded to the estates and title of his uncle, Sir John Maxwell of Pollok, as well as to Keir, ed. at Camb., afterwards travelled much.  He sat in the House of Commons for Perthshire, which he twice represented, 1852-68 and 1874-80, served on various commissions and public bodies, and was Lord Rector successively of the Univ. of St. Andrews and Edin. and Chancellor of that of Glasgow.  His works include Annals of the Artists of Spain (1848), The Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles V. (1852), and Don John of Austria, pub. posthumously in 1885.  They were all distinguished by research and full information, and the last two are standard authorities He m. as his second wife the Hon. Mrs. Norton (q.v.).

STOCKTON, FRANCIS RICHARD (1834-1902).—­B. 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. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine, The Hundredth Man, Great Stone of Sardis, Captain’s Toll-gate, etc.  His work was very unequal in interest.