STODDARD, RICHARD HENRY (1825-1903).—­Poet, b. 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 Lions Cub, etc.

STORER, THOMAS (1571-1604).—­Poet, b. in London, and ed. at Oxf., wrote a long poem, The Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal.

STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE (1819-1895).—­Sculptor, poet, etc., b. 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, b. in London, s. 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 ed. several works of importance and authority, including The Woorkes of Geoffrey Chaucer, Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles (1561), afterwards called Annales of England, ed. 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, dau. of Dr. Lyman Beecher, a well-known American clergyman, and sister of Henry Ward B., one of the most popular preachers whom America has produced, was b. at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1811 or 1812.  After spending some years as a teacher, she m. 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.