that they were incapable of fulfilling their vengeful task, but rushed up to him and confessed the errand on which they had been sent. Stradella instantly departed with Ortensia for Turin, where, justice being better administered than in other towns of Italy, they had better chance than elsewhere of security. The duchess of Savoy, who was then regent, took them under her protection, lodged the lady in a convent, and engaged Stradella to sing and direct his music at her palace. Baffled in his first attempt, the Venetian noble became more implacable in his thirst for vengeance, and he now commissioned the father of his late mistress with the murder of his own child and her lover, and this ruffian went with two others to Turin, bearing letters to the French ambassador in that city from the same functionary at Venice requiring him to give an asylum to the three, should they need one; it being then the law of nations that the residence of a foreign ambassador was inviolable, so that justice could not pursue the worst criminal within its doors. The father of Ortensia and his two accomplices attacked Stradella while taking his evening walk upon the ramparts, in sight of the multitude of promenaders; they wounded him severely, and fled into the ambassador's house, who refused to surrender them even to the demand of the duchess. This extraordinary occurrence was the subject of much discussion in the different states of Italy; but Stradella recovered, the assassins were suffered secretly to quit Turin, and the excitement it occasioned died away without inducing any change as to the power of ambassadors. Stradella and Ortensia were married under the auspices of the duchess. A year passed by, and he then went to Genoa to produce his opera, as has been already shown. Thither the ruthless father of his wife was despatched by the Venetian noble, with his two associates; the three surprised Stradella and Ortensia in their chamber, accomplished their deadly purpose, and escaped by means of a vessel which was lying ready to secure their flight. Some writers state Ortensia to have been of a noble Roman family, but this is rendered doubtful by the facts, circumstantially related, of her having lived as the mistress of the Venetian, and of her father having been hired by her seducer to be her murderer. Another account states her to have escaped the vengeance of her pursuers, and to have become a public singer in France after the assassination of Stradella, appearing under the title of "the baroness;" but this is proved to be incorrect, another lady having been erroneously supposed to be she.—G. A. M.
STRADIVARIUS or STRADUARIUS, Antoine, a celebrated violin-maker, was born at Cremona in Italy in 1644, and died at the same place in 1737. He was a pupil of the well-known Nicholas Amati, with whom he worked for many years. The Straduarius of Viotti, which has been regarded by some as the first instrument of its maker, was sold by auction in Paris (1824) at the hotel de Bouillon for three thousand francs (about £160). A Life of Straduarius has lately been published at Paris by M. Fetis, which gives a curious account of this maker's manner of constructing his instruments.—E. F. R.
STRAFFORD, Earl of. See Wentworth.
STRAHAN, William, an eminent printer, was born at Edinburgh in 1715. After completing his education at the grammar-school he was apprenticed to a printer. At an early age he removed to London, where he married the sister of Elphinston, the translator of Martial; and by his industry, shrewdness, and frugality, gradually raised himself to affluence and respectability. In 1770 he purchased a share of Mr. Eyre's patent for king's printer, and made several judicious and successful purchases of literary property. He became intimate with Dr. Johnson, Warburton, Robertson, and other eminent men of letters, and rendered them assistance in the correction and publication of their works. After the death of Johnson he edited his Prayers and Meditations. Strahan took an active part in political affairs, and in 1775 was elected member for Malmesbury, with Fox as his colleague, and in the succeeding parliament he represented Wotton Basset. He is said to have been an active and useful member. Mr. Strahan died in 1785 in his seventy-first year. He was a sagacious, kind, and liberal friend, especially to his own countrymen and to men of letters.—J. T.
STRANGE, Sir John, an English lawyer, was born in London towards the close of the seventeenth century. Having passed through the usual preliminary studies, and displayed considerable forensic ability, he at length, in 1735, was appointed one of his majesty's counsel, and in the following year became solicitor-general. In 1739 he was chosen recorder of London, and in January, 1749, he was appointed master of the rolls. The "Reports" of Sir John Strange of cases adjudged in the courts of chancery, king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer, from Trinity Term, 2 George I., to Trinity Term, 21 George II., were published by his son in 1755, and were afterwards edited by Michael Nolan. Sir John Strange's second son, John, contributed papers to the Philosophical Transactions, and to the Archæologia. Sir John died in 1754.—F.
STRANGE, Sir Robert, an eminent historical engraver, was born at Pomona, one of the Orkney islands, July 14, 1721. His father, Mr. David Strang, was treasurer of Kirkwall. Young Strang, or Strange as he called himself, was apprenticed to a Mr. Cooper, an engraver in a considerable way of business in Edinburgh. He was intrusted by his master as early as 1737-40 with the superintendence of a folio edition of the Anatomical Plates of Albinus, some of which he engraved himself. In the rising of 1745 he joined the army of the Pretender—at the instigation, it is said, of Miss Lumisden, to whom he was attached—engraved a portrait of the prince, and prepared the designs for the notes to be issued for the use of the army. He was present at Culloden; and after the rout was for some time in concealment in the Highlands. On one occasion he made his way to the house of the Lumisdens, but was seen and closely pursued. He hastily entered the room in which his affianced sat singing at her needlework. Understanding his danger, she raised her hooped petticoat and he crept under. She continued her work whilst the soldiers searched the room, and it was not till they had ransacked the house in vain and departed that the fortunate lover left his hiding-place. They were shortly afterwards married, and the lady lived to rejoice in her husband's fame, and after his death to compare proudly his work with that of the engravers who succeeded him. Her letters are among the most amusing portions of Mr. Dennistoun's voluminous Memoirs of Sir Robert Strange. Finding difficulty, perhaps danger, in pursuing his art in England, Strange in 1751 joined the Scottish exiles at Rouen, and there worked for the engravers Le Bas and Descamps. Later he went to Rome, where he spent his time partly in studying the pictures of the great masters; partly in trafficking in works of art. For several years he oscillated between Italy and England. But whilst in Italy he laid the foundation of his fame, having engraved several important works in a style which won general admiration from the connoisseurs, and secured his election as member of the academies of Rome, Florence, Parma, Bologna, and Paris. He finally returned to settle in England in 1765; but notwithstanding his great reputation he was for some time regarded with suspicion on account of his Jacobite antecedents—a suspicion strengthened by his having a few years earlier refused to engrave Ramsay's full-length portrait of George III. He continued, however, to work with ever increasing distinction, producing engravings of a far higher character than any previous English artist; and as wealth and fame extended, his anti-Hanoverian feelings abated, till he eventually made his peace with the court by engraving in his best manner West's picture of the Apotheosis of the Princes Octavius and Alfred. When (January, 1787) the engraver presented a proof of this print to the king, his majesty not only expressed his delight in words, but showed his satisfaction by knighting him on the spot. The remainder of Sir Robert Strange's life was without incident. He died on 5th July, 1792. Strange was the first and greatest historical engraver of the English school. His drawing was not always immaculate, and he sometimes allowed himself to deviate in minor points from the original pictures. But his style is characterized at once by grandeur and sweetness. He used both the graver and the point with freedom and intelligence. All his works are distinguished by a masculine breadth of execution, admirable treatment of the flesh, and a rare discrimination of texture and surface. In all, he executed about sixty prints. Among the most esteemed are the St. Cecilia of Raphael; the Venus Reclining, and Danäe after Titian; Joseph and Potiphar's Wife after Guido; the Virgin and Christ, with Mary Magdalene, St. Jerome, &c., of Correggio; Vandyck's full-length portraits of Charles I., Henrietta Maria with the Prince of Wales and Duke of York, &c. Strange was noted for taking off but few proofs from his plates, and allowing none but good impressions to go forth to the public. Proof impressions of his prints now command very high prices. The British museum possesses an excellent collection of his best prints in their various stages. Strange is the author of "A
