Chapter Steadfast to Sterling of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Steadfast to Sterling

Steadfast, a friend of the Duberly family.—Colman: The Heir-at-Law (1797).

Steeds of the Sea, ships, a common synonym of the Runic bards.

And thro’ the deep exulting sweep
The Thunder-steeds of Spain.
   —Lord Lytton: Ode, i. (1839).

Steel Castle, a strong ward, belonging to the Yellow Dwarf. Here he confined All-Fair when she refused to marry him according to her promise.— Comtesse DAulnoy: Fairy Tales (“The Yellow Dwarf,” 1682).

Steel Glas (The), a mirror in which we may “see ourselves as others see us,” or see others in their true likenesses. Gascoigne published, in 1576, his Steele Grasse, a satyre.

The Christel Glasse, on the other hand, reflects us as vanity dictates, and shows other people as fame paints them. These mirrors were made by Lucylius (an old satirist).

Lucylius…bequeathed “The Christel Glasse”
To such as love to seme but not to be:
But unto those that love to see themselves,
How foul or fayre soever that they are,
He gan bequeath a Glasse of trustie Steel.

Gascoigne: The Steele Glas (died 1577).

Steenie, i.e. “Stephen.” So George Villiers duke of Buckingham was called by James I., because, like Stephen the first martyr, “all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” (Acts vi. 15).

Steenson (Willie) or “Wandering Willie,” the blind fiddler.

Steenson Steenson, the piper, in Wandering Willie’s table.

Maggie Steenson, or “Epps Anslie,” the wife of Wandering Willie.—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Steerforth, the young man who led little Em’ly astray. When tired of his toy, he proposed to her to marry his valet. Steerforth being shipwrecked off the coast of Yarmouth, Ham Peggotty tried to rescue him, but both were drowned.—Dickens: David Copperfield (1849).

Stein. There is a German saying that “Krems and Stein are three places.” The solution lies in the word “and” (German, und). Now, Und is between Krems and Stein; so that Krems, Und, [and] Stein are three places.

Steinbach (Erwin von) designed Strasbourg Cathedral; begun 1015, and finished 1439.

A great master of his craft,
Erwin von Steinbach.
   —Longfellow: Golden Legend (1351).

Steinernherz von Blutsacker (Francis), the scharf-gerichter or executioner.—Sir W. Scott: Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Steinfeldt (The old baroness of), introduced in Donnerhugel’s narrative.— Sir W. Scott: Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Steinfort (The baron), brother of the countess Wintersen. He falls in love with Mrs. Haller, but, being informed of the relationship between Mrs. Haller and “the stranger,” exerts himself to bring about a reconciliation.—B. Thompson: The Stranger (1797).

Stella. The lady Penelopê Devereux, the object of sir Philip Sidney’s affection. She married lord Rich, and was a widow in Sidney’s lifetime. Spenser says, in his Astrophel, when Astrophel (sir Philip) died, Stella died of grief, and the two “lovers” were converted into one flower, called “Starlight,” which is first