ble there are others called
CLUSTERS OR NEBULAE (q. v.).

STARS AND STRIPES, the flag of the United States, the stripes
representing the original States of the Union, and stars those annexed
since.

STATEN ISLAND, 1, belonging to New York State (52), and comprising
the county of Richmond; is a picturesque island (14 m. long), 5 m. SW. of
New York, separated from Long Island by the Narrows and from New Jersey
by the Kill van Kull and Staten Island Sound; pretty watering-villages
skirt its shores, and Forts Richmond and Wadsworth guard the entrance to
the Narrows. 2, A lofty, precipitous, and rugged island, snow-clad most
of the year, belonging to Argentina, lying to the SE. of Tierra del
Fuego, from which it is separated by Le Maire Strait (40 m.).

STATES-GENERAL, name given to an assembly of the representatives of
the three estates of nobles, clergy, and bourgeoisie, or the _Tiers Etat_
as it was called, in France prior to the Revolution of 1789, and which
was first convoked in 1302 by Philip IV.; they dealt chiefly with
taxation, and had no legislative power; they were convoked by Louis XIII.
in 1614, and dismissed for looking into finance, and not convoked again
till the last time in 1789, for the history of which see Carlyle's
"French Revolution."

STATES-RIGHTS, doctrine of the contention of the Democrats in the
United States that the several States of the Union have all the rights,
powers, and privileges not expressly made over to the central government,
and by extremists even the right of secession.

STATIONERS' HALL, the hall of the old Company of London Stationers,
incorporated in 1557, who enjoyed till the Copyright Act of 1842 the sole
right of having registered at their offices every pamphlet, book, and
ballad published in the kingdom. Although no longer compulsory, the
practice of entering books at Stationers' Hall is still found useful for
copyright purposes. The register-rolls of books entered at Stationers'
Hall have been carefully preserved, and are of the highest value to the
literary historian.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS, steps in the passage of Jesus from the
judgment-hall to Calvary, or representations of these, before each one of
which the faithful are required to kneel and offer up a prayer.

STATIUS, PUBLIUS PAPINIUS, a Latin poet, born in Naples; lived at
Rome, flourished at court, particularly that of Domitian, whom he
flattered, but retired to his native place after defeat in