306 STANHOPE his death in 1806, acting as his private secre- tary and sharing his confidences. Pitt having recommended his niece to the care of the na- tion, she received a pension of 1,200, which proving inadequate to support her according to her former rank and style, she retired to solitude in Wales. Indulging in dreams of a great destiny in the Orient, she repaired in 1810 to Syria, and visited Jerusalem, Damas- cus, Baalbec, and Palmyra. The Arabs, who were struck by her powers and display of wealth, treated her as a queen, and she skil- fully acted the part of a modern Zenobia. She established herself in 1813 at the de- serted convent of Mar Elias, beside the little village of Jan, and within eight miles of Sidon. Here, wearing the dress of an emir, weapons, pipe, and all, she ruled her Albanian guards and her servants with absolute authority. The old convent, perched upon an isolated eminence among the wildest scenery of the Lebanon, was soon converted into a fortress, garrisoned by Albanians, and became a refuge to all the persecuted and distressed who sought her as- sistance. So powerful was the influence which she wielded in the surrounding country, that Ibrahim Pasha, when about to invade Syria in 1832, was constrained to solicit her neutrality. After the siege of Acre in the same year, she is said to have sheltered several hundred refu- gees. She practised astrology and other se- cret arts, and promulgated some peculiar reli- gious sentiments which she held to the last. That her mind was diseased on certain points is clear from the fact that she kept in a mag- nificent stable two mares, on which she fancied she was to ride into Jerusalem with the Mes- siah at his next coming. During the latter years of her life she was constantly harassed by debts, and she died with no European near her, and surrounded by a crowd of native servants, who plundered the house almost be- fore life had left her body. She was buried in the garden adjoining her residence. Her " Memoirs as related by Herself " (3 vols. 8vo), and " Travels" (3 vols. 8vo) by Dr. Meryon, who had been her physician for several years, were published soon after her death. STANHOPE, Philip Dormer. See CHESTER- FIELD. STANISLAS I. LESZCZYNSKI, king of Poland, born in Lemberg, Galicia, Oct. 20, 1677, died in Luneville, France, Feb. 23, 1766. He was palatine of Posen, and had held an office at the Polish court, where he won the friend- ship of Charles XII. of Sweden, who in 1705, after defeating Augustus II., procured his elec- tion to the throne of Poland ; but he lost the crown by Charles's defeat at Poltava in 1709, when Augustus was restored. While attempt- ing to join Charles at Bender, Stanislas was in 1713 taken prisoner by the hospodar of Mol- davia and delivered to the Turks ; released in 1714, he served as governor of Zweibrucken till the death of Charles XII. in December, 1718. The regent Philip of Orleans now granted him STANLEY a pension and permission to reside at Weissen- burg, Alsace. His prospects improved in 1725 through the marriage of his daughter Maria with Louis XV., who initiated, after the death of Augustus II. in 1733, a war for the Polish succession; but Augustus III. retained the throne through Russian intervention, although Stanislas had been reflected as king. The lat- ter was obliged to retire to Dantzic, where he was besieged by a Russian army, and after a bold resistance of several months escaped in June, 1734. In accordance with the prelimi- nary peace of 1735 he resigned his claims to the Polish throne, but retained his royal title, recovered his estates, and received Lor- raine and Bar, which after his death were to be united to France; and in the interval he received a pension of 2,000,000 francs for relinquishing the revenues of those duchies. His brilliant court at Luneville and Nancy became celebrated through his munificent pa- tronage of public and charitable works, of letters and art, and through his associations with Voltaire and other eminent personages. Nancy is indebted to him for her finest mon- uments, and he was styled le bienfaisant. His death was caused by his garments taking fire while he was reading. His essays on philoso- phy, politics, and morals have been printed under the title of CEuvres du philosophe Men- faisant (4 vols. 8vo and 4 vols. 12mo, 1765), STANISLAS AUGUSTUS, king of Poland. See PONIATOWSKI, and POLAND, vol. xiii., p. 647. STANISLAUS, a central county of California, bounded N. in part by the Stanislaus river, and intersected by the San Joaquin and Tuo- lumne; area, 1,350 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,499, of whom 306 were Chinese. It is for the most part level, but the E. portion is undulating, while a strip a few miles wide on the "W. bor- der rises into the Coast range, which here has a general altitude of about 2,000 ft. There is little timber. The soil is very productive. Gold mining is carried on to some extent in the E. part. It is traversed by the Visalia di- vision of the Central Pacific railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 1,650,725 bush- els of wheat, 15,700 of Indian corn, 632,950 of barley, 749,263 Ibs. of wool, 52,625 of but- ter, and 15,191 tons of hay. There were 10,- 137 horses, 1,139 mules and asses, 2,271 milch cows, 4,316 other cattle, 118,460 sheep, and 14,593 swine. Capital, Modesto. STANRO. See Cos. STANLEY. I. A S. W. county of North Carolina, bounded E. by the Yadkin and S. by Rocky river; area, about 300 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,315, of whom 1,289 were colored. The surface is mountainous and the soil generally fertile. Gold and silver have been found in considerable quantities. The chief productions in 1870 were 63,575 bushels of wheat, 118,788' of Indian corn, 42,037 of oats, 10,435 of sweet and 5,294 of Irish potatoes, 12,459 Ibs. of to- bacco, 8,294 of wool, 20,164 of honey, and 11,515 gallons of sorghum molasses. There
