Chapter LXXV: Part 75

SEVERN, the second river of England, rises on the E. side of Plinlimmon, in Montgomeryshire, and flows in a circuitous southerly direction through Montgomeryshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire, falling into the Bristol Channel after a course of 210 m.; is navigable to Welshpool (180 m.); chief tributaries are the Terne, Wye, and the Stratford Avon; there is a "bore" perceptible 180 m. from the mouth.

SEVERUS, L. SEPTIMIUS, Roman emperor, born in Leptis Magna, in Africa; was in command at Pannonia, and elected emperor on the murder of Pertinax, and after conquering his rivals achieved victories in the East, especially against the Parthians, and thereafter subdued a rebellion in Britain, and secured South Britain against invasions from the north by a wall; died at York (146-211).

SÉVIGNÉ, MADAME DE, maiden name Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, the most charming of letter-writers, born at Paris; married at 18 the dissolute Marquis de Sévigné, who left her a widow at 25; her beauty and rare charms attracted many suitors, to one and all of whom, however, she turned a deaf ear, devoting herself with touching fidelity to her son and daughter, and finding all her happiness in their affection and in the social intercourse of a wide circle of friends; her fame rests on her letters, written chiefly to her daughter in Provence, which reflect the brightest and purest side of Parisian life, and contain the tender outpourings of her mother's heart in language of unstudied grace (1626-1696).

SEVILLE (144), a celebrated Spanish city and river port on the Guadalquivir, 62 m. NE. of Cadiz; an iron bridge connects it with Triana, a large suburb on the other side of the river; many of the old picturesque Moorish buildings have given place to modern and more commodious structures and broader streets; the great Gothic cathedral (15th century), containing paintings by Murillo, &c., is among the finest in Europe; the Moorish royal palace, the great Roman aqueduct (in use until 1883), the museum, with masterpieces of Murillo, Velasquez, &c., the university, archbishop's palace, Giralda Campanile, and the vast bull-ring, are noteworthy; chief manufactures embrace cigars, machinery, pottery, textiles, &c.; while lead, quicksilver, wines, olive-oil, and fruits are exported; is capital of a province (545).

SÈVRES (7), a French town on the Seine, 10½ m. SW. of Paris, celebrated for its fine porcelain ware (especially vases), the manufacture of which was established in 1755; has a school of mosaic work and museums for pottery ware of all ages and countries.

SÈVRES, DEUX- (354), a department of West France; is watered by two rivers, and in the N. thickly wooded; a varied agriculture, cattle and mule breeding, and cloth manufacture are the principal industries. Niort is the capital.

SEWARD, ANNA, poetess, born at Eyam, Derbyshire, but from the age of seven spent her life at Lichfield, where her father was residentiary canon; was a friend and indefatigable correspondent of Mrs. Piozzi, Dr. Darwin, Southey, Scott, and others; author of "Louisa," a novel in poetry, "Sonnets" and other poems, which had in their day considerable popularity; her correspondence is collected in 6 vols. (1747-1809).

SEWARD, WILLIAM HENRY, American statesman, born at Florida, New York State; was called to the bar at Utica in 1822, and soon took rank as one of the finest forensic orators of his country; engaged actively in the politics of his State, of which he was governor in 1838 and 1840; entered the U.S. senate in 1849 as an abolitionist, becoming soon the recognised leader of the Anti-Slavery party; was put forward by the Republican party as a candidate for presidential nomination, but failing in this he zealously supported Lincoln, under whom he served as Secretary of State, conducting with notable success the foreign affairs of the country during the Civil War and up to the accession of President Grant in 1869; spent his closing years in travel and retirement (1801-1872).

SEXTANT, an instrument used in navigation (sometimes also in land-surveying) for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies and their angular distances; consists of a graduated brass sector, the sixth part of a circle, and an arrangement of two small mirrors and telescope; invented in 1730 by John Hadley.

SEYCHELLES (16), a group of some 30 islands, largest Mahé (59 sq. m.), situated in the Indian Ocean, 600 m. NE. of Madagascar; taken from the French by Britain in 1798, and now under the governor of Mauritius; are mountainous and mostly surrounded by coral reefs; export fibres, nuts, palm-oil, &c.; Victoria, in Mahé, is the chief town, and an imperial coaling station.

SFORZA (i. e. stormer), Italian family celebrated during the 15th and 16th centuries, founded by a military adventurer, a peasant of the name of Muzia Allendolo, and who received the name; they became dukes of Milan, and began by hiring their services in war, in which they were always victorious, to the highest bidder, the first of the number to attain that rank being Francesco Sforza, the son of the founder, in 1450 (1401-1466), the last of the series being François-Marie (1492-1535).

SGRAFFITO, a decorative wall painting, produced by layers of plaster applied to a moistened surface and afterwards operated on so as to produce a picture.

SHADWELL, THOMAS, dramatist, who lives as the "MacFlecknoe" of Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel," born, of a good family, in Norfolk; studied law and adopted literature, in which he made a successful start with the comedy "The Sullen Lovers" (1668); his numerous plays, chiefly comedies, are of little poetic value, but serve as useful commentaries on the Restoration period; quarrelled with and satirised Dryden in the "Medal of John Bayes," which drew forth the crushing retort in Dryden's famous satire; succeeded Dryden as poet-laureate in 1688 (1640-1692).

SHAFITES, a sect of the Sunnites or orthodox Mohammedans, so called from Shafei, a descendant of Mohammed.

SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, EARL OF, a notable politician, prominent in the times of Cromwell and Charles II., born, of good parentage, in Dorsetshire; passed through Oxford and entered Lincoln's Inn; sat in the Short Parliament of 1640; changed from the Royalist to the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, and was a member of Cromwell's Council of State, but latterly attacked the Protector's Government, and was one of the chief promoters of the Restoration; Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1661, and later a member of the "Cabal"; he in 1672 was created an earl and Lord Chancellor, but, hoodwinked by Charles in the secret Treaty of Dover, went over to the Opposition, lost his chancellorship, supported an Anti-Catholic policy, leagued himself with the Country Party, and intrigued with the Prince of Orange; came into power again, after the "Popish Plot," as the champion of toleration and Protestantism, became President of the Council, and passed the Habeas Corpus Act; his virulent attacks on James and espousal of Monmouth's cause brought about his arrest on a charge of high treason (1681), and although acquitted he deemed it expedient to flee to Holland, where he died; one of the ablest men of his age, but of somewhat inscrutable character, whose shifting policy seems to have been chiefly dominated by a regard for self; is the "Achitophel" of Dryden's great satire (1621-1683).

SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, EARL OF, grandson of the preceding, philosopher, born in London; was an ardent student in his youth, made the grand tour, and entered Parliament in 1694, moving to the Upper House on the death of his father in 1699, where, as a staunch Whig, he gave steady support to William III.; withdrew from politics, never a congenial sphere to him, on the accession of Anne, and followed his bent for literature and philosophy; in 1711 his collected writings appeared under the title "Characteristics," in which he expounds, in the polite style of the 18th century, with much ingenuity and at times force, a somewhat uncritical optimism, enunciating, among other things, the doubtful maxim that ridicule is the test of truth (1671-1713).

SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, SEVENTH EARL OF, statesman and philanthropist, born in London; was a distinguished graduate of Oxford, and entered Parliament as a Conservative in 1826, took office under Wellington in 1828, and was a lord of the Admiralty in Peel's ministry of 1834; succeeded to the earldom in 1851; but his name lives by virtue of his noble and lifelong philanthropy, which took shape in numerous Acts of Parliament, such as the Mines and Collieries Act (1842), excluding women and boys under 13 working in mines; the Better Treatment of Lunatics Act (1845), called the Magna Charta of the insane; the Factory Acts (1867); and the Workshop Regulation Act (1878); while outside Parliament he wrought with rare devotion in behalf of countless benevolent and religious schemes of all sorts, notably the Ragged School movement and the better housing of the London poor; received the freedom of Edinburgh and London; was the friend and adviser of the Prince Consort and the Queen (1801-1885).

SHAH (Pers. "King"), an abbreviation of Shah-in-Shah ("King of Kings"), the title by which the monarchs of Persia are known; may also be used in Afghanistan and other Asiatic countries, but more generally the less assuming title of Khan is taken.

SHAH-JEHAN ("King of the World"), fifth of the Mogul emperors of Delhi; succeeded his father in 1627; a man of great administrative ability and a skilled warrior; conquered the Deccan and the kingdom of Golconda, and generally raised the Mogul Empire to its zenith; his court was truly Eastern in its sumptuous magnificence; the "Peacock Throne" alone cost £7,000,000; died in prison, a victim to the perfidy of his usurping son Aurungzebe; _d_. 1666.

SHAKERS, a fanatical sect founded by one Ann Lee, so called from their extravagant gestures in worship; they are agamists and communists.

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM, great world-poet and dramatist, born in Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire; his father, John Shakespeare, a respected burgess; his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer, through whom the family acquired some property; was at school at Stratford, married Anne Hathaway, a yeoman's daughter, at 18, she eight years older, and had by her three daughters; left for London somewhere between 1585 and 1587, in consequence, it is said, of some deer-stealing frolic; took charge of horses at the theatre door, and by-and-by became an actor. His first work, "Venus and Adonis," appeared in 1593, and "Lucrece" the year after; became connected with different theatres, and a shareholder in certain of them, in some of which he took part as actor, with the result, in a pecuniary point of view, that he bought a house in his native place, extended it afterwards, where he chiefly resided for the ten years preceding his death. Not much more than this is known of the poet's external history, and what there is contributes nothing towards accounting for either him or the genius revealed in his dramas. Of the man, says Carlyle, "the best judgment not of this country, but of Europe at large, is slowly pointing to the conclusion that he is the chief of all poets hitherto--the greatest intellect, in our recorded world, that has left record of himself in the way of literature. On the whole, I know not such a power of vision, such a faculty of thought, if we take all the characters of it, in any other man--such a calmness of depth, placid, joyous strength, all things in that great soul of his so true and clear, as in a tranquil, unfathomable sea.... It is not a transitory glance of insight that will suffice; it is a deliberate illumination of the whole matter; it is a calmly _seeing_ eye--a great intellect, in short.... It is in delineating of men and things, especially of men, that Shakespeare is great.... The thing he looks at reveals not this or that face, but its inmost heart, its generic secret; it dissolves itself as in light before him, so that he discerns the perfect structure of it.... It is a perfectly _level_ mirror we have here; no _twisted_, poor convex-concave mirror reflecting all objects with its own convexities and concavities, that is to say, withal a man justly related to all things and men, a good man.... And his intellect is an unconscious intellect; there is more virtue in it than he himself is aware of.... His art is not artifice; the noblest worth of it is not there by plan or pre-contrivance. It grows up from the deeps of Nature, through this noble sincere soul, who is a voice of Nature.... It is Nature's highest reward to a true, simple, great soul that he got thus to be _part of herself_." Of his works nothing can or need be said here; enough to add, as Carlyle further says, "His works are so many windows through which we see a glimpse of the world that was in him.... Alas! Shakespeare had to write for the Globe Playhouse; his great soul had to crush itself, as it could, into that and no other mould. It was with him, then, as it is with us all. No man works save under conditions. The sculptor cannot set his own free thought before us, but his thought as he could translate into the stone that was given, with the tools that were given. _Disjecta membra_ are all that we find of any poet, or of any man." Shakespeare's plays, with the order of their publication, are as follows: "Love's Labour's Lost," 1590; "Comedy of Errors," 1591; 1, 2, 3 "Henry VI.," 1590-1592; "Two Gentlemen of Verona," 1592-1593; "Midsummer-Night's Dream," 1593-1594; "Richard III.," 1593; "Romeo and Juliet," 1591-1596 (?); "Richard II.," 1594; "King John," 1595; "Merchant of Venice," 1596; 1 and 2 "Henry IV.," 1597-1598; "Henry V.," 1599; "Taming of the Shrew," 1597 (?); "Merry Wives of Windsor," 1598; "Much Ado about Nothing," 1598; "As You Like It," 1599; "Twelfth Night," 1600-1601; "Julius Cæsar," 1601; "All's Well," 1601-1602 (?); "Hamlet," 1602, "Measure for Measure," 1603; "Troilus and Cressida," 1603-1607 (?); "Othello," 1604; "Lear," 1605; "Macbeth," 1606; "Antony and Cleopatra," 1607; "Coriolanus," 1608; "Timon," 1608; "Pericles," 1608; "Cymbeline," 1609; "Tempest," 1610; "Winter's Tale," 1610-1611; "Henry VIII.," 1612-1613 (1564-1616).

SHAKESPEARE OF DIVINES, an epithet sometimes applied to JEREMY TAYLOR (q. v.) on account of his poetic style.

SHALOTT, LADY OF, subject of a poem of Tennyson's in love with Lancelot; wove a web which she must not rise from, otherwise a curse would fall on her; saw Lancelot pass one day, entered a boat and glided down to Camelot, but died on the way.

SHAMANISM, the religion of the native savage races of North Siberia, being a belief in spirits, both good and evil, who can be persuaded to bless or curse by the incantations of a Priest called a Shaman.

SHAMMAI, an eminent Jewish rabbi of the time of Herod, who held the position of supreme judge in the Sanhedrim under the presidency of HILLEL (q. v.), and whose narrow, rigid orthodoxy and repressive policy became the leading principles of his school, "the House of Shammai," which, however, carried the system to a pitch of fanatical zeal not contemplated by its originator.

SHAMROCK, a small trefoil plant, the national emblem of Ireland; it is matter of dispute whether it is the wood-sorrel, a species of clover, or some other allied trefoil; the lesser yellow trefoil is perhaps the most commonly accepted symbol.

SHAMYL, a great Caucasian chief, head of the Lesghians, who combined the functions of priest and warrior; consolidated the Caucasian tribes in their resistance to the Russians, and carried on a successful struggle in his mountain fastnesses for thirty years, till his forces were worn out and himself made captive in 1859; _d_. 1871.

SHANGHAI (380), the chief commercial city and port of China, on the Wusung, an affluent of the Yangtse-kiang, 12 m. from the coast, and 160 m. SE. of Nanking; large, densely-peopled suburbs have grown round the closely-packed and walled city, which, with its narrow, unclean streets, presents a slovenly appearance; the French and English occupy the broad-streeted and well-built suburbs in the N.; the low-lying site exposes the city to great heat in the summer, and to frequent epidemics of cholera and fever; an extensive system of canals draws down a great part of the interior produce, and swells the export trade in tea, silk, cotton, rice, sugar, &c.

SHANNON, the first river of Ireland, and largest in the British Islands, rises in the Cuilcagh Mountains, Co. Cavan; flows in a south-westerly direction through Loughs Allen, Ree, and Derg, besides forming several lough expansions, to Limerick, whence it turns due W., and opens out on the Atlantic in a wide estuary between Kerry (S.) and Clare (N.); has an entire course of 254 m., and is navigable to Lough Allen, a distance of 213 m.

SHANS or LAOS, the name of a people, descendants of aborigines of China, forming several large tribes scattered round the frontiers of Burma, Siam, and South China, whose territory, roughly speaking, extends N. as far as the Yunnan Plateau of South China; some are independent, but the bulk of the tribes are subject to Siam, China, and the British in Burma; practise slavery, are Buddhists, somewhat superstitious, indolent, pleasure-loving, and for the most part peaceable and content; chased gold and silver work, rice, cotton, tobacco, &c., are their chief exports.

SHARON, a fertile region in Palestine of the maritime plain between Carmel and Philistia.

SHARP, ABRAHAM, a schoolmaster of Liverpool, and subsequent bookkeeper in London, whose wide knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, &c., attracted FLAMSTEED (q. v.), by whom he was invited in 1688 to enter the Greenwich Royal Observatory, where he did notable work, improving instruments, and showing great skill as a calculator; published "Geometry Improved," logarithmic tables, &c. (1651-1742).

SHARP, BECKY, an intriguing character in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," very clever, but without heart.

SHARP, GRANVILLE, a noted abolitionist, born in London; trained for the bar, but accepted a post in the London Ordnance Office, which he held until the outbreak of the American War; was a voluminous writer on philology, law, theology, &c., but mainly devoted himself to the cause of negro emancipation, co-operating with Clarkson in founding the Association for the Abolition of Negro Slavery, and taking an active interest in the new colony for freedom in Sierra Leone; won a famous decision in the law-courts to the effect that whenever a slave set foot on English soil he becomes free; he was also one of the founders of the Bible Society (1734-1813).

SHARP, JAMES, archbishop of St. Andrews, born in Banff Castle; educated at Aberdeen University, visited England, where he formed important friendships, and in 1643 was appointed "regent" or professor of Philosophy at St. Andrews, a post he resigned five years later to become minister of Crail; during the Protectorate he sided with the "Resolutioners" or Moderates, and appeared before Cromwell in London to plead their cause; in 1660 received a commission to go to London to safeguard the interests of the Scottish Church, a trust he shamefully betrayed by intriguing with Charles at Breda, and with Clarendon and the magnates of the English Church to restore Prelacy in Scotland, he himself (by way of reward) being appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews; henceforward he was but a pliant tool in the hands of his English employers, and an object of intense hatred to the Covenanters; in 1668 his life was attempted in Edinburgh by Robert Mitchell, a covenanting preacher, and ultimately on Magus Muir, May 1679, he was mercilessly hacked to pieces by a band of Covenanters headed by Hackston and John Balfour (1618-1679).

SHASTER, a book containing the institutes of the Hindu religion or its legal requirements.

SHAWNEES, a tribe of American Indians located originally in the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies, but now removed to Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian Territory.

SHEBA, believed to be a region in South Arabia, along the shore of the Red Sea.

SHECHINAH, a glory as of the Divine presence over the mercy-seat in the Jewish Tabernacle, and reflected from the winged cherubim which overshadowed it, the reality of which it is the symbol being the Divine presence in man.

SHEEPSHANKS, JOHN, art collector, born at Leeds, son of a manufacturer; presented in 1856 a collection of works by British artists to the nation, now housed in South Kensington (1787-1863).

SHEERNESS (14), a fortified seaport and important garrison town with important naval dockyards in Kent, occupying the NW. corner of Sheppey Isle, where the Medway joins the Thames, 52 m. E. of London; is divided into Blue-town (within the garrison, and enclosing the 60 acres of docks), Mile-town, Banks-town, and Marina-town (noted for sea-bathing).

SHEFFIELD (324), a city of Yorkshire, and chief centre of the English cutlery trade, built on hilly ground on the Don near its confluence with the Sheaf, whence its name, 41 m. E. of Manchester; is a fine, clean, well-built town, with notable churches, public halls, theatres, &c., and well equipped with libraries, hospitals, parks, colleges (e. g. Firth College), and various societies; does a vast trade in all forms of steel, iron, and brass goods, as well as plated and britannia-metal articles; has of late years greatly developed its manufactures of armour-plate, rails, and other heavier goods; its importance as a centre of cutlery dates from very early times, and the Cutlers' Company was founded in 1624; has been from Saxon times the capital of the manor district of Hallamshire; it is divided into five parliamentary districts, each of which sends a member to Parliament.

SHEFFIELD, JOHN, Duke of Buckinghamshire, son of the Earl of Mulgrave, whose title he succeeded to in 1658; served in the navy during the Dutch wars of Charles II.; held office under James II., and was by William III. created Marquis of Normanby; a staunch Tory in Anne's reign, he was rewarded with a dukedom, lost office through opposing Marlborough, but was reinstated after 1710, and in George I.'s reign worked in the Stuart interest; wrote an "Essay on Poetry," &c. (1649-1721).

SHEIKH, the chief of an Arab tribe; used often as a title of respect, Sheikh-ul-Islam being the ecclesiastical head of Mohammedans in Turkey.

SHEIL, RICHARD LALOR, Irish patriot, born in Tipperary; bred to the bar; gave himself for some time to literature, living by it; joined the Catholic Association; was distinguished for his oratory and his devotion, alongside of O'Connell, to Catholic emancipation; supported the Whig Government, and held office under Melbourne and Lord John Russell (1791-1851).

SHEKEL, among the ancient Hebrews originally a weight, and eventually the name of a coin of gold or silver, or money of a certain weight, the silver = 5s. per oz., and the gold = £4.

SHELBURNE, WILLIAM PETTY, EARL OF, statesman, born in Dublin; succeeded to his father's title in 1761, a few weeks after his election to the House of Commons; held office in the ministries of Grenville (1763), of Chatham (1766), and of Rockingham (1782); his acceptance of the Premiership in 1782, after Rockingham's death, led to the resignation of Fox and the entry of William Pitt, at the age of 23, into the Cabinet; his short ministry (July 1782 to Feb. 1783) saw the close of the Continental and American wars, and the concession of independence to the colonies, collapsing shortly afterwards before the powerful coalition of Fox and North; in 1784, on his retirement from politics, was created Marquis of Lansdowne; was a Free-Trader, supporter of Catholic emancipation, and otherwise liberal in his views, but rather tactless in steering his way amid the troublous politics of his time (1737-1805).

SHELDONIAN THEATRE, "Senate House" of Oxford; so called from Gilbert Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, who built it.

SHELLEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, author of "Frankenstein," daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; became the wife of the poet Shelley in 1816 after a two years' illicit relationship; besides "Frankenstein" (1828), wrote several romances, "The Last Man," "Lodore," &c., also "Rambles in Germany and Italy"; edited with valuable notes her husband's works (1797-1851).

SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE, born at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, a wealthy landed proprietor; was educated at Eton, and in 1810 went to Oxford, where his impatience of control and violent heterodoxy of opinion, characteristic of him throughout, burst forth in a pamphlet "The Necessity of Atheism," which led to his expulsion in 1811, along with Jefferson Hogg, his subsequent biographer; henceforth led a restless, wandering life; married at 19 Harriet Westbrook, a pretty girl of 16, a school companion of his sister, from whom he was separated within three years; under the influence of WILLIAM GODWIN (q. v.) his revolutionary ideas of politics and society developed apace; engaged in quixotic political enterprises in Dublin, Lynmouth, and elsewhere, and above all put to practical test Godwin's heterodox view on marriage by eloping (1814) to the Continent with his daughter Mary, whom he married two years later after the unhappy suicide of Harriet; in 1816, embittered by lord Eldon's decision that he was unfit to be trusted with the care of Harriet's children, and with consumption threatening, he left England never to return; spent the few remaining years of his life in Italy, chiefly at Lucca, Florence, and Pisa, in friendly relations with Byron, Leigh Hunt, Trelawney, &c.; during this time were written his greatest works, "Prometheus Unbound," "The Cenci," his noble lament on Keats, "Adonais," besides other longer works, and most of his finest lyrics, "Ode to the South Wind," "The Skylark," &c.; was drowned while returning in an open sailing-boat from Leghorn to his home on Spezia Bay; "An enthusiast for humanity generally," says Professor Saintsbury, "and towards individuals a man of infinite generosity and kindliness, he yet did some of the cruellest and some of not the least disgraceful things from mere childish want of realising the _pacta conventa_ of the world;" Shelley is pre-eminently the poet of lyric emotion, the subtle and most musical interpreter of vague spiritual longing and intellectual desire; his poems form together "the most sensitive," says Stopford Brooke, "the most imaginative, and the most musical, but the least tangible lyrical poetry we possess" (1792-1821).

SHENANDOAH, a river of Virginia, formed by two head-streams rising in Augusta Co., which unite 85 m. W. of Washington, and flowing NE. through the beautiful "Valley of Virginia," falls into the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, after a course of 170 m.; also the name of a town (16) in Pennsylvania, 138 m. NW. of Philadelphia; centre of an important coal district.

SHENSTONE, WILLIAM, poet, born, the son of a landed proprietor, at Hales-Owen, Shropshire; was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, and during the years 1737-42 produced three vols. of poetry, the most noted being "The Schoolmistress"; succeeded to his father's estate in 1745, and entered with much enthusiasm and reckless expenditure into landscape-gardening, which won him in his day a wider reputation than his poetry; his "Essays" have considerable critical merit and originality, while his poetry--ballads odes, songs, &c.--has a music and grace despite its conventional diction (1714-1763).

SHEOL, the dark underworld or Hades of the Hebrews, inhabited by the shades of the dead.

SHEPHERD KINGS or HYKSOS, a tribe of shepherds, alleged to have invaded Lower Egypt 2000 years before Christ, overthrown the reigning dynasty, and maintained their supremacy for 200 years.

SHEPHERD OF SALISBURY PLAIN, name of the hero, a shepherd of the name of Saunders, in a tract written by Hannah More, characterised by homely wisdom and simple piety.

SHEPPARD, JACK, a notorious criminal, whose audacious robberies and daring escapes from Newgate Prison made him for a time the terror and talk of London; drew some 200,000 people to witness his execution at Tyburn; figures as the hero of a well-known novel by Harrison Ainsworth (1702-1724).

SHEPPEY, ISLE OF, an islet in the estuary of the Thames, at the mouth of the Medway, belonging to Kent, from which it is separated by the Swale (spanned by a swing-bridge); great clay cliffs rise on the N., and like the rest of the island, are rich in interesting fossil remains; corn is grown, and large flocks of sheep raised; chief town is SHEERNESS (q. v.), where the bulk of the people are gathered; is gradually diminishing before the encroaching sea.

SHERBORNE (4), an interesting old town of Dorsetshire, pleasantly situated on rising ground overlooking the Yeo, 118 m. SW. of London; has one of the finest Perpendicular minsters in South England, ruins of an Elizabethan castle, and King Edward's School, founded in 1550, and ranking among the best of English public schools.

SHERBROOKE, ROBERT LOW, VISCOUNT, statesman, born, the son of a rector, at Bingham, Notts; graduated at Oxford; obtained a Fellowship, and in 1836 was called to the bar; six years later emigrated to Australia; made his mark at the Sydney bar, taking at the same time an active part in the politics of the country; returned to England in 1850, and entered Parliament, holding office under Lord Aberdeen (1853) and Lord Palmerston (1855); education became his chief interest for some time, and in 1866 he fiercely opposed the Whig Reform Bill, but subsequently made amends to his party by his powerful support of Gladstone's Irish Church Disestablishment Bill, and was included in the Liberal ministry of 1868 as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post he held till 1873, when he became Home Secretary; a man of great intellectual force and independency of judgment; created a viscount in 1880; was D.C.L. of Oxford and LL.D. of Edinburgh (1811-1892).

SHERE ALI, Ameer of Afghanistan, son and successor of Dost Mohammed, at first favoured by Britain, but at last distrusted and was driven from the throne (1823-1879).

SHERIDAN, PHILIP HENRY, a distinguished American general, born, of Irish parentage, in Albany, New York; obtained a cadetship at West Point Military Academy, and entered the army as a second-lieutenant in 1853; served in Texas and during the Civil War; won rapid promotion by his great dash and skill as commander of a cavalry regiment; gained wide repute by his daring raids into the S.; cleared the Confederates out of the Shenandoah Valley in 1864, and by his famous ride (October 19, 1864) from Winchester to Cedar Creek snatched victory out of defeat, routing the conjoined forces of Early and Lee; received the thanks of Congress, and was created major-general; took an active part under Grant in compelling the surrender of Lee, and in bringing the war to a close; subsequently during Grant's presidency was promoted to lieutenant-general; visited Europe in 1870 to witness the Franco-German War, and in 1883 succeeded Sherman as general-in-chief of the American army (1831-1888).

SHERIDAN, RICHARD BRINSLEY BUTLER, dramatist and politician, born in Dublin; educated at Harrow; was already committed to literature when, in 1773, he settled down in London with his gifted young wife, Elizabeth Linley, and scored his first success with the "Rivals" in 1775, following it up with the overrated "Duenna"; aided by his father-in-law became owner of Drury Lane Theatre, which somewhat lagged till the production of his most brilliant satirical comedy, "The School for Scandal" (1777) and the "Critic" set flowing the tide of prosperity; turning his attention next to politics he entered Parliament under Fox's patronage in 1780, and two years later became Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Rockingham's ministry; his great speech (1787) impeaching Hastings for his treatment of the Begums placed him in the front rank of orators, but although he sat for 32 years in Parliament, only once again reached the same height of eloquence in a speech (1794) supporting the French Revolution, and generally failed to establish himself as a reliable statesman; meanwhile his theatrical venture had ended disastrously, and other financial troubles thickening around him, he died in poverty, but was accorded a burial in Westminster Abbey (1751-1816).

SHERIF or SHEREEF, a title of dignity among Mohammedans of either sex bestowed upon descendants of the Prophet through his daughters Fatima and Ali; as a distinguishing badge women wear a green veil, and men a green turban.

SHERIFF, in England the chief officer of the Crown in every county, appointed annually, and intrusted with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of peace and order, with power to summon the _posse commitatus_. The office originated in Anglo-Saxon times, when it exercised wide judicial functions which have been gradually curtailed, and such duties as remain--the execution of writs, enforcement of legal decisions, &c., are mostly delegated to an under-sheriff (usually a lawyer) and bound-bailiffs, while the sheriff himself, generally a person of wealth (the office being unsalaried and compulsory, but not necessarily for more than one year) discharges merely honorary duties. In Scotland the sheriff, or sheriff-depute as he is called, is the chief judge of the county, and has under him one or more sheriffs-substitute, upon whom devolves the larger portion of the important and multifarious duties of his office. In America the sheriff is the chief administrative officer of the county, but exercises no judicial functions at all.

SHERIFFMUIR, a barren spot stretching N. of the Ochils, in Perthshire, 5 m. NE. of Stirling; was the scene of an indecisive conflict between 9000 Jacobites under the Earl of Mar and 3500 Royalists under the Duke of Argyll, November 13, 1715.

SHERLOCK, THOMAS, English prelate, born in London; became bishop in succession of Bangor, Salisbury, and London, declining the Primacy; wrote several theological works, and took up arms against the rationalists of the day, such as Collins and Woolston (1678-1761).

SHERLOCK HOLMES, an amateur detective, a creation of Dr. Conan Doyle.

SHERMAN, WILLIAM TECUMSEH, a distinguished American general, born, the son of a judge, in Lancaster, Ohio; first saw service as a lieutenant of artillery in the Indian frontier wars in Florida and California; resigned from the army in 1853, and set up as a banker in San Francisco, but at the outbreak of the Civil War accepted a colonelcy in the Federalist ranks; distinguished himself at the battles of Bull Run (1861) and Shiloh (1862); received promotion, and as second in command to Grant rendered valuable service in reducing Vicksburg and Memphis; was present at the victory of Chattanooga, and during 1864 entered into command of the SW.; captured the stronghold of Atlanta, and after a famous march seaward with 65,000 men took Savannah, which he followed up with a series of victories in the Carolinas, receiving, on 26th April 1865, the surrender of General Johnston, which brought the war to a close; was created general and commander-in-chief of the army in 1869, a position he held till 1869; published memoirs of his military life (1820-1891).

SHERWOOD FOREST, once an extensive forest, the scene of Robin Hood's exploits, in Nottinghamshire, stretching some 25 m. between Worksop and Nottingham, but now a hilly, disafforested tract occupied by country houses and private parks, several villages, and the town of Mansfield.

SHETLAND or ZETLAND (29), a group of over 100 islands, islets, and skerries, of which 29 are inhabited, forming the northernmost county of Scotland, lying out in the Atlantic, NNE. of the Orkneys; Mainland (378 sq. m.), Fell, and Unst are the largest; the coast-line is boldly precipitous and indented, while the scenery all over the island is very grand; the soil is peaty, ill adapted to cultivation, but there is considerable rearing of stock, and the little shaggy pony is well known; fishing is the chief industry, herring, cod, ling, &c. LERWICK (q. v.) is the capital.

SHIBBOLETH, a word by which the Gileadites distinguished an Ephraimite from his inability to sound the _sh_ in the word, and so discovered whether he was friend or foe; hence it has come to denote a party cry or watchword.

SHIELDS, NORTH, a flourishing seaport of Northumberland, on the Tyne, near the mouth, 8 m. NE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and lying within the municipal borough of Tynemouth (47); is of quite modern growth, and of a plain, uninteresting appearance; has a theatre, free library, Mariners' Home, fine park, &c.; the docks cover 79 acres, and a large export trade in coal is carried on.

SHIELDS, SOUTH (78), a busy seaport and popular watering-place in Durham, with a frontage of 2 m. on the south bank of the Tyne, 9 m. NE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a place of residence from ancient times, with Roman remains, &c.; has a theatre, public library, marine school, two fine parks with central parade, 50 acres of docks, &c.; exports immense quantities of coal and coke.

SHIITES, a sect of the Mohammedans, who reject the "SUNNA" (q. v.) and championed the claims of Ali Mahommed's cousin and son-in-law to succeed to the Caliphate, and maintain the divine right of his descendants to represent the prophet in the Mohammedan Church. The Persians belong to this sect.

SHIKARPUR (42), capital of a district (853) in N. Sind, India, situated on rich alluvial ground, 18 m. W. of the Indus, and 330 m. N. of Karachi; since the opening of the Indus Valley Railway it has lost much of its importance as a commercial entrepôt between India and Khorassan; vicinity produces excellent grain crops, and carpets, cottons, &c., are manufactured in the town.

SHILOH, a village 20 m. N. of Jerusalem, sacred as the site of the resting-place of the Tabernacle on the settlement of the Jews in the land of promise. Is a name also of the Messiah.

SHINAR, the vast alluvial plain extending along the Tagus and Euphrates, forming the country of Chaldea and Babylonia.

SHINTOISM, the native religion of Japan; a system of ancestor worship chiefly, combined with which is a religious homage paid to the Mikado.

SHIP-MONEY, a tax levied by Charles I. at the suggestion of Noy, the Attorney-General, who based its imposition on an old war-tax leviable on port-towns to furnish a navy in times of danger, and which Charles imposed in a time of peace without consent of Parliament, and upon inland as well as port-towns, provoking thereby wide-spread dissatisfaction, and Hampden's refusal to pay, which with the trial and decision in favour of Charles contributed to bring about the Civil War, which cost Charles his life; was declared illegal by the Long Parliament in 1640.

SHIPTON, MOTHER, a prophetess of English legend, whose preternatural knowledge revealed in her prophecies, published after her death, was ascribed to an alliance with the devil, by whom it was said she became the mother of an ugly impish child.

SHIRAZ (30), a celebrated city of Persia, occupying a charming site on an elevated plain, 165 m. NE. of Bushire; founded in the 8th century; was for long a centre of Persian culture, and a favourite resort of the royal princes; its beauties are celebrated in the poems of Häfiz and Sádi, natives of the place; has been thrice wrecked by earthquakes, and presents now a somewhat dilapidated appearance.

SHIRÉ, a river of East Africa, flows out of Lake Nyassa, and passes in a southerly course through the Shiré Highlands, a distance of 370 m., till it joins the Zambesi; discovered by Livingstone.

SHIRLEY, JAMES, dramatist, born in London, educated at Oxford and Cambridge; entered the Church, but turning Catholic resigned, and after trying teaching established himself in London as a play-writer; wrote with great facility, producing upwards of thirty plays before the suppression of theatres in 1642; fell back on teaching as a means of livelihood, and with a temporary revival of his plays after the Restoration eked out a scanty income till fear and exposure during the Great Fire brought himself and his wife on the same day to a common grave; of his plays mention may be made of "The Witty Fair One," "The Wedding," "The Lady of Pleasure," "The Traitor," etc. (1596-1666).

SHISHAK, the name of several monarchs of Egypt of the twenty-second dynasty, the first of whom united nearly all Egypt under one government, invaded Judea and plundered the Temple of Jerusalem about 962 B.C.

SHITTIM WOOD, a hard, close-grained acacia wood of an orange-brown colour found in the Arabian Desert, and employed in constructing the Jewish Tabernacle.

SHOA (1,500), the southmost division of ABYSSINIA (q. v.); was an independent country till its conquest by Theodore of Abyssinia in 1855; is traversed by the Blue Nile, and has a mixed population of Gallas and Abyssinians.

SHODDY, a stuff woven of old woollen fabrics teased into fibre and of new wool intermixed.

SHOEBURYNESS, a town in Essex, near Southend, a stretch of moorland utilised by the Government for gunnery practice.

SHOLAPUR (61), chief town in the Presidency of Bombay, in a district (750) of the name, 283 m. E. of Bombay; has cotton and silk manufactures.

SHORE, JANE, the celebrated mistress of Edward IV.; was the young wife of a respected London goldsmith till she was taken up by the king, through whom, till the close of the reign, she exercised great power, "never abusing it to any man's hurt, but to many a man's comfort and relief"; was ill-treated and persecuted by Richard III. for political purposes; subsequently lived under the patronage of Lord Hastings, and afterwards of the Marquis of Dorset, surviving till 1527; the story of her life has been made the subject of many ballads, plays, etc.

SHOREDITCH (120), parliamentary borough of East London; returns two members to Parliament; manufactures furniture, boot and shoes, beer, etc.

SHOREHAM, NEW, a seaport 6 m. W. of Brighton; has oyster and other fisheries, and shipbuilding yards.

SHORTHOUSE, JOSEPH HENRY, author of "John Inglesant," born in Birmingham; wrote also "Sir Percival" and "Little Schoolmaster Mark," etc.; is remarkable for his refined style of writing, latterly too much so; his first work, "John Inglesant," published in 1881, is his best; _b_. 1834.

SHOVEL, SIR CLOUDESLEY, a celebrated English admiral, born at Clay, in Norfolk; was apprenticed to a cobbler, but ran away to sea, and rose from grade to grade till in 1674 we find him a lieutenant in the Mediterranean fleet; was knighted in 1689 for his gallantry as commander of a ship in the battle of Bantry Bay, and in the following year as rear-admiral was prominent at the engagement off Beachy Head; in 1692 gave heroic assistance to Admiral Russell at La Hogue, and in 1702 to Rooke at Malaga; elevated to the commandership of the English fleets he in 1705 captured Barcelona, but on his way home from an unsuccessful attack upon Toulon was wrecked on the Scilly Isles and drowned (1650-1707).

SHREWSBURY (27), county town of Shropshire, situated on a small peninsula formed by a horse-shoe bend of the Severn, 42 m. W. by N. of Birmingham; three fine bridges span the river here, connecting it with several extensive suburbs; a picturesque old place with winding streets and quaint timber dwelling-houses, a Norman castle, abbey church, ruined walls, etc. The public school, founded by Edward VI., ranks amongst the best in England; figures often in history as a place where Parliament met in 1397-98, and in 1403 gave its name to the battle which resulted in the defeat of Hotspur and the Earl of Douglas by Henry IV.; it was taken by the Parliamentarians in 1644; chief industries are glass-painting, malting, and iron-founding.

SHROPSHIRE or SALOP (236), an agricultural and mining county of England, on the Welsh border, facing Montgomery chiefly, between Cheshire (N.) and Hereford (S.); is divided into two fairly equal portions by the Severn, E. and N. of which is low, level, and fertile, excepting the Wrekin (1320 ft.), while on the SW. it is hilly (Clee Hills, 1805 ft.); Ellesmere is the largest of several lakes; Coalbrookdale is the centre of a rich coal district, and iron and lead are also found. Shrewsbury is the capital; it consists of four Parliamentary divisions.

SHROVETIDE, confession-time, especially the days immediately before Lent, when, in Catholic times, the people confessed their sins to the parish priest and afterwards gave themselves up to sports, and dined on pancakes, Shrove Tuesday being Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, or the first day of Lent.

SHUMLA or SHUMNA (24), a fortified city of Bulgaria, 80 m. SE. of Rustchuk; has an arsenal, barracks, etc., is an important strategical centre between the Lower Danube and the East Balkans.

SHYLOCK, the Jew in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice."

SIAM (9,000 of Siamese, Chinese, Shans, and Malays), occupies the central portion of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, wedged in between Annam and Cambodia (E.) and Burma (W.), and extending down into the Malay Peninsula; the wide Gulf of Siam forms the southern boundary; the rich alluvial valleys of the Menam and the Mekhong produce great quantities of rice (chief export), teak-wood, hemp, tobacco, cotton, etc., but of the land surface only about one-twentieth is cultivated, a large portion of the rest lying under forest and jungle; the Siamese are indolent, ignorant, ceremonious, and the trade is mainly in the hands of the Chinese; the mining of gold, tin, and especially rubies and sapphires, is also carried on. Buddhism is the national religion, and elementary education is well advanced; government is vested in a king (at present an enlightened and English-educated monarch) and council of ministers; since Sir J. Bowring's treaty in 1856, opening up the country to European trade and influences, progress has been considerable in roads and railway, electric, telephonic, and postal communication. BANGKOK (q. v.) is the capital. In 1893 a large tract of territory NE. of the Mekhong was ceded to France.

SIAMESE TWINS, twins born in Siam, of Chinese parents, whose bodies were united by a fleshy band extended between corresponding breast-bones; were purchased from their mother and exhibited in Europe and America, realised a competency by their exhibitions, married and settled in the States; having lost by the Civil War, they came over to London and exhibited, where they died, one 2½ hours after the other (1811-1874).

SIBBALD, SIR ROBERT, physician and naturalist, born in Edinburgh, of Balgonie, Fife; established a botanic garden in Edinburgh, and was one of the founders of the Royal College of Physicians (16411712).

SIBERIA (5,000), a vast Russian territory in North Asia (one and a third times the size of Europe), stretching from the Ural Mountains (W.) to the seas of Behring, Okhotsk, and Japan (E.), bounded on the N. by the Arctic Ocean and on the S. by China and the Central Asiatic provinces of Russia; forms in the main an immense plain, sloping from the Altai and other mountain ranges on the S. to the dreary, ice-bound littoral on the N., drained by the northward-flowing Obi, Irtish, Yenesei, Lena, &c., embracing every kind of soil, from the fertile grain-growing plains of the S. and rich grazing steppe-land of the W. to the forest tracts and bogland of the N. and experiencing a variety of climates, but for the most part severely cold; hunting, fishing, and mining are the chief industries, with agriculture and stock-raising in the S. and W. The great Trans-Siberian Railway, in construction since 1891, is opening up the country, which is divided into eight "governments," the chief towns being Tomsk, Irkutsk, Omsk, and Tobolsk; three-fifths of the population are Russians, chiefly exiles and descendants of exiles. Russian advance in Asia against the Tartars was begun in 1850, and was carried on by warlike Cossack marauders, followed by hunters, droves of escaping serfs, and persecuted religious sects.

SIBYL, name given to a woman, or rather to a number of women, much fabled of in antiquity, regarded by Ruskin as representing the voice of God in nature, and, as such, endowed with visionary prophetic power, or what in the Highlands of Scotland is called "second-sight"; the most famous of the class being the Sibyl of Cumæ, who offered King Tarquin of Rome nine books for sale, which he refused on account of the exorbitant sum asked for them, and again refused after she had burnt three of them, and in the end paid what was originally asked for the three remaining, which he found to contain oracular utterances bearing on the worship of the gods and the policy of Rome. These, after being entrusted to keepers, were afterwards burned, and the contents replaced by a commission appointed to collect them in the countries around, to share the same fate as the original collection. The name is applied in mediæval times to figures representative of the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ; the prophets so represented were reckoned sometimes 10, sometimes 12 in number; they are, says Fairholt, "of tall stature, full of vigour and moral energy; the costume rich but conventional, ornamented with pearls and precious stones."

SICILIAN VESPERS, name given to a massacre of the French in Sicily at the hour of vespers on the eve of Easter Monday in 1282, the signal for the commencement being the first stroke of the vesper bell; the massacre included men and women and children to the number of 8000 souls, and was followed by others throughout the island.

SICILY (3,285), the largest island in the Mediterranean, lying off the SW. extremity of Italy, to which it belongs, and from which it is separated by the narrow strait of Messina, 2 m. broad; the three extremities of its triangular configuration form Capes Faro (NE.), Passaro (S.), and Boco (W.); its mountainous interior culminates in the volcanic Etna, and numerous streams rush swiftly down the thickly-wooded valleys; the coast-lands are exceptionally fertile, growing (although agricultural methods are extremely primitive) excellent crops of wheat and barley, as well as an abundance of fruit; sulphur-mining is an important industry, and large quantities of the mineral are exported; enjoys a fine equable climate, but malaria is in parts endemic; the inhabitants are a mixed--Greek, Italian, Arabic, &c.--race, and differ considerably in language and appearance from Italians proper; are ill-governed, and as a consequence discontented and backward, even brigandage not yet being entirely suppressed. Palermo, the largest city, is situated on the precipitous N. coast. As part of the "Kingdom of the Two Sicilies," comprising Sicily and Naples, it was overrun by Garibaldi in 1860, and in the same year was incorporated with the kingdom of Italy.

SICKINGEN, FRANZ VON, a German free-lance, a man of a knightly spirit and great prowess; had often a large following, Götz von Berlichingen of the number, and joined the cause of the Reformation; lost his life by a musket-shot when besieged in the castle of Landstuhl; he was a warm friend of Ulrich von Hutten (1481-1523).

SICYON, a celebrated city of ancient Greece, was situated near the Corinthian Gulf, 7 m. NW. of Corinth; was an important centre of Grecian art, especially of bronze sculptures and painting; in the time of Aratus (251 B.C.) figured as one of the chief cities of the Achæan League; only a few remains now mark its site.

SIDDONS, SARAH, the greatest tragic actress of England, born at Brecon, the daughter and eldest child of Roger Kemble, manager of an itinerant theatrical company; became early a member of her father's company, and at 19 married an actor named Siddons who belonged to it; her first appearance in Drury Lane as Portia in 1755 was a failure; by 1782 her fame was established, after which she joined her brother, John Kemble, at Covent Garden, and continued to act there till her retirement in 1812; she was distinguished in many parts, and above all Lady Macbeth, in which character she took farewell of the stage; she appeared once again in London after this in 1815, for the benefit of her brother Charles, and again a few nights in Edinburgh in aid of a widowed daughter-in-law (1755-1831).

SIDEREAL YEAR, the period during which the earth makes a revolution in its orbit with respect to the stars.

SIDGWICK, HENRY, writer on ethics, born at Shipton, Yorkshire; professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge; "Methods of Ethics," being a compromise between the intuitionalists and utilitarians, "the Principles of Political Economy," and the "Elements of Politics"; he holds a high place in all these three studies; _b_. 1838.

SIDLAW HILLS, a range of hills extending from Kinnoul Hill, near Perth, NE. to Brechin, in Forfarshire; most interesting point Dunsinane (1114 ft.).

SIDMOUTH (4), a pretty little watering-place on the S. Devonshire coast, 14 m. ESE. of Exeter; lies snugly between high cliffs at the mouth of a small stream, the Sid; is an ancient place, and has revived in popularity since the opening of the railway; has a fine promenade 1½ m. long.

SIDMOUTH, HENRY ADDINGTON, VISCOUNT, statesman, born in London, the son of a physician; studied at Oxford, and was called to the bar, but gave up law for politics, entered Parliament in 1783, and was Speaker from 1789 till 1801, in which year, after the fall of Pitt over Catholic emancipation, he formed a ministry, assuming himself the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. This ministry of the "King's Friends" went out of office in 1804, after negotiating the Peace of Amiens (1802), and in subsequent governments of Pitt Sidmouth held various offices, being an unpopular Home Secretary from 1812 to 1821; created viscount in 1805 (1757-1844).