SHASTER, a book containing the inst.i.tutes 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 sh.o.r.e 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 bra.s.s 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 t.i.tle 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 t.i.tle 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 a.s.sociation; was distinguished for his oratory and his devotion, alongside of O'Connell, to Catholic emanc.i.p.ation; 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 t.i.tle 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 emanc.i.p.ation, 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.

Sh.e.l.lEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, author of "Frankenstein," daughter of William G.o.dwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; became the wife of the poet Sh.e.l.ley 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).

Sh.e.l.lEY, PERCY BYSSHE, born at Field Place, near Horsham, Suss.e.x, eldest son of Sir Timothy Sh.e.l.ley, 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 G.o.dWIN (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 G.o.dwin'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 n.o.ble 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;" Sh.e.l.ley 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 s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 t.i.tle of dignity among Mohammedans of either s.e.x 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-subst.i.tute, 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.