strata, like the British, consist of two great divisions, namely, upper and lower.

While engaged in these investigations, Mr. Sharpe's attention was drawn to the subject of the slaty cleavage and foliation, which affects the more ancient rocks of Devonshire, Wales, the North of England, the Highlands of Scotland, and Mont Blanc. In 1846, 1848, 1852, and 1854, he produced four memoirs on these subjects, the two first and the last of which are published in the Quarterly Journal' of the Geological Society, and the third in the Philosophical Transactions' of the Royal Society. These questions had previously been made the subject of special investigation by Professor Sedgwick, Mr. Darwin, and Professor Phillips, [PHILLIPS, JOHN]. It has been said, that from imperfect data Mr. Sharpe generalised too largely; and though this may be the case, an attentive perusal of the memoir of 1846 proves that in some important points he materially advanced the subject at that date in the direction to which the labours of Mr. H. C. Sorby, F.G.S., have since tended. He attributes the cleavage of rocks, and consequent distortion of fossils, to pressure perpendicular to the planes of cleavage, and asserts that rocks are expanded along the cleavage planes in the direction of the dip of the cleavage. In the communication of 1848, the doctrine that pressure is the cause of cleavage is still more distinctly insisted on, and remarkable instances are given, in which pebbles were observed which appeared to have been compressed and elongated in the planes of cleavage. He also recognises the fact, since so beautifully explained by Mr. Sorby, in the New Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,' that the fine particles composing the slaty rocks are arranged lengthwise in the direction of the cleavage planes, and he attributes bends in the cleavage in its passage from one bed to another, to beds of different lithological character offering different degrees of resistence to pressure. The idea that cleavage may be due to crystalline action he altogether repudiates. It must be admitted how ever that no adequate investigation has yet been instituted, of the relations of crystallisation to the greater structures of rocks. We are as yet uninformed whether there are or are not jointed structures on the great scale, resulting from the coincidence of crystalline planes over comparatively large areas, as some of the phenomena exhibited by the sub-crystalline limestones and by certain serpentines, tend to indicate. The two last of the series of Mr. Sharpe's papers on these subjects, published in 1852 and 1854, describe respectively the cleaved and foliated rocks of Scotland and Mont Blanc, and are chiefly devoted to the development of his theory of the great 'cylinders' or arches, in which he asserted that the lamina of cleaved and foliated rocks lie. In these memoirs he made no advance beyond his previous ideas, for he attributed the formation of cleavage and foliation to the same cause; and though he indicated the fact, he gave no explanation of the reason of the occurrence of planes of cleavage and foliation in arched lines, a subject that has since in part been acutely treated of by Mr. Sorby, and of which the full explanation seems not far distant. In the paper on Mont Blanc however Mr. Sharpe explains and corrects for the first time, we believe, the remarkable error of Saussure, in representing the cleavage of slatcs, wherever they occur in the Alps, almost invariably as stratification; having mistaken the planes of cleavage for those of bedding, and regarded the latter as a series of parallel joints. But while showing that this systematic error runs throughout the whole of Saussure's volumes, he shows also that Saussure's observations, even when his conclusions are erroneous, are always accurate and instructive. He was led into the error from observing the analogy between the foliation of the schists and the cleavage of the slates, an analogy on which Mr. C. Darwin afterwards founded the correct conclusion that the foliation has no reference to stratification; other English geologists however as Mr. Sharpe points out "after correctly distinguishing cleavage planes from stratification, still continued to class the foliation of crystalline rocks with the latter instead of the former; thus proposing to unite two phenomena of totally different origin, while they separated those which are really analogous, and probably due to one and the same cause." Besides these memoirs Mr. Sharpe contributed to the Geological Society various papers on special subjects, On the Quartz Rocks of Macculloch's Map of Scotland,' 'On the Southern Borders of the Highlands of Scotland,' and various palæontological communications; 'On the genus Trematis,' 'On Tylostoma, a new genus of Gasteropods from the Cretaceous beds of Portugal,' On the genus Nerinea,' and a note on the fossils of Boulonnais, appended to a paper by Mr. Godwin Austen on that district. He also furnished several parts of a monograph to the splendid publications of the Palæontographical Society, 'On the Fossil Remains of the Mollusca found in the Chalk Formation of England,' and on this important work he was still engaged when he met with the accident that caused his untimely death.

"Such is a brief outline of some of the scientific labours of Daniel Sharpe-a man whose mind alike powerful, active, and well cultivated, urged him successfully to grasp and make his own a wider range of subjects than many geologists dare to attempt. Neither should it be forgotten that all the while he was unceasingly engaged in mercantile pursuits, and it was only during brief intervals of leisure when more imperative labours were over, that he accomplished what many would consider sufficient work for their lives. And it is not in geology alone that he is known and appreciated, philologists and

ethnologists equally esteemed him. With marvellous versatility of talent he grappled with the ancient Lycian inscriptions, brought home by Fellows, Forbes, and Spratt, and revealed the secrets of an unknown tongue written in an unknown character. In debate he was clear, keen, severely critical, and at times somewhat sarcastic, occasionally alarming to an opponent unaccustomed to his style; but those who knew him best were well aware that an unvarying fund of kindly good humour lay beneath, and that if he hit his adversary hard, no man than himself more rejoiced in a harder blow in return." His private life is stated to have been full of unostentatious benevolence. Mr. Sharpe became a Fellow of the Royal Society on June 6th, 1850; he was also a Fellow of the Linnæan, Zoological, and Geological societies. In 1853 he became treasurer of the Geological Society; and on the retirement of Mr. W. J. Hamilton, in official course in 1856, was elected its president, being, as was remarked at the time, the first person actually engaged in commercial pursuits in the city of London, who had been selected for the chair. This honourable position in the world of science however he occupied three months only; for on the 20th of May in the same year, while riding near Norwood, he was thrown from his horse, and sustained a fracture of the skull. In a few days he so far recovered as to be able to recognise the relations who were admitted to his chamber. He had actually recommenced the study of his fossils, and his numerous friends rejoiced in the prospect of his speedy restoration; when a sudden relapse succeeded, and he died on the 31st May.

(Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1856; Anniversary Address of the President of the Geological Society, 1857; Anniversary Proceedings of the Linnæan Society, 1857.)

* SHARPEY, WILLIAM, a distinguished British Physiologist, was born at Arbroath in Scotland, and educated for the medical profession. He took his degree of M. D. in the University of Edinburgh, and afterwards studied in Germany. On his return from the continent he became one of the teachers in the extra-academical medical school of Edinburgh, where he obtained considerable reputation for the depth and extent of his anatomical and physiological knowledge. At this time he contributed two articles to the Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology.' The one on 'Cilia,' the other on the family 'Echinodermata.' These articles displayed considerable knowledge of comparative anatomy, and added to his reputation as a physiologist. On the retirement of Dr. Jones Quain from the chair of Anatomy and Physiology at University College, Dr. Sharpey was invited to fill the chair. This appointment he accepted, and delivered his first course of lectures in the session 1837-8. Dr. Sharpey has never practised his profession, nor has he published exclusively on physiological subjects, so that his fame principally rests on his courses of lectures delivered at University College. He has, however, written the histological introduction to the last editions of Dr. Quain's Anatomy. Till 1863, Dr. Sharpey was examiner in physiology at the University of London. He is secretary to the Royal Society of London.

SHAW, CUTHBERT, was born in 1738 at Ravensworth in Yorkshire. He was the son of a shoemaker, but received a good education, and became usher in a school at Darlington in Yorkshire. He afterwards came to London, and was for some time an actor, but abandoned the profession for that of an author. He contributed to the periodical literature of the day, and also wrote 'Liberty, a Poem,' 4to, 1756; 'Odes on the Four Seasons,' London, 4to, 1760; published under the name of W. Seymour; the 'Four Farthing Candles,' 4to, 1762; 'The Race,' 4to, 1766, (the two last are satires directed against contemporary writers); 'A Monody to the Memory of a Young Lady who died in Childbed, to which is added An Evening Address to a Nightingale, by an Afflicted Husband,' London, 4to, 1768, 1772; 'Corruption, a Satire,' 4to, 1769. Shaw died at London, September 1, 1771, aged thirtythree, of a disease occasioned by his dissipated habits. The Monody' and Address to the Nightingale' are sometimes met with in collec tions of English poetry, and show that the author had some skill in versification, but little else.

SHAW, GEORGE, the younger son of the Rev. Timothy Shaw, was born at his father's vicarage at Bierton, in Buckinghamshire, on the 10th of December, 1751. During his childhood he discovered much fondness for the study of natural history; in the cultivation of which science he afterwards attained great distinction. So far however were his energies ever from being engrossed by that subject, that when only thirteen years old, he was fully qualified by his general attainments to enter at the university. He was admitted at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1765, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1769, and that of master of arts in 1772. In 1774 he took deacon's orders, and during a short time discharged his clerical duties at two chapelries connected with Bierton. An increasing love for the cultivation of natural science induced him to repair to Edinburgh, in order to pursue his favourite studies. He continued at Edinburgh for three years, where he studied medicine under Black and Cullen, and afterwards returning to Oxford, obtained the appointment of deputy botanical lecturer. In the discharge of the duties of that office he obtained a high reputation, and on the death of Dr. Sibthorp, was chosen professor of botany in his stead. It was discovered however that by an old statute of the university clergymen were declared ineligible for the office, and Dr. Shaw consequently lost the appointment.

In the autumn of 1787 he took the degree of Docter of Medicine,

and in the course of the same year removed to London, where he nettled as a physician. On the formation of the Linnæan Society, in 1788, Dr. Shaw was appointed one of the vice-presidents, and he afterwards enriched its transactions with many valuable papers. He now began to deliver public lectures at the Leverian Museum, which were always attended by a numerous audience. Nor was he less popular as a writer than as a lecturer, and a periodical entitled the Naturalist's Miscellany,' which he now set on foot, was continued till his death. In 1789 he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society, and it was not long before he gave up the practice of his profession and devoted himself exclusively to scientific pursuits. In 1791 the occurrence of a vacancy at the British Museum induced Dr. Shaw to become a candidate for the office of a librarian; and on his receiving the appointment of assistant-keeper of natural history in that institution, he entirely gave up medical practice. His time during the last twenty years of his life was occupied with lecturing on natural history, publishing works on scientific subjects, and editing conjointly with Dr. Hutton and Dr. R. Pearson 'An Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions.' On the death of Dr. Gray he was appointed keeper of the natural history in the British Museum, which office he held during the remaining six years of his life. In the midst of his useful labours however he was attacked by an illness which terminated fatally in the course of a few days, on July 22, 1813.

Dr. Shaw was as much beloved for his moral qualities, as respected for his intellectual acquirements, which were of a very high order. His principal works are:-The Naturalist's Miscellany,' which had reached its 286th number when he died; A Catalogue of the Leverian Museum, illustrated with Coloured Plates,' which appeared between 1792 and 1796; and his well known systematic work on 'Zoology.' He furnished the letter-press to a very handsome work, containing sixty beautiful prints of plants and animals, which Miller, the editor of the Gardener's Dictionary,' had published, but which, from the want of an accurate description of the plates, had not met with a ready sale. The most useful of his works however was his 'General Zoology, or Natural History.' This appeared in parts, and eight volumes were published during the lifetime of the author, who left a ninth volume prepared for the press. After Dr. Shaw's death the work was continued by Mr. Stevens, and now forms fourteen 8vo volumes.

SHAW, THOMAS, was born at Kendal, in Westmorland, about the year 1692. He entered at Queen's College, Oxford, where he took the degree of Master of Arts in 1719; and, after receiving holy orders, was appointed chaplain to the English factory at Algiers. He held this post for twelve years, and did not return to England until 1734. During his absence he was chosen a Fellow of his college. In 1734 he took the degree of D.D., and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1738 he published the first edition of his travels, and presented his collection of natural curiosities and ancient medals and busts, which he had formed when abroad, to the University of Oxford. On the death of Dr. Felton, his college nominated him principal of St. Edmund's Hall, and at the same time he was presented to the living of Bramley, in Hants. He likewise held the chair of the regius professorship of Greek in the University until his death, August 15, 1751. The travels of Shaw extended through countries, some of which were previously little known. He traversed the whole of ancient Numidia, and visited Syria, Palestine, and the north of Egypt. His geographical details are exact and very valuable, since they furnish us with information concerning the ancient and modern condition of Numidia, and Mauritania Cæsariensis. His descriptions of manners and customs are very interesting, and like all his descriptions they are marked by extreme accuracy and strict adherence to truth; he appears indeed to have neglected nothing which could enhance the value of his work. In a supplement to his travels he published an account of 600 plants which he had collected; 140 of which were previously unknown to botanists.

The best edition of his travels was published in 1757, six years after his death, in one volume, 4to, which contains various maps and plates, and the supplement. SHAWER, originally a Mamluke in the house of the vizir of Talai-Ebn-Razik, by whom he was appointed governor of the Said. The attempt however of Razik-al-Adel, son and successor of his benefactor, to remove him from this province, led to a civil war, in which Razik was slain; and Shawer compelled the helpless Fatimite kalif, Adhed, to appoint him vizir and commander-in-chief, A.D. 1162 (A.H. 558). He was however expelled in a few months by another chief named Dargham, and fled into Syria to the sultan, Noor-ed-deen [NOUREDDIN], whom he persuaded, by a promise of a third of the revenues of Egypt, to send a force under Shirakoh SHIRAKOH] to reinstate him; but he broke his engagement when the service was fulfilled, and called in a French army from Palestine, which drove Shirakoh out of Egypt. A second invasion by the troops of Noor-ed-deen (1166), who was now converted into an enemy, was repulsed by the same aid. But the Christians in their turn threatened to seize on the country, and Shawer was compelled to throw himself on the mercy of the sultan for help. Shirakoh a third time entered Egypt (1168), and expelled the Franks; but becoming suspicious of the good faith of Shawer, soon seized him and put him to death, himself assuming the vacant dignity of vizir. The fall of the Fatimite dynasty followed within three years. [SALAH-ED DEEN.]

BIOG. DIV. VOL. V.

SHEE, SIR MARTIN ARCHER, President of the Royal Academy, was born on the 20th of December, 1769, at Dublin, where his father (the descendant of an old Irish family) was a merchant. His father having, after considerable hesitation, yielded to his desire to adopt painting as his profession, he was entered, while little more than a child, as a student in the Dublin Society. Here, before he was twelve years old, he had carried off the three chief prizes for figure, landscape, and flower drawing. His father's death threw the youthful artist on his own resources, but he had prosecuted his studies to such purpose that at the age of sixteen he is said to have found ample occupation in Dublin as a portrait-painter, and his lively and polished manners gave him ready access to the best society of the Irish capital. Anxious however to acquire a wider reputation, he, in 1788, came to London. Here he found in Edmund Burke a kind friend and adviser. Burke introduced him to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who treated him with much cordiality. Mr. Shee now entered as a student at the Royal Academy, and in 1789 became for the first time a contributor to the exhibition, sending a Portrait of a Gentleman,' and a Head of an Old Man.' Though he did not become a popular portrait-painter, nor, for some years at least, obtain many sitters from among the aristocracy or beauty of the land, Shee made his way steadily into a good and tolerably lucrative practice, towards which his geniality of manners rendered him valuable service. In 1798 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, and he now deemed his position sufficiently secure to venture on taking the house in Cavendish-square, which Romney (whose successor he aspired to become) had built for himself when in the height of his celebrity. In this house Shee continued to reside until failing health compelled him to abandon his profession and remove to Brighton, some half a century later. This change of residence was attended with an improvement in his professional standing. He had painted a good many portraits of the leading actors, and of noted politicians, and other celebrities, which had attracted attention at the exhibition, and sitters readily followed him to his fashionable house. That he was fast making his way was sufficiently shown by his election as Academician in 1800, only two years after his election as Associate : his presentation picture was a 'Belisarius.'

From this time his career was marked by few changes or vicissi tudes. Like most of the English painters of the time, during the short lull in the war between France and England he went to Paris to examine the art-treasures which Bonaparte had collected in the Louvre; but besides that, his biographers find little to notice until he appeared before the public in the character of a poet, by the publication, in 1805, of his 'Rhymes on Art, or the Remonstrance of a Painter,' a work which its author described as a poem on painting, in which, more particularly, the early progress of the student is attempted to be illustrated and encouraged." A second part of it appeared in 1809. Byron praised the poem, and it was a good deal read and quoted at the time; and painters still occasionally garnish their literary essays with a stanza from it; but its vitality has long since departed, though it has an easy flow of rhyme, and is not without more substantial merit, and the notes are occasionally valuable. Again-on the occasion of a collection of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds being exhibited at the British Institution, and a 'commemoration dinner' in honour of Sir Joshua being given by the directors of the institution in May 1803, at Willis's Rooms, the prince regent presiding-Mr. Shee invoked the muse, and published, in 1814, a small volume of poetry entitled 'The Commemoration of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and other poems.' His next appearance as an author was under, to himself, more exciting circumstances. He had written a tragedy called 'Alasco,' the principal character of which he deemed to be particularly suited to the histrionic powers of his friend Kemble; who agreed to act it. But it happened to be the first tragedy which fell under the hands of Colman, the new licenser of plays, and he regarding himself as charged with the conservation of the political as well as the moral purity of the play-going public, sternly refused to permit it to be performed so long as it contained certain bits of declamation about liberty, and denunciations of despotism, as well as one or two expletives. To the expurgation of these the author as resolutely refused to submit, and appealed to the Lord Chamberlain himself against the decision of his deputy. But the chamberlain (the Duke of Montrose) declining to examine that on which his deputy had "reported replied, with some characteristic dislocation of grammar, "I do conclude, that at this time, without considerable omissions, the tragedy should not be acted." Shee however was not to be so silenced, and resolved to shame his censors by printing, though he could not play, his tragedy. It accordingly appeared in 1824, with a preface in which the facts were set forth with considerable warmth, while all the prohibited passages were printed in italics. The tragedy itself is forgotten now, but it will be referred to by writers of literary and political history for illustrations of what was prohibited as politically dangerous in London so late as 1824. The censor certainly did his work carefully. Treason is seen to lurk sometimes in single words- often in single lines, such as —

"Or question the high privilege of oppression." Even the mention of

21

"Some slanderous tool of state, Some taunting, dull, unmanner'd deputy,"

is thought to bode mischief, and is expunged accordingly. This was Shee's latest appearance as a poet, but once later he tried his hand as a novelist. Literature however was but his amusement. During all these years he had been steadily making his way to a foremost place among the fashionable portrait-painters of his day. The mantle of Reynolds had not fallen on his successor, but Lawrence's easy gracefulness of style concealed his deficiencies from the eyes of his contemporaries, and he reigned in undisputed supremacy. But Lawrence could not alone supply the demands of the titled and wealthy claimants for the immortality of portraiture; and though among the political and literary celebrities Phillips perhaps was most in repute, his gay colour and polished manners undoubtedly rendered Shee second favourite with lords and ladies. On the death of Lawrence in 1830, he naturally aspired therefore to succeed him not only as the fashionable portrait painter, but also as president of the Royal Academy. Wilkie became his opponent, but though of course there could be no comparison between the artistic power of the two men, the academicians felt that Shee's fluency of speech and courtly address were of far more consequence in the academic chair than more eminent artistic abilities with reserved manners and a faltering tongue. Shee was elected president by a large majority, and soon afterwards received the honour of knighthood. He is said to have filled all the duties of his office with zeal and ability, and his official eloquence on those public occasions which called it forth was much admired. He continued to paint till 1845, in which year he exhibited for the last time five pictures; but his powers had been for some years evidently failing. He now, on the ground of inability to discharge its duties, resigned the presidency, but was induced to withdraw his resignation. On resuming the presidency the Academicians conferred on him an annuity of £300, and the Government shortly after added a pension of £200. He died August 19, 1850.

Sir Martin Archer Shee will not rank among the great portrait painters of the English school. He is deficient in depth and force, in intellectual expression, and in characterisation. But his colour is often pleasing though too florid, and his figures have an air of ease and refinement; and his pencil has undoubtedly preserved the best portraits of many of the more eminent of his contemporaries. He occasionally painted historical figures and fancy subjects, but none of them won much attention. He was an accomplished gentleman, rather than a great painter.

SHEEPSHANKS, REV. RICHARD, M.A. F.R.S, F.R.A.S., was born at Leeds, July 30th, 1794. His father was engaged in the cloth manufacture, and destined his son for the same pursuit. At the age of fifteen however, and after an ordinary school education, the son discovered his own preference for a learned profession, and the father accordingly placed him under the care of the Rev. James Tate, M.A., the master of the Grammar-school of Richmond in Yorkshire, well known as one of the most successful teachers of his day and subsequently as an editor of Horace. Here he remained until 1812, when he was removed to Trinity College, Cambridge. He took his degree with honours in 1816, obtained a fellowship in the next year, and proceeded to study for the bar, to which he was called about 1822. A weakness of sight, to which he was always subject, is supposed to have been the principal cause of his not practising law; but it must be added that his share of his father's property placed him in easy circumstances, independently of his fellowship, and his taste for science had become very decided. He took orders about 1824, and soon began to devote himself entirely to astronomy. He became a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1824, and was elected into the Royal Society on the 1st of April 1830. Of the former he was always one of the most active of the executive body. His leisure, and his desire to help the young astronomer so long as he wanted advice and guidance, gave a peculiar value to his services, and a peculiar utility to his career.

Mr. Sheepshanks resided in London till about 1842, when he removed to Reading, where he died of apoplexy, August 4th, 1855. There is much reason to suppose that his life was shortened by his laborious exertions in the restoration of the standard scale of linear measure. "Though an ardent politician of the school of opinion which had to struggle for existence during the first half of his life, but gradually became victorious in the second, he never took any public part in a political question, except that of the Reform Bill. He was one of the Boundary Commissioners appointed in 1831 to fix the boundaries of the boroughs under the new system of representation." His reading in politics and history is stated to have been extensive; and he was especially partial to military matters, with which he was very well acquainted, both ancient and modern tactics having formed a portion, and no inconsiderable portion, of his studies. To this must be added literature and poetry, to which he was much attached. He never abandoned classical reading, and those who knew him best were often surprised at the extent to which he had cultivated modern

literature.

But his subject was astronomy, and his especial part of that subject was the astronomical instrument.' His reputation among astronomers on this point, and the articles which he contributed to

the Penny Cyclopedia,' have induced an expression of regret that he did not draw up a full treatise on a matter which he had so completely fathomed.

Mr. Sheepshanks was engaged in active efforts on several special occasions, to which we make brief allusion. In 1828 he joined Mr. Airy [AIRY, GEORGE BIDDELL] in the pendulum operations in Cornwall, and suggested some of the most important plans of operation. In 1828 and 1829 he was active in the establishment of the Cambridge Observatory. In 1832 he was consulted on the part of the admiralty with reference to the edition then preparing of Groombridge's Circumpolar Catalogue: the result was the publication of that work in a much more efficient and more creditable form than it would otherwise have appeared in. In 1832 he also interfered in a matter to which, connected as it is with personal differences, we can only here allude, as eliciting much information on the subject of equatorial instruments in general, a result which is entirely due to the part taken by Mr. Sheepshanks. In 1838 he was engaged in the chronometric determination of the longitudes of Antwerp and Brussels; in 1844 in those of Valentia and Kingstown in Ireland, and Liverpool. In 1843 and 1844 the subject of the Liverpool Observatory led him into a controversy, his pamphlets on which will be useful study to those who are interested in astronomical instruments. He was always an active member of the Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

Mr. Sheepshanks was a member of both the commissions (of 1838 and 1843) for the restoration of the standards of measure and weight, destroyed by fire in 1834. The standard of measure was placed in the hands of Francis Baily, [BAILY, FRANCIS] at whose death Mr. Sheepshanks volunteered (November 30th 1844) to continue the restoration. This matter occupied him closely during the last eleven years of his life. It would not be possible to give any detailed account of the operation, a full history of which is expected from Mr. Airy. It need only be said, that after a thorough examination of the process, beginning with the very construction of thermometers,-a point which gave no small trouble,-results were obtained which were embodied in a bill (18 & 19 Vict. cap. lxxii.) which received the royal assent on the 30th of July, 1855, the day following that on which Mr. Sheepshanks was struck by the shock which ended his life. The number of recorded micometer observations is just five hundred short of ninety thousand. He had given a succinct but very satisfactory account of the operations for the production and verification of the new standard, in the Report of the Commissioners, for March 28, 1854, which was presented to Parliament.

It has been recorded on adequate authority that Mr. Sheepshanks was especially distinguished by the integrity of his mind and by his utter renunciation of self in all his pursuits. He did not court fame, it was enough for him that there was a useful object which could be advanced by the help of his time, his thoughts, and his purse. His consideration for others was made manifest by his active kindness to those with whom he was engaged, and no less by his ready appreciation of the merits of those against whom he had to contend in defence of truth and justice, as they appeared to his mind. (Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1855; Report of the Council to the Thirty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1856.) MR. JOHN SHEEPSHANKS, the brother of the Rev. Richard Sheepshanks, it may be mentioned, is the gentleman who in 1856 presented to the nation, under certain conditions, his noble collection-one of the finest yet formed-of pictures by British artists: it contains no fewer than 233 paintings in oil, and 103 drawings and sketches, unany of them among the best specimens of the respective masters. [SUPP.] SHEFFIELD. [BUCKINGHAM.]

SHEIL, RICHARD LALOR, the son of Mr. Edward Sheil, a merchant of Cadiz was born in Dublin, August 17, 1791. His father was a Roman Catholic, and he was educated in that religion at the Jesuit College of Stonyhurst, Lancashire, whence he was removed at the usual age to Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated with distinction. He next proceeded to London, and entered himself at Lincoln's Inn to study for the English bar, which had been recently opened to Roman Catholics; but the ruin of his father's means through a disastrous partnership caused a change in his destination, and he returned to Ireland, where he was called to the bar in 1814. He defrayed the expenses of his years of study by the successful tragedy of 'Adelaide' in which Miss O'Neill performed, and by those of the Apostate,' 'Bellamira,' 'Evadne,' and 'The Huguenot.' About the same time he also contributed some 'Sketches of the Irish Bar' to the New Monthly Magazine,' then edited by Mr. T. Campbell. It appears however that although Mr. Sheil gained great credit as a writer and a speaker, he never heartily devoted himself to a deep study of so dry a subject as the law, and that his professional income in consequence was not large. He was not a lawyer but an orator by nature, and he found the platform a more congenial stage for the display of his talents than the law courts of Dublin. As a Roman Catholic too he laboured under the civil disabilities which, though modified from what they had been, still shut the doors of the House of Commons against himself and his co-religionists. It is not sur prising therefore that he turned his attention to political and religious agitation. In 1822 he became an active member of the Catholic Association; and three years later was chosen in conjunction with

469

46

SHELBURNE, EARL OF.

the late Mr. Daniel O'Connell to plead at the bar of the House of Lords against the bill introduced for its suppression. The bill how ever passed; but it only served to inflame his religious zeal and to rouse his oratorical powers to such a pitch of vehement invective against the government that a prosecution was commenced against him for seditious language. The illness of Lord Liverpool however transferred the premiership to the hands of Mr. Canning, who wisely ordered the prosecution to be abandoned. In 1828 Mr. Sheil took an active part in procuring the return of Mr. O'Connell to parliament as member for the county of Clare, and also addressed the great meeting held at Penenden Heath for the purpose of resisting the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill. In 1829, soon after the passing of the Relief Act, Mr. Sheil was returned to parliament for the since disfranchised borough of Milborne Port, by the influence of the late Marquis of Anglesea, who, while holding the lord lieutenancy of Ireland, had noticed his career, and who thus turned the restless agitator into a peaceful citizen and a useful legislator. Here his oratorical powers were appreciated, and he soon became one of the most popular and attractive speakers in St. Stephen's, though the matter of his speeches never rose to a level with the brilliancy of illustration and flow of impassioned declamation with which they were adorned. In 1830 he was again returned for Milborne Port, and in 1831 for the county of Louth. After the passing of the Reform Act, which gave much dis satisfaction in Ireland, Mr. O'Connell commenced agitating for repeal, in which Mr. Sheil at first refused to join, but subsequently consented, considering, as his biographer, Mr. T. M'Cullagh asserts, that it was in point of fact but short-hand for just and equal government in Ireland." In December 1832 for the first reformed parliament he was chosen to represent the county of Tipperary, where he had acquired some extensive landed influence by his second marriage with the widow of Mr. E. Power of Gurteen, on which occasion he adopted that lady's maiden name of Lalor. In 1834 the Grey ministry introduced an Irish Coercion Bill, which was strongly opposed by most of the Irish members, among whom was Mr. Sheil, but a report became current that several of them had expressed a wish that it should be carried, or there would be no living in Ireland." A great outcry was raised of "Who is the traitor?" and on Lord Althorp being appealed to, he replied that he had no personal knowledge of any such expression, but had heard it, and though he could not give up the names, he would tell any member who asked whether he was one. On Mr. Sheil making the inquiry, he replied he was one who had been mentioned. Mr. Sheil denied it at once; a parliamentary committee was appointed, and Mr. E. Hill, who appeared before the committee to support the allegation, confessed that he believed that he had been misinformed. In the same year Mr. Sheil was a party to the Lichfield House Compact," a term applied from a phrase of his own, in which he hoped that no minor differences would mar their compact and cordial alliance." In 1838 he was offered office by the Melbourne administration; at first the clerkship of the ordnance was spoken of, but ultimately he became one of the commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, and never again advocated repeal. In 1839 he was made vice-president of the Board of Trade; and was also sworn a member of the Privy Council, being, we believe, the first Roman Catholic on whom that honour had been conferred since the reign of James II. In June 1841 he was appointed judge-advocate-general, when he resigned the seat for Tipperary for that of the borough of Dungarvan; but he held office only till the following September, when his party were superseded in office by the late Sir Robert Peel. On the advent of Lord John Russell to power in 1846, Mr. Sheil was appointed to the mastership of the Mint, which he filled until November 1850, when he accepted the post of British minister at the court of Tuscany. His health however had been failing for some time, and he had rarely spoken in the House of Commons for the two or three years immediately preceeding his retirement from parliamentary life. Although the appointment to Florence could be regarded by himself and his friends as nothing less than expatriation and an extinction of what might have been a growing reputation, yet he submitted not so much with a feeling of philosophic indifference as in a joyous spirit, as though he felt that his diplomatic post would prove a great promotion and a dignified retirement. The melancholy death of his stepson, by his own hand, which happened in the following April, gave a shock to his feeble constitution from which he never entirely recovered, and an attack of gout in the stomach brought his life to a close at Florence on the 23rd of May 1851, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His younger brother, Sir Justin Sheil, K.C.B., for some time held the post of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at the court of Persia. (Memoirs of the Right Hon. Richard Lalor Sheil, by W. T. M'Cullagh.)

SHELBURNE, EARL OF. William Petty, Marquis of Lansdowne, who as Earl of Shelburne occupied so conspicuous a place among English politicians during a portion of the reign of George III., was born May 2, 1737, and was the second son of the Earl of Shelburne. Early in life he entered the army, and served with the British troops under Prince Ferdinand in Germany, giving signal proof of personal valour at the battles of Kampen and Minden. At the accession of George III., 1760, he was appointed aide-de-camp to the king with the rank of colonel of infantry, and in 1765 he became major-general.

His political career commenced with his election in 1761 as member

for Wycombe; but he only sat in the House of Commons for a few weeks, as on his father's death, May 10, 1761, he succeeded to the Earldom of Shelburne in the Irish, and the Barony of Wycombe in the English peerage. A supporter of Lord Bute he strongly defended the government in the debate on the preliminaries of peace, December 1762, and when Bute transferred the premiership to George Grenville, April 1763, Lord Shelburne, whose close attention to business and extensive knowledge of affairs had marked him out for office, was appointed, though not yet twenty-six, to the head of the Board of Trade, and sworn of the Privy Council. In this office he was called to report upon the organisation of the governments in the newly acquired Canadian territories, and the military forces requisite to be maintained in the North American Colonies. Shelburne's suggestions as to the boundaries of the respective governments ultimately prevailed though strongly opposed by the Earl of Egremont, the secretary of state within whose department the colonies were included, who wished to overawe the insubordinate colonists by forming a military colony on the North and West: he also earnestly pointed out the danger attending the plans proposed for taxing America. His opposition to the favourite notion of coercing the Americans into submission appears to have been the chief cause of the strong dislike with which he was now regarded by the king. But he had become also estranged from his chief, and he daily attached himself more to Pitt, of whom he was an ardent admirer and in whose political opinions he entirely coincided. On Grenville's modification of his cabinet in the following September by the admission of certain members of what was known as the Bedford party, Shelburne resigned his office, and thenceforth remained intimately united with Pitt. In 1766, Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, formed his second administration, and the Earl of Shelburne was made a member of the cabinet with the office of secretary of state-his being what was called the Southern department, which included the colonies. At the time of his appointment to this, in the actual state of the country, most important post, he had but just completed his twenty-ninth year. But the appointment was regarded by the country with satisfaction. Shelburne was acknowledged to be one of the very best speakers in the House of Lords-Lord Camden himself declaring that Chatham alone excelled him-and his thorough knowledge of the subject on which he spoke gave his opinions great weight. In this office in unison with his known sentiments he at once set about endeavouring to regain the goodwill of the American colonies, by putting himself in free communication with their agents in England, whom he assured of the intention of the government to adopt conciliatory measures and of his own desire to remove any well founded complaints, as well as of the scrupulous care he would exert in selecting governors of "generous principles." To the governors of the colonies he wrote desiring them to furnish him with full information on all the points in dispute, and likewise to report on the actual condition of their respective govern ments. But from the first he was thwarted by his colleagues, and as soon as Chatham's illness led him to withdraw himself from any active share in the government, though still its nominal head, the influence of Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Duke of Grafton, became paramount, and Shelburne was doomed to see all his conciliatory measures cast to the winds. Whilst declaring himself opposed to sending a single additional soldier or a single ship of war to menace the colonists, Shelburne proposed a series of measures which by placing the management of their affairs more in their own hands, and by deferring, in a great degree, to their views on the subject of the episcopacy, of the army, &c., he thought would remove much of the existing ill-feeling, but he had the mortification not only to have them rejected by the cabinet, but to see the fatal Import Duties Act which the heedless Charles Townshend had brought forward apparently in a spirit of reckless defiance, adopted by Grafton who was now virtually premier, and become the law of the land. Shelburne would probably at once have resigned his office but that he felt himself bound to Chatham, who was at the time unable to converse with any one on business, and he determined to continue till his chief should himself be able to decide on the proper course of proceeding. The management of the colonies was transferred to Lord Hillsborough the other secretary. Townshend died suddenly soon after the passing of his mischievous measure; but Shelburne did not regain his influence. On the contrary the differences between him and Grafton went on increasing, until the duke, knowing that he should have the support of the king, at length (October 1768) dismissed the earl from his post. Chatham who had now somewhat recovered his health immediately sent in his resignation, and notwithstanding the repeated entreaties of the king and Grafton refused to withdraw it.

Out of office Shelburne continued the zealous follower of Chatham, with him steadily opposing Lord North's ministry on most leading questions, and with especial earnestness his American measures, though with Lord Chatham taking occasion (1778) to express his "strongest disapprobation" of the idea of American independence, a declaration that was made use of by his opponents when he himself as premier proposed its adoption. He also took a prominent part in defending Lord Camden on occasion of the proceedings connected with Wilkes. When at length the court attempted to induce Chatham to take office (April 1778), the negociations had to be carried on entirely through

Shelburne, who put an end to them by refusing to entertain any other terms than that "Chatham must be dictator." On the death of Chat. ham, Shelburne joined with Rockingham, consenting to waive on his behalf, in case of office being offered to them, bis title to the premiership. His opposition to Lord North increased in activity as the policy of the latter proved more and more unsuccessful, and Shelburne himself became proportionately popular. A duel which he fought with Colonel Fullerton (March 22, 1780), in consequence of a challenge for some reflections he made in a speech in the House of Lords, and in which he was wounded, was by some of the 'Corresponding Committees' suggested to have arisen from his being singled out for vengeance by the government retainers. One of the weapons which he at this time used with success against the ministry was a bill which he brought forward for Economical Reform, but the conduct of the American war continued to be the leading topic; and at length on the crowning news of the surrender of Cornwallis so strong was the excitement throughout the country that Lord North was compelled to succumb (March 20, 1782), and Lord Rockingham became his successor, with Lord Shelburne and Charles James Fox as secretaries of state. This ministry, on the whole a liberal and popular one, lasted little over three months, Rockingham's death, July 1, 1782, being the immediate cause of its dissolution; though it is certain that the mutual ill-feeling and jealousy must if Rockingham had lived have shortly led to its remodification or overthrow. As it was, Fox and his friends insisted on the Duke of Portland being made premier, but the king, who had now come to place great confidence in Lord Shelburne, entrusted him with the formation of a new ministry, and Fox and his followers seceded in a body. [FOX, CHARLES JAMES.]

Shelburne on the other hand took an early opportunity of stating in the house of peers his continued adherence to "all those constitutional ideas which for seven years he had imbibed from his master in politics, the late Earl of Chatham," and he expressed his determination not to yield to the dictation of family: "that noble earl always declared that the country ought not to be governed by any oligarchical party or family connection; and that if it was to be so governed, the constitution must of necessity expire. On these principles I have always acted." It was no doubt his assertion of these principles that obtained him the support of the king, who had for some time been labouring perseveringly to break the domination of the great aristocratic families. The most important of the appointments in the new ministry was that of William Pitt, then only in his twentyfourth year, to a seat in the cabinet and the office of chancellor of the exchequer.

Shelburne's ministry lasted little over seven months, when it was defeated by the vote of the celebrated Fox and North coalition (February 21, 1783), but during those months had occurred the triumphant termination of the famous siege of Gibraltar, and the successes of Howe and Rodney, which had enabled the government to dictate honourable terms with France, Spain, and Holland; Shelburne had also concluded separate preliminaries of peace with America; and the result was a general pacification in which the Independence of the United States of North America was acknowledged by the British government, but the ratification of this, the crowning act of his administration, he was obliged to leave to his successors.

Shelburne did not again accept office. To his younger and greater colleague [PITT, WILLIAM] was left the future direction of the party which had been built up, Shelburne himself and his personal followers giving to Pitt a steady and useful support. He was created Marquis of Lansdowne in 1784, soon after Pitt's accession to office. He did not again occupy any prominent place in public affairs, and for many years before his death he had almost wholly withdrawn into private life. His health was feeble, and he felt neither strength nor inclination again to enter upon the turmoil of party politics. He was strongly averse to commencing the war with revolutionary France, but the course of events in that country produced a very painful impression on his mind, and strengthened his desire for retirement. He came forward however as a warm supporter of the union with Ireland, counselling at the same time liberality in dealing with that country, and he shared with Pitt in his disappointment at the non-fulfilment of the implied engagements. [PITT, WILLIAM.] He died on the 7th of May 1805.

Lord Shelburne was twice married: first, on the 3rd of February 1765, to Lady Sophia Carteret, daughter of the Earl of Granville, by whom he had two sons, John Henry, who succeeded him as second Marquis of Lansdowne, and another who died young; and, secondly, July 19, 1779, to Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick, daughter of John, earl of Upper Ossory, by whom he had likewise two children, a daughter who died young, and a son who still survives, and who succeeded his brother as the third Marquis of Lansdowne. [LANSDOWNE, HENRY PETTY, MARQUIS OF.] The Earl of Shelburne was not a great states man, but he was a highly cultivated and well-informed one, liberal in his general views, and possessing a wider acquaintance with foreign affairs and sounder commercial principles than most of the political men of his time. He was moreover an able debater, assiduous in his attention to business, and there can be now little doubt honest in purpose, and less swayed than many of his eminent contemporaries by mere party motives: but he was proud, unaccommodating, and wanting in frankness; so that, while he made many enemies by his assumption, he failed to secure a character for sincerity, earnestness,

or firmness. In private life he was highly esteemed. He was the friend of men of talent and genius, and his love of letters led him to form one of the noblest libraries which had ever been collected in England by a private individual. It was in his library that his last years were chiefly spent, though he continued to superintend personally as much as possible his extensive estates. On his death his collection of printed books was dispersed by auction; but his manuscripts were purchased for the British Museum, a parliamentary grant of 49251. being voted for the purpose.

SHELDON, GILBERT, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born on the 19th of July 1598, at Staunton in Staffordshire. He received the name of Gilbert from his godfather Gilbert, earl of Shrewsbury, to whom bis father Roger Sheldon was then a menial servant, although descended from an ancient Staffordshire family. In the latter end of the year 1613 he was admitted into Trinity College, Oxford; on the 27th of November 1617 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and that of Master on the 28th of May 1620. He was elected fellow of All Souls College in 1622; and about the same time taking holy orders, he became afterwards domestic chaplain to Thomas, lord Coventry, keeper of the great seal, who gave him a prebend of Gloucester, and finding him to be a man of parts, recommended him to King Charles I. as a person well versed in political affairs. On the 2nd of May 1633 he was presented by his majesty to the vicarage of Hackney in Middlesex. He was also rector of Ickford in Buckinghamshire, and Archbishop Laud gave him the rectory of Newington in Oxfordshire. Having proceeded Bachelor of Divinity, on the 11th of November 1628, he took the degree of Doctor in Divinity on the 25th of June 1634.

In March 1635 Sheldon was elected warden of All-Souls College; and being esteemed a learned man, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the king; he became afterwards clerk of his closet, and was designed by him to be made master of the Savoy Hospital and dean of Westminster, but the civil wars which ensued prevented those promotions. During these he adhered firmly to the king, and was one of the chaplains whom his majesty sent for to attend his commissioners at the treaty of Uxbridge, in February 1644, where he argued so earnestly in favour of the Church of England as to draw upon him the resentment of the Parliamentarians, which they made him afterwards sufficiently feel. He attended the king at Oxford, and was witness to the following remarkable vow made there by his majesty, which was preserved by Archbishop Sheldon thirteen years underground, and first published by Echard, in the Appendix to his History of England,' p. 5.-"I do hereby promise and solemnly Vow, in the presence and for the service of Almighty God, that if it shall please the Divine Majesty, of His infinite goodness to restore me to my just kingly rights, and to re-establish me in my throne, I will wholly give back to his church all those impropriations which are now held by the crown, and what lands soever I do now or should enjoy, which have been taken away either from any episcopal see or any cathedral or collegiate church, from any abbey or other religious house. I likewise promise for hereafter to hold them from the church, under such reasonable fines and rents as shall be set down by some conscientious persons, whom I propose to choose with all uprightness of heart to direct me in this particular. And I most humbly beseech God to accept of this my vow, and to bless me in the design I have now in hand; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Charles R., Oxford, April 13, 1646."

He also attended, in 1647, as one of his majesty's chaplains at Newmarket and other places. On the 30th of March he was ejected from his wardenship of All-Souls College by the parliamentary visitors, who forcibly took possession of his lodgings on the 13th of April, and imprisoned him, with Dr. Hammond, in Oxford and elsewhere. He remained confined above six months, and then the Reforming Committee set him at liberty, October 21, 1618, upon condition that he should never come within five miles of Oxford, that he should not go to the king in the Isle of Wight, and that he should give security to appear before them at fourteen days' warning whenever cited. Upon his release he retired to Snelston in Derbyshire, and lived among his other friends in Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire, whence, from his own purse, and from collections made by him amongst the royalists, he sent constant supplies of money to King Charles II. abroad, and followed his studies and devotions until the approach of the Restoration.

Upon the death of Dr. Palmer (March 4, 1659-60), he became again warden of All-Souls, without however taking possession, and continued so till the January following. On King Charles II.'s return, he met his majesty at Canterbury, and was soon after made dean of the Chapel Royal; he was also, upon Bishop Juxon's translation to Canterbury, advanced in his room to the bishopric of London, and conse. crated on the 28th of October 1660. He likewise obtained the mastership of the Savoy, which he kept till 1663; and it was at his lodgings there that, in 1661, the famous conference was held between some of the Episcopal clergy and Presbyterian divines concerning alterations to be made in the Liturgy, which thence came to be distinguished by the name of the 'Savoy Conference.' His conduct there and afterwards is much blamed by the Presbyterians, and it certainly appears to have been anything but conciliating. As accounting for, though it will not excuse any unnecessary severity that he may have exercised,