shire, was born in Nov. 1714. He learned to read of an olddame, whom his pcem of the Schoolmistress has immortalized :and soon received such delight from books, that he alwaysexpected, when any of the family went to market, a newbook should be brought him. As he grew older, he went tothe grammar-school in Hales-Owen, and afterwards to Mr.Crumpton, an eminent schoolmaster at Solihull , where he distin-guished himself by his quick progress. In his tenth year, (June1724,) he was deprived of his father; and soon after (August1726,) of his grandfather and was, with his brother, who died af-terwards unmarried, left to the care of his grandmother, who ma-naged the estate. From school he was sent, in 1732, to Pembrokecollege in Oxford, a society which, for half a century, has beeneminent for English poetry and elegant literature. Here he con-tinued his name ten years, though he took no degree. After thefourth year he put on the civilian’s gown, but without any inten-tion to engage in the profession. About the time when he went toOxford, the death of his grandmother devolved his affairs to thecare of the reverend Mr. Dolman, of Brome in Staffordshire ,whom he always mentioned with gratitude. At Oxford he, in1737, published a small Miscellany, without his name. He pub-lished, in 1740, his Judgment of Hercules, addressed to Mr.Lyttleton, whose interest he supported with great warmth at anelection ; this was two years afterwards followed by the School-mistress. Mr. Dolman died in 1745, and the care of his fortunenow fell upon himself. He then took the whole estate into hisown hands, and rather improved its beauty than increased its pro-duce. Now began his delight in rural pleasures, and his passionfor rural elegance ; but in time his expences occasioned clamoursthat overpowered the lamb’s bleat and the linnet’s song, and hisgroves were haunted by beings very different from fawns andfairies. He spent his estate in adorning it, and his death was pro-bably hastened by his anxieties. He was a lamp that spent iis oilm blazing. He died at the Leasows, of a putrid fever, Feb. 11,1763 ; and was buried by the side of his brother, in the church-yard of Hales-Owen. Mr. Shenstone’s works have been publish-ed by Mr. Dodsley, in 3 vols. Svo. The first volume contains*" s poetical works, which are particularly distinguished by ana miable elegance and beautiful simplicity ; the second contains hisprose-works ; the third his letters, &c.
SHEPHERDS ISLES, or ISLANDS , a cluster of islands inV’e S. Pacific Ocean, S. of Mallicollo. They form a part of the■^ew Hebrides . Lon. 168 . 47. E. Lat. 16. 58. S,
Shepherd’s Purse. See Thlaspi....SHEPHERDSTOWN, orSHEPHERDSBURG, a town of’ lr ginia, in Berkley countv, 140 miles W. S. W. of Philadelphia .
SHEPPEY, an island of England, at the mouth of the riverMedway, about twenty miles in circumference. It is separatedtr om the main land by’a narrow channel, and has a fertile soil,'Much feeds great Hocks of sheep.
SHEPTON MALLET , a large town of England, in Somer-®tshire, 5 miles E. of Wells, 17 S. W. of Bath, and 118 W. by S.London. Lon. 2. 30. W. Lat. 51. 9. N.
* IERARD.A, Little Field-Madder ; in botany, a genusor 1 n ) ono gynia order, and tetrandria class of plants; naturals ® r > Stellatae. Corolla one-petaled, funnel-form, superior;
kli r' °’ ^ 1, ee toothed. There are three species,jo c*c-RBORN, a town of England, in Dorsetshire , 18 milesg • W. of Dorchester, and 118 W. S. W. of London .
14 , H .? Rb °Rn, a populous town of Yorkshire , in the W. Riding;
S- W. of York, and 181 N. by \V. of London. Lon. 1.^ Lat. 53. 49. N.
Swift . RID AN, Thomas, D. D. the intimate friend of Dean been’t * S ky Shield, in Cibber ’s Lives of the Poets, to haveBv ei j . rn about 1684, in the county of Cavan, where his parentsable t' n Ver ^ e ' evate d state. They are described as being un-ite , ° atiorcl their son the advantages of a liberal education; butthe ,, l 11 ^ °' J served to give early indications of genius, attractedl)ublii e °f a friend to his family, who sent him to the college oLtitered’ anC * colltr 'kuted towards his support there. He afterwardsir ia ' Ul t a j u ’*° orders, and set up a school in Dublin, , which longMotion? 6 , ver y h'gh degree of reputation, as well for the at-c >encv i p 0vvet i 011 the morals of the scholars, as for their profi-hiinarv '^rature. So great was the estimation in which this se-Vor ,. as le ' t L that it is asserted to have produced in some years^.^.jso. 195, r J
the sum of 1000/. It does not appear that he had any considera-ble preferment; but his intimacy with Swift, in 1725, procuredfor him a living in the south of Ireland worth about 150Z. a-year,which he went to take possession of, and, by an act of inadvert-ence, destroyed all his future expectations of rising in the i hurch ;for being at Cork on the first of August, the anniversary of KingGeorge’s birth-day, he preached a sermon on this text, “ Suffi-cient for the day is the evil thereof.” On this being known, hewas struck out of the list of chaplains to the lord lieutenant, andforbidden the castle. This living Dr. Sheridan afterwards changedfor that of Dunboyne, which, by the knavery of the farmers, andpower of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood, fell so low as 80/.per annum. He gave it up for the free, school of Caven, where hemight have lived well in so cheap a country on 80/. a-year salary,besides his scholars ; but the air being, as he said, too moist andunwholesome, and being, disgusted with some persons-who livedthere, he sold the school for about 400/. and having soon spentthe money, he fell into bad health, and died Sept. 10, 1738, in his55th year.
Sheridan, Thomas, A. M. son of Dr. Sheridan , the intimatefriend of Dean Swift, an eminent actor , philologist, and lexicogra-pher, was born at Quilca, in Ireland , 172-1. In 1734, and 1735,he studied at Westminster ; and on his return to Ireland , attended'Trinity college, Dublin , where he took his degree. In 1743 heappeared on the stage at Smock Alley, in the character of RichardIII. The year following he visited London , and performed atCovcnt Garden. On Ills return to Ireland he became manager ofthe Dublin theatre, but on account of some attempts to reformthe abuses that had long prevailed there, riots ensued, for whichthe leaders were prosecuted. In the end, his theatre was ruined,and he entered on a new career as an itinerant lecturer on elocu-tion, and with such reputation as to receive the degree of masterof arts from the universities of Dublin and Cambridge. In 1760he engaged at Drury Lane, and soon after obtained a pension fromthe king. In 1767 he exhibited at the Hay market ail entertain-ment of reading, singing, and music, called an Attic Evening.He also performed at the same theatre and at Covenl Garden, butquitted the profession of an actor in 1776. 'The same year he suc-ceeded Garrick as manager of Drury Lane theatre, which situationhe resigned in 1779. He now -returned to his literary labours,and to reading occasional lectures. He died at Margate in 1788.His principal works are, 1. A Dictionary of the English Language,one main object of which is to establish a plain, and permanentstandard of pronunciation, 1 vol. 4to. and 2 vols octavo. 2. Lectureson the Art of Reading, Svo. 3. British Education, or the Sourceol the Disorders of Great Britain , Svo. 4. A Dissertation on theCauses of the Difficulties which occur in Learning the English Tongue, 4to. 5. A Course of Lectures on Elocution, &c. 4to.6. Life of Swift, prefixed to his works, Svo. 7. Elements of Eng-lish, 12mo . His wile, Franees, whose maiden name was Cham-berlaine, was a very ingenious woman, and wrote Sidney Bid-dulph, a novel; a moral romance intituled, Nourjahad ; and theDiscovery, a comedy. By Mr. Sheridan she became the motherof C. F. Sheridan , who wrote the History of the Revolution inSweden, in 1772; and of R. B.. Sheridan , M. P. a gentlemangreatly celebrated for his wit and conviviality. She died at Biois.in 1767.
SHERIFF , an officer in eacli county in England, nominatedby the king, invested with a judicial and ministerial power, andwho takes place of every nobleman in the county during the time,of his office. The office is of very great antiquity. He is calledin Latin vice-comes, as being the deputy of the comes, or earl, lo-wborn the custody of the shire was committed at the first divisionof England into counties. But the earls, in process of time, bytheir h?gh employments and attendance on the king’s person, notbeing able to transact the business of the. county, were deliveredof that burden; reserving themselves the honour, but the labourwas. laid on the sheriff. So that now the sheriff does all the king’sbusiness in the county ; and though he be still called vice-comes,yet he is entirely independent of, and not subject to, the earl; theking, by his letters patent, committing custodiam comitatus to thesheriff, and to him alone.
SHERLOCK, Dr. William, a learned English divine, bornin 1641, and educated at Eton school, where he distinguishedhimself by the vigour of his genius. Thence he was removed to7 F Cambridge,