485 



SHIRLEY. 



SHISHKOV, ALEXANDER SEMENOVICH? 



486 



Shawer, himself assumed supreme power under the title of Vizir to 

 the Fatimite caliph Adhed, who conferred ou him the title of Assad- 

 ed-decn (Lion of the Faith). He died a few mouths afterwards, and 

 was succeeded in his dignities by his nephew, the famous Salah-od-deen. 



Shirakoh appears to havfl been one of the most consummate captains 

 of his age and country; and to him was unquestionably due the foun- 

 dation of the Ayoobite power, the fruits of which were reaped by his 

 collateral relatives. His own descendants continued for four genera- 

 tions to occupy the petty principality of Hems or Emesa, under the 

 suzerainty of the sultans of Egypt and Syria, till they were deprived 

 of it, in 1263, by the Mamluke Bibars. 



SHIRLEY. There were three brothers called SHIRLEY, or SHERLEY 

 as the name was formerly spelled, all of whom were distinguished as 

 travellers. They were sons of Thomas Shirley, an independent gentle- 

 man, who resided in Sussex. 



THOMAS SHIRLEY, the eldest son, was born-in 1564. After complet- 

 ing his studies at Oxford, he seems to have lived with his father till 

 the reputation acquired by his brothers induced him to travel also. 

 He appears to have been knighted, if Watt, in the ' Bibliotheca Bri- 

 tannica ' is correct in calling him Sir Thomas. He published his 

 'Travels' in Turkey, 4to, black letter. We are. not acquainted with 

 the time and place of his death. 



ANTHONY SHIRLEY was born in 1565. After having taken his 

 bachf lor's degree at Oxford, where he studied with his brother Thomas, 

 he served in the English army in Holland; and in 1596 sailed to the 

 West Indies, in a squadron fitted out for the purpose of attacking the 

 Spanish settlements there. On his return the following year he was 

 knighted by Queen Elizabeth, by whom he was sent to Ferrara to aid 

 the inhabitants in a dispute which they had with the pope ; but this 

 dispute having been settled before his arrival there, he resolved to 

 travel into Persia, and left Venice for that purpose, March 24, 1598, 

 accompanied by his youngest brother Robert. Sir Anthony, after his 

 arrival at Casbin, soon acquired the favour of Shah Abbas, by whom, 

 in April, 1599, he was sent as plenipotentiary, accompanied by Hosseyn- 

 Ali-Bey, to the various courts of Europe, for the purpose of getting 

 them to combine with the Shah in a war against the Turks. He went 

 first to Astrakhan, thence to Moscow, thence through Germany to 

 Venice, and thence to Spain. The king of Spain raised him to the 

 dignity of admiral of the Levant Seas. He died in Spain in 1630 or 

 1631. An account of his voyage to the West Indies is given in 

 Hakluyt's Collection, vol. iii., edition of 1600, 'A true Relation of the 

 Voyage undertaken by Sir Anthony Shirley, knight, in 1596, intended 

 for the island of San Thome, but performed to San Jago, Dominica, 

 Margarita, along the coast of Terra Firma to the Isle of Jamaica, 

 the Bay of Honduras, thirty leagues up Rio Dolce, and Homewards by 

 Newfoundland; with the memorable exploits achieved in all this 

 voyage.' His travels in Persia were published in a separate form, 

 ' Relation of Sir Anthony Shirley's Travels in Persia, with his magni- 

 ficent Entertainment in Persia,' London, 4to, black letter, 1632. His 

 travels by Astrakhan through Russia are given in Purchas's ' Pil- 

 grimages.' 



ROBERT SHIRLEY was born about 1570. When Sir Anthony Shirley 

 left Persia on his mission, Robert remained in the service of Shah 

 Abbas, and had a situation in the army. In 1604 the Shah granted him 

 permission to return to England, but charged him at the same time to 

 visit the different Christian princes of Europe, and assure them of the 

 Shah's good will towards them, and especially to offer to the English 

 a free commerce with his kingdom. Shirley did not reach England 

 till 1612. Having had an audience with James I. and remained a 

 short time in England, he returned to Persia; but in 1616 Shah Abbas 

 sent him, as he had previously sent Sir Anthony, as ambassador to the 

 different European powers, for the purpose of inducing them to make 

 war on Turkey. Having, after considerable delay, reached Madrid, 

 the king of Spain, at his suggestion, sent out four galleons to close the 

 entrance of the Red Sea against the Turks, on condition that the 

 Bahrein island and some other places should be given to Spain. He 

 then passed into Holland ; but his long stay in Spain had made him 

 an object of suspicion to the Dutch states, and he was requested to 

 leave the country. He arrived in England in 1623. His letter of 

 credit being written in Persian, no one could be found able to read it. 

 At length, in 1626, Nogdi-Ali-Beg arrived in England as ambassador 

 from Persia, and at his audience with James I. affirmed that Shirley 

 was an impostor; and the letter having been shown to him, he 

 attempted to tear it, and struck Shirley, and in excuse for his indecent 

 violence said that he could not restrain his anger at seeing the signa- 

 ture of his sovereign counterfeited. To settle the difficulty, James I. 

 sent out Sir Dodmore Cotton as his ambassador to Shah Abbas, accom- 

 panied by Nogdi-Ali-Beg and Shirley. The Persian died on the 

 passage. Cotton having arrived at Casbin, and obtained an audience 

 with the Shah's first minister Mahomet-Ali-Beg, the latter refused to 

 admit Cotton to an audience with the Shah, and requested that 

 Shirley's letter of credit might be left with him, and promised to 

 return it on the following day, with the Shah's answer. After waiting 

 three days, Mahomet-Ali-Beg " came and told the ambassador that the 

 king had looked upon it, had denied it to be his (the Shah's), and in a 

 great rage had burnt it." These are the words of Herbert the traveller, 

 who accompanied Sir Dodmore Cotton as his secretary; and he 

 further remark?, " We all were verily persuaded he never showed it 



to the king, nor had any way inquired of him concerning it : the truth 

 is, he had been bribed, but by whom it is unnecessary to speak ; it 

 may bo we did but conjecture it." Shirley was now old, and these 

 indignities seem to have hastened his death, which took place at 

 Casbin, July 13, 1628, about a fortnight after his arrival at that 

 place. He appears to have been knighted, for Herbert calls him Sir 

 Robert Sherley. 



SHIRLEY, JAMES, was born in London about 1594. He was 

 educated first at the Merchant Taylors' school, London ; next at St. 

 John's College, Oxford, which however he left without taking a degree; 

 and lastly he removed to the University of Cambridge. Having taken 

 holy orders, he obtained a curacy near St. Alban'e, but resigned it in 

 consequence of having adopted the Roman Catholic faith. He then 

 opened a school at St. Alban's, but not being successful, came to 

 Londofi, and commenced his career as an author. The first work 

 which he published was ' Tho Echo, or the Unfortunate Lovers,' a 

 poem, London, 8vo, 1618. His first dramatic work was ' The Traitor,' 

 a tragedy, London, 1625. He continued to write for the stage till 

 about 1640, when, having been especially patronised by the Queen 

 Henrietta Maria, on the breaking out of the civil troubles he joined 

 the royalists, and served under the Earl of Newcastle. 



In 1642 the Long Parliament enacted that the exhibition of " public 

 stage plays shall cease and be forborne," for certain religious and moral 

 reasons which are stated in the preamble ; other subsequent acts and 

 decrees, during the republic and protectorate, continued to enforce 

 the first enactment ; and Shirley was again obliged to try the profession 

 of a schoolmaster : he was more successful in London than he had 

 been at St. Alb&n's. In 1646 he began again to publish plays and 

 poems. After the Restoration, the prohibition of stage performances 

 was removed, and Shirley continued as long as he wrote to be a 

 favourite dramatist, as indeed he was the last of the great writers who 

 belong to the Shakspere school. He does not appear to have published 

 anything after 1659. He is the author of about 40 plays, in some of 

 which he was assisted by George Chapman and others. The best 

 edition of his ' Dramatic Works ' is that by Gifford, London, 6 vol?. 

 8vo. Besides plays and poems, he wrote ' Via ad Latinam Linguatn ' 

 and ' Rudiments of Grammar.' 



Shirley was burnt out of his house in Fleet-street by the great fire 

 of London, and being obliged to retire to the suburbs, died there 

 October 29, 1666. His wife died on the same day, and both were 

 buried in the same grave. 



Shirley belongs to the poetic class of the old English school of 

 dramatists. He has not much inventive power; his plays are conse- 

 quently somewhat meagre of incident; but this defect is in some 

 degree compensated by frequent change of scene, and there is generally 

 much animation in the dialogue. His characters are broad and general, 

 not discriminated by nice shades, but well defined, distinct, aud con- 

 sistent. He displays the passions well ; with less intensity indeed than 

 Ford, but in a similar manner, poetically rather than naturally, without 

 any of those sudden bursts aud familiar touches by which Shakspere 

 displayed them. His language is pure idiomatic English. His versifi- 

 cation, resembles Massinger's. It has the same "linked sweetness long 

 drawn out," with more melody, and more enriched with poetic 

 ornament. His plays are no longer acted ; indeed they belong to a 

 class 4iot well constructed for keeping possession of the stage, but they 

 are well worth reading. 



SHISHKOV, ALEXANDER SEMENOVICH, a Russian admiral, 

 statesman, and author, was born in 1754. He entered the naval service. 

 and as a sea-officer visited Sweden, England, Italy, Turkey, and other 

 countries. He began his literary career when a cadet with some trans- 

 lations from the German, and some original poems, and as late as 

 1818 he published a translation into Russian prose of Tasso's 'Jeru- 

 salem Delivered.' His most eminent literary production was however 

 his essay ' Razsuzhdenie o starom i novom Slogie Rossiiskago Yazuika' 

 ('Opinion on the Old and New Style in the Russian Language'), 

 St. Petersburg, 1802, a second edition in 1813, a third in 1818, in 

 which he contended against the innovations which were being intro- 

 duced into Russian to assimilate it in style with the French. Although 

 the view which he took has proved the unsuccessful one, it has been 

 admitted even by his antagonists that he effected some good in pre- 

 venting the movement from being carried too far. He followed up 

 his 'Opinion' by some 'Additions,' and by a ' Translation of two essays 

 from Laharpe, with Remarks,' St. Petersburg, 1808, which led to a 

 paper war, one of the pamphlets in which, directed against Shishkov, and 

 entitled ' On the easiest way of answering Criticism,' is said by Grech 

 in his ' History of Russian Literature,' to be at once the strongest and 

 the wittiest controversial piece in the language. In 1805 he published 

 a critical edition of the oldest monument of Russian poetry, ' The 

 Expedition of Igor against the Polovtsians,' supposed to be written 

 about the year 1200, and first discovered by Count Mussin-Pushkin in 

 1795. Some of his other works of importance are of a professional 

 kind, ' A Marine Dictionary in three languages, English, French, and 

 Russian,' 2 volumes, 1795 ; ' Historical Catalogue of all the Vessels of 

 the Russian Fleet, from its origin, &c.' One of the most interesting 

 of his productions is a volume of ' Memoirs of the War of 1812,' pub- 

 lished in 1831 with a dedication to the Emperor Nicholas, and 

 containing a description of the occurrences of which Shishkov was an 

 eye-witness when in attendance on the Emperor Alexander I., who had 



