396 



SHKRKY 



SHETLAND 



from 1861 to 1877, he was for many years chair- 

 man of the committee on finance. As a congress- 

 man he had been eminent for the steady but states- 

 manlike oi)|M>sition which be offered to slaver}-, and 

 (.n the outbreak of the war he raised a brigade in 

 Ohio largely at his own expense. Two bills for 

 which he was largely responsible were that for 

 the reeonstruction of the seceded states and that 



providing for the resumption of Kjiecie pay nt 



( 1x79). Asupporterof MrHayes, he wonap|>ointed 

 by him in 1877 Secretary of the Treasury, and in 

 IsTs hail prepared suc-h a redemption fund in gold 

 as speedily raised the legal-tender notes to par 

 value. In 1881 and 1887 he was again returned to 

 the senate, was for a while its president, and 

 afterwards chairman of the committee on foreign 

 relations. In 1880-84-88 he was an uuaeawan] 

 candidate for the presidential nomination. The 

 Sherman Act (1890), authorising large purchases 

 of silver by the Treasury, was repealed in 1893. 

 In 1897 he was made Secretary of State by Mr 

 McKinley ; but, becoming infirm, he retired from 

 public life in April 1898, and died 22d October 1900. 

 See Life by Bronson ( 1880), his Selected Speeches on 

 t'innnre mid Ttutitinn ( 1879), the Sherman Letters 

 ( 1894), and Sherman's Recollections ( 1896). 



Sherry, a name derived from Xeres (q.v.), or 

 Jerez do la Frontera, near Cadi/, and applied to 

 the lietter kind of white wines grown over a, con- 

 siderable area in the neighbourhood of Xeres, 

 between the mouths of the Guadalquivir and 

 Giiadalete. Sherries may l>e divided into the 

 Amontillado class and the Mont ilia the latter 

 the lighter and drier, with grape spirit added only 

 when it is required to enable the wine to stand 

 transport. The Amontillados are generally fortified 

 BO that sherry of this t \ pe contains about 32 degrees 

 of proof spirit. So-called ' natural sherry ' has 

 from 2 to 4 per cent, of spirit added to make it 

 keep. Sherries are coloured by introducing wine 

 boiled down to a liqueur, and sweetened by mixing 

 with them wine made from over-ripe grapes. The 

 trade is largely in the hands of Englishmen settled 

 at Xeres : Cadiz is the chief shipping port. The 

 export is mainly to England, and in 1891 amounted 

 to 2,135,969 gallons 64 per cent, less than in 1873 

 (the year of largest imports), after which date there 

 was a steady decrease. See SACK, WlNE. 



Sherwood, MAKV MARTHA, a prolific writer 

 of religious and juvenile fiction, was the daughter 

 of Dr Butt, chaplain to George III., and a descend- 

 ant of Sir William Butts, physician to Henry 

 VIII. She was born at Stanford, Worcestershire. 

 May 6, 1775, and from early years was an in- 

 defatigable narrator of stories. In 1 803 she married 

 her cousin Henry (afterwards Captain) Sherwood, 

 anil sailed for India, where she showed strong 

 sympathy with the religious labours of Henry 

 Martyn and Dr Corric, Bishop of Madras. Her 

 husband predeceased her (1849), and she diet! at 

 Twickenham, Seplemlicr 22, 1851. Her first book, 

 the Traditions, wax written when she was seven 

 teen. Her Susan Grey ( 1802) was one of the first 

 attempt- to write on religious subject- for the poor. 

 Of her seventy-seven religious works and stories the 

 least forgotten are the Little \\'oodman. Little 

 Hi iiry and hit Bearer, and the Fairchild Family. 

 A collected edition of her works in 16 vols. was 

 issued in New York. See Life (chiefly autobio- 

 graphical), by her daughter Sophia Kelly (1854). 



Sherwood Forest, a stretch of hilly country 

 in the west of Nottinghamshire, lying between 

 Nottingham and Worksop, and extending alx>ut 

 25 miles from north to south and 6 to 8 miles from 

 east to west. It was formerly a royal forest, and 

 the t rail it ion, -i I scene of many of the exploits of the 

 (amous Robin Hood (q.v.); but it is now almost 



wholly disafforested, and is occupied by gentlemen's 

 seaU and line parks. The town of Slanslicld and 

 a numlxTof villages are situated within the ancient 

 Ixitiiids. Numerous remains of the old forest are 

 still to lie seen. See R, White's Nottinghnnuhirr 

 ,,</ Sherwood Forest (Worksop, 1878). 



Shetland, or ZKTI.AND (Seand. lljultltintl, 

 'high land'), a group of more than a hundred 

 islands, islets, and skerries, forming the northein- 

 BMSX >eottisli county, whose capital. I.erwick. is 

 llti miles NE. of Kirkwall, 300 N. by I d 

 Edinburgh, and 222 \V. of Bergen in Norway 

 (direct distance). Extending 70 miles, and 36 

 in extreme breadth, they have a total area of 

 551 sq. m., the largest of tlie twenty-nine inhabited 

 islands being Mainland (378 sq. m.), Yell (83), 



Unst (47), Fetlar, Bressay, Whalsay, and Foula. 

 The cliff-scenery is very fine, and the sounds and 

 voes, or firths, are so numerous that no spot is 

 more than 3 miles from the sea. The surface is 

 more rugged than that of Orkney, the highest points 

 lieing Ronas Hill (1475 feet) in Mainland, and the 

 Sneiig (1372) in Foula. Metamorphic crystalline 

 rocks predominate, with isolated Old Red Sand- 

 stone; and the soil is peaty, barely one sixth of the 

 total area In-ing in cultivation, whilst trees there are 

 none. The live-sKx-k includes from 70,000 to 100,000 

 sheep, some 19,000 cattle, and nearly 5000 shaggy 

 'Shetland ponies,' 9 to 10 hands high. Theclin 

 is equable but moist (rainfall. 4! inches); at the 

 longest day the sun sets for only live hours, at the 

 shortest for over eighteen. The herring and other 

 fisheries are the leading industry, having l>en 

 greatly developed since 1872. Shetland unites 

 with Orkney to return one member to parliament ; 

 but it was dissevered therefrom as a county by 

 the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889. Pop. 

 (1801)22,379; (1861)31,679; (1891) 28,711. Sub 

 ject, like Orkney (q.v.), to the Scandinavian crown 

 until 1468, Shetland the Ultima Thiilc of the 

 anciente is still markedly Norse in many of its 

 characteristics, Norse being still spoken in Foula 

 as late as 1774, and having bequeathed many words 

 to the Shetland dialect. In 1766 it was sold by the 



