218 



SHAMANS S1JARK. 



its whole strengfli. Richard III. embraces the lat- 

 ter half of the reign of Edward IV., in the whole 

 a period of eight years. Shakspeare intended that 

 terror, rather than compassion, should prevail in 

 this tragedy. Richard is the soul, or rather the 

 demon of the whole. He fulfils the promise 

 which he had before made of leading the murder- 

 ous Macchiavel to school. Besides the uniform 

 aversion which he inspires, he occupies us in the 

 greatest variety of ways by his profound skill in 

 dissimulation, his wit, his prudence, his presence of 

 mind, his quick activity, and his valour. 



In regard to the pieces generally rejected by the 

 English editors, Schlegel contends that Titus An- 

 dronicus is genuine, but supposes it to have been a 

 production of Shakspeare 's youth. Pericles, Prince 

 of Tyre, he also considers as undoubtedly genuine. 

 Of Thomas Lord Cromwell, Sir John Oldcastle, 

 and A Yorkshire Tragedy, he says, "These three 

 pieces are not only unquestionably Shakspeare's, 

 but, in my opinion, they deserve to be classed 

 among his best and maturest works." Respecting 

 Locrine he does not express a decided opinion. 



Besides his dramatic works, Shakspeare wrote 

 one hundred and fifty-four sonnets, and two narra- 

 tive poems Venus and Adonis (printed in 1593), 

 and the Rape of Lucretia. The former is called, 

 by Shakspeare, in the dedication to the earl of 

 Southampton, " the first heir of his invention." In 

 these productions, the fire and power of Shakspeare 

 are not to be mistaken. Their luxuriant imagery, 

 play of wit, prolixity, and inequality, are to be at- 

 tributed to his youth. Shakspeare has not strictly 

 confined himself to the ancient mythology ; for in- 

 stance, he makes Venus to be rejected by Adonis. 

 The one hundred and fifty-four sonnets do not re- 

 semble, in matter or form, the productions of Pe- 

 trarch. They are condensed, intellectual, and often 

 witty. Schlegel touches upon the important aid 

 which they may afford to some future biographer 

 of Shakspeare, in regard to the circumstances of 

 his private life. 



For further information, we would refer the 

 reader to the various editions of Shakspeare, by 

 Rowe, Pope, Warburton, Johnson, Steevens, Ma- 

 lone, &c. ; to Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare 

 (London, 1807, 2 vols.,8vo.); Drake's Shakspeare 

 and his Times (London, 1817, 2 vols., 8vo.); Sey- 

 mour's Remarks on the Plays of Shakspeare (Lon- 

 don, 1805, 2 vols., 8vo.) ; Hazlitt's Characters of 

 Shakspeare's Plays (London, 1817, &c., &c.); Mrs 

 Jamieson's Characteristics of Women (the female 

 characters in Shakspeare's Plays) 2 vols. Lives of 

 Shakspeare have been written by Rowe, Malone, 

 and Skottowe: the last appeared in London, 1824, 

 2 vols., accompanied by illustrations of the poet. 

 Numerous alterations and rifacimentos of the plays 

 have been made, for the purpose of representation, 

 by Sir William D'Avenant, Dryden, Shadwell, 

 Dennis, Colley Cibber, Garrick, Kemble, &c. In 

 Germany, commentaries have been written on the 

 great dramatist by such men as A. W. Schlegel, 

 who has translated the greater part of the plays; 

 by Tieck, who has undertaken to complete the 

 translation; by the poet Gothe, &c. In France, 

 many of the plays have been adapted for the 

 French stage by Ducis. Retzscb, a distinguished 

 German artist, has lately published designs illustra- 

 tive of scenes from the plays of Shakspeare, which 

 are highly commended. The first number relates 

 to Hamlet, and was published at Leipsic in 1828. 



SHAMANS; in Great Tartary and Mongolia, 



a part of China, Siberia, and Kamtsclwika, priest*, 

 who are at the same time physicians, sorcerers, and 

 conjurers. Shamanism, which contains the lowest 

 representations of the Deity and of divine things, 

 was probably supplanted in the southern parts of 

 Asia by the more elevated doctrines of Confucius 

 and Zoroaster. In its present state, in Tangut, a 

 part of China, and in Mongolia, it is a mixture of 

 the old heathen Shamanism with Nestorianism 

 (see Nestorius~), and is called Lamaism, or Shige- 

 moonism. (See Za?a.) It has been diffused in 

 China, where it is the religion of the court, by the 

 Mantchoos, and prevails in Thibet, a part of India, 

 in Tartary, Mongolia, and among the Calmucks. 

 The doctrine of the metempsychosis, and the wor- 

 ship of the god Fo, form a part of modern Shama- 

 nism. (See .Fo.) The principal doctrine of the 

 primitive Shamanism was the existence of ninny 

 gods, some created, some increate, existing in the 

 form of heavenly bodies, or of animals, or of inani- 

 mate things, or arbitrarily formed by human hands. 

 It also taught the existence of good and bad spirits. 

 After death, men continue to exist, in a melancholy 

 condition, influenced neither by good nor bad works. 

 The religious service of the Shamanites consists of 

 sacrifices, prayers, &c., by which the worshippers 

 hope to gain the favour of the good gods, and avert 

 the wrath of the bad. 



SHAMO, DESERT OF. See Cobi. 



SHAMPOOING. The process, as practised in 

 the East Indies, is described under Bath. 



SHAMROCK (in the Gaelic, seamrag*); pro- 

 bably, in the Irish and Gaelic languages, a generic 

 term for trefoils.* The name is commonly given 

 to the heraldic emblem of Ireland. It is sometimes 

 applied to the medicago lupulina, or hop-trefoil, a 

 plant very much resembling, and often confounded 

 with, the yellow clover, from which, however, it 

 is readily distinguished by the spiral form of the 

 pods. 



SHANNON; the largest river, not only in Ire- 

 land, but in the British islands, originates in a 

 little plain at the base of Quilka mountain, in the 

 county of Cavan; and taking a westerly course, 

 receives the waters of lough Allen, whence it flows 

 through a length of 200 miles, into the Atlantic 

 ocean, below the city of Limerick. It may be said 

 to divide Ireland into two great divisions. In its 

 course it expands into several great lakes or inland 

 seas, the most important of which are lough Ree 

 and lough Derg. Two lines of inland navigation, 

 called the grand and royal canals, open a communi- 

 cation between the ports on the Shannon and the 

 city of Dublin. Besides these great accessions to 

 the completion of a useful and extensive line 01 

 water-carriage, the occasional difficulty of navigat- 

 ing the lakes has been obviated by the introduction 

 of steam tugs, &c., for towing the barges through, 

 so that the intercourse is now perfect from lough 

 Allen to the Shannon's mouth, a distance of 254 

 miles, and from the same lough to the city of 

 Dublin, by both the great canals. In its passage 

 it reaches the shores of Leitrim, Longford, West- 

 meath, King's County, Tipperary, Limerick, and 

 Kerry, on the east ; whilst Roscommon, Gal way, and 

 Clare, front it on the west. For a further account 

 of this noble river, see the article Ireland. 



SHARK (squalus of Linnaeus); a family of car- 

 tilaginous fishes, allied to the Rays, and celebrated 

 for the size and voracity of many of the species. 



* See I. E. Uicheno's paper On the Plant intended by Hie 

 Shamrock, read to the Loud. Lin. Soc. 



