SHARP. 



219 



The form of the body is elongated, arid the tai 

 thick and fleshy. The mouth is large, geneially 

 situated beneath the snout, and is armed with 

 several rows of compressed, sharp-edged, and some- 

 times serrated, teeth. The water penetrates to the 

 gills by means of several transverse openings situ- 

 ated on each side of the neck. The skeleton is 

 cartilaginous. The skin is usually very rough, 

 covered with a multitude of little osseous tuber- 

 cles; and that of some species forms the substance 

 called shagreen. The eggs of the sharks are few 

 and large, in comparison with those of bony fishes; 

 they are enveloped in a hard, horny, semi-trans- 

 parent shell, terminated at the four angles with 

 long filaments; in short, they resemble those oi 

 the rays, and are likewise frequently cast up by 

 the waves upon the shores of the sea. The flesh 

 of sharks is, in general, hard, coriaceous, and ill- 

 tasted, but some are good for food. They are the 

 most formidable and voracious of all fishes, pursue 

 all other marine animals, and seem to care little 

 whether their prey be living or dead. They often 

 follow vessels for the sake of picking up any offal 

 which may be thrown overboard; and man himself 

 often becomes a victim to their rapacity. The 

 sharks form several natural genera, distinguished 

 by the presence or absence of bow-holes, or of the 

 anal fin, by the form of the head, nose and teeth, 

 &c. &c. The teeth of sharks are moveable at the 

 will of the animal, and are usually laid down and 

 directed backwards, but become erect at the 

 moment the animal is seizing its prey. Shagreen, 

 which is extensively used in the arts, is furnished 

 by several species, and, together with their oil, 

 forms the most important of their products. The 

 basking shark (selache maxima) is by far the largest 

 of the genus, sometimes attaining the length of 

 forty feet ; but it has none of the ferocity of the 

 others, and the teeth are excessively small. It 

 inhabits the northern seas. It is sometimes called 

 whalebone shark, from having in the mouth a sub- 

 stance resembling whalebone. -The hammer-headed 

 sharks (zygtena) are remarkable among fishes for 

 having the head flattened and projecting laterally, 

 which gives to the animal something of the form of 

 a hammer. The eyes are placed at the extremity 

 of these prominences. They are very voracious, 

 and frequently attack man. The species of squa- 

 lina differ from the other sharks in having the 

 mouth terminal, the body flattened horizontally, 

 and the pectoral fins large, and the eyes on the 

 upper part of the head. The long-tailed shark, or 

 thresher, is distinguished by having the tail as long 

 as the body. 



SHARP (in Italian, maggiore; in German, dur, 

 from the Latin durus, hard) is a musical term ap- 

 plied to those keys, the basis of which is the 

 "perfect harmonic triad." Sharp signifies also a 

 character, the power of which is to raise a note, 

 before which it is placed, half a tone higher than it 

 would be without such a prefix. The character is 

 formed thus: ff See Flat. 



SHARP, JAMES, archbishop of St Andrews, in 

 Scotland, was born in BanfFshire in 1618, and was 

 early destined, by his family, for the ministry. 

 With this view, he was placed at the Marischal 

 college in Aberdeen, but, objecting to take the 

 "solemn league and covenant," quitted the uni- 

 versity, and went to London. During the civil 

 wars, he returned to his native country, and ob- 

 tained a professorship in the university of St An- 

 drews. His eloquence and reputation caused him to 



be selected, by the moderate Presbyterian party in 

 Scotland, to advocate their cause with the pro- 

 tector, Cromwell, against the demands of the more 

 rigid Calvinists; and he was subsequently sent to 

 Breda, by Monk, for the purpose of procuring the 

 sanction of Charles II. to the proposed settlement 

 of the ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland. He re- 

 turned to Scotland, and delivered to some of the 

 ministers of Edinburgh a letter from the king, in 

 which the latter promised to protect the govern- 

 ment of the church of Scotland, " as it is settled 

 by law." The clergy, understanding this declara- 

 tion in its obvious sense, were satisfied; but it 

 subsequently appeared, that Sharp had in view to 

 subvert the church government, which he affected 

 to maintain, pleading to the friends of episcopacy 

 that this letter would pledge the king to nothing, 

 as the parliament had only to establish episcopacy, 

 to transfer the pledge of the monarch to its sup- 

 port. Presbytery being accordingly overturned 

 by parliament, Sharp was rewarded with the pri- 

 macy, and appointed archbishop of St Andrews. 

 The wanton cruelties which followed, confirmed 

 the horror entertained against him, and raised the 

 fury of some of his more bigoted opponents to 

 attempts against his life. In 1678, he narrowly 

 escaped assassination from the hand of James Mit- 

 chell, an enthusiast, who was some time after taken 

 and executed. A similar attempt, the following 

 year, was more successful. His carriage, in which 

 he was travelling in Magus Muir, about three miles 

 from St Andrews, on the 3d May, 1679, was met 

 by some fanatics, headed by John Balfour of Burley, 

 who were waiting there to intercept a servant of 

 the archbishop's, named Carmichael. To tempers 

 thus heated by fanaticism, the appearance of the 

 archbishop himself was deemed a sign of the inten- 

 tion of Providence to substitute a more important 

 victim; and, regardless of the tears and entreaties 

 of his daughter, they dragged him from his carriage, 

 and despatched him with their swords, with which 

 they inflicted no less than twenty-two wounds. 



SHARP, GRANVILLE, an English gentleman, 

 eminent for his philanthropy and learning, was 

 born in 1734, and educated for the bar, but did not 

 practise at it ; he obtained a place in the ordnance 

 office, which he resigned at the commencement of 

 the American war, the principles of which he did 

 not approve. He then took chambers in the 

 Temple, and led a life of private study. He first 

 became known by his defence of a poor negro 

 named So'merset. This man, having been carried 

 to England by his master, was turned out into the 

 streets to die, during a fit of sickness, and when, 

 by the charity of Mr Sharp and others, he had been 

 restored to health, was claimed again as property. 

 The result of the law proceedings, on this question, 

 not only cleared Somerset, but determined that 

 slavery could not exist in Great Britain. Such an 

 incident could not fail to deeply impress a benevo- 

 lent mind; and slavery, in every country, became 

 the object of his unceasing hostility. Having suc- 

 ceeded in the case of an individual negro, he inte- 

 rested himself in the condition of others, whom he 

 found wandering in the streets of London, and, at 

 lis own expense, sent a number of them to Sierra 

 Leone: he also, soon after, became the institutor 

 of the society for the abolition of the slave trade, 

 and sought to modify the harsh practice of impress- 

 ment. He was likewise led, by his political prin- 

 :iples, to be the advocate of parliamentary reform, 

 n support of which he published a Declaration of 



