SHELL SIIEREEN 



race of Mohammed. The prince of Mecca is styled 

 "sheik of Mecca," and calls himself a legitimate 

 descendant of Mohammed, and demands presents 

 from the caravans. The Mohammedans also call 

 the heads of their monasteries sheiks, and the Turk- 

 ish mufti is sometimes called sheik ulislam (chief of 

 the true believers). 



SHELL. See Conchology. 



SHELL, in artillery, includes bombs and gra- 

 nades. See those articles. 



SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE, a modern English 

 poet, was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, 

 Sussex, and born at Field-place, in that county, 

 August 4, 1792. He was sent to Eton, whence he 

 was early removed to Oxford. This removal was 

 owing to his eccentricity of character, which led 

 him to neglect the studies, and violate the rules of 

 the school, and finally resulted in his expulsion from 

 Oxford. His family, naturally offended with his 

 conduct, and not less with his free opinions in mat- 

 ters of religion, was still farther estranged by an 

 ill assorted marriage. The result was very unfor- 

 tunate, for after the birth of two children, a sepa- 

 ration took place by mutual consent ; and the death 

 of the lady soon after, exposed him to much obloquy. 

 On the decease of his first wife, he married Miss 

 Godwin, daughter of the celebrated author of Politi- 

 cal Justice, by Mary Wolstonecraft, and soon after 

 retired to Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, where he 

 wrote his Revolt of Islam. About this time, ap- 

 plication was made by his family to deprive him of \ 

 the guardianship of his two children, a boy and a 

 girl, on the ground of his atheistical and sceptical 

 notions, and certain dangerous opinions respecting 

 the intercourse of the sexes. The application suc- 

 ceeded, principally owing to a juvenile production, 

 called Queen Mab, written while at Oxford, and 

 published without the consent of the author. This 

 event caused him much uneasiness, and probably in- 

 duced him to quit England, and repair with his second I 

 wife and their children to Italy, where he renewed an 

 acquaintance with Lord Byron, to whom he had be- 

 come known during a former visit to the continent. 

 With him and Leigh Hunt, Shelley joined in a perio- 

 dical miscellany, published in London, entitled The 

 Liberal. This publication, which contained the 

 Vision of Judgment, by Lord Byron, and other ori- 

 ginal productions, was interrupted by the untimely 

 death of Mr Shelley, who was drowned on his return 

 from Leghorn to his house, on the gulf of Lerici, in 

 the bay of Spezia, by the wreck of his sailing boat, in 

 a sudden storm, July, 1822. A few days afterwards 

 the body was washed ashore near Via Reggio, and 

 was subsequently reduced to ashes by his friends. 

 Shelley's remains were deposited in the Protestant 

 buriafegroundl at Rome. At the time of his de- 

 cease, Mr Shelley had nearly completed his thir- 

 tieth year. His principal works are the Revolt of 

 Islam; Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude; The 

 Cenci, a tragedy (see Cenci, Beatrice) ; Adonais ; 

 Hellas, Prometheus Unbound; and a posthumous 

 volume of poems. 



SHELL-LAC. See Coccus. 



SHEM ; one of the patriarchs, eldest son of 

 Noah, is said in Scripture to have died at the age 

 of 600 years, The Hebrews trace their origin to 

 Shem, through Abraham, who was the eighth in 

 descent from him. 



SHEMITISH LANGUAGES. See Semitic 

 Languages. 



SHENANDOAH; a river of Virginia, which 

 flows into the Potomac, after a separate course of 



about 200 miles, just before the Potomac bursts 

 through the Blue Ridge. It waters a fertile coun- 

 try, and has good boat navigation for 100 miles. 



SHENSTONE, WILLIAM, an English poet, was 

 born at Hales Owen, in Shropshire, in 1714. His 

 father was a gentleman farmer, who cultivated a 

 moderate estate, called the Leasowes, which were 

 rendered celebrated by the taste of his son. The 

 latter was educated at Oxford, and entertained 

 thoughts of taking his academical degrees, and pro- 

 ceeding to the study of some profession, but was 

 seduced, by obtaining possession of his paternal pro- 

 perty, to relinquish all his views of an active life, 

 and occupied himself with rural embellishments, and 

 the cultivation of poetry. In 1737, he printed a 

 volume of juvenile poems, which obtained little 

 notice; and, in 1740, the Judgment of Hercules. 

 In the following year appeared his School-mistress, 

 the best of his poems. His great object, to render 

 the Leasowes famous for picturesque beauty and ele- 

 gance, led to expi nses which he could but ill support, 

 and he was by no means a happy inhabitant of the 

 Eden which he had created. He died in February, 

 1763, in his fiftieth year. His works were collected 

 in three volumes, octavo. The first consists of 

 elegies, odes, songs and ballads, levities, or pieces 

 of humour, and moral pieces; the second contains 

 his prose works; and the third, Letters to his 

 Friends. As a poet, he is elegant, melodious, 

 tender, and correct in sentiment, and often pleas- 

 ing and natural in description, but rather feeble. 

 The prose works display good sense and cultivated 

 taste, and contain just and acute observations on 

 mankind. See his Life by Johnson, and Graves's 

 Recollections of Shenstone. 



SHEPHERD KINGS. See Hycsos. , 



SHEPHERD'S DOG (cam's domesticus of Lin- 

 nseus, and le chien de berger of Buffbn) is distin- 

 guished by its upright ears and the remarkable vil- 

 losity of the tail beneath, and stands at the head of 

 the class of farm dogs. This breed of dogs is said to 

 be preserved in the greatest purity in the northern 

 part of Scotland, where its aid is highly necessary 

 in managing the numerous herds of sheep bred in 

 those extensive wilds. The same variety is diffused 

 over most parts of Europe. The dog prevents the 

 sheep from straggling, and conducts them from one 

 part of the pasture to another: it will not suffer any 

 strange sheep to mix with them. In driving a num- 

 ber of sheep to a distance, a well-trained dog always 

 confines them to the road, watching every avenue 

 that leads from it, and pursuing every straggler. At 

 the herdsman's signal, this faithful assistant will con- 

 duct the sheep to him from a considerable distance. 



SHEPHERD'S PURSE (thlaspi bursa pastoris); 

 a small, insignificant, cruciferous plant, bearing di- 

 minutive white flowers, and short, triangular, com- 

 pressed pods, which is now naturalized, and com- 

 mon in cultivated grounds, in most parts of the 

 world. The radical leaves are pinnatifid. It is of 

 no known utility. 



SHERBET/OR SORBETTO; a beverage of 

 the Orientals, made of water, sugar, lemon-juice, 

 rose-water, dried fruits and amber. 



SHEREEN, OR SCHIRIN, OR SIRA; an Ar- 

 menian princess, second wife of Chosrou or Chos- 

 roes II. who reigned over Persia in the beginning 

 of the seventh century. Shereen is still in West- 

 ern Asia the model of female perfection, celebrated 

 for her wit, her accomplishments, and her incom- 

 parable beauty. Her story is to be found in the 

 Shahnameh. (See Ferdusi.) The Persian and 



