S H E 



S H E 



mean didracKm, of 133 troy grains, mult be very near its 

 juft weight, and its half, or 665 grains, that of thf Attic 

 drachm. The weight of the fhekel would therefore be 

 665 X 4 = 266 troy grains. 



Some are of opinion, that the Hebrews had two kinds 

 of (hekels , the common, ov profane fhekel, called didrachma ; 

 and the (hekel of the fanduary ; which lall they will have to 

 be double the former. By this expedient th'.y think we 

 may get clear of fome difficulties occurring m Scripture, 

 ■where things are mentioned as of incredible weight ; parti- 

 cularly that paffage where it is faid, that every time Abfa- 

 lom cut off his hair, the weight of which ufed to incom- 

 mode him, he cut off the weight of two hundred (hekels. 



But Villalpandus will rot hear of fuch a diilinttion ; nor 

 do bifhop Cumberland, M. Morin, Greaves, &c. take the 

 opinion to have any foundation. The profane fhekel, or 

 (hekel of four drachmas, they agree, was the fame with 

 the facreii fliekel ; and it was only called by this lall na'r.e, 

 becaufe the ilandard of it was kept in the fanftviary by the 

 priefts. 



Greaves apprehends, that the Tpuxovra afyvftx, or 30 

 pieces of filver, which were given to Judas, as the reward 

 of his treafon, were 30 fhekels. Some modern writers, he 

 fays, imagine they were 30 denarii, and others, that they 

 were tri/tnta Vthrti, or tnginta talenta. Greaves's Works, 

 vol. i. p. 257, note n. 



It is maintained by feveral, that the Jews had alfo a gold 

 ftiekel, fulus aureus, of the fame weight with the filver one ; 

 and valued at 1/. i6j. 6d. fterling. 



The (hekel is fuppofed to have been firit (truck in the 

 Defert, on the footing of lOO to the Attic mina, weigliing 

 l6o grains of wheat, and current for 10 geratis, or oboli ; 

 but that afterwards they were (track of double that weight. 

 Some will have the fhekel to be the oldeft piece of money 

 in the world, as being in ufe in Abraham's time ; but this 

 was not coined, or Itamped, nor had any other value be- 

 fides its intrinfic worth. 



Xenophoii mentions (hekels as current in Arabia ; and 

 Dii-Cange fpcaks of othersi (truck and current in England. 

 Pinkerton, in his Effay on Medals, (vol. i. p. 291.) (ug- 

 gelts, that the Hebrew fliekel, and alfo the brafs coins, with 

 Samaritan charafters, were not molt of them later than the 

 • Chrillian era, and generally the fabrications of modern Jews. 

 At any rate, the fame imprefiion of a fprig on one fide, and 

 a vafe upon the other, runs throu;^h all the coins of that 

 barbarous nation ; and the admiflion of but one of them is 

 rightly elteemed to be almoll a difgrace to a cabinet. 



SHEKIDJEK, in Geography, a town of Gr.nnd Bu- 

 charia ; Go miles N.W. of Saganian. 



SHEKOABAD, a town of Hindooftan, in Dooab ; 60 

 miles W. of Canoge. N. lat. 27-9'. E. long. 79'^ 2'. 



SHI'IL.'VH, a tovvn of Afiatic Turkey, in Natolia, near 

 the Black fea ; 12 miles N. of Ilmid. 



SHELAN, a town of P.rfia, in the province of Far- 

 (illan, near the Perfian gulf; 75 miles S.S.W. of Jarom. 



SHELBURN, a town of America, in the province ot 

 Vermont, and county of Chittend-n, on the E. fide of lake 

 Champlain, containing 987 inhabitants. 



SiiuLuuuN Bay, a bay on the N. coad of New Hol- 

 land, between Oxfordnefs and Cape Grenvillc. 



SHELBURNE, (ometimcs called Port Rofetvay, a fea- 

 port town of Nova Scotia, at the head of a bay, in the 

 S.W. part of the province. At the conclufion of the 

 American war, this place was made the feat of royalty, and 

 it was defigned to ereft many buildings here, and in 17H3 it 

 contained above 600 families : but being neglefted and un- 

 able to defend thcmfclves, many of them afterwards left 



the town ; 90 miles W. of Halifax. N. lat. 43* 50'. W. 

 long. 63" 15'. 



Shelburne, a town of America, in the province of 

 MalTachufetts atid county of Hampfliirc, containing 961 in- 

 habitants ; 98 miles W. of Bolton. — Alfo, a town of New 

 Hamplhire, in the county of Cors, incorporated in 1769, 

 and containing 176 inhabitants. 



SHELBY. SeeSllEBBY. 



SHELDAFLE, a name ufed in feveral parts of the 

 kingdom for the chaffinch. 



SHELDON, GlLiiEiiT, iii Biography, arclibifliop of 

 Canterbury, was born in 1598, at Stanton, in StafTordlhire. 

 His father was a menial fervant of Gilbert, earl of Shr^-wi- 

 bury, though defcended from an ancient family in Stafford- 

 (hire. The fubjetl of this article took his name from the 

 earl, who was his god-father. Having laid the foundation of 

 a good education, he was entered of Trinity college, Oxford, 

 in 161 3, and after taking the ufual degrees was eleiSed fellow 

 of All Souls' college, in 1622. When he had taken orders 

 he became chaplain to lord keeper Coventry, who made ufe 

 of his fervices on various important occafions. As a reward 

 for tliefe fervices he prefented him with a prebend of Glo- 

 celter, and recommended him to his majelly, as one ex- 

 tremely well verfed in pohtical affairs. When he had taken 

 his doctor's degree, in 1634, he wa? elefled warden of All 

 Souls' college. He was alio chaplain in ordinary to the king, 

 and clerk of the college, and was in the road to farther pre- 

 ferment when the civil wars broke out, ai:d checked his ca- 

 reer. He was a zealous adherent to the royal caufe, at- 

 tended the king on various occafions, and rendered himfelf 

 obnoxious to the parliament : on which account he was 

 ejedted from his wardenfliip, and imprifoncd fur fix months. 

 On his liberation, he retired to his friends in the country, 

 and from his own purfe, and the contributions of others, 

 he fent frequent fupplies to Charles H. during his exile. 

 On the relloration he received ample rewards for his fuffer- 

 ings and Ready loyalty, being reitored to his offices, and pro- 

 moted to the fee of London. 



The conference between the epifcopal and prefbyterian 

 divines in 1661, was held at the Savoy, in bilhop Sheldon's 

 lodgings. On this occafion he is accufed by the oppofite 

 party of want of fairnefs, and he reje£led the propolal of 

 an amicable difcuffion, and infilled that the Prefbyterians 

 lliould firft bring in writing all their objeftions againft the 

 liturgy, and all the additions which they propofed. He did 

 not appear often at the conference, and never entered into 

 difpiitation, yet he was known to have had the principal 

 fliare in the determination. To conciliate was not his ob- 

 jedt ; he was refolved to carry his point by power : when it 

 was deba.*.cd in council in Augult 1662, whether the aft of 

 Uinrormity fliould be punttually executed that month, or be 

 fufpended for a tin-.e, bilhop Sheldon pleaded againll the 

 fufpeiifion, and carried the council with him. " If," fays 

 his biographer, " in thefe and other iiillances he appears too 

 much the political churchman, in public fpirit and muni- 

 ficence he lulLiiiied, after an exemplary manner, the cha- 

 raiter of a great prelate. He expended large luins upon 

 the epifcop.al iioufes of the fee of London, and being in 

 K.65 tranllated to that of Canterbury, he rebuilt the library 

 at Lambeth, and made many additions to its contents." 



On the removal of lord Clarendon from the chanccllor- 

 (liip of the univerfity of Oxford, he was chofen to luccced 

 him in December 1667, and he immortalized his name in 

 that univerfity by the ereftii-n, .it his fole ex pence, of the 

 celebrated theatre at Oxford. Of this atl bilhop Lowth fays, 

 " iMuiius dignuni audore — quod cum intueor et circum- 

 fpieio vidcor mihi in ipfa Roma, vel in mcdiis Athenis, an- 



tiquis 



