S H I 



A fort of fliields was worn by the Scots at the battle of 

 Muflelborough, in the firlt year of Edward VI. Shields or 

 bucklers fi?ern to have been ufed in affrays and private quar- 

 rels, by perfons in the civil line, as late as the reigns of Eli- 

 sabeth and king James I. The common appellation for a 

 quarrclfome or fighting fellow about that period was a fwafh- 

 buckler, that is, a breaker or clafher of bucklers. Maurice, 

 prince of Orange, was a gre.it advocate for the fhield, and 

 even attempted to revive the ufe of it. His company of 

 Dutch guards was armed with targets and roundels, and he 

 formed a regular plan of exercife for them. The target and 

 broad fword were the favourite arms of the Scotch High- 

 landers as late as the year 1746, and even after. Swords and 

 bucklers were anciently borne before great military officers, 

 as infignia of their dignity : thofe carried before king Ed- 

 ward HI. in France, arc fhewn in Weftminfter Abbey. The 

 fhield borne before the commandant of the forces on board 

 the Spaniih Armada, is preferved in the Tower, and a fword 

 was borne before the bifhop of Norwich, as commander of 

 the troops with which he intended to ferve king Richard II. 

 Mod of the ornamented metal (hiclds, and many of the very 

 large fwords, were dcfigned for this ufe. 



The Spaniards and Portuguefe have the like general form 

 of fhields, but they are round at the bottom, without the 

 point ; and the Germans, befide the Samnite fhield, have two 

 others pretty much in ufe : thefe are, i . The bulging 

 (hield, diftinguifhed by its fvvelling or bulging out at the 

 flanks ; and, 2. The indented fhield, or fhield chancree, 

 which has a number of notches and indcntings all round its 

 fides. The ufe of the ancient fhield of this form was, that 

 the notches ferved to relt the lance upon, that it might be 

 firm while it gave the thruft ; but this form being lels pro- 

 per for the receiving armorial figures, the two former have 

 been much more ufed in the heraldry of that nation. 



Another form of fhield derived its name roundel, or 

 rondacha, from its circular figure ; it was made of ofiers, 

 boards of light wood, finews or ropes, covered with lea- 

 ther, plates of metal, or tluck full of nails, in concentric cir- 

 cles, or other figures. The Ihields and roundels of metal, 

 particularly thofe richly engraved or embofled, feem rather 

 to have been infignia of dignity, anciently borne before gene- 

 rals or great officers, than calculated for war ; mofl of them 

 being either too heavy for convenient ufe, or too flight to 

 refill the violence of a itroke either from a fword or battle- 

 axe. Although moil roundels are convex, we meet with 

 many that are concave ; but thefe have commonly an umbo. 

 The handles are placed as in the fhield and target. The 

 roundel feems, in many inltances, to refemble the Roman 

 parma. For another form of fhield, fee Pavais. 



Befides this different form of the fli:eld^ in heraldry, we find 

 them alfo often diftinguifhed by their dilfcrent pofitions, fome 

 of them Handing crecl, and others Handing various ways, and 

 in different degrees ; this the heralds exprefs by tlie word 

 ptndanl, hanging, they feeming to be hung up, not by the 

 centre, but by the right or left corner. The French call 

 thefe ecu ptndant, and the common antique trian',nilar ones 

 ecu ancieii. The Italians call tliisy6u/</yi;ni/.7//c ; and the rea- 

 fon given for cxinbiting the fhield in thefe figures in heraldry 

 in, that in the ancient tilts and tournaments, they who were 

 to jult at thefe military exercifcs, were obliged to hang up 

 their fhields, with their armories or coats of arms on them, 

 out at the windows and balconies of the houfes near tiie 

 place ; or upon trees, pavilions, or the barriers of the 

 ground, if the exercife was to he performed in the field. 

 Thofe who were to fight on foot, according to Colunibier, 

 had their fhields hung up by the right corner, and thofe who 

 were to fight on horfc-back, had theirs hung up by the left. 



SHI 



This pofition of the fhields in heraldry is called couche by 

 fome writers, though by the generality pendant. 



It was very frequent in all parts of Europe, in arms given 

 between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries ; but it is to 

 be oblerved, that the hanging by the left corner, as it was 

 the token of the owner's being to fight on horfe-back, fo it 

 was elleeraed the moll honourable and noble fituation ; and 

 all the pendant fhields of the Ions of the royal family of Scot- 

 land and England, and of our nobility, at that time, are 

 thus hanging from the left corner. Tiie hanging from this 

 corner was a token of the owner's being of noble birth, and 

 having fought in the tournaments before ; but no fovercign 

 ever had a fhield pendant any way, but always ereft, as they 

 never formally entered the lifts of the tournament. 



The Italians generally have their lliields of arms of an 

 oval form ; this feems to be done in imitation of thofe of 

 the popes, and other dignified clergy ; hut their herald, 

 Petro Saniflo, feems to regret the ule of this figure of the 

 Ihield, as an innovation brought in by the painters and en- 

 gravers, as moll convenient for liolding tlie figure;, but 

 derogatory to the honour of the pofleffor, as not repre- 

 fenting either antiquity, or honours won in war, but rather 

 the honours of fome citizen, or perfon of learning. Some 

 have carried it fo far, as to fay that thofe, who either have 

 no ancient title to nobility, or have fullied it by any un- 

 worthy a£lion, cannot any longer wear their arms in fliields 

 properly figured, but were obliged to have them painted in 

 an oval or round fhield. 



In Flanders, where this author lived, the round and oval 

 fhields are in the difrepute he fpeaks of ; but in Italy, be- 

 fides the popes and dignified prelates, many of the firil fa- 

 milies of the laity have them. 



The fecular princes, in many other countries, alfo retain 

 this form of the fliield, as the mofl ancient, and truly ex- 

 preffive of the Roman clypcus. Nifbet's Heraldry, p. i2. 

 Componille, Herald. 



Shikld, in Heraldry, denotes the efcutcheon, or field 

 whereon the bearings of the armoury are placed. See 

 Escutcheon. 



SHIELDRAKE. See Tadorna. 

 SHIELDS, William, in Biography. Though this 

 miifical profeflor, for the happinefs of his acquaintance, 

 ilill ranks with the living, and we can tell our contempo- 

 raries nothing concerning his worth and talents which is not 

 already well known, yet as his name has penetrated into 

 Germany, and has furniflied an article in Gerber's Conti- 

 nuation of Waltiier's Mufical Lexicon, we cannot refill 

 confirming the account given of \\\s compofitions in that 

 work. 



Shields, North, in Geography, a market-town and fea- 

 port in Callle ward, county of Northumberland, Eng- 

 land, is fituated near the entrance of the river Tyne, on its 

 nortlicrn bank, at thediftancc of half a mile W.S.W. from 

 the town of Tyncmouth, and 279 miles N. by W. from 

 I.,ondon. This town is indebted for its origin to the monks 

 of Tynemouth ])nory, wiio ereded a number of houfes here, 

 and encouraged the fettlement of lliip-owners and tradelinen, 

 early in the reign of Edward 1. They at the fame time 

 formed a harbour here for lading .ind unlading of (hips, and 

 eltabliflied a weikly market and fairs; but the oxcrcile of 

 thefe privileges having been difputed by the corporation of 

 NewcalUc, they were inhibited by a decreet of the itinerant 

 judges. Fnmi that pcricid it continued to be a mere lifliing 

 village till the middle of the feventecnth century, when newr 

 efforts were made to render it an important fea-port, for 

 winch juirpofe its fituation i^ admirably adapted. Cromwell, 

 who then held the reins of government, with the cond-iit of 



parliament 



