SHI 



Birklarid and Bilhagh, letters were found cut or damped in 

 the body of the trees, denoting the king's reign in which 

 they were fo marked. The cyphers were of king John, 

 James I., and William and Mary. The mark of John was 

 eighteen inches within the tree, and about a foot from the 

 centre ; it was cut down in 1 791 ; but the middle of John's 

 reign was 1207, from which, if we fubtraft 120, the num- 

 ber of years requiiite for a tree of two feet diameter to arrive 

 at that growth, it will make the date of its planting 1087. 



The forelt of Shirewood was, in ancient times, frequently 

 the fcene of royal amufement. As early as the reign of 

 Henry II., Mansfield was the general refidence of the court 

 upon thefe occafions, and it was in this vicinity, according 

 to tradition, that Henry made acquaintance with the miller 

 of famous memory, fir John Cockle. This foreft was like- 

 wife the retreat of another perfonage, equally celebrated in 

 the chronicle of ballad, the illuftrious Robin Hood, who, 

 with little John, and the rell of his aii'ociates, making the 

 woody fcenes of it their afylum, laid the whole county under 

 contribution. Thoroton's Hiftory of Noltinghamlhire, 

 republifhed, with additions, by John Throlby, 3 vols. 410. 

 1790. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xii. by 

 Mr. Laird, 8vo. 1813. 



SHIRINKI, one of the Kurile iflands, about 26 verfts 

 from Poromulhir. On it rifes a round mountain-top ; and 

 about it, on the coaft, walls of rock and loofe brittle Hone, 

 but it has no fandy bay, nor any fafe inlet for Ihipping. 

 The idand is nearly as broad as it is long, and may be about 40 

 verfts m circumference. It is only inhabited by fealions and 

 other marine animals, with fome red foxes and fea-fo wis that 

 have been carried thither with the ice. There is no wood on 

 the itland, except a few fticks of the mountain pine and fome 

 elder bufhes ; and it has neither a ftream nor a fpring of 

 water. The rocks are very much difpofcd to break and fall 

 in fragments. N. lat. 50° 40'. E. long. 138° 3'. 



SHIRLEY, Anthony, in Biography, fecond fon of 

 Thomas Shirley of Wetton, in Suiiex, a celebrated tra- 

 veller, was born in 1565. He itudied at Oxford, where he 

 took his bachelor's degree in 1581, after which he joined 

 the Englilh troops, which, at that time, were ferving in 

 Holland. In 1596 he was one of the adventurers who went 

 to annoy the Spaniards in their fettlements in the Well In- 

 dies, and on his return he was knighted. After this he was 

 lent by the queen into Italy, in order to afllft the people of 

 Ferrara in their contelt with the pope : before, however, he 

 arrived, all the difputes were accommodated, and peace 

 was figned ; he accordingly proceeded to Venice, and tra- 

 yelled from thence to Perfia, where he came in great favour 

 with Shah Abbas, by whom lie was fent ambafiador to 

 England in 1612. By the emperor of Germany he was 

 raifed to the dignity of count, and by the king of Spain he 

 was appointed admiral of the Levant ieas. He died in Spain 

 about the year 1630. There is an account of his Weft In- 

 dian expedition in the third volume of Haclnyt'sCoUeftion, 

 under the following title : " A true Relation of the Voyage 

 undertaken by Sir Anthony Shirley, Knight, in 1596, in- 

 tended for the Ifland San Tome, but performed to St. Jago, 

 Dominica, Margarita, along the Coaft of Tierra Firnia to 

 the Ifle of Jamaica, the Bay of Honduras, Thirty Leagues 

 up Rio Dolce, and homewards by Newfoundland, with the 

 memorable Exploits achieved in all this Voyage." His 

 travels into Perfia are printed feparately, and were publilhed 

 in London in 1613; and his travels over the Cafpian fea, and 

 through Ruflia, were inlcrtcd in Purchas's Pilgrimages. 



Shiuley, James, a poet and dramatic writer, was born 

 in London about the year 1594. He received the early 

 part of his education at Merchant Taylors' fchool, from 

 which place he was removed to Oxford. He was, on ac- 



S H I 



count of his talents, patronized by Dr. Laud, who, how- 

 ever, would not conlent to his t.;kir.g orders, by reafon 

 of his being disfigured by a large mole on his cheek, 

 which, in his eilimation, according to the canons of the 

 church, rendered him unfit to officiate in clerical duties. 

 Shirley therefore left Oxford without a degree ; but he af- 

 terwards removed to Cambridge, and meeting with no farther 

 obftacle,' he took orders, ar.d obtained a curacy. His reu- 

 gious creed was not fufficiently fettled, and he went over to 

 the church of Rome, abandoned his cure, and opened a 

 grammar-fchool at St. Alban's. After fome time he deferted 

 this employment, and became a writer for the itage. His 

 produdlions were fuccefsful, and he acquired a reputation 

 which caufed him to be taken into the fervice of queen 

 Henrietta-Maria. When the civil war broke out, he ac- 

 companied the earl of Nevvcaftle in his campaigns, and alfo 

 affiftedhim in the compofition of feveral of his plays. On 

 the ruin of the king's cauie he came to London, and refumed 

 his occupation of a fchool-mafter, in which he met with 

 confiderable encouragement, and he (hewed his attention to 

 the duties of his office, by publilhing fome works on 

 grammar. 



During the Commonwealth, theatrical amufements being 

 fufpended, Shirley had no room in which he could difplay 

 his dramatic talents ; but after the Reftoration, feveral of his 

 pieces appeared again on the ftage. The death of this 

 author is thus defcribed : his houfe' in Fleet-ftreet being 

 burnt in the grejit fire of London, lu the year 1666, he was 

 forced with his wife to retreat to the fuburbs ; in confequence 

 of the lofs and the alarm wliich this occafioned, both himfelf 

 and wife died within a few hours of each other, and they 

 were buried in the fame grave. 



Mr. Shirley was author of thirty -feven plays, confifting 

 of tragedies and comedies, and of a volume of poems, pub- 

 lifhed in 1646. He had the reputation of being the chief 

 among the fecond-rate poets of his time, but his works have 

 long fince difappeared from the ftage, and they are fcarcely 

 ever referred to by more modern authors, yet there have been 

 critics who thought highly of them. Dr. Farmer, in his 

 EfTay on the Learning of Shakfpeare, fays the imagination 

 of Shirley is fometimes fine to an extraordinary degree. He 

 affifted Mr. Ogilvie in his trandation of Homer and Virgil, 

 by writing notes on them. 



Shirley, in Geography, a townlhip of America, in Maf- 

 fachuletts, in the N.W. part of Middlefex county ; 41 

 miles N.W. of Bofton : incorporated in 17J3, and contain- 

 ing 814 inliabitants. — Alfo, a townlhip of Pennfylvania, 

 in Huntingdon county, containing 862 inhabitants. 



SHI RON, or ScHiRvoN, a town of Thibet ; 120 miles 

 N. of Catmandu. N. lat. 30° 10'. E. long. 85' 5'. 



SHIRVAN. See ScHiRVAN. 



SHISNIEZ, a town of Poland, in Volhynia ; 12 miles 

 N. of Conftantina. 



SHITAKOONTHA, a name of the Hmdoo deity 

 Siva. It means the blue-lhronUd ; and the fable accounting for 

 the name is often alluded to in the writings of th.at fanciful 

 people. It relates, that when the ocean was churned, in the 

 manner defcribed under our article Kurmava taua, poifon 

 was produced among the fourteen precious articles refulting 

 from that marvellous operation. The word, as well as 

 poifon, means medicinal drugs. This was fwallowcd by 

 Siva. 



«' To foften human ills, dread Siva drank 



The poifonoua flood that ftained his azure neck." 



In the fongs of Jayadeva, tranflatcd by fir W.Jones, in 



praifc of Vifhiiu and Lakflimi, under their names of Krilhna 



and Radha, the following pallage occurs, which we are in- 



10 duced 



