150 
SHI 
bazar is allotted to the different traders of the city, all of 
whom have their assigned quarters, which they possess un¬ 
der strict regulations. The ark, or citadel, which forms the 
residence of the governor, is a fortified square, of eighty 
yards. The royal palace within is far from being an ele¬ 
gant structure; and some pillars, which were its greatest 
ornament, were removed by Aga Mahommed, to adorn his 
palace at Jehrauh. Shiras still boasts a population of 40,000, 
and carries on an extensive commerce, which, during the 
tranquillity of the last few years, has greatly increased. It 
consists chiefly in receiving from Bushire the spices and cot¬ 
ton goods of India, and transmitting them to Ispahan and 
Yezd. The sides also of the hills which bound the plain of 
Shiras, produce a wine which has the highest reputation of 
any in Persia, or even in the east. Lat. 29. 36. N. long. 52. 
44. E. 
SHIRAVERD, a village of Ghilan ; 30 miles south of 
Astara. 
SHIRBEY, a village of Syria, in the pachalic of Aleppo ; 
15 miles east of Aleppo. 
SHIRBORN, a small river of England, in Warwickshire, 
which runs into the Sow at Whitby. 
SHIRBORNE, a parish of England, in Oxfordshire; 4 
miles south-by-east of Tetsworth. 
SHIRCOAT, a township of England, West Riding of 
Yorkshire, adjoining to Halifax. Population 2823. 
SHIRE, s. [fcip, from pcipan, to divide. Sax.] A divi¬ 
sion of the kingdom ; a county; so much of the kingdom as 
is under one sheriff. 
His blazing eyes, like two bright shining shields, 
Did burn with wrath, and sparkled living fire; 
As two broad beacons, set in open fields. 
Send forth their flames far off to every shire. Spenser. 
SHIREBURN. See Sherborne. 
SHIRE-CLERK, he that keeps the county court; and his 
office is so incident to that of the sheriff, that the king can¬ 
not grant it away. 
SH1REHAMPTON, a hamlet of England, in Glouces¬ 
tershire; 5 miles north-west of Bristol. 
SHIRE-MAN was anciently the judge of the shire, by 
whom trials for land, &c. were determined. 
SHI'REMOTE, s. [pcip-;remot, Sax. See Mote.] 
Anciently a county court; a meeting of the persons of the 
county on an extraordinary occasion.—If the matter was of 
great importance, it was put in the full shiremote; and if 
the general voice acquitted or condemned, this was final in 
the cause. Burke. 
SHIRENEWTON, a village and parish of England, in 
Monmouthshire; 4| miles west of Chepstow. Population of 
the parish, 622. 
SHIRE-REVE. See Sheriff. 
To SHIRK, v. n. To shark; to practise mean or artful 
tricks. See To Shark. S/ierking, an eager desire to cheat 
another. Exm. Dialect. Grose.—Sherking and raking in 
the tobaccco-shops. Harbottle Grimstone. 
To SHIRK, v. a. To procure by mean tricks; to steal.— 
Tell me, you that never heard the call of any vocation, that 
are free of no other company than your idle companions, 
that shirke living from others, but time from yourselves; tell 
me, may it not be said of idleness, as of envy, that it is its 
own scourge? Bp. Rainbow .—To avoid: a modern and 
vulgar colloquial term. 
SHIRL, adj. Shrill. 'Hu/oet. See Shrill. The skirl- 
cock is the Derbyshire word for the throstle or song-thrush 
Pcsge. 
SHIRLAND, a parish of England, in Derbyshire; 2| 
miles north-by-west of Alfreton. Population 1197. 
SHIRLEY (Anthony), a celebrated traveller, was born in 
1565. He studied at Oxford, where he took his bachelor’s 
degree in 1581, after which he joined the English troops, 
which, at that time, were serving in Holland. In 1596 he 
was one of the adventurers who went to annoy the Spaniards 
in their settlements in the West Indies, and on his return he 
S II I 
was knighted. After this he was sent by the queen into Italy 
in order to assist the people of Ferrara in their contest with 
the pope : before, however, he arrived, all the disputes were 
accommodated, and peace was signed; he accordingly pro¬ 
ceeded to Venice, and travelled from thence to Persia, where 
he came in great favour with Shah Abbas, by whom he was 
sent ambassador to England in 1612. By the Emperor of 
Germany he was raised to the dignity of Count, and by the 
king of Spain he was appointed admiral of the Levant seas. 
He died in Spain about the year 1630. There is an account 
of his West Indian expedition in the third volume of 
Hacluy t’s Collection, under the following title: A true Rela¬ 
tion of the Voyage undertaken by Sir Anthony Shirley, 
Knight, in 1596, intended for the Island San Tome, but per¬ 
formed to St. Jago, Dominica, Margarita, along the Coast of 
Terra Firma to the Isle of Jamaica, the Bay of Honduras. 
Thirty Leagues up Rio Dolce, and homewards by New¬ 
foundland, with the memorable exploits achieved in all this 
Voyage.” His travels into Persia are printed separately, and 
were published in London in 1613 ; and his travels over the 
Caspian Sea, and through Russia, were inserted in Purchas’s 
Pilgrimages. 
SHIRLEY (James), a poet and dramatic writer, was bom 
in London about the year 1594. He received the early part 
of his education at Merchant Taylors’ School, from which 
place he was removed to Oxford. He was, on account of 
his talents, patronized by Dr. Laud, who, however, would 
not consent to his taking orders, by reason of his being dis¬ 
figured by a large mole on his cheek, which in his estimation 
according to the canons of the church, rendered him unfit to 
officiate in clerical duties. Shirley therefore left Oxford with¬ 
out a degree; but he afterwards removed to Cambridge, and 
meeting with no farther obstacle, he took orders, and ob¬ 
tained a curacy. His religious creed was not sufficiently 
settled, and he went over to the church of Rome, abandoned 
his cure, and opened a grammar-school at St. Alban’s After 
some time he deserted this employment, and became a writer 
for the stage. His productions were successful, and he ac¬ 
quired a reputation which caused him to be taken into the 
service of queen Henrietfa-Maria. When the civil war broke 
out, he accompanied the earl of Newcastle in his campaigns, 
and also assisted him in the composition of several of his 
plays. On the ruin of the king’s cause he came to London, 
and resumed his occupation of a school-master, in which he 
met with considerable encouragement, and he shewed his at¬ 
tention to the duties of his office, by publishing some works 
on grammar. 
During the Commonwealth, theatrical amusements being 
suspended, Shirley had no room in which he could display 
his dramatic talents; but after the Restoration, several of his 
pieces appeared again on the stage. The death of this author 
is thus described: his house in Fleet-street being burnt in the 
great fire of London, in the year 1666, he was forced with 
his wife to retreat to the suburbs; in consequence of the loss 
and the alarm which this occasioned, both himself and wife 
died within a few hours of each other, and they were buried 
in the same grave. 
Mr. Shirley was author of thirty-seven plays, consisting of 
tragedies and comedies, and of a volume of poems, pub¬ 
lished in 1646. He had the reputation of being the chief 
among the second-rate poets of his time, and though his 
works have disappeared from the stage, there are critics who 
think highly of them. 
SHIRLEY, a township of England, in Derbyshire; 4| 
miles north-east of Ashborne. 
SHIRLEY, a post township of the United States, in Mid¬ 
dlesex county, Massachusetts; 41 miles west-north-west of 
Boston. Population 814.—2d. Of Huntingdon county, Penn¬ 
sylvania. Population 862. 
SHIRLEYSBURG, a post village of the United States, in 
Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. 
SHIRT, s. [Mr, Horne Tooke asserts that shirt is the past 
participle ot the Sax. pcipan, to shear, to divide. Juniusand 
Skinner derive it from the Sax, pypc (which Dr. Johnson has 
inaccurately 
