168 SHE 
substitute for locks. The boats are conveyed from a lower 
to a higher level on a double railway, one boat as it de¬ 
scends drawing another up by its preponderating weight. 
The Shrewsbury canal runs from Shrewsbury, by Welling¬ 
ton, to the coal works at Oaken-gates. It has in its line a 
tunnel, an aqueduct, and an inclined plane. The Ellesmere 
canal may be considered as a great system of canal, navi¬ 
gation, extending through that large and fertile track of 
country which lies between the Severn and the Mersey on 
the one hand, and between the confines of North Wales and 
those of Staffordshire on the other. Its grand object, is 
to unite the Severn, the Dee, and the Mersey, and thus to 
open a communication with Bristol on the south, and Li¬ 
verpool on the north. The navigation of the Severn, though 
of vast advantage to this county, is yet subject to great 
inconvenience and frequent interruption, from the rise and 
fall of the waters, which, in the time of floods, rush with 
unmeasured impetuosity, and at other seasons afford no 
adequate supply for floating vessels of any burden over the 
shoals. Different plans have been proposed to remedy this 
evil, but none of them have hitherto been carried into effect. 
The obvious improvement, however, is now beginning to be 
adopted, of constructing a pathway along the banks of the 
river, and of employing horses instead of men in the labo¬ 
rious operation of towing. The turnpike roads of this 
county are tolerable, but the parish roads are in general bad, 
the repair of them being neglected. 
At the time of the Roman invasion, in the reign of Clau¬ 
dius, Shropshire was inhabited by the two tribes of the 
Ordovices and Cornavii. After the defeat of Caractacus, 
which most contend took place in this county, it became 
part of the province of Flavia Caesariensis, and while the 
Romans remained in Britain, seems to have enjoyed undis¬ 
turbed tranquillity, but afterwards became the theatre of 
war between the Britons and the Saxons. For some centu¬ 
ries it constituted part of the kingdom of Powisland, of 
which Pengwerne, near Shrewsbury, was the capital; but in 
the reign of the great Offa it fell under the dominion of the 
Saxons, and an immense rampart of earth was formed by 
the conqueror for its security, extending 100 miles along the 
confines of Wales. After the Norman conquest, nearly the 
whole of Shropshire was bestowed on Roger de Montgomery. 
In the subsequent reigns, the lords of the marches of Wales 
exercised here, as well as in the neighbouring counties, an 
authority almost absolute, which was considerably controll¬ 
ed, however, in the later times; and after the union of 
England and Wales, became quite subordinate to that of 
the crown. During the various revolts that occurred after 
the death of Edward I., and also during the wars of York 
and Lancaster, Shropshire was occasionally the scene of 
military events, the principal of which was the battle of 
Shrewsbury. In the civil wars of Charles I. it was distin¬ 
guished for its loyalty. Of the antiquities of Shropshire, the 
chief Roman stations in it were Uriconium, now Wroxeter, 
Ruturinum, thought by some to be near Wem. Watling- 
street enters the county in the east, near Crackley Woqd, 
and passes through it with a bending line to Leintwardine, 
on the southern border. Of the Norman and subsequent 
ages, many remains exist in the castles, priories, and churches 
of the county, which contain also various encampments. 
Population returns:— 
Houses... 39,495 
Inhabitants. 194,298 
Families employed in agriculture. 16,693 
-in trade..... 16,744 
Others. 6,022 
Shrewsbury, is the chief town. 
SHROUD, s. jjcpub, Saxon.] The Sax. pcpub means 
apparel, garments; from pcpyban, to clothe, as Dr. Jamieson 
also has observed, who adds that Verelius gives the Icel. 
skraut, pomp, elegance, as the origin; s/crud, which is 
also Icelandic, denoting elegant dress, or that used on 
occasions of ceremony.] A shelter; a cover. 
/ 
S II R 
It would warm his spirits, 
To hear from me you had left Anthony, 
And put yourself under his shroud, the universal landlord. 
Shalcspeart. 
By me invested with a veil of clouds, 
And swaddled, as new-born, in sable shrouds , 
For these a receptacle I design’d. Sandys 
The dress of the dead ; a winding-sheet. 
Now the wasted brands do glow; 
Whilst the screech-owl screeching loud. 
Puts the wretch that lies in woe 
In remembrance of a shroud. Shakspectre. 
The ropes extending from the masts to the sides of the ship. 
It seems to be taken sometimes for the sails.—I turned back 
to the mast of the ship; there I found my sword among 
some of the shrouds. Sidney. 
Soft o’er the shrouds aerial whispers breathe. 
That seem’d but zephyrs to the croud beneath. Pope. 
The branch of a tree.—We are led to suspect, that our 
author in some of these instances has an equivocal reference 
to shrouds in the sense of the branches of a tree, now often 
used. Wart on. 
To SHROUD, v. a. To shelter; to cover from danger 
as an agent.—Under your beams I will me safely shroud. 
Spenser.- —To shelter as the thing covering.—One of these 
trees, with all his young ones, may shroud four hundred 
horsemen. Ralegh. —To dress for the grave. 
Whoever comes to shroud me, do not harm 
That subtile wreath of hair about mine arm. Donne. 
To clothe; to dress. To cover or conceal. 
That same evening, when all shrouded were 
In careless sleep, all, without care or fear. 
They fell upon the flock. Spenser. 
To defend; to protect. 
So Venus from prevailing Greeks did shroud 
The hope of Rome, and sav’d him in a cloud. Waller. 
[pcpeaban, Sax. See To Shrag.] To cut or lop off the 
top branches of trees. 
To SHROUD, v.'n. To harbour; to take shelter. 
If your stray attendance be yet lodg’d. 
Or shroud within these limits, I shall know 
Ere morrow wake. Milton. 
SHROU'DY, adj. Affording shelter. 
If your stray attendance be yet lodg’d 
Within these shroudy limits. Milton . 
To SHROVE, v. n. To join in the processions, sports, 
and feastings, anciently observed at shrovetide. 
’Twill be rarely strange 
To see him stated thus, as though he went 
A shroving through the city, or intended 
To set up some new wake. Beaum. and FI. 
SHRO'VETIDE, orSHRo'vR-TuESDAv, s. [from shrove, 
the preterite of shrivel] The time of confession ; the day 
before Ash-Wednesday or Lent, on which anciently they 
went to confession. 
At shrovetide to shroving. Tusser. 
’Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all. 
And welcome merry shrovetide. Skakspeare. 
SHRO'VING, s. The festivity of shrovetide.—Eating, 
drinking, merry-making, — what else, I beseech you, was 
the whole life of this miserable man here, but in a manner a 
perpetual shroving ? Hales. 
SHRUB, s. [pcpob, Saxon ; and scrub or scrob is our 
old word for shrub, yet retained in the name “ Wormwood- 
scrubs,” a place near London. The Gael, scraban, like¬ 
wise means a stunted bush.] A bush; a small tree.—Trees 
generally shoot up in one great stem or body ; and then at a 
good distance from the earth spread into branches; thus 
gooseberries 
