SHATTER, v. a., v. n., & Į Belg. schetteren ; SHATTERY, adj. [n. s. Teut. scheiteren. To break at once into pieces; break so as to scatter the parts: dissipate: be broken: a broken part the adjective corresponding.

He raised a sigh so piteous and profound, That it did seem to shatter all his bulk, And rend his being.

Shakspeare.

Of bodies some are fragil, and some are tough and not fragil; and, in the breaking, some fragil bodies break but where the force is; some shatter and fly in many places. Bacon.

Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sear,
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,
And with forced fingers rude

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.

Milton. They escape dissolution, because they can scarce ever meet with an agent minute and swiftly enough moved to shatter or dissociate the combined parts.

Boyle. A monarchy was shattered to pieces, and divided amongst revolted subjects, into a multitude of little governments. Locke. Black from the stroke above, the smouldring pine Stands as a shattered trunk. Thomson's Seasons.

A man of a loose, volatile, and shattered humour, thinks only by fits and starts.

Norris. A brittle shattery sort of spar, found in form of a white sand chiefly in the perpendicular fissures Woodward.

amongst the ores of metal.

Stick the candle so loose that it will fall upon the glass of the sconce, and break it into shatters."

Swift. SHAVE, v. a. Preterite shaved; part. SHAVE LING, n. s. shaved or shaven. Sax. SHAVER, rceapan; Belg. schaeven SHA'VING. To pare; pare close; skim; cut into thin slices: shaveling, a man shaved; a friar: a shaver, a man closely attentive to his own interest; a cheat: a shaving is a thin piece of any thing shaved off.

He that is to be cleansed shall shave off all his

hair.

Leviticus.

Of elfes, there be no such things; only by bald friars and knavish shavelings so feigned. Spenser. Dost thou not know this shaven pate? Truly it is a great man's head. Knolles's History of the Turks, They fell all into the hands of the cruel mountain people, living for the most part by theft, and waiting for wrecks, as hawks for their prey: by these shavers the Turks were stript of all they had.

SHAW (Cuthbert), an English poet of considerable genius, but of humble origin, being the son of a shoe-maker. His poems, however, are far above mediocrity. But he had the fortune of Ferguson, not of Burns; for, meeting with no generous patron, he died in great distress in 1771.

SHAW (Peter), M. D., an eminent English physician, was author of several medical treatises, and editor of the great Bacon's Philosophical Works. He died in 1763.

SHAW (Samuel), an eminent English nonconformist divine of the seventeenth century, born at Repton in Derbyshire in 1635, and educated at the free school there. He afterwards became a member of St. John's College, Cambridge. In 1658 he obtained from Oliver the Protector a presentation to the rectory of Long Wharton; but was ejected, in 1622, for nonconformity. In 1668 he was chosen master of the free-school at

Ashby de la Zouch; where he acquired great reputation, and educated many celebrated men Immanuel; and died in 1696. of letters. He wrote a valuable work, entitled

SHAW (Stebbing), a modern divine and topographer, was the son of a clergyman, and born in 1762, in Staffordshire. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship, and entered into orders: subsequently

he became tutor to Sir Francis Burdett, with whom he made the tour of the Highlands. In 1788 he travelled through the western counties of England, a narrative of which journey he published. In 1789 he commenced a periodical publication, entitled The Topographer, in monthly parts, after which he gave the public his History of Staffordshire, the first volume of which appeared in 1798; a part of the second followed in 1801, previously to which the author had succeeded his father as rector of Hartshorn in Derbyshire. He died in the prime of life, the 28th of October, 1802.

SHAW (Thomas), D. D., and F. R. S., a learned English divine, celebrated for his Travels to Barbary and the Levant, was born in Kendal in Westmoreland about 1692. He was educated first at Kendal, afterwards at Queen's College, Oxford, where he graduated. He was appointed chaplain to the English consul at Algiers, in which station he continued for several years; and thence took opportunities of travelling into dif ferent parts. He returned in 1733; was elected F. R. S., and published the account of his travels at Oxford, folio, 1738. In 1740 he was nominated principal of St. Edmund Hall, which was raised from a ruinous state by his munificence; and was regius professor of Greek at Oxford until his death in 1751. Dr. Clayton, bishop of Clogher, having attacked these Travels in his Description of the East, Dr. Shaw published a supplement by way of vindication, which is incorporated in the second edition of his travels,

prepared by himself, and published in 4to., 1757. SHAW (George), M. D., and F. R. S., an eminent naturalist, was born at Bierton, in Buckinghamshire, of which parish his father was vicar, in 1751. At the age of fourteen he went to Magdalen-ball, Oxford, where he took his master's degree in 1772; after which he entered into orders, and became assistant to his father. His predilection for scientific pursuits, however, induced him to relinquish the clerical profession; and after studying at Edinburgh he took his degrees in medicine at Oxford; where also he stood candidate for the botanical professorship; but lost it in consequence of his having been ordained. He now settled in London; and, on the formation of the Linnæan society, was chosen one of the vice-presidents. While the Leverian Museum existed he delivered lectures there on natural history, and afterwards published a description of that collection in English and Latin. He also conducted the Naturalist's Miscellany, and the Speculum Linnæum, or Linnæan Zoology. In 1789 he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1791 appointed librarian and assistant keeper of natural history in the British Museum; where, in 1807, he became the principal of that department. He died July 22d, 1813. His other works are,-1. The Zoology of New Holland. 2. Cimelia Physica. 3. General Zoology, 7 vols. 4to. 4. Zoological Lectures, 2 vols. 8vo. 5. An Abridgement of the Philosophical Transactions, in conjunction with Drs. Pearson, Hutton, &c. 6. Papers in the Linnean Transactions.

SHAWLS. The most beautiful shawls come from Cashmire: their price is from 150 livres (about six guineas) to 1200 livres (or £50 stering). In the Transactions of the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, &c., for 1792, we are informed that a shawl counterpane, four yards square, manufactured by Mr. P. J. Knights of Norwich, was presented to the society, and that, upon examination, it appeared to be of greater breadth than any goods of equal fineness and texture that had ever before been presented to the society, or to their knowledge woven in this country. The shawls of Mr. Knights's manufacture can scarcely be distinguished from Indian shawls, though they can be afforded at one-twentieth part of the price. When the shawl is sixteen quarters square, Mr. Knights says, it may be retailed at £20; if it consisted of twelve quarters, and embroidered as the former, it will cost £15; if plain, with a fringe only, a shawl of sixteen quarters square may be sold at £8 8s.; if twelve quarters and fringed, at £6 6s. Mr. Knights maintains that his counterpane of four yards square is equal in beauty, and superior in strength, to the Indian counterpanes which are sold at 200 guineas. The principal consumption of this cloth is in train-dresses for ladies; as likewise for long scarfs, in imitation of the real Indian scarfs, which are sold from £60 to £80; whereas scarfs of this fabric are sold for as many shillings, and the ladies square shawls in proportion.

SHAWM', n.s. Teut. schawme. A hautboy; a cornet; written likewise shalm.

With trumpets also and shawms. Psalms. Common Prayer. SHE, pron. In oblique cases her. Sax. reo; Goth. si; old Eng. sche. The female pronoun demonstrative; the woman; the woman before mentioned; the female; sometimes used in contempt. This once disclosed,

The ladies did change favours, and then we, Following the signs, wooed but the sign of she. Shakspeare. What, at any time, have you heard her say? Id. Mine interest and his honour. The shes of Italy shall not betray Id. Cymbeline.

Lady, you are the cruellest she alive,
If you will lead these graces to the grave,
And leave the world no copy. Id. Twelfth Night.
I would outstare the sternest eyes that look,
Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she bear,
To win thee, lady. Id. Merchant of Venice.
He lions are hirsute, and have great manes; the
Bacon.
shes are smooth, like cats.

She, of whom the ancients seemed to prophesy,
When they called virtues by the name of she;
She, in whom virtue was so much refined,
That for allay unto so pure a mind

She took the weaker sex.

The most upright of mortal men was he; The most sincere and holy woman she.

Donne:

Dryden.

Stand it in Judah's chronicles confest, That David's son, by impious passion moved, Smote a she slave, and murdered what he loved.

Prior.

SHEA, the name of a tree, from the fruit of which the negroes, in the interior parts of Africa, between the tropics, prepare a kind of vegetable butter. These trees are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods; and in clearing wood-land for cultivation every tree is cut down but the shea. The tree itself very much resembles the American oak; and the fruit, from the kernel of which, being first dried in the sun, the butter is prepared, by boiling the kernel in water, has somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind; and the butter produced from it, besides the advantage of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, firmer, and, Mr. Park says, to his palate, of richer flavor, than the best butter which he had tasted made from cows' milk. The growth and preparation of the commodity seem to be among the first objects of African industry in this and the neighbouring states; and it constitutes a main article of their inland commerce. In some places they dry the fruit in kilns, containing each about half a cart load of fruit, under which is kept up a clear wood fire. Our author, who saw the fruit in one of these kilns, was informed that in three days the fruit would be ready for pounding and boiling; and that the butter thus manufactured is preferable to that which is prepared from fruit dried in the sun; especially in the rainy season, when the process by insolation is always tedious, and oftentimes ineffectual. Might it not be worth while, if practicable, to cultivate shea trees in some of our West India Islands?

SHEAF, n.s. Plural sheaves. Sax. rceaf; Belg. schoof. A bundle of stalks of corn bound together; any bundle or collection held together.

SHEAL, v. a. To shell. See SHALE. Thou art a shealed peasecod.

SHEAR, v. a. & n. s. SHEAR'ER,

Locke.

Shakspeare. King Lear. Preter. shore or sheared, part. pass. shorn. SHEAR MAN. Sax. rceanan, reynen. This word, says Johnson, is more frequently written sheer; but sheer cannot analogically form shore or shorn: shear, shore, shorn; as tear, tore, torn. To clip or cut by interception between two blades moving on a rivet: the plural shears is the name of the instrument used: also a name for wings (in Spenser) and for the age of sheep: a shearer and shearman is one who clips with, or uses shears,

Laban went to shear his sheep. Gen. xxxi. 19. Alas! thought Philoclea to herself, your sheers come too late to clip the bird's wings that already is flown away. Sidney.

Two sharp-winged sheers Decked with divers plumes, like painted jays, Were fixed at his back to cut his airy ways.

Spenser.

So many days, my ewes have been with young; So many weeks, ere the fools will yean; poor So many months, ere I shall shear the fleece.

Shakspeare.

Id.

Id.

Why do you bend such solemn brows on me?
Think you I bear the shears of destiny?
Have I commandment on the pulse of life?
Thy father was a plaisterer,
And thou thyself a shearman.
When wool is new shorn, they set pails of water
by in the same room to increase its weight.
Bacon's Natural History.
To lay my head, and hollow pledge

Of all my strength, in the lascivious lap
Of a deceitful concubine, who shore me,
Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece. Milton.
Of other care they little reck'ning make,
Than how to scramble at the shearers feast,
And shove away the worthy bidden guest.
The same ill taste of sense would serve to join
Dog foxes in the yoke, and sheer the swine.

Id.

Dryden.

Grew.

That people live and die, I knew, An hour ago, as well as you; And, if fate spins us longer years, Or is in haste to take the shears, I know we must both fortunes try, And bear our evils, wet or dry. Was he to be led as a lamb to the slaughter pa. tient and resigned as a sheep before her shearers?

Mayest thou henceforth sweetly sleep! Shear, swains, oh shear your softest sheep, To swell his couch!

Prior.

Rogers.

Gay.

Id.

Beneath the ears they felt no lasting smart; They lost but fleeces, while I lost a heart. Fate urged the shears, and cut the sylph in twain, But airy substance soon unites again.

O'er the congenial dust enjoined to shear The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear.

Pope.

ld.

How happy should we be if we had the privilege of employing the sheers, for want of a mint, upon foreign gold, by clipping it into half-crowns!

Swift.

SHEARBILL, the rynchops nigra of Linnæus, the black skimmer of Pennant and Latham, and cutwater of Catesby. See RYNCHOPS. Its bill is much compressed; the edges are sharp; the lower mandible is four inches and a half long; the upper only three; the base red; the rest is black; the forehead, chin, front of the neck, the breast, and belly, are white; the head and whole upper part of the body are black; the wings are of the same color; the lower part of the inner webs of the primaries is white; the tail is short, and a little forked; the middle feathers are dusky; the others are white on their sides; the legs are weak and red; the length is one foot nine inches; the extent is three feet seven inches. It inhabits America from New York to Guiana. It skims nimbly along the water, with its under mandible just beneath the surface, feeding on the insects and small fish as it proceeds. It frequents also oyster banks, its bill being partly like that of the oyster-catcher, adapted for preying on those shell-fish.

SHEARD, n. s. Sax. rceard. A fragment. It is now commonly written shard, and applied to fragments of earthenware.

In the bursting of it, not a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.

bard; fit with a sheath; enclose: sheath-winged is having sheaths over the wings: sheathy, forming a sheath.

The dead knight's sword out of his sheath he drew, With which he cut a lock off all their hair.

Faerie Queene.

There was no link to color Peter's hat, Walter's dagger was not come from sheathing. Shakspeare.

It were to be wished that the whole navy throughout were sheathed as some are. Raleigh.

Doth not each look a flash of lightning feel, Which spares the body's sheath, yet melts the steel' Cleaveland.

SHEATHING, in the sea language, is the casing that part of a ship which is to be under water with fir-board of an inch thick; first laying hair and tar mixed together under the boards, and then nailing them on, in order to prevent worms from eating the ship's bottom. Ships of war are now generally sheathed with copper: but copper sheathing is liable to be corroded by the action of salt water, and something is still wanting to effect this purpose. It is very probable that tar might answer very well. In the Cornish mines copper or brass pumps are often placed in the deepest parts, and are consequently exposed to the vitriolic or other mineral waters with which some of these mines abound, and which are known to have a much stronger effect on copper than sea water These pumps are generally about six feet long, and are screwed together, and made tight by the interposition of a ring of lead, and the joinings are afterwards tarred. One of these pumps was so much corroded as to render it unfit for use; but the spots of tar, which by accident had dropped on it, preserved the parts they covered from the action of the water. These projected in some places more than a quarter of an inch; and the joints were so far defended, by the thin coat of tar, that it was as perfect as when it came from the hands of the manufacturer. If tar thus effectually defends copper from the acrimonious waters, can there remain a doubt of its preserving it from the much milder waters of the sea?

SHEATS, in a ship, are ropes bent to the clews of the sails; serving in the lower sails to haul aft the clews of the sail; but in topsails they serve to haul home the clew of the sail close to the yard-arm.

SHEAVE, in mechanics, a solid cylindrical wheel, fixed in a channel, and moveable about an axis, as being used to raise or increase the mechanical powers applied to remove any body.

SHEBA, or SEBA, a country of Arabia Felix

or Abyssinia, which in the reign of Solomon king of Israel was governed by a queen named Makeda, or Balkis, who, hearing of that monarch's fame for wisdom and riches, waited on him personally, accompanied by a numerous train of attendants, and bringing a vast quantity of costly presents, as recorded in 1 Kings, x. According to the Abyssinian historians, this lady was not contented with the communication of Solomon's wisdom alone. Wishing to have a succession of wise monarchs in Sheba, she formed a closer connexion with him; and accordingly had a son by him named David whose posterity, according to Mr. Bruce, still continue to reign in Abyssinia or Ethiopia. See ETHIOPIA. The compilers of the Universal History are of opinion, as well as Mr. Bruce, that the queen of Sheba was really sovereign of Ethiopia. Ethiopia,' say they, is more to the south of Judea than the territory or kingdom of Saba in Arabia Felix; consequently it had a better claim than that country for the dominions of the princess whom our Saviour calls the queen of the south.' Ethiopia is styled the remotest part of the habitable world by Herodotus and Strabo; and therefore better agrees with what our Saviour has said of the queen of Sheba, that she came from the uttermost parts of the earth,' than Arabia. Nor can it be deemed a sufficient reply to this argument, that Arabia Felix was the uttermost part of the earth in respect to Judea, since it was hounded by the Red Sea; for that not only Egypt, but even Ethiopia, regions beyond that sea, were known to the Jews, and had a communication with them, both before and in our Saviour's time, is indisputably clear. Lastly, from what has been suggested, it appears no improbable conjecture that Judaism was not only known, at least in a part of Ethiopia, but nearly related to the established religion there, at the beginning of the apostolic age, if not much earlier. After all, these two opinions, so contrary in appearance, may be made consistent without great difficulty; since it is agreed that Arabia and Ethiopia have anciently borne the same name, been included during certain intervals in one empire, and governed by one prince. Part of the Arabs and Ethiopians had the same origin, and very considerable numbers of the Abaseni transported themselves from Arabia Felix into Ethiopia; a circumstance which sufficiently proves the intercourse that formerly subsisted between the Cushites or Ethiopians of Asia and Africa.'

SHEBA, or SEBA, the name of four patriarchs mentioned in Scripture, one or other of whom gave name to the above country, viz. the eldest of Cush, grandson of Ham and brother of Nimrod: Gen. x. 7. 2. The son of Raamah, and grandson of Cush: Gen: x. 7. 3. The son of Joktan: Gen. x. 28. And, 4. A son of Jokshan, and grandson of Abraham by Keturah. All these took up their residence in Arabia.

SHEBA, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite who attempted to raise a rebellion, after the death of Absalom; but was pursued by Joab, and beheaded by the people of Abel-Bethmaacah, to whom he had fled, and who delivered his head to Joab, who thereupon raised the siege of it. See ABEL-BETH MAACAH.