bed of death, he was not exempted from the terrors of arrest for debt; his death took place July 7th, 1816. Besides the plays already mentioned, Sheridan was the author of St. Patrick's Day, or the Scheming Lieutenant, a farce; A Trip to Scarborough, a comedy, altered from Vanbrugh; the Camp, a farce; the Critic, or the Tragedy Rehearsed; Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday, a pantomime; and Pizarro, a play, from the German of Kotzebue. He also wrote Verses to the Memory of Garrick, 1779, 4to.; and a Comparative Statement of the two Bills for the better Government of the British Possessions in India, 1788, 4to. As a dramatist he may be deemed the head of that line of comedy which exhibits the malice, detraction, intrigue, and persiflage, of the more cultivated stations of life. Like Congreve, Sheridan has incurred the imputation of giving a portion of wit to all his characters to a correspondent destruction of nature. This may be true, and still leave the School for Scandal the head of the comic modern drama in its own peculiar walk. The works of Sheridan appeared in 1821, in 2 vols. 8vo., edited by Mr. Thomas Moore, who has published an interesting life of our author.

SHERIDAN (Elizabeth), daughter of Thomas Linley, the musician, first wife of the celebrated R. B. Sheridan. She was alike distinguished for her beauty, her manners, and her musical talents. In Handel's pathetic songs, in Purcell's Mad Bess, in the upper part of serious glees, or in any vocal music expressive of passion, she was sure to delight. Sacchini, on hearing Miss Linley sing for the last time in public at Oxford, observed that, if she had been born in Italy, she would have been as much superior to all Italian singers as she was then to all of her own country. She relinquished her profession on her marriage with Sheridan in 1773; her death took place in

A SHERIFF is an officer, in each county in England, nominated by the king, invested with a judicial and ministerial power, and who takes place of every nobleman in the county during the time of his office. The office is of very great antiquity. He is called in Latin vice-comes, as being the deputy of the comes, or earl, to whom the custody of the shire was committed at the first division of England into counties. But the carls, in process of time, by their high employ

ments and attendance on the king's person, not being able to transact the business of the county, were delivered of that burden; reserving themselves the honor, but the labor was laid on the sheriff. So that now the sheriff does all the king's business in the county; and, though he be still called vice-comes, yet he is entirely independent of, and not subject to, the earl; the king, by his letters patent, committing custodiam comitatus to the sheriff, and to him alone. Sheriffs were formerly chosen by the inhabitants of the several counties. It was ordained by stat. 28 Edw. I. c. 8, that the people should have an election of sheriffs in every shire where the sherivalty is not of inheritance. For anciently in some counties the sheriffs were hereditary: as they were in Scotland till the stat. 20 Geo. II. c. 43; and still continue in the county of Westmoreland to this day: the city of London having also the inheritance of the sherivalty of Middlesex vested in their body by charter. The reason of these popular elections is assigned in the same statute, c. 13, that the commons might choose such as would not be a burden to them.' And herein appears plainly a strong trace of the democratical part of our constitution; in which form of government it is an indispensable requisite that the people should choose their own magistrates. This election, however, was not absolutely vested in the commons, but required the royal approbation. For, in the Gothic constitution, the judges of their county courts (which office is executed by the sheriff) were elected by the people, but confirmed by the king; and the form of their election was thus managed: the people, or incolæ territorii, chose twelve electors, and they nominated three persons, ex quibus rex unum confirmabat. But with us, in England, these popular elections, growing tumultuous, were put an end to by the stat. 9 Edw. II. st. 2, which enacted that the sheriffs should henceforth be assigned by the chancellor, treasurer, and the judges. By stat. 14 Edw. III. c. 7, 23 Hen. VI. c. 8, and 21 Hen. VIII. c, 20, the chancellor, treasurer, president of the king's council, chief justices, and chief baron, are to make this election; and that on the morrow of All Souls, in the exchequer. And the king's letters patent, appointing the new sheriffs, used commonly to bear date the 6th day of November. stat. of Cambridge, 12 Rich. II. c. 2, ordains that the chancellor, treasurer, keeper of the privy seal, steward of the king's house, the king's chamberlain, clerk of the rolls, the justices of the one bench and the other, barons of the exchequer, and all other that shall be called to ordain, name, or make justices of the peace, sheriffs, and other officers of the king, shall be sworn to act indifferently, and to name no man that sueth to be put in office, but such only as they shall judge to be the best and most sufficient. And the custom now is (and has been since the time of Fortescue, chief justice and chancellor to Henry VI.) that all the judges, with the other great officers, meet in the exchequer chamber on the morrow of All Souls yearly (now altered to the morrow of St. Martin by the last act for abbreviating Michaelmas term), and then

The

and there propose three persons to the king, who afterwards appoints one of them to be sheriff. But, notwithstanding the unanimous resolution of all the judges of England to the above purpose, and the statute 34 and 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26. § 61, which expressly recognises to be the law of the land, some have affirmed that the king, by his prerogative, may name whom he pleases to be sheriff, whether chosen by the judges or not. This is grounded on a very particular case in the fifth year of queen Elizabeth, when by reason of the plague there was no Michaelmas term kept at Westminster; so that the judges could not meet there incrastino animarum to nominate the sheriffs: whereupon the queen named them herself, without such previous assembly, appointing for the most part one of two remaining in the last year's list. And this case, thus circumstanced, is the only authority in our books for the making these extraornary sheriffs. It is true, the reporter adds, that it was held that the queen by her prerogative might make a sheriff without the election of the judges non obstante aliquo statuto in contrarium; but the doctrine of non obstante, which sets the prerogative above the laws, was effectually demolished by the bill of rights at the revolution, and abdicated Westminster-hall when king James abdicated the kingdom. However, the practice of occasionally naming what are called pocket sheriffs, by the sole authority of the crown, uniformly continued to the reign of his late majesty; in which it is believed, few (if any) instances occurred. Sheriffs, by virtue of several old statutes, are to continue in their office no longer than one year; and yet it has been said that a sheriff may be appointed durante bene placito, or during the king's pleasure; and so is the form of the royal writ. Therefore, till a new sheriff be named, his otlice cannot be determined, unless by his own death, or the demise of the king; in which last case it was usual for the successors to send a new writ to the old sheriff; but now, by statute 1 Anne st. 1 c. 8, all officers appointed by the preceding king may hold their offices for six months after the king's demise, unless sooner displaced by the successor. By statute 1 Ric. II. c. 11, no man that has served the office of sheriff for one year can be compelled to serve the same again within three years after. The power and duty of a sheriff are either as a judge, as the keeper of the king's peace, as a ministerial officer of the superior courts of justice, or as the king's bailiff. 1. In his judicial capacity he is to hear and determine all causes of 40s. value and under, in his county court; and he has also a judicial power in divers other civil cases. He is likewise to decide the elections of knights of the shire (subject to the control of the house of commons), of coroners, and of verderers; to judge of the qualification of voters, and to return such as he shall determine to be duly elected. 2. As the keeper of the king's peace, both by common law and special commission, he is the first man in the county, and superior in rank to any nobleman therein during his office. He may apprehend and commit to prison all persons who break the peace, or attempt to break it; and may bind any

one in recognizance to keep the king's peace. He may, and is bound, ex officio, to pursue and take all traitors, murderers, felons, and other misdoers, and commit them to gaol for safe custody. He is also to defend his county against any of the king's enemies when they come into the land; and for this purpose, as well as for keeping the peace and pursuing felons, he may command all the people of his county to attend him; which is called the posse comitatus, or power of the county; which summons, every person above fifteen years old, and under the degree of a peer, is bound to attend upon warning, under pain of fine and imprisonment. But though the sheriff is thus the principal conservator of the peace in his county, yet, by the express directions of the great charter, he, together with the constable, coroner, and certain other officers of the king, are forbidden to hold any pleas of the crown, or, in other words, to try any criminal offence. For it would be highly unbecoming that the executioners of justice should be also the judges; should impose, as well as levy, fines and amercements; should one day condemn a man to death, and personally execute him the next. Neither may he act as an ordinary justice of the peace during the time of his office; for this would be equally inconsistent, he being in many respects the servant of the justices. 3. In his ministerial capacity, the sheriff is bound to execute all processes issuing from the king's courts of justice. In the commencement of civil causes, he is to serve the writ, to arrest, and to take bail; when the cause comes to trial, he must summon, and return the jury; when it is determined, he must see the judgment of the court carried into execution. In criminal mat ters, he also arrests and imprisons; he returns the jury; he has the custody of the delinquent, and he executes the sentence of the court, though it extend to death itself. 4. As the king's bailiff, it is his business to preserve the rights of the king within his bailiwic; for so his county is frequently called in the writs: a word introduced by the princes of the Norman line, in imitation of the French, whose territory was an ciently divided into bailiwics as that of England into counties. He must seize to the king's use all lands devolved to the crown by attainder or escheat; must levy all fines and forfeitures, must seize and keep all waifs, wrecks, estrays, and the like, unless they be granted to some subject; and must also collect the king's rents within his bailiwic, if commanded by process from the exchequer. To execute these various offices, the sheriff has under him many inferior officers; as under-sheriff, bailiffs, and gaolers, who must neither buy, sell, nor farm their offices, on forfeiture of £500. The under-sheriff usually performs all the duties of the office; a very few only excepted, where the personal presence of the high sheriff is necessary. But no under sheriff shall abide in his office above one year; and if he does, by stat. 23 Hen. VI. c. 8, he forfeits £200, a very large penalty in those early days. And no under-sheriff or sheriff's officer shall practise as an attorney during the time he continues in such office: for this would be a great inlet to partiality and oppression. But

these salutary regulations are shamefully evaded, by practising in the names of other attorneys, and putting in sham deputies by way of nominal under-sheriffs: by reason of which, says Dalton, the under-sheriffs and bailiffs do grow so cunning in their several places that they are able to deceive, and it may well be feared that many of them do deceive, both the king, high-sheriff, and the county.

The Scotch sheriff differs very considerably from the English sheriff. The Scotch sheriff is properly a judge; and, by stat. 20 Geo. II. c. 43, he must be a lawyer of three years' standing: and is declared incapable of acting in any cause for the county of which he is sheriff. He is called sheriff depute: he must reside within the county four months in the year: he holds his office ad vitam aut culpam. He may appoint substitutes, who as well as himself receive stated salaries. The king may appoint a high-sheriff for the term of one year only. The civil jurisdiction of the sheriff depute extends to all personal actions on contract, bond, or obligation, to the greatest extent and generally in all civil matters not especially committed to other courts. His criminal jurisdiction extends to the trial of murder, though the regular circuits of the court of justiciary prevent such trials occurring before him. He takes cognizance of theft and other felonies, and all offences against the police. His ministerial duties are similar to those of sheriffs in England.

The lord mayor and citizens of London have the shrievalty of London and Middlesex in fee, by charter; and two sheriffs are annually elected by them, for whom they are to be answerable. If one of these sheriffs dies, the other cannot act till another is made; and there must be two sheriffs of London, which is a city and county; though they make but one sheriff of the county of Middlesex; they are several as to plaints in their respective courts. 3 Rep. 72: Show. Rep.

289.

SHERLOCK (Dr. Richard), an English divine, who was educated first at Magdalene College Oxford, and afterwards at Trinity College Dublin. During the civil war he came to England, where he was appointed chaplain of a regiment. About 1660 he received the degree of D. D. from the university of Dublin, and was presented by the earl of Derby with the rich benefice of Winwick. He wrote a treatise entitled The Practical Christian, and died in 1689.

SHERLOCK (Dr. William), a learned English divine, born in 1641, and educated at Eton school, where he distinguished himself by the vigor of his genius. Thence he was removed to Cambridge, where he took his degrees. In 1669 he became rector of the parish of St. George, Botolph Lane, London; and in 1681 prebendary of Pancras, in the cathedral of St. Paul's. He was likewise chosen master of the Temple and rector of Therfeld in Hertfordshire. After the Revolution he was suspended for refusing the oaths to king William and queen Mary; but at last he took them, and publicly justified what he had done. In 1691 he was installed dean of St. Paul's. His Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity engaged him in a warm controversy

with Dr. South and others. Bishop Burnet says he was 'a clear, a polite, and a strong writer; but apt to assume too much to himself, and to treat his adversaries with contempt.' He died in 1702. His works are very numerous; among these are, 1. A Discourse concerning the Knowledge of Jesus Christ, against Dr. Owen. 2. Several pieces against the Papists, the Socinians, and Dissenters. 3. A Practical Treatise on Death, which is much admired. 4. A practical Discourse on Providence. 5. A practical Discourse on the future judgment; and many other works. SHERLOCK (Thomas), D. D., bishop of London, the son of the preceding, was born in 1678. He was educated in Catherine Hall, Cambridge, where he took his degrees, and of which he became master; he was made master of the Temple very young, on the resignation of his father; and it is remarkable that this mastership was held by father and son successively for more than seventy years. He was at the head of the opposition against Dr. Hoadly bishop of Bangor; during which contest he published a great number of pieces. He attacked the famous Collins's Grounds and Reasons of the Christian

Religion, in a course of six sermons, preached at the Temple church, which he entitled The Use and Intent of Prophecy in the several Ages of the World. In 1728 he was appointed bishop of Bangor; and of Salisbury in 1734. In 1747 he refused the archbishopric of Canterbury, on account of ill health; but, recovering, he accepted the see of London in 1748. On occasion of the earthquakes, in 1750, he published an excellent Pastoral Letter to the clergy and inhabitants of London and Westminster: of which it is said there were printed in 4to. 5000 copies; in 8vo. 20,000; and in 12mo. about 30,000; besides pirated editions, of which not less than 50,000 were said to have been sold. Under the weak state of body in which he lay for several years, he revised and published 4 vols. of Sermons in 8vo., which are particularly admired for their ingenuity and elegance. He died in 1762, worth £150,000. His learning,' says Dr. Nicholls, was very extensive: God had given him an understanding mind, a quick comprehension, and a solid judgment. His skill in the civil and canon law was very considerable; to which he added such a knowledge of the common law of England as few clergymen attain to.' Dr. Nicholls mentions also his exemplary piety, his zeal in preaching the duties, and maintaining the doctrines of Christianity, and his diffusive munificence and charity; particularly to the corporation of clergymen's sons, to several hospitals, and to the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts: his bequeathing to Catherine Hall in Cambridge, the place of his education, his valuable library of books, and his donations for the founding a librarian's place and a scholarship, to the amount of several thousand pounds.

SHERRIFFE OF MECCA, the title of the descendants of Mahomet by Hassan Ibn Ali. These are divided into several branches, of which the family of Ali Bunemi, consisting at least of 300 individuals, enjoy the whole right to the throne of Mecca. The Ali Bunemi are again subdivided into two subordinate branches, Darii

Sajid, and Darii Barkad; of whom sometimes the one, sometimes the other, have given sovereigns to Mecca and Medina, when these were separate states. Not only is the Turkish sultan indifferent about the order of succession in this family, but he seems even to foment the dissensions which arise among them, and favors the strongest, merely that he may weaken them all. As the order of succession is not determinately fixed, and the sherriffes may all aspire alike to the sovereign power, this uncertainty of right, aided by the intrigues of the Turkish officers, occasions frequent revolutions. The grand sherriffe is seldom able to maintain himself on the throne; and it still seldomer happens that his reign is not disturbed by the revolt of his nearest relations. There have been instances of a nephew succeeding his uncle, an uncle succeed ing his nephew: and sometimes of a person, from a remote branch, coming in the room of the reigning prince of the ancient house. When Niebuhr was in Arabia, 1763, the reigning sherriffe had sat fourteen years on the throne, and during all that period had been continually at war with the neighbouring Arabs, and with his own nearest relations. A few years before the pacha of Syria had deposed him, and raised his younger brother to the sovereigu dignity in his stead. But after the departure of the caravan, Jafar, the new sherriffe, not being able to maintain himself on the throne, was obliged to resign the sovereignty again to Mesad. Achmet, the second brother of the sherriffe, who was beloved by the Arabs, threatened to attack Mecca while Niebuhr was at Jidda. Our traveller was soon after informed of the termination of the quarrel, and of Achmet's return to Mecca, where he continued to live peaceably in a private character. The dominions of the sherriffe comprehended the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jambo, Taaif, Sadie, Ghunfude, Hali, and thirteen others less considerable, all situated in Hedjas. Near Taaif is the lofty mountain of Gazvan, which, according to Arabian authors, is covered with snow in the midst of summer. As these dominions are neither opulent nor extensive, the revenue of their Sovereign cannot be considerable. He finds a rich resource, however, in the imposts levied upon pilgrims, and in the gratuities offered him by Mussulman monarchs. Every pilgrim pays a tax of from ten to 100 crowns, in proportion to his ability. The great Mogul remits annually 60,000 rupees to the sherriffe, by an assignment upon the government of Surat. Indeed, since the English made themselves masters of this city and the territories belonging to it, the nabob of Surat has no longer been able to pay the sum. The sherriffe once demanded it of the English possessors of Surat; and, till they should satisfy him, forbade their captains to leave the port of Jidda. But, the English disregarding this prohibition, the sherriffe complained to the Ottoman Porte, and they communicated his complaints to the English ambassador. He at the same time opened a negociation with the nominal nabob, who resides at Surat. But these steps proved all fruitless and the sovereign of Mecca seems not likely to be ever more benefited by the contribution from India. The power of the sherriffe

:

extends not to spiritual matters; these are entirely managed by the heads of the clergy, of different sects, who reside at Mecca. Rigid Mussulmans, such as the Turks, are not very favorable in their sentiments of the sherriffes, but suspect their orthodoxy, and look upon them as secretly attached to the tolerant sect of the Zedi.

SHER'RIS, n. s. SHER'RIS SACK, SHERRY.

From Xeres, a town of Andalusia in Spain. A kind of Spanish wine.

Your sherris warms the blood, which, before cold and settled, left the liver white, which is the badge of pusillanimity; but the sherris makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme. Shakspeare. Good sherris sack ascends me into the brain, dries me there all the foolish dull vapours, and makes it apprehensive.

Id.

SHERSHELL, a town of Africa, in Algiers, supposed to be the ancient Jol, which was called Cæsarea by Juba II. in honor of Augustus Cæsar. The ruins upon which it is situated are not inferior in extent to those of ancient Carthage; and its former magnificence appears from its numerous fine pillars, capitals, mosaic pavements, capacious cisterns, and other relics of antiquity that are still to be seen. Tradition says that all this catastrophe was occasioned by a great earthquake; and that the harbour, formerly large and commodious, was destroyed and choked up by the arsenal and other adjacent buildings being thrown into it by the shock. This tradition, though not recorded in history, is confirmed by the rubbish, walls, pillars, marbles, &c., being distinctly visible at low water, as well as by another recent catastrophe of the same kind; for in 1738 this city was entirely overthrown by another earthquake. In 1730, eight years before this last catastrophe, Dr. Shaw visited it, and describes it as then in high reputation for manufactures in iron and steel, earthen wares, &c. What remains of the harbour is nearly of a circular form, about 200 yards in diameter, and has an island in the middle of it; which, being a high rock, is its chief defence against the blasts of Boreas. Long. 2° 36′ E., lat. 36° 35′ N.

SHERWIN (John Keyse), an eminent modern English engraver, was originally a wood cutter on the estate of Mr. Mitford, in Sussex; but going one day to that gentleman's house on some business, he was admitted into a room where some of the family were drawing, to whom he paid such attention that Mr. Mitford asked him if he could draw any? Sherwin replied he could not tell, but should like to try:' on which a portcrayon was given him, when he immediately produced a drawing that astonished not only all present, but the Society of Arts, to whom Mr. Mitford presented it, and who voted him their silver prize medal in consequence. Being soon after removed to London he entered under Bartolozzi, and in three years made such surprising proficiency that he obtained both the gold and the silver prize medals given by the society. After this he executed many capital engravings; among which his Finding of Moses is esteemed one of the best works of the present age. He died in 1790.

SHERWOOD, a spacious forest in the west

part of Nottinghamshire, which formerly occupied the greatest part of it. It was so thick that it was hardly passable; but it is now thinner, and its extent is much contracted. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries this forest was the head quarter of Robin Hood, Little John, and their gang of thieves. It now feeds a vast number of deer and stags; and has some towns in it, of which Mansfield is the chief. It abounds in coal, and a road lies through it for thirty miles together. Since the reign of king Edward I. the nobility and gentry have had grants of it. It was once governed by a great number of officers under the earl of Chesterfield, chief forester; whose ancestor, Sir John Stanhope, had a grant of it, with liberty to kill deer at pleasure, reserving only 100 deer in the whole walk.

SHETLAND, or ZETLAND, the name of certain islands belonging to Scotland, and lying north-east of Orkney, between lat. 59° 56′ and 61° 11'. There are many convincing proofs that these islands were very early inhabited by the Picts, or rather by those nations who were the original possessors of the Orkneys; and at the time of the total destruction of these nations, if any credit be due to tradition, their woods were entirely ruined, either by the Scots or Norwegians. It is highly probable that the people in Shetland, as well as in the Orkneys, flourished under their own princes dependent upon the crown of Norway; yet this seems to have been rather through what they acquired by fishing and commerce than by the cultivation of their lands. Many reasons might be assigned why these islands, though part of our dominions, have not hitherto been better known to us. They were commonly placed two degrees too far to the north in all the old maps, to make them agree with Ptolemy's description of Thule, which he asserted to be in lat. 23°; which we find urged by Camden as a reason why Thule must be one of the Shetland isles, to which Speed also agrees, though from their being thus wrong placed he could not find room for them in his maps. Another cause was the many false and fabulous relations published concerning them, as if they were countries inhospitable and uninhabitable; and, lastly, the indolence or rather indifference of the natives, who, contenting themselves with those necessaries and conveniences procured by their intercourse with other nations, and conceiving themselves neglected by the mother country, have seldom troubled her with their applications. There are few countries that have gone by more names than these islands they were called in Islandic Hialtlandia, from hialt the hilt of a sword; this might be corrupted into Hetland, Hitland, or Hethland, though some tell us this signifies a high land. They have been likewise, and are still in some maps, called Zetland and Zealand, in reference, as has been supposed, to their situation. By the Danes and by the natives they are styled Yealtaland; and, notwithstanding the oddness of the orthography, this differs very little if at all from their manner of pronouncing Zetland, out of which pronunciation grew the modern names of Shetland and Shotland.

The Shetland Isles contain nearly three times as much land as the Orkneys; they are consi

dered also as equal in size to the island of Madeira, and not inferior to the provinces of Utrecht, Zealand, and all the rest of the Dutch islands taken together; but of climate and soil they have little to boast. The longest day in the island of Unst is nineteen hours fifteen minutes, and of consequence the shortest day four hours and forty-five minutes. The spring is very late, the summer very short; the autumn also is of no long duration, dark, foggy, and rainy; the winter sets in about November and lasts till April, and sometimes till May. They have frequently in that season storms of thunder, much rain, but little frost or snow. High winds are indeed very frequent and very troublesome, yet they seldom produce any terrible effects. The aurora borealis is as common here as in any of the northern countries, and it contributes greatly to dispel the gloom of the long winter nights; as the splendor of its irradiations through the whole atmosphere often affords a light equal to that of the full moon. See AURORA BOREALIS. In winter the sea swells and rages in such a manner that for five or six months their ports are inaccessible, and the people during that space have no correspondence with the rest of the world.

These islands,' says Mr. Jameson, F.A. S. S., and F. R. M. S., in his Mineralogy of the Shetland Islands, are very numerous, but few of them of any considerable magnitude; thirtythree of them are inhabited. On viewing these islands in general a wonderful scene of rugged, bleak, and barren rocks, presents itself to view. No tree or shrub is to be seen to relieve the eye in wandering over these dreary scenes. Sometimes, however, a few scanty portions of cultivated ground catch the eye of the travelier, exciting emotions of pleasure, and forming a striking contrast to the barren heath-covered mountains which skirt them. The coasts are in general rugged and precipitous, presenting in many places scenes truly grand and magnificent; vast rocks of various heights dreadfully rugged and broken, opposing their rude fronts to all the fury of a tempestuous ocean; which in some places has formed great detached pillars, in others has excavated great natural arches and caverns, that mock all human magnificence, and strike the beholder with that awe and wonder which must affect every one on viewing these amazing wrecks of nature.'

The Shetland Islands are well situated for trade. The nearest continent to them is Norway; the port of Bergen lying forty-four leagues east ; whereas they lie forty-six leagues N. N. E. of Buchanness; about seventeen or eighteen E. N. E. of Sanda, one of the Orkneys; six or seven northeast of Fair Isle; fifty-eight east of Ferroe Isles; and at nearly the same distance north-east of Lewis. The southern promontory of the main land, called Sumburgh Head, lies 59° 59′ lat. N., and the north extremity of Unst, the most remote of them all, in lat. 61° 15'. The meridian of London passes through this last island, which lies about 2° 30′ W. of Paris, and about 5° 15′ E. of cape Lizard.

The ancient history of these islands, like that of most other countries, is lost in the wreck of time. It is even uncertain who were the first