that the disengagement of light does not necessarily imply that of caloric; and that the more vivid it is the less are we warranted to state it as a cause of fusion, vitrification,' &c. Gaseous substances,' adds the Dr., arranged in spherical masses, in the upper regions of the air, being admitted, the various agitations of the atmosphere should naturally waft some of these masses from the medium which insulates them, into a medium capable of combining with them. If, then, the combination begins, the disengagement of light is explained. Hence this theory explains the phenomenon in its most minute details, and even when the phenomenon is incomplete!' By such dexterous management of his spherical gaseous masses, and with the help of double, treble, and nicely reduced combinations, Dr. Izarn concocts a subtle explanation of showers of sand, of winds, of stones, and of metalliferous vapors; and on the whole draws this general conclusion:- Each of these bodies then, strictly speaking, is only a mineral abortion; a premature union of gaseous principles, combined in trouble and disorder, by perturbing circumstances; while, in the natural course of their destiny, they would proceed separately and in silence to their prototypes on the surface or in the bowels of the earth. This fact, therefore, is a mere anomaly in the grand act of mineralisation.' If any thing can exceed the absurdity of this incoherent mass of words without meaning, it is the doctor's lunatic idea of giving an algebraical demonstration of the possibility of stony substances being driven off from the moon into the earth's prevailing attraction!' Hence,' says this French physician, "we infer that, taking for granted the existence of a propelling cause at the moon's surface, a cause adequate to the projection of bodies in every direction beyond the sphere of her attraction, a great many of these bodies would revolve in space, as satellites to our planet, while scarcely any but those which were driven off at small angles would fall on the earth's surface!!' If this ridiculous supposition of Dr. Izarn's were possible, that any particle of matter could be driven off from one planet, beyond its atmosphere, so as to fall under the prevailing attraction of another planet, then all the celestial bodies might fall into their supposed original chaos, and the proverbial tale told by the Scottish nurses to children might be realized, that the lift (firmament) would fall and smother the laverocks, or larks.' But see METEOROLOGY, and METEORIC STONES. SHRED, v. a. & n. s. Pret. shred. Saxon repeadan. To cut into small pieces: the small pieces so made. Commonly used of cloth or herbs.. One gathered wild gourds, and shred them. 2 Kings. A beggar might patch up a garment with such shreds as the world throws away. Pope Shreds of wit and senseless rhimes Swift. His panegyrick is made up of half a dozen shred, like a schoolboy's theme, beaten general topicks. Id. SHREW, n. s. Belg. schreyen, to SHREWD, adj. clamor. A peevish, SHREWD'LY, adv. clamorous, vexatious SHREWD'NESS, n. s. woman. It appears SHREW'ISH, adj. from Robert of GlouSHREW'ISHLY, adv. cester and Shakspeare SHREW ISHNESS, n. s. that this word signified anciently any one perverse or obstinate, of either sex shrewd seems originally to have been contracted from shrewed, i. e. having the qualities of a shrew; sly; mean; mischievous; troublesome: the derivatives corresponding. There dede of hem vor hunger a thousand and mo, and yat nolde the screwen to none pes go. Robert of Gloucester. Be merry, be merry, my wife has all; Shakspeare. Henry IV. were set open. Wotton. It was a shrewd saying of the old monk, that two kind of prisons would serve for all offenders, an inquisition and a bedlam: if any man should deny the being of a God, and the immortality of the soul, such a one should be put into the first, as being a desperate heretick; but, if any man should profess to believe these things, and yet allow himself in any known wickedness, such a one should be put into bedlam. Tillotson. Her sallow cheeks her envious mind did shew, A man had got a shrew to his wife, and there could be no quiet in the house for her. L'Estrange. No enemy is so despicable but he may do a body a shrewd turn. Id. When a man thinks he has a servant, he finds a traitor that eats his bread, and is readier to do him a mischief, and a shrewd turn, than an open adversary. South. The obstinate and schismatical are like to think themselves shrewdly hurt, forsooth, by being cut off from that body which they choose not to be of. Id. Corruption proceeds from employing those who have the character of shrewd worldly men, instead of such as have had a liberal education, and trained up Every one of them, who is a shrew in domestick life, is now become a scold in politicks. in virtue. Addison. gallant achievements in the late war. The freegrammar-school is a stately building, not inferior to some of the colleges, and has an excellent library, and spacious chapel. It has several exhibitions to Cambridge. Here are twelve trading companies, all incorporated by charter in the same manner as in London, several of them having very neat halls. The staple trade of Shrewsbury is in fine flannels and Welsh webs. The flannels are bought at Welshpool, and are finished here, and hence sent to the home and foreign markets. A large mill, for the purposes of spinning, fulling, &c., is erected at the Isle, about five miles from Shrewsbury; and there are also mills in the county for dyeing woollen cloth. Here are large manufactories of linen yarn, a porter brewery, and an extensive iron foundry. Id. Freeholder. The neighbours round admire his shrewdness, For songs of loyalty and lewdness. Swift. SHREWSBURY, a borough and markettown, consisting of five parishes, in the liberties of Shrewsbury, Salop, situate on a kind of peninsula formed by the winding of the river Severn, 155 miles north-west from London. The inhabitants are employed in trade and manufactures, principally in those of flannels. It is a place of great antiquity, and is supposed This town is famous for the excellence of its to have been built by the Britons, on the ruins of brawn, and has for many years been noted for an ancient city called Uriconium. The Britons its delicate cakes. Shrewsbury supplies Wales called it Penguerne, and the Saxons named it with all kinds of necessary articles. The greatest Scrobbes Byrig. Here are two fine stone bridges ornament of Shrewsbury is that beautiful tract over the Severn. The eastern, called the New of land between the walls of the town and the Bridge, is a noble structure, consisting of seven river, called the Quarries. It consists of about arches, and being 410 feet in length. The other twenty acres of land, laid out in the most beautiis called the Welsh Bridge, from its leading into ful walks for the accommodation of the inhabiWales, which has of late years been rebuilt. tants, shaded by a double row of lime-trees. This bridge has a handsome gate. The streets Besides the Severn, the town has the advantage are wide and clean, well paved and lighted, and of a canal to Wales, with branches to Ellesmere, many of the buildings are elegant. The church Madeley, and Newport. This town was incorof St. Alkmund was entirely collegiate; it was porated by king Charles I., the corporation conrebuilt in 1796 in an elegant manner. St. Mary's sisting of a mayor, recorder, steward, town-clerk, church was also collegiate; it has a very high twenty-four aldermen, and forty-eight commonspire, which is seen at a distance, but it has councilmen, with inferior officers. The corporabeen damaged by storms. St. Chad's was also tion has the power of trying all criminals, except collegiate as early as the reign of William the traitors, for crimes committed within their liberConqueror. This ancient structure was nearly ties; but, as the assizes are held here twice destroyed by the falling of the decayed tower in a-year, their cases are generally left to the de1788, whilst it was repairing. It was rebuilt in termination of the judges. Shrewsbury sends 1792; the body of the church being externally two members to parliament, chosen by the free a circle of 100 feet diameter. St. Michael's was burgesses; the returning officer is the mayor. a royal free chapel in the castle, and was granted The town was formerly of great strength, having by Henry I. to the college at Battlefield. St. been encompassed with a strong stone wall, and Julian's, a neat modern structure, erected in defended by a castle. Markets, Wednesday 1748, except the tower, was also a royal free and Saturday, for corn, cattle, and provisions, chapel, and at length annexed to St. Michael's. and on Thursday for Welsh flannels, cotton, St. Giles's church is a small plain building. A friezes, baise, &c. Fairs, Saturday after March part of the former magnificent abbey is now the 15th, Wednesday after Easter-week, Wednesday church of Holy-Cross. In addition to these, before Holy-Thursday, July 3d, August 12th, here are several places of worship for dissenters, October 2d, and December 12th. About one and a Roman Catholic chapel. The gaol for the mile distant, in a large wood, stands Boscobelcounty stands near the castle, and under the House, where the Pendrils lived, who preserved same roof is the town bridewell. The shire-hall king Charles II. after the battle of Worcester, is a modern building, in which the county busi- and which is famous for the royal oak, where ness is transacted, and the courts of assize and the king hid himself from his pursuers. Near sessions are held. A suitable house is now Shrewsbury is the great Roman road, called building for the accommodation of the judges. Watling Street, which ran from London through The market-house was erected in 1819, by sub- this town, to the extremity of Wales. scription. Near it is a reservoir for supplying churches of St. Mary, St. Chad, and St. Julian, the town with water. Here are assembly rooms are curacies; Holy-Cross is a vicarage, value £8, and a theatre. The charitable institutions in the and St. Alkmund's a vicarage, value £6, both in town are an infirmary, opened in 1747; the the patronage of the crown. house of industry, under excellent regulations; a hospital founded in 1784, together with several alms-houses and charity-schools. At the entrance of the town from London a splendid column of freestone, surmounted with a statue of the Shropshire hero, lord Hill, has been erected at the exvense of £6000, to commemorate his lordship's The SHRIEK, v. n. & n. s. Dan. skrieger; Ital. scricciolare. To cry out inarticulately with anguish or horror; to scream: a cry of this kind. Una, hearing evermore His rueful shrieks and groanings, often tore SHRILL, adj. & v. n. Swed. skralla. A word supposed to be made per onomatopœiam, in imitation of the thing expressed, which indeed it images very happily.-Johnson. Sounding with a piercing, tremulous, or vibratory sound: to pierce the air with such sounds. Hark how the minstrels 'gin to shrill aloud Their merry musick that resounds from far, The pipe, the tabor, and the trembling crowd, That well agree withouten breach or jar. Spenser. Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them, And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth. Falling on his knees before her shrine, He thus implored her power. Dryden. Lovers are in rapture at the name of their fair idol; they lavish out all their incense upon that shrine, and cannot bear the thought of admitting a blemish therein. Watts. SHRINK, v. n., v. a., & n. s. Pret. I shrunk, or shrank; part. shrunken. Sax. reɲincan. To contract into less room; shrivel; be drawn together fall back; express in this way fear or horror: to make to shrink; a contraction or corrugation of this kind. The children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank upon the hollow of the thigh. Gen. xxxii. 32. The wicked shrunk for fear of him, and all the workers of iniquity were troubled. 1 Maccabees. banqueting-house, where the pictures were. Sidney. Leaving the two friends alone I shrunk aside to the She, weighing the decaying plight, And shrunken sinews, of her chosen knight, Would not awhile her forward course pursue. Faerie Queene. Shakspeare. King John. Ill-weaved ambition how much art thou shrunk! When that this body did contain a spirit, A kingdom for it was too small a bound: I'll embrace him with a soldier's arm, Shakspeare. Id. Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, Id. I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room. Bacon's Natural History. If there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, it would leave the minds of a number of men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy. Bacon. Many shrink, which at the first would dare, And be the foremost men to execute. Daniel's Civil War. This public death, received with such a chear, As not a sigh, a look, a shrink bewrays The least felt touch of a degenerous fear. Id. If he lessens the revenue he will also shrink the necessity. Taylor. laugh when those who at the spear are bold And vent'rous, if that fail them, shrink and fear To endure exile, ignominy, bonds. The noise increases; Milton. She comes, and feeble nature now I find Shrinks back in danger, and forsakes my mind. Dryden. The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread, And trembling Tyber dived beneath his bed. The gold-fraught vessel, which mad tempests and Brimstay, on the north-east side of the Se beat, the corn in measure. Mortimer. If a man accustom himself to slight those first motions to good, or shrinkings of his conscience from evil, conscience will by degrees grow dull and unconcerned. South's Sermons. There is in this a crack which seems a shrink or contraction in the body since it was first formed. Woodward. All fibres have a contractile power, whereby they shorten; as appears if a fibre be cut transversely, the ends shrink, and make the wound gape. Arbuthnot. Love is a plant of the most tender kind, That shrinks and shakes with every ruffling wind. Granville. What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right. Pope. SHRIVE, v. a. Sax. renifan. To hear at SHRIVER, n. s. confession: a shriver is a confessor. Not in use. What, talking with a priest, lord chamberlain ? Your honour hath no shriving work in hand. Shakspeare. If he had the condition of a saint, and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me. The ghostly father now hath done his shrift; Shrive but their title, and their monies poise, Id. Id. Cleaveland. SHRIV'EL, v. n. & v. a. Belg. schrompelen. To contract itself into wrinkles; to contract into wrinkles. SHROPSHIRE, or SALOP, an inland county of England, bounded on the north by Denbigh, a detached part of Flintshire, and by Cheshire; on the east by Staffordshire; on the south by Worcestershire and Herefordshire; and on the west by Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire, and Denbighshire. It is about forty miles in length from north to south, thirty-five in breadth from east to west, 218 in circumference, and contains 1341 square miles, and 858,240 acres. Its shape is an irregular parallelogram. This county contains fifteen hundreds or divisions; viz. Oswestry, Fimhill, Bradford-north, Bradford-south, vern; the liberty of Shrewsbury, the franchises of Wenlock, and the hundred of Stoddesden, extending on both banks of that river; the hundreds of Ford, Chirbury, Condover, Munslow, Overs, Purslow, and the honor of Clun, on the south-west side of the Severn. Shropshire is partly in the three dioceses of Hereford, Litchfield and Coventry, and St. Asaph, and is included in the Oxford circuit. There are in this county 262 churches, of which 229 are parochial. The air is, generally, very salubrious. There are mines of lead ore, of a good quality on the western side of the county, which have been productive. In some of these, tools, judged to be Roman, have been found, a few of which are preserved in the library of Shrewsbury free-school. Calamine is also met with, and the rock at Pimhill is strongly tinctured with copper. Symptoms both of copper and lead appear in the Cardington hills. Coal of an excellent quality is found on the eastern side of the county, particularly in the parishes of Wellington. Lilleshall, Wrockwardine, Wombridge, Stirchley, Dawley, LittleWenlock, Madeley, Barrow, Benthall, and Broseley, which promise a great and lasting supply for the extensive iron manufactories in the neighbourhood, for domestic use, and for exportation. In this district are the following iron works-On the south side of the Severn are Willey, Broseley, Calcot, Benthall, and Barnett's-Leason; on the north of that river is Madeley Wood, Colebrook-dale, Lightmoor, Horsehay Old-Park, Ketley, Snedshill, Donnington, Queen's-Wood, and Wrockwardine Wood. These works employ about 6000 hands, and about 260,000 tons of coal are raised annually in this district. In the year 1802 there were on the different iron and coal works 180 fire engines; and, thirty years preceding, there were not more than twenty. This county is also well supplied with lime, and in general the limestone is at no great distance from coal; it is also well supplied with building-stone. At Pitchford, near Shrewsbury, a mineral pitch is found exuding from a red sand stone; near Jackfield, south of the Severn, is carried on a manufacture of coal tar; and in the hundred of North-Bradford, are found several salt springs. The river Severn runs through the county, from north-west to south-east, and is navigable the whole way, neither lock nor weir being upon it from Poolquay, in Montgomeryshire, to the mouth of the Avon near Bristol, a distance of 155 miles. The other rivers are the Camlet, the Teme, the Clunn, the Vyrnwy, the Perry, the Weaver, the Cund-brook, and several smaller streams. Here are several lakes or meres, each covering from forty to 116 acres of ground. The turnpike roads are kept in tolerable repair, but the private roads are generally bad, particularly in the clayey part of the county: and accommodation by canal navigation in Shropshire is very considerable by means of the Shropshire, the Shrewsbury, the Ketley, the Ellesmere, and other canals. The Shropshire canal may be called a system of water levels and inclined planes; its general direction is from north to south, and it commences in the Severn at. Coalport. It was completed in the year 1792, and is said to have cost only £45,000. The Shrewsbury canal commences in that town, and terminates in the Shropshire canal; it was completed and opened in 1797. The Ellesmere canal is, rather than one, a system of canals, distributed over that extensive and fertile district of country which lies between the banks of the Severn and the Mersey, and between the skirts of North Wales and the borders of Staffordshire; this canal unites the rivers Severn, Mersey, and Dee, and opens a communication by water to the ports of Liverpool and Bristol. There are seventeen market-towns in Shropshire, and nine towns or villages which have fairs but not markets. Various branches of the linen, flannel, and woollen manufactures are carried on near Shrewsbury; and at Coalport and Caughley are manufactures of China ware of great excellence, the blue and white, and the blue, white, and gold China made there is in many instances equal to that from the east. Shropshire, though not remarkable for its agriculture, is in general well cultivated. Its chief products are wheat, coal, iron, limestone, lead, &c., and its manufactures are flannel, broad-cloth, Welsh cottons, mineral tar, castiron, &c. This county sends twelve members to parliament, two for the shire; and the boroughs of Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Bridgenorth, Wenlock, and Bishop's Castle, two each. In history, this county has been conspicuous for its military events from the time of the Roman invasion; and during the civil war of Charles I. it was distinguished for its loyalty. SHROUD, n. s., v. a., & v. n. Sax. renud. A shelter; a cover; winding sheet; the sails and sail-ropes of a ship: the verb active and verb neuter corresponding. I turned back to the mast of the ship; there' found my sword among some of the shrouds. Sidney. By me invested with a veil of clouds, And swaddled, as new-born, in sable shrouds, For these a receptacle I designed. Sandys. That same evening, when all shrouded were In careless sleep, all without care or fear, They fell upon the flock. Spenser. He got himself to Mege, in hope to shroud himself until such time as the rage of the people was appeased. Knolles. The tackle of my heart is crackt and burnt; And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail Are turned to one little hair. Shakspeare. It would warm his spirits, To hear from me you had left Antony, landlord. Now the wasted brands do glow; Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, Puts the wretch that lies in woe In remembrance of a shroud. Shakspeare. The SHROUDS are a range of large ropes extending from the mast-heads to the right and left side of the ship, to support the masts and enable them to carry sail, &c. The shrouds as well as the sails are denominated from the masts to which they belong. Thus they are called the main, fore, and mizen shrouds; the main-topmast, fore-top-mast, or mizen-top-mast shrouds; and the main-top-gallant, fore-top-gallant, or The number of mizen-top-gallant shrouds. the size of rope of which they are formed, is alshrouds by which a mast is sustained, as well as ways in proportion to the size of the mast and the weight of the sail it is intended to carry. Bowsprit shrouds are those which support the bowsprit. Bumkin shrouds are those which support the bumkins. Puttock shrouds are shrouds which connect the efforts of the top-mast shrouds to the lower shrouds. Bentick shrouds are additional shrouds to support the marks in heavy gales. Preventer shrouds are similar to bentick shrouds, and are used in bad weather to ease the lower rigging. See MAST and SAIL. SHROVETIDE, n. s. Į SHROVE-TUESDAY. preterite of shrive. The time of confession; the day before Ash Wednesday or Lent. At shrovetide to shroving. From shrove, the Tusser. SHROVE-TUESDAY is the Tuesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, and is so called from the Saxon shrive, i. e. to confess. On this day all the people in every parish throughout England, while popery prevailed, were obliged to confess their sins, one by one, to their own parish priests, in their own parish churches; and, that this might be done the more regularly, the great bell in every parish was rung at ten o'clock; and, though the Romish religion is now abolished, the custom of ringing the great bell in several ancient parish churches of England, still remains, and obtains in London the name of pancake-bell; customary for the confessed to dine on pancakes. perhaps because, after the confession, it was Most churches, indeed, have dropt the custom of ringing the bell on Shrove-Tuesday; but the dining on pancakes still continues. SHRUB, n. s. Sax. rcnibbe. A bush; a SHRUB BY, adj. small tree; abounding in shrubs. He came unto a gloomy glade, Covered with boughs and shrubs from heaven's light. Faerie Queene. |