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Henry VIII, he rose to unbounded power, both in the church and state. By the will of Henry he had been nominated one of the council of regency, during the minority of Edward VI (q. v.); but, not content with his share of power, he procured himself to be appointed governor of the king and protector of the kingdom. In 1548, he obtained the post of lord treasurer, was created duke of Somerset, and made earl marshal. The same year he headed an army, with which he invaded Scotland, and, after having gained the victory of Musselburgh, returned in triumph to England. His success excited the jealousy of the earl of Warwick and others, who procured his confinement in the Tower, in October, 1549, on the charge of arbitrary conduct and injustice; and he was deprived of his offices, and heavily fined. But he soon after obtained a full pardon from the king, was admitted at court, and ostensibly reconciled to his adversary, lord Warwick (see Dudley, John), whose son espoused one of his daughters. The reconciliation was probably insincere, as Warwick, who had succeeded to his influence over the young king, caused Somerset to be again arrested, in October, 1551, on the charge of treasonable designs against the lives of some of the privy counsellors. He was tried, found guilty, and beheaded on Tower-hill, in 1552.

SEYMOUR, Jane. (See Henry VIII.) SFORZA; a celebrated Italian house, which played an important part in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, gave six sovereigns to Milan, and formed alliances with most of the princely houses of Europe. The founder of the house was a peasant of Cotignola, in Romagna, Giacomo Attendolo, whose skill and courage as a statesman and a warrior made him one of the most powerful condottieri of Italy. As he was one day laboring in the field, he was attracted by the sight of some mercenaries, and, throwing his axe against a tree, determined to become a soldier if it stuck in the tree, and to remain a peasant if it fell. Fate doomed him to become a soldier, and he served Joanna II, queen of Naples, who regarded him as the stay of her throne. The name of Sforza he assumed from the vigor with which he had hurled his axe. To his equally valiant son Francesco, he left, with a body of devoted followers, a power which made him formidable to any of the Italian states. Francesco becaine the son-in-law of Philip Maria Visconti, duke of Milan, and received the command of

the Milanese forces in the war against Venice. But, after the death of his fatherin-law (1447), symptoms of distrust ap peared between him and the leaders of the Milanese state. He seemed to pos sess the power and the will to seize upon the throne, to which his wife Bianca had a hereditary claim. He accordingly concluded a treaty with Venice, advanced against Milan, and compelled the citizens by famine to surrender the city. They chose him duke in 1448, and Francesco, a fortunate and celebrated prince, became the founder of a dynasty, that did not inherit his fame nor his fortune. He died in 1466.-His son, Galeazzo Maria, a barbarian and a voluptuary, was murdered by some conspirators in 1476.-The son of Galeazzo, Giovanni Galeazzo, was deposed by his uncle Ludovico, surnamed the Moor (il Moro). The latter formed a connexion with Charles VIII (q. v.) of France, to whom he opened the passage through Italy to Naples (1494), and thus prevented Giovanni's father-in-law, Alphonso, king of Naples, from rendering assistance to his son. At a subsequent period, he joined the league agains France, and was on that account deposed by Louis XII (1499). By the help of the Swiss, he expelled the French in the same year; but Louis again took the field against him, and prevailed upon the Swiss in his service to refuse to fight against their countrymen in the Freuch ranks. Ludovico was afterwards betrayed by one of his Swiss mercenaries to the king, who (1500) carried him to France, where he died at Loches, in 1510. -His son, Maximilian, once more drove the French from his territories by the aud of the Swiss, but, in consequence of the battle of Marignano, was obliged to ende his dominions to Francis I (15151, in con sideration of a pension. Francis wa afterwards driven from Italy by the ens peror Charles V, who invested Francesen, brother of Maximilian, with the duetry of Milan, in 1529. On the death of Fran cesco, in 1535, Charles V conferri te duchy on his son Philip II, king of Spa (See Milan.)

SGRAVESANDE. (See Gravesan de.

SHAD; a large species of herring is pea), which inhabits the sea near th mouths of large rivers, and in the s¡ • ascends them for the purpose of de peset ing its spawn in the shallow water ab their sources. The young fry remam far a season in the waters which gave the en birth, but on the approach of cold weather descend the rivers, and take refuge in the

ocean. The old ones likewise return, and at this time are emaciated and unfit for food. The form of the shad is the same as that of the other herrings, very much compressed, with the abdomen gradually becoming thinner, and forming a serrated edge; and, like them, the bones are much more numerous and more slender than in other fish. The shad which frequents our waters has not been accurately compared with the European, but is probably a different species. It usually weighs four or five pounds, but sometimes twelve: the scales are easily detached, when a row of dark spots is exposed on each side. It is found in all the rivers of our Atlantic coast, is highly esteemed for food, and is consumed in great quantities, in the fresh state, in our principal cities. During the season they are an important source of wealth to the inhabitants of the borders of the Hudson, Delaware and Chesapeake. Great quantities are salted, but are less esteemed than when eaten fresh.

SHADDOCK; a large species of orange, attaining the diameter of seven or eight inches, with a white, thick, spongy and bitter rind, and a red or white pulp, of a sweet taste, mingled with acidity. It is a native of China and Japan, and was brought to the West Indies by a captain Shaddock, from whom it has derived its name. It is often called pampelmoes. (See Orange.)

SHADWELL, Thomas, an English dramatic poet, was born at Stanton-hall, Norfolk, a seat of his father's, about 1640, educated at Cambridge, and afterwards placed at the Middle Temple, where he studied the law for some time, and then visited the continent. On his return from his travels, he applied himself to the drama, and wrote seventeen plays. His model was Ben Jonson, whom he imitated in drawing numerous characters, chiefly in caricature, of eccentricities in the manners of the day. Although coarse, and of temporary reputation, the comedies of Shadwell are not destitute of genuine humor. At the revolution he was created poet laureate, on the recommendation of the earl of Dorset; and as he obtained it by the dispossession of Dryden, the latter exhibited the bitterest enmity towards his successor, against whom he composed his severe satire of Mac Flecknoe. He died Dec. 6, 1692, in consequence, it is supposed, of taking too large a dose of opium, to which he was attached. Besides his dramatic writings, he was author of several pieces of poetry of no great

merit. The best edition of his works was printed in 1720 (4 vols., 12mo.). SHAFTESBURY, LORD. (See Cooper.) SHAGREEN, OF CHAGREEN (in the Levant, Saghir); a kind of grained leather, of a close and solid substance, used for forming covers for cases, &c., which easily receives different colors. It is prepared by the Tartars, Russians and Tripolitans, from the skin of the Bucharian wild ass, and is also made, in some parts of Russia, and in Persia, of horse-skin. The hinder back piece of the hides of these animals is cut off just above the tail and around the loins, in the form of a crescent. The piece thus separated is soaked several days in water, till the hair drops off. It is then stretched, and the hair and epidermis are removed with a scraper. After a second soaking, the flesh side is scraped in a similar manner; the skins are then stretched on wooden frames, and the hair side is covered with the seeds of the chenopodium album, or goose-foot. The seeds are then trodden into the leather, which, being dried, and freed from the seeds, is left full of indentations, which produce the grain of the shagreen. The dried skins are then scraped with a piece of sharp iron, till the inequalities are removed, and soaked again for twenty-four hours; the parts where the impressions of the seed were produced, are thus swollen and raised above the scraped surface. The skins are next immersed in ley, and are ready to receive their color. The most common color is sea-green (given by means of copper filings and a solution of sal ammoniac); but blue, red, black, and other colors, are also given it. Shagreen is also made of the skins of the sea-otter, seal, &c.

SHAH, or SCHAH, in Persian, signifies king; whence Shahnameh (book of kings). (See Ferdusi, and Persian Literature.)

SHAH, NADIR. (See Nadir Shah.)
SHAKE, in music. (See Trill.)

SHAKERS, or SHAKING QUAKERS; a sect which arose at Manchester, in England, about 1747, and has since been transferred to America, where it now consists of a number of thriving families. The founders were a number of obscure Quakers; and the Shakers still agree with the Friends in their rejection of the civil and ecclesiastical authority, and military service, in their objections to taking oaths, their neglect of the common courtesies of society, their rejection of the sacraments, and their belief in the immediate revelations of the Holy Ghost (gifts). At first, the motions from which they derive

their name were of the most violent, wild and irregular nature-leaping, shouting, clapping their hands, &c.; but at present, they move in a regular, uniform dance, to the singing of a hymn, and march round the hall of worship, clapping their hands in regular time. There are at present fifteen families, as their communities, are called, in the U. States, comprising 6000 individuals. In these communities, the property is held in common, and the members are distinguished for their industry, frugality, honesty and good morals. Celibacy is enjoined, and their numbers are recruited by converts. The of fice of leader is bestowed by impulse or revelation on him who has the gift to assume it. The sect of Shakers was first introduced into this country by Anne Lee, who, in 1770, became their leader. She was born at Manchester, in 1736, and was the daughter of a blacksmith of Manchester, where she also, at an early age, became the wife of a blacksmith. Her first "testimony of salvation and eternal life," borne in 1770, was the injunction of celibacy as the perfection of human nature, and the holding forth herself as a divine person. She was from this time honored with the title of "mother Anne," and she styled herself "Anne the word." Having been persecuted in England, she came out to America in 1774, with several members of the society, and formed the first community at Watervliet, near Albany, where she died in 1784. Societies were soon organized at New Lebanon, in New York, and at Enfield, in Connecticut, and have gradually increased to their present number. (See the official work, The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearance, or the article The Shakers, in the 16th volume of the North American Review.)

SHAKSPEARE, William, the greatest dramatic poet, not only of England, but of all the nations of Teutonic origin, was born in 1564, at Stratford on the Avon, a market-town in Warwickshire. The day of his birth is generally said to have been April 23, 1564. His father, according to Rowe, and most of the subsequent biographers of the poet, was a considerable dealer in wool; but according to John Aubrey (who entered himself as a student at Oxford in 1642, only twenty-six years after Shakspeare's death, and who derived his information from some of the neighbors of the family), he was a butcher; according to Malone, a glover. Malone says that William was the second of eight children. In regard to his early educa

tion, there is much uncertainty. It is probable, however, that he learned Latin in the school in his native town: the French and Italian, which he often introduces in his plays, he may have acquired afterwards by himself. Before he was sixteen years old, his father required his aid in his trade; and, in his eighteenth year, he married Anne Hathaway of Shottery, who was twenty-five years of age, and who became the mother, in 1583, of his favorite daughter Susanna, and, in 1584, of his twin children, Hamnet and Judith. It must have been soon after this event that he visited London. The time usually assigned is 1586, when he was in his twenty-second year; but the cause of his leaving his native place, as well as his connexions and prospects in London, are unknown. Rowe relates, and others have adopted the opinion, that, having fallen into bad company, he was induced more than once to assist his associates in stealing deer from the park of sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlcote, near Stratford. For this he was prosecuted by that gentleman so severely, that he at first wrote a satirical ballad on him, and afterwards fled from his home to avoid arrest. This story, however, does not rest on sufficient evidence to entitle it to credence. Without dwelling on this circumstance, or crediting another improbable story of his holding horses at the door of a theatre for his livelihood, we shall find a rational motive for his visiting London, and resorting to the theatre, by knowing that he had a relative and townsman already established there, and in some estimation. This was Thomas Green, a comedian. He became an actor, but, according to Rowe, he never rose higher than the performance of the ghost in his own Hamlet. Others, however, have endeavored to prove that he was an excellent actor. His greatest patron was a friend of Essex, the earl of Southamp ton, who is said to have presented him, on one occasion, with a thousand pounds. Queen Elizabeth, who was much delighted with his Falstaff in Henry IV, is said to have ordered him to write another play, in which the facetious knight might appear in love, which gave rise to the Merry Wives of Windsor. He was also favored with a letter from James I, in return, as doctor Farmer supposes, for the compliment in Macbeth. How long he acted has not been discovered; but he finally became a proprietor and manager, by license, of the Globe theatre in Southwark; and it was in this situation that he

afforded Ben Jonson the opportunity of appearing as a dramatic writer. Having a sobriety and moderation in his views of life, not very common in the profession which he adopted, our great dramatist retired early, with a respectable fortune of from £200 to £300 per annum, equivalent, perhaps, to £1000 in our own day, and spent the remainder of his life in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends. For some years before his death, he resided at Stratford, in a house which continued in the possession of his descendants until the restoration. Garrick, Macklin, and others, were entertained, in 1742, under the mulberry-tree planted by Shakspeare. The house was afterwards sold to a clergyman of the name of Gastrel, who, being rated for the poor higher than it pleased him to pay, peevishly declared that the house should never pay again; and, from ill-will to the inhabitants of Stratford, who were benefited by the company it brought to the town, he pulled it down, and sold the materials. He had previously cut down the mulberry-tree for fuel; but a silversmith purchased the whole of it, which he manufactured into memorials of the poet. Shakspeare died on the anniversary of his birth-day, April 23, 1616, having completed his fifty-second year. He was interred in the church of Stratford. Aubrey says that Shakspeare was "a handsome, well-shaped man, verie good company, and of a verie pleasant, reddie and smooth witt.". His son died at the age of twelve years. His widow survived him seven years. Susanna, who married a physician named John Hall, died aged sixty-six; and Judith, who married a Mr. Guiney, died aged seventy-seven. The children of these ladies were all without offspring; but, in 1819, mention was made of a female relation of the family of Shakspeare. In 1741, a monument was erected to him in Westminster abbey, and paid for by the proceeds of benefits at the two great theatres. In 1769, by the efforts of Garrick, a festival was celebrated in honor of the poet in his native town of Stratford. There was a splendid procession of triumphal cars, in which king Lear, Richard III, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, accompanied with music and the shouts of the populace, moved to a splendid temple, where speeches, oratorios and odes were combined to do honor to Shakspeare. The next year, the spectacle was exhibited at Drury lane in London, and was repeated for one hundred nights.

A. W. Schlegel has devoted to the character of Shakspeare one of the most valuable of his Lectures on the Drama, which are now translated into English. Schlegel is one of the first critics of our age; and it may not be uninteresting to our readers to know the opinions of such a man on the great English poet, whose works he has himself translated and naturalized in Germany, where they have been as much admired as in England, and perhaps more profoundly criticised by men of distinguished talent. "The ignorance or learning of the poet," says Schlegel, "has been the subject of endless controversy; and yet it is a matter very easily settled. Shakspeare was poor in dead learning, but he possessed a fulness of living and applicable knowledge. He knew Latin, and even something of Greek, though not probably enough to read Greek writers with ease in the original. With the French and Italian he had also but a superficial acquaintance. He had a very extensive knowledge of English books, original and translated. He was sufficiently intimate with mythology to employ it in the only manner he wished-as a symbolical ornament. He had formed the most correct notions of the spirit of ancient history, and more particularly of that of the Romans; and the history of his own country was familiar to him, even in detail. He was an attentive observer of nature. He knew the technical language of mechanics and artisans. He seems to have travelled much in the interior of England, and to have been a diligent inquirer of navigators respecting other countries; and he was most accurately acquainted with all the popular usages, opinions and traditions which could be of use in poetry. The proofs of his ignorance on which the greatest stress is laid, are a few geographical blunders and anachronisms. Because, in a comedy founded on a tale, he makes ships arrive in Bohemia, he has been laughed at. But, in such matters, Shakspeare is only faithful when he treats historical subjects relating to his own country. When he worked on novels, he avoided disturbing his audience, to whom they were known, by the correction of errors in secondary things. Shakspeare's anachronisms are for the most part, committed purposely It was frequently of importance to him to bring the subject exhibited from the background of time quite near to us: hence, in Hamlet, though avowedly an old northern story, there prevails the tone of fashionable society, and, in every respect,

the costume of the most recent period. Without these circumstances, it would not have been allowable to make a philosophical inquirer of Hamlet, on which, however, the character of the whole piece depends. To me, Shakspeare appears a profound artist, and not a blind and wildly luxuriant genius. In such poets as are usually considered careless pupils of nature, I have always found, on a closer examination, when they have produced works of real excellence, a distinguished cultivation of the mental powers, practice in art, and views worthy in themselves, and maturely considered. That idea of poetic inspiration which many lyric poets have brought into vogue, as if they were not in their senses, and, like the Pythia, when possessed by the divinity, delivered oracles unintelligible to themselves, is least of all applicable to dramatic composition-one of the productions of the human mind which requires the greatest exercise of thought. It is admitted that Shakspeare reflected, and deeply reflected, on character and passion, on the progress of events and human destinies, on the human constitution, on all the things and relations of this world; so that it was only respecting the structure of his own pieces that he had no thought to spare. Shakspeare's knowledge of mankind has become proverbial: in this his superiority is so great, that he has justly been called the master of the human heart. His characters appear neither to do nor say any thing on account of the spectator; and yet the poet, by means of the exhibition itself, without any subsidiary explanation, enables us to look into the inmost recesses of their minds. How each man is constituted, Shakspeare reveals to us in the most immediate manner. He demands and obtains our belief, even for what is singular, and deviates from the ordinary course of nature. Never, perhaps, was O comprehensive a talent for characterization possessed by any other man. It not only grasps the diversities of rank, sex and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do his kings and beggars, heroes and pick-pockets, sages and fools, speak and act with equal truth; not only have his human characters such depth and comprehension, that they cannot be ranged under classes, and are inexhaustible, even in conception; but he opens the gates of the magic world of spirits, calls up the midnight ghost, exhibits witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries, peoples the air with sportive fairies and "yiphs; and these beings, existing only in

imagination, possess such truth and consistency, that, even in the case of deformed monsters, like Caliban, he extorts the conviction that if there should be such beings, they would so conduct themselves If the delineation of all his characters, separately taken, is inimitably correct, be surpasses even himself in so combining and contrasting them, that they serve to bring out each other. No one ever painted as he has done the facility of selfdeception, the half self-conscious hypoensy towards ourselves, with which even noble minds attempt to disguise the almos inevitable influence of selfish motives on human nature. Shakspeare's comic talent is equally wonderful with his pathet ic and tragic. He is highly inventive in comic situations and motives: it will be hardly possible to show whence he has taken any of them. His comic characterization is equally true, various and profound with his serious." In regard to his diction and versification, Schlegel observes, "The language is here and there somewhat obsolete, but much less so than that of most of the writers of his day-a sufficient proof of the goodness of his choice. He drew his language immediaately from life, and possessed a masterly skill in blending the element of dialogue with the highest poetical elevation. Certain critics say that Shakspeare is frequently ungrammatical. To prove this assertion, they must show that similar constructions do not occur in his conteinporaries; but the direct contrary can be established. In no language is every thing determined on principle: much i always left to the caprice of custom, azai, because this has since changed, is the poet answerable for it? In genern, Shakspeare's style yet remains the very best model, both in the vigorous and the sublime, the pleasing and the tender. The verse of all his plays is generally the rhymeless iambic of ten or eleven syllables, occasionally intermixed with rhymes, but more frequently alternating with prose. No one piece is wholly written in prose; for, even in those which approach the most to the pure comedy, there a always something added which elevates them to a higher rank than belongs to this class. In the use of verse and prose, Shakspeare observes very nice distinetions, according to the rank of the speak ers, but still more according to theat characters and dispositions. His iambars are sometimes highly harmonious and full sounding, always varied, and suitable to the subject: they are at one time du

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