to their rapacity. The sharks form several natural genera, distinguished by the presence or absence of blow-holes, or of the anal fin, by the form of the head, nose and teeth, &c. &c. The teeth of sharks are movable at the will of the animal, and are usually laid down and directed backwards, but become erect at the moment the animal is seizing its prey. Shagreen, which is extensively used in the arts, is furnished by several species, and, together with their oil, forms the most important of their products. The basking shark (selache marimu) is by far the largest of the genus, sometimes attaining the length of forty feet; but it has none of the ferocity of the others, and the teeth are excessively small. It inhabits the north ern seas, and is occasionally taken along our coasts, even as far south as New Jersey. It is sometimes called whalebone shark, from having in the mouth a substance resembling whalebone. The hammer-headed sharks (zygena) are remarkable among fishes for having the head flattened and projecting laterally, which gives to the animal something of the form of a hammer. The eyes are placed at the extremity of these prominences. They are very voracious, and frequently attack man. One or more species are found along the coast of the U. States. The species of squalina differ from the other sharks in having the mouth terminal, the body flattened horizontally, and the pectoral fins large, and the eyes on the upper part of the head. One species is found in our waters. The long-tailed shark, or thresher, also frequents our coasts; it is distinguished by having the tail as long as the body. We have many other sharks, but at present they are, in general, not well understood. That some of them are sufficiently formidable we have lately had evidence; in Boston bay, a man was recently attacked in his boat, and devoured by one of these animals.

SHARP (in Italian, maggiore; in German, dur, from the Latin durus, hard) is a musical term applied to those keys, the basis of which is the "perfect harmonic triad."Sharp signifies also a character, the power of which is to raise a note, before which it is placed, half a tone higher than it would be without such a prefix. The character is formed thus: # (See Flat.)

SHARP, James, archbishop of St. Andrews in Scotland, was a native of Banffshire, born 1618, and was early destined, by his family, for the ministry. With this view, he was placed at the Marischal college in Aberdeen, but, objecting to take

the "solemn league and covenant,” quitted the university, and went to London. During the civil wars, he returned to his native country, and obtained a professorship in the university of St. Andrews. Ha eloquence and reputation caused him t be selected, by the moderate Presbyterian party in Scotland, to advocate their caus with the protector, Cromwell, against the demands of the more rigid Calvinists and he was subsequently sent to Breda. by Monk, for the purpose of procuring the sanction of Charles II, to the proposed settlement of the ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland. He returned to Scotland, and delivered to some of the ministers of Einburgh a letter from the king, in which the latter promised to protect the govern ment of the church of Scotland, as it is settled by law." The clergy, understanding this declaration in its obvious sense, were satisfied; but it subsequently ap peared, that Sharp had in view to subvert the church government, which he affected to maintain, pleading to the friends of episcopacy that this letter would pledge the king to nothing, as the parliament had only to establish episcopacy, to transier the pledge of the monarch to its suppor The presbytery being accordingly overturned by parliament, Sharp was rewarded with the primacy, and appointed archbishop of St. Andrews. The wanton cruelties which followed, confirmed the horror entertained against him, and raised the fury of some of his more bigoted opponents to attempts against his life. 1678, he narrowly escaped assassination from the hand of James Mitchell, an enthusiast, who was some time after taken and executed. A similar attempt, the following year, was more successful. His carriage, in which he was travelling in Magus Muir, about three miles from St. Andrews, on the 3d May, 1679, was met by some fanatics, headed by John Balfour of Burley, who were waiting there to intercept a servant of the archbishop's named Carmichael. To tempers thus heated by fanaticism, the appearance of the archbishop himself was deemed a sign of the intention of Providence to substitute a more important victim; and, regardless of the tears and entreaties of his daughter, they dragged him from his carriage, and despatched him with their swords, with which they inflicted no less than twentytwo wounds.

In

SHARP, Granville, an English gentleman, eminent for his philanthropy and learning, born in 1734, was educated for the bar, but did not practise at it; he ob

tained a pace in the ordnance office, which he resigned at the commencement of the American war, the principles of which he did not approve. He then took chambers in the Temple, and led a life of private study. He first became known by his defence of a poor negro named Somerset. This man, having been carried to England by his master, was turned out into the streets to die, during a fit of sickness, and when, by the charity of Mr. Sharp and others, he had been restored to health, was claimed again as property. The result of the law proceedings, on this question, not only cleared Somerset, but determined that slavery could not exist in Great Britain. Such an incident could not fail to deeply impress a benevolent mind; and slavery, in every country, became the object of his unceasing hostility. Having succeeded in the case of an individual negro, he interested himself in the condition of others, whom he found wandering in the streets of London, and, at his own expense, sent a number of them to Sierra Leone: he also, soon after, became the institutor of the society for the abolition of the slave-trade, and sought to modify the harsh practice of impressment. He was likewise led, by his political principles, to be the advocate of parliamentary reform, in support of which he published a Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature, in which he contends for a revival of the political institutions of Alfred. He died July 6, 1813.

SHARP-SHOOTERS. Formerly, there were, in several armies, a few men attached to each company of troops of the line, who, unlike the rest of the infantry, took aim at particular individuals, had better guns or rifles, and did not shoot with the mass of the troops. These were called sharp-shooters. The better organization of armies in modern times, and particularly the introduction of tirailleurs (q. v.), has caused them to be abolished.

SHASTRA, OF SHASTER. (See Indian Literature, division Sacred Literature.) SHAWLS. (For the Cashmere shawls, see Cashmere.)

SHAYS'S INSURRECTION. The war of the revolution had not only left the new states suffering under the burden of a heavy public debt, but, in consequence of the interruption of commerce and manufactures, the scarcity of money, and the depreciated state of the circulating medium, the great body of the people, in some parts of the country, were unable to meet the demands of their creditors. In the

autumn of 1786, bodies of armed men interrupted the proceedings of the county courts of justice in several of the counties of Massachusetts; and at about the same time, the legislature of New Hampshire, where the same causes had produced the same spirit of disaffection, was surrounded by an armed force, which, however, was finally dispersed by the citizens of Exeter, in which town the legislature was sitting. A body of the Massachusetts insurgents, under Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the continental army, having assembled at Springfield for the purpose of preventing the session of the courts, the government of the state despatched a detachment of militia, under the command of general Lincoln (q. v.), to suppress the insurrection. The object was successfully accomplished, with little bloodshed, by his activity and decision. Indemnity was then granted, on certain conditions, to the insurgents, 790 of whom took the benefit of this act of lenity.. Fourteen persons were sentenced to death, but they were all successively pardoned. In New Hampshire, likewise, the same clemency was extended to the insurgents, and no blood was shed by the hand of the civil magistrate.-See Minot's History of. the Insurrection in Massachusetts (1788).

SHEATHING, in naval architecture; a sort of covering nailed all over the outside of a ship's bottom, to protect the planks from the pernicious effects of worms. This sheathing, in former years, consisted of thin boards; but sheets of copper having been found far preferable, these have of late been almost universally adopted, especially in long voyages.

SHECHINAH, in Jewish history; the name of that miraculous light, or visible glory, which was a symbol of the divine presence.

SHEE, Martin Archer; a native of Ireland, distinguished as a portrait painter and as a poet. His works consist of Elements of Art, a Poem (8vo., 1800); Rhymes on Art, or the Remonstrance of a Painter (8vo., 1804); a Letter to the President of the British Institution, on the Encouragement of Historical Painting (8vo., 1809); and the Commemoration of Reynolds, and other Poems (small 8vo., 1814). He died in 1830.

SHEEP (ovis); a genus of ruminant quadrupeds, differing so slightly in the anatomical structure from the goat, that both genera are by some naturalists united. The principal distinctive characters consist in the absence of a beard, and the form and spiral direction of the horns.

The wild sheep, or argali (ovis ammon), is by no means the helpless animal we are accustomed to see in a domestic state. (See Argali.) The sheep seems to be the most stupid of all domestic quadrupeds, and is probably the only one incapable of returning to a state of nature, even if placed in the most favorable circumstances. It neither knows how to avoid danger, nor to seek shelter from the changes of the atmosphere, nor even to procure nourishment, except in abundant pasturage. Its habits are well known. Its products are the flesh, milk, skin, and especially the wool (q. v.), which employs a vast capital in the manufacture of clothing. The time allowed for fattening them is about three months before they are sent to market, and when they have attained the age of two or three years; unless the fleece be the object, when it may be delayed to the sixth, seventh, or even the tenth year, in a district where they are long-lived. Their ordinary life does not exceed twelve or fifteen years. The fleece is shorn every year, towards the month of May. It is sometimes washed on the back of the animal; but the more usual practice is to shear it without washing, as it then contains an animal oil, which is a great preservative against insects. The sheep require particular attention afterwards, as they are more exposed to the changes of the weather. At all times they are exposed to numerous maladies. The varieties of the sheep are very numerous, differing in size, the length of their legs, the size and number of their horns; some are covered with hair instead of wool; others have enormors tails; and others, again, pendent ears. The variety most celebrated for the fineness of the wool is the Spanish Merino, as improved in Germany: all the other most approved European varieties are crosses from the Merino. The English sheep is most celebrated for the quantity of its wool. Besides the argali, there is another animal more nearly related to the goat, inhabiting the Rocky mountains, between lat. 45° and 68°. It is more numerous in the western than in the eastern parts of these mountains, and is found in large flocks, frequenting the summits in the summer, and the valleys in the winter season. It is little known, but in some parts forms the principal sustenance of the natives. It is easily obtained by the hunters, but its flesh is not esteemed, neither is a value set upon its fleece. In size it approaches the sheep, and has long hair extending

beyond the wool: the horns are five inches in length and one in diameter, conical, and slightly curved backwards. An interest has lately been excited about this animal in England, and the fleece is said to be as fine as that of the shawl goat of Cashmere. It is often called the Rocky mountain sheep.

Sheep-Raising. Our limits will not allow us to give in detail the history of this valuable domestic animal, with the improvements which have been made in it at different periods; and we must refer the reader for more information to works which treat particularly of the subject. as Loudon's Encyclopædia of Agricul ture, and the article sheep in Rees's Cyclopædia, to the time when it was written. In Germany, both governments and individuals have paid great attention to the improvement of the wool, and in some parts of that country it has been brought to such perfection as to surpass that of any other part of the world. Several works in German, on this subject, though referring more particularly to the country in which they were written, would afford important assistance to sheep-breeders in any country. When we look for the origin of the improvements which have been made in the breeding of this animal, which has become so important an element of national wealth, and the source of so much manufacturing and commercial industry, we are obliged to go back to the Romans. They had made such progress, that the whole system of sheepbreeding, at present in use in Spain, is essentially the same which was introduced there by the Romans. Columella, who lived under the emperor Claudius, gives us interesting information on this point. Among other things, he says that his uncle, who lived in Boetica (which comprehends the present province of Estremadura), procured some wild African rams at Cadiz, of a coarse fleece, but of an admirable color. He put them to some fine-woolled ewes, and, the male progeny being again put to Tarentine ewes, the offspring, with their descendants, united the color of the sire with the dam's softness of fleece. Other agriculturists undoubtedly imitated him, and thus the purest white was communicated to the black or parti-colored native flocks, which, according to Pliny, were common in Spain. The Tarentine sheep were most celebrated in Italy, and the Milesian in Asia Minor. They were termed pellita and tecte oves, from the coverings of skin with which they were clothed, to protect

the fleece; they were also denominated molles oves, not only from the softness of the fleece, but also from the delicacy of their constitution. The attention paid by the ancients to the sheep was excessive, and the animal was extremely tender; so that we must account for the transition from the ancient sheep to the Merino, which is a hardy animal, thriving in almost any climate, by supposing that other agriculturists imitated Columella, and by crossing the breed imparted a stronger constitution to the fine-fleeced, but delicate sheep of ancient Italy. Strabo, indeed, describes the beginning of this improvement as having taken place in the reign of Tiberius. Fine rams were at that time sold at Truditania, part of Boetica, for a talent, or about a thousand dollars a price which, considering the value of money at that period, is immense. When the Roman empire was overrun, and almost all traces of civilization swept away, the Tarentine stock in Greece and Italy being very tender, and requiring the greatest care, became extinct; but the regenerated stock of Botica-the Merinosbeing able to live in the mountains, survived the conquest of Spain by the Goths and Vandals; and from these Merinos are descended those animals which supply all the manufactories of fine cloth in Europe. Care was early taken in Spain that the improved sheep should not mix with the coarse native sheep. The government soon took this important branch of national industry under its protection, and established particular courts to have jurisdiction over all subjects connected with sheep, wool, shepherds, pastures, &c. The way in which the improved sheep is generally bred in Spain is the following:-Whilst the common sheep remains always on the spot where it was born, and is housed in winter, the fine-woolled sheep is kept the whole time in the open air, in summer chiefly in the mountainous part of Old Castile or the Montaña, and in the lordship of Molina, in Arragon, which are the highest parts of Spain, containing the finest pasture. The former affords aromatic plants, which the latter does not; these mountains are covered with oaks, beeches, birches, hazel-bushes, &c., besides producing all the plants which grow in Switzerland. When a shepherd has driven his flock to the place where they are to remain for the summer, he first gives them as much salt as they are willing to lick. The estimated consumption during the five summer months is 20 cwts. of salt for 1000

sheep (perhaps, however, this estimate is too high). Towards the end of July, the rams are admitted to the ewes, from five to six rams to one hundred ewes; before and after, they remain separated. The rams yield more wool than the ewes, but not of so fine quality; three rams or five ewes afford twenty-five pounds. In the middle of September, the sheep are marked on the thigh. Towards the end of summer, the sheep are driven in flocks comprising 10,000 individuals, divided into bodies of 1000-1200, from these mountainous districts into the southern plains of La Mancha, Andalusia, and especially Estremadura. The journey begins at the end of September, and, during its continuance, they enjoy great privileges. Sometimes they travel as much as twenty-five or thirty miles a day, in order to reach a convenient place for halting. The whole journey from the mountains to the interior of Estremadura is reckoned at about 690 miles, which occupies forty days. The shepherd conducts them to the pasture which they occupied the previous winter, and where most of the lambs were born. Here folds are constructed for the sheep, and huts made of branches for the shepherd. Shortly after their arrival in the winter pasture, the birth of the lambs takes place. The barren ewes receive the poorest pasture, the pregnant the next best, and the ewes which have lambed the best. The lambs born latest are put into the richest pastures, to acquire strength for their journey. In March, the shepherds have much to do to the lambs-cut the tails, mark the nose with a hot iron, saw off the points of the horns, and emasculate those intended for wethers. In April, they return to the summer pastures. The flock at this time shows by its restlessness its wish to migrate; some sheep escape, &c.-an interesting fact, considering the restlessness of migrating animals at certain seasons. On the first of May the shearing begins, if the weather is not cold. It is performed under cover. Before shearing, the sheep are put into a building consisting of two apartments, from 400 to 800 paces long and 100 wide. As many of the sheep as are to be sheared the next day, are taken on the evening into a narrow, long, low hut, called the sweating-house, where the sheep, being much crowded, perspire freely. The wool thus becomes softer, and is more easily cut. This practice was also pursued by the Romans. The wool is sorted and washed before being

sent away. The sheep are carried to another place and marked, and those which have lost their teeth, are killed for mutton. There are now in Spain only about four millions of fine-woolled sheep. Sweden early imported Merinos, and greatly improved some of her sheep. In Germany, the first improvement of native flocks by Merinos took place in Saxony. In the Erzgebirge Hungarian rams had been previously introduced; but as early as 1765, above 200 Merino rams and ewes, accompanied by two Spanish shepherds, were imported into Saxony. In 1778, another importation of the finest Merinos, from the best flocks of Leon and Castile, took place, and important sheep farms were established. On that of Stolpen, the first established in Saxony, particular care has always been paid to the sheep, and it still affords extremely fine wool. It is said that Spain itself has at present no sheep equal to the stock imported in 1765; and the finest German wool brings a higher price in London than the best Spanish wool. The establishment at Stolpen has contributed greatly to the improvement of the Saxon sheep, and thereby to the promotion of industry in the country. From 1779 to 1811, more than 10,000 rams and ewes were sold there at moderate prices. The original German sheep is at present found hardly any where in Saxony, and a new, finewoolled race has originated from the mixture with Merinos, which is called electoral sheep, and its wool electoral wool, as the present kingdom of Saxony was, before 1806, the electorate of Saxony.-See Von Ehrenfels, On the Electoral Sheep and Electoral Wool (Prague, 1822, in German). Besides the royal breeds, which always have been kept entirely pure, other farmers in Saxony have imported genuine Merinos. At Rochsburg, in the Erzgebirge, the sheep are fed the whole year round in stalls; and the lambs, at the age of one year, are almost full grown, and therefore yield a considerable amount of very long and strong wool. Prussia has lately made uncommon progress in the breeding of fine sheep, and some of the Prussian wool, particularly that of the Mark and Silesia, competes in the market with the electoral wool. Flocks of genuine Merinos have been imported into Prussia, and the government, some time since, undertook the establishment of a school for shepherds, where young men were to be instructed, at the public expense, in the care of sheep, in health and in sickness, made acquainted with

the history of the improvements in the mode of raising them, &c. A simuar school was formerly established in Sweden. The Spanish breed of sheep was first introduced into Great Britain n 1787. Some individuals of the black and spotted kinds had indeed been procured and kept in the parks of noblemen previously, but without any regard to the wool; nor was inuch interest awakened by the flock imported in 1787. Subsequently great attention was paid to the improvement of English wool; but at was ascertained, that though the fleece of the Merino did not much degenerate u England, it did not much improve, and the carcass, which naturally affords little weight of meat, did not improve; in consequence of which, the farmers have found it for their interest to return to the native breeds and to give up the Spanish sheep. It appears to be sufficiently estab lished, by evidence taken before the house of lords in 1828, and other authorities. that a considerable deterioration has takes place in the quality of British wool, par ticularly during the last thirty years. The great object of the agriculturists has been to increase the weight of the car cass and the quantity of the wool, and a seems very difficult, if not impossibie, to accomplish this without injuring the tineness of the fleece. A very great change has taken place within the present ce tury as respects the quantity of foreg wool imported into England, and the countries from which it is obtained. Pre viously to 1800, the average imports did not exceed 3,000,000 lbs., brought mostly from Spain. In 1800, they amounted near 9,000,000 lbs. They now amount between 25,000,000 and 32,000,000, thgreater part furnished by Germany. The Spanish flocks suffered severely during the campaigns in Spain, and the bes Spanish wool does not now bring mut than half the price of the best German wool. The breed of sheep that was carried out to New Holland and Van Dy men's land has succeeded remarkačky well. The former promises, at no dista day, to be one of the principal wood growing countries in the world. Te imports into Great Britain, in IKU amounted to 1,967,309 lbs., while thi from Spain amounted only to 1,643,SI According to Mr. Luccock's estimate, which was made with great care, th total number of sheep and lants in Eng land and Wales, in the year 1800, 26,148,463. (See article England, in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia.) The nam