Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/478

 S H I

Four filaments, placed at the upper part of the tube. The Anthers are fimple. The germen of the piftil is double, oblong, and placed below the receptacle. The ftyle is (len- der, and bifid at top j and the ftigmata are headed. The fruit is an oblong body, feparable longitudinally into two feedsj which are long, convex on one fide, and plane on the other, and marked with three points at their fummit. Linnm Gen. Plant, p. 25.

Bherardia is alfo a name given by Pontedera to the genus of plants, called by Linnsus galema. Ponteder. Epift. 14. See the article Galenia.

SHERIF, in the Egyptian orders, the relations of Mahomet, the fame tribe of perfons called emir by the Turks. The word is Perfian, and fignifies great or noble ; and thefe perfons have the privilege of being exempt from appearing before any judge but their own head : and if any of the military orders are obliged to punifh them for any m'tfde- meanor, they firft take off their green turban, in refpect to their character ; and the fame is done, even when they are punifhed by their own mag'iftrate. Pocock's Egypt, p. 171.

SHIELD (Cycl.)— The Jhield was that part of the antient ar- mour, on which the perfons of diftincfion in the field of bat- tle always had their arms painted ; and moft of the words, ufed at this time to exprefs the fpace that holds the arms of families, are derived from the Latin name for a 'Jhield-, fcutitm. The French cfeu, and efcujfion, and our Englilh word, efcutcheon, or, as we commonly fpeak it, fcutcheon, is evidently from this origin ; and the Italian fcudo fignifies both the Jhield of arms, and that ufed in war. The Latin name clypeus, for the fame thing, feems alfo to be derived from the Greek word, yhvtpuv, to engrave; and it had this name from the feveral figures engraved on it, as marks of diftinction of the perfon who wore it. Beck- man, DifT. 6. cap. 8.

The Jhield in war, among the Greeks and Romans, was not only ufeful in the defence of the body, but it was alfo a token, or badge of honour to the wearer, and he who re- turned from battle without it, was always treated with in- famy afterwards.

People have at all times thought this honourable piece of the armour, the propereft place to engrave, or figure on the figns of dignity of the poffeffor of it ; and hence, when arms came to be painted for families in after-times, the heralds always chofe to reprefent them upon the figure of a Jlrield, but with feveral exterior additions and ornaments, as the helmet, fupporters, and the reft. Nijbet's Heraldry, p. 11. The form of the Jhield has not only been found different in various nations, but even the people of the fame nation, at different times, have varied its form extremely ; and among feveral people there have been Jhields of feveral forms and fizes in ufe, at the fame period of time, and fuited to diffe- rent occafions. Baron's Heraldry.

The moft antient and univcrfal form of Jhields, in the ear- lier ages, feems to have been the triangular. This we fee inftanccs of in all the monuments and gems of antiquity: our own moft early monuments fhew it to have been the moft antique fhape alfo with us, and the heralds have found it the moft convenient for their purpofes, when they had any odd number of figures to reprefent ; as if three, then two in the broad bottom part, and one in the narrow upper end, it held them very well ; or if five, they ftood as conveniently at three below, and two above. The other form of a. Jhield, now univerfally ufed, is fquare, rounded and pointed at the bottom : this is taken from the figure of the fommtic-Jhield ufed by the Romans, and fince copied very generally by the Englilh, French, and Germans. The Spaniards and Por- tuguefe have the like general form of Jhields, but they are round at the bottom without the point ; and the Germans, befide the hmnite-JJjield, have two others pretty much in ufe : thefe are, 1. The hu\g'mg-JJrield, diftinguifhed by its fwelling or bulging out at the flanks ; and 2. the indented- Jhield, or Jlrield chancree, which has a number of notches and indentings all round its fides. The ufe of the antient jhield of this form was, that the notches ferved to reft the lance upon, that it might be firm while it gave the thruft ; but this form being lefs proper for the receiving armorial figures, the two former have been much more ufed in the heraldry of that nation.

Befide this different form of the Jlrields in heraldry, we find them alfo often diftinguifhed by their different pofitions, fome of them ftanding erect, and others flanting various ways, and in different degrees. This the heralds exprefs by the word pendant, hanging, they feeming to be hung up not by the center, but by the right or left corner. The French call thefe ecu pendant, and the common antique tri- angular ones ecu ancien. The Italians call this fcuto pendente ; and the reafon given for exhibiting the Jlrield in thefe fi- gures in heraldry is, that in the antient tilts and tourna- ments, they who were to juft at thefe military exeicifes, were obliged to hang up their Jlrields, with their armories, or coats of arms on them, out at the windows and balconies of the houfes near the place ; or upon trees, pavilions, or the barriers of the ground, if the exercife was to be perform- ed in the field.

S H I

Thofe who were to fight on foot, according to Columbicr- had their Jhields hung up by the right corner, and thofe who were to fight on horfeback, had theirs hung up by the left. This pofition of the Jhields, in heraldry, is called coucbi by fome writers, though by the generality pendant. It was very frequent, in all parts of Europe, in arms given between the eleventh and fourteenth 'centuries. But it is to be obferved, that the hanging by the left corner, as it was the token of the owner T s being to fight on horfeback, fo it was efteemed the moft honourable and noble fituation, and all the pendant Jhields of the fons of the royal family of Scot- land and England, and of our nobility at that time, are thus hanging from the left corner. The hanging from this cor- ner, was a token of the owner's being of noble birth, and having fought in the tournaments before ; but no foverei^n ever had a Jhield pendant any way, but always erect, as they never formally entered the lifts of the tournament. The Italians generally have their Jhields of arms of an ova] form : this feems to be done in imitation of thofe of the popes, and other dignified clergy; but their herald, Petro Sancfo, feems to regret the ufe of this figure of the Jhield, as an innovation brought in by the painters and engravers, as moft convenient for holding the figures, but derogatory to the honour of the poffeflbr, as not reprefenting either anti- quity, or honours won in war, but rather the honours of fome citizen, or perfon of learning. Some have carried it fo far, as to fay that thofe, who either have no antient title to nobility, or have fullied it by any unworthy action, can- not any longer wear their arms in Jlrields properly figured, but were obliged to have them painted in an oval, or round Jhield. In Flanders, where this author lived, the round and oval Jhields are in the difrepute he fpeaks of; but in Italy, befide the popes and dignified prelates, many of the firft fa- milies of the laity have them. The fecular princes, in many other countries, alfo retain this form of the Jhield, as the moft antient, and truly exprefiive of the Roman clypeus. Nijbet's Heraldry, p. 12. Componille, Herald. SHIFTERS, on board a man of war, certain men who are employed by the cooks to ftiift or change the water, in which the flefh or fifh is put, and laid for fome time, in or- der to fit it for the kettle. SHILLING (Cycl.) — In the year 1560, there was a peculiar fort of Jhilling ftruck in Ireland, of the value of nine pence Englilh, which paffed in Ireland for twelve pence. The motto on the reverfe of thefe, is pofui deum adjutorem meum. Eighty two of thefe Jlrillings, according to Malynes, went to the pound ; they therefore weighed twenty grains one fourth each, which is fomewhat heavier in proportion than the Englilh Jhilling of that time, fixty two whereof went to the pound, each weighing ninety two grains feven eighths ; and the Irifh Jhilling being valued at the Tower at nine pence Englifh (that is one fourth part lefs than the Englifh Jlrilling) it fhould therefore proportionably weigh one fourth part lefs, and its full weight be fomewhat more than fixty two grains, but fome of them found at this time, though much worn,weighed fixty nine grains. In the year 1598, five different pieces of money of this kind were ftruck in England for the fervice of the kingdom of Ireland. Thefe were Jhillings to be current in Ireland as twelve pence each, half Jlrillings to be current at fix pence, and quarter Jhillings at three pence. Pennies and halfpennies were alfo ftruck of the fame kind, and fent over for the payment of the army in Ireland. The money thus coined was of a very bafe mixture of copper and filver, and two years after there were more pieces of the fame kinds ftruck for the fame fervice, which were ftill worfe ; the former being three ounces of filver to nine ounces of copper, and thefe latter only two ounces eighteen pennyweights, to nine ounces two pennyweights of the alloy. Simon's Irifh Coins. SHINGLING, in the iron-works, in many parts of England, is the operation of hammering the fow, or caft-iron, into blooms. The tongs, ufed for holding the iron in this ope- ration, are called jlringling-tongs, and the iron to be thus wrought is called a loop. Rays Englifh Words, p. 128. See the articles Loop and Bloom. SHIP (Cycl.)— It is highly neceffary, to the health of feamen, that Jlrips fhould be cleared of foul air ; for it has been found by frequent experience, that air fhut up, and confin- ed in a clofe place, without a fucceffion and frefh fupply of it, becomes unwholfome, and unfit for the ufe of life. This is more fenfibly fo, if any ftagnating water be pent up with it. But it grows ftill worfe, if fuch an air as this is made ufe of in refpiration ; that is, becomes moifter and hotter, by pafling and repafiing through the lungs. Thefe bad ef- fects tn different degrees, according to the different manner in which air is inclofed, are obferved in many cafes ; parti- cularly in deep wells, and caverns of the earth ; in prifons, or clofe houfes, where people arc fhut up with heat and naftinefs ; but moft of all in large Jlrips, in which, with the flench of water in the hold, many men being crouded up in clofe quarters, all the mentioned circumftances concur in pro- ducing greater mifchiefs than would follow from any of them fingle.

Mr.