Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 52.djvu/75

 'one of the skilfullest linguists (his age being considered) that ever was in Oxon. . . and was thought to surpass Origen in memory. So excellent a poet also he was that his equal scarce could be found, it having been an ordinary matter with him to compose one hundred very good verses every day at vacant hours.' Several authors, including John Leland (Encomia, 1589, pp. 81-2) and Dr. John White, have celebrated his memory in their books of poems.

He was the author of: 1. 'Summa et Synopsis Novi Testamenti distichis ducentis sexagmta comprehensa,' published by John Parkhurst at Strasburg about 1556, 8vo; reprinted London, 1560, Oxford, 1586, 8vo, the last edition being revised by Dr. Laurence Humfrey. The verses are also reprinted in 'Gemma Fabri,' London, 1598. They were composed for the purpose of giving mnemonical aid to students of divinity. 2. 'Hippolytus Ovidianae Phaedrae respondens,' published at Oxford about 1584 by George Etheridge, a physician who had been one of Shepreve's pupils. The original manuscript is in the library of Corpus Christi, Oxford, No. 266. 3. 'Vita et Epicedion Johannis Claymondi Praesidis Coll. Corp. Chr.,' manuscript in the library of that college. There is another copy in Wood's collection, 8492, and a transcript among Rawlinson's manuscripts. Misc. 335, both in the Bodleian. This poem is important as being the main authority for Claymond's life (see, Hist. Corpus Christi Coll., pp. 79, 83, 84, 86, 88, 370). 4. 'S. Basilius, Episc. Caesariensis. In Esaiam Prophetam commentariorum tomus prior,' translated into Latin from the original Greek (Birch MSS. in Brit. Mus. No. 4355). 5. 'Oratio in laudem Henrici VIII,' manuscript in the Royal Library, Brit. Mus. 16 A 2. In the same volume there are two orations by Shepreve, in Hebrew, on the same subject. 6. 'Carmen de Christi Corpore.' He is also credited with a translation into Latin of the 'Hecuba' of Euripides, and a translation into English of Seneca's 'Hercules Furens.'

[Addit. MS. 24491 p. 364; Bale, De Scriptoribus, is. 30; Foster's Alumni Oxon. early ser. iv. 1346; Leland's Cygnia Cantio (1646); Leland's Encomia, 1689, p. 81; Pits, De Angliae Scriptoribus, p. 730; Reg. Univ. Oxon. i. 164, 348 ; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 667; White's Diacosio-Martyrion. 1553, ff.86,89; Wood's Athenae Oxon. (Bliss), i. 106. 134; Wood's Hist, et Antiq. Univ. Oxon. ii. 233.]  SHEPREVE or SHEPERY, WILLIAM (1540–1598), in Latin,, catholic divine, nephew of John Shepreve [q. v.], was born near Abingdon, Berkshire, in 1540, and was admitted a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 16 Feb. 1554–5. He became a probationer of the college in November 1558, and was admitted B.A. 19 Feb. 1559–60. Being a zealous catholic he withdrew to the continent, and eventually settled in Rome, where he was ‘exhibited to’ by Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, archbishop of Bologna, in whose family he lived for several years. He appears to have had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him at Rome, where ‘he was accounted the most skilful person in divers tongues of his time, and the worthy ornament of the English exiles.’ He died at Rome, ‘in ædibus S. Severiani,’ in 1598.

His works are: 1. ‘Connexio literalis Psalmorum in officio B. V. Mariæ et corroboratio ex variis linguis et patribus, vna cum mysticis sensibus,’ Rome, 1596. 2. ‘Argumenta in Novum Testamentum,’ published by John Shaw in his ‘Biblii Summula,’ 1621. A ‘Carmen in Novum Testamentum’ by Shepreve was published in ‘Ad Lectorem Gemma Fabri,’ 1598. He left in manuscript: 1. ‘Miscellanea celebrium sententiarum Sacræ Scripturæ.’ 2. ‘Commentarii in Epist. D. Pauli ad Rom. ex Latino, Græco, Syriaco, Æthiopico.’ 3. ‘Notæ in omnes Epistolas D. Pauli et canonicas, de differentiis textus Latini à Græco et Syriaco,’ vol. i. 4. ‘Expositio locorum difficilium in officio B. Mariæ.’

[Bodl. Cat. iii. 388; Dodd's Church Hist. ii. 133; Douay Diaries, pp. 342, 360, 375, 439; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, iv. 1346; Oxford Univ. Reg. i. 241; Pits, De Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 859; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 667; Wood's Annals (Gutch), ii. 146; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 668, Fasti, i. 156; Cat. of Early Printed Books.]  SHEPSTONE, THEOPHILUS (1817–1893), South African statesman, the son of the Rev. William Shepstone, who emigrated to the Cape in 1820, and his wife Elizabeth Brookes, was born at Westbury, near Bristol, on 8 Jan. 1817. He was educated chiefly at the Cape, at the native missions to which his father devoted himself, and he early acquired a great proficiency in the native dialects. On 8 Jan. 1835 he became headquarters interpreter of the Kaffir languages at Capetown, and served on the expedition against the Kaffirs on the governor's staff; at the conclusion of the campaign he was made clerk to the agent for the native tribes on the frontier. In 1838 he accompanied the expedition under Major Charteris which accomplished the first temporary occupation of Natal; and in the following year he became the British resi- resi-