Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/820

Rh 794 S H E S H E The poem has often been decried as practically unmeaning ; we do not subscribe to this opinion. The " witch " of this subtle and magical invention seems to represent that faculty which wo term "the fancy"; using this assumption as a clue, we find plenty of meaning in the poem, but necessarily it is fanciful or volatile meaning. The elegy on Keats, Adonais, followed in 1821 ; the Triumph of Life, a mystical and most impressive allegory, con- structed upon lines marked out by Dante and by Petrarch, was occupying the poet up to the time of his death. The stately fragment which remains is probably but a small portion of the projected whole. The translations chiefly from Homer, Euripides, Calderon, and Goethe date from 1819 to 1822, and testify to the poetic endowment of Shelley not less absolutely than his own original compositions. From this list it will be readily seen that Shelley was not only a prolific but also a versatile poet. Works so various in faculty and in form as The Revolt of Islam,, Julian and Maddalo, The Cenci, Prometheus Unbound, Epipsychidion, and the grotesque effusions of which Peter Sell the Third is the prime example, added to the consummate array of lyrics, have seldom to be credited to a single writer one, moreover, who died before he was thirty years of age. In prose Shelley could be as admirable as in poetry ; of late years it has even been pretended but we regard this proposition as worthy of summary rejection that his best and most enduring work is in the prose form. His letters to Thomas Love Peacock and others, and his uncompleted Defence of Poetry, are the chief monuments of his mastery in prose ; and certainly no more beautiful prose having much of the spirit and the aroma of poetry, yet without being distorted out of its proper essence is to be found in tho English language. The chief original authorities for Uic life of Shelley (apart from his own writings, which contain a good deal of autobiography, if heedfully sifted and collated) are (1) the notices by Mrs Shelley interspersed in her edition of the Poemt ; (2) Hogg's amusing, discerning, and authentic, although in some respects exaggerated, book ; (3) Trelawny's Records ; (4) the Life by Medwin ; and (5) the articles written by Peacock. Some other writers, especially Leigh Hunt, might be mentioned, but they come less close to the facts. Among biographical works produced since Shelley's death, by authors who did not know him personally, much the largest is The Real SMIey, by J. C. Jeaffrcson (1885) ; it is controversial in method and decidedly hostile in tendency, nnd tries a man of genius by tests far from well adapted (in our opinion) to bring out a right result ; it contains, howerer, an ample share of solid information and sharp disquisition. The memoir by V. M. Rossettl, prefixed to an edition of Shelley's Poemi in two forms of publication, 1870 and 1878, was an endeavour to formulate in brief space, out of the then confused and conflicting records, an accurate account of Shelley admiring, but not uncandidly one-sided. There is valuable material in Lady Shelley's Shelley Memorials, and in Dr Garnett's Relics of Shelley ; and the memoir written by Mr Symonds, in the series English Men of Letter*, is very agreeably and skilfully done. While we write (November 1888) Prof. Dowden is engaged upon a life of Shelley, which may be expected to distance all its predecessors in authority and completeness. (W. M. Ji.) SHELOMOH IBN GEBIROL. See AVICEBBON. SHEM. See NOAH. Compare SEMITIC LANGUAGES. SHEMAHA, a formerly important but now insignifi- cant town in Transcaucasia, in 40 38' N. lat. and 66 19' E. long., on the Zagolovai, an affluent of the Peerssagat, which falls into the Caspian. It is situated in a moun- tainous, very picturesque country, covered with luxuriant vegetation, at about 2230 feet above the level of the Black Sea. In 1873 it had 25,087 inhabitants, of whom 18,680 were Tartars and Shachsevans, 5177 Armenians, and 1230 Russians. Some 300 Armenian families now pro- fess Lutheranism the result of a mission first established at Shemaha about twenty years ago. Shemaha was the capital of the khanate of Shirvan, and was known to Ptolemy as Kamachia. Situated as it was on the high road from Europe to India, this old town must at one time have possessed very considerable importance, and evidence of the fact is found in the numerous ruins of large caravansarais, churches, and public buildings. About the middle of the 16th century it was the seat of an English commercial factory, under the well-known traveller Jenkinson (com- pare RUSSIA, vol. xxi. p. 93), afterwards envoy extra- ordinary of the khan of ShirvAn to Ivan the Terrible. In 1742 Shemaha was taken and destroyed by Nadir Shah, who, to punish the inhabitants for their Sunnite creed, built a new town under the same name about 16 miles to the west, at the foot of the main chain of the Caucasus. The new Shemaha was at different times a residence of the khan of Shirvan, but it was finally abandoned, and in its place there stands now only a village called Akhsu, whilst the old town was rebuilt, and under the Russians became capital of the government of Shemaha. In recent times Shemaha has suffered greatly from earthquakes : in 1859 it was shaken to its foundations, and in consequence the seat of the governor was removed to Baku ; in 1872 (16th January) there occurred a still more terrible shock, from which the town has never recovered. Silk manufacture is the principal industry ia Shemaha. In 1873 there were one hundred and thirty silk- winding establishments, owned mostly by Armenians. The industry has, however, since 1864 considerably declined. The district of Shemaha (4426 square miles), corresponding to the ancient khanate of Shirvan, lies along the southern slope of the main chain of the Eastern Caucasus. It contains a popula- tion of 97,801 inhabitants (1873), of whom 8493 are Russians, 14,838 Armenians, 73,124 Tartars, 638 Jats (old Persian tribe), and 708 Jews. As everywhere in Transcaucasia, the number of males is considerably in excess over the females (100 to 81). The district occupies a sparsely-wooded mountainous region, com- pletely shut up on the north, and open to the dry, large, and mostly desolate valley of Kura on the south. The climate is generally healthy, rather dry and moderately warm ; in the lower parts the people suffer from malarious fever. The annual rain- fall in Shemaha is,14'52 inches, the mean summer temperature 73 Fahr., winter 37. The soil, mostly of the Tertiary forma- tion, is very rich and of considerable variety. This district occu- pies in Transcaucasia a foremost place in vine-growing and in the silk industry. The vine region, in the south-west of the district, is a long strip of land of breadth varying from 4 to 20 miles. The highest level of the vine is about 2500 feet above the sea. Tho plant is left unprotected in winter, and owing to the abundance of water occasioned by the melting snows and the heavy rains in spring, there is no need of irrigation. Accord- ing to a general survey made in 1875 there are in the district 3098 vineyards, occupying a total of 1754 acres. The other products are principally wheat, cotton, and rice. In 1875 the annual vintage at Shemaha was calculated at about 62,160 gallons. The best wine is that of Matrassy. The province of Shirvan, now the district of Shemaha", has been frequently the theatre of terrible struggles and bloodshed. It was conquered by the Persians in 1501 under Shah Ismail I., and it continued with brief interrup- tions to be a part of the Persian dominions until the fall of the Safawi dynasty. Shemaha, the capital of Shirvan, was sacked in 1712 by the Lesghians; eight years later the town and the whole province were devastated by a certain Daghestani, Ala ud-Daulah, who was later recognized by Persia as the khan of Shirvan. In 1724 the khanate was taken by Turkey, but ten years later Nadir Shah of Persia reconquered it after terrible ravages. On the departure of Nadir Shah soon afterwards Shirvan enjoyed independence under the rule of Mahmud Seyyid, who rebuilt Shemaha. The Russians entered Shirvan first in 1723, but soon retired. In 1795 they captured Shemaha as well as Baku ; but the conquest was once more abandoned, and Shirvan was not finally annexed to Russia until November 1805 after the voluntary submission of its last khan Mustapha. SHENANDOAH, a borough of the United States, in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, 12 miles north of Potts- ville, is the centre of a great coal district, more than half the total yield of the Schuylkill region being produced within 3 miles of the town. Among its buildings are fifteen churches, a theatre, and two public halls. It was founded in 1863, and its population (partly Welsh and German), which increased from 2951 in 1870 to 10,148 in 1880, is estimated at over 15,000 in 1886. Shenandoah is also the name of a well-known tributary of the Potomac. SHENDY, a town on the right bank of the Nile, about 130 miles south of Berber and 100 north of Khartum, which, while its present population does not exceed 2500, was previous to its destruction by the Egyptians in 1822 a place of some 50,000 inhabitants and a station on the great caravan route between Sennar and Egypt and Mecca. The terrible massacre perpetrated by the Egyptians was in revenge for the treacherous assassination by the native chiefs at Shendy of Ismail Pasha and his suite, -who were first drugged and then burned to ashes with their huts. Shendy was the capital of a considerable district, and lies only 20 miles south of the ruins of Meroe. SHENSTONE, WILLIAM (1714-1763), is one of the best-known minor poets of the 18th century. He owes