Chapter Sheep to Shepherd-Kings of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Pull in the sheet till the sail is above your head.—Nineteenth Century, September, 1896, p.482.

Sheffield, in Yorkshire, is so called from the river Sheaf, which joins the Don. Noted for cutlery.

The Bard of Sheffield, James Montgomery, author of The Wanderer of Switzerland, etc. (1771–1854).

with broken lyre and cheek serenely pale,
Lo! sad Alcæus wanders down the vale…
O’er his lost works let classic Sheffield weep;
May no rude hand disturb their early sleep;

Byron: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).

The Sheffield of Germany, Solingen, famous for its swords and foils.

Shelby (Mr.), uncle Tom’s first master. Being in commercial difficulties, he was obliged to sell his faithful slave. His son afterwards endeavoured to buy uncle Tom back again, but found that he had been whipped to death by the villain Legree.—Mrs. Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).

Shell (A). Amongst the ancient Gaels a shell was emblematic of peace. Hence when Bosmi’na Fingal’s daughter, was sent to propitiate king Erragon, who had invaded Morven, she carried with her a “sparkling shell as a symbol of peace, and a golden arrow as a symbol of war.”—Ossian: The Battle of Lora.

Shells, i.e. hospitality. “Semo king of shells” (“hospitality”). When Cuthullin invites Swaran to a banquet, his messenger says, “Cuthullin gives the joy of shells; come and partake the feast of Erin’s blue-eyed chief.” The ancient Gaels drank from shells; and hence such phrases as “chief of shells,” “hall of shells,” “king of shells,” etc. (king of hospitality). “To rejoice in the shell” is to feast sumptuously and drink freely.

Shelta, a Celtic language spoken by travelling tinkers, quite distinct from Romany, but some gipsies speak both or mix them up together. It resembles Old Irish, and is said to be a corrupt form of the Irish word Belre. Kuno Meyer has traced the language back to Old Irish. There is a good article on Shelta in Chambers’ Cyclopadia, last edition.

Shemus-an-Snachad, or “James of the Needle,” M’lvor’s tailor at Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott: Waverley (time, George II.).

Shepheardes Calendar (The), twelve eclogues in various metres, by Spenser, one for each month. January: Colin Clout (Spenser) bewails that Rosalind does not return his love, and compares his forlorn condition to the season itself. February: Cuddy, a lad, complains of the cold, and Thenot laments the degeneracy of pastoral life. March: Willie and Thomalin discourse of love (described as a person just aroused from sleep). April: Hobbinol sings a song on Eliza, queen of shepherds. May: Palinod e exhorts Piers to join the festivities of May, but Piers replies that good shepherds who seek their own indulgence expose their flocks to the wolves. He then relates the fable of the kid and her dam. June: Hobbinol exhorts Colin to greater cheerfulness, but Colin replies there is no cheer for him while Rosalind remains unkind and loves Menalcas better than himself. July: Morrel, a goat-herd, invites Thomalin to come with him to the uplands, but Thomalin replies that humility better becomes a shepherd (i. e. a pastor or clergyman). August: Perigot and Willie contend in song, and Cuddy is appointed arbiter. September: Diggon Davie complains to Hobbinol of clerical abuses. October: On poetry, which Cuddy says has no encouragement, and laments that Colin neglects it, being crossed in love. November: Colin, being asked by Thenot to sing, excuses himself because of his grief for Dido, but finally he sings her elegy. December: Colin again complains that his heart is desolate because Rosalind loves him not (1579).

Shepheard’s Hunting (The), four “eglogues” by George Wither, while confined in the Marshalsea (1615). The shepherd Roget is the poet himself, and his “hunting” is a satire called Abuses Stript and Whipt, for which he was imprisoned. The first three eclogues are upon the subject of Roget’s imprisonment, and the fourth is on his love of poetry. “Willy” is the poet’s friend (William Browne of the Inner Temple, author of Britannia’s Pastorals). He was two years the junior of Wither. This book is worth republishing.