Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 19, Scripture-SUG

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dication, which is incorporated into the fecond edition
«• of his Travels, prepared by himfelf, and publilhed in
Sheathing. .. 1 l
. , /[to. I*7 Cy.
^ SHiVWI A, a genus of plants, belonging to the clafs
fyngenefia, and order polygamia fegregata, of which the
charaaers are the following j the calyx is imbricated
with five or fix leaves, the three interior of which are
larger ; the corolla is five-cleft; there is one oblong
feed. One fpecies only has been difcovered, which is
a native of New Zealand.
SHAWLS, are woollen handkerchiefs, an ell wide,
and near two long. The wool is fo fine and filky,
that the whole handkerchief may be contained in the
two hands clofed. It is the produce of a Tibet ftieep *,
but fome fay that no wool is employed but that of
lambs torn from the belly of their mother before the
time of birth. The moft beautiful fliawls come from
Calhmire : their price is from ijolivres (about fix gui¬
neas) to 1200 livres (or 50I. fterling).
In the Tranfaftions of the Society for Encouraging
Arts, Manufactures, &c. for the year I792> AVe are
formed that a (bawl counterpane, four yards fquare,
manufactured by Mr P. J. Knights of Norwich, was
prefented to the fociety j and that, upon examination,
it appeared to be of greater breadth than any goods of
equal finenefs and texture that had ever before been pre¬
fented to the fociety, or to their knowledge woven in
this country. The ftiawls of Mr Knights’s manufacture,
it is faid, ^can fcarcely be diftinguilhed from Indian
fhawls, though they can be afforded at one-twentieth
part of the price. When the fhawl is 16 quartets fquare,
Mr Knights fays it may be retailed at 20I. j if it con-
fifted of 12 quarters, and embroidered as the former, it
will coft 15I. j if plain, with a fringe only, a fhawl of
16 quarters fquare may be fold at 81. 8s. 5 if 12 quar¬
ters and fringed, at 61. 6s.
Mr Knights maintains, that his counterpane of four
yards fquare is equal in beauty, and fuperior in ftrength,
to the Indian counterpanes, which are fold at 200 gui¬
neas. The principal confumption of this cloth is in
train-dreffes for ladies j as likewife for long fcarfs, in
imitation of the real Indian fcarfs, which are fold from
60I. to Sol. ; whereas fcarfs of this fabric are fold for
as many fhillings, and the ladies fquare fhawls in pro¬
portion.
SHEADING, a riding, tything, or divifion, m the
ifle of Man ; the whole i'fland being divided into fix
{headings •, in every one of which is a coroner or chief
conftable, appointed by the delivery of a rod at the an¬
nual convention.
SHEARBILL, the Rhijnchops Nigra of Linnaeus,
the B/ack Skimmer of Pennant and Latham, and Cut¬
water of Catefby. See Ornithology Index.
SHEATHING, in the fea-language, is the cafing
that part of a fhip which is to be under water with fir-
board of an inch thick ; firft laying hair and tar mixed
together under the boards, and then nailing them on,
in-order to prevent worms from eating the ihip’s bot¬
tom. Ships of war are now generally fheathed with
copper : but copper fheathing is liable to be corroded
by the aCHon of fait water, and fomething is ftill want¬
ing to effeCt this purpofe. It is very probable that tar
might anfwer very well.
In the Cornifh mines, copper or brafs pumps are often
placed in the deepefc parts, and are confequently expo-
fed to the vitriolic or other mineral waters with which Sheathirig
fome of thefe mines abound, and which are known to II
have a much ftronger effeCt on copper than fea water. , ld:,1^arg-
Thefe pumps are generally about fix feet long, and are
ferewed together, and made tight by the interpofition
of a ring of lead, and the joinings are afterwards tarred.
One of thefe pumps was fo much corroded as to render
it unfit for ufe j but the fpots of tar, which by accident
had dropped on it, preferved the parts they covered
from the aCtion of the water. Thefe projected in feme
places more than a quarter of an inch 5 and the joints
were fo far defended by the thin coat of tar, that it
was as perfeCt as when it came from the hands of the
manufacturer. If tar thus effectually defends copper
from thefe acrid waters, can there remain a doubt of its
preferving it from the much milder waters of the fea ?
bHEATS, in a fhip, are ropes bent to the clews of
the fails, ferving in the lower fails to haul aft the clews
of the fail 5 but in topfails they ferve to haul home
the clew of the fail dole to the yard-arm.
SHEAVE, in Mechanics, a folid cylindrical wheel,
fixed in a channel, and moveable about an axis, as be¬
ing ufed to raife or increafe the mechanical powers ap¬
plied to remove any body.
SHEBBEARE, John, a political writer, was bom
at Bideford in Devonlhire, in the year 1709. He re¬
ceived the rudiments of his education at the free gram¬
mar fchool of Exeter. It has been often obferved, that
the future life of a man may be gathered from his pue¬
rile charader *, and accordingly Shebbeare, while a boy
at fchool, gave the llrongelt indications of his future
eminence in mifanthropy and learning, by the extraor¬
dinary tenacioufnefs of his memory and the readinefs of
his wit, as well as the malignity of his difpofition ; be¬
ing univerfally regarded as a young man of furprifing
genius, while at the fame time he was defpifed for his
malicious temper.
About the age of 16, Shebbeare was bound appren¬
tice to an eminent furgeon in his native town, under
whom he acquired a confiderable fhare of medical know¬
ledge. His talent for lampoon appeared at this early
period, and he could not forbear from exercifing it on his
mailer ; but the chief marks for the arrows of his wit
were the gentlemen of the corporation, fome of whom
laughed at fuch trifles, while fuch as were irritable often
commenced profecutions againft him, but without fuc-
cefs. He was frequently fummoned to appear at the
feflions, for daring to fpeak and write difrefpeCtfully of
the magiftrates \ but the laugh was always on the fide
of Shebbeare.
When his time was out, he fet up for himfelf, then
difeovering a tafte for chemiftry j foon after wrhich he
married an amiable young woman w’ith no fortune, but
of refpeCtable connections. Failing in bufinefs at Bide¬
ford, he went to Briltol in 1736, entering into partner-
Ihip wuth a chemift, and never aftenvards vifited his na¬
tive town.
The attention of the public was, in the year r73Sb a*'
trafted by an epitaph to the memory of I homas Cotter,
Efq. M. P. for Briftol, in which he contrived to raife
emotions of pity, grief, and indignation. In the follow-
ing year he publiihed a pamphlet on the Briltol waters,
after which we know' little or nothing refpe&ing him for
a number of years. He was at Paris' in I752> wh61-6
he obtained, it is faid, the degree of doCtor in medicine,.