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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Rhebbeare. a fafl, however, which many are difpofed to queftion.
v About this time he began to emerge from obfcurity,
and draw the attention of the public, by pamphlets
written with fuch virulence and celerity as it would be
difficult to equal in the molt intemperate times. In
I754 he commenced his career with a work denomina¬
ted the Marriage AB, a political novel, in which he
treated the legiflature with fuch freedom that he was
apprehended, but foon after fet at liberty.
The moft celebrated performances, however, were a
feries of letters to the People of England, written in a
vigorous and energetic ftyle, well calculated to make
an°impreffion on common readers ; and they were of
courfe read with avidity, and diligently circulated.
They galled the miniftry, who at firft were too eager to
puniffi the author. When the third letter was publilh-
ed warrants were iffued by Lord Holderneffe in March
1756, to take up both the publifher and the author ; a
profecution rvhich appears to have been dropt. On the
12th of January 1758, the fame nobleman figned a ge¬
neral warrant for apprehending the author, printer, and
publifhers of a wicked, audacious, and treafonable libel,
entitled, “ A fixth letter to the people of England, on
the progrefs of national ruin, in which is {hewn that
the prefent grandeur of France and calamities of this
nation are owing to the influence of Hanover on the
councils of England and them having found, to
feize and apprehend, together with their books and
papers.
Government having received information that a fe-
venth letter was in the prefs, all the copies were feized
and fupprefled by virtue of another warrant, dated Ja¬
nuary 23. tin Eafter term an information was filed
again!! him by the attorney-general, and on the 17th
of June the information was tried, when Shebbeare was
found guilty ; and on the 28th of November he received
fentence, by which he was fined 5I. ordered to ftand in
the pillory December 5. at Charing Crofs, to be con¬
fined three years, and to give fecurity for his good be¬
haviour for feven years, himfelf in 500I. and two others
in 250I. each. During his confinement, he declared he
never received as prefents more than 20 guineas from
all the world.
He was detained in prifon during the whole time of
the fentence, and with fome degree of rigour ; for when
his life was in danger from a bad ftate of health, and
he applied to the court of King’s-bench for permiffion to
be carried into the rules a few hours in a day ; though
Lord Mansfield acceded to the petition, the prayer of it
was denied and defeated by Judge Fofter. At the ter¬
mination of the time of his fentence, a new reign com¬
menced ; and ftiortly afterwards, during Mr Grenville’s
adminiftration, a penfion of 200I. a-year was granted
him by the crown, through the influence of Sir John
Philips $ and he ever after became devoted to the fer-
vice of government. He was of courfe abuled in almoil
every periodical work, which he feems in general to
have had the good fenfe to negleft. Dr Smollet intro¬
duced him, in no very refpeftful light, under the name
of Ferret, in Si%Launcelot Greaves } and Mr Hogarth
made him one’’ of the group in the third election
print.
During the latter part of his life he feems to have
written but little. He ftrenuoufly fupported the mini-
flry during the American war, having publifhed, in
it ] SHE
1775, an anfwer to the printed fpeech of Edmund Shebbeare,
Burke, Efq. fpoken in the houfe of commons, April 19., ^ieeP‘ ,
1774, wherein he inveftigates his knowledge of polity, ^
legiflature, human kind, hiitory, commerce, and finance $
his arguments are examined ; the condudl of adminiftra¬
tion is boldly defended, and his talents as an orator clear¬
ly expofed to view. An effay on the origin, progrefs,
and eftabliftnnent of National Society j in which the
principles of government, the definition of phyfical, mo¬
ral, civil, and religious liberty contained in Dr Price’s
obfervations, &c. are examined and controverted ; to¬
gether with a juftification of the legiflature in reducing
America to obedience by force.
His publications of a fatirical, political, and medical
nature, amount to 34, befides a novel, called Filial
Piety, in which hypocrify and bluftering courage are
very properly chaftifed. He died on the ift of Auguft
1788, leaving behind him the charafter of a benevolent
man among thofe who wrere beft acquainted with him
a charafler w’hich, from the manner he fpeaks of his
conneftions, he probably deferved.
SHEEP, in Zoology. See Ovis and Wool. r
Amongft the various animals with which Divine Pro- Sheep ferve
vidence has ftored the world for the ufe of man, none is a wonder-
to be found more innocent, more ufeful, or more valu-^ variW
able than the fheep. The fheep fupplies us with food0 PurP°‘es*'
and clothing, and finds ample employment for our
poor at all times and feafons of the year, whereby a
variety of manufactures of woollen cloth is carried on
without interruption to domeftic comfort and lols to
friendly fociety or injury to health, as is the cafe with
many other occupations. Every lock of wool that
grows on its back becomes the means of lupport to
ftaplers, dyers, pickers, fcourers, fcriblers, carders,
combers, fpinners, fpoolers, warpers, queelers, rveavers,
fullers, tuckers, burlers, ftiearmen, preflers, clothiers,
and packers, who, one after another, tumble and tofs,
and twift, and bake and boil, this raw material, till
they have each extracted a livelihood out of it; and
then comes the merchant, who, in his turn, {hips it (in
its higheft ftate of improvement) to all quarters of the
globe, from whence he brings back every kind of richer
to his country, in return for this valuable commodity
which the fheep affords.
Befides this, the ufeful animal, after being deprived
of his coat, produces another againft the next year y
and when we are hungry, and kill him for food, he
gives us his Ikin to employ the fell-mongers and parch¬
ment-makers, who fupply us with a durable material for
fecuring our eftates, rights, and poffeflions 5 and if our
enemies take the field againft us, fupplies us with a
powerful inftrument for roufing our courage to repel
their attacks. When the parchment-maker has taken
as much of the fkin as he can ufe, the glue-maker comes-
after and picks up every morfel that is left, and there¬
with fupplies a material for the carpenter and cabinet¬
maker, which they cannot do without, and which is
effentially neceffary before w'e can have elegant furniture
in our houfes 5 tables, chairs, looking-glaffes, and a.
hundred other articles of convenience : and when the
winter nights come on, while we are deprived of the
cheering light of the fun, the fheep fupplies us with an
artificial mode of light, whereby w'e preferve every plea-
fure of domeftic fociety, and with whofe afliftance we
can continue our work, or write or read, and improve
out?