Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

794
SHE-
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 we 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 Bell 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 the English language.
The chief original authorities for the 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
Poems ; (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 Shelley, by J. C. Jeaffreson (1885) ;
it is controversial in method and decidedly hostile in tendency, and tries a man
of genius by tests far from well adapted (in our opinion) to bring out a right
result; it contains, however, an ample share of solid information and sharp
disquisition. The memoir by W. M. Rossetti, prefixed to an edition of Shelley’s
Poems 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
Letters, is very agreeably and skilfully done. While we write (November 1885)
Prof. Dowden is engaged upon a life of Shelley, which may be expected to
distance all its predecessors in authority and completeness. (W. M. R.)
SHELOMOH IBN GEBIROL. See Avicebron.
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 Shirvfin, 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 Shirvfin 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 Shirvfin, 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
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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 in 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. The 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 Sennfir 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