pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
SEXTIUS, Quintus, a Pythagorean philosopher, who flourished in the time of Augustus. He seemed formed to rise in the republic; but he shrunk from civil honours, and declined accepting the rank of senator when it was offered him by Julius Caesar, that he might have time to apply to philosophy. It appears that he wished to establish a school at Rome, and that his tenets, though chiefly drawn from the doctrines of Pythagoras, in some particulars resembled those of the Stoics.

He soon found himself involved in many difficulties. His laws were tinctured with great severity, and in an early period of this establishment he found his mind so harassed,[7:20:167] and the harshness of the doctrines which he wished to establish bo repulsive, that he had nearly resolved to put a period to his existence.

Of the school of Sextius were Fabianus, Sotion, Flavianus, Crassitius, and Celsus. Of his works only a few fragments remain; and whether any of them formed a part of the work which Seneca admired so much, cannot now be determined. Some of his maxims are valuable. He recommended an examination of the actions of the day to his scholars when they retired to rest; and he taught, that the road to heaven was by frugality, temperance, and fortitude. He used to recommend holding a looking-glass before persons disordered with passion. He enjoined his scholars to abstain from animal food.
SEXTON, a church-officer, thus called by corruption of the Latin, sacrista, or Saxon, segerstone, which denotes the same thing. His office is to take care of the vessels, vestments, and other things belonging to the church; and to attend the minister, church-warden, and others at church. He is usually chosen by the parson only. Sextons, as well as parish-clerks, are regarded by the common law as persons who have a freehold in their offices; and, therefore, though they may be punished, yet they cannot be deprived by ecclesiastical censures.

The office of sexton in the pope’s chapel is appropriated to the order of the hermits of St Augustin. He is generally a bishop, though sometimes the pope only gives a bishopric in partibus to him on whom he confers the post. He takes the title of Prefect of the Pope’s Sacristy, and has the keeping of the vessels of gold and silver, the relics, and so forth. When the pope says mass, the sexton always tastes the bread and wine first. If it be in private he says mass, his holiness, of two wafers, gives him one to cat; and if in public, the cardinal, who assists the pope in quality of deacon, of three wafers, gives him one to eat. When the pope is desperately sick, he administers to him the sacrament of extreme unction, and enters the conclave in quality of first conclavist.

The office of sexton in Sweden is sometimes singular. During M. Outhier’s stay at Stockholm in 1736, he visited the church of St Clara, and during divine service he observed a sexton going about with a long rod, waking those persons who had fallen asleep.
SEXTUPLE, in Music, denotes a mixed sort of triple, which is beaten in double time.
SEXTUS Empiricus, a famous Pyrrhonian philosopher, who lived in the second century, under the reign of Antoninus. He was a physician of the sect of the Empirics, and is said to have been one of the preceptors of Antoninus the Philosopher. There are still extant his Pyrrhonian Institutions, and a large work against the mathematicians. The best edition of Sextus Empiricus is that of Fabricius in Greek and Latin, printed at Leipsic in 1718, folio.
SEXUALISTAE, among botanical writers, those who have established the classes of plants upon the differences of the sexes and parts of fructification in plants, according to the modern method.
SEYNE, La, a city of France, in the department of the Var, and the arrondissement of Toulon. It is a port on a small bay or roadstead, about three miles from Toulon. It is well built, has good quays, and an establishment for building vessels. It contains 5230 inhabitants, many of whom are occupied in fishing for sardinias and tunnies.
SEYSUMAH, a town of the Mahratta territories, in Hindustan, province of Malwah, situated on the east side of the Chumbul. It is twenty miles south-west from Kotah. Long. 75. 37. E. Lat. 24. 55. N.
SEZAWUL, a Hindu word, used in Bengal to express an officer employed at a monthly salary to collect the revenue.
SHACK, in ancient customs, a liberty of winter-pasturage. In the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, the lord of the manor has shack, that is, a liberty of feeding his sheep at pleasure in his tenants’ lands during the six winter months. In Norfolk, shack also extends to the common for hogs, in all men’s grounds, from the end of harvest till seed-time. Hence to go a∙shack is to feed at large.
SHACKLES, aboard a ship, are those oblong iron rings, bigger at one end than at the other, with which the ports are shut fast, by thrusting the wooden bar of the port through them. There is also a sort of shackles to lift up the hatches with, of a like figure, but smaller. They are fastened at the corners of the hatches.
SHADOW, in Optics, a privation or diminution of light, by the interposition of an opaque body; or a plane where the light is either altogether obstructed, or greatly weakened, by the interposition of some opaque body between it and the luminary.

Shadow , in Perspective. The appearance of an opaque body, and a luminous one whose rays diverge, being given; to find the just appearance of the shadow, according to the laws of perspective. The method is this. From the luminous body, which is here considered as a point, let fall a perpendicular to the perspective plane or table, that is, find the appearance of a point upon which a perpendicular, drawn from the middle of the luminary, falls on the perspective plane; and from the several angles, or raised points of the body, let fall perpendiculars to the plane. These points, on which the perpendiculars fall, connect by right lines with the point upon which the perpendicular let fall from the luminary falls, and continue the lines to the side opposite to the luminary. Lastly, through the raised points draw lines through the centre of the luminary, intersecting the former; the points of intersection are the terms or bounds of the shadow.
SHADOWRAH, a town of Hindustan, in the Mahratta territories, province of Malwah, forty miles north by west from Seronge. Long. 77. 47. E. Lat. 24. 20. N.
SHADWEL, Thomas, descended of an ancient family in Staffordshire, was born in 1640, and educated at Caius College, Cambridge. He was then placed in the Middle Temple to study the laws; and having spent some time there, he travelled abroad. Upon his return home, he became acquainted with the most celebrated persons of wit in that age. He applied himself chiefly to dramatic writing, in which he had great success, and upon the Revolution was made poet laureat and historiographer to King William and Queen Mary, in the room of Mr Dryden. These employments he enjoyed till his death, which happened in 1692. Besides his dramatic writings, he composed several other pieces of poetry, the chief of which are his congratulatory poem on the Prince of Orange’s coming to England, another on Queen Mary, and his translation of Juvenal’s tenth satire. Mr Dryden treats him with great contempt, in his satire called Macflecno. The best judges of that age, however, gave their testimony in favour of his comedies, which have in them fine strokes of humour; the characters are often original, strongly marked, and well sustained. An edition of his works, with some account of his life and writings prefixed, was published in 1720, in four vols. 8vo.
SHADWELL, a large village of the county of Middlesex, in the hundred of Ossulston, touching on the city of London, but lower down on the same bank of the Thames, two miles and a half from St Paul’s church. It is within the bills of mortality, and is a parish of itself. The population consists chiefly of sea-faring people, and of such as are connected with the building and equipment of shipping. The parish church is a large and handsome building, dedicated to St Paul. The inhabitants amounted in 1821 to 9557, and in 1831 to 9544. Many of the smaller houses, more than two hundred, have been taken down to make space for the docks that have been built, which accounts for the decrease in the population.[7:20:168]
SHAFTESBURY, a town in the hundred of Rudland, in the county of Dorset, 101 miles from London. It stands on a hill, is not well supplied with water, and the houses are generally of an humble character. It contains three parishes, with their respective churches. It is an ancient town, supposed to have been founded by Alfred. It is a borough, with a mayor, recorder, and twelve burgesses, and returned two members to parliament till 1832, but now elects only one. The chief trade is making shirt-buttons. The population in 1821 amounted to 2903, and in 1831 to 3061.
SHAGREEN, or Chagreen, in commerce, a kind of grained leather prepared of the skin of a species of squalus, and much used in covering cases, books, and other articles. The best is that which is brought from Constantinople, and is of a brownish colour; the white is the worst. It is extremely hard, yet, when steeped in water, it becomes very soft and pliable; and hence it is of great use among case-makers. It takes any colour that is given to it, red, green, yellow, or black. It is frequently counterfeited, by using morocco formed like shagreen; but this last is distinguished by its peeling off, which the first does not.
SHAHABAD, an extensive town and district of Hindustan, province of Bahar, most advantageously situated between the rivers Soane and Ganges. It is fertile and tolerably well cultivated, and produces barley, wheat, tobacco, and some pease of a small kind. It is estimated to contain more than a million of inhabitants, in the proportion of nineteen Hindus to one Mahommedan. Its chief towns are Chunar, Boujepore, and Arrah. The town is situated on the east side of the Gurrah river, in the district of Khyrabad. It was formerly a large place, but has now fallen greatly to decay. Long. 79. 55 E. Lat. 27. 39. N. There is another town of this name, in the province of Delhi, belonging to the Sikhs, which has also fallen into decay. It is 105 miles north by west from Delhi. Long. 76. 28. E. Lat. 30. 12. N.
SHAHJEHANPOOR, a considerable town of Hindustan, in the Mahratta territories, province of Malwah, situated on the banks of the Sagormutty river, forty miles north-northeast from Oojain. Long. 76.18. E. Lat 23. 28. N. There is another town of the same name, in the province of Delhi, district of Bareilly, situated on the Gurrah river, ninety-five miles north-east from Lucknow. Long. 79. 53. E. Lat. 27. 51. N. Both these towns are called after Shah Jehan, who reigned in the middle of the seventeenth century.
SHAHNOOR, Sanore, Sevanore, or Savanoor, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Bejapoor, fifty miles south-south-east from Darwar, and capital of a district of the same name. It was formerly a fortified town, and contained a palace and many good buildings, the greater part of which are now in ruins. It is a place of no strength, though it is enclosed by a wall and ditch. Outside the wall to the northward are several long streets of houses, mostly uninhabited. This place was conquered from the Hindus by the Bhamence sovereigns in 1397; it afterwards became the capital of a small Patan state, its hereditary’ possessor receiving the title of nabob. Abdul Hakeem Khan, the seventh lineal descendant, reigned in 1792, and was tributary to Tippoo till 1784, when he accepted the protection of the Mahrattas, on which his territories were ravaged by ' the armies of Tippoo, the palaces and public buildings were destroyed and razed, and the whole country was laid waste. In 1792 it was wrested from him and restored to the nabob. The district is now under the peishwa’s government, being part of the territory received in exchange from the British government for an equivalent in Bundelcund. Long. 75. 22. E. Lat. 15. 1. N.
SHAHPOOR, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Berar, in the Nagpoor rajah’s territories, seventy miles north by west from Ellichpoor. Long. 78. 23. E. Lat. 22. 19. N. There is another Shahpoor in the province of Berar, sixty-five miles north-cast from Jalnapoor. Long. 78. 1. E. Lat. 19. 49. N. Also one in the Sikh territories, province of Lahore, situated on the east side of the Ravey river, sixty miles north-east from the city of Lahore. Long. 74. 45. E. Lat. 32. 19. N. There are various other towns in Hindustan of this name, which signifies King’s Town, many of them of too little consequence to merit any particular notice.
SHAIRGHUR, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Delhi, twenty-six miles north from Bareilly. Long. 79. 21. E. Lat. 28. 40. N.[7:20:169]
SHALLOP, Shalloop, or Sloop, is a light vessel, with only a small main-mast and fore-mast, and lug-sails, to haul up and let down on occasion. Shallops are commonly good sailers, and are therefore often used as tenders upon men-of-war.
SHAMANS are wizards or conjurers, in high repute among several idolatrous nations inhabiting different parts of Russia. By their enchantments they pretend to cure diseases, to divert misfortunes, and to foretell futurity. They are great observers of dreams, by the interpretation of which they judge of good or bad fortune. They pretend likewise to chiromancy, and to foretell a man’s good or ill success by the lines of his hand. By these and such like means they have a very great ascendency over the understandings, and a great influence on the conduct, of those people.
SHAMBLES, among miners, a sort of niches or landing places, left at such distances in the adits of the mines, that the shovel-men may conveniently throw up the ore from shamble to shamble, till it comes to the top of the mine.
SHAMLY, a town of Hindustan, in the province of

Delhi. It is about two miles in circumference, and contains many handsome houses, with a large bazaar, and the remains of a mint. The streets intersect each other at right angles, and have separate gates, which are shut at night. It is sixty miles north by east from Delhi. Long. 77. 10. E. Lat. 29. 33. N.
SHAMOIS, or Chamois a kind of leather, either dressed in oil or tanned, much esteemed for its softness and pliancy. It is prepared from the skin of the chamois, or shamois, a kind of wild goat, called also isard, inhabiting the mountains of Dauphiné, Savoy, Piedmont, and the Pyrenees. Besides the softness and warmth of the leather, it has the faculty of bearing soap without damage, which renders it very useful on many accounts.
SHANAVAZ, a town of the Afghan territories, in the province of Mooltan, seventy-eight miles east from the city of Mooltan. Long. 72. 39. E. Lat. 30. 4L N.
SHANDORAH, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Delhi, 120 miles from the city of Delhi. Long. 77. E. Lat. 30. 26. N.
SHANK’S Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, about[7:20:189] fifteen miles from east to west, and eighteen from north to south, discovered in 1802. Long. 163. E. Lat. 28. S.
SHANNON, the largest river in Ireland, and one of the finest in the British dominions, not only on account of its running two hundred miles, but also of its great depth in most places, and the gentleness of its current, by which it might be made exceedingly serviceable to the improvement of the country, the communication of its inhabitants, and consequently the promoting of inland trade through the greater part of its long course. But the peculiar prerogative of the Shannon is its situation, running from north to south, and separating the province of Connaught from Leinster and Munster, and of consequence dividing the greater part of Ireland into that which lies on the east and west of the river; watering in its passage the valuable counties of Leitrim, Roscommon, Galway, and Clare; the small shire of Longford, King’s County, and Meath in Leinster, Tipperary, Limerick, and Kerry in Munster; visiting ten counties in its passage, and having on its banks Leitrim, Jamestown, Lanesborough, Athlone, Clonfert, Killaloe, and Limerick. It at last joins its waters to the sea, being navigable all this way for the largest vessels.
SHAPOORAH, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Ajmeer and district of Harowty. It is a large and well-built town, surrounded by a strong wall of stone and a ditch. It is sixty-five miles south by east from the city of Ajmeer. Long. 75. 9. E. Lat. 25. 43. N.
SHAPOUR, an ancient city of Persia, which existed prior to the era of Alexander, but of which the former magnificence is now only marked by masses of ruins. It is situated immediately under a range of mountains, on the banks of a small but rapid river, amid rocks and precipices, many of which are decorated with sculpture.
Sharp, Dr John, Archbishop of York, was descended from the Sharps of Little Norton, a family of Bradford Dale in Yorkshire; and was son of an eminent tradesman of Bradford, where he was born in 1644. He was educated at Cambridge, and in 1667 entered into orders. The same year he became domestic chaplain to Sir Heneage Finch, then attorney-general. In 1672 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Berkshire. In 1675 he was installed a prebendary in the cathedral church of Norwich; and the year following was instituted into the rectory of St Bartholomew, near the Royal Exchange, London. In 1681 he was, by the interest of his patron Sir Heneage Finch, then lord high chancellor of England, made dean of Norwich, but in 1686 was suspended for taking occasion, in some of his sermons, to vindicate the doctrine of the Church of England in opposition to Popery. In 1688 he was sworn chaplain to James II. being then probably restored after his suspension; for it is certain that he was chaplain to Charles II. and attended as a court chaplain at the coronation of James II. In 1689 he was declared dean of Canterbury, but never could be persuaded to fill up any of the vacancies made by the deprived bishops. Upon the death of Dr Lamplugh, he was promoted to the see of York. In 1702 he preached the sermon at the coronation of Queen Anne; and the same year he was sworn of the privy council, and made lord almoner to her majesty. He died at Bath in 1713, and was interred in the cathedral of York, where a monument was erected to his memory. His sermons were collected after his death, and published in seven vols. 8vo.
Sharp, in Music. See Music .
SHAT-UL-ARAB, a large river, or rather canal, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris, before they enter the Persian Gulf. It forms a broad and splendid stream; and as far as Bassora, seventy miles from its mouth, it is navigable for vessels of 500 tons burden, It is generally supposed to fall into the Persian Gulf by various mouths; but this Colonel Kinneir, in his Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, shows to be a mistake, as those streams, supposed to be the mouths of the Shat-ul-Arab, are really the channels through which the great river Karoon pours its waters into the Gulf. With these six eastern channels the Shat-ul-Arab communicates by an artificial cut, and receives the waters of the Karoon.
SHAW, Dr Thomas, known to the learned world by his Travels to Barbary and the Levant, was born at Kendal, in Westmoreland, about the year 1692. He was appointed chaplain to the English consul at Algiers, in which station he continued for several years; and thence took proper opportunities of travelling into different parts. He returned in 1733, was elected fellow of the Royal Society, and published the account of his travels at Oxford, 1738, folio. In 1740 he was nominated principal of St Edmond Hall, which he raised from a ruinous state by his munificence; and was regius professor of Greek at Oxford until his death, which happened in 1751. Dr Clayton, bishop of Clogher, having attacked these Travels in his Description of the East, Dr Shaw published, by way of vindication, a supplement, which is incorporated into the second edition of his Travels, prepared by himself, and published in 1757, 4to.
SHAWABAD, a district of Hindustan, in the province of Bahar, situated principally between the 25th and 26th degrees of north latitude. It has the Ganges on the north, Rotas and Bahar on the south, the district of Bahar on the east, and Chunar and Rotas on the west. This is a populous and fertile country, particularly in the northern quarter, which is watered by the Ganges and the Soane. In answer to queries circulated by the Marquis Wellesley to the collectors of the districts in 1801, it appeared that the population amounted to two millions, in the proportion of one Mahommedan to twenty Hindus. The principal towns are Buxar, Boujepoor, and Arrah; and the chief rivers are the Ganges, Soane, and Caramnassa.
SHAWPOOR, a town of Hindustan, province of Gund-wanch, situated on the Rhair, a considerable river, which runs by the south side of the town, over a bed of rock, which impedes its navigation. It is a straggling town, with a small fort built of rubble-stone and mud. Long. 83. 23. E. Lat. 23. 34. N.
SHEATHING, in the nautical language, is the casing of that part of a ship which is to be under water, with firboard an inch thick; first laying hair and tar mixed together under the boards, and then nailing them on, in order to prevent worms from eating the ship’s bottom. Ships of war are now generally sheathed with copper; but copper sheathing is liable to be corroded by the action of salt water, and something is still wanting to effect this purpose. It is very probable that tar might answer very well.
SHEATS, in a ship, are ropes bent to the clews of the sails, serving in the lower sails to haul aft the clews of the sail; but in topsails they serve to haul home the clew of the sail close to the yard-arm.
SHEAVE, in Mechanics, a solid cylindrical wheel, fixed in a channel, and moveable about an axis, being used to raise or increase the mechanical powers applied to remove any body.
SHEERGOTTA, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Bahar, eighty miles south by west from Patna. Long. 84. 55. E. Lau 24. 32. N.
SHEERNESS, a town of the county of Kent, situated on the island of Sheppey. It stands at the point where the river Medway forms its junction with the Thames, on the right bank of the former river. It has been long a place of vast importance in a military point of view. The works having been suffered to fall into decay in the war with Holland in the reign of Charles IL, the Dutch fleet attacked and destroyed the fortifications, and thus opened[7:20:195] the way for an attack on the marine arsenal of Chatham. After the Dutch retired, the works were repaired, and have been from time to time vastly strengthened. It is now a complete marine fortress, and a powerful protection to the important anchorage at the Nore, where, in time of war, especially if the port of Antwerp should be in possession of an enemy, it is necessary always to have a strong naval force ready to act. These fortifications were found of great service during the mutiny of the fleet at the Nore in the year 1796. Many of the crews were soon tired of their state of rebellion, rose upon their committees, and slipping their cables, ran under the guns of the forts, and were protected from their associates.

It is now a regular marine arsenal, chiefly used for repairing ships, and well furnished with every necessary kind of stores, and of late years well supplied with what was previously scarce, good spring-water. It is a part of the parish of Minster, the population of which amounted in 1801 to 5061, in 1811 to 7008, in 1821 to 8414, and in 1831 to 7983. The town itself has diminished from 1422 to sixty-one inhabitants, as dwellings have been removed to make space for ports. It has a market on Saturday, and there is a chapel of ease to Minster church.