toral in
his _Comus_.

=Sheppard= (_Jack_), immortalized for his burglaries and escapes from
Newgate. He was the son of a carpenter in Spitalfields, and was an
ardent, reckless and generous youth. Certainly the most popular criminal
ever led to Tyburn for execution (1701-1724).

[Asterism] Daniel Defoe made _Jack Sheppard_ the hero of a romance in
1724, and W. H. Ainsworth, in 1839.

=Sherborne=, in Dorsetshire, always brings ill luck to the possessor. It
belonged at one time to the see of Canterbury, and Osmond pronounced a
curse on any laymen who wrested it from the Church.

The first laymen who held these lands was the Protector Somerset, who
was beheaded by Edward VI.

The next laymen was Sir Walter Raleigh, who was also beheaded.

At the death of Raleigh, James I. seized on the lands, and conferred
them on Car, earl of Somerset, who died prematurely. His younger son,
Carew, was attainted, committed to the Tower, and lost his estates by
forfeiture.

[Asterism] James I. was no exception. He lost his eldest son, the prince
of Wales, Charles I. was beheaded, James II. was forced to abdicate, and
the two Pretenders consummated the ill luck of the family.

Sherborne is now in the possession of Digby, earl of Bristol.

(For other possessions which carry with them ill luck, see GOLD OF
TOLOSA, GOLD OF NIBELUNGEN, GRAYSTEEL, HARMONIA'S NECKLACE, etc.)

=Sheridan's Ride=, the story of the brilliant dash of Sheridan upon
Winchester, that turned the fortunes of the day in favor of the Federal
forces. Early, in command of the Confederates, had driven the United
States troops out of the town. When Sheridan met them, they were in full
retreat.

"Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man,
And when their statues are placed on high,
Under the dome of the Union sky,
The American soldier's Temple of Fame,
There, with the glorious General's name
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright:--
Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the fight,
From Winchester--twenty miles away!'"

Thomas Buchanan Read, _Sheridan's Ride_.

=Sheva=, the philanthropic Jew, most modest, but most benevolent. He
"stints his appetite to pamper his affections, and lives in poverty that
the poor may live in plenty." Sheva is "the widows' friend, the orphans'
father, the poor man's protector, and the universal dispenser of
charity, but he ever shrank to let his left hand know what his