derable versatility, his works in general literature
including _Essays on Fiction_ (1864), _Historical and Philosophical
Essays_ (1865), and specially his notes of conversations with many
eminent persons, chiefly political, _e.g._, De Tocqueville, Thiers, and
Guizot, which combine fulness of information with discretion; he also
_pub._ journals of his travels in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, etc.

SETTLE, ELKANAH (1648-1724).--Poet and dramatist, _ed._ at Oxf., was the
author of a number of turgid dramas, now unreadable and unread, but which
in their day were held to rival Dryden, who pilloried S. as Doeg in the
second part of _Absalom and Achitophel_. S. essayed a reply in _Absalom
Senior_. He wrote against the Papists, but recanted, and made amends by a
_Narrative of the Popish Plot_, in which he exposed the perjuries of
Titus Oates. He was appointed City Poet. Latterly he had a booth in
Bartholomew Fair. He _d._ in the Charterhouse. His plays include
_Cambyses_ (1666), _Empress of Morocco_ (1671), _Love and Revenge_
(1675), _The Female Prelate_, _Distressed Innocence_ (1691), and the
_Ladies' Triumph_ (1718).

SHADWELL, THOMAS (1640 or 1642-1692).--Dramatist and poet, belonged to a
good Staffordshire family, was _b._ in Norfolk, _ed._ at Camb., and after
studying law travelled, and on his return became a popular dramatist.
Among his comedies, in which he displayed considerable comic power and
truth to nature, may be mentioned _The Sullen Lovers_ (1668), _Royal
Shepherdess_ (1668), _The Humourists_ (1671), and _The Miser_ (1672). He
attached himself to the Whigs, and when Dryden attacked them in _Absalom
and Achitophel_ and _The Medal_, had the temerity to assail him
scurrilously in _The Medal of John Bayes_ (1682). The castigation which
this evoked in _MacFlecknoe_ and in the second part of _Absalom and
Achitophel_, in which S. figures as "Og," has conferred upon him an
unenviable immortality. He may have found some consolation in his
succession to Dryden as Poet Laureate when, at the Revolution, the latter
was deprived of the office.

Other plays are _Epsom Wells_ (1673), _The Virtuoso_ (1676), _Lancashire
Witches_ (1681), _The Volunteers_ (1693), etc.

SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, 3RD EARL OF
(1671-1713).--Philosopher, _b._ in London, grandson of the 1st Earl, the
eminent statesman, the "Achitophel" of Dryden. After a private education
under the supervision of Locke, and a short experience of Winchester
Sc