hool, he travelled much on the Continent. On succeeding to the earldom
in 1699 he took a prominent part in the debates of the House of Lords,
but devoted himself mainly to philosophical and literary pursuits. His
_coll._ writings were _pub._ in 1711 under the title of _Characteristics
of Men, Manners, Opinions, and Times_. In his philosophy he maintains, as
against Hobbes, the existence of a moral sense, a view subsequently
developed by the Scottish school of philosophy. The style of S. is
stately and sonorous but laboured. He _d._ at Naples, whither he had gone
in search of health, at the early age of 42. Though his writings are
directed strongly against Atheism, they have been held to be hostile to a
belief in revelation.

SHAIRP, JOHN CAMPBELL (1819-1885).--Poet and critic, _ed._ at Glasgow and
Oxf., became Prof. of Latin at St. Andrews 1861. Principal of the United
Coll. there 1868, and Prof. of Poetry at Oxf. 1877-87. Among his
writings are _Kilmahoe and other Poems_ (1864), _Studies in Poetry and
Philosophy_ (1868), _Culture and Religion_ (1870), and a Life of Burns in
the English Men of Letters Series. He also collaborated with Prof. Tait
in writing the Life of Principal Forbes (_q.v._), and ed. the Journal of
Dorothy Wordsworth.

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564-1616).--Dramatist and poet, _b._ at
Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, on 22nd or 23rd, and baptised on 26th
April, 1564. On his father's side he belonged to a good yeoman stock,
though his descent cannot be certainly traced beyond his grandfather, a
Richard S., settled at Snitterfield, near Stratford. His _f._, John S.,
appears to have been a man of intelligence and energy, who set up in
Stratford as a dealer in all kinds of agricultural produce, to which he
added the trade of a glover. He became prosperous, and gained the respect
of his neighbours, as is evidenced by his election in succession to all
the municipal honours of his community, including those of chief alderman
and high bailiff. He _m._ Mary, youngest _dau._ of Robert Arden, a
wealthy farmer at Wilmcote, and a younger branch of a family of
considerable distinction, and whose tenant Richard S. had been. On her
father's death Mary inherited Asbies, a house with 50 acres of land
attached to it. The first children of the marriage were two _dau._, who
_d._ in infancy. William was the third, and others followed, of whom
three sons, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and a _dau._ Joan, reached
maturity. H