Shea, Daniel, an Oriental scholar, was born in Dublin about 1771, and was educated at Trinity College, where he became distinguished for his classical attainments. He obtained a scholarship. Several of his dearest friends were United Irishmen ; and for refusing to give evidence against them, or the society of which they were members, he was expelled from College at the instance of Lord Clare. Without money or interest, he with considerable difficulty obtained employment as a tutor in England, and afterwards as a clerk in a merchant's office at Malta. There he applied himself to the study of Arabic and Persian, and upon his return to England published a translation of Mirkhond's History of the Early Kings of Persia, warmly praised both for its spirit and fidelity by some of the best Oriental scholars. At the time of his death (10th May 1836) he was engaged upon a translation of the Dabistan. "A kinder friend, a better-hearted man, never breathed. On many occasions he submitted to great personal inconvenience, that he might relieve others whose necessities he deemed greater than his own." 146 16 1832 was, with Sergeant Lefroy, elected | He died in Philadelphia, 17th September member for the University of Dublin, 1823, aged about 50. 37 which he represented for sixteen years. He was made a Privy-Councillor in 1834, at which time he was considered one of the most brilliant orators and ablest leaders and debaters Ireland ever sent to the Imperial Parliament. One of his greatest parliamentary triumphs was a speech in 1834 against O'Connell's motion for a select committee, to enquire into the conduct of Baron Smith in introducing politics into his charge to a grand jury. In 1840 he supported Lord Morpeth's Irish Municipal Corporations Bill, and thereby almost forfeited the confidence of his Conservative friends. In 1845 he advocated the establishment of the Queen's Colleges, and next year spoke earnestly and at length against the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1848 he resigned his seat, probably from failing health consequent on overwork. In 1869 he inherited the title and estates on the death of his elder brother, the second Baronet. He held the position of Recorder of Dublin for about forty-eight years, from 1828 until within a few weeks of his death. It was always matter of surprise that his splendid abilities never secured for him a higher judicial position. Even his bitter political opponent, O'Connell, bore testimony to his "able, upright and impartial conduct on the Bench." His decisions were marked by great perspicuity and common sense; and he often lightened the tedium of litigation by brilliant witticisms. Although his health had been giving way for some time, there was little to indicate the collapse that followed his retirement from the Bench in April 1876. Sir Frederick died at Crumlin, near Dublin, 30th June 1876, aged 76, and was interred in Mount Jerome Cemetery. 223 Shaw, John, Captain, United States Navy, was born at Mountmellick in 1773. He received but an ordinary education, accompanied an elder brother to America in 1790, adopted a sea-faring life, and became a lieutenant in the United States Navy in 1798, on the breaking out of hostilities with France. In the course of 1800, in command of the schooner Enterprise he took no fewer than eight privateers and letters-of-marque, and fought five spirited actions, two with vessels of superior force. He cruised in the Mediterranean in the George Washington in 1801; was appointed a captain in 1807; served in the war of 1812 against the United Kingdom; and in 1816 and 1817 commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean. Subsequently he had charge of the navy yards of Boston and Charleston. Sheares, Henry and John, United Irishmen, brothers, were the sons of Henry Sheares, a Cork banker, member of Parlia ment for Clonakilty from 1761 to 1767, who died in 1776. They were both born in Cork-Henry in 1753, John in 1766 and were educated at Trinity College. Henry entered the army; but renounced it for the law, and was called to the Bar in 1789. His wife died in 1791, after a union of but five years, and his children were taken charge of by Mr. and Mrs. Sweet, their grand-parents. John was called to the Bar in 1788. Both brothers were possessed of ample fortunes, besides the emoluments they derived from their pro fession. They sympathized deeply with the progress of the French Revolution, and in 1792 went to Paris, ostensibly to visit the Sweets, who were then residing there. They attended many political meetings, became acquainted with Roland, Brissot, and other revolutionary leaders, and were present at the execution of Louis XVI. They crossed to England in the same vessel with Daniel O'Connell and his brother, returning from Douay-the Sheareses glorying in all they had seen; the O'Connells tearing the tricolor cockades from their hats the moment the vessel left port. Henry married a second time. The brothers be came members of the Society of United Irishmen, John often taking the chair at public meetings. They both attended the funeral of the Rev. William Jackson in 1795. After this they were so strongly suspected of complicity in a treasonable conspiracy against the Government, that warrants were drawn out for their arrest. On the seizure of most of the members of the Leinster Directory at Bond's, early in March 1798, and the enforced concealment of Lord Edward FitzGerald, John took his place as chief organizer of the proposed rising. To what extent Henry was implicated, it is difficult to ascertain. Early in May, one Captain Armstrong wormed himself into their confidence, was invited to their house, and betrayed their designs and plans to the Government. On Monday, 21st May, they were both arrested-Henry, at their house in Baggot-street (now No. 128), John, at the house of his friend, Surgeon Lawless, in French-street. The brothers were brought up for trial at Green-street, on 12th July. The principal witness against them was Captain Armstrong. There was little to criminate Henry but a wild "proclamation " written by John the night before their arrest, and left in Henry's desk without his knowledge. They were defended by Curran, Plunket, and McNally. It was past midnight when the examination of witnesses was concluded. The proceedings had already occupied fifteen hours; yet Toler, the Solicitor-General, opposed Curran's motion for adjournment. The trial went on, and at eight o'clock next morning, the jury, after a retirement of but seventeen minutes, brought in a verdict of guilty. As it was pronounced, the brothers stood up and embraced each other. Sentence was deferred until three o'clock in the afternoon. Henry was completely unmanned by his position. When they were brought up for sentence, John made an earnest appeal for his brother's life. They were both condemned to be executed on the following day. In the few hours that remained to them, John acted with calmness and fortitude.. He took up the pen Henry was unable to hold, to commend their sister to the care of their mother, his child to his sister, and Henry's children to the affection of their grand-parents. The brothers were executed in front of Newgate, on the morning of 14th July 1798. Henry was aged about 45; John 32. Their remains were laid in the vaults of St. Michan's Church, where the earth has the property of preserving bodies in a dried condition. Dr. Madden thus describes the Sheares : They were inseparable as brothers, and were united by an almost unparalleled attachment [Henry] was, indeed, ill-adapted for the strife of political life. The influence of a beloved brother, possessed of superior mental powers, whose political opinions were firmly established and boldly asserted, drew him away from the social and family circle in which his enjoyments chiefly centred. . In his person he was tall and finely proportioned, nearly six feet in height, more robust and muscular than his brother John, but not too large. His step was stately, not to say haughty, and his air more that of a military man than a lawyer. His features were not ill-formed, but his face was not at all pleasing. His eye was proud, and the lower part of his face disfigured by what are called claretmarks, which gave rather a fierce expression to his countenance. Henry talked about republicanism, but John was an enthusiast in his attachment to it: all his habits of thinking tended that way. It suited the simplicity of his character, and the total absence of vanity that distinguished him; but he often said it would not do for Ireland. As to his personal appearance, he was tall, and rather slender than full; not what is termed muscular, but well-proportioned and active. In his person, he differed strikingly from his brother. His air was gentle and unassuming, but animated and interesting. He was pale, rather light-complexioned, with full blue eyes and open countenance, wellformed nose, large, eloquent mouth, and white teeth. His voice was fine, his articulation very clear, his language rich, but quite unaffected; he had much playful wit and humour, but was easily made serious. You ask, was he of a sanguinary disposition? He was quite the reverse. He had a most tender heart and benevolent disposition. While he was himself, he would not give pain of mind or of body to anything that lived. The brothers agreed, as I have said, in thinking Ireland illgoverned, and the administration corrupt." Their aged mother died at Clifton in 1803. Henry left six children. His widow survived until 1850. She resided at Kingstown, and was accustomed to pass the anniversary of her husband's death in fasting and prayer. John was never married. He left a daughter, Louisa, about eight years of age, who was taken charge of by a friend in Cork. Captain Armstrong survived until 1858, and for sixty years enjoyed a pension of £500 a year, the fruits of his intimacy of one fortnight with the Sheareses. 331 Shee, Sir Martin Archer, President of the Royal Academy, F.R.S., was born in Dublin, 20th December 1769. His mother 302 Sheehy, Nicholas, Rev., a Catholic clergyman, executed at Clonmel in 1766, in consequence of his opposition to the Government. He was born at Fethard, in the County of Tipperary, in 1728, was educated in France, and for many years officiated as parish priest at Clogheen. He openly denounced the collection of Church rates, and made no secret of his sympathy with the people in their inpoverished and oppressed condition. Early in 1764 he was arrested for alleged complicity in Whiteboy offences, was brought up to Dublin, released on bail, tried, and acquitted; but was immediately re-arrested on a charge of being concerned in the murder of John Bridges, an informer. Conscious of his innocence, he neglected measures for his defence; and although there was no satisfactory evidence to inculpate him, and the body of the alleged murdered man was never discovered, he was convicted, and hanged, drawn, and quartered, at Clonmel, on 15th March 1766. His head remained spiked over the porch of the old jail for twenty years. There can be little doubt that he fell a victim to the party animosity of the time. Mr. Froude expresses the belief that Sheehy was guilty of the charges brought against him, and mentions his having been engaged in a plot in the interest of the Pretender; but admits that his trial was informal. died a few months after his birth; his | Infant Bacchus," and a portrait of Morfather became blind, and was consequently ton, the dramatist, are hung in the reduced in circumstances, and had to retire National Gallery in London. He had six to a cottage near the Dargle, where many children, all of whom survived him. 16 277• of young Shee's early years were spent. He evinced a taste for drawing, was admitted to the schools of the Royal Dublin Society, and before long was enabled to support himself in Dublin by painting portraits. In 1788, after his father's death, he removed to London, where he studied with the utmost diligence, Edmund Burke's personal introduction to Sir Joshua Reynolds procuring for him admission to the schools of the Royal Academy. His first picture was exhibited in 1789; in 1798 he was elected an Associate, and in 1800 a Member of the Academy. His reputation as a fashionable portrait painter soon became widely extended. He married, and established himself in a fine mansion. On the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1830, he was elected President of the Academy, and he was knighted in the same year. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and other honours were showered upon him, to which Catholics in England were little accustomed. Ottley, in his Dictionary of Painters, observes: "It would be a mistake to attribute Sir Martin Shee's success in his profession, and above all the high official position to which he was elected, to his merit as an artist. The latter, at least, may be more truly assigned as a tribute to his literary attainments and to his courteous manners, combined with certain gifts in diplomacy, which qualified him in an eminent degree to act as the champion [of the Royal Academy]. If he did not achieve anything great as a painter, he was always ready, to use his own words, 'to break a lance with the vandalism of the day."" He wrote several poetical pieces of minor merit, and two novels, Harry Calverley, and Old Court, in which were embodied many of his early reminiscences of the neighbourhood of Bray. Lord Holland said of his inaugural address as President of the Academy: "I never heard a better speech." "And I," added Lord Grey, (6 never heard so good a one." Sir Martin was instrumental in procuring the charter for the Royal Hibernian Academy. As might be supposed, he was on intimate terms with many of the great men of the time--Grattan and Curran, as well as Englishmen and foreigners of wider fame. A Civil List pension of £200 a year was conferred upon him shortly before his death, which took place at Brighton, 19th August 1850, in his 81st year. He was buried in Brighton Cemetery. Two of his paintings, "The 141 331 Sheil, Richard Lalor, author, politician, and orator, was born at Drumdowney, near Waterford, 17th August, 1791. His father had amassed a considerable fortune in the Spanish trade, and occupied a fine mansion on the Suir. The lad's early recollections were all connected with the neighbourhood of Waterford. At eleven years of age he was placed in a Catholic school at Kensington, kept by a French emigrant nobleman. There he almost forgot his own language. Thence he passed to Stonyhurst, and in November 1807 he entered Trinity College, Dublin. During his college course his father lost all his property through neglect of technicalities in connexion with a limitedliability company, in which he had invested a portion of his fortune, and young Sheil was indebted to the generosity of a friend for means to finish his terms, and to his uncle Richard for enabling him to complete his studies for the Bar, to which he was called in 1814. He made his first appearance in public This marriage made him independent of in 1810, when he spoke with effect at a his profession, and enabled him to carry meeting in favour of Emancipation, as- into effect a long-cherished desire of ensembled at Kilmainham. The years be- tering Parliament. Defeated in a contest tween 1814 and 1823 were largely devoted for Louth, he was brought in by Lord to dramatic authorship. His plays of Anglesea for Milborne Port, in DorsetAdelaide, The Apostate, Bellamira, and shire, in 1831, and occupied a seat in the Evadne, were remarkably successful, more House of Commons for the next eighteen from the acting of his countrywoman, Miss years, most of the time for Tipperary, O'Neill, than from their intrinsic merit. and latterly for Dungarvan. In 1832 he Montoni was withdrawn after a few repre- was enthusiastically welcomed on the platsentations; The Fatal Dowry somewhat form of the Repeal Society, by those who retrieved his reputation; whilst the fail- had been for so many years accustomed to ure of The Huguenot, which he considered hear his spirit-stirring harangues in favour his best play, contributed in no slight of Emancipation. He took part in the degree to divert him from a path he Repeal debate of April 1834, when the mohad found beset with disappointment, tion was defeated by 523 to 38, and as a though not unrewarded by success. parliamentary question set at rest for At this time he had married, and be- many years. After the general election come a widower. In 1822 the first of consequent on the death of William IV., his admirable Sketches of the Irish Bar and the friendly expressions of the Governappeared in the New Monthly Magazine. ment towards Ireland, he accepted office They were afterwards published in a col- as Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital. lected form, and still afford the best In 1839 he was appointed Vice-President sources for information concerning the of the Board of Trade. Although he was leading Bar celebrities of the time in Ire- able to retain his seat, his acceptance of land. They were written in conjunction office was generally resented by his old with William H. Curran, who was the friends in Ireland. That it had a conauthor of some of the most important of siderable influence on his opinions canthem. Whilst not neglecting his profes- not be doubted. He opposed the revival sion, Sheil's life for many years was of the Repeal agitation; and some years devoted to the struggle for Catholic later he had the courage to declare upon Emancipation. His position as a public the hustings at Dungarvan that he conman daily became more recognized and sidered Repeal to be a "splendid but undefined, and his earliest dreams of oratoric attainable fancy"-justifying his change fame gradually came to be realized. of opinion by reference to the altered attiAt this time, and up to the termination tude of the government of Great Britain of the great struggle in 1829," wrote one towards Ireland. Yet he acted as one of who had himself shared in many of the John O'Connell's counsel at the State hazards of the period, "Sheil was in the trials in 1844. In 1845 he accompanied most exposed position of any man in Ire- his wife and invalid son to Madeira, in land, for he went further than all others the vain hope of benefiting the health of to provoke the attacks of the Crown." the latter, who died and was buried on the In 1827 a prosecution was instituted island. Mr. Sheil was Master of the Mint against him for remarks publicly made from 1846 to 1850. During that period upon Theobald Wolfe Tone's career. the new silver florin was put into circuThe grand jury brought in a true bill lation, those first coined being conspicuous against him, but further proceedings by the omission of the initials of the were abandoned in consequence of minis- legend: "Defensatrix Fidei: Dei gratia." terial changes. He showed no little The design was made by Mr. Wyon, moral courage in 1828, when, hearing of a chief engraver of the Mint, and approved proposed meeting of freeholders and in- by the Privy Council; but a considerable habitants of Kent to oppose any concesturmoil was raised, the change being sions to the Catholics, he purchased a attributed to Mr. Sheil being a Catholic. small holding in the county, attended In reply to questions in the House, he the great meeting on Pennington Heath, accepted the responsibility of the omission and raised his voice in protest against the of the words, avowed he had seen no resolutions. After the passing of the objection to following the precedent which Emancipation Act he was called to the was found in a portion of the silver inner Bar. In July 1830 he married Mrs. coinage struck in her Majesty's name at Power, a widowed lady of considerable Calcutta, and briefly and emphatically means, with whom he lived in uninter- repudiated the imputation of sectarian rupted happiness the rest of his life. I motives. With the session of 1850 his parliamentary career closed. Mr. McCullagh says: "For twenty years he had occupied a prominent place in the varied controversies of the senate. He had seen most of the great principles for which he had contended finally adopted and engrafted into the policy of the state; and the suffrages of the many and the few had concurred in ascribing to his advocacy no humble share in the accomplishment of these results. As an orator his success had equalled, if not exceeded, his most sanguine expectations; and even the judgment of friendship will hardly be deemed erroneous in awarding him as many and as varied triumphs in debate as any of his most gifted contemporaries." In December 1850 he was appointed Minister at the court of Tuscany, and accordingly removed with his wife to Florence. His enjoyment of life in that beautiful city, and of the treasures of art opened to him, was intense. His knowledge of French, which he had kept up through life, was a source of great pleasure, and he at once set about the acquisition of Italian. The British residents were delighted with his genial manners and his talents. His successful efforts on behalf of Count Guicciardini, imprisoned for reading the Bible to a circle of friends in his own house, proved the freedom of his mind from sectarian intolerance. The Count afterwards wrote of him as "a gentleman and a man of talent; but, what was still better, a Christian, who adored God in spirit and in truth. He seemed to me to be deeply impressed with sentiments of piety, devotion, and love of God." Mr. Sheil did not long live to enjoy what his friend Charles Lever styled his "first holiday in a long life of labour." He died of a sudden access of an old complaint, gout, 28th May 1851, aged 59. His remains were conveyed home in a British ship-of-war, and interred at Long-orchard, in the County of Tipperary. Mr. Sheil's manner was peculiar; his figure was by no means striking; but his face was intellectual and massive, somewhat resembling O'Connell's. The Memoirs of Richard Lalor Sheil by W. T. McCullagh, London, 1855, give an admirable history of the agitation that preceded Catholic Emancipation. [Dr. Reeves says "Saidhail" (pronounced Sheil) is the Irish form of the name, which is of great antiquity, and was Latinized at a very early date in the form "Sedulius ".] 233 303 man converted to Protestantism by Bishop Bedell, and was godson of the Bishop, who bequeathed to him forty shillings to buy a mourning ring. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1652, and at the termination of his course, took orders, and was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Ormond, then Lord-Lieutenant. In 1667 he became rector of Athenry, in 1669 was made Dean of Down, and in 1681-2 was advanced to the bishopric of Kilmore. In 1691 he was deprived of his see for refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary. The latter part of his life he resided in London, where non-jurors and others who shared their opinions resorted to his house for private devotions. He died in great poverty, 3rd October 1711. Six volumes of his sermons were published between 1665 and 1706. [His brother Patrick was consecrated Bishop of Cloyne in 1679, and dying in 1682, was buried in the College Chapel, Dublin. Another brother, Thomas, obtained a fellowship in Trinity College, which he was obliged to resign on becoming a Catholic. In 1680 he was imprisoned for supposed complicity in a Popish plot, but was subsequently knighted by James II., who made him his secretary]. 118 339 Sheridan, Thomas, D.D., a friend of Dean Swift's, son of Thomas Sheridan before-mentioned, was born in the County of Cavan in 1684. His parents were poor. He was placed by a friend at Trinity College, Dublin, entered the Church, and opened a school in Dublin, at the old Mint house, 27 Capel-street. His good nature, powers of conversation, and literary abilities attracted the attention of Swift, and they became intimate friends. The Dean took a warm interest in his school, occasionally taught classes in it, and materially contributed to its success. Swift wrote of him after his death: "He was doubtless the best instructor of youth in these kingdoms, or perhaps in Europe, and as great a master of the Greek and Roman languages He has left behind him a very great collection, in several volumes, of stories, humorous, witty, wise, or some way useful. . His chief shining quality was that of a schoolmaster, and here he shone in his proper element. He had so much skill and practice in the physiognomy of boys, that he rarely mistook at the first view. His scholars loved and feared him. Among the gentlemen in this kingdom who have any share of education, the scholars of Dr. Sheridan infinitely excel, in number and knowledge, all their brethren sent from the other schools. Sheridan, William, Bishop of Kilmore, was born at Togher, in the County of Cavan, about 1635. He was the son of the Rev. Dionysius Sheridan, a Catholic clergy-in many things very indiscreet, to say no He was |