curiously enough, thought to be ‘some of my chefs-d'œuvre,’ and the second of prose ‘Essays on Men, Manners, and Things.’ Dodsley contributed a ‘Description of the Leasowes’ and a character of the poet.
Walpole called Shenstone ‘that water-gruel bard,’ and said he ‘was labouring all his life to write a perfect song, and, in my opinion at least, never once succeeded’ (Letters, vii. 54, viii. 509). Most of his verse is artificial and unreal, and has rightly been forgotten, but what remains is of permanent interest. He is best known by the ‘Schoolmistress,’ a burlesque imitation of Spenser, which was highly praised by Johnson and by Goldsmith (Works, ed. Cunningham, iii. 436); but many will value equally, in its way, the neatly turned ‘Pastoral Ballad, in four parts,’ written in 1743, which is supposed to refer to the author's disappointment in love, or the gently satirical ‘Progress of Taste,’ showing ‘how great a misfortune it is for a man of small estate to have much taste.’ Burns warmly eulogised Shenstone's elegies, which are also to some extent autobiographical, though it is difficult to say how far they are sincere.
[Johnson's Lives of the Poets; Graves's Recollections of some Particulars in the Life of the late William Shenstone, Esq. (which corrects Johnson's account at some points); Boswell's Johnson, 1853, pp. 356–7, 424–5, 485; Temple Bar, x. 397; Herald and Genealogist, vi. 366; Walpole's Letters; Memoirs of Amos Green, 1823, pp. 73, 278; Gray's Works; D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, pp. 406–11; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. xii. 131, 219, 288, 468, 6th ser. iv. 485, v. 93; Gent. Mag. lxv. 905, lxvii. 102, lxxi. 593, lxxiii. 613, 724, lxxiv. 802, lxxxi, II. 505, lxxxvii. I. 297; Ward's English Poets. Among the British Museum MSS. is a notebook of Shenstone's, ‘Remarks on Paradise Lost,’ 1735 (Addit. MS. 28964).]
SHENTON, HENRY CHAWNER (1803–1866), engraver, was born at Winchester in 1803, and became a pupil of Charles Warren [q. v.], one of whose daughters he married. He was at first employed upon small book illustrations, from designs by Stothard, Uwins, Westall, Corbould, and others, some of which he exhibited with the Society of British Artists between 1825 and 1832. Subsequently he executed some good plates on a larger scale, including ‘The Stray Kitten,’ after W. Collins, and ‘The Hermit,’ after A. Fraser. For Finden's ‘Gallery of British Art’ he engraved ‘A Day's Sport in the Highlands,’ after A. Cooper, and ‘The Loan of a Bite,’ after Mulready. Shenton's best-known plates are the three published by the Art Union of London: ‘The Tired Huntsman,’ after C. Landseer, 1840; ‘The Clemency of Cœur de Lion,’ after R. Crosse, 1857; and ‘A Labour of Love,’ after J. R. Dicksee, 1863; the last he was unable to finish on account of the failure of his eyesight. He also executed for the Art Union a set of outlines of incidents in English history, from designs by various artists, issued in 1847. Shenton was one of the last survivors of the able band of engravers in the pure line manner who flourished during the first half of this century. He died suddenly at Camden Town on 15 Sept. 1866.
Henry Chawner Shenton (1825–1846), his eldest son, studied in the schools of the Royal Academy and at Rome, and was trained as a sculptor by William Behnes [q. v.] He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1843 a group of Christ and Mary; in 1844 at the Westminster Hall competition, a colossal group of ‘The Burial of the Princes in the Tower;’ and in 1845, also at Westminster Hall, a statue of Cranmer. These were works of the highest promise, and gained much admiration; but the artist's career was cut short, after a brief illness, on 7 Feb. 1846.
His brother, William Kernot Shenton (1836–1877), born in June 1836, also became a sculptor and exhibited medallion portraits at the Royal Academy from 1857 to 1871. He for a time taught drawing and modelling in the art school at the Crystal Palace, and died on 19 April 1877 (Art Journal, 1878).
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Art Journal, 1866; Art Union, 1846; Athenæum, 1846, p. 72.]
SHEPARD. [See also Shephard, Shepheard, 'Shepherd', Sheppard, and Shepperd.]
SHEPARD, THOMAS (1604–1649), puritan divine, son of William Shepard, grocer, was born at Towcester, Northamptonshire, on 5 Nov. 1604, and, after a preliminary education in the free school there, proceeded to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was admitted a pensioner on 10 Feb. 1619–1620. He graduated B.A. in 1623, and commenced M.A. in 1627. During his residence in the university he adopted rigid puritan principles. For a time he resided in the family of Thomas Weld, minister of Tarling, Essex, and after 1627 became minister or lecturer at Earles-Colne, where he stayed three years. On 16 Dec. 1630 Shepard was summoned to London by Laud, then bishop, to answer for his conduct at Earles-Colne, and Laud forbade the further exercise of Shepard's ministry in the diocese of London. Shepard next became minister or lecturer at
