ively England was much in the same position as the great rivals
Holland and France with which she had to compete so keenly.
We may compare the present position and the relative growth of
tonnage during the last century, so far as figures are available for
the purpose :
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1700. 1880. 1790. 1880. England 1,511,411 6,574,513 France 989 128 fi57,320 Holland 349 000 Italv... 1,000,000 United States . 502,146 4 000,000 Germany 1,300,000 The following aggregates show the growth of the tonnage of British shipping : in 1588, 12,500 tons (excluding fishing boats) ; in 1770, 682,811 (England and Scotland) ; in 1791, 1,511,401 (in- cluding colonies); in 1830, 2,199,959 (excluding colonies); in 1840, 2,768,262; in 1850, 3,565,133; in 1860, 4,658,687; in 1870, 5,690,789 ; in 1880, 6,574,513.
See Macpherson, Annals of Commerce; Lindsay, History of Merchant Shipping. For earlier periods see Schanz, Englische Handels-Politik, and for later periods Leone Levi, History of British Commerce. (W. CU.)
SHIRAZ, a celebrated city in Persia, capital of Fars, from its site and thoroughly Iranian population may be considered the central point, as it were, of Farsi or Parsi (otherwise Persian) nationality. Owing to the pasture land in its vicinity some derive the name from the native word shir, " milk ; " others again, asserting the number and physical powers of its inhabitants, accept the same word in its sense of " lion, " or take the whole dissyllable as an obsolete word meaning the "lion's paunch." To this effect is cited a local saying to the effect that, " like the lion, it devours all they bring into it." Shirdz is situated in 29 36' 30" N. lat. and 52 32' 9" E. long., in a high plain or valley more than 20 miles long and less than half as broad, and is approached on the south from the sea a distance of 170 miles[1]—through lofty mountain passes reaching some 7000 feet above the level of the waters of the Persian Gulf. On the north the approach is also through chains of mountains separating the plains of Shirdz from the valley of the Marv Dasht, intersecting which is the Band Amir river, more poetically than accurately described in Lalla Rookh. At Kodiyan, a few miles to the north- west of Shirdz, is the source of another river, which, crossing the high road south of the town under the name of the " Kara Agatch," falls into the sea about 70 miles below Bushahr (Bushire), after a tortuous course of 300 miles. The city has a handsome bazaar and some good private residences ; but its unattractive streets are narrow, and, though not so crowded with beggars as Ispahan, contain many living objects distressing to the eye. The mosques and minarets, albeit of local repute, look more picturesque to the stranger in the distance than under close inspection. One fine view of the town is that on the north, at the pass between the mountains called " Allah Hu Akbar " so named, it is conceived, because this would be the traveller's exclamation of delight when the landscape first opened out upon him. The country in this direction is studded with pleasant gardens. Besides these there are the tombs of the poets Hafiz and Sa'di both within easy reach of the city. The first a fine marble monument with a beautifully inscribed ode and other writings upon it is not a mile from the gate, and is situated in an enclosure bearing the name Hdfiziya. The most noted product of Shirdz is its wine, on the merits of which, however, there is much difference of opinion from outside judges. Dr Wills gives an original account of an experiment of his own in making the wine of Shiraz. Its cost in the pro- duction was 5d. a bottle, and it sold a year after at more than three times that amount. Shirdz is moreover famous for inlaid work (wood and metal) called khdtam bandi (from khdtam, a seal). The population of the city is estimated under 30,000. The ordinary diseases are inter- mittent fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, guinea worm, cholera, diphtheria, small-pox, and ophthalmia.
Although the praises of Shiraz, its produce, inhabitants, climate, and surroundings of every kind, have been sung by poets for centuries, and are never disputed by Persians who are not Shirazis, yet it is impossible for the sober European traveller to deny that the reality falls far below the picture. We may feel thankful for the wine and the water, the gardens and the monuments, the fruits and the flowers (abundant here as in many other an oasis in the Shah'.i dominions) ; wo may sympathize with the national pride in the possession of a Hafiz and a Sa'di ; we may believe that the ladies of yore had " eyes brighter than the antelope's, hair cluster- ing like their own dark grapes, and forms fairer and sweeter than the virgin rose," and that those of the present day would, if unveiled, strike the spectator with wonder ; but one fact remains, the modern town of Shiraz is not a paradise for those whose personal experience enables them to compare it with the ordinary cities of Europe.
According to Eastern authorities, Shiraz was founded (or re- founded, for some accounts ascribe to it a fabulous antiquity) by a brother of the famous Hajjaj about the beginning of the 8th century, or rather by a cousin of Hajjaj called Mohammed b. Kasim b. Abu 'Okail. Six hundred years later it was the capital of the Muzaffar dynasty of princes, when it fell to the arms of Timur. But it attained its greatest reputation in the reign of Karim Khan, who embellished the city greatly and made it the special object of his care. On the downfall of this monarch it was sacked and laid waste by the cruel Agha Mohammed.
Shiraz has been often described by native geographers and European writers of travel. Among the latter may be mentioned Pietro della Valle, Herbert, Ta vernier, Deslandes, and Chardin, in the 17th century, and in the present century Ouseley, Porter, Morier, Scott- Waring, Forster, Binning, and many quite recent travellers. Neither in his serious history nor lighter sketches does Sir Johii Malcolm give any detailed account of Shiraz as a city, but his notes on its climate may be cited. On one of the hottest days of June 1800 the thermometer registered 94 F. in the house and 100 in a tent. In May 1810 it never rose at noon above 88 nor fell below 74. In the morning, at eight o'clock, it generally stood about 60. In autumn the heat continued, but in winter it was seen to fall considerably below the freezing point. As late as March- there is often a hoar frost on the ground. April, he adds, is a delightful month, the thermometer at sunrise being generally from 50 to 55, at two P.M. 80 to 84, and at nine P.M. about 64.
SHIRE. See County.
SHIRLEY, a town of Hampshire, consists chiefly of comfortable houses occupied by persons in business in Southampton (2 miles south-east), of which it is practically a suburb. Within its limits are the Barlow home (1840), the Ellyet home (1879), and the children's hospital and dispensary for women (1884). The urban sanitary district of Shirley, formed in 1853, was extended by an Act which came into operation 29th September 1881, the name being also changed to Shirley and Freemantle. The population of the old district (area 1198 acres) in 1871 was 5339 and in 1881 it was 7856. The population of the new district (area 1392 acres) in 1871 was 9909 and in 1881 it was 12,939.
SHIRLEY, James (1596-1666), dramatist, belonged to the great period of our dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly the same language and had a set of moral feelings and notions in common." His career of playwriting extended from 1625 to the suppression of stage plays by parliament in 1642. Born in London in 1596, he had been educated for a profession—at Merchant Taylors' school, St John's College, Oxford, and Catherine Hall, Cambridge. The church was his destination, but he turned Roman Catholic, and made a living for two years as a schoolmaster. His first play, Love Tricks, seems to have been accepted while he was teaching at St Albans, and for eighteen years from that time he was a prolific writer for the stage, producing more than thirty regular plays, tragedies, and comedies, and showing no sign of exhaustion when a stop was put to his occupation by the Puritan edict. He turned again to teaching for a livelihood and prospered, publishing some educational works under the Commonwealth. Besides these he published
- ↑ As the crow flies, it is only 115 miles N.E. by E. of Bushahr.
