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SHERIDAN. ings. In the first (Februaiy 7, 17S7) lie brought before the House of Commons the charges against the Governor-General of India; and in the second (June, 1788) he opened the proceed- ings at the trial in Westminster Hall. A third speech (Jlay 14, 1794) did not reach the previ- ous high level. Sheridan sided with Fox against English interference in the French Revolution, delivering a remarkable speech in 1794 in reply to the Earl of Jlornington (afterwards Marquis Wellesley), but he opposed that revolution when it began' to interfere with the peace of England. He also met Pitt in debate against the union of England and Ireland, and strenuously advocated the freedom of the press. Defeat in the elec- tion of 1812 brought his Parliamentary career to an end. This was not his only misfortune. The old Dfury Lane Theatre, pronounced unsafe, had been replaced in 1794. The destruction by fire of the new building in 1809 put an end to Sheridan's main source of income, which for a while amounted to 10,000 pounds a year. Ha- rassed by creditors, though he was the last man to avoid the payment of a debt, Sheridan could not pay, for debts to him were withheld. A committee formed to rebuild the theatre gave him shares for much other money owed him. but by keeping back 12,000 pounds in cash, they prevented his being returned from Staft'ord, and caused him to be arrested for debt, August, 1813. He became an inmate of a sponging house in Took's Court, Cursitor street, till Whitbread, head of the committee, handed over the needed sum. He died after several months' illness, July 7, 1816, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His portrait was more than once painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a portrait of him by Rus- sell may be seen in the National Gallery. Sheridan came in a period when satirical comedy could easily find something to make merry over in contemporary societj'. Moreover, that society was highly picturesque. An arch and dainty eighteenth-century grace permeates both The liirals and The School for Scandal; they have an incessant sparkle of wit and elegance of style. By liis own avowal Sheridan was not a happy man. Indeed, he often thought life an unendurable burden, but his wit is never sour. He never showed, either in his literary work or in politics, rancor or grudges. Yet he seems to have been slandered from his childhood till his death, though he refrained from replying to calumnies. Sheridan by sheer inborn goodness, if not by sound intelligence, was habitually on what Time's judgment calls the right side. Consult the biographies by Rae (London, 1896), Sanders (Great Writers' Series, ib., 1891), Mrs. Oliphant (English Men of Letters Series, New York, 1883). T. Moore (London. 1825), and The Lives of the Sheridans, by Fitzgerald (ib., 1886). Good editions of the comedies are by B. Matthews, Rivah and School foi- Seayidal{Nev York. 1884), J. A. Symonds (London. 1884), H. Morley (ib., 1883), and in Macmillan's Library of English Classics (London and New York, 1900). Sheridan's speeches were collected in five volumes (London, 1816), and finally Sheri-- dan's Plays, "now printed as he wrote them," ed- ited by W. Fraser Rae (London, 1902). SHEBIDAN, Thomas (1719-88). A British aetor and author, the father of Richard Brins- 78 SHERIFF. ley ^heridan (q.v.). He was bom near Dublin, where he was educated at Trinity College. Hav- ing gone upon the stage in 1743, he played for a time at Drury Lane Theatre, in London, and was considered by some, including himself, a rival of Garrick. His management of the Dublin The- atre ended with a riot in 1754. The remainder of his life was spent largely in literary work, especially on the subject of elocution, upon which he was a well-known lecturer at the luii- versities and elsewhere. In 1780 first appeared his Uictionary of the English Language, in which particular attention was given to pronunciation. Sheridan also edited the ^Vorl;s of Sn-ift (with Life, 1784). Consult: Rae, Richard lirinslvy Sheridan, a Bioljraphy (London, 1896) ; Mat- thews and Hutton, Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States (New York, 1886). SHERIDAN'S RIDE. A stirring poem by T. B. Read, published, with other war pieces, in 1865, on tile famous ride of General Sheridan from Winchester to Cedar Creek after Early's attack during his absence, October 19, 1864. SHERIF, sha-ref (Ar. sharif. nolile, from sharafa, to surpass). Among Mohammedans, a name for all descendants of ^lohanmied. They are very numerous and found in all classes and callings. In the large cities there is a special officer, the nakib al-ashrag, whose duty it is to keep a careful account of their genealogy. The men among the sherifs have the privilege of wear- ing a green tuiban, and the women a green veil. The guardian of the Kaaba is a sherif appointed nominally by tlic Sultan ; he acts as governor of jNIecca with the title of Sherif of Mecca. SHERIFF (AS. scirgerefa, shire-reeve, from soir, district, countj', jurisdiction, business -- gerefa, reeve). The chief executive officer of a comity, who at times exercises judicial func- tions also. Notwithstanding his Latin title of vice comes, he was never a deputy earl. At the opening of English legal history he appears as "the governor of the shire, the captain of its forces, the president of its court; a distinctly royal officer, appointed by the King, dismissible at a moment's notice, strictly accountable to the Exchequer." The othce was not hereditary at common law, although it became so in a few counties. During the thirteenth century it was made elective, but in 1314 Parliament changed it to an appointive office, and the method of ap- pointment prescribed by that statute (9 Ed. III., c. 2) has been continued with few changes to the present time (See Sherifl"'s Act, 1887, 50 and 51 Vict., c. 55). His term of office is one year, and until his successor qualifies, although he is removable at pleasure. He appoints an under slierifT to act as his deputy, to whom all fees are paid, but for whose acts the slierifT is civilly liable. Originally, the sheriff in England, as in Scot- land, exercised an extensive judicial authority. He presided over the common-law county court. Twice a year he made a circuit of the hundreds or other sulidivisions of his shire, to hold a view of frank pledge, to receive presentment of grave criminal offenses, and to collect fines for petty crimes. This was known as the sheriff's tour. At present, however, his judicial functions are comparatively small. The principal duties of the modern sheriff.