Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/75

SHARP. 57 tor. He was born and educated at Durham ; taught himself Greek and Hebrew; and in 1758 was given an apijointnient in the Ordnance Office. He came into special prominence by his interest in the emancipation of the negro slave. In 1772 Sharp obtained the decision of the Eng- lish judges in the famous case of the negro Somer- set, that as soon as a slave sets his foot on Eng- lish ground le becomes free. He resigned his otiice in the Ordnance Department in 1777, as a protest against the prosecution of the war against the American colonies, and for his efforts in the es- tablishment of the Episcopal Church, when the States became independent, received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard University and other American colleges. The rest of his life was devoted to the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, and to authorship. He was chairman of the meeting in 1787 which formed the 'Associa- tion for the Abolition of Negro Slavery;' w.as one of the founders of the colony of Sierra Leone ; opposed impressment of seamen, and advocated Parliamentary reform. He died at Fulham. A medallion portrait to his memory is in Westmin- ster Abbey. Consult Hoare, Memoirs of Crraii- rille Sharp (London, 1820), which contain a bib- liography of his complete works, sixty-one in all, SHARP, .James (1013-79). A Scotch eccle- siastic. He was born at Banff, Scotland, and was educated at King's College, Aberdeen (M.A. 1637). He became professor of philosophy in Saint Leonard's College, Saint Andrews (1643), and some five years later minister of Crail, an office which he held during the life of Cromwell. In 1656 he was sent to London to plead the cause of the moderate Presby- terians against James Guthrie, the leader of the Radical faction. Again, in 1600, when negotiations w'ere pending for the restoration of Charles II., Sharp became the representa- tive of his party in Scotland. His course during this period was doubtless marked by duplicity and double-dealing. The Presbyterians were apparently led by him to believe that Charles II. was ready to make, in fact had made, adequate guarantees to protect them in their rights and position, yet Sharp had advised and accepted con- ditions which secured Scotland to episcopacy. In a short time he became Archbishop of Saint An- drews. He was assassinated on Magus Muir by a band of Covenanters. For an account of Sharp, consult: Stephen, Life and Times of Archbislisp Sharp (London, 1838); Keith, Scottish Bishops (Edinburgh. 1755) ; Dodd. Fifti/ Years' Struggle of the Scottish Covenant (London, 1800). SHARP, WiLLi.M ( 1850— ) . An English poet and essayist, born at Garthland Place, near Pais- ley, Scotland. From school ho proceeded to the University of Glasgow, and afterwards traveled in Australia. In 1870 he settled in London, whei-e he became acquainted with D. G. Rossetti, whose biography he wrote (1882). Though an ardent admirer of Rossetti, he believed modern romantic verse too literary, and sought to bring it back to a direct inspiration from nature. The Human Inheritance : Transcripts from Na- ture and Other Poems (1882) was followed by Earth's Voices, with the same explanatory title (1884) ; Bomontic Ballads and Poems of Phan- tasi) (1880) : Sospiri di Roma (1891) : Flou-er o' the Tine (1892) : Vistas, poetic dramas (1894) ; Lyrical Poems (1901); and Sospiri d'ltalia SHABPSBURG. (1903). He also wrote his lives of Shelley (1887), Heine (1888), Browning (1890), and .Joseph Severn (1892), besides which there -are various works of fiction, as a London Romance (1903), and several antliologies; a monograpli on Philip Bourkc Marston (1887), and many essays, as Ecce Puclla and Other Prose Imaijinimi-s ( 1895) and Studies in Art ( 1901 ) . A part of his immense literary production lias been in collabo- ration. His wife, Elizabeth AirEi-iA, edited in 1887 Sea-Music, an anthology of poems and pas- sages descriptive of the sea, and ^yomen Poets of the Victorian Era, in 1890. SHARPE, Samuel (1799-1881). An English Egyptologist and translator of the Bible, born in London. In 1814 he was taken into the London banking house of his uncles, Samuel an<l Henry Rogers, was made a partner in 1824, and retained his connection with the firm until 1801. His interest in Egyptology was excited through the works of Thomas Young and Champollion, and he soon became proficient in hieroglyphic studies, as well as in Coptic, in Hebrew, and in Greek. He also paid much attention to biblical studies, and published revised translations of both the Old and the New Testament — the former in 1840, the latter in 1865. Sharpe was a con- scientious student and possessed much acuteness, but the lack of systematic philological training detracts from the value of his work. Of his numerous works the following are the most im- portant: Early History of Egypt (1836) ; Egyp- tian Inscriptions from the British Museum and Other Sources (1837-55) ; Rudiments of a Vo- cabulary of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics (1837) ; History of Egypt Under the Ptolemies (1838) ; History of Egypt from the Earliest Times till A.D. 6J,0 (1846; 6th ed. 1876) ; Texts from the Holy Bible Explained by the Help_ of the An- cient Monuments (1866; 3d ed. 1880). Consult Clayden, Life of Samuel Sharpe (London, 1883). SHARP'LESS, Isaac (1848—). An Ameri- can educator, born in Chester County, Pa. He graduated at Harvard in 1873, was a tutor in Haverford College from 1875 to 1879, professor of mathematics and astronomy from 1879 to 1885, and dean from 1SS5 to 1887, when he Avas made president. He wrote text-books on geometry and astronomy, English Education in the Elementary and Secondary Schools, in the '"International Educational Series" (1892); A Quahcr Experi- ment in Government (1898-99), and numerous essays on municipal government and education. SHARPS, CniiLSTiAN (1811-74). An Ameri- can mechanic and inventor, born in New Jersey. He became a scientific machinist, was the in- ventor of the Sharps breech-loading rifle for military and sporting uses, and made many im- provements in other firearms. After many fail- ures he established a manufactory for his fire- arms at Hartford, Conn., where he accumulated a large fortune. SHARPS'BtTRG. A borough in Allegheny County, Pa,, 5 miles northeast of Pittsburg; oil the Allegheny River, and on the Pennsylvania and the Pittsburg and Western railroads (.Map: Pennsylvania, B 3). It is situated in a coal and iron mining section, and has a rolling mill, foun- dries, machine shops, and manufactories of var- nish, brick, glass, lumber products, and lubri- cating oil. Sharpsburg was settled in 1826, and