SHEOL, the dark underworld or Hades of the Hebrews, inhabited by the shades of the dead.

SHEPHERD KINGS or HYKSOS, a tribe of shepherds, alleged to have invaded Lower Egypt 2000 years before Christ, overthrown the reigning dynasty, and maintained their supremacy for 200 years.

SHEPHERD OF SALISBURY PLAIN, name of the hero, a shepherd of the name of Saunders, in a tract written by Hannah More, characterised by homely wisdom and simple piety.

SHEPPARD, JACK, a notorious criminal, whose audacious robberies and daring escapes from Newgate Prison made him for a time the terror and talk of London; drew some 200,000 people to witness his execution at Tyburn; figures as the hero of a well-known novel by Harrison Ainsworth (1702-1724).

SHEPPEY, ISLE OF, an islet in the estuary of the Thames, at the mouth of the Medway, belonging to Kent, from which it is separated by the Swale (spanned by a swing-bridge); great clay cliffs rise on the N., and like the rest of the island, are rich in interesting fossil remains; corn is grown, and large flocks of sheep raised; chief town is SHEERNESS (q. v.), where the bulk of the people are gathered; is gradually diminishing before the encroaching sea.

SHERBORNE (4), an interesting old town of Dorsetshire, pleasantly situated on rising ground overlooking the Yeo, 118 m.  SW. of London; has one of the finest Perpendicular minsters in South England, ruins of an Elizabethan castle, and King Edward’s School, founded in 1550, and ranking among the best of English public schools.

SHERBROOKE, ROBERT LOW, VISCOUNT, statesman, born, the son of a rector, at Bingham, Notts; graduated at Oxford; obtained a Fellowship, and in 1836 was called to the bar; six years later emigrated to Australia; made his mark at the Sydney bar, taking at the same time an active part in the politics of the country; returned to England in 1850, and entered Parliament, holding office under Lord Aberdeen (1853) and Lord Palmerston (1855); education became his chief interest for some time, and in 1866 he fiercely opposed the Whig Reform Bill, but subsequently made amends to his party by his powerful support of Gladstone’s Irish Church Disestablishment Bill, and was included in the Liberal ministry of 1868 as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post he held till 1873, when he became Home Secretary; a man of great intellectual force and independency of judgment; created a viscount in 1880; was D.C.L. of Oxford and LL.D. of Edinburgh (1811-1892).

SHERE ALI, Ameer of Afghanistan, son and successor of Dost Mohammed, at first favoured by Britain, but at last distrusted and was driven from the throne (1823-1879).