c in a wide estuary between Kerry (S.) and
Clare (N.); has an entire course of 254 m., and is navigable to Lough
Allen, a distance of 213 m.

SHANS or LAOS, the name of a people, descendants of aborigines
of China, forming several large tribes scattered round the frontiers of
Burma, Siam, and South China, whose territory, roughly speaking, extends
N. as far as the Yunnan Plateau of South China; some are independent, but
the bulk of the tribes are subject to Siam, China, and the British in
Burma; practise slavery, are Buddhists, somewhat superstitious, indolent,
pleasure-loving, and for the most part peaceable and content; chased gold
and silver work, rice, cotton, tobacco, &c., are their chief exports.

SHARON, a fertile region in Palestine of the maritime plain between
Carmel and Philistia.

SHARP, ABRAHAM, a schoolmaster of Liverpool, and subsequent
bookkeeper in London, whose wide knowledge of mathematics, astronomy,
&c., attracted FLAMSTEED (q. v.), by whom he was invited in 1688
to enter the Greenwich Royal Observatory, where he did notable work,
improving instruments, and showing great skill as a calculator; published
"Geometry Improved," logarithmic tables, &c. (1651-1742).

SHARP, BECKY, an intriguing character in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair,"
very clever, but without heart.

SHARP, GRANVILLE, a noted abolitionist, born in London; trained for
the bar, but accepted a post in the London Ordnance Office, which he held
until the outbreak of the American War; was a voluminous writer on
philology, law, theology, &c., but mainly devoted himself to the cause of
negro emancipation, co-operating with Clarkson in founding the
Association for the Abolition of Negro Slavery, and taking an active
interest in the new colony for freedom in Sierra Leone; won a famous
decision in the law-courts to the effect that whenever a slave set foot
on English soil he becomes free; he was also one of the founders of the
Bible Society (1734-1813).

SHARP, JAMES, archbishop of St. Andrews, born in Banff Castle;
educated at Aberdeen University, visited England, where he formed
important friendships, and in 1643 was appointed "regent" or professor of
Philosophy at St. Andrews, a post he resigned five years later to become
minister of Crail; during the Protectorate he sided with the
"Resolutioners" or Moderates, and appeared before Cromwell in London to
plead their cause; in 1660 received a commission to go to London to
safeguard