best in England; figures often in history as a place where Parliament met
in 1397-98, and in 1403 gave its name to the battle which resulted in the
defeat of Hotspur and the Earl of Douglas by Henry IV.; it was taken by
the Parliamentarians in 1644; chief industries are glass-painting,
malting, and iron-founding.

SHROPSHIRE or SALOP (236), an agricultural and mining county of
England, on the Welsh border, facing Montgomery chiefly, between Cheshire
(N.) and Hereford (S.); is divided into two fairly equal portions by the
Severn, E. and N. of which is low, level, and fertile, excepting the
Wrekin (1320 ft.), while on the SW. it is hilly (Clee Hills, 1805 ft.);
Ellesmere is the largest of several lakes; Coalbrookdale is the centre of
a rich coal district, and iron and lead are also found. Shrewsbury is the
capital; it consists of four Parliamentary divisions.

SHROVETIDE, confession-time, especially the days immediately before
Lent, when, in Catholic times, the people confessed their sins to the
parish priest and afterwards gave themselves up to sports, and dined on
pancakes, Shrove Tuesday being Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, or the first
day of Lent.

SHUMLA or SHUMNA (24), a fortified city of Bulgaria, 80 m. SE.
of Rustchuk; has an arsenal, barracks, etc., is an important strategical
centre between the Lower Danube and the East Balkans.

SHYLOCK, the Jew in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice."

SIAM (9,000 of Siamese, Chinese, Shans, and Malays), occupies the
central portion of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, wedged in between Annam
and Cambodia (E.) and Burma (W.), and extending down into the Malay
Peninsula; the wide Gulf of Siam forms the southern boundary; the rich
alluvial valleys of the Menam and the Mekhong produce great quantities of
rice (chief export), teak-wood, hemp, tobacco, cotton, etc., but of the
land surface only about one-twentieth is cultivated, a large portion of
the rest lying under forest and jungle; the Siamese are indolent,
ignorant, ceremonious, and the trade is mainly in the hands of the
Chinese; the mining of gold, tin, and especially rubies and sapphires, is
also carried on. Buddhism is the national religion, and elementary
education is well advanced; government is vested in a king (at present an
enlightened and English-educated monarch) and council of ministers; since
Sir J. Bowring's treaty in 1856, opening up the country to European trade
and influences, progress has been consid