Shepheards Hunting (The), four “eglogues” by George Wither, while confined in the Marshalsea (1615). The shepherd, Roget, is the poet himself, and his “hunting” is a satire called Abuses Stript and Whipt, for which he was imprisoned. The first three eglogues are upon the subject of Roget’s imprisonment, and the fourth is on his love of poetry. “Willy” is the poet’s friend, William Browne, of the Inner Temple, author of Britannia’s Pastorals. He was two years the junior of Wither.
Shepherd (The), Moses, who for forty years fed the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law.
Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed,
“In the beginning,” how the heaven and earth
Rose out of chaos.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. (1665).
Shepherd (The Gentle), George Grenville, the statesman. One day, in addressing the House, George Grenville said, “Tell me where! tell me where!...” Pitt hummed the line of a song then very popular, beginning, “Gentle shepherd, tell me where!” and the whole House was convulsed with laughter (1712-1770).
*** Allan Ramsay has a beautiful Scotch pastoral called The Gentle Shepherd (1725).
Shepherd (John Claridge), the signature adopted by the author of The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules to Judge of the Changes of Weather, etc. (1744). Supposed to be Dr. John Campbell, author of A Political Survey of Britain.
Shepherd-Kings (The), or Hyksos. These Hyksos were a tribe of Cuthites driven from Assyria by Aralius and the Shemites. Their names were: (1) Saītês or Salātês, called by the Arabs El-Weleed, and said to be a descendant of Esau (B.C. 1870-1851); (2) Beon, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan, son of El-Weleed (B.C. 1851-1811); (3) Apachnas (B.C. 1811-1750); (4) Apōphis, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan II., in whose reign Joseph was sold into Egypt and was made viceroy (B.C. 1750-1700); (5) Janias (B.C. 1700-1651); (6) Asseth (1651-1610). The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt by Amŏsis or Thetmosis, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, and retired to Palestine, where they formed the chiefs or lords of the Philistines. (Hyksos is compounded of hyk, “king,” and sos, “shepherd.”)
*** Apophis or Aphophis was not a shepherd-king, but a pharaoh or native ruler, who made Apachnas tributary, and succeeded him, but on the death of Aphophis the hyksos were restored.
Shepherd Lord (The), Lord Henry de Clifford, brought up by his mother as a shepherd to save him from the vengeance of the Yorkists. Henry VII. restored him to his birthright and estates (1455-1543).
The gracious fairy,
Who loved the shepherd lord to meet
In his wanderings solitary.
Wordsworth, The White Doe of Rylstone (1815).