SHEIL, steel, RICHARD LALOR (1791-1851). An Irish orator and dramatist. He was horn near Waterford; graduated at Trinity College, Dublin ; studied law and was called to the bar in 1S14. In 1822 was printed the first of his Nketches of the Irish Bar. a keen and witty pic ture of the life and manners of the time. The next year he joined the 'Catholic Association,' and in 1825 was sent to oppose its suppression as joint advocate with Daniel O'Connell before Parliament. He soon became known as a politi cal agitator and brilliant orator; was elected to Parliament in 1829; aided O'Connell in the Re peal agitation, but, changing his position, took Ake under the Melbourne Ministry. and in 1850 was sent to the Tuscan Court as British Am bassador. He died at Florence. He wrote sev eral tragedies, of which the most successful were The Apostate (produced at Covent Garden in 1817) and Ermine (1819). Consult ",\IcCullagh; Memoirs of Richard Lalor Shed (London, 1855).
SHEKEL (11eb. shcriel, from sharial, Ai% An gela, Ass:yr. shagal, to weigh). An ancient weight and monetary unit. According to the system employed by the Babylonians 60 shekels were equal to one mina. and 60 minas to one talent. The weight of the shekel in the 'common' standard was about 126 grains. or, according to a system in which double weights were used, 252 grains; and according to the 'royal' standard 130 or 260 grains. For weighing precious metals, a
talent of 301)0 and a mina of 50 shekels were em ployed; for silver, to adjust the ratio to gold, the shekel was taken as 168 or 336 grains. In Plnenicia a silver shekel of about 112 (or 224) grains was employed. Among the Hebrews the 3000-shekel talent and 50-shekel mina were used. (Cf. Ex. xxxviii. 25-26.) The shekel was subdivid ed as follows: a half shekel was called a beha*, a twentieth part of a shekel a ganih. The Hebrew gold shekel had the same weight as the 'common' Babylonian shekel ; the silver shekel was the same as the phcnician silver shekel. The intrin sic value of the Hebrew (heavy) gold shekel was somewhere near $10, and of the silver shekel somewhat less than 75 cents. The Jews did not actually coin money before the time of Simon the Alaccabee (died B.C. 135). to whom Antioehus VII. gave the power of so doing (I. Mace. xv. 6), and it has been doubted whether this right was actually exercised before the time of Simon's successor, John Hyreamts. Consult: Madden, Coins of the Jews (London. 1881) ; the Hebrew arehceologies of Nowack and Benzinger; and the article "Money," by Kennedy. in the Hastings Bible Dictionary, vol. iii. (New York, 1900).