Earl of. See Cooper.

a market-town, municipal, and parliamentary borough of England, in Dorsetshire, on the summit of a high, narrow hill, commanding a fine view over the fertile country which stretches at its foot, 22 miles N.E. of Dorchester, and 95 S.W. of London. On account of its lofty and exposed situation, it has a cold, bleak, but healthy atmosphere. Irregularly laid out, the houses are for the most part well built of the freestone quarried in the vicinity. Of the places of worship in the town, four belong to the Established Church: St Peter's, near the centre of the town, an ancient edifice, but modernized for the worse; Trinity Church, in the midst of the lime-trees of its spacious churchyard; St James' and Romaldk's. The Independents, Wesleyans, and Quakers have also places of worship here. The town-hall is a handsome building, recently erected by the Marquis of Westminster. There is an endowed blue coat school in the town, national and other schools, a reading-room, savings' bank, and some charitable institutions. The manufacture of buttons was formerly carried on at Shaftesbury, but has entirely fallen off. Some trade is carried on in butter and cheese, as well as in the agricultural produce of the fine land round about. Weekly markets and three annual fairs are held. The borough is governed by a mayor, three other aldermen and eighteen councillors; and it returns one member to Parliament. The modern town is supposed to occupy the site of the place called Caersepton by the ancient Britons. It was a Roman station, but attained to no great importance till the foundation of the celebrated abbey here by Alfred about 888. Both before and after this time it was destroyed by the Danes, but each time it was afterwards restored. It is said to have contained at the time of the Norman conquest 166 houses and 12 churches. In the abbey of Shaftesbury, Canute died in 1035, and Elizabeth, the wife of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland, was confined for some time in 1313. The family of Ashley Cooper take the title of earl from the town of Shaftesbury. It was first conferred by Charles II. in 1672 on his favourite statesman. Pop. (1851) of the municipal borough, 2503; of the parliamentary borough, 9404.

SHAHABAD, a district of British India, Bengal, lying between N. Lat. 24° 30' and 25° 46'; E. Long. 83° 20' and 84° 56'; bounded on the N. by the districts of Ghazepoor and Sarun, E. by that of Patna, S.E. and S. by that of Behar, and W. by those of Mirzapore and Benares. Length from N.E. to S.W. 106 miles; breadth 56; area, 4403 square miles. It is almost entirely inclosed by natural boundaries, formed by the Ganges on the N., the Carumassa on the W., and the Son on the S.E. and E. The last two rivers both fall into the Ganges, which, as well as the Son, is navigable here. The south-western part of the district is occupied by a hilly country, rising to the height of about 700 feet above the sea, and about 500 above the low lands on the banks of the Ganges. This latter portion consists of an extensive plain, liable to annual inundations of the Ganges. Most of the land is arable; and the soil is either sandy or clayey, producing, without irrigation, wheat, barley, and some other crops; while the northern portions of the country are rendered exceedingly rich by the overflowing of the river, and are planted chiefly with rice, which produces two crops a year. Maize, millet, lentils, beans, and various other plants are also grown. The chief commercial crops are sugar, cotton, opium, indigo, and tobacco. A large portion of the country is covered with wood and jungle; but the trees are generally stunted, and yield little good timber. Cotton cloth, silk, paper, spirits, oil, and sugar are manufactured. The chief exports are silk, paper, cotton, wheat, and other grains, pulse, bamboos, and opium; the imports include tobacco, sugar, iron, copper, lead, tin, zinc, salt, &c. Shahabad is traversed by the route from Calcutta to Allahabad, and also by that from Dinapoor to Ghazeepoor. The country at one time formed part of the great Magadha empire; but came into the power of the sultans of Lahore towards the close of the twelfth century. The southern part of the district was ceded to the British by the Emperor of Delhi in 1765, and the northern part by the Vizier of Oude in 1775. Pop. 1,600,000.