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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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SHIRE, n. In England, a division of territory, otherwise called a county. The shire was originally a division of the kingdom under the jurisdiction of an earl or count, whose authority was entrusted to the sherif. [shire-reeve.] On this officer the goverment ultimately devolved. In the United States, the corresponding division of a state is called a county, but we retain shire in the in the compound half-shire; as when the county court is held in two towns in the same county alternately, we call one of the divisions a half-shire.
In some states, shire as the constituent part of the name of a county, as Berkshire, Hampshire, in Massachusetts. These being the names established by law, we cannot say, the county of Berkshire, and we cannot with propriety say, the caounty of Berks, for there is no county in Massa chusetts thus named.
A portion of Great Britain originally under
the supervision of an earl; a territorial division, usually identical
with a county, but sometimes limited to a smaller district; as,
Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Richmondshire,
Hallamshire.
An indefinite number of these hundreds make up a county or shire. Blackstone. A division of a State, embracing several
contiguous townships; a county.
[U. S.]
* Shire is commonly added to the specific designation of a county as a part of its name; as, Yorkshire instead of York shire, or the shire of York; Berkshire instead of Berks shire. Such expressions as the county of Yorkshire, which in a strict sense are tautological, are used in England. In the United States the composite word is sometimes the only name of a county; as, Berkshire county, as it is called in Massachusetts, instead of Berks county, as in Pensylvania. The Tyne, Tees, Humber, Wash, Yare, Stour, and Thames separate the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, etc. Encyc. Brit. Knight of the shire. See under Knight. -- Shire clerk, an officer of a county court; also, an under sheriff. [Eng.] -- Shire mote (Old. Eng. Law), the county court; sheriff's turn, or court. [Obs.] Cowell. Blackstone. -- Shire reeve (Old Eng. Law), the reeve, or bailiff, of a shire; a sheriff. Burrill. -- Shire town, the capital town of a county; a county town. -- Shire wick, a county; a shire. [Obs.] Holland. | ||||||||