The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
by
Edited by Rev. James Wood
Part 18 out of 53
and served the emperor; wrote on international law (1660-1726).
DUMONT, LOUIS, a French publicist, born at Geneva, a friend of
Mirabeau, memoirs of whom he wrote, and who, coming to England, formed a
close intimacy with Jeremy Bentham, and became his disciple and expounder
(1759-1829).
DUMONT D'URVILLE, JULES, a celebrated French navigator, born at
Conde-sur-Noireau; made a three years' voyage round the world, and
visited the Antarctic regions, of which he made a survey; he was
distinguished as a scientist no less than a sea-captain; lost his life in
a railway accident at Versailles (1790-1842).
DUMOULIN, a celebrated French jurist, born at Paris; did for French
law what Cujas (q. v.) did for Roman (1500-1560).
DUMOURIEZ, a French general, born at Cambrai, "a wiry, elastic,
unwearied man ... creature," as he boasted in his old age, "of God and
his own sword ... on the whole, one of Heaven's Swiss"; took when already
grey to the Revolution and fought on its behalf; gained the battles of
Valmy and Jemmapes; conquered Belgium, but being distrusted, passed over
to the ranks of the enemies of France; a man really "without faith;
wanted above all things work, work on any side"; died an exile in England
(1739-1824). See Carlyle's "French Revolution."
DUeNA, a river of Russia, which rises near the source of the Volga,
and after a W. and NW. course of 650 m. falls into the Gulf of Riga; it
is connected with the Dnieper by the Beresina Canal.
DUNBAR, an ancient seaport and town of Haddingtonshire, on the coast
of the Forth, 29 m. E. of Edinburgh; is a fishing station, and
manufactures agricultural implements and paper; was, with its castle,
which has stood many a siege, a place of importance in early Scottish
history; near it Cromwell beat the Scots under Leslie on September 3,
1650.
DUNBAR, William, a Scottish poet, entered the Franciscan order and
became an itinerant preaching friar, in which capacity he wandered over
the length and breadth of the land, enjoying good cheer by the way; was
some time in the service of James IV., and wrote a poem, his most famous
piece, entitled "The Thistle and the Rose," on the occasion of the King's
marriage with the Princess Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII. His
poems were of three classes--allegoric, moral, and comic, the most
remarkable being "The Dance," in which he describes the procession of the
seven deadly sins in the infernal regions. Scott says he "was a poet
unrivalled by any that Scotland has produced" (1480-1520).
DUNBLANE, a town in Perthshire, 5 m. N. of Stirling, with a
beautiful cathedral, which dates back as far as 1240; of the diocese the
saintly Leighton was bishop.
DUNCAN, ADAM, VISCOUNT, a British admiral, born at Dundee; entered
the navy in 1746; steadily rose in rank till, in 1795, he became admiral
of the Blue and commander of the North Sea fleet in 1795; kept watching
the movements of the Dutch squadron for two years, till, at the end of
that term, it put to sea, and came up with it off Camperdown, and totally
defeated it, June 11, 1797 (1731-1804).
DUNCAN, THOMAS, a Scotch artist, born at Kinclaven, Perthshire;
painted fancy and Scoto-historical subjects, and a number of excellent
portraits; his career, which was full of promise, was cut short by an
early death (1807-1845).
DUNCIAD, THE, a satire of Pope's in four books, the "fiercest" as
well as the best of his satires, in which, with merciless severity, he
applies the lash to his critics, and in which Colley Cibber figures as
the King of Dunces.
DUNCKER, MAX, a historical writer, born in Berlin; held a
professorship at Halle and Tuebingen, and became a minister of State;
wrote among other works a work of great learning, in seven vols.,
entitled the "History of Antiquity" (1811-1886).
DUNCOMBE, T. S., an English politician, M.P. for Finsbury, one of
the extreme Liberal party of the time, presented to the House of Commons
the Chartist petition in 1842; denounced Sir James Graham, the Home
Secretary of the day, for opening Mazzini's letter, and advocated Jewish
emancipation (1796-1861).
DUNDALK (12), capital of co. Louth, Ireland, 50 m. N. of Dublin; a
place of considerable trade and manufactures; is an ancient city; Edward
Bruce, the last king of all Ireland, was crowned and resided here; it was
besieged and taken more than once, by Cromwell for one.
DUNDAS (of Arniston), the name of a Scottish family, many of the
members of which have distinguished themselves at the bar and on the
bench.
DUNDAS, HENRY, VISCOUNT MELVILLE, a junior member of the above
family; trained for the bar; rose to be Lord Advocate for Scotland and
M.P. for the county of Edinburgh; opposed at first to Pitt, he became at
last his ablest coadjutor in Parliament, and did important services in
connection with the military and naval defences of the country; his
power was sovereign in Scotland; his statue, mounted on a lofty column,
adorns one of the principal squares of the New Town of Edinburgh
(1741-1811).
DUNDEE (153), the third largest city in Scotland, stands on the
Firth of Tay, 10 m. from the mouth; has a large seaport; is a place of
considerable commercial enterprise; among its numerous manufactures the
chief is the jute; it has a number of valuable institutions, and sends
two members to Parliament.
DUNDONALD, THOMAS COCHRANE, EARL OF, entered the navy at the age of
17; became captain of the _Speedy_, a sloop-of-war of 14 guns and 54 men;
captured in ten months 33 vessels; was captured by a French squadron, but
had his sword returned to him; signalised himself afterwards in a
succession of daring feats; selected to burn the French fleet lying at
anchor in the Basque Roads, he was successful by means of fire-ships in
destroying several vessels, but complained he was not supported by Lord
Gambier, the admiral, a complaint which was fatal to his promotion in the
service; disgraced otherwise, he went abroad and served in foreign
navies, and materially contributed to the establishment of the republic
of Chile and the empire of Brazil; in 1830 he was restored by his party,
the Whigs, to his naval rank, as a man who had been the victim of the
opposite party, and made a vice-admiral of the Blue in 1841; he
afterwards vindicated himself in his "Autobiography of a Seaman"
(1775-1860).
DUNDREARY, LORD, a character of the play "Our American Cousin"; the
personification of a good-natured, brainless swell; represented uniquely
on the stage by Mr. Sothern.
DUNEDIN (47), the capital of Otago, in New Zealand, situated well
south on the E. side of the South Isle, at the head of a spacious bay,
and the largest commercial city in the colony; founded by Scotch
emigrants in 1848, one of the leaders a nephew of Robert Burns.
DUNES, low hills of sand extending along the coast of the
Netherlands and the N. of France.
DUNFERMLINE (19), an ancient burgh in the W. of Fife; a place of
interest as a residence of the early kings of Scotland, and as the
birthplace of David II., James I., and Charles I., and for its abbey; it
stands in the middle of a coal-field, and is the seat of extensive linen
manufactures.
DUNKELD, a town in Perthshire, 15 m. NW. of Perth, with a fine
14th-century cathedral.
DUNKERS, a sect of Quakerist Baptists in the United States.
DUNKIRK (40), the most northern seaport and fortified town of
France, on the Strait of Dover; has manufactures and considerable trade.
DUNNET HEAD, a rocky peninsula, the most northerly point in
Scotland, the rocks from 100 to 600 ft. high.
DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, an old castle of the Keiths now in ruins, on the
flat summit of a precipitous rock 11/2 m. S. of Stonehaven,
Kincardineshire, Scotland, and connected with the mainland by a neck of
land called the "Fiddle Head"; famous in Scottish history as a State
prison, and as the place of safe-keeping at a troubled period for the
Scottish regalia, now in Edinburgh Castle.
DUNOIS, JEAN, a French patriot, called the Bastard of Orleans, born
in Paris, natural son of Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI.; one of
the national heroes of France; along with Joan of Arc, compelled the
English to raise the siege of Orleans, and contributed powerfully, by his
sword, to all but expel the English from France after the death of that
heroine (1402-1468).
DUNS SCOTUS, JOHANNES, one of the most celebrated of the scholastics
of the 14th century, whether he was native of England, Scotland, or
Ireland is uncertain; entered the Franciscan order, and from his
acuteness got the name of "Doctor Subtilis"; lectured at Oxford to crowds
of auditors, and also at Paris; was the contemporary of Thomas Aquinas,
and the head of an opposing school of Scotists, as against Thomists, as
they were called; whereas Aquinas "proclaimed the Understanding as
principle, he proclaimed the Will, from whose spontaneous exercise he
derived all morality; with this separation of theory from practice and
thought from thing (which accompanied it) philosophy became divided from
theology, reason from faith; reason took a position above faith, above
authority (in modern philosophy), and the religious consciousness broke
with the traditional dogma (at the Reformation)."
DUNSTAN, ST., an English ecclesiastic, born at Glastonbury; a man of
high birth and connection as well as varied accomplishments; began a
religious life as a monk living in a cell by himself, and prevailed in
single combat on one occasion with the devil; became abbot of
Glastonbury, in which capacity he adopted the role of statesman, and
arose to great authority during the reign of Edgar, becoming archbishop
of Canterbury, ruling the nation with vigour and success, but with the
death of Edgar his power declined, and he retired to Canterbury, where he
died of grief and vexation; he is the patron saint of goldsmiths
(924-988).
DUNTON, WATTS. See WATTS, THEODORE.
DUPANLOUP, a French prelate, bishop of Orleans, born at St. Felix,
in Savoy; a singularly able and eloquent man; devoted himself to
educational emancipation and reform; protested vigorously against papal
infallibility; yielded at length, and stood up in defence of the Church
(1802-1878).
DUPERRE, a French admiral, born at La Rochelle; contributed along
with Marshal Bourmont to the taking of Algiers (1775-1846).
DUPERRON, cardinal, a Swiss by birth and a Calvinist by religious
profession; went to Paris, turned papist, and rose to ecclesiastical
eminence in France under Henry IV. (1556-1618).
DUPIN, ANDRE, French jurist and statesman; distinguished at the time
of the revolution of the three days as a supporter of Louis Philippe, and
of the house of Orleans after him (1783-1865).
DUPLEIX, JOSEPH, a French merchant, head of a factory at
Chandernagore, who rose to be governor of the French settlements in
India, and in the management of which he displayed conspicuous ability,
defending them against the English and receiving the dignity of marquis;
jealousy at home, however, led to his recall, and he was left to end his
days in neglect and poverty, though he pled hard with the cabinet at
Versailles to have respect to the sacrifices he made for his country
(1697-1763).
DUPLESSIS, MORNAY, a soldier, diplomatist, and man of letters; a
leader of the Huguenots, who, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
visited England, where he was received with favour by Elizabeth in 1575;
entered the service of the King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. of
France, but on Henry's reconciliation with the Church of Rome, retired
into private life and devoted himself to literary pursuits; he was called
the "Pope of the Huguenots"; _d_. 1623.
DUPONT, PIERRE, French song-writer; his songs, "Le Chant des
Ouvriers" and "Les Boeufs," the delight of the young generation of 1848
(1820-1872).
DUPONT DE L'EURE, a French politician, born at Neubourg; filled
several important offices in the successive periods of revolution in
France; was distinguished for his integrity and patriotism, and made
President of the Provisional Government in 1848 (1767-1855).
DUPONT DE NEMOURS, French political economist; took part in the
Revolution; was opposed to the excesses of the Jacobin party, but escaped
with his life; wrote a book entitled "Philosophie de l'Universe"
(1739-1817).
DUPUIS, CHARLES FRANCOIS, a French savant; was a member of the
Convention of the Council of the Five Hundred, and President of the
Legislative Body during the Revolution period; devoted himself to the
study of astronomy in connection with mythology, the result of which was
published in his work in 12 vols., entitled "Origine de tous les Cultes,
ou la Religion Universelle"; he advocated the unity of the astronomical
and religious myths of all nations (1742-1809).
DUPUY, M. CHARLES, French statesman, born at Puy; elected to the
Chamber in 1885; became Premier in 1893 and in 1894; was in office when
Dreyfus was condemned and degraded, and resigned in 1895; _b_. 1851.
DUPUYTREN, BARON, a celebrated French surgeon, born at
Pierre-Buffiere; he was a man of firm nerve, signally sure and skilful as
an operator, and contributed greatly, both by his inventions and
discoveries, to the progress of surgery; a museum of pathological
anatomy, in which he made important discoveries, bears his name
(1777-1835).
DUQUESNE, ABRAHAM, MARQUIS, an illustrious naval officer of France,
born at Dieppe; distinguished himself in many a naval engagement, and did
much to enhance the naval glory of the country; among other achievements
plucked the laurels from the brow of his great rival, De Ruyter, by, in
1676, defeating the combined fleets of Spain and Holland under his
command; Louis XIV. offered him a marshal's baton if he would abjure
Calvinism, but he declined; he was the only one of the Huguenots excepted
from proscription in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but his last
days were saddened by the banishment of his children (1610-1688).
DURA DEN, a glen near Cupar-Fife, famous for the number of ganoid
fossil fishes entombed in its sandstone.
DURANCE, a tributary of the Rhone, which, after a rapid course of
180 m., falls into that river by its left bank 3 m. below Avignon.
DURAND, an Indian officer; served in the Afghan and Sikh Wars, and
became Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab (1828-1871).
DURANDAL, the miraculous sword of Orlando, with which he could
cleave mountains at a blow.
DURBAN (27), the port of Natal, largest town in the colony, with a
land-locked harbour.
DURBAR, a ceremonious State reception in India.
DUeRER, ALBERT, the great early German painter and engraver, born at
Nuernberg, son of a goldsmith, a good man, who brought him up to his own
profession, but he preferred painting, for which he early exhibited a
special aptitude, and his father bound him apprentice for three years to
the chief artist in the place, at the expiry of which he travelled in
Germany and other parts; in 1506 he visited Venice, where he met Bellini,
and painted several pictures; proceeded thence to Bologna, and was
introduced to Raphael; his fame spread widely, and on his return he was
appointed court-painter by the Emperor Maximilian, an office he held
under Charles V.; he was of the Reformed faith, and a friend of
Melanchthon as well as an admirer of Luther, on whose incarceration in
Wartburg he uttered a long lament; he was a prince of painters, his
drawing and colouring perfect, and the inventor of etching, in which he
was matchless; he carved in wood, ivory, stone, and metal; was an author
as well as an artist, and wrote, among other works, an epoch-making
treatise on proportion in the human figure; "it could not be better done"
was his quiet, confident reply as a sure workman to a carper on one
occasion (1471-1528).
D'URFEY, TOM, a facetious poet; author of comedies and songs; a
great favourite of Charles II. and his court; of comedies he wrote some
30, which are all now discarded for their licentiousness, and a curious
book of sonnets, entitled "Pills to Purge Melancholy"; came to poverty in
the end of his days; Addison pled on his behalf, and hoped that "as he
had made the world merry, the world would make him easy" (1628-1723).
DURGA, in the Hindu mythology the consort of Siva.
DURHAM (15), an ancient city on the Wear, with a noble cathedral and
a castle, once the residence of the bishop, now a university seat, in the
heart of a county of the same name (1,106), rich in coal-fields, and with
numerous busy manufacturing towns.
DURHAM, ADMIRAL, entered the navy in 1777; was officer on the watch
when the _Royal George_ went down off Spithead, and the only one with
Captain Waghorn who escaped; served as acting-lieutenant of a ship under
Lord Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and commanded the _Defence_, a ship
of 74 guns, at the battle of Trafalgar (1763-1815).
DURHAM, JOHN G. L., EARL OF, an English statesman, born in Durham
Co.; a zealous Liberal and reformer, and a member of the Reform
Government under Earl Grey, which he contributed much to inaugurate; was
ambassador in St. Petersburg, and was sent governor-general to Canada in
1839, but owing to some misunderstanding took the extraordinary step of
ultroneously returning within the year (1792-1840).
DURWARD, QUENTIN, a Scottish archer in the service of Louis XI., the
hero of a novel of Scott's of the name.
DUeSSELDORF (176), a well-built town of Rhenish Prussia, on the right
bank of the Rhine; it is a place of manufactures, and has a fine
picture-gallery with a famous school of art associated.
DUTENS, JOSEPH, a French engineer and political economist
(1763-1848).
DUTENS, LOUIS, a French savant, born at Tours; after being chaplain
to the British minister at Turin, settled in England, and became
historiographer-royal; was a man of varied learning, and well read in
historical subjects and antiquities (1730-1812).
DUTROCHET, a French physiologist and physicist, known for his
researches on the passage of fluids through membranous tissues
(1776-1847).
DUUMVIRS, the name of two Roman magistrates who exercised the same
public functions.
DUVAL, CLAUDE, a French numismatist, and writer on numismatics;
keeper of the imperial cabinet of Vienna; was originally a shepherd boy
(1695-1775).
DWIGHT, TIMOTHY, an American theologian, grandson of Jonathan
Edwards, and much esteemed in his day both as a preacher and a writer;
his "Theology Explained and Defended," in 5 vols., was very popular at
one time, and was frequently reprinted (1752-1817).
DWINA, a Russian river, distinguished from the DUeNA (q. v.),
also called Duna, and an important, which flows N. to the White
Sea.
DYAKS, the native name of tribes of Malays of a superior class
aboriginal to Borneo.
DYCE, ALEXANDER, an English literary editor and historian, born in
Edinburgh; edited several of the old English poets and authors, some of
them little known before; also the poems of Shakespeare, Pope, &c.; was
one of the founders of the Percy Society, for the publication of old
English works (1798-1869).
DYCE, WILLIAM, a distinguished Scottish artist, born in Aberdeen,
studied in Rome; settled for a time in Edinburgh, and finally removed to
London; painted portraits at first, but soon took to higher subjects of
art; his work was such as to commend itself to both German and French
artists; he gave himself to fresco-painting, and as a fresco-painter was
selected to adorn the walls of the Palace of Westminster and the House of
Lords; his "Baptism of Ethelbert," in the latter, is considered his best
work (1806-1864).
DYCK, VAN. See VANDYCK.
DYER, JOHN, English poet; was a great lover and student of landscape
scenery, and his poems, "Grongar Hill" and the "Fleece," abound in
descriptions of these, the scenery of the former lying in S. Wales
(1700-1758).
DYNAM, the unit of work, or the force required to raise one pound
one foot in one second.
DYNAMITE, a powerful explosive substance, intensely local in its
action; formed by impregnating a porous siliceous earth or other
substance with some 70 per cent. of nitro-glycerine.
DYNAMO, a machine by which mechanical work is transformed into
powerful electric currents by the inductive action of magnets on coils of
copper wire in motion.
E
EACUS. See AEACUS.
EADMER, a celebrated monk of Canterbury; flourished in the 12th
century; friend and biographer of St. Anselm, author of a History of His
Own Times, as also of many of the Lives of the Saints; elected to the
bishopric of St. Andrews in 1120; resigned on account of Alexander I.
refusing to admit the right of the English Archbishop of Canterbury to
perform the ceremony of consecration.
EADRIC, a Saxon, notorious for his treachery, fighting now with his
countrymen against the Danes and now with the Danes against them, till
put to death by order of Canute in 1017.
EADS, JAMES BUCHANAN, an American engineer, born in Laurenceburg,
Indiana; designed ingenious boats for floating submerged ships; built
with remarkable speed warships for the Federalists in 1861; constructed a
steel bridge spanning the Mississippi at St. Louis, noteworthy for its
central span of 520 ft. (1820-1887).
EAGLE, the king of birds, and bird of Jove; was adopted by various
nations as the emblem of dominant power, as well as of nobility and
generosity; in Christian art it is the symbol of meditation, and the
attribute of St. John; is represented now as fighting with a serpent, and
now as drinking out of a chalice or a communion cup, to strengthen it for
the fight.
EAGLE, ORDER OF THE BLACK, an order of knighthood founded by the
Elector of Brandenburg in 1701; with this order was ultimately
incorporated the ORDER OF THE RED EAGLE, founded in 1734 by the
Markgraf of Bayreuth.
EAGLE OF BRITTANY, DU GUESCLIN (q. v.).
EAGLE OF MEAUX, BOSSUET (q. v.).
EAGRE, a name given in England to a tidal wave rushing up a river or
estuary on the top of another, called also a BORE (q. v.).
EARL, a title of nobility, ranking third in the British peerage;
originally election to the dignity of earl carried with it a grant of
land held in feudal tenure, the discharge of judicial and administrative
duties connected therewith, and was the occasion of a solemn service of
investiture. In course of time the title lost its official character, and
since the reign of Queen Anne all ceremony of investiture has been
dispensed with, the title being conferred by letters-patent. The word is
derived from the Anglo-Saxon _eorls_ which signified the "gentle folk,"
as distinguished from the _ceorls_, the "churls" or "simple folk."
EARL MARSHAL, a high officer of State, an office of very ancient
institution, now the head of the college of arms, and hereditary in the
family of the Dukes of Norfolk; formerly one of the chief officers in the
court of chivalry, a court which had to do with all matters of high
ceremonial, such as coronations.
EARLOM, RICHARD, a mezzotint engraver, born in London; celebrated
for his series of 200 prints after the original designs of Claude de
Lorraine (1743-1822).
EARLSTON or ERCILDOUNE, a village in Berwickshire, with
manufactures of ginghams and other textiles. In its vicinity stand the
ruins of the "Rhymer's Tower," alleged to have been the residence of
Thomas the Rhymer.
EARLY ENGLISH, a term in architecture used to designate that
particular form of Gothic architecture in vogue in England in the 13th
century, whose chief characteristic was the pointed arch.
EARTH HOUSES, known also as Yird Houses, Weems and Picts' Houses,
underground dwellings in use in Scotland, extant even after the Roman
evacuation of Britain. Entrance was effected by a passage not much wider
than a fox burrow, which sloped downwards 10 or 12 ft. to the floor of
the house; the inside was oval in shape, and was walled with overlapping
rough stone slabs; the roof frequently reached to within a foot of the
earth's surface; they probably served as store-houses, winter-quarters,
and as places of refuge in times of war. Similar dwellings are found in
Ireland.
EARTHLY PARADISE, poem by William Morris, his greatest effort,
considered his masterpiece; consists of 24 tales by 24 travellers in
quest of an earthly paradise.
EAST INDIA COMPANY, founded in 1600; erected its first factories on
the mainland in 1612 at Surat, but its most profitable trade in these
early years was with the Spice Islands, Java, Sumatra, &c.; driven from
these islands by the Dutch in 1622, the Company established itself
altogether on the mainland; although originally created under royal
charter for purely commercial purposes, it in 1689 entered upon a career
of territorial acquisition, which culminated in the establishment of
British power in India; gradually, as from time to time fresh renewals of
its charter were granted, it was stripped of its privileges and
monopolies, till in 1858, after the Mutiny, all its powers were vested in
the British Crown.
EAST RIVER, the strait which separates Brooklyn and New York cities,
lying between Long Island Sound and New York Bay, about 10 m. long; is
spanned by a bridge.
EASTBOURNE (35), a fashionable watering-place and health resort on
the Sussex coast, between Brighton and Hastings, and 66 m. S. of London;
has Roman remains, and is described in "Domesday Book."
EASTER, an important festival of the Church commemorating the
resurrection of Christ; held on the first Sunday after the first full
moon of the calendar which happens on or next after 21st of March, and
constituting the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the date of it
determines the dates of other movable festivals; derives its name from
Eastre, a Saxon goddess, whose festival was celebrated about the same
time, and to which many of the Easter customs owe their origin.
EASTERN STATES, the six New England States in N. America--Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
EASTLAKE, SIR CHARLES LOCK, artist and author, born at Plymouth;
studied painting in London and in Paris; produced the last portrait of
Napoleon, which he executed from a series of sketches of the emperor on
board the _Bellerophon_ in Plymouth harbour; he travelled in Greece, and
from 1816 to 1830 made his home at Rome; "Christ Weeping over Jerusalem,"
his greatest work, appeared in 1841; was President of the Royal Academy;
wrote several works on subjects relating to his art, and translated
Goethe's "Farbenlehre" (1793-1865).
EASTWICK, EDWARD BACKHOUSE, Orientalist and diplomatist, born at
Warfield, in Berkshire; went to India as a cadet, acquired an extensive
knowledge of Indian dialects and Eastern languages, and passed an
interpretership examination, gaining the high proficiency reward of 1000
rupees; carried through peace negotiations with China in 1842; invalided
home, he became professor of Hindustani at Haileybury College; afterwards
studied law and was called to the bar; entered Parliament, and held
various political appointments, including a three years' embassy in
Persia; was a fellow of many antiquarian and philological societies;
amongst his numerous philological productions and translations his
"Gulistan" and "Life of Zoroaster" from the Persian are noted
(1814-1883).
EAU CREOLE, a liqueur from the distillation of the flowers of the
mammee apple with spirits of wine.
EAU-DE-COLOGNE, a perfume originally manufactured at Cologne by
distillation from certain essential oils with rectified spirit.
EBAL, MOUNT, a mountain with a level summit, which rises to the
height of 3077 ft. on the N. side of the narrow Vale of Shechem, in
Palestine, and from the slopes of which the people of Israel responded to
the curses which were pronounced by the Levites in the valley.
EBERHARD, JOHANN AUGUST, German philosophical writer, born at
Halberstadt; professor at Halle; rationalistic in his theology, and
opposed to the Kantian metaphysics; was a disciple of Leibnitz; wrote a
"New Apology of Socrates," in defence of rationalism in theology, as well
as a "Universal History of Philosophy," and a work on German synonyms
(1739-1809).
EBERS, GEORGE MORITZ, German Egyptologist, born at Berlin;
discovered an important papyrus; was professor successively at Jena and
Leipzig; laid aside by ill-health, betook himself to novel-writing as a
pastime; was the author of "Aarda, a Romance of Ancient Egypt,"
translated by Clara Bell (1837-1898).
EBERT, KARL EGON, a Bohemian poet, born at Prague; his poems,
dramatic and lyric, are collected in 7 vols., and enjoy a wide popularity
in his country (1801-1882).
EBIONITES, a sect that in the 2nd century sought to combine Judaism
and the hopes of Judaism with Christianity, and rejected the authority of
St. Paul and of the Pauline writings; they denied the divinity of Christ,
and maintained that only the poor as such were the objects of salvation.
EBLIS, in Mohammedan tradition the chief of the fallen angels,
consigned to perdition for refusing to worship Adam at the command of his
Creator, and who gratified his revenge by seducing Adam and Eve from
innocency.
EBONY, a name given to Blackwood by James Hogg, and eventually
applied to his magazine.
EBRO, a river of Spain, rises in the Cantabrian Mountains, flows SE.
into the Mediterranean 80 m. SW. of Barcelona, after a course of 422 m.
ECBATANA, the ancient capital of Media, situated near Mount Orontes
(now Elvend); was surrounded by seven walls of different colours that
increased in elevation towards the central citadel; was a summer
residence of the Persian and Parthian kings. The modern town of Hamadan
now occupies the site of it.
ECCE HOMO (i. e. Behold the Man), a representation of Christ as He
appeared before Pilate crowned with thorns and bound with ropes, as in
the painting of Correggio, a subject which has been treated by many of
the other masters, such as Titian and Vandyck.
ECCHYMOSIS, a discolouration of the skin produced by extravasated
blood under or in the texture of the skin, the result of a blow or of
disease.
ECCLEFECHAN, a market-town of Dumfriesshire, consisting for the most
part of the High Street, 5 m. S. of Lockerbie, on the main road to
Carlisle, 16 m. to the S.; noted as the birth and burial place of Thomas
Carlyle.
ECCLESIASTES (i. e. the Preacher), a book of the Old Testament,
questionably ascribed to Solomon, and now deemed of more recent date as
belonging to a period when the reflective spirit prevailed; and it is
written apparently in depreciation of mere reflection as a stepping-stone
to wisdom. The standpoint of the author is a religious one; the data on
which he rests is given in experience, and his object is to expose the
vanity of every source of satisfaction which is not founded on the fear,
and has not supreme regard for the commandments, of God, a doctrine which
is the very ground-principle of the Jewish faith; but if vanity is
written over the whole field of human experience, he argues, this is not
the fault of the system of things, but due, according to the author, to
the folly of man (chap. vii. 29).
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY, THE LAW OF, a vindication of the Anglican
Church against the Puritans, written by Richard Hooker; the most splendid
and stately piece of literary prose that exists in the language.
ECCLESIASTICAL STATES, territories in Italy once subject to the Pope
as a temporal prince as well as ecclesiastically.
ECCLESIASTICUS, one of the books of the Apocrypha, ascribed to
Jesus, the son of Sirach, admitted to the sacred canon by the Council of
Trent, though excluded by the Jews. It contains a body of wise maxims, in
imitation, as regards matter as well as form, of the Proverbs of Solomon,
and an appendix on the men who were the disciples of wisdom. Its general
aim, as has been said, is "to represent wisdom as the source of all
virtue and blessedness, and by warnings, admonitions, and promises to
encourage in the pursuit of it." It was originally written in Hebrew, but
is now extant only in a Greek translation executed in Egypt, professedly
by the author's grandson.
ECCLESIOLOGY, the name given in England to the study of church
architecture and all that concerns the ground-plan and the internal
arrangements of the parts of the edifice.
ECGBERHT, archbishop of York; was a pupil of Bede, and the heir to
his learning; founded a far-famed school at York, which developed into a
university; flourished in 766.
ECHIDNA, a fabulous monster that figures in the Greek mythology,
half-woman, half-serpent, the mother of Cerberus, the Lernean Hydra, the
Chimaera, the Sphinx, the Gorgons, the Nemean Lion, the vulture that
gnawed the liver of Prometheus, &c.
ECHO, a wood-nymph in love with Narcissus, who did not return her
love, in consequence of which she pined away till all that remained of
her was only her voice.
ECK, JOHN, properly MAIER, a German theologian, of Swabian
birth, professor at Ingolstadt; a violent, blustering antagonist of
Luther and Luther's doctrines; in his zeal went to Rome, and procured a
papal bull against both; undertook at the Augsburg Diet to controvert
Luther's doctrine from the Fathers, but not from the Scriptures; was
present at the conferences of Worms and Regensburg (1486-1543).
ECKERMANN, JOHANN PETER, a German writer, born at Winsen, in
Hanover; friend of Goethe, and editor of his works; the author of
"Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of his Life, 1823-32," a
record of wise reflections and of Goethe's opinions on all subjects, of
the utmost interest to all students of the German sage (1792-1854).
ECKHART, MEISTER, a German philosopher and divine, profoundly
speculative and mystical; entered the Dominican Order, and rapidly
attained to a high position in the Church; arraigned for heresy in 1325,
and was acquitted, but two years after his death his writings were
condemned as heretical by a papal bull; died in 1327.
ECKMUeHL, a village in Bavaria where Napoleon defeated the Austrians
in 1809, and which gave the title of Duke to DAVOUT (q. v.), one
of Napoleon's generals.
ECLECTICS, so-called philosophers who attach themselves to no
system, but select what, in their judgment, is true out of others. In
antiquity the Eclectic philosophy is that which sought to unite into a
coherent whole the doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, such as
that of Plotinus and Proclus was. There is an eclecticism in art as well
as philosophy, and the term is applied to an Italian school which aimed
at uniting the excellencies of individual great masters.
ECLIPTIC, the name given to the circular path in the heavens round
which the sun appears to move in the course of the year, an illusion
caused by the earth's annual circuit round the sun, with its axis
inclined at an angle to the equator of 231/2 degrees; is the central line
of the ZODIAC (q. v.), so called because it was observed that
eclipses occurred only when the earth was on or close upon this path.
ECONOMY, "the right arrangement of things," and distinct from
Frugality, which is "the careful and fitting use of things."
ECORCHEURS (lit. flayers properly of dead bodies), armed bands who
desolated France in the reign of Charles VII., stripping their victims of
everything, often to their very clothes.
ECSTATIC DOCTOR, Jean Ruysbroek, a schoolman given to mysticism
(1294-1381).
ECUADOR (1,271), a republic of S. America, of Spanish origin,
created in 1822; derives its name from its position on the equator; lies
between Columbia and Peru; is traversed by the Andes, several of the
peaks of which are actively volcanic; the population consists of Peruvian
Indians, negroes, Spanish Creoles; exports cocoa, coffee, hides, and
medicinal plants; the administration is vested in a president, a
vice-president, two ministers, a senate of 18, and a house of deputies of
30, elected by universal suffrage.
ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, an ecclesiastical council representative, or
accepted as representative, of the Church universal or Catholic. See
COUNCILS.
ECZEMA, a common skin disease, which may be either chronic or acute;
develops in a red rash of tiny vesicles, which usually burst and produce
a characteristic scab; is not contagious, and leaves no scar.
EDDA (lit. grandmother), the name given to two collections of
legends illustrative of the Scandinavian mythology: the Elder, or Poetic,
Edda, collected in the 11th century by Saemund Sigfusson, an early
Christian priest, "with perhaps a lingering fondness for paganism," and
the Younger, or Prose, Edda, collected in the next century by Snorri
Sturleson, an Icelandic gentleman (1178-1241), "educated by Saemund's
grandson, the latter a work constructed with great ingenuity and native
talent, what one might call unconscious art, altogether a perspicuous,
clear work, pleasant reading still."
EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE, situated on a low reef of rocks submerged at
high tide, 14 m. SW. of Plymouth; first built of wood by Winstanley,
1696; destroyed by a storm in 1703; rebuilt of wood on a stone base by
Rudyard; burnt in 1755, and reconstructed by Smeaton of solid stone; the
present edifice, on a different site, was completed by Sir James Douglas
in 1882, is 133 ft. in height, and has a light visible 171/2 m. off.
EDELINCK, GERARD, a Flemish copper-plate engraver, born at Antwerp;
invited to France by Colbert, and patronised by Louis XIV.; executed in a
masterly manner many works from historical subjects (1640-1707).
EDEN (i. e. place of delight), Paradise, the original spot
referred to by tradition wholly uncertain, though believed to have been
in the Far East, identified in Moslem tradition with the moon.
EDESSA (40), an ancient city in Mesopotamia; figures in early Church
history, and is reputed to have contained at one time 300 monasteries; it
fell into the hands of the Turks in 1515; is regarded as the sacred city
of Abraham by Orientals.
EDFU, a town in Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile; has
unique ruins of two temples, the larger founded by Ptolemy IV. Philopater
before 200 B.C.
EDGAR, a king of Saxon England from 959 to 975, surnamed the
Peaceful; promoted the union and consolidation of the Danish and Saxon
elements within his realm; cleared Wales of wolves by exacting of its
inhabitants a levy of 300 wolves' heads yearly; eight kings are said to
have done him homage by rowing him on the Dee; St. Dunstan, the
archbishop of Canterbury, was the most prominent figure of the reign.
EDGAR THE ATHELING, a Saxon prince, the grandson of Edmund Ironside;
was hurriedly proclaimed king of England after the death of Harold in the
battle of Hastings, but was amongst the first to offer submission on the
approach of the Conqueror; spent his life in a series of feeble attempts
at rebellion, and lived into the reign of Henry I.
EDGEHILL, in the S. of Warwickshire, the scene of the first battle
in the Civil War, in 1642, between the royal forces under Charles I. and
the Parliamentary under Essex; though the Royalists had the worst of it,
no real advantage was gained by either side.
EDGEWORTH, HENRY ESSEX, known as the "Abbe" Edgeworth, born in
Ireland, son of a Protestant clergyman; educated at the Sorbonne, in
Paris; entered the priesthood, and became the confessor of Louis XVI.,
whom he attended on the scaffold; exclaimed as the guillotine came down,
"Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!" left France soon after; was
subsequently chaplain to Louis XVIII. (1745-1807).
EDGEWORTH, MARIA, novelist, born at Blackbourton, Berks; from her
fifteenth year her home was in Ireland; she declined the suit of a
Swedish count, and remained till the close of her life unmarried; amongst
the best known of her works are "Moral Tales," "Tales from Fashionable
Life," "Castle Rackrent," "The Absentee," and "Ormond"; her novels are
noted for their animated pictures of Irish life, and were acknowledged by
Scott to have given him the first suggestion of the Waverley series; the
Russian novelist, Turgenief, acknowledges a similar indebtedness; "in her
Irish stories she gave," says Stopford Brooke, "the first impulse to the
novel of national character, and in her other tales to the novel with a
moral purpose" (1766-1849).
EDGEWORTH, RICHARD LOVELL, an Irish landlord, father of Maria
Edgeworth, with a genius for mechanics, in which he displayed a
remarkable talent for invention; was member of the last Irish Parliament;
educated his son in accordance with the notions of Rousseau; wrote some
works on mechanical subjects in collaboration with his daughter
(1744-1817).
EDICT OF NANTES, an edict issued in 1598 by Henry IV. of France,
granting toleration to the Protestants; revoked by Louis XIV. in 1685.
EDIE OCHILTREE, a character in Scott's "Antiquary."
EDINA, poetic name for Edinburgh.
EDINBURGH (263), the capital of Scotland, on the Firth of Forth,
picturesquely situated amid surrounding hills; derives its name from
Edwin, king of Northumbria in the 7th century; was created a burgh in
1329 by Robert the Bruce, and recognised as the capital in the 15th
century, under the Stuarts; it has absorbed in its growth adjoining
municipalities; is noted as an educational centre; is the seat of the
Supreme Courts; has a university, castle, and royal palace, and the old
Scotch Parliament House, now utilised by the Law Courts; brewing and
printing are the chief industries, but the upper classes of the citizens
are for the most part either professional people or living in retirement.
EDINBURGH REVIEW, a celebrated quarterly review started in October
1802 in Edinburgh to further the Whig interest; amongst its founders and
contributors were Horner, Brougham, Jeffrey, and Sidney Smith, the latter
being editor of the first three numbers; Jeffrey assumed the editorship
in 1803, and in his hands it became famous for its incisive literary
critiques, Carlyle and Macaulay contributing some of their finest essays
to it.
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, founded in 1583; was the last of the Scotch
Universities to receive its charter; was raised to an equal status with
the others in 1621; its site was the famous Kirk o'Field, the scene of
the Darnley tragedy; now consists of two separate buildings, one entirely
devoted to medicine, and the other to arts and training in other
departments; has an average matriculation roll of about 3000.
EDISON, THOMAS ALVA, a celebrated American inventor, born at Milan,
Ohio; started life as a newsboy; early displayed his genius and
enterprise by producing the first newspaper printed in a railway train;
turning his attention to telegraphy, he revolutionised the whole system
by a series of inventions, to which he has since added others, to the
number of 500, the most notable being the megaphone, phonograph,
kinetoscope, a carbon telegraph transmitter, and improvements in electric
lighting; _b_. 1847.
EDITH, the alleged name of Lot's wife.
EDITHE, ST., an English princess, the natural daughter of Edgar,
king of England (961-984). Festival, Sept. 16.
EDMUND, ST., king or "landlord" of East Anglia from 855 to 870;
refused to renounce Christianity and accept heathenism at the hands of a
set of "mere physical force" invading Danes, and suffered martyrdom
rather; was made a saint of and had a monastery called "Bury St.
Edmunds," in Norfolk, raised to his memory over his grave.
EDMUND, ST., Edmund Rich, archbishop of Canterbury, born at
Abingdon; while still at school made a vow of celibacy and wedded the
Virgin Mary; sided as archbishop with the popular party against the
tyranny of both Pope and king; coming into disfavour with the papal court
retired to France, where, on his arrival, the mother of St. Louis with
her sons met him to receive his blessing, and where he spent his last
days in a monastery; died in 1240, and was canonised six years after by
Innocent IV., somewhat reluctantly it is said.
EDMUND IRONSIDE, succeeded to the throne of England on the death of
his father Ethelred the Unready in 1016, but reigned only seven months;
he struggled bravely, and at first successfully, against Canute the Dane,
but being defeated, the kingdom ultimately was divided between them
(981-1016).
EDOM, or IDUMAEA, a mountainous but not unfertile country,
comprising the S. of Judaea and part of the N. of Arabia Petraea, 100 m.
long by 20 m. broad, peopled originally by the descendants of Esau, who
were ruled by "dukes," and were bitterly hostile to the Jews.
EDRED, king of the Anglo-Saxons, son of Edward the Elder; subdued
Northumbria; had in the end of his reign St. Dunstan for chief adviser;
_d_. 955.
EDRISI, an Arabian geographer, born at Ceuta, in Spain; by request
of Roger II. of Sicily wrote an elaborate description of the earth, which
held a foremost place amongst mediaeval geographers (1099-1180).
EDUCATION, as conceived of by Ruskin, and alone worthy of the name,
"the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of
them"; and attained, "not by telling a man what he knew not, but by
making him what he was not."
EDUI, an ancient Gallic tribe, whose capital was Bibracte (Autun).
EDWARD, THOMAS, naturalist, born at Gosport; bred a shoemaker;
settled in Banff, where he devoted his leisure to the study of animal
nature, and collected numerous specimens of animals, which he stuffed and
exhibited, but with pecuniary loss; the Queen's attention being called to
his case, settled on him an annual pension of L50, while the citizens of
Aberdeen presented him in March 1877 with a gift of 130 sovereigns, on
which occasion he made a characteristic speech (1814-1886).
EDWARD I., surnamed Longshanks, king of England, born at
Westminster, son of Henry III., married ELEANOR (q. v.) of
Castile; came first into prominence in the Barons' War; defeated the
nobles at Evesham, and liberated his father; joined the last Crusade in
1270, and distinguished himself at Acre; returned to England in 1274 to
assume the crown, having been two years previously proclaimed king;
during his reign the ascendency of the Church and the nobles received a
check, the growing aspiration of the people for a larger share in the
affairs of the nation was met by an extended franchise, while the right
of Parliament to regulate taxation was recognised; under his reign Wales
was finally subdued and annexed to England, and a temporary conquest of
Scotland was achieved (1239-1307).
EDWARD II., king of England (1307-1327), son of the preceding; was
first Prince of Wales, being born at Carnarvon; being a weakling was
governed by favourites, Gaveston and the Spencers, whose influence, as
foreigners and unpatriotic, offended the barons, who rose against him; in
1314 Scotland rose in arms under Bruce, and an ill-fated expedition under
him ended in the crushing defeat at Bannockburn; in 1327 he was deposed,
and was brutally murdered in Berkeley Castle (1284-1327).
EDWARD III., king of England (1327-1377), son of the preceding,
married Philippa of Hainault; during his boyhood the government was
carried on by a council of regency; in 1328 the independence of Scotland
was recognised, and nine years later began the Hundred Years' War with
France, memorable in this reign for the heroic achievements of EDWARD
THE BLACK PRINCE (q. v.), the king's eldest son; associated with
this reign are the glorious victories of Crecy and Poitiers, and the
great naval battle at Sluys, one of the earliest victories of English
arms at sea; these successes were not maintained in the later stages of
the war, and the treaty of Bretigny involved the withdrawal of Edward's
claim to the French crown; in 1376 the Black Prince died.
EDWARD IV., king of England (1461-1483), son of Richard, Duke of
York, and successor to the Lancastrian Henry VI., whom he defeated at
Towton; throughout his reign the country was torn by the Wars of the
Roses, in which victory rested with the Yorkists at Hedgeley Moor,
Hexham, Barnet, and Tewkesbury; in this reign little social progress was
made, but a great step towards it was made by the introduction of
printing by Caxton (1442-1483)
EDWARD V., king of England for three months in 1483, son of the
preceding; deposed by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester; was
ultimately murdered in the Tower, along with his young brother
(1470-1483).
EDWARD VI., king of England (1547-1553), son of Henry VIII. and Jane
Seymour; his reign, which was a brief one, was marked by a victory over
the Scots at Pinkie (1547), Catholic and agrarian risings, and certain
ecclesiastical reforms (1537-1553).
EDWARD VII., king of Great Britain and Ireland and "all the British
Dominions beyond the Seas," born 9th November 1841, succeeded his mother,
Queen Victoria, 22nd Jan. 1901. On 10th March 1863 he married Princess
Alexandra, eldest daughter of Christian IX. of Denmark, and has four
surviving children: George, Prince of Wales, _b_. 1865; Louise, Duchess
of Fife, _b_. 1867; Victoria, _b_. 1868; and Maud, _b_. 1869, who married
Prince Charles of Denmark. The king's eldest son, Albert Victor, _b_.
1864, died January 14, 1892.
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, king of England, married Edith, daughter of
the great EARL GODWIN (q. v.); was a feeble monarch of ascetic
proclivities; his appeal to the Duke of Normandy precipitated the Norman
invasion, and in him perished the royal Saxon line; was canonised for his
piety (1004-1066).
EDWARD THE ELDER, king of the Anglo-Saxons from 901 to 925; was the
son and successor of Alfred the Great; extended the Anglo-Saxon
dominions.
EDWARDES, SIR HERBERT BENJAMIN, soldier and administrator in India,
born at Frodesley, Shropshire; was actively engaged in the first Sikh War
and in the Mutiny; served under Sir Henry Lawrence, whose Life he partly
wrote (1819-1868).
EDWARDS, BRYAN, historian, born at Westbury; traded in Jamaica;
wrote a "History of British Colonies in the West Indies" (1743-1800).
EDWARDS, JONATHAN, a celebrated divine, born at E. Windsor,
Connecticut; graduated at Yale; minister at Northampton, Mass.;
missionary to Housatonnuck Indians; was elected to the Presidency of
Princeton College; wrote an acute and original work, "The Freedom of the
Will," a masterpiece of cogent reasoning; has been called the "Spinoza of
Calvinism" (1703-1758).
EDWIN, king of Northumbria in the 6th century; through the influence
of his wife Ethelburga Christianity was introduced into England by St.
Augustine; founded Edinburgh; was defeated and slain by the Mercian King
Penda in 634.
EDWY, king of the Anglo-Saxons from 955 to 957; offended the
clerical party headed by Dunstan and Odo, who put his wife Elgiva to
death, after which he soon died himself at the early age of 19.
EECKHOUT, a Dutch portrait and historical painter, born at Antwerp;
the most eminent disciple of Rembrandt, whose style he successfully
imitated (1621-1674).
EFFEN, VAN, a Dutch author, who wrote chiefly in French; imitated
the _Spectator_ of Addison, and translated into French Swift's "Tale of a
Tub" and Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1684-1735).
EFFENDI, a title of honour among the Turks, applied to State and
civil officials, frequently associated with the name of the office, as
well as to men of learning or high position.
EGALITE, PHILIPPE, Duke of Orleans, born April 13th, 1787, father of
Louis Philippe; so called because he sided with the Republican party in
the French Revolution, and whose motto was "Liberte, Fraternite, et
Egalite." See ORLEANS, DUKE OF.
EGATES, three islands on the W. coast of Sicily.
EGBERT, king of Wessex, a descendant of Cedric the founder; after an
exile of 13 years at the court of Charlemagne ascended the throne in 800;
reigned till 809, governing his people in tranquillity, when, by
successful wars with the other Saxon tribes, he in two years became
virtual king of all England, and received the revived title of Bretwalda;
_d_. 837.
EGEDE, HANS, a Norwegian priest, founder of the Danish mission in
Greenland, whither he embarked with his family and a small colony of
traders in 1721; leaving his son to carry on the mission, and returning
to Denmark, he became head of a training school for young missionaries to
Greenland (1686-1758).
EGEDE, PAUL, son of Hans; assisted his father in the Greenland
mission, and published a history of the mission; translated part of the
Bible into the language of the country, and composed a grammar and a
dictionary of it; _d_. 1789.
EGER (17), a town in Bohemia, on the river Eger, 91 m. W. of Prague,
a centre of railway traffic; Wallenstein was murdered here in 1634; the
river flows into the Elbe after a NE. course of 190 m.
EGERIA, a nymph who inhabited a grotto in a grove in Latium,
dedicated to the Camenae, some 16 m. from Rome, and whom, according to
tradition, Numa was in the habit of consulting when engaged in framing
forms of religious worship for the Roman community; she figures as his
spiritual adviser, and has become the symbol of one of her sex, conceived
of as discharging the same function in other the like cases.
EGERTON, FRANCIS. See BRIDGEWATER, EARL OF.
EGGER, EMILE, a French Hellenist and philologist (1813-1885).
EGHAM (10), a small town in Surrey, on the Thames, 20 m. W. of
London; has in its vicinity Runnymede, where King John signed _Magna
Charta_ in 1215.
EGINHARD, or EINHARD, a Frankish historian, born in Mainyan, in
East Franconia; a collection of his letters and his Annals of the Franks,
as well as his famous "Life of Charlemagne," are extant; was a favourite
of the latter, who appointed him superintendent of public buildings, and
took him with him on all his expeditions; after the death of Charlemagne
he continued at the Court as tutor to the Emperor Louis's son; died in
retirement (770-840).
EGLANTINE, MADAME, the prioress in the "Canterbury Tales" of
Chaucer.
EGLINTON AND WINTON, EARL OF, Archibald William Montgomerie, born at
Palermo; became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; Rector of Glasgow University;
was a noted sportsman and patron of the turf; is chiefly remembered in
connection with a brilliant tournament given by him at Eglinton Castle in
1839, in which all the splendour and detail of a mediaeval tourney were
spectacularly reproduced (1812-1861).
EGMONT, LAMORAL, COUNT OF, born in Hainault; became attached to the
Court of Charles V., by whom, for distinguished military and diplomatic
services, he was appointed governor of Flanders; fell into disfavour for
espousing the cause of the Protestants of the Netherlands, and was
beheaded in Brussels by the Duke of Alva; his career and fate form the
theme of Goethe's tragedy "Egmont," a play nothing as a drama, but
charming as a picture of the two chief characters in the piece, Egmont
and Claerchen.
EGMONT, MOUNT, the loftiest peak in the North Island, New Zealand,
is 8270 ft. in height, and of volcanic origin.
EGO and NON-EGO (i. e. I and Not-I, or Self and Not-Self),
are terms used in philosophy to denote respectively the subjective and
the objective in cognition, what is from self and what is from the
external to self, what is merely individual and what is universal.
EGOISM, the philosophy of those who, uncertain of everything but the
existence of the Ego or I, resolve all existence as known into forms or
modifications of its self-consciousness.
EGOIST, a novel by George Meredith, much admired by R. L. Stevenson,
who read and re-read it at least five times over.
EGYPT (8,000), a country occupying the NE. corner of Africa, lies
along the W. shore of the Red Sea, has a northern coast-line on the
Mediterranean, and stretches S. as far as Wady Halfa; the area is nearly
400,000 sq. m.; its chief natural features are uninhabitable desert on
the E. and W., and the populous and fertile valley of the Nile. Cereals,
sugar, cotton, and tobacco are important products. Mohammedan Arabs
constitute the bulk of the people, but there is also a remnant of the
ancient Coptic race. The country is nominally a dependency of Turkey
under a native government, but is in reality controlled by the British,
who exercise a veto on its financial policy, and who, since 1882, have
occupied the country with soldiers. The noble monuments and relics of her
ancient civilisation, chief amongst which are the Pyramids, as well as
the philosophies and religions she inherited, together with the arts she
practised, and her close connection with Jewish history, give her a
peculiar claim on the interested regard of mankind. Nothing, perhaps, has
excited more wonder in connection with Egypt than the advanced state of
her civilisation when she first comes to play a part in the history of
the world. There is evidence that 4000 years before the Christian era the
arts of building, pottery, sculpture, literature, even music and
painting, were highly developed, her social institutions well organised,
and that considerable advance had been made in astronomy, chemistry,
medicine, and anatomy. Already the Egyptians had divided the year into
365 days and 12 months, and had invented an elaborate system of weights
and measures, based on the decimal notation.
EGYPTIAN NIGHT, such as in Egypt when, by judgment of God, a thick
darkness of three days settled down on the land. See Exodus x. 22.
EGYPTIANS, THE, of antiquity were partly of Asiatic and partly of
African origin, with a probable infusion of Semitic blood, and formed
both positively and negatively a no inconsiderable link in the chain of
world-history, positively by their sense of the divinity of nature-life
as seen in their nature-worship, and negatively by the absence of all
sense of the divinity of a higher life as it has come to light in the
self-consciousness or moral sense and destiny of man.
EGYPTOLOGY, the science, in the interest of ancient history, of
Egyptian antiquities, such as the monuments and their inscriptions, and
one in which of late years great interest has been taken, and much
progress made.
EGYPTUS, the brother of Danaues, whose 50 sons, all but one, were
murdered by the daughters of the latter. See DANAUeS.
EHKILI, a dialect of S. Arabia, interesting to philologists as one
of the oldest of Semitic tongues.
EHRENBERG, a German naturalist, born in Delitsch; intended for the
Church; devoted himself to medical studies, and graduated in medicine in
1818; acquired great skill in the use of the microscope, and by means of
it made important discoveries, particularly in the department of infusory
animals; contributed largely to the literature of science (1795-1878).
EHRENBREITSTEIN (5) (i. e. broad stone of honour), a strongly
fortified town in Prussia, on the Rhine, opposite Coblentz, with which it
has communication by a bridge of boats and a railway viaduct; the
fortress occupies the summit of the rock, which is precipitous; is about
500 ft. high, and has large garrison accommodation.
EICHHORN, JOHANN GOTTFRIED, a German theologian and Orientalist,
born at Dorrenzimmern, Franconia; a man of extensive scholarship; held
the chair of Oriental languages in Jena, and afterwards at Goettingen; was
the first to apply a bold rationalism to the critical treatment of the
Scriptures; he was of the old school of rationalists, now superseded by
the historico-critical; his chief works are a Universal Library of
Biblical Literature, in 10 vols., Introductions to the Old and to the New
Testament, each in 5 vols., and an Introduction to the Apocrypha
(1752-1827).
EICHTHAL, GUSTAVE D', a French publicist, born at Nancy; an adherent
of St. Simonianism; wrote "Les Evangiles"; Mrs. Carlyle describes him as
"a gentle soul, trustful, and earnest-looking, ready to do and suffer all
for his faith" (1804-1886).
EICHWALD, CHARLES EDWARD, an eminent Russian naturalist, born in
Mitau, Russia; studied science at Berlin and Vienna; held the chairs of
Zoology and Midwifery at Kasan and Wilna, and of Palaeontology at St.
Petersburg; his explorations, which led him through most of Europe,
Persia, and Algeria, and included a survey of the Baltic shores, as well
as expeditions into the Caucasus, are described in his various works, and
their valuable results noted (1795-1876).
EIFFEL, GUSTAVE, an eminent French engineer, born at Dijon; early
obtained a reputation for bridge construction; designed the great Garabit
Viaduct, and also the enormous locks for the Panama Canal; his most noted
work is the gigantic iron tower which bears his name; in 1893 became
involved in the Panama scandals, and was fined, and sentenced to two
years' imprisonment; _b_. 1832.
EIFFEL TOWER, a structure erected on the banks of the Seine in
Paris, the loftiest in the world, being 985 ft. in height, and visible
from all parts of the city; it consists of three platforms, of which the
first is as high as the towers of Notre Dame; the second as high as
Strasburg Cathedral spire, and the third 863 ft; it was designed by
Gustave Eiffel, and erected in 1887-1889; there are cafes and restaurants
on the first landing, and the ascent is by powerful lifts.
EIGG or EGG, a rocky islet among the Hebrides, 5 m. SW. of
Skye; St. Donnan and 50 monks from Iona were massacred here in 617 by the
queen, notwithstanding a remonstrance on the part of the islanders that
it would be an irreligious act; here also the Macleods of the 10th
century suffocated in a cave 200 of the Macdonalds, including women and
children.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, "a sceptical century and a godless," according
to Carlyle's deliberate estimate, "opulent in accumulated falsities, as
never century before was; which had no longer the consciousness of being
false, so false has it grown; so steeped in falsity, and impregnated with
it to the very bone, that, in fact, the measure of the thing was full,
and a French Revolution had to end it"; which it did only symbolically,
however, as he afterwards admitted, and but admonitorily of a doomsday
still to come. See "FREDERICK THE GREAT," BK. I. CHAP, II., and
"HEROES."
EIKON BASILIKE (i. e. the Royal Likeness), a book containing an
account of Charles I. during his imprisonment, and ascribed to him as
author, but really written by Bishop Gauden, though the MS. may have been
perused and corrected by the king; it gives a true picture of his
character and possible state of mind.
EILDONS, THE, a "triple-crested eminence" near Melrose, 1385 ft.,
and overlooking Teviotdale to the S., associated with Sir Walter Scott
and Thomas the Rhymer; they are of volcanic origin, and are said to have
been cleft in three by the wizard Michael Scott, when he was out of
employment.
EIMEO, one of the French Society Islands; is hilly and woody, but
well cultivated in the valleys; missionary enterprise in Polynesia first
found a footing here.
EINSIEDELN (8), a town in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland; has a
Benedictine abbey, containing a famous black image of the Virgin,
credited with miraculous powers, which attracts, it is said, 200,000
pilgrims annually.
EISENACH (21), a flourishing manufacturing town in Saxe-Weimar,
close to the Thuringian Forest and 48 m. W. of Weimar; is the birthplace
of Sebastian Bach; in the vicinity stands the castle of Wartburg, the
hiding-place for 10 months of Luther after the Diet of Worms.
EISLEBEN (23), a mining town in Prussian Saxony, 24 m. NW. of Halle;
the birthplace and burial-place of Luther.
EISTEDDFOD, a gathering of Welsh bards and others, now annual, at
which, out of a patriotic motive, prizes are awarded for the
encouragement of Welsh literature and music and the preservation of the
Welsh language and ancient national customs.
EKATERINBURG (37), a Russian town on the Isset, on the E. side of
the Ural Mountains, of the mining industry in which it is the chief
centre; has various manufactures, and a trade in the cutting and sorting
of precious stones.
EKRON, a town in N. Palestine, 30 m. N. from Gaza and 9 m. from the
sea.
ELAINE, a lady of the court of King Arthur in love with Lancelot,
and whose story is related by Malory in his "History" and by Tennyson in
his "Idylls of the King."
ELATERIUM, a drug obtained from the mucus of the fruit of the
squirting cucumber; is a most powerful purgative, and was known to the
ancients.
ELBA, a small and rocky island in the Mediterranean between Corsica
and Tuscany, with a bold precipitous coast; belongs to Italy; has trade
in fish, fruits, and iron ore; famous as Napoleon's place of exile from
May 1814 to February 1815.
ELBE, the most important river in N. Germany; rises in the
Riesengebirge, in Austria, flows NW. through Germany, and enters the
North Sea at Cuxhaven, 725 m. long, navigable 520 m.; abounds in fish.
ELBERFELD (126), an important manufacturing commercial centre, 16 m.
NE. of Duesseldorf; noted for its textiles and dye-works.
ELBOEUF (21), a town on the Seine, 75 m. NW. of Paris; has
flourishing manufactures in cloths, woollens, &c.
ELBURZ, a lofty mountain range in N. Persia, S. of the Caspian; also
the name of the highest peak in the Caucasus (18,571 ft.).
ELDER, a name given to certain office-bearers in the Presbyterian
Church, associated with the minister in certain spiritual functions short
of teaching and administering sacraments; their duties embrace the
general oversight of the congregation, and are of a wider nature than
those of the deacons, whose functions are confined strictly to the
secular interests of the church; they are generally elected by the church
members, and ordained in the presence of the congregation; their term of
office is in some cases for a stated number of years, but more generally
for life.
ELDON, JOHN SCOTT, LORD, a celebrated English lawyer, born at
Newcastle, of humble parentage; educated at Oxford for the Church, but
got into difficulties through a runaway marriage; he betook himself to
law, rose rapidly in his profession, and, entering Parliament, held
important legal offices under Pitt; was made a Baron and Lord Chancellor,
1801, an office which he held for 26 years; retired from public life in
1835, and left a large fortune at his death; was noted for the shrewd
equity of his judgments and his delay in delivering them (1751-1838).
EL DORADO (lit. the Land of Gold), a country which Orellana, the
lieutenant of Pizzaro, pretended to have discovered in S. America,
between the Amazon and Orinoco, and which he represented as abounding in
gold and precious gems; now a region of purely imaginary wealth.
ELEANOR, queen of Edward I. of England and sister of ALFONSO
X. (q. v.) of Castile, surnamed the Wise, accompanied her husband
to the Crusade in 1269, and is said to have saved him by sucking the
poison from a wound inflicted by a poisoned arrow; was buried at
Westminster (1244-1290).
ELEATICS, a school of philosophy in Greece, founded by Xenophanes of
Elia, and of which Parmenides and Zeno, both of Elia, were the leading
adherents and advocates, the former developing the system and the latter
completing it, the ground-principle of which was twofold--the affirmation
of the unity, and the negative of the diversity, of being--in other
words, the affirmation of pure being as alone real, to the exclusion of
everything finite and merely phenomenal. See "SARTOR," BK. I. CHAP.
8.
ELECTION, THE DOCTRINE OF, the doctrine that the salvation of a man
depends on the election of God for that end, of which there are two chief
phases--the one is election _to be_ Christ's, or unconditional election,
and the other that it is election _in_ Christ, or conditional election.
ELECTORS, THE, or KURFUeRSTS, OF GERMANY, German princes who
enjoyed the privilege of disposing of the imperial crown, ranked next the
emperor, and were originally six in number, but grew to eight and finally
nine; three were ecclesiastical--the Archbishops of Mayence, Cologne, and
Treves, and three secular--the Electors of Saxony, the Palatinate, and
Bohemia, to which were added at successive periods the Electors of
Brandenburg, of Bavaria, and Hanover. "There never was a tenth; and the
Holy Roman Empire, as it was called, which was a grand object once, but
had gone about in a superannuated and plainly crazy state some centuries,
was at last put out of pain by Napoleon, August 6, 1806, and allowed to
cease from the world."
ELECTRA (i. e. the Bright One), an ocean nymph, the mother of
ISIS (q. v.).
ELECTRA, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who, with her
brother Orestes, avenged the death of her father on his murderers.
ELECTRIC LIGHT, a brilliant white light due to positive and negative
currents rushing together between two points of carbon or (the
"incandescent" light) to the intense heat in a solid body, caused by an
electric current passing through it.
ELECTRICITY, the name given to a subtle agent called the electric
fluid, latent in all bodies, and first evolved by friction, and which may
manifest itself, under certain conditions, in brilliant flashes of light,
or, when in contact with animals, in nervous shocks more or less violent.
It is of two kinds, negative and positive, and as such exhibits itself in
the polarity of the magnet, when it is called MAGNETIC (q. v.),
and is excited by chemical action, when it is called VOLTAIC (q. v.).
ELEGY, a song expressive of sustained earnest yearning, or mild
sorrow after loss.
ELEMENTAL SPIRITS, a general name given in the Middle Ages to
salamanders, undines, sylphs, and gnomes, spirits superstitiously
believed to have dominion respectively over, as well as to have had their
dwelling in, the four elements--fire, water, air, and earth.
ELEMENTS, originally the four forms of matter so deemed--fire, air,
earth, and water, and afterwards the name for those substances that
cannot be resolved by chemical analysis, and which are now found to
amount to sixty-seven.
ELEPHANT, a genus of mammals, of which there are two species, the
Indian and the African; the latter attains a greater size, and is hunted
for the sake of its tusks, which may weigh as much as 70 lbs.; the former
is more intelligent, and easily capable of being domesticated; the white
elephant is a variety of this species.
ELEPHANT, ORDER OF THE WHITE, a Danish order of knighthood,
restricted to 30 knights, the decoration of which is an elephant
supporting a tower; it was instituted by Canute IV., king of Denmark, at
the end of the 12th century.
ELEPHANTA, an island 6 m. in circuit in Bombay harbour, so called
from its colossal figure of an elephant which stood near the
landing-place; it contains three temples cut out of solid rock, and
covered with sculptures, which, along with the figure at the landing, are
rapidly decaying.
ELEPHANTIASIS, a peculiar skin disease, accompanied with abnormal
swelling; so called because the skin becomes hard and stiff like an
elephant's hide; attacks the lower limbs and scrotum; is chiefly confined
to India and other tropical countries.
ELEPHANTINE, a small island below the first cataract of the Nile;
contains interesting monuments and ruins of the ancient Roman and
Egyptian civilisations.
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES, rites, initiation into which, as religiously
conducive to the making of good men and good citizens, was compulsory on
every free-born Athenian, celebrated annually at Eleusis in honour of
Demeter and Persephone, and which lasted nine days.
ELEUSIS, a town in ancient Attica, NW. of Athens, with a temple for
the worship of Demeter, the largest in Greece; designed by the architect
of the PARTHENON (q. v.).
ELEUTHERIA, the goddess of liberty, as worshipped in ancient Greece.
ELF-ARROWS, arrow-heads of flint used in hunting and war by the
aborigines of the British Isles and of Europe generally, as they still
are among savages elsewhere; derived their name from the superstitious
belief that they were used by the fairies to kill cattle and sometimes
human beings in their mischief-joy; they were sometimes worn as
talismans, occasionally set in silver, as a charm against witchcraft.
ELGIN or MORAY (43), a northern Scottish county, fronting the
Moray Firth and lying between Banff and Nairn, mountainous in the S. but
flat to the N., watered by the Spey, Lossie, and Findhorn; agriculture,
stone-quarrying, distilling, and fishing are the staple industries; has
some imposing ruins and interesting antiquities.
ELGIN (8), the county town of above, on the Lossie; created a royal
burgh by David I.; has ruins of a fine Gothic cathedral and royal castle.
ELGIN (17), a city in Illinois, on the Fox, 35 m. NW. of Chicago;
watchmaking the chief industry.
ELGIN, JAMES BRUCE, 8TH EARL OF, statesman and diplomatist, born in
London; governor of Jamaica and Canada; negotiated important treaties
with China and Japan; rendered opportune assistance at the Indian Mutiny
by diverting to the succour of Lord Canning an expedition that was
proceeding to China under his command; after holding office as
Postmaster-General he became Viceroy of India (1861), where he died; his
Journal and Letters are published (1811-1863).
ELGIN MARBLES, a collection of ancient sculptured marbles brought
from Athens by the Earl of Elgin in 1812, and now deposited in the
British Museum, after purchase of them by the Government for L35,000;
these sculptures adorned certain public buildings in the Acropolis, and
consist of portions of statues, of which that of Theseus is the chief, of
alto-reliefs representing the struggle of the Centaurs and Lapithae, and
of a large section of a frieze.
ELIA, the _nom de plume_ adopted by Charles Lamb in connection with
his Essays.
ELIAS, MOUNT, a mountain in NW. coast of N. America; conspicuous far
off at sea, being about 18,000 ft. or 31/2 m. above it.
ELIJAH, a Jewish prophet, born at Tishbe, in Gilead, near the
desert; prophesied in the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, in the 10th
century B.C.; revealed himself as the deadly enemy of the worship of
Baal, 400 of whose priests he is said to have slain with his own hand;
his zeal provoked persecution at the hands of the king and his consort
Jezebel, but the Lord protected him, and he was translated from the earth
in a chariot of fire, "went up by a whirlwind into heaven." See
PROPHETS, THE.
ELIOT, GEORGE, the _nom de plume_ of Mary Ann Evans, distinguished
English novelist, born at Arbury, in Warwickshire; was bred on
evangelical lines, but by-and-by lost faith in supernatural Christianity;
began her literary career by a translation of Strauss's "Life of Jesus";
became in 1851 a contributor to the _Westminster Review_, and formed
acquaintance with George Henry Lewes, whom she ere long lived with as his
wife, though unmarried, and who it would seem discovered to her her
latent faculty for fictional work; her first work in that line was
"Scenes from Clerical Life," contributed to _Blackwood_ in 1856; the
stories proved a signal success, and they were followed by a series of
seven novels, beginning in 1858 with "Adam Bede," "the finest thing since
Shakespeare," Charles Reade in his enthusiasm said, the whole winding up
with the "Impressions of Theophrastus Such" in 1879; these, with two
volumes of poems, make up her works; Lewes died in 1878, and two years
after she formally married an old friend, Mr. John Cross, and after a few
months of wedded life died of inflammation of the heart; "she paints,"
says Edmond Scherer, "only ordinary life, but under these externals she
makes us assist at the eternal tragedy of the human heart... with so much
sympathy," he adds, "the smile on her face so near tears, that we cannot
read her pages without feeling ourselves won to that lofty toleration of
hers" (1819-1880).
ELIOT, JOHN, the apostle of the Indians, born in Hertfordshire;
entered the Church of England, but seceded and emigrated to New England;
became celebrated for his successful evangelistic expeditions amongst the
Indians during his lifelong occupancy of the pastorate at Roxbury
(1604-1690).
ELIS, a district of Greece, on the W. coast of the Peloponnesus,
sacred to all Hellas as the seat of the greatest of the Greek festivals
in connection with the Olympian Games, a circumstance which imparted a
prestige to the inhabitants.
ELISA or ELISSA, Dido, queen of Carthage, in love with AEneas.
ELISHA, a Jewish prophet, the successor of Elijah, who found him at
the plough, and consecrated him to his office by throwing his mantle over
him, and which he again let fall on him as he ascended to heaven. He
exercised his office for 55 years, but showed none of the zeal of his
predecessor against the worship of Baal; was, however, accredited as a
prophet of the Lord by the miracles he wrought in the Lord's name.
ELIZABETH, sister of Louis XVI.; was guillotined (1764-1794).
ELIZABETH FARNESE, queen of Spain, a daughter of Odoardo II. of
Parma; in 1714 she married Philip V. of Spain, when her bold and
energetic nature soon made itself felt in the councils of Europe, where
she carried on schemes for territorial and political aggrandisement; was
an accomplished linguist; is called by Carlyle "the Termagant of Spain";
her Memoirs are published in four volumes (1692-1766).
ELIZABETH, EMPRESS OF RUSSIA, daughter of Peter the Great and
Catharine I.; assisted Maria Theresa in the war of the Austrian
Succession; opposed Frederick the Great in the Seven Years' War; indolent
and licentious, she left the affairs of the State mainly in the hands of
favourites (1709-1762).
ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF BOHEMIA, daughter of James VI. of Scotland and
I. of England; married Frederick V., Elector Palatine, who for a brief
time held the throne of Bohemia; her daughter Sophia, by marrying the
Elector of Hanover, formed a tie which ultimately brought the crown of
England to the House of Brunswick (1596-1662).
ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND (1658-1603), daughter of Henry VIII. and
Anne Boleyn, born in Greenwich Palace; was an indefatigable student in
her youth; acquired Greek and Latin, and a conversational knowledge of
German and French; the Pope's opposition to her succession on the ground
of being judged illegitimate by the Church strengthened her attachment to
the Protestant faith, which was her mother's, and contributed to its firm
establishment during the reign; during it the power of Spain was crushed
by the defeat of the Armada; maritime enterprise flourished under Drake,
Raleigh, and Frobisher; commerce was extended, and literature carried to
a pitch of perfection never before or since reached; masterful and
adroit, Elizabeth yet displayed the weakness of vanity and
vindictiveness; the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, is a blot upon her
fame, and her intrigues with Seymour, Leicester, and Essex detract from
her dignity; her wisdom was manifested in her wise choice of counsellors
and leaders, and her patriotism won her a secure place in the hearts of
her people (1533-1608).
ELIZABETH, ST., "a very pious, but also a very fanciful young woman;
her husband, a Thuringian landgraf, going to the Crusade, where he died
straightway," Carlyle guesses, "partly the fruit of the life she led him;
lodging beggars, sometimes in her very bed; continually breaking his
night's rest for prayer and devotional exercises of undue length,
'weeping one moment, then smiling in joy the next'; meandering about,
capricious, melodious, weak, at the will of devout whim mainly; went to
live at Marburg after her husband's death, and soon died there in a most
melodiously pious sort" in 1231, aged 24.
ELIZABETHAN ARCHITECTURE, a term applied to the style of
architecture which flourished in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.,
and which was characterised by a revival of classic designs wrought into
the decadent Gothic style. Lord Salisbury's house at Hatfield is a good
specimen of this mixed style.
ELIZABETHAN ERA, according to Carlyle, "the outcome and flowerage of
all which had preceded it... in that old age lies the _only_ true
_poetical_ literature of England. The poets of the last ago took to
pedagogy (Pope and his school), and shrewd men they were; those of the
present age to ground-and-lofty tumbling; and it will do your heart
good," he adds, "to see how they vault."
ELKARGEH (4), a town in the great oasis in the Libyan Desert; has
ancient remains, and is an important resting stage in crossing the
desert.
ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW, EARL OF, an English Conservative
statesman, son of Baron Ellenborough, Lord Chief-Justice of England;
entered Parliament in 1813; held office under the Duke of Wellington and
Sir Robert Peel; appointed Governor-General of India (1841); recalled in
1844; subsequently First Lord of the Admiralty and Indian Minister under
Lord Derby (1790-1871).
ELLENRIEDER, MARIE, a painter of great excellence, born at
Constance; studied in Rome; devoted herself to religious subjects, such
as "Christ Blessing Little Children," "Mary and the Infant Jesus," &c.
(1771-1863).
ELLESMERE, FRANCIS EGERTON, EARL OF, statesman and author, born in
London, second son of the Duke of Sutherland; was Secretary for Ireland
and War Secretary; author of some books of travel, and a translation of
"Faust" (1800-1857).
ELLIOT, GEORGE AUGUSTUS. See HEATHFIELD.
ELLIOTSON, JOHN, an English physician, born in London; lost his
professorship in London University on account of employing mesmerism for
medical purposes; promoted clinical instruction and the use of the
stethoscope; founded the Phrenological Society (1791-1868).
ELLIOTT, EBENEZER, poet, known popularly as the "Corn-Law Rhymer,"
born in Rotherham parish, Yorkshire; an active worker in iron; devoted
his leisure to poetic composition; proved a man that could handle both
pen and hammer like a man; wrote the "Corn-Law Rhymes" and other pieces;
his works have been "likened to some little fraction of a rainbow, hues
of joy and harmony, painted out of troublous tears; no full round bow
shone on by the full sun, and yet, in very truth, a little prismatic
blush, glowing genuine among the wet clouds, ... proceeds from a sun
cloud-hidden, yet indicates that a sun does shine...; a voice from the
deep Cyclopean forges where Labour, in real soot and sweat, beats with
his thousand hammers, doing personal battle with Necessity and her brute
dark powers to make _them_ reasonable and serviceable" (1781-1849).
ELLIS, ALEXANDER J., an eminent English philologist, born at
Horeton; published many papers on phonetics and early English
pronunciation; was President of the Philological Society; his name,
originally Sharpe, changed by royal license (1814-1890).
ELLIS, GEORGE, literary critic, born in London; did much to promote
the study of early English literature; contributed to the _Anti-Jacobin_,
and was joint-author of the "Rolliad," a satire on Pitt, and of
"Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances"; Scott declared him to be
the best conversationalist he had ever met (1753-1815).
ELLIS, SIR HENRY, chief librarian of the British Museum from 1827 to
1856, born in London; edited various works on antiques; wrote an
"Introduction to Domesday Book"; knighted in 1833 (1777-1869).
ELLIS, WILLIAM, a missionary and author, born in London; laboured in
the South Sea Islands, and afterwards in Madagascar; wrote various works
descriptive of these islands; he married Sarah Stickney, who is the
authoress of a number of popular works, including "The Women of England,"
"The Daughters of England," &c. (1794-1872).
ELLISTON, ROBERT WILLIAM, a celebrated actor, born in London; ran
away from home and joined the stage, rose to the front rank both as
comedian and tragedian (1774-1831).
ELLORA, an Indian village in Hyderabad, 12 m. NW. of Aurungabad,
famed for its Buddhist and Hindu cave and monolithic temples, the most
magnificent of which is hewn out of a solid hill of red stone, the most
beautiful being the Hindu temple of Kailas.
ELLWOOD, THOMAS, a celebrated Quaker, born at Crowell, Oxfordshire;
the intimate friend of Milton, to whom he suggested the idea of "Paradise
Regained" by remarking to him, "Thou hast said much of Paradise Lost, but
what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?" his Autobiography is still read
(1639-1713).
ELMO'S FIRE, ST., a popular name for the display of electric fire
which sometimes plays about the masts of ships, steeples, &c.,
accompanied at times with a hissing noise; commoner in southern climates,
known by other names, e. g. Fire of St. Clara, of St. Elias.
ELOGE, a discourse in panegyric of some illustrious person deceased,
in which composition Fontenelle took the lead, and in which he was
followed by D'Alembert, Condorcet, Flourens, and others.
ELOHIM, a Hebrew word in the plural number, signifying God or one as
God, but with a verb in the singular, signifying generally the one true
God; according to the Talmud it denotes God as just in judgment to all in
contradistinction to Jehovah, which denotes God as merciful to His
people.
ELOHIST, a name given by the critics to the presumed author of the
earlier part of the Pentateuch, whose work in it they allege is
distinguished by the use of the word Elohim for God; he is to be
distinguished from the Jehovist, the presumed author of the later
portions, from his use, on the other hand, of the word Jehovah for God.
ELPHINSTONE, GEORGE KEITH, ADMIRAL. See KEITH.
ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART, a noted Indian civil servant and
historian; co-operated with Wellesley in firmly establishing British rule
in India; was governor of Bombay, where he accomplished many useful
reforms, and issued the Elphinstone Code of Laws; wrote a "History of
India," which earned for him the title of the "Tacitus of India"
(1779-1859).
ELPHINSTONE, WILLIAM, an erudite and patriotic Scottish ecclesiastic
and statesman, born in Glasgow; took holy orders; went to Paris to study
law, and became a professor in Law there, and afterwards at Orleans;
returned to Scotland; held several high State appointments under James
III. and James IV.; continued a zealous servant of the Church, holding
the bishoprics of Ross and of Aberdeen, where he founded the university
(1431-1514).
ELSASS (French ALSACE), a German territory on the left bank of
the Rhine, traversed by the Vosges Mountains; taken from the French in
1870-71.
ELSINORE, a seaport on the island of Zeeland, in Denmark, 20 m. N.
of Copenhagen; has a good harbour; the scene of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."
ELSWICK (53), a town in the vicinity of Newcastle, noted for the
great engineering and ordnance works of Sir W. G. (now Lord) Armstrong.
ELTON, a salt lake of SE. Russia, in the government of Astrakhan;
has an area of about 65 sq. m., but is very shallow; yields annually some
90,000 or 95,000 tons of salt, which is shipped off _via_ the Volga.
ELTON, CHARLES ISAAC, jurist and ethnologist, born in Somerset; held
a Fellowship in Queen's College, Oxford; called to the bar in 1865, and
in 1884 was returned to Parliament as a Conservative; his first works
were juridical treatises on the tenure of land, but in 1882 he produced a
learned book on the origins of English history; _b_. 1839.
ELVAS, a strongly fortified town in Portugal, in the province of
Alemtejo, 12 m. W. of Badajoz; is a bishop's see; has a Moorish aqueduct
31/2 m. long and 250 ft. high.
ELY (8), a celebrated cathedral city, in the fen-land of
Cambridgeshire, on the Ouse, 30 m. SE. of Peterborough; noted as the
scene of Hereward's heroic stand against William the Conqueror in 1071;
the cathedral, founded in 1083, is unique as containing specimens of the
various Gothic styles incorporated during the course of 400 years.
ELY, ISLE OF, a name given to the N. portion of Cambridgeshire on
account of its having been at one time insulated by marshes; being
included in the region of the Fens, has been drained, and is now fertile
land.
ELYOT, SIR THOMAS, author and ambassador, born in Wiltshire;
ambassador to the court of Charles V.; celebrated as the author of "The
Governour," the first English work on moral philosophy, and also of the
first Latin-English dictionary (1490-1546).
ELYSIUM the abode of the shades of the virtuous dead in the nether
world as conceived of by the poets of Greece and Rome, where the
Back to Full Books
|