Epicurus, and who divided the empire of philosophy with the STOICS
(q. v.), at the birth of Christ; they held that the chief end of man
was happiness, that the business of philosophy was to guide him in the
pursuit of it, and that it was only by experience that one could learn
what would lead to it and what would not; they scouted the idea of reason
as regulative of thought, and conscience as regulative of conduct, and
maintained that our senses were our only guides in both; in a word, they
denied that God had implanted in man an absolute rational and moral
principle, and maintained that he had no other clue to the goal of his
being but his experience in life, while the distinction of right and
wrong was only a distinction of what was found conducive to happiness and
what was not; they had no faith in or fear of a divine Being above man
any more than of a divine principle within man, and they scorned the idea
of another world with its awards, and concerned themselves only with
this, which, however, in their hands was no longer a cosmos but a chaos,
out of which the quickening and ordinative spirit had fled.
EPICURUS, a Greek philosopher, born at Samos, of Athenian origin;
settled at Athens in his thirty-sixth year, and founded a philosophical
school there, where he taught a philosophy in opposition to that of the
Stoics; philosophy he defined as "an activity which realises a happy life
through ideas and arguments," summing itself up "in ethics, which are to
teach us how to attain a life of felicity"; his system comprised "the
three branches included in philosophy, viz., logic, physics, and ethics,"
but he arranges them in reverse order, logic and physics being regarded
only as the handmaids of ethics; for he "limited logic to the
investigation of the criterion of truth," and physics he valued as
disillusioning the mind of "the superstitious fear that went to disturb
happiness"; he was a man of a temperate and blameless life, and it is a
foul calumny on him to charge him with summing up happiness as mere
self-indulgence, though it is true he regarded "virtue as having no value
in itself, but only in so far as it offered us something--an agreeable
life."
EPICYCLE, an expression used in the PTOLEMAIC (q. v.)
system of astronomy; the old belief that the celestial bodies moved in
perfect circles round the earth was found to be inadequate to explain the
varying position of the planets, a difficulty which led Ptolemy to invent
his theory of epicycles, which was to the effect that each planet
revolved round a centre of its own, greater or less, but that all these
centres themselves moved in procession round the earth, a theory which
fell to pieces before the investigations of Kepler and Newton.
EPIDAURUS, a town of ancient Greece, in Argolis, on the eastern
shore of the Peloponnesus; was at one time an independent State and an
active centre of trade, but was chiefly noted for its famous temple of
Æsculapius, to which people flocked to be cured of their diseases, and
which bore the inscription "Open only to pure souls"; ruins of a
magnificent theatre are still extant here.
EPIDEMIC, a name given to contagious diseases which, arising
suddenly in a community, rapidly spread through its members, often
travelling from district to district, until often a whole country is
affected; the theory of the transmission of disease by microbes has
largely explained the spread of such scourges, but the part which
atmospheric and other physical, and perhaps psychic, causes play in these
disorders is still matter of debate, especially as regards epidemic
mental diseases. See ENDEMIC.
EPIGONI (the Descendants), the name given to the sons of the Seven
who perished before Thebes; they avenged the death of their fathers by
razing Thebes to the ground; the war first and last has been made the
subject of epic and tragic poems.
EPIGRAM, in modern usage, is a neat, witty, and pointed utterance
briefly couched in verse form, usually satiric, and reserving its sting
to the last line; sometimes made the vehicle of a quaintly-turned
compliment, as, for example, in Pope's couplet to Chesterfield, when
asked to write something with that nobleman's pencil;--
"Accept a miracle; instead of wit,
See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ."
The Latin epigrammatists, especially Martial and Catullus, were the first
to give a satirical turn to the epigram, their predecessors the Greeks
having employed it merely for purposes of epitaph and monumental
inscriptions of a laudatory nature.
EPILEPSY, a violent nervous affection, manifesting itself usually in
sudden convulsive seizures and unconsciousness, followed by temporary
stoppage of the breath and rigidity of the body, popularly known as
"falling sickness"; origin as yet undecided; attributed by the ancients
to demoniacal possession.
EPIMENIDES, a philosopher of Crete of the 7th century B.C., of whom
it is fabled that he fell asleep in a cave when a boy, and that he did
not awake for 57 years, but it was to find himself endowed with all
knowledge and wisdom. He was invited to Athens during a plague to purify
the city, on which occasion he performed certain mysterious rites with
the effect that the plague ceased. The story afforded Goethe a subject
for a drama entitled "Das Epimenides Erwachen," "in which he symbolises
his own aloofness from the great cause of the Fatherland, the result of
want of faith in the miraculous power that resides in an enthusiastic
outbreak of patriotic feeling."
EPIMETHEUS (i. e. Afterthought), the brother of Prometheus
(Forethought), who in spite of the warnings of the latter opened
Pandora's box, and let loose a flood of evils on the earth, which oppress
it to this day.
EPINAL (21), the capital of the dep. of Vosges, in France,
charmingly situated at the foot of the Vosges Mountains, on the Moselle;
is elegantly built, and has ruins of an old castle, surrounded by fine
gardens, a 10th-century church, and a fine library, &c.; a suspension
bridge spans the Moselle; there is industry in cotton, paper, &c.
EPINAY, MADAME D', a French writer, unhappily married in her youth;
became notorious for her illicit intimacy with Rousseau and Grimm; her
"Mémoires et Correspondence" give a lively picture of her times
(1725-1783).
EPIPHANIUS, ST., one of the Fathers of the Greek Church; of Jewish
descent; flourished in the 4th century; led a monastic life, and founded
a monastery in Eleutheropolis; was bishop of Constantia in 367; bigoted
and tyrannical, he became notorious for his ecclesiastical zeal, and for
his indictments of Origen and St. Chrysostom; left writings that show
great but indiscriminate learning (330-402).
EPIPHANY, as observed in the Christian Church, is a festival held on
the 12th day after Christmas, in commemoration of the manifestation of
Christ to the Magi of the East; but up to the close of the 4th century
the festival also commemorated the incarnation of Christ as well as the
divine manifestation at His baptism.
EPI`RUS, was the NW. portion of ancient Hellas, Dodona its capital,
and Acheron one of its rivers; in 1466 became part of the Ottoman empire,
but in 1881 a portion was ceded to Greece.
EPISCOPACY, the name given to the form of Church government in which
there are superior and inferior orders among the clergy, as between that
of bishop and that of a presbyter; called also Prelacy.
EPISCOPIUS, SIMON, a Dutch theologian, born at Amsterdam; the head
of the Arminian party after the death of Arminius; was unjustly
misrepresented, and tyrannically, even cruelly, treated by the opposite
party; he was a man of great ability, enlightened views, and admirable
temper, and set more store by integrity and purity of character than
orthodoxy of belief (1583-1643).
EPISTOLÆ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM (i. e. letters of obscure men), a
celebrated collection of Latin letters which appeared in the 16th century
in Germany, attacking with merciless severity the doctrines and modes of
living of the scholastics and monks, credited with hastening the
Reformation.
EPITAPH, an inscription placed on a tombstone in commemoration of
the dead interred below. The natural feeling which prompts such
inscriptions has manifested itself among all civilised peoples, and not a
little of a nation's character may be read in them. The Greeks reserved
epitaphs for their heroes, but amongst the Romans grew up the modern
custom of marking the tombs of relatives with some simple inscription,
many of their sepulchres being placed on the side of the public roads, a
circumstance which explains the phrase, _Siste, viator_--Stay,
traveller--found in old graveyards.
EPITHALAMIUM, a nuptial song, sung before the bridal chamber in
honour of the newly-wedded couple, particularly among the Greeks and
Romans, of whom Theocritus and Catullus have left notable examples; but
the epithalamium of Edmund Spenser is probably the finest specimen extant
of this poetic form.
EPPING FOREST, as it now exists in the SE. of Essex, is a
remnant--5600 acres--of the famous Epping or Waltham Forest, which once
extended over all Essex, and which then served as a royal hunting-ground,
is now a favourite pleasure-ground and valuable field for explorations of
botanical and entomological collectors.
EPSOM, a market-town in Surrey, skirting Banstead Downs, 15 m. SW.
of London; formerly noted for its mineral springs, now associated with
the famous Derby races.
EQUINOCTIAL POINTS are the two points at which the celestial equator
intersects the ECLIPTIC (q. v.), so called because the days and
nights are of equal duration when the sun is at these points.
EQUINOXES, the two annually recurring times at which the sun arrives
at the EQUINOCTIAL POINTS (q. v.), viz., 21st March and 22nd
September, called respectively the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes in
the northern hemisphere, but vice versa in the southern; at these times
the sun is directly over the equator, and day and night is then of equal
length over the whole globe.
EQUITES, THE, a celebrated equestrian order in ancient Rome,
supposed to have been instituted by Romulus; at first purely military, it
was at length invested with the judicial functions of the Senate, and the
power of farming out the public revenues; gradually lost these privileges
and became defunct.
ERASMUS, DESIDERIUS, a famous scholar and man of letters, born at
Rotterdam; illegitimate son of one Gerhard; conceived a disgust for
monkish life during six years' residence in a monastery at Steyn;
wandered through Europe and amassed stores of learning at various
universities; visited Oxford in 1489, and formed a lifelong friendship
with Sir Thomas More; was for some years professor of Divinity and Greek
at Cambridge; edited the first Greek Testament; settled finally at Basel,
whence he exercised a remarkable influence over European thought by the
wit and tone of his writings, notably the "Praise of Folly," the
"Colloquia" and "Adagia"; he has been regarded as the precursor of the
Reformation; is said to have laid the egg which Luther hatched; aided the
Reformation by his scholarship, though he kept aloof as a scholar from
the popular movement of Luther (1467-1536).
ERASTIANISM, the right of the State to override and overrule the
decisions of the Church that happen to involve civil penalties. See
ERASTUS.
ERASTUS, an eminent physician, born at Baden, in Switzerland, whose
fame rests mainly on the attitude he assumed in the theological and
ecclesiastical questions of the day; he defended Zwingli's view of the
Eucharist as a merely symbolical ordinance, and denied the right of the
Church to inflict civil penalties, or to exercise discipline--the power
of the keys--that belonging, he maintained, to the province of the civil
magistrate and not to the Church (1534-1583).
ERATO (i. e. the Lovely), the muse of erotic poetry and elegy,
represented with a lyre in her left hand.
ERATOSTHENES, surnamed the Philologist, a philosopher of Alexandria,
born at Cyrene, 276 B.C.; becoming blind and tired of life, he starved
himself to death at the age of 80; he ranks high among ancient
astronomers; measured the obliquity of the ecliptic, and estimated the
size of the earth (276-194 B.C.).
ERCILLA Y ZUÑIGA, a Spanish poet, born at Madrid; took part in the
war of the Spaniards with the Araucos in Chile, which he celebrated in an
epic of no small merit called "La Araucana"; he ended his days in poverty
(1553-1595).
ERDGEIST, the Spirit of the Earth, represented in Goethe's "Faust"
as assiduously weaving, at the Time-Loom, night and day, in death as well
as life, the earthly vesture of the Eternal, and thereby revealing the
Invisible to mortal eyes.
ERDMANN, a German philosopher, born at Wolmar, professor at Halle;
was of the school of Hegel, an authority on the history of philosophy
(1805-1892).
EREBUS, a region of utter darkness in the depths of Hades, into
which no mortal ever penetrated, the proper abode of Pluto and his Queen
with their train of attendants, such as the Erinnyes, through which the
spirits of the dead must pass on their way to Hades; equivalent to the
valley of the shadow of death.
ERECTHEUS or ERICHTHONIUS, the mythical first king of Athens;
favoured and protected from infancy by Athena, to whom accordingly he
dedicated the city; he was buried in the temple of Athena, and worshipped
afterwards as a god; it is fabled of him that when an infant he was
committed by Athena in a chest to the care of Agraulos and Herse, under a
strict charge not to pry into it; they could not restrain their
curiosity, opened the chest, saw the child entwined with serpents, were
seized with madness, and threw themselves down from the height of the
Acropolis to perish at the foot.
ERFURT (72), a town in Saxony, on the Gera, 14 m. W. of Weimar,
formerly capital of Thüringia, and has many interesting buildings,
amongst the number the 14th-century Gothic cathedral with its great bell,
weighing 13½ tons, and cast in 1497; the monastery of St. Augustine
(changed into an orphanage in 1819), in which Luther was a monk; the
Academy of Sciences, and the library with 60,000 vols. and 1000 MSS.;
various textile factories flourish.
ERGOT, a diseased state of grasses, &c., but a disease chiefly
attacking rye, produced by a fungus developing on the seeds; the drug
"ergot of rye" is obtained from a species of this fungus.
ERIC, the name of several of the kings of Denmark, and Sweden, and
Norway, the most notorious being the son of the noble Swedish king
GUSTAVUS VASA (q. v.), who aspired to the hand of Elizabeth of
England and challenged his rival Leicester to a duel; afterwards sought
Mary of Scotland, but eventually married a peasant girl who had nursed
him out of madness brought on by dissipation; was deposed after a State
trial instigated by his own brothers, and ultimately poisoned himself in
prison eight years later (1533-1577).
ERIC THE RED, a Norwegian chief who discovered Greenland in the 10th
century, and sent out expeditions to the coast of North America.
ERICSSON, JOHN, a distinguished Swedish engineer, born at
Langbanshyttan; went to England in 1826 and to United States of America
in 1839, where he died; invented the screw propeller of steamships; built
warships for the American navy, and amongst them the famous _Monitor_;
his numerous inventions mark a new era in naval and steamship
construction (1802-1889).
ERIE, LAKE, the fourth in size among the giant lakes of North
America, lies between Lakes Huron and Ontario, on the Canadian border, is
240 m. long and varies from 30 to 60 m. in breadth; is very shallow, and
difficult to navigate; ice-bound from December till about April.
ERIGENA, JOHANNES SCOTUS, a rationalistic mystic, the most
distinguished scholar and thinker of the 9th century, of Irish birth;
taught at the court of Charles the Bald in France, and was summoned by
Alfred to Oxford in 877; died abbot of Malmesbury; held that "damnation
was simply the consciousness of having failed to fulfil the divine
purpose"; he derived all authority from reason, and not reason from
authority, maintaining that authority unfounded on reason was of no
value; _d_. 882.
ERIN, the ancient Celtic name of Ireland, used still in poetry.
ERINNA, a Greek poetess, the friend of Sappho, died at 19; wrote
epic poetry, all but a few lines of which has perished; born about
612 B.C.
ERINNYES, THE (i. e. the roused-to-anger, in Latin, the Furies),
the Greek goddesses of vengeance, were the daughters of Gaia, begotten of
the blood of the wounded Uranus, and at length reckoned three in number,
Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara; they were conceived of as haunting the
wicked on earth and scourging them in hell; they were of the court of
Pluto, and the executioners of his wrath.
ERIS, the Greek goddess of strife or discord, sowing the seeds
thereof among the gods to begin with, which she has since continued to do
among men.
ERIVAN (15), a fortified town in Transcaucasia, situated 30 m. NE.
of Mount Ararat on an elevated plateau; was ceded to Russia in 1828 by
Persia.
ERLANGEN (13), a Bavarian town on the Regnitz, has a celebrated
Protestant university, founded by Wilhelmina, sister of Frederick the
Great, who was the Electress; was a place of refuge for the Huguenots in
1685; manufactures in gloves, mirrors, and tobacco are carried on, and
brewing.
ERLAU (22), an ecclesiastical city of Hungary, on the Erlau, 89 m.
NE. of Pesth; is the seat of an archbishop; has a fine cruciform
cathedral, built since 1837, several monasteries, a lyceum with a large
library and an observatory; is noted for its red wine.
ERL-KING, a Norse impersonation of the spirit of superstitious fear
which haunts and kills us even in the guardian embrace of paternal
affection.
ERMINIA, a Syrian, the heroine of Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," in
love with the Christian prince Tancred.
ERNESTI, JOHANN AUGUST, a celebrated German classicist and
theologian, called the "German Cicero," born at Tennstädt, Thüringia;
professor of Philology in Leipzig, and afterwards of Theology; edited
various classical works, his edition of Cicero specially noted; was the
first to apply impartial textual criticism to the Bible, and to him, in
consequence, we owe the application of a more correct exegesis to the
biblical writings (1707-1781).
ERNST, ELECTOR OF SAXONY, founder of the Ernestine line of Saxon
princes, ancestor of Prince Consort, born at Altenburg; was kidnapped
along with his brother Albert in 1455, an episode famous in German
history as the "Prinzenraub" (i. e. the stealing of the prince);
succeeded his father in 1464; annexed Thüringia in 1482, and three years
later shared his territory with his brother Albert (1441-1486).
ERNST I., Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg; served in the Thirty
Years' War under Gustavus Adolphus, and shared in the victory of Lützen;
was an able and wise ruler, and gained for himself the surname of "the
Pious" (1601-1675).
EROS (in Latin, Cupido), the Greek god of love, the son of
Aphrodité, and the youngest of the gods, though he figures in the
cosmogony as one of the oldest of the gods, and as the uniting power in
the life of the gods and the life of the universe, was represented at
last as a wanton boy from whose wiles neither gods nor men were safe.
EROSTRATUS, an obscure Ephesian, who, to immortalise his name, set
fire to the temple of Ephesus on the night, as it happened, when
Alexander the Great was born; the Ephesians thought to defeat his purpose
by making it death to any one who named his name, but in vain, the decree
itself giving wider and wider publicity to the act.
ERPENIUS (Thomas van Erpen), Arabic scholar, born at Gorkum, in
Holland; after completing his studies at Leyden and Paris, became
professor of Oriental Languages there; famed for his Arabic grammar and
rudiments, which served as text-books for upwards of 200 years
(1585-1624).
ERSCH, JOHANN SAMUEL, a bibliographer, born at Grossglogau; after a
college career at Halle devoted himself to journalism, and in 1800 became
librarian of the University of Jena; subsequently filled the chair of
Geography and Statistics at Halle; his "Handbook of German Literature"
marks the beginning of German bibliography; began in 1818, along with
Gruber, the publication of an encyclopædia which is still unfinished
(1766-1828).
ERSKINE, EBENEZER, founder of the Secession Church of Scotland, born
at Chirnside, Berwickshire; minister at Portmoak for 28 years; took part
in the patronage dispute, and was deposed (1733), when he formed a church
at Gairney Bridge, near Kinross, the nucleus of the Secession Church
(1703-1754).
ERSKINE, HENRY, a famous Scotch lawyer, second son of the Earl of
Buchan, born at Edinburgh; called to the bar and became Lord Advocate; a
Whig in politics; brought about useful legal reforms; noted as a
brilliant wit and orator (1746-1817).
ERSKINE, JOHN, a Scottish jurist; called to the bar in 1719; became
professor of Scots Law in Edinburgh University in 1837, resigned 1763;
author of two important works on Scots Law, "The Institutes" and
"Principles" (1695-1768).
ERSKINE, JOHN, D.D., son of the preceding; a celebrated Scotch
preacher and author of various essays and pamphlets; a prominent leader
on the Evangelical side in the General Assemblies; was minister of the
Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and the colleague of Principal Robertson; is
remembered for a retort in the pulpit and for another in the General
Assembly; the former was to a remark of his colleague, Principal
Robertson, "If perfect virtue were to appear on earth we would adore
it." ... "Perfect virtue did appear on earth and we crucified it"; and that
other in the General Assembly was "Rax (reach) me that Bible," as certain
Moderates in the court began derisively to scoff at the proposal to send
missions to the heathen (1721-1803).
ERSKINE, JOHN, OF DUN, a Scotch Reformer, supported Knox and
Wishart; was several times Moderator of the General Assembly, and
assisted in the formation of "The Second Book of Discipline" (1509-1591).
ERSKINE, RALPH, a Scotch divine, brother of EBENEZER (q. v.),
with whom he co-operated in founding the Secession Church; his
sermons and religious poems, called "Gospel Sonnets," were widely read;
one of the first of the Scotch seceders, strange to contemplate, "a long,
soft, poke-shaped face, with busy anxious black eyes, looking as if he
could not help it; and then such a character and form of human existence,
conscience living to the finger ends of him, in a strange, venerable,
though highly questionable manner ... his formulas casing him all round
like the shell of a beetle"; his fame rests chiefly on his "Gospel
Sonnets," much appreciated at one time (1685-1752).
ERSKINE, THOMAS, LORD, a famous lawyer, youngest son of the Earl of
Buchan, born in Edinburgh; spent his early years in the navy, and
afterwards joined the army; resigned in 1775 to enter upon the study of
law; called to the bar in 1778; a king's counsel in 1783; created a baron
and Lord Chancellor in 1806; was engaged in all the famous trials of his
time; an unrivalled orator in the law courts; his speeches rank as
masterpieces of forensic eloquence (1750-1823).
ERSKINE, THOMAS, OF LINLATHEN, member of the Scottish bar, but
devoted in an intensely human spirit to theological interests, "one of
the gentlest, kindliest, best bred of men," says Carlyle, who was greatly
attached to him; "I like him," he says, "as one would do a draught of
sweet rustic mead served in cut glasses and a silver tray ... talks
greatly of symbols, seems not disinclined to let the Christian religion
pass for a kind of mythus, provided one can retain the spirit of it"; he
wrote a book, much prized at one time, on the "Internal Evidences of
Revealed Religion," also on Faith; besides being the constant friend of
Carlyle, he corresponded on intimate terms with such men as Maurice and
Dean Stanley (1788-1870).
ERWIN, a German architect, born at Steinbach, Baden; the builder of
the western façade of the cathedral of Strasburg (1240-1318).
ERYMANTHUS, a mountain in Arcadia that was the haunt of the boar
killed by Hercules.
ERYSIPELAS, known popularly as St. Anthony's Fire and Rose, a
febrile disease, manifesting itself in acute inflammation of the skin,
which becomes vividly scarlet and ultimately peels; confined chiefly to
the head; is contagious, and recurrent.
ERYTHEMA, a medical term used loosely to designate a diseased
condition of the skin; characterised by a scarlet or dark-red rash or
eruption, distinct from erysipelas.
ERYTHREA (220), a colony belonging to Italy, extending from Cape
Kasar 670 m. along the western shore of the Red Sea to a point in the
Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb; Massowah the capital.
ERYTHREAN SEA, a name of the Red Sea.
ERZERUM (60), a city in Turkish Armenia, capital of the province of
the same name, 125 m. SE. of Trebizond; situated on a fertile plain 6300
ft. above sea-level; is an important entrepôt for commerce between Europe
and Asia; is irregularly built, but contains imposing ruins; has a
fortress, and in the suburbs a number of mosques and bazaars; is famed
for its iron and copper ware; fell into the hands of the Turks in 1517;
figured as a military centre in many Turkish wars; was reduced by the
Russians in 1878; was a scene of Armenian massacres by the Turks in 1895.
ERZGEBIRGE, a range of mountains lying between Saxony and Bohemia;
the highest peak is the Keilberg, 4052 ft.; is rich in various metallic
ores, especially silver and lead.
ERYX, an ancient town in the NW. of Sicily, at the foot of a
mountain of the same name, with a temple to Venus, who was hence called
Erycina.
ESAU, the eldest son of Isaac, who sold his birthright to Jacob for
a mess of lentils; led a predatory life, and was the forefather of the
Edomites.
ESCHATOLOGY, the department of theology which treats of the
so-called last things, such as death, the intermediate state, the
millennium, the return of Christ, the resurrection, the judgment, and the
end of the world.
ESCHENBACH, WOLFRAM VON, a famous minnesinger, born at Eschenbach,
in Bavaria, at about the close of the 12th century; was of good birth,
and lived some time at the Thuringian Court; enjoyed a wide reputation in
his time as a poet; of his poems the epic "Parzival" is the most
celebrated, and records the history of the "Grail."
ESCHER, JOHANN HEINRICH ALFRED. Swiss statesman, born at Zurich;
bred for the law, and lectured for a while in his native town; became
President of the Council of Zurich; co-operated with Farrer in expelling
the Jesuits; became member of the Diet; supported Federal union, and did
much to promote and establish State education in Switzerland; _b_. 1819.
ESCHINES. See ÆSCHINES; as also ESCULAPIUS,
ESCHYLUS, ESOP, &c., under Æ.
ESCOBAR, MENDOZA ANTONIO, a Spanish Jesuit and casuist, born at
Valladolid, a preacher and voluminous writer (1589-1669).
ESCURIAL, a huge granite pile, built in the form of a gridiron, 30
m. NW. from Madrid, and deemed at one time the eighth wonder of the
world; was built in 1563-1584; was originally dedicated as a monastery to
St. Lorenzo in recognition of the services which the Saint had rendered
to Philip II. at the battle of St. Quentin, and used at length as a
palace and burial-place of kings. It is a mere shadow of what it was, and
is preserved from ruin by occasional grants of money to keep it in
repair.
ESDRAËLON, a flat and fertile valley in Galilee, called also the
valley of Jezreel, which, with a maximum breadth of 9 m., extends in a
NW. direction from the Jordan at Bathshean to the Bay of Acre.
ESDRAS, the name of two books of the Apocrypha, the first, written
2nd century B.C., containing the history of the rebuilding of the Temple
and the restoration of its cultus, with a discussion on the strangest of
all things, ending in assigning the palm to truth; and the second,
written between 97 and 81 B.C., a forecast of the deliverance of the
Jews from oppression and the establishment of the Messianic kingdom.
ESK, the name of several Scottish streams: (1) in Dumfriesshire, the
Esk of young Lochinvar, has a course of 31 m. after its formation by the
junction of the North and South Esks, and flows into the Solway; (2) in
Edinburgh, formed by the junction of the North and South Esks, joins the
Firth of Forth at Musselburgh; (3) in Forfarshire, the South Esk
discharges into the North Sea at Montrose, and the North Esk also flows
into the North Sea 4 m. N. of Montrose.
ESKIMO or ESQUIMAUX, an aboriginal people of the Mongolian or
American Indian stock, in all not amounting to 40,000, thinly scattered
along the northern seaboard of America and Asia and in many of the Arctic
islands; their physique, mode of living, religion, and language are of
peculiar ethnological interest; they are divided into tribes, each having
its own territory, and these tribes in turn are subdivided into small
communities, over each of which a chief presides; the social organisation
is a simple tribal communism; Christianity has been introduced amongst
the Eskimo of South Alaska and in the greater part of Labrador; in other
parts the old religion still obtains, called Shamanism, a kind of fetish
worship; much of their folk-lore has been gathered and printed; fishing
and seal-hunting are their chief employments; they are of good physique,
but deplorably unclean in their habits; their name is supposed to be an
Indian derivative signifying "eaters of raw meat."
ESKIMO DOG, a dog found among the Eskimo, about the size of a
pointer, hair thick, and of a dark grey or black and white; half tamed,
but strong and sagacious; invaluable for sledging.
ESMOND, HENRY, the title of one of Thackeray's novels, deemed by the
most competent critics his best, and the name of its hero, a chivalrous
cavalier of the time of Queen Anne. "Esmond" is pronounced by Prof.
Saintsbury to be "among the very summits of English prose fiction,
exquisitely written in a marvellous resurrection of eighteenth-century
style, touched somehow with a strange modernity and life which make it no
_pastiche_, containing the most brilliant passages of mere incident, and,
above all, enshrining such studies of character ... as not four other
makers of English prose and verse can show."
ESNÉ, a town in Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, and 25 m.
S. of Thebes; famous for the ruins of a temple.
ESOTERIC, a term used to denote teaching intended only for the
initiated, and intelligible only to them.
ESPARTERO, a celebrated Spanish general and statesman, born at
Granatula; supported, against the Carlist faction, the claims of Isabella
to the throne of Spain; was for his services made Duke of Vittoria, and
in 1841 elected regent; compelled to abdicate, he fled to England, but
afterwards returned for a time to the head of affairs; an able man, but
wanting in the requisite astuteness and tact for such a post (1793-1879).
ESPINASSE, CLARE FRANÇOISE, a wit and beauty, born at Lyons,
illegitimate child of the Countess d'Albon; went to Paris as companion to
Madame du Deffand, with whom she quarrelled; set up a salon of her own,
and became celebrated for her many attractions; D'Alembert was devoted to
her; many of her letters to her lovers, the Marquis de Mora and M. de
Guilbert in particular, have been published, and display a charming
personality (1732-1776).
ESPINEL, VINCENT DE, a Spanish poet and musician, born at Ronda,
Granada; first a soldier and then a priest, the friend of Lope de Vega,
and author of a work which Le Sage made free use of in writing "Gil
Blas"; was an expert musician; played on the guitar, and added a fifth
string (1551-1634).
ESPIRITU SANTO, (1) a small and swampy maritime province of Brazil
(121), lying on the N. border of Rio de Janeiro; does some trade in
timber, cotton, coffee, and sugar; Victoria is the capital; (2) a town
(32) in central Cuba; (3) the largest of the NEW HEBRIDES (q. v.)
(20); the climate is unhealthy, but the soil fertile.
ESPRIT DES LOIS (i. e. the Spirit of Laws), the title of
Montesquieu's great work, at once speculative and historical, published
in 1748, characterised in "Sartor" as the work, like many others, of "a
clever infant spelling letters from a hieroglyphic book the lexicon of
which lies in Eternity, in Heaven."
ESPY, JAMES POLLARD, a meteorologist, born in Pennsylvania; did
notable work in investigating the causes of storms, and in 1841 published
"The Philosophy of Storms"; was appointed to the Washington observatory,
where he carried on experiments in the cooling of gases and atmospheric
expansion (1785-1860).
ESQUIRE, originally meant a shield-bearer, and was bestowed upon the
two attendants of a knight, who were distinguished by silver spurs, and
whose especial duty it was to look after their master's armour; now used
widely as a courtesy title.
ESQUIROS, HENRY ALPHONSE, poet and physician, born at Paris; his
early writings, poems and romances, are socialistic in bias; member of
the Legislative Assembly in 1848; retired to England after the _coup
d'état_; returned to France and rose to be a member of the Senate (1875);
wrote three works descriptive of the social and religious life of England
(1814-1876).
ESSEN (79), a town in the Rhine province of Prussia, 20 m. NE. of
Düsseldorf, the seat of the famous "Krupp" steel-works.
ESSENES, a religious communistic fraternity, never very numerous,
that grew up on the soil of Judea about the time of the Maccabees, and
had establishments in Judea when Christ was on earth, as well as
afterwards in the time of Josephus; they led an ascetic life, practised
the utmost ceremonial cleanness, were rigorous in their observance of the
Jewish law, and differed from the Pharisees in that they gave to the
Pharisaic spirit a monastic expression; they represented Judaism in its
purest essence, and in the spirit of their teaching came nearer
Christianity than any other sect of the time; "Essenism," says Schürer,
"is first and mainly of Jewish formation, and in its non-Jewish features
it had most affinity with the Pythagorean tendency of the Greeks."
ESSEQUIBO, an important river in British Guiana, 620 m. long, rises
in the Sierra Acaray, navigable for 50 m. to small craft, flows northward
into the Atlantic.
ESSEX (785), a county in the SE. of England, between Suffolk on the
N. and Kent in the S., faces the German Ocean on the E.; is well watered
with streams; has an undulating surface; is chiefly agricultural; brewing
is an important industry, and the oyster fisheries of the Colne are
noted; Chelmsford is the county town.
ESSEX, ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OF, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth,
born at Netherwood, Hereford; served in the Netherlands under Leicester,
his stepfather; won the capricious fancy of Elizabeth; lost favour by
marrying clandestinely the widow of Sir Philip Sidney, but was restored,
and led a life of varying fortune, filling various important offices,
till his final quarrel with the Queen and execution (1567-1601).
ESSEX, ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OF, son of preceding; commander of the
Parliamentary forces against Charles I.; the title died with him, but was
conferred again upon the present family in 1661 (1591-1646).
ESSLING, a village near Vienna, where the French gained a bloody
victory over the Austrians in 1809, and which gave the title of prince to
Masséna.
ESSLINGEN (22), an old historic and important manufacturing town in
Würtemberg, on the Neckar, 9 m. SE. of Stuttgart; has a citadel and the
Liebfrauen Church, which is a fine Gothic structure with a spire 246 ft.;
is a noted hardware centre, and celebrated for its machinery; a good
trade is done in textiles, fruit, and sparkling champagne.
ESTAING, COMTE D', a French admiral, "one of the bravest of men,"
fought against the English in the Indies and in America; winced as a
Royalist at the outbreak of the French Revolution; his loyalty to royalty
outweighed, it was thought, his loyalty to his country, and he was
guillotined (1729-1794).
ESTE, an ancient and illustrious Italian family from which, by an
offshoot founded by Welf IV., who became Duke of Bavaria in the 11th
century, the Guelph Houses of Brunswick and Hanover, also called the
Este-Guelphs, trace their descent. Of the Italian branch the most noted
descendant was Alphonso I., a distinguished soldier and statesman and
patron of art, whose second wife was the famous Lucrezia Borgia. His son,
Alphonso II., is remembered for his cruel treatment of Tasso, placing him
in prison for seven years as a madman who dared to make love to one of
the princesses.
ESTE (6), an Italian town, 18 m. SW. of Padua, on the S. side of the
Euganean Hills; has a castle and church with a leaning campanile.
ESTERHAZY, the town of a noble Austrian family of ancient date, and
that gave birth to a number of illustrious men.
ESTERHAZY DE GALANTHA, the name of a powerful and famous Hungarian
family holding the rank of Princes of the Empire since the 17th century.
Their estates include upwards of 4000 villages, 60 market-towns, many
castles and lordships, but they are heavily mortgaged.
ESTHER, THE BOOK OF, a book of the Old Testament, which takes its
name from the chief figure in the story related, an orphan Jewess and
ward of her cousin Mordecai, who, from her beauty, was chosen into the
royal harem and raised to be consort to the king. It is read through in
the Jewish synagogues at the feast of PURIM (q. v.). It is
observed that the name of God does not occur once in the book, but the
story implies the presence of an overruling Providence, responding to the
cry of His oppressed ones for help.
ESTHONIA (393), one of the Russian Baltic provinces, has a northern
foreshore on the Gulf of Finland, and on the W. abuts on the Baltic; what
of the country that is free from forest and marsh is chiefly
agricultural, but fishing is also an important industry; the people are a
composite of Finns and immigrant Germans, with latterly Russians
superimposed.
ESTIENNE, the name of a family of French painters. See
STEPHENS.
EST-IL-POSSIBLE? the name given by James II. to Prince George of
Denmark, the husband of Princess Anne, from his invariable exclamation on
hearing how one after another had deserted the Stuart cause; he ended
with deserting it himself.
ESTRADES, COUNT D', a French diplomatist (1579-1680).
ESTREMADURA (1,111), a coast province of Portugal, between Beira and
Alemtejo, watered by the Tagus; richly fertile in many parts, but sparely
cultivated; silk is an important industry, and an increasing; Lisbon is
the chief city, and with Setubal monopolises the trade; salt, fruits,
wine, and oil are exported; also name of a district in Spain between
Portugal and New Castile, now divided into the provinces of Badajoz and
Cácéres.
ETÉOCLES, a son of Oedipus, king of Thebes, agreed on the banishment
of his father to govern the state alternately with his brother Polynices,
but failing to keep his engagement, the latter appealed to his guardian,
out of which there arose the War of the Seven against Thebes, which ended
in the slaughter of the whole seven, upon which the brothers thought to
end the strife in single combat, when each fell by the sword of the
other.
ETERNAL CITY, ancient Rome in the esteem of its inhabitants, in
accordance with the promise, as Virgil feigns, of Jupiter to Venus, the
goddess-mother of the race.
ETERNITIES, THE CONFLUX OF, Carlyle's expressive phrase for Time, as
in every moment of it a centre in which all the forces to and from
Eternity meet and unite, so that by no past and no future can we be
brought nearer to Eternity than where we at any moment of Time are; the
Present Time, the youngest born of Eternity, being the child and heir of
all the Past times with their good and evil, and the parent of all the
Future, the import of which (see Matt. xvi. 27) it is accordingly the
first and most sacred duty of every successive age, and especially the
leaders of it, to know and lay to heart as the only link by which
Eternity lays hold of it and it of Eternity.
ETHELBERT, a king of Kent, in whose reign Christianity was
introduced by St. Augustin and a band of missionaries in 597; drew up the
first Saxon law code (552-616).
ETHELDREDA, a Saxon princess, whose name, shortened into St. Audrey,
was given to a certain kind of lace, whence "tawdry"; she took refuge
from the married state in the monastery of St. Abb's Head, and afterwards
founded a monastery in the Isle of Ely (630-679).
ETHELRED I., king of Saxon England (866-871), predecessor and
brother of Alfred; his reign was a long and unsuccessful struggle with
the Danes.
ETHELRED II., the Unready, a worthless king of Saxon England
(979-1016), married Emma, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy, a step
which led in the end to the claim which issued in the Norman Conquest
(968-1016).
ETHER, a volatic liquid prepared from the distillation of alcohol
and sulphuric acid at high temperature; is colourless, and emits a sweet,
penetrating odour; is highly combustible; a useful solvent, and an
important anæsthetic.
ETHER, a subtle element presumed to pervade all interstellar space,
vibrations in which are assumed to account for the transmission of light
and all radiant energy.
ETHEREDGE, SIR GEORGE, the originator of the kind of comedy
"containing a vein of lively humour and witty dialogue which were
afterwards displayed by Congreve and Farquhar"; has been called the
"founder of the comedy of intrigue"; he was the author of three clever
plays, entitled "Love in a Tub," "She Would if She Could," and "Sir
Fopling Flutter" (1636-1694).
ETHICS, the science which treats of the distinction between right
and wrong and of the moral sense by which they are discriminated.
ETHICS OF DUST, THE, "a book by Ruskin about crystallography, but it
twists symbolically in the strangest way all its geology into morality,
theology, Egyptian mythology, with fiery cuts at political economy,
pretending not to know whether the forces and destinies and behaviour of
crystals are not very like those of a man."
ETHIOPIA, a term loosely used in ancient times to indicate the
territory inhabited by black or dark-coloured people; latterly applied to
an undefined tract of land stretching S. of Egypt to the Gulf of Aden,
which constituted the kingdom of the Ethiopians, a people of Semitic
origin and speaking a Semitic language called Ge'ez, who were
successively conquered by the Egyptians, Persians, and Romans; are known
in the Bible; their first king is supposed to have been Menilehek, son of
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; their literature consists mostly of
translations and collections of saws and riddles; the language is no
longer spoken.
ETHNOLOGY, a science which treats of the human race as grouped in
tribes or nations, but limits itself to tracing the origin and
distribution of races, and investigating the physical and mental
peculiarities and differences exhibited by men over all parts of the
globe; the chief problem of the science is to decide between the
monogenous and polygenous theories of the origin of the race, and
investigation inclines to favour the former view. The polygenous
argument, based on the diversity of languages, has been discarded, as, if
valid, necessitating about a thousand different origins, while the
monogenous position is strengthened by the ascertained facts that the
different racial groups are fruitful amongst themselves, and present
points of mental and physical similarity which accord well with this
theory. Ethnologists now divide the human race into three main groups:
the _Ethiopian or negro_, the _Mongolic or yellow_, and the _Caucasic or
white_.
ÉTIENNE, ST., (133), an important French town, capital of the dep.
of the Loire, on the Furens, 35 m. SW. of Lyons; chief seat of the
iron-works of France; also has noted ribbon factories.
ETIVE, a sea-loch in Argyllshire, Scotland, is an inland extension
of the Firth of Lorne, about 20 m. in length, and varying in breadth from
2 to ¼ m.; the mountain scenery along the shores grandly picturesque; the
river which bears the same name rises in Rannoch Moor, and joins the loch
after a SW. course of 15 m.; both loch and river afford salmon-fishing.
ETNA, a volcanic mountain on the E. coast of Sicily, 10,840 ft.
high; a striking feature is the immense ravine, the Val del Bove,
splitting the eastern side of the mountain, and about 5 m. in diameter;
on the flanks are many smaller cones. Etna is celebrated for its many and
destructive eruptions; was active in 1892; its observatory, built in
1880, at an elevation of 9075 ft. above sea-level, is the highest
inhabited dwelling in Europe.
ETON, a town in Buckinghamshire, on the Thames, 22 m. SW. of London;
celebrated for its public school, Eton College, founded in 1440 by Henry
VI., which has now upwards of 1000 scholars.
ÊTRE SUPRÊME, the Supreme Being agreeably to the hollow and vacant
conception of the boasted, beggarly 18th-century Enlightenment of
Revolutionary France.
ETRURIA, the ancient Roman name of a region in Italy, W. of the
Apennines from the Tiber to the Macra in the N.; inhabited by the
Etruscans, a primitive people of Italy; at one time united in a
confederation of twelve States; gradually absorbed by the growing Roman
power, and who were famous for their artistic work in iron and bronze.
Many of the Etruscan cities contain interesting remains of their early
civilised state; but their entire literature, supposed to have been
extensive, has perished, and their language is only known through
monumental inscriptions. Their religion was polytheistic, but embraced a
belief in a future life. There is abundant evidence that they had
attained to a high degree of civilisation; the status of women was high,
the wife ranking with the husband; their buildings still extant attest
their skill as engineers and builders; vases, mirrors, and coins of fine
workmanship have been found in their tombs, and jewellery which is
scarcely rivalled; while the tombs themselves are remarkable for their
furnishings of chairs, ornaments, decorations, &c., showing that they
regarded these sanctuaries more as dwellings of departed spirits than as
sepulchres of the dead.
ETTMÜLLER, ERNST MORITZ LUDWIG, a German philologist, born at
Gerfsdorf, Saxony, professor of German literature in Zurich in 1863; did
notable work in connection with Anglo-Saxon and in Middle German dialects
(1802-1877).
ETTRICK, a Scottish river that rises in Selkirkshire and joins the
Tweed, 3 m. below Selkirk; the Yarrow is its chief tributary; a forest of
the same name once spread over all Selkirkshire and into the adjoining
counties; the district is associated with some of the finest ballad and
pastoral poetry of Scotland.
ETTRICK SHEPHERD, JAMES HOGG (q. v.).
ETTY, WILLIAM, a celebrated painter, born at York; rose from being a
printer's apprentice to the position of a Royal Academician; considered
by Ruskin to have wasted his great powers as a colourist on inadequate
and hackneyed subjects (1787-1849).
EUBOEA (82), the largest of the Grecian Isles, skirts the mainland
on the SE., to which it is connected by a bridge spanning the Talanta
Channel, 40 yards broad; it is about 100 m. in length; has fine quarries
of marble, and mines of iron and copper are found in the mountains;
Chalcis is the chief town.
EUCLID OF ALEXANDRIA, a famous geometrican, whose book of
"Elements," revised and improved, still holds its place as an English
school-book, although superseded as such in America and the Continent;
founded a school of Mathematics in Alexandria; flourished about 300 B.C.
EUCLID OF MEGARA, a Greek philosopher, a disciple of Socrates, was
influenced by the ELEATICS (q. v.); founded the Megaric school
of Philosophy, whose chief tenet is that the "good," or that which is one
with itself, alone is the only real existence.
EUDÆMONISM, the doctrine that the production of happiness is the aim
and measure of virtue.
EUDOCIA, the ill-fated daughter of an Athenian Sophist, wife of
Theodosius II., embraced Christianity, her name Athenais previously; was
banished by her husband on an ill-founded charge of infidelity, and spent
the closing years of her life in Jerusalem, where she became a convert to
the views of EUTYCHES (q. v.) (394-400).
EUDOXUS OF CNIDUS, a Grecian astronomer, was a pupil of Plato, and
afterwards studied in Egypt; said to have introduced a 365½ day year into
Greece; flourished in the 4th century B.C.
EUGENE, FRANÇOIS, PRINCE OF SAVOY, a renowned general, born at
Paris, and related by his mother to Cardinal Mazarin; he renounced his
native land, and entered the service of the Austrian Emperor Leopold;
first gained distinction against the Turks, whose power in Hungary he
crushed in the great victory of Pieterwardein (1697); co-operated with
Marlborough in the war of the Spanish Succession, and shared the glories
of his great victories, and again opposed the French in the cause of
Poland (1663-1736).
EUGÉNIE, EX-EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH, born at Granada, second daughter
of Count Manuel Fernandez of Montigos and Marie Manuela Kirkpatrick of
Closeburn, Dumfriesshire; married to Napoleon III. in 1853; had to leave
France in 1870, and has since January 1873 lived as his widow at
Chiselhurst, Kent; _b_. 1826.
EUGENIUS, the name of four Popes. E., St., I., Pope from 654 to 658
(festival, August 27); E. II., Pope from 824 to 827; E. III., Pope from
1145 to 1153; E. IV., Pope from 1431 to 1447.
EUGENIUS IV., Pope, born at Venice; his pontificate was marked by a
schism created by proceedings in the Council of Basel towards the reform
of the Church and the limitation of the papal authority, the issue of
which was that he excommunicated the Council and the Council deposed him;
he had an unhappy time of it, and in his old age regretted he had ever
left his monastery to assume the papal crown.
EUGUBINE TABLES, seven bronze tablets discovered in 1441 near
Eugubium, in Italy, containing inscriptions which supply a key to the
original tongues of Italy prior to Latin.
EUHEMERISM, the theory that the gods of antiquity are merely deified
men, so called from Euhemeros, the Greek who first propounded the theory,
and who lived 316 B.C.
EULENSPIEGEL (i. e. Owl-glass), the hero of a popular German tale,
which relates no end of pranks, fortunes, and misfortunes of a wandering
mechanic born in a village in Brunswick; buried in 1350 at Mölln, in
Lauenburg, where they still show his tombstone sculptured with an owl
and a glass.
EULER, LEONHARD, a celebrated mathematician, born at Basel;
professor in St. Petersburg successively of Physics and Mathematics; came
to reside in Berlin in 1741 at the express invitation of Frederick the
Great; returned to St. Petersburg in 1746, where he died; besides many
works issued in his lifetime, he left 200 MSS., which were published
after his death (1707-1783).
EUMENIDES (i. e. the Well-meaning), a name given to the
ERINNYES (q. v.) or Furies, from a wholesome and prudent dread
of calling them by their true name.
EUMOLPUS, the founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alleged to have
been a priest of Demeter or Ceres.
EUNOMIANS, an ultra-Arian sect of the 4th century, which soon
dwindled away after breaking from the orthodox Church; called after
EUNOMIUS (q. v.).
EUNOMIUS, an Arian divine, born in Cappadocia; head of a sect who
maintained that the Father alone was God, that the Son was generated from
Him, and the Spirit from the Son; was bishop of Cyzicum, a post he
by-and-by resigned; _d_. 394.
EUPATORIA (13), a Russian town on the Crimean coast, in the
government of Taurida, 40 m. NW. of Simferopol; has a fine Tartar mosque,
and does a large export trade in hides and cereals; during the Crimean
War was an important military centre of the Allies.
EUPHEMISM, is in speech or writing the avoiding of an unpleasant or
indelicate word or expression by the use of one which is less direct, and
which calls up a less disagreeable image in the mind. Thus for "he died"
is substituted "he fell asleep," or "he is gathered to his fathers"; thus
the Greeks called the "Furies" the "Eumenides," "the benign goddesses,"
just as country people used to call elves and fairies "the good folk
neighbours."
EUPHRATES, a river in West Asia, formed by the junction of two
Armenian streams; flows SE. to Kurnah, where it is joined by the Tigris.
The combined waters--named the Shat-el-Arab--flow into the Persian Gulf;
is 1700 m. long, and navigable for 1100 m.
EUPHROSYNE, the cheerful one, or life in the exuberance of joy, one
of the three Graces. See GRACES.
EUPHUISM, an affected bombastic style of language, so called from
"Euphues," a work of Sir John Lyly's written in that style.
EURE (349), a dep. of France, in Normandy, so called from the river
Eure which traverses it.
EURE-ET-LOIR (285), a dep. of France lying directly S. of the
preceding; chief rivers the Eure in the N. and the Loir in the S.
EUREKA (i. e. I have found it), the exclamation of Archimedes on
discovering how to test the purity of the gold in the crown of
HIERO (q. v.); he discovered it, tradition says, when taking a
bath.
EURIPIDES, a famous Greek tragic dramatist, born at Salamis, of
wealthy parents; first trained as an athlete, and then devoted himself to
painting, and eventually to poetry; he brought out his first play at the
age of 25, and is reported to have written 80 plays, of which only 18 are
extant, besides fragment of others; of these plays the "Alcestes,"
"Bacchæ," "Iphigenia at Aulis," "Electra," and "Medea" may be mentioned;
he won the tragic prize five times; tinged with pessimism, he is
nevertheless less severe than his great predecessors Sophocles and
Æschylus, surpassing them in tenderness and artistic expression, but
falling short of them in strength and loftiness of dramatic conception;
Sophocles, it is said, represented men as they ought to be, and Euripides
as they are; he has been called the Sophist of tragic poets
(480-406 B.C.).
EUROPA, a maiden, daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, whom Zeus,
disguised as a white bull, carried off to Crete, where she became by him
the mother of MINOS, RHADAMANTHUS, and SARPEDON (q. v.).
EUROPE (361,000), the most important, although the second smallest,
of the five great land divisions of the globe; is, from a geographical
point of view, a peninsula of Asia; the Caspian Sea, Ural River and
mountains, form its Asiatic boundary, while on the other three sides it
is washed by the Mediterranean on the S., Atlantic on the W., and Arctic
Ocean on the N.; its coast-line is so highly developed that to every 190
sq. m. of surface there is 1 m. of coast; this advantage, combined with
the varied adaptability of its land, rivers, and inland seas, and its
central position, has made it the centre of civilisation and the theatre
of the main events of the world's history. Its greatest length is 3370 m.
from Cape St. Vincent to the Urals, and its greatest breadth 2400 m. from
Cape Matapan to Nordkyn, while its area is about 3,800,000 sq. m.; it is
singularly free from wild animals, has a fruitful soil richly cultivated,
and possesses in supreme abundance the more useful metals. Its peoples
belong to the two great ethnological divisions, the Caucasian and
Mongolian groups; to the former belong the Germanic, Romanic, Slavonic,
and Celtic races, and to the latter the Finns, Magyars, and Turks.
Christianity is professed throughout, except amongst the Jews, of whom
there are about six millions, and in Turkey, where Mohammedanism claims
about seven millions; of Catholics there are about 155 millions, of
Protestants 85, and of the Greek Church 80. Amongst the 18 countries the
form of government most prevailing is the hereditary monarchy, resting
more and more on a wide representation of the people.
EUROTAS, the classic name of the Iri, a river of Greece, which flows
past Sparta and discharges into the Gulf of Laconia, 30 m. long.
EURUS, the god of the withering east wind.
EURYDICE. See ORPHEUS.
EURYSTHEUS, the king of Mycenæ, at whose command, as subject to him
by fate, Hercules was required to perform his 12 labours, on the
achievement of which depended his admission to the rank of an immortal.
EUSEBIUS PAMPHILI, a distinguished early Christian writer, born in
Palestine, bishop of Cæsarea in 313; headed the moderate Arians at the
Council of Nice, who shrank from disputing about a subject so sacred as
the nature of the Trinity; wrote a history of the world to A.D. 328; his
"Ecclesiastical History" is the first record of the Christian Church up
to 324; also wrote a Life of Constantine, who held him in high favour;
many extracts of ancient writers no longer extant are found in the works
of Eusebius (about 264-340).
EUSTACHIO, BARTOLOMMEO, an Italian physician of the 16th century;
settled at Rome, made several anatomical discoveries, among others those
of the _tube_ from the middle ear to the mouth, and a _valve_ on the wall
of the right auricle of the heart, both called _Eustachian_ after him.
EUSTATHIUS, archbishop of Thessalonica, a Greek commentator of
Homer, born in Constantinople; a man of wide classical learning, and his
work on Homer of value for the extracts of writings that no longer exist;
_d_. 1198.
EUTERPË, the Muse of lyric poetry, represented in ancient works of
art with a flute in her hand.
EUTROPIUS, FLAVIUS, a Roman historian, secretary to the Emperor
Constantine; wrote an epitome of Roman history, which from its simplicity
and accuracy still retains its position as a school-book; _d_. about 370.
EUTYCHES, a Byzantine heresiarch, who, in combating
NESTORIANISM (q. v.), fell into the opposite extreme, and
maintained that in the incarnation the human nature of Christ was
absorbed in the divine, a doctrine which was condemned by the Council of
Chalcedon in 448 (378-454).
EUTYCHIANISM. See SUPRA.
EUXINE, a Greek name for the BLACK SEA (q. v.).
EVANDER, an Arcadian, who is said to have come from Greece with a
colony to Latium and settled in it 60 years before the Trojan war, and
with whom Æneas formed an alliance when he landed in Italy; he is
credited with having introduced the civilising arts of Greece.
EVANGELICAL, a term applied to all those forms of Christianity which
regard the atonement of Christ, or His sacrifice on the Cross for sin, as
the ground and central principle of the Christian faith.
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, an alliance of Christians of all countries and
denominations holding what are called evangelical principles, and founded
in 1845.
EVANGELICAL UNION, a religious body in Scotland which originated in
1843 under the leadership of James Morison of Kilmarnock, and professed a
creed which allowed them greater freedom as preachers of the gospel of
Christ. See MORISONIANISM.
EVANGELINE, the heroine of a poem by Longfellow of the same name,
founded on an incident connected with the expulsion of the natives of
Acadia from their homes by order of George II.
EVANGELIST, a name given in the early Church to one whose office it
was to persuade the ignorant and unbelieving into the fold of the Church.
EVANS, SIR DE LACY, an English general, born at Moeg, Ireland;
served in the Peninsular war; was present at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo;
commanded the British Legion sent to assist Queen Isabella in Spain, and
the second division of the army in the Crimea and the East; was for many
years a member of Parliament (1787-1870).
EVANS, MARY ANN, the real name of GEORGE ELIOT (q. v.).
EVELYN, JOHN, an English writer, born at Wotton, Surrey; travelled
in France and Italy during the Civil War, where he devoted much time to
gardening and the study of trees; was author of a celebrated work,
entitled "Sylva; or, A Discourse of Forest Trees," &c.; did much to
improve horticulture and introduce exotics into this country; his
"Memoirs," written as a diary, are full of interest, "is justly famous
for the fulness, variety, and fidelity of its records" (1620-1706).
EVEREST, MOUNT, the highest mountain in the world; is one of the
Himalayan peaks in Nepal, India; is 29,002 ft. above sea-level.
EVERETT, ALEXANDER HILL, an American diplomatist and author, born at
Boston; was U.S. ambassador at The Hague and Madrid, and commissioner to
China; wrote on a variety of subjects, including both politics and
belles-lettres, and a collection of critical and miscellaneous essays
(1792-1847).
EVERETT, EDWARD, American scholar, statesman, and orator, brother of
the preceding; was a Unitarian preacher of great eloquence; distinguished
as a Greek scholar and professor; for a time editor of the _North
American Review_; was a member of Congress, and unsuccessful candidate
for the Vice-Presidency of the Republic; his reputation rests on his
"orations," which are on all subjects, and show great vigour and
versatility of genius (1794-1865).
EVERLASTING NO, THE, Carlyle's name for the spirit of unbelief in
God, especially as it manifested itself in his own, or rather
Teufelsdröckh's, warfare against it; the spirit, which, as embodied in
the MEPHISTOPHELES (q. v.) of Goethe, is for ever denying,--_der
stets verneint_--the reality of the divine in the thoughts, the
character, and the life of humanity, and has a malicious pleasure in
scoffing at everything high and noble as hollow and void. See SARTOR
RESARTUS.
EVERLASTING YEA, THE, Carlyle's name for the spirit of faith in God
in an express attitude of clear, resolute, steady, and uncompromising
antagonism to the Everlasting No, on the principle that there is no such
thing as faith in God except in such antagonism, no faith except in such
antagonism against the spirit opposed to God.
EVERSLEY, a village in Hampshire, 13 m. NE. of Basingstoke; the
burial-place of Charles Kingsley, who for 35 years was rector of the
parish.
EVERSLEY, CHARLES SHAW LEFEVRE, VISCOUNT, politician; graduated at
Cambridge; called to the bar; entered Parliament, and in 1839 became
Speaker of the House of Commons, a post he held with great acceptance for
18 years; retired, and was created a peer (1794-1888).
EVIL EYE, a superstitious belief that certain people have the power
of exercising a baneful influence on others, and even animals, by the
glance of the eyes. The superstition is of ancient date, and is met with
among almost all races, as it is among illiterate people and savages
still. It was customary to wear amulets toward the evil off.
EVOLUTION, the theory that the several species of plants and animals
on the globe were not created in their present form, but have all been
evolved by modifications of structure from cruder forms under or
coincident with change of environment, an idea which is being applied to
everything organic in the spiritual as well as the natural world. See
DARWINIAN THEORY.
EV`ORA, a city of Portugal, beautifully situated in a fertile plain
80 m. E. of Lisbon, once a strong place, and the seat of an archbishop;
it abounds in Roman antiquities.
EVREMOND, SAINT, a lively and witty Frenchman; got into trouble in
France from the unbridled indulgence of his wit, and fled to England,
where he became a great favourite at the court of Charles II., and
enjoyed himself to the top of his bent; his letters are written in a most
graceful style (1613-1703).
EVREUX (14), capital of the dep. of Eure, on the Iton, 67 m. NW. of
Paris; is an elegant town; has a fine 11th-century cathedral, an
episcopal palace with an old clock tower; interesting ruins have been
excavated in the old town; is the seat of a bishop; paper, cotton, and
linen are manufactured, and a trade is carried on in cereals, timber, and
liqueurs.
EWALD, GEORG HEINRICH AUGUST VON, a distinguished Orientalist and
biblical scholar, born at Göttingen, and professor both there and at
Tübingen; his works were numerous, and the principal were "The Poetic
Books of the Old Testament," "The Prophets," and "The History of the
People of Israel"; he was a student and interpreter of the concrete, and
belonged to no party (1803-1875).
EWALD, JOHANNES, a Danish dramatist and lyrist, born at Copenhagen;
served as a soldier in the German and Austrian armies; studied theology
at Copenhagen; disappointed in love, he devoted himself to poetical
composition; ranks as the founder of Danish tragedy, and is the author of
some of the finest lyrics in the language (1743-1781).
EWIGE JUDE, the Everlasting Jew, the German name for the Wandering
Jew.
EXCALIBUR, the magic sword of King Arthur, which only he could
unsheathe and wield. When he was about to die he requested a knight to
throw it into a lake close by, who with some reluctance threw it, when a
hand reached out to seize it, flourished it round three times, and then
drew it under the water for good.
EXCOMMUNICATION, an ecclesiastical punishment inflicted upon
heretics and offenders against the Church laws and violators of the moral
code; was formulated in the Christian Church in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries. It varied in severity according to the degree of
transgression, but in its severest application involved exclusion from
the Eucharist, Christian burial, and the rights and privileges of the
Church; formerly it had the support of the civil authority, but is now a
purely spiritual penalty.
EXELMANS, REMY JOSEPH ISODORE, COMTE, a distinguished French
marshal, born at Bar-le-Duc; entered the army at 16; won distinction in
the Naples campaign, and for his services at Eylau in 1807 was made a
Brigadier-General; was taken prisoner in Spain while serving under Murat,
and sent to England, where he was kept prisoner three years; liberated,
took part in Napoleon's Russian campaign, for his conduct in which he was
appointed a General of Division; after Napoleon's fall lived in exile
till 1830; received honours from Louis Philippe, and was created a
Marshal of France by Louis Napoleon in 1851 (1775-1852).
EXETER (50), the capital of Devonshire, on the Exe, 75 m. SW. of
Bristol, a quaint old town; contains a celebrated cathedral founded in
1112.
EXETER HALL, a hall in the Strand, London; head-quarters of the
Y.M.C.A.; erected in 1831 for holding religious and philanthropic meetings.
EXMOOR, an elevated stretch of vale and moorland in the SW. of
Somerset, NE. of Devonshire; has an area of over 100 sq. m., 25 of which
are covered with forest.
EXMOUTH (8), a noted seaside resort on the Devonshire coast, at the
mouth of the Exe, 11 m. SE. of Exeter; has a fine beach and promenade.
EXODUS (i. e. the Going out), the book of the Old Testament which
records the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage,
and the institution of the moral and ceremonial laws for the nation;
consists partly of history and partly of legislation.
"EXODUS FROM HOUNDSDITCH," the contemplated title of a work which
Carlyle would fain have written, but found it impossible in his time.
"Out of Houndsditch indeed!" he exclaims. "Ah, were we but out, and had
our own along with us" (our inheritance from the past, he means). "But
they that have come hitherto have come in a state of brutal nakedness,
scandalous mutilation" (having cast their inheritance from the past
away), "and impartial bystanders say sorrowfully, 'Return rather; it is
better even to return!'" Houndsditch was a Jew's quarter, and old
clothesmarket in London, and was to Carlyle the symbol of the alarming
traffic at the time in spiritualities fallen extinct. Had he given a list
of these, as he has already in part done, without labelling them so, he
would only, he believed, have given offence both to the old-rag
worshippers and those that had cast the rags off, and were all,
unwittingly to themselves, going about naked; considerate he in this of
preserving what of worth was in the past.
EXOGENS, the name for the order of plants whose stem is formed by
successive accretions to the outside of the wood under the bark.
EXORCISM, conjuration by God or Christ or some holy name, of some
evil spirit to come out of a person; it was performed on a heathen as an
idolater, and eventually on a child as born in sin prior to baptism.
EXOTERIC, a term applied to teaching which the uninitiated may be
expected to comprehend, and which is openly professed, as in a public
confession of faith.
EXTERNALITY, the name for what is _ab extra_ as apart from what is
_ab intra_ in determining the substance as well as form of things, and
which in the Hegelian philosophy is regarded as working conjointly with
the latter.
EXTREME UNCTION, one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church;
an anointing of consecrated or holy oil administered by a priest in the
form of a cross to a sick person upon the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands,
and face at the point of death, which is presumed to impart grace and
strength against the last struggle.
EYCK, JAN VAN, a famous Flemish painter, born at Mass-Eyck; was
instructed by his eldest brother Hubert (1370-1426), with whom he
laboured at Bruges and Ghent; reputed to have been the first to employ
oil colours (1389-1440).
EYLAU, a small town, 23 m. S. of Königsberg, the scene of a great
battle between Napoleon and the Russian and Prussian allies in February
8, 1807; the fight was interrupted by darkness, under cover of which the
allies retreated, having had the worst of it.
EYRE, EDWARD JOHN, explorer and colonial governor, born in
Yorkshire; emigrated to Australia in 1832; successfully explored the
interior of SW. Australia in 1841; governor of New Zealand in 1846, of
St. Vincent in 1852, and of Jamaica in 1862; recalled in 1865, and
prosecuted for harsh treatment of the natives, but was acquitted; his
defence was championed by Carlyle, Ruskin, and Kingsley, while J. S. Mill
supported the prosecution; _b_. 1815.
EYRE, JANE, the heroine of a novel of Charlotte Brontë's so called,
a governess who, in her struggles with adverse fortune, wins the
admiration and melts the heart of a man who had lived wholly for the
world.
EZEKIEL, a Hebrew prophet, born in Jerusalem; a man of priestly
descent, who was carried captive to Babylon 599 B.C., and was banished
to Tel-abib, on the banks of the Chebar, 201 m. from the city, where,
with his family about him, he became the prophet of the captivity, and
the rallying centre of the Dispersion. Here he foretold the destruction
of Jerusalem as a judgment on the nation, and comforted them with the
promise of a new Jerusalem and a new Temple on their repentance, man by
man, and their return to the Lord. His prophecies arrange themselves in
three groups--those denouncing judgment on Jerusalem, those denouncing
judgment on the heathen, and those announcing the future glory of the
nation.
EZRA, a Jewish scribe of priestly rank, and full of zeal for the law
of the Lord and the restoration of Israel; author of a book of the Old
Testament, which records two successive returns of the people from
captivity, and embraces a period of 79 years, from 576 to 457 B.C.,
being a continuation of the book of Chronicles, its purpose being to
relate the progress of the restored theocracy in Judah and Jerusalem,
particularly as regards the restoration of the Temple and the
re-institution of the priesthood.
F
FABER, FREDERICK WILLIAM, a Catholic divine and hymn-writer, born at
Calverley, Yorkshire; at Oxford he won the Newdigate Prize in 1836; for
three years was rector of Elton, but under the influence of Newman joined
the Church of Rome (1845), and after founding a brotherhood of converts
at Birmingham in 1849, took under his charge a London branch of the
Oratory of St. Philip Neri; wrote several meritorious theological works,
but his fame chiefly rests on his fine hymns, the "Pilgrims of the Night"
one of the most famous (1814-1863).
FABER, GEORGE STANLEY, an Anglican divine, born in Holland; a
voluminous writer on theological subjects and prophecy (1773-1854).
FABIAN, ST., Pope from 236 to 251; martyred along with St. Sebastian
during the persecution of Decius.
FABIAN SOCIETY, a middle-class socialist propaganda, founded in
1883, which "aims at the reorganisation of society by the emancipation of
land and industrial capital from individual and class ownership, and
vesting of them in the community for the general benefit"; has
lectureships, and issues "Essays" and "Tracts"; it watches and seizes its
opportunities to achieve Socialist results, and hence the name. See
FABIUS QUINTUS (1).
FABII, a family of ancient Rome of 307 members, all of whom perished
in combat with the Veii, 477 B.C., all save one boy left behind in Rome,
from whom descended subsequent generations of the name.
FABIUS PICTOR, the oldest annalist of Rome; his annals of great
value; 216 B.C.
FABIUS QUINTUS, (Maximus Verrucosus), a renowned Roman general, five
times consul, twice censor and dictator in 221 B.C.; famous for his
cautious generalship against Hannibal in the Second Punic War, harassing
to the enemy, which won him the surname of "Cunctator" or delayer; _d_.
203 B.C.
FABIUS QUINTUS (Rullianus), a noted Roman general, five times consul
and twice dictator; waged successful war against the Samnites in 323 B.C.
FABIUS, THE AMERICAN, General Washington, so called from his Fabian
tactics. See FABIUS QUINTUS (1).
FABLE OF THE BEES, a work by Mandeville, a fable showing how vice
makes some people happy and virtue miserable, conceived as bees.
FABLIAUX, a species of metrical tales of a light and satirical
nature in vogue widely in France during the 12th and 13th centuries; many
of the stories were of Oriental origin, but were infused with the French
spirit of the times; La Fontaine, Boccaccio, and Chaucer drew freely on
them; they are marked by all the vivacity and perspicuity, if also
lubricity, of their modern successors in the French novel and comic
drama.
FABRE, JEAN, a French Protestant, celebrated for his filial piety;
he took the place of his father in the galleys, who had been condemned to
toil in them on account of his religious opinions (1727-1797).
FABRE D'EGLANTINE, a French dramatic poet, born at Carcassonne;
wrote comedies; was a member of the Convention and of the Committee of
Public Safety, of the extreme party of the Revolution; falling under
suspicion, was guillotined along with Danton (1752-1794).
FABRICIUS, CAIUS, a Roman of the old school, distinguished for the
simplicity of his manners and his incorruptible integrity; his name has
become the synonym for a poor man who in public life deals honourably and
does not enrich himself; was consul 282 B.C.
FABRICIUS or FABRIZIO, GIROLAMO, a famous Italian anatomist,
born at Aquapendente; became professor at Padua in 1565, where he gained
a world-wide reputation as a teacher; Harvey declares that he got his
first idea of the circulation of the blood from attending his lectures
(1537-1619).
FABRONI, ANGELO, a learned Italian, born in Tuscany; wrote the Lives
of the illustrious literati of Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, and
earned for himself the name of the "Plutarch" of his country (1732-1803).
FACCIOLATI, JACOPO, lexicographer, born at Torreglia; became a
professor of Theology and Logic at Padua; chiefly interested in classical
literature; he, in collaboration with an old pupil, Egidio Forcellini
(1688-1768), began the compilation of a new Latin dictionary, which was
completed and published two years after his death by his colleague; this
work has been the basis of all subsequent lexicons of the Latin language
(1682-1769).
FACIAL ANGLE, an angle formed by drawing two lines, one horizontally
from the nostril to the ear, and the other perpendicularly from the
advancing part of the upper jawbone to the most prominent part of the
forehead, an angle by which the degree of intelligence and sagacity in
the several members of the animal kingdom is by some measured.
FAËRIE QUEENE, the name of an allegorical poem by Edmund Spenser, in
which 12 knights were, in twelve books, to represent as many virtues,
described as issuing forth from the castle of Gloriana, queen of England,
against certain impersonations of the vices and errors of the world. Such
was the plan of the poem, but only six of the books were finished, and
these contain the adventures of only six of the knights, representing
severally Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and
Courtesy.
FAED, JOHN, a Scottish artist, son of a millwright, born at Barley
Mill, Kirkcudbright; was elected an A.R.S.A. in 1847, and R.S.A. in
1851; his paintings are chiefly of humble Scottish life, the "Cottar's
Saturday Night" among others; _b_. 1820.
FAED, THOMAS, brother of the preceding, born at Barley Mill;
distinguished himself in his art studies at Edinburgh; went to London,
where his pictures of Scottish life won him a foremost place among those
of his contemporaries; was elected R.A. in 1864 and honorary member of
the Vienna Royal Academy; _b_. 1826.
FAENZA (14), an old Italian cathedral town, 31 m. SE. of Bologna;
noted for its manufacture of majolica ware, known from the name of the
town as "faience."
FAGEL, GASPAR, a Dutch statesman, distinguished for his integrity
and the firmness with which he repelled the attempts of Louis XIV.
against his country, and for his zeal in supporting the claims of the
Prince of Orange to the English throne (1629-1688).
FAGOT VOTE, a vote created by the partitioning of a property into as
many tenements as will entitle the holders to vote.
FAHRENHEIT, GABRIEL DANIEL, a celebrated physicist, born at Danzig;
spent much of his life in England, but finally settled in Holland;
devoted himself to physical research; is famed for his improvement of the
thermometer by substituting quicksilver for spirits of wine and inventing
a new scale, the freezing-point being 32° above zero and the boiling 212°
(1686-1736).