[1] Emerka and Fridla (Beowulf, _Quedlingburg Chron._), Aki and
Etgard (_Vilkina Saga_). In the original myth the Harlungs, who are
not to be confused with the Hartung brothers, were sent to bring home
Surya, the bride of the sky-god, Irmintiu.
ERMELAND, or ERMLAND (_Varmia_), a district of Germany, in East Prussia,
extending from the Frisches Haff, a bay in the Baltic, inland towards
the Polish frontier. It is a well-wooded sandy tract of country, has an
area of about 1650 sq. m., a population of 240,000, and is divided into
the districts of Braunsberg, Heilsberg, Rossel and Allenstein.
Ermeland was originally one of the eleven districts of old Prussia and
was occupied by the Teutonic Knights (_Deutscher Orden_), being made in
1250 one of the four bishoprics of the country under their sway. The
bishop of Ermeland shortly afterwards declared himself independent of
the order, and became a prince of the Empire. In 1466 Ermeland, together
with West Prussia, was by the peace of Thorn attached to the crown of
Poland, and the bishop had a seat in the Polish senate. In 1772 it was
again incorporated with Prussia. Among the bishops of the see, which
still exists, with its seat in Frauenberg, may be mentioned Aeneas
Sylvius Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius II., and Cardinal Stanislaus
Hosius (1504-1579), the founder of the Jesuit college in Braunsberg.
See Hipler, _Literaturgeschichte des Bisthums Ermeland_ (Braunsberg,
1873); the _Monumenta historiae Warmiensis_ (Mainz, 1860-1864, and
Braunsberg, 1866-1872, 4 vols.); and Buchholz, _Abriss einer
Geschichte des Ermlands_ (Braunsberg, 1903.)
ERMELO, a district and town of the Transvaal. The district lies in the
south-east of the province and is traversed by the Drakensberg. In it
are Lake Chrissie, the only true lake in the country, and the sources of
the Vaal, Olifants, Komati, and Usuto rivers, which rise within 30 m. of
one another. The region has a general elevation of about 5500 ft. and is
fine agricultural and pastoral country, besides containing valuable
minerals, including coal and gold. Ermelo town, pop. (1904) 1451, is by
rail 175 m. S.E. of Johannesburg, and 74 m. S.S.W. of Machadodorp on the
Pretoria-Delagoa Bay railway. A government experimental farm, with some
1000 acres of plantations, is maintained here.
ERMINE, an alternative name for the stoat (_Putorius ermineus_),
apparently applicable in its proper sense only when the animal is in its
white winter coat. This animal measures 10 in. in length exclusive of
the tail, which is about 4 in. long, and becomes bushy towards the
point. The fur in summer is reddish brown above and white beneath,
changing in the winter of northern latitudes to snowy whiteness, except
at the tip of the tail, which at all seasons is black. In Scottish
specimens this change in winter is complete, but in those found in the
southern districts of England it is usually only partial, the ermine
presenting during winter a piebald appearance. The white colour is
evidently protective, enabling the animals to elude the observations of
their enemies, and to steal unobserved on their prey. It also retains
heat better than a dark covering, and may thus serve to maintain an
equable temperature at all seasons within the body. The colour change
seems to be due to phagocytes devouring the pigment-bodies of the hair,
and not to a moult.
[Illustration: Ermine or Stoat (_Putorius ermineus_).]
The species is a native of the temperate and subarctic zones of the Old
World, and is represented in America by a form which can scarcely be
regarded as specifically distinct. It inhabits thickets and stony
places, and frequently makes use of the deserted burrows of moles and
other underground mammals. Exceedingly sanguinary in disposition, and
agile in its movements, it feeds principally on rats, water-rats and
rabbits, which it pursues with pertinacity and boldness, hence the name
_stoat_, signifying bold, by which it is commonly known. It takes
readily to water, and will even climb trees in pursuit of prey. It is
particularly destructive to poultry and game, and has often been known
to attack hares, fixing itself to the throat of its victim, and defying
all the efforts of the latter to disengage it. The female brings forth
five young ones about the beginning of summer. The winter coat of the
ermine forms one of the most valuable of commercial furs, and is
imported in enormous quantities from Norway, Sweden, Russia and Siberia.
It is largely used for muffs and tippets, and as a trimming for state
robes, the jet black points of the tails being inserted at regular
intervals as an ornament. In the reign of Edward III. the wearing of
ermine was restricted to members of the royal family; but it now enters
into almost all state robes, the rank and position of the wearer being
in many cases indicated by the presence or absence, and the disposition,
of the black spots. (See also FUR.)
ERMINE STREET. Documents and writers of the 11th and succeeding
centuries occasionally mention four "royal roads" in Britain--Icknield
Street, Erning or Ermine Street, Watling Street and Foss Way--as
standing apart from all other existing roads and enjoying the special
protection of the king. Unfortunately these authorities are not at all
agreed as to their precise course; the roads themselves do not occur as
specially privileged in actual legal or other practice, and it is likely
that the category of Four Roads is the invention of a lawyer or an
antiquary. The names are, however, attested to some extent by early
charters which name them among other roads, as boundaries. From these
charters we know that Icknield Street ran along the Berkshire downs and
the Chilterns, that Ermine Street ran more or less due north through
Huntingdonshire, that Watling Street ran north-west across the midlands
from London to Shrewsbury, and Foss diagonally to it from Lincoln or
Leicester to Bath and mid-Somerset. This evidence only proves the
existence of these roads in Saxon and Norman days. But they all seem to
be much older. Icknield Street is probably a prehistoric ridgeway along
the downs, utilized perhaps by the Romans near its eastern end, but in
general not Roman. Ermine Street coincides with part of a line of Roman
roads leading north from London through Huntingdon to Lincoln. This line
is followed by the Old North Road through Cheshunt, Buntingford,
Royston, and Huntingdon to Castor near Peterborough; and thence it can
be traced through lanes and byways past Ancaster to Lincoln. Watling
Street is the Roman highway from London by St Alban's (Verulamium) to
Wroxeter near Shrewsbury (Viroconium). Foss is the Roman highway from
Lincoln to Bath and Exeter. Hence it has been supposed, and is still
frequently alleged, that the Four Roads were the principal highways of
Roman Britain. This, however, is not the case. Icknield Street is not
Roman and the three roads which follow Roman lines, Ermine Street,
Watling Street, and Foss, held no peculiar position in the
Romano-British road system (see BRITAIN: _Roman_). In later times, the
names Ermine Street, Icknield Street and Watling Street have been
applied to other roads of Roman or supposed Roman origin. This, however,
is wholly the work of Elizabethan or subsequent antiquaries and deserves
no credence.
The derivations of the four names are unknown. Icknield, Ermine and
Watling may be from English personal names; Foss, originally Fos, seems
to be the Lat. _fossa_ in its occasional medieval sense of a bank of
upcast earth or stones, such as the _agger_ of a road. (F. J. H.)
ERMOLDUS NIGELLUS, or ERMOLD THE BLACK, was a monk of Aquitaine, who
accompanied King Pippin, son of the emperor Louis I., on a campaign into
Brittany in 824. Subsequently he was banished from Pippin's court on a
charge of inciting the king against his father, and retired to
Strassburg, where he sought to regain the emperor's favour by writing a
poem on his life and deeds. About 830 he obtained his recall, and has
been identified with Hermoldus, who appears as Pippin's chancellor in
838. Ermoldus was a cultured man with a knowledge of the Latin poets,
and this poem, _In honorem Hludovici imperatoris_, has some historical
value. It consists of four books and deals with the life and exploits of
Louis from 781 to 826. He also wrote two poems in imitation of Ovid,
which were addressed to Pippin.
His writings are published in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica,
Scriptores_, Band 2 (Hanover, 1826 fol.); by J.P. Migne in the
_Patrologia Latina_, tome 105 (Paris, 1844); and by E. Dummler in the
_Poetae Latini aevi Carolini_, Band 2 (Berlin, 1881-1884). See W.O.
Henkel, _Uber den historischen Werth der Gedichte des Ermoldus
Nigellus_ (Eilenburg, 1876); W. Wattenbach, _Deutschlands
Geschichtsquellen_, Band 1 (Berlin, 1904); and A. Potthast,
_Bibliotheca historica_, pp. 430-431 (Berlin, 1896).
ERNE, the name of a river and two lakes in the north-west of Ireland.
The river rises in Lough Gowna, county Longford, 214 ft. above
sea-level, flows north through Lough Oughter with a serpentine course
and a direction generally northward, and then broadens into the Upper
Lough Erne, a shallow irregular sheet of water 13 m. long, so beset with
islands as to present the appearance of a number of water-channels
ramifying through the land. The river then winds past the town of
Enniskillen on its island, and enters Lough Erne, a beautiful lake
nearly 18 m. long and 5 m. in extreme width, containing many islands,
but less closely covered with them than the upper lough. One of them,
Devenish, is celebrated for its antiquarian remains (see ENNISKILLEN).
The river then runs westward to Donegal Bay, forming a fine fall at
Ballyshannon (q.v.). Lough Erne contains trout and pike. These waters
admit of navigation by small steamers, but little trade is carried on.
The area of the Erne basin, which includes a vast number of small
loughs, is about 1600 sq. m., and it covers part of the counties Cavan,
Longford, Leitrim, Fermanagh and Donegal. The length of the Erne valley
is about 70 m.
ERNEST I. [ERNST ANTON KARL LUDWIG], duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
(1784-1844), was the son of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and
was born on the 2nd of January 1784. At the time of his father's death
(9th of December 1806) the duchy of Coburg was occupied by Napoleon as
conquered territory, and Ernest did not come into his inheritance till
after the peace of Tilsit (July 1807). Owing to the part he had played
in assisting the Prussians at the battle of Auerstadt he continued out
of favour with Napoleon, and he threw himself with vigour into the war
of liberation against the French. After the battle of Leipzig he was
given the command of the V. army corps and reduced Mainz by blockade; he
also commanded the Saxon troops during the campaign of 1815. By the
congress of Vienna he was rewarded with the principality of Lichtenberg
on the left bank of the Rhine, which received a slight augmentation
after the second peace of Paris. These territories he sold to Prussia in
1834. In 1826, in the division of the territories of the duchy of
Saxe-Gotha which followed the death of its last duke (February 1825), he
received the duchy of Gotha, ceding that of Saalfeld to the duke of
Meiningen; and he now exchanged his style of Ernest III. of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld for that of Ernest I. of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1821
he had given a constitution to Coburg, but he did not interfere with the
traditional system of estates at Gotha. He died on the 29th of January
1844.
Duke Ernest, who was not only a good soldier and keen sportsman, but an
enlightened patron of the arts and sciences, did much for the economic,
educational and constitutional development of his territories; and his
advice always carried great weight in the councils of the other German
sovereigns. It was, however, for the splendid international position
attained by the house of Coburg under him that his reign is chiefly
distinguished. His younger brother Leopold (q.v.) became king of the
Belgians; his brother Ferdinand (b. 1785) married the wealthy princess
Antoinette von Kohary (1816) and was the father of the duchess of
Nemours and of the future King Ferdinand of Portugal. Of his sisters,
Antoinette (1779-1824) married Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg; Juliane
[Alexandra Feodorovna] (1781-1860) married the Russian cesarevich
Constantine, from whom she was, however, divorced in 1820; and Victoria
(1786-1861), wife of Edward Augustus, duke of Kent, became the mother of
Queen Victoria. Duke Ernest was twice married: (1) in 1817 to Louise,
daughter of Duke Augustus of Saxe-Gotha, whom he finally divorced in
1826; (2) in 1831 to Maria, daughter of Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg.
Of his sons, by his first wife, Ernest succeeded him in the duchy, and
Albert married Queen Victoria.
ERNEST II., duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1818-1893), was born at Coburg on
the 21st of June 1818, being the eldest son of Duke Ernest I. He enjoyed
a varied education; he studied at the university of Bonn with his
brother Albert; his military training he received in the Saxon army. The
widespread connexions of his family opened to him many courts of Europe,
and after he became of age he travelled much. The position of his uncle
Leopold, who was king of the Belgians, and especially the marriage of
his brother Albert to the queen of England, his cousin, gave him
peculiar opportunities for becoming acquainted with the political
problems of Europe. In 1840-1841 he undertook a journey to Spain and
Portugal; in the latter country another cousin, Ferdinand, was
king-consort. In 1844 he succeeded his father. His own character and the
influence of the king of the Belgians made him one of the most Liberal
princes in Germany. He was able to bring to a satisfactory conclusion
disputes with the Coburg estates. He passed through the ordeal of the
revolution of 1848 with little trouble, for he anticipated the demands
of the people of Gotha for a reform, and in 1852 introduced a new
constitution by which the administration of his two duchies was
assimilated in many points. The government of his small dominions did
not afford sufficient scope for his restless and versatile ambition;
his desire to play a great part in German affairs was probably increased
by the feeling that, though he was the head of his house, he was to some
extent overshadowed by the younger branches of the family which ruled in
Belgium, England and Portugal. He was one of the foremost supporters of
every attempt made to reform the German constitution and bring about the
unity of Germany. He took a warm interest in the proceedings of the
Frankfort parliament, and it was often said, probably without reason,
that he hoped to be chosen emperor himself. However that may be, he
strongly urged the king of Prussia to accept that position when it was
offered him in 1849; he took a very prominent part in the complicated
negotiations of the following year, and it was at his suggestion that a
congress of princes met at Berlin in 1850. He highly valued the
opportunities which this and similar meetings gave him for exercising
political influence, and he would have felt most at home as a member of
a permanent council of the German princes.
Ambitious also of military distinction, and sympathizing with the rising
of the people of Schleswig-Holstein against the Danes in 1849, Ernest
accepted a command in the federal army. In the engagement of Eckernforde
in April 1849 the troops under his orders succeeded in capturing two
Danish frigates, a remarkable feat of which he was justly proud. His
greatest services to Germany were performed during the years of reaction
which followed; almost alone among the German princes he remained
faithful to the Liberal and National ideals, and he allowed his
dominions to be used as an asylum by the writers and politicians who had
to leave Prussia and Saxony. The reactionary parties looked on him with
great suspicion, and it was at this time that he formed a friendship
with Gustav Freytag, the celebrated novelist, whom he protected when the
Prussian government demanded his arrest. His connexion with the English
court gave him a position of much influence, but no one was more purely
German in his feelings and opinions. The marriage of his niece Victoria
with Frederick, the heir to the Prussian throne, strengthened his
connexion with Prussia, but caused the Conservative party to look with
increased suspicion on the Coburg influence. He was the first German
prince to visit Napoleon III., and was present when Orsini made his
celebrated attempt on the emperor's life. After 1860 he became the chief
patron and protector of the _National Verein_; he encouraged the
newly-formed rifle clubs, and notwithstanding the strong disapproval of
his fellow-monarchs, allowed his court to become the centre of the
rising national agitation. Still a warm adherent of Prussia, in 1862 he
set an example to the other princes by voluntarily making an agreement
by which his troops were placed in war under the command of the king of
Prussia. Like all the other Nationalists, he was much embarrassed by the
policy of Bismarck, and the democratic opinions of the Coburg court,
which were shared by the crown prince Frederick, were a serious
embarrassment to that minister. The opposition became more accentuated
when the duke allowed his dominions to be used as the headquarters of
the agitation in favour of Frederick, duke of Augustenburg, who claimed
the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and it was at this time that
Bismarck is reported to have said that if Frederick the Great had been
alive the duke would have been in the fortress of Spandau. In 1863 he
was present at the _Furstentag_ in Frankfort, and from this time was in
more frequent communication with the Austrian court, where his cousin
Alexander, Count Mensdorff, was minister. However, when war broke out in
1866, he at once placed his troops at the disposition of Prussia;
Bismarck had in an important letter explained to him his policy and
tactics. He was personally concerned in one of the most interesting
events of the war; for the Hanoverian army, in its attempt to march
south and join the Bavarians, had to pass through Thuringia, and the
battle of Langensalza was fought in the immediate neighbourhood of
Gotha. His troops took part in the battle, which ended in the rout of
the Prussians, the duke, who was not present during the fight, in vain
attempting to stop it. He bore an important share in the negotiations
before and after the battle, and his action at this time has been the
subject of much controversy, for it was suggested that while he offered
to mediate he really acted as a partisan of Prussia. For his services to
Prussia he received as a present the forest of Schmalkalden. He was with
the Prussian headquarters in Bohemia during the latter part of the war.
With the year 1866 the political role which Ernest had played ended. The
result was perhaps not quite equal to his expectations, but it must be
remembered how difficult was the position of the minor German princes;
and he quoted with great satisfaction the words used in 1871 by the
emperor William at Versailles, that "to him in no small degree was due
the establishment of the empire." He was a man of varied tastes, a good
musician--he composed several operas and songs--and a keen sportsman, a
quality in which he differed from his brother. Notwithstanding his
Liberalism, he had a great regard for the dignity of his rank and
family, and in his support of constitutional government would never have
sacrificed the essential prerogatives of sovereignty. He died at
Reinhardsbrunn on the 22nd of August 1893. In 1842 the duke married
Alexandrine, daughter of the grandduke of Baden; there were no children
by this marriage and the succession to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha passed
therefore to the children of his younger brother Albert. By Albert's
marriage contract the duchy could not be held together with the English
crown; thus his eldest son, afterwards Edward VII., was passed over and
it came to his second son, Alfred, duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900). When
Alfred died without sons in July 1900 the succession to the duchy passed
to a younger brother Arthur, duke of Connaught; but the duke and his
son, Arthur, passed on their claim to Charles Edward, duke of Albany (b.
1884), who became duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in succession to his uncle
Alfred. In 1905 Charles Edward married Victoria Adelaide (b. 1885),
princess of Schleswig-Holstein, by whom he has a son John Leopold (b.
1906).
Duke Ernest was something of a writer. He brought out an account of the
travels in Egypt and Abyssinia which he undertook in 1862 as _Reise des
Herzogs Ernst von Sachsen-Koburg-Gotha nach Agypten_ (Leipzig, 1864);
and he published his memoirs, _Aus meinem Leben und aus meiner Zeit_
(Berlin, 1887-1889). This work is in three volumes and contains much
valuable information on a most critical period of German history; there
is an English translation by P. Andreae (1888-1890).
See also Sir T. Martin, _Life of H.R.H. the Prince Consort_
(1875-1880); Hon. C. Grey, _Early Years of the Prince Consort_ (1867);
A. Ohorn, _Herzog Ernst II., ein Lebensbild_ (Leipzig, 1894); and E.
Tempeltey, _Herzog Ernst von Koburg und das Jahr 1866_ (Berlin, 1898).
(J. W. He.)
ERNEST AUGUSTUS (1771-1851), king of Hanover and duke of Cumberland,
fifth son of the English king George III., was born at Kew on the 5th of
June 1771. Having studied at the university of Gottingen, he entered the
Hanoverian army, serving as a leader of cavalry when war broke out
between Great Britain and France in 1793, and winning a reputation for
bravery. He lost the sight of one eye at the battle of Tournai in May
1794, and when Hanover withdrew from the war in 1795 he returned to
England, being made lieutenant-general in the British army in 1799. In
the same year he was created duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and
granted an allowance of L12,000 a year, after which he held several
lucrative military positions in England, and began to attend the
sittings of the House of Lords and to take part in political life. A
stanch Tory, the duke objected to all proposals of reform, especially to
the granting of any relief to the Roman Catholics, and had great
influence with his brother the prince regent, afterwards King George
IV., in addition to being often consulted by the Tory leaders. In 1810
he was severely injured by an assassin, probably his valet Sellis, who
was found dead; and subsequently two men were imprisoned for asserting
that the duke had murdered his valet. Recovering from his wounds,
Cumberland again proceeded to the seat of war; and having been made a
British field-marshal, was in command of the Hanoverian army during the
campaigns of 1813 and 1814, being present, although not in action, at
the battle of Leipzig. In May 1815 Ernest married his cousin, Frederica
(1778-1841), daughter of Charles II. duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and
widow of Frederick, prince of Solms-Braunfels, a union which was very
repugnant to his mother Queen Charlotte, and was disliked in England,
where the duke's strong Toryism had made him unpopular. Parliament
refused to increase his allowance from L18,000, to which it had been
raised in 1804, to L24,000 a year, and indignant at the treatment he
received the duke spent some years in Berlin. Returning to England after
the accession of George IV. in 1820, his political power was again
considerable, while deaths in the royal family made it likely that he
would succeed to the throne. Although his personal influence with the
sovereign ceased upon the death of George IV. in 1830, the duke
continued to oppose all measures for the extension of civil and
religious liberty, including the Reform Bill of 1832; and his
unpopularity was augmented by suspicions that he had favoured the
formation of Orange lodges in the army. When William IV. died in June
1837, the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were separated; and
Ernest, as the nearest male heir of the late king, became king of
Hanover. At once cancelling the constitution which William had given to
his kingdom in 1833, he acted as an absolute monarch, and the
constitution which he sanctioned in 1840 was permeated with his own
illiberal ideas. In German politics he was vigilant and active, and
mindful of the material interests of his country. His reign, however,
was a stormy one, and serious trouble between king and people had arisen
when he died at Herrenhausen on the 18th of November 1851 (see HANOVER:
_History_). In spite of his arbitrary rule and his reactionary ideas the
king was popular among his subjects, and his statue in Hanover bears the
words "_Dem Landes Vater sein treues Volk_." Ernest, who is generally
regarded as the ablest of the sons of George III., left an only child,
George, who succeeded him as king of Hanover.
See C.A. Wilkinson, _Reminiscences of the Court and Times of King
Ernest of Hanover_ (London, 1886); von Malortie, _Konig Ernst August_
(Hanover, 1861); and the various histories of Great Britain and
Hanover for the period.
ERNESTI, JOHANN AUGUST (1707-1781), German theologian and philologist,
was born on the 4th of August 1707, at Tennstadt in Thuringia, of which
place his father was pastor, besides being superintendent of the
electoral dioceses of Thuringia, Salz and Sangerhausen. At the age of
sixteen he was sent to the celebrated Saxon cloister school of Pforta
(Schulpforta). At twenty he entered the university of Wittenberg, and
studied afterwards at the university of Leipzig. In 1730 he was made
master in the faculty of philosophy. In the following year he accepted
the office of conrector in the Thomas school of Leipzig, of which J.M.
Gesner was then rector, an office to which Ernesti succeeded in 1734. He
was, in 1742, named professor _extraordinarius_ of ancient literature in
the university of Leipzig, and in 1756 professor _ordinarius_ of
rhetoric. In the same year he received the degree of doctor of theology,
and in 1759 was appointed professor _ordinarius_ in the faculty of
theology. Through his learning and his manner of discussion, he
co-operated with S.J. Baumgarten of Halle (1706-1757) in disengaging the
current dogmatic theology from its many scholastic and mystical
excrescences, and thus paved a way for a revolution in theology. He
died, after a short illness, in his seventy-sixth year, on the 11th of
September 1781.
It is perhaps as much from the impulse which Ernesti gave to sacred and
profane criticism in Germany, as from the intrinsic excellence of his
own works in either department, that he must derive his reputation as a
philologist or theologian. With J.S. Semler he co-operated in the
revolution of Lutheran theology, and in conjunction with Gesner he
instituted a new school in ancient literature. He detected grammatical
niceties in Latin, in regard to the consecution of tenses which had
escaped preceding critics. His canons are, however, not without
exceptions. As an editor of the Greek classics, Ernesti hardly deserves
to be named beside his Dutch contemporaries, Tiberius Hemsterhuis
(1685-1766), L.C. Valckenaer (1715-1785), David Ruhnken (1723-1798), or
his colleague J.J. Reiske (1716-1774). The higher criticism was not even
attempted by Ernesti. But to him and to Gesner is due the credit of
having formed, by discipline and by example, philologists greater than
themselves, and of having kindled the national enthusiasm for ancient
learning. It is chiefly in hermeneutics that Ernesti has any claim to
eminence as a theologian. But here his merits are distinguished, and, at
the period when his _Institutio Interpretis N. T._ was published (1761),
almost peculiar to himself. In it we find the principles of a general
interpretation, formed without the assistance of any particular
philosophy, but consisting of observations and rules which, though
already enunciated, and applied in the criticism of the profane writers,
had never rigorously been employed in biblical exegesis. He was, in
fact, the founder of the grammatico-historical school. He admits in the
sacred writings as in the classics only one acceptation, and that the
grammatical, convertible into and the same with the logical and
historical. Consequently he censures the opinion of those who in the
illustration of the Scriptures refer everything to the illumination of
the Holy Spirit, as well as that of others who, disregarding all
knowledge of the languages, would explain words by things. The "analogy
of faith," as a rule of interpretation, he greatly limits, and teaches
that it can never afford of itself the explanation of words, but only
determine the choice among their possible meanings. At the same time he
seems unconscious of any inconsistency between the doctrine of the
inspiration of the Bible as usually received and his principles of
hermeneutics.
Among his works the more important are:--I. In classical literature:
_Initia doctrinae Solidioris_ (1736), many subsequent editions;
_Initia rhetorica_ (1730); editions, mostly annotated, of Xenophon's
_Memorabilia_ (1737), Cicero (1737-1739), Suetonius (1748), Tacitus
(1752), the _Clouds_ of Aristophanes (1754), Homer (1759-1764),
Callimachus (1761), Polybius (1764), as well as of the _Quaestura_ of
Corradus, the Greek lexicon of Hedericus, and the _Bibliotheca Latina_
of Fabricius (unfinished); _Archaeologia litteraria_ (1768), new and
improved edition by Martini (1790); Horatius Tursellinus _De
particulis_ (1769). II. In sacred literature: _Antimuratorius sive
confutatio disputationis Muratorianae de rebus liturgicis_
(1755-1758); _Neue theologische Bibliothek_, vols. i. to x.
(1760-1769); _Institutio interpretis Nov. Test._ (3rd ed., 1775);
_Neueste theologische Bibliothek_, vols. i. to x. (1771-1775). Besides
these, he published more than a hundred smaller works, many of which
have been collected in the three following publications:--_Opuscula
oratoria_ (1762, 2nd ed., 1767); _Opuscula philologica et critica_
(1764, 2nd ed., 1776); _Opuscula theologica_ (1773). See Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopadie_; J.E. Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol._ iii. (1908).
ERNESTI, JOHANN CHRISTIAN GOTTLIEB (1756-1802), German classical
scholar, was born at Arnstadt, Thuringia, and studied under his uncle,
J.A. Ernesti, at the university of Leipzig. On the 5th of June, 1782, he
was made supplementary professor of philosophy at his own university;
and on the death of his cousin August Wilhelm in 1801 he was for five
months professor of rhetoric. He died on the 5th of June of the
following year.
His principal works are:--Editions of Aesop's _Fabulae_ (1781); of the
_Glossae sacrae of Hesychius_ (1785) and _Suidas and Phavorinus_
(1786); and of _Silius Italicus Punica_ (1791-1792); _Lexicon
Technologiae Graecorum rhetoricae_ (1795); _Lexicon technologiae
Latinorum rhetoricae_ (1797), and Cicero's _Geist und Kunst_
(1799-1802).
ERNST, HEINRICH WILHELM (1814-1865), German violinist and composer, was
born at Brunn, in Moravia, in 1814. He was educated at the
Conservatorium of Vienna, studying the violin under Joseph Bohm and
Joseph Mayseder, and composition under Ignaz von Seyfried. At the age of
sixteen he made a concert tour in south Germany, which established his
reputation as a violinist of the highest promise. In 1832 he went to
Paris, where he lived for several years. During this period he formed an
intimacy with Stephen Heller, which resulted in their charming joint
compositions--the _Pensees fugitives_ for piano and violin. In 1843 he
paid his first visit to London. The impression which he then made as a
violinist was more than confirmed in the following year, when his rare
powers were recognized by the musical public. Thenceforward he visited
England nearly every year, until his health broke down owing to
long-continued neuralgia of a most severe kind. The last seven years of
his life were spent in retirement, chiefly at Nice, where he died on the
8th of October 1865. As a violinist Ernst was distinguished by his
almost unrivalled executive power, loftiness of conception, and
intensely passionate expression. As a composer he wrote chiefly for his
own instrument, and his _Elegie_ and _Otello Fantasia_ rank among the
most treasured works for the violin.
ERODE, a town of British India, in the Coimbatore district of Madras,
situated on the right bank of the river Cauvery, which is here crossed
by an iron railway girder bridge of 22 spans. Pop. (1901) 15,529. Here
the South Indian railway joins the South-Western line of the Madras
railway, 243 m. from Madras. There are exports of cotton and saltpetre;
and the town has a steam cotton press.
EROS, a minor planet discovered by Witt at Berlin on the 14th of August
1898, and, so far as yet known, unique in that its perihelion lies far
within the orbit of Mars.
EROS, in Greek mythology, the god of love. He is not mentioned in Homer;
in Hesiod (_Theog._ 120) he is one of the oldest and the most beautiful
of the gods, whose power neither gods nor men can resist. He also
evolves order and harmony out of Chaos by uniting the separated
elements. This cosmic Eros, who in Orphic cosmogony sprang from the
world-egg which Chronos, or Time, laid in the bosom of Chaos, and which
is the origin of all created beings, degenerated in later mythology into
the capricious god of sexual passion, the son of Aphrodite and Zeus,
Ares or Hermes. He is commonly represented as a mischievous boy, the
tormentor of gods and men, even his own mother not being proof against
his attacks. His brother is Anteros, the god of mutual love, who
punishes those who do not return the love of others, without which Eros
could not thrive; he is sometimes described as the opponent of Eros. The
chief associates of Eros are Pothos and Himeros (Longing and Desire),
Peitho (Persuasion), the Muses and the Graces; he himself is in constant
attendance on Aphrodite. Later writers (Euripides being the first)
assumed the existence of a number of Erotes (like the Roman Amores and
Cupidines) with similar attributes. According to the philosophers, Eros
was not only the god of sexual love, but also of the loyal and devoted
friendship of men; hence the Theban "Sacred Band" was devoted to him,
and the Cretans and Spartans offered sacrifice to him before going into
battle (Athenaeus xiii. p. 561). In Alexandrian poetry Eros is at one
time the powerful god who conquers all, at another the elfish god of
love. For the Roman adaptation of Eros see Cupid, and for the later
legend of Cupid and Psyche see PSYCHE.
In art Eros is represented as a beautiful youth or a winged child. His
attributes are the bow and arrows and a burning torch. The rose, the
hare, the cock and the goat are frequently associated with him. The most
celebrated statue of him was at Thespiae, the work of Praxiteles. Other
famous representations are the Vatican torso and Eros trying his bow (in
the Capitoline museum).
See J.E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_
(1903); G.F. Schomann, _De Cupidine Cosmogonico_ (1852); E. Gerhard,
_Uber den Gott Eros_ (1850); articles in Roscher's _Lexikon der
Mythologie_, Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des antiquites_, and
Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_.
ERPENIUS (original name VAN ERPE), THOMAS (1584-1624), Dutch
Orientalist, was born at Gorcum, in Holland, on the 11th of September
1584. After completing his early education at Leiden, he entered the
university of that city, and in 1608 took the degree of master of arts.
By the advice of Scaliger he studied Oriental languages whilst taking
his course of theology. He afterwards travelled in England, France,
Italy and Germany, forming connexions with learned men, and availing
himself of the information which they communicated. During his stay at
Paris he contracted a friendship with Casaubon, which lasted during his
life, and also took lessons in Arabic from an Egyptian, Joseph Barbatus,
otherwise called Abu-dakni. At Venice he perfected himself in the
Turkish, Persic and Ethiopic languages. After a long absence, Erpenius
returned to his own country in 1612, and on the 10th of February 1613 he
was appointed professor of Arabic and other Oriental languages, Hebrew
excepted, in the university of Leiden. Soon after his settlement at
Leiden, animated by the example of Savary de Breves, who had established
an Arabic press at Paris at his own charge, he caused new Arabic
characters to be cut at a great expense, and erected a press in his own
house. In 1619 the curators of the university of Leiden instituted a
second chair of Hebrew in his favour. In 1620 he was sent by the States
of Holland to induce Pierre Dumoulin or Andre Rivet to settle in that
country; and after a second journey he was successful in inducing Rivet
to comply with their request. Some time after the return of Erpenius,
the states appointed him their interpreter; and in this capacity he had
the duty imposed upon him of translating and replying to the different
letters of the Moslem princes of Asia and Africa. His reputation had now
spread throughout all Europe, and several princes, the kings of England
and Spain, and the archbishop of Seville made him the most flattering
offers; but he constantly refused to leave his native country. He was
preparing an edition of the Koran with a Latin translation and notes,
and was projecting an Oriental library, when he died prematurely on the
13th of November 1624.
Among his works may be mentioned his _Grammatica Arabica_, published
originally in 1613 and often reprinted; _Rudimenta linguae Arabicae_
(1620); _Grammatica Ebraea generalis_ (1621); _Grammatica Chaldaica et
Syria_ (1628); and an edition of Elmacin's _History of the Saracens_.
ERROLL (or ERROL), FRANCIS HAY, 9TH EARL OF (d. 1631), Scottish
nobleman, was the son of Andrew, 8th earl, and of Lady Jean Hay,
daughter of William, 6th earl. The date of his birth is unrecorded, but
he succeeded to the earldom (cr. 1453) in 1585, was early converted to
Roman Catholicism, and as the associate of Huntly joined in the Spanish
conspiracies against the throne of Elizabeth. A letter written by him,
declaring his allegiance to the king of Spain, having been intercepted
and sent by Elizabeth to James in February 1589, he was declared a rebel
by the council. He engaged with Huntly and Crawford in a rebellion in
the north of Scotland, but their forces surrendered at Aberdeen on the
arrival of the king in April; and in July Erroll gave himself up to
James, who leniently refrained from exacting any penalty. In September
of the same year he entered into a personal bond with Huntly for mutual
assistance; and in 1590 displeased the king by marrying, in spite of his
prohibition, Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of the earl of Morton. He
was imprisoned on suspicion of complicity in the attempt made by Gray
and Bothwell to surprise the king at Falkland in June 1592; and though
he obtained his release, he was again proclaimed a rebel on account of
the discovery of his signature to two of the "Spanish Blanks," unwritten
sheets subscribed with the names of the chief conspirators in a plot for
a Spanish invasion of Scotland, to be filled up later with the terms of
the projected treaty. After a failure to apprehend him in March 1593,
Erroll and his companions were sentenced to abjure Romanism or leave the
kingdom; and on their non-compliance were in 1594 declared traitors. On
the 3rd of October they defeated at Glenlivet a force sent against them
under Argyll; though Erroll himself was severely wounded, and Slains
Castle, his seat, razed to the ground. The rebel lords left Scotland in
1595, and Erroll, on report of his further conspiracies abroad, was
arrested by the states of Zealand, but was afterwards allowed to escape.
He returned to Scotland secretly in 1596, and on the 20th of June 1597
abjured Romanism and made his peace with the Kirk. He enjoyed the favour
of the king, and in 1602 was appointed a commissioner to negotiate the
union with England. His relations with the Kirk, however, were not so
amicable. The reality of his conversion was disputed, and on the 21st of
May 1608 he was confined to the city of Perth "for the better resolution
of his doubts," being subsequently declared an obstinate "papist,"
excommunicated, deprived of his estate, and imprisoned at Dumbarton; and
after some further vacillation was finally released in May 1611. Lord
Erroll died on the 16th of July 1631, and was buried in the church of
Slains. He married (1) Anne, daughter of John, 4th earl of Atholl; (2)
Margaret, daughter of the regent Murray; and (3) Elizabeth, daughter of
William, 6th earl of Morton. By his third wife he had several children,
of whom his eldest son, William, succeeded him. The dispute which began
in his lifetime concerning the hereditary office of lord high constable
between the families of Erroll and of the Earl Marischal was settled
finally in favour of the former; thus establishing the precedence
enjoyed by the earls of Erroll next after the royal family over all
other subjects in Scotland.
See _The Erroll Papers_ (Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. ii. 211);
Andrew Lang, _Hist. of Scotland_, vol. ii.; _Hist. MSS. Comm. MSS. of
Earl of Mar and Kellie_; D. Calderwood's _Hist. of the Church of
Scotland_; John Spalding's _Memorials_ (Spalding Club, 1850);
_Collected Essays_ of T.G. Law, ed. by P.H. Brown (1904); _Treason and
Plot_, by M.A.S. Hume (1901).
ERROR (Lat. _error_, from _errare_, to wander, to err), a mistake, a
departure or deviation from what is true, exact or right. For the legal
process by which a judgment could be reversed on the ground of error,
known as a "writ of error," see WRIT and APPEAL. The words "error
excepted" or "errors and omissions excepted" (contracted to "E.E." "E. &
O.E."), are frequently placed at the end of a statement of account or an
invoice, so that the accounting party may reserve the right to correct
any errors or omissions which may be subsequently discovered, or make
further claims in respect of them. In mathematics, "error" is the
deviation of an observed or calculated quantity from its true value. The
calculus of errors leads to the formulation of the "law of error," which
is an analytical expression of the most probably true value of a series
of discordant values (see PROBABILITY).
ERSCH, JOHANN SAMUEL (1766-1828), the founder of German bibliography,
was born at Grossglogau, in Silesia, on the 23rd of June 1766. In 1785
he entered the university of Halle with the view of studying theology;
but soon his whole attention became engrossed by history, bibliography
and geography. At Halle he made the acquaintance of J.E. Fabri,
professor of geography; and when the latter was made professor of
history and statistics at Jena, Ersch accompanied him thither, and aided
him in the preparation of several works. In 1788 he published the
_Verzeichnis aller anonymischen Schriften_, as a supplement to the 4th
edition of Meusel's _Gelehrtes Deutschland_. The researches required for
this work suggested to him the preparation of a _Repertorium uber die
allgemeinen deutschen Journale und andere periodische Sammlungen fur
Erdbeschreibung, Geschichte, und die damit verwandten Wissenschaften_
(Lemgo, 1790-1792). The fame which this publication acquired him led to
his being engaged by Schutz and Hufeland to prepare an _Allgemeines
Repertorium der Literatur_, published in 8 vols. (Jena and Weimar,
1793-1809), which condensed the literary productions of 15 years
(1785-1800), and included an account not merely of the books published
during that period, but also of articles in periodicals and magazines,
and even of the criticisms to which each book had been subjected. While
engaged in this great work he also projected _La France litteraire_,
which was published at Hamburg in 5 vols., from 1797 to 1806. In 1795 he
went to Hamburg to edit the _Neue Hamburger Zeitung_, founded by Victor
Klopstock, brother of the poet, but returned in 1800 to Jena to take
active part in the _Allgemeine Literaturzeitung_. He also obtained in
the same year the office of librarian in the university, and in 1802 was
made professor of philosophy. In 1803 he accepted the chair of geography
and statistics at Halle, and in 1808 was made principal librarian. He
here projected a _Handbuch der deutschen Literatur seit der Mitte des
18. Jahrh. bis auf die neueste Zeit_ (Leipzig, 1812-1814) and, along
with Johann Gottfried Gruber (q.v.), the _Allgemeine Encyklopadie der
Wissenschaften und Kunste_ (Leipzig, 1818 ffg.) which he continued as
far as the 21st volume. The accuracy and thoroughness of this monumental
encyclopaedia make it still an indispensable book of reference. Ersch
died at Halle on the 16th of January 1828.
ERSKINE, EBENEZER (1680-1754), Scottish divine, the chief founder of the
Secession Church (formed of dissenters from the Church of Scotland), was
born on the 22nd of June 1680, most probably at Dryburgh, Berwickshire.
His father, Henry Erskine, who was at one time minister at Cornhill,
Durham, was ejected in 1662 by the Act of Uniformity, and, after
suffering some years' imprisonment, was after the Revolution appointed
to the parish of Chirnside, Berwickshire. After studying at the
university of Edinburgh, Ebenezer became minister of Portmoak,
Kinross-shire. There he remained for twenty-eight years, after which,
in the autumn of 1731, he was translated to the West Church, Stirling.
Some time before this, he, along with some other ministers, was "rebuked
and admonished," by the general assembly, for defending the doctrines
contained in the _Marrow of Modern Divinity_ (see BOSTON, THOMAS). A
sermon which he preached on lay patronage before the synod of Perth in
1733 furnished new grounds of accusation, and he was compelled to shield
himself from rebuke by appealing to the general assembly. Here, however,
the sentence of the synod was confirmed, and after many fruitless
attempts to obtain a hearing, he, along with William Wilson of Perth,
Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy and James Fisher of Kinclaven, was
suspended from the ministry by the commission in November of that year.
Against this sentence they protested, and constituted themselves into a
separate church court, under the name of the associate presbytery. In
1739 they were again summoned before the assembly, and in their
corporate capacity declined to acknowledge the authority of the church,
and were deposed in the following year. They received numerous
accessions to their communion, and remained in harmony with each other
till 1747, when a division took place in regard to the nature of the
oath administered to burgesses. Erskine joined with the "burgher"
section, and became their professor of theology. He continued also to
preach to a numerous congregation in Stirling till his death, which took
place on the 2nd of June 1754. Erskine was a very popular preacher, and
a man of considerable force of character; he acted throughout on
principle with honesty and courage. The burgher and anti-burgher
sections of the Secession Church were reunited in 1820, and in 1847 they
united with the relief synod in forming the United Presbyterian Church.
Erskine's published works consist chiefly of sermons. His _Life and
Diary_, edited by the Rev. Donald Fraser, was published in 1840. His
_Works_ were published in 1785.
ERSKINE, HENRY (1746-1817), lord advocate of Scotland, the second son of
Henry David, 10th earl of Buchan and brother of the lord chancellor
Erskine, was born in Edinburgh on the 1st of November 1746. He was
educated at the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and
was admitted a member of the faculty of advocates in 1768. His
reputation as a clever and fluent speaker was first made in the debates
of the general assembly, of which he had been early elected an elder. In
1783 he was appointed to the office of lord advocate, which he held
during the brief coalition ministry of Fox and North. In 1785 he was
elected dean of the faculty of advocates, and was re-elected annually
till 1796, when his conduct in moving a series of resolutions at a
public meeting, condemning the government's sedition and treason bills,
brought on him the opposition of the ministerial party, and he was
deposed in favour of Robert Dundas. On the formation of the Grenville
ministry in 1806 he again became lord advocate and was returned to
parliament for the Haddington burghs, which he exchanged at the general
election of the same year for the Dumfries burghs. His tenure of the
lord advocateship ended in March 1807 on the downfall of the ministry.
In 1811 he gave up his practice at the bar and retired to his country
residence of Almondel, in Linlithgowshire, where he died on the 8th of
October 1817.
His eldest son, Henry David (1783-1857), succeeded as 12th earl of
Buchan on his uncle's death in 1829.
Erskine's reputation will survive as the finest and most eloquent orator
of his day at the Scottish bar; added to a charming forensic style was a
most captivating wit, which, as Lord Jeffrey said, was "all argument,
and each of his delightful illustrations a material step in his
reasoning." Erskine was also the author of some poems, of which the best
known is "The Emigrant" (1783).
See Lieut.-Col. A. Fergusson's _Henry Erskine_ (1882).
ERSKINE, JOHN (1721-1803), Scottish divine, son of John Erskine of
Carnock, was born on the 2nd of June 1721. He studied law for a time
after completing his course in arts at the university of Edinburgh, but
was eventually licensed to preach in 1743; and was successively parish
minister of Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, Culross, in Fifeshire (1753),
New Greyfriars church in Edinburgh (1758), and Old Greyfriars church in
1768, where he became the colleague of Principal Robertson, the
historian. Here he remained until his death, which took place on the
19th of January 1803. Dr Erskine's writings consist chiefly of
controversial pamphlets on theological subjects. His sermons are clear,
vigorous expositions of a moderate Calvinism, in which metaphysical
argument and practical morality are happily blended. In church politics
he was the leader of the evangelical party; and was much beloved for his
high character and amiability.
For his life and works see Sir H. Moncreiff Wellwood, _Life and
Writings of J. Erskine, D.D._ (Edinburgh, 1818).
ERSKINE, JOHN, of Carnock (1695-1768), Scottish jurist, son of
Lieut.-Colonel John Erskine, was born in 1695. He was admitted a member
of the faculty of advocates in 1719. Although he never enjoyed much
practice at the bar, he acquired a high reputation as a sound and
learned lawyer, and in 1737 was appointed professor of Scots law in the
university of Edinburgh. In 1754 he published his _Principles of the Law
of Scotland_. He retired from his chair in 1765; and during the
remainder of his uneventful life he occupied himself with the
preparation of his great work, the _Institutes of the Law of Scotland_,
which he did not live to publish. He died at Cardross, Perthshire, on
the 1st of March 1768.
Erskine's _Institutes_, although not exhibiting the grasp of principle
which distinguished his great predecessor Lord Stair, is so conspicuous
for learning, accuracy and sound good sense, that it has always been
esteemed of the highest authority on the law of Scotland. The first
edition appeared in 1773 and it has been many times reprinted. The
_Principles_, although published first, is substantially an abridgment
of the larger work, and is in some respects superior to it, being more
concise and direct. It retains its place as the text-book on Scots law,
and is frequently being re-edited.
ERSKINE, JOHN, of Dun (1509-1591), Scottish reformer, the son of Sir
John Erskine, laird of Dun, was born in 1509, and was educated at King's
College, Aberdeen. At the age of twenty-one Erskine was the
cause--probably by accident--of a priest's death, and was forced to go
abroad, where he came under the influence of the new learning. It was
through his agency that Greek was first taught in Scotland by Petrus de
Marsiliers at Montrose. This fact counted for much in the progress of
the Reformation. Erskine was also drawn towards the new faith, being a
close friend of George Wishart, the reformer, from whose fate he was
saved by his wealth and influence, and of John Knox, whose advice openly
to discountenance the mass was given in the lodgings of the laird of
Dun. In the stormy controversies of the time of Mary Stuart and James
VI. Erskine was a conspicuous figure and a moderating influence. He was
able to soothe the queen when her feelings had been outraged by Knox's
denunciations--being a man "most gentill of nature"--and frequently
acted as mediator both between the catholic and reforming parties, and
among the reformers themselves. In 1560 he was appointed--though a
layman--superintendent of the reformed church of Scotland for Angus and
Mearns, and in 1572 he gave his assent to the modified episcopacy
proposed by Morton at the Leith convention. Though never himself
ordained, he was held in such high esteem by the leaders of the church
as to be more than once elected moderator of the general assembly (first
in 1564), and he was amongst those who in 1578 drew up the _Second Book
of Discipline_. From 1579 he was a member of the king's council. He died
in 1591. Erskine owed his peculiar influence among the Scottish
reformers to the union--rare in those days--of steadfast convictions
with a conciliatory manner; Queen Mary described him as "a mild and
sweet-natured man, with true honesty and uprightness."
See the "Dun Papers" in the _Spalding Club Miscellany_, vol. iv.
(1849), and the article by T.F. Henderson in the _Dict. Nat. Biog._
ERSKINE, RALPH (1685-1752), Scottish divine, brother of Ebenezer Erskine
(q.v.), was born on the 18th of March 1685. After studying at the
university of Edinburgh, he was in 1711 ordained assistant minister at
Dunfermline. He homologated the protests which his brother laid on the
table of the assembly after being rebuked for his synod sermon, but he
did not formally withdraw from the establishment till 1737. He was also
present, though not as a member, at the first meeting of the associate
presbytery. When the severance took place on account of the oath
administered to burgesses, he adhered, along with his brother, to the
burgher section. He died after a short illness on the 6th of November
1752.
His works consist of sermons, poetical paraphrases and gospel sonnets.
The _Gospel Sonnets_ have frequently appeared separately. His _Life
and Diary_, edited by the Rev. D. Fraser, was published in 1842.
ERSKINE, THOMAS, of Linlathen (1788-1870), Scottish theologian, youngest
son of David Erskine, writer to the signet in Edinburgh, and of Anne
Graham, of the Grahams of Airth, was born on the 13th of October 1788.
He was a descendant of John, 1st or 6th earl of Mar, regent of Scotland
in the reign of James VI., a grandson of Colonel John Erskine of
Carnock. After being educated at the high school of Edinburgh and at
Durham, he attended the literary and law classes at the university of
Edinburgh, and becoming in 1810 a member of the Edinburgh faculty of
advocates, he for some time enjoyed the intimate acquaintance of
Cockburn, Jeffrey, Scott and other distinguished men whose talent then
lent lustre to the Scottish bar. In 1816 he succeeded to the family
estate of Linlathen, near Dundee, and devoted himself to theology. The
writings of Erskine, especially his published letters, are distinguished
by a graceful style, and possess originality and interest. His
theological views have a considerable similarity to those of Frederick
Denison Maurice, who acknowledges having been indebted to him for his
first true conception of the meaning of Christ's sacrifice. Erskine had
little interest in the "historical criticism" of Christianity, and
regarded as the only proper criterion of its truth its conformity or
nonconformity with man's spiritual nature, and its adaptability or
non-adaptability to man's spiritual needs. He considered the incarnation
of Christ as the necessary manifestation to man of an eternal sonship in
the divine nature, apart from which those filial qualities which God
demands from man could have no sanction; by _faith_ as used in Scripture
he understood to be meant a certain moral or spiritual activity or
energy which virtually implied salvation, because it implied the
existence of a principle of spiritual life possessed of an immortal
power. This faith, he believed, could be properly awakened only by the
manifestation, through Christ, of love as the law of life, and as
identical with an eternal righteousness which it was God's purpose to
bestow on every individual soul. As an interpreter of the mystical side
of Calvinism and of the psychological conditions which correspond with
the doctrines of grace Erskine is unrivalled. During the last
thirty-three years of his life Erskine ceased from literary work. Among
his friends were Madame Vernet, the duchess de Broglie, the younger Mdme
de Stael, M. Vinet of Lausanne, Edward Irving, Frederick D. Maurice,
Dean Stanley, Bishop Ewing, Dr John Brown and Thomas Carlyle. His wide
influence was due to his high character and unassuming earnestness. He
died at Edinburgh on the 20th of March 1870.
His principal works are _Remarks on the Internal Evidence for the
Truth of Revealed Religion_ (1820), an _Essay on Faith_ (1822), and
the _Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel_ (1828). These have all
passed through several editions, and have also been translated into
French. He is also the author of the _Brazen Serpent_ (1831), the
_Doctrine of Election_ (1839), several "Introductory Essays" to
editions of _Christian Authors_, and a posthumous work entitled
_Spiritual Order and Other Papers_ (1871). Two vols. of his letters,
edited by William Hanna, D.D., with reminiscences by Dean Stanley and
Principal Shairp, appeared in 1877.
ERSKINE, THOMAS ERSKINE, 1ST BARON (1750-1823), lord chancellor of
England, was the third and youngest son of Henry David, 10th earl of
Buchan, and was born in Edinburgh on the 10th of January 1750. From an
early age he showed a strong desire to enter one of the learned
professions; but his father, owing to his straitened circumstances, was
unable to do more than give him a good school education at the high
school of Edinburgh and the grammar school of St Andrews. In 1764 he
was sent as a midshipman on board the "Tartar," but on finding, when he
returned to this country after four years' absence in North America and
the West Indies, that there was little immediate chance of his rank of
acting lieutenant being confirmed, he quitted the service and entered
the army, purchasing a commission in the 1st Royals with the meagre
patrimony which had been left to him. But promotion here was as slow as
in the navy; while in 1770 he had added greatly to his difficulties by
marrying the daughter of Daniel Moore, M.P. for Marlow, an excellent
wife, but as poor as himself. However, an accidental visit to an assize
court in the town in which he was quartered, and an interview with Lord
Mansfield, the presiding judge, confirmed his resolve to quit the army
for the law. Accordingly on the 26th of April 1775 he was admitted a
student of Lincoln's Inn. He also on the 13th of January following
entered himself as a gentleman commoner on the books of Trinity College,
Cambridge, but merely that by graduating he might be called two years
earlier.
He read in the chambers of Francis Buller (afterwards Mr Justice Buller)
and George (afterwards Baron) Wood, and was called to the bar on the 3rd
of July 1778. His success was immediate and brilliant. An accident was
the means of giving him his first case, _Rex_ v. _Baillie_, in which he
appeared for Captain Thomas Baillie, the lieutenant-governor of
Greenwich hospital, who had published a pamphlet animadverting in severe
terms upon the abuses which Lord Sandwich, the first lord of the
admiralty, had introduced into the management of the hospital, and
against whom a rule had been obtained from the court of king's bench to
show cause why a criminal information for libel should not be filed.
Erskine was the junior of five counsel; and it was his good fortune that
the prolixity of his leaders consumed the whole of the first day,
thereby giving the advantage of starting afresh next morning. He made
use of this opportunity to deliver a speech of wonderful eloquence,
skill and courage, which captivated both the audience and the court. The
rule was discharged, and Erskine's fortune was made. He received, it is
said, thirty retainers before he left the court. In 1781 he delivered
another remarkable speech, in defence of Lord George Gordon--a speech
which gave the death-blow to the doctrine of constructive treason. In
1783, when the Coalition ministry came into power, he was returned to
parliament as member for Portsmouth. His first speech in the House of
Commons was a failure; and he never in parliamentary debate possessed
anything like the influence he had at the bar. He lost his seat at the
dissolution in the following year, and remained out of parliament until
1790, when he was again returned for Portsmouth. But his success at the
bar continued unimpaired. In 1783 he received a patent of precedence.
His first special retainer was in defence of Dr W.D. Shipley, dean of St
Asaph, who was tried in 1784 at Shrewsbury for seditious libel--a
defence to which was due the passing of the Libel Act 1792, laying down
the principle that it is for the jury, and not for the judge to decide
the question whether or no a publication is a libel. In 1789 he was
counsel for John Stockdale, a bookseller, who was charged with seditious
libel in publishing a pamphlet in favour of Warren Hastings, whose trial
was then proceeding; and his speech on this occasion, probably his
greatest effort, is a consummate specimen of the art of addressing a
jury. Three years afterwards he brought down the opposition alike of
friends and foes by defending Thomas Paine, author of _The Rights of
Man_--holding that an advocate has no right, by refusing a brief, to
convert himself into a judge. As a consequence he lost the office of
attorney-general to the prince of Wales, to which he had been appointed
in 1786; the prince, however, subsequently made amends by making him his
chancellor. Among Erskine's later speeches may be mentioned those for
Horne Tooke and the other advocates of parliamentary reform, and that
for James Hadfield, who was accused of shooting at the king. On the
accession of the Grenville ministry in 1806 he was made lord chancellor,
an office for which his training had in no way prepared him, but which
he fortunately held only during the short period his party was in
power. Of the remainder of his life it would be well if nothing could
be said. Occasionally speaking in parliament, and hoping that he might
return to office should the prince become regent, he gradually
degenerated into a state of useless idleness. Never conspicuous for
prudence, he aggravated his increasing poverty by an unfortunate second
marriage.
His first wife had died in 1805, and he married at Gretna Green a Miss
Mary Buck. The date of this marriage is not definitely known. Once
only--in his conduct in the case of Queen Caroline--does he recall his
former self. He died at Almondell, Linlithgowshire, on the 17th of
November 1823, of pneumonia, caught on the voyage to Scotland.
Erskine's great forensic reputation was, to a certain extent, a
concomitant of the numerous political trials of the day, but it was also
due to his impassioned eloquence and undaunted courage, which so often
carried audience and jury and even the court along with him. As a judge
he did not succeed; and it has been questioned whether under any
circumstances he could have succeeded. For the office of chancellor he
was plainly unfit. As a lawyer he was well read, but by no means
profound. His strength lay in the keenness of his reasoning faculty, in
his dexterity and the ability with which he disentangled complicated
masses of evidence, and above all in his unrivalled power of fixing and
commanding the attention of juries. To no department of knowledge but
law had he applied himself systematically, with the single exception of
English literature, of which he acquired a thorough mastery in early
life, at intervals of leisure in college, on board ship, or in the army.
Vanity is said to have been his ruling personal characteristic; but
those who knew him, while they admit the fault, say that in him it never
took an offensive form, even in old age, while the singular grace and
attractiveness of his manner endeared him to all with whom he came in
contact.
By his first wife he had four sons and four daughters. His eldest son,
David Montagu (1776-1855), was a well-known diplomatist; his second son,
Henry David (1786-1859), was dean of Ripon; and his third son, Thomas
(1788-1864), became a judge of the court of common pleas. By his second
wife he had one son, born in 1821.
In 1772 Erskine published _Observations on the Prevailing Abuses in
the British Army_, a pamphlet which had a large circulation, and in
later life, _Armata_, an imitation of _Gulliver's Travels_. His most
noted speeches have repeatedly appeared in a collected form. See
Campbell's _Lives of the Chancellors_; Moore's _Diaries_; Fergusson's
_Henry Erskine_ (1882); Dumerit's _Henry Erskine, a Study_ (Paris,
1883); Lord Brougham's _Memoir_, prefixed to Erskine's _Speeches_
(1847); Romilly's _Memoirs_; the _Croker Papers_; Lord Holland's
_Memoirs_.
ERUBESCITE, a native copper-iron sulphide, Cu5FeS4, of importance as an
ore of copper. It crystallizes in the cubic system, the usual form being
that of interpenetrating cubes twinned on an octahedral plane. The faces
are usually curved and rough, and the crystals confusedly aggregated
together. Compact and granular masses are of more frequent occurrence.
The colour on a freshly fractured surface is bronzy or coppery, but in
moist air this rapidly tarnishes with iridescent blue and red colours;
hence the names purple copper ore, variegated copper ore (Ger.
_Buntkupfererz_), horse-flesh ore, and erubescite (from the Lat.
_erubescere_, "to grow red"). The lustre is metallic, and the streak
greyish-black; hardness 3; sp. gr. 5.0. Bornite (after Baron Ignaz von
Born, b. 1742, d. 1791) is a name in common use for this mineral, and it
predates erubescite, the name given by J.D. Dana in 1850, but afterwards
rejected by him; French authors use the name phillipsite, after the
English mineralogist, R. Phillips, who analysed the mineral; both these
earlier names had, however, been previously used for other minerals.
Owing to the frequent presence of mechanically admixed chalcopyrite and
chalcocite, the published analyses of erubescite show wide variations,
the copper, for example, varying from 50 to 70%. Even the best Cornish
crystals enclose a nucleus of chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), and an analysis of
these made in 1839 led to the long-accepted formula Cu3FeS3. Recently,
B.J. Harrington has analysed carefully selected material and obtained
the formula Cu5FeS4.
Erubescite occurs in copper-bearing veins, and has been mined as an ore
of copper at Redruth in Cornwall, Montecatini in the province of Pisa,
Tuscany, Bristol in Connecticut, Acton in Canada, and other localities
in North America. The best crystallized specimens are from the Carn Brea
mine and other copper mines in the neighbourhood of Redruth, and from
Bristol in Connecticut. Recently a few large isolated crystals with the
form of icositetrahedra have been found with calcite and albite in a
gold-vein on Frossnitz-Alpe in the Gross-Venediger, Tirol.
(L. J. S.)
ERYSIPELAS (a Greek word, probably derived from [Greek: erythros], red,
and [Greek: pella], skin)--synonyms, _the Rose_, _St Anthony's Fire_--an
acute contagious disease, characterized by a special inflammation of the
skin, caused by a streptococcus. Erysipelas is endemic in most
countries, and epidemic at certain seasons, particularly the spring of
the year. The poison is not very virulent, but it certainly can be
conveyed by bedding and the clothes of a third person. Two varieties are
occasionally described, a traumatic and an idiopathic, but the disease
seems to depend in all cases upon the existence of a wound or abrasion.
In the so-called idiopathic variety, of which _facial erysipelas_ is the
best known, the point of entry is probably an abrasion by the lachrymal
duct.
When the erysipelas is of moderate character there is simply a redness
of the integument, which feels somewhat hard and thickened, and upon
which there often appear small vesications. This redness, though at
first circumscribed, tends to spread and affect the neighbouring sound
skin, until an entire limb or a large area of the body may become
involved in the inflammatory process. There is usually considerable
pain, with heat and tingling in the affected part. As the disease
advances the portions of skin first attacked become less inflamed, and
exhibit a yellowish appearance, which is followed by slight desquamation
of the cuticle. The inflammation in general gradually disappears.
Sometimes, however, it breaks out again, and passes over the area
originally affected the second time. But besides the skin, the subjacent
tissues may become involved in the inflammation, and give rise to the
formation of pus. This is termed _phlegmonous erysipelas_, and is much
more apt to occur in connexion with the traumatic variety of the
disease. Occasionally the affected parts become gangrenous. Certain
complications are apt to arise in erysipelas affecting the surface of
the body, particularly inflammation of serous membranes, such as the
pericardium or pleura.
Erysipelas of the face usually begins with symptoms of general illness,
the patient feeling languid, drowsy and sick, while frequently there is
a distinct rigor followed with fever. Sore throat is sometimes felt, but
in general the first indication of the local affection is a red and
painful spot at the side of the nose or on one of the cheeks or ears.
Occasionally it would appear that the inflammation begins in the throat,
and reaches the face through the nasal fossae. The redness gradually
spreads over the whole surface of the face, and is accompanied with
swelling, which in the lax tissues of the cheeks and eyelids is so great
that the features soon become obliterated and the countenance wears a
hideous expression. Advancing over the scalp, the disease may invade the
neck and pass on to the trunk, but in general the inflammation remains
confined to the face and head. While the disease progresses, besides the
pain, tenderness and heat of the affected parts, the constitutional
symptoms are very severe. The temperature rises often to 105 deg. or
higher, remains high for four or five days, and then falls by crisis.
Delirium is a frequent accompaniment. The attack in general lasts for a
week or ten days, during which the inflammation subsides in the parts of
the skin first attacked, while it spreads onwards in other directions,
and after it has passed away there is, as already observed, some slight
desquamation of the cuticle.
Although in general the termination is favourable, serious and
occasionally fatal results follow from inflammation of the membranes of
the brain, and in some rare instances sudden death has occurred from
suffocation arising from oedema glottidis, the inflammatory action
having spread into and extensively involved the throat. One attack of
this disease, so far from protecting from, appears rather to predispose
to others. It is sometimes a complication in certain forms of exhausting
disease, such as phthisis or typhoid fever, and is then to be regarded
as of serious import. A very fatal form occasionally attacks new-born
infants, particularly in the first four weeks of their lives. In
epidemics of puerperal fever this form of erysipelas has been specially
found to prevail.
The treatment of erysipelas is best conducted on the expectant system.
The disease in most instances tends to a favourable termination; and
beyond attention to the condition of the stomach and bowels, which may
require the use of some gentle laxative, little is necessary in the way
of medicine. The employment of preparations of iron in large doses is
strongly recommended by many physicians. But the chief point is the
administration of abundant nourishment in a light and digestible form.
Of the many local applications which may be employed, hot fomentations
will be found among the most soothing. Dusting the affected part with
powdered starch, and wrapping it in cotton wadding, is also of use.
In the case of phlegmonous erysipelas complicating wounds, free
incisions into the part are necessary.