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The Nuttall encyclopædia

Chapter 8: E
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A concise single-volume reference that condenses over sixteen thousand terse articles into alphabetically arranged entries across history, biography, geography, literature, philosophy, religion, science, and art. Entries provide brief definitions, dates, population figures where relevant, and notes on significance for people, places, events, institutions, mythologies, and cultural practices. Organized for instant consultation rather than exhaustive treatment, it groups and classifies material to aid quick orientation on unfamiliar topics, from celestial bodies and festivals to schools of thought and fictional characters, serving general readers, students, and professionals who need succinct factual summaries and pointers for further inquiry.


Dumas, Jean Baptiste André, a distinguished French chemist, born at Alais; was admitted to the Académie française at the age of 25; at the Revolution of 1848 he became a member of the National Assembly; was created a senator under the Empire, but retired into private life after Sedan; he was distinguished for his studies in chemistry, both theoretical and practical, and ranks among the foremost in the science (1800-1884).


Du Maurier, artist, born in Paris; started in London as a designer of wood engravings; did illustrations for Once a Week, the Cornhill Magazine, &c.., and finally joined the staff of Punch, to which he contributed numerous clever sketches; he published a novel, "Peter Ibbetson," in 1891, which was succeeded in 1895 by "Trilby," which had such a phenomenal success in both England and America (1834-1897).


Dumb Ox, Thomas Aquinas (q. v.), so called from his taciturnity before he opened his mouth and began, as predicted, to fill the world with his lowing.


Dumbarton (17), the county town of Dumbartonshire, and a royal burgh, at the mouth of the Leven, on the Clyde, 15 m. from Glasgow; shipbuilding the chief industry; it was the capital of the kingdom of Strathclyde; adjoining is a castle of historic interest, 250 ft. high, kept up as a military fortress; the county, which is fertile, and was originally part of Lennox, is traversed by the Leven, with its bleach-fields and factories.


Dumbdrudge, an imaginary village referred to in "Sartor," where the natives toil and drudge away and say nothing about it, as villagers all over the world used contentedly to do, and did for most part, at the time "Sartor" was written, though less so now.


Dumbiedikes, a Scotch laird who figures in the "Heart of Midlothian," in love with Jeanie Deans.


Dumesnil, Marie Françoise, a celebrated French tragédienne, born near Alençon; like Mrs. Siddons, surpassed all others at the time in the representation of dignity, pathos, and strong emotion; made her first appearance in 1737, retired in 1775 (1711-1803).


Dumfries (18), an agricultural market-town, county town of Dumfriesshire and a seaport, stands on the left bank of the Nith, with Maxwelltown as suburb on the right, 90 m. SW. of Edinburgh; manufactures tweeds and hosiery, and trades in cattle; here Robert Burns spent the last five years of his life, and his remains lie buried.


Dumfriesshire (74), a south-western Border county of Scotland; an agricultural district, which slopes from a northern pastoral region to the Solway, and is traversed by the fertile valleys of Nithsdale and Annandale.


Dumnorix, a chief of the Æduan nation in Gaul, who gave some trouble to Cæsar in his conquest of Gaul.


Dumont, Augustin-Alexandre, a sculptor, born in Paris (1801-1884).


Dumont, Jean, an eminent French publicist, who settled in Austria and served the emperor; wrote on international law (1660-1726).


Dumont, Louis, a French publicist, born at Geneva, a friend of Mirabeau, memoirs of whom he wrote, and who, coming to England, formed a close intimacy with Jeremy Bentham, and became his disciple and expounder (1759-1829).


Dumont d'Urville, Jules, a celebrated French navigator, born at Condé-sur-Noireau; made a three years' voyage round the world, and visited the Antarctic regions, of which he made a survey; he was distinguished as a scientist no less than a sea-captain; lost his life in a railway accident at Versailles (1790-1842).


Dumoulin, a celebrated French jurist, born at Paris; did for French law what Cujas (q. v.) did for Roman (1500-1560).


Dumouriez, a French general, born at Cambrai, "a wiry, elastic, unwearied man ... creature," as he boasted in his old age, "of God and his own sword ... on the whole, one of Heaven's Swiss"; took when already grey to the Revolution and fought on its behalf; gained the battles of Valmy and Jemmapes; conquered Belgium, but being distrusted, passed over to the ranks of the enemies of France; a man really "without faith; wanted above all things work, work on any side"; died an exile in England (1739-1824). See Carlyle's "French Revolution."


Düna, a river of Russia, which rises near the source of the Volga, and after a W. and NW. course of 650 m. falls into the Gulf of Riga; it is connected with the Dnieper by the Beresina Canal.


Dunbar, an ancient seaport and town of Haddingtonshire, on the coast of the Forth, 29 m. E. of Edinburgh; is a fishing station, and manufactures agricultural implements and paper; was, with its castle, which has stood many a siege, a place of importance in early Scottish history; near it Cromwell beat the Scots under Leslie on September 3, 1650.


Dunbar, William, a Scottish poet, entered the Franciscan order and became an itinerant preaching friar, in which capacity he wandered over the length and breadth of the land, enjoying good cheer by the way; was some time in the service of James IV., and wrote a poem, his most famous piece, entitled "The Thistle and the Rose," on the occasion of the King's marriage with the Princess Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII. His poems were of three classes—allegoric, moral, and comic, the most remarkable being "The Dance," in which he describes the procession of the seven deadly sins in the infernal regions. Scott says he "was a poet unrivalled by any that Scotland has produced" (1480-1520).


Dunblane, a town in Perthshire, 5 m. N. of Stirling, with a beautiful cathedral, which dates back as far as 1240; of the diocese the saintly Leighton was bishop.


Duncan, Adam, Viscount, a British admiral, born at Dundee; entered the navy in 1746; steadily rose in rank till, in 1795, he became admiral of the Blue and commander of the North Sea fleet in 1795; kept watching the movements of the Dutch squadron for two years, till, at the end of that term, it put to sea, and came up with it off Camperdown, and totally defeated it, June 11, 1797 (1731-1804).


Duncan, Thomas, a Scotch artist, born at Kinclaven, Perthshire; painted fancy and Scoto-historical subjects, and a number of excellent portraits; his career, which was full of promise, was cut short by an early death (1807-1845).


Dunciad, The, a satire of Pope's in four books, the "fiercest" as well as the best of his satires, in which, with merciless severity, he applies the lash to his critics, and in which Colley Cibber figures as the King of Dunces.


Duncker, Max, a historical writer, born in Berlin; held a professorship at Halle and Tübingen, and became a minister of State; wrote among other works a work of great learning, in seven vols., entitled the "History of Antiquity" (1811-1886).


Duncombe, T. S., an English politician, M.P. for Finsbury, one of the extreme Liberal party of the time, presented to the House of Commons the Chartist petition in 1842; denounced Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary of the day, for opening Mazzini's letter, and advocated Jewish emancipation (1796-1861).


Dundalk (12), capital of co. Louth, Ireland, 50 m. N. of Dublin; a place of considerable trade and manufactures; is an ancient city; Edward Bruce, the last king of all Ireland, was crowned and resided here; it was besieged and taken more than once, by Cromwell for one.


Dundas (of Arniston), the name of a Scottish family, many of the members of which have distinguished themselves at the bar and on the bench.


Dundas, Henry, Viscount Melville, a junior member of the above family; trained for the bar; rose to be Lord Advocate for Scotland and M.P. for the county of Edinburgh; opposed at first to Pitt, he became at last his ablest coadjutor in Parliament, and did important services in connection with the military and naval defences of the country; his power was sovereign in Scotland; his statue, mounted on a lofty column, adorns one of the principal squares of the New Town of Edinburgh (1741-1811).


Dundee (153), the third largest city in Scotland, stands on the Firth of Tay, 10 m. from the mouth; has a large seaport; is a place of considerable commercial enterprise; among its numerous manufactures the chief is the jute; it has a number of valuable institutions, and sends two members to Parliament.


Dundonald, Thomas Cochrane, Earl of, entered the navy at the age of 17; became captain of the Speedy, a sloop-of-war of 14 guns and 54 men; captured in ten months 33 vessels; was captured by a French squadron, but had his sword returned to him; signalised himself afterwards in a succession of daring feats; selected to burn the French fleet lying at anchor in the Basque Roads, he was successful by means of fire-ships in destroying several vessels, but complained he was not supported by Lord Gambier, the admiral, a complaint which was fatal to his promotion in the service; disgraced otherwise, he went abroad and served in foreign navies, and materially contributed to the establishment of the republic of Chile and the empire of Brazil; in 1830 he was restored by his party, the Whigs, to his naval rank, as a man who had been the victim of the opposite party, and made a vice-admiral of the Blue in 1841; he afterwards vindicated himself in his "Autobiography of a Seaman" (1775-1860).


Dundreary, Lord, a character of the play "Our American Cousin"; the personification of a good-natured, brainless swell; represented uniquely on the stage by Mr. Sothern.


Dunedin (47), the capital of Otago, in New Zealand, situated well south on the E. side of the South Isle, at the head of a spacious bay, and the largest commercial city in the colony; founded by Scotch emigrants in 1848, one of the leaders a nephew of Robert Burns.


Dunes, low hills of sand extending along the coast of the Netherlands and the N. of France.


Dunfermline (19), an ancient burgh in the W. of Fife; a place of interest as a residence of the early kings of Scotland, and as the birthplace of David II., James I., and Charles I., and for its abbey; it stands in the middle of a coal-field, and is the seat of extensive linen manufactures.


Dunkeld, a town in Perthshire, 15 m. NW. of Perth, with a fine 14th-century cathedral.


Dunkers, a sect of Quakerist Baptists in the United States.


Dunkirk (40), the most northern seaport and fortified town of France, on the Strait of Dover; has manufactures and considerable trade.


Dunnet Head, a rocky peninsula, the most northerly point in Scotland, the rocks from 100 to 600 ft. high.


Dunnottar Castle, an old castle of the Keiths now in ruins, on the flat summit of a precipitous rock 1½ m. S. of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland, and connected with the mainland by a neck of land called the "Fiddle Head"; famous in Scottish history as a State prison, and as the place of safe-keeping at a troubled period for the Scottish regalia, now in Edinburgh Castle.


Dunois, Jean, a French patriot, called the Bastard of Orleans, born in Paris, natural son of Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI.; one of the national heroes of France; along with Joan of Arc, compelled the English to raise the siege of Orleans, and contributed powerfully, by his sword, to all but expel the English from France after the death of that heroine (1402-1468).


Duns Scotus, Johannes, one of the most celebrated of the scholastics of the 14th century, whether he was native of England, Scotland, or Ireland is uncertain; entered the Franciscan order, and from his acuteness got the name of "Doctor Subtilis"; lectured at Oxford to crowds of auditors, and also at Paris; was the contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, and the head of an opposing school of Scotists, as against Thomists, as they were called; whereas Aquinas "proclaimed the Understanding as principle, he proclaimed the Will, from whose spontaneous exercise he derived all morality; with this separation of theory from practice and thought from thing (which accompanied it) philosophy became divided from theology, reason from faith; reason took a position above faith, above authority (in modern philosophy), and the religious consciousness broke with the traditional dogma (at the Reformation)."


Dunstan, St., an English ecclesiastic, born at Glastonbury; a man of high birth and connection as well as varied accomplishments; began a religious life as a monk living in a cell by himself, and prevailed in single combat on one occasion with the devil; became abbot of Glastonbury, in which capacity he adopted the rôle of statesman, and arose to great authority during the reign of Edgar, becoming archbishop of Canterbury, ruling the nation with vigour and success, but with the death of Edgar his power declined, and he retired to Canterbury, where he died of grief and vexation; he is the patron saint of goldsmiths (924-988).


Dunton, Watts. See Watts, Theodore.


Dupanloup, a French prelate, bishop of Orleans, born at St. Felix, in Savoy; a singularly able and eloquent man; devoted himself to educational emancipation and reform; protested vigorously against papal infallibility; yielded at length, and stood up in defence of the Church (1802-1878).


Duperré, a French admiral, born at La Rochelle; contributed along with Marshal Bourmont to the taking of Algiers (1775-1846).


Duperron, cardinal, a Swiss by birth and a Calvinist by religious profession; went to Paris, turned papist, and rose to ecclesiastical eminence in France under Henry IV. (1556-1618).


Dupin, André, French jurist and statesman; distinguished at the time of the revolution of the three days as a supporter of Louis Philippe, and of the house of Orleans after him (1783-1865).


Dupleix, Joseph, a French merchant, head of a factory at Chandernagore, who rose to be governor of the French settlements in India, and in the management of which he displayed conspicuous ability, defending them against the English and receiving the dignity of marquis; jealousy at home, however, led to his recall, and he was left to end his days in neglect and poverty, though he pled hard with the cabinet at Versailles to have respect to the sacrifices he made for his country (1697-1763).


Duplessis, Mornay, a soldier, diplomatist, and man of letters; a leader of the Huguenots, who, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, visited England, where he was received with favour by Elizabeth in 1575; entered the service of the King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. of France, but on Henry's reconciliation with the Church of Rome, retired into private life and devoted himself to literary pursuits; he was called the "Pope of the Huguenots"; d. 1623.


Dupont, Pierre, French song-writer; his songs, "Le Chant des Ouvriers" and "Les Boeufs," the delight of the young generation of 1848 (1820-1872).


Dupont de l'Eure, a French politician, born at Neubourg; filled several important offices in the successive periods of revolution in France; was distinguished for his integrity and patriotism, and made President of the Provisional Government in 1848 (1767-1855).


Dupont de Nemours, French political economist; took part in the Revolution; was opposed to the excesses of the Jacobin party, but escaped with his life; wrote a book entitled "Philosophie de l'Universe" (1739-1817).


Dupuis, Charles François, a French savant; was a member of the Convention of the Council of the Five Hundred, and President of the Legislative Body during the Revolution period; devoted himself to the study of astronomy in connection with mythology, the result of which was published in his work in 12 vols., entitled "Origine de tous les Cultes, ou la Religion Universelle"; he advocated the unity of the astronomical and religious myths of all nations (1742-1809).


Dupuy, M. Charles, French statesman, born at Puy; elected to the Chamber in 1885; became Premier in 1893 and in 1894; was in office when Dreyfus was condemned and degraded, and resigned in 1895; b. 1851.


Dupuytren, Baron, a celebrated French surgeon, born at Pierre-Buffière; he was a man of firm nerve, signally sure and skilful as an operator, and contributed greatly, both by his inventions and discoveries, to the progress of surgery; a museum of pathological anatomy, in which he made important discoveries, bears his name (1777-1835).


Duquesne, Abraham, Marquis, an illustrious naval officer of France, born at Dieppe; distinguished himself in many a naval engagement, and did much to enhance the naval glory of the country; among other achievements plucked the laurels from the brow of his great rival, De Ruyter, by, in 1676, defeating the combined fleets of Spain and Holland under his command; Louis XIV. offered him a marshal's baton if he would abjure Calvinism, but he declined; he was the only one of the Huguenots excepted from proscription in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but his last days were saddened by the banishment of his children (1610-1688).


Dura Den, a glen near Cupar-Fife, famous for the number of ganoid fossil fishes entombed in its sandstone.


Durance, a tributary of the Rhône, which, after a rapid course of 180 m., falls into that river by its left bank 3 m. below Avignon.


Durand, an Indian officer; served in the Afghan and Sikh Wars, and became Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab (1828-1871).


Durandal, the miraculous sword of Orlando, with which he could cleave mountains at a blow.


Durban (27), the port of Natal, largest town in the colony, with a land-locked harbour.


Durbar, a ceremonious State reception in India.


Dürer, Albert, the great early German painter and engraver, born at Nürnberg, son of a goldsmith, a good man, who brought him up to his own profession, but he preferred painting, for which he early exhibited a special aptitude, and his father bound him apprentice for three years to the chief artist in the place, at the expiry of which he travelled in Germany and other parts; in 1506 he visited Venice, where he met Bellini, and painted several pictures; proceeded thence to Bologna, and was introduced to Raphael; his fame spread widely, and on his return he was appointed court-painter by the Emperor Maximilian, an office he held under Charles V.; he was of the Reformed faith, and a friend of Melanchthon as well as an admirer of Luther, on whose incarceration in Wartburg he uttered a long lament; he was a prince of painters, his drawing and colouring perfect, and the inventor of etching, in which he was matchless; he carved in wood, ivory, stone, and metal; was an author as well as an artist, and wrote, among other works, an epoch-making treatise on proportion in the human figure; "it could not be better done" was his quiet, confident reply as a sure workman to a carper on one occasion (1471-1528).


D'Urfey, Tom, a facetious poet; author of comedies and songs; a great favourite of Charles II. and his court; of comedies he wrote some 30, which are all now discarded for their licentiousness, and a curious book of sonnets, entitled "Pills to Purge Melancholy"; came to poverty in the end of his days; Addison pled on his behalf, and hoped that "as he had made the world merry, the world would make him easy" (1628-1723).


Durgâ, in the Hindu mythology the consort of Siva.


Durham (15), an ancient city on the Wear, with a noble cathedral and a castle, once the residence of the bishop, now a university seat, in the heart of a county of the same name (1,106), rich in coal-fields, and with numerous busy manufacturing towns.


Durham, Admiral, entered the navy in 1777; was officer on the watch when the Royal George went down off Spithead, and the only one with Captain Waghorn who escaped; served as acting-lieutenant of a ship under Lord Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and commanded the Defence, a ship of 74 guns, at the battle of Trafalgar (1763-1815).


Durham, John G. L., Earl of, an English statesman, born in Durham Co.; a zealous Liberal and reformer, and a member of the Reform Government under Earl Grey, which he contributed much to inaugurate; was ambassador in St. Petersburg, and was sent governor-general to Canada in 1839, but owing to some misunderstanding took the extraordinary step of ultroneously returning within the year (1792-1840).


Durward, Quentin, a Scottish archer in the service of Louis XI., the hero of a novel of Scott's of the name.


Düsseldorf (176), a well-built town of Rhenish Prussia, on the right bank of the Rhine; it is a place of manufactures, and has a fine picture-gallery with a famous school of art associated.


Dutens, Joseph, a French engineer and political economist (1763-1848).


Dutens, Louis, a French savant, born at Tours; after being chaplain to the British minister at Turin, settled in England, and became historiographer-royal; was a man of varied learning, and well read in historical subjects and antiquities (1730-1812).


Dutrochet, a French physiologist and physicist, known for his researches on the passage of fluids through membranous tissues (1776-1847).


Duumvirs, the name of two Roman magistrates who exercised the same public functions.


Duval, Claude, a French numismatist, and writer on numismatics; keeper of the imperial cabinet of Vienna; was originally a shepherd boy (1695-1775).


Dwight, Timothy, an American theologian, grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and much esteemed in his day both as a preacher and a writer; his "Theology Explained and Defended," in 5 vols., was very popular at one time, and was frequently reprinted (1752-1817).


Dwina, a Russian river, distinguished from the Düna (q. v.), also called Duna, and an important, which flows N. to the White Sea.


Dyaks, the native name of tribes of Malays of a superior class aboriginal to Borneo.


Dyce, Alexander, an English literary editor and historian, born in Edinburgh; edited several of the old English poets and authors, some of them little known before; also the poems of Shakespeare, Pope, &c.; was one of the founders of the Percy Society, for the publication of old English works (1798-1869).


Dyce, William, a distinguished Scottish artist, born in Aberdeen, studied in Rome; settled for a time in Edinburgh, and finally removed to London; painted portraits at first, but soon took to higher subjects of art; his work was such as to commend itself to both German and French artists; he gave himself to fresco-painting, and as a fresco-painter was selected to adorn the walls of the Palace of Westminster and the House of Lords; his "Baptism of Ethelbert," in the latter, is considered his best work (1806-1864).


Dyck, Van. See Vandyck.


Dyer, John, English poet; was a great lover and student of landscape scenery, and his poems, "Grongar Hill" and the "Fleece," abound in descriptions of these, the scenery of the former lying in S. Wales (1700-1758).


Dynam, the unit of work, or the force required to raise one pound one foot in one second.


Dynamite, a powerful explosive substance, intensely local in its action; formed by impregnating a porous siliceous earth or other substance with some 70 per cent. of nitro-glycerine.


Dynamo, a machine by which mechanical work is transformed into powerful electric currents by the inductive action of magnets on coils of copper wire in motion.


E


Eacus. See Æacus.


Eadmer, a celebrated monk of Canterbury; flourished in the 12th century; friend and biographer of St. Anselm, author of a History of His Own Times, as also of many of the Lives of the Saints; elected to the bishopric of St. Andrews in 1120; resigned on account of Alexander I. refusing to admit the right of the English Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the ceremony of consecration.


Eadric, a Saxon, notorious for his treachery, fighting now with his countrymen against the Danes and now with the Danes against them, till put to death by order of Canute in 1017.


Eads, James Buchanan, an American engineer, born in Laurenceburg, Indiana; designed ingenious boats for floating submerged ships; built with remarkable speed warships for the Federalists in 1861; constructed a steel bridge spanning the Mississippi at St. Louis, noteworthy for its central span of 520 ft. (1820-1887).


Eagle, the king of birds, and bird of Jove; was adopted by various nations as the emblem of dominant power, as well as of nobility and generosity; in Christian art it is the symbol of meditation, and the attribute of St. John; is represented now as fighting with a serpent, and now as drinking out of a chalice or a communion cup, to strengthen it for the fight.


Eagle, Order of the Black, an order of knighthood founded by the Elector of Brandenburg in 1701; with this order was ultimately incorporated the Order of the Red Eagle, founded in 1734 by the Markgraf of Bayreuth.


Eagle of Brittany, Du Guesclin (q. v.).


Eagle of Meaux, Bossuet (q. v.).


Eagre, a name given in England to a tidal wave rushing up a river or estuary on the top of another, called also a Bore (q. v.).


Earl, a title of nobility, ranking third in the British peerage; originally election to the dignity of earl carried with it a grant of land held in feudal tenure, the discharge of judicial and administrative duties connected therewith, and was the occasion of a solemn service of investiture. In course of time the title lost its official character, and since the reign of Queen Anne all ceremony of investiture has been dispensed with, the title being conferred by letters-patent. The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon eorls which signified the "gentle folk," as distinguished from the ceorls, the "churls" or "simple folk."


Earl Marshal, a high officer of State, an office of very ancient institution, now the head of the college of arms, and hereditary in the family of the Dukes of Norfolk; formerly one of the chief officers in the court of chivalry, a court which had to do with all matters of high ceremonial, such as coronations.


Earlom, Richard, a mezzotint engraver, born in London; celebrated for his series of 200 prints after the original designs of Claude de Lorraine (1743-1822).


Earlston or Ercildoune, a village in Berwickshire, with manufactures of ginghams and other textiles. In its vicinity stand the ruins of the "Rhymer's Tower," alleged to have been the residence of Thomas the Rhymer.


Early English, a term in architecture used to designate that particular form of Gothic architecture in vogue in England in the 13th century, whose chief characteristic was the pointed arch.


Earth Houses, known also as Yird Houses, Weems and Picts' Houses, underground dwellings in use in Scotland, extant even after the Roman evacuation of Britain. Entrance was effected by a passage not much wider than a fox burrow, which sloped downwards 10 or 12 ft. to the floor of the house; the inside was oval in shape, and was walled with overlapping rough stone slabs; the roof frequently reached to within a foot of the earth's surface; they probably served as store-houses, winter-quarters, and as places of refuge in times of war. Similar dwellings are found in Ireland.


Earthly Paradise, poem by William Morris, his greatest effort, considered his masterpiece; consists of 24 tales by 24 travellers in quest of an earthly paradise.


East India Company, founded in 1600; erected its first factories on the mainland in 1612 at Surat, but its most profitable trade in these early years was with the Spice Islands, Java, Sumatra, &c.; driven from these islands by the Dutch in 1622, the Company established itself altogether on the mainland; although originally created under royal charter for purely commercial purposes, it in 1689 entered upon a career of territorial acquisition, which culminated in the establishment of British power in India; gradually, as from time to time fresh renewals of its charter were granted, it was stripped of its privileges and monopolies, till in 1858, after the Mutiny, all its powers were vested in the British Crown.


East River, the strait which separates Brooklyn and New York cities, lying between Long Island Sound and New York Bay, about 10 m. long; is spanned by a bridge.


Eastbourne (35), a fashionable watering-place and health resort on the Sussex coast, between Brighton and Hastings, and 66 m. S. of London; has Roman remains, and is described in "Domesday Book."


Easter, an important festival of the Church commemorating the resurrection of Christ; held on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the calendar which happens on or next after 21st of March, and constituting the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the date of it determines the dates of other movable festivals; derives its name from Eastre, a Saxon goddess, whose festival was celebrated about the same time, and to which many of the Easter customs owe their origin.


Eastern States, the six New England States in N. America—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.


Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock, artist and author, born at Plymouth; studied painting in London and in Paris; produced the last portrait of Napoleon, which he executed from a series of sketches of the emperor on board the Bellerophon in Plymouth harbour; he travelled in Greece, and from 1816 to 1830 made his home at Rome; "Christ Weeping over Jerusalem," his greatest work, appeared in 1841; was President of the Royal Academy; wrote several works on subjects relating to his art, and translated Goethe's "Farbenlehre" (1793-1865).


Eastwick, Edward Backhouse, Orientalist and diplomatist, born at Warfield, in Berkshire; went to India as a cadet, acquired an extensive knowledge of Indian dialects and Eastern languages, and passed an interpretership examination, gaining the high proficiency reward of 1000 rupees; carried through peace negotiations with China in 1842; invalided home, he became professor of Hindustani at Haileybury College; afterwards studied law and was called to the bar; entered Parliament, and held various political appointments, including a three years' embassy in Persia; was a fellow of many antiquarian and philological societies; amongst his numerous philological productions and translations his "Gulistan" and "Life of Zoroaster" from the Persian are noted (1814-1883).


Eau Creole, a liqueur from the distillation of the flowers of the mammee apple with spirits of wine.


Eau-de-Cologne, a perfume originally manufactured at Cologne by distillation from certain essential oils with rectified spirit.


Ebal, Mount, a mountain with a level summit, which rises to the height of 3077 ft. on the N. side of the narrow Vale of Shechem, in Palestine, and from the slopes of which the people of Israel responded to the curses which were pronounced by the Levites in the valley.


Eberhard, Johann August, German philosophical writer, born at Halberstadt; professor at Halle; rationalistic in his theology, and opposed to the Kantian metaphysics; was a disciple of Leibnitz; wrote a "New Apology of Socrates," in defence of rationalism in theology, as well as a "Universal History of Philosophy," and a work on German synonyms (1739-1809).


Ebers, George Moritz, German Egyptologist, born at Berlin; discovered an important papyrus; was professor successively at Jena and Leipzig; laid aside by ill-health, betook himself to novel-writing as a pastime; was the author of "Aarda, a Romance of Ancient Egypt," translated by Clara Bell (1837-1898).


Ebert, Karl Egon, a Bohemian poet, born at Prague; his poems, dramatic and lyric, are collected in 7 vols., and enjoy a wide popularity in his country (1801-1882).


Ebionites, a sect that in the 2nd century sought to combine Judaism and the hopes of Judaism with Christianity, and rejected the authority of St. Paul and of the Pauline writings; they denied the divinity of Christ, and maintained that only the poor as such were the objects of salvation.


Eblis, in Mohammedan tradition the chief of the fallen angels, consigned to perdition for refusing to worship Adam at the command of his Creator, and who gratified his revenge by seducing Adam and Eve from innocency.