Ebony, a name given to Blackwood by James Hogg, and eventually applied to his magazine.

Ebro, a river of Spain, rises in the Cantabrian Mountains, flows SE. into the Mediterranean 80 m. SW. of Barcelona, after a course of 422 m.

Ecbatana, the ancient capital of Media, situated near Mount Orontes (now Elvend); was surrounded by seven walls of different colours that increased in elevation towards the central citadel; was a summer residence of the Persian and Parthian kings. The modern town of Hamadan now occupies the site of it.

Ecce Homo (i. e. Behold the Man), a representation of Christ as He appeared before Pilate crowned with thorns and bound with ropes, as in the painting of Correggio, a subject which has been treated by many of the other masters, such as Titian and Vandyck.

Ecchymosis, a discolouration of the skin produced by extravasated blood under or in the texture of the skin, the result of a blow or of disease.

Ecclefechan, a market-town of Dumfriesshire, consisting for the most part of the High Street, 5 m. S. of Lockerbie, on the main road to Carlisle, 16 m. to the S.; noted as the birth and burial place of Thomas Carlyle.

Ecclesiastes (i. e. the Preacher), a book of the Old Testament, questionably ascribed to Solomon, and now deemed of more recent date as belonging to a period when the reflective spirit prevailed; and it is written apparently in depreciation of mere reflection as a stepping-stone to wisdom. The standpoint of the author is a religious one; the data on which he rests is given in experience, and his object is to expose the vanity of every source of satisfaction which is not founded on the fear, and has not supreme regard for the commandments, of God, a doctrine which is the very ground-principle of the Jewish faith; but if vanity is written over the whole field of human experience, he argues, this is not the fault of the system of things, but due, according to the author, to the folly of man (chap. vii. 29).

Ecclesiastical Polity, the Law of, a vindication of the Anglican Church against the Puritans, written by Richard Hooker; the most splendid and stately piece of literary prose that exists in the language.

Ecclesiastical States, territories in Italy once subject to the Pope as a temporal prince as well as ecclesiastically.

Ecclesiasticus, one of the books of the Apocrypha, ascribed to Jesus, the son of Sirach, admitted to the sacred canon by the Council of Trent, though excluded by the Jews. It contains a body of wise maxims, in imitation, as regards matter as well as form, of the Proverbs of Solomon, and an appendix on the men who were the disciples of wisdom. Its general aim, as has been said, is "to represent wisdom as the source of all virtue and blessedness, and by warnings, admonitions, and promises to encourage in the pursuit of it." It was originally written in Hebrew, but is now extant only in a Greek translation executed in Egypt, professedly by the author's grandson.

Ecclesiology, the name given in England to the study of church architecture and all that concerns the ground-plan and the internal arrangements of the parts of the edifice.

Ecgberht, archbishop of York; was a pupil of Bede, and the heir to his learning; founded a far-famed school at York, which developed into a university; flourished in 766.

Echidna, a fabulous monster that figures in the Greek mythology, half-woman, half-serpent, the mother of Cerberus, the Lernean Hydra, the Chimæra, the Sphinx, the Gorgons, the Nemean Lion, the vulture that gnawed the liver of Prometheus, &c.

Echo, a wood-nymph in love with Narcissus, who did not return her love, in consequence of which she pined away till all that remained of her was only her voice.

Eck, John, properly Maíer, a German theologian, of Swabian birth, professor at Ingolstadt; a violent, blustering antagonist of Luther and Luther's doctrines; in his zeal went to Rome, and procured a papal bull against both; undertook at the Augsburg Diet to controvert Luther's doctrine from the Fathers, but not from the Scriptures; was present at the conferences of Worms and Regensburg (1486-1543).

Eckermann, Johann Peter, a German writer, born at Winsen, in Hanover; friend of Goethe, and editor of his works; the author of "Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of his Life, 1823-32," a record of wise reflections and of Goethe's opinions on all subjects, of the utmost interest to all students of the German sage (1792-1854).

Eckhart, Meister, a German philosopher and divine, profoundly speculative and mystical; entered the Dominican Order, and rapidly attained to a high position in the Church; arraigned for heresy in 1325, and was acquitted, but two years after his death his writings were condemned as heretical by a papal bull; died in 1327.

Eckmühl, a village in Bavaria where Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1809, and which gave the title of Duke to Davout (q. v.), one of Napoleon's generals.

Eclectics, so-called philosophers who attach themselves to no system, but select what, in their judgment, is true out of others. In antiquity the Eclectic philosophy is that which sought to unite into a coherent whole the doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, such as that of Plotinus and Proclus was. There is an eclecticism in art as well as philosophy, and the term is applied to an Italian school which aimed at uniting the excellencies of individual great masters.

Ecliptic, the name given to the circular path in the heavens round which the sun appears to move in the course of the year, an illusion caused by the earth's annual circuit round the sun, with its axis inclined at an angle to the equator of 23½ degrees; is the central line of the Zodiac (q. v.), so called because it was observed that eclipses occurred only when the earth was on or close upon this path.

Economy, "the right arrangement of things," and distinct from Frugality, which is "the careful and fitting use of things."

Ecorcheurs (lit. flayers properly of dead bodies), armed bands who desolated France in the reign of Charles VII., stripping their victims of everything, often to their very clothes.

Ecstatic Doctor, Jean Ruysbroek, a schoolman given to mysticism (1294-1381).

Ecuador (1,271), a republic of S. America, of Spanish origin, created in 1822; derives its name from its position on the equator; lies between Columbia and Peru; is traversed by the Andes, several of the peaks of which are actively volcanic; the population consists of Peruvian Indians, negroes, Spanish Creoles; exports cocoa, coffee, hides, and medicinal plants; the administration is vested in a president, a vice-president, two ministers, a senate of 18, and a house of deputies of 30, elected by universal suffrage.

Ecumenical Council, an ecclesiastical council representative, or accepted as representative, of the Church universal or Catholic. See Councils.

Eczema, a common skin disease, which may be either chronic or acute; develops in a red rash of tiny vesicles, which usually burst and produce a characteristic scab; is not contagious, and leaves no scar.

Edda (lit. grandmother), the name given to two collections of legends illustrative of the Scandinavian mythology: the Elder, or Poetic, Edda, collected in the 11th century by Sæmund Sigfusson, an early Christian priest, "with perhaps a lingering fondness for paganism," and the Younger, or Prose, Edda, collected in the next century by Snorri Sturleson, an Icelandic gentleman (1178-1241), "educated by Sæmund's grandson, the latter a work constructed with great ingenuity and native talent, what one might call unconscious art, altogether a perspicuous, clear work, pleasant reading still."

Eddystone Lighthouse, situated on a low reef of rocks submerged at high tide, 14 m. SW. of Plymouth; first built of wood by Winstanley, 1696; destroyed by a storm in 1703; rebuilt of wood on a stone base by Rudyard; burnt in 1755, and reconstructed by Smeaton of solid stone; the present edifice, on a different site, was completed by Sir James Douglas in 1882, is 133 ft. in height, and has a light visible 17½ m. off.

Edelinck, Gerard, a Flemish copper-plate engraver, born at Antwerp; invited to France by Colbert, and patronised by Louis XIV.; executed in a masterly manner many works from historical subjects (1640-1707).

Eden (i. e. place of delight), Paradise, the original spot referred to by tradition wholly uncertain, though believed to have been in the Far East, identified in Moslem tradition with the moon.

Edessa (40), an ancient city in Mesopotamia; figures in early Church history, and is reputed to have contained at one time 300 monasteries; it fell into the hands of the Turks in 1515; is regarded as the sacred city of Abraham by Orientals.

Edfu, a town in Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile; has unique ruins of two temples, the larger founded by Ptolemy IV. Philopater before 200 B.C.

Edgar, a king of Saxon England from 959 to 975, surnamed the Peaceful; promoted the union and consolidation of the Danish and Saxon elements within his realm; cleared Wales of wolves by exacting of its inhabitants a levy of 300 wolves' heads yearly; eight kings are said to have done him homage by rowing him on the Dee; St. Dunstan, the archbishop of Canterbury, was the most prominent figure of the reign.

Edgar the Atheling, a Saxon prince, the grandson of Edmund Ironside; was hurriedly proclaimed king of England after the death of Harold in the battle of Hastings, but was amongst the first to offer submission on the approach of the Conqueror; spent his life in a series of feeble attempts at rebellion, and lived into the reign of Henry I.

Edgehill, in the S. of Warwickshire, the scene of the first battle in the Civil War, in 1642, between the royal forces under Charles I. and the Parliamentary under Essex; though the Royalists had the worst of it, no real advantage was gained by either side.

Edgeworth, Henry Essex, known as the "Abbé" Edgeworth, born in Ireland, son of a Protestant clergyman; educated at the Sorbonne, in Paris; entered the priesthood, and became the confessor of Louis XVI., whom he attended on the scaffold; exclaimed as the guillotine came down, "Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!" left France soon after; was subsequently chaplain to Louis XVIII. (1745-1807).

Edgeworth, Maria, novelist, born at Blackbourton, Berks; from her fifteenth year her home was in Ireland; she declined the suit of a Swedish count, and remained till the close of her life unmarried; amongst the best known of her works are "Moral Tales," "Tales from Fashionable Life," "Castle Rackrent," "The Absentee," and "Ormond"; her novels are noted for their animated pictures of Irish life, and were acknowledged by Scott to have given him the first suggestion of the Waverley series; the Russian novelist, Turgenief, acknowledges a similar indebtedness; "in her Irish stories she gave," says Stopford Brooke, "the first impulse to the novel of national character, and in her other tales to the novel with a moral purpose" (1766-1849).

Edgeworth, Richard Lovell, an Irish landlord, father of Maria Edgeworth, with a genius for mechanics, in which he displayed a remarkable talent for invention; was member of the last Irish Parliament; educated his son in accordance with the notions of Rousseau; wrote some works on mechanical subjects in collaboration with his daughter (1744-1817).

Edict of Nantes, an edict issued in 1598 by Henry IV. of France, granting toleration to the Protestants; revoked by Louis XIV. in 1685.

Edie Ochiltree, a character in Scott's "Antiquary."

Edina, poetic name for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh (263), the capital of Scotland, on the Firth of Forth, picturesquely situated amid surrounding hills; derives its name from Edwin, king of Northumbria in the 7th century; was created a burgh in 1329 by Robert the Bruce, and recognised as the capital in the 15th century, under the Stuarts; it has absorbed in its growth adjoining municipalities; is noted as an educational centre; is the seat of the Supreme Courts; has a university, castle, and royal palace, and the old Scotch Parliament House, now utilised by the Law Courts; brewing and printing are the chief industries, but the upper classes of the citizens are for the most part either professional people or living in retirement.

Edinburgh Review, a celebrated quarterly review started in October 1802 in Edinburgh to further the Whig interest; amongst its founders and contributors were Horner, Brougham, Jeffrey, and Sidney Smith, the latter being editor of the first three numbers; Jeffrey assumed the editorship in 1803, and in his hands it became famous for its incisive literary critiques, Carlyle and Macaulay contributing some of their finest essays to it.

Edinburgh University, founded in 1583; was the last of the Scotch Universities to receive its charter; was raised to an equal status with the others in 1621; its site was the famous Kirk o'Field, the scene of the Darnley tragedy; now consists of two separate buildings, one entirely devoted to medicine, and the other to arts and training in other departments; has an average matriculation roll of about 3000.

Edison, Thomas Alva, a celebrated American inventor, born at Milan, Ohio; started life as a newsboy; early displayed his genius and enterprise by producing the first newspaper printed in a railway train; turning his attention to telegraphy, he revolutionised the whole system by a series of inventions, to which he has since added others, to the number of 500, the most notable being the megaphone, phonograph, kinetoscope, a carbon telegraph transmitter, and improvements in electric lighting; b. 1847.

Edith, the alleged name of Lot's wife.

Edithe, St., an English princess, the natural daughter of Edgar, king of England (961-984). Festival, Sept. 16.

Edmund, St., king or "landlord" of East Anglia from 855 to 870; refused to renounce Christianity and accept heathenism at the hands of a set of "mere physical force" invading Danes, and suffered martyrdom rather; was made a saint of and had a monastery called "Bury St. Edmunds," in Norfolk, raised to his memory over his grave.

Edmund, St., Edmund Rich, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Abingdon; while still at school made a vow of celibacy and wedded the Virgin Mary; sided as archbishop with the popular party against the tyranny of both Pope and king; coming into disfavour with the papal court retired to France, where, on his arrival, the mother of St. Louis with her sons met him to receive his blessing, and where he spent his last days in a monastery; died in 1240, and was canonised six years after by Innocent IV., somewhat reluctantly it is said.

Edmund Ironside, succeeded to the throne of England on the death of his father Ethelred the Unready in 1016, but reigned only seven months; he struggled bravely, and at first successfully, against Canute the Dane, but being defeated, the kingdom ultimately was divided between them (981-1016).

Edom, or Idumæa, a mountainous but not unfertile country, comprising the S. of Judæa and part of the N. of Arabia Petræa, 100 m. long by 20 m. broad, peopled originally by the descendants of Esau, who were ruled by "dukes," and were bitterly hostile to the Jews.

Edred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, son of Edward the Elder; subdued Northumbria; had in the end of his reign St. Dunstan for chief adviser; d. 955.

Edrisi, an Arabian geographer, born at Ceuta, in Spain; by request of Roger II. of Sicily wrote an elaborate description of the earth, which held a foremost place amongst mediæval geographers (1099-1180).

Education, as conceived of by Ruskin, and alone worthy of the name, "the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them"; and attained, "not by telling a man what he knew not, but by making him what he was not."

Edui, an ancient Gallic tribe, whose capital was Bibracte (Autun).

Edward, Thomas, naturalist, born at Gosport; bred a shoemaker; settled in Banff, where he devoted his leisure to the study of animal nature, and collected numerous specimens of animals, which he stuffed and exhibited, but with pecuniary loss; the Queen's attention being called to his case, settled on him an annual pension of £50, while the citizens of Aberdeen presented him in March 1877 with a gift of 130 sovereigns, on which occasion he made a characteristic speech (1814-1886).

Edward I., surnamed Longshanks, king of England, born at Westminster, son of Henry III., married Eleanor (q. v.) of Castile; came first into prominence in the Barons' War; defeated the nobles at Evesham, and liberated his father; joined the last Crusade in 1270, and distinguished himself at Acre; returned to England in 1274 to assume the crown, having been two years previously proclaimed king; during his reign the ascendency of the Church and the nobles received a check, the growing aspiration of the people for a larger share in the affairs of the nation was met by an extended franchise, while the right of Parliament to regulate taxation was recognised; under his reign Wales was finally subdued and annexed to England, and a temporary conquest of Scotland was achieved (1239-1307).

Edward II., king of England (1307-1327), son of the preceding; was first Prince of Wales, being born at Carnarvon; being a weakling was governed by favourites, Gaveston and the Spencers, whose influence, as foreigners and unpatriotic, offended the barons, who rose against him; in 1314 Scotland rose in arms under Bruce, and an ill-fated expedition under him ended in the crushing defeat at Bannockburn; in 1327 he was deposed, and was brutally murdered in Berkeley Castle (1284-1327).

Edward III., king of England (1327-1377), son of the preceding, married Philippa of Hainault; during his boyhood the government was carried on by a council of regency; in 1328 the independence of Scotland was recognised, and nine years later began the Hundred Years' War with France, memorable in this reign for the heroic achievements of Edward the Black Prince (q. v.), the king's eldest son; associated with this reign are the glorious victories of Crécy and Poitiers, and the great naval battle at Sluys, one of the earliest victories of English arms at sea; these successes were not maintained in the later stages of the war, and the treaty of Bretigny involved the withdrawal of Edward's claim to the French crown; in 1376 the Black Prince died.

Edward IV., king of England (1461-1483), son of Richard, Duke of York, and successor to the Lancastrian Henry VI., whom he defeated at Towton; throughout his reign the country was torn by the Wars of the Roses, in which victory rested with the Yorkists at Hedgeley Moor, Hexham, Barnet, and Tewkesbury; in this reign little social progress was made, but a great step towards it was made by the introduction of printing by Caxton (1442-1483)

Edward V., king of England for three months in 1483, son of the preceding; deposed by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester; was ultimately murdered in the Tower, along with his young brother (1470-1483).

Edward VI., king of England (1547-1553), son of Henry VIII. and Jane Seymour; his reign, which was a brief one, was marked by a victory over the Scots at Pinkie (1547), Catholic and agrarian risings, and certain ecclesiastical reforms (1537-1553).

Edward VII., king of Great Britain and Ireland and "all the British Dominions beyond the Seas," born 9th November 1841, succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria, 22nd Jan. 1901. On 10th March 1863 he married Princess Alexandra, eldest daughter of Christian IX. of Denmark, and has four surviving children: George, Prince of Wales, b. 1865; Louise, Duchess of Fife, b. 1867; Victoria, b. 1868; and Maud, b. 1869, who married Prince Charles of Denmark. The king's eldest son, Albert Victor, b. 1864, died January 14, 1892.

Edward the Confessor, king of England, married Edith, daughter of the great Earl Godwin (q. v.); was a feeble monarch of ascetic proclivities; his appeal to the Duke of Normandy precipitated the Norman invasion, and in him perished the royal Saxon line; was canonised for his piety (1004-1066).

Edward the Elder, king of the Anglo-Saxons from 901 to 925; was the son and successor of Alfred the Great; extended the Anglo-Saxon dominions.

Edwardes, Sir Herbert Benjamin, soldier and administrator in India, born at Frodesley, Shropshire; was actively engaged in the first Sikh War and in the Mutiny; served under Sir Henry Lawrence, whose Life he partly wrote (1819-1868).

Edwards, Bryan, historian, born at Westbury; traded in Jamaica; wrote a "History of British Colonies in the West Indies" (1743-1800).

Edwards, Jonathan, a celebrated divine, born at E. Windsor, Connecticut; graduated at Yale; minister at Northampton, Mass.; missionary to Housatonnuck Indians; was elected to the Presidency of Princeton College; wrote an acute and original work, "The Freedom of the Will," a masterpiece of cogent reasoning; has been called the "Spinoza of Calvinism" (1703-1758).

Edwin, king of Northumbria in the 6th century; through the influence of his wife Ethelburga Christianity was introduced into England by St. Augustine; founded Edinburgh; was defeated and slain by the Mercian King Penda in 634.

Edwy, king of the Anglo-Saxons from 955 to 957; offended the clerical party headed by Dunstan and Odo, who put his wife Elgiva to death, after which he soon died himself at the early age of 19.

Eeckhout, a Dutch portrait and historical painter, born at Antwerp; the most eminent disciple of Rembrandt, whose style he successfully imitated (1621-1674).

Effen, Van, a Dutch author, who wrote chiefly in French; imitated the Spectator of Addison, and translated into French Swift's "Tale of a Tub" and Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1684-1735).

Effendi, a title of honour among the Turks, applied to State and civil officials, frequently associated with the name of the office, as well as to men of learning or high position.

Egalité, Philippe, Duke of Orleans, born April 13th, 1787, father of Louis Philippe; so called because he sided with the Republican party in the French Revolution, and whose motto was "Liberté, Fraternité, et Egalité." See Orleans, Duke of.

Egates, three islands on the W. coast of Sicily.

Egbert, king of Wessex, a descendant of Cedric the founder; after an exile of 13 years at the court of Charlemagne ascended the throne in 800; reigned till 809, governing his people in tranquillity, when, by successful wars with the other Saxon tribes, he in two years became virtual king of all England, and received the revived title of Bretwalda; d. 837.

Egede, Hans, a Norwegian priest, founder of the Danish mission in Greenland, whither he embarked with his family and a small colony of traders in 1721; leaving his son to carry on the mission, and returning to Denmark, he became head of a training school for young missionaries to Greenland (1686-1758).

Egede, Paul, son of Hans; assisted his father in the Greenland mission, and published a history of the mission; translated part of the Bible into the language of the country, and composed a grammar and a dictionary of it; d. 1789.

Eger (17), a town in Bohemia, on the river Eger, 91 m. W. of Prague, a centre of railway traffic; Wallenstein was murdered here in 1634; the river flows into the Elbe after a NE. course of 190 m.

Egeria, a nymph who inhabited a grotto in a grove in Latium, dedicated to the Camenæ, some 16 m. from Rome, and whom, according to tradition, Numa was in the habit of consulting when engaged in framing forms of religious worship for the Roman community; she figures as his spiritual adviser, and has become the symbol of one of her sex, conceived of as discharging the same function in other the like cases.

Egerton, Francis. See Bridgewater, Earl of.

Egger, Émile, a French Hellenist and philologist (1813-1885).

Egham (10), a small town in Surrey, on the Thames, 20 m. W. of London; has in its vicinity Runnymede, where King John signed Magna Charta in 1215.

Eginhard, or Einhard, a Frankish historian, born in Mainyan, in East Franconia; a collection of his letters and his Annals of the Franks, as well as his famous "Life of Charlemagne," are extant; was a favourite of the latter, who appointed him superintendent of public buildings, and took him with him on all his expeditions; after the death of Charlemagne he continued at the Court as tutor to the Emperor Louis's son; died in retirement (770-840).

Eglantine, Madame, the prioress in the "Canterbury Tales" of Chaucer.

Eglinton and Winton, Earl of, Archibald William Montgomerie, born at Palermo; became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; Rector of Glasgow University; was a noted sportsman and patron of the turf; is chiefly remembered in connection with a brilliant tournament given by him at Eglinton Castle in 1839, in which all the splendour and detail of a mediæval tourney were spectacularly reproduced (1812-1861).

Egmont, Lamoral, Count of, born in Hainault; became attached to the Court of Charles V., by whom, for distinguished military and diplomatic services, he was appointed governor of Flanders; fell into disfavour for espousing the cause of the Protestants of the Netherlands, and was beheaded in Brussels by the Duke of Alva; his career and fate form the theme of Goethe's tragedy "Egmont," a play nothing as a drama, but charming as a picture of the two chief characters in the piece, Egmont and Clärchen.

Egmont, Mount, the loftiest peak in the North Island, New Zealand, is 8270 ft. in height, and of volcanic origin.

Ego and Non-Ego (i. e. I and Not-I, or Self and Not-Self), are terms used in philosophy to denote respectively the subjective and the objective in cognition, what is from self and what is from the external to self, what is merely individual and what is universal.

Egoism, the philosophy of those who, uncertain of everything but the existence of the Ego or I, resolve all existence as known into forms or modifications of its self-consciousness.

Egoist, a novel by George Meredith, much admired by R. L. Stevenson, who read and re-read it at least five times over.

Egypt (8,000), a country occupying the NE. corner of Africa, lies along the W. shore of the Red Sea, has a northern coast-line on the Mediterranean, and stretches S. as far as Wady Halfa; the area is nearly 400,000 sq. m.; its chief natural features are uninhabitable desert on the E. and W., and the populous and fertile valley of the Nile. Cereals, sugar, cotton, and tobacco are important products. Mohammedan Arabs constitute the bulk of the people, but there is also a remnant of the ancient Coptic race. The country is nominally a dependency of Turkey under a native government, but is in reality controlled by the British, who exercise a veto on its financial policy, and who, since 1882, have occupied the country with soldiers. The noble monuments and relics of her ancient civilisation, chief amongst which are the Pyramids, as well as the philosophies and religions she inherited, together with the arts she practised, and her close connection with Jewish history, give her a peculiar claim on the interested regard of mankind. Nothing, perhaps, has excited more wonder in connection with Egypt than the advanced state of her civilisation when she first comes to play a part in the history of the world. There is evidence that 4000 years before the Christian era the arts of building, pottery, sculpture, literature, even music and painting, were highly developed, her social institutions well organised, and that considerable advance had been made in astronomy, chemistry, medicine, and anatomy. Already the Egyptians had divided the year into 365 days and 12 months, and had invented an elaborate system of weights and measures, based on the decimal notation.

Egyptian Night, such as in Egypt when, by judgment of God, a thick darkness of three days settled down on the land. See Exodus x. 22.

Egyptians, The, of antiquity were partly of Asiatic and partly of African origin, with a probable infusion of Semitic blood, and formed both positively and negatively a no inconsiderable link in the chain of world-history, positively by their sense of the divinity of nature-life as seen in their nature-worship, and negatively by the absence of all sense of the divinity of a higher life as it has come to light in the self-consciousness or moral sense and destiny of man.

Egyptology, the science, in the interest of ancient history, of Egyptian antiquities, such as the monuments and their inscriptions, and one in which of late years great interest has been taken, and much progress made.

Egyptus, the brother of Danaüs, whose 50 sons, all but one, were murdered by the daughters of the latter. See Danaüs.

Ehkili, a dialect of S. Arabia, interesting to philologists as one of the oldest of Semitic tongues.

Ehrenberg, a German naturalist, born in Delitsch; intended for the Church; devoted himself to medical studies, and graduated in medicine in 1818; acquired great skill in the use of the microscope, and by means of it made important discoveries, particularly in the department of infusory animals; contributed largely to the literature of science (1795-1878).

Ehrenbreitstein (5) (i. e. broad stone of honour), a strongly fortified town in Prussia, on the Rhine, opposite Coblentz, with which it has communication by a bridge of boats and a railway viaduct; the fortress occupies the summit of the rock, which is precipitous; is about 500 ft. high, and has large garrison accommodation.

Eichhorn, Johann Gottfried, a German theologian and Orientalist, born at Dorrenzimmern, Franconia; a man of extensive scholarship; held the chair of Oriental languages in Jena, and afterwards at Göttingen; was the first to apply a bold rationalism to the critical treatment of the Scriptures; he was of the old school of rationalists, now superseded by the historico-critical; his chief works are a Universal Library of Biblical Literature, in 10 vols., Introductions to the Old and to the New Testament, each in 5 vols., and an Introduction to the Apocrypha (1752-1827).

Eichthal, Gustave d', a French publicist, born at Nancy; an adherent of St. Simonianism; wrote "Les Evangiles"; Mrs. Carlyle describes him as "a gentle soul, trustful, and earnest-looking, ready to do and suffer all for his faith" (1804-1886).

Eichwald, Charles Edward, an eminent Russian naturalist, born in Mitau, Russia; studied science at Berlin and Vienna; held the chairs of Zoology and Midwifery at Kasan and Wilna, and of Palæontology at St. Petersburg; his explorations, which led him through most of Europe, Persia, and Algeria, and included a survey of the Baltic shores, as well as expeditions into the Caucasus, are described in his various works, and their valuable results noted (1795-1876).

Eiffel, Gustave, an eminent French engineer, born at Dijon; early obtained a reputation for bridge construction; designed the great Garabit Viaduct, and also the enormous locks for the Panama Canal; his most noted work is the gigantic iron tower which bears his name; in 1893 became involved in the Panama scandals, and was fined, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment; b. 1832.

Eiffel Tower, a structure erected on the banks of the Seine in Paris, the loftiest in the world, being 985 ft. in height, and visible from all parts of the city; it consists of three platforms, of which the first is as high as the towers of Notre Dame; the second as high as Strasburg Cathedral spire, and the third 863 ft; it was designed by Gustave Eiffel, and erected in 1887-1889; there are cafés and restaurants on the first landing, and the ascent is by powerful lifts.

Eigg or Egg, a rocky islet among the Hebrides, 5 m. SW. of Skye; St. Donnan and 50 monks from Iona were massacred here in 617 by the queen, notwithstanding a remonstrance on the part of the islanders that it would be an irreligious act; here also the Macleods of the 10th century suffocated in a cave 200 of the Macdonalds, including women and children.

Eighteenth Century, "a sceptical century and a godless," according to Carlyle's deliberate estimate, "opulent in accumulated falsities, as never century before was; which had no longer the consciousness of being false, so false has it grown; so steeped in falsity, and impregnated with it to the very bone, that, in fact, the measure of the thing was full, and a French Revolution had to end it"; which it did only symbolically, however, as he afterwards admitted, and but admonitorily of a doomsday still to come. See "Frederick the Great," Bk. i. chap, ii., and "Heroes."

Eikon Basilikë (i. e. the Royal Likeness), a book containing an account of Charles I. during his imprisonment, and ascribed to him as author, but really written by Bishop Gauden, though the MS. may have been perused and corrected by the king; it gives a true picture of his character and possible state of mind.

Eildons, The, a "triple-crested eminence" near Melrose, 1385 ft., and overlooking Teviotdale to the S., associated with Sir Walter Scott and Thomas the Rhymer; they are of volcanic origin, and are said to have been cleft in three by the wizard Michael Scott, when he was out of employment.