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ELEUSIS-ELF-ARROW-HEADS.

was thought to symbolize the wanderings of Ceres m quest of her daughter. On it the mystæ, led by thedaduchus,' the torch-bearer, walked two by two to the temple of the goddess, and seem to have spent the night there. The sixth day, called Iacchus, in honour of the son of Ceres, was the great day of the feat. On that day the statue of Iacchus was borne pomp along the sacred way from the Ceramics at Athens to Eleusis, where the votaries speat the night, and were initiated in the last mys. terica. Till this stage of the proceedings, they had been only mysta; but on the night of the sixth day they were admitted into the innermost sanctuary of the temple, and, from being allowed to behold the sacred things, became entitled to be called 'epopta,' or 'ephori; i. e., spectators, or contemplators. They were once more purified, and repeated their original oath of secrecy with an imposing and awful ceremonial, somewhat resembling, it is believed, the forms of modern free-masonry. On the seventh day, the votaries returned to Athens with mirth and music, halting for a while on the bridge over the Cephisus, and exercising their wit and satire against the spectators. The eighth day was called Epidauria, and was believed to have been added to the original number of the days for the convenience of those who had been unable to attend the grand ceremonial of the sixth day. It was named in honour of Esculapius, who arrived on one occasion from his native city of Epidaurus too late for the solemn rites, and the Athenians, unwilling to disappoint so distinguished a benefactor of mankind, added a supplementary day. On the ninth day took place the ceremony of the 'Plemochow,' in which two earthen vessels filled with wine were turned one towards the east, and the other towards the west. The attendant priests, uttering some mystic words, then upset both vessels, and the wine so spilt was offered as a libation.

in the whole chain. Including its independent cay
or keys, Eleuthera has a population of about 5500. It
is more fertile than most of its neighbours, mere
especially surpassing all of them in the growth of
fruit, such as the pine-apple, the orange, and the
lemon.

ELEUTHE'RIA BARK, a name not unfrequently given to the bark of the Croton Eleutheria, also known as Cascarilla Bark. See CASCARILLA. It is called Eleutheria (or Eleuthera) Bark, because it is chiefly gathered on the island of Eleuthera.

E'LEVATED. Wings turned upwards are described in heraldry as elevated.

ELEVATION, in Architectural Drawing, is a representation of the flat side of a building, drawn with mathematical accuracy, but without the slightest attention to effect. In Art, again, elevation is a raising of the subject beyond its ordinary character in real life. A very good instance of elevation in this sense is given by Fairholt in his Dictionary of Terms in Art, in Rembrandt's Adoration of the Shepherds.' The whole of the objects and surroundings of the infant Saviour are of the most homely description; and still the light which is represented as issuing from his person gives an elevation to the scene which takes off from it entirely the character of being commonplace or vulgar.

ELEVATION, in Astronomy and Geography, means generally the height above the horizon of an object on the sphere, measured by the arc of a vertical circle through it and the zenith. Thus, the elevation of the equator is the arc of a meridian intercepted between the equator and the horizon of the place. The elevation of the pole is the complement of that of the equator, and is always equal to the latitude of the place. The elevation of a star, or any other point, is similarly its height above the horizon, aud is a maximum when the star is on the meridian.

ELEVENTH, in Music, is the interval of the octave above the fourth.

ELF, a fairy, pl. ELVES. See FAIRIES.

ELF-ARROW-HEADS, ELFIN-ARROWS, ELF-BOLTS, ELF-DARTS, ELF-SHOT, and ELF-STONES, names popularly given in the British Islands to the arrow-heads of flint which were in use at an early period among the barbarous tribes of this country and of Europe generally, as they are still in use among the American Indians, the Esquimaux of the Arctic regions, and the inhabitants of some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was believed that elves or fairies, hovering in the air, shot these barbs of flint at cattle, and occasionally even at men. Thus, Robert Gordon of Straloch, an accomplished country gentleman of the north of Scotland, writing in 1654, tells how one of his friends, travelling on horseback, found an elf-arrow-head in the top of his boot, and how a gentlewoman of discovered one in the breast of her his acquaintance, when out riding, habit. He remarks that, although

Initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries was compulsory on every freeborn Athenian; but slaves, prostitutes, and persons who had forfeited their citizenship were excluded from the rites. During the period of the festival, none of those taking part in it could be seized or arrested for any offence. Lycurgus, with a view to destroying distinctions of class, forbade any woman to ride to the Eleusinia in a chariot, under a penalty of 6000 drachmæ. The mysteries were celebrated with the most scrupulous secrecy. No initiated person might reveal what he had seen under pain of death, and no uninitiated person could take part in the ceremonies under the same penalty. The priests were chosen from the sacred family of the Eumolpidae, whose ancestor, Eumolpus, had been the special favourite of Ceres. The chief priest was called the Hierophant,' or 'Mystagogue;' next in rank to him was the Daduchus, or Torch-bearer; after whom came the Hiero-Ceryx,' or Sacred Herald, and the priest at the altar. Besides these leading ministers, there was a multitude of inferior priests and servants. ELEU'SIS, a celebrated town in ancient Attica, stood near the northern shore of the Gulf of Salamis, and not far from the confines of Megaris. It was famous as the chief seat of the worship of Ceres, whose mystic rites were here performed with great pomp and solemnity from the earliest authentic times they are got by chance in the till the era of Alaric. See ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. fields and on the highways, one The temple of the goddess, designed by Ictinus, the who goes to look for them on architect of the Parthenon, was the largest sacred purpose will search in vain. He edifice in Greece. The site of the old Eleusis is adds that they are most com- Elf-Arrow-Heao. now occupied by the little village of Lefsina or circumstance which probably helped them in monly met with after showers-a Lepsina. Germany to their names of thunder-bolts' and thunder-stones,' and is easily enough explained. The rain, by washing away the earth in which they

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ELEU'THERA, one of the Bahamas (q. v.), is, next to New Providence, the most populous island

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ELGIN ELGIN AND KINCARDINE

have been imbedded, makes them more readily notorious Wolf of Badenoch (Alexander Stewart, percepti.le to the eye, especially if the sunshine Earl of Buchan); in 1402, by Alexander, the son of happens to fall upon them. Cattle dying suddenly the Lord of the Isles; and in 1452, by the Earl of in the fields were believed to have been struck Huntly-this last calamity originating the proverb, by elf-arrows-a belief which yet lingers in Ireland, Half done, as Elgin was burned.' Its once magni and perhaps in some secluded parts of Scotland. ficent cathedral church, partly of Early English and Thus, when cattle are sick,' writes. Mr W. R. partly of Middle-pointed architecture, dedicated to Wilde, in his Catalogue of the Antiquities in the the Holy Trinity, was begun by Bishop Andrew Museum of the Royal Irish Academy (Dub. 1857), Moray in 1224, on the transference of the see from ' and the cattle doctor, or fairy doctor, is sent for, Spynie; was injured by fire in 1270; was nearly he says the beast has been "elf-shot," or stricken burned down by the Wolf of Badenoch in 1390; by fairy or elfin darts; and he forthwith proceeds to was restored under Bishops Bur, Spyny, Innes, and feel the animal all over; and, by some legerdemain, Leighton (1390-1424); and from subsequent acci contrives to find in its skin one or more poisonous dent and dilapidation is now a mere ruin. The weapons, which, with some coins, are then placed in other religious buildings of the olden time were the the water which is given it to drink; and so a cure church of St Giles, a picturesque example of our old is said to be effected.' The elf-arrow-head was occa- parish churches, replaced 1826-1828 by the modern sionally set in silver, so as to be worn on the person less interesting structure; the monastery of the as a talisman, or had a hole drilled through it, so Black Friars, long since demolished; the convent of that it might be dipped in water, which, being thus the Gray Friars, the walls of whose church remain; endowed with healing virtue, was used sometimes as the hospital of the Maison Dieu, on the site of which a wash, more commonly as a draught. As a talisman, is Anderson's Institution; the Leper House, still the elf-arrow-head was believed to be most efficacious commemorated by the grounds called the Leper as a preservative from poison and witchcraft. The Lands; and the chapel of St Mary of the Castle, ascription of the flint arrow-head to the elves or which gave name to the Lady Hill and Lady Well fairies, is but one of several instances of the disposi- on the west of the town. The castle itself, styled tion of a people to elevate or degrade the earlier of old the Manor of Elgin, whose ruins, surmounted races whom they vanquished or dispossessed into by an obelisk-erected to the memory of George, mythical beings, better or worse than mankind. fifth and last Duke of Gordon-crown the Lady Thus, in Greece and Italy, the remains of the rude Hill, was a residence of the Earls of Moray, for strongholds built by the Pelasgi came to be regarded some time superiors of the burgh under our As works of the fabled Cyclops, or one-eyed giants. Scottish kings. So also, in Scotland, the sepulchral mounds of the ELGIN AND KINCA'RDINE, EARL OF, aboriginal inhabitants were called 'elf-hillocks;' and Governor-general of India. James Bruce, eighth the vestiges of ancient ploughshares which may be Earl of E., was born in Park Lane, London, in 1811. traced on heaths and hill-tops were called 'elfin- He was educated at his father's seat in Fifeshire, furrows.' Examples of 'elf-arrow-heads' may be and afterwards went to Christ Church, Oxford, seen in most museums of antiquities. They fall to where he was first-class in classics, 1832; became be more particularly described in a following page, Fellow of Merton, and graduated M.A. 1835. He under the head of FLINT IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS. entered public life in 1841, when, as Lord Bruce, E'LGIN, a royal burgh, the county town of Elgin he was returned at the general election on the or Morayshire, and a station on the Inverness Conservative interest for Southampton. A petiand Aberdeen Junction Railway, situated on the tion was presented against the return, and the right bank of the river Lossie, about five miles election was declared void. Before, however, a from the sea. Pop. (1871) 7339. E. joins with new writ could issue, Lord Bruce had succeeded Banff, Peterhead, Inverurie, Cullen, and Kintore, his father (who enriched the British Museum by in returning a member to parliament. It was prob- the invaluable collection of sculpture known as ably a royal burgh so early as the reign of King the 'Elgin Marbles,' q. v.) as Earl of Elgin. Those David I. (1124-1153), and had its privileges con- who remember his early parliamentary and prefirmed by several of his successors. Its trade is colonial career, state that he gave early promise now almost wholly retail. E. has 12 yearly fairs, of oratorical distinction, and assert that if he and a weekly grain market. It has a parish church, had thrown himself into the politics of the day, which is collegiate, 2 Free Churches, 2 United Pres- he would have taken a high position as a parlia byterian Churches, 1 Baptist Church, 1 Original mentary debater. By succeeding to a Scotch peerSecession, 1 Independent, I Episcopal, and 1 Roman age, however, he was, in his own words, expelled Catholic; with 10 schools. Gray's Hospital for the from the House of Commons without being admitted sick poor, built and endowed from a bequest of into the House of Peers.' Being offered the gover £20,000 by the late Dr Alexander Gray of Bengal, norship of Jamaica, in March 1842, by the Earl of and opened in 1819, with a small pauper lunatic Derby-then Lord Stanley-he went to Jamaica, asylum since attached by public subscription; and where he administered the affairs of the island with the Elgin or Anderson's Institution for the support so much ability and success, that in August 1816, of old age and the education of youth, built and the Governor-generalship of Canada was tendered opened 1831-1833, on the foundation of £70,000 to him by Earl Grey, then Secretary of State for the bequeathed by the late Major-general Anderson, Colonies in the administration of Lord J. Russell. HEI.C.S.-are the principal of many public and Lord E., still finding himself in the same position as private charities. E. is chiefly remarkable for the a Scottish peer, accepted the office, and went to beauty of its situation, lying placidly in a gentle Canada. His administration of the Government of curve of the Lossie, for the salubrity of its climate, Canada will ever be a bright spot in our colonial and for its history as the see of the Bishop of history, and a model to future governors of English Moray. Its appearance, about fifty years ago, was dependencies. He found Canada governed by that of a little cathedral city with an antique cliques, and torn by intestine feuds. With adfashion of building, and with a certain solemn mirable tact and entire success he inaugurated a drowsy air about the town and its inhabitants.' system of self-government which has rendered That appearance is fast giving way to that of a gay the provinces of British America a support to the modern county town, surrounded by elegant villas. British throne in place of being a source of weakThe old town was partially burned in 1390 by theness. Under his government, Canada made such

ELGIN AND KINCARDINE ELGIN MARBLES.

Theseus.

Ilissus or river-god, upper portions of the torsos of Neptune and Minerva, Iris, torso of Cecrops, Ceres, and Proserpine, the Fates, heads of the horses of Hyperion, and one of the horses of Night. Of all these, the Theseus, and the head of the horse of Night, are the most perfect, the former wanting only the hands and feet and part of the nose, while even the surface of the latter is very little injured. But however mutilated, the greatness in style of these magnificent works is clearly manifest, and from the merest fragment valuable instruction in art may be obtained. 2. Fifteen metopes, executed in high relief, representing the battle of the Centaurs and Lapitha. A metope is the interval between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze-in the Parthenon, there were ninety-two, fourteen on each front, and thirtytwo on each flank of the temple-and on every

strides in importance and prosperity, that between of several of the statues that were placed in the 1847 (in the beginning of which year he entered east and west tympana or pediments, the most upon his government) and 1855, when he returned important of which are the Theseus or Hercules, to England, the revenue of that great British possession quadrupled itself. During his administration, he successfully negotiated a treaty for reciprocity of trade between British America and the United States, which admitted the whole produce of British North America to be brought into competition with the products of the United States in their own markets. This treaty likewise put an end to the risk of collision on the subject of the fisheries between this country and America, which Lord E. has described as the most serious risk which had presented itself during the whole time he had been a public servant. His popularity was great, not only in Canada but the adjacent states, the citizens of which offered him ovations. He was now a peer of the United Kingdom (having been summoned to the House of Lords in 1849), and was appointed lord lieutenant of Fifeshire. In 1857, the affair of the lorcha Arrow, and the bombardment of Canton by Sir John Bowring, led Lord Palmerston to invite Lord E. to go to China as Plenipotentiary Extraordinary. An army was equipped to carry out the policy prescribed by the British government, and he started on his mission. But before he could approach his destination, and when he had barely left England a month, the Indian mutiny broke out. Lord E. did not hesitate a moment in preferring the safety of India to the success of his Chinese negotiations. He despatched the Chinese expedition to Lord Canning's assistance, and the English in India were thus enabled to hold their ground until further reinforcements arrived. After thus consigning himself to an inaction of several months, Lord E. proceeded to China, and in 1858, in conjuretion with Baron Gros, the French plenipotentiai. he negotiated the treaty of Tientein, which promised to give Great Britain a freer access to China than she had ever enjoyed before. He found time, before his return, to negotiate a treaty with Japan, under which English manufacturns are admitted at low rates of duty, and a British minister is permitted to reside at Jeddo. On his return home, he was appointed Postmaster-general. He had scarcely time to become acquainted with his duties, before the treachery of the Chinese, in firing upon the British squadron from the Taku forts, led to the organisation of another Chinese expedition, and to Lord E.'s second mission to China A combined English and French force penetrated to the capital, and enabled Lord E. and Baron Gros to dictate a peace under the walls of Pekin. On the expiration of Viscount Canning's term of service, the governor-generalship of India was offered by Lord Palmerston to Lord E. (1861), and accepted by him. Lord E. (who was the representative in the main line of the great Scottish House of Bruce) was twice married: in 1841, to the daughter of Mr. Cumming Bruce, M. P. (she died in 1843), and in 1846, to the daughter of the first Earl of Durham, by whom he had a son, Victor Alexander Lord Bruce, born at Montreal, 1849, and other issue. Lord E. was K. T. (1847), privy councillor (1857), G. C. B. (civil, extra), 1858. He died in 1863.

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ELGIN MARBLES, a celebrated collection of ancient sculptures, brought from Greece by Thomas, seventh Earl of Elgin, and acquired from him by the nation for the British Museum in 1816, at the sum of £35,000.

These sculptures adorned certain buildings on the Acropolis of Athens; the chief portions, which are from the Parthenon or Temple of Minerva, were designed by Phidias, and executed by him, or under us superintenderce. They consist of-1. Portions

Metope : From the Parthenon.

metope, a Centaur engaged in conflict with one of the Lapitha is represented in a style of the highest excellence in point of spirit and truthfulness. 3. A large portion of the frieze of the outer walla of the cella. This remarkable work represents the solemn procession to the Temple of Minerva during the Panathenaic festival, and has never been equalled for elegance of composition and the variety and gracefulness of the figures. It is executed in low relief, in order to adapt it to the light, for placed within the colonnade, it received its light between the columns, and by reflection, from the pavement below. This exquisite frieze occupied,

ELGINSHIRE-ELIJAH

slab after slab, a space of 524 feet in length. remains of it in the British Museum on slabs and

Portion of Panathenaic Frieze.

The the robber of these marbles was not a Frenchman, and their resting-place the Museum of Paris.'- Vis conti on the Sculptures in the Collection of the Earl of Elgin (John Murray, London, 1816), Library of Entertaining Knowledge-British Museum (London, Charles Knight).

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fragments of marble are to the extent of upwards of 949 feet, besides 76 feet in plaster casts.

Although the Elgin Marbles are now acknowledged to be the most precious collection existing of specimens of Greek art in its purest state, yet it was only after very considerable hesitation that government consented to purchase them, and then the sum awarded was not only far short of anything like a fair value, if indeed a value could be put on such treasures, but Lord Elgin was left largely out of pocket after all his exertions. Again, from petty jealousy, some of the connoisseurs of the day, who had earned a sort of reputation from their collections-of whom Mr Payne Knight may stand for the type-made strong efforts to underrate these great works; while others, like Lord Byron, from feelings apparently generous, but quite mistaken, because not based on fact, heaped obloquy on Lord Elgin, and opposed their acquisition. But it has been clearly proved that Lord Elgin, so far from destroying, has saved these master-pieces from destruction. It was not to be expected but that foreigners would grudge this country such an acquisition, but certainly it is remarkable that such opinions should have been expressed in this country. The view adopted by a foreigner, who has devoted much attention to the subject, M. Viardot, author of Les Musées d'Europe, may be accepted as that generally taken abroad; and it is very different from that at one time so pertinaciously maintained by many in this country. M. Viardot remarks: It is said that, to justify the appropriation of the Lahore diamond, the English allege that if they Dave taken it, it was merely to prevent its appropriation by others. They may give the same excuse for their appropriation of the marbles of the Parthenon. No doubt, Lord Elgin has carried them off; and the Greeks of the present day, seeing the old temple of their Acropolis despoiled of all its ornaents, have a good right to curse the spoiler. But when we think of the devastation these works have Bo often experienced, to the total destruction of the principal statues, and the shameful mutilation of the others, and the risk these last ran of being entirely destroyed in their turn-when we consider that these precious relics of art are conserved in a place of surety, and placed in the centre of artistic Europe, ore loses the desire, and almost the right to charge the English with piracy and robbery. For my part, if, in the course of my long devotion to the marbles of Phidias, a regret has come to trouble the ardent pleasure of my admiration, it was, that

E'LGINSHIRE, MO'RAYSHIRE, or MURRAYSHIRE, a maritime county in the northeast of Scotland, on the Moray Firth. It contains 531 square miles, and is 30 miles long and 20 miles broad, while above a third part is cut off on the south by a detached part of Inverness-shire. In the south are the high and rugged Monadhliadh Moun tains of Inverness-shire, dividing the basins of the Spey and Findhorn, and forking in the north to include the basin of the Lossie. The Lussie, 25 miles long, is the only stream entirely included in the county, but the rapid Spey and Findhorn, the latter noted for its fine scenery, skirt its east and west sides respectively. In the south, guess predominates with a little granite; and in the north, sandstone with fish and reptilian remains, and small patches of oolitic and wealden strata. West of the Findhorn mouth are the sand-dunes of Culbin, three square miles in extent, some of them rising 118 feet. Great masses of peat and trunks of trees are often cast ashore near the mouth of the Findhorn. The climate is mild and dry, and the county has been called the Devonshire of Scotland, the mountains of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire protecting it from the cold moist winds of the German Ocean. The soil is open, sandy, and gravelly, and very fertile in the north, with some deep loams and clays. In 1873, a third of the county was in crop, the chief crops being oats, wheat, and turnips. E. was anciently reckoned the gra nary of Scotland. Pop. (1871) 43,598; (1851) 38,959, chiefly agriculturists. The chief exports are grain, cattle, salmon, and timber. There are some manufac tures of woollens and malt liquors. E. unites with Nairnshire in sending one member to parliament. It contains 22 parishes, and portions of parishes. In 1871, 84-87 per cent. of children, from 5 to 13 years, were receiving education. The total valuation of E. was for 1873-1874, £204,556. The parish schools enjoy the Dick Bequest. The chief towns are Elgin and Forres. The ancient province of Moray included the counties of Elgin and Nairn, and parts of those of Inverness and Banff. Scandinavians early settled in it. About 1160, Malcolm IV. subdued it. The chief antiquities are Elgin Cathedral, Spynie Castle, Duffus Castle, Pluscarden Abbey, Kinloss Abbey, and the Norman parish church of Birnie. Burghead, on the coast, is supposed by many to have been a Roman station, but its ramparts and ditches, now almost destroyed, were probably of more recent origin. It was the last stronghold of the Norsemen in this part of Scotland. E. was overrun in the civil wars of Montrose, 1645, &c.

ELIAS, ST, a lofty mountain which occupies a conspicuous position on the north-west coast of America, in lat. 60° 18' N., and in long. 140° 30′ W. It rises about 17,860 feet, or almost 3 miles above the sea, being visible to mariners at a distance of 50 leagues. Physically, it marks pretty nearly the point where the shore, after trending in a northwest direction, turns due west, and politically it divides itself between the territories of Russia and

Great Britain.

ELIJAH (in the Greek form, occurring in the New Testament, Elias), the greatest of the prophets of Israel, was born at Tishbe, in Gilead, on the borders of the desert. He comes upon the scent in the time of Ahab, about 920 B. C. When that monarch, to please his Phoenician wife Jezebel, tad

introduced, on an

ELIMINATION-ELISHA.

extensive scale, the worship originally divided into three districts-Cœle or Hollow Elis, Pisatis, and Triphylia. Of these, the first-named was by far the largest and most valuable, comprising as it did the broad and fertile plains watered by the Peneus and the Ladon, and producing excellent crops of corn, cotton, and flax; while the pastures by the river-banks reared cattle and horses of proverbial excellence. This district, from its fertility, was called the milk-cow of the Morea. Pisatis is drained by the Alpheus, and is separated from Cole Elis by Mount Pholoë, a spur of Eryn.anthus. The low grounds of this division possess great natural fertility. Most of the surface of Triphylia is hilly, being occupied with offshoots from the great Arcadian ranges. It is separated from Pisatis by the Alpheus, on whose banks were the grove and temple of Olympic Jove, and the plain in which the great Olympic games were celebrated. Though E. had few facilities for preventing invasion, it yet suffered less from war than any other of the Greek states-an advantage chiefly due to the sacred character of the country, as the seat of the greatest of the national festivals. Their prerogative of holding the Olympic games gave the Eleans a prestige which they continued to enjoy in greater or less degree till the games themselves were suppressed by the Emperor Theodosius in 394 A. D.- -ELIS, now Kaloscopi, the capital of the foregoing country, stood on the Peneus, and was long famous as one of the most splendid and populous cities of Greece. It was at one time strongly fortified, and contained many magnificent buildings, conspicuous among which was the Gymnasium, in which it was necessary that all athletes intending to take part in the Olym pic games should go through a month's training before they were allowed to compete. See Leake's Morea, and Curtius's Peloponnesus.

of Baal, E. pronounced a curse on the land. The prophet had to flee. He took refuge by the brook Cherith, probably one of the torrents that cleave the high table-land of his native region. Here he was miraculously fed by ravens. He then went to Zarepheth, a town lying between Tyre and Sidon. Here he lodged with a widow wonian, prolonged her oil and meal, and brought back her son to health from the brink of the grave. Subsequently he made a temporary reconciliation with Ahab, and on Mount Carmel executed dreadful vengeance on the prophets of Baal, slaying 400 with his own hand. Such a deed enraged Jezebel to the utmost. She swore to destroy the prophet, who once more took refuge in flight. He rested not till he reached Beersheba in the far south, on the edge of the desert that leads down to Sinai. The brief allusion in Scripture to his weary wanderings is very touching. At last he comes to Horeb, where he has an interview with Jehovah. The passage in which this is recorded is one of the grandest and most significant in the whole of the Old Testament. He then receives certain instructions from Jehovah, among others that he should select Elisha to be prophet in his room. E.'s next appearance is when Ahab rides forth to take possession of Naboth's vineyard: he denounces the murderous monarch, and utters an awful prophetic curse on him and his wife. After the death of Ahab, he rebukes the idolatries of his son Ahaziah in a solemn and bloody fashion; and after the death of Abaziah, we find him interfering in the affairs of the king of Judah, who had married a daughter of Ahab, and had begun to walk in the ways of the kings of Israel.' He denounced his evil doings, and predicted his death. The closing scene of his life on earth is exquisitely narrated. A chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared after Elisha and he had crossed the Jordan, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.' His political and religious aims were carried out by his disciple and successor, Elisha.

ELI'SHA, a prophet of Israel, the successor of Elijah, who found him at the plough, and consecrated him to the sacred office by throwing his mantle over his shoulders. He exercised his functions for a period of 55 years. When Elijah was carried up into heaven, E. returned to Jericho, where he dwelt for some time. He then proceeded to Bethel, where the perplexing miracle occurred of the destruction of the 42 children by the two she-bears. After this period, he seems, besides performing an extraactive part in the religious politics of his country, ordinary number of miracles, to have taken an but he exhibited nothing of the fiery and sanMild, tolerant, con

ELIMINATION is a process by which, where we have a number of statements concerning several quantities, we can obtain a separate statement concerning each. Thus, in Algebra, elimination is the operation which consists in getting rid of a quantity or letter which is common, say, to two equations, by forming out of the two a new equation, in such a way as to make the quantity in question dis-guinary zeal of his master. appear. If three unknown quantities, for instance, the Baal-worship that was still prevalent in Israel. ciliatory, we hardly ever, if at all, find him rebuking are to be found from three independent equations, Many of the incidents in his history recall the the first step is to form out of the three given equa- creations of eastern fancy, such, for example, as tions two new equations, so as to eliminate one of the unknown quantities; from these two equations those of the horses and chariots of fire round about another of the quantities is eliminated in the same host with blindness, so that the prophet led them E. on the hillside, of the smiting of the Syrian way, giving one equation with one unknown quantity; all unconsciously into Samaria, captive, &c. With the value of which is then found. In complicated Elijah, it has been said (see Smith's Dictionary of equations, elimination becomes difficult, and often impossible. Elimination is an important process in the Bible: Art. Elisha'), the miracles are introother sorts of reasoning besides the mathematical; duced as means towards great ends, and are kept in this larger acceptation, it means the setting aside in the most complete subordination thereto. of all extraneous considerations of everything not with E., as he is pictured in the Hebrew narraessential to the result. In astronomical observa- tive, the case is completely reversed; with him, tions, the elimination of errors of observation is the miracles are everything, the prophet's work often effected by repeating the observations several nothing. The man who was for years the intimate times in such a way as to cause the errors to be of companion of Elijah, on whom Elijah's mantle opposite kinds, then adding the observed values, and descended, and who was gifted with a double portaking their averag-The word to eliminate,' is tion of his spirit, appears in the Old Testament chiefly as a worker of prodigies, a predicter of otten erroneously used in the sense of to elicit,' or future events, a revealer of secrets, and things bring to light. happening out of sight or at a distance.' difficulties that thus beset the literal acceptance of the narrative of E.'s miracles have been felt by most modern commentators, and to evade these

E'LIS, one of the ancient divisions of the Peloponnesus, bounded N. and N.-E. by Achaia, E. and S. by Arcadia, and W by the Ionian Sea. It was

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