ELGIN ELGIN AND KINCARDINE.

have been imbedded, makes them more readily notorious Wolf of Badenoch (Alexander Stewart, perceptible 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 magniand 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 accicontrives 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 aboriginal inhabitants were called 'elf-hillocks;' and the vestiges of ancient ploughshares which may be traced on heaths and hill-tops were called 'elfinfurrows.' Examples of 'elf-arrow-heads' may be seen in most museums of antiquities. They fall to be more particularly described in a following page, under the head of FLINT IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS. E'LGIN, a royal burgh, the county town of Elgin or Morayshire, and a station on the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway, situated on the right bank of the river Lossie, about five miles from the sea. Pop. (1861) 7543. E. joins with Banff, Peterhead, Inverury, Cullen, and Kintore, in returning a member to parliament. It was probably a royal burgh so early as the reign of King David I. (1124–1153), and had its privileges confirmed by several of his successors. Its trade is now almost wholly retail. E. has 12 yearly fairs, and a weekly grain market. It has a parish church, which is collegiate, 2 Free Churches, 2 United Presbyterian Churches, 1 Baptist Church, 1 Original Secession, 1 Independent, 1 Episcopal, and 1 Roman Catholic; with 10 schools. Gray's Hospital for the sick poor, built and endowed from a bequest of £20,000 by the late Dr Alexander Gray of Bengal, and opened in 1819, with a small pauper lunatic asylum since attached by public subscription; and the Elgin or Anderson's Institution for the support of old age and the education of youth, built and opened 1831-1833, on the foundation of £70,000 bequeathed by the late Major-general Anderson, H.E.I.C.S.-are the principal of many public and private charities. E. is chiefly remarkable for the beauty of its situation, lying placidly in a gentle curve of the Lossie, for the salubrity of its climate, and for its history as the see of the Bishop of Moray. Its appearance, about fifty years ago, was that of a little cathedral city with an antique fashion of building, and with a certain solemn drowsy air about the town and its inhabitants.' That appearance is fast giving way to that of a gay modern county town, surrounded by elegant villas. The old town was partially burned in 1390 by theness.

ELGIN AND KINCA'RDINE, EARL OF, Governor-general of India. James Bruce, eighth Earl of E., was born in Park Lane, London, in 1811. He was educated at his father's seat in Fifeshire, and afterwards went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he was first-class in classics, 1832; became Fellow of Merton, and graduated M.A. 1835. He entered public life in 1841, when, as Lord Bruce, he was returned at the general election on the Conservative interest for Southampton. A petition was presented against the return, and the election was declared void. Before, however, a new writ could issue, Lord Bruce had succeeded his father (who enriched the British Museum by the invaluable collection of sculpture known as the Elgin Marbles,' q. v.) as Earl of Elgin. Those who remember his early parliamentary and precolonial career, state that he gave early promise of oratorical distinction, and assert that if he had thrown himself into the politics of the day, he would have taken a high position as a parliamentary debater. By succeeding to a Scotch peerage, however, he was, in his own words, 'expelled from the House of Commons without being admitted into the House of Peers.' Being offered the governorship of Jamaica, in March 1842, by the Earl of Derby-then Lord Stanley-he went to Jamaica, where he administered the affairs of the island with so much ability and success, that in August 1846, the Governor-generalship of Canada was tendered to him by Earl Grey, then Secretary of State for the Colonies in the administration of Lord J. Russell. Lord E., still finding himself in the same position as a Scottish peer, accepted the office, and went to Canada. His administration of the government of Canada will ever be a bright spot in our colonial history, and a model to future governors of English dependencies. He found Canada governed by cliques, and torn by intestine feuds. With admirable tact and entire success, he inaugurated a system of self-government, which has rendered the provinces of British America a support to the British throne, in place of being a source of weakUnder 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 two on each flank of the temple-and on every were ninety-two, fourteen on each front, and thirty

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 conjunction with Baron Gros, the French plenipotentiary, he negotiated the treaty of Tientsin, 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 manufactures 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 is the representative in the male line of the great Scottish House of Bruce) has been twice married: in 1841, to the daughter of Mr Cumming Bruce, M.P. (she died 1843); and in 1846, to the daughter of the first Earl of Durham, by whom he has a son, Victor Alexander Lord Bruce, born at Montreal 1849, and other issue. Lord E. is K.T. (1847), privy councillor (1857), G.C.B. (civil, extra) 1858.

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 his superintendence. They consist of-1. Portions

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 walls 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.

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 northdivides itself between the territories of Russia and west direction, turns due west, and politically it

"

ELIMINATION-ELISHA.

introduced, on an extensive scale, the worship of Baal, E. ronounced 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 Zarephath, a town lying between Tyre and Sidon. Here he lodged with a widow woman, 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 Ahaziah, 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 lenounced 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.

or

originally divided into three districts-Cole 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 produc ing 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 Erymanthus. 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 hold. ing 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.

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

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 but he exhibited nothing of the fiery and sanMild, tolerant, consuch a way as to make the quantity in question dis-guinary zeal of his master. appear. If three unknown quantities, for instance, are to be found from three independent equations, the first step is to form out of the three given equations two new equations, so as to eliminate one of the unknown quantities; from these two equations another of the quantities is eliminated in the same way, giving one equation with one unknown quantity, the value of which is then found. In complicated equations, elimination becomes difficult, and often impossible. Elimination is an important process in other sorts of reasoning besides the mathematical; in this larger acceptation, it means the setting aside of al extraneous considerations-of everything not essential to the result. In astronomical observations, the elimination of errors of observation is often effected by repeating the observations several times in such a way as to cause the errors to be of opposite kinds, then adding the observed values, and taking their averag.-The word to eliminate,' is often erroneously used in the sense of to elicit,' or bring to light.

ELIS, 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

ciliatory, we hardly ever, if at all, find him rebuking Many of the incidents in his history recall the the Baal-worship that was still prevalent in Israel. creations of eastern fancy, such, for example, as those of the horses and chariots of fire round about host with blindness, so that the prophet led them E. on the hillside, of the smiting of the Syrian all unconsciously into Samaria, captive, &c. With Elijah, it has been said (see Smith's Dictionary of the Bible: Art. Elisha'), the miracles are introduced as means towards great ends, and are kept in the most complete subordination thereto. But with E, as he is pictured in the Hebrew narra tive, the case is completely reversed; with him, the miracles are everything, the prophet's work nothing. The man who was for years the intimate companion of Elijah, on whom Elijah's mantle descended, and who was gifted with a double portion of his spirit, appears in the Old Testament future events, a revealer of secrets, and things chiefly as a worker of prodigies, a predicter of happening out of sight or at a distance.' The difficulties that thus beset the literal acceptance of the narrative of E.'s miracles have been felt by most modern commentators, and to vale these

(

ELIXIR-ELIZABETH.

difficulties various methods, more or less satisfactory, have been employed. For several years, E. was the chief theocratical counsellor of Jehoram. Under the reign of Jehu and his successors, he gradually withdrew from public affairs, and died in Samaria in the reign of Jehoash, grandson of Jehu rabout 840 B. C.). It has been customary to draw a parallel between E. and Christ; and his mildness and gentleness-always excepting the story of tne destruction of the children at Bethel, which has perplexed all humane readers of Scripture On her sister's command, she conformed to papacy, seem to justify this. E. is canonised in the Greek Church; his day is the 14th of June.

the gravity of advanced years. Edward used to speak of her as his 'sweet sister Temperance.' During her sister's reign, this demureness was exaggerated into prudery, and the vanity which, in after-years, with ampler means at its command, displayed itself in the utmost profusion of personal decoration, then sought for distinction by excess of plainness. Her Protestantism, and the way in which court was paid to her by the Protestant nobility, caused uneasiness to Mary and her council. but the insincerity of the conformity imposed upon no one. Upon the pretext of having been conELIXIR (Lat. elixare, to extract by boiling), a cerned in Wyatt's rebellion, she was sent in 1554 term in pharmacy, which has come down from the to the Tower. She entered it with all the gloomy days of alchemy, and is applied to various prepara- who had been recently within its walls, could forebodings which the fate of so many royal ladies tions, consisting mostly of solutions of aromatic and bitter vegetable substances in spirits of wine. suggest. In daily fear for her life, many months The term tincture is now more common. ELIXIR passed. Indeed, the warrant for her execution was OF VITRIOL, or Aromatic Sulphuric Acid, is at one time prepared; and it is unquestionable that pared from 14 fluid ounces of sulphuric acid (oil the stern bigotry of Mary and her councillors, of vitriol), 10 fluid ounces of rectified spirit, oz. Gardiner and Bonner, would have sacrificed E., cinnamon in powder, 1 oz. ginger in powder. but for the fear of popular commotion. The people, The acid is gradually added to the spirit, and the however, regarded E. with great favour, and many mixture being placed in a closed vessel, is allowed already looked forward to the time when the to digest at a gentle heat for three days; the death of Mary should free the court from foreign cinnamon and ginger are then added, and after influence, and give room for a milder government. being allowed to stand about six days, the whole Thus the life of E. was saved, but for some time is strained through cloth. The elixir of vitriol is longer she was kept a prisoner at Woodstock. useful for quenching thirst, sharpening the appetite, During the remainder of Mary's reign, E., though checking profuse perspiration, and often reducing occasionally at court, resided chiefly at her resithe action of the pulse. dence of Hatfield House, in Hertfordshire, where from 10 to 40 minims, and is administered in a and the study of classical literature, under the The dose may range she occupied herself with feminine amusements, wine-glassful of water, or some mild liquid, as infusion or conserve of roses.-ELIXIR VITE OF MATHIOLUS is composed of alcohol, and upwards of twenty aromatic and stimulating substances, and was at one time administered to patients suffering from epilepsy.

pre

ELIZABETGRAD, a town of South Russia, is situated in the midst of a delightful plain, on the banks of the Ingul, in lat. 48° 27′ N., long. 32° 15' E., about 130 miles north from Kherson. It consists of a town proper and four suburbs, is well built, its streets straight, wide, and adorned with avenues of trees. E. has a large arsenal within the walls, and is protected by six bastions. A considerable trade is carried on here in the produce of the surrounding districts; and an annual fair is held, which is attended by many thousands of dealers; commerce is also carried on with Poland and Moldavia. In the immediate neighbourhood of the town there are upwards of 30 wind-mills. Great numbers of cavalry are always present in E., as it is the head-quarters of the military colonies east of the river Bug. Pop. in 1855, 13,494.

ELIZABETH, Queen of England, was the daughter of Henry VIII. and the unfortunate Anne Boleyn, and was born 7th September 1533. While she was yet in her third year, her mother was beheaded. After her mother's execution, she was sent to the country, where, in comparative poverty and seclusion, under the care of ladies who leaned to the new learning,' and sometimes, though seldom, with the companionship of her brother Edward, or her sister Mary, the greater part of her early youth was spent. When Catharine Parr became queen, E., who was a favourite with her, was more seen at court; but from some unknown cause, she incurred her father's displeasure, and was again sent to the country. Her father died when she was twelve years old. During the reign of her brother Edward, her life passed quietly and peacefully. She was then remarkable for a great demureness and sobriety of manner, discoursing with her elders with all

learned Roger Ascham.

When Mary died (17th November 1558), E. was Her accession was twenty-five years of age. former were, outwardly at least, the majority in welcomed alike by Catholic and Protestant. The Mary's reign; but among them there were few who really cared for the peculiar doctrines of the Roman Church, and there were many who were weary of priestly interference, foreign dictation, and cruel persecution. Like E. herself, there were many who had conformed merely to save themselves from trouble. They had obeyed the Six Articles in Henry's time; had agreed to the Protestant settlement of Edward; had turned with Queen Mary, and were now ready to turn again with Queen Elizabeth. The Protestants, of course, who had never believed the sincerity of E.'s conformity, welcomed her to the throne. E. then began, amidst dangers and difficulties, a reign which, contrary to the expectation of all, was of unexampled length and prosperity. It would be wrong not to attribute to her influence some effect in producing the great changes which, during the next forty-four years, took place in England; but so far as these changes were not produced in the natural course of the development of the nation's powers, and so far as they bear the mark of an individual mind, they bear much more the impress of the bold yet cautious judgment and clear intellect of the great minister, Cecil, than of the sovereign's will. It is to the highest praise of E. that her first act on succeeding was to consult with such a man, and that to the very last she could bend her capricious temper to his control.

How the government influence was to be directed, was not long in being shewn. Till parliament should meet, E. issued a proclamation that the English language should be used in the greater part of the church service, and that the Host should not be elevated by the priest during mass. This suificiently indicated into what hands power had passed, and was enough to throw the mass of the indifferent