of the Law of Scotland, was born June 2, 1721, studied at the university of Edinburgh, and in 1743 was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Dunblane. In the following year, he was ordained minister of Kirkintilloch, where he remained until 1753, when he was presented to the parish of Culross, in the presbytery of Dunfermline. In 1758, he was translated to New Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh; in 1766, the university of Edinburgh conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity; and in 1767, he was promoted to the collegiate charge of Old Greyfriars, where he had for his colleague Dr Robertson. In the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, he was for many years the leader of the popular or evangelical party; and there the openness and integrity of his character secured him the confidence and affection of his friends, and the esteem and respect of his opponents. Between him and Principal Robertson, the leader of the moderate party, there was a courteous and honourable friendship; and the funeral sermon which he preached on the death of his colleague, did equal honour to E.'s head and heart. He died January 19, 1803. E.'s writings are exceedingly numerous. They consist of essays, letters, sermons, dissertations, and pamphlets, &c., mainly of a religious character, and exhibit a superior degree of ability. Sir Walter Scott, in his Guy Mannering, gives a graphic and accurate description of his powers as a preacher. ERSKINE, THOMAS, LORD ERSKINE, was the youngest son of Henry David, tenth Earl of Buchan; and was born in Edinburgh, 10th January 1750. Although his father, at the period of his birth, was reduced to an income of £200 a year, he transmitted to him the blood of a race which had been prolific in men of great ability, and had been ennobled before the era of genuine history. The countess, who was the daughter of Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, in the county of Midlothian, was not only a godly Presbyterian and a skilful housewife, but a gifted and accomplished woman. After E. had attended for some time the High School of Edinburgh, the family removed to St Andrews, at the grammar school of which place, and subsequently at the university, though never it would seem as a matriculated student, Thomas E. received the rest of such education as fell to his share. His desire was to study for a profession; but his parents, who had sent his elder brother, Lord Cardross, to Leyden, and were educating his second brother, Henry, afterwards the well-known Harry Erskine, for the Scottish bar, could not afford the expense of a third learned education, and sent him to sea as a midshipman. In this capacity he served for four years, until the death of his father, when he purchased a commission in the First Royals, and was for some time stationed at Minorca, where he employed his leisure time in the study of English literature. On his return to London, his birth, his acquirements, the elegance of his manners, and volubility of his conversation, led to his being warmly received in the best circles. It was then that he had the controversy with Dr Johnson on the respective merits of Fielding and Richardson which Boswell has recorded; and that he published a pamphlet on the prevailing abuses in the army, which, though anonymous, was well known to be his, and obtained a great circulation. E. now grew tired of the army as a profession, in which he saw little chance of promotion; and while in this humour, an accidental interview which he had with Lord Mansfield at an assize court, determined him to prosecute the study of law. E. was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn, 26th April 1775, and on the 13th January 1776, he entered his name on the books of Trinity

College, Cambridge, as a gentleman commoner. Many anecdotes are told of the privations which E. underwent when studying for the bar-how he lived on 'cow-heel and tripe,' dressed so shabbily as to be quite remarkable, and boasted that out of his own family he did not know a lord. Such stories, though probably exaggerated, prove that he endured considerable privations-considering his rank-in fitting himself for the legal profession. Lord Campbell says, that 'during Easter and Trinity terms he excited a great sensation in the dining-halı by appearing with a student's black gown over the scarlet regimentals of the Royals; probably not having a decent suit of plain clothes to put on. Though E. was aided by his aristocratic connection, his rise was still very wonderful. Without the advantage of a business training, or what, probably even in those days, was far more important, a business connection, he rose into practice with almost unprecedented rapidity. After his first speech, the attorneys actually flocked round him with their retainers, and in telling the story, he used sometimes to bring the number which he received before quitting Westminster Hall up to sixty-five! His two first clients were officers in the navy-Captain Baillie, who held an office in Greenwich Hospital, against whom a rule had been obtained calling upon him to shew cause why a criminal information for a libel reflecting on Lord Sandwich's conduct as governor of the charity, should not be filed upon him; and Admiral Keppel, who was tried by a court-martial at Portsmouth for incapacity and misconduct in an encounter with the French fleet off Ushant; and in both cases E. derived benefit from his own early connection with the service and the special information which he thus possessed. Admiral Keppel sent him two five-hundred-pound notes as a fee. From this time forth, E.'s good-fortune as an advocate was uninterrupted. In 1783, he was returned to parliament for Portsmouth. Four years and a half after he was called to the bar, he had cleared £8000 to £9000, besides paying his debts, he had got a silk gown, business of at least £3000 a year, and a seat in parliament, and had made his brother Lord Advocate. In parliament, on the other hand, he failed so egregiously in his first speech as to leave scarcely any hope in the bosoms of his admirers, and what is very singular, his failure and Lord Eldon's took place the same night. To some extent the phenomenon was accounted for by Sheridan's remark when he said to him: Erskine, you are afraid of Pitt, and that is the flabby part of your character.' But notwithstanding his political mortifications, his professional career went on with increasing brilliancy. In 1786, he was made Attorney-general to the Prince of Wales, by whom he was warmly patronised, but towards him and every one else he exhibited that manly independence which was the best part of his character. The fact of his appearing as counsel for Thomas Paine is more to his credit, than even the brave and honest speech which he made in his defence; whilst his removal in consequence from his office is, as Lord Campbell has said, a lasting disgrace to those from whom the measure proceeded. Throughout the political trials which occurred in this country at that troubled period, he enacted the same manly part. When E. was proposed for the woolsack, an office far beyond his legal attainments, the king, George III., in consenting exclaimed: 'What! what! well! well!--but remember he is your chancellor, not mine.' Yet his decisions as lord-chancellor, according to Lord Campbell, are not so much bad as superficial, though by some equity practitioners they are spoken of as the Apocrypha.

E. was 121

ERY'NGO (Eryngium), a genus of plants of the natural order Umbellifera, having simple umbels, which resemble the heads of composite flowers, a leafy involucre and leafy calyx, and obovate, scaly fruit destitute both of ridges and vittæ. The species are numerous, mostly natives of the warmer temperate parts of the world, with alternate, simple, or divided leaves, which have marginal spines. One species only is common in Britain, the SEA ERYNGO, or SEA HOLLY (E. maritimum), which is frequent on sandy sea-shores; a very stiff, rigid, and glaucous plant. E. campestre has also been found in England and Ireland, but is very rare. Its root was formerly

Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum): a, a floret; b, a petal; c, a stamen; d, the pistil. much employed in some parts of Europe as a tonic. That of E. maritimum is used in the same way, and possesses the same properties, being sweet and aromatic. It is sold in a candied state, and was formerly reputed stimulant, restorative, and aphrodisiac. Shakspeare makes Falstaff allude to the snowy colour and supposed properties of this now almost disused sweetmeat, for the preparation of which Colchester has long been famous above all other places. E. root has also been used as an aperient and diuretic. Linnæus recommends the blanched shoots of E. maritimum as a substitute for asparagus. E. fœtidum, a native of the warm parts of America, is called Fit-weed in the West Indies, a decoction of it being much used as a remedy in hysterical cases. E. aquaticum, a native of low wet places in North and South America, is called Rattlesnake Weed and Button Snakeroot. The root is diaphoretic and expectorant, and has a spurious reputation as a cure for the bite of the rattlesnake.

ERY'SIMUM, a genus of plants of the natural order Crucifera, tribe Sisymbriea. The pod is foursided. E. cheiranthoides, a branching annual, about 18 inches high, with lanceolate scarcely toothed leaves and small yellow flowers, is found in many parts of Europe, and also in North America. It is not uncommon in waste places and cultivated grounds in Britain, but may perhaps have been originally introduced for its medicinal use. Its seeds were formerly much employed as an anthelmintic, from which it has the name of WORM-SEED. It is also called TREACLE MUSTARD, because it was employed as an ingredient in the famous Venice

Erysimum Cheiranthoides :

a, root; b, a branch, in which flowering has recently begun; c, the summit of a branch in a more advanced state, shewing the fruit; d, the calyx; e, the parts of fructification, divested of floral envelopes; f, a flower.

formerly referred to E. are now included in other genera, as Sisymbrium (q. v.) and Alliaria (q. v.).

ERYSIPELAS (Gr. derivation uncertain), an inflammatory and febrile disease of the skin, attended by diffused redness and swelling of the part affected, and in the end either by desquamation or by vesication of the cuticle, or scarf-skin, in the milder forms, and by suppuration of the deeper parts in the severer varieties of the disease (phlegmonous erysipelas). Erysipelas affects, in a large proportion of instances, the face and head; it is apt to be attended with severe and typhoid fever (see FEVER), and often with great disorder of the nervous system, arising in some instances from inflammation of the membranes of the brain. In other parts of the body, severe or phlegmonous erysipelas is apt to be succeeded by protracted and exhausting suppurations, and sometimes by diseases of the bones, or inflammations of the internal organs. Erysipelas is frequently an Epidemic (q. v.) disease; it is also very apt to recur in a person who has been attacked once or oftener; and this is especially true of the form which affects the face. It is seldom that depletion is allowable in erysipelas, but the bowels should be well cleared out in most cases, and a Diuretic (q. v.) given, after which the treatment consists for the most part in watching narrowly the progress of the case, keeping up the strength as well as possible, and obviating special dangers as they occur. In some cases, iron is used as a specific remedy.

ERYTHEMA (Gr. eruthaino, I redden), a minor form of Erysipelas (q. v.), presenting the same tendency to diffusion and redness, but not so much swelling, and little disposition towards suppuration, or even vesication. Erythema is chiefly dangerous when it presents itself in a wandering shape, attended with slow consuming fever. The muriated tincture of iron, in doses of twenty drops in water every hour or two, has been regarded as a specific in this disease, as well as in erysipelas. Some forms of erythema are distinctly connected with constitutional diseases, as gout, rheumatism, syphilis, &c., and depend for their cure on the removal of the

cause.

ERYTHRE'A. See CENTAURY.

ERYTHRI'NA. See CORAL FLOWER. ERYTHRO'NIUM, a genus of bulbous-rooted plants of the natural order Liliaceae, with drooping flowers and the segments of the perianth reflexed. E. dens canis, the DOG-TOOTH VIOLET, SO called because of the resemblance of its little white bulbs to dogs' teeth, is a well-known ornament of our flower-borders in spring. It is a native of the central parts of Europe and south of Siberia. Anthelmintic properties are ascribed to the bulbs. Those of E. Americanum are emetic.

ERYTHROPHLÆUM, a genus of trees of the natural order Leguminosa, sub-order Mimose. E. Guineense, a native of Guinea, is a very large tree, 100 feet high, remarkable for the great quantity of red juice which every part of it contains, and interesting on account of the employment of this juice by the natives for an ordeal to test the innocence or guilt of a person accused of crime. The juice is swallowed in large draughts, and those who remain uninjured by it are supposed to be innocent.

ERYTHROXYLA'CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, allied to Malpighiacea. They are trees or shrubs, with alternate simple leaves, stipules, flowers growing from amidst scale-like bracts, calyx of five sepals, corolla of five petals, each petal having a curious appendage-a plaited scale at the base, ten stamens united at the base, a 3-celled ovary with two cells empty, and the third containing a single ovule, three styles, and the fruit a drupe. Nearly 100 species are known, natives of warm countries, and chiefly of tropical America. To this order belongs the COCA (q. v.). The wood of some of the species is bright red; that of Erythroxylon (Gr. red wood) suberosum is used in Brazil for dyeing, and a permanent red is obtained from it. That of E. hypericifolium is the Bois d'huile (Oil-wood) of Mauritius.

ERZBERG. See EISENERZ.

ERZERUM, or ERZROU'M, properly Erserum, a strongly fortified town in Turkish Armenia, in lat. 39° 55′ Ñ., long, 41° 20′ E., not far from the northern source of the Euphrates. It is situated in a high, but tolerably well cultivated plain; its site being 5800 feet above the level of the sea. The climate is cold in winter, but dry in summer. E. is the residence of an English, a Russian, and a French consul; and in 1854, was believed to contain upwards of 40,000 inhabitants, consisting of Turks, Armenians, and Persians, who carry on a brisk trade, and have thus attained to a degree of prosperity unusual in the East. The copper and iron wares of E. have acquired a wide celebrity. Situated at the junction of the important highways leading from Trebizond, Transcaucasia, Persia, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia, E. forms an entrepôt of commerce between Europe on the one hand, and the interior of Asia, and particularly Persia, on the other. The streets, the houses of which are built of mud, wood, or sun-dried bricks, are narrow, crooked, and filthy; and ruins of fortifications and of buildings formerly magnificent, everywhere meet the eye. The town consists of the fortress, strictly so-called, and four suburbs. The fortress, which is enclosed by a high wall, has, on the west, a citadel called Ijkaleh, with many curious monuments, and a mosque of Christian origin. The fortress also contains 15 mosques, the residence of the chief magistrate, some caravanseras, and a few elegant houses belonging to the higher order of officials and Mohammedan merchants. The suburbs boast 24 mosques, several Armenian churches, and a number of large bazaars and caravanseras. E. imports shawls, silk goods, cotton, tobacco, rice, indigo, &c.; and exports corn, sheep, and cattle,

horses, mules, and gall-nuts. The native manufactures here have been in part superseded by British manufactures, of which it is estimated 6000 bales, valued at £300,000, are annually retailed in the bazaars. E. is a very ancient town. Its Armenian name was Karin or Garin Khalakh (the city of the district of Garin), whence the Arabian califs called it Kali-Kalah. Anatolius, the general of the Emperor Theodosius II., erected here the fortress of Theodosiopolis, in the 5th c., to the north-west of the Syro-Armenian trading town of Arsen. When this place was destroyed by the Seljuks, the inhabitants retreated to the fortress of Theodosiopolis, to which they gave the name Arsen-er-Rum, i. e., Arsen of the Romans (or Byzantines), whence the modern but in 1201 it fell into the hands of the Seljuks, Erzerum. After 1049 it was a thriving emporium; when 100 churches were destroyed, and 140,000 inhabitants lost their lives. In 1242, it came into the possession of the Mongols; and, finally, in 1517, into that of the Turks. It still, however, continued to be the most important city in the country, and at the commencement of the 19th c. had a popu lation of 100,000 inhabitants. In the war of 1829, between the Turks and Russians, the taking of E. by the latter decided the campaign in Asia. It was restored to the Turks at the peace of Adrianople.

E'RZGEBIRGE (Ore Mountains'), the name given to the chain of mountains, rich in metals, stretching in a south-westerly direction, on the confines of Saxony and Bohemia, from the valley of the Elbe to the Fichtelgebirge, in long. 12° 20′ È. In the south, it rises to a height of from 2000 to 2500 feet, forming a steep wall of rock; in the west, it forms broad, slaty plateaux, and gradually slopes down towards the Saxon side to the level districts of Altenburg and Leipsic. In consequence of this formation, the streams flowing southward are small, while the north side of the chain, which is well wooded, presents a series of romantic, and occasionally fertile and thickly peopled valleys, watered by the Mulde, the Pleisse, and their numerous which is the highest in Germany, is situated towards The town of Gottesgabe, the site of the south of the E. range, in long. 12° 54′ E., at an elevation of 3162 feet. The Keilberg, the highest point of the range, is 3802 feet above the level of the tion, in which most of the metal strata are to be The E. is chiefly of the gneiss-granite formafound. Porphyry and basalt likewise appear.

tributaries.

sea.

E'SAU (hairy' or 'rough'), the eldest son of Isaac, and twin-brother of Jacob. As E. grew up, he became a man of the field,' a cunning hunter, and his father's favourite. He seems to have been a wild, rough, hearty Bedouin, or son of the desert, thinking nothing of to-morrow, but living with joyous carelessness from day to day. This is apparent from the manner in which he allowed Jacob to defraud him of his birthright, although it carried with it, besides many temporal advantages, the Covenant-blessing itself. After this transaction, E., when 40 years of age, married two Canaanitish women, which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah' (Gen. xxvi. 35). Then follows the narrative of Jacob's personation of his brother, and his securing irrevocably the blessing to himself. E. now swore to kill his brother, whereupon Rebekah sent Jacob to his uncle Laban in Padanaram. E. next married his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael; and appears to have established himself in his wife's country, to the south of Palestine in Mount Seir. Here he lived probably as a predatory chief. When Jacob was returning from Padanaram, E. encountered him with 400 of his Bedouins. The meeting was a touching one. The wild borderer at

last was in earnest. Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him' (Gen. xxxiii. 4). His anger had long died out. E. next appears at the burial of his father Isaac, whom he seems to have loved with the warm and simple affection of a child of nature, and having obtained his share of the property, went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob' (Gen. xxxvi. 6). From E. the region of Mount Seir took the name of Edom (q. v.), and his posterity are generally called

Edomites.

E'SCALADE (Fr. from Lat. scala, a ladder), in siege operations, is a mode of gaining admission within the enemy's works. It consists in advancing over the glacis and covert-way; descending, if necessary, into the ditch by means of ladders; and ascending to the parapet of the curtain and bastions by the same ladders differently placed. The ladders are either procured on the spot, or are sent out with the siege-army. A convenient form is in pieces of 12 feet length, fitting end to end by means of sockets. A firing-party is usually told off, to keep down the fire of the enemy upon the escaladers, especially a flank fire lengthwise of the ditch, which might sweep them off with terrible rapidity. The leaders of an escalade constitute a 'forlorn hope.'

ESCA'LOP-SHELLS are often used in heraldry to signify that the bearer has made many long voyages by sea. As the Pilgrim's (q. v.) emblem, they were commonly given to those who had been to the Crusades; they came to be regarded as indicating either that the bearer or his ancestor had been a Crusader. The escalop-shell was the emblem of St James the Great, and is generally met with in churches dedicated to him. The more ordinary form of the name is SCALLOP-SHELL (q. v.).

Escalop-Shell.

ESCAPE WARRANT is a warrant issued by a judge for the apprehension of persons who have escaped from the Queen's Bench or Fleet prisons. This power is conferred by 1 Anne, s. 2, c. 6, followed by 5 Anne, c. 9. The warrant may be issued by any judge of the court wherein the action was tried, or judgment and execution obtained, upon oath in writing, of the escape of the party, made before himself, or before one of the commissioners to take oaths. The apprehension may be effected on Sunday. The person apprehended is committed to the charge of the sheriff of the county, who is made responsible for his safe keeping.

ESCA PEMENT is the term applied to that part of the machinery of a watch or clock by which the onward revolving motion produced by the moving power, whether weights or spring, is brought into contact with the regulating movement of the pendulum or balance-wheel. See HOROLOGY.

ESCARP', in Fortification, is the side or slope of the ditch next the rampart, and of the parapet itself. When the ditch of a fortress is dry, the escarp is usually faced with mason-work, to render it difficult of ascent; and behind this facing (revêtement) there are often passages or casemates for defence. In temporary fortifications, the revêtement is sometimes of wood; and in field-works, palisades at the foot, or fraises on the berme or edge of the ditch, are held sufficient. The escarp is always made at as large an angle as the nature of the soil will allow; the design being to offer the greatest possible obstacle to an assailant.

E'SCARS are large heaps of gravel, consisting chiefly of carboniferous limestone, that were accumu

ESCHAROTIC (Gr.), causing an eschar. See CAUSTIC.

ESCHEA'T (Fr. echoir, from Lat. cadere, to fall or happen), an incident of the feudal law whereby, when a tenant in fee-simple died, leaving no heir capable of succeeding, the land reverted to his lord. By the earlier usages, this effect took place where there was no representative of the vassal in the seventh degree, which, according to later custom, Feud. i. 1, s. 4). According to the law of England, was extended to male descendants in infinitum (Lib. escheats are of two kinds-propter defectum sanguinis, and propter delictum tenentis. The former was in accordance with the feudal usage; so that if the owner of an estate in fee-simple dies without leaving an heir, and without having disposed of his estate by deed or will, the land reverts to the overlord, who in the present day is almost invariably the sovereign, except in copyhold estates, which escheat to the lord of the manor. The most frequent instance of escheat is in the case of the death of a bastard, who, having no relations but descendants, the lands on his death intestate and without issue, must revert to the crown. Escheat propter delictum tenentis is peculiar to the English law. It happened where a tenant in fee-simple had been guilty of treason or felony, in which case, not only his estate in possession, but any estate which might devolve upon him by the rules of descent, escheated to his lord; so that all who might succeed through him were cut off from the inheritance. This rule applied to all felonies, and was productive of much hardship. By modern legislation, it has been provided that attainder for felony shall not operate as a bar to inheritance, except in case of treason or murder (54 Geo. III. c. 145, 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 106, 13 and 14 Vict. c. 60). This species of escheat is to be distinguished from forfeiture of lands to the crown for treason, which prevailed in other countries besides England. See FORFEITURE.

Escheat in Scotland is of two kinds-1. The total forfeiture to the crown of all property heritable and victed of treason. movable belonging to a person who has been congoods by a debtor who has failed to make payment 2. It signifies the forfeiture of of debt in obedience to legal Diligence (q. v.). This species of escheat for debt was abolished by 20 Geo. II. c. 50. It was of two kinds: single escheat, and liferent escheat. By the former, all the debtor's movables were forfeited to the crown; by the latter, the annual profits of the debtor's estate were forfeited to the superior. Single escheat still exists in Scotland as a punishment of crime. In all capital convictions, it is ordered that the prisoner's 'whole movable goods and gear be escheat and inbrought to his majesty's use.' In cases of deforcement, bigamy, perjury, and some others, single escheat is imposed by statute as a portion of the penalty on conviction. Single escheat also falls upon denunciation for outlawry; and if the rebel continues for a year under denunciation, his liferent escheat falls to his superior.

ESCHELLES, LES, a village in Savoy (recently a Sardinian, now a French state), is situated on the

Guier, 12 miles south-west of Chambéry. The valley beyond this village and on the road to Chambéry is blocked up by a huge limestone rock 800 feet high, over which travellers formerly used to climb by means of ladders, and hence the name given to this village. Through this mass of limestone the public road now passes by means of a tunnel, which is 25 feet high, of equal width, and 1000 feet long. The tunnel was projected and commenced by Napoleon I., and finished in 1817 by the king of Sardinia.

E'SCHENBACH, WOLFRAM VON, a celebrated poet of the middle ages, was born in the second half of the 12th c., of a noble family, which derived its name from the village of Eschenbach near Ansbach. He received the honour of knighthood at Henneberg, and passed his life in knightly fashion. In 1204, he came to the court of Hermann, landgraf of Thuringia, where he shone among the poets of the time, at the so-called Wartburg-war (a rivalry of the German minstrels held at Wartburg in 1206 or 1207). Hermann's successor, Ludwig the Pious, appears to have shewn E. little favour, in consequence of which he withdrew from the Thuringian court towards the close of his life. He died some time between 1219 and 1225, and was buried in his native village. E.'s poems are partly original, and partly fashioned after French and Provençal models. His rich fancy, deep sentiment, and vivid power of representation, as well as his elegant mastery of language and versification, give something of an epic character to his works, the principal of which are Parcival, composed before 1212, Wilhelm von Orange, and Titurel. Besides these, we have several love-songs of his. E. exercised an important influence on his time, but subsequently was almost forgotten; and it is only recently that he has been restored to his place of honour. The first critical edition of his works was that by Lachmann (Berl. 1833); they were translated into modern German by San-Martre (2 vols., Magdeb. 1836-1841). The best translation of Parcival and Titurel was executed by Simrock (2 vols., Stuttg. 1842).

E'SCHER, JOH. HEINR. ALFRED, a distinguished Swiss statesman, was born at Zurich, 20th February 1819, and studied at Bonn and Berlin. In 1842, he was created Doctor of Law at Zurich; and spent the two following years in Paris, devoting his attention chiefly to studies connected with Roman law. On his return to Zurich, E. became a lecturer in the High School, the subject of his lectures being chiefly the political law of the Swiss confederacy. In 1844, he was elected member of the great council of the canton, and was thus drawn into the arena of practical statesmanship. Even at that early period, his sentiments were decidedly liberal. In January 1845, along with six others who shared his opinions, he published the famous summons to the popular assembly in Unterstrass for the expulsion of the Jesuits. His election into the Council of the Interior in 1845, and into the Council of Education in 1846, opened a wide field for his administrative talents in his native canton. The reorganisation of the schools in the canton of Zurich, according to the demands of the time, is chiefly his work. In December 1847, he became president of the great council; and in his opening speech, recommended the complete reform of the confederacy, and the greatest possible centraisation. In 1848, he was sent as a deputy to the Federal Diet; and, along with M. Münzinger, was charged with the negotiations entered into between Switzerland and Austria, in regard to the canton of Tessin. In December of the same year, on the introduction of the directorial system, E. became president of the newly elected Council of Regency.

Since that time, education, the reorganisation of church policy, the law establishing the free choice of teachers and clergy by the congregations, have been the points to which his legislative and administrative energies have been chiefly directed.

E'SCHOLTZ BAY, a portion of the Arctic Ocean in Russian America, forms the innermost part of Kotzebue Sound, the first great inlet to the northbeing barely on the outside of the polar circle. east of Behring's Strait. It is about long. 161° W., It is worthy of notice chiefly on account of its fossil remains, which, though common on the northern coast of Siberia, are comparatively rare on that of the new continent.

ESCHSCHOLTZIA, a genus of plants of the natural order Papaveracea, of which E. Californica and other species, natives of California, have now become very common in our flower-gardens, making a showy appearance with their large deep yellow flowers. The genus is remarkable for the calyx, which separates from the dilated apex of the flowerstalk, being thrown off by the expanding flower, and much resembling in its form the extinguisher of a candle.

Cassel, is situated on the left bank of the Werra, 25 E'SCHWEGÉ, a town of the electorate of Hessemiles east-south-east of Cassel. It consists of an old and new town, and a suburb; is surrounded with walls pierced by six gates; and is well built. The only building of note is the castle, which was long the residence of the landgrafs of Hessenlinen fabrics, numerous tanneries, and several oil Rotenberg. E. has manufactures of woollen and and other mills, also some trade in fruit and victuals. Pop. 6000.

E'SCORT. See CONVOY.

ESCUDO DE VERA'GUA denotes at once a river and an island on the Atlantic side of Central America-the latter being at the mouth of the former. They are situated a little to the east of the boundary between New Granada and Costa Rica. The island is in lat. 9° N., and long. 81° 30' W.; and the river, being only 15 miles long, derives its importance, if any, from the narrowness of the belt which here separates the two oceans.

ESCURIAL (the correct title is EL REAL SITIO DE SAN LORENZO EL REAL DE ESCORIAL), a famous monastery of New Castile, in the province of Madrid, and situated 30 miles north-west of the town of that name. This solitary pile of granite has been called the eighth wonder of the world, and at the time of its erection surpassed every building of the kind in size and magnificence. It owes its origin (at least, so it is said) to an inspired vow made by Philip II. during the battle of St Quentin. On that occasion, he implored the aid of St Lorenzo, on whose day, 10th August 1557, the battle was fought; and vowed that, should victory be granted to him, he would dedicate a monastery to the saint. The E. is built in the form of a gridiron, in allusion to the instrument of St Lorenzo's martyrdom, and forms a huge rectangular parallelogram 744 feet from north to south, and 580 feet from east to west, and divided into long courts, which indicate the interstices of the bars. Towers at each angle of this parallelogram represent the feet of the gridiron, which is supposed to be lying upside down; and from the centre of one of the sides, a range of building abuts, forming the royal residence, and representing the handle. The E. was begun in 1563, and finished in 1584, and was intended to serve as a palace, mausoleum, and monastery. It has a splendid chapel with three naves, 320 feet long, and 320 in height to the top of the cupola. The Pantheon,