Page images
PDF
EPUB

ELIZABETHAN ARCHITECTURE-ELK.

some time were little better than pirates. Edward, in 1645, abjured Protestantism, and was admitted into the Roman Catholic Church. Philip committed an assassination at the Hague, fled from justice, became a soldier of fortune in France, and was slain in the civil wars. Elizabeth accepted the office of superior of the Lutheran abbey of Hervorden, Henrietta-Maria was espoused by Ragotzi, Prince of Transylvania, but died shortly after her marriage. Louisa fled to France, and died as abbess of Maubisson. Previous to these events, E. became a widow by the death of Frederick, February 17, 1629, when his right to the Palatinate devolved on Charles-Louis, who, by the treaty of Westphalia, was restored to the family inheritance, October 24, 1648. This favourable turn of affairs did not mend the fortunes of E., who was scandalously neglected by her son, the young Elector-Palatine; and all he would do for the family was to give a shelter to his youngest sister Sophia, until she was married to Ernest-Augustus, a scion of the House of Brunswick, who ultimately succeeded to the electorate of Hanover.

Deprived, in one way or other, of all her children, the Queen of Bohemia-by which title she continued to be known-resolved to quit Holland. Relieved of her debts by the sale of jewels, and by aid of a pecuniary subsidy from the British parliament, she embraced an invitation from her nephew, Charles II., to come to England. She arrived May 17, 1661. From this time she was in a great measure indebted to the hospitality of Lord Craven, in a mansion which he had purchased from Sir Robert Drury, in Drury Lane, London. Charles II. paid her little attention; but at her death, which occurred February 13, 1662, he caused her remains to be interred in Westminster Abbey. Charles-Louis, her son, died in 1680, leaving a son, who died without issue, and the Palatinate then went to a distant branch of the family; he left also a daughter, Charlotte-Elizabeth, who, in 1671, had married Philip, Duke of Orleans, only brother of Louis XIV. In 1674, she gave birth to a prince, who became the noted Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. She died at St Cloud in 1722. The late Louis-Philippe, king of the French, was her lineal descendant. When, in 1708, the question of succession to the crown of Great Britain was debated, it was found that all the descendants of James I. were either dead or were Roman Catholics, except Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and her family. By act of parliament, that year, the crown was accordingly secured to her and her descendants, being Protestants; and in virtue of this act of settlement, on the death of Queen Anne, Sophia would have ascended the throne, but she predeceased the queen three months, and her son became sovereign of these realms as George I., August 12, 1714. In this extraordinary and unforeseen manner did a grandson of the unfortunate queen of Bohemia become king of England, and originate the dynasty of the reigning monarch. The Memoirs of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, by Miss Benger, 2 vols., may be perused as an accurate and pleasing piece of biography.

[blocks in formation]

enormous square windows, are the leading characteristics of this manner of building. The ornaments both within and without were cumbrous; nothing could exceed the heaviness of the cornices and ceilings wrought into compartments; in short, the architecture was just in keeping with the dress of the period, rich and gorgeous, rather than elegant, graceful, and comfortable. The following examples of mansions of the 17th c. may be still seen near London: Holland House, Campden House; and the following in Kent: Sir T. Willow's at Charlton, the Marquis of Salisbury's at Hatfield, and Knowle, the property of the Duke of Dorset. The most eminent architects of those times were John Thorpe, Gerard Christmas, Rodolph Symonds, and Thomas Holt.

ELIZABETO'POL, a town of Russian Transcaucasia, is situated in lat. 40° 42' N., long. 46° 20′ E. The town consists of three parts, one of which is fortified with a bastioned wall. Its principal buildings are its churches and mosques, of which there are many. The town is remarkable for its numerous fruit-gardens and vineyards. Horticulture, the rearing of silk-worms, bees, and cattle, with agriculture and mining, are the chief occupations of the inhabitants. Pop. (1867) 14,971, principally Tartars and Armenians.

ELK, MOOSE, or MOOSE DEER (Alces Malchis, or Cervus alces), the largest existing species of the Cervidae, or deer family, is a native of the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. When full grown, it is about six feet in height at the shoulders, and sometimes weighs 1200 pounds. The body is round, compact, and short; the neck is short and thick, unlike that of deer in general, but thus adapted for sustaining the great weight of the ELIZABETHAN ARCHITECTURE, a term head and horns. The head is very large, narrow, applied to the mixed style which sprang up on about two feet long. The horns in males of the the decline of Gothic architecture. By some it second year are unbranched, not flattened, and about is called the Tudor style, but that name belongs a foot long; as the animal becomes older, they more correctly to the Perpendicular, or latest kind begin to display a blade, with more numerous snags, of Gothic. The Elizabethan is chiefly exemplified and in mature elks the blade becomes very broad, by mansions erected for the nobility in the reigns of the snags sometimes fourteen on each horn; a single Elizabeth and James I., and originated in the first antler has been known to weigh about sixty pounds. attempt to revive classic architecture, influenced, no The horns have no basal snag projecting forwards. doubt, by Holbein, who was patronised by Henry The ears are long, and have been compared to those VIII., and furnished several designs in this manner. of the ass. The eyes are small. The limbs are long, John of Padua succeeded him, and built in the | and very graceful. The tail is only about four inches

ELK-ELLENBOROUGH.

long. The body is covered with coarse angular shell marl underlying the extensive turbaries. In hair, which breaks when it is bent. On the neck England, lacustrine deposits and brick-clay contain and withers there is a heavy mane, and the throat its remains, and, associated with the mammoth and is covered with long hair. A large goitre-like rhinoceros, they are found also in ossiferous caves. swelling under the throat of the younger elks has a very curious appearance. The hoofs of the E., like those of the reindeer and of the buffalo, are so constructed as to part widely, and to afford a better

[graphic]

Elk (Cervus alces).

Fossil Elk.

The most striking feature in this animal was its enormous antlers. A straight line drawn between their extreme tips in one specimen measured ten feet ten inches. The form of the antler differs from footing on soft marshy ground or on snow: they that of any living species of deer. The beam enlarges make a clattering when it runs. In running, it carries its muzzle forward, with the horns thrown and flattens into a palm; a brow snag exists as in back upon the neck, so that they may not be caught the fallow-deer, but in adult specimens, this bifurby branches. Its shoulders being higher than the cates and expands somewhat as in the reindeer croup, its common gait is a shambling trot; but ita peculiarity never observed in the fallow-deer can also gallop with great rapidity. The colour of group. The antler is also furnished with a back the elk is brownish black, darker in winter than in snag. Some idea of the enormous size and weight summer; the limbs, the sides of the head, and the of the antlers may be formed from the fact that, in mane are of a lighter colour than the body. Elks a specimen where the head weighed 5 pounds, their are sometimes seen in small herds, but often singly; weight was 81 pounds. To sustain this, the vertebræ they are now very rare in Europe, and are no longer stronger than in any other deer. A fine and almost of the neck and the limbs are very much larger and found in parts of North America in which they were once common. They formerly extended as far south perfect specimen of this animal, from the Isle of as the Ohio. They are sometimes seen even on the Man, exists in the Edinburgh Museum. shores of the Arctic Ocean. They delight in marshy districts and in forests. When compelled to eat grass, they must get down on their knees to reach it: their proper food consists of the branches and foliage of shrubs and trees. They are very timid and inoffensive, except during the rutting season. A single stroke of an elk's fore-foot is sufficient to kill the strongest dog. It is also an extremely wary animal, and is with the greatest difficulty approached by the hunter. Its sense of smell is very acute, and the slightest sound excites its alarm. It is, however, much sought after in North America. In Sweden, its destruction is prohibited; and in Norway is placed under legal restrictions. The flesh of the elk is esteemed a good kind of venison; the fat is remarkably soft; the nose and the tongue are reckoned delicacies. The skin is used for a variety of purposes.

The elk is easily domesticated, and was at one time employed in Sweden for conveying couriers, being capable of travelling more than 200 miles in a day when attached to a sledge.

The elk of Ceylon is a deer of the group to which the name Rusa has been given.

ELK, IRISH (Megaceros Hibernicus), a large deer found in the Pleistocene strata. There is a double error in its popular name, for it is a true deer, between the fallow and rein deer, and though abundant in Ireland, it is not peculiar to that country, being found also in England, Scotland, and on the continent of Europe. In Ireland, it occurs in the

EL-KHA'RGEH, capital of the Great Oasis, Upper Egypt, is situated in lat. 25° 28' N., long. 30 40 E. In the vicinity of the town are numerous ruins, among which are those of a temple; there is also a remarkable necropolis. Pop. 6000.

ELL (allied to elbow, Ger. ellenbogen, Lat. ulna, the fore-arm or arm in general) is a measure of length now little used. It was originally taken in some vague way from the arm, and hence has been used to denote very different lengths. The Latin ulna appears to have denoted sometimes the measure from the elbow to the tips of the fingers, sometimes that between the outstretched hands. The English ell, as a measure of cloth, is equal to five quarters of a Yard (q. v.).

E'LLENBOROUGH, EARL OF. Edward Law, first Earl of E., son of the first baron (many years Chief-justice of the King's Bench), was born 1790; educated at Eton and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A., 1809; succeeded his father in the barony in 1818; was Lord Privy Seal in the Duke of Wellington's administration, 18281829; President of the Board of Control during the short-lived Peel administration of 1834-1835; and appointed, on the return of Sir Robert Peel in September 1841, to the same office, which he relinquished a month afterwards for the post of Governor-general of India. He received the thanks of parliament in 1843 for his ability and judgment in supporting the military operations in Afghanistan. In many other respects, his Indian administration

ELLENRIEDER-ELLIPSE.

state of the coasts and of the metropolis, which
called forth some adverse criticism.
He was a
munificent patron of the arts, and made many
valuable additions to the collection of pictures
which he inherited with the large estates of the
last Duke of Bridgewater. He also built a noble
gallery for their reception, which he liberally threw
open to the public. After faithfully voting with
the Conservative party in parliament for a quarter
of a century, he, on the retirement of the Peel
administration in 1846, obtained a revival in his
favour of the peerages of Ellesmere and Brackley.
His last public appearance was in May 1856, when
he moved, in the House of Lords, an address to the
crown, approving of the treaty of peace after the
war with Russia. He died in 1857 at his new
mansion, Bridgewater House, London, and was
succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Viscount
Brackley.

was open to censure. He was charged with reserving his favour for the military, and inflicting undeserved slights upon the civil servants of the Company. He made showy progresses; addressed proclamations to the rulers and natives of India which appeared to sanction idolatry; and, finally, in his proclamation concerning the sandal-wood gates of the temple of Juggernaut, when brought back from Ghuznee, he reached the climax of a series of extravagances, which induced the directors of the East India Company to exercise a power only used in extreme cases, and to recall him. The ministry, however, stood by him, and he was created by the crown an earl and a viscount; he also received the distinction of G.C.B. In 1846, Sir R. Peel made him first Lord of the Admiralty, an office which he resigned in July of the same year, when the disruption of the Peel administration took place. In the Derby administration of 1858 he was again Minister for India, and the author of an India Bill, which failed to obtain the sanction of parliament. Having Shropshire, near ELLESMERE, a town in the north-west of a beautiful lake or mere, 19 permitted a dispatch to see the light, in which he miles north-north-west of Shrewsbury. Pop. (1871) had administered a severe and caustic rebuke to 2013. It has considerable malting establishments. Viscount Canning, Governor-general of India, an On the present site of a bowling-green once stood outery was raised against him, which threatened an ancient castle, alternately held by the English the existence of the Derby government. To avert and Welsh. this result, Lord E. resigned. He afterwards took | a frequent and influential part in the debates of the Upper House. He was styled, by no less a judge than M. Guizot, the most brilliant of the Tory orators.' He was twice married-first to a daughter of the Marquis of Londonderry, and second to the daughter of Admiral Digby. His divorce from the latter made some noise at the time. E. died without issue, December 2, 1871, when the earldom and viscounty became extinct.

ELLENRIEDER, MARIE, a female painter of very high excellence, was born at Constance in 1791, studied in Munich, and in 1820 went to Rome, to perfect her knowledge of art. Her admiration of the old German masters gave a religious bent to her genius. On her return to Germany, she resided for some time at Carlsruhe, where she painted a Martyrdom of St Stephen' as an altar-piece for the Roman Catholic Church. She was afterwards appointed court-painter at Munich, but she chose to fix her residence at Constance, and devoted herself exclusively to her profession. Among her principal pieces are the Transfiguration of St Barthelemy,' Christ Blessing Little Children,' 'Mary and the Infant Jesus,' 'Joseph and the Infant Jesus,' St Cecilia,' Faith, Hope, and Charity, and a Madonna. Marie E. is reckoned in Germany the greatest female artist of the present age. So full of ideal grace and beauty are the heads of her women and children, in particular, that it has been said that 'she seems to paint in the presence of angels;' her colouring, however, is gray, dull, and sombre, like that which prevails among the old masters of the German school. She died in June 1863.

E'LLESMERE, first EARL OF, politician, patron of the arts, and author. Francis Egerton, second son of the first Duke of Sutherland, was born 1800; graduated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was second-class in classics, 1820; entered the House of Commons, 1820, and represented successively Bletchingly, Sutherland county, and South Lancashire; filled the office of Chief-secretary for Ireland from January 1828 to July 1830, and Secretary at War from July to November 1830; in 1833 assumed the name of Lord Francis Egerton, in lieu of his patronymic Leveson-Gower. He achieved considerable literary distinction as a writer of graceful poems, translations from the German, &c. He also published a pamphlet on the defenceless

E'LLIOT, EBENEZER, the CORN-LAW RHYMER, was born at Masborough, in Yorkshire, March 7, 1781. His father was a man of strong character and narrow opinions, and, as appears from Ebenezer's Autobiography (published in the Athenæum in 1850), exercised no little influence on his son's modes of thinking and sympathies. When a boy at school, E. was not a quick pupil; and even after his father had sent him to work in the iron-foundry where he himself held the situation of a clerk, the youth exhibited no fondness for reading. Before long, however, he entirely changed, and commenced to study Milton, Shakspeare, Ossian, Junius, and other authors. His first published poem was composed in his 17th year: it is entitled The Vernal Walk. This was succeeded by Night, Wharncliffe, &c. In 1821, E. began business as an iron-founder on his own account at Sheffield. He was very successful; and in 1841 retired to an estate which he had purchased at Great Houghton, near Barnesley, where he died 1st December 1849. E.'s principal productions are Love, accompanied with a letter to Lord Byron, his famous Corn-law Rhymes, The Ranter, and The Village Patriarch, a work full of noble and earnest poetry, all of which appeared between 1823-1830. In 1834, he issued a collected edition of his works, in 3 vols.; and in 1840, an edition in one volume. E. followed Crabbe, but with more depth and fire of feeling in. depicting the condition of the poor as miserable and oppressed, tracing most of the evils he deplores to the social and political institutions of the country. The laws relating to the importation of corn were denounced by E. as specially oppressive, and he inveighed against them with a fervour of manner minds feel as repulsive, even while acknowledged as and a harshness of phraseology which ordinary flowing from the offended benevolence of the poet. But the glow of earnestness kindles his verse, and hides a multitude of faults. More enduring, however, than his rhyming philippics are his descriptions of English, and especially of Yorkshire scenery, and his delineations of humble virtue and affection. These are instinct with the purest spirit of poetry.

ELLIPSE is the name of a figure in Geometry, important from its being the approximate shape of the planetary orbits. It is a curve of the second order, and is a conic section, formed by cutting a right cone by a plane passing obliquely through its opposite sides. It may be defined as a curve,

ELLIPSIS-ELLORA.

the sum of the distances of every point in which the circumference of an ellipse is got by multiplying from two fixed points within the curve is always

T

the same. These two fixed points are called the the major axis by the quantity (1.

foci; and the diameter drawn through them is the major axis; the minor axis bisects the major at right angles. The distance of either focus from the middle of the major axis is the eccentricity. The less the eccentricity is compared with the axis, the nearer the figure approaches to a circle; and a circle may be considered as an ellipse whose foci coincide.

There are various contrivances for describing an ellipse, called ellipsagraphs or elliptic compasses. The simplest method of description is to fix on a plane the two ends of a thread with pins in the foci, and make a pencil move on the plane, keeping the thread constantly stretched. The end of the pencil will trace an ellipse, whose major axis is equal to the length of the thread.

The equation to an ellipse (see Co-ORDINATES), referred to its centre as origin, and to its major x2 y2 and minor axes as rectangular axes, is = 1, + a2 where a and b are the semi-major and semi-minor axes respectively. From this equation, it may be shewn, by the integral calculus, that the area of an ellipse is equal to ab; or is got by multiplying the product of the semi-major and semi-minor axis by 31416. It may also be shewn that the length of

32.5d2 22.42.52

&c.), where d=

1-462
4a2

da 3d 22 23.42

ELLIPSIS (Gr. omission) is a term used in Grammar and Rhetoric, to signify the omission of a word necessary to complete the expression or sentence in its usual form. The object of ellipsis is shortness and impressiveness; accordingly, it prevails in proverbs. Ellipses are used in all languages, but the same forms of ellipses are not common to all. Thus, the house we saw,' instead of the house that we saw,' is a kind of ellipsis peculiar, so far as we know, to English.

ELLIPSOID is a surface of the second order, of which the Spheroid (q. v.) is a species, and the most interesting, from the fact of the form of the earth being spheroidal. The equation to an ellipsoid referred to its centre and rectangular co-ordinates is 22 22 y2 + + = a2 b2

1.

ELLIPTICITY (of the Earth). See EARTH. ELLO'RA, a decayed town in the dominions of the Nizam, not far from the city of Dowlatabad, in lat. 20° 2′ N., and long. 75° 13′ E. It is celebrated for its wonderful rock-cut temples. Their number

[graphic]

Temple called Kailasa, at Ellora. -From Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture.

has not been precisely ascertained, but Erskine, process was, first to sink a great quadrangular trench reckoned 19 large ones, partly of Hindu and partly or pit, leaving the central mass standing; and of Buddhist origin. Some are cave-temples proper then to hew and excavate this mass into a temple. -i. e., chambers cut out in the interior of the rock -but others are vast buildings hewn out of the solid granite of the hills, having an exterior as well as an interior architecture, and being, in fact, magnificent monoliths. In executing the latter, the

The most beautiful of these objects is the Hindu temple, Kailasa. At its entrance, the traveller passes into an antechamber 138 feet wide by 88 deep, adorned by numerous rows of pillars. Thence he proceeds along a colonnade over a bridge into

ELLORE-ELM.

a great rectangular court, which is 247 feet in length and 150 broad, in the centre of which stands the temple itself, a vast mass of rock richly hewn and carved. It is supported by four rows of pilasters, with colossal elephants beneath, and seems suspended in the air. The interior is about 103 feet long, 56 broad, and 17 high, but the entire exterior forms a pyramid 100 feet high, and is overlaid with sculpture. In the great court are numerous ponds, obelisks, colonnades, sphinxes, and on the walls thousands of mythological figures of all kinds, from 10 to 12 feet in height. Of the other temples, those of Indra and Dumarheyna are little inferior to that of Kailasa. Regarding their antiquity and religious significance, authorities are not agreed; but at all events they must be subsequent to the epic poems Ramayana or Mahabharata, because they contain representations taken from these poems, and also to the cave-temples at Elephanta, because they exhibit a richer and more advanced style of architecture.

ELLO'RE, a town of the district of Masulipatam, in the presidency of Madras, stands in lat. 16° 42′ N., and long. 81° 10' E. In an official report, the place has been indefinitely styled 'populous.' Independently of its population, properly so called, E., as a military station, has a considerable garrison. It occupies both banks of the Jummulair, a torrent of the Eastern Ghauts, which, instead of reaching the Bay of Bengal, loses itself three miles further down, in the land-locked Colair Lake. In fact, for about 50 miles to the westward of the sea, the neighbouring country is depressed below the level of the maritime belt, the stagnant pool above mentioned not only having independent feeders of its own, but also receiving supplies, in the season of high-water, from the Kistnah or Krishna, and the Godavery. Under such circumstances, the climate of E. is at once unpleasant and unhealthy. During the south-west monsoon, bringing with it, of course, the accumulated heats of the whole breadth of the peninsula, the temperature is more particularly oppressive, having been known to rise, in the night, to 120° F.

E'LLSWORTH, a small but flourishing town of North America, in the state of Maine, on both sides of the navigable river Union, 30 miles south-east of Bangor, and about 4 miles west of Frenchman's Bay. It exports 50,000,000 feet of timber annually, carries on cod and mackerel fisheries, and had, in 1870, 5275 inhabitants.

ELM (Ulmus), a genus of trees of the natural order Ulmaceae, natives of temperate climates, with serrated leaves unequal in their two sides, and small flowers growing in clusters appearing before the leaves, and containing 4-12 stamens and one germen. The fruit is a samara, or compressed oneseeded little nut, winged all around. One of the most important species is the COMMON SMALL LEAVED or ENGLISH ELM (U. campestris), a tree of 60-80 feet in height, with ovato-elliptic, doubly serrated leaves, and flowers almost destitute of stalks. The wood is compact, and very durable in water. The tree is diffused all over Europe; is found also in the west of Asia and north of Africa, and is used for a great variety of purposes by wheelwrights, machine-makers, ship and boat builders, &c.; it is also prized by joiners for its fine grain, and the mahogany colour which it readily assumes on the application of an acid. It is reckoned superior to the wood of any other species of elm. The bark is used in dyeing and in sugar-refining, and, in times of scarcity, has been used in Norway for grinding into meal and mixing in bread, which has a less disagreeable taste than that made from meal mixed with fir-bark. The inner bark is used medi

cinally in cutaneous diseases; it is mucilaginous, and has a bitter astringent taste. The ELM BALSAM (Beaume d'orme), which was formerly in great repute, is a brownish substance, which is found in dried galls of the leaves in the south of Europe, Persia, &c. From these galls, in an earlier stage, flows a clear, viscid, sweetish liquid, called Elm Water (Eau d'orme), which is used for washing wounds, contusions, and sore eyes. The seeds of the elm are eagerly eaten by pigeons and common poultry. The elm is one of the principal timber trees of Britain, most extensively planted, and a chief ornament of English scenery.-The CORK-BARKED ELM (U. suberosa), by many regarded as a variety of U. campestris, is distinguished by the corky wings of the bark of the branches. It is a taller and more spreading tree, with much larger leaves. It is a European tree, common in plantations in Britain, but a doubtful native.-The DUTCH CORK-BARKED ELM (U. major), is also looked upon by many as a

[graphic]

Common English Elm (Ulmus campestris).

variety of U. campestris. It is still more corky in its bark, and has still larger leaves. It is of very quick growth, but the wood is very inferior.-The BROAD-LEAVED or WYCH ELM (U. montana) is the only species that can with certainty be regarded as indigenous to Scotland. It has rough and broad leaves, a stem less upright than the English elm, and large spreading branches. The wood is used for all the purposes of the English elm. The tree is of very quick growth. Protuberances of gnarled wood are not unfrequently produced, which are finely knotted and richly veined; they are much esteemed for veneering, and are sometimes very valuable. Varieties of this species are known as the GIANT ELM and CHICHESTER ELM.-The SMOOTH-LEAVED ELM (U. glabra) is by some regarded as a variety of U. montana, but is distinguished, besides other characters, by smooth leaves, which are much smaller. It is a native of England. A variety called the HUNTINGDON ELM is much esteemed.-The CORNISH ELM (U. stricta), found in the south-west of England, is remarkable for its rigid, erect, and compact branches.-Very different is the habit of U. effusa, a continental species with a large spreading head and smooth bark, distinguished also by the long stalks of its flowers and its ciliated fruit.-The AMERICAN or WHITE ELM (U. Americana), which abounds in the

21

« PreviousContinue »