quakes, the shocks of which were protracted for three months, throughout a space of 10,000 square leagues, and levelled to the ground Accon, Saphat, Balbeck, Damascus, Sidon, Tripoli, and many other places. In each of these places of their inhabitants. Since the records of history, there have been no earthquakes equal in intensity to those which ravaged different parts of the world in the eighteenth century. Passing over the convulsion which in 1746 nearly laid waste Lower Peru, and those by which many thousands of the inhabitants perin 1750 the ancient town of Concepcion, ished; and in the valley of Balbeck alone, in Chili, was totally destroyed, we come to 20,000 men are said to have been victims 1755, when the city of Lisbon was almost to the convulsion. In 1766, the island wholly destroyed by one of the most de- of Trinidad and great part of Columbia structive earthquakes which ever occur- were violently agitated by earthquakes red in Europe. It continued only six In 1772, the lofty volcano of Papanday minutes; but such was the violence of ang, the highest mountain in Java, diz the convulsion, that in that short space appeared, and a circumjacent area, fifteen upwards of 60,000 persons are said to miles by six, was swallowed up. In 1783, have perished. The phenomena that ac- the north-eastern part of Sicily and the companied it were no less striking. The southern portion of Calabria were consea first retired and laid the bar dry; it vulsed by violent and oft-repeated shocks, then rolled in, rising fifty feet or more which overthrew the town of Messina, above its ordinary level. The largest and killed many thousands of its inhabmountains in Portugal were impetuously itants, as well as many persons in Calashaken from their very foundations: and bria. In the same year, the islands of some of them opened at their summits, Japan, Java in 1786, Sicily and the Cawhich were split and rent in a wonderful raccas in 1790, Quebec in 1791, and the manner, huge masses of them being of them being Antilles and Peru in 1797, were violently thrown down into the subjacent valleys. agitated by convulsions of this kind. But the most remarkable circumstance Since the commencement of the present which occurred in Lisbon during this ca- century, various earthquakes have octastrophe was the entire subsidence of curred both in the Old and New World. the new quay, called Cays de Prada, to In 1811, violent earthquakes shook the which an immense concourse of people valley of the Mississippi, by which lakes had fled for safety from the falling ruins. of considerable extent disappeared, and From this hideous abyss, into which the new ones were formed. In 1812, Caracquay sunk, not one of the dead bodies cas was destroyed, and upwards of 12,000 ever floated to the surface; and on the of its inhabitants buried in the ruins. spot there is now water to the depth of In 1815, the town of Tombora, in the 100 fathoms. This earthquake excited island of Sumbawa, was completely degreat attention from the incredibly great stroyed by an earthquake, which extendextent, at which contemporary shocks ed throughout an area 100 miles in diawere experienced. The violence of the meter, and destroyed 12,000 persons. In shocks, which were accompanied by a 1819, a violent earthquake occurred at terrific subterranean noise, like the loud- Cutch, in the Delta of the Indus, by which, est thunder, was chiefly felt in Portugal, among other disastrous consequences, the Spain, and northern Africa; but the ef- principal town, Bhoog, was converted fects of the earthquake were perceived into a heap of ruins. In 1822, Aleppo in almost all the countries of continental was destroyed by an earthquake. In the Europe, and were even experienced in same year Chili was visited by a most the West Indies, and on the Lake On- destructive earthquake, from which the tario in North America. Ships at sea coast for 100 miles is stated to have suswere affected by the shocks as if they had tained an elevation of from two to four struck on rocks: and even on some of feet, while about a mile inward from Valthe Scottish lakes, Loch Lomond in par- paraiso, it was raised from six to seven ticular, the water, without the least ap- feet. In 1827, Popayan and Bogota sufparent cause, rose to the perpendicular fered severely from earthquakes, during height of two feet four inches against its which vast fissures opened in the elevatbank, and the subsided below its usual ed plains around the latter city. In 1835, level. During the next twenty years, the town of Concepcion, in Chili, was envarious earthquakes occurred in different tirely demolished by an earthquake. In parts of the world, attended with more 1837, the countries along the eastern exor less destructive consequences. In tremity of the Mediterranean, especially 1759, Syria was agitated by violent earth-Syria, were violently agitated by an earth quake, which caused great damage to the towns of Damascus, Acre, Tyre, and Sidon, and entirely destroyed Tiberias and Safet. Such are some of the most violent earthquakes that have occurred within the period of authentic history. EASEL, an apparatus constructed of wood, upon which the panel or canvas is placed while a picture is being painted. EASEL-PICTURE is a term employed to designate a picture of small dimensions, such as render it portable.-In Christian Art, St. Luke is often represented sitting before an easel, upon which is a portrait of the Virgin. Our cut of an artist of the fifteenth century at work at his easel, is from a beautiful Illumination in the famous MS. Romance of the Rose. EASE MENT, in law, a privilege or convenience which one man has of another, whether by charter or prescription, without profit; such as a way through his lands, &c. EAST, one of the four cardinal points of the world; being that point of the horizon where the sun is seen to rise when in the equator.-The word east is indefinitely used when we speak of countries which lie eastward of us, as Persia, India, China, &c.-In Christian churches, which are generally built east and west, the chancel stands at the east end, with an emblematic reference to Christ, who is called the Sun of righteousness and the Day-spring. EASTER, a solemn festival observed among Christians, in commemoration of Christ's resurrection. The Greeks and Latins call it pascha; a Hebrew word, applied to the Jewish feast of the passover, to which the Christian festival of Easter corresponds. Thus, St. Paul says? For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." This feast was fixed by the council of Nice, in the year 325, to be held on the Sunday which falls upon or immediately after the full moon which happens next after the twenty-first of March; and as such it stands in the rubric of the church of England.—The English name Easter, and the German Ostern, are supposed to be derived from the name of the feast of the Teutonic goddess Ostera, celebrated by the ancient Saxons early in the spring, and for which, as in many other instances, the first missionaries wisely substituted the Christian festival. EAST'ERLING, a coin struck by Richard II., which is supposed to have given rise to the name of sterling, as applied to English money. EAST'ER-OFFERINGS, or EASTERDUES, small sums of money paid to the parochial clergyman by the parishioners. EAST-INDIA COMPANY, "the Governor and company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies," the most celebrated commercial association either of ancient or modern times, which has extended its sway over the whole of the Mogul empire, was incorporated about the 42d of queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1600, and empowered to trade to countries to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, exclusive of all others. A variety of causes had been long operating in favor of such an incorporation. Several very valuable East India ships had been taken from the Portuguese and Spaniards by the English fleets, and awakened the cupidity of merchants to the obtaining a share in a traffic which promised such great advantages. At length, in 1593, an armament fitted out for the East Indies by Sir Walter Raleigh, and commanded by Sir John Borroughs, fell in with, near the Azores, the largest of all the Portuguese carracks, a ship of 1600 tons burden carrying 700 men and 36 brass cannon; and, after an obstinate conflict, carried her into Dartmouth. She was the largest vessel that had been seen in England; and her cargo, consisting of gold, spices, calicoes, silks, pearls, drugs, porcelain, ivory, &c., excited the ardor of the English to engage in so opulent a commerce. About the year 1698, application being made to parliament by private merchants, for laying this trade EBOU'LEMENT, in fortification, the crumbling or falling away of a wall or rampart. EBULLITION, either the operation of boiling, or the effervescence which arises from the mixture of an acid and an alkaline liquor. EC'BASIS, in rhetoric, those parts of the proemium, in which the orator treats of things according to their events or consequences. EC BOLE, in rhetoric, a digression whereby the speaker introduces some other person speaking in his own words. EC'CE HO'MO, (Latin ;) "Behold the man!" a painting which represents our Saviour, with a crown of thorns on his head, given up to the people by Pilate. The title of it is taken from Pilate's exclamation, John xix. 5. open, an act passed empowering every subject of England, upon raising a sum of money, for the supply of the government, to trade to those parts. A great subscription was accordingly raised, and the subscribers were styled the New EastIndia Company; but the old establishment being in possession of all the forts on the coast of India, the new one found it its interest to unite; and both, trading with one joint stock, have ever since been known under one name, viz. The United East-India Company. Many and severe have been the contests between the advocates of a free trade to India, and the friends of the "incorporated company;" but at length the long-supported monopoly of that powerful body yielded to an act of Parliament passed in 1833, for continuing the charter till 1854, which, in fact, has put a limit to the Com- ECCLE'SIA, in ancient history, the pany's commercial character, by enact- great assembly of the Athenian people, ing that its trade to China was to cease at which every free citizen might attend on the 22d of April, 1834, and that the and vote. This assembly, though nomiCompany was, as soon as possible afternally possessed of the supreme authority that date, to dispose of their stocks on of the state from the earliest times, yet hand, and close their commercial busi- having no fixed times of meeting, was ness. The functions of the East-India but seldom convened at all; so that the Company are now, therefore, wholly po- archons, who were elected from the body litical. She is to continue to govern In- of nobles or eupatridæ, had virtually the dia, with the concurrence and under the whole management of the state. But the supervision of the Board of Control, till regulations of Solon, which appointed it the 30th of April, 1854. to meet regularly four times in every period of thirty-five days, besides extraordinary occasions on which it might be convened, called it into active energy. Solon, however, restricted the subjects discussed in the Ecclesia to such as had before passed through the senate of five hundred; but when the democratic spirit of after times prevailed, this rule was not at all strictly observed. The magistrates who had the management of these assemblies were the Prytanes, the Prohedri, and Epistates. The first of these sometimes convened the people, and hung up in a conspicuous place a programme giving an account of the matters to be discussed. The Prohedri proposed to the people the subjects on which they were to decide, and counted the votes. The Epistate, who presided over the whole, gave the liberty of voting, which might not be done before his signal was given. The forms of their proceedings were as follow: First, an expiatory victim was sacrificed, and his blood carried and sprinkled round the bounds of the assembly. Then the public crier demanded silence, and invited all persons above fifty years of age to speak; after that, any one who pleased. After the EAVES, in architecture, the lowest edges of the inclined sides of a roof which project beyond the face of the wall so as to throw the water off therefrom, that being their office. EAVES'-DROPPER, one who skulks under the eaves of houses, for the purpose of listening to what passes within. E BIONITES, an ancient sect who believed in Christ as an inspired messenger of God, but considered him to be at the same time a mere man, born of Joseph and Mary. They maintained also the universal obligation of the Mosaic law, and rejected the authority of St. Paul. The origin of their name is uncertain, some deriving it from that of their supposed founder; others deduce it from a Hebrew word signifying poor, and suppose the title to be given to them in reference either to the poverty of the class to which they mostly belonged, or to the meanness of their doctrine. EBONY, a hard, heavy, durable, black wood, which admits of a fine polish. It is the wood of the eben tree, which grows in India, Madagascar, Ceylon, and the Mauritius. It is wrought into toys, and used for mosaic and inlaid work. subject was discussed, they proceeded to vote on the crier's demanding of them, "whether they would consent to the decree proposed to them ?" The votes were commonly given by show of hands, but on some occasions by ballot. When the When the suffrages had been examined and their numbers declared, the Prytanes dissolved the assembly. In order to incite the people to attend the Ecclesia, a small pay of one or three oboli was given for early appearance; and a rope, rubbed with vermilion, was carried through the agora, to mark such as lagged behind, who were accordingly fined. ECCLESIAS'TES, one of the canonical books of the Old Testament, so called from the Greek word signifying a preach er. Solomon is generally supposed to be the author of this book, though various opinions have been entertained on the subject; and indeed the whole question of its author, date, and design is involved in such difficulty, that the labors of critics and commentators serve rather to perplex than to assist the inquirer. per ECCLESIASTIC, something taining to or set apart for the church: in contradistinction to civil or secular, which regards the world. Ecclesiastics are persons whose functions consist in performing the service or in maintaining the discipline of the church. ECCLESIASTICUS. an apocryphal book of Scripture; so called from its being read in the church, (ecclesia,) as a book of piety and instruction, but not of infallible authority. The author of this book was a Jew, called Jesus the son of Sirach. The Greeks call it the wisdom of the son of Sirach. It was originally written in Syro Chaldaic, and consists chiefly of meditations relating to religion and the general conduct of human life. It displays but little regard for methodical arrangement; but the style is so highly poetical, and the sentiments so profound, that Addison has pronounced it one of the most brilliant moral treatises on record. E'CHEA, in ancient architecture, sonorous vases of metal or earth in the form of a bell, used in the construction of theatres for the purpose of reverberating the sound of the performer's voice. They were distributed between the seats; and are described in the fifth book of Vitru- | vius, who states that Mummius introduced them in Rome, after the taking of Corinth, where he found this expedient used in the theatre. ECHELON', a term in military tactics borrowed from the French, signifying the position of an army with one division more advanced than another, somewhat like the steps of a ladder. A battalion, regiment. &c., marches en echelon, if the divisions of which it is composed do not march in one line, but on parallel lines. The divisions are not exactly behind each other, but each is to the right or left of the one preceding, so as to give the whole the appearance of a stairway. This order is used if the commander wishes to bring one part of a mass into action, and to reserve the other. The word literally means a ladder or stairway. ECHID'NA, in Grecian mythology, the daughter of Geryon and the sea-nymph Callirhoe, or of Tartarus and Gaia; a monster that devoured travellers: parents, according to Hesiod, of those well-known terrors of ancient Greece, Greece,-Cerberus, the Hydra, the Sphinx, and the Nemean lion. Hence some suppose the name to represent a sort of general type of monsters and terrific phenomena. ECHI'NUS, the " egg and tongue" or egg and anchor" ornament, frequently met with in classical architecture, carved on the ovolo. The type of this ornament is considered to be derived from the chestnut and shell. ECH'O, a sound reflected or reverberated from some hard surface, and thence returned or repeated to the ear. As the undulatory motion of the air, which constitutes sound, is propagated in all directions from the sounding body, it will frequently happen that the air, in performing its vibrations, will impinge against various objects, which will reflect it back, and so cause new vibrations the contrary way; now if the objects are so situated as to reflect a sufficient number of vibrations back, viz., such as proceed different ways, to the same place, the second will be there repeated, and is called an echo; and the greater the distance of the object is, the longer will be the time before the repetition is heard: and when the sound, in its progress, meets with objects at different distances, sufficient to produce an echo, the same sound will be repeated several times successively, according to the different distances of these objects from the sounding body, which makes what is called a repeated echo. Echoes are not, however, caused by a mere repulsion of the sonorous particles of air, for then every hard substances would produce an echo; but it is supposed to require a certain degree of concavity in the repelling body, which collects several diverging lines of sound, and concentrates them in the place where the echo is audible, or, at least, reflects them in parallel lines, without weakening the sound, as a concave mirror collects in a focus the diverging rays of light, or sometimes sends them back parallel. The celebrated echo at Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, repeats the same sound fifty times. But the most singular echo is that near Rosneath, a few miles from Glasgow. If a person placed at a proper distance from this echo plays eight or ten notes of a tune with a trumpet, they are correctly repeated by the echo, but a third lower; after a short pause, another repetition is heard, in a lower tone; and then, after another interval, a third repetition follows in a still lower tone.-Echo, in architecture, any vault or arch constructed so as to produce an artificial echo. These are generally of a parabolic or elliptic form; of this kind is the whispering-gallery in St. Paul's cathedral.-Echo, in poetry, a sort of verse which returns the sound of the last syllable, the elegance of which consists in giving a new sense to the last words. ECHOM/ETER, among musicians, a kind of scale or rule, serving to measure the duration and length of sounds, and to find their intervals and ratios. ECLAIR'CISSEMENT, the clearing up of anything not before understood. ECLAT', (French,) a burst of applause; renown or approbation following some action or event. ECLECTICS, those philosophers who, without attaching themselves to any particular sect, select whatever appears to them the best and most rational from each. The Eclectics were a sect of Greek philosophers who endeavored to mould the doctrines of Pythagoras and Plato, and blend them with the theology of the Egyptians, and the tenets of Zoroaster. They borrowed many of the principal truths of Christianity from the catechetic school of Alexandria, and blending these with the mysticism of Pythagoras, the errors of Plato, and the superstition of Egypt, they hoped to reconcile the Christians and Pagans to the same opinions. An eclectic spirit, it is evident, can only arise at a period of some maturity in phil | osophical speculation. Whether or not it is to be regarded as an evidence of the decay of original power in the age in which it appears, must depend on the less or greater coherence in the system when completed. In one sense of the word, Plato and Aristotle may be regarded as eclectics. They both availed themselves largely of the labors of their predecessors. Plato, in particular, comprehended in his scheme of philosophy the whole of more than one foregoing system; as the doctrine of Heraclitus of the perpetual flux of sensible objects, and the consequent uncertainty of sensible impressions. But in the hands of these great thinkers the discerpta membra are reunited, and endued with a principle of vitality as constituent parts of a harmonious whole. The same cannot be said of others who have adopted a similar method; especially of most of those to whom the term eclectic has been more particularly applied. A far more favorable specimen of the eclectic spirit has been afforded us in modern times in the person of M. Victor Cousin, without doubt the most able and ingenious thinker of modern France. See his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, in which eclecticism is presented under its fairest guise, and vindicated with the utmost vigor of style and acuteness of thought. EC'LOGUE, in the original meaning of the word, the select or choice pieces of an author; or extracts collected out of former works, such as were termed in Latin excerpta. It is not known how this title was originally given to the pastoral poems of Virgil; but from the circumstance of their being so named, the word eclogue in modern usage is applied to that species of poetry. The persons who are introduced conversing in eclogues, or whose adventures are recounted in them, are shepherds; that is, for the most part, imaginary personages, whose sentiments, and the external circumstances among which they live, belong rather to an ideal age of gold than to the realities of modern life; and their loves constitute the main and proper subjects of the eclogue. Nevertheless various writers have endeavored, but with little success, to give an air of greater reality to pastoral poetry, and give their rustics more of the costume and diction of actual clowns; but the result has been a species of burlesque, not at all answering to our conceptions of pastoral poetry; nor can we easily imagine that the personages of Theocritus, although the earliest and |