Part 15

ELEPHANT'S-FOOT, the popular name of _Testudinaria elephantipes_, a plant of the nat. ord. Dioscoreaceae (yams, &c.), distinguished by the shape of its rootstock, which forms a nearly hemispherical mass rising a little above the ground, covered with a thick corky bark. It has a slender climbing stem growing to a length of 30 or 40 feet, with small heart-shaped leaves and greenish-yellow flowers. It is known in the Cape Province as Hottentots' Bread.

ELEUSI'NE, a genus of grasses, several of which, e.g. _E. coracana_, are cultivated as grain plants in India, Japan, and Tibet.

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES, the sacred rites anciently observed in Greece at the annual festival of D[=e]m[=e]t[=e]r or Ceres, so named from their original seat Eleusis. According to the Homeric hymn to D[=e]m[=e]t[=e]r, the goddess, while wandering in search of Persephone, came to Eleusis, where she was hospitably received by King Celeus. He directed the establishment of a temple in her honour, and showed the use of grain to Triptolemus and other princes. As a preparation for the greater mysteries celebrated at Athens and Eleusis, lesser Eleusinia were celebrated at Agrae on the Ilissus. The greater Eleusinia were celebrated in the month Boedromion (September-October), beginning on the 15th of the month and lasting nine days. The celebrations, which were varied each day, consisted of processions between Athens and Eleusis, torch-bearing and mystic ceremonies attended with oaths of secrecy. They appear to have symbolized the old conceptions of death and reproduction, and to have been allied to the orgiastic worship of Dionysus (Bacchus). They are supposed to have continued down to the time of Theodosius I.

ELEU'SIS, in ancient geography, a small city of Attica, about 14 miles from Athens, near the shore opposite the Island of Salamis. Its temple of D[=e]m[=e]t[=e]r was one of the most beautiful buildings of Greece. The sacred buildings were destroyed by Alaric in A.D. 396. In 1882 the Greek Archaeological Society undertook excavations, and numerous remains have been unearthed. There is now a large straggling village here.

ELEU'THERA, one of the largest of the Bahama Islands. It is of very irregular shape, its length being about 70 miles, and its breadth in general from 2 to 4 miles, though in one part 10. Pop. 6533.

ELEVATION. In astronomy, the elevation of an object above the horizon is measured by the arc intercepted between the horizon and the object on the circle which passes through the object and the zenith. In geometry, solids can be represented by means of two projections; one on a horizontal plane, and the other on a plane perpendicular to the horizontal. The former is called the plan, and the latter the elevation.

ELEVATION OF THE HOST (Lat. _hostia_, a victim), in the ritual of the Mass, is the lifting up of the elements immediately after consecration, to be worshipped by the people. It was introduced into the Latin Church in the eleventh century, in consequence of the denial by Berengarius of the real presence in the sacrament. The Council of Trent ordered that the host should be worshipped with the highest adoration, that of _latria_, which is offered to God only.

EL'EVATOR, (1) a mechanical contrivance consisting of a series of boxes or buckets attached to a belt travelling round two drums, one above and one below, for hoisting grain, meal, coal, coke, &c. In America large buildings which contain such contrivances, and in which grain is stored, receive the same name. (2) An apparatus for raising or lowering persons or goods to or from different levels in warehouses, hotels, &c., consisting usually of a cage or movable platform worked by hydraulic power: also called a _lift_ or _hoist_.

ELF-ARROWS, ELF-BOLTS, or ELF-SHOT, popular names in Europe for stone arrow-heads and axes. They were worn as charms against lightning; cattle and men are said to have been struck and wounded by them. In the Far East they are 'thunder-stones'.

ELGAR, Sir Edward, English composer, was born at Broadheath, Worcestershire, 2nd June, 1857. For some time he acted as conductor of the Worcester Instrumental Society, and as organist at St. George's, Worcester, but when later he turned to composition he resigned both these positions. In 1892 he produced _The Black Knight_, and this was followed by several oratorios, cantatas, and other works, including _The Light of Life_, a short oratorio (Worcester Festival, 1896); _King Olaf_, a cantata (North Staffordshire Festival, 1896); _Imperial March_ (1897); _Te Deum_ (Hereford Festival, 1897); _Caractacus_ (Leeds Festival, 1898); and _Orchestral Variations_ (1899). In 1900 his famous sacred cantata, _The Dream of Gerontius_, was produced at the Birmingham Festival (repeated at D[:u]sseldorf in 1901 and at the Niederrheinische Musik Fest in 1902), and added immensely to his already considerable reputation. In 1902 the _Coronation Ode_ proved extremely popular, and in 1903 the Birmingham Festival introduced _The Apostles_, a fine oratorio, which, like the _Gerontius_, was honoured at the Niederrheinische Musik Fest the following year. In March, 1904, an 'Elgar Festival', lasting three days, was held at Covent Garden, London, at which, in addition to _The Dream of Gerontius_, _The Apostles_, and other compositions by Dr. Elgar, was produced _Alassio_, a new concert overture, the outcome of a visit to Italy. In 1904 Dr. Elgar was knighted. From 1905 to 1908 he was professor of music at Birmingham University. He has received musical and other degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and Yale.

ELGIN, James Bruce, eighth Earl of, and twelfth Earl of Kincardine, Governor-General of India, born in 1811, died in 1863. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, he entered Parliament in 1841 as member for Southampton, and in the same year succeeded to the earldom. He was appointed Governor-General of Jamaica in 1842, and in 1846 Governor-General of Canada. In 1849 he was raised to the British peerage as Baron Elgin of Elgin. In 1857 he went as special ambassador to China, and concluded the Treaty of Tientsin (1858). In 1859 he became Postmaster-General in Palmerston's Cabinet, in 1860 was sent on a special mission to Pekin, and in 1861 became Governor-General of India.--Victor Alexander Bruce, ninth Earl of Elgin, son of the preceding, born 1849, died 1917, was also Governor-General of India (1894-9), and Colonial Secretary in the Campbell-Bannerman Ministry from Dec., 1905, to April, 1908.

ELGIN (el'gin), a royal and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, capital of Elgin County, situated on the Lossie, about 5 miles from its influx into the Moray Firth, 70 miles N.W. of Aberdeen. The town largely consists of mansions and villas. The most interesting edifice is the cathedral, now in ruins, which was once the most magnificent in Scotland. It was founded by Bishop Andrew Moray in 1224; plundered and burned in 1390 by the 'Wolf of Badenoch', and again in 1402 by Alexander, third son of the Lord of the Isles; restored 1390 to 1424; and again plundered in 1568. Until 1918 the Elgin Burghs sent one member to the House of Commons. Pop. 8656.--_Elgin_, county of, also called Morayshire, is a maritime county, bounded by the Moray Firth, Banffshire, Inverness-shire, and Nairnshire; area, 340,000 acres. Along the sea-coast, which extends for more than 30 miles, the surface is flat, but inland it rises into hills of moderate elevation, intersected by fine and fertile valleys. The chief rivers are the Spey, Lossie, and Findhorn, the Spey and Findhorn having excellent salmon fishing. Inexhaustible quarries of freestone (rich in fossils) are worked. The climate is noted for its general mildness, dryness, and salubrity. The lower tracts of land are fertile and highly cultivated, the principal crops being wheat, oats, potatoes, and turnips. The great majority of farms are small. A portion of the surface is still covered with native forests. The county unites with Nairnshire in returning one member to the House of Commons, Pop. 43,427.

ELGIN, a town of the United States, in Illinois, on Fox River, 36 miles N.W. of Chicago. It has a watch-factory and various flourishing industries. Pop. 25,976.

ELGIN MARBLES, the splendid collection of antique sculptures brought chiefly from the Parthenon of Athens to England by the seventh Earl of Elgin (1766-1841) in 1814, and afterwards purchased by Parliament for the British Museum at the cost of L35,000. They consist of figures in low and high relief and in the round, representing gods, goddesses, and heroes; the combats of the Centaurs and Lapithae; the Panathenaic procession, &c. They exhibit Greek sculpture at its highest stage, and were partly the work of Phidias. The historical and artistic value of the Elgin marbles was at first doubted, and Lord Elgin himself was not spared. His act in removing the marbles was denounced as vandalism.

EL HASA, a fertile district of Eastern Arabia, on the Persian Gulf. It produces dates, wheat, millet, and rice. Pop. estimated at 175,000.

ELI, one of the Hebrew judges, the predecessor of Samuel. He was high-priest and judge for forty years, but was less successful as head of his own household. His two sons having been slain, and the ark taken in battle by the Philistines, the news proved so severe a shock that he fell and broke his neck, at the age of ninety-eight. Little is really known of the history of Eli, since he is only shown to us in the weakness of old age, unable to control his sons Hophni and Phinehas, whose wickedness disgusted and alienated the people.

ELI'JAH, the most distinguished of the prophets of Israel, flourished in the ninth century B.C., during the reigns of Ahab and Ahaziah, and until the beginning of the reign of Jehoram, his special function being to denounce vengeance on the kings of Israel for their apostasy. He incurred the anger of Jezebel, wife of Ahab, for slaying the prophets of Baal, but escaped to Horeb, afterwards returning to Samaria to denounce Ahab for the murder of Naboth. Elijah at length ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire, Elisha, his successor, being witness. See _1 Kings_, xvii to xxi, and _2 Kings_, i and ii.

ELIMINATION, in mathematics, the process of treating a given set of equations so as to deduce from them an equation free from a selected letter, or from several selected letters. For instance, if the system of equations

a_1x + b_1y + c_1z = 0, a_2x + b_2y + c_2z = 0, a_3x + b_3y + c_3z = 0,

has a solution in which one at least of x, y, z is different from zero, then

| a_1, b_1, c_1 | | a_2, b_2, c_2 | = 0. | a_3, b_3, c_3 |

(See _Determinant_.)--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Burnside and Panton, _Theory of Equations_; Salmon, _Higher Algebra_.

EL'IOT, George, the assumed literary name of Mary Ann, or, as she preferred to write the name in later years, Marian Evans, English novelist. She was the daughter of a Warwickshire land-agent and surveyor, was born at Griff, near Nuneaton, on 22nd Nov., 1820, and died on 22nd Dec., 1880. She received at Coventry an excellent education, comprising the classical and modern languages, and shortly after her twenty-first year became a convert to Rationalism. Her first literary undertaking was the completion of Mrs. Hennell's translation of Strauss's _Life of Jesus_ (1846). Towards the end of her task she seems, however, to have wearied of it, and when the work appeared she declared herself 'Strauss-sick'. After spending two years abroad, she boarded at the house of John Chapman, editor of the _Westminster Review_, of which she became sub-editor. It was not, however, until January, 1857, that she came prominently into public notice, when the first of a series of tales entitled _Scenes from Clerical Life_ appeared in _Blackwood's Magazine_. The series came to an end in Nov., 1857, and in the following year the publication of _Adam Bede_ placed her in the first rank of writers of fiction. It was succeeded by _The Mill on the Floss_ (1860), _Silas Marner_ (1861), _Romola_ (1863), _Felix Holt_ (1866), _Middlemarch_ (1872), and _Daniel Deronda_ (1876). In addition to those prose works she published three volumes of poems, _The Spanish Gypsy_ (1868), _Agatha_ (1869), and _The Legend of Jubal_ (1874). Her last work published during her life was the series of essays entitled _The Impressions of Theophrastus Such_ (1879), but a volume of mixed essays was issued posthumously. For many years she was happily associated both in life and work with George Henry Lewes, though a legal union was impossible during the lifetime of Mrs. Lewes. In May, 1880, after Lewes's death, she married Mr. John Cross, but did not survive the marriage many months, dying rather suddenly at Chelsea.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Haton, _George Eliot in Derbyshire_; J. W. Cross (editor), _George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals_ (3 vols.); O. Browning, _Life of George Eliot_; Deakin, _The Early Life of George Eliot_; Sir Leslie Stephen, _George Eliot_ (in English Men of Letters Series).

ELIOT, Sir John, one of the ablest of the popular leaders of Charles I's reign, of an old Cornwall family, born in 1592, died in 1632. He entered Parliament in 1614 as member for St. Germans, winning immediate reputation as an orator. As vice-admiral of Devon he was energetic in suppressing piracy. In the three Parliaments of 1623, 1625, 1626, he made his way to the front of the constitutional party, joined Hampden and the rest in refusing contributions to the forced loan, and took a prominent share in drawing up the Remonstrance and Petition of Right. He was imprisoned in the Tower in 1629, and died in confinement. During his imprisonment he wrote a work on constitutional monarchy entitled _The Monarchie of Man_. Among his other works are: _An Apology for Socrates_, and _Negotium Posterorum_ (an account of the Parliament of 1625).

E'LIS, a maritime state of ancient Greece in the west of the Peloponnesus, bordering on Achaia, Arcadia, and Messenia, and watered by the Rivers Alph[=e]us and Pen[=e]us. Of its capital Elis (now Kaloskopi) there are few traces. Olympia, where the famous games were held, was near the Alpheus. Since 1899 Elis forms a nomarchy of Greece.

ELI'SHA, a Hebrew prophet, the disciple and successor of Elijah. Many miracles of prediction and cure, and even of raising the dead, are ascribed to him, but his figure is less original and heroic than that of his master. He held the office of prophet for fully sixty-five years, from the reign of Ahab to that of Joash (latter half of ninth century B.C.).

ELIX'IR, a word of Arabic origin (_al iksir_, the philosopher's stone), applied by the alchemists to a number of solutions employed in attempting the transmutation of metals into gold, and also to a potion, the _elixir vitae_, or elixir of life, supposed to confer immortality. It is still used for various popular remedies, for the most part composed of various aromatic and stimulative substances held in solution by alcohol.

ELIZABETH (_Carmen Sylva_), Dowager Queen of Roumania, born at Neuwied, principality of Wied, in 1843, died at Bucharest, 2nd March, 1916. In 1869 she was married to Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, who became King of Roumania in 1881. Queen Elizabeth, or, as she was generally known, Carmen Sylva (her pen-name), was not only a patron of Roumanian writers and artists, but herself a distinguished author. Among her works, which were all, with the exception of one, written in German, are: _The Bard of the Dimbovitza_, _Pilgrim Sorrow_, _A Real Queen's Fairy Tales_, and _From Memory's Shrine_. In 1914 she was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain.

ELIZABETH, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII and of Anne Boleyn, was born at Greenwich, 7th Sept., 1533, and almost immediately declared heiress to the crown. After her mother had been beheaded (1536) both she and her sister Mary were declared bastards, and she was finally placed after Prince Edward and the Lady Mary in the order of succession. On the accession of Edward VI Elizabeth was committed to the care of the Queen-Dowager Catherine; and after the death of Catherine and execution of her consort Thomas Seymour she was closely watched at Hatfield, where she received a classical education under William Grindal and Roger Ascham. At the death of Edward Elizabeth vigorously supported the title of Mary against the pretensions of Lady Jane Grey, but continued throughout the whole reign an object of suspicion and surveillance. In self-defence she made every demonstration of zealous adherence to the Roman Catholic faith, but her inclinations were well known. On 17th Nov., 1558, Mary died, and Elizabeth was immediately recognized queen by Parliament. The accuracy of her judgment showed itself in her choice of advisers, Parker, a moderate divine (Archbishop of Canterbury 1559), aiding her in ecclesiastical policy; while William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, assisted her in foreign affairs.

The first great object of her reign was the settlement of religion, to effect which a Parliament was called on 25th Jan., and dissolved on the 8th May, its object having been accomplished. The nation was prepared for a return to the Reformed faith, and the Parliament was at the bidding of the Court. The ecclesiastical system devised in her father's reign was re-established, the royal supremacy asserted, and the revised Prayer Book enforced by the Act of Uniformity. While, however, the formal establishment of the reformed religion was easily completed, the security and defence of the settlement was the main object of the policy and the chief source of all the struggles and contentions of her reign. Freed from the tyranny of Mary's reign, the Puritans began to claim predominance for their own dogmas, while the supporters of the Established Church were unwilling to grant them even liberty of worship. The Puritans, therefore, like the Catholics, became irreconcilable enemies of the existing order, and increasingly stringent measures were adopted against them. But the struggle against the Catholics was the more severe, chiefly because they were supported by foreign powers; so that while their religion was wholly prohibited, even exile was forbidden them, in order to prevent their intrigues abroad. Many Catholics, particularly priests, suffered death during this reign; but simple nonconformity, from whatever cause, was pursued with the severest penalties, and many more clergymen were driven out of the Church, by differences about the position of altars, the wearing of caps, and such like matters, than were forced to resign by the change from Rome to Reformation.

Elizabeth's first Parliament approached her on a subject which, next to religion, was the chief trouble of her reign, the succession to the Crown. They requested her to marry, but she declared her intention to live and die a virgin; and she consistently declined in the course of her life such suitors as the Duc d'Alencon, Prince Erik of Sweden, the Archduke Charles of Austria, and Philip of Spain. While, however, she felt that she could best maintain her power by remaining unmarried, she knew how to temporize with suitors for political ends, and showed the greatest jealousy of all pretenders to the English succession. With the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, were connected many of the political events of Elizabeth's reign. On her accession the country was at war with France. Peace was easily concluded (1559); but the assumption by Francis and Mary of the royal arms and titles of England led to an immediate interference on the part of Elizabeth in the affairs of Scotland. She entered into a league with the Lords of the Congregation, or leaders of the Reformed party; and throughout her reign this party was frequently serviceable in furthering her policy. She also gave early support to the Huguenot party in France, and to the Protestants in the Netherlands, so that throughout Europe she was looked on as the head of the Protestant party. This policy roused the implacable resentment of Philip, who strove in turn to excite the Catholics against her both in her own dominions and in Scotland. The detention of Mary in England (1568-87), whither she fled to the protection of Elizabeth, led to a series of conspiracies, beginning with that under the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, and ending with the plot of Babington, which finally determined Elizabeth to make away with her captive. The execution of Queen Mary (1587), though it has stained her name to posterity, tended to confirm her power among her contemporaries. The state of France consequent on the accession of Henry IV, who was assisted by Elizabeth, obviated any danger from the indignation which the deed had caused in that country; and the awe in which King James stood of Elizabeth and his dread of interfering with his own right of succession to England made him powerless. But Philip of Spain was not to be so appeased, the execution of Mary lending edge to other grievances. The fleets of Elizabeth had galled him in the West Indies, her arms and subsidies had helped to deprive him of the Netherlands; the Armada was already in preparation. Accordingly he called the Queen of England a murderess, and refused to be satisfied even with the sacrifice she seemed prepared to make of her Dutch allies. The Armada sailed on 29th May, 1588. The war with Spain dragged on till the close of Elizabeth's long reign.

During her reign the splendour of her government at home and abroad was sustained by such men as Burleigh, Bacon, Walsingham, and Throgmorton; but she had personal favourites of less merit who were often more brilliantly rewarded. Chief of these were Dudley, whom she created Earl of Leicester, and whom she was disposed to marry, and Essex, whose violent passions brought about his ruin. He was beheaded in 1601, but Elizabeth never forgave herself his death. Her own health soon after gave way, and she died on 24th March, 1603, naming James VI of Scotland as her successor.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. A. S. Hume (editor), _Calendar of State Papers_ (Spanish Series); J. Bruce (editor), _Letters of Elizabeth and James VI_; W. Camden, _History of Queen Elizabeth_; J. A. Froude, _History of England_; M. Creighton, _Queen Elizabeth_; E. S. Beesley, _Queen Elizabeth_.

ELIZABETH, a city of New Jersey, United States, 14 miles S.W. of New York, with which it has ample communication by railway and steamer. It is a favourite residence of New York business men. The Singer Sewing-machine Company has a large factory here, and there are also foundries and oil-cloth factories. Pop. 73,409.

ELIZABETH, ST., of Thuringia, daughter of Andreas II, King of Hungary, was born at Pressburg 1207, and in 1221 married to Louis IV, land-grave of Thuringia. She erected hospitals, fed a multitude of poor from her own table, and wandered about in a humble dress, relieving the wretched. Louis died on a crusade, and her own life terminated 19th Nov., 1231, in a hospital which she had herself established. The church over her tomb at Marburg is one of the most splendid Gothic edifices in Germany.