Part 31

ESCU'RIAL (Sp. _el Escorial_), a remarkable building in Spain, comprising at once a palace, a convent, a church, and a mausoleum. It is distant from Madrid about 24 miles in a north-westerly direction, and situated on the acclivity of the Sierra Guadarrama, the range of mountains which divides New from Old Castile. It was built by Philip II, and dedicated to St. Lawrence, in commemoration of the victory of St. Quentin, fought on the festival of the saint in 1557. It is popularly considered to be built on the plan of a gridiron, from the fact that St. Lawrence is said to have been broiled alive on a sort of large gridiron. The building is a rectangular parallelogram measuring 744 feet in length by 580 feet in breadth. The interior is divided into courts, formerly inhabited by monks and ecclesiastics, while a projection 460 feet in length (the handle of the gridiron) contains the royal palace. It was begun in 1563 and finished in 1584. It is of moderate height, and its innumerable windows (said to be 11,000) give it (apart from the church) somewhat the aspect of a large mill or barracks. The church is the finest portion of the whole building. The dome is 60 feet in diameter, and its height at the centre is about 320 feet. Under it is the Pantheon or family vault of the Spanish sovereigns. The library contains a valuable collection, including a rich store of Arabic MSS. The Escurial was partly burned in 1671, when many MSS. were destroyed, and was pillaged by the French in 1808 and 1813. It was restored by Ferdinand VII, but the monks, with their revenues which supported it, have long since disappeared. In 1872 it was fired by lightning, and suffered serious damage.--Cf. A. F. Calvert, _The Escorial_.

ESDRAE'LON, PLAIN OF, a fertile plain in Northern Palestine, between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, drained by the River Kishon, and now traversed by the railway from Haifa to Damascus. This plain is celebrated for four battles having been fought there. Sisera was defeated there; Gideon and his three hundred won a battle there; Saul and Jonathan fought there; and it was there that Josiah was killed, In the centre of the plain is Megiddo (q.v.), identified with Armageddon (_Rev._ XVI, 16). Allenby won a great victory here in Sept., 1918.

ESDRAS, BOOKS OF, two apocryphal books, which, in the _Vulgate_ and other editions, are incorporated with the canonical books of Scripture. In the _Vulgate_ the canonical books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ are called the first and second, and the apocryphal books the third and fourth books of _Esdras_. The _Geneva Bible_ (1560) first adopted the present nomenclature, calling the two apocryphal books first and second _Esdras_. The subject of the first book of Esdras is the same as that of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_, and in general it appears to be copied from the canonical Scriptures. The second book of _Esdras_ is supposed to have been either of much later date or to have been interpolated by Christian writers.

E'SERIN, or PHYSOSTIGMIN, a drug obtained from Calabar-bean, the active principle of this plant, used as a remedy in cases of tetanus (lockjaw). A solution of eserin dropped in the eye causes contraction of the pupil, and hence its use in some eye ailments, as, for instance, glaucoma.

ESHER, a village and parish of England, north-west Surrey. Here is Claremont, built by Sir John Vanbrugh, in 1816 settled upon Princess Charlotte and her husband, afterwards the residence of the Orleans family when expelled from France. The so-called 'Wolsey's Tower' is the gatehouse of a palace built by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. Pop. 2609.

ESK (Celtic for water), the name of two small rivers in England--one in Cumberland and the other in Yorkshire; and of several in Scotland, the chief being the Esk in Dumfriesshire, the North Esk and South Esk in Forfarshire, and the North Esk and South Esk in Edinburghshire.

ESKI-JUMNA, a town of Bulgaria, on the northern slope of the Binar-Dagh. Pop. 10,000.

ESKILSTU'NA, a town of Sweden, on a river of the same name connecting Lake Maelar with Lake Hjelmar, with ironworks and manufactures of steel goods and weapons. It is named after St. Eskil, the English apostle of Christianity in S[:o]dermanland. Pop. 28,500.

ES'KIMOS. See _Esquimaux_.

ESKI-SAGRA, or STARA-ZAGORA, a town of Bulgaria, on the south slope of the Balkans, 50 miles N.E. of Philippopolis. In its vicinity are extensive rose-gardens, orchards, and mineral springs. Pop. 28,480.

ESKI-SHEHR, a town of Asia Minor, 90 miles S.E. of the Sea of Marmora, with warm baths and manufactures of meerschaum pipes. Fighting took place near the town in 1921, between the Greeks and Turks. Pop. 20,000.

ESMARCH (es'm[:a]r_h_), Johannes Friedrich August von, German surgeon, born in 1823, died in 1908. He held high official positions during the Schleswig-Holstein and Franco-German Wars, and was a great authority on gunshot wounds. He also originated valuable improvements in barrack-hospitals and ambulances, introduced the antiseptic treatment into Germany, and was the author of several surgical works.

ES'NEH, a town of Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, 28 miles S.S.W. of Thebes, on the site of the ancient Latopolis, now easily reached by railway and river. Among the ruins there is a beautiful portico of twenty-four lofty and massive columns, belonging to a temple of Kneph (the only portion of the temple cleared out), and erected in the Ptolemaic and Roman period, with a zodiac on the ceiling. Esneh has a caravan trade, manufactures cottons and pottery, and is very healthy. There is an irrigation barrage here. Pop. 15,800.

ESOC'IDAE, the family of fishes to which the true pike (_Esox lucius_) belongs, as also the much larger maskinongy (_E. nobilior_) of America.

ESPAL'IER, in gardening, a sort of trelliswork on which the branches of fruit trees or bushes are extended horizontally, with the object of securing for the plant a freer circulation of air as well as a full exposure to the sun. Trees thus trained are not subjected to such marked nor so rapid variations of temperature as wall trees.

ESPARTERO (es-p[.a]r-t[=a]'r[=o]), Baldomero, Duke of Vittoria, a Spanish statesman, born 1792, died 1879. The son of a wheelwright, he was educated for the priesthood, but joined the army as a volunteer in 1808. He took a leading part in the conflict with the Carlists, and was one of the most prominent men in Spain during several decades of the nineteenth century. He was regent of the kingdom from 1841 to 1843, and again head of the Government from 1854 to 1856. He was exiled to England for several years (1843-7). In 1870 his name was vaguely put forward in the Cortes as a candidate for the throne, but the proposal was not supported with any enthusiasm, and the closing years of his life were spent in retirement.

ESPAR'TO, or ALFA, a plant growing in Spain and North Africa, long applied to the manufacture of cordage and matting, and also extensively used for paper-making. This plant, called by botanists _Stipa_ or _Macrochl[=o]a tenacissima_, is a species of grass 2 to 4 feet high, covering large tracts in its native regions, and also cultivated, especially in Spain.

ESPERANTO, an artificial language for international use invented by Dr. Zamenhof of Warsaw, who first published an account of it in 1887. The language was afterwards taken up for practical purposes in many countries, its use being promoted by special societies and periodicals. Its structure is so simple that the whole grammar can be completely mastered in an hour. There are no exceptions to the rules, perfect regularity being a leading feature of the language. The essential roots number only some 900, including grammatical inflexions, prefixes, and suffixes, and these are chosen from the principal European languages in such a way as to make their mastery easy to any person of ordinary education. The alphabet consists of twenty-eight letters, each with an invariable sound. There are no silent letters. The accent is always on the penultimate syllable. All nouns end in _-o_ in the singular, and all adjectives in _-a_. The plural of these is formed by adding _-j_ (pronounced _y_). All derived adverbs end in _-e_. The only case inflexion is _-n_ for the objective. The verbal endings are: _-i_ for the infinitive; _-as_, _-is_, _-os_ for the present, past, and future tenses respectively; _-us_ for the conditional; _-u_ for the imperative; _-anta_, _-inta_, _-onta_ for the present, past, and future participles active respectively; _-ata_, _-ita_, _-ota_ for the present, past, and future participles passive respectively. The definite article is _la_ in all cases and numbers, and there is no indefinite article. An ingenious system of prefixes and suffixes enables all shades of meaning to be expressed. Thus: _bona_, good, _malbona_, evil; _patro_, father, _patrino_, mother; _gepatroj_, parents; _kudri_, to sew, _kudrilo_, needle; _arbo_, tree, _arbaro_, forest; _bela_, beautiful, _beleco_, beauty; _morti_, to die, _mortigi_, to kill. The following is the Lord's Prayer in Esperanto: Patro Nia, kiu estas en la cielo, sankta estu Via nomo. Venu regeco Via. Estu farata volo Via, kiel en la cielo, tiel anka[)u] sur la tero. Panon nian ciutagan donu al ni hodia[)u], kaj pardonu al ni [^s]uldojn niajn, kiel ni anka[)u] pardonas al niaj [^s]uldantoj. Ne konduku nin en tenton; sed liberigu nin de la malbono: car Via estas la regado, la forto, kaj la gloro eterne. Amen! The British Esperanto Association was founded in the autumn of 1904; its official organ is _The British Esperantist_. International Esperanto congresses have been held since 1905, the last in 1920 at the Hague.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. C. O'Connor, _Esperanto: the Student's Complete Text-Book_ (revised by Dr. Zamenhof); Underhill, _Esperanto and its Availability for Scientific Writings_.

ESPIONAGE (from the French word _espion_, a spy) is the acquirement of information by secret methods and by special agents, as opposed to its acquirement openly by combatants in the ordinary course of military operations. Espionage is recognized by international law under the Hague Convention, Article 24 of the Annexe to which reads as follows: "Ruses of war and the _employment of measures necessary for obtaining information_ about the enemy and the country are considered permissible". The right given by this rule does not, however, extend to the employment of force to extract information from enemy subjects as to their own armies, so that it follows that methods of espionage must be of a persuasive, and, so to speak, peaceful nature.

Espionage is carried on both in peace and war, but the conditions under which secret service agents work differ to a very marked extent according to the state of affairs between the two countries. In peace-time, though many countries maintain secret service agents in other states, yet these same agents can expect no assistance from their Governments in the event of their being detected. In this case it is a diplomatic fiction that nothing is known of them or of the reasons for their activities. The agent, therefore, in consideration of a sufficient allowance, takes the risk of a lengthy term of imprisonment if he is so unfortunate as to be found out.

In time of war the condition of non-interference naturally exists as a matter of course, and the secret service agent or spy is liable to the death penalty if discovered, and the fact that he has or has not obtained and transmitted information does not affect the case. In time of peace every nation of any importance maintains representatives in other states. Among the recognized duties of these representatives is the obtaining and transmitting of information about naval and military matters which may be of interest to their Governments. This is not regarded as espionage provided the information is obtained by the representative in his official capacity; it becomes so when resort is had to disguise or dissimulation, and, in fact, dissimulation is the essence of the offence. It follows, therefore, that a spy--one who practises espionage--must act in a clandestine manner in order to bring himself within the technical definition of the offence (by international law).

The characteristics of the act of spying are laid down in Article 29 of the Hague Convention, and the definition there given is as follows: "A person can only be considered a spy when, acting clandestinely or on false pretences, he obtains or endeavours to obtain information in the zone of operations of a belligerent, with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party...".

From this definition it appears that action in the 'zone of operations' is a necessary concomitant of the offence, and that, therefore, persons operating outside that zone cannot technically be charged with espionage; and to a certain extent this is so. A person may be domiciled in a belligerent country, and may, while pursuing his ordinary vocation, collect and transmit openly information of value to his own country; in the absence of dissimulation, such a person could not be charged with espionage, though he could be with war-treason. As, by international law, war-treason is punishable by death, the result is the same as if all the characteristics of spying had been present.

Espionage has been brought to a fine art in many countries, and complex organizations for its practice exist. Information may conceivably be collected with comparative ease by trained agents, but it is when it comes to disposing of that information that the troubles of the secret service agent begin. A poison requires an antidote, and the system of counter-espionage to a great extent provides this antidote. In accordance with this system, steps are taken to mark down and know all secret-service agents engaged in espionage work in the country concerned; their operations are then followed and, to a certain extent, controlled till such time as the psychological moment arrives when all, including the master-brain, are drawn into the net and disposed of.

In a military sense a spy means a man, whether soldier or civilian, who penetrates in disguise behind the enemy lines and brings back information about his dispositions. By the customs of war the penalty inflicted on a spy caught in the act is death after trial; but should a man known to have acted as a spy on some former occasion be subsequently captured in the course of military operations, he cannot be punished for his former act, and must be treated as a prisoner of war.

The following examples may serve to show what can be considered spying and what cannot. 'A', a soldier, in presence of the enemy, volunteers to obtain exact information as to the strength of a certain hostile post. To this end he, wearing his uniform and carrying a weapon of some kind, approaches the post by stealth, and secretes himself in a convenient place for seeing and hearing. If he is discovered, and attempts to escape, he may be shot in the process; but if he is captured, he must be treated as a prisoner of war and not as a spy. 'B', another soldier, speaking the enemy language, disguises himself as an officer of the enemy forces, and in this disguise penetrates behind the lines and mixes with the enemy troops. On discovery and capture he may be tried as a spy and shot.

In the first case 'A' was acting as a combatant in the ordinary course of military operations, and no disguise was present; in the second case 'B' was acting clandestinely and under false pretences, i.e. was masquerading as an officer of the enemy forces, and the necessary dissimulation was present.

ESPIR'ITO-SANTO ('Holy Spirit'), one of the maritime states of Brazil, bounded north by Bahia, south by Rio-de-Janeiro; length, about 260 miles; breadth, about 120 miles; area, 17,310 sq. miles. Pop. 434,500.

ESPIR'ITU-SANTO, an island of the Pacific, the largest of the New Hebrides, with some 20,000 inhabitants.

ESPRITS FORTS (FR., bold spirits), a term applied to the French school of freethinkers, which included Voltaire, Diderot, Helvetius, D'Alembert, and others. The Esprits Forts, are, however, distinguished from the English free-thinkers. Whilst the latter were only aiming at freedom of religious thought, the Esprits Forts were more radical and revolutionary, seeking to bring about the abolition of the existing order and the substitution of a system based upon pure reason and the supremacy of intellect.

ESQUIMAULT (es-kw[=i]'m[.a]lt), a harbour and naval station on the south-east coast of Vancouver Island, about 3 miles from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. The harbour is almost landlocked, and, with the 'Royal Roads' outside, is capable of giving safe anchorage to a fleet of vessels of the largest size. It is the station of H.M. ships on the Pacific coast, is a fortified naval arsenal, and since 1906 has been garrisoned by Canadian troops.

ESQUIMAUX (es'ki-m[=o]z), or ESKIMOS, a race inhabiting the Arctic coasts of North America, from Greenland to Behring's Strait, and extending into Asia. They call themselves _Innuit_, 'the people', 'men'; their other name is from an Algonquin word signifying eaters of raw flesh, and seems to have been given them first by the Jesuit Father Biard in 1611. They consist of three principal stocks--the Greenlanders; the Esquimaux proper, in Labrador; and the Western Esquimaux, found along Hudson's Bay, the west side of Baffin's Bay, the polar shores as far as the mouths of the Coppermine and Mackenzie Rivers, and both on the American and Asiatic sides of Behring's Strait. The entire Eskimo population is estimated at 27,000, of which 15,600 live in North America and 11,000 in Greenland. Their leading physical peculiarities are a stunted stature, flattened nose, projecting cheek-bones, eyes often oblique, and yellow and brownish skin. Seal-skins, reindeer and other furs are used as materials for dress, according to the season, as well as skins of otters, foxes, and martens. In summer they live in tents, covered with skins; in winter they may be said to burrow beneath the snow. In Greenland houses built of stone and cemented with turf are used as permanent habitations. Vegetation being extremely stunted within the limits of their territories, their food consists of the flesh of whales, seals, and walruses, often eaten raw; and they show remarkable skill in fishing and hunting. Their weapons are bows and arrows, spears or lances, generally pointed with bone, but sometimes with metal. Their only domestic animal is the Esquimaux dog. In intellect they are by no means deficient; in manners they are kind and hospitable. Their religious ideas appear scanty, but success has attended the labours of the Danish missionaries in teaching them the Christian religion.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_; V. Stefansson, _My Life with the Eskimo_.

ESQUIMAUX DOG, or ESKIMO DOG, a breed of dogs extensively spread over the northern regions of America and of Eastern Asia. It is rather larger than the English pointer, but appears smaller on account of the shortness of its legs. It has oblique eyes, an elongated muzzle, and a bushy tail, which give it a wolfish appearance. The colour is generally a deep dun, obscurely barred and patched with darker colour. It is the only beast of burden in these latitudes, and with a team of such dogs attached to his sledge the Eskimo will cover 60 miles a day for several successive days.

ES'QUIRE (O.Fr. _escuyer_, from Lat. _scutum_, a shield); originally, a shield-bearer or armour-bearer; an attendant on a knight; hence in modern times a title of dignity next in degree below a knight. In England this title is properly given to the younger sons of noblemen, to officers of the king's courts and of the household, to counsellors at law, justices of the peace while in commission, sheriffs, gentlemen who have held commissions in the army and navy, &c. It is usually given to all professional and literary men, and nowadays, in the addresses of letters, _esquire_ may be put as a complimentary adjunct to almost any person's name. In heraldry the helmet of an esquire is represented sideways, with the vizor closed.

ESQUIROS (es-k[=e]-ros), Henri Alphonse, French poet, romancist, and miscellaneous writer, born at Paris 1812, died at Versailles 1876. His first work, a volume of poetry, _Les Hirondelles_, appeared in 1834. This was followed by numerous romances, and a commentary on the life of Christ (_L'['E]vangile du Peuple_), for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned. He then published _Les Chants d'un Prisonnier_, poems written in prison; _Les Vierges Folles_; _Les Vierges Sages_; _L'Histoire des Montagnards_. Having to leave France in 1851, he resided for years in England, and wrote a series of essays for the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ on English life and character, which were translated under the title of _The English at Home_, and were very popular. He also wrote a similar work on the Dutch. Other works are: _Religious Life in England_, and _Charlotte Corday_.

ESSAD TOPTANI, PASHA, Albanian soldier and national leader, born at Tirana in 1856. He was a descendant of the Toptani family who had ruled in Albania in the fifteenth century. Trained for the army, he served in Macedonia and Anatolia, and in 1897 was rewarded with the title of Pasha for his services in the war against Greece. Abdul Hamid, however, who feared the power of the Toptani family, had the brother of Essad Pasha murdered, and the latter became the mortal enemy of the Sultan. He nevertheless accepted the rank of brigadier-general, and commanded the local troops at Janina. In 1908 he joined the Young Turks, and was one of the deputation which brought the news of his deposition to the Sultan. He was in command of the troops at Scutari, when the powers declared in favour of the autonomy of Albania in 1912. Essad Pasha had hoped to be chosen ruler of the new state of Albania created by the Treaty of London, but as the Prince of Wied had been appointed _mbret_, he accepted the office of Minister of War and of the Interior. Suspected by the _mbret_, he was compelled to flee from Durazzo. After the departure of the Prince of Wied, at the outbreak of the European War, he returned to Durazzo, and was appointed by the Senate (on 5th Oct., 1914) President of the Provisional Government. In spite of Austrian advances he declared war on the Central Powers, and escaped when the Austrians entered Albania. He rendered valuable services to the Allies at Salonica, but the Italians, who saw in the Pasha an enemy to their own views upon Albania, refused to grant him permission to return to his country. Essad Pasha, therefore, remained in Paris, where he was assassinated by an Albanian student named Averic Rustem on 13th June, 1920. The assassin was acquitted by a French jury in December of the same year, prominent Albanians having pleaded in favour of the murderer, and maintained that the Pasha was an ambitious adventurer and a traitor to his country.

ES'SAY, a composition in which something is attempted to be proved or illustrated, usually shorter and less methodical and finished than a systematic or formal treatise; so that it may be a short disquisition on a subject of taste, philosophy, or common life. The essay was the invention of Montaigne in the sixteenth century, and Francis Bacon was another illustrious author who employed the literary form of the essay. Caution or modesty has induced many writers of note to give the title of essay to their most elaborate productions: thus we have Locke's _Essay on the Human Understanding_. There is a class of English writers to whom the descriptive term _essayist_ is applied, the most illustrious being Addison, Steele, Charles Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey, Macaulay, Carlyle, Froude, Matthew Arnold, R. L. Stevenson, and Austin Dobson.