that derived from the brilliant successes of Bonaparte in Italy. (See NAPOLEON.)

Domitianus, Titus Flavius, (51-96,) Roman Emperor, the second son of Vespasian, and the last of the twelve Caesars, was born A. D. 51, and succeeded his brother Titus in 81. He was profligate, cruel, and malignant; and though at his accession he made some show of justice, he was soon both feared and hated for his tyranny. Wars were carried on in his reign in Britain, in Germany, and in Dacia, but, except in Britain, unsuccessfully. Agricola, who achieved the conquest of Great Britain in this reign, excited the jealousy of Domitian, and was recalled to Rome. He was in continual dread of conspirators, and at length fell by the hands of an assassin, in the 45th year of his age. Dost Mohammed.

See MOHAMMED.

Drake, Sir Francis, (1545–1596,) an eminent navigator and commander. He sailed, in 1577, to attack the Spaniards in the South Seas. In this expedition he ravaged the Spanish settlements, explored the North American coast as far as 48° north latitude, and gave the name of New Albion to the country he had discovered. He then went to the East Indies, and, having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, returned to Plymouth in 1580. In 1587 he commanded a fleet of 30 sail, with which he entered the harbor of Cadiz and other Spanish ports, and destroyed an immense number of ships which were preparing for the great attack on England; and in the following year he commanded as vice-admiral under Lord Howard, and had his share in the destruction of the Spanish armada.

Dryden, John, (1631-1700,) one of the most celebrated English poets. In 1657 he came to London, and acted as secretary to his relation, Sir Gilbert Pickering, who was one of Cromwell's council, and, on the death of the Protector, he wrote his well-known stanzas on that event. At the Restoration, however, he greeted Charles II. with a poem, entitled "Astræa Redux," which was quickly followed by a panegyric on the coronation, and from that time his love for the royal house of Stuart appears to have known no decay. In 1667 he published his "Annus Mirabilis," (see this;) and his reputation, both as a poet and a royalist, being now established, he was appointed poet-laureate and historiographer royal, with a salary of

£200 per annum. In 1681 he commenced his career of political satire; and at the express desire of Charles II. composed his famous poem of "Absalom and Achitophel." At the accession of James II., Dryden became a Roman Catholic, and, like most converts, endeavored to defend his new faith at the expense of the old one, in a poem called "The Hind and the Panther," which was ridiculed by Prior and Montague, in the "Country Mouse and City Mouse." The abdication of James deprived Dryden of all his official emoluments; and during the ten concluding years of his life, when he actually wrote for bread, he produced some of the finest pieces of which our language can boast. His translation of Virgil, which alone would be sufficient to immortalize his memory, appeared in 1697, and, soon after, that masterpiece of lyric poetry, "Alexander's Feast," his "Fables," etc. The freedom, grace, strength, and melody of his versification have never been surpassed; and in satire he stands unrivalled; but as a dramatic writer he does not excel, Dschingis, Khan. See GENGIS-KHAN.

Duilius, C., was Consul in B. C. 260. In that year the coast of Italy was repeatedly ravaged by the Carthaginians, against whom the Romans could do nothing, as they were yet without a navy. The Romans then built their first fleet of one hundred ships, using for their models a Carthaginian vessel which had been thrown on the coast of Italy. Duilius obtained the command of this fleet; who, perceiving the disadvantages under which the clumsy ships of the Romans were laboring, invented the grappling-irons, by means of which the enemy's ships were drawn toward his, so that the sea-fight was, as it were, changed into a land-fight. When Duilius was informed that the Carthaginians were ravaging the coast of Myle in Sicily, he sailed thither with his whole armament. The battle which ensued off Myle, and near the Liparian Islands, ended in a glorious victory of the Romans, which they mainly owed to their grappling-irons. On his return to Rome, Duilius celebrated a splendid triumph, for it was the first naval victory that they had ever gained, and the memory of it was perpetuated by a column which was erected in the Forum, and adorned with the beaks of the conquered ships. Rome had suddenly become a naval power, and held in her hands the means of energetically terminating a war which threatened to be endlessly prolonged, and to involve the commerce of Italy

in ruin. The Roman fleet, with its unwielding grandeur, was the noblest creation of genius in this war, and, as in 269, its beginning, so at its close, it was the fleet that turned the scale in favor of Rome. (See FIRST PUNIC WAR, Appendix, page 187.)

Dürer, Albert, (1471-1528,) the greatest of the early German painters and engravers. He was appointed painter to the Emperor Maximilian I., an

Edict of Nantes, (1598–1685 A. D.) Henry IV., the first of the Bourbon kings of France, issued, in 1598, the celebrated Edict of Nantes, which fixed the rights of the Protestants in France. This edict granted to the Protestants the exercise of their religion; it certified to them admission to all employments, established in each parliament a chamber composed of magistrates of each religion, tolerated the general assemblies of the reformers, authorizing them to raise taxes among themselves for the wants of their Church; lastly, it indemnified their ministers and granted them places of safety, the principal of which was La Rochelle. The Protestants were compelled to pay tithes, and to observe the holy days of the Catholic Church. The Edict of Nantes, registered by the parliaments after long resistance, put an end to the disastrous wars which for thirty-six years had desolated the kingdom. It was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV. This revocation interdicted, throughout the whole kingdom, the exercise of the reformed religion, ordered all its ministers to leave the kingdom within a fortnight, and enjoined parents and tutors to bring up the children in their care in the Catholic religion. Emigration on the part of the Protestants was prohibited under pain of the galleys and confiscation of property; Catholic preachers traversed the towns peopled by Protestants, and in the places where these missionaries were unable to effect conversions, the secular arm was called in to effect them by force. Frequently, before the issue of this decree, dragoons had been sent to obstinate Protestants with permission to act toward them with every imaginable license, until they had become converted. Innumerable and atrocious acts of violence were committed against them, those who resisted being condemned to the gibbet or

office which he also held under Charles V. Dürer was very celebrated as

an engraver both on wood and metal; he also invented, or far surpassed others in etching. Among his best paintings are "Christian Martyrs in Persia," "Adoration of the Holy Trinity," "St. John and St. Peter," "St. Paul and St. Mark," and several portraits. Dutch William. See WILLIAM III.

the gallows; while their ministers were broken alive. A hundred thousand industrious families escaped from France; and the foreign nations, which received them with open arms, became enriched by their industry, at the expense of their native country.

Edward III., (1312-1377,) King of England, eldest son of Edward II., succeeded to the throne, on the deposition of his father, in 1327, and three years later assumed the government. In 1333, Edward invaded Scotland, which had been nominally subjected to England by Edward Baliol; besieged Berwick, and defeated the regent at Halidon Hill. The greater war with France soon withdrew his attention from Scotland. He assumed the title of king of France, (see GENEALOGY, III.,) in the right of his mother Isabella, and invaded the country. In 1346, he won the great victory of Crecy, and took Calais (see this) in 1347. In 1356, Edward, the Black Prince, invaded France, and gained the victory of Poitiers, taking the French king and his son prisoners. The king was released after four years, on the conclusion of the peace of Bretigny, in which France, slowly but surely, regained her ascendency, so that the only places left to the English in France, in 1374 A. D., were Calais, Bayonne, and Bordeaux. The long wars of Edward III., though almost fruitless of practical result, appear to have been popular; and his numerous parliaments granted liberal supplies for carrying them on, gaining in return confirmations of the Great and other charters, and many valuable concessions. His victories raised the spirit and also the fame of his country, and with the evident military power of England grew also her commerce and manufactures.

Edward, (1330-1376,) Prince of Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, son of Edward III. Accompanying his father to France, in 1346, he took a leading part in gaining the victory of Crecy; and ten years later he crowned his military career in the great battle of Poitiers, when he took King John and his son prisoners, and distinguished himself as much by his courtesy to his captives as he had in the field by his valor. Soon after he was created by his father prince of Aquitaine. Bordeaux then became the seat of his government. In 1367 he went to the assistance of Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile, who had been dethroned by his brother, Henry of Trastamare. The latter was defeated, and Pedro re-established, but only for a short time. Prince Edward was soon after involved in disputes with his subjects, which occasioned the renewal of war between France and England, in which England lost nearly all her French possessions. He died aged forty-five.

Eginhard, a celebrated historian of the ninth century. He was a pupil of Alcuin, and entered the service of Charlemagne as secretary or chancellor. He was also made superintendent of the emperor's buildings, and continued to hold his offices under Louis the Pious. About 816 he retired to a monastery, and some years later converted his own house into an abbey. He died about 850. Eginhard left an important and very valuable historical work, "The Life of the Most Glorious Emperor Charles the Great," (Charlemagne.) We have also his "Annals of the Kings of the Franks from 741-829," and a collection of letters of great interest and value.

Egypt. See Appendix, page 169.

Elagabalus, (205-222,) Roman Emperor. Early made a priest of the sun, worshipped under the name of Elagabalus, he was afterward known by that name. He was proclaimed emperor in Syria in 218, and received the title of M. Aurelius Antoninus. He arrived at Rome in the following year; abandoned himself to the grossest profligacy, superstitions, and prodigality; and, after four years, was massacred with his mother by the prætorians, and his body was dragged through the city and thrown into the Tiber. His cousin, Alexander Severus, whom he had adopted and made Cæsar, succeeded him.

Elector, (the Great.) See FREDERICK WILLIAM.

Elijah the Tishbite has been well entitled "the grandest and the most romantic character that Israel ever produced." Certainly there is no personage in the Old Testament whose career is more vividly portrayed, or who exercises on us a more remarkable fascination. His rare, sudden, and brief appearance; his undaunted courage and fiery zeal; the brilliancy of his triumphs, the pathos of his despondency, the glory of his departure, and the calm beauty of his reappearance on the Mount of Transfiguration, throw such a halo of brightness around him as is equalled by none of his compeers in the sacred story. How deep was the impression which he made on the mind of the nation may be judged of from the fixed belief which many centuries after prevailed that Elijah would again appear, for the relief and restoration of his country. What it had grown to at the time of our Lord's birth, and how continually the great prophet was present to the expectations of the people, is patent on every page of the Gospels. Elijah has been canonized in both the Greek and Latin churches. Among the Greeks, Mar Elijas is the patron of elevated spots, and many a conspicuous summit in Greece is called by his name. In the Mohammedan traditions, Elijah is said to have drunk of the fountain of life, "by virtue of which he still lives, and will live to the day of judgment." The Persian sofis are said to trace themselves back to Elijah.

English Revolution of 1688, by which William and Mary were raised to the throne of England, which had become vacant by the flight of James II. William III., stadtholder of the Netherlands, and prince of Orange, himself the grandson, through his mother, of Charles I., (see GENEALOGY I.,) had married Mary, the eldest daughter of James. In the absence of a male heir to the throne, William had long looked forward to the probable acquisition of the English crown by right of his wife, as the solution of the existing troubles. The birth of a prince of Wales, June 10th, 1688, presented an obstacle to the attainment of this object; and, while publicly congratulating his father-in-law on the birth of a son, William instructed his envoy in England to foment the growing discontent. Carefully concealing his projects till they were ready to be executed, William made his preparations. James, though warned by Louis XIV., for some time refused to distrust the intentions of his son-in-law, and even when the alliance of Louis was offered it was declined. The object of William, however, could

not long be concealed. Open disaffection broke out in London, and James sought too late to regain by concessions the confidence of his subjects. After publishing a declaration of the reasons of his conduct, William sailed from Holland, and landed at Torbay, (5th November.) With 15,000 men he marched to Exeter. At first few joined him, and he even thought of abandoning his enterprise; but the defection from the royal cause of Lord Churchill and other officers emboldened him to proceed. Plymouth was placed in his hands by its governor, the earl of Bath. Deserted at this juncture by his children and courtiers, James, who had lately returned from the headquarters of the army at Salisbury, attempted to leave England in disguise, throwing the Great Seal in the water as he passed over the Thames. Interrupted in his flight at Feversham, he was brought again to the capital, which he entered amid acclamations. The first act of the prince under these circumstances was to arrest Lord Feversham, who was sent with proposals for a conference; his next, to take possession of the palace of Whitehall. James was in a few hours ordered to leave London, and was escorted by Dutch troops to Rochester. After four days, he again resolved on flight, and left for France, where he arrived on Christmas day. The ex-king died at St. Germains, 16th September, 1701. Epaminondas. After the humiliation of Athens, the Spartans were the absolute masters of Greece. But it was soon discovered that, instead of the freedom promised by them, only another empire had been established; and the many oppressions which the allies had to undergo were rendered still more intolerable by the overweening pride and harshness of the Spartan commanders. During the general depression caused by the harsh conduct of Sparta, Epaminondas arose at Thebes, which is the chief town of Boeotia, situated in a fruitful plain at the foot of Mount Citharon. In the confidence of peace, a Spartan general, by a bold stratagem, had gained possession of the Theban citadel. The seizure was declared unjust at Sparta, but nevertheless Sparta had continued to keep it in possession. The most resolute citizens of Thebes, who denounced this outrage, were exiled from the town. These exiles, led by Pelopidas, had the good fortune to deliver their country from the Spartans. From that moment the Thebans sought to destroy the abused power of haughty Sparta. They would not have attained this object by the numerical force of their armies, if Epaminondas

had not been able to conquer them by his superior strategy. At Leuctra (371) fell the flower of the Spartan youth, and they lost forever the prize of the Peloponnesian war-the sovereignty of Greece. A second victory at Mantinea (362) established the fame of Epaminondas forever, and completed the ruin of the Spartan power. The Theban general finished his career by an heroic death. On that account this day was calamitous even to those whom it crowned with victory. No general ever before arranged the order of battle on principles so scientific, or carried the art of war to such perfection. Epaminondas was, moreover, a noble and virtuous citizen, magnanimous toward his ungrateful country, modest and mild in character, warm in friendship, a lover of philosophy, and a most accomplished man. Epicurus, (B. c. 342-B. c. 270,) Greek philosopher, founder of the Epicurean school, about B. c. 306 settled at Athens, and, in a garden which he bought there, opened his school of philosophy. The fundamental doctrine of Epicurus in morals is that pleasure is the sovereign good. He taught that this must be sought by the aid of reason, that prudence is the first of virtues, and that moral excellence is only of value as conducing to pleasHe denied the immortality of the soul, and asserted the existence of the gods, their perfect repose, and their indifference to human affairs. Although his system too easily lent itself to the justification of a sensual life, Epicurus obtained the praise even of his adversaries for the simple, pure, and manly life he himself led. The great poem of Lucretius, “De Rerum Natura," is an exposition of the system of this philosopher. Erasmus, Desiderius, one of the most eminent scholars of his age, was born at Rotterdam, 1467. When he was only 14 years old he was left an orphan, and the heir of a moderate fortune. The guardians, desiring to appropriate it to themselves, endeavored to force him into a convent. He was obliged to yield. This misfortune did not check Erasmus's intellectual growth. He taught himself Greek, when Greek was the language which, in the opinion of the monks, only the devil spoke in the bad place. His Latin was as polished as Cicero's; and at length the archbishop of Cambray heard of him, and sent him to the university of Paris. Here he made the acquaintance of two English noblemen, who carried him over to England, and introduced him at the court of Henry VII. At once his fortune was made. Money flowed in upon him, and the great Wolsey

ure.

himself recognized and welcomed the rising star of literature. Shortly after, when the brilliant Leo succeeded to the tiara, Erasmus was invited to visit him at Rome, and become another star in the constellation which surrounded the papal throne. He was now in the zenith of his greatness. The breadth of his culture, his clear understanding, and the worldly moderation of his temper, seemed to qualify him above all living men to conduct a temperate reform; and he resolved to devote the remainder of his life to the introduction of a higher tone in the mind of the clergy. During the latter part of his life he lived chiefly in Basel, where he vigorously continued his literary labors, and prepared his edition of the New Testament, and his celebrated "Colloquia," which latter gave such offence to the monks that they used to say, "Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched." Erasmus died in 1536.

Eratosthenes, (240 B. C.), next to Aristotle the most illustrious of Greek scholars, was especially distinguished as the first and greatest critical investigator of Egyptian antiquity. His researches were undertaken by command of the king, consequently with every advantage that royal patronage could procure for the investigation from the Egyptian priests. We are indebted to Georgius Syncellus, Vice-Patriarch of Constantinople, (800) A. D.,) for the preservation of his labors, though only in the form of a miserable epitome containing a list of kings.

Espartero, Don Baldomero, Duke of Victory, Marshal, and at one time. Regent of Spain, was born at Granada, in 1792. The youngest of the nine children of a cartwright, he was intended for the priesthood; but in 1808, when the French invaded Spain, he enrolled himself as a volunteer. Upon the expulsion of Napoleon from Spain, he joined General Morillo in the South American colonies. He returned to Spain, and in 1833, when Ferdinand VII. died, took a decided part in favor of his daughter, Isabella II.; and in 1841 became regent of Spain, and governed the country with a fair share of success. In 1843, he was compelled to retire. But in 1854, Queen Isabella commissioned him to resume the direction of affairs, in conjunction with General O'Donnell; but his government encountered great difficulties in the corruption of the court and of the administrative departments, in the hostility of the clergy, and the fickleness of its own professed supporters. At length, in the summer of 1856, matters came to

a crisis. General Espartero was dismissed, and insurrections broke out in Madrid, Barcelona, and Saragossa; but he took no part in the quarrels made in his name, and again lost one of the most brilliant positions that fortune or military prestige could offer.

Euclid, the celebrated mathematician, flourished at Alexandria, about B. C. 300. He immortalized his name by his books on geometry, in which he digested all the propositions of the eminent geometricians who preceded him, Thales, Pythagoras, and others. Ptolemy became his pupil, and his school was so famous that Alexandria continued for ages the great resort of mathematicians. His "Elements" have been translated into most languages. They have held their ground for 2000 years as the basis of geometrical instruction wherever the light of science has reached. Eugène, François, (1663–1736,) of Savoy, known as Prince Eugène, a distinguished military commander. He was intended for the Church; but his predilection for a military life was so strong, that, on being refused a regiment in the French army, he entered the service of the emperor, as a volunteer against the Turks; and his bravery attracting notice, he was soon appointed to the command of a regiment of dragoons. He was afterward placed at the head of the army of Hungary; and so highly did Louis XIV. think of his abilities that he offered him a marshal's staff, a pension, and the government of Champagne; but these he indignantly refused. He was the companion in arms of the great duke of Marlborough, and participated in the victories of Blenheim, Oudenarde, etc. He routed the Turks at Peterwardein in 1716, and compelled Belgrade to surrender, after inflicting on them another ruinous defeat. After the peace in 1718, he retired to private life, and spent his time in cultivating and patronizing the arts, till he was again, in 1733, called into the field as commander on the Rhine. He died, aged seventy-two, in 1736. Euripides, born in the midst of war's alarms, (on the day of the battle of Salamis,) knew nothing about them until they were over, and the ordinary tone of thought and feeling had resumed its sway. Philosophical speculation occupied his mind more than the inspiration of natural glory. He lowered the character of tragedy from the stately heights of Eschylus and Sophocles. But this abatement of the lofty bearing of tragedy brought it more within the common apprehension; and so it has happened that