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nel-form, narrow; berry dry, two-celled, two-valved; seeds two, dotted, one placed over the other. There is only one species, riz. E. nyctelea, cut-leaved ellisia, a native of Virginia.

ELM. See ULMUS. The elm is very serviceable in places where it may lie continualy dry, or wet in extremes. Accordingly, it is proper for water-works, mills, the ladles and soles of the wheel-pipes, pumps, aqueducts, pales, and ship-planks beneath the water-lines. It is also of use for wheelwrights, handles for single saws, axle-trees, and the like. The clearness of the grain makes it also fit for all kinds of carved works, and most ornaments relating to architecture.

ELOCUTION, in rhetoric, the adapting words and sentences to the things or sentiments to be expressed. It consists of elegance, composition, and dignity. The first, comprehending the purity and perspicuity of a language, is the foundation of elocution. The second ranges the words in proper order; and the last adds the ornaments of tropes and figures to give strength and dignity to the whole.

ELOGY, a praise or panegyric bestowed on any person or thing, in consideration of its merit. The beauty of elogy consists in an expressive brevity. Elogiums should not have so much as one epithet properly so called, nor two words synonimous. They should strictly adhere to truth; for extravagant and improbable elogies rather lessen the character of the person or thing they would extol.

ELONGATION, in astronomy, the digression or recess of a planet from the sun, with respect to an eye placed on our earth. The term is chiefly used in speaking of Venus and Mercury, the arch of a great circle intercepted between either of these planets and the Sun, being called the elongation of that planet from the Sun.

But here it is to be observed, that it is only a circle which has the sun for its centre; that the greatest elongation is in a line touching the planet's orbit. For in an elliptic orbit it may be, that the elongation from the sun may grow still greater, even after it has left the place where the line joining the earth and planet touches the orbit. For after that, the true distance of the planet from the Sun may increase, whilst the distance of the Sun and planet from the Earth does not increase, but rather decrease. But, because the orbits of the planets are nearly circular, such small

differences may be neglected in astronomy. The greatest elongation of Venus is found by observation to be about forty-eight degrees, and the greatest elongation of Mercury about twenty-eight degrees, upon which account this planet is rarely to be seen with the naked eye.

ELONGATION, angle of, is an angle contained under lines drawn from the centre of the sun and planet to the centre of the earth.

ELOPEMENT, is, when a married woman of her own accord departs from her husband, and dwells with an adulterer; for which, without voluntary reconciliation to the husband, she shall lose her dower by the statute of Westminster, 2. c. 34. Except that her husband willingly, and without coercion of the church, reconcile her, and suffer her to dwell with him, in which case, she shall be restored to her action. 13 Ed. I. st. 1, c. 34. By eloping in this manner, or living in adultery apart from the husband, he is discharged of her future debts, and no longer liable to support her.

ELOQUENCE, the art of speaking well, so as to affect and persuade. Cicero defines it, the art of speaking with copiousness and embellishment. Eloquence and rhetoric differ from each other, as the theory from the practice; rhetoric being the art which describes the rules of eloquence, and eloquence that art which uses them to advantage. See RHETORIC.

ELOPS, in natural history, a genus of fishes of the' order Abdominales. Generic character: head smooth, edges of the jaws and palate rough, with teeth; gill membrane with thirty rays, and armed on the outside in the middle with five teeth. The saury elops, the only species, bears a considerable resemblance to a salmon, from which it differs principally in wanting the fleshy back fin, It inhabits the shores of Carolina and the West Indies; in Jamaica it passes by the name of the sun-fish. It is in general about fourteen inches long.

ELYMUS, in botany, lymegrass, a genus of the Triandria Digynia class and order. Natural order of Gramina, or Grasses. Essential character: calyx lateral, two-valved, aggregate, many-flowered. There are eleven species.

EMARGINATED, among botanists, an appellation given to such leaves as have a little indenting on their summits: when this indenting is terminated on each side by obtuse points, they are said to be obtusely

emarginated; whereas when these points are acute, they are called acutely emarginated.

EMBALMING, is the opening a dead body, taking out the intestines, and filling the place with odoriferous and desiccative drugs and spices, to prevent its putrefying. The Egyptians excelled all other nations in the art of preserving bodies from corruption, for some that they have embalmed upwards of 2000 years ago, remain whole to this day, and are often brought into other countries as great curiosities. Their manner of embalming was thus: they scooped the brains with an iron scoop out at the nostrils, and threw in medicaments to fill up the vacuum: they also took out the entrails, and having filled the body with myrrh, cassia, and other spices, except frankincense, proper to dry up the humours, they pickled it in nitre, where it lay soaking for seventy days. The body was then wrapped up in bandages of fine linen and gums, to make it stick like glue; and so was delivered to the kindred of the deceased, entire in all its features, the very hairs of the eyelids being preserved. They used to keep the bodies of their ancestors, thus embalmed, in little houses magnificently adorned, and took great pleasure in beholding them alive, as it were, without any change in their size, features, or complexion. The Egyptians also embalmed birds, &c. The prices for embalming were different; the highest was a talent, the next 20 minæ, and so decreasing to a very small matter; but those who had not wherewithal to answer this expence, contented themselves with infusing, by means of a syringe, through the fundament, a certain liquor extracted from the cedar; and leaving it there, wrapped up the body in salt of nitre: the oil thus preyed upon the intestines, so that when they took it out, the intestines came away with it, dried, and not in the least putrified: the body being inclosed in nitre, grew dry, and nothing remained besides the skin glued upon the bones.

The method of embalming used by the modern Egyptians, according to Maillet, is to wash the body several times with rosewater, which he elsewhere observes, is more fragrant in that country than with us. They afterwards perfume it with incense, aloes, and a quantity of other odours, of which they are by no means sparing; and then they bury the body in a winding sheet, made partly of silk and partly of cotton, and moistened, as is supposed, with

some sweet-scented water or liquid perfume, though Maillet uses only the term moistened; this they cover with another cloth of unmixed cotton, to which they add one of the richest suits of clothes of the deceased. The expence, he says, on these occasions, is very great, though nothing like what the genuine embalming cost in former times.

EMBARGO, in commerce, an arrest on ships, or merchandize, by public authority; or a prohibition of state, commonly on foreign ships, in time of war, to prevent their going out of port; sometimes to prevent their coming in; and sometimes both for a limited time. The King may lay embargoes on ships, or employ those of his subjects, in time of danger, for service and defence of the nation; but they must not be for the private advantage of a particular trader, or company; and therefore a war. rant to stay a single ship is no legal embargo. No inference can be made from embargoes which are only in war time; and are a prohibition by advice of council, and not at prosecution of parties. If goods be laden on board, and after an embargo, or restraint from the prince or state comes forth, and then the master of the ship breaks ground, or endeavours to sail, if any damage accrues, he must be responsible for the same: the reason is, because his freight is due, and must be paid, nay though the goods be seized as contraband. Embargo differs from quarantine, insomuch as this last is always for the term of forty days, in which persons from foreign parts infected with the plague are not permitted to come on shore. See QUARANTINE.

EMBASSADOR, or AMBASSADOR, a public minister sent from one sovereign prince, as a representative of his person, to

another.

Embassadors are either ordinary or extraordinary. Embassador in ordinary is he who constantly resides in the court of another prince, to maintain a good understanding, and look to the interest of his master. Till about two hundred years ago, embassadors in ordinary were not heard of; all, till then, were embassadors extraordinary, that is, such as are sent on some particular occasion, and who retire as soon as the affair is dispatched.

By the law of nations, none under the quality of a sovereign prince can send or receive an embassador, At Athens, embassadors mounted the pulpit to the public. orators, and there opened their commission,

acquainting the people with their errand. At Rome they were introduced to the Senate, and delivered their commissions to them.

Embassadors should never attend any public solemnities, as marriages, funerals, &c. unless their masters have some interest therein; nor must they go into mourning on any occasions of their own, because they represent the persons of their prince. By the civil law, the moveable goods of an embassador, which are accounted an accession to his person, cannot be seized on, neither as a pledge, nor for payment of a debt, nor by order or execution of judgment, nor by the King's or state's leave, where he resides, as some conceive; for all actions ought to be far from an embassador, as well that which toucheth his necessaries, as his person; if, therefore, he hath contracted any debt, he is to be called upon kindly, and if he refuses, then letters of request are to go to his master. Nor can any of the embassador's domestic servants, that are registered in the Secretaries of State's Office, be arrested in person or goods: if they are, the process shall be void, and the parties suing out and executing it shall suffer and be liable to such penalties and corporal punishment as the Lord Chancellor, or either of the chief justices, shall think fit to inflict. Yet embassadors cannot be defended when they commit any thing against that state, or the person of the prince with whom they reside; and if they are guilty of treason, felony, &c. or any other crime against the law of nations, they lose the privilege of anembassador, and may be subject to punishment as private aliens.

EMBER weeks, or days, in the Christian Church, are certain seasons of the year, set apart for the imploring God's blessing, by prayer and fasting, upon the ordinations performed in the church at such times. These ordination-fasts are observed four times in the year, viz. the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, after Whit-sunday, after the fourteenth of September, and the thirteenth of December; it being enjoined, by a canon of the church, that deacons and ministers be ordained, or made, only upon the Sundays immediately following these emberfasts. The ember-weeks were formerly observed in different churches with some variety, but were at last settled as they are now observed, by the council of Placentia, anno 1095. The council of Mentz, con

vened by Charlemagne, mentions the em ber-weeks as a new establishment.

EMBERIZA, the bunting, in natural history, a genus of birds of the order Passeres. Generic character: bill conic; mandibles receding from each other, from the base downwards; the lower with the sides narrowed in; the upper containing a large knob of use to break hard seeds. There are, according to Gmelin, seventy-seven species. Latham enumerates sixty-three, of which the most important are the following: E. nivalis, the snow bunting. These birds are about the size of a chaffinch, and have been found in the most northern latitudes to which navigators have penetrated. They are found, not merely on the land about Spitzbergen, but upon the ice contiguous to it, though merely graminivorous birds, of which genus they are the sole species found in that climate. In the north of Great Britain they sometimes appear in vast flocks, and are considered as the harbingers of a severe winter. They are known in Scotland by the name of snowflake. E. hortulana, the ortolan, is somewhat less than the yellow-hammer, is common in France and Italy, in Germany and Sweden. These birds are migratory, and in their passage, are caught in vast multitudes to be fed for the table, being considered as extremely delicate and luxurious food. They are inclosed by professional feeders in dark rooms, where oats, and other grains, and seeds are provided for them in the fullest abundance, On these articles they feed with such voracity, that in a short time they attain that size, which it is impossible for them to exceed, and constitute, it may almost be said, one mass of exquisitely flavoured and luscious fat. From this state they would soon sink in lethargy, but they are now killed by their owners for the market, A full-fed ortolan weighs about three ounces. It rarely passes farther north than Russia, and is not to be found in England. By many its notes are particularly admired. It sometimes builds on low hedges, and occasionally on the ground, and generally breeds twice a year. E. citrinella, or the yellow hammer, is extremely common in Great Britain, where it lays its eggs on the ground, or in some low bush, constructing it with little art; it possesses no interesting musical tones, and is tame and stupid in its character; it feeds on grain and insects, and is to be found in almost every country in Europe; its flesh here is generally bitter, but in Italy the

yellow hammer is fattened like the ortolan for the table, and is in considerable estimation. E. miliaria, the common bunting. These birds are also particularly common in England, and appear frequently in vast flocks, especially in the winter, during which they are caught in nets, or shot in vast numbers, and sold to many under the successful pretence of their being a species of larks. They are stationary in England, but on the Continent are birds of passage. During the incubation of the female, the male is observed frequently on the bare and prominent branch of some neighbouring tree, exerting himself to cheer her confinement by his song, which, however, is harsh and monotonous in the extreme; at short intervals he utters a sort of trembling shriek, several times repeated. E. oryzivora, or the rice bird, is peculiar to America, where its depredations on the rice and maize, subject it to the peculiar aversion of the farmer. These birds often mingle with birds of other species, as the red winged oriole, and the blue jay. They are, occasionally, kept for the sake of their music. In the autumn they return from and Carolina farther south, for the winter; it is observed, by Latham, that the males and females arrive at different times, the latter always appearing first. For the cirl bunting, see Aves, Plate VI. fig. 4. For the blackhead bunting, see Aves, Plate VI. fig. 5.

EMBEZZLEMENT, in law, by stat. 39 G. 3. c. 35. for protecting masters against embezzlements by their clerks and servants; servants or clerks, or persons employed for the purpose, or in the capacity of servants or clerks, who shall, by virtue of such employment receive, or take into their possession, any money, goods, bond, bill, note, banker's draft, or other valuable security effects, for or in the name, or on the acCount of their master or employer; or who snallfraudulently embezzle, secrete, or make away with the same, or any part thereof; every such offender, shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from his master or employer, for whose use, or on whose account the same was delivered to, or taken into the possession of such servant, clerk, or other person so employed, although such money, goods, bond, bill, note, banker's draft, or other valuable security, was or were no otherwise received into the possession of his or their servants, clerk, or other person so employed; and every such offender, his adviser, procurer, aider,

or abetter, being thereof lawfully convicted or attainted, shall be liable to be transported beyond seas.

EMBLEM, a kind of painted enigma, or certain figures painted or cut metaphorically, expressing some action, with reflections underneath, which, in some measure, explain the sense of the device, and at the same time, instruct us in some moral truth, or other matter of knowledge. The emblem is somewhat plainer than the enigma, and the invention is more modern, it being entirely unknown to the ancients.

EMBLEMENTS, in law, signify the profits of land sown; but the word is sometimes used more largely, for any profits that arise and grow naturally from the ground, as grass, fruit, hemp, flax, &c.

EMBOLISMIC, or intercalary, a term used by chronologists in speaking of the additional months and years, which they insert to bring the lunar to the solar year. Since the common lunar year consists of twelve synodic months, or 354 days nearly, and the solar consists of 365 days (throwing away the odd hours and minutes) it is plain that the solar year will exceed the lunar by about 11 days; and consequently in the space of about 33 years, the beginning of the lunar year will be carried through all the seasons, and hence it is called the moveable lunar year. This form of the year is used at this time by the Turks and Arabians; and because in three years' time the solar year exceeds the lunar by 33 days, therefore, to keep the lunar months in the same seasons and times of the solar year, or near it, chronologists added a whole month to the lunar year every third year, and so made it consist of 13 months; this year they called the embolismic year, and the additional month the embolismic, or embolimean, or intercalary month. This form of the year is called the fixed lunar year, and it was used by the Greeks and Romans till the time of Julius Cæsar.

EMBOSSING, or IMBOSSING, in architecture and sculpture, the forming or fashioning works in relievo, whether cut with a chissel or otherwise. Embossing is a kind of sculpture, wherein the figures stick out from the plane whereon it is cut; and according as the figures are more or less prominent, they are said to be in alto, mezzo, or basso relievo; or high, mean, or low relief.

EMBOTHRIUM, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Proteæ, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla four-petalled; an

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