416 EGINHARD-EGMONT ISLAND. EGINHARD (Einard), born in the Odenwalde; at first the companion of Charlemagne, then his private secretary and chaplain, and general superintendent of the emperor's houses. His talents and learning gained him the love and confidence of Charlemagne, in whose court he was educated, and induced him to bestow on Eginhard his daughter Emma, or Imma, in marriage. It is a common story, the truth of which, however, is much doubted, that she once admitted the fair young German to a nightly interview in her own room; that snow fell during the night, and Emma carried her lover from the castle on her shoulders, to save him from detection; the emperor, who had risen early, saw them from the window, and, instead of punishing, united them in marriage. On the death of the emperor, Eginhard left his wife, entered the order of Benedictine monks, and became first abbot of the monastery at Seligenstadt, in Darmstadt, where he died, 839. Eginhard is the oldest German historian; and we have from him a full and well-written history of the life of Charlemagne, which was published by Schmink, 1711, in 4to., with illustrations and a biography. An edition was published by Bredow (Helmst. 1806). Eginhard's Annals of the Franks, from 741 to 829, appeared also in 1711, in 4to., at Utrecht. His letters, which are of much importance as contributions to the history of his age (Frankfort, 1714, fol.), are still extant. A plan is likewise ascribed to him of uniting the German ocean with the Mediterranean and the Black seas, by two canals, one of which was to form a connexion between the Moselle and Saone, and the other between the Rhine and the Danube. EGIS. (See Egis.) EGISTHUS. (See Agamemnon.) EGLANTINE; one of the names of the sweetbrier (rosa rubiginosa); but there is a good deal of confusion in its application, and it is often given indiscriminately to other species of rose. EGMONT, Lamoral, count of, was born 1522, of an illustrious family of Holland. He entered the military service, and gained a high reputation under Charles V, whom he accompanied to Africa in 1544. He distinguished himself as general of cavalry, under Philip II, in the battles of St. Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). Philip having gone to Spain, Egmont took part in the troubles in the Low Countries; he endeavored, however, to adjust the difficulties between the duchess of Parma, who governed the provinces, and the nobles confederated against her. He even swore, in the presence of this princess, to support the Roman Catholic faith, to punish the sacrilegious, and to extirpate heretics. Still his connexion with the prince of Orange and his most distinguished adherents, made him an object of suspicion to the court of Aranjuez, and Egmont, with the noble Philip of Montmorency, count Horn, became the victims of hate and fanaticism. The duke of Alva, who was sent, by Philip II, to the Netherlands, to reduce the insurgents, ordered them both to be executed at Brussels, June 5, 1563. Egmont was then in the 46th year of his age. He died with heroic firmness. The French ambassador announced the event to his court with these words: "I have seen that head fall which twice made France tremble." Egmont had before written to Philip II, that "he had never joined in any undertaking against the Catholic religion, nor violated his duties as a loyal subject." But an example was thought necessary to strike terror into others. Philip II expressed himself thus on the subject: "he had caused those two heads to fall, because a pair of such salmon heads was worth more than many thousand frogs." Egmont's line became extinct in Procopius Francis, count of Egmont, general of cavalry to the king of Spain, and brigadier in the French service, who died without children, at Fraga, in Arragon (1707), at the age of 38 years. (See J. J. de Cloet's Eloge historique du Comte d'Egmont, &c., Brussels, 1825.) Maximilian von Egmont, count of Büren, general in the service of the emperor Charles V, who distinguished himself in the wars against Francis I, belonged to another line.-A well known drama of Göthe, called Egmont, is founded on the above catastrophe; yet we cannot help thinking, that, if poetry often gives to historical characters a fictitious elevation, the reverse has taken place in this instance, and that Egmont in history, the father of a family, is greater than Göthe's Egmont, a lover and imprudent conspirator. EGMONT ISLAND, in the South Pacific ocean, six miles long and four broad, is low, and full of trees. Lon. 138° 30′ W.; lat. 19° 20' S. EGMONT ISLAND, or NEW GUERNSEY; principal island in the group called Queen Charlotte's islands, in the South Pacific ocean. According to the account given of them by captain Carteret, the inhabitants are extremely nimble, vigorous and active, with a bravery undismayed by the fire of musketry. They seem as fit to EGMONT ISLAND-EGYPT. live in the water as on land. The counury in general is mountainous, covered with woods, and intersected with many valleys and small rivers. This island is about 54 miles in length, and from 20 to 32 in breadth. Lon. 166° E.; lat. 11° S. EGRA, EGER, or CHEBBE; a town in Bohemia, in Saatz, capital of a district; 76 miles west of Prague; lon. 12° 21' E.; lat. 50° 3′ N.; population, 8111; houses, 740. It was formerly imperial, and has a castle, seven churches, an hospital, and a Catholic gymnasium. Near it are some medicinal springs, the waters of which are exported in bottles, sealed with the arms of the town. Wallenstein was assassinated here in 1634. The population of the district, 23,000; square miles, 106. EGRA, or EGER; a river which rises in a river which rises in Bavaria, and runs into the Elbe, near Leitmeritz, in Bohemia. EGYPT (Mizraim, Kham-Raliab; called by the Arabs, Mezr; by the Copts, Khemi; and by the Turks, El Kabit); formerly a mighty empire, the seat of a high civilization, the land of wonderful creations of human power, and an object of endless curiosity to the philosophic inquirer; now a Turkish viceroyalty, scarcely a fifth part inhabited, governed by a pacha or viceroy, appointed or confirmed by the sultan. This pacha is, at present, Mohammed Ali, a man of great ability. Egypt lies in North Africa, between 22° and 32° N. lat., and 27° and 34° E. lon. It is bounded on the N. by the Mediterranean sea, on the E. by the Red sea and by Arabia, with which it is connected by the isthmus of Suez, on the S. by Nubia, and on the W. by Barca and the great desert. It contains about 200,000 square miles, of which only about 17,000 square miles, in the valley of the Nile (600 miles long, and from 12 to 25 broad), are susceptible of cultivation. The population is differently estimated at from 2,500,000 to 4,000,000. Geographers divide it into Upper Egypt (Said), Middle Egypt (Vostani), and Lower Egypt (Bahari), including the fertile Delta. These are again divided into 12 provinces, each of which is governed by a bey, and which, together, contain about 2500 cities and villages. Three chains of mountains run through the country. The Nile (the Blue river) flows through it in a northerly direction. Besides lake Mœris, celebrated in antiquity, at present called Birket Karun (Charon's lake), and almost dried up, there are others, especially the natron or salt lakes. The climate is in general hot, and is mod 417 erate in Lower Egypt only. The great heat produces the rankest vegetation. The símoom (chamsin), a formidable south wind, which blows at intervals during the first 50 days after the vernal equinox, the plague and ophthalmia are the peculiar torments of Egypt. It has but two seasons-spring and summer: the latter lasts from April to November. During this period, the sky is always clear, and the weather hot. In the spring, the nights are cool and refreshing. The greater part of the land is arid, and covered with burning sands; but wherever the waters of the Nile are conducted in canals beyond the natural limits of their overflow, the earth becomes fertile, and fruits thrive with great luxuriance. Corn, rice, millet, pulse, kitchen vegetables, melons, sugar cane, sweet rush, papyrus (peculiar to the country), flax and hemp, onions, carthamus or saffron, indigo, aloe, jalap, coloquintida, saltwort (salsola soda), cardamom, cotton, palin-groves, sycamores, tamarinds, cassia, acacias, &c., cover the country. There is not a great variety of garden flowers, but roses are raised in large quantities, especially in the marshy Fayoum, and rose-water forms an important article of export. The soil consists of lime, with numerous shells and petrifactions; it contains marble, alabaster, porphyry, jasper, granite, common salt, natron, saltpetre, alum, &c. The woods and marshes, rivers and plains, furnish a great variety of animals, including horned cattle, buffaloes, asses, horses, camels, sheep with large, fat tails, dogs, cats, lions, tigers, hyænas, jackals, wolves, foxes, gazelles, giraffes, storks, ibises (which devour the snakes in the mud of the Nile), hens (the eggs of which are hatched in ovens), crocodiles, river-horses, ichneumons, &c. The people consist of Copts (embracing, at most, 30,000 families), Arabs (who are the most numerous, and are divided into Fellahs, or peasants, and Bedouins, the wandering tribes of the deserts), and Turks, the ruling people. The Mamelukes have been driven out of the country, and nearly exterminated. Besides these, there are Jews, Greeks, Armenians, &c. The Egyptian generally has a strong, active frame, tawny complexion, gay disposition, and a good heart, and is not devoid of capacity. He is temperate and religious, but superstitious. The prevailing religion is that of Mohammed. The prevailing language is the Arabic. At Cairo, the capital, resides the patriarch of the Eastern Christians. The inhabitants devote themselves to agricul ture, the raising of bees and poultry, the preparation of rose-water and sal-ammoniac, the manufacturing of leather, flax, hemp, silk and cotton, of carpets, glass, potters' ware, and carry on an important commerce. Constantinople is supplied with grain from Egypt, which, when a Roman province, was called the granary of Rome. The coasting trade is considerable. Alexandria, Damietta and Suez are the principal harbors, and much inland traffic is carried on, chiefly with Syria, Arabia and Western Africa.-Egypt was once the theatre of enterprise, civilization and science. An ancient astronomical observation authenticates the tradition, that, about 3362 B. C., the Babylonian Hermes (Thoth), the hero of mythological antiquity, went to Ethiopia (as, subsequently, Cecrops from Sais, on the Nile, went to Attica), and founded this state on the model of that to which he himself belonged. The Ethiopians and Babylonians were the first nations enlightened by Indian civilization. The organization of Ethiopia was probably soon followed by the migration of an Ethiopian colony to Upper Egypt, then inhabited by Nomadic, pastoral tribes. Subsequently, the Egyptians became the third among the nations of antiquity, distinguished for a high degree of cultivation. The similarity of the inhabitants and their language increases almost to certainty the probability that Egypt received her first civilized inhabitants from Ethiopia. This agrees with the Mosaic account, that, after the flood, the descendants of Ham settled in Upper Egypt. Even the Israelites, under Joseph, belonged to the Nomades, living on the frontiers, till they migrated again, under the conduct of Moses. Although Egypt had Babylon and Ethiopia for models, society in this country made but slow advances towards perfection. The general division of the people into hereditary castes, and the influence of the priesthood, checked the spirit of the Egyptians. Before the time of the enterprising Sesostris, they had but little commerce, especially by sea, and, consequent ly, few of the collisions with foreign nations which spring from an active trade. This was another reason of the slow progress of Egypt in intellectual culture. The first important impulse was received when the Egyptians were subdued by foreign nations. Previously to this, how ever, there were astronomers in the countrv. The Egyptian solar year contained 12 months and five supplementary days, like the republican calendar of the French. The form of the earth was known to Egyptian scholars; solar and lunar eclipses were calculated; the moon they regarded as another earth; the fixed stars as burning torches; sun-dials and waterclocks were not unknown among them: the immense ring of Osymandyas seems to have been used for this purpose, and they appear to have been acquainted with the quadrant. They must, therefore, have made considerable progress in arithmetic. The arithmetical figures (the same that we call Arabic) they wrote from right to left. The overflowing of the Nile rendered geometry necessary to them; and their acquaintance with mathematics is evident from the instruments for measuring the height of the Nile at Syene, Memphis, and other places on the river, from their use of the water-screw, from their canals, and the sluices of lake Maris, which presuppose a knowledge of mechanics, hydraulies and hydrostatics. The Egyptian music is the basis of the Hebrew, Greek and Roman. The first musical instrumentthe three-stringed lyre (see Lyre)-was invented among them by Hermes. But this discovery was soon secluded among the secrets of the priests, and further perfected under their mystic veil. In this circumstance, and in the serious, gloomy character of the nation, is to be found the reason why music was only used at funerals and the public worship of the gods. Besides the lyre above mentioned, they had a dichord, two kinds of flutes, the sistrum, the kettle-drum, the trumpet and the triangular lyre. Musical notation seems not to have been known to them. Their short, simple songs were committed to memory. Their knowledge of natural history was confined to their native country and its productions. They penetrated farther in chemistry and mineralogy: their metallic encaustics, their artificial emerald, the inlaying of silver with a blue color, display science and skill. They probably made much progress in the art of healing. Every disease had its particular physician. Osiris, Isis and Hermes were the gods of health. The Pastophori (a class of priests) were the physicians. The king, as well as the lowest peasant, was subjected to the regimen prescribed by them. Their dietetics became celebrated in other countries. Care of the skin, a thorough cleanliness, preserved by frequent bathing, and the practice of circumcision, were their principal prescriptions. From their skill in embalming the dead, we may judge of the anatomical knowledge of the Egyptians. Their nat EGYPT. ural philosophy was mystical; they ascribed every thing to the immediate operation of the gods: on this depended their system of magic. In the arts, their proficiency was various. Their sculpture has an insufferable dryness, stiffness and uniformity; their painting was limited to covering stones, wood, cloths, &c., with a single color, or, at the most, to illuminating their hieroglyphics, variegating them with colors laid on without taste. The celestial planispheres on the ceiling of the sepulchre of Osymandyas, and the figures on the ancient tombs of the kings of Thebes, exhibit the utmost stretch of the Egyptian pencil. Their architecture is more remarkable: its characteristic is solidity rather than beauty, as appears from their labyrinths, pyramids, obelisks, temples, mausoleums, &c. (See Architecture, History of.)* Robert Vaugondy, in his Essai sur l'Histoire de la Géographie, says of the geography of the Egyptians, that they made the first maps (in the reign of Sesostris). Gatterer endeavors to prove the existence of geographical delineations in the time of Joshua. Their acquaintance with navigation they owed to the great Sesostris; previously, they hardly dared trust themselves to rafts on the overflowing waters of the Nile; they abhorred the sea; it was the Typhon which devoured the Nile, their national god (Osiris). Their first coasting trade seems to have been caused by a smuggling trade of the Phoenicians, and by Inachus leading an Egyptian colony to Greece, in Phoenician vessels, 1836 B. C. It was confined, however, to the natives of the northern coasts. The inhabitants of the interior were repelled from the sea by superstition. On the other hand, the navigation of the Nile became more important after it was incorporated with the * Champollion, the famous explorer of Egyptian antiquities, holds the following language at the end of his fifteenth letter, dated Thebes :"It is evident to me, as it must be to all who have thoroughly examined Egypt, or have an accurate knowledge of the Egyptian monuments existing in Europe, that the arts commenced in Greece by a servile imitation of the arts of Egypt, much more advanced than is vulgarly believed, at the period at which the first Egyptian colonies came in contact with the savage inhabitants of Attica or the Peloponnesus. Without Egypt, Greece would probably never have become the classical land of the fine arts. Such is my entire belief on this great problem. I write these lines almost in the presence of bas-reliefs which the Egyptians executed, with the most elegant delicacy of workmanship, 1700 years before the Christian era. What were the Greeks doing then ?” The sculptures of the monument of El Asaffif are ascertained to be more than 3500 years old. 419 public worship of their divinities. Sesostris the Great broke down the obstructions of religious prejudice. A splendid ship was consecrated to Osiris, and thus the cooperation of the priesthood was gained. The success of navigation was implored in the public prayers, and the Egyptians now committed themselves to the back of the malicious Typhon. Commerce was thus established, and carried on with various degrees of success and activity, according as the kingdom was more or less flourishing. It prospered most under the Ptolemies. Alexandria became the first emporium; the famous Pharos was erected; and the canal, 1000 stadia in length, joined the Red sea with the Mediterranean. When Egypt became a Roman province, after the death of Cleopatra, it lost its previous commercial distinction. The Egyptians were particularly devoted to agriculture, and their measures for promoting it were bold, both in contrivance and execution. On what principle they conducted mining may be seen from their vast undertakings, in which whole mountains were dug down, and the earth was washed from the ore by entire rivers turned from their channels for this purpose. Gold, silver, copper, lead, tin and iron were the principal metals known to them. The trade of the Egyptians was confined, for a long time, to the sale of their own productions to foreigners who visited Egypt to purchase them. In the time of Psammetichus, they began to export for themselves. The principal traffic by land was carried on by means of caravans. Measures, weights and money, the chief instruments of trade, they were acquainted with, and a good police watched over justice. To industry, this traffic was necessarily lucrative. Their skill in weaving and coloring supplied them with articles of exchange. These, however, they did not carry to as high perfection as they might have done. If we contemplate the ancient Egyptians in their private life and political character, taking into view their manners, customs and laws, we shall find a solution for many perplexities respecting this peculiar people. The gloomy religion of the Egyptians banished gayety from their private circles. Pleasure was a stranger to them. They were serious, devout and superstitious. Songs, dances and sports they disliked; but they, nevertheless, possessed a great degree of industry, good temper, politeness, and, at the same time, a vanity which prepossessed them in favor of whatever originated with them selves. As the Greeks and Romans called all foreign nations barbarians, so the Egyptians gave this name to all the nations which did not speak their language; but, in spite of their national pride, gratitude for benefits, whatever might be the country of the individual conferring them, was ever one of their national virtues. The government of the state was mostly in the hands of females. Every priest might have, at least, one wife: to the laity, the number was not limited by law. The husband had the charge of the domestic concerns; the wife, of buying and selling, and all affairs that were not of a domestic character. The Egyptian was distinguished for temperance; he never drank wine; his only drink was beer, made of barley; his bread was of spelt; in his kitchen, he used vegetables of all kinds, and increased his numerous poultry, by artificially hatching the eggs; beans and pork were interdicted, by his religion, as impure; and, on the other hand, he was forbidden to touch some other animals, as sacred. His dress was very simple. The respectable matron was distinguished from the maiden and the prostitute by a veil, which the latter were not allowed to wear. The children went naked till of considerable age. Funerals and times of sadness were the only occasions of parade and competition in expense. The sovereign, however, and those who immediately surrounded him, glittered in all the pomp of Oriental magnificence. The power of the Pharaohs (the general name of the earlier kings of Egypt) was unlimited. At their pleasure, they could throw the grand vizier from the summit of his power, and raise to their own side the lowest of their slaves, as the history of Joseph evinces. The spirit of industry inherent in the Egyptian was the support of public virtue, and the police took care that criminals should be constantly employed. As early as the time of Joseph, there was a work-house for imprisoned slaves. The unsocial disposition of the Egyptians, and their fear of offending the gods by intercourse with strangers, checked their improvement, but, at the same time, established their independence, their national character, and their national virtues. When they were brought into closer contact with the Greeks, their industry was somewhat abated, so that Amasis found it necessary to enact a law, which obliged every Egyptian to report annually to the superior authorities his name, and the trade by which he obtained, or hoped to obtain, a subsistence. Disobedience to this law was punished with death. Justice was administered in a strict and speedy manner. Written laws were handed down by Menes, Tnephactus, Bocchoris and Amasis. All causes were tried before a supreme court of justice. The parties themselves were obliged to conduct them in writing, without the aid of advocates. Perjury and murder (even of a slave) were punished with death, without any chance of pardon. Calumniators and false accusers received the punishment belonging to the crime of which they charged the innocent person. Falsehood was punished by the loss of the tongue; forgery, by the loss of the hands; desertion from the army, or emigration, by infamy; and adultery, by flogging. The king had the power of mitigating any of these punishments. But, notwithstanding the appearance of unlimited sovereignty, the will of the ruler was subject to the power of the priests, who imposed laws, even on the private life of the monarch, and relaxed or contracted them as the interest of their order required. The daily duties of the king's slaves were minutely determined, his bill of fare regulated, nay, the very secrecy of the royal bed-chamber was penetrated by the priests. For this reason, they were his physicians in ordinary. The education of the children was in unison with the rest of the Egyptian system. The children were carefully brought up to the trade of the father, and instructed by the priests, in various public schools. Few were taught reading and writing; yet the Egyptians were the first people who could write, that history mentions, after the Babylonians and Phoenicians. They wrote, at first, on stones and bricks; afterwards, a paper was made of papyrus, which continued to be used for 2000 Fears, and even after the invention of parchment, by the whole literary world. This art was taught to those only who were educated for merchants, and that in a limited degree; for it was the system of the priests to keep the mass of the people in ignorance. The division of the people into seven castes-priests, soldiers, shepherds, swineherds, mechanics, interpreters and fishermen sprang partly from local circumstances, many districts affording but one mode of subsistence; partly from the policy of the priests, since it was necessary, for the management of the machine of state, that strict lines of demarcation should be drawn between the various constituent parts of the nation. At the head of them all stood the caste of priests, the first and most influ |