ESTREMADURA-ETHELRED II. ocean. Its mean length, from north to south, is 124 miles; its width 77 miles. The Tagus divides it into two nearly equal parts. The northern part is mountainous. It contains some mineral springs. Earthquakes are more frequent here than in any other part of Portugal. The soil in general is fertile, but in the south sandy. Agriculture is so neglected, that the production hardly suffices for the consumption. Cattle abound in the mountains, fish in the rivers, and metals in the earth; but industry is wanting. The population is about 700,500, and is less active than that of the northern provinces. ETANIA, in the Basque language, signifies dwelling, and is the origin of the terminations of Lusitania, Aquitania, &c. ETCHING; one species of engraving on copper, the lines being corroded in with aqua fortis, instead of being cut with a graver, which, for many purposes, is superior to engraving; but there are others in which the subjects must be graved, not etched. In general, in engravings on copper executed in the stroke manner, etching and graving are combined; the plate is begun by etching, and finished with the graver. Landscapes, architecture and machinery receive most assistance from etching, which is not so applicable to portraits and historical designs, though in these, also, it has a place. (For an account of the process of etching, see Engraving.) ETEOCLES and POLYNICES; Sons of Edipus and Jocasta. After their father's banishment, A. C. 1230, they agreed to rule in Thebes, each a year alternately. Eteocles violated this compact, and Polynices fled to implore the assistance of Adrastus, king of Argos, who marched against Thebes, with Polynices and six other Grecian princes. The city made an obstinate defence. The two brothers fell by each other's hand; and Creon, their uncle, ascended the throne of Thebes. He prohibited the interment of Polynices, under penalty of death; but Antigone, sister of the deceased, yielding to the voice of nature, resolved to perform this last rite for her deceased brother. She was discovered, and buried alive by the order of Creon. This act of cruelty recoiled on himself; for his son, Hæmon, who was in love with her, killed himself on her grave. (See Thebes.) ETHELBERT, king of Kent, succeeded his father, Hermenric, about 560, and soon reduced all the states, except Northumberland, to the condition of his dependants. In his reign Christianity was first 591 introduced into England. Ethelbert married Bertha, the daughter of Caribert, king of Paris, and a Christian princess, who, stipulating for the free exercise of her religion, brought over with her a French bishop. Her conduct was so exemplary as to prepossess the king and his court in favor of the Christian religion. In consequence, pope Gregory the Great sent a mission of forty monks, headed by Augustin, to preach the gospel in the island. They were well received, and numbers were converted; and the king himself, at length, submitted to be baptized. Civilization and knowledge followed Christianity, and Ethelbert enacted a body of laws, which was the first written code promulgated by the northern conquerors. conquerors. He died in 616, and was succeeded by his son Edbald. ETHELBERT, king of England, son of Ethelwolf, succeeded to the government of the eastern side of the kingdom in 857, and in 860, on the death of his brother Ethelbald, became sole king. His reign was much disturbed by the inroads of the Danes, whom he repulsed with vigor, but without success, as, whenever they were driven from one part of the country, they ravaged another. He died in 866. ETHELRED I, king of England, son of Ethelwolf, succeeded his brother Ethelbert in 866. The Danes became so formidable, in his reign, as to threaten the conquest of the whole kingdom. Assisted by his brother Alfred, Ethelred drove them from the centre of Mercia, where they had penetrated; but, the Mercians refusing to act with him, he was obliged to trust to the West Saxons alone, his hereditary subjects. After various successes, the invaders continually increasing in numbers, Ethelred died, in consequence of a wound received in an action with them, in 871. ETHELRED II, king of England, son of Edgar, succeeded his brother, Edward the Martyr, in 978, and, for his want of vigor and capacity, was surnamed the Unready. During his reign, the Danes, who had for some time ceased their inroads, renewed them with great fury. After having repeatedly obtained their departure by presents of money, he effected, in 1002, a massacre of all the Danes in England. Such revenge only rendered his enemies more violent; and, in 1003, Sweyn and his Danes carried fire and sword through the country. They were again bribed to depart; but, upon a new invasion, Sweyn obliged the nobles to swear allegiance to him as king of England; while Ethelred, 592 ETHELRED II-ETHNOGRAPHY. in 1013, fled to Normandy with his family. On the death of Sweyn, he was invited to resume the government. He died at London in 1016. ETHELWOLF, King of England, succeeded his father, Egbert, in 838, and, soon after his accession, associated his son Athelstan with him, giving him the sovereignty over Essex, Kent and Sussex. In 851, the Danes poured into the country in such numbers, that they threatened to subdue it; and, though opposed with great vigor by Athelstan and others, they fixed their winter quarters in England, and next year burnt Canterbury and London. During these troubles, Ethelwolf made a pilgrimage to Rome, with his son Alfred, where he staid a year, and, on his return, found Athelstan dead, and succeeded by his next son, Ethelbald, who had entered into a conspiracy with some nobles, to prevent his father from again ascending his throne. To avoid a civil war, the king gave up the western division of the kingdom to his son, and soon after, summoning the states of the whole kingdom, solemnly conferred upon the clergy the tithes of all the produce of the lands. He survived this grant about two years, dying in 857. ETHER; a very volatile fluid, produced by the distillation of alcohol with an acid. The ethers are a very important class of compounds, differing in their qualities according as they are produced by the different acids; but they also agree in the possession of certain general properties. They are highly volatile, odorous, pungent and inflammable; miscible with water, and capable of combining with alcohol in every proportion. They receive their names from the acids by whose action on alcohol they are produced; as sulphuric ether, nitric ether, muriatic ether, &c. (for a particular account of which, see the respective articles under these denominations). ETHER, in philosophy. (See Ether.) ETHEREGE, Sir George, one of the wits of Charles's day, chiefly known as a writer of comedy, was born about 1636. He is supposed to have been for some time at Cambridge, then to have travelled, and, on his return, to have been entered at one of the inns of court. He appears, however, to have paid little attention to any thing but gay pursuits. In 1664, he presented to the town his first comedy, entitled the Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub; which, although written with a very incongruous mixture of prose and verse, as suited the taste of the times, was well received. The author was immediately enrolled among the courtly wits of the day, and, in 1668, brought out his next piece, entitled She Would if She Could, which was very coarsely licentious. In 1676, he produced his third and last comedy, entitled The Man of the Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter; at which time, he was, as the dedication implies, in the service of Mary of Modena, the second duchess of York. This performance was still more applauded than the preceding, and the Sir Fopling was, for a long time, deemed the ideal of the superlative beau or coxcomb of the age, as Dorimant was intended to represent its rakish fine gentleman, or Rochester. Etherege's plays are little more than lively conversation pieces, with a great paucity of genuine humor or felicitous plot, and have long been placed on the manager's shelf. His future career was very much in character. Having injured his constitution and fortune, he sought to marry a rich elderly widow, who made his acquirement of the honor of knighthood the condition of her acceptance. This, on the accession of James II, he attained, and was appointed envoy to Ratisbon, whence he wrote two very pleasant letters to the duke of Buckingham, which are printed in the Biographia Britannica. On the revolution, he is said to have joined his former master in France. He was courtly and companionable, sprightly and generous, but deemed a little too much of his own Sir Fopling. Besides his plays, he wrote much light and easy poetry, such as songs, lampoons, panegyrics, &c., which are not without the merit usually belonging to the mob of gentlemen who write with ease. ETHIOPIANS, an indefinite term in ancient times, was used to signify all people of a dark or black skin, as well in Asia as Africa. Homer, who calls them the blameless, therefore places the Ethiopians both in the east and the west. Afterwards, the inhabitants of Abyssinia were called by this name, Abyssinia being denominated Ethiopia. The Ethiopian women, who are frequently sold as slaves in Constantinople, are celebrated for their fine forms. (See Negroes.) ETHIOPS MINERAL. (See Mercury.) ETHNOGRAPHY (from the Greek Oros, nation, and ypúøw, I write); a term used by the Germans and French to signify the description of nations. It describes the customs, religion, &c., in fact, every thing which is characteristic of a nation. The importance of this department of knowledge, and the progress which has been ETHNOGRAPHY-ETIQUETTE. made in it since travelling has so much increased, and the prejudices of travellers so much diminished, is evident. Ethnographical; belonging to the science just described, and also the history of nations. A history, for example, is either chronological, when events are recounted in the order of time, or ethnographical, when the history of an individual people is given by itself. (See History.) ETIENNE; famous printers of this name. (See Stephens.) ETIENNE, Charles Guillaume; a dramatic and political writer, born in 1778 at Chamouilly, in the department of the Upper Marne. He went to Paris in 1796, and was at first engaged in editing some journals, but afterwards devoted himself to writing pieces for the stage. In 1810, he was appointed censor of the Journal de l'Empire. The general police of the periodicals was afterwards committed to him, as chief of the literary division in the ministry of the interior. His Les deux Gendres obtained him a place in the national institute, and the choice was announced to him in the words of apostolic history"And they chose Stephen (Etienne), a man full of the spirit." His comedy, L'Intrigante, notwithstanding the violent opposition of his enemies, had already been represented 11 times with unbounded applause, when the emperor prohibited its performance, though he had himself formerly commanded its representation in the Tuileries. The reason assigned was, that the courtiers had taken offence at some passages; or, according to other accounts, Napoleon had found in it certain disagreeable allusions. Hence the author was obliged to make alterations in subsequent editions of the piece, on which account the first edition was much sought after, and sold for 25 franes. After the abdication of Napoleon, the prohibition against the comedy was revoked, but the author was deprived of his office of censor. On the emperor's return from Elba, Etienne recovered his former places. As president of the national institute, in congratulating Napoleon on his return, he spoke boldly of the securities demanded by public opinion, and of the liberty of the press. After the restoration of the Bourbons, he was again removed from his offices, and from the institute, by a royal decree. He then devoted himself, with great success, to political writings, and was the author of the Lettres sur Paris, in the Minerve Française, which give an interesting and faithful account of the commotions that distracted the court and the capital from 593 1818 to 1820. The splendid success which these letters met with, induced the electoral college of the department of the Meuse to choose him deputy in 1820, and again in 1822. Besides the above-mentioned works, Etienne has also written many theatrical pieces, of which the best are the operas Cendrillon and Joconde. The history of the French stage (Histoire du Theátre Française, depuis le Commencement de la Révolution jusqu'à la Réunion générale, 1820, 4 vols.), by Etienne and Martainville, is a valuable work, written with taste and impartiality. ETIQUETTE (French; a ticket); primarily an account of ceremonies; hence, in present usage, forms of ceremony or decorum; the forms which are observed towards particular persons in particular places, especially in courts and on public occasions. From the original sense of the word, it may be inferred, that it was formerly the custom to deliver cards containing orders for regulating the ceremonies on public occasions. Those countries in which etiquette among the higher orders has been most rigidly enforced, have rarely been free and prosperous; and this artificial splendor, and external honor paid to the great, have, in general, been more anxiously exacted by them in proportion as real respect was wanting. When the Roman emperors surrounded themselves with imposing ceremonies, they had long ceased to be the masters of the world; and the imperial court at Byzantium was never more observant of trifling and empty forms, than when the provinces were in insurrection, and the barbarians swarmed under the walls of the capital. Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, whose vanity prompted him to put himself on a level with his sovereign, is the father, as it were, of the modern system of etiquette, which has been introduced since his time, with more or less strictness, into many courts of Europe. To make himself equal, in the eyes of the world, to the first prince in Christendom, he surrounded himself with a multitude of retainers and courtiers, and prescribed to them an etiquette so formal and minute, that the Spanish court alone (so lively and gay in the time of the Moors) surpasses it in strictness. At the present day, the great diffusion of knowledge and education, by which all classes are brought into closer contact; the general democratic tendency of the age; the free and active intercourse between nations-all have contributed much to diminish the strictness of etiquette. Probably, no nation has carried 594 ETIQUETTE-ETRURIA. etiquette to a greater degrce of nicety and absurd formality than the Chinese. ETNA. We will only add to the account given of this mountain under the head of Etna, that, on May 26, 1830, it is stated that seven new craters were opened, and that eight villages, with their inhabitants, were destroyed. It was not possible, until eight days after the eruption, to approach the scene of ruin. ETOLIA. (See Etolia.) ETON; a village in England, in Bucks, separated from Windsor by the river Thames, over which is a bridge; 22 miles N. W. London; population, 2279. It is celebrated for its royal college, which was founded in the 19th year of Henry VI., in 1440, and contains 70 king's scholars, from 300 to 350 independent scholars, 10 choristers, besides inferior officers, &c., of the college. The college library is large. The revenue of the college amounts to about £5000 a year. Porson, and other distinguished men, were educated at this institution. Gray's ode to Eton college is probably fresh in the minds of our readers. The Eton Montem is one of the many old and curious customs in England. The scholars of the college march in procession to Salt-hill, where their captain, the best scholar, recites a passage from some ancient author. The young gentlemen, called salt-bearers, and arrayed in fancy dresses, then disperse in various directions, to collect money from all passengers, not allowing any one to pass without giving something. The money thus collected, which usually amounts to several hundred pounds, is given to the captain, to enable him to take up his residence at one of the universities. The royal family and a splendid company generally attend the ceremony. ETRURIA. This beautiful region,bounded west by the Mediterranean, east by the Apennines, north by the river Magra, and south by the Tiber, is the country of the ingenious Etruscans, who have arisen from beneath the ruins of the remotest antiquity in the history of modern art, and in the archæological investigations of our time. The chief river of the country was the Arnus (Arno). This country, which corresponds nearly with the present Tuscany, was very early a confederation, under the rulers of the twelve principal cities, each of which formed a republic by itself. They were, Pisa (Pisa), Pistoria (Pistoja), Florentia, Fasule, Volaterræ (Volterra), Volsinii (Bolsena), Clusium (Chiusi), Arretium (Arrezzo), Cortona, Pe rusia (Perugia), Falerii (Falari), and the rich city of Veji. The chiefs of these republics were styled lucumones, who were also the priests and generals, and held their meetings in the temple of Volturna, where they deliberated together on the general affairs of the country. Porsenna, celebrated in Roman history, was a lucumo. Etruria was at the height of its glory at the time of the building of Rome, and served for a model to the new government. Surpassed only by the Greeks in their highest splendor, the Etruscans excelled in architecture, ship-building, medicine, the art of making arms and fortifications, building dykes, and in tactics; they were distinguished particularly for their ingenuity and skill in the construction of all articles of comfort and of luxury. They carried on a considerable commerce in Italy and Greece with their works of art, and founded many important colonies. Their commercial intercourse with the Greeks soon made them their rivals in refinement. The progress made by the Etruscans of that age in painting and the plastic arts is peculiarly interesting to archæologists, as the study of their remains (sculptured gems, sarcophagi, vases, &c.) leads to the explanation of their mythology. (See Inghirami's Monum. Etruschi, Fiesole, 1826, 6 vols. 4to. more accurate than Gori's Museum Etruscum.) They received the germs of their art, which had in itself sufficient charms to create a new epoch in modern taste, from Greece and Egypt. The Etruscan vases, with their peculiar bass-reliefs and paintings, have been carefully examined by Millin, and in Boettiger's Treatise on Pictured Vases. (Sec Vase). The Etruscan painters, however, were unacquainted with the mixture of colors, and the distribution of light and shade their common colors were black and brownish red. Theatrical entertainments, music and poetry were not unknown to them. Before they had reached that degree of refinement to which the Greeks arrived, this people and their arts sunk together under the political storms of the age, partly through internal dissensions, and partly by the oppression of foreign nations. The Romans received their religious usages, their primitive architecture, &c., from the Etruscans. At the end of their most flourishing period, the Gauls drove them from their settlements in Upper Italy, and some of them fled to the Alps; from whom the Rhotians derived their origin. They finally became the victims of Roman ambition. The Romans sent them governors, but allowed them to ETRURIA-ETYMOLOGY. retain their own manners and laws, the choice of their consuls, and, in general, a reasonable degree of freedom. They afterwards fell, with Rome, under the power of foreign conquerors. From this time the history of Etruria, or Tuscany, as it has since been called, has become interwoven with that of Italy and Germany. Tuscans and Etruscans, however, were names as foreign to the people as Tyrrhenians. They called themselves Rasena. The ancient Latin term was Etruria for the country, Tusci for the people. Etruscans did not come into use till after Cato's time. Under the later emperors, the country was called Tuscia; hence Toscana in the middle ages. The origin of the Etruscans is extremely doubtful. Ancient writers, misconstruing early traditions, represented them as descendants of the Greeks-an opinion which was long received. Niebuhr, however, thinks there is no foundation for this opinion, and, from many circumstances, ingeniously attempts to prove that they originated from the northern mountains, the Alps. We must refer the reader to his learned disquisition on this point in his History of Rome, division Tuscans and Etruscans. The discovery of a great number of vases, in 1830, on the estate of the prince of Canino, not far from the north-western coast of Italy, nearly opposite Elba, seems to corroborate this opinion. Besides the vases which contained Greek inscriptions, and which are considered by many to be of an age when Greece was still in a state of semi-barbarism, many ornaments of gold, with engraved gems, and a superb fawn, considered by Thorwaldsen as a most perfect piece of art, have been dug up. If it is true that Greece received the fine arts from Etruria, it is an interesting question how Egyptian civilization was first brought to the Etruscans. (See Tuscany.) By the peace of Luneville (q. v.), 1801, the naine Etruria was restored, and the territory was constituted a kingdom, under the hereditary prince of Parma, Louis, Infant of Spain, only son of Ferdinand I, duke of Parma. Af ter the death of Louis (1803), his widow, Maria Louisa, daughter of Charles IV, king of Spain, administered the government as guardian of her son, Charles Louis; but she resigned her authority, Dec. 10, 1807, in consequence of a treaty between France and Spain. Etruria now became a French province; and a decree of the senate of May 30, 1808, declared the states of Tuscany, under the title of the departments of the Arno, the Mediter 595 ranean and the Ombrone, a part of the French empire (the grand empire). In 1809, this territory was given to Eliza, sister of Napoleon, with the title of grandduchess of Tuscany. In 1814, Tuscany again received its former rulers. ETTENHEIM; a small town in the grandduchy of Baden, 19 miles S. S. E. Strasburg, with 2680 inhabitants. The place has become celebrated in consequence of the duke of Enghien (q. v.) having been arrested here. ETYMOLOGY (from the Greek ἐτυμολογία, from rupos, true, real, and loyos, word); that branch of philology which teaches the origin of words, traces the laws by which the changes in languages take place, and discovers the true meanings of words by examining their roots and composition. It is at once the delicia philologica, and a safeguard against the corruption of words by a careless application of them. Etymology becomes particularly interesting when applied to those languages which are not so much the product of accident as of settled laws, which continue to operate as long as the language exists. Etymology has not unfrequently led to important historical conjectures, because the language of a tribe is often the only record of its descent, the individuals composing it having lost all tradition of their origin. Who can doubt the importance of etymology, taking it in its widest sense, as treating of the origin and nature of words, and of the connexions of different languages; in short, as occupied with the laws which regulate the formation of languages, which stand preeminent among the most interesting, important and noble productions of the human mind? To be a sound etymologist, requires many rare qualifications, among which are a thorough knowledge of many and very different languages; great caution, which will not be easily led astray by appearances; a philosophical mind, which easily conceives the associations of ideas, and traces the different, yet connected notions which the same root expresses in different languages; in one language representing, perhaps, the most concrete, and in another the most abstract idea; a perfect knowledge of phonology, or the science of human sounds, and the organs which produce them, and a natural taste and adaptation for the study, which, like every gift of nature, may be much developed, but cannot be produced by labor. Etymology has been cultivated with much zeal and success in our day, as illustrative both of single languages (how much, for |