ing the lifetime of her brother, Isabella had gained the favor of the estates of the kingdom to such a degree that the majority, on his death, declared for her. From the others, the victorious arms of her husband extorted acquiescence, in the battle of Toro, in 1476. After the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile were thus united, Ferdinand and Isabella assumed the royal title of Spain. With the graces and charms of her sex, Isabella united the courage of a hero, and the sagacity of a statesman and legislator. She was always present at the transaction of state affairs, and her name was placed beside that of her husband in public ordinances. The conquest of Grenada, after which the Moors were entirely expelled from Spain, and the discovery of America, were, in a great degree, her work. In all her undertakings, the wise cardinal Ximenes was her assistant. She has been accused of severity, pride and unbounded ambition; but these faults sometimes promoted the welfare of the kingdom, as well as her virtues and talents. A spirit like hers was necessary to humble the haughtiness of the nobles without exciting their hostility, to conquer Grenada without letting loose the hordes of Africa on Europe, and to restrain the vices of her subjects, who had become corrupt by reason of the bad administration of the laws. By the introduction of a strict ceremonial, which subsists till the present day at the Spanish court, she succeeded in checking the haughtiness of the numerous nobles about the person of the king, and in depriving them of their pernicious influence over him. Private warfare, which had formerly prevailed to the destruction of public tranquillity, she checked, and introduced a vigorous administration of justice. In 1492, pope Alexander VI confirmed to the royal pair the title of Catholic king, already conferred on them by Innocent VIII. The zeal for the Roman Catholic religion, which procured them this title, gave rise to the inquisition (see Inquisition), which was introduced into Spain in 1480, at the suggestion of their confessor, Torquemada. Isabella died in 1504, having extorted from her husband (of whom she was very jealous) an oath that he would never marry again. (See Ferdinand V, Ximenes, and Columbus.)

ISABELLA; wife of Edward II of England. (See Edward II.)

ISABEY, Jean Baptiste; miniature painter; a pupil of David, distinguished for the delicacy and grace of his pencil. Isabey invented the very handsome style of chalk

and crayon drawings à l'estampe, in which he is unequalled. He frequently draws, with Indian ink, compositions of several figures, which are all portraits. His most famous pieces of this kind are, the Visit of Napoleon at Oberkamp, Napoleon on the Terrace at Malmaison, and many parades and presentations. He afterwards sketched all the princes and statesmen assembled at the congress of Vienna. One of his most beautiful pieces is his Skiff (la nacelle), where he is himself delineated with his family. The style à l'estampe, which strongly resembles stippling, was for some time the prevalent fashion, but Isabey's master hand was required to give it character. His miniature paintings are extraordinarily fine. He is the only artist in Paris who can compare with Augustin; and if the latter possesses more strength and warmth of color, Isabey has greater delicacy and softness.

ISEUS, an Athenian orator, born at Chalcis in Eubœa, lived in the first half of the fourth century before Christ, till after 357. Lysias and Isocrates were his teachers. Wholly unconnected with public affairs, he devoted himself to instruction in eloquence, and wrote speeches for others. Of his 50 orations, 11 are extent, which are recommended by their simple and often forcible style, and are generally on causes respecting inheritance. They are to be found in the 7th vol. of Reiske's Oratores Græci. Sir W. Jones translated 10 orations of Isæus, with a commentary (London, 1779). The 11th, now known, has been discovered since.

ISAIAH, the first of the four great prophets, prophesied during the reigns of the kings of Judah, from Uzziah to Hezekiah, at least 47 years. Of the circumstances of his life nothing is known, but that he had an important influence over the kings and people. Of the sacred compositions which pass under his name in the Old Testament, that part which is unquestionably his gives him a high rank among the greatest poets. His style is peculiarly appropriate to the subjects of which he treats; it unites simplicity and clearness with the highest dignity and majesty; and in fulness and power, his poetry far surpasses that of all the other prophets. His writings are chiefly denunciations and complaints of the sins of the people, menaces of approaching ruin, and animating anticipations of a more glorious future. The whole bears the stamp of genius and true inspiration, and is marked throughout by nobleness of thought and feeling. (See Lowth's New Translation

of Isaiah, and his Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews; also, the article Prophets.)

ISAURIA, in ancient geography; a country in Asia Minor, forming a part of Pisidia, lying on the west of Cilicia, and on the south of Lycaonia. The inhabitants were shepherds and herdsmen, and formidable as robbers. Their capital, Isaura, was a mere haunt of bandits. The consul Publius Servilius destroyed it; but another Isaura was built not far from it. Hence Strabo mentions two.

ISCHIA (anciently Pithecusa, Enaria, Arime, and Inarime); an island in the Mediterranean, six miles from the coast of Naples, about ten miles in circuit. Lon. 13° 56′ E.; lat. 40° 50′ N.; population, 24,000; square miles, 25. It contains several high hills, one of which is 2300 feet above the sea. It is fertile in fruits, and abounds in game. The white wine is much esteemed. The air is healthy, on which account it is much resorted to by invalids, as it is but a small distance from the continent, and hardly more than four leagues from Naples. It is volcanic; and an earthquake in 1828 destroyed several villages on the island. The porcelain clay of Ischia was prized by the ancients, but the true terra d'Ischia is rare. Ischia, the capital town, is situated on the N. coast of the island, and is an episcopal see with 3101 inhabitants.

ISENBURG, or Upper Isenburg; a principality in Germany, situated in the Wetterau, about 30 miles long and 10 wide, on the borders of the county of Hanau; subject partly to Hesse-Cassel, and partly to Hesse-Darmstadt. Population, 47,457; square miles, 318.-Isenburg, a principality belonging to Hesse-Cassel, erected since 1816, contains 16,200 inhabitants, and 137 square miles.

ISENBURG, NEW; a town of HesseDarmstadt, in Isenburg, founded in 1700 by French refugees; three miles S. of Frankfort on the Maine; four S. W. of Offenbach; lon. 8° 38′ E.; lat. 50° 3′ N.; population, 1170.

ISÈRE (anciently Isara); a river which rises in the Alps, about 12 miles from mount Cenis, in a mountain called Iseran, in the duchy of Savoy. After entering France, it passes by Grenoble, St. Quentin, Romans, &c., and joins the Rhone about three miles above Valence.

ISERE; a department of France, constituted of the former Dauphiny. It takes its name from the river Isère, which crosses it. It is divided into four arrondissements. Grenoble is the capital. Square

miles, 3440; population, 525,984. (See Department.)

ISERLOHN; a town in the Prussian county of Mark, province of Westphalia, on the small river Baaren, with 5500 inhabitants, in 730 houses. The inhabitants are mostly Lutherans, but there are also some Catholics and Calvinists. There is a gymnasium here. It has manufactures of iron, brass, wire, and small wares, as needles, brass scales, &c. More than 60 considerable commercial houses keep up an intercourse with Italy, France and Germany. There are also woollen and silk manufactories and bleacheries in the environs. Iserlohn is about 15 leagues S. of Münster.

ISHMAELITES, in ancient geography and history; the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar. (q. v.) Ishmael was born 1910 B. C. After the dismission of Hagar from the house of Abraham, she wandered with her son to the wilderness of Paran, which bordered on Arabia, and here Ishmael became an expert hunter and warrior. His mother procured him a wife from Egypt, by whom he had 12 sons, who became the heads of so many Arabian tribes.-The name of Ishmaelites, or Ismaelians, is also given to a Mohammedan sect which originally belonged to the Shiites, the adherents of Ali and the opponents of the Sunnites. In the first century of the Hegira, the Iman Giaffir-el-Sadek, a descendant of Ali, on the death of his eldest son, Ishmael, having transferred the succession to his younger son, Mousa, to the prejudice of the children of Ishmael, a party refused to acknowledge Mousa, and considered Ishmael's posterity as the legitimate Imans. By the Oriental historians, they are reckoned with the Nassarians, among the Bathenins, or Batenites, that is, adherents of the mystical, allegorical doctrines of Islamism. From the 8th to the 12th century, they were powerful in the East. Under the name of Carmatians (as they were called, from Carmati, near Cufa, the birthplace of their chief Karfeh, in the 8th century), they devastated Irak and Syria. In Persia, which they likewise overran about this time, they were called Meladehs, that is, impious, or Talimites, because they professed Talim's doctrine, that man can learn truth only by instruction. One dynasty of the Ismaelians, founded by Mohammed Abu-Obkid-Allah, conquered Egypt about 910, and was overthrown by Saladin, the caliph of Bagdad, about 1177, when the dynasty became extinct with Adhed-Udin-Allah. The other (still ex

can, in the Wolga, Yaik, Don, and even as far as Siberia. It is the basis of the Russian glue, which is preferred to all other kinds for strength. Isinglass receives its different shapes in the following manner. The parts of which it is composed, particularly the sounds, are taken from the fish while sweet and fresh, slit open, washed from their slimy sordes, divested of a very thin membrane which envelopes the sound, and then exposed to stiffen a little in the air. In this state, they are formed into rolls about the thickness of a finger, and in length according to the intended size of the staple; a thin membrane is generally selected for the centre of the roll, round which the rest are folded alternately, and about half an inch of each extremity of the roll is turned inwards. Isinglass is best made in the summer, as frost gives it a disagreeable color, deprives it of its weight, and impairs its gelatinous principles. Isinglass boiled in milk forms a mild, nutritious jelly, and is thus sometimes employed medicinally. This, when flavored by the art of the cook, is the blancmanger of our tables. A solution of isinglass in water, with a very small proportion of some balsam, spread on black silk, is the court plaster of the shops. Isinglass is also used in fining liquors of the fermented kind, and in making mock-pearls, stiffening linens, silks, gauzes, &c. With brandy it forms a cement for broken porcelain and glass. It is also used to stick together the parts of musical instruments.

Isis; the principal goddess of the Egyptians, the symbol of nature, the mother and nurse of all things. According to Diodorus, Osiris, Isis, Typhon, Apollo and Aphrodite (Venus) were the children of Jupiter and Juno. Osiris, the Dionysos (Bacchus) of the Greeks, married Isis (sun and moon), and they both made the improvement of society their especial care. Men were no longer butchered, after Isis had discovered the valuable qualities of wheat and barley, which had till then grown wild, unknown to mankind, and Osiris taught how to prepare them. In gratitude for these benefits, the inhabitants always presented the first ears gathered as an offering to Isis. Whatever the Greek related of his Demeter (Ceres) the Egyptian attributed to Isis. As agriculture was improved, civilization advanced, and a taste for art and letters was developed. At least, we first hear among the Egyptians, of the building of cities and temples, and the constitution of the priesthood, after the time of Isis, who was also rever

ed as the inventress of sails. According to Plutarch's learned treatise (on Isis and Osiris), Osiris and Isis were the illegitimate offspring of Saturn and Rhea. When Helios (Sol), the husband of Rhea, discovered the intrigue, he pronounced judgment upon her, that she should not be delivered in any month nor in any year. Mercury, who was then in love with Rhea, and was loved by her, having heard the curse, discovered a way in which she might be delivered, notwithstanding. In playing at draughts with the moon, he won from her the seventieth part of her light, of which he made five days, and, having added them to the 360, of which the year had previously consisted, gave the goddess time for delivery. These were the intercalary days of the Egyptians, which were celebrated by them as the birthdays of their deities. Osiris was born the first, and at his birth a voice cried, "The lord of the world is born." On the second day, Rhea was delivered of Aroueris, or the elder Horus (Apollo), on the third of Typhon, on the fourth of Isis, and on the fifth of Nephthys, who was called Teleute, the Consummation, though others give her the name of Aphrodite and Nike (Victory). Of these five children, there were three_fathers-Helios, Saturn and Mercury. Typhon married Nephthys; Osiris and Isis loved each other even in their mother's womb. Osiris, the good spirit, was persecuted by Typhon, the bad spirit, who, by stratagem, shut him up in a chest, and threw him into the sea. When Isis learned this, she cut off one of her locks, put on mourning garments, and wandered about disconsolate, in search of the chest. Meanwhile she learned that Osiris, on a certain occasion, deceived by Nephthys, who was enamored of him, had mistaken Nephthys for herself, and that the child which was the fruit of this union had been exposed by its mother. Isis therefore sought the child, and bred him up under the name of Anubis. The chest in which Osiris was shut up, was, meanwhile, driven ashore at Byblos, and thrown on a bush, which, having suddenly grown into a beautiful tree, had entirely enclosed it. This tree was afterwards cut down by the king of the country as a curiosity, and used as a pillar in his palace. The chest was finally obtained by an artifice of Isis, but the body, being afterwards discovered by Typhon, was torn by him into 14 pieces. On discovering this, Isis proceeded to collect the fragments; she found them all but one, an image of which she therefore formed; and thus the Phallus

came to be held sacred, and a festival was instituted in its honor by the Egyptians. Osiris having returned to life, Isis bore him, prematurely, Harpocrates, the god of silence, who was lame in his lower limbs. Horus, the son of Isis, afterwards vanquished Typhon in a war, and gave him to his mother for safe-keeping. She set him at liberty, on which account Horus tore the crown from her head, instead of which Mercury gave her an ox's head. As the goddess of fecundity, and the universal benefactress, she superintended the cure of human maladies, and, even in Galen's time, several medicines bore her name. After her death, she was reverenced as the chief of the divinities. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians represented Isis under the form of a woman, with the horns of a cow, as the cow was sacred to her. Another tradition also related, that Isis, in the shape of a young cow, became the mother of Apis, by a ray from heaven (Osiris); that is, the sun and moon sustain the earth. She is also known by the attributes of the lotus on her head, and the sistrum in her hand, a musical instrument, which the Egyptians used in the worship of the gods. The dress of Isis consists of a close under garment, and a mantle drawn together and fastened in a knot on her breast. Her head is covered with the Egyptian hood. Sometimes, like the Diana of Ephesus, the universal mother, she is represented with a great number of breasts. Among the Romans, Isis afterwards received, in countenance, figure and dress, somewhat of the character of Juno. A foreign character is to be recognised only in the mantle and fringed veil, and other attributes. She was particularly worshipped in Memphis, but, at a later period, throughout all Egypt. A festival of eight days (the festival of Isis) was annually solemnized in her honor, consisting of a general purification. (See Mysteries.) It was introduced into Rome, but frequently prohibited on account of the abuses which it occasioned. Under Augustus, the temples of Isis were the theatres of the grossest licentiousness. From Egypt, the worship of this goddess passed over to Greece and Rome. (See Io, also Egyptian Mythology in the article Hieroglyphics.)

ISLAM, or, as it is pronounced in Syria, Eslam, signifies an entire submission or devotion to the will of another, and especially of God, and thence the attaining of security, peace and salvation. This act is performed, and these blessings are obtained, according to the doctrine of the 8

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Koran, by acknowledging the unity of God, and the apostleship of Mohammed. Every man, who makes this profession (aslama) is a Moslem, i. e. has entirely given himself up to the will of God, and is, on that account, in a state of salvation (salam). But as Muslimani, the dual of Muslim, is commonly substituted for the singular by the Persians and Turks, the word Musulmán, or Musselman, has in those, as well as in the European languages, now nearly superseded the shorter and more correct term.-As Islam comprehends the practical as well as the doctrinal tenets of the Mohammedan religionevery thing which Moslems must believe and practise-it embraces the whole of their civil and religious polity; for the system of Mohammed relates more to this world than the next, and was designed, like the law of Moses, for the secular as well as the spiritual direction of his followers. But, taken in its more common and direct sense, it signifies the profession of the five fundamental doctrines, on which, according to a traditional declaration of the prophet (Reland, Rel. Moh. I. 1. p. 5.) the whole edifice of the faith is built. Those five points are 1. the acknowledgment of the Divine Unity and of the prophetic mission of Mohammed; 2. observance of prayer; 3. giving of alms; 4. keeping the fast of Ramadan; and 5. the performance, if possible, of the pilgrimage to Mecca. They are often, also, subdivided and enlarged, in order to arrange them more conveniently into the two classes of belief (iman) and practice (din). The former relates to-1. God; 2. the angels; 3. the Sacred Book; 4. the prophets; 5. the last day; and, 6. the divine decrees: the latter, to-1. purification; 2. prayer; 3. alms; 4. fasting; and 5. the pilgrimage. To the first article of this creed, the Persians and other adherents of Ali add, "Ali is the vicar of God;" and that is the only essential point in which they differ from the Sunnites, or orthodox Musselmans, who acknowledge the authority of the four first khalifs. The disputes concerning the succession to the khalifate, or supremacy of the prophet, spiritual and civil, which arose immediately after his death, split his followers, as is well known, into two distinct sects, the Sunnites and the Shiites, who have never since ceased to hate each other with a cordial animosity; but they differ more in the degree of veneration paid to Ali, than in any other point; and, professing the same creed, with the exception of one article, they derive their doctrines from the same sources. In their