Prussia conferred upon him the honorary title of a privycouncillor. In 1808 he obtained the degree of doctor in divinity, which was given him as a reward for his theological writings. He died January 6, 1809.

Eberhard's attainments in philosophy and literature were extensive and profound. He was master of the learned languages, spoke and wrote French with facility and correctness, and understood English, Italian, and Dutch. He had read a great deal, was thoroughly versed in the philosophical sciences, and possessed a just and discriminating taste for the fine arts. He was a great lover of music, and was himself a proficient in the art.

The following is a list of his works:-Neue Apologie des Socrates, &c., 2 vols. 8vo, 1772-8; Allgemeine Theorie des Denkens und Empfindens, &c., Berlin, 1776, 8vo, an essay which gained the prize assigned by the Royal Society of Berlin for that year; Von dem Begriff der Philosophie und ihren Theilen, Berlin, 1778, 8vo,-a short essay, in which he announced the plan of his lectures on being appointed to the professorship at Halle; Lobschrift auf Herrn Johann Thunmann Prof. der Weltweisheit und Beredsamkeit auf der Universität zu Halle, Halle 1779, 8vo; Amyntor, eine Geschichte in Briefen, Berlin, 1782, 8vo,-written with the view of counteracting the influence of those sceptical and Epicurean principles in religion and morals then so prevalent in France, and rapidly spreading amongst the higher ranks in Germany; Ueber die Zeichen der Aufklärung einer nation, &c., Halle, 1783, 8vo; Theorie der Schönen Kunste und IVissenschaften, &c., Halle, 1783, 8vo, 3d ed. 1790; Vermischte Schriften, Halle, 1784; Neue Vermischte Schriften, Ib. 1786; Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie, &c., Halle, 1788, 8vo; 2d ed. with a continuation and chronological tables, 1798; Versuch einer Allgemeinen-Deutschen Synonymik, &c. Halle and Leipsic, 1795-1802, 6 vols. 8vo, long reckoned the best work on the synonyms of the German language (an abridgment of it was published by the author in one large volume 8vo, Halle, 1802); Handbuch der Aesthetik, &c.. Halle, 1803-1805, 4 vols. 8vo. Besides the works above mentioned, Eberhard contributed a number of small tracts and essays to various periodical and scientific publications, and translated several foreign works. He was also the editor of the Philosophical Magazine, Halle, 17881792, and of the Philosophical Archives, Halle, 1793-1795. These two periodical works, which are now little read, were instituted for the purpose of controverting the metaphysical principles of Kant, and of vindicating the doctrines of Leibnitz and Wolf. Frederick Nicolai published a memoir on the life and character of Eberhard, Berlin and Stettin, 1810, 8vo. See also K. H. Jördens, Lexicon Deutscher Dichter und Prosaisten.

EBERT, FRIEDRICH ADOLF (1791-1834), a very eminent bibliographer, was born at Taucha, near Leipsic, July 9, 1791. He received his early education partly from his father, preacher to the Georgenhaus at Leipsic, and partly at the Nicholas School. At the age of fifteen he was appointed to a subordinate post in the town library of Leipsic, in which his literary tastes, early awakened, were fostered and strengthened. He studied theology for a short time, first at Leipsic and afterwards at Wittenberg, but, by the advice of a friend, renounced it in favour of history. After the close of his academical studies, he made his appearance as an author by the publication in 1811 of a work on public libraries, and in 1812 of another work entitled Hierarchiæ in religionem ac literas commoda. In the following year he took part in the reorganization of the Leipsic University Library, and in 1814 was appointed secretary to the Royal Public Library of Dresden. The same year he published F. Taubmann's Leben und Verdienste, and in 1819 Torquato Tasso, a translation from Ginguené with annotations. Anxious to turn to good account the rich resources open to him in the Dresden library, he undertook the work on which his reputation chiefly rests, the Allgemeines bibliographische Lexikon, the first volume of which appeared in 1821, and the second in 1830. This was the first work of the kind produced in Germany; but nevertheless it had a higher aim and a more scientific character than its non-German precursors. In 1823 Ebert was called to the post of chief librarian and professor at Breslau, and at the same time was offered that of librarian to the duke of Brunswick at Wolfenbüttel. He accepted

the latter. But early in 1825 he returned to Dresden as public librarian; he was soon after named private librarian to the king, and in 1828 chief librarian and anlic councillor. Among his other works are- -Die Bildung des Bibliothekars (1820), Geschichte und Beschreibung der Königlichen öffentlichen Bibliothek in Dresden (1822), Zur Handschriftenkunde (1825–27), and Culturperioden des obersächsischen Mittelalters (1825). Ebert was a contributor to various journals and encyclopædias, and took part in the editing of Ersch and Gruber's great work. He died at Dresden, November 13, 1834, in consequence of a fall from the ladder in his library a few days before.

EBINGEN, a town of Würtemberg, in the circle of the Schwarzwald, on the Schmiela, a left-hand tributary of the Danube, 22 miles south of Tübingen and 37 miles west of Ulm. It has rather more than 5000 inhabitants, who are engaged in woollen-weaving, stocking-weaving, hat-making, bleaching, and cattle-dealing.

EBIONITES, a Christian sect which was separated from the general Christian church about the end of the 2d century. The origin of the name has been much disputed, some deriving it from Ebion as the founder of the sect, and others from the Hebrew word (1) meaning poor. For the former opinion the authority of Tertullian is quoted, who makes references to the existence of such a person as Ebion; but as counterbalancing these references there has to be considered-1st, that Tertullian being careless and inaccurate, and having no knowledge of Hebrew, may have merely fallen into the error of assuming that the sect took its name from that of a person; 2d, that no mention is made of the existence of such a person either by Irenæus and later writers are probably borrowed from Tertullian; or by Origen, and that any references to him by Epiphanius and 3d, that the name Ebionites had a very general signification, and represented a natural Judaizing tendency which must have had a more comprehensive beginning than that originating in an individual influence. Those who derive the name from the Hebrew word explain it in two ways— as applicable either to the poverty of the doctrines of the Ebionites, or to the poverty of their circumstances. Undoubtedly the name was applied to them with the former significance by their enemies, but it is more probable that they employed in a bad sense a name already existing, than that they coined it to suit their purpose. That the term was originally applied to the circumstances of the Ebionites seems the only probable supposition; and the argument in support of it may be stated thus:-That the early Christians, both Jewish and heathen, were designated the poor; that the poverty of the Jewish Christians continued longer than that of the heathen Christians, and Origen states that they in particular were named the poor (Eßioraio χρηματίζουσιν οἱ ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων τὸν Ἰησουν ὡς Χριστὸν mapadesáμevo); and that, as the Judaizing Christians came gradually to be the only Jewish Christians who required to be distinguished from the heathen Christians, they retained the name. The fathers show a very imperfect knowledge of the origin, history, and doctrines of the Ehionites, but there cannot be any doubt that at first all Judaizing Christians went under that name. In the New Testament there is evidence of the existence of such a party, though it had not then developed into a recognized sect. This apparently did not happen till after the second destruction of Jerusalemi and the founding of the heathen colony of Elia Capitolina, when the emperor Hadrian banished from the neighbourhood all Jews who still retained their national peculiarities. As to the particular opinions of the Ebionites the statements of the fathers are somewhat contradictory, and this for the threefold reason-that by the isolation of the Ebionites from the general church the information obtainable regarding them could only be imperfect; that under

the species D. Melanoxylon, a large tree 8 to 10 feet in circumference, with irregular rigid branches; oblong or oblong-lanceolate, entire leaves; white flowers, having a 5cleft calyx; and a round, pulpy berry, containing 2-8 seeds. The bark of the tree is astringent, and mixed with pepper is used in dysentery by the natives of India. The wood of D. Ebenaster, the species called by the Singhalese Cadooberia, is black, with rich brown stripes; it is not so durable and heavy as the true ebonies. That of D. tomentosa, a native of North Bengal, is black, hard, and of great weight. D. montana, another Indian species, produces a dark wood, variegated with white-coloured veins. D. quæsita is the tree from which is obtained the wood known in Ceylon by the name Calamander, derived by Pridham from the Singhalee kalu-mindrie, black-flowing. Its closeness of grain, great hardness, and fine hazel-brown colour, mottled and striped with black, render it a valuable material for veneering and furniture-making. CochinChina ebony is believed to be the wood of a species of Maba, a genus of Ebenacea. What is termed Jamaica or West Indian ebony and probably also the green ebony of commerce are produced by Brya Ebenus, a leguminous tree or shrub, having a trunk rarely more than 4 inches in diameter, flexible spiny branches, and orange-yellow, sweetscented flowers. The wood is greenish-brown in colour, heavier than water, exceedingly hard, and capable of receiving a high polish.

the general name Eolonites a good many varieties | be procured. Much of the East Indian ebony is yielded by of opinion are included; and that their opinions varied at different periods of their history. The term Ebionites is used by some writers to include the Nazarenes, who, while recognizing the binding obligation of the Mosaic law on all Jews, did not regard it as binding on heathen Christians (see NAZARENES); but at an early period the stricter Ebionites must have separated themselves from the Nazarenes, who soon became merged in the general church. Of Ebionites proper Origen distinguishes two classes-those who affirm and those who deny the miraculous birth of Jesus; and in this he is followed by Eusebius. The extreme Ebionites, according to Origen, were only distinguishable from common Jews by the acceptance of the moral teaching of Christ; while those Ebionites who admitted the miraculous birth of Christ did not recognize His divinity proper, but believed that with His human nature the spirit of an angel or archangel, or even of Adam, was incorporated. Both classes of Ebionites seem to have had these points in common:-1st, They emphasized the unity of God; 2d, they affirmed the universal obligation of the Mosaic economy; 3d, of the books of the New Testament they received as genuine only the gospel of St Matthew; 4th, they denounced St Paul as a separatist; and 5th, they believed that Jerusalem was yet to be the city of God, and some of them at least believed in Christ's millennial reign. In the time of Eusebius the Ebionites inhabited chiefly the coasts of the Dead Sea, but they dwelt also in Rome and Cyprus. They vanished from history in the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century.

The ancient authorities on the Ebionites are Irenæus, Hyppolytus, Eusebius, Tertullian, Origen, and Theodoret. In modern literature there are-Gieseler, in Staudlin und Teschirner's Archiv für ältere und neuere Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii. Leipsic, 1820; Credner in Winer's Zeitschrift für wissenschaftl. Theologie, Sulzbach, 1829; Baur, De Ebionitarum origine et doctrina ab Essais repetenda (Tübinger Osterprogramm von 1831); Hilgenfeld, Die Clementinischen Recognitionen, Jena, 1848; the article "Ebjoniten" in Herzog's Real Encyclopädie; and Mansel's Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries, London, 1875.

EBOLI, or EVOLI, a town of Italy, in the province of Principato Citeriore and district of Campagna, situated about thirteen miles from Salerno, on an elevated site commanding a fine prospect over land and sea. It has an ancient castle belonging to the princes of Angri, and its church of St Francis of Assisi contains a curious picture of the Crucifixion by Roberto di Oderisio. Between the town and the Silarus or Sele are the ruins of the ancient Eburi, a place of municipal rank; and the river is still spanned by a bridge of fino Roman construction. Population, 8947.

EBONY (ẞevos), the wood of various species of trees of the genus Diospyros and natural order Ebenaceae, found in the tropical parts of Asia and America. The best kinds are very heavy, are of a deep black, and consist of heartwood only. On account of its colour, durability, hardness, and susceptibility of polish, ebony is much used for cabinet work and inlaying, and for the manufacture of pianoforte keys, knife-handles, and turned articles. Ceylon ebony is furnished by D. Ebenum, which grows in great abundance throughout the flat country west of Trincomalee. The tree is distinguished from others by the inferior width of its trunk, and its jet-black, charred-looking bark, beneath which the wood is perfectly white until the heart is reached (See Baker, Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon, p. 293, 1855). The wood is stated by Sir J. E. Tennent to excel that obtained from D. recticulata of the Mauritius and all other varieties of ebony in the fineness and intensity of its dark colour. Although the centre of the trees alone is employed, reduced logs 1 to 3 feet in diameter can readily

From the book of Ezekiel (xxvii. 15) we learn that ebony was among the articles of merchandise brought to Tyre; and Herodotus states (iii. 97) that the Ethiopians every three years sent a tribute of 200 logs of it to Persia. Ebony was known to Virgil as a product of India (Geor., ii. 116), and was displayed by Pompey the Great in his Mithridatic triumph at Rome. By the ancients it was esteemed of equal value for durability with the cypress and cedar (see Pliny, Nat. Hist., xii. 9, xvi. 79). According to Solinus (Polyhistor, cap. lv. p. 353, Paris, 1621), it was employed by the kings of India for sceptres and images, also, on account of its supposed antagonism to poison, for drinking cups. The hardness and black colour of the wood appear to have given rise to the tradition related by Pausanius, and alluded to by Southey in Thalaba, i. 22, that the ebony tree produced neither leaves nor fruit, and was never seen exposed to the sun.

EBRO (in Latin Iberus), the principal river of Spain, rises in the Cantabrian Mountains, near Reinosa, in the province of Santander, flows in a general south-east direction through Old Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia, and falls into the Mediterranean about 80 miles south-west of Barcelona, in 40° 41′ N. lat. and 0° 50′ E. long., forming by its delta a very considerable excrescence on the otherwise regular outline of the coast. It has a total length of about 340 miles, and its drainage area is calculated at 31,445 square miles. Already a noble stream when it breaks through the pass of Horadada, it becomes navigable about Tudela; but its value as a means of communication is almost neutralized by the obstacles in its channel, and seafaring vessels cannot proceed further up than Tortosa. The great Imperial Canal, commenced by the emperor Charles V., proceeds along the right bank of the river from a point about three iniles below Tudela, to the monastery of Monte Terero, five miles below Saragossa; and the San Carlos Canal affords direct communication between Amposta at the head of the delta and the harbour of Los Alfaques. The principal tributaries of the Ebro are-from the right hand the Jalon with its affluent the Jiloca, the Huerva, tho Aguas, the Martin, and the Guadalope; from the left the Aragon, the Gallago, and the Segre with its elaborate system of confluent rivers.

cultivating it with zeal and success. His setting of the beautiful words "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" is still regarded by the Germans as their representative national hymn. Eccard and his school are in the same way inseparably connected with the history of the Reformation. Of Eccard's songs a great many collections are extant; for an enumeration of the old and rare editions the reader is referred to the works by Winterfeldt, who has devoted great care to the study of Eccard, and by Döring (Choralkunde, p. 47).

ECCELINO, or EZZELINO DA ROMANO (1194-1259), fourth of the name, a famous Ghibelline chief, was born April 25, 1194. The family traced its origin to Eccelin. a knight who about 1036 followed the emperor Conrad II. into Italy, and received from him among other fiefs that of Romano, in the neighbourhood of Padua. Eccelino IV. was the elder of the two sons of Eccelino III., surnamed the Monk, who divided his little principality between them in 1223, and died in 1235. In his youth Eccelino displayed the dauntless courage and the power of dissimulation which characterized him through life. In 1226, at the head of a party of Ghibellines, he got possession of Verona, and was appointed podestat. He became one of the most faithful servants of the great emperor Frederick II., who by a charter granted in 1232 confirmed him in his possessions. Four years later (1236) he invited Frederick to enter Italy to his assistance, and in August met him at Trent. Eccelino was soon after besieged in Verona by the Guelfs, and the siege was raised by the emperor. Vicenza was next stormed, and the government was given to Eccelino. In 1237 the latter marched against Padua, became master of the city by capitulation, and crushed the spirit of the people by remorseless cruelty. The same year he took part in the siege of Mantua, and made himself master of Trevisa. On the return of Frederick to Italy he joined him with a large force, and contributed to the great victory over the Guelfs at Cortenuova (November). In the following year he strengthened his connection with the emperor by marriage with Selvaggia, his natural daughter. In 1239, after entering Padua with Frederick, he was excommunicated and declared deprived of his estates by the Pope. But he still went on fighting and augmenting his dominions and perpetrating such incredible cruelties that the emperor, it is said, would fain have been rid of him. Nevertheless Eccelino was among the auxiliaries of Frederick at the siege of Parma in 1247. At the time of Frederick's death, in 1250, Eccelino, who had been named vicar-imperial of all the districts between the Trentine Alps and the river Aglio, had extended his authority from the Adriatic to the environs of Milan. He had married a second wife in 1249. At length (1256) a crusade against this foe of the church was proclaimed by Pope Alexander IV., and a powerful league was formed, which the Venetians joined. Padua was soon lost to him ; but in 1258 he defeated the army of the league and reduced Brescia. In 1259 he was called to Milan by the Ghibelline party and attempted to march on | the city. He was, however, encountered by his enemies at Cassano, September 16, 1259, and was severely wounded and taken prisoner. His troops then disbanded. The great leader was resolved not to survive his fall, nor would he make his peace with the church. He tore the bandages from his wounds, refused to take food, and died at Soncino, September 26, 1259. By the death of his brother Alberico about a year later the family became extinct, and their possessions were distributed among the conquerors. The character of Eccelino is thus drawn by Mr Kington in his History of Frederick the Second (i. p. 503):-"He was bold, clear-sighted in politics, and staunch to the side he had chosen as his own. He had a most commanding intellect, and his counsels were sure not to be slighted. He was &

first-rate soldier, and could overawe his enemies with a glance. He was, however, superstitious, as many found to their cost. Covetous of power, he was unscrupulous as to the means by which it was won or kept. His merciless cruelty and his callousness to human suffering brand him as an enemy to mankind." In the Divina Commedia (Inferno, xii.) Eccelino is seen amongst those who expiate the sin of cruelty in the lake of blood in the seventh circle of hell.

ECCHELLENSIS, or ECHELLENSIS, ABRAHAM, learned Maronite, whose surname is derived from Eckel in Syria, where he was born towards the close of the 16th century. He was educated at the Maronite college in Rome, and, after taking his doctor's degree in theology and philosophy, became professor of Arabic and Syriac in the college of the Propagandists. Called to Paris in 1630 to assist Le Jay in the preparation of his polyglot bible, he contributed to that work the Arabic and Latin versions of the book of Ruth and the Arabic version of the third book of Maccabees. A quarrel with Gabriel Sionita, one of his coadjutors, whose work he had revised, led to a sharp controversy in which De Flavigny took part. He returned to Rome in 1642, but resumed his residence in Paris in 1645. Being invited by the Congregation of the Propaganda to take part in the preparation of an Arabic version of the Scriptures, he went again in 1652 or 1653 to Rome, where he died in 1664. Ecchellensis published several Latin translations of Arabic works, of which the most important was the Chronicon Orientale of Ibu-ar Rahib (Paris, 1653). He was engaged in an interesting controversy with Selden as to the historical grounds of episcopacy, in the course of which he published his Eutychius Vindicatus, sive Responsio ad Seldeni Origines (Rome, 1661). Conjointly with Borelli he wrote a Latin translation of the 5th, 6th, and 7th books of the Conics of Apollonius of Perga (1661).

ECCLES, a populous village of England, in the county of Lancaster, four miles west of Manchester by railway, and practically an outlying suburb of that city. The parish church of St Mary, an ancient structure, was enlarged and extensively repaired in 1863-4; and several dissenting places of worship have been built in the present century. The cotton-manufacture is extensively carried on in the immediate neighbourhood. Previous to the Reformation the monks of Whalley Abbey had a grange at what is still called Monks' Hall; and in 1864 many thousands of silver pennies of Henry III. and John of England and William I. of Scotland were discovered near the spot. Ainsworth, the author of the Latin and English dictionary so long familiar to English students, was born at Eccles in 1660; and it was at the vicarage that the Right Hon. William Huskisson expired on 15th September 1830 from injuries received at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

ECCLESIA, in Grecian antiquity, the general assembly of Athenian citizens, who met from time to time to discuss public affairs. Ecclesiæ were of two kinds, ordinary and extraordinary. The first of these were held, according to the laws of Solon, four times in each prytany, or period of thirty-five days; while the others were only summoned on some pressing emergency. When any measure of unusual importance was to be publicly debated, the people were summoned from the country by special messengers. An assembly thus convened was called a cataclesia. Much discussion has taken place as to the exact days of the month on which the ecclesiæ were held; but the result has only been to prove either that there were no days invariably fixed for them, or that we have no data by which to deter mine accurately what these days were. In Ulpian it is stated that when there were three assemblies a-month, the first fell on the eleventh, the second on the twentieth, and