773 



ELPHINSTONE, WILLIAM. 



EYLOT, SIR THOMAS. 



774 



by P. Elmsley, a man worthy of all honourable mention as well on 

 account of his sound scholarship, as his great fairness and earnest 

 love of truth. We owe to his unweariable accuracy and great appli- 

 cation a rich treasure of excellent observations on the Attic dialect ; 

 and if he was too fond of making general rules, and for the sake of 

 these rules introducing many wrong and unnecessary emendations, we 

 should remember how easily diligent observation induces one to form 

 a rule, and how easily the adoption of a general rule inclines one to 

 set aside all deviations from it. But Elmsley had too much good 

 sense and too sincere a love of truth not to turn back from his error, 

 and to use it only for a confirmation of the truth and a new advance 

 on the right way : and of this he has given many proofs." 



ELPHINSTONE, WILLIAM, founder of King's College, Aberdeen, 

 was born at Glasgow in 1437. His father, whose name he bore, 

 entered into holy orders on the death of his wife, and was first rector 

 of Kirkmicbael, and at length archdeacon of Teviotdale, in which 

 station he died in 1486, b iug then also, as it seems, provost of the 

 collegiate church of St. Mary's, Glasgow. 



At the head of those who in congregationc confirmed the statutes 

 of the faculty of arts in Glasgow college, on the erection of that 

 seminary in 1451, stands the name of William Elphinstone, Dean of 

 Faculty. This was no doubt, the archdeacon of Teviotdale. Among 

 those incorporated iu the university the same year appears also the 

 name " Will'"- Elphinstoun," in all probability the youthful Elphin- 

 stone, who, it is admitted on all hands, waa educated at the University 

 of Glasgow. Here he pas-ert A.M. probably in the twentieth year of 

 Kis age. (Keith's 'Bishops,' p. 116.) Afterwards, applying himself 

 to theology, he was made priest of St. Michael's, or Kirkiuichael, 

 Glasgow, in which place he served four years, and then proceeded 

 to France, where, after three years study of the laws, he was appointed 

 profmaor of law, first at Paris and then at Orleans. He coutinued 

 abroad till 1471, when he returned home at the earnest request of hia 

 friends, particularly Bishop Muirhead, who thereupon made him 

 parson of Glasgow and official of the diocese. 



On M airhead's decease, in the end of 1473, the archbishop of St. 

 Andrews made him official of Lothian, which he continued to be till 

 the year 1478. In the spring of that year we find John Otterburn 

 in the office ; yet in June following Mr. Elphinstone is marked in the 

 parliament rolls as official of Lothian, and in that capacity elected 

 ad cauica. He was also made a privy councillor. About the same 

 time he waa joined in an embassy to France with the Earl of Buchan 

 and the Uishop of Dunblane, to compose some differences which had 

 arisen between the two crowns ; and on his return, in 1479, he waa 

 made Archdeacon of Argyle, and then Bishop of Ross, whence, in 

 1484, he was translate 1 to the diocese of Aberdeen. 



The same year, as Bishop of Aberdeen, he waa one of the com- 

 missioners from Scotland to treat of a truce and matrimonial alliance 

 with England, whither he was again despatched aa an ambassador on 

 the accession of King Henry VII. When aff.iirs at home came to be 

 troubled between the king and his nobles, he took the part of the 

 former ; and when the Earl of Argyll was sent on an embassy into 

 England, he waa, on the 21st of February 14S8, constituted lord 

 chancellor of the kingdom, in which place however he continued only 

 till the king's demise in June following. In October of the same year 

 he was in the parliament then held at Edinburgh, where we also find 

 him assisting at the coronation of the new king. He waa afterwards 

 sent on an embassy to Germany; and on his return thence waa 

 appointed to the office of lord privy seal, where he seems to have 

 remained till his death, which happened at Edinburgh on the 25th of 

 October 1514, while negociations were pending with the court of Rome 

 for his elevation to the primacy of St. Andrews. 



Besides a book of canons, extracted out of the ancient canons, 

 Elphinstone wrote a history of Scotland, chiefly out of Fordun. He 

 wrote also some lives of Scotch saints ; and in the college of Aberdeen 

 are preserv-d several large folio volumes of his compilations on the 

 canon law. The civil and canon laws indeed were his favourite 

 studies, and to their establishment aa the laws of Scotland he long 

 and steadily directed his attention. It is to him we may in all 

 probability ascribe the crafty acts 1487, c. 105, seq. to recover the 

 former large jurisdiction of the chancellor and court of session, as 

 well as the act 1494, c. 54, the object of which appears to have been 

 to enforce in the courts the study of the Roman laws ; and we shall 

 not perhaps greatly err in conceiving his zeal to have been employed 

 in the erection of the Court of Daily Council in 1503. It was more- 

 over at his solicitation that the convent of Grey Friars at Stirling and 

 the Chapel Royal were founded in 1494, the same year in which he 

 also obtained a papal bull for the erection of a university at Aber- 

 deen, in place of the narrow seminary previously existing there. To 

 Bishop Elphinstone Aberdeen also owes another great work, namely 

 the brid.'e across the river Dee : to the completion of his plans the 

 prelate left 10,0002. Scots iu money lying in his coffers at his death. 



ELSHEIMER, or ELZHEIMER, ADAM, was born at Frankfurt in 

 1574, and, according to the most probable account, died in 1620 ; but 

 the statements of writers on the subject differ extremely. Finding 

 that he was not likely to acquire in his own country that knowledge 

 of the art which he saw to be necessary, he resolved to go to Rome, 

 where he soon formed an intimacy with Pinaa, Lastman, Thomas ol 

 Landau, and other eminent painters. Having carefully examined the 



curiosities of Rome and the works of the greatest artists, both ancient 

 and modern, he formed a style of painting peculiar to himself; this 

 was the designing of landscapes with historical figures on a small 

 scale, which he finished iu so exquisite a manner that he was not only 

 far superior to all bis contemporaries, but is probably unrivalled in 

 his own line by any artist of subsequent times. He designed entirely 

 after nature; and a retentive memory enabled him to recollect every- 

 thing that had struck him, and t) make a judicious use of it in his 

 compositions. Allowing for a certain conventionalism, it is difficult 

 to speak iu too high terms of the rare union of excellences iu the 

 works of Elsheimer ; he is equally admirable for the fine taste of his 

 design, the correct drawing of his figures, the lightness, spirit, and 

 delicacy of hia touch, the beauty of his colouring, the high finishing 

 of his works, ao that the minutest parts will bear the closest inspection, 

 and his skilful management and distribution of light and shade, and 

 .borough knowledge of the principles of chiaroscuro, which waa 

 manifested in hia pieces representing scenes by torch or candlelight, 

 moonlight, sunrise, or sunset. Even during his lifetime his pictures 

 aore a very high price, but the price was cousiderably increased after 

 lia death. Yet it is said that he was uuablo to acquire eveu comfort 

 }y the exercise of hia talents. He had a large family ; and though he 

 received high prices for his works, he spent so much time and labour 

 upon them, that he could not subsist by what he earned. He was at 

 .ength cast into prison for debt ; and though very soon released, the 

 disgrace of the confinement preyed on his spirits, and he sunk under 

 jis misfortunes. The Italians, who highly honoured and esteemed 

 lira, deeply regretted hia untimely death ; and his friend Thomas of 

 Landau was so grieved at his loss that he could no longer bear Rome, 

 but retired to his own country. Old Teniers and Bamboccio are 

 considered to have been indebted for great part of their excellence to 

 their study of the works of Elaheimer. 



ELSTOB, WILLIAM, descended from an ancient family in the 

 county of Durham, waa born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, January 1, 1673. 

 Hia father was Mr. Ralph Elstob, a merchant of that place. He received 

 his earliest education in his native town, but was afterwards sent to 

 Eton, and thence to Catherine Hall, Cambridge. Being of a consumptive 

 habit, and the air of the place not agreeing with him, he removed to 

 Queen's College, Oxford, whence in 1696 he waa chosen fellow of 

 University College. In 1701 he translated the Saxon Homily of Lupus 

 into Latin, with not s, for Dr. Hickea; and about the same time he 

 translated Sir John Cheke'a Latin version of Plutarch's treatise on 

 Superstition,' which waa printed at the end of Strype's life of Cheke. 

 In 1702 he waa presented by the dean and chapter of Canterbury to 

 the rectory of the united parishes of St. Swithin and St. Mary Bothaw, 

 in London, where he continued till his death. In 1703 he published 

 at Oxford an edition of Roger Aacham's ' Letters ;' and in 1709, in the 

 Saxon language, with a Lafln translation, the Homily on St. Gregory's 

 day. He intended the publication of several other works in Saxon 

 literature, more particularly the Saxon laws, and Alfred's paraphrastic 

 version of Orosius. He died March 3, 1714-15. He published one or 

 two other works, but of less consequence than his Saxon labours. 



ELIZABETH ELSTOB, sister of the above, was born at Newcastle, 

 September 29, 1683. During her brother's continuance at Oxford she 

 resided chiefly in that city with him, and afterwards removed with 

 him to London, where she joined him in his Saxon studies. The fir.it 

 public proof she gave of this was in 1709, when, upon her biother 

 printing the Homily upon St. Gregory's day, she accompanied it by 

 an English translation and a preface. Her next publication was a 

 translation of Madame Scudery's essay on ' Glory.' 13y the encourage- 

 ment of Dr. Hickes, she undertook a Saxon ' Hoiuiliarium,' with an 

 English translation, notes, and varioua readings, of which a few sheets 

 ouly were printed at Oxford, in folio, when the work was abandoned. 

 Her 'ranscript of the Saxon homilies, in preparation for this work, is 

 preserved in the Lansdowne Collection of Manuscripts iu the British 

 Museum. In 1715 she published a Saxon grammar in quarto, the 

 types for which were cut at the expense of Lord Chief Justice Parker, 

 afterwards earl of Macclesfield. After her brother's death, Miss Klstob 

 retired to Evesham iu Worcestershire, where she subsisted with diffi- 

 culty by keeping a small school under a feigned name. Each scholar 

 paid her fourpence a week. She was subsequently patronised by 

 Queen Caroline, who granted her a pension of 20i a year, but this 

 bounty died with the queen. In 1739 the Duchess Dowager of Portland 

 took Miss Elstob into her family as governess to her children, where 

 she continued till her death, May 30, 1756. She was buried on the 

 3rd of June at St. Margaret's, Westminster. (Pegge, Account of the 

 Textui Ruffentit, and of Mr. Elstob and hit Sitter, in the Bibl. Top. 

 Brit., No. xxv. ; Kippis, Biog. Brit. ; Tindal, History of Eves/tarn ; 

 Nichols, Literary Anecdote! ; Notes and Queries, vols. ix. and x.) 



ELYOT, SIR THOMAS, one of the best writers of the time of 

 Henry VIIL, was the son of Sir Richard Elyot, of the county of 

 Suffolk, according to the received accounts, but as it would seem 

 from a passage in Leland's 'Collectanea,' iv. 141, and an inquisition 

 in the Exchequer (cited in ' Notes and Queries,' viii. 276), of Wiltshire. 

 Thomas Elyot received his university education at St. Mary's Hall in 

 Oxford. He afterwards travelled through Europe, and upon his return 

 was introduced at the court of Henry VIII., who conferred upon him 

 the honour of knighthood, and subsequently employed him in several 

 embassies, particularly to Rome in 1532 in the affair of the divorce, 



