801 



ERNESTI, JOHN AUGUSTUS. 



ERSKINE, EBENEZER. 



B03 



in the ^Eolic and Doric dialect : it consisted of 300 hexameter lines. 

 She was the friend of Sappho, and died unmarried. It was thought 

 that her verses rivalled those of Homer. She was only nineteen years 

 old when she died." Another poetess of this name is mentioned by 

 Eusebius under the year B.C. 354. Thia appears to be the same person 

 who is mentioned by Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' xxxiv. 8) as having celebrated 

 Myro in her poems. We possess no fragments of either of these 

 poetesses. 



ERNESTI, JOHN AUGUSTUS, was born at Tennstadt, in the 

 Thiiiinger Wald, on the 4th of August 1707. He was educated at 

 Wittenberg and Leipzig, and in 1731 became conrector of the school 

 of St. Thomas, Leipzig. He succeeded J. M. Gessner as rector in 1734. 

 While engaged in this situation he acquired so great a reputation as 

 a classical scholar that, in 1742, the University of Leipzig violated its 

 own rule of never electing to any professorship the master of a school, 

 and appointed him professor extraordinary of ancient literature. He 

 was made professor of eloquence in 1756, and professor of theology, 

 with the degree of Doctor, in 1758 : he held the two last-named pro- 

 fessorships together till 1770, when he gave up the former to his 

 nephew, Augustus William. He died on the llth September 1781. 

 Ernes -i was a man of considerable abilities, and especially of a very 

 methodical mind, to which are due the great improvements in the 

 system of teaching introduced by him. He was well acquainted with 

 classic*, and no mean proficient in theological learning. His Latiu 

 style im little inferior indeed to that of Ruhnken, and fully equal to 

 that of Wyttenbrtch ; his knowledge of Greek, though less accurate, 

 was very respectable. The work for which he is best known is his 

 edition of Cicero, which has been made the basis of all subsequent 

 ones. The third and last edition of this author published by him was 

 printed at Halle in 1775. His ' Clavis Ciceroniana,' or Index of words 

 and subjects to Cicero's works, is still in general use. Besides his 

 Cicero, Erneati's 'luitia Doctrinas Solidioris' and 'Institutio Inter- 

 pretis Novi Testament!' are much esteemed by students at the preseut 

 day ; the latter has been translated into English. His edition of 

 Cullimachus, which appeared in 1761, is suspected to have owed a good 

 deal of what is valuable in it to the contributions of Ruhnken. An 

 account of it is given in the 'Museum Criticum,' vol. ii. p. 151. 

 Ernesti'g editions of Homer, Polybius, Tacitus, and Suetonius, have 

 been long superseded by more recent and superior ones. 



ERNESTI, AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, nephew of the preceding, was 

 bom at Frohndorf, near Tennstadt, the 26th of November 1733. He 

 was a pupil of his uncle at Leipzig, was made professor of philosophy 

 there in 1765, and, as has been mentioned, succeeded, in 1770, on bis 

 uncle's retignation, to the professorship of eloquence. He died of 

 apoplexy on the 29th of July 1801. He was principally distinguished 

 as a very good Latin scholar. His best known work ia an edition of 

 Livy, with a very copious glossary, which was reprinted twice in his 

 lifetime ; the third edition was in the press when he died, and was 

 completed by Schiifer. 



ERNESTI, JOHN CHRISTIAN THEOPHILU3, also a nephew of 

 John Augustus, was born at Arnstadt, in the Thuringer Wald, in 1756. 

 He wag professor of philosophy in the University of Leipzig from 1782 

 to 1801, when he succeeded his cousin, Augustus William, as professor 



Rhetorics;,' Lips., 1797 (both very useful works) ; ' Hesychii 

 Sacra,' 1785; 'Suidjcet Phavorini Glossse Sacra,' 1786; a translation 

 into German of Dumesoil's Latin Synonyms, and a German version of 

 the principal works of Cicero. 



ERPE'XIUS, THOMAS, or THOMAS VAN ERPEN, the cele- 

 brate.l orientalist, was born at Gorkum, Holland, on the 7th of Sep- 

 tember 1584. At the age of ten years ha was sent to Leyden, where 

 be received his education ; and in 1608 he took the degree of Master 

 of Arts in the university of that town. He had studied chiefly theo- 

 logy and oriental literature, and after the termination of his academic 

 education, he undertook a tour to England, France, Italy, and Germany, 

 for the farther prosecution of his favourite pursuits. At Paris he 

 became acquainted with Isaac Casaubon, and availed himself of the 

 Arabic instructions of a learned Maronite, Joseph Barbatus, then a 

 resilient in the French capital. Erpenius returned to his native country 

 in 1612, and was in the following year appointed professor of Oriental 

 language* in the University of Leyden, an office to which was added 

 obeequently that of Arabic interpreter to the Netherlands. On two 

 oocanious, in 1620 and 1621, he was sent to Paris on business of the 

 University of Leyden. With these interruptions he seems to have 

 devoted himself exclusively to tbe cultivation of Oriental literature. 

 He established an Arabic press at his own house, and employed him- 

 self in editing a number of works, which have been of the greatest 

 utility in promoting the cause of Oriental learning. He died of a 

 contagions disease at the age of forty, November 13th, 1624. The 

 work which has contributed moat to give celebrity to the name of 

 Erpenius ia his ' Grammatics Arabics, quinque libris methodice ex pli- 

 cate,' published at Leyden in 1613, 4 to. It has often been re-edited 

 with additions and alterations, and formed the basis of nearly every 

 subsequent Arabic grammar printed in Europe down to that of Sil- 

 vestre do Sacy. The most remarkable of Erpenius's other publications 

 are the following : ' Proverbiorum Arabicorum centuriic duos,' Leyden, 



1614 and 1623, 8vo ; ' Locmani Sapientis Fabulaa et seleeta quEedam 

 Arabuni Adagia,' Leyden, 1615, 8vo; an edition of an Arabic version 

 of the New Testament and of the Pentateuch, the former published in 

 I 1616, the latter in 1622 ; an edition of the chronicle of Elmakiu, with 

 a Latin translation, published after his death, under the title of 

 ' Historia Saracenica,' Leyden, 1625, fol. ; two original treatises on 

 Arabic grammar, bearing the title ' Grammatica Arabica, dicta Gia- 

 rumia, et libellus centum Regentium," Leyden, 1617, 4to; and a 

 Hebrew Grammar, ' Grammatica Ebrsea generalis,' Leyden, 1621 Svo 



ERSCH, JOHANN SAMUEL, was born June 23, 17ti6, at Gloga'u, 

 in the Prussian province of Silesia. He commenced his studies in the 

 gymnasium of his native town, and in the spring of 1785 removed to 

 the university of Halle. Here he became acquainted with Professor 

 Fabri, with whom in 178rj he went to Jena, where they became 

 associated with Schiitz and Hufeiaud in the publication of several 

 political, geographical, and bibliographical works. In 1794 he 

 removed to Gbttmgen, and in 1800 returned to Jena, where he was 

 appointed librarian to the university. In 1803 he became professor 

 of geography and statfstics in the university of Halle, and in 1808 

 was appointed principal librarian. Besides being employed at all 

 these places on various periodical publications, sometimes as editor 

 aud sometimes as contributor, he acquired a knowledge of the French, 

 Italian, English, Swedish, aud Danish languages, aud became well 

 acquainted with the literature and literary hiatory of the respective 

 nations. Thus the employments of his life as well as his favourite 

 studies had peculiarly qualified him for undertaking, in conjunction 

 with Gruber, the great German ' Universal Encyclopaedia of Sciences 

 and Arts,' which was commenced in 1818, and formed the chief 

 occupation of the remainder of his life. He died at Halle January 

 16, 1S28. 



Ersch's associate in this vast undertaking, JOHANN GOTTFRIED 

 GRUBEB, was born November 29, 1774, at Naumburg, in the Prussian 

 province of Saxony. Alter studying in the gymnasium of his native 

 town, he proceeded in 1792 to the university of Leipzig. In 1803 he 

 became a private tutor in Jena. He afterwards removed to Weimar, 

 where he became acquainted with Wielaud, who held him in such 

 esteem that he supplied him with materials for writing his biography. 

 In 1811 he obtained a professorship iu the University of Wittenberg. 

 ^Returning to Leipzig he became a contributor to the ' Conversations 

 Lexikon,' and published his Life of Wieland, ' Wieland's Leben," 4 

 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1815-16. He also superintended the publication of 

 Wieland's Collected Works, ' Wieland's Sammtlichen Werken,' Leipzig, 

 1818-28, and added to it, in an improved form, his own Life of the poet, 

 which forms vols. 50, 51, 52, 63. Iu 1815 Gruber was appointed 

 professor of philosophy in tbe university of Halle, and in 1818 became 

 associated with Erch in the editorship of the great work so well 

 known to German scholars as Ersch und Gruber's 'Encyclopadie der 

 Wissenschafteu uad Kiinste,' 4to, Leipzig, 1818. This work is divided 

 into three sections, of which not one is yet complete. The first section is 

 to include from letter A to G ; the second section is to extend from H to 

 N ; the third from O to Z. The 59th part of the first section, published 

 in 1854, ends with George 111. of England. The secon J section was 

 commenced in 1827, aud the 30th part, published iu 1853, includes 

 the end of letter J. The third section was commeuced in 1830, and 

 the 25th part, published in 1850, ends with ' Phyxios.' Gruber, after 

 Ersch's death, Oecame sole editor of the first section. The editor-: of 

 the second section are G. Hassel aud W. Miiller; of the third section 

 ore M. H. E. Meier and L. F. Kdmtz. 



ERSKINE, EBKNE2ER, founder of a considerable sect of seceders 

 from the established church in Scotland, called the Secession Church, 

 waj born on the 22nd of June 1680. He studied in the university of 

 Edinburgh, for some time acted as tutor and chaplain in the family 

 of tbe Earl of Rothes, and became a licentiate in divinity iu 1702. 

 In 1703 he was chosen minister of Portmoak in the shire of Kinross. 

 He became a very popular preacher, and though his charge was in a 

 retired district people flocked from distant parts of Scotland to attend 

 on his ministration. After having resisted various offers of ministerial 

 appointments in other places, he was prevailed on to accept of a 

 charge in the town of Stirling ha 1731, after he had served for twenty- 

 eight years in Portmoak. Mr. Kr.-kiue'.s first difference with his col- 

 leagues of the Church of Scotland was in his support of the principles 

 ot " the Marrow of Modern Divinity," a subject of great contention 

 during the early part of the 18tU century. He was one of several 

 clergymen who, iu connection with this subject, were " rebuked aud 

 admonished " by the General Assembly. The secession of the body 

 headed by Mr. Erskine was occasioned by the operation of the Act of 

 Queen Anne's reign restoring lay patronage in the Church of Scotland, 

 and, though not in all respects technically the same, it was virtually 

 on the same ground as the late secession of " The Free Church." 

 The presbytery of Kinross, led by Erskine's brother Ralph, had 

 refused to induct a presentee forced on an objecting congregation by 

 the law of patronage. In 1732, the General Assembly enjoined the 

 presbytery to receive the presentee. At the same time they passed 

 an act of Assembly regulating inductions, which, as it tended to 

 enforce the law of patronage, was offensive to Mr. Erskiue, and ho 

 preached against it. After some discussion the General Assembly 

 decided that he should be " rebuked and admonished," confirming a 

 decision of the inferior ecclesiastical courts. Against this decision 



