ELGIN MARBLES 



2865 



ELIJAH 



judgement of the House of Lords on 

 the property of the Free Church. In 

 1905 Campbell-Bannerman made 

 Elgin colonial secretary, but he 

 did not retain this office when 

 Asquith became premier in 1908, 

 refusing then the marquessate 

 offered him ; his cautious policy 

 and freedom from partisanship had 

 not been altogether acceptable to 

 the extremists in his party. He 

 died at Broomhall, Fife, Jan. 18, 

 1917, when his eldest son (b. 1881) 

 became 10th earl of Elgin and 14th 

 earl of Kincardine. 



Elgin Marbles. Collection of 

 sculptures brought from Greece by 

 the 7th earl of Elgin, while ambas- 

 sador to the Porte. Keenly inter- 

 ested in the remains of ancient art 

 in Athens and other Greek towns, 

 his first intention was to have 

 accurate drawings of them made, 

 but seeing that they were fast going 

 to ruin, he obtained the Forte's 

 sanction to remove various relics. 

 These consisted largely of sculp- 

 tures by Pheidias and other great 

 artists from the Parthenon and 

 the temple of Nike Apteros (Wing- 

 less Victory) in Athens. Despite 

 enormous difficulties, including the 

 wreck of the ship conveying the 

 precious cargo to England, the 

 Elgin Marbles (as they were after- 

 wards collectively called) were 

 brought to London in 1806. Added 

 to in later years up to 1812, they 

 were finally acquired for the British 

 nation in 1816 for 35,000, less than 

 half of the sum (74,000) Lord Elgin 

 had paid to preserve them from 

 total destruction, and are now in 

 the galleries of the British Museum. 

 Lord Elgin was accused of van- 

 dalism, and even dishonesty, but 





Elgin Marbles. Two views of the north frieze of the 

 Parthenon, now in the British Museum 



the select committee of the House 

 of Commons appointed to investi- 

 gate the whole subject entirely 

 exonerated him. See illus. p. 643. 

 Elgon. Extinct volcano, 14,097 

 ft. high. It stands on the frontiers 

 of Uganda and Kenya Colony, 60 

 m. N.E. of the Victoria Nyanza. 

 The rivers on the W. side drain into 

 Lake Kioga, those on the E. into 

 the Victoria Nyanza. The forest 

 (about 50 sq. m.) on Mount Elgon 

 is little known. 



Eli. Judge and priest of Israel 

 in the later period of the Judges. 

 Through Samuel, who was in his 

 service as a boy attendant, God 

 indicated his anger at the misdeeds 

 of Eli's sons. When the news 

 came that the Ark of the Covenant 

 had been taken by the Philistines, 

 and both his sons killed, Eli fell 

 back and broke his neck. 



Elia. Name taken by Charles 

 Lamb. It was that of a clerk in the 

 South Sea House, and was first 

 assumed by Lamb when in 1820 he 

 began to contribute essays to The 

 London Magazine. See Essays of 

 Elia ; Lamb, Charles. 



Elibank, BAKON. Scottish title 

 borne since 1643 by the family of 

 Murray, and now merged in that 

 of Viscount Elibank. Patrick 

 Murray, a person of importance in 

 Selkirkshire, where Elibank is 

 situated, and on the Scottish bor- 

 ders generally, was made a baronet 

 in 1628, and a baron by Charles I 

 in 1643. His title passed to his son 

 Patrick in 1650, and then down a 

 line of descendants, of whom 

 George, the 6th baron, became an 

 admiral. In 1871 Montolieu Fox 

 Oliphant (b. 1840) became the 10th 

 baron, and in 1911 he was made a 

 viscount of the 

 United Kingdom, 

 His eldest son, 

 Alexander, was 

 made Lord Mur- 

 ray of Elibank in 

 1912, after serv- 

 ing as chief whip 

 of the Liberal 

 government (see 

 Murray). Of Vis- 

 count Eh' bank's 

 younger sons, 

 Gideon had a 

 long record of 

 service under the 

 colonial office, 

 and Arthur was 

 chosen M.P. for 

 Kincardineshire in 

 1908, and was re- 

 elected in 1910 and 

 1918. The latter 

 won the D.S.O. in 

 the Great? War. 



Elie. Police 

 burgh, parish, and 

 watering-place o f 



Elijah. The prophet fed by ravens 

 in the wilderness 



After the painting by Burne-Jones 



Scotland, hi Fifeshire. It is on the 

 N. side of the Firth of Forth, 10 m. 

 S. of St. Andrews and 45 m. by rly. 

 N.E. of Edinburgh. It includes 

 Earlsf erry, a royal burgh. It has a 

 harbour and pier, and is a coast- 

 guard station with a flashing light 

 on Elieness. The chief buildings are 

 a church of the 17th century, and 

 the town hall. There are fine golf 

 links. Pop. of parish, 1,147. 



Elijah. Hebrew prophet. A 

 Jiative of Gilead (1 Kings xvii, 1), 

 he lived in the days of Ahab. He 

 appears to have' led a kind of 

 hermit life in the mountains, only 

 emerging at intervals to denounce 

 Ahab and attack the priests of 

 Baal. On Mount Carmel he chal- 

 lenged the priests of Baal to a test 

 of the rival religions by calling 

 down fire from heaven, after which 

 he had to flee from the wrath of 

 Queoo Jezebel to Beersheba, where 



