92 



ESCIIINES ESCURIAL. 



Burney, Fuseli (properly, Fuessly) and Hurd. Es- 

 chenburg, translated their works, with valuable ad- 

 ditions to some of them. He also published, in dif- 

 ferent periodicals, accounts of English literature 

 and thus contributed to make the literary treasures 

 of England an object of great admiration among the 

 Germans. His most valuable work was a translation 

 of Shakspeare (Zurich, 1755 87, 14 vols.,also 1798 

 1806, twelve vols.) Wieland had engaged in tin: 

 undertaking before Eschenburg ; but the translation 

 of the latter is the most complete which has yet been 

 made, and is still esteemed, though inferior to Schle- 

 gel's in elegance, harmony, and verbal accuracy. He 

 extended his reputation by the publication of his lec- 

 tures, delivered in the Carolinum, by his Theorie und 

 Liter atur tier schonen Wissenschaften, nebst einer 

 Beispielsammlung dazu, and by his Handbuch der 

 classischen Literatur. 



ESCHINES. See Mschines. 



ESCHYLUS. See ^Eschylus. 



ESCLEPIADES. See <Esctepiades. 



ESCLEPIADIC. See Msclepiadic. 



ESCOIQUIZ, DON JCAN, the confidential friend of 

 Ferdinand VII., was born in 1762, of an ancient fam- 

 ily of'Navarre, and was, in his youth, page to Charles 

 III. From an inclination for serious studies, he 

 chose a religious in preference to a military life, and 

 received a canonicate in the cathedral at Saragossa. 

 His amiable qualities acquired for him many friends 

 and patrons at court, and he was appointed instructer 

 to the prince of Asturias. He soon succeeded in 

 winning the favour of the prince. The courage and 

 frankness with which he expressed himself to the 

 king and queen hi 1797, 1798, on the subject of the 

 calamities which pressed so heavily on Spain, drew 

 upon him the enmity of the prince of peace (Godoy), 

 who procured his banishment to Toledo. Escoiquiz 

 sought, even in his exile, by memorials which he sent 

 to the king, to undeceive the royal family as to the 

 favourite, but ineffectually. The prince of peace 

 gained a continually increasing influence with the king, 

 so that the prince of Asturias, in March 1807, wrote 

 to Escoiquiz, " that he was in fear for his crown," 

 and " looked to him for advice and assistance." 

 Escoiquiz immediately hastened to Madrid, where the 

 revolting affair of the Escurial was agitated. He de- 

 fended the prince of Asturias with so much ability as 

 to effect a decided change hi public opinion. When 

 Ferdinand ascended the throne, in 1808, Escoiquiz 

 was made counsellor of state. He advised the jour- 

 ney to Bayonne, and accompanied Ferdinand thither. 

 He was present at the interview with Napoleon, who 

 knew his influence, and laboured to gain him. Es- 

 coiquiz constantly exhorted the king of Spain not to 

 abdicate the throne, whatever consequences might 

 ensue. The abdication, however, took place, and 

 Escoiquiz accompanied Ferdinand to Valengay, but 

 was soon after separated from him, and removed to 

 Bourges, where he lived in retirement four and a 

 half years. He returned to Valengay, December, 

 1813, when the course of events had rendered 

 Napoleon inclined to a reconciliation with Ferdinand 

 VII. and the Infant, and took part in all the proceed- 

 ings which seated the Bourbons on the throne of 

 Spain, immediately before the final fall of Napoleon. 

 In 1814, he left the court, and retired to Saragossa. 

 He fell into disgrace, because he had advised the 

 king to accept, at least in part, the constitution of 

 the cortes. He behaved with firmness when arrested 

 by order of the king. Some time after, he was 

 recalled, but was disgraced a second time. Escoi- 

 quiz also acquired some reputation as an author, and 

 translated into Spanish Young's Night Thoughts, 

 Milton's Paradise Lost, and other works. His 

 explanation of the motives which induced Ferdinand 



to go to Bayonne, is an important document for the 

 history of the time. He died in exile, at Ronda, in 

 Andalusia, in 1820. His life is a fair commentary 

 on Ferdinand's character. 



ESCORT ; a guard ; a body of armed men which 

 attends an officer or baggage, provisions or munitions 

 conveyed by land from place to place, to protect 

 them. This word is sometimes used for naval pro- 

 tectors ; but the proper word in this case is convoy. 



ESCULAPIUS. See jEsculapius. 



ESCURIAL (el Escoriaf), a celebrated building in 

 Spain, is situated midway up the ascent of the chain 

 ot mountains which bounds Old Castile, twenty-two 

 miles from Madrid. The choice of this rugged situa- 

 tion by Philip II. indicates the stern and melancholy 

 character which history ascribes to that prince. It 

 was erected in consequence of a vow made by Philip, 

 on the day of the battle of St Quentin, at which, how- 

 ever, he was not present. He dedicated it to St Law- 

 rence, whose festival was on that day. Everything 

 in the Escurial reminds us of the instrument of the 

 martyrdom of this saint a gridiron. It is seen upon 

 the doors, windows, altars, and sacerdotal habits ; 

 the edifice itself is in that form. It is a quadrangular 

 building, with the principal front to the west, behind 

 which is a mountain ; the opposite side, which faces 

 Madrid, has the form of the shortened handle of a 

 gridiron ; and the four legs are represented by the 

 four little square towers which rise above the four 

 angles. The exterior of the Escurial is not magni- 

 ficent in the architecture. It has rather the austere 

 simplicity of a convent than the elegance of a palace. 

 In front of the door of the church is a fine peristyle ; 

 over the front of which are six colossal statues of 

 the kings of Israel, which appear as if just balanced 

 on their slender pedestals. The two in the middle 

 are David and Solomon. The sculptor has endea- 

 voured to give to these two statues the features of 

 Charles V. and Philip II. The number of windows, 

 doors, and courts, has been exaggerated to a ridicu- 

 lous degree, in the descriptions of the abbe de Vayrac 

 and senor Colmenar. They state that there are 

 11,000 doors. In the whole, there is something 

 striking, but it does not correspond to the idea formed 

 of it from the accounts given by those writers. The 

 edifice is built of hewn stone, of a species of granite ; 

 its colour has become brown with time, and adds to 

 the austerity of the building. It is a quadrangle, 

 740 feet in length by 580 in breadth. The Escurial 

 is said to have cost 50,000,000 dollars. 



The most remarkable pictures are the Virgin Mary, 

 by Guido ; the Woman taken in Adultery, and St 

 Jerome writing, by Vandyke ; the Martyrdom of St 

 Ursula, and the Fall of the Angels, by Pellegrino 

 Tibaldi, in the church, where are also some good 

 paintings by Navarette and by Lucas Cambiano. In 

 the two vestries are several pictures of Paul Veronese, 

 Rubens, Spagnoletto, and Titian ; an Assumption, 

 by Annibal Carracci, and the Lord's Supper, by Tin- 

 toretto. The altar piece in the vestry, by the Por- 

 tuguese Claudio Coelho, is one of the most striking ; 

 it is Cliarles II., accompanied by the nobility, on his 

 knees before the holy sacrament. The pictures of 

 St Sebastian, of natural size, and the Saviour disput- 

 ing with a doctor of the law, are some of the best 

 among those of Titian. Three by Raphael one, 

 called the pearl, on account of its superior excellence, 

 is a Holy Family ; another, the Visitation, in which 

 the modesty of the Virgin, and her embarrassment on 

 appearing before Elizabeth, with the unexpected signs 

 of her pregnancy, cannot be too much admired. The 

 Pantheon is a subterranean apartment, situated im- 

 mediately beneath the grand altar of the chapel. A 

 long, arched stairway, lined on all sides with polished 

 marble, and descending far below the surface of the 



