ESCUTCHEON ESPINASSE. 



93 



earth, conducts to this apartment. The whole inte- 

 rior is lined with dark marble, beautifully veined, 

 and of great lustre. This is the burying-place of the 

 Spanish royal family. The bodies of the princes who 

 have not reigned are deposited in one chamber, those 

 of the kings and queens in another. The remains of 

 the duke of Vendome rest in the Pantheon, as those 

 of marshal Turenne do in the church of St Denis. A 

 superb lustre, pendent from the cupola, is lighted up 

 on extraordinary occasions. The coffins which con- 

 tain the bodies of the kings and queens are placed 

 on each side of an altar, in three rows, and in differ- 

 ent compartments. The cases are of bronze and 

 porphyry, and simple yet noble in their form. The 

 two great cloisters are painted in fresco ; the paint- 

 ings are by Tibaldi, and the figures are of colossal 

 size. Guercino, Velasquez, and other celebrated 

 painters have ornamented several galleries and clois- 

 ters. Here is the famous picture of Raphael, called 

 the Madonna del Fez. This picture represents the 

 young Tobit, conducted by the angel Raphael, offer- 

 ing, with a timid air, the tribute of his fish. The 

 group is composed, beside the angel and Tobit, of 

 Christ, the Virgin Mary, and St Jerome, in a cardi- 

 nal's habit, reading the Bible to them. 



The library, founded by Philip II., and much aug- 

 mented by his son, is remarkable for the large num- 

 ber of Greek and Arabic manuscripts, and for the 

 paintings. There are several pleasure-houses at a 

 short distance from the convent, belonging to the 

 Infantes. The monks are very liberal, and allow any 

 person, of decent dress and demeanour, free access to 

 the library and all its books. The royal family used 

 to pass six weeks here every year. 



ESCUTCHEON, in heraldry, is derived from the 

 French ecusson, and that from the Latin scutum. It 

 signifies the shield whereon coats of arms are repre- 

 sented. 



ESK (i.e. water). There are seven small rivers 

 in Scotland of this name, viz., the Esk, the Black 

 Esk, and the White Esk, in Dumfriesshire ; the 

 North Esk and South Esk in Forfarshire ; and the 

 North Esk and South Esk in Edinburghshire. The 

 eastern district of Dumfriesshire is called Eskdale, and 

 Eskdalemuir is the name of a parish in the same 

 county. 



ESKI ; a Turkish word, signifying old, contained 

 in several geographical names ; as, Eski cheher, old 

 city. 



ESKIMAUX. See Esquimaux. 



ESMENARD, JOSEPH ALPHONSE ; a French poet, 

 born in 1769, at Pelissane, in Provence. After hav- 

 ing finished his education at Marseilles, he made 

 a voyage to St Domingo, and, on his return, formed 

 an acquaintance with Marmontel, which developed 

 his literary tastes. At the beginning of the revolu- 

 tion, he belonged to the club of FeuiBans, and, on its 

 downfall, was obliged to leave the country. He tra- 

 velled five years in England, Germany, and Italy, 

 and, on his return from Constantinople, settled in 

 Venice, where he formed the design of his poem La 

 Navigation. He returned to France, was again ba- 

 nished for his political writings, returned after the 

 revolution of the 18th Brumaire, and laboured with 

 La Harpe and Fontanes on the Mercure de la France. 

 He accompanied Le Clerc to St Domingo, and, after 

 his return, received a place in the ministry of the 

 interior. His Navigation appeared in the year 1805. 

 He is blamed for many defects, but his talent for 

 describing scenes on the ocean is universally admired. 

 In 1808, he brought upon the stage an opera, entitled 

 Trajan, and was banished once more by Napoleon, 

 after having been assailed by numerous enemies, and 

 made a member of the institute. After three months, 

 he returned from exile, and died in 1811. 



ESMERALDAS ; a province of Colombia, on tho 

 coast of the Pacific ocean, abounding in wax. copal, 

 balsams, manilla, indigo, tobacco, and excellent 

 cacao. Its mountains are covered with rare and 

 valuable woods, and contain gold mines. Fine eme- 

 ralds are also found in this province. Esmeraldas is 

 likewise the name of a river and a seaport of this 

 province. 



ESNEH, ESNE, or ASNA (called, by the Egyp- 

 tians, Sne, or Sna) ; a city of Upper Egypt, in the 

 Thebaid, on the left bank of the Nile, about twenty- 

 seven miles S. of the ruins of Thebes, and 350 S.S.E. 

 of Cairo ; lat. 25 17' 38'' N. ; Ion. 32 34' 56" E. 

 Esneh stands on the site of the ancient Latopolis. 

 Among the ruins there is a beautiful portico of 

 twenty-four columns, which is one of the most per- 

 fect remains of Egyptian architecture. The ceiling 

 contains a zodiac, which has been supposed to be 

 2000 years older than that of Denderah; but 

 Champollion, in one of his letters, dated 1829, is 

 decidedly of the opinion that the great temple of 

 Esne, as it is called, instead of being one of the most 

 ancient buildings of Egypt, is one of the most modern. 

 He draws this conclusion from the rudeness and stiff- 

 ness of the bass-reliefs and hieroglyphics, as well as 

 from the inscriptions. The latter contain merely the 

 names of different Roman emperors. " The real age 

 of the pronaos of Esneh," says M. Champollion, " is, 

 therefore, not of a more remote period than the reign 

 of the emperor Claudius ; and the sculptures, among 

 which is the famous zodiac, are as late as the time of 

 Caracalla." The marquis Spineto, in his Lectures 

 on the Elements of Hieroglyphics, is of the same 

 opinion. Esneh is of considerable importance in a 

 commercial point of view. The great caravan com- 

 ing from Sennaar stops at this place, and a camel 

 market, famous throughout all Egypt, is held here. 

 Among the population of Esneh are 300 Coptic 

 families. Not far from it are the ruins of another 

 temple, with a zodiac, not so well preserved, how- 

 ever, as that in the ceiling. Feb. 25, 1799, the 

 French were attacked here by the Mamelukes. 



ESOP. See JEsop. 



ESOTERIC (Greek ; secret, revealed only to the 

 initiated). In the mysteries or secret societies of the 

 ancients, the doctrines were distinguished into the 

 esoteric and exoteric, the former for the initiated, who 

 were permitted to enter into the sanctuary itself (the 

 Esoterics'), and the latter for the uninitiated (the 

 Exoterics), who remained in the outer court. The 

 same distinction is also made, in philosophy, between 

 those doctrines which belong peculiarly to the 

 initiated, and those which are adapted to the limited 

 capacities of the unlearned. 



ESPAGNOLETTO. See Spagnoleito. 



ESPALIERS; rows of trees planted about a 

 garden, and trained up regularly to a lattice of 

 wood-work, in a close hedge, for the defence of 

 tender plants. 



ESPINASSE, JULIE JEANNE ELEONORE. This ami- 

 able lady, who united the most brilliant talents to a 

 heart susceptible of the warmest love, was born at 

 Lyons, 1732. She was an illegitimate child, but 

 passed for the daughter of a citizen, whose name 

 she bore. She was selected as a companion by the 

 marchioness du Deffand, whose offers she gladly 

 accepted, being in a state of extreme indigence. At 

 first, the two ladies lived together in the greatest 

 harmony ; but the superior attractions of Julie, which 

 captivated even d'Alembert, a most devoted admirer 

 of du Deffand, soon made the marchioness regard her 

 as a dangerous rival, and their connexion was broken 

 off. Mile. 1'Espinasse, however, had already made 

 many friends, and the king, by the recommendation 

 of the duke de Choiseul granted her a pension. 



