846 



ELIZABETH ELLEN BOROUGH. 



She was born in 1715, at Brun>wirk, married i 

 1733, and died in 1797. Beintr compelled to tli 

 marriage, Frederic lived separate from lu-r till hi* 

 father's death, in 1740. AMramading tlie throne 

 however, lie gave her proofs of his esteem, and, 01 

 his death, ordered her annual revenue of 40,000 

 crowns to be increased to 50,000 ; " for," said he 

 " during my whole reign, she has never given me the 

 slightest cause of dissatisfaction, and her inflexible 

 virtue deserves respect and love." Half of her annua 

 income she appropriated to benevolent purposes 

 She partook of Frederic's taste for literature, am 

 was herself an author. She translated several Ger 

 man works into French, and wrote in French La soft 

 Revolution; Meditation a I 'Occasion du Renouvelle 

 ment de CAnnee sur les Soitis gue la Providence a pout 

 let Iliiixiiiiis, &c. ; Reflexions pour tons les Jours de 

 la Semaine ; Reflexions sur I'Etat des Affaires pub- 

 liqucs en 1778, addresses aux Personnes craintives. 



ELIZABETH (PHILIPPINE MARIE HELENE, ol 

 France, Madame), sister of Louis XVI., was born at 

 Versailles, May 23, 1764, and perished by the guil- 

 lotine, May 10, 1794. Her life is an image or the 

 tenderest affection, the loveliest virtues, gentleness, 

 and feminine dignity. She was the youngest child ol 

 the dauphin Louis, and his second wife, Josephine ol 

 Saxony, who died while Elizabeth was but three 

 years old. She was attached to her brother with the 

 warmest affection. She received an excellent educa- 

 tion from the countess of Mackau, under-governess 

 of the children of France, and her acquirements were 

 considerable, particularly in history and mathema- 

 tics. Her proposed union with the duke of Aosta, 

 infant of Spain, second son of the king of the Two 

 Sicilies, was not concluded. When Louis XVI. 

 caused himself to be inoculated for the small-pox, 

 Elizabeth did the same ; she also caused sixty poor 

 girls to be inoculated at the same time, and to receive 

 the same care as herself. When her private esta- 

 blishment was fixed. 25,000 francs annually were 

 assigned her for the purchase of diamonds ; but she 

 requested that this sum should be paid, during six 

 years, to a young favourite, whose poverty prevented 

 her marriage. On an estate, which the king had 

 purchased for her, Elizabeth spent the happiest hours 

 of her life, engaged in rural occupations, in benevo- 

 lent offices, and the enjoyment of the beauties of 

 nature. 



The revolution destroyed her happiness. The as- 

 sembly of the states-general filled her with terror ; 

 from that moment she was devoted to her unhappy 

 brother. She inspired him with firmness. When he 

 fled from Paris, she accompanied him ; and she was 

 brought back with him from Varennes. It was she 

 who was taken for the queen, June 20, 1792 ; and 

 when the cry was raised, " The Austrian ! down 

 with her !" and an officer of the guard hastened to 

 correct the mistake, she exclaimed, " Why undeceive 

 them ? You might have spared them a greater crime." 

 August 10, nothing, not even the king's earnest re- 

 quest, could induce her to leave him. She followed 

 him into the assembly. There she heard her bro- 

 ther's abdication of the throne, and for two days lis- 

 tenei to the debates relative to the safest place of 

 confinement for the royal family, with which she 

 was carried into the Temple. Here she totally 

 forgot herself, and seemed to live only for others. 

 Air modesty and goodness at court, she was 

 here all patience and submission. May 9, 1794, 

 at seven o'clock in the evening, Elizabeth was led 

 from the Temple to the Conciergerie, because it had 

 been discovered that she had corresponded with the 

 princes, ^her brothers. She was tried with closed 

 doors. The next morning, she was carried before 

 the revolutionary tribunal, and, when asked her 



name and rank, she replied with dignity, " I am 

 Elizabeth of France, and the aunt of 1 your king." 

 This bold answer filled the judges with astonishment, 

 ami interrupted the trial. Twenty-four other victims 

 were sentenced with her ; but she was reduced to the 

 horrible necessity of witnessing the execution of all 

 her companions. She met death with calmness and 

 submission ; not a complaint escaped her against 

 her judges and executioners. Without being hand- 

 some, Elizabeth was pleasing and lively. Her hair 

 was of a chestnut colour ; her blue eye had a trace 

 of melancholy in it ; her mouth was delicate, her 

 teeth beautiful, and her complexion of a dazzling 

 whiteness; she was modest, and almost timid, in the 

 midst of splendour and greatness, courageous in ad- 

 versity, pious and virtuous, and her character was 

 spotless. 



ELIZABETH ISLANDS ; small islands near the 

 coast of Massachusetts, between Martha's Vineyard 

 and the continent, included within the township of 

 Chilmark ; Ion. 70 38' to 70 56' W. ; lat. 41 24' 

 to 41 32' N. They are about sixteen in number ; 

 the principal of which are, Nashawn, Pasqui, Nash- 

 awenua, Pinequese, and Chatahunk. 



ELIZABETHTOWN ; a borough and post-town 

 of New Jersey, situated in a very fertile tract of 

 country, and having a considerable trade, and some 

 manufactures. It is the oldest town in New Jersey : 

 the ground was purchased of the Indians in 1664, 

 and settled, soon after, by emigrants from Long 

 Island. Popidation in 1820, 3,515. 

 ELK. See Deer. 



ELL ; a measure which obtains, under different 

 denominations, in most countries, whereby cloths, 

 stuffs, linens, silks, &c., are usually measured. The 

 ell English is 5 quarters, or 45 inches ; the ell Fle- 

 mish, 3 quarters, or 27 inches. In Scotland, an ell 

 contains 37 2-10 inches English. 



ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW, lord chief 

 justice of the king's bench, was born in 1748, at 

 Great Salkeld, in Cumberland. His father, doctor 

 Edmund Law, bishop of Carlisle, placed him at the 

 charter house, London. He afterwards entered the 

 university at Cambridge, where, in 1771, he obtained 

 a prize medal, given by the chancellor, and, in 1773, 

 a prize. He studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and soon 

 became distinguished in his profession, in which he 

 began his career at the same time with Eldon and 

 Erskine. By the patronage of Sir Francis Buller, 

 one of the judges of the king's bench, he early ob- 

 tained a silk gown. On the trial of Warren Hast- 

 ings, in 1785, Erskine having refused to undertake 

 the defence, Law served as leading counsel. It re- 

 quired no little courage to encounter such opponents 

 as Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and other eminent men of 

 the time, who conducted the impeachment. Law 

 was assisted by Plomer and Dallas, and, as is well 

 known, obtained the victory. (See Hastings.) The 

 defence did not come on until the fifth year of the 

 ;rial. To the brilliant eloquence of his adversaries, 

 Law opposed simple, logical, and clear statements. 

 After eight years, in which the trial had occupied 

 148 days, at an expense of 71,080, Hastings was 

 acquitted. Law's success was now certain. In 1801, 

 ie was made attorney-general, and, in 1802, on the 

 death of lord Kenyon, he became lord chief justice 

 of the king's bench, and was created baron. He 

 adopted the title Ellenborough from a small fishing 

 tillage of that name, where his ancestors had lived 

 or a long time. Under lord Grenville's administra- 

 ion, he became a member of the privy council (1806), 

 which, by many, is considered as unconstitutional. 

 In parliament, he was opposed to the emancipation 

 of the Catholics. He held the office of chief justice 

 "or fifteen years, when his health sank under the 



