EMILIUS EMMET. 



853 



persecutions, as did the Huguenots, for instance, in 

 the seventeenth century, or for some other causes. 

 (See Emigration and Refugees.) The appellation of 

 emigres (the French for emigrants), however, is now 

 applied to those persons particularly, who left France 

 at the commencement of the French revolution. 

 These persons, some from enmity to the new order 

 of things, others to escape political persecution, 

 removed into the neighbouring countries, some with 

 a little property, which they had found means to 

 carry off, others entirely destitute. They were from 

 all ranks, and of all ages and conditions ; men and 

 women, children and old men, priests and nobles. 

 Most of them hoped to see the restoration of the old 

 order, by which they might be enabled to return to 

 their country, and therefore remained at first on the 

 frontiers. Among them were seen examples of the 

 basest profligacy and the most heroic self-denial. 

 Persons who had been accustomed to all the luxuries 

 of life, and the refinements of rank, earned a scanty 

 subsistence in petty employments, and bore their 

 privations with dignity and resignation. Several 

 counts are said to have been employed as boot- 

 blacks. It would be unjust to call all those who 

 left their country to its fete in the time of its greatest 

 peril, weak and timid ; for where anarchy rifles, the 

 innocent is not secure. The emigration, however, 

 of the royal princes, particularly the count of Pro- 

 vence, afterwards Louis XVIII., can hardly be justi- 

 fied. Their presence was of great importance to the 

 state, and their example contributed not a little to 

 the extensive emigration which followed, and the 

 injurious consequences which attended it. Many of 

 the emigres, however, were persons of loose, idle, 

 and profligate habits, whose conduct brought a re- 

 proach upon the whole body. This, but more par- 

 ticularly the fear of provoking the vengeance of the 

 French government, was the cause of their being re- 

 fused a refuge in some countries, and of their being 

 received under certain restrictions in others. At the 

 head of the emigrants stood the royal princes of 

 Conde, Provence, and Artois, the first of whom col- 

 lected a part of the fugitives to co-operate with the 

 allied armies in Germany for the restoration of the 

 monarchy. At Coblentz, a particular court of jus- 

 tice was established to settle causes relating to the 

 French emigres. As a body, they are described by 

 contemporary authors as haughty in their deportment 

 towards foreigners, and acting as if they constituted 

 the French nation, and as if the rest of Europe did 

 nothing more than its duty in assisting them to 

 recover their estates and feudal rights. But the in- 

 vasion of the Netherlands by Dumouriez drove them 

 from these provinces in mid-winter, in a deplorable 

 condition, while their number was daily increased 

 by the system of violence and terror carried on 

 in France; e. g. by the bloody tragedies of 

 Lyons and Toulon. The corps of Conde was finally 

 taken into the Russian service, and was disbanded in 

 the Russian-Austrian campaign of 1799. When 

 Napoleon became emperor, it was one of his first 

 nets of grace to grant permission to all but a few of 

 the emigrants to return to their country. Many, 

 however, who by this time had settled in foreign 

 places, did not choose to avail themselves of the in- 

 dulgence. 



EMILIUS. See JEmilius. 



EMINENCE (from the Latin eminentia) ; an hon- 

 orary title, like excellency, and given to cardinals. 

 They were formally called illustrissimi and reveren- 

 dissimi; but pope Urban VIII. (of the Barberini 

 family), in 1630, established the above as their title 

 of honour. Popes John VIII. and Gregory VII. gave 

 this title to the kings of France. The emperors have 

 borne it. It has gradually sunk, as titles always do. 



EMIR (i. e. noble, princely) ; a title of honour, 

 given in Turkey to those who claim descent from 

 Mohammed and his daughter Fatima. These emirs 

 are found 1. In Arabia, where they are the chieftains 

 of the wandering tribes, or Bedouins, (q. v.) Their 

 origin, however, is doubtful. 2. In Turkey itself 

 they form a kind of hereditary nobility, and wear as a 

 badge a green turban, as Mohammed is said to have 

 done. They have certain privileges, but otherwise no 

 higher claims to civil offices than other Mussulmen, 

 and live for the most part in great indigence, as 

 they are idle and extravagant. The word emir is 

 also applied to certain offices and employments 

 e. g., emir hadschi, conductor of the pilgrims in 

 caravans. 



EMLYN, THOMAS, an English dissenting divine, 

 was born at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, 1663; and 

 after studying at the university of Cambridge, he 

 finished his education at an academy in London. In 

 1683, he became chaplain to the countess of Done- 

 gal. He left this situation in 1688, and went to Lon- 

 don, and, the following year, became pastor of a con- 

 gregation at Lowestoff, in Suffolk. In 1691, he ac- 

 cepted an invitation to become assistant to the re- 

 verend Joseph Boyse, at Dublin. Mr Emlyn had 

 adopted sentiments approaching to Arianism, and, 

 the circumstance being suspected, an inquisitorial ex- 

 amination was set on foot by his brethren, the 

 dissenting ministers of Dublin, who, as he would not 

 disavow what he conceived to be the truth, restricted 

 him from continuing his pastoral duties. Finding him- 

 self the object of public odium, he published his 

 Humble Inquiry into the Scripture Account of Jesus 

 Christ, or a short argument concerning his Deity and 

 Glory according to the Gospel. Immediately after 

 this work appeared, he was arrested on the charge 

 of blasphemy, tried before the chief justice of the 

 queen's bench, and sentenced to a year's imprisonment 

 a fine of 1000, and detention in prison till it should 

 be paid. The fine was reduced to 10, through the 

 interposition of the duke of Ormond, and other 

 humane persons ; and, after somewliat more than a 

 year's confinement, Mr Emlyn' was set at liberty. He 

 removed to London, where he preached for some 

 time to a small congregation, and occupied himself 

 in writing controversial tracts. He enjoyed the 

 friendship of Dr Samuel Clarke, William Whiston, 

 and other individuals distinguished for their learning 

 and liberality, and was generally respected for the 

 excellence of his character and amiable disposition. 

 He died July 30th, 1743. A collection of his works 

 was published in 1746, 2 volumes 8vo, with an ac- 

 count of his life. 



EMMET, THOMAS, ADDIS, an eminent Irish patriot 

 and lawyer, was born in the city of Cork, in 1765. 

 His parents were highly respectable inhabitants of 

 that city, in easy circumstances. The son was placed, 

 in his boyhood, at the university of Dublin, and de- 

 signed by his father for the profession of medicine. 

 He was educated accordingly, and pursued his me- 

 dical studies at Edinburgh. The death of his elder 

 brother, a member of the Irish bar, occasioned him 

 to pass from the practice of medicine to the study of 

 the law, at the desire of his parents. He went to 

 London, read two years in the Temple, and attended 

 the courts at Westminster. On his return to Dublin, 

 he commenced practice, and soon obtained distinction 

 and business. The celebrated Curran was one of his 

 circuit and term companions. Being of an ardent 

 character, and enthusiastically Irish, he imbibed 

 deeply the resentment and antipathy of the majority 

 of his countrymen against the British rule and coa- 

 nexion. 



When the societies of united Irishmen were revived 

 in the year 1795, Emmet joined the association, and 



