ES 



ESQ 



I'm enumerates fifteen species, and Shaw 

 twenty-two ; we shall notice the follow- 

 ing, as the mosi important. 



E. kiscius, or the common pike. In 

 Laplund tins fish, we are informed, is 

 found not unfrequently of the length of 

 eight feet. It is to be met with in most 

 lakes and small rivers throughout Europe. 

 Its common colour is a pale olive, but in 

 Holland it has been seen of an orange co- 

 lour, with black spots. When in its per- 

 fect state its colours are uniformly found 

 to be most vivid. The largest pike ever 

 caught in Great Britain is supposed to 

 have been one which weighed thirty-five 

 pounds. It is a fish of particularly rapid 

 growth, and also of great longevity, ha- 

 ving been ascertained, according to one 

 of the natural historians of Poland, tolive 

 to the age of ninety years. The stomach 

 of the pike is particularly strong, muscu- 

 lar, and extended. Its teeth without in- 

 cluding those nearest the throat, are no 

 fewer than seven hundred, and those 

 which are placed on the jaws are alter- 

 nately moveable and fixed. It is one of 

 the most voracious of fishes, and is often 

 found to swallow water rats and young 

 ducks : it has even attacked the swan, 

 and swallowed the head and great part 

 of the neck of that bird : but being una- 

 ble to separate these from the body, it 

 became, in this instance, the victim ofits 

 voracity. It will engage with the otter 

 in the most ferocious and persevering con- 

 tests for any article of food, and after long 

 abstinence has been known to seize on the 

 lips of a mule, and to be drawn up by the 

 affrighted quadruped before it could pos- 

 sess time for extrication . It is not unfre- 

 quently caught in the latter end of spring 

 in the ditches near the Thames, while 

 asleep, by means of a noosed chord dex- 

 terously slipped round it. The appear- 

 ance of the pike is dreaded by the small- 

 er fishes, as the signal of destruction, and 

 is observed to excite in them all the indi- 

 cations of detestation and terror. 



E. stomias, or the piper-mouthed pike, 

 is a native of the Mediterranean sea, about 

 eighteen inches in length, and of a green- 

 ish brown colour. Its lower jaw is con- 

 siderably longer than the upper ; it has 

 two fore teeth in the upper, and these, 

 with two of the under, project from the 

 mouth when shut ; the first ray of the 

 dorsal fin, which is near the head, is very 

 long and cetaceous, and its body gradual- 

 ly tapers towards the tail, which is some- 

 what forked. It is a very curious fish, and 

 a specimen of it is to be seen in the Bri- 

 tish Museum. 



ESPALIERS, in gardening, are rows of 

 trees planted about a whole garden or 

 plantation, or in hedges, so as to inclose 

 quarters or separate parts of a garden ; 

 and are trained up regularly to a lattice 

 of woodwork in a close hedge, for the 

 defence of tender plants against the inju- 

 ries of wind and weather. They are of 

 admirable use and beauty in a kitchen- 

 garden, serving not only to shelter the 

 tender plants, but screen them from the 

 sight of persons in the walks. See GAR- 

 DENING. 



ESPLANADE, in fortification, is the 

 sloping of the parapet of the covered way 

 towards the champaign. It is the same 

 with glacis, and is more properly the 

 empty space between the cm del and the 

 houses of a town. 



ESQUIRE, was anciently the person 

 that attended a knight in the time of war, 

 and carried his shield. This title has not 

 for a long time had any relation to the 

 office of the person, as to carry arms, 

 &c. Those to whom the title of esquire 

 is now of right due, are all noblemen's 

 younger sons, and the eldest sons of such 

 younger sons: the eldest sons of knights, 

 and their eldest sons : the officers of the 

 King's courts, and of his household: 

 counsellors at law, justices of the peace, 

 &c. though those latter are only esquires 

 in reputation : besides, a justice of the 

 peace holds this title no longer than he is 

 in commission, in case he is not other- 

 wise qualified to bear it; but a sheriff 

 of a county, who is a superior officer, 

 retains the title of a squire during life, 

 in consequence of the trust once re- 

 posed in him : the heads of some ancient 

 families are said to be esquires by pre- 

 scription. 



EsatriRE, is a name of dignity, next 

 above the common title of gentleman and 

 below a knight ; heretofore it signified 

 one that was attendant, and had his em- 

 ployment as a servant, waiting on such 

 as had the order of knighthood, bearing 

 their shields, and helping him to horse, 

 and the like. All Irish and foreign peers 

 are only esquires in English law, and must 

 be so named in all legal proceedings. 

 Esquires of the King, are such who have 

 the title by creation ; these, when they 

 are created, have a collar of SS put about 

 their necks, and a pair of silver spurs is 

 bestowed on them ; and they were wont 

 to bear before the prince in war, a shield 

 or lance. There are four esquires of the 

 King's body, to attend on his majesty's 

 person. 



