E L E 
ed. Quincy. —We meet with divers electuaries, which have 
no ingredient, except fugar, common to any two of them. 
B.yle. See Phahmacy. 
ELEEMO'SYN A CARUCARUM, or proaratris, or 
aratri, f. in our ancient cuftoms, a penny which king 
Ethelred ordered to be paid for every plough in Eng¬ 
land, towards the fupport of the poor. Sometimes it is 
alfo called elccmofyna regis , becaufe firft appointed by the 
king. 
ELEEMOSYNA'RIUS, f. The almoner or officer 
who received the eleemofynary gifts and rents, and dif- 
pofed of them to charitable and pious ufes. 
ELEEMO'SY NARY, adj. [eAevj^os'di'u, Gr.] Living, 
upon alms; depending upon charity. Not ufed. Relative 
to charitable donations.—Which your majedy muff enter¬ 
tain in the higheft degree for thofe great perfonages, who r e 
refpedfable names lland upon your eleemofynary lift. Cluj- 
tcrfcld. —The eleemofynary fort (of corporations) are fuch 
as are conftituted for the perpetual diftribution of free 
alms. B/ackffone. 
ELEEMO'SYNARY,yi A place in a motiaflery,where 
the common alms were laid up; alfo the almoner’s of¬ 
fice, to which peculiar rents were allowed. 
E'LEGANCE, or Elegancy, f. \_clegantia , Lat.] 
Beauty rather foothing than ftriking; beauty without 
grandeur ; the beauty of propriety, not of greatnefs.—St. 
Auguftine, out of a kind of elegancy in writing, makes fome 
difference. Raleigh. —Any thing that pleafes by its nice¬ 
ty. In this fenfe it has a plural.—My competitions in 
gardening are altogether Pindarick, and run into the beau¬ 
tiful wildnefs of nature, without the nicer elegancies of art. 
SpeSlator. 
E'LEGANT, adj. \_elegans, Lat.] Pleating by minuter 
beauties.—Trifles themfelves are elegant in him. Pope. — 
There may’fl thou find fome elegant retreat. London. — 
Nice; not coarfe ; not grots.—Polite with candour; ele¬ 
gant with eafe. Pope. 
E'LEGANTLY, adv. In fuch a manner as to pleafe. 
—Now read with them thofe organic arts which enable 
men !o difeourfe and write perfpicuoufly, elegantly , and 
according to the fitted (tile of lofty, mean, or lowly. Milton. 
In a poem elegantly writ, 
I will not quarrel with a flight miflake. Rofcommon. 
iSeatly ; nicely ; with minute beauty ; with pleating pro¬ 
priety.—Whoever would write elegantly , mull have re¬ 
gard to the different turn and juncture of every period : 
there mud be proper didances and paufes. Pope. 
ELE'GIA,/ - . [sAsysia, Gr. are elegiac verfes, from 
£*ayo£, mourning: ’ but what has that to do with this 
plant ?] In botany, a genus of the clafs dioecia, order 
triandria, natural order calamarise, (junci, JuJf.) The’ 
generic charabters are—I. Male. Calyx: fpathes with¬ 
in fpathes, remote, one-valved, coriaceous, lanceolate, 
deciduous ; fpadix filiform, jointed, with an ament at 
each joint; ament loofe, with pedicelled florets, diflin- 
guiflied by a brabte ; brabte briflle-fliaped, membrana¬ 
ceous, flat, longer than the florets; perianthium proper, 
of fix, bridle-fhaped, chaffy, loofe, leaflets. Corolla : 
none. Stamina : filaments three, very fliort ; antherse 
incumbent,'oval, larger than the perianthium. II. Fe¬ 
male, on a diflinbt individual. ; Calyx, fpathe as in the 
male, but fhorter; fpadix as in the male ; ament with a 
compound raceme; perianthium proper, fix-leaved; valves, 
the three outer lanceolate, channelled, petaloid, equal ; 
corolla, none ; pidillum, germ fomewhat oblong ; flyles 
three,* filiform,'the length of the perianthium ; digmas 
fimple. 
Eiegia, fird didinguifhed by Linnaeus from the genuls 
redio, and afterwards immerfed in it by him, is fettled 
by Thunberg to be didinbt from redio, in a difiertation 
on that genus. There is, however, but one fpecies, Eie¬ 
gia juncea : it is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and 
lias the habit of a rufh ; the dems are feveral, about a 
Vol. VI. No. 363. 
E L E 449 
foot high, round, fmooth, filled, as it were, like thofe cf 
a rufh; hard, drong, very fimple, fcarcely fo thick as a 
quill, with a fimple joint. There are fcarcely any leaves, 
but two or three leafy flieaths towards the root, imbri¬ 
cated over each other, and of a brown colour; there is 
alfo a rudiment of a fimilar fheath towards the middle of 
the dem ; the fpathe is terminal, and divided into other 
interior ones, which are alfo compound ; the parts of 
fructification are not very eafily made out, but are mod 
clear in the female flowers. 
ELEGI'AC, adj. [ clegiacus , Lat.] Ufed in elegies. 
Pertaining to elegies. Mournful; forrowful: 
Let elegiac lay the woe relate. 
Soft as the breath of didant flutes. Gay. 
ELEGIAM'BIC, adj. A fort of verfe ufed inHorace’s 
Epodes. 
ELEGIO'GR APHER, f. \elegiographv.s, Lat. sAsysic-• 
ypotpo<;, of eheysia, and yp oetpeu, Gr. to write.] A writer of 
elegies. 
ELE'GIT, f. [from the, words in the writ, elegitfibi 
liberari, Lat.] A writ of execution founded on the ftat- 
Will. II. c. 13. Edw. I. c. 18. that lies for him who hath 
recovered debt or damages, or upon a recognizance in 
any court agafnd one not able in his goods to fatisfy the 
fame ; directed to the fheriff, commanding him to make 
delivery of a moiety of the party’s land, and all his goods, 
beads of the plough excepted. And the creditor fhall 
hold the faid moiety of the land fo delivered unto him, 
until his whole debt and damages are paid and fatisfied ; 
and, during that term, he is tenant by elegit. Co. I.it. 2S9. 
Upon an elegit, the fheriff is to deliver one half of all 
houfes, lands, meadows,- and padures, rents, reverdons, 
and hereditaments, wherein the defendant had any foie 
edate in fee, or for life, into whofe hands foever the fame 
do afterwards come ; but not of a right only to land, an 
annuity, copyhold lands, &c. Plozvd. 224. And by it the 
plaintiff, &c. elects omnia bona & catalla of the defendant, 
prater boves & afros dc caruca fua ; and alfo a moiety of all 
the lands which the defendant had at the time of the 
judgment recovered ; but it ought to be ftied within a 
year and a day after the judgment, F. N. B. 267. But 
though by this flatute the lands of the debtor are made 
liable, as well as his perfonal edate, yet if the creditor takes 
out an elegit, and it appears fo the fheriff that there are 
goods'and chattels fufficient of the debtor’s to fatisfy the 
debt, lie ought not to extend the lands. 2 Inf. 395. But 
an eiegit executed upon goods only, is not a fieri.facias, 
for a fieri facias is executed by fale by the fheriff; but 
the elegit by the appraifement cf the goods by a jury, 
and delivery to the party, r Lev. 92. 
Upon this writ the fheriff is to impanel a jury, who 
are to make enquiry of all the goods and chattels of the 
debtor, andYo appraife the fame, and alfo to enquire as 
to his lands and tenements; and, upon fuch inquidtion, 
the dierifl' is to deliver all the goods and chattels, (except 
the beads of the.plough,) and a moiety of the lands, to the 
party, and mud return Iris writ, in order to record fuch 
inquidtion in that court, out of which the elegit iffued ; 
and, when the jury have found the feifin and value bf the 
land, the dieriff, and not the jury, is to let out and de¬ 
liver a moiety thereof to the plaintiff, by metes and 
bounds. Cro. Car. 319. 
All writs of execution may be good, thoug-h not re¬ 
turned, except an elegit; but that limit be returned, be¬ 
caufe an inquidtion is to be taken upon it, and that the 
court may judge of the fufficiency thereof. 4 Rep. 65. It 
has been ruled, that if more than a moiety of the lands is 
delivered on an elegit by the dieriff, the fame is void for 
the whole. 2 Salk. 563. And the dierilf cannot fell any 
thing, but what is found in the inquidtion ; and, there., 
fore, if he fell a term for years, See. mif-recited in the 
inquidtion, as to the commencement thereof, the fale is , 
void. gRep. 74. 
$ Y U 
