472 E L G 
fuppofed to be the work of fairies in the night; and all 
hair fo matted together, hath had the name of elf-locks. 
Hamner. 
My face I’ll grime with filth, 
Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots. Shakefpeare. 
ELF-ARROWS, fi in Englifh antiquity, flint-ftones 
fiiarpened on each fide in (hape of arrow-heads, made ufe 
of in war by the ancient Britons; of which feveral have 
been found in England, and greater plenty in Scotland, 
where it is laid the common people imagined they dropt 
from the clouds ; or were made by the elves or fairies. 
See the article Archery, vol. ii. p. 51. 
ELFE'DSJ, a mountain of Arabia, in the province of 
Yemen : twelve miles north-eaft of Abu-Arifch. 
EL'FELD, or Eltvil, a town of Germany, in the 
circle of the Lower Rhine, and electorate of Mentz : 
fourteen miles north-weft of Mentz. 
EL'FIN, adj. Relating to fairies; elfiflt ; belonging to 
elves': 
Now when that idle dream was to him brought, 
Unto that elfin knight he bade him fly, 
Where he llept foundly. Spenfer. 
EL'FIN, f. Little urchin : 
And in thofe elfins’ ears would oft deplore 
The times, when truth by popith rage did bleed. Skenfi. 
ELF'ISH , adj. [telp, Sax. larva. ] Clad in difguife: 
Thou talk’d: it fmoothly, (tripling; yet we fear, 
Thou art fome elfijh truant. Mafia's Argentile. 
ELF'LOCK, f. Knots of hair twifted by elves: 
This is that veryMab, 
That plats the manes of horfes.in the night, 
And cakes the elf-locks in foul iluttifh hairs, 
Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes. 
Shakefpeare. 
ELFS'BORG GAMLA, or Old Elfsborg, a town 
of Sweden, in the province of Weft Gothland, with a 
ftrong caftte near the fea. In 1563 it was burned, and the 
caftle taken by the Danes ; but reftored to the Swedes. 
In 1611, the Danes became matters of it again; but two 
years after it was returned to the Swedes: four miles 
fouth-weft of Gottenburg. 
ELFS'BORG (New), a fortrefs of Sweden, in the 
province of Weft Gothland, built in the year 1646, on an 
ifland at the mouth of the Moldal: four miles weft of 
Gothenburg. 
EL'GA, a river which rifes three miles north from 
Penna Macor, in Portugal, and runs into the Tagus, be¬ 
tween Alcantara and Rofmarilhal, feparating the coun¬ 
tries of Spain and Portugal during its whole courfe of 
about thirty miles. 
ELGATTAR', a town of Africa, in the country of 
Algiers: thirty-feven miles fouth of Bona. 
EL'GEND, a town of Arabia, in the country of Ha- 
dramaut: fixty miles weft of Hadramaut. 
ELGG, a town and lordfliipof Swili’erland, in the can¬ 
ton of Zurich. 
ELGIEHA'MA, a town of Africa, in the empire of 
Morocco, about two leagues from mount Atlas. 
EL'GIN, a town of Scotland, and capital of the county 
of Murray, or Elginthire, near the river Lottie, formerly 
the fee of a bifliop. Ruins of the cathedral, founded in 
1224, yet remain, and give evidence of its ancient magni¬ 
ficence. The lead was taken off the cathedral to pay 
the troops, in the year 1567. The town and cathedral 
were burnt in 1337, by the earl of Buchan, called the 
W'oif of Badoioch, for his impiety : thirty miles eaft of In. 
vernefs, and one hundred north of Edinburgh. 
EL'GIN (County). See Murray. 
EL'GIS, a town of Egypt: fix miles fouth of Abu- 
Girgeh. 
ELGOY'BAR, a town of Spain, in the province of 
Guipufcoa; thirteenmileswetl-fouth-weft of St.Sebaftian, 
E L I 
EL'GUZE, /. in aftronomy, the bright ftar in the left 
thoulder of Orion. 
EL'HAM, a fmall town in Kent, fituated on the lefler 
Stour, between Wye and Hythe, ten miles from Canter¬ 
bury, ten from Dover, fix from Folkftone, and fixty-feven 
from London. It lies low, and clofc by is exceeding good 
running-water: the land in general is poor, cold, and 
ftoney. The place has in ages paft been confiderably lar¬ 
ger. Its market, which was formerly kept on Mondays, 
is not in ufe at prefent. There are four annual fairs, viz. 
Palm Monday, Eaftei; and Whit Mondays, qnd the 20th 
of Oftober. Here is a good charity-fchool, founded by 
the late lir John Williams, knight. 
ELHAM'MA, or El Hamma, a town of Africa, in the 
country of Tripoli. Lat. 34. N. Ion. 28. 26. E. Ferro. 
ELHA'NAN, [Heb. thegraceof God.] Aman’s name. 
E'LI, ['by Heb. i.e. offering or lifting up.] High-prieft: 
of the Ifraelites, and judge of that people for forty 
years, was of the family of Ithamar, the younger branch 
of Aaron’s houfe, and appears to have united the prieftly 
and judicial character about the year before Chrift 1156. 
During almoft the whole of his adminiftration, the Ifra¬ 
elites were in a (late of vaffalage to the Philiftines, into 
whofe hands they were delivered as a puni foment for 
their national vices and degeneracy; and Eli, notwith- 
ftanding that he appears to have been a pious and good 
man, contributed much to that degeneracy, by his want 
of fortitude and refolution in reproving and punifoing 
immorality, and by fuft'ering even his own fons, Hophni 
and Phineas, to countenance, by their praftice, the ex- 
ceffes of debauchery and irreligion. This remiflnefs in 
Eli was fo offenfive to God, that a prophet was commit- 
fioned to upbraid him for his ingratitude and indifference, 
and to predidt the approaching ruin of his houfe. Young 
Samuel was alfo apprifed, in a vition, of the punifliment 
which would fhortly be inflicted upon Eli’s family ; and, 
when folemnly adjured not to conceal what had been re¬ 
vealed to him, he related the particulars of the divine 
denunciation. On hearing.them, the aged high-prieft, 
fenfible how juftly he merited the threatened calamity, 
could only exclaim, “ It is the Lord ; let him do what 
feemeth him good.” Not long after this, the Ifraelites, 
having fuftained confiderable lofs in an attempt to eman¬ 
cipate themfelves from their thraldom, brought the ark 
of God into their camp, to invigorate their people with 
frefh courage, and to ftrike a terror into their enemies. 
But this extraordinary meafure was only a prelude to 
their complete defeat, in which the two tons of Eli, who 
bare the ark, were killed, and that facred fymbol of the 
divine prefence fell into the hands of the Philiftines. 
When tidings of thefe fatal difafters were brought to Eli, 
he was unable to bear up under the afflicting intelligence, 
and falling backwards from his feat, broke his neck, and 
died. At the time of his death he was ninety-eight years 
of age. 
ETIAB, [Heb. God is my father.] A man’s name. 
ELI'ADA, [Heb. the knowledge of God.] A man’s 
name. 
ELLAKIM, [of Sn God, and c'p he arofe ; i.e. God 
arifes.] A proper name of a man in leripture. 
ELPAM, [Heb. the people of God.] A man’s name. 
E'LIANT, a town of France, in the department of Fi- 
nifterre, and chief place of a canton, in the ditlriCt of 
Qujmper : two leagues and a half eaft of Quimper. 
ELI'AS, [Heb. the powerful God.] A man’s name. 
ELI'AS LEVITA, a learned Jewiih rabbi, who flou- 
riflted in the fixteenth century, was a native of Germany, 
but fpent the greater part, of his life at Rome and at Ve¬ 
nice, in which cities he taught the Hebrew language ti> 
numerous Chriftian pupils. He was one of the mod 
learned and enlightened critics of whom the modern Jews 
have to boaft, who judicioufly exploded many of their 
unfounded traditions ; and, among others, that which re¬ 
fers the invention of the vowel-points to fo high an an¬ 
tiquity as the time of Ezra, alcribing it, with greater 
pirebability. 
