E L W 
ELY 
486 
whether or not, if his manors, his fifh-ponds, and fome 
grounds in his own hands, had not furnilhed a fubfifteiice, 
where he had not any thing aftually to buy, he would not, 
rather than have bought any thing, have ftarved. Strange 
as this may appear, it is not at all exaggerated. He one 
day, during this period, dined upon the remaining part of 
a moor-hen, which had been brought out of the river by 
a rat! and at another he ate an undigefted part of a pike 
which a larger one had fwallowed, but had not finiftied, 
and which were taken in this date in a net. At the time 
this circumftance happened, he difeovered a ((range kind 
of fatisfafrion ; for he faid to a friend, “ Aye ! this was 
killing two birds with one (tone !” In the room of all 
comment, of all moral, let it be remarked, that at this 
time Mr. Elwes was perhaps worth nearly eight hundred 
thoufandpounds! and, at this period,' he had not made his 
will, of courfe was not faving from any fentiment of af¬ 
fection for any perfon. 
The fummer of 1788 Mr. Elwes paffed at his houfe 
in Welbeck-ffreet, London; and he paffed that fummer 
without any other fociety than that of two maid-fervants; 
for he had now given up the expence of keeping any 
male domefticl His chief employment ufed to be that of 
getting up early in a morning to vifit fome of his houfes 
in MaVy-le-bone, which during the fummer were repair¬ 
ing. As he was there generally at four o’clock in a morn¬ 
ing, he was of courfe on the fpot before the workmen ; 
and he ufed contentedly to fit down on the fleps before 
the door, to fcold them when they came. The neigh¬ 
bours, who ufed to fee him appear thus regularly every 
morning, and who concluded, from his.apparel, lie was 
one of the workmen, obferved, “ there never was fo 
punctual a man as the old carpenter.” During the whole 
morning he would continue to run up and down (fairs to 
lee the men were not idle for an inftant, with the fame 
anxiety as if his whole happinefs in life had been centered 
in the finilhing this houfe, regardlefs of the greater pro¬ 
perty he had at (lake in various places, and for ever em¬ 
ployed in the minutiae only of affairs. 
In the mufcular frame of Mr. Elwes, there was every 
thing that promifed extreme length of life; and he lived 
to above feventy years of age without any natural difor-, 
der attacking him: but, as lord Bacon has well obferved, 
• * the minds of fome men are a lamp that is continually 
burning;” and fuch was the mind of Mr. Elwes. Re¬ 
moved front thofe occafional public avocations which 
had once engaged his attention, money was now his only 
thought. He rofe upon money—upon money he lay down 
to reft; and as his capacity funk away from him by de¬ 
grees, he dwindled from the real cares of his property 
into the puerile concealment of a few guineas. This little 
ftore he would carefully wrap up in various papers, and 
depofiting them in different corners, would amufe him- 
felf with running from one to the other to fee whether 
they were all fafe. Then forgetting, perhaps, where he 
had concealed fome of them, he would become as fe- 
rioufly afflifted as a man might be who had loft all his 
property. Nor was the day alone thusfpent: he would 
frequently rife in the middle of the night, and be heard 
walking about different parts of the houfe, looking after 
what he had thus hidden and forgotten. 
Mr. George Elwes having been fettled at his feat at 
Marcham in Berkthire, he was naturally defirous that, in 
the aftiduities of his wife, his father might at length find 
a comfortable home. In London he was certainly moll 
uncomfortable ; but (fill, with thefe temptations before 
and behind hint, a journey with any expence annexed to 
it was infurmountnble. This, however, was luckily ob¬ 
viated by an offer from his friend Mr. Partis, to take him 
to his ancient feat in Berkftiire, with his purle perfectly 
tvhole. But there was one circumftance dill very diftref- 
fing: the old gentleman had now nearly worn out his 
laft coat, and he would not buy a new one ; his foil, 
therefore, vpith a pious fraud, contrived to get Mr. Partis 
.to buy him a coat, and make him a prefent of it. Thus, 
formerly having had a good coat, then a bad one, and at 
laft no coat at all, he tvas kind enough to accept one from 
a neighbour, 
Mr. Elwes carried with him into Berkftiire five guineas 
and a half, and half-a-crown. Left the mention of this 
fum may appear Angular, it (hould be noticed, that pre¬ 
vious to his journey he had carefully wrapped it up in 
various folds of paper, that no part of it might be loft. 
On the arrival of the old gentleman, Mr. George Elwes 
and his lady did every thing they could to make the 
country a feene of quiet to him. But “ he had that with¬ 
in” which baffled every effort of the kind. Of his heart, 
it might be faid, “ there was no peace in Ifrael.” His 
mind, caft away upon the vaft and troubled ocean of his 
property, extending beyond the bounds of his calcula¬ 
tion, returned to amufe itfelf with fetching and carrying 
about a few guineas, which in that ocean was indeed a 
drop. But nature had now carried on life nearly as far 
as (he was able. The firft fymptoms of more immediate 
decay was his inability to enjoy his reft at night. Fre¬ 
quently would he be heard at midnight as if ftruggling 
with fome one in his chamber, and crying out, “ I will 
keep my money, I will; noboby fnall rob me of my pro¬ 
perty.” On any one of the family going into his room, 
lie would ftart from this fever of anxiety, and, as if 
waking from a troubled dream, again hurry into bed, and 
feem unconfcious of what had happened. At length, on 
the 26th of November, 1789, expired this miferably rich 
man, whofe property, nearly reaching to a million fterl- 
ing, extended itfelf almoft through every county in Eng¬ 
land. His property was divided between his two natu¬ 
ral fons. 
EL’WY, a river of North Wales, which runs into the 
Cluyd near St. Afaph. 
EL'XAT, or Elcesai, the reputed founder of the fe£t 
of the Elcefaites, or Sampfaeans, was a Jew by nation, 
who appears to have propagated his opinions in the be¬ 
ginning of the fecond century, under the reign of the em¬ 
peror Trajan. According'to Epiphanius, it is doubtful 
whether he is to be claffed among Jews or Chriftians. 
But from what that writer has himfelf further related of 
the refpeft paid to him by the followers of four fe£!s, 
who, in fome m'eafure, borrowed their opinions from 
hint, viz. the Ebionites, two forts of Nazarenes, and the 
Offenes; and the mod credible judgment that can be 
formed concerning their tenets, we conceive that he is 
clearly to be ranked among Chriftians. It feerns mod 
probable that his followers concurred generally, if not- 
entirely, with the fe£ts above-named in their diftinguifli- 
ing opinions. It appears that they regaled many parts 
of the Old Teftament, and the Gofpels at lead in the 
New, as facred books, but that they rejected fome, if 
not all, of the apoftolical writings. It does not appear 
that this fe£t ever fpread much beyond the confines of 
Paieftine. 
ELY, [probably of eXo?, Gr. a marffi, or helig , C. Br. 
a willow, becaufe, like other fenny places, it abounds 
with willows. ] The ancient city and metropolis of the 
county of Cambridge, fituated on the Qufe, in a fenny 
country, called The IJle of Ely , which extends forty miles 
weft, fix north, fix lonth, and three eaft, from the city. 
It was eredted into a bifliopric in the year 1107, in favour 
of Hervey, removed from Bangor. The bilhop poffeftes 
nearly all the rights 6f a county palatine, and is fovereign : 
he appoints a judge to hear and determine all caufes within 
the ifle, holds aftizes, gaol delivery, and quarter feffions. 
of the peace within the liberty, and has his chief and un¬ 
der bailiffs for execution of procefs, and his cuftos rotu- 
lorum: yet it is not a county palatine, but a royal fran- 
cliife. See the article Countv, vol.'v. p. 290. Here 
was an abbey of nuns in the feventh century, which was 
deftroyed by tlie Danes in the year 86S. In the year 970, 
an abbey of monks was founded, which, in 1413, was 
mitred, and continued till the diffolution, when it was 
yalued at 10S4I. The cathedral, which is its chief orna¬ 
ment. 
