ejected from his living of Cholesbury, in Buckinghamshire, in 1662. He turned Quaker in the latter part of his life, and died in 1696, aged sixty, and was buried in Southwark. He wrote some sermons and theological tracts much in the style of Bunyan. They were reprinted in 1671. DYER, (John,) an English poet, son of Robert Dyer, an eminent Welsh solicitor, was born in 1700. After receiving his education at Westminster school, under Dr. Friend, he was called home to be instructed in his father's profession. But a taste for poetry and the fine arts led him to cultivate versification and painting, and he became an itinerant artist, and wandered about South Wales and the parts adjacent. In 1727 he published his Grongar Hill; and, after travelling in Italy, for the purpose of refining his taste by a contemplation of the remains of antiquity there, he published, on his return, his Ruins of Rome, 1740. He soon after took orders, and had several ecclesiastical preferments. In 1757 he published his celebrated poem, The Fleece, of which Dr. Johnson relates this ludicrous story:-Dodsley, the bookseller, was one day mentioning it to a critical visitor, with more expectation of success than the other could easily admit. In the conversation the author's age was asked, and being represented as advanced in life, "He will," said the critic, "be buried in woollen." Dyer died in 1758. His character, as a writer, has been fixed by the three poems already mentioned. Of Grongar Hill, Dr. Johnson observes, that "the scenes which it describes are so pleasing, the images which they raise so welcome to the mind, and the reflections of the writer so consonant to the general sense or experience of mankind, that when it is once read, it will be read again." Dyer's poems were published in one volume, Svo, in 1761. DYER, (Samuel,) a learned writer, born about 1725, and educated at Northampton, under Dr. Doddridge. He afterwards studied under professor Hutcheson at Glasgow, and at Leyden, where he remained two years. In 1758 he undertook the revisal of the English edition of Plutarch's Lives. In this he translated anew only the lives of Demetrius and Pericles. In 1759 he became a commissary in the army in Germany, and 198 continued in that station to the end of the Seven Years' War, when he returned to England, and on the formation of the Literary Club, (composed of Dr. Johnson and his friends) in 1764, he was the first member elected into that society. He died in 1772. Mr. Malone asserted, without a shadow of proof, that Dyer was the author of Junius's letters. DYER, (George,) a classical scholar and miscellaneous writer, born in London, in 1755, and educated at Christ's Hospital, and at Emmanuel college, Cambridge. After taking his degree of B.A. he was employed as usher at a free grammar school at Dedham, in Essex, and subsequently as a private tutor. He then returned to Cambridge, and entered the family of his friend Mr. Robinson, the dissenting minister of St. Andrew's. He afterwards went to Oxford, and officiated as a dissenting preacher. From the year 1792, his residence was in London, where Dr. Priestley and Mr. Gilbert Wakefield were among his most influential friends. He published a volume, entitled Complaints of the Poor, which contained the result of his observations upon prison discipline; for which purpose he had personally examined all the prisons in and about the metropolis; an inspection which he repeated from time to time. He also edited two plays of Euripides, and the Greek Testament; but the greatest labour of his life was the share he had in Valpy's edition of the Classics, in 141 vols; being a combination of the Delphin, Bipont, and Variorum editions. With the exception of the preface, Dyer contributed all that was original in this work, upon which he was engaged from the year 1819 to 1830. He published, among other works, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Robert Robinson. Poems, 1792, 4to. The Poet's Fate, a Poetical Dialogue, inscribed to the Society for the Establishment of a Literary Fund, 1797. An Address to the People of Great Britain on the Doctrine of Libels and the Office of Juror, 1799. Four Letters on the English Constitution, 1813 and 1817. History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge; including notices relating to the Founders and eminen Men, 2 vols, 8vo, 1814. The Privileges of the University of Cambridge; together with additional observations on its Antiquities, Literature, and Biography, 1824, 2 vols, 8vo. He died in 1841. been often printed with the works of that EAGLESFIELD. See EGGLESFIELD. EARLE, (Jabez,) a dissenting minister of some note, was born about 1676, and died in 1768. EARLE, or EARLES, (John,) bishop of Salisbury, was born at York, in 1601. He was entered at Merton college, Oxford, in 1620; became chaplain to Philip earl of Pembroke, and afterwards chaplain and tutor to prince Charles, with whom he went into exile. He was on intimate terms with Walton's friend, Dr. Maley, afterwards bishop of Winchester, and lived a year with him at Antwerp, in the house of Sir Charles Cotterel, from whence he went to France, to join James duke of York. On the Restoration he was made dean of Westminster, in 1662 consecrated bishop of Worcester, and in the following year bishop of Salisbury. In 1665 he attended the king and queen, who had left London on account of the plague, to Oxford. He died in the same year. Earle wrote a copy of verses in praise of Beaumont, which is prefixed to the collection of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher. He translated into Latin the Eikon Basilike. He also translated into Latin Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, but it was destroyed by the carelessness of his servants. His principal work is his Microcosmographie, or a Peece of the World Discovered, in Essays and Characters; a work of great humour, and which throws much light on the manners of the times. No less than six editions of it were published in his life-time. An edition was published in 1811, at Oxford, by Mr. Bliss. EACHARD, (John,) an English divine, born in Suffolk, in 1636. He was admitted at Catharine hall, Cambridge, in 1653, was elected a fellow in 1658, and, in 1675, on the death of the celebrated Dr. Lightfoot, was chosen master in his place. In 1670 he published, though without his name, The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion inquired into, in a Letter to R. L. This had a rapid sale, and passed through six editions. It was attacked by several writers, and among others, by Dr. John Owen, in a preface to some sermons of W. Bridge. To this he wrote a reply. In 1671 he published Mr. Hobbes' State of Nature considered, in a dialogue between Philautus and Timothy, to which he afterwards added a second dialogue. In these he attacked the philosophy of Hobbes with great wit and humour. His works were published in 1774, in three volumes, 12mo, with a life written by Davies, with the assistance of Dr. Farmer and Dr. Johnson. It is said by Granger and Dr. Wharton, that the works of Eachard had evidently been studied by Swift. He died in 1697. EACHARD. See ECHARD. EADMER, or EDMER, a monk in the cathedral of Canterbury, in the twelfth century. In 1120 he was elected bishop of St. Andrew's by the particular desire of Alexander I., king of Scotland; but as Eadmer insisted on being consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury, whom he regarded as primate of all Britain, while Alexander maintained that no such pre-eminence existed, a dispute sprang up between them, which ended in the bishop elect returning to England. Wharton fixes his death in 1124. Eadmer wrote a history of the affairs of England, of his own time, from 1066 to 1122, in EARLE, (William Benson,) was born which many original papers are inserted, in 1740, and died in 1796. He was a and many important facts, no where else great benefactor to the different charities to be found, preserved. This work has of Bristol, Winchester, and Salisbury. In been highly commended both by old and 1775 he reprinted, from a scarce pammodern writers, as well for its correctness, phlet, An exact Relation of the famous as for the regularity of the composition Earthquake and Eruption of Mount Etna and purity of the style. The best edition in 1669, to which he added a letter is that by Selden, in 1623. Eadmer to lord Lyttleton, containing a descripwrote the Life of St. Anselin, which has tion of the eruption of Mount Etna in 1766, of which he had been an eye witness. EARLOM, (Richard,) a celebrated engraver, born in London, in 1742. Even in childhood he evinced an extraordinary taste for drawing. This increased with his advancing years, and he was placed with Cipriani, under whose care he made such rapid progress that he was employed by alderman Boydell, in 1760, to make drawings of the pictures in the splendid collection at Houghton. These drawings were shortly after exquisitely engraved in mezzotint by Earlom. In this branch of the art he was self-instructed, but he soon became a proficient. His engravings from the Libro di Verita of Claude are well known; they number upwards of 300 plates. This eminent engraver died in London, October 9, 1822. EATON, (John,) reckoned by some the founder of Antinomianism, was born in 1575. He was admitted at Oxford in 1590, and was for some time minister of Wickham Market, in Suffolk, where he died in 1641. He published, 1. The Discovery of a most dangerous dead faith, 1641. 2. The Honeycomb of free Justification, 1642. For the latter work he was imprisoned in the Gate-house, in Westminster; and even Neal admits that he committed some mistakes in his assertions about the doctrines of grace. EBBEN, a German monk of the twelfth century, wrote a life of St. Otho, bishop of Bamberg, the apostle of Pomerania, published in the Acta Sanctorum, vol. i. EBBESEN, (Niels, or Nicolas,) a nobleman of Jutland, who lived at the latter end of the thirteenth century. He had a great share in clearing the province of the invaders, and the work was completed by Waldemar the Restorer. The exploits of Ebbesen have been celebrated by many of the Danish poets, and is the subject of a tragedy by M. Sander. He died about 1340. EBED, (Jesu, or Abd Jeschona,) surnamed Bar Brika, born in Mesopotamia, about the middle of the thirteenth century, was made the Nestorian bishop of Isoba, or Nisobis, in 1286, and died in 1318. He is the author of a Catalogue in verse of Syrian writers, published by Abraham Echallensis, with a Latin version, at Rome, in 1653, and reprinted with a Commentary in the Bibliothèque Orientale of Assemani.-Another EBED JESU, who came to Rome in 1562, abjured his errors, and was reconciled to the Church, has been mistaken by some for the author of the Catalogue. EBEL, (John Godefroy,) was born in Prussia, in 1768, and died at Zurich, in 1830. In his travels for the purpose of completing his medical education he came to Zurich, in 1790, and was so much pleased with Switzerland that he remained there three years, and examined it in the most complete manner. The result of his labours appeared in a work in German, a translation of which was published in France under the title of Guide du Voyageur en Suisse. He also wrote, 1. A Picture of the Mountaineers of Switzerland. 2. Thoughts on the Organization of the Terrestrial Globe and the violent Changes that have affected its Surface. 3. A Picturesque Tour by the new Roads of the Canton of Grisons. EBERARD, duke of Friuli, died about 867. He married the daughter of Lothaire, from whom he received the investiture of his duchy.-His second son, BERANGER, became king of Italy. EBERHARD, or EVRARD, surnamed Græcista, lived at Bethune, in Artois, in 1124, or 1212. This is all that is known of him. He wrote a work called Græcismus, formerly used in all the schools in France, Germany, and the Low Countries. EBERHARD. See WURTEMBURG. EBERHARD,(John Henry,) a German lawyer, was born in 1743, and died in 1772. EBERHARD, (John Peter,) a physician, was born in 1727, and died at Halle, in 1779. He wrote some works in German on natural history and mathematics. EBERHARD, (John Augustus,) was born in 1739. After having studied in the university of Halle, he became tutor in the family of the baron Von der Horst, who being called upon to fulfil high functions in the Prussian service, went to reside at Berlin. Here Eberhard devoted himself to the study of theology, and having much admired Semler, became eager to expand and propagate the views of that author. An opportunity was afforded him by the controversy which sprang up on the publication of Marmontel's Belisarius. Among those who had defended the conclusions of the Sor bonne, was a Calvinistic minister of Amsterdam, who wrote a commentary on the theory that the virtues of the heathen were but splendid vices. In reply to this, Eberhard published at Berlin, in 1772, his Apology for Socrates, or an Examination respecting the Doctrine relating to the Salvation of the Heathen. The defence of Socrates, however, formed only a small part of this work, as he had for his object the effecting a great revolution in the opinions of his contemporaries on theological subjects. The publication of the work has been considered as the era from which that theology of the modern German divines called "neological" may be dated. This work was attacked by Ernesti and Lessing, and Eberhard was provoked into a second part of the Apology, which appeared in 1778. The first part of his Apology had in the meanwhile the effect of preventing his advancement in the Church, an object of his earnest desire. For six years he served a cure in the country on a miserably small stipend, in the hope that the unfavourable impressions that his work had caused might be removed. He expected, however, in vain; and at last, finding the obstacles insurmountable, accepted, in 1778, the chair of philosophy at Halle, then vacant by the death of G.F. Meyer. Eberhard and Platner were the staunchest defenders of the philosophy of Leibnitz, when that of Kant arose. From 1787 to 1795 Eberhard published a journal, entitled, The Philosophical Magazine, principally in opposition to the views of Kant. He also wrote An Attempt at a Universal Dictionary of Synonyms of the German Language, which appeared in six volumes, between 1795 and 1802. Guizot has given a sketch of the views of Eberhard in the preface to the Dictionnaire Universel des Synonimes de la Langue Françoise, published in Paris, in 1809. Between 1803 and 1805, he published, in four volumes, A Manual of Esthetics for cultivated Readers of all classes of Society. He died in 1809. Besides the works before mentioned, he wrote, 1. A Guide to Natural Theology, 1781. 2. Amyntor. 3. A General History of Philosophy, 1787. 4. Archives of Philosophy, 1792-5. 5. Sketch of Metaphysics, 1794. 6. On the Forms of Government and their Improvement, 1793. EBERSPERGER, (John George,) a geographical engraver, was born in 1695, and died at Nuremburg in 1760. EBERT, (James,) a Hebrew scholar, professor of theology at Frankfort-on-theOder, was born in 1549, and died 1614. His son Theodore was professor of Hebrew in 1618. EBERT, (David Frederic,) professor of oriental languages at Stettin, was born in 1740, and died in 1789. EBERT, (John James,) a mathemati cian, was born at Breslau in 1737, and died in 1805. He was in his youth a friend of Gellert and Ernesti. He wrote a great many books of considerable merit in German for the instruction of youth. EBERT, (John Gaspar,) a learned philologist, born in Silesia in the seventeenth century, devoted himself to the study of the literary history of his country, and published some works to illustrate it. EBERUS, (Paul,) one of the early German reformers, born in Franconia, in 1511. He was educated at the university of Wittemberg, and was employed for some time as amanuensis by Melancthon, who held him in such high esteem that he consulted him on all important matters, and hence he got the name of "Philip's Repository." He was appointed professor of Hebrew at Wittemberg in 1556, and afterwards first pastor of the church there. After the death of Melancthon, he was regarded as the first of those of his followers who were called Crypto-Calvinists, from their being reserved as to their religious views. He was a man of great learning, and an eloquent preacher. He died in 1589. He wrote, 1. Expositio Evangelior. Dominicalium. 2. Calendarium Historicum. 3. Historia Populi Judaici a reditu Babylonico ad Hierosolymæ excidium. 4. Hymni sacri vernacule editi, which were written for the use of his church, where they long continued to be sung. EBION. Some have supposed that a person of the name of Ebion lived about A. D. 72, was a disciple of Cerinthus, preached the doctrines of his master at Rome and in Asia, and was the founder of the sect of the Ebionites. Others say that there was no such person, and that it is merely an imaginary name; and the silence of Irenæus, and the testimony of Eusebius and Origen, render it probable that this is the case. Gibbon says that they were the same as the Nazarenes; but that that title being deemed too honourable for them by their adversaries, the name of Ebionites was inflicted on them. They maintained that Jesus Christ was a mere man, descended from Joseph and Mary, admitted no other Gospel but that of St. Matthew, which they had in Hebrew, but in a very imperfect state; used forged Acts of the Apostles and other apocryphal books; made Saturday and Sunday equally holidays, bathed after the manner of the Jews, and worshipped at Jerusalem. Being rejected by the Jews as apostates, and by the Christians as heretics, they did not long maintain an independent existence; and though some traces of the sect may be found in the fourth century, they insensibly melted into the Church or the Synagogue. It has been said that it was with a view to Cerinthus and to these heretics that St. John wrote his Gospel. EBKO, ECCO, or EYKE DE REPKOW, a Saxon nobleman of Anhault, who lived in the first half of the thirteenth century. He made a collection of the laws that constituted the Saxon code, which was entitled Sachsenspiegel, or the Mirrour of the Saxons. It has been said that it was originally composed in Latin, and translated into German. However this may be, there is no original Latin now in existence, and both the German and Latin versions that we possess were taken from the old German. This code was at once adopted by the people of North Germany, and many nations of the Sclavonian race, and was the model after which other collections of the same kind, such as the Schwabenspiegel, or the Swabian code, were formed. The court of Rome has often expressed its dislike of the Saxon code, as containing customs abhorrent to the Papal pretensions. Gregory XI. and the Council of Basle have marked some of such articles, which have been termed by canonists, articuli reprobati. This code has been printed upwards of twenty times; the best edition is that by Gærtner, published at Leipsic in 1732. It is a very valuable monument, and very important for the study of the history of the middle ages. This nobleman was also the author of the Saxon feudal law, published by Schilter at Strasburg in 1696, and a short chronicle of the history of the world from the creation to the reign of the emperor William of Holland. EBLE, (John Baptist,) a French general, born in Lorraine about 1758. He entered the army at a very early age, and was noted as an adinirable officer. In 1785 he was sent to Naples to form the artillery of that kingdom, after the model of that of France; but the French Revolution, the principles of which he had adopted, brought him back to France in 1792, where he was at once made a captain, the rank he had held at Naples. He was first employed in the army of the North, and served in the campaigns under Dumouriez, Pichegru, and Jourdan. He was made general of brigade in 1793. He had the direction of the sieges of Ypres, Nieuport, Nimeguen, and Graves, and had a great share In the in the conquest of Holland. beginning of 1797 he kept the fort of Kehl against the efforts of the whole Austrian army under the command of the archduke Charles. He was afterwards placed by Moreau at the head of the artillery, and took part in the brilliant campaign that terminated in the victory of Hohenlinden. He was employed under Massena in Portugal, and directed the operations of the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, and the construction of the bridge of boats at Santarem. He was at the head of the bridge department in the Russian campaign, and was of great service in the passage of the Dniester. It was in a great measure owing to his skill, activity, and readiness, that Napoleon was able to effect the passage of the Beresina in the retreat from Russia. In a single night, with the bitter frost, the masses of ice, and the fire of the enemy to contend with, he made a wooden bridge over that river, and for three days had the care of this frail structure, which was continually breaking, and he repaired all the damage as it happened with the utmost promptitude. To him was committed the duty of setting fire to it after the passage of the army had been effected, which he delayed to the latest moment, and was the means of saving the lives of a great many who must otherwise have perished. He died a few days after from the fatigues he had undergone. |