Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/172

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Egley
166
Eglisham

were two Robert Eglesfields, it is difficult to understand why the second is not named, where several are named, in the statutes of the college, especially since it was through this lay Eglesfield that it acquired the manor of Ravenwyke.

[The charter and statutes of the Queen's College are printed among the Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford, 1863. See also Anthony à Wood's History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, ed. Gutch, Colleges and Halls, pp. 138-41; Dean Burgon's notice in H. Shaw's Arms of the Colleges of Oxford, 1855; and Mr. H. T. Riley's report printed in Hist. MSS. Comm., 2nd Rep., appendix. The writer is indebted for several valuable facts and references to the kindness of the Rev. J. R. Magrath. D.D., provost of Queen's College. On the special characteristics of Eglesfield's foundation compare H.C. Maxwell Lyte's History of the University of Oxford, pp. 147-53, 1886.]

R. L. P.

EGLEY, WILLIAM (1798–1870), miniature painter, was born at Doncaster in 1798. Shortly after the boy's birth his father removed to Nottingham, and became confidential agent to the Walkers of Eastwood. The gift of a box of colours which William received in early youth strengthened his desire to be a painter. But the father destined both him and his brother Thomas for the trade of bookselling. They were received intothe house of Darton, the publisher, Holborn Hill, London; but while Thomas pursued this calling to the end of his life, William, by chance visits to the exhibitions in Somerset House, cultivated and stimulated his love of painting. Without any professional teaching he succeeded in finishing two pictures, the portraits of Colonel Ogleby and of Yates, the actor, whhich were received and exhibited by the Royal Academy in 1824. From that time until the year before his death he was a constant exhibitor, sending in all to the Royal Academy 160 miniatures, to the British Institution two pictures, and to the Suffolk Street Gallery six. He was very successful in portraying children, with whom his genial temper made him a great favourite. He died in London on 19 March 1870, aged 72. He was twice happily married, and by his first wife left a son, William Maw Egley, who is a painter of historical subjects and a regular exhibitor.

[Art Journal, 1870, p. 303; Graves's Dict. of Artists, p. 76.]

R. H.

EGLINTON, Earls of. [See Montgomerie and Seton.]


EGLISHAM, GEORGE, M.D. (fl. 1612–1642), a Scotch physician and poet, was introduced at the age of three to the favourable notice of James VI by the Marquis of Hamilton, who said at the time that Eglisham's father was the best friend he ever had. He was brought up with Hamilton's son (afterwards second marquis, d. 1625), who as long as he lived remained his friend and patron. He was sent abroad and studied at Leyden, where he probably obtained his M.D. degree. While there he engaged in a one-sided controversy with Conrad Vorst, whom he accused of atheism, and published 'Hypocrisis Apologeticæ Orationis Vorstianæ, cum secunda provocatione ad Conradum Vorstium missa; auctore Geo. Eglisemmio, Scot. Phil. et Medico Vorstium iterato Atheismi, Ethneismi, Judaismi, Turcismi, hæreseos schismatiet ignorantiæ apud illustrissimos ordines accusante,' Delft, 1612. The preface to this work is dated from the Hague, 1 June 1612. Eglisham obtained leave from the authorities at Leyden to invite vorst to a public discussion, but Vorst declined to take up the challenge. Returning to Scotland, Eglisham was appointed one of the king's personal physicians in 1616, and continued to receive many tokens of favour from James, who, according to Eglisham, 'daily augmented them in writ, in deed; and accompanied them with gifts, patents, offices' (Prodromus Vindictæ). But of these honours no record remains. In 1618 Eglisham published 'Duellum poeticum contendentibus G. Eglisemmio medico regio, et G. Buchanano, regio preceptore pro dignitate paraphraseos Psalmi civ,' In an elaborate dedication to the king he undertook to prove that Buchanan, who died in 1582, had been guilty of 'impiety towards God, perfidy to his prince, and tyranny to muses.' Eglisham gave a pedantic verbal criticism of Buchanan's Latin version of the psalm in question, which he printed in full, with his own translation opposite. Included in the volume are a number of the author's short Latin poems and epigrams. Eglisham vainly appealed to the university of Paris to decide that Buchanan's version was inferior. He succeeded in attracting notice to himself, and drew from his colleague Arthur Johnston a mock 'Consilium collegii medici Parisiensis de mania G. Eglishemii,' a Latin elegiac poem republished as 'Hypermorus Medicaster;' and from his friend William Barclay a serious judgment on the question at issue, which he decided strongly in favour of Buchanan. Eglisham further published in 1626 'Prodromus Vindictæ,' a pamphlet in which he openly accused the Duke of Buckingham of having caused the deaths, by poison, of the Marquis of Hamilton and the late king, and petitioned Charles I and the parliament severally to have the duke put on his trial.