up with it." This sarcastic book proved a successful attack on Warburton's edition of our great poet, and could not, therefore, be allowed to pass. Accordingly that irascible annotator, in the next edition of the Dunciad, came down with his merciless lash on the shoulders of poor Edwards. The latter replied both in prose and verse, but the ignominy of being associated with the heroes of the Dunciad was not easily forgotten. Edwards, however, enjoyed the friendship of many of the most famous persons of his time—his best answer to the ferocious attack of Warburton. He died in 1757.—R. M., A.
EDWARDS, Thomas, an English divine, was born in 1729. He was educated at Cambridge, and, soon after taking orders, made himself a name in biblical literature by his "New English Translation of the Psalms from the Original Hebrew, reduced to metre by the late Bishop Hare, with notes," &c. Another publication, with a similar purpose, appeared in 1762, entitled "Prolegomena in Libros Veteris Testamenti Poeticos; sive dissertatio," &c. This book, which contained an attack on Dr. Lowth's Metricæ Harianæ brevis Confutatio, engaged Edwards in a controversy with that celebrated scholar, who, it was allowed, had the best of the argument. Edwards published several other works, both in Latin and English, some of which are said to be of considerable value. He was promoted in 1770 to the vicarage of Nuneaton, where he died in 1785.—R. M., A.
EDWARDS, William, a self-taught architect, whose name is associated with some ingenious experiments, and with at least one noble work in the history of bridge-building, was born in 1719, in the parish of Eglwysilan, Glamorganshire, where his father occupied a small farm. In his youth he was employed in repairing the stone fences in his native district, and, before commencing those architectural labours which have made him celebrated, had been engaged in superintending the building of houses, mills, forges, &c. It was after he completed his eighteenth year that he acquired the first rudiments of knowledge. In 1746 he was engaged to build a bridge over the Taff, a river running in a deep vale, and receiving from the surrounding mountains several streams. He accomplished the undertaking in a manner highly creditable both to his ingenuity and taste, the three arches of which the bridge consisted being finished in a style of uncommon elegance; but, unfortunately, a flood of unusual height swept the entire masonry away, and, being bound to uphold his work for seven years, Edwards had to begin a new bridge at his own expense. This disaster proved in the long run an advantage to his fame. He conceived the splendid idea of replacing his three arches by a single arch—spanning one hundred and forty feet and rising to an altitude of thirty-five. This project was all but completed, when the pressure of the ponderous work over the haunches caused the arch to spring up in the middle, so as to force out the keystones. Three cylindrical apertures in the masonry above the haunches were sufficient to remedy this disastrous occurrence, and now the bridge over the Taff, finished in 1755, challenges the admiration of all beholders. After this success Edwards, of course, did not lack employment; but although some of his subsequent labours were equally creditable to his genius and useful to the public, he executed none which require special notice. He died in 1789.—J. S., G.
* EDWARDS, William Frederic, a distinguished physiologist. His father was an English physician, who settled in the West Indies, where the subject of the present notice was born. He is the elder brother of Henry Milne Edwards, professor of natural history in Paris, who is better known under the name of Milne-Edwards. The latter was born at Bruges (see Milne-Edwards), and the elder brother pursued his medical studies in Paris, and became known for his studies and experiments on the influence exerted by physical agents on life. In 1824 he published a work on this subject in Paris, entitled "De l'Influence des agens physiques sur la Vie." This work was translated into English by Dr. Hodgkin and Dr. Fisher, and published with an appendix by Dr. Edwards in 1834. Dr. Edwards also published scientific papers and a book on the physiological character of the human races.—E. L
EDWARDS. See Milne-Edwards.
EDWIN, one of the most powerful monarchs of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, was the son of Aella, the founder of the kingdom of Deira, and was born in 586. He was only three years of age when the death of his father rendered the throne of Deira vacant, and the sovereignty was usurped by Ethelfrith, king of Bernicia, his sister's husband. Edwin's friends were forced to seek an asylum for him at the court of Cadvan in North Wales; and a war ensued between Ethelfrith and the Welsh, which terminated in the defeat of the latter, near Chester. After wandering in disguise for many years, Edwin at length obtained the protection of Redwald, king of the East Angles, who was at that time bretwalda, or supreme ruler of England. Ethelfrith, being informed of this, demanded that Edwin should be delivered into his hands, and, on the refusal of Redwald, prepared to enforce his demand by arms; but he was defeated and killed in a battle fought in Nottinghamshire in 617. Edwin succeeded to his father's throne in Deira, and by the assistance of Redwald, he soon added Bernicia also to his dominions, and formed the kingdom of Northumbria. His reign was long and prosperous. In 624 he succeeded Redwald in the dignity of bretwalda, and in the course of a few years he compelled all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to acknowledge his supremacy, with the single exception of Kent. On the death of his wife, Cwenburghe, daughter of the king of Mercia, he allied himself to the royal house of Kent by contracting a marriage with Tata Edilberga, the daughter of Ethelbert. To her influence, and to the exertions of her friend and counsellor Paulinus, a Roman priest, is to be attributed one of the most important events that marked the reign of Edwin—the introduction of christianity into Northumbria. After prolonged deliberation on the subject, the king, his chief nobles, and even the priesthood of Odin, united in formally renouncing their idols, and embracing the religion of Christ, 629. Eanfled, the king's daughter, was the first to be baptized; the king and his nobles afterwards submitted to the rite, and the whole population of the kingdom soon followed their example. The archiepiscopal see of York was established, Paulinus being appointed the first archbishop. Not many years after these events, the ambition of Edwin precipitated him into a war with his early benefactors, the Welsh; and though success attended his arms for a time, he was ultimately defeated and killed in a battle fought against their king Cadwallo, and Penda the king of Mercia, in 633.—D. M.
EDWY the Fair, one of the Anglo-Saxon kings—called also Eadwig and Edwin in the old chronicles of the period—was son and heir to Edmund I.; but in consequence of his tender age at his father's death, 946, the sceptre then passed into the hands of his uncle Edred, whom he succeeded in 955. Odo who held the primacy at this time, was a zealous patron of the Benedictines; and Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, a still more enthusiastic and able advocate of their principles, had risen to great influence at the court and in the kingdom. The latter, presuming on the power which he had exercised over Edred, was guilty of an act towards Eadwig which cannot be more easily reconciled with the spirit of religion than with the duty of the subject. On the day of the coronation, and in the course of a festive entertainment, attended by the chief nobles and ecclesiastical dignitaries of the land, the young sovereign had risen from the table and retired to the apartments of his wife Elgiva, whom the monastic writers call his mistress, as she was within the forbidden degrees of affinity. Dunstan, being commissioned to request his return, intruded on his privacy, and not without violence of word and act, dragged him back to his place among the revellers. But the spirit of Edwy was above submission to such indignity. The insolent abbot was deprived of his offices, and a sentence of banishment compelled him to take refuge in Flanders. His friends, however, were numerous and powerful, being headed by Odo, and countenanced also by the aged chancellor, Turketul, who had retired into the monastery of Croyland. The prelate seized Elgiva, and inflicted on her a series of tortures, which ere long carried her to the grave; and not content with striking at the king through his conjugal affections, he instigated, or at all events countenanced, a revolt of the Mercians and Northumbrians. They proclaimed Edwy's younger brother, Edgar, and forced the former to cede to him the whole territory north of the Thames. In the following year Edwy died, 958.—W. B.
EECKHOUT, Anton van den, a Flemish painter of flowers and fruit, born at Bruges in 1656. He is supposed to have learned from his brother-in-law, Louis de Deyster, the principles of his art; a supposition borne out by the perfect similarity of colour and tones to be found in the works of the two artists. Eeckhout generally limited himself to ornamenting with flowers and fruits the pictures of which Deyster painted the figures. Each assisting the other in this way, the two friends travelled abroad, and visited Italy, where they resided for a length of time.
