signed the treaty of Tientsin, which forms a point of departure in the relations between Europe and China. The treaty of Tientsin signed, Lord Elgin proceeded to Japan, where, by an admirable mixture of firmness and conciliation, he negotiated a treaty which promises to open up that great country to European commerce. It was expected, when Lord Palmerston formed his second administration, that Lord Elgin would have entered it as colonial-secretary; but he accepted the postmaster-generalship, with a seat in the cabinet. In 1859 he was elected lord-rector of Glasgow university; and, on the occasion of his inauguration, he delivered an address which proved that, to the qualities of an eminent diplomatist and statesman, he added a large share of purely-intellectual endowments and of scholarly accomplishment. Having been subsequently appointed governor-general, he went to India, where he died, 20th November, 1863. Lord Elgin was twice married; first, in 1841, to the daughter of Mr. C. Lennox Cumming Bruce, M.P., who died in 1843; second, in 1846, to the fourth daughter of the late earl of Durham.—F. E.
ELGIN, Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin, and of Kincardine in the peerage of Scotland, was born in 1766. After spending some years at Harrow and Westminster, he entered the university of St. Andrews, and afterwards prosecuted the study of international law and military science in different parts of the continent. Having entered the army, he attained the rank of general; but his public life was spent almost exclusively in the diplomatic service. He was envoy at Brussels in 1792, and envoy-extraordinary at Berlin in 1795, and at Constantinople in 1799. His chief claim to historical interest arises from his connection with that noble collection of sculptured figures, known as the "Elgin Marbles," which are now deposited in the British Museum. These are mostly basso-relievos and fragments of statuary which formerly adorned the Parthenon at Athens. The history of their acquisition, which in one form at least is well known to all readers of Childe Harold, may be shortly stated. About the time that Lord Elgin was appointed ambassador at Constantinople, it was suggested to him that the remains of Grecian art could be of essential service to artists in the different parts of the world, only by their being actually represented in correct drawings and casts. Impressed with the truth and importance of this suggestion, he communicated with the British government on the subject; but in consequence of the exciting military transactions in which the nation was engaged at the time, the matter was not proceeded with. Encouraged, however, by the favourable opinion and co-operation of Sir William Hamilton, Lord Elgin resolved to carry out his scheme at his own expense and risk. He accordingly engaged two architects, two modellers, and two painters, of whom one was Signor Lusieri, an artist of distinguished reputation in the service of the king of the Two Sicilies. When these persons reached Athens in the summer of 1800, they found that the Turks, instead of affording facilities, did everything to thwart the object which Lord Elgin had in view. After the expulsion of the French from Egypt, however, a favourable change speedily took place, and in 1801 warrants were issued by the Turkish government to the chief authorities of Athens in favour of Lord Elgin, in which it was stated, "that he might view, draw, and model the ancient temples of the idols and the sculptures upon them, and make excavations, and take away any stones that might appear interesting to him." As the Turks showed indifference about the preservation of the ancient sculptures, and indeed often wantonly destroyed them. Lord Elgin resolved to remove as many of them as his means and opportunities would allow, and he actually secured and brought to England a large number. In 1816 the collection was purchased for the nation, on the recommendation of a select committee of the house of commons, at a cost of £35,000. The latter part of the life of Lord Elgin was spent in private at his seat Broomhall, near Dunfermline, and he died at Paris in 1841.—J. B. J.
ELIAS, the name of three patriarchs of Jerusalem—
ELIAS I., who died in 518, occupied the patriarchate in 494-95, but was deposed by decree of the council of Sidon.
ELIAS II., who died in 797, was patriarch from 760, or perhaps an earlier date, till his death. He had two representatives at the council of Nicæa in 787.
ELIAS III., who addressed a letter to Charles le Gros in 881, a Latin translation of which is preserved in D'Achery's Spicilegium, died in 907.—J. S., G.
ELIAS LEVITA, the most distinguished Jewish rabbi of the fifteenth century. Considerable uncertainty exists respecting the date and place of his birth, but it appears probable that he was born of a family of German origin at Venice in 1472. He passed the greater part of his life in Rome and Venice, in both of which cities his unrivalled reputation as a teacher of Hebrew procured him the friendship of many celebrated men, who thought it an honour to be reckoned among his pupils. No modern works in the Hebrew language have been so widely studied or so generally admired as were those of Elias Levita in the century in which they first appeared. He was not only the first philologist and critic among the Hebrews of his time, but a poet of high mark, and a man of such excellence of judgment and character as never to lose one of the brilliant and varied friendships which his reputation gained him. The best account of his life is that which is obtained by piecing together the brief autobiographical notices contained in his works. He wrote several grammatical treatises, which, both in the original and in Munster's Latin translations, were extensively circulated; a work called "Masored Ammasored" which, both on account of its value as a repertory of biblical criticism, and as embodying the author's theory regarding the vowel points, the invention of which he referred to the sixth century, attracted much attention; a lexicon of Chaldee; a treatise on the Hebrew letters, and one on the accents, and various other works of a similar kind, highly valuable in their day. Elias died at Venice in 1549.—J. S., G.
ELICHMANN, Johann, a German orientalist, famous for his knowledge of Persian; in respect of which, according to Salmasius, who edited one of his works, he was unrivalled among European scholars. He was born in Silesia, and died at Leyden in 1639. He propounded a theory, or rather revived one long before advanced by Justus Lipsus, which went to show that the German and Persian languages had one common origin.—J. S., G.
* ELIE DE BEAUMONT, Jean-Baptiste-Armand-Louis-Leonce, a celebrated French geologist. He was youngest son of Jean-Baptiste-Jacques Elie de Beaumont, a noted writer on jurisprudence. His mother was authoress of anecdotes of the court and reign of Edward II., king of England. He was born at Calvado on the 25th of September, 1798. He received his early education at the Lycee Henri IV.; and, having received the first prize for mathematics and physics, he became a pupil of the ecole polytechnique. From hence he went to the school of mines, where, having remained two years, he began that series of studies and labours, which have made his name so widely known. In 1823, in company with M. Dufrenoy, he visited England and Scotland, for the purpose of making observations on the geology of the British islands. On their return they were employed in making a geological map of France. In 1829 he was appointed to deliver the course of lectures on geology at the school of mines; and in 1832 he was appointed professor of geology in the college of France. In 1833 he was appointed engineer-in-chief of mines in France, and was afterwards elected a member of the Academy of Berlin, of the Academy of Sciences in France, and of the Royal Society of London. In 1852 he was appointed by a presidential decree to a seat in the senate. On the death of Arago he was made secretary to the Academy of Sciences. His works and papers are very numerous. In 1850, according to Agassiz's Bibliography, they amounted in all to forty. One of his principal works is his treatise entitled "Theorie des Soulèvements et de la direction des chaines de montagnes." He also published his lectures on geology in three volumes in 1845. Many of his most important works and papers have been published in conjunction with Dufrenoy, his friend and collaborateur.—E. L.
ELIEZER Ben Hircan, surnamed the Great, a rabbi who is supposed to have lived in the latter half of the first century of our era, and at the commencement of the second, and who is still held in high esteem by the Jews as the author of one of their most ancient post-biblical books, the "Pirke rabbi Eliezer" (Chapters of rabbi Eliezer). Morin's conjecture respecting the date of this work, which he refers to the seventh century, seems altogether unfounded. Although related on the father's side to Gammaliel, Eliezer was thirty years of age before he was permitted to indulge his inclination towards the study of the law. Once introduced to that study, however, his progress was amazing. In point of reputation as a doctor in the law he was soon without a rival. He was on terms of intimacy with that Rabbi Joshua whom his own merit and the favour of Trajan rendered famous in the first century.—J. S., G.
