ber of the Society of Antiquaries, he contributed some papers to their Archæologia.—J. S., G.
ESTACO, Achille (better known as Achilles Statius), a learned Portuguese, born at Vidiguera in 1524. He was taken into Asia when a child by his father, and destined for a military life; but manifesting different tastes, he was entered as a pupil in the school at Evora, and afterwards studied at Louvain and Paris. His first literary production was a version, with notes, of two hymns of Callimachus, followed by commentaries on Cicero, Horace, Catullus, and innumerable other learned works. He was librarian to Cardinal Sforza; secretary to the council of Trent under Pius IV.; and afterwards secretary to Pius V. and Gregory XIII. In 1569 he published a work, which is now as valuable as it is rare, "Illustrium virorum ut exstant in urbe expressi vultus." He died at Rome, 15th September, 1581.—F. M. W.
ESTAING, Charles Hector, Count d', a distinguished French naval officer, was born in Auvergne in 1729, of an ancient and honourable family. Entering the army, he fought in India under Lally Tollendal, and was taken prisoner by the English in Lally's unsuccessful attack upon Madras in 1759. Liberated on parole, he quitted the army for the navy; and, receiving the command of two war-vessels of the French East India Company, he did considerable mischief to English shipping and commerce in the Indian seas. On his way home he was captured by an English cruiser, and ultimately transmitted to London; he succeeded in clearing himself of the charge that he had broken his parole. At the peace of 1763 he was suddenly elevated to the rank and authority of lieutenant-general of the naval forces of France. Fifteen years later, he took the command of the first squadron sent by France to aid the Americans in their struggle with the mother-country, and, among other achievements, captured the island of St. Vincent. He failed however, in a strenuous attempt to take Savannah, and, on returning to France, was in disgrace for a time. At the breaking out of the French revolution he was made commandant of the national guard of Versailles, and remained steadfast to the cause of constitutional royalty. Eventually he was guillotined during the Reign of Terror on the 28th April, 1794. He closed his defence before the ruthless revolutionary tribunal, with the words—"When you have cut off my head, send it to the English; they will give you a high price for it."—F. E.
ESTAMPES. See Etampes.
ESTCOURT, Richard, an English actor and author, frequently commemorated by Steele in the Spectator and the Tatler for his extraordinary powers of mimicry, his wit, and polished manners, was born at Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire in 1668. He ran away from his father's house at fifteen years of age, and joined an itinerant troupe of comedians at Worcester. He was soon discovered by his father, carried up to London, and bound apprentice to an apothecary, but only a short time had elapsed when he returned to the stage. He passed two years itinerating in England, then went over to Ireland, and finally appeared at Drury Lane, where, in the part of Dominic in the Spanish Friar, he achieved a great reputation. The whole of his stock-in-trade as an actor, however, was mimicry. He left two dramatic pieces entitled "Fair Example" and "Prunella."—J. S., G.
ESTE, House of.—The origins of this celebrated family have been interwoven with legendary lore by the playful adulation of Ariosto, and the epic muse of Tasso. But the first record which we find of historical authenticity is that which relates to one Marquis Adalberto, who probably was of Longobard descent, and who lived at the beginning of the tenth century.—His son Oberto Obizzo, who embraced, the party of Otho I. of Germany against King Berengarius, married Guilla, sister to Ugo, marquis of Tuscany, through which marriage the estate of Este was added to the already large domains of the family.—His successors Oberto II. and Alberto Azzo I. joined in the attempts made by Arduino (1004-1014), and by the diet of Pavia, to wrest the Italian Crown from the hands of the Germans.—Alberto Azzo II., a supporter of Pope Gregory VII., married Cunizza, or Cunegonda, of the house of Welph in Swabia. Her brother, Welph III., having died without children, was succeeded by her son Guelfo of Este, who is the root to which, through the branch of Brunswick-Luneburg, the reigning house of England owes its origin (see Brunswick, House of). From these Welphs and their rivals the Weiblungen came to the Italians the party name of Guelfi and Ghibellini.—Folco carried on the Italian line of the Estensi, who, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were at the head of the Guelfi party in northern Italy against the Ghibelin chiefs, Salinguerra Torelli, Ecelino da Romano, &c.—Azzo Novello conquered Ferrara from the old Torelli (1242), and headed the crusade raised by Pope Innocent IV. against Ecelino, who, with all his relatives, fell a victim to the hatred of the Guelfs. Azzo was saluted by the pontiff as defender of the church, and recognized by the citizens of Ferrara as their lord. Ferrara, Comacchio, and other places, which subsequently belonged to the Estensi, were claimed by the popes as their property, through the donation of Pepin. These temporal privileges, however, asserted by the church, but uncertain in their very origin and nature, were often cancelled by other kings and emperors, through that same authority which had at first granted them, and oftener disregarded by feudal lords and the citizens of the free towns. The popes, nevertheless, constantly proclaimed their presumed rights. But, as they had then no power to transform their nominal jurisdiction into absolute sway, popular franchises and princely claims superseded everywhere their old pretensions, often with their own sanction. The Estensi were considered, even after the destruction of the house of Suabia and the wreck of the Ghibelin power with it, the protectors of the Guelf party against the remaining feudal lords of Lombardy (Visconti, Scaligeri, &c). South of the Po the Guelfs were dominant; but society was still disturbed by the private feuds of the nobles. The working portion of the community began there, as well as in other parts of Italy, to look out for some strong hand, able to protect law and order; and thus it was that, not only Ferrara, but also Modena Reggio, Rovigo, and other towns, elected the Estensi as their podestà, or dictators, first pro tempore, then with an established hereditary claim. The popes through their Guelf sympathies bestowed upon them the temporary investiture of Ferrara, with the title of vicars of the church. At the death of Azzo the people proclaimed as his successor his nephew Obizzo, although illegitimate. This was not a singular occurrence with the Estensi, for, when there was no legal heir, they often used to appoint as their successor in the state some illegitimate whom they thought fit for the office; and in this practice they generally met with the consent of the citizens, who cared more for able than for legitimate rulers. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the papal legate, Cardinal Pelagrue, occupied Ferrara.; and the popes, who were then at Avignon, transferred the vicarage of that town to King Robert of Naples. But the Ferrarese did not long submit to French and papal reaction. They rose in arms, and called back Rinaldo and Obizzo II. of Este (1317). Obizzo made an agreement with Pope Giovanni XXII., and obtained from him a regular investiture of Ferrara (1329), whilst the Emperor Lodovico of Bavaria gave him imperial investiture of Modena and Reggio. With his son Alberto a new breach took place in the regular succession of the family, as, through want of a legitimate heir, he appointed, and the people acknowledged as their future master, his natural son Nicolò, who being yet a child at the death of his father, a municipal regency governed in his name till 1402. Nicolò proved a gallant condottiere and a man of literary tastes. After having commanded the Florentine and Venetian troops against the Visconti, who were then rising to formidable power, and brought to subjection the rural nobility (nobiltà castellana) of his states, he turned his mind to the encouragement of manufactures, agriculture, and learning; and built the beautiful tower of the Gothic cathedral at Ferrara, and other splendid monuments. The infidelity of his wife Parisina, who loved Ugo, one of his natural sons, and the tragical end of the two lovers are well known, both through history and romance.—Lionello and Borso, two other of his natural sons, held successively the reins of government after his death, as Ercole, the only legitimate one among his children, was still under age. Lionello, a learned pupil of Guarino of Verona, pursued a policy of peace, and endowed Ferrara with objects of antiquity, with schools and libraries. The university, an institution of the thirteenth century, was much improved by him. Borso, chosen by the people in 1450, followed the same course. Industry, commerce, civil law, municipal statutes, the fortifications of Ferrara, and the submission of the clergy to public duties and taxation, occupied in turn his watchful administration. The Emperor Sigismund conferred upon him, with a new investiture of Modena and Reggio, the title of duke; and Pope Paul II. did the same with regard to Ferrara. Borso had no wife; and when he died, Ercole succeeded to the throne. Ercole I. was very cautious, and often
