Page images
PDF
EPUB

ter

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

another prince, to maintain a good understanding, and look to the interest of his master. Till about two hundred years ago, embassadors in ordinary were not heard of; all, till then, were embassadors extraordinary; that is, such as are sent on some particular occasion, and who retire as soon as the affair is dispatched.

By the law of nations, none under the quality of a sovereign prince can send or receive an embassador. At Athens, embassadors mounted the pulpit of the public orators, and there opened their commission, acquainting the people with their errand. At Rome, they were introduced to the Senate, and delivered their commissions to them.

Embassadors should never attend any public solemnities, as marriages, funerals, &c. unless their masters have some interest therein: nor must they go into mourn ing on any occasions of their own, because they represent the persons of their prince. By the civil law, the moveable goods of an embassador, which are accounted an accession to his person, cannot be seized on, neither as a pledge, nor for payment of a debt, nor by order or execution of judgment, nor by the King's or state's leave where he resides, as some conceive; for all actions ought to be far from an embassador, as well that which toucheth his necessaries, as his person: if, therefore, he hath contracted any debt, he is to be called upon kindly, and if he refuses, then letters of request are to go to his master. Nor can any of the embassador's domestic servants, that are registered in the Secretaries of State's Office, be arrested in person or goods: if they are, the process shall be void, and the parties suing out and executing it shall suffer and be liable to such penalties and corporal punishment, as the Lord Chancellor, or either of the chief justices, shall think fit to inflict. Yet embassadors cannot be defended when they commit any thing against that state, or the person of the prince, with whom they reside; and if they are guilty of treason, felony, &c. or any other crime against the law of nations, they lose the privilege of an embassador, and may be subject to punishment as private aliens.

EMBER weeks, or days, in the Christian Church, are certain seasons of the year, set apart for the imploring God's blessing, by prayer and fasting, upon the ordinations performed in the church at such times. These ordination fasts are observed four times in the year, viz. the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, af

ter the first Sunday in Lent, after Whitsunday, after the fourteenth of September, and the thirteenth of December; it being enjoined, by a canon of the church, that deacons and ministers be ordained, or made, only upon the Sundays immediately following these ember fasts. The ember-weeks were formerly observed in different churches with some variety, but were at last settled as they are now observed, by the council of Placentia, anno 1095. The council of Mentz, convened by Charlemagne, mentions the emberweeks as a new establishment.

EMBERIZA, the bunting, in natural history, a genus of birds of the order Passeres. Generic character: bill conic; mandibles receding from each other, from the base downwards; the lower with the sides narrowed in; the upper containing a large knob, of use to break hard seeds. There are, according to Gmelin, seventy-seven species. Latham enumerates sixty-three, of which the most important are the following: E. nivalis, the snow bunting. These birds are about the size of a chaffinch, and have been found in the most northern latitudes to which navigators have penetrated. They are found, not merely on the land about Spitzbergen, but upon the ice contiguous to it, though merely graminivorous birds, of which genus they are the sole species found in that climate. In the north of Great Britian they sometimes appear in vast flocks, and are considered as the harbingers of a severe winter. They are known in Scotland by the name of snow flake. E. hortulana, the ortolan, is somewhat less than the yellow-hammer, is common in France and Italy, in Germany and Sweden. These birds are migratory, and in their passage are caught in vast multitudes, to be fed for the table, being considered as extremely delicate and luxurious food. They are enclosed by professional feeders in dark rooms, where oats, and other grains, and seeds, are provided for them in the fullest abundance. On these articles they feed with such voracity, that in a short time they attain that size, which it is impossible for them to exceed, and constitute, it may almost be said, one mass of exquisitely flavoured and luscious fat. From this state they would soon sink in lethargy, but they are now killed by their owners for the market. A full-fed ortolan weighs about three ounces. It rarely passes farther north than Russia, and is not to be found in England, or the United States. By

many its notes are particularly admired. It sometimes builds on low hedges, and occasionally on the ground, and generally breeds twice a year. E. citrinella, or the yellow hammer, is extremely common in Great Britain, where it lays its eggs on the ground, or in some low bush, constructing it with little art; it possesses no interesting musical tones, and is tame and stupid in its character; it feeds on grain and insects, and is to be found in almost every country in Europe; its flesh in England is generally bitter, but in Italy the yellow hammer is fattened like the ortolan for the table, and is in considerable estimation. E miliaria, the common bunting. These birds are also particularly common in England, and appear frequently in vast flocks, especially in the winter, during which they are caught in nets, or shot in vast numbers, and sold to many under the successful pretence of their being a species of larks. They are stationary in England, but on the coninent are birds of passage. During the incubation of the female, the male is observed frequently on the bare and prominent branch of some neighbouring tree, exerting himself to cheer her confinement by his song, which, however, is harsh and monotonous in the extreme; at short intervals he utters a sort of trembling shriek, several times repeated. E. oryzivora, or the rice bird, is peculiar to America, where its depredations on the rice and maize subject it to the peculiar aversion of the farmer. They are occasionally kept for the sake of their music. They frequent the shores of rivers in the eastern and northern states, during the autumn, in immense flocks, feeding on the seeds of wild rice, or reeds, as they are called in Pennsylvania (Zizania clavulosa). They are then shot in great numbers for the market, are extremely fat and delicious, not inferior to the ortolan. During the season of their loves, the colour of the male differs very considerably from that of the female, but gradually assimilates with it, until, in the autumn, they are almost undistinguishable from each other by colour. Their brumal retreat is unknown. It is, however, far to the south, and perhaps without the boundaries of the United States. For the cirl bunting, see Aves, Plate VI. fig. 4. For the black-head bunting, see Aves, Plate VI. fig. 5.

EMBEZZLEMENT, in law, by stat. 39 Geo. 3. c. 35. for protecting masters against embezzlement by their clerks and servants: servants or clerks, or per

sons employed for the purpose, or in the capacity of servants or clerks, who shall, by virtue of such employment, receive, or take into their possession, any money, goods, bond, bill, note, banker's draft, or other valuable security or effects, for or in the name, or on the account of, their master or employer; or who shall fraudently embezzle, secrete, or make away with the same, or any part thereof; every such offender shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from his master or employer, for whose use, or on whose account, the same was delivered to or taken into the possession of such servant, clerk, or other person so employed, although such money, goods, bond, bill, note, banker's draft, or other valuable security, was or were no otherwise received into the possession of his or their servants, clerk, or other person so em. ployed; and every such offender, his adviser, procurer, aider, or abetter, being thereof lawfully convicted or attainted, shall be liable to be transported beyond

seas.

EMBLEM, a kind of painted enigma, or certain figures painted or cut metaphorically, expressing some action, with reflections underneath, which, in some measure, explain the sense of the device, and at the same time instruct us in some moral truth, or other matter of know. ledge. The emblem is somewhat plainer than the enigma, and the invention is more modern, it being entirely unknown to the ancients.

EMBLEMENTS, in law, signify the profits of land sown; but the word is sometimes used more largely, for any profits that arise and grow naturally from the ground, as grass, fruit, hemp, flax,

&c.

EMBOLISMIC, or intercalary, a term used by chronologists in speaking of the additional months and years which they insert, to bring the lunar to the solar year. Since the common lunar year consists of twelve synodic months, or 354 days nearly, and the solar consists of 365 days (throwing away the odd hours and minutes) it is plain that the solar year will exceed the lunar by about 11 days; and, consequently, in the space of about 33 years, the beginning of the lunar year will be carried through all the seasons, and hence it is called the moveable lunar year. This form of the year is used at this time by the Turks and Arabians; and because in three year's time the solar year exceeds the lunar by 33 days, therefore, to keep the lunar months in

the same seasons and times of the solar year, or near it, chronologists added a whole month to the lunar year every third year, and so made it consist of 13 months; this year they called the embolismic year, and the additional month the embolismic, or embolimean, or intercalary month. This form of the year is called the fixed lunar year, and it was used by the Greeks and Romans till the time of Julius Cæsar.

EMBOSSING, or IMBOSSING, in architecture and sculpture, the forming or fashioning works in relievo, whether cut with chizzel or otherwise. Embossing is a kind of sculpture, wherein the figures stick out from the plane whereon it is cut; and according as the figures are more or less prominent, they are said to be in alto, mezzo, or basso relievo; or high, mean, or low relief.

EMBOTHRIUM, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Proteæ, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla four-petalled; anthers sessile, sitting on the tips of the petals; follicle round. There are four species.

EMBRACERY, is an attempt to corrupt or influence a jury, or any way incline them to be more favourable to the one side than the other, by money, promises, letters, threats, or persuasions, whether the juror, on whom such attempt is made, give verdict or not, or whether the verdict given be true or false, which is punished by fine and imprisonment; and the juror taking money, perpetual infamy, imprisonment for a year, and forfeiture of tenfold the value.

EMBRASURE, in forti£cation, a hole or aperture in a parapet, through which the cannon are pointed, to fire into the moat or field. Embrasures are generally twelve feet distant from one another, every one of them being from six to seven feet wide without, and about three within; their height above the platform is three feet on that side towards the town, and a foot and a half on the other side towards the field; so that the muzzle may be sunk on occasion, and the piece brought to shoot low.

EMBROCATION, in surgery, an external kind of remedy, which consists in an irrigation of the part affected with some proper liquor, as oils, spirits, &c. by means of a woollen or linen cloth, or a sponge, dipped in the same.

The use

of embrocation is either to attenuate and dislodge something obstructed underVOL. V.

neath the skin, to ease pains, or to irritate the part into more warmth and a quicker sense of feeling. The pumping used in natural baths is properly an embrocation.

EMBROIDERY, a work in gold, or silver, or silk thread, wrought by the needle upon cloth, stuff, or muslin, into various figures. In embroidering stuffs, the work is performed in a kind of loom, because the more the piece is stretched, the easier it is worked. As to muslin, they spread it upon a pattern ready designed; and sometimes, before it is stretched upon the pattern, it is starched, to make it more easy to handle. Embroidery on the loom is less tedious than the other, in which, while they work flowers, all the threads of the muslin, both lengthwise and breadthwise, must be continually counted; but, on the other hand, this last is much richer in points, and susceptible of greater variety. Cloths too much milled are scarce susceptible of this ornament, and in effect we seldom see them embroidered. The thinnest muslins are left for this purpose, and they are embroidered to the greatest perfection in Saxony; in other parts of Europe, however, they embroider very prettily, and especially in France.

There are several kinds of embroidery; as, 1. Embroidery on the stamp, where the figures are raised and rounded having cotton or parchment put under them, to support them. 2. Low embroidery, where the gold and silver lie low upon the sketch, and are stiched with silk of the same colour. 3. Guimped embroidery: this is performed either in gold or silver: they first make a sketch upon the cloth, then put on cut vellum, and afterwards sew on the gold and silver with silk thread; in this kind of embroidery they often put gold and silver cord, tinsel, and spangles. 4. Embroidery on both sides; that which appears on both sides of the stuff. 5. Plain embroidery, where the figures are flat and even, without cords, spangles, or other ornaments.

EMBROIDERY, no foreign embroidery, on gold or silver brocade, is permitted to be imported into this kingdom, on pain of being seized and burned, and a penalty of 100% for each piece.

EMBRYO, in physiology, the first rudiments of an animal in the womb, before the several members are distinctly formed; after which per od it is denominated a fœtus. Sce Forus and MIDWIFE

RY.

B

EMBRYO, in botany. See CORCULUM. EMERALD. This mineral comes chiefly from Peru; some specimens have been brought from Egypt Dolomieu found it in the granite of Elba. Hitherto it has been found only crystallized. The primitive form of its crystals is a regular six-sided prism; and the form of its integrant mole. cules is a triangular prism, whose sides are squares, and bases equilateral triangles. The most common variety of its crystals is the regular six-sided prism, sometimes with the edges of the prism, or of the bases, or the solid angles, or both, wanting, and small faces in their place.

Crystals short; lateral planes smooth, terminal planes rough; colour emerald green, of all intensities; internal lustre between 3 and 4; vitreous; fracture small, imperfect, conchoidal, with a concealed foliated fracture, and fourfold cleavage; fragments sharp-edged; transparency 4 to 2; causes double refraction; scratches quartz with difficulty. Specific gravity from 2.600 to 2.7755.

The fossil here described is the occidental emerald, and appears from antique gems to have been known in the earlier ages, though at present it comes to us only from South America. Vauquelin found it to contain of silex 64.5, argil 16, glucine 13, oxide of chrome 3.25, lime 1.6, and water 2. The oriental emerald is a green corundum, of resplendent lustre, superior in hardness to every stone but the diamond, and of the specific gravity of 4.

EMERSION, in astronomy, is when any planet that is eclipsed begins to emerge or get out of the shadow of the eclipsing body. It is also used when a star, before hidden by the sun as being too near him, begins to re-appear or emerge out of his rays.

EMERSON (WILLIAM), in biography, a late eminent mathematician, was born in June, 1701, at Hurworth, a village about three miles south of Darlington, on the borders of the county of Durham; at least it is certain that he resided here from his childhood. His father, Dudley Emerson, taught a school, and was tolerably proficient in mathematics; and without his books and instructions, perhaps, his son's genius, though eminently fitted for mathematical studies, might never have been unfolded. Beside his father's instructions, our author was assisted in the learned languages by a young clergyman, then curate of Hurworth, who was boarded at his father's house. In the early part of his life he at

tempted to teach a few scholars; but whether from his concise method, for he was not happy in explaining his ideas, or the warmth of his natural temper, he made no progress in his school: he therefore soon left it off, and, satisfied with a moderate competence left him by his parents, he devoted himself to a studious retirement, which he thus closely pursu ed, in the same place, through the course of a long life, being mostly very healthy till towards the latter part of his days, when he was much afflicted with the stone. About the close of the year 1781, being sensible of his approaching dissolution, he disposed of his whole mathematical library to a bookseller at York; and on May the 20th, 1782, his lingering and painful disorder put an end to his life, at his native village, being nearly 81 years of age.

Mr. Emerson, in his person, was rather short, but strong and well made, with an open countenance and ruddy complexion, being of a healthy and hardy disposition; he was very singular in his behaviour, dress, and conversation; his manner and appearance were that of a rude and rather boorish countryman; he was of very plain conversation, and seemingly rude, commonly mixing oaths in his sentences, though without any ill intention; he had strong good natural mental parts, and could discourse sensibly on any subject, but was always positive and impatient of contradiction; he spent his whole life in close study, and writing books, from the profits of which he redeemed his little patrimony from some original incumbrance in his dress he was as singular as in every thing else; he possessed commonly but one suit of clothes at a time, and those very old in their appearance; he seldom used a waistcoat; and his coat he wore open before, except the lower button; and his shirt quite the reverse of one in common use, the hind side turned foremost, to cover his breast, and buttoned close at the collar behind; he wore a kind of rusty coloured wig, without a crooked hair in it, which probably had never been tortured with a comb from the time of its being made: a hat he would make to last him the best part of a lifetime, gradually lessening the flaps, bit by bit, as it lost its elasticity and hung down, till little or nothing but the crown remained.

[ocr errors]

He often walked up to London when he had any book to be published, revising sheet by sheet himself: trusting no eye but his own, was always a favourite maxim with him. In mechanical subjects, he

EME

always tried the propositions practically, making all the different parts himself on a small scale; so that his house was filled with all kinds of mechanical instruments, together or disjointed. He would frequently stand up to his middle in water while fishing, a diversion he was remarkably fond of. He used to study incessantly for some time, and then for relaxation take a ramble to any pot ale house, where he could get any body to drink with, and talk to. The late Mr. Montague was very kind to Mr. Emerson, and often visited him, being pleased with his conversation, and used frequently to come to him in the fields where he was working, and accompany him home, but could never persuade him to get into a carriage; on these occasions he would sometimes exclaim, "Damn your He was a wham! I had rather walk." married man, and his wife used to spin on an old fashioned wheel of his own making, a drawing of which is given in his Mechanics."

whim

Mr. Emerson, from his strong, vigorous mind, and close application, had acquired deep knowledge of all the branches of mathematics and physics, upon all parts of which he wrote good treatises, though in a rough and unpolished stile and manner. He was not remarkable, however, for genius, or discoveries of his own, as his works hardly show any traces of original invention. He was well skilled in the science of music, the theory of sounds, and the various scales both ancient and modern; but he was a very poor performer, though he could make and repair some instruments, and sometimes went about the country tuning harpsichords.

The following is the list of Mr. Emerson's works, all of them printed in 8vo., excepting his " Mechanics" and his "Increments," in 4to. and his " Navigation" 1. The Doctrine of Fluxions. in 12mo. 2. The Projection of the Sphere, Orthographic, Stereographic, and Gnomonical. 3. The Elements of Trigonometry. 4. The Principles of Mechanics. 5. A Treatise of Navigation on the Sea. 6. A Treatise 7. A Treatise on Geom. on Arithmetic. etry. 8. A Treatise of Algebra in two books. 9. The Method of Increments. 10. Arithmetic of Infinities, and the Conic Sections, with other Curve Lines. 11. Elements of Optics and Perspective. 13. Mechanics, with 12. Astronomy. Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces. Mechanical Principles of Geography, Navigation, and Dialling. 15. Commen

14.

tary on the Principia, with the Defence
of Newton. 16. Tracts. 17. Miscella-

nies.

EMERY, a stone of the ruby family, of which three kinds are usually distinguished in commerce; the Spanish, red, and common emery. The first sort is found in the gold mines of Peru, and, beng judged a kind of marcasite of that rich metal, is prohibited to be exported. The red emery is found in copper mines, and the little there is of it in England coines from Sweden and Denmark. The common emery is taken out of iron mines, and almost the only sort used in England; it is ot a brownish colour. bordering a little on red, exceedingly hard, and in consequence difficult to pulverize. The English are the only people who have the art of reducing common emery into powder, and thus send it to their neighbours. Of the powder, the most subule and impalpable is the best; as to the stone, it should be chosen of a high colour, and as free of the rock as possible.

The consumption of emery is very considerable among the armourers, cutlers, lock-smiths, lapidaries, masons, and other mechanics; some of whom use it to polish and burnish iron and steel works; others to cut and scoliop glass, marble, and precious stones.

EMETIC, a medicine which induces vomiting.

EMETIC tartar, the old name for tartrite of antimony.

EMOLLIENTS. See PHARMACY.

EMPETRUM, in botany, heath, a genus of the Dioecia Triandria class and order. Natural order of Ericæ, Jussieu. Essential character: male, calyx threeparted; corolla three-petalled; stamens long; female, calyx three-parted; corolla three-petalled; styles nine; berry nineseeded. There are two species, viz. E. album, white-berried heath, and E. nigrum, black-berried heath, crow or crake berry. These are low shrubs, seldom propagated in gardens, unless for variety's sake. They are natives of wild mountains, where the soil is heathy and full of bogs.

EMPIS, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Diptera. Generic character: mouth with an inflected sucker and proboscis; sucker with a singlevalved sheath and three bristles; feelers short, filiform; antennæ setaceous. These minute insects live by sucking out the blood and juices of other animals. There are about thirty species. One of the

« PreviousContinue »