ficial mountain, by the comparison of a rainbow and the raptures of a draughtsman. He avoided this defect in his subsequent works; but it was by a cautious gradation that he attempted to correct his early and erroneous principles, and to consult the ease of the public, at the same time that he surmounted the greatest difficulties of his occupation. At length he discovered, that where the abutments are secure from the danger of giving way, arches of much less segments, and of far less altitude, than general opinion had hitherto required, are perfectly secure, and render the bridges much easier for carriages to pass over, and in every respect adapt them better to the purposes of a ready and free communication. Impressed with the importance of those rules by which he had assiduously per fected his own practice, he was in the habit of considering his own branch of architecture as reducible to three great requisites; durability, the freedom of the water flowing under, and the ease of the traffic passing over. These are certainly maxims of peculiar importance in bridges of one arch, which are not only the best adapted to situations where tremendous floods occur, but in many cases are the only bridges securely practicable in mountain valleys.

The literary knowledge of William Edwards was at first confined to the Welsh language, which he could read and write from early youth. He was supposed to be rather obstinate when a boy; an imputation which generally rests on genius, that sees beyond the scope of those by whom it is controlled. His own account of this alleged temper was, that he always considered whether any thing that was proposed to him, or any principle that he was required to act upon, coincided with his own ideas of rectitude. If he found that it did, he firmly persisted in it. His general character was that of uncommon resolution and inflexibility. He was very wild, as it is commonly reported of him, till about eighteen years of age. After that period, he became very steady and sedate. A neighbour instructed him a little in arithmetic. About the age of twenty or twenty-one, he undertook the building of a large iron forge at Cardiff, and lodged with a person named Walter Rosser, a baker, and blind. This man taught English reading. William Edwards was alive to every opportunity of improvement, and rapidly acquired what he eagerly pursued,

After he had performed his engagement at Cardiff, he built many good houses, with several forges and smelting

houses, and was for many years employed at works of this nature by John Morris of Clasement, esq. now sir John Morris, bart. He studied much the remains of Caerphilly Castle, which is in his native parish, and his principles were formed on those of its masonry. His manner of hewing and dressing his stones was exactly that of the old castle-masons, and he put them together with a closeness, neatness, and firmness, that is never seen but in thosé ancient édifices.

To the ample employment which his skill in architecture furnished, he added that of a farmer during the whole of his life, and on Sunday exercised the functions of a spiritual pastor among the independent dissenters. He was ordained in their communion in 1750, and officiated for forty years as minister of a congregation in his native parish. In his principles he was what is termed a moderate Calvinist. From his flock he regularly received his stipulated salary, but as regularly distributed the whole among the poor, with a considerable addition, where necessary, from his private fortune. Thus highly respected by all sects and parties, for his extraordinary talents, piety, and probity, he died, much lamented, in 1789, and was buried in the church-yard of Eglwysilan. He left a numerous family, of which David, his second son, inherits his father's skill in bridge-building, and the others are men of talents and worth. 1

९.

EECKHOUT (ANTONY VANDER), a celebrated painter, was born at Brussels in 1656, but it is not ascertained from what master he learned the art. He travelled to Italy with his brother-in-law Lewis Deyster, a very eminent artist, with whom he painted in conjunction, during the whole time of his continuance abroad, Deyster executing the figures, and Eeckhout the fruit and flowers, and with such perfect harmony and union, that the difference of their pencils was quite imperceptible. When he returned to Brussels, he received many marks of respect and distinc tion, and also an appointment to a very honourable station; yet he soon forsook friends, honours, and a certainty of being enriched, and embarked for Italy, where he wished to spend the remainder of his days. But chance conducted him to Lisbon, where his pictures sold for an

1 From a very interesting account of this ingenious man, in Malkin's " Scepery of South Wales," 2d edit, 1807, vol. I. p. 132.

exceeding high price, as he painted all his subjects in the Italian taste, and, during his residence in Italy, he had taken pains to sketch so many elegant forms of fruits and flowers, that he had a sufficient number for all his future compositions. He had lived at Lisbon about two years, when he married a young lady of quality, and extremely rich. This splendid fortune probably raised him rivals, who were jealous, of his prosperity. Being out one day in his coach, he was shot with a ball, of which he instantly died, in 1695; but the cause of this assassination, or who were the authors and perpetrators of it, was never discovered.'

EECKHOUT (GERBRANT VANDER), another artist, eminent for the success with which he imitated Rembrandt, was born at Amsterdam, in 1621, and was a disciple of Rembrandt, whose manner of designing, colouring, and penciling, he imitated wonderfully. But although it is difficult to distinguish between several of his paintings, and those of his master, he is thought to have excelled him in the extremities of his figures. His principal employment was for portraits, and he surpassed all his contemporaries in the power he had of painting the mind in the countenance, His portrait of his own father had so much force, resemblance, and life, as to astonish even Rembrandt himself when he saw it. But, although Eeckhout painted portraits with great success, he was much more pleased to paint historical subjects, and not less happy in his execution, his composition being rich, and full of judgment; the distribution of his masses of light and shadow truly excellent; and in the opinion of some connoisseurs, he had more transparence in his colouring, and better expression than Rembrandt. His back-grounds are generally clearer than his, yet, if in this and other respects he attained to the perfections of Rembrandt, he also shared his defects; he was often incorrect in design, elegance, and grace, and was totally negligent of the costume. In the collection of the elector Palatine, a picture of this master is mentioned, as having a strong and admirable expression; the subject is "Christ among the Doctors;" another picture of this master, representing "Simeon with Christ in his arms," is a most excellent performance, and sir Robert

Descamps, vol. III.-Pilkingten.

Strange had a third, the "Guard Room," which he praised very highly. This artist died July 22, 1674.1

EGEDE (HANS or JOHN), an enterprising Danish missionary, was a native of Denmark, born Jan. 31, 1686, and was for some time a preacher at Trundheim, in Norway. Having heard that long before his time some families of Norway had established themselves in Greenland, where the Christian religion was propagated by them, and even churches and convents built, he felt himself interested in the welfare of this colony, and curious to know its actual state; and although he was told that the ice rendered that country intolerable, that the people were savages, and that no traces were now to be found of the religion which they had been taught, he still persisted in his design of reviving an establishment there, and for some years made many unsuccessful attempts to procure the necessary means. At length Frederic IV. king of Denmark seemed disposed to second his efforts, and called together the body of merchants of Bergen, to know what assistance and what privileges they would grant to a company disposed to make the experiment of establishing a colony in Greenland. But these merchants could not be made to comprehend the utility of the plan, and nothing was done by them as a body. Egede, however, was not wholly disheartened, but visited the merchants individually, and by dint of solicitation, obtained a subscription amounting to 10,000 crowns, to which he added 300, which was the whole of his own property. He then built vessels fit for the voyage, and provided all necessaries; the king appointed him missionary, with a salary of 300 crowns, and in May 1721, Egede set sail with his wife and children, full of ardent hopes. After many dangers, he landed on the Baals river, in West Greenland, and built a house. He now endeavoured to gain the confidence of the natives by kind approaches; he learned their language, and took every method to soften their manners, and enlighten their understandings. also, as a very necessary step towards civilization, endeavoured to form a commercial establishment with them, and, some time after, the king sent other vessels and two more ecclesiastics to assist Egede in his undertaking. The colony then began to prosper; above 150 children were bap

Argenville, vol. III.-Descamps, vol, II.—Pilkington and Strutt

He

tised and taught the principles of the Christian religion, and every thing wore a promising appearance, when, on the accession of Christian VI. to the throne, an order came to discontinue their proceedings. On this the greater part of the colonists returned home; but Egede persisted in remaining on the spot, and having persuaded about a dozen seamen to share his lot, he renewed his endeavours with success, and the following year a vessel arrived from the mother-country with provisions and men, and an order to persevere in the objects of the mission. Every succeeding year a vessel arrived with similar assistance, and Egede received 2000 crowns by each, for the annual expences of the colony, in the promotion of which he con tinued to labour with great zeal, until old age and infirmities obliged him to desist, when his eldest son, Paul, was appointed his successor. After a residence of fifteen years, the good old man returned to Copenhagen, and employed the remainder of his days in teaching the Greene land language to young missionaries. He died in the

island of Falster, Nov. 5, 1758. A short time before this event, he published his "Description and Natural History of Greenland," of which there has been a French translation by Roches de Parthenay, printed at Geneva, 1763, 8vo, and the same year a German translation by Krunitz. There is also a German translation of "The Journal of his Mission," printed at Hamburgh, 1740, 4to. His son Paul, who died in 1789, wrote an "Account of his own Mission," which appeared in 1789, 8vo. '

EGERTON (THOMAS), lord Ellesmere, an eminent English statesman and lawyer, the son of sir Richard Egerton, of Ridley, in Cheshire, was born in Cheshire, about the year 1540. In 1556 he was admitted a commoner of Brasenose college, in Oxford, where he continued about three years; and having laid a good foundation of classical and logical learning, he removed thence to Lincoln's-inn, and applied himself with such success to the study of the law, that he soon became a noted counsellor *. The supe

1 Dict. Hist.

* There is a tradition that one of the first public occasions which created an opinion of lord chancellor Egerton's shrewdness and ability in his profession was shortly after he removed to Lincoln's-inn. He happened to be in court whep a cause was trying, in

which it appeared, that three graziers had vested a joint deposit of a sum of money in the custody of a woman who lived in Smithfield, upon condition that she was to account for it upen their coming to demand it together, One of the graziers, by persuading her