Geology.—This county may be divided geologically into two areas, the hilly region to the south being composed of the crystalline schists of the Central Highlands and the fertile plain of Moray being made up of Old Red Sandstone and Triassic strata. In the Cromdale Hills in the south-east of the county the metamorphic series comprises schistose quartzite, quartz-schists, micaceous flagstones and mica-schists, which are granulitic and holocrystalline, the dark laminae in some cases containing heavy residues such as ilmenite and zircon. The greater portion of the metamorphic area west of the Spey consists of granulitic quartz-biotite-granulites and bands of muscovite-biotite-schist belonging to the Moine series of the Geological Survey (seeScotland:Geology). In certain areas these are permeated by granitic material in the form of thin strings, knots and veins. Excellent sections of these rocks are exposed in the Findhorn, the Divie and the tributaries of the Spey. Near Grantown there is a group locally developed, comprising crystalline limestone with tremolite, kyanite gneiss, muscovite-biotite-schist and quartzite, the age and relations of which are still uncertain. The general strike of the crystalline schists, save where there are local deflections, is north-east and south-west, and the general dip is to the south-east. Between Lochindorb and Grantown there is a mass of granite belonging to the later intrusions of the Highlands represented by the Cairngorm granite. Within the county there are representatives of the middle and upper divisions of the Old Red Sandstone resting unconformably on the crystalline schists. The strata of the middle or Orcadian series consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shales and clays, with limestone nodules containing fish remains. This sequence is well displayed in the banks of the Spey north of Boat of Bridge and in the Tynet Burn east of Fochabers, the latter being one of the well-known localities for ichthyolites in the middle or Orcadian division. In the Tynet and Gollachie Burn sections, the fish bed is overlaid by conglomerates and red pebbly sandstones, passing upwards into a thin zone of andesite lavas, indicating contemporaneous volcanic action. West of the Tynet Burn and Spey sections there is no trace of the members of the Orcadian division till we reach the Muckle Burn and Lethen Bar in Nairnshire, save the coarse conglomerate filling the ancient hollow of the valley of Rothes which may belong to the middle series. In that direction they are overlapped by the Upper Old Red Sandstone, which in the river Lossie, in the Lochty Burn and the Findhorn rest directly on the metamorphic rocks. Even to the south of the main boundary of the upper division there are small outliers of that series resting on the crystalline schists. Hence there must be a discordance between the Middle and Upper Old Red Sandstone in this county. The strata of the upper division consist of red, grey and yellow false-bedded sandstones with conglomeratic bands, which are well seen in the Findhorn between Sluie and Cothall, where they are associated with a bed of cornstone, all dipping to the N.N.W. at gentle angles. South of Elgin they are exposed in the Lossie and at Scaat Craig, while to the north of that town they extend along the ridge from Bishopmill to Alves. By means of the fish remains, which occur at Scaat Craig, in the Bishopmill quarries, at Alves, in the Findhorn cliffs and in the Whitemyre quarry on the Muckle Burn, the Upper Old Red Sandstone in this county is arranged in two groups, the Alves and Rosebrae. In the area lying to the north of the Upper Old Red Sandstone ridge at Bishopmill and Quarrywood, the strata of Triassic age occur, where they consist of pale grey and yellow sandstones and a peculiar cherty and calcareous band, known as the cherty rock of Stotfield. The sandstones are visible in quarries on the north slope of Quarry Wood, at Findrassie, at Spynie and along the ridge and sea-shore between Burghead and Lossiemouth. They are invested with special interest on account of the remarkable series of reptilian remains obtained from them, comprisingStagonolepis, a crocodile allied to the modern caiman in form;TelerpetonandHyperodapedon, species of lizards;Dicynodonts(GordoniaandGeikia) and a horned reptile,Elginia mirabilis(seeScotland:Geology). The palaeontological evidence points to the conclusion that these reptiliferous sandstones must belong in part to the Trias, indeed it is possible that the lower portion may be of Permian age. In the Cutties Hillock quarry west of Elgin these reptiliferous beds rest directly on the sandstones containingHoloptychiusof Upper Old Red Sandstone age, so that the apparent conformability must be entirely deceptive. Within the area occupied by the Trias west of Stotfield, flagstones appear, charged with fish scales of Upper Old Red age, where they form a low ridge protruding through the younger strata. Both the Upper Old Red and Triassic sandstones have been largely quarried for building purposes. On the shore at Lossiemouth there is a patch of greenish white sandstones yielding fossils characteristic of the Lower Oolite.The glacial deposits distributed over the fertile plain of Moray and in the upland valleys are of interest. The low grounds were crossed by the ice descending the Moray Firth in an easterly and south-easterly direction, which carried boulders of granite from Strath Nairn and augen gneiss from Easter Ross. In the Elgin district, boulders belonging to the horizons of the Lower and Middle Lias, the Oxford Clay and the Upper Chalk are found both in the glacial deposits and on the surface of the ground. The largest transported mass occurs at Linksfield, where a succession of limestones and shales rests on boulder clay and is covered by it, which from the fossils may be of Rhaetic or Lower Lias age.
Geology.—This county may be divided geologically into two areas, the hilly region to the south being composed of the crystalline schists of the Central Highlands and the fertile plain of Moray being made up of Old Red Sandstone and Triassic strata. In the Cromdale Hills in the south-east of the county the metamorphic series comprises schistose quartzite, quartz-schists, micaceous flagstones and mica-schists, which are granulitic and holocrystalline, the dark laminae in some cases containing heavy residues such as ilmenite and zircon. The greater portion of the metamorphic area west of the Spey consists of granulitic quartz-biotite-granulites and bands of muscovite-biotite-schist belonging to the Moine series of the Geological Survey (seeScotland:Geology). In certain areas these are permeated by granitic material in the form of thin strings, knots and veins. Excellent sections of these rocks are exposed in the Findhorn, the Divie and the tributaries of the Spey. Near Grantown there is a group locally developed, comprising crystalline limestone with tremolite, kyanite gneiss, muscovite-biotite-schist and quartzite, the age and relations of which are still uncertain. The general strike of the crystalline schists, save where there are local deflections, is north-east and south-west, and the general dip is to the south-east. Between Lochindorb and Grantown there is a mass of granite belonging to the later intrusions of the Highlands represented by the Cairngorm granite. Within the county there are representatives of the middle and upper divisions of the Old Red Sandstone resting unconformably on the crystalline schists. The strata of the middle or Orcadian series consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shales and clays, with limestone nodules containing fish remains. This sequence is well displayed in the banks of the Spey north of Boat of Bridge and in the Tynet Burn east of Fochabers, the latter being one of the well-known localities for ichthyolites in the middle or Orcadian division. In the Tynet and Gollachie Burn sections, the fish bed is overlaid by conglomerates and red pebbly sandstones, passing upwards into a thin zone of andesite lavas, indicating contemporaneous volcanic action. West of the Tynet Burn and Spey sections there is no trace of the members of the Orcadian division till we reach the Muckle Burn and Lethen Bar in Nairnshire, save the coarse conglomerate filling the ancient hollow of the valley of Rothes which may belong to the middle series. In that direction they are overlapped by the Upper Old Red Sandstone, which in the river Lossie, in the Lochty Burn and the Findhorn rest directly on the metamorphic rocks. Even to the south of the main boundary of the upper division there are small outliers of that series resting on the crystalline schists. Hence there must be a discordance between the Middle and Upper Old Red Sandstone in this county. The strata of the upper division consist of red, grey and yellow false-bedded sandstones with conglomeratic bands, which are well seen in the Findhorn between Sluie and Cothall, where they are associated with a bed of cornstone, all dipping to the N.N.W. at gentle angles. South of Elgin they are exposed in the Lossie and at Scaat Craig, while to the north of that town they extend along the ridge from Bishopmill to Alves. By means of the fish remains, which occur at Scaat Craig, in the Bishopmill quarries, at Alves, in the Findhorn cliffs and in the Whitemyre quarry on the Muckle Burn, the Upper Old Red Sandstone in this county is arranged in two groups, the Alves and Rosebrae. In the area lying to the north of the Upper Old Red Sandstone ridge at Bishopmill and Quarrywood, the strata of Triassic age occur, where they consist of pale grey and yellow sandstones and a peculiar cherty and calcareous band, known as the cherty rock of Stotfield. The sandstones are visible in quarries on the north slope of Quarry Wood, at Findrassie, at Spynie and along the ridge and sea-shore between Burghead and Lossiemouth. They are invested with special interest on account of the remarkable series of reptilian remains obtained from them, comprisingStagonolepis, a crocodile allied to the modern caiman in form;TelerpetonandHyperodapedon, species of lizards;Dicynodonts(GordoniaandGeikia) and a horned reptile,Elginia mirabilis(seeScotland:Geology). The palaeontological evidence points to the conclusion that these reptiliferous sandstones must belong in part to the Trias, indeed it is possible that the lower portion may be of Permian age. In the Cutties Hillock quarry west of Elgin these reptiliferous beds rest directly on the sandstones containingHoloptychiusof Upper Old Red Sandstone age, so that the apparent conformability must be entirely deceptive. Within the area occupied by the Trias west of Stotfield, flagstones appear, charged with fish scales of Upper Old Red age, where they form a low ridge protruding through the younger strata. Both the Upper Old Red and Triassic sandstones have been largely quarried for building purposes. On the shore at Lossiemouth there is a patch of greenish white sandstones yielding fossils characteristic of the Lower Oolite.
The glacial deposits distributed over the fertile plain of Moray and in the upland valleys are of interest. The low grounds were crossed by the ice descending the Moray Firth in an easterly and south-easterly direction, which carried boulders of granite from Strath Nairn and augen gneiss from Easter Ross. In the Elgin district, boulders belonging to the horizons of the Lower and Middle Lias, the Oxford Clay and the Upper Chalk are found both in the glacial deposits and on the surface of the ground. The largest transported mass occurs at Linksfield, where a succession of limestones and shales rests on boulder clay and is covered by it, which from the fossils may be of Rhaetic or Lower Lias age.
Climate and Agriculture.—The climate of the coast is equable and mild, even exotic fruits ripening readily in the open. The uplands are colder and damp. The average temperature in January is 38° F. and in July 58.5°, while for the year the mean is 47° F. The rainfall for the year averages 26 in. Considering its latitude and the extent of its arable land the standard of farming in Elginshire is high. The rich soil of the lowlands is well adapted for wheat, barley and oats. The acreage confinedto the glens and straths under barley approximates that under oats. In the uplands, oats is the principal cereal. The breeding of live-stock is profitable, and some of the finest specimens of shorthorned and polled cattle and of crosses between the two are bred. On the larger farms in the Laigh Leicester sheep are kept all the year round, but in the uplands the Blackfaced take their place. Large numbers of horses and pigs are also raised.
Other Industries.—Whisky is the chief product, and the numerous distilleries are usually busy. There are woollen mills at Elgin and elsewhere and chemical works at Forres and Burghead. Owing to the absence of coal what little mineral wealth there is (iron and lead) cannot be remuneratively worked. The sandstone quarries, yielding a building-stone of superior quality, are practically inexhaustible. The plantations mainly consist of larch and fir and, to a smaller extent, of oak. Much timber was once floated down the Spey and other rivers, but, since the increased facilities of carriage afforded by the railways, trees have been felled on a wider scale. Boat-building is carried on at Burghead, Lossiemouth and Kingston—so-called from the fact that a firm from Kingston-on-Hull laid down a yard there in 1784—while at Garmouth the fishing fleet lies up during the winter and is also repaired there. The Firth fisheries are of considerable value. The boats go out from Findhorn, Burghead, Hopeman and Lossiemouth, which are all furnished with safe harbours. Findhorn has been twicevisitedby calamities. The first village was overwhelmed by the drifting sands of Culbin, and the second was buried beneath the waves in 1701. Kingston harbour is tidal, exposed, and liable to interruption from a shifting bar. The deep sea fisheries comprise haddock, cod, ling and herring, and the Spey, Findhorn and Lossie yield large quantities of salmon.
The Great North of Scotland railway enters the shire in the S.E. from Craigellachie, whence a branch runs up the Spey to Boat of Garten in Inverness-shire, and in the N.E. from Port Gordon, running in both cases to Elgin, from which a branch line extends to Lossiemouth. The Highland railway traverses the western limits of the shire running almost due north to Forres, whence it turns westward to Nairn and eastward to Elgin. From the county town it runs to Aberdeen via Orbliston and Keith, with a branch to Fochabers from Orbliston.
Population and Government.—The population was 43,471 in 1891 and 44,800 in 1901, when 1865 persons spoke both Gaelic and English, and 2 spoke Gaelic only. The chief towns are Elgin (pop. in 1901, 8460), Forres (4313) and Lossiemouth (3904), to which may be added Rothes (1621), Grantown (1568) and Burghead (1531). In conjunction with Nairnshire the county returns one member to parliament. Elgin and Forres are royal burghs; the municipal and police burghs include Burghead, Elgin, Forres, Grantown, Lossiemouth, and Rothes. Elginshire is included in one sheriffdom with Inverness and Nairn, and there is a resident sheriff-substitute at Elgin. The county is under school-board jurisdiction, several of the schools earning grants for higher education. There are academies at Elgin and Fochabers and science and art and technical schools at Elgin and Grantown. The bulk of the “residue” grant is spent in subsidizing the agricultural department of Aberdeen University and the science schools and art and technical classes in the county.
History.—Moray, in the wider sense, was first peopled by Picts of the Gaelic branch of Celts, of whom relics are found in the stone circle at Viewfield and at many places in Nairnshire. Christianity, introduced under the auspices of Columba (from whose time the site of Burghead church has probably been so occupied), flourished for a period until the Columban church was expelled in 717 by King Nectan. Thereafter the district was given over to internecine strife between the northern and southern Picts, which was ended by the crushing victory of Kenneth MacAlpine in 831, as one result of which the kingdom of Pictavia was superseded by the principality of Moravia. Still, settled order had not yet been secured, for the Norsemen raided the country first under Thorstein and then under two Sigurds. It was in the time of the second Sigurd that the Firth was fixed as the northern boundary of Moray. In spite of such interruptions as the battle of Torfness (Burghead) on the 14th of August 1040, in which Thorfinn, earl of Orkney and Shetland, overthrew a strong force of Scots under King Duncan, the consolidation of the kingdom was being gradually accomplished. After Macbeth ascended the throne the Scandinavians held their hands. Though Macbeth and hisfainéantsuccessor, “daft” Lulach, were the only kings whom Moray gave to Scotland, the province never lacked for able, if headstrong, men, and it continued to enjoy home rule under its own marmaer, or great steward (the equivalent ofearl, the title that replaced it), until the dawn of the 12th century, when as an entity it ceased to exist. With a view to breaking up the power of the marmaers David I. and his successors colonized the seaboard with settlers from other parts of the kingdom. Nevertheless, from time to time the clansmen and their chiefs descended from their fastnesses and plundered the Laigh, keeping the people for generations in a state of panic. Meanwhile, the Church had become a civilizing force. In 1107 Alexander had founded the see of Moray and the churches of Birnie, Kinneddar and Spynie were in turn the cathedral of the early bishops, until in 1224 under the episcopate of Andrew of Moray (de Moravia), the church of the Holy Trinity in Elgin was chosen for the cathedral. Another factor that drew men together was the struggle for independence. In his effort to stamp out Scottish nationality Edward I. came as far north as Elgin, where he stayed for four days in July 1296, and whence he issued his writ for the parliament at Berwick. Wallace, however, had no doughtier supporter than Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, and Bruce recognized the assistance he had received from the men of the north by erecting Moray into an earldom on the morrow of Bannockburn and bestowing it upon Thomas Randolph (seeMoray, Thomas Randolph, earl of). Henceforward the history of the county resolved itself in the main into matters affecting the power of the Church and the ambitions of the Moray dynasties. The Church accepted the Reformation peacefully if not with gratitude. But there was strife between Covenanters and the adherents of Episcopacy until, prelacy itself being abolished in 1689, the bishopric of Moray came to an end after an existence of 581 years. (For the subsequent history of the earldom, which was successively held by the Randolphs, the Dunbars, the Douglases, the royal Stewarts and an illegitimate branch of the Stewarts, seeMurrayorMoray, earls of.) Other celebrated Moray families who played a more or less strenuous part in local politics were the Gordons, the Grants and the Duffs. Still, national affairs occasionally evoked interest in Moray. In the civil war Montrose ravaged the villages which stood for the Covenanters, but most of the great lairds shifted in their allegiance, and the mass of the people were quite indifferent to the declining fortunes of the Stewarts. Charles II. landed at Garmouth on the 3rd of July 1650 on his return from his first exile in Holland, but hurried southwards to try the yoke of Presbytery. The fight at Cromdale (May day, 1690) shattered the Jacobite cause, for the efforts in 1715 and 1745 were too spasmodic and half-hearted to affect the loyalty of the district to Hanoverian rule. A few weeks before Culloden Prince Charles Edward stayed in Elgin for some days, and a month afterwards the duke of Cumberland passed through the town at the top of his speed and administered thecoup de grâceto the Young Pretender on Drummossie Moor.
Twice Elginshire has been the scene of catastrophes without parallel in Scotland. In 1694 the barony of Culbin—a fine estate, with a rent roll in money and kind of £6000 a year, belonging to the Kinnairds, comprising 3600 acres of land, so fertile that it was called the Granary of Moray, a handsome mansion, a church and several houses—was buried under a mass of sand in a storm of extraordinary severity. The sandy waste measures 3 m. in length and 2 in breadth, and the sand, exceedingly fine and light, is constantly shifting and, at rare intervals, exposing traces of the vanished demesne. This wilderness of dome-shaped dunes divided by a loftier ridge lies to the north-west of Forres. The other calamity was the Moray floods of the 2nd and 3rd ofAugust 1829. The Findhorn rose 50 ft. above the ordinary level, inundating an area of 20 sq. m.; the Divie rose 40 ft., and the Lossie flooded all the low ground around Elgin. The floods tore down bridges and buildings, and obliterated farms and homesteads.
Authorities.—Lachlan Shaw,History of the Province of Moray(Gordon’s edition, Glasgow, 1882);A Survey of the Province of Moray(Elgin, 1798); W. Rhind,Sketches of the Past and Present State of Moray(Edinburgh, 1839); E. Dunbar Dunbar,Documents relating to the Province of Moray(Edinburgh, 1895); C.A. Gordon,History of the House of Gordon(Aberdeen, 1890); C. Rampini,History of Moray and Nairn(Edinburgh, 1897); C. Innes,Elgin, Past and Present(Elgin, 1860); J. Macdonald, “Burghead” (Proceedings of Glasgow Archaeological Soc.), (1891); Sir T. Dick Lauder,The Wolf of Badenoch(Glasgow, 1886);An Account of the Great Floods of August 1829 in the Province of Moray and Adjoining Districts(Elgin, 1873).
Authorities.—Lachlan Shaw,History of the Province of Moray(Gordon’s edition, Glasgow, 1882);A Survey of the Province of Moray(Elgin, 1798); W. Rhind,Sketches of the Past and Present State of Moray(Edinburgh, 1839); E. Dunbar Dunbar,Documents relating to the Province of Moray(Edinburgh, 1895); C.A. Gordon,History of the House of Gordon(Aberdeen, 1890); C. Rampini,History of Moray and Nairn(Edinburgh, 1897); C. Innes,Elgin, Past and Present(Elgin, 1860); J. Macdonald, “Burghead” (Proceedings of Glasgow Archaeological Soc.), (1891); Sir T. Dick Lauder,The Wolf of Badenoch(Glasgow, 1886);An Account of the Great Floods of August 1829 in the Province of Moray and Adjoining Districts(Elgin, 1873).
ELGON, also known asMasawa, an extinct volcano in British East Africa, cut by 1° N. and 34½° E., forming a vast isolated mass over 40 m. in diameter. The outer slopes are in great measure precipitous on the north, west and south, but fall more gradually to the east. The southern cliffs are remarkable for extensive caves, which have the appearance of water-worn caves on a coast line and have for ages served as habitations for the natives. The higher parts slope gradually upwards to the rim of an old crater, lying somewhat north of the centre of the mass, and measuring some 8 m. in diameter. The highest point of the rim is about 14,100 ft. above the sea. Steep spurs separated by narrow ravines run out from the mountain, affording the most picturesque scenery. The ravines are traversed by a great number of streams, which flow north-west and west to the Nile (through Lake Choga), south and south-east to Victoria Nyanza, and north-east to Lake Rudolf by the Turkwell, the head-stream of which rises within the crater, breaking through a deep cleft in its rim. To the north-west of the mountain a grassy plain, swampy in the rains, falls towards the chain of lakes ending in Choga; towards the north-east the country becomes more arid, while towards the south it is well wooded. The outer slopes are clothed in their upper regions with dense forest formed in part of bamboos, especially towards the south and west, in which directions the rainfall is greater than elsewhere. The lower slopes are exceptionally fertile on the west, and produce bananas in abundance. On the north-west and north the region between 6000 and 7000 ft. possesses a delightful climate, and is well watered by streams of ice-cold water. The district of Save on the north is a halting-place for Arab and Swahili caravans going north. On the west the slopes are densely inhabited by small Bantu-Negro tribes, who style their country Masawa (whence the alternative name for the mountain); but on the south and north there are tribes which seem akin to the Gallas. Of these, the best known are the El-gonyi, from whom the name Elgon has been derived. They formerly lived almost entirely in the caves, but many of them have descended to villages at the foot of the mountain. Elgon was first visited in 1883 by Joseph Thomson, who brought to light the cave-dwellings on the southern face. It was crossed from north to south, and its crater reached, in 1890 by F.J. Jackson and Ernest Gedge, while the first journey round it was made by C.W. Hobley in 1896.
(E. He.)
ELI(Hebrew for “high”? 1 Sam. chaps, i.-iv.), a member of the ancient priesthood founded in Egypt (1 Sam. ii. 27), priest of the temple of Shiloh, the sanctuary of the ark, and also “judge” over Israel. This was an unusual combination of offices, when it is considered that in the history preserved to us he appears in the weakness of extreme old age, unable to control the petulance and rapacity of his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who disgraced the sanctuary and disgusted the people. While the central authority was thus weakened, the Philistines advanced against Israel, and gained a complete victory in the great battle of Ebenezer, where the ark was taken, and Hophni and Phinehas slain. On hearing the news Eli fell from his seat and died. In a passage not unlike the account of the birth of Benjamin (Gen. xxxv. 16 sqq.), it is added that the wife of Phinehas, overwhelmed at the loss of the ark and of her husband, died in child-birth, naming the babe Ichabod (1 Sam. iv. 19 sqq.). This name, which popular etymology explained by the words “the glory is removed (or, stronger, ‘banished’) from Israel” (cf. Hos. x. 5), should perhaps be altered fromI-kābōd(as though “not glory”) to Jōchebed (Yōkebed, a slight change in the original), the name which tradition also gave to the mother of Moses (q.v.). After these events the sanctuary of Shiloh appears to have been destroyed (cf. Jer. vii. 12, xxvi. 6, 9), and the descendants of Eli with the whole of their clan or “father’s house” subsequently appear as settled at Nob (1 Sam. xxi. 1, xxii. 11 sqq., cp. xiv. 3), perhaps in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem (Is. x. 32). In the massacre of the clan by Saul, and the subsequent substitution of the survivor Abiathar by Zadok (1 Kings ii. 27, 35), later writers saw the fulfilment of the prophecies of judgment which was said to have been uttered in the days of Eli against his corrupt house (1 Sam. ii. 27 sqq., iii. 11 sqq.).1
See further,Samuel, Books of; and on Eli as a descendant of a Levite clan (1 Sam. ii 27 sq.), seeLevites(§ 3).
See further,Samuel, Books of; and on Eli as a descendant of a Levite clan (1 Sam. ii 27 sq.), seeLevites(§ 3).
(W. R. S.; S. A. C.)
1On the old views relating to the succession of the priests, according to which the high-priesthood was diverted from the line of Eleazar and Phinehas into that of Ithamar, see Robertson Smith,Old Test. in Jewish Church, 2nd ed., p. 266.
1On the old views relating to the succession of the priests, according to which the high-priesthood was diverted from the line of Eleazar and Phinehas into that of Ithamar, see Robertson Smith,Old Test. in Jewish Church, 2nd ed., p. 266.
ELIAS, of Cortona (c. 1180-1253), disciple of St Francis of Assisi, was born near Assisi, about 1180, of the working class, but became schoolmaster at Assisi and then notary at Bologna. In 1217 he was the head of the Franciscan mission to the Holy Land, and in 1219 St Francis made him first provincial minister of Syria. When St Francis was recalled from the East in 1220 he brought Elias with him. Elias played a leading part in the early history of the Franciscan order (seeFranciscans); Francis made him his vicar general in 1221; and he was the practical acting superior of the order till Francis’ death in 1226, and the real superior till the general chapter of 1227. This chapter did not elect him minister general, but that of 1232 did; at the chapter of 1239 he was deposed. During these years he erected the basilica and monastery at Assisi which were entirely his creation—he collected the funds and carried the work through, being himself the builder and even the architect. Elias was a man of extraordinary ability, the friend both of Gregory IX. and of his opponent Frederick II. After his deposition Elias joined the party of the emperor and so incurred excommunication. Frederick sent him as ambassador to Constantinople. He dressed and lived as a Franciscan throughout and a small number of friars adhered to him; for these he built a church and monastery at Cortona. Unavailing efforts were made to bring about his reconciliation with the order and the Church; at last on his death-bed he made his submission to the pope and died in 1253, having received the Sacraments.
The best account of Elias is that by Ed. Lempp,Frère Élie de Cortone(1901), who points out the conflict of view, as to the relations between Elias and Francis, between theSpeculum perfectionisand theFirst Life, by Thomas of Celano; Lempp and Sabatier accept the hostile picture given by theSpeculum perfectionis. But see furtherFrancis of Assisi, Saint, “Note on Sources,” and especially the articles by Goetz, there referred to, in theHist. Vierteljahrsschrift.There is a good article on Elias, but written before the new materials had been produced, in Wetzer und Welte,Kirchenlexicon(ed. 2).
The best account of Elias is that by Ed. Lempp,Frère Élie de Cortone(1901), who points out the conflict of view, as to the relations between Elias and Francis, between theSpeculum perfectionisand theFirst Life, by Thomas of Celano; Lempp and Sabatier accept the hostile picture given by theSpeculum perfectionis. But see furtherFrancis of Assisi, Saint, “Note on Sources,” and especially the articles by Goetz, there referred to, in theHist. Vierteljahrsschrift.There is a good article on Elias, but written before the new materials had been produced, in Wetzer und Welte,Kirchenlexicon(ed. 2).
(E. C. B.)
ELIAS, JOHN(1774-1841), Welsh Nonconformist preacher and reformer, was born on the 2nd of May 1774, in the parish of Abererch, Carnarvonshire. In his youth he came under the influence of the Calvinistic Methodist revival and became a preacher at nineteen. In 1799 he married and settled at Llanfechell in Anglesey, giving up his trade as a weaver to become a small shopkeeper. His fame as a preacher increased, and under the direction of Thomas Charles of Bala he established numerous Sunday schools, and gave and secured considerable Welsh support to the founding of the London Missionary Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society. On Charles’s death in 1814 he became the recognized leader of the Calvinistic Methodist Church, and the story of his life is simply a record of marvellously successful preaching tours. He died on the 8th of June 1841; ten thousand people attended his funeral.
His eloquence was so remarkable that he was known as “the Welsh Demosthenes.” His strength lay in his intense conviction of an intimate connexion between sin and punishment and in his power of dramatic presentation. As an ecclesiastic he was not so successful; he helped to compile his church’s Confession of Faith in 1823, and laid great stress on a clause which limited the scope of the atonement to the elect. He was a stout Tory in politics and had many friends among the Anglican clergy; he opposed the movement for Roman Catholic emancipation. Several of his sermons were published in Welsh.
ELIAS LEVITA(1469-1549), Jewish grammarian, was born at Neustadt on the Aisch, a place in Bavaria lying between Nuremberg and Würzburg. He preferred to call himself “Ashkenazi,” the German, and bore also the nickname of “Bachur,” the youth or student, which latter he gave as title to his Hebrew grammar. Before the end of the 15th century he went to Italy, which thenceforth remained his home. He lived first at Padua, went in 1509, after the capture of this town by the army of the League of Cambrai, to Venice, and finally in 1513 to Rome, where he found a patron in the learned general of the Augustinian Order, the future cardinal Egidio di Viterbo, whom he helped in his study of the Kabbalah, while he himself was inspired by him to literary work. The storming of Rome by the army of the Constable de Bourbon in 1527 compelled Elias to go to Venice, where he was employed as corrector in the printing-house of Daniel Bomberg. In the years 1541 and 1542 he lived at Isny, in Southern Württemberg, where he published several of his writings in the printing-house of the learned pastor Paul Fagius. The last years of his life he spent at Venice, continuously active in spite of ill-health and the weakness of old age. His monument in the graveyard of the Jewish community at Venice boasts of him that “he illuminated the darkness of grammar and turned it into light.” The importance of Levita rests both in his numerous writings and in his personal activity. In the remarkable period which saw the rise of the Reformation and gave to the study of the Hebrew Bible and to its language an importance in the history of the world, it was Levita who furthered in an extraordinary manner the study of Hebrew in Christian circles by his activity as a teacher and by his writings. To his pupils especially belong Sebastian Minoter, who translated Levita’s grammatical works into Latin, also George de Selve, bishop of Lavaur, the French ambassador in Venice (1536), who was instrumental in obtaining for Levita an invitation from Francis I. to come to Paris, which invitation, however, Levita did not accept. Levita’s writings on Hebrew grammar (Bachur, a text-book, 1518;Harkaba, an explanation, alphabetically arranged, of irregular word-forms; a Table of Paradigms;Pirke Elijahu, a description—partly metrical—of phonetics, and other chapters of the grammar, 1520; his earliest work, a Commentary on Moses Kimḥi’s Hebrew Grammar, 1508) were by reason of their methodical exposition, their clear articulation, their avoidance of prolixity, especially suited as an introduction to the study of the Hebrew language. Amongst Levita’s other writings is the first dictionary of the Targumim (Meturgeman, 1541) and the first attempt at a lexicon in which much of the treasure of late Hebrew language was explained (Tishbi, explanation of 712 new Hebrew vocables, as a supplement to the dictionaries of David Kimḥi and Nathan b. Yeḥiel, 1542). Scientifically most valuable, and of original importance, are the works of Levita on theMassora; his Concordance to the Massora (Sefer Zikhronotcompleted in the second revision 1536), of which hitherto only a small part has been published, and especially his most celebrated bookMassoreth Hamasoreth(1538), published with English translation by Chr. D. Ginsburg, London, 1867. This was the first attempt to give a systematic account of the contents and history of the Massora. By his criticism of the Massora, and especially by proving that the punctuation of the books of the Hebrew Bible is of late origin, Levita exercised an epoch-making influence. Of his other writings may be mentioned his running commentary on David Kimḥi’s Grammar and Dictionary (in the Bomberg editions 1545, 1546), his German translation of the Psalms (1545) and theBaba-Buch(more properlyBuovobuch, a German recension of the Italian novelHistoria di Buovo d’ Antona, 1508).
Of the literature on Levita may be mentioned: Y. Levi,Elia Levita und seine Leistungen als Grammatiker(Breslau, 1888); W. Bacher, “E. Levita’s wissenschaftliche Leistungen” inZ. d. D. M. G.xliii. (1889), p. 206-272.
Of the literature on Levita may be mentioned: Y. Levi,Elia Levita und seine Leistungen als Grammatiker(Breslau, 1888); W. Bacher, “E. Levita’s wissenschaftliche Leistungen” inZ. d. D. M. G.xliii. (1889), p. 206-272.
(W. Ba.)
ELIE, a village and watering-place of Fifeshire, Scotland, on the shore of the Firth of Forth. Pop. 687. It is 10 m. due S. of St Andrews, but 20 m. distant by the North British railway, which makes a great bend by following the coast. Though it retains some old houses, and the parish church dates from 1639, Elie is, as a whole, quite modern and is one of the most popular resorts in the county on account of its fine golf links and excellent bathing. The royal burgh of Earlsferry (pop. 317) is situated in the parish of Elie, which it adjoins on the west. Its charter, granted by Malcolm Canmore, having been burned, it was renewed by James VI. The chief structure is the town hall, which is modern but has an ancient steeple. The place derived its name from its use by the earls of Fife as a ferry to the opposite shore of Haddington, 8 m. distant. Macduff’s cave near Kincraig Point is believed traditionally to have been that in which the thane took refuge from Macbeth. Two and a half miles north is Balcarres House, belonging to the earl of Crawford, where Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825) was born.
ÉLIE DE BEAUMONT, JEAN BAPTISTE ARMAND LOUIS LÉONCE(1798-1874), French geologist, was born at Canon, in Calvados, on the 25th of September 1798. He was educated at the Lycée Henri IV. where he took the first prize in mathematics and physics; at the École Polytechnique, where he stood first at the exit examination in 1819; and at the École des Mines (1819-1822), where he began to show a decided preference for the science with which his name is associated. In 1823 he was selected along with Dufrénoy by Brochant de Villiers, the professor of geology in the École des Mines, to accompany him on a scientific tour to England and Scotland, in order to inspect the mining and metallurgical establishments of the country, and to study the principles on which Greenough’s geological map of England (1820) had been prepared, with a view to the construction of a similar map of France. In 1835 he was appointed professor of geology at the École des Mines, in succession to Brochant de Villiers, whose assistant he had been in the duties of the chair since 1827. He held the office of engineer-in-chief of mines in France from 1833 until 1847, when he was appointed inspector-general; and in 1861 he became vice-president of the Conseil-Général des Mines and a grand officer of the Legion of Honour. His growing scientific reputation secured his election to the membership of the Academy of Berlin, of the Academy of Sciences of France and of the Royal Society of London. By a decree of the president he was made a senator of France in 1852, and on the death of Arago (1853) he was chosen perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences. Élie de Beaumont’s name is widely known to geologists in connexion with his theory of the origin of mountain ranges, first propounded in a paper read to the Academy of Sciences in 1829, and afterwards elaborated in hisNotice sur le système des montagnes(3 vols., 1852). According to his view, all mountain ranges parallel to the same great circle of the earth are of strictly contemporaneous origin, and between the great circles a relation of symmetry exists in the form of a pentagonalréseau. An elaborate statement and criticism of the theory was given in his anniversary address to the Geological Society of London in 1853 by William Hopkins (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.). The theory has not found general acceptance, but it proved of great value to geological science, owing to the extensive additions to the knowledge of the structure of mountain ranges which its author made in endeavouring to find facts to support it. Probably, however, the best service Élie de Beaumont rendered to science was in connexion with the geological map of France, in the preparation of which he had the leading share. During this period Élie de Beaumont published many important memoirs on the geology of the country. After his superannuation at the École des Mines he continued to superintend the issue of the detailed maps almost until his death,which occurred at Canon on the 21st of September 1874. His academic lectures for 1843-1844 were published in 2 vols., 1845-1849, under the titleLeçons de géologie pratique.
A list of his works was published in theAnn. des Mines, vol. vii. 1875. P. 259.
A list of his works was published in theAnn. des Mines, vol. vii. 1875. P. 259.
ELIJAH(a Hebrew name meaning “Yah[weh] is God”), in the Bible, the greatest and sternest of the Hebrew prophets, makes his appearance in the narrative of the Old Testament with an abruptness not out of keeping with his character and work (1 Kings xvii. 1).1The first and most important part of his career lay in the reign of Ahab,i.e.during the first half of the 9th centuryB.C.He is introduced as predicting the drought2God was to send upon Israel as a punishment for the apostasy into which Ahab had been led by his heathen wife Jezebel. During the first portion of this period Elijah found a refuge by the brook Cherith, “before the Jordan.” This description leaves it uncertain whether the brook was to the east of Jordan in Elijah’s native Gilead, or—less probably—to the west in Samaria. Here he drank of the brook and was fed by ravens, who night and morning brought him bread and flesh.3When this had dried up, the prophet betook himself to Zarephath, a Phoenician town near Sidon. At the gate of the town he met the widow to whom he had been sent, gathering sticks for the preparation of what she believed was to be her last meal. She received the prophet with hospitality, sharing with him her all but exhausted store, in faith of his promise in the name of the God of Israel that the supply would not fail so long as the drought lasted. During this period her son died and was miraculously restored to life in answer to the prayers of the prophet (1 Kings xvii. 8-24).
Elijah emerged from his retirement in the third year, when, the famine having reached its worst, Ahab and his minister Obadiah had themselves to search the land for provender for the royal stables. To the latter Elijah suddenly appeared, and announced his intention of showing himself to Ahab. The king met Elijah with the reproach that he was “the troubler of Israel,” which the prophet boldly flung back upon him who had forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baalim.4The retort was accompanied by a challenge—or rather a command—to the king to assemble on Mount Carmel “all Israel” and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. (The four hundred prophets of Asherah have been added later.) From the allusion to an “altar of Jehovah that was broken down” (1 Kings xviii. 30) it has been inferred that Carmel was an ancient sacred place. (On Mount Carmel and Elijah’s connexion with it in history and tradition seeCarmel.)
The scene on Carmel is perhaps the grandest in the life of Elijah, or indeed in the whole of the Old Testament. As a typical embodiment for all time of the conflict between superstition and true religion, it is lifted out of the range of mere individual biography into that of spiritual symbolism, and it has accordingly furnished at once a fruitful theme for the religious teacher and a lofty inspiration for the artist. The false prophets were allowed to invoke their god in whatever manner they pleased. The only interruption came in the mocking encouragement of Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 27), a rare instance of grim sarcastic humour occurring in the Bible. Its effect upon the false prophets was to increase their frenzy. The evening came,5and the god had made no sign. Elijah now stepped forward with the quiet confidence and dignity that became the prophet and representative of the true God. All Israel is represented symbolically in the twelve stones with which he built the altar; and the water which he poured upon the sacrifice and into the surrounding trench was apparently designed to prevent the suspicion of fraud! In striking contrast to the “vain repetitions” of the false prophets are the simple words with which Elijah makes his prayer to Yahweh. Once only, with the calm assurance of one who knew that his prayer would be answered, he invokes the God of his fathers. The answer comes at once: “The fire of the Lord (Gen. xix. 24, Lev. x. 2) fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” So convincing a sign was irresistible; all the people fell on their faces and acknowledged Yahweh as the true God. This was immediately followed by the destruction of the false prophets, slain by Elijah beside the brook Kishon (xviii. 40). The deed, though not without parallel in the Old Testament history, stamps the peculiarly vindictive character of Elijah’s prophetic mission.6
On the evening of the day that had witnessed the decisive contest, Elijah proceeded once more to the top of Carmel, and there, with “his face between his knees” (possibly engaged in the prayer referred to in James v. 17 sq.), waited for the long-looked-for blessing. His servant, sent repeatedly to search the sky for signs, returned the seventh time reporting a little cloud arising out of the sea “like a man’s hand.” The sky was speedily full of clouds and a great rain was falling when Ahab, to escape the storm, set out in his chariot for Jezreel. As a proof of Elijah’s supernatural power, it is stated that the prophet, for some unknown object, ran before the chariot to the entrance of Jezreel, a distance of at least 16 m. On being told what had taken place, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with a vow that ere another day had passed his life would be even as the lives of the prophets of Baal, and the threat was enough to cause him to take to instant flight (xix. 1-3; cp. LXX. in v. 2). The first stage of the journey was to Beersheba, on the southern limits of Judah. Here he left his servant (according to old Jewish tradition, the widow’s son of Zarephath, afterwards the prophet Jonah), and proceeded a day’s journey into the wilderness. Resting under a solitary broom bush (a kind ofgenista), he gave vent to his disappointment in a prayer for death. By another of those many miraculous interpositions which occur in his history he was twice supplied with food and drink, in the strength of which he journeyed forty days and forty nights until he came to Horeb, where he lodged in a cave.7A hole “just large enough for a man’s body” (Stanley), immediately below the summit of Jebel Mūsa, is still pointed out by tradition as the cave of Elijah.
If the scene on Carmel is the grandest, that on Horeb is spiritually the most profound in the story of Elijah (xix. 9 sqq.). Not in the strong wind that brake the rocks in pieces, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in the still small voice that followed the Lord made himself known. A threefold commission was laid upon him: he was to return to Damascus and anoint Hazael king of Syria; he was to anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi,as king of Israel in place of Ahab; and as his own successor in the prophetic office he was to anoint Elisha (xix. 15-18).8
Leaving Horeb and proceeding northwards along the desert route to Damascus, Elijah met Elisha engaged at the plough probably near his native place, Abel-meholah, in the valley of the Jordan, and by the symbolical act of casting his mantle upon him, consecrated him to the prophetic office. This was the only command of the three which he fulfilled in person; the other two were carried out by his successor.9After the call of Elisha the narrative contains no notice of Elijah for several years, although the LXX., by placing 1 Kings xxi. before ch. xx., proceeds at once to the tragic story of Naboth’s vineyard (seeJezebel). He is now the champion of freedom and purity of life, like Nathan when he confronted David for the murder of Uriah. Without any indication of whence or how he came, he again appeared, as usual with startling abruptness, in the vineyard when Ahab entered to take possession of it, and pronounced upon the king and his house that awful doom (1 Kings xxi. 17-24) which, though deferred for a time, was ultimately fulfilled to the letter (seeJehu).
With one more denunciation of the house of Ahab, Elijah’s function as a messenger of wrath was fully discharged (2 Kings i.). When Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, having injured himself by falling through a lattice, sent to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he should recover, the prophet was commanded to appear to the messengers and tell them that, for this resort to a false god, the king should die. The effect of his appearance was such that they turned back without attempting to fulfil their errand. Ahaziah despatched a captain with a band of fifty to arrest him. They came upon Elijah seated on “the mount,”—probably Carmel. The imperious terms in which he was summoned to come down were punished by fire from heaven, which descended at the bidding of Elijah and consumed the whole land. A second captain and fifty were despatched, behaved in a similar way, and met the same fate. The leader of a third troop took a humbler tone, sued for mercy, and obtained it. Elijah then went with them to the king, but only to repeat before his face the doom he had already made known to his messengers, which was almost immediately afterwards fulfilled. The spirit, even the style of this narrative, points unmistakably to its being of late origin. It shocks the moral sense with its sanguinary character more than, perhaps, any other Old Testament story.
The only mention of Elijah’s name in the book of Chronicles (2 Chronicles xxi. 12-15) is where he is represented as sending a letter of rebuke and denunciation to Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The chronological difficulties which are involved suggest that the floating traditions of this great personality were easily attached to well-known names whether strictly contemporary or not. It was before the death of Jehoshaphat that the last grand scene in Elijah’s life occurred (2 Kings ii., see iii. 1). He had taken up his residence with Elisha at one of the prophetic guilds at Gilgal. His approaching end seems to have been known to the guilds at Bethel and Jericho, both of which they visited in their last journey. At the Jordan, Elijah, wrapping his prophet’s mantle together, smote the water with it, and so by a last miracle passed over on dry ground. When they had crossed the master desired the disciple to ask some parting blessing. The request for a double portion (i.e.probably a first-born’s portion, Deut. xxi. 17)10of the prophet’s spirit Elijah characterized as a hard thing; but he promised to grant it if Elisha should see him when he was taken away. The end is told in words of simple sublimity: “And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings ii. 11). It is scarcely necessary to point out, however, that through the figure the narrative evidently means to convey as fact that Elijah passed from earth, not by the gates of death, but by miraculous translation. Such a supernatural close is in perfect harmony with a career into every stage of which the supernatural enters as an essential feature. For whatever explanation may be offered of the miraculous element in Elijah’s life, it must obviously be one that accounts not for a few miraculous incidents only, which might be mere excrescences, but for a series of miraculous events so closely connected and so continuous as to form the main thread of the history.