Chapter XI: Front Matter (11)

_Sassanian Period._--In 226 the Parthian empire gave place to the new kingdom of the Sassanidae, whose claim to the ancient Achaemenian empire led to constant struggle with Rome in which Edessa naturally suffered. The native state was restored by Gordian in 242; but in 244 it became again directly subject to Rome. The Edessan martyrs Sharbel and Barsamya, whose "Acts" in legendary form have come down to us, may have perished in the Decian persecution. In 260 the city was besieged by the Persians under Shapur I., and Valerian was defeated and made prisoner by its gates. Odaenathus of Palmyra (d. 267), however, wrested Mesopotamia from the Persians; but Aurelian defeated his successor Zenobia at Emesa (273), and Carus, who died in 283 in an expedition against the Persians, and Galerius (297) carried the frontier again to the Tigris. Diocletian's persecution secured the martyr's crown for the Edessenes Shamona, Guria (297), and Habbib (309), and shortly thereafter Lucian "the martyr," who though born at Samosata received his training at Edessa; but the bishop Qona, who laid the foundations of "the great church" by the sacred pool, somehow escaped. Edessa can claim no share in "the Persian Sage" Aphrahat or Afrahat (Aphraates); but Ephraem, after bewailing in Nisibis the sufferings of the great Persian war under Constantius and Julian, when Jovian in 363 ceded most of Mesopotamia to Shapur II., the persecutor of the Christians, settled in Edessa, which as the seat of his famous school (called "the Persian") grew greatly in importance, and attracted scholars from all directions. He taught and wrote vigorously against the Arians and other heretics, and although just after his death (373) the emperor Valens banished the orthodox from Edessa, they returned on the emperor's death in 378. Under Zenobius, disciple of Ephraem, studied the voluminous writer, Isaac of Antioch (d. circ. 460). Rabbula perhaps owed his elevation to the see of Edessa (411-435), in the year which produced the oldest dated Syriac MS., to his asceticism, and it was to his time that the sojourn there of the "Man of God" (Alexis) was assigned; but he won from the Nestorians the title of the Tyrant of Edessa. In particular he exerted himself to stamp out the use of the Diatessaron in favour of the four Gospels, the Syriac version of which probably now took the form known as the Peshitta. When the popular Nestorianism of the Syrians was condemned at Ephesus (431) it began to gravitate eastwards, Nisibis becoming its eventual headquarters; but Edessa and the western Syrians refused to bow to the Council of Chalcedon (451) when it condemned Monophysitism. In and around Edessa the theological strife raged hotly.[21] When, however, Zeno's edict (489) ordered the closing of the school of the Persians at Edessa, East and West drifted apart more and more; the ecclesiastical writer Narsai, "the Harp of the Holy Spirit," fled to Nisibis about 489. Till about this time Syriac influence was strong in Armenia, and some Syriac works have survived only in Armenian translations. In the opening years of the 6th century the Persian-Roman War (502-506) found a chronicler in the anonymous Edessene history known till recently as the Chronicle of Joshua Stylites. Whether Edessa received from the emperor Justin I. the additional name of Justinopolis may be uncertain (see Hallier, _op. cit._ p. 128); but it seems to have been renewed and fortified after the "fourth" flood in 525 (Procop. _Pers._ ii. 27; _De aedific._ ii. 7). About this time, according to Noldeke, an anonymous Edessene wrote the Romance of Julian the Apostate, which so many Arab writers use as a history. Chosroes I. Anushirwan succeeded in 540, according to the last entry in the Edessene Chronicle, in exacting a large tribute from Edessa; but in 544 he besieged it in vain. A few years later Jacob Baradaeus, with Edessa as centre of his bishopric, was carrying on the propaganda of Monophysitism which won for the adherents of that creed the name of Jacobites (q.v.). The valuable Syriac Chronicle just referred to probably was compiled in the latter half of this century.

_Islam._--In the first decade of the next century Edessa was taken by Chosroes II., and a large part of the population transported to eastern Persia. Within a score of years it was recovered by the emperor Heraclius, who reviewed a large army under its walls. The prophet of Islam was now, however, building up his power in Arabia, and although Heraclius paid no heed to the letter demanding his adhesion which he received from Medina (628), and the deputation of fifteen Rahawiyin who paid homage in 630 were not Edessenes but South Arabians, a few years later (636?) Heraclius's attempts, from Edessa as a centre, to effect an organized opposition to the victorious Arabs were defeated by Sa'd, and he fell back on Samosata. The terms on which Edessa definitely passed into the hands of the Moslems (638) under Riyad are not certain (Baladhuri). As it now ceased to be a frontier city it lost in importance. In 668 occurred another destructive flood (Theophanes, p. 537), and in 678 an earthquake which destroyed part of the "old church," which the caliph Mo'awiya I. is said to have repaired. To the latter part of the century belongs the activity of Edessa's bishop Jacob, whose chronicle is unfortunately lost. It may have been the impulse given by the final supremacy of the caliphate to the long process which eventually substituted a new branch of Semitic speech for the Aramaic (which had now prevailed for a millennium and a half), that led Jacob to adopt the Greek vowel signs for use in Syriac. A century later Theophilus of Edessa (d. 785), author of a lost history, translated into Syriac "the two books of the poet Homer on the Conquest of the city of Ilion." When the Bagdad caliphs lost control of their dominions, Edessa shared the fortunes of western Mesopotamia, changing with the rise and fall of Egyptian dynasties and Arab chieftains. In the 10th century al-Mas'udi, writing in the very year in which it happened, tells how the Mahommedan ruler of Edessa, with the permission of the caliph, purchased peace of the emperor Romanus Lecapenus by surrendering to him the napkin of Jesus of Nazareth, wherewith he had dried himself after his baptism. The translation of the Holy Icon of Christ from Edessa is commemorated on the 16th of August (Cal. Byzant). A few years later Ibn Haukal (978) estimates the number of churches in the city at more than 300, and al-Mokaddasi (985) describes its cathedral, with vaulted ceiling covered with mosaics, as one of the four wonders of the world. In 1031 the emperor recovered Edessa; but in 1040 it fell into the hands of the Seljuks, whose progress had added a large element of Armenian refugees to the population of Osrhoene. There is no reason, therefore, to discredit Maqrizi's statement that it was three brother architects from Edessa that the Armenian minister Badr al-Gamali employed to build three of the fine city gates of Cairo (1087-1091). The empire soon recovered Edessa, but the resident made himself independent. Thoros applied for help to Baldwin, brother and successor of Godfrey of Bouillon in the First Crusade, who in 1098 took possession of the town and made it the capital of a Burgundian countship, which included Samosata and Sarug', and was for half a century the eastern bulwark of the kingdom of Jerusalem.[22] The local Armenian historian, however, Matthew of Edessa, tells of oppression, decrease of population, ruin of churches, neglect of agriculture. With the campaign of Maudud in 1110 fortune began to favour the Moslems. Edessa had to endure siege after siege. Finally, in 1144 it was stormed, Matthew being among the slain, by 'Imad ud-Din Zengi, ruler of Mosul, under Joscelin II., an achievement celebrated as "the conquest of conquests," for laying the responsibility of which not on God but on the absence of the Frankish troops, an Edessan monk, John, bishop of Harran (d. 1165), brought down upon himself the whole bench of bishops. Edessa suffered still more in 1146 after an attempt to recover it. Churches were now turned into mosques. The consternation produced in Europe by the news of its fate led to "the Second Crusade." In 1182 it fell to Saladin, whose nephew recovered it when it had temporarily passed (1234) to the sultan of Rum; but the "Eye of Mesopotamia" never recovered the brilliance of earlier days. The names it contributed to Arabic literature are unimportant. By timely surrender (1268) it escaped the sufferings inflicted by Hulaku and his Monguls on Saru'g (Barhebraeus, _Chron. Arab._, Beirut ed., 486). Mostaufi describes a great cupola of finely worked stone still standing by a court over a hundred yards square (1340). Ali b. Yazd in his account of the campaigns of Timur, who reduced Mesopotamia in 1393, still calls the city (1425) Ruha. In 1637, when Amurath IV. conquered Bagdad and annexed Mesopotamia, it passed finally into the hands of the Turks, by whom it is called Urfa.

_The Modern Town._--Urfa lies north-east of the Nimrud Dagh. It is surrounded by a wall, strengthened by square towers at distances of 18-20 steps, probably dating in its present condition from medieval Mahommedan times. On a height in a corner towards the west, overtopping the town by 100-200 ft., are the remains of the old citadel, and the two famous Corinthian columns[23] known as "the Throne of Nimrud." In the hollow between this height and the town rise two springs which form ponds, the farther removed of which from the citadel is known as Birket al-Khalil, doubtless the Callirrhoe of the classical writers, and contains the sacred fish, estimated by J.S. Buckingham at 20,000, and the nearer as 'Ain Zalkha (i.e. Zuleikha, the wife of Potiphar). On the north edge of the Birket al-Khalil (see plan in Sachau, p. 197) is the great mosque of Abraham, the interior of which is described by J.S. Buckingham (_Travels_, pp. 108-110). Diagonally opposite the mosque is a house with a square tower, which is locally believed to occupy the place of the famous ancient school. The waters of the two pools make their way in a single stream southwards out of the town. The once dangerous stream Daisan ([Greek: Skirtos]) no longer flows southwards through the town, but encircles it on the north and east in the channel of the old moat. This stream, now called Kara Kuyun, and the other are exhausted in the irrigation of the gardens lying south-east of the town, except when fuller than usual, when they reach the Balih. Not far east of the sacred pool is the largest building in the town, the recent Armenian Gregorian cathedral, whose American bells were first heard during Sachau's visit in 1879. About the middle of the town is the largest mosque, Ulu 'Gami (parts of it probably pre-Islamic), which probably occupies the site of the Christian church reckoned by the early Mahommedan writers as one of the wonders of the world. In the bazaar, which lies between the chief mosque and the sacred pool, and contains several streets, are displayed not only the native woollen stuffs, pottery and silver work, but also a considerable variety of European goods, especially cloth stuffs. The principal manufactures are fine cotton stuffs and yellow leather. The streets are of course narrow and winding; but the houses are well built of stone. The outskirts are occupied by melon gardens, vineyards and mulberry plantations. The fertile plain south of the town is noted for its wheat and fine pasture. The climate is healthy except in summer; the "Aleppo button" (see BAGDAD, vilayet), a painful boil, is common. The rocky heights south and west of the town, whence the building material is largely obtained, are full of natural and artificial caverns, once used as dwellings, cloisters and graves, where are most of the inscriptions published by Sachau, who also visited and describes (pp. 204-206) the Der Ya'qub, nearly two hours distant.

Urfa is the capital of a sanjak of the same name, in the vilayet of Aleppo. The population was estimated by Olivier in 1796 at 20,000 to 24,000, by Buckingham at 50,000, by Chernik in 1873 at 40,000, by Sachau in 1879 at 50,000, in Baedeker's Handbook in 1906 at 30,000. Vice-Consul Fitzmaurice said that before December 1895 it was close on 65,000, of whom about 20,000 were Armenian, 3000 or 4000 Jacobites, Syrian-Catholic, Greek-Catholic, Maronites and Jews, and the remaining 40,000 Turkish, Kurdian and Arab Mahommedans. Two barbarous massacres occurred on the 28th and 29th of October and the 28th and 29th of December 1895; 126 Armenian families were absolutely wiped out. He believes that 8000 Armenians perished in the second massacre. The Deutsche Orient-Mission has its chief seat in Urfa, and there have for years been American and French missions. The Germans have an orphanage with 300 Armenian children, a carpet factory and a medical station. The American school had some years ago 250 pupils.

AUTHORITIES.--Inscriptional: H. Pognon, _Inscriptions semitiques de la
Syrie, de la Mesopotamie et de la region de Mossoul_ (1907, 1908);
Sachau, "Edessenische Inschriften," in _Z.D.M.G._ xxxvi. 142-167; F.C.
Burkitt, "The Throne of Nimrod," in _P.S.B.A._ xxviii. 149-155 (1906);
J. Rendel Harris, _The Cult of the Heavenly Twins_ (1906); Noldeke,
"Syrische Inschriften," in _Z.A._ xxi. 151-161, 375-388 (1908).
Literary: Ludwig Hallier, _Untersuchungen uber die Edessenische
Chronik mit dem Syrischen Text_ (1892); F. Nau, _Analyse des parties
inedites de la chronique attribuee a Denys de Tell-mahre_ (1898);
J.-B. Chabot, _Chronique de Denys de Tell-Mahre, quatrieme partie_
(1895); W. Wright, _The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite_ (1882);
Bayer, _Historia Osrhoena et Edessena_ (St Petersburg, 1784), collects
the references in classical authors; for the coinage see references in
von Gutschmid (see below). Discussions: A. von Gutschmid,
"Untersuchungen uber die Geschichte des Konigreichs Osroene" (in
_Memoires de l'acad. imper. des sciences de St-Petersb._ vii. ser.
tome 35, No. 1, 1887); L.-J. Tixeront, _Les Origines de l'eglise
d'Edesse et la legende d'Abgar_ (1888); R.A. Lipsius, _Die
Edessenische Abgarsage kritisch untersucht_ (1880); K.C.A. Matthes,
_Die Edess. Abgarsage auf ihre Fortbildung untersucht_ (1882); F. Nau,
_Une Biographie inedite de Bardesane l'astrologue_ (1897); _Bardesane
l'astrologue: le livre des Lois des Pays_ (1899); A. Hilgenfeld,
_Bardesanes, der letzte Gnostiker_ (1864); A.A. Bevan, "The Hymn of
the Soul" (in _Texts and Studies_, 1897); F.C. Burkitt, _Early Eastern
Christianity_ (1904); J.R. Harris, _The Dioscuri in Christian Legend_
(1903), and _The Cult of the Heavenly Twins_ (1906); the histories of
Rome, Persia, Crusades, Mongols, &c.; Rubens Duval, _Histoire
politique, religieuse et litteraire d'Edesse jusqu'a la premiere
croisade_ (1892), a useful compilation reprinted from the _Journ.
As._; the excellent article by E. Meyer in Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_, 1933-1938. Topography: J.S. Buckingham, _Travels
in Mesopotamia_ (1827); E. Sachau, _Reise in Syrien u. Mesopotamien_
(1883), 189-210; cf. Duval, _op. cit._ chap, i.; C. Ritter,
_Erdkunde_, xi. 315-356. Map of town in Niebuhr, _Voyage en Arabie_,
reproduced with modifications in Wright, _Chron. Josh. Styl._; also a
map in Reclus, _Univ. Geog._ ix. 232. Four pictures of the town in
Burkitt, _Early East. Christ._ (H. W. H.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] So Appian, _Syr._ 57; cp. Steph. Byz., s.v. [Greek: Edessa: dia
ten ton hudaton rhumen.]

[2] Steph. Byz., s.v. [Greek: Batnai].

[3] Dio, _passim._

[4] Isidore Charac. 1 (Muller, _Geog. Gr. Min._, i. 246).

[5] Several times in Pliny, _Nat. Hist._

[6] _CIL._ vi. 1797.

[7] _Hist. Osrhoena et Edessena_, p. 33.

[8] Written [Greek: Osroes] in Dio Cassius, _Excerpta_, lxviii. 22.

[9] See the reff. collected by M. Streck, _M.V.G._, 1906. The name
occurs in the same company in the fragmentary tablet K. 1904. The
mountain Ru-u-[a], mentioned thrice by Tiglath-pileser IV., is placed
by Billerbeck near Hamadan (_Sandschak Suleimania_, 82, 86, and map,
1898).

[10] See further Payne Smith, _Thesaurus_ 110 b.

[11] In translating from the Greek; also in Ephraim (Duval, _Hist._
22, n. 4) and the Acts of Sharbil (Cureton, _Anc. Syr. Doc._ 41).

[12] On a possible restoration under the name of "Antioch on the
Callirrhoe" see above.

[13] The Edessans used to call their town "the city," or "the
daughter," "of the Parthians" (Cureton, _Anc. Syr. Doc._, 41 ult., 97
l. 7; 106 l. 12).

[14] The portion of the Mesopotamian steppe under Osrhoenic influence
was, according to Noldeke (_Zeitsch. Ass._ xxi. 153, 1908), called
'Arabh in Syriac.

[15] The inscription, which is difficult to read, connects the
structure with Shalmat the queen, daughter of Ma'nu, who cannot be
identified with certainty, and refers to some image(s), which
probably excited the pious vandalism of the Arabs.

[16] Nebo and Bel (_Doctr. Addai_, 31) may come from the Old
Testament (Burkitt).

[17] _S.B.A.W._, 1904, 910 ff.

[18] So, e.g. F.C. Burkitt, _Early Eastern Christianity_, 72.

[19] Marquart, _Ostasiat. und osteurop. Streitzuge_, 292 ff.

[20] Marquart, _op. cit._

[21] Some one found time, however, to produce the oldest _dated_ MS.
of a portion of the Bible in any language.

[22] The counts were: Baldwin I. (1098), Baldwin II. (1100), Joscelin
I. (1119), Joscelin II. (1131-1147).

[23] Pictures in Burkitt, _Early East. Christ._, frontispiece;
_P.S.B.A._ xxviii. 151 f.; J.R. Harris, _The Heavenly Twins_.

EDFU, in Coptic _Atbo_, a town of Upper Egypt, 484 m. S.S.E. of Cairo by rail, on the W. bank of the Nile, the railway station being on the opposite side of the river. Pop. (1907) 19,262. The inhabitants manufacture earthenware, which finds ready sale all through Egypt. The ancient Atbo (_Apollinopolis Magna_) was capital of the second nome of Upper Egypt. The great sandstone temple is practically complete (see ARCHITECTURE: _Egypt_). It was built on the site of an earlier structure entirely in the time of the Ptolemies. The central part of the building, begun by Ptolemy III. Euergetes in 237 B.C., was finished by his successor in 212; the portico, court, pylons and surrounding wall were added by Ptolemy Euergetes II., Soter II. and Alexander I.; but the decoration was not finished till 57 B.C. in the reign of Ptolemy XIII. Neos Dionysus. The god of Atbo was a form of Horus (Apollo) as the sun-god; his most characteristic representation is as the disk of the sun with outspread wings, so often seen over the doors of shrines, at the top of stelae, &c. In the temple, where he is often figured as a falcon-headed man, he is associated with Hathor of Dendera and the child Harsemteus.

See Baedeker's _Egypt_; Ed. Naville, _Textes relatifs au mythe d'Horus
recueillis dans le temple d'Edfou_. (F. Ll. G.)

EDGAR (EADGAR), king of the English (944-975), was the younger son of Edmund the Magnificent and Aelfgifu. As early as 955 he signed a charter of his uncle Eadred, and in 957 the Mercian nobles, discontented with the rule of his elder brother Eadwig, made him king of England north of the Thames. On the death of his brother in October 959 Edgar became king of a united England. Immediately on his accession to the throne of Mercia Edgar recalled St Dunstan from exile and bestowed on him first the bishopric of Worcester, and then that of London. In 961 Dunstan was translated to Canterbury, and throughout Edgar's reign he was his chief adviser, and to him must be attributed much of the peace and prosperity of this time.

The reign of Edgar was somewhat uneventful, but two things stand out clearly: his ecclesiastical policy and his imperial position in Britain. Edgar and Dunstan were alike determined to reform the great monastic houses, and to secure that they should be restored once more to their true owners and not remain in the hands of the secular priests or _canonici_, whose life and discipline alike seem to have been extremely lax. In this reform Edgar was helped not only by St Dunstan but also by Oswald of Worcester and Aethelwold of Winchester. The priests of the old and new monasteries at Winchester, at Chertsey and at Milton Abbas were replaced by monks, and in monastic discipline the old rule of St Benedict was restored in all its strictness.

The coronation of Edgar was, for some unexplained reason, delayed till the Whitsunday of 973. It took place with much ceremony at Bath, and was followed shortly after by a general submission to Edgar at Chester. Six, or (according to later chroniclers) eight kings, including the kings of Scotland and Strathclyde, plighted their faith that they would be the king's fellow-workers on sea and land. The historical truth of this story has been much questioned; there seems to be little doubt that it is true in its main outlines, though we need not accept the details about Edgar's having been rowed on the Dee by eight kings.

Two isolated and unexplained incidents are also recorded in the chronicle: first, the ravaging of Westmorland by the Scandinavian Thored, son of Gunnere, in 967; and second, the ravaging of Thanet by Edgar's own command in 970.

Edgar's death took place in the year 975, and he was buried at Glastonbury. By his vigorous rule and his statesmanlike policy Edgar won the approval of his people, and in the Saxon chronicle we have poems commemorating his coronation and death, and describing his general character. The only fault ascribed to him is a too great love for foreigners and for foreign customs. Edgar strengthened the hands of the provincial administration, and to him has been attributed the reorganization of the English fleet. The characteristic feature of his rule was his love of peace, and by efficient administration he secured it.

Edgar formed an irregular union in 961 with Wulfthryth, an inmate of the convent at Wilton, who bore him a daughter Eadgyth. He next married Aethelflaed, "the white duck," daughter of Earl Ordmaer, who bore him a son, afterwards known as Edward the Martyr. Finally he was united to Aelfthryth, daughter of Earl Ordgar, who became the mother of the Aetheling Edmund (d. 971) and of Aethelred the Unready.

AUTHORITIES.--_Saxon Chronicle_ (ed. Plummer and Earle, Oxford), _sub.
ann._; _Vita Sancti Oswaldi_ (_Historians of the Church of York_, ed.
Raine, Rolls Series); William of Malmesbury, _Gesta regum_ (ed.
Stubbs, Rolls Series); Birch, _Cartularium Saxonicum_, vol. iii. Nos.
1047-1319; F. Liebermann, _A.-S. Laws_, i. 192-216; "Florence of
Worcester" (_Mon. Hist. Brit._); E.W. Robertson, _Historical Essays_,
pp. 189-215. (A. Mw.)

EDGAR, or EADGAR (c. 1050-c. 1130), called the Aetheling, was the son of Edward, a son of the English king Edmund Ironside, by his wife Agatha, a kinswoman of the emperor Henry II., and was born probably in Hungary some time before 1057, the year of his father's death. After the death of Harold in 1066, Archbishop Aldred and the citizens of London desired to make him king, but on the advance of William, Edgar and his supporters made their submission. In 1068, after the failure of the first rising of the north, Edgar retired to Scotland, when his sister Margaret married the Scottish king, Malcolm Canmore. Next year he returned to take part in the second rising, but, this proving no more successful than the first, he again took refuge in Scotland. In 1074 he went to Normandy and made peace with William. In the struggle between Henry I. and Robert of Normandy, Edgar sided with the latter. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106, but was subsequently released. The date of his death is uncertain, but he was certainly alive about 1125.

EDGECUMBE, or EDGECOMBE, the name of a celebrated west of England family, taken from the manor of Edgecumbe in Cornwall. One of its earlier members was Sir Richard Edgecumbe (d. 1489), who was descended from a Richard Edgecumbe who flourished during the reign of Edward I. Richard was a member of parliament in 1467; afterwards he joined Henry, earl of Richmond, in Brittany, returned with the earl to England, and fought at Bosworth, where he was knighted. He received rich rewards from Henry, now King Henry VII., who also sent him on errands to Scotland, to Ireland and to Brittany, and he died at Morlaix on the 8th of September 1489. His son and successor, Sir Piers Edgecumbe, went to France with Henry VIII. in 1513, and when he died on the 14th of August 1539 he left with other issue a son, Sir Richard Edgecumbe (1499-1562), a cultured and hospitable man, who is celebrated through Richard Carew's _Friendly Remembrance of Sir Richard Edgecumbe_. Sir Richard's eldest son, Piers or Peter Edgecumbe (1536-1607), was a member of parliament under Elizabeth for about thirty years.

Another famous member of this family was Richard, 1st baron Edgecumbe (1680-1758), a son of Sir Richard Edgecumbe. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was successively member of parliament for St Germans, Plympton and Lostwithiel from 1701 to 1742; on two occasions he served as a lord of the treasury; and from 1724 to 1742 he was paymaster-general for Ireland, becoming chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in 1743. Edgecumbe was a faithful follower of Sir Robert Walpole, in whose interests he managed the elections for the Cornish boroughs, and his elevation to the peerage, which took place in 1742, was designed to prevent him from giving evidence about Walpole's expenditure of the secret service money. He died on the 22nd of November 1758. His son and successor, Richard, the 2nd baron (1716-1761), was comptroller of the royal household, a member of parliament, and a major-general in the army. A wit, a writer of verse, a gambler and an intimate friend of Horace Walpole, "Dick Edgecumbe" died unmarried on the 10th of May 1761.

Edgecumbe's brother, George, 1st earl of Mount Edgecumbe (1721-1795), was a naval officer who saw a great deal of service during the Seven Years' War. Succeeding to the barony on the 1st baron's death in 1761 he became an admiral and treasurer of the royal household; he was created Viscount Mount-Edgecumbe in 1781 and earl of Mount-Edgecumbe in 1789. He died on the 4th of February 1795, his only son being his successor, Richard, the 2nd earl (1764-1839), the ancestor of the present earl and the author of _Musical Reminiscences of an Old Amateur_. He died on the 26th of September 1839. His son, Ernest Augustus, the 3rd earl (1797-1861), wrote _Extracts from Journals kept during the Revolutions at Rome and Palermo_.

EDGE HILL, an elevated ridge in Warwickshire, England, near the border of Oxfordshire. The north-western face is an abrupt escarpment of the lias, and the summit of the ridge is almost level for nearly 2 m., at a height somewhat exceeding 700 ft. The escarpment overlooks a rich lowland watered by streams tributary to the Avon; the gentle eastern slope sends its waters to the Cherwell, and the ridge thus forms part of the divide between the basins of the Severn and the Thames. Edge Hill gave name to the first battle of the Great Rebellion (q.v.), fought on the 23rd of October 1642. Charles I., marching on London from the north-west, was here met by the parliamentary forces under Robert Devereux, earl of Essex. The royalists were posted on the hill while the enemy was in the plain before Kineton. But the rash advice of Prince Rupert determined the king to give up the advantage of position; he descended to the attack, and though Rupert himself was successful against the opposing cavalry, he was checked by the arrival of a regiment with artillery under Hampden, and, in the meantime, the royalist infantry was driven back. The parliamentarians, however, lost the more heavily, and though both sides claimed the advantage, the king was able to advance and occupy Banbury.

EDGEWORTH, MARIA (1767-1849), Irish novelist, second child and eldest daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth (q.v.) and his first wife, Anna Maria Elers, was born in the house of her maternal grandparents at Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, on the 1st of January 1767. Her early efforts in fiction were of a sufficiently melodramatic character; for she recollected one of her schoolgirl compositions, in which the hero wore a mask made of the dried skin taken from a dead man's face. Her holidays were often spent in the house of the eccentric Thomas Day, for whom she entertained a genuine respect. She had ample opportunities for society among her father's neighbours in Ireland, among whom were the second Lord Longford, whose daughter, "Kitty" Pakenham, became later duchess of Wellington, Lady Moira at Castle Forbes, and Maria's aunt, Margaret Ruxton, at Black Castle. She gained a first-hand experience of the Irish peasantry by acting as her father's assistant in the management of the estate. The Edgeworths were in Ireland from 1793 onwards through that dangerous period, and Maria's letters, always gay and natural, make very light of their anxieties and their real perils.

Mr Edgeworth encouraged his daughter's literary instincts. It has been the fashion to regard his influence over Maria's work as altogether deplorable, but against the disadvantages arising from his interference must be weighed the stimulus she undoubtedly derived from his powerful mind. Her first publication was a plea for female education, _Letters to Literary Ladies_ (1795), and in 1796 appeared the collection of stories known as _The Parent's Assistant_ (2nd ed., 6 vols., 1800), an unpromising title which was not chosen by the author. The stories had been submitted as they were written to the juvenile critics of the Edgeworth nursery. They were therefore children's stories for children, even though the morals were Mr Edgeworth's. In 1798 Mr Edgeworth's fourth marriage threatened the family harmony, but Maria soon became a close friend of her stepmother. _Practical Education_ (2 vols., 1798) was written in conjunction with her father, who also collaborated with her in the _Essay on Irish Bulls_ (1802). Miss Edgeworth's first novel, _Castle Rackrent, an Hibernian Tale taken from Facts, and from the Manners of the Irish Squires before the year 1782_, was written without her father's supervision, and appeared anonymously in 1800. It is the story of an Irish estate and its owners, the Rackrents, as told by Thady, the steward. Its success was immediate, and a second edition soon appeared with the author's name. Perhaps because of the absence of Richard Lovell Edgeworth's co-operation, the book is the most natural and vigorous of her novels. The course of the story is not altered to suit any moral, and the personages appear to be drawn immediately from the natives of Edgeworthstown, though Miss Edgeworth asserts that only Thady himself was an actual portrait. In her realistic pictures of Irish peasant life she opened up a new vein in fiction, and even if the unquestionable excellences of _Castle Rackrent_ were less, it would still be a noteworthy book. In the "General Preface" to the 1829 edition of his novels Sir Walter Scott, writing of the publication of _Waverley_, says: "I felt that something might be attempted for my own country, of the same kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for Ireland," and in the "Postscript, which should have been a preface," in the original edition of _Waverley_, he describes his aim as being "in some distant degree to emulate the admirable Irish portraits of Miss Edgeworth, so different from the 'Teagues' and 'dear joys' who so long, with the most perfect family resemblance to each other, occupied the drama and the novel." _Belinda_ (1801) is a society novel, and one of her best books. Mr Saintsbury thinks that Miss Austen's heroines owe something of their naturalness to Belinda, who was one of the earliest to break with the tradition of fainting and blushing. _Moral Tales for Young People_ (5 vols.) and _Early Lessons_, which included "Harry and Lucy," "Rosamond" and "Frank," appeared in 1801.

In 1802 the Edgeworths went abroad, first to Brussels and then to Paris. They had already connexions in Paris through their kinsman, the abbe Henri Allen Edgeworth de Firmont, who was, however, then in exile. They met all the notabilities in Paris, and Maria refused an offer of marriage from a Swedish count named Edelcrantz. Although _Leonora_, not published until four years later, is said to have been written to meet his taste, she apparently remained then and always heart-whole; but her stepmother thought otherwise, and maintained that she suffered severely for her decision (_Memoir_, i. 144). Returning to Edgeworthstown, Miss Edgeworth resumed her writing, which was always done in the rooms commonly used by the whole family. _Popular Tales_ was published in 1804, and _The Modern Griselda_ in the same year; _Leonora_ in 1806; and in 1809 the first series of _Tales of Fashionable Life_, three volumes containing "Ennui," "Madame de Fleury," "Almeria," "The Dun" and "Manoeuvring"; the second series (3 vols., 1812) included "The Absentee," one of her best tales, which was originally designed as a play, "Vivian" and "Emilie de Coulanges." In 1813 Maria and her parents spent a considerable time in London, and her society was much sought after. When _Waverley_ was published, Miss Edgeworth received a copy from the publishers, and at once recognized the authorship. She wrote a long letter of appreciation (23rd of October 1814) to "the author of _Waverley_," which she began with the phrase _aut Scotus, aut diabolus_, but the letter was merely acknowledged by the publishers. _Patronage_ (4 vols., 1814), the longest of her novels, and _Harrington, a tale_, and _Ormond, a tale_ (3 vols., 1817) complete the list of the works which received what her father called his _imprimatur_.

After his death in 1817 Miss Edgeworth occupied herself with completing his _Memoirs_, which were published in 1820. The book was the excuse for an attack on Mr Edgeworth's reputation in the July number of the _Quarterly Review_, which Miss Edgeworth had the courage to leave unread. Her life at Edgeworthstown was varied by visits to London, to Lord Lansdowne at Bowood, Wiltshire, to the Misses Sneyd in Staffordshire, and to many other friends. In 1820 she was again in Paris, and in 1823 she spent a happy fortnight with the Scotts at Abbotsford. In 1825 Scott went to Edgeworthstown, and their relations were always cordial.

Miss Edgeworth's production was less after her father's death. Sequels to "Rosamond," "Frank," "Harry and Lucy" in the _Early Lessons_ were published in 1822-1825. _Comic Dramas_ appeared in 1817, and _Helen_ in 1834. She worked to the last, and in 1846 laboured strenuously for the relief of the famine-stricken Irish peasants. She died on the 22nd of May 1849.

Miss Edgeworth's novels are distinguished by good sense, humour and an easy flowing style. As the construction of a plot is not her strong point, she is generally more successful in tales than in lengthy novels. The vivacity of her dialogues is extraordinary; and in them her characters reveal themselves in the most natural way possible. Her books are character-studies rather than intensely interesting narratives. Sobriety of judgment is seen throughout; and passion, romance and poetry rarely, if ever, shed their lustre on her pages. Three of her aims were to paint national manners, to enforce morality, and to teach fashionable society by satirizing the lives of the idle and worldly. She expressly calls some of her stories "Moral Tales"; but they all fall under this category. In her pages the heroic virtues give place to prudence, industry, kindness and sweetness of temper. There are few instances of overwhelming emotions or tumultuous passions in her works; and it is remarkable how little the love of nature appears. She never uses material which does not yield some direct moral lesson. But the freshness of her stories, her insight into character, lively dialogues, originality of invention, and delightfully clear style render it quite possible to read her works in succession without any sense of weariness. Among the many sweet memories her unsullied pages have bequeathed to the world, not the least precious is her own noble character, which ever responded to all that is best and most enduring in human nature.

See _A Memoir of Maria Edgeworth, with a Selection from her Letters_
(1867), by her stepmother, F.A. Edgeworth, privately printed. A
selection from this was made by Augustus J.C. Hare, and printed under
the title of _The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth_ (2 vols.,
1894). See also _Maria Edgeworth_ (1883), by Helen Zimmern, in the
"Eminent Women" series; Grace A. Oliver, _A Study of Maria Edgeworth_
... (3rd ed., Boston, U.S.A., 1882); and _Maria Edgeworth_ (1904), by
the Hon. Emily Lawless in the "English Men of Letters" series. Among
the numerous shorter articles dealing with Maria Edgeworth and the
family circle at Edgeworthstown may be mentioned a friendly
appreciation of Miss Edgeworth's novels by George Saintsbury in
_Macmillan's Magazine_ (July 1895), and a charming description of her
family circle and surroundings in the preface supplied by Lady
Thackeray Ritchie to Macmillan's edition of the novels (1895).

EDGEWORTH, RICHARD LOVELL (1744-1817), British writer, was born at Bath on the 31st of May 1744. The greater part of his life, however, was spent at Edgeworthtown, or Edgeworthstown, in the county of Longford, Ireland, where the Edgeworth family had been settled for upwards of 150 years. He was of gentle blood--his father being the son of Colonel Francis Edgeworth, and his mother, Jane Lovell, being the daughter of Samuel Lovell, a Welsh judge. Richard's mother taught him to read at a very early age; and from childhood he had a strong love for mechanical science. The Rev. Patrick Hughes initiated him in Lilye's _Latin Grammar_--an office he also performed for Goldsmith, who was born on the property of the Edgeworths--and his public education began, in August 1752, in a school at Warwick. He subsequently attended Drogheda school, then reputed the best in Ireland; and, after spending two years at a school in Longford, entered Trinity College, Dublin, in April 1761, but was transferred to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in October of the same year. While still at college, he made a runaway match, marrying at Gretna Green, Anna Maria, one of the daughters of Paul Elers of Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, an old friend of his father. His eldest son was born before Edgeworth reached his twentieth birthday, and his daughter Maria in 1767.

Shortly after the birth of his son, he and his wife went to Edgeworthstown, but in 1765 they took a house at Hare Hatch, near Maidenhead. Edgeworth devoted much time to scientific reading and experiments; and he made an attempt to establish telegraphic communication (_Memoirs_, 2nd edition, i. 144). He also invented a turnip-cutter, a one-wheeled chaise and other contrivances. In the pursuit of his mechanical inventions he visited Erasmus Darwin at Lichfield, where he met Anna Seward, and her cousin, Honora Sneyd. His home was now at Hare Hatch, in Berkshire, where he endeavoured to educate his son according to the method explained in Rousseau's _Emile_. In later life, however, the ill-success of this experiment led him to doubt many of Rousseau's views (_Memoirs_, ii. 374). At the same time he kept terms at the Temple, and formed the greatest friendship of his life with Thomas Day, the author of _Sandford and Merton_, which was written at Edgeworth's suggestion. In 1769, on the death of his father, he gave up the idea of being a barrister; but, instead of immediately settling on his Irish estate, he spent a considerable time in England and France, mainly in Day's company. In Lyons, where he resided for about two years, he took an active part in the management of public works intended to turn the course of the Rhone. He was summoned to England by the death of his wife (March 1773), with whom he was far from happy. Edgeworth hurried to Lichfield, to Dr Erasmus Darwin's, and at once declared his passion for Honora Sneyd, which had been the cause of his flight to France two years before. Miss Sneyd had been the object of attention from Thomas Day, but her views on marriage were not submissive enough to please him. She had other suitors, among them the unfortunate Major Andre. She married Edgeworth (July 1773), and after residing at Edgeworthstown for three years, they settled at Northchurch, in Hertfordshire. After six years of domestic happiness, Honora Edgeworth died (April 1780), recommending her husband to marry her sister Elizabeth; and they were actually married on Christmas Day, 1780.

In 1782 Edgeworth returned to Ireland, determined to improve his estate, educate his seven children, and ameliorate the condition of the tenants. Up to this point Edgeworth has told his own story in his _Memoirs_. The rest of his life is written by his daughter, who opens with a lengthy panegyric on her father as a model landlord (_Memoirs_, ii. 12-36). In 1785 he was associated with others in founding the Royal Irish Academy; and, during the two succeeding years, mechanics and agriculture occupied most of his time. In October 1789 his friend Day was killed by a fall from his horse, and this trial was soon followed by the loss of his daughter Honora, who had just reached her fifteenth year. In 1792 the health of one of Edgeworth's sons took him to Clifton, where he remained with his family for about two years, returning in 1794 to Edgeworthstown. Ireland was, at that time, harassed by internal disturbances, and threats of a French invasion, and Edgeworth offered to establish telegraphic communication of his own invention throughout the country. This offer was declined. A full account of the matter is given in Edgeworth's _Letter to Lord Charlemont on the Telegraph_; and his apparatus is explained in an "Essay on the art of Conveying Swift and Secret Intelligence," published in the sixth volume of the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_. In the autumn of 1797 the third Mrs Edgeworth died.

_Practical Education_ (1798) was written in collaboration with his daughter Maria, and embodied the experience of the authors in dealing with children. "So commenced," says Miss Edgeworth, "that literary partnership which, for so many years, was the pride and joy of my life" (_Memoirs_, ii. 170). This book, generally regarded as old-fashioned, has a real value in the history of education. Mr Edgeworth's interest in the subject had been inspired by the study of Rousseau and by his friendship with Thomas Day. But he went beyond Rousseau, who developed his theories from his own ingenious mind and related an imaginary process. The Edgeworths brought a scientific method to their work. The second Mrs Edgeworth (Honora Sneyd) began the collection of actual examples of conversations between the children and their elders. This was continued patiently by the writers of the book; and their reasonings were thus founded on an accurate record of childish methods of thought. They deprecated especially any measures that interrupted the child's own chain of reasoning. The chapters on special subjects of study, chronology, geometry, &c., were written by Richard Lovell Edgeworth; those on toys, on rewards and punishments, on temper, &c., by his daughter.[1]

In 1798 Edgeworth married Miss Beaufort, and was elected M.P. for the borough of St John's Town, Longford. The same year, too, saw a hostile landing of the French and a formidable rebellion; and for a short time the Edgeworths took refuge in Longford. The winter of 1802 they spent in Paris. In 1804 the government accepted his telegraphic apparatus, but the installation was left incomplete when the fear of invasion was past. In 1802 appeared the _Essay on Irish Bulls_ by Mr and Miss Edgeworth; and in 1806 Edgeworth was elected a member of the board of commissioners to inquire into Irish education. From 1807 till 1809 much of his time was spent on mechanical experiments and in writing the story of his life. In 1808 appeared _Professional Education_, and in 1813 his _Essay on the Construction of Roads and Carriages_. He died on the 13th of June 1817, and was buried in the family vault in Edgeworthstown churchyard.

Many of Edgeworth's works were suggested by his zeal for the education of his own children. Such were _Poetry Explained for Young People_ (1802), _Readings in Poetry_ (1816), _A Rational Primer_ (unpublished), and the parts of _Early Lessons_ contributed by him. His speeches in the Irish parliament have also been published; and numerous essays, mostly on scientific subjects, have appeared in the _Philosophical Transactions_, the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, the _Monthly Magazine_ and _Nicholson's Journal_. The story of his early life, told by himself, is fully as entertaining as the continuation by Maria, as it contains less dissertation and more incident. One of his daughters by his first marriage, Anna Maria, married Dr Beddoes and became the mother of T.L. Beddoes, the poet.

See _Memoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Esq._, begun by himself and
concluded by his daughter, Maria Edgeworth (2 vols., 1820, 3rd and
revised ed. 1844). A selection from this, giving an optimistic view of
him, _Richard Lovell Edgeworth_ (1896), was edited by Mrs Lionel
Tollemache.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] For an appreciation of the two Edgeworths from the teacher's
point of view, see Prof. L.C. Miall in the _Journal of Education_
(August 1, 1894).

EDGEWORTH DE FIRMONT, HENRY ESSEX (1745-1807), last confessor to Louis XVI., was the son of Robert Edgeworth, rector of Edgeworthstown in Ireland, his mother being a granddaughter of Archbishop Ussher. When he was three years old his father became a Roman Catholic, resigned his living and emigrated to Toulouse, where the boy was brought up by the Jesuits. In 1769, after his father's death, he went to Paris to be trained for the priesthood. On taking orders he assumed the additional surname of de Firmont, from the family estate of Firmount near Edgeworthstown. Though originally studying with a view to becoming a missionary, he decided to remain in Paris, devoting himself especially to the Irish and English Roman Catholics. In 1791 he became confessor to the princess Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI., and earned the respect even of the _sans-culottes_ by his courage and devotion. By Madame Elizabeth he was recommended to the king when his trial was impending; and after Louis' condemnation to death he was able to obtain permission to celebrate mass for him and attend him on the scaffold, where he recommended the king to allow his hands to be tied, with the words: "Sire, in this new outrage I see only the last trait of resemblance between your Majesty and the God who will be your reward." It is said that at the moment of the execution, the confessor uttered the celebrated words: "Son of St Louis, ascend to heaven." But it is certain that the phrase was never spoken. The abbe himself does not quote it, either in his memoirs or in a letter written in 1796 to his brother, in which he describes the death of the king. Moreover, Edgeworth declared to several persons who asked him about it, that the words were not his. In spite of the danger he now ran, Edgeworth refused to leave France so long as he could be of any service to Madame Elizabeth, with whom he still managed to correspond. At length, in 1795, his mother having meanwhile died in prison, where his sister was also confined, he succeeded in escaping to England, carrying with him Elizabeth's last message to her brother, the future King Charles X. whom he found in Edinburgh. He afterwards went with some papers to Monsieur (Louis XVIII.) at Blankenburg in Brunswick, by whom he was induced to accompany him to Mittau, where, on the 22nd of May 1807, he died of a fever contracted while attending some French prisoners.

Edgeworth's _Memories_, edited by C.S. Edgeworth, were first published
in English (London, 1815), and a French translation (really the
letters and some miscellaneous notes, &c.) was published in Paris in
1816. A translation of the _Lettres de l'abbe Edgeworth avec des
memoires sur sa vie_ was published by Madame Elizabeth de Bow in Paris
in 1818, and _Letters from the Abbe Edgeworth to his Friends, with
Memoirs of his Life_, edited by T.B. England, in London in 1818. See
J.B.A. Hanet-Clery, _Journal de ce qui s'est passe, &c._ (Paris,
1825); A.H. du D. de Beauchesne, _Vie de Madame Elisabeth_ (Paris,
1869); J.C.D. de Lacretelle, _Precis historique de la Revolution
francaise_ (Paris, 1801-1806).

EDGREN-LEFFLER, ANNE CHARLOTTE, duchess of Cajanello (1849-1892), Swedish author, daughter of the mathematician Prof. C.O. Leffler, was born on the 1st of October 1849. Her first volume of stories appeared in 1869, but the first to which she attached her name was _Ur Lifvet_ ("From Life," 1882), a series of realistic sketches of the upper circles of Swedish society, followed by three other collections with the same title. Her earliest plays, _Skadespelerskan_ ("The Actress," 1873), and its successors, were produced anonymously in Stockholm, but in 1883 her reputation was established by the success of _Sanna Kvinnor_ ("True Women"), and _En Raddande engel_ ("An Angel of Deliverance"). _Sanna Kvinnor_ is directed against false femininity, and was well received in Germany as well as in Sweden. Anne Leffler had married in 1872 G. Edgren, but about 1884 she was separated from her husband, who did not share her advanced views. She spent some time in England, and in 1885 produced her _Hur man gor godt_ ("How men do good"), followed in 1888 by _Kampen for lyckan_ ("The Struggle for Happiness"), in which she had the help of Sophie Kovalevsky. Another volume of the _Ur Lisvet_ series appeared in 1889; and _Familjelycka_ ("Domestic Happiness," 1891) was produced in the year after her second marriage, with the Italian mathematician, Pasquale del Pezzo, duca di Cajanello. She died at Naples on the 21st of October 1892. Her dramatic method forms a connecting link between Ibsen and Strindberg, and its masculine directness, freedom from prejudice, and frankness gave her work a high estimation in Sweden. Her last book was a biography (1892) of her friend Sophie (Sonya) Kovalevsky, by way of introduction to Sonya's autobiography. An English translation (1895) by A. de Furnhjelm and A.M. Clive Bayley contains a biographical note on Fru Edgren-Leffler by Lily Wolffsohn, based on private sources.

See also Ellen Key, _Anne Charlotte Leffler_ (Stockholm, 1893).

EDHEM PASHA (c. 1815-1893), Turkish statesman, was of Greek origin, and is said to have been taken into a Turkish household at the time of the Chio massacre in 1822, and to have been brought up as a Mussulman. He entered the Turkish government service and rose to high office, being successively minister of public works, grand vizier for eleven months (1878), ambassador at Vienna (1879) and minister of the interior. He was quick-tempered, but of kindly disposition, intelligent and patriotic, and he left a reputation of unblemished honesty and uprightness.

EDICT (Lat. _edictum_, from _e_, out, and _dicere_, to say, speak), an order or proclamation issued under authority and having the force of law. The word is especially used of the promulgations of the Roman praetor (q.v.), of the Roman emperors, and also of the kings of France (see also ROMAN LAW).

EDINBURGH, a city and royal burgh, and county of itself, the capital of Scotland, and county town of Edinburghshire or Midlothian, situated to the south of the Firth of Forth, 396 m. by rail N. of London. The old Royal Observatory on Calton Hill stands in 55 deg. 57' 23" N. and 12 deg. 43' 05" W. Edinburgh occupies a group of hills of moderate height and the valleys between. In the centre is a bold rock, crowned by the castle, between which and the new town lies a ravine that once contained the Nor' Loch, but is now covered with the gardens of Princes Street. To the east rises Calton Hill (355 ft.) with several conspicuous monuments, the city prison and the Calton cemetery. On the south-east, beyond the Canongate limits, stands the hill of Arthur's Seat (822 ft.). Towards the north the site of the city slopes gently to the Firth of Forth and the port of Leith; while to the south, Liberton Hill, Blackford Hill, Braid Hills and Craiglockhart Hills roughly mark the city bounds, as Corstorphine Hill and the Water of Leith do the western limits. The views of the city and environs from the castle or any of the hills are very beautiful, and it is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque capitals in the world. Its situation, general plan and literary associations suggested a comparison that gave Edinburgh the name of "the modern Athens"; but it has a homelier nickname of "Auld Reekie," from the cloud of smoke (reek) which often hangs over the low-lying quarters.

_Chief Buildings._--Of the castle, the oldest building is St Margaret's chapel, believed to be the chapel where Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, worshipped, and belonging at latest to the reign of her youngest son, David I. (1124-1153). Near it is the parliament and banqueting hall, restored (1889-1892) by the generosity of William Nelson (1817-1887) the publisher, which contains a fine collection of Scottish armour, weapons and regimental colours, while, emblazoned on the windows, are the heraldic bearings of royal and other figures distinguished in national history. Other buildings in the Palace Yard include the apartments occupied by the regent, Mary of Guise, and her daughter Mary, queen of Scots, and the room in which James VI. was born. Here also are deposited the Scottish regalia ("The Honours of Scotland"), with the sword of state presented to James IV. by Pope Julius II., and the jewels restored to Scotland on the death (1807) of Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts. The arsenal, a modern building on the west side of the rock, is capable of storing 30,000 stand of arms. In the armoury is a collection of arms of various dates; and on the Argyll battery stands a huge piece of ancient artillery, called Mons Meg, of which repeated mention is made in Scottish history. Argyll Tower, in which Archibald, 9th earl of Argyll, spent his last days (1685), was also restored in 1892 by Mr William Nelson.