Engledue (William Collins), M.D., b. Portsea 1813. After taking his degree at Edinburgh, he became assistant to Dr. Lizars and was elected President of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh. He returned to Portsmouth in 1835; originated the Royal Portsmouth Hospital and established public baths and washhouses. He contributed to the Zoist and published an exposition of materialism under the title of Cerebral Physiology, 1842, republished by J. Watson, 1857. Died Jan. 1859.
English (George Bethune), American writer and linguist, b. Cambridge, Mass., 7 March, 1787. He studied law and divinity, and graduated at Harvard, 1807, but becoming sceptical published Grounds of Christianity Examined, 1813. The work excited some controversy, and has been reprinted at Toronto, 1839. He joined the Egyptian service and became General of Artillery. He had a variable genius and a gift of languages. At Marseilles he passed for a Turk with a Turkish ambassador; and at Washington he surprised a delegation of Cherokees by disputing with them in their own tongue. He wrote a reply to his critics, entitled Five Smooth Stones out of the Brook, and two letters to Channing on his sermons against infidelity. Died at Washington, 20 Sept. 1828.
Ense (Varnhagen von). See [Varnhagen].
Ensor (George), an Irish writer, b. Loughgall, 1769. Educated at Trinity College; he became B.A. 1790. He travelled largely, and was a friend of liberty in every country. Besides other political works he published, The Independent Man, 1806; On National Government, 1810; A Review of the Miracles, Prophecies and Mysteries of the Old and New Testaments, first printed as Janus on Sion, 1816, and republished 1835; and Natural Theology Examined, 1836, the last being republished in The Library of Reason. Bentham described him as clever but impracticable. Died Ardress, Co. Armagh, 3 Dec. 1843.
Epicurus, Greek philosopher, b. Samos, B.C. 342. He repaired to Athens, B.C. 323. Influenced by the works of Demokritos, he occupied himself with philosophy. He purchased a garden in Athens, in which he established his school. Although much calumniated, he is now admitted to have been a man of blameless life. According to Cicero, he had no belief in the gods, but did not attack their existence, in order not to offend the prejudices of the Athenians. In physics he adopted the atomic theory, and denied immortality. He taught that pleasure is the sovereign good; but by pleasure he meant no transient sensation, but permanent tranquility of mind. He wrote largely, but his works are lost. His principles are expounded in the great poem of Lucretius, De Rerum Natura. Died B.C. 270, leaving many followers.
“Erdan (Alexandre),” the pen-name of Alexandre Andre Jacob, a French writer, b. Angles 1826. He was the natural son of a distinguished prelate. Educated at Saint Sulpice for the Church, he read Proudhon, and refused to take holy orders. He became a journalist and an advocate of phonography. His work, La France Mystique (1855), in which he gives an account of French religious eccentricities, was condemned for its scepticism which appears on every page. Sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of three thousand francs, he took refuge in Italy. Died at Frascati, near Rome, 24 Sept. 1878.
Ernesti (Johann August), German critic, b. Tennstadt, 4 Aug. 1707. Studied at Wittenberg and Leipsic, where he was appointed professor of classical literature. Renowned as a philologist, he insisted that the Bible must be interpreted like any other book. Died Leipsic, 11 Sept. 1781.
Escherny (François Louis d’) Count, Swiss litterateur, b. Neufchatel, 24 Nov. 1733. He spent much of his life in travel. At Paris he became the associate of Helvetius, Diderot, and particularly Rousseau, whom he much admired. He wrote Lacunes de la Philosophie (Amsterdam, 1783) and a work on Equality (1795), in which he displays his Freethought. Died at Paris, 15 July, 1815.
Espinas (Alfred), French philosopher, b. Saint-Florentin, 1844. Has translated, with Th. Ribot, H. Spencer’s Principles of Psychology, and has written studies on Experimental Philosophy in Italy, and on Animal Societies (1877).
Espronceda (José), popular Spanish poet, b. Almendralejo (Estremadura) in 1810. After the War of Independence he went to Madrid and studied under Alberto Lista, the poet and mathematician. He became so obnoxious to the government by his radical principles that he was imprisoned about the age of fifteen, and banished a few years later. He passed several years in London and Paris, and was brought under the influence of Byron and Hugo. He fought with the people in the Paris Revolution of July, 1830. On the death of the Spanish King in ’33 he returned to Madrid, but was again banished for too free expression of his opinions. He returned and took part in the revolutionary contest of ’35–36. He was elected to the Cortes in ’41, and appointed secretary of embassy to The Hague. Died 23 May, 1842. Among his works are lyrical poems, which often remind us of Heine; an unfinished epic, El Pelayo; and El Diablo-Mundo (the Devil-World), a fine poem, due to the inspiration of Faust and Don Juan. Espronceda was a thorough sceptic. In his Song of the Pirate he asks, “Who is my God?—Liberty”; and in his concluding lines to a star he says: