Early English Architecture, the first of the Pointed or Gothic styles of architecture that prevailed in England. It succeeded the Norman in the reign of Richard I (1189), and continued to the end of the reign of Henry II in 1272, a period of 123 years, when it gradually merged into the Decorated style. One of the leading peculiarities in this style is the form of the windows, which are narrow in proportion to their height, and terminate in a pointed arch, resembling the blade of a lancet (and therefore often called the Lancet style). Throughout the early period of the style they are very plain, particularly in small churches; but in cathedrals and other large buildings the windows, frequently combined two or more together, are carried to a great height, are richly and deeply moulded, and the jambs ornamented with slender shafts. On the eastern and western fronts of small churches the windows are often combined in this manner, with a circular window above and a richly moulded door below; but in large buildings there is often more than one range of windows, and the combinations are very various. Though separated on the outside, these lancets are in the interior combined into one design, thus giving the first idea of a compound window. The doorways are in general pointed, and in rich buildings sometimes double; they are usually moulded, and enriched with the tooth-ornament. The buttresses are often very bold and prominent, and are frequently carried up to the top of the building with but little diminution, and terminate in acutely pointed pediments, which, when raised above the parapet, produce in some degree the effect of pinnacles. In this style, likewise, flying-buttresses were first introduced (see Buttresses), and the buttresses themselves much increased in projection owing to the comparative lightness of the walls, which required some counter-support to resist the outward pressure of the vaulting. The roof in the Early English style appears always to have been high pitched, and the towers surmounted by lofty pointed spires, as at Salisbury Cathedral. In the interior the arches are usually lancet-shaped, and the pillars often reduced to very slender proportions. As if to give still greater lightness of appearance, they are frequently made up of a centre pillar, surrounded by slight detached shafts, only connected with the pillar by their capitals and bases, and bands of metal placed at intervals. These shafts are generally of Purbeck marble, the pillar itself being of stone, and from their extreme slenderness they sometimes appear as if quite inadequate to support the weight above them. The earliest example of Early English architecture is the choir of Canterbury, followed by the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, but some of the best examples are to be seen in Salisbury Cathedral. The architects of this style carried their ideas of lightness to the utmost limits of prudence, and their successors have been afraid to imitate their example. The abacus of the capitals is generally made up of two bold round mouldings, with a deep hollow between. The foliage is peculiar, generally very gracefully drawn, and thrown into elegant curves; it is usually termed stiff-leaved, from the circumstance of its rising with a stiff stem from the neck-mould of the capital. The trefoil is commonly imitated, and is very characteristic of the style. The mouldings of this style have great boldness, and produce a striking effect of light and shade. They consist chiefly of rounds separated by deep hollows, in which a peculiar ornament, called the dog's-tooth, is used, whenever ornament can be introduced. This ornament is as characteristic of the Early English as the zigzag is of the Norman. See Dog's-tooth.—Cf. F. Bond, An Introduction to English Church Architecture, from the 11th to the 16th Century.
Earnest, in law, any sum paid in advance, to bind parties to the performance of a verbal agreement, or something given by a buyer to a seller as a pledge of adherence to a bargain. The party is then obliged to abide by his bargain, and is not discharged upon forfeiting his earnest. In England the general view is that the sum paid as earnest, however small, is part of the price.
Ear-ring, an ornament for the ear, consisting of a ring or hook passing through the lobe, with a pendant of diamonds, pearls, or other jewels frequently attached. Ear-rings were commonly worn amongst the Oriental nations, and by both sexes, especially in Babylonia and Assyria, from the earliest times. Amongst the Greeks and Romans the wearing of ear-rings was usually confined to women. In England the Romanized Britons and the Anglo-Saxons wore them, but the fashion declined in the tenth century, and was again introduced in the sixteenth century, in Queen Elizabeth's time.
Earsdon, an urban district or town of England, South Northumberland, several miles north-west of Tynemouth, with productive collieries. Pop. 10,568.
Earth, the planet which we inhabit, a nearly spherical body which every twenty-four hours rotates from west to east round an imaginary line called its axis—this axis having as its extremities the north and south poles—while in the course of a year it completes a revolution round the sun. To an observer whose view is not obstructed, the visible part of the earth appears as a circular and horizontal expanse, on the circumference of which the heavens appear to rest. Accordingly, in remote antiquity, the earth was regarded as a flat, circular body, floating on the waters. But even in antiquity the spherical form of the earth began to be suspected. It is only on this supposition that we can explain how the horizon of vision grows wider and wider the higher the position we choose, how the tops of towers and mountains at a distance become visible before the bases, how the hull of a ship first disappears as she sails away, and how, as we go from the poles towards the equator, new stars become visible. Besides these proofs there are many others, such as the circular contour of the earth's shadow seen on the moon during an eclipse. The mere fact that the earth can be circumnavigated does not, as is sometimes assumed, prove it to be globular. But its surface, land and ocean, has been almost all explored and accurately mapped, and the relative distances and directions found to obtain between the places on its surface are consistent only with its possessing such a shape.
The earth is not, however, an exact sphere, but is very slightly flattened at the poles, so as to have the form known as an oblate spheroid. In this way the polar diameter, or diameter from pole to pole, is shorter than the diameter at right angles to this—the equatorial diameter. The most accurate measurements make the polar diameter almost 27 miles less than the equatorial, the equatorial diameter being found to be 7926.7 miles, and the polar 7900 miles. The earth is regarded as divided into two halves—the northern and the southern hemisphere—by the equator, an imaginary line going right round it midway between the poles. In order to indicate with precision the position of places on the earth additional circles are imagined to be traced upon the surface in such a manner that those of the one set all pass through both poles, while those of the other are drawn parallel to the equator. The former are called meridians, the latter parallels of latitude, and by reference to them we can state the latitude and longitude, and thus the exact position, of any place.
Many experiments by various methods have been made in order to determine the average density of the earth, and the total quantity of matter it contains. Amongst these methods may be mentioned: (1) that of measuring the deflection of a plumb-line due to a mountain's attraction, and thereby comparing the mass of the earth with that of the mountain; (2) that founded on the difference of oscillation period of a pendulum when placed at the summit of a mountain and when at the sea-level; (3) by the determination of the difference of gravity at the top and the bottom of a deep mine, by pendulum experiments; (4) Cavendish's experiment with the torsion balance, which attempts to compare the attractive force of two large lead balls upon two small lead balls with that exercised by the earth. From these and other experiments it has been calculated that the mean density of the earth is to that of water as about 5½ to 1.
The earth, in common with the other planets, moves round the sun, completing its revolution in about 365 days and 6 hours. The orbit of the earth is an ellipse, with the sun in one of its foci. Hence the earth is not equally distant from the sun throughout the year; it is over 3,000,000 miles nearer at one time than another, its least distance (perihelion distance), according to recent calculations, being about 91,340,000 miles; its greatest (aphelion distance), 94,450,000; and the mean distance, 92,897,000 miles. From this it may be calculated that the velocity of the earth in its orbit is about 18½ miles a second. About 3rd Jan. the earth is nearest the sun, and about 4th July farthest from it. This position of matters, which is subject to slow alteration in the course of ages, at present tends to moderate the seasonal variations in the northern hemisphere, and to intensify them in the southern. The passage of the earth round its orbit causes the sun to appear as if it described an annual circuit of the heavens; and hence it is that at one time of the year one group of stars is seen in the neighbourhood of the sun near sunrise or sunset, and at another time another group. This apparent path of the sun is the ecliptic, and corresponds with what would be the path of the earth as seen from the sun; and the groups of