she was actively employed, sometimes as regent in England, sometimes in directing the affairs of her own duchy of Aquitaine. In 1173 she was thrown into prison by Henry, on a charge of encouraging her sons in rebellion; and she remained in almost constant confinement in Winchester palace for sixteen years. The accession of her son, Richard I., once more set her at liberty; and the power which fell into her hands was exercised with a degree of justice and benevolence which contrasts favourably with the careless levity of her younger days. She afterwards arranged Richard's marriage with Berengaria of Navarre, and released him when imprisoned in Germany, by travelling thither in person with his ransom. On his death, she supported the claims of Prince John to the English throne against those of her grandson Arthur. In 1202 she retired to the convent of Fontevrault, where she died in 1204.—D. M.
ELEANOR of Provence, who acquired the title of Saint on account of her piety, was the daughter of Berenger, fifth count of Provence. She was married to Henry III., king of England, in the year 1236. She was the mother of Edward I., whose character, it is not too much to say, owed something of its grandeur to his early training. Upon the death of her husband, she retired to the nunnery at Ambresbury, where she died in 1292. Miracles were said to follow her prayers.—T. J.
ELEANOR TELLEZ de Mendeses, Queen of Portugal, the daughter of Martin Alfonso Tellez, born in 1350, was married at the age of sixteen to a distinguished Portuguese gentleman, Joâo Lourenço da Cunha. Ferdinand I., king of Portugal, seeing her at court, became so enamoured of her beauty and coquetry, that he found means to annul her marriage, broke off his own engagement to the infanta of Castile, and brought Eleanor to Lisbon as his queen. The king's elder brother, Dionysius, who refused to acknowledge her, was banished from the court; and though no slight popular discontent was at first manifested, the new queen had sufficient address to conciliate the good-will of her subjects. The king's illegitimate brother, Don John, was married to a sister of Eleanor, Doña Maria de Souza. Eleanor, either having resolved to marry the prince to her daughter Beatrix, or with a view to marry him herself in case of the king's death, accused her sister of infidelity to her husband, who stabbed the supposed culprit to the heart, and then fled the kingdom. Eleanor at first craved vengeance for the death of her sister, but by her influence the murderer was soon afterwards allowed to return to court. The king died in 1383, leaving the crown to his daughter Beatrix, who was married to John I., king of Castile, but nominating Eleanor as regent. The king's brother, Don John, incensed at the ascendancy which the queen's paramour, Andeiro, had gained, assassinated him in the palace, and a popular revolution transferred the regency to the hands of the prince. Eleanor upon this fled to the king of Castile, who made an attempt to assert the rights of his wife, but the nation ultimately recognized the prince under the title of Joâo I. in 1385. Disappointed in all her schemes, Eleanor began to plot against the life of her son-in-law, who was obliged to confine her in the convent of Tordesillas, where she died in 1405.—F. M. W.
ELEANOR DE GUZMAN. See Guzman.
ELEAZAR, the name of several distinguished Jews, the most notable of whom follow in chronological order:—
Eleazar, high-priest of the Jews in the third century, b.c., succeeded his brother Simon. He was the son of Oniaz. Ptolemy Philadelphus, by mistake, and Ptolemy Soter, on doubtful authority, is said to have written to this Eleazar, requesting a number of Jews to be sent to him at Alexandria, to execute a translation of the scriptures for the royal library; and, in obedience to this request, the high-priest is said to have sent into Egypt seventy-two of the ablest and most learned of his countrymen. Although circumstantially given by Josephus, the account of this transaction with the king of Egypt has been regarded by many critics as of doubtful authenticity. Eleazar, in reply to some questions which were addressed to him by learned men of Egypt, gave expositions of certain passages of scripture which would seem to be the first instances on record of allegorical or mystical interpretation.
Eleazar Maccabeus, fifth son of Mattathias, distinguished in the wars of his countrymen with the kings of Syria. In an engagement with Antiochus Eupator, 163 b.c., he was crushed under an elephant, which, having taken it by mistake for the king's, he had crouched under and slain.
Eleazar, one of the most illustrious victims of the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, was put to death in 167 b.c. He was a leading man among the scribes; and his crime was the resistance which he made to the emissaries of the tyrant, when they would have forced him to eat meats forbidden by the law.
Eleazar, son of Ananias, a leader of one of the factions of the Jews during the years 35-70 a.d. While John of Giscala, his rival, occupied the lower part of the Holy Mount, Eleazar, with his numerous followers, held the upper part; and, in this close proximity, the two leaders engaged in a struggle for superiority which was kept up even after the arrival of Titus before the walls of the city in 70 a.d. Eleazar eventually succumbed to his more energetic rival.
Eleazar, a Jew of the family of Judas the Galilean, who, after the destruction of Jerusalem, was attacked by Flavius Sylva in the fortress of Masada, on the borders of the Dead Sea, to which, along with a considerable number of persons, he had fled from the city. Sylva reduced this place only after a long siege; and, on effecting entrance, he found that, preferring death to slavery, the garrison had fallen upon their own swords.
Eleazar, a priest who, during the unpopular administration of Florus, was active in urging his countrymen into revolt, and who gave the signal for the innumerable atrocities to be found recorded in the pages of Josephus, by treacherously slaughtering the Roman garrisons, who, on the promise of life and liberty, surrendered the strongholds of Jerusalem.—J. S., G.
ELEUTHERIUS, Bishop of Rome, was born of Greek parentage in Nicopolis in the earlier part of the second century. He was elevated to the Roman see about 177, and died in 192, leaving behind him the character of a good bishop. It was to him that the martyrs of Lyons addressed those letters in which they recommended a mild and conciliatory treatment of the Montanists.—R. M., A.
ELGIN, James Bruce, eighth earl of, a distinguished statesman and diplomatist, traced his ancestry to the royal Scottish family of Bruce, and was the son of the nobleman who has given a name to the celebrated Elgin marbles. Born in London in the July of 1811, his lordship received his later education at Christ Church, Oxford, where he highly distinguished himself, taking first-class honours in classics in 1832. At the general election of 1841 he was chosen M.P. for Southampton, but did not long remain in the lower house, succeeding to the earldom in the same year. The late Sir Robert Peel had formed a high opinion of the young nobleman's abilities; and in the March of 1842 he was appointed governor-general of Jamaica—a post which he filled to the satisfaction both of the colonists and of the authorities at home. From Jamaica, he was promoted in 1846 to the governor-generalship of Canada, where he remained for seven years; and his tenure of office was marked by the extinction of political discontent, and the negotiation of an important treaty of commercial reciprocity between Canada and the United States. During his governor-generalship of Canada in 1849, he received a British peerage as a testimony of her majesty's approval of his conduct; and on his return to England in 1854 he was made the hero of a great public banquet attended by political notabilities of all parties. In the autumn of the year he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Fifeshire; and his entry into the cabinet was considered by his friends and the public merely a question of time. The first ministry of Lord Palmerston did not include Lord Elgin; but when an opportunity arrived for the employment of his abilities in a diplomatic mission of the greatest importance, they were eagerly sought for. The Chinese complication, arising out of the affair of the Arrow, required a diplomatic as well as a martial solution; and in the March of 1857 Lord Elgin was despatched as special plenipotentiary to the Celestial Empire. Before, however, Lord Elgin arrived at Hong Kong, he heard enough of the progress of the Indian mutinies to convince him that the quarrel with China was one of minor importance in face of the terrible crisis in Hindostan. With prompt and judicious daring he took upon himself the responsibility of diverting the Chinese expeditionary force from its original destination to India. He himself hastened from Hong Kong to Calcutta, where his presence was welcomed. As soon, however, as events permitted he returned to China. Canton was bombarded and captured. On the 1st of January, 1858, the ambassadors formally took possession of the city. By a bold ascent of the Pei-ho, the court of Pekin was induced to yield, and on the 26th of June, 1858, was
