liberty party for vice-president in 1840, but the nomination was repudiated by the abolitionists, whom that party was supposed to represent. Mr. Earle subsequently took little part in political affairs. He devoted his time principally to literary work, and published an " Essay on Penal Law " ; an " Essay on the Rights of States to Alter and to Annul their Charters"; "Treatise on Railroads and Internal Communications " (1880) ; and a " Life of Benjamin Lundy." At the time of his death he was engaged in a translation of Sismondi s " Italian Republics," and in the compilation of a " Grammatical Dictionary of tlie French and the English Languages." — Another son, Pliny, physi- cian, b. in Leicester. Mass., 81 Dec, 1809; d. in Northampton, Mass., 18 May, 1892. lie was gradu- ated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1887, and visited institutions for the insane in European countries. In 1840 he became resident physician of the asylum for the insane at Frankford, Pa., where he remained two years. From Ajjril, 1844, till April, 1849, he was physician to Bloomingdale asylum, New York. He immediately afterward visited insane hospitals in Europe. In 1853 he was appointed visiting physician to the New York city lunatic asylum, and in the same year deliv- ered a course of lectures on mental disorders at the College of physicians and surgeons. New York. In 1868 he became professor of materia medica and psychology in Berkshire medical institute in Pittsfield, Mass., the first professorship of men- tal diseases ever established by a medical college in the United States. His lectures there were limited to the one course of 1864, owing to his appointment as superintendent and physician- in-chief of the state hospital for the insane in Northampton, Mass. He held this place until October, 1885. In 1871 he visited forty-six insti- tutions for the insane in Europe. Dr. Earle was, so far as known, the first person that ever ad- dressed an audience of the insane in any other than a religious discourse. His introduction of lectures on natural philosophy at the Frankford asylum, in the winter of 1840-'41, was the initiative to a system of combined instruction and enter- tainment, which has been widely adopted, and is now considered essential to the highest perfection of an institution for the insane. In the winter of 1866-^'7, at the hospital in Northampton, he de- livered a course of lectures on insanity before audiences in which the average number of insane persons was about 250. His annual reports during the last ten years of his superintendence at North- ampton hospital contain a series of articles on the curability of insanity, which have been published in book-form, entitled " The Curability of Insan- ity ; a Series of Studies " (Philadelphia, 1887). Dr. Earle was one of the founders of the American medical association, the New York academy of medicine, the Association of medical superintend- ents of American institutions for the insane, and the New England psychological society, and had been president of the two last named. He has published "A Visit to Tliirteen Asylums for the Insane in Europe" (Pliiladelphia, 1840); "The History, Description, and Statistics of the Bloom- ingdale Asylum " (New York, 1848) ; " Institutions for the Insane in Prussia, G-ermany, and Austria " (New York, 1853) ; and " An Examination of the Practice of Blood-Letting in Mental Disorders " (New York, 1854), besides frequent contributions to medical periodical literature. He has published " Marathon and other Poems " (Philadelphia, 1841).
EARLE, Balph, artist, b. in Leicester, Mass.,
11 May, 1751 ; d. in Bolton, Conn., 16 Aug., 1801.
He was a descendant of Ralph Earle, an early set-
tler of Leicester, and his father, Ralph, held a com-
mission as captain in the Revolutionary war. He
had no collegiate education, but painted por-
traits in Connecticut in 1775. Soon after peace
was declared he went to England, studied his art
under the instruction of Benjptnin West, and was
elected a member of the Royal academy. He re-
turned to the United States in 1786, and continued
to pursue his profession in different parts of Massa-
chusetts, New York, and Connecticut. Among his
works are two portraits of Dr. Dwight (1777) ; four
historical paintings, believed to be the first of that
class ever executed by an American artist — " The
Battle of Lexington," " A View of Concord," " The
Battle of North Bridge, Concord," and " A View
of the South Part of Lexington." These were en-
graved and published by Amos Doolittle, of New
Haven, Conn. Mr. Earle also painted portraits in
England and America, several landscapes, and a
" Niagara Falls," which was exhibited in all parts
of the country and subsequently in London. — His
brother, James, artist, b. in Leicester, Mass., 1 May,
1761 ; d. in Charleston, S. C. 7 Sept., 1798, had no
collegiate education, and little is known of his
early life. He married Mrs. Caroline Georgiana
Pilkington Smyth, mother of Admiral William
Henry Smyth. He painted portraits in Charleston,
S. C, and died suddenly of yellow fever when he
was preparing to return to England. — His son,
Aug'ustus, artist, b. in 1793, was admitted as a
student in the Royal academy, London, in 1807,
and some of his pictures were in two of the public
exhibitions prior to that date. He had an insatia-
ble love of adventure, and was known as the " wan-
dering artist." From 1815 till 1882 he travelled
extensively through North and South America,
Australia, New Zealand, and the East Indies. In
Madras he painted portraits and executed original
drawings, which he afterward arranged for a pano-
rama, and exhibited. His health failing, he re-
turned to England. When in New York, he spent
most of his time in the house with Thomas Cum-
mings, the well-known painter of miniatures. He
visited all parts of the Mediterranean, travelled in
Africa, and finally sailed on a four-years' voyage
of discovery, from which he never returned. " A
Narrative of a Nine-Months' Residence in New
Zealand in 1827, together with a Journal of a
Residence in Tristan d'Acunha," was published
by Augustus Earle, draughtsman to his Majesty's
ship " The Beagle " (London, 1882). — Ralph's son,
Ralph, artist, d. in New Orleans, La., studied in
London in 1809-'10, and after his return to the
United States married a niece of Andrew Jackson,
and i3ainted a full-length portrait of the general.
EARLY, John, M. E. bishop, b. in Bedford county, Va., 1 Jan., 1780; d. in Lynchburg. Va., 5 Nov., 1873. He joined the Methodist conference of his state in the revival of 1801-2, and became an itinerant preacher about 1807. He soon attracted attention by his fervor and eloquence, and
was specially successful in conducting religious exercises in a revival. He successively filled the offices of secretary of the conference and presiding elder, and was repeatedly a delegate to the quadrennial general conference. In the agitation that resulted, in 1844, in the division of his denomination into the Methodist church north and south, Mr. Early took an active part, and was elected the first book-agent of the latter. Though sixty-
nine years of age. he was elected bishop in 1854, and served his church with great zeal and fidelity for nineteen years. He was largely instrumental in founding Randolph-Macon college, Va. Bishop
