June, 1721. After passing through the curriculum of arts in the university of Edinburgh, he entered on the study of theology in opposition to the wishes of his family and friends, who were desirous that he should devote himself to the study of law in which his father had become so distinguished, and who thought the office of the ministry in the Church of Scotland would afford neither adequate scope nor remuneration for the abilities and attainments which they knew him to possess. In the year 1744 he became minister of Kirkintilloch, from which he was translated in 1753 to Culross, and thence removed in 1758 to the parish of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh. Some years afterwards he became one of the ministers of Old Greyfriars, being associated in the pastoral charge of that parish with Principal Robertson the historian, who had been his class-fellow at college. For many years Dr. Erskine was the acknowledged leader of the popular or evangelical party in the Church of Scotland; and while his learning, courage, sagacity, and moral worth gained him the respect and confidence of his friends, his candour and kindliness of disposition secured the esteem of his opponents. He was much interested in the progress of religion in different parts of the world, and conducted an extensive correspondence with distinguished theologians in England, America, and on the continent of Europe. He published also many excellent volumes on doctrinal and practical divinity. He died at Edinburgh after a short illness in 1803. Sir Walter Scott has given, in Guy Mannering, an accurate and striking picture of Dr. Erskine.—J. B. J.
ERSKINE, John. See Mar, Earl of.
ERSKINE, Ralph, the brother of Ebenezer, was born at Branxton, Northumberland, on the 18th of March, 1685. He became minister of Dunfermline in 1711, and died there in November, 1752, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Sympathizing with his brother in his views of christian doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline, he took a deep interest in those movements in the Church of Scotland which resulted in the Secession; and having formally joined the seceders in 1737 he was, along with his brother, deposed by the general assembly in 1740. Ralph, though principally known from his connection with Ebenezer, was in some respects an abler man than his brother. His "Gospel Sonnets," with all their roughnesses and odd conceits, have many beautiful, ingenious, and striking thoughts in them, and his works, "Faith no Fancy," and "Fancy no Faith," give evidence of much metaphysical acuteness.
The father of these remarkable men—Rev. Henry Erskine—was connected with the noble family of Mar. He was minister at Cornhill in North Durham, and was ejected in 1662 by the act of uniformity, and lived several years at Dryburgh. In 1682 he was seized by a company of soldiers and had the honour of testifying at Edinburgh before the "bluidy Mackenzie" and a committee of the privy council. He was condemned as one who preached at "conventicles," and sentenced to fine and imprisonment; but through the kindness of friends his penalty was commuted to banishment from the kingdom of Scotland. In 1685 he was imprisoned at Newcastle for conscience sake; and after King James' proclamation of indulgence, he became minister in the neighbourhood of Berwick-on-Tweed. After the Revolution he was appointed to the parish of Chirnside, where he laboured till his death, which took place in 1696.—J. B. J.
ERSKINE, Thomas, LL.D., of Linlethan, Forfarshire, became a member of the Scottish bar in 1810; but it is as a theologian, and not as a lawyer, that he is entitled to notice. A few years after his admission to the faculty of advocates, he published a little book entitled "Remarks on the Internal Evidence of the Truth of Revealed Religion," which is distinguished by the acuteness of the reasoning and the untechnical character of the illustrations. M. Villemain erroneously ascribes this work to Lord Erskine. He subsequently published an "Essay on Faith;" "Three Essays on the Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel;" "the Brazen Serpent, or Life coming through Death," &c.—in all of which there is much that is worthy of the careful attention of the student. In 1866 the University of Edinburgh conferred on Mr. Erskine the degree of LL.D. He was a person of amiable character and excellent attainments, and the intimate friend of some of the most eminent literary men of the day, such as Thomas Carlyle and the Rev. F. D. Maurice. He died in March, 1870.—J. B. J.
ERSKINE, William, was born in Edinburgh in November, 1773, and was educated at the high school and university of that city, being intended for the legal profession. His literary tastes, however, fostered by association with the eminent individuals with whom his academical career was partly contemporary—Brougham, Brown, Leyden—impaired his predilection for professional details; and when Sir James Mackintosh was appointed recorder of Bombay, he gladly accepted an offer to accompany him as his secretary. Of the satisfactory nature of this connection Sir James has recorded his testimony, observing, "It was my good fortune to bring out with me a young Scotch gentleman, who is one of the most amiable, ingenious, and accurately-informed men in the world." This connection continued during the residence of the parties in India, and was drawn still closer by Mr. Erskine's becoming the son-in-law of Sir James. Having been appointed one of the magistrates of Bombay, Mr. Erskine devoted his leisure hours to the assiduous cultivation of the Persian language and Oriental literature in general. He took an active part in the foundation of the Literary Society of Bombay, of which he was from the first the secretary, and latterly the vice-president, and to the pages of whose Transactions he contributed some of the most valuable articles, especially his memoirs on the cave temples of Elephanta, on the sacred books and religion of the Parsis, on the authenticity of the Desatir and Dabistan, and on the remains of the Buddhists in India. The work, however, by which he established a European reputation was the autobiography of the Emperor Baber, translated from the Chagatai Turki, and published in 1826, which had been commenced by another distinguished Oriental scholar, Dr. John Leyden; but his premature death arrested the work almost at the outset, and Mr. Erskine was induced by the interest of the subject, and a wish to carry out the undertaking of his friend, to complete the translation, acquiring for that purpose the language of the original. He also elucidated the memoirs by investigations into the history of the Turk and Usbek tribes, and the geography of the countries, still little known to us, which were the scene of Baber's remarkable vicissitudes, until he became the founder of a dynasty of sovereigns over India. The work was received with cordial commendation by critics of the first though diversified qualifications; and Jeffrey and De Sacy were emulous in its praise. Mr. Erskine quitted India in 1823, and thenceforth divided his residence between Edinburgh and the continent, where he continued to pursue his researches in Oriental history, especially in regard to the house of Timur, which he intended to have brought down to a late period—the end of the reign Aurungzebe. Ill health, and perhaps too scrupulous an attention to perfectness and accuracy of detail, retarded his labours; and it was not until after his demise in May, 1852, that the labours of many of his past years were given to the public. The "History of India under the Emperors Baber and Humayun," in two octavo volumes, was published in 1854, and forms a permanent record of Mr. Erskine's reputation, and a standard authority for all who may hereafter trace the descent of that dynasty, of which we have so recently beheld the merited extinction.—H. H. W.
* ERSLEV, Thomas Hansen, a Danish man of letters, born at Randers, 10th November, 1803; became student in 1821; lived on his own property some years in Jylland, and returned to Copenhagen in 1836. In 1847 he was employed in the chancellor's archive-office, and since 1849 has been at the head of the archives of the ecclesiastical department. He has rendered great service to the history of Danish literature by his "Almindeligt Forfatter-lexicon for Kongeriget Danmark med tilhörende Bilande," from 1814 to 1840, published at Copenhagen, 1841-53; to which he has added a supplement, though not yet complete, which brings down the information from 1853 to the present time. This work has been carried out with such unabated industry, that both as regards personal and bibliographical history, it is distinguished by a combination of accuracy and fulness of detail which are seldom to be met with in works of the kind—M. H.
ERXLEBEN, Dorothy Christina, born in 1715; died in 1768. This remarkable lady was the daughter of a German physician, and displayed in her youth such a taste for the profession that her father bestowed on her a medical education. After her marriage she took the degree of doctor of medicine in Hallé. She became a medical practitioner, and published on professional topics.—J. S.
ERXLEBEN, Johann Christian Polycarp, born at
