subsequent events of Ethelred's reign, see the article on Edmund II. He died in April, 1016. He was twice married; first, in his seventeenth year, to Elfleda, by whom he had six sons and four daughters; afterwards to Emma, daughter of Richard I., duke of Normandy.—T. A.
ETHELWERD, an Anglo-Saxon writer of the eleventh century, claimed to be of royal lineage, and the titles which he has linked to his name in his extant work seem to imply that various offices of state were held by him. His "History of the Anglo-Saxons," written in Latin, is little else than a translation and abridgment of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle.—W. B.
ETHELWOLD, Bishop of Winchester in the tenth century, was one of the confidential friends and coadjutors of Dunstan, by whose influence he was promoted in 963 from the abbacy of Abingdon to the see of Winchester. He set himself immediately to expel the married clergy from his diocese, and to enforce the strict observance of the Benedictine discipline. He founded a number of monasteries, built the cathedral of Ely, and restored the minster at Peterborough, then called Medeshamstede, obtaining for the latter a royal grant of all its former privileges and large additional revenues. He had the repute of great scholarly attainments; there is extant a translation of the Benedictine rules from his pen; and Winchester became under his care one of the principal seats of learning in the kingdom.—W. B.
ETHELWOLF, an Anglo-Saxon author of the ninth century, belonged to the monastery of Lindisfarne. His poem, "Carmen de Abbatibus et viris piis Cœnobii S. Petri in insula Lindisfarnensi," gives an account of the principal ecclesiastics connected with that ancient seat of piety and learning. The circumstances in which it was composed make it interesting; but it presents a sorry picture of monastic scholarship.—W. B.
ETHELWULF or ETHELWOLF, King of Wessex, succeeded in 836 his father Egbert, whose victories had compelled the other Anglo-Saxon states to acknowledge him as bretwalda; a title which signified ruler of Britain, and indicated a feudal pre-eminence in the heptarchy. Three of the smaller kingdoms, Kent, Sussex, and Essex, seem to have been formally annexed to Egbert's dominions; but at his death these passed into the hands of his son Athelstane, and Ethelwulf had only Wessex under his immediate rule. He had dedicated himself to a monastic life, but though he came from the cloister to the throne, he displayed both energy and ability in resisting the Danish invasions. The first of these, which took place in the year after his accession, was so vigorously met that the Scandinavian vikings for some time sought an easier and a richer spoil elsewhere. In 850, however, a strong body of the invaders established themselves in Thanet; and being joined the next year by new forces of their countrymen, they sailed up the Thames, sacked the city of London, and thence marched southwards into Surrey. Ethelwulf fought them in more than one fierce battle, and with the assistance of his brother, Athelstane of Kent, inflicted on them such chastisement as procured for him comparative tranquillity during the remainder of his reign. In 853 he accompanied his son-in-law Burrhed, king of Mercia, in an expedition against the Welsh, who were compelled to make submission; and two years later he visited Rome, returning through France where he married Judith, the youthful daughter of Charles the Bald. During his absence his eldest son Ethelbald stretched his hand to the sceptre of Wessex, and formed so strong a party that Ethelwulf was compelled by a decree of the national council to cede the sovereignty of that kingdom, retaining Kent and the provinces amalgamated with it; but his authority over these was little more than nominal, his second son Ethelbert having been invested with the actual government at the death of Athelstane in 852. It was in this reign that the law was passed which gave the church the tithe of the country, if it really went so far; for some argue that it was merely a large grant of the crown lands, free from the usual taxes. Ethelwulf died in 858, leaving by his first wife Osberga, four sons, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Ethelred, and Alfred. All four occupied in succession the throne of Wessex.—W. B.
ETHEREGE, George, was born of a good family in the county of Oxford about 1636. He passed some time at the university of Cambridge; but it is said that he obtained what information he possessed, during his travels in France and residence about the inns of court in London. His first play was produced in 1664, and entitled "The Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub." Its success introduced him into the licentious society of Dorset, Rochester, and Buckingham. His wit and gaiety obtained for him the pleasant appellations of Gentle George and Easy Etherege. His second piece, "She would if she could," was produced in 1688, and, after a considerable interval, "The Man of the Mode, or Sir Topling Flutter." His indulgences in process of time impaired his constitution and emptied his purse. He, therefore, married a rich widow, and in order to give his wife a title, obtained the honour of knighthood. Having rendered himself agreeable to the duchess of York, he was nominated an ambassador soon after James II. ascended the throne, and he resided in that capacity at Ratisbon during the last two years of that monarch's reign. He is said to have died there of an accident, but the exact date of his decease is unknown.—T. J.
* ETHERIDGE, John, Ph. D. , Wesleyan minister and oriental scholar, born in 1805, entered the ministry in 1827. His principal works are—"Syrian churches, their early history &c., with a translation of the four gospels," 12mo, 1846; "Horæ Aramicæ," 12mo, 1846; "Apostolical Acts and Epistles, with a translation of St. Matthew and Hebrews from the Syriac," 12mo, 1848; "Jerusalem and Tiberias, Sora and Cordova, a survey of the learning of the Jews, designed as an introduction to the study of Hebrew literature," 12mo, 1856.—W. B. B.
ETHERIDGE. See Ethryg.
ETHICUS or ÆTHICUS ISTER, the author of a work on cosmography, which appears to have been written in the fourth century, probably in the latter part of it. The name Ister was applied to him by Flodoardus, a writer of the tenth century, from Istria, the country where he was born. His cosmography consists of a short description of the principal countries of the world, as far as they were known in his time. He enumerates in it all the important nations, provinces, islands, cities, mountains, rivers, and seas in the world. His work consists of two distinct tracts, the latter of which is occupied with a series of fuller and more minute accounts of the places mentioned in the former. This latter and more complete cosmography, attributed to Ethicus, appears also in the works of Orosius, and forms the second chapter of the first book of his history. There is good ground, however, for supposing that Orosius copied this chapter from a writer who had gone before him, and a comparison of the state in which it appears in the manuscripts of Orosius, with the form in which it has been attributed to Ethicus, strengthens the opinion that the latter of these is the original form of the work. There is some probability in a conjecture which attributes this work to Solinus. The works of Ethicus, together with a third cosmography by Honorius, were published at Leyden in 1635, under the editorial superintendence of Gronovius.—D. M.
ETHRYG or ETHERIDGE (in Latin Edrycus), a physician of the sixteenth century. He practised with much success at Oxford, in the university of which town he held the professorship of Greek from 1553 till a short time after the accession of Elizabeth. He was a most accomplished man. He published commentaries on Paulus Æginetes. He was an intimate friend of Leland the antiquary.—R. M., A.
ETIENNE, Charles Guillaume, born at Chamouillay, Haute Marne, in 1778, began his career of journalist and comic dramatist at a very early age. His first step in the way of fortune was made at the camp of Boulogne, where he prepared a little play which served to amuse Bonaparte and his army when they began to weary of their hopeless design of invading England. He was appointed in 1810 censor of journals, an office which he deprived of odium by his moderation. His comedy the "Intriguante" gave offence at court, and although the play was prohibited the author was not punished. On Napoleon's return from Elba it devolved upon Etienne to present the address of the academy, and with his usual spirit and good sense he contrived to express the pervading feeling in favour of a liberal course of policy. The Bourbons, again restored, resolved upon banishing a man whose only crime was gratitude to his imperial benefactor. He saved himself by courage, for he commenced an action for defamation against the Moniteur, which mentioned him as one marked for banishment. The matter was compromised, and the intended victim was left in peace to bestow more comedies on the age, and uphold the cause of constitutional law in the Constitutionnel newspaper with signal ability. A member of the chamber of deputies in 1829, he helped to prepare that address to the court which provoked the dissolution that led to the revolution of 1830. Louis Philippe made him a peer. He died in March, 1845.—J. F. C.
