ERPENIUS tratus was arrested and put to the torture. Being asked why he had committed such an act, he replied, " To make my name immortal." The Ephesians thereupon passed a decree con- signing his name to oblivion ; but this ordi- nance proved vain, for Theopompus mentions the name in his history. ERPENIUS, or Van Erpen, Thomas, a Dutch orientalist, born in Gorkum, Sept. 7, 1584, died in Leyden, Nov. 18, 1624. He was educated at the university of Leyden, travelled in Eng- land, France, Germany, and Italy, and per- fected himself at Paris and Venice in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Ethiopic. In 1612 he returned to Holland, was appointed oriental professor at the university of Leyden, and es- tablished a press for the printing of Arabic works, with Latin translations by himself. He was subsequently appointed oriental interpre- ter to the Dutch government. He wrote many important works, including an Arabic gram- mar which remained the standard text book for more than a century. ERSCH, Johaim Samuel, a German cyclopaedist, born at Glogau, in Prussian Silesia, June 23, 1766, died in Halle, Jan. 16, 1828. He was educated in the universities of Halle and Jena, and was afterward connected in Halle with Meusel's periodical, Das gelehrte DeutscJiland. and in Jena with a political journal. He pub- lished a voluminous collection of the docu- ments found in German political, geographical, and scientific periodicals (3 vols., 1790-'92), which created a great sensation among German bibliographers. His efforts were so much en- couraged by prominent savants, that he was induced to undertake a digest of literature in connection with a general literary gazette. Eight volumes (Jena and Weimar, 1793-1809) were required to epitomize the literary pro- ductions of 15 years (1785-1800). Not only books, but also newspaper and magazine arti- cles, were recorded, and even the criticisms to which the respective literary productions had been subjected were referred to with the utmost precision. While this was in progress, he pro- jected a universal cyclopaedia of modern liter- ature, which he carried out so far as to pub- lish five volumes on French literature, Das gelehrte Frankreich, and an edition of the same in French under the title of La France litteraire {1797-1806). He was also engaged during the same period in various editorial labors. In 1803 he accepted the chair of geography and statistics at th e university of Halle. He crowned the labors of his life by establishing in con- junction with Gruber the Allgemeine Ency- Iclopadie der Wissenschaften und Kunste, of which 17 volumes (the first appearing in Leip- sic in 1818) were edited by Ersch and Gruber. This is the most learned and elaborate German cyclopaedia, and is still unfinished. (See CY- CLOPAEDIA.) A third edition of his Handbuch der deutscJien Literatur seit der.Mitte des ISten Jahrhunderts Us auf die neueste Zeit (2 vols., Amsterdam and Leipsic, 18 12-' 14) was pre- 302 VOL. vi. 46 ' ERSKINE 719 pared by Geissler, who added to it a cyclopae- dia of philology in 1845 and of philosophical literature (Leipsic, 1850). ERSE, See CELTS, LANGUAGES AND LITERA- TUBE OF THE. ERSKINE, Ebenezcr, a Scottish theologian, founder of the Secession church of Scotland, born June 22, 1680, died in Stirling, June 22, 1754. The son of a Presbyterian clergyman, he was educated at the university of Edinburgh, licensed to preach in 1702, became pastor the next year in Portmoak, and held that post 28 years. Here and at Stirling, where he lived from 1731 until his death, he was a great favorite with his parishioners, as well as with the church throughout Scotland. The dissen- sions in the church of Scotland began in 1720, when the book entitled " The Marrow of Mod- ern Divinity " was thought to reveal latitudina- rian tendencies dangerous to the prevalent doc- trines. Refusing to take the abjuration oath, and opposing the reimposition of lay patron- age, as contrary to the act of union and to the liberties of the Scottish church, and at the same time being one of the most influential defenders of what were termed the " Marrow " doctrines, Mr. Erskine was proclaimed in many polemical pamphlets an innovator in re- ligion and a troubler in Israel, was censured by the synod, and on Nov. 16, 1733, was sol- emnly rebuked and admonished at the bar of the general assembly. Against this decision he with three other clergymen entered a pro- test ; and as they continued the conduct for which they had been censured, they were sus- pended from their functions. This sentence was removed July 2, 1734; but the deposed brethren had meantime formed themselves into a separate consistory and received numerous accessions. In 1740 Erskine and his brethren were again deposed and ejected from their pulpits ; but he assembled his people on Sun- days in the fields, till a new meeting house was provided, in which he continued to preach to large congregations till his death. There have been many editions of his "Select Works" (3 vols., 8vo) and of selections from them; also of his " Life and Diary," by D. Eraser. ERSKINE, Thomas, baron, a British jurist and statesman, the third son of Henry David, fifth earl of Buchan, born in Edinburgh, Jan. 21, 1750, died at Almondell, near Edinburgh, Nov. 17, 1823. After studying in the high school of Edinburgh and in the university of St. Andrews, he entered the navy as a midship- man in 1764, and resigned in 1768 for a com- mission in the army. In 1770, soon after his marriage, he went with his regiment to Mi- norca, where he remained two years. After three years more of military service, during most of which time he was stationed in Eng- lish country towns, he entered Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in July, 1778. In November of the same year he defended Capt. Bailie, lieutenant governor of Greenwich hos- pital, in a prosecution brought by Lord Sand-
