ESPOUSAL. 213 ESQUIRE. The gifts bestowed were publicly recorded. The dowry settled on the bride was stipulated in pub- lic instruments under hand and seal. The ring was given at the betrothal rather than at the ac- tual marriage. The use of the marriage ring dates from very early times, and its recognized place was then as now on the woman's fourth fin- ger. The witnesses present, friends of both parties, were usually ten in number. The espousal, as in- corporated with the wedding rite, is plainly traceable in the usage of the Roman. Anglican, and other churches of (he present day. ESPRIT DES LOIS, a'spro' da lwa. See Montesquieu. ESPRITS FORTS, :Vspiv' for (Fr., bold spir- its). The'name assumed by the French school of writers in England termed freethinkers (q.v. ), and including Voltaire, Diderot, Helvetius, D'Alembert, and their contemporaries. While the English freethinkers aimed at securing merely freedom of religious speculation, and did not seek the violent substitution of a system based upon their own views for the existing order, the French esprits forts held a distinctly aggressive position outside of all religious confessions, vig- orously opposed the despotism of Church as well as of State, and were, in fine, propagandists of the most radical sort. Skeptical of the value of human feeling as a guide, they desired the authority of pure reason alone to be recognized and the supremacy of the intellect to be every- where acknowledged. Their influence was ex- tensively felt, and many of the doctrines which they inculcated bore fruit in the Revolution. ESPRONCEDA, es'pr&n-tha'na, Jose de (1810-42). A Spanish poet, born at Almendra- lejo (Estremadura), Spain. At fourteen, Espron- ceda was already a revolutionist. He fought in Paris in the Revolution of 1830, and afterwards in the struggle for Polish liberty. Taking advantage of the amnesty of 1833, he returned to Spain, but his republican spirit kept him involved in plots, only ceasing with his early death. Esproneeda is called the Spanish Byron, and he has also been compared to Victor Hugo, but has neither his force nor originality. He stood for the ardent, eager, revolutionary young Spain of his day. and his odes reflect that spirit. Xo lyric poet of his country has surpassed him in these. He is best known for his El Pelayo, besides which he wrote a part of another narrative poem, El diablo mundo (1841); a novel, Don Sancho Saldana (1834); and a fantastic romance. El estudiante de Sala- manca. A complete edition of his works, Obras poeticas y escritis en prosa, was prepared in 1ST I by his daughter, Donna Bianca de Esproneeda de Eseosura, with much material hitherto unedited. ES'PY, James Pollard (1785-1860). An American meteorologist, the founder of modern physical or theoretical meteorology. He was born in Westmoreland County, Pa.; graduated in 1808 at the Transylvania University. Lexington, Ky. ; studied law at Xenia, Ohio, and was principal of the academy at Cumberland. Md., from 1812 to 1817. He then became professor of languages in the classical department of the Franklin Insti- tute of Philadelphia, where he remained until about 1853, when he resigned in order to devote himself wholly to meteorological lectures and in- vestigations. His memoir of 1830 on the theory of storms gained for him the Magellanic prize. In 1840 he visited England and France, and dis- cussed his theories in person before the British Association and the French Academy of Sciences. In 1841 he returned and published his Philosophy of Storms. In 1842 the United Slates Congress appointed him meteorologist to the War Depart- ment, where he established a service of daily weather observations, compiled daily weather maps, traced the progress and development of Storms, and submitted, in October, 1S43. a first annual report containing a great body of facts. He was subsequently appointed meteorologist to the Navy Department. In 1852 he was ordered bj ( 'ongress to continue hi-- researches in connec tion with the Smithsonian Institution, which had already undertaken the collection of meteorolog ieal data. Both directly and indirectly we owe to Espy the stimulus and the knowledge that made our present United Slates Weather Bureau a possibility. An appreciative sketch will he found in Appleton's Popular Science ilonthly for April, 1889. ESQUILACHE, a'sk« -la'cha, Don Francisco de Borja y Araoon, Principe de (c.1580-1658). A Spanish poet, born in Madrid. He was Viceroy of Peru from 1614 until 1621, and the remainder of his life was spent at the Court of Madrid. He is the author of the sacred poem La pasiun de Xuestro Seiior (1638) ; an epical poem in honor of the conquest of Xaples, Ndpoles rccupcrada (1651) ; and a translation of Thomas a Kempis (1661). Several editions of his poems have been published tinder the title Obras en verso (1639- 48, 1654-63). ES'QUILINE HILL (Lat. Esquiliwus mons). The highest of the seven hills of Rome (246 feet), standing between the Viminal and Ctelian, and east of the Palatine. It has two spurs, Mons Oppius and Mons Cespius, on the former of which stands the Church of San Pietro in Vin- coli, on the latter Santa Maria Maggiore. Its unsanitary condition in early times was reme- died under Augustus by Maecenas, who buried a whole section under a layer of fresh earth twen- ty-five feet deep and laid out on it the pleasure grounds known as the Gardens of Maecenas (q.v.). The Esquiline under the Empire became a fashionable' residence section. On it stood the houses of Vergil, Horace, Maecenas, and Proper- tius, and also the Baths of Titus. Many ruins of ancient edifices have been uncovered, but at once destroyed, in the course of modern building operations, and the district now forms an en- tirely new quarter of the city. ESQUIMALT, es-kwl'malt. A seaport town of British Columbia, Canada, on Vancouver Island and the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. four miles from Victoria (Map: British Columbia, E 5). It has a harbor capable of accommodating the largest vessels afloat, and is the headquarters of the British Pacific Squadron, with navy-yard, dry-dock, barracks, arsenal, marine railway, meteorological station, hospital, and strong for- tifications. A .railway connects it with the Na- naimo coal-mines. Estimated population. 1500. ESQUIMAUX. See Eskimo. ESQUIRE (OF. escuyer, Sp. scudero, It. sen- diero, ML. scutarius, shield-bearer, from Lat. scutum, shield). In chivalry, the shield-bearer or armor-bearer of the knight to whom he was an apprentice while learning the use of arms. (See Chivalry.) The title is at present given
