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ELI

ELI

ELIOTT, or ELLIOT, George Augustus, Lord 11 eat h-field, was the youngest son of the late Sir Gilbert Eliott, Bart, ofStobs, in Roxburghshire; and was horn at Stobs in 1718. lie re-ceived the first rudiments of Ins education under a private tutor ;and was early sent to the university of Leyden, where he madeconsiderable progress in classical learning, and spoke with fluencyand elegance the German and French languages. Being designedfor a military life, he was sent from thence to the celebrated EcoleEoyale du Genie MilitaTe conducted by the great Vuuban, at LaFere in Picardy ; where lie laid the foundation of v.hat lie soconspicuously exhibited at the defence of Gibraltar . He com-pleted his military course on the continent by a tour, for thepurpose of seeing in practice what he had studied in theory.Prussia was the model for discipline, and he continued some timeas a volunteer in that service, lie returned to. Scotland in 1735,in the seventeenth year of age. In 17-10 his uncle Col. Eliott uppointed him his adjutant of the second troop of horse grenadiers.With these troops lie went upon service to Germany , and wasw ith them in a variety of actions. At Ihe battles of Dettinrgenand Fontenoy, he was wounded. In this regiment he bought therank of captain and major, and afterwards purchased the lieutenant-colonelcy from Colonel Brewerton, who succeeded to his uncle.Soon after this lie.vas appointed aid-de-cauip to George II. andwas distinguished fur his military skill and discipline. In March1759, he quitted the second troop of horse grenadier guards, beingselected to raise, form, and discipline, the first regiment of lighthorse, called after him, Eliott’s. As soon as they were raided andformed, he was appointed to the command of the cavalry in theexpedition on the coast of France , with the rank of bngaJ.er ge-neral. After this he passed into Germany , where he was em-ployed on the staff, and greatly distinguished himself in a varietyof movements. On the peace in 17o3, his gallant regiment wasreviewed by the king, when they presented to his majesty thestandards which they had-taken from the enemy. Gratifiedwith their fine discipline and high character, the king asked Ge-neral Eliott what mark of his favour he c.mld bestow on his regi-ment equal to their merit ? He answered, that his regiment wouldbe proud if his majesty should think, that, by their services, theywere infilled to the distinction of Royals. It was accordinglymade a royal regiment, with this flattering title, “ The fifteenth,or King’s Royal Regiment of Light Dragoons.” At the sametime tiie king expressed a desire to confer some honour on the generalIiimself; but the latter declared, that the honour and satisfaction ofhis majesty’s approbation of his services was his best reward. Duringthe peace he was not idle. Jlis great talents in the variousbranches of the military art gave him ample employment. liewas appointed to the command of Gibraltar in a fortunate hour forthe safety of that impoitant tortre-s. The system of his life, aswell as his education, peculiarly qualified him for his tuist. Hewas perhaps the most abstemious man of the age ; neither indulg-ing himself in animal food nor wine. He never slept more thanfour hours at a time; so that he was up later and earlier than mostother men. lie so inured himself to habits of hardiness, that Ihethings w hich are difficult and painful to other men were to him hisdaily practice and rendered pleasant by use. It could not lieeasy to starve such a man into a surrender, nor possible to surprisehim. 'I he example of the commander in chief in a besieged gar-rison had a most persuasive efficacy in forming the manners of thesoldiery. Like him his brave followers came to regulate theirlives h\ the most strict rules of discipline before there arose anecessity for "0 doing; and severe exercise, with short diet, be-came habitual to them by choice. The military system of disci-pline which lie introduced, and the preparations which he madefor iiis defence, were contrived w ith so much judgement, and exe-cuted with so much address, that he was able with a handful ofmen to preserve his post against an attack, the constancy ofwhich, even without the vigour, had been sufficient to exhaustany common set of men. Collected within Iiimself, he in no instancedestroyed, by premature attacks, the labours which would co t theenemy time, "patience, and oxpence, to complete ; lie deliberatelyobserved their approaches, and seized on the proper moment,with the keene„t peispection, in which to make his attack withsuccess. He never spent his ammunition in useless parade, or un-important attacks. He never relaxed from his discipline by theappearance of security, nor hazarded the lives of his garrison by

Wild experiments. By a cool and temperate demeanour, lie main-tained his station for three years of constant investment in whichtire powers of Spain were employed. All the eyes of -Europe j were on this garrison ; and his conduct lias justly exalted him lothe most elevated rank in the military annals of Britain . On hisreturn to England, the gratitude of the British senate was as for-ward as the public voice in giving him that distinguished mark hismerit deserved. Both houses of parliament voted an unanimousaddress of thanks to tlie general. The king confeircd on him the’honour of Knight of the Bath, With a pension during his own, anda second life, of Ills own appointment; and on June 14, 1787, hismajesty advanced him to the peerage by the title of Lord Ileath-tield, Baron Gibraltar, permitting him to take, in addition to hisfamily arms, the arms of the toriress he had so bravely defended,j to perpetuate to futurity his noble conduct. Lord Hcatlitielddied on the (i’ll July, 179b, at his chateau at Aix-la-chape!le.

ELIPHAZ, [irom and vs, <• the strength of God, ] theeldest of Job’s three uncharitable triends'. From his being stiledthe Tcmanite, it is evident that he was a descendant of Esau , byTeman, the son of Eliphuz, and grandson of Esau, , the first dukeof Ed mi"; which contributes to assist the ebronologist in fixing theperiod when Job lived.

F.LiQU.-VI iON, in chemistry, an operation by which a morefusible substance is separated from one that is less so, by means ofa heat sufficiently intense to melt the former, but not the: latter,i bus an alloy of copper and lead may lie separated by a heat ca-pable of melting the latter, hilt not the iormer.

ELIS, or ELEA, in ancient geography, a fertile district of Pe-loponnesus , famous lor raising flax, wliich equalled that of Jud.eain fineness, though not so yellow, and grew no where else inGreece .

Eus, the capital of the above district, situated on the Pencils ,which ran through it. It was the country of Phsedo the friend ofPlato, and of Pyrrho the founder of die Purrhonists.

ELISHA, [trom Vx, and J/Ui", rich. i. c. the'salvation of God, ]or Elisa-us, the son oi Shaping, an eminent prophet of Israel , thedisci pie and successor of Elijah , Hi* call, with his various mira-cles and prophecies are recorded in 1 Kings, xi.v. xxi. 2 Kings,ii,—viii. and xiii. He died much lamented by Joasli, king of Is-rael , about A. M. 3165.

EI.ISHAII, the son of Javan, and grandson of Japhet, is sup-posed by chronologists to have been the progenitor ot the inhabi-tants of zEolia, in luster Asia, and of Eh., and Ahsiuni in Pelopon-nesus .

ELISION, in grammar, the cutting olT, or suppressing of avowel at die end of a word, for the sake ot sound, or measure, thenext w ord beginning with a vowel.

Elisions, are pretty frequently met with in English poetry, hutmore frequently in the Latin, French , A'e. r I hey are clneth u-edin suppressing the it, e, and f; though they may alto suppress anyof the other vowels.

ELIXIR, in medicine, a compound tincture extracted frommany efficacious ingredients. ’I he ditlerence between a tincture'and an elixir seems to be this, that a tincture is drawn from'oneingredient, sometimes with an addition of another to open it, andto dispose it to yield to the menstruum; whereas an elixir is atincture extracted from several ingredients at the same time.

ELIZABETH, queen of England, was the daughter of HenryVIII . by Anne Bolevn, and Horn in 1533. She was educated inthe Protestant religion, and in the reign of Mary was sent to theTower, from whence she was atterwavils removed to Woodstock.On the death of her sister in 1558 she was proclaimed queen, tothe great joy of the nation. Philip of Spain made her an oiler ofmarriage, which she civilly declined. In restoring the reforma-tion she conducted herself with great prudence and moderation.One of the lirst measures of her reign was to send succours to thereformed parly.in Scotland , which produced the treaty of Edm-l)urgh, and the departure of the French from that country. Eliza-beth was now considered as the head of the Prolvsh.nt iniere-t, andshe gave her assistance to the French lhigonots, who put Havrede Grace into lur hands. At home rigorous measures wereadopted against (lie Koin.ni catholics and puritans. Dooley, endof Leicester , became the queen’s favourite, and had ihe ambitionto aspire to her hand. She, how ever, made an mettle dual eltortto unite him to Mary, queen of Scots. That unfortunate princess

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