E T C

326

ETC

80. But it must be a year and a day from the time of proclama-tion, and not from the time of seizure ; for it does not become anestrav till after the first proclamation. 11 Mod. 89.

ESTREAT, is a true copy or note of some original writing onrecord, and especially of lines and amercement imposed in therolls of a court, and extracted or drawn out thence, and certifiedinto the court of exchequer: whereupon process is awarded to thesheriff to levy the same.

ESTREMADURA, a province of Portugal , near the mouthof the Tajo , bounded on the N. by Beira, on the E. and S. byAlentejo , and on the W. by the Atlantic. It is about 88 mileslong, and 45 broad. This province is divided into six districts,called comarcas, viz. Litria, Lisbon, Tomar, Santaren , Alanquar,and Setubal , so named from the principal towns. It abounds incorn, and feeds numerous flocks of sheep. The fruits and thewines are all excellent; and it was here that the sweet orangesbrought from China were first planted, and of which there arelarge quantities transported to foreign parts, with the wines andother fruits.

Estremadura, a province of Spain , bounded by New Castileon the E. Leon on the N. Andalusia on the S. and Portugal onthe W. It is said to be 175 miles long and 100 broad. Its prin-cipal towns are Calatrava, Men da, Badajoz , Alcantara, Cona, andPlacentia. It has a very pure and healthful air, and its mountainsere full of wild and tame animals. It abounds with corn andfruits; and the vineyards produce excellent wines of all co-lours.

ESTREMOS, or ESTREMOZ, a town of Portugal, in Alen-tejo , defended by a strong citadel on the top of a hill, surroundedby a large ditch, and 10 bastions. It is 15 miles W. of Ba-dajoz.

ESTREPEMENT, or ESTREPAMENT, the spoil madeby a tenant for life, upon any lands or woods, to the prejudice ofthe reversioner. Estreuement also signifies a writ which lies intwo cases; the one is when the person having an action depend-ing, (as a formedon, or dum fuit infra a-tatem, or writ of right, orany other,) wherein the demandant is not to recover damages, suesto inhibit the tenant from making waste during the suit. Theother is for the demandant that is adjudged to recover seisin of theland in question, and before execution sued by the writ habere fa-cias seisinam, for fear of waste to be made before he can get pos-session: he then sues out this writ.

ESTUARY, [tcstuuriuni, Latin, ] an arm of the sea; themouth of a lake or river in which the tide reciprocates; afrith.

ESL T S, the supreme god of the ancient Britons.

ESWECEN, a town of Germany , in llessc-Cassel, 25 milesS. E. of Cassel.

ESZEK, a towui of Sclavonia , with a'strong fort, 80 miles W.by N. of Belgrade , and 17 S. by E. of Vienna.

ETAIN, or ESTA1N. See Ebtain.

ETANGS, a town of France, in tiie department of the Moselle ,74 miles E. N. E. of Menu.

"ETAYA, or ETAYAU, a town of Hindustan , in the pro-vince of Agra, 62 miles S. E. of Agra .

ETC, a contraction of the two Latin words ct cirtera, whichsignifies, and so on ; and the rest; and others of the like kind.

To ETCIL [ etzen , German,] a wav used in making prints,by drawing with a proper needle upon a copper-plate, coveredover with a ground of wax, &c. and well blacken with the smokeof a link, in order to take off the figure of the drawing or print;which, having its back side tinctured with white lead, will, by run-ning over the strucken out lines with a stift, impress the exact.figure on the black or red ground ; which figure is afterwardswith needles drawn deeper quite through the ground, and all theshadows and hatchings put in ; and then a wax border being madejll round the plate, there is poured on a sufficient quantity of welltempered aqua fortis, which insinuating into the strokes made bythe needles, usually eats, in about half an hour, into the figure ofthe print or drawing on She copper-plate. Harris.

ETCHING, a method of engraving on copper, in which thelines or strokes, instead of being cut w ith a tool or graver, arceaten in with aquafortis. See Engraving. Etching, thoughnot very modern, is a later invention than engraving with the tool;of which it was at first only an imitation, practised by painters ami

other artists, who could much sooner form their hands to, and at-tain a faculty of, working in this way, than with the graver. Butbeing then considered as a counterfeit kind of engraving, andtherefore inferior to the other, it was cultivated in a very confinedmanner ; the closeness of the resemblance of (lie work to that per-formed hv the tool, being made the test of its merit, and conse-quently the principal object or aim in those who pursued it. Thisservile confinement of the art of etching to the imitation of fileoriginal kind of engraving, retarded its advancement towards per-fection, as many of the most able masters cramped their talentswith the observance of it: which maybe seen in the works ofSadelers, Swaneberg, Villamena, and particularly Le Bosse ; who,in his treatise on engraving, has laid it down as a principle, thatthe perfection of etching consists in the close similitude of thework with that done by the tool. This absurd prepossession hassince worn out: and etching has been so far improved, that insteadof being now deemed a spurious kind of engraving, it is allowedto impart an excellence to many modern works, that could neverhave been produced without it: for though the neatness and uni-formity of the hatches, made by the tool, are more advantageouswith respect to portraits ; yet the liberty and facility of etchinggive a much greater opportunity to exercise the force of geniusand fancy in history engraving ; where the effect of the whole, andnot the minute exactness in finishing all the parts, constitutes theprincipal value. There are two methods of engraving in this way ;the one with a hard varnish or ground, the other with a soft. Tiiefirst was formerly much used, being belter accommodated to theintention of imitating the engraving with the tool ; as the firmnessof the body ot the varnish gave more opportunity of retouchingthe lines, or enlarging them with the oval-pointed needles, calledby the French echopes, as was practised by Le Bosse anil othersfor that purpose. The latter has now almost wholly supersededthe use of the other, by the free manner of working it admits of;which affords a power of expression incompatible with the greaterinflexibility of the hard varnish, that confines the lines and .hatchesto such a regularity and sameness, as gives a stiffness of mannerand coldness of effect to the work. The mixture of the use of thetool and aqua fortis, which are now both employed in many cases,has, however, given that perfection to engraving which it possessesat present. The truth and spirit of the outline, that die methodof working with aqua fortis affords, and the variety of shades whichthe different kinds of black produce in this way, as well as othermeans of expressing the peculiar appearance and character of par-ticular subjects, furnish what was defective in the sole use of thetool ; while, on the other hand, the exactness «nd regularity ofthe lines, which are required for finishing many kinds of designs,are supplied by the graver; and by a judicious application ofboth, that complete finishing is obtained, which either of themalone must necessarily want. The manner by which this art isperformed, is the covering of the surface of the plate with a propervarnish, or ground, as it is called which is capable of resisting aquafortis; and then scoring off scratching away, by instruments resem-bling needles, the parts of this ground, in the places where thestrokes or hatches of the engraving are intended to be: the platebeing then covered with aqua fortis, the parts that are laid nakedby removing the varnish, arc eaten away by it; while the rest,being secured and defended, remain untouched. 'Flic differencebetween tiie two methods above-mentioned consists as much inthe difference of the varnish, as in that of the aqua fortis, adaptedto each kind ; but the general methods of performing them arealike in both. These varnishes are distinguished by the names ofhard and soft: for in their consistence, or the resistance they giveto the needles, lies their essential difference. The hard varnishwas not the first in use, but soon took place of the other; and was,for some time, the most received in practice, on account of its al-lowing the work to be made more like that of the graver: the softhas, however, since, in its turn, prevailed to the exclusion of diehard in sonic degree, except in particular subjects; but not soentirely as to take awuy the expedience of shewing bow it is per-formed. The manner of etching with the soft varnish is now,however, one of the most important objects of the art of engrav-ing ; and it is at present in universal use, sometimes alone, butmore frequently intermixed with the work of the tool, and in somecases with great advantage, even where the whole is intended topass for being performed by flic graver. The hard, or Florence

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