Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 16.djvu/340

Eastmead Royal Academy his body was brought to England and buried publicly at Kensal Green. His widow declined a public funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral as not consonant with his wishes.

Eastlake's life was one of singular purity, loftiness of aim, and unremitting industry, entailing deservedly a high reputation as a painter, a writer, and a public servant. The cultivation of the arts in this country received so marked a stimulus from the exhibition of 1851 that their progress since is generally, and in the main rightly, ascribed to its influence; but it should not be forgotten that a vigorous movement for the promotion of art had commenced long before, and that the exhibition itself was the outcome of prolonged exertions in which Eastlake was second to none. Of his learning and highly trained reasoning faculty his writings are a sufficient witness. His style is marked, as his widow has justly observed, by a ‘quiet lucidity of expression,’ and whether we regard him as a critic, an expert in technique, an art scholar, or an authority on questions of principle, he holds an honourable place in the literature of the fine arts. Perhaps his ‘Materials for the History of Oil-painting’ is at the present time the most valuable and most frequently consulted of his works.

Besides this book (published in 1847) and the papers collected in the ‘Contributions to the Literature of the Fine Arts,’ 1848 and 1870, Eastlake's principal literary works were translations of Goethe's ‘Theory of Colours,’ 1840, Kügler's ‘Schools of Painting in Italy,’ 1842, ‘Presidential Lectures at Royal Academy,’ 1852–63. He also contributed an article on fresco painting to the ‘Edinburgh Review’ for January 1860, and several lives of artists to Charles Knight's ‘Portrait Gallery.’ Eastlake was a fellow of the Royal Society, an honorary D.C.L. of Oxford, a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and a member of several foreign academies.

[Memoir by Lady Eastlake prefixed to the second series of Contributions to the Literature of the Fine Arts; Pictures by Sir Charles Eastlake; Haydon's Autobiography; Catalogue of the National Gallery (Wornum), and books mentioned in the text.]

 EASTMEAD, WILLIAM (d. 1847?) dissenting minister, was pastor of a congregation at Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire, and died about 1847. He wrote: 1. ‘Observations on Human Life,’ London, 1814, 8vo, 1825, 12mo. 2. ‘The Perfections of the Works of Christ.’ 3. ‘Historia Rievallensis ; containing the History of Kirkby Moorside, and an Account of the most Important Places in its Vicinity. To which is prefixed a Dissertation on the Animal Remains and other Curious Phenomena in the recently discovered Cave at Kirkdale,’ Thirsk, 1824, 8vo, pp. 488, dedicated to Francis Wrangham, archdeacon of Cleveland.

[Evangelical Magazine, xviii. 170, xxiii. 547; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iv. 186, 258; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]  EASTON, ADAM (d. 1397), cardinal, was born of humble parentage, perhaps at Easton, six or seven miles north-west of Norwich, at which city he entered the Benedictine order. He studied at Oxford, became doctor in theology, and was famous for his attainments both in Greek and Hebrew. Several errors have been current as to his church preferments: he has been described as bishop of Hereford (,DeAngl.Scriptor. p. 548) or of London (, Epit. Pontiff. Rom. p. 253, Rome, 1557); and it has also been said that he was the cardinal whom the monks of Canterbury desired to elect archbishop on the death of Whittlesey in 1374 (, De Præsulibus, i. 117, with Richardson's note). As a matter of fact Easton seems to have left England before he received any benefice, and to have settled in Rome, where he may be presumed to have held some office in the curia. His name first appears as a witness against the appeal of John Wycliffe in respect of his dismission from the wardenship of Canterbury Hall, May 1370 (Twyne MS. 2, 307b, in the Oxford University Archives); a circumstance which renders it probable that he accompanied Archbishop Langham, the prelate who ejected Wycliffe, in his removal to the papal court, where he was appointed cardinal in 1368. Easton himself was also made cardinal, but not, as has been stated (, l. c.), by Gregory XI, but by Urban VI; nor again in 1380 (, Bibl. Brit. p. 266), but subsequently to June 1381 (, Vitæ Pontiff, ii. 648, ed. Oldoin, Rome, 1677). The date is given by the monk of Evesham (Vit. Reg. Ricardi, ii. 34, ed. Hearne) as 21 Sept.; but the creation of cardinals in this year took place in December (, ii. 651 ). Easton was cardinal priest of the title of St. Cecilia. Shortly after his appointment he was nominated by papal provision to the deanery of York, 7 March 1381-2 (, Fasti Eccl. Angl. iii. 123, ed. Hardy), he being the third cardinal in succession who was so appointed to this dignity. With it he held the rectory of Somersham, no doubt the Huntingdonshire parish of that name.

Easton's troubles began in 1384, when Pope Urban moved the seat of the curia to cramped and unpleasant quarters at Nocera.