Page:EB1911 - Volume 09.djvu/317

 is Marienlyst, originally a royal château, but now a seaside resort.

ELSSLER, FANNY (1810–1884), Austrian dancer, was born in Vienna on the 23rd of June 1810. From her earliest years she was trained for the ballet, and made her appearance at the Kärntner-Thor theatre in Vienna before she was seven. She almost invariably danced with her sister Theresa, who was two years her senior; and, after some years’ experience together in Vienna, the two went in 1827 to Naples. Their success there—to which Fanny contributed more largely than her sister, who used to efface herself in order to heighten the effect of Fanny’s more brilliant powers—led to an engagement in Berlin in 1830. This was the beginning of a series of triumphs for Fanny’s personal beauty and skill in dancing. After captivating all hearts in Berlin and Vienna, and inspiring the aged statesman (q.v.) with a remarkable passion, she paid a visit to London, where she received much kindness at the hands of Mr and Mrs Grote, who practically adopted the little girl who was born three months after the mother’s arrival in England. In September 1834 Fanny Elssler appeared at the Opera in Paris, a step to which she looked forward with much misgiving on account of Taglioni’s supremacy on that stage. The result, however, was another triumph for her, and the temporary eclipse of Taglioni, who, although the finer artist of the two, could not for the moment compete with the newcomer’s personal fascination. It was conspicuously in her performance of the Spanish cachuca that Fanny Elssler outshone all rivals. In 1840 she sailed with her sister for New York, and after two years’ unmixed success they returned to Europe, where during the following five years Fanny appeared in Germany, Austria, France, England and Russia. In 1845, having amassed a fortune, she retired from the stage and settled near Hamburg. A few years later her sister Theresa contracted a morganatic marriage with Prince Adalbert of Prussia, and was ennobled under the title of Baroness von Barnim. Fanny Elssler died at Vienna on the 27th of November 1884. Theresa was left a widow in 1873, and died on the 19th of November 1878.

ELSTER, the name of two rivers of Germany. (1) The Schwarze (Black) Elster rises in the Lausitz range, on the southern border of Saxony, flows N. and N.W., and after a course of 112 m. enters the Elbe a little above Wittenberg. It is a sluggish stream, winding its way through sandy soil and frequently along a divided channel. (2) The Weisse (White) Elster rises in the north-western corner of Bohemia, a little north of Eger, cuts through the Vogtland in a deep and picturesque valley, passing Plauen, Greiz, Gera and Zeitz on its way north to Leipzig, just below which city it receives its most important tributary, the Pleisse. At Leipzig it divides, the main stream turning north-west and entering the Saale from the right a little above Halle; the other arm, the Luppe, flowing parallel to the main stream and south of it enters the Saale below Merseburg. Total length, 121 m.; total descent, 1286 ft.

ELSTER, a spa and inland watering-place of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Weisse Elster, close to the Bohemian frontier on the railway Plauen-Eger, and 20 m. S. of the former. It has some industries of lace-making and weaving, and a population of about 2000, in addition to visitors. The mineral springs, saline-chalybeate, specific in cases of nervous disorders and feminine ailments, have been lately supplemented by baths of various kinds, and these, together with the natural attractions of the place as a climatic health resort, have combined to make it a fashionable watering-place during the summer season. The number of visitors amounts annually to about 10,000.

ELSWICK, a ward of the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, in the western part of the borough, bordering the river Tyne. The name is well known in connexion with the great ordnance and naval works of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Elswick Park, attached to the old mansion of the same name, is now a public recreation ground.

EL TEB, a halting-place in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan near the coast of the Red Sea, 9 m. S.W. of the port of Trinkitat on the road to Tokar. At El Teb, on the 4th of February 1884, a heterogeneous force under General Valentine Baker, marching to the relief of the Egyptian garrison of Tokar, was completely routed by the Mahdists (see : Military Operations).

ELTON, CHARLES ISAAC (1839–1900), English lawyer and antiquary, was born at Southampton on the 6th of December 1839. Educated at Cheltenham and Balliol College, Oxford, he was elected a fellow of Queen’s College in 1862. He was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1865. His remarkable knowledge of old real property law and custom helped him to an extensive conveyancing practice and he took silk in 1885. He sat in the House of Commons for West Somerset in 1884–1885 and from 1886 to 1892. In 1869 he succeeded to his uncle’s property of Whitestaunton, near Chard, in Somerset. During the later years of his life he retired to a great extent from legal practice, and devoted much of his time to literary work. He died at Whitestaunton on the 23rd of April 1900. Elton’s principal works were The Tenures of Kent (1867); Treatise on Commons and Waste Lands (1868); Law of Copyholds (1874); Origins of English History (1882); Custom and Tenant Right (1882).

ELTVILLE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, on the right bank of the Rhine, 5 m. S.W. from Wiesbaden, on the railway Frankfort-on-Main-Cologne, and with a branch to Schlangenbad. Pop. 3700. It has a Roman Catholic and a Protestant church, ruins of a feudal castle, a Latin school, and a monument to Gutenberg. It has a considerable trade in the wines of the district and two manufactories of sparkling wines. Eltville (originally Adeldvile, Lat. Altavilla) is first mentioned in a record of the year 882. It was given by the emperor Otto I. to the archbishops of Mainz, who often resided here. It received town rights in 1331 and was a place of importance during the middle ages. In 1465 Gutenberg set up his press at Eltville, under the patronage of Archbishop Adolphus of Nassau, shortly afterwards handing over its use to the brothers Heinrich and Nikolaus Bechtermünz. Several costly early examples of printed books issued by this press survive, the earliest being the Vocabularium Latino-Teutonicum, first printed in 1467.

ELTZ, a small river of Germany, a left bank tributary of the Mosel. It rises in the Eifel range, and, after a course of 5 m., joins the latter river at Moselkern. Just above its confluence stands the romantic castle of Eltz, crowning a rocky summit 900 ft. high, and famous as being one of the best preserved medieval strongholds of Germany. It is the ancestral seat of the counts of Eltz and contains numerous antiquities.

See Roth, Geschichte der Herren und Grafen zu Eltz (2 vols., Mainz, 1889–1890).

ELVAS, an episcopal city and frontier fortress of Portugal, in the district of Portalegre and formerly included in the province of Alemtejo; 170 m. E. of Lisbon, and 10 m. W. of the Spanish fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. Pop. (1900) 13,981. Elvas is finely situated on a hill 5 m. N.W. of the river Guadiana. It is defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and Nossa Senhora da Graça. Its late Gothic cathedral, which has also many traces of Moorish influence in its architecture, dates from the reign of Emmanuel I. (1495–1521). A fine aqueduct, 4 m. long, supplies the city with pure water; it was begun early in the 15th century and completed in 1622. For some distance it includes four tiers of superimposed arches, with a total height of 120 ft. The surrounding lowlands are very fertile, and Elvas is celebrated for its excellent olives and plums, the last-named being exported, either fresh or dried, in large quantities. Brandy is distilled and pottery manufactured in the city. The fortress of Campo Maior, 10 m. N.E., is famous for its siege by the French and relief by the British under Marshal Beresford in 1811—an exploit commemorated in a ballad by Sir Walter Scott.

Elvas is the Roman Alpesa or Helvas, the Moorish Balesh, the Spanish Yelves. It was wrested from the Moors by Alphonso VIII. of Castile in 1166; but was temporarily recaptured