Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/673

Rh E U - E U B G47 returned home with all convenient speed. During the next ten years of his life the zeal and unabated assiduity of his studies were not at all diminished, and he continued with marvellous regularity his various routine duties in connexion with the academy, though his health was far from robust, and Ids circumstances were now such as to put it in his power to dispense with the multifarious drudgery which the fulfilment of these duties demanded. He was a constant attendant at the Life School, where he used to work regularly along with the students, notwith standing the remonstrances of some of his fellow Acade micians, who thought the practice undignified. The course of his studies was only interrupted by occasional visits to his native city, and to Scotland, where he was welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm, ar.d feted with the most gratifying heartiness by his brother-artists at Edinburgh. On the occasion of one of these visits he gave the finishing touches to the trio of Judiths, which form not the least interesting or valuable feature in the collection of the Scottish Academy. In 1840, and again in 1841, Etty undertook a pilgrimage to the Low Countries, to seek and examine for himself the masterpieces of Rubens which exist in many of the churches and public galleries there. Two years later he once more visited France with a view to collecting materials for what he called &quot; his last epic,&quot; his famous picture of Joan of Arc. This subject, which would have tasked to the full even his great powers in the prime and vigour of manhood, proved almost too serious an undertaking for him in his old age. It exhibits, at least, amid great excellences, undeniable proofs of decay on the part of the painter ; yet it brought a higher price than any of his earlier and more perfect works, viz., 2500. In 1848, after completing this work, he retired to York, having realized a comfortable independence. Even his advanced years and increasing infirmities were as yet unable wholly to quench his artistic enthusiasm, for when his health allowed, he worked as assiduously as in his younger days. One wish alone remained for him now to gratify ; he desired to see a &quot; gathering &quot; of his pictures. With much difficulty and exertion he was enabled to assemble the great majority of them from various parts of the British islands ; and so numerous were they that the walls of the large hall he engaged in London for their exhibition were nearly covered. This took place in the summer of 1849 ; on the 13th November of that same year Etty died. He received the honours of a public funeral in his native city, where he was highly respected. Etty holds a secure place among English artists, though it is neither the place assigned to him during the early part of his career nor that to which he attained during the last thirty years of his life. Unjust neglect was followed in his case, as in that of some others, by undue and indiscriminate eulogy. His unflinching perseverance in the face of unusual difficulties and discouragements is beyond all praise. His drawing was frequently incorrect, but in feeling and skill as a colourist he has scarcely been equalled by any other English artist. His most conspicuous defects as a painter were the result of insufficient general culture and narrowness of sympathy. See Etty s autobiography, published in the Art Journal for 1849, and the Life of William Etty, R.A., by Gilchiist, 2 vols. 1855. EU, a town of France in the department of Seine- Infericure, arrondissement of Dieppe, is situated on the railway from Longpre to Treport, and on the river Bresle 2 miles from its mouth at Treport, and is 17 miles E.N.E. of Dieppe. It has manufactories of lace, waxcloth and sailcloth, hemp, linen, and oil, and a considerable trade in fish, corn, and wood. It is the seat of a tribunal of com merce and of a communal college, and has three ancient buildings of importance : the beautiful Gothic church built in the 12th century, whose crypt contains the monu ments of the counts of Eu ; the college church, in which are the tombs of Henry of Guise and of his wife Katheriae of Cleves ; and the Chateau d Eu. The countship of Eu dates from the llth century, and is descended from a side branch of the Norman kings. After the dying out of this branch it came finally into the possession of the St Pols. In 1475 the town and castle were destroyed by Louis XI. to prevent them falling into the hands of the English ; but when through marriage the countship passed into the possession of Henry, duko of Guise, he rebuilt the castle in 1581. When the house of Guise was extinguished in 1675, Eu was purchased by the princess of Montpensier, and came thus into the possession of the duke of Maine, whence it passed into that of the duke of Penthievre, grandfather by the mother s side of Louis Philippe. In 1795 the chateau was converted into a military hospital, but Louis Philippe commenced its restoration in 1821, and made it his principal sum mer residence. Here he received Queen Victoria in 1843. It con tained a large picture gallery of historical portraits, but in 1852 these were removed to England. From 1852 till the last French revolution the chateau belonged to Napoleon IIJ. The population of Eu in 1872 was 3S35. EUBCEA (pronounced Evvia in the modern language), the largest island after Crete in the vEgean Sea, is separated from the coasts of Attica, Boeotia, Locris, and Thessaly by the Euboic Sea, which, at its narrowest part between Chalcis and the Boeotian shore, is called the Euripus. The length of the island, whose general outline is long and narrow, is about 90 miles ; its breadth varies considerably, at the broadest part it measures about 30 miles, at the narrowest not more than four. Its general direction is from N.W. to S.E., and it is traversed throughout its entire length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the E. under the names of Ossa and Pehon, and is further continued beyond the extremity of Euboea in the lofty islands of Andros, Tenos, and Myconos. The prin cipal peaks of this range, some of which attain a great elevation, group themselves into three knots, in the north, the centre, and the south of the island, which they thus divide with some completeness into three portions. Towards the north, opposite the Locrian territory, the highest peaks are Mounts Macistus (Kandili) and Telethrius, the former 3967, and the latter 3186 feet above the sea. Mount Telethrius was famed in ancient times for its medi cinal plants, and at its foot are the celebrated hot springs, near the town of ^Edepsus, called the Baths of Hercules, which were used, we are told, by the dictator Sulla, and have now been converted into an extensive bathing estab lishment, though the arrangements are of a rude description. These sources, which are strongly sulphurous, rise a short distance inland at several points, and at last pour them selves steaming over the rocks, which they have yellowed with their deposit, into the Euboic Sea. Opposite the entrance of the Maliac Gulf is the promontory of Censmm, the highest point behind which, rising to an elevation of 2221 feet, is now called Lithada, the name being a corrup tion of Lichades, as the islands were called that lie off the extremity of the headland. Here again we meet with the legends of Hercules, for this cape, together with the neigh bouring coast of Trachis, was the scene of the events con nected with the death of that hero, as described by Sophocles in his Trachinice. Near the N.E. extremity of the island, and almost facing the entrance of the Gulf of Pagasaa, is the promontory of Artemisium, celebrated for the great naval victory gained by the Greeks over the Persians, 480 B.C. Towards the centre, to the N.E. of Chalcis, rises the highest of its mountains &amp;gt; Dirphys or Dirphe, now Mount Delphi, 5725 feet above the sea, th bare summit of which is not entirely free from snow till the end of May, while its sides are clothed with pines and firs, and lower down with chestnuts and planes. It is one of the most conspicuous summits of eastern Greece and