EARL'S PENNY-EARNEST. of imitations of the celebrated drawings by Claude, also to be found, as at Salisbury Cathedral. By far in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, the most characteristic feature of the style is the are standard works in their various departments. Tooth-ornament (q. v.), which is often used in great He died in 1822, having some time previously profusion. Where foliage is used, it is cut with retired from his profession. EARL'S PENNY, an English corruption for Arles Penny. See EARNEST. great boldness, so as to throw deep shadows, and produce a very fine effect. The under-cutting is often so deep as to leave nothing to connect the leaves with the mouldings but the stalks, and EA'RLSTON, or ERCILDOUNE, a village in occasionally the edge or point of a leaf. The term the south-west of Berwickshire, on the Leader, a Early English is said, by Parker, to have been north branch of the Tweed, 30 miles west-south-introduced by Mr Millers in 1805. It corresponds west of Berwick. Pop. (1881) 1010. E. has been to Ogivale primitive of French writers, and is very and still is famed for its manufacture of ginghams; often known as the first pointed or lancet-arched it has also a factory for the manufacture of blankets, amongst ourselves. See GOTHIO ARCHITECTURE tweeds, &c. On the left bank of the Leader are the ruins of a building called 'Rhymer's Tower,' as having been the residence of Thomas the Rhymer (q. v.), so famous in Scottish tradition. A mile south of E is Cowdenknowes, which is celebrated in song for its 'bonny, bonny broom.' EARLY ENGLISH, the term generally applied to the form of Gothic in which the pointed arch was first employed in this country. The early English succeeded the Norman towards the end of the 12th c., and merged into the Decorated (q. v.) at the end of the 13th. Its characteristics are beautiful and peculiar. Retaining much of the strength and solidity of the earlier style, it exhibited the graceful forms, without the redundancy of ornament which latterly degenerated into a fault in that which followed. Generally, it may be said to bear to the decorated something like the relation which_an expanding rosebud bears to a full-blown rose. The windows are long and narrow, and when gathered into a group, are frequently surmounted by a large arch, which springs from the extreme moulding of the window on each side. The space between this arch and the tops of the windows is often pierced with circles, or with trefoils or quatrefoils, which constituted the earliest form of tracery. Each window, however, is generally destitute of any tracery in itself. The mouldings,' says Parker, in general consist of alternate rounds and deeply-cut hollows, with a small admixture of fillets, producing a strong effect of light and shadow.'-Gloss. of Architecture. From the same work we borrow the accompanying illustration of two very beautiful piers, surmounted n Early English Piers and Arch. by a lancet-shaped arch, and decorated in the manner peculiar to the style. They are from Westminster Abbey. Circular windows, however, still continued to be used, and trifoliated archways over doors are 734 EARN, a river and loch in the south of Perthshire, in the finely-wooded, beautiful valley of Strathearn. Loch E. lies to the north of Ben Voirlich; its eastern extremity is 24 miles west of Perth. It is 7 miles long from east to west, 1 mile broad, and 100 fathoms The river E. flows east from the loch 40 miles through deep, and is surrounded by bold and rugged hills. the strath, past Comrie, Crieff, and Bridge of Earn, into the estuary of the Tay, 7 miles south-east of Perth. Along the river, near Abernethy, under a thick bed of clay, is a peat-bed 2 or 3 feet thick, supposed to be a continuation of the submarine forest at Flisk.-The Bridge of Earn, a much frequented village, stands on the right bank of the river, 6 miles south-south-west of Perth, and near the saline springs of Pitcaithly. EA'RNEST, or ARLES, as it is called in Scotland, from the civil law word arrha, is a small sum of money which is given, or a simple ceremony, such as shaking hands, which is performed in proof of the existence of that mutual consent which constitutes a contract. In the first case, the earnest is said to be pecuniary; in the second, symbolical. It is not the earnest, but the consent, i. e., the agreement to a certain price, that is the root of the bargain; and the earnest thus becomes a mere adminicle of evidence, which may be dispensed with even in cases in which it is exacted by custom, if the parties choose to preserve other evidence of the completion of their bargain. The contracts in which earnest has been most frequently given both in this country and elsewhere, are sale and service. In the case of sale, it usually consists of a small sum paid by the buyer, by the acceptance of which the seller is held to bind himself to the sale; in the case of service, it is a small sum given by the master, in accepting which the servant becomes bound to serve. The question as to whether the earnest shall count as part of the price or wage depends on the intention of the parties, which, in the absence of direct evidence, will be inferred from the proportion which it bears to the whole sum. 'If a shilling be given,' as Mr Erskine says, 'in the purchase of a ship or of a box of diamonds, it is presumed to be given merely in evidence of the bargain, or, in the common way of speaking, is dead earnest; but if the sum be more considerable, it is reckoned up in the price.'-Institutes, b. iii. tit. iii. s. 5. The original view of earnest in England was, that it was a payment of a small portion of the price or wage, in token of the conclusion of the contract (Story on Sales, p. 216); and as this view seems to have been adhered to, the sum, however small, would probably there be counted as a part payment. There is only one decision under the 17th section of the statute of Frauds (29 Ch. II. c. 3), which provides that no contract for the sale of any goods, wares, and merchandises, for the price of £10 sterling, or upwards, shall be allowed to be good, except the buyer shall accept part of the goods so sold; and actually receive the same, or give something in earnest to bind the bargain, or in EARRING-EARTH. part payment.' The case referred to 'related to the purchase of a horse, where the purchaser produced a shilling from his pocket, and drew it across the hand of the seller's servant, and then returned it to his own pocket; and it was held that this act (which is a custom in the North of England, and is called striking a bargain) was not sufficient to satisfy the requisitions of the statute.'-Story, ut sup. From this decision it follows that no importance is attached in England to such fictitious ceremonies as the Jew plucking off his shoe and giving it to his neighbour, the Indian smoking his pipe, or the less poetical observance of thumb-licking, which Erskine tells us was common among the lower classes in Scotland in his day. EARRING. A ring suspended from the ear, which is bored for the purpose. This mode of adorning the person has always enjoyed great favour amongst Orientals. By Persians, Babylonians, Lydians, Libyans, and Carthaginians, earrings were worn by both sexes. In the classical nations of antiquity, their use was confined to women. In the Iliad (xiv. 182, 183), Juno is represented as adorning herself with earrings made with three drops resembling mulberries. From this period down to the latest, the practice prevailed in Greece, and we find the ears of the Venus de Medici pierced for the reception of earrings. Pliny says (xi. 50) that there was no part of dress on which greater expense was lavished amongst the Romans; and Seneca mentions an earring, of which a drawing, copied in our illustration (fig. 1), is given in Smith's Dictionary, which he says was worth a patrimony. It has four pearls, two above and two below the precious stone in the centre. In the more valuable 2 Ancient Earrings. were of metal pipes, put on for the purpose of assisting the pipes to speak promptly, especially when the organ is of small scale. The German name of beard' is fully more appropriate. EARTH, THE, the globe on which we live, being the third planet in order from the sun, and the largest within the belt of the Planetoids. We proceed to consider briefly the points of chief interest connected with it, and which do not fall to be treated under separate heads, viz., 1. Its form and magnitude; 2. Its mass and density; 3. Its motions; 4. Its temperature. There are 1. The Form and Magnitude of the Earth.-To a spectator so placed as to have an unobstructed view all round, it appears a circular plain, on whose circumference the vault of heaven seems to rest. Accordingly, in ancient times, even philosophers long looked upon the earth as a flat disc swimming upon the water. But many appearances were soon observed to be at variance with this idea, and even in antiquity, the spherical form of the earth began It is only by to be suspected by individuals. assuming the earth to be spherical, that we can explain how our circle of vision becomes wider as our position is more elevated; and how the tops of towers, mountains, masts of ships, and the like come first into view as we approach them. many other proofs that the earth is a globe. Thus, as we advance from the poles towards the equator, new stars, formerly invisible, come gradually into view; the shadow of the earth upon the moon during an eclipse is always round; the same momentary appearance in the heavens is seen at different hours of the day in different places on the earth's surface; and lastly, the earth, since 1519, has been circumnavigated innumerable times. The objection to this view that readily arises from our unthinking impressions of up and down, which immediately suggest the picture of the inhabitants of the opposite side of the earth-our antipodes-with their heads downwards, is easily got over by considering that on all parts of the earth's surface down is towards the earth's centre. of the antique earrings, pearls were almost always used; and they valued for the completeness of their form as well as for their whiteness. In place of a ring, the ornaIt is not, however, strictly true that the earth is ment was often attached a sphere; it is slightly flattened or compressed at to the ear with a hook two opposite points the poles as has been proved (see fig. 2), a custom by actual measurement of degrees of latitude, and which still prevails in by observations of the pendulum. It is found that Italy. Many Egyptian a degree of a meridian is not everywhere of the earrings of very beauti. same length (see DEGREE OF LATITUDE), as it would ful design have been prebe if the earth were a perfect sphere, but increases served, of which fig. 3 from the equator to the poles; from which it is is an example. These rightly inferred that the earth is flattened there. A antique designs have been imitated in modern pendulum, again, of a given length is found to move times, and if the use of an ornament which seems faster when carried towards the poles, and slower fitter for a South Sea islander than an English when carried towards the equator, which shews gentlewoman is to be continued, it can scarcely that the force of gravity is less at the equator than be made to assume a more graceful form than was at the poles, or, in other words, that the centre, the often given to it by the ancients. See RING. During seat of gravity, is more distant at the former than the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., earrings the equator has, it is true, another cause, namely, at the latter. The diminished force of gravity at were worn in England by men; a custom which is still continued by many sailors. Master Matthew, the centrifugal force arising from the rotation of in Every Man in his Humour, says to Brain. the earth, which acts counter to gravitation, and is worm: I will pawn this jewel in my ear;' and necessarily greatest at the equator, and gradually Hall, in his Satires (B. vi. Sat. 1), speaks of the lessens as we move northwards or southwards, till 'ringed ear' of the new-come traveller; and many at the poles it is nothing. But the diminution of the similar passages to the like effect might be quoted force of gravity at the equator arising from the At the present day in England, earrings are worn centrifugal force amounts to only of the whole only by women. The ears are bored usually at force; while the diminution indicated by the penabout seven years of age. The boring, which pro- dulum is. The difference, or nearly, remains duces a temporary inflammation, acts as a counter-assignable to the greater distance of the surface irritant in cases of sore eyes; and this is sometimes given as a reason for putting rings in the ears. EARS, a term in Organ-building, given to small projecting pieces of metal on the sides of the mouths from the centre at the equator than at the poles. EARTH. polar as 300 to 299. These measurements of degrees determine not only the shape but the size of the earth. Bessel's calculations give a geographical mile, or the 60th part of a mean degree of the meridian, at 951-807 toises (2029 yards, thus making the whole circumference 43,526,400 yards), and the equatorial and polar diameters at 6875-6 and 6852-4 geographical miles (79256 and 7899-14 English imperial miles). The surface of the earth contains nearly 150 millions of square geographical miles. 2. The Mass and Density of the Earth.-We have now seen that the earth is a sphere slightly flattened at its poles-what is called by geometers an elliptical spheroid-of a mean radius of somewhat less than 4000 miles. We have next to consider its mass and density. Nothing astonishes the young student more than the idea of weighing the earth; but there are several ways of doing it; and unless we could do it, we never could know its density. (1.) The first method is by observing how much the attraction of a mountain deflects a plummet from the vertical line. This being observed, if we can ascertain the actual weight of the mountain, we can calculate that of the earth. In this way, Dr Maskelyne, in the years 1774—1776, by experiments at Schihallion, in Perthshire, a large mountain mass lying east and west, and steep on both sides-calculated the earth's mean density to be five times greater than that of water. The observed deflection of the plummet in these experiments was between 4" and 5". (2.) In the method just described, there must always be uncertainty, however accurate the observations, in regard to the mass or weight of the mountain. The method known as Cavendish's experiment is much freer from liability to error. This experiment was first made by Henry Cavendish on the suggestion of Michel, and has since been repeated by Reich of Freyberg, and Mr Francis Baily. The apparatus used by Mr Baily is represented in the D Baily's Apparatus. annexed figure. Two small balls at the extremities of a fine rod AB, are suspended by a wire DE, and their position carefully observed by the aid of a telescope. Large balls of lead, G, F, placed on a turning-frame, are then brought near them in such a way that they can affect them only by the force of their attraction. On the large balls being so placed, the small ones move towards them through a small space, which is carefully measured. The position of the large balls is then reversed (they are brought into the positions K, H), and the change of position of the small balls is again observed. Many observations are made, till the exact amount of the deviation of the small balls is ascertained beyond doubt. Then by calculation the amount of attraction of the large balls to produce this deviation is easily obtained. Having reached this, the next question is, what would their attraction be if they were as large as the earth? This is easily answered, and hence, as we know the attractive force of the earth, we can at once compare its mean density with that of lead. Mr Baily's experiments lead to the result that the earth's mean density is 5:67 times that of water. (3.) A third mode adopted by Sir G. B. Airy, by comparison of two invariable pendulums, one at the earth's surface, the other at the bottom of a pit 1260 feet below the surface. The density of the earth, as thus measured, was somewhat greater; but the results are somewhat uncertain and are not to be relied on. If the globe as a whole has a density of say 55, the interior parts must be much denser than the crust, whose solid materials have an average specific gravity of 25 only. Probably the matter of the interior is of an essentially heavier nature, perhaps largely metallic. The density of the earth being known, its mass is easily calculated, and made a unit of mass for measuring that of the other bodies in the system. It is found that the mass of the earth compared with that of the sun is 0000028173. 3. The Motions of the Earth.-The earth, as a member of the solar system, moves along with the other planets round the sun from west to east. This is contrary to our sensible impressions, according to which the sun seems to move round the earth; and it was not till a few centuries ago that men were able to get over this illusion. See COPER NICAN SYSTEM. This journey round the sun is performed in about 365 days, which we call a year (solar year). The earth's path or orbit is not strictly a circle, but an ellipse of small eccentricity, in one of the foci of which is the sun. It follows that the earth is not equally distant from the sun at all times of the year; it is nearest, or in perihelion, at the beginning of the year, or when the northern hemisphere has winter; and at its greatest distance, or aphelion, about the middle of the year, or during the summer of the northern hemisphere. The difference of distance, however, is comparatively too small to exercise any perceptible influence on the heat derived from the sun, and the variation of the seasons has a quite different cause. If the mean distance be taken as unity, the greatest and least are respectively 101679 and 0-98321. Till lately, the mean distance was stated at 95,000,000; but determinations obtained from the transit of Venus in 1874 fix it at 92,400,000 miles. The earth therefore yearly describes a path of upwards of 580 millions of miles; and its velocity in its orbit is about 18 miles in a second. (Other calculations give 93,321,000 miles as the mean distance.) Besides its annual motion round the sun, the earth has a daily motion or rotation on its axis, or shorter diameter, which is performed from west to east, and occupies exactly 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds of mean time. On this motion depend the rising and setting of the sun, or the vicissitudes of day and night. The relative lengths of day and night depend upon the angle formed by the earth's axis with the plane of its orbit. If the axis were per pendicular to the plane of the orbit, day and night would be equal during the whole year over all the earth, and there would be no change of seasons; but the axis makes with the orbit an angle of 234, and the consequence of this is all that variety of seasons and of climates that we find on the earth's surface; for it is only for a small strip (theoretically, for a mere line) lying under the equator that the days and nights are equal all the year; at all other places, this equality only occurs on the two days in each year when the sun seems to pass through the celestial equator, i. e., about the 21st of March and the 23d of September. From March 21, the sun departs from the equator towards the north, till, about June 21, he has reached a north The Centre Figure represents the Annual a fixed point S. it may be resolved into two-One in the direction of the Radius |