till the victory of Old Ironsides (see CONSTITUTION, THE) that American ships could fight English on equal terms, and it was the general conviction that in case of war our entire fleet would at once be "Copenhagenized" (that is, captured bodily and added to the British fleet,

as

was the Danish). At Jefferson's recommendation, therefore, The Embargo was passed 22 Dec. 1807, forbidding all foreign commerce till the obnoxious decrees were repealed. The havoc not only in trade but in the interior life of the people was terrific; the exports fell from $110,084,207 in 1807 to $22,430,960 in 1808. The farming sections were dismayed to find that commerce meant part of their daily bread as well as the carrier's profits and that they raised and sold much of that $87,000,000; but they clung all the more stubbornly to their antiwar recipe, though England and France approved it highly. Napoleon was glad to see his enemy drifting into war with a western power; England was glad to regain her carrying trade and see Canada and Nova Scotia receive American capital. Meantime New England fought it with the fierceness of a struggle for life; evaded it largely by sea and sent armies of smugglers overland to Canada. Congress then extended the act to rivers, lakes and bays, and allowed collectors to seize on suspicion; and the next Congress, 9 Jan. 1809, passed a savage enforcing act with all the fury of baffled doctrinaires, imposing enormous fines, forfeitures and bonds and making the collectors supreme despots of their districts. New England was nearly in insurrection; the collectors were in danger of the fate of those under the Stamp Act, some resigned, others were sued in the State courts; the judges would give no findings against smugglers; finally the States threatened nullification and John Quincy Adams (a victim to its support) declared that they had resolved to withdraw from the Union at least temporarily, if force were used, and had opened negotiations with Great Britain. A Federalist declared in the Senate that blood would flow. The Democrats were frightened and hastily fixed (3 Feb. 1809) 4 March for its discontinuance. But the next month they had regained courage and passed a "non-intercourse act" to take its place; still prohibiting intercourse with France or Great Britain, but restoring it with other countries and allowing free coasting trade. This policy was continued till the War of 1812 opened. The hostility of New England to the war, only less destructive than the embargo and against her political feelings, induced the British government ostentatiously to relieve that section from the blockade, to sow discord and make a base of naval supplies; and on 17 Dec. 1813 a new embargo was laid to 1 Jan. 1815, which, however, was repealed 14 April 1814. Jefferson always asserted that the policy was the best and the embargo would have accomplished its object if New England would only have helped. It is now pretty generally agreed that the laying of the embargo was a great political and economic mistake and it is certain that, as a result of it, American shipping sustained between 1807 and 1815 almost irreparable damage. Consult histories of the United States through this period, as Schouler, McMaster, etc.; especially Henry Adams' History,' covering 1801-15, devoted to the causes and consequences of these measures.

EMBASSY (ambassy, from O. Fr. ambassée, from low Lat. ambachus, a servant, vassal) in its strict sense, signifies a mission presided over by an ambassador, that is, a diplomatic agent of the first rank, as distinguished from a legation or mission entrusted to an envoy or agent. The difference between the powers and privileges of an ambassador and an envoy is, that the former, as the representative of the person of his sovereign, can demand a private audience of the sovereign to whom he is accredited, while the latter must communicate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

EMBER-DAYS, called in the Roman Missal and Breviary Quattuor Tempora (the four seasons) and in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer) "Ember-days at the four seasons," are in the Roman and in the Anglican calendar the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays which come next after 13 December, the first Sunday of Lent, the Feast of Pentecost (Whitsunday), and 14 September, respectively. In both the Latin Church and the Anglican these days are days of fasting. The Quattuor Tempora were observed at Rome in the time of Saint Augustine (the bishop of Hippo, early in the 5th century) and doubtless the observance was already of ancient date. The custom was brought into Britain by that other Saint Augustine who was the herald of the gospel to the Anglo-Saxons. It was anciently the custom for bishops to hold ordinations only on the Saturdays of the Quattuor Tempora. The origin of the phrase Emberdays cannot be definitely ascertained; but it is probably a corruption of Quattuor Tempora, as in German Die Quatember signifies the Emberweeks.

EMBEZZLEMENT (O. Fr. besiler, to rifle, lay waste) is the fraudulent appropriation, as by a clerk, public officer, agent or other person of property entrusted to him. It must not be confounded with larceny, which is the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal property of another, with the felonious intent of converting such property to one's own use without the consent of the owner. This "taking" implies a trespass, which does not exist in embezzlement. By common law, embezzlement was not a crime, but it has been universally made so by statute both in the United States and Great Britain. The earliest statute recognizing the offense was that of Henry VIII, c. 7 (1529). This act was passed with the object of remedying an admitted defect in the existent criminal law, by which persons who had fraudulently appropriated goods or money, coming into their possession legally, escaped all punishment, although their moral guilt was great. Obviously they could not be convicted of larceny, as their offense lacked some of the essential elements of that crime. The abovenamed statute, however, restricted the offense to servants and in 1799 another statute was passed extending it to include clerks. This act, not proving completely satisfactory, the Larceny Act, passed in England in 1901, which amended sections 75 and 76 of the Larceny Act of 1861, further extended the offense to include trustees, directors of companies and others. This act makes the offense a misdemeanor and provides that the punishment therefor shall be penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years, or imprisonment, with or without hard

Ecclesiastical English Embroidery of the 15th Century opus anglicum), representing orphreys (name given to this golden embroidery). The background is completely overworked and hidden by the needlework in gold, silver and silks of various colors in the style of the illuminated manuscripts of the period. (In Metropolitan Museum, New York)

labor, for a term not exceeding two years. In Scotland certain designated courts have inherent jurisdiction to punish all offenses, even when not declared to be crimes by statute, with the result that no legislation on the subject has been found necessary in that country.

Most of the statutes in the United States are based on the English act of 1799, but are much broader in their scope. In this country embezzlement is a misdemeanor or a felony, depending usually on the value of the property appropriated, although in some States embezzlement by an officer of a corporation or embezzlement of certain animals is a felony irrespective of the value of the property converted. Statutes often define embezzlement and mention is frequently found therein of the persons who may be guilty of the crime, as administrators, guardians, trustees, public officers, servants, agents and others who occupy fiduciary relations. It is essential to constitute the crime that the person charged therewith should have come into possession of the property by virtue of his employment and that he intentionally violated some confidence. There must also be a criminal intent to appropriate the property of another. Thus one holding property which is legally in his possession in the honest though mistaken belief that he owns it cannot be convicted of the crime. In some States, as Massachusetts and New York, embezzlement is included in the offense of larceny. The punishment differs in the various States, usually being imprisonment for a term varying from 2 to 10 years.

EMBLEMENTS (O. Fr. emblacment, from emblaer, to sow with grain), a term applied to the growing crops of land when the lease of a tenant for life has expired by the death of the tenant, or when an estate at will has been determined by the lessor. In either case the emblements belong to the tenant or his executors. But when the tenant puts an end to his occupation by his own voluntary act, he will not be entitled to the crops.

EMBOLISM, ĕm'bo-lizm (Gr. eμBodiopoc, intercalation, 'ev in, and Báλheiv, to cast). In the calendar, an intercalation of a day, as in the second month of our year in leap-year, or of a lunar month, 28 days, in the Greek calendar. In medicine, the blocking up of a bloodvessel by a clot of blood that comes from some distance till it reaches a vessel too small to permit its onward progress. The immediate cause or clot is called thrombus and the disease is known as thrombosis. See PATHOLOGY; THROMBUS; THROMBOSIS.

EMBOSSING (Fr. bosse, a protuberance), the art of producing raised figures upon plane surfaces, such as leather, paper, cardboard, metal, textiles, etc., by means of powerful presses furnished with dies of the desired pattern. Color embossing is done by two processes: (1) By applying the color to the raised part of the design, in which case the color is spread on the die with a brush and the whole surface cleaned, leaving the ink in the depressed parts of the engraving only; (2) by leaving the design uncolored and applying the color with a printing-roller to the flat portions of the die. For large designs, engraved plates or electrotypes are used with a counterpart of mill board faced with gutta-percha. Book-binding makes

extensive use of the art of embossing. Embossed wall-paper designs are effected by means of copper cylinders on which the design has been engraved, with counter parts of rollers of a softer surface. These are mounted on calendar frames. A common type of embossing machine has been adapted from the fabric printing cylinder machine, by engraving the cylinders in a suitable fashion. For some purposes the cylinders must be heated and kept at a high temperature while being used. Metal ornaments are likewise often made by an embossing process and finished and polished later. See CHASING; REPOUSSÉ.

EMBRACERY (O. Fr. embraser, to set on fire), an attempt to corrupt or influence a jury by money, promises, letters, threats or persuasions. This offense in the United States is punished by fine and imprisonment.

EMBRASURE, ĕm-brā'zür, in fortification, an opening made in the breastwork or parapet of a battery or fortress, to admit of a gun being fired through it.

EMBRO, a corrupted form of the name Edinburgh.

EMBROIDERY, the art of working on an already existent material a decoration with needle and thread. Form and shading are expressed by means of stitches; and it is essential in embroidery that the stitches must be frankly visible. Stitches are never concealed, nor disguised.

Technique.-A stitch is the thread left on the surface of the cloth after each ply of the needle. A piece of embroidery may be worked in one kind of stitch only, or a number of different stitches may occur in the one article. Embroidery stitches are ancient and have special names: Canvas (including cross, tent [petit-point] and cushion), crewel (also outline and stem), chain (simple, twisted, cable, zigzag and checquered), button-hole, feather, rope, fern, herring-bone, back, satin, basket, brick, braid, interlocking, overcast, plait, rococo, running, split-stroke, tambour, coral, darning, insertion, snail-trail, leviathan, ladder (Creton), two-sided Italian, trellis, old English knot, German knot, French knot, Rumanian, Holbein and many others.

Couching is the word used to define the method by which one thread is sewn down by another thread upon the material. Cord and braid, or a bundle of tiny threads, may also be "couched." Couching is much used in gold thread embroidery. Geometrical open fillings of leaves and backgrounds are often composed of lines of threads thrown across and couched down at regular intervals. The basket-stitch, which imitates wicker-work, is much used for couching.

Laid-work is an elaborate kind of couching. The stitches are laid down loosely on the surface of the material and then sewn down by cross lines of stitching. The Japanese use laidwork more extensively than any other nation. The Chinese, on the other hand, prefer to sew through the material, and, as a rule, their decoration is as beautifully embroidered on the wrong side of the material as on the right side.

"The Chinese and Japanese," writes Mr. Townsend, "are remarkable for flat treatment of plant-forms and are supreme in effects produced with one or two shades, partly through

their skill in placing the stitches. Constantly changing the direction of the stitches, they work for a pleasant play of light and shade acquired by the placing of the silk. They shade with the intention of showing where one shade ends and another begins. They are also fond of voiding, i.e., leaving the ground to show between the petals of flowers, similar to the use of 'ties in stencilling."

Raised-work is formed by a layer of padding placed on the material and worked over with threads. It was popular in the 14th century and was carried to excess in the 18th century (particularly in England), when stump-work, in which figures were stuffed like dolls, was developed. Turkey-work, in imitation of Oriental rugs and carpets, appeared in the 16th century. It was worked in worsted and was used for table-covers, cushions and chair-seats. Eastern patterns were superseded by floral ones characteristic of the Renaissance; and these, in turn, by 18th century designs. Turkey-work chair-seats were plentiful in American homes in the 17th and 18th centuries. Petit-point or tentstitch, is often used generically to describe the needlework that most nearly imitates tapestry. It enjoyed favor in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Bargello, or Florentine, work is produced by the cushion-stitch on a canvas foundation, a blunt needle being used. Sometimes the satin-stitch is employed in combination with the cushion; the one for the pattern and the other for the background. Zigzag patterns are characteristic. Bargello was much used in the 17th century. It has lately been revived and is now very fashionable. Delicate line-work and color in mass are sought for by the expert and artistic embroiderer, who also takes delight in producing effects in shading and a beautiful finish by a perfect control of the stitches. Occasionally the worker uses a frame on which the material to be embroidered is stretched. The tambour-frame, shaped like a sieve, or drumhead, said to have originated in China, gave its name to the tambour-stitch. Chinese embroidery, exquisite in design and workmanship, has been unchanged for centuries. The devices and motives resemble those on porcelain vases and cloisonnée enamels. Nothing more beautiful than the embroidery on the robes of mandarins and noble ladies has ever been produced. Sometimes to the dragons, phoenix, flowers, butterflies, pagodas, clouds and temples the embroiderer adds something from his own fantastic imagination. The treatment of flowers in Chinese embroidery, in color, form and technique, is alone worthy of special study. The most beautiful Japanese work is on ceremonial robes on sashes for women and on the squares, called fukusa, used for covering fine presents. The best Japanese embroiderers live in Kioto. In the Mikado's collection at Nara there are specimens of Indian embroideries worked 1,200 years ago. India is said to have had some influence upon Japanese embroidery, though the chief source of inspiration was China.

Indian embroidery is done on silk, velvet, cotton, wool and leather. Most famous of all is the embroidery on wool, both loom-wrought and by the needle, of Cashmere, as shown in the Cashmere shawl. Muslin is embroidered at Dacca, Patna and Delhi. Rich embroidery in colored silk and gold and silver is made in Hy

derabad and other places in Sindh. The embroidery of Nauanager and Gondal in Kathiwar (of which Cutch gets the credit) resembles that of Resht on the Caspian. Gold is also used in Cutch for embroideries in the Persian style of Isphahana and Delhi. The gorgeous gold-embroidered velvets of Lucknow, Gulbargah, Aurungabad and Hyderabad in the Deccan, used for canopies of state, umbrellas of dignity, elephants' cloths and state-housings, have remained unchanged from the earliest periods of Indian history; but their sumptuous gold-scroll ornamentation resembles Italian design of the 16th century. The Portuguese used to send satin to India to be embroidered in European designs and Oriental workmanship. Of such exquisite material were made many of the beautiful coats and waistcoats worn in the European courts in the 17th and 18th centuries. The embroidered native apparel of Cashmere, Amritsar, Lahore, Delhi, Lucknow, Murshedabad, Bombay and Vizagapatam are highly prized,

History. Whether embroidery originated in China or India is a disputed point. The Chinese claim to have practised it 3,000 years B.C. India also boasts similar antiquity in this beautiful art. All ancient nations carried embroidery to perfection; for the art of the needle was developed before that of the brush. Thousands of years before the Bayeux Tapestry (q.v.) was worked with the needle to chronicle the Norman Conquest (1066 A.D.), if Homer may be believed, "Helen embroidered in her palace a large cloth, white as alabaster, with the story of the conflicts in which Trojans and Greeks contended for love of her." Embroidery was, therefore, not only an artistic enrichment of material, but it was used for centuries as a means of record and commemoration. Sacerdotal vestments, draperies and curtains for temples, robes of ceremony, clothes for ordinary use and household articles were embroidered with appropriate symbols and designs in colored wools, silks and threads of gold in every country of civilization. The Egyptians excelled in embroidery, rivaling the gorgeous work of the magnificent Babylonians. Jews learned the art from Egypt, as is proved by the veil that Moses had made for the Holy of Holies "of fine linen embroidered with cherubim of blue and purple and scarlet."

The

The Greeks attributed the invention of embroidery to Athene; and a magnificently embroidered peplos hung behind her statue by Phidias in the Parthenon, and was renewed every five years. Persia was also famous for this art. Strabo speaks of the impression made upon the Greeks by the aerial and delicately embroidered fabrics, as well as the heavy and magnificent ones. Phrygia was so celebrated that all splendid embroideries were known in Rome as "Phrygian." Roman emperors were not behind others in patronizing the art. Even more sumptuous were the Byzantine emperors, whose robes were stiff with gold and of enormous weight with woven stitches. favorite scheme of Byzantine embroidery consisted of pairs of birds or animals (often enclosed in circles), separated by the sacred tree of Persia, a kind of palm- the "tree of life." This Byzantine style dominated ecclesiastical embroidery throughout Europe during the Middle Ages when monasteries and convents had special rooms for male and female em

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