luable for sledging.

ESMOND, HENRY, the title of one of Thackeray's novels, deemed by the
most competent critics his best, and the name of its hero, a chivalrous
cavalier of the time of Queen Anne. "Esmond" is pronounced by Prof.
Saintsbury to be "among the very summits of English prose fiction,
exquisitely written in a marvellous resurrection of eighteenth-century
style, touched somehow with a strange modernity and life which make it no
_pastiche_, containing the most brilliant passages of mere incident, and,
above all, enshrining such studies of character ... as not four other
makers of English prose and verse can show."

ESNE, a town in Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, and 25 m.
S. of Thebes; famous for the ruins of a temple.

ESOTERIC, a term used to denote teaching intended only for the
initiated, and intelligible only to them.

ESPARTERO, a celebrated Spanish general and statesman, born at
Granatula; supported, against the Carlist faction, the claims of Isabella
to the throne of Spain; was for his services made Duke of Vittoria, and
in 1841 elected regent; compelled to abdicate, he fled to England, but
afterwards returned for a time to the head of affairs; an able man, but
wanting in the requisite astuteness and tact for such a post (1793-1879).

ESPINASSE, CLARE FRANCOISE, a wit and beauty, born at Lyons,
illegitimate child of the Countess d'Albon; went to Paris as companion to
Madame du Deffand, with whom she quarrelled; set up a salon of her own,
and became celebrated for her many attractions; D'Alembert was devoted to
her; many of her letters to her lovers, the Marquis de Mora and M. de
Guilbert in particular, have been published, and display a charming
personality (1732-1776).

ESPINEL, VINCENT DE, a Spanish poet and musician, born at Ronda,
Granada; first a soldier and then a priest, the friend of Lope de Vega,
and author of a work which Le Sage made free use of in writing "Gil
Blas"; was an expert musician; played on the guitar, and added a fifth
string (1551-1634).

ESPIRITU SANTO, (1) a small and swampy maritime province of Brazil
(121), lying on the N. border of Rio de Janeiro; does some trade in
timber, cotton, coffee, and sugar; Victoria is the capital; (2) a town
(32) in central Cuba; (3) the largest of the NEW HEBRIDES (q. v.)
(20); the climate is unhealthy, but the soil fertile.

ESPRIT DES LOIS (i. e. the Spirit of Laws), the title of
Montesquieu's great work, at