and a marriage between his son and the lady Anne, the niece of Richard III.

When the earl of Richmond came to the crown of England as Henry VII. bishop Elphinston was sent to his court, with other ambassadors, to arrange the terms of a truce, which was accordingly settled for three years on July 3, 1486. The discontent of the nobles threatening to involve the country in a civil war, Elphinston mediated between them and the king; but, finding it impossible to reconcile their jarring interests, he went to England about the latter end of 1487, to solicit the friendly interposition of Henry, as the ally of the Scotish king; and although he did not succeed as he wished and expected, king James was so sensible of the value of his services, that he advanced him in February 1488, to the office of lord high chancellor of Scotland, which he enjoyed until the king's death, when he retired to his diocese. During the time he remained at Aberdeen, he was occupied in correcting the abuses that had prevailed in the diocese, and in composing a book of canon law. But he was not long permitted to enjoy the calm of retirement, and was again called to the parliament that assembled at Edinburgh, Oct. 6, 1488, to assist at the coronation of James IV. The earl of Bothwell, who then ruled as prime minister, suspecting that bishop Elphinston would not concur in an act of indem-. nity in favour of those who were concerned in the rebellion of the last reign, contrived to send him on an embassy to the court of Maximilian of Germany, with a proposal for a marriage between the king, and Margaret, the emperor's daughter; but the mission was ineffectual, as that lady had been previously promised to the prince of Spain, and was married accordingly, before Elphinston arrived at Vienna. Yet although the bishop did not succeed in this embassy, he performed a lasting service to the country in his way home, by settling a treaty of peace and amity between the states of Holland and the Scotch. In 1492, when the bishop returned, he was made lord privy-seal, and the same year appointed one of the commissioners on the part of Scotland, for the prolongation of the truce with England. But the truce was not strictly observed by the Scotch, and a new commission was found to be necessary for the more effectual settlement of all differences. Bishop Elphinston was included in this commission, and the Scotch deputies meeting with the English at Edinburgh, June 21,

they agreed to prolong the truce till the last day of April,

1501.

The distractions of the state being appeased, and tranquillity restored both at home and abroad, the bishop found leisure to attend to an object that he had long meditated, and which engrossed much of his thoughts. Religion and learning had been the chief pursuits of his life, and he wished to diffuse the happy influence of both over the north of Scotland. For this purpose he applied to the king to solicit the papal authority for the foundation of the university of Aberdeen, which was granted by a bull from pope Alexander VI. dated Feb. 10, 1494. From this time the bishop bent all his attention to the completion of his design; and having requested the king to permit the college to be founded in his royal name, letters patent under the great seal were passed accordingly; and the college called King's-college, in Old Aberdeen, was erected iu ́ 1506, in a very magnificent manner. It was endowed with great privileges, similar to those granted to the universities of Paris and Bononia. A doctor in theology was constituted principal of the college; doctors of the canon law, civil jurisprudence, and of medicine, were appointed for the cultivation of those sciences; a professor of humanity, or literæ humaniores, to instruct the students in grammar and languages, and a sub-principal to institute them in philosophy. The plan of endowment made provision also, for the maintenance of twenty-seven students, a chanter, organist, &c. As this college is the only one that has ever been erected in this university, it possesses within itself the whole rights and privileges of an university, and the whole corporation is denominated the "University and King's College of Aberdeen."

Besides the erection and endowment of the college, bishop Elphinston left ample funds to build and to support a bridge over the river Dee, and the sum he bequeathed for these two objects was 10,000l. It is mentioned to his credit, that he never held any benefice in commendam, as was the case with most of the prelates of that time, but, from the revenue of the see alone, made such savings as enabled him to execute these great works, which are so honourable to his memory. When not employed in the duties of his office, he devoted his leisure hours to writing the lives of the Scotish saints, which were occasionally read to the clergy of the diocese for their instruction in

religion and practical improvement in life. It is not, however, perhaps much to be regretted that these compositions no longer exist. He also wrote the history of Scotland, from the rise of the nation to his own time, which is now preserved among Fairfax's MSS in the Bodleian library.

James IV. having precipitated the country into a war with England, in opposition to Elphinston's advice, who was cautious from experience, lost his life at Flodden-field, where the better part of the Scotch nobility shared a similar fate. This circumstance so afflicted the venerable prelate's mind, that his wonted cheerfulness entirely forsook him, and his debilitated frame fast verged to the grave. The affairs of Scotland, however, being again in a distracted state, Elphinston, ever anxious to do good, made an exertion to attend parliament, that he might offer his advice; but the fatigue of the journey exhausted his wearied body, and he died Oct. 25, 1514. His corpse was brought from Edinburgh, and interred in the collegiate church at Aberdeen near the high altar. This eminent prelate has justly obtained the encomium of historians, and the reverence of his countrymen. He appears to have been eminent as a prelate and statesman, a man of learning, and an able promoter of it by his munificent endowment of the college.

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ELSHEIMER (ADAM), a celebrated painter, born at Francfort upon the Maine in 1574, was a taylor's son, and at first a disciple of Philip Uffenbach, a German but an ardent desire of improvement carrying him to Rome, he soon became an excellent artist in landscapes, histories, and night-pieces. He was a person by nature inclined to melancholy, and through continued study and thoughtfulness so far settled in that unhappy temper, that, neglecting his domestic coucerns, he contracted debts, and imprisonment followed; which struck such a damp upon his spirits, that though he was soon released, he did not long survive、 it, but died about 1610. The Italians had a great esteem for him, and lamented the loss of him exceedingly. James Ernest Thomas, of Landaw, was his disciple; and his pictures are so like Elsheimer's, that they are often taken the one for the other.

That which renders Elsheimer's pictures so interesting is, the grandeur of style in which they are executed.

Thom's Hist of Aberdeen.-Mackenzie's Scotch writers, vol. II.-Life by Hector Boece in Bibl. Topogr, Britan. No. III.-Crawford's Lives.

Many of his figures partake so much of Raphael's best manner of character, of action, and disposition of the draperies, that if they were magnified, they would appear to be of that great master's own hand; and they have superadded a colour which is of a superior class; in the production of which, indeed, the smallness of their size was of considerable assistance to him; for it is by no means so easy to extend a full body of colour over a large surface, with equally pleasing variety of tone, and freedom of execution; and in it to separate and form the distinct parts as in a smaller one; and though it requires more neatness in the execution of the latter, it does not demand so free and so ready a hand to unite, to blend, and soften the various parts, and to give expression its full force, as in the formier. His pictures exhibit great attention to nature; particularly his perspective is very perfect, in lines, at least; and he not unfrequently chose very difficult things to manage: such as working with a short perspective distance, and sometimes placing his figures on the top of a hill, and suddenly losing the ground, till it is recovered again in a deep valley. His landscapes have, in general, the air of real views, and are finished with wonderful attention to general form, and beautiful scenery. Their colour is not always exactly that of nature, but as seen under a peculiar illumination, like the tone which Titian has adopted in his St. Peter Martyr; giving it an air of grandeur not to be obtained, perhaps, by the brighter hues of nature.

From the extreme care and excellence with which his works are finished, they were not, of course, in his short life, very numerous; and are rarely to be met with. While he was alive, his pictures bore an excessive high price, which was amazingly enhanced after his death and Houbraken mentions one of them, representing Pomona, which was sold for eight hundred German florins. Sandrart describes a great number of his capital performances; among which are, Tobit and the angel, now at lord Egremont's; Latona and her sons, with the Peasants turned into Frogs; the death of Procris; and his most capital picture of the flight into Egypt, which needs no description, as there is a print of it extant, engraved by Gaud, the friend and benefactor of Elsheimer. Some of his works were in the collection of the grand duke of Tuscany. The richest collection of them in this country is at the earl of Egremont's, at Petworth, in Sussex. There are ten

pictures by him, eight of which are of one size, viz. about four inches high, by two and a half wide, or perhaps a little more. The subjects are, a St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John Baptist, Tobit and the angel with a fish, an old woman and a girl, an old man with a boy, and a capuchin friar, with a model of a convent in his hand. The figures in all these are about three inches high, yet their characters and expressions are just and excellent; and the drawing of their figures, and the draperies, in the best style of Another picture represents the interior of a brothel by fire and candle light, in which there are ten or more figures gaming, and indulging in the licentiousness of such a place, all exquisitely wrought; with some expressions that have never been surpassed, although the figures are not more than two inches and a half high. The last is "Nicodemus's visit to Christ;" but it is not of so good a quality as the others.'

art.

ELSHOLTZ (JOHN SIGISMOND), an eminent Prussian/ botanist, was born in 1623 at Francfort on the Oder, and began his studies at the college of that city under John Moller, then rector. Having an inclination for the study of medicine, he went to Wirtemberg, attended the lectures of Sperling, Schneider, Banzer, &c. and then pursued his course at Konigsberg, Holland, France, and Italy, and took his doctor's degree at Padua. On his return home, Frederick-William, elector of Brandenburgh, appointed him, in 1656, court-physician and botanist, offices which he filled with great reputation until his death, at Berlin, Feb. 19, 1688. His works are, 1. "Flora Marchica," or a catalogue of plants cultivated in the principal gardens of Brandenburgh, Berlin, 1663, 8vo, and 1665. Anthropometria, sive de mutua membrorum proportione, &c." Stadt, 1672, 8vo, probably the third edition. 3. "Distillatoria curiosa," Berlin, 1674, 4to. 4. "Clysmatica nova," ibid. 1665, 8vo. 5. "De Horti cultura," 4to. 6. "De Phosphoris," translated into English by Sherley, Lond. 1677, 12mo. Wildenow, who has named a plant the Elscholtzia, in honour of this botanist, mentions a manuscript work of his on horticulture, written in German, and preserved in the royal library of Berlin.

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1 Argenville.-Descamps, vol. 1.-Rees's Cyclopædia.-Pilkington and Strutt. Moreri,-Haller Bibl. Botan.