ched to within a foot of the
earth's surface; they probably served as store-houses, winter-quarters,
and as places of refuge in times of war. Similar dwellings are found in
Ireland.

EARTHLY PARADISE, poem by William Morris, his greatest effort,
considered his masterpiece; consists of 24 tales by 24 travellers in
quest of an earthly paradise.

EAST INDIA COMPANY, founded in 1600; erected its first factories on
the mainland in 1612 at Surat, but its most profitable trade in these
early years was with the Spice Islands, Java, Sumatra, &c.; driven from
these islands by the Dutch in 1622, the Company established itself
altogether on the mainland; although originally created under royal
charter for purely commercial purposes, it in 1689 entered upon a career
of territorial acquisition, which culminated in the establishment of
British power in India; gradually, as from time to time fresh renewals of
its charter were granted, it was stripped of its privileges and
monopolies, till in 1858, after the Mutiny, all its powers were vested in
the British Crown.

EAST RIVER, the strait which separates Brooklyn and New York cities,
lying between Long Island Sound and New York Bay, about 10 m. long; is
spanned by a bridge.

EASTBOURNE (35), a fashionable watering-place and health resort on
the Sussex coast, between Brighton and Hastings, and 66 m. S. of London;
has Roman remains, and is described in "Domesday Book."

EASTER, an important festival of the Church commemorating the
resurrection of Christ; held on the first Sunday after the first full
moon of the calendar which happens on or next after 21st of March, and
constituting the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the date of it
determines the dates of other movable festivals; derives its name from
Eastre, a Saxon goddess, whose festival was celebrated about the same
time, and to which many of the Easter customs owe their origin.

EASTERN STATES, the six New England States in N. America--Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

EASTLAKE, SIR CHARLES LOCK, artist and author, born at Plymouth;
studied painting in London and in Paris; produced the last portrait of
Napoleon, which he executed from a series of sketches of the emperor on
board the _Bellerophon_ in Plymouth harbour; he travelled in Greece, and
from 1816 to 1830 made his home at Rome; "Christ Weeping over Jerusalem,"
his greatest work, appeared in 1841; was Presid