d _Scripture Songs_ (1754).

ERSKINE, THOMAS (1788-1870).--Theologian, _s._ of David E., of Linlathen,
to which property he succeeded, his elder brother having _d._ He was
called to the Bar in 1810, but never practised. Having come under
unusually deep religious impressions he devoted himself largely to the
study of theology, and _pub._ various works, including _The Internal
Evidence for the Truth of Revealed Religion_ (1820), _Unconditional
Freeness of the Gospel_, and _The Spiritual Order_. He was a man of
singular charm of character, and wielded a great influence on the
religious thought of his day. He enjoyed the friendship of men of such
different types as Carlyle, Chalmers, Dean Stanley, and Prevost Paradol.
His _Letters_ were ed. by Dr. W. Hanna (1877-78).

ETHEREGE, SIR GEORGE (1635?-1691).--Dramatist, was at Camb., travelled,
read a little law, became a man-about-town, the companion of Sedley,
Rochester, and their set. He achieved some note as the writer of three
lively comedies, _Love in a Tub_ (1664), _She would if she Could_ (1668),
and _The Man of Mode_ (1676), all characterised by the grossness of the
period. He was sent on a mission to Ratisbon, where he broke his neck
when lighting his guests downstairs after a drinking bout.

EVANS, MARY ANN or MARIAN ("GEORGE ELIOT") (1819-1880).--Novelist, was
_b._ near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, _dau._ of Robert E., land agent, a man
of strong individuality. Her education was completed at a school in
Coventry, and after the death of her mother in 1836, and the marriage of
her elder sister, she kept house for her _f._ until his death in 1849. In
1841 they gave up their house in the country, and went to live in
Coventry. Here she made the acquaintance of Charles Bray, a writer on
phrenology, and his brother-in-law Charles Hennell, a rationalistic
writer on the origin of Christianity, whose influence led her to renounce
the evangelical views in which she had been brought up. In 1846 she
engaged in her first literary work, the completion of a translation begun
by Mrs. Hennell of Strauss's _Life of Jesus_. On her _f.'s_ death she
went abroad with the Brays, and, on her return in 1850, began to write
for the _Westminster Review_, of which from 1851-53 she was
assistant-editor. In this capacity she was much thrown into the society
of Herbert Spencer and George Henry Lewes (_q.v._), with the latter of
whom she in 1854 entered into an irregular connection which lasted unt