is Marienlyst, originally a royal château, but now a seaside resort.
ELSSLER, FANNY (1810–1884), Austrian dancer, was born
in Vienna on the 23rd of June 1810. From her earliest years
she was trained for the ballet, and made her appearance at the
Kärntner-Thor theatre in Vienna before she was seven. She
almost invariably danced with her sister Theresa, who was two
years her senior; and, after some years’ experience together in
Vienna, the two went in 1827 to Naples. Their success there—to
which Fanny contributed more largely than her sister, who
used to efface herself in order to heighten the effect of Fanny’s
more brilliant powers—led to an engagement in Berlin in 1830.
This was the beginning of a series of triumphs for Fanny’s
personal beauty and skill in dancing. After captivating all
hearts in Berlin and Vienna, and inspiring the aged statesman
Friedrich von Gentz (q.v.) with a remarkable passion, she paid
a visit to London, where she received much kindness at the
hands of Mr and Mrs Grote, who practically adopted the little
girl who was born three months after the mother’s arrival in
England. In September 1834 Fanny Elssler appeared at the
Opera in Paris, a step to which she looked forward with much
misgiving on account of Taglioni’s supremacy on that stage.
The result, however, was another triumph for her, and the
temporary eclipse of Taglioni, who, although the finer artist
of the two, could not for the moment compete with the newcomer’s
personal fascination. It was conspicuously in her
performance of the Spanish cachuca that Fanny Elssler outshone
all rivals. In 1840 she sailed with her sister for New York, and
after two years’ unmixed success they returned to Europe,
where during the following five years Fanny appeared in Germany,
Austria, France, England and Russia. In 1845, having amassed
a fortune, she retired from the stage and settled near Hamburg.
A few years later her sister Theresa contracted a morganatic
marriage with Prince Adalbert of Prussia, and was ennobled
under the title of Baroness von Barnim. Fanny Elssler died at
Vienna on the 27th of November 1884. Theresa was left a
widow in 1873, and died on the 19th of November 1878.
ELSTER, the name of two rivers of Germany. (1) The
Schwarze (Black) Elster rises in the Lausitz range, on the
southern border of Saxony, flows N. and N.W., and after a course
of 112 m. enters the Elbe a little above Wittenberg. It is a
sluggish stream, winding its way through sandy soil and
frequently along a divided channel. (2) The Weisse (White)
Elster rises in the north-western corner of Bohemia, a little
north of Eger, cuts through the Vogtland in a deep and picturesque
valley, passing Plauen, Greiz, Gera and Zeitz on its way
north to Leipzig, just below which city it receives its most
important tributary, the Pleisse. At Leipzig it divides, the
main stream turning north-west and entering the Saale from
the right a little above Halle; the other arm, the Luppe,
flowing parallel to the main stream and south of it enters the
Saale below Merseburg. Total length, 121 m.; total descent,
1286 ft.
ELSTER, a spa and inland watering-place of Germany, in
the kingdom of Saxony, on the Weisse Elster, close to the
Bohemian frontier on the railway Plauen-Eger, and 20 m. S.
of the former. It has some industries of lace-making and weaving,
and a population of about 2000, in addition to visitors. The
mineral springs, saline-chalybeate, specific in cases of nervous
disorders and feminine ailments, have been lately supplemented
by baths of various kinds, and these, together with the natural
attractions of the place as a climatic health resort, have combined
to make it a fashionable watering-place during the summer
season. The number of visitors amounts annually to about
10,000.
See Flechsig, Bad Elster (Leipzig, 1884).
ELSWICK, a ward of the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
England, in the western part of the borough, bordering the
river Tyne. The name is well known in connexion with the great
ordnance and naval works of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co.
Elswick Park, attached to the old mansion of the same name, is
now a public recreation ground.
EL TEB, a halting-place in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan near
the coast of the Red Sea, 9 m. S.W. of the port of Trinkitat
on the road to Tokar. At El Teb, on the 4th of February 1884,
a heterogeneous force under General Valentine Baker, marching
to the relief of the Egyptian garrison of Tokar, was completely
routed by the Mahdists (see Egypt: Military Operations).
ELTON, CHARLES ISAAC (1839–1900), English lawyer and
antiquary, was born at Southampton on the 6th of December
1839. Educated at Cheltenham and Balliol College, Oxford, he
was elected a fellow of Queen’s College in 1862. He was called
to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1865. His remarkable knowledge
of old real property law and custom helped him to an extensive
conveyancing practice and he took silk in 1885. He sat in the
House of Commons for West Somerset in 1884–1885 and from
1886 to 1892. In 1869 he succeeded to his uncle’s property of
Whitestaunton, near Chard, in Somerset. During the later
years of his life he retired to a great extent from legal practice,
and devoted much of his time to literary work. He died at
Whitestaunton on the 23rd of April 1900. Elton’s principal
works were The Tenures of Kent (1867); Treatise on Commons
and Waste Lands (1868); Law of Copyholds (1874); Origins
of English History (1882); Custom and Tenant Right (1882).
ELTVILLE (Elfeld), a town of Germany, in the Prussian
province of Hesse-Nassau, on the right bank of the Rhine,
5 m. S.W. from Wiesbaden, on the railway Frankfort-on-Main-Cologne,
and with a branch to Schlangenbad. Pop. 3700.
It has a Roman Catholic and a Protestant church, ruins of a
feudal castle, a Latin school, and a monument to Gutenberg.
It has a considerable trade in the wines of the district and two
manufactories of sparkling wines. Eltville (originally Adeldvile,
Lat. Altavilla) is first mentioned in a record of the year 882.
It was given by the emperor Otto I. to the archbishops of Mainz,
who often resided here. It received town rights in 1331 and was
a place of importance during the middle ages. In 1465 Gutenberg
set up his press at Eltville, under the patronage of Archbishop
Adolphus of Nassau, shortly afterwards handing over its use
to the brothers Heinrich and Nikolaus Bechtermünz. Several
costly early examples of printed books issued by this press
survive, the earliest being the Vocabularium Latino-Teutonicum,
first printed in 1467.
ELTZ, a small river of Germany, a left bank tributary of the
Mosel. It rises in the Eifel range, and, after a course of 5 m.,
joins the latter river at Moselkern. Just above its confluence
stands the romantic castle of Eltz, crowning a rocky summit
900 ft. high, and famous as being one of the best preserved
medieval strongholds of Germany. It is the ancestral seat of the
counts of Eltz and contains numerous antiquities.
See Roth, Geschichte der Herren und Grafen zu Eltz (2 vols., Mainz, 1889–1890).
ELVAS, an episcopal city and frontier fortress of Portugal,
in the district of Portalegre and formerly included in the province
of Alemtejo; 170 m. E. of Lisbon, and 10 m. W. of the Spanish
fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway.
Pop. (1900) 13,981. Elvas is finely situated on a hill 5 m. N.W.
of the river Guadiana. It is defended by seven bastions and
the two forts of Santa Luzia and Nossa Senhora da Graça.
Its late Gothic cathedral, which has also many traces of Moorish
influence in its architecture, dates from the reign of Emmanuel I.
(1495–1521). A fine aqueduct, 4 m. long, supplies the city with
pure water; it was begun early in the 15th century and completed
in 1622. For some distance it includes four tiers of superimposed
arches, with a total height of 120 ft. The surrounding
lowlands are very fertile, and Elvas is celebrated for its excellent
olives and plums, the last-named being exported, either fresh
or dried, in large quantities. Brandy is distilled and pottery
manufactured in the city. The fortress of Campo Maior, 10 m.
N.E., is famous for its siege by the French and relief by the
British under Marshal Beresford in 1811—an exploit commemorated
in a ballad by Sir Walter Scott.
Elvas is the Roman Alpesa or Helvas, the Moorish Balesh, the Spanish Yelves. It was wrested from the Moors by Alphonso VIII. of Castile in 1166; but was temporarily recaptured
