Chapter Eureka! to Evangeline of E by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Eureka! to Evangeline

Eureka! or rather Heureka! [“I have discovered it!”]. Th e exclamation of Archimdês, the Syracusian philosopher, when he found out how to test the purity of Hiero’s crown.

The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the metal, and he asked Archimedês to ascertain if his suspicion was well founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quantity of water; but they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with. Archimedês next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy introduced by the artificer.

Vitruvius says. “When the idea occurred to the philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran home, exclaiming, ‘Heureka! heureka!”’

Euripides . When Alcestidês chaffed Euripidês for having composed only three verses in three days, whereas he (Alcestidês) had composed 300, Euripidês made answer, “But my three will outlast 300 years, while your 300 will not outlive three days.”

Haydn made a similar remark when urged to hasten his composition of The Creation, on which he had been working nearly two years: he replied, “No! I intend it to last a long time.”

Europa. The Fight at Dame Europa’s School, written by the Rev. H. W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871).

Europes Liberator. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769–1852).

Oh Wellington … called “Savlour of the Nations” …
And “Europe’s Liberator.”
   —Byron: Don Juan, ix. 5 (1824).

Eurus, the east wind; Zephyr, the west wind; Notus, the south wind; Boreas, the north wind. Eurus, in Italian, is called the Levant (“rising of the sun”), and Zephyr is called Ponent (“setting of the sun”).

Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds—
Eurus and Zephyr.
   —Milton: Paradise Lost, x. 705 (1665).

Eurydice , the wife of Orpheus, killed by a serpent on her wedding night. Orpheus went down to hadês to crave for her restoration to life, and Pluto said she should follow him to earth provided he did not look back. When the poet was stepping on the confines of our earth, he turned to see if Eurydicê was following, and just caught a glance of her as she was snatched back into the shades below.

(Pope tells the tale in his Pindaric poem called Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day, 1709.)

Eurytion, the herdsman of Geryon. He never slept day nor night, but walked unceasingly among his herds with his two-headed dog Orthros. “Herculês them all did overcome.”—Spenser: Faërie Queene, v. 10 (1596).

EUSTACE, one of the attendants of sir Reginald Front de Bœuf (a follower of prince John).—Sir W. Scott: Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Eustace (Father), or “father Eusta tius,” the superior and afterwards abbot of St. Marys. He was formerly William Allan, and the friend of Henry Warden (afterwards the protestant preacher).—Sir W. Scott: The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Eustace (Charles), a pupil of Ignatius Polyglot. He had been clandestinely married for four years, and had a little son named Frederick. Charles Eustace confided his scrape to Polyglot, and concealed his young wife in the tutor’s private room. Polyglot was thought to be a libertine, but the truth came out, and all parties were reconciled.—Poole: The Scapegoat.