Chapter Economy of Nature to Edyrn of E by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Economy of Nature to Edyrn

Economy of Nature (The). The laws of nature, whereby the greatest amount of good is obtained; or the laws by which the affairs of nature are regulated and disposed.

Ecorcheurs Freebooters of the twelfth century, in France; so called because they stripped their victims of everything, even their clothes. (French, écorcher, to flay.)

Ecstasy (Greek ek-stasiz from ex-isthmi, to stand out of [the body or mind]). To stand out of one's mind is to lose one's wits, to be beside oneself. To stand out of one's body is to be disembodied. St. Paul refers to this when he says he was caught up to the third heaven and heard unutterable words, "whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell" (2 Cor. xii. 2-4). St. John also says he was "in the spirit" - i.e. in an ecstasy - when he saw the apocalyptic vision (i. 10). The belief that the soul left the body at times was very general in former ages, and is still the belief of many. (See Ecstatici.)

Ecstatic Doctor (The). Jean de Ruysbrock, the mystic (1294-1381).

Ecstatici (The). A class of diviners among the ancient Greeks, who used to lie in trances, and when they came to themselves gave strange accounts of what they had seen while they were "out of the body." (Greek, ex-istemi.)

Ector (Sir). The foster-father of King Arthur.

Edda There are two religious codes, so called, containing the ancient Scandinavian mythology. One is in verse, composed in Iceland in the eleventh century by Sæmund Sigfusson, the Sage; and the other in prose, compiled a century later by Snorri Sturleson, who wrote a commentary on the first edda. The poetical edda contains an account of creation, the history of Odin, Thor, Freyr, Balder, etc., etc. The prose one contains the exploits of such conquerors as Voelsung, Sigurd, Attle, etc., and is divided into several parts. The first part contains historical and mythological traditions; the second a long poetical vocabulary; and the third Scandinavian prosody, or the modes of composition adopted by the ancient Skalds. The poetical compilation is generally called Sæmund's Edda, and the prose one Snorri's Edda.

Eden Paradise, the country and garden in which Adam and Eve were placed by God (Gen. ii. 15). The word means delight, pleasure.

Eden Hall The luck of Eden Hall. An old painted drinking-glass, supposed to be sacred. The tale is that the butler once went to draw water from St. Cuthbert's Well, in Eden Hall garden, Cumberland, when the fairies left their drinking-glass on the well to enjoy a little fun. The butler seized the glass, and ran off with it. The goblet is preserved in the family of Sir Christopher Musgrave. Longfellow wrote a poem on the subject. The superstition is -

"If that glass either break or fall,
Farewell the luck of Eden Hall."

    Readers of the Golden Butterfly, by Besant and Rice, will remember how the luck of Gilead P. Beck was associated with a golden butterfly.

Edenburgh i.e. Edwin's burgh. The fort built by Edwin, king of Northumbria (616-633). Dun Eden or Dunedin, is a Saxon form; Edina a poetical one.

Edgar or Edgardo. Master of Ravenswood, in love with Lucy Ashton (Lucia di Lammermoor). While absent in France on an important embassy, the lady is led to believe that her lover has proved faithless to her, and in the torrent of her indignation consents to marry the laird of Bucklaw, but stabs him on the wedding-night, goes mad, and dies. In the opera Edgardo stabs himself also; but in the novel he is lost in the quicksands at Kelpies-Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy. (Donizetti's opera of "Lucia di Lammermoor"; Sir Walter Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor."