EARLSTON or ERCILDOUNE, a village in Berwickshire, with manufactures of ginghams and other textiles.  In its vicinity stand the ruins of the “Rhymer’s Tower,” alleged to have been the residence of Thomas the Rhymer.

EARLY ENGLISH, a term in architecture used to designate that particular form of Gothic architecture in vogue in England in the 13th century, whose chief characteristic was the pointed arch.

EARTH HOUSES, known also as Yird Houses, Weems and Picts’ Houses, underground dwellings in use in Scotland, extant even after the Roman evacuation of Britain.  Entrance was effected by a passage not much wider than a fox burrow, which sloped downwards 10 or 12 ft. to the floor of the house; the inside was oval in shape, and was walled with overlapping rough stone slabs; the roof frequently reached 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.