ESTERS

esters, in organic chemistry, compounds formed by the condensation of an alcohol and an acid, with elimination of water; they may also be considered as derivatives of alcohols, in which the hydroxylic hydrogen has been replaced by an acid radical, or as acids in which the hydrogen of the carboxyl group has been replaced by an alkyl or aryl group. in the case of the polybasic acids, all the hydrogen atoms can be replaced in this way, and the compounds formed are known as "neutral esters." if, however, some of the hydrogen of the acid remain undisplaced, then "acid esters" result. these acid esters retain some of the characteristic properties of the acids, forming, for example, salts, with basic oxides. esters may be prepared by heating the silver salt of an acid with an alkyl iodide; by heating the alcohols or alcoholates with an acid chloride; by distilling the anhydrous sodium salt of an acid with a mixture of the alcohol and concentrated sulphuric acid; or by heating for some hours on the water bath, a mixture of an acid and an alcohol, with a small quantity of hydrochloric or sulphuric acids (e. fischer and a. speier, _ber_., 1896, 28, p. 3252). the esters of the aliphatic and aromatic acids are colourless neutral liquids, which are generally insoluble in water, but readily dissolve in alcohol and ether. many possess a fragrant odour and are prepared in large quantities for use as artificial fruit essences. they hydrolyse readily when boiled with solutions of caustic alkalies or mineral acids, yielding the constituent acid and alcohol. when heated with ammonia, they yield acid amides (q.v.). they form unstable addition products with sodium ethylate or methylate. with the grignard reagent, they form addition compounds which on the addition of water yield tertiary alcohols, except in the case of ethyl formate, where a secondary alcohol is obtained. omgbr omgbr r' / / \ r.co2c2h5 --> r.c--oc2h5 --> r.c--r' --> r'--c.oh. \ \ / r' r' r' omgbr omgbr r' / / \ h.co2c2h5 --> h.c--oc2h5 --> h.c--r' --> ch.oh. \ \ / r' r' r' n. menschutkin (_ber._, 1882, 15, p. 1445; _ann._, 1879, 195, p. 334) examined the rate of esterification of many acids with alcohols. it was found that the normal primary alcohols were all esterified at about the same rate, the secondary alcohols more slowly than the primary, and the tertiary alcohols still more slowly. the investigation also showed that the nature of the acid used affected the result, for in an homologous series of acids it was found that as the molecule of the acid became more complex, the rate of esterification became less. the formation of an ester by the interaction of an acid with an alcohol is a "reversible" or "balanced" action, for as m. berthelot and l. pean de st gilles (_ann. chim. phys._, 1862 (3), 65, p. 385 et seq.) have shown in the case of the formation of ethyl acetate from ethyl alcohol and acetic acid, a point of equilibrium is reached, beyond which the reacting system cannot pass, unless the system be disturbed in some way by the removal of one of the products of the reaction. v. meyer (_ber._, 1894, 27, p. 510 et seq.) showed that in benzenoid compounds ortho-substituents exert a great hindering effect on the esterification of alcohols by acids in the presence of hydrochloric acid, this hindering being particularly marked when two substituents are present in the ortho positions to the carboxyl group. in such a case the ester is best prepared by the action of an alkyl halide on the silver salt of the acid, and when once prepared, can only be hydrolysed with great difficulty. ethyl formate, h.co2c2h5, boils at 55 deg. c. and has been used in the artificial preparation of rum. ethyl acetate (acetic ether), ch3.co2c2h5, boils at 75 deg. c. isoamylisovalerate, c4h9.co2c5h11, boils at 196 deg. c. and has an odour of apples. ethyl butyrate, c3h7.co2c2h5, boils at 121 deg. c. and has an odour of pineapple. the fats (q.v.) and waxes (q.v.) are the esters of the higher fatty acids and alcohols. the esters of the higher fatty acids, when distilled under atmospheric pressure, are decomposed, and yield an olefine and a fatty acid. esters of the mineral acids are also known and may be prepared by the ordinary methods as given above. the neutral esters are as a rule insoluble in water and distil unchanged; on the other hand, the acid esters are generally soluble in water, are non-volatile, and form salts with bases. _ethyl hydrogen sulphate_ (sulphovinic acid), c2h5.hso4, is obtained by the action of concentrated sulphuric acid on alcohol. the ester is separated from the solution by means of its barium salt, and the salt decomposed by the addition of the calculated amount of sulphuric acid. it is a colourless oily liquid of strongly acid reaction; its aqueous solution decomposes on standing and on heating it forms diethyl sulphate and sulphuric acid. _dimethyl sulphate_, (ch3)2so4, is a colourless liquid which boils at 187 deg.-188 deg. c., with partial decomposition. it is used as a methylating agent (f. ullmann). great care should be taken in using dimethyl and diethyl sulphates, as the respiratory organs are affected by the vapours, leading to severe attacks of pneumonia. _ethyl nitrate_, c2h5.ono2, is a colourless liquid which boils at 86.3 deg. c. it is prepared by the action of nitric acid on ethyl alcohol (some urea being added to the nitric acid, in order to destroy any nitrous acid that might be produced in secondary reactions and which, if not removed, would cause explosive decomposition of the ethyl nitrate). it burns with a white flame and is soluble in water. when heated with ammonia it yields ethylamine nitrate, and when reduced with tin and hydrochloric acid it forms hydroxylamine (q.v.) (w.c. lossen). _ethyl nitrite_, c2h5.ono, is a liquid which boils at 18 deg. c.; the crude product obtained by distilling a mixture of alcohol, sulphuric and nitric acids and copper turnings is used in medicine under the name of "sweet spirits of nitre." _amyl nitrite_, c5h11.ono, boils at 96 deg. c. and is used in the preparation of the anhydrous diazonium salts (e. knoevenagel, _ber._, 1890, 23, p. 2094). it is also used in medicine. esther. the _book of esther_, in the bible, relates how a jewish maiden, esther, cousin and foster-daughter of mordecai, was made his queen by the persian king ahasuerus (xerxes) after he had divorced vashti; next, how esther and mordecai frustrated haman's endeavour to extirpate the jews; how haman, the grand-vizier, fell, and mordecai succeeded him; how esther obtained the king's permission for the jews to destroy all who might attack them on the day which haman had appointed by lot for their destruction; and lastly, how the feast of purim (lots?) was instituted to commemorate their deliverance. frequent incidental references are made to persian court-usages (explanations are given in i. 13, viii. 8), while on the other hand the religious rites of the jews (except fasting), and even jerusalem and the temple, and the name of israel, are studiously ignored. even the name of god is not once mentioned, perhaps from a dread of its profanation during the saturnalia of purim. the early popularity of the book is shown by the interpolated passages in the septuagint and the old latin versions. the criticism of _esther_ began in the 18th century. as soon as the questioning spirit arose, the strangeness of many statements in the book leaped into view. a moderate scholar of our day can find no historical nucleus, and calls it a sort of historical romance.[1] the very first verses in the book startle the reader by their exaggerations, e.g. a banquet lasting 180 days, "127 provinces." farther on, the improbabilities of the plot are noticeable. esther, on her elevation, keeps her jewish origin secret (ii. 10; cf. vii. 3 ff.), although she has been taken from the house of her uncle, who is known to be a jew (iii. 4; cf. vi. 13), and has remained in constant intercourse with him (ii. 11, 19, 20, 22; cf. iv. 4-17). we are further told that the grand-vizier was an agagite or amalekite (iii. 1, &c.); would the nobility of persia have tolerated this? or did haman too keep his non-persian origin secret? also that mordecai offered a gross affront to haman, for which no slighter punishment would satisfy haman than the destruction of the whole jewish race (iii. 2-6). of this savage design eleven months' notice is given (iii. 12-14); and when the danger has been averted by the cleverness of esther, the provincial jews are allowed to butcher 75,000, and those in the capital 800 of their persian fellow-subjects (ix. 6-16). it is urged, on the other hand, that the assembly mentioned in i. 3 may be that referred to by herodotus (vii. 8) as having preceded the expedition against greece. this hypothesis, however, requires us to suppose that xerxes had returned from sardis to susa by the tenth month of the seventh year of his reign, which is barely credible. in the reckoning of 127 provinces (cf. dan. vi. 1; 1 esd. iii. 2) satrapies and sub-satrapies may be confounded. it is at any rate correct to include india among the provinces; this is justified, not only by herodotus (iii. 94), but by the inscriptions of darius at persepolis and naksh-i-rustam. herodotus again (vii. 8) confirms the custom referred to in esth. ii. 12. but what authority can make the conduct of mordecai credible? to-day the harem is impenetrable, while "any one declining to stand as the grand-vizier passes is almost beaten to death."[2] this, surely, is what a real mordecai would have suffered from a real haman. even the capricious xerxes would never have permitted the entire destruction of one of the races of the empire, nor would a vizier have proposed it. serious difficulties of another kind remain. mordecai is represented as a fellow-captive of jeconiah (597 b.c.), and grand-vizier in xerxes's twelfth year (474 b.c.)! this is parallel to the strange statement in tobit xiv. 15. and how can we find room for esther as queen by the side of amestris (herod. vii. 14, ix. 112)? how, too, can a jewess have been a legal queen (see herod. iii. 84)? then take the supposed persian proper names. "ahasuerus" may no doubt stand, but very few of the rest (see noldeke, _ency. bib._ col. 1402). as to the style, the general verdict is that it points to a late date (see driver, introd.^6, p. 484). altogether, critics decline to date the book earlier than the 3rd or even 2nd century b.c. so far we have only been carrying on 18th-century criticism. in more recent years, however, new lines of inquiry have been opened up. first of all by the great semitic scholar lagarde. his thesis (seldom defended now) was that purim corresponds to furdigan, the name of the old persian new year's and all souls' festival held in spring, on which the persians were wont to exchange presents (cf. esth. ix. 19). in 1891 came a new explanation of esther from zimmern. it is true that in its earlier form his theory was very incomplete. but in justice to this scholar we may notice that from the first he looked for light to babylonia, and that many other critics now take up the same position. there is also another new point which has to be mentioned, viz. that, judging from our experience elsewhere, the book of esther has probably passed through various stages of development. here, then, are two points which call for investigation, viz. (1) a possible mythological element in esther, and (2) possible stages of development prior to that represented by the hebrew text. as to the first point. the second targum (on esth. ii. 7) long ago declared that esther was so called "because she was like the planet venus." recent scholars have expressed the same idea more critically. esther is a modification of ishtar, the name of the babylonian goddess of fertility and of the planet venus, whose myth must have been partially known to the israelites even in pre-exilic times,[3] and after the fall of the state must have acquired a still stronger hold on jewish exiles. a general knowledge of the myth of marduk among the israelites cannot indeed be proved. singularly enough, the babylonian colonists in the cities of samaria are said to have made idols, not of marduk, but of a deity called succoth-benoth[4] (2 kings xvii. 30). nor does the second targum help us here; it gives a wild explanation of mordecai as "pure myrrh." still it is plain that the name of the god marduk (merodach) was known to the jews, and the cosmogony in gen. i. is considered by critics to have ultimately arisen out of the myth of marduk's conflict with the dragon (see cosmogony). at any rate the name mordecai (the vocalization is uncertain) looks very much like marduk, which, with terminations added, often occurs in cuneiform documents as a personal name.[5] add to this, that, according to jensen, ishtar in mythology was the cousin of marduk, just as the legend represents esther as the cousin of mordecai.[6] the same scholar also accounts for esther's other name hadassah (esth. ii. 7); _hadasshatu_ in babylonian means "bride," which may have been a title of ishtar. but we cannot stop short here. unless the mythological key can also explain haman and vashti, it is of no use. jensen, now followed by zimmern, is equal to the occasion. haman, he says, is a corruption of hamman or humman or uman, the name of the chief deity of the elamites, in whose capital (susa) the scene of the narrative is laid, while vashti is mashti (or vashti), probably the name of an elamite goddess. following the real or fancied light of these names, prof. jensen holds that the esther-legend is based on a mythological account of the victory of the babylonian deities over those of elam, which in plain prose means the deliverance of ancient babylonia from its elamite oppressors, and that such an account was closely connected with the babylonian new year's festival, called zagmuk, just as the esther-legend is connected with the festival of purim. we are bound, however, to mention some critical objections. (1) the babylonian festival corresponding to purim was not the spring festival of zagmuk, but the summer festival of ishtar, which is probably the sacaea of berossus, an orgiastic festival analogous to purim. (2) according to jensen's theory, mordecai, and not esther, ought to be the direct cause of haman's ruin. (3) no such babylonian account as jensen postulates can be indicated. (4) the identifications of names are hazardous. fancy a descendant of kish called marduk, and an "agagite" called hamman! elsewhere mordecai (ezra ii. 2; neh. vii. 7) occurs among names which are certainly not persian (bigvai is no exception), and haman (tobit xiv. 10) appears as a nephew of achiachar, which is not a persian name. esther, moreover, ought to be parallel to judith; fancy likening the representative of israel to the goddess ishtar! next, as to the preliminary literary phases of esther. such phases are probable, considering the later phases represented in the septuagint. there may have once existed in hebrew a story of the deadly feud between mordecai (if that be the original name) and haman, with elements suggested by the story of the battle between the supreme god and the dragon (see cosmogony). as the legend stands, mordecai and esther seem to be in each other's way. in a passage (i. 5 in lxx.) only found in the septuagint, but which may have belonged to the original esther, reference is made to a dream of mordecai respecting two great dragons, i.e. mordecai and haman (x. 7). this seems to confirm the view here mentioned. if so, however, there must also have been an esther-legend, which was afterwards worked up with that of mordecai. this is, in fact, the view of erbt. winckler takes a different line. linguistic facts and certain points in the contents seem to him to show that our esther is a work of the age of the seleucidae; more precisely he thinks of the time of the revolt of molon under antiochus iii. of course there was a book of esther before this, and even in its redacted form our esther reflects the period of three persian kings, viz. cyrus, cambyses and darius. lastly, cheyne (_ency. bib._ "purim," s 7), while agreeing with winckler that the book is based on an earlier narrative, holds that that earlier text differed more widely from the present in its geographical and historical setting than winckler seems to suppose. the problem of the origin of the name purim, however, can hardly be said to have received a final solution. bibliography.--kuenen, _history of israel_, iii. (1875), 148-153; lagarde, _purim_ (1887); zimmern in stade's _zeitschrift_, xi. (1891), pp. 157-169, and _keilinschriften und das alte testament_^(3), 485, 515-520, jensen in wildeboer's _esther_ (in marti's series, 1898), pp. 173-175; winckler, _keilinschriften und das alte testament_^(3), p. 288, _altorientalische forschungen_, 3rd ser. i. 1-64; erbt, _die purimsage_ (1900); _ency. biblica_, articles "esther" and "purim" (a composite article). (t. k. c.) additions to book of esther. these "additions" were written originally in greek and subsequently interpolated in the greek translation of the book of esther. here the principle of interpolation has reached its maximum. of 270 verses, 107 are not to be found in the hebrew text. these additions are distributed throughout the book in the greek, but in the latin bible they were relegated to the end of the canonical book by jerome--an action that has rendered them meaningless. in the greek the additions form with the canonical text a consecutive history. they were made probably in the time of the maccabees, and their aim was to supply the religious element which is so completely lacking in the canonical work. the first, which gives the dream of mordecai and the events which led to his advancement at the court of artaxerxes, precedes chap. i. of the canonical text: the second and fifth, which follow iii. 13 and viii. 12, furnish copies of the letters of artaxerxes referred to in these verses; the third and fourth, which are inserted after chap. iv., consist of the prayers of mordecai and esther, with an account of esther's approach to the king. the last, which closes the book, tells of the institution of the feast of purim. the greek text appears in two widely-differing recensions. the one is supported by ab[hebrew: alef], and the other--a revision of the first--by codices 19, 93a, 108b. the latter is believed to have been the work of lucian. swete, _old test. in greek_, ii. 755, has given the former, while lagarde has published both texts with critical annotations in his _librorum veteris testamenti canonicorum_, i. 504-541 (1883), and scholz in his _kommentar uber das buch esther_ (1892). for an account of the latin and syriac versions, the targums, and the later rabbinic literature connected with this subject, and other questions relating to these additions, see fritzsche, _exeget. handbuch zu den apok._ (1851), i. 67-108; schurer^(3), iii. 330-332; fuller in _speaker's apocr._ i. 360-402; ryssel in kautzsch's _apok. u. pseud._ i. 193-212; siegfried in _jewish encyc._ v. 237 sqq.; swete, _introd. to the old test. in greek_, 257 seq.; l.b. paton, "a text-critical apparatus to the book of esther" in _o.t. and semitic studies in memory of w.r. harper_ (chicago, 1908). (r. h. c.) footnotes: [1] kautzsch, _old testament literature_ (1898), p. 130. [2] so morier, the english minister to the persian court, quoted by dean stanley. [3] see zimmern, _die keilinschriften und das alte test_.^(3), p. 438. [4] _ibid._ p. 396. [5] johns, _assyrian deeds_, iii. 198-199; _amer. journ. of sem. languages_ (april 1902), p. 158. [6] so too zimmern, in gunkel's _schopfung und chaos_, p. 313, note 2. esthonia (ger. _ehstland_ and _esthland_, esthonian _eestimaa_ and _meie-maa_, also _viroma_ and _rahvama_; lettish _iggaun senna_), a baltic province of russia, stretching along the south coast of the gulf of finland, and having lake peipus and livonia on the s. and the government of st petersburg on the e. an archipelago of islands, of which dago is the largest, belongs to this government (oesel belongs to livonia). the area is 7818 sq. m., 503 sq. m. of this being insular. the surface is low, not exceeding 100 ft. in altitude along the coast and alongside lake peipus, while in the interior the average elevation ranges from 200 to 300 ft., and nowhere exceeds 450 ft. it was entirely covered with the bottom moraine of the great ice-sheet of the glacial epoch, resting upon silurian sandstones and limestones. in places sands and clays overlie the glacial deposits. the principal stream is the narova, which issues from lake peipus, flows along the eastern border, and empties into the gulf of finland. the other drainage arteries are all small, but many in number; while lakes and marshes aggregate fully 22-1/2% of the total surface. the climate is severe, great cold being experienced in winter, though moist west winds exercise a moderating influence. nevertheless the annual mean temperature ranges between 39 deg. and 43 deg. fahr. in 1878 the nobility, mostly of german descent, owned and farmed 52% of the land; 42% was farmed, but not owned, by the peasants, mostly esths or ehsts, and only 3% was owned by persons outside the ranks of the nobility. since then one-fourth of the peasantry have been enabled to purchase their holdings, more than half a million acres having passed into their possession. agriculture is the chief occupation, and it is, on all the larger holdings, carried on with greater scientific knowledge than in any other part of russia. of the total area about 16.6% is under cultivation; meadows and grass-lands amount to 41.7%; and forests cover 19%. the principal crops are rye, oats, barley and potatoes, with large quantities of vegetables. cattle-breeding flourishes, and meat and butter are constantly increasing items of export. the manufactories consist chiefly of distilleries (over 13,500,000 gallons annually), cotton (at kranholm falls on the narova), woollen, flour, paper and saw mills, iron and machinery works, and match factories. fishing is active along the coast, especially for anchovies. the province is intersected by a railway running from st petersburg to reval, with branches from the latter city westwards to baltic port and southwards into livonia, and from taps south to yuryev (dorpat). the chief seaports are reval, baltic port, hapsal, kunda and dago. esthonia is divided into four districts, the chief towns of which are reval (pop. in 1897, 66,292), the capital of the province; hapsal, a lively watering-place (3238); weissenstein (2509); and wesenberg (5560). the population, which consists chiefly of ehstes (365,959 in 1897), russians (18,000), germans (16,000), swedes (5800), and some jews, is growing fairly fast: in 1870 it numbered 323,960, and in 1897 413,747, of whom 210,199 were women and 76,315 lived in towns; in 1906 it was estimated at 451,700. ninety-six per cent. of the whole belong to the lutheran church. education is, for russia, relatively high. the esths, ehsts or esthonians, who call themselves tallopoeg and maamees, are known to the russians as chukhni or chukhontsi, to the letts as iggauni, and to the finns as virolaiset. they belong to the finnish family, and consequently to the ural-altaic division of the human race. altogether they number close upon one million, and are thus distributed: 365,959 in esthonia (in 1897), 518,594 in livonia, 64,116 in the government of st petersburg, 25,458 in that of pskov, and 12,855 in other parts of russia. as a race they exhibit manifest evidences of their ural-altaic or mongolic descent in their short stature, absence of beard, oblique eyes, broad face, low forehead and small mouth. in addition to that they are an under-sized, ill-thriven people, with long arms and thin, short legs. they cling tenaciously to their native language, which is closely allied to the finnish, and divisible into two, or according to some authorities into three, principal dialects--dorpat esthonian and reval esthonian, with pernau esthonian. reval esthonian, which preserves more carefully the full inflectional forms and pays greater attention to the laws of euphony, is recognized as the literary language. since 1873 the cultivation of their mother-tongue has been sedulously promoted by an esthonian literary society (_eesti korjameeste selts_), which publishes _toimetused_, or "instructions" in all sorts of subjects. they have a decided love of poetry, and exhibit great facility in improvising verses and poems on all occasions, and they sing, everywhere, from morning to night. like the finns they possess rich stores of national songs. these, which bear an unmistakable family likeness to those of the great finnish epic of the _kalevala_, were collected as the kalevi poeg, and edited by kreutswald (1857), and translated into german by reinthal (1857-1859) and bertram (1861) and by lowe (1900). other collections of _esthnische volkslieder_ have been published by neuss (1850-1852) and kreutzwald and neuss (1854); while kreutzwald (1866) and jannsen (1888) have published collections of legends and national tales. the earliest publication in esthonian was a lutheran catechism in the 16th century. an esthonian translation of the new testament was printed at reval in 1715. between 1813 and 1832 there appeared at pernau twenty volumes of _beitrage zur genauern kenntniss der esthnischen sprache_, by rosenplanter, and from 1840 onwards many valuable papers on esthonian subjects were contributed to the _verhandlungen der gelehrten esthnischen gesellschaft zu dorpat_. f.j. wiedemann, who laboured indefatigably in the registration and preservation of matters connected with esthonian language and lore, published an _esthnisch-deutsches worterbuch_ (1865; 2nd ed. by hurt, 1891, &c.), and in 1903 there appeared at reval a _deutsch-esthnisches worterbuch_, by ploompun and kann. the esthonians first appear in history as a warlike and predatory race, the terror of the baltic seamen in consequence of their piracies. more than one of the danish kings made serious attempts to subdue them. canute vi. invaded their country (1194-1196) and forced baptism upon many of them, but no sooner did his war-ships disappear than they reverted to their former heathenism. in 1219 waldemar ii. undertook a more formidable crusade against them, in the course of which he founded the town and episcopal see of reval. by his efforts the northern portion of the race were made submissive to the danish crown; but, though conquered, they were by no means subdued, and were incessantly in revolt, until, after a great rebellion in 1343, waldemar iv. atterdag sold for 19,000 marks his portion of esthonia in 1346, to the order of the knights of the sword. these german crusaders had already, after a quarter of a century's fighting, in 1224 gained possession of the regions inhabited by the southern portion of the race, that is those now included in livonia. from that time for nearly six hundred years or more the esthonians were practically reduced to a state of serfdom to the german landowners. in 1521 the nobles and cities of esthonia voluntarily placed themselves under the protection of the crown of sweden; but after the wars of charles xii., esthonia was formally ceded to his victorious rival, peter the great, by the peace of nystad (1721). serfdom was abolished in 1817 by tsar alexander i.; but the condition of the peasants was so little improved that they rose in open revolt in 1859. since 1878, however, a vast change for the better has been effected in their economic position (see above). the determining feature of their recent history has been the attempt made by the russian government (since 1881) and the orthodox greek church (since 1883) to russify and convert the inhabitants of the province, germans and esths alike, by enforcing the use of russian in the schools and by harsh and repressive measures aimed at their native language. see merkel, _die freien letten und esthen_ (1820); parrot, _versuch einer entwickelung der sprache, abstammung, &c., der liwen, latten, eesten_ (1839); f. kruse, _urgeschichte des esthnischen volksstammes_ (1846); wiedemann, _grammatik der esthnischen sprache_ (1875), and _aus dem innern und aussern leben der esthen_ (1876); koppen, _die bewohner esthlands_ (1847); f. muller, _beitrage zur orographie und hydrographie von esthland_ (1869-1871); bunge, _das herzogthum esthland unter den konigen von danemark_ (1877); and seraphim, _geschichte liv-, est-, und kurlands_ (2nd ed., 1897) and various papers in the _finnisch-ugrische forschungen_. (p. a. k.; j. t. be.; c. el.) estienne (or etienne; the french form of the name; anglicized to stephens, and latinized to stephanus), a french family of scholars and printers. the founder of the race was henri estienne (d. 1520), the scion of a noble family of provence, who came to paris in 1502, and soon afterwards set up a printing establishment at the top of the rue saint-jean de beauvais, on the hill of saint-genevieve opposite the law school. he died in 1520, and, his three sons being minors, the business was carried on by his foreman simon de colines, who in 1521 married his widow. robert estienne (1503-1559) was henri's second son. after his father's death he acted as assistant to his stepfather, and in this capacity superintended the printing of a latin edition of the new testament in 16mo (1523). some slight alterations which he had introduced into the text brought upon him the censures of the faculty of theology. it was the first of a long series of disputes between him and that body. it appears that he had intimate relations with the new evangelical preachers almost from the beginning of the movement, and that soon after this time he definitely joined the reformed church. in 1526 he entered into possession of his father's printing establishment, and adopted as his device the celebrated olive-tree (a reminiscence doubtless of his grandmother's family of montolivet), with the motto from the epistle to the romans (xi. 20), _noli altum sapere_, sometimes with the addition _sed time_. in 1528 he married perrette, a daughter of the scholar and printer josse bade (jodocus badius), and in the same year he published his first latin bible, an edition in folio, upon which he had been at work for the last four years. in 1532 appeared his _thesaurus linguae latinae_, a dictionary of latin words and phrases, upon which for two years he had toiled incessantly, with no other assistance than that of thierry of beauvais. a second edition, greatly enlarged and improved, appeared in 1536, and a third, still further improved, in 3 vols. folio, in 1543. though the _thesaurus_ is now superseded, its merits must not be forgotten. it was vastly superior to anything of the kind that had appeared before; it formed the basis of future labours, and even as late as 1734 was considered worthy of being re-edited. in 1539 robert was appointed king's printer for hebrew and latin, an office to which, after the death of conrad neobar in 1540, he united that of king's printer for greek. in 1541 he was entrusted by francis i. with the task of procuring from claude garamond, the engraver and type-founder, three sets of greek type for the royal press. the middle size were the first ready, and with these robert printed the _editio princeps_ of the _ecclesiasticae historiae_ of eusebius and others (1544). the smallest size were first used for the 16mo edition of the new testament known as the _o mirificam_ (1546), while with the largest size was printed the magnificent folio of 1550. this edition involved the printer in fresh disputes with the faculty of theology, and towards the end of the following year he left his native town for ever, and took refuge at geneva, where he published in 1552 a caustic and effective answer to his persecutors under the title _ad censuras theologorum parisiensium, quibus biblia a r. stephano, typographo regio, ex usa calumniose notarunt, eiusdem r. s. responsio_. a french translation, which is remarkable for the excellence of its style, was published by him in the same year (printed in renouard's _annales de l'imprimerie des estienne_). at geneva robert proved himself an ardent partisan of calvin, several of whose works he published. he died there on the 7th of september 1559. it is by his work in connexion with the bible, and especially as an editor of the new testament, that he is on the whole best known. the text of his new testament of 1550, either in its original form or in such slightly modified form as it assumed in the elzevir text of 1634, remains to this day the traditional text. but this is due rather to its typographical beauty than to any critical merit. the readings of the fifteen mss. which robert's son henri had collated for the purpose were merely introduced into the margin. the text was still almost exactly that of erasmus. it was, however, the first edition ever published with a critical apparatus of any sort. of the whole bible robert printed eleven editions--eight in latin, two in hebrew and one in french; while of the new testament alone he printed twelve--five in greek, five in latin and two in french. in the greek new testament of 1551 (printed at geneva) the present division into verses was introduced for the first time. the _editiones principes_ which issued from robert's press were eight in number, viz. _eusebius_, including the _praeparatio evangelica_ and the _demonstratio evangelica_ as well as the _historia ecclesiastica_ already mentioned (1544-1546), _moschopulus_ (1545), _dionysius of halicarnassus_ (february 1547), _alexander trallianus_ (january 1548), _dio cassius_ (january 1548), _justin martyr_ (1551), _xiphilinus_ (1551), _appian_ (1551), the last being completed, after robert's departure from paris, by his brother charles, and appearing under his name. these editions, all in folio, except the _moschopulus_, which is in 4to, are unrivalled for beauty. robert also printed numerous editions of latin classics, of which perhaps the folio _virgil_ of 1532 is the most noteworthy, and a large quantity of latin grammars and other educational works, many of which were written by maturin cordier, his friend and co-worker in the cause of humanism. charles estienne (1504 or 1505-1564), the third son of henri, was, like his brother robert, a man of considerable learning. after the usual humanistic training he studied medicine, and took his doctor's degree at paris. he was for a time tutor to jean antoine de baif, the future poet. in 1551, when robert estienne left paris for geneva, charles, who had remained a catholic, took charge of his printing establishment, and in the same year was appointed king's printer. in 1561 he became bankrupt, and he is said to have died in a debtors' prison. his principal works are _praedium rusticum_ (1554), a collection of tracts which he had compiled from ancient writers on various branches of agriculture, and which continued to be a favourite book down to the end of the 17th century; _dictionarium historicum ac poeticum_ (1553), the first french encyclopaedia; _thesaurus ciceronianus_ (1557), and _de dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres_, with well-drawn woodcuts (1548). he also published a translation of an italian comedy, _gli ingannati_, under the title of _le sacrifice_ (1543; republished as _les abusez_, 1549), which had some influence on the development of french comedy; and _paradoxes_ (1553), an imitation of the _paradossi_ of ortensio landi. henri estienne (1531-1598), sometimes called henri ii., was the eldest son of robert. in the preface to his edition of aulus gellius (1585), addressed to his son paul, he gives an interesting account of his father's household, in which, owing to the various nationalities of those who were employed on the press, latin was used as a common language. henri thus picked up latin as a child, but by his own request he was allowed to learn greek as a serious study before latin. at the age of fifteen he become a pupil of pierre danes, at that time the first greek scholar in france. two years later he began to attend the lectures of jacques toussain, one of the royal professors of greek, and in the same year (1545) was employed by his father to collate a ms. of dionysius of halicarnassus. in 1547 he went to italy, where he spent three years in hunting for and collating mss. and in intercourse with learned men. in 1550 he visited england, where he was favourably received by edward vi., and then flanders, where he learnt spanish. in 1551 he joined his father at geneva, which henceforth became his home. in 1554 he gave to the world, as the first fruits of his researches, two first editions, viz. a tract of dionysius of halicarnassus and the so-called "anacreon." in 1556 he discovered at rome ten new books (xi.-xx.) of diodorus siculus. in 1557 he issued from the press which in the previous year he had set up at geneva three first editions, viz. _athenagoras, maximus tyrius_, and some fragments of greek historians, including appian's [greek: annibalike], and [greek: iberike] and an edition of aeschylus, in which for the first time the _agamemnon_ was printed in entirety and as a separate play. in 1559 he printed a latin translation from his own pen of sextus empiricus, and an edition of diodorus siculus with the new books. his father dying in the same year, he became under his will owner of his press, subject, however, to the condition of keeping it at geneva. in 1566 he published his best-known french work, the _apologie pour herodote_, or, as he himself called it, _l'introduction au traite de la conformite des merveilles anciennes avec les modernes ou traite preparatif a l'apologie pour herodote_. some passages being considered objectionable by the geneva consistory, he was compelled to cancel the pages containing them. the book became highly popular, and within sixteen years twelve editions were printed. in 1572 he published the great work upon which he had been labouring for many years, the _thesaurus graecae linguae_, in 5 vols. fol. the publication in 1578 of his _deux dialogues du nouveau francois ilalianize_ brought him into a fresh dispute with the consistory. to avoid their censure he went to paris, and resided at the french court for a year. on his return to geneva he was summoned before the consistory, and, proving contumacious, was imprisoned for a week. from this time his life became more and more of a nomad one. he is to be found at basel, heidelberg, vienna, pest, everywhere but at geneva, these journeys being undertaken partly in the hope of procuring patrons and purchasers, for the large sums which he had spent on such publications as the _thesaurus_ and the _plato_ of 1578 had almost ruined him. his press stood nearly at a standstill. a few editions of classical authors were brought out, but each successive one showed a falling off. such value as the later ones had was chiefly due to the notes furnished by casaubon, who in 1586 had married his daughter florence. his last years were marked by ever-increasing infirmity of mind and temper. in 1597 he left geneva for the last time. after visiting montpellier, where casaubon was now professor, he started for paris, but was seized with sudden illness at lyons, and died there at the end of january 1598. few men have ever served the cause of learning more devotedly. for over thirty years the amount which he produced, whether as printer, editor or original writer, was enormous. the productions of his press, though printed with the same beautiful type as his father's books, are, owing to the poorness of the paper and ink, inferior to them in general beauty. the best, perhaps, from a typographical point of view, are the _poetae graeci principes_ (folio, 1566), the _plutarch_ (13 vols. 8vo, 1572), and the _plato_ (3 vols. folio, 1578). it was rather his scholarship which gave value to his editions. he was not only his own press-corrector but his own editor. though by the latter half of the 16th century nearly all the important greek and latin authors that we now possess had been published, his untiring activity still found some gleanings. eighteen first editions of greek authors and one of a latin author are due to his press. the most important have been already mentioned. henri's reputation as a scholar and editor has increased of late years. his familiarity with the greek language has always been admitted to have been quite exceptional; but he has been accused of want of taste and judgment, of carelessness and rashness. special censure has been passed on his _plutarch_, in which he is said to have introduced conjectures of his own into the text, while pretending to have derived them from ms. authority. but a late editor, sintenis, has shown that, though like all the other editors of his day he did not give references to his authorities, every one of his supposed conjectures can be traced to some ms. whatever may be said as to his taste or his judgment, it seems that he was both careful and scrupulous, and that he only resorted to conjecture when authority failed him. and, whatever the merit of his conjectures, he was at any rate the first to show what conjecture could do towards restoring a hopelessly corrupt passage. the work, however, on which his fame as a scholar is most surely based is the _thesaurus graecae linguae_. after making due allowance for the fact that considerable materials for the work had been already collected by his father, and that he received considerable assistance from the german scholar sylburg, he is still entitled to the very highest praise as the producer of a work which was of the greatest service to scholarship and which in those early days of greek learning could have been produced by no one but a giant. two editions of the _thesaurus_ were published in the 19th century--at london by valpy (1815-1825) and at paris by didot (1831-1863). it was one of henri estienne's great merits that, unlike nearly all the french scholars who preceded him, he did not neglect his own language. in the _traite de la conformite du langage francois avec le grec_ (published in 1565, but without date; ed. l. feugere, 1850), french is asserted to have, among modern languages, the most affinity with greek, the first of all languages. _deux dialogues du nouveau francois italianize_ (geneva, 1578; ed. p. ristelhuber, 2 vols., 1885) was directed against the fashion prevailing in the court of catherine de' medici of using italian words and forms. the _project du livre intitule de la precellence du langage francois_ (paris, 1579; ed. e. huguet, 1896) treats of the superiority of french to italian. an interesting feature of the _precellence_ is the account of french proverbs, and, henry iii. having expressed some doubts as to the genuineness of some of them, henri estienne published, in 1594, _les premices ou le i. livre des proverbes epigrammatizez_ (never reprinted and very rare). finally, there remains the _apologie pour herodote_, his most famous work. the ostensible object of the book is to show that the strange stories in herodotus may be paralleled by equally strange ones of modern times. virtually it is a bitter satire on the writer's age, especially on the roman church. put together without any method, its extreme desultoriness makes it difficult to read continuously, but the numerous stories, collected partly from various literary sources, notably from the preachers menot and maillard, partly from the writer's own multifarious experience, with which it is packed, make it an interesting commentary on the manners and fashions of the time. but satire, to be effective, should be either humorous or righteously indignant, and, while such humour as there is in the _apologie_ is decidedly heavy, the writer's indignation is generally forgotten in his evident relish for scandal. the style is, after all, its chief merit. though it bears evident traces of hurry, it is, like that of all henri estienne's french writings, clear, easy and vigorous, uniting the directness and sensuousness of the older writers with a suppleness and logical precision which at this time were almost new elements in french prose. an edition of the _apologie_ has recently been published by liseux (ed. ristelhuber, 2 vols., 1879), after one of the only two copies of the original uncancelled edition that are known to exist. the very remarkable political pamphlet entitled _discours merveilleux de la vie et actions et deportemens de catherine de medicis_, which appeared in 1574, has been ascribed to henri estienne, but the evidence both internal and external is conclusive against his being the author of it. of his latin writings the most worthy of notice are the _de latinitate falso suspecta_ (1576), the _pseudo-cicero_ (1577) and the _nizoliodidascalus_ (1578), all three written against the ciceronians, and the _francofordiense emporium_ (1574), a panegyric on the frankfort fair (reprinted with a french translation by liseux, 1875). he also wrote a large quantity of indifferent latin verses, including a long poem entitled _musa monitrix principum_ (basel, 1590). the primary authorities for an account of the estiennes are their own works. in the garrulous and egotistical prefaces which henri was in the habit of prefixing to his editions will be found many scattered biographical details. twenty-seven letters from henri to john crato of crafftheim (ed. f. passow, 1830) have been printed, and there is one of robert's in herminjard's _correspondence des reformateurs dans de pays de langue francaise_ (9 vols. published 1866-1897), while a few other contemporary references to him will be found in the same work. the secondary authorities are janssen van almeloveen, _de vitis stephanorum_ (amsterdam, 1683); maittaire, _stephanorum historia_ (london, 1709); a.a. renouard, _annales de l'imprimerie des estienne_ (2nd ed., paris, 1843); the article on estienne by a.f. didot in the _nouv. biog. gen._; mark pattison, _essays_, i. 67 ff. (1889); l. clement, _henri estienne et son oeuvre francaise_ (paris, 1899). there is a good account of henri's _thesaurus_ in the _quart. rev._ for january 1820, written by bishop bromfield. (a. a. t.)