ESCHATOLOGY 46 ESK crown wheel, cylinder, deadbeat, de- tached, duplex, horizontal, and lever escapement, etc. ESCHATOLOGY (es-ka-), in theol- ogy, the "doctrine respecting the last things," which treats of the millennium, the second advent of Christ, the resur- rection, judgment, conflagration of the world, and the final state of the dead. ESCHENBACH, WOLFRAM VON (esh'en-biich), a German mediaeval poet; born of a noble family in Eschenbach, near Ansbach, Bavaria, in the second half of the 12th century. He was one of the most prominent minstrels at the was begun in 1563 and finished in 1584, and was intended to serve as a palace, mausoleum, and monastery. It has a splendid chapel with three naves 320 feet long and 320 in height to the top of the cupola. The pantheon, or royal tomb, is a magnificently decorated octa- gon chamber 36 feet in diameter by 38 feet in height, in the eight sides of which are numerous black marble sarcophagi. Its library, previous to the sack by the French in 1808, contained 30,000 printed and 4,300 MS. volumes, mainly treasures of Arabic literature. In 1872 the escurial was struck by lightning and partially burned. ESCALATOR — STEP TYPE court of Hermann, Landgraf of Thurin- gia ; and his epics rank among the great- est German imaginative works. Besides several love songs he wrote "Parcival," "Wilhelm von Orange," and "Titurel." He died between 1218 and 1225. ESCHWEILER, city of Prussia, situated on the Inde, eight miles N. E. of Aix-la-Chapelle, in the Rhine prov- ince. It is the center of a rich wine- producing region. Following the armi- stice which concluded the World War, it became part of the territory occupied by the Allied forces as a guarantee of the fulfillment of the provisions of the Treaty of Peace. ESCXJRIAL (es-kii'ri-al), a famous monastery of New Castle, Spain, in the province of Madrid. This solitary pile of granite has been called the eighth wonder of the world, and at the time of its erection surpassed every other build- ing of the kind in size and magnificence. It owes its origin, it is said, to an in- spired vow made by Philip II. during the battle of St. Quentin, who promised St. Lorenzo that, should victory be granted to him, he would dedicate a monastery to the saint. The escurial Vol. IV — Cyo — D ESDRAELON, PLAIN OF (ez-dra- e'lon), a plain extending across Pales- tine from the Mediterranean to the Jor- dan, and drained by the river Kishon. Among its subsidiai'y valleys are those of Engannin, Taanach. and Megiddo. This plain is celebrated for many im- portant events in Old Testament history. ESDRAS, BOOKS OF, two apocry- phal books, which in the Vulgate and other editions are incoi-porated with the canonical books of Scripture. In the Vulgate the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah are called the first ana sec- ond, and the apocryphal books the third and fourth books of Esdras. The Geneva Bible (1560) first adopted the present nomenclature, calling the two apocry- phal books first and second Esdras. The subject of the first book of Esdras is the same as that of Ezra and Nehemiah, and in general it appears to be copied from the canonical Scriptures. The second book of Esdras is supposed to have been either of much later date, or to have been interpolated by Christian writers. ESK (Celtic for water), the name of two small rivers in England, one in Cumberland and one in Yorkshire; and
