ELVAS (the ancient Helow), a fortified frontier city of Portugal, in the Portalegre district of the province of Alemtejo, is situated near a sub-tributary of the Guadiana, on a bill belonging to the mountain chain of Zoledo, 105 miles east of Lisbon and 10 miles west of the Spanish town of Badajoz, with which towns it is connected by railway. Its streets are winding, narrow, and dirty, and many of the Moorish buildings which gave the town a somewhat venerable aspect are fast crumbling to ruins. It is the seat of a bishopric, and has four parish churches, one of which is a cathedral, seven conventual buildings, a theatre, an arsenal, and a hospital. It is supplied with water by means of a large Moorish aqueduct. It carries on a large contraband trade with Spain, especially in articles of English manufacture and has also manufactories for hardware and jewellery. The surrounding country is very fruitful, and affords large supplies of oil, wine, and vegetables. Elvas is the largest and strongest fortress of Portugal. It is defended by seven bastions which surround the town, and by two forts - Santa T.uzia and Nostra Scnhora da Grace - which command the whole neighbourhood. Elvas was a place of great importance during the Peninsular war. It was taken by Marshal Junot in March 1808, and held by the French till August, when it was given up in terms of the convention at Cintra. The population in 1869 numbered 11,088.

ELY, a city of Cambridgeshire, is situated on a considerable eminence in the Isle of Ely, near the Ouse, 16 miles N.N.E. of Cambridge. It consists chiefly of one long street, and the houses are mostly old. The soil in the vicinity is very fertile, and is cultivated chiefly by market gardeners, who send large quantities of fruit and vegetables to the London market. The town has a considerable manufactory for earthenware and tobacco pipes, and there are several mills in the isle for the preparation of oil from flax, hemp, and cole-seed. The market-day is Thursday. Besides the churches and the cathedral, the chief public buildings are the grammar-school founded by Henry VIII., the new corn exchange, the mechanics' institute, and the sessions house. Needham's charity school has recently been developed into a considerable school of the second grade. The national and infant schools are large and coin. modious. A monastery was founded here about 670; but in 870 it was pillaged and destroyed by the Danes, and it re• mained in ruins till 970, when it was restored by Ethel.

wold, bishop of Winchester. In 1107 Ely was erected into a bishopric by Henry I., and after the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII. converted the conventual church into a cathedral. This edifice displays a singular mixture of various styles of architecture, and has an unfinished appearance, but taken as a whole it is a noble structure. The nave, which is Late Norman, was probably completed about the middle of the 1 2th century, and the western tower and the transepts were built by Bishop Ridal (1174-1189). The Galilee or western porch, which is Early English, was erected by Bishop Eustace (1198-1215). The choir was originally Early Norman, but its Norman apse was destroyed, and the church extended eastward by six more arches, by Bishop Northwold, about the middle of the 13th century. The addition is Early English, and its carving is very elaborate and beautiful. The beautiful lady-chapel was begun by Bishop Hotham,