in Scots law; otherwise Bare-man: A person who, being involved in debt, and unable to pay the same,—for avoiding imprisonment and other pains, makes cession of his effects in favour of his creditors; and does his devoir and duty to them, proclaiming himself bare man and indigent, and becoming debt-bound to them of all that he has. The word is used in the same sense as Bankrupt: see that article; and Law N'clxxxv., ii., 12. clxxii., io, ii., 12., &c.

EAC

E, THE second vowel, and fifth letter of the alphabet. The letter E is most evidently derived from the old character Ἑ in the ancient Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets, inverted by the Greeks to this position Ἑ, and not from the Hebrew Ἑ. From the same origin is also derived the Saxon ē, which is the first letter in their alphabet that differs from the Latin one. It is formed by a narrower opening of the larynx than the letter A; but the other parts of the mouth are used nearly in the same manner as in that letter.

It has a long and short sound in most languages. The short sound is audible in bed, fret, den, and other words ending in consonants: its long sound is produced by a final e, or an e at the end of words; as in glebe, here, hire, scene, sphere, interfere, reverse, sincere, &c., in most of which it sounds like ee; as also in some others by coming after i, as in believe, chief, grief, reprieve, &c., and sometimes this long sound is expressed by ee, as in bleed, bear, creed, &c. Sometimes the final e is silent, and only serves to lengthen the sound of the preceding vowel, as in rag, rage, flag, flage, hug, huge, &c. The sound of e is obscure in the following words, oxen, heaven, bounden, fire, massacre, maugre, &c.

The Greeks have their long and short e which they call epsilon and eta. The French have at least six kinds of e's: the Latins likewise a long and short e; they also write e instead of a, as dicem for dicam, &c., and this is no doubt the reason why a is so often changed into e in the preter tense, as, ago, egis, facio, feci, &c.

As a numeral, E stands for 250, according to the verse,

E, quoque ducentum et quinquaginta tenetis.

In music it denotes the tone e-la-mi. In the calendar it is the fifth of the dominical letters. And in sea-charts it distinguishes all the Easterly points: thus, E alone denotes East; and E, by S, and E, by N. East by South, and East by North.