ASHLERING. 



ASIATIC SOCIETIES. 



an example of nuticatad ashler op the north ad* of the 

 entrance of St. Paul'* Cathedral is given in UK out. 



ASHI.KRINU, * term in masonry signifying the act of bedding in 

 mortar the uhler above described. The Urm is also need in carpentry 

 to igtiify the abort upright pieces of wood placed in the rouf of a 

 houae to cut off the acute angle between the joists of the floor and the 

 raften : almost all the garret* in London are built in this way. The 

 annexed cut, representing a section of a garret, shows the ashlcring 

 above described. 



ASHTORETH. [ASTABTE.] 



ASH \VKDN K.SDAY. This, which is the first day of Lent, had 

 formerly two names ; one was Capitt J^jmiii, '' the head of the fast," 

 the other was Ash- Wednesday, so called from the ancient ceremony of 

 blessing ashes on that day, with which the priest signed the people on 

 the forehead in the form of a cross, adding this admonition, " Memento, 

 homo, quod cinis es, et in cinerem reverteris :" " Remember, man, that 

 <hou art ashes, and ahalt return to ashes." " Mannerly to take their ashes 

 devoutly," is among the Roman Catholic custom.- censured l>y John 

 Bale in bis ' Declaration of Bonner's Articles,' 1554. The ashes used 

 this day in the Church of Rome were said to be made from the palms 

 consecrated on the Palm-Sunday before. In Bishop Bonner's ' Injunc- 

 tions,' A.I). 1555, we read that " the hallowed ashes given by the priest 

 t<> the people on Ash-Wednesday are to put the )>eople in remem- 

 brance of penance at the beginning of Lent, that their bodies are but 

 r. nth. dust, and ashes." The ancient discipline of sackcloth and ashes 

 on Ash-Wednesday is at present supplied, in the English established 

 church, l.y reading publicly on this day the curses denounced against 

 impenitent sinners, when the people are directed to repeat an " Amen " 

 at the end of each malediction. Compare Wheatley ' On the Common 

 Prayer,' 8v.., 17^'.'. p. 227 ; Brand's ' Popular Antiquities,' vol. i. p. 79. 

 Brady, in his ' Clavis Calendaria,' says, the primitive Christians did not 

 commence their Lent until the Sunday now called the first in Lent. 

 Pope Felix III., in the year 487, first added the four days preceding 

 the old Lent Sunday, to complete the number of fasting days to forty, 

 of which it actually consists. Pope Gregory the Great introduced the 

 sprinkling of ashes on the first of the four additional days, which gave 

 it the name of Ash- Wednesday ; and the council of Beneventum, in 

 the year 1091, strictly enjoined the observance of the ceremony, which 

 wu abolished in England at the Reformation, and a comminati< >n .-IT 

 rie*, as above alluded to, substituted in its stead. 



ASIATIC SOCIETIES. The enthusiastic ardour of Sir William 

 Jones in acquiring a knowledge of the languages and literature <,i tli.. 

 East led him, in 1784, soon after entering upon his judicial functions 

 at Calcutta, to endeavour to interest others in the same piirxuit, and 

 thereby to initiate a society in that city on the plan of the Royal 

 Society of London for the purpose, tut he intimates in a letter to the 

 Governor-General of India (Warren Hastings), -of inquiring into the 

 history, civil and natural ; the antiquities, arts, sciences, and literature 

 of Asia." The Governor-General readily patronised the undertaking ; 

 and UM society was speedily inaugurated under the presidentship of 

 Sir William himself, who delivered a learned and very interesting 

 discount on UM occasion. To Sir William Jonrs, therefore, is due the 



credit of having, in the initiation of the Calcutta Society, set the 

 example which has been followed in the institution of -imil.ir bodies in 

 other part* of the world. 



The Calcutta Society has been eminently auooeaaful. The first 

 volume of its literary labours and scientific proceedings wa* printed in 

 1788, in quarto, under the title of ' The Asiatic Researches,' which 

 suriei was continued up to V..I. XX.. published in 1886. In 1M2. the 

 society molved to commence the printing of an octavo journal, or nil In i 

 to take under iU iiunnxli.it.- MI]., i nit. -mlence a scientific journal then 

 existing at Calcutta, under the name of ' Gleanings of Science.' 

 by the celebrated James Prinsep. Vol. I. of the ' Journal of tin 

 Society of Bengal ' was issued in 1832 ; and the work has appeared at 

 regular interval* up to the present time (1859), when it comprise* 26 

 vols., containing, in the aggregate, a vast amount of original infor- 

 mation on almost every subject of interest relating to man and nature 

 in Asia. The first 7 vola. are especially rich in the antiquarian, archaeo- 

 logical, and numismatics! (taper* of Mr. Prinsep. These papers have 

 been recently collected into 2 vols. 8vo, with notes ami elucidation-. I y 

 K. Thomas, Esq., late of the Bengal ('. S.. uml.-r the title of ' Essays on 

 Indian Antiquities of the late James Prinsep, r'.K.S.' 



In addition to iU own researches and journal, the Bengal Society has 

 been enabled, through the liberality of the late East India Company, 

 to print, under its auspices, various text* of unlive, works, accompanied 

 generally by English translations, under 'In- title of ' Itil.liothoca 

 Indica,' the firat volume of which appeared in 1836 ; and the series now 

 comprises about 25 different works, in 4to and 8vo, pfinoiptQy in 

 Arabic and Sanscrit literature. 



It wae not till about 1820, that the prototype of the Calcutta A 

 Society was adopted by the orientalists of hurope. At this period a 

 Socie'to' Asiatique was formed at Paris, which, in 1 $!>. commenced 

 the publication of the ' Journal Asiatique,' under the editorship of thiwc 

 well-known scholars, Chdzy, Klaproth, Remusat, St Martin, li, 

 and others of minor fame. The journal lias continued to be published 

 with undeviating regularity, and at the end of 1 858 comprised no few cr 

 than 70 vols. 8vo, divided into five series. The Societc A-i.iti.|\ie ban 

 also printed at ita own expense some 1 4 oriental works, besides en- 

 couraging by it patronage the printing of several others ; and them; 

 are sold to the public at prices varying from li to 200 francs per copy. 



Nearly simultaneous with the formation of the I 

 that of London. In January, 1823, Mr. H. T. Colebrooke, one of the 

 earliest inquirers into the Sanscrit language and literature, convened a 

 meeting of gentlemen at his own house, which resulted in the foundu- 

 tion of the present ' Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain ami Irclaii'l.' 

 The society was well received by the Anglo-Indians of England, and 

 was graciously patronised by William IV., who granted it a 

 charter in 1824. The earlier literary labours of the society are recorded 

 in three quarto volumes, dated 1827-35, the contents of which have 

 added greatly to our knowledge of eastern matters. The communi- 

 cations of Mr. Colebrooke and Mr. H. H. Wilson, in these volumes, on 

 the religion . metaphysics, and philosophy of the Hindus, have attracted 

 much attention. 



Relinquishing the quarto fonu of its Transactions, the society com- 

 menced the printing of a Journal in octavo, the first of \vh; 

 issued in 1831. Up to 1858, the Journal had reached its 16th volume. 

 This series contains many learned and valuable [vipers. Nor must it 

 be forgotten that it was through this society's Journal the antiquarian 

 world was first made acquainted with the remarkable discoveries of 

 Colonel (now Sir Henry) Kawlinson, in the cuneiform writing of ancient 

 Persia, Assyria, ami Babylonia. In the year 1838, Colonel RawliiiMin 

 sent his first reading of part of the famous Bchistun in.-cnption of 

 Darius Hystaspes; and, in 1839, a general precis of the contents of tin 

 inscription itself. Several pa|>ers on cuneiform literature by Sir Henry 

 have since been printed in the Journal; as also by Dr. Hincks. Mr. 

 Fox Talbot, and Mr. Norris, the present secretary of the institution. 

 Such was the public interest attached to Sir Henry Hawlinson's dis- 

 coveries, that the House of Commons, in 1856, readily voted a grant of 

 100W. to the Society in aid of it- expenses in printing these interesting 

 memorials of ancient days. 



In 1 828, a committee originated among the members of the Rov.d 

 Asiatic Society, who put forth a prospectus for translating and publish- 

 ing Eastern authors. Colonel KiUclarence (afterwards Karl of Munster), 

 and Sir Gore Ouseley, took a very active interest in the proceedings of 

 this committee ; and considerable funds were collected by annual sub- 

 scriptions. Since its formation up to the present time, the Oriental 

 Translation Committee has printed or [vitronised upwards of seventy 

 translations or editions of Oriental l-"ok-. many of them of high 

 interest, such a* Wilson's ' Vishnu 1'nrana;' IV (Jajangos's .Moham- 

 medan S|ain ;' and the great ' Lexicon ' of Haji Khalt'a. translated and 

 edited by the learned Arabic scholar, I'mf. (!. Fliigel, of Dresden, in 

 even thick volumes 4to. 



In 1840 another committee emanated from the society, nftving for 

 its object the publication of oriental texts evlu.-ively. Tin- Innly 

 h.ue printed the original texts of thirteen authors, in Sanscrit, Arabic, 

 Syriac, and Persian ; but from the want of adequate public support, its 

 proceedings are now in abeyance, as are also, we regret to learn, the 

 proceedings of the translation committee. 



It deserves mention, too, that in 1836, the society gave birth to a 

 ' committee of commerce and agriculture," the idea of which origi- 



