29 



ACHILLES. 



ADAM. 



30 



sugar in France is very limited in comparison with that of England. 

 In 1850, 160.917,000 Ibs. of beet-root sugar were made in France. The 

 average yearly consumption in France ia less than 10 Ibs. for each 

 individual ; in the United Kingdom, in 1850, it exceeded 30 Ibs. each. 

 Beet-root sugar is also made extensively in Belgium, Russia, Prussia, 

 and Germany. The improvements in the processes for the manufac- 

 ture of beet-root sugar have led to attempts being made to introduce 

 its use into the United Kingdom. A company carries on operations 

 in Ireland on a scale of some magnitude. 



ACHI'LLES, one of the most celebrated characters of the mythic 

 age of Greece ; a distinction due rather to his having been selected by 

 Homer as the hero of the ' Iliad,' than to the number or wonderful 

 nature of the exploits ascribed to him. He belongs to that interme- 

 diate period between truth and 6ction, during which it is generally 

 hard to say how much ia real, how much imaginary. In the cir- 

 cumstances of his life however, as they are told by Homer, there is 

 scarcely anything impossible, or even improbable, allowing for poetical 

 embellishment. 



The story of Achilles, as we find it in Homer, is soon told. He 

 was the son of Peleus, king of Phthia, and the adjoining parts of 

 Thessaly, and of Thetis, a sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus. He was 

 educated l>y Phcenix, a refugee at his father's court. From his mother 

 he learned that his fate was to gain renown before Troy, and die 

 early ; or to enjoy a long but inglorious life. He chose the former 

 alternative, and joined the Grecian army, in which he was pre-eminent 

 in valour, strength, swiftness, and beauty. During the first nine years 

 of the Trojan war we have no minute detail of his actions ; in the 

 tenth year a quarrel broke out between him and the general-in-chief, 

 Agamemnon, which led him to withdraw entirely from the contest. 

 The Trojans, who before scarcely ventured without their walls, now 

 waged battle in the plain, till they reduced the Greeks to extreme 

 distress. The Greek council of war sent its most influential members 

 to soothe the anger of Achilles, but without effect. He allowed his 

 friend and companion Patroclus, however, clothed in the celestial arms 

 which Hephiestus (Vulcan) gave his father, Peleus, to lead the Myr- 

 midons, his followers, out to battle. Patroclus was slain, and stripped 

 of these arms by Hector. Rage and grief induced Achilles to return 

 to battle. Thetis procured from Hephaestus a fresh suit of armour 

 for her son, who at the close of a day of slaughter killed Hector, and 

 dragged him at his chariot-wheels to the camp. Here ends the history 

 of Achilles, go far as it is derived from Homer, except that we may 

 infer, from a passage in the last book of the ' Odyssey,' that he was 

 slain in battle under the wall* of Troy. But the genuineness of the 

 last book of the ' Odyssey ' has, on good grounds, been disputed by 

 gome excellent ancient and modern critics. 



By later authors a variety of fable is mixed up with this simple 

 narrative. Thetis is said to have dipped him, while an infant, in the 

 Styx, which rendered him invulnerable except in the heel, by which 

 she held him, and he was killed at hut by a wound in the heel. The 

 centaur Chiron is made his tutor instead of Phccnix, and feeds him upon 

 the marrow of lions and other wild beastx, to improve his strength and 

 courage. From this singular instructor he learned music and a number 

 of sciences, even before the age of nine years ; at which time Thetis, 

 anxious to prevent him going to Troy, removed him, disguised as a 

 girl, to the court of Lycomedes, king of the island Scyros. Here he 

 became the father of Neoptolemux, or Pyrrhus, by the king's daughter, 

 I>i' lamia, rather precociously ; for he had not been a year on the island 

 when Ulysses was sent by the confederate Greeks to seek him, in con- 

 sequence of an oracle which declared that Troy could not be taken 

 without the help of Achilles. Ulysses arrived at the island, discovered 

 him among the females of Lycomedes' s household, and carried him 

 away to join the army. He was betrothed to Iphigenia, daughter of 

 Agamemnon. The manner of his death ia variously told. Some make 

 him fall in battle ; others say that he was treacherously slain in a 

 temple, on the occasion of his nuptials with Polyxena, daughter of 

 i'ri:un ; but it is generally agreed that he was killed by Paris, Apollo 

 directing the arrow. He was entombed on the promontory of Sigseum, 

 and mighty barrow raised over his remains, which still rivets the 

 attention of travellers ; though it must always remain doubtful to 

 who>:e memory this mound of earth was really raised. Here Alexander 

 of Macedon celebrated splendid games in honour of the hero whom he 

 affected to emulate. 



ACHI'LLKS TA'TIUS, a Greek astronomer, who lived probably in 

 the first half of the 4th century of our era, and wrote a treatise on 

 the sphere. There is still extant a fragment of Achilles Tatius, entitled 

 ' An Introduction to the Phenomena of Aratus ;' it may be seen in the 

 ' Uranologion ' of Petavins. Suidaa confounds this Achilles Tatius 

 with another, called by him Achilles Statins, who wrote a Greek 

 romance, 'The History of Leucippe and Clitophon.' This Achilles 

 was a native of Alexandria, and must have beeu later than Heliodorus, 

 whose romance he imitated. He probably wrote near the close of the 

 5th century. His romance is in eight books, and is preferred by some 

 of the earlier critics to that of Heliodorus. This latter, however, 

 appears to us one of the most tedious stories that ever was written. 

 The Greek romance writers give us no vivid picture of their own times, 

 but a distorted image of earlier forms of society, without any of the 

 spirit of historic truth. (Schoell, llitt. Greek Lilt. ; J'oreiyn Quarterly 

 >. 9.) 



ACOSTA, JOSEPH D', a Spanish writer of the 16th century. He 

 was born at Medina del Campo in Leon, about the year 1539 ; and, 

 jefore attaining the age of fourteen, entered the Society of the Jesuits, 

 ;o which his four elder brothers already belonged. He was remark- 

 able for his rapid progress both in literature and science ; and on 

 inishing his course, he became professor of theology at Oraua. In 

 1571 he went as a missionary to South America, aud became eventually 

 provincial of his order at Peru. During his residence in South 

 America, till 1588, he wrote an account of that continent, which was 

 published at Seville, in 4to, in 1590, under the title of ' Historia 

 Natural y Moral de las ludias.' This work, which is highly esteemed 

 as an authority on the early condition of South America, has been 

 translated into French, Italian, German, Dutch, and English. There 

 is a Latin translation of the work in Part IX. of De Bry's ' Collec- 

 tiones Peregrinationum in Indiam.' Acosta, after his return to his 

 native country, became a great favourite of Philip II., and had suc- 

 cessively the dignities of Visitor of his order for Arragon and 

 Andalusia, Superior of Valladolid, and Rector of the University of 

 Salamanca. He died February 15th, 1600. Besides the work we have 

 mentioned, he ia the author of another on the same subject, published 

 in 1589 in Latin, under the title of ' De Natura Novi Orbis Libri 

 Duo,' which was translated by himself into Spanish, and inserted in 

 his History. He is also the author of several theological treatises ; 

 and, among the rest, of a volume of sermons, in Latin. (Moreri; 

 Biog. Univ.; Robertson, America; Biblioth. Serif lor. Soc. Jesu, a 

 Jliliadeneira Alleyambe, et Sotvello.) 



ACTON, JOSEPH, the prime minister of the court of Naples for 

 several years, was the sou of an Irish gentleman who practised medi- 

 cine at Besanjon, in France. He was born in 1737. He was originally 

 in the French naval service ; but subsequently obtained the command 

 of a frigate from Leopold, Duke of Tuscany. In an unsuccessful 

 expedition against Algiers, in 1774, in which the government of 

 Tuscany co-operated with that of Spain, Acton commanded thu 

 Tuscan vessels ; and by his gallant conduct succeeded in saving 3000 

 or 4000 Spanish soldiers, who must otherwise have perished. His 

 food conduct here was the cause of his advancement. He was recom- 

 mended to the service of the King of Naples. His intriguing disposi- 

 tion secured him the favour of the King and Queen of Naples ; and 

 ho was successively minister of the navy, of war, of finance, aud 

 ultimately became prime minister. In his policy he was constantly 

 opposed to the French party in Italy. Many of the persecutions for 

 political opinions, and the violations of justice, which occurred at 

 Naples subsequent to the period of the French invasion in 1799, arc 

 ascribed to the power or the influence of Acton. He is said to have 

 died in obscurity in Sicily, in 1803. 



ADAIR, SIR ROBERT, was the son of Robert Ad.iir, sergeant- 

 surgeon to George III., by a daughter of the second Earl of Albe- 

 marie, through whom he became connected with many families of 

 political influence. He was born in London on May 24, 17C3, aud 

 was educated at Westminster school, whence he proceeded to Gottin- 

 gen to complete his studies. On his return iu 1780 he became 

 acquainted with Mr. Fox, took his side in politics, and wrote a pamphlet 

 or two, one of which, a letter to Mr. Burke, brought on him the 

 ridicule of Canning in the Anti-Jacobin. But in February 1806, 

 when Fox succeeded to power, he was sent as minister to Vienna, 

 where he conducted himself ably, and of which mission he published 

 a memoir in 1845 ; and in 180S, Canning, when iu office, though he 

 had rediculed his appointment to Vienna, selected him for a special 

 mission to the Porte, with Mr. Canning (now Lord Stratford tic 

 Redcliffe) and Mr. Morier as assistants, where he negociated iiio 

 treaty of the Dardanelles, concluded in 1809, and of this mission 

 he has also published an account. On its successful termination he 

 was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. In April 

 1809 he was appointed ambassador at Constantinople, which office he 

 held till 1811. In July 1831 he was despatched by Earl Grey on a 

 special mission to Belgium, where Prince Leopold, recently elected to 

 the throne of that kingdom, was besieged in Liege by the Dutch 

 troops under William Prince of Orange. Sir Robert urged Priiico 

 Leopold to fly ; but he declined, saying, that " flight ought not to be the 

 first act of his reign ; he was ready to fight, but would allow him to 

 negociate,'' and Sir Robert, fastening a, handkerchief to a ramrod, 

 sought the hostile army, and in an interview with Prince William, 

 succeeded in gaining his connivance for Leopold to withdraw to 

 Maliues, whither he accompanied him. In this port he remained till 

 1835, when he retired with the rank of privy councillor, and a pen- 

 sion of 20002. per annum. He died on October 3, 1855, after a short 

 illness. Sir Robert had represented Appleby in 1802, and Camelford 

 in 1806 and 1807. In 1805 he had married Angelique Gabrielle, 

 daughter of the Marquis of Hazincourt, but left no issue. Sir Robert 

 possessed a wide range of information, aud his views with regard to 

 Russia have beeu remarkably confirmed by recent events. 



ADAM, the first man, and progenitor of the human race, whom 

 God formed of the dust of the ground, on the sixth and last day of 

 the creation, as related in the first aud second chapters of Genesis. 

 The whole of the authentic history of Adam is contained in the first 

 five chapters of that book. His loss of the state of innocence aud 

 felicity which he originally enjoyed, is commonly known by the name 

 of ' The Fall.' It was after this event, and his expulsion from the 



