AHASUEEUS. 



AIKIN, JOHN, M.D. 



70 



endeavouring to conciliate both parties, exposed himself to the charge 

 of a change of opinion in this matter. The parliament were on the 

 eve of being exiled to Blois, when they at last consented to register 

 the bull with modifications. 



Cardinal Dubois, the unworthy favourite of the Regent, claimed 

 precedence in the council ; and Agueaseau retired from office in 1722, 

 rather than yield to him. He lived in the quiet cultivation of his 

 literary tastes at Fresne, until 1727, when he was reappointed chan- 

 cellor. From his reappoiutment to office, till 1750, he continued to 

 administer justice uninterruptedly; he was then eighty-two years of 

 age, and feeling himself unable to discharge the high duties of his 

 station, he sent in his resignation to the king, who accepted it, and 

 granted him an annuity of 100,000 francs. This he did not enjoy 

 long, as he died the following year, on the 9th of February. Aguesseau 

 was buried by the side of his wife, in the churchyard of his pariah 

 church ; but during the first French revolution the remains of the 

 chancellor were removed to another place, into which they were 

 thrown with the bones of thousands. A statue of him was erected 

 in front of the Palais Legislatif, by command of Napoleon, by the 

 side of the one erected in honour of L'HopitaL 



The principal features of Agueaseau's character, says the Due of 

 St. Simon, were much natural talent, application, penetration, and 

 general knowledge ; gravity, justice, piety, and purity of manners. 

 According to Voltaire, he was the most learned magistrate that France 

 ever possessed. Independently of his thorough acquaintance with 

 the laws of his country, he understood Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Italian, 

 Spanish, Portuguese, &c. His knowledge of general literature, assisted 

 by his intimacy with Boileau and Racine, gave an elegance to his 

 forensic speeches which was previously unknown at the French bar. 

 His works now extant form 13 voU. 4 to : they consist principally of 

 his pleadings and appeals (' nSquisitores"), when advocate and solicitor- 

 general, and of his speeches at the opening of the sessions of 

 parliament 



AHASUERUS, or ACHASHVEROSH, is the name of the Persian 

 monarch whose feastiugs, revelry, and decrees are recorded in the 

 book of Esther. The apocryphal additions to that book, as well as 

 the Septuagint, and Josephus, call him Arthasastha or Artaxerxes. 

 He is probably the same king as the Artaxerxes Lougimanus of the 

 Greek historians, whose reign commenced B.C. 405. The name Achash- 

 verosh occurs also, Dan. ix. 1, where some interpreters take it for 

 Astyages, king of the Medes ; and Ezr. iv. 6, where Cambyses seems 

 to be meant by it. (Eichhorn's ' Repertoriuin fur Bibiische und 

 Urientalische Literatur,' voL xv. p. 1, seq.) The word Achashverosh 

 has been explained by means of the modern Persian as signifying ' an 

 excellent or noble prince.' (Winer's ' Lexic. Hebr.,' s. v.) This would 

 nearly agree with the explanation given by Herodotus (vi. 98) of the 

 name Artaxerxes, which according to him means a great warrior. 

 The signification of the name accounts for its being given to various 

 mouarcbs. 



AHAZ, or ACHAZ, the son of Jotham (2 Kings, xv. 38 ; xvi. Ac.), 

 a king of Judah, who reigned B.C. 742-726, and was contemporary 

 with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. (Isaiah, i. 1 ; vii. 1, 

 Hoe. i. 1, Mich. i. 1.) He made the dial mentioned Is. xxxviii. 8. 

 Another Achaz is mentioned, 1 Chrou. viii. 35 ; ix. 42. 



AHAZIAH, also written ACHAZIAH or AHAZIAH0, the son of 

 Ahab, a king of Israel, who reigned B.C. 897-896 (1 Kings, xxii. 40 ; 

 2 Chron. xx. 35). Another Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, was king of 

 Judah, B.C. 884-883 (2 Kings, viii. 24; ix. 16), who occurs also under 

 the name of Jehoahaz (2 Chrou. xxi. 17) and Azariah (xxii. 6). The 

 name, according to its Hebrew etymology, is interpreted as signifying 

 ' the property or possession of the Lord.' 



AHMED I., the fourteenth sultan of the Ottoman empire, was the 

 son of Sultan Mohammed IIL He came to the throne in the year 

 1603, and contrary to the practice of many of hii predecessors, spared 

 the life of his brother Mustafa. He was unfortunate in a war with 

 Shah Abbas of Persia, during which he lost the important town of 

 Erivan. [ABBAS.] He at the same time supported an insurrection in 

 Hungary and Transylvania against the German emperor, Rudolph II. : 

 in 1606 however a treaty of peace was concluded at Komorn and 

 Situarok between the two monarchg. The efforts of Ahmed's govern- 

 ment were then directed towards the suppression of revolutionary 

 movements in the Asiatic part of the Ottoman dominions, which had 

 been instigated chiefly by two daring adventurers Kalendcr Ogli and 

 Janbulad-zade : both were finally subdued, and in 1609 tranquillity 

 was restored in the interior of the empire. Ahmed I. died in 1617. 

 He was of a mild and moderate disposition, and fond of the enjoy- 

 ments of a quiet and luxurious life : it is said that his seraglio con- 

 tained 3000 women, and that not less than 40,000 falconers were in 

 his pay. A magnificent mosque, which he built at Constantinople, 

 and a richly-ornamented curtain which ho sent to the sanctuary at 

 Mecca, attest, at the same time, that he was not indifferent about the 

 Mohamm>>dan religion. 



AHMED II., the son and successor of Sultan Soleiman III., occupied 

 rone of the Ottoman empire from 1691 till 1695. He owed his 

 elev.ition to the throne chiefly to the influence of the celebrated 

 grand-viair Kiuprili or Kiuperli, who soon afterwards fell in a battle 

 against the Austriaus near Salankemen or Slankeiueut. Ahmed II. 

 was a weak and superstitious prince. His reign is marked by many 



disastrous events. The plague, a famine, and au earthquake desolated 

 the empire, and the capital was afflicted with a destructive fire. The 

 Beduins of the Arabian desert, in defiance of the imperial safeguard, 

 dared to attack the caravan of the Mecca pilgrims; and at sea the 

 Turkish empire was infested by the Venetians, who took possession 

 of the island of Chios, and even threatened Smyrna. Ahmed II. died, 

 it is said, from grief, in 1695, at the age of 50 years. His successor 

 was Mustafa II., who reigned from 1695 till 1702. 



AHMED III., the sou of Sultan Mohammed IV., was raised to the 

 throne of the Ottoman Empire in consequence of a revolt of the 

 Janissaries, in 1702. When, after the loss of the battle of Pultowa 

 (1709), King Charles XII. of Sweden took refuge at Bender in the 

 Turkish dominions, he was well received by Ahmed, who even made 

 him a present of ready money to the amount of 16,000 ducats. 

 Charles XII. succeeded in kindling a war between the Ottoman Porte 

 and Russia, which turned out favourably for the Turks. During 

 several days Czar Peter the Great was cut off, and placed in a most 

 embarrassing situation on the banks of the river Pruth, almost within 

 the grasp of the Turkish army; and though the unskilfulness of the 

 Turkish commander Battaji Mohammed let him escape from this 

 difficulty, he was yet soon afterwards obliged to resign to the Turks 

 the important town of Azof. Ahmed III. was also fortunate in a war 

 with the Venetians, who were compelled to quit the Morea, and to 

 give up the islands of Cerigo and Cerigotto, and their possessions in 

 Cuudia. But he failed in an attempt to take Hungary from the 

 Austriaus. Prince Eugene of Savoy won an important victory over 

 the Turks near Belgrade, and by the subsequent peace (made at Passa- 

 rowitz, iu 1718) that town, as well as Orsowa, and part of Servia and 

 Wallachia, came under the Austrian dominion. In 1723 Ahmed 

 entered iutoxi treaty with Russia, and soon afterwards commenced a 

 war with Persia, which brought the frontier towns and provinces of 

 Erdilan, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Urmia, Ardebil, aud Tebriz into the 

 possession of the Turks, aud a peace subsequently concluded with the 

 Persian king, Ashraf Khan, secured to the victors the possession of 

 their conquests : but Nadir Shah, the successor of Ashraf Khan, 

 disregarded these stipulations, and by degrees retook the conquered 

 provinces. The news of the capture of Tebriz by the Persians caused 

 a revolt at Constantinople, in consequence of which Ahmed III. abdi- 

 cated the throne in favour of his nephew, Mahmud I. (1730). He died 

 six years afterwards in prison at the age of 74. 



AiKIN, ARTHUR, the eldest son of John Aikin, M.D., the subject 

 of the following article, was born in 1784. Arthur Aikin begau his 

 literary career, we believe, as editor of ' The Annual Review ;' upon 

 the title-page of the first six volumes of which 1803-1808 his name 

 appears as editor. His earliest scientific work was ' The Manual of 

 Mineralogy,' of which the first edition was published in 1814. Besides 

 these he is the author of a ' Tour in North Wales,' a ' Dictionary of 

 Chemistry and Mineralogy,' and a ' Dictionary of Arts and Manufac- 

 tures ;' and also of numerous papers in various scientific journals. 

 For a long series of years Mr. Aikiu was the resident secretary of the 

 Society of Arts, and a frequent contributor to its ' Transactions.' He 

 was also one of the oldest fellows of the Limueau and Geological 

 societies. Mr. Aikin was a man of quiet retiring habits, and outlived 

 his scientific reputation ; but was well known in scientific circles as 

 one of the most regular frequenters of the meetings of the learned 

 societies in the metropolis, and was generally esteemed. He died at 

 his house in Bloomsbury April 15, 1854, in his eighty-first year. 



AIKIN, JOHN, M.D., born in 1747, was the only son of the Rev. 

 John Aikiu, D.D., for many years tutor in divinity at the dissenting 

 academy at Warrington, in Lancashire. He was educated chiefly at 

 Warriugton, and having chosen the medical profession, he studied at 

 the University of Edinburgh, and was subsequently a pupil of Dr. 

 William Hunter. As a surgeon, he first settled at Chester, and after- 

 wards at Warrington; but finally took the degree of Doctor of Medi- 

 cine at Leydeu, aud established himself as a physician in London. He 

 is now chiefly remembered as a popular author; and to him, in con- 

 junction with his sister, Mrs. Barbauld, we owe some of the first aud 

 best attempts to take science out of the narrow confines of the profes- 

 sionally learned, and to render it the means of enlarging the under- 

 standings and increasing the pleasures of the general body of readers. 

 The most popular as well as the most useful of Dr. Aikin's works 

 still maintains its reputation, ' Evenings at Home.' The volumes of 

 this work appeared successively, tho sixth and last in June, 1795. 

 This was the joint production of Dr. Aikin and Mrs. Barbauld, whose 

 contributions however did not exceed half a volume in the whole. 

 The object of these volumes was a favourite one with their authors, 

 who desired to teach things rather thau words. In the execution of 

 their task they presented, iu a manner sufficiently attractive to engage 

 the attention of young persons, a good deal of natural history, with 

 some of the elements of chemistry and mineralogy ; but the principal 

 charm and value of the work consist in its just views of hurnau cha- 

 racter, and in th(j uncompromising integrity visible in every line. 

 Another work of Dr. Aikin's has been the foundation of many descrip- 

 tions of the appearances of nature; but none have surpassed 'The 

 Natural History of the Year ' in conciseness and accuracy. 



The professional success of Dr. Aikin seems to have been impeded 

 by his zealous endeavours to obtain a recognition from the state of the 

 great principle of liberty of conscience ; he was, moreover, of delicate 



