:i 



AIMOI.V. 



AJAX. 



ri 



Ia W8 he relinquished hi* . 



of tie life at Stoke Newingtoa, ooneteaUy employed in 

 wrary undertaking*, of which UM eaten number wu r 



- 



AJMOIN, 



of Vule-Kraneoe, in UM province of Prrigord. He wrote, or rather 

 began, afetory of UM French, which he dedicated to hi* patron and 

 daaiaal. Abboa, abbot of FUurteur- Loire. It is -id in hi. preface 

 that he intended to giv an account of the origin of the French nation, 

 and to bring hi* narrative down to Pepto-W-Bref, father of Charlemagne 

 (741) ; bat what w, have of UM work bring, u. down only to the six- 

 tenth year of Clovi* IL (690). Two book* were afterward* added by 

 an unknown writer. Thi* history of Aimoin i* incorrect, and he doe* 

 not dwell eufficiraUy oa UM event* he hu to relate. Hi* best and 

 moat litaartiag work b an account of the life of Abbon. Aimoin 

 died ia 1008. 



AINSWURTH, ROBERT, the author of a well-known 'Latin 

 ntntiaa*.ry.' He wu born at WcodvaU, about four mile* from Man- 

 oh alter, in September, 160. Having completed hi* education a* 

 Bolten, he afterward* taught a school for some time in that town. He 

 then came to London, and formed an establishment at Bethnal Green, 

 from which he nuioved. Ant to Hackney, and afterward* to other 

 village* hi UM neighbourhood of the metropolis. About 1714 he wu 

 induced by UM often of the bookseller* to commence the compilation 

 of hi* Dictionary ; but the execution of the work wu frequently 

 upended, and it did not appear till 1736. Ainsworth died near 

 London on the 4th of April, 1743, and wu buried at Poplar, where 

 an inscription of hi* own composition, in Latin verse, wu placed over 

 hi* remain* and tho** of his wife. Having acquired a competency, 

 he had retired from teaching for some time before his death. Dr. 

 KippU, in hi* edition of the Biographia Britannica,' ssya, from 

 private information, that in the latter part of hi* life he u*ed to be 

 fond of rummaging in the shops of the low broken ; by which means 

 he often picked up old coin* and other valuable curiosities at little 

 expense. He i* aaid to have written aome Latin poem* ; and he also 

 published ' Proposal* for making Education leu Chargeable,' and some 

 other Utatiees, the list of which may be seen in Watt'* ' Bibliotbeca ;' 

 bat hii Dictionary i* the only work for which he is now remembered. 

 A Mcond edition of it, edited by Mr. Samuel Patrick (with a notice of 

 Aioaworth'* life prefixed), appeared in two volumes, 4to, 1746, and it 

 has since been frequently republuhed. One edition, which came out 

 in 1753, i* in two folio volumes, and used to be in some request u a 

 handsome specimen of typography. It wu superintended by tho 

 Her. William Young, the supposed original of Fielding's Parson 

 Adams. Another, in two volumes, 4 to, wu published in 1773, by 

 Dr. Thomu MorelL Both Young and Morell also edited abridgments 

 of Ainsworth' s Dictionary, which, until lately, wore much used in 

 ashool*. The best edition of the larger work is that which appeared 

 in 1816, in one volume, 4to, under the care of Dr. Carey. This 

 Dictionary, regarded u a mere word-book, U a laborious and useful 

 work ; but it hu no chum to be considered u a philosophical exposi- 

 tion of the etymology of tho Latin language, or u anything like a 

 complete exhibition of UM usage of words by Latin authors. Not- 

 withstanding UM corrections which it hu received from the labours 

 of its loeenalve editors, it (till remains di*Bgurod by many errors 

 and de&cionci**, which leave the book a great way behind tho present 

 Mate of philological learning. 



AINSWORTH, WILLIAM HARRISON, wu born at Manchester, 

 ia February 1805. Ho wu originally intended for the profession of 

 barruAer, but he at an early age quitted hi* legal studios for the 

 more attractive pursuit* of literature. For aome time he wu chiefly 

 known u a prolific contributor of eauy* and sketches to the Mag.- 

 sine* ; but hi* Ant novel, Rookwood, published in 1834, at once gave 

 him a place among UM meat popular novel writen of the day. His 

 peculiar popularity arc*, mainly from the circumstance of hi* having 

 elected a. UM hero*, of hi. tele. Jack Sheppard aud other* who 

 Ann in the annal* of crime. Hence aj*o hi* novel* wen seized upon 

 wiU. atid.tv by a certain clan of dnmaUste u fumiahing the rtimu- 

 laUng condiment so much in request at the lower suburban tbeatro*- 

 Ir Aianrorth's reputation came to be coupled in the public 

 i hero.* rather more unpltaaantly than the novel* alone 

 rotJd perUp. have ruected. In later tale*, u tho Star Chamber,' 

 f London,' and tho like, he went beyond the Newgate 



Astronomer Royal, 



AIRY. OEOROK BIDDELL, the 



t^ at Ainwld^ Northumberland, in iuiy.ioui. Me received hi* early 

 - ** -^ A *'* tte^ma^oS 

 fS&^JS&jLHjtt* * ?** Cauv 



i WW a . , 



frf TSfc_ kJi^vJVS* &" * wu elected 



^E! i t ^**5 Uo * " ** of K-A. ln 182 . 



r-pointed to the LucaaUn Professorship, of which chair he may 

 be amid to have re-created the duUot by delivering coune* ofpubUo 

 ><" BxperiaMoUl Philo P by, smoa. whidTth. prdectionVon 



ELf .^ir ' 5 3 !r r 25*^*^*5 



u |>|muluiMt ia 1838, on Uioz elected Plumiau Professor 

 at AMTflBou-y-a poet which, wUinii^ the EsperuMatal Lecture., 



involved also the management of the then newly-erected Cambridge 

 Observatory. He devoted himself earnestly to that work, and devised 

 a *y*tem of calculation and publication of hi* observations so much 

 more complete and ervieeablo than any preceding that it hu been 

 adopted by other observatories ; and be introduced many important 

 improvement* in the mounting of the instrument*. 



In 1835, on the resignation of Mr. Pond, then Astronomer-Royal, 

 Mr. Airy wu appointed to the honourable post, which he hu since 

 held, with signal advantage to science and to our national reputation. 

 Under his administration, the observatory at Greenwich bu become 

 second to none in tho world. The yearly observations are published 

 in a form and with a regularity never before attempted ; and, zealous 

 for the cause of science, Mr. Airy has reduced and published the 

 long-neglected observations of the Moon and Planets from 1750 to 

 1830, "by which" to quote the words of Admiral Smyth "an 

 immense magazine of dormant fact*, contained iu the annals of the 

 Royal Observatory, are rendered available to astronomical use," and 

 from which " wo may perhaps date a new epoch in planetary 

 astronomy." The observatory itself, with new methods and new 

 instruments, is more efficient than over ; and since 1843 magnetic*! 

 and meteorological observations have been token, as well as astronomi- 

 cal, and regularly published. 



A long list might be written of Mr. Airy's claims to scientific 

 distinction. His writings on mechanics and optics are well known. 

 He wrote the articles ' Figure of the Earth ' and ' Tides and Waves ' 

 for the ' Encyclopedia Metropolitana,' and ' Gravitation ' for tho 

 'Penny Cyclopaedia;' and, to mention but a few of big labours 

 which have a national character : he ha* been for many years Chair- 

 man of the Commission for the Restoration of the Standards of 

 Weight and Measure ; he reported on the comparative merits of tho 

 broad and narrow gauge of railways, and on the national clock to be 

 erected at Westminster; he bos undertaken the determination ot 

 longitude by means of the electric telegraph ; hu suggested a remedy 

 for the deviation of the compass in iron ships ; and has accomplished 

 a series of pendulum experiments for the determination of that 

 difficult question, the density of the earth. On the two hitter sub- 

 jects he has communicated elaborate papers to the Royal Society ; and 

 the ' Philosophical Transactions,' the ' Memoirs of the Astronomical 

 Society,' and the ' Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical 

 Society,' contain numerous highly valuable papers from his pen. 



Mr. Airy wu elected a Fellow of the Astronomical Society iu 1823, 

 and became President in 1835, since when he has repeatedly filled the 

 Chair and sat on the Council. He ho* received two of the Society's 

 medals one for the planetary observations before mentioned ; tho 

 other, "for his discovery of the long inequality of Venus and the 

 Earth," the investigation of which was published in the 'Philosophical 

 Transactions.' He wu elected a Fellow of the Royal Society iu 1836, 

 hu received their Copley and Royal medals, and hu been often 

 chosen into the Council. He hu also received the Lahuide medal 

 of the French Academy of Sciences ; he is a corresponding member 

 of the Academy, and a member of other scientific societies in Europe 

 and America, 



AJAX, a son of Telamon, aud third iu direct male descent from 

 Jupiter, wu one of the most renowned heroes of the Trojan War. 

 According to Homer and Pindar, he wu next in beauty and iu war- 

 like prowess to Achilles. He U said by later poet* to havo been 

 invulnerable. Pindar (Isthm. 6) relates the story fully ; but, as in the 

 case of Achilles, it is not found in Homer. Telamon, banished from 

 .cEgina by his father .ICocus, for killing his brother 1 'hocus, retired to 

 the island of Salamis, and wu choseu king. During his father'* life, 

 Ajax led the forces of Salamis to Troy, in conjunction with the Athe- 

 nian*. His chief exploit*, recorded in the ' Iliad,' are his duel with 

 Hector, in the 7th book, when tho Trojan prince challenged any of 

 the Greek army to siugle combat ; aud his obstinate defence of tho 

 ships, in the protracted battle described in the 13th, 14th, 1.1th, 10th, 

 an. I 17th book*. In the funeral games of Patroclus ho contended for 

 three prizes : iu wrestling with Ulysses, single combat with Diomedes, 

 and throwing the quoit; but without obtaining the prize in any. 

 Blunt in manners, nigged in temper, and somewhat obtuse in intellect., 

 hi* strength and stubborn courage made him a most valuable soldier, 

 but no favourite ; and his confidence in these qualities induced him 

 to despise divine aid, by which he roused tho anger of Pallas, tho 

 author of his subsequent misfortunes. After Achilla's death, the 

 armour of that hero wu to be given as a prize to him who had 

 deserved best of the Greeks. Ajax and Ulysses alone advanced tl>> ir 

 chums : the former depending on bis pre-eminence in arms ; the latter, 

 on the services which his inventive genius had rendered ; thoorscmUeJ 

 prince* awarded tho splendid prize to Ulysses (Ovid's 'Met.' b. 14.) 

 Ajax wu so much mortified at this, that ho went mod, and iu his fury 

 attacked the herds and flocks of tho camp, mistaking them for the 

 Grecian leaders, by whom bo thought himself so deeply injured. On 

 recovering his senses, and seeing to what excesses he had been trans- 

 ported, he slew himself with the sword which Hector had given him 

 after their combat. This cataitropho U the subject of that noble 

 tragedy of Sophocles, ' Ajax the Scourge-Bearer.' The circumstances 

 of his death are differently told by other authors. The Greeks 

 honoured him with a splendid funeral, and raised a vast tumulus on 

 Uo promontory of llhwteum, opposite that of Achilles, on the pro- 



