3S9 



ASTLEY, PHILIP. 



ATAHUALPA. 



390 



during his quarrels with the pope, founded several monasteries, in one 

 of which his daughters took the veil (Muratori, Annali d? Italia; 

 Sigooius, De Regno Italice; Giannone; Mauzoni.) 



ASTLEY, PHILIP. As au inventor in his line of art, and as the 

 founder of Astley's amphitheatre, a name known to all the sight- 

 seers of Great Britain, and part founder of Franconi's Cirque Olym- 

 pique, the equally celebrated establishment of Paris, Astley calls for 

 a notice which would else scarcely be bestowed upon an exhibitor of 

 equestrian feats. 



Philip Astley was born at Newcastle-under-Lyne in 1742. In 1753 

 or 1754 he came to London with his father, who was a cabinet-maker. 

 He worked with his father till 1759, when he enlisted in the 15th, or 

 Elliot's Light-horse. He was already an expert horseman, having, as 

 he says in the Preface to his ' Modern Riding-master,' from infancy 

 made the management of horses his chief study. He was upwards of 

 six feet in height, and possessed of extraordinary muscular power. 

 He in consequence soon distinguished himself in the regimental 

 riding-school, and was made one of the teachers, roughriders, and 

 breakers to his regiment. He served on the continent during the 

 last three or four years of the Seven Years' War, and by various 

 serviceable deeds, exhibiting marked intelligence as well as courage 

 and presence of mind, he attracted the favourable notice of the 

 superior officers. For tliese services he was promoted to the rank of 

 serjeant-major, and on his return to England, in 1765, having solicited 

 his discharge, honourable mention was made of them in his certificate 

 of service. 



While in the army he had been accustomed to amuse himself and 

 his comrades by repeating the equestrian feats which he had seen 

 displayed by Johnson, a performer whose career was a] mo.- 1 as remark- 

 able as Astley's own ; and after obtaining his discharge he practised 

 them for a livelihood. General Elliot had presented him with a 

 charger, as a testimony of the high opinion lie entertained of him ; 

 and with this horse, and another which he purchased in Smithfield, 

 Astley commenced his performances in an open field near the Half- 

 penny-Hatch, Lambeth, receiving what gratuities casual spectators, 

 or such as were attracted by his handbills, pleased to bestow ; and 

 eking out his scanty gains by working occasionally as a cabinet-maker 

 and breaking horsts. He also exhibited ' a learned horse,' 'ombres 

 Chinoises,' and sleight-of-hand in the evenings, in a large room in 

 Piccadilly. After some time he engaged part of a large timber-yard, 

 on which he erected an unroofed wooden circus. His performances 

 here became very popular, and before 1775 they would seem to have 

 excited the curiosity of royalty ; as in the dedication to the king, pre- 

 fixed to his ' Modern Hiding-master,' published in that year, he speaks 

 of having been commanded to exhibit his 'manly feats of horseman- 

 ship' before his majesty. In 1780 he opened a larger and more sub- 

 stantial building, though also constructed of wood, on the site of his 

 former one, and entitled it the ' Amphitheatre Riding-house,' in which 

 he introduced for the first time musical pieces, dancing, and pantomimic 

 action, aa well as horsemanship ; he also added a stage and scenery. 

 Not being licensed, he was imprisoned under the Act 25th George II., 

 but was released, and obtained a licence, through the intercession of 

 Lord Thurlow, whose daughters he instructed in riding. In 1785 he 

 added sleight-of-hand performances to the attractions of his amphi- 

 theatre ; and in the same year he published ' Natural Magic, or 

 Physical Amusements Revealed,' explaining some of his tricks. The 

 name of the amphitheatre, which was from time to time increased in 

 size, and altered in its decorations, was changed by the proprietor, 

 first to ' The Royal Grove,' and afterwards to the ' Amphitheatre of 

 Arts : ' but the name given to it by the public, and which has sur- 

 vived both him and his family, was ' Astley's Amphitheatre.' 



In 1794 Astley made the campaign in Holland as a volunteer. He 

 published two works during that year : ' Remarks on the Duty and 

 Profession of a Soldier;' and 'A Description and Historical Account 

 of the Places near the Theatre of War in the Low Countries, by Philip 

 Astley, Esq., of Hercules Hall, Lambeth, London.' In 1794, aa in his 

 youthful campaign, Astley distinguished himself by his courage and 

 kindly disposition. At the siege of Valenciennes he re-took a piece 

 of ordnance which the French had captured. The Duke of York gave 

 him two horses aa a reward for his gallantry : Astley sold them, and 

 expended the money in providing comforts for the soldiers with whom 

 he was acquainted. In the winter he laid out a considerable sum in 

 providing every soldier in his own troop with a flannel waistcoat, 

 having a shilling sewed in one of the pockets, and a packet of needles, 

 thread, and other little articles essential to their comfort. 



During his absence his amphitheatre was burned down. This hap- 

 pened on tho 16th of August 1794. As soon as he heard of the acci- 

 dent he obtained leave of absence, returned home, and rebuilt his 

 amphitheatre : he re-opened it on Easter Monday, 1795. A similar 

 misfortune befell him in September 1803, when he was absent in Paris, 

 and was repaired with the same energy and expedition. It was some- 

 what earlier than this that he had associated himself with Franconi in 

 founding the Cirque Olympique at Paris. His last literary work was 

 one on which he had been engaged for several years, ' Astley's System 

 of Equestrian Education,' published in 1801. He died at Paris of 

 gout in the stomach, on the 20th of October 1814. 



It would be absurd to criticise Astley's books as literary produc- 

 but, in addition to then: high merit as manuals of equestrian 



instruction, they contain a fund of garrulous anecdote, and occasional 

 remarks indicative of an undeveloped artistical sense. 



(Biographical Dictionary of the Useful Knowledge Society ; Biographic 

 VniverseUe.) 



ASTRUC, JOHN, au eminent French physician, was born at Sauve, 

 in Languedoc, March 19, 1684 : he studied in the University of Mont- 

 pellier, and took the degree of Doctor in Medicine in 1703. In 1706 

 he acted as substitute to Chirac, one of the university professors, who 

 had been forced to attend the French army. In 1710 Astruc obtained 

 by competition the chair of anatomy and medicine in the University 

 of Toulouse, where he revived the study of anatomy. The reputation 

 however which he now acquired caused him to be soon recalled to 

 Montpellier, where he occupied a medical chair from 1715 to 1728, 

 when he resorted to Paris ; but soon after was induced, by his love of 

 travel and a desire to extend his medical views, to accept the situation 

 of first physician to the king of Poland and elector of Saxony. After 

 a very short stay however he returned to Paris, and was in 1730 

 appointed a consulting physician to the king of France, and in 1731 

 professor of medicine in the College of France. He became a member 

 of the medical faculty of Paris in 1743, and died in 1766. 



Although no great discovery is attached to Astruc's name, he 

 acquired great celebrity among his contemporaries, both as a teacher 

 and as an author; aud the integrity of his character was justly appre- 

 ciated. A simple and happy method in treating the subjects which 

 he taught, and an easy, clear, and eloquent language, recommended 

 him as a lecturer. His writings displayed a solid and extensive 

 acquaintance with the history of literature and science, the result of 

 the unvaried assiduity with which from his early youth, and during 

 the whole of his long career, he applied himself to bibliographical 

 learning. Astruc has left a considerable number of works on medi- 

 cine, on the long-standing controversy between the physicians and 

 surgeons of Paris, on the natural history of Languedoc, his native 

 country, on metaphysics, and even on sacred history. In 1710 he pub- 

 lished his first work on the theory of ' Digestion,' which he endeavoured 

 to explain according to the principles then prevalent of the philosophy 

 of Descartes. This was followed by a long succession of others, the 

 latest ' Memoires pour servir h, 1'Histoire de la Facult(5 de Medicine de 

 Montpellier,' on which he had spent much time, and was most anxious 

 to complete, but left unfinished, having been published after his death 

 by Lorry. Among the subjects on which Astruc wrote most fully, 

 and on which he was long regarded as an authority, were the plague, 

 and the diseases of women. But his most extensive work, and that 

 which has chiefly served to establish his high reputation, is his ' De 

 Morbis Venereis,' first published in one volume 4 to, Paris, 1736, and 

 afterwards enlarged to two volumes 4to, in the second edition, 1740. 

 The first edition of this work was translated into English by William 

 Barrowby, M.D., Lond., 1737, 2 vols. 8vo. 



(A full account of Astruc's life has been given by Lorry in his post- 

 humous edition of that author's Memoires pour servir a VUistoire 

 de la Facultt de Medicine de Montpellier, Paris, 1767. See also Huzon, 

 Notice del Hommea Celebres de la fac. Med. de Paris, Paris, 1778, 

 p. 256; the Biographic Me'dicale, torn, i., and the Biographic Uni- 

 cerselle, in which will be found a list of his writings.) 



ATAHUALPA, the last Inoa of Peru, was the sou of Huayna Capac, 

 the eleventh Inca, by a princess of Quitu, or Quito. His mother not 

 being of the royal family of Peru, Atahualpa could not, on this 

 account, succeed his father. But Huayna Capac, who loved him 

 passionately, was desirous that Atahualpa should succeed to the throne 

 of Quito, which kingdom had been added to his empire. The here- 

 ditary prince Huascar having been induced to assent, Atahualpa was 

 placed on the throne of Quito during the life of his father. But on 

 the death of the inca. which, according to Uarcilaso, took place in 

 1523, Huascar insisted as the conditions of leaving his brother undis- 

 turbed in the possession of his kingdom, that he should not make any 

 new conquests on his own territory, and that he should render him 

 homage as his liege lord. Atahualpa agreed, and on pretence of 

 visiting Cuzco to celebrate the obsequies of their deceased father, and 

 to render homage to Huascar, he contrived to assemble at Cuzco a 

 force of more than 30,000 veterans who had served under his father. 

 Huascar was warned of these proceedings by some of the old governors 

 of the province, but before he had time to prepare himsulf, more than 

 20,000 men belonging to Atahualpa had crossed the Apurimac, and 

 were within a hundred miles of Cuzco. Huascar assembled as large 

 a body of troops as he could muster. The armies met in a plain six 

 miles from Cuzco. After an obstinate battle, victory was decided in 

 favour of Atahualpa. Huascar was taken prisoner, and kept in chains. 

 But Atahualpa had resolved to make himself Inca of Peru, and as by 

 the laws of the country he had no claim to the throne while there 

 were members of the family whose mothers were of the blood-royal 

 of Peru, he determined to rid himself of all who possessed this 

 double qualification.- Accordingly he invited to Cuzco all the male 

 descendants of the incas, more than 200 in number, and then com- 

 manded them to be seized and put to death, without distinction of 

 age or sex. Some were beheaded, others precipitated from rocks, 

 women and children were hung by their hair from trees, and left to 

 die there. The servants of the household of the inca and the inhabit- 

 ants of all the towns in tho neighbourhood of Cuzco, are also said by 

 the Spanish historians to have been destroyed. The date of these 



