70 



AGUIRRA. AILSA CRAIG. 



,i single nuin. Hf died in 1751, after resigning, in 

 175O, Uie office of cliancellor. l! ; s works, which 

 Ki\e passed through several editions, are said, by 

 Uoulerwck, to IK- models of their kind ; full of spi- 

 rit, judicious, elegant, yet powerful, and ridi in valu- 

 aMe instruction lor statesmen and lawyers. His ill 

 courses, with which In- opened the sittings of the par- 

 liament, are excellcn;. His nephew, the marquis 

 d' \guesseau (Henry Cardin Jean Baptiste), peer of 

 IV nee, mid member of the academy of scienivs, 

 i I'aris, January 22, 18^(5. He \n\s a la\vycr, 

 n . mber of the first national assembly, and senator 

 ui.d-T Napoleon; afterwards, a faithful adherent of 

 1 1 king. 



AGUIRRA, Joseph Saenz do, a Benedictine, and 

 le.inied man, was born in 1630. Hi- was censor and 

 s.-cretary of the supreme council of the inquisition in 

 Spain, and professor in the university of Salamanca. 

 He published commentaries on Aristotle's Ethics, 

 and died at Koine in 1699. 



STINI, in mineralogy; a term by which pro- 

 fessor Tromsdorff lias designated a supposed new 

 ranh, discovered by him in 1808. It bears a great 

 resemblance to alumina. Annales de Chimie, xxxiv. 

 p. 133. 



AGUTI, the cavia aguti of Linnaeus ; an American 

 animal, much resembling the Guinea pig. There 

 are three varieties, all indigenous to South America 

 and the West Indies. They live on vegetables, in- 

 habit hollow trees, and burrow in the ground. They 

 eat like the squirrels, grow fat, and are used as food 

 in South America. They propagate very fast. 



AHANTA ; a kingdom on the Gold Coast of Africa, 

 i ling from the Ancobra to the Chamah; bound- 

 ed on the west by Apollonia, and on the east by the 

 Fantee territories. It is the richest, and in every 

 respect the most improved district upon this coast. 

 The principal towns are Axim, Dixcove, and Suc- 



nillilee. 



AHASDERUS, in Scripture history ; a king of Per- 

 sia, the husband of Esther, to whom the Scriptures 

 ascribe a singular deliverance of the Jews from ex- 

 tirpation, which they commemorate to this day, by 

 an annual feast, tliat of Purim, preceded by what is 

 called the fast of Esther. Different opinions have 

 been entertained by Scaliger, Prideaux, and others 

 as to which of the kings or Persia mentioned in other 

 historical books may be the A. of the Bible. Aha- 

 suerus is also a Scripture name for Cambyses, the 

 son of Cyrus, Ezra iv. 6., and for Astyages, king of 

 the Medes, Dan. ix. 1. 



AHITOPHEL ; one of king David's counsellors, and 

 hi ghly esteemed for his political sagacity. He was 

 certainly one of the first men of his age, both for 

 wisdom and wickedness. His advice to Absalom, 

 who followed the wicked part of it, but left the wise 

 part unaccomplished, together with the tragical end 

 of the politician, the first suicide recorded in history, 

 sire well known. 



A-HULL ; the situation of a ship when all her sails 

 are furled on account of the violence of a storm, 

 when, having lashed her helm on the lee-side, she 

 lies nearly with her side to the wind and sea, her 

 head being somewhat inclined to the direction of the 

 \vind. 



AID ; a subsidy paid, in ancient feudal tunes, by 

 vassals to their lords on certain occasions. 



AIGNAN, Stephen, a poet and author, born in 

 1773, at Beaugency, on the river Loire, and since 

 18L4 a member of the .French academy, has distin- 

 guished himself by successful translations of the Iliad, 

 and of Pope's Essay on Criticism, into verse. The 

 translation of the Iliad is the best in the French Ian- 

 He also translated the Odyssey, but we 

 know not whether the version has been published. 



He translated, likewise, some English tales, c. g. the 

 Vicar of \Vakefield. His original writings consist of 

 u tragedy, Hr-inrlnuit , an opera, h'f/i/it/ttt/i, with 

 music by Blangini; and some excellent political es- 

 says, Stir k jury ; !>> /' I'tnt tli-n jn-ntftslants fit 

 h'nuice, depuis le XI' mi-lr, fi/xi/it' <i imx ju/trs, &c. 

 2d ed. Paris, 1818, and Sitr /i-x .-./,//<., //' ,-tat ; as well 

 as various contributions of merit to the Mmervu 

 I'm in-dim: He was liberal in iiis \ie\vs, wrote well 

 and independently, but with moiler.it ion. I le showed 

 remarkable courage in publishing his tragedy, La 

 Mart de Louis XI /., his lir-i poi m, a few weeks 

 after the execution of the king, lie held several 

 public offices during the reign of terror, and opposed, 

 in some cases successfully, the tyranny of the ad- 

 ministration. He died at 1'aris, Jinn 



AIGUILLON, duke d' ; peer of France, anil minister 

 of foreign affairs under Louis XV. ; distinguished, 

 as a courtier, by his ready wit, but destitute of al- 

 most all the qualities that constitute the suite-man. 

 During his ministry the partition of Poland took 

 place; and till it was actually accomplished, d'A. 

 knew nothing of this profligate project. Even Louis 

 XV. exclaimed, when it came to his knowledge, 

 " Had Choiseul been here, this partition would never 

 have taken place." D'A. was born in 1720. When 

 he first appeared at the court of Louis, he struck the 

 fancy of the duchess of Chateauroux, mistress of the 

 king. She obtained him an appointment in the 

 army in Italy. After experiencing many alterna- 

 tions of favour and disgrace, he was admitted, 

 through the influence of the countess du Barry, into 

 the ministry with the abbe Terrai and the chancellor 

 Maupeou, after ChoiseuPs downfall. His adminis- 

 tration of the department of foreign aflairs was dis- 

 graceful to France, which, under him, degenerated 

 from the high diplomatic character she had hitherto 

 sustained. He boasted of having brought about the 

 revolution of Sweden in 177^, which now is made a 

 matter of reproach to him. At the accession of 

 Louis XVT. he was removed from the ministry. 

 His place was supplied by the count of Vergennes. 

 in 1774. D'A. was hated by the queen, was exiled 

 in 1775, and died in banishment in his 80th year. 



AIKEN, John, M. D., an English miscellaneous 

 writer, born in Leicestershire, 1747 ; died at his re- 

 sidence in Stoke Newington, 1822. He practised 

 as physician at Chester, Warrington, and latterly at 

 Yarmouth ; and published various works of a mis- 

 cellaneous description, some in conjunction with his 

 sister, Mrs Barbauld (q. v.). His most elaborate work 

 is his " General Biographical Dictionary," begun in 

 1799, and finished in 1815. He was editor of the 

 Monthly Magazine from 1796 till 1806, in which 

 capacity he distinguished himself as a very sensible 

 and entertaining essayist. 



AIRMAN, Wilfiam, an eminent portrait painter of 

 the last century, was born in Scotland, and early 

 enjoyed the patronage of John duke of Argyle, and 

 the earl of Burlington. He also enjoyed the friend- 

 ship of most of the wits of queen Anne's time, 

 especially Swift, Pope, Gay, Somerville, and his 

 countrymen, Arbuthnot, Thomson, Smollett, and 

 Allan Ramsay. His best portraits are those of the 

 Buckinghamshire family and the Royal family. lie 

 died in 1731, aged 49. 



AILSA CRAIG, a rocky island in the Frith of Clyde, 

 between the coasts of Ayr and Cantyre, of a conical 

 form. It is a conspicuous object, 940 feet high, 

 seven miles from the shore, about two miles in cir- 

 cumference ; Ion. 5o8' W., lat. 55" 18' N. Innu- 

 merable sea-fowl, many of which are good for the 

 table, or valuable on account of their feathers, fre- 

 quent it ; a few rabbits and goats live on its sterile 

 surface. A ruinous castle stands on its summit, end 



