156 



ANCHISKS ANCHOVY. 



tin- shape of political institutions of an erroneous 

 tnin-fT n> a man's posterity, of the honour l>elonging 

 to himself, Ity \vliirh a natiir.il ami laudable feeling 

 has been made the source of much injustice, and 

 moral ami political cunt'iislon. Another T cry com- 

 mon fault, into which mankind constantly tall, is 

 tliat of suffering reverence frit for the persons of an- 

 cestors to produce mi undue respect for their know- 

 ledge ami wisdom, an error which arises, perliaps, 

 jiartly from the idea of age and experience attached 

 to that of ancestors. The age and experience of 

 living ancestors demand our respect, and the same 

 feeling is transferred to the dead and to former ages, 

 which, in |K)int of fact, were younger and less ex- 

 j>eri need tlian we. It is therefore ridiculous to see 

 a numerous party, e. g., in France, constantly recom- 

 mend the example of their ancestors (even of those 

 who li\cd in ayes when liardly any thing in politics 

 tiled), as the only model to be imitated. Indi- 

 v iiluals and whole nations act as if wisdom belonged 

 only to the dead. The true feeling of respect to an- 

 ccstors is that expressed by a contemporary orator, 

 on the i?00th anniversary of the settlement of his na- 

 tive city: " let us not act as they did, but as they 

 would have acted to-day." The Egyptians are 

 known to have paid particular attention to the bodies 

 of their deceased relations ; but no nation ever re- 

 vered their ancestors in such degree as the Chinese, 

 whom Confucius directed to offer them sacrifice. 

 Filial love, in fact, is one of the essential elements 

 of the Chinese religion, politics and domestic life. 

 Sir (Jeorge Staunton (see his Embassy to China, 3 

 vols. Svo.) gives several instances which support this 

 opinion. The inhabitants of New England are noted 

 for the esteem in which they hold their ancestors, 

 without, however, being blind to their faults. 



ANCHISSS, son of Capys, and great-grandson of 

 Tros. Venus, captivated by his beauty, appeared to 

 him on mount Ida (according to some, near the river 

 Simois), in the shape of a Phrygian shepherdess, and 

 bore him jEneas. His son carried him off on his 

 .shoulders at the burning of Troy, and made him the 

 companion of his voyage to Italy. He died during 

 the voyage, in Sicily. According to other accounts, 

 Jupiter killed A. with a thunderbolt, because, when 

 excited with wine, he betrayed the secret of his in- 

 timacy with Venus. 



ANCHOR, in navigation, is an important, strong, and 

 heavy instrument of iron, consisting of a shank hav- 

 ing at one end a ring, to which the cable is fastened, 

 and, at the other end, two arms or flukes, with barbs, 

 or edges on each side, intended to be dropped from a 

 ship into the bottom of the water, to retain her in a 

 convenient station in a liarbour, road, or river. The 

 most ancient anchors are said to have been of stone, 

 and sometimes of wood, to which a great quantity of 

 lead was usually fixed. In some places, baskets 

 full of stones, and sacks filled with sand, were em- 

 ployed for the same use. All these were let down 

 by cords into the sea, and, by their weight, stayed 

 the course of the ship. Afterwards, they were com- 

 posed of iron, and furnished with teeth, which, being 

 fastened to the bottom of the sea, preserved the ves- 

 sel immovable ; whence e&o*rn and dentes are fre- 

 quently taken for anchors in the Greek and Latin 

 poets. At first, there was only one tooth, whence 

 anchors were called ITIJOO-TO^* ; but, in a short time, 

 the second was added by Eupalamus, or Anacharsis, 

 the Scythian philosopher. The anchors with two 

 teeth were called a^ ( /3x<M or aft,<fnrri>ftii, and, from 

 ancient monuments, appear to have been much the 

 same with those used at present, only the transverse 

 piece of wood upon the handles (the stocks) is want- 

 ing in all -of them. Every ship had several anchors, 

 one of which, surpassing all the rest in bigness and 



strength, was peculiarly termed aja, or sacra, anil 

 was never I:M.| hut in extreme dancer; whence 

 sin-ram iincliiirum solvcre is proverbially applied to 

 such as are forced to their last refuge. Large ships, 

 at the present day, carry several anchors, with two 

 flukes each. 1. The sltrrt anchor is the largest, and 

 is only used in case of violent st,,rms. 1. Two bower 

 anchors, viz. the best Imu-n- and small Imii'cr, so called 

 from their situation at the hows. :i. The stream an- 

 chor, the A-t'dge, and f. r rnj>/i/ing, or r<ifi>'t. Tho 

 three last are often used tor moving the ship from 

 place to place, in a l.arhour or river. The anchor is 

 said to be u-peak, when the cable is perpendicular 

 between the hawse and the anchor ; it is said to rme 

 /iome,vf]wn it does not hold the ship ; it is said to be 



foul, when the cable gets hitched alniut the Jlukes. 

 To shoe an anchor, is to fix boards upon the flukes, 

 so that it may hold better in soft bottom. Ruling 

 at anchor is the state of the vessel when moored or 

 fixed by the anchor. Dropping or casting anclmr is 

 letting it down into the sea. fFeighing anchor is 

 raising it from the bottom. The anchor, as every 

 body knows, is the symbol of hope. 

 ANCHORETS. See Anachorets. 

 ANCHOVY ; a small fish of the clupea or herring 

 genus, constituting, in Cuvier's classification, a sub- 

 genus, under the title of ingraulis. The common 

 anchovy (clupea encrasicholus, L>.) is about a span 



.long, brownish on the back, with argentine belly 



'ana flanks. It differs from the other herrings in 

 having the aethmoid and nasal bones prolonged to 

 a point, beneath which their very small intermaxil- 

 laries are attached ; their maxillaries are very 

 straight and long ; the mouth and throat very wide ; 

 both jaws well furnished with teeth, and the gills 

 more open Uian in other species. The anchovy is 

 found in the greatest abundance in the Mediterranean, 

 on the coasts of France, England, and Holland, 

 whither they come in immense shoals, like the larger 

 herrings, for the purpose of spawning. Nets ot 40 

 fathoms long, and from 25 to 30 feet wide, are em- 

 ployed to take them ; these nets differ in nothing 

 from those commonly used, except in having very 

 small meshes. The anchovy fishery, in the Mediter- 

 ranean, is begun in the spring, and continues until 

 the commencement of summer, and is especially car- 

 ried on, in dark nights, by the aid of fires. The 

 fishermen provide themselves with floats, upon 

 which a fire of pine-knots is made, and these 

 are placed, at different distances, over a very consi 

 derable extent of sea . The anchovies approach these 

 lights, and collect near them in vast multitudes, when 

 the fishermen silently surround them with their nets, 

 extinguish the fire, and begin to beat upon the water. 

 The frightened fish immediately endeavour to make 

 their escape, and, rushing against the net, are caught 

 by the meshes, which, passing over their gills, neither 

 allow them to advance nor retreat. The fishermen, 

 as soon as the net appears sufficiently full, raise it, 

 and remove the fish, and go to repeat their opera- 

 tions at the next light. The Dutch, on their coasts, 

 make use of a sort of funnel-shaped trap of reeds, 

 with a net attached to the bottom. This is fastened 

 to a stake, at low-water, and, at every change of 

 tide, is visited for the purpose of removing the an- 

 chovies, which generally fill the net. Nearly all the 

 anchovies caught are immediately salted, because 

 otherwise they spoil with great rapidity. The 

 scales separate from the surface with so much 

 ease, that it is a common notion these fish pre 

 not possessed of this integument. The heads of 

 the anchovies must be taken off, on account ot 

 their bitterness, a quality which has obtained 

 for this species the name of encrasicholv-s, from 



i a strange idea, that the gall-bladder was in the 



