APPLAUSE APPRENTICE. 



215 



fearful disturbance arose, and the decemvir was com- 

 pelled to leave Virginia in the hands of her family ; 

 but he declared that he would pronounce his decision 

 the next day. Virginius, summoned by his brother 

 and Icilius, appeared in the forum, with his daughter 

 in a mourning dress. He brought the most indubit- 

 able proofs ot the groundlessness of the claim ; but 

 A., trusting to the number of his guards, still com- 

 manded Claudius to take her as his slave. When 

 Virginius asked permission of the decemvir to speak 

 to her nurse, in Virginia's presence, that he might, 

 for his own satisfaction, be convinced of his error, A. 

 consented. Upon this, the unhappy father tenderly 

 embraced his daughter, suddenly seized the knife of 

 a butcher who was standing by, and plunged it into 

 her bosom, with these words : " Go, free and pure 

 Virginia, to thy mother and thy ancestors." A. com- 

 manded Virginius to be seized ; but he fled to the 

 camp. The senators Valerius and Horatius, who 

 hated the decemvirate, inflamed a spirit of vengeance 

 in the people, already excited by the sight of Virgi- 

 nia's body, and A. could silence the disturbance only 

 by summoning a meeting of the senate. In the mean- 

 time, Virginius had related the aflair to the army, 

 which marched to Rome, demanding revenge. The 

 decemvirs, seeing they could no longer maintain their 

 authority, resigned their offices. The senate, with- 

 out delay, resolved to restore the tribunes and con- 

 suls, A. U. 305. A. died in prison, Livy says, by his 

 own hand ; according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 

 the tribunes caused him to be strangled. Oppius, also, 

 who was accused of being his companion in crime, 

 killed himself. The abject Claudius, as he had only 

 been the tool of a tyrant, was banished to Tibur, 

 then a desert. Various tragedies have been written 

 on the subject of Virginia, the latest as well as the 

 most successful of which is by Mr Knowles. 



APPLAUSE (from Latin plaudere) ; to express appro- 

 bation by any movement of the hands. No nation has 

 systematized applause like the Romans, who, accord- 

 ing to Suetonius, had three kinds bombus, the noise 

 ot which was like the humming of bees ; imbrices, 

 which sounded like rain falling on the tiles; and 

 tesUe, a sound like the breaking of pots. The two lat- 

 ter were produced by instruments placed in the thea- 

 tre, and persons were instructed to give applause with 

 skill. The plausores, or applauders, were divided 

 into chori, and disposed in theatres opposite each 

 other, like the choristers in cathedrals. In France, 

 Britain, and America, applause is often given by 

 making a noise with the feet, which, in Germany, 

 always signifies a high degree of dissatisfaction. For 

 further information, see the article declamation, 



APPLE. The apple, in all its innumerable varieties, 

 is said to have been derived entirely from the crab- 

 apple (pyrus mains'), which grows wild in every part 

 of Britain. The uses of the apple are very various ; 

 even the bitter crab-apple is not without value ; for 

 its fermented juice, known by the name of verjuice, 

 is employed both in cookery and medicine, and also 

 for the purifying of wax. Hogs and deer are fond 

 of them. The wood is hard ami durable, and makes 

 good wheel-cogs, &c. All good apples, and many 

 of the common kinds, are produced by the process 

 termed grafting. This is performed by inserting 

 young twigs or shoots from trees bearing fine fruit into 

 stocks of inferior kinds, raised upon every farm, from 

 the pomace of the cider-mill. The branches formed 

 by the twig inserted are found to bear fruit corres- 

 ponding in quality to the tree from which it was cut. 

 The same process is pursued with all other kinds of 

 fruit-trees ; for inoculated or ingrafted fruit is always 

 found to be the best. The kinds of apples most high 

 ly prized in all countries are the varieties of pippin. 

 The common family uses of the apple are too fami- 



liar to need specification ; but its most important ap- 

 plication is to the manufacture of cider. The pro- 

 cess for making the best cider is simple; perhaps 

 quite as much so as any mode of spoiling it. The 

 apples should be sorted according to their degrees of 

 ripeness. &c., and left a few days in hefips to ripen, 

 if necessary. They should then be ground in a mill, 

 till they are entirely bruised. They are afterwards 

 allowed to stand a day or two in open vessels or 

 troughs, and then pressed between hair-cloths or lay- 

 ers of clean straw ; the last is not so good, from ab- 

 sorbing and wasting a portion of the juice. The li- 

 quor running from the press is then received into a 

 vat, or large casks, till it has fermented, when it is 

 drawn off, and placed in clean, tight barrels or casks, 

 to stand till it is fine and clear ; it is then racked off 

 from the lees, and kept in casks or bottled for use. 

 A portion of brandy and a little flowers of sulphur 

 render it more pure, and less likely to grow hard and 

 sour. Cider is a very wholesome drink during the 

 heat of summer, although more apt to derange the 

 stomach, produce colic, &c. than beer. A liquor is 

 obtained by distillation from cider, termed cider- 

 brandy, of which great quantities are made in the 

 United States; while a very strong liquid may be 

 obtained by allowing cider to be frozen, and then 

 drawing off the portion which remains fluid, and thus 

 retains its heat. But a far more wholesome liquor 

 than either is the pomona wine, which is prepared by 

 adding one gallon of brandy, to six of new cider, after 

 it is racked off. This, when eight or twelve months 

 old, is a very good substitute for wine, for the use of the 

 poor or the sick, and is, beyond all comparison, more 

 wholesome than the wretched mixtures sold so cheap 

 undsr the name of Lisbon wine, &c. 



APPOGGIATO denotes, in music, and particularly in 

 song, a blended and not abrupt utterance of the tones ; 

 so that they insensibly glide and melt into each other 

 without any perceptible break. It is from appoggiare, 

 to lean on. Hence, also, 



APPOGGIATURA ; a small additional note of embel- 

 lishment preceding the note to which it is attached, 

 and taking away from the principal note a portion of 



its time. It is expressed thus : 



APPRENTICE; a young person of either sex, bound 

 by indenture to serve some particular individual, or 

 company of individuals, for a specified time, in order 

 to be instructed in some art, science, or trade. Ac- 

 cording to the common law of England, every one has 

 a right to employ himself at pleasure in every law- 

 ful trade. But this principle was almost entirely sub- 

 verted by a statute passed in the 5th year of the reign 

 of Elizabeth, which enacted, that no person should 

 for the future exercise any trade, craft, or mystery in 

 England, unless he had previously served to it an ap- 

 prenticeship of seven years at least ; so that what had 

 formerly been a bye- law of a few corporations, became 

 the general and statute law of the kingdom. Though 

 the impolicy of this enactment was long apparent, it 

 was not till 1814 that it was repealed by the 54 Geo. 

 III. c. 90. The repeal did not interfere with any of 

 the existing rights, privileges, or bye-laws of the dif- 

 ferent corporations ; but wherever these do not inter- 

 pose, the formation of apprenticeships and their du- 

 ration is left to be adjusted by the parties themselves. 

 The ancients had nothing similar to our apprentice- 

 ships, not even a term of corresponding signification. 

 The mechanical arts were carried on, among the 

 Greeks and Romans, by slaves. Apprenticeships in 

 these and the liberal arts and professions grew up in 

 the middle ages, when the members of a particular 

 trade or profession formed a corporation. These cor- 



