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AZERBIJAN AZZAHA 



this panegyric had, no doubt, some influence in 

 securing to the author the favour of that monarch, 

 by whom he was successively appointed one of the 

 gentlemen of the bed-chamber, and private secretary 

 ID liis queen, Anne of Denmark, besides receiving 

 tin- honour of knighthood. He was, at a later 

 period of his life, honoured with the appointment of 

 secretary to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I. 

 During his residence abroad, as well as at the court 

 of England, he lived in intimacy with, and secured 

 the esteem of, the most eminent persons of his time. 

 He died at London, in March, 1637-3, and was 

 buried in the south aisle of the choir of Westminster 

 Abbey, where a handsome monument was erected to 

 his memory. The poems of Sir Robert Ayton, for 

 the first time published together in the Miscellany 

 of the Bannatyne Club, are few in number, but are 

 greatly distinguished by their elegance of diction. 

 John Aubrey remarks, " that Sir Robert was one of 

 the best poets of his time," and adds the more im- 

 portant testimony, that " Mr John Dryden has seen 

 verses of his, some of the best of that age, printed 

 with some other verses." According to Dempster, 

 Ayton was also a writer of verses in Greek and 

 French, as well as in English and Latin. Several 

 of his Latin poems are preserved in the work called, 

 " Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum," which was printed in 

 his lifetime (1637) at Amsterdam. 



AZERBIJAN ; a province of Persia, part of the an- 

 cient Media. It is separated from Armenia on the 

 north by the river Araxes, and from Irak on the 

 south by the Kizilozein or golden stream. It has 

 the Caspian sea and Ghilan on the east, and Arme- 

 nia and Kurdistan on the west. The country is 

 superior to the southern provinces of Persia, being 

 richly diversified with wood and water. Lead, cop- 

 per, saltpetre, and sulphur, are found within the con- 

 fines of A. ; also a kind of beautiful transparent 

 marble or jasper, which takes the highest polish, 

 and is used in the buildings of Tabreez, Schiraz, and 

 Ispahan, under the name of Tabreez marble. The 

 province is divided into twelve districts. The chief 

 towns are Tabriz or Tabreez, containing 30,000 in- 

 habitants ; Meanna, Ardebil, Shebuster ; Tasouj, in 

 ruins ; Selmart, with 2000 inhabitants ; Khoee, with 

 25,000 ; Ooroomea, with 12,000 ; and Maraga, with 

 15,000. The climate is healthful ; in summer and 

 autumn hot, but cold in winter, which is severely felt 

 by the lower orders, owing to the want of fuel, for 

 which there is no substitute except dried cow-dung 

 mixed with straw. 



AZI.VCTH of a star ; the arc of the horizon compre- 

 hended between the meridian of the observer and 

 the vertical circle passing through the star. It is 

 easterly, if the star is observed before, westerly, if 

 after, and zero, if at, the time of culmination. It is 

 usual to connect with the quadrant a graduated, 

 horizontal circle, called the azimuth circle. The 

 zero of its divisions is brought into the situation of 

 the meridian, and we have immediately the azimuth 

 of the star, whose height above the horizon is deter- 

 mined by the telescope of the quadrant. 



AZOGA SHIPS (from the Spanish azogue, quicksilver) 

 were those Spanish ships, commonly called the 

 quicksilver ships, from their carrying mercury to, the 

 Spanish West Indies, to extract the silver from' the 

 mines of Mexico and Peru. They were prohibited 

 from carrying any goods except for the king of Spain. 



AZOPH, or AZOF ; a small town and fortress in the 

 Russian government of Ekaterinoslav, upon an island 

 at the mouth of the Don, where it flows into the sea 

 of Azoph. Lat 46" 53' N. ; Ion. 39 14' E. It con- 

 tains about 3000 inhabitants, and was as late as 1774, 

 given up entirely to the Russians by the Turks. 

 The Sea of Azoph is merely a bay of the Black sea, 



with which it is united by the straits of Cafla. In 

 the middle ages, it was called Mar de Zabacchi, and, 

 in ancient times, Palus Mceotis. Its principal port is 

 Tan" an rock. Its fish are plentiful. On Sept. 5, 

 1799, a new volcanic island was thrown up. The. 

 sea is 210 miles in length, and about 50 broad. Lat. 

 45 20' 47 20* N. ; Ion. 34 30'~39 30' E. 



AZORES (i. e. Hawk islands) ; a group of nine Por- 

 tuguese islands in the Atlantic ocean, between Africa 

 and America, extending in an oblique line from 

 north-west to south-east, between the 37 th and 40th 

 degrees of north latitude, and the 25th and 32d de- 

 grees of west longitude. The inhabitants are of 

 Portuguese origin, and governed by Portuguese laws. 

 The country is volcanic and mountainous, but well- 

 watered and uncommonly fruitful. The highest 

 mountain, the peak of Pico, is 701G feet high. The 

 climate is warm and healthy, producing com, wine, 

 and various fruits. The inhabitants are engaged in 

 grazing and fisheries, have some manufactures, and a 

 lively trade. There is no good harbour. The Por- 

 tuguese discovered these islands, A. D. 144G, though 

 the Dutch navigators had seen them earlier, and 

 called them the Flemish islands. Their names are 

 St Michael, population 80,000; Tercera, 28,900; 

 Pico, 20,900; St George, 11,200; Fayal, 16,300; 

 Santa Maria, 5,000; Graciosa, 7,400; Flows, 7,100; 

 and Corvo, 800. Angra, the chief city on Tercera, 

 contains 15,000 inhabitants. The total population 

 of the Azores is estimated by some at more than 

 200,000. 



AZOTE (from , and <u, life, because it is fatal to 

 animal life ; called also nitrogen, because one of the 

 most important properties of its base is, that, in com- 

 bination with oxygen, it composes nitric acid) ; a 

 gas. Though incapable of supporting respiration or 

 combustion, its presence seems to be necessary to di- 

 lute the oxygen, and thus diminish its activity. 

 Atmospheric air is a mixture of oxygen and azote, in 

 the proportion of 21 to 79 in volume. The specific 

 gravity of azote is 9757, that of the air being taken 

 as unity. Its refractive power is 1 03408. The spe- 

 cific caloric of azote and the air, taken in equal vo- 

 lumes, is the same ; taken by equal weights, that of 

 azote is greater. Azote is procured by burning phos- 

 phorus in a receiver over mercury ; the phosphorus 

 unites with the oxygen, and the azote is set free : it 

 still contains a small quantity of carbonic acid, which 

 is separated by shaking the gas in a closed bottle, 

 containing limewater, from which the air has been ex- 

 hausted. It is also evolved from decaying organized 

 substances, and forms ammonia with their hydrogen 

 when burned. Azote has a feeble affinity for other 

 substances ; the number of mineral compounds into 

 which it enters is, therefore, small. Animal and 

 vegetable substances differ from each other only in 

 this, that the former contain azote, the latter are 

 destitute of it. Some chemists consider azote a com- 

 pound of equal volumes of oxygen, and a base which 

 they call nitricum. 



AZYME, or AZYMCTS (Greek, afrpis, without ferment, 

 unleavened) ; a term much used in the violent con- 

 troversies between the Roman and Greek Catholics ; 

 the former of whom contend that the bread, in the 

 mass ought to be azymus. The controversies on this 

 important subject are of equal consequence with those 

 between the German Lutherans and Calvinists, 

 whether the Lord's prayer ought to begin Our Father, 

 or Father ofus; or between some religious orders, 

 whether the cowl ought to be pointed or round, &c., 

 &c., &c. 



AZZARA, Don Joseph Nicholas, chevalier d'; a 

 Spanish naturalist, was born, 1731, at Barbaneies7iu 

 Arragon, and early showed a strong inclination for 

 the arts and sciences, which was increased by his 





