A G A 



A G A 



and was enrolled among tlic faints ; and tlif Roman fee was 

 at this time fo poor, that in order to defray the expeuces of 

 his journey thither, he was oblij^ed to pawn the facred Vv;frels 

 of the chtuch of St. Peter. 15o\ver and Dupin. 



AcAPK TVS II. Pope, a Roman by birth, obtained the 

 papacy in 1^46, and lield it till the year 956. Pie exerted 

 liimfelf in terminating the did'enfions of Italy, and ftnt for 

 the emperor Olho to oppofe Berengcr II. who aHunied the 

 regal power in this country. He was »epnted a man of ex- 

 traordinaiy fanitity. Dupm. Fabrie.Bibl. (inec. t. vi. p. 570. 



AGAPHONOVA, in Geogmphy, a river of Siberia, 

 which runs into the Frozen Ocean. 



AGAPIS lapis, in Nalunil Hijlory, a name given by an- 

 cient writers, to a Rone of a dulky yellow, or the colour of 

 a lion's ll-;in ; it was held in great eileem in many nations, 

 on account of its fuppofed virtues, as an anodyne and vnl- 

 nerary. 



AGAPIUS, in B'lography, a Manichsan writer, mentioned 

 by Photius, who is fuppofed to have lived about the middle 

 of the 4th century. Some fay, that he was a difciplc of 

 Manes towards the clofc of the third century, that he op- 

 pofed the fentiinents of Eunomius concerning the Trinity, 

 and that he wrote three books in defence of the Manich-i-an 

 principles ; one a w^rk of twenty-three books, another 

 confifting of 102 chapters, infcribed to a won. an of the 

 fame feft, napied Urania ; and a third, intitled Heptalogus, 

 preferved in the Anathemas agaiuft the Ma-iichces, or form 

 of abjuring Manichxifm, by Fabricius, Cotelerius and Toi- 

 lius. His work, fays Photius, was fo abf;;rd and impious, 

 that it could only (hame and confound thofe who followed 

 him and the Manichrean dott lines ; and he is denominated 

 by the fame writer, a deteftablc and impious man, auddiftin- 



fuifhed as one of the twelve difciples of Manes. Gen. Dift. 

 ■ardner's works, vol. iii. p. 306. Fabricius (Bibl. Grsc. 

 t. X. p. 383) has mentioned feveral other perfons of this 

 name ; fuch as a monk of moimt Athos, who lived about 

 the year 1640, and publiflied a book entitled ajj.cif\ai>.'M aJln^ic, 

 the falvation of finners ; Agapius, a bilhop of Cxfarea, the 

 predecefforof Eufebius ; Agapius, an Athenian philofopher, 

 a difciple of Proclus, and fuppofed to be the fame with the 

 eminent phyfician and rhetorician of Alexandria and Con- 

 ftantinople, whofe diftinguiflied talents are noticed by Suidas. 



AGAR, in Ancient Geography, a town of Byzacium, 

 defcvibed by Hirtius, a few miles weflward of Lcmjjta or 

 Leptis parva, and fixteen miles from Thapfus. It was one 

 of Csefar's ftations ; the village which now occupies the 

 rocky fituation in which it flood is called by the Arabs Boo- 

 Hadjar, ;. c. the father of a ilone, or the ftony city. Shaw's 

 Trav. p. 109. 



AGAR A, a town of the Phylliatcs, in India, on this 

 fide of the Ganges, according to Ptolemy. 



AGARAF'FO, or Axaraffe, a fmall, pleafant and 

 fertile country of Andalufia, in Spain. Its principal town 

 is San-Lucar-la-Major, erefted into a duchy by Philip IV. 

 in favour of Count d'Ohvarez. 



AGARD, Arthur, \n Biography, a learned antiquary 

 of this country, was born at Tofton, in Derby fhlre, A. D. 

 1540 ; and having been educated for the law, was appointed 

 deputy-chamberlain of the Exchequer in 1570, which office 

 he held 45 years. By means of this office he was enabled to 

 purfue thofe curious rcfearches, of which he pi-oduced feveral 

 valuable publications. Having direfted his particular atten- 

 tion to the Dooms-day book, he wrote a learned treatife on 

 the ufe and true meaning of the obfcure words that occur 

 in it ; he alfo compiled a book, containing " a catalogue of 

 the records preferved in lus Majefly's four treafunes," and 



" an accoimt of all leagues, treaties of peace, intcrcourfcs 

 and marriages with foreign nations." This work, with 

 eleven other Ireatifes in MS. relating to matters of tlie Ex- 

 chequer, he ordered by his will to be delivered to the oifice. 

 His other colleftions, amounting to twenty volumes, were 

 bequeathed to Sir Robert Cotton, and depofited in his library. 

 His elTays read to the Antiquarian Society were publifhed 

 by Mr. Hearne, in his " coUeflion of curious difcourlcs by 

 eminent antiquaries," and arc as follow, viz. " Opinion 

 touching the Antiquity, &c. of Pariiament," thegenuine- 

 nefs of which is doubted : — " The Antiquity of Englifh 

 Shires :" — " On the Dimenhons of the Land of England :" 

 — " Of the Authority, &c. of Heralds in England :" — Of 

 the Antiquity and Privileges of the Inns of Court and of 

 Chancery : — " Of the Diverfity of Names of this lOand." 

 By his cflabllflicd reputation for the knowledge of antiquities 

 he was one of the moll conf)iicuous members of a Society of 

 Antici^u ARIES, which fublifted from 1572 to 1604. He 

 died in 161 1;, and was buried in the cloiller of Weilminfter 

 Abbey. Mr. Camden denominates him a moil excellent 

 antiquary. Biog. Brit. 



AGARENI, or Agarenians, a name given by fome 

 to the followers of the rehgion of Mahomet. 



Tlic word is derived from Agar, or Hagar, handmaid of 

 Abraham, and mother of Iflimael ; and properly denotes 

 the Arabs, called alfo Ilhmaelltes, and more lately Saracens. 



AGARENUM, the capital of the Agarenians, in 

 Arabia ; it was attacked by Trajan, but without fuccefs. 



AGARIC, Agaricus, called ylmanila by Dillenius, 

 in Botany, a genus of the order of fungi, and clafs of cryp- 

 togamia; the characters of which are, that the pileus or cap 

 has gills underneath ; that the gills differ in fubftance from 

 the reft of the plant, being compofed of two lamina ; and 

 that the feeds are in the gilk. Gmelin, in the 13th edition 

 of the Linn^an fyftem, 1 79 1, enumerates 390 different 

 fpecics ; and Dr. Withering, in the third edition of his 

 arrangement of Britifli plants, 1796, (vol. iv. p. 154, &c.) 

 afcertains and defcribes 282 Britifh fpecies, befides feveral 

 varieties. He diftributes them into three general claffes, 

 comprehending thofe which have central ftems, thofe with 

 lateral ilems, and thofe which have no ftems ; and he again 

 fubdivides the two former claffes into fuch as have folid, 

 and fueh as have hollow ftems, with dccurrent, hxed and 

 loofe gills refpeftively. Under thefe heads he arranges the 

 fpecies, by the colour of the gills, into thofe whofe gills 

 are white, brown, red, buff, yellow, grey, green, and purple. 

 As this ingenious author has formed a fyftem, that ferves 

 to facilitate the inveftigation and defcription of the feveral 

 fpecies of agarics, we ftiall here give a brief flietch of the 

 principles upon which it is founded. Agarics are compofed 

 of a cap or pileus, with gills underneath, and are either 

 with or without ftems. The ftems are either central or la- 

 teral. They have alfo a root, which is more or lefs appa- 

 rent, and fome of them, in their unfolded ftatc, wholly en- 

 clofed in a membranaceous or leather-like cafe, called 3 

 lurcippcr. Some of them have alfo a curtain, or thin mem- 

 brane, extending from the ftem to the edge of the pileus, 

 which is rent as the pileus expands, and foon vaniftics ; but 

 the part attached to the ftem often remains, and forms 

 roilnd it a ring, which is more or lefs permanent, as its fub- 

 ftance is more or lefs tender. Thefe parts are feen in Plate 

 V. Botany, fg. F, which exhibits the vertical feftion of 

 an agaric in its egg-ftate. The wrapper is feen at m, m, 

 m, m, m ; the pileus at n, n ; the gill at o, o ; p is 

 the ftem before it flioots up ; and q, q, the curtain. On 

 the fedjen of a ftem at B, may be feen the remains of a 



curtain^ 



