A I L 



pmod. For the Earl of Burlinjjton lie pair.teJ a l.irge 

 picliire of the royal family, which his dcatli prevented his 

 iinirtiiiig. It is now in the poifofrion of the Duke of De- 

 voniliire. Toward-, the clofc of his life he painted many 

 other portraits of p^-rfons of the firll rank in England ; and 

 there are feveral portraits painted by him in Scotland, which 

 arc now in the pofferiion of the Djke of Argylc, the Duke 

 of Hamilton and others. This ingenious artill died in 

 London, June 4th, l"i ; and having loll his ion about fix 

 months before, at the age of 17, their remains were re- 

 moved to Edinbingli, and interred on the fam.e day in the 

 Greyfriars church -yard. An-.ongil his intimate friends we 

 may reckon Mr. W. Som-rviile, the well-known author of 

 the Chace, &c. Mr, Mallet, Mr. Allan Ramfay, and Mr. 

 Thonifon, each of whom paid an elegiac tribute to his me- 

 mory. The foUov.'ing epitaph by Mr. Mallet, was engraven 

 ©0 his tomb. 



" Dear to the good and wife, difprais'd by none, 

 Here fleep, in peace, the father and the fon ; 

 By virtue, as by nature, clofe ally'd, 

 Tiie painter's genius, but \vithout the pride : 

 Vi'^orth unambitious, wit afraid to (liine ; 

 Honour's clear light, and friendfliip's warmth divine : 

 The fon fair rifing, knew too (hort a date ; 

 But, oh ! how more fevere the father's fate ! 

 lie faw him torn untimely from his fide. 

 Felt all a father's anguith — wept, and dy'd." 

 Mr. Thomfon's poem on the death of Mr. Aikman, clofes 



with t!is following Hues : 



" A friend, when dead, is but remov'd from fight, 



Sunk in the lutlrc of eternal light ; 



And w!ien the parting ilorms of life are o'er, 



May yet rejoin us on a happier fliore. 



As thofe we love decay, we die in part ; 



String after ilring is fever'd from the heart, 



Till loofen'd life, at laft, but breathing clay, 



Wltliout one pang is glad to fall away. 



Unhappy he, who lateil feels the blow, 



Whofe eves have wept o'er evei-y friend laid low ; 



Dragg'd Ung'ring on from partial death to death, 



Till dying, all he can refign is breath." 



For the eight laft lines, fee Thomfon's Works, vol. ii. 



P- 283. 



In his ftyle of painting Mr. Aikman feems to have aimed 

 at imitating nature in her pleafing fimplicity ; his lights are 

 foft, his Ihades mellow, and his colouring mild and har- 

 monious. His touches have neither the force nor harfhnefs 

 of Rubens ; nor does he feem, like Reynolds, ever to have 

 aimed at adorning his portraits with the elegance of adven- 

 titious graces. His mind, tranquil and fercne, delighted 

 rather to wander with Thomfon in the enchanting fields of 

 Tempe, than to burft, with Michael Angelo, into the ruder 

 fccncs of the terrible and the fubUme. His compofitions are 

 diHinguidied by a placid tranquillity of eafe rather than a 

 ftriking brilliancy of effeft ; and his portraits may be more 

 readily miftaken for thofe of Kneller than any other eminent 

 artift ; not only becaufe of the general refemblance in the 

 drefles, which w-ere thofe of the times, as they were con- 

 temporaries, but alfo for the manner of working, and the 

 fimilarity and bland mellownefs of their tints. Biog. Dift. 



AILAH, formerly ^lana and Elath of Scripture, 

 a ruined town of Arabia Petrsa, on the north-wed coaft of 

 the gulf of Akaba or Ailaha ; about 140 miles fouth-eaft 

 of Sue/.. E. long. 35^ o'. N. hit. 29*^ 20'. 



AIEAN, a river of Siberia, which runs into the Penzins- 

 kaia gulf near Okianflc. 



A I L 



AILANTHUS, formed of the Amboina name Ay- 

 lanto, which denotes the tree of heaven, fo called on account 

 of its lofty growth, in Bolany, a genus of plants, the 

 clafs and order of which are not afcertained. Prof. Martyn 

 refers it to the polygamia moiwec'in, Schreber to the iliotcia 

 decandria, and Gmelin to the decandrla hiytila. Its cha- 

 racters are, that it has male, female and hermaphrodite 

 flowers. I'he calyx of the male is aone-ltafed, five-parted, 

 veiT fmall pcrianthium ; the corolla has five petals, lanceolate, 

 acute, convolute at the bafe and fpreading ; the llamina have 

 ten filaments, comprelTed, of the hngthof the corolla ; the 

 anthers are oblong and verfatile. The calyx of the female is 

 like that of the male, permanent ; the corolla the fame ; 

 the piftillum has from three to five germs, curved inwards ; 

 the ilyles are lateral and the lligmas capitate ; the pericar- 

 pium has as many capfules as there are germs, comprefied, 

 membranaceous, fabre-ftiaped, acute, on one of the edges 

 emarginate ; the feeds are folitaiy, lens-fliaped, bony, clofe- 

 to the emarginaturc. The calyx of the hermaphrodite is the 

 fame with that of the male and female ; the corolla the fame 

 as in the male ; the (lamina have two or three filaments, as 

 in the male ; the piftillum, pericarpium and feed as in the 

 female. There is one fpccies, -vi-z. A. glanduhfa, or tall 

 ailanthus, which is a tree with a llraight trunk, 40 or 50 feet 

 high, a native of China, and firft raifed in England about 

 the year 1751. It grows faft in our cHmate, and as it rifes 

 to a coKfiderable height, it is proper for ornamental plan- 

 tations. A refinous juice, which foon hardens, flows from 

 the vvounded bark. The wood is hard, heavy, gloffy like 

 fattin, and fufceptible of a very fine poUlh. This is the 

 Rhus Slnenfr, &c. of Ellis. See Phil. Tranf. vol. xxxix. 

 p. 870, and vol. 1. p. 446. Martyn's Miller. 



AILE, or AiEi., formed of Fr. akul, a-oit.':, gramljclher, 

 in Lnii', a writ which lies where the grand-father, or great- 

 grandfather, called hcfaile, was feized of lands or tenements 

 in fee-fimple, on the day he died ; and a f^"angcr abates or 

 enters the fame day, and difpoflefleth the heir or grand-child. 

 See Abatement. 



AILERONS, a diminutive of the French a'lle, iv'mg, in 



Natural Hijhry, petty wings, a French term exprelfing two 



fmall flielly fubftances, refenibling parts of wings, or young 



and juft growing wings, and found in the two-winged flies, 



, fituated at the root of the larger v/ings. Reaumur. 



AILES vitrecs, in Natural H'ljlory, a French term ufed 

 to exprefs the wings of a feries of infefts, which feem of a 

 middle nature, between the fly and the butterfly kind, and 

 are therefore called papilion inouchcshy tliefe writers. The 

 wings of thefe infefts are in part covered with duft, or fcales, 

 and in part free from it, and tranfparent. In thefe free 

 parts they look glaflTy ; whence their name, fignifyingj-Zn^' 

 •wings. 



AILESBURY, in Geography. Sec Aylesbury. 

 AILLANT-SUR-THOLON, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Yorne, and diftrift of Ivigny : 3! 

 leagues north-weft of Auxerre. 



AlLLAS, a village of France, in the department of the 

 Gironde, and diftrift of Bazas ; two leagues nortli-eaft of 

 Bazas. 



AILLY, a village of France, in the department of the 

 Somme, and diftrift of Abbeville ; five leagues welt-north- 

 ■weft of Amiens. 



This is alfo the name of a town of France, in the fame 

 department," and diftrift cf Montdidier ; thiec leagues fouth- 

 louth-eaft of Amiens. 



AILLY, Peter D', iu 5wfr^/>Zi)', bifliop of Cambitiy, 

 and a bigoted ccclefiaftic, was born of an obfcure family at 

 Compcigne in 1350. He finiftied his ftudies at Paris, and 



