ASH 



A S I 



■an intimite acquaintance with tin; aftrologers of that period, 

 Moore, Lilly, and Booker. In 1647, he retired to Engle- 

 fitld in Bcriifhire, and applied to tlie ftiidy of botany. 

 Here he became acquainted with a rich widow, whom he 

 married in 1649, and then removed with her to I^ondon, 

 where his houfe was a place of rcfort for all the proficients 

 in the curious and occult fciences. Havinjj acquired from 

 an adept in Berkiliire a tafte for alchemy, he publifhed, un- 

 der a feigned name, a treatife by the famous Dr. Dee, and 

 another by an anonymous author, on this fubject ; and with 

 great laboiir and expence he made a colleftion of the MS. 

 works of Englilh chemiils, which he publiflied in 1652, un- 

 der the title of " Theatrum Chymicum Britannicum," in 

 4to. Having brought to a favourable termination lome le- 

 gal difputcs occafioned by his wealthy mairiaf;£, he devoted 

 himfelf with fingular aiTiduity to the ilndy of antiquity and 

 the peruial of records; and relinquifhing hermetic pliilofopliv 

 with a preface to a treatife on the philofophers' ilone, which 

 he edited, he began to make collections for the work which 

 conduced much more to his literary reputation than any of 

 Lis aftrological and alehi;mical purfuits, and this was his 

 " Hillory of the Order of the Garter." As he was fond 

 of the lludy of botany, he chole for the place of his refidence 

 the houfe of JohnTradeicant, a fcienliHc gardener of Lam- 

 beth ; and became pofrefTor of the collection of rarities that 

 had been made by Tradefcant and his father, and which 

 was conveyed to Mr. Allimole by a deed of gift in 1659. 

 On tiie reiloration, Alhmole was particularly noticed, on ac- 

 count both of his loyalty and learning, by the king, who 

 appointed him Windfor herald, and committed to him the 

 dcfcription of the royal medals. He was alfo made a com- 

 niidioiier, and afterwards comptroller ot the excife ; he was 

 called to the bar in tlie Middle Temple, admitted a fellow 

 of the Royal Society that had been recently ellablilhed; 

 prefented, by the univerlity of Oxford, with the degree of 

 do dor of ph vf;c ; and promoted to other offices, both ho- 

 nourable and hicrati%"e. Upon the death of his fecoud wife, 

 he married the daughter of his friend Sir W. Dugdale. In 

 1672, he prefented to the king his book " On the Order of 

 the Garter," iiititled " The Inllitutions, Laws, and Cere- 

 monies of the Moil Noble Order of the G irter, collected 

 and digeilcd into one body ;" and printed at London in fo- 

 lio, in 1672. In 1679, '^'^ reiigned his office of Windfor 

 herald, and declined accepting that of garter king at Arms, 

 on two vacancies which occurred. His valuable library, 

 which he had been thirty-three years iu collecting, and alfo 

 lus cabinet confillinw of nine thoufand coins, and many cu- 

 rious antiquities, were deftroyed by a fire, which happened 

 iu the chambers adjoining his own in the Middle Temple ; 

 but his MSS. and gold medals were preferved at Lambeth. 

 When the univerfity of Oxford had tiniilied an edifice for a 

 niufeum, in 1683, Mr. Albmole fent thither his Tradcfcan- 

 tian collection of rarities, with the additions whicli he had 

 made to it; and he afterwards addedto this donation, his books 

 andMSS. Thi:s commenced the " Mufeum Afhmoleaiuini," 

 now fubfiiHng at Oxford. Mr. Alhmole, having attained 

 the 76th year of his age, died in 1692, and was buried in the 

 church of Great Laiiibeth. Some few of his numerous 

 MSS. chiefly on antiquities, have been publilhed iince his 

 death; and alfo " A Diary of his Life" written by himfelf. 

 Hit rank in literature and philufophy may he eilimated by 

 the brief account that has now been given of liis reiearches 

 and purfuits. Whilll a fober judgment will he.ltate in ad- 

 mitting the extravagant panegyric of the " Biografphia 

 Britamiica," which records him as " one of the grcatelt 

 men iu the lall century," he will be allowed to have pof- 

 /[elTed, in a high degree, indullry, pcrfci-erancc, curioiity, and 



exadlncfs ; and " Anthony Wood," fays one of his biogra- 

 phers (fee Aikin's Gen. l)iog.),"in his quaint language, has 

 perhaps not ill charatterifed him, as — the greatelt virtuolo 

 or curiofo that was ever known or read ot, in England, be- 

 fore his time." Biog. Brit. 



ASHMOT, in Geography, the principal harbour in Iflc 

 Madame, which is dependant on cape Breton. 



ASHMOUNEIN, probably, fays Bnice (Trav. vol. i. 

 p. 91.), the ancient Latopolis, a large town of Egypt, which 

 gives name to the province. See Achmoun ain. 



ASHMUN-TANAH, a town of Egypt, on a canal. 

 between the Nile and the lake of Tennis, twelve miles caft 

 of Manfora, and twenty fouth oi Damietta. 



A-SHORE, in Nautical Language, a term fijrnifying 

 on the fhore, as oppolcd to a-board. It alfo means 



A-GROUND. 



ASH-PIT, is the lower part of any air-furnace, whick 

 ferves to receive the afhes of the fuel as it is cor.fumed, and 

 in general to fupply the air necefllu-)- for the cpmbullion. Sec 

 Furnace. 



ASHUELOT, or Ashwillet, in G.'ography, a fmall 

 river of America, having many branches, whofe mod re- 

 mote fource is at the north end of the Sunapee mountains, 

 in New Hampfhire. It runs fouth-weilerly through part of 

 Chcfhire county ; below Wincheller, its courfc is well by 

 north, and it difcharges itfelf into Connecticut river at 

 Hi.ifdale. 



ASHUR, in Ancient Geography and H'ljfnry, the feconJ 

 fon of Shem, occupied at the difp<.rfion t];e country called 

 after bis name, and by the Greeks Alfyria, at prefent Cur- 

 diitan, or the country of the Curds. Pezron fuppofee that 

 he was driven out of Shinaar by Nimrod, the grandfon of 

 Ham ; but however this be, it feems to have been Alhur, 

 (Gen X. II.), and not Nimrod, who went out of Shinaar 

 into Alfyria, and built Nineveh, and other cities ; and thus 

 Perizonius maintains, that the text ought to be underftood. 

 See Assyria. 



ASH Wednesday, the firfl day of Lent, fuppofed to 

 have been fo called from a cuftom in the church of fprink- 

 ling aihes that day on the heads of pcniteius then admitted 

 to penance. 



ASHWELL, George, in Biography, an epifcopalian di- 

 vine, was born in London in 161 2, and educated at Wadham 

 college, Oxford. He vas redlor of Hanwell in Oxfordfbire 

 for thirty-live years, and dillinguifhed as a zealous advocate for 

 the doctrine and worlhip of the church of England, in defence 

 of which he wrote fcveral treatifes; " Fides Apoftolica," 

 or "A Dilcourle on the authors and authority of the Apof- 

 tles' Creed," with " A double Appendix on the Athana. 

 Can and Nicene Creeds," printed at Oxford, in 8vo. in 

 1653 ; " Gclhis Euchariaicus," or " The Geftures to be 

 ufed at the receiving of the Sacranient," Svo. Oxford, 1663; 

 " De Socino et Socinianifmo ;" " De Ecclefia Romana;" 

 4to. Oxford, 168S ; and an Englifh tranfiation of Pococke'i 

 Latin tranfiation of an Arabic work, intitled, " Philofophus 

 Autodidaiftus," or " The felf-taught philofopher, Hai 

 Ebn Yokdan," by Tophail. Biog. Brit. 



ASIA, in Geography, one of the four grand divifions of 

 the earth, and the fecond in order, though the firit inhabited. 

 It is feparated from Europe by the Mediterranean, the 

 Archipelago, the Euxine, the Palus Meotides or fea of 

 Azof, the Don, and the Dvina ; from Africa by the Red 

 fea and tlie iillnmis of Suez. On the other fides it is fur- 

 rounded by the Great South fea. It does not joiii to Ame- 

 rica. Its principal parts are, Arabia, Aliatic Turkey, 

 Perfia, India, Tartary, Aliatic Ruflia, China, Japan, the 



kingdom 



K2 



