, AIR 
the ear, and difcovers the learning of thecompofer; an 
air invented by genius, and compofed with talle, is the 
nobleft effort of mulic : it is this which explores - the com- 
pafs, and difplays the delicacy, of a beautiful voice; it is 
in this where the charms of a well-condmSted fymphony 
thine ; it is by this, that the paflions, excited and inflamed 
by nice gradations, reach and agitate the foul through the 
avenues of external fenfe. After hearing a beafitiful air, 
the mind is accjuiefcent and ferene : the ear is fatisfied, 
not difguffed: it remains impreffed on the fancy, it be¬ 
comes a part of our eflence, we carry it with us, we are 
able to repeat it at pleafiire : without the ability acquired 
by habit to breathe a Angle note of it, we execute it in our 
imagination in the lame manner as we heard it upon the 
theatre : one fees the l'cene, the aCtor, the theatre; one 
hears the accompaniments and the applaufes. The real 
entluifiaft in mulic never forgets the beautiful airs which 
he has heard; when he choofes, he caufes the opera to 
re-commence. 
Air, or Ayr, a town of Scotland, capital of an ex- 
tenlive county of the fame name. It Hands on the river 
Air, and was formerly a place of good trade, and feat of 
fifheries; all of which have vanifhed, and the people now 
live by one another. Air appears, from hiftory and other 
documents, to have been a confiderable place at the time 
of the Norman conqueft. About a mile north from the 
town there is a lazar-houfe, commonly called the King’s 
- Chapel, which king Robert de Bruce fet apart for the 
maintenance of lepers. 
AIRA,/ [aifa, Gr.] In botany, a genus of the trian- 
dria digynia clafs, of the natural order of gramma or 
grades. The generic characters are—Calyx: a two-flow¬ 
ered two-valved glume; valves ovate-lanceolate, acute, 
equal. Corolla: bivalve; valves like thofe of the calyx ; 
nectary two-leaved; leaflets acute, gibbous at the bafe. 
Stamina: filaments capillary, the length of the flower, 
with oblong antherae, forked at each end. Piftillum: 
germ ovate; ffyles fetaceous fpreading, wilh pubefcent 
ffigmas. Pericarpium : none. Seed : fubovate, covered 
by the corolla.— E/J'ential CharaEler. Calyx two-valved, 
two-flowered, without any rudiment of a third. 
Species. I. Naked or awnlefs. i. Aira arundinacea, or 
reedy ajra-grafs: panicle oblong, on one fide, imbricate ; 
leaves flat. Found by Tournefort in the Levant, and by 
Loureiro in Cochin-China. 
2. Aira minuta, or minute aira-grafs: panicle loofe, al- 
moli level-topped, very branching. An annual grafs, 
found by Loefling in Spain. It differs from that which is 
figured by Buxbaum, only in being much fmaller, and 
not an inch high. 
3. Aira aquatica, or water aira-grafs : panicle fpreading, 
flowers fmooth, longer than the calyx, leaves flat. In the 
water this grafs runs to a confiderable diffance, throwing 
eff roots and young fhoots as it paffes along; the dalk is 
hollow, and remarkably tender. It is eafily known by the 
purple or bluifli colour of the panicles ; the flowers alfo 
have a fweet tafte. It flowers in June and July, but it is 
not worth cultivating. Poa aquatica is a much ffronger 
plant. There is a variety of this (according to Schreber) 
in dry foils, which has the calyxes five-flowered, and the 
flowers very remote from each other. 
II. Awned. 4. Aira fubfpicata, or fpiked aira-grafs: 
•leaves flat, panicle fpiked, flowers awned on the middle ; 
awn reflex, loofe. Found on the mountains of Switzer¬ 
land, Savoy, Denmark, and Lapland. Perennial. 
5. Aira cat-fpitofa, or turfy aira-grafs: leaves flat; pa¬ 
nicle fpreading; petals villous and awned at the bafe ; awn 
ftraight, fhort. In moift meadows it fometimes produces 
three or four flofcules in one calyx. In marfhes it is fre¬ 
quently viviparous. Growing in tufts, it occafions irre¬ 
gularities, tuifocks, or haffocks, as they are vulgarly call¬ 
ed in meadows. Cows, goats, and fwine, eat it, but hor- 
fes are not fond of it. Found in meadows, fields, and 
woods. Perennial. 
A IS 227 
6 . Aira flexuofa, or heath aira-grafs: leaves fetaceous, 
culms almoft naked, panicle divaricated, peduncles flexu- 
ofe. This fpecies is eaten by horfes, kine, and fheep. It 
is a native of heaths, barren paftures, and rocky moors. 
Perennial. 
7. Aira montana, or mountain aira-grafs: leaves feta¬ 
ceous, panicle narrowed, flowers hairy at the bafe and 
awned, awn twilled and very long. According to Haller, 
Leers, &c. this is only a variety of the foregoing. Mr. 
Hudfon has a variety of this which he calls fetacea. Na¬ 
tive of high heaths and barren paftures, and is perennial. 
Sheep are very fond of it. 
8. Aira Alpina, or Alpine aira-grafs : leaves fubulate, 
panicle denfe, flowers hairy at the bafe and awned; awn 
lhort. Grows on the mountains of Germany, Savoy, and 
Lapland. 
9. Aira villofa, or villofe aira-grafs; leaves fubulate, 
panicle long and narrow; flowers fefquialteral, ftiaggy, 
awned; awn ftraight, lhort. Found at the Cape of Good 
Hope by Thunberg. 
10. Aira canefcens, or grey aira-grafs: leaves fetace¬ 
ous, the upper one involving the panicle at bottom like a 
fpathe. Native of fandy lliores, the walls of Balil, and 
the fandy fields of Germany and Piedmont. 
11. Aira pnecox, or early aira-grafs : leaves fetaceous, 
Iheaths angled, flowers panicle-fpiked, and awned at the 
bafe. This fpecies has a fweet tafte; cows are very fond 
of it; horfes and Iheep eat it. It is found in ditches, on 
banks of ftreams, and in wet meadows; flowering in Jnne 
and July. 
12. Aira coryophyllea, or filver aira-grafs : leaves feta¬ 
ceous, panicle divaricated, flowers awned diftant. Native 
of fandy paftures and heaths of England, France, Swit¬ 
zerland, Piedmont, Germany, and Denmark. Annual. 
13. Aira Antarctica, or South-Sea aira-grafs: leaves 
fiat; panicle compound, fpreading; calyxes three flower¬ 
ed ; flofcules awned in the middle; awn elongatedftraight- 
ilh. Native of New Zealand. 
14. Aira invOlucrata, or involucred aira-grafs: panicle 
fpreading, involucred with bridles at the bafe ; flofcules 
awnlefs. It is annual, and flowers in June and July. Na¬ 
tive of Spain, near Madrid, on barren hills. 
Propagation and Culture. See Grass. 
Aira,/ in botany. See Melic a, Poa, Cynosurus, 
and Hclcus. 
Aira Capensis,/ in botany. See Ehrharta. 
Aira Indica,/ in botany. See Paniciim. 
Aira Varia,/ in botany. See Cynosurus. 
AIRANI,/ in church-hiftory, an obfeure left of Ari- 
ans, in the fourth century, who denied the confubftan- 
tiality of the Holy Ghoft with the Father and the Son. 
They are otherwise called Airanijlce ; and are faid to have 
taken their name from one Airas, who diftinguiftied him- 
felf at the head of this party, in the reigns of Valentinian 
and Gratian. 
AIRE, a town of France, in Proper Gafcony, of which 
it is the capital; was a biftiop’s fee. It is feated on the 
river Adour, on the declivity of a mountain. E. Ion. o. 
3. N. lat. 43. 47. 
Aire, a ftrong town in the Netherlands, in the county 
of Artois, with a caftle. It was taken by the French in 
1710, and was confirmed to them by the treaty of Utrecht. 
It is feated on the river Lis, twenty-two miles fouth of 
Dunkirk, and communicates with St. Omer’s by a canal 
cut from the river Aa. E. Ion. 2.31. N. lat. 50. 38. 
AIRS, in the manege, are the artificial motions of 
taught horfes; as the demivolt, curvet, capriole, &c. 
AlRY TRIPLICITY, amongaftrologers, denotes the 
three figns, gemini, libra, and aquarius. 
AISLE, / [Thus the word is written by Aadifon, but 
perhaps improperly; fince it feems deducible only from, 
either aile, a wing, or alle'e, a path, and is therefore to be " 
written aile. ] The walks in a church, or wings of a quire. 
—The abbey is by no means fo magnificent as one would 
expect 
