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A S H 
260 
Shechem.— Alfo, according to Eufebitis, a large town 
between Azoth and Afcalon. 
ASH'IiS,y! wants the fingular. [afca , Sax. afche, Dut.] 
The remains of any thing burnt.—Some relics would be left 
of it, as when afhes remain of burned bodies. Digby — Afh.es 
contain a very fertile fait, and are the beft manure for cold 
lands. Mortimer. —The remains of the body; often tiled 
in poetry for the carcafe, from the ancient practice of 
burning the dead. 
Vegetable allies contain alkali, which may be walked 
out with water; and the infoluble part is found to confift 
of a calcareous earth, fome clay, and a frnall portion of 
inagnefia. All thefe prod tuffs vary in the different kinds 
of vegetables. Moll plants afford likewile iron and man¬ 
ga nefe ; and Mr. Sage, by experiments which have been 
verified by other chemifts, has proved that gold is a very 
common ingredient, though in fo fmall a quantity as not 
to pay the charge of extracting it. 
Several religious ceremonies formerly depended upon 
the life of afhes. St. Jerome relates, that the Jews 
rolled themfel ves in allies, asa fign of mourning. Torepent 
in Jackcloth and ajhes, is a frequent expreilion in Scripture 
for mourning, and being affl idled-for our fins. There was 
a fort of luftral water made with the afhes of an heifer 
Sacrificed upon the great day of expiation; the afhes 
whereof were difiributed to the people, and this water was 
nfed in purifications, as often as any touched a dead body, 
or was prefent at funerals. Numb. xix. 17. Tamar, after 
the injury received from her brother Amnon, covered her 
head with afhes. 2 Sam. xiii. 19. The ancient Perfians 
had a fort of punifliment for fome great criminals, which 
ccnfifted in executing them in allies. The criminal was 
thrown headlong from a tower fifty cubits high, which was 
filled with afhes to a particular height. 2 Mac. xiii. 5, 6. 
The motion which the criminal ufed to difengage himfelf 
from this place, plunged him ftill deeper into it ; and his 
agitation was further increafed by a wheel which flirted 
the afhes continually about him till lie was fuffucated 
ASH'FIELD (Edmund), an Englifli artilb, who firfl 
found out the method of multiplying the number and va¬ 
riety of tints in crayons, and thereby to imitate oil-paint¬ 
ing : this lie performed on paper, and pradtifed feveral 
years with deferved applaufe. This manner has been fince 
fo much improved by the Englifh, that 1 here is no fubjedl 
which can be expreffed by oil, but the crayons can effedt 
it with almofl equal beauty, but with lefs duration. 
ASH'FIELD, a townfhip of America, in Hampfhire 
county, MafTachufets, fifteen miles north-weft of Nor¬ 
thampton, and 117 weft from Bofton ; containing 1459 
inhabitants. 
ASH'FORD, a town in Kent, fituated upon the river 
Stour. Its church is large, and was formerly collegiate; 
and it has a free grammar-fchool founded by the Knatch- 
bul! family. A cattle-market is held the firfl Tuefday in 
every month for all forts of fat and lean flock, which is 
plentifully fupplied: alfo, a corn-market on Saturdays. 
It has three fairs in the year, on the 17th of May, 9th of 
September, and 23d of October, for all forts of cattle. It 
is twenty-feven miles from Rochefter, and fifty-fevenfrom 
London. Lat. 51.15.N. lon.o.45.E. 
ASH FORD, a town of the American States in Wind¬ 
ham county, Connecticut, incorporated in 1710; diftant 
thirty-eight miles north-eaft from Hartford, and feventy- 
fix Couth-weft from Bo,ton. 
ASH'FORD (New), a town of the American States, 
in Berkfhire county, MafTachufets, 155 miles weft from 
Bofton ; containing by the cenfus 460 inhabitants. 
ASHI'MA, [Heb. a crime.] The name of an idol, 
2 Kings , xvii. 13. 
ASR'KENAZ, one of the fons of Gomer, fuppofed to 
have fettled near Armenia, in the eaftern part of Afia 
Minor. 
AoHKO'KO, [. in zoology, the Syrian hare ; for the 
natural hi (lory ot which, fee the article Hyrax. 
ASH'LAR,/ - . a term among builders, for common or 
free ftones, as they come out of the quarry, of different 
lengths ai d thiekneffes. 
A SH' LERING, J. with builders, quartering for garrets, 
two feet and a half or three feet high, perpendicular to 
the floor, and reaching to the under fide of the rafters. 
ASH'LEY, a river of America, v. I.ich runs into the fea 
on the (outh-weft fide of Charleftown, in South Carolina. 
ASH'MOLE (Elias), a great antiquary, founder of the 
Afhmolean mufeum at Oxford, born at Litchfield in 
StaffordIhire in 1617. In the early part of his life he prac- 
tifed the law ; and in the civil war had a captain’s commif- 
fion under the king, and was alfo comptroller of the ord¬ 
nance. He married lady Mainwaring, in 1649, and fettled 
in London; where his houfe was frequented by all the 
learned and ingenious men of his time. Mr. Afhmole was 
a diligent collector of manufcripts. In 1650, he ptibliffied 
a treatife written by Dr. Arthur Dee, relating to the phi- 
lofopher’s (tone ; he was alfo engaged in preparing for the 
prefs a collection of the works of the Englifh chemifts. 
This undertaking coft him great labour; and the work ap¬ 
peared at rite clofe of the year 1652. He next applied 
himfelf to the ftudy of antiquity and records : he was at 
great pains to trace the Roman way, which in Antoninus’s 
Itinerary is called Bennevanna, from Weedon to Litchfield, 
of which he gave Mr. Dugdale an ingenious account. Up¬ 
on the reftoration of Charles II. Mr. Afhmole was intro¬ 
duced to his majefty, who beftowed on him the office of 
Windfor herald. He was alfo admitted a fellow of the 
Royal Society ; and, on the 19th of July 16^9, the uuiver- 
fity of Oxford created him do&or of pliyflc by diploma. 
Ou the 8th of May, 1672, he prefented his “ Inftitution, 
Laws, and Ceremonies, of the mod noble Order of the 
G u ter,” to the king ; who, as a mark of his approbation, 
granted him a privy feal for 400I. out of the cuftom of 
paper. On the 26th of January, 1679, a fire bioke out in 
the Middle Temple, in the next chamber to Mr. Afh- 
niole’s, by which he loft a .noble library, with a collection 
of 9000 coins, ancient and modern, and a vaft repofitory of 
feals, charters, and other antiquities and curiofities; but 
his manufcripts and his mod valuable gold medals were 
luckily at his houfe at Lambeth. In 1683, the univer- 
fity of Oxford having finiflied a magnificent repofitory near 
the theatre, Mr. Afhmole fent thither his curious collec¬ 
tion of rarities ; which benefaction was confiderably aug¬ 
mented by the addition of his manufcripts and library at 
his death, which happened the 18th of May, 1692, in the 
76th year of his age. He was interred in the church of 
Great Lambeth, in Surrey. 
ASH'MUNEIN, or Asebmou'neim, atown of Egypt, 
the ancient Latopolis, 118 miles fouth of Cairo. 
ASH'MUN-TA'NAH, a town of Egypt, on a canal, 
between the Nile and the lake of Tennis, twelve miles eaft 
of Manfora, and twenty fouth of Damietta. 
ASHO RE, adv. [from a and Jhore.~] On fhore ; on the 
land.—The poor Englifhman riding in the road, having 
all that he brought thither ajhore, would have been undone. 
Raleigh. —To the fhore; to the land : 
We may as bootlefs fpend our vain command. 
As fend our precepts to the leviathan 
To come ajhore. Shakefpcare. 
ASH'TAROTH. See Astaroth. 
ASH'TON, or Long Ashton, a confiderable village 
in the county of Somerfet, three miles weft-foutli-weftfrom 
Briftol, fituate in a delightful vale, which lies between 
Dundry-hill and Leigh-down. This vale is a continued 
gentle Hope, for a confiderable dFrance towards Dundry, 
and faces the fouth. The land is remarkably rich and 
fertile, and is every-where in the higlieft ftate of culture. 
Here are a vaft number of neat cottages, with gardens 
wherein the inhabitants raife flowers, fruits, and vegeta¬ 
bles, early, and in the greateli perfection ; thefe th y carry 
to Briftol, Clifton, the Hotwell, See. for fale. Near this vil¬ 
lage are the feat and park of fir John Smith, hart. The houfe 
is of confiderable extent in front, and very elegant; the 
1 celebrated 
