tisfaction to see it accomplished, as appears from his "Account of the Rise, Progress, and Advantages of Dr. Assheton's Proposal, &c." printed in 1713. For want, however, of an accurate acquaintance with the doctrine of annuities, the plan was erroneously constructed, and the society was not able completely to make good its proposals. Assheton died at his rectory in 1711, in the seventieth year of his age. Wood, Athen. Oxon. Watts's Life of Dr. Assheton. Biog. Brit.-E.

ASTELL, MARY, an English lady, who distinguished herself as a writer, was born at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1668. She was the daughter of a merchant; and from her uncle, a clergyman, received an education more literary and scientific, than was at that time usually given to young women. She was instructed in philosophy, mathematics, and logic, and in the Latin and French languages. At about twenty years of age she left Newcastle, and spent the remainder of her life in or near London, still devoting a great part of her time to study. Lamenting the ignorance then prevalent among the generality of her sex, she endeavoured to excite in them a desire of knowledge, by publishing "A serious Proposal to the Ladies, wherein a Method is offered for the Improvement of their Minds," printed in 12mo. at London in 1697. Her proposal was the establishment of a seminary for female education. It excited so much attention, that a certain great lady, not mentioned by name, but probably the queen, formed a design of giving ten thousand pounds towards erecting a sort of college for the education and improvement of the female sex, and as an asylum to such ladies as might wish to retire from the world: but this laudable design was frustrated by the unnecessary caution of bishop Burnet, who suggested to the lady, that such an institution would too much resemble a nunnery. Mrs. Astell wrote "Reflections on Marriage," published in 1700 and 1705, in consequence, as it is said, of her disappointment in a marriage contract with an eminent clergyman. This lady was a zealous defender of the system commonly deemed orthodox in religion; and in politics was a staunch advocate for the doctrine of nonresistance. She published some controversial pieces, particularly, "Moderation truly stated;" A fair Way with the Dissenters;""An impartial Enquiry into the Causes of the RebelHon;" and "A Vindication of the Royal Martyr;" all printed in 4to. in 1704. Her most elaborate performance was a large octavo volume, published in 1705, entitled, "The Chriskan Religion as professed by a Daughter of the

VOL. I.

Church of England." Dr. Waterland called it a very good book. In the controversial part, she has had the courage to attack Locke and Tillotson. Towards the close of her life, Mrs. Astell suffered the severe affliction of a cancer in her breast, and bore the pain of amputation with uncommon fortitude. She died in the year 1731.

Mrs. Astell appears to have been a woman of very austere manners and rigid principles, and to have possessed no extraordinary talents as a writer. At a later period, when female education has been so much improved, that a new era of female character has commenced, such an authoress would scarcely be noticed: but, at a time when few women read, and hardly any wrote, it was meritorious to suggest hints, however rude and imperfect, for the improvement of female education; and it may be worth recording, that a century ago, a woman ventured to think, and to say in print, that "women, who ought to be retired, are, for this reason, designed for speculation," and that "great improvements might be made in the sciences, were not women enviously excluded from this their proper business." It may deserve mention concerning this lady, that she valued her time too much to suffer it to be often interrupted by trifling vi sitors; and that, though she had not learned the modern refinement of dictating lies to servants, she would often prevent such intruders, as she saw them approach, by jestingly saying to them, "Mrs. Astell is not at home.' Ballard's Memoirs of British Ladies, ed. 8vo. 1775. Biog. Brit.-E.

ASTERIUS, a Christian writer of the Arian sect, flourished at the beginning of the fourth century. He was a native of Cappadocia, and by profession a sophist. Forsaking gentilism, he professed Christianity. In the time of Maximian's persecution, probably about the year 304, his courage failed him, and he consented to sacrifice to the pagan divinities; but he was afterwards recalled to the faith by his master, Lucian of Antioch. He associated much with Arian bishops, frequented their synods, and was desirous of being himself bishop of some city; but, on account of his temporary lapse into paganism, this honour was refused him. He wrote books in defence of Arianism, which gave great offence to Athanasius, who calls him a cunning sophist and patron of heresy : he was also the author of "Commentaries on the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistle to the Romans," and several other books, which Jerom says, (Hieron. de Vir. Ill. c. 94.) were much read by men of his party. A few fragments only 3 K

name of Krabbete, on account of the crooked ness of his hand and fingers; but no traces of this defect appear in his paintings, which are remarkable for the freedom and lightness of their touch. During his residence in Rome he was perpetually copying nature in the environs of that city-villages, remains of antiquity, animals, human figures, all were with great rapidity committed to paper, so that he acquired a prodigious stock of studies of this kind. On his return he staid some time at Lyons, where he gratified the curious with his designs. In this city he married the daughter of a merchant of Antwerp, and brought her with him to Amsterdam in 1645. He was received with great applause by his countrymen, and his example first gave the Dutch painters the idea of imitating the clear and natural manner of colouring landscape so much admired in Claude Lorrain, and quitting their dark and sombre style, with the prevalent blue and green tints of Paul Bril and Breugel. Asselyn was in great vogue at Amsterdam, and obtained a high price for his paintings, which were history pieces, battles, but chiefly landscapes with antiquities, and men and animals, represented with great truth and admirable brilliance of colouring. They are highly esteemed; and a set of twenty-four of his landscapes and ruins has been engraved by Perelle. Asselyn died at Amsterdam in 1650. D'Argenville, Vies des Peintres.-A.

ASSER, or ASSERIUS MENEVENSIS, an English divine, bishop of Salisbury, lived in the ninth century. He was born in Wales, and took the monastic habit among the Benedictines at St. David's. He was appointed secretary to the bishop of Sherbourn, and afterwards preceptor to the son of Alfred, which prepared the way for his advancement to the see of Sherbourn. It is said, that it was by the advice of this bishop that Alfred founded the university of Oxford; but the time when this university was founded has been a subject of much dispute. Asser wrote the "Life of Alfred," which was first published by archbishop Parker in the old Saxon character at the end of his edition of Thomas Walsingham's History, printed in folio, at London, in 1574; and reprinted the next year at Zurich. The life was brought down by Asser only to his forty-fifth year, or, according to his computation, the year of Christ 893; the rest has been added from authors of later date. Another work, under the title of "Asserius's Annals," was published by Dr. Gale, in folio, at Oxford, in 1691. It has been doubted, whether his name has not been prefixed without sufficient authority to a collection, which, at its first ap

pearance, was anonymous: but the learned editor makes no question of its authenticity; and the copious manner in which it treats of the fortunes of Alfred favours this opinion. Asserius has the reputation of a very faithful historian. The time of his death is fixed by Godwin in 883, but by Cave in 909. Godwin de Præsul. Voss. de Hist. Lat. lib. ii. c. 39. Nicholson's English Historical Library, p. 47. ed. 1736. Cav. Hist. Lit.-E.

ASSER, a Jewish rabbi of the fifth century, wrote, with the assistance of Hamai, "The Talmud of Babylon," so called from the city where it was compiled. This collection, commented upon in 547 by the rabbi Mair, and afterwards by another Asser, was printed at Leyden, in 4tó. in 1630; and with various notes, in twelve volumes folio, at Amsterdam in 1744. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-E.

ASSHETON, WILLIAM, an English episcopalian divine, rector of Beckenham in Kent, was born at Middleton in Lancashire in the year 1641, and was educated at Brazen Nose College, Oxford. He was frequently chosen proctor for Rochester in convocation; a proof that he was thought a worthy representative of his order. In his professional character he appears to have been faithful and assiduous. With a considerable share of ability and learning, and, doubtless, with genuine integrity and purity, he defended the established system of religion; and he wrote several useful picces on subjects of morality and practical religion. It will not however, at present, be considered as any proof of the liberality of his spirit, or the soundness of his judgment, that he wrote expressly against toleration, and in defence of belief in apparitions. He published his "Toleration disapproved," at Oxford in 1670; and his "Cases of Scandal and Persecution," in 1674. His "Possibility of Apparitions," was occasioned by the story of Mrs. Veal, since prefixed to "Drelincourt on Death." Assheton was a strenuous advocate for monarchy, and in 1685 wrote "The Royal Apology," in defence of James II. yet, in 1688, he happily transferred his loyalty to William and Mary, and wrote, " A seasonable Vindication of their present Majesties;" declaring to the world the reasons which induced him to swear allegiance to them. He wrote against popery, and in defence of the Trinit. This divine is, perhaps, chiefly ent?! morial as the first projector of th providing for clergymen's wido by a jointure payable out of th pany. The wor bring this sch

remain of this writer, in citations made by Athanasius, (Orat 2. Cont. Ar. n. 37. Orat. 3. n. 2. De Synod. n. 18, &c.) Eusebius, Euseb. Cont. Marc. lib. i. c. 4, &c.) and Epiphanius, (Hær. 72.) Lardner's Cred. Pt. ii. c. 69. §9. Dupin. Cav. Hist. Lit.-E. ASTERIUS, bishop of Amasea in Pontus, a native of Antioch, flourished in the fourth and at the beginning of the fifth century. Ancient writers take little notice of him; but we learn from his own remains, that he received his early instruction from a Scythian slave; that he lived near the time of Julian, and that he continued to a great age. Extracts from his sermons are preserved by Photius, (Cod. 271.) five entire Homilies were printed in Greek and Latin by Rubenius, in 4to. at Antwerp, in 1615; and six others were added, together with the extracts of Photius, by Combefis, in his supplement to the "Bibliotheca Patrum," printed in 1648. Dupin, who has given a distinct account of these homilies, allows them much commendation. The characters and descriptions, he says, are excellent; the explanations of scripture ingenious, and the thoughts and reflections solid and useful: yet we do not apprehend they would be much admired by a modern auditory. Dupin. Cav. Hist. Lit. Fabr. Bib. Græc. lib. v. c. 28. § 7.-E.

ASTERIUS URBANUS, a Christian divine, whether bishop or presbyter is uncertain, lived about the beginning of the third century. He was probably the author of a treatise against the Montanists, of which large extracts are preserved in Eusebius. The work was the substance of the author's arguments in a disputation which he held at Ancyra in Galatia. Euseb. Hist. Ecc. lib. v. c. 16, 17. Cav. Hist. Lit. Lardner's Cred. part 2. c. 33.—E.

ASTRONOME, L', an historian and astromer of the ninth century, was the author of a "Life of the Emperor Louis le Debounaire." He passed a great part of his life in the court of that prince, under whom he had some honourable post. It appears from this work, that he sometimes conversed with that prince on astronomical subjects, and that he made the science of astronomy his particular study. The work, which was written in Latin, has been translated into French by Cousin. The original may be seen in the second volume of "Du Chesne's Collection of Historians." Nouv. Dict. Hist.-E. ASTRUC, JOHN, M. D. an eminent French physician and medical writer, was born in 1684 at Sauve in the diocese of Alais, and studied physic in the university of Montpelier, of which he became a doctor and professor. He appeared

as a writer so soon as 1702, and several of his early treatises relate to the theory of digestion. After the plague had visited Marseilles in 1720, he distinguished himself by taking a principal part in the dispute which arose among the physicians, whether it was an imported or a homebred disease; and he strongly supported the doctrine (which nothing but an inveterate spirit of dogmatism could have called in question) of its contagious nature. His capital work, "De Morbis Venereis," appeared first in 1736, but was several times reprinted with additions. It abounds in learned disquisition, and was long (if it is not at this day) the standard of sound practice. The author warmly contends for the novelty of the disease in Europe, and its importation by the discoverers of America. In 1737 he published a quarto volume of "Memoirs relative to the Natural History of Languedoc," which contained a particular account of the mineral waters of Balaruc. His reputation had now become so considerable, that the faculty of Paris adopted him as a member in 1743, and the king created him one of his consulting physicians, and gave him the place of professor in the Royal College at Paris. the Royal College at Paris. A great concourse of students from all parts attended his lectures, so that his school was often too small for the auditors. He continued to publish various works, as "A Treatise on Pathology," and another "On Therapeutics;" and he entered deeply into the dispute between the physicians and surgeons of Paris, in which his learning furnished him with many curious facts concerning the ancient state of the two branches of medicine in the kingdom. In 1756 he published some "Doubts on the Inoculation of the Small-pox, addressed to the Faculty of Paris." In 1759, "A Treatise on Tumours and Ulcers," in two vols. 12mo. written in French, appeared without his name. It contains many valuable observations; and was among the first works which denied that marks were produced by the mother's imagination. His popular performance, "On the Diseases of Women," in French, four vols. 12mo. was published in 1761. Two more volumes were added in 1765; and a separate volume "On Midwifery," in 1766. Several smaller pieces on medical topics came from his pen at different times; and a posthumous work of his in 4to. entitled, " Memoirs relative to the History of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier," was edited by Mr. Lorry in 1767. Besides these numerous productions in his own profession, he wrote "Conjectures on the ori ginal Memoirs used by Moses in writing Genesis," 12mo. 1753; and "A Dissertation on

the Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul,"

12mo. 1755.

Dr. Astruc was made first physician to Augustus, king of Poland, and spent some time at his court; but finding that this situation was a restraint on his literary pursuits, he quitted it. He died at. Paris, May 5, 1766, in the eightythird year of his age. He was a modest, polite, and benevolent man, wholly attached to the pleasures of his family and his closet. He spent all the time he could spare from his studies in the education of his son, and in conversation with young persons of the profession, whom he loved to guide and instruct. His works, though not free from inaccuracies, abound in various and agreeable information, and are written in a good taste, with a candid and judicious spirit of criticism, and every where display a zeal for the welfare of mankind. Nouv. Dict. Hist. Hal ler, Bibl. Med. tom. iv.-A.

ASTYAGES, king of the Medes, son of Cyaxares, is reckoned to have commenced his reign B. C. 594. The history of this remote period is so mingled with fable, that little dependance can be placed upon it beyond the account of a few leading events. The story of Astyages is chiefly memorable from its connexion with that of the great eastern conqueror, Cyrus; and Herodotus relates it in the following manner. Astyages married his daughter Mandane to a Persian nobleman named Cambyses. During her pregnancy, he had a dream, which was interpreted to signify, that the child to be born should rule over all Asia. This prediction so much alarmed Astyages, that he resolved to destroy the child; and at its birth delivered it for this purpose to one Harpagus, who, moved by compassion, disobeyed the command, and entrusted the infant Cyrus to one of the king's herdsmen, by whom he was brought up. On the discovery of this fraud, when Cyrus was ten years old, Astyages caused the only son of Harpagus to be killed, and his flesh to be served up to him in a banquet. Harpagus, who at first dissembled his resentment of this monstrous barbarity, nourished the secret intentions of revenge, which he afterwards put in practice, by calling Cyrus, now grown up to manhood, out of Persia, whither he had been sent to his real parents, and enabling him to raise a revolt against his grandfather. Astyages was defeated; and in revenge for the want of foresight of the magi, who had assured him that all danger from his grandson was at an end, caused them all to be impaled. In a second engagement he was again defeated and made prisoner. Cyrus deposed him, and rendered the Medes subject to the Persians.

Astyages had at this time reigned thirty-five years. He was suffered to live, confined to his palace, till the natural period of his days.

Xenophon, in his "Cyropædia," (which, however, the best critics have always considered rather as a work of fiction than true history) represents the matter very differently; and describes Cyrus as openly educated at the court of his grandfather Astyages, who retained the crown till his death, and was succeeded by his son Cyaxares II. Astyages is by some reckoned to be the Ahasuerus of the Jewish scriptures. Univers. Hist.-A.

ATAHUALPA, or ATABALIPA, last inca of Peru, was the son of Huana Capac by the daughter of the king of Quito; and, at the death of his father in 1529, was appointed his successor in the conquered province of Quito, while his elder brother Huascar, descended from a virgin of the sun, succeeded to the throne of Peru. A civil war soon arose between the brothers, which ended in the defeat and captivity of Huascar; and Atahualpa secured his own usurped authority over the Peruvian empire by putting to death all of the royal race, called children of the sun, whom he could get within his power. During the course of this war, the Spanish adventurer Pizarro arrived in Peru, and was suffered, without opposition, to penetrate to the town of Caxamalca, in the neighbourhood of the camp of Atahualpa. This prince, confiding in Pizarro's professions of friendship, made a visit, with a splendid and numerous train, to the Spanish quarters. When he arrived, the friar Valverde addressed him in an harangue, explaining the nature of the Christian religion, and the authority of the pope, and terminating with a requisition to the inca, that he should embrace the catholic faith, and acknowledge himself a vassal of the king of Castile. The astonished prince demanded by what authority he was enjoined such strange compliances, and where the priest had learned these extraordinary things: "In this book," replied Valverde, reaching him his breviary. The inca turned over the leaves, put the book to his ear, and saying, "This is silent, it tells me nothing;" threw it disdainfully on the ground. "To arms! (cried the furious Valverde) revenge the profanation offered to our holy religion!" Immediately the Spaniards, who had been prepared for the scene, fell upon the innocent Peruvians, massacred numbers of them without mercy, and seised the person of the inca himself, the great object of Pizarro's treacherous designs. They retained him in a respectful kind of captivity, issuing in his name