hair, stripping the female offender naked, and whipping her through the streets, if the husband so demanded it to be done, without distinction of rank, during the Saxon Heptarchy, A.D. 457 to 828.-Stowe. The ears and nose were cut off under Canute, 1031. Ordained to be punished capitally, together with incest, under Cromwell, May 14, 1650; but there is no record of this law taking effect. In New England a law was ordained whereby adultery was made capital to both parties, even though the man were unmarried, and several suffered under it, 1662.-Hardie. At present this offence is more favourably viewed; to divorce and strip the adultress of her dower, is all her punishment among us; but in Romish countries they usually shut up the adultress in a nunnery.-Ashe. ADVENT. In the calendar it signifies, properly, the approach of the feast of the Nativity; it includes four Sundays, the first of which is always the nearest Sunday to Saint Andrew (the 30th November), before or after. Advent was instituted by the council of Tours, in the sixth century. ADVENTURE BAY. Captain Furneaux visited this bay, which lies at the south-east end of Van Diemen's Land, in his first voyage to the Pacific, and called it Adventure Bay from the ship Adventure in which he sailed, 1778. It was visited by captain Bligh in 1788. ADVENTURERS, MERCHANT, a celebrated and enterprising company of merchants, was originally formed for the discovery of territories, extension of commerce, and promotion of trade, by John duke of Brabant, in 1296. This ancient company was afterwards translated into England, in the reign of Edward III., and queen Elizabeth formed it into an English corporation in 1564.-Anderson. ADVERTISEMENTS IN NEWSPAPERS. As now published, they were not general in England until the beginning of the eighteenth century. A penalty of 50%. was inflicted on persons advertising a reward with " No questions to be asked" for the return of things stolen, and on the printer, 25 Geo. II. 1754.-Statutes. The advertisement duty was formerly charged according to the number of lines; it was afterwards fixed, in England at 3s. 6d., and in Ireland at 2s. 6d. each advertisement. The duty was further reduced, in England to 1s. 6d., and in Ireland to 1s. each, by statute 3 and 4 Will, IV. 1833. ADVOCATE, THE KING'S. This office was instituted about the beginning of the sixteenth century; and the advocate was empowered to prosecute at his own instance certain crimes, 1597.-Statutes. LORD ADVOCATE, in Scotland, is the same as the attorney-general is in England. It was decided in the parliament of Paris, in 1685, that the king's advocate of France might at the same time be a judge; and so in like manner it was allowed in Scotland, where sir John Nisbet and sir William Oliphant were lord advocates and lords of session at the same time.-Beatson. ÆDILES, magistrates of Rome, first created 492 B.C. There were three degrees of these officers, and the functions of the principal were similar to our justices of the peace. The plebeian ædiles presided over the more minute affairs of the state, good order, and the reparation of the streets. They procured all the provisions of the city, and executed the decrees of the people.-Varro. ENIGMA. The origin of the ænigma is doubtful: Gale thinks that the Jews borrowed their ænigmatical forms of speech from the Egyptians. The philosophy of the Druids was altogether ænigmatical. In Nero's time, the Romans were often obliged to have recourse to this method of concealing truth under obscure language. The following epitaph on Fair Rosamond is an elegant specimen of the ænigma : Hic jacet Rosa munda, non Rosa mundi ; Non redolet, sed olet, quæ redolere solet. ÆOLIAN HARP. The invention of this instrument is ascribed to Kircher, 1653; but Richardson proves it to have been known at an earlier period than his time.Dissertation on the Customs of the East. There is a Rabbinical story of the aërial harmony of the harp of David, which, when hung up at night, was played upon by the north wind.-Baruch. AERONAUTICS. To lord Bacon, the prophet of art, as Walpole calls him, has been attributed the first suggestion of the true theory of balloons. The ancient speculations about artificial wings, whereby a man might fly as well as a bird, refuted by Borelli, 1670. Mr. Henry Cavendish ascertained that inflammable air is at least seven times lighter than common air, 1766. The true doctrine of aëronautics announced in France by the two brothers Montgolfier, 1782.-See Balloon. ESOP'S FABLES. Written by the celebrated fabulist, the supposed inventor of this species of entertainment and instruction, about 540 B.C. Æsop's Fables are, no doubt, a compilation of all the fables and apologues of wits both before and after his own time, conjointly with his own.-Plutarch. ÆETHIOPIA. The inhabitants were little known to the ancients, though Homer has styled them the justest of men, and the favourites of the deities. They were the first inhabitants of the earth.-Diod. And first to worship the gods; on which account, some say, their country had never been invaded. ETOLIA. This country was named after Etolus of Elis, who, having accidentally killed a son of Phoroneus, king of Argos, left the Peloponnesus, and settled here. The inhabitants were very little known to the rest of Greece, till after the ruin of Athens and Sparta, when they assumed a consequence in the country as the opposers and rivals of the Achæans, to whom they made themselves formidable as the allies of Rome. They afterwards quarrelled with the Romans, and were conquered by Fulvius. AFFINITY, DEGREES OF. Marriage within certain degrees of kindred was prohibited by the laws of almost all nations, and in almost every age. Several degrees were prohibited in scriptural law, as may be seen in Leviticus, chap. xviii. In England, a table restricting marriage within certain near degrees was set forth by authority, A.d. 1563. Prohibited marriages were adjudged to be incestuous and unlawful by the ninety-ninth Canon, in 1603. See Statutes 18 and 25 Henry VIII., &c. AFFIRMATION OF THE QUAKERS. This was first legally accepted as an oath A.D. 1696. The affirmation was altered in 1702, and again altered and modified December 1721. Quakers were relieved from oaths when elected to municipal offices, by an act which extended relief, generally, to all conscientious Christians not of the Established Church, 9 Geo. IV. 1828. Declaration to be made by Quakers, statute of 1 Victoria, 1837: extension of this act to persons who were formerly Quakers, but who have seceded from that sect, 2 Vict. 1838. AFFIRMATION OF THE TRUTH. "Truth being of universal obligation on the followers of JESUS, it follows that, with true Christians, a deliberate, yet simple affirmation or negation possesses a force perfect in its kind, and incapable of any real augmentation: hence there arises a plain moral obligation, in conformity with the precept of the apostle James, that our yea should be yea, and our nay, nay: for if a man swear in addition to his yea and nay, in order to render them more convincing, their force becomes comparatively weak at other times, when they receive no such confirmation. Countenance is thereby given to the notion, that the oath of a Christian is more binding upon his conscience, and therefore more credible, than his deliberate word; and thus he lowers the standard of the law of truth."-Gurney's Peculiarities of the Friends, 1824. AFRICA, called Libya by the Greeks, one of the three parts of the ancient world, and the greatest peninsula of the universe, first peopled by Ham. It was conquered by Belisarius in A.D. 553 et seq. In the seventh century, about 637, the Mahometan Arabs subdued the north of Africa; and their descendants, under the name of Moors, constitute a great part of the present population. See the several countries of Africa through the volume. Among the late distinguished travellers in this quarter of the world, may be mentioned Bruce, who commenced his travels in 1768; Mungo Park, who made his first voyage to Africa, May 22, 1795; and his second voyage, January 30, 1804, but from which he never returned. See Park. Richard Lander died of shot-wounds (which he had received when ascending the river Nunn) at Fernando Po, Jan. 31, 1834. The new African expedition under the auspices of government, for which parliament voted 61,000l., sailed from England in 1841. AFRICAN COMPANY, a society of merchants trading to Africa. An association in Exeter, which was formed in 1588, gave rise to this company. A charter was granted to a joint stock company in 1618: a third company was created in 1631; a fourth corporation in 1662; and another formed by letters patent in 1672, and remodelled in 1695. The rights vested in the present company, 23 Geo. II. 1749. AFRICAN INSTITUTION, founded in London in 1807, with a view to the civilization of Africa, and to afford moral and social instruction to its people-an immense but laudable undertaking. Many schools have been established, particularly at Sierra Leone, where the number of scholars, male and female, is said to approach 2000. The schools are usually well attended, and both males and females appear zealous to reap the advantages of instruction.-Leigh. AGE. Historians and chronologers have, commonly, divided the time that elapsed between the Creation and the birth of CHRIST into six periods, called ages. The first age was from the Creation to the Deluge, and comprehended 1656 years; the second age was from the Deluge to the coming of Abraham into the land of promise, and comprehended 426 years, terminating in the year of the world 2082; the third age, from Abraham to Moses quitting Egypt, comprising 430 years, and ending in the year of the world 2513; the fourth age, from the going out of Egypt to the foundation of the temple of Solomon, being 479 years, and ending in the year of the world 2992; the fifth age, from the building of the temple to the destruction of Jerusalem, 424 years, ending in the year of the world 3416; and the sixth age, from the Babylonish captivity to the birth of the REDEEMER, 584 years, ending in the year of the world 4000, and fourth year before the vulgar era, or 4004. See next article. AGE: GOLDEN AGE, MIDDLE AGE, &c. Among the ancient poets, an age was the space of thirty years, in which sense age amounts to much the same as generation. The interval since the first formation of man has been divided into four ages, distinguished as the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages; but a late author, reflecting on the barbarism of the first ages, will have the order assigned by the poets inverted the first, being a time of ignorance, would be more properly denominated an iron, rather than a golden age. Various divisions of the duration of the world have been made by historians: by some the space of time commencing from Constantine, and ending with the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, in the fifteenth century, is called the middle age; the middle is also styled the barbarous age. The ages of the world may be reduced to three grand epochs, viz., the age of the law of nature, from Adam to Moses; the age of the Jewish law, from Moses to Christ; and the age of grace, from Christ to the present year. AGE, OF. In England the minority of a male terminates at twenty-one, and of a female in some cases, as that of a queen, at eighteen. In 1547, the majority of Edward VI. was, by the will of his father, fixed at eighteen years; previously to completing which age, Henry VIII. had himself assumed the reins of government, in 1509. A male of twelve may take the oath of allegiance; at fourteen he may consent to a marriage, or choose a guardian, or make a will; at seventeen he may be an executor, and at twenty-one he is of age. A female at twelve may consent to a marriage; at fourteen she may choose a guardian, and at twenty-one she is of age. AGINCOURT, BATTLE OF, between the French and English armies, gained by Henry V.-one of the most glorious of our victories. Of the French, there were 10,000 killed, and 14,000 were taken prisoners, the English losing only 100 men. Among the prisoners were the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and 7000 barons, knights, and gentlemen, and men more numerous than the British themselves. Among the slain were the dukes of Alençon, Brabant and Bar, the archbishop of Sens, one marshal, thirteen earls, ninety-two barons, and 1500 knights, Oct. 25, 1415. -Goldsmith. AGITATORS, in English history, officers appointed by the army to take care of its interests: each troop or company had two, instituted by Cromwell, 1647. The Protector himself was, however, obliged to repress the power and influence of the agitators, owing to the sedition they excited. At a review he seized the ringleaders of a mutiny, shot one instantly, in the presence of his companions and the forces on the ground, and thus, by a bold act, restored the discipline of the army.-Hume. AGRA, FORTRESS OF, termed the key of Hindostan, surrendered, in the war with the Mahrattas, to the British forces, Oct. 17, 1803. This was once the most splendid of all the Indian cities, and now exhibits the most magnificent ruins. In the 17th century the great mogul frequently resided here; his palaces, and those of the Omrahs, were very numerous; Agra then contained above 60 caravanserais, 800 baths, and 700 mosques.-See Mausoleums. AGRARIAN LAW, Agraria Lex. This was an equal division among the Roman people of all the lands which they acquired by conquest, limiting the acres which each person should enjoy, first proposed by Sp. Cassius, to gain the favour of the citizens, 486 B.C. It was enacted under the tribune Tiberius Gracchus, 132 B.C.; but this law at last proved fatal to the freedom of Rome under Julius Cæsar.— Livy; Vossius. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. The first society for the promotion of agriculture in the British Isles, of whose history we have any account, was the Society of Improvers of Agriculture in Scotland, instituted in 1723. The establishment of the Dublin Agricultural Society, in 1749, gave a stimulus to agriculture in Ireland; but the origin of this society may be traced as early as 1731, when Mr. Prior, of Rathdowney, Queen's County, and a number of gentlemen, associated themselves for the improvement of husbandry. Miss Plumptre considers this the first association of the kind formed within the British dominions; but she errs: societies for the promotion of agriculture multiplied in every direction during the eighteenth century; among them the highest rank may be claimed for the Bath and West of England Society, in 1777, and the Highland Society of Scotland, in 1793. The London Board of Agriculture was established, by act of parliament, same year. The good and illustrious Francis, duke of Bedford, who died March 2, 1802, was a great promoter and patron of agriculture; and the fine statue to his memory by Westmacott, in Russell-square, London, represents him grasping corn with one hand, and resting the other on a plough. AGRICULTURE. The science of agriculture may be traced to the period immediately succeeding the Deluge. In China and the eastern countries it was, perhaps, coeval with their early plantation and government. Of the agriculture of the ancients little is known. Brought into England by the Romans, as a science, about A.D. 27. The following presents an official account of the cultivated, uncultivated, and unprofitable land of the United Kingdom, from the Third Report of the Emigration Committee: These numbers are considerably below some former computations, but the quantities may perhaps be correct in relation to each other. Much of the waste land of the three countries has been brought into cultivation in the few years that have elapsed since the above report was made. At that period it was computed that the soil of the United Kingdom was annually cropped in the following proportions:— It is computed by the Agricultural Committee, that the cultivation of waste lands would yield to the nation an income of above 20,000,000l. a-year. In the Report on the inquiry into the state of the Irish poor, the commissioners remark, that while in Great Britain the agricultural families constitute little more than a fourth, in Ireland they constitute about two-thirds of the whole population; that there were, in 1831, 1,055,982 agricultural labourers in Great Britain, and in Ireland 1,131,715; while the cultivated land of Great Britain amounts to about 34,250,000 acres, and that of Ireland only to about 14,000,000. There are in Ireland, therefore, about five agricultural labourers for every two that there are for the same quantity of land in Great Britain. See Wheat. AGYNNIANS. This sect arose about A.D. 694, and alleged that God forbade the eating of flesh, assuming the first chapter of Genesis to be the authority upon which the doctrine was founded. A revival of this ancient sect now flourishes at Manchester and other towns of England, and has been public there since 1814. AILESBURY, reduced by the West Saxons in 571. St. O'Syth, beheaded by the Pagans in Essex, was buried here, A.D. 600. William the Conqueror invested his favourites with some of its lands, under the tenure of providing "straw for his bedchamber; three eels for his use in winter; and in summer, straw, rushes, and two green geese, thrice every year." Incorporated by charter in 1553. AIR. Anaximenes of Miletus declared air to be a self-existent deity, and the first cause of everything created, 530 B.c. The pressure of air was discovered by Torricelli, A.D. 1645. It was found to vary with the height by Pascal, in 1647. Halley, Newton, and others, up to the present time, have illustrated the agency and influences of this great power by various experiments, and numerous inventions have followed from them; among others, the air-gun by Guter of Nuremberg in 1656; the airpump, invented by Otho Guericke at Magdeburg in 1650, and improved by the illustrious Boyle in 1657; and the air-pipe, invented by Mr. Sutton, a brewer of London, about 1756. See Balloon. AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, PEACE OF. The first treaty of peace signed here, was between France and Spain, when France yielded Franche-Comté, but retained her conquests in the Netherlands, May 2, 1668. The second, or celebrated treaty, was between Great Britain, France, Holland, Hungary, Spain, and Genoa. By this memorable peace the treaties of Westphalia in 1648, of Nimeguen in 1678 and 1679, of Ryswick in 1697, of Utrecht in 1713, of Baden in 1714, of the Triple Alliance 1717, of the Quadruple Alliance in 1718, and of Vienna in 1738, were renewed and confirmed. Signed on the part of England by John Earl of Sandwich, and Sir Thomas Robinson, Oct. 7, 1748. A congress of the sovereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, assisted by ministers from England and France, was held at Aix-la-Chapelle, and a convention signed, Oct. 9, 1818. The sum then due from France to the allies, was settled at 265,000,000 of francs. ALBA. Founded by Ascanius, 1152 B.C., and called Longa, because the city extended along the hill Albanus. This kingdom lasted 487 years, and was governed by a race of kings, the descendants of Æneas, in the order following; but little of their history is known : Ascanius, son of Æneas B.C. 1152 B.C. 895 He is restored by his grandson, Romulus, who puts Amulius to death ⚫ 754 903 The kingdom is conquered by Tullius Hostilius, who incorporates it with his Roman dominions . 665 Reign of Tiberinus Being defeated in battle near the river Albula, he throws himself into the When Amulius dethroned his brother, he condemned Ilia, the daughter of Numitor, to a life of celibacy, by obliging her to take the vows and office of a vestal, thereby to assure his safety in the usurpation. His object was, however, frustrated; violence was offered to Ilia, and she became the mother of twins, for which Amulius ordered |