The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 12

AINSWORTH, R., an English Latin lexicographer (1660-1743).

AINSWORTH, W. H., a popular English novelist, the author of "Rookwood" and "Jack Sheppard," as well as novels of an antiquarian and historical character (1805-1882).

AIN-TAB (20), a Syrian garrison town 60 m. NE. of Aleppo; trade in hides, leather, and cotton.

AIRD, THOMAS, a Scottish poet, author of the "Devil's Dream," the "Old Bachelor," and the "Old Scotch Village"; for nearly 30 years editor of the _Dumfries Herald_ (1802-1876).

AIRDRIE (19), a town in Lanarks.h.i.+re, 11 m. E. of Glasgow, in a district rich in iron and coal; is of rapid growth; has cotton-mills, foundries, etc.

AIRDS MOSS, a moor in Ayrs.h.i.+re, between the rivers Ayr and Lugar.

AIRE, a Yorks.h.i.+re river which flows into the Ouse; also a French river, affluent of the Aisne.

AIRY, SIR G. B., an eminent English astronomer, mathematician, and man of science, astronomer-royal from 1836 to 1881, retired on a pension; was the first to enunciate the complete theory of the rainbow.

AISNE, a French river which, after a course of 150 m., falls into the Oise near Compiegne; also a department in the N. of France.

a.s.sE, MLLE., a Circa.s.sienne brought to France about 1700; left letters on French society in the eighteenth century, sparkling with wit and full of interest.

AITON, WM., a botanist, born in Lanarks.h.i.+re, the first director of the Royal Gardens at Kew (1731-1793).

AITZEMA, LEO, historian of Friesland (1600-1669).

AIX (22), a town, the ancient capital of Provence, 20 m. N. of Ma.r.s.eilles, the seat of an archbishop and a university; founded by the Romans 123 B.C.; near it Marius defeated the Teutons.

AIX, ISLE OF, island in the Atlantic, at the mouth of the Charente.

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE' (103), in Rhenish Prussia, one of the oldest cities in Germany, made capital of the German empire by Charlemagne; derives its name from its mineral springs; is a centre of manufacturing industries and an important trade; is celebrated for its octagonal cathedral (in the middle of which is a stone marking the burial-place of Charlemagne), for treaties of peace in 1668 and 1748, and for a European congress in 1818.

AIX-LES-BAINS', a small town near Chambery, in the dep. of Savoy, and much frequented by invalids for its waters and baths.

AJAC'CIO (18), the capital of Corsica, the birthplace of the Bonaparte family, of Cardinal Fesch, and Bacciochi.

AJALON, VALLEY OF, in Palestine, scene of a battle between Joshua and five Canaanitish kings, during which the sun and moon stood still at the prayer of Joshua, to enable him to finish his victory.

A'JAN COAST, a district on the E. coast of Africa, from Cape Guardafui to the mouth of the Juba, under the protectorate of Germany.

A'JAX the name of two Greek heroes in the Trojan war, and the synonym of a fiery and impetuous warrior: AJAX, the son of Telamon of Sparta, one of the bravest of the Greeks, who, on the death of Achilles, contended with Ulysses for his arms, but was defeated, in consequence of which he lost his reason and put an end to his life; and AJAX, the son of Oleus, swift of foot, like Achilles, who suffered s.h.i.+pwreck on his homeward voyage, as a judgment for an outrage he perpetrated on the person of Ca.s.sandra in the temple of Athena in Troy.

AJMERE' (68), a city in a small territory in the heart of Rajputana, under the rule of the Viceroy; well built, and contains some famous edifices.

AJODHYA, an ancient city of Oudh, 77 m. E. of Lucknow, once, on religious grounds, one of the largest and most magnificent cities of India, now in ruins; the modern town is an insignificant place, but has an annual fair, attended by often 600,000 pilgrims.

AK'ABA, a gulf forming the NE. inlet of the Red Sea.

AKAKIA, DOCTOR, a satire of a very biting nature by Voltaire, directed against pretentious pedants of science in the person of Maupertuis, the President of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, which so excited the anger of Frederick the Great, the patron of the Academy, that he ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, after 30,000 copies of it had been sold in Paris!

AKAKIA, MARTIN, physician of Francis I., born at Chalons-sur-Marne, his real name being Sans-Malice; _d_. 1551.

AK'BAR, the great Mogul emperor of India, who, after a minority of a few years, a.s.sumed the reins of government at the age of eighteen, and in ten or twelve years, such was his power of conquest, had the whole of India north of the Vindhya Mts. subject to his rule. He was wise in government as well as powerful in war, and one of the most large-minded and largest-hearted rulers recorded in history. He reigned half a century (1542-1605).

AKENSIDE, MARK, an English physician, who wrote, among other productions and pieces, the "Hymn to the Naiads," especially a poem ent.i.tled the "Pleasures of Imagination," much quoted from at one time, and suggested by the study of Addison on the Imagination in the _Spectator_ (1721-1770).

AKERS, B. P., an able American sculptor (1825-1861).

AKERMAN' (55), a fortified town in Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Dniester.

AKIBA, BEN JOSEPH, a famous Jewish rabbi of the 2nd century, a great authority in the matter of Jewish tradition, flayed alive by the Romans for being concerned in a revolt in 135.

AKKAS, a wandering race of negro dwarfs in Central Africa, with large heads and slender necks, who live by hunting.

AKRON (27), a town in Ohio, U.S., seat of manufactures and centre of traffic.

AKSAKOF', a Russian litterateur and advocate of Panslavism (1823-1886).

AKSU (20), a trading town in E. Turkestan, 250 m. NE. of Yarkand.