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dismissed few of that class, without fully answering the leading biographical questions, What was he? What did he? His moral and intellectual qualities, the principal events of his life, his relative merit in the department he occupied, and especially, the manner in which he was first formed to his art or profession, with the gradations by which he rose to excellence, have engaged our attentive inquiries, and we have endeavoured to develope them with all the accuracy that conciseness would allow. But having been thus diffuse with respect to the higher claimants, we have been necessarily reduced to very brief notices of those of inferior rank. These articles we have considered as rather designed for being consulted than read; and we have comprised under a few short heads of information, all that we had to say concerning them.

If we have faithfully observed the rules of composition above suggested, it is evident we cannot have been mere copyists or translators; since we may venture to assert, that no model exists of a work of this species, executed with any degree of uniformity, upon such principles. For our materials, it is true, we must in general have been indebted to the researches of former historians and biographers. The acknowledged accuracy and impartiality of many of these will justify a liberal confidence in their statements of fact, especially when confirmed by mutual agreement. But, in melting down the substance of different narrations into one, in proportioning the several parts, in marking out the characteristic features of the portrait, and in deducing suitable lessons and examples of human life, we have freely exercised our own judgments, and have aspired, at least, to the rank of original writers.

**Besides the references to authorities occasionally given in the substance of articles, at the end of every one are printed in Italic the names of all the authors who have been consulted in compiling the narrative. But it is to be understood that, in general, we have derived from these sources the matter of fact alone, not the sentiments and reflections.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE future volumes will be conducted as nearly as possible in the same spirit with that now presented to the public. The new literary assistance which the death of Dr. ENFIELD has rendered neceffary, has already been in part secured, and will in due time be made known to the encouragers of the undertaking.

GENERAL BIOGRAPHY.

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A.

AAGARD, CHRISTIAN, a Danish poet, was born at Wibourg, in the year 1616. He was professor of poetry at Sora, and afterwards lecturer in theology at Ripen, in Jutland. Among other Latin poems, he wrote "Threni Hyperborei," [Lamentations of the North] published, in folio, in the year 1648, on the death of Christian IV. king of Denmark. Several of his pieces are inserted in the second volume of "Delicia Poëtarum Danorum." He died in the year 1664. Bartholini Biblioth. Septentr. Erud. Moreri.-E.

AAGARD, NICHOLAS, brother of Christian Aagard, was professor in the university at Sora, in Denmark, where he also occupied the office of librarian. He died in 1657, at the age of forty-five years, and left behind him several philosophical and critical works, written in Latin; among which are, "A Treatise on Subterraneous Fires;" "Dissertations on Tacitus ;"" Observations on Ammianus Marcellinus ;" and a "Vindication of the Style of the New Testament." Barthol. Bibl. Septent. Erud. Moreri.-E.

AARON, a Hebrew, of the tribe of Levi, the elder brother of Moses, was born about the year 1574 before Christ. Nothing is known concerning him, more than is recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, from which we learn the following particulars. Moses having been appointed to rescue the Hebrews from their captivity in Egypt, made choice of his brother Aaron as his associate in this undertaking. Being himself defective in the powers of speech, he thought it necessary to engage a colleague,

YOL. I.

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who should be able to supply this defect. In the repeated interviews of Moses with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to obtain his permission for the departure of the Hebrews, and in his public communications with his countrymen, Aaron accompanied him, and "spake for him to the king and to the people." "Aaron's rod was a principal instrument in the wonders performed before Pharaoh. After Moses had extorted the king's consent, when he led the Hebrews out of Egypt and passed the Red Sea, Aaron accompanied him, and assisted him in the management of this discontented people. In the course of their journey, Miriam, Aaron's sister, jealous for the honour of the Hebrew race, remonstrated with Moses for having married an Ethiopian, and was seconded in the remonstrance by Aaron. While Moses was withdrawn from the people, receiving the law on Mount Sinai, they became exceedingly dissatisfied at his absence, and, notwithstanding the wonderful events which had attended their deliverance from Egypt, requested Aaron to "make them gods, who should go before them." Aaron complied with their request, and, from the ear-rings which were found among the people, framed a golden calf, which they worshipped as the god who had rescued them from Egyptian bondage. In the law, delivered by Moses to the people, it was ordained, that Aaron and his sons should be invested with the offices of priesthood. This grant excited much jealousy among the Israelites, and occasioned an insurrection, which was, however, speedily suppressed. Aaron, who had

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been appointed high-priest, continued to occupy this high station, till, at a very advanced period, in the presence of the assembled people, he transferred the robes of his office to his son Eleazer, and died upon Mount Hor.

From the few particulars preserved concerning Aaron, little can be gathered with respect to his character. The request of the Hebrews that Aaron should make them a golden calf, may be accounted for from their long intercourse with the Egyptians, among whom this kind of idolatry prevailed; but it may be more difficult to assign a reason, which will excuse the conduct of Aaron in complying with their request. Perhaps he might be terrified into compliance by the threats of the people; for his apology to Moses was, "thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief." In what manner Aaron acquitted himself in his pontifical office, we are not informed; but, through the whole course of his connection with Moses, he appears to have acted the part of a faithful and useful associate. Exod. iv. v. xxxii. Numb. xx. Joseph. Antiq. lib. ii. c. 13. -E.

AARON, a Briton, honoured with the title of saint, according to Venerable Bede, in the year 1303, suffered martyrdom with his brother Julius, during the persecution of the emperor Dioclesian. Accounts remain of two churches, dedicated to St. Aaron and St. Julius, in which their bodies were interred, at Caer-Leon, the ancient metropolis of Wales. Bede Eccl. lib. i. Girald. Cambr. Itin. lib. v. Biographia Britannica.-E.

AARON, the Caraite, a learned Jew, flou. rished about the year 1299. He left many works on the Old Testament, among which is one, upon which father Simon, an excellent critic, sets great value, and which he frequently cites in his "Critical History of the Old Testament;" it is entitled, "A Commentary upon the Pentateuch." It was written in Hebrew, and was printed in folio, with a Latin translation by Danzius, at Jena, in 1710. The author is to be distinguished from another Aaron, a Caraite Jew, the author of a concise Hebrew grammar, entitled "Chelil Jophi," [The Perfection of Beauty] printed in 12mo, at Constantinople, in 1581. Simon, Hist. Crit. du Vieux Test. lib. ii. c. 31. Moreri.-E.

AARSENS, FRANCIS, lord of Somelsdyck, was the son of Cornelius Aarsens, register of the states of the United Provinces. He was early employed in public affairs, and in 1598 was appointed resident for the States at the court of Henry IV. of France. Upon this footing he resided

there till 1609, when, on the twelve years' truce with Spain, he was acknowledged as embassador, and was the first minister of the republic who received that honour in France. He remained in that country fifteen years, much favoured and honoured by the king, who raised him to the rank of nobility. Afterwards, his attachment to the interests of his own country made him obnoxious to the French king and ministers; and being recalled, he was employed by the States in various missions to Venice, to several princes in Germany and Italy, and also in extraordinary embassies to France and England. This last country he visited in the years 1620 and 1641; the latter time, to negotiate the marriage of the prince of Orange with a daughter of Charles I. He revisited France at the beginning of the administration of Richelieu, who had a high opinion of him. Of all his negotiations he has left very exact memoirs, which show him to have been one of the ablest men of his time, and fully deserving of the confidence which was placed in him by his country. It should not, however, be concealed that he showed a bitter enmity to the remonstrants, and is supposed to have been the principal adviser of the violent measures pursued by prince Maurice against the venerable patriot Barneveldt. The assembling of the famous and persecuting synod of Dordrecht is also attributed chiefly to his counsel. He died at an advanced age, possessed of a large property. He left behind him one son, known by the name of Mons. de Somelsdyck, and reckoned the richest man in Holland. Bayle. Mod. Univ. Hist.-A.

ABA, ALBON, or Ovon, king of Hungary, married the sister of St. Stephen I. in conse quence of which he was elected on the deposition of Peter, in 1041. The emperor Henry III. preparing soon after to restore Peter, Aba made an incursion into his dominions, and brought back a great booty, but was next year obliged to make restitution, and pay a large sum, in order to prevent an invasion from the emperor. Thinking himself now confirmed on the throne, he treated with great severity the malcontents, and rendered himself universally odious to his nobility, fifty of whom he put to death on account of a conspiracy. Their dislike of him was aggravated by the familiarity with which he treated the lower class of people, whom he often admitted to his conversation and table; an indulgence shocking to the prejudices of the aristocracy. A revolt was raised against him by the fugitive nobles, aided by the emperor and marquis of Moravia, in which, after a bloody battle

fought near Javarin, Aba was obliged to fly to the village of Scoebe near the Teiss, where he was murdered by his own soldiers, in 1044. Mod. Univ. Hist. Hist. de Hongrie par Sacy. A. ABAKA-KHAN, eighth emperor of the Mogols, of the race of Zingis, was the son of Hulagu, who, in 1264, left him heir to the kingdoms of Irak, Mazanderan, and Khorasan. During his reign the Musulmans enjoyed great repose, the Mogols lived in exact discipline, the ruins of Bagdat were repaired, and the arts and sciences revived. Abaka, however, had fome wars to sustain. In the beginning of his reign, Barkah Khan, king of Bokharia, attempted to break into Persia through the straits of Caucasus, but was defeated by Abaka's brother. He returned foon after with a prodigious army, and having penetrated to Teflis in Georgia, was about to give battle to the Mogols, when he was carried off by a sudden illness, and his troops dispersed. Borak-Khan, another prince of the fame race with Barkah, afterwards passed the Amur with a great body of horse, and reducing Khorasan, advanced to Aderbijan, where he was met by Abaka, who near the city of Herat obtained a great victory over him, and forced him back across the Amur. The Egyptians having made incursions into Anatolia, Abaka repulsed them; and in 1280, on the accession of sultan Seifeddin to the throne of Egypt and Syria, Abaka sent an army into the latter country in order to take possession of it. The first expedition was only a predatory incursion; but in 1282, Mango Timur, Abaka's younger brother, marched with a large army, accompanied by the king of Armenia; and encountering the Egyptians between Hamah and Hems, was defeated, and soon after died. Abaka himself did not long survive. In the same year, having celebrated Easter-day in the church of the Christians at Hamadan, he partook of a magnificent feast the next day, given by a P'ersian; after which he was taken ill, and died in a short time. It was suspected that he was poisoned by the contrivance of his first minister. D'Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. Univ. Hist. — A.

ABANO, PETRUS DE. See APONO. ABARIS, a native of Hyperborean Scythia, is more celebrated as an impostor than as a philosopher. Writers differ widely concerning the time when he lived. Porphyry and Jamblichus make him contemporary with Pythagoras, and mention a conversation which he had with that philosopher, while he was detained prisoner by Phalaris: but little credit is due to the accuracy of writers who are so credulous as seriously to relate that Pythagoras showed his golden thigh

to Abaris, and that Abaris passed through the air, over land and sea, on a golden arrow, which he had received from the Hyperborean Apollo. Passing by this tale of a witch riding upon a broomstick, we may mention, as better entitled to credit, the story that in the time of a general pestilence, probably in the third Olympiad, or B. C. 768, when the oracle directed that the Athenians should be requested to supplicate the gods for all other nations, Abaris was sent on this embassy from Scythia. In the course of his travels, he is said to have delivered prophecies, and written oracles, which remained extant long after his death: they are now lost, but probably the loss is not much to be regretted. Herod. lib. iv. c. 36. Diod. Sic. lib. iii. c. 11. Jamblich. Vit. Pythag. c. 28. Euseb. Chron. n. 1568. Suidas ad Harpocrat. Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. i. Bayle.-E.

ABAUZIT, FIRMIN, a learned Frenchman, librarian of Geneva, was born at Usez, in Languedoc, in November 1679. He lost his father at two years of age. The edict of Nantz was at that time revoked, and the French protestants were commanded to bend their consciences to the will of Louis XIV. or submit to the cruelties of persecution. Young Abauzit's mother, who was a protestant, experienced its terrors. To fecure her son from danger, and afford him the benefit of education, she with difficulty conveyed him to Geneva. From his tenth to his nineteenth year, his time was devoted to learning; and, after making great proficiency in languages, history, and antiquities, he studied mathematics, natural history, physics, and theology. finish his education, he travelled in the year 1698 into Holland, where he became acquainted with Bayle, Basnage, and Jurieu. Thence he passed over into England, where he was introduced to fir Ifaac Newton, as a young man deeply conversant in mathematical studies. That great man discerned and appreciated his merit, and fent him his Commercium Epistolicum, accompanied with the following honourable testimony in writing: "You are well worthy to judge between Leibnitz and me." The reputation of Abauzit became known to king William, who attempted, by a handsome offer, to detain him in England, but he chose to return to Geneva.

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Here, devoting himself to study, Abauzit, in 1715, entered into the society, formed for the purpose of translating the New Testament into the French language; and the clergy, of whom, chiefly, the society consisted, acknowledged themselves indebted to him for useful assistance in this important work. The University, in 1723, offered him the chair of philosophy, which he refused, pleading the weakness of his

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