born there about the year 1720. After having visited Italy in early life, he became, on his return, a pupil of Geminiani. In 1752 he produced an essay on musical expression. He also assisted in the publication of Marcello's music to the Psalms, adapted to English words. Of his own compositions there are extant five collections of concertos for violins, and two sets of sonatas for the harpsichord and two violins. His music is light and elegant, but it wants originality. In his essay on musical expression, he was the encomiast of Marcello and Geminiani, frequently to the prejudice of Handel. His work was answered by Dr. Hayes of Oxford, who proved Avison to have been by no means a profound contrapuntist. Soon afterwards, 1753, Avison republished his book, with a reply to Dr. Hayes, and a letter containing many detached particulars relative to music. To this last edition, which is very scarce, was added an ingenious and learned letter to the author, concerning the music of the ancients, since known to be written by Dr. Jortin. Mr. Avison died at Newcastle, May 10, 1770. (Diet. of Mus.)

AVISSE, (Etienne,) a French dramatist, who died in 1747, having obtained great reputation by his plays, entitled Le Divorce, La Réunion forcée, La Gouvernante, and Les Petits-Maitres. (Biog. Univ.)

AVISSE, born at Paris about 1772, was for some time secretary to a captain of a ship, but having lost his eyes returned to France, and gave himself up to study. He was a professor of grammar and logic in the Institution for the Blind founded by M. Hauy, and was the author of a few pieces in prose and verse. (Biog. Univ.)

AVITABILE. There were three Neapolitans of this name, in the seventeenth century, who obtained some reputation in literature. Pietro, a missionary in the East, who died at Goa, 1650. Corneille, a Dominican, and the author of Sermons, who died at Naples in the odour of sanctity in 1636. Blaise Majoli d'Avitabile, a lawyer, philosopher, theologian, and poet, who flourished about the same

general of the horse under Petronius Maximus; upon whose death, in A. D. 455, he accepted from the delegates of the seven Gallic provinces, in their diet at Arles, the imperial dignity. Their election was confirmed by Theodoric and the Visigoths, and subsequently by the formal consent of Marcian, the emperor of the East. Their choice was, however, unwillingly submitted to by Rome and Italy, although recently humbled by the Vandals, and the pillage of the capital. Theodoric offered himself to Avitus as the friend and soldier of Rome; and his word was kept, although the king of the Visigoths claimed the absolute possession of his conquests, by the destruction of the Suevian kingdom of Gallicia. Avitus had gained the favour of Theodoric during a visit to Toulouse, while he was general of the horse under Maximus. After a reign of fourteen months Avitus was deposed by Ricimer, one of the principal commanders of the barbarian mercenaries in Italy. He had reluctantly obeyed Avitus, and availed himself of his popularity, after a defeat of the Vandals at sea, to procure his deposition. Avitus was allowed to descend from the throne to the episcopal chair of Placentia. But the senate was dissatisfied with the clemency of Ricimer, and sentence of death was pronounced against him. He fled towards the Alps, with the intention of securing his person and his treasures in the sanctuary of Julian, one of the tutelar saints of his native place, Auvergne. He died on the road, either from disease, or by the hand of the executioner; and his remains were interred at the feet of his patron saint at Brivas, or Brioude, in Aquitaine. Avitus left an only daughter, who was married to Sidonius Apollinaris. The tedious panegyric which Apollinaris addressed to his father-in-law upon his entrance on the consulship for 456 A. D. is our principal authority for the life of Avitus. (Sirmond's Sidonius, p. 330; see also Gregor. Turonensis, lib. ii. and Victor Tunnunensis in Chron. apud Scalig. Euseb.) The character of Avitus is as imperfectly recorded as the events of his reign. He is accused by Gregory of Tours, of dishonouring the wives and daughters of his subjects, and of adding insult to dishonour, by coarse and unseasonable raillery. Another chronicler calls him, " vir totius simplicitatis."

AVITUS, (St. properly Alcimus Écditius Avitus,) archbishop of Vienne, in France. He was born in Auvergne, of a

patrician and senatorial family, about the middle of the fifth century. He succeeded his father in the see of Vienne in 490, and was universally respected for his learning and piety. He was equally respected by the unconverted Clovis, and by the Arian king of the Burgundians, Gondebaud. At the request of the latter, he wrote against the Eutychians. He afterwards attacked the Arians themselves, and, after Gondebaud's death, succeeded in converting his son and successor to the catholic doctrines. He died in 525, on 5th February, according to the commonly received account; though another authority says on Aug. 20. His prose works, still preserved, consist chiefly of letters and homilies. He was much better known as a poet; and we have still various poems by him on religious subjects, such as the Creation of the World, the Praise of Virginity, and some parts of scripture. The different editions of his poems are enumerated by Polycarp Leyser, Hist. Poet. Med. v. pp. 85 -92. His prose writings have also been printed several times, by Sirmond, and others.

AVOGADRO, (Nestor Denis,) an Italian minorite, flourished in the fifteenth century. He compiled a Latin dictionary, which had a great reputation for a long time, and went through several editions. (Biog. Univ.)

AVOGADRO, (Albert,) an Italian poet, was born at Vercelli, and flourished in the fifteenth century. He wrote a Latin poem in praise of Cosmo de Medici, which was first printed in 1742, in the Delicia Eruditorum of Lami, tom. xii. (Biog. Univ.)

AVOGADRO, (Lucia,) an Italian poetess, who flourished about the year 1560. She received great praise from contemporary poets, and particularly from Tasso. She died in 1568. She has left behind her but a very few poems. (Biog. Univ.) AVOGADRO, (le Comte Louis,) flourished about 1500. In the war of the league of Cambray, he distinguished himself on the side of the Venetians. He fell in an attack on the town of Brescia, in 1512. (Biog. Univ.)

AVOGADRO, (Pietro,) a painter, a native of Brescia, who flourished about the year 1730. He was a scholar of Pompeo Ghiti, and adopted the models of Bologna, imitating them without affectation, but adding some mixture of Venetian colouring, especially in the carnations. The contours of his figures are correct and graceful, the fore-shortenings

judicious; and the general effect of his pictures is harmonious and pleasing. His best work is in the church of San Giuseppe at Brescia, representing the martyrdom of the saints Crispino and Crispiniano. (Lanzi, Stor. Pitt. iii. 228. Bryan's Dict.)

AVOGADRO, (Giuseppe,) count of Casanova, was born at Vercelli in 1731. His family was one of the most ancient in Lombardy, and had been ever since the twelfth century employed in church disputes; having thus acquired the name of "Avogadro," that is, advocate. The count devoted his life to the improvement of his estates, and introduced many new plans of cultivation, by which he realized à considerable fortune. He wrote many tracts on agriculture. He died at Vercelli in 1813. (Biog. Univ. Suppl.)

AVOGARO, (Count Azzoni Rambaldo,) an Italian antiquary, born at Treviso in 1719, and died in 1790. (Biog. Univ. Suppl.)

AVOGRADO, (Jerome,) a native of Brescia, lived about 1486. He was a patron of men of literature, and also himself a man of letters; having at once the gifts of intellect and fortune. He is said to have been the first editor of Vitruvius, but his claim to this honour, is involved in some doubt. (Biog. Univ.)

AVONDANO, (P. A.,) an Italian musician and composer in the last century. His operas, Berenice; Il Mondo della Luna; and the oratorio Gioas Re de Giuda; have had their day; as well as his Six Solos and Duetts on the Violoncello, which are, however, still very useful.

AVONT, (Peter van den,) a painter and engraver, born at Antwerp about the year 1619. He painted landscapes, enriched with figures, well-drawn, and touched with much spirit. He frequently decorated the landscapes of Vinckenboom. He was also an eminent engraver; and amongst his plates are three Madonnas, and a Magdalen ascending to Heaven, and two Bacchanalian subjects of Children; the latter, and the Magdalen, after designs of his own. He also executed twenty-four small plates of Children; on each plate a Child and an Angel, which were published in a set, called Pædopegnion, by W. Hollar. He signed himself, Pet. van Avont. (Bryan's Dict. Strutt's Dict. of Eng.)

AVOSANI, (Orfeo,) organ player at Viadana, in the Mantuese; one of the most fertile and genial composers of church music in the seventeenth century.

dialect of his own county. He tells us himself that he was chantry-priest to the lord Strange, and that he was deaf, sick, and blind, when he composed the book. "John the blynde Awdelay,

The furst prest to the lord Straunge he was, Of this chauntré here in this place, That made this bok, by Goddus grace, Deef, sick, blynd, as he lay." The original MS. of this curious poetry was in the possession of Mr. Douce, and is now deposited with his books in the Bodleian library, at Oxford. (Ritson. Halliwell, Introduct. to Warkworth's Chron. xiv.)

AWDELEY, (John,) was a printer of some note, between the years 1559 and 1580. He also appears to have been himself an author of several productions, in verse, consisting of epitaphs, serious ballads, and short moral pieces. When Dr. Dibdin wrote his account of Awdeley, (Typogr. Antiq. iv. 563,) he was not aware of the printer's claim as a versemaker. He calls him "John Sampson, alias Awdeley;" but there seems to be some confusion in the books of the Stationers' Company at this date, respecting John Sampson and John Awdeley, as there is no other trace of our printer-poet having gone by two names: he always called himself upon the works, which came from his press or pen, John Awdeley. He was an original member of the Stationers' Company, when it received its charter; but the date of his birth, as well as of his death, are unknown. According to Herbert's MS. additions to his History of Printing, John Awdeley was still living in 1582; but his latest dated work is 1576. Dr. Dibdin informs us that Awdeley had a license to print The Epitaph of Mr. Veron, in 1562, not knowing that it had actually appeared under the title of An Epitaphe, upon the Death of Mayster John Viron, Preacher, and that the printer was himself the writer of it: at the end we read "Finis, quod John Awdeley." Another pious broadside poem from his pen was upon Ecclesiast. xx.-Remember death, and thou shalt never sinne, 1569; and a third, subscribed only "Telos quod J. A." and entitled, The cruel Assault of God's Fort, was printed by him without date. He has also some original stanzas before Gregory Scott's Brief Treatise against certayne Errors, 1574. This work was unknown to Ames, Herbert, and Dr. Dibdin. Awdeley carried on business, as appears by the colophon to many of his pieces, in "Little Britain Street, by Great St. Bartholomew's;" and sometimes

it is called "Little Britain Street without Aldersgate."

AWEIS, AVIS, or WEISS SHAH, succeeded his father, Hassan, surnamed Buzurg, or The Great, the founder of the Il-Khanian dynasty of Moguls, which ruled in Persia after the extinction of the line of Hulaku, A.D. 1356, A.H. 757. The dominions which he inherited from his father comprehended Bagdad and the greater part of Irak; but Aweis extended his realm by the reconquest of several of the provinces in which the governors had assumed independence during the convulsions preceding the fall of the last dynasty. In 1358, he subdued Azerbijan (the ancient Media), and secured its possession by the execution of the prince and forty of his emirs. The next ten years were occupied by the reduction of Moosul, and the remainder of Irak; and in 1370, he turned his arms against Ameer-Wali, the usurper of Mazanderan, whom he defeated in a great battle near Rei, and pursued into Khorassan. He died four years afterwards, a. d. 1374, A. H. 776, characterised by eastern writers as a just, religious, and valiant prince: his good qualities appear, however, to have been tarnished by cruelty. On his death-bed, he nominated Hussein, the second of his four sons, to succeed him, in preference to his elder brother Hassan, who was seized and put to death by the ministers, as soon as his father expired, to avoid the evils of a disputed succession. Hussein was a virtuous and beneficent ruler, but was dethroned in a few years by another brother, Ahmed, in whose reign the short-lived power of the IlKhanians was destroyed by Timour. (Khondemir. Arabshah. D'Herbelot. De Guignes. Malcolm's Persia.)

AWEIS, or AHMED DJESAIR, after having killed his brother Hussein, who succeeded his father Aweis, caused himself to be proclaimed king in 1381. He was a detestable tyrant, and his people, weary of his oppressions, called in Tamerlane. He was twice driven from his capital, and twice regained it. He formed a league with Cara Yousouf, but at length the alliance was broken. Cara Yousouf attacked him, took him prisoner, and put him to death in 1410. Thus ended the dynasty of the Il-Khaniens. (Biog. Univ.)

AWEIS, or VAIS, called frequently Meer Vais, or Mirveis, a chief of the Ghilji Affghans of Candahar, in the early

He was thus distinguished from Hassan "Kut

chuk" (The Little) the chief of a rival family.

D D

part of the last century. He had been early disaffected to the Persian yoke; and in 1709, irritated by an insult offered him by the governor Goorgeen-Khan, he treacherously assassinated him at a banquet, slaughtered the Persian garrison, and made himself independent ruler of Candahar. All the efforts of the court of Ispahan to reduce him proved ineffectual. Khosmo-Khan, the nephew of the murdered governor, was defeated and killed; and Aweis retained the sovereignty till his death, in 1715, A.H. 1127. His authority was inherited by his brother, Meer Abdullah, or, as Meerza Mahdi calls him, Abdulaziz; but the unwarlike character of this chief rendered him unpopular, and he was deposed and put to death by his nephew, the son of Aweis, Meer Mahmood, the Affghan conqueror of Persia. (See HUSSEIN SHAH, MAHMOOD, ASHRAF. Malcolm's History of Persia. Hanway's Travels. Meerza Mehdi, Life of Nadir.)

AWTIE, (Daniel,) a noted counterfeiter of the king's coin. He resided at Dannoty Hall, (so called from a corruption of his own name,) near Thirsk, in the latter part of the reign of William III. The fitting up of his house with recesses, concealed doors, and other secret contrivances, as well as with dangerous and difficult barricadoes, enabled him to carry on his base coinage, for a long time and to a great extent. A man named Busby married his daughter, and joined him in his wicked practices. Soon, however, a deadly quarrel arose between them, relating, it is supposed, to their illegal traffic; and Busby, determined to engross the whole, murdered his fatherin-law; for which he was tried at York, and condemned, and hung in chains, about the year 1702, near the scene of the murder, and the place is called "Busby Stoop" " to this day.

AXAJACATI, (1464-1477,) seventh emperor of Mexico, was the second son of Montezuma I. He added many provinces to the empire of the Artequi, which became known as that of Mexico, from the name of the chief war-god whom these cruel barbarians worshipped. The captives whom he took were sacrificed to that deity. The greater part of his reign, however, was peaceful; and he was a great encourager of agriculture. He was succeeded by Ahuitzol.

AXARETO. See ASSERETO.
AXEHIELM, (Johan,) a Swedish an-
Stoop is a word provincially used in this part

of the country for "post."

tiquarian, was born at Norköping, in 1608; and studied antiquities at the college of Upsal, under the guidance of the royal Archivarius Burei. In 1630 he received a commission from the university to travel through Sweden, and to seek out and examine such remains of antiquity as had been, up to his time, neglected or forgotten. His zeal and success in this pursuit were great. But his acquirements were not confined to a knowledge of antiquities. He was also an eminent jurist, and in this capacity was preferred to several important civil offices. In 1652 he was appointed royal antiquary, having been ennobled the year before. Axehielm was not less noted for his virtues, his integrity, and zeal in the service of his country, than for his learning. His works (left behind him in MS., and never published,) are-Leges Vestrogothiæ et Vestmanniæ; Monumenta Runica; a translation of the Vilkina Saga into Swedish; On the proper SueoGothic Orthography; Varia Collectanea ad concinnandum absolutum Lexicon Svio-Gothicum; a Treatise on the Three Crowns ; Dictionarium ex Legibus Islandicis; Barclaii Vita (Swedish). He died in 1692.

AXELSON, the name of a Danish family, whose members performed an important part in the dissensions between the kings Christian I. and John of Denmark, and John Canutson and Eric of Sweden. Several of these, though Danish subjects, and possessing rich estates in that kingdom, attached themselves to the interests of Sweden, and married princesses of that country - a circumstance arising chiefly from an ordinance of Christian I., by which, shortly after his accession, he claimed certain estates of the crown which had been pledged to individuals for sums of money, which sums, he asserted, had been repaid, in many cases fourfold, by the revenues of the mortgaged lands. Many of these lands were held by the family of Axelson, and the reclaiming of them excited a general hostility against the Danish government.

Iver Axelsön fled from Denmark, for the reason just mentioned, to his brother Erich in Sweden, who had married the sister of the king, Charles, and held the post of superintendent of the kingdom. Here Iver made a formal renunciation of his allegiance to the crown of Denmark; married Magdalene, the Swedish king's daughter; and after the death of his brother Olaf, ruled the island of Goth