As`signats, bills or notes, to the number of 45 thousand million, issued as currency by the revolutionary government of France in 1790, and based on the security of Church and other lands appropriated by it, and which in course of time sunk in value, to the ruin of millions.

Assiniboi`a, a province in Canada between Saskatchewan and the United States.

Assiniboines, certain aborigines of Canada; the few of whom that remain do farming on the banks of the Saskatchewan.

Assi`si (3), a town in Central Italy, 12 m. SE. of Perugia, the birthplace and burial-place of St. Francis, and the birthplace of Metastasio; it was a celebrated place of resort of pilgrims, who sometimes came in great numbers.

Association of ideas, a connection in the mind between two ideas, such that the consciousness of one tends to recall the other, a fact employed to explain certain recondite psychological phenomena.

Assouan`, the ancient Syene, the southernmost city of Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, near the last cataract.

Assoucy, D', a French burlesque poet ridiculed by Boileau (1604-1679).

Assumption, Feast of the, festival in honour of the translation of the Virgin Mary to heaven, celebrated on the 15th of August, the alleged day of the event.

Assur, mythical name of the founder of Assyria.

Assyr`ia, an ancient kingdom, the origin and early history of which is uncertain, between the Niphates Mountains of Armenia on the N. and Babylonia on the S., 280 m. long and 150 broad, with a fertile soil and a population at a high stage of civilisation; became a province of Media, which lay to the E., in 606 B.C., and afterwards a satrapy of the Persian empire, and has been under the Turks since 1638, in whose hands it is now a desert.

Assyriology, the study of the monuments of Assyria, chiefly in a Biblical interest.

Astar`te, or Ashtoreth, or Ist`ar, the female divinity of the Phoenicians, as Baal was the male, these two being representative respectively of the conceptive and generative powers of nature, and symbolised, the latter, like Apollo, by the sun, and the former, like Artemis or Diana, by the moon; sometimes identified with Urania and sometimes with Venus; the rites connected with her worship were of a lascivious nature.

Aster, of Amphipolis, an archer who offered his services to Philip of Macedon, boasting of his skill in bringing down birds on the wing, and to whom Philip had replied he would accept them when he made war on the birds. Aster, to be revenged, sped an arrow from the wall of a town Philip was besieging, inscribed, "To the right eye of Philip," which took effect; whereupon Philip sped back another with the words, "When Philip takes the town, Aster will hang for it," and he was true to his word.

As`teroids, or Planetoids, small planets in orbits between those of Mars and Jupiter, surmised in 1596, all discovered in the present century, the first on Jan. 1, 1801, and named Ceres; gradually found to number more than 200.

As`ti (33), an ancient city in Piedmont, on the Tanaro, 26 m. SE. from Turin, with a Gothic cathedral; is noted for its wine; birthplace of Alfieri.

Astley, Philip, a famous equestrian and circus manager, along with Franconi established the Cirque Olympique in Paris (1742-1814).

Astolfo, a knight-errant in mediæval legend who generous-heartedly is always to do greater feats than he can perform; in "Orlando Furioso" he brings back Orlando's lost wits in a phial from the moon, and possesses a horn that with a blast can discomfit armies.

Aston, Luise, German authoress, championed the rights of women, and went about in male attire; b. 1820.

Aston Manor (54), a suburb of Birmingham.

Astor, John Jacob, a millionaire, son of a German peasant, who made a fortune of four millions in America by trading in furs (1763-1848). His son doubled his fortune; known as the "landlord of New York" (1792-1875).

Astor, William Waldorf, son of the preceding, devoted to politics; came to London, 1891; became proprietor of the Pall Mall Gazette and Budget in 1893; b. 1848.

Asto`ria, in Oregon, a fur-trading station, with numerous salmon-tinning establishments.

Astræ`a, the daughter of Zeus and Themis, the goddess of justice; dwelt among men during the Golden Age, but left the earth on its decline, and her sister Pudicitia along with her, the withdrawal explained to mean the vanishing of the ideal from the life of man on the earth; now placed among the stars under the name of Virgo.

Astræa Redux, the name given to an era which piques itself on the return of the reign of justice to the earth.

As`trakhan (43), a Russian trading town on the Volga, 40 m. from its mouth in the Caspian Sea, of which it is the chief port.

Astral body, an ethereal body believed by the theosophists to invest the animal, to correspond to it, and to be capable of Bilocation (q. v.)

Astral spirits, spirits believed to animate or to people the heavenly bodies, to whom worship was paid, and to hover unembodied through space exercising demonic influence on embodied spirits.

Astrology, a science founded on a presumed connection between the heavenly bodies and human destiny as more or less affected by them, a science at one time believed in by men of such intelligence as Tacitus and Kepler, and few great families at one time but had an astrologer attached to them to read the horoscope of any new member of the house.

Astruc, Jean, a French physician and professor of medicine in Paris, now noted as having discovered that the book of Genesis consists of Elohistic and Jehovistic portions, and who by this discovery founded the modern school called of the Higher Criticism (1681-1766).

Astu`rias (579), an ancient province in the N. of Spain, gives title to the heir to the crown, rich in minerals, and with good fisheries; now named Oviedo, from the principal town.

Asty`ages, last king of the Medes; dethroned by Cyrus, 549 B.C.

Asty`anax, the son of Hector and Andromache; was cast down by the Greeks from the ramparts after the fall of Troy, lest he should live and restore the city.

Asun`cion, or Assumption (18), the capital of Paraguay, on the left bank of the Paraguay, so called from having been founded by the Spaniards on the Feast of the Assumption in 1535.

Asuras, The, in the Hindu mythology the demons of the darkness of night, in overcoming whom the gods asserted their sovereignty in the universe.

Asymptote, a line always approaching some curve but never meeting it.

Ataca`ma, an all but rainless desert in the N. of Chile, abounding in silver and copper mines, as well as gold in considerable quantities.

Atahualpa, the last of the Incas of Peru, who fell into Pizarro's hands through perfidy, and was strangled by his orders in 1533, that is, little short of a year after the Spaniards landed in Peru.

Atalan`ta, a beautiful Grecian princess celebrated for her agility, the prize of any suitor who could outstrip her on the racecourse, failure being death; at last one suitor, Hippomenes his name, accepted the risk and started along with her, but as he neared the goal, kept dropping first one golden apple, then another, provided him by Venus, stooping to lift which lost her the race, whereupon Hippomenes claimed the prize.

At`avism, name given to the reappearance in progeny of the features, and even diseases, of ancestors dead generations before.

Atba`ra, or Black River, from the Highlands of Abyssinia, the lowest tributary of the Nile, which it joins near Berber.

Ate`, in the Greek mythology the goddess of strife and mischief, also of vengeance; was banished by her father Zeus, for the annoyance she gave him, from heaven to earth, where she has not been idle since.

Athaba`sca, a province, a river, and a lake in British N. America.

Athalia, the queen of Judah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, celebrated for her crimes and impiety, for which she was in the end massacred by her subjects, 9th century B.C.

Athanasian Creed, a statement, in the form of a confession, of the orthodox creed of the Church as against the Arians, and damnatory of every article of the heresy severally; ascribed to Athanasius at one time, but now believed to be of later date, though embracing his theology in affirmation of the absolute co-equal divinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the Trinity.

Athanasius, Christian theologian, a native of Alexandria, and a deacon of the Church; took a prominent part against Arius in the Council at Nice, and was his most uncompromising antagonist; was chosen bishop of Alexandria; driven forth again and again from his bishopric under persecution of the Arians; retired into the Thebaïd for a time; spent the last 10 years of his life as bishop at Alexandria, where he died; his works consist of treatises and orations bearing on the Arian controversy, and in vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity viewed in the most absolute sense (296-373).

Atheism, disbelief in the existence of God, which may be either theoretical, in the intellect, or practical, in the life, the latter the more common and the more fatal form of it.

Atheism, Modern, ascribed by Ruskin to "the unfortunate persistence of the clergy in teaching children what they cannot understand, and in employing young consecrate persons to assert in pulpits what they do not know."

Athelney, Isle of, an island in a marsh near the confluence of the Tone and Parret, Somerset; Alfred's place of refuge from the Danes.

Athe`na, the Greek virgin goddess of wisdom, particularly in the arts, of war as of peace, happily called by Ruskin the "'Queen of the Air,' in the heavens, in the earth, and in the heart"; is said to have been the conception of Metis, to have issued full-armed from the brain of Zeus, and in this way the child of both wisdom and power; wears a helmet, and bears on her left arm the ægis with the Medusa's head; the olive among trees, and the owl among animals, were sacred to her.

Athenæum, a school of learning established in Rome about 133 by Hadrian.

Athenæus, a Greek writer of the 3rd century, wrote a curious miscellany of a book entitled "Deipnosophistæ, or the Suppers of the Learned," extant only in an imperfect state.

Athenag`oras, an able Christian apologist of the 2nd century, was Athenian and a pagan by birth, but being converted to Christianity, wrote an apology in its defence, and a treatise on the resurrection of the dead.

Ath`ens, the capital of Attica, and the chief city of ancient Greece, at once the brain and the heart of it; the resort in ancient times of all the able and wise men, particularly in the domain of literature and art, from all parts of the country and lands beyond; while the monuments of temple and statue that still adorn it give evidence of a culture among the citizens such as the inhabitants of no other city of the world have had the genius to surpass, though the name Athens has been adopted by or applied to several cities, Edinburgh in particular, that have been considered to rival it in this respect, and is the name of over twenty places in the United States. The two chief monuments of the architecture of ancient Athens, both erected on the Acropolis, are the Parthenon (q. v.), dedicated to Athena, the finest building on the finest site in the world, and the Erechtheum, a temple dedicated to Poseidon close by; is the capital (100) of modern Greece, the seat of the government, and the residence of the king.

Athlone (7), a market-town on the Shannon, which divides it, and a chief military station.

Athole, a district in the N. of Perthshire, which gives name to a branch of the Murray family.

Athole-brose, oatmeal, honey, and whisky mixed.

Athole, Sir John James Hugh Stewart-Murray, 7th Duke of, honourably distinguished for having devoted years of his life to editing the records of the family and the related history; b. 1840

A`thos, Mount, or Monte Santo (6), a mountain 6780 ft. high at the southern extremity of the most northerly peninsula of Salonica, in Turkey, covered with monasteries, inhabited exclusively by monks of the Greek Church, and rich in curious manuscripts; the monks devote themselves to gardening, bee-culture, and other rural occupations, the more devout among them at one time celebrated for the edification they derived from the study of their own navels.

Atlanta (65), the largest city in Georgia, U.S.; a large manufacturing and railway centre.

Atlantes, figures of men used in architecture instead of pillars.

Atlantic, The, the most important, best known, most traversed and best provided for traffic of all the oceans on the globe, connecting, rather than separating, the Old World and the New; covers nearly one-fifth of the surface of the earth; length 9000 m., its average breadth 2700 m.; its average depth 15,000 ft., or from 3 to 5 m., with waves in consequence of greater height and volume than those of any other sea.

Atlan`tis, an island alleged by tradition to have existed in the ocean W. of the Pillars of Hercules; Plato has given a beautiful picture of this island, and an account of its fabulous history. The New, a Utopia figured as existing somewhere in the Atlantic, which Lord Bacon began to outline but never finished.

At`las, a Titan who, for his audacity in attempting to dethrone Zeus, was doomed to bear the heavens on his shoulders; although another account makes him a king of Mauritania whom Perseus, for his want of hospitality, changed into a mountain by exposing to view the head of the Medusa.

Atlas Mountains, a range in N. Africa, the highest 11,000 feet, the Greater in Morocco, the Lesser extending besides through Algeria and Tunis, and the whole system extending from Cape Nun, in Morocco, to Cape Bon, in Tunis.

Atman, The, in the Hindu philosophy, the divine spirit in man, conceived of as a small being having its seat in the heart, where it may be felt stirring, travelling whence along the arteries it peers out as a small image in the eye, the pupil; it is centred in the heart of the universe, and appears with dazzling effect in the sun, the heart and eye of the world, and is the same there as in the heart of man.

At`oll, the name, a Polynesian one, given to a coral island consisting of a ring of coral enclosing a lagoon.

Atomic theory, the theory that all compound bodies are made up of elementary in fixed proportions.

Atomic weight, the weight of an atom of any body compared with that of hydrogen, the unit.

Atra`to, a river in Colombia which flows N. into the Gulf of Darien; is navigable for 200 m., proposed, since the failure of the Panama scheme, to be converted, along with San Juan River, into a canal to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific.

A`treus, a son of Pelops and king of Mycenæ, who, to avenge a wrong done him by his brother Thyestes, killed his two sons, and served them up in a banquet to him, for which act, as tradition shows, his descendants had to pay heavy penalties.

Atri`des, descendants of Atreus, particularly Agamemnon and Menelaus, a family frequently referred to as capable of and doomed to perpetrating the most atrocious crimes.

At`ropos, one of the three Fates, the one who cut asunder the thread of life; one of her sisters, Clotho, appointed to spin the thread, and the other, Lachesis, to direct it.

At`talus, the name of three kings of Pergamos: A. I., founded the library of Pergamos and joined the Romans against Philip and the Achæans (241-197 B.C.); A. II., kept up the league with Rome (157-137); A. III., bequeathed his wealth to the Roman people (137-132).

Atterbury, Francis, an English prelate, in succession dean of Christ Church, bishop of Rochester, and dean of Westminster; a zealous Churchman and Jacobite, which last brought him into trouble on the accession of the House of Hanover and led to his banishment; died in Paris. He was a scholarly man, an eloquent preacher, and wrote an eloquent style (1662-1731).

Attic Bee, Sophocles, from the sweetness and beauty of his productions.

Attic faith, inviolable faith, opposed to Punic.

Attic Muse, Xenophon, from the simplicity and elegance of his style.

Attic salt, pointed and delicate wit.

Attic style, a pure, classical, and elegant style.

At`tica, a country in ancient Greece, on the NE. of the Peloponnesus, within an area not larger than that of Lanarkshire, which has nevertheless had a history of world-wide fame and importance.

Atticism, a pure and refined style of expression in any language, originally the purest and most refined style of the ancient literature of Greece.

Atticus, Titus P., a wealthy Roman and a great friend of Cicero's, devoted to study and the society of friends, took no part in politics, died of voluntary starvation rather than endure the torture of a painful and incurable disease (110-33 B.C.).

At`tila, or Etzel, the king of the Huns, surnamed "the Scourge of God," from the terror he everywhere inspired; overran the Roman Empire at the time of its decline, vanquished the emperors of both East and West, extorting heavy tribute; led his forces into Germany and Gaul, was defeated in a great battle near Châlons-sur-Marne by the combined armies of the Romans under Aëtius and the Goths under Theodoric, retreated across the Alps and ravaged the N. of Italy; died of hemorrhage, it is alleged, on the day of his marriage, and was buried in a gold coffin containing immense treasures in 453, the slaves who dug the grave having, it is said, been killed, lest they should reveal the spot.

At`tock (4), a town and fortress in the Punjab, on the Indus where the Kabul joins it—a river beyond which no Hindu must pass; it was built by Akbar in 1581.

Attorney-General, the name given the first law officer and legal adviser of the Crown in England and Ireland.

Attwood, George, a mathematician, invented a machine for illustrating the law of uniformly accelerated motion, as in falling bodies (1745-1807).

Attwood, Thomas, an eminent English musician and composer, wrote a few anthems (1767-1836).

A`tys, a beautiful Phrygian youth, beloved by Cybele, who turned him into a pine, after she had, by her apparition at his marriage to forbid the banns, driven him mad.

Aube (255), a dep. in France, formed of Champagne and a small part of Burgundy, with Troyes for capital.

Au`ber, a popular French composer of operas, born at Caen; his operas included "La Muette de Portici," "Le Domino Noir," "Fra Diavolo," &c. (1782-1871).

Au`bert, The Abbé, a French fabulist, born at Paris (1731-1814).

Aub`rey, John, an eminent antiquary, a friend of Anthony Wood's; inherited estates in Wilts, Hereford, and Wales, all of which he lost by lawsuits and bad management; was intimate with all the literary men of the day; left a vast number of MSS.; published one work, "Miscellanies," being a collection of popular superstitions; preserved a good deal of the gossip of the period (1624-1697).

Aub`riot, a French statesman, born at Dijon, provost of Paris under Charles V.: built the famous Bastille; was imprisoned in it for heresy, but released by a mob; died at Dijon, 1382.

Aubry de Montdidier, French knight murdered by Robert Macaire (q. v.), the sole witness of the crime and the avenger of it being his dog.

Aubusson, a French town on the Creuse, manufactures carpets and tapestry.

Aubusson, Pierre d', grand-master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, of French descent, who in 1480 gallantly defended Rhodes when besieged by Mahomet II., and drove the assailants back, amounting to no fewer than 100,000 men (1423-1503).

Auch (12), capital of the dep. of Gers, France, 14 m. W. of Toulouse, with a splendid cathedral perched on a hill, and accessible only by a flight of 200 steps; has a trade in wine and brandy.

Auchinleck, a village 15 m. E. of Ayr, with the mansion of the Boswell family.

Auchterar`der, a village in Perthshire, where the forcing of a presentee by a patron on an unwilling congregation awoke a large section in the Established Church to a sense of the wrong, and the assertion of the rights of the people and led to the disruption of the community, and the creation of the Free Church in 1843.

Auck`land (60), the largest town in New Zealand, in the N. island, with an excellent harbour in the Gulf of Hauraki, and the capital of a district of the name, 400 m. long, and 200 m. broad, with a fertile soil and a fine climate, rich in natural products of all kinds; was the capital of New Zealand till the seat of government was transferred to Wellington.

Auckland, Bishop (11), a town on the Wear, 10 m. SW. of Durham and in the county of Durham, with the palace of the bishop.

Auckland, George Eden, Lord, son of the following, a Whig in politics, First Lord of the Admiralty, Governor-General of India; gave name to Auckland; returned afterwards to his post in the Admiralty (1784-1849).

Auckland, William Eden, Lord, diplomatist, and an authority on criminal law (1744-1814).

Auckland Islands, a group of small islands 180 m. S. of New Zealand, with some good harbours, and rich in vegetation.

Aude (317), a maritime dep. in the S. of France, being a portion of Languedoc; yields cereals, wine, &c., and is rich in minerals.

Audebert, Jean Baptiste, a French artist and naturalist; devoted himself to the illustration in coloured plates of objects of natural history, such especially as monkeys and humming-birds, all exquisitely done (1759-1800).

Audhumbla, the cow, in the Norse mythology, that nourished Hymir, and lived herself by licking the hoar-frost off the rocks.

Audley, Sir Thomas, Lord, born in Essex, son of a yeoman; became Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Chancellor of England; the selfish, unscrupulous tool of Henry VIII. (1488-1554).

Au`douin, Jean Victor, an eminent French entomologist; was employed by the French Government to inquire into and report on the diseases of the silkworm, and the insects that destroy the vines (1797-1841).

Audran, Gerard, an engraver, the most eminent of a family of artists, born at Lyons; engraved the works of Lebrun, Mignard, and Poussin; he did some fine illustrations of the battles of Alexander the Great (1640-1703).

Au`dubon, John James, a celebrated American ornithologist of French Huguenot origin; author of two great works, the "Birds of America" and the "Quadrupeds of America," drawn and illustrated by himself, the former characterised by Cuvier as "the most magnificent monument that Art up to that time had raised to Nature" (1780-1851).

Au`enbrugger, an Austrian physician, discoverer of the method of investigating diseases of the chest by percussion (1722-1809).

Au`erbach, Bertholo, a German poet and novelist of Jewish birth, born in the Black Forest; his novels, which have been widely translated, are in the main of a somewhat philosophical bent, he having been early led to the study of Spinoza, and having begun his literary career as editor of his works; his "Village Tales of the Black Forest" were widely popular (1812-1882).

Au`ersperg, Count von, an Austrian lyrical and satirical poet, of liberal politics, and a pronounced enemy of the absolutist party headed by Metternich (1806-1876).

Auf`recht, Theodor, eminent Sanskrit scholar, born in Silesia; was professor of Sanskrit in Edinburgh University; returning to Germany, became professor at Bonn; b. 1822.

Aufklärung, The, or Illuminationism, a movement, conspicuously of the present time, the members of which pique themselves on ability to disperse the darkness of the world, if they could only persuade men to forego reason, and accept sense, common-sense, as the only test of truth, and who profess to settle all questions of reason, that is, of faith, by appeal to private judgment and majorities, or as Dr. Stirling defines it, "that stripping of us naked of all things in heaven and upon earth, at the hands of the modern party of unbelief, and under the guidance of so-called rationalism."

Auge`as, a legendary king of Elis, in Greece, and one of the Argonauts; had a stable with 3000 oxen, that had not been cleaned out for 30 years, but was cleansed by Hercules turning the rivers Peneus and Alpheus through it; the act a symbol of the worthless lumber a reformer must sweep away before his work can begin, the work of reformation proper.

Auger, a French littérateur, born at Paris, renowned as a critic (1772-1829).

Au`gereau, Pierre François Charles, marshal of France and duke of Castiglione, born at Paris; distinguished in the campaigns of the Republic and Napoleon; executed the coup d'état of the 4th Sept. 1797; his services were rejected by Napoleon on his return from Elba, on account of his having supported the Bourbons during his absence. He was simply a soldier, rude and rough-mannered, and with no great brains for anything else but military discipline (1757-1816).

Au`gier, Émile, able French dramatist, produced brilliant comedies for the French stage through a period of 40 years, all distinctly on the side of virtue. His only rivals were Dumas fils and M. Sardou (1820-1889).

Augs`burg (75), a busy manufacturing and trading town on the Lech, in Bavaria, once a city of great importance, where in 1531 the Protestants presented their Confession to Charles V., and where the peace of Augsburg was signed in 1555, ensuring religious freedom.

Augsburg Confession, a document drawn up by Melanchthon in name of the Lutheran reformers, headed by the Elector of Saxony in statement of their own doctrines, and of the doctrines of the Church of Rome, against which they protested.

Augurs, a college of priests in Rome appointed to forecast the future by the behaviour or flight of birds kept for the purpose, and which were sometimes carried about in a coop to consult on emergencies.

August, originally called Sextilis, as the sixth month of the Roman year, which began in March, and named August in honour of Augustus, as being the month identified with remarkable events in his career.

Augusta (33), a prosperous town in Georgia, U.S., on the Savannah, 231 m. from its mouth; also a town (10) the capital of Maine, U.S.

Augustan Age, the time in the history of a nation when its literature is at its best.

Augusti, a German rationalist theologian of note, born near Gotha (1771-1841).

Augustin, or Austin, St., the apostle of England, sent thither with a few monks by Pope Gregory in 596 to convert the country to Christianity; began his labours in Kent; founded the see, or rather archbishopric, of Canterbury; d. 605.

Au`gustine, St., the bishop of Hippo and the greatest of the Latin Fathers of the Church; a native of Tagaste, in Numidia; son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, St. Monica; after a youth of dissipation, was converted to Christ by a text of St. Paul (Rom. xiii. 13, 14), which his eyes first lit upon, as on suggestion of a friend he took up the epistle to read it in answer to an appeal he had made to him to explain a voice that was ever whispering in his ears, "Take and read"; became bishop in 396, devoted himself to pastoral duties, and took an active part in the Church controversies of his age, opposing especially the Manichæans, the Donatists, and the Pelagians; his principal works are his "Confessions," his "City of God," and his treatises on Grace and Free-Will. It is safe to say, no Churchman has ever exercised such influence as he has done in moulding the creed as well as directing the destiny of the Christian Church. He was especially imbued with the theology of St. Paul (354-430).

Augustinians, (a) Canons, called also Black Cenobites, under a less severe discipline than monks, had 200 houses in England and Wales at the Reformation; (b) Friars, mendicant, a portion of them barefooted; (c) Nuns, nurses of the sick.

Augustus, called at first Caius Octavius, ultimately Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus, the first of the Roman Emperors or Cæsars, grand-nephew of Julius Cæsar, and his heir; joined the Republican party at Cæsar's death, became consul, formed one of a triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus; along with Antony overthrew the Republican party under Brutus and Cassius at Philippi; defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, and became master of the Roman world; was voted the title of "Augustus" by the Senate in 27 B.C.; proved a wise and beneficent ruler, and patronised the arts and letters, his reign forming a distinguished epoch in the history of the ancient literature of Rome (63 B.C.-A.D. 14).

Augustus, the name of several princes of Saxony and Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Augustus I., Elector of Saxony, a Lutheran prince, whose reign was peaceful comparatively, and he was himself both a good man and a good ruler, a monarch surnamed the "pious" and the "Justinian of Saxony" (1526-1586).

Augustus II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland; forced himself on Poland; had twice to retire, but was reinstated; is known to history as "The Strong"; "attained the maximum," says Carlyle, "in several things,—of physical strength, could break horse-shoes, nay, half-crowns with finger and thumb; of sumptuosity, no man of his means so regardless of expense; and of bastards, three hundred and fifty-four of them (Marshal Saxe one of the lot); baked the biggest bannock on record, a cake with 5000 eggs and a tun of butter." He was, like many a monarch of the like loose character, a patron of the fine arts, and founded the Dresden Picture Gallery (1670-1733).

Augustus III., son of the preceding; beat Stanislaus Leszcynski in the struggle for the crown of Poland; proved an incompetent king (1696-1763).

Aulic Council, supreme council in the old German Empire, from which there was no appeal, of date from 1495 to 1654; it had no constitution, dealt with judicial matters, and lived and died with the emperor.

Aulis, a port in Boeotia, where the fleet of the Greeks assembled before taking sail for Troy, and where Iphigeneia, to procure a favourable wind, was sacrificed by her father Agamemnon, an event commemorated in the "Iphigeneia in Aulis" of Euripides.