number of British settled in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, is now supposed to far exceed 100,000, drawing from the country not less than five millions annually: "a sum so large," observes Dr. Southey," that if, instead of being scattered among strangers, it were spent in the deserted halls and mansions of these realms, it would materially alleviate the distress with which England now struggles."-Quar. Review. ABSENTEE TAX. In Ireland, a tax of four shillings in the pound was levied on profits, fees, emoluments, and pensions of absentees, in 1715. This tax ceased in 1753. In 1773, Mr. Flood, the great Irish orator, proposed a tax of two shillings in the pound, which was lost by a majority in the commons of 122 to 102. The question was renewed in the Irish parliament in 1783 by Mr. Molyneux, and again lost, on a division of 184 to 122.-Statutes at large; Parl. Reports. ABSTINENCE. St. Anthony lived to the age of 105, on twelve ounces of bread, and water. James the Hermit lived in the same manner to the age of 104. St. Epiphanius lived thus to 115. Simeon, the Stylite, to 112; and Kentigern, commonly called St. Mungo, lived by similar means to 185 years of age.-Spottiswood. A man may live seven, or even eleven, days without meat or drink.-Pliny Hist. Nat. lib. ii. Democritus subsisted for forty days by smelling honey and hot bread, 323 B.c.— Diog. Laert. A woman of Normandy lived for 18 years without food.-Petrus de Albano. Gilbert Jackson, of Carse-grange, Scotland, lived three years without sustenance of any kind, 1719. A religious fanatic, who determined upon fasting forty days, died on the sixteenth, 1789.-Phillips. A country girl, of Osnabruck, abstained four years from all food and drink, 1799.-Hufeland's Practical Journal. Ann Moore, the fasting woman of Tutbury, Staffordshire, supposed to have been an impostor, was said to have lived twenty months without food, Nov. 1808. At Newry, in Ireland, a man named Cavanagh was reported to have lived two years without meat or drink; Aug. 1840; his imposture was afterwards discovered in England, where he was imprisoned as a cheat, Nov. 1841. See instances in Haller's Elementa Physiologiæ; Cornaro ; Pricher's Surgical Library, &c.; and in this volume, see Fasting. ABSTINENTS. The abstinents were a sect that wholly abstained from wine, flesh, and marriage; and were a community of harmless and mild ascetics. They appeared in France and Spain in the third century; and some authorities mention such a sect as having been numerous elsewhere in A.D. 170.-Bossuet. ABYSSINIAN ERA. This era is reckoned from the period of the Creation, which they place in the 5493rd year before our era, on the 29th August, old style; and their dates consequently exceed ours by 5492 years and 125 days. To reduce Abyssinian time to the Julian year, subtract 5492 years and 125 days. Theodosius ACADEMIES, or societies of learned men to promote literature, sciences, and the arts, are of early date. Academia was a shady grove without the walls of Athens (bequeathed to Hecademus for gymnastic exercises), where Plato first taught philosophy, and his followers took the title of Academics 378 B. c.-Stanley. Ptolemy Soter is said to have founded an academy at Alexandria, about 314 B. C. the Younger and Charlemagne are also named as founders. Italy has been celebrated for its academies; and Jarckius mentions 550, of which 25 were in the city of Milan. The first philosophical academy in France was established by Père Mersenne, in 1635. Academies were introduced into England by Boyle and Hobbes; and the Royal Society of London was formed in 1660. The following are among the principal academies :Ancona, of the Caglinosi, 1624. Berlin, Royal Society, 1700; of Princes, 1703; Bologna, Ecclesiastical, 1687; Mathematics, Brussels, Belles Lettres, 1773 Caen, Belles Lettres, 1750. Copenhagen, Polite Arts, 1742. Cortona, Antiquities, 1726. Dublin, Arts, 1749; Science and Literature, 1786; Painting, Sculpture, &c. 1823. Erfurt, Saxony, Sciences, 1754. Faenza, the Philoponi, 1612. Florence, Belles Lettres, 1272; Della Crusca Genoa, Painting, &c. 1751; Sciences, 1783. Hacrlem, the Sciences, 1760. Lisbon, History, 1720; Sciences, 1779. London its various Academies are described through the volume. Lyons, Sciences, 1700; had Physic and Mathematics added, 1758. Madrid, the Royal Spanish, 1713; History, 1730; Painting and the Arts, 1753. Manheim, Sculpture, 1775. ACADEMIES, continued. Mantua, the Vigilanti, Sciences, 1704. Marseilles, Belles Lettres, 1726. Massachusetts, Arts and Sciences, 1780. Philadelphia, Arts and Sciences, 1749. Naples, Rossana, 1540; Mathematics, 1560; Spain, Royal, 1713; Military, 1751. New York, Literature and Philosophy, 1814. Padua, for Poetry, 1610; Sciences, 1792. Paris, Sorbonne, 1256; Painting, 1391; Music, Stockholm, of Science, 1741; Belles Lettres, 1753; Agriculture, 1781. Toulon, Military, 1682. Turin, Sciences, 1759; Fine Arts, 1778. Verona, Music, 1543; Sciences, 1780. Warsaw, Languages and History, 1753. ACAPULCO, SHIP. This was the celebrated prize, a Spanish galleon, from Acapulco, laden with gold and precious wares, and estimated by some annalists at 1,000,0007. sterling and upwards; taken by Lord Anson, who had previously acquired booty in his memorable voyage amounting to 600,000l. Admiral Anson arrived at Spithead in the Centurion with his gains, after having circumnavigated the globe, June 15, 1744. ACCENTS. The most ancient manuscripts are written without accents, and without any separation of words; nor was it until after the ninth century that the copyists began to leave spaces between the words. Michaelis, after Wetstein, ascribes the insertion of accents to Euthalius, bishop of Sulca, in Egypt, A.D. 458; but his invention was followed up and improved upon by other grammarians in the various languages. ACCESSION, THE. By this term is usually understood the accession of the house of Hanover to the throne of England, in the person of George I. the elector of Hanover, as the Protestant descendant of Elizabeth, the daughter of James I.; he being the son of Sophia, who was the daughter of that princess. He succeeded to the crown August 1st, 1714, by virtue of an act of parliament passed in the reign of Anne, June 12, 1701. See article Hanoverian Succession. ACCUSERS. By the occult writers, such as Agrippa, accusers are the eighth order of devils, whose chief is called Asteroth, or spy, and who, in the Revelation of St. John, is by way of eminence, called the accuser of the brethren. He is an accuser who charges another with a crime, whether the charge be true or false. False accusers were hanged in England by statute 4 Henry VI. 1446. They were burnt in the face with an F by statute 37 Henry VIII. 1545.-Stowe's Chron. ACHAIA. This country was governed by a race of kings, but even their names are all forgotten. The capital, Achaia, was founded by Achæus, the son of Xuthus, 1080 B.C. The kingdom was united with Sicyon or subject to the Etolians until about 284 B.C. The Achæi were descendants of Achæus, and originally inhabited the neighbourhood of Argos; but when the Heraclidae drove them thence, they retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized their thirteen cities, viz. Pelene, Ægira, Ægeum, Bura, Tritæa, Leontium, Rhypæ, Ceraunia, Olenos, Helice, Patræ, Dymæ, and Pharæ. The United States of America seem to have adopted the plan of the Achæan league in forming their constitution; and the Swiss cantons also had a great resemblance to it in their confederacy. ACHONRY, BISHOPRICK OF, founded by St. Finian, who erected the church of Achad, usually called Achonry, about the year 520. St. Finian having built this church, conferred it on his disciple Nathy, named in Irish, Dathy, or David, who was the first bishop, and a man of great sanctity. In the ancient annals of Ireland the prelates of this see are, for the most part, called bishops of Luigny, or Liny, The see of Achonry has from the subdivision of the county wherein it is situated. been held in commendam with Killala since 1612.-See Killala. ACOUSTICS. The doctrine of the different sounds of vibrating strings, and communiThe cation of sounds to the ear by the vibration of the atmosphere, was probably first Mentioned by Aristotle, 300 B.C. The explained by Pythagoras, about 500 B.C. speaking-trumpet is said to have been used by Alexander the Great, 335 B.C. The velocity of sound was discoveries of Galileo were made about A.D. 1600. investigated by Newton before 1700. Galileo's theorem of the harmonic curve was demonstrated by Dr. Brook Taylor, in 1714; and further perfected by D'Alembert, Euler, Bernoulli, and La Grange, at various periods of the eighteenth century. See Sound. ACRE. This measure was formerly of uncertain quantity, and differed in various parts ACRE, ST. JEAN D'. Taken by Richard I. and other crusaders in 1192, after a siege ACTIUM, BATTLE OF, between the fleets of Octavianus Cæsar on the one side, and Charles II. is said to have first ACTRESSES. Women in the drama appear to have been unknown to the ancients; men or eunuchs performing the female parts. encouraged the public appearance of women on the stage in England, in 1662; but the queen of James I. had previously performed in a theatre at court.-Theat. Biog. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. The first promulgated, 16 John, 1215. See Parliament. For a great period of years the number of acts passed has been annually large, although varying considerably in every session. Between the 4th and 10th of George IV. I 126 acts were wholly repealed, and 443 repealed in part, chiefly arising out of the consolidation of the laws by Mr. Peel (afterwards sir Robert): of these acts, 1344 related to the kingdom at large, and 225 to Ireland solely. ADAM AND EVE, ERA OF, set down by Christian writers as being 4004 B.C. There have been as many as one hundred and forty opinions on the distance of time between the creation of the world and the birth of the Redeemer: some make it 3616 years, and some as great as 6484 years. See Creation. ADAMITES, a sect that imitated Adam's nakedness before the fall, arose A.D. 130. They assembled quite naked in their places of worship, asserting that if Adam had not sinned, there would have been no marriages. Their chief was named Prodicus; they deified the elements, rejected prayer, and said it was not necessary to confess Christ.-Eusebius. This sect, with an addition of many blasphemies, and teaching from the text "increase and multiply," was renewed at Antwerp in the thirteenth century, under a chief named Tandeme, who, being followed by 3000 soldiers, violated females of every age, calling their crimes by spiritual names. A Flandrian, named Picard, again revived this sect in Bohemia, in the fifteenth century, whence they spread into Poland and existed some time.-Bayle; Pardon. ADMINISTRATIONS OF ENGLAND, AND OF GREAT BRITAIN, from the accession of Henry VIII. The following were the prime ministers, or favourites, or chiefs of administrations, in the respective reigns, viz. :-— ADMINISTRATIONS OF ENGLAND AND OF GREAT BRITAIN, continued. Right hon. George Grenville, earl of Marquess of Rockingham, duke of Graf- 1763 July 1765 Aug. 1766 Dec. 1767 earl of Chatham, &c. Lord North, lord Halifax, &c. Lord North, lord Dartmouth, lord Stor- July 10, 1782 Duke of Portland, lord North, Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt, lord Grenville, duke of Leeds, . 1790 Mr. Pitt, lord Grenville, earl of Chatham, . 1793 Mr. Pitt, duke of Portland, lord Gren- Viscount Goderich, duke of Portland, KING WILLIAM IV. Duke of Wellington and his cabinet, Earl Grey, viscounts Althorpe, Mel- Viscount Melbourne, viscount Althorp, Sir Robert Peel, duke of Wellington, earl of Aberdeen, earl of Haddington, earl of Ripon, lord Stanley, Mr. GoulEarl of Liverpool, Earl Bathurst, viset. burn, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, sir Henry Sidmouth, viscount Castlereagh, Mr. Hardinge, sir Edward Knatchbull, Aug. 30, 1841 Ryder, earl of Harrowby, right hon. &c. June 8, 1812 Nich. Vansittart, &c. ADMIRAL. The first so called in England was Richard de Lucy, appointed by Henry III. 1223. Alfred, Athelstan, Edgar, Harold, and other kings, had been |