THE DEAD SEA IS FREQUENTLY TERMED THE ASPHALTIC LAKE, FROM THE LIQUID ASPHALTUM WHICH FLOATS ON ITS SURFACE. ASP] ASSAYING IS VERY GENERALLY TERMED THE DOCIMASTIC ART. A New Dictionary of the Belles Lettres. ASHOʻRE, a term for on the shore or land, as opposed to aboard; but a ship is said to be ashore when she has run aground. ASH-WEDNESDAY, the first day in Lent, so called from the ancient custom of fasting in sackcloth and ashes. A'SIARCH, in Grecian antiquity, a governor of the provinces, who used to preside over the public games. ASIDE, a term in plays for what is to be said on the stage without being heard by the other performers. ASI'LUS, in entomology, a genus of insects in the Linnæan system, of the order diptera. ASINA'RIA, a festival anciently held in Sicily, in commemoration of the victory obtained over the Athenians, when Demosthenes and Nicias were taken prisoners; and was so called from the river Asinarius, near which it was fought. ASP, in zoology, a very small kind of serpent, (the Coluber aspis of Linnæus), peculiar to Lybia and Egypt. Its bite is so fatal, and its effects so quick, that death ensues without the possibility of applying a remedy. ASPARAGUS, a valuable esculent plant, which requires three years at least to bring it to maturity from the time of sowing the seed, and will not yield vigorously without a continual supply of manure. AS PEN-TREE, a kind of white poplar, the leaves of which are perpetually in a tremulous motion. ASPERIFO'LIATE, or ASPERIFO'LIOUS, among botanists, such plants as are rough leaved, having their leaves placed alternately on their stalks, and a monopetalous flower divided into five parts. ASPERIFOLIE, the 41st Linnæan natural order of plants, with rough leaves. ASPHALTUM, a bituminous or inflammable substance, found in abundance in different countries, especially near the Dead Sea, and in Albania; but nowhere in such quantities as in the island of Trinidad, where there is a large plain of it, called the Tar Lake, which is three miles in circumference and of an unknown depth. It is also found in France, Switzerland, and some other parts of Europe. It appears in detached masses of no regular structure, breaking easily in any direction, very light, fusible, and after burning some time with a greenish white flame, leaving a residuum of white ashes. The ancients employed asphaltum in the construction of their buildings; and at the present day it is used partially in lieu of stone, in paving the streets of London. In short, several "asphalt companies" have been formed with a view of prosecuting it as a commercial speculation; and, judging by the specimens we have seen, we are induced to think it will eventually be very generally introduced. ASPER, a Turkish coin, equal to three farthings of our money. ASPHODEL, in botany, a genus of the hexandria monogynia class of plants, the flower of which is liliaceous. We are told that the ancients used to put asphodel into LASS the tombs, that there might be food in the regions below for the departed spirits. ASPHYXIA, in medicine, the state of a living body in which no pulsation can be perceived. AS PIRATE, in grammar, a character in the Greek (marked thus, ') to denote that the vowel must be sounded with a breathing. In English, the letter h is called aspirate, when it is sounded, in distinction to h mute. ASS, (equus asinus) a patient and useful quadruped, remarkable for its hardihood and length of life. Notwithstanding the dull and dogged disposition of this animal in our climate, it is a descendant of the wild ass, inhabiting the mountainous deserts of Tartary, &c.; celebrated in sacred and profane history, for the fiery activity of its disposition, and the fleetness of its course; but in consequence of ill usage and bad fare, the ass has long since become proverbial for stolid indifference to suffering, as well as for obstinancy and stupidity. Its characteristics are a long head, long ears, a round body covered with a short and coarse fur, of a pale dun colour, with a streak of black running down its back and across the shoulders, and a tail not hairy all the way, as in a horse, but only at the end. The best breed of asses is that originally derived from the hot and dry regions of Asia; but the best to be met with in Europe are the Spanish. ASSASSIN, one who kills another, not in open combat, but privately, or suddenly. The name is generally restrained to murderers of princes or other political characters; or, to speak perhaps more explicitly, to where the murder is committed from some sentiment of hatred, but in a private and dastardly manner. AS'SAI, a musical term, which indicates that the time must be accelerated or retarded; as allegro, quick; allegro assai, still quicker; adagio assai, still slower. ASSANE'GI, in mineralogy, the powder that falls off from the walls of salt in the salt mines. AS'SANUS, an ancient weight amounting to two drams. ASSAULT, in law, an attempt or offer, with force and violence, to do a bodily injury to another; as by striking at him either with or without a weapon.-AsSAULT, in the military art, a furious effort made to carry a fortified post, camp, or fortress, wherein the assailants do not screen themselves by any works. ASSAY'ING, in metallurgy, is used to express those chemical operations which are made in small to ascertain the quantity of metal contained in ores, or to discover the value or purity of any mass of gold, silver, or any other metal. This mode of examination differs from analysis, in being principally concerned about only one of the ingredients in the ore or alloy, whereas the object of the latter is to ascertain the quantity and proportion of every substance in the mass to which it is applied. ASSAY-MASTER, an officer, under cer THE "ASSASSINS" OF SYRIA WERE A POWERFUL AND BARBAROUS CLAN. A COMPOSITION OF ASPHALT, LAMP-BLACK, AND OIL IS USED FOR DRAWING BLACK FIGURES ON DIAL-PLATES. [F 3 THE TERM "ASSIZES" WAS SOMETIMES APPLIED TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL, OR ANCIENT WITTENAGEMOTE, OF ENGLAND. 54 AN ASSUMPSIT MAY BE EITHER VERBAL OR WRITTEN, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. ASS] The Scientific and Literary Treasury ; tain corporations, entrusted with the care of making true touch, or assay, of the gold and silver brought to him; and giving a just report of the goodness or badness thereof. ASSENT (THE ROYAL), is the approbation given by the king (or reigning monarch) in parliament to a bill which has passed both houses; after which it becomes a law. [AST ASSO'DES, in medicine, a fever with excessive inward heat, though not so great externally. ASSOILE, in our ancient law-books, to absolve, free, or deliver one from excommunication. AS'SONANCE, in rhetoric or poetry, is where the words of a phrase or verse have nearly the same sound, or termination, but make no proper rhyme. ASSUMP'SIT, in law, a voluntary promise by which a man binds himself to pay any thing to another, or to do any work. ASSUMPTION, a festival in the Romish ASSETS', in law or trade, signifies goods or property enough to answer all demands made upon them.-REAL ASSETS are lands in fee simple whereof a man dies possessed. PERSONAL ASSETS, any per-church, in honour of the miraculous ascent sonal estate. AS'SIDENT SIGNS, in medicine, symptoms which occasionally attend any disease incident to the human frame. ASSIGNABLE MAGNITUDE, in mathematics, any finite magnitude that can be expressed or specified. ASSIGNAT, the name of the national paper currency in France during the Revolution. Four hundred millions of this paper money were first struck off by the constituent assembly, with the approbation of the king, April 19, 1790, to be redeemed with the proceeds of the sale of the confiscated goods of the church. They at length increased, by degrees, to forty thousand millions, and after a while they became of no value whatever. ASSIGNEE', in law, a person appointed by another to do an act, transact some business, or enjoy a particular privilege. The person to whom is committed the management of a bankrupt's estate. ASSIGNMENT, in law, the act of assigning or transferring the interest or property a man has in a thing; or of appointing and setting over a right to another. ASSIMILATION, that process in the animal economy by which the different ingredients of the blood are made parts of the various organs of the body. ASSIZES, a meeting of the king's judges, the sheriff, and juries, for the purpose of making gaol-deliveries, and trying causes between individuals; generally held twice in the year. The assizes are general when the justices go their circuits, with commission to take all assizes, that is, to hear all causes; and they are special when special commissions are granted to hear particular causes. ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. By this phrase is understood that connexion between certain ideas which causes them to succeed each other involuntarily in the mind. To the wrong association of ideas made in our minds by custom, Mr. Locke attributes most of the sympathies and antipathies observable in men, which work as strongly, and produce as regular effects, as if they were natural, though they at first had no other origin than the accidental connexion of two ideas, which either by the strength of the first impression, or future indulgence, are so united, that they ever after keep company together in that man's mind as if they were but one idea. of the Virgin Mary into heaven.-AsSUMPTION, in logic, is the minor or second proposition in a categorical syllogism. It is also used for a consequence drawn from the propositions whereof an argument is composed. ASSUMPTIVE ARMS, in heraldry, are such arms as a person has a right to assume to himself by virtue of some action, provided his right be confirmed by the approbation of his sovereign and the heralds. en ASSURANCE, or INSURANCE, an gagement by which a person is indemnified from the loss he would sustain by the happening of a particular event; as by the capture or wreck of a ship at sea, the destruction of property by fire, or by the death of the party. ASSURANCE, in theology, is the firm persuasion of possessing a personal or actual interest in the divine favour. ASTER (Starwort), in botany, a genus of the syngenesia-polygamia class of plants, with a radiated flower, the disk of which is composed of floscules, and its border of semifloscules; the receptacle is plain and naked, and the seeds are of an oblong figure, oval at top, and winged with down. ASTE'RIAS, in ichthyology, the Star-fish or Sea-star, a genus of animals, class vermes, order mollusca. They feed on oysters, to whose beds they are very destructive. The species are distinguished into the lunate, stellate, &c. ASTERISK, a little mark in the form of a star (*) used in printing as a mark of reference. ASTERIS'MUS, in astronomy, an asterism or constellation of fixed stars. ASTERN', a maritime term for behind a ship. ASTEROIDES, or ASTEROIDS, the four small planets, Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Vesta. ASTHMA, a discase of the lungs, causing painful, difficult, and laborious breathing, with a hissing cough. ASTRAGAL, in architecture, a little round moulding, in form of a ring, serving as an ornament at the tops and bottoms of columns.ASTRAGAL, in gunnery, the corner ring of a piece of ordnance. ASTRA GALUS, in anatomy, the anklebone.-ASTRAGALUS, in botany, Liquorice-Vetch, the seed of which resembles in shape the ankle-bone. It is also the name of a genus of plants, of the diadelphia-decandria class. IN SCOTLAND, THE ASSIZE OR JURY CONSISTS OF FIFTEEN MEN. AN ASSIGNMENT DIFFERS FROM A LEASE IN THIS, THAT THE LATTER CONVEYS ONE'S INTEREST IN PROPERTY FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. MODERN MEDICAL PRACTICE INCLINES TO THE USE OF ASTRINGENTS FOR INTERNAL APPLICATIONS, AND STYPTICS FOR EXTERNAL. AST] THE FIRST RECORDED OBSERVATORY WAS ON THE TEMPLE OF BELUS. A New Dictionary of the Belles Lettres. ASTRICTA, in medicine, an epithet applied to the belly, in opposition to soluta, or relaxed. ASTRICTION, the operation of astringent medicines. ASTRIN'GENTS, medicines of the corroborative class, which, acting as a stimulus, crisp and corrugate the fibres into a more compact tone; corroborate the solids, which are weakened, and consolidate such as are corroded and wounded. Such are the mineral acids and solutions of iron, zinc, &c. Peruvian bark is also highly astringent. ASTROLABE, in geometry, an instrument for the accurate measurement of angles. It generally consists of a horizontal circular plate of metal, having the degrees, minutes, and seconds marked on its outer edge. The astrolabe was formerly used by navigators to discover the situation of a vessel at sea without the aid of the compass; but it is now superseded by Hadley's quadrant. [AST the reason, the theory, or the truth of these appearances. Theoretical astronomy is the consideration of the true structure of the universe, accounting for the various phenomena of the heavenly bodies. This sublime science is founded in observation, but it receives its last perfection from calculation. Outrunning the cautious advances of observation, it descends from causes to phenomena, and on geometrical principles explains all the motions, magnitudes, and periods of revolution, of the heavenly bodies. This part has been called descriptive astronomy; and that which explains the causes of their motions, and demonstrates the laws by which those causes operate, physical astronomy. It is not within the scope of this work, however, to enter into the details of this science; but we shall briefly notice the most striking portions of its history. The generality of writers agree in assigning the origin of astronomy to the Chaldeans soon after the deluge, when, for the purpose of making their astrological predictions, to which they were much addicted, as also for that of advancing the science of astronomy, they devoted themselves to the study of the heavenly bodies. They discovered their motions and peculiar characters; and, from their supposed influences on human affairs, pretended to predict what was to come. The planets they called their interpreters, ascribing to Saturn the highest rank; the ASTROLOGY, is an art which may truly next in eminence was Sol, the sun; then be said to be among the oldest superstitions Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter. By the in the world, and which consisted in judg-motions and aspects of all these they foreing or predicting human events from the situation and different aspects of the heavenly bodies. We read of it in the Mosaic history; and we know that those who professed the astrological art gave so much trouble at Rome, that they were at length banished by Tiberius. During the middle ages astrology and astronomy were cultivated in connexion by the Arabs, and their works on the subject are still extant. Nay, even so late as the 17th century astrology had its defenders among the learned men of Europe; but the Copernican system shook the foundations of the ancient science; and there are none but artful plunderers and ignorant dupes who, at the present day, give it the slightest counte ASTROITES, or STAR STONE, a stone so called on account of its resemblance to a star. It has often been questioned among naturalists, whether they are parts of a petrified marine animal, or, as is more probable, a species of corals buried in the earth. The corals forming these stars are sometimes round, at other times angular; and their columns are sometimes separated, and sometimes the striæ run into each other. nance. ASTRONOMY is that science which treats of the heavenly bodies, explaining the motions, times, and causes of the motions, distances, magnitudes, gravities, light, &c. of the sun, moon, and stars; the nature and causes of the eclipses of the sun and moon, the conjunction and opposition of the planets, and any other of their mutual aspects, with the time when any of them did or will happen. As the heavens may be considered either as they appear to the naked eye, or as they are discovered by the understanding, astronomy may be divided into spherical and theoretical. Spherical astronomy is the consideration of the universe as it offers itself to our sight; under which head come all the appearances of the heavens, such as we perceive them, without any inquiry into told storms of wind and of rain, or excessive droughts, as also the appearance of comets, eclipses of the sun and noon, and other phenomena. The Egyptians also cultivated the science of astronomy about the same time, and there are some who ascribe to them the honour of being its real authors. The most ancient astronomical observations known to us are Chinese. (One, mentioned by Montucla, viz. a conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and the Moon, occurs almost 2500 years before the Christian era!) That the Indian Brahmins also made considerable advances in the science of astronomy, among the earliest people of antiquity, appears no less certain. But in the obscurity of ancient history it is no easy task to determine to what nation the merit is actually due. Descending, however, to classic times, we find, that astronomy made great progress in Greece, and that Thales calculated a solar eclipse about 600 years B.C. Pythagoras also seems to have been possessed of astronomical knowledge. After him, the Athenian Meton (B.c. 433) introduced the famous lunar cycle of 19 years, at the end of which time the new moon appears on the same day of the year as at the beginning of it, since 19 solar years constitute very nearly 235 lunations, a discovery which was then regarded as so important, that the calculation was engraved in letters of gold, whence the number which marks the year of the cycle is still called golden. Eratosthenes, a Cyrenian, who was born 271 B.C. measured the circumference of the JOB, HESIOD, AND HOMER MENTION SEVERAL OF THE CONSTELLATIONS. THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT PARIS CONTAINS A CHINESE CHART OF THE HEAVENS, MADE ABOUT 600 B. C. IN WHICH ARE 1460 STARS. 55 THE CHALDEANS HAD MADE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS 1900 YEARS BEFORE THE TAKING OF BABYLON BY ALEXANDER, OR 2230 B. C. 56 AST] THE SUN IS INVARIABLY IN THE EXACT CENTRE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. The Scientific and Literary Treasury ; earth; and, being invited to the court of Ptolemy Evergetes at Alexandria, he was made keeper of the royal library, and set up there the armillary spheres which Hipparchus and Ptolemy afterwards used so effectually. He also determined the distance between the tropics to be 11-83 of the whole meridian circle, which makes the obliquity of the ecliptic in his time to be 23 degrees, 51 minutes and one-third. Archimedes is said to have constructed a planetarium to represent the phenomena and motions of the heavenly bodies; and many others added to the stock of astronomical knowledge; but none so much as Hipparchus, who flourished about 140 years B.C. and surpassed all that had gone before him in the extent of his researches. He showed that the orbits of the planets were eccentric, and that the moon moved slower in her apogee than in her perigee. He constructed tables of the motions of the sun and moon; collected accounts of eclipses that had been computed by the Chaldeans and Egyptians; and calculated such as would happen for six hundred years to come; besides correcting the errors of Eratosthenes in his measurement of the earth's circumference, and computing the sun's distance more accurately. He is, however, most distinguished by his catalogue of the fixed stars to the number of a thousand and twenty-two, with their latitudes and longitudes, and apparent magnitudes. These and most other of his observations are preserved by his illustrious successor Ptolemy. From the time of Hipparchus, a chasm exists in the history of astronomy, till the commencement of the 2d century after Christ, when Ptolemy compiled a complete system of astronomy, in 13 books, which is known under the name of Almagest, given it by the Arabians, who translated it into their language in 827, and which, as the Ptolemæan system, notwithstanding its many errors, has maintained its value down to the latest times. The Arabians continued for many ages to direct their attention to astronomical science; and though they confounded it with the dreams of astrologers, they, nevertheless, deserve the regard of all who came after them, by their valuable observations. Among the Christian nations, at this period, a profound ignorance generally prevailed; but in the 13th century, astronomy, as well as other arts and sciences, began to revive in Europe, particularly under the auspices of the emperor Frederic II.; who, besides restoring some decayed universities, founded a new one, and in 1230 caused the works of Aristotle, and the Almagest of Ptolemy, to be translated into Latin. King Alphonso of Castile, about the same time, invited to his court several astronomers, and commissioned them to prepare a set of new astronomical tables, which, under the name of Alphonsine Tables, have acquired much celebrity; but, in the 17th century, differed a whole degree from the true situation of the celestial bodies. We now approach the era of reviving science. Many astronomers of inferior note paved the way, by various [AST insulated observations, for the great restorer of astronomy, Copernicus, who, at the beginning of the 16th century, gave the science an entirely different aspect, exploded the Ptolemæan hypothesis, and, in its stead, substituted the Copernican system of the world, which, with a few modifications, is still prevalent, and universally acknowledged to be correct. He it was that gave the sun its place in the centre of the planetary system, and who first conceived the bold idea that the earth is a planet, like Mercury, Venus, and the rest, and moves, in common with them, in a circle round the sun. His system did not, however, immediately meet with a general reception; and among other opponents was Tycho Brahe, a Dane; who asserted that the earth is immovable, in the centre of the universe, and that the whole heavens turned round it in 24 hours, an opinion which he supported, principally, by the literal sense of various passages in the Bible, where a total absence of motion is ascribed to the earth. His pupil and assistant Kepler, however, found that all the planets revolved in elliptical orbits, in one of the foci of which the sun was placed; and he moreover demonstrated that, in each elliptical revolution of the planets round the sun, an imaginary straight line, drawn from the latter to the former, always describes equal areas; and lastly, that, in the revolutions of the planets and satellites, the squares of the times of revolution are as the cubes of the mean distances from the larger body. These great discoveries paved the way for views still more comprehensive. Kepler had been indulged with a faint glimpse of the mutual tendency of all bodies to one another; and Dr. Hook went so far as to show that the motions of the planets were produced by the attractive agency of the sun, combined with the force which had originally projected them: but it was reserved for Newton to establish the law of universal gravitation in its entire generality, and to apply it with demonstrative evidence to all the movements within the solar system. His doctrine was, that all material bodies attract each other with a force directly proportional to the number of their particles, and inversely proportional to the squares of their distances. Descartes had sought the cause of the motion of the planets around the sun, and of the satellites around the planets, in the rotatory motion of a subtile matter. But Newton and Kepler have rescued the laws of the material universe from the thraldom of a false philosophy, and left to later times merely the developement of the truths which they established. By the application of their principles, as well as by new discoveries, several succeeding astronomers have gained a high reputation; namely, Halley, by his theory of comets; Bouguer and Maupertuis, by their exertions to determine the form of the earth; Mayer, by his lunar tables; Bradley, by the discovery of the aberration of light; also Euler, d'Alember, Lalande, Lagrange, Laplace, Sir W. Herschel, Olbers, Piazzi, Encke, &c.; besides many who are now liv HERSCHEL MEASURED A SPOT IN THE SUN 50,000 MILES IN DIAMETER. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM IS THE ORIGINAL WORK OF COPERNICUS, ENTITLED "NICOLAI COPERNICI TORIENSIS DE REVOLUTIONIBUS ORBIUM." "VENI, VIDI, VICI" IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE ASYNDETON; IT IS OPPOSED TO POLYSYNDETON, WHICH IS A MULTIPLICATION OF CONNECTIVES. ATC] ATHEISM LEAVES US NOTHING TO EXCITE AWE OR AWAKEN TENDERNESS. A New Bictionary of the Belles Lettres. ing, among whom Sir John Herschel and Sir William South deserve especial mention. In conclusion, it may be observed, that this science unites the strictness of mathematical reasoning with an exalted feeling for the sublime and beautiful, and fills the mind both with confidence in itself, from its ability to calculate with certainty the career of distant worlds, and with becoming humility in reflecting how small a part of the universe is our earth, and how brief its known duration, compared with the immense periods which enter into the calculations of astronomy. ASTROSCOPE, an astronomical instrument, composed of two cones, on whose surface the constellations are delineated, by means of which the situation of the stars may easily be known. ASTROSCOPIA, in astronomy, the art of examining the stars by telescopes. ASTRUM, in astronomy, a constellation or assemblage of stars. In alchemy, ASTRUM denotes the power imparted by chemical mixture. ASYLUM, in antiquity, a place of refuge for offenders, where they were screened from the hands of justice. The asyla of altars and temples were very ancient. The Jews had their asyla; the most remarkable of which were, the temple, the altar of burnt offerings, and the six cities of refuge. A similar custom prevailed both among the Greeks and Romans, where temples, altars, and statues, were places of refuge for criminals of every description. They had an idea, that a criminal who fled to the temple or altar, submitted his crime to the punish ment of the gods, and that it would be impiety in man to take vengeance out of their hands. In former times the like immunities were granted by the pope to churches, convents, &c.; and so well did the ecclesiastics improve their privileges, that convents in a little time became a kind of fortresses, where the most notorious offenders were in safety; nor could they be removed without a legal assurance of life, and an entire remission of the crime. A'SYMPTOTE, in mathematics, a line which approaches nearer to another continually, and never meets it. It is properly applied to straight lines approaching a ASYN'DETON, in rhetoric or composition, the omission of conjunctions, or other connecting particles of speech, in order to render the sentence more lively and impressive. AT'ABAL, a kind of tabor used among the Moors. ATARAX'IA, or ATARAXY, a term used to denote that calmness of mind which secures us from all emotions arising from vanity or self-conceit. In this consisted the summum bonum, or sovereign good, of the Stoics. curve. ATAXY, in a general sense, the want of order: with physicians it signifies the irregularity of crises and paroxysms of fevers. ATCHIE'VEMENT, or ACHIEVEMENT, in heraldry, means the arms of any [ATH family, with all the ornaments appendant A'THEIST, one who denies the existence of God or Providence. Some distinguish speculative atheists, or those who are so from principle and theory, from practical athiests, whose wicked lives incline them to believe, or rather to wish, that there were no God. Perhaps it is not to be wondered at, that among the smatterers in that philosophy which describes matter as acting upon matter by necessary laws, and thus producing necessary effects, some should be tempted to reject the existence of a primitive and preserving cause: especially, as in the pursuit of that philosophy the mind is accustomed to find every thing explained upon mechanical and comprehensible prin. cíples, while a distinct conception of a God exceeds the intellectual capacity of man. Lord Bacon observes, that though a smattering of philosophy may lead a man into atheism, a deep draught will certainly bring him back again to the belief of a God and Providence. We may have analyzed the component parts of matter, and reduced those parts into atoms; but, after all, what have we found that will supply the place of a Creator? It were more rational to believe that the majestic oak produces, of its own power and intelligence, its foliage and its fruit, than that atoms, of their power and intelligence, produced the majestic oak. Matter, then, must have had a Creator; and it is of little consequence to the fact, whether it acts upon instinctive endowments, or is senseless, and obeys controlling laws: in either case, a superior power and intelligence are indispensable. This power and intelligence must have existed from all eternity; since, if it ever began to be, it must have had a cause capable of producing it; and thus, to whatever distance we push the perspective, a deity closes up the scene: it must exist eternally, unless that which produced all matter, can itself be annihilated, and the source of life expire. ATH'ELING, the title given to the king's eldest son among the Saxons, as the Prince of Wales is in our time. ATHENÆ UM, in antiquity, a public school wherein the professors of the liberal arts held their assemblies, the rhetoricians declaimed, and the poets rehearsed their performances. These places, of which there were a great number at Athens, were built in the manner of amphitheatres, encompassed with seats called cunei. The three HOPE DIES IN THE BREAST OF AN ATHEIST, AND HE LIVES A MONSTER. BY "ASTRO-THEOLOGY" IS MEANT, THAT SYSTEM OF THEOLOGY WHICH IS FOUNDED ON THE OBSERVATION OF THE CELESTIAL BODIES. 57 |