which contains the best advice ever given for the study of languages, was reprinted by Day, 1571; by Jeffes, 1589; and by Upton, 1711. 4. "Apologia doct. viri R. A. pro cœna Dominica contra Missum et ejus prestigias; in academia olim Cantabrigiensi exercitationis gratia inchoata. Cui accesserunt themata quædam Theologica, debita disputandi ratione in Collegio D. Joan. pronunciata. Expositionis item antiquæ in epistola Divi Pauli ad Titum et Philemonem, ex diversis sanctorum Patrum Græcè scriptis commentariis ab Ecumenio collectæ, et à R. A. Latine versæ." Lond. by Coldock, 1577, 8vo, pp. 296.

Ascham's epistles were published by Mr. Grant, master of Westminster school, in 1576, 1577, 1578, and 1590, London; and there were two editions at Hanau, 1602, 1610; and one at Nuremberg, 1611. The last and best edition is that published by Mr. Elstob, Oxford, 1703, who has added many letters not in the former, but has omitted Ascham's poems. The elegance of these letters has been universally acknowledged, and the life prefixed by Grant is the foundation of all we know of him. Many particu lars, however, might yet be gleaned from his epistles. Aschan's English works were published by the Rev. James Bennet, 1767, 4to, to which Dr. Johnson prefixed a life, written in his happiest manner, and since added to his works. 1

ASCHARI, or ACHARI, a Mussulman doctor, and chief of the Ascharians, who were the opponents of the Hanbalites; the latter held the doctrine of particular providence, while the Ascharians maintained that the supreme being acts by general laws. They also held absolute predestination. Aschari died at Bagdat, in the year 940, and was privately interred to prevent his body from being insulted by the Hanbalites. 2

ASCLEPIADES, an ancient physician, was a native of Prusa, in Bithynia, and contemporary with Mithridates (about the year 110 B. C.), to whose court he refused to go, when invited by magnificent promises. He first went to Rome, to teach rhetoric, but not finding much encouragement, he began to practise physic, of which he had little knowledge, and to conceal his ignorance, affected to

1 Gen. Dict.-Biog. Britannica.-Johnson's Works.-Churton's Life of Nowell, Strype's Cranmer, p. 162-170, appendix, p. 81.-Strype's Annals, vol. I. p. 337, II. p. 23, 29.-Strype's Memorials, vol. I. p. 169. Warton's Hist. of Poetry.-Lloyd's State Worthies.-Wood's Ath. Ox. vol. I.

2 D'Herbelot.-Moreri,

36

ASCLEPIA DE S. ·

condemn the medicines and modes of practice then in use. He confined himself to such remedies as were simple and palatable, and soon was considered as a favourite practitioner. He appears from Pliny's account to have been much of the quack, and occasionally sufficiently bold and adventurous in his prescriptions. He desired, among other boasts, that he might not be considered as a physician, if ever he were sick; and his reputation perhaps was not lessened in this respect, by his being killed by a fall. He wrote several books quoted by Pliny, Celsus, and Galen, but fragments only remain, of which an edition was published by Jumpert, under the title "Malagmata hydropica, &c." Weimar, 1794, 8vo.1

ASCONIUS (PEDIANUS), an ancient grammarian of Padua; who, it is generally supposed, was acquainted with Virgil. Yet Jerome says, that he flourished under the Vespasians, which is rather at too great a distance for one and the same man; but Jerome's account is rejected by more recent writers, who think that he lived under the empire of Augustus, and died under that of Nero, aged eighty-five. His "Enarrationes in Ciceronis Orationes," were first published at Venice, in 1477, which is a very scarce edition. They were afterwards published at Florence, 8vo, 1513, and have since been incorporated in the editions of Cicero, by Gruter, Gronovius, and Olivet. He had also written a life of Virgil, and another of Sallust, the loss of which may be regretted. *

2

ASELLI (GASPAR), a physician of Cremona, of the sixteenth century, was the first who discovered the lacteal veins in the mesentery, while he was dissecting for another purpose. He published a dissertation " De lacteis venis," wherein his discovery is displayed, with plates in three colours. The first edition of this curious work is of Milan, 1627; but it was afterwards reprinted at Basle in 1628, 4to, and at Leyden, 1640. The author professed anatomy at Pavia, about 1620, with great success, and died there in 1626.3

ASGILL (JOHN), an ingenious English writer and lawyer, who lived about the end of the seventeenth, and beginning of the eighteenth century. He was entered of

1 Gen. Dict.-Biog. Universelle.-Haller Bibl. Med.-Manget Bibl. Script. Med. See also a strange and inflated Life of him, published at London in 1762, Svo. said to be from the Italian of Cocchi.

2 Fabric. Bibl. Lat.-Moreri.-Biog. Universelle.

3 Manget Bibl. Script. Med.-Moreri,-Vander Linden de Script. Med.

the society of Lincoln's inn, and having been recommended to Mr. Eyre, a very great lawyer, and one of the judges of the king's bench, in the reign of king William, this gentleman gave him assistance in his studies. Under so able a master, he quickly acquired a competent knowledge of the laws, and was soon noticed as a rising man in his profession. He had an uncommon vein of wit and humour, of which he afforded the world sufficient evidence in two pamphlets; one intituled, "Several assertions proved, in order to create another species of money than gold and silver;" the second, "An essay on a registry for titles of lands." This last is written in a very humorous style.

In the year 1698, Mr. Asgill published a treatise on the possibility of avoiding death, intitled "An argument, proving that, according to the covenant of eternal life, revealed in the scriptures, man may be translated from hence into that eternal life without passing through death, although the human nature of Christ himself could not thus be translated till he had passed through death," printed originally in 1700, and reprinted several years since. This raised a considerable clamour, and Dr. Sacheverell mentioned it among other blasphemous writings, which induced him to think the church in danger. In 1699, an act being passed for resuming forfeited estates in Ireland, commissioners were appointed to settle claims; and Mr. Asgill being at this time somewhat embarrassed in his circumstances, resolved to go over to Ireland. On his arrival there, the favour of the commissioners, and his own merit, procured him great practice, the whole nation almost being then engaged in law-suits, and among these there were few considerable, in which Mr. Asgill was not retained on one side or other, so that in a very short space of time he acquired a considerable fortune. He pur chased a large estate in Ireland; and the influence this purchase gave him, occasioned his being elected a member of the House of Commons in that kingdom. He was in Munster when the session began; and, before he could reach Dublin, he was informed, that, upon a complaint, the House had voted the last-mentioned book of his to be a blasphemous libel, and had ordered it to be burnt; however, he took his seat in the house, where he sat only four days, before he was expelled for this performance,

and being about the same time involved in a number of law-suits, his affairs soon grew much embarrassed in Ireland, so that he resolved to return to England, where, in 1705, he was chosen member for the borough of Bramber, in the county of Sussex, and sat for several years; but in the interval of privilege in 1707, being taken in execution at the suit of Mr. Holland, he was committed to the Fleet. The houses meeting in November, Mr. Asgill applied; and on the 16th of December was demanded out of custody by a serjeant at arms with the mace, and the next day took his seat in the house. Between his application and his discharge, complaint was made to the house of the treatise for which he had been expelled in Ireland, and a committee was appointed to examine it of this committee, Edward Harley, esq. was chairman, who made a report, that the book contained several blasphemous expressions, and seemed to be intended to ridicule the scriptures. Thursday, the 18th of September 1707, was appointed for him to make his defence, which he did with considerable spirit, but as he still continued to maintain the assertions he had laid down in that treatise, he was expelled. From this time, Mr. Asgill's affairs grew more desperate, and he was obliged to retire, first to the Mint, and then became a prisoner in the King's Bench, but removed himself thence to the Fleet, and in the rules of one or other of these prisons continued thirty years, during which time he published a multitude of small political tracts, most of which were well received. He also drew bills and answers, and did other business in his profession till his death, which happened some time in November 1738, when he was upwards of fourscore, or, as some thought, upwards of an hundred years of age. The most considerable of his works are. 1. "De jure divino; or, an assertion, that the title of the house of Hanover to the succession of the British monarchy (on failure of issue of her present majesty), is a title hereditary, and of divine institution," 1710, 8vo. 2. His "Defence on his Expulsion; to which is added, an Introduction and Postscript," 1712, 8vo. Of the first pamphlet there were several editions; and, not long after it was published, he sent abroad another treatise, under the title of Mr. Asgill's Apology for an omission in his late publication, in which are contained summaries of all the acts

made for strengthening the protestant succession." 3. "The Pretender's declaration abstracted from two anonymous pamphlets, the one entitled Jus sacrum; the other, Memoirs of the chevalier de St. George; with memoirs of two other chevaliers in the reign of Henry VII." 1713, 8vo. 4. "The succession of the house of Hanover vindicated, against the Pretender's second declaration, in folio, entitled, The hereditary right of the crown of England asserted, &c." 1714, 8vo. This was in answer to Mr. Bedford's famous book. 5.The Pretender's declaration from Plombiers, 1714, Englished; with a postscript before it in relation to Dr. Lesley's letter sent after it," 1715, 8vo. Besides these, he wrote an "Essay for the Press," the "Metamorphoses of Man," "A question upon Divorce," 1717, "A treatise against Woolston," and several other pieces.

ASH (JOHN), LL.D. a dissenting minister at Pershore, in Worcestershire, of whom we have not been able to recover any particulars, was the author of some useful works. The first was "The easiest introduction to Dr. Lowth's English Grammar," 12mo, 1766. His next, "A new and complete Dictionary of the English Language," 2 vols. 8vo, 1775, the plan of which was extensive beyond any thing of the kind ever attempted, and perhaps embraced much more than was necessary or useful. It is valuable, however, as containing a very large proportion of obsolete words, and such provincial or cant words as have crept into general use. In 1777, he published "Sentiments on Education, collected from the best writers, properly methodized, and interspersed with occasional observations," 2 vols. 12mo. In this there are few original remarks, but those few shew an acquaintance with the best principles of virtuous and useful education, in which, we have been informed, the author employed some part of Dr. Ash died in the 55th year of his age at Pershore, March 1779."

his time.

ASHBY (GEORGE), an English divine and antiquary, was born Dec. 5, 1724, in Red Lion street, Clerkenwell, and educated at Croydon, Westminster, and Eton schools. In October 1740, he was admitted of St. John's college, Cambridge, and took his degrees, B. A. 1744, M. A. 1748, B. D. 1756. He was presented by a relation to the rectory of Hungerton, and in 1759 to that of Twyford, both in 1 Biog. Brit.

* Gent. and London Mag. 1779.