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mini e de' cittadini, con riflessioni su di house and expired in her arms. Her enemies alcuni nuovi dommi politici," 1793, 8vo. accused her of adultery on a particular occaTwo other translations in Italian also ap- sion, and the report gained so much credit, peared. Also into German, "Ueber Frei- und that notwithstanding all her protestations Gleichheit der Menschen und Bürger," of innocence, Mohammed himself conceived Vienna, 1793, 8vo. This work is directed some suspicions of her guilt, although he proagainst the French declaration of the rights bably thought it more prudent to conceal his of man, and discusses at large the questions sentiments. In order, however, to preserve of civil liberty and equality. 3. Ayala was the dignity of his own character and his wife's among the first who perceived the necessity reputation, he produced a seasonable revelaof a revision of the " Dizionario della Crusca," tion from heaven, attesting 'Ayeshah's innoparticularly with a view to render the Latin cence, after which he punished the accusers explanations more precise and to remove as calumniators. (Korán, chap. xxiv., entitled many superfluous quotations. He explained "the Light.") After the death of her hushis views in a work entitled " Dei difetti band, 'Ayeshah was held in great veneration dell' antico Vocabolario della Crusca, che by all the Moslems, who surnamed her Ummudovrebbero corregersi nella nuova edizione," l-múmenín (the mother of the believers), and Vienna, 8vo. 4. "Opere postume di Metas- consulted her on all important occasions. For tasio, date alla luce dall' abate Conte d'Ayala," some reason or reasons unknown 'Ayeshah 3 vols. Vienna, 1795, 8vo., also in 4to. and conceived a mortal hatred against the Khalif in 12mo. in the same year, and at Paris in 'Othmán, and took an active part in the plot 3 vols. in 4to. and 8vo. in 1798. This pub- which deprived him of power and life. After lication contains Metastasio's unpublished the assassination of 'Othmán she vigorously correspondence, translations of portions of opposed the accession of 'Ali, because he had Sophocles and Euripides, and his Life, believed at first in the accusation brought written by Ayala. He is said to have against her. Uniting with Talhah, Zobeyr, been the author of several anonymous and others of 'Ali's enemies, who had taken pieces, and to have published a catalogue of up arms under the pretence of avenging the the productions of the Aldine press, a commurder of the Khalif 'Othmán, she put herplete collection of which he possessed. He self at the head of the insurgents and apalso exposed the errors in Davanzati's trans-peared before Basrah, mounted on a powerlation of Tacitus, and accompanied his criticism by a version of a copious extract from the Latin. (Tipaldo, Biografia degli Italiani illustri del Secolo XVIII. i. 26; Scina, Prospetto della Storia Letteraria di Sicilia nel Secolo Decimottavo, iii. 194, 417, 418.) J. W. J. AYBAR XIMENES, PEDRO, a Spanish painter, who lived at Calatayud towards the close of the seventeenth century. He was a relation and the pupil of Francisco Ximenes of Tarragona, and painted in a similar style. He painted, about the year 1682, three pictures for the collegiate church of St. Mary at Calatayud--a Holy Family, an Epiphany, and the Nativity of our Saviour, all which Ponz praises for the drawing, colouring, and the composition. (Ponz, Viage de España; Bermudez, Diccionario Historico, &c.) R. N. W.

AYBEK. [AIBEK.]

'AYESHAH, the favourite wife of Mohammed, was the daughter of Abu Bekr, one of the earliest and warmest friends of the Mohammedan prophet. She was only nine years old when she married him, and is said to have been the only one of Mohammed's numerous wives who was a virgin, owing to which circumstance her father, whose name was 'Abdullah, was surnamed Abu Bekr, or "the father of the virgin." Although Mohammed had no children by 'Ayeshah, he was so tenderly attached to her that he was often heard to say that she would be the first of all his wives to enter Paradise; and in his last illness he had himself carried to her

ful camel. At the gate of the town
she was met by a deputation of the people
who were sent to know her intentions; but
instead of replying to their questions, 'Ayes-
hah harangued them with great passion, and
called upon them to join her banners. One
of the deputies, named Zariah Ibn Kadamah
then said, "O mother of the faithful! the
murder of 'Othmán was an occurrence of less
moment than thy thus leaving home upon the
back of that cursed camel. God no doubt cast
on thee a veil of protection, but thou hast
wilfully rent that veil, and set his protection
at nought." On the return of the deputies,
the people of Basrah prepared to defend their
home, but after some contest, the troops of
'Ayeshah gained possession of the city, and
entering the principal mosque, where the
governor, 'Othmán Ibn Honeyf, had taken
refuge, they took him prisoner and dragged
him to her presence. 'Ayeshah, however,
spared the life of 'Othmán in consideration
of his great age and of his having been the
friend of the Prophet, but she gave orders
that forty of the principal inhabitants of the
place, who were suspected of being the par-
tisans of 'Ali, should be put to death, which
was done. Meanwhile, 'Ali was advancing
upon Basrah at the head of considerable
forces, and as 'Ayeshah obstinately rejected
all offers of peace, a battle ensued, in which
both Talhah and Zobeyr were slain, and
'Ayeshah was taken prisoner. ['ALI IBN ABI'
TA'LIB.] After mutual recriminations between
her and Ali, 'Ayeshah was civilly dismissed

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Westminster about the year 1612, and became | capacity of secretary to the governor who accompanied a second expedition sent by Oliver Cromwell to Jamaica, at which island he died in 1657. (Wood, Athene Oxonienses, ed. Bliss, iii. 440, 441, and Fasti Oxonienses, i. 460; Biographia Britannica; Address prefixed to Davila's History of the Civil Wars of France, ed. 1678.) J. T. S. AYLESFORD, EARL OF. [FINCH.] AYLETT or AYLET, ROBERT, who appears by the date upon an engraved portrait described by Granger, and which is said to have been prefixed to the collected edition of his works, to have been born about 1583, was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was incorporated into the university of Oxford, in 1608, at which time he had the degree of A.M. In 1614 he obtained at Cambridge the degree of LL.D., and Wood states that he was "made master of the faculties on the death of Sir Charles Cæsar, in the beginning of December, 1642." In his works he is styled one of the masters of the high court of chancery. His first publication appears to have been an octavo volume issued in 1622, comprising four poetical pieces, entitled "Peace, with her foure Garders; Thrift's Equipage; Susanna; and Joseph, or Pharaoh's Favorite." In 1654 appeared a thick octavo volume, now of somewhat rare occurrence, entitled "Divine and Moral Speculations, in metrical numbers, upon various subjects;" to which, according to Granger, his portrait was prefixed, although it is not contained in the copy formerly belonging to George III., and presented by him to the British Museum. This copy is dated in MS., Jan. 5, 1653, and Watt gives the date 1652 as well as 1654, as though there were editions in both years. Granger gives 1635 as the date of the portrait attached to it. Appended to this volume, though with separate titles and pagination, are several other pieces, embracing "Susanna," "Joseph," and " Urania, or the Heavenly Muse," the principal being four pastoral eclogues, entitled "A Wife not ready made, but bespoken; by Dicus the batchelor; and made up for him by his fellow-shepheard Tityrus; the second edition, wherein are some things added, but nothing amended." We find, however, no mention of an earlier edition of this poem, which contains a pleading, by way of dialogue, for and against marriage. In 1655 Dr. Aylett published, in a small pamphlet, in rhyme, with numerous Scripture references, "Devotions, viz. 1. A Good Woman's Prayer. 2. The Humble Man's Prayer;" with an engraved frontispiece. Wood starts a query whether Dr. Aylett was the uncle of Aylett Sammes, whose "Britannia Antiqua Illustrata," published in 1676, was, he states, rumoured to be really written by an uncle of higher talents than Sammes himself. (Wood, Fasti Oxonienses, ed. Bliss, i. 328, ii. 363; Granger, Biographical History of England, fifth edi

a gentleman-commoner of Christ Church, Oxford, early in 1628. He took the degree of A.B. in 1631, and was subsequently appointed by Charles I. to the office of governor or tutor to the young Duke of Buckingham and his brother Lord Francis Villiers, the orphan sons of the first Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, with whom he travelled for some time on the Continent. While in Italy he was shot in the thigh by mistake for another person, who was waylaid by ruffians. He returned to England soon after the commencement of the civil war, and gave up his charge to the king, who was so well pleased with his services that he made him a grant, which, however, according to the "Biographia Britannica," he did not live to perform, of the first place of groom of the bed-chamber which should become vacant; and also, according to Wood, commanded him to translate D'Avila's work on the civil wars of France, from the Italian, of which language he is said to have been a perfect master, which," observes Wood, "he did with the assistance of his constant friend Sir Charles Cotterel." This translation was published in a thick folio volume, in 1647, according to the title-page, though the licence for printing it, in which Aylesbury's name appears unaccompanied by that of his coadjutor, is dated January 7, 1646: the dedication, which is signed "Charles Cottrell; William Aylesbury," is dated January 1, 1648. It is entitled "The Historie of the Civill Warres of France, written in Italian by H. C. Davila;" and a second edition was published in a similar form, with the addition | of an index and an address to the reader, in 1678. This address states that the translation was completed, but not commenced, at the command of Charles I., when at Oxford, and that the king "read it there, with such eagerness that no diligence could write it out faire, so fast as he daily called for it; wishing he had had it some years sooner, out of a belief that being forewarned thereby, he might have prevented many of those mischiefs we then groaned under; and which the grand contrivers of them had drawn from this original, as spiders do poison from the, most wholsome plants." The address is not signed, but it claims the chief merit of the translation for Cottrell, from whom the copyright had been obtained, and who is said to have executed the whole, excepting a few passages in the first four books. About the time of the death of Charles I., Aylesbury went abroad with his father, with whom he remained until 1650, "at which time," observes Wood, being reduced to great straits, (he) stole over to England, where he lived for some time among his friends and acquaintance, and some time at Oxon, among certain royalists there." At length his necessities compelled him to engage himself in the

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him is alluded to in the "Gentleman's Magazine," as "a vindication of himself," but Watt and the other bibliographical authorities make no mention of such a work. correspondent of the "Gentleman's Magazine" asks "if it was a party business only" which occasioned the sentence of expulsion, but no one appears to answer the question; and several other inquiries regarding Ayliffe, made through that periodical, are equally unavailing. He is not alluded to in the edition of Wood by Bliss, or in the other historical works on Oxford, nor is he mentioned in "Sketches of the Lives and Characters of eminent English Civilians," published in 1803, where he might be expected to have a place. It is stated in the "Gentleman's Magazine," that he never practised at Doctors' Commons. In 1726, he published in folio, “Parergon juris Canonici Anglicani; or a Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England.” This large and elaborate work has much more of a controversial than an institutional character. It is written in a spirit of strong hostility to the Church of Rome, and to the assumption of independent legislative or judicial authority by the priesthood. Although the author was a civilian, this work represents pretty accurately the old jealousy which the common lawyers felt towards the canonists. It enters largely on those questions, as to the authenticity of various branches of the canon law, and their title to be viewed as binding in those countries where the canon law is acknowledged-a subject affording ample room for discussion. In 1734, Ayliffe published "Pandect of the Roman Civil Law, as anciently established in that Empire, and now received and practised in the most European Nations, with a Preliminary Discourse concerning the rise and progress of the Civil Law, from the most early times of_the

tion, 1824, iii. 29, 30; Brydges, Restituta, iv. 38-44, and Censura Literaria, v. 373, 374.) J. T. S. AYLIFFE, JOHN, an English civilian and canonist, of the circumstances of whose life hardly anything is known. He calls himself LL.D. and Fellow of New College, Oxford. He published, in 1714, in two volumes, 8vo. "The Antient and Present state of the University of Oxford, containing 1. An Account of its Antiquity, past Government, and Sufferings from the Danes and other People, both foreign and domestic. 2. An Account of its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings; of their Founders and especial Benefactors; the Laws, Statutes, and Privileges relating thereunto in general; and of their Visitors and their Power. 3. An Account of the Laws, Statutes, and Privileges of the University, and such of the Laws of the Realm which do anywise concern the same; together with an Abstract of several Royal Grants and Charters, given to the said University, and the Sense and Opinion of the Lawyers thereupon." The work is dedicated to Lord Somers. The author has been charged with merely abridging Wood's "Athenæ Oxonienses;" but he admits in his preface that "the first, and about half the second part of these treatises are an abridgment of Mr. Wood's History and Antiquities of Oxford,' delivered from the many errors and evident partiality of that laborious undertaker and searcher after antiquities." He accuses Wood of a partiality to Catholicism and the Roman Catholics, and professes to come forward as the champion of Protestantism. Party feeling at that time ran high, and the Jacobites, exulting in the recent triumph of Sacheverell, were predominant in Oxford. Ayliffe seems, before he wrote this book, to have become offensive to several members of the University. He says, "In the laws relating to Colleges and the Uni-Roman Empire; in which is comprised an versity, I have been as concise as possible without wronging the sense thereof, though I cannot say that they are placed in the method first intended, or that this work itself is penned with that decoration of style and language, as might be expected of a person of my degree and standing in the University; but the trouble and vexation which I have suffered from lawsuits and other persecutions for the sake of my adhering to the principles of the revolution, which shall be the test of my loyalty so long as I live, have clouded my imagination so much, that it is not so strange I write without life and vigour, as that I am still among the living, when I consider the various afflictions of pain and other oppressions under which I have laboured for almost ten years together, from the malice of such as are ever proposing arbitrary power in the prince." It is said that Ayliffe was expelled from the University, in consequence of offensive passages in this book. A tract by

account of the Books themselves, containing
this Law; the names of the Authors and
Compilers of them; the several Editions, and
the best Commentators thereon." With the
exception, perhaps, of the translation of
Domat, this is the most extensive and elabo-
rate work on the civil law, in the English lan-
guage. Browne, in his "Compendious View
of the Civil Law," says of it," Ayliffe's work,
though learned, is dull and tedious, and
stuffed with superfluous matter, delivered in
a most confused manner." The author states
that he spent "thirty years' study" on the
work. It was never completed; one volume
only being published. As this, however,
covers by far the larger portion of the civil
law, it is probable that the second volume
would have been of smaller bulk.
rangement followed is not precisely that of
any of the Justinian collections, but it ap-
proaches nearer to the order of the Institutes
than to that of the Pandects. The volume

The ar