The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 43

AT'TICA, a country in ancient Greece, on the NE. of the Peloponnesus, within an area not larger than that of Lanarks.h.i.+re, 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, t.i.tUS 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 G.o.d," 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 Chalons-sur-Marne by the combined armies of the Romans under Aetius 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 pa.s.s; 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 ill.u.s.trating 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 ABBe, 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 superst.i.tions; 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 a.s.sailants 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 Perths.h.i.+re, 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 a.s.sertion 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 h.o.a.r-frost off the rocks.

AUDLEY, SIR THOMAS, LORD, born in Ess.e.x, 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 ill.u.s.trations 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 ill.u.s.trated 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).