Chapter IX: Part 9
AUBREY, JOHN (1626-1697), English antiquary, was born at Easton Pierse or Percy, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, on the 12th of March 1626, his father being a country gentleman of considerable fortune. He was educated at the Malmesbury grammar school under Robert Latimer, who had numbered Thomas Hobbes among his earlier pupils, and at his schoolmaster's house Aubrey first met the philosopher about whom he was to leave so many curious and interesting details. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1642, but his studies were interrupted by the Civil War. In 1646 he became a student of the Middle Temple, but was never called to the bar. He spent much of his time in the country, and in 1649 he brought into notice the megalithic remains at Avebury. His father died in 1652, leaving to Aubrey large estates, and with them, unfortunately, complicated lawsuits. Aubrey, however, lived gaily, and used his means to gratify his passion for the company of celebrities and for every sort of knowledge to be gleaned about them. Anthony a Wood prophesied that he would one day break his neck while running downstairs after a retreating guest, in the hope of extracting a story from him. He took no active share in the political troubles of the time, but from his description of a meeting of the Rota Club, founded by James Harrington, the author of _Oceana_, he appears to have been a theorizing republican. His reminiscences on this subject date from the Restoration, and are probably softened by considerations of expediency. In 1663 he became a member of the Royal Society, and in the next year he met Joan Somner, "in an ill hour," he tells us. This connexion did not end in marriage, and a lawsuit with the lady complicated his already embarrassed affairs. He lost estate after estate, until in 1670 he parted with his last piece of property, Easton Pierse. From this time he was dependent on the hospitality of his numerous friends. In 1667 he had made the acquaintance of Anthony a Wood at Oxford, and when Wood began to gather materials for his invaluable _Athenae Oxonienses_, Aubrey offered to collect information for him. From time to time he forwarded memoranda to him, and in 1680 he began to promise the "Minutes for Lives," which Wood was to use at his discretion. He left the task of verification largely to Wood. As a hanger-on in great houses he had little time for systematic work, and he wrote the "Lives" in the early morning while his hosts were sleeping off the effects of the dissipation of the night before. He constantly leaves blanks for dates and facts, and many queries. He made no attempt at a fair copy, and, when fresh information occurred to him, inserted it at random. He made some distinction between hearsay and authentic information, but had no pretence to accuracy, his retentive memory being the chief authority. The principal charm of his "Minutes" lies in the amusing details he has to recount about his personages, and in the plainness and truthfulness that he permits himself in face of established reputations. In 1592 he complained bitterly that Wood had destroyed forty pages of his MS., probably because of the dangerous freedom of Aubrey's pen. Wood Was prosecuted eventually for insinuations against the judicial integrity of the earl of Clarendon. One of the two statements called in question was certainly founded on information provided by Aubrey. This perhaps explains the estrangement between the two antiquaries and the ungrateful account that Wood gives of the elder man's character. "He was a shiftless person, roving and magotic-headed, and sometimes little better than crased. And being exceedingly credulous, would stuff his many letters sent to A.W. with follies and misinformations, which sometimes would guide him into the paths of error."[1] In 1673 Aubrey began his "Perambulation" or "Survey" of the county of Surrey, which was the result of many years' labour in collecting inscriptions and traditions in the country. He began a "History of his Native District of Northern Wiltshire," but, feeling that he was too old to finish it as he would wish, he made over his material, about 1695, to Thomas Tanner, afterwards bishop of St Asaph. In the next year he published his only completed, though certainly not his most valuable work, the _Miscellanies_, a collection of stories on ghosts and dreams. He died at Oxford in June 1697, and was buried in the church of St Mary Magdalene.
Beside the works already mentioned, his papers included:
"Architectonica Sacra," notes on ecclesiastical antiquities; and "Life
of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury," which served as the basis of Dr
Blackburn's Latin life, and also of Wood's account. His survey of
Surrey was incorporated in R. Rawlinson's _Natural History and
Antiquities of Surrey_ (1719); his antiquarian notes on Wiltshire were
printed in _Wiltshire; the Topographical Collections of John Aubrey_,
corrected and enlarged by J.E. Jackson (Devizes, 1862); part of
another MS. on "The Natural History of Wiltshire" was printed by John
Britton in 1847 for the Wiltshire Topographical Society; the
_Miscellanies_ were edited in 1890 for the _Library of Old Authors_;
the "Minutes for Lives" were partially edited in 1813. A complete
transcript, _Brief Lives chiefly of Contemporaries set down by John
Aubrey between the Years 1669 and 1696_, was edited for the Clarendon
Press in 1898 by the Rev. Andrew Clark from the MSS. in the Bodleian,
Oxford.
See also John Britton, _Memoir of John Aubrey_ (1845); David Masson,
in the _British Quarterly Review_, July 1856; Emile Montegut, _Heures
de lecture d'un critique_ (1891); and a catalogue of Aubrey's
collections in _The Life and Times of Anthony Wood_ ..., by Andrew
Clark (Oxford, 1891-1900, vol. iv. pp. 191-193), which contains many
other references to Aubrey.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] "Life of Anthony a Wood written by Himself" (_Athen. Oxon._, ed.
Bliss).
AUBURN, a city and the county-seat of Androscoggin county, Maine, U.S.A., on the Androscoggin river, opposite Lewiston (with which it practically forms an industrial unit), in the S.W. part of the state. Pop. (1890) 11,250; (1900) 12,951, of whom 2076 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 15,064. It is served by the Grand Trunk and the Maine Central railways. The river furnishes abundant water-power, and the city ranked fourth in the state as a manufacturing centre in 1905. Boots and shoes are the principal products; in 1905 seven-tenths of the city's wage-earners were engaged in their manufacture, and Auburn's output ($4,263,162 = 66.5% of the total factory product of the city) was one-third of that of the whole state. Other manufactures are butter, bread and other bakery products, cotton goods, furniture and leather. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks. Auburn was first settled in 1786, and was incorporated in 1842, but the present charter dates only from 1869.
AUBURN, a city and the county-seat of Cayuga county, New York, U.S.A., 25 m. S.W. of Syracuse, on an outlet of Owasco Lake. Pop. (1890) 25,858; (1900) 30,345, of whom 5436 were foreign-born, 2084 being from Ireland and 1023 from England; (1910) 34,668. It is served by the Lehigh Valley and the New York Central & Hudson River railways, and by inter-urban electric lines. The city is attractively situated amidst a group of low hills in the heart of the lake country of western New York; the streets are wide, with a profusion of shade trees. Auburn has a city hall, the large Burtis Auditorium, the Auburn hospital, two orphan asylums, and the Seymour library in the Case Memorial building. There is a fine bronze statue of William H. Seward, who made his home here after 1823, and was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery. In Auburn are the Auburn (State) prison (1816), in connexion with which there is a women's prison; the Auburn Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), founded in 1819, chartered in 1820, and opened for students in 1821; the Robinson school for girls; and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, for the education of working girls, with a building erected in 1907. The city owns its water-supply system, the water being pumped from Owasco Lake, about 2-1/2 m. S.S.E. of the city. There is a good water-power, and the city has important manufacturing interests. The principal manufactures are cordage and twine, agricultural implements, engines, pianos, boots and shoes, cotton and woollen goods, carpets and rugs, rubber goods, flour and machinery. The total factory product in 1905 was valued at $13,420,863; of this $2,890,301 was the value of agricultural implements, in the manufacture of which Auburn ranked fifth among the cities of the United States. There are a number of grey and blue limestone quarries, one of which is owned and operated by the municipality.
Settled soon after the close of the War of Independence, Auburn was laid out in 1793 by Captain John L. Hardenburgh, a veteran of the war, and for some years was known as Hardenburgh's Corners. In 1805, when it was made the county-seat, it was renamed Auburn. It was incorporated in 1814, and was chartered as a city in 1848.
See C. Hawley, _Early Chapters of Cayuga History_ (Auburn, 1879).
AUBURN (from the Low Lat. _alburnus_, whitish, light-coloured), ruddy-brown; the meaning has changed from the original one of brownish-white or light yellow (_citrinus_, in _Promptorium Parvulorum_), probably through the intensification of the idea of brown caused by the early spelling "abron" or "abrown."
AUBUSSON, PIERRE D' (1423-1503), grand-master of the order of St John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Turks, was born in 1423. He belonged to a noble French family, and early devoted himself to the career of a soldier in the service of the emperor Sigismund. Under the archduke Albert of Austria he took part in a campaign against the Turks, and on his return to France sided with the Armagnacs against the Swiss, greatly distinguishing himself at the battle of St Jacob in 1444. He then joined the order of the knights of Rhodes, and successfully conducted an expedition against the pirates of the Levant and an embassy to Charles VII. He soon rose to the most important offices in the order, and in 1476 was elected grand-master. It was the period of the conquests of Mahommed II., who, supreme in the East, now began to threaten Europe. In December 1479 a large Turkish fleet appeared in sight of Rhodes; a landing was effected, and a vigorous attack made upon the city. But in July of the next year, being reinforced from Spain, the knights forced the Mussulmans to retire, leaving behind them 9000 dead. The siege, in which d'Aubusson was seriously wounded, enhanced his renown throughout Europe. Mahommed was furious, and would have attacked the island again but for his death in 1481. His succession was disputed between his sons Bayezid and Jem. The latter, after his defeat by Bayezid, sought refuge at Rhodes under a safe-conduct from the grand-master and the council of the knights. What followed remains a stain on d'Aubusson's memory. Rhodes not being considered secure, Jem with his own consent was sent to France. Meanwhile, in spite of the safe-conduct, d'Aubusson accepted an annuity of 45,000 ducats from the sultan; in return for which he undertook to guard Jem in such a way as to prevent his design of appealing to the Christian powers to aid him against his brother. For six years Jem, in spite of frequent efforts to escape, was kept a close prisoner in various castles of the Rhodian order in France, until in 1489 he was handed over to Pope Innocent VIII., who had been vying with the kings of Hungary and Naples for the possession of so valuable a political weapon. D'Aubusson's reward was a cardinal's hat (1489), and the power to confer all benefices connected with the order without the sanction of the papacy; the order of St John received the wealth of the suppressed orders of the Holy Sepulchre and St Lazarus. The remaining years of his life d'Aubusson spent in the attempt to restore discipline and zeal in his order, and to organize a grand international crusade against the Turks. The age of the Renaissance, with Alexander Borgia on the throne of St Peter, was, however, not favourable to such an enterprise; the death of Jem in 1495 had removed the most formidable weapon available against the sultan; and when in 1501 d'Aubusson led an expedition against Mytilene, dissensions among his motley host rendered it wholly abortive. The old man's last years were embittered by chagrin at his failure, which was hardly compensated by his success in extirpating Judaism in Rhodes, by expelling all adult Jews and forcibly baptizing their children. In the summer of 1503 he died.
See P. Bouhours, _Hist. de Pierre d'Aubusson_ (Paris, 1676; Hague,
1793; abridged ed. Bruges, 1887); G.E. Streck, _Pierre d'Aubusson,
Grossmeister_, &c. (Chemnitz, 1873); J.B. Bury in _Cambridge Mod.
Hist._ vol. i. p. 85, &c. (for relations with Jem).
AUBUSSON, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Creuse, picturesquely situated on the river Creuse 24 m. S.E. of Gueret by rail. Pop. (1906) 6475. It has celebrated manufactories of carpets, &c., employing about 2000 workmen, the artistic standard of which is maintained by a national school of decorative arts, founded in 1869. Nothing certain is known as to the foundation of this industry, but it was in full activity at least as far back as 1531. From the 10th to the 13th century Aubusson was the centre of a viscounty, and the viscountess Marguerite, wife of Rainaud VI., was sung by many a troubadour. After the death of the viscount Guy II. (a little later than 1262) Aubusson was incorporated in the countship of La Marche by Hugh XII. of Lusignan, and shared in its fortunes. Louis XIV. revived the title of viscount of Aubusson in favour of Francois, first marshall de la Feuillade (1686). From the family of the old viscounts was descended Pierre d'Aubusson (q.v.). Admiral Sallandrouze de Lamornaix (1840-1902) belonged to a family of tapestry manufacturers established at Aubusson since the beginning of the 19th century. Aubusson was also the native place of the novelists Leonard Sylvain, Julien Sandeau and Alfred Assollant (1827-1886).
See Le Pere Anselme, _Hist. genealogique de la maison de France_, vol.
v. pp. 318 et seq.; P. Mignaton, _Hist. de la maison d'Aubusson_
(Paris, 1886); Cyprien Perathon, _Hist. d'Aubusson_ (Limoges, 1886).
(A. T.)
AUCH, a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Gers, 55 m. W. of Toulouse on the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 9294. Auch is built on the summit and sides of a hill at the foot of which flow the yellow waters of the Gers. It consists of a lower and upper quarter united in several places by flights of steps. The streets are in general steep and narrow, but there is a handsome promenade in the upper town, laid out in the 18th century by the _intendant_ Antoine Megret d'Etigny. Three bridges lead from the left to the right bank of the Gers, on which the suburb of Patte d'Oie is situated. The most interesting part of the town lies in the old quarter around the Place Salinis, a spacious terrace which commands an extensive view over the surrounding country. On its eastern side it communicates with the left bank of the river by a handsome series of steps; on its north side rises the cathedral of Sainte-Marie. This church, built from 1489 to 1662, belongs chiefly to the Gothic style, of which it is one of the finest examples in southern France. The facade, however, with its two square and somewhat heavy flanking towers dates from the 17th century, and is Greco-Roman in architecture. Sainte-Marie contains many artistic treasures, the chief of which are the magnificent stained-glass windows of the Renaissance which light the apsidal chapels, and the 113 choir-stalls of carved oak, also of Renaissance workmanship. The archbishop's palace adjoins the cathedral; it is a building of the 18th century with a Romanesque hall and a tower of the 14th century. Opposite the south side of the cathedral stands the lycee on the site of a former Jesuit college. Only scanty remains are left of the once celebrated abbey of St Orens. The ecclesiastical seminary contains an important library with a collection of manuscripts, and there is a public library in the Carmelite chapel, a building of the 17th century. The former palace of the _intendants_ of Gascony is now used as the _prefecture_. Auch is the seat of an archbishopric, a prefect and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a lycee, training-colleges, a school of design, a branch of the Bank of France and an important lunatic asylum. The manufactures include agricultural implements, leather, vinegar and plaited sandals, and there is a trade in brandy, wine, cattle, poultry and wool; there are quarries of building-stone in the neighbourhood.
Auch (Elimberris) was the capital of a Celtiberian tribe, the Ausci, and under the Roman domination was one of the most important cities in Gaul. In the 4th century this importance was increased by the foundation of its bishopric, and after the destruction of Eauze in the 9th century it became the metropolis of Novempopulana. Till 732, Auch stood on the right bank of the Gers, but in that year the ravages of the Saracens drove the inhabitants to take refuge on the left bank of the river, where a new city was formed. In the 10th century Count Bernard of Armagnac founded the Benedictine abbey of St Orens, the monks of which, till 1308, shared the jurisdiction over Auch with the archbishops--an arrangement which gave rise to constant strife. The counts of Armagnac possessed a castle in the city, which was the capital of Armagnac in the middle ages. During the Religious Wars of the 16th century Auch remained Catholic, except for a short occupation in 1569 by the Huguenots under Gabriel, count of Montgomery. In the 18th century it was capital of Gascony, and seat of a generality. Antoine Megret d'Etigny, intendant from 1751 to 1767, did much to improve the city and its commerce.
AUCHMUTY, SIR SAMUEL (1756-1822), British general, was born at New York in 1756, and served as a loyalist in the American War of Independence, being given an ensigncy in the royal army in 1777, and in 1778 a lieutenancy in the 45th Foot, without purchase. When his regiment returned to England after the war, having neither private means nor influence, he exchanged into the 52nd, in order to proceed to India. He took part in the last war against Hyder Ali; he was given a staff appointment by Lord Cornwallis in 1790, served in the operations against Tippoo Sahib, and continued in various staff appointments up to 1797, when he returned to England a brevet lieut.-colonel. In 1800 he was made lieut.-colonel and brevet colonel; and in the following year, as adjutant-general to Sir David Baird in Egypt, took a distinguished share in the march across the desert and the capture of Alexandria. On his return to England in 1803 he was knighted, and three years later he went out to the River Plate as a brigadier-general. Auchmuty was one of the few officers who came out of the disastrous Buenos Aires expedition of 1806-7 with enhanced reputation. While General Whitelocke, the commander, was cashiered, Auchmuty was at once re-employed and promoted major-general, and was sent out in 1810 to command at Madras. In the following year he commanded the expedition organized for the conquest of Java, which the governor-general, Lord Minto, himself accompanied. The storming of the strongly fortified position of Meester Cornelis (28th August 1811), stubbornly defended by the Dutch garrison under General Janssens, practically achieved the conquest of the island, and after the action of Samarang (September 8th) Janssens surrendered. Auchmuty received the thanks of parliament and the order of K.C.B. (G.C.B. in 1815), and in 1813, on his return home, was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general. In 1821 he became commander-in-chief in Ireland, and a member of the Irish privy council. He died suddenly on the 11th of August 1822.
AUCHTERARDER (Gaelic, "upper high land"), a police burgh of Perthshire, Scotland, 13-3/4 m. S.W. of Perth by the Caledonian railway. Pop. (1901) 2276. It is situated on Ruthven Water, a right-hand tributary of the Earn. The chief manufactures are those of tartans and other woollens, and of agricultural implements. At the beginning of the 13th century it obtained a charter from the earl of Strathearn, afterwards became a royal burgh for a period, and was represented in the Scottish parliament. Its castle, now ruinous, was built as a hunting-lodge for Malcolm Canmore, but of the abbey which it possessed as early as the reign of Alexander II. (1198-1249) no remains exist. The ancient church of St Mungo, now in ruins, was a building in the Norman or Early Pointed style. The town was almost entirely burned down by the earl of Mar in 1716 during the abortive Jacobite rising. It was in connexion with this parish that the ecclesiastical dispute arose which led to the disruption in the Church of Scotland in 1843. The estate of Kincardine, 1 m. south, gives the title of earl of Kincardine to the duke of Montrose. The old castle, now in ruins, was dismantled in 1645 by the marquis of Argyll in retaliation for the destruction of Castle Campbell in Dollar Glen on the south side of the Ochils. The old ruined castle of Tullibardine, 2 m west of the burgh, once belonged to the Murrays of Tullibardine, ancestors of the duke of Atholl, who derives the title of marquis of Tullibardine from the estate. The ancient chapel adjoining, also ruinous, was a burial-place of the Murrays.
AUCHTERMUCHTY (Gaelic, "the high ground of the wild sow"), a royal and police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, built on an elevation about 9 m. W. by S. of Cupar, with a station on a branch of the North British railway from Ladybank to Mawcarse Junction. Pop. 1387. The rapid Loverspool Burn divides the town. The principal industries include the weaving of linen and damasks, bleaching, distilling and malting. John Glas, founder of the sect known as Glassites or Sandemanians, was a native of the town. A mile and a half to the south-west is the village of Strathmiglo (pop. 966), on the river Eden, with a linen factory and bleaching works.
AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN, EARL OF (1784-1849), English statesman, was the second son of the 1st Baron Auckland. He completed his education at Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. His elder brother was drowned in the Thames in the following year; and in 1814, on the death of his father, he took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Auckland. He supported the Reform party steadily by his vote, and in 1830 was made president of the Board of Trade and master of the Mint. In 1834 he held office for a few months as first lord of the admiralty, and in 1835 he was appointed governor-general of India. He proved himself to be a painstaking and laborious legislator, and devoted himself specially to the improvement of native schools, and the expansion of the commercial industry of the nation committed to his care. These useful labours were interrupted in 1838 by complications in Afghanistan, which excited the fears not only of the Anglo-Indian government but of the home authorities. Lord Auckland resolved to enter upon a war, and on the 1st of October 1838 published at Simla his famous manifesto dethroning Dost Mahommed. The early operations were crowned with success, and the governor-general received the title of earl of Auckland. But reverses followed quickly, and in the ensuing campaigns the British troops suffered the most severe disasters. Lord Auckland had the double mortification of seeing his policy a complete failure and of being superseded before his errors could be rectified. In the autumn of 1841 he was succeeded in office by Lord Ellenborough, and returned to England in the following year. In 1846 he was made first lord of the admiralty, which office he held until his death, on the 1st of January 1849. He died unmarried, and the earldom became extinct, the barony (see below) passing to his brother Robert.
See S.J. Trotter, _The Earl of Auckland_ ("Rulers of India" series),
1893.
AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN, 1ST BARON (1745-1814), English statesman, son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Bart., of Windlestone Hall, Durham, and of Mary, daughter of William Davison, was born in 1745, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1768. In 1771 he published _Principles of Penal Law_, and was early recognized as an authority on commercial and economic questions, and in 1772 he was appointed an under secretary of state. He represented New Woodstock in the parliaments of 1774 and 1780, and Heytesbury in those of 1784 and 1790. In 1776 he was appointed a commissioner on the board of trade and plantations. In 1778 he carried an act for the improvement of the treatment of prisoners, and accompanied the earl of Carlisle as a commissioner to North America on an unsuccessful mission to settle the disputes with the colonists. On his return in 1779 he published his widely read _Four Letters to the Earl of Carlisle_, and in 1780 became chief secretary for Ireland. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Dungannon in 1781 and sworn of the Irish privy council, and while in Ireland established the National Bank. He advised the increase of the secret service fund, and was reputed, according to Lord Charlemont (a political opponent), as especially skilful in the arts of corruption and in overcoming political prejudices. He resigned in 1782, but in the following year he took office again as vice-treasurer of Ireland under the coalition ministry, which he had been instrumental in arranging, and was included in the privy council, resigning with the government in December. He opposed strongly Pitt's propositions for free trade between England and Ireland in 1785, but took office with Pitt as a member of the committee on trade and plantations, and negotiated in 1786 and 1787 Pitt's important commercial treaty with France, and agreements concerning the East India Companies and Holland. In 1787 he published his _History of New Holland_. Next year he was sent as ambassador to Spain, and after his return was created (September 1789) Baron Auckland in the Irish peerage. The same year he was sent on a mission to Holland, and represented English interests there with great zeal and prudence during the critical years of 1790 to 1793, obtaining the assistance of the Dutch fleet in 1790 on the menace of a war with Spain, signing the convention relating to the Netherlands the same year, and in 1793 attending the congress at Antwerp. He retired from the public service in the latter year, received a pension of L2300, and was created Baron Auckland of West Auckland, Durham, in the English peerage. During his retirement in the country at Beckenham, he continued his intimacy with Pitt, his nearest neighbour at Holwood, who at one time had thoughts of marrying his daughter; and with Pitt's sanction he published his _Remarks on the Apparent Cicumstances of the War_ in 1795, to prepare public opinion for a peace. In 1798 he was included in Pitt's government as joint postmaster-general, and supported strongly the income tax and the Irish Union, assisting in drawing up the act embodying the latter. In 1799 he brought in a bill to check adultery by preventing the marriage of the guilty parties, and the same year took a mischievous part in the cabal against Sir Ralph Abercromby. He severely criticized Pitt's resignation in 1801, from which he had endeavoured to dissuade him, and retained office under Addington. This terminated his friendship with Pitt, who excluded him from his administration in 1804 though he increased his pension. Auckland was included in Granville's ministry of "All the Talents" as president of the board of trade in 1806. He held the appointments of auditor and director of Greenwich hospital, recorder of Grantham, and chancellor of the Marischal College in Aberdeen. He died on the 28th of May 1814.
He had married in 1776 Eleanor, sister of the first Lord Minto, and had a large family. Emily Eden (1797-1869), the novelist, was one of his daughters. On the death of his son George, 2nd baron and earl of Auckland (q.v.), the barony passed to the 1st baron's younger son Robert John (1790-1870), bishop of Bath and Wells, from whom the later barons were descended, and who was also the father of Sir Ashley Eden (1831-1887), lieutenant-governor of Bengal. The 1st baron had two distinguished brothers--Morton Eden (1752-1830), a diplomatist, who married Lady Elizabeth Henley, and in 1799 was created 1st Baron Henley (his family, from 1831, taking the name of Henley instead of Eden); and Sir Robert Eden, governor of Maryland, whose son, Sir Frederic Morton Eden (1766-1809), was a well-known economist.
Lord Auckland's _Journal and Correspondence_, published in 1861-1862,
throws much light on the political history of the time.
AUCKLAND, a city and seaport on the east coast of North Island, New Zealand, in Eden county; capital of the province of its name, and the seat of a bishop. Pop. (1906) 37,736; including suburbs, 82,101. It is situated at the mouth of an arm of Hauraki Gulf, and is only 6 m. distant from the head of Manukau harbour on the western coast. The situation is extremely beautiful. The Hauraki Gulf, a great square inlet opening northward, is studded with islands of considerable elevation; Rangitoto, which protects the harbour, is a volcanic cone reaching nearly 1000 ft. The isthmus on which the town stands (which position has caused it to be likened to Corinth) can be crossed without surmounting any great elevation, and offers a feasible canal route. A number of small extinct volcanoes, however, appear in all directions. To the west the Titirangi hills exceed 1400 ft. Some of the volcanic soil is barren, but much of the district is clothed in luxuriant vegetation.
Auckland harbour, one of the best in New Zealand, is approachable by the largest vessels at the lowest tide. There are two graving docks. Queen Street, the principal thoroughfare, leads inland from the main dock, and contains the majority of the public buildings. There is a small government house, standing in beautiful grounds, adjoining Albert Park, with plantations of oaks and pines. The government offices, art gallery and exchange, with St Mary's cathedral (Anglican), a building in a combination of native timbers, St Paul's and St Patrick's cathedral (Roman Catholic), are noteworthy buildings. The art gallery and free library contain excellent pictures, and valuable books and MSS. presented by Sir G. Grey. The museum contains one of the best existing collections of Maori art. There are an opera-house and an academy of music. The Auckland University College and the grammar school are the principal educational establishments. The parks are the Domain, with a botanical garden, the Albert Park near the harbour, with a bronze statue of Queen Victoria, the extensive grounds at One Tree Hill on the outskirts, and Victoria Park on Freeman's Bay. The principal thoroughfares are served by electric tramway. Of the suburbs, Newton, Parnell and Newmarket are in reality outlying parts of the town itself. Devonport, Birkenhead and Northcote are beautifully situated on the north shore of the inlet, and are served by steam-ferries. Several other residential suburbs lie among the hills on the mainland, such as Mount Albert, Mount Eden and Epsom. Onehunga is a small port on Manukau harbour, served by rail. In Parnell is the former residence of Bishop Selwyn, who, arriving in the colony in 1842, assisted to draw up the constitution of the Anglican church. There are many associations with his name in the neighbourhood. The prospect over the town and its environs from Mount Eden is justly famous. The hill is terraced with former native fortifications.
Auckland has industries of sugar-refining, ship-building and paper-, rope- and brick-making, and timber is worked. The town was founded as capital of the colony in 1840 by Governor Hobson. There is communication both south and north by rail, and regular steamers serve the ports of the colony, the principal Pacific Islands, Australia, &c. From 1853 to 1876 Auckland was the seat of the provincial government, and until 1865 that of the central government, which was then transferred to Wellington. The first session of the general assembly took place here in 1854. Auckland is under municipal government.
AUCKLAND ISLANDS, a group in the Pacific Ocean, discovered in 1806 by Captain Briscoe, of the English whaler "Ocean," in 50 deg. 24' S., 166 deg. 7' E. The islands, of volcanic origin, are very fertile, and are covered with forest. They were granted to the Messrs Enderby by the British government as a whaling station, but the establishment was abandoned in 1852. The islands belong politically to New Zealand.
AUCTION PITCH, a card game which is a popular variation of All Fours (q.v.). The name is derived from the rule that the first card played, or _pitched_, is the trump suit, and that the eldest hand has the privilege of pitching it or of selling out to the highest bidder. A full pack is used, and the cards rank as in All Fours, namely from ace down to 2, ace being highest in cutting also. From four to seven may play, each player being provided with seven white counters, and also with red counters in case stakes are played for. Each player receives six cards in every deal, three at a time, no trump being turned. The object is to get rid of the white counters, one of which may be put into the pool either (1) for holding the highest trump played; (2) for having the lowest trump dealt to one; (3) for taking the Jack (knave) of trumps; or (4) for winning the _game_, namely the greatest number of pips that count. In case of a tie of pips no game is scored. If the eldest hand decides to pitch and not to sell out, he may do so, but is obliged to make four points or be set back that number. If he decides to sell, he says "I pass," and the player at his left bids for the privilege of pitching the trump or passes, &c. When a bid has been made the rest must pass or bid higher, and the eldest hand must either accept a bid or undertake to make as many points as the bidder. If no bid is made he pitches the trump himself, without the obligation of making anything. The first card played is the trump suit, the winner of the trick leading again. In trumps a player must follow suit if he can, and the same rule applies in plain suits, excepting that a trump may be played at any time ("follow suit or trump"). In play the highest card wins the trick unless trumped. When the hand is played out each player puts a white counter into the pool for every point won, and the first player to get rid of all his seven white counters wins the pool and takes from it all the red counters, which represent cash. This ends the game. In case two players count out during the same deal, the bidder has the first right to the pool, the rule being "bidder counts out first." If the two players who count out are neither of them bidder, then they go out in regular order, i.e. high first, then low, Jack and game. If a bidder fails to make his points he is set back that number. A revoke is punished by the offender being set back the number of points bid and forfeiting a red counter to the pool.
AUCTIONS and AUCTIONEERS. An auction (Lat. _auctio_, increase) is a proceeding at which people are invited to compete for the purchase of property by successive offers of advancing sums. The advantages of conducting a sale in this way are obvious, and we naturally find that auctions are of great antiquity. Herodotus describes a custom which prevailed in Babylonian villages of disposing of the maidens in marriage by delivering them to the highest bidders in an assembly annually held for the purpose (Book i. 196). So also among the Romans the quaestor sold military booty and captives in war by auction--_sub hasta_--the spear being the symbol of quiritarian ownership. The familiarity of such proceedings is forcibly suggested by the conduct of the Praetorian Guard when Sulpicianus was treating for the imperial dignity after the murder of Pertinax. Apprehending that they would not obtain a sufficient price by private contract, the Praetorians proclaimed from their ramparts that the Roman world was to be disposed of by public auction to the best bidder. Thereupon Julian proceeded to the foot of the ramparts and outbid his competitor (Gibbon, vol. i. ch. v.). Though, however, auctions were undoubtedly common among the Romans both in public and private transactions, the rules whereby they were governed are by no means clearly enunciated in the _Corpus Juris Civilis_.
In England the method of conducting auctions has varied. In some places it has been usual to set up an inch of lighted candle, the person making the last bid before the fall of the wick becoming the purchaser. By an act of William III. (1698), this method of sale was prescribed for goods and merchandise imported from the East Indies. Lord Eldon speaks of "candlestick biddings," where the several bidders did not know what the others had offered. A "dumb bidding" was the name given to a proceeding at which a price was put by the owner under a candlestick with a stipulation that no bidding should avail if not equal to it. In a "Dutch auction" property is offered at a certain price and then successively at lower prices until one is accepted.
According to the practice now usual in England, a proposed auction is duly advertised, and a printed catalogue in the case of chattels, or particulars of sale in the case of land, together with conditions of sale, are circulated. Sometimes, in sales of goods, the conditions are merely suspended in the auction room. At the appointed time and place, the auctioneer, standing in a desk or rostrum, "puts up" the several lots in turn by inviting biddings from the company present. He announces the acceptance of the last bid by a tap with his hammer and so "knocks down" the lot to the person who has made it. Sometimes property is offered on lease to the highest bidder. "Roup" is the Scottish term for an auction. A bid in itself is only an offer, and may accordingly be retracted at any time before its acceptance by the fall of the hammer or otherwise. Puffing is unlawful. Unless a right to bid is expressly reserved on behalf of the vendor, he must neither bid himself nor employ any one else to bid. When a right to bid has been expressly reserved, the seller or any one person (but no more) on his behalf may bid at the auction. If it is simply announced that the sale is to be subject to a reserved or upset price, no bidding by or on behalf of the seller is permissible: it is only lawful to declare by some appropriate terms that the property is withdrawn. Where a sale is expressed to be without reserve, or where an upset price has been reached, the auctioneer must, after the lapse of a reasonable interval, accept the bid of the highest _bona fide_ bidder. By not doing so he would render the vendor liable in damages. The auctioneer must not make a pretence of receiving bids which are not in fact made, as it would be fraudulent to run up the price by such an artifice. A "knock-out" is a combination of persons to prevent competition between themselves at an auction by an arrangement that only one of their number shall bid, and that anything obtained by him shall be afterwards disposed of privately among themselves. Such a combination is not illegal. A "mock auction" is a proceeding at which persons conspire by artifice to make it appear, contrary to the fact, that a _bona fide_ sale is being conducted, and so attempt to induce the public to purchase articles at prices far above their value. Those who invite the public to enter the room where the supposed auction is proceeding, or otherwise endeavour to attract bidders, are called "barkers." A conspiracy to defraud in this way is an indictable offence.
American law is in general the same as the English law with regard to auctions. As to bidding by the vendor, however, it is less stringent. For, though puffing or by-bidding, as it is often called, will, under both systems alike, render an auction sale voidable at the option of a purchaser when it amounts to fraud, the weight of authority in the United States is in favour of the view that an owner may, without notice, employ a person to bid for him, if he does so with no other purpose than to prevent a sacrifice of the property under a given price.
By a charter of Henry VII., confirmed by Charles I., the business of selling by auction was confined to an officer called an _outroper_, and all other persons were prohibited from selling goods or merchandise by public claim or outcry (see Henry Blackstone's _Reports_, vol. ii. p. 557). The only qualification now required by an auctioneer is a licence on which a duty of L10 has to be paid, and which must be renewed before the 5th of July in each year. A liability to a penalty of L100 is incurred by acting as an auctioneer without being duly licensed. The duty formerly imposed upon the purchase-money payable by virtue of a sale at auction was abolished by an act of 1845. An auctioneer is bound under a penalty of L20 to see that his full name and address are displayed before the commencement of an auction and during its continuance in the place where he conducts it. He is the agent of the vendor only, except in so far that, after he has knocked down a lot to the highest bidder, he has authority to affix the name of the latter to a memorandum of the transaction, so as to render the contract of sale enforceable where written evidence is necessary. An auctioneer does not, by merely announcing that a sale of certain articles will take place, render himself liable to those who, in consequence, attend at the time and place advertised, if the sale is not in fact proceeded with, provided he acts in good faith. One of the chief risks run by an auctioneer is that of being held liable for the conversion of goods which he has sold upon the instructions of a person whom he believed to be the owner, but who in fact had no right to dispose of them.
The number of auctioneers' licences issued during the year ended the 31st of March 1908 was in England 6639, in Scotland 760, and in Ireland 839. A central organization having its headquarters in London, the Auctioneers' Institute of the United Kingdom, was founded in 1886, in order to elevate the status and further the interests of auctioneers, estate agents and valuers. It has nearly 2000 members. (H. Ha.)
AUCUBA, the Japanese name for a small genus of the Dogwood order (Cornaceae). The familiar Japanese laurel of gardens and shrubberies is _Aucuba japonica_. It bears male and female flowers on distinct plants; the red berries often last till the next season's flowers appear. There are numerous varieties in cultivation, differing in the variegation of their leaves.
AUDAEUS, or AUDIUS, a church reformer of the 4th century, by birth a Mesopotamian. He suffered much persecution from the Syrian clergy for his fearless censure of their irregular lives, and was expelled from the church, thereupon establishing an episcopal monastic community. He was afterwards banished into Scythia, where he worked successfully among the Goths, not living to see the destruction of his labours by Athanaric. The Audaeans celebrated the feast of Easter on the same day as the Jewish Passover, and they were also charged with attributing to the Deity a human shape, an opinion which they appear to have founded on Genesis i. 26. Theodoret groundlessly accuses them of Manichean tendencies.
The main source of information is Epiphanius (_Haer._ 70).
AUDE, a river of south-western France, rising in the eastern Pyrenees and flowing into the Golfe du Lion. Rising in a small lake a short distance east of the Puy de Carlitte, it soon takes a northerly direction and flows for many miles through deep gorges of great beauty as far as the plain of Axat. Beyond Axat its course again lies through defiles which become less profound as the river nears Carcassonne. Below that town it receives the waters of the Fresquel and turns abruptly east. From this point to its junction with the Cesse its course is parallel with that of the Canal du Midi. The river skirts the northern spurs of the Corbieres, some distance below which it is joined by the Orbieu and the Cesse. It then divides into two branches, the northernmost of which, the Aude proper, runs east and empties into the Mediterranean some 12 m. east-north-east of Narbonne, while the other branch, the Canal de la Robine, turning south, traverses that town, below which its course to the sea lies between two extensive lagoons, the Etang de Bages et de Sigean and the Etang de Gruissan. The Aude has a length of 140 m. and a basin 2061 sq. m. in extent. There is practically no traffic upon it.
AUDE, a maritime department of southern France, formed in 1790 from part of the old province of Languedoc. Area, 2448 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 308,327. It is bounded E. by the Mediterranean, N. by the departments of Herault and Tarn, N.W. by Haute-Garonne, W. by Ariege, and S. by Pyrenees-Orientales. The department is traversed on its western boundary from S. to N. by a mountain range of medium height, which unites the Pyrenees with the southern Cevennes; and its northern frontier is occupied by the Montagne Noire, the most westerly portion of the Cevennes. The Corbieres, a branch of the Pyrenees, run in a south-west and north-east direction along the southern district. The Aude (q.v.), its principal river, has almost its entire length in the department, and its lower course, together with its tributary the Fresquel, forms the dividing line between the Montagne Noire and the Pyrenean system.
The lowness of the coast causes a series of large lagoons, the chief of which are those of Bages et Sigean, Gruissan, Lapalme and Leucate. The climate is warm and dry, but often sudden in its alterations. The wind from the north-west, known as the _cers_, blows with great violence, and the sea-breeze is often laden with pestilential effluvia from the lagoons. The agriculture of the department is in a flourishing condition. The meadows are extensive and well watered, and are pastured by numerous flocks and herds. The grain produce, consisting mainly of wheat, oats, rye and Indian corn, exceeds the consumption, and the vineyards yield an abundant supply of both white and red wines, those of Limoux and the Narbonnais being most highly esteemed. Truffles are abundant. The olive and chestnut are the chief fruits. Mines of iron, manganese, and especially of mispickel, are worked, and there are stone-quarries and productive salt-marshes. Brewing, distilling, cooperage, iron-founding, hat-making and machine construction are carried on, and there are flour-mills, brick-works, saw-mills, sulphur refineries and leather and paper works. The formerly flourishing textile industries are now of small importance. The department imports coal, lime, stone, salt, raw sulphur, skins and timber and exports agricultural and mineral products, bricks and tiles, and other manufactured goods. It is served by the Southern railway. The Canal du Midi, following the courses of the Fresquel and the Aude, traverses it for 76 m.; and a branch, the Canal de la Robine, which passes through Narbonne to the sea, has a length of 24 m. The capital is Carcassonne, and the department is divided into the four arrondissements of Carcassonne, Limoux, Narbonne and Castelnaudary, with 31 cantons and 439 communes. It belongs to the 16th military region, and to the academie (educational division) of Montpellier, where also is its court of appeal. It forms the diocese of Carcassonne, and part of the province of the archbishop of Toulouse. Carcassonne, Narbonne and Castelnaudary are the principal towns. At Alet, which has hot springs of some note, there are ruins of a fine Romanesque cathedral destroyed in the religious wars of the 16th century. The extensive buildings of the Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide, near Bizanet, include a Romanesque church, a cloister, dormitories and a refectory of the 12th century. A curious polygonal church of the 11th century at Rieux-Minervois, the abbey-church at St Papoul, with its graceful cloister of the 14th century, and the remains of the important abbey of St Hilaire, founded in the 6th century and rebuilt from the 12th to the 15th century, are also of antiquarian interest. Rennes-les-Bains has mineral springs of repute.
AUDEBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE (1759-1800), French artist and naturalist, was born at Rochefort in 1759. He studied painting and drawing at Paris, and gained considerable reputation as a miniature-painter. Employed in preparing plates for the _Histoire des coleopteres_ of G.A. Olivier (1756-1814), he acquired a taste for natural history. In 1800 appeared his first original work, _L'Histoire naturelle des singes, des makis et des galeopitheques_, illustrated by sixty-two folio plates, drawn and engraved by himself. The colouring in these plates was unusually beautiful, and was applied by a method devised by himself. Audebert died in Paris in 1800, leaving complete materials for another great work, _Histoire des colibris, des oiseaux-mouches, des jacamars et des promerops_, which was published in 1802. Two hundred copies were printed in folio, one hundred in large quarto, and fifteen were printed with the whole text in letters of gold. Another work, left unfinished, was also published after the author's death, _L'Histoire des grimpereaux et des oiseaux de paradis_. The last two works also appeared together in two volumes, _Oiseaux dores ou a reflets metalliques_ (1802).
AUDEFROI LE BATARD, French _trouvere_, flourished at the end of the 12th century and was born at Arras. Of his life nothing is known. The seigneur de Nesles, to whom some of his songs are addressed, is probably the chatelain of Bruges who joined the crusade of 1200. Audefroi was the author of at least five lyric romances: _Argentine, Belle Idoine, Belle Isabeau, Belle Emmelos_ and _Beatrix_. These romances follow older _chansons_ in subject, but the smoothness of the verse and beauty of detail hardly compensate for the spontaneity of the shorter form.
See A. Jeanroy, _Les Origines de la poesie lyrique en France au moyen
age_ (Paris, 1889).
AUDIENCE (from Lat. _audire_, to hear), the act or state of hearing, the term being therefore transferred to those who hear or listen, as in a theatre, at a concert or meeting. In a more technical sense, the term is applied to the right of access to the sovereign enjoyed by the peers of the realm individually and by the House of Commons collectively. More particularly it means the ceremony of the admission of ambassadors, envoys or others to an interview with a sovereign or an important official for the purpose of presenting their credentials. In France, _audience_ is the term applied to the sitting of a law court for hearing actions. In Spain, _audiencia_ is the name given to certain tribunals which try appeals from minor courts. The Spanish judges were originally known as _oidores_, hearers, from the Spanish _oir_, to hear; but they are now called _ministros_, or _magistrados togados_, robed judges, as the gown of the Spanish judge is called a _toga_. The _audiencia pretorial_, i.e. of the praetor, was a court in Spanish America from which there was no appeal to the viceroy, but only to the council of the Indies in Spain. It is not the custom in Spain to speak of _audiencias reales_, royal courts, but of the _audiencias del Reino_, courts of the kingdom.
In England the _Audience-court_ was an ecclesiastical court, held by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, in which they once exercised a considerable part of their jurisdiction, dealing with such matters as they thought fit to reserve for their own hearing. It has been long disused and is now merged in the court of arches.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Atherstone" to "Austria"Chapter IX: Part 9
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