Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/382

 A S C H A M. Afchamum extin&um patriae Graiaeque Camense, Et Latiae vera cum pietate dolent. Principibus vixit carus, jucundus amicis, Re modica : in mores dicere fama nequit. Buchan. Epigram, lib. ii. p. 339, His country's Mufesjoin with thofe of Greece And mighty Rome, to mourn the: fate of Afcham; Dear to his prince, and valued by his friends ; Content with humble views, through life he pafs'd, While Envy's felf ne'er dar 'd to blait his fame. Fabric. ASCONIUS (PEDIANUS), an ancient grammarian of Bibl. Latin. p a( ] ua . gp^ jf we believe Servius, an acquaintance of Vir- gil's. Yet Jerome fays, that he flourished under the Vefpa- fians, which is rather at too great a diftance for one and the fame man ; but Jerome's account is rejected by the learned. We have fome Commentaries of Afconius upon the Ora- tions, which indeed are hut fragments : they have been pub- liftied feparately ; but they are to be found in many editions of Cicero's woiks. Memoirs of ASGILL (JOHN), an ingenious Englifli writer and emi- the Life of nent i awver U> h li vec j about the end of the laft and begin- Mr. Afgill, . - /. ,, i f r ' rr by A. N. nm g ' tnis century. He was entered of the fociety or Lin- p. i. coin'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 great afliftance in his ftud;e. c . Under fo able a matter, he quickly acquired a competent knowledge of the laws, and was foon taken notice of, as a rifing man in his profeflion. He had an uncommon vein of wit and humour, of which he afforded the world fufficient evidence in two pamphlets : one intitu- led, " Several AfTertions proved, in order to create another " Species of Money than Gold and Silver j" the fecond, " An Effay on a Regiftry for Titles of Lands." This iaft is written in a humorous ftyle on an important fubject ; and as it is become extremely fcarce, the reader may perhaps not be difpleafed with a fpecimen thereof, as it (hews Mr. Afgill's method of handling grave fubjecls in a merry way. His fourth aflertion runs in thefe words : " That all objections '* made againft fuch regiftry, on account of reducing the <e pra&ice of the law, are one good reafon for it j" which he thus proves : " The practice of the law in civil caufes is " divided into three forts: firft the transferring of titles, t " which