Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/186

Ashmole printed books by a fire at the Temple in 1679, which had also destroyed his collection of medals. He closed his industrious and prosperous life on 18 May 1692, and is interred in South Lambeth church under a black marble slab with a Latin inscription, promising that his name shall endure as long as his museum.

The Ashmolean Museum, though really formed by Tradescant, has indeed secured its donor a celebrity which he could not have obtained by his writings. Ashmole was nevertheless no ordinary man. His industry was most exemplary, he was disinterestedly attached to the pursuit of knowledge, and his antiquarian researches, at all events, were guided by great good sense. His addiction to astrology was no mark of weakness of judgment in that age; he can hardly have been more attached to it than Dryden or Shaftesbury, but he had more leisure and perseverance for its pursuit. Alchemy he seems to have quietly dropped. He appears in his diary as a man by no means unfeeling or ungenerous, constant and affectionate in his friendships, and placable towards his adversaries. He had evidently, however, a very keen eye to his own interest, and acquisitiveness was his master passion. His munificence, nevertheless, speaks for itself, and was frequently exercised on unlooked-for occasions, as when he erected monuments to his astrological friends, Lilly and Booker. He was also a benefactor to his native city.

Ashmole's principal work is his 'Institution, Laws, and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter,' London, 1672, one of those books which exhaust the subject of which they treat, and leave scope only for supplements. The edition of 1693 is a mere reprint; but in 1715 a new edition was published under the title of 'The History of the Order of the Garter,' with a continuation by T. Walker. 'The Antiquities of Berkshire, with a particular account of the Castle, College, and Town of Windsor,' was published in 1719, and again in 1736. It consists merely of Ashmole's notes during his official visitation as herald, and the genealogical papers transcribed by him; but these form together a very copious collection. It is prefaced by a memoir of the author. His own memoirs, drawn up by himself by way of diary, were published in 1717, and reprinted along with the autobiography of his friend Lilly in 1774. They are a quaint and curious record, narrating matters of great personal importance to him in the same dry style as the most trivial particulars of his numerous ailments: how he cured himself of an ague by hanging three spiders about his neck, and how on the ever-memorable 14 Feb. 1677 'I took cold in my right ear.' His alchemical works are merely editions or reprints, and the only one of importance is the 'Theatrum Chemicum' (1652), which contains twenty-nine old English poems on the subject, some very curious. The extent of his collections in genealogy, heraldry, local and family history, astrology, and alchemy, may be estimated from the admirable catalogue of Mr. W. H. Black and the index by Messrs. Macray and Gough (Oxford, 1845-66).

[The principal authority for Ashmole's life is his own diary. A brief memoir is prefixed to his Antiquities of Berkshire. See also Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iii. 354-64; Allen's History of Lambeth, pp. 124, 393-8; and the list of papers relating to him in the Index to the Catalogue of Ashmolean MSS., pp. 8-9.]  ASHMORE, JOHN (fl. 1621), was the first who attempted a translation into English of selected odes of Horace. In 1621 he published 'Certain selected Odes of Horace Englished, and their Arguments annexed.' To the translations are added a number of epigrams and anagrams. The translations show considerable facility of versification, and are by no means devoid of grace; but the translator's choice is for longer measures, and there is a want of light lyric speed. Samuel Pullein, in a copy of Latin elegiacs prefixed to the translations, is enthusiastic about his friend's achievement:—

Flaccus adest, eadem mens est et earminis idem Sensus: forma eadem est ingeniique decus.

Many of the epigrams and anagrams are addressed to distinguished personages, such as Charles, Prince of Wales, George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, and Sir Francis Bacon. In others the writer puns vilely on the names of private friends. One epigram is addressed 'Ad insignem Poetam, D. Ben. Johnson.' From many references throughout the book to the Fairfaxes and others, it appears that the author was a native of Ripon in Yorkshire.

[Corser's Collectanea (Chetham Soc), i. 66-70.]  ASHPITEL, ARTHUR (1807–1869), architect, the son of William Hurst Ashpitel, was born in Hackney. In boyhood he had an accident which made him a cripple for life. He was trained by his father to the architect's profession, and in 1842 he began work on his own account. He built the church of St. John's at Blackheath, and that of St. Barnabas at Homerton, as well as many other buildings. In 1850 he entered into partnership with Mr. Whichcord,