Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/284

ASI Doddridge presided, he became pastor of a dissenting congregation at Daventry. On the death of Dr. Doddridge in 1752, he was elected to be his successor in the academy, having been recommended for this office to the trustees by Dr. Doddridge in his will. He accepted the office, but declined to leave his congregation at Daventry, so that the academy was removed to that place. He continued to discharge his academical functions with great reputation until 1775, when he died on the 18th of July, in the fifty-third year of his age. He received, in 1759, an unsolicited diploma of D.D. from one of the Scottish universities—a tribute to his abilities, learning, and diligence as a professor. His works are—"Funeral Sermon for Dr. Watts," 1749; "Funeral Sermon for the Rev. James Floyd," 1759; "Funeral Sermon for the Rev. Samuel Clark," 1770; "A Collection of Psalm Tunes, with an Introduction to the Art of Singing," &c.; "The Principal Rules of Hebrew Grammar, with Complete Paradigms of the Verbs;" "An Easy Introduction to Plane Trigonometry."—W. L. A.  ASINARI,, Count of Camerano, was born at Asti, in Piedmont, in 1527. He was the author of a great number of sonnets, madrigals, glees, and other lyrics.  ASINARI,, brother of the preceding, and a tragic poet of some merit.  ASINELLI,, and his brother, Bolognese architects of the 12th century. Amongst their works may be mentioned the tower of Bologna, and a leaning tower, la Garizenda.  ASINIUS,, an Italian jurist of the sixteenth century, professor at the colleges of Pisa and Florence.  ASIOLI,, an Italian musician, who was born at Coreggio on the 30th August, 1769. He began the study of his art at five years of age, under the instruction of Don Luigi Crotti, an organist in his native town, and his application was so assiduous, that before the completion of his eighth year he composed three masses, twenty other ecclesiastical pieces, two sonatas, and two concertos. This prodigious fecundity induced his parents to take him to Parma, to study composition under Morigi, which, for all his fertility of production, it appears his first master did not teach him. Here he remained for two years, when he was taken to Vincenza to give some concerts, in which he created a great sensation by his extempore fugue-playing and other feats of artistic agility. From thence he proceeded to Venice, where he remained for four months, astonishing everybody with his musical powers. He now returned to his native city, and there, after three years of close application and constant production, he was appointed maestro di capella at the singularly early age of thirteen. This rare distinction seems to have given fresh impetus to his industry, for before he was yet eighteen, he composed no less than five masses, twenty-four other pieces of church music, two overtures, eleven single songs, choruses for "La Clemenza di Tito;" two "Intermezzos, la Gabbia de' Pozzi," and a cantata, "Il Ratto di Proserpina;" an oratorio, "Giacobbo in Galaad," three comic operas, and six instrumental works; and, however inconsiderable may have been those productions of his infancy before enumerated, we may naturally suppose these, the results of a regular course of study, written in discharge of the duties of an important official appointment, to have been works of serious artistic pretension. At this time, namely in 1787, he went to Turin, where he remained nine years, during which he wrote with his habitual profuseness, his productions being chiefly of a secular character, consisting of operas and cantatas. In 1796 he went to Venice with the Marchioness Gherardini, who was at this time his zealous patroness, and in the same year he came to London, where his talents were highly esteemed, and where much of his music was printed. In 1799 he went to Milan, where, after a short time, he was most warmly encouraged by the viceroy of Italy, under whose auspices he organized the Conservatorio, which was opened in 1809, under his superintendence in the office of censor. The discharge of this appointment induced his production of several theoretical works on the elements of harmony, on singing, and on the piano-forte. In 1810 he visited Paris by the invitation of Napoleon, where he seems to have charmed as greatly by his amiable manners as by his musical abilities. In 1813 he gave up the office of censor at Milan, to return to his native town of Coreggio, but not to sink into inactivity, for here he instituted an academy of music, for the use of which he wrote several more theoretical treatises, and he still continued his practice of composition. He appears to have resided in Coreggio for the remainder of his life, which closed on the 18th of May, 1832. In considering the countless fruits of his prolific industry, we can only wonder that a man who had the opportunity to do so much, who availed himself so extensively of it, who exerted so wide an influence in his own time, and who lived so recently, should have left so few and such unimportant traces as we possess of his existence. A list of the very voluminous productions of Asioli is to be found in M. Fètis' Biographie Universelle.—(Biog. Dict. Mus., Fètis, Schilling.)—G. A. M.  ASIR-UDDIN AKHSIKTI, a Persian poet of the twelfth century, the contemporary of Khakani and Anwari.  ASIR-UDDIN-UMANI, a Persian poet of the 13th century. <section end="284H" /> <section begin="284I" />ASIUS, an elegiac poet of Samos, who flourished in the fifth or sixth century ., and whose fragmentary poems have been published by Düntzner (Cologne, 1840, 8vo.) <section end="284I" /> <section begin="284J" />ASKELOF, a Swedish writer, born in 1787, who for several years edited a weekly literary journal, the "Polyphemus." <section end="284J" /> <section begin="284K" />ASKEW,, daughter of Sir William Askew of Kelsay, Lincoln, born in 1529, and burnt for heresy, in Smithfield, July 16th, 1546, in the twenty-fifth year of her age. She became the unwilling wife of a Lincolnshire gentleman, named Kyme; and when she began to read the Holy Bible, he drove her from his house. Coming to London to sue for a separation from her cruel husband, she was received with kindness by Queen Catherine Parr; but he accused her to the king, rendered more than ever harsh by declining health. After various examinations, she was committed to Newgate, horribly tortured by the Lord Chancellor Wriothesley and Sir Robert Rich, and finally burnt for maintaining the doctrines of the Reformation. She died with great serenity, and as she said herself, "for her Lord and Master."—(Fox's Book of Martyrs.)—T. J. <section end="284K" /> <section begin="284L" />ASKEW,, a physician, who was born at Kendal in 1722, educated at Cambridge and Leyden, and died in 1772. He was eminent as a classical scholar, and held several important posts in his own profession. He may be regarded as the patriarch of the "Bibliomaniacs." <section end="284L" /> <section begin="284M" />ASLACUS,, was born at Bergen in 1564, studied at Copenhagen under Tycho, visited most European countries, became professor of philosophy at the university of Copenhagen, and died in 1624. <section end="284M" /> <section begin="284N" />ASMONÆANS, a dynasty which ruled in Judea for upwards of two centuries, the last prince being Antigonus, the predecessor of Herod the Great. <section end="284N" /> <section begin="284O" />ASMONÆUS, the head of the family of the Maccabees. See. <section end="284O" /> <section begin="284P" />ASNE,, an eminent French engraver, was born at Caen in 1596, and died at Paris in 1667, leaving about six hundred engravings after the works of Titian, Rubens, the Caracci, and Albano. <section end="284P" /> <section begin="284Q" />ASOKA or DHARMAZOKA, a king of Magadha, in India, who reigned about 350 ., and favoured the Buddhist religion. <section end="284Q" /> <section begin="284R" />ASOPODOROS, a brass-caster, pupil of Polycletus, who flourished about 420. <section end="284R" /> <section begin="284S" />ASP,, a divine and linguist of Sweden, was born in 1696, became professor at Upsala, and died in 1763. <section end="284S" /> <section begin="284T" />ASP,, a Swedish diplomatist, was born in 1745, and died in 1808. <section end="284T" /> <section begin="284U" />ASPAR, a Byzantine general, who, on the death of Marcianus, placed Leo of Thrace upon the throne, and was put to death by him in 471. <section end="284U" /> <section begin="284Vnop" />ASPASIA or MILTO, an Ionian lady, born at Phocis about 421 . Her long-flowing hair—her graceful form, and amiable character, attracted the notice of one of the satraps of Cyrus the younger, and he forced her father to give her up to that prince. Placed in his seraglio, the modesty and tears of Milto so won his affections, that she became his chief counsellor, and his queen in all but the title. He named her Aspasia, in honour of the wife of Pericles, already so celebrated. When Cyrus was killed, 401 ., in his rebellious attempt to overthrow his elder brother Artaxerxes, Milto became the prey of the conqueror. Warmly attached to Cyrus, for a long time she was inconsolable. When somewhat reconciled to her lot, she became conspicuous among the gentlewomen of the court of Artaxerxes. She had the rare merit of indifference to money. When Cyrus presented her with a valuable chain of gold, she sent it to his mother, Parysatis, and when Parysatis, in return, gave her a large sum, she handed it over to Cyrus with the words, "It may be of service to you, who are my riches and ornament."—T. J. <section end="284Vnop" />