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 AZARA AZEGLIO 173 rose color. Of those which have a glutinous corolla, with long stamens, are the nitida, his- pida, and pontica, the first two being Ameri- can species and found in mountainous regions in the middle states, the last a native of Turkey and the northern borders of the Black sea, and distinguished by its brilliant yellow corolla. Of those whose flowers are smooth or but slightly glutinous, and have long sta- mens, are the periclymena, or upright honey- suckle, found on hillsides in all the woods of North America; the canescens, with a white flower which has a red tube, an early and tender American species ; and the arborescens, a rare and beautiful shrub, with elegant foli- age and very fragrant rose-colored blossoms, found about the Blue Ridge mountains of Pennsylvania. Of those whose flowers are not glutinous, and which have short stamens, are the sinengis, nearly resembling the pontica ; the indiea, a Chinese species, with brilliant variegated flowers, cultivated in Europe and America as a greenhouse plant ; and the ledi- folia, also a native of China, with evergreen leaves, and larger flowers than those of the preceding. All the American species are de- ciduous. In cultivation the azaleas love the shade and a soil of sandy peat or loam. AZARA, Felix de, a Spanish naturalist, born in Aragon, May 18, 1746, died there in 1811. He became a brigadier general in the Spanish army, and was wounded in the warfare against the Algerine pirates (1775). In 1781 he went to South America as one of the commissioners for the settlement of the boundary between the Spanish and Portuguese possessions, and the researches which he prosecuted till 1801, despite the vexatious proceedings of the local Spanish officials, gave him distinction as an authority on the natural and political history of Paraguay and the Plata region. His JSmai gur VhMoire naturelle des qnadrupedes de la province du Paraguay was first published in French (Paris, 1801), and afterward in Span- ish (Madrid, 1802) under the auspices of his brother, the chevalier Josii NICOLAS DE AZAEA (born in 1731, died in Paris in 1804), Spanish ambassador to France, favorably known by a Spanish translation of Middleton's Cicero and by other literary achievements. Felix de Aza- ra's masterpiece, Voyage daw VAmerique me- ridionale depuis 1781 jusqu'en 1801 (4 vols., Paris, 1809), containing a narrative of the dis- covery and conquest of Paraguay and the Pla- ta river, and in the last two volumes ornitho- logical descriptions translated by Sonnini, was edited by the French naturalist Walckenaer, whose commentaries as well as those of Son- nini and Cuvier impart additional value to the work. A Spanish translation by Varela has been published at Montevideo. AZARIAH (Heb. 'Azaryah, orAzaryahu, helped of Jehovah), a very common name among the Hebrews. Uzziah, king of Judah, is also called Azariah. It was the Hebrew name of the friend of Daniel whose Chaldee name was Abednego. Apart from these, the most prom- inent persons bearing the name are a prophet who met Asa after his victory over Zerah, king of Ethiopia, and exhorted him to put away idolatrous worship ; and a high priest who aided Hezekiah in reforming the temple wor- ship. In its Greek form, Azarias, several per- sons of this name are mentioned in the apocry- phal books, one of them being one of the gen- erals of Judas Maccabfflus, who suffered defeat by Gorgias. AZEGLIO, Massimo Taparelli, marquis <!', an Italian statesman, artist, and author, born in Turin, Oct. 2, 1798, died there, Jan. 15, 1866. In his youth, as he says himself in his memoirs, he was a swaggering soldier and a companion of scamps. His father being appointed in 1814 Sardinian ambassador in Rome, he accompanied him and remained there almost uninterruptedly for eight years, acquiring distinction as a pain- ter, and for a time living the life of an artistic hermit in the outskirts of the Roman Apen- nines. After his father's death in 1830 he married a daughter of Manzoni, and after her death he married Louisa Blondel of Geneva. He was now a man of serious thought and strict virtue, and a decided liberal. His cele- brated romances, Ettore Fieramosca (Milan, 1833) and Nieold de' Lapi (1841), contributed to rouse the national spirit of independence and to establish his literary fame. In his Degli ultimi cast di Jtomagna (Florence, 1846), as well as by his personal influence with Pius IX., he advocated a liberal policy, while his politi- cal writings (collected in 1 vol., Turin, 1851) fostered a reformatory spirit in Sardinia and paved the way for coming changes. In 1848 he was aide-de-camp of Durando, who com- manded the papal troops against Austria ; but when the latter were recalled he joined the patriot volunteers in fighting the battle of Vicenza against Radetzky, and was severely wounded. After the restoration of peace he was chosen to the chamber of deputies. Vic- tor Emanuel on ascending the throne appointed him (May 11, 1849) premier and minister of foreign aifairs, and it was mainly his influence which saved constitutional institutions and paved the way for the work of Cavour. He dissolved the chambers twice on account of their opposition to the treaty of peace with Austria, which he caused to be ratified Jan. 9, 1850. Despite Azeglio's sympathies with pro- gressive measures, he was considered as over- conservative for the new order of things ; and he finally succumbed to the combined influ- ence of Count Cavour and Ratazzi and the opposition in the chambers, retiring Oct. 80, 1852. He had already tendered his resigna- tion five months before, and continued in office only at the urgent request of the king. After the outbreak of the war of 1859, he contributed, as the king's commissioner in Bologna, to the preservation of order in the Romagna, and subsequently was for a short time prefect of Milan, his impaired health re-