Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/260

AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE. tian religion "is held forth and recommended as the public confession:" but it is to be "reformed to the greatest purity in doctrine, worship, and discipline." Popery and prelacy are not tolerated, and the 'teachers" or ministers are to be paid from the public treasurj'. To the assembly is given the "supreme trust in order to the preservation and government of the whole:" but six important points are absolutely "reserved" from legislative action. In this regard the agreement differs from the constitutions of the American States, which are subject to unlimited amendment or entire change. With the exception of those of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies, the agreement is the earliest example of a written instrument designed for the government of a commonwealth. For the text of the agreement, consult: Gardiner. Constitutional Documents, pages 270-282 (Oxford, 1889) : for a full discussion, his History of the Civil War, new edition (London and New York, ISfM-OT ).

AGRIC'OLA, (1007-1719). A Bavarian landscape painter. He was born and died at Regensburg. He was a wide traveler, but lived for long periods at Naples. His pictures are of the cabinet order. His atl'ection for nature was strong, and he was especially happy in reproducing eUects of climate. In composition he followed somewhat closely Gaspard Pous- sin ( q.v. ), though he shows the influence of Claude Gel^ (qv. ) in his management of color and light. His pictures are to be found in many towns of Germany and Italy, notably at Dresden, Vienna, Florence, and Naples. Though primarily a landscape painter, he exe- cuted numerous portraits.

AGRICOLA ( Latin version of his original German name Baier), Georg (1490-1555). A German mining engineer, founder of the sciences of mining and mineralogy. He was born at Glauchau. studied medicine at Leipzig and in Italy, and later, while practicing as physician in the Saxon Erzgebirge, became much interested in mineralogy and in the methods of mining. In recognition of his endeavors to improve mining methods he received a pension from Maurice. Duke of Saxony, and in 1531 set- tled in Chemnitz, where he devoted himself to the study of mineralogy and mining engineering, and served also as city physician and as burgo- master. His efforts resulted in the establish- ment of mining engineering upon a rational, scientific basis, in that his theories regarding ore deposits were founded on sound principles, which he applied to the practical working of the mines. He also made one of the earliest classifications of minerals, based upon their external charac- teristics of form, color, and hardness. Agiicola yvrote several works, all of which are classics in the literature of the two sciences to the founda- tions of which he contributed in so large degiee. Among the more important are: De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum (Basel. 1540-58) : Dc Re Uctallica (Basel, 15.30-58), which was for a long period used as a manual of mining methods in Germany. A collection of his writings on miner- alogy', De Xatura Fossilium, was published at Basel (1657; German translation, Freiburg, 180G-1.3). Consult: Jacobi, Der ilinrralog Georg Agricoln vnd sein Vcrhaltniss zur Wissenschaft seiner Zcit (Werdau, 1889).

AGRICOLA, G.x.srs Jlxius (37-92). A Roman of the imperial times, distinguished not less by his great abilities as o statesman and a soldier than by the beauty of his private charac- ter. He was born at Forum .Julii (now Frejus, in Provence). Having served with distinction in Britain, Asia, and Aquitania, and gone through the round of civil offices, he was, in 77 ..D., elected consul, and in the folloyving year proceeded as governor to Britain — the scene of his military- and civil administration during the ne.xt seven years. He yvas the first Roman gen- eral who ed'ectually subdued the island, and the only one who displayed as much genius and suc- cess in training the inhabitants to the amenities of civilization as in breaking their rude force in yvar. In his seventh and last campaign (S4 A.D. ), his decisive victory over the Caledonians under Calgacus,at a place called Mons Grampius, establislied the Roman dominion in Britain to some distance north of the Forth. After this campaign his fleet circumnavigated the coast for the first time, proving Britain to be an island. Among the yvorks executed by Agricola during his administration yvcre a chain of forts between the Solway Firth and the Tyne. and another betyveen the firths of Clyde and Forth. Numer- ous traces of his operations are still to be found in Anglesey and North Wales, and in Galloway, Fife, Perthshire, and Forfarshire. The news of Agricola's successes inflamed the jealousy of the Emperor Doniitian. and he yvas speedily recalled. Thenceforth he lived in retirement, and yvhen the vacant proconsulsliips of Asia and Africa lay yvithin his choice, he prudently declined pro- motion. The jealou.sy of the Emperor, hoyvever, is supposed to have hastened his death, yvhieh took place at the early age of fifty-five. His Life, by his son-in-layv, Tacitus, has ahvays been regarded as one of the choicest specimens of bi- ography in literature. See Tacitl'S.

AGRICOLA, (1720-74). A German musical composer yvho studied under Bach. He was a superior organist, and held the office of kapellmeister under Frederick the Great. He wrote several operas, together yvith cantatas and cliorals.

AGRICOLA, (1492-1500), also called Magister Islebius (i.e., of Eisleben), but seldom by his patronymic, Schnitter. A zealous disciple of Luther, yvhom he served, as teacher and preacher, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Eisleben, and Wittenberg. He became involved in the Antinomian controversy (see Antixomiaxism), and withdrew to Berlin in 1540, yvhere, under stress of poverty, he made a recantation, ineffectual, and probably not sincere. Joachim II., Elector of Brandenburg, became his protector, and made him court preacher and general superintendent, in yvhieh oflice he labored zealously for the spread of Protestantism until his death at Berlin, September 22, 1506. His share in drayving up the Augsburg Interim (1548) made him unpopular for a time, but did not permanently check the growth of his influence in Brandenburg, which became very great. He wrote several theological treatises, noyv forgotten, but he will always be remembered for his collection of German proverbs. Die gemcinen devtschen Hpriichwortrr mit Hirer Auslegung (1592), a work of native humor, morality, and patriotism that has endeared him to the heart of scholarly Germany.

AGRICOLA, (c. 1480-1550). A Ger-