Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/906

ARGEMONE. ing b.v valves at the point. Argemone Mexicann, sometimes called Mexican poppy and prickly poppv. is an annual herbaceous plant one to two feet iiigli. with large yellow flowers, and sessile, waved and sinuated," spiny leaves, variegated with white. It is a native of Mexico and of the southern parts of the United States, and is now also common in many tropical and sub-tropical countries, in which it has been naturalized. In parts of Australia it has become a troublesome weed. Its seeds are narcotic, purgative, and diuretic, exhibiting in a strong degree those qualities of the order of which the seeds of the poppy are devoid. They are used in the West Indies as a substitute for ipecacuanha ; also instead of opium; and the juice of the plant is employed as a remedy for ophthalmia. This plant 'is not infrequently to be seen in flower borders in Great Britain and elsewhere; but in the nortliern parts, at least, the seed is gen- erally sown in a hot-bed. Aryemone platyceras, a similar species with white petals and a cap- sule armed with stout spines, is common from Kansas and Nebraska southward and westward. Argemone grandiflora, a Mexican species, has large white flowers, and the plant is almost devoid of prickles. All these plants are occa- sionally met with in gardens. AR'GENIS. An allegorical romance by John Barclay, published in 1621. It purports to narrate the history of a war waged by Lycogenes, a Sicilian rebel, " and Poliarchus, a prince of Gaul, for the hand of the daughter of Meliander, King of Sicily. But under this thin, figurative veneer, one can easily trace a history of con- temporary happening's. Poliarchus represents Henry IV.. Hyanisbe, Queen Elizabeth, and Radirobanes. Philip II. The book has exerted not a little literary influence. Fenelon's TiU- maqiie is modeled after it. It was also the favorite work of Cardinal Riclielieu, suggesting to him some of his political moves. Cowper said of it that it was "the most amusing romance that ever was written." ARGENS, iir'zbiiN', Jean Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d' (1704-71). A French philosophical writer, born at Aix, in Provence. His Left res chinoises (1739), Lettres cabalistigues (1741), and Lettres jith-es (1742) attracted the notice of Frederick II., and their author was invited to Potsdam, and in 1744 was made director of fine arts in the Academy of Berlin, with a large salary. Soon he was the friend and daily com- panion of the King, who liked exceedingly his frank and vivacious character. When almost sixty he married an actress, without Frederick's permission. Deprived of his pension, he returned to Provence and died at Toulon. Among his other numerous writings shoiild be mentioned Histoire de Vesprit humain (14 vols., 1705-8), and Reflections eritir/ites sur les ccoles de peiii- ttire (17521.  ARGENSOLA, iir'iien-so'la,  ( looll-ltil.'!) and Bartolomko Leo- nardo de (1.5(2-1(!31). Two Spanish poets, sometimes overrated as the "Spiinish Horaces." They were born at Barbastro, in Aragon, the elder brother December 14, 1550, the younger August 20, 1562. Both studied at the University of Huesca, and both later enjoyed the patronage of Maria of Austria, widow of the Emperor Maximilian II.. who made Lupercio her secretary and Bartolomeo lier chaplain. The former was subsequently appointed, by Philip III., historiographer of Aragon. Bartolomeo was commissioned by the Conde Lemos, then president of the Indian Council, to write the CoiKjuista de las Mohiciis (1600) : and when that nobleman be- came viceroy of Xaples, both brothers, who had meanwhile acquired fame as poets, were included in his suite, thereby arousing the anger of Cer- vantes, who had hoped to obtain a like honor. Lupercio died in Xaples, in 1613, while filling the office of secretary of state. Bartolomeo succeed- ed his brother as historiographer of Aragon. He returned to Spain and busied himself with Lupercio's unfinished work, a continuation of Zurita's Annals of Aragon, a task which occupied him until his death in 1G31. Only the first part, which deals with the years 1516-20, was completed, and treats every detail with such conscientious minuteness as to be wearisome reading. The collected poems of the two brothers were first published posthumously by Lupercio's son, under the title of Rimas ( Saragossa, 1634), and received from no less a personage than Lope de Vega the indorsement that the authors "had come from Aragon to re- form among our poets the Custilian language." Although an overstatement, this verdict indi- cates the real merit of their verse. They are both models of correct form and pure idiom, with the Horatian model and the classic stand- ard ever before them ; yet their influence on the literature of their countr_y was, on the whole, small. Lupercio is also remembered as a dram- atist whom Cervantes pronounced almost equal to himself; but of his three known plays, one, the Fills, is lost, while his Isabela and Alejandra show little to jvistify Cervanteo s praise. The best edition of the Ohras sueltas of both broth- ers is that edited by Conde de la Vinaza (2 vols., Madrid, 1880). which includes the plays and shorter prose writings. ARGENSON, ilr'zhaN'soN', Marc Antoine IIen6 de Voyer, Marquis de Paulmy (1722- 87). A French diplomat and author, son of Louis XV.'s minister of foreign afl'airs. He was envoy to Poland. SwitiIcrland^ and Venice: a member of the Pioyal Academy, and gatliered a library of about 100.000 volumes, which was purchased by the Comte d'Artois in 1785 and be- came the nucleus of the Biblioth&que de I'Arsenal. He was editor of forty volumes of the Universal Bibliography of Romance, in which are some novels of his own. ARGENSON, (1606-1764). A celebrated French statesman, brother of Rene Louis Voyer d'Argenson (q.v.). After holding a number of inferior offices, he succeeded M. de Breteuil in the War Office in 1742. On the death of Cardinal Fleury. in the following year, the whole care of the war then raging devolved upon him. He found matters in the most deplorable condition. The French troops, decimated by sword and disease, were in full retreat across the Rhine; the Austrians already swarmed in Alsace and Lorraine, and the very political existence of France was imperiled; but Argonson. by his vigor and lucky choice of generals, changed the fortunes of war in the course of one year. After the victories of Fontenoy and Louffeld. and the capture of Bergenop-Zoom, peace was secured by