manufactures in 1695, president of the council of commerce in 1700 and a member of the council of the regency for finance. By him Francois d’Aguesseau was early initiated into affairs and brought up in religious principles deeply tinged with Jansenism. He studied law under Jean Domat, whose influence is apparent in both the legal writings and legislative work of the chancellor. When little more than twenty-one years of age he was, through his father’s influence with the king, appointed one of the three advocates-general to the parlement of Paris; and the eloquence and learning which he displayed in his first speech gained him a very high reputation. D’Aguesseau was in fact the first great master of forensic eloquence in France.
In 1700 he was appointed procurator-general; and in this office, which he filled for seventeen years, he gained the greatest popularity by his defence of the rights of the Gallican Church in the Quietist troubles and in those connected with the bull Unigenitus (see Jansenism.) In February 1717 he was made chancellor by the regent Orleans; but was deprived of the seals in January of the following year and exiled to his estate of Fresnes in Brie, on account of his steady opposition to the projects of the famous John Law, which had been adopted by the regent and his ministers. In June 1720 he was recalled to satisfy public opinion; and he contributed not a little by the firmness and sagacity of his counsels to calm the public disturbance and repair the mischief which had been done. Law himself had acted as the messenger of his recall; and it is said that d’Aguesseau’s consent to accept the seals from his hand greatly diminished his popularity. The parlement continuing its opposition to the registering of the bull Unigenitus, d’Aguesseau, fearing a schism and a religious war in France, assisted Guillaume Dubois, the favourite of the regent, in his endeavour to force the parlement to register the bull, acquiesced in the exile of the magistrates and allowed the Great Council to assume the power of registration, which legally belonged to the parlement alone. The people unjustly attributed his conduct to a base compliance with the favourite. He certainly opposed Dubois in other matters; and when Dubois became chief minister d’Aguesseau was deprived of his office (March 1, 1722).
He retired to his estate, where he passed five years of which he always spoke with delight. The Scriptures, which he read and compared in various languages, and the jurisprudence of his own and other countries, formed the subjects of his more serious studies; the rest of his time was devoted to philosophy, literature and gardening. From these occupations he was recalled to court by the advice of Cardinal Fleury in 1727, and on the 15th of August was named chancellor for the third time, but the seals were not restored to him till ten years later. During these years he endeavoured to mediate in the disputes between the court and the parlement. When he was at last reinstated in office, he completely withdrew from all political affairs, and devoted himself entirely to his duties as chancellor and to the achievement of those reforms which had long occupied his thoughts. He aimed, as others had tried before him, to draw up in a single code all the laws of France, but was unable to accomplish his task. Besides some important enactments regarding donations, testaments and successions, he introduced various regulations for improving the forms of procedure, for ascertaining the limits of jurisdictions and for effecting a greater uniformity in the execution of the laws throughout the several provinces. These reforms constitute an epoch in the history of French jurisprudence, and have placed the name of d’Aguesseau in the same rank with those of L’Hôpital and Lamoignon. As a magistrate also he was so conscientious that the duc de Saint-Simon in his Memoirs complained that he spent too much time over the cases that came before him.
In 1750, when upwards of eighty-two years of age, d’Aguesseau retired from the duties without giving up the rank of chancellor. He died on the 9th of February of the following year.
His grandson, Henri Cardin Jean Baptiste, Marquis d’Aguesseau (1746–1826), was advocate-general in the parlement of Paris and deputy in the Estates-General. Under the Consulate he became president of the court of appeal and later minister at Copenhagen. He was elected to the French Academy in 1787.
Of d’Aguesseau’s works the most complete edition is that of the eminent lawyer Jean Marie Pardessus, published in 16 vols. (1818–1820); his letters were edited separately by Rives (1823); a selection of his works, Œuvres choisies, was issued, with a biographical notice, by E. Falconnet in 2 vols. (Paris, 1865). The far greater part of his works relate to matters connected with his profession, but they also contain an elaborate treatise on money; several theological essays; a life of his father, which is interesting from the account which it gives of his own early education; and Metaphysical Meditations, written to prove that, independently of all revelation and all positive law, there is that in the constitution of the human mind which renders man a law to himself.
See Boullée, Histoire de la vie et des ouvrages de chancelier d’Aguesseau (Paris, 1835); Fr. Monnier, Le Chancelier d’Aguesseau (Paris, 1860; 2nd ed., 1863); Charles Butler, Mem. of Life of H. F. d’Aguesseau, &c. (1830).
AGUILAR, GRACE (1816–1847), English writer, the daughter of a Jewish merchant in London, was born in June 1816. Her works consist chiefly of religious fiction, such as The Vale of Cedars (1850) and Home Influence (1847). She also wrote, in defence of her faith and its professors, The Spirit of Judaism (1842) and other works. Her services were acknowledged gratefully by the “women of Israel” in a testimonial which they presented shortly before her death, which took place at Frankfort-on-the-Main on the 16th of September 1847.
AGUILAR, or Aguilar de la Frontera, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Cordova; near the small river Cabra, and on the Cordova–Malaga railway. Pop. (1900) 13,236. Aguilar “of the Frontier” was so named in the middle ages from its position on the border of the Moorish territories, which were defended by the castle of Anzur, now a ruin; but the spacious squares and modern houses of the existing town retain few vestiges of Moorish dominion. The olives and white wine of Aguilar are celebrated in Spain, although the wine, which somewhat resembles sherry, is known as Montilla, from the adjacent town of that name. Salt springs exist in the neighbourhood, and to the south there are two small lakes, Zoñar and Rincon, which abound in fish.
ÁGUILAS, a seaport of south-eastern Spain, in the province of Murcia, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the terminus of a railway from Huércal-Overa. Pop. (1900) 15,868. Aguilas is built on the landward side of a small peninsula, between two bays—the Puerto Ponente, a good harbour, on the south-west, and the Puerto Levanto, which is somewhat dangerous to shipping in rough weather, on the north-east. It is the chief outlet for the Spanish trade in esparto grass, and for the iron ore and other mineral products of the neighbourhood. It has also some trade in fruit and grain. The imports consist chiefly of coal. In 1904, 296 vessels, of 238,274 tons, cleared at this port.
AGUILERA, VENTURA RUIZ (1820–1881), Spanish poet, was born in 1820 at Salamanca, where he graduated in medicine. He removed to Madrid in 1844, engaged in journalism and won considerable popularity with a collection of poems entitled Ecos nacionales (1849). His Elegías y Armonías (1863) was no less successful, but his Sátiras (1874) and Estaciones del año (1879) showed that his powers were declining. He wrote under the obvious influence of Lamartine, preaching the gospel of liberalism and Christianity in verses which, though deficient in force, leave the impression of a sincere devotion and a charming personality. He became director of the national archaeological museum at Madrid, where he died on the 1st of July 1881.
AGUILLON (Aguilonius), FRANÇOIS D’ (1566–1617), Flemish mathematician. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1586, he was successively professor of philosophy at Douai and rector of the Jesuit College at Antwerp. He wrote a treatise on optics in six books (Antwerp, 1613), notable for containing the principles of stereographic projection.
AHAB (in Heb. ʼaḥʼāb, “father’s brother”), king of Israel, the son and successor of Omri, ascended the throne about 875 B.C. (1 Kings xvi. 29-34). He married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon, and the alliance was doubtless the means of procuring him great riches, which brought pomp and luxury
