Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/294

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ATILICINUS, a Roman jurisconsult of the latter half of the second century, whose name is mentioned in the Institutes.

ATILIUS, a freed man of the first half of the first century. He was the cause of a terrible disaster in the fall of an amphitheatre, insufficiently constructed by him, at Fidenæ, whereby, as Tacitus reports, 50,000 people were killed or wounded.

ATILIUS, Lucius, lived in the 2nd century b.c., and was celebrated for his attempt, when young, to get the Samothracians to deliver up Persius, king of Macedon, to Cn. Octavius.

ATILIUS, Lucius, jurisconsult, a very early commentator on the laws of the twelve tables, and designated Sapiens.

ATILIUS, Lucius, tribune of the people, 311 b.c., originator of the law which conferred on the people the right of naming sixteen military tribunes for the four legions raised annually.

ATILIUS, Marcus, a very early comic poet among the Romans. We have the titles of four of his comedies, and the judgment of Cicero, who calls them rough.

ATIUS, Pelignus (Caius), lived in the first century b.c.; known for taking part with Pompey against Cæsar.

ATKINS, Abraham, a private gentleman who resided at Clapham, and died towards the close of the last century. He endowed a large number of dissenting churches in London and in the neighbouring counties: the endowment being held on condition that the churches practise "open communion."

ATKINS, John, a navy surgeon, of Plaistow in Essex. Having entered the navy about 1703, he served in various parts of the world, and published his experiences, under the title of "The Navy Surgeon." He was the author of many other works, which have passed through several editions—most of them marked by originality, and often enlivened by wit.

ATKINS, Richard, of Baliol college, Oxford, a cavalier of Charles the First's time; author of "The Origin and Growth of Printing in England," and one or two historical tracts. Like many others who injured their estates for the cause of the Stuarts, Atkins perished in want and neglect. He died in debt in the Marshalsea, on the 14th September, 1677, and was buried in the church of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.—T. J.

ATKINSON, Benjamin Andrew, a presbyterian theologian, well known about 1725 for his disputes against the Arians and the Romanists. His principal works are:—"Confession of his Faith," London, 1713; "A Sermon for Reformation of Manners," 1726; "Catholic Principles," 1730; "Christianity not Older than the First Gospel Promise," (against Tindal), 1730; "Scripture History, Precepts, and Prophecies Vindicated," 1731; "The Holy Scriptures a Perfect Rule, and Popish Objections Answered," 1735; "A Judgment of Private Direction," 1735; "Good Princes Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers of the Church," 1736.—A. L.

ATKINSON, Joseph, a dramatic writer, was born in Ireland, and entered the army, in which he rose to the rank of captain. He wrote three plays, which were all successful: "Mutual Deception," a comedy, produced in 1795, which Coleman subsequently altered and curtailed, and brought out with tolerable success at the Haymarket, under the title of "Tit for Tat." The other two pieces of Atkinson's were comic operas. "A Match for a Widow" was acted at Crow Street in 1786, and printed in 1788. "Love in a Blaze" came out at the same theatre in 1800.—J. F. W.

ATKINSON, Thomas, a bookseller in Glasgow, who had some literary reputation, and left a sum of money for erecting a building for scientific purposes in his native city. Born 1800, died 1833.

ATKYNS, Sir Robert, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer; descended from an ancient family in Gloucestershire; was one of the most eminent lawyers of the seventeenth century. He was consulted by the friends of Lord William Russell, on the arrest of that nobleman for treason; and subsequently, he displayed vast legal knowledge by his arguments on several political trials. He died in 1709, aged eighty-eight years, having long retired from public life. He deserves mention in a national biography, were it only because he is said by Wood to have written a treatise against the exorbitant power of the Court of Chancery.—T. J.

ATKYNS, Sir Robert, junior, son of the foregoing, born in 1646, was a learned, opulent, and high-minded country gentleman, who, in troublous times, commanded the esteem of all parties in the state. He wrote an elaborate work, entitled "The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire." He died October 29th, 1711, aged sixty-four years, and was buried at Saperton in Gloucestershire. A handsome monument is erected to his memory and that of his father, in Westminster abbey.—T. J.

ATKYNS, Tracy John, called to the English bar in 1732, is known chiefly as the compiler of the "Reports of Cases argued and determined in the Court of Chancery in the time of Chancellor Hardwicke," a work of high authority.

ATOLPH, ADOLPH, ATAULPH, or ADAULPH, the first king of the Goths. He appears to have been a brother-in-law of Alaric, whom he joined during the siege of Rome with an army raised in Pannonia, and whom he succeeded. He defeated some pretenders to the empire, but was unable to take Massilia. In 414 he married Placidia, the sister of the Emperor Honorius. He assumed the manners of the Romans, and, having conquered Spain, was assassinated at Barcelona in 415.

ATONDO Y ANTILLON, D. Isidoro, a Spanish admiral—seventeenth century—represented as the first Spaniard who took possession of California. The government of Madrid having resolved on colonizing that country, sent directions to that effect to the vice-king of Mexico, and Atondo was intrusted with the charge of an expedition. Three jesuits were to accompany him to represent the spiritual command of the new colonies. With two ships and 100 men, Atondo sailed from Chacala. After undergoing many privations, fighting many battles with the Indians, chiefly to compel supplies, and being obliged to revictual at Cinaloa, he made, October 1683, for the large bay in 26° 30´ latitude, to which he gave the name of St. Bruno. Here he took a ceremonial possession of the province of Lower California, in the name of the Spanish government; but the sterility of the soil sent him back to Cinaloa, where he found greater encouragement in fishing for pearls,—nor did he succeed better when again forced by a government order to betake himself to the new colony. He found it impossible to remain, sent back the missionaries, and subsequently returned to Mexico. The expedition lasted three years, and cost 225,000 pesos.—A. L.

ATOSSA, daughter of Cyrus—530 b.c.—was successively married to Cambyses, Smerdis, one of the Magi, and Darius, son of Hystaspes, the last of whom she incited to invade Greece.

ATRATUS or BLACK, Hugh, cardinal of the Roman church, was born at Evesham in Worcestershire, made cardinal by Martin II. in 1281, and died 1287.

ATROCIANUS, Joannes, a Latin poet, philologist, and botanist, was born in Germany towards the end of the fifteenth century. Some time a schoolmaster at Fribourg, he afterwards went to Basle, which he quitted on the establishment there of the reformed religion, and then went to Colmar. He published an edition of Æmilius Macer and Strabus Gallus, 1527 and 1530. Another work of his is called "Elegia hello rustico, anni 1525, in Germania exorto," 1528 and 1611, curious for its account of the religious war among the peasants, and several historical details. Freher in his Germ. rer. Script., gives also the following work, "Nemo evangelicus, Epicedion de obitu Frobennii typographorum principis; Μοτωρια, hoc est superbia," Bâle, 1528. This poem, directed against the Reformers, was reprinted with the "Nemo" of Ulrich von Hutten. The only other work attributed to Atrocianus is "Querela Missæ, liber epigrammaticum," Bâle, 1529.—A. L.

ATSYLL, Richard, an English engraver—commencement of the sixteenth century. He was employed as seal-engraver to Henry VIII., for which employment he received £25 a-year.

ATSYZ, founder of the Khwarizm monarchy, which commencing, according to the general reckoning, in 1138, was overthrown nearly a century later by the arms of Gengis Khan.

ATTA, Titus Quintius, a Roman dramatic poet, who composed comedies of character, called "Comediæ togatæ et tabernariæ," 80 b.c.

ATTAIGNANT, Gabriel Charles de l', poet, born at Paris in 1697, died 10th January, 1779. He was a canon of Rome, and at the instigation of the Abbé Gauthier, chaplain of Incurables and confessor of Voltaire, renounced the world, which he was accused of loving too well. Voltaire seized the opportunity for an epigram, in which the office of the abbé, as chaplain of Incurables, was said to have been well applied towards both devotees. Attaignant's poems are lively and satirical. They were published in 4 vols. in 1757. A selection appeared in 1810, edited by Millevoye.—A. L.

ATTAIGNANT, Pierre, died 1556, said to have been the first Frenchman who used types for printing music.

ATTAJI or ATHADJI, Newi-zade, the chief instructor of