Constantinople, but the Greeks soon learned to their cost that Attila was more than a match for them. In the following year he threw himself and his wild rapacious hosts on the provinces of the Eastern empire, penetrated into Illyria, and ravaged all the European provinces of the empire, from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. Thrice the armies of Theodosius attempted to resist the advance of the armies of Attila, and as often they were defeated by the Huns. After those defeats the territories of the empire lay open, to the gates of Constantinople and the most southern point of Greece. The open country was converted into a wilderness, and seventy of the finest cities of Macedonia, Thrace, and Greece were turned into heaps of smoking ruins. It was only by enormous bribes and the most humble submission, that Theodosius induced Attila to retire from his desolated dominions. The ambassadors of Theodosius, who were sent to implore the mercy of Attila, found the king of the Huns in the royal village or camp, on the banks of the Danube. On seeing them he exclaimed, "Where is the fortress, where is the city of the Roman empire, which can pretend to resist, when it pleases me to destroy it?" The Greek emperor and his ministers, fully convinced of their weakness, submitted to the terms imposed, but attempted to free themselves from this formidable enemy, by employing an assassin to destroy Attila. This assassin was, however, so much terrified when he found himself in the presence of that formidable conqueror, that his heart failed him; he fell at his feet, and laid open the whole conspiracy. This dastardly attempt excited more contempt than indignation in the mind of the haughty king of the Huns. He contented himself with sending an embassy to Constantinople, to demand the head of Crysophias, the chief minister of Theodosius, and the author of the plot. Even this demand he consented to change into a demand for greater tribute. And the attempt did not interrupt the preparation which Attila was making for the conquest of Gaul—an enterprise which, if successful, would have placed all Europe at his feet. In the year 451 Attila crossed the Rhine, and advanced at the head of an almost innumerable host as far as the banks of the Loire, where he laid siege to the city of Orleans. The city was bravely and successfully defended; and this resolute resistance gave time to Ætius, the last great general of the Western empire, not only to bring together all the Roman forces, but to form an alliance, and to secure the assistance of the Goths, Franks, Saxons, and the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul. On the alliance of the whole force of Western Europe, Attila raised the siege of Orleans, and retired behind the Loire and the Seine, to Chalons, on the banks of the Marne. Here a great battle took place, which stopped the progress of Scythian conquest, and preserved the ascendancy of the Germanic, Latin, and Celtic races in Western Europe. Attila and the Huns were defeated with enormous loss—a loss so enormous, that some estimates raise it as high as 300,000 lives; whilst few rate it at less than 160,000. After this great defeat, Attila retired to his fortified camp near Chalons, on which the allies were unwilling to risk an attack; but all hope of victory having been abandoned, and the resources of the country being wasted and destroyed, the Hun soon after broke up his camp and retreated across the Rhine. In the following year Attila burst into Italy, at the head of another enormous army, demanding from the Emperor Valentinian III. the hand of his sister Honoria, and the surrender of nearly half the provinces of the empire. These terms being refused, he laid siege to the great and flourishing city of Arqueleia, at the head of the Adriatic, which he took and levelled with the ground. He afterwards destroyed the cities of Padua, Vicenza, Verona, and Bergamo, and laid waste the plains of Lombardy. Many of the inhabitants fled to the Alps and the Appenines, whilst others escaped to the desolate islands of the Adriatic, near the mouth of the river Brenta, where they laid the foundation of the city of Venice and the Venetian republic. After laying waste the fairest provinces of Italy, the approach of Ætius, and the forces of Pope Leo I., again induced Attila to retire beyond the Alps, to his encampment on the plains of Hungary. There he organized another expedition against Gaul, which was likewise repulsed by the Romans, aided by the Gothic and Germanic tribes, which had established themselves beyond the Rhine. After this repulse Attila planned another expedition against Italy, but fortunately for the world this was prevented by his own death. He died suddenly of apoplexy, amidst the orgies of his marriage with a young girl named Illico, to the unspeakable relief of Europe and Asia. After his death his empire fell rapidly to pieces, although the name and memory of the Huns have been preserved to our own times.—T. B.
ATTINGHAUSEN, Guerard, one of the founders of Helvetian independence, was landamman of the canton of Uri in 1206, distinguished by his exertions in bringing about the confederation of the cantons of Uri, Schwitz, and Underwald.
ATTIRET, Jean Denis, a French jesuit and painter, born at Dôle, 1702, died at Pekin, 1768. After studying at Rome, he returned to France, and practised as an artist at Lyons, but, at thirty years of age, entered the order of the Jesuits, and went to China, where he took the title of painter to the emperor of the Celestial Empire, became chief of the Chinese artists, and was honoured with the dignity of mandarin.
ATTON or ACTON, sometimes called Atto or Acto, a French monk, who was elected bishop of Vercelli in Italy in 924. He is supposed to have died about 960. Of the life of Atton little is known. The works attributed to him are:—1. "Capitulare," or a collection of canons of the church of Vercelli; 2. "Libellus de Pressuris Ecclesiasticis," a treatise on ecclesiastical jurisdictions; 3. "Epistolæ," consisting of eleven letters, mostly on theological subjects; 4. "Sermones," a collection of sermons, eighteen in number; 5. "Expositio Epistolarum Sancti Pauli," commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul; 6. "Polypticum," called also "Perpendiculum," a satire on the manners of his time.
ATTUMONELLI, Michel, an Italian physician, born at Andria, in the province of Bari and kingdom of Naples, in 1753; died at Paris 17th July, 1826. He studied at Naples, under Cirillo and Cotugno, and received his diploma at Salernum. On his return to Naples he was appointed clinical professor at the Oipedale degli Incurabili, and was highly esteemed both for his professional and general knowledge. He afterwards went to Paris, where he practised extensively until the time of his death. He published a translation of Condorcet's "Politique de la France regénérée," besides the following original works:—"Elementi di Fisiologia Medica o sia la Fisica del corpo umano," Naples, 2 parts, 1787, 1788; "Memoires sur les Eaux Minérales de Naples, et sur les Bains de Vapeur;" "Mémoires sur l'Opium," Paris, 1802 and 1811, 8vo; "Trattato de Veneni che comprende varie Dissertazioni Mediche del sr. Sauvages," Naples, 1785, 2 vols. 4to.—(Querard, la France Littéraire. Callisen, Medicinesches Schriftsteller-Lexicon, &c.)—G. M.
ATTWOOD, George, an English mathematician of considerable eminence, born in 1745; died in 1807. He was fellow and tutor of Trinity college, Cambridge, where he took the degree of A.B. in 1769. His published writings are:—1. "A Treatise on the Rectilinear Motion of Bodies," Cambridge, 1784, 4to; 2. "Analysis of a Course of Lectures on the Principles of Natural Philosophy, read in the university of Cambridge," London, 1784, 8vo; 3. "A Dissertation on the Construction of Arches" (followed by a supplement), London, 1801.
ATTWOOD, Thomas, an English musician of deservedly high esteem, who was born in London in 1767. In 1786 he entered the choir of the chapel royal, and studied under Drs. Nares and Ayrton. In 1785 he went to Vienna, to continue his studies under Mozart, and on his return to London, his attention was devoted to composition for the theatre. He produced seventeen musical pieces, the so-called operas of the time, a time when music of all kinds, and dramatic music especially, was at the lowest standard in England. In 1795 or 1796, he succeeded Mr. Jones as organist at St. Paul's cathedral, and, on the death of Dr. Dupuis, in June of the latter year, he was appointed composer to the chapel royal. In this capacity he wrote his church music, little of which was printed before the collected edition, published after his death by Dr. Walmesley, his godson and pupil. He wrote his anthem, "I was glad," for the coronation of his constant patron as King George the Fourth, in 1821, in acknowledgment of the merit of which, he was in the same year appointed special composer to the private chapel in the Pavilion at Brighton. He was appointed a professor in the Royal Academy of Music a few years after its formation in 1823. On the death of Mr. Stafford Smith in 1826, he was appointed organist of the chapel royal. On Mendelsshon's coming to this country in 1829, Attwood was one of the first to perceive and to acknowledge his transcendent talent. He wrote his anthem, "O Lord, grant the king a long life," for the coronation of King William the Fourth, in 1831, and he commenced an anthem for the coronation of Queen Victoria, which, however, he did not live to
