he offered him the dignity of mandarin, and gave him the income thereto belonging, when A. refused the Chinese title. A. wrote a very interesting account of the emperor's gardens, of which a translation by Spence, under the name of sir Harry Beaumont, appeared in 1752.

ATTITUDE (French), as a term of art, signifies the position and situation of figures. Attitudes require a regular study, a part of which is a knowledge of anatomy. The art of exhibiting attitudes, at least in modern tunes, is of recent invention. At the end of the last century, the celebrated lady Hamilton began the practice, and, as every art begins with imitation, she imitated, with great talent, the attitudes of antique statues in many large towns of Europe, and sir William Hamilton could say that he possessed, in his wife, a whole collection of antiques. Her dress was a simple tunic, fastened with a ribbon tight under the breast, and a shawl. With these she imitated all the different draperies. Mr. Rehberg drew her attitudes, and published them in London. On the continent of Europe, this art has been carried to much perfection by Mrs. Hendel-Schütz, who exhibited the most beautiful attitudes, copied from the Greek, Egyptian, Italian and German styles of art. But she was not satisfied with imitations: she invented many attitudes, which were declared, by all the critics of the day (amongst whom was Gothe), some of the finest productions of art. Her attitudes have been drawn and published by Peroux and Ritter (Frankf. on the Maine, 1809). There has been also a male artist of the same kind, Mr. von Seckendorf (called Patrick Peale), who accompanied his exhibitions with lectures. He died in America.

ATTORNEY (attornatus, in Latin), a person appointed to do something for and in the stead and name of another. An attorney is either public or special. The former is an officer of a court, who is authorized by the laws and the rules of the court to represent suitors, without any special written authority for the purpose. The rules and qualifications, whereby one is authorized to practise as an attorney in any court, are very different in different countries and in different courts of the same country. There are various statutes on this subject in the laws of the several U States, and almost every court has certan rules, a compliance with which is necessary, in order to authorize any one to appear in court for, and represent any party to a suit, without a special au

thority under seal. The principle upon which these rules are founded, is the exclusion of persons not qualified by honesty, good moral character, learning and skill, from taking upon them this office. And any attorney may, by malpractice, forfeit this privilege; and the court, in such case, strikes his name from the roll of attorneys. Still this does not prevent his being a special attorney, with a specific power from any person who wishes to constitute him his representative; for every man, who is capable of contracting, has the power to confer upon another the right of representing him, and acting in his stead. An attorney of a court has authority, for and in the name of his principal, to do any acts necessary for conducting a suit, and his employer is bound by his acts.-A special attorney is appointed by a deed called a power or letter of attorney, and the deed by which he is appointed specifies the acts which he is authorized to do. It is a commission, to the extent of which only he can bind his principal. As far as the acts of the attorney, in the name of the principal, are authorized by his power, his acts are those of his principal. But if he goes beyond his authority, his acts will bind himself only; and he must indemnify any one to whom, without authority, he represents himself as an attorney of another, and who contracts with him, or otherwise puts confidence in him, as being such attorney.

ATTRACTION; the tendency, as well of the parts of matter in general, as of various particular bodies, to approach each other, to unite, and to remain united; sometimes, also, the power inherent in matter, exerting itself at the moment of approach. Experience teaches that this property is common to all matter. Even liquids cohere in their parts, and oppose any endeavor to separate them. The minute particles unite into drops; drops, if they are brought in contact, into large masses. Fluids attach themselves to solid bodies, particularly to such as have very smooth surfaces, as to glass: they rise up of themselves in fine tubes (see Capillary Tube), &c. Every body tends to the earth, and, if raised from its surface, falls back to it again. The plumb-line, which is usually vertical, takes an oblique direction in the vicinity of high mountains; the sea tends to the moon; the moon itself is constantly drawn towards the earth; the earth and the other planets, towards the sun. The heavenly bodies are continually subject to the simple law

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of mutual attraction. The Grecian naturalists speak of attraction; Copernicus and Tycho likewise admit it; Kepler's bold and comprehensive mind first hazarded the assertion that it must be universal and mutual in all bodies; Des Cartes sought to banish it entirely from natural philosophy, as one of those occult powers which he did not acknowledge; but Newton adopted it, and determined its laws, after many years of accurate observation. Fruitless attempts have been made to explain it. The phenomenon of attraction is exhibited, either in bodies that are at perceptible distances from each other, and is then called gravitation; or in bodies at insensible distances, taking place between their surfaces, when it is adhesion; or uniting their component parts, when it is cohesion. (q. v.) We cannot enumerate all the particular subdivisions of attraction, but the most important are those of chemical affinities (q. v.), of magnetic and electric attractions, &c. (Respecting these, see the particular articles.) The best work on the attraction of the heavenly bodies is Newton's Philosoph. Natural. Principia Mathematica. On the attraction which mountains exert on the plumb-line, see von Zach's L'Attraction des Montagnes et ses Effets sur les Fils à Plomb (Avignon, 1814, 2 vols.) Kant's Metaphys. Elements of Natural Science (3d ed. Leips., 1800) treats of the nature of attraction. (For further information on the subject of attraction, see the article Mechanics.)

ATTRIBUTE. 1. Every quality which is ascribed to any one as characteristic. 2. The sign which indicates that quality. In this latter sense, it is synonymous with symbol. (q. v.)

ATWOOD, George, F. R. S.; an eminent mathematician, who was educated at the university of Cambridge. In 1784, he published, in one volume, 8vo., a Treatise on the Rectilinear Motion and Rotation of Bodies; with a Description of Original Experiments relative to that Subject-a work remarkable for its perspicuity, and the extensive information which it affords. About the same time, he made public an Analysis of a Course of Lectures on the Principles of Natural Philosophy, read at the University of Cambridge, which is not less valuable than the preceding. William Pitt, having attended Mr. At wood's university lectures, conceived such an opinion of his talents and scientific information, that he engaged him to devote a considerable part of his time to financial calculations, and bestowed on him a

sinecure office, the income of which he retained from 1784 till his death, in 1807, at the age of 62, when the office which he had held was abolished. Mr. Atwood published a Dissertation on the Construction and Properties of Arches, 1801, 4to., and several other valuable treatises relating to mathematics and mechanical sci

ence.

ATYS, or ATTYS. 1. The favorite of Cybele, who, having broken the vow of chastity which he made to the goddess, castrated himself, as a punishment for his crime. (See Cybele.)-2. A son of Crosus, king of Lydia; an affecting example of filial love. He was dumb, when, seeing a soldier in a battle who had raised a sword against his father, he exerted himself so much, that the bands of his tongue gave way, and he cried out, “Soldier, kil. not Croesus!"

AUBAINE, DROIT D'. Foreigners in France, in the middle ages, were called Albani, or Albini. Some derive this word from Albanach, which term the Highlanders of Scotland, even now, apply to themselves; and, if this name was common to all the Gælic tribes, or, at least, if it was used by the inhabitants of Bretagne, the German races may have applied it, from this circumstance, to all foreigners. The Romans, indeed, did not permit foreigners to inherit property-a law which the emperor Frederic I abolished, since he gave to all foreigners the right of making a will, and ordered that the effects of such as died without one should be assigned by the bishop to the foreign heirs, or, if this was not possible, should be employed for some pious purposes. France was the only country where foreigners were treated according to the maxim of law, peregrinus liber vivit, servus moritur. They were permitted to acquire all kinds of property, even real estate. They could not, however, obtain it by inheritance, nor bequeath it at their death. The king (by virtue of the law of aliens, droit d'Aubaine), in whose peace and protection they remained during life, was their only heir after death. No feudal lord could acquire this right. It was very early softened in favor of the relations who resided in the kingdom. Some cities, as Lyons, in order to favor commerce, obtained the privilege that the estate of foreigners who died in them should go to the foreign heirs, and this was agreed upon by treaties with certain states. (See the account of these states in Schlözer's State Papers-Staatsanzeigen-H. 31, and the later treaties in Marten's Recueil des Traités.) The

national assembly, by the decrees of the 6th of Aug., 1790, and the 8th and 31st of Aug., 1791, abolished this law; and, as it was acknowledged by no other country of Europe as a general rule, but was only put in force as a measure of retaliation against France, there was no necessity for a particular abrogation of the same in any European state. The French, however, were not conscious of this. They confounded their own droit d'Aubaine with the rule prevailing in other countries, of deducting a certain proportion of the estates of foreigners deceased; and the droit d'Aubaine was restored in the Code civile (Code de Napoléon, art. 11), because complaint was made that other countries, especially Prussia, had not abolished it. -2. In England, no droit d'Aubaine is known. The alien can transact any business there (under the provisions of the alien act), and his property descends to his heirs, wherever they may be. Real estates alone he cannot acquire. (For further information respecting the rights of aliens in England and the U. States, see Alien, Alien Act and Naturalization.)

AUBE, department of; a French department in the former province of Champagne. (See Department.)-Aube; a river of France, which rises in the department of Upper Marne, and, running through that of Aube, passes by Bar-sur-Aube and Arcis, and falls into the Seine, near Nogent. The Aube became important, in the last war against France, as a line of military operation.

AUBER, D. F. E.; a French composer of operas, now popular, and a distinguished support of the opéra comique in Paris. His first opera, by means of which he made his fortune in Germany, is La Neige (Snow). His Concert à la Cour (Concert at Court) and Le Maçon (the Mason) are very much esteemed. His music is elegant, but not elevated, and betrays the desire of the new French composers to be piquant and novel. He seeks to unite the style of Boyeldieu, and the French opera composers, with that of Rossini.

AUBERT-DUBAYET, Jean Baptiste Annibal; born in Louisiana, Aug. 9, 1759. From the 18th year of his age, he was an officer, and fought in the service of the U. States in the war of independence. Shortly before the breaking out of the French revolution, he went to France. In 1792, he was elected president of the legislative assembly. As general of brigade, he defended Mayence, and justified himself from the charge of improperly surrendering the place. He afterwards

fought with vigor against the Vendeans, in the west of France. In the year 3 of the republic, he was appointed minister of war, and went, in the year 4, to Constantinople as French ambassador, where he died two years afterwards. He was an ardent republican, upright, and endowed with talent, but is said to have been extremely vain.

AUBIGNE, Theodore Agrippa d'; a French author, born in 1550. He early gave proofs of talent. In his 13th year, he lost his father, and fought afterwards under Henry IV, king of France, who made him a gentleman of his bed-chamber. He soon became a favorite of Henry, but when the king, thinking it necessary, favored the Catholics more than the Protestants, A. expressed his displeasure with little reserve, and, at length, lost the favor of Henry. He now retired to Geneva, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He wrote a Histoire Universelle, from 1550 to 1601, with a short account of Henry IV's death, 3 vols., folio, the first volume of which was ordered to be burned by the parliament of Paris. He died at Geneva, in 1630.

AUBREY, John, F. R. S.; an English antiquary, born at Easton-Piers, in Wiltshire, in 1626; educated at Oxford. He collected materials for the Monasticon Anglicanum, and afforded important assistance to Wood, the Oxford antiquary. He lost his property, and was reduced to absolute want; but a lady Long supported him till his death, about the year 1700 He published little, but left large collec tions of manuscripts, which have been used by subsequent writers.

AUBRY DE MONTDIDIER; a French knight of the time of king Charles V, who, according to tradition, was basely murdered, in 1371, by his companion in arms, Richard de Macaire. The murder was discovered by means of a dog of the deceased, who showed the most hostile disposition to the murderer. The king compelled Macaire to fight with his accuser, the dog, in order to decide the case; and the murderer was conquered. This story has been formed into a drama, for the German stage, called the Dog of Aubry, or the Wood of Bondy, which has been very profitable, being a very popular spectacle, and has exposed the German theatre to the most lively ridicule.

AUBURN; a post-village of New York, and capital of the county of Cayuga, in the township of Aurelius, on the great western turnpike, at the northern end of Owasco lake, 170 miles W. of Albany.

Pop., in 1825, 2982. It is a pleasant and flourishing village, and contains an academy, a court-house, a state-prison large enough to receive 1000 prisoners, a county jail, a market-house, a Presbyterian theological seminary, and four houses of public worship. The theological seminary was incorporated in 1820, and has four professors one of Christian theology, one of ecclesiastical history and church government, one of Biblical criticism, and one of sacred rhetoric. The number of students, in 1825, was 47. The building appropriated to the seminary is a large stone edifice, containing rooms for students, a chapel, and valuable library.

AUCKLAND, William Eden, lord; a statesman who had great influence in Pitt's ministry, and was employed in important embassies. He began his career, in 1778, as a mediator between the mother country and the insurgent colonies in North America. He was accompanied by lord Howe and sir Henry Clinton, G. Johnstone and lord Carlisle, upon this important embassy; but the result did not answer the expectations which had been formed from the talents of these distinguished men, and nothing was left for England but to acknowledge the independence of the colonies. Afterwards, as a member of parliament, he had a great influence in the reform of the penal laws, and, with Howard and Blackstone, in the organization of a new system of police, and a better mode of treating prisoners. He subsequently held the important post of secretary of state for Ireland, and, in 1785, was ambassador extraordinary to the French court, to negotiate a commercial treaty, which was concluded in 1786. During the first year of the French revolutionary war, he was ambassador extraordinary to the states general of the Netherlands; and, in this capacity, he had the greatest influence on the measures which the crowd of events was constantly rendering more complicated. After his return, his conduct was subjected to an investigation by parliament, and was declared to be unexceptionable. He died

in 1814.

AUCTION is a public sale, to the party offering the highest price, where the buyers bid upon each other; or to the bidder who first accepts the terms offered by the vender, where he sells by reducing his terms until some one accepts them. This mode of sale was in use among the Romans, called sub hasta, from its being, in early times, a sale of the spoils taken in war, under a spear erected as the signal

of the auction. The same signal was afterwards used in other sales, which were made under the superintendence of particular tribunals. This mode of selling is subject to particular regulations, by the laws of many communities, the object of which is to prevent frauds, or to levy a tax. In the time of lord Mansfield, a question was made in the case of Bexwell vs. Christie (Cowper's Reports, p. 395,) whether a sale by auction was fair, at which some one bid for the owner. The subject was treated as being, in some measure, a question of conscience, upon the supposition that the real bidders supposed themselves to be bidding only against other real bidders; and the purchaser at the sale, in that case, was held not to be bound by his bid, because there had been by-bids on behalf of the vender. But the decision, in that case, was subsequently overruled by lord Rosslyn, in the case of Conolly vs. Parsons (3 Vesey Jr.'s Reports, p. 625), and again by the master of the rolls in Bramley vs. Alt (3 Vesey Jr.'s Reports, p. 620), with one qualification, however, in this latter case, viz., that if none bid, except by-bidders or puffers, against one real bidder, to whom the article was struck off, he was not bound by the purchase. No similar decision has been made in the U. States, and there seems to be no reason for supposing that a sale by auction would be void on this account, unless it were a violation of the conditions upon which the auction was announced. It is evident that the fairness or unfairness of this proceeding must depend, in any case, very much upon a compliance with the understanding entertained, or the conditions laid down in respect to the sale; and, certainly, it is not universally understood that no bid will be made for the vender. In regard to a tax upon sales by auction, there does not appear to be any good ground for it in principle, and the same objections lie against this tax that are made to the Spanish alcavala (q. v.), or tax on private sales. The vender must pay the tax, and a man's selling goods is not, in general, a proof, nor the value of the goods a measure, of his ability to pay a tax. So far from this is the fact, that, in very many instances, the poverty or straitened circumstances of the vender are the cause of his putting up his property at auction. When these sales are taxed, therefore, the law makes many exceptions, with the intention of preventing the tax from falling upon persons who sell from necessity, rather than the expectation of making a profit.

Much discussion has been had upon the effect of sales by auction, in an economical point of view; as, whether they give a facility to the introduction of foreign manufactures, to the discouragement and depression of the domestic, with which they come into competition; and whether they have a favorable or unfavorable influence upon the course of production and consumption, considered as a part of the general system of business and economy, independently of their effect in respect to the introduction of foreign fabrics or products. No general answer can be made to these questions, since it must, in each case, depend, in some degree, upon the manner in which the auctions are conducted. But, supposing them to be conducted with perfect fairness and honesty, it must then depend upon the condition of the industry of the community. The German fairs have an effect similar to that of auction sales. An extensive fair, or sale by auction, by showing, and, in effect, exaggerating the surplus or deficiency of articles, aggravates the stagnation in one case, and enhances the prices in the other. All such fluctuations tend to check and destroy the production that is carried on upon a small scale. Those who carry it on upon the largest scale, whether domestic or foreign, will drive out the smaller ones, since they will, as has been invariably proved, push on their business, in spite of the sacrifices which they may be obliged to make, and they gain an impetus which is not easily checked. Whether auctions are injurious or not, in either respect, will depend, therefore, upon the scale on which they are conducted, and the extent of different systems or processes of production, which are thus brought into competition. Where there is a competition, they undoubtedly tend to make it more close and direct, and if one of the rivals has any advantage at the time being, he is likely to destroy the other; or, if there be no other advantage on either side, the party willing and able to make the greatest sacrifices will eventually keep possession of the market.

AUDE, department of; a French department in the former province of Languedoc. (See Department.)

AUDEBERT, Jean Baptiste, united, in a nigh degree, the talents of an engraver with the knowledge of natural history. He was born at Rochefort in 1759, went, at the age of 18, to Paris, to learn drawing and painting, and made himself a skilful aniniature painter. In 1789, he became

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acquainted with Gigot d'Orcy, a great lover and promoter of natural history, who possessed a vast collection, the rarest specimens of which he employed A. to paint, and afterwards sent him to England and Holland, whence he brought back a number of designs, which have been used in Olivier's History of Insects. occupation awakened in him a taste for natural history. He now undertook some works which laid the foundation of his fame. The first was, Histoire Naturelle des Singes, des Makis et des Galéopithéques (Paris, 1800, folio), in which he shows himself an able draughtsman, engraver and writer. With regard to coloring, so essential in natural history, he brought it to a greater perfection than it had ever before attained. Not satisfied with laying different colors on the same plate, so as to produce a kind of painting, he went farther, and, instead of water-colors, used the more durable oil-colors. He carried his art to still greater perfection by using gold in his impressions, the color of which he changed in different ways, in order to imitate the splendor of his patterns. Natural history was greatly benefited by his work, the splendor of which was astonishing. His Histoire des Colibris, des OiseauxMouches, des Jacamars et des Promerops (Paris, 1802, folio), is esteemed the most complete work that has appeared in this department. Fifteen copies were struck off with golden letters. Scarcely was this work begun, when A. formed new plans, for the execution of which the longest life would hardly have been sufficient. He died in 1800, when he had scarcely begun the Histoire des Grimpereaux et des Oiseaux de Paradis. Both works were excellently finished by Desray, who was in possession of the materials, and the process for carrying on the work, A. rendered much assistance in the publication of Levaillant's African Birds. He conducted the impressions of the plates as far as the thirteenth number.

AUDIENCE is used to signify the ceremonies, practised in courts, at the admission of ambassadors and public ministers to a hearing. It is also the name of courts of justice or tribunals which were established by the Spaniards in America, and formed upon the model of the court of chancery in Spain. It is also the name of one of the ecclesiastical courts in England, which is held wherever the archbishop calls up a cause to be argued before himself.

AUDITOR, in the language of the ancient law; an officer of the courts, whose duty