66

founded chiefly through his influence and | Watt's "Bibliotheca Britannica," each list exertions. His portrait by Sir Joshua Rey- containing some items not found in the other. nolds hangs in the board-room of that insti- (Ware, History and Antiquities of Ireland, tution; it was engraved by Bartolozzi ini. 191, 296, 580, and History of the Writers of 1791. He was a fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, and of the London College of Physicians. His writings are:1. "Observations on the Influenza in the year 1775 at Birmingham." This is a short account of the epidemic, published (together with the reports of other physicians resident in different parts of England) in the 6th vol. of “Medical Observations and Inquiries by a Society of Physicians in London," 1784. 2. "Experiments and Observations to investigate by Chemical Analysis the Medicinal Properties of the Mineral Waters of Spa and Aix-la-Chapelle in Germany, and of the Waters and Boue near St. Amand in French Flanders," 8vo. London, 1788. This is a judicious endeavour to apply the improved knowledge of chemistry to the investigation of the real composition and medicinal powers of these waters. The author mentions that he had visited Spa and Aix in the previous year. 3. "Oratio Anniversaria in Theatro Collegii Regalis Medicorum Londinensium ex Harveii instituto habita A.D. 1790," 4to. Londini, 1791. One of the periodical orations delivered at the London College of Physicians, containing a panegyric of the distinguished persons by whom the College had been founded and supported. It is a clever and vigorous piece of Latin. (MS. Communication; Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxviii.) G. E. P.

ASH, or ASHE, ST. GEORGE, D.D., was born in the county of Roscommon, in Ireland, about the year 1658, and educated at Dublin, where he was elected Fellow of Trinity College in 1679, provost in 1692, and subsequently vice-chancellor of the university. During the troubles of the latter part of the reign of James II. he quitted Ireland, and engaged himself in the service of Lord Paget, who was ambassador for William III. at the court of Vienna; and he remained with him as chaplain and secretary until the downfall of the cause of James II. in Ireland, when he returned thither. He was made bishop of Cloyne in 1695, and was then called into the Irish privy council. In 1697 he was translated to the see of Clogher, and in 1716 to that of Derry, which he held till his death, in February, 1717-8. He was buried in Christ Church, Dublin, and he bequeathed all his mathematical books to the university of Dublin. Bishop Ash was, according to John Dunton, a person of extraordinary parts, which he improved by hard study and travel. He was a member of the Philosophical Society of Dublin, and in 1686 became a fellow of the Royal Society of London. Ash published several sermons, and also contributed several papers to the "Philosophical Transactions." Lists of both are given by Ware, and also in

Ireland, 271; Dunton, Life and Errors, edition
of 1818, ii.516; Thomson, History of the Royal
Society, Appendix, p. xxviii.) J. T. S.
ASH, SIMEON. [ASHE, SIMEON.]
ASHBURNE, THOMAS DE, a native
of the town of Ashbourn, in Derbyshire,
and a friar of the order of Saint Augustine.
He engaged in the controversy with the Lol-
lards, and wrote a treatise against the “ Tri-
alogus" of Wickliffe. Other theological
tracts are also attributed to him, but some,
such as "Extracts from St. Augustine," &c.,
appear to be mere transcripts. Bishop
Tanner describes a poem or poems on theo-
logical subjects, written by Thomas de Ash-
burne, as being preserved in the Cottonian
Library; but it is doubtful if this Tho-
mas were the same person, and the poems
referred to have since been destroyed by the
fire which consumed a great part of the Cotto-
nian Collection. Ritson ascribes to the same
Thomas de Ashburne, described as a Carme-
lite of Northampton, an English poem, also
in the Cottonian Collection, with the Latin
title "De Contemptu Mundi," and the date
1384; but in reality the volume is only a copy
of Hampole's "Pricke of Conscience." It
is preceded by a short metrical tale of two
leaves only, the authorship of which is un-
certain. (Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannico-
Hibernica, p. 52; Ritson, Bibliographia
Poetica, p. 17; Notes by Sir F. Madden, in
the volume referred to, Cottonian MSS., Ap-
pendix, vii.)
J. W.

ASHBURNHAM, JOHN, was the eldest son of Sir John Ashburnham, of Ashburnham, in Sussex, where the family had long been settled. Sir John died in 1620, after having run through all his estates, leaving his widow and children in a state of destitution, although, within two years of his death, they are said to have been "all in a way rather to help others than to need help themselves." John, who, at his father's death, was seventeen years of age, appears to have gone to court in attendance on the duke of Buckingham, whose duchess was a Beaumont, of the same family as Lady Ashburnham. In the year 1628, through Buckingham's influence, he was appointed groom of the bedchamber to King Charles the First, to whom he was already so familiarly known that he both spoke and wrote of him as " Jack Ashburnham." In 1640 he was elected member of parliament for Hastings, and for some time he was an active member of the long parliament, and by his thorough support of the king, gave great offence to the majority of the house. In 1642 orders were given that he should be proceeded against for contempt of the summons of the house; on the 5th of February, 1643, he was "disabled"

Lady Poulett, which took place in 1649, and he received no favour from the party in power. He was compelled to compound for his estate at the unusually high rate of half its value; was three times banished to Guernsey, and, in 1654, committed to the Tower, for transimprisoned until the death of Cromwell. At the Restoration he became groom of the bed-chamber to the King Charles the Second, and received a grant of Ampthill and other parks in Bedfordshire for eighty years, not as a reward, but as a reimbursement of various sums expended by him in the royal cause, in acknowledgment of which he held letterspatent from Charles the First, dated at Oxford in 1646. His treatment at court seemed to show that the king did not participate in the suspicions entertained by many of his subjects. He remained a familiar companion of Charles the Second's, until his death, which took place in the year 1671, in his 68th year. He had re-purchased the family estates which his father had dissipated, and which are still enjoyed by his descendants, now Earls of Ashburnham: the first peer of the family was his grandson, who was called to the upper house by William and Mary.

for being in the king's quarters, and in September of the same year an order was issued that his estate should be sequestered, which was carried into effect with so much rigour, that the petition of his wife for an allowance sufficient to educate their children was rejected. At this time Ashburnham was act-mitting money to the king; and was kept ing as treasurer and paymaster of the royal army. In 1644 he was one of the commissioners for the treaty of Uxbridge, and in 1645 one of the four commissioners named by the king to lay propositions for a peace before the parliament. He was employed also in many other missions of importance, and when the king determined to leave Oxford to join the Scots army before Newark, April 27, 1646, Ashburnham was his only attendant, with the exception of Dr. Hudson, whose local knowledge was indispensable for the journey. He attended Charles to Newcastle, but was compelled soon after to make a precipitate escape, in consequence of the parliament sending orders for his being arrested and carried to London. He fled to France, and joined the court of the queen; but in 1647, when a favourable turn in the king's affairs allowed him to do so, he resumed his attendance on his master. He had a principal share in the contrivance and execution of the king's escape from Hampton Court, November 11, 1647, and his surrender to Colonel Hammond, Governor of the Isle of Wight. The disastrous consequences of this measure led to much blame being thrown upon all who were concerned in it, but especially on Ashburnham, who was supposed to have suggested the surrender. He was even suspected of treachery, and a report was spread that he had received 40,000l. to deliver the king into the hands of his enemies. Those who did not credit this report, which indeed the whole tenor of his life belied, supposed that he had been deceived by Cromwell and Ireton, with whom he was in constant communication, as the king himself had been, during Charles's residence at Hampton Court. Ashburnham was so stung by the imputations on his honour, that in 1648 he printed "A Letter to a Friend, concerning his deportment towards the King at Hampton Court and the Isle of Wight." sequence, probably, of the then state of affairs, he refrained from entering into particulars which might have endangered others, and chiefly confined himself to a denial of the imputations upon him. The publication had therefore little effect.

In con

Ashburnham, who was confined by the parliament in Windsor Castle until he was released by an exchange of prisoners, remained in England after the death of the king, which led many royalists to give credence to the reports against him. He had, however, obtained leave of Charles the Second to remain, as the only method of preserving the estates acquired by his second marriage with the dowager

Besides the " Letter," published in 1648, Ashburnham wrote a long justificatory narrative, which was handed about among his friends, after the Restoration, partly to counterbalance a similar paper which had been drawn up and circulated by Sir John Berkley, the other attendant on the king in his flight from Hampton Court on whom suspicion had been thrown. Berkley's paper was printed before the close of the seventeenth century, but Ashburnham's, after serving its temporary purpose, remained in MS. until the year 1830, when it was published by the late Earl of Ashburnham. It is entitled "A Narrative, by John Ashburnham, of his Attendance on King Charles the First, from Oxford to the Scotch Army, and from Hampton Court to the Isle of Wight, never before printed. To which is prefixed a Vindication of his Character and Conduct from the Misrepresentations of Lord Clarendon, by his lineal Descendant and present Representative." (London, 2 vols. 8vo.) The Narrative and Vindication together are quite sufficient to clear Ashburnham's character from the stain which had rested upon it in consequence of the doubtful manner in which Clarendon gave his opinion of his innocence. Though Clarendon declares that, if obliged to give his judgment, it must be in Ashburnham's favour, the tone of the passage in his history is such, that all succeeding writers, even when taking him for their sole authority, have spoken in terms of condemnation of the conduct of Ashburnham. The Vindication, and the documents by which it is accompanied, have set the affair in its true light: nor is it easy to acquit Clarendon en

was born April 17, 1744, at Wotton-under- |
Edge, Gloucestershire, and apprenticed to a
clockmaker, who taught him the use of the
graver. He subsequently removed to Lon-
don, where, for many years, his superior
talents were employed in the production of
plates for printing country bank-notes, en-
graved specimens of penmanship, map-titles,
and similar articles. He at length retired
to Exning in Suffolk, near Newmarket,
where he died, August 31, 1818, in his
seventy-fifth year. (For a further notice of
his works, which were not confined to his
native country, but were executed also for
banking and commercial establishments in
America and the East Indies, the reader is
referred to the Gentleman's Magazine, vol.
lxxxviii. part ii. pp. 283-285.) J. T. S.
ASHBY, SIR JOHN, a British naval
commander. The time of his birth is not
known. In 1665 he was appointed lieute-
nant in the Adventurer. In 1668, the Duke
of York promoted him to the command of
the "Deptford Ketch." His other removals
and promotions will be found in the autho-
rities referred to. The earliest warlike
achievement attributed to him is a victory
over a Dutch privateer in February, 1673, of
which the state of the wind prevented him
from taking possession. On the following
day he retook the Ruby, a British vessel,
which had been captured by the Dutch. At
the epoch of the Revolution he was captain
of the Defiance, and he promptly gave in
his adherence to the new settlement. In
May, 1689, an engagement took place be-
tween the English and French fleets in Bantry
Bay. Neither party could claim the honour
of a victory, and while the French remained
at anchor in the bay, the British admiral,
Herbert, put to sea, in expectation of meeting
with reinforcements, but as none appeared,
he proceeded to Portsmouth. There was not
much matter of congratulation in the result of
this affair, but it was necessary for William
III. to seize every opportunity of becoming
popular among the forces. He accordingly
conferred a peerage on Herbert, the com-
mander, while Ashby, who led the van, was
knighted, and received from the king's hand
a watch set with diamonds. In July follow-
ing he was made rear-admiral of the blue,
and soon afterwards vice-admiral of the red.
He commanded the van in the unfortunate
engagement in which the united fleets of
England and Holland fought against the
French fleet between Cherbourg and the Isle
of Wight, on 30th of June, 1690. Campbell
says of Ashby, that "he was totally free from
any part of that censure which was so loudly
excited by the failure of success, and which
roused the indignation and violence of party
against the great but unfortunate Earl of
Torrington." Torrington, on his retreat, left
the command of the remainder of the fleet to
Ashby, with instructions for his guidance;

VOL. III.

On

but he had no opportunity of performing any
active services, as the French fleet proceeded
to the coast of France. There is a pam-
phlet, called "The Account given by Sir
John Ashby and Reere-admiral Rooke to the
Lords Commissioners, of the engagement at
sea between the English, Dutch, and French
fleets, June 30, 1690: with a journal of the
fleet since their departure from St. Hellen's,
to the Buoy-in-the-Nore," 1691, 4to.
the fleet again putting to sea, it was placed
under the command of a council of admirals,
consisting of Sir John Ashby, Sir Richard
Haddock, and Vice-admiral Killegrew. This
triumvirate had no opportunity of encounter-
ing an enemy in the Channel; but during
the winter of 1691, having sent their first
and second rates into port, they proceeded with
the remainder of their fleet to Ireland, and
took Cork and Kinsale. After these actions,
which brought Ashby only limited or dubious
fame, a more brilliant field of exertion
was opened to him, by his leading, as ad-
miral of the blue, a squadron of the great
fleet which sailed towards the coast of France
to meet the armament fitted out by Louis
XIV., and gained the great battle of La
Hogue on the 19th May, 1692. Ashby's
squadron had no opportunity of engaging
with the enemy till six o'clock in the even-
ing, when their line had been broken. Sir
John was employed in the pursuit of the dis-
persed fleet, and he continued the chace
during the two succeeding days, at the end of
which the French vessels escaped by running
through the "Race of Alderney," a danger-
ous passage, where it was not considered ex-
pedient to follow them. Ashby was after-
wards despatched with twelve ships of the
line, and three fireships, to scour the coast
of France, and endeavour to cut out such
vessels as had taken refuge in the inferior
ports; but he returned without achieving any
success. There was an inquiry by parlia-
ment into the proceedings connected with
the following-up of the victory, probably
arising out of Russell's suspected disaffec-
tion to the Revolution settlement. Accord-
ing to "The History and Proceedings of the
House of Commons" (ii. 410), "Sir John
Ashby was examined the 19th of Novem-
ber, particularly in relation to the French
men-of-war that made their escape into St.
Malo, which the Count de Fourbin, who
commanded one of those men-of-war, con-
fessed might have been destroyed with good
management by the English. However, the
house was very well satisfied with Sir John
Ashby's own account of that matter: and the
speaker, by direction of the house, told him
the house took notice of his ingenuous beha-
viour at the bar, and that he had given them
satisfaction, and was dismissed from further
attendance." Sir John died on the 12th of
July, 1693, according to the inscription on
his monument in Lowestoff church. (Life

3 D

by Campbell in Naval History, iii. 148-154; | England, Salomon, who had engaged Haydn, Schomberg, Naval Chronology, vol. i.) in the year 1791, to compose and conduct a certain number of sinfonias at his concerts, invited and retained Ashe in his orchestra as his principal flute. His first appearance in London was at Salomon's second concert, in a concerto of his own composition, which established his reputation as a performer, and, on the retirement of Monzani, he succeeded him as principal flute in the orchestra of the Italian Opera-house. In 1799 he married a pupil of Rauzzini, who afterwards acquired considerable popularity as a singer; and on the death of Rauzzini, in 1810, Ashe was appointed to succeed him as director of the Bath concerts, a situation which he filled for twelve years in the early part of his management with credit and profit; but the concerts of Bath declined with its theatre and its assemblies, and Ashe was glad, at the expiration of this time, to quit their direction, which had ceased for several years to afford him any remuneration. In the meanwhile his place in the principal London orchestras had been occupied by Nicholson, and he removed from Bath to Dublin, where he spent the rest of his life. Two of his daughters, having by this time acquired some celebrity, were, for some time, the principal concert singers there. He died in March, 1838. (Dictionary of Musicians; Personal knowledge.)

J. H B. ASHDOWNE, WILLIAM, resided at Canterbury towards the latter end of the eighteenth and during the earlier years of the present century. He wrote several works in defence of Unitarian opinions. The year of his birth and the year of his death are not stated. No particulars in his biography appear to have been recorded. His works are-1. "An Essay explaining Jesus's true meaning in his Parables, from the occasion of his speaking and the application of them," Canterbury, 1780, 8vo. 2. "The Unitarian, Arian, and Trinitarian opinion respecting Christ examined and tried by Scripture alone," Canterbury, 1789, 8vo. 3. "An attempt to show that the opinion concerning the Devil, or Satan, as a fallen angel, and that he tempted Men to Sin, hath no real foundation in Scripture," 1791, 8vo. 4. "Proofs that Adults only are included in the design of the new Covenant or Gospel Dispensation," 1792, 8vo. 5. "Two Letters addressed to the Lord Bishop of Llandaff [Richard Watson], occasioned by the distinction his Lordship hath made between the operation of the Holy Spirit in the primitive Ministers of Christ, and its operation in Men at this day," 1798, 8vo. In these works there is little ingenuity and less learning: the reasoning is inconclusive, and the diction rugged. But the author appears to have been a man eager in his search for truth, and, as a disputant, to have possessed the virtues of candour and moderation. (Dictionary of Living Authors; Monthly Review, for Dec. 1780, Aug. 1790, Dec. 1791, May, 1799; Gentleman's Magazine, for Sept. 1790, Apr. 1800, Dec. 1805.) G. B. ASHE, ANDREW, many years one of the best English flute-players, was born at Lisburn in Ireland, in 1759. He was sent to school at Woolwich, where he early evinced a strong partiality for music. Accident made him acquainted with Count Bentinck, who became his patron, took him in his suite through a considerable part of Europe, procured for him good instructors, and finally placed him on his establishment at his seat in Holland. Here he applied himself diligently to the practice of the flute, an instrument which the additional keys of Potter had rendered more perfect, and which the compositions of Haydn and Mozart had advanced in the scale of orchestral importance. Ashe quitted his patron, in order to become family musician to Lord Torrington, and afterwards to Lord Dillon, then both resident at Brussels. Here he was appointed principal flute in the orchestra of the theatre, a situation which he quitted after a few years, in order to revisit| the land of his birth. He played for several years in the Rotunda concerts at Dublin with great success, and his celebrity having reached

E. T.

ASHE, RAB or RAV, (N), a celebrated Babylonian Rabbi. He was born A.M. 4113 (A.D. 353), and if we may give credit to the "Tzemach David," and other Jewish authorities, he was elected president of the College of Sora, or Matha-Machasia, in Babylonia, A.M. 4127 (A.D. 367), at the very early age of fourteen. This post he occupied for sixty years, and died A.M. 4187 (A.D. 427), in the seventy-fifth year of his age. All the Hebrew writers of note, from Abraham ben Dior, in his " Sepher Hakkabbala," to Emmanuel Aboab, in his "Nomologia," have agreed that from the time of Rabbenu Hakkadosh, there had not arisen in the Hebrew nation a person in whom so perfect a knowledge of the divine law was united with such resplendent genius, piety, and humility. He was the original author or compiler of the "Babylonian Talmud," that is to say, he collected into one body the various commentaries and illustrations of the "Mishna," which had been made during the two previous centuries by the Ammoraite doctors of the colleges of Babylonia, that is, from the time of Rabbenu Hakkadosh, who had in like manner compiled the "Mishna" down to his own time. He did not, however, live to finish this great work, which was not completed until seventy-three years after his death, in the year A.M. 4260 (A.D. 500), by R. José, who at that time presided over the college of Pumbedita, which was also in Babylonia. The Talmud of R. Ashe, as we