Volume 1

General biography, or, lives, critical and historical of the most eminent persons of all ages, countries, conditions, and professions / chiefly composed by John Aikin and the late Rev. William Enfield.

  • John Aikin
Date:
[1799-1851]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: General biography, or, lives, critical and historical of the most eminent persons of all ages, countries, conditions, and professions / chiefly composed by John Aikin and the late Rev. William Enfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    AAR ABA . ( been appointed high-priest, continued to occupy this high station, till, at a very advanced period, in the presence of the assembled people, he trans- ferred the robes of his- office to his son Eleazer, and died upon Mount Hor. From the few particulars preserved concern- ing Aaron, little can be gathered with respect to his character. The request of the Hebrews • that Aaron should make them a golden calf, may be accounted for from their long inter- ■ course with the Egyptians, among whom this kind of idolatry prevailed ; but it may be more difficult to assign a reason, which will excuse the conduct of Aaron in complying with their request. Perhaps he might be terrified into compliance by the threats of the people ; for his apology to Moses was, “ thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.” In what manner Aaron acquitted himself in his >pontifical office, we ,are not informed; but, through the whole course of his connection with Moses, he appears to have acted the part of a faithful and useful associate. Exod. iv. v. xxxii. Numb. xx. Joseph. Antiq. lib. ii. c. 13. •—E. AARON, a Briton, honoured with the title of saint, according to Venerable Bede, in the year 1303, suffered martyrdom with his brother Julius, during the persecution of the emperor Dioclesian. Accounts remain of two churches, dcdieatedto St. Aaron and St. Julius, in whicli their bodies were interred, at Caer-Leon, the ancient metropolis of V ales. Bcdce Eccl. lib. i. •G'trald. Catnbr. Itin. lib. v. Biographia Bntcnnuca.—E. A. A RON, the Caraite, a learned Jew, flou- , rished about the year 1299. He left many works on the Old Testament, among which is one, upon which father Simon, an excel- lent critic, sets great value, and which he fre- quently cites in his “ Critical History of the Old Testamentit is entitled, “ A Commen- tary upon the Pentateuch.” It was written in Hebrew, and was printed in folio, with a Latin translation by Danzius, at Jena, in 1710. The author is to be distinguished from another Aaron, a Caraite Jew, the author of a concise Hebrew grammar, entitled “ Chelfl Jophi,” [The Perfection of Beauty] printed in 121110, at Constantinople, in 1581. Simon, Hist. Grit. duVicux Test. lib. ii. c. 31. Moreri.—E. AARSENS, Francis, lord of Somelsdvck, was the son of Cornelius Aarsens, register of the states Gf the United Provinces. He was early employed in-public affairs, and in 1598 was ap- pointed resident for the States at the court of Hen- ry IV. of Frauce. Upon this footing he resided 2 ) there till 1609, when, on the twelve years’ truce with Spain, he was acknowledged as embassa- dor, and was the first minister of the republic who received that honour in France. He re- mained in that country fifteen years, much fa- voured and honoured by the king, who raised him to the rank of nobility. Afterwards, his attachment to the interests of his own coun- try made him obnoxious to the French king and ministers ; and being recalled, he was em- ployed by the States in various missions to Ve- nice, to several princes in Germany and Italy, and also in extraordinary embassies to France and England. This last country he visited in the years 1620 and 1641 ; the latter time, to negotiate the marriage of the prince of Orange with a daughter of Charles I. He revisited France at the beginning of the administration of Richelieu, who had a high opinion of him. Of all his negotiations he has left very exact memoirs, which show him to have been one of the ablest men of his time, and fully deserving of the confidence which was placed in him by his country. It should not, however, be con- cealed that he showed a bitter enmity to the re- monstrants, and is supposed to have been the principal adviser of the violent measures pur- sued by prince Maurice against the venerable patriot Barneveldt. The assembling of the fa- mous and persecuting synod of Dordrecht is also attributed chiefly to his counsel. He died at an advanced age, possessed of a large property. He left behind him one son, known by the name of Mons. de Somelsdyck, and reckoned the richest man in Holland. Bayle. Mod. Univ. Hist.—A. ABA, Albon, or Ovon, king of Hungary, married the sister of St. Stephen I. in conse- quence of which he was elected on the deposi- tion of Peter, in 1041. The emperor Henry III. preparing soon after to restore Peter, Aba made an incursion into his dominions, and brought back a-great booty, but was next year obliged to make restitution, and pay a large sum, in order to prevent an invasion from the emperor. 'T hinking himself now confirmed on the throne, he treated with great severity the malcontents, and rendered himself universally odious to his nobility, fifty of whom he put to death on ac- count of a conspiracy. Their dislike of him was aggravated by the familiarity with which he treated the lower class of people, whom he often admitted to his conversation and table; an indulgence shocking to theprejudices of the aris- tocracy. A revolt was raised against him by the fugitive nobles, aided by the emperor and mar- quis of Moravia, in which, after a bloody battle