AYTON, SIR ROBERT, a poet of considerable merit, a native of Fife, born at Kinaldie, who made his fortune by a Latin panegyric to King James I. on his accession; was on friendly terms with the eminent literary men of his time, Ben Jonson in particular; his poems are written in pure and even elegant English, some in Latin, and have only recently been collected together (1571-1638).

AYTOUN, WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE, poet and critic, a native of Edinburgh, professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in Edinburgh University, author of the “Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers”; he was also editor, along with Sir Theodore Martin, of the “Gaultier Ballads,” an admirable collection of light verse (1813-1865).

AZEGLIO, MARCHESE D’, an Italian patriot and statesman, native of Turin; wounded at Vicenza in 1848, fighting for Italian independence; entered the Piedmontese Parliament, was Victor Emanuel’s right-hand man, retired in favour of Cavour; he was not altogether engrossed with politics, being an amateur in art (1798-1866).

AZERBIJAN (2,000), prov. of Armenian Persia, S. of the river Aras, with fertile plains, cattle-breeding, and rich in minerals.

AZORES, i. e.  Hawk Islands (250), a group of nine volcanic islands in the Atlantic, 800 m.  W. of Portugal, and forming a province of it; are in general mountainous; covered with orange groves, of which the chief are St. Michael’s and Fayal; and 900 m.  W. of it, in the latitude of Lisbon; the climate is mild, and good for pulmonary complaints; they were known to the Carthaginian mariners, but fell out of the map of Europe till rediscovered in 1431.

AZOV, SEA OF, an opening from the Black Sea, very shallow, and gradually silting up with mud from the Don.

AZ`RAEL, the angel of death according to Rabbinical tradition.

AZ`TECS, a civilised race of small stature, of reddish-brown skin, lean, and broad featured, which occupied the Mexican plateau for some centuries before the Spaniards visited it, and were overthrown by the Spaniards in 1520.

AZUNI, DOMINICO ALBERTO, an Italian jurist, born in Sardinia; president of the Court of Appeal at Genoa; made a special study of maritime law; author of “Droit Maritime de l’Europe” (1729-1827).

AZYMITES, the name given to a party in the Church who insisted that only unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist, and the controversy hinged on the question whether the Lord’s Supper was instituted before the Passover season was finished, or after, as in the former case the bread must have been unleavened, and in the latter leavened.

B

BAADER, FRANZ XAVIER VON, a German philosopher, born at Muenich; was patronised by the king of Bavaria, and became professor in Muenich, who, revolting alike from the materialism of Hume, which he studied in England, and the transcendentalism of Kant, with its self-sufficiency of the reason, fell back upon the mysticism of Jacob Boehme, and taught in 16 vols. what might rather be called a theosophy than a philosophy, which regarded God in Himself, and God even in life, as incomprehensible realities.  He, however, identified himself with the liberal movement in politics, and offended the king (1765-1841).