Atherstone has a subscription-library and news-room; and there are two dissenting meeting-houses, one for methodists and one for independents; one infant school (if not two), an endowed charity-school, and a dispensary. Ribands and shalloons are also made. There are four fairs | tain many inaccuracies, especially in the vowel points, in the year, at which considerable business is done: at one and still more in the accents. David Clodius asserts, in of these, held in September, much cheese is sold. The the preface to his own edition, that he observed six Coventry Canal, which passes close by the town on the hundred errors; and Jablonski states, in his preface west, contributes to its trade. At a short distance on the east to his own edition of the Bible, that he corrected two flows the river Anker, a tributary of the Tame, which itself thousand inaccuracies in the Bible of Athias. The edition flows into the Trent. The population of Atherstone was, in of Athias was bitterly attacked by Samuel Maresius, in a 1831, 3870. letter published 1669. A reply to this letter was published under the following title: Cacus de Coloribus, hoc est, Josephi Athia justa Defensio contra ineptam, absurdam, et indoctam Reprehensionem Viri celeb. D. Sam. Maresii, &c. It has been supposed that Leusden, writing in the name of Athias, was the author of this reply. It has been remarked, that some copies of the second edition of the Bible of Athias differ from the rest. The cause of this difference was, that Athias had struck off five sheets of ar. edition of four thousand five hundred copies when he resolved to print five hundred copies more. The proofs of these supplemental sheets were not revised by Leusden, and consequently some copies contained slight variations in the first five sheets. Notwithstanding its defects, the Hebrew Bible of Athias had great merit, and has been the basis of all subsequent editions. The editions of Clodius, Jablonski, Van der Hooght, Opitz, Michaëlis, Hahn, Houbigant, Simonis, Reineccius, Hurwitz, and others, may be considered as improvements upon that of Athias. The Bible of Athias was the first in which verses were marked with Arabic cyphers, all former editions having only the Jewish method of notation. It was at Atherstone that the earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., and his army halted on the night of the 20th August, 1485, two nights before the decisive battle of Bosworth Field. The troops encamped in a meadow to the north of the church, since called the Royal Meadow; and during the night, Henry held a conference in Atherstone with the two Stanleys, in which the measures were agreed upon which resulted in the defeat and death of Richard III. Mr. Dugdale's park, adjacent to Atherstone, contains some of the tallest and finest oaks in England. A remarkable bed of trap runs through this park; and there are many other formations in the neighbourhood of Atherstone highly interesting. Among the anomalous rocks by which the coal-field is bounded on the south-east, is a peculiar quartzose | sandstone, of extraordinary hardness, which is extensively quarried, and sent to a great distance for the purpose of roadmaking. Nearly adjacent to this is a rich bed of manganese, which at Hartshill has yielded a very profitable return. Manceter includes also the hamlets of Hartshill and Oldbury. Manceter itself, though now a poor village, is worthy of notice, on account of its having been a Roman station, Manduessedum. On the Roman way, Watling street, and near the present village, are the remains of works of considerable extent. The dimensions of the area included within the works are 627 feet by 438 feet mean breadth; the contents are six acres, one rood, four perches. The station Manduessedum was near these works, or rather these are the remains of the station itself. Fragments of buildings, and Roman coins, have often been found in the neighbourhood; and at Oldbury are the remains of what is supposed to have been a Roman summer-camp. Three sides of this are yet well preserved; the ramparts are about twenty feet broad at the bottom, and six feet high. On the north side of this fort some stone axes, or heads of weapons, were dug up; one of which is now in the Ashmolean museum at Oxford. Manceter is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry. Michael Drayton the poet, and Dr. Obadiah Grew a puritan divine of the 17th century, were natives of this parish; the first was born at Hartshill, in 1563, and the second at Atherston, in 1607. (Bartlett's History and Antiquities of Manceter. Beauties of England and Wales.) ATHERTON, a chapelry in the parish of Leigh, in the Hundred of West Derby, Lancashire. It contains the populous village of Chowbent, and had, in 1831, a population of 4181 persons. Many of the coarser kind of cotton goods are made here. The chapel of the Establishment at Chowbent once belonged to the Dissenters, but was taken from them in consequence of an election dispute, and consecrated by Dr. Wilson, the Bishop of Sodor and Man. It continues, to the present day, out of the episcopal jurisdiction of Chester, to which see the county generally is ecclesiastically subject. There is also a Unitarian meeting-house, with a considerable congregation. Atherton Hall, close to Chowbent, was formerly the seat of the Atherton family. It is a noble mansion, with extensive pleasure-grounds, extending to the town of Leigh, from which it is distant nearly a mile. A branch of the Duke of Bridgewater's canal passes near this place. Rabbi Joseph Athias was a .ר יוסף עטיאס,ATHIAS Athias printed the Bible also in Spanish, Jewish German (or that jargon mixed with Hebrew which is spoken by the Russian and Polish and some German Jews), and English. Of the English Bible he kept the types standing, and asserted that he printed and sold more than a million of copies; but this is scarcely credible, because the English Bible of Athias is rather scarce. The States General of Holland presented a gold chain and medal to Athias. (See Woolfii, Bibliotheca Hebraica, tom. i. p. 552—554 ; Le Long, Biblioth. Sac., part i. p. 116, &c.; Einleitung in das Alte Testament, von Eichhorn. The prefaces to later editions of the Hebrew Bible usually contain some notices on Athias.) ATHLONE, a borough in Ireland, of considerable importance from its situation on the river Shannon, and on the principal road which connects the metropolis with the western province of Connaught. It is about 75 or 76 miles from Dublin, nearly due west. The name Athlone is supposed to be a somewhat altered form of the Celtic Ath Luain--Moon-Ford, or Ford of the Moon, the town being situated at a ford over the Shannon. Athlone is in three parishes: St. Peter and Kiltoom, in the barony of Athlone, in the county of Roscommon and province of Connaught; and St. Mary, in the barony of Brawney, in the county of Westmeath and province of Leinster. These parishes are separated from each other by the river Shannon, St. Peter and Kiltoom being west of that river, and St. Mary east of it. The two parts of the town are united by a bridge of nine arches, built at the ford already noticed. This bridge is only twelve feet wide, and, in consequence of this narrowness of the passage, is a scene of great confusion in times when the occurrence of a fair or a market causes any increase in the ordinary traffic. Nearly in the centre of this bridge is a stone monument, erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, whose arms occupy one of the compartments. There are besides this four other bridges in the parish of St. Peter, three of which are over a canal, cut at the back of the town with the view of preserving the line of navigation of the Shannon, which had been interrupted by the ford and the bridge over that river. The town is chiefly composed of strong stone houses, and has been long fortified. The walls and fortifications, which had been suffered to go to decay, have been strengthened anew within the last few years, and the works are mounted with many guns of various calibre. The citadel or castle, which has been repaired in a more modern style of fortification, commands the bridge and the river. The town is very irregularly built, neither the straightness of the streets, the proportional height of the houses, nor the uniformity of famous printer at Amsterdam, who died of the plague, A.D. Athlone has no public buildings of any importance except the Sessions-house, where the quarter-sessions are held; and the new barracks, so close to the town as to be considered part of it. Here is accommodation for 2000 men; and attached to it are magazines, armoury, ordnance yard, depôt of military stores, and hospital. Before the magazines in the present barracks were built, the barracks and magazine of the garrison were in the castle; but the magazine was blown up in 1697, having taken fire by lightning. Athlone is one of the chief military stations and depôts for arms in Ireland. Besides the places of worship of the Establishment, there is a large Romish chapel in St. Peter's parish, and a preaching-house in St. Mary's parish, supported by the Irish Baptist Society; in which last a free school also is taught. There is in the town a charter-school; also free schools in the barracks and in the Franciscan convent. The manufacture of felt hats has long been carried on here, and the town has some celebrity for its felts. Friezes are manufactured, and some linens are woven. There are two breweries; one of them very extensive. Athlone is well situated for trade, having the advantage of the Shannon, which is navigable thirty-eight miles farther up; and also of the Grand Canal, which communicates with Dublin, and joins the Shannon seventeen miles below Athlone. There are three market days in the week, and the markets are well supplied with sea and river fish, vegetables, and meat. There are four fairs; two held in virtue of the charter of the corporation. These two appear to be held in the parish of St. Peter, the others in that of St. Mary. The town has a corporation created by James I., consisting of a sovereign, two bailiffs, twelve burgesses, and an unlimited number of freemen. The corporation can by their charter hold a court every three weeks for the recovery of small debts not exceeding five pounds; and the sovereign can decide summarily for any debt not exceeding five shillings. The corporation is also authorized to hold a court of pie-poudre for administering justice in case of injuries done during the fairs. The borough sent two members to the Irish parliament; but since the Union it has returned only one. Athlone was rendered conspicuous in the Irish war which ensued upon the revolution of 1688. After the battle of the Boyne in 1690, it was held for King James by Colonel Richard Grace, formerly chamberlain to that prince when Duke of York. While King William invested Limerick in person, he detached General Douglas to besiege Athlone. The eastern part of the town, called the English Town, was evacuated and burnt by Colonel Grace, who broke down some arches of the bridge and strengthened the western part (or Irish Town) of Athlone with new works. Douglas summoned him to surrender; but Grace, firing a pistol at the messenger, said,These are my terms, and these only will I give or receive; and after my provisions are consumed, I will defend the town till I eat my old boots. After battering the walls, the besieging army broke up and retired. The year following (1691), Athlone was again attacked by General Ginkell; who, after taking possession of the English Town, determined to force the passage of the river by fording, and to storm the Irish Town. The garrison had been weakened by St. Ruth (King James's commanderin-chief) forcing Colonel Grace to exchange the three tried regiments of foot, with which he had the year before defended the town, for three inferior ones in St. Ruth's army, and the attempt of Ginkell was successful with very trifling loss on the part of the assailants. The town was taken, the governor fell in the assault, and the army under St. Ruth, which was encamped in the neighbourhood, retreated to Aghrim, where it was in a few days entirely defeated by Ginkell, who received for his services in this war the title of Earl of Athlone. The title still remains in the family. The population of the borough of Athlone was, in 1831, 11,406; but the whole population of the three parishes of St. Peter, Kiltoom, and St. Mary was 19,661. Nearly all speak English and Irish; but the vernacular language seems to be on the decline. The inhabitants maintain many antient customs. The parish of St. Mary is a rectory and vicarage in the diocese of Meath; that of Kiltoom a vicarage ecclesiastically united with the vicarage of Camma, both in the diocese of Elphin; that of St. Peter is a perpetual curacy, also in the diocese of Elphin. The river Shannon supplies a variety of fish. Pike, trout, bream, a few salmon in the season, perch, and eels, are taken; the two latter in great abundance. Eels are sent in considerable quantity to Dublin. ATHLONE, EARL OF. [See GINKELL.] part of Perthshire, in Scotland, formerly one of the here ditary jurisdictions into which many parts of Scotlan were divided. It is bounded on the N. by Badenoch ir Inverness-shire; on the N.W. and W. by Lochaber, alsc in that county; on the S. by Breadalbane and Strathmore in Perthshire; on the E. by Forfarshire; and on the N.E. by Mar in Aberdeenshire. Its precise limit are not known, and its dimensions are variously_given, In the Appendix to Sir John Sinclair's General Report &c., of Scotland, it is estimated at 450 square miles. The face of the country is very mountainous, and con tains a part of the great Grampian chain; some of the mountains are of considerable height-Cairn Gowr, 3690 feet, and Scarsoch, between Athol and Badenoch, 3390 The mountains are intersected by narrow glens, wa tered by rapid rivulets. These, by their junction, form the rivers Edendon, Bruar, and Tilt, which fall, in the order in which their names occur, into the river Garry. This, in turn, becomes a tributary of the Tumel, which flows alon the south part of the district into the Tay. The whole district of Athol is included in the basin of the last-named river (the principal in Scotland), for the Airdle water, which carries off the streams of the eastern parts, falls into_the Ericht, this into the Isla, and this again into the Tay The chief lochs are Loch Rannoch, about nine miles lor and a mile broad, surrounded by finely-wooded scenery Loch Ericht, on the boundary between Perth and Inverness-shires, about fourteen miles long, and, on an average, three-fourths of a mile broad, in the heart of a mountainous, bleak, and almost uninhabited country. In a thicket on its banks, the young Chevalier concealed himself after the battle of Culloden. Loch Lydoch, which is on the borders of Argyleshire and Perthshire, can scarcely be considered as belonging to Athol: it is about twelve miles long and of varying breadth. Loch Tumel and Loch Garry are about the same length, viz., three or four miles; but the former has about a mile breadth, while the latter has only half that dimension. Streams connect Loch Lydoch and Loch Ericht with Loch Rannoch, and the river Tumel flows from the latter, through Loch Tumel, to the Tay. Loch Garry is near the source of the river of the same name. The hills were formerly clothed with timber of various kinds, but the quantity of this is much reduced, and wood is now found only in the most sheltered places. It was formerly one of the best hunting districts in Scotland; but with the diminution of the native forests, the herds of deer have diminished also. The hills are now, in a great degree, devoted to the pasturage of sheep and highland cattle. However, a good number of red deer still remain, especially in the neighbourhood of the duke of Athol's domains about Blair Athol, where the Forest of Athol, containing about 100,000 English acres, is set apart for them, and kept free from all intrusion of men or cattle, except when any parties are permitted to engage in deer-stalking. Fallow deer, in a state approaching to that of nature, are found on the south side of the range of bleak and commonly naked hills which separate Badenoch from Athol. They are rarely seen on the summits, but generally in the gl.ns of Tilt and Bruar. In the glens by the side of the streams, strips of arable land are cultivated, and made to produce good crops of bear or big, oats, and potatoes. This district gives the title of Duke to a branch of the family of Murray; a name, however, little diffused in the district, where those of Stewart, Robertson, and Ferguson, are much more prevalent. In Athol is the Pass of Killycrankic, celebrated for its picturesque beauties and for the victory and death of Grahame of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, who fell in maintaining the cause of the house of Stuart, on the 17th July, 1689. Glen Tilt, along which a principal branch of the river Tay pursues it course for about ten miles above Blair Athol, is to the geologist, classic ground; the observations which Dr. Hutton first made on the granitic veins exposed in that valley form no unimportant part of the Plutonic theory. A detailed account of the geological appearances which present themselves in this interesting spot has been drawn up by Dr. M'Culloch, and is published in the third volume of the Transactions of the Geological Society. Lord Webb Seymour's description, which is no less elaborate was drawn up nearly at the same time and may be seen in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. ATHOS a mountain at the extremity of the long peninsula which projects from Chalcidice, and separates the Gulfs of Contessa and Monte Santo, on the coast of Macedonia. The name Athos was properly applied to the whole mountainous peninsula, which is joined to the mainland by the low flat isthmus near the site of Acanthus. (Herod. vii. 22.) It is now known to the Franks by the name of Monte Santo, and to the Greeks as Ayion-oros, both implying 'holy mountain. This appellation it has obtained from the number of monasteries, convents, chapels, and other sacred spots scattered round its sides. Some of the monasteries, of which there are twenty-six, are enclosed by high turreted walls, having rather the appearance of fortified towns than the abode of men devoted to the peaceful exercise of religion, and are provided with the means of defence and offence in several pieces of ordnance with which they are armed. Amongst the largest are, Xenophon, Iveron, Vatopaidi, Panto-kratera, Ayia Laura, St. Anne, and St. Paul. The number of monks alone in these establishments is supposed to exceed 8000, exclusive of lay brethren, artificers, and labourers. Ayia Laura contains upwards of 600 monks, and is subject to a very singular regulation, which some travellers have erroneously stated to be general throughout the peninsula; we refer to the prohibition of any female, even of the animal kind, being admitted within its walls. Herodotus (vii. 22) enumerates five towns within the peninsula of Athos. The antiquity of these foundations is traced to the reign of Constantine; and authentic documents are still extant proving their existence in the time of Nicephorus Phocas, A.D. 961. The oath required from the monks is solemn and simple: to renounce for ever the world and its cares, considering themselves dead to all sublunary concerns, and to devote themselves to meditation, celibacy, retirement, and poverty. Though individually poor, there can be little doubt that the fraternities are by no means so; but it is their interest to conceal their riches, in order to avert the grasping avarice of the Porte. The principal stream of wealth flows from the spiritual source of religion, and consists in the obla 240 tions of pilgrims, who, in their peregrination to the chape. that crowns the sharp summit of the mountain, are expected to visit and contribute to each monastery on the tortuous road; yet the monks have not forgotten the temporal source of wealth from commerce, which is carried on chiefly with Salonica and Smyrna. This trade consists almost exclusively of fruits, of which the various species of nuts form the chief portion. The gardens of the monasteries, which are very extensive, produce both fruits and vegetables of all kinds, and are kept in the highest order, as well as the farms, called metochi, attached to the several monasteries. these are scattered over all the most fertile spots of the peninsula The Russians, Bulgarians, and Servians have each their respective monasteries; and caravans of from two to five hundred pilgrims arrive periodically from those countries, consuming every thing in the villages on their road. A visit to this sacred spot is of the same importance to the members of the Greek church as a pilgrimage to Mecca with Mohammedans. The chapel on the summit is, however, only reached by the more zealous; the road is extremely difficult, requiring the use of both hands and feet to accomplish the ascent. None of the monks reside permanently in this chapel. On the sides of the mountain are vast forests of pines, oaks, and chestnuts; the pines grow to an immense size. The appearance of the mountain is very magnificent, standing in lonely majesty at the termination of ridges of considerable elevation, and rising abruptly from the sea to a height of 6349 feet. The shores at its base are so steep that there is no anchorage for vessels, the small craft that trade here being obliged to keep constantly under sail while taking in their cargoes: within a quarter of a mile of the coast there are from 80 to 100 fathoms water. The dangers of the shores of Athos were experienced by the Persian fleet under Mardonius (Herod. vi. 44), which was com pletely destroyed by a storm on this coast. Although the monks themselves are shamefully ignorant, yet their monasteries possess libraries among which there Canal of Xerxes. GULF O F Russiko 100 Xeropotamo Panto Kratera. Stavro Nikitos. Iveron. Asimaopetias Dionyolou Ayios Paulos MOUNT ATHOS. C. Sakolera. 90' are said to be rare and valuable manuscripts, which are rapidly becoming a prey to worms and the damp, being left in a most neglected state. The Peak of Athos is in 40° 9' N. lat., 24° 20' E. long. The canal of Xerxes is still most distinctly to be traced all the way across the isthmus from the Gulf of Monte Santo to the Bay of Erso in the Gulf of Contessa, with the exception of about 200 yards in the middle where the ground bears no appearance of having ever been touched. But as there is no doubt of the whole canal having been excavated by Xerxes (see Herod. vii. 37, 122, and Thucyd. iv. 109), it is probable that the central part was afterwards filled up in order to allow a more ready passage into and out of the peninsula. In many places the canal is still deep, 3wampy at the bottom, and filled with rushes and other aquatic plants: the rain and small springs draining down into it from the adjacent heights afford at the Monte Santo end a good watering-place for shipping; the water (except in very dry weather) runs out in a good stream. The distance across is 2500 yards, which agrees very well with the breadth of twelve stadia assigned by Herodotus. The width of the canal appears to have been about 18 or 20 feet; the level of the earth nowhere exceeds 15 feet above the sea; the soil is a light clay. It is on the whole a very remarkable isthmus, for the land on each side (but more especially to the westward) rises abruptly to an elevation of 800 to 1000 feet. From this canal to the extremity of the peninsula it is all holy ground, and parcelled out into metochis.' About 1 mile to the westward of the north end of the canal is the modern village of Erso (Epoo), which gives name to the bay, situated on an eminence overhanging the beach: this is crowned by a remarkable mound forming a small natural citadel. On the side facing the sea is still visible part of an ancient Hellenic wall, about 150 yards in length, and from 20 to 25 feet in height; but there are no other vestiges of antiquity except the large square blocks of stone lying about the village, and forming foundations for their miserable hovels. These ruins can be no other than the antient Acanthus. The great mound would appear to be that mentioned in Herodotus (vii. 117), where he says that the Persian Artachaies, the superintendent of the canal, died while Xerxes was at Acanthus, and the whole army raised a mound for him.' Herodotus also informs us (vii. 125) that the army of Xerxes, on its march from Acanthus to Therme, was annoyed by lions, who seized the camels which carried provisions. The lion killing a bull appears on the reverse of the coin of Acanthus, here given. [Silver. British Museum.] ATHY, a town in the county of Kildare in Ireland, about thirty miles S.W. of Dublin. It is on both banks of the river Barrow, which, flowing to the southward, unites with the Suir, below Waterford, and, forming the harbour of that eity, flows into the sea. The Grand Canal from Dublin terminates here. The Barrow is navigable from hence to the sea, so as to form, with the canal, an inland water communication between Waterford and Dublin. Large quantities of corn are sold here weekly, and sent to Dublin. Athy is situated in a pleasant country, better suited to agriculture than pasturage, and is close to an antient ford, which early Irish history mentions as having been the scene of contest in domestic wars. Two monasteries erected on different sides of the river gave origin to the town. That on the west side was founded by Richard de St. Michael, lord of Rheban, in the early part of the thirteenth century, under the invocation of St. John or St. Thomas, for crouched friars: and that on the east side was founded in 1253, for Dominicans, by the families of Boisel and Hogan. There are some few remains of both these edifices. Gerald, earl of Kildare, erected a castle about 1506, at the foot of the bridge over the Barrow at Athy, that it might serve to secure the English pale. This castle was repaired and enlarged by one William White, about 1575 and obtained from him the name of White's Castle. One tower still remains. Athy was incorporated by charter of James I., and is governed by a recorder, sovereign, town-clerk, and two bailiffs. It sent two members to the Irish parliament, and was under the influence of the duke of Leinster. It is now alternately with Naas the assize-town for the county of Kildare; and the remaining tower of the castle already noticed is used as a prison and is an appendage to the county gaol of Naas. The population, in 1831, was 4494. There is a parish school for about ninety children (boys and girls), supported partly by subscription and partly by the Kildare Place Society; and a catholic free school, in which about 240 children of both sexes are instructed, is supported by sub. scription. Athy is in three parishes, Reban or Churchtown, St. Mchael, and St. John (the last being a chapelry), which, with others, form an ecclesiastical union in the diocese of Dublin and Glandelagh, and in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. The church, which is in the parish of St. Michael, was built about 1740, and is in good repair. The population of the whole union in 1831 was 6352. The county court-house was erected some time after the church, and the barrack about thirty years afterwards. There are six fairs in the year. Athy was burnt by the Irish in 1308, and in 1315 plundered by the Scots under Robert Bruce. ATKYNS, SIR ROBERT, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas during the reign of Charles II., and Lord Chief Baron after the revolution, was an eminent and learned lawyer, much distinguished for his attachment to popular rights and for the uprightness and independence of his conduct during a period of judicial profligacy and subserviency. He was descended from an antient and opulent family in Gloucestershire; and it has been remarked as a singular circumstance, that for more than 300 years consecutively, some member of this family always presided in one of the superior courts of law. His father, Sir Edward Atkyns, was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas during the Commonwealth, and shared with Hale, Rolle, Wyndham, and other judges, the merit of the various improvements in the administration of the law which took place at that period. Immediately after the Restoration, Sir Edward Atkyns was named as one of the judges in the special commission for the trial of the regicides, and appointed a Baron of the Exchequer, in which latter office he continued till his death, which took place in 1669, at the age of 82. The exact date of Sir Robert Atkyns's birth has not been ascertained; but there is no doubt that he was born in the course of the year 1621. He received the rudiments of his education at his father's house in Gloucestershire, and was afterwards entered at Baliol College, Oxford. After spending several years at the University, he removed for the completion of his professional studies to Lincoln's Inn, of which society his father had been a member. Of his history and conduct during the Commonwealth, no particulars have been preserved; but as he was made a Knight of the Bath, with many persons of distinction, at the coronation of Charles II., it is probable that with his father he had attached himself to the moderate party in the profession during that troublesome period. He was returned to the first parliament of Charles II. for the borough of East Looe, and continued to hold his seat till he was raised to the Bench; and from the frequent mention of his name on Committees, and in the general business of the House, he appears to have devoted much of his time to parliamentary duties. Long before his appointment to the Bench he had acquired extensive practice and a high reputation at the bar. In 1661 he was chosen recorder of Bristol; and in the early part of the year 1672 he was made a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, having been for some time before SolicitorGeneral to the Queen. In his judicial station he maintained his general character for learning and independence, though, from his language and conduct on the trials of the Jesuit priests and other persons charged with the Popish Plot in 1679, he appears to have partaken of the delusion which pervaded the country respecting that transaction, and to have played his part in the disgraceful trage lies at that time enacted in Westminster Hall. In the year 1680, however, the conduct of the court party, who were then preparing the way by the corruption of the judges for the introduction of arbitrary measures, drove him from the bench. Whether he was displaced by the crown, or whether he voluntarily resigned a situation which he could not retain without sacrificing his independ ence, is uncertain; but in his evidence before a cominittee | Atkyns not being alluded to as having taken any part in of the House of Commons previously to the impeachment the proceedings. He may, however, have prepared the of Sir William Scroggs, he charges the chief justice with argument for the occasion, which he afterwards published, having made an ill representation to the King of some ex- although he did not deliver it in court. pressions he had used in favour of the right of petitioning. (Commons Journals, Dec. 23, 1680.) A circumstance occurred in the year 1682, which eventually induced Sir Robert Atkyns to resign his office of recordes of Bristol. Much dissension prevailed among the members of the corporation, and a contested election of members for the city to serve in the Oxford parliament, on which occasion Sir Robert Atkyns was an unsuccessful candidate in opposition to the mayor, tended not a little to inflame the violence of party spirit. It happened shortly afterwards that he was present and voted at the election of an alderman, when an individual obnoxious to the mayor was chosen. The meeting at which this election took place, though attended by a majority of the aldermen, was assembled without a legal summons from the mayor and against his wishes; upon which, the mayor and the rest of the corporation preferred an indictment for a riot, at the quarter-sessions, against Sir Robert Atkyns and two other persons who were present at the election. The case having been removed into the King's Bench, was tried at the Bristol summer assizes, in 1682, and the defendants were found guilty; upon which, Sir Robert Atkyns in the ensuing term personally appeared in court and moved in arrest of judgment. His argument on this occasion, which is fully reported in the third volume of Modern Reports, p. 4, was temperate, forcible, and effective, and the Court of King's Bench arrested the judgment upon a technical error in the indictment; but Atkyns, by the advice of Chief Justice Pemberton, and his brother Sir Edward Atkyns, then one of the barons of the Exchequer, immediately resigned his recordership; which was, in fact, the only object of the prosecution. On leaving the bench in the early part of the year 1680, Sir Robert Atkyns withdrew from all public occupation to his seat in Gloucestershire, where he lived for some years in great seclusion, keeping no correspondence, as he himself says, about public affairs, and interfering in no degree with politics. It is clear, however, from his writings, that during his retirement he viewed with deep interest the political transactions of the time; and he cannot be supposed to have been indifferent to the desperate course which the government were pursuing. In 1683, when the memorable trial of Lord William Russel took place, some friends and relations of that unfortunate gentleman applied to Sir Robert Atkyns for his advice and direction respecting the management of his defence. With this requisition he readily complied, and furnished the accused with a detailed note of such points of law and fact as he might legally and prudently insist upon on his trial. After the revolution he published consecutively two pamphlets, entitled A Defence of Lord Russel's Innocency, in which he argues against the sufficiency of the indictment and the evidence, and justifies the reversal of the attainder, with great force of language and solidity of reasoning. His letter of advice respecting Lord Russel's defence, together with a letter containing a criticism on the proceedings of the trial, and likewise his two pamphlets on the same subject, are published amongst his Parliamentary and Political Tracts. In the year 1689 he published a tract, entitled The Power, Jurisdiction, and Privilege of Parliament, and the Antiquity of the House of Commons, asserted. The occasion of this tract was the prosecution of Sir William Williams by the attorneygeneral, for having, as speaker of the House of Commons, and by express order of the House, directed Dangerfield's Narrative to be printed. The object of Atkyns's argument, which displays much research and great legal and historical learning, was to show that this was entirely a question of parliamentary jurisdiction, of which the Court of King's Bench ought not to take cognizance. It is said by Mr. Howell in his account of Sir William Williams's case in the thirteenth volume of the State Trials, p. 1380, that the case was originally argued for the defendant by Sir Robert Atkyns in 1686, who volunteered his assistance in conducting it, as one which concerned every commoner in England, although he had so entirely retired from the profession that he was obliged to borrow a gown to appear in court. It is probable that this anecdote is founded upon a mistake, Poliexfen and Jones being mentioned as the defendant's counsel in contemporary reports, and Sir Robert Sir Robert Atkyns was returned to the only parliamen called by James II., as representative of the county of Gloucester; but he does not appear to have taken at that time any active part in the debates. In the reign of James II. he composed another legal argument, the subject of which was the king's power to dispense with penal statutes, and which was suggested by the well-known case of Sir Edward Hales. In this treatise, he considers at large the doctrine of the king's dispensing power. It is clearly and candidly written, and the truth of the reasoning against the royal prerogative contended for by the judges in Hales's case will hardly be denied at the present day. The precise part performed by Sir Robert Atkyns in promoting the revolution cannot be ascertained; but his known political opinions, his intimate connexion with the principal actors in that event, and the marks of distinction bestowed upon him by the new government, render it highly probable that he was not a passive spectator of the change. In the month of April, 1689, he was appointed chief baron of the Exchequer, Sir John Holt being at the same time made chief justice of the King's Bench, and Sir Henry Pollexfen chief justice of the Common Pleas. In the latter part of the same year he was chosen speaker of the House of Lords, and continued to hold that office until the great seal was given to Lord Somers in 1693. During the long vacation in the following year, Sir Robert Atkyns, being then seventy-four years of age, signified his intention of finally retiring from public life: attempts were made by the government to induce him to continue on the bench, in consequence of some difficulty respecting his successor; but he adhered to his determination, and retired to his seat at Saperton Hall, near Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died early in the year 1709, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years In 1784 his published writings were collected into one volume, under the title of Parliamentary and Political Tracts. Early in life he married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Dacres of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, by whom he had a son, Robert, who was knighted upon a visit of Charles II. to Bristol soon after the Restoration, and who was the author of the History of Gloucestershire. ATLANTA (in Zoology), a genus of the heteropodous mollusca of Lamarck, which Cuvier places next to carinaria. The animal is very small, and the shell very delicate. Lamanon thought that he had discovered, in one of these shells, the original of the fossil ammonites, or cornua Ammonis, which, however, must have belonged to the class of cephalopodous mollusks, or cuttle-like animals. Atlanta inhabits the Indian seas. [See HETEROPODA.] Lesueur describes another marine genus, Atlas, which must not be confounded with the above. Atlas has no shell; and Cuvier confesses his inability to class it, 'so confused,' says he, is the description.' De Blainville thinks that it belongs to the same family as Gasteroptera, and places it accordingly under Akera, though he confesses that it is not entirely known. ATLANTES ( Arλavre), so called by the Greeks, probably, from the well-known fable of Atlas supporting the heavens. This is a term applied to figures or half figures of men used in the place of columns or pilasters, to sustain an entablature: they are called also Telamones, a word of doubtful derivation. In the temple of Jupiter Olympius, at Agrigentum, restored by Mr. Cockerell, and described in |