the fatigue, he resigned it to Holobolus. In 1272, he sat as one of the judges upon the cause of John Vecchus, patriarch of Constantinople. The year following he was sent to pope Gregory, to settle a peace and re-union between the two churches, which was accordingly concluded; and he swore to it, in the emperor's name, at the second council of Lyons, in 1274. He was sent ambassa dor to John prince of Bulgaria in 1282, and died soon after his return. His principal work is his "Historia Byzantina,” Gr. Lat. Paris, fol. 1651. This history, which he was well qualified to write, as he took an active part in public affairs, contains the history of about fifty-eight years; i. e. from 1203, when Baldwin, earl of Flanders, was crowned emperor, to 1261, when M. Palæologus put himself in the place of Baldwin II. A manuscript translation of it, by sir William Petty, was in Mr. Ames's collection. The original was found in the east by Douza, and first published in 1614; but the Paris edition is superior, and now very scarce. His theological writings were never printed. His son Constantine succeeded him as grand logothete, and was called by the Greeks, the younger Metaphrastes, from his having written the lives of some of the saints in the manner of Simeon Metaphrastes. There is little else in his history that is interesting.'

ACTON. See ATTO.

!

ACTUARIUS (JOHN). The name Actuarius was given to all the court physicians of Constantinople, although the subject of this article is the only one known by it. His father's name was Zacharias. Authors are not agreed as to the time in which he lived. Wolfgang Justus places him in the eleventh century; Moreau in the twelfth; Fabricius in the thirteenth, and Lambecius in the fourteenth. He was the first Greek author who recommended the use of cassia, senna, manna, and other mild purgatives, and the first who. mentions distilled waters. He is reckoned superior to the Arabian physicians, but inferior to the great physicians of his nation. He wrote: 1. A work on Therapeutics," in six books, of which there is no Greek edition; but a Latin translation by Henry Mathisius of Bruges, entitled "Methodi Medendi libri Sex," Venice, 4to, 1554; Paris, 1566, 8vo. The work was composed by Actuarius for the use of an ambassador in the north.

1 Gen. Dict.-Fab. Bibl. Græc, vol. VI. p. 448.-Dict. Bibliog.-Ward's Gresham Professors.

2. Two books on "Animal Spirits," of which Goupil published a Greek edition, Paris, 1557, 8vo, with a Latin version by Mathisius. This was reprinted by Fischer, Gr. and Lat. Leipsic, 1774, 8vo, with the addition of two books of Actuarius on regimen. 3. Seven books " On. Urines," of which there is no Greek edition; but Ambrose Levon de Nole published a Latin version, 1519, 4to. and this was revised by Goupil, illustrated with notes, and reprinted under the title "De Urinis libri septem.". Paris, 1548, 8vo; Basil, 1558, 8vo; Utrecht, 1670, 8vo. 4. A Treatise on the "composition of Medicines," with the commentaries of John Ruellius; but this is little more than the fifth and sixth books of the Therapeutics. The medical writings of our author were collected and printed, Paris, 1526, 8vo; and again in 1556. In 1567, Henry Stephens published an edition of the whole of his works, fol. translated by different authors among the "Medica artis Principes." We have also "Actuarii opera," Paris, 8vo; Leyden, 1556, 3 vols. 12mo. There are some of his works in many libraries which remain in manuscript.

1

ACUNA (CHRISTOPHER), a Spanish Jesuit and missionary, was born at Burgos, 1597. He was sent on a mission to the American Indians, and on his return in the year 1641, published in Spanish, by permission of the king, "Nuevo Descubrimiento del gran rio de las Amazones," 4to; but the projects expected from his discoveries respecting this river, were discountenanced afterwards by the house of Braganza, and Philip IV. ordered all the copies of this curious work to be destroyed, so that for many years two only were known to exist; one in the Vatican library, and another in the possession of Marin Leroi de Gomberville, who translated it into French, and published it, under the title of "Relation de la riviere des Amazones," Paris, 1682, 2 vols. 12mo, with a curious dissertation; but some passages of the text are not very faithfully translated. This was afterwards reprinted in the second volume of Wood's Rogers's Voyage round the world. Acuna went to the East Indies some time after the publication of his work, and is supposed to have died at Lima about or soon after 1675.2

ACUNA (FERNANDO DE), a Spanish poet, born at Madrid in the beginning of the sixteenth century, was at

1 Biographie Universelle. Gen. Dict.-Moreri.-Fab. Bibl. Græc. Biographie Universelle.Moreri.

first remarkable for his military talents in the service of Charles V. but more so afterwards for his poetical merit, which has been extolled by Louis Zapata and Lope de Vega. His first attempt was a translation of Olivier de la Marche's "Chevalier deliberè," under the title of "El Cavallero determinando;" to which he added an entire book of his own composition, Antwerp, 1555, 8vo. He also composed in Italian verse, sonnets, eclogues, and other smaller pieces, in which the thoughts are natural, and the expression elegant. He succeeded in translating Ovid in verse of nine syllables, which the Spaniards consider as the most difficult in their poetry; and before his death he had begun a translation of Roland from Boyardo, and added four chants, which were thought equal to the original. His translation of the "Chevalier deliberè" was reprinted at Salamanca, 1575, with alterations and additions. He died at Grenada in 1580; and in 1591, a collection of his pieces was published at Salamanca, "Varias Poesias."'

ACUSILAS, or ACUSILAUS, a Greek historian, the son of Cabas, born at Argos, lived, according to Josephus, a little before the expedition of Darius against Greece, and near the time when Cadmus the Milesian wrote the first prose history. Acusilas' work was entitled "Genealogies," as they related to the chief families of Greece. Many authors quote this work, but the only fragments preserved are added to those of Pherecydes by M. Sturz, printed at Gera, 1798, 8vo. ?

ADAIR (JAMES), an English lawyer, and sometime recorder of London, was born in that city, and educated at Peter-house, Cambridge; where he took the degree of B. A. 1764, and of M. A. 1767. After prosecuting his lawstudies, he was admitted to the bar, and began to distinguish himself about the year 1770, when he took an active part in the political contentions of that period. Having sided with Mr. Wilkes in the memorable dispute between that gentleman and his co-patriot Mr. Horne, Mr. Wilkes spoke of him at political meetings in such a manner as to draw the public eye upon him; and in 1779 he was chosen recorder of London, although not without a contest with his opponent Mr. Howarth. This situation he retained for some years, while his advancement at the bar was rapid,

Biographie Universelle.

2 Ibid.-Dict. Hist.

and highly honourable to his talents. The duties of the recordership he discharged with much ability, strict justice, and humanity. The situation, however, was rendered in some degree irksome by the changes of political sentiment which had taken place among his constituents, the members of the corporation. When he was chosen into this office, the city was out of humour with the court, and Mr. Adair probably owed his election to his being reputedly of Wilkes's party, who was still the idol of the city. A great revolution, however, took place, when the coalition-administration (that of lord North and Mr. Fox) was overthrown. Mr. Pitt and his friends, and by consequence the King and court, became highly popular in the city, while Mr. Adair retained his old opinions, took the part of the dismissed ministers, and became a zealous assertor of the whig principles which were then divulged from a newly-erected club, called the Whig club. This could not please his city friends; although such was his impartiality and integrity, that no fault could be found with the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office. The Common-council, however, requiring a closer attendance at their courts than he thought requisite, or was perhaps consistent with his numerous professional engagements in the court of Cominon pleas, he chose to resign the recordership in 1789; and upon this occasion received the thanks of the Court of Aldermen, and the freedom of the city in a gold box of one hundred guineas value, for his able and upright conduct in that office; and he was ordered to be retained, with the attorney and solicitorgeneral, in all causes in which the city was concerned.

In the parliament of 1780 he sat as member for Cockermouth, but afterwards for Higham Ferrars. He was also one of his majesty's serjeants at law, and was rapidly advancing in his profession, when the revolutionary principles of France, making great progress in this kingdom, alarmed the minds of every well-wisher to, the constitutional monarchy. Mr. Adair, among others of high rank and weight, now withdrew from all connection with the Whig club; but, not before he had zealously promoted the subscription which some noblemen ancl gentlemen set on foot to purchase an annuity for Mr. Fox. When the trials of Hardy, Tooke, &c. and others accused of high treason, were instituted in 1794-5, Mr. Adair a ppeared as one of the counsel for the crown, and was allowed to have ac

quitted himself with great ability. In 1798, when the country was menaced with threats of invasion, volunteer offers of service were made to government throughout the whole kingdom, and London and its environs raised a force of about twelve thousand men, fully armed, equipped, and trained at their own expence. Mr. Adair, although his age might have formed a sufficient excuse, thought proper to join this patriot band; and, it is thought, fell a sacrifice to the fatigues attending the discipline. The day his corps returned from shooting at a target near London, July 21, 1798, he was seized with a paralytic stroke, while walking along Lincoln's-inn, and died in a few hours. He was interred on the 27th in Bunhill-fields' burying-ground, near the ashes of his father and mother. At his death, he was king's prime serjeant at law, M. P. for Higham Ferrars, and chief justice of Chester.

Mr. Adair was not distinguished for luminous talents, but was esteemed an able constitutional lawyer; his eloquence was vigorous and impressive, but his voice was harsh, and manner uncourteous. He is said to have been the author of "Thoughts on the dismission of Officers, civil and military, for their conduct in Parliament," 1764, 8vo; which we much doubt, as at that time he had but just taken his bachelor's degree, and was probably too young to interest himself much in the contests of the times. On better authority, we find attributed to him, "Observations on the power of alienation in the Crown before the first of queen Anne, supported by precedents, and the opinions of many learned judges; together with some remarks on the conduct of administration respecting the case of the duke of Portland," 1768, 8vo. '

ADAIR (JAMES MAKITTRICK), a physician, a native of Scotland, but many years settled at Bath, was afterwards physician to the commander in chief, and the colonial troops, of the island of Antigua, and subsequently of the Leeward islands, and also one of the judges of the court of King's Bench and Common pleas in Antigua. His abilities as a physician have never been questioned, and his private character is said to have been in some respects amiable; but he possessed an irritability of temper, joined, as it generally is, with extraordinary self-conceit, which occasioned his being constantly engaged in disputes, and

1 Gent. Mag. vol. LXVIII.-Almon's Anecdotes, vol. I. p. 83.