Volume I Part 24 (1/2)
ASCRae'AN SAGE, or _Ascraean poet_, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him ”The Old Ascraean.”
Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae Ascraeo quos ante seni.
_Ecl._ vii. 70.
AS'EBIE (3 _syl_.), Irreligion personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros (_idolatry_), Phar'makeus (3 _syl_.) (_witchcraft_), Haeret'icus, and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, _asebeia_, ”impiety.”)
ASEL'GES (3 _syl_.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four sons of Anag'nus (_inchast.i.ty_), his three brothers being Maechus (_adultery_), p.o.r.nei'us (_fornication_), and Acath'arus. Seeing his brother p.o.r.neius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (_maidenly chast.i.ty_), Aselges rushes forward to avenge his death, but the martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i'
the air ”that he hardly knew whither his course was bent.” (Greek, _aselges_, ”intemperate, wanton.”)--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).
AS'EN, strictly speaking, are only the three G.o.ds next in rank to the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the Scandinavian deities generally.
ASHBURTON (_Mary_), heroine of _Hyperion_, by H.W. Longfellow (1839).
ASH'FIELD (_Farmer_), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted, n.o.ble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is ”Behave pratty,” and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy.
_Dame Ashfield_, the farmer's wife, whose _bete noire_ is a neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel too.
_Susan Ashfield_, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.--Thom. Morton, _Speed the Plough_ (1764-1838).
ASH'FORD (_Isaac_), ”a wise, good man, contented to be poor.”--Crabbe, _Parish Register_ (1807).
ASHPENAZ, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to be at once feared and despised.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).
ASH'TAROTH, a general name for all Syrian G.o.ddesses. (See ASTORETH.)
[_They_] had general names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth: those male, These feminine.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 422 (1665).
ASH'TON (_Sir William_), the lord keeper of Scotland, and father of Lucy Ashton.
_Lady Eleanor Ashton_, wife of sir William.
_Colonel Sholto Douglas Ashton_, eldest son of sir William.
_Lucy Ashton_, daughter of sir William, betrothed to Edgar (the master of Ravenswood); but being compelled to marry Frank Hayston (laird of Bucklaw), she tries to murder him in the bridal chamber, and becomes insane. Lucy dies, but the laird recovers.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
(This has been made the subject of an opera by Donizetti, called _Lucia di Lammermoor_, 1835.)
ASIA, the wife of that Pharaoh who brought up Moses. She was the daughter of Mozahem. Her husband tortured her for believing in Moses; but she was taken alive into paradise.--Sale, _Al Koran_, xx., note, and Ixvi., note.
Mahomet says, ”Among women four have been perfect: Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife; and Fatima, his own daughter.”
AS'IR, the twelve chief G.o.ds of Scandinavian mythology--Odin, Thor, Baldr, Niord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and Forseti.
Sometimes the G.o.ddesses--Frigga, Freyja, Idu'na, and Saga, are ranked among the Asir also.
AS'MADAI (3 _syl.)_ the same as As-mode'us _(4 syl.)_ the l.u.s.tful and destroying angel, who robbed Sara of her seven husbands _(Tobit_ iii.
8). Milton makes him one of the rebellious angels overthrown by Uriel and Ra'phael. Hume says the word means ”the _destroyer_.”--_Paradise Lost_, vi 365 (1665).
ASMODE'US _(4 syl.)_, the demon of vanity and dress, called in the Talmud ”king of the devils.” As ”dress” is one of the bitterest evils of modern life, it is termed ”the Asmodeus of domestic peace,” a phrase employed to express any ”skeleton” in the house of a private family.