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by Yonne, S. by Cote-d'Or, and E. by Haute-Marne. It con- | of his Bergère Châtelaine, an opera in three acts.
sists of a portion of Champagne and Vallage, with a small
part of Burgundy, and has an area of 2317 square miles.
Its general inclination from S.E. to N.W. presents little
variety of surface, the only elevations being a double line
of hills along the course of the Seine, never exceeding 1150
feet in height. The department belongs to the Seine
basin, and is watered by that river and its tributaries, the
Ource, the Sarce, the Melda, and the Aube, &c. The
climate is comparatively mild, but damp. Heavy rains fall
at the beginning of winter. In the N. and N.W. the soil
is dry and sterile; but the S. and E. districts are very
fertile, particularly the valleys, which are admirably adapted
for the cultivation of the vine. About two-thirds of the
surface consists of arable land, and the agricultural con-
dition of the country is improving The principal produc-
tions are wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and wine, of which last
about one-half is exported. In minerals Aube is one of
the poorest departments in France; a few iron mines have
been worked, but with insignificant results. Chalk and
clay are abundant; and there are also quarries of marble,
lithographic stone, and building stone. The principal
manufacture is hosiery; but the department also produces
glass, earthenware, paper, sugar, and ropes, and has a large
number of distilleries, tile-works, and dye-works, and an
oil factory. Among the celebrated men connected with
Aube are Villehardouin, Pope Urban IV., Mignard, Danton,
Beugnot, and Ulbach, The capital is Troyes, and the
arrondissements are Troyes, Arcis-sur-Aube, Nogent-sur-
Seine, Bar-sur-Aube, and Bar-sur-Seine. Population in
1872, 255,687.

This was the first in a long series of brilliant successes, terminating only in the eighty-sixth year of his age. In 1822 began his long association with M. Scribe, who shared with him, as librettist, the success and growing popularity of his compositions. The opera of Leicester, in which they first worked together (1823), is remarkable also as showing the first evidences of the influence of Rossini on Auber's style. This style was, however, distinctly original, and was easily recognisable. A phrase of Auber, said his friend Théodore Gautier, is not the phrase of any one else. His characteristics are lightness and facility, sparkling vivacity, grace and elegance, clear and piquant melodiousness, these marking him out as a true son of France, and making him her darling singer. Depth of thought, elevation of sentiment, intensity of passion, inspiration which grasps the sublime and the infinite-these are not in Auber.

AUBENAS, a town of France, department of Ardèche, near the river of that name, 14 miles S. W. of Privas. It is beautifully situated on the slope of a hill, but its streets generally are crooked and narrow. It is surrounded by a ruinous wall flanked with towers, and has an old Gothic castle, now occupied by the municipal authorities. As the centre of the silk trade of the surrounding district, it is a place of considerable traffic, and there is besides a large local manufacture of silk and woollen goods. Population, 7694. AUBER, DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT, musical composer, the chief representative of the French school, was the son of a Paris printseller. He was born at Caen, in Normandy, on the 29th January 1782, while his mother was on a visit to that town. Destined by his father to the pursuits of trade, he was allowed, nevertheless, to indulge his fondness for music, and learnt to play at an early age on several instruments, his first teacher being the Tyrolean composer, Ladurner. Sent at the age of twenty to London to complate his business training, he returned after the rupture of the peace of Amiens. He had already attempted musical composition, and at this period produced several concertos pour basse, in the manner of the violoncellist, Lamare, in whose name they were published. The praise given to his concerto for the violin, which was played at the Conservatoire by Mazas, encouraged him to undertake the resetting of the old comic opera, Julie. Conscious by this time of the need of regular study of his chosen art, he placed himself under the severe training of Cherubini, by which the special qualities of the young composer were admirably developed. In 1813 he made his début in an opera in one act, the Séjour Militaire, the unfavourable reception of which put an end for some years to his attempts as composer. But the failure in business and death of his father, in 1819, compelled him once more to turn to music, and to make that which had been his pastime the serious employment of his life. He produced another opera, the Testament et les Billets-doux, which was no better received than the former. But he persevered, and the next year was rewarded by the complete success

Devoted by preference to the comic opera, as the most fitting field for his talents, he ventured on more than one occasion to pass into the field of grand opera, and in his La Muette de Portici, familiarly known as Masaniello, he achieved his greatest musical triumph. Produced at Paris in 1828, it rapidly became a European favourite, and its overture, songs, and choruses were everywhere heard. The duet, Amour sacré de la patrie was welcomed like a new Marseillaise; sung by Nourrit at Brussels in 1830, it became the signal for the revolution which broke out there. Among his other works, about fifty in all, the more important are-Fra Diavolo (1830), Lestocq (1834), L'Ambassadrice (1836), Le Domino Noir (1837), Le Lac des Fees (1839), Les Diamants de la Couronne (1841), Haydée (1847), Marco Spada (1853), and La Fiancée du roi de Garbe (1864). Official and other dignities testified the public appreciation of Auber's works. In 1829 he was elected member of the Institute, in 1830 he was named director of the court concerts, and in 1842 he succeeded Cherubini as director of the Conservatoire. He was also a member of the Legion of Honour from 1825, and attained the rank of commander in 1847. One of Auber's latest compositions was a march, written for the opening of the International Exhibition in London in 1862. His fascinating manners, his witty sayings, and his ever ready kindness and beneficence won for him a secure place in the respect and love of his fellow-citizens. He remained in his old home during the German siege of Paris, 1870-71, but the miseries of the Communist war which followed sickened his heart, and he at last refused to touch his beloved instrument, or to take food. He died May 13, 1871. (W.L.R.C.)

AUBIN, a town of France, in the department of Aveyron and arrondissement of Villefranche, principally remarkable for its extensive mines of coal, sulphur, and alum. It also carries on an active trade in sheep, iron goods, &c. A church of the 12th century, with some remarkable sculpture, and the ruins of the castle of the counts of Rouergue, are still in existence. Population, 8863.

The name Aubin, or St Aubin, is one of the most frequent in France, being borne by upwards of fifty villages from the Pyrenees to Jersey.

AUBURN, the capital of Cayuga county, in the state of New York, on the railway between Albany and Buffalo, 174 miles W. of the former. The irregularity of the surface on which the city is built has prevented the complete carrying out of the rectangular arrangement of streets, which is so much in favour in the United States, but the thoroughfares are wide and lined with trees, and the houses for the most part well built. The principal public buildings are in Genesee Street. The most remarkable of the institutions is the state prison, founded in 1816, which is conducted on the "silent system," and usually contains upwards of 1000 prisoners, who are employed each in

the work to which he has been trained. Auburn also possesses a Presbyterian theological seminary, founded in 1821, an academy, five public free schools, sixteen churches, an orphan asylum, two opera houses, and several newspaper offices. The water-power supplied by the outlet of the neighbouring lake of Owasco is utilised in a number of manufactories. Cotton and woollen goods, carpets, agricultural implements. and other tools, paper, flour, and beer are the principal products.

AUBUSSON, a town of France, situated in a picturesque valley on the banks of the Creuse, in the department to which that river gives its name. It is said to have owed its origin to a number of Saracens, who, having escaped from the battle in which their nation was defeated by Charles Martel, were enticed by the beauty and convenience of the spot to establish themselves permanently there. It has long been famous for its carpets and tapestry, the art of weaving which was probably derived from those Eastern settlers, and it also manufactures common cotton and woollen goods, leather, tobacco, &c. Population, 6625.

AUCH, the ancient Climberrum or Augusta Auscorum, one of the most ancient cities of France, capital of the department of Gers. In Cæsar's time this was the chief town of the Ausci. In the 8th century it became the capital of Gascony; and when that district was divided into countships, was the capital of Armagnac. The site of the modern town does not exactly coincide with that of the ancient, being on the opposite (the left) bank of the river Gers. Auch was probably destroyed by the Saracens about 724 A.D., and was afterwards rebuilt in its present picturesque situation on the slope of a hill. On the opposite side of the river, and occupying the site of the ancient city, is a considerable suburb, which is connected with the town by a bridge; and communication between the lower and the upper town is afforded by long flights of steps. The streets, though narrow, are generally well built, and a fine promenade in the upper part of the town gives a magnificent view of the surrounding country. Auch is the seat of an archbishopric, which was founded in the 4th century, and gave, till the Revolution, the title of Primate of Aquitania to the holder of the see. It has tribunals of commerce and primary jurisdiction, a royal college, an agricultural society, a theological seminary, with a museum and an extensive library, a theatre, &c. The cathedral of St Mary, one of the most magnificent in France, was commenced in the reign of Charles VIII. (1489), and finished in that of Louis XV. It exhibits several styles of architecture, contains many elegant monuments, and is adorned with fine stained-glass windows and carved woodwork. The préfecture, formerly the archiepiscopal palace, is a vast and noble edifice. The principal manufactures are hats, various kinds of linen and cotton stuffs, leather, &c., and there is a considerable trade, especially in the brandies of Armagnac. Population in 1872, 13,087.

AUCHTERARDER, a town and parish of Scotland, county of Perth, 15 miles W.S.W. of Perth. The town consists of a single street about a mile in length. It was formerly a royal burgh, but is now disfranchised. Near it is an ancient castle, said to have been a hunting-seat of Malcolm Canmore. It was in connection with this parish that the ecclesiastical dispute arose which led to the Disruption in the Church of Scotland in 1843. Population of town in 1871, 2599.

AUCHTERMUCHTY, a royal burgh and parish of Scotland, county of Fife, 8 miles W.S.W. of Cupar. The town is irregularly built on an elevated site, and is divided by the Leverspool, a rapid streamlet which runs down its centre. The manufacture of linen is carried on. Population of burgh in 1871, 1082,

AUCKLAND, a province of New Zealand, consisting of the northern portion of North Island, and bounded for the most part on the S. by the 39th parallel of latitude. In the N.W. it runs out into a peninsula between 200 and 300 miles in length, with a very irregular coast-line, especially on the eastern side. The total area of the province i about 17,000,000 acres, of which nearly 11,275,000 are still in possession of the Maoris, who are, however, continually disposing of their claims to the Government. The surface of the province is of a very varied character, presenting wide and fertile plains, stretches of fern-heath and swamp, mountain ranges and isolated peaks, tracts of richly-wooded jungle, rocky plateaus, and districts of strange volcanic activity. All round the coast there are a large number of natural harbours, and the most of the interior is traversed by navigable streams. The principal river-system is that of the Waikato (or Rushing Water), which rises in the Taupo Lake, in the south of the province, forces its way though an extensive rocky table-land, flows onwards for about 35 miles through a rich but marshy basin, joins its waters with the Waipa (or Peaceful Water), its largest tributary, cuts a passage through the Taupiri range, and after traversing the fertile expanse of its lower basin, turns abruptly to the W. and falls into the sea about 35 miles S. of the city of Auckland. The value of the Waikato as a commercial highway is greatly lessened by its mouth being encumbered with sandbanks, that prevent the entrance of ships. To the E. of this river lies the valley of the Thames, fertile and well watered by several streams, and still further eastward extends the versant of the Bay of Plenty. The course of settlement has hitherto advanced for the most part along the valleys of the Waikato and the Thames,-Cambridge, about 104 miles S. of the city of Auckland, being the frontier station in the former, and Tapapa, a little further to the S. in the latter. Nearly the whole of the N.W. peninsula is occupied by a scattered population, and various flourishing townships are situated along the coast on all sides. In 1873 there were 3842 holdings in the province, and about 225,000 acres had been broken up. Hitherto the cultivation of the cereals has not proved sufficiently remunerative, though climate and soil are equally favourable, and the attention of the farmer has principally been turned to the rearing of the various descriptions of live stock, more especially sheep. The natural wealth of the province consists principally in its gold and timber. Coal has been found in several districts, and a few mines have been successfully worked, as Kawakawa (at the Bay of Islands), Drury, and Whangarei; but the most important deposits are comparatively undisturbed. 'It is believed that iron may eventually be found in considerable quantities, and various minerals have been pointed out in the interior by scientific travellers. The chief seats of the gold-diggings are the Coromandel peninsula and the Thames valley. quantity exported in 1871 was valued at £1,888,708. The most important timber tree is the kauri-pine, which is peculiar to Auckland, and does not grow further south than 37° 30'. It is of magnificent dimensions, and valuable, not only as the most extensively used building material, but on account of the fossil gum which is found wherever the kauri forest has been. This gum forms one of the chief articles of export, about 14,277 tons being the amount in the three years 1870, 1871, and 1872. There are various other trees of considerable value, such as the rimu, the kahikatca, and the totara. The timber trade, both domestic and foreign, is increasing in importance, and shipbuilding is extensively carried on. There are large districts overgrown with the phormium or New Zealand flax, and the right to cut it on the waste lands is granted by the Government at a low price. In 1873, 1497 tons

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of the prepared fibre, valued at £27,783, were exported, | besides a considerable quantity of manufactured rope. Those great necessities of commerce, roads and railways, are being constructed in various directions. A line is in course of formation from Auckland up the valley of the Waikato, as far as Newcastle, at the confluence of the Waipa, and a survey has been made for about 20 miles further. A road runs from Bowen, on the Bay of Plenty, across the country, through the wonderful lake district, with its boiling fountains, steam geysers, and mud-baths, round by the east coast of Taupo Lake, and over the highlands to Napier, in Hawke's Bay province. The history of Auckland was for long the history of New Zealand, and will be fully treated under that heading. (See NEW ZEALAND.)

For a descriptive account of a large part of the province, the reader is referred to Dr Hochstetter's valuable works, especially to his New Zealand, 1863. A very graphic sketch of some of the natural curiosities is furnished by Anthony Trollope in his Australia and New Zealand, vol. ii. AUCKLAND, the capital of the above province, is finely situated on an isthmus in the N.W. peninsula, on the S. shore of the Waitemata harbour, which is formed by an inlet of the Hauraki Gulf. Lat. 36° 51' S., long. 174° 50'. On the other side of the isthmus lies the harbour and town of Manukau, which serves as a supplementary port to the city. Auckland was founded in 1840 by Governor Hobson, and became a burgh in 1851. It was till 1865 the seat of the Government, which is now situated at Wellington. The city has a fine appearance, especially from the harbour, and is surrounded by a number of flourishing suburban villages, with several of which it is connected by railway. Among the public buildings in the city and neighbourhood may be mentioned the governor's house, the cathedral, St John's Episcopal college, about 4 miles distant, the Auckland college and grammar school, the Episcopal grammar school, in the suburb of Parnell, the provincial hospital, the provincial lunatic asylum, and the orphanage at Parnell. A wharf, 1690 feet in length, has been built opposite the centre of the city, and affords excellent accommodation for the gradually increasing traffic of the harbour. In 1872, 170 non-colonial vessels, with a tonnage of 54,257 tons, entered the port, besides a large number of coasting ships. There are registered at Auckland 167 sailing vessels and 20 steamships, most of them of provincial build. The population, which was 7989 in 1862, had increased by 1871 to 12,937 (with the suburbs to 18,000), and is now estimated at about 21,000.

AUCKLAND ISLANDS, a group discovered in 1806 by Captain Briscoe, of the English whaler "Ocean," about 180 miles S. of New Zealand, in lat. 50° 24', long. 166° 7' E. The islands, of volcanic origin, are very fertile, and are covered with forest. They were granted to the Messrs Enderby by the British Government as a whaling station, but the establishment was abandoned in 1852. (See Raynal's Auckland Islands, 1874.)

AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN, BARON, an eminent diplomatist and politician, third son of Sir Robert Eden, Bart., of West Auckland, was born in 1744. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and adopted the profession of the law. At the age of twenty-seven he resigned his practice at the bar, and engaged in political life as under-secretary to Lord Suffolk. By the favour of the duke of Marlborough, he obtained a seat for Woodstock, and soon gave proof of his ability in the House. He attached himself to Lord North's party, and after serving under Lord Carlisle on the unsuccessful commission to the colonists' in America, acted as secretary to that nobleman, when he held the post of viceroy in Ireland. During this time he had obtained the pffices of director and audi or of Greenwich Hospital, which

probably yielded him an income sufficient for carrying on his political career. In 1783 he took a leading part in negotiating the remarkable coalition between North and Fox, and was rewarded by being made vice-treasurer of Ireland. In 1784 he opposed Pitt's proposal for commercial reciprocity with Ireland, but in so doing contrived to separate himself to some extent from his own party, and shortly after accepted from Pitt the office of plenipotentiary at Paris. Here he successfully negotiated the important commercial treaty with France; and after his appointment as ambassador to Spain, he rendered valuable service in settling the dispute between the British and French Governments with regard to the affairs of Holland. In 1789 he was made an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Auckland, and in 1793 he was raised to the British peerage as Baron Auckland, of West Auckland, Durham. For three years, 1798-1801, he held office as postmaster-general. He died suddenly in 1814. In 1776 he married the sister of the first earl of Minto, by whom he had a large family. Besides numerous pamphlets on political matters of the day, Lord Auckland wrote a treatise on the Principles of the Penal Law, 1771. His political conduct has been frequently censured; he was a skilful diplomatist, and as a statesman was specially remarkable for his clear grasp of economic principles. His Journal and Correspondence, 4 vols. 1860-1862, published by his son, the bishop of Bath and Wells, throws considerable light on the political history of his time.

AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN, EARL OF, GovernorGeneral of India, born 20th August 1784, was the second son of the subject of the preceding notice. He completed his education at Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. His elder brother was drowned in the Thames in the following year; and in 1814, on the death of his father, he took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Auckland. He supported the Reform party steadily by his vote, and in 1830 was made president of the Board of Trade and master of the Mint. In 1834 he held office for a few months as first lord of the Admiralty, and in 1835 he was appointed Governor-General of India. He proved himself to be a painstaking and laborious legislator, and devoted himself specially to the improvement of native schools, and the expansion of the commercial industry of the nation committed to his care. These useful labours were interrupted in 1838 by the hostile movements of the Persians, which excited the fears not only of the Anglo-Indian Government but of the home authorities. Lord Auckland resolved to enter upon a war in Afghanistan, and on the 1st October 1838, published at Simla his famous manifesto, The early operations were crowned with success, and the Governor-General received the title of Earl of Auckland. But reverses followed quickly, and in the ensuing cam paigns the British troops suffered the most severe disasters. Lord Auckland had the double mortification of seeing his policy a complete failure, and of being superseded before his errors could be rectified. In the autumn of 1841 he was succeeded in office by Lord Ellenborough, and returned to England in the following year. In 1846 he was made first lord of the Admiralty, which office he held until his death, 1st January 1849. He died unmarried, and the earldom became extinct.

AUCTION, a mode of selling property by offering it to the highest bidder in a public competition. By 8 Vict. c. 15, the uniform duty of £10 per annum is imposed on every licence to carry on the business of auctioneer, but duties on sales by auction are abolished. It is the duty of an auctioneer to sell for the best price he can obtain, and his authority cannot be delegated to another unless by special permission of his employer. The auctioneer's name must be exhibited on some conspicuous place during the

lander a penalty of £20. Sales by auction usually | produce, consisting mainly of wheat, oats, rye, and Indian take place under certain conditions, which it is the duty of corn, considerably exceeds the consumption, and the vinethe auctioneer to read to the bidders before the sale yards yield an abundant supply of both white and red begins. To complete a sale by auction there must be a wines. Olives and almonds are also extensively cultivated, budding by, or on behalf of, a person capable of making and the honey of Aude is much esteemed. Besides impora contract, and an acceptance thereof by the auctioneer, aud tant manufactures of woollen and cotton cloths, combs, jet until the bidding is accepted both vendor and bidder are ornaments, and casks, there are paper-mills, distilleries, free, and may retract if they choose. If duc notice is tannerics, and extensive iron and salt works. The chic given, an agent may be employed to bid on behalf of the town is Carcassonne, and the department is divided into seller, but the employment of several bidders is improper, the four arrondissements of Carcassonne, Limoux, Narand if the sale is declared to be without reserve, any bidding bonne, and Castelnaudary. Population in 1872, 285,927. on the behalf of the seller will vitiate the sale. Pufing, AUDEBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE, a distinguished French it has been said, is illegal, even if there be only one puffer. naturalist and artist, was born at Rochefort in 1759. H On the other hand, any hindrance to a free sale, either by studied painting and drawing at Paris, and gained con a bidder deterring competitors from offering against him, siderable reputation as a miniature painter. In 1787 he or by an engagement among the competitors to refrain was employed to make drawings of some objects in a from bidding, in order to keep down the price of the goods natural history collection, and was also a contributor in and then share the profit, is a fraud upon the vendor. Two the preparation of the plates for Olivier's Histoire des persons, however, may agree not to bid against each other. Insectes. He thus acquired a taste for the study of natural Auctioneers are entitled by their licence to act as appraisers history, and devoted himself with great eagerness to the also. new pursuit. In 1800 appeared his first original work, L'Histoire Naturelle des Singes, des Makis, et des Galéopithèques, illustrated by 62 folio plates, drawn and engraved by himself. The colouring in these plates was unusually beautiful, and was laid on by a method devised by the author himself. Audebert died in 1800, but he had left complete materials for another great work, Histoire des Colibris, des Oiseaux-Mouches, des Jacamares, et des Promerops, which was published in 1802. 200 copies were printed in folio, 100 in large quarto, and 15 were printed with the whole text in letters of gold. Another work, left unfinished, was also published after the author's death, L'Histoire des Grimpereaux, et des Oiseaux de Paradis. The last two works also appeared together in two volumes with the title Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets metalliques, 1802.

AUDEUS, or AUDIUS, a reformer of the 4th century, by birth a Mesopotamian. He suffered much persecution from the Syrian clergy for his fearless censure of their irregular lives, and was expelled from the church, He was afterwards banished into Scythia, where he gained many followers and established the monastic system. He died there at an advanced age, about 370 A.D. The Audæans celebrated the feast of Easter on the same day as the Jewish Passover, and they were also charged with attributing to the Deity a human shape. They appear to have founded this opinion on Genesis i. 26.

AUDE, a southern department of France, forming part of the old province of Languedoc, bounded on the E. by the Mediterranean, N. by the departments of Hérault and Tarn, N.W. by Upper Garonne, W. by Ariége, and S. by that of Eastern Pyrenees. It lies between lat. 42° 40′ and 34° 30' N., and is 80 miles in length from E. to W., and 60 miles in breadth from N. to S. Area, 2341 square miles. The department of Aude is traversed on its western boundary from S. to N. by a mountain range of medium height, which unites the Pyrenees with the Southern Cevennes; and its northern frontier is occupied by the Black Mountains, the most western part of the Cevennes chain. The Corbières, a branch of the Pyrenees, runs in a S.W. and N.E. direction along the southern district. The Aude, its principal river, has almost its entire course in the department. Its principal affluents on the left are the Fresquel, Orbiel, Argent-Double, and Cesse; on the right, the Guette, Salse, and Orbieu. The canal of Lauguedoc, which unites the Atlantic with the Mediterranean, traverses the department from E. to W. The lowness of the coast causes a series of large lagunes, the chief of which are, those of Bages, Sigean, Narbonne, Palme, and Leucate. The climate is variable, and often sudden in its alterations. The wind from the N.W., known as the Cers, blows with great violence, and the sea breeze is often laden with pestilential effluvia from the lagunes. Various kinds of wild animals, as the chamois, bear, wild boar, wolf, fox, and badger, inhabit the mountains and forests; game of all kinds is plentiful; and the coast and lagunes abound in fish. Mines of iron, copper, lead, manganese, cobalt, and antimony exist in the department; and, besides the beautiful marbles of Cascastel and Caunes, there are quarries of lithographic stone, gypsum, limestone, and slate. The coal mines are for the most part abandoned. The mountains contain many mineral springs, both cold and thermal. The agriculture of the department is in a very flourishing condition. The meadows are extensive and well watered, and are pastured by numerous flocks and herds. The grain

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AUDITOR, a person appointed to examine the accounts
kept by the financial officers of the Crown, public corpora-
tions, or private persons, and to certify as to their accuracy.
The multifarious statutes regulating the audit of public
accounts have been superseded by the 29 and 30 Vict. c.
39, which gives power to the Queen to appoint a "comp
troller and auditor-general," with the requisite staff to
examine and verify the accounts prepared by the different
departments of the public service. In examining accounts
of the appropriation of the several supply grants, the comp-
troller and auditor-general "shall ascertain first whether
the payments which the account department has charged
to the grant are supported by vouchers or proofs of pay-
ments; and second, whether the money expended has been
applied to the purpose or purposes for which such grant
was intended to provide." The Treasury may also submit
certain other accounts to the audit of the comptroller-
general. All public moneys payable to the Exchequer are
to be paid to the "account of Her Majesty's Exchequer "
at the Bank of England, and daily returns of such payments
must be forwarded to the comptroller. Quarterly accounts
of the income and charge of the consolidated fund are to
be prepared and transmitted to the comptroller, who, in
case of any deficiency in the consolidated fund, may certify
to the bank to make advances. The accounts of local
boards, poor-law unions, &c., must be passed in a similar
manner by an official auditor. It is the duty of the auditor
to disallow all illegal payments, and surcharge them upon
the person making or authorising them; but such disallow-
ances may be removed by certiorari into the Court of
Queen's Bench, or an appeal may be made to the local
Government Board. In municipal corporations two
burgesses must be chosen annually as auditors of the
accounts.

AUDOUIN, JEAN VICTOR, a distinguished French | style. The Rape of the Sabines, after Poussin, is conentomologist, was born at Paris, April 27, 1797. He began sidered his masterpiece. the study of law, but was diverted from it by his strong predilection for natural history, which subsequently led him to enter the medical profession. In 1824 he was appointed assistant to Latreille in the entomological chair at the Paris museum of natural history, and succeeded him in 1833. He established in 1824, in conjunction with Dumas and Adolphe Brongniart, the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, to which he made numerous valuable contributions, generally in co-operation with M. Milne-Edwards. The greater part of his other papers are contained in the Transactions of the Entomological Society, of which he was one of the founders, and for many years president. In 1838 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. He died in 1841, more from the effects of mental than of bodily exhaustion. His principal work, Histoire des Insectes nuisibles à la Vigne, was continued after his death by Milne-Edwards and Blanchard, and published in 1842. AUDRAN, the name of a family of French artists and engravers, who for several generations were distinguished in the same line. The first who devoted himself to the art of engraving was Claude Audran, born 1592, and the last was Benoit, Claude's great-grandson, who died in 1712. The two most distinguished members of the family tre the following:

AUDRAN, GÉRARD, or GIRARD, the most celebrated French engraver, was the third son of Claude Audran, and was born at Lyons in 1640. He was taught the first principles of design and engraving by his father; and, following the example of his brother, went to Paris to perfect himself in his art. He there, in 1666, engraved for Le Brun Constantine's Battle with Maxentius, his Triumph, and the Stoning of Stephen, which gave great satisfaction to the painter, and placed Audran in the very first rank of engravers at Paris. Next year he set out for Rome, where he resided three years, and engraved several fine plates. That great patron of the arts, M. Colbert, was so struck with the beauty of Audran's works, that he persuaded Louis XIV. to recall him to Paris. On his return he applied himself assiduously to engraving, and was appointed engraver to the king, from whom he received great encouragement. In the year 1681 he was admitted to the council of the Royal Academy. He died at Paris in 1703. His engravings of Le Brun's Battles of Alexander are regarded as the best of his numerous works "He was," says the Abbé Fontenai, "the most celebrated engraver that ever existed in the historical line. We have several subjects, which he engraved from his own designs, that manifested as much taste as character and facility. But in the Battles of Alexander he surpassed even the expectations of Le Brun himself." Gérard published in 1683 a work entitled Les proportions du corps humain mesurées sur les plus belles figures de l'antiquité, which has been translated into English.

AUDRAN, JEAN, nephew of Gérard, was born at Lyons in 1667. After having received instructions from his father, he went to Paris to perfect himself in the art of engraving under his uncle, next to whom he was the most distinguished member of his family. At the age of twenty his genius began to display itself in a surprising manner; and his subsequent success was such, that in 1707 he obtained the title of engraver to the king, Louis XIV., who allowed him a pension, with apartments in the Gobelins; and the following year he was made a member of the Royal Academy. He was eighty years of age before he quitted the graver, and nearly ninety when he died. The best prints of this artist are those which appear not so pleasing to the eye at first sight. In these the etching constitutes a great part; and he has finished them in a bold, rough

AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES, a well-known naturalist, was born in 1781 in Louisiana, where his parents, who were French Protestants, had taken up their residence while it was still a Spanish colony. They afterwards settled in Pennsylvania. From his early years he had a passion for observing the habits and appearances of birds, and attempting delineations of them from nature. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Paris, and remained there about two years, when among other studies he took some lessons in the drawing-school of David. On returning to America his father established him in a plantation in Pennsylvania, and he soon after married. But nothing could damp his ardour for natural history. For fifteen years he annually explored the depths of the primeval forests of America in long and hazardous expeditions, far from his family and his home. In these excursions he acquired the facility of making those spirited drawings of birds that gives such value to his magnificent work, The Birds of America. At that period he had not dreamed of any publication of his labours; as he informs us, "it was not the desire of fame that prompted to those long exiles; it was simply the enjoyment of nature." He afterwards removed with his family to the village of Henderson on the banks of the Ohio, where he continued his researches in natural history for several years, and at length set out for Philadelphia with a portfolio containing 200 sheets filled with coloured delineations of about 1000 birds. Business obliged him to quit Philadelphia unexpectedly for some weeks, and he deposited his portfolio in the warehouse of a friend; but to his intense dismay and mortification he found, on his return, that these precious fruits of his wanderings and his labours had been totally destroyed by rats. The shock threw him into a fever of several weeks' duration, that well-nigh proved fatal. But his native energy returned with returning health; and he resumed his gun and his game-bag, his pencils and his drawing-book, and plunged again into the recesses of the backwoods. In about three years he had again filled his portfolio, and then rejoined his family, who had in the meantime gone to Louisiana. After a short sojourn there he set out for the Old World, to exhibit to the ornithologists of Europe the riches of America in that department of natural history.

In 1826 Audubon arrived at Liverpool, where the merits of his spirited delineations of American birds were immediately recognised. An exhibition of them to the public in the galleries of the Royal Institution of that town was so successful that it was repeated at Manchester and at Edinburgh, where they were no less admired. When he proposed to publish a work on the birds of America, several naturalists advised him to issue the work in large quarto, as the most useful size for the lovers of natural history, and the most likely to afford him a sufficient number of subscribers to remunerate his labours. At first he yielded to this advice, and acknowledged its soundness; but finally he decided that his work should eclipse every other ornithological publication. Every bird was to be delineated of the size of life, and to each species a whole page was to be devoted; consequently, the largest elephant folio paper was to receive the impressions. This necessarily increased the expense of the work so much as to put it beyond the reach of most scientific naturalists-which accounts for the small number of persons who, for a considerable time, could be reckoned among his supporters in the gigantic undertaking. The exceptionally high character of the work, however, gradually became known; and a sufficient number of subscribers was at length obtained in Great Britain and America, during the ten or twelve years that the work was going through the press, to indemnify him

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