over Deira and Bernicia. Still further to confirm this change, Aidan prevailed upon the king to transfer the episcopal see from York to Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, a bleak peninsula upon the coast of Northumberland, which probably the Culdee preferred from its resemblance to his own beloved Iona; and here, accordingly, a monastery was erected, which Aidan supplied with monks from his own country. It is to be observed, also, that the form of Christianity thus established in Northumbria was different from that which the Italian priests had established over the rest of England. It was according to the primitive institutes of Saint Columba, and therefore essentially presbyterian in its form and discipline. Aidan, although he succeeded to the metropolitan rule of the extensive archbishopric of York, was contented to continue a simple presbyter, and nothing more. He held no intercourse with the Roman pontiff, and acknowledged no superiority of episcopal authority. He repudiated those showy ceremonies and artificial forms which were so congenial to the Italian character, and which the foreign priests had been so careful to introduce into England. And, above all, instead of paying homage to tradition, as an authority independent of the Word, he would receive nothing as a religious rule save that which was contained in the sacred writings. Such was the religion of the Culdees; nd in this form it was introduced into Northumbria by Aidan and Oswald, who were both of them Culdees. But even if these important peculiarities ha been left undisturbed by the Western church, that aimed at universal conformity and universal rule, there were certain trivialities belonging to the Culdeeism of Northumberland that, sooner or later, was sure to provoke the hostility of the rest of England. The priests of the order of Columba shaved their foreheads in the form of a half-moon, after the Eastern fashion, instead of having the Western tonsure, that was meant to represent a crown of thorns. Their season also of keeping Easter was according to the Asiatic calculation, and not that of the West. These were peculiarities which every eye could detect at once, and were therefore sufficient matters for controversy among a simple people, whose views could penetrate no further; and, accordingly, the Easter and tonsure controversy became, in a few years after, the great subject of religious debate in England, by which the Culdees were expelled from the country. These disturbances, however, did not occur until both king and monk had entered into their rest. After the death of Oswald, who was slain in battle, the kingdom of Northumbria was once more parted into two sovereignties, those of Deira and Bernicia; in the former of which Oswin was appointed king, and, in the latter, Oswio. It was, however a peaceful conjunction; and Aidan still continued, as before, to preside over the church of Northumberland. The character of Oswin appears to have fully resembled that of his amiable predecessor, and the bishop of Lindisfarne seems to have loved him with a still higher affection than even that which he bore for Oswald. Amidst the obscurity of that remote period, and the shadowy character of its actors, Bede tells us a touching story, in which the simple manners of the times, as well as the intercourse between the king and the bishop, are brought out in strong relief. Oswin had once presented to Aidan a fine horse. It happened that one day, as the Culdee was riding forth, he met a poor man, who asked of him an alms, and Aidan, having no money, bestowed on him the horse and its rich trappings. The king, on hearing of this, was displeased, and could not refrain from expressing his resentment when Aidan next dined with him. "Why were you so lavish of my favour," he said, “as to give away my pad to a beggar? If you must needs mount him on horseback, could you not have given him one of less value? Or, if he wanted any other relief, you might have supplied him otherwise, and not have parted so easily with my gift." "You have not carefully considered this matter," replied Aidan, "for otherwise you could not set a greater value on the son of a mare, than on a son of God." In this way the affair ended for the present. Not long after, when the king returned from hunting, he saw the bishop, and, remembering what had lately occurred, he laid aside his sword, threw himself at the good man's feet, and asked his forgiveness for the rude words he had uttered. Aidan, grieved to see the king in this posture, immediately raised him, and declared that the whole matter was forgot. After this interview, however, Aidan was observed to be very sad; and, on being asked the cause by some of his monks, he burst into tears, and replied, "How can I be otherwise than afflicted? I foresee that Oswin's life will be short, for never have I beheld a prince so humble. His temper is too heavenly to dwell long among us, and, truly, the nation does not deserve the blessing of such a ruler." This mournful prediction was soon after accomplished by the death of Oswin, who was assassinated in August, 651; and Aidan took the matter so deeply to heart, that he died a fortnight after. Such is the little that we know of Saint Aidan, the apostle of Northumberland, and bishop of Lindisfarne. That he was great and good, and that he accomplished much, is evident from the old chronicles, and especially from the history of venerable Bede, from whom the foregoing account has been chiefly gathered. The Venerable has also added to his account three miracles performed by Aidan, one of which occurred after his death; but with these it is unnecessary to trouble the modern reader. It is more agreeable to turn to his character, as drawn by Bede himself, who lived during the close of the same century, and knew Aidan well, not only from the testimony of his apostolic Jabours, but the reports of the old men, who had heard his words, and witnessed his doings:-"These things I have written," he says, "touching the person and actions of the man aforesaid, praising in his actions what is praiseworthy, and committing it to posterity for the behoof of those who read; to wit, his concern for peace and charity, for abstinence and humility; his utter freedom from wrath and avarice, from pride and vain-glory; his readiness alike to obey and teach the Divine commands; his diligence in reading and watching; his true sacerdotal authority in checking the proud and powerful, and, at the same time, his tenderness in comforting the afflicted, and relieving or defending the poor. To say all in few words, as far as we have been informed by those who personally knew him, he took care to omit no part of his duty, but, to the utmost of his power, performed everything commanded in the writings of the evangelists, apostles, and prophets." AIKMAN, WILLIAM, a painter, of considerable merit, of the last century, was born, in Aberdeenshire, October 24, 1682. His father was William Aikman of Cairney, a man of eminence at the Scottish bar, who educated his son to follow his own profession. But a predilection for the fine arts, and a love of poetry, which gained him the friendship of Ramsay and Thomson, induced the youth to give up studying for the law, and turn his attention to painting. Having prosecuted his studies in painting for a time at home under Sir John Medina, and also in England, he resolved to visit Italy, that he might complete his education as an artist, and form his taste, by an examination of the classic models of anti quity; and accordingly, in 1707, having sold his paternal estate near Arbroath, that he might leave home untrammelled, he went to Rome, where, during a period of three years, he put himself under the tuition of the best masters. He afterwards visited Constantinople and Smyrna, where the gentlemen of the English factory wished him to engage in the Turkey trade; an overture which he declined; and returning to Rome, he there renewed his studies for a time. In 1712, he revisited his native country, and commenced practising his profession; but, though his works were admired by the discerning few, he did not meet with adequate encouragement, the public being too poor at that time to purchase elaborate works of art, and the taste for such works being then too imperfectly formed. At this period he formed an intimacy with Allan Ramsay, whose portrait he afterwards painted. John, Duke of Argyle, who equally admired the artist and esteemed the man, regretting that such talents should be lost, at length prevailed upon Aikman, in 1723, to move with all his family to London. There, under the auspices of his distinguished friend, he associated with the most eminent British painters of the age, particularly Sir Godfrey Kneller, whose studies and dispositions of mind were congenial with his own. The duke also recommended him to many people of the first rank, particularly the Earl of Burlington, so well known for his taste in architecture; and he was thus able to be of much service to Thomson, who came to London soon after himself, as a literary adventurer. He introduced the poet of "The Seasons" to the brilliant literary circle of the day-Pope, Swift, Gay, Arbuthnot, &c.—and, what was perhaps of more immediate service, to Sir Robert Walpole, who aimed at being thought a friend to men of genius. Among the more intimate friends of Aikman, was William Somerville, author of "The Chase," from whom he received an elegant tribute of the muse, on his painting a full-length portrait of the poet in the decline of life, carrying him back, by the assistance of another portrait, to his youthful days. This poem was never published in any edition of Somerville's works. Aikman painted, for the Earl of Burlington, a large picture of the royal family of England; all the younger branches being in the middle compartment, on a very large canvas, and on one hand a full-length portrait of Queen Caroline; the picture of the king (George II.)—that king who never could endure "boetry or bainting," as he styled the two arts in his broken English-intended for the opposite side, was never finished, owing to the death of the artist. This was perhaps the last picture brought towards a close by Aikman, and it is allowed to have been in his best style; it came into the possession of the Duke of Devonshire by a marriage alliance with the Burlington family. Some of his earlier works are in the possession of the Argyle and Hamilton families in Scotland; his more mature and mellow productions are chiefly to be found in England, and a large portion at Blickling, in Norfolk, the seat of the Earl of Buckinghamshire; these are chiefly portraits of noblemen, ladies, and gentlemen, friends of the earl. He died June 4, 1731, at his house, in Leicester Fields, and, by his own desire, his body was taken to Scotland for interment; his only son, John (by his wife Marion Lawson, daughter of Mr Lawson, of Cairnmuir, in Peeblesshire), whose death immediately preceded his own, was buried in the same grave with him, in the Greyfriars' churchyard, Edinburgh. A monument was erected over the remains of Mr Aikman, with the following epitaph by Mallet, which has been long since obliterated :— Dear to the good and wise, dispraised by none, By virtue as by nature close allied. The painter's genius, but without the pride. Worth unambitious, wit afraid to shine, Honour's clear light, and friendship's warmth divine. The son, fair-rising, knew too short a date; But O how more severe the parent's fate! He saw him torn untimely from his side, Felt all a father's anguish-wept, and died. The following verses, in which Thomson bewails him with all the warmth of grateful friendship, are only partially printed in that poet's works : O could I draw, my friend, thy genuine mind, Worth above show, and goodness unsevere. Viewed round and round, as lucid diamonds show, Still, as you turn them, a revolving glow: For such a death who can, who would refuse, The friend a tear, a verse the mournful muse? Yet pay we must acknowledgment to Heaven, Though snatch'd so soon, that AIKMAN e'er was given. Grateful from nature's banquet let us rise, Nor leave the banquet with reluctant eyes: A friend, when dead, is but removed from sight, Sunk in the lustre of eternal light; And, when the parting storms of life are o'er, As those we love decay, we die in part; String after string is severed from the heart; Till loosened life at last-but breathing clay Without one pang is glad to fall away. Unhappy he who latest feels the blow, Whose eyes have wept o'er every friend laid low; In his style of painting, Aikman seems to have aimed at imitating nature in her most simple forms; his lights are soft, his shades mellow, and his colouring mild and harmonious. His touch has neither the force nor the harshness of Rubens; nor does he, like Reynolds, adorn his portraits with the elegance of adventitious graces. His compositions are distinguished by a placid tranquillity, WILLIAM AITON.-ALEXANDER ALES OR ALESSE. 41 rather than a striking brilliancy of effect; and his portraits may be more readily mistaken for those of Kneller than for the works of any other eminent artist. AITON, WILLIAM, an eminent horticulturist and botanist, was born, in 1731, at a village in the neighbourhood of Hamilton. Having been regularly bred to the profession of a gardener, as it was and still is practised by numbers of his countrymen, with a union of manual skill and scientific knowledge, he removed to England in 1754, and, in the year following, obtained the notice of the celebrated Philip Miller, then superintendent of the physic garden at Chelsea, who employed him for some time as an assistant. The instructions which he received from that eminent gardener laid the foundation, it is said, of his future fortune. His industry and abilities were so conspicuous, that, in 1759, he was pointed out to the Princess-Dowager of Wales as a fit person to manage the botanical garden at Kew. His professional talents also procured him the notice of Sir Joseph Banks, and a friendship commenced which subsisted between them for life. Dr Solander and Dr Dryander were also among the number of his friends. The encouragement of botanical studies was a distinguished feature of the reign of George III., who, soon after his accession, determined to render Kew a repository of all the vegetable riches of the world. Specimens were accordingly procured from every quarter of the globe, and placed under the care of Mr Aiton, who showed a surprising degree of skill in their arrangement. Under his superintendence, a variety of improvements took place in the plan and edifices of Kew gardens, till they attained an undoubted eminence over every other botanical institution. In 1783, on a vacancy occurring in the superintendence of the pleasure-gardens at Kew, Mr Aiton received the appointment from George III., but was, at the same time, permitted to retain his more important office. His labours proved that the king's favours were not ill bestowed; for, in 1789, he published an elaborate description of the plants at Kew, under the title, "Hortus Kewensis," 3 vols. 8vo, with a number of plates. In this production, Mr Aiton gave an account of no fewer than 5600 foreign plants, which had been introduced from time to time into the English gardens; and so highly was the work esteemed, that the whole impression was sold within two years. A second and improved edition was published by his son, William Townsend Aiton, in 1810. After a life of singular activity and usefulness, distinguished, moreover, by all the domestic virtues, Mr Aiton died on the 1st of February, 1793, of a schirrus in the liver, in the 63d year of his age. He lies buried in the churchyard at Kew, near the graves of his distinguished friends, Zoffany, Meyer, and Gainsborough. He was succeeded by his son, Mr William Townsend Aiton, who was no less esteemed by George III. than his father had been, and who, for fifty years, ably superintended the botanical department at Kew, besides taking charge of the extensive pleasure-grounds, and being employed in the improvement of the other royal gardens. In 1841, he retired from office, when Sir William Jackson Hooker was appointed director of the botanic gardens Mr Aiton died at Kew, in 1849, aged 84. ALES or ALESSE, ALEXANDER, a celebrated theologian of the sixteenth century, was born at Edinburgh, April 23d, 1500. He is first found in the situation of a canon in the cathedral of St Andrews, where he distinguished himself by entering into the fashionable controversy of the day against Luther. His zeal for the Roman Catholic religion was staggered by the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton; but it is not probable that his doubts would have been carried further, if he had not suffered persecution for the slight degree of scepticism |