ATHERSTONE, WILLIAM GUYBON AUDEBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE
ATHERSTONE AUDEFROI LE BATARD
ATHERTON AUDIENCE
ATHETOSIS AUDIFFRET-PASQUIER, EDME ARMAND GASTON
ATHIAS, JOSEPH AUDIT and AUDITOR
ATHLETE AUDLEY, SIR JAMES
ATHLETIC SPORTS AUDLEY, THOMAS AUDLEY
ATHLONE AUDOUIN, JEAN VICTOR
ATHOL AUDRAN
ATHOLL, EARLS AND DUKES OF AUDRAN, EDMOND
ATHOLL AUDREHEM, ARNOUL D'
ATHOS AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES
ATHY AUE
ATINA AUERBACH, BERTHOLD
ATITLAN AUERSPERG, ANTON ALEXANDER
ATKINSON, EDWARD AUFIDENA
ATKINSON, SIR HARRY ALBERT AUGEAS
ATLANTA AUGER
ATLANTIC AUGEREAU, PIERRE FRANCOIS CHARLES
ATLANTIC CITY AUGHRIM
ATLANTIC OCEAN AUGIER, GUILLAUME VICTOR EMILE
ATLANTIS AUGITE
ATLAS AUGMENT
ATLAS MOUNTAINS AUGMENTATION
ATMOLYSIS AUGSBURG
ATMOSPHERE AUGSBURG, CONFESSION OF
ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY AUGSBURG, WAR OF THE LEAGUE OF
ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY AUGURS
ATOLL AUGUST
ATOM AUGUSTA (Georgia, U.S.A.)
ATONEMENT and DAY OF ATONEMENT AUGUSTA (Maine, U.S.A.)
ATRATO AUGUSTA (Sicily)
ATREK AUGUSTA BAGIENNORUM
ATREUS AUGUSTAN HISTORY
ATRI AUGUSTA PRAETORIA SALASSORUM
ATRIUM AUGUSTI, JOHANN CHRISTIAN WILHELM
ATROPHY AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430)
ATROPOS AUGUSTINE, SAINT (archbishop)
ATTA, TITUS QUINCTIUS AUGUSTINIAN CANONS
ATTACAPA AUGUSTINIAN HERMITS
ATTACHMENT AUGUSTINIANS
ATTAINDER AUGUSTOWO
ATTAINT, WRIT OF AUGUSTUS
ATTALIA AUGUSTUS I
ATTAR OF ROSES AUGUSTUS II
ATTEMPT AUGUSTUS III
ATTENTION AUGUSTUSBAD
ATTERBOM, PER DANIEL AMADEUS AUK
ATTERBURY, FRANCIS AULARD, FRANCOIS VICTOR ALPHONSE
ATTESTATION AULIC COUNCIL
ATTHIS AULIE-ATA
ATTIC AULIS
ATTICA AULNOY, MARIE CATHERINE DE LA MOTTE
ATTIC BASE AULOS
ATTICUS, TITUS POMPONIUS AUMALE, HENRI EUGENE D'ORLEANS
ATTICUS HERODES, CLAUDIUS AUMALE
ATTILA AUMONT
ATTIS AUNCEL
ATTLEBOROUGH AUNDH
ATTOCK AUNGERVYLE, RICHARD
ATTORNEY AUNT SALLY
ATTORNEY-GENERAL AURA
ATTORNMENT AURANGABAD
ATTRITION AURANGZEB
ATTWOOD, THOMAS (composer) AURAY
ATTWOOD, THOMAS (reformer) AURELIA, VIA
ATWOOD, GEORGE AURELIAN
AUBADE AURELIANUS, CAELIUS
AUBAGNE AURELLE DE PALADINES, LOUIS JEAN D'
AUBE AUREOLA
AUBENAS AURICH
AUBER, DANIEL FRANCOIS ESPRIT AURICLE
AUBERGINE AURICULA
AUBERVILLIERS AURIFABER
AUBIGNAC, FRANCOIS HEDELIN AURIGA
AUBIGNE, CONSTANT D' AURILLAC
AUBIGNE, JEAN HENRI MERLE D' AURISPA, GIOVANNI
AUBIGNE, THEODORE AGRIPPA D' AUROCHS
AUBIN AURORA (Roman goddess)
AUBREY, JOHN AURORA (Illinois, U.S.A.)
AUBURN (Maine, U.S.A.) AURORA (Missouri, U.S.A.)
AUBURN (New York, U.S.A.) AURORA (New York, U.S.A.)
AUBURN (colour) AURORA POLARIS
AUBUSSON, PIERRE D' AURUNCI
AUBUSSON AUSCULTATION
AUCH AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS
AUCHMUTY, SIR SAMUEL AUSSIG
AUCHTERARDER AUSTEN, JANE
AUCHTERMUCHTY AUSTERLITZ
AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN AUSTIN, ALFRED
AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN AUSTIN, JOHN
AUCKLAND AUSTIN, SARAH
AUCKLAND ISLANDS AUSTIN, STEPHEN FULLER
AUCTION PITCH AUSTIN (Minnesota, U.S.A.)
AUCTIONS and AUCTIONEERS AUSTIN (Texas, U.S.A.)
AUCUBA AUSTRALASIA
AUDAEUS AUSTRALIA
AUDE (river of France) AUSTRASIA
AUDE (department of France) AUSTRIA
ATHERSTONE, WILLIAM GUYBON (1813-1898), British geologist, one of the
pioneers in South African geology, was born in 1813, in the district of
Uitenhage, Cape Colony. Having qualified as M.D. he settled in early
life as a medical practitioner at Grahamstown, subsequently becoming
F.R.C.S. In 1839 his interest was aroused in geology, and from that date
he "devoted the leisure of a long and successful medical practice" to
the pursuit of geological science. In 1857 he published an account of
the rocks and fossils of Uitenhage (the latter described more fully by
R. Tate, _Quart. Journal Geol. Soc._, 1867). He also obtained many
fossil reptilia from the Karroo beds, and presented specimens to the
British Museum. These were described by Sir Richard Owen. Atherstone's
identification in 1867 as a diamond of a crystal found at De Kalk near
the junction of the Riet and Vaal rivers, led indirectly to the
establishment of the great diamond industry of South Africa. He
encouraged the workings at Jagersfontein, and he also called attention
to the diamantiferous neck at Kimberley. He was one of the founders of
the Geological Society of South Africa at Johannesburg in 1895; and for
some years previously he was a member of the Cape parliament. He died at
Grahamstown, on the 26th of June 1898.
See the obituary by T. Rupert Jones, _Natural Science_, vol. xiv.
(January 1899).
ATHERSTONE, a market-town in the Nuneaton parliamentary division of
Warwickshire, England, 102-1/2 m. N.W. from London by the London &
North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 5248. It lies in the upper valley of
the Anker, under well-wooded hills to the west, and is on the Roman
Watling Street, and the Coventry canal. The once monastic church of St
Mary is rebuilt, excepting the central tower and part of the chancel.
The chief industry is hat-making. On the high ground to the west lie
ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Merevale, founded in 1149; they include
the gatehouse chapel, part of the refectory and other remains exhibiting
beautiful details of the 14th century. Coal is worked at Baxterley, 3 m.
west of Atherstone.
Atherstone (_Aderestone, Edridestone, Edrichestone_), though not
mentioned in any pre-Conquest record, is of unquestionably ancient
origin. A Saxon barrow was opened near the town in 1824. It is
traversed by Watling Street, and portions of the ancient Roman road
have been discovered in modern times. Atherstone is mentioned in
Domesday among the possessions of Countess Godiva, the widow of
Leofric. In the reign of Henry III. it passed to the monks of Bec in
Normandy, who in 1246 obtained the grant of an annual fair at the
feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, and the next year of a market
every Tuesday. This market became so much frequented that in 1319 a
toll was levied upon all goods coming into the town, in order to
defray the cost of the repair to the roads necessitated by the
constant traffic, and in 1332 a similar toll was levied on all goods
passing over the bridge called Feldenbrigge near Atherstone. The
September fair and Tuesday markets are still continued. In the reign
of Edward III. a house of Austin Friars was founded at Atherstone by
Ralph Lord Basset of Drayton, which, however, never rose to much
importance, and at its dissolution in 1536 was valued at 30 shillings
and 3 pence only.
ATHERTON, or CHOWBENT, an urban district in the Leigh parliamentary
division of Lancashire, England, 13 m. W.N.W. of Manchester on the
London & North-Western and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1901)
16,211. The cotton factories are the principal source of industry; there
are also iron-works and collieries. The manor was held by the local
family of Atherton from John's reign to 1738, when it passed by marriage
to Robert Gwillym, who assumed that name. In 1797 his eldest daughter
and co-heiress married Thomas Powys, afterwards the second Lord Lilford.
Up to 1891 the lord of the manor held a court-leet and court-baron
annually in November, but in that year Lord Lilford sold to the local
board the market tolls, stallages and pickages, and since this sale the
courts have lapsed. The earliest manufactures were iron and cotton.
Silk-weaving, formerly an extensive industry, has now almost entirely
decayed. The first chapel or church was built in 1645. James Wood, who
became Nonconformist minister in the chapel at Atherton in 1691, earned
fame and the familiar title of "General" by raising a force from his
congregation, uncouthly armed, to fight against the troops of the
Pretender (1715).
ATHETOSIS (Gr. [Greek: hathetos], "without place"), the medical term
applied to certain slow, purposeless, deliberate movements of the hands
and feet. The fingers are separately flexed and extended, abducted and
adducted in an entirely irregular way. The hands as a whole are also
moved, and the arms, toes and feet may be affected. The condition is
usually due to some lesion of the brain which has caused hemiplegia, and
is especially common in childhood. It is occasionally congenital (so
called), and is then due to some injury of the brain during birth. It is
more usually associated with hemiplegia, in which condition there is
first of all complete voluntary immobility of the parts affected: but
later, as there is a return of a certain amount of power over the limbs
affected, the slow rhythmic movements of athetosis are first noticed.
This never develops, however, where there is no recovery of voluntary
power. Its distribution is thus nearly always hemiplegic, and it is
often associated with more or less mental impairment. The movements may
or may not continue during sleep. They cannot be arrested for more than
a moment by will power, and are aggravated by voluntary movements. The
prognosis is unsatisfactory, as the condition usually continues
unchanged for years, though improvement occasionally occurs in slight
cases, or even complete recovery.
ATHIAS, JOSEPH (d. 1700), Jewish rabbi and printer, was born in Spain
and settled in Amsterdam. His editions of the Hebrew Bible (1661, 1667)
are noted for beauty of execution and the general correctness of the
text. He also printed a Judaeo-German edition of the Bible in 1679, a
year after the appearance of the edition by Uri Phoebus.
ATHLETE (Gr. [Greek: athletes]; Lat. _athleta_), in Greek and Roman
antiquities, one who contended for a prize ([Greek: athlon]) in the
games; now a general term for any one excelling in physical strength.
Originally denoting one who took part in musical, equestrian, gymnastic,
or any other competitions, the name became restricted to the competitors
in gymnastic contests, and, later, to the class of professional
athletes. Whereas in earlier times competitors, who were often persons
of good birth and position, entered the lists for glory, without any
idea of material gain, the professional class, which arose as early as
the 5th century B.C., was chiefly recruited from the lower orders, with
whom the better classes were unwilling to associate, and took up
athletics entirely as a means of livelihood. Ancient philosophers,
moralists and physicians were almost unanimous in condemning the
profession of athletics as injurious not only to the mind but also to
the body. The attack made upon it by Euripides in the fragment of the
_Autolycus_ is well known. The training for the contests was very
rigorous. The matter of diet was of great importance; this was
prescribed by the _aleiptes_, whose duty it also was to anoint the
athlete's body. At one time the principal food consisted of fresh
cheese, dried figs and wheaten bread. Afterwards meat was introduced,
generally beef, or pork; but the bread and meat were taken separately,
the former at breakfast, the latter at dinner. Except in wine, the
quantity was unlimited, and the capacity of some of the heavy-weights
must have been, if such stories as those about Milo are true, enormous.
In addition to the ordinary gymnastic exercises of the palaestra, the
athletes were instructed in carrying heavy loads, lifting weights,
bending iron rods, striking at a suspended leather sack filled with sand
or flour, taming bulls, &c. Boxers had to practise delving the ground,
to strengthen their upper limbs. The competitions open to athletes were
running, leaping, throwing the discus, wrestling, boxing and the
pancratium, or combination of boxing and wrestling. Victory in this last
was the highest achievement of an athlete, and was reserved only for men
of extraordinary strength. The competitors were naked, having their
bodies salved with oil. Boxers wore the _caestus_, a strap of leather
round the wrists and forearms, with a piece of metal in the fist, which
was sometimes employed with great barbarity. An athlete could begin his
career as a boy in the contests set apart for boys. He could appear
again as a youth against his equals, and though always unsuccessful,
could go on competing till the age of thirty-five, when he was debarred,
it being assumed that after this period of life he could not improve.
The most celebrated of the Greek athletes whose names have been handed
down are Milo of Crotona, Hipposthenes, Polydamas, Promachus and
Glaucus. Cyrene, famous in the time of Pindar for its athletes, appears
to have still maintained its reputation to at least the time of
Alexander the Great; for in the British Museum are to be seen six prize
vases carried off from the games at Athens by natives of that district.
These vases, found in the tombs, probably, of the winners, are made of
clay, and painted on one side with a representation of the contest in
which they were won, and on the other side with a figure of Pallas
Athena, with an inscription telling where they were gained, and in some
cases adding the name of the eponymous magistrate of Athens, from which
the exact year can be determined.
Amongst the Romans athletic contests had no doubt taken place from the
earliest times, but according to Livy (xxxix. 22) professional Greek
athletes were first introduced at Rome by M. Fulvius Nobilior in 186
B.C. After the institution of the Actian games by Augustus, their
popularity increased, until they finally supplanted the gladiators. In
the time of the empire, gilds or unions of athletes were formed, each
with a temple, treasury and exercise-ground of its own. The profession,
although it ranked above that of a gladiator or an actor, was looked
upon as derogatory to the dignity of a Roman, and it is a rare thing to
find a Roman name amongst the athletes on inscriptions. The system was
entirely, and the athletes themselves nearly always, Greek. (See also
GAMES, CLASSICAL.)
Krause, _Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen_ (1841); Friedlander,
_Sittengeschichte Roms_, ii.; Reisch, in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyc_.
ATHLETIC SPORTS. Various sports were cultivated many hundred years
before the Christian era by the Egyptians and several Asiatic races,
from whom the early Greeks undoubtedly adopted the elements of their
athletic exercises (see ATHLETE), which reached their highest
development in the Olympic games, and other periodical meetings of the
kind (see GAMES, CLASSICAL). The original Celtic inhabitants of Great
Britain were an athletic race, and the earliest monuments of Teutonic
literature abound in records of athletic prowess. After the Norman
conquest of England the nobles devoted themselves to the chase and to
the joust, while the people had their games of ball, running at the
quintain, fencing with club and buckler, wrestling and other pastimes on
green and river. The chroniclers of the succeeding centuries are for the
most part silent concerning the sports of the folk, except such as were
regarded as a training for war, as archery, while they love to record
the prowess of the kings and their courts. Thus it is told of Henry V.
that he "was so swift a runner that he and two of his lords, without bow
or other engine, would take a wild buck in a large park." Several
romances of the middle ages, quoted by Strutt (_Sports and Pastimes of
the People of England_), chronicle the fact that young men of good
family were taught to run, leap, wrestle and joust. In spite of the
general silence of the historians concerning the sports of the people,
it is evident that they were indulged in very largely, since several
English sovereigns found it necessary to curtail, and even prohibit,
certain popular pastimes, on the ground that they seduced the people
from the practice of archery. Thus Edward III. prohibited weight-putting
by statute. Nevertheless a variety of this exercise, "casting of the
barre," continued to be a popular pastime, and was afterwards one of the
favourite sports of Henry VIII., who attained great proficiency at it.
The prowess of the same monarch at throwing the hammer is a matter of
history, and his reign seems to have been at a time of general athletic
revival. We even find his secretary, Richard Pace, advising the sons of
noblemen to practise their sports and "leave study and learning to the
children of meaner people," and Sir William Forest, in his _Poesye of
Princeelye Practice_, thus admonishes his high-born readers:--
"In featis of maistries bestowe some diligence.
Too ryde, runne, lepe, or caste by violence
Stone, barre or plummett, or such other thinge,
It not refuseth any prince or kynge."
Mr Montague Shearman, to whose volume on _Athletics_ in the Badminton
series the reader is referred, notes that Sir Thomas Elyot, who wrote at
about the same period, deprecated too much study and flogging for
schoolboys, saying: "A discrete master may with as much or more ease
both to himself and his scholler lead him to play at tennis or shoote."
Elyot recommends the perusal of Galen's _De sanitate tuenda_, and
suggests as suitable athletic exercises within doors "deambulations,
labouryng with poyses made of ledde, lifting and throwing the heavy
stone or barre, playing at tennis," and dwells upon "rennyng" as a "good
exercise and laudable solace." It is probable that the disciples of the
"new learning," who had become prominent in Sir Thomas's time,
endeavoured to combat the influence of athletic exercises, their point
of view being exemplified by the dictum of Roger Ascham, who, in his
_Toxophilus_, declares that "running, leaping and quoiting be too vile
for scholars."
In the 16th century the great football match played annually at Chester
was abolished in favour of a series of foot-races, which took place in
the presence of the mayor. A list of the common sports of that time is
contained in some verses by Randel Holme, a minstrel of the North
country, and makes mention of throwing the sledge, jumping, "wrastling,"
stool-ball (cricket), running, pitching the bar, shooting, playing
loggets, "nine holes or ten pins," "football by the shinnes," leap-frog,
morris, shove-groat, leaping the bonfire, stow-ball (golf), and many
other outdoor and indoor sports, some of them now obsolete. Shakespeare
and the other Elizabethan poets abound in allusions to sport, which
formed an important feature in school life and at every fair. The Stuart
kings were warm encouragers of sport, the _Basilikon Doron_ of James I.,
written for his son, containing a recommendation to the young prince to
practise "running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dancing, and playing at
the caitch, or tennise, archerie, palle-malle, and such like other fair
and pleasant field games."
An extraordinary variety of sports has been popular in Great Britain
with high and low for the past five centuries, no other country
comparing with it in this respect. Nor have Ireland and Scotland lagged
behind England in athletic prowess. Indeed, so far as history and legend
record, Ireland boasts of by far the most ancient organized sports
known, the Tailtin Games, or Lugnasad, traditionally established by
Lugaid of the Long Arm, one of the gods of Dia and Ana, in honour of his
foster-mother Tailti, some three thousand years ago. For many centuries
these games, and others like them, were kept up in Ireland, and though
the almost constant wars which harried the country finally destroyed
their organization, yet the Irish have always been, and still are, a
very important factor in British athletics, as well as in America and
the colonies.
The Scottish people have, like the Irish, ever delighted in feats of
strength and skill, especially the Celtic highlanders, the character of
whose country and mode of life have, however, prevented organized
athletics from attaining the same prominence as in England.
Nevertheless, the celebrated Highland games held at Braemar, Bridge of
Allan, Luss, Aboyne and other places have served to bring into
prominence many athletes of the first class, although the records, on
account of the roughness of the grounds, have not generally vied with
those made farther south.
The Briton does not lose his love of sport upon leaving his native soil,
and the development of athletics in the United States and the British
colonies has kept step with that of the mother-land. Upon the continent
of Europe sports have occupied a more or less prominent place in the
life of the nations, but their development has been but an echo of that
in Great Britain. A great advance, however, has been made since the
institution of the modern Olympic games.
About the year 1812 the Royal Military College at Sandhurst inaugurated
regular athletic sports, but the example was not followed until about
1840, when Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Shrewsbury and the Royal Military
Academy at Woolwich came to the front, the "Crick Run" at Rugby having
been started in 1837. At the two great English universities there were
no organized sports of any kind until 1850, when Exeter College, Oxford,
held a meeting; this example has been followed, one after the other, by
the other colleges of both institutions. The first contest between
Oxford and Cambridge occurred at Oxford in 1864, the programme
consisting of eight events, of which four were won by each side. The
same year saw the first contest of the Civil Servants, still an annual
event.
In 1866 the Amateur Athletic Club was formed in London for "gentlemen
amateurs," most of its members being old university men. Its first
championship meeting, held in that year, was the beginning of a series
afterwards continued to the present day by the Amateur Athletic
Association, founded in 1880, which has jurisdiction over British
athletic sports. The most important individual English athletic
organization is the London Athletic Club, which antedated the Amateur
Athletic Club, and whose meetings have always been the most important
events except the championships.
In America a revival of interest in athletic sports took place about the
year 1870. Ten years later was formed the National Association of
Amateur Athletes of America, which, in 1888, became the Amateur Athletic
Union. This body controls athletics throughout the United States, and is
allied with the Canadian Amateur Athletic Association. It is supreme in
matters of amateur status, records and licensing of meetings, and has
control over the following branches of sport: basket-ball, billiards,
boxing, fencing (in connexion with the Amateur Fencers' League of
America), gymnastics, hand-ball (fives), running, jumping, walking,
weight-putting (hammer, shot, discus, weights), hurdle-racing, lacrosse,
pole-vaulting, swimming, tugs-of-war and wrestling. The Amateur Athletic
Union has eight sectional groups, and is allied with the Intercollegiate
Association of Amateur Athletes of America (founded 1876) and the
Western Intercollegiate Association. The first American intercollegiate
athletic meeting took place at Saratoga in 1873, only three universities
competing, though the next year there were eight and in 1875 thirteen.
Professional athletes in America are confined almost entirely to
base-ball, boxing, bicycling, wrestling and physical training.
The Canadian athletic championships are held independently of the
American. Annual championship meetings are also held in South Africa,
New Zealand and the different states of Australia. For the Australasian
championships New Zealand joins with Australia.
The organization of university sports in America differs from that at
Oxford and Cambridge, where there is no official control on the part of
the university authorities, and where a man is eligible to represent his
college or university while in residence. In nearly all American
universities and colleges athletic and other sports are under the
general control of faculty committees, to which the undergraduate
athletic committees are subordinate, and which have the power to forbid
the participation of any student who has not attained a certain standard
of scholarship. For some years prior to 1906 no student of an American
university was allowed to represent his university in any sport for
longer than four years. Early in that year, however, many of the most
important institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and
Pennsylvania, entered upon a new agreement, that only students who have
been in residence one year should play in 'varsity teams in any branch
of athletics and that no student should play longer than three years.
This, together with many other reformatory changes, was directly due to
a widespread outcry against the growing roughness of play exhibited in
American football, basket-ball, hockey and other sports, the too evident
desire to win at all hazards, the extraordinary luxury of the training
equipment, and the enormous gate-receipts of many of the large
institutions--the Yale Athletic Association held a surplus of about
$100,000 (L20,000) in December 1905, after deducting immense amounts for
expenses. The new rule against the participation of freshmen in 'varsity
sports was to discourage the practice of offering material advantages of
different kinds to promising athletes, generally those at preparatory
schools, to induce them to become students at certain universities.
At the present day athletic sports are usually understood to consist of
those events recognized in the championship programmes of the different
countries. Those in the competitions between Oxford and Cambridge are
the 100 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1-mile and 3-mile runs; 120 yards
hurdle-race; high and long jumps; throwing the hammer; and putting the
weight (shot). To the above list the English A.A.A. adds the 4-mile and
10-mile runs; the 2-mile and 7-mile walking races; the 2-mile
steeplechase; and the pole-vault. The American intercollegiate programme
is identical with that of the Oxford-Cambridge meeting, except that a
2-mile run takes the place of the 3-mile, and the pole-vault is added.
The American A.A.U. programme includes the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440
yards, 880 yards, 1-mile and 5-mile runs; 120 yards high-hurdle race;
220 yards low-hurdle race; high and broad (long) jumps; throwing the
hammer; throwing 56-lb. weight; putting 16-lb. shot; throwing the
discus; and pole-vault. Of these the running contests are called "track
athletics," and the rest "field" events.
International athletic contests of any importance have, with the
exception of the modern Olympic games, invariably taken place between
Britons, Americans and Canadians, the continental European countries
having as yet produced few track or field athletes of the first class,
although the interest in sports in general has greatly increased in
Europe during the last ten years. In 1844 George Seward, an American
professional runner, visited England and competed with success against
the best athletes there; and in 1863 Louis Bennett, called "Deerfoot," a
full-blooded Seneca Indian, repeated Seward's triumphs, establishing
running records up to 12 miles. In 1878 the Canadian, C.C. McIvor,
champion sprinter of America, went to England, but failed to beat his
British professional rivals. In 1881 L.E. Myers of New York and E.E.
Merrill of Boston competed successfully in England, Myers winning every
short-distance championship except the 100-yards, and Merrill all the
walking championships save the 7-miles. The same year W.C. Davies of
England won the 5-mile championship of America, but, like several other
British runners who have had success in America, he competed under the
colours of an American club. In 1882 the famous English runner, W.G.
George, ran against Myers in America in races of 1 mile, 3/4 mile and
1/2 mile, winning over the first two distances. In 1884 Myers again went
to England and made new British records over 500, 600, 800 and 1000
yards, and world's records over 1/2 mile and 1200 yards. The next year
he won both the British 1/4-mile and 1/2-mile championships. The same
year a team of Irish athletes, among them W.J.M. Barry, won several
Canadian championships. In 1888 a team of the Manhattan Athletic Club,
New York, competed in England with fair success, and during the same
season an Irish team from the Gaelic Athletic Association visited
America without much success. In 1890 a team from the Salford Harriers
was invited to America by the Manhattan Athletic Club, but the evidently
commercial character of the enterprise caused its failure. One of the
Harriers, E.W. Parry, won the American steeplechase championship. The
next year saw another visit to Europe of the Manhattan athletes, who had
fair success in England and won every event at Paris. In 1895 the London
Athletic Club team competed in New York against the New York Athletic
Club, but lost every one of the eleven events, several new records being
established. During the previous summer (1894) occurred the first of the
international matches between British and American universities which
still retain their place as the most interesting athletic event. In that
contest, which took place at Queen's Club, London, Oxford beat Yale by
5-1/2 to 3-1/2 events. The next summer Cambridge, as the champion
English university, visited America and was beaten by Yale (3 to 8). In
1899 both British universities competed at Queen's Club against the
combined athletes of Harvard and Yale, who were beaten by the odd event.
The return match took place between the same universities at New York in
the summer of 1901, the Americans winning 6 to 3 events. In 1904 Harvard
and Yale beat Oxford and Cambridge at Queen's Club by the same score.
Outside Great Britain and America the most important athletic events are
undoubtedly the revived Olympic games. They were instituted by delegates
from the different nations who met in Paris on the 16th of June 1894,
principally at the instigation of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the result
being the formation of an International Olympic Games Committee with
Baron de Coubertin at its head, which resolved that games should be held
every fourth year in a different country. The first modern Olympiad took
place at Athens, 6th to 12th April 1896, in the ancient stadium, which
was rebuilt through the liberality of a Greek merchant and seated about
45,000 people. The programme of events included the usual field and
track sports, gymnastics, wrestling, pole-climbing, lawn tennis,
fencing, rifle and revolver shooting, weight-lifting, swimming, the
Marathon race and bicycle racing. Among the contestants were
representatives of nearly every European nation, besides Americans and
Australians. Great Britain took little direct interest in the occasion
and was inadequately represented, but the United States sent five men
from Boston and four from Princeton University, who, though none of them
held American championships, succeeded in winning every event for which
they were entered. The Marathon race of 42 kilometres (26 miles),
commemorative of the famous run of the Greek messenger to Athens with
the news of the victory of Marathon, was won by a Greek peasant. The
second Olympiad was held in Paris in June 1900. Again Great Britain was
poorly represented, but American athletes won eighteen of the
twenty-four championship events. The third Olympiad was held at St Louis
in the summer of 1904 in connexion with the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition, its success being due in great measure to James E. Sullivan,
the physical director of the Exposition, and Caspar Whitney, the
president of the American Olympic Games Committee. The games were much
more numerous than at the previous Olympiads, including sports of all
kinds, handicaps, inter-club competitions, and contests for aborigines.
In the track and field competitions the American athletes won every
championship except weight-throwing (56 lb.) and lifting the bar. The
sports of the savages, among whom were American Indians, Africans of
several tribes, Moros, Patagonians, Syrians, Ainus and Filipinos, were
disappointing; their efforts in throwing the javelin, shooting with bow
and arrow, weight-lifting, running and jumping, proving to be feeble
compared with those of white races. The Americanized Indians made the
best showing.
The Greeks, however, were not altogether satisfied with the cosmopolitan
character of the revival of these celebrated games of their ancestors,
and resolved to give the revival a more definitely Hellenic stamp by
intercalating an additional series, to take place at Athens, in the
middle of the quadrennial period. Their action was justified by the
success which attended the first of this additional series at Athens in
1906. This success may have been partly due to the personal interest
taken in the games by the king and royal family of Greece, and to the
presence of King Edward VII., Queen Alexandra, and the prince and
princess of Wales; but to whatever cause it should be assigned it was
generally acknowledged that neither in France nor in America had the
games acquired the same prestige as those held on the classical soil of
Greece. In 1906 the governments of Germany, France and the United States
made considerable grants of money to defray the expenses of the
competitors from those countries. These games aroused much more interest
in England than the earlier ones in the series, but though upwards of
fifty British competitors took part in the contests, they were by no
means representative in all cases of the best British athletics. The
American representatives were slightly less numerous, but they were more
successful. It was noteworthy that no British or Americans took part in
the rowing races in the Bay of Phalerum, nor in the tennis, football or
shooting competitions. The Marathon race, by far the most important
event in the games, was won in 1906 by a British athlete, M.D. Sherring,
a Canadian by birth. The Americans won a total of 75 prizes, the British
39, and the Swedes and Greeks each 28.
The games of the 4th Olympiad (1908) were held in London in connexion
with the Franco-British Exhibition of that year. An immense sensation
was caused by the finish for the Marathon race from Windsor Castle to
the stadium in the Exhibition grounds in London. The first competitor to
arrive was the Italian, Dorando Pietri, whose condition of physical
collapse was such that, appearing to be on the point of death, he had to
be assisted over the last few yards of the course. He was therefore
disqualified, and J. Hayes, an American, was adjudged the winner; a
special prize was presented to the Italian by Queen Alexandra. In the
whole series of contests the United Kingdom made 38 wins, the Americans
22, and the Swedes 7. In the Olympic games proper, British athletes,
including two wins by colonials from Canada and Africa, scored 25
successes, and the Americans 18. In the track events 8 wins fell to the
British, including two Colonials, and 6 to American athletes; but the
latter gained complete supremacy in the field events, of which they won
9, while British competitors secured only two of minor importance.
For records, &c., see the annual _Sporting and Athletic Register_; for
the Olympic games see Theodore Andrea Cook's volume, published in
connexion with the Olympiad of 1908.
ATHLONE, a market-town of Co. Westmeath, Ireland, on both banks of the
Shannon. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6617. The urban district, under
the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1900, is wholly in county Westmeath,
but the same area is divided by the Shannon between the parliamentary
divisions of South Westmeath and South Roscommon. Athlone is 78 m. W.
from Dublin by the Midland Great Western railway, and is also served by
a branch from Portarlington of the Great Southern & Western line,
providing an alternative and somewhat longer route from the capital. The
main line of the former company continues W. to Galway, and a branch
N.W. serves counties Roscommon and Mayo. The Shannon divides the town
into two portions, known as the Leinster side (east), and the Connaught
side (west), which are connected by a handsome bridge opened in 1844.
There is a swivel railway bridge. The rapids of the Shannon at this
point are obviated by means of a lock communication with a basin, which
renders the navigation of the river practicable above the town. The
steamers of the Shannon Development Company ply on the river, and some
trade by water is carried on with Limerick, and with Dublin by the river
and the Grand and Royal canals. Athlone is an important agricultural
centre, and there are woollen factories. The salmon fishing both
provides sport and is a source of commercial wealth. There are two
parish churches, St Mary and St Peter, both erected early in the 19th
century, of which the first has near it an isolated church tower of
earlier date. There are three Roman Catholic chapels, a court-house and
other public offices. Early remains include portions of the castle, of
the town walls (1576), of the abbey of St Peter and of a Franciscan
foundation. On several islands of the picturesque Lough Ree, to the
north, are ecclesiastical and other remains.
The military importance of Athlone dates from the erection of the castle
and of a bridge over the river by John de Grey, bishop of Norwich and
justiciar of Ireland, in 1210. It became the seat of the presidency of
Connaught under Elizabeth, and withstood a siege by the insurgents in
1641. In the war of 1688 the possession of Athlone was considered of the
greatest importance, and it consequently sustained two sieges, the first
by William III. in person, which failed, and the second by General
Godart van Ginkel (q.v.), who, on the 30th of June 1691, in the face
of the Irish, forded the river and took possession of the town, with the
loss of only fifty men. Ginkel was subsequently created earl of Athlone,
and his descendants held the title till it became extinct in 1844. In
1797 the town was strongly fortified on the Roscommon side, the works
covering 15 acres and containing two magazines, an ordnance store, an
armoury with 15,000 stands of arms and barracks for 1500 men. The works
are now dismantled. Athlone was incorporated by James I., and returned
two members to the Irish parliament, and one member to the imperial
parliament till 1885.
ATHOL, a township of Worcester county, northern Massachusetts, U.S.A.,
having an area of 35 sq. m. Pop. (1900) 7061, of whom 986 were
foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 8536. Its surface is irregular and
hilly. The village of Athol is on Miller's river, and is served by the
Boston & Albany and the Boston & Maine railways. The streams of the
township furnish good water-power, and manufactures of varied character
are its leading interests. Athol was first settled in 1735, and was
incorporated as a township in 1762. It was named by its largest
landowner Col. James Murray, after the ancestral home of the Murrays,
dukes of Atholl.
See L.B. Caswell, _Athol, Mass., Past and Present_ (Athol, 1899).
ATHOLL, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The Stewart line of the Scottish earls of
Atholl, which ended with the 5th Stewart earl in 1595, the earldom
reverting to the crown, had originated with Sir John Stewart of Balveny
(d. 1512), who was created earl of Atholl about 1457 (new charter 1481).
The 5th earl's daughter, Dorothea, married William Murray, earl of
Tullibardine (cr. 1606), who in 1626 resigned his earldom in favour of
Sir Patrick Murray, on condition of the revival of the earldom of Atholl
in his wife and her descendants. The earldom thus passed to the Murray
line, and John Murray, their only son (d. 1642), was accordingly
acknowledged as earl of Atholl (the 1st of the Murrays) in 1629.
JOHN STEWART, 4th earl of Atholl, in the Stewart line (d. 1579), son of
John, 3rd earl, and of Grizel, daughter of Sir John Rattray, succeeded
his father in 1542. He supported the government of the queen dowager,
and in 1560 was one of the three nobles who voted in parliament against
the Reformation and the Confession of Faith, and declared their
adherence to Roman Catholicism. Subsequently, however, he joined the
league against Huntly, whom with Murray and Morton he defeated at
Corrichie in October 1562, and he supported the projected marriage of
Elizabeth with Arran. On the arrival of Mary from France in 1561 he was
appointed one of the twelve privy councillors, and on account of his
religion obtained a greater share of the queen's favour than either
Murray or Maitland. He was one of the principal supporters of the
marriage with Darnley, became the leader of the Roman Catholic nobles,
and with Lennox obtained the chief power in the government, successfully
protecting Mary and Darnley from Murray's attempts to regain his
ascendancy by force of arms. According to Knox he openly attended mass
in the queen's chapel, and was especially trusted by Mary in her project
of reinstating Roman Catholicism. The fortress of Tantallon was placed
in his keeping, and in 1565 he was made lieutenant of the north of
Scotland. He is described the same year by the French ambassador as
"tres grand catholique hardi et vaillant et remuant, comme l'on dict,
mais de nul jugement et experience." He had no share in the murders of
Rizzio or Darnley, and after the latter crime in 1567, he joined the
Protestant lords against Mary, appeared as one of the leaders against
her at Carberry Hill, and afterwards approved of her imprisonment at
Lochleven Castle. In July he was present at the coronation of James, and
was included in the council of regency on Mary's abdication. He,
however, was not present at Langside in May 1568, and in July became
once more a supporter of Mary, voting for her divorce from Bothwell
(1569). In March 1570 he signed with other lords the joint letter to
Elizabeth asking for the queen's intercession and supporting Mary's
claims, and was present at the convention held at Linlithgow in April in
opposition to the assembly of the king's party at Edinburgh. In 1574 he
was proceeded against as a Roman Catholic and threatened with
excommunication, subsequently holding a conference with the ministers
and being allowed till midsummer to overcome his scruples. He had failed
in 1572 to prevent Morton's appointment to the regency, but in 1578 he
succeeded with the earl of Argyll in driving him from office. On the
24th of March James took the government into his own hands and dissolved
the regency, and Atholl and Argyll, to the exclusion of Morton, were
made members of the council, while on the 29th Atholl was appointed lord
chancellor. Subsequently, on the 24th of May, Morton succeeded in
getting into Stirling Castle and in regaining his guardianship of James.
Atholl and Argyll, who were now corresponding with Spain in hopes of
assistance from that quarter, then advanced to Stirling with a force of
7000 men, when a compromise was arranged, the three earls being all
included in the government. While on his way from a banquet held on the
20th of April 1579 on the occasion of the reconciliation, Atholl was
seized with sudden illness, and died on the 25th, not without strong
suspicions of poison. He was buried at St. Giles's cathedral in
Edinburgh. He married (1) Elizabeth, daughter of George Gordon, 4th earl
of Huntly, by whom he had two daughters, and (2) Margaret, daughter of
Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming, by whom, besides three daughters, he
had John, 5th earl of Atholl, at whose death in 1595 the earldom in
default of male heirs reverted to the crown.
JOHN MURRAY, 1st earl of Atholl in the Murray line (see above), died in
1642. On the outbreak of the civil war he called out the men of Atholl
for the king, and was imprisoned by the marquess of Argyll in Stirling
Castle in 1640.
JOHN MURRAY, 2nd earl and 1st marquess of Atholl (1631-1703), son of the
1st earl and of Jean, daughter of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, was
born on the 2nd of May 1631. In 1650 he joined in the unsuccessful
attempt to liberate Charles II. from the Covenanters, and in 1653 was
the chief supporter of Glencairn's rising, but was obliged to surrender
with his two regiments to Monk on the 2nd of September 1654. At the
restoration Atholl was made a privy councillor for Scotland and sheriff
of Fife, in 1661 lord justice-general of Scotland, in 1667 a
commissioner for keeping the peace in the western Highlands, in 1670
colonel of the king's horseguards, in 1671 a commissioner of the
exchequer, and in 1672 keeper of the privy seal in Scotland and an
extraordinary lord of session. In 1670 he became earl of Tullibardine by
the death of his cousin James, 4th earl, and on the 7th of February 1676
he was created marquess of Atholl, earl of Tullibardine, viscount of
Balquhidder, Lord Murray, Balvenie and Cask. He at first zealously
supported Lauderdale's tyrannical policy, but after the raid of 1678,
called the "Highland Host," in which Atholl was one of the chief
leaders, he joined in the remonstrance to the king concerning the
severities inflicted upon the Covenanters, and was deprived of his
office of justice-general and passed over for the chancellorship in
1681. In 1679, however, he was present at the battle of Bothwell Brig;
in July 1680 he was made vice-admiral of Scotland, and in 1681 president
of parliament. In 1684 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Argyll, and
invaded the country, capturing the earl of Argyll after his return from
abroad in June 1685 at Inchinnan. The excessive severities with which he
was charged in this campaign were repudiated with some success by him
after the Revolution.[1] The same year he was reappointed lord privy
seal, and in 1687 was made a knight of the Thistle on the revival of the
order. At the Revolution he wavered from one side to the other, showing
no settled purpose but waiting upon the event, but finally in April 1689
wrote to William to declare his allegiance, and in May took part in the
proclamation of William and Mary as king and queen at Edinburgh. But on
the occasion of Dundee's insurrection he retired to Bath to drink the
waters, while the bulk of his followers joined Dundee and brought about
in great measure the defeat of the government troops at Killiecrankie.
He was then summoned from Bath to London and imprisoned during August.
In 1690 he was implicated in the Montgomery plot and subsequently in
further Jacobite intrigues. In June 1691 he received a pardon, and acted
later for the government in the pacification of the Highlands. He died
on the 6th of May 1703. He married Amelia, daughter of James Stanley,
7th earl of Derby (through whom the later dukes of Atholl acquired the
sovereignty of the Isle of Man), and had, besides one daughter, six
sons, of whom John became 2nd marquess and 1st duke of Atholl; Charles
was made 1st earl of Dunmore, and William married Margaret, daughter of
Sir Robert Nairne, 1st Lord Nairne, becoming in her right 2nd Lord
Nairne.
JOHN MURRAY, 2nd marquess and 1st duke of Atholl (1660-1724), was born
on the 24th of February 1660, and was styled during his father's
lifetime Lord Murray, till 1696, when he was created earl of
Tullibardine. He was a supporter of William and the Revolution in 1688,
taking the oaths in September 1689, but was unable to prevent the
majority of his clan, during his father's absence, from joining Dundee
under the command of his brother James. In 1693 as one of the
commissioners he showed great energy in the examination into the
massacre of Glencoe and in bringing the crime home to its authors. In
1694 he obtained a regiment, in 1695 was made sheriff of Perth, in 1696
secretary of state, and from 1696 to 1698 was high commissioner. In the
latter year, however, he threw up office and went into opposition. At
the accession of Anne he was made a privy councillor, and in 1703 lord
privy seal for Scotland. The same year he succeeded his father as 2nd
marquess of Atholl, and on the 30th of June he was created duke of
Atholl, marquess of Tullibardine, earl of Strathtay and Strathardle,
Viscount Balquhidder, Glenalmond and Glenlyon, and Lord Murray, Balvenie
and Gask. In 1704 he was made a knight of the Thistle. In 1703-1704 an
unsuccessful attempt was made by Simon, Lord Lovat, who used the duke of
Queensberry as a tool, to implicate him in a Jacobite plot against Queen
Anne; but the intrigue was disclosed by Robert Ferguson, and Atholl sent
a memorial to the queen on the subject, which resulted in Queensberry's
downfall. But he fell nevertheless into suspicion, and was deprived of
office in October 1705, subsequently becoming a strong antagonist of the
government, and of the Hanoverian succession. He vehemently opposed the
Union during the years 1705-1707, and entered into a project for
resisting by force and for holding Stirling Castle with the aid of the
Cameronians, but nevertheless did not refuse a compensation of L1000.
According to Lockhart, he could raise 6000 of the best men in the
kingdom for the Jacobites. On the occasion, however, of the invasion of
1708 he took no part, on the score of illness, and was placed under
arrest at Blair Castle. On the downfall of the Whigs and the advent of
the Tories to power, Atholl returned to office, was chosen a
representative peer in the Lords in 1710 and 1713, in 1712 was an
extraordinary lord of session, from 1713 to 1714 was once more keeper of
the privy seal, and from 1712 to 1714 was high commissioner. On the
accession of George I. he was again dismissed from office, but at the
rebellion of 1715, while three of his sons joined the Jacobites, he
remained faithful to the government, whom he assisted in various ways,
on the 4th of June 1717 apprehending Robert Macgregor (Rob Roy), who,
however, succeeded in escaping. He died on the 14th of November 1724. He
married (1) Catherine, daughter of William Douglas, 3rd duke of
Hamilton, by whom, besides one daughter, he had six sons, of whom John
was killed at Malplaquet in 1709, William was marquess of Tullibardine,
and James succeeded his father as 2nd duke on account of the share
taken by his elder brother in the rebellion; and (2) Mary, daughter of
William, Lord Ross, by whom he had three sons and several daughters.
The _Atholl Chronicles_ have been privately printed by the 7th duke of
Atholl (b. 1840). See also S. Cowan, _Three Celtic Earldoms_ (1909).