ADMIRALTY COURTS-ADONIS. made on the high seas, and likewise offences committed, and many contracts made thereon. In civil suits, the judges decide unaided. In criminal cases, the judge in England is associated with three or four commissioners; in the United States, he is assisted by a jury. In the latter country, the admiralty jurisdiction is vested in the circuit and district courts of the Union. In England, it is divided between the instance and the prize courts, the former being the ordinary admiralty court, the latter being constituted by a special commission, in time of war, to take cognizance of prizes, though the individuals composing the court are the same in both cases. ADMIRALTY ISLANDS; a cluster of islands to the north of New Britain, in the South Pacific ocean, in about 2° 18′ S. lat. and 146° 44' E. lon. There are between 20 and 30. The Dutch discovered them in 1616. The islanders are black, but not of a deep shade; tall, and almost in a state of nudity. They evinced much kindness towards La Perouse. A. I. is likewise an island in George III's Archipelago, on the north-west coast of New Norfolk, in America, between N. lat. 57° and 58° 30, and between W. lon. 134° and 135°. (See Vancouver's Voyage, vol. iii.) ADOLPHUS of Nassau was elected emperor of Germany, May 1, 1292, and crowned at Aix la Chapelle, June 25. He was of an illustrious family, and of approved courage; but without any patrimony, except his sword, and destitute of those great qualities, which had raised his predecessor, Rodolph of Hapsburg, to the throne. A. owed his election, in part, to the arrogant conduct of Albert of Austria; in part, to his intrigues with the electors of Cologne and Mentz, who imposed on him the hardest conditions, and forced him to resign to them cities and territories, which were not his own. But, refusing to fulfil, when emperor, what he had promised when count, he soon saw himself hated and deserted by his friends. Urged by want of money, he received 100,000 pounds sterling from Edward I of England, and, in return, engaged to assist him against Philip the Fair of France; but he was by no means sorry to see the pope forbid his participation in the war. In this way he made himself contemptible in the eyes of the German princes, and became still more odious to them by taking advantage of the hatred of Albert, landgrave of Thuringia, against his sons, and purchasing this territory from him. 6 VOL. I. 61 This purchase involved him in a 5 years' war, in which he attempted, unsuccessfully, to subjugate the country which he had bought. Disgusted at such disgraceful conduct, and urged on by Albert of Austria, the college of electors, excepting those of Treves, Cologne and the Palatinate, cited Adolphus to appear before it. Failing to appear, the throne was declared vacant, June 23, 1298, and Albert of Austria elected. A war already existed between the two rivals, in which Adolphus seemed superior, until, deceived by the manœuvres of his foe, he found himself surrounded at Gellheim, and fell, after a heroic resistance, by Albert's own hand, July 2, 1298. His body was deposited by Henry VII in the imperial vault at Spire, at the same time with that of Albert. His faults sprung mostly from the inadequateness of his abilities to his situation. One mistake followed another, and when, in the latter part of his career, he wished to adopt a better course, it was too late. ADONAI; one of the many Hebrew names for God. The word properly signifies my lords, in the plural number, which is called, in the Hebrew grammar, pluralis majestatis. The Jews, who, from religious reverence, do not pronounce the name Jehovah, read Adonai in all the places in which the former name occurs. This practice commenced among the latter Jews after the Babylonish captivity, at least before the time of Josephus. (See Geddes' Crit. Remarks, vol. i, p. 167, and Leigh's Crit. Sacr. in verb. Kuqios.) ADONIC. The Adonic verse consists of a dactyle and a spondee or trochee, e. g. ráră jŭvēntūs; and, on account of its animated movement, is adapted to gay and lively poetry. Long poems, however, would become monotonous if written entirely in a measure so short, and recurring with no variety. It is therefore rarely used by itself. Even the ancients always combined it with other kinds of verse; thus the last verse of the Sapphic strophe is Adonic. ADONIS; Son of Cinyras by his daughter Myrrha. The wood-nymphs educated him, and he grew up so remarkably beautiful, that he became the favorite of Venus, who accompanied him to the chase, pointing out the dangers to which he was exposed. A., disregarding her advice, eagerly pursued the wild beasts of the forest, but, happening to fail in an attack upon a wild boar, he was mortally wounded by this ferocious animal. The goddess, hearing of his misfortune, hurried to his assistance, and in her haste her foot was wounded by a rose-bush, the flowers of which, formerly white, from that time took the color of blood. When she reached the spot, she found him lifeless on the grass, and, to alleviate her grief and preserve his memory, she transformed him into an anemone. At her request, however, Jupiter permitted A. to spend 6 months with her, and the other 6 with Proserpine. A full explanation of this fable may be found in Creuzer's Symbolik und Mythologie der Völker des Alterthums. ADOPTIANI; a religious sect which asserted that Christ, as to his divine nature, was properly the Son of God; but, as to his human nature, only such by adoption, by baptism and regeneration, through which God's mercy adopts other men also as his children; for they could not comprehend how a human being could be called the Son of God in a literal sense. Flipandus, archbishop of Toledo, and Felix, bishop of Urgel, in Spain, avowed this doctrine in 783, and made proselytes both in Spain and France. Charlemagne condemned their heresy at the council of Ratisbon, and dismissed Felix from his office. This sentence was repeated 3 times; at Frankfort, 794, at Rome and at Aix la Chapelle in 799, because the bishop relapsed twice into his former error. He was then placed, for the remainder of his life, under the care of the bishop of Lyons. After the death of Flipandus, the whole controversy ceased. The dispute is worthy of notice, both on account of the moderation of Charlemagne, and because the opinion of the Adoptiani has often been made use of by those who have exerted themselves to adapt the doctrine of the divinity of Christ to the comprehension of man. (See Socinians.) ADOPTION, the admission of a stranger by birth to the privileges of a child, has come down to us in the Roman law. Its purpose was the acquisition of paternal power, which could either be ceded to the person adopting by the natural parent (adoption in the strictest sense), or be obtained by the assent of a person no longer under the patria potestas, or of his guardians. This second sort is called arrogation. According to the ancient civil law, the adopted child left the family of its parents or guardians, and became a member of the family of the person adopting it. The emperor Justinian abolished this prin ciple in regard to adoption properly so called. Adoption was intended to supply the want of offspring in those persons who might have been parents. Eunuchs, therefore, and persons already having legitimate issue, were excluded from this privilege. The person adopting must have been at least 18 years older than the person to be adopted. Guardians were not permitted to adopt their wards, nor a poor man a rich child. Females, strictly speaking, were not permitted to adopt, but might, with the permission of the sovereign, secure to any child the right of support and inheritance. In Germany, the rules respecting adoption are derived from the civil law, but require the sanction either of the sovereign or of the judiciary. (Civil Code of Austria, 1. 179; Prussian Code, part 2, tit. 2, § 666.) The adopted child receives the name of its adopter, but does not share in his rank if he be a nobleman, except by the special permission of the sovereign. In Prussia, a married couple must have lived many years without children, before they are allowed to adopt a child. The modern French law (Code civile, a. 343) also admits adoption, but only on certain conditions. The code establishes three kinds of adoption-l'adoption ordinaire, la rémunératoire, et la testamentoire. Those who wish to adopt must have supported the person to be adopted for six years, or the adopter's life must have been saved by the person to be adopted. Excepting in this last case, the latter must be as much as fifteen years younger than the former. Adoption (excepting as before) cannot take place until the person to be adopted is of age, and must be ratified by the district court as well as by the court of appeal. There is nothing corresponding with adoption in the law either of England or America. In Asia, adoption is a very common practice. The ceremony is frequently performed merely by the adopting person exchanging girdles with the person adopted. The Turks declare adoption often before the cadi, and a writing regularly witnessed is drawn up. The law of Mahomet prescribes still another very curious ceremony of adoption. The person adopted is required to pass through the shirt of the adopter; and hence the phrase to draw another through one's shirt is, among them, expressive of adoption. An adopted son is called akietogli, that is, the son of another life. Several writers have applied this ceremony as explanatory of many passages both of the Old and New Testaments. ADORATION. ADORATION; originally, the expression of the highest respect either to God or man; now used, more particularly, for the act of religious homage. The word literally signifies applying the hand to the mouth; manum ad os admovere, i. e. to kiss the hand. The word kissing is the usual idiom of the Hebrew language to signify adoration. Herodotus considers the custom of kissing the hand in adoration to have been adopted by the Greeks from the Persians. It certainly prevailed at an early period all over the East. The Roman ceremony of adoration has been thus described: the devotee, having his head covered, applied his right hand to his lips, the fore finger resting on his thumb, which was erect, and, thus bowing his head, turned himself round from left to right. The kiss given was called osculum labratum. Sometimes, however, they kissed the feet or even the knees of their gods. The Grecians generally worshipped uncovered. During their prayers, their hands were raised above their heads with the palms turned towards heaven or the statues of their god; a custom still often seen, in Catholic countries, accompanying fervent prayer; but generally the Christians clasp their hands during prayer, which is still the custom in Europe, both among Catholics and Protestants. The first Christians often turned the face towards the east when they prayed. The Mahometans turn the face towards Mecca. Prostration, accompanied sometimes by kissing the ground, is an ancient mode of adoring the gods, and expressing the highest respect for men. In Russia and Poland, it is still the custom for people of the lower classes to kneel down and kiss the garment of the person to whom they wish to show respect. Diocletian offered his foot to be kissed by the courtiers, and even under Charlemagne and his son, the noblemen kissed the emperor's foot. Probably, therefore, the popes took this custom from the emperors, to whose power they laid claim in succeeding to their title of sovereign pontiff. They have an embroidered cross on the slipper of their right foot, which is kissed by the Catholics. When the late king of Spain was in Rome, he prostrated himself before the pontiff, and kissed the cross on his foot. There is no doubt that the Roman emperors borrowed this custom from the East. In the primitive Christian church, this honor is said to have been shown to every bishop, as it often is still in the Greek church. In kissing the bishop's 63 foot, the words oσzν os were, and still are used. The Jews, being an Asiatic tribe, often prostrated themselves in the act of worship. (See Joshua, Judges, 1 Chron., Ezekiel, &c.) Taking off the shoes or slippers during adoration is an old custom in Asia. It is also practised on common occasions as an act of politeness. The Oriental takes off his shoes before he enters the temple, the mosque, or the apartment of a man of respectability. This custom was also adopted by the Roman Catholic church in some cases. At the adoration of the cross on Good Friday, the Roman Catholics walk barefooted; and the ceremony of humiliation, when the pope and all the cardinals approach the cross bare-footed, in the Cappella Sistina, cannot but make a deep impression on every traveller. Kneeling was in all ages a common posture of adoration, and originates from the feeling of humility in addressing a higher and mightier being. Sitting with the thighs resting on the heels, was an ancient Egyptian attitude in the act of worship. There are many statues represented in this position. Standing with the body inclined forward, the eyes fixed on the ground, the hands probably resting on the knees, was an early eastern attitude of adoration. Dancing, screaming, rolling on the ground, and many similar acts accompany the worship of different savage tribes. Mr. Ward, one of the Baptist missionaries at Serampore, in a work on the history and literature of the Hindoos, has given a very curious and minute account of the modes of adoration, which they call pooja. The objects of adoration have been greatly diversified. all ages, worship has been paid to idols, but many of the worshippers have regarded the image merely as the representative of the Divinity. Protestants often mistake when they impute to Catholics, universally, the worship of external things, as being in themselves objects of adoration, while, in fact, they are regarded by the church merely as visible signs of the invisible Deity. The ancients placed crowns or garlands on the statues of the gods; and the Catholics still offer flowers to their saints and the virgin. It was common to sleep in the ancient temples, with a view of receiving responses from the gods in dreams. The sick, in particular, slept for this purpose in the temple of Esculapius. In the Roman Ca tholic church adoration is not offered to saints and martyrs, as has been supposed, but their intercession is solicited. The In 64 ADORATION-ADRIAN. Phoenicians (the first navigators) adored the winds, a practice adopted by many other nations. The Persians adored the sun and fire. The Greeks and Romans adored fire under the name of Vesta. Pliny mentions the adoration of lightning by gently clapping the hands. The Egyptians adored animals, plants and fishes; the Arabs, stones; the Scythians, swords; the Chinese, the statues of their ancestors. The Hindoos have not only an amazing variety of gods, but they worship human beings, beasts, birds, trees, rivers, fish, books and stones. (See Ward's View of the History, Literature and Religion of the Hindoos, and Bishop Heber's Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824-1825, with Notes upon Ceylon, and an Account of a Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826.) It must be remembered, that all adoration originates from two different sources, either from love and thankfulness, or from fear. ADRAGANTH, in medicine, gum dragon. It distils by incision from the trunk or roots of a plant which grows in the Levant. The gum is of different colors, white, red, gray and black, and is useful in medicine. Skinners use great quantities, and prefer the red to the black. It is the astragalus tragacanthus of Linnæus. ADRASTEA; a daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, the servant of eternal Justice, the punisher of all injustice, whom no mortal escapes. A. is generally a mere epithet, given to Nemesis, (q. v.) She is represented sometimes with wings, sometimes with a rudder, and sometimes with a wheel. ADRASTUS, king of Argos; son of Talaus and Eurynome. In obedience to the oracle which commanded him to give one of his daughters to a lion and the other to a wild boar, he gave Argia to Polynices, who came to him in a lion's skin, and Deiphyle to Tydeus, who was dressed in the skin of a wild boar. He was one of the seven heroes who encamped before Thebes, and the only one who survived the siege. Ten years after this, he made a second expedition against Thebes, accompanied by the sons of his former allies, and took the city, but lost his son in the engagement, and died himself of grief. (See Thebes.) ADRIAN, the African, abbot of St. Peter's, Canterbury, in the 7th century, accompanied Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, to England. A. was the preceptor of Adhelm, and Bede extols the hap py time when the island enjoyed his tuition, and Kent "was the fountain of knowledge to the rest of England." ADRIAN, OF HADRIAN, Publius Ælius, a Roman emperor, the successor of Trajan, was born at Rome, A. D. 76. His father, Trajan's cousin, died when A. was ten years of age. A. showed very early great talents, and is said to have spoken the Greek language so perfectly in his 15th year, that he was called the young Greek. His memory is said to have been so extraordinary, that he could commit a book to memory by once perusing it, and that he could call all his soldiers by name. These stories may be exaggerated, but they prove the estimation in which his talents were held. He was an orator, poet, grammarian, mathematician, physician, painter, musician and astrologer. The greater developement of the sciences in modern times does not admit of distinction in so many branches. His great qualities, however, were stained by great faults, so that he never won the affections of Trajan, who was his guardian. He was indebted for his elevation to the throne to the wife of Trajan, Plotina, who concealed the death of her husband until she had time to forge a testament bearing the name of the late emperor, in which he was made to adopt A. and declare him his successor. Her bribes also had in the mean time prepared the troops to espouse the cause of A. After these preparations had been made, A. sent information of the emperor's death from Antioch to Rome, pretended that the imperial dignity had been forced upon him, promised the senate that he would discharge faithfully the duties of his station, and assured the pretorian guards that they should receive twice the usual present. A.D.117, he ascended the imperial throne, appeared in Rome, and strove at first to win the favor of the people by the mildness of his administration. It was not long, however, before he manifested a cowardly and suspicious character, together with too great a devotion to pleasure. Among other things, he purchased peace from the Sarmatians and Roxolani, who had attacked Illyria, by the payment of a tribute. From A. D. 120 to 131, he made his famous journey on foot, and with his head uncovered, through all the provinces of his empire. In Egypt, he lost his favorite Antinous (q. v.), whose death he lamented long and bitterly. During his stay of two years in Athens, he established a colony of Roman soldiers on the site of the ruined Jerusalem; ADRIAN. and on the spot where the temple of Solomon had stood, he erected a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. Upon this, a dreadful insurrection broke out among the Jews, which lasted two years and a half. He embellished Athens with buildings, and finished the temple of the Olympian Jupiter, begun 560 years before. A. died at Baja, 138 A. D. in the 63d year of his age, and the 21st of his reign. He had good qualities and great faults. He promoted literature and the arts, did many good things on his journey, established the edictum perpetuum, enacted laws against dissipation and the cruelties of the slave trade, prohibited human sacrifices, forbade the indiscriminate bathing of men and women, &c. Antoninus Pius succeeded him. It was with much difficulty that his successor could obtain a decree from the senate, granting him, according to usage, divine honors. A. wrote several books; among others a history of his own life, under the name of Phlegon, one of his freedmen, which is no longer extant. He composed, not long before he breathed his last, the following lines: Animula, vagula, blandula, Pope has imitated them. ADRIAN. There have been six popes of this name. The first, a Roman, ruled from 772 to 795, was a cotemporary and friend of Charlemagne, who, on account of A.'s able defence of his claims to the crown of France, protected him with his army, 774, against Desiderius, king of the Lombards, confirmed the donation of Pepin to the territory of the church, and made further grants himself. The pope was not allowed, however, to enjoy in peace the gifts of Charlemagne till 787, after the termination of the frequent campaigns of this king against the Italian princes, who claimed the territory. By confirming the decrees of the council of Nice, 786, in favor of the worship of images, A. gave offence to Charlemagne, who was opposed to the practice, and procured a repeal of the decree at the council of Frankfort. The repeal was resisted by A.; but he so carefully and skilfully avoided offending the king, that he remained his friend, and honored him after his death, 795, with an inscription, yet preserved in the Vatican. Though by no means a profound theologian, A. obtained 65 great influence by the correctness of his conduct, and his decision of character. By a prudent use of this influence, he greatly increased his power.-ADRIAN II, a Roman, was elected pope in 867, at the age of 75 years. He was esteemed for his virtues, and famous on account of his bold opposition to the divorce of Lothaire, king of Lotharingia, from his wife Thietberga. By interfering in the dispute, which arose after the death of Lothaire, between Charles the Bald and the emperor Louis, respecting the right of succession, he made the former his enemy. He had another dispute in France, where bishop Hincmar of Laon had been dismissed against his will; he likewise excommunicated the patriarch Photius of Constantinople, on account of his spiritual jurisdiction over Bulgaria, which diminished the authority of the pope, since the Greek church maintained its independence against him, and made Bulgaria dependent on itself. He died 872, in the midst of his conflicts with this church.-ADRIAN III, a Roman, elected 884, was pope for 1 year and 4 months only. He was opposed to the influence of the emperors on the election of the pope, and determined, if Charles the Fat should die without heir, to give Italy a new king. ADRIAN IV, an Englishman, originally named Nicholas Breakspear, rose, by his great talents, from the situation of a poor monk to the rank of cardinal, and legate in the north, where he established at Drontheim the first Norwegian archbishopric, and a second at Upsal. He was elected pope in 1154, and waged an unsuccessful war against William, king of Sicily, who, at the peace of 1156, claimed the privilege, still existing in the monarchia Sicilia, so called, that, in matters relating to the church, nothing should be done by the pope without the consent of the king. The emperor Frederic I, who, before, had held his stirrup, and had been crowned by him at Rome, June 18, 1155, was opposed to this peace with William, his enemy. A. increased his resentment by the haughty language of his letters, and instigated the Lombards against him. Frederic, on the other hand, acted in ecclesiastical matters as if there had been no pope. Before these difficulties came to a close, A. died, Sept. 1, 1159, at Anagni. The permission which he gave to Henry II, king of England, to invade Ireland, on the condition that every family of that island should pay annually a penny to the papal chair, because all islands belong to the |