Ascaparts, men big enough to throw
Charing Cross for a bar.

Dr. Donne (1573-1631).

Thus imitated by Pope (1688-1744)--

Each man an Ascapart of strength to toss
For quoits both Temple Bar and Charing Cross.

ASCRAE'AN SAGE, or _Ascraean poet_, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in
Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascraean."

Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae
Ascraeo quos ante seni.

_Ecl._ vii. 70.

AS'EBIE (3 _syl_.), Irreligion personified in _The Purple Island_
(1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros
(_idolatry_), Phar'makeus (3 _syl_.) (_witchcraft_), Haeret'icus,
and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, _asebeia_,
"impiety.")

ASEL'GES (3 _syl_.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four
sons of Anag'nus (_inchastity_), his three brothers being Maechus
(_adultery_), Pornei'us (_fornication_), and Acath'arus. Seeing
his brother Porneius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (_maidenly
chastity_), Aselges rushes forward to avenge his death, but the
martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i'
the air "that he hardly knew whither his course was bent." (Greek,
_aselges_, "intemperate, wanton.")--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple
Island_, xi. (1633).

AS'EN, strictly speaking, are only the three gods next in rank to
the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the
Scandinavian deities generally.

ASHBURTON (_Mary_), heroine of _Hyperion_, by H.W. Longfellow (1839).

ASH'FIELD (_Farmer_), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted,
noble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his
daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is
"Behave pratty," and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter
Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy.

_Dame Ashfield_, the farmer's wife, whose _bete noire_ is a
neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what
Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel
too.

_Susan Ashfield_, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.--Thom. Morton,
_Speed the Plough_ (1764-1838).

ASH'FORD (_Isaac_), "a wise, good man, contented to be poor."--Crabbe,
_Parish Register_ (1807).

ASHPENAZ, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the
Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to
be at once feared and despised.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps