e of soft coloured stuffs, usually worked with a simple pattern
in tinted wools or silk.

ANTIMACHUS, of Colophon or Claros, Greek poet and grammarian, flourished
about 400 B.C. Scarcely anything is known of his life. His poetical
efforts were not generally appreciated, although he received
encouragement from his younger contemporary Plato (Plutarch, _Lysander_,
18). His chief works were: a long-winded epic _Thebais_, an account of
the expedition of the Seven against Thebes and the war of the Epigoni;
and an elegiac poem _Lyde_, so called from the poet's mistress, for
whose death he endeavoured to find consolation by ransacking mythology
for stories of unhappy love affairs (Plutarch, _Consol. ad Apoll._ 9;
Athenaeus xiii. 597). Antimachus was the founder of "learned" epic
poetry, and the forerunner of the Alexandrian school, whose critics
allotted him the next place to Homer. He also prepared a critical
recension of the Homeric poems.

Fragments, ed. Stoll (1845); Bergk, _Poetae Lyrici Graeci_ (1882);
Kinkel, _Fragmenta epicorum Graecorum_ (1877).

ANTI-MASONIC PARTY, an American political organization which had its
rise after the mysterious disappearance, in 1826, of William Morgan (c.
1776-c. 1826), a Freemason of Batavia, New York, who had become
dissatisfied with his Order and had planned to publish its secrets. When
his purpose became known to the Masons, Morgan was subjected to frequent
annoyances, and finally in September 1826 he was seized and
surreptitiously conveyed to Fort Niagara, whence he disappeared. Though
his ultimate fate was never known, it was generally believed at the time
that he had been foully dealt with. The event created great excitement,
and led many to believe that Masonry and good citizenship were
incompatible. Opposition to Masonry was taken up by the churches as a
sort of religious crusade, and it also became a local political issue in
western New York, where early in 1827 the citizens in many mass meetings
resolved to support no Mason for public office. In New York at this time
the National Republicans, or "Adams men," were a very feeble
organization, and shrewd political leaders at once determined to utilize
the strong anti-Masonic feeling in creating a new and vigorous party to
oppose the rising Jacksonian Democracy. In this effort they were aided
by the fact that Jackson was a high Mason and frequently spoke in praise
of the Order. In the elections of 1828 the new par