Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/720

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684: ARGELANDER care of a chief who had been intrusted by Pow- hatan with the charge of his daughter, but who surrendered her for the bribe of a brass kettle. Taking her to Jamestown, he gave her to the governor, Lord Delaware. In 1617 he became deputy governor of Virginia, in which office he demeaned himself so tyrannically that he was recalled in 1619, returning to England with immense wealth. Under the governorship of Sir Thomas Dale he commanded an expedition which sailed in 1613 to Port Royal in Nova Scotia, which place he reduced and plundered, driving the French colonists into the woods. He also destroyed the French settlement of St. Saviour on Mount Desert island. It has been stated that on his return to Virginia he appeared before New Amsterdam, and summoned the Hollanders to surrender their territory on the ground that Henry Hud- son, its discoverer, was an Englishman; but Brodhead, in his "History of >iew York," ar- rives at the conclusion that the whole story is fabulous. After the death of Lord Delaware, Argall took charge of his estate, and letters of Lady Delaware now in existence accuse him of the most flagrant peculation. ARGELMDEK, Friedrich Wilhelm ingost, a German astronomer, born at Memel, March 22, 1799. He attended the university of Konigs- berg, where he at first devoted himself to po- litical science. His attention was turned toward the study of astronomy by the lectures of Bes- sel, and in 1821 he was made his assistant in the observatory. In 1822 he was appointed an instructor in the university. In the same year he published his Untersuchungen uber die Bahn des grossen Kometen von 1811, establish- ing the length of the comet's period as 2,840 years. In 1823 he was made chief of a new observatory at Abo, where he passed several years, publishing in 1830 and 1832 the results of his observations in 560 different cases (Obser- vationes Astronomica Abocefactce, 8 vols., Hel- singfors), and in 1835 the determination of the positions of the stars he had observed (DLX Stellarum Fixarum Positioner Medice). In 1837 appeared his great work, Ueber die eigene Bewegung des Sonnensystems (St. Petersburg), in which he proved the truth of Herechel's theory concerning the independent movement of the solar system. In 1832 he had been ap- pointed a professor at the university of Hel- singfors, and after superintending the building of an observatory, which was completed about the time of the publication of his last-mentioned work, he accepted a professorship at Bonn. Here also he took charge of the building of a new observatory, and completed it in 1845. He published in 1846 Durchmusterung des nordlichen Himmels swischen 45 and 80 ndrd- licher Breite (Bonn). His other noteworthy works are : Neue Uranographie (Berlin, 1843) ; Atlas des nordlichen gestirnten Himmels (Bonn, 1857); and a catalogue of more than 216,000 stars, printed in the third and fourth volumes of the Astronomische BeobacJitungen auf d$r ARGENSON Sternwarte zu Bonn. He was chosen a mem- ber of the French institute in 1850. "Within the last ten years he has devoted himself to ob- servations of variable stars. ARGENS, Jean Baptist? de Bojer, marquis d', a French writer, born in Aix, June 24, 1704, died in Toulon, June 11, 1771. He entered the army, but in consequence of an escapade with an actress his relatives procured his appointment as secretary of legation to the French embassy at Constantinople. On his return from Turkey he again joined the army ; but during the siege of Kehl he was wounded, and soon after a fall from his horse disabled him for military service. As his father had disinherited him, he took to literature to support himself; and availing himself of the liberty of the press in Holland, he published there his Lettres juites, Lettres chinoises, and Lettres cabalistiques, each in several volumes. These attracted the atten- tion of the crown prince of Prussia, the future Frederick the Great, who wished him to come to Berlin ; but D'Argens would not go, be- cause, as he wrote in apology, he was afraid that his tall figure would tempt King Frederick William to enroll him in his army. However, after the accession of Frederick the marquis went to Potsdam, was appointed director of fine arts in the academy of Berlin, and was on the best of terms with the king until he mar- ried an actress without asking the royal con- sent. He then returned to France, where he remained till his death. His most important work is his Histoire de T esprit humain. ARGEIS'SON, Voyer d', a distinguished French family of Touraine. I. Rene Louis, marquis d', born Oct. 18, 1694, died Jan. 10, 1757. In 1741 Louis XV. appointed him minister of foreign affairs, and he held this office till 1747, when the intrigues of Spain, whose policy he had frustrated in his negotiations with Italy, brought about his resignation. From that time he devoted himself principally to litera- ture, and wrote, besides essays, Considerations sur le gouvernement de la France. 11. Mare Pierre, count d 1 , brother of the preceding, born Aug. 18, 1696, died in Paris, Aug. 22, 1764. He was for some time secretary of the war de- partment under Louis XV., and in this capacity did much for France during the war which pre- ceded and the peace which followed the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. D'Alembert and Diderot dedicated to him their Encyclopedia, begun during his ministry, and he furnished Voltaire with valuable materials for his Siecle de Louis XIV. III. Mare Antolne Rene de Palmy, son of Ren6 Louis, born in 1722, died in 1787. He was ambassador in Switzerland, Poland, and Venice, but, disappointed in obtaining the Roman mission, he resigned his public offices and devoted himself to literary pursuits. He edited 40 volumes of the Bibliotheque uniter- selle des romans, including some of his own novels. He was elected a member of the French academy, and appointed governor of the arsenal, and distinguished himself by the splendid col-