city of Sicily, in tlie province of Syracuse, 12 miles north of that city. It stands on a peninsula, jutting into the Meditenanean, and is said to occupy the site of the Megara Hybloea of the an- cients. Agosta, founded by the Emperor Fred- erick II. in 1229, played an important part in the war of the Sicilian Vespers, withstanding Charles of Anjou until betrayed into the hands of William L'Estendard, one of his barons (1280). The city was then sacked and the in- habitants ruthlessly butchered, and many years passed before Agosta was repeopled or began to prosper. In 1551, Agosta was taken and burned by the Turks. Earthquakes destroyed the city in 1693, when one-third of the inhabitants per- ished, and in 1848. In 1670, a great naval bat- tle was fought here between the Dutch under De Ruj'ter and the French. De Ruyter himself was killed. The port is spacious, but rather diffi- cult of access. While salt is the chief article of export, oil, wine, cheese, fruit, honey, and sai'dincs are also exported. Pop., about 12,000.
AGOSTINO, ii'go-ste'no, and AGNOLO, ii'-nyo-lo. Architects and sculptors of Siena early in the fourteenth century. They have been erroneously called brothers, because they worked together; but Agostino was the son of Giovanni, and Agnolo the son of Ventura. They are supposed to have been pupils of Giovanni Pisano.
Their sculptural masterpiece is the monument of Bishop Tarlati at Arezzo (1.330). They erected several public buildings in Siena. They built in 1325 the great tower of the Palazzo Comunale at Siena, rivaling that of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence, and in 1337 Agnolo erected the fortress of Massa.
AGOSTINO DI DUCCIO, de doo'cho (1418-
81). A Florentine sculptor and architectural
decorator, one of the foremost artists of the mid-
dle early Renaissance. He executed at twenty-
three a series of reliefs for the cathedral of Mode-
na (1442). He fled to Florence in 1440. and was
secured by Alberti (q.v. ) for the sculptural dec-
oration of the interior of San Francesco at Rim-
ini, some parts of which, such as the tomb of
Sigismundo Malatesta. are masterly. But his
full capacity was shown in his next work, the fa-
cade of San Bernardino at Perugia, one of the
finest pieces of Renaissance sculpture composi-
tion. His style was sometimes mannered and
often incorrect. His forte was very low relief
with evanescent effects, poetic female figures, and
decorative composition. He returned to Flor-
ence after 1403, and his latest works show con-
tinued progress, such as the "Madonna" in the
Opera del Diiomo.
AGOULT, a'goo', Marie Catherine Sophie de Flayigny, Comtesse d' (1805-70). A French author, whose pseudonym was Daniel Stern. She was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main. but was educated at Paris, where, in 1827. she married Count d'Agoult. Afterward she lived with Franz
Liszt, and of her two daughters by him the youngest was married to Richard Wagner. After a series of novels, including Herve (1841), and Nélida (1845), she published several political works, of which the best known are Lettres républicaines (1848), criticising the government of Louis Philippe, and the Histoire de la Revolution de 1848 (3 volumes, 1851-53). Her best
work is Esquisses morales et politiques (1849),
a volume of political and nioral aphorisms in the style of the Maximes of Rochefoucauld. Though her moral laxily made her the subject of much unpleasant notoriety, the Comtesse d'Agoult's salon was, for many years, the rendezvous of many leading statesmen, poets, critics,
painters, and musicians. There Alfred de Vigny and Sainte-Beuve were frequently seen; there Ponsard read his tragedy of Lucrèce for the first time; and there Prince Liehnowski appeared between his adventures in the Carlist War and his murder by the rabble at Frankfort. During the period from 1838-48 her salon had merely a social character. When, however, the fall of Louis Philippe in the revolution of 1848 led her to join the ultra-democratic party and to begin her crusade against "property and capital, orthodoxy and family," society was
closed against her, and it was then that such men as Rodrigues, Enfantin, Lamartine, and Louis Blanc sought her company.
AGOUTA, I'l-goiT'ta (native name). An insectivorous mammal (t^olenodon paradoxus) of Haiti resembling a very large rat, nocturnal in its habits, uttering a piercing cry, and destructive to poultry. This and a Cuban species, the Almiqui [Holcnodon cubanus), represent the
peculiar family Solenodontida'.
AGOUTI, a-goo'te (Fr. through Sp., from the
native name). Any of several small rodents of
South America and the 'est Indies, of the genus
Dasyprocta, and family Dasyproctidir. They are
18 or 20 inches long, have somewhat squirrel-
like forms, with slender legs and hoof-like claws,
and are luownisli above and yellowish below.
They inhabit woodlands, where they are gregar-
ious and dwell in holes, and whence they ramble
abroad, mainly at night, with grunting cries, to
feed on vegetables, often doing great damage to
sugar-cane. Several species are known as : the
"pampas hare," jjursued as game in southern
Brazil and southward; .Azara's, the acouchy (or
acuchi) of Guiana and the West Indies; the
black and the vellow-rumped, which are West
Indian and best 'known. Also spelled agoutj' and
aguti ; it is to be noted that Darwin (A Natural-
ist's Voyage) applies the name to the Patagonian
cay. See Plate of Cavie.s accompanying Cavy.
AGRA, ii'gra. A district and a division in
the North-West Provinces (q.v.) of British
India (Map: India, C 3). Population of dis-
trict, 1891, 1,003,800; 1901, l,06O,i500; of di-
vision, 1891, 4,708.000; 1901, 5,248,100.
AGRA (evidently from Achhcrahad. city of Akbar). A city in the North-West Provinces of British India, situated in tlie district of the same name on the right bank of the Jumna, 110 miles southeast of Delhi and 841 miles bj' rail north-west of Calcutta (Map: India, C 3). As the railway and administrative centre of its district and of the large "division" to which it gives its name,
Agra is a place of great importance. It has an extensive trade in cotton, tobacco, indigo, salt, sugar, and grain, and manufactures of iid;iid mosaic work, for which it is famous, gold lace, and shoes. It also has a considerable transport trade by the .lumna and Agra Canal. Agra is fortified and has a garrison; there is a military station in the neighborhood of the city. The climate during the hot and rainy seasons (April to Sei)tember) is injurious to Eurnpciins, Init, on the whole, the average health of the city is equal to that of any other station in the
North-West Provinces. The mean annual temperature is 79° F.; January, 60°, June, 95°. The
