ACTINOLITE, a crystallized mineral of a green colour, a variety of hornblende, found in primary stratified rocks, and occasionally in trap-rocks. The name is derived from aktív (actin), a ray of light, and Milos (lithos), a stone, from the crystals being arranged in the form of rays.

ACTION (in law) is the mode of proceeding by which a man seeks to recover, through the intervention of the law that which is legally due to him: it has been defined by some ancient writers to be a lawful demand of one's right; and by others, the right of a man to prosecute by a judicial proceeding that which is his due. The general object of actions is to put a party into possession of a right of which he has been injuriously deprived by another. This may be effected, where lands or goods are wrongfully withheld, by the actual delivery of them to the legal proprietor; but in the case of assaults, slander, breaches of contract, or other personal wrongs, the only possible remedy is to award to the sufferer a pecuniary compensation for the injury he has sustained. By the law of England, certain spe cific forms are appointed in which legal remedies are to be enforced in the infinite variety of disputes and controversies arising between individuals. The various modes and instruments by which those remedies are pursued and obtained are, in popular language, called actions or suits. The principle of the law of England that for every wrong sustained by an individual there should be a remedy, does not, however, apply universally. Where the wrong is of such a nature that the detriment to the public is of more consequence than the injury to the individual, it becomes the subject of a criminal prosecution; and no right of action exists in the injured party for the remedy of his private wrong, until the offender has been tried and undergone punishment as a criminal. For those wrongs in general done by one individual to another, which do not amount to legal crimes, the proper remedy is by

action.

Actions in England are usually divided into three kinds, according to the subjects of them; viz. real, personal, and mixed.

Real actions are so called because they exclusively refer to real property, or subjects connected with land. The law regards this as the highest kind of property, and distinguishes it from all other or personal property by the name of real. Real actions are brought for the recovery of lands or tenements, rents, advowsons, or other hereditaments. Real actions were, in the earlier periods of the history of English law, of constant and daily occurrence; and our ancient books of reports are principally occupied with cases in pleas of land, which, before the country had attained to commercial importance, was the most valuable and ordinary species of property, and, consequently, the most fruitful source of litigation. From the nicety and inconvenient length of the process they are at the present day almost entirely discontinued; and more simple and expeditious modes of trying titles to land by mixed and personal actions are generally introduced.

Personal actions are by far the most numerous class of actions. It is by them that the innumerable differences respecting debts, promises, and contracts are settled; and that compensation is sought for personal insults and injuries of almost every description, including even some of the minor crimes and misdemeanours, which thus become punishable both as crimes and as civil injuries.

Mixed actions partake of the nature of both the former actions, being brought for the recovery of lands, and also for personal damages, either for some injury done to the land, or some other wrong, such as the illegal detention of it from the proper owner. The action of waste is a good example of this; the owner of the inheritance brings his action against the tenant for life who has committed waste on the land by cutting down trees or otherwise. In this action, he not only recovers the place upon which the waste was committed (which if it were the only effect would make it a real action), but by the statute of Gloucester he is entitled to treble damages as a personal compensation for the injury done to the land; and thus both kinds of action being joined together, give to the compound the denomination of a mixed action.

The outline of the general course of proceedings in an action at law is as follows:-The injured person (called the plaintiff) obtains a writ against his adversary (the defendant), who, upon being taken by virtue of the writ, gives bail in order to secure his appearance at the trial. When

this is done, the plaintiff makes a written statement or decla ration of the ground of his action, and prays to be restored to his right, or compensated for the injury which he alleges himself to have sustained. The defendant then pleads, i.e. answers the declaration by contradicting the allegations contained in it; asserting his own right, or justifying his conduct: to this the plaintiff may reply; and thus the parties may continue to altercate in legal language, or special pleading, until one or more material questions of fact are distinctly asserted by one party and denied by the other. These questions, which are called the issues in the cause, are then to be tried by the jury, who, after hearing the evidence of both parties, give their verdict either for the plaintiff or defendant. In pursuance of this verdict, the judgment is pronounced by the judges of the court to which the proceeding belongs, and the judgment is executed by the sheriff or other proper officer.

For more particulars respecting actions, see Bacon's Abridgment-Viner's Abridgment - Comyn's DigestJacob's Law Dictionary. A'CTIUM, a point of land at the entrance of the Ambraciot bay, now the gulf of Arta, which derives its chief importance from the sea-fight which took place near it in the bay of Prevesa, between Cæsar Octavianus, afterwards the Emperor Augustus, and Marcus Antonius, B.C. 31. The latter was completely defeated, and fled with his mistress Cleopatra, who was present at the engagement, into Egypt.

The conqueror, to commemorate his victory, beautified the temple of Apollo which stood at Actium, and erected NicoPOLIS, or the city of victory, on the northern side of the gulf, a few miles from the present city of Prevesa. In the article Achæa we stated that Tacitus includes Nicopolis in the limits of the Roman province of Achæa; and of course Actium also would be comprised within the same political division. We find it still impossible to fix the northern limits of Achæa with accuracy; but we may here remark that what we called the Roman province of Epirus was probably contained within the limits of the extensive government of MACEDONIA.

The exact site of Actium has been a subject of dispute, some placing it at La Punta, or Fort La Punta, and others at Azio, as represented in the accompanying plan, which is taken from a very recent survey. The plan shows only part

of the gulf of Arta (see ARTA). The name Azio would appear to favour the supposition of this point being the ancient Actium, but it is merely a Venetian term, probably given through some misunderstanding as to the locality of Actium. Strabo says that Actium is that point which forms one side of the entrance of the bay, and it is also clear from what he further says, that he considered the entrance of the bay to be between Prevesa and fort La Punta. He also gives to this passage a width of a little more than four stadia, or half a mile, which appears from the plan to be true when applied to the first narrow entrance, but not to the second. Anactorium, a place about four miles from the temple of Apollo which stood at Actium, is described by Strabo as situated within the bay, while Actium makes the mouth of the bay. According to this statement Actium is La Punta, and Cape Madonna is at or near Anactorium. To make it still clearer to his readers, Strabo, after describing the coast northwards of the entrance of the bay, comes to the entrance itself, following the line of coast, and this word entrance can only be applied to the strait of La Punta.

Near the entrance on the right,' says Strabo, 'is the sacred place of Apollo of Actium, an eminence with a temple on it, and below, a plain with a grove of trees and a dock-yard.`

VOL. I.-P

This description is said by some to suit C. Madonna better than La Punta, because Madonna is high and Punta low. But Strabo says the temple is on an eminence, and this eminence some distance from the sea; he does not say that the temple was on an eminence, which eminence was on the sea. Actium is a name derived from a Greek word acte, which, in a geographical sense, is worth explaining. An acte is a piece of land projecting into the sea, and attached to another larger piece of land, but not necessarily by a narrow neck. Thus, the projecting land on which La Punta and C. Madonna stand can both have the name of acte. Herodotus calls Asia Minor itself an acte compared with the whole of Asia; and Africa itself (which he believed to be much smaller than it is) an acte, projecting from the mass

of Asia.

ACTIVE MOLECULES; in plants, are extremely minute, apparently spherical, moving particles, found in all vegetable matter when rubbed in pieces and examined under very powerful microscopes. In size they vary from the toʊʊ of an inch in diameter, and are only to be detected with lenses capable of magnifying at least 300 diameters. Viewed under favourable circumstances, immersed in water, and with transmitted light, they are seen to have a rapid motion of an oscillating nature, so that a minute drop of the fluid in which they swim seems to be as it were alive. In the pcllen of plants they are extremely numerous, and perfectly distinct from each other, so that a grain of pollen crushed in water is one of the best subjects for the observer to select; he will there find the active molecules mixed with oblong or cylindrical particles, of a larger size, and equally in motion; the latter are the spermatic granules, by the agency of which the fertilization of plants probably takes place, as will be hereafter explained under the article POLLEN. To find the active molecules in other parts of plants, it is necessary that they should be crushed and rubbed in water till it becomes greenish; a drop of the coloured fluid will be found to contain vast numbers of these molecules moving about with great rapidity and exhibiting every appearance of animal life. Curious as these circumstances undoubtedly are, it is still more singular that the movements of the molecules do not cease with the life of a plant; on the contrary, they have been witnessed by Dr. Brown even in the fossilized remains of vegetables, and may be readily seen by colouring water with the dead vegetable matter called Gamboge, when the molecules are instantly set at liberty and commence their motions.

It appears from these facts that if plants are reduced to their organic elements, they are all composed of the same simple molecular matter, in different states of combination; that the huge mahogany trees that form our furniture, and the humble lichen that encrusts our ancient buildings, are alike composed of similar particles, which are capable of motion when at liberty; that they lose that power, and apparently their separate life, when they are combined by the irresistible laws of nature into other beings of a more complicated structure, but still forming life; that their inherent vitality does not cease with that of the object into which they have been combined, but endures through many ages even when buried in the bowels of the earth; and, finally, that their original powers are restored to them the instant they are liberated from their prison.

It has been thought by some, that the motions above described could be accounted for by evaporation, or by the unstable equilibrium of the molecules in the fluid in which they are suspended, or by currents in the fluid, or by a slow but gradual dissolution of the molecules, or by attractions and repulsions among the molecules themselves; but it is difficult to reconcile with such hypotheses the following ingenious experiments of Dr. Brown, the great observer of these phenomena, to whom the world is indebted for the most accurate information upon the subject. Take a drop of water in which a small quantity of the molecules is known to be floating; mix it well, by shaking it violently, among a much larger quantity of almond oil; the water will then be divided into extremely minute globules, each of which will be inclosed in a coating of oil; if the smallest of the globules, thus obtained, be examined, they will be found to contain two, or three, or even one only of the molecules, caught, as it were, in a trap, where they may be kept for many weeks and observed. Under such circumstances, no alteration whatever can be discovered in their movements, which continue the same as before the water in which they float was coated with oil. The inversion of this experiment by mixing a

small quantity of oil, in like manner, among a large quantity of water, produces drops no bigger than the molecules themselves; but these drops, when mixed with the molecules and observed under precisely the same circumstances, exhibited no movements whatever.

For further information upon this subject, see Brown's Account of Microscopical Observations, made in June, July, and August, 1827. ACTON, JOSEPH, the prime minister of the court of Naples for several years, was the son of an Irish gentleman who practised medicine at Bensançon, in France. He was born in 1737. He was originally in the French naval service; but subsequently obtained the command of a frigate from Leopold, Duke of Tuscany. In an unsuccessful expedition against Algiers, in 1774, in which the government of Tuscany co-operated with that of Spain, Acton commanded the Tuscan vessels; and by his gallant conduct succeeded in saving three or four thousand Spanish soldiers, who must otherwise have perished. His good conduct here was the cause of his advancement. He was recommended to the service of the king of Naples. His intriguing disposition secured him the favour of the king and queen of Naples ; and he was successively minister of the navy, of war, of finance, and ultimately became prime minister. In his policy he was constantly opposed to the French party in Italy. Many of the persecutions for political opinions, and the violations of justice, which occurred at Naples subsequent to the period of the French invasion, in 1799, are ascribed to the power or the influence of Acton. He is said to have died in obscurity in Sicily, in 1808.

ACTOR and ACTRESS.-[See DRAMA.]

ACTS OF SEDERUNT (in the municipal law of Scotland) are statutes made by the Lords of Session, by virtue of a Scottish Act of Parliament, passed in 1540, empowering them to make such constitutions as they may think expedient for ordering the procedure and forms of administering justice. These are called Acts of Sederunt because they are made by the Lords of Session sitting in judgment.

ACTS of the APOSTLES.-[See APOSTLES.]

ACTUARY, a word which, properly speaking, might mean any registrar of a public body, but which is generally used to signify the manager of a joint-stock company under a board of directors, particularly of an insurance company ; whence it has come to stand generally for a person skilled in the doctrine of life annuities and insurances, and who is in the habit of giving opinions upon cases of annuities, reversions, &c. Most of those called actuaries combine both the public and private part of the character.

An actuary combines with the duties of a secretary those of a scientific adviser to the board which gives him his office, in all matters involving calculation, on which it may be supposed that the members of the latter are not generally competent to form opinions themselves.

The name has a legal character from its being recognized in the statute 59 Geo. III. c. 128 (or the Friendly Societies' Act of 1819), which enacts that no justice of the peace shall allow of any tables, &c., to be adopted in any Friendly Society, unless the same shall have been approved by two persons, at the least, known to be professional actuaries, or persons skilled in calculation,'-a definition much too vague to be any sufficient guide. The Committee on Friendly Societies of 1825 reported that petty schoolmasters or accountants, whose opinion upon the probability of sickness and the duration of life is not to be depended upon,' had been consulted under this title, and recommended that the actuary of the National Debt Office should be the only recognized authority for the purposes above-mentioned; in which recommendation the Committee of 1827 joined. In the 10 Geo. IV. c. 56, however, no alteration appears in the law on this point. We may further mention that, by the Act of 1819, no Friendly Society can be dissolved, or any division of money made otherwise than in the ordinary course, without the certificate of two actuaries, that the interests of all the members have been consulted in the proposed dissolution or payment.

ACU'LEUS, or PRICKLE, in Botany, is a hard, conical, often curved, expansion of the bark of some plants, such as the rose, and is intended either for their defence against enemies, or to enable them to hook themselves upon their neighbours, so as to gain a more free access to light and air, or for other purposes unknown to us. The prickle is composed entirely of cellular tissue, which is at first soft and

flexible, and only acquires its hardness and rigidity when old. In some respects it may be compared to a hair, from which it chiefly differs in its large size and greater permanence. Care must be taken by the young botanist not to confound the prickle with the spine or thorn, which is of a totally different nature. [See SPINE.] They may be distinguished by the prickle breaking readily from the bark, leaving a clean scar behind; while the spine cannot be torn off without rending through the bark into the wood itself. Leaves are often metamorphosed into spines, but never into aculei. [See METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS.]

ACUPUNCTURE, a term used to denote the insertion of a needle into the skin or flesh. Acupuncture is an operation which has been long in use in eastern countries, and which appears to have been adopted there from the notion that several diseases attended with severe pain arise from air or vapor pent up in the body, to which a puncture with a needle affords an outlet, and thereby removes the malady. Europeans travelling in those countries several times witnessed the practice, and were struck with the results; but either their reports were not credited, or the operation appeared to the physicians and surgeons of Europe so unpromising, that upwards of a century elapsed after the knowledge of it was familiar to many European practitioners, before a single trial of it was made. As long back as the year 1679, a medical officer in the East India Company's service states that a guard of the Emperor of Japan, appointed to conduct the English to the palace, was seized with violent pain of the abdomen, attended with vomiting, in consequence of having drank a quantity of iced water when heated. After trying in vain to relieve his complaint by taking wine and ginger, and conceiving that his suffering arose from air or vapor pent up in the walls of the abdomen, to which vapor the insertion of needles into the skin would afford an exit, he underwent the operation of acupuncture in the presence of the narrator, which was performed in the following manner:-He laid himself upon his back, placed the point of a needle upon his abdomen, struck its head with a hammer once or twice to make it pass through the skin, turned it round between the forefinger and thumb till it entered to the depth of an inch, and then, | after about thirty respirations, withdrew it, and pressed the punctures with his fingers, to force out the imaginary vapor. After having made four such punctures, he was instantly relieved, and got well. Some years afterwards, a physician, who accompanied a Dutch embassy to Japan, confirmed this account, by the statement that the Japanese are in the constant habit of performing this operation in various disorders attended with acute pain, and that he himself frequently witnessed the instantaneous cessation of the pain as if by enchantment. No further notice appears to have been taken of this mode of treatment in Europe for upwards of a century, when it was alluded to by the celebrated Vicq-d'Azyr, in the Encyclopédie Méthodique, merely for the purpose of congratulating the world that the statements of Ten Rhyne and Kampfer, the physicians who had given the first accounts of it, had not induced any European physician or surgeon to practice it. In the year 1810, however, some trials of it were made by Dr. Berlioz, a physician of Paris, who found, or fancied he found, it so efficacious a remedy, that he was induced to employ it very extensively, and many French practitioners imitated his example with the same apparent results. It has been subsequently tried in England, and sufficient experience of it has now been obtained to prove that the operation itself is attended with little or no pain, and that it may be employed at least with safety, if not with advantage.

There are two cases in which it seems likely to be beneficial, first, in painful local affections unattended with change of structure in the part diseased, and without local inflammation or general fever,--and, secondly, in that species of dropsy termed anasarca, in which the water is accumulated in the cells of the cellular membrane that lies immediately beneath the skin. It is probable that all the cases of the first class consist of disordered states of the nerves of the parts affected, technically termed cases of NEURALGIA. There cannot be a question that this remedy has proved beneficial in cases of this kind sufficiently often to warrant the trial of it, whenever these disorders do not yield to the ordinary modes of treatment, and under these circumstances there is the greater reason for resorting to it, since the operation occasions no pain, and since no evil consequence of any kind has ever

been known to result from it. But if the part affected be inflamed, and more especially if there be any degree of febrile action in the system, the acupuncture of the part will certainly do no good, and will very likely produce mischief.

In anasarca a few punctures made with the needle will allow a ready exit to the fluid, which may continue to dram during several days in succession; and when this is the case, it invariably affords relief, and sometimes saves, and oftener prolongs, life. Scarification is a remedy of the same kind in ordinary use, but the inflammation that results from this practice is sometimes severe, and occasionally runs into mortification. Acupuncture is affirmed by many who have made trial of it to be equally effectual, and to be much less apt to be attended with these evil consequences.

The needles employed in oriental countries are always made of the purest gold or silver; those of gold are preferred, and great care is taken to obtain them well tempered. In China their manufacture is a distinct occupation, understood by few, and those few are licensed by the emperor. Some of these needles are fine, about four inches in length, with a spiral handle, for the purpose of more easily turning them, and are kept by means of a ring, or a piece of silk thread, in grooves, each capable of holding one needle: the grooves are formed in each side of a hammer, usually made of the polished horn of the wild ox, ivory, ebony, or some other hard wood; the hammer is rather longer than the needle, and has a roundish head, covered on the side that strikes with a piece of leather, and rendered heavier by a little lead within. The needles employed in Europe are of steel, long and fine, and furnished either with a knob of sealing-wax at their head, or, what is more convenient, a little handle of ivory or wood, screwing into a sheath for the needle. They are best introduced by a slight pressure, and a semi-rotating motion, between the thumb and forefinger, and withdrawn with the same motion. In cases of neuralgic pain the needle should be allowed to remain in from a quarter of an hour to two hours. It would appear, that in cases of this kind, a number of needles introduced, and hastily withdrawn, is not as effectual as the introduction of a single needle that is allowed to remain for the space of a couple of hours. When the only object is to afford an exit to the fluid collected in anasarca, of course the mere puncture is sufficient; there is no use in allowing the needle to remain.

AD LIBITUM (Latin, or ad lib. in Music), at discretion, at pleasure, denotes that the performer is at liberty to pause, or to introduce any cadence or addition of his own, according to his judgment. An accompaniment is said to be ad libitum, when it is not essential, and may be either used or omitted, as circumstances may require, without materially affecting the composition.

ADA'GIO, in Music, an Italian adverb, signifying slowly, leisurely, and used to indicate the slowest movement in music: though some writers, and among them Rousseau, have ranked Largo as a degree slower; but an examination of the works of those who were the earliest to use both terms, as well as of the practical interpretation of the best and most correct composers, will be sufficient to shew the error.

It is now, and has long been, the custom to point out the quickness or slowness, as also the manner or character, of a piece of music, by some Italian word, placed at the beginning of the composition. These are sometimes very inadequate to the purpose, and much is commonly left to the judgment of the performer, which but too frequently cannot very safely be relied on. The use of the metronome [see METRONOME], or, indeed, of any other kind of pendulum, which is gaining ground in spite of prejudice, fixes the intention of the composer as regards movement, that is to say, quickness or slowness. With respect to style, to the passion meant to be expressed, much must still depend on the taste and intelligence of those to whom the execution of a work is entrusted.

The five principal terms denoting the degrees of motion, beginning from the slowest and proceeding to the quickest, are

Adagio, very slow.
Largo, slow.

Andante, a moderate time.
Allegro, quick.

Presto, very quick.

erroneous.

The treatise on Classical Biography is intended chiefly for the illustration of Roman History, and within these limits has a decided superiority over any other work in our language. It deserves a much more extensive circulation than we believe it possesses in England. And we may say the same of Dr. Adam's Latin Dictionary, which has been prevented from superseding the octavo edition of Ainsworth's Dictionary, perhaps only by the inconvenient arrangement adopted by Adam, who often neglects the alphabetical order, to bring together words etymologically connected. The summary of History, and Geography, published by Dr. Adam, has in parts great merit, but it aims at much more than can be fairly executed within the limits. We need only say that it professes to give, 1st, A summary of all history, ancient and modern, Grecian, Roman, Persian, English, French, German, Indian, American, &c., &c., with the manners and customs of these nations; 2dly, The mythology of the Greeks; 3dly, The geography of all ages and all countries, not excluding even the local situations of remarkable cities; 4thly, An account of the progress of astronomy and geography, from the earliest periods to the present time, with a brief account of the planetary system. And not satisfied with all this, the publishers have added an extensive index of geography, and thirteen maps of little value. Bulky as the volume is, there is not, and cannot be, room for information of any value, on so many points. Like a map on a small scale crowded with names, its tendency is to confound rather than inform the understanding. But when we look at all that Dr. Adam did, we can fairly say that no writer in the British islands has ever done more to assist the young student of Latin, or, what is perhaps still more important, to connect that study with the attainment of general knowledge.

ADAM, JAMES, an architect of the last century, who is not at all known but as the partner and associate of his brother Robert, the subject of the following article. He died in 1794.

ADAM, ROBERT, an architect who was extensively employed both in England and Scotland, but more particularly in London, in which city he also engaged in some very consider able building speculations. He was born at Kirkaldy, in Fifeshire, according to some authorities, and, according to others, at Edinburgh, in the year 1728, and was the son of William Adam, Esq., of Maryburgh, near Kirkaldy, who is said to have furnished the designs for Hopetoun House and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; but whether he was himself professionally an architect or not, does not appear. Robert received his literary education at the University of Edinburgh; and, from his father, it seems most likely, he derived instruction in the principles and practice of his future profession. During this period he had the advantage of the society of many distinguished literary and scientific men, who were the friends and companions of his father, and among whom were numbered the great names of Hume, Robertson, and Adam Smith.

When he was in his twenty-sixth year, Mr. R. Adam went to Italy in pursuit of professional knowledge, and remained there several years. His contemporaries, James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, were, at the time of Adam's residence in Italy, engaged in exploring, and preparing for

About the same time, 1763-4, Mr. R. Adam was appointed architect to the king. This fortunate position made him what is termed fashionable, and he found extensive employment. In the course of a very few years he designed, and, in conjunction with his brother James, executed a great many public and private buildings in England and in Scotland. In 1773 the brothers commenced the publication of their works, in large folio engravings, with letter-press descriptions and critical and explanatory notes, in numbers, which were continued at intervals down to 1778. The principal designs included in these are, the screen fronting the high road, and the extensive internal alterations of Sion House, a seat of the Duke of Northumberland, near Brentford in Middlesex; Lord Mansfield's mansion at Caen-wood, or Kenwood, also in Middlesex; Luton House, in Bedfordshire, erected for Lord Bute; the screen to the Admiralty Office, London; the Register Office, Edinburgh; Shelburne House, now Lansdowne House, Berkeley-square, London; the parish church of Mistley, in Essex, &c. &c. At a later period the Messrs. Adam designed the infirmary at Glasgow, and some extensive new buildings in the University of Edinburgh, though their practice, after the year 1780, lay principally in London, where a great many of their productions still exist, and are easily recognised by any one accustomed to discriminate architectural design. We may mention Portland, Stratford, and Hamilton Places, the south and east sides of Fitzroy Square, and the buildings of the Adelphi as the most extensive of their works. Much of what the Messrs. Adam did was in the capacity of speculating builders. The Adelphi was a speculation of their's, and is understood to have been an unsuccessful one. The substructions of buildings of such a kind, and in such a situation as those of the Adelphi Terrace, were necessarily so expensive as almost to preclude the possibility of an adequate return. It may be further remarked that their interest in, and connexion with, this last-mentioned expensive undertaking, is intimated by the name 'Adelphi,' which is the Greek term for 'brothers;' and by the application of their own name, 'Adam,' to the principal street leading to the terrace, and of their respective Christian names, Robert' and 'James,' to two of the minor streets.

The Messrs. Adam were among the first, if they were not themselves the very first, to make use in London of a stucco in imitation of stone, for external architectural decorations; and that which they employed was an oil cement or composition, invented by Liardet, a Swiss clergyman resident in this country, who had obtained a patent for the preparation of it, which patent they purchased. This was infringed by pretended improvers, and the proprietors were thereby involved in a troublesome and expensive suit to protect their own interests, and were, moreover, involved in disputes with rival builders and surveyors. Most of the works produced by the Messrs. Adam in the course of their practice and business, as architects and builders, where stone is not used, are either faced entirely, or their architectural decorations are formed, with this composition, which has endured, now at the end of half a century, far better than was predicted at the time.

The style of architecture introduced by the Messrs. Adam was peculiar to themselves, and very faulty; but there is nevertheless an air of prettiness, and some good taste in it; and the credit may certainly be claimed for its authors of having done much to improve the street architecture of London, for which species of composition their style was