AINSWORTH, ROBERT, a learned grammarian and antiquary, .t as burn at Neodyale, near :Manchester, in 1660. He received his education at Bolton in Lancashire, where he afterwards exercised the profession of a sclmolmaster. From this place he removed to Bethnal Grk en, where he employed himself in the education of youth, and published his " Short Treatise of Grammati cal Institution." After acquiring a decent competency, he retired from the labours of teaching, and employed himself in searching for old coins, and other remnants of antiquity. In 1714, he began his " Dictionary of the Latin Language ;" Lich, after many harassing inter ruptions, lie published in 1736, in two volumes Ito. This work is now in general use ; and, with the improvements of Patrick, Ward, Young, and Alorell, it is esteemed the most complete dictionary of the Latin language.
We are informed, upon good authority, that when Ainsworth was engaged in his laborious work, his wife made heat y complaints at enjoying so little of his ociety. When he had reached the letter S of his dic tionary, the patience of his female friend was complete ly exhausted ; and in a lit of ill nature, she revenged herself for the loss of his company, by committing the whole manuscript to the flames. Such an accident ould have deterred most men from prosecuting the undertaking ; but the persevering industry of Ains o orth repaired the loss of his manuscript, by the most assiduous application. Ile died at London in 1743, and was interred at Poplar, where his tombstone exhibits the following inscription, written by himself; from which he seems to have forgii en the impetuosity of his AIR, is the fine, expansive, transparent fluid which we breathe. It constitutes the vast mass of atmosphere that encompasses our globe.
Air, or ore, was reckoned one of the four elements. and torniud the connectinv medium between fire and water. By one ol the anclei,t philosophers, it was to be the principle of all things. Air, as opposed to
ether, was referred by the ancients to the lower and grosser portions of our atmosphere, the receptacle of all sorts of exhalations, and the proper region of clouds and Vapours.
But air is not the only diffusible elastic fluid. The diligence of modern experimenters has detected a variety of other analogous fluids, which come under the general description of gas. These researches, vigorously pros ecuted tor upwards of half a century past, have led to discoveries the most brilliant and important in chemical science.
Air performs a capital part in the economy of nature. It is the vehicle of sound, of smell, and even of heat ; it exhales moisture from the land and the ocean; and, mingling its contrasted currents in the higher regions, it again precipitates its watery stores in the form of rain or dew, or hail or snow. By the activity, the character, and extent of its motions, it tempers the unequal energy of the solar beams, and diffuses a more uniform warmth over the surface of our globe ; it not only supplies the breath of life, but supports inflammation, and contributes essentially to the germination and growth of plants; and, presenting the more elevated portions of atmos phere to the illumination of the sun's rays, it scatters these by repeated, though enfeebling reflexions, along the concave of heaven ; and thus prolongs the cheering influence of light, and prevents the inhabitants of this earth from being ever left in total darkness. See AT MOSPHERE, CLIMATE, GAs, A1ETEUROLOGY, and PNEU MATICS. (U) AIR, in music, is strictly speaking, a composition written for a single voice, and applied to words ; though it is sometimes employed to signify any melody, the pas sages of which arc so constructed as to lie within the province of vocal expression, or which, when sung or played, forms that connected chain of sounds, which we call a tune. See Busby's Mus. Dact. (e)