inundated by the Thames in the parishes of Erith, Lesnes, and Plumstead, and an act was passed decreeing that he should have as a reward one half of all such land recovered by him within four years from 10 March 1562. He also petitioned the queen on the subject, and obtained a license on 24 June 1563 to take up workmen. By 8 Jan. 1566, a tract of 600 acres had been won from the river. A portion was again lost, and then he entered into a partnership with G. B. Castiglione and some English tradesmen to make further efforts.

He enjoyed the patronage of the Earl of Leicester, to whom, in August 1564, he presented a remarkable treatise on the use and study of history, which still remains in manuscript.

In 1565 he brought out his famous 'Stratagemata Satanæ,' printed at Bâle in Latin and French by his friend Perna. He distinguishes between the fundamental and accessory dogmas of Christianity, and reduces the number of the former to very few, among which are not reckoned those of the Trinity and Real Presence. The apostles' creed contains all necessary doctrines, and the numerous confessions of faith of different communions are the ruses of the Evil One, stratagemata Satana, to tempt man from the truth. Orthodox divines have objected to the dangerously catholic spirit displayed in this book, and the writer has been styled Arian, Socinian, and even Deist. His Arianism can scarcely be doubted; his theological career in England certainly favours the charge. But he deserves all honour for the strong protests against capital punishment for heresy and for the liberal reasoning in favour of toleration which give the book its permanent place in ecclesiastical literary history. It attracted great attention. Three editions of the original text appeared in the sixteenth century, and eleven (three being in England) in the seventeenth century, besides French, English, German, and Dutch translations. 'Stratagemata Sathanæ' is placed in the appendix to the Tridentine Index Libb. Prohibb.' (1569) among anonymous books. Evidently the title alone was sufficient to condemn the book. The Roman Index of 1877 describes it with fitting bibliographical accuracy. The opinions of theologians on the work have been collected by Crussius (Crenii Animadv. pt. ii. 32) and Ancillon (Mélange critique, i. 24-9).

Acontius's heterodox religious opinions were once more to bring him into trouble. The last we hear of him is from a letter dated 6 June 1566, in answer to a charge of Sabellianism. He is believed to have died

shortly afterwards, leaving his papers under the charge of G. B. Castiglione, the queen's master of Italian and groom of the privy chamber, who published the 'Timor di Dio.'

The following is a bibliographical list of his works:-1. J. Acontius de Methodo, h. e. de recta investigandarum tradendarumque scientiarum ratione,' Basileæ, ap. P. Pernam, 1558. First edition, reprinted at Geneva in 1582 ap. Eustathium Vignon, multo quam antea castigatius;' again at Lugd. Bat. 1617, sm. 8vo, and in 'G. J. Vossii et aliorum de studiorum ratione opuscula,” Ultraj. 1651, sm. 8vo. 2. 'Satana Stratagemata libri octo, J. Acontio authore, accessit eruditissima epistola de ratione edendorum librorum ad Johannem Vuolfium Tigurinum eodem authore,' Basilea, ap. P. Pernam, 1565, 4to. The genuine first edition, of extreme rarity. Bibliographers are unaware of the existence of two editions of this year. The one usually quoted is in smaller type, and is entitled 'Stratagematum Satanæ libri octo,* &c. Basileæ, ap. P. Pernam, 1565, sm. 8vo. Reprinted Basileæ, 1582, 8vo, and 'curante Jac. Grassero,' ib. 1610, 8vo, ib. ap. Waldkirchium, 1616, ib. 1618, ib. 1620, Amst. 1624, Oxon. G. Webb, 1631, sm. 8vo, Lond. 1648, Oxon. 1650, Amst. Jo. Ravenstein, 1652, sm. 8vo, ib. 1674, sm. 8vo, Neomagi, A. ab. Hoogenhuyse, 1661, sm. 8vo. The French translation is 'Les Ruzes de Satan receuillies et comprinses en huit liures,' Basle, P. Perne, 1565, 4to; printed with the same type as the first Latin 4to, wanting the 'Ep. ad Wolfium' and the index. The first issue of the English translation is called 'Satan's Stratagems, or the Devil's Cabinet-Council discovered

together with an epistle written by Mr. John Goodwin and Mr. Durie's letter concerning the same,' London, J. Macock, sold by J. Hancock, 1648, 4to. The date of Thomason's copy (British Museum) has been altered by him to 1647; he purchased it on 14 Feb. The translator announces that if the work found favour he would finish it, but only the first four books were published. There are three dedications-one to the parliament, one to Fairfax and Cromwell, and one to John Warner, lord mayor. The stock seems to have been sold to W. Ley, who issued it with a new title, Darkness Discovered, or the Devil's Secret Stratagems laid open,' &c., London, J. M. 1651, 4to, with a doubtfully authentic etching of 'James Acontius, a Reverend Diuine.' Thomason dated his copy July 7. A German translation came out at Bâle in 1647, sm. 8vo, and a Dutch version, Amst. 1662, 12mo. 3. Eruditissima epistola de ratione

edendorum librorum ad Johannem Vuolfium Tigurinum.' Dated Londini, 12 kal. Dec. 1562, first published in the Latin Stratagemata' 1565, and to be found in the subsequent editions, but in none of the translations; printed separately Chemnitz, Mauke, 1791, 8vo. 4. Una essortazione al Timor di Dio, con alcune rime italiane, nuovamente messe in luce [da G. B.Castiglione],' Londra, appresso Geo. Wolfio, s.a., 8vo. Dedicated to Elizabeth. Chaufepié is the only person who seems to have seen this very rare little piece. The printer learnt his art in Italy, He worked between 1579 and 1600, and brought out many Italian books. 5. Epistola apologetica pro Hadr. Haemstadio et pro seipso. Written in 1562 or 1563, says Gerdes, who reprinted it (Serinium Antiquarium, vii. part i. 123) from the archives of the Dutch church, now in the Guildhall library; contains much information respecting Hamstedius, the Dutch church, and the writer. 6. Epistola... Londini 8 idus Junii, 1566.' Reproduced from the archives of the Dutch church by Crussius (Crenii Animadv. ii. 131). It is not known to whom the letter was addressed. 7. 'Ars muniendorum oppidorum.' Acontius refers to this in his Ep. ad Wolfium' as having been first written in Italian and afterwards translated into Latin while in England. Mazzuchelli says, 'Ital. et Lat. Geneva, 1585,' but no such book can be traced. 8. A manuscript on the use and study of history, written in Italian, and presented by Acontius to the Earl of Leicester in August 1564, is preserved at the Record Office. It is not spoken of by any of the authorities, although made use of in the following interesting little octavo volume, dedicated to the Earl of Leicester: 'The true order and methode of wryting and reading hystories, according to the precepts of Francesco Patricio and Accontio Tridentino, by Thomas Blundevil,' Lond. W. Seres, 1574. The compiler states that he 'gathered his work partly out of a little written treatyse, which myne olde friende of good memorie, Accontio, did not many yeares since present to your Honour in the Italian tongue.' 9. 'Liber de Dialectica. An unfinished work with this title is referred to in the 'Epistola ad Wolfium,' with the remark that the world was soon to enter upon a much more enlightened

era.

[Gerdes, Specimen Italia Reform.; ejusd. Orig. Eccles. in Belgio Ref.; Mazzuchelli, Scrittori d'Italia; Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. It. vii. 375, 474; Bayle, Dictionnaire Critique; Chaufepié, Nouveau Dict.; Guichard, Hist. du Socinianisme; Hallam's Lit. Hist.; Strype's Grindal; Cat. of

VOL. I.

ACTON, CHARLES JANUARIUS EDWARD (1803-1847), cardinal, was the second son of Sir John Francis Acton, the sixth baronet, of Aldenham Hall, near Bridgnorth, Shropshire, by his marriage (for which a papal dispensation had been obtained) with Mary Anne, daughter of his brother, Joseph Edward Acton, a lieutenant-general in the service of the Two Sicilies, and governor of Gaeta. The family had long been connected with Naples, and the father of the future cardinal became commander-in-chief of the land and sea forces of that kingdom, and a knight of St. Januarius, and he was also prime minister of Naples for several years. Charles Januarius Edward was born in the city of Naples 6 March 1803, and on the death of his father in 1811 he, with his elder brother Sir Richard, was sent to England for education. First he was placed at a school kept by the abbé Quégné at Parsons Green, near London, from which he was removed to a protestant school at Isleworth. Next he was sent to Westminster School, which he was soon obliged to quit on religious grounds. He subsequently resided with a protestant clergyman in Kent, the Rev. Mr. Jones, as a private pupil. After this, in 1819, he proceeded to the university of Cambridge, and became, under Dr. Neville, an inmate of Magdalen College, where he finished his secular education in 1823. This was indeed, as Cardinal Wiseman observes, a strange preparation for the Roman purple. However, young Acton, having a strong vocation to the ecclesiastical state, entered the college of the Accademia Ecclesiastica in Rome, which he left with the rank of prelate. Leo XII made him one of his chamberlains, and in 1828 appointed him secretary to Monsignor (afterwards Cardinal) Lambruschini, the nuncio at Paris. Shortly afterwards he was nominated vicelegate or governor of Bologna. He was removed, however, from this arduous situation before the revolution which, soon after the death of Pius VIII, broke out there and in the neighbouring provinces. On the accession of Gregory XVI he was made secretary to the congregation entitled the Disciplina Regolare, the duties of which are to prevent and correct all violations or relaxations of

discipline in religious communities. Next he was nominated auditor of the apostolic chamber, or first judge of the Roman civil courts, and on 24 Jan. 1842 he was proclaimed cardinal-priest of the title of Santa Maria della Pace. He was also protector of

F

At this date Eliza Acton was living at Snowdon House, John Street, Hampstead, and there, after much illness, she died in February 1859.

[Clarke's History of Ipswich, p. 445; Gent. Mag. 1859; Suffolk Garland; private correspondence.]

J. H. ACTON, HENRY (1797-1843), unitarian divine, was born at Lewes, Sussex, 10 March 1797, where his father was parish clerk at St. John's. He was apprenticed in his sixteenth year to Mr. J. Baxter, a Lewes printer, and became a member of a literary society in the town, where his papers were much admired. The two unitarian congregations of Sout hover and Ditchling agreed to give him 501. a year jointly (a grant of 107. being added from the Unitarian Fund) for serving their chapels on alternate Sundays with a fellow-apprentice, William Browne; and his indentures with Mr. Baxter, the printer; being set aside by arrangement, he placed himself as a student, in 1818, under Dr. Morell, the Brighton minister, then head of his flourishing academy at Hove. Acton studied Greek, Latin, and mathematics at Hove, and walked to one or other of his small congregations on Sundays, returning, on foot, the same day. He became minister at Walthamstow in February 1821, and in 1823 co-pastor with the Rev. James Manning at the more important unitarian church known as George's Meeting, Exeter. There he married, became second master of a proprietary classical school at Mount Radford in the neighbourhood, and made himself prominent as an untiring worker till his death, from apoplexy, on 16 Aug. 1843, in his forty-sixth year. He published many sermons, pamphlets, lectures, and statements, of which a full list is given in James's Memoir' (p. xcvii). They were delivered by him at various intervals from 1823, some in controversy with Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter. Acton also established and edited The Gos

pel Advocate, of which four volumes ap peared. He was an effective preacher, and had overcome the disadvantages of his de

fective education. He left a widow and six children.

[James, Memoir and Sermons; Christian Reformer, x. 604, 665, 755; Minutes of the Unitarian Fund, 3 Aug. 1818.]

J. H.

ACTON, JOHN (d. 1350), writer on the canon law, is stated by Leland to have been educated at Oxford, and to have taken there the degree of LL.D. In 1329 he was 'provided by the pope to a canonry and a prebend in Lincoln Cathedral, but some years appear to have elapsed before he actually obtained

these preferments. In 1343 he is found holding the prebend of Welton Ryval (LE NEVE, Fasti, ii. 233). In his books he is described as canon of Lincoln. He died in 1350. His name is variously spelt Achedune, De Athona, Athone, Aton, and Eaton.

Acton's chief work was a commentary on the ecclesiastical constitutions' of Otho and

Ottobone, papal legates in England in the formed for many years the English canon thirteenth century. These 'constitutions' law, and Acton's full and learned notes were held by the lawyers of his own time to be invaluable in their interpretation. Very many manuscript copies of Acton's commentary are in the college libraries at Oxford. and another among the Lansdowne MSS. at One is in the Cambridge University Library, the British Museum. Acton's work was printed for the first time in 1496 by Wynkyn ciale. Sir Henry Spelman made use of de Worde in William Lyndewood's ' ProvinActon's commentary in his Concilia.' Many of his notes are translated in Johnson's 'Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws,' 1720, and are referred to in Otho's Ecclesiastical Laws, translated by J. W. White in 1844. In the library of All Souls College is a manuscript entitled 'Quæstiones et notabilia Johannis Athonis (Actoni) supra dictas constitutiones be an epitome of Acton's larger work. [i.e. Ottonis et Ottoboni], which appears to Another manuscript, entitled 'Summa Justitiæ,' attributed to Acton, is in Corpus Christi Library at Cambridge. Pits gives the name of a few other legal books ascribed to Acton, but nothing is now ascertainable of them.

[Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica; Coxe's Cat. MSS.; prefaces to Lyndewood's Provinciale.]

possessors

S. L. L.

ACTON, SIR JOHN FRANCIS EDminister of Naples under Ferdinand IV, WARD, sixth baronet (1736-1811), prime the beginning of the fourteenth century were was descended from an old family who from of Aldenham Hall, Shropshire. His father, the son of a goldsmith in London, while accompanying the father of Edward Gibbon the historian as physician, stayed a few days at Besançon, where, finding a favourable opening for his profession, he settled permanently and married a French lady; and there Sir John Acton was born in 1736, the date of his baptism being 3 June (BLAKEWAY, The Sheriffs of Shropshire). Under the auspices of his uncle he entered the naval service of Tuscany. While captain of a frigate in the joint expedition of Spain and Tuscany against Algiers in 1775,