ASCRÆ'AN SAGE, or _Ascræan poet_, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascræan." Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musæ Ascræo quos ante seni. _Ecl._ vii. 70. AS'EBIE (3 _syl_.), Irreligion personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros (_idolatry_), Phar'makeus (3 _syl_.) (_witchcraft_), Hæret'icus, and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, _asebeia_, "impiety.") ASEL'GES (3 _syl_.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four sons of Anag'nus (_inchastity_), his three brothers being Mæchus (_adultery_), Pornei'us (_fornication_), and Acath'arus. Seeing his brother Porneius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (_maidenly chastity_), Aselgês rushes forward to avenge his death, but the martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i' the air "that he hardly knew whither his course was bent." (Greek, _aselgês_, "intemperate, wanton.")--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633). AS'EN, strictly speaking, are only the three gods next in rank to the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the Scandinavian deities generally. ASHBURTON (_Mary_), heroine of _Hyperion_, by H.W. Longfellow (1839). ASH'FIELD (_Farmer_), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted, noble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is "Behave pratty," and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy. _Dame Ashfield_, the farmer's wife, whose _bête noire_ is a neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel too. _Susan Ashfield_, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.--Thom. Morton, _Speed the Plough_ (1764-1838). ASH'FORD (_Isaac_), "a wise, good man, contented to be poor."--Crabbe, _Parish Register_ (1807). ASHPENAZ, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to be at once feared and despised.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890). ASH'TAROTH, a general name for all Syrian goddesses. (See ASTORETH.) [_They_] had general names Of Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male, These feminine. Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 422 (1665). ASH'TON (_Sir William_), the lord keeper of Scotland, and father of Lucy Ashton. _Lady Eleanor Ashton_, wife of sir William. _Colonel Sholto Douglas Ashton_, eldest son of sir William. _Lucy Ashton_, daughter of sir William, betrothed to Edgar (the master of Ravenswood); but being compelled to marry Frank Hayston (laird of Bucklaw), she tries to murder him in the bridal chamber, and becomes insane. Lucy dies, but the laird recovers.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).