ASPLEY, WILLIAM (fl. 1588–1637), stationer and printer, son of William Aspley, clerk deceased, late of Raiston (?), Cumberland, was apprenticed to George Bishop for nine years from 5 Feb. 1588, and admitted a freeman of the Stationers' Company on 11 April 1597. He lived at the sign of the Tiger s Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, and aftenvards at the Parrot. The first appearance of the name of Shakespeare in the registers is in connection with Aspley and Andrew Wise, who obtained license 23 Aug. 1600 for 'Much Ado about Nothing' and the second part of 'Henry IV,' 'wrytten by master Shakespere' (Arber, Transcript, iii. 170). They were printed by V. S. for the two booksellers. It is worth noticing that while both the quartos have 'Shakespeare' on their title-pages the name is transcribed as above. Aspley dealt largely in plays, as maybe seen by the numerous licenses obtained by him down to 1627, when his business appears to have declined. In 1637 he was made warden.
[Arber's Transcript of the Stationers' Registers, ii.-iv. ; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. ed. Herbert, iii. 1384.]
ASPLIN, WILLIAM (1687–1758), theological writer, was born in 1686-7, was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and, on taking his B.A. degree in 1707, removed to St. Alban's Hall, and became vice-principal. He was ordained in 1709, became chaplain to a regiment, and in 1717 vicar of Banbury. In 1721 he became vicar of Horley, and in 1733 vicar of Burthorpe, Gloucestershire. He died 1758. He married Mary, daughter of John Myster, of Horton, Oxfordshire. Asplin was a man of considerable learning, and corresponded with Dr. John Ward, the Gresham professor of rhetoric, on matters relating to archaeological lore and natural history. His works are:
1. 'Alkibla. A Disquisition upon Worshiping towards the East. Wherein are contain'd the General Antiquity, the Rise, and Reasonableness of this Religious Ceremony in the Gentile World: It's early Adoption into the Church of Christ; with a Free and Impartial Examination of the Reasons assigned for it by the Antient Fathers, By a Master of Arts of the University of Oxford.' London, 1728, 8vo. With a dedication to Sir Richard Steele. The second part, dedicated to Lord Chancellor King, appeared in 1735, 'With a serious and impartial Examination of the Reasons assign'd for the Practice' of worshipping towards the east 'by our Modern Divines: in order to obviate Superstition in our Publick Devotion, to remove from it all Party-Distinction, and unnecessary Objections, and to assert the Principles of the Reformation; by reducing the Ceremonies of Churchmen to the Standard of the Church. To which are prefix'd, Some Thoughts by way of Preface concerning the proper Use of Ridicule in Controversies stil'd Religious.' A second edition of both the parts appeared in 1740. An answer was published by the Rev. John Andrews, vicar of South Newington, Oxfordshire, under the title of 'The Kebla: or, a Defence of Eastward Adoration,' London, 2 parts, 1728-9; and this in turn was 'dissected' in 'The Anatomy of the Kebla, by a true Son of the Church of England,' 1729. Perhaps it may not be superfluous to mention that kibla is an Arabic word which signifies a turning. 2. 'The Impertinences of Modern Antiquaries display'd; or a Refutation of Mr. Wise's Letter to Dr. Mead concerning the "White Horse," &c.' London, no date, 4to.
[Beesley's Hist. of Banbury, 513; Bigland's Collections relating to the County of Gloucester, i. 546; MS. Addit. 6210 ff. 1-11, 6226 p. 42; Gent. Mag. xlviii. 221, 305; Rawlinson MSS. fol. 16, 98; Cat. Lib. Impress. Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ (1843); Cat. of Oxford Graduates.]
ASPULL, GEORGE (1813–1832), musician, born at Manchester in June 1813, was the ninth of ten sons of Thomas Aspull, a merchant who had failed in business and gained his living by teaching music and playing the violin. George Aspull began to learn the piano under his father's instruction on 1 Feb. 1821, and soon made such rapid progress that he both played and sang at a concert in January 1822. In February of the following year Kalkbrenner, having heard him play at Liverpool, advised his father to take him to London, which was accordingly done in April. Here he played to Clementi, who was struck by the extraordinaiy genius and poetry of his playing, although at this time he was so small that he generally stood at the piano. Aspull soon became quite the rage in London. On 20 Feb. 1824 he went to Windsor to play before George IV, and he gave numerous concerts which attracted large audiences. At a concert at Brighton he played (for the first time in England) Weber's 'Concertstück.' In April 1825 Aspull and his father went to Paris, where they met Hummel and Moscheles. On his return he began a series of concert tours in Great Britain and Ireland, which lasted, almost without intermission to the end of his life. On Clementi's death in 1832 Aspull came up to London to attend the funeral, on which occasion he caught a cold which eventually caused his death. In spite of his illness he
