by the initials of their authors' surnames (Simon Browne, Avery, B. Grosvenor, D.D., Sam Wright, D.D., John Evans, D.D., Jabez Earle, D.D., Moses Lowman, Nathaniel Lardner; see Monthly Repos., 1813, p. 443. Lowndes, under 'Occasional Papers,' erroneously gives Barnes for Browne, Eames for Earle, and omits Lardner), and not to be confounded with the 'Occasional Paper,' 1697-8, by Bishop Willis. Avery also conducted the 'Old Whig, or Consistent Protestant,' a weekly publication, 13 March 1735 to 13 March 1738, his chief coadjutors being G. Benson, S. Chandler, B. Grosvenor, C. Fleming, J. Foster, and M. Towgood; the collected issue, in two volumes, 1739, is not complete. In 1728 Avery edited James Peirce's posthumous sermons and 'Scripture Catechism;' he was probably the author of the Latin inscription prepared for Peirce's tomb. He was not concerned in the 'Independent Whig,' 20 Jan. 1720 to 4 Jan. 1721, edited by Thomas Gordon (reissued 1732-5 and 1743). He was a trustee of Dr. Williams's Library, 1728-64, and his portrait hangs in the library. He died 23 July 1764.
Evans's List, Dr. Williams's Library; Bohn's Lowndes, 1864, pp. 1714, 2892; Turner's Lives of Eminent Unitarians, 1840, i. 207; Christian Reformer, 1848, p. 162; Inquirer, 29 June 1878.]
AVERY, JOHN? (fl. 1695), was a pirate, whose depredations in the Eastern seas, in the year 1695, occasioned much embarrassment to the East India Company and to the government. Having fitted out in the West Indies a ship mounting 46 guns, and with a motley crew of 130 men, he established himself at Perim and levied toll on all vessels passing in or out of the Red Sea, and especially on a large ship belonging to the Mogul himself, which he taxed to the extent of upwards of 300,000l. The Mogul retaliated on the company's officers at Surat, and put a stop to the English trade; but Avery, satisfied, for the time being, with his booty, and perhaps anticipating danger, returned to the West Indies, sold his ship, and dispersed the crew. Several of these were afterwards caught in Ireland or England, and some were executed; but of Avery himself—notwithstanding large rewards offered for his apprehension by both the government and the company—nothing was ever positively known. The received story is that he was a native of Plymouth; that, on his return to England, he lived for some time at Bideford; and that, having been cheated out of his vast wealth by some Bristol merchants, he died there, of rage and vexation, in extreme poverty. But the authority for these statements is extremely doubtful.
[John Bruce's Annals of the Hon. East India Company, vol. iii. pp. 188-223; Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies (1727), vol. i. p. 42; Captain Johnson's General History of the Pyrates (1724), p. 45, &c. Other and more detailed accounts—e.g. 'The Life and Adventures of Captain John Avery... now in possession of Madagascar, written by a person who made his escape from thence (1700);' or, 'The King of Pirates, being an account of the famous enterprizes of Captain Avery, the mock king of Madagascar, in two letters from himself (1720), which has been attributed to Defoe—are fiction, with scarcely a substratum of fact.]
AVESBURY, ROBERT of. [See Robert.]
AVERSHAWE, LOUIS JEREMIAH. [See Abershaw.]
AVISON, CHARLES (1710?–1770), musician, born at Newcastle, studied music in Italy, and on his return to England became a pupil of Geminiani. In 1736 he was appointed organist of St. Nicholas, at Newcastle, in which town he spent the remainder of his life. In 1752 he published his celebrated 'Essay on Musical Expression,' a work which created at the time considerable sensation by the boldness the author displayed in acknowledging his preference for the French and Italian school, and depreciating the Germans, with Handel at their head. The essay was translated into German, and was answered in 1753 by Dr. Hayes's 'Remarks on Mr. Avison's Essay,' which was published anonymously, though the name of the author was an open secret. Avison replied in the same year, but it was generally considered that Hayes had the best of the argument, although Avison's work was superior from a literary point of view. Avison died at Newcastle 9 May 1770, Besides his essay he published several sets of sonatas and concertos, some of which long continued popular, and he also edited an edition in eight volumes of Marcello's Psalms, A life by Avison is prefixed to the first. Very little is known of his life, but he had the reputation of being a man of great culture and polish, and for many years was the chief of a small circle of musical amateurs in the north of England who were devoted to his views,
[Hawkins's History of Music, vol.ii. (ed, 1875); the Georgian Era, vol. iii, 1834; Gent. Mag. for 1808; article by E. Taylor in S. D, U. K. Dictionary.]
AVONMORE, Lord, [See Yelverton.]
AWDELAY, JOHN (fl. 1426), was a canon of the monastery of Haghmon, Shrop-
