and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

ASH'TAROTH, a general name for all Syrian goddesses. (See ASTORETH.)

[_They_] had general names
Of Baaelim 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.).

(This has been made the subject of an opera by Donizetti, called
_Lucia di Lammermoor_, 1835.)

ASIA, the wife of that Pharaoh who brought up Moses. She was the
daughter of Mozahem. Her husband tortured her for believing in Moses;
but she was taken alive into paradise.--Sale, _Al Koran_, xx., note,
and Ixvi., note.

Mahomet says, "Among women four have been perfect: Asia, wife of
Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife;
and Fatima, his own daughter."

AS'IR, the twelve chief gods of Scandinavian mythology--Odin, Thor,
Baldr, Niord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and
Forseti.

Sometimes the goddesses--Frigga, Freyja, Idu'na, and Saga, are ranked
among the Asir also.

AS'MADAI (3 _syl.)_ the same as As-mode'us _(4 syl.)_ the lustful and
destroying angel, who robbed Sara of her seven husbands _(Tobit_ iii.
8). Milton makes him one of the rebellious angels overthrown by Uriel
and Ra'phael. Hume says the word means "the _destroyer_."--_Paradise
Lost_, vi 365 (1665).

ASMODE'US _(4 syl.)_, the demon of vanity and dress, called in the
Talmud "king of the devils." As "dress" is one of the bitterest evils
of modern life, it is termed "the Asmodeus of domestic peace," a
phrase employed to express any "skeleton" in the house of a private
family.

In the book of _Tobit_ Asmodeus falls in love with Sara, daughter of
Rag'uel, and causes the successive deaths of seven husbands each on
his bridal night, but when Sara married Tobit, Asmodeus was driven
into Egypt by a charm made of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on
perfumed ashes.

(Milton throws the accent on the third syl., Tennyson on the second.)

Better pleased
Than Asmodeus with the