a writer, his two chief
subjects of interest being the Roman question and the relations of Piedmont
(now the kingdom of Italy) with Mazzini and the other revolutionists. In
his opinion Italy must be unified by means of the Franco-Piedmontese army
alone, all connexion with the conspirators being eschewed, while the pope
should enjoy nominal sovereignty over Rome, with full spiritual
independence, the capital of Italy being established elsewhere, but the
Romans being Italian citizens (see his letters to E. Rendu and his pamphlet
_Le questioni urgenti_). He strongly disapproved of the convention of 1864
between the Italian government and the pope. The last few years of
d'Azeglio's life were spent chiefly at his villa of Cannero, where he set
to work to write his own memoirs. He died of fever on the 15th of January
1866.

Massimo d'Azeglio was a very attractive personality, as well as an
absolutely honest patriot, and a characteristic example of the best type of
Piedmontese aristocrat. He was cautious and conservative; in his general
ideas on the liberation of Italy he was wrong, and to some extent he was an
amateur in politics, but of his sincerity there is no doubt. As an author
his political writings are trenchant and clear, but his novels are somewhat
heavy and old-fashioned, and are interesting only if one reads the
political allusions between the lines.

Besides a variety of newspaper articles and pamphlets, d'Azeglio's chief
works are the two novels _Ettore Fieramosca_ (1833) and _Niccolo dei Lapi_
(1841), and a volume of autobiographical memoirs entitled _I Miei Ricordi_,
a most charming work published after his death, in 1866, but unfortunately
incomplete. See in addition to the _Ricordi_, L. Carpi's _Il Risorgimento
Italiano_, vol. i. pp. 288 sq. and the _Souvenirs historiques_ of Constance
d'Azeglio, Massimo's niece (Turin, 1884).

(L. V.*)

AZERB[=A]IJ[=A]N (also spelt ADERBIJAN; the _Azerb[=a]deg[=a]n_ of medieval
writers, the _Athropatakan_ and _Atropatene_ of the ancients), the
north-western and most important province of Persia. It is separated from
Russian territory on the N. by the river Aras (Araxes), while it has the
Caspian Sea, Gilan and Khamseh (Zenj[=a]n) on the E., Kurdistan on the S.,
and Asiatic Turkey on the W. Its area is estimated at 32,000 sq. m.; its
population at 1-1/2 to 2 millions, comprising various races, as Persians
proper, Turks, Kurds, Syrians, Armenians, &c. The country is superi