ARDEA, a Latian city, probably of Pelasgian origin, famous chiefly for its accidental connection with the semi-mythical rape of Lucretia and the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome. It lies 24 miles almost due S. from Rome, and 4 miles from the coast, on a small stream. It seems at one time to have been a place of great wealth and power; but the little hamlet which still preserves its name hardly numbers 200 inhabitants. A few fragments of tufa-built fortifications are the only remains of its ancient architecture.

ARDEBIL, or Ardabil, one of the chief towns of Azerbijan in Persia, situated in 38° 15' N. lat., and 48° 19' E. long., on the Karasu or Balulk, a tributary of the Aras, in a fertile plain about 40 miles from the Caspian, seems to have been built out of the ruins of a former city. It is surrounded with a mud wall and towers, has a square castle with bastions at the corners fortified after European fashion, and contains the tomb of Shah Ismael Sufi, the founder of the Sufi dynasty of Persia. It is an emporium in the trade of Tiflis, Derbend, and Baku with Ispahan and Teheran. By a great council of the Persian empire, which met in 1736 in the neighbouring plain of Chowal-Mogam, Nadir Shah was chosen king, and his coronation took place next year at Ardebil. In the vicinity there are a number of warm mineral springs, and to the west stands the great mountain Sevilan, of volcanic origin, forming the eastern, extremity of the water-shed between the Aras and the Tigris. From its remarkable salubrity Ardebil has acquired the Persian title of Abadan i Firuz, the abode of happiness.

ARDELAN, a province of Persia, forming the eastern division of Kurdistan, and lying south of Azerbijan. Its capital Senna, in long. 40° E., and lat. 35° 12' N., is built in a deep valley, which is well tilled and rich in orchards. The north part presents a succession of great table-lands, inhabited in the summer by wandering shepherds, who migrate in winter to the vicinity of Baghdad. The soil in the valleys is good, and abundance of wheat, barley, and the oil-plant (Sesamum orientale) is grown, besides a little tobacco. The oak forests of the mountains to the west yield fine timber, which is floated down the Tab into the Tigris, and gall-nuts, which are sent to India. The inhabitants, mostly Kurds, are greatly given to war and robbery, and many of the tribes are subjects of Persia only nominally.

ARDENNES, a department on the N.E. frontier of France, which derives its name from the famous forest, is bounded on the N. and N.E. by Belgium, on the E. by the department of the Meuse, on the S. by that of Marne, and on the W. by that of the Aisne. In shape it is an irregular pentagon, with a cape-like prolongation into Belgium on the north. It has a superficial extent of 523,000 hectares, or 1,291,810 acres, of which 300,000 hectares, or 741,000 acres, are arable land, while 154,000 hectares, or 383,800 acres, are occupied with forest, wood, and heath. The wooded plateaus which begin in the department of the Meuse are continued in a north-west direction, and divide the basin of the Meuse from the basin of the Aisne, till they form a junction with the Ardennes proper. At one time this was a very inaccessible region, and formed a strong defence, as Dumouriez showed in 1792, against invasion from the east. The Meuse (Maas), flowing in a northern direction, enters obliquely from the east, and cuts off a narrow and irregular strip along the Belgian side of the department, which it leaves at the extreme north, to flow through Belgium and join the western branch of the Rhine. The Aisne enters near the south-east corner and leaves at the south-west; its course through the department skirting the base of the Argonne range, and forming an irregular arc with its convexity to the north. The chief wealth of Ardennes consists in mineral productions, wood, cattle, and sheep The number of cattle in 1872 was 82,975, of sheep 393,044, of horses 49,748, and of pigs 51,809. The sheep are small, but are valued for the quality of their mutton. Agriculture has recently made considerable advances in the department. There are upwards of 150 iron-mines, as at Grandpré, Champigneulle, ...

ARDFERT, a small village in Kerry, in the S.W. of Ireland, about 4 miles N.N.W. of Tralee, and nearly as much from the coast. It had at one time a university, and was the seat of a very ancient bishopric; but both it and Aghadoe, with which it was combined, are united to the see of Limerick. The cathedral, a very old building, was the church of St Brendan’s monastery. A pillar tower, which stood near it, and was one of the finest and loftiest in the kingdom, fell in 1780. Population, 192.

ARDGLASS(the green height), a town of Ireland in Down county, Ulster, at the head of a small bay about 8 or 9 miles S. of the entrance of Strangford Lough, and 7 miles S.S.E. of Downpatrick, was a place of great importance soon after the Norman invasion. It had a considerable trade was a. royal burgh, and sent a representative to the Irish parliament. It is still remarkable for the ruins of five Anglo-Norman castles. Its permanent inhabitants, who are chiefly engaged in the fisheries, numbered only 613 in 1871; but its population during the bathing season is considerably increased by visitors. Ships of 500 tons may enter the harbour at all tides, and its inner cove admits vessels of 100 tons. There is a lighthouse at the end of the pier, in lat. 54° 15' N., long. 5° 36' W.

ARDOCH, a parish in Perthshire, famous for its Roman military antiquities, which are situated in the grounds of Ardoch House, about 2 J miles N. of Greenloaning, on the Caledonian Railway. They consist of—(1), a strong fort or station, surrounded by a series of ramparts and ditches; (2), vestiges of an intrenched outwork of considerable extent at the north side of this station; and (3), traces of two camps, still further to the north, capable, according to General Roy, of containing.28,800 and 14,000 men respectively. the smaller camp being partly included within the limits of the larger. See Gordon’s Itiner. Septent., p. 41; Pennant’s Tour, iii. 102; Roy’s Military Antiquities, pp. 62, 226; Stuart’s Caledonia Pomana, pp. 187-194.

ARDRES, a French town, in the department of Pas de Calais, and arrondissement of St Omer, on a canal joining Calais and St Omer, to which it gives its name. The “Field of the Cloth of Gold,” where Henry VIII. of England and Francis I. of France tried to outdazzle each other in 1520, was in the immediate neighbourhood. The town contains several distilleries and breweries. Population, about 2200.

ARDROSSAN, a sea-port in Ayrshire, Scotland, 31 miles by rail from Glasgow, in N. lat. 55° 38', and W. long. 4° 49'. It dates from an early period, as there seems to have been a castle and a small fishing village in existence for several centuries. The name of Arthur of Ardrossan is found in connection with a charter dated 1226; and Sir Fergus of Ardrossan accompanied Edward Bruce in his Irish expedition in 1316, and in 1320 signed the appeal to the Pope, by the barons of Scotland, against the aggressions of Edward I. of England. The castle, famous for its capture by Wallace, was finally destroyed by Cromwell, who is said to have used part of its masonry for the construction of the fort at Ayr. The family of the barons of Ardrossan is now merged, by marriage, in that of the earl of Eglinton and Winton. The rise of Ardrossan into commercial importance is due to the exertions of Hugh the twelfth earl of Eglinton, who commenced the construction of the present town and harbour in 1806. The harbour was intended to be in connection with a canal from Glasgow to Ardrossan, but this was only completed as far as Johnstone. Owing to the stoppage of the canal works, and the death of Lord Eglinton, the construction of tho harbour was suspended till 1845, when it was partially completed, and placed in connection with the Glasgow and South-Western Railway by a branch railway which joins the main line at Kilwinning. The cost of the harbour up tα 1874 has been upwards of £200,000. The works now consist of a wet dock of 4 acres in area, with 19 feet at high water over the lock sill, and of two tidal harbours— one 18 acres, and the other 6 acres in area. There is a lighthouse on the north-west point of the outer breakwater, with a white flashing light. The works are well supplied ...