ALCOCK, JOHN, an English prelate, born at Beverley, in Yorkshire, and educated at Cambridge. He obtained a deanery in 1461, and rapidly rose to the highest offices in church and state. He was bishop of Rochester, Worcester, and Ely, and twice lord chancellor; was a man of infinite liberality and learning, and an excellent architect. Jesus College, Cambridge, and a grammar school and chapel at Hull, were founded by him; and he erected various elegant edifices. He died in 1500. Alcock wrote several theological works, and was famous for preaching long sermons.

He died in 1710. Aldrich was a good Latin poet, was skilled in musical composition, and has left striking proofs of architectural talent in his designs of Peckwater Square, All Saints' Church, and Trinity College Chapel.

ALDROVANDUS, ULYSSES, a naturalist, born, in 1527, at Bologna, in which city he became professor of philosophy and physic. He spent nearly his whole life and fortune in collecting materials for his Natural History, in 13 vols. folio, of which, however, only four were published by him. self. It is said that he died poor and blind, in 1605, at a hospital in Bologna; but the truth of this is now doubted. The senate of his native city subsequently voted a considerable sum to continue the publication of his work.

ALCUIN, or ALCUINUS, FLACCUS ALBINUS, a native of Yorkshire, one of the most learned men of his age, at once a theologian, philosopher, orator, historian, poet, mathematician, and linguist, was sent on an embassy from Offa to Charlemagne, ALDRUDE, countess of Bertinoro, a who took him into his service and friend- native of Italy, rendered herself celebrated ship, and rewarded him munificently. Al- towards the end of the twelfth century by cuin was employed by that sovereign in her eloquence and her courage. She was negotiations, and in disseminating know-left a widow in the bloom of youth, and ledge, and founded many schools, at Paris, Aix la Chapelle, and other places. He died in 804, aged nearly seventy.

ALDERETE, DIEGO GRACIAN DE, a learned Spaniard, born towards the close of the fifteenth century, died, aged nearly ninety, under the reign of Philip II., to whom, as well as to Charles V., he was private secretary. He was a good man, in great credit with his sovereigns, and much respected at court. Spanish literature is indebted to him for elegant translations of Xenophon, Thucydides, and other Greek writers.

ALDHELM, or ADELM, ST., an eminent scholar of the seventh century, related to king Ina, was born at Malmesbury, where he built a stately monastery, of which he was abbot more than thirty years. In 705 he was consecrated bishop of Sherburn, and died in 709. He was a man of extensive learning, the first Saxon who wrote prose and verse in Latin, was skilled in music and mathematics, and was declared by king Alfred to be the best of all the Saxon poets.

ALDRICH, HENRY, a learned divine, born at London in 1647, was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, and became D. D. in 1681. As a controversialist against the catholics, he so distinguished himself that, at the Revolution, he was rewarded with the deanery of Christ Church. In that station his conduct was exemplary. In 1702 he was chosen prolocutor of the Convocation. He was one of the joint editors of Clarendon's History.

her court became the resort of all the Italian chivalry. Ancona was besieged by the im perial troops, and was reduced to extremity. Aldrade, however, harangued her courtier knights, led them to the relief of the place, and succeeded in saving Ancona.

ALEMAN, MATTHEW, a native of Seville, was born about the middle of the sixteenth century, and was one of the superintendants and comptrollers of the finances to Philip II. He is the author of several works, but his fame rests upon his Life of Gusman d'Alfarache, which has been translated into several languages.

ALEMBERT, JOHN LE ROND D', born at Paris in 1717, was the natural son of M. Destouches and the celebrated Madame de Tencin. He was left on the steps of a church by his unworthy parents, and was so weak that, instead of sending him to the Foundling Hospital, the commissary of po

Persia. It was previously necessary, how. ever, to chastise the neighbouring barbarians, and to rivet the chains of the Greeks, and this he rapidly accomplished. Thebes, having revolted, was destroyed, with the exception of the house of Pindar. At the head of nearly forty thousand men, Alexander now (B. c. 334) crossed the Hellespont, defeated the forces of Darius on the banks of the Granicus, and, in one campaign, reduced Asia Minor. In the fol

lice intrusted him to the care of a poor glazier's wife. Repenting of his barbarity, his father subsequently settled on him an annuity of fifty pounds. D'Alembert was brought up at Mazarin College, where he made surprising progress in mathematics. On his quitting the college he went to reside with his nurse, with whom he continued for forty years, and loved her with filial affection. He was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1741, and soon acquired a distinguished reputation by se-lowing year a dangerous illness for a time veral mathematical works. His merit at length obtained for him a pension from the government. He next cooperated with Diderot in compiling the Encyclopædia, for which he composed the preliminary discourse. Nor was he only celebrated as a mathematician; for he gave to the world several valuable historical and philosophical productions. Among them are the Eulogies on the Members of the French Academy, of which body he became secretary in 1772. Splendid offers were made to him by the empress Catherine and the king of Prussia, if he would quit his country; but they were refused. D'Alembert died in 1783.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, son of Philip of Macedon, was born at Pella, B. c. 356, and very early gave indications of that spirit which blazed forth in his riper years. Leonidas, Lysimachus, and Aristotle, were his instructors, but principally the last, who poured forth to his eager pupil all the treasures of a mighty mind. From Lysimachus the youthful hero received only injury, his disposition being corrupted by the mercenary adulation of his tutor. During the life of his father, his undaunted courage was displayed on various occasions, particularly at Cheronæa. Alexander ascended the throne in his twentieth year, and immediately prepared to execute his father's projected invasion of

arrested his arms; but, on his recovery, he utterly routed the Persians, to the number of six hundred thousand men, at the battle of Issus, and took prisoners the whole family of Darius. He then subdued Tyre, where he disgraced himself by his barbarity; Egypt, where he ordered Alexandria to be built; and penetrated into Libya, where he caused the Ammonian oracle to declare him the son of Jupiter. Resuming, next year, his operations against the Persian monarch, he completely defeated him at Arbela, and this battle decided the fate of Persia. Pausing awhile from conquest, he indulged in cruelty and debauchery, burned Persepolis, to gratify the courtesan Thais, murdered his veteran general Parmenio, and, shortly after, in a fit of intoxication, stabbed his friend Clytus. Having put down some insurrections, he pursued his course to India, crossed the Indus, and, after many sanguinary contests with Porus and other kings, he pushed forward beyond the Hyphasis, where, at length, his progress was stopped, by the refusal of his soldiers to advance any further. On the banks of the Hydaspes he built the cities of Nicæa and Bucephala, and then began his retrograde movement; dispatching Nearchus, with the fleet, down the Indus, to the Persian gulf. After a toilsome march he reached Susa, whence he proceeded to Ecbatana, and, lastly, to Babylon. In the latter city his career was closed. A fever, said to be caused, or aggravated, by excess of drinking, carried him off, on the 12th of April, B. c. 323, in the thirty-third year of his age, and the thirteenth of his reign. His remains were interred at Alexandria. The praise of valour, military genius, extensive views, a love of learning, and, occasionally, noble feelings, must be awarded to Alexander; but his character is deeply stained with vanity, arrogance, and cruelty, and with a reckless lust of victory, dominion, and fame, to gratify which the blood and tears of millions of his fellow beings were unsparingly shed.

ALEXANDER SEVERUS, one of the

best of the Roman emperors, was a native | grief for his loss. Forty-two works were of Acra, in Phoenicia, born about A. D. 209, written by him, none of which are extant. and was carefully educated by his mother ALEXANDER, PSEUDOMANTIS, a celeMamæa. Adopted by his cousin Helioga- brated impostor, was born at Abonotichos, balus, he soon, by his popularity, excited in Asia Minor, and flourished in the reign the hatred of that despicable being, who of Marcus Aurelius, By dint of boundless made a fruitless attempt to poison him. impudence, and such tricks as every slightWhen the tyrant was slain by the pretorian of-hand man can now excel, he contrived, guards, they elevated Severus in his stead. for twenty years, to have innumerable Though in a few instances he displayed devoted admirers, and to raise an enormous weakness, the youthful monarch adorned income from their credulity. He died of an the throne by his virtues and his love of ulcer in his leg, at the age of seventy years. literature; but, in the year 235, he was unfortunately murdered in a mutiny of the army, occasioned by his efforts for the restoration of discipline.

ALEXANDER, NEVSKOI, a Russian saint and hero, the son of the grand duke Jaroslaf, was born in 1218. At the battle of the Neva, he was victorious over the combined Swedes, Danes, and Teutonic knights; he defeated the Tartars; and he emancipated Russia from the tribute paid by her to the successors of Genghis Khan, He died at Gorodetz, in 1262. National gratitude enrolled him among the saints, and Peter the Great instituted an order of knighthood, which bears his name.

ALEXANDER, TRALLIANUS, a native of Tralles, in Asia Minor, was celebrated, as a philosopher and a professor of the medical art, in the middle of the sixth century. Dr. Friend regards him as one of the best practical physicians of antiquity. He was among the first, perhaps the first, who made a liberal internal use of preparations of iron.

ALEXANDER, SIR WILLIAM, a Scotch poet and statesman, born in 1580, was made a knight, and gentleman usher to Prince Charles, in 1613; received a grant of Nova Scotia, in 1621; was appointed secretary of state for Scotland, in 1626; and, in 1630 and 1633, was created viscount and earl of Stirling. He died in 1640. His poems and tragedies have considerable merit, and were praised by contemporary poets, and also by Addison.

ALEXANDER, NOEL, a learned Do

ALEXANDER VI., POPE. This disgrace to the papal chair, whose family name was Borgia, was born at Valencia, in Spain, in 1431, and succeeded Pope Innocent VIII. in 1492. His life was a series of crimes. By his concubine Va-minican, professor of theology, and doctor nozzi, he had five children, worthy of such of the Sorbonne, was born at Rouen, in a father, and of these Cæsar, the most in 1639, and died at Paris, in 1724, after famous, was his favourite. In all his poli- having been for some years blind. He is tical connexions he was treacherous, be- the author, among other works, of an yond the usual measure of treachery in Ecclesiastical History, in 26 vols. 8vo. and politicians. The pontifical claims to supre- of a History of the Old Testament; the macy lost nothing in his hands. It was former of which, being favourable to the he who divided between the Spaniards liberties of the Gallican church, was proand Portuguese the recently discovered scribed by Innocent XI. realms of America, by drawing a line from pole to pole, a hundred leagues to the westward of the Azores, and assigning to the former people all the realms to the west of it, and to the latter, all those to the east. This hateful pontiff died in the year 1503; and is said to have fallen, by mistake, a victim to poison, which he and his son Cæsar had prepared for others.

ALEXANDER, POLYHISTOR, a philosopher, geographer, and historian, a native of Phrygia, lived early in the first century B. C., was made prisoner in the wars against Mithridates, and was bought by Cornelius Lentulus, who confided to him the education of his children, and afterwards liberated him. He was burnt in his house at Laurentum, and his wife destroyed herself from

ALEXANDER I. emperor of Russia

and king of Poland, was born, December

22, 1777, and, on the murder of his father, | Piedmont, in 1749. His family was rich in 1801, he succeeded to the throne. Till and noble. In his early youth he gave no 1805, his attention was confined to his own promise of that talent which he finally dominions; but, in that year, he coalesced with Austria against France. The coalition, however, was broken, by the success of Napoleon at Austerlitz. In the following year, he joined with Prussia; but, in 1807, after having been defeated at Friedland, he signed, at Tilsit, a peace with the French emperor, very soon after which he became one of his closest allies. The interval between 1807 and 1812 was filled up with the seizure of Finland, and a war against Turkey. In the latter year hostilities were again commenced between France and Russia, and were actively continued till the downfal of Napoleon. During the campaigns of 1813 and 1814, Alexander bore a share in the dangers of the field. On the conclusion of peace, he visited England. As the reward of his military assistance, Poland was erected into a kingdom by the congress of Vienna, and he was crowned in 1815. He died at Taganrok, in November, 1825. His talents were above mediocrity; and he did much to ameliorate the condition of his subjects.

ALEXANDRINI, JULIUS, a physician, who died at Trent, in 1590, aged eightyfive, was the author of various medical works, some of which are in verse. He was the first who endeavoured to show the connexion between the passions of the mind and the diseases of the body.

ALEXIS DEL ARCO, a Spanish painter, known also under the name of el Sordillo de Pereda, because he was deaf and dumb, and the pupil of Pereda. He was born at Madrid, in 1625, and, in spite of his natural defects, acquired considerable reputation, especially in portraits. His drawing and colouring are good. Alexis died at Madrid, in 1700.

ALFARABI, or ALFARABIUS, so called from Farab, his birth place, but whose real name was Mohammed, was born in the tenth century. He studied at Bagdad, travelled through many countries, and became the most eminent of Arabic philosophers. He is said to have spoken seventy languages; many of them, no doubt, were only dialects. He died, in 950, at Damascus; the sultan of which city was his patron. Among his works are several treatises on Aristotle; a Treatise on Music; and an Encyclopædia, the MS. of which is in the library of the Escurial.

ALFIERI, VICTOR, the most eminent of Italian tragic poets, was born at Asti, in

displayed; he learned little or nothing,
and the violence of his temper was a bar
to his obtaining esteem. At the age of
sixteen, he became his own master, and
the seven succeeding years were spent in
travelling, as fast as horses could carry
him, over the greatest part of Europe, and
in adventures which were marked only by
dissipation and licentiousness. After his
return to Turin, love inspired him with
the spirit of poetry; and, in 1775, he pro-
duced his tragedy of Cleopatra, and a
burlesque upon it. Thenceforth he con-
tinued constant to the Muses and to study;
and the result was no less than fourteen
dramas in seven years, besides many com-
positions in verse and prose. He mastered
Latin, French, and other languages, of
which till then he had been utterly igno-
rant; and, even at the late age of forty-
eight, he began Greek, and acquired such
a knowledge of it as to translate several
works. In France, where he next settled
with the Pretender's widow, the countess
of Albany, whom he married, he composed
five more tragedies. The fall of the throne,
in 1792, drove him from France; his pro-
perty there was unjustly confiscated; and
Alfieri ever after entertained a deadly
hatred of that country. Worn out by his
incessant literary labours, he died at Flo-
rence, in 1803, and over his remains his
widow erected a monument by Canova.
In the following year came forth his post-
humous works, in thirteen volumes, two
of which are occupied by his auto-biography.
As a tragic writer, Alfieri has had many
imitators in Italy, but his throne is still
unshared by any rival: no one has yet
equalled him in nervous dialogue, in gran-
deur of style, or in the delineation of strong
passions and energetic characters.