Edward III. Women Servants from an old MSS. | of the 17th Century. Gentleman and Ladies of rank in the 15th Century. Norman - I Henry XI. and Becket. | Soldiers of the 14th Century. Gentleman in time of I Pikeman and Musketeer of the I Officer and Sergeant in the reign William III. 17th Century. of George I. Lady Handson. | Queen Anne of Denmark. | Gentleman and Lady in time of Charles !• Sesostris, or Rameses the Great. See page 657. Ruins of Houeomont •—• Battle Ground of Warterloo, Sir Isaac Newton's Birth-place. Pompeii Restored. Restoration of the Roman Forum. Battle Monument, Baltimore. U. S. Military Academy, West Point. POPULAR CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY ANCIENT AND MODERN, FORMING A COPIOUS HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF CELEBRATED INSTITUTIONS, PERSONS, PLACES, AND THINGS; WITH NOTICES OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES, COUNTRIES, AND KINGDOMS OF THE KNOWN WORLD: TO WHICH IS ADDED A CHRONOLOGICAL VIEW OF MEMORABLE EVENTS, AS EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS, STORMS, CONFLAGRATIONS, DISEASES, FAMINES, INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES, BATTLES, TREATIES, SET- TLEMENTS, ORIGINS OF RELIGIOUS SECTS, ETC. BY f: a. DURIVAGE. ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS. HARTFORD: A PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY CASE, TIFFANY & BURNHAM 1845. Kntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by Case, Tiffanv 4t .C-v,, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. m i PREFACE. Every general reader, has frequent occasion to consult some authority, for historical, and biographical dates and facts. The only works, suitable for such a purpose, are the Encyclopedia of Lieber, Rees, Brewster, and others, of a similar kind. These are costly and extensive works, and are therefore in the hands of comparatively few persons ; beside, they are too cumbrous for easy and frequent reference. The importance then, of a volume like the present, that may lie familiarly upon the table, or the shelf; ready at call to answer the thousand questions that arise on historical points, is too plain to require discussion. Its utility, at all events its convenience, even to those who possess ample libra- ries, and whose minds are stored with historical data, appears to the writer to be great. But it is more especially designed for family use, and for the young. The author considers the matter in this point of view. Every reader of a book, a magazine, or newspaper, meets with frequent references to historical subjects, which he knows nothing about, or obscurely remembers, or but partially understands. If he has at hand, a volume which will readily answer any inquiries which arise in his mind, he will turn to it, and thus remove his igno- rance, or clear away the doubt and obscurity which rest upon his 2 PREFACE. understanding. If he has no such work at easy command, he will in most cases let the matter pass. The present volume, is particularly designed to supply to every general reader, such a book of reference as is here alluded to. It is believed, that if tolerably well executed, it cannot fail of being acceptable. It is particularly commended to the attention of parents, that in the absence of any other suitable work, this may be placed within the reach of their children, and that the habit of consulting it as a dictionary of history, and historical biography, whenever curiosity, doubt, or question may suggest, be inculcated upon them. The store of precise practical know- ledge that will thus be laid up, will be of incalculable value. It is not however, as a mere book of reference, that this volume is offered to the public. The materials, are, it is true, extracted to a great extent, from books familiar to the public. The author, however, has gathered many traits, anecdotes and adventures, from less common sources, and interspersing throughout its pages, these and other illustrative sketches, he has sought to enliven the work, and thus render it more amusing, attractive, and readable, than mere books of reference usually are. Many of the articles are more extensive than in the voluminous Encyclopedias, before mentioned. Many interesting topics, not found in them, are also introduced. The history of our own country, will be found fully treated of, under different heads. The lives of eminent political characters in all ages, as well as the lives of those, whose great- ness in science or literature inscribed their names upon the ages in which they flourished, are given ; some of them at considerable PREFACE. length. Many characteristic anecdotes of these persons are intro- duced. Several topics, as Druids, El Dorado, Knighthood, Chiv- alry, Faries, &c. Sec, which are frequently alluded to in books, are treated of with particularity. The Chronological View at the end of the volume, will be found to contain a great amount of interesting and valuable knowledge. In some instances, from the nature of the case, facts are repeated here, which have appeared in other parts of the volume. They are, however, given, with the view of rendering this portion of the work as complete in itself, as possible. The reader by running his eye over the pages of the Chrono- logical View, will easily see the plan upon which it is arranged. He will find it to contain, beside many other things, the chro- nology of the following topics. Abdications, Ambassadors, Agriculture, Alliances, Architecture, Astronomy from the earliest times, Balloons, Battles, Sieges, &c, Bible, Cholera, Circumnavigators, Commerce, Congress, Conspiracies, Councils, 1# Discoveries, geographical, in modern times, Founding of Cities, Towns, King doms, and States, Earthquakes, Eminent Persons, in all ages ; ancient and modern, Engraving, Eras, Famines in all parts of the world, Fires in different places, Frosts in various places, Fruits — introduction of, Gardening, Hieroglyphicks, 4 PREFACE. Hurricanes in different countries, Poet Laureats, Labor, price of at various times, Popes, Laws, Courts of Justices, Oaths, Rain, violent, Taxes, &c Rebellions, Libraries, Religious Orders, Sects, &c Living Characters of eminence, Revolutions, Longevity, instances of ancient and Sculpture, modern, Sea Fights, Manufactures, Ships and Ship Building, Massacres in all ages, Silk, manufacture of, Meteors and Meteoric Stones, Slave trade, Military and Religious Knights and Sovereigns of different countries, Titles of Honor, Storms in different countries, Mount Auburn, Taxation, Painting, Treaties in modern times, Pedestrians, Wars. . Beside the above topics, there are many others, exhibiting the dates of important inventions, discoveries, and improvements in arts and sciences, and remarkable and interesting events, generally. The work is arranged with a view to compress a great amount of matter into the smallest compass, that the bulk of the volume may not render it inconvenient, and that its expense may not hinder its general circulation. In preparing so extensive a publication for the press, the author cannot hope that he has wholly escaped error, or that some omis- sions may not be noticed. But he trusts that the volume may be found sufficiently accurate and complete, to fulfil the proper design of such a work, and that it may prove a valuable accession to the means of diffusing useful knowledge. A POPULAR CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. AAR AARON, the first high-priest of the Jews, sonof Amram and Jochebed, was the brother of Moses, and three years his elder, being born about 1574 B. C. When God had determined to free the Israelites from the cruel bondage of the Egyptians, he sent Aaron and Moses to the court of Pharaoh to announce his will. The awful annunciation served only to confirm the obduracy of the Egyptian tyrant, and he would not yield his faith, until miracles were shown him. Then, at the command of God, Aaron changed his rod into a serpent, but the magi- cians of the court did likewise, each of their rods becoming a serpent. Aaron's rod swal- lowed up those of the sorcerers, but still the heart of the king was hardened. On the refu- sal of the monarch to permit the departure of the Israelites, and at the command of the Lord, the waters of Egypt, were changed into blood; the plague of frogs, the murrain of beasts, the plague of hail, locusts, and other calamities, bore witness to the power and just indignation of God. The angel of the Lord smote the first- born of the Egyptians, but those of the Israelites were spared. Aaron was gifted with great eloquence which was displayed upon various occasions, when he manifested his zeal in his mission. The departure of the Israelites, and their miraculous preservation, are too well known to require particular notice here. Moses, when he went to receive the laws from God on mount Sinai, was accompanied by Aaron, Na- dab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, to whom God showed himself; but Moses alone remained forty days. Giving way to the cla- mors of the people, Aaron made them an idol out of the ornaments and trinkets furnished by the women and children, the image being in the form of a calf, like the ox Apis worshipped by the Egyptians. When Moses returned from the mount, he reproached Aaron, whose fault appears to have been want of firmness, for he was terrified at AAR the threats of the idolaters. The punishment OjT those who rebelled was exemplary, 23,000 being slain in one day. Aaron and his four sons became priests of the Lord, and the cere- mony of their assumption of the holy office was as august as the occasion demanded. Aaron never entered the land of promise, a punish- ment for his disbelief in the power of God to produce water from the rock. When the Is- raelites arrived at Mount Hor, Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar, his son. ascended it in obedience to the commands of the Lord. There, in the sight of the people, Moses unrobed the high priest, and clad Eleazar in his garments. Aaron then sank into the arms of his brother, and died, aged one hundred and twenty-three years, forty of which he passed as priest, the office being made hereditary in his family. AARON, or Haroun al Raschid, was one of the most celebrated of the Saracenic caliphs, and the territories which he governed extended from Egypt to Khorassan. He was no less distinguished for his taste, and the encourage- ment he afforded to literature and the arts, than for his power He was the second son of the caliph Mahadi, and succeeded his elder brother, Hadi, A. D. 786. He differed, in so many re- spects, from the despots of the east, that he obtained the name of al Raschid, the Just, al- though many of his deeds would seem to destroy his claims to the title. The caliph was fond of personally ascertaining the condition of his people, when, divested of the dazzling attributes of rank, he feared no concealment on their part. Many instances of the wisdom and jus- tice of his decisions have comedown to us, and, among others, the following. A merchant, having lost a purse containing a large sum of money, caused the loss to be proclaimed, with an accurate description of the purse and the value of its contents, offering a large reward to the person who should find and restore it to the owner. After some days had elapsed, a poor CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. AAR ABB laborer presented himself before a magistrate with the purse, and claimed of the merchant (who was summoned) the reward which belong- ed to him. The merchant, rejoiced at finding his money, thought to avoid payment of the reward, by declaring that the purse contained, in addition to the money, an emerald of great value, which the finder must be compelled to restore. The poor laborer was overwhelmed by this assertion, and the magistrate appeared at a loss, but the caliph', who was present in disguise, advanced and decided the case. " Since," said he, " the merchant declares that the purse which he lost, contained a sum of money and an emerald, and since the finder of this purse swears, and the seal upon the purse proves, that he has taken no precious gem, this cannot be the purse which the mer- chant has lost. Let then its present holder endeavor to discover the real owner, and, failing to do so, appropriate the prize ; and let the mer- chant make diligent search for the money and the emerald which he has lost; the present pro- perty being, as he has proved, none of his." Haroun was an ardent lover of learning, and caused it to be disseminated throughout his realms. He was a warm admirer of the an- cient classics, and translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, with other works of antiquity, made his people acquainted with the beauties of Greek and Roman literature. He invaded the Greek empire no fewer than eight times, con- quering in 802, the emperor Nicephorus, who had refused to pay him the customary tribute. The Greek monarch was compelled to pay a heavier tribute to the caliph, and promise not to rebuild the frontier towns which had been ruin- ed and plundered. The caliph's destruction of the family of the Barmecides displays the stern resolution of a despot. He had experienced the cares of Yahia, the head of the Barmecide family, who had superintended his education, and the eldest of Yahia's sons was a general who had served his country well ; the second was Giaffer, the caliph's prime vizier, and the two other sons were in responsible and digni- fied stations. The Barmecides were in favor with all classes, and Giaffer stood high in the graces of the caliph. Indeed, so warmly at- tached was the latter to his vizier, that, for the sake of enjoying his company with that of his beloved sister Abassa, he united them in mar- riage, but placed capricious restrictions upon their intimacy. On the disobedience of the pair, all the violent passions of the caliph were aroused. He publicly sacrificed Giaffer to his resentment, and impoverished the whole family. Haroun, at the height of splendor and fam**, sent an embas- sy to the emperor Charlemagne, bearing, among other presents, a water-clock, an elephant, and the keys of the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. Tne caliph was seized with a mortal illness while preparing to depart upon a military ex- pedition, and died at Tous, in Khorassan, in the 47th year of his age, and the 23d of his reign. None of the caliphs of the Saracens ever attained the height of power and popularity which Haroun al Raschid gained, and, although some of his acts are inexcusable, yet, consid- ering the examples furnished by his age, and the preceding, we cannot withhold from him a large share of praise. Haroun is one of those characters, which are equally the delight of his- tory and romance, and while the graver acts of his reign employ the pen of the rigid annalist, his varied adventures are themes for the gay eloquence of such works as the Arabian Nights Entertainments. ABAUZIT, Firmin, a Protestant author of celebrity and learning, was born in Languedoc, 1679, and died in 1707, having for a long time filled the office of public librarian at Geneva. His writings are principally upon theological subjects, and he was distinguished for accuracy and penetration. His knowledgp was great and embraced the whole circle of the sciences. Wise and modest, he was pronounced a " great man" by Voltaire, himself as learned as Abauzit, although destitute of that unaffected piety which formed so bright an ornament to the character of the latter. ABBAS, Shah, the Great, ascended the throne of Persia in 1589, and distinguished him- self in arms, wresting Ormus from the Portu- guese in 1022, aided, however, by the British. During his reign, Ispahan became the capital of Persia. His death took place in 1029. ABBASSIDES. The caliphs, who, during the 8th and 9th centuries, made Bagdad their capital, are distinguished in history as the Mas- sides. Their sway extended over Persia, Arabia, and Syria. The caliph Al-Mansur, in 702, built Bagdad, and raised the Saracenic empire to its highest point of splendor and fame. Al-Modi, to whom the empire was transmitted, did not permit its reputation to wane, and, under Ha- roun al Raschid, the dignity of the Caliphate was preserved and adorned. After Haroun, reigned Al-Amin, and Al-Mamun. Under Al- Motasser the governors of several provinces as- serted their independence, and Bagdad alone was governed by the caliph. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. ABB ABB ABBEY, or monastery, is a house erected for the dwelling of males or females who have taken the monastic vow, which binds them to relinquish all worldly interests, and devote themselves to the performance of religious duties, living in a state of celibacy. St. Anthony, in the 4th cen- tury, instituted the monastic life, and, in the same century, St. Pachomius founded regular communities of religious professors. A monas- tery receives its title from that of the ecclesi- astic governing it. An abbey is governed by an abbot, or abbess, a priory, by a prior, or prior- ess, &c. The term nunnery, is applied to a re- ligious house inhabited by females. The buildings inhabited by different religious communities, were originally of the plainest kind, but increased in extent and splendor with their revenues, until, from the humble dwellings of unpretending ecclesiastics, they became the abodes of luxury, brilliant with costly architec- tural decorations, and hiding, within their lofty walls, the revels' of men whose piety was but a cloak for unlimited indulgence. The buildings constituting an Abbey or monastery, consisted principally of churches, cloisters, refectories, chapters, parlors, dormitories, courts, gardens, &c. The choir and interior buildings of con- vents were, and are still, fenced in by grates, and inaccessible to visiters. The churches consisted of the choir, an altar, a nave, isles, chapels, and a tower. The cloister comprehends the galleries or covered porticoes of a monastery in which the monks take their exercise, and surrounds an open space, which is generally devoted to the cultivation of flowers, neatly distributed in parterres, interspersed with grass- plots, and refreshed by careful irrigation. The cloisters were sometimes adorned with valua- ble paintings, and were generally finished spe- cimens of art. The refectory of an abbey, is the hall in which the fathers eat. The refectory furnished at first frugal fare, and the holy fa- thers did not tarry long in it, but with the declension of ecclesiastical simplicity, the cha- racter of their meals was changed, and they made the walls of their eating- room ring with the merriment created by high living and rich wines. The refectory of the Abbey of Saint Dennis at Paris, has been celebrated for its architectural beauty. The chapter is a place of greater or less ex- tent, built for' the reception of assemblies to discuss the private affairs of the house, and provided with seats, and a great table. The chapters are ordinarily ornamented with splen- did pictures. The parlor is a kind of cabinet, where visitors converse with the monks or nuns through a kind of grated window. Formerly convents contained parlors, in which novices were allowed the privilege of conversing to- gether, at hours of recreation, but even then they were overheard by their superiors, who were provided with places for eaves-dropping. The dormitories are wings in the building, which contain the cells of its inhabitants. They are generally commodious, and have broad and well -lighted staircases, from regard to the weak- ness of the aged, and are situated in the second story, in order to render them airy and healthy. Here the monks enjoy their brief repose, from which they are awakened to acts of devotion, or to bend in solitude before the crucifix, with its accompanying mementoes of mortality, ap- pearing lost in the reveries of religious enthusi- asm. The gardens of monasteries, generally exhibit neatness, and are not the least favorite appendage to the dwellings of the monks. The monks, in the ages of general darkness, that is from 600 to 1500, preserved in their monasteries many valuable volumes, and kept alive the spark of learning, which, but for their exertions, would have been extinguished. Re- ligious houses were, for ages, the sole deposi- tories of literature and science, and their inhab- itants were actively employed in the duties of education. In England, one person or more in each convent, was appointed to instruct pupils, and these were the children of those neighbors who chose to send them. They were instructed in grammar and church music, free of expense. In the nunneries, females were taught to read and work, and the daughters of noblemen and gentlemen, as well as of the poorer people, were indebted to the nuns for a large part of whatever knowledge they possess- ed. Many poor descendants of noble families looked to monasteries for refuge, and having taken the vow, made use of the influence of friends, to gain high ecclesiastical offices. Ma- ny of the monks were men driven to enter reli- gious houses by the pangs of remorse, and who hoped to expiate a career of crimes, by seclu- sion from the world, and the observance of the most austere rites of the church. These as well as some who were unaffectedly pious, lived a blameless life, but there were others whose profligacy was unrepressed, because hidden by that veil of hypocrisy which they closely drew around them. Many monks were skilful paint- ers, as the richly illuminated manuscripts of other days prove, and numerous were the le- gends of saints, gorgeously blazoned upon pages CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY ABB ABB of vellum, that filled the shelves of the holy fathers. Living a life of undisturbed seclusion, those who possessed a literary turn, had ample time to indulge their propensity, though very few literary works of any merit have issued from the monasteries. The year 306 is that in which the eailiest monasteries were established in Egypt, under the conduct of St. Anthony, and hence sprang shortly afterwards, many others in various pla- ces. In 36% the earliest, monastery in France, that of Saint Martin, was established. In the beginning monasteries were inhabited by lay- men. For more than six centuries all the eastern monasteries were independent of each other, and governed by abbots who were an- swerable to their bishops only. In the ninth century under Louis the Mild, many monasteries were united under the government of St. Ben- edict, but on the death of this abbot, the houses again separated, and remained independent of each other. In the tenth century St. Odo, bishop of Cluny, united to this abbey many monasteries, placing them under the conduct of the abbot of Cluny. The first monasteries, in times of trouble and darkness, preserved the spirit of religion, and were sanctuaries in which piety and learning sought refuge from the ig- norance, irreligion and persecutions of the world. A mild light, denied to the rest of mankind, was shed upon those who took upon themselves the fulfilment of monastic vows. The con- duct of the monks was regulated by the plain commands of the Scriptures, and antiquity was followed in the celebration of religious ceremo- nies, and the practice of Christian virtues. The monks, as remarked above, were, for many cen- turies, the preservers of literature, many valua- ble works of the present day having been rescued from destruction by monastic libraries. Since the revival of letters, and the triumph of the Reformation, monasteries have ceased to be aught but burdensome to the Catholic countries in which they still exist. A comparative glance at a Catholic and a Protestant country, will at once expose the evil effects of these establish- ments at present. The enormous abuses of the monastic system in England, called loudly for reform, when Henry VIII applied himself to the work with an unsparing hand, and in 1534 destroyed all the monasteries in England. At this time the hospitality of the monks was un- limited, and a multitude of idle gentry subsisted wholly upon it, passing their lives in going from one religious house to another. The change made by Henry, proved of incalculable advantage to the state and the country in gen- eral. The suppression of the greater houses produced the king a yearly income of 100,000^., in addition to an immense treasure in plate and jewels. Before their dissolution, the monks had a greater revenue than that seized by the king, part of which, accruing from pensions, he did not immediately secure. The number of monks at this time in England, in the monasteries, and in chapels and hospitals belonging to them, was computed at 50,000. The council of Castile, in the project for re- form, which was presented to Philip III in 1619, supplicated the king to obtain from the pope a diminution of the number of religious orders aud monasteries which were daily in- creasing, and producing the most mischievous results. They encouraged idleness, said the council, because the majority sought the monas- teries less as a pious retreat, than as affording opportunity for idleness, and a shelter from want. The strength and preservation of the kingdom depended on the number of useful and industrious men, which was diminished by the monastic institutions. Meanwhile the expenses of state fell wholly upon secular shoulders, while the monks were exempt from taxes, and retain- ed with a firm grasp the immense wealth which they accumulated. The destruction of monas- teries, was felt at the time as a serious evil , but every nation which has converted them to the use of the public, has been a gainer, and at the expense of temporary evil, has enjoyed a lasting good. " It is an undeniable fact," says Vol- taire, " that there is no catholic kingdom in which a proposal has not been often made to restore to the state a portion of those citizens of which monasteries have deprived it, but statesmen are rarely struck with a distant uti- lity, sensible though it may be, particularly when the future advantage is balanced by pre- sent difficulty." At thisenlightened period there is but one opinion with regard to the destruc- tion of monasteries, and that is, that they were unworthy of approbation in the beginning, and that their continuance would have been a very serious obstacle to the improvement and pros- perity of those countries, which have risen to opulence and happiness since their downfall. The age for the admission into the monastic state, was fixed at sixteen years, by the Council of Trent, the decrees of which were issued, in successive sessions, from 1545 to 1563. The diminution of the papal power, and the enlight- ened spirit of the age, in the 18th century, exert- ed a strong influence upon the public mind with HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ABB ABD regard to monasteries in Catholic countries, and they lost many of their privileges and much of the protection previously given them by law. Joseph II. of Austria, in 1781, abolished some orders of monasteries, and limited the number of inmates in others. In France they were all abolished in 1790. During the reign of Napoleon, all the states incorporated with France, as well as other Catholic countries of Europe, abolished them, with the exception of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Austria, Poland, and Russia. Recent events have contributed to improve their condition in Italy, and Pius VII. procured means for the maintenance of old, and the foundation of new ones in France, Bavaria, and Naples, while in Austria they have become extinct. ABBOT. The word abbot is derived from the Hebrew ab, father, and signifies the Supe- rior of a monastery erected into an abbey. The abbots were one degree above the laymen. They were originally subject to the bishops, but attempting to obtain independence, were punished by the enactment of some severe laws by the council of Chalcedon. They were not, however, wholly unsuccessful, many of them obtaining the title of lord, the privilege of wear- ing the mitre, and other badges of distinction. The different classes are thus named, — Abbots, mitred and not mitred ; croziered and not croziered ; oecumenical, cardinal, &c. The mi- tred abbots .were ordered by Pope Clement IV. to wear only a mitre adorned with gold, leaving jewels to the bishops. The croziered abbots bear the crozier, or pastoral staff. The oecum- enical, or universal abbots are known only to the Greeks. At present, abbots are distinguish- ed into regular and commendatory, the former of whom are actual monks, while the latter are seculars who have previously undergone the ton- sure, or shaving of the crown of the head, and bind themselves to take orders when they come of age. The monks under his jurisdiction pay unconditional obedience to the abbot, whose office requires him to manage the affairs of the abbey, regulate the conduct of the brotherhood, and see that the rules of the order are not in- fringed. From the 6th century the bishops were priests, and from the year 787, had the power of conferring the lower orders of priesthood. ABBOT,George,bornin 156*2, and made arch- bishop of Canterbury in 1610. He strenuously opposed some measures of King James, thereby disproving the assertion that he owed his rise to acts more worthy of a courtier than an ecclesiastic. Having the misfortune to kill a game-keeper of lord Zouch, he ever afterwards fasted upon Tuesday, the day on which the unhappy event took place. Though deprived of his office by Charles I. in consequence of his opposition to a project of the king, he was re- stored to it by parliament, and died at the age of seventy-one in 1633. ABBOT, Charles, viscount Colchester, a man of considerable talent as an author and orator, was speaker of the British House of Commons, from 1802 to 1817. He was born in 1775, and died in J 829. ABBESS. An abbess is the superior of a convent of nuns, and has the authority of an abbot. The abbesses are incapacitated from performing the spiritual functions of the priest- hood, although some abbesses, in former" times, confessed their nuns, a privilege which they are said to have forfeited b}^ the unwarrantable- curiosity which they displayed. The institution of abbots was prior to that of abbesses, since the first virgins who devoted themselves to the service of God, remained in their paternal dwellings. In the 4th century they assembled in monasteries, but it was not until the time of Pope Gregory that they had buildings appro- priated exclusively to them. The abbess was anciently chosen by the community from among the oldest and most talented nuns : she received the blessing of the bishop, and her authority was perpetual. Some abbesses enjoyed the privilege of selecting a priest to perform the spiritual duties, the exercise of which was denied to themselves. These were the power of ordain- ing, the administration of the sacraments, bap- tism, confirmation, the eucharist or Lord's supper, penance, extreme unction, and matri- mony. Extreme unction in cases of mortal disease, is performed by anointing the head f hands, and feet with consecrated oil, at the same time offering up prayers for the soul of the dying. ABBT, Thomas, a German philosophical writer, of great merit, born at Ulm in Suabia, 1738. and died in 1766. ABDALLEE, Shah, emperor of Eastern Persia, was the determined opponent of the Great Mogul, and victorious at Panniput in 1761. ABDALONIMUS, a descendant of the Sido- nian kings, but so poor as to be compelled to cul- tivate the soil for subsistence. The excellence of his character and conduct, induced Alexan- der, on taking Sidon, to place him upon the throne, from which Strato was banished, and extend his dominions. CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. ABE 10 ABE ABEL, the twin brother of Cain and the se- cond son of Adam. The character and occu- pations of the brothers were different. Abel was keeper of a flock of sheep, while Cain was a husbandman, and tilled the earth for a support. In process of time Abel brought to the Lord an offering of the firstlings of his flock, which proved acceptable in his eyes. Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground was displeas- ing to his Maker, and his anger at "being re- jected, was unrepressed. It was not without cause that the Lord slighted the offering of Cain, for, observing his displeasuie, he said; " Why art thou wroth, and why is thy counte- nance fallen ? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." From the moment of his rejection, a dark project occupied the mind of Cain, and he regarded his brother with eyes of haired and menace. When they were in the field together, the fierce Cain sprang upon his gentler brother, and slew him. This was the first murder committed on the earth. A mo- ment after the commission of the evil deed, fear fell upon the murderer, and the voice of God, asking for his brother Abel, smote upon his heart, like a tone of thunder. He endeavored to evade the inquiry, but drew down upon his head the jirs>t denunciation of the offended Deity. For the sake of Cain, the earth wak cursed, and forbidden to yield him its fruits without intense labor, and the criminal was made a fugitive and vagabond on the face of the earth. Yet, that his life might be spared, a mark was fixed upon him. and the Lord said, " Whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.' The belief of some of -the fathers of the Christian church that Abel died unmarried, gave rise to the sect of Abelites, Abelians, or Abelonians, who remained smgle, but adopted children and educated them after their own manner and in their own principles. Near Hippo, in Africa, this society flourished in the latter part of the 4th century, and their follow- ers at the present day, are found in the. persons of the Shakers. ABEL, son of Valdimir II. king of Den- mark, gained the sceptre by assassinating his brother Eric in 1250. A revolt of the Frisons caused the loss of his life. His appellation was certainly a misnomer. A BE LARD, Peter, properly Abailard, a monk who was famous for his learning and his unfortunate love for the beautiful Heloise. He was born in J 079, in the village of Palais, near Nantes. He early relinquished his claims to his father's estates, in favor of his brothers, and devoted himself to the study of literature and the sciences. At Paris his fame was great, and here he established a school, lecturing on rhet- oric and other subjects to large and admiring audiences. When his fame was greatest, he forgot his duty and his character in the society of Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, a canon of the city. He atoned for his misconduct by marry ing the object of his affections ; but her removal to the convent of Argenleuil, exasperated Ful- bert and drew down upon Abelard, his fierce vengeance. Heloise finally took the veil at Argenteuil, a ceremony by which a nun renoun- ces the world, and pledges herself to the obser- vance of religious vows. She afterwards be- came abbess of the Paraclete, a religious house founded by Abelard. Abelard was accused by his enemies of promulgating heretical doctrines, but succeeded in vindicating himself. After his refutation of the charges of his adversaries, he lived in strict seclusion, when the pangs of grief, acting upon a constitution broken by injury and the severity of monastic discipline, put an end to his existence. He died at the ab- bey of San Marcel at Chalons-Sur-Saone, at the age of 63, in 1142. His body, at the request of Heloise, was buried in the Paraclete, where she contemplated being laid by his side in death. She survived him many years, and a popular tiadition asserts that when she was removed into the funeral vault the dead monk unclosed his arms, and received her in their gaunt em- brace. The ashes of the unhappy pair repose, at present, in a chapel at Paris, where they were deposited in 1617. ABENSBERG, a district and town in Bava- ria, situated on the Abens, 83 miles from Ratis- bon ; population, 1,080. Here Napoleon gained a brilliant victory over the Austrians, in 1809, which led to the affairs of Landshut and Eck mtrhl, and the taking of Ratisbon. ABERCROMBIE, Sir Ralph, a British offi- cer of distinction, born in 1738, at Tillibodie in Clackmannanshire. His military talents raised him from a cornetcy, to the rank of General. In the battle of Cateau he led the advanced guard. His masterly retreat from Holland has been highly commended by military men. In 1795 he was appointed to the chief command of the forces in the West Indies, and took Demerara, Essequibo, St. Lucia. St. Vincent? and Trinidad. He met his death at Alexan- dria in 18(11, while engaged in repelling the French. In that action, fatal for him, he dis- HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ABO 11 ABO played the chivalric valor of a knight of the olden time. Dismounted and suffering from two mortal wounds, Sir Ralph disarmed his adversary, and gave the sword into the hands of Sir Sydney Smith. He survived about a week. His memory was honored by his coun- trymen, and a costly monument erected in St. Paul's, a public token of the respect of England for as brave and true a soldier as ever fought beneath her banner. ABERDEEN, the most important of the northern cities of Scotland. Its latitude is about 57 s north. Population is estimated at about 40,000 It contains two universities ; the cotton manufacture and salmon fisheries afford sub- sistence and wealth to numbers of its inhabitants. ABIPONIANS, a warlike nation of South American Indians on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, frequently engaged in war with the Spaniards. They appear to despise the arts of agriculture, and subsist by hunting and fish- ing. Their arms are iron-headed lances and arrows. They feed on tiger's flesh, imagining that it gives them indomitable courage and fe- rocity. Their women are described as pretty, and having complexions but a shade darker than those of the Spanish ladies. They are governed by Caciques, whose authority is mere- ly nominal, since the tribes renounce it, when- ever the opinions of their rulers are at variance with their own. ABO, until ]817, the capital of Finland, the chief place of export from Finland to Swe- den, and containing a population of 12,500 in- habitants. Its sugar-works, and manufactures of leather, linen, sail-cloth, cordage, &c. are successful. As a ship-building place, it pos- sesses considerable importance. The univer- sity was liberally endowed by the Emperor Alexander, but it has since been transferred to Helsingfors. In 1827 the whole city was burnt down, but the Russian government la- bored to repair the loss. In history Abo is not- ed for several treaties concluded within its walls. ABOUKIR, formerly called Canopus, is an Arabian village containing but about 100 in- habitants. Its bay is spacious, and has, upon the western side, a castle of considerable strength. It is 10 miles from Alexandria, upon tne coast of Egypt. In modern history, Abou- kir is rendered famous by the important naval battle fought here between the French and English fleets, the latter commanded by Admi- ral Nelson, on the first of August, 1798. Buona- arte's army was conveyed to Egypt by the 2 French fleet which sailed from the harb. AGRICOLA, Cneius Julius, a brave and virtuous Roman commander, and a distin- guished statesman. He subjected a great part of Britain. A. D. 70. Domitian recalled him, and he died in retirement, A. D. 93. AGRIGENTUM,nowGirgentiorAgrigenti. a town in Sicily about three miles from the coast, and forty-seven miles south of Palermo, with a population of 15,000, According to Diodorus. in its brighter days, it contained no fewer than 200,000 inhabitants. It was anciently famed for its hospitality and luxury. Its horses were celebrated. It contained many fine build ino-s, the most splendid of which was a temple to Jupiter Olympius Its democratic govern ment was overthrown by Phalaris. B. C. 571, but was again restored after his death. After- wards it was possessed by the Carthaginians. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL AIX 33 ALA Its antique remains attract the attention of modern travellers. AGRIPPA, Henry Cornelius, a native of Cologne, born in 1486, and noted for his acquire- ments, talents, and eccentricity. For his military services, he was knighted. He was acquainted with eight languages, and made pretensions to magic, which procured him invitations from various personages of celebrity, who sought to acquire a knowledge of futurity. After a life full of change and incident, he died at Greno- ble, in 1535. AGRIPPA I, grandson of Herod, tetrarch of Trachonites, and king of Judea. St. James perished in a persecution commenced by him. The occasion and manner of his death are rela- ted, Acts xii. 20 — 23, under his patronymic name of Herod. AGRIPPA, Marcus Vipsanius, the son-in- law and friend of Augustus, whose fleet he commanded in the battle of Actium. AGRIPPINA, the elder, wife of Germanicus Caesar, whom she accompanied in his German expeditions. She was banished A. D. 33, by the cruel Tiberius, who hated her for her vir- tues and popularity, to the island of Pandataria, where she starved herself to death. AGRIPPINA, the younger, daughter of the above, was born at Cologne. She was pos- sessed of talents, but intriguing, dissolute, and ambitious. She was married to her uncle Claudius, the emperor, whom she poisoned to clear the throne for her wicked son Nero, who assassinated her, when she became troublesome after his elevation. AHASUERUS, the king of Persia, whose marriage with Esther, and protection of the Jews, are described in the Scriptures. He is probably the Artaxerxes Longimanus of the Greeks, whose reign began B. C. 465. AHAZ, son of Jotham, and king of Judah, reigned from 743 to 728 B. C, and was con- temporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. AIGUILLON, duke d' ; a peer of France, and minister of Foreign affairs under Louis XV. He was witty, but little acquainted with political science. On the accession of Louis XVI, he was removed, and, having been soon after banished, he died in exile in 1780. AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, in German Aachen, a German city on the borders of Belgium, lying between the Rhine and the Meuse, in a rich valley encompassed by hills. The city, in 1828, contained a population of 36,800. It was the birth-place of Charlemagne according to some authors, and contains many buildings and monuments of historical interest. It was the northern capital of Charlemagne, who held a splendid court here, and was buried in its cathe- dral. Succeeding emperors conferred so many privileges on the city, that it was remarked that " the air of Aix-la-Chapelle gave freedom even to the outlaws." In diplomacy, it is famous for more than one Congress of powers, and par- ticularly for that of 1748, in which peace was concluded between England, France, Holland, and several German powers. AJACCIO, or Ajazzo, the capital and finest city of Corsica, containing 6,570 inhabitants. It is famous for being the birth-place of Napo- leon. Its coral and anchovy fisheries make it a place of some commercial importance. AJAX. The name of two of the Homeric heroes (Telamon and Oileus), formidable in the Trojan war, whose history, however, is purely mythological. AKBAH, a Saracen conqueror, who over- ran Africa from Cairo to the Atlantic, was kill- ed in a revolt of the Greeks and Africans. He lived in the first century of the Hegira. AKBAR, or x\kber, Mohammed, sultan of the Moguls, in 1556. He regained Delhi from the Patans, quelled several revolts, conquering the whole country of Bengal, and taking Cash- mere and Sind. He pardoned his son Selim, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to de- throne him. Akbar died in 1605, of grief for the loss of one his sons. AKENSIDE, Mark; an English poet and physician, the son of a butcher, born at New- castle-upon-Tyne, in 1721. He was intended for the ministry, but preferred the study of medicine. He never had much success in the practice of his profession, but as a poet ac- quired great renown. His " Pleasures of the Imagination," will be read as long as the Eng- lish language exists. ■ He was a scholar, and a man of strict morality. He died of a fever in 1770, in the 49th year of his age. ALABAMA, a state of great importance, was very recently detached from Mississippi. In 1817, it was erected into a territorial gov- ernment, and became a state in 1820. The rapidity with which the population of Alabama has increased, has been surprising even to those who are accustomed to behold the rapid rise of the new states of this country. It is asserted, and with truth, that no portion of the western country has exhibited so speedy an increase of population. In 1800, the inhabi- tants of that part of Mississippi which now CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY ALA 34 ALA forms the state of Alabama, amounted to only 2,000, while ten years later, the same region con- tained 10,000. In 1820, the number oV inhabi- tants was found to amount to 127,000; and, in 1840, it reached 590,756. The length of the state is 280 miles; its breadth. 160; and it con- tains 52,000 square miles. It may be well, before entering into any historical detail, to give a brief general description of the physical appearance of the country. The land is divided into several regular terraces, or belts, as it were, which rise above each other from the gulf of Mexico. Of these the southern belt or terrace, is flat and swampy, containing several savannahs. Pine is the prevalent timber. Pleasing and varying undulations distinguish the northern belt. The greater part of Alabama is separated from Tennessee valley by abrupt and precipi- tous hills, or rather mountains, which, in some places, rise to an elevation of 2,000 feet above the gulf level. The swamps in the vicinity of Florida are numerous, and covered with cy- press, gum, and loblolly pine-trees, while the uplands are timbered with the long-leaved pine. What are termed the hummock lands, the fer- tility of which is lasting, form a belt between the pine ridges and the bottoms, and, as the French imagine that they are well adapted to the rearing of grape vines, it may not be long before these slopes will be clustered with smi- ling vineyards, and echo the joyous song of the vine-dresser, and the merriment of the autum- nal vintage. Yet corn, cotton, tobacco, beef, and pork, at present constitute the main products of the state. It is said that the culture of the sugar-cane would not be difficult in Alabama, and in it, groves of orange-trees, undoubtedly of Spanish origin, are not infrequent. The Creek Indians possess some of the most fertile portions of the country. We cannot attempt a minute history of this state, so much are its annals involved with those of other portions of the western country. The various contests between Spanish, French, and English colonists in the great valley of the Mississippi, while they prove interesting and instructive when treated of at that length which would be requisite to do them justice, involved in a general view, would prove unsa- tisfactory and destitute of all interest to the reader. Some facts relative to the early dis- coveries in the southern portion of North Amer- ica, will not be judged misplaced, if they are introduced here. Sebastian Cabot coasted the tountry, which subsequently obtained the name of Florida, a very few years after the discovery of America by Columbus. The Spanish claim for Juan Ponce de Leon the merit of discove- ring Florida, in 1512, at a time when he was engaged in the pursuit of that immortal foun- tain, whose waters were to restore to age the vanished bloom and strength of youth. It was on Easter Day that land appeared. As this fes- tival is called by the Spaniards Pascua deflores, the festival of flowers, Leon gave the name of Florida to the new discovered counUy. Her- rera assigns a different reason for the appella- tion in the blooming appearance of the country, which presented an astonishing variety and quantity of blossoms. The Indians whom Leon encountered, far from being effeminate and soft, like the inhabitants of the West India Islands, were stern and warlike, exhibiting so decided a hostility to the Spaniards, that they were glad to effect a retreat. The French who settled on the borders of the Mississippi at an early period, did not meet with much success at first, and for along time the French settlements were insignificant and unno- ticed. Instead of drawing their support from the fertile bosom of the earth beneath their feet, they are said to have subsisted on provisions obtain- ed from France and the Spanish colonies. So slow were they in appreciating the richness of the soil, and so tenacious of established opi- nions and prejudices, that on a superficial exami- nation of facts, we are surprised to find that, in the northern and more sterile parts of North America, where a thousand obstacles presented themselves in the path of the adventurer, the work of colonization went on with the greatest rapidity. This appears to have been a wise ordi- nation of Providence. The French settlers, while they wanted the perseverance of the English, and the colonial experience of the Spaniards, had a singular facility in winning the friendship and esteem of the savages. Yet, in spite of this advantage, few of the colonies they founded at the south, went on without many interruptions, while the Spanish settle- ments were generally permanent. Mobile, now an important and flourishing town, in the lower part of Alabama, while alternately in the possession of the French and Spaniards, was little more than a mere military post. The cause of this is, perhaps, partly to be found in the character of the country around it, which abounds in dreary, swampy lands, and stagnant waters, while a barren region of pine woods is contiguous. Mobile lies on the west side of Mobile Bay, and HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. ALA 35 ALA is situated on a plain of considerable elevation. A swampy island opposite the city, makes it difficult of access, but when gained, vessels remain in perfect security. No sooner did it come into the hands of the United States, than its importance was vastly increased, and its appearance changed for the better. It is now considered to be, next to New Orleans and Charleston, the largest cotton market in the country. The former monotony of its waters is banished by the continual arrival and departure of numerous steamboats, which ply upon the river above. After the Englislrhad obtained possession of the whole country east of the Mississippi, which was ceded to them by the French, in the treaty of peace concluded between France and Great Britain, Feb. 10th, 1763, they encountered the hostility of the Spanish, who were in posses- sion of Louisiana, and were inflamed against the English by motives of hostility and jeal- ousy. The war of the American revolution placed the British colonists in Florida in a peculiarly embarrassing and dangerous situa- tion. On the one hand they were threatened by the Spanish colonists of Louisiana, while, on the other, they feared the hostility of the new states. The Spanish colonists in turn, although fearful of the consequences of the spread of liberal principles which the success of the Americans would ensure, and aware that the discomfiture of the British in Florida would be a source of congratulation to the Americans, yet so ardently desired the conquest, that they laid aside all minor considerations, and determined on attempting it. At this time, Galvez, a gal- lant and enterprising officer, was the Spanish commander of Louisiana. He took the field against the British with 2,300 men. Natchez and Pensacola capitulated, and Galvez, in 1780, sailed against Mobile with a powerful arma- ment. A storm overtook him in the gulf, and the wreck of one of his armed vessels, with the wetting of his provision and ammunition, gave no good omen of ultimate success. Any other commander, so circumstanced, would have despaired, but Galvez, keeping up a toler- able appearance, landed near Mobile, and halted in the momentary expectation of an attack from the British. He saw that such an attack would be ruinous, and, entertaining no doubt that the British would commence hostilities, made preparations for relinquishing his artillery and military stores, and falling back, in what order he might, upon New Orleans. Whether from want of foresight, or from cowardice, the English did not attempt to disturb him. 4 Finding himself, much to his surprise, un- molested, Galvez took heart again, and having carefully dried his stores and ammunition, which, upon examination, were found not to have been spoiled, though badly wet, he marched upon Mobile, which was garrisoned and defended by regulars and militia. Six Spanish batteries, playing, with well-directed aim upon the place, opened a breach, and the garrison immediately capitulated ! In this af- fair, the English behaved with a hesitation and timidity, which it is but justice to say, is unusual in them. At Pensacola, only sixty miles off, General Campbell was stationed with an overwhelming force ; yet he marched not to the relief of Mobile, until it was in the hands of Galvez. The capture of Mobile by the Spanish, fills a conspicuous page in the history of Alabama. Towards the close of the year 1811, the troops of the United States were employed against the Indians, who formed powerful hostile combina- tions in the western country. During the war with Great Britain, many bloody engagements were fought with the Indians. After the surren- der of Detroit, an event which produced such an universal feeling of shame and degradation in the west, the Indians sent news of their triumph even to the most southerly extremity of the union, and invited the neutral tribes of the south to assume the hatchet on the side of their red brethren. The Creeks and Seminoles, with many other tribes, were not slow in responding to the summons, and became in- volved in the war, which was felt, in hostile incursions, by the entire frontier, from Ten- nessee to the bay of Mobile. Tecumseh or Tecumthe, the famous Indian chief, arming himself with the persuasive predictions of his brother, the prophet, arrived among the Creek Indians in 1812, and urged them forward to deeds of blood. The most dreadful outrages were consequently perpetrated by the Creeks along the Alabama frontier, which suffered extremely during this war. In 1814, Mobile was attacked by the British, and defended by Major Lawrence, with a gal- lantry which has gained him no inconsiderable renown. His Spartan band of 130 men were resolved to suffer no stain to dim the brilliancy of their starred banner, and to uphold it while the life-blood ran warm in their veins. On the 12th of September, a memorable day to the garrison, intelligence was received at the fort of the landing of a pretty large force of Indi- ana and Spaniards in its vicinity. In the course CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY ALA 36 ALA of that day two British brigs and sloops hove in sight, and anchored at an inconsiderable dis- tance. At half after four in the evening of the 15th, the Hermes, Charon, Sophia and Ana- conda, with ninety guns, anchored at such a distance from the fort, as to admit of firing upon it conveniently. A simultaneous land attack was begun by Captains Nicholls and Woodbine. Their fortifications were made of sand, and they brought a howitzer to bear upon the fort at point blank distance ; but they were soon compelled to abandon their position. Still a severe firing was maintained by the ships and fort. The Hermes, receiving a ra- king fire, ran ashore, was abandoned, and blew up. The Charon was almost wholly disabled. When the flag-staff of the fort was shot away, Woodbine and Nicholls, thinking the foe van- quished, rushed forward to the fort, but were awakened to a sense of their error by a mur- derous fire which sent them to the right about with enviable facility. What praise is too warm for the conduct of the few Americans who composed the garrison, when we consider the numbers and ' advantages of the enemy ? The 600 men who attacked the fort by sea, were supported by 90 heavy guns. Four hun- dred Indians and others made an attack in the rear. Captain Lawrence had but about a seventh of the enemy's numerical force, and 20 guns, all badly mounted, and some of them quite ineffective. Yet, while he lost but ten men, he compelled the enemy to retire with a loss of their very best ship, and 230 men. The political metropolis of Alabama is Tus- caloosa, a rapidly increasing and improving village, at the falls of the Black Warrior. The spot on which it stands, was but a short time since a wild forest, and to a person who had visited this unsettled woodland, the village must appear like that palace in the Arabian Nights, which was erected in a single night. The inhabitants of Alabama are justly proud of their state — proud of its political and commer- cial importance, of its rapidity, growth, and character for industry. It is a slave-holding state, and contains many opulent planters, who have all the lavish hospitality which distin- guishes them wherever they may dwell. Ala- bama can boast of very few institutions, lit- erary or religious; but in the character of the people, there is a regard for literature and reli- gion, which will supply the want before long. The laws of this State exhibit no very marked difference from those of other states. The senators serve for a term of three, and the rep- resentatives for one year. There is a supreme and a circuit court, with subordinate courts, appointed by the legislature, who choose the judges, the latter holding their offices during good behavior. The boundaries of Alabama are as follows : north by Tennessee ; east by Georgia ; south by Florida and the gulf of Mexico, and west by Mississippi. ALAMANNI,Luigi, a celebrated Italian poet a native of Florence, born in 1495. Being at variance with Clement VII. he fled to France to avoid the power of thef>ope, but returned to Florence when it became independent. When it was subjected to the Medici, he sought the protection of Francis 1. of France, and was esteemed by that monarch, and by Henry II, who employed him in several affairs of conse- quence. He died of dysentery, at Amboise. His writings embraced almost every depart- ment of poetry. ALAND, a cluster of islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, belonging to Russia. The ground is stony and the soil thin. Eighty of the islands are inhabited, and the aggregate population is more than thirteen thousand. The principal island is forty miles long. ALANI or Alans, a warlike tribe that left their abodes near Mount Caucasus, in Asia, when the Roman empire was declining. After 412, they became lost among the Vandals. ALARIC, king of the Visigoths, who plun- dered the Peloponnesus in o ( Jb. He appears first as an ally of the Romans, whose weakness he discovered and profited by. When he first threatened Rome, his forbearance was pur- chased by a ransom of 5000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4000 garments of silk, 3000 pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and 3000 pounds of pepper. In 410, the Goths returned, penetrated the city, and sacked it. The trea- sures which had been accumulated during a thousand years, vanished in three days beneath the hands of the rapacious conquerors. The flames destroyed works of art which the barba- rians were unable to carry off, but Alaric spared the churches and those who had sought refuge in them. Alaric died at a Calabrian town (Cosenza), A. D. 410, when he was preparing to lay waste Sicily and Africa. In order to con- ceal his remains from the Romans, slaves were employed to divert the waters of the Busento, and hollow his last resting-place in the channel of the stream ; when the earth had received the body of the conqueror, the waves were permit- ted to rush in above it, and the slaves were HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALB 37 ALB murdered, that Alaric's secret might be in the keeping of the waters and the voiceless dead. ALBA, a city of Latium, built, according to tradition, by Ascanius, the son of yEneas. Being the rival of Rome, it was destroyed by the Ro- mans, C65 B. C. and the inhabitants were carried to Rome. ALBANI, Francesco, a painter, born at Bo- logna, in 1578, whose female forms have been highly extolled. From the effeminate charac- ter of his subjects, he was called the Anacreon of painters. He died in 1C60, in his 82d year, having lived long enough to survive his fame. ALBANIA, a province on the coast of the Adriatic and Ionian seas, called in Turkish Arnaout, in Albanian, Skiperi, anciently Epirus and Illyria. It was the kingdom of Pyrrhus, and a few years back was governed by Ali Pacha. It is fertile and rich, and the inhabitants of the mountains are famous for courage. The wo- men in the absence of male protectors, have been frequently known to defend their homes with spirit and success. The population is about 3^0,000. ALBANY, or Albani, countess of, princess Louisa Maria Caroline, or Aloysia, born in 1753, in 1772, married Charles Stuart, the English pretender, whose barbarity and habitual intoxi- cation, drove her to a cloister in 1780, and received an annuity from the French court, after the death of her husband, in 1788. She died at Florence, in 1 824, in her 72d year. She was buried beside Alfieri, in the church of Santa Croce, at Florence. Alfieri was tenderly attached to her, and attributed to her his inspi- ration. (See Alfieri.) ALBANY, the seat of government of the State of New-York, situated on the west bank of the Hudson or North River, 144 miles north of New-York city. Population 33,721. The river is navigable to Albany, for sloops of 80 tons, and trade with New-York is carried on by means of these. The Erie and Champlain ca- nals unite above the city, and are connected with a basin at Albany. The facility of com- munication which it possesses, renders it a great thoroughfare. Its exports are wheat, and other articles of produce. The Dutch settled Albany in 1614. It was built up with the disregard to elegance so common among the Dutch, but its modern buildings, both private and public, are beautiful and tasteful. ALBEMARLE SOUND, an arm of the sea, extending sixty miles into the eastern coast of North Carolina, connected with the Atlantic and Pamlico Sound by small inlets, and with Chesapeake Bay by a canal which passes through the Dismal Swamp. ALBERT I, emperor and duke of Austria, crowned in 1298, after defeating and slaying Adolphus of Nassau, his competitor. The rivai leaders engaged in single combat, and Adol- phus exclaimed, " Your crown and life are lost !" " Heaven will decide," was the answer of Albert, as he forced his lance into the face of his adversary and unhorsed him. Albert was assassinated in 1308, by his nephew John, son of the duke of Suabia, whose paternal estates he had seized. John had often asserted his claims, and urged them upon Albert when he was departing for Switzerland, on account of the revolt of the Swiss. The emperor con- temptuously offered his nephew a garland of flowers. " Take this,'" said he, " amuse your- self with botanical investigations, but leave the cares of government to those who are old and wise enough to understand them." Albert breathed his last in the arms of a poor woman, who was sitting by the road-side at the time of his assassination. ALBIGENSES, the Protestants of Savoy and Piedmont; in the Middle Ages, the objects of cruel persecution and of several crusades. ALBOIN, king of the Lombards, ascended the throne in 5G1 . When an ally of the Ro- mans, he slew Cunimund, king of the Gepidas, whose daughter Rosamond he afterwards mar- ried. He undertook the conquest, of Italy, and had made great progress, when he was killed by an assassin, at the instigation of his wife Rosamond. The cause of her anger was bin sending her, during one of his fits of intoxica- tion, a drinking-cup made of her father's skull, filled with wine, and compelling her, to use his words, to drink with her father. ALBRET, Jane d', daughter of Margaret, queen of Navarre, was married at the age of eleven to the duke of Cleves, but the marriage was annulled in 1548, when she espoused An- thony de Bourbon, duke of Vendome, by whom she became mother of Henry IV. In ]555,her father dying, she became queen of Navarre, and in 1562, the death of her husband left her independent. She then set herself to establish the Reformation in her kingdom, although opposed by France and Spain. She expired suddenly, at Versailles, in 1572, and her death was attributed to poison. ALBUHERA, a village in Estremadura, si- tuated on the Albuhera, 12 miles S. S. E. of Badajoz. Here the English marshal, Beres- CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. ALC 38 ALE ford, gained a victory over the French, under Soult, May 16th, 1811. ALBUQUERQUE, the name of two Portu- guese brothers, distinguished for bravery, who took Cochin, in India, in 1505. Francis was lost on his passage home. When Alphonso captured Ormus, an island at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, the king of Persia demanded the tribute which he had been accustomed to receive from the princes of the island. Upon this, Albuquerque laid before the ambassadors a sword and a bullet, saying haughtily, "this is the coin in which Portugal pays her tribute." After a rash and unsuccessful attempt upon Calicut, he took Goa and Malacca. The envy of courtiers, and the suspicions of king Emman- uel, did not spare even the distinguished merit of Albuquerque, who died at Goa, in 1515, after his ungrateful master had deprived him of his place, and appointed his personal enemy, Lopez Soarez, to fill it. ALCjEUS, a Greek lyric poet, born at Mity- lene in Lesbos, and contemporary with Sappho. He engaged in war with ardor, and his lays breathe the divine enthusiasm of liberty. ALCALA DE HENAREZ, a city of Spain, in New Castile, situated on the river Henarez, 15 miles E. N. E. of Madrid. It was called by the ancients Complutum. Here was printed the first Polyglot Bible, called the Complutensian Polyglot, which cost Cardinal Ximenes 250,000 ducats. A copy of it sold at Paris, in 1817, for £676 sterling. ALCIBIADES, an Athenian general, famous for his enterprise, gallantry, versatility, and natural foibles. He was the son of Clinias and Dinomache, and was born at Athens, about 450 B. C. He was educated in the house of Peri- cles, who was too much occupied with state affairs to pay much attention to t«he youth. The impetuosity of Alcibiades displayed itself early, as the following anecdote shows. While he was playing dice in the street with some juvenile companions, a waggon came up. Alci- biades requested the driver to stop, but he refu- sed. The daring youth then threw himself before the wheel, and exclaimed ; " Drive on, if thou darest !" The instructions of the phi- losopher Socrates, for a time restrained his evil propensities. Socrates fought by his side in his first battle, and, when he was wounded, de- fended him, and bore him off safe. The dissipation and extravagance of Alcibiades were unbounded. One night, being at a banquet, he laid a wager that he would box the ears of the rich Hipponicus, and did so. This excited general indignation, but Alcibiades went to the injured party, threw off his garment, and, pla- cing a rod in his hand, bade him strike and revenge himself. Hipponicus not only par- doned him freely, but gave him his daughter in marriage, with a portion equivalent to about 10,500 dollars of our money. At the Olympic games, Alcibiades would enter seven chariots, and at one time won three prizes. In the Peloponnesian war he encouraged the Athenians to engage in an expedition against Syracuse. He was chosen general in that war, and in his absence, his enemies, having found all the statues of Mercury broken, charged him with being concerned in the deed and confiscated all his property. He then fled to Sparta, where he attempted to gain popularity by adopting the temperate habits of the Spartans, whom he wish- ed to rouse against the Athenians. Finding this of no avail, he went to Tissaphernes,the Persian general. He was afterwards recalled by the Athenians, and having compelled the Spartans to sue for peace, and been successful in Asia, was welcomed to Athens with high honors. The failure of an expedition, with the command of which he was entrusted, again roused the resent- ment of the people, and Alcibiades fled to Phar- nabazes. Lysander, the Spartan general, indu- ced Pharnabazes to assassinate him. The atten- dants sent for that purpose, found him in a castle in Phrygia, in company with his favourite Ti- mandra. They set the building on fire, and the warrior rushed out to escape the conflagration. Dreading his valour, the cowardly assassins retreated to a safe distance, and shot him with their arrows. Thus perished Alcibiades, in the 45th year of his age, about 404, B. C. Thucy- dides, Timaeus, and Theopompus, with Plu tarch and Cornelius Nepos, among the ancients, have written of this hero, who, if he wanted firm moral principles, was generous, brave, per- severing, and gifted with distinguished quali- ties. His eloquence was of that kind which wins the hearts of men imperceptibly and unos- tentatiously ; although it is said that he stut- tered, and was unable to pronounce the letter R. ALCIPHRON, a distinguished epistolary writer among the Greeks. ALCMAN, the son of aslave,born at Sardis, in Lydia, 670 years B. C. He was a fine poet, and honored bv his countrymen. ALDENHOVEN, a town between Juliers and Aix-la-Chapelle, where the French were defeated, March 1, 1793. ALEMANNI, that is. all men, the ancient HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. ALE 39 ALE inhabitants of Suabia and Switzerland, united in a league, from whence Germany derives its French name of Allemagne. They were the determined opponents of the Romans. ALEMBERT, Jean le Rond d', a distin- guished mathematician, and literary character, born at Paris, in 1717, died in 1783. He was the son of Madame de Tencin, and the poet Destouches, who exposed him while an infant. At ten years of age, the principal of the school in which he received his early education, de- clared that his pupil had learned all that he could teach him. He undertook to write the mathe- matical part of the French Encyclopedia, and contributed many admirable articles to it, which however, involved him in the attacks made upon the work. He refused the brilliant offers of Frederic II. of Prussia, and Catherine of Rus- sia, to settle in their respective capitals, and lived in his country till his death, which took place in the 6oth year of his age. ALEPPO is the capital, not only of a pacha- lic, but of all Syria, and has justly been ranked as the third city of the Ottoman empire. Its Arabic name is Haleb. In former times it pos- sessed great commercial advantages which it has lost in later times. It is supposed by many to be the Zobah of scripture, which is spoken of, 2 Sam. viii. 12. At present little doubt is entertained of its being the Beraea of the Greeks. The river Kowich, on reaching Alep- po, diminishes in size, although at times it increases to a formidable stream. When Aleppo was besieged by a Christian army, in 1123, this stream, swelling with augmented waters, unex- pectedly overflowed its banks, and swept away the tents and baggage of the besiegers. Many men perished in the rushing inundation, and the siege was raised in consequence of this disaster. Seen from a distance, this city presents a picturesque appearance ; its gay terraces, grace- ful mosques, airy arches, and shadowing trees, afford a combination which is grateful to the senses ; but a nearer approach, like daylight on a phantasmagoria, dispels the illusion. Walk- ing through the streets, the eye wanders over high stone walls which flank the way, or turns baffled, from the lattices with which the infre- quent windows of the houses are churlishly guarded. The inhabitants of Aleppo differ but little from those of other Mohammedan cities and countries. They have the same love for indo- lent pleasures, the same fondness for the luxu- ries of the bath, but less intolerance than the other Turks. Thus the Armenians and Greeks have churches and a bishop in the city, and the Syrians and Maronites have likewise places of public worship. The Jews of Aleppo, have in their Synagogue a MS. of the Old Testament which they consider to be of great antiquity The disease which is called the JYeal d'Meppo, to which both natives and foreigners are sub- ject, is an eruption which leaves an indelible scar, and is thought to originate in the quality of the water. As a commercial place, Aleppo has degenerated in modern times, but still re- mains the emporium of Armenia and Diarbekir. The English, in the reign of Elizabeth, estab- lished a factory here, and consuls of various nations reside in the place at present. The city, including the suburbs, is 7 or 8 miles in circumference, containing 200,000 inhabitants, about one fourth of whom are Christians, the remainder being Mohammedans and Jews. Eight thousand inhabitants, together with two thirds of the city, were destroyed by earth quakes in 1822, and 1823. ALEUTIAN ISLANDS; a group, belong- ing to Russia, about 100 in number, forming a connecting link between Asia and America, and separating the sea of Kamschatka from the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Some of them are volcanic ; they are destitute of vegetation, but afford abundance of fur and fish. The harmless inhabitants are cruelly trea- ted by the Russians. The English names for the islands, are the Fox, Bchrings, or Copper Islands. ALEXANDER THE GREAT, son of Philip of Macedon, was born in Pella, B. C. 356. The kingdom of Macedon was raised to celebrity by the exploits of Philip, and was destined to attain a yet higher rank among nations from the fame of his son. Olympias, daughter of Neoptole- mus of Epirus, was his mother. At an early age, he showed a veneration for great deeds and a determination to achieve them. Hear- ing of the victories of Philip, he exclaimed, "my father will leave nothing for me to do." Aristotle, the celebrated philosopher, consented to take charge of Alexander's education. His preceptor instructed him in the most elegant as well as the most profound branches of know- ledge, and never for a moment forgot that it was his duty to fit him for governing a great king- dom. That he might become acquainted with military virtues and ambition, Aristotle put the Iliad into the hands of his noble pupil. Alexan- der was so fond of this, that he never lay down without having read some pages in it. His exclusive ambition is well illustrated by the CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. ALE 40 ALE letter, which he wrote his preceptor on the pub- lication of his Metaphysics. " You did wrong in publishing those branches of science hitheito not to be acquired but from oral instruction. In what snail I excel others, if the more pro- found knowledge I gained from you be com- municated to all ? For my part, I had rather surpass the majority of mankind in the sublimer branches of learning, than in the extent of power and dominion." It was no part of the ancient Grecian plan of education, to permit the culture of the mind to supersede that of the body, but, on the con- trary, the instructors of the young, knowing that they are indivisible, trained the intellect- ual and corporeal powers at the same time. Alexander was early accustomed to gymnastic exercises, and, at a tender age, displayed his strength and skill in an extraordinary manner. His father had been presented with a superb charger (Bucephalus), which no one dared to mount. Alexander sprang upon his back and succeeded in completely taming him, after which the steed would permit none but the noble youth to mount him. He bore him through some of the most perilous scenes of his career, and, when he died, was honored by a splendid memorial — the erection of a city called Bucephalia. At the age of sixteen years, Alex- ander was appointed by his father, Regent of Macedon, when the latter departed on his expe- dition to Byzantium. In 338, at the battle of Chaeronea, he conquered the sacred band of Thebans, and so distinguished himself, that Phi- lip, embracing him, exclaimed ; "My son, seek another empire, for that you will inherit is un- worthy of you." When Philip married Cleopatra, and divorced, or, at least, disgraced Olympias, Alexander, having taken the part of his mother, incurred the displeasure of his father, and was forced to fly to Epirus, whence, however, he was soon recalled. Soon after this he saved his father's life in an expedition against the Triballi. Phi- lip was assassinated, B. C. 336, when preparing to make war upon Persia, at the head of all the Grecian forces. Alexander, then twenty years of age, ascended the throne, and soon gave proof of talents to govern and to conquer. From the Greeks he received the chief com- mand in the war against Persia. Finding, upon his return, that the Illyrii and Triballi were in arms, he conquered them and forced a triumphant passage through Thrace. Urged by the eloquence of Demosthenes, the Atheni- ans were about to join the Thebans, who had already taken up arms. Alexander promptly repaired to Thebes, and on the refusal of the citizens to surrender, took it and destroyed it, with the exception of the poet Pindar's house. Six thousand individuals were put to the sword, and 30,000 reduced to captivity. The Athenians, although punished, were not so severely hand- led, and the fate of Thebes had the intended effect of striking terror into all Greece. The general assembly of the Greeks confirmed Alex- ander in the chief command of the forces, and he determined to leave Antipater, who had been a minister of his father, at the head of the government. The confidence, which was re- posed in this man, was great, as appears from the following anecdote. Philip was fond of wine, and occasionally indulged himself to ex- cess. One night, observing one of his compan- ions unwilling to drink deeply, " Drink, drink," said he, " all 's safe, for Antipater is awake." In the spring of 334, Alexander crossed into Asia with 30,000 foot, and 5,000 horse. In the plains of Ilium, he offered sacrifices to Minerva, and crowned the tomb of Achilles. Approach- ing the Granicus, he learned that some Persian satraps, with 20,000 foot and as many horse, were prepared to oppose his progress to the other side. The passage of the river was ef- fected in the teeth of this force, and Alexander was completely triumphant. During the heat of battle, the Macedonian monarch was a mark for the weapons of the enemy, by the splendor of his equipments, and the conspicuous beauty of his superb charger. The cities of Asia Minor, with few exceptions, now opened their gates to the youthful conqueror. In passing through Gordium, Alexander cut the Gordian knot. Lycia, Ionia, Caria, Pamphylia, and Cappa- docia, were successively conquered. The con- queror was seized with a severe illness in consequence of imprudently bathing in the Cydnus, which proved a check to his career. While in a dangerous state, he received a let- ter from Parmenio, his general, warning him against his physician Philip, whom Parmenio accused of the design of poisoning his master. Philip was at that time preparing a potion for the king ; and Alexander, handing him the letter, looked steadily in his face while he drank off the draught. He recovered. Darius, instead of waiting for Alexander on the plains of Assyria, had advanced with an im- mense army to the defiles of Cilicia, whither the Macedonian followed, defeating the Persi- ans in the battle of Issus, which placed the HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALE 41 ALE treasures and family of Darius in the hands of the conqueror. His generous treatment of the iatter conferred as much honor upon Alexan- der, as the victory which preceded it. He turned towards Ccelosyria and Phoenicia for the purpose of cutting off Darius who had fled to- wards the Euphrates. The Persian monarch sent a letter to Alexander suing for peace, and the latter answered him, that if he would come to him, he should receive his mother, his wife, his children, and his empire ; hut no notice was taken of this liberal proposal. Damascus, and all the towns along the Mediterranean, were entered and taken possession of by Alexander. The resistance of Tyre was severely punished ; after a siege of seven months, it was taken with great difficulty. In Palestine, Gaza, which re- sisted the conqueror like Tyre, shared the fate of that city. Gaza was the emporium for the productions of Arabia, and a place of considerable wealth and importance. Among the plunder, the conqueror gained great quantities of frank- incense, myrrh, and other aromatics, the sight of which recalled a long-forgotten anecdote of his juvenile days. His governor, Leonnatus, observing him one day at a sacrifice, throw in- cense into the flame by handfuls, remonstrated, and said, " Alexander, when you have con- quered the spice countries, you may be thus lavish of your incense ; in the meantime use what you have more sparingly." Alexander now sent his governor several large bales of spices, accompanied with the following note : " Leon- natus, I have sent you frankincense and myrrh in abundance; so be no longer a churl to the gods." The Egyptians, to whom the Persian yoke had been a galling burden, were well pleased with the arrival of Alexander, whom they grate- fully regarded as a deliverer. His next expe- dition was a visit to the temple of Jupiter Am- nion, in the deserts of Libya, where, having consulted the oracle, the god is said to have acknowledged him as his son. In the ensuing spring, learning that Darius had gathered an immense force in Assyria, and was determined to fight to the last, rejecting all proposals for peace, Alexander marched in that direction. In 331, a furious battle was fought at Gauga- mela, not far from Arbela, in which the army of Darius was not less than 500,000 strong. Not- withstanding this overwhelming force, victory from the cpening of the combat, smiled upon the banners of the Macedonian. The thunder- ing charge of his cavalry, led by himself, was irresistible, and scattered the thronged Persians like leaves before the tempest. Having routed them by the charge of his horse, Alexander hastened to the support of his left wing, finding that they had been hard pressed and stood in need of his assistance. Alexander's principal object was to capture the Persian monarch or prevent his flight by death. In the midst of the crowd and crush of battle, Darius was no inconsiderable figure, for he was mounted on a chariot of great height, and surrounded by guards who were splendidly armed and equip- ped. The Persian life-guards, however, no sooner perceived the extraordinary success of Alexander, than, forgetful of their duty, they took to flight. Darius was saved by the speed of a horse upon which he hastily threw him- self after the flight of his guards. The immense wealth of the East was depo- sited in Babylon and Susa, both of which opened their gates without hesitation to the mighty victor, who continued his march to- wards Persepolis, then the capital of Persia. Ariobarzanes, with 40,000 men, had thrown himself into the only passage which opened on Persepolis, determined to defend it as long as he was able. He did not, however, hold out long, for the troops of Alexander, flushed with success, and impatient of opposition, swept away all obstacles. Attacking the Persians in the rear, they were completely successful, and Persepolis, with all its wealth and luxury, was won. In Persepolis, Alexander forgot his duty and his interest, in scenes of unexampled riot and dissipation. He was intoxicated with success, and inclined to believe himself the god which his flatterers would have made him. It is said that on entering the royal palace, he beheld the colossal statue of Xerxes which his soldiers had thrown down, and deliberating whether to elevate it or suffer it to lie neglected, he thus apostrophized it ; " Shall we leave you in this condition on account of the war you made upon Greece, or raise you again for the sake of your magnanimity and other virtues?" In a mo- ment of intoxication and unbridled pleasure, Alexander, yielding to the persuasions of an abandoned woman, Thais, the Athenian, fired the capital of Persia, which was soon reduced to ruins. On the right bank of the Medus and Araxes, near Istakar, the ruins of the royal palace of Persepolis are still visible ; tall col- umns yet attesting its former magnificence, before the vengeance of the Greek was wreaked upon the pride of art. The burning of Persepolis filled Alexan- der with remorse, and, in order to retrieve CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. ALE 42 ALE his character, he set forth in pursuit of Darius with his fine cavalry. He soon learned that Bessus, the perfidious satrap of Bactria, kept his master in custody, but, before he could save Darius, Bessus had the unfortunate mon- arch assassinated , B. C. 330. He was found lying in his chariot covered with wounds. The per- fidy of Bessus was subsequently punished with death. Darius was interred with great solem- nity, and Alexander caused himself to be pro- claimed king of Asia. While occupied in the formation of plans of vast importance, a con- spiracy broke out in the camp of Alexander, in which Philotas, the son of Parmenion, was found to be concerned. Philotas, though brave and hardy, was addicted to pleasure, to expen- sive amusements, and given to boasting. He frequently spoke slightingly of Alexander to the companions of his pleasures — calling him the boy, and saying that his victories were rather the result of his own exertions and those of his father, than of the bravery and skill of Alexan- der. Parmenion endeavoured to check his son, saying, "Make yourself less conspicuous, "but his counsel was of no avail. Alexander heard of the boastings of Philotas with indignation; and when the conspiracy broke forth his anger knew no bounds. Philotas was executed, and, by the orders of Alexander, the veteran Parme- nion was secretly put to death — a criminal act which excited the displeasure of the whole army. Meanwhile Agis, king of Sparta, threatened the destruction of the power of Alexander in Greece, and raised a powerful army to obtain independence, but he was defeated by Antipa- ter, and the dissolution of the Grecian league ensued. Neither the severity of the winter, nor the want of local knowledge prevented Alexander from marching into the north of Asia and reaching the Caspian Sea. He at- tacked the Scythians, urged on by an insatiable thirst for distinction. On his return to Bac- tria, he assumed the dress of the Persians, which disgusted the Macedonians, who thought the flowing robes of the Orientals too effemi- nate. The Persians were displeased at be- holding the Macedonian officers entering the royal presence without those tokens of respect, which the kings of their nation invariably ex- acted from their subjects. The low inclina- tions of reverence could only be claimed from the Greeks on the plea that Alexander, as a god, was entitled to them. A blunt Spartan once satisfied the master of ceremonies and his own scruples, by first dropping a ring and then stooping to pick it up in the presence of the king. Offended with the independence and freedom of Clitus, Alexander slew him with his own hand at a banquet. As soon as he saw the lifeless body of his most faithful friend and bravest general stretched before him, he was seized with all the agonies of remorse. The next year Alexander subdued Sogdiana, and married the Bactrian Roxana, the loveliest of Asiatic women. The Asiatic women, but particularly the ladies of Persia, were famous for the richness of their attire, arid the art with which they heightened their native beauty. " The Persian ladies," says an elegant writer, " wore the tiara or turban, richly adorned with jewels. They wore their hair long, and both plaited and curled it ; nor, if the natural failed, did they scruple to use false locks. They pencilled the eye-brows, and tinged the eye-lid, with a dye that was supposed to add a peculiar brilliancy to the eyes. They were fond of per- fumes, and their delightful ottar was the prin- cipal favorite. Their tunic and drawers were of fine linen, the robe or gown of silk — the train of this was long, and on state occasions required a supporter. Round the waist they wore a broad zone or cincture, flounced on both edges, and embroidered and jewelled in the centre. They also wore stockings and gloves, but history does not record their materials. They used no sandals ; a light and ornamental shoe was worn in the house ; and for walking they had a kind of coarse half boot. They used shawls and wrappers for the person, and veils for the head ; the veil was large and square, and when thrown over the head, descended low on all sides. They were fond of glowing col- ors, especially of purple, scarlet, and light-blue dresses. Their favorite ornaments were pearls ; they wreathed these in their hair, wore them as necklaces, ear-drops, armlets, bracelets, ank- lets, and worked them into conspicuous parts of their dresses. Of the precious stones they preferred emeralds, rubies, and turquoises, which were set in gold and worn like the pearls." No fewer than 10,000 Greeks, captivated with their charms, married Asiatic brides, and each couple received a present from Alexander. Soon after the marriage of Alexander with Roxana, a conspiracy was discovered among his troops, headed by Hermolaus. All were condemned to death but Callisthenes, who was mutilated and carried about with the army in an iron cage, until his tortures became insuffera- ble, and he killed himself by poison. Alexander penetrated into India and was highly success- HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALE 43 ALE ful. His most determined enemy was Poms, an Indian king, whom he effectually subdued. When this warlike monarch was asked how he should be treated, he answered Alexander, " Like a king," and was consequently restored to his kingdom. Alexander established Greek colonies in In- dia, and is said to have built no fewer than seventy towns, one of which was erected in honor of his horse Bucephalus, killed on the banks of the Hydaspes. He would have pene- trated as far as the Ganges but for the murmurs of his army. He returned to the Hydaspes, and built a fleet upon its banks, despatching part of his army by water, while the remainder marched down its banks. His march through the country was not unopposed, and he him- self received a severe wound, from which, how- ever, he recovered, and sailing down the Indus, reached the sea. Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander, sailed to the Persian gulf, while the conqueror reached Babylon by land after en- countering incredible fatigues, which cost him the loss of many men. At Susa, he was mar- ried to two Persian princesses. At Opis, on the Tigris, he sent home the invalids with presents, and quelled a mutiny of his troops. Not long after this, his friend and favorite, Hephaestion, died. It is asserted that the fever of Hephaestion was brought on by hard drink- ing. Alexander's grief at the loss of his fa- vorite was excessive, and even endangered his reason ; for three days he tasted no food, and lay, stretched upon the ground, either in silent sorrow or loud lamentation. The money expended on the funeral pile might have erec- ted a palace ; and all the barbarian subjects of Alexander, were ordered to go into mourning. When Alexander went from Ecbatana to Babylon, he is said to have been warned by the astrologers, that the latter place would prove fatal to him. Despising these warnings, he went to Babylon and gave audience to the seve- ral foreign ambassadors, who awaited his arri- val. His mind was engaged in forming vast plans for the future, when he was seized with sickness, after a banquet, and died, 323 B. C. Alexander had reigned twelve years and eight months, and was thirty-two years old at the time of his death. The vast possessions which he had acquired by force, were deluged by con- tinual bloodshed when he was no more. When asked to whom he left his kingdom — he an- swered, " to the worthiest." The body of Al- exander was interred with all the pomp and circumstance of regal burial at Alexandria, where Ptolemy enclosed his remains m a gold- en coffin. The Egyptians and other nations paid divine honors to him after his deaih. After summing up the good qualities of Alexander, Adrian adds, " If then he erred from quickness of temper and the influence of anger, and if he loved the display of barbarian pride and splen- dor, I regard not these as serious offences ; for, in candor, we ought to take into consideration his youth, his perpetual success, and the influ- ence of those men who court the society of kings, not for virtuous purposes, but to minis- ter to their pleasures and to corrupt their prin- ciples. On the other hand, Alexander is the only ancient king, who, from the native good- ness of his heart, showed a deep repentance for his misdeeds." ALEXANDER JANNiEUS, ascended the throne of Judea in 106, B. C. He made war on the Arabians, quelled the tumults of his own subjects, and after conquering Syria, Idumaea, and Phoenicia, delivered himself up to the most revolting excesses, and died at Jerusalem, B. C. 79. ALEXANDER SEVERUS, a Phoenician by birth, was related to the emperor Heliogabalus, who, however, attempted his life, in conse- quence of which the Praetorian guards slew the monster, and made Alexander emperor in his 17th year. He proved himself worthy of the sceptre, and having gained a great victory over the Persians, on his return to Rome, was honoured by a triumph. When he marched into Gaul, where an irruption of the Germans required his presence, he fell, by a mutiny of his troops, in the year 235, after a reign of twelve years. He was pious, temperate, fru- gal, humane, and so favorably disposed to Christianity, that he placed the statue of Jesus in his private chapel. ALEXANDER, the name of seven Popes, the first of whom introduced the use of holy water. The sixth was remarkable for his cru- elty and the infamy of his son, Caesar Borgia. He died in 1503, having greatly extended the Papal dominions in Italy. ALEXANDER NEWSKOI, grand duke of Russia, a hero and saint of the Russian Church, was born in 1218. Having become viceroy of Novogorod, he successfully opposed Vlademir II. king of Denmark, and the Teutonic knights. In 1240, he gained his splendid victory over the Swedes, on the Neva, and two years after- wards, overcame the Knights of the Sword, on the frozen surface of lake Peipus. His death took place in 1263. CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY!. ALE 44 ALE ALEXANDER I, PAULOWITSCH (the son of Paul), Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, and king of Poland, was born in 1777, and crowned the 27th of September, 1801. His mother, Maria, was the daughter of duke Eu- gene of Wirtemberg, and, throughout his life, exerted a great influence over Alexander, by whom she was tenderly beloved. The educa- tion of Alexander was committed to the em- press Catharine II. and Colonel Laharpe, his father renouncing all care of it. In 1793, he married Elizabeth, daughter of the hereditary prince of Baden. He took part in the conspi- racy against his father Paul, although it is impossible to believe that he entertained any design against his life, but saw safety to him- self and others only in the removal of the emperor, from a throne which he disgraced by the reckless spirit of persecution. Alexander sought to promote the welfare of Russia — he removed the shackles from her commerce and internal industry ; he regulated the interior administration of his kingdom ; he established schools and universities ; he bettered the con- dition of the peasantry; he raised the military character of his subjects ; he modified laws with a liberal spirit ; he provided for the construction of roads and canals ; he encouraged merit wher- ever he found it, and finally sought to inspire all classes with a spirit of union, patriotism, enter- prise, and courage. The extent of his success va- rious events contributed to prove. When Na- poleon threatened the government with subver- sion, and the Russians looked to their monarch as their guide, they saw no timidity — no irresolu- tion in Alexander. " I will not negociate with Napoleon," was his resolve, " while one armed enemy remains within my kingdom." Yet he was an admirer of the brilliant qualities of Na- poleon, and this sincere admiration of the French emperor, led to their celebrated meet- ing at Erfurt, in September, 1808. Alexander then thought that, in connexion with Napoleon, he might fix the destinies of Europe. But Na- poleon could brook no equal, and Alexander no superior. When the former displayed a desire to legislate for a country of which he knew lit- tle, and that too in defiance of the wishes and welfare of its emperor, the friendship between them was at an end. In 1814, the conduct of Alexander to the Parisians, when the allies en- tered their capital — the deference he paid to their wishes and opinions — and his favourable tendency towards liberal principles — gained him their enthusiastic admiration. In all the important transactions of Europe from this pe- riod, to the time of his death, Alexander par- took, and exerted an immense influence in the different European courts. He was the prin- cipal contriver of the " Holy Alliance," but probably from principle as much as from inter- est. He was the main stay of this unhal- lowed confederacy, and Europe rejoiced ac- cordingly at his death, which took place at Taganrock, of a bilious fever, 1st of Decem- ber, 1825. In his last illness, the emperor re- fused medicine, calling continually for "iced water," the only thing which he would drink. His illness lasted eleven days. Three days after his death, the body w r as exposed to permit the people to kiss the hands of their dead monarch. It was then placed in a coffin, and borne in procession to the church where it remained forty days, and was thence carried to St. Pe- tersburg. A favourite servant of the emperor drove the funeral car which carried his remains to the capital. The emperor's aids-de-camp, followed the cortege, three of them being seated in the funeral car. A squadron of Cossacks of the guard, attendants, and officers, attached to the imperial suite, completed the train. It took its departure from Taganrock, in the most severe weather of December, 1825. The empress, who was tenderly attached to her husband, soothed his last moments, and received his last sigh. ALEXANDER, William, Lord Stirling, was a Major-general in the army of the United States during the revolution, and distinguished himself throughout the whole of the eventful struggle, but particularly in the battles of Long Island, Germantown, and Monmouth. He died at Albany, 1783, with the reputation of a learn- ed, brave, honest, and patriotic man. The title of Lord Stirling, was given him by courtesy, as he claimed to be the rightful heir to an earldom in Scotland, although his claims w 7 ere not sus- tained bv legal tribunals. ALEXANDRIA (called Scandcria by the Turks), was the capital of Lower Egypt, and under the Ptolemies, whose favourite residence it. was, was celebrated for its wealth, splen- dor, and arts. It was founded in 332, B. C. by Alexander, who employed the celebrated archi- tect, Dinociates, in beautifying and embellish- ing it. There was something singularly strik- ing in the birth of this great city. Under the patronage of Alexander, it sprang up at once into beauty and importance, without encoun- tering any of those evils and obstacles, which generally obstruct the rise of a newly-founded place. The situation of Alexandria, and the HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALE 45 ALE excellence of its fine harbours, appeared to adapt it to the rank which its founder hoped that it would hold among the cities of the world. Ptolemy Soter, or the Savior, and Ptolemy Philadelphus, conferred great benefits upon the city, which became the seat of litera- ture and the resort of the learned of all coun- tries. Its earliest inhabitants were Creeks and Egyptians. The population was augmented by colonies of Jews transported thither for that purpose. These people made themselves fa- miliar with Grecian lore, and translated into the Greek language the whole of the Old Tes- tament, a version called the Septuagint. Four hundred thousand volumes of the royal library were contained in a magnificent edifice belong- ing to the Academy and Museum ; 300,000 more were deposited in the temple of Jupiter Serapis. As all these works were in manu- script, their value was consequently immense. The Ptolemies spared no pains to enrich their library, which became the finest in the world. When Julius Caesar besieged Alexandria, the library was injured by fire, but the loss was re- paired by the library of Pergainus which Anto- ny presented to Queen Cleopatra. It is now ascertained that the library of the Serapion, or temple of Serapis, remained entire until the time of Theodosius the Great, when the Chris- tians, inspired by fanaticism, stormed and de- stroyed the Temple, effecting the destruction of that library which was the wonder of the world, and the loss of which must ever be a subject of painful regret. Towards the close of the fourth century, the only memorials of the existence of the library , were the empty shelves which once contained those invaluable manu- scripts, which the elegance and care of kings had brought together. When the division of the Roman empire was effected, Alexandria, together with the country of which it was the capital, was included in the Eastern empire. Alexandria came into the hands of the Arabs, in C40. It received the attention of the Caliph Motawakel, who, mindful of its former state, restored both the library and academy, in 845. In 8G8, it was taken by the Turks, and under their sway, very rapidly declined. Still its commerce was in a flourishing state, and con- tinued so until the close of the 15th century, when the Portuguese, by the discovery of the passage to the Indies by the Cape of Cood Hope, altered the commercial channel, and enriched themselves at the expense of the Egyptians. The modern city of Alexandria, does not stand upon the spot occupied by the ancient city. The remains of ancient Alexan- dria are unimportant, Cfeopatra's needle, and Pompey's pillar, being the most conspicuous. The latter was erected by Pompey , a governor of Egypt, in honor of the emperor Diocletian ; but the equestrian statue which formeily sur- mounted it, is gone. Some years past, a party of English sailors resolved to amuse themselves, and astonish the natives, by mounting to the top, and refreshing themselves at an elevation which should put them above the cares and turmoils of humanity. How to accomplish their purpose was the next question. This was soon settled. They raised a line by means of a kite, and dropped it over the pillar, and by this means drew up a rope, by which they gained the top, whence, looking down upon the spec- tators from a giddy elevation of 88 feet, they congratulated themselves on their success. The island of Pnaros yet bears the ruins of the light-house erected by Ptolemy. This cele- brated building was of white marble. Ptolemy directed his name to be inscribed upon the tow- er, but the cunning architect carved the name of his employer upon a tablet of plaster, which, decaying in time, displayed the name of the builder, with a dedication to the gods, claim- ing for himself all the honors due to his sove- refgn. The Turks have but little sympathy with the lovers of antiquity. They deface the most venerated remains, placing little value upon any, probably espousing the oriental max im ; " a living dog is better than a dead lion." A few years ago, the Pacha of Egypt employed a renegado to collect all the moveable antiques of every kind, that they might be exposed for sale to the Europeans, in a bazaar built for the purpose. Cleopatra's needle was presented to the king of England by the Pacha, but its weight, 400,000 pounds, is a serious bar to its transportation. The ancient Alexandria, had a population of 000,000; the modern contains but 25,000. It is the seat of a patriarch. The canal from Cairo to Alexandria, has- improv- ed the commerce of the place. It has two harbors, of which the Western, or Old Har- bor has the deepest water, and the best an- chorage ; the New Port is more shallow and exposed. ALEXANDRIA, (U. S. A.) a city in the District of Columbia, county of Alexandria, situated on the right bank of the Potomac, six miles south of Washington. Population in 1800, 4,196 ; in 1840, 8462 ; blacks, 2,581. It contains several public buildings. Its situa- tion is rather elevated, and some of its streets CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY ALF 46 ALF are well paved. Its trade, which is principally in flour, is facilitated^by its favorable situation on the Potomac. ALEXIS, or ALEXIUS PETROVITSCH, son of Peter the Great of Russia, was born in 3690. His father, suspecting him of treason, disinherited him in 1718. Not content with this he had Alexis condemned to death, and his sentence read to him, which created such terror in his mind, that he died in consequence, although pardoned, in four days. The account of his assassination in prison is wholly a fabri- cation. He had a son who was afterwards Peter II. ALEXIS I (Comnenus) Greek emperor, defeated by Robert Guiscard at Dyrrachium,and by the Turks in Asia Minor. In conjunction with the crusaders, he regained Nicaea, in 1097, but afterwards quarrelled with them. He flourished from 1031, to 1118. ALEXIS II (Comnenus) in consequence of the misconduct of his mother, was compelled to admit Andronicus Comnenus as his col- league in 1183. This miscreant strangled him in the year after. ALEXIS HI (Angelus) having deposed his brother Isaac, emperor of the east, and put out his eyes, thought his usurped sovereignty secure. But he was besieged in Constantino- ple by the French and Venetians, who reinsta- ted Isaac. In Thrace, whither he had fled for safety, Alexis fell into the hands of Theodore Lascaris, who put his eyes out, and imprisoned him in a monastery, where he died. ALFIERI, Victor, Count, was born at Asti in Piedmont, in 1749. His family was rich and distinguished, but his education was ne- glected, like that of most of the young Italian nobles of his age and rank. Thus he quitted the academy of Turin, with an undisciplined and unformed mind, and joined a regiment in the hope of finding something exciting in mili- tary pursuits. But here he was disappointed, the regiment was mustered only on a few days in the year, and he was compelled to seek some other mode of killing time. He travelled over Italy, France, England, and Holland, but want- ed the information to render his wanderings profitable. On his return, he commenced the study of history, but, disgusted with its details, again set forth on his travels, from which he did not return for three years. He brought back the same restless and dissatisfied spirit. He threw up his commission in the army, and wrote a tragedy. The success of this first at- tempt, induced him to persevere ; but, aware of his deficiencies, he resolved, in the first place, to become acquainted with Latin and Tuscan. On his journey to Tuscany, where he proposed studying, he became acquainted with the Countess of Albany, to whom he owed much of his inspiration. Settling his fortune on his sister, he resided alternately at Florence and Rome, until the death of Charles Stuart, put an end to the woes of the Countess of Al- bany, and enabled her to marry him. They lived together in Alsace and at Paris, until the revolution in France drove Alfierifrom a coun- try he loved, to his native land, where he resi- ded at Florence till his death, in 1803. He was an ardent lover of freedom, but he mourned over the crimes perpetrated in her name. Alfie- ri's talents were great, but misapplied, and his tragedies are rather valuable as indicating his powers, than as establishing his fame. ALFRED THE GREAT, king of England, was born 849, and died 900. He was the young- est son of Ethelwolf, king of the West Saxons, and was born at Wantage, in Berkshire. He went to Rome at the age of five years, and was anointed by the Pope, although he then had an elder brother. However, in 872, he ascended the throne. This was an unpropitious time, for the power of the Danes was then great and employed in harassing the Saxons, whose coun- try they ravaged in various directions. Alfred concluded some treaties with them, but they were not kept, and, unable to make head against the invaders, he was compelled to fly, and in concealment to await a moment when his re-appearance would be advantageous for his country. In the disguise of a harper, he penetrated the Danish camp to gain informa- tion of the strength and hopes of his foes, and having satisfied himself of both, directed his nobles and their vassals to assemble at Selwood. Here he headed the troops, and, attacking the Danes at Eddington, gained a signal victory. He permitted those Danes, who were willing to embrace the Christian religion, to remain in the kingdom of East Anglia, which he surrendered to them. Pie built forts to secure his subjects, augmented and strengthened his navy, and established the prosperity of London on a firm basis. He defeated the Danes who still per- sisted in attempting to obtain footing in Eng- land, and made his name a terror to the pirates. He had fought fifty -six battles by sea and land, in every one of which he was personally enga- ged. His zeal for the reformation of laws and manners is as honorable to him as his military prowess. He composed a code of laws,institu- ! HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. ALG 47 ALG ted the trial by jury, and divided England into shires and tithings. So successful were his regulations that it is said the crime of robbery was unknown, and the most valuable goods might be exposed upon the highway, without any dread of thieves. Alfred formed a parlia- ment which met at London semi-annually. He was an ardent lover of learning, and was himself a distinguished scholar. To promote it, he invited learned men from all parts, and established schools throughout his kingdom. He is said to have been the founder of the Uni- versity of Oxford, or, at least, to have exalted it to a height which it had never before attained. University-college sprang from his liberality. He composed several works, and translated others for the benefit of his subjects. Among his translations may be mentioned Boetius's Consolations of Philosophy. He was industri- ous and fond of order, dividing the twenty-four hours into three equal portions; one devoted to religious duties, another to public affairs, and the third to rest. Alfred laid the foun- dation of the navy of England, by build- ing galleys of a size superior to that of any of the age. In private life, he was distinguished by piety, affability, and cheerfulness. His person was commanding and stately. ALGIERS, Regency of, was founded about 1518, by two brothers, Horuc and Hagradin, or Khair Eddin, both of whom were surna- med Barbarossa or Red-Beard. The Christian knights, having warred against the states of northern Africa, and almost annihilated the Moorish commerce, Selim and Soliman exhort- ed their subjects to make reprisals, and to annoy their Christian foes by committing extensive piracies. The call was obeyed without reluc- tance, and the Mohammedans, crowded beneath the crescent, prepared to extend the terror of their name upon the seas. The piratical republic founded by the fierce chieftains above- named, was the strong hold of religious fanati- cism and authorised piracy. The barks of the Corsairs swept the seas in triumph, and the Algerines distinguished themselves above the inhabitants of the other Barbary states, by the fierce perseverance with which they pursued their career of crime. A foreign soldiery elected their chief in Algiers, and the Dey, chosen as a general, was the first among his equals and the ruler of the native races. The soldiers were not permitted to marry, and had no participa- tion in the government. The city of Algiers (Al Jezira) was built by Zeiri, an Arab of distinc- tion, in 944, and the family of this able man was endowed with hereditary power by one of the Fatimite Caliphs. The Zeirites, as they were called, ruled until 1148, when Roger, king of Sicily, and the Moravites, possessed them- selves, at different times, of the whole of the territory of Hassan Ben Ali. Algiers was an independent sovereignty after 1270. Ferdi- nand, who fitted out an expedition against the Barbary powers, in 1509, subdued Algiers, and erected a strong castle on an island which com- manded the entrance of the city. Horuc and Hagradin, after the death of Ferdinand, were summoned by the Algerines, and, appearing with a strong squadron, were received with every demonstration of joy. But Horuc caused the emir Selim Entani to be strangled, and himself to be proclaimed king, in 1518, by the Turks, whose intolerance and cruelty drove the natives to seek for assistance from the Span- iards, but the fleet of the latter was destroyed by storm. Horuc Barbarossa was killed before Oran, where the Spanish governor defeated his troops, and killed 1500 Turks. Hagradin, his successor, being satisfied of his inability to defend himself against the Chris- tians, in 1519 sought the protection of the Sultan Soliman, who accepted his proposals, made him Pacha, and gave him 10,000 Janisaries. The Spaniards found their position on an island untenable, and, in 1519, it was connected with the main land by a mole. Charles V under- took the siege of Algiers, in the latter part of 1541. It was defended by Hassan, who had been honored with the office of Pacha, after the death of Hagradin, and who heard with some alarm that Charles meditated an attack with 200 sail, and 30,000 men. The ships and camp of the Christians were destroyed by storms of uncommon violence, the destructive effects of which were followed by the ravages of earth- quakes. Charles lost his cannon, military stores, and baggage, and was compelled to abandon some of his scattered troops, while 15 ships of war, 140 transports, and 8000 men perished in the storm. This success inspired the Moors with the liveliest joy, but they attributed it en- tirely to the pious exertions of ' Sid-Atica, a Maraboot, who employed himself diligently in beating the sea with his stick, until the waves lost all patience, and rising in a body, destroyed the Christian fleet. The worthy old gentleman was buried with great solemnity, and his bones rest beneath a monument erected by his coun- trymen. They are said to be gifted with the magic power of his stick, and, employed upon the waves with proper emphasis, capable of CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. ALG 43 ALH ,-aising the wind to an incredible extent. Anti- quity furnishes a belief in the efficacy of chas- tising the waters, for Xerxes, enraged at the turbulence of the Grecian waves, caused them to be whipped with rods. In 1703, the Spaniards unsuccessfully renew- ed the war with Algiers. The Algerines easily repelled the English, French, and Dutch, the first of whom made a treaty with Algiers, whose pride they humbled in 1816. The year before, two United States' frigates had captured a piratical frigate and brig of war, belonging to the Algerines, and compelled them not only to renounce their claim to all tribute, but to make indemnification for the losses which we had experienced from their piracies. In 1S17, the Algerines penetrated the North Sea, and there, with surprising audacity, captured ships which did not belong to tributary powers, or to those who were exempted from their depredations by treaty. Prisoners taken by these Corsairs were treated with the greatest severity, and only permitted to be ransomed at enormous prices. Towards the latter part of their career, the pirates professed to consider captives not in the light of slaves, but as prisoners of war. Their treatment, however, instead of being ameliora- ted was more harsh than ever, and the corsairs, although they respected the flags of America and other strong powers, in violation of their treaties, warred with the ships of weaker states, and enforced the superiority of might over right. The jealousy of the European States for a long time favored the encroachments of the Algerines, until the French prepared for conflict with stern decision. One of the last events in the reign of Charles X, was the entire prostration of the power of Algiers. The Dey, with his personal treasures, and women, was permitted to retire, and selected Italy as a retreat. The French secured their conquest and estab- lished a government upon their own principles. During the prosperity of Algiers, a struggle was kept up with the Sublime Porte about the appointment of the deys,and the Sultan finally relinquished the claim of choosing them, and retained but a nominal authority over Algiers. The deys, whenever they displeased the fero- cious soldiery they affected to rule, were deposed and put to death. The lives of these men were proverbially short, but we admit an exception in the person of Mohammed III who died in 1701, after a reign of 23 years, at the age of 03. Omar Pacha, the opponent of Lord Exmouth, was murdered in 1817. Accordingly, Ali Ho- dya, his successor, shut himself up in the castle of Casaba, where, by means of his fifty -six can- non, and a garrison on which he could rely, he maintained the ascendancy over the city and the cruel Turkish troops, who had mur- dered Omar. Hussein, successor of Hodya, rendered cautious by experience, likewise occu- pied this strong castle. The government of Algiers was despotic, the dey possessing un- limited power, but being assisted by a Divan composed of his chief officers of state, and first ministers. The common soldiers elected the Dey, but no election was permitted without unanimity in the electors. Therefore, when there was a difference, the majority compelled the weaker party to concur with them. The new Dey espoused the principle of proscription, and frequently put to death incumbents, for the sake of making State offices open to his parti- zans. He held a court of justice on four days in the week, where proceedings were summary, and condemnation was followed by punishment at no long interval. The State of Algiers lies between Tunis and Fez. The city, which is strongly fortified, is on the sea-coast. Algiers contains 80,300 square miles. ALH AM A, anciently Artigis Julia, a. town of Granada, in Spain, situated on the Motril, 15 miles from Granada. Population, 6,000. The medicinal baths and romantic scenery of this place have rendered it noted, but its fame rests upon its historical remembrances. This " Key of Granada," was taken by the Span- iards, in 1481, after a most spirited resistance on the part of the valiant Moors. ALHAMBRA. The Alhambra was the for- tified palace of the Moorish kings of Gra- nada — a possession to which they clung with their latest grasp, and which was the best beloved spot in their terrestrial paradise. The meaning of the Moorish name is the red city, and it was so called in consequence of the color of the materials employed in building. The Spanish term it the Sierra del Sol, because, from its situation on an eminence, it catches and re- flects the first beams of the rising sun. The palace composes but a small portion of the for- tress, whose walls encompass the crest of a lofty hill rising from the Sierra Nevada, or Snowj r Mountain. The fortress was at one time capa- ble of containing forty thousand men. Above the palace is the house of the Generalif, a Moorish building, while a church dedicated to St. Helena, crowns the ascent. There are two palaces, the old Moorish palace, and that com- menced by Charles V. The former exhibits HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALH 49 ALI remains of the splendor of the arts among the infidels. A striking portion of the palace is the Court of Lions which is an hundred feet in length, and fifteen in breadth, surrounded by a beautiful colonnade seven feet broad at the sides, and ten at the ends. Two splendid por- ticoes, fifteen feet square, project into this court. The square is paved with tiles — the colonnade with white marble. The walls are covered with tiles placed checker-wise, which gives them a highly fanciful appearance. The columns, upon which the roof and gallery rest, are grotesquely ornamented and irregularly distributed. The capitals abound with curious devices, among which, however, there is no representation of animal life. The fountain, consists of twelve ill-shaped lions, bearing on their backs a large basin, out of which rises a smaller one. Here, when the pipes were in order, water gushed from the inner basin, and, passing through the lions, communicated by channels with other apartments. The fountain is of white marble and inscribed with Arabian distiches, like the following, " Sees't thou how the water flows copiously like the Nile?" — " The fair princess that walks by this garden, covered with pearls, ornaments its beauty so much, that thou mayest doubt whether it be a fountain that flows or tears of her admirers.'' The hall beyond the colonnade on the south side was the place chosen by Abouabdoulah for the execution of the Abencerrages, and their bleeding heads fell, as fast as they were decapi- tated, into the limpid waters of the fountain. The hall of the Two Sisters, {Torre de las dos Hermanas), was named from two beautiful slabs of white marble, inserted in the pavement. El Tocador, or the Tiring Tower, was appropria- ted to the toilette of the Sultana, who, in one part, had a marble slab in the floor perforated with holes, to admit vapor and perfumes, for the purification of her person. The king's bed- chamber was furnished with fountains to cool the atmosphere, and the royal baths were com- modious and superb. Beneath were vaults used as a cemetery by the Moorish monarch. The regret of the Moors at leaving this place, which wealth, art, and taste, had brought to a degree of splendor which satisfied the imagina- tion, can easily be conceived. They never ceased to offer up prayers in their mosques for their restoration to Granada. After it fell into the hands of the believers, Alhambra continued to be a royal demesne. Charles V abandoned it as a residence in consequence of earthquakes ; and Philip V, with his beautiful queen Eliza- beth of Parma, was the last royal tenant of this princely abode. Subsequently it became infested by a lawless population which was ex- pelled, but, owing to the culpable negligence of officers, the palace was permitted to fall into decay from which the Moorish portion was partially rescued by the exertions of the French troops garrisoned in it. The French, on their departure, blew up part of the walls and de- stroyed its importance as a military post. To the historian, the poet, the antiquary, and the artist, this relic of Moorish splendor possesses an indisputable interest. ALI, the cousin, and son-in-law of Moham- med. When Mohammed assembling his kins- men, and making known to them his pretended mission, asked, who would be his vizier ; Ali, then only 14 years of age, started up and ex- claimed : " I will ! Let but a man advance against thee, I will pluck out his eyes, dash in his jaws, break his legs, and tear up his belly. O prophet, I am thy vizier." So well did he keep his word, that he was called the Lion of the Lord, the ev er -victor imis. He should have succeeded Mohammed, but being opposed suc- cessfully by Omar and Othman, he formed a sect of his own, and gained many followers On the death of Othman, he was declared Ca liph, but was assassinated in a mosque, at Cufa, in the 03d year of his age, 669. ALI, pacha of Yanina, commonly called Ali Pacha, was born of a noble family in Tepeleni, in 1744, and at the age of sixteen, when distin- guished for beauty and daring, headed the troops wmorn the death of his father left with no other leader. Being defeated, he commen- ced robber, but was so unsuccessful, that he was forced to pawn his sabre to keep himself from starving. As he was sitting, ruminating upon the hardness of his destiny, and carelessly turning up the ground with his staff*, he struck upon something hard. Curiosity induced him to search further, and he dug up a chest of gold ! He now equipped a band of followers whose cruelty and rapacity made them formidable. Having rendered some service to the Porte, he was made governor of some provinces in Greece, but maintained himself in almost inde- pendent sovereignty. Indeed he boasted that he never had a master, and " Laughed to scorn the death firman, Which others tremble but to scan." He became a formidable military potentate between 1790 and 1821. In 1822, his capital, Yanina, being taken, he was put to death by CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. ALL 50 ALP order of the Sultan. He was brave and able, but cruel, rapacious, false, ambitious and suspicious. Pouqueville says that he had a Greek lady, Euphrosyne, and fifteen oth^r wo- men thrown into the sea, because he suspected that they exerted an undue influence over his son. If he wished to possess himself of a beau- tiful Greek girl, he sent his executioner to her parents, with this message : " Your daughter has found favor in the eyes of Ali." They were then forced to surrender her, or fly. ALICANT, (anciently Lucentum) a city and port of Spain, on the Mediterranean sea, Ion. 29 w.,lat. 38^21 n. Population 25,300. Its harbor is good, and it is the centre of commerce between Spain and Italy. ALLEN, Ethan, brigadier-general in our revolutionary army, born at Salisbury, Con- necticut. His parents removed to Vermont, when he was quite young, and here he received the greater part of his education. Prior to the commencement of hostilities he had given proofs of daring and enterprise. Soon after the battle of Lexington, (1775), incompliance with the request of the legislature of Connecticut, he headed two hundred and thirty Green Moun- tain boys, and marched against the fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. At Castle- ton he was to have been joined by a reinforce- ment under Arnold, but the latter, unable to raise the proposed force, set forward with the Spartan band of Allen. On the night of the 9th of May, Allen landed eighty-three men near the fort, having with difficulty procured boats for the purpose. Day surprised him be- fore his rear guard was brought over, and he found himselt compelled to attack the place. He concluded an animated speech by saying, " I am going to lead you forward — but the at- tempt is desperate — and I wish to urge n6 man onward against his will. Those who will fol- low me, poise firelocks !" Every firelock was immediately poised. On then, my boys !" said Allen, and led the central file to the wicket gate. He was opposed by a sentry, but brought his men through the covered way, and formed them on the parade. The commanding officer, Captain de la Place, was undressed. Allen, holding his sword over him, demanding the surrender of the fortress. "In whose name?" asked the commander. " In the name of the Great Jehovah, and the continental Congress." On the same day by the capture of Crown Point, and the only armed vessel on Lake Champlain, that important lake was placed in his power. In conjunction with Brown, he attempted the reduction of Montreal, but being attacked by the British before Colo- nel Brown's troops came up, he was defeated and made prisoner. He was treated with great barbarity in his captivity — carried to England, and then to Halifax — thence to New York, where he remained a year and a half, before he was exchanged for Col. Campbell. His health having been greatly impaired, he returned to Vermont where he was appointed to command the militia. His patriotism was firm, and he indignantly rejected the bribes offered by the British. He died suddenly, at his estate at Colchester, February 13th, 1789. He published some pamphlets, one of which contained an open declaration of infidelity. He adopted the most absurd ideas of the ancients, with regard to the transmigration of souls ; but if we may be permitted to believe the following anecdote, his avowal of atheism was insincere. When his daughter was dying, she sent for him, and said ; " Father, I am about to die : shall I be lieve in what you have taught me, or in the Christian principles my mother teaches ?" Af- ter a moment of convulsive agitation, he replied : " Believe in what your mother has taught you." ALMAZEZ, a town of Spain, carried by assault by the British, under General Sir Row- land Hill, 1812. ALMEIDA, a strong fortress in Portugal, in the province of Beira, on the Coa, near the Spanish borders, containing 2,750 inhabitants. It is famous for the defeat of the French, under Massena, by the British under Lord Welling- ton, 1811. ALOADDIN, the old man of the mountains, was prince of the Arsacides, or Assassins. He resided in a castle between Antioch and Da- mascus, and his followers professed a blind devotion to his will. ALP ARSLAN, the lion's whelp, second Sultan of the Seljukian dynasty, succeeded to the throne in 1068. He defeated the Greeks under Romanus Diogenes, their emperor. He was stabbed in 1072, by a desperate prisoner whom he had sentenced to death. ALPHONSO. Ten kings of Castile bore this name. The tenth was an astronomer of great repute. ALPHONSO III, the Great, king of Leon and Asturias, succeeded his father in S6G, at the age of eighteen. He was successful against the Moors, but the decline of his life was ren- dered unhappy by civil disturbances. His sons, instigated by the queen, waged war against him, and were only quelled with a vast loss on HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. ALP 51 ALT both sides. Alphonso abdicated in favor of his son Don Garcia, but did not resign his paternal care of the kingdom, for when the Moors threatened it, he headed the Spanish troops, gained a decisive victory and died at Zamora, 912, sixty-four years old.' ALPS, the loftiest ridge of mountains in Eu- rope, whose branches connect with nearly all the European mountains. Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, is 15,304 feet (English) high ; the great St. Bernard, 10,780. Separating Italy from Spain, France and Germany, it would seem as if they opposed an insurmountable bar- rier to the march of conquest ; but they have been several times crossed by large armies, the expeditions of Hannibal and Bonaparte being the most celebrated. Bonaparte, when first consul of the French republic, passed the great St. Bernard, in the year 1800. Before the allies even knew of his departure, he was in Valais, at the house of convalescence belonging to the monks of St. Bernard ; there he remained three days, acquiring a knowledge of the local obstacles which he had to surmount. From mount St. Bernard, the army began to meet with obstacles which only genuine enthu- siasm enabled them to contend against. They had to draw their artillery along narrow paths, in many places almost perpendicular ; and over mountains of snow. A very small force would have arrested their progress, but they met no opposition. They reached St. Peter, near the great mountain St. Bernard, on the 15th of May, General Berthier acting as Bonaparte's lieutenant. Here the whole park of artillery was collected. The mountain they had to pass over was all wild and barren, with a vast extent of snow and ice, mingled with terrific silence. Over this frightful mountain the mind of Bona- parte conceived the possibility of passing his army with all its artillery, baggage, &c. The cannon, caissons, forges, &c. were immedi- ately dismounted piece by piece ; a number of trees were hollowed like troughs, in which the pieces of cannon might safely slide, and five or six hundred men drew them up these tremen- dous heights ; the wheels were carried on poles ; sledges conveyed the axle-trees ; and empty caissons and mules were loaded with the ammunition-boxes made of fir. The consul took no more baggage than was absolutely necessary. Five hours were con- sumed in climbing as high as the monastery of the Bernadines, where the good fathers gave each individual a glass of wine ; this, though frozen, was to them delicious, and not one 5* would have exchanged it for all the gold of Peru. There were still six leagues to go, and the rapidity of the descent made that distance truly terrible ; men and horses constantly fall- ing, and often recovering with the greatest dif- ficulty. The march commenced at midnight, and did not finish till about nine o'clock the next evening. For nearly fourteen leagues the army had scarcely had a meal, or any repose, yet, at the end of the journey, sleep hung so heavily even upon the most robust of them, that they resigned themselves to it without a strug- gle, or a thought of their evening repast. Bona- parte traversed a portion of the way attended only by a peasant. He was dressed in the little grey surtout and cocked hat, in which artists delight to represent him. He conversed with his companion, and learning that his wishes centered in the possession of a little farm, in- ternally resolved to gratify them. The farm was presented to the peasant, whose delight and surprise may be readily imagined. ALSACE, previously to the revolution, was a province of France. On the east, it was bounded by the Rhine, separating it from Swa- bia, on the south by Switzerland and part of Franche Comte ; on the west, by Lorraine, and on the north by the Palatinate of the Rhine. The fertility of this province is surprising, it being the land of corn, oil, wine, flax, tobacco, fruits of various descriptions, a country of woodland and pasturage. Among its mineral productions are silver, copper, iron, and lead. The " arrowy Rhine," is the principal river of Alsace, but it has several lakes. The common language of the country people is German, though French is understood and occasionally spoken. The ancient inhabitants of this pro- vince were the Rauraci Sequani,and Medioma- trici. The Celts lost it to the Romans, from whom it passed to the Germans, and was won by Clovis, in 496. In 869, it became a pro- vince of Germany, and was governed by Ger- man dukes, and under them, by Counts, who, a century before the extinction of dukes, as- sumed the name of landgraves. By the peace of Paris, Nov. 20th, 1815, Landau, a part of Alsace, was separated from France, to which it had been annexed by the treaty of Ryswick, and now again forms part of Germany. The chief city is Strasburg, and the principal pro- ductions wine, copper, iron, tobacco, flax, mad- der, &c. &c. ALTON A, after Copenhagen, the largest city of Denmark. It is situated on the Elbe, in the dutchy of Holstein, two miles from Hamburg CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY. AMB 52 ALVA, Ferdinand Alvarez, duke of, descen- ded from a noble family, born in 1508, distin- guished himself in the career of arms at the age of seventeen, and was at the siege of Pavia. Charles V made him a general, and he was commander at the siege of Mentz, where he fought with desperate but unavailing valor, for the siege was raised. He was noted for exces- sive cruelty and superstition. In the campaign against the pope, Alva compelled the pontiff to sue for peace, and then went to Rome to sup- plicate pardon for the offence. In 1567, he was sent to the Low Countries by Philip II to reduce them to the Spanish yoke. The cru- elty of The Bloody Tribunal, a council which he established, deluged the United Provinces in their best blood. At first the arms of Alva were successful, but the malcontents afterwards gaining head, he relinquished the government where he was afterwards employed. In Por- tugal, he acquired renown by his success in driving Don Antonio from the throne. He died in 1582. AMADEUS, the name of several of the counts of Savoy, of whom Amadeus VI was the most famous. He lent his powerful aid to John, king of France, against Edward of England ; and was the ally of John Paleologus, (emperor of Greece), in 1365. His reign of forty years was glorious, and his death in 1383, deeply lamented. AMAZONS. Ancient writers give this name to tribes of armed and warlike women of which they enumerate three nations, the African, Asiatic, and Scythian. Their arms were bows and arrows, and they admitted no men into their community. The accounts of them are entirely fabulous. Amazonia, in South Ameri- ca, derived its name from the supposition of early travellers that it was peopled by armed women. AMBOYNA, the largest and most productive of the Molucca or Spice Islands, the centre of the nutmeg and clove trade, in the Indian ocean. It is 30 or 40 miles in length. The in- habitants are wild and rude, much given to drinking. The population of Amboyna, when taken by the English, in 1796, was about 45,- 252; 17,813 being Protestants. In 1624, the merchants of the English factory were tortured and put to death by the Dutch. The United Provinces refused satisfaction to James I and Charles I, but pa*d to Cromwell 300,000 pounds as a small imdemnity. AMBROSE, St. a noted father of the church, born in Gaul, 340. His future greatness was au- AME gured from the circumstance of bees swarming about the lips of the infant in his cradle, as they did about the mouth of Plato. AMERICA, including a vast extent of terri- tory, embracing every variety of climate, and bearing within it, besides its precious ore and gems, the germs of immense wealth, remained undiscovered until the 11th of October, 1492, when Christopher Columbus, a native of Ge- noa, who had sailed from Spain with three small vessels under the patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Castilian monarch, first beheld a light on the shore of the new Continent, two hours before midnight. On the ensuing day he set foot in the New World. Columbus felt the importance of the discovery, as, erecting the cross, and surrounded by his crew and the wild and wonder-stricken natives, he took possession of the new country in the name of the sove- reigns of Spain. The Christian adventurers did not fail to kneel upon the sand, and offer up their thanks for having been preserved through the perils of a long voyage, and favored with the most brilliant success to compensate for all their perils. This island was called Guanahani, by the natives, a name which Co- lumbus altered to St. Salvador, and was one of the Bahama islands. It is worthy of remark, that the vast conti- nent which Columbus discovered was not call- ed by his name, but derived its appellation from Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator, who made some subsequent discoveries, in company with Alonzo de Ojeda, in 1499. Co lumbus did not rest satisfied with his first suc- cessful voyage or the fame which he acquired by it, but he undertook others. He was, how- ever, in the end, the victim of jealousy and in- gratitude. The Spanish colonists at Hispaniola, became discontented and preferred complaints against him, sending home accusations and remonstrances by every ship that sailed to Spain. In consequence of this, Don Francisco de Bobadilla, was sent out by the court, and invested temporarily with the chief power, be- ing permitted to use his own judgment in quel- ling the disturbances of the colonies. This person scrupled not to arrest Columbus and put him in irons, from which he would not suffer himself to be freed, when he was carried on board the vessel, which was to bear him to Spain. " No," said he, when the attendants offered to remove them ; " the truth must be apparent, and my patrons are too noble, too gen- erous to overlook me. Then, if fortune again smiles upon me, these will serve as affecting HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL AME 53 AME memorials of sorrow past : I will not part with them, and I even wish that, when I am no more, they may be suspended over my sepulchre." When he again set foot in Spain, he might have exclaimed, in the language of the poet ;