Articles listed under A to Am

[1907 edition] 

A'ALI PASHA, an eminent reforming Turkish statesman (1815-1871).


AACHEN. See AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.


AALBORG (19), a trading town on the Liimfiord, in the N. of Jutland.


AAR, a large Swiss river about 200 m. long, which falls into the
Rhine as it leaves Switzerland.



AARGAU, a fertile Swiss canton bordering on the Rhine.


AARHUUS (33), a port on the E. of Jutland, with a considerable
export and import trade, and a fine old Gothic cathedral.


AARON, the elder brother of Moses, and the first high-priest of the
Jews, an office he held for forty years.


ABACA, Manila hemp, or the plant, native to the Philippines, which
yield it in quantities.


ABACUS, a tablet crowning a column and its capital.


ABADDON, the bottomless pit, or the angel thereof.


ABARIM, a mountain chain in Palestine, NE. of the Dead Sea, the
highest point being Mount Nebo.


ABATEMENT, a mark of disgrace in a coat of arms.


ABAUZIT, FIRMIN, a French Protestant theologian and a mathematician,
a friend of Newton, and much esteemed for his learning by Rousseau and
Voltaire (1679-1767).


ABBADIE, two brothers of French descent, Abyssinian travellers in
the years 1837-1848; also a French Protestant divine (1658-1727).


ABBAS, uncle of Mahomet, founder of the dynasty of the Abbasides
(566-652).


ABBAS PASHA, the khedive of Egypt, studied five years in Vienna,
ascended the throne at eighteen, accession hailed with enthusiasm; shows
at times an equivocal attitude to Britain; _b_. 1874.


ABBAS THE GREAT, shah of Persia, of the dynasty of the Sophis, great
alike in conquest and administration (1557-1628).


ABBAS-MIRZA, a Persian prince, a reformer of the Persian army, and a
leader of it, unsuccessfully, however, against Russia (1783-1833).


ABBASIDES, a dynasty of 37 caliphs who ruled as such at Bagdad from
750 to 1258.


AB`BATI, NICCOLO DELL', an Italian fresco-painter (1512-1571).


ABBE, name of a class of men who in France prior to the Revolution
prepared themselves by study of theology for preferment in the Church,
and who, failing, gave themselves up to letters or science.


ABBEVILLE (19), a thriving old town on the Somme, 12 m. up, with an
interesting house architecture, and a cathedral, unfinished, in the
Flamboyant style.


ABBOT, head of an abbey. There were two classes of abbots: Abbots
Regular, as being such in fact, and Abbots Commendatory, as guardians and
drawing the revenues.


ABBOT, GEORGE, archbishop of Canterbury in the reigns of James I.
and Charles I., and one of the translators of King James's Bible; an
enemy of Laud's, who succeeded him (1562-1633).


ABBOT OF MISRULE, a person elected to superintend the Christmas
revelries.


ABBOTSFORD, the residence of Sir Walter Scott, on the Tweed, near
Melrose, built by him on the site of a farm called Clarty Hole.


ABBOTT, EDWIN, a learned Broad Church theologian and man of letters;
wrote, besides other works, a volume of sermons "Through Nature to
Christ"; esteemed insistence on miracles injurious to faith; _b_. 1838.


ABDAL`LAH, the father of Mahomet, famed for his beauty (545-570);
also a caliph of Mecca (622-692).


ABDALRAH`MAN, the Moorish governor of Spain, defeated by Charles
Martel at Tours in 732.


ABDALS (lit. servants of Allah), a set of Moslem fanatics in
Persia.


ABD-EL-KA`DIR, an Arab emir, who for fifteen years waged war against
the French in N. Africa, but at length surrendered prisoner to them in
1847. On his release in 1852 he became a faithful friend of France
(1807-1883).


ABDE`RA, a town in ancient Thrace, proverbial for the stupidity of
its inhabitants.


ABDICATIONS, of which the most celebrated are those of the Roman
Dictator Sylla, who in 70 B.C. retired to Puteoli; of Diocletian, who in
A.D. 305 retired to Salone; of Charles V., who in 1556 retired to the
monastery St. Yuste; of Christina of Sweden, who in 1654 retired to Rome,
after passing some time in France; of Napoleon, who in 1814 and 1815
retired first to Elba and then died at St. Helena; of Charles X. in 1830,
who died at Goritz, in Austria; and of Louis Philippe, who in 1848
retired to end his days in England.


ABDIEL, one of the seraphim, who withstood Satan in his revolt
against the Most High.


ABDUL-AZIZ, sultan of Turkey from 1861, in succession to
Abdul-Medjid (1830-1876).


ABDUL-AZIZ, sultan of Morocco, was only fourteen at his accession;
_b_. 1880.


ABDUL-HA`MID II., sultan of Turkey in 1876, brother to Abdul-Aziz,
and his successor; under him Turkey has suffered serious dismemberment,
and the Christian subjects in Armenia and Crete been cruelly massacred;
_b_. 1842.


ABD-UL-MED`JID, sultan, father of the two preceding, in whose
defence against Russia England and France undertook the Crimean war
(1823-1861).


ABDUR-RAH`MAN, the ameer of Afghanistan, subsidised by the English;
_b_. 1830.


A'BECKET, GILBERT, an English humourist, who contributed to _Punch_
and other organs; wrote the "Comic Blackstone" and comic histories of
England and Rome (1811-1856).


A'BECKET, A. W., son of the preceding, a litterateur and journalist;
_b_. 1844.


ABEL, the second son of Adam and Eve; slain by his brother. The
death of Abel is the subject of a poem by Gessner and a tragedy by
Legouve.


ABEL, SIR F. A., a chemist who has made a special study of
explosives; _b_. 1827.


ABEL, HENRY, an able Norwegian mathematician, who died young
(1802-1828).


AB`ELARD, PETER, a theologian and scholastic philosopher of French
birth, renowned for his dialectic ability, his learning, his passion for
Heloise, and his misfortunes; made conceivability the test of
credibility, and was a great teacher in his day (1079-1142).

 

ABELLI, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Catharine de Medici
(1603-1691).


ABENCERRA`GES, a powerful Moorish tribe in Grenada, whose fate in
the 15th century has been the subject of interesting romance.


ABEN-EZ`RA, a learned Spanish Jew and commentator on the Hebrew
scriptures (1090-1168).


ABERA`VON (6), a town and seaport in Glamorganshire, with copper and
iron works.


ABERCROMBIE, SIR RALPH, a distinguished British general of Scottish
birth, who fell in Egypt after defeating the French at Aboukir Bay
(1731-1801).


ABERDEEN (124), the fourth city in Scotland, on the E. coast,
between the mouths of the Dee and Don; built of grey granite, with many
fine public edifices, a flourishing university, a large trade, and
thriving manufactures. Old Aberdeen, on the Don, now incorporated in the
municipality, is the seat of a cathedral church, and of King's College,
founded in 1404, united with the university in the new town.


ABERDEEN, EARL OF, a shrewd English statesman, Prime Minister of
England during the Crimean war (1784-1860).--Grandson of the preceding,
Gov.-Gen. of Canada; _b_. 1847.


ABERDEENSHIRE (281), a large county in NE. of Scotland; mountainous
in SW., lowland N. and E.; famed for its granite quarries, its fisheries,
and its breed of cattle.


ABERNETHY, a small burgh in S. Perthshire, with a Pictish round
tower, and once the capital of the Pictish kingdom.


ABERRATION OF LIGHT, an apparent motion in a star due to the earth's
motion and the progressive motion of light.


ABERYST`WITH (16), a town and seaport in Cardiganshire, Wales, with
a university.


AB`GAR XIV., a king of Edessa, one of a dynasty of the name, a
contemporary of Jesus Christ, and said to have corresponded with Him.


ABHORRERS, the Royalist and High Church party in England under
Charles II., so called from their abhorrence of the principles of their
opponents.


ABIGAIL, the widow of Nabal, espoused by David.


ABICH, W. H., a German mineralogist and traveller (1806-1886).


ABINGDON (6), a borough in Berks, 6 m. S. of Oxford.


ABIOGENESIS, the doctrine of spontaneous generation.


ABIPONES, a once powerful warlike race in La Plata, now nearly all
absorbed.


ABLE MAN, man with "a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a
hand to execute" (Gibbon).


ABNER, a Hebrew general under Saul; assassinated by Joab.


ABO, the old capital of Finland and seat of the government, on the
Gulf of Bothnia.


AB`OMEY, the capital of Dahomey, in W. Africa.


ABOU`KIR, village near Alexandria, in Egypt, on the bay near which
Nelson destroyed the French fleet in 1799; where Napoleon beat the Turks,
1799; and where Abercrombie fell, 1801.


ABOUT, EDMOND, spirited French litterateur and journalist
(1828-1885).


ABRAHAM, the Hebrew patriarch, ancestor of the Jews, the very type
of an Eastern pastoral chief at once by his dignified character and
simple faith.


ABRAHAM, THE PLAINS OF, a plain near Quebec.


ABRAHAM-MEN, a class of lunatics allowed out of restraint, at one
time, to roam about and beg; a set of impostors who wandered about the
country affecting lunacy.


ABRAN`TES, a town in Portugal, on the Tagus; taken by Marshal Junot,
1807, and giving the title of Duke to him.


ABRAXAS STONES, stones with cabalistic figures on them used as
talismans.


ABRUZ`ZI, a highland district in the Apennines, with a pop. of
100,000.


ABSALOM, a son of David, who rebelled against his father, and at
whose death David gave vent to a bitter wail of grief. A name given by
Dryden to the Duke of Monmouth, son of Charles II.


ABSOLUTE, THE, the philosophical name for the uncreated Creator, or
creating cause of all things, dependent on nothing external to itself.


ABSYRTUS, a brother of Medea, whom she cut in pieces as she fled
with Jason, pursued by her father, throwing his bones behind her to
detain her father in his pursuit of her by stopping to pick them up.


ABT, FRANZ, a German composer of song-music (1819-1885).


ABU, a mountain (6000 ft.) in Rajputana, with a footprint of Vishnu
on the top, and two marble temples half-way up, held sacred by the Jains.


AB`UBEKR, as the father of Ayesha, the father-in-law of Mahomet, the
first of the caliphs and the founder of the Sunnites; _d_. 634.


AB`U-KLEA, in the Soudan, where the Mahdi's forces were defeated by
Sir H. Stewart in 1885.


A`BUL-FARAJ, a learned Armenian Jew, who became bishop of Aleppo,
and wrote a history of the world from Adam onwards (1226-1286).


ABUL-FAZEL, the vizier of the great Mogul emperor Akbar, and who
wrote an account of his reign and of the Mogul empire; he was
assassinated in 1604.


ABUL-FEDA, a Moslem prince of Hamat in Syria, who in his youth took
part against the Crusaders, and wrote historical works in Arabic
(1273-1331).


ABU-THA`LEB, uncle of Mahomet, and his protector against the plots
of his enemies the Koreish.


ABY`DOS, a town on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, famous as the
home of Leander, who swam the Hellespont every night to visit Hero in
Sestos, and as the spot where Xerxes built his bridge of boats to cross
into Europe in 480 B.C.; also a place of note in Upper Egypt.


ABYSSIN`IA, a mountainous country SE. of Nubia, with an area of
200,000 sq. m., made up of independent states, and a mixed population of
some four millions, the Abyssinians proper being of the Semite stock. It
is practically under the protectorate of Italy.


ACACIA, a large group of trees with astringent and gum-yielding
properties, natives of tropical Africa and Australia.


ACADEMY, a public shady park or place of groves near Athens, where
Plato taught his philosophy and whence his school derived its name, of
which there are three branches, the _Old_, the _Middle_, and the _New_,
represented respectively by Plato himself, Arcesilaos, and Carneades. The
_French Academy_, of forty members, was founded by Richelieu in 1635,
and is charged with the interests of the French language and literature,
and in particular with the duty of compiling an authoritative dictionary
of the French language. Besides these, there are in France other four
with a like limited membership in the interest of other departments of
science and art, all now associated in the _Institute of France_, which
consists in all of 229 members. There are similar institutions in other
states of Europe, all of greater or less note.


ACADIA, the French name for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.


ACANTHUS, a leaf-like ornament on the capitals of the columns of
certain orders of architecture.


ACAPUL`CO, a Mexican port in the Pacific, harbour commodious, but
climate unhealthy.


ACARNA`NIA, a province of Greece N. of Gulf of Corinth; its pop.
once addicted to piracy.


ACCA`DIANS, a dark, thick-lipped, short-statured Mongol race in
Central Asia, displaced by the Babylonians and Assyrians, who were
Semitic.


ACCA-LAURENTIA, the wife of Faustulus, shepherd of Numitor, who
saved the lives of Romulus and Remus.


ACCIAIOLI, a Florentine family of 15th century, illustrious in
scholarship and war.


ACCOLADE, a gentle blow with a sword on the shoulder in conferring
knighthood.


ACCOL`TI, a Tuscan family, of 15th century, famous for their
learning.


ACCOR`SO, the name of a Florentine family, of 12th and 13th
centuries, great in jurisprudence.


ACCRA (16), capital and chief port in British Gold Coast colony.


ACCRINGTON (39), a manufacturing town 22 m. N. of Manchester.


ACCUM, FRIEDRICH, a German chemist, the first promoter of
gas-lighting (1769-1838).


ACCUMULATOR, a hydraulic press for storing up water at a high
pressure; also a device for storing up electric energy.


ACERRA (14), an ancient city 9 m. NE. of Naples; is in an unhealthy
district.


ACETIC ACID, the pure acid of vinegar; the salts are called
_acetates_.


ACETONE, a highly inflammable liquid obtained generally by the dry
distillation of acetates.


ACET`YLENE, a malodorous gaseous substance from the incomplete
combustion of hydro-carbons.


ACHAEAN LEAGUE, a confederation of 12 towns in the Peloponnesus,
formed especially against the influence of the Macedonians.


ACHAE`ANS, the common name of the Greeks in the heroic or Homeric
period.


ACHAI`A, the N. district of the Peloponnesus, eventually the whole
of it.


ACHARD, a Prussian chemist, one of the first to manufacture sugar
from beetroot (1753-1821).


ACHARD`, LOUIS AMEDEE, a prolific French novelist (1814-1876).


ACHA`TES, the attendant of AEneas in his wandering after the fall of
Troy, remarkable for, and a perennial type of, fidelity.


ACHELO`UeS, a river in Greece, which rises in Mt. Pindus, and falls
into the Ionian Sea; also the god of the river, the oldest of the sons of
Oceanus, and the father of the Sirens.


ACHEN, an eminent German painter (1556-1621).


ACHENWALL, a German economist, the founder of statistic science
(1719-1772).


ACH`ERON, a river in the underworld; the name of several rivers in
Greece more or less suggestive of it.


ACH`ERY, a learned French Benedictine of St. Maur (1609-1685).


ACH`ILL, a rocky, boggy island, sparsely inhabited, off W. coast of
Ireland, co. Mayo, with a bold headland 2222 ft. high.


ACHILLE`ID, an unfinished poem of Statius.


ACHIL`LES, the son of Peleus and Thetis, king of the Myrmidons, the
most famous of the Greek heroes in the Trojan war, and whose wrath with
the consequences of it forms the subject of the Iliad of Homer. He was
invulnerable except in the heel, at the point where his mother held him
as she dipt his body in the Styx to render him invulnerable.


ACHILLES OF GERMANY, Albert, third elector of Brandenburg, "fiery,
tough old gentleman, of formidable talent for fighting in his day; a very
blazing, far-seen character," says Carlyle (1414-1486).


ACHILLES TENDON, the great tendon of the heel, where Achilles was
vulnerable.


ACHMED PASHA, a French adventurer, served in French army, condemned
to death, fled, and served Austria; condemned to death a second time,
pardoned, served under the sultan, was banished to the shores of the
Black Sea (1675-1747).


ACH`MET I., sultan of Turkey from 1603 to 1617; A. II., from
1691 to 1695; A. III., from 1703 to 1730, who gave asylum to Charles
XII. of Sweden after his defeat by the Czar at Pultowa.


ACHIT`OPHEL, name given by Dryden to the Earl of Shaftesbury of his
time.


ACHROMATISM, transmission of light, undecomposed and free from
colour, by means of a combination of dissimilar lenses of crown and flint
glass, or by a single glass carefully prepared.


ACIERAGE, coating a copper-plate with steel by voltaic electricity.


A`CI-REA`LE (38), a seaport town in Sicily, at the foot of Mount
Etna, in NE. of Catania, with mineral waters.


A`CIS, a Sicilian shepherd enamoured of Galatea, whom the Cyclops
Polyphemus, out of jealousy, overwhelmed under a rock, from under which
his blood has since flowed as a river.


ACK`ERMANN, R., an enterprising publisher of illustrated works in
the Strand, a native of Saxony (1764-1834).


ACLAND, SIR HENRY, regius professor of medicine in Oxford,
accompanied the Prince of Wales to America in 1860, the author of several
works on medicine and educational subjects, one of Ruskin's old and tried
friends (1815).


ACLINIC LINE, the magnetic equator, along which the needle always
remains horizontal.


ACNE, a skin disease showing hard reddish pimples; ACNE
ROSACEA, a congestion of the skin of the nose and parts adjoining.


ACOEMETAE, an order of monks in the 5th century who by turns kept up
a divine service day and night.


ACONCA`GUA, the highest peak of the Andes, about 100 m. NE. of
Valparaiso, 22,867 ft. high; recently ascended by a Swiss and a
Scotchman, attendants of Fitzgerald's party.


ACONITE, monk's-hood, a poisonous plant of the ranunculus order with
a tapering root.


ACONITINE, a most virulent poison from aconite, and owing to the
very small quantity sufficient to cause death, is very difficult of
detection when employed in taking away life.


ACORN-SHELLS, a crustacean attached to rocks on the sea-shore,
described by Huxley as "fixed by its head," and "kicking its food into
its mouth with its legs."


ACOUSTICS, the science of sound as it affects the ear, specially of
the laws to be observed in the construction of halls so that people may
distinctly hear in them.


ACRASIA, an impersonation in Spenser's "Faerie Queen," of
intemperance in the guise of a beautiful sorceress.


ACRE, ST. JEAN D' (7), a strong place and seaport in Syria, at the
foot of Mount Carmel, taken, at an enormous sacrifice of life, by Philip
Augustus and Richard Coeur de Lion in 1191, held out against Bonaparte in
1799; its ancient name Ptolemais.


ACRES, BOB, a coward in the "Rivals" whose "courage always oozed out
at his finger ends."


ACROAMATICS, esoteric lectures, i. e. lectures to the initiated.


ACROLEIN, a light volatile limpid liquid obtained by the destructive
distillation of fats.


ACROLITHS, statues of which only the extremities are of stone.


ACROP`OLIS, a fortified citadel commanding a city, and generally the
nucleus of it, specially the rocky eminence dominating Athens.


ACROTE`RIA, pedestals placed at the middle and the extremities of a
pediment to support a statue or other ornament, or the statue or ornament
itself.


ACTA DIURNA, a kind of gazette recording in a summary way daily
events, established at Rome in 131 B.C., and rendered official by Caesar
in 50 B.C.


ACTA SANCTORUM, the lives of the saints in 62 vols. folio, begun in
the 17th century by the Jesuits, and carried on by the Bollandists.


ACTAEON, a hunter changed into a stag for surprising Diana when
bathing, and afterwards devoured by his own dogs.


ACTINIC RAYS, "non-luminous rays of higher frequency than the
luminous rays."


ACTINISM, the chemical action of sunlight.


ACTINOMYCOSIS, a disease of a fungous nature on the mouth and lower
jaw of cows.


ACTIUM, a town and promontory at the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf
(Arta), in Greece, where Augustus gained his naval victory over Antony
and Cleopatra, Sept. 2, 31 B.C.


ACTON, an adventurer of English birth, who became prime minister of
Naples, but was driven from the helm of affairs on account of his
inveterate antipathy to the French (1737-1808).


ACTON, LORD, a descendant of the former, who became a leader of the
Liberal Catholics in England, M.P. for Carlow, and made a peer in 1869;
a man of wide learning, and the projector of a universal history by
experts in different departments of the field; _b_. 1834.


ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, a narrative account in the New Testament of
the founding of the Christian Church chiefly through the ministry of
Peter and Paul, written by Luke, commencing with the year 33, and
concluding with the imprisonment of Paul in Rome in 62.


ACUN`HA, TRISTRAM D', a Portuguese navigator, companion of
Albuquerque; NUNA D', his son, viceroy of the Indies from 1528 to
1539; RODRIQUE D', archbishop of Lisbon, who in 1640 freed Portugal
from the Spanish domination, and established the house of Braganza on the
throne.


ACUPRESSURE, checking hemorrhage in arteries during an operation by
compressing their orifices with a needle.


ACUPUNCTURE, the operation of pricking an affected part with a
needle, and leaving it for a short time in it, sometimes for as long as
an hour.


ADAIR, SIR ROBERT, a distinguished English diplomatist, and
frequently employed on the most important diplomatic missions
(1763-1855).


ADAL, a flat barren region between Abyssinia and the Red Sea.


ADALBE`RON, the archbishop of Rheims, chancellor of Lothaire and
Louis V.; consecrated Hugh Capet; _d_. 998.


ADALBERT, a German ecclesiastic, who did much to extend Christianity
over the North (1000-1072).


ADALBERT, ST., bishop of Prague, who, driven from Bohemia, essayed
to preach the gospel in heathen Prussia, where the priests fell upon him,
and "struck him with a death-stroke on the head," April 27, 997, on the
anniversary of which day a festival is held in his honour.


ADA`LIA (30), a seaport on the coast of Asia Minor, on a bay of the
same name.


ADAM (i. e. man), the first father, according to the Bible, of the
human race.


ADAM, ALEX., a distinguished Latin scholar, rector for 40 years of
the Edinburgh High School, Scott having been one of his pupils
(1741-1809).


ADAM, LAMBERT, a distinguished French sculptor (1700-1759).


ADAM, ROBERT, a distinguished architect, born at Kirkcaldy,
architect of the Register House and the University, Edinburgh
(1728-1792).


ADAM BEDE, George Eliot's first novel, published anonymously in
1859, took at once with both critic and public.


ADAM KADMON, primeval man as he at first emanated from the Creator,
or man in his primeval rudimentary potentiality.


ADAM OF BROMEN, distinguished as a Christian missionary in the 11th
century; author of a celebrated Church history of N. Europe from 788 to
1072, entitled _Gesta Hammenburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum_.


ADAMAS`TOR, the giant spirit of storms, which Camoens, in his
"Luciad," represents as rising up before Vasco de Gama to warn him off
from the Cape of Storms, henceforth called, in consequence of the
resultant success in despite thereof, the Cape of Good Hope.


ADAMAWA, a region in the Lower Soudan with a healthy climate and a
fertile soil, rich in all tropical products.


ADAMITES, visionaries in Africa in the 2nd century, and in Bohemia
in the 14th and 15th, who affected innocence, rejected marriage, and went
naked.


ADAMNAN, ST., abbot of Iona, of Irish birth, who wrote a life of St.
Columba and a work on the Holy Places, of value as the earliest written
(625-704).


ADAMS, DR. F., a zealous student and translator of Greek medical
works (1797-1861).


ADAMS, JOHN, the second president of the United States, and a chief
promoter of their independence (1739-1826).


ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, his eldest son, the sixth president (1767-1848).


ADAMS, JOHN COUCH, an English astronomer, the discoverer
simultaneously with Leverrier of the planet Neptune (1819-1892).


ADAMS, PARSON, a country curate in Fielding's "Joseph Andrews," with
a head full of learning and a heart full of love to his fellows, but in
absolute ignorance of the world, which in his simplicity he takes for
what it professes to be.


ADAMS, SAMUEL, a zealous promoter of American independence, who
lived and died poor (1722-1803).


ADAM'S BRIDGE, a chain of coral reefs and sandbanks connecting
Ceylon with India.


ADAM'S PEAK, a conical peak in the centre of Ceylon 7420 ft. high,
with a foot-like depression 5 ft. long and 21/2 broad atop, ascribed to
Adam by the Mohammedans, and to Buddha by the Buddhists; it was here, the
Arabs say, that Adam alighted on his expulsion from Eden and stood doing
penance on one foot till God forgave him.


ADA`NA (40), a town SE. corner of Asia Minor, 30 m. from the sea.


ADANSON, MICHEL, a French botanist, born in AIX, the first to
attempt a natural classification of plants (1727-1806).


AD`DA, an affluent of the Po, near Cremona; it flows through Lake
Como; on its banks Bonaparte gained several of his famous victories over
Austria.


ADDINGTON, HENRY, Lord Sidmouth, an English statesman was for a
short time Prime Minister, throughout a supporter of Pitt (1757-1844).


ADDISON, JOSEPH, a celebrated English essayist, studied at Oxford,
became Fellow of Magdalen, was a Whig in politics, held a succession of
Government appointments, resigned the last for a large pension; was
pre-eminent among English writers for the purity and elegance of his
style, had an abiding, refining, and elevating influence on the
literature of the country; his name is associated with the _Tatler,
Spectator_, and _Guardian_, as well as with a number of beautiful hymns
(1672-1749).


A`DELAAR, the name of honour given to Cort Sivertsen, a famous Norse
seaman, who rendered distinguished naval services to Denmark and to
Venice against the Turks (1622-1675).


ADELAIDE (133), the capital of S. Australia, on the river Torrens,
which flows through it into St. Vincent Gulf, 7 m. SE. of Port Adelaide;
a handsome city, with a cathedral, fine public buildings, a university,
and an extensive botanical garden; it is the great emporium for S.
Australia; exports wool, wine, wheat, and copper ore.


ADELAIDE, eldest daughter of Louis XV. of France (1732-1806).


ADELAIDE, PORT, the haven of Adelaide, a port of call, with a
commodious harbour.


ADELAIDE, QUEEN, consort of William IV. of England (1792-1849).


ADELAIDE OF ORLEANS, sister of Louis Philippe, his Egeria
(1771-1841).


ADELBERG, a town of Carniola, 22 m. from Trieste, with a large
stalactite cavern, besides numerous caves near it.


ADELUNG, JOHANN CHRISTOPH, a distinguished German philologist and
lexicographer, born in Pomerania (1732-1806).


A`DEN (42), a fortified town on a peninsula in British territory S.
of Arabia, 105 m. E. of Bab-el-Mandeb; a coaling and military station, in
a climate hot, but healthy.


AD`HERBAL, son of Micipsa, king of Numidia, killed by Jugurtha, 249
B.C.


ADI GRANTH, the sacred book of the Sikhs.


ADIAPH`ORISTS, Lutherans who in 16th century maintained that certain
practices of the Romish Church, obnoxious to others of them, were matters
of indifference, such as having pictures, lighting candles, wearing
surplices, and singing certain hymns in worship.


AD`IGE, a river of Italy, which rises in the Rhetian Alps and falls
into the Adriatic after a course of 250 m.; subject to sudden swellings
and overflowings.


ADIPOCERE, a fatty, spermaceti-like substance, produced by the
decomposition of animal matter in moist places.


ADIPOSE TISSUE, a tissue of small vesicles filled with oily matter,
in which there is no sensation, and a layer of which lies under the skin
and gives smoothness and warmth to the body.


ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS, a high-lying, picturesque, granite range in
the State of New York; source of the Hudson.


ADJUTANT, a gigantic Indian stork with an enormous beak, about 5 ft.
in height, which feeds on carrion and offal, and is useful in this way,
as storks are.


ADLER, HERMANN, son and successor of the following, born in Hanover;
a vigorous defender of his co-religionists and their faith, as well as
their sacred Scriptures; was elected Chief Rabbi in 1891; _b_. 1839.


ADLER, NATHAN MARCUS, chief Rabbi in Britain, born in Hanover
(1803-1890).


ADLERCREUTZ, a Swedish general, the chief promoter of the revolution
of 1808, who told Gustavus IV. to his face that he ought to retire
(1759-1815).


ADME`TUS, king of Pherae in Thessaly, one of the Argonauts, under
whom Apollo served for a time as neat-herd. _See_ ALCESTIS.


ADMIRABLE DOCTOR, a name given to Roger Bacon.


ADMIRAL, the chief commander of a fleet, of which there are in
Britain three grades--admirals, vice-admirals, and rear-admirals, the
first displaying his flag on the main mast, the second on the fore, and
the third on the mizzen.


ADMIRALTY, BOARD OF, board of commissioners appointed for the
management of naval affairs.


ADMIRALTY ISLAND, an island off the coast of Alaska.


ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, a group NE. of New Guinea, in the Pacific, which
belong to Germany.


ADOLF, FRIEDRICH, king of Sweden, under whose reign the nobles
divided themselves into the two factions of the Caps, or the peace-party,
and the Hats, or the war-party (1710-1771).


ADOLPH, ST., a Spanish martyr: festival, Sept. 27.


ADOLPH OF NASSAU, Kaiser from 1291 to 1298, "a stalwart but
necessitous Herr" Carlyle calls him; seems to have been under the pay of
Edward Longshanks.


ADOLPHUS, JOHN, an able London barrister in criminal cases, and a
voluminous historical writer (1766-1845).


ADONA`I, the name used by the Jews for God instead of Jehovah, too
sacred to be pronounced.


ADONA`IS, Shelley's name for Keats.


ADO`NIS, a beautiful youth beloved by Aphrodite (Venus), but
mortally wounded by a boar and changed by her into a flower the colour of
his blood, by sprinkling nectar on his body.


ADOPTIONISTS, heretics who in the 8th century maintained that Christ
was the son of God, not by birth, but by adoption, and as being one with
Him in character and will.


ADOR`NO, an illustrious plebeian family in Genoa, of the Ghibelline
party, several of whom were Doges of the republic.


ADOUR, a river of France, rising in the Pyrenees and falling into
the Bay of Biscay.


ADOWA`, a highland town in Abyssinia, and chief entrepot of trade.


ADRAS`TUS, a king of Argos, the one survivor of the first expedition
of the Seven against Thebes, who died of grief when his son fell in the
second.


ADRETS, BARON DES, a Huguenot leader, notorious for his cruelty;
died a Catholic (1513-1587).


A`DRIA, an ancient town between the Po and the Adige; a flourishing
seaport at one time, but now 14 m. from the sea.


A`DRIAN, name of six popes: A. I., from 772 to 795, did much to
embellish Rome; A. II., from 867 to 872, zealous to subject the
sovereigns of Europe to the Popehood; A. III., from 884 to 885;
A. V., from 1054 to 1059, the only Englishman who attained to the
Papal dignity; A. V., in 1276; A. VI., from 1222 to 1223.
See BREAKSPEARE.


ADRIAN, ST., the chief military saint of N. Europe for many ages,
second only to St. George; regarded as the patron of old soldiers, and
protector against the plague.


ADRIANO`PLE (60), a city in European Turkey, the third in
importance, on the high-road between Belgrade and Constantinople.


ADRIA`TIC, THE, a sea 450 m. long separating Italy from Illyria,
Dalmatia, and Albania.


ADULLAM, David's hiding-place (1 Sam. xxii. 1), a royal Canaanitish
city 10 m. NW. of Hebron.


ADULLAMITES, an English political party who in 1866 deserted the
Liberal side in protest against a Liberal Franchise Bill then introduced.
John Bright gave them this name. See 1 Sam. xxii.


ADUMBLA, a cow, in old Norse mythology, that grazes on hoar-frost,
"licking the rime from the rocks--a Hindu cow transported north,"
surmises Carlyle.


ADVOCATE, LORD, chief counsel for the Crown in Scotland, public
prosecutor of crimes, and a member of the administration in power.


ADVOCATES, FACULTY OF, body of lawyers qualified to plead at the
Scottish bar.


ADVOCATES' LIBRARY, a library belonging to the Faculty of Advocates
in Edinburgh, founded in 1632; it alone of Scotch libraries still holds
the privilege of receiving a copy of every book entered at Stationers'
Hall.


ADVOCATUS DIABOLI, the devil's advocate, a functionary in the Roman
Catholic Church appointed to show reason against a proposed canonization.


AEACUS, a Greek king renowned as an administrator of distributive
justice, after death appointed one of the three judges in Hades. _See_
MINOS and RHADAMANTHUS.


AEDILES, magistrates of ancient Rome who had charge of the public
buildings and public structures generally.


AEE`TIS, king of Colchis and father of Medea.


AEGE`AN SEA, the Archipelago.


AEGEUS, the father of Theseus, who threw himself into the AEgean Sea,
so called after him, in the mistaken belief that his son, who had been to
slay the Minotaur, had been slain by him.


AEGI`NA, an island 20 m. SW. of Athens, in a gulf of the same name.


AEGIR, the god of the sea in the Norse mythology.


AEGIS (lit. a goat's skin), the shield of Zeus, made of the hide of the
goat AMALTHEA (q. v.), representing originally the storm-cloud in which
the god invested himself when he was angry; it was also the attribute of
Athena, bearing in her case the Gorgon's head.


AEGIS`THUS. See AGAMEMNON.


AEL`FRIC, a Saxon writer of the end of the 10th century known as the
"Grammarian."


AELIA`NUS, CLAUDIUS, an Italian rhetorician who wrote in Greek, and
whose extant works are valuable for the passages from prior authors which
they have preserved for us.


AEMI`LIUS PAULUS, the Roman Consul who fell at Cannae, 216 B.C.; also
his son, surnamed Macedonicus, so called as having defeated Perseus at
Pydna, in Macedonia.


AENE`AS, a Trojan, the hero of Virgil's "AEneid," who in his various
wanderings after the fall of Troy settled in Italy, and became, tradition
alleges, the forefather of the Julian Gens in Rome.


AENEAS SILVIUS. See PICCOLOMINI.


AE`NEID, an epic poem by Virgil, of which AEneas is the hero.


AENESIDEMUS, a sceptical philosopher, born in Crete, who flourished
shortly after Cicero, and summed up under ten arguments the contention
against dogmatism in philosophy. See "SCHWEGLER," translated by
Dr. Hutchison Stirling.


AEOLIAN ACTION, action of the wind as causing geologic changes.


AEOLIAN ISLANDS, the LIPARI ISLANDS (q. v.).


AEO`LIANS, one of the Greek races who, originating in Thessaly,
spread north and south, and emigrated into Asia Minor, giving rise to the
AEolic dialect of the Greek language.


AEOLOTROPY, a change in the physical properties of bodies due to a
change of position.


AE`OLUS, the Greek god of the winds.


AEON, among the Gnostics, one of a succession of powers conceived as
emanating from God and presiding over successive creations and
transformations of being.


AEPYOR`NIS, a gigantic fossil bird of Madagascar, of which the egg is
six times larger than that of an ostrich.


AE`QUI, a tribe on NE. of Latium, troublesome to the Romans until
subdued in 302 B.C.


AERATED BREAD, bread of flour dough charged with carbonic acid gas.


AERATED WATERS, waters aerated with carbonic acid gas.


AES`CHINES, a celebrated Athenian orator, rival of Demosthenes, who
in the end prevailed over him by persuading the citizens to believe he
was betraying them to Philip of Macedon, so that he left Athens and
settled in Rhodes, where he founded a school as a rhetorician
(389-314 B.C.).


AES`CHYLUS, the father of the Greek tragedy, who distinguished
himself as a soldier both at Marathon and Salamis before he figured as a
poet; wrote, it is said, some seventy dramas, of which only seven are
extant--the "Suppliants," the "Persae," the "Seven against Thebes," the
"Prometheus Bound," the "Agamemnon," the "Choephori," and the
"Eumenides," his plays being trilogies; born at Eleusis and died in
Sicily (525-456 B.C.).


AESCULA`PIUS, a son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis, whom, for
restoring Hippolytus to life, Zeus, at the prayer of Pluto, destroyed
with a thunderbolt, but afterwards admitted among the gods as god of
medicine and the healing art; the cock, the emblem of vigilance, and the
serpent, of prudence, were sacred to him.


AESON, the father of Jason, was restored to youth by Medea.


AE`SOP, a celebrated Greek fabulist of the 6th century B.C., of
whose history little is known except that he was originally a slave,
manumitted by Iadmon of Samos, and put to death by the Delphians,
probably for some witticism at their expense.


AESO`PUS, a celebrated Roman actor, a friend of Pompey and Cicero.


AESTHETICS, the science of the beautiful in nature and the fine arts.


AE`TIUS, a Roman general, who withstood the aggressions of the
Barbarians for twenty years, and defeated Attila at Chalons, 451;
assassinated out of jealousy by the Emperor Valentinian III., 454.


AETO`LIA, a country of ancient Greece N. of the Gulf of Corinth.


AFFRE, archbishop of Paris, suffered death on the barricades, as,
with a green bough in his hand, he bore a message of peace to the
insurgents (1793-1848).


AFGHAN`ISTAN` (5,000), a country in the centre of Asia, between
India on the east and Persia on the west, its length about 600 m. and its
breadth about 500 m., a plateau of immense mountain masses, and high,
almost inaccessible, valleys, occupying 278,000 sq. m., with extremes of
climate, and a mixed turbulent population, majority Afghans. The country,
though long a bone of contention between England and Russia, is now
wholly under the sphere of British influence.


AF`GHANS, THE, a fine and noble but hot-tempered race of the
Mohammedan faith inhabiting Afghanistan. The Afghans proper are called
PATHANS in India, and call themselves Beni Israel (sons of Israel),
tracing their descent from King Saul.


AFRA`NIUS, a Latin comic poet who flourished 100 B.C.; also a Roman
Consul who played a prominent part in the rivalry between Caesar and
Pompey, 60 B.C.


AFRICA, one of the five great divisions of the globe, three times
larger than Europe, seven-tenths of it within the torrid zone, and
containing over 200,000,000 inhabitants of more or less dark-skinned
races. It was long a _terra incognita_, but it is now being explored in
all directions, and attempts are everywhere made to bring it within the
circuit of civilisation. It is being parcelled out by European nations,
chiefly Britain, France, and Germany, and with more zeal and appliance of
resource by Britain than any other.


AFRICA`NUS, JULIUS, a Christian historian and chronologist of the
3rd century.


AFRIDIS, a treacherous tribe of eight clans, often at war with each
other, in a mountainous region on the North-Western frontier of India W.
of Peshawar.


AFRIKAN`DER, one born in S. Africa of European parents.


AFRIT`, a powerful evil spirit in the Mohammedan mythology.


AGA`DES, a once important depot of trade in the S. of the Sahara,
much decayed.


AGAG, a king of the Amalekites, conquered by Saul, and hewn in
pieces by order of Samuel.


AGAMEM`NON, a son of Atreus, king of Mycenae and general-in-chief of
the Greeks in the Trojan war, represented as a man of stately presence
and a proud spirit. On the advice of the soothsayer Calchas sacrificed
his daughter IPHIGENIA (q. v.) for the success of the enterprise
he conducted. He was assassinated by AEgisthus and Clytaemnestra, his wife,
on his return from the war. His fate and that of his house is the subject
of AEschylus' trilogy "Oresteia."


AGAMOGENESIS, name given to reproduction without sex, by fission,
budding, &c.


AGANIPPE, a fountain in Boeotia, near Helicon, dedicated to the
Muses as a source of poetic inspiration.


AG`APE, love-feasts among the primitive Christians in commemoration
of the Last Supper, and in which they gave each other the kiss of peace
as token of Christian brotherhood.


AGAR-AGAR, a gum extracted from a sea-weed, used in bacteriological
investigations.


AGA`SIAS, a sculptor of Ephesus, famous for his statue of the
"Gladiator."


AGASS`IZ, a celebrated Swiss naturalist, in the department
especially of ichthyology, and in connection with the glaciers; settled
as a professor of zoology and geology in the United States in 1846
(1807-1873).


AG`ATHE, ST., a Sicilian virgin who suffered martyrdom at Palermo
under Decius in 251; represented in art as crowned with a long veil and
bearing a pair of shears, the instruments with which her breast were cut
off. Festival, Feb. 5.


AGA`THIAS, a Byzantine poet and historian (536-582).


AGATH`OCLES, the tyrant of Syracuse, by the massacre of thousands of
the inhabitants, was an enemy of the Carthaginians, and fought against
them; was poisoned in the end (361-289 B.C.).


AG`ATHON, an Athenian tragic poet, a rival of Euripides
(447-400 B.C.).


AG`ATHON, ST., pope from 676 to 682.


AG`DE (6), a French seaport on the Herault, 3 m. from the
Mediterranean.


A`GEN (21), a town on the Garonne, 84 m. above Bordeaux.


AGES, in the Greek mythology four--the Golden, self-sufficient; the
Silver, self-indulgent; the Brazen, warlike; and the Iron, violent;
together with the Heroic, nobly aspirant, between the third and fourth.
In archeology, three--the Stone Age, the Bronze, and the Iron. In
history, the Middle and Dark, between the Ancient and the Modern. In
Fichte, five--of Instinct, of Law, of Rebellion, of Rationality, of
Conformity to Reason. In Shakespeare, seven--Infancy, Childhood, Boyhood,
Adolescence, Manhood, Age, Old Age.


AGESAN`DER, a sculptor of Rhodes of the first century, who wrought
at the famous group of the Laocoon.


AGESILA`US, a Spartan king, victorious over the Persians in Asia and
over the allied Thebans and Athenians at Coronea, but defeated by
Epaminondas at Mantinea after a campaign in Egypt; _d_. 360 B.C., aged
84.


AGGAS, RALPH, a surveyor and engraver of the 16th century, who first
drew a plan of London as well as of Oxford and Cambridge.


AGGLUTINATE LANGUAGES, languages composed of parts which are words
glued together, so to speak, as cowherd.


AGINCOURT`, a small village in Pas-de-Calais, where Henry V. in a
bloody battle defeated the French, Oct. 25, 1415.


A`GIS, the name of several Spartan kings, of whom the most famous
were Agis III. and IV., the former famous for his resistance to the
Macedonian domination, _d_. 330 B.C.; and the latter for his attempts to
carry a law for the equal division of land, _d_. 240 B.C.


AGLAIA. See GRACES.


AG`NADEL, a Lombard village, near which Louis XII. defeated the
Venetians in 1509, and Vendome, Prince Eugene in 1705.


AGNA`NO, LAKE OF, a lake near Naples, now drained; occupied the
crater of an extinct volcano, its waters in a state of constant
ebullition.


AGNELLO, COL D', passage by the S. of Monte Viso between France and
Italy.


AGNES, an unsophisticated maiden in Moliere's _L'Ecole des Femmes_,
so unsophisticated that she does not know what love means.


AGNES, ST., a virgin who suffered martyrdom, was beheaded because
the flames would not touch her body, under Diocletian in 303; represented
in art as holding a palm-branch in her hand and a lamb at her feet or in
her arms. Festival, Jan. 21.


AGNES DE MERANIE, the second wife of Philip Augustus by a marriage
in 1193, declared null by the Church, who, being dismissed in
consequence, died broken-hearted in 1201.


AGNES SOREL, surnamed _Dame de beaute_, mistress of Charles VII. of
France (1409-1450).


AGNE`SI, MARIA GAETANA, a native of Milan, a woman of extraordinary
ability and attainments, prelected for her father in mathematics in the
University of Bologna under sanction of the Pope; died a nun at her
birthplace (1718-1799).


AG`NI, the god of fire in the Vedic mythology, begets the gods,
organises the world, produces and preserves universal life, and
throughout never ceases to be fire. One of the three terms of the Vedic
trinity, Soma and Indra being the other two.


AGNOLO, a Florentine artist, friend of Michael Angelo and Raphael,
distinguished for his carvings in wood (1460-1543).


AGNOSTICISM, the doctrine which disclaims all knowledge of the
supersensuous, or denies that we know or can know the absolute, the
infinite, or God.


AGNUS DEI, the figure of a lamb bearing a cross as a symbol of
Christ, or a medal with this device; also a prayer in the Mass beginning
with the words, "Lamb of God."


AGONIC LINE, line along which the needle points due north and south.


AGORA, the forum of a Grecian town.


AGOS`TA, a city on east coast of Sicily.


AGOULT, COUNTESS OF, a French authoress under the pseudonym of
Daniel Stern (1805-1876).


AGOUST, CAPT. DE, a "cast-iron" captain of the Swiss Guards, who on
May 4, 1788, by order of the Court of Versailles, marched the Parliament
of Paris out of the Palais de Justice and carried off the key. See
CARLYLE'S "FRENCH REVOLUTION," BK. I. CHAP. VIII.


AGOU`TI, a rodent, native of Brazil, Paraguay, and Guiana; very
destructive to roots and sugar-canes.


A`GRA (168), a handsome city on the Jumna, in NW. Province of India,
famous for, among other monuments, the Taj Mahal, a magnificent mausoleum
erected near it by the Emperor Shah Jehan for himself and his favourite
wife; it is a centre of trade, and seat of manufactures of Indian wares.


AG`RAM, (37), a Hungarian town, the capital of Croatia, with a fine
Gothic cathedral and a university; is subject to earthquakes.


AGRARIAN LAWS, laws among the Romans regulating the division of
lands.


AGRIC`OLA, a Roman general, father-in-law of Tacitus, who conquered
Great Britain in 80, recalled by the Emperor Domitian in 87, and retired
into private life (37-93).


AGRICOLA, JOHANN, a follower and friend of Luther, who became his
antagonist in the matter of the binding obligation of the law on
Christians (1492-1566).


AGRICOLA, RUDOLPHUS, a learned and accomplished Dutchman, much
esteemed by Erasmus, and much in advance of his time; his most important
work, "Dialectics," being an attack on the scholastic system (1442-1485).


AGRIGEN`TUM, an ancient considerable city, now Girgenti, on the S.
of Sicily, of various fortune, and still showing traces of its ancient
grandeur.


AGRIPPA, H. CORNELIUS, a native of Cologne, of noble birth, for some
time in the service of Maximilian, but devoted mainly to the study of the
occult sciences, which exposed him to various persecutions through life
(1486-1535).


AGRIPPA, HEROD. See HEROD.


AGRIP`PA, M. VIPSANIUS, a Roman general, the son-in-law and
favourite of Augustus, who distinguished himself at the battle of Actium,
and built the Pantheon of Rome (63-12 B.C.).


AGRIPPI`NA, the daughter of Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, and thus
the granddaughter of Augustus; married Germanicus, accompanied him in his
campaigns, and brought his ashes to Rome on his death, but was banished
from Rome by Tiberius, and _d_. in 33.


AGRIPPINA, the daughter of Germanicus and the former, born at
Cologne, and the mother of Nero. Her third husband was her uncle, the
Emperor Claudian, whom she got to adopt her son, and then poisoned him,
in order to place her son on the throne; but the latter, resenting her
intolerable ascendancy, had her put to death in 59.


AGTELEK, a village NE. of Pesth, in Hungary with vast stalactite
caverns, some of them of great height.


AGUA`DO, A. M., an enormously wealthy banker of Spanish-Jewish
descent, born in Seville, and naturalised in France (1784-1842).


AGUAS CALIENTES (31), a high-lying inland trading town in Mexico.


AGUE-CHEEK, SIR ANDREW, a silly squire in "Twelfth Night."


AGUESSEAU`, D', a French magistrate under Louis XIV. and Louis XV.,
of unimpeachable integrity and unselfish devotion, a learned jurist and
law reformer, and held high posts in the administration of justice
(1668-1751).


AGUILAR, GRACE, a Jewess, born at Hackney; authoress of "Magic
Wreath," "Home Influence," "Vale of Cedars"; of a delicate constitution,
died young (1816-1847).


A`GULHAS, CAPE (i. e. the Needles), the most southerly point of
Africa, 100 m. ESE. of the Cape, and along with the bank of the whole
south coast, dangerous to shipping.


A`HAB, a king of Israel fond of splendour, and partial to the
worship of Baal (918-896 B.C.).


AHASUE`RUS, a traditionary figure known as the Wandering Jew; also
the name of several kings of Persia.


AHAZ, a king of Judah who first brought Judea under tribute to
Assyria.


AHLDEN, CASTLE OF, a castle in Lueneburg Heath, the nearly lifelong
prison-house of the wife of George I. and the mother of George II. and of
Sophie Dorothea of Prussia.


AHMADABAD (148), a chief town of Guzerat, in the Bombay Presidency,
a populous city and of great splendour in the last century, of which
gorgeous relics remain.


AHMED, a prince in the "Arabian Nights," noted for a magic tent
which would expand so as to shelter an army, and contract so that it
could go into one's pocket.


AH`MED SHAH, the founder of the Afghan dynasty and the Afghan power
(1724-1773).


AHMEDNUG`AR (41), a considerable Hindu town 122 m. E. of Bombay.


AHOLIBAH, prostitution personified. See EZEK. XXIII.


AHOLIBAMAH, a grand daughter of Cain, beloved by a seraph, who at
the Flood bore her away to another planet.


AH`RIMAN, the Zoroastrian impersonation of the evil principle, to
whom all the evils of the world are ascribed.


AIDAN, ST., the archbishop of Lindisfarne, founder of the monastery,
and the apostle of Northumbria, sent thither from Iona on the invitation
of King Oswald in 635.


AIGNAN, St., the bishop of Orleans, defended it against Attila and
his Huns in 451.


AIGUILLON, DUKE D', corrupt minister of France, previously under
trial for official plunder of money, which was quashed, at the corrupt
court of Louis XV., and the tool of Mme. Du Barry, with whom he rose and
fell (1720-1782).


AIKIN, DR. JOHN, a popular writer, and author, with Mrs. Barbauld,
his sister, of "Evenings at Home" (1747-1822).


AIKMAN, W., an eminent Scotch portrait-painter (1682-1731).


AILLY, PIERRE D', a cardinal of the Romish Church, and eminent as a
theologian, presided at the council of Constance which condemned Huss
(1350-1420).


AILSA CRAIG, a rocky islet of Ayrshire, 10 m. NW. of Girvan, 2 m. in
circumference, which rises abruptly out of the sea at the mouth of the
Firth of Clyde to a height of 1114 ft.


AIMARD, GUSTAVE, a French novelist, born in Paris; died insane
(1818-1883).


AIME, ST., archbishop of Sens, in France; _d_. 690; festival, 13th
Sept.


AIN, a French river, has its source in the Jura Mts., and falls into
the Rhone; also a department of France between the Rhone and Savoy.


AINMILLER, a native of Muenich, the reviver of glass-painting in
Germany (1807-1870).


AI`NOS, a primitive thick-set, hairy race, now confined to Yezo and
the islands N. of Japan, aboriginal to that quarter of the globe, and
fast dying out.


AINSWORTH, R., an English Latin lexicographer (1660-1743).


AINSWORTH, W. H., a popular English novelist, the author of
"Rookwood" and "Jack Sheppard," as well as novels of an antiquarian and
historical character (1805-1882).


AIN-TAB (20), a Syrian garrison town 60 m. NE. of Aleppo; trade in
hides, leather, and cotton.


AIRD, THOMAS, a Scottish poet, author of the "Devil's Dream," the
"Old Bachelor," and the "Old Scotch Village"; for nearly 30 years editor
of the _Dumfries Herald_ (1802-1876).


AIRDRIE (19), a town in Lanarkshire, 11 m. E. of Glasgow, in a
district rich in iron and coal; is of rapid growth; has cotton-mills,
foundries, etc.


AIRDS MOSS, a moor in Ayrshire, between the rivers Ayr and Lugar.


AIRE, a Yorkshire river which flows into the Ouse; also a French
river, affluent of the Aisne.


AIRY, SIR G. B., an eminent English astronomer, mathematician, and
man of science, astronomer-royal from 1836 to 1881, retired on a pension;
was the first to enunciate the complete theory of the rainbow.


AISNE, a French river which, after a course of 150 m., falls into
the Oise near Compiegne; also a department in the N. of France.


AISSE, MLLE., a Circassienne brought to France about 1700; left
letters on French society in the eighteenth century, sparkling with wit
and full of interest.


AITON, WM., a botanist, born in Lanarkshire, the first director of
the Royal Gardens at Kew (1731-1793).


AITZEMA, LEO, historian of Friesland (1600-1669).


AIX (22), a town, the ancient capital of Provence, 20 m. N. of
Marseilles, the seat of an archbishop and a university; founded by the
Romans 123 B.C.; near it Marius defeated the Teutons.


AIX, ISLE OF, island in the Atlantic, at the mouth of the Charente.


AIX-LA-CHAPELLE` (103), in Rhenish Prussia, one of the oldest cities
in Germany, made capital of the German empire by Charlemagne; derives its
name from its mineral springs; is a centre of manufacturing industries
and an important trade; is celebrated for its octagonal cathedral (in the
middle of which is a stone marking the burial-place of Charlemagne), for
treaties of peace in 1668 and 1748, and for a European congress in 1818.


AIX-LES-BAINS`, a small town near Chambery, in the dep. of Savoy,
and much frequented by invalids for its waters and baths.


AJAC`CIO (18), the capital of Corsica, the birthplace of the
Bonaparte family, of Cardinal Fesch, and Bacciochi.


AJALON, VALLEY OF, in Palestine, scene of a battle between Joshua
and five Canaanitish kings, during which the sun and moon stood still at
the prayer of Joshua, to enable him to finish his victory.


A`JAN COAST, a district on the E. coast of Africa, from Cape
Guardafui to the mouth of the Juba, under the protectorate of Germany.


A`JAX the name of two Greek heroes in the Trojan war, and the
synonym of a fiery and impetuous warrior: AJAX, the son of Telamon
of Sparta, one of the bravest of the Greeks, who, on the death of
Achilles, contended with Ulysses for his arms, but was defeated, in
consequence of which he lost his reason and put an end to his life; and
AJAX, the son of Oileus, swift of foot, like Achilles, who suffered
shipwreck on his homeward voyage, as a judgment for an outrage he
perpetrated on the person of Cassandra in the temple of Athena in Troy.


AJMERE` (68), a city in a small territory in the heart of Rajputana,
under the rule of the Viceroy; well built, and contains some famous
edifices.


AJODHYA, an ancient city of Oudh, 77 m. E. of Lucknow, once, on
religious grounds, one of the largest and most magnificent cities of
India, now in ruins; the modern town is an insignificant place, but has
an annual fair, attended by often 600,000 pilgrims.


AK`ABA, a gulf forming the NE. inlet of the Red Sea.


AKAKIA, DOCTOR, a satire of a very biting nature by Voltaire,
directed against pretentious pedants of science in the person of
Maupertuis, the President of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin,
which so excited the anger of Frederick the Great, the patron of the
Academy, that he ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, after
30,000 copies of it had been sold in Paris!


AKAKIA, MARTIN, physician of Francis I., born at Chalons-sur-Marne,
his real name being Sans-Malice; _d_. 1551.


AK`BAR, the great Mogul emperor of India, who, after a minority of a
few years, assumed the reins of government at the age of eighteen, and in
ten or twelve years, such was his power of conquest, had the whole of
India north of the Vindhya Mts. subject to his rule. He was wise in
government as well as powerful in war, and one of the most large-minded
and largest-hearted rulers recorded in history. He reigned half a century
(1542-1605).


AKENSIDE, MARK, an English physician, who wrote, among other
productions and pieces, the "Hymn to the Naiads," especially a poem
entitled the "Pleasures of Imagination," much quoted from at one time,
and suggested by the study of Addison on the Imagination in the
_Spectator_ (1721-1770).


AKERS, B. P., an able American sculptor (1825-1861).


AKERMAN` (55), a fortified town in Bessarabia, at the mouth of the
Dniester.


AKIBA, BEN JOSEPH, a famous Jewish rabbi of the 2nd century, a great
authority in the matter of Jewish tradition, flayed alive by the Romans
for being concerned in a revolt in 135.


AKKAS, a wandering race of negro dwarfs in Central Africa, with
large heads and slender necks, who live by hunting.


AKRON (27), a town in Ohio, U.S., seat of manufactures and centre
of traffic.


AKSAKOF`, a Russian litterateur and advocate of Panslavism
(1823-1886).


AKSU (20), a trading town in E. Turkestan, 250 m. NE. of Yarkand.


AK`YAB (37), the capital of Aracan, in British Burmah, 90 m. SE. of
Calcutta.


AL RAKIM, the dog that guarded the SEVEN SLEEPERS (q. v.),
and that stood by them all through their long sleep.


ALABA`MA (1,513), one of the United States of N. America, traversed
by a river of the name, a little larger than England, highly fertile and
a great cotton-growing country, and abounding in iron, coal, and marble,
bounded on the W. by the Mississippi, on the N. by Tennessee, and the E.
by Georgia.


ALABAMA, THE, a vessel built in Birkenhead for the Confederates in
the late American Civil War, for the devastation done by which, according
to the decision of a court of arbitration, the English Government had to
pay heavy damages of three millions of money.


ALACOQUE, MARIE, a French nun of a mystic tendency, the founder of
the devotion of the Sacred Heart (1647-1690).


ALAD`DIN, one of the chiefs of the Assassins in the 13th century,
better known by the name of the Old Man of the Mountain.


ALADDIN, a character in the "Arabian Nights," who became possessed
of a wonderful lamp and a wonderful ring, by rubbing which together he
could call two evil genii to do his bidding.


ALADINISTS, free-thinkers among the Mohammedans.


ALAGO`AS (397), a maritime province of Brazil, N. of Pernambuco,
with tropical products as well as fine timber and dye-woods.


ALAIN DE L'ISLE, a professor of theology in the University of Paris,
surnamed the _Doctor universel_ (1114-1203).


ALAINS. See ALANS.


ALAIS` (18), a town at the foot of the Cevennes, in the centre of a
mining district; once the stronghold of French Protestantism.


ALAMAN`NI, LUIGI, an Italian poet and diplomatist, born at Florence
(1495-1556).


ALAND ISLES, a group of 300 small islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, of
which 80 are inhabited; fortified by Russia.


ALANS, a barbarous horde from the East, who invaded W. Europe in the
4th and 5th centuries, but were partly exterminated and partly ousted by
the Visigoths.


ALAR`CON Y MENDO`ZA, JUAN RUIZ DE, a Spanish dramatist born in
Mexico, who, though depreciated by his contemporaries, ranks after 200
years of neglect among the foremost dramatic geniuses of Spain, next even
to Cervantes and Lope de Vega; he was a humpback, had an offensive air of
conceit, and was very unpopular; he wrote at least twenty dramas, some of
which have been translated into French; _d_. in 1639.


AL`ARIC I., the king of the Visigoths, a man of noble birth, who, at
the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century, ravaged Greece,
invaded Italy, and took and pillaged Rome; died at Cosenza, in Calabria,
in 412, at the early age of thirty-four.


ALARIC II., king of the Visigoths, whose dominions included all Gaul
and most of Spain; defeated by the Franks at Poitiers, and killed by the
hand of Clovis, their king, in 567.


ALARIC COTIN, Voltaire's nickname for Frederick the Great, the
former in recognition of him as a warrior, the latter as a would-be
litterateur, after an indifferent French poet of the name of Cotin.


ALAS`CO, JOHN, the uncle of Sigismund, king of Poland, and a zealous
promoter in Poland of the Reformation, the friend of Erasmus and
Zwinglius (1499-1560).


ALAS`KA (32), an immense territory belonging to the U.S. by
purchase from Russia, extending from British N. America to Behring
Strait; it is poor in resources, and the inhabitants, who are chiefly
Indians and Eskimos, live by hunting and fishing, and by the export of
salmon; seal fishery valuable, however.


ALASNAM, a hero related of in the "Arabian Nights" as having erected
eight statues of gold, and in quest of a statue for a ninth unoccupied
pedestal, finding what he wanted in the person of a beautiful woman for a
wife.


ALAS`TOR, an avenging spirit, given to torment families whose
history has been stained by some crime.


A`LAVA (97), the southernmost of the three Basque provinces of
Spain, largest, but least populous; rich in minerals, and fertile in
soil.


ALAVA, RICARDO DE, a Spanish general, born in Vittoria, joined the
national party, and was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, and
became eventually ambassador to London and Paris (1771-1843).


ALBA LONGA, a city of Latium older than Rome.


ALBACETE (229), a province in Spain, with a capital (30) of same
name, 173 m. SE. of Madrid.


ALBAN LAKE, near Alban Mount, 6 m. in circuit, occupying the basin
of an extinct volcano, its surface 961 ft. above the sea-level.


ALBAN MOUNT, a small mountain overlooking Alba Longa.


ALBAN, ST., the first martyr in Britain to the Christian faith in
303; represented in art as carrying his head between his hands, having
been beheaded.


ALBA`NI, an Italian painter, a disciple of Caracci, born at Bologna;
surnamed the Anacreon of painting; his pictures more distinguished for
grace than vigour.


ALBA`NI, an illustrious Roman family, members of which attained the
highest dignities in the Church, one, Clement XI., having been Pope.


ALBANI, MME., _nee_ Emma la Jeunesse, a well-known and highly
popular operatic singer of French-Canadian descent; _b_. 1847.


ALBA`NIA, a region in Balkan peninsula, on the Adriatic, extending
from Servia to Greece.


ALBANO, LAKE OF, a small crater-like lake 15 m. SE. of Rome, near
which rises the Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has a villa.


ALBANY, the old Celtic name for the Scottish highlands.


ALBANY, a town in W. Australia, on King George Sound, 261 m. SE. of
Perth, a port of call for Australian liners; also the capital (94) of the
State of New York, on the Hudson River, a well-appointed city; seat of
justice for the State, with a large trade and numerous manufactures.


ALBANY, COUNTESS OF, wife of English pretender, Prince Charles
Stuart, a dissolute woman (1753-1824).


ALBANY, THE DUKE OF, a title formerly given to a member of the royal
family, and revived in the present reign.


ALBANY, DUCHESS OF, daughter of Prince Waldeck Pyrmont and widow of
Prince Leopold of England; _b_. 1861, widow since 1884.


ALBATEGNI, a distinguished Arabian astronomer, born in Mesopotamia
in the 9th or 10th century of our era; his observations extended over 50
years; he so improved the methods and instruments of observation as to
earn the title of the Ptolemy of the Arabs.


ALBATROSS, the largest and strongest of sea-birds, that ranges over
the southern seas, often seen far from land; it is a superstition among
sailors that it is disastrous to shoot one.


ALBERO`NI, an Italian of humble birth, became a Cardinal of the
Church and Prime Minister to Philip V. of Spain, wrought hard to restore
Spain to its ancient grandeur, was defeated in his project by the
quadruple alliance of England, France, Austria, and Holland, and obliged
to retire (1664-1752).


ALBERT, archbishop of Mainz, a dignity granted him by Pope Leo X. at
the ransom of L15,000, which he was unable to pay, and which, as the
Pope needed it for building St. Peter's, he borrowed, the Pope granting
him the power to sell indulgences in order to repay the loan, in which
traffic Tetzel was his chief salesman, a trade which roused the wrath of
Luther, and provoked the German Reformation (1450-1545).


ALBERT, the last Grandmaster of the Teutonic knights, who being
"religious in an eminent degree and shaken in his belief" took zealously
to Protestantism and came under the influence of Luther, who advised him
to declare himself Duke of Prussia, under the wing of Sigismund of
Poland, in defiance of the Teutonic order as no longer worthy of bed and
board on the earth, and so doing, became founder of the Prussian State
(1490-1568).


ALBERT, markgrave of Brandenburg, defined by Carlyle "a failure of a
Fritz," with "features" of a Frederick the Great in him, "but who burnt
away his splendid qualities as a mere temporary shine for the able
editors, and never came to anything, full of fire, too much of it
wildfire, not in the least like an Alcibiades except in the change of
fortune he underwent" (1522-1557).


ALBERT, PRINCE, second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,
born Aug. 26, 1819, an accomplished man with a handsome presence, who
became the consort of Queen Victoria in 1840, and from his prudence and
tact was held in the highest honour by the whole community, but died at
Windsor of typhoid fever, Dec. 14, 1861, to the unspeakable sorrow of
both Queen and country.


ALBERT, ST., bishop of Liege, was assassinated by the emissaries of
the Emperor Henry VI. in 1195. Festival, Nov. 21.


ALBERT EDWARD. See WALES, PRINCE OF.


ALBERT I., emperor of Germany from 1298 to 1308, eldest son of
Rudolf of Hapsburg, "a most clutching, strong-fisted, dreadfully hungry,
tough, and unbeautiful man, whom his nephew at last had to assassinate,
and did assassinate, as he crossed the river Reuss with him in a boat,
May 1, 1308."


ALBERT II., a successor, "who got three crowns--Hungary, Bohemia,
and the Imperial--in one year, and we hope a fourth," says the old
historian, "which was a heavenly and eternal one," for he died the next
year, 1439.


ALBERT III., elector of Brandenburg. See ACHILLES OF GERMANY.


ALBERT MEDAL, a medal of gold and of bronze, instituted in 1866,
awarded to civilians for acts of heroism by sea or land.


ALBERT THE BEAR, markgrave of Brandenburg, called the Bear, "not
from his looks or qualities, for he was a tall handsome man, but from the
cognisance on his shield, an able man, had a quick eye as well as a
strong hand, and could pick what way was straightest among crooked
things, was the shining figure and the great man of the North in his day,
got much in the North and kept it, got Brandenburg for one there, a
conspicuous country ever since," says Carlyle, "and which grows more so
in our late times" (1100-1175).


ALBERT NYAN`ZA, a lake in Equatorial Africa, in the Nile basin,
discovered by Sir Samuel Baker in 1864, 150 m. long by 40 broad, and 2500
feet above sea-level.


ALBER`TA (26), a fertile region with large forests in British
America, on the E. slope of the Rocky Mountains, the south abounding in
cattle ranches, and the mountainous districts in minerals.


ALBERTI, an illustrious Florentine family, rivals of the Medicis and
the Albrizzi.


ALBER`TUS MAGNUS, one of the greatest of the scholastic philosophers
and theologians of the Middle Ages, teacher of Thomas Aquinas, supreme in
knowledge of the arts and sciences of the time, and regarded by his
contemporaries in consequence as a sorcerer (1190-1280).


ALBI, a town of some antiquity and note in S. of France, 22 m. NE.
of Toulouse.


ALBIGEN`SES, a religious sect, odious, as heretical, to the Church,
which sprung up about Albi, in the S. of France, in the 12th century,
against which Pope Innocent III. proclaimed a crusade, which was carried
on by Simon de Montfort in the 13th century, and by the Inquisition
afterwards, to their utter annihilation.


ALBINOS, persons or animals with preternaturally pale skin and fair
hair, also with pupils of a red or pink colour, and eyes too weak to bear
full light.


ALBINUS, an able professor of anatomy and therapeutics at Leyden
(1696-1770).


ALBION, a white cliff, the ancient name of Great Britain.


ALBOIN, king of the Lombards in the 6th century, from 561 to 573;
invaded Italy as far as the Tiber, and set up his capital in Pavia;
incurred the resentment of his wife, who had him assassinated for forcing
her to drink wine out of the skull of her father.


ALBORAK, a wonderful horse of Mahomet, an impersonation of the
lightning as his steed.


ALBOR`NOZ, a Spanish statesman, archbishop of Toledo, a bold
defender of the faith against the Moor and a plain-spoken man in the
interest of Christianity (1310-1367).


ALBRECHT. See ALBERT.


ALBRIZZI, a powerful Florentine family, rivals of the Medicis and
the Alberti.


ALBUE`RA, a Spanish village 12 m. SE. of Badajoz, scene of a victory
(May 16, 1811) of General Beresford over Marshal Soult.


ALBUFE`RA, a lake on the coast of Spain, 7 m. S. of Valencia, near
which Marshal Suchet gained a victory over the English in 1811.


AL`BULA, Swiss mountain pass in the canton of Grisons, 7595 ft.
high.


ALBUMEN, a glairy substance a constituent of plants and animals, and
found nearly pure in the white of an egg or in the serum of the blood.


ALBUQUERQUE`, ALFONSO D', a celebrated Portuguese patriot and
navigator, the founder of the Portuguese power in India, who, after
securing a footing in India for Portugal that he sought for, settled in
Goa, where his recall at the instance of jealous rivals at home gave him
such a shock that he died of a broken heart just as he was leaving. The
Indians long remembered his benign rule, and used to visit his tomb to
pray him to deliver them from the oppression of his successors
(1453-1513).


ALBYN, ancient Celtic name of Scotland.


ALCAE`US OF MITYLENE, a Greek lyric poet, an aristocrat by birth, a
contemporary and an alleged lover of Sappho, and much admired by Horace;
flourished about 600 B.C.


ALCA`LA DE HENA`RES (14), a town in Spain, the birthplace of
Cervantes, 21 m. E. of Madrid, long the seat of a famous university
founded by Cardinal Ximenes.


ALCAN`TARA, a town of Spain, on the Tagus, near Portugal, with a
bridge of six arches, 670 ft. long and 210 ft. high, built in honour of
Trajan in 104. The Order of Alcantara, a religious and military order,
was established in 1176 here, for defence against the Moors, and was
suppressed in 1835.


ALCESTE, the chief character in Moliere's _Misanthrope_.


ALCES`TIS, the wife of Admetus, who gave herself up to death to save
her husband. Hercules descended to the lower world and brought her back.
She is the subject of one of the tragedies of Euripides.


ALCHEMY, the early analysis of substances which has in modern times
developed into chemistry, and which aimed chiefly at the discovery of the
philosopher's stone, of a universal solvent, and of the elixir of life;
it has been defined to be "an art without art, which has its beginning in
falsehood, its middle in toil, and its end in poverty."


ALCIBI`ADES, an Athenian of high birth, and related to Pericles,
possessed of a handsome person, brilliant abilities, and great wealth,
but was of a wayward temper and depraved, whom Socrates tried hard to win
over to virtue, but failed. He involved his country in a rash expedition
against Sicily, served and betrayed it by turns in the Peloponnesian war,
and died by assassination in exile (450-404 B.C.).


ALCI`DES, the grandson of Alcaeus, a patronymic of Hercules.


ALCIN`OUS, a king of the Phaeacians, the father of Nausicaa, who
figures in the Odyssey as the host of Ulysses, who had been shipwrecked
on his shore.


ALCI`RA (18), a walled town in Spain, on an island 22 m. SW. of
Valencia.


ALCMAN, an early Greek lyric poet, born at Sardis.


ALCME`NE, the wife of Amphitryon and the mother of Hercules.


ALCMEONIDAE, a powerful Athenian family, of which Pericles and
Alcibiades were members, who professed to be descended from Alcmaeon, the
grandson of Nestor.


ALCOCK, JOHN, an eminent ecclesiastic of the reign of Edward IV.,
distinguished for his love of learning and learned men; _d_. 1500.


ALCOHOL, pure or highly rectified spirit obtained from fermented
saccharine solutions by distillation, and the intoxicating principle of
all spirituous liquors.


ALCOHOLISM, the results, acute or chronic, of the deleterious action
of alcohol on the human system.


ALCORAN`. See KORAN.


ALCOTT, LOUISA MARY, a popular American authoress, who acted as a
nurse to the wounded during the Civil War; her works mostly addressed to
the young (1832-1888).


ALCOY (30), a town in Spain, N. of Alicanti; staple manufacture,
paper.


AL`CUIN, a learned Englishman, a disciple of Bede; invited by
Charlemagne to introduce scholarly culture into the empire and establish
libraries and schools of learning; was one of those men whose work lies
more in what they influence others to do than in what they do themselves
(735-804).


ALCY`ONE, daughter of AEolus, who threw herself into the sea after
her husband, who had perished in shipwreck, and was changed into the
kingfisher.


ALDE`BARAN, the bull's-eye, a star of the first magnitude in the eye
of the constellation Taurus; it is the sun in the Arabian mythology.


ALDEHYDE, a limpid, very volatile liquid, of a suffocating odour,
obtained from the oxidation of alcohol.


AL`DERNEY (2), one of the Channel Islands, 3 or 4 m. long by 2
broad, celebrated for its breed of cows; separated from Cape de la Hogue
by the dangerous Race of Alderney.


AL`DERSHOT, a permanent camp, established in 1855, for instruction
in military manoeuvres, on a moorland 35 m. SW. of London.


ALDINE EDITIONS, editions, chiefly of the classics, issued from the
press of Aldus Manutius in Venice in the 16th century, and remarkable for
the correctness of the text and the beauty and clearness of the printing.


ALDINGAR, SIR, legendary character, the steward of Eleanor, wife of
Henry II., who accused her of infidelity, and offered to substantiate the
charge by combat, when an angel in the form of a child appeared and
certified her innocence.


ALDOBRANDINI, a Florentine jurisconsult (1500-1558).


AL`DRED, bishop of Worcester in the reign of Edward the Confessor,
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, became archbishop of York, and crowned
the last of the Saxon and the first of the Norman kings of England; _d_.
1063.


AL`DRICH, dean of Oxford, an accomplished ecclesiastic; was a
skilful musician, and composed many services for the Church; wrote a
system of logic, long in use in Oxford University (1647-1710).


ALDROVAN`DI, ULYSSES, a famous Italian naturalist of Bologna, who
collected an immense body of interesting facts in natural history,
published partly in his lifetime and partly after his death (1522-1607).


ALDUS MANUTIUS, or ALDO MANUZIO, an Italian printer, born at
Bassano, established a printing-office in Venice in 1488, issued the
celebrated Aldine Editions of the classics, and invented the italic type,
for the exclusive use of which for many years he obtained a patent,
though the honour of the invention is more probably due to his
typefounder, Franciso de Bologna, than to him (1447-1515).


ALEC`TO, one of the three Eumenides or Furies.


ALEMAN`, a Spanish novelist, author of the celebrated romance
_Guzman de Alfarache_, which in 6 years ran through 26 editions, was
translated several times into French; died in Mexico in 1610.


ALEMAN`NI, a confederacy of tribes which appeared on the banks of
the Rhine in the 3rd cent., and for long gave no small trouble to Rome,
but whose incursions were arrested, first by Maximinus, and finally by
Clovis in 496, who made them subject to the Franks, hence the modern
names in French for Germany and the Germans.


ALEMTE`JO (369), a southern province of Portugal; soil fertile to
the east.


ALENCON (17), a town in the dep. of Orne, 105 m. W. of Paris, once
famous for its lace.


ALENCON, COUNTS AND DUKES OF, a title borne by several members of
the house of Valois--e. g. CHARLES OF VALOIS, who fell at Crecy
(1346); JEAN IV., who fell at Agincourt (1415).


ALEP`PO (130), a city in Northern Syria, one of the finest in the
East, once one of the greatest trading centres in the world.


ALE`SIA, a strong place in the E. of Gaul, which, as situated on a
hill and garrisoned by 80,000 Gauls, cost Caesar no small trouble to take.


ALESIUS, or ALANE, a noted Reformer, born in Edinburgh,
converted to Protestantism by Patrick Hamilton; was driven first from
Scotland and then from England, till he settled as a theological
professor in Germany, and took an active part in the Reformation there
(1500-1563).


ALESSANDRIA (78), a strongly fortified and stirring town on the
Tenaro, in Northern Italy, the centre of 8 railways, 55 m. SE. of Turin.


ALESSI, architect, born at Perugia, architect of the monastery and
church of the ESCURIAL, q. v. (1500-1572).


ALETSCH GLACIER, THE, the largest of the glaciers of the Alps, which
descends round the south of the Jungfrau into the valley of the Upper
Rhone.


ALEU`TIAN ISLANDS (2) a chain of volcanic islands, 150 in number,
stretching over the N. Pacific from Alaska in N. America, to Kamchatka,
in Asia.


ALEXANDER THE GREAT, the king of Macedonia, son of Philip by
Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus; born at Pella,
356 B.C.; had the philosopher Aristotle for tutor, and being instructed
by him in all kinds of serviceable knowledge, ascended the throne on the
death of his father, at the age of 20; after subduing Greece, had himself
proclaimed generalissimo of the Greeks against the Persians, and in 2
years after his accession crossed the Hellespont, followed by 30,000 foot
and 5000 horse; with these conquered the army of Darius the Persian at
Granicus in 334 and at Issus in 333; subdued the principal cities of
Syria, overran Egypt, and crossing the Euphrates and Tigris, routed the
Persians at Arbela; hurrying on farther, he swept everything before him,
till the Macedonians refusing to advance, he returned to Babylon, when he
suddenly fell ill of fever, and in eleven days died at the early age of
32. He is said to have slept every night with his Homer and his sword
under his pillow, and the inspiring idea of his life, all unconsciously
to himself belike, is defined to have been the right of Greek
intelligence to override and rule the merely glittering barbarity of the
East.


ALEXANDER, ST., patriarch of Alexandria from 311 to 326, contributed
to bring about the condemnation of Arius at the Council of Nice;
festival, Feb 26.


ALEXANDER, SOLOMON, first Protestant bishop of Jerusalem, of Jewish
birth, cut off during a journey to Cairo (1799-1845).


ALEXANDER III., pope, successor to Adrian IV., an able man, whose
election Barbarossa at first opposed, but finally assented to; took the
part of Thomas a Becket against Henry II. and canonised him, as also St.
Bernard. Pope from 1159 to 1181.


ALEXANDER VI., called Borgia from his mother, a Spaniard by birth,
obtained the popehood by bribery in 1492 in succession to Innocent VIII.,
lived a licentious life and had several children, among others the
celebrated Lucretia and the infamous Caesar Borgia; _d_. in 1503, after a
career of crime, not without suspicion of poison. In addition to
Alexanders III. and VI., six of the name were popes: Alexander I., pope
from 108 to 117; Alexander II., pope from 1061 to 1073; Alexander IV.,
pope from 1254 to 1261; Alexander V., pope from 1409 to 1410; Alexander
VII., pope from 1653 to 1667, who was forced to kiss his hand to Louis
XIV.; Alexander VIII., pope from 1689 to 1691.


ALEXANDER I., king of Scotland, son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret,
sister of Edgar Atheling, a vigorous prince, surnamed on that account
_The Fierce_; subdued a rising in the North, and stood stoutly in defence
of the independent rights of both Crown and Church against the claim of
supremacy over both on the part of England; _d_. 1124.


ALEXANDER II., of Scotland, successor of William the Lion, his
father, a just and wise ruler, aided the English barons against John, and
married Joan, the sister of Henry III.; _d_. 1249.


ALEXANDER III., son of the preceding, married a daughter of Henry
III., sided with him against the barons, successfully resisted the
invasion of Haco, king of Norway, and on the conclusion of peace gave his
daughter in marriage to Haco's successor Eric; accidentally killed by
falling over a cliff near Kinghorn when hunting in 1285.


ALEXANDER I., emperor of Russia, son and successor of Paul I., took
part in the European strife against the encroachments of Napoleon, was
present at the battle of Austerlitz, fought the French at Pultusk and
Eylau, was defeated at Friedland, had an interview with Napoleon at
Tilsit in 1813, entered into a coalition with the other Powers against
France, which ended in the capture of Paris and the abdication of
Napoleon in 1814. Under his reign Russia rose into political importance
in Europe (1777-1825).


ALEXANDER II., emperor of Russia, son and successor of Nicholas I.,
fell heir to the throne while the siege of Sebastopol was going on; on
the conclusion of a peace applied himself to reforms in the state and the
consolidation and extension of the empire. His reign is distinguished by
a ukase decreeing in 1861 the emancipation of the serfs numbering 23
millions, by the extension of the empire in the Caucasus and Central
Asia, and by the war with Turkey in the interest of the Slavs in 1877-78,
which was ended by the peace of San Stephano, revised by the treaty of
Berlin. His later years were clouded with great anxiety, owing to the
spread of Nihilism, and he was killed by a bomb thrown at him by a
Nihilist (1818-1881).


ALEXANDER III., emperor of Russia, son of the preceding, followed in
the footsteps of his father, and showed a marked disposition to live on
terms of peace with the other Powers; his reign not distinguished by any
very remarkable event. The present Czar is his son and successor
(1845-1894).


ALEXANDER I., king of Servia, _b_. 1876.


ALEXANDER NEVSKY, grand-duke of Russia, conquered the Swedes, the
Danes, and the Teutonic Knights on the banks of the Neva, freed Russia
from tribute to the Mongols, is one of the saints of the Russian Church.


ALEXANDER OF HALES, the _Doctor irrefragabilis_ of the Schools, an
English ecclesiastic, a member of the Franciscan order, who in his "Summa
Universae Theologiae" formulated, by severe rigour of Aristotelian logic,
the theological principles and ecclesiastical rites of the Romish Church;
_d_. in 1222.


ALEXANDER OF PARIS, a Norman poet of the 16th century, who wrote a
poem on Alexander the Great in twelve-syllabled lines, called after him
Alexandrines.


ALEXANDER OF THE NORTH, Charles XII. of Sweden.


ALEXANDER SEVE`RUS, a Roman emperor, a wise, virtuous, and pious
prince, conquered Artaxerxes, king of Persia, in an expedition against
him, but setting out against the Germans, who were causing trouble on the
frontiers of the empire, fell a victim, along with his mother, to an
insurrection among his troops not far from Mainz (205-235).


ALEXAN`DRIA (230), a world-famous city, the chief port of Egypt,
founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., at one time a great centre
of learning, and in possession of the largest library of antique
literature in the world, which was burned by the Caliph Omar in 640; at
one time a place of great commerce, but that has very materially decayed
since the opening of the Suez Canal. Alexandria, from its intimate
connection with both East and West, gave birth in early times to a
speculative philosophy which drew its principles from eastern as well as
western sources, which was at its height on the first encounter of these
elements.


ALEXANDRIA (14), a town on the Potomac, 7 m. S. of Washington,
accessible to vessels of the largest size; also a thriving town (7) on
the river Leven, 3 m. N. of Dumbarton.


ALEXANDRIAN CODEX, an MS. on parchment of the Septuagint Scriptures
in Greek in uncial letters, which belonged to the library of the
patriarchs of Alexandra.


ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY, the library burned by the Caliph Omar in 642,
said to have contained 700,000 volumes.


ALEXANDRI`NA LAKE, a lake in Australia into which the river Murray
flows.


ALEXANDRINE PHILOSOPHY, a Gnostic philosophy, combining eastern with
western forms of thought.


ALEXANDRINES. See ALEXANDER OF PARIS.


ALEXAN`DROPOL (22), the largest town in the Erivan district of
Russian Armenia, and a fortress of great strength.


ALEXIS, ST., the patron saint of beggars and pilgrims, represented
in art with a staff and in a pilgrim's habit; sometimes lying on a mat,
with a letter in his hand, dying.


ALEXIS MICHAELOVITCH, czar of Russia, the father of Peter the Great,
the first czar who acted on the policy of cultivating friendly relations
with other European states (1630-1677).


ALEXIS PETROVITCH, son of Peter the Great, conspired against his
father as he had broken the heart of his mother, was condemned to death;
after his trial by secret judges he was found dead in prison (1695-1718).


ALEXIUS COMNE`NUS, emperor of the East, began life as a soldier, was
a great favourite with the soldiers, who, in a period of anarchy, raised
him to the throne at the period of the first crusade, when the empire was
infested by Turks on the one hand and Normans on the other, while the
crusaders who passed through his territory proved more troublesome than
either. He managed to hold the empire together in spite of these
troubles, and to stave off the doom that impended all through his reign
of thirty-seven years (1048-1118).


ALFA, an esparto grass valuable for making paper.


AL`FADUR, the All-Father or uncreated supreme in the Norse
mythology.


ALFARA`BI, an Arabian philosopher of the 10th century, had Avicenna
for a disciple, wrote on various subjects, and was the first to attempt
an encyclopedic work.


ALFIE`RI, an Italian dramatist, spent his youth in dissipation
before he devoted himself to the dramatic art; on the success of his
first drama "Cleopatra," met at Florence with the Countess of Albany, the
wife of Charles Edward Stuart, on whose death he married her; was at
Paris when the Revolution broke out, and returned to Florence, where he
died and was buried. Tragedy was his _forte_ as a dramatist (1749-1803).


ALFONSINE TABLES, astronomical tables drawn up at Toledo by order of
Alfonso X. in 1252 to correct the anomalies in the Ptolemaic tables; they
divided the year into 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, 16 seconds.


ALFONSO I., the "Conqueror," founder of the kingdom of Portugal, was
the first king, originally only count, as his father before him; in that
capacity took up arms against the Moors, and defeating them had himself
proclaimed king on the field of battle, a title confirmed to him by the
Pope and made good by his practically subjecting all Portugal to his sway
(1110-1185).


ALFONSO X., the Wise, or the Astronomer, king of Castile and Leon,
celebrated as an astronomer and a philosopher; after various successes
over the Moors, first one son and then another rose against him and drove
him from the throne; died of chagrin at Seville two years later. His fame
connects itself with the preparation of the Alfonsine Tables, and the
remark that "the universe seemed a crank machine, and it was a pity the
Creator had not taken advice." It was a saying of his, "old wood to burn,
old books to read, old wine to drink, and old friends to converse with"
(1226-1284).


ALFONSO III., surnamed the Great, king of Asturias, ascended the
throne in 866, fought against and gained numerous victories over the
Moors; the members of his family rose against him and compelled him to
abdicate, but on a fresh incursion of the Moors he came forth from his
retreat and triumphantly beat them back; died in Zamora, 910.


ALFORD, HENRY, vicar of Wymeswold and afterwards Dean of Canterbury;
his works and writings were numerous, and included poems and hymns. His
great work, however, was an edition of the Greek New Testament, with
notes, various readings, and comments (1810-1871).


ALFORD, MICHAEL, a learned English Jesuit, left two great works,
"Britannia Illustrata" and "Annales Ecclesiastici et Civiles
Britannorum."


ALFRED, DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG AND GOTHA, son of Prince Albert and
Queen Victoria; _b_. 1844.


ALFRED THE GREAT, king of the West Saxons, and the most celebrated
and greatest of all the Saxon kings. His troubles were with the Danes,
who at the time of his accession infested the whole country north of the
Thames; with these he fought nine battles with varied success, till after
a lull of some years he was surprised by Gunthrum, then king, in 878, and
driven to seek refuge on the island of Athelney. Not long after this he
left his retreat and engaged Gunthrum at Edington, and after defeating
him formed a treaty with him, which he never showed any disposition to
break. After this Alfred devoted himself to legislation, the
administration of government, and the encouragement of learning, being a
man of letters himself. England owes much to him both as a man and a
ruler, and it was he who in the creation of a fleet laid the first
foundation of her greatness as monarch of the deep. His literary works
were translations of the "General History" of Orosius, the
"Ecclesiastical History" of Bede, Boethius's "Consolations of
Philosophy," and the "Cura Pastoralis" of Pope Gregory, all executed for
the edification of his subjects (849-901).


ALGAE, sea-weeds and plants of the same order under fresh water as
well as salt; they are flowerless, stemless, and cellular throughout.


ALGAR`DI, an Italian sculptor of note, born at Bologna; his greatest
work is an alto-relievo, the largest existing, of Pope Leo restraining
Attila from marching on Rome (1602-1654).


ALGARO`TTI, FRANCESCO, a clever Italian author, born at Venice,
whom, for his wit, Frederick the Great was attached to and patronised,
"one of the first _beaux esprits_ of the age," according to Wilhelmina,
Frederick's sister. Except his wit, it does not appear Frederick got much
good out of him, for the want of the due practical faculty, all the
faculty he had having evaporated in talk (1712-1764).


ALGAR`VE (240), the southernmost province of Portugal, hilly, but
traversed with rich valleys, which yield olives, vines, oranges, &c.


ALGEBRA, a universal arithmetic of Arabian origin or Arabian
transmission, in which symbols are employed to denote operations, and
letters to represent number and quantity.


ALGE`RIA, in the N. of Africa, belongs to France, stretches between
Morocco on the W. and Tripoli and Tunis on the E., the country being
divided into the Tell along the sea-coast, which is fertile, the Atlas
Highlands overlooking it on the S., on the southern slopes of which are
marshy lakes called "shotts," on which alfa grows wild, and the Sahara
beyond, rendered habitable here and there by the creation of artesian
wells; its extent nearly equal in area to that of France, and the
population numbers about four millions, of which only a quarter of a
million is French. The country is divided into Departments, of which
Algiers, Oran, and Constantine are the respective capitals. It has been
successively under the sway of the Carthaginians, the Romans, the
Vandals, the Arabs, the Byzantines, and the Berbers, which last were in
the 16th century supplanted by the Turks. At the end of this period it
became a nest of pirates, against whom a succession of expeditions were
sent from several countries of Europe, but it was only with the conquest
of it by the French in 1830 that this state of things was brought to an
end.


ALGESI`RAS (12), a town and port in Spain on the Bay of Gibraltar, 5
m. across the bay; for centuries a stronghold of the Moors, but taken
from them by Alfonso IX. after a siege of twenty months.


ALGIERS` (75), the capital of Algeria, founded by the Arabs in 935,
called the "silver city," from the glistening white of its buildings as
seen sloping up from the sea, presenting a striking appearance, was for
centuries under its Bey the head-quarters of piracy in the Mediterranean,
which only began to cease when Lord Exmouth bombarded the town and
destroyed the fleet in the harbour. Since it fell into the hands of the
French the city has been greatly improved, the fortifications
strengthened, and its neighbourhood has become a frequent resort of
English people in winter.


ALGINE, a viscous gum obtained from certain sea-weeds, used as size
for textile fabrics, and for thickening soups and jellies.


ALGO`A BAY, an inlet at the E. of Cape Colony, 20 m. wide, on which
Port Elizabeth stands, 425 m. E. of the Cape of Good Hope.


AL`GOL, a double star in the constellation Perseus, of changing
brightness.


ALGONQUINS, one of the three aboriginal races of N. American
Indians, originally occupying nearly the whole region from the Churchill
and Hudson Bay southward to N. Carolina, and from the E. of the Rocky
Mts. to Newfoundland; the language they speak has been divided into five
dialects.


ALHAM`BRA (Red Castle), an ancient palace and stronghold of the
Moorish kings of Granada, founded by Muhammed II. in 1213, decorated with
gorgeous arabesques by Usuf I. (1345), erected on the crest of a hill
which overlooks Granada; has suffered from neglect, bad usage, and
earthquake.


A`LI, the cousin of Mahomet, and one of his first followers at the
age of sixteen, "a noble-minded creature, full of affection and fiery
daring. Something chivalrous in him; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a
truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood." Became Caliph in
656, died by assassination in the Mosque at Bagdad; the Sheiks yearly
commemorate his death. See Carlyle's "Heroes."


ALI BABA. See BABA, ALI.


A`LI PASHA, pasha of Janina, a bold and crafty Albanian, able man,
and notorious for his cruelty as well as craft; alternately gained the
favour of the Porte and lost it by the alliances he formed with hostile
powers, until the Sultan sentenced him to deposition, and sent Hassan
Pasha to demand his head; he offered violent resistance but being
overpowered at length surrendered, when his head was severed from his
body and sent to Constantinople (1741-1822).


ALICAN`TE (40), the third seaport-town in Spain, with a spacious
harbour and strongly fortified, in a province of the same name on the
Mediterranean.


ALIGARH` (61), a town with a fort between Agra and Delhi, the
garrison of which mutinied in 1857.


ALIGHIE`RI, the family name of Dante.


AL`IMA, an affluent on the right bank of the Congo, in French
territory.


ALIMENTARY CANAL, a passage 5 or 6 times the length of the body,
lined throughout with mucous membrane, extends from the mouth to the
anus, and includes mouth, fauces, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, and small
and large intestines.


ALISON, ARCHIBALD, an Episcopal clergyman in Edinburgh, of which he
was a native, best known for his "Essay on the Nature and Principles of
Taste" (1757-1839).


ALISON, SIR ARCHIBALD, son of the preceding, a lawyer who held
several prominent legal appointments, and a historian, his great work
being a "Modern History of Europe from the French Revolution to the Fall
of Napoleon," afterwards extended to the "Accession of Louis Napoleon"
(1792-1867).


ALISON, W. PULTENEY, brother of the preceding, professor of medicine
in Edinburgh University, and a philanthropist (1790-1859).


ALIWAL`, a village in the Punjab, on the Sutlej, where Sir Harry
Smith gained a brilliant victory over the Sikhs, who were provided with
forces in superior numbers, in 1846.


AL`KAHEST, the presumed universal solvent of the alchemists.


ALKALIES, bodies which, combining with acids form salts, are soluble
in water, and properly four in number, viz., potash, soda, lithia, and
ammonia.


ALKALINE EARTHS, earths not soluble in water, viz., lime, magnesia,
strontia, and baryta.


ALKALOIDS, bodies of vegetable origin, similar in their properties,
as well as toxicologically, to alkalies; contain as a rule carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen; many of them are poisonous and invaluable
in medicine.


ALKMAAR` (14), the capital of N. Holland, 25 m. NW. of Amsterdam,
with a large trade in cattle, grain, and cheese.


ALKMER, HENRIK VAN, the reputed author of the first German version
of "Reynard the Fox."


ALL THE TALENTS, ADMINISTRATION OF, a ministry formed by Lord
Grenville on the death of Pitt in 1806.


AL`LAH, the Adorable, the Arab name for God, adopted by the
Mohammedans as the name of the one God.


ALLAHABAD` (175), the City of God, a central city of British India,
on the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna, 550 m. from Calcutta, and
on the railway between that city and Bombay.


ALLAN, DAVID, a Scottish portrait and historical painter, born at
Alloa; illustrated Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd"; his greatest work is the
"Origin of Painting," now in the National Gallery at Edinburgh
(1744-1796).


ALLAN, SIR WILLIAM, a distinguished Scottish historical painter,
born at Edinburgh, many of his paintings being on national subjects; he
was a friend of Scott, who patronised his work, and in succession to
Wilkie, president of the Royal Scottish Academy; painted "Circassian
Captives" and "Slave-Market at Constantinople" (1782-1850).


ALLANTOIS, a membrane enveloping the foetus in mammals, birds, and
reptiles.


ALLARD`, a French general, entered the service of Runjeet Singh at
Lahore, trained his troops in European war tactics, and served him
against the Afghans; died at Peshawar (1785-1839).


ALLEGHA`NY (105), a manufacturing city in Pennsylvania, on the Ohio,
opposite Pittsburg, of which it is a kind of suburb.


ALLEGHA`NY MOUNTAINS, a range in the Appalachian system in U.S.,
extending from Pennsylvania to N. Carolina; do not exceed 2400 ft. in
height, run parallel with the Atlantic coast, and form the watershed
between the Atlantic rivers and the Mississippi.


ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION, assigning a higher than a literal
interpretation to the Scripture record of things, in particular the Old
Testament story.


ALLEGORY, a figurative mode of representation, in which a subject of
a higher spiritual order is described in terms of that of a lower which
resembles it in properties and circumstances, the principal subject being
so kept out of view that we are left to construe the drift of it from the
resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject.


ALLEGRI, the family name of Correggio; the name of an Italian
composer, born at Rome, the author of a still celebrated _Miserere_
(1580-1652).


AL`LEINE, JOSEPH, a Puritan writer, author of a book once, and to
some extent still, much in favour among religious people, entitled "Alarm
to the Unconverted" (1632-1674).


ALLEN, BOG OF, a dreary expanse of bogs of peat E. of the Shannon,
in King's Co. and Kildare, Ireland; LOUGH OF, an expansion of the
waters of the Shannon.


ALLEN, ETHAN, one of the early champions of American independence,
taken prisoner in a raid into Canada; wrote a defence of deism and
rational belief (1738-1789).


ALLEN, GRANT, man of letters, born in Kingston, Canada, 1848, and a
prolific writer; an able upholder of the evolution doctrine and an
expounder of Darwinism.


ALLEN, JOHN, an M.D. of Scotch birth, and a contributor to the
_Edinburgh Review_ (1771-1843).


ALLEN, WM., a distinguished chemist and philanthropist, son of a
Spitalfields weaver, a member of the Society of Friends, and a devoted
promoter of its principles (1770-1843).


ALLENTOWN (34), a town on the Lehigh River, 50 m. NW. of
Philadelphia, the great centre of the iron trade in the U.S.


ALLE`RION, in heraldry, an eagle with expanded wings, the points
turned downwards, and without beak or feet.


ALLEYN, EDWARD, a celebrated actor in the reigns of Elizabeth and
James I., the founder of Dulwich College, and was voluntarily along with
his wife one of its first beneficiaries and inmates; was a contemporary
of Shakespeare (1566-1626).


AL`LIA, a stream flowing into the Tiber 11 m. from Rome, where the
Romans were defeated by the Gauls under Brennus, 387 B.C.


ALLIANCE, THE TRIPLE, in 1668, between England, Holland, and Sweden
against Louis XIV.; the QUADRUPLE, in 1718, between France, England,
Holland, and the Empire to maintain the treaty of Utrecht; the HOLY,
in 1815, between Russia, Austria, and Prussia against Liberal ideas; the
TRIPLE, in 1872, between Germany, Austria, and Russia, at the
instigation of Bismarck, from which Russia withdrew in 1886, when Italy
stepped into her place. Under it the signatories in 1887 guarantee the
integrity of their respective territories.


ALLIER, a confluent of the river Loire, in France, near Nevers; also
the department through which it flows.


ALLIES, the name generally given to the confederate Powers who in
1814 and 1815 entered France and restored the Bourbons.


ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM, an English clergyman who turned Roman
Catholic, and wrote, in defence of the step, among others, the "See of
St. Peter, the Rock of the Church."


ALLIGATOR, a N. American fresh-water crocodile, numerous in the
Mississippi and the lakes and rivers of Louisiana and Carolina; subsists
on fish, and though timid, is dangerous when attacked; is slow in
turning, however, and its attacks can be easily evaded.


ALLINGHAM, WILLIAM, a poet and journalist, born in Ireland, of
English origin; his most celebrated works are "Day and Night Songs" and
"Lawerence Bloomfield in Ireland"; was for a time editor of _Fraser's
Magazine_ (1824-1889).


ALLMAN, GEORGE J., M.D., Emeritus Professor of Natural History in
Edinburgh, an eminent naturalist; born in Ireland (1812-1898).


ALLOA (12), a thriving seaport on north bank of the Forth, in
Clackmannan, 6 m. below Stirling, famous for its ale.


ALLOB`ROGES, a Celtic race troublesome to the Romans, who occupied
the country between the Rhone and the Lake of Geneva, corresponding to
Dauphine and Savoy.


ALLOPATHY, in opposition to homoeopathy, the treatment of disease by
producing a condition of the system different from or opposite to the
condition essential to the disease to be cured.


ALLOTROPY, the capability which certain compounds show of assuming
different properties and qualities, although composed of identical
elements.


ALLOWAY, the birthplace of Burns, on the Doon, 2 m. from Ayr, the
assumed scene of Tam o' Shanter's adventure.


ALLOWAY KIRK, a ruin S. of Ayr, celebrated as the scene of the
witches' dance in "Tam o' Shanter."


ALL-SAINTS' DAY, the 1st of November, a feast dedicated to all the
Saints.


ALL-SOULS' DAY, a festival on the 2nd November to pray for the souls
of the faithful deceased, such as may be presumed to be still suffering
in Purgatory.


ALLSPICE, the berry of the pimento, or Jamaica pepper.


ALLSTON, WASHINGTON, an American painter and poet, whose genius was
much admired by Coleridge (1779-1843).


ALMA, a river in the Crimea, half-way between Eupatoria and
Sebastopol, where the allied English, French, and Turkish armies defeated
the Russians under Prince Menschikoff, Sept. 20, 1854.


ALMACK'S, a suite of assembly rooms, afterwards known as Willis's
Rooms, where select balls used to be given, admission to which was a
certificate of high social standing.


ALMADEN (9), a town on the northern slope of the Sierra Morena, in
Spain, with rich mines of quicksilver.


ALMA`GRO, DIEGO D', a confederate of Pizzaro in the conquest of
Peru, but a quarrel with the brothers of Pizzaro about the division of
the spoil on the capture of Cuzco, the capital of Chile, led to his
imprisonment and death (1475-1538).--DIEGO D', his son, who avenged
his death by killing Pizzaro, but being conquered by Vaca de Castro, was
himself put to death (1520-1542).


AL-MAMOUN, the son of HAROUN-EL-RASCHID, the 7th Abbaside
caliph, a great promoter of science and learning; _b_. 833.


ALMANACH DE GOTHA, a kind of European peerage, published annually by
Perthes at Gotha; of late years extended so as to include statesmen and
military people, as well as statistical information.


ALMANSUR, ABU GIAFAR, the 2nd Abbaside caliph and the first of the
caliphs to patronise learning; founded Bagdad, and made it the seat of
the caliphate; _d_. 775.


ALMANSUR, ABU MOHAMMED, a great Moorish general in the end of the
10th century, had overrun and nearly made himself master of all Spain,
when he was repulsed and totally defeated by the kings of Leon and
Navarre in 948.


AL`MA-TAD`EMA, LAURENCE, a distinguished artist of Dutch descent,
settled in London; famous for his highly-finished treatment of classic
subjects; _b_. 1836.


ALMAVIVA, a character in Beaumarchais' _Marriage de Figaro_,
representative of one of the old noblesse of France, recalling all their
manners and vices, who is duped by his valet Figaro, a personification of
wit, talent, and intrigue.


ALMEIDA, a strong fortress in the province of Beira, on the Spanish
frontier of Portugal.


ALMEIDA, FRANCESCO, the first Portuguese viceroy of India, a firm
and wise governor, superseded by Albuquerque, and killed on his way home
by the Kaffirs at the Cape in 1510.--LORENZO, his son, acting under
him, distinguished himself in the Indian seas, and made Ceylon tributary
to Portugal.


ALMERIA (37), a chief town and seaport in the S. of Spain, an
important and flourishing place, next to Granada, under the Moors, and at
one time a nest of pirates more formidable than those of Algiers.


ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, the Almighty whom the Americans are charged with
worshipping, first applied to them, it would seem, by Washington Irving.


ALMOHADES, a Moslem dynasty which ruled in N. Africa and Spain from
1129 to 1273.


ALMO`RA, a high-lying town at the foot of the Himalayas, 85 m. N. of
Bareilly.


ALMORAVIDES, a Moslem dynasty which subdued first Fez and Morocco,
and then S. Spain, from 1055 to 1147.


ALNWICK, the county town of Northumberland, on the Aln; at the north
entrance is Alnwick Castle, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, one
of the most magnificent structures of the kind in England, and during the
Border wars a place of great strength.


ALOE, a genus of succulent plants embracing 200 species, the
majority natives of S. Africa, valuable in medicine, in particular a
purgative from the juice of the leaves of several species.


ALOES WOOD, the heart of certain tropical trees, which yields a
fragrant resinous substance and admits of high polish.


ALOST (25), a Belgian town on the Dender, 19 m. NW. from Brussels,
with a cathedral, one of the grandest in Belgium, which contains a famous
painting by Rubens, "St. Roche beseeching Christ to arrest the Plague at
Alost."


ALOYSIUS, ST., See GONZAGA.


ALOYSIUS, ST., an Italian nobleman, who joined the Society of Jesus;
canonised for his devotion to the sick during the plague in Rome, to
which he himself fell a victim, June 21, 1591.


ALPACA, a gregarious ruminant of the camel family, a native of the
Andes, and particularly the tablelands of Chile and Peru; is covered with
a long soft silky wool, of which textile fabrics are woven; in appearance
resembles a sheep, but is larger in size, and has a long erect neck with
a handsome head.


ALP-ARSLAN (Brave Lion), a sultan of the Seljuk dynasty in Persia,
added Armenia and Georgia to his dominions (1030-1072).


ALPES, three departments in SE. France: the BASSES-A, in NE.
part of Provence, bounded by Hautes-Alpes on the N. and Var on the S.,
sterile in the N., fertile in the S., cap. Digne; HAUTES-A., forming
part of Dauphine, traversed by the Cottian Alps, climate severe, cap.
Gap; A. MARITIMES, E. of the Basses-A., bordering on Italy and the
Mediterranean, made up of the territory of Nice, ceded by Italy, and of
Monaco and Var; cap. Nice.


ALPHE`US, a river in the Peloponnesus, flowing west, with its source
in Arcadia; also the name of the river-god enamoured of the nymph
Arethusa, and who pursued her under the sea as far as Sicily, where he
overtook her and was wedded to her.


ALPINE CLUB, a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering,
first of all in the Alps, members of which have successfully addressed
themselves to attempts of the kind on loftier mountains.


ALPINE PLANTS, plants whose natural habitat approaches the line of
perpetual snow.


ALPS, THE, the vastest mountain system in Europe; form the boundary
between France, Germany, and Switzerland on the N. and W., and Italy on
the S., their peaks mostly covered with perpetual snow, the highest being
Mont Blanc, within the frontiers of France. According to height, they
have been distributed into _Fore, Middle_, and _High:_ the Fore rising to
the limit of trees; the Middle, to the line of perpetual snow; and the
High, above the snow-line. In respect of range or extent, they have been
distributed into _Western, Middle_, and _Eastern:_ the Western, including
the Maritime, the Cottian, the Dauphine, and the Graian, extend from the
Mediterranean to Mont Blanc; the Middle, including the Pennine and
Bernese, extend from Mont Blanc to the Brenner Pass; and the Eastern,
including the Dolomite, the Julian, and the Dinaric, extend from the
Brenner and Hungarian plain to the Danube. These giant masses occupy an
area of 90,000 sq. m., and extend from the 44th to the 48th parallel of
latitude.


ALPUJAR`RAS, a rich and lovely valley which stretches S. from the
Sierra Nevada in Spain.


ALRUNA-WIFE, the household goddess of a German family.


ALSACE-LORRAINE` (1,640), a territory originally of the German
empire, ceded to Louis XIV. by the peace of Westphalia in 1648, but
restored to Germany after the Franco-German war in 1870-71, by the peace
of Frankfort; is under a governor general bearing the title of
"Statthalter"; is a great wine-producing country, yields cereals and
tobacco, its cotton manufacture the most important in Germany.


ALSA`TIA, Whitefriars, London, which at one time enjoyed the
privilege of a debtors' sanctuary, and had, till abolished in 1697,
become a haunt of all kinds of nefarious characters.


ALSEN (25), a Danish island adjacent to Sleswig, one of the finest
in the Baltic, now ceded to Germany.


AL-SIRAT, the hair-narrow hell-bridge of the Moslem, which every
Mohammedan must pass to enter Paradise.


ALSTEN, an island off the coast of Northland, Norway, with seven
snow-capped hills, called the Seven Sisters.


ALTAI` MOUNTAINS, in Central Asia, stretching W. from the Desert of
Gobi, and forming the S. boundary of Asiatic Russia, abounding, to the
profit of Russia, in silver and copper, as well as other metals.


ALTDOR`FER, ALBRECHT, a German painter and engraver, a distinguished
pupil of Albert Duerer, and as a painter, inspired with his spirit; his
"Battle of Arbela" adorns the Muenich Picture Gallery (1488-1538).


AL`TEN, KARL AUGUST, a distinguished officer, native of Hanover, who
entered the British service, bore arms under Sir John Moore, was chief of
a division, under Wellington, in the Peninsular war, and closed his
military career at the battle of Waterloo (1763-1840).


AL`TENBURG (33), capital of Saxe-Altenburg, and 4 m. S. of Leipsic;
its castle is the scene of the famous "PRINZENRAUB" (q. v.),
related by Carlyle in his "Miscellanies."


ALTHEN, a Persian refugee, who introduced into France the
cultivation of madder, which became one of the most important products of
the S. of France.


ALTON LOCKE, a novel, by Charles Kingsley, written in sympathy with
the Chartist movement, in which Carlyle is introduced as one of the
personages.


ALTO`NA (148), a town and seaport of Sleswig-Holstein, now belonging
to Germany, close to Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe, and
healthier, and as good as forming one city with it.


ALTO-RELIEVO, figures carved out of a tablet so as to project at
least one half from its surface.


AL`TORF, an old town in the canton Uri, at the S. end of the Lake of
Lucerne; associated with the story of William Tell; a place of transit
trade.


ALTRUISM, a Comtist doctrine which inculcates sacrifice of self for
the good of others as the rule of human action.


ALUMBRA`DO, a member of a Spanish sect that laid claim to perfect
enlightenment.


ALURED OF BEVERLEY, an English chronicler of the 12th century; his
annals comprise the history of the Britons, Saxons, and Normans up to his
own time; _d_. 1129.


ALVA, DUKE OF, a general of the armies of Charles V. and Philip of
Spain; his career as a general was uniformly successful, but as a
governor his cruelty was merciless, especially as the viceroy of Philip
in the Low Countries, "very busy cutting off high heads in Brabant, and
stirring up the Dutch to such fury as was needful for exploding Spain and
him" (1508-1582).


ALVARA`DO, PEDRO DE, one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico, and
comrade of Cortez; was appointed Governor of Guatemala by Charles V. as a
reward for his valiant services in the interest of Spain; was a generous
man as well as a brave.


ALVAREZ, FRANCESCO, a Portuguese who, in the 15th century, visited
Abyssinia and wrote an account of it.


ALVAREZ, DON JOSE, the most distinguished of Spanish sculptors, born
near Cordova, and patronised by Napoleon, who presented him with a gold
medal, but to whom, for his treatment of his country, he conceived so
great an aversion, that he would never model a bust of him (1768-1827).


ALVIANO, an eminent Venetian general, distinguished himself in the
defence of the republic against the Emperor Maximilian (1455-1515).


AMADEUS, LAKE, a lake in the centre of Australia, subject to an
almost total drying-up at times.


AMADE`US V., count of Savoy, surnamed the Great from his wisdom and
success as a ruler (1249-1323).


AMADEUS VIII., 1st duke of Savoy, increased his dominions, and
retired into a monastery on the death of his wife; he was elected Pope as
Felix V., but was not acknowledged by the Church (1383-1451).


AMADEUS I., of Spain, 2nd son of Victor Emmanuel of Italy, elected
king of Spain in 1870, but abdicated in 1873 (1845-1890).


AM`ADIS DE GAUL, a celebrated romance in prose, written partly in
Spanish and partly in French by different romancers of the 15th century;
the first four books were regarded by Cervantes as a masterpiece. The
hero of the book, Amadis, surnamed the Knight of the Lion, stands for a
type of a constant and deferential lover, as well as a model
knight-errant, of whom Don Quixote is the caricature.


AMADOU, a spongy substance, consisting of slices of certain fungi
beaten together, used as a styptic, and, after being steeped in
saltpetre, used as tinder.


AMAIMON, a devil who could he restrained from working evil from the
third hour till noon and from the ninth till evening.


AMALARIC, king of the Visigoths, married a daughter of Clovis; _d_.
581.


AMALEKITES, a warlike race of the Sinaitic peninsula, which gave
much trouble to the Israelites in the wilderness; were as good as
annihilated by King David.


AMAL`FI, a port on the N. of the Gulf of Salerno, 24 m. SE. of
Naples; of great importance in the Middle Ages, and governed by Doges of
its own.


AMALFIAN LAWS, a code of maritime law compiled at Amalfi.


AMA`LIA, ANNA, the Duchess of Weimar, the mother of the grand-duke;
collected about her court the most illustrious literary men of the time,
headed by Goethe, who was much attached to her (1739-1807).


AMALRIC, one of the leaders in the crusade against the Albigenses,
who, when his followers asked him how they were to distinguish heretics
from Catholics, answered, "Kill them all; God will know His own;" _d_.
1225.


AMALTHE`A, the goat that suckled Zeus, one of whose horns became the
cornucopia--horn of plenty.


AMA`RA SINHA, a Hindu Buddhist, left a valuable thesaurus of
Sanskrit words.


AMA`RI, MICHELE, an Italian patriot, born at Palermo, devoted a
great part of his life to the history of Sicily, and took part in its
emancipation; was an Orientalist as well; he is famous for throwing light
on the true character of the Sicilian Vespers (1806-1889).


AMARYL`LIS, a shepherdess in one of Virgil's pastorals; any young
rustic maiden.


AMA`SIA (25), a town in Asia Minor, once the capital of the kings of
Pontus.


AMA`SIS, king of Egypt, originally a simple soldier, took part in an
insurrection, dethroned the reigning monarch and assumed the crown,
proved an able ruler, and cultivated alliances with Greece; reigned from
570 to 546 B.C.


AMA`TI, a celebrated family of violin-makers; Andrea and Niccolo,
brothers, at Cremona, in the 16th and 17th centuries.


AMATITLAN (10), a town in Guatemala, the inhabitants of which are
mainly engaged in the preparation of cochineal.


AMAUROSIS, a weakness or loss of vision, the cause of which was at
one time unknown.


AMAZON, a river in S. America and the largest on the globe, its
basin nearly equal in extent to the whole of Europe; traverses the
continent at its greatest breadth, rises in the Andes about 50 m. from
the Pacific, and after a course of 4000 m. falls by a delta into the
Atlantic, its waters increased by an immense number of tributaries, 20 of
which are above 1000 m. in length, one 2000 m., its mouth 200 m. wide;
its current affects the ocean 150 m. out; is navigable 3000 m. up, and by
steamers as far as the foot of the Andes.


AMAZONS, a fabulous race of female warriors, who had a queen of
their own, and excluded all men from their community; to perpetuate the
race, they cohabited with men of the neighbouring nations; slew all the
male children they gave birth to, or sent them to their fathers; burnt
off the right breasts of the females, that they might be able to wield
the bow in war.


AMBASSADOR, "an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth"
(_Wotton_).


AMBER, a fossil resin, generally yellow and semi-transparent,
derived, it is presumed, from certain extinct coniferous trees; becomes
electric by friction, and gives name to electricity, the Greek word for
it being _electron_; has been fished up for centuries in the Baltic, and
is now used in varnishes and for tobacco pipes.


AMBERGER, a painter of Nuernberg in the 16th century, a disciple of
Holbein, his principal work being the history of Joseph in twelve
pictures.


AMBERGRIS, an ashy-coloured odorous substance used in perfumery,
presumed to be a morbid fragment of the intestines of the spermaceti
whale, being often found floating on the ocean which it frequents.


AMBERLEY, LORD, son of Lord John Russell, wrote an "Analysis of
Religious Belief," which, as merely sceptical, his father took steps to
secure the suppression of, without success.


AMBLESIDE, a small market-town near the head of Lake Windermere, in
the Wordsworth or so-called Lake District.


AMBLYOPSIS, a small fish without eyes, found in the Mammoth
Cave, U.S.


AMBOISE (5), a town on the Loire, 14 m. E. of Tours, with a castle,
once the residence of the French kings. The Conspiracy of A., the
conspiracy of Conde and the Huguenots in 1560 against Francis II.,
Catharine de Medici, and the Guises. The Edict of A. (1563) conceded the
free exercise of their worship to the Protestants.


AMBOISE, GEORGE DE, CARDINAL, the popular Prime Minister of Louis
XII., who, as such, reduced the Public burdens, and as the Pope's legate
in France effected a great reform among the religious orders; is said to
have died immensely rich (1460-1510).


AMBOYNA (238), with a chief city of the name, the most important of
the Moluccas, in the Malay Archipelago, and rich before all in spices; it
belongs to the Dutch, who have diligently fostered its capabilities.


AM`BROSE, ST., bishop of Milan, born at Treves, one of the Fathers
of the Latin Church, and a zealous opponent of the Arian heresy; as a
stern puritan refused to allow Theodosius to enter his church, covered as
his hands were with the blood of an infamous massacre, and only admitted
him to Church privilege after a severe penance of eight months; he
improved the Church service, wrote several hymns, which are reckoned his
most valuable legacy to the Church; his writings fill two vols. folio. He
is the Patron saint of Milan; his attributes are a _scourge_, from his
severity; and a _beehive_, from the tradition that a swarm of bees
settled on his mouth when an Infant without hurting him (340-397).
Festival, Dec. 7.


AMBRO`SIA, the fragrant food of the gods of Olympus, fabled to
preserve in them and confer on others immortal youth and beauty.


AMELIA, a character in one of Fielding's novels, distinguished for
her conjugal affection.


AMENDE HONORABLE, originally a mode of punishment in France which
required the offender, stripped to his shirt, and led into court with a
rope round his neck held by the public executioner, to beg pardon on his
knees of his God, his king, and his country; now used to denote a
satisfactory apology or reparation.


AMERBACH, JOHANN, a celebrated printer in Basel in the 15th century,
the first who used the Roman type instead of Gothic and Italian; spared
no expense in his art, taking, like a true workman, a pride in it; _d_.
1515.


AMERICA, including both North and South, 9000 m. in length, varies
from 3400 m. to 28 m. in breadth, contains 161/2 millions of sq. m., is
larger than Europe and Africa together, but is a good deal smaller than
Asia; bounded throughout by the Atlantic on the E. and the Pacific on the
W.


AMERICA, BRITISH N., is bounded on the N. by the Arctic Ocean, on
the E. by the Atlantic, on the S. by the United States, and on the W. by
the Pacific; occupies one-third of the continent, and comprises the
Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland.


AMERICA, CENTRAL, extends from Mexico on the north to Panama on the
south, and is about six times as large as Ireland; is a plateau with
terraces descending to the sea on each side, and rich in all kinds of
tropical vegetation; consists of seven political divisions: Guatemala,
San Salvador, British Honduras, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mosquitia, and Costa
Rica.


AMERICA, NORTH, is 4560 m. in length, contains over 81/2 millions sq.
m., is less than half the size of Asia, consists of a plain in the centre
throughout its length, a high range of mountains, the Rocky, on the W.,
and a lower range, the Appalachian, on the E., parallel with the coast,
which is largely indented with gulfs, bays, and seas; has a magnificent
system of rivers, large lakes, the largest in the world, a rich fauna and
flora, and an exhaustless wealth of minerals; was discovered by Columbus
in 1492, and has now a population of 80 millions, of which a fourth are
negroes, aborigines, and half-caste; the divisions are British North
America, United States, Mexico, Central American Republics, British
Honduras, the West Indian Republics, and the Spanish, British, French,
and Dutch West Indies.


AMERICA, RUSSIAN, now called Alaska; belongs by purchase to the
United States.


AMERICA, SOUTH, lies in great part within the Tropics, and consists
of a high mountain range on the west, and a long plain with minor ranges
extending therefrom eastward; the coast is but little indented, but the
Amazon and the Plate Rivers make up for the defect of seaboard; abounds
in extensive plains, which go under the names of Llanos, Selvas, and
Pampas, while the river system is the vastest and most serviceable in the
globe; the vegetable and mineral wealth of the continent is great, and it
can match the world for the rich plumage of its birds and the number and
splendour of its insect tribes.


AMERICA, SPANISH, the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, till lately
belonging to Spain, though the designation is often applied to all the
countries in N. America where Spanish is the spoken language.


AMERICAN FABIUS, George Washington.


AMERICAN INDIANS, a race with a red or copper-coloured skin, coarse
black straight hair, high cheek-bones, black deep-set eyes, and tall
erect figure, limited to America, and seems for most part fast dying out;
to be found still as far south as Patagonia, the Patagonians being of the
race.


AMERI`GO-VESPUC`CI, a Florentine navigator, who, under the auspices
first of Spain, and afterwards of Portugal, four times visited the New
World, just discovered by Columbus, which the first cartographers called
America, after his name; these visits were made between 1499 and 1505,
while Columbus's discovery, as is known, was in 1492 (1451-1512).


AMES, JOSEPH, historian of early British typography, in a work which
must have involved him in much labour (1689-1759).


AMHA`RA, the central and largest division of Abyssinia.


AMHERST, LORD, a British officer who distinguished himself both on
the Continent and America, and particularly along with General Wolfe in
securing for England the superiority in Canada (1717-1797).


AMICE, a flowing cloak formerly worn by pilgrims, also a strip of
linen cloth worn over the shoulder of a priest when officiating at mass.


AM`IEL, a professor of aesthetics, and afterwards of ethics at
Geneva, who is known to the outside world solely by the publication of
selections from his Journal in 1882-84, which teems with suggestive
thoughts bearing on the great vital issues of the day, and which has been
translated into English by Mrs. Humphrey Ward.


AMIENS` (88), the old capital of Picardy, on the Somme, with a
cathedral begun in 1220, described as the "Parthenon of Gothic
architecture," and by Ruskin as "Gothic, clear of Roman tradition and of
Arabian taint, Gothic pure, authoritative, unsurpassable, and
unaccusable"; possesses other buildings of interest; was the birthplace
of Peter the Hermit, and is celebrated for a treaty of peace between
France and England concluded in 1802.


AMIRAN`TES, a group of small coral islands NE. of Madagascar,
belonging to Britain; are wooded, are 11 in number, and only a few feet
above the sea-level.


AMMANA`TI, BARTOLOMEO, a Florentine architect and sculptor of note,
was an admirer of Michael Angelo, and executed several works in Rome,
Venice, and Padua (1511-1592).


AMMIA`NUS MARCELLI`NUS, a Greek who served as a soldier in the Roman
army, and wrote a history of the Roman Empire, specially valuable as a
record of contemporary events; _d_. 390.


AMMIRATO, an Italian historian, author of a history of Florence
(1531-1601).


AM`MON, an Egyptian deity, represented with the head of a ram, who
had a temple at Thebes and in the Lybian Desert; was much resorted to as
an oracle of fate; identified in Greece with Zeus, and in Rome with
Jupiter.


AMMONIA, a pungent volatile gas, of nitrogen and hydrogen, obtained
from sal-ammonia.


AMMONIO, ANDREA, a Latin poet born in Lucca, held in high esteem by
Erasmus; sent to England by the Pope, he became Latin secretary to Henry
and a prebendary of Salisbury; _d_. 1517.


AMMONITES, a Semitic race living E. of the Jordan; at continual feud
with the Jews, and a continual trouble to them, till subdued by Judas
Maccabaeus.


AMMONITES, a genus of fossil shells curved into a spiral form like
the ram-horn on the head of the image of Ammon.


AMMO`NIUS SACCAS, a philosopher of Alexandria, and founder of
Neo-Platonism; Longinus, Origen, and Plotinus were among his pupils; _d_.
243, at a great age.


AMNION, name given to the innermost membrane investing the foetus in
the womb.


AMOEBA, a minute animalcule of the simplest structure, being a mere
mass of protoplasm; absorbs its food at every point all over its body by
means of processes protruded therefrom at will, with the effect that it
is constantly changing its shape.


AMOMUM, a genus of plants, such as the cardamom and grains of
paradise, remarkable for their pungency and aromatic properties.


AMORITES, a powerful Canaanitish tribe, seemingly of tall stature,
NE. of the Jordan; subdued by Joshua at Gibeon.


AMORY, THOMAS, an eccentric writer of Irish descent, author of the
"Life of John Buncle, Esq.," and other semi-insane productions; he was a
fanatical Unitarian (1691-1789).


AMOS, a poor shepherd of Tekoa, near Bethlehem, in Judah, who in the
8th century B.C. raised his voice in solitary protest against the
iniquity of the northern kingdom of Israel, and denounced the judgment of
God as Lord of Hosts upon one and all for their idolatry, which nothing
could avert.


AMOY` (96), one of the open ports of China, on a small island in the
Strait of Fukien; has one of the finest harbours in the world, and a
large export and import trade; the chief exports are tea, sugar, paper,
gold-leaf, &c.


AMPERE`, ANDRE MARIE, a French mathematician and physicist, born at
Lyons; distinguished for his discoveries in electro-dynamics and
magnetism, and the influence of these on electro-telegraphy and the
general extension of science (1775-1836).


AMPERE, JEAN JACQUES, son of the preceding; eminent as a
litterateur, and a historian and critic of literature; attained to the
rank of a member of the French Academy (1800-1864).


AMPHIC`TYONIC COUNCIL, a council consisting of representatives from
several confederate States of ancient Greece, twelve in number at length,
two from each, that met twice a year, sitting alternately at Thermopylae
and Delphi, to settle any differences that might arise between them, the
decisions of which were several times enforced by arms, and gave rise to
what were called _sacred wars_, of which there were three; it was
originally instituted for the conservation of religious interests.


AMPHI`ON, a son of Zeus and Antiope, who is said to have invented
the lyre, and built the walls of Thebes by the sound of it, a feat often
alluded to as an instance of the miraculous power of music.


AMPHISBAENA, a genus of limbless lizards; a serpent fabled to have
two heads and to be able to move backward or forward.


AM`PHITRITE, a daughter of Oceanus or Nereus, the wife of Neptune,
mother of Triton, and goddess of the sea.


AMPHIT`RYON, the king of Tiryns, and husband of Alcmene, who became
by him the mother of Iphicles, and by Zeus the mother of Hercules.


AMPHITRYON THE TRUE, the real host, the man who provides the feast,
as Zeus proved himself to the household to be when he visited Alcmene.


AM`RAN RANGE, pronounced the "scientific frontier" of India towards
Afghanistan.


AMRIT`SAR (136), a sacred city of the Sikhs in the Punjab, and a
great centre of trade, 32 m. E. of Lahore; is second to Delhi in Northern
India; manufactures cashmere shawls.


AM`RU, a Mohammedan general under the Caliph Omar, conquered Egypt
among other military achievements; he is said to have executed the order
of the Caliph Omar for burning the library of Alexandria; _d_. 663.


AMSTERDAM (456), the capital of Holland, a great trading city and
port at the mouth of the Amsel, on the Zuyder Zee, resting on 90 islands
connected by 300 bridges, the houses built on piles of wood driven into
the marshy ground; is a largely manufacturing place, as well as an
emporium of trade, one special industry being the cutting of diamonds and
jewels; birthplace of Spinoza.


AMUR`, a large eastward-flowing river, partly in Siberia and partly
in China, which, after a course of 3060 m., falls into the Sea of
Okhotsk.


AMURNATH, a place of pilgrimage in Cashmere, on account of a cave
believed to be the dwelling-place of Siva.


AMYOT, JACQUES, grand-almoner of France and bishop of Auxerre; was
of humble birth; was tutor of Charles, who appointed him grand-almoner;
he was the translator, among other works, of Plutarch into French, which
remains to-day one of the finest monuments of the old literature of
France, it was much esteemed by Montaigne (1513-1593).


AMYOT, JOSEPH, a French Jesuit missionary to China, and a learned
Orientalist (1713-1794).