ALBANO ALBANY. 



81 



Scutari, and the sangiacats of Aulona and Del vino. 

 The principal cities are Janina, Delvino, Scutari, 

 Durazzo, Argyro-Castro, Vaiona, &c. The autho- 

 rity of the porte in this region is very uncertain, 

 being more or less relaxed in proportion as the in- 

 dependent communities and beys enlarge or contract 

 their possessions, in opposition to the pashas whom 

 it appoints. The vast mountainous coast of A. is 

 very little known. The Venetian government, 

 while the republic of Venice existed, defended it 

 against any permanent conquest by the Turkish 

 paslias. Here Greek and catholic Christians, and 

 Mahommetans likewise, live in a half savage state, 

 and under the most various forms of government. 

 At the time of the revolt of the Greeks, the most 

 southern part of Albania took the ancient name of 

 Spirits. (See Epirus.) From the lake of Janina 

 arise the rivers Acheron (q. v.) and Cocytus, not far 

 from the mouth of which lies Parga. Epirus, espe- 

 cially in the neighbourhood of the sea, is a fertile 

 country; it produces wine, corn, and fruit. In an- 

 cient times, its horses were famed for swiftness, its 

 cows for size, and its dogs for strength and courage. 

 These races seem now to be extinct. Before the 

 Greek revolution, Ali Pasha (q. v.) ruled in Janina. 

 In Scutari, there are yet independent communities, 

 the inhabitants of mount Montenegro, the Suliols, 

 and others in the neighbourhood of the former Ve- 

 netian, now Austrian, territory. These small free 

 tribes enjoyed, as long as the republic of Venice 

 existed, the secret protection of that government ; to 

 which is to be attributed their success in maintaining 

 themselves against the Turkish force, and the vio- 

 lence of private feuds. The same policy was pur- 

 sued likewise by the French Illyrian government. 

 In the country itself, the Arnauts are called Skype- 

 tar?. They are bold and indefatigable, but merce- 

 nary and perfidious warriors. They once constituted 

 the flower of the Turkish army. Every one who 

 has no landed property seeks to acquire the means 

 of obtaining it, by incursions into the neighbouring 

 territory, or military service in foreign countries. 

 The sons of influential families, or distinguished 

 soldiers, collect a troop, and, like the former condot- 

 tieri of Italy, sell their aid to any one who will pay 

 them well. This migration of armed hordes, caused 

 by the want of landed property sufficient to support 

 them, is a national instinct, common to the Greek, 

 catholic, and Mahommetan Arnauts. For this rea- 

 son, the communities in the most fertile valleys 

 rarely increase, and there is a great disproportion of 

 unmarried females. But in case of attack, the 

 women defend their homes and property with mas- 

 culine courage. The political influence of the clergy 

 is great among the Christian Arnauts. 



ALBANO. Roman tradition represents Alba Lon- 

 ga as the parent city of Rome. It gives us a cata- 

 logue of the kings of Alba, who fived before the 

 foundation of the latter city ; but this is now univer- 

 sally believed to be fabulous. Tullus Hostilius is 

 said to have destroyed the city, and transplanted the 

 inhabitants to Rome. Its site was afterwards occu- 

 pied by a village, surrounded by the splendid villas 

 of the Roman nobility. Tiberius and Domitian in- 

 dulged in their palaces at A. their appetite for 

 pleasure and for cruelty. The present A. still glories 

 in its old renown. On the mountain of A. the 

 anniversary of the alliance of the Romans and 

 Latins, concluded under Tarquin the Proud, was 

 celebrated with peculiar solemnities. The lake of 

 A. is a wonder of nature and ancient art. During 

 the war with Veii, 395 B. C., this lake is said to 

 have risen in a hot summer, without any visible 

 cause, to an unusual height. Etruscan soothsayers 

 spread the report, that the fate of Veii depended on 

 l. 



the drawing off of this water ; and the Romans, 

 confirmed in this belief by a Delphic oracle, erected 

 a remarkable structure for this purpose. (Liv. v. 15 

 19.) During the labour, they probably learned 

 from the architectural Etruscans, the art of excava- 

 ting subterranean canals, which they soon applied to 

 undermining the fortifications of Veii, and thereby 

 gained possession of the city. The canal of the lake 

 of A. is 3700 paces in length, six feet high, anil 

 three and a half broad. Niebuhr, in his Roniisc/ie 

 Geschichte (Roman History), part 2, page 234, re- 

 gards this admirable work as an ancient labour 

 of all Latium ; or, if belonging particularly to 

 Rome, to be referred to the age of the kings. The 

 Albanian stone is also famous. It is of a dark- 

 grey colour, and is excavated in large quantities 

 near A. It is of two kinds ; the one of which is 

 called Sperone, the other Pepcrino. Of this, says 

 Winckelmann, was made the foundation of the 

 capitol at Rome, built in the year of the city 387, 

 of which five layers of large stones are still to be 

 seen above ground. The cloaca maxima, a work of 

 the Tarquins, as well as the most ancient of the 

 Roman funeral monuments at A., and another of 

 their oldest works, constructed about the 358th year 

 of the city, the outlet of the lake of A., at present 

 Lago di Castello, are built of this stone. 



ALBANY; the name given to a British agricultural 

 colony, established about 1824, in Southern Africa. 

 The fertility of the soil rendered the situation promis- 

 ing, and several thousand emigrants were located 

 upon it. The experience, however, of three disastrous 

 seasons proved the district unfit for tillage, and suited 

 only to pasturage. The distress of the emigrants be- 

 came extreme, and partial relief was aflbrded by a sub- 

 scription of 3,000, raised at the Cape of Good Hope. 

 ALBANY, or ALBANI, countess of, princess Louisa 

 Maria Caroline, or Aloysia, born in 1753, cousin of 

 the last reigning prince of Stolberg-Gedern, who 

 died in 1804, married, in 1772, the English preten- 

 der, Charles Stuart. After this marriage, she bore 

 the title of countess of A. Her marriage was un- 

 fruitful and unhappy. To escape from the barbarity 

 of her husband, who lived in a continual state of 

 intoxication, she retired, in 1780, to a cloister. After 

 his death, in 1788, the French court conferred on 

 her an annuity of 60,000 livres. She survived the 

 house of Stuart, which became extinct at the death 

 of her brother-in-law, the cardinal of York, in 1807. 

 (See Stuart.) She died at Florence, her usual 

 place of residence, Jan. 29, 1824, in her 72d year. 

 Her name and her misfortunes have been transmitted 

 to posterity in the works and the autobiography of 

 count Victor Alfieri. This famous poet called her 

 mia donna, and confessed that to her he owed his 

 inspiration. Without the friendship of .the countess 

 of A., he has said that he never should have achieved 

 any thing excellent : " senza laquella non aurei mui 

 fatto nulla di buono." The sketch of his first meet- 

 ing with the countess, quella gentilissima e Iclla sig- 

 nora, as he calls her, is full of sentiment anil genuine 

 poetry. (See A '(fieri.) Her ashes and those of Alfieri 

 now repose under a common monument, in the church 

 of Santa Croce, at Florence, between the tombs of 

 Machiavelli and Michael Angelo. 



ALBANY, a mountainous district in Scotland, com- 

 prising those of Glenorchy, shire of Argyle ; Atliol 

 and Breadalbane, shire of Perth; and a part of 

 Lochaber, shire of Inverness. It anciently gave the 

 title of Duke to a prince of the blood-royal of Scot- 

 land, and latterly to the late duke of York. 



ALBANY, a city of New York, the seat of the 



government of the state, is situated on the west bank 



of the Hudson, 144 miles N. of the city of New 



York ; lat. 42 39 N. ; Ion. 73 13' W. ; pop. iu 



L M 



