ALDOBRANDINI ALE AND BEEH. 



93 



ticularly scarce and valuable. The bookseller and 

 bibliographer Renouard, in Paris, and the grand 

 duke of Tuscany, possess the most complete collec- 

 tions. Of the former's excellent work on the press 

 of Aldus, a supplementary volume appeared in 

 1812. A list of all genuine Aldine editions is given 

 in the appendix to the 1st vol. of Ebert's Bibliogra- 

 phical Lexicon. See, also, Annales de Plmprimerie 

 ties Aides, ou Histoire des trois Manuce, et de leurs 

 editions ; par Ant. Aug. Renouard ; second edit., 

 Paris, 1825, 3 vols. 8vo. ; and Repertorium Biblio- 

 graphicum, in quo Libri omnes ab Arte Typographica 

 inventa usque ad Annum M.D. typis express!, ordine 

 Alphabetico enmnerantur vel adcuratius recludentur ; 

 Opera L. Hain ; Stuttgard. The second part of 

 the first vol. of this work has been published quite 

 recently. 



ALDOBRANDINI ; the name of a princely family at 

 Rome, celebrated in the history of art on account of 

 an antique fresco, in their villa, representing a wed- 

 ding, and called by the name of the Jlldobrandine 

 icedding. It was discovered in the tune of Clement 

 VIII., not far from the church Santa Maria Mag- 

 giore, in the district where, formerly, were the gar- 

 dens of Maecenas, and carried thence into that villa. 

 U'inckelmann supposed it to be the wedding of Pe- 

 leus and Thetis ; the count Bondy, that of Alanlius 

 and Julia. Several scholars, also, of this name have 

 distinguished themselves, especially Sylvester A., 

 famous for his knowledge of law, and his brother 

 Thomas, both in the 16th century. 



ALDRED ; abbot of Tavistock, and afterwards 

 bishop of Worcester, 1046. He was the first English 

 bishop who visited Jerusalem, and after his return 

 was raised to the see of York, an elevation which, 

 when he appeared at Rome, the pope refused to ra- 

 tify, on account of his ignorance and simony. A.'s 

 solicitations, however, prevailed, and he received the 

 pallium from the pontiff. On the death of Edward 

 the Confessor, he crowned Harold, and afterjrards 

 the Conqueror, whose esteem he enjoyed, and whose 

 power he made subservient to the views of the church. 

 When he had received some indignities from a go- 

 vernor of York, he flew to London, and, with all the 

 indignation and haughtiness of an offended prelate, 

 demanded vengeance, and pronounced a curse on 

 the head of William. His wrath was with difficulty 

 pacified by the entreaties of the sovereign and his 

 nobles, and the curse was recalled, and changed into 

 a blessing. It is said that he died with grief, on 

 seeing the north of England desolated by the ravages 

 of Harold and Canute, sons of Sweyn, Sept. 11. 

 1068. 



ALDRICH, Henry, dean of Christ Church, Oxford, 

 1689, and distinguished for his love and knowledge 

 of music. He adapted many of the works of the 

 older masters to the liturgy of the church of England, 

 and composed, besides, many original services and 

 anthems. He was also author 01 several esteemed 

 polemical works. At his death, which took place 

 in 1710, he bequeathed to the college, over which 

 he had presided upwards of twenty years, a large 

 and valuable collection of music, of which Dr Bur- 

 ney speaks higlily. 



ALDROVANDUS, Ulysses, a traveller and naturalist, 

 born in 1522 at Bologna, where he was professor of 

 philosophy and physic ; and died in 1605. After his 

 death, the result of his travels was published in six 

 vols. folio, wherein he describes a great variety of 

 birds and insects. 

 ALDUS. See Manutiu*. 



ALE and BEER ; well known and extensively used 

 fermented liquors, the principal of which is extracted 

 from several sorts of grain, but most commonly from 

 barley, after it has undergone the process termed 



malting. The distinction between ale and lieer, 

 or porter, has been ably elucidated by Dr Thomas 

 Thomson, in his very valuable article on brewing, 

 in the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica : 

 " Both ale and beer are in Great Britain obtained 

 by fermentation from the malt of barley ; but they 

 differ from each other in several particulars. Ale is 

 light-coloured, brisk, and sweetish, or at least free 

 from bitter ; while beer is dark-coloured, bitter, and 

 much less brisk. What is called porter in England 

 is a species of beer; and the term " porter" at pre- 

 sent signifies what was formerly called strong leer. 

 The original difference between ale and beer was 

 owing to the malt from which they were prepared. 

 Ale malt was dried at a very low heat, and conse- 

 quently was of a pale colour ; while beer or porter 

 malt was dried at a higher temperature, and had of 

 consequence acquired a brown colour. This incipi- 

 ent charring had developed a peculiar and agreeable 

 bitter taste, which was communicated to the beer 

 a long with the dark colour. This bitter taste ren- 

 dered beer more agreeable to the palate, and less 

 injurious to the constitution than ale. It was conse- 

 quently manufactured in greater quantities, and soon 

 became the common drink of the lower ranks in 

 England. When malt became high priced, in con- 

 sequence of the heavy taxes laia upon it, and the 

 great increase in the price of barley which took 

 place during the war of the French revolution, the 

 brewers found out that a greater quantity of wort of 

 a given strength could be prepared from pale malt 

 than from brown malt. The consequence was, that 

 pale malt was substituted for brown malt in the 

 brewing of porter and beer. We do not mean that 

 the whole malt employed was pale, but a con- 

 siderable proportion of it. The wort, of course, 

 was much paler than before ; and it wanted that 

 agreeable bitter flavour which characterized porter, 

 and made it so much relished by most palates. The 

 porter brewers endeavoured to remedy these defects 

 by several artificial additions. At the same time 

 various substitutes were tried to supply the place of 

 the agreeable bitter communicated to porter by the 

 use of brown malt. Quassia, coculus indicus, and 

 we believe even opium , were employed in succession ; 

 but none of them were found to answer the purpose 

 sufficiently. Whether the use of these substances 

 be still persevered in, we do not know ; but we 

 rather believe that they are not, at least by the 

 London porter brewers." The manufacture of ale 

 or beer is of very high antiquity. Herodotus tells 

 us, that owing to the want of wine, the Egyptians 

 drank a liquor fermented from barley (lib. ii. cap. 

 77). The use of it was also very anciently intro- 

 duced into Greece and Italy, though it does not ap- 

 pear to have ever been very extensively used in 

 these countries. Mead, or metheglin, was probably 

 the earliest intoxicating liquor known in the north ot 

 Europe. Ale or beer was, however, in common 

 use in Germany in the time of Tacitus (Morib. Germ. 

 cap. 23). " All the nations," says Pliny, " who in- 

 habit the west of Europe have a liquor with which 

 they intoxicate themselves, made of com and water 

 (fruge madida). The manner of making this liquor 

 is somewhat different in Gaul, Spain, and other 

 countries, and it is called by many various names ; 

 but its nature and properties are every where the 

 same. The people of Spain, in particular, brew this 

 liquor so well that it will keep good for a long time. 

 So exquisite is the ingenuity of mankind in gratify- 

 ing their vicious appetites, that they have thus in- 

 vented a method to make water itself intoxicate." 

 (Hist. Nat. lib. xiv. cap. 22.) The Saxons and 

 Danes were passionately fond of beer; and the 

 drinking of it was supposed to form one of the prin- 



