ALA 



A I. A 



pronunciation of tltc Grcok Language, v,-ith an Apology 

 for Saxo Grammnticus." 



Alain, J)^ /Jft,aiM\vc of Lide, in Fhind^rt, floiirifhed 

 in till- thirttcnth ccntuiy, with fiich reputation for his (kill 

 in thcolorjv, philofuphy and pnctry, that he was called the 

 Univcrfaf Doaor. lie died in 1294, and left behind him 

 many pieces in profe and verfe, whicli uxre colledcd into 

 one volume in folio, at Antwerp, in 1^153. His fame was fo 

 prcat, that it was thought a happinefs to know him ; and 

 it WIS proYcihlally faid, " Suffice it to have fccn Alain." 

 Uupin. I'.ccl. Hill. vol. v. p. 57. Cave. H. L.tom. ii. p. 287. 



ALAINK, in Cioxr.i/'hj; a fir.all river of France, in 

 the department of Nievre. 



ALAJOli, one of the four (luarters into which the 

 idand of "Minorca is divided, fo called from a fmall place 

 near it. 



AL.AIS, or Alfz, a large and populous city of France, 

 in t!ic department of the Card, fittrate on the river Gard, 

 at tlie foot of the Ccvennes. Julius Ctefar in his commen- 

 taries calls it Al-.cfia. A billiopric was founded in this place 

 in 1691, with a view, as it is faid, of coiuertiag the pro- 

 teftauf;, who were numerous ; and a cit:!dcl had been built 

 in i68q, in order to awe them. The diocefe confills of 80 

 parifhes. The country about it is well cultivated, and pro- 

 duces grain, olives and mulbenies, but the principal wealth 

 of the place has formerly arifen from its manufaftures of 

 ferges and ratteens, and from its exportation of raw and 

 wrought filk. It is diftaut 14 leagues north of Montpelicr, 

 and 140 fouth -eall of Paris. N. lat. 44' 8'. E. long. 3° 46'. 



ALAISEE, in Heraldry, the fame with hiimetty, or rac- 



COURCY. 



ALAISKIAN Monritains, in Geography, a part of the 

 Altay mountains in Ruffia, compriling that range which 

 advances from the origin of the Alay to the two fides of 

 this river, and between it and the Oiiba and Irtifli, and runs 

 •ut into the great Saline plain, which is flcirted by the Alay, 

 the Irtilh, and the Oby. See Sludina. 



AL ALCOMENIA, in Ancient Geography, a town in the 

 iflandof Ithaca, whcrc,accordingtoPlutarch,Uly (Fes was born. 



ALALCOMENIUM, or Alalcomkn^., a fmall town 

 cf Bceotia, fouth-eaft of Chaeronsa, near the lake Copais, 

 foUT'.ded according to Paufanias (in Bceotic, lib. ix.) either 

 by Alalcomcnius, foller-father of Minerva, or by Alal- 

 comenia, one of t!ie daughters of Ogyges, the nurfe of Mi- 

 nerva, near which ihe had a temple, and a ilatue of ivory, 

 which was removed by Sylla to Rome. Hence Homer de- 

 duces the epithet Alalcomeniana, afcribed to Minerva. 



ALALCOMENIUS, in Ancient Chronology, the Boeo- 

 tian name for the Athenian month M.emacte rion, which 

 was the fourth of their year, and anfwered to the latter part 

 cf our September and beginning of Oftober. 



ALALIA, or Alalis, in Ancient Geography, ?i town a{ 

 Syria, placed by Ptolemy in the Palmyrene, near the Eu- 

 phrates, and by M. d'Anville, north-well of Refafa. 



ALAMA, a town of Afia, in Mefopotamia, fituate on 

 the river Billcha, north-weil of Nicephorium. 



ALALOEI, fmall iHands in the Arabian gulf, where, 

 according to the Periplus of Arrian, turtles were iound ; 

 the fame with the Alloeu of Pliny. 



ALAMAGAN, or the ijlr.vd of the Conception, in Geo- 

 graphy, one of the Ladrones, or Marianne idands, about 

 10 miles from Guguan, and 18 miles in compafs. There is 

 a volcano on the north-wcH part of this ifland, which ftands 

 clofe 'o the fea, forming a cone in height about 500 yards, 

 with a bafe of about 400 yards ; and the fides are marked 

 by ilreams of black lava, which, pafiiiig through a rich 

 vegetation of cocoa-nut trees, may be traced to the fhore, 

 where they hav>; entered the fea. This cone is encompafled 



with ciniiers, whicli, at the diftance ot about n mile and a 

 half, are covered with a black vegetable foil, which produces 

 trees as large as any upon the ifland. At a nearer dillance there 

 is not for feveral acres the Icall lign of vegetation. In the 

 year 1 799, the volcauo ieemed to be preparing by it.s rumbling 

 noifc, and the fmoke that iflued from it, for a new eruption. 

 The lower parts of the illand are covered witli trees of a 

 thick foliage ; fome few open fpots produce a thick and long 

 grafs ; but the moll plentiful produflions of the idund are 

 the cocoa-nuts, which grow in clumps near the diores clofe 

 down to the beaches, and which may be eafily obtained in 

 great abundance. Trees, rcfembling the pines of Port 

 Jackfon, bearing a fmall cone, and riling to the height of 

 30 or 40 feet, are very numerous. A fupply of the fruit 

 of the papau tree may be gathered about the middle of 

 Augull. No quadrupeds have been obferved upon this 

 idand except green-tailed li/ards ; land crabs are numerous 

 and large ; partridges and quails, owls, thrulhcs, bullfinches 

 and pigeons are found here. The idand may be feen at the 

 dillaiice of 12 or 14 leagues. Its diores are rocky to wind- 

 ward, but in the bay to leeward there arc two or three 

 beaches. On the well or left fide of the idand the (hore 

 bends into a kind of bay, where, as the trade wind in ge- 

 neral blows (leadily to the eallward, (hips might ride fecurely 

 as long as they had occafion to Itay. N. lat. 18° 5'. E. 

 long. 146' 47'. The variation of the compafs in 1799 was 

 4} eaft. 



ALAMAN, a town of Switzerland, in the Canton of 

 Berne, three leagues north-eall of Nion. 



ALAMANDUS, Lewis, Fr. Aleman, in Biography, 

 archbidiop of Aries and cardinal of St. Cecilia, was one of 

 the greatell men in the 15th century. He prcfided in the 

 council of Bafil, which dcpofed Eugenius IV. and elefled 

 the Antipope Felix V. iEneas Sylvius highly commends ' 

 him, as a man admirably^ formed for prefiding in fuch aflcm- 

 blies, firm and vigorous, iUullrious by his virtue, learned, 

 and endowed with a memory, w-hich enabled him to recapi- 

 tulate every thing that had been faid by the orators and dif- 

 putants. Although he was deprived of his dignities by 

 pope Eugenius, and very injurioudy treated, he is faid to 

 have performed miracles at his death, and he was beatified 

 by Clement VII. in the year 1527. He died at the age of 60 

 years, in 1 450. Gen. Dift. 



ALAMANNI, Luigi, or Lewis, was bom at Flo- 

 rence, of a family of dillinftion, in 1495 ; and by his early 

 progrefs in philofophy and Greek hterature, acquired great 

 reputation. He was at firll attached to the Medici family, 

 but having entered into a confpiracy againft; Cardinal Julius 

 de Medici, who became pope Clement VII., he was obliged 

 to take refuge at Venice. He was afterwards imprifoned 

 at Brefcia, and upon his relcafe he was under a necefiity of j 

 abandoning his country, and of wandering, as an oiile in 4 

 France and in Genoa, till the year 1527, when he was re- 

 called to Florence, on the expulfion of the Medici family. 

 When the authority of that family was re-etlab!idied in 1530, 

 he was again difgraccd, and retired to Fiance, where he was 

 chiefly occupied in poetical compofitions. At k-ngth Fran- 

 cis I. called him to court, invelled him with the order of St. 

 Michael, appointed him to a confiderable office in the houfe- 

 hold of Catharine de Medici, and employed him in various 

 concerns at Rome and Naples. In 1544 he was fent on an em- 

 balTy to the emperor Charles V. ; and having been entruiled 

 with different negociations by Henry II. he died at Amboife 

 in 1556, and left two fons, one of v.'hom was made bllbop 

 of Ma^on. The works of Alamanni confift of Italian 

 poetry. The firfl publication of them at Lyons in IJ^z 

 and 1533, contained elegies, eclogues, fatire3,foniiet3, hymns, 

 piialms, ccc. and a tranflation of the Antigone of Sophocles ; 



which 



