. A L C 



iiig f.pnrt!Yient. TTiefe clofets nppcar to h.^ve hoen fome- 

 whnt fimilar to alcoves, but they difl'tr circiilially from 

 modern alcoves in having windows. The recefs dilcovered 

 by the Abbe Winckelniann, in one of the chambers of 

 Pompeia, in which he conjeftiires, perhaps rightly, that a 

 bed had been placed, and thofe reccfTes wliieh he found on 

 the feeond ftory of Adrian's villa, at Tivoli, have better 

 prctenfuins to the name of alcoves, but fomething more than 

 a verbal dcfcription is wanting to enable us to determine 

 wliether they were formed for the exprefs purpoie of re- 

 ceiving a bed, or for lomc other purpofe ; or whether they 

 ■were not fuch accidental reccfles as are made by necefTuy in 

 the arrangement of a building which the architccl turns to 

 the beft ufe in his power. 



Be this as it may, alcoves, according to the modern 

 manner, undoubtedly originated in jVfrica, or Alia, for we 

 read of them perpetually in the Arabian Ivories, and in def- 

 cviptions of Aliatic palaces and gardens. From Arabia 

 they were introduced among the Spaniards by their Saracen 

 conquerors, and by the Spaniards, after the expultion of 

 the Moort, at the clofe of the fifteenth ceutuiy, into Ger- 

 many, France, and other nations, as the name they bear in 

 every country fnfficiently evinces. 



At this time the Spaniards would fcarccly have influence 

 enough to make any thing fafliionable north of the Py- 

 renees ; but at the period we are fpeaking of they were held 

 in high confideration, and many of their cufloms and man- 

 ners were adopted in the other dominions of Charles the 

 fifth. It is remarkable that in the deiigns of Palladio, and 

 of feveral Roman architeSs of the fame age, whofe 

 works have been confulted, we find no example of alcoves, 

 from whence it may be inferred that they had not then be- 

 come falhionable either in Rome or Venice. Whether they 

 were more fo in thofe parts of Italy which were under tlie 

 dominion of Charles might be an amufuig fubjeft of inquiry 

 to an antiquary. It is faid that alcoves are flill frequent in 

 the houfes of the Spanifli nobility, and Swinburne mentions 

 two yet remaining in the Royal bedchamber of the Moorifli 

 palace of the Alhambra, at Grenada, which are probably 

 the oldeil in Europe, though it is imcertain whether their 

 decorations are not of a more modern date, as the apartment 

 was repaired for the ufe of Philip V. The beds were 

 placed upon raifed pavements of blue and. white tiles, a 

 fountain played in the middle to refrefh the apartment in hot 

 weather, and two fmall doors behind the alcoves led to the 

 royal baths. 



In England, alcoves of every kind have been much in ufe, 

 but the change of manners, in confequence of the general 

 difr\irion cf wealth, has nearly baniflied the m.ofl magnificent 

 kind with ftate beds, ^and the parade of which they were 

 appendages. Even in private bed-rooms they are now fcl- 

 dom conftruifted, except to obtain uniformity, or a com- 

 munication to fome other apartment, as they are found lefs 

 convenient, and by confining the air, fuppofcd to be lefs 

 healthy to deep in, than tiie uncontrafted fpace of the 

 chamber. 



ALCOY, in Geography, a fmall town of Spain, in Va- 

 lencia, at the fource of a river of the fame name, which 

 traverfes the whole province from fouth-wcll to north-eaft. 

 N. lat. 38'^ 45'. W. long. 0° 21'. 



ALCRANES Rocks lie in a direftion north-weft from 

 Cape Catoche, the north-eaft point of the province of 

 Jucatan, on the Spanifh main, and about north-north-eaft 

 from Cape Condecedo, the north-weft point of Jucatan ; 

 extending from N. lat. 22" 30', to 22" 50' in breadth, and 

 from W. long. 89° 50', to 91° 10' in iCTigth, 



A L C 



AT.CUDIA, a town of Spain, in Valencia, eight miles 

 north-well of St. Felipe. 



Alcudia, a fmall town of Africa, near the Cape of the 

 Three Slaves. 



Alcudia is alfo a town of the ifland of Majorca, on the 

 eaft coalt between Puglierya and Cape de la Pitdra, which 

 gives name to a large bay with good anchorage, and a Cape 

 forming the northern limit of the bay. In July and Angult 

 there is a fidiery of corul. N. lat. 39" 50'. E. long. 



3° 24'- 



ALCUESAR, or Alguezar, a town of Spain, in 

 Aragon, upon the river Vcro, north of Balbaftro, lituatcd 

 in a fertile country. N. lat. 42°. Y.. long. 0° 10'. 



ALCl'lN, or Ai.iiiNus Fi-ACCUs, in Biography, flou- 

 nflied towards the clofc of the eighth century, and was 

 famous for his genius and erudition. He was born in the 

 north of England, and educated at Yoik, under the di- 

 reftion of archbifhop Egbert. Some fay that he received 

 part of his education in early life from Venerable Bedc, but 

 as he furvived him about 70 years, others have difputed this 

 fad. Egbert appointed him keeper of the curious library 

 which he had founded at York ; and he was alfo deacon of 

 the church ni this city, and abbot of Cantcrbniy. In 793 

 he was fent on an embaffy by Offa, king of Mcrcia, to the 

 emperor Charlemagne, who conceived fo high an opinion of 

 him, that he folieited him to fettle in his court, and to be- 

 come liis preceptor in the fciences, as well as to afDfl him in 

 fettling fome ecclefiaftical difputes that agitated the country 

 at tliat period. Accordingly he iuftrutted the emperor in 

 rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and divinity, and was in fuch 

 high efteem at court that he was called, by way of eminence, 

 " the emperor's delight." Charlemagne likewife employed 

 his learned favourite to write feveral books againft the here-- 

 tical opinions of Felix, bifliop of Urgcl, in Catalonia, who 

 maintained that Jef.is Chrilt was the fon of God, not by 

 nature but by adoption ; and Alcuin accompanied the em- 

 peror in 794 to tlie council of Frankfort, which confifted 

 of 300 bifhops, and of which he was admitted a member. 

 Although this council decreed, that Jefus Chriil', as man, 

 ought to be called the proper, not the ndopted, fon of 

 God, the difpute was continued ; and Felix being allowed 

 to defend his opinion before an afTcmbly of bilhops at Aix 

 la Chapelle, in 799, Alcuin was empluyed as his opponent, 

 and performed the office to the entire fatisfadlion of the 

 emperor and other attendants, and to the convlftion of Felix 

 and his followers, who were thus induced to abandon their 

 errors and to accede to the opinion of the church. Alcuin 

 performed other fervices on behalf of religion. He wrote 

 commentaries for explaining the fcripttn'cs, but chiefly witii 

 a view to the inveftigation of their myllical meaning ; he 

 correfted the errors of the Latin tranflation in common ufe ; 

 and the firft German tranflation of the fcriptures has been 

 afcribed to his direftion and fuperintendence. He was alfo 

 appointed, m concurrence will\ Paulus Diaconus, to compile, 

 from the writings of the fathers, homilies or difcourles upon 

 feleft portions of fcripture, which the ignorant priclls of 

 that period might commit to memoiy, and recite to the 

 people. Alcuin, under the patronage and with the alfiitancc 

 of Charlemagne, contributed ver)' much to the advancement 

 of learning, by eftabliflung public fchools, particularly in 

 France. Cave (Hift. Lit. toni.i. p. 637.) fays, that France 

 was indebted to Alcuin for all the polite learning of which 

 it boafted in the eighth centmy and tlie following ages. 

 The univerfities of Paris, Tours, Fuldtn, Soiflons, and 

 many others, were indebted to him for their origin and in- 

 erenle ; thofe of which he was not the fuperior aud founder, 



beiug 



