ALE 



rcfufoJ to degrade liimfclf by kiffing the pope's tOe. He 

 returned with fa.r promii'es, and no other fiiccour. Alexis 

 joined with the Poles, and the Tnrkilh conquefts were Hop- 

 ped by the gieat commander Sobielky. At the vacancy of 

 the crown of Poland, he propofed his fon for kin;;, and to 

 unite that kingdom with his own ; but the cledtors pre- 

 ferred Sobielky. Jealnufies arofe in the progrefs of the 

 war with the Turks between Ruffia and Poland, and they 



ALE 



Alfxis, a famous ftatuary, mentioned by Pliny, N". H. 

 torn. ii. p. 649. 



Alexis, a Greek comic poet, uncle to Menander, vho 

 flouridied in the time of Alexander the Great, about 363 

 years before the Chrillian jlira. Fragments of this poet 

 may be found in " VetuftifTimorum Grxeorum Bucolita 

 Gnomica," &c. Crifpin, 1570, i6to. 



Alexis, William, a benedittine monk, in the abbey 

 terminated in the conqueft of the whole Ukraine by the of Lyra, was living in 1500, and has lelt feveral pieces of 

 Poles. Alexis did not live to fue the end of this war ; poetry-, which were eftecmed in their time. The principal 

 for his death happened in 1676, at the early age of 46 ; and are "Four Chants-Royaux," 4to. " Le Pafle-tems dc 

 it is fuppofed tliat befell a vidim to the empyrieal reme- tout hommeset dc toute femmcs," Paris, 4to. and 8vo., tranf- 

 dies of an old Polifli woman, in whom he repufed greater latcd from a work uf Innocent III. and dtlcribing the mi- 

 confidence than in his phyficians. Alexis had claims of feries of man, fiom the cradle to the grave. " Le grand 

 various kinds on the efteem and gratitude of h!:; country, blafon des fa'ili'es amours," l6to. and 410. ; a Dialogue on 

 He not only rellored, by his fucccfsful wars with Poland, the evils occaiioned by love. Biog. Dift. 

 the provinces that had been wrefted from' the empire, and Alexis, a Pi.^'monlrfr; was born of a noble family, and 

 laid a foundation for a fovcrcignty over the Colfaeks, but by his early application acquired the knowledge of the 

 he was equally attentive to the internal improvement of the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, and other Ian- 

 country. He caufed an epitome of feveral fciences to be guages. Alexis is fuppofed to be a feigned name ; and the 

 tranflated into the Ruffian language, and took pleafure in real name of this author, who wrote in the beginning of the 

 perufmg it : he colletled the laws of the various provinces i6th centur\-, is apprelunded to be Hieronymus Rulcellui ; 

 of his empire into one body, and by the advice of the no- and he is faid to have died in 1565. It has been generally 

 bility, clergy, and burghers, made laudable attempts in le- afl'erted, though it he not RricUy true, that he was the firlt 

 giflatlon : he introduced feveral new nranufaftures, pnrticu- perfon who mentioned Ultramarine. His receipt, how- 

 larly thofe of filk and linen, and encouraged the trade of the ever, has been followed fince that time as the beft and mod 

 country : he added two fuburbs to Mofeow, and built feve- certain. His work " De Secretis," funiilhes materials fur 

 ral market towns, which he peopled with Poles and Lithu- the technological hillory of inventions. It was printed for 

 anians : he brought feveral large defarts into a Hate of cul- the firll time at Milan, in 1557 ; though Beckman appre- 

 ture and population, by fettling in them theprifoners taken bends that the firll edition ir.ull have been of an older date. A 

 in war; he formed a defign, executed by his fon Peter, of French tranflation was printed at Antwerp in 1557. " The 

 maintaining fleets in the Cafpian and Euxine feas, and of Secrets of Alexis," London, 1558, is mentioned by Ames 

 making the Ruffians acquainted with the art of conllrud- in his " Typographical Antiquities," p. 296. Wecker, a 

 ing (liips, and with maritime commerce : he received am- phyfician at Colmar, tranflated this hook into Latin, and 

 baffadors from Perfia, China, and Afia ; and was the firil enlarged it with additions, under the title of " De .Secretis 

 czar who maintained a clofe correfpondenee with the prin- Libri xvii." The firil edition, according to Flaller, was 

 fipal European powers. The milduefs of his government printed at Bafle, in 1559, 8vo. Many editions of it have 

 allured Germans, Dutch, Italians, and about 30CO Seotf- finee appeared. The laft, by Zwinger, was publilhed at 

 men into Ruffia. By augmenting the power of the crown Bafle in 1753. Alexis, it is faid, urged by a curiofity to 

 he prepared for the general improvement of a country, like be acquainted with the fecrets of nature, collefted as much 

 RulTia, pofTefftd by a powerful and barbarous ariftocracy. as he could during his travels for 57 years, and valued him- 

 He inftituted a private chamber for the trial of offences felf on concealing them ; but when he was 82 years of age, 

 againft himfelf, and though he proceeded cautioufly in his he faw a poor man, whofe diforder proved fatal, becaufe he 

 (examination, he executed julliee with rigour on the guilty, had not difcovered an effeftual remedy, of which he was pof- 

 and generally in a private manner. With fmall revenues, feffed ; upon which his confcieiice fo troubled him, that he 



he neverthelefs contrived, by oeconomy and prudence, to 

 maintain a large army and a magnificent court, and left his 

 trcafury rich. Alexis had formed many ufetul projefts ; 

 but death prematurely carried him off in the 47th year of 



became a hermit ; and in his folitary retirement, arranged 

 his fecrets in an order fit for publication. Gen. Dift. Beck- 

 man's Hift. Inventions, vol. ii. p. 351. 



Alexis, in Eiuomology, a fpecies of Papilio Phlcjiit, 



his age. Under him the RufTian empire made fome pro- with ecaudated brown wings, and a csrulean band under the 



grefs in civilization ; and he traced out a variety of impor- pollerior; found in India. 



tant plans which his fon Peter the Gi'eat improved and ALEXITERIAL, in Medinne, a term of the fame 

 executed. import with alexipharnilc ; but chiefly applied to the milk- 

 Alexis loved his people, and was a father to them; he water of that name, and remedies againil the poitonous bites 

 ftudied their happinefs, and raade his government as eafy of animals. 



to them as poffible. He loved juflice and peace ; and, But it is faid by fome authors that alexiterials diiTer 



though valiant, never made war but when he could not from alcxijiharmics : thus, alexipharmics fignify medicine? 



avoid it. He endeavoured, in the progrefs of his reign, to againil poifons taken internally ; whereas alcxiterials are 



repair the ills which his favourites and minilters had ocea- remedies againft the poifons of venomous animals inflifted 



fioned in his youth, and at the commeMcement of it, by abuf- externally. 



ing his confidence. Upon the whole, he was one of the ALEXIUS I. Comnksus, in Bh^raphy and Hyicry, 



greateft princes of his time. By his firil wife he had two emperor of the Eafl, was the fon of John Comnemis, the 



ions and four daughters ; and by his fecond wife Natalia, brother of the emperor Ifaac, aiid born at Conilantinoplc, 



the daughter of "Nari(l<in, a captain of liudars, one fon, A. D. IC48. He \\-as endowed by nature with the choiccft 



in. Peter, 'who fucceeded him, and one daughter. Mod. gifts both of mind and bodv ; thtfe .were cultivated by a 



Un. Hill. vol. xxxi. p. ^24 — ^62. Tookt's Hiilory of liberal education, and excrcifed in the fchool of obedience 



Ruffia, vol, li. p. 14 — 30. 4 N 



nd 



