A L F 



parifli, and iiTiout 500 iiihubitants : diflant lyo miles noitli- 

 caft from l.ifbon. N. lat. 40' 9'. W. long;. 5" 42'. 



ALFDOUCH, a nann; gm-n by tlic Aloors to a fort of 

 vermicelli, wiiicii tliL-y make of flour and water, and which 

 they are very fond of in their entertainments. 



ALFECCA, or Ai,KiiTA, in y/J/ronomy, a name given 

 to the ftar commonlv called liichla coron<c. 



ALFEIZERAO, in Gco\!,mph-j, a town of Portngal, 

 in Eili-emadura, i;i a fmuU place lying on the fea, and eouuiins 

 about 700 inhabit mts. 



ALFELD, a town of Germany, in the circle of Lower 

 Saxony, and bidiopric of Hddelhcnn, htnnte on the Leine, 

 30 miles foiith of Hanover, and 15 fouth of Hddtlheuii. 



Alfeld, a town of Geimany, in the circle of the Lower 

 Rhine, fonr miles north of Neidenau. 



ALFEI-DHA, a mountain of Perfia, in the province of 

 Kirman, 13 leagues foutli of Sirgian. 



ALFENUS, Varus, in B'wgrapky-, a Roman Civilian, 

 was a native of Cremona, and a difciple of Servius Snipitius. 

 He flourilhcd about the year of Rome, 754, or the full of 

 the Chrillian sra. Horace mentions him as a perfon who 

 had been brought up in the mechanical occupation of a 

 fhoemaker, or, as others lay, a barber ; and who had quitted 

 this humble ilatiun for a profeihon in which he had acquired 

 reputation. 



Alfenus vafer, omni 



Abje:'ilo inftrumentoartis, claufaque taberna, 



Sutor erat ; fapiens operis lie optimus omnis 



Eft opifex, lie rex folus." Sat. lib. i. fat. iii. v. 130. 



" Shuffling Alfen, though he loft his awl. 



And threw away his laft, and (hut his itall, 



And broke his threads, yet was a cobler ftill : 



Thus eveiy tradefman, if he hath but ficill, 



Is wife, and therefore only king." Creech. 



Ammianus Marcellinus refers to Alfenus, (lib. xxx. c. 4. p. 

 458. ed. Gronov.) as a perfon whofe authority was held in high 

 eftiraation in matters of law. Aulus Gellius alio, citing his 

 works, (hb. vi. c. 5.) fpcaks of the. author as a dihgent 

 inquirer into antiquities ; " Renim Antiquarum non incu- 

 riofus." He wrote 40 books of Digefts, which are men- 

 tioned in the index of the Pandetts, and feveral books of 

 Collections. Paulus, the Civilian, made an abridgment of 

 bis works. Some fay that he \ras a conful, and an old 

 Schohaft on Horace fays, that he was buried at the public 

 expcnce. If this be the ciife, Alfenus, without enriching 

 himfelf by his profelfion, had acquired an honell reputation, 

 and exhibits an encouraging example to thofe who pofTels 

 talents, for rifmg from a lower fphcre of life to eminence by 

 profcffional merit. Gen. Diet. 



ALFERE, in Geography, a town of Arabia, 24leagucs 

 fouth of Medina. 



ALFET, in Ancient CuJJoms, fignificd a large caldron, 

 Avhich contained boiling water, in which a peilon accufed 

 plunged his hand and arm as far as the elbow, by way of 

 trial or purgation. 



ALFIDENA, in Geography, a town of Naples, in the 

 pro.inceof Abruzzo Citra, 15 miles fouth-fouth-taft of Sul- 

 mor.a ; famous in the war of the Samnites. 



ALFONSUS, in Biography. Sitt Alphon'sus. 



ALFORD, Michael, an Englifn Jefuit, was born in 

 Lo. Ion, in 1587, and entered into the fociety in 1607. 

 Having ftudied theology and phllofophy in Spain, and at 

 Louvaia, and having relided fome years at Rome, he returned 

 to England, where he was arrefted, but afterwards relealed. 



A L F 



From that time lie remained in England for 30 vears a's a 

 raillionary from the ioeiety. He <lied at St. t)mcr's, in l^^^2, 

 and left two treatifesin ecclclialUcal liiilory, -d/'z. " Britar.nia 

 ilhilhata," printed at Antwerp, l64i,in4to. ; and " An • 

 nales Eccleiiallici Britannorum," printed alio at Antwerp. 

 Gen. Biog. 



Ai. roRD, in Geography, a town of England, in the county 

 of I^incoln, about fix miles fiom the lea, 23^ north of 

 Bollon, and 140; north of London. It has a market on 

 Tuefday, and tv>'o fairs on Whil-Tuefday and Nov. H, for 

 cattle and ftieep. It has a fpring, which contains a purging 

 i.ilt, and has been recommended in the fcnrvy, jaundice, 

 and other glandular obllrut\ions, andalfo in diforders of the 

 kidneys and bladder. N. lat. 53*^ 30. E. long, o" 15'. 



Alkord, a townfliip of America, in Berfcdiire county, 

 in the Mail'achufets, containing 577 inhabitants, 14J miles 

 well: from Bofton. 



ALFORDSTOWN, a fmall town in Moor county, 

 North Carolina. 



ALFRAGAN, Ahmed Eem Kotheir Al Fargasi, 

 or, as others calls him, Mohammed Ebs Ki tir Al For- 

 GANi, in Biography, a celebrated Arabian aftronomer, was 

 born at Fergan, in Sogdiana, now Samarcand, andflouriihed 

 in the beginning of the ninth century, under the Caliphate 

 of Al-Manion. His work in Arabic, entitled, " The Ele- 

 ments of Aftronomv," cuniifts of 30 chapters or feftions, 

 and is formed upon the principles of Ptolemy, whom the 

 author often cites. Of this work we iiave a I^atin tranflation 

 by Johannes Hifpahenfis, in the 12th century, printed at 

 Ferrara, in 1493, and at Nuremberg, in 1537, with a pre- 

 face by MelanCthon ; another by James Chrillman, from the 

 Hebrew veriioii ot James Anloli, at Frankfort, in 1590, to 

 which the editor added an ample commentary, in wliicli he 

 compares the calendars of the Romans, F.gvpiians, Perfians, 

 Syrians, and Hebrews, and ihews the correfpondence of 

 their years ; and a third, which is the bell, by Golius, 

 with the Arabic text and valuable notes on the firft nine 

 chapters, printed in 1669, at Amiltrdam, in 4to., after the 

 death of the editor, which he did not live to iiniih. Mod. 

 Un. Hirt. vol. ii. p. 202. Hniton's Mat. Dic^. vol. i. 

 p. 63. 



ALFRED, or .Alfred the Great, in Biography, the glory 

 of our Saxon monarchs, was the youngell fon of Ethelx.olf, 

 king of the Weft Saxons, and was born at Wannating, 

 fuppofed to be Wantage, in Berkfliire, in the year 849. 

 Ethelwolf, being a man of great piety, fcnt Alfred to Rome-, 

 when but five years of age, to receive confirmation, fomc 

 fay regal unClion, from the hand of pope Leo the Tenth ; 

 who, on performing the facred rite, lliled him his fon, and 

 foretold, it is faid, his future grcatnefs. 



His three elder brothers, Ethclbald, Ethelbeit, and Ethel- 

 red, having regularly fuccetded to the throne, and died 

 after fnort reigns, Alfred afi'uraed the fovereignty, and was 

 crowned at Wincheller, 111871. He had given early and 

 manilcll proofs of courage and ability ; though his inclina- 

 tions are known to have rather difpofed him to the calm 

 pleafures of literature, than the tumult of war. But fcarcely 

 had he time to attend his brother to the grave, ere he found 

 occafion to fight for the crown to which he had hicceeded ; 

 for the Danes had poured innumerable multitudes into the 

 ifland ; and in that very year eight battles were fought be- 

 tween them and the Saxons. The ftrenglhcf the latter was 

 almofl wafted, while that ol the former was conllantly re- 

 newed, after every lofs, by frelh (hoals of their countrymen. 

 At length a bloody engagement took place at Wilton, in 

 Vv'iltiliire J where, though the king was defeated with fome 



kjfs, 



