ALP 



ALP 



one of the ncft copious, tlie radices only of which are ef- 

 teeir.cd ahout 3244, but then it aboniuls exceedingly in 

 compounds and derivatives. Bifliop Wilkins thinks thefc 

 may be moderat.:ly computed at about ten thoufand. Her- 

 mamis Hugo, indeed, alferts, that no language has fo few 

 as 100,000 word ■ ; and Vavro is frequently quoted by learned 

 men, as if he alVirmed that there are in the Latin no lefs 

 thr-.n j,ooo,ooo ; but upon inquiring into the foope of the 

 paflnge, I'ifliop Willcins nbfervcs, that this number is not 

 intended by Mnn to cxpvefs the jull number of words in tiie 

 Latin, but t' c great variety made thereof by tiie inflexion 



and compolition of verbs To this purpofe he lays it down, 



that there are above one thoufand radical verbs in the Latin, 

 and that each verb admits of five hundred feveral varieties. 

 He farther fnppofes, that each of thefe may be compounded 

 with nine prepijfitions ; as, ce/Jit, recent, accejfit, decejfit, prx- 

 tcjjit, prccrjftt, J'uccejp.t, &c. which amounts to five millions. 

 See Word. 



Concerning the origin and progrefs and various kinds of 

 alphahet'ical writing, fee Lktters and Writing. 



Alphabf.t, in matters of Po/v^^nT^/rC, is a duplicate of 

 the key or cypher, which each of the parties corrcfponding 

 are to keep by them. 



It is properly an alphabet of llie ufual letters difpofed in 

 their order ; oppofite, or underneath which, are the fecret 

 charafters correfponding thereto, witli the blajik or ufelefs 

 letters, and the other figns or fymbols ferving to ol>fcure 

 and render it difficult to decipher. See Deciphering. 



Alphabet, among Ma-chants and Traders, is a kind of 

 index, with the twenty-four letters in their natural order, in 

 which are fet down the names arid furnames of thofe with 

 whom open accounts are kept ; and which refers to the fo- 

 lios of the ledger, where thofe accounts are' \<'ritten, in the 

 form of debtor and creditor ; ferving to find eafily, and 

 without any trouble, fuch accounts as are neeelTary to be 

 turned to. 



Alphabet, among the French, fignifies alfo thofe 

 punches or iron tools, which engravers upon metal ufe to 

 engiT.ve the feveral letters, or charafters, which belong to 

 their works, either for legends, or for other infcriplions. 

 The book-binders have alfo fmall brafs tools, which they 

 call alphabets, and with which they put the titles, and the 

 number of the volume, on the back of books. 



Alphabetical iicr/Ij-. See Abcedary. 



ALPHTEA, in Entomology, a fpecies of the Phal;Ena 

 Boiiihys-, with ferruginous wings, a white point in the mid- 

 dle, and a punctated brown ftreak, found in New Hol- 

 land. 



ALPH^NIX, white barley-fugar, to which is given an 

 extraordinary name, to render it more valuable. This fugar, 

 which is thought good for colds, is made of common fagar, 

 which is boiled until it becomes eafy to crack, when they 

 pour it upon a marble table, gi-eafed with oil of Uveet al- 

 monds, and m.ould it into various figures with a brafs 

 crotchet. It is eafily falfified with ftareh 



ALPHARABIITS. See Alfarabius. 



ALPHA RD. See Cor Z^jv/r-f. 



ALPHERATZ, in Afrommy, a fixed ftar of the third 

 magnitude in AitliaPvIUS. 1'his is otherwife called alphard'z. 

 Some alfo give tlie denomination er.ij' alphnriil%, and riu:r- 

 chab alpharafz, to two other ftars in the right Ihoulder of 

 Pegasus. 



ALPHERY, Mikepher, in Biography, an Englidi di- 

 vine of the 17th century, was born in RufRa, of the impe- 

 rial line, and on account of the commotions in Rufiia, which 

 liappened towards the clofe of the iCth cenUiry, was fer.t to 

 England with his two brothers. They werecorifigned to the 



6 



care of Mr. Jofcph Bidell, a Ruflia merchant, and by him en- 

 tered at Oxford, where two of them died of ihc fmall-pox. 

 Tlie fuvvivor took orders in the Englifh church, and was 

 prefented in 161S to the reftory of Woolcy, in Huntingdon- 

 (liire. During iiis rtfidence in tliis fitnation, he was iavitcJ 

 to return to his native country by fome zealous friends, who 

 promifed to exert their utmoll efforts in reftoring him .to the 

 throne of his anceftors ; but he declined the propofal, and 

 preferred continuing in the humble, but perhaps no lefs ho- 

 nourable and ufeful, ftation of a parifli priell. At tlie time 

 of the civil wars, he endured great harddups from the re- 

 publican party, and was ejcfted from his living. After fuf- 

 fering much infult and opprtfiion by the milguided zealots 

 of that diihafted period, he made a fmall purchafc in the 

 vicinity of his living, built a houfc, and refided in it for fome 

 years. The prelbyterian ininiller by whom he was fucceeded 

 encouraged and protefted him ; paid him the fifth part of 

 the ann\'.al income of his jiving, the allowance made by par- 

 liament to ejefted minillers ; treated him with kindnel's, and 

 did him all the fervices in iiis power. After the Rcfto- 

 ration, he was replaced in his retlory ; but his advanced 

 age of 80 years, and attendant infirmities, obliged him to 

 transfer ths; duty to a curate, and to retire to the houfe of his 

 eldcll fon at Hammerfmith, where he died, much refpei'ted, 

 and affording a fingular example of the viciffitude of the 

 world. Biog. Brit. 



ALPHESERA, in Botany, a name by which the Ara- 

 bian, and fome other authors, cxprefs the wliite Bry- 

 ony. 



ALPHESI, Isaac, in 5/\frfl/>Z'j», a learned rabbi, who 

 floiu-idied in Spain in tlie I ith century, and who came over 

 from the kingdom of Fez, in Africa, with the Morabites, 

 or Almoravides. His epitaph, wn'tten in hexameters, was 

 to this purport : — " Let it be engraved on the itone, that 

 the light of this world is gone out, and that the foiindati'on 

 of wifdom is dcpofited within this tomb. Daughters 01 

 Sion, come and weep! the world is buried, and ftricken 

 with blindnefs. Weep and figh, for the ark and tables of 

 the law are broken in pieces with this doclor." 



ALPHESTIS, in Ichthyology, the name of a fifli called 

 by others CiNJEDUS, the labrus cyn.i;dus of Gmehn's 

 Linnrsus. 



ALPHETA, in AJlronomy, a fixed ftar in the northern 

 crown ; otherwife called luc'ida coronx. 



ALPPIEUS, Yd AiicUnt Geography, one of tlie names of 

 Pifa in Etruria, fuppofed to have been founded by the El::;- 

 a;is, who amved thither from the banks of the Alpheus, in 

 the territoiy of Elis. 



Alpheus, a river of Elis, no lefs celebrated in my- 

 thology than recognized by geographers. The fource of 

 Alpheus was in the interior patt of Peloponntuis, in the 

 fouth-eafl of Arcadia. Its courfe was firfl to the north- 

 weft ; and then turning to the call, it entered Elis, and paf- 

 fing by Pifa and Olympia, difcharged itfelf into the fta. 

 The mythologills, who are fond of animriting all fountains 

 and rivers, pretend that Alplieu?, falling in I0V4; with Are- 

 thufa, pnrfued her to the fca, into wiiich (he phuiged her- 

 felf, and . following the fame courfe under the water, re- 

 joined her at Syracufe, in the fmall ifland of Ortygia. 

 Virgil. -iEn. hb. iii. v. <594. Accordingly it is reported 

 that this river pafTcs under the fea, without mixing witli 

 the fait v. ater, fo as to pafs quite into Sicily, v.'here it 

 mixes itfelf with the fountain Arethufa, near the city of 

 Syracufe, infomuch that any thing which is thrown into tlie 

 river on the fide of E'is if laid to come out at this fountain. 

 The geographical relation and the poetic fiflionare fo.blended, 

 that it is not eafy to de-cide which of them gave occafion to 



the 



