A L T 



from balTo relievo only in the work being much more rtlieveJ 

 and brouglit forwanl. 



Ti) aiiv ropiefentatior. IiaL'"-rellcvrd or irore, if it.be not 

 ciuiicly <kta.:liei'. from the ground behind, fciilplors .ippiy 

 the appcll.ition of Alto Relievo. 



ALTON, in Geography, a town of Engla.id, in Hamp- 

 flurc, fituatc on the ri\ ;r V\''ye. Its manufadturc confilU of 

 plain and iigmcd baragons, ribbed druggets and fcrges ; and 

 round tiie town is a plantation of hops. Its market is on 

 Saturday, and it is diliant from London 47 miles. 



Alton is a village near Uttoxeter, in StafFordihire, in 

 which arc the ruins of a calUe, fuppofcd by Dr. Plott to 

 have been creeled by Theobald de Verdun in the beginning 

 of the reign of Edward II. but by others apprehended to be 

 prior to the Norman conquell. 



Alton-, a trail of land in Stratford county, New 

 Hampfliire, in America, north-eall from Barnllead. 



ALTONA. SeeALTENA. 



Altox.i, \n Ancient Geography, a river of , Britain, men- 

 tioned by Tacitus, and fuppofcd" to be the fame with the 

 Avona or Avon ; but as there are many rivers of this name, 

 it is conjedlured that the Altona of Tacitus fiov.'ed by 

 Northampton and Peterborough eaftwards. 



AI.TORF, in Geography. See Altdorf. 



Altorf, or Altdorf, a town of Germany, in the cir- 

 cle of Franconia, now fmall, but of great antiquity. It has 

 an univerfity with a valuable library, an anatomical theatre, 

 chemical laboratory, and botanical-garden. It has under- 

 gone many revolutions from the year 912, when it is men- 

 tioned in fome ancient records. It is fubjtft to the houfe 

 of Brandenburg, and is fituated 12 miles eaft-fouth-eail of 

 Nuremberg. N. lat. 49° 25.' E. long. 11° 7.' 



ALTRINGHAM, a town of England, in Che(hire, 

 rear tlie canal that pafles toWarrington from Manchcfter, and 

 about 8 miles from the latter town. The market is on 

 Tuefday, and it is 179! miles from London. N. lat 53° 25'. 

 tV. long. 1° 30'. 



ALTSOHL, a diftrift and town of Hungary, fix miles 

 fouth-foutli-weft of Neufohl. 



ALTSTADT. See Alstadt. 



ALTSTATT, a town of Germany, in the circle of 

 Upper Saxony, and margraviate of Medein, near Stolpen. 



ALTSTED, a town of the circle of Weilphalia and 

 bilhopric of Munller, five miles north-weft of .'\hns. 



ALTSTETTEN, or Alstette'n, a town of Swifler- 

 land, in the Upper Rhinthal, feven miles call of Appcnzel. 



ALTUN-SOIT, a river of Alia, which runs mto the 

 Tigris, 10 miles above Teerit, in the province of Kurdiltan. 



ALTUN-TASH, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the 

 province of Natolia, 20 miles north-well of Kutaja. 



ALTUR, or Altor, a fce-^-ort town of Afia, in 

 Arabia Petraea, fituate to the weft of Mount Sinai, and to- 

 wards the extremity of the weftern part of the Red Sea. 

 The Greeks called it Raitho ; the houfes are built of white 

 coral, which is found in great abundance on the coails of 

 the Arabian gulf. The inhabitants are partly Arabs and 

 partly Cliriftian Greeks. The monks of Mount Sinai have 

 a convent in this place. Its port, like that of Suez, can ad- 

 mit no large veffels. N. lat. 28' 20'. E. long. 34° 19'. 



ALTZENAU, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 

 Lower Rhine, five miles fouth-eaft of Hanau. 



ALTZEY, Alzey, or Altzheim, anciently Aheia, 

 a town of tlie Lower Rhine, in the I>ower Palatinate, with 

 a citadel, on the river Selz, and the capital of a prefeclurate 

 of the fame name, three miles fouth-weft of Odernhcim, 

 and 14 north-well of Worms. N. bt. 49" 44'. E. long. 



^^ 1 r' 



A L V 



ALVA DE ALLSTA.a town of Spain, in Old Caa^; . 

 not far frijm Zamora. 



Alva de Tormes, a town of .Spain, with a caftle, in t], 

 country of Leon, and province of Salamanca, 011 ih ■ fiMi- 

 tiers of Eftrcniadiira, lituate on the banks of the 'i'un:;: -, 

 eight leagues call fouth-eaft of Salamanca. 



Alva, Don Ferdinando Alvares de Toletj •, 

 Diilic vf, in Biography and Hijlory, was born of an iiln 

 trious family in Spain in 150S ; and having received nv.: 

 taiy inftruction under his grandfather, Frederic of Toledo, 

 he was appointed a general, in 1 538, by Charles V. ; and, 

 in r5J.2, defended Perpignan againll the beficging armv of 

 the Uauphin of France. V/hen Charles V. determined to 

 commence hoftilities againll the German Proteftants, in 

 1546, the duke of Alva was appointed general-in-chitf of 

 the Imperial army ; and in the following year, when the 

 Elector ot Saxony was defeated in the battle of Muliianfen, 

 and taken prifoner, he was chofen to prefide at the court- 

 martial, which fentenced this unfortunate prince to fuffer 

 death by being beheaded. At the fiege of Metz, in 1552, 

 the chief command, under the emperor, was entrulled to the 

 Duke of Alva ; but neither the obftinatc pcrfeverance of 

 Charles, nor the concurring afTiftance of Albert of Branden- 

 burg,could avail againll the vigorous defence of the Duke of 

 Guife. The emperor, after varying the mode of his opera- 

 tion, and repeatedly renewing the attack, was at length 

 conftrained to yield to the folicitations of his generals, who 

 conjured him to fave the remains of his army by a timely re- 

 treat. " Fortune," fays he, " I now perceive, refembles 

 other females, and chufes to confer her favours on young 

 men, while (he forfakes thofe who are advanced in years." 

 In this fiege, which lafted 56 days, he loft upwards of 

 30,000 men, who either died of dileale, or were killed \yp 

 the enemy. In 1555, the emperor found it neceffary to 

 check the progrefs of the French forces in Piedmont by 

 iome vigorous meafures; and with this view to employ a ge- 

 neral ot fuch reputation and abilities, as might counterba- 

 lance the great militar)' talents of the M:u-echal Briflac, who 

 was at the head of the Fiench army. The Duke of Alva 

 was pitched upon for that purpofe, and he vi'as invelled with ■ 

 the dignity of the emperor's vicar-general in Italv, as well 

 as with the fupremc command in all the Imperial and Spa- 

 nilh territories in that country. But though his authority 

 was unhmited, the luccefs of his operations was inconfider- 

 able ; and after having boafted, with his ufual arrogance, 

 that he would drive the French out of Piedmont in a few 

 weeks, he was obliged to retire into winter quarters, with 

 the ignominy of being unable to preferve entii'e that part of 

 the country of which the emperor had hitherto kept polfef- 

 fion. At the commencement of the enfuing year, Charles 

 rcfigned to his fon Philip the crowns of Spain, with all the 

 territories depending upon them, both in the Old and New 

 World ; and though the Duke of Alva had advanced in the 

 couvfe of this year into the pope's territories, and reduced the 

 whole of Campagna Romana, yet it was with relutkance 

 that he purfued hoftilities agaiiift the head of the church, 

 which were no lefs repugnant to his own principles than to 

 thofe of his new mafter. Having therefore made a truce, he 

 afterwards negotiated a peace with the pope ; and, notwith- 

 ftanding his haughty fpirit, fubmitted to the humiliating 

 condition of alking forgivenefs of the pontiff whom he had 

 conquered. After a general peace was eftablilhed in Eu- 

 rope in 1559, the Dnkc of Alva was fent to Paris, at the 

 head of a I'plendid embaffy, to efpoufe, in the name of his 

 mafter, Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry, king of France. 

 The tyrannical conduct of Philip, and the periecuting mea- 

 fures vvliieh he had adopted with a view of reftr.-iining the 



progrels 



