'alb 
tie after their friendfhip for each other began to cool; 
which was owing perhaps to the pride of Albani, who 
could not bear to fee Guido furpafs him, ortothejea- 
loufy of Guido at finding Albani make fo fwift a progrefs. 
'I'hey certainly endeavoured to eciipfe one another; for, 
when Guido had fet up a beautiful altar-piece, Albani 
would oppofe to it fome fine picture of this : thus did they 
behave for fome'time, and yet fpake of each other with 
the higheft efteem. Albani, after having greatly impro¬ 
ved himfelf under the Garaches, went to Rome, where 
he continued many years, and married in that city; but, 
his wife dying, he returned to Bologna, where he enter¬ 
ed again into the date of matrimony. His fecund wife 
(Doralice) was well defeended, and pofi'effed a lingular 
(hare of beauty and good fenfe. Hence Albani reaped the 
advantage of having a molt beautiful model; fo that he 
had now no occafion to make ufe of any other woman to 
paint a Venus, the Graces, Nymphs, and other deities, 
whom he took a particular delight in re prefen ting! His 
wife anfwered this purpofe admirably well; for, befides 
her bloom of youth, and the beauty of her perfon, he dif- 
covered in her fo much modefty, fo many graces and per¬ 
fections, fo well adapted to painting, that it was impoffi- 
ble for him to meet with a more linifhed woman. She 
afterw ards brought him feveral boys, all extremely beau¬ 
tiful and finely proportioned ; fo that (he and her children 
were the originals of his mod agreeable and graceful 
compofitions. Doralice was fo conformable to his willies, 
that (he took a pleafure in letting the children in different 
attitudes, holding them naked, and fometirnes fufpended 
bv firings, when Albani would draw them in a thoufand 
different ways. It was from them, too, that the famous 
iculptors Flamand and Argaldi modelled their little Cu¬ 
pids. Albani was of a liappy temper and difpofition ; his 
paintings, fays Malvalia, breathing''nothing but content 
and joy. He died the 4th of October, 1660, to the great 
grief of all his friends and the whole city of Bologna. 
Malvalia has preferved fome verfes, intended for his mo¬ 
nument, to the following purport: “That the mortal re¬ 
mains of the illuftrious Albani, who gave life to fiiade, 
lie interred in this tomb; the earth never produced fo 
wonderful an artift, or a hand equal to his immortal one; 
which gave colours to the foul, and a foul to colours. 
Prometheus animated clay, and gave life by means of the 
fun; but Albani animated merely by the afliftance of 
fhade.” He was very famous in his life-time, and had 
been vifited by the greateft painters. Several princes ho¬ 
noured him with letters; and among!! the reft Charles 1 . 
who invited him to England by a letter figned with his 
own hand. 
ALBANIA, a province of Turkey in Europe, on the 
gulph of Venice, bounded by Livadia on the fouth, by 
Theffaly and Macedonia on the eaft, and on the north by 
Bof'nia and Dalmatia. The people are ftrong, large, cou¬ 
rageous, and good horfemen; but are faid to be of a thiev- 
ifh difpofition: the Grand Seignior procures excellent 
foldiers from hence., particularly cavalry, known by the 
name of Arnauts. There are feveral large towns in this 
province; and the inhabitants are ahnoft all ChriftianS of 
the Greek church, and defeended from the ancient Scy¬ 
thians. Formerly it was part of the kingdom of Mace¬ 
donia. Their chief manufacture is carpets. Lat. from 
39. to 43. N. Ion. from 28. to 31. E. 
Albania, a country of Alia, bounded on the weft by 
Iberia; on the eaft by the Cafpian Sea; on the north by 
mount Caucafus; on the fouth by Armenia, and the river 
Cyrus, now Kur; which, fpringing from the Mofchian 
mountains that feparate Colchis from Armenia, and wa¬ 
tering the country of Mckan, receives the Aragus and 
A raxes, and falls into the Cafpian Sea within a (mail dif- 
tance from the fouthern borders of this country. The 
whole country, formerly called Albania; now goes under 
the names of Shirwan and Eaft Georgia, and is extremely 
fruitful and pleafant. The ancient hiftorians take notice 
of the Albanian men being tall, ftron'g-bodied, and, ge- 
Vol. I. No. 35. 
ALB 237 
nerally fpeaking, of a very graceful appearance; far ex¬ 
celling all other nations in comelinefs as well as ftature. 
Modern travellers take no notice of the appearance of the 
men ; but ejiftol the beauty of the women, which feems to 
be unnoticed by the ancients. The Albanians were an¬ 
ciently an independent and powerful people ; but we find 
no mention made of their kings till the reign of Alex¬ 
ander the Great, to whom the king of Albania is faid to 
have prefenteda dogof an extraordinary fiercenefsand lize. 
ALBANO, a town of Italy, on a lake of the fame 
name, in the Campagnio of Rome. It was called by the 
ancients Albanum Pompeii, and built out of the ruins of 
the ancient Alba Longa, which was deftroyed by Tuilus 
lloftilius. It Hands within twelve miles fouth-eaft of 
Rome, and for the pleafantnefs of its fituation is the fum- 
mer retirement of a great' many Roman princes. It is 
likewife the fee of a hi (hop, w ho is one of the fix fenior 
cardinals. The town is famous for its excellent wine, 
and the ruins of a maufoleum, which, according to the 
tradition of the inhabitants, was made for Afcanius. The 
profpedt from the garden of the Capuchins is extremely 
pleafant, taking in the Campagnio of Rome, and termi¬ 
nating in a full view of the Tufcan fea. Clofe by the 
town lies the Alban lake, of an oval figure, and about 
feven miles in circumference, which, by reafon of the 
high mountains round it, looks JLilce the area of a great- 
amphitheatre. It abounds with excellent fifti, and over 
againft the hermitage it is faid to be unfathomable. The 
mountain of Albano is called Monte Cavo, on the top of 
which was a celebrated temple dedicated to Jupiter and 
Juno. Near the Capuchins there is another convent of 
Francifcaris ; and not far from thence the palace -of cardi¬ 
nal Barberini, remarkable for very pleafant gardens, with 
the ruins of ancient baths, and feveral old fragments of 
Mofaic work. E. Ion. 13. 10. N. lat. 41. 43. 
There is likewife another town of the fame name in the 
Bafilicate. of the kingdom of Naples, remarkable for the 
fertility of tire furrounding territory, and for the nobility 
of t|ie inhabitants. 
AI.BAN’s (St.) a market-town of Hertfordfliire, is a 
great thoroughfare, accommodated with good inns, on 
the north-weft road from London, at the difiance of twen¬ 
ty-one miles. This town lends two members to parlia¬ 
ment, gives the title of duke to the noble family of Beau- 
clerc, and has one of the beft markets for wheat in Eng¬ 
land. St. Alban’s is feated near the ruins of an ancient 
Roman city, by Tacitus called Verolam ; and by the Sax¬ 
ons Watlingccjler, becaufe it is feated on the road called 
V/atling-Jlreel. Nothing now remains of Verolam but the 
ruins of old walls; in the fields adjacent to which they 
continue to find Roman coins, as they formerly found tef- 
felated pavements. In memory of St. Alban, Offa, king 
of the Mercians, anno 795, erected an abbey, calling it 
St. Alban’s; and near it the town of the fame name was 
afterwards built. The church of the abbey is remaining 
to this day. When the monafteries were dilfolved, the 
townfmen paid 400I. to prevent its being levelled with the 
ground, and have lince converted it into a parilh-church, 
which, for its largenefs, beauty, and antiquity, claims a 
particular regard. It had a noble font of folid brafs, in 
which the children of the kings of Scotland were ufed to 
be baptized ; and was brought from Edinburgh, by Sir 
Philip Lea, when the city was in flames; but in the time 
of the civil wars it was taken away. About eighty years 
lince, a tomb was difeovered in this church, laid to be 
that of Humphry Duke of Gloucefter : when the leaden 
coffin was opened, the body was found entire, being pro - 
ferved in a fort of pickle. There was a ftately crofs in the 
middle of the town, as there were in many other places 
where queen Eleanor’s body refted when it was brought 
out of the north for interment at Wcftminfter; but it has 
been fome time demoliffied. The market days are Wed- 
nefdays and Saturdays. W. Ion. o. 12. N. lat. 51,44, 
ALBANUS MONS, now called Mont Albano , iixteen 
miles from Rome, at the foot of which Alba Longa flood. 
3 P Albasvs 
