A L M 
ed with flowers all the year round ; they are adorned alfo 
with palms, myrtles, plane-trees, oranges, and olives; 
and the mountains and promontories near it are noted for 
producing a great variety of precious Hones, infomuch 
that the next promontory to it is called the Cape of Gates, 
which is a corruption from the word agates, the hills there¬ 
abouts abounding in that fort of precious ftones, as well 
as in emeralds and amethyfts, granites or coarfe rubies, and 
extreme curious alabaffer in the mountains of Filaures.” 
ALMIGH'TlNESS,yi Unlimited power; omnipotence; 
one of the attributes of God.—In the wildernefs, the bit¬ 
tern and the ftork, the unicorn and the elk, live upon his 
provifions, and revere his power, and feel the force of his 
almightinefs. Taylor. 
ALMIGHTY, adj. [from all and mighty. Of unli¬ 
mited power; omnipotent. The Lord appeared unto Abra¬ 
ham, and laid unto him, I am the almighty God ; walk be¬ 
fore me, and be thou perfeft. Gcnefis, xvii. i. 
ALMESFEO'H, or Almsfeoh, alms-money, Peter- 
pence ; a tribute formerly annually paid in England to the 
pope on the eighth of Auguft; called alfo hearth-penny. 
ALMIS'SA, a fmall town in Venetian Dalmatia, at the 
mouth of the Cetina. It Hands between too high moun¬ 
tains on a deep rock, 10 miles E. of Spalatro. Lat. 44. 4. 
N. Ion. 17. 45. E. 
AL'MOND, /. [amand, Fr. derived by Menage from 
amandala , a word in low Latin ; by others, from Allemand , 
a German ; fuppofing that almonds come to France from 
Germany.] The nut of the almond-tree, either fweet or 
bitter. 
Almond, T. in botany. See Amygdalus and Bra- 
beium. 
Almond, in commerce, a meafure by which the Por- 
tuguefe fell their oil ; twenty-fix almonds make a pipe. 
Almonds of the throat, or tonsils, called impro¬ 
perly Almonds of the ears, are two round glands placed on 
the Tides of the bafis of the tongue, under the common 
membrane of the fauces; each of them has a large oval 
finus, which opens into the fauces r and in it are a great 
number of fmaller ones, which difcharge themfelves thro’ 
the great finus of a mucous and flippery matter into the 
fauces, larynx, and oefophagus, for the moiftening and 
lubricating thofe parts. When the oefophagus mufcle 
acts, it compreffes the almonds, and they frequently are the 
occaiion of a fore throat.—Thetonfils, or almonds of the ears, 
are alfo frequently fwelled in the king’s evil; which tu¬ 
mour may be very well reckoned a fpecies of it. Wifcman. 
Almonds, among lapidaries, fignify pieces of rock- 
cryftal, ufed in adorning branch-candlefticks, &c. on ac¬ 
count of the refemblance they bear to the fruit of that name. 
Almond-furnace, or Alman-furnace, called 
alfo the Sweep ; is a peculiar kind of furnace ufed in re¬ 
fining, to feparate metals from cinders and other foreign 
fubftances. 
AL'MONDBURY, or Albakburt, i. e. the town or 
grove of St. Alban, in Yorkfnire, where Paulinus their 
Apoftle (fo called becaufe he converted many of them 
from heathenifm) built a cathedral, and dedicated it to St. 
Alban, thefirft Englilhmartyr. Itisfix miles fromHalifax. 
AL'MONDSBURY is in Gloucefterlhire, about fix 
miles and a half north from Briftol, and in the road to 
Gloucefter. This village is faid to derive its name from 
Alemond, a Well Saxon prince, the father of Egbert, the 
firlt foie monarch of England, (who is fuppofed to be 
buried in the church,) and from a fortification of a ram- 
pier, and a double-ditch, at Knoie, in this pariflt, for 
fuch our anceftors called bergs, and we by frequent ufe 
have foftened the word into borough or bury. On the 
brow of the hill, furrounded by the fortification, Hands 
Knoie, an ancient feat belonging to the family of Chefter. 
AL'MONER, or Almner, J : . [elcanofynarius, Lat.] 
The officer of a prince,, or other perfon, employed in the 
diftribution of charity. 
Almoners were employed in religious houfes, to whom 
belonged the management and diHribution of the alms of 
A L M 359 
the houfe. By the ancient canons, all monafteries were to 
fpend at lead a tenth part of their incomes in alms to the 
poor. The almoner of St. Paul’s is to dilpofe of the mo¬ 
nies left for charity, according to the appointment of the 
donors, to bury the poor who die in the neighbourhood, 
and to breed up eight boys to finging, for the ufe of the 
choir. By an ancient canon, all bifhops are required to 
keep almoners. 
Lord Almoner, or Lord High Almoner of Eng land, 
is an ecclefiaftical officer, generally a biffiop, who has the 
forfeiture of all deodands, and the goods of felos de fe , 
which he is to diftribute among the poor. He has alfo, 
by virtue of an ancient cuftom, the power of giving the 
firft difli from the king’s table to whatever poor perfon he 
pleafes, or, inftead of it, an alms in money. 
Great Almoner, (grandaumonier,) in France, was reck¬ 
oned before the revolution the higheft ecclefiaftical dignity 
in that kingdom. To him belonged the fuperintendency 
of all hofpitals and houfes of lepers. The king received 
the facrament from his hands; and he faid mafs before 
the king in all grand ceremonies and folemnities. 
Almoner is alfo a more fafhionable title given by fome 
writers to chaplains. In this fenfe we meet with almoner 
of a ftiip, almoner of a regiment. 
AL'MONRY,/! The place where the almoner refides,. 
or where the alms are diftributed. 
ALMO'ST, adv. [from all and mof ; that is, Moll part 
of all.] Nearly; well nigh; in the next degree to the 
whole, or to univerfality.—There can be no fuch thing or 
notion, as an almojl infinite ; there can be nothing next or 
fecond to an omnipotent God. Bentley. 
ALMS,yi [in Saxon elmes , from eleemefyna, Lat.] What 
is given gratuitoufly in relief of the poor. It has no fin- 
gular.—The poor beggar hath a juft demand of an alms 
from the rich man; who is guilty of fraud, injuftice, and 
oppreffion, if he does not afford relief according to his 
abilities. Swift. 
Giving alms never leffens the ftock. Sp. El darlimofna. 
nunca me'ngita la bolfa. The bleffings of heaven, fo pofi- 
tively promifed in Scripture to the charitable and compaf- 
fionate man, and the vifible effedt of them fo often expe¬ 
rienced, leave us no room to call the truth of this apho- 
rifm in queftion. And indeed, were it but the advantage 
this charadter gives a man in the eye of the world, (though, 
that ought to be the laft motive to charity,.) it meets with 
a more than fufficient reward. 
In the early ages of Chriftianity,. the alms of the cha¬ 
ritable were divided into four parts; one of which was- 
allotted to the biffiop, another to the priefts, and a third 
to the deacons and Tub-deacons, which made their whole 
fubfiftence; the fourth part was employed in relieving the 
poor, and in repairing the churches. 
No religious fyftem is more frequent or warm in its ex¬ 
hortations to alms-giving than the Mahometan. The Al¬ 
coran reprefents alms as a neceffary means to. make prayer 
be heard. Hence that faying of one of their khalifs :: 
“ Prayer carries us half-way to God, faffing brings us to> 
the door of his palace, and alms introduces us into the 
prefence-chamber.” Hence many illuffrious examples of 
this virtue among the Mahometans. Hafan, the Ton of 
Ali, and grandfon of Mohammed, in particular, is related' 
to have thrice in his life divided his fubffance equally be-, 
tween himfelf and the poor, and twice to have given away 
ali he had. And the generality are fo addicted to the do¬ 
ing of good, that they extend their charity even to brutes. 
Alms, alfo denotes lands or other effedts left to church¬ 
es or religious houfes, on condition of praying for the. 
foul of the donor. Hence, Free Alms was that which is 
liable to no rent or fervice ; and Rcafonable Alms was a 
certain portion of the eftates of inteffate perfons, allotted 
to the poor. 
Alms-eox, or chest, a fmall cheft or coffer, called 
by the Greeks jnSa-nov, wherein anciently the alms were 
colledted, both at church and at private houfes. The 
alms-cheft in Englilh churches, is a ffrong box, with a hole 
in 
