360 A L M 
in the upper part, having three keys, one to be kept by 
•the parfon or curate, the other two by the church-war- 
dens. The erecting of fuch alms-cheft in every church 
is enjoined by the book of canons, as alfo the manner of 
diftributing what is thus colledted among the poor. 
Alms-deed,/ An a£t of charity; a charitable gift. 
—This woman was full of good works, and alms-clccds 
which Hie did. Acls, ix. 36. 
Alms-giver,/! He that gives alms ; he that fupports 
■others by his charity.—He endowed many religious foun¬ 
dations, and yet was he a great alms-giver in fecret, which 
fhewed that his works in public were dedicated rather to 
God’s glory than his own. Bacon. 
Alms-house,/ A houfe devoted to the reception and 
fupport of the poor; an hofpital for the poor: 
Behold yon alms-houfe, neat, but void of date, 
Where age and want lit finding at the gate. Pope. 
Alms-man,/! A man who lives upon alms; who is 
fupported by charity. 
Alms (James), was born at Gofport, in Hamplhire. In 
the fourteenth year of his age he acted as aid-de-camp to 
captain Watfon, of the Dragon, in the engagement of 
Matthews and Leftock, and received from his commander 
Eiany marks of approbation. From the Dragon he went 
to the Namur, of 74 guns, which fhip bore a part in the 
memorable capture of the French fquadron, and their 
Eaft-India convoy, by lord Anfon, May 3, 1747. In Oc¬ 
tober following, in the fame fhip, he accompanied admiral 
•Bofcawen to the Ealt Indies; and this fhip, with three 
others, was wrecked on the Coromandel coaft, in April 
1749; but our young hero, referved by Providence for 
more brilliant fervices, was one out of twenty-three faved 
from the crew of the Namur. Immediately after this dif- 
affer, he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Syren, in 
which fhip he came home. In 175411c failed again for the 
Eaft Indies, as commander of the Hardwicke Indiaman, 
in which he was prefent at the attack of the Geriah, under 
Sir Cha. Watfon. But war breaking out between France 
and Great Britain, in 1758, he accompanied Mr. Ives, who 
publifhed the hiftory of the voyage over land, to offer his 
Service in the line of his profeffion. November 20, 1759, 
he was firfl lieutenant of the Mars, in the victory obtain¬ 
ed by Sir E. Hawke over Confians. In June 1761, he 
was promoted to the rank of mafter and commander; and, 
in February 1762, he failed, as aCting captain of the Alarm 
frigate, to the Weft Indies, and was at the taking of Mar- 
tinico. Shortly after this, he took an armed (loop of 18 
guns, and another of 12 guns. June 3, on his paffage 
with the Britifli fleet, deftined for Havannah, by the fu- 
perior failing of the Alarm, he came up with, and, after 
an hour’s engagement, took, two Spanifli fliips of war, one 
of 22 guns (nine-pounders) and 180 men, the other of 18 
guns and 80 men; in the action feveral balls puffed through 
•his hat, and he was wounded in the-knee: there were four¬ 
teen men killed in the Alarm, and twenty-fix wounded. 
During the arduous fervice at the reduction of the Ha¬ 
vannah, Capt. Alms was entrufled, by the commander in 
chief, on many important occafions; but it remains one of 
tdiofe unaccountable negleCts in the fortune of many de¬ 
serving officers, that he was not appointed a poft-captain 
till 1765; from which time, till September 1780, Capt. 
Alms enjoyed, with his family at Chichefter, every plea- 
fure from domeflic attachment, till he was appointed to 
the Monmouth, of 64 guns, in which fhip he failed under 
commodore Johnflone for the Eafi Indies. The fpirited 
•manner in which he fought the Monmouth, in Port Praya 
Bay, was an introduction to what M. Suffrein afterwards 
experienced from him in the obftinate engagements between 
the two fleets in India. The fliips which were deftined 
for Madras proceeded, under his command, to join Sir 
Edward Hughes; and, after braving uncommon hardfhips 
from the unfavourable feafon, it was accompliflied on 
the 15th of February. The aCtive and. refolute fpirit of 
the French admiral i 3 yet recent in the mind of every one. 
A X M 
The mod confpicuous ffiare which Capt. Alms had In any 
aCtion was on the memorable 12th of April. He was this 
day fecond to Sir Edward Hughes. Suffrein bore down 
with an intention, it was thought, to board the Britifli ad¬ 
miral ; which Capt. Alms perceiving, luffed up the Mon¬ 
mouth, raked his enemy, and fruftrated his manoeuvre; 
though he had now to fuftain a terrible fire from Suffrein 
and his two feconds, which continued until the Monmouth’s 
main and mizen mads fell overboard. Suffrein, whofe 
fhip had fuftained prodigious damage, obferving the fitu- 
ation of his antagonift, ffieered off, while the fliattered 
Monmouth continued her fire as long as her fliot could 
reach him. O11 the fmoke clearing away as the firing 
ceafed, Capt. Alms found himfelf far to windward, fet 
his fore-fail, which was all he had, and boldly fired at the 
French line as lie palled to join the Britifli fleet. In this 
dreadful conflict with the enemy, the Monmouth’s co¬ 
lours, being twice fliot away, were nailed to the flump of 
the mizen-maft, never to be (truck ; the fliip having feven 
guns difmounted, forty-five men killed, and 102 wounded. 
The captain himfelf had two wounds in the face from 
fplinters, two mufket-balls went through his hat, his hair 
was fet on fire, Ins coat torn between the (boulders, and 
one of the fkirts fliot away; the Monmouth’s wheel was 
twice cleared, and only two, with himfelf remained on the 
quarter-deck. Capt. Alms died at Chichefter, June 8» 
1791, in his fixty-fourth year. 
ALMUCAN'TARS, Almacan'tars, or Almican'- 
tars,/. [from almocantharat, Arab.] Circles parallel to 
the horizon, conceived to pafs through every degree of 
the meridian ; ferving to fliew the height of the fun, moon, 
or ftars, &c. and are the fame as the parallels of altitude. 
Almucantar-staff, was an inftrument formerly 
ufed at fea to obferve the fun’s amplitude at riling or fet- 
ting, and thence to determine the variation of the com- 
pafs, &c. The inftrument had an arch of fifteen degrees, 
made of fmooth wood. 
ALMUDHE'BIS,/! in the Arabian aftrology, a kind of 
dignity or pre-eminence accruing to a planet in fomc place, 
either from its difpofition or benign afpeft. 
ALMUGE'A, f. in aftrology, denotes a certain confi¬ 
guration of the five planets, in refpect of the fun and moon, 
correfpondent to that which is between the hours of thofe 
planets and the fun’s and meon’s hours. Thus, Saturn 
will be in the almugea of the fun when diftatit from him 
the fpace of five figns in fucceffion, or in the almugea of 
the moon when he is at the fame diftance, only contrary 
to the fucceffion of the fign. 
ALMU'TPIEN,/. in the Arabian aftrology, the planet 
which has the difpofal of a place, that is, furpafles the 
reft in the number and efficacy of dignities, regard being- 
had to the eflential points, viz. exaltation, terms, trigon, 
and phafes. This is otherwife called Almusteuli. 
ALMU'CIUM,/. a kind of cover for the head, worn 
chiefly by monks and ecclefiaftics. It was of a fquare 
form,, and feems to have given rife to the bonnets of the 
fame ihape (till retained in univerfities and cathedrals. 
AL'MUG-TREE, f. A tree mentioned in Scripture. 
Of its wood were made mulical inftruments, and it was 
ufed alfo in rails, or in a ftair-cafe. 1 he rabbins gene¬ 
rally render it coral, others ebony, brazil, or pine. In the 
Septuagint it is tranflated wrought wood, and in the Vulgate 
ligna thyina. But coral could never anfwer the purpofes 
of the almugium; the pine-tree is too common in Judea 
to be imported from Ophir ; and the thyinum, or citron- 
tree, much efteemed by the ancients for its fragrance and 
beauty, came from Mauritania. By the wood alrnugm, or 
algumim, or limply gummim, taking al for a kind of article, 
may be underftood oily and gummy forts of wood, and 
particularly the trees which produce gum ammoniac, or 
gum arabic; and is, perhaps the fame with the ffiittim- 
wood mentioned by Moles.—And the navy alfo of Hiram, 
that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir 
greatplenty of almug-trees and precioustrces. 1 Kings,x. 11. 
ALMUNE'CAR, a fea-port town in the kingdom of 
Granada, 
