A L N 
Granada, feated on the Mediterranean, witll a good har¬ 
bour, defended by a ftrong cattle, thirty miles fouth of 
Albania. Lat.36.30.N. Ion. 3.45. W. 
AL'NAGE, or Aulnage,/ [from avnc, or alne, Fr. 
an ell.] The meafuringof woollen manu failures with an 
ell. As a proof of the goodnefs of that commodity, a 
feal was invented and affixed as a mark that the commo¬ 
dity was made according to the ftatute; but, it being now 
pottible to purchafe thefe feals, they are affixed, whenever 
the vender pleafes, to all cloths indifcriminately, to the 
great prejudice of our woollen manufactures. 
AL'NAGER, Al'neger, or Aul'neger, f. q.d. 
“ meafurer by the ell,” lignified a fworn public officer, 
who, by himfelf or deputy, was to look to the ailize of 
woollen-cloth made throughout the land, i.e. the length, 
width, and work, thereof; and to the feals for that purpofe 
ordained. The office of king’s aulnager feems to have 
been derived from the ftatute of Richard 1 . A.D. 1197; 
but this office was aboliflied by the ftatute 11 and nWm. 
III. cap. 20. 
ALNE, a river in Cumberland, which runs into the 
Tyne below Kirk-Haugh; another in Northumberland, 
which runs into the German ocean at Aylmouth ; and ano¬ 
ther in Warwickfliire, which runs into the Arrow at 
Round-Alne. 
AL'NEY, a little ifland near the city of Gloucefter, fa¬ 
mous for the fingle combat fought on it, between Edmund 
Ironfide and Canute the Dane, for the whole kingdom, in 
fight of both their armies, in which the latter being 
w ounded, he propofed an agreement; accordingly the king¬ 
dom was divided between them; the fouth part falling to 
Edmund, the north to Canute. 
AL'NI EFFlGIE,yi in botany. See Cratteg us and 
Mespi lus. 
ALNIFO'LIA,/. in botany. See C i.eth ra. 
ALNI FRUC'TU, f. in botany. See Conocarpus 
and Theobroma. 
AL'NIGHT, f. [from all and night. ] A fervice which 
they call alnight, is a great cake of wax, with the wick in 
the midft ; whereby it cometh to pafs, that the wick fetch- 
■eth the nourifhment farther off. Bacon. 
AL'NUS,y. in botany. See Betula, Conocarpus, 
and Rhamnus. 
Alnus, in the ancient theatres, that part which was 
moft diftant from the ftage. 
ALN'WICK, is the county-town of Northumberland, 
fituated on the north fide of a hill, near the river Alne, 
over which is a ftone bridge, at thediftanceof about thir¬ 
ty-four miles north from Newcaftle. The bridge, though 
belonging to the public, was re-built by the late duke of 
Northumberland, in a handfome Gothic ftile; he alfo built 
another beautiful bridge, of one arch, a little lower down. 
Thefe two bridges ferve as boundaries to the fine lawns 
that furround the caflile, which is one of the principal 
feats of the great ancient family of Percy, earls of Nor¬ 
thumberland. 
The town of Alnwick, being a great thoroughfare to 
Berwick, is populous, and in general well built. If has a 
large town-houfe, where the quarter-feffions and county- 
courts are held, and members of parliament are elected. 
It has alfo a fpacious fquarefor the market, which is held 
everv Saturday; and for the fairs, which are five in a year, 
viz. Palm Sunday eve, May 12, laft Monday in July, firft 
Tuefday in October, and the Saturday before Chriftmas. 
Alnwick appears to have been formerly a fortified town, 
by the veftiges of a wall ftill vittble in many parts, and 
three gates, which remain almoft entire. Handfome ffiam- 
bles, with piazzas in the front and at one end, have been 
built by his grace, ornamented with the different crefts 
and badges of the Percy family. The town-hall has a 
tower, like that of a church, with a clock. It is governed 
by four chamberlains, who are chofen once in two years 
put of a common-council confiding of twenty-four. 
The cattle is fituated on the fouth fide of the river Alne, 
oppofite the town, on an elevation that gives great dignity 
Vol. I. No. 23. 
A L N 361 
to its appearance, and in ancient times rendered it a moft 
impregnable fortrefs. From fome Roman mouldings 
found under the prelent walks, it is believed to have been 
founded in the time of the Romans, although no part ol 
the original ftructure is now' remaining, 'the dungeon, 
or keep of the prefent cattle, was evidently founded in the 
Saxon times, as it appears to have been a very ftrong for¬ 
trefs immediately after the Norman cpnqueft: for, in the 
reign of king William Rufus, it underwent a remarkable - 
liege from Malcolm III. king of Scotland, who loft his 
life before it, as did alfo prince Edward his eldeft fon. 
The moft authentic account of this event, feems to be 
that given in the ancient chronicle of Alnwick-abbey ; of 
which a copy is preferved in the Britifh Mufeurn. 1 his. 
informs us that the cattle, although too ftrong to be taken 
by affault, being cut off from all hopes ot fuccour, was 
on the point of furrendering, when one of the garrifon 
undertook its refoue by the following frratagem : He rode 
forth completely armed, with the keys of the cattle tied 
to the end of his fpear, and prefented himfelf in a fup- 
pliant manner before the king’s pavilion, as being come 
to furrender up the poffellion : Malcolm too hattily came 
forth to receive him, and fuddenly received a mortal 
wound. The affailant efcaped by the fieetnefs of his horfe 
through the river, which was then fvvoln with rains. 
Prince Edw ard, Malcolm’s eldeft fon, too incautioufly ad¬ 
vancing to revenge his father, received a mortal wound, 
of which he died three days after. The fpot where Mal¬ 
colm was flain, was dittinguifhed by a crofs, which lias 
been reftored by the late duchefs of Northumberland, who 
was lineally defcended from this unfortunate king, by his 
daughter queen Maud, wife of king Henry I. of England. 
In the following century, another king of Scotland was 
taken prifoner befieging this cattle. This was William III. 
commonly called the Lion; who, having formed a block¬ 
ade for lome days, was furprifed by a party of Engliffi, 
and taken prifoner early in the morning of July 12, 1174. 
This cattle, like many others in the north, was anciently 
ornamented with figures of warriors, diftributed round 
the battlements, and the prefent proprietors have allowed 
them to be continued, and have fupplied fome that had 
been deftroyed, to (hew what they once were. From 
length of time, and the (hocks it had fuftained in ancient 
wars, this cattle was become quite a ruin, when, by the 
death of Algernon duke of Somerfet, in 1750, it devolved, 
together with all the ettates of this great barony, &c. to 
the late duke of Northumberland; who immediately fit 
to repair the fame, and with the molt confummate tafte 
and judgment reftored and embelliflied it, as much as pof- 
(ible, in the true Gothic ftyle ; fo that it may defervedly 
be confidered as one of the noblett and moft magnificent 
models of a great baronial cattle. Nothing can be more 
ftriking than the effect at firft entrance within the walls 
from the town, when, through a dark gloomy gateway of 
confiderable length and depth, the eye fuddenly emerges 
into one of the moft fplendid feenes that can be imagined ; 
and is prefented at once with the great body of the inner 
cattle, furrounded with fair femi-circular towers, finely 
fwelling to the eye, and gaily adorned with pinacles, fi¬ 
gures, battlements, See. The imprellion is (fill farther 
(Lengthened by the fucceffive entrance into the fecond and 
third courts, through great mafly towers, till tire ttranger 
is landed in the inner court, in the very centre of this great 
citadel. Here he enters to a moft beautiful ftair-cafe, of a 
very (ingular yet pleafing form, expanding like a fan : the 
cornice of the ceiling is enriched with a leries of 120 ef- 
cutcheons, difplaying the principal quarterings and inter¬ 
marriages of the Percy family. The chapel fills all the 
upper (pace of the middle ward ; and here the higheft 
difplay of Gothic ornaments, in the greateft beauty, has 
been very properly exhibited ; and the feveral parts of the 
chapel have been deligned after the moft perfect models 
of Gothic excellence. The great eaft window is taken 
from one of the fineft in York-minfter. 'The ceiling is 
borrowed from one ot King’s college, in Cambridge ; and 
