Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/491

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A L B A L B 453 of 1861 with the arrangements for the projected interna tional exhibition, and it was just after returning from one of the meetings in connection with it that he was seized with his last illness. He died of typhoid fever on the 14th of Dec. 18G1. Few have ever been more sincerely or more universally mourned. The grief of the queen was deep and lasting, and the whole nation sympathised in the truest sense with her in her sorrow. Perhaps never before, except on the occasion of the death of the Princess Charlotte, had all classes of the people been so closely knit together in the feeling of a common bereavement and a common sorrow. A national memorial, to be erected partly by parliamentary vote and partly by public subscription, was at once resolved upon, and nearly every town of importance throughout the kingdom embodied in a statue or some other form its tribute to the memory of " The Good Prince." The mag nificent mausoleum at Frogmore, in which his remains were finally deposited, was erected at the expense of the Queen and the royal family. (See Early Years of H.R.H. the Prince Consort, 1867; Principal Speeches and Addresses of Prince Albert, with an Introduction, 1862). ALBERT NYANZA, a large lake in East Central Africa, extending from 2 45 N. lat. at least as far as 2 S. Its surface is 2720 feet above the level of the sea : on its western coast are the Blue Mountains, rising 7000 feet higher; and on the east a ridge of steep cliffs, with elevations varying from 1500 to 5000 feet. The White Nile, flowing in a north-westerly direction from Lake Victoria Nyanza, enters Lake Albert Nyanza about 2 15 N. lat., and issues from it near its northern extremity. Messrs Speke and Grant were informed of the existence of this lake by the natives, but Sir Samuel (then Mr) Baker and his wife were the first Europeans who explored it in 1864. (See AFRICA and NILE, and also Sir S. W. Baker s The Albert Nyanza, the Great Basin of the Nile, and Explorations of the Nile Sources, 2 vols., London, 1866). ALBERTI, LEON BATTISTA, distinguished as a painter, poet, philosopher, musician, and especially as an architect, was descended from the noble family of the Alberti of Florence. The place and date of his birth are variously given, but it is most probable that he was born at Venice about the year 1404. He was so skilled in Latin verse that a comedy he wrote in his twentieth year, entitled Pkilodoxius, deceived the younger Aldus, who edited and published it as the genuine work of Lepidus. In music he was reputed one of the first organists of the age. He held the appointment of canon in the metropolitan church of Florence, and thus had leisure to devote himself to his favourite art. He is generally regarded as one of the restorers of the ancient style of architecture, and has been called by some writers the Florentine Vitruvius. At Rome he was employed by Pope Nicholas V. in the restoration of the papal palace and of the fountain of Acqua Vergine, and in the ornamentation of the fountain of the Piazza de Trevi. At Rimini he designed the celebrated church of San Francesco, which is generally esteemed his finest work. On a commission from Rucellai, he designed the principal facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, as well as the family palace in the Via della Scala, now known as the Palazzo Strozzi. In Mantua he was employed by the Marchese Ludovico Gonzaga to design several buildings, the most important being the church of Sant Andrea. Alberti wrote works on sculp ture, Delia Statua, and on painting, De Pictura, which are highly esteemed; but his most celebrated treatise is that on architecture, De Re JEdificatoria, which has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and English. A splendid edition of this work in English and Italian, by Leoni, was published at London in 1726, in 3 vols. folio. Aibevti, being of an amiable and generous disposition, was highly esteemed by his contemporaries. He died at Rome in 1472, or, according to others, in 1484. ALBERTRANDY, JAN CHRZCICIEL, or JOHN CHRISTIAN, historian, was born at Warsaw in 1731, his father being an Italian. Educated in the public school of the Jesuits, he joined their order in his fifteenth year, and gave such proof of his ability that, at the early age of nineteen, he was appointed professor at the college of Pultusk. After having successively filled similar positions in Plock, Nieswiez, and Wilua, he became, in 1766, librarian to Bishop Zaluski, who designed to make his extensive col lection of books available to the public. A detailed catalogue of the 200,000 volumes which it contained was accordingly prepared by Albertrandy. In 1764 he was chosen by the primate Lubienski tutor to his grandson, Count Felix Lubienski, afterwards minister of justice. In this capacity he visited Italy in 1770 with his pupil, residing first at Siena and then at Rome. The preference Lubienski showed for numismatics induced Albertrandy to devote himself while in Italy to the special study of that science, and he was soon recognised as an authority on the subject. When he returned to his native country, King Stanislaus Augustus appointed him, at the request of Lubienski, keeper of his medals, and afterwards his reader and librarian. The representations he made to the king as to the extent and value of the materials for Polish history that were scattered throughout the libraries of Rome, induced Stanislaus to send him on a second visit to Italy, in order that he might collect these materials. He arrived at Rome in 1782, and devoted three years to the task. The Excerpta, all written with his own hand, filled 110 volumes of manuscript. To complete the collection, he subsequently visited Sweden, where the difficulty of the work was greatly increased by his being forbidden to copy any portions of the books or manuscripts he consulted. An excellent memory, however, enabled him in great measure to overcome the difficulty ; and from the libraries of Stockholm and Upsala he made extracts which increased the entire collection to 200 volumes. In recognition of his merit the king bestowed on him the bishopric of Zenopolis. He was the first president of the Royal Society of the Friends of Science in Warsaw, and took a large share in its proceedings up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 10th August 1808. ALBERTUS MAGNUS, a celebrated scholastic philo sopher, was born of the noble family Von Bollstadt at Lauingen in Suabia. The date of his birth is most pro bably 1193. He was educated principally at Padua, where he received particular instruction in Aristotle s writings. In 1223 he became a member of the Dominican order., and studied theology under its rules at Bologna and else where. Selected to fill the position of lecturer at Cologne, where the order had a house, he taught for several years there, at Regensburg, Freiburg, Strasburg, and Hildesheim. In 1245 he repaired to Paris and received his doctorate, teaching for some time, in accordance with the regulations, and with great success. In 1254 he was made provincial of his order, and fulfilled the arduous duties of the office with great care and effectiveness. During the time he held this office he publicly defended the Dominicans against the university of Paris, commented on St John, and answered the errors of the Arabian philosopher, Averroes. In 1259 the pope made him bishop of Regensburg, which office he resigned after three years. The remainder of his life he spent partly in preaching throughout Bavaria and the adjoining districts, partly in retirement in the various houses of his order ; almost the last of his labours was the defence of the orthodoxy of his former pupil, Thomas Aquinas. He died in 1280, aged 87. Albert s works,

published in twenty-one folios by the Dominican Peter