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decree of the Scottish clergy, prohibiting the reading of the New Testament by the laity, drew from Alesius an ably-argued defence of the right of the people, in the form of a letter to James V. A reply to this by John Cochlæus, also addressed to the Scottish king, occasioned a second letter from Alesius, in which he not only restates and amplifies his argument with great force and beauty of style, but enters at some length into more general questions connected with the Reformation. In 1535, Henry VIII. having broken with the Church of Rome, Alesius was induced to remove to England, where he was very cordially received by the king and his advisers Cranmer and Cromwell. After a short residence at Lambeth he was appointed, through the influence of Cromwell, thenchan cellor of the university, to lecture on theology at Cambridge; but when he had delivered a few expositions of the Hebrew psalms, he was compelled by the opposition of the papal party to desist. Returning to London, he supported himself for some time by practising as a physician. In 1537 he attended a convocation of the clergy, and at the request of Cromwell, the president, conducted a controversy with Stokesley, bishop of London, on the nature of the sacraments. His argument, which was marked by great ability, was afterwards published at Leipsic. In 1539 Alesius was compelled to flee for the second time to Germany, in consequence of the enactment of the persecuting statute known as the Six Articles. He was immediately chosen to fill a theological chair in the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where he was the first professor who taught the Reformed doctrines. In 1543 he quitted Frankfort for a similar position at Leipsic, his contention that it was the duty of the civil magistrate to punish fornication having given offence to some of the authorities of the former university. At Leipsic Alesius remained until his death, which occurred on the 17th March 1565. He enjoyed the intimate friendship of Melancthon, to whom he rendered valuable assistance in many of his disputations with the Catholic doctors.

Alesius was the author of a large number of exegetical, dogmatic, and polemical works. He displayed his warm interest in his native land by the publication (1544) of a Cohortatio ad Concordiam Pietatis, missa in Patriam suam, which had the express approval of Luther. In 1560 appeared his treatise, De Necessitate et Merita Bonorum Operum, a valuable contribution to the synergistic side in the controversy on good works.

ALESSANDRI, Alessandro (Alexander ab Alexandro), a learned jurisconsult, born at Naples about the year 1461 (died 1523). He studied at Naples and Rome, and afterwards practised for a time as advocate in both cities. At Naples he is said to have been royal proto-notary in 1490. Dissatisfied, according to his own account, with the corrupt administration of justice, he at length quitted the bar, and devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits, especially to the study of philology and antiquities. A sinecure appointment, which he owed to the favour of the pope, enabled him to lead a life of learned leisure at Rome, where he died on the 2d October 1523. What is known of his biography has been gathered chiefly from detached statements in his work entitled Dies Geniales, which appeared at Rome in 1522, and is constructed after the model of the Noctes Atticæ of Aulus Gellius, and the Saturnalia of Macrobius. The work consists of a confused mass of heterogeneous materials relating to philology, antiquities, law, dreams, spectres, &c., and shows great credulity and want of judgment on the part of its author.

ALESSANDRIA, a province of Italy, in the former duchy of Piedmont, bounded on the N. by Novara, on the E. by Pavia, on the S. by Genoa, and on the W. by Turin; with an area of 1951 square miles. There are no hills of much elevation in the province, and the surface generally is flat. The chief rivers are the Po, the Tanaro, the Belbo, the Orba, and the Bormida. The soil is fertile, the chief products being wheat, maize, wine, silk, madder, hemp, flax, and fruit. The capital is Alessandria; population of the province in 1871, 683,361.

Alessandria, a city of Italy, the capital of the above province, is situated in a marshy district near the confluence of the Tanaro and the Bormida. It is a strongly fortified place, its citadel, on the left bank of the Tanaro, being one of the most important in Europe. The town itself, which lies chiefly on the right bank of the river, is the seat of a bishop, and contains a cathedral and more than a dozen other churches, besides monasteries and nunneries. The principal manufactures of Alessandria are silk, linen, and woollen goods, stockings, and hats. Large quantities of fruit and flowers are also produced in the neighbourhood. The trade of the city is extensive, and there are two important fairs held every year that are much resorted to by merchants from all parts of Italy. Alessandria was built in 1168 by the Lombard League as a bulwark against Frederick Barbarossa. It received its present name in honour of Pope Alexander III., but it was also called Cesarea for a time. In 1174 it was unsuccessfully besieged by Frederick Barbarossa, who nicknamed it in derision Della Paglia, i.e. “of straw.” It was ceded to Savoy by the peace of Utrecht in 1713, after having belonged, at different periods, to the houses of Montferrat and Milan. Its fortifications were greatly enlarged and strengthened by Bonaparte during the French occupation, which lasted from 1800 to 1814. The citadel of Alessandria was taken by the Austrians after the battle of Novara in 1849. Near Alessandria is Marengo, where Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1800. In consequence of this defeat the Austrians concluded the armistice of Alessandria, ceding all Italy north of the Mincio to the French. Population (1862), 27,027; of commune, 56,545.

ALESSI, Galeazzo (1500–72), a distinguished architect, born at Perugia, was a pupil of Caporali and a friend of Michael Angelo. He was an enthusiastic student of ancient architecture, and his style gained for him a European reputation. Genoa is indebted to him for a number of its most magnificent palaces, and specimens of his skill may be seen in the churches of San-Paolo and San-Vittoria at Milan, in certain parts of the Escurial, and in numerous churches and palaces throughout Sicily, Flanders, and Germany.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, so called from the Russian word aleut, signifying a bold rock, is the name given by the Russian discoverers to a chain of small islands situated in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and extending in an easterly direction from the peninsula of Kamtchatka, in Asiatic Russia, to the promontory of Alaska, in North America. This archipelago has been sometimes divided into three groups; the islands nearest Kamtchatka being properly called Aleutia, the central group the Andreanov or Andrenovian, and those nearest to the promontory the Fox Islands. They are all included between 52° and 55° N. lat., and 172° E. and 163° W. long. The Aleutian Islands were discovered by the Russian navigator Behring in 1728, and were carefully explored in 1760 by Captain Krenitzin, under a commission from the Empress Catherine. During his third and last voyage, in the year 1778, Captain Cook surveyed the eastern portion of the archipolago, accurately determined the positions of some of the most remarkable islands, and corrected many errors of former navigators. Subsequent expeditions of the Russians, aided by the settlement of fur traders on the islands, as well as on the neighbouring coasts of the American continent, have afforded further information as to this remarkable chain. The whole of the islands are