lunarium emendatio." 1 vol. 4to; "Opuscules mathématiques," 8 vols. 4to.
In 1754, D'Alembert began to become distinguished in literature and philosophy, as well as in science. He was one of the editors and authors of the well-known Encyclopædia projected by Diderot. The preliminary discourse of that work was read by D'Alembert to the French Academy, on the 19th of December, 1754, the day of his admission into that body. His literary, historical, and philosophical works, have been published in a collected form; the most complete edition is that of Bossange, in five volumes octavo, Paris, 1821. The following are the titles of some of those works:—"Melanges de philosophie, d'histoire, et de littérature;" "Essai sur la société des gens de lettres avec les grands," a work which Condorcet, in his éloge of D'Alembert, treats as having had a large share in promoting that independent spirit and position by which the men of letters of the present age are distinguished from those of former times. "Traduction de quelques morceaux de Tacite;" "Éléments de philosophie," first published in 1759. "Sur la destruction des Jésuites." This work was one, amongst various others, which raised many enemies against its author. As holding an intermediate place between science and elegant literature, we may mention D'Alembert's treatise on music:—"Eléments de musique théorique et pratique." Having been appointed secretary to the French Academy in 1772, D'Alembert wrote éloges or discourses on the lives of nearly seventy deceased members of that body.
The frank, lively, and amiable character of D'Alembert, and his conversational talent, caused him to be a general favourite in the best society of Paris. His literary and scientific celebrity procured for him splendid offers of wealth and honours from Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Catherine of Russia; the former proposing to him the office of president of the Academy of Berlin, the latter that of tutor to her son. D'Alembert, preferring poverty and independence, steadily declined both proposals, but retained the friendship of the sovereigns. With Frederick he continued long afterwards to correspond, and accepted from him a pension of forty-eight pounds a year.
The income of D'Alembert., though augmented by legacies from Madame Geoffrin and from David Hume, was at all times very small; yet it was more than sufficient for his frugal manner of life; and even in his poorest days, he found means to support his nurse, to educate the children of his first schoolmaster, to assist various young students, and to perform other acts of munificence.
A brotherly and sisterly affection existed for many years between D'Alembert and Mademoiselle de l'Espinasse; and the most severe affliction which he ever suffered, was from the death of that lady, caused by grief at that of her affianced lover, the Marquis de Mora.
The health of D'Alembert, according to some authors, notwithstanding, but possibly in consequence of, his extreme abstemiousness, was always delicate. After a tedious and painful illness, borne with much patience and fortitude, he died at the age of sixty-six. His éloge, by Condorcet, contains the best account of his life and works.—W. J. M. R.
ALEN or OLEN, Jan Van, a Dutch painter, an imitator of Melchior Hondekveter; born in 1631; died in 1698. Another painter of the name of Van Alen lived at Prague about 1618; and a third at Dantzic about 1656.
ALENCE, Joachim d', was born at Paris, and died at Lille in 1707. He has left works on the magnet, the barometer, &c.
ALENCON, Counts and Dukes of, a family of French nobility. The title originated in the tenth century, under Richard II., duke of Normandy, who conferred the fief of Alençon on William, the first count of the name. Died 1028. The last count of Alençon was Robert IV., who died in 1219. The county now reverted to the crown, and was converted into a dukedom. The first duke of Alençon was Pierre, son of St. Louis (Louis IX). He died without issue in 1283, and the title passed to the House of Valois. Charles of Valois, brother of Philip the Fair, was the first duke of this family (1293). He fell at Crecy in 1346. The last of the line was:—
Alençon, Charles IV., Duke of, son of René. He was constable of France, and commanded the vanguard at the battle of Pavia; but died of shame at his disgraceful overthrow there in 1525. The duchy of Alençon was now conferred by Charles IX. on Catherine de Medicis, who restored it to him in 1566, when he gave it to the most noted individual of the name:
Alençon, Francis, Duke of, brother of Charles IX. of France, as also of Francis II. and Henry III.; born 1554, during the religious troubles of France in the reigns of Charles IX. and Henry III. Alençon pretended friendship for the Huguenot party, to serve his own ambitious designs; and he was one of the husbands proposed for Queen Elizabeth of England; he was, however, present with the army which besieged the Huguenots in Rochelle in 1573—a circumstance that did not aid his suit for the protestant princess. The grand aim of the duke of Alençon's ambition, besides gaining the hand of Elizabeth—which, on occasion of his visit to England in 1581, he very nearly obtained—was to make himself sovereign of the Netherlands. In consequence of the services he rendered the confederate states against the duke of Parma, he so far succeeded in this as to be made duke of Brabant and count of Flanders (1582); but the farther development of his plans for his own aggrandizement alarmed the people of the Netherlands, and Alençon found himself compelled to retire to France. His health was already broken up, and he died unregretted at the age of thirty, in 1584.
Francis of Alençon never married, and his death again threw the duchy into the hands of the crown. It was held by various members of the royal family of France in succession, and finally by Louis XVIII. before his accession to the throne.—A. M.
ALENI, Tommaso, an Italian painter, a native of Cremona, flourishing about 1515. He was a successful imitator of Galeazzo Campi.
ALEOTTI, Giambattista, an Italian architect and engineer; born about 1546; died 1636. He was employed by Pope Clement VII. to construct the citadel of Ferrara, and by Prince Ranuccio to erect the theatre of Parma in 1619. Aleotti also wrote on hydrostatics and pneumatics. Vittoria Aleotti, his daughter, was a musical composer of some note towards the close of the sixteenth century.—A. M.
ALER, Paul, a learned German jesuit, professor in the university of Treves; born in 1656 in the territory of Lunembourg; died in 1727. He wrote a "German-Latin Dictionary," a "Gradus ad Parnassum," and other works.
ALÈS, Pierre-Alexandre, Viscount of Corbet, a French author, who wrote on a great variety of subjects; born in 1715; died about 1770. During one period of his life, Alès served in the army. Besides other works, he wrote "Dissertation sur les antiquitès d'Irlande," 1749, 12mo; "De l'origine du mal," Paris, 1758, 2 vols. 12mo; and "Nouvelles observations sur les deux systèmes de la noblesse commerçante ou militaire," Amsterdam (Paris), 1758, 12mo.—A. M.
ALESIO, Matteo Pietro, an Italian historical painter of the sixteenth century, studied with remarkable success under the great Michel Angelo, whose style he strove to imitate throughout his whole career. Having passed into Spain when still young, he executed several large frescos for the cathedral of Seville; but being of a very modest character, on seeing a picture by Luiz de Varga, he declared that Spain could not want him any more, and returned to Italy. He was also an engraver. Died in 1600 in Rome, his native town.—R. M.
ALESIUS Alexander, was one of the earliest and most distinguished converts to the Reformation in Scotland. The family name was Alane; he adopted the name of Alesius (from αλεινω, to be a fugitive) after he was driven into exile. He was born of a respectable family in Edinburgh, 23d April, 1500, and studied at St. Andrews, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1515. From the college of St. Leonard's, then newly founded, he passed into the Augustinian priory of St. Andrews, with which it was in close connection, where he became a canon, and applied himself, under the instruction of John Major, to the study of scholastic theology. He was at first a zealous opponent of Luther's doctrines, but was soon after gained over to them by Patrick Hamilton, the protomartyr of Scotland, whose trial and martyrdom in 1528 he witnessed, and has given an interesting account of in one of his works. (See "Patrick Hamilton,"—an historical biography by Professor Lorimer of London.) Having soon after begun to preach against the corruptions of the clergy, he was thrown into prison by his prior, Patrick Hepburn, and would have fallen a victim to his resentment if he had not succeeded in effecting his escape. He fled under night to Dundee, where he was received by a kinsman of his own on board a ship which set sail the next morning for a foreign port. This was most probably in 1530. After many wanderings in Denmark, France,
