Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/84

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desert him; he has no longer his luxuriance of expression nor variety of images. His thoughts are cold, and his words inelegant." He died in the year 1770, and was buried in St. James's churchyard, Westminster. The professional works of Akenside consist of a "Dissertation on Dysentery," 1764, written in elegant Latin, but since translated into English, and two papers which appeared in the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1763. His poetical works are comprised in one small volume.—T. A.

AKERBLAD, John David, a Swedish archæologist, born about 1760, and died in 1819. Whilst attached to a Swedish embassy at Constantinople, he visited Jerusalem, the Troad, and other places of historical interest. He has left some important essays on the celebrated stone of Rosetta, on Runic inscriptions, on the Varingians, &c.

AKERHJELM, Anna, a remarkable Swedish lady of the seventeenth century, who, with her three younger sisters, clubbed their little all to give their brother a university education. He became ultimately chancellor and secretary of state, and forgot not the kindness of his sisters. All of them had a taste for scientific pursuits, but the object of this memoir, for some time a chambermaid, mastered various languages, and travelled into other countries with the Countess Königsmark, to whom she was companion and maid of honour. She went as far as Greece, and sent home to the university of Upsal a rare Arabian MS. Her letters and diary evince great powers of observation, and are the product of a cultivated mind. Died at Bremen, 1698.—J. E.

AKERMANN, a Swedish engraver, who flourished at Upsal about the middle of the eighteenth century. He was celebrated for his skill in the manufacture of celestial and terrestrial globes.

AKIBA BEN JOSEPH, a Jewish rabbi, lived in Palestine in the first century of the Christian era. Until his fortieth year he was a shepherd in the employ of a rich citizen of Jerusalem, named Calba Schwa, and first turned his attention to study in order to gain the affections of his master's daughter. He acquired such vast knowledge, that his school, near Jaffa, was attended by multitudes. His disciples are said to have amounted to 24,000. He was one of the principal compilers of Jewish traditions, and was held in great reverence by his countrymen. It is said that he was master of seventy languages. At an advanced age, he adopted the cause of the insurgent leader Baracotheba, whom he asserted to be the Messiah. When the rebels were routed by the troops of Adrian, Akiba was taken prisoner in the fort of Bither, and condemned to the stake along with his son Pappus. The most celebrated work ascribed to him is named "Jetsirah," or "On the Creation," a Latin version of which was published at Koenigsberg in 1642.—J. W. S.

AKOUI, a Tartar general, and prime minister to the Chinese emperor Kien-Long, flourished in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He distinguished himself by the subjugation of the Miao-Se, a semi-barbarous tribe, inhabiting the mountains of Setchuen and Kouer-Tcheon, who, for two thousand years, had defied all the power of China. After this campaign, Akoui was received by the emperor with extraordinary honours, and entered Pekin in triumph. He was next employed in obviating a terrible inundation of the river Hoangho, which had laid waste a large part of the province of Houan. By a skilfully-planned canal, he drew off the superfluous waters, and restored the land to cultivation. In 1782, a second inundation of the same river gave fresh scope for his engineering skill. He preserved throughout life the favour of his master, and the esteem both of Tartars and Chinese. The exact period of his death is unknown.—J. W. S.

ALABASTER, William, an English divine, born at Hadleigh, Suffolk, probably about 1567. Having accompanied Essex on the Cadiz expedition of 1596, he remained in Spain, and joined the Roman catholic church, a member of which he continued till 1610, when the hostility of the jesuits drove him back to his native country and the church of England. He then became a prebendary of St. Paul's, and rector of Tharfield, and died in 1640. He was deeply read in cabalistic divinity, and published in 1610 a work named "Apparatus in Revelationem Jesu Christi;" but his chief fame rests on a Latin tragedy named "Roxana," acted at Cambridge in 1592, and published in 1632. Of this production Johnson speaks in terms of high praise, but Hallam has discovered that it is grounded on, and, to a great extent, copied from an Italian tragedy named "La Dalida," written by Luigi Groto. The poetical powers of Alabaster are, however, the theme of praise in the writings of many of his famous contemporaries.—J. B.

ALA´DIN or ALA´-EDDI´N, surnamed the "Old Man of the Mountains," a prince of the Assassins, lived about the middle of the thirteenth century. He established an independent principality in Syria, and was universally dreaded, owing to the murderous fanaticism of his followers.

ALA´-ED-DI´N, the son of Osman, founder of the Ottoman empire, lived towards the end of the fourteenth century. He instituted the corps of janissaries.

ALA´-ED-DI´N-KEIKOBAD, a prince of the Seljukian Turks in Asia Minor, died in 1237, after a reign of seventeen years. His capital, Iconium, was the seat of learning and arts. Like our Alfred the Great, he is said to have divided his time into three parts, for business, study, and recreation.

ALAHMAR, Ben Mohammed, the first king of Grenada, built the palace of the Alhambra, and died in 1237.

ALAIN, ALAN, or ALANUS (called Alain the Elder, as distinguished from the subject of next notice), a French bishop, born near Lille about the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. After being a monk under St. Bernard, at Clairvaux, he became in 1140 abbot of the Cistercian abbey of La Rivour, and in 1152, bishop of Auxerre. From the love of study, he resigned his see, and spent the remainder of his life in monastic seclusion, partly at La Rivour, but latterly at Clairvaux. He wrote a biography of his friend St. Bernard.—E. M.

ALAIN DE LILLE or ALANUS DE INSULIS, one of the most renowned schoolmen of the twelfth century. For his extensive attainments, and his great and diversified capacity, he was surnamed "the Universal Doctor." The details of his history are uncertain, or unknown. He is often confounded with the preceding, and it is difficult to determine whether certain works attributed to him are really his. Born at Lille in Flanders, he was, in 1128, quite a boy (puerulus). It is most probable he is the author of the famous commentary on the prophecies of Merlin. His principal works are: 1. "Anti-claudianus, or Encyclopædia," a moral allegory in Latin hexameters, in nine books; 2. A collection of proverbs and maxims in Latin elegiac verse; 3. A treatise against heretics and unbelievers.—E. M.

ALAIN, a Benedict of Tours, who lived about the middle of the fourteenth century, and wrote a history of the earls of Galloway, and some other works.

ALAIN, Robert, was born at Paris in 1680. He was the son of a saddler, and was educated for the church, but disliking theology, he determined to follow his father's occupation. He did not, however, renounce literature, but wrote in conjunction with Le Grand, a comedy called "L'Epreuve Réciproque," which was first represented in 1711.

AL-AKHAFSH, the surname of three celebrated Arab grammarians of the school of Basrah, rival to that of Kufah. The first was instructor of the famous grammarians, Sibauyah and Abu-Obeydah; the second died 830; and the third 927.

ALALEONA, Giuseppe, an Italian jurist, from 1721 till his death professor of civil law at Padua, author of "Reflections on the Art of Thinking," "Miscellaneous Poetry," and a treatise on succession ab intestato; born at Macerata 1670, died 1749.

ALAMAN, Sicard d', a favourite minister of Raymond VII., count of Toulouse, from whom he received many favours. During his frequent absences, Alaman acted as his lieutenant, and was left executor on his will, along with Bernard, count of Comminges. A like confidence was reposed in him by Raymond's daughter and successor, and by her husband, Alphonse of France. He was, however, no favourite with the nobles and people, but was accused of managing the count's affairs for his personal aggrandizement, and was cited to appear and answer this charge, but died (3rd June, 1275) soon after his summons.—J. B.

ALAMANDE, Philippa, a learned French lady, born in the fifteenth century, mother of Jacques de Sasenage, first equery to Louis XI. She was famous for the extent of her library.

ALAMANNI.—See Alemanni.

ALAMIR, a Moslem emir in the ninth century, who, after ravaging various provinces of the Greek empire, was defeated by a Greek army and slain.

ALAMOS DE BARRIENTOS, Don Balthasar, a learned Spaniard, born at Medina del Campo in Old Castile, about 1550. He was a devoted adherent of Antonio Perez, secretary of state to Philip II. of Spain. On the fall of that statesman he was thrown into prison, where he remained twelve years. During that time he produced a Spanish translation of Tacitus, with notes, &c. On recovering his liberty, he received great kindness