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of that day two British brigs and sloops hove in sight, and anchored at an inconsiderable distance. At half after four in the evening of the 15th, the Hermes, Charon, Sophia and Anaconda, with ninety guns, anchored at such a distance from the fort, as to admit of firing upon it conveniently. A simultaneous land attack was begun by Captains Nicholls and Woodbine. Their fortifications were made of sand, and they brought a howitzer to bear upon the fort at point blank distance; but they were soon compelled to abandon their position. Still a severe firing was maintained by the ships and fort. The Hermes, receiving a raking fire, ran ashore, was abandoned, and blew up. The Charon was almost wholly disabled. When the flag-staff of the fort was shot away, Woodbine and Nicholls, thinking the foe vanquished, rushed forward to the fort, but were awakened to a sense of their error by a mur. derous fire which sent them to the right about with enviable facility. What praise is too warm for the conduct of the few Americans who composed the garrison, when we consider the numbers and advantages of the enemy? The 600 men who attacked the fort by sea, were supported by 90 heavy guns. Four hundred Indians and others made an attack in the rear. Captain Lawrence had but about a seventh of the enemy's numerical force, and 20 guns, all badly mounted, and some of them quite ineffective. Yet, while he lost but ten men, he compelled the enemy to retire with a loss of their very best ship, and 230 men.

The political metropolis of Alabama is Tuscaloosa, a rapidly increasing and improving village, at the falls of the Black Warrior. The spot on which it stands, was but a short time since a wild forest, and to a person who had visited this unsettled woodland, the village must appear like that palace in the Arabian Nights, which was erected in a single night. The inhabitants of Alabama are justly proud of their state-proud of its political and commercial importance, of its rapidity, growth, and character for industry. It is a slave-holding state, and contains many opulent planters, who have all the lavish hospitality which distinguishes them wherever they may dwell. Alabama can boast of very few institutions, literary or religious; but in the character of the people, there is a regard for literature and religion, which will supply the want before long, The laws of this State exhibit no very marked difference from those of other states. The senators serve for a term of three, and the rep

resentatives for one year. There is a supreme and a circuit court, with subordinate courts, appointed by the legislature, who choose the judges, the latter holding their offices during good behavior.

The boundaries of Alabama are as follows: north by Tennessee; east by Georgia; south by Florida and the gulf of Mexico, and west by Mississippi.

ALAMANNI, Luigi, a celebrated Italian poet a native of Florence, born in 1495. Being at variance with Clement VII. he fled to France to avoid the power of the pope, but returned to Florence when it became independent. When it was subjected to the Medici, he sought the protection of Francis 1. of France, and was esteemed by that monarch, and by Henry II, who employed him in several affairs of consequence. He died of dysentery, at Amboise. His writings embraced almost every department of poetry.

ALAND, a cluster of islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, belonging to Russia. The ground is stony and the soil thin. Eighty of the islands are inhabited, and the aggregate population is more than thirteen thousand. The principal island is forty miles long.

ALANI or Alans, a warlike tribe that left their abodes near Mount Caucasus, in Asia, when the Roman empire was declining. After 412, they became lost among the Vandals.

ALARIC, king of the Visigoths, who plundered the Peloponnesus in 35. He appears first as an ally of the Romans, whose weakness he discovered and profited by. When he first threatened Rome, his forbearance was purchased by a ransom of 5000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4000 garments of silk, 3000 pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and 3000 pounds of pepper. In 410, the Goths returned, penetrated the city, and sacked it. The treasures which had been accumulated during a thousand years, vanished in three days beneath the hands of the rapacious conquerors. The flaines destroyed works of art which the barbarians were unable to carry off, but Alaric spared the churches and those who had sought refuge in them. Alaric died at a Calabrian town (Cosenza), A. D. 410, when he was preparing to lay waste Sicily and Africa. In order to conceal his remains from the Romans, slaves were employed to divert the waters of the Busento, and hollow his last resting-place in the channel of the stream; when the earth had received the body of the conqueror, the waves were permitted to rush in above it, and the slaves were

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murdered, that Alaric's secret might be in the keeping of the waters and the voiceless dead. ALBA, a city of Latium, built, according to tradition, by Ascanius, the son of Eneas. Being the rival of Rome, it was destroyed by the Romans, 665 B. C. and the inhabitants were carried to Rome.

ALBANI, Francesco, a painter, born at Bologna, in 1578, whose female forms have been highly extolled. From the effeminate character of his subjects, he was called the Anacreon of painters. He died in 1660, in his 82d year, having lived long enough to survive his fame.

ALBANIA, a province on the coast of the Adriatic and Ionian seas, called in Turkish Arnaout, in Albanian, Skiperi, anciently Epirus and Illyria. It was the kingdom of Pyrrhus, and a few years back was governed by Ali Pacha. It is fertile and rich, and the inhabitants of the mountains are famous for courage. The women in the absence of male protectors, have been frequently known to defend their homes with spirit and success. The population is about 300,000.

ALBANY, or Albani, countess of, princess Louisa Maria Caroline, or Aloysia, born in 1753, in 1772, married Charles Stuart, the English pretender, whose barbarity and habitual intoxication, drove her to a cloister in 1780, and received an annuity from the French court, after the death of her husband, in 1788. She died at Florence, in 1824, in her 72d year. She was buried beside Alfieri, in the church of Santa Croce, at Florence. Alfieri was tenderly attached to her, and attributed to her his inspiration. (See Alfieri.)

ALBANY, the seat of government of the State of New-York, situated on the west bank of the Hudson or North River, 144 miles north of New-York city. Population 33,721. The river is navigable to Albany, for sloops of 80 tons, and trade with New-York is carried on by means of these. The Erie and Champlain canals unite above the city, and are connected with a basin at Albany. The facility of communication which it possesses, renders it a great thoroughfare. Its exports are wheat, and other articles of produce. The Dutch settled Albany in 1614. It was built up with the disregard to elegance so common among the Dutch, but its modern buildings, both private and public, are

beautiful and tasteful.

ALBEMARLE SOUND, an arm of the sea, extending sixty miles into the eastern coast of North Carolina, connected with the Atlantic

and Pamlico Sound by small inlets, and with Chesapeake Bay by a canal which passes through the Dismal Swamp.

ALBERT I, emperor and duke of Austria, crowned in 1298, after defeating and slaying Adolphus of Nassau, his competitor. The rival leaders engaged in single combat, and Adolphus exclaimed, "Your crown and life are lost!" "Heaven will decide," was the answer of Albert, as he forced his lance into the face of his adversary and unhorsed him. Albert was assassinated in 1308, by his nephew John, son of the duke of Suabia, whose paternal estates he had seized. John had often asserted his claims, and urged them upon Albert when he was departing for Switzerland, on account of the revolt of the Swiss. The emperor contemptuously offered his nephew a garland of flowers. "Take this," said he, "amuse your self with botanical investigations, but leave the cares of government to those who are old and wise enough to understand them." Albert breathed his last in the arms of a poor woman, who was sitting by the road-side at the time of his assassination.

ALBIGENSES, the Protestants of Savoy and Piedmont; in the Middle Ages, the objects of cruel persecution and of several crusades.

ALBOIN, king of the Lombards, ascended the throne in 561. When an ally of the Romans, he slew Cunimund, king of the Gepida, whose daughter Rosamond he afterwards married. He undertook the conquest of Italy, and had made great progress, when he was killed by an assassin, at the instigation of his wife Rosamond. The cause of her anger was his sending her, during one of his fits of intoxication, a drinking-cup made of her father's skull, filled with wine, and compelling her, to use his words, to drink with her father.

ALBRET, Jane d', daughter of Margaret, queen of Navarre, was married at the age of eleven to the duke of Cleves, but the marriage was annulled in 1548, when she espoused Anthony de Bourbon, duke of Vendome, by whom she became mother of Henry IV. In 1555, her father dying, she became queen of Navarre, and in 1562, the death of her husband left her independent. She then set herself to establish the Reformation in her kingdom, although opposed by France and Spain. She expired suddenly, at Versailles, in 1572, and her death was attributed to poison.

ALBUHERA, a village in Estremadura, situated on the Albuhera, 12 miles S. S. E. of Badajoz. Here the English marshal, Beres

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ford, gained a victory over the French, under Soult, May 16th, 1811.

ALBUQUERQUE, the name of two Portuguese brothers, distinguished for bravery, who took Cochin, in India, in 1505. Francis was lost on his passage home. When Alphonso captured Ormus, an island at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, the king of Persia demanded the tribute which he had been accustomed to receive from the princes of the island. Upon this, Albuquerque laid before the ambassadors a sword and a bullet, saying haughtily, "this is the coin in which Portugal pays her tribute." After a rash and unsuccessful attempt upon Calicut, he took Goa and Malacca. The envy of courtiers, and the suspicions of king Emmanuel, did not spare even the distinguished merit of Albuquerque, who died at Goa, in 1515, after his ungrateful master had deprived him of his place, and appointed his personal enemy, Lopez Soarez, to fill it.

ALCEUS, a Greek lyric poet, born at Mitylene in Lesbos, and contemporary with Sappho. He engaged in war with ardor, and his lays breathe the divine enthusiasm of liberty.

ALCALA DE HENAREZ, a city of Spain, in New Castile, situated on the river Henarez, 15 miles E. N. E. of Madrid. It was called by the ancients Complutum. Here was printed the first Polyglot Bible, called the Complutensian Polyglot, which cost Cardinal Ximenes 250,000 ducats. A copy of it sold at Paris, in 1817, for £676 sterling.

ALCIBIADES, an Athenian general, famous for his enterprise, gallantry, versatility, and natural foibles. He was the son of Clinias and Dinomache, and was born at Athens, about 450 B. C. He was educated in the house of Pericles, who was too much occupied with state affairs to pay much attention to the youth. The impetuosity of Alcibiades displayed itself early, as the following anecdote shows. While he was playing dice in the street with some juvenile companions, a waggon came up. Alcibiades requested the driver to stop, but he refused. The daring youth then threw himself before the wheel, and exclaimed; "Drive on, if thou darest!" The instructions of the philosopher Socrates, for a time restrained his evil propensities. Socrates fought by his side in his first battle, and, when he was wounded, de; fended him, and bore him off safe. The dissipation and extravagance of Alcibiades were unbounded. One night, being at a banquet, he laid a wager that he would box the ears of the rich Hipponicus, and did so. This excited

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general indignation, but Alcibiades went to the injured party, threw off his garment, and, placing a rod in his hand, bade him strike and revenge himself. Hipponicus not only pardoned him freely, but gave him his daughter in marriage, with a portion equivalent to about 10,500 dollars of our money. At the Olympic games, Alcibiades would enter seven chariots, and at one time won three prizes.

In the Peloponnesian war he encouraged the Athenians to engage in an expedition against Syracuse. He was chosen general in that war, and in his absence, his enemies, having found all the statues of Mercury broken, charged him with being concerned in the deed and confiscated all his property. He then fled to Sparta, where he attempted to gain popularity by adopting the temperate habits of the Spartans, whom he wished to rouse against the Athenians. Finding this of no avail, he went to Tissaphernes, the Persian general. He was afterwards recalled by the Athenians, and having compelled the Spartans to sue for peace, and been successful in Asia, was welcomed to Athens with high honors. The failure of an expedition, with the command of which he was entrusted, again roused the resentment of the people, and Alcibiades fled to Pharnabazes. Lysander, the Spartan general, induced Pharnabazes to assassinate him. The attendants sent for that purpose, found him in a castle in Phrygia, in company with his favourite Timandra. They set the building on fire, and the warrior rushed out to escape the conflagration. Dreading his valour, the cowardly assassins retreated to a safe distance, and shot him with their arrows. Thus perished Alcibiades, in the 45th year of his age, about 404, B. C. Thucydides, Timæus, and Theopompus, with Plu tarch and Cornelius Nepos, among the ancients, have written of this hero, who, if he wanted firm moral principles, was generous, brave, persevering, and gifted with distinguished qualities. His eloquence was of that kind which wins the hearts of men imperceptibly and unostentatiously; although it is said that he stuttered, and was unable to pronounce the letter R.

ALCIPHRON, a distinguished epistolary writer among the Greeks.

ALCMAN, the son of a slave, born at Sardis, in Lydia, 670 years B. C. He was a fine poet, and honored by his countrymen.

ALDENHOVEN, a town between Juliers and Aix-la-Chapelle, where the French were defeated, March 1, 1793.

ALEMANNI, that is, all men, the ancient

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inhabitants of Suabia and Switzerland, united in a league, from whence Germany derives its French name of Allemagne. They were the determined opponents of the Romans.

ALEMBERT, Jean le Rond d', a distinguished mathematician, and literary character, born at Paris, in 1717, died in 1783. He was the son of Madame de Tencin, and the poet Destouches, who exposed him while an infant. At ten years of age, the principal of the school in which he received his early education, declared that his pupil had learned all that he could teach him. He undertook to write the mathematical part of the French Encyclopedia, and contributed many admirable articles to it, which however, involved him in the attacks made upon the work. He refused the brilliant offers of Frederic II. of Prussia, and Catherine of Russia, to settle in their respective capitals, and lived in his country till his death, which took place in the 66th year of his age.

ALEPPO is the capital, not only of a pachalic, but of all Syria, and has justly been ranked as the third city of the Ottoman empire. Its Arabic name is Haleb. In former times it possessed great commercial advantages which it has lost in later times. It is supposed by many to be the Zobah of scripture, which is spoken of, 2 Sam. viii. 12. At present little doubt is entertained of its being the Berma of the Greeks. The river Kowich, on reaching Aleppo, diminishes in size, although at times it increases to a formidable stream. When Aleppo was besieged by a Christian army, in 1123, this stream, swelling with augmented waters, unexpectedly overflowed its banks, and swept away the tents and baggage of the besiegers. Many men perished in the rushing inundation, and the siege was raised in consequence of this disaster.

Seen from a distance, this city presents a picturesque appearance; its gay terraces, graceful mosques, airy arches, and shadowing trees, afford a combination which is grateful to the senses; but a nearer approach, like daylight on a phantasmagoria, dispels the illusion. Walk ing through the streets, the eye wanders over high stone walls which flank the way, or turns baffled, from the lattices with which the infrequent windows of the houses are churlishly guarded. The inhabitants of Aleppo differ but little from those of other Mohammedan cities and countries. They have the same love for indolent pleasures, the same fondness for the luxuries of the bath, but less intolerance than the other Turks. Thus the Armenians and Greeks

have churches and a bishop in the city, and the Syrians and Maronites have likewise places of public worship. The Jews of Aleppo, have in their Synagogue a MS. of the Old Testament which they consider to be of great antiquity The disease which is called the Neal d'Aleppo, to which both natives and foreigners are subject, is an eruption which leaves an indelible scar, and is thought to originate in the quality of the water. As a commercial place, Aleppo has degenerated in modern times, but still remains the emporium of Armenia and Diarbekir. The English, in the reign of Elizabeth, established a factory here, and consuls of various nations reside in the place at present. The city, including the suburbs, is 7 or 8 miles in circumference, containing 200,000 inhabitants, about one fourth of whom are Christians, the remainder being Mohammedans and Jews. Eight thousand inhabitants, together with two thirds of the city, were destroyed by earth quakes in 1822, and 1823.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS; a group, belong. ing to Russia, about 100 in number, forming a connecting link between Asia and America, and separating the sea of Kamschatka from the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Some of them are volcanic; they are destitute of vegetation, but afford abundance of fur and fish. The harmless inhabitants are cruelly treated by the Russians. The English names for the islands, are the Fox, Behrings, or Copper Islands.

Hear

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, son of Philip of Macedon, was born in Pella, B. C. 356. The kingdom of Macedon was raised to celebrity by the exploits of Philip, and was destined to attain a yet higher rank among nations from the fame of his son. Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus of Epirus, was his mother. At an early age, he showed a veneration for great deeds and a determination to achieve them. ing of the victories of Philip, he exclaimed, "my father will leave nothing for me to do." Aristotle, the celebrated philosopher, consented to take charge of Alexander's education. His preceptor instructed him in the most elegant as well as the most profound branches of knowledge, and never for a moment forgot that it was his duty to fit him for governing a great kingdom. That he might become acquainted with military virtues and ambition, Aristotle put the Iliad into the hands of his noble pupil. Alexander was so fond of this, that he never lay down without having read some pages in it. His exclusive ambition is well illustrated by the

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letter, which he wrote his preceptor on the publication of his Metaphysics. "You did wrong in publishing those branches of science hitherto not to be acquired but from oral instruction. In what shall I excel others, if the more profound knowledge I gained from you be communicated to all? For my part, I had rather surpass the majority of mankind in the sublimer branches of learning, than in the extent of power and dominion."

It was no part of the ancient Grecian plan of education, to permit the culture of the mind to supersede that of the body, but, on the contrary, the instructors of the young, knowing that they are indivisible, trained the intellect ual and corporeal powers at the same time. Alexander was early accustomed to gymnastic exercises, and, at a tender age, displayed his strength and skill in an extraordinary manner. His father had been presented with a superb charger (Bucephalus), which no one dared to mount. Alexander sprang upon his back and succeeded in completely taming him, after which the steed would permit none but the noble youth to mount him. He bore him through some of the most perilous scenes of his career, and, when he died, was honored by a splendid memorial-the erection of a city called Bucephalia. At the age of sixteen years, Alexander was appointed by his father, Regent of Macedon, when the latter departed on his expedition to Byzantium. In 338, at the battle of Charonea, he conquered the sacred band of Thebans, and so distinguished himself, that Philip, embracing him, exclaimed; "My son, seek another empire, for that you will inherit is unworthy of you.'

When Philip married Cleopatra, and divorced, or, at least, disgraced Olympias, Alexander, having taken the part of his mother, incurred the displeasure of his father, and was forced to fly to Epirus, whence, however, he was soon recalled. Soon after this he saved his father's life in an expedition against the Triballi. Philip was assassinated, B. C. 336, when preparing to make war upon Persia, at the head of all the Grecian forces. Alexander, then twenty years of age, ascended the throne, and soon gave proof of talents to govern and to conquer. From the Greeks he received the chief command in the war against Persia. Finding, upon his return, that the Illyrii and Triballi were in arms, he conquered them and forced a triumphant passage through Thrace. Urged by the eloquence of Demosthenes, the Atheni ans were about to join the Thebans, who had

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already taken up arms. Alexander promptly repaired to Thebes, and on the refusal of the citizens to surrender, took it and destroyed it, with the exception of the poet Pindar's house. Six thousand individuals were put to the sword, and 30,000 reduced to captivity. The Athenians, although punished, were not so severely handled, and the fate of Thebes had the intended effect of striking terror into all Greece. The general assembly of the Greeks confirmed Alexander in the chief command of the forces, and he determined to leave Antipater, who had been a minister of his father, at the head of the government. The confidence, which was reposed in this man, was great, as appears from the following anecdote. Philip was fond of wine, and occasionally indulged himself to excess. One night, observing one of his companions unwilling to drink deeply, “Drink, drink," said he, "all's safe, for Antipater is awake."

In the spring of 334, Alexander crossed into Asia with 30,000 foot, and 5,000 horse. In the plains of Ilium, he offered sacrifices to Minerva, and crowned the tomb of Achilles. Approaching the Granicus, he learned that some Persian satraps, with 20,000 foot and as many horse, were prepared to oppose his progress to the other side. The passage of the river was effected in the teeth of this force, and Alexander was completely triumphant. During the heat of battle, the Macedonian monarch was a mark for the weapons of the enemy, by the splendor of his equipments, and the conspicuous beauty of his superb charger. The cities of Asia Minor, with few exceptions, now opened their gates to the youthful conqueror. In passing through Gordium, Alexander cut the Gordian knot. Lycia, Ionia, Caria, Pamphylia, and Cappadocia, were successively conquered. The conqueror was seized with a severe illness in consequence of imprudently bathing in the Cydnus, which proved a check to his career. While in a dangerous state, he received a letter from Parmenio, his general, warning him against his physician Philip, whom Parmenio accused of the design of poisoning his master. Philip was at that time preparing a potion for the king; and Alexander, handing him the letter, looked steadily in his face while he drank off the draught. He recovered.

Darius, instead of waiting for Alexander on the plains of Assyria, had advanced with an immense army to the defiles of Cilicia, whither the Macedonian followed, defeating the Persians in the battle of Issus, which placed the