in large blisters, which burst and fall down, the heat is advancing, and the ale is spoiled; and it will sometimes proceed, if not prevented, till the fermentation stops, and the yeast sinks. If the foregoing rules be duly observed, this can never happen; and whenever, from any mismanagement, it does happen, no contrivances can recover it: it may serve for an inferior liquor, but cannot be fine ale.

Numerous and widely differing opinions have been given concerning the time that ale ought to remain in the gyle, or working-tub, during fermentation, and the stirring or beating it together. The directions which are hereafter inserted for cleansing, are closely connected with this matter, for the ale should be put into the barrels while it is yet working briskly, that it may throw off the yeast well. In private houses, no other preparation is made for cleansing than what can be readily accomplished in the barrels where the ale is intended to be kept, nor does any other appear to be necessary to the quality of the ale, though, in large breweries, it is essential to convenience. Let the ale be tunned, as it is called, while it is yet working briskly, into dry sweet barrels, under which small shallow tubs should be placed, and the bungs put lightly in when full, leaving the top cork out, the top cork-hole being bored larger than the others for this purpose. The head of the barrel should be kept clean and dry, and the barrel filled up twice a day (at least for the first day or two), that the yeast may work freely out. Care should be taken that no cork be left in the barrels when placed to receive the ale; for it would certainly rise to the cork-hole with the yeast, which would presently throw out the bung and occasion loss and mischief. When no more yeast comes over, put in the top cork, and leave the bung loosely in its place for some time; if yeast works up again at the bung-hole, let it be wiped away, and not returned into the barrel. With regard to the fermentation and cleansing, no other care seems to be necessary; but the points already mentioned are not always very nicely attended to by persons who are anxious for very fine ale. No yeasty flavour is to be apprehended from the yeast that may remain floating on the surface of the ale, nor from that which subsides in the form of sediment for the slight coat of it which swims for a time will at length fall down. It is now proper to put into every barrel a few handfuls of dry hops, or hops merely wetted with ale, or scalded in a little good old ale. This may be done a month after the brewing; and in about a week the barrel be finally bunged down for keeping. A few general remarks may yet be

useful.

The process of brewing ale is not intricate or difficult; those who represent it so, or endeavour to envelope it in mystery, would either deter private persons from the attempt, or enhance the importance of their own knowledge. It has been of late insisted that it is impossible to manage the processes of mashing and fermenting accurately without a thermometer; and some also insist much upon the use of the saccharometer. The improvements of science are very pleasing, and these instruments are curious and amusing companions in a brewhouse, but our ancestors drank fine ale before they were invented, and, with good malt and hops, fine ale is yet made by many who have never heard of them. It must, therefore, be allowed, that they are not indispensible. But the strength of ale is a matter of

importance, and the directions which have been given A upon this point deserve some remark.

Taste, or caprice, or the desire of excellence, may induce persons to brew a part of their ale to be kept very old, and they will brew it, therefore, particularly strong, taking only the wort of the first mash, and putting to it a pound and a half of hops to the bushel of malt, to make not more than five gallons of ale. This is a very expensive liquor, and, what is worse, it is very heavy, and tires, or palls the palate; but it will drink lighter if, after it has stood two years, it be bottled, and stand two years more. It then becomes a curious liquor, and very agreeable to many persons. We consider English ale, however, as a beverage rather than a cordial; and the most agreeable strength is, to take about eight or nine gallons of ale from a bushel of pale malt and a pound of good hops: a brewing of eight bushels will thus fill a cask holding from sixty-four to seventy-two gallons; and smaller casks than these should not be used for old ale: pipes are still better, with malt, &c. in proportion. Neither is it necessary that the copper and tubs should be big enough to brew it at one time; for a second brewing may be tunned upon the first without either danger or inconvenience.

The age at which ale is drank, will depend upon Age of a person's stock; and this will sometimes be regu- for dri lated by the size of his cellar, but more frequently ing. by his family habits, and still more often by the extent of his pecuniary means. Good mellow ale, soft and fine, may be had at a year old; and it is, perhaps, never better than from one year old to two. Some persons never reckon ale to be old, unless it drink a little hard, or with some approaches to sharpness, or acidity; but this is a false taste, and an erroneous conclusion: old ale in this sense, is old ale spoiled. A hogshead or pipe of ale, that has been properly brewed and carefully managed, will not always be fine when tapped. Suppose it to be a year old, or, what is more common, suppose it to be brewed in October (the best month in which to brew good ale for keeping), and tapped at the Christmas twelve-month following; if when tapped it be not fine, it may be corked up again, and stand another twelve-month, when it will probably be found not only fine, but greatly improved in flavour; but if it be wanted, it must be fined as follows: draw off a gallon (or two, if the cask be a pipe) and take a quarter of a pound of isinglass, and some fresh hops, and scald them in a clean copper pan, dissolving the isinglass therewith; pour the quantity into a dry pail, and when cool put it into the barrel, and stir the whole together well with a long stick, or such an one as you have head-way to introduce; bung down the cask a few hours afterwards, and in a fortnight the ale will become fine. If the ale drink thin, and incline to be hard, let a pound or two (or more if required) of sugar-candy, bruised, be put into the pan with the hops, &c.

In whatever relates to brewing, cleanliness is essential Cleaal to be observed; in fermentation, that which may have remained some time on the top of the barrel should not be wiped in again; and, in tunning, the sediment that has fallen to the bottom of the working-tub should not be washed into the ale; it consists principally of the farinaceous part of the malt, and every opportunity should be embraced of discharging it. Great care is taken by most persons to use dry pails for tunning, and

ALE to keep water from the wort both before and after fermentation. No harm can accrue from observing these rules; but the writer of this article had once two pails of water put by accident into a hogshead of ale when fermenting, which made very nice ale notwithstanding; and, from this fact, it seems adviseable, if the heat should appear to rise much in the fermentation, and the yeast show a disposition to burst into bubbles, to try the effect of cold water upon it, if tubs be not at hand to lay it thinner.

ying

There appears to be some uncertainty and difficulty attending the process of brewing and fermenting, taken collectively; and many have supposed that some secret, carefully concealed, must be known to certain practitioners. This idea has, perhaps, been strengthened by the facts that are often observed in one neighbourhood, where two or more persons shall have the same malt and hops, and yet a considerable difference be found in the quality of their ale, not only in transparency, but also in colour and flavour. It is also very common for them to remark that a considerable difference will be found in the quality of the ale of each individual, at different times, when they have not been sensible of any variation in the brewing. This must be understood, however, to apply chiefly to the ale of those who brew without any nicety of management, and ferment thin ale without any care as to temperature; in which the difference in the duration of boiling will account for the variations in colour, and the difference in the heat of the fermenting will produce the varieties of flavour. There is really no mystery in it. Some spoil their ale with over-boiling; others with over-hopping, but especially with hops of a strong quality and reddish colour; others have never good-flavoured ale, because they ferment it too warm. But it may be observed, that hardly any management will make ale always transparent at any given time; at least, not certainly, though it will be generally so in one year, at less than which age it ought not to be denominated ale. The method of fining, which has been already mentioned, will here assist the reader; and as it will generally improve the flavour and mellowness of the ale, it ought to be resorted to, at the year's end, by those who would excel in ale, whether it should appear to be wanted or not.

There is one other circumstance in regard to the management and keeping of ale, which has not been generally noticed, but which has been repeatedly tried by the writer of this article, and in several other instances within his knowledge; that is, the method called marrying ale, which seems to increase its strength, but especially its mellowness and the fulness of its flavour. This method is very simple, and needs only to be mentioned to be understood; it consists in tapping a pipe or hogshead of ale in the middle, and when it is drawn as low as the tap, to fill up the cask with another brewing of wort.

The particulars to be observed are these: to begin upon a sound stock, such as is approved as to colour and flavour; for if there be any approach to acidity it will not do. The next point is to turn the newlyfermented wort upon the old stock, when it has fermented about twelve hours. The third particular, of great importance, seems to be, not to marry your ale in winter, but in autumn (October), for if your cellar be not a vault the old stock is too chill, and the fermenta

tion may suddenly stop; if this should happen, as in cellars that are not vaults, the heat may increase considerably in spring, the fermentation may be renewed, and the ale may spoil, or mischief happen to the cask by bursting. Ale that is brewed in the usual way will sometimes ferment in summer, and throw up the bungs of the barrels ; especially if the fermentation have been hastily conducted, and little or no cleansing have taken place in the barrels after tunning (which is likely to be the case when brewing is performed in frosty weather); where this happens, the danger is that acidity will follow, and therefore the beer should be speedily used. When ale is married, the fermentation will bring away all the old hops, and it is not to be overlooked that the cork will rise that had been driven in with the tap. It is, therefore, requisite to work it out at the bung-hole, skimming away the hops, &c. till they and the cork are discharged; then fill up the cask, and take out the top cork for cleansing, as before. It may be filled up several times with fresh wort, as in other cases, until the fermentation stops, and then the cork and bung put in (the latter very lightly) and left so until it is necessary to hop it down. The writer of this has refilled a cask in this manner five years successively, and had the ale always superior, and always alike in colour and flavour; in continuing this practice for a long period it is necessary to remove the casks for fear of accidents.

Those who chuse to secure a stock of ale thus improved, will find it as fit for use in six months as the other is in twelve; but it will generally require the same method of fining. The excellence of this ale is, that you can give no guess at its age; it drinks always soft and mild, without any resemblance to ale recently brewed, and equally remote from hardness or acidity. It is mellow, and full on the palate. In order to have it constantly, when once adopted, arrangements are easily made; and as most families use mild ale for the table, and perhaps inferior beverage for their business, two hogsheads of this, one standing, and the other in tap, would be sufficient.

The above remarks, almost entirely founded on personal practice, will furnish all the essentials of good brewing. The subject is usually treated in relation to mercantile concerns, or large establishments, from which the general reader can learn little or nothing suitable to private life; for this reason, the whole of this article is rendered purposely popular; and that which is scientific will be found under the head of BREWING.

ALE.

Some have thought that ale is more wholesome Water brewed from hard water; for "the mineral particles proper for (generally iron) tend, it is said, to prevent the cohesion brewing. of those drawn from the grain, and enable them to pass the proper secretions the better." This is to explain ignotum per ignotum," and can certainly prove nothing. It is thought that much drinking of ale, or other fermented liquors, may tend to produce gravelly complaints, and these seem likely to be promoted by mineral rather than soft waters. Ale brewed from either will be equally transparent; but river water is allowed to draw the malt better. The writer of this once brewed a hogshead of ale from snow water entirely (which is the purest that can be obtained), and it was as fine ale as could be made.

Some other notices respecting ale are inserted in former Encyclopædias which do not appear to be worth

transcribing. Among the rest is a secret said to be known in Staffordshire, of fining ale in a very short time. Plot conjectures it to be done by adding alum or vinegar in the working; but why this should be stated from conjecture, which could be so easily ascertained by experiment, it is hard to say: the porter brewers send finings, with the casks, when necessary; which are said to be made of small vinegar and isinglass, or sour beer with isinglass dissolved in it, as before. But their sourings are added, without any apprehension, to beer that will be very shortly used; and, when broached, very rapidly drawn out; it is, besides, generally desirable in the trade, to have one butt in tap that is a little hard; but, in fermenting ale, it would be dangerous (and it is wholly unnecessary) to add vinegar to it. With regard to alum, a small quantity, perhaps, would do neither good nor harm, and, therefore, is as well omitted.

The next piece of information is as follows: "Some have a method of preparing ale, so that it will keep, carried to the East or West Indies. The secret is, by mashing twice with fresh malt; boiling twice; and,

ALES, as festivals, were, according to Warton (Hist. of English Poetry, vol. iii.), variously discriminated, as the bridal-ale, whitsun-ale, lamb-ale, leet-ale, &c. But the church-ales, and clerk-ales, called sometimes the lesser church-ales, were amongst those authorised Sports which, at the period of the Reformation, produced great contention between Archbishop Laud and the puritans. The people, on the conclusion of afternoon prayers on Sundays, according to Bishop Pierce, in reply to Laud's inquiries, were in the habit of going" to their lawful sports and pastimes," in the church-yard, or neighbourhood, or in some public-house, to drink and make merry. By the benevolences of the people at their pastimes, it is added, many poor parishes have cast them bells, beautified their churches, and raised stock for the poor. Sometimes these were held in honour of the tutelar saint of the church, or for the express purpose of raising contributions to its repair. CLERK-ALES were festivals for the assistance of the parish-clerk, with money or with good cheer, as an encouragement in his office; " and since these have been put down," says the prelate above quoted, ministers have complained to me that they are afraid they shall have no parish-clerks."

"many

ALE-CONNER, an officer of the city of London, appointed by common-hall, whose duty it is to taste and judge of the quality of the ale sold within the jurisdiction of the city, and to regulate the ale-measures of the public-houses. There are four of these officers chosen every Midsummer day.

ALE-HOUSES, houses licenced yearly by the justices of peace of a county, or supreme magistrates of a city, for the sale of ale or beer. The occupiers of such houses are bound in recognizances that no riot or disorderly conduct shall take place in them; and their licences, upon misconduct, or the forfeiture of such recognizances, may be taken away, at the pleasure of the magistrates granting them. By 26 Geo. II. c. 41, justices, on granting licences, are to take recognizances in 107. with sureties in the like amount, for the maintaining good order. Certificates of good character are to be

after shipping it, putting to every five gallons two AL new-laid eggs (whole) to remain therein." If this be the secret, it is likely to remain undiscovered by this ALE method of telling; conjecture may busy itself in supposing that the ale which has been once brewed and boiled, is to be used again to mash another like quantity of malt, and so boiled again with another like quantity of hops; but it does not appear that this could differ (at least not for the better) from ale that should be brewed of the same strength at one process. Certainly the stronger the ale is brewed, the more likely it is to keep; but the recipe of the new-laid eggs seems tantamount to a small quantity of sulphate of lime, with isinglass, as it is expressly said, that" the yolk remains untouched;" that is, undissolved; but this is hardly credible. It is obvious that mankind have as great a disposition to tell secrets as to learn them; and considering how important it is that our knowledge should be certain as well as useful, it is a misfortune that such crude information should be delivered with so much solemnity.

given before any new licence is granted; and the penalty for selling ale, &c. without licence is, by this and subsequent acts, fixed at 40s. for the first offence; for the second, 47.; and the third, 67. For suffering tippling in such house, they are to be fined 10s. At wakes or fairs, however, ale may still be sold indiscriminately, and without a licence. No persons, otherwise than as above mentioned, are to sell wine to be drank in their own houses without an ale licence as well as a wine li cence. But persons who sell ale or beer in casks not less than five gallons, and in bottles (reputed quarts) not less than two dozen, and not to be drank in their own houses, are exempted from the penalties of retailing without a licence. By 48 Geo. III. c. 143, the stamp duties on ale licences are repealed, and excise duties, to be paid annually, granted on them in lieu thereof.

ALE MEASURES are to be regulated by the standard quart and pint preserved in his Majesty's exchequer; sub-commissioners and collectors of excise are to provide full and substantial ale quarts and pints in every town of their division, and the mayors or chief magistrates to mark the measures from the standard, or forfeit 57. by stat. 1 Jac. I. c. 9. Ale house-keepers selling in short measures are exposed to a penalty of not less than 10s. and not more than 40s.

ALE SILVER, a rent or tribute paid annually by the ale house-keepers within the liberties of the city of London to the lord mayor of the city.

ALE-TASTER, a person appointed in every court-leet, sworn to taste and attend to the assize of the ale and beer sold within the precincts of the court.

ALEA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Arcadia, on its eastern border, situated south-east of Stymphalus. It was named after its founder Aleus, and the inhabitants had a voice in the councils of Argolis. Diana, Minerva (thence called Alea), and Bacchus, had each a temple here. At the festivals held in honour of the latter, women were beaten with scourges, agreeably to a

command of the Delphian oracle, as boys were at Sparta, at the altar of Diana Orthia. The temple of Minerva was the only relic in Strabo's time of these

ALEA. edifices; the ivory statue of the goddess was conveyed by Augustus to Rome. PAUS. lib. viii. cap. 23. STRABO, lib. viii.

ALECTOROMAN

TIA.

ALEA, in Roman Antiquity, games of hazard played with dice, of which two sorts were in use; the tessera, or cube, having its six sides marked from one to six; and the talus, of an oblong form, of which the four long sides only were marked; one side having one point on it, the opposite six points, and the other two sides four and three. In playing, three tessere, or four cali were used, which, after being shaken in the dice box, called fritillus, were, to guard the better against fraud, thrown through another box, the pyrgus or turricula, in the form of a tower, placed on the middle of the board. Some writers, however, consider the fritillus and the pyrgus as the same box. The highest cast was of the tesseræ, three sixes, and of the tali, when all four came up different. It was named Venus, or Venereus Jactus. The Cornelian, Publician, and Titian laws were passed to prohibit all games of chance (which in them seem to be comprehended under the general title of alea), except in the month of December, when the Saturnalia were celebrated. But it is supposed by some authors, that they were designed only to restrain the cupidity of professed gamesters, who were held in infamy; or these laws do not seem to have been generally regarded; and the Roman emperors countenanced dice-playing by their own example. All gaming was expressly forbidden in the army. CICERO de Senect. cap. 16; de Divinat. 1. i. c. 13; SUET. Vit. Aug. cap. 17; DION CASS. 1. lix. c. 22; MART. lib. xiv. ep. 14; and lib. v. ep. 85; HOR. lib. iii. od. 24; Juv. Sat. xiv. v. 4. The Aleatorium was the place where the alea were played.

ALECTO, in Mythology (from a priv. and Anyw, to rest), one of the three furies. Virgil, Æn. lib. vii. v. 323, introduces Alecto exciting the flames of war, at the instigation of the implacable Juno, between the Latins and the Trojans. He describes her as having her hair and her dark wings covered with wreathing snakes, whose poison she infuses into her victims, till she infects them with ungovernable rage. So malignant was this divinity, that she was the abhorrence of Pluto, her father, and of her sister furies. From Cocytus, a river of hell, she is called Cocytia Virgo.

ALECTORIA (from aλEKTwp, a cock), in Ornithology, a name given to a stone, found sometimes in the stomach, liver, or gall-bladder, of old cocks; it is now generally thought to be swallowed rather than generated there.

μαντεία,

ALECTOROMANTIA (from aλEKTwp, and divination), in Antiquity, a kind of divination with a cock, thus effected: Having written in the dust the twenty-four letters of the alphabet, and laid a grain of corn on each of them, the party divining let loose a cock amongst them, and those letters out of which he picked the grains, being joined together, were thought to give the information required. It is said, though the story is doubted, that the magician Jamblicus used this art to discover the person who should succeed Valens Caesar in the empire, but the bird picking up but four of the grains, those which lay on the letters 0, ε, o, d, left it uncertain whether Theodosius, Theodotus, Theodorus, or Theodectes, were the person designed. Valens, however, learning what had been done, put to death several individuals whose names

VOL. XVII.

unhappily began with those letters, and the magician, ALECTOto avoid the effects of his resentment, took a draught of ROMANpoison. A kind of electromantia was also sometimes practised upon the crowing of the cock, and the periods at which it was heard.

ALECTRA, in Botany, a genus of plants of the class Didynamia, order Angiospermia.

ALECTRIDES, in Ornithology, according to Cuvier, a family of birds of the order Gallinacia, which have wings adapted for flight.

A-LEE, a sea phrase applied to the position of the helm, when pushed to the lee side of the ship, in order to lay her head to the wind, or put the ship about. ALEGGE',

ALEG'EANCE, ALEGE'MENT.

A.S. Alecgan, Lecgan, to lay, to lay down. The modern word is Allay (the g softened into y.)

To lay down; to put down; to put to rest, to quiet, to soothe, to tranquillize.

po he was ycrouned kyng at Westmynstre y wys,
He byhet God & pat folc an byheste, pat was pys.
To alegge alle luper lawes, pat yholde were byuore,
And betere mak pan were suppe he was ybore.
R. Gloucester, p. 422.

It would haue brought my life againe
For certes euenly, I dare well saine
The sight only and the sauour
Alegged much of my languor

Chaucer. The Romaunt of the Rose, f. 124, c. 3.

Sore I complained that my sore

On me gan greuen more and more

Id. Ib. f. 125, c. 1.

I had none hope of allegiance.
Now were they easie, now were they wood
In hem I felt both harme and good
Now sore without allegement
Now softing with oyntment.
Thomalin, why sitten we soe,
As weren overwent with woe,

Upon so fayre a morow?
The ioyous time now nigheth fast,
That shall alegge this bitter blast,

And slake the winter sorow.

Id. Ib. f. 125, c. 2.

Spenser's Shepheards Calender. March.
His feeling wordes her feeble sence much pleased,
And softly sunck into her molten hart:
Hart, that is inly hurt, is greatly eased
With hope of thing that may allegge his smart.

Id. Faerie Queene, book iii. c. ii.
But hurt his hart, the which before was sound,
Through an unwary dart which did rebownd
From her faire eyes and gratious countenance.
What bootes it him from death to be unbownd,
To be captivated in endlesse duraunce
Of sorrow and despeyre without aleggeaunce!
Id. Ib. book iii. c. v.

ALEGER. It. Allegro. Lat. Alacer, alacris, alacrus, alacro, alecro, alegro, allegro. Menage.

Coffee, the root and leaf-betle, and leaf tobacco, of which the

Turks are great takers, do all condense the spirits, and make them strong and alegar.

Bacon. Nat. Hist.

ALEGER (from ale and aigre, Fr. sour), or ALE-sour, a liquor made from ale or beer, turned acid by fermentation. It is remarkable that Egypt, never famous as a wine country, manufactured at Pharos what has been considered the strongest vinegar of antiquity. In this liquor Cleopatra dissolved the pearl before Anthony, which common vinegar could not have effected,

Flebile nati

Sinciput elixi, Pharioque madentis aceto; and it may be questioned, whether this were not as likely to be a preparation from their barley, in which

20

TIA.

ALEGER.

ALEGER. the country abounded, as from their few and ill-culti

ALEMBIC.

vated vines.

ALEIUS CAMPUS, in Ancient Geography,, a plain of Cilicia, lying between the rivers Pyramus and Sarus. It is celebrated for being the spot on which Bellerophon fell when thrown from the horse Pegasus, and over which he wandered till his death; expressive of which event, it is supposed the plain took its name from aλaobat, to wander. STRABO, lib. xiv. HOMER II. 1. vi. v. 201.

ALEMANNIA, or ALEMANIA, in Ancient Geography, a name of Germany, acquired from the Alemanni, who, during the decline of the Roman empire, were among its most active enemies. This name, however, does not seem to have been applied to the whole of Germany; though in the French language it has given birth to Allemagne, now applied to the whole of this part of the continent.

ALEMANNI, or ALAMANNI, in Ancient Geography, the name of a great body of people, who, about the beginning of the third century of the Christian era, took possession of that part of Germany now called Suabia, from which the Marcomanni, in the reign of Augustus, had retired toward Bohemia. Their name, Alemanni, signifies, in the old Teutonic language, All-men, or men of all nations, and indicated their bravery, and the variety of tribes of which they were composed. This is the interpretation also given by a Roman historian cited by Suidas. The greater part of the Alemanni came from the north of Germany, and were of the nation of the Suevi. The first notice of them which appears in history, is to be found in Spartian, Cara. cap. 10, who mentions, that Caracalla defeated them in the year 214, A. D. and took the title of Alemannicus. From this period they continue, during the decline of the empire, to make a prominent figure in its history, harassing and weakening the Roman power by their continual incursions into Italy, and the provinces of Gaul bordering on the Rhine. Though generally defeated in the battles which ensued, yet their vast population, unengaged in the arts of peace, enabled them, with the aid of the Juthungi, who were leagued with them against Rome, incessantly to repeat their aggressions. The country which was considered their proper possession lay between the Rhine, the Maine, and the Danube; but they took every opportunity to extend their dominion; wrested from its inhabitants the northern portion of Helvetia, over-ran the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, in France, and even spread themselves as far north as Cologne, near which, at the town of Tolbiac (now Zulpich), their power received a mortal blow from the Franks, under Clovis, A. D. 496. The character of the Alemanni was warlike; they were barbarous in their manners, regardless of treaties, and given to plunder. Their love of liberty was so great, that Dion Cassius, lib. lxxvii. cap. 14. relates of them that they destroyed themselves, and even their children, when sold into bondage. Their government appears to have been monarchical, and the best account of their inroads upon the empire of Rome, is to be found in various parts of Ammianus Marcellinus.

ALEMBIC, in Chemistry, a vessel formerly much used in the laboratory, but now altogether superseded

BIC.

by the retort and still. The lower part of this instru- ALEMment, which held the substances to be operated upon in distillation, was, from its curved shape, called the cucurbit; the upper part was called the head, and was fitted into a receiver.

ALEMBROTH, Salt of, in the writings of the alchymists, a sort of fixed alkaline salt, which is said to have had the power of dissolving substances, and opening the pores of almost all bodies. The term is still retained in our chemical nomenclature, and applied to corrosive mercurial muriate, united with 'muriated ammonia.

ALENÇON, a large and ancient town of France, in Lower' Normandy. It is the capital of the department of the Orne, 35 miles distant from Paris, and 16 from Caen. The population, according to a late census, amounts to 13,234. The town itself is not very large; but the suburbs of St. Blaise, Casau, La Barre, Lancel, and Moustor, add greatly to its magnitude and importance. Indeed, the last-named of these suburbs is larger than the town itself. Alençon was formerly fortified, and has always occupied a very important portion of the French civil and military history, the names of several dukes of Alençon being familiar to every one acquainted with the annals of this nation. Though the outworks are at present destroyed, the four gates remain, as also the ancient castle, which has a curious square tower of 150 feet in height. This town partook considerably of the troubles and dilapidations of the revolution, in its numerous religious houses, hospitals, and other pious and benevolent foundations. It is at present remarkable for its manufactures of linen, stockings, hats, and point-lace. There are also several tanneries, glasshouses, and smelting-houses. It has a tribunal of the first instance, and is altogether one of the most flourishing towns of Normany. There are some quarries in the vicinity which yield a beautiful stone, that has been called the Alençon diamond.

ALEPH

ALENTEJO, a province of Portugal, situated, as its name imports," beyond the Tagus." It is the largest province of this peninsula, and is bounded on the N. by Estremadura and Beira, on the E. by the Spanish frontier, on the S. by Algarve, and on the W. by the Atlantic. It occupies an area of 108 miles, and contains four cities and one hundred and five towns. The population amounts to about 34,000 inhabitants. Oranges, oils, and wine, are produced in abundance in this province; there are also several quarries of marble. The town of Evora is the capital.

ALEPH (), in Philology, the first of the Hebrew letters, corresponding in name, order, and power, with the alpha of the Greeks, who derived their alphabet, according to Herodotus, from the Phoenicians; and the latter, it is well known, spoke a dialect of the Hebrew. "The Phoenicians, who came with Cadmus, as they brought other learning into Greece, so also letters, which the Greeks had not before." Herod. 1. v. cap. 58. And Diodorus, lib. v. tells us expressly that "the Phoenicians received their letters from the Syrians." "By the Syrians," adds Eusebius (De Prepar. Evang. lib. x.) " is meant the Hebrews." See ALPHA and ALPHABET.