A short time after this event Alp-Arslán was assassinated by Yusuf, the rebellious commander of Berzem in Turkistán, who, having been made prisoner and brought before his master, stabbed the sultan on his throne (A. H. 465, A. D. 1072). Alp-Arslan was buried at Merú-errúd, or Merú Sháh Jihán, on the river Murghaub in Khorásán. This inscription was put on his tomb:"O ye who have seen the glory of AlpArslan exalted to the heavens, repair to Merú, and you will behold it buried in the dust."

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In his relations to the khalifs of Baghdad, Alp-Arslan showed himself less haughty than his predecessor, Toghrul Bey. However, he compelled the Khalif Al-káyim bi-ámri-llah | to order the khotbah or public prayers to be pronounced in Alp-Arslán's name. He was married to a daughter of this khalif, who conferred upon him the title of 'Azedu-d-din "Protector of the Faith." Alp-Arslán was a man of remarkable beauty. No crimes have been imputed to him. It is said that twelve hundred princes (?) paid homage to him. His successor was his son Melek Shah, whose renown was still greater than that of his father. (De Guignes, Histoire générale des Huns, &c. 1. x.; D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, s. v. Alp-Arslán;" Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xlviii. lvii.; Seylitza, ed. Paris, p. 822-845., especially p. 841, 842.; Constantine Manasses, v. 6584, &c.; Zonaras. Oriental sources are- - Nizámü-l-Mülk, Wasaya; Lebb-tárikh; Nighiaristán; El-mácin; Abú-l-fedá; Abú-l-mahásen; 'Abú-l-faraj; and especially the Persian Khuand or Kondemir.)

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W. P. ALPHACA'R, R. JUDAH BEN JOSEPH BEN (1217), a Spanish Jew, who was arch-rabbi of Toledo, where he also practised as a physician at the close of the twelfth century. There are extant three epistles from this rabbi to the celebrated R. David Kimchi, in defence of R. Solomon of Montpellier, and of his attack on the "More Nevokim" of Maimonides. It appears that soon after Maimonides had written his "More Nevokim" (" Director of the perplexed"), and it had been translated from the Arabic into Hebrew by R. Samuel Aben Tibbon, it was violently attacked by a certain R. Solomon of the synagogue of Montpellier, and two of his disciples, R. Jonah and R. David, who published the most virulent calumnies against R. Moses Maimonides and his works, especially the "More Nevokim," which they considered as derogating from the authority of the Talmud, and they used every endeavour to excite their nation to condemn it as an heretical work. These calumnies and their gross injustice stirred up the learned Jews of Nar

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who excommunicated and anathematised those three rabbis, who, in their turn, despatched letters and emissaries through France, and by crafty misrepresentations and flatteries so influenced the other synagogues throughout that kingdom that they fulminated their anathemas against the synagogues of Narbonne and Provence. These latter, stung with the indignity, and relying on the justice of their cause, chose from among the most learned of their rabbis the celebrated R. David Kimchi to represent the whole body, and to lay their cases before a convocation of the rabbis of all the synagogues of Catalonia and Aragon, who, being made fully acquainted with the merits of the case, published their excommunication against the three rabbis of Montpellier. On this, the French synagogues, perceiving that they had been duped, revoked their excommunication of the synagogues of Narbonne with an ample apology. It was in consequence of his mission connected with this affair that R. David Kimchi entered into the correspondence with R. Judah Alphacar, to whom he addressed an epistle from Avila, praying him that in his office of chief rabbi he would use his interest and authority with the rabbis of Toledo, to procure the excommunication of R. Solomon of Montpellier and his disciples. The first epistle of Alphacar is in answer to this: it is written in rhyme, and is short. It appears from it that he had so long delayed to answer, that David Kimchi had written him a second letter, complaining that he had appeared to consider him as unworthy of an answer. The answer begins by urging upon Kimchi the folly of taking offence at his apparent neglect, which he should have attributed to his great pressure of business. He then proceeds to express his wonder that they should be required to excommunicate R. Solomon and his two disciples, since he regarded them as honest and good men, who were only striving for the glory of God. He advised Kimchi to withdraw from the cause in which he was now engaged. To this David Kimchi returned a rhyming answer, in which he learnedly and temperately defends himself and his cause, and expresses his wonder that when the French rabbis had so promptly acknowledged their error, and apologised to him (D. Kimchi), that he (Alphacar) should be so prejudiced in favour of Solomon. This produced a second rhyming letter from Alphacar of considerable length, and which he begins with the most bitter invective against David Kimchi, commencing with the words of Zechariah, iii. 2., "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan !" attacking his motives and his orthodoxy in the most virulent manner. ceeds in the same strain against the "More Nevokim," and produces some passages from it which he declares to be absurd, and he condemns it altogether as a work not founded

He then pro

on the doctrines of the Law and the Talmud, | but as rather inculcating the philosophy of the Gentiles. He concludes with an elaborate defence of R. Solomon of Montpellier and his coadjutors, whose attacks on the " More Nevokim" he justifies. This epistle never came to the hands of Kimchi; but the more offensive passages having been repeated to him, he addressed an expostulatory letter to Alphacar, in which he mildly reproves the violence of his language towards one who had addressed him in a polite and respectful manner in his official capacity. This produced the third rhyming epistle from Alphacar, which is altogether apologetical. These epistles were printed with the epistles of Maimonides, at Venice, A. M. 5305 (a. D. 1545), in 8vo.; also in the “Institutio Epistolaris Hebraica" of Buxtorff, printed at Basil A. D. 1629, 12mo., in which not only the whole correspondence between David Kimchi and Alphacar is given, but also the form of excommunication of the rabbis of Montpellier and other documents respecting this celebrated controversy. (Wolfius, Biblioth. Hebr. i. 431.; Bartoloccius, Biblioth. Mag. Rabb. iii. 52, 53.; Buxtorfius, Institut. Epist. Hebr. Append. 396-418.) C. P. H. ALPHA'NUS FRANCISCUS, or Alfani, a physician of Salernum in the sixteenth century, wrote "Opus de Peste, Febre pestilentiali, et Febre maligna, necnon de Variolis et Morbillis quatenus nondum pestilentes sunt," Naples, 1577, 4to., and Hamburg, 1598 and 1618. It was published on the occasion of an epidemic fever which prevailed at the time in Italy and a great part of Europe; but the author so entirely occupies himself in teaching and in commenting on the opinions of the ancients respecting pestilences in general, that it is not possible to ascertain what was the nature of the disease then prevalent. (Alphanus, Opus de Peste, &c.) J. P.

ALPHARA'BIUS, JACO'BUS, a native of Leonessa in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, lived at the commencement of the sixteenth century, and wrote "Panegyricum in Divi Ludovici Regis et Christiani Fœderis celebritate Senatui Apostolico dictum," printed in 1501; and " 'De Usu Coronarum et earum Genere apud veteres Romanos," Leipzig, 1759, 4to. (Jöcher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon; Adelung, Fortsetzung zu Jöcher.) J. W. J.

ALPHEN, DANIEL VAN, born on the 7th of November, 1713, occupied various important places both in the university and city of Leyden, and was in 1749 promoted from professor" utriusque juris," or of civil and canon law, to which he had been appointed in 1735, to that of griffier, or town clerk, which he held till 1778, when he retired, and for the rest of his life, which lasted till the 16th July, 1797, occupied himself with the cultivation of literature.

He was

married, but left no children. His works are-1." Het Recht der Overheden omtrent kerkelijke Bedieningen " (" The Rights of the Magistracy with regard to ecclesiastical Services "). Leyden, 1755, 8vo., and 2d edition 1756, the previous one having been exhausted within the year. This publication was anonymous. 2. " Beschryving der Stad Leyden" ("A Description of the City of Leyden "), in continuation of that commenced by his friend Van Mieris, the third painter of that name. The first volume of Van Mieris was published in 1762; before the printing of the second was finished the author died. Van Alphen completed it by the addition of nearly one half, and published it in 1770; in 1784 he added a third part, occupying a third folio volume, and he collected materials for a fourth, which he himself did not live to publish, and which has not yet appeared. This work is the standard history of Leyden, and contains a good deal of matter of general interest; the volumes are handsome, and adorned with excellent views of the city. It is one instance among many of the carelessness with which Dutch biography has been written, that the notice of Van Alphen by Kok, who was his personal friend, and who gives an apparently minute list of his various offices, contains no allusion to his having held a professorship in the university, a fact which is however subject to no doubt, as it is mentioned by Van Alphen himself in the index to his description of Leyden. (Kok, Vaderlandsch Woordenboek, ii. 697.; Van Mieris and Van Alphen, Beschryving der Stad Leyden, ii. 578, &c.) T. W.

ALPHEN, EUSE BIUS JOHANN. According to the catalogue of the Imperial Gallery of Vienna (1784), this painter was a native of Vienna, and was born in 1741, and died at Vienna in 1772. He painted portraits in crayons, and is evidently the same person as E. J. Alfen, who was a Danish painter according to Dr. Nagler. [ALFEN.] There is in the above-named gallery a portrait of the Prince Joseph Wenceslaus of Liechtenstein in crayons, painted by Alphen in 1769. (Mechel, Catalogue des Tableaux de la Galerie Impériale et Royale de Vienne.) R. N. W.

ALPHEN, HIERONYMUS VAN, son of Hieronymus Simons Van Alphen, professor of theology at Utrecht, was born on the 9th of May, 1700, was minister, first at Nieuw Loosdrecht, then at Leeuwarden, then at Amsterdam, and died at the latter place, after some years of ill health, on the 20th of April, 1758. His published works are the following :- 1. "De Terra Chadrach et Damasco ejus quiete," Utrecht, 1723, 12mo., a Latin dissertation on the 1st verse of the 9th chapter of Zechariah, "The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof." This dissertation evinces an acquaintance not

2.

only with Hebrew, but Arabic and Syriac, and is reprinted in the 7th vol. of Ugolini's "Thesaurus Antiquitatum sacrarum.' "Verklaring over Matth. xxiv. en xxv.," 2 vols. Leeuwarden, 1734, 8vo., a commentary on the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew. The works of this writer show that he possessed both sagacity and learning. (Chalmot, Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden, i. 170.; Works of Van Alphen.) T. W. ALPHEN, HIERONYMUS VAN, a celebrated Dutch poet, particularly successful in his compositions for children. He was born at Gouda on the 8th of August, 1746, and was the son of Johann van Alphen, a syndic of that town, who was the son of Hieronymus van Alphen, the distinguished professor of theology at Utrecht. The poet studied at the universities both of Utrecht and Leyden; at the former of which he defended, under the presidency of Professor Tijdeman, a thesis on Separation from Bed and Board," and at the latter, on the occasion of obtaining, in 1768, the degree of master of laws, published a dissertation on the Roman jurisconsult Javolenus Priscus. He afterwards held the important employments of procurator-general of the court of Utrecht, pensionary of the city of Leyden, and treasurer-general of the Union. When the French invaded Holland in 1795, he resigned his functions and retired to the Hague, where he died on the 2d of April, 1803, in his fiftyseventh year. He was twice married; first to Johanna Maria van Goens, whose memory he celebrated in one of his poems, and afterwards to Catharina Geertruida van Valkenburg, who survived him. His private character is spoken of in the highest terms.

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In 1771 and 1772 he published, in conjunction with P. L. van de Kasteele, "Proeve van Stigtelijke Mengelpoezij," or "Specimens of Moral Miscellaneous Poetry" (Utrecht, 8vo.), in which the portions contributed by each author are undistinguishable, and both are of great merit. This was followed in 1777 by "Gedigten en Overdenkingen," or "Poems and Meditations," by Van Alphen alone. His next work was a translation from the German of Riedel's Theory of the Fine Arts and Polite Literature (1778-80), with an introduction and observations, in which he expressed in the warmest terms his admiration of German literature, which was then beginning to assume the high position it has since maintained. This feeling of admiration for their neighbours was then new to the Dutch, and Hoeufft, in an ingenious Latin epigram, reproved what he considered the exaggerated enthusiasm of his friend with the compliment that to refute the inferiority of Dutch literature alleged by Van Alphen there needed no other writings than his own. The work gave rise to a correspondence between De Perponcher and Van Alphen on the theory

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of the beautiful, which was published in 1783. His "Nederlandsche Gezangen," or "Dutch Songs," of the date of 1779, which are of distinguished merit, were succeeded in 1781 by "Kleine Gedigten voor Kinderen," or "Short Poems for Children," the success of which has been attested by repeated editions, and has stamped Van Alphen as the national children's poet of Holland. While these compositions are perfectly intelligible for those to whom they are addressed, they have a simple grace and beauty which are adapted to charm all ages. In 1782 he published Digtkundige Verhandelingen," or "Poetical Dissertations;" in 1783, Mengelingen in Poezij," or Miscellanies in Poetry ;" and in 18012, "Proeven van Liederen en Gezangen voor den Openbaren Godsdienst," or "Specimens of Hymns and Songs for Divine Service." Among these works three cantatas in the Mengelingen are the most successful, and one of them in particular, De Starrenhemel," or "The Starry Heavens," is a poem which will probably last as long as the language in which it is written. Van Alphen was also the author of some prose works of a religious character, some of which were published anonymously. Their titles are "Some Doctrines of the Protestant Religion defended against Eberhard;" ""Grounds of my Creed; "The Christian Spectator;" "Preach the Gospel to all Creatures ;" and "A Treatise on the Superiority of the Civil Legislation of Moses to that of Solon and Lycurgus." This treatise obtained the gold medal of the Teylerian Society of Haarlem, and is printed in the ninth volume of their Transactions. In 1813, a collection was published at Utrecht of his posthumous papers, 'Nagelatene Schriften, van Van Alphen, gevonden in Deszelfs Papieren." (Witsen Geysbeek, Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederduitsche Dichters, i. 15-36.; Collot d'Escury, Hollands Roem in Kunsten en Wetenschappen, i. 155.; Kampen, Geschiedenis der Letteren en Wetenschappen in de Nederlanden, ii. 375.)

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T. W.

ALPHEN, HIERONYMUS SIMONS VAN, the most conspicuous of the fifty-six individuals bearing the name of Van Alphen who are recorded in Chalmot's " Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden," was the son of a merchant of the same name at New Hanau in Hesse-Cassel, and was born at that town on the 23d of May, 1665. New Hanau was a sort of colony which had been founded by emigrant Protestants from France and Holland when driven from their own countries by religious persecution; and the family of Van Alphen was a branch of one which had long been distinguished for its respectability at Leyden. Hieronymus, after studying Latin and Greek at the schools of Hanau, and Hebrew under a learned Jew at his father's house, went at the age of sixteen to Holland, and pursued his studies for five

years at Leyden, under James Gronovius, | Schaaf, and Frederic Spanheim, and for two years at Franeker, under Vitringa and others. He was on the point of removing to Groningen to continue his studies there, with the intention of finishing them at Heidelberg, when, in 1687, he was chosen their pastor by the congregation of Warmond, near Leyden, and accepted the call. After four years he removed to Zutphen, and after two years more from Zutphen to Amsterdam, whence, after twenty-one years' ministry, he removed in 1715 to Utrecht, on being chosen professor of theology at the university. Here, after his twenty-seven years as minister, he spent twenty-seven years as professor in the enjoyment of great reputation. It was observed that the Hungarians and Transylvanians, who studied at the university in considerable numbers, were particularly attached to Van Alphen, and he repaid their partiality by procuring from the authorities the establishment of some scholarships for students for those countries, on the ground of supporting the interests of the Protestant church. When minister at Amsterdam he much promoted the subscription for the unhappy Palatines who were driven from their country about 1710 by the cruel devastations of Louis XIV. | and the religious intolerance of their own prince. A speech of Van Alphen at a public meeting in their favour at Arnhem, after his return from a journey in the Palatinate, had the credit of reviving public sympathy in their favour in Holland. Van Alphen was thrice married, and survived his last wife. He married, we are told, entirely from motives of convenience: the first wife to manage his household affairs; the second, to look after the children; and the third, to take care of himself. He died at Utrecht on the 7th of November, 1742, in his seventyeighth year, leaving behind him several children, one of whom, bearing his own name, had already distinguished himself as a theologian.

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The reputation of Van Alphen as a theological teacher was very high. His principal works, as partly enumerated by Kok and partly by Abkoude, are as follows: "De Usu Accentuum," or on the use of accents, a small dissertation. 2. "Economia Catechesis Palatinæ," a full explanation of the Heidelberg catechism. 3." Specimina Analytica in Epistolas Pauli quinque ratione ordinis temporis quo scriptæ sunt priores," 2 vols. 4to., Utrecht, 1742; an analysis of the first five, in order of time, of the epistles of St. Paul, namely, the two to the Thessalonians, that to the Galatians, and the two to the Corinthians. The comment on the first epistle to the Corinthians occupies eight hundred and sixty pages, and that on the second only twenty-four; for which the author makes no other apology than by re

ferring the reader to his previously published work on the same subject in Dutch. 4. " Specimen Analyticum in Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios," Utrecht, 1742, 4to., a comment on St. Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. These are his principal works in Latin: those in Dutch are 5." On the Epistle of Peter," 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1734, 4to. 6. "On the 111th Psalm." Amst. 1735, 4to. 7. "Comment on Psalms xxi., xli., xlvii., and cxii., and the Song of Moses." Amst., without date, 4to. 8. "On the two Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians." 2 vols. Utrecht. 9. "On the first Epistle to the Thessalonians." Utrecht, 1741, 4to. 10.

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Explanation of the 9th chapter of Daniel," Amsterdam, 1716, 4to., and 11. "Gezangen," a collection of poems, of which the second edition appeared at Amsterdam in 1748, in 8vo. Some slighter Dutch publications are mentioned in Abkoude, among which is a funeral oration on G. Anslaar, Amsterdam, 1694, 4to., and Kok intimates that there were some of a similar kind in Latin. It is singular that the catalogue of the university library of Utrecht, which has been consulted for the purpose of supplying dates, &c. in the above list, where they are omitted by Kok and Abkoude, does not contain a single work by Van Alphen. (Kok, Vaderlandsch Woordenboek, ii. 704.; Abkoude, Naamregister van Nederduitsche Boeken, edit. of 1773, p. 14.; A. Drakenborch, Oratio funebris in obitum H. S. Van Alphen, Utrecht, 1743, 4to.) T. W.

ALPHE'RIO, HYACINTHUS DE, (Alpherius, or Alferi,) was born at Elche in Spain. He lived at Foggia, in the province of Capitanata, in the kingdom of Naples, and was a member of the academy there. Early in life he wrote two works entitled "De Peste et verâ Distinctione inter Febrem pestilentem et malignam," Naples, 1628, 4to.; and "De Præservatione a Calculis atque cunctis phere Morbis, deque Renalium Medela," Naples, 1632, 4to. The latter is a brief essay, of little interest, dedicated to Franciscus Morrea, an abbot who occasionally suffered from the disease of which it chiefly treats. At a later period he wrote " De Modo consultandi, sive ut Vulgus vocat, collegiandi," Foggia, 1646, folio; in which he not only treats of the mode in which medical consultations should be conducted, but discusses various questions in medicine, philosophy, and divinity. (Mazzuchelli, Scrittori d'Italia; Alpherio's Works.)

Mazzuchelli mentions also an ANTONIO ALFERI, who studied in Padua and published two orations: "Medica Facultas Jurisprudentiæ Palmam eripuit," Padua, 1707; and "Medicina bis victrix, cui Epigraphe, non plus ultra," Padua, 1708. J. P.

ALPHERY, NICE PHORUS, a clergyman of the Church of England in the seventeenth century. The first account given of