learning in which Alsop excelled, was a "singularly delicate taste of the classic poets,' which, observes his biographer, "induced him to make use of the Sapphic numbers in his familiar correspondence with his most intimate friends; in which he showed a facility so uncommon, and a style so natural and easy, that he has been, not unjustly, esteemed not inferior to his master Horace." The merit of these productions led to their preservation in manuscript for several years after his death, when Mr. (afterwards Sir) Francis Bernard determined to collect and publish such of them as he could procure, for the benefit of a relation of Alsop's, who was in a reduced condition. He accordingly issued, in July, 1748, proposals for printing, by subscription, a volume to be entitled Antonii Alsopi Odarum Libri duo, alter continens Epistolares, alter Miscellanea ; and in this prospectus appeared most of the biographical particulars of Alsop that are known. Bernard's memoir is reprinted in Nichols. The book did not appear until 1752, and was then called "Antonii Alsopi Edis Christi olim Alumni Odarum Libri duo." It forms a quarto volume of nearly one hundred pages, and has a poetical dedication, in Latin, to Thomas, duke of Newcastle. Alsop also wrote several English poems, many of which appeared in the early volumes of the "Gentleman's Magazine," and some in the "Collections" of Dodsley and Pearch. (Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, ii. 233-235.; Chalmers, Biographical Dictionary.) J. T. S.

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ALSOP, REV. VINCENT, a Nonconformist divine, was educated in St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A. When he left the university, he received deacon's orders, and became an assistant master in the free grammar school at Oakham in Rutland. Here his ready wit introduced him into society which had a bad influence on his character, until he was reclaimed by the admonitions of Mr. Benjamin King, the Presbyterian minister of the town, whose daughter he afterwards married. Having been led to doubt the validity of his episcopal orders, he received Presbyterian ordination, but at what time we are not informed. By the Act of Uniformity (1662) he was ejected from his living of Wilby in Northamptonshire, and retired to Wellingborough, and frequently preached both at that place and at Oakham. He was imprisoned for six months in the gaol at Northampton for praying with a sick person.

In 1675 Mr. Alsop published a reply to Mr. (afterwards Dr.) William Sherlock's work "On the Knowledge of Christ," in which his wit was brought to bear with great effect upon some points which Sherlock had treated with an unbecoming levity. This work gained him a considerable reputation, and led to his settlement as pastor over the

presbyterian congregation in Princes Street, Westminster. Here he discharged his duties with zeal and success; and, though he suffered many annoyances from the ruling party, he escaped the more serious penalties of fine and imprisonment, which were inflicted on many Nonconformists during the reign of Charles II. He is said to have eluded the designs of informers by a careful concealment of his Christian name.

When Dr. Stillingfleet published his sermon against the Nonconformists, Alsop was one of those who replied to it. Stillingfleet, in his rejoinder, treats Alsop with much contempt; upon which a person who had been Alsop's tutor at Cambridge observed that "he did not know what reason Dr. Stillingfleet had to answer his pupil with so much contempt; for that he was something his senior, and was reputed to have the brighter parts of the two in the college." This work added greatly to the reputation which Alsop had gained in the preceding year by his reply to an attack which had been made on the Nonconformists by Dr. Goodman. He enjoyed some favour at court during the reign of James II., by whom his son, after being convicted of treasonable practices, was pardoned. He drew up an address of thanks to the king for his declaration in favour of liberty of conscience (1687). For his conduct on this occasion he was blamed alike by Episcopalians and Presbyterians, the former being opposed to the principles of religious liberty set forth in the declaration, while the majority of the latter regarded it as an insidious step towards the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion. Alsop's attachment to James seems to have arisen solely from a sense of gratitude; and after the revolution he proved himself a zealous supporter of the new government. During the latter part of his life he devoted himself entirely to his ministry. He died, at an advanced age, at his house in Westminster, on the 28th of May, 1703. His principal works were 1. "Anti-Sozzo; in vindication of some great Truths opposed by Mr. William Sherlock." 8vo. 1675. 2. "Melius Inquirendum; or Sober Enquiry into the Preaching and Practices of the Nonconformists." 8vo. 1679, (3d edition, 1681), in answer to Dr. Goodman's "Compassionate Enquiry." 3. "The Mischief of Impositions," 1680, in reply to Dr. Stillingfleet's "Mischief of Separation." 4. "A seasonable Warning to Protestants, from the Treachery and Cruelty of the Massacre in Paris." 5. "A faithful Rebuke to a false Report, with Reference to the Differences occasioned by the republication of Dr. Crisp's Works." 6. "The Life of Mr. Daniel Cawdry," his predecessor at Princes Street. (Palmer, Nonconformist's Memorial, ii. 235.; Wilson, Dissenting Churches, iv. 63.)

P. S. ALSTED, (Latinised Alstedius), JO

HANN HEINRICH, a very prolix German writer on theology and history, was born in 1588, at Ballersbach, near Herborn, in the county of Nassau, where his father was a Lutheran pastor. He was educated at the academical pædagogium of Herborn, to which he was appointed, in 1610, extraordinary, and five years later, ordinary professor of philosophy. During this time he received two invitations, one as professor at Wesel, and the other as professor at Hanau, but he refused both offers; the endeavours of John Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg, to draw Alsted into his service, were also fruitless. In 1618 he was deputed by the counts of the Wetterau to attend the synod of Protestant divines at Dortrecht, the decrees of which are still the law of the Reformed church in Holland. In 1619, when the synod broke up, and Alsted had returned to Herborn, he obtained the place of second professor of theology there, and after the first chair had become vacant through the death of Piscator in 1626, it was given to Alsted, who however did not hold it for more than three years; for in 1629, when the university of Weissenburg in Transylvania was founded, he accepted the chair of philosophy and theology, to which he was invited. He continued in this office until his death on the 8th of November, 1638.

Alsted had in his time great reputation as a writer on biblical and natural theology, on chronology and mechanics. The number of his works in these different departments shows extraordinary industry. His contemporaries made an anagram of his name Alstedius, and called him Sedulitas, that is, Diligence. Jöcher, whose list is not even complete, gives the titles of upwards of sixtytwo works of Alsted. All are written in Latin, and most of them are now superseded and almost useless. The best among them are1. "Theatrum Scholasticum," Herborn, 1610, 8vo., reprinted in 1620. 2. "Lexicon Theologicum," Hanover, 1612, 8vo., often reprinted. 3. "Theologia Naturalis," Frankfurt, 1615 and 1622, 4to. 4." Encyclopædia Philosophica," Herborn, 1620, 4to. 5." Thesaurus Chronologiæ," Herborn, 1624, 8vo., reprinted in 1628, 1637, and 1650. 6." Encyclopædia septem Tomis distincta," Herborn, 1630, and Leyden, 1640, 2 vols. fol. Alsted also edited Jordano Bruno's "Artificium perorandi," Frankfurt, 1612, 8vo.; Daniel Chamier's "Panstratia Catholica, sive Controversiarum de Religione adversus Pontificios Corpus," with continuations, Geneva, 1629, 5 vols. 4to. ; the works of Bernard de Lavinheta, and others. (Jöcher, Allgem. Gelehrt.-Lexic. i. 302, &c.; C. D. Vogel in Ersch und Gruber's Allgem. Encyclopædie, iii. 224.) L. S. ALSTON, CHARLES, a physician and botanist, was born at Eddlewood, in Scotland, in 1683. His father was related to the noble family of Hamilton, and had early in life

studied physic, and travelled in other countries; but becoming tired of the practice of his profession, he retired to Eddlewood. Young Alston received his early education at Glasgow, and at about the time of its completion lost his father, which recommended him to the patronage of the Duchess of Hamilton. She wished him to study the law, but he had so decided a taste for botany that he found it necessary to give up this profession, and to study physic, which would give him an opportunity of pursuing his favourite science. According to Dr. Hope he was appointed superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh before the year 1716; but it was not till this year that he began seriously to pursue medicine as a profession. For this purpose he went to Leyden, and studied there under Boerhaave. He remained at Leyden three years, where he was remarkable for his diligence, and where he formed the acquaintance of Dr. Alexander Munro. Shortly after his return to Edinburgh, in 1720, he commenced reading lectures on botany and materia medica, and was appointed professor of these departments of medical study in the university about the year 1740. In this position he was distinguished for the sincerity with which he laboured for the advancement of his profession and the interest he took in the progress of his pupils; and in conjunction with Plummer, Sinclair, Rutherford, and Munro, he was one of those who greatly contributed to the eminence of Edinburgh as a school of medicine during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

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He published several works on botany and medicine. His first work was a catalogue of the plants growing in the botanic garden at Edinburgh, entitled "Index Plantarum præcipue officinalium quæ in Horto Medico Edinburgensi a Carolo Alston, M. et B.P. Medicinæ Studiosis demonstrantur. Edinburgi, 1740," 12mo. The plants are arranged according to the system of Tournefort. His next work on botany was a manuel for the use of students, entitled Tirocinium Botanicon Edinburgense. Edinburgi, 1753," 8vo. It is on this work that the fame of Alston as a botanist principally rests. It was published at the time when Linnæus was beginning to be acknowledged as lawgiver in the botanical world. Alston saw the evils that must result to scientific botany if the system of Linnæus was regarded in any manner as a substitute for the natural classification of plants. In this work he defended the system of Tournefort and many of the older botanists from what he considered the unjust aspersions of Linnæus, and he was one of the first to call upon Bernard Jussieu to publish those views of natural classification which he believed would " rescue botany from the various difficult trifles and fooleries with which it was burthened and oppressed." (Tir. Bot. Edin. p. 62.) Alston, in some instances, is too

Italian painters to attempt to imitate the effects he produced: they however failed, and spoiled several of their pictures.

organs.

The preliminary dissertation which precedes the description of plants in the "Tirocinium " was translated into English and published in London in 1754, under the title "A Dissertation on Botany," 8vo. He published several papers on medical subjects; amongst others a dissertation on opium, and another on the uses of tin as an anthelmintic, both of which were published in a work entitled "Edinburgh Medical Essays." In 1752 he published, at Edinburgh, a separate work on quicklime and lime-water as medical agents. In the same year appeared also an alphabetical list with short descriptions of the various agents employed in medicine, with the title "Index Medicamentorum simplicium triplex," 12mo. After his death, his lectures, in two volumes quarto, on Materia Medica, were published in 1770, edited by Dr. John Hope. These lectures display great research, perhaps more among modern than ancient writers, and are valuable as a work of reference in Materia Medica. In pronouncing on the opinions of others the author displays considerable judgment, but has added little new matter of his own. Such lectures would be ill adapted for the class-rooms of the present day.

Alston was married twice, and left behind him an only daughter. He died on the 22d of November, 1760. A genus of plants Alstonia, belonging to the natural order Apocynaceæ, was named in honour of him by Brown. (Advertisement to Lectures on Materia Medica, by Dr. Hope; Haller, Bibliotheca Botanica; Sprengel, Historia Rei Herbaria; Edinburgh Encyclopædia, art. "Alston.") E. L. ALSTON, or ALLSTON, WILLIAM, a native of the United States, North America, and a distinguished painter both in history and landscape. In Dr. Nagler's Dictionary of Artists he is said to have studied in the school of Sir Joshua Reynolds (Northcote does not mention him in his Life of Reynolds), and to have afterwards gone to Rome, where in 1805 he established a reputation by a picture of Jacob's Vision. Alston excelled chiefly in colouring, and was one of the first painters who made a great use of asphaltum, which he applied so

Alston painted many pictures which were much admired in Rome for their colouring and chiaroscuro; among which were several landscapes and his own portrait. He excelled in landscape painting, and in 1814 published a work entitled "Hints to young Practitioners in the Study of Landscape Painting," where, Dr. Nagler does not mention. In 1821 he painted two excellent pictures of the Prophet Jeremiah and Uriel. Fiorillo mentions a picture of a French soldier recounting some of his deeds of heroism to several people around him, by Alston. (Morgenblatt, 1807, p. 199.; Nagler, Neues Allgemeines Künstler Lexicon; Fiorillo, Geschichte der Mahlerey, vol. v.)

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R. N. W.

He

ALSTORPH, JOHANNES, was a native of Groningen, where he took the degree of doctor of laws in 1701, having previously studied at Harderwyk in Guelderland. died in 1719. He was the author of the following treatises :- 1. "Dissertatio Philologica de Lectis, subjicitur ejusdem de Lecticis veterum Diatribe, Amstelodami, 1704," 12mo., an improved edition of two academical dissertations which had been previously printed separately, at Harderwyk, 1700, 4to. 2. Dissertatio Juridica Inauguralis de Asylis, Gronin. 1701," 4to. ; which was his academical exercise for the degree of doctor of laws. 3. " Conjectanea Philologica super nummo cuso in Memoriam Obsidionis et Liberationis Urbis Groninga, anno 1672, Gronin. 1719," 4to., a treatise in explanation of the coin struck at Groningen in the year 1672 in commemoration of the successful defence made by the students of the university of Groningen when the city was besieged by the Elector of Cologne and the Bishop of Münster. 4. "De Hastis Veterum, Amst. and Leips., 1757," 4to. ; a posthumous work, part of which was already printed when Alstorph died; but it was not published till the above date, when it was edited, with a preface by Sax, the author of the Onomasticon. (Saxius, Onomast. Literar., pars v. 534.) C. J. S.

ALSTRÖMER, CLAS, the son of Jonas Alströmer [ALSTRÖMER, J.] and his wife Margareta Clason, was born at Alingsås on the 9th of August, 1736, and lost his mother when he was two years old. He was at first considered a dull ill-natured boy, but his father, who was concerned at hearing this report of him, contrived, by taking a share in his childish amusements, first to obtain his confidence, and then to arouse his curiosity; after which the boy made rapid progress both in his moral character and his studies. He was sent with his elder brothers, August and Patrick, to the university of Upsal, where he paid particular attention to natural history, mechanics, and agriculture, under

the guidance of Linnæus, Wallerius, and Berch. His father, who had himself acquired most of his knowledge by travelling, sent his three sons on a tour through the south of Sweden at Midsummer, 1753; and the pleasure and instruction derived from it seem to have kindled a strong wish in Clas to travel still more. On his father giving him the choice of his mode of life, he selected agriculture and the management of sheep, the improved breeds of which the elder Alströmer had been the first to introduce into Sweden; and he expressed a strong wish to travel in Spain, to discover, if possible, the cause of a degeneracy in the Swedish flocks, which he considered not to be attributable entirely to climate. He returned for some time to Upsal to complete his knowledge of natural history, preparatory to this journey, and while there kept up a friendly rivalry with Forskål, Bergman, and Solander. In 1760 he landed at Cadiz, provided with a strong letter of recommendation from Linnæus, travelled fifteen months in Spain, entered France in November, 1761, travelled through that country and Italy, and returning to Paris passed over to England in May, 1763, and remained there till June, 1764, in the November of which year he arrived home again at Alingsås. His health was much impaired by his travels. He had suffered from illness, caused by being caught in a snow-storm on the mountains of Castile in March, 1761, and in London he was attacked by a disorder which confined him for three months to his room. This brought on a difficulty in moving his hands and feet, which never left him after his return, and gradually increasing, ultimately deprived him of the power of voluntary movement. This singular disease, the cause and progress of which were equally inexplicable to the most eminent physicians of Europe whom Alströmer consulted, did not reach its climax till the year 1796, and during this long interval the patient was as active as it permitted him to be. In 1771 he married Sara Catharina Sahlgren, the sister of a wealthy merchant, with whom he entered into partnership; and for the next six years he was closely occupied with the superintendence of some mines and landed property belonging to the firm. On Sahlgren's death in 1776, Alströmer, who began to feel his infirmities increasing, retired from mercantile life to superintend the management of a "Children's House" which had been established by Sahlgren's will, and the disposal of a considerable fund which had been left by him for the promotion of science. Alströmer was in the habit, according to his friend's request, of proposing several questions yearly, generally on subjects of agriculture and economics, the best answers to which were recompensed with a premium awarded by the Royal Academy of Sciences. These answers form a valuable

series of essays, and occupy several volumes, which are generally found accompanying the Transactions of the Academy. Part of the fund was assigned to men of science for the purpose of enabling them to prosecute particular researches, a method recently adopted by the British Association; part to students to enable them to travel for improvement, in the manner of the travelling fellowships at Oxford; and part employed in the purchase and distribution of useful books, and the reward of useful discoveries, in the same way as has often been done by the House of Commons. The latter years of Alströmer's life were not altogether fortunate. The Children's House, which he managed in such a way as to promote his favourite object of improving Swedish agriculture, by introducing a better class of agriculturists, was found to be so expensive, that the plan at first adopted was considerably contracted in 1792, leaving the institution much in debt, and some speculations which Alströmer had warmly recommended for introducing Swedish manufactures into North America, while those of England were excluded, during the American war, turned out so ruinous, in consequence of the unexpected conclusion of peace, that the great house of Sahlgren and Alströmer was obliged to stop payment, though the debts of the firm were afterwards paid in full. Alströmer died at his country seat at Gåsewadsholm, in Halland, on the 5th of March, 1796.

Alströmer had kept a minute diary of his observations on his travels, almost all of which was destroyed by an unfortunate fire at his residence. From a few specimens of what remained, given by his biographer Dubb, it may be inferred that the whole would have been very valuable, as the writer was in the habit of examining the arts and manufactures of the different countries which he visited, with unusual knowledge and powers of observation. He was the author of numerous articles in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and of one separate publication, "Tal om den finulliga Får-Afveln” (Stockholm, 1770, 8vo.); a speech, as president of the academy, on the breeding of fine-woolled sheep. This work is a masterpiece of its kind, comprising the results of the author's observations on his journey in Spain, and of his investigations into the history of the Spanish breeds for centuries. He applies these results to support the Linnæan maxim, that all offspring inherit the outward form of the father, but in mind and disposition resemble the mother. It is observed by Dubb, that Darwin, who supported the same view a quarter of a century later in his Zoonomia, did so with far less learning and less effect than his Swedish predecessor. Alströmer enjoyed numerous public honours: he was a member of the council of chancery, and in 1778 was raised to the dignity of

baron. A more durable distinction was awarded him by Linnæus, who gave the name of Alstroemeria to a beautiful genus of plants belonging to the natural order Amaryleidaceæ. (Dubb, Aminnelse-Tal öfver Clas Alströmer, Stockholm, 1796, 8vo.; Wikstrom, Conspectus Litteraturæ Botanica in Svecia, p. 22.) T. W. ALSTROMER, JONAS, was born on the 7th of January, 1685, at Alingsås, at that time a small town of about a hundred and fifty inhabitants. His parents were so poor, that after being taught to read and write, he was sent to service at the house of a colonel in the neighbourhood; but he soon left this place for the shop of a small trader in Eksjö, where he continued till the ill-treatment of his master forced him to leave. After a few more changes he set out for Stockholm to seek his fortune. Here a merchant of the name of Alberg, who had resolved to set up in business in London, engaged him to accompany him as book-keeper. The young adventurer assumed the name of Alström, from the name of the stream on which he was born, being the first of the family who had aspired to the dignity of a surname. On his passage he took his share of work with the sailors, a circumstance which had nearly turned much to his injury, for he had scarcely set foot on land at London, on the 1st of May, 1707, when he was laid hold of by a press-gang, and rescued with difficulty out of their hands by a comrade, who could hardly persuade them that he was a clerk. In the course of three years Alberg failed, and Alström seems to have attributed his ill fortune to his having set sail from Stockholm not only on Sunday afternoon, but during divine service. In the same year, 1710, the clerk set up in business on his own account as a ship-broker, and procured letters of naturalisation. His first thought, on his success, was to impart a share of it to his family. His father was dead, but he sent support to his mother, who was still living, and he invited over to England his younger brother and two sisters. The brother he instructed in trade, and then sent out to Portugal, where he died in 1716. Of the two sisters, the elder managed the household affairs, and the younger learned book-keeping and trade, at which she became so clever, that during Alström's occasional absences from the counting-house, she used to carry on the business and maintain an extensive correspondence. Alström was now comfortably settled if it had not been for the contrast which he could not help drawing between the prosperity of the country he lived in and the misery of that he had left behind. "As a citizen he was an Englishman," says his biographer, "but he was at heart a Swede." He watched impatiently for the return of Charles XII. from his captivity at Bender to lay before him his plans of im

provement; and when the welcome news arrived, he hurried off to Sweden, but soon found that during the life of that king there was no chance of his schemes being listened to. He did not return, however, without effecting something; for, having observed that the English woollen manufactures constituted the principal exports to Sweden, he had taken with him a stock of thirty sheep for the purpose of improving the Swedish wool, and presented them to friends at Gottenburg and Uddevalla; and this flock was the origin of a great improvement in the wool of Sweden. He had also, during his residence in Stockholm, directed attention to the English Navigation Act as the source of English prosperity, and this afterwards gave rise to a similar measure on the part of Sweden, known by the name of the "Product Placat," or "Produce Proclamation," to which is attributed the improvement which was speedily observed in commerce, ship-building, and navigation. On leaving Stockholm he went to Germany, and the ship in which he sailed being captured on the voyage by a Danish cruiser, he claimed and obtained his liberty in the character of an English merchant. For the next four or five years he travelled in different parts of Europe, still with the view of finding manufactures to transplant, and then found it necessary to attend closely for two or three years to business in London, where he was nominated Swedish consul, and received the payment of a subsidy which the English government at that time allowed to Sweden. The wish of his heart was at length gratified. In 1723 he left London for Paris, and sent on before him to Sweden a Dutchman, who established the first cotton-printing manufactory in the country at Sickla. From Paris he wrote to Stockholm to obtain the privileges he considered necessary for the establishment of a factory for weaving, and at St. Germain engaged some English stocking weavers to accompany him to Sweden. privileges were granted, and in 1724 weaving was fairly commenced at Alingsås, the native place of Alström, which he had selected eight years before as an eligible spot for his purpose. After a time, he found that his capital was not sufficient to carry on the undertaking, and his neighbours were more disposed to be a hindrance than a help. When just on the point of throwing everything up and returning to England, he heard that a meeting of forgemasters was about to take place at Carlstad on business, and he determined to make a last effort. He travelled to Carlstad, got into conversation with one of the forgemasters, and by his assistance the whole body was prevailed on to advance Alström some money for present needs, and appoint a meeting at the fair of Christinehamn. The crisis was now past. at the fair a joint-stock company was formed, and soon after the king, Frederick of Hesse

The