pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
ALCIBIADES, an Athenian general. It was the fate of this great man to live at a time when his country was a scene of confusion. The Greeks, grown insolent from their conquests in Persia, turned their armies against each other, and bandied together under the conduct of the two most opulent states, Athens and Lacedemon. Alcibiades, in the midst of an expedition he had planned against the enemies of his country, was recalled home to answer some charge of a private nature; but fearing the violence of his enemy, instead of going to Athens, he offered his services at Sparta, where they were readily accepted. By his advice the Lacedemonians made a league with Persia, which gave a very favourable turn to their affairs. But his credit in the republic raising jealousies against him, he privately reconciled himself to his country, and took again the command of the Athenian army. Here victory, waiting as it were at his command, attended all his motions. The loss of seven battles obliged the Spartans to sue for peace. He enjoyed his triumphs, however, only a short time at Athens. One unsuccessful event made him again obnoxious to the malice of his citizens, and he found it expedient to retire from Athens. In his absence the Spartans again took the lead, and at the fatal battle of Aegos entirely subdued the Athenian power. Alcibiades, though an exile, endeavoured to restore the power of his country; of which the Spartans having intelligence, procured him to be assassinated. He was a man of admirable accomplishments, but indifferently principled; of great parts, and of an amazing versatility of genius.
ALCINOUS, king of the Phaeacians, in the island now called Corfu, was son of Nausithous, and grandson of Neptune and Periboea. It is by his gardens that this king has chiefly immortalized his memory. He received Ulysses with much civility, when a storm had cast him on his coast. The people here loved pleasure and good cheer, yet were skilful seamen; and Alcinous was a good prince.
ALCIRA, a Spanish town upon an island in the river Xucar, in the province of Valencia. It is surrounded with walls, and has two parish churches, six monasteries, one hospital, four poor-houses, and 9000 inhabitants.
ALCMAER, a city of the United Provinces, seated in North Holland, about four miles from the sea, 15 from Haerlem, and 18 from Amsterdam. The streets and houses are extremely neat and regular, and the public buildings very beautiful. It had formerly two parish churches, dedicated to St Matthew and St Lawrence. The latter had so high a tower, that it served for a seamark to the vessels that were in the open sea; but in 1464 it tumbled down, and damaged the other church so much that they were both demolished in 1670, and one church was built in their stead, dedicated to the same [7:2:388]saints. The Spaniards, under the command of Frederick of Toledo, son of the duke of Alva, came to besiege it, after they had taken Haerlem in 1573; but were forced to raise the siege after lying three months before it, as well on account of the infection of the air, as the stout resistance of the inhabitants and soldiers; even the women signalizing themselves bravely in its defence. It is recorded in the register of this city, that, in the year 1637, 120 tulips, with the offsets, sold for 90,000 florins. The town has a very great trade in butter and cheese. It was taken by the British in 1799, but soon abandoned. Long. 4. 26. E. Lat. 52. 28. N.
ALCMAN, a lyric poet, who flourished in the 27th Olympiad, about 670 years before Christ. He was born at Sparta, and composed several poems, of which only some fragments are remaining, quoted by Athenaeus and some other ancient writers. He was very amorous, accounted the father of gallant poesy, and is said to have been the first that introduced the custom of singing lovesongs in company. He is reported to have been one of the greatest eaters of his age; upon which Mr Bayle remarks, that such a quality would have been extremely inconvenient, if poetry had been at that time upon such a footing as it has been often since, not able to procure the poet bread. He died of a strange disease, for he was eaten up with lice.
ALCMANIAN, in ancient lyric poetry, a kind of verse, consisting of two dactyles and two trochees; as,—
Virgini|bus pue|risque|canto.

The word is formed from Aleman, the name of an ancient Greek poet in great esteem for his erotics or amorous compositions.
ALCMENA, the daughter of Electryo, king of Mycenae, and wife of Amphitryon. Jupiter, putting on the shape of her husband while he was abroad in the wars, begot Hercules upon her: he made that night as long as three ordinary ones.
ALCOBAZA, a town of Portugal, to the north of Lisbon, in the province of Estremadura, at the mouth of the two rivers Alcoa and Baza. It is celebrated for its monastery, one of the richest and most splendid establishments in the kingdom. It contains 295 houses and 1500 inhabitants.
ALCOCK, John, doctor of laws, and bishop of Ely in the reign of King Henry VIL, was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, and educated at Cambridge. He was first made dean of Westminster, and afterwards appointed master of the rolls. In 1471 he was consecrated bishop of Rochester: in 1476 he was translated to the see of Worcester; and in 1486 to that of Ely, in the room' of Dr John Morton, preferred to the see of Canterbury. He was a prelate of great learning and piety, and so highly esteemed by King Henry, that he appointed him lord president of Wales, and afterwards lord-chancellor of England. Alcock founded a school at Kingston-upon-Hull, and built the spacious hall belonging to the episcopal palace at Ely. He was also the founder of Jesus College in Cambridge, for a master, six fellows, and as many scholars. This house was formerly a nunnery, dedicated to St Radigund; and, as Godwin tells us, the building being greatly decayed, and the revenues reduced almost to nothing, the nuns had all forsaken it, except two; whereupon Bishop Alcock procured a grant from the crown, and converted it into a college. But Camden and others tell us, that the nuns of that house were so notorious for their incontinence, that King Henry VII. and Pope Julius II. consented to its dissolution: Bale accordingly calls this nunnery spiritualium, meretricum coeno bium, a community of spiritual harlots. Bishop Alcock wrote several pieces, among which are the following:— 1. Mons Perfectionis; 2. In Psalmos Poenitentiales; 3. Homiliae Vulgares; 4. Meditationes Piae. He died October 1. 1500, and was buried in the chapel he had built at Kingston-upon-Hull.
ALCOENTRE, a town of Portugal, in the province of Estremadura. It is within the lines of Torres Vedras, and was occupied by the allied troops as cantonments during the important period when those lines were the barrier that secured the safety of the peninsula.
ALCOHOL, or Alkool, in Chemistry, spirits of wine highly rectified. It is also used for any highly rectified spirit.

Alcohol is also used for any fine impalpable powder.
ALCOHOLIZATION, the process of rectifying any spirit. It is also used for pulverization.
ALCOOMETER, or Alkoometer, a name given by Richter to the hydrometer with a graduated stalk. See Araeometer.
ALCOR, the name of a small star adjoining to the large bright one in the middle of the tail of Ursa major. The word is Arabic. It is a proverb among the Arabians, applied to one who pretends to see small things, but overlooks much greater: Thou canst see Alcor, and yet not see the full moon.
ALCORA, a town of Spain, in the province of Valencia. It is situated on a small river that runs into the Mijares, and is principally to be noted for its potteries, in which earthenware of various kinds and china are extensively manufactured. It contains 2400 inhabitants, and is situated in lat. 42. 2. N.
ALCORANISTS, among Mahometans, those who adhere strictly to the letter or text of the Alcoran, from an opinion of its ultimate sufficiency and perfection. The Persians are generally Alcoranists, as admitting the Alcoran alone for their rule of faith. The. Turks, Tartars, Arabs, &c. besides the Alcoran, admit a multitude of traditions. The Alcoranists, among Mahometans, amount to much the same with the Textuaries among the Jews. The Alcoranists can find nothing excellent out of the Alcoran; are enemies of philosophers, metaphysicians, and scholastic writers. With them the Alcoran is every thing.
ALCOVE, in Architecture, a recess, or part of a chamber separated by an estrade or partition of columns, and other corresponding ornaments, in which is placed a bed of state, and sometimes seats to entertain company. These alcoves are frequent in Spain, and the bed is raised two or three ascents, with a rail at the foot.
ALCOY, a Spanish city on the sea-coast, in the province of Valencia. It has one parish church, three monasteries, and 14,600 inhabitants. It has a manufactory for [7:2:392]fine cloth, a soap-boiling house, and a very large manufactory for paper, which employs 48 mills.
ALCYONIUM, an obsolete name of a submarine plant It is also used for a kind of coral or astroites, frequently found fossil in England.

Alcyonium Stagnum, in Ancient Geography, a lake in the territory of Corinth, whose depth was unfathomable, and in vain attempted to be discovered by Nero. Through this lake Bacchus is said to have descended to hell to bring back Semele. (Pausanias.)
ALCYONIUS, Peter, a learned Italian, who flourished in the 16th century. He was well versed in the Greek and Latin tongues, and wrote some pieces of eloquence which met with great approbation. He was corrector of the press a considerable time for Aldus Manutius, and is entitled to a share in the praises given to the editions of that learned printer. He published a treatise concerning banishment, which contained so many fine passages intermixed with others quite the reverse, that it was thought he had tacked to something of his own, several fragments of a treatise of Cicero de Gloria; and that afterwards, in order to save himself from being detected in this theft, he burnt the manuscript of Cicero, the only one extant Paulus Manutius, in his commentary upon these words of Cicero, Librum tibi celeriter mittam de gloria, “I will speedily send you my treatise on Glory,” has the following passage relating to this affair: “He means,” says he, “his two books on Glory, which were handed down to the age of our fathers; for Bernard Justinian, in the index of his books, mentions Cicero de Gloria. This treatise, however, when Bernard had left his whole library to a nunnery, could not be found, though sought after with great care; nobody doubted but Peter Alcyonius, who, being physician to the nunnery, was intrusted with the library, had basely stolen it. And, truly, in his treatise of Banishment, some things are found interspersed here and there, which seem not to savour of Alcyonius, but of some higher author.” The two orations he made after the taking of Rome, wherein he represented very strongly the injustice of Charles V. and the barbarity of his soldiers, were excellent pieces. There is also an oration ascribed to him, on the knights who died at the siege of Rhodes.
ALDBOROUGH, a market-town in the hundred of Plomsgate, of the county of Suffolk. It returns two members to parliament, who are nominally chosen by the owners of burgage houses, but in fact by the marquis of Hertford. It is a poor place, chiefly inhabited by fishermen. The markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is distant 94 miles from London. The population has been as follows: in 1801, 804; in 1811,1060; and in 1821,1212.

Aldborough, a small town in the wapentake of Clare, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is on the river Ouse, and was formerly a Roman station, called Isurium Brigantium: near it are some remains of a druidical temple. It returns two members to parliament, who are nominally chosen by the occupiers of burgage tenures, but really by the owner of them, now the duke of Newcastle. The population has been as follows: in 1801, 445; in 1811,464; and in 1821, 484. It is 208 miles from London.
ALDEA del Rio, a town of Spain, on the Guadalquivir, in the province of Cordova, with 3000 inhabitants.
ALDEBARAN, in Astronomy, a star of the first magnitude, called in English the bull’s eye, as making the eye of the constellation Taurus. Its longitude is 6. 32. 9. of Gemini, and its latitude 5. 29. 40. south.
[7:2:393]
ALDERHOLM, an island of Sweden, formed by the three arms of a river running through Gefle, a town of Nordland, in Sweden, 80 miles north from Stockholm. Here is a wharf, a repository for planks and deals, two packing-houses, a large custom-house for taking toll of the ships, an arsenal for cannon, and a granary.
ALDERMAN, in the British policy, a magistrate subordinate to the lord-mayor of a city or town corporate. The number of these magistrates is not limited, but is more or less, according to the magnitude of the place. In London there are 26, each having one of the wards of the city committed to his care. This office is for life, so that when one of them dies or resigns, a wardmote is called, who return two persons, one of whom the lord-mayor and aldermen choose to supply the vacancy. All the aidermen are justices of the peace, by a charter of 15 Geo. II. The aidermen of London, &c. are exempted from serving inferior offices; nor shall they be put upon assizes, or serve on juries, so long as they continue to be aidermen.

Alderman, among our Saxon ancestors, was a degree of nobility answering to earl or count at present.

Alderman was also used in the time of King Edgar for a judge or justice. Thus we meet with the titles of aldermannus totius Angliae, aldermannus regis, comitatis, civitatis, burgi, castelli, hundredi sive wapentachii, et novemdccimorum. According to Spelman, the aldermannus totius Angliae seems to have been the same officer who was afterwards styled capitalis justiciarius Angliae, or chief justice of England; the aldermannus regis seems to have been an occasional magistrate, answering to our justice of assize; and the aldermannus comitatus, a magistrate who held a middle rank between what was afterwards called the earl and the sheriff: he sat at the trial of causes with the bishop; the latter proceeding according to ecclesiastical law, and the former declaring and expounding the common law of the land.
ALDERNEY, an island in the British channel, subject to the crown of Great Britain. It is about eight miles in compass, and is separated from Cape la Hogue, in Normandy, by a narrow strait, called the Pace of Alderney, which is a very dangerous passage in stormy weather, when the two currents meet; otherwise it is safe, and has depth of water for the largest ships. Through this strait the French fleet made their escape after their defeat at La Hogue in 1692. It is a healthful island, has but one church, is fruitful both in corn and pasture, and is remarkable for a fine breed of cows. The inhabitants live together in a town of the same name. It has but one harbour, called Crabby, which is at a good distance from the town, and is only fit for small vessels. To the west lie the range of rocks called the Caskets, so dangerous to mariners. Long. 2. 7. W. Lat. 49. 45. N.
ALDPORT, an ancient name for Manchester.
ALDROVANDUS, Ulysses, professor of philosophy and physic at Bologna, the place of his nativity. He was a most curious inquirer into natural history, and travelled into the most distant countries on purpose to inform himself of their natural productions. Minerals, metals, plants, and animals, were the objects of his curious researches; but he applied himself chiefly to birds, and was at a great expense to have figures of them drawn from the life. Aubert le Mire says, that he gave a certain painter, famous in that art, a yearly salary of 200 crowns, for 30 years and upwards; and that he employed at his own expense Lorenzo Bennini and Cornelius Swintus, as well as the famous engraver Christopher Coriolanus. These expenses ruined his fortune, and at length reduced him to the utmost necessity; and it is said that he died blind in an hospital at Bologna, at a great age, in 1605. Mr Bayle observes, that antiquity does not furnish us with an instance of a design so extensive and so laborious as that of Aldrovandus, with regard to natural history; that Pliny has treated of more kinds of subjects, but only touches lightly on them, saying but a little upon any thing, whereas Aldrovandus has collected all he could meet with. His compilation, or that compiled upon his plan, consists of 13 volumes in folio, several of which were printed after his death. He himself published his Ornithology, or History of Birds, in three folio volumes, in 1599; and his seven books of Insects, which make another volume of the same size. The volume of Serpents, three of Quadrupeds, one of Fishes, that of exanguious Animals, the History of Monsters, with the Supplement to that of Animals, the Treatise of Metals, and the Dendrology or History of Trees, were published at several times after the death of Aldrovandus, by the care of different persons; and Al-drovandus is the sole author only of the first six volumes of this work, the rest having been finished and compiled by others, upon the plan of Aldrovandus,—a most extensive plan, wherein he not only relates what he has read in naturalists, but remarks also what historians have written, legislators ordained, and poets feigned. He explains also the different uses which may be made of the things he treats of, in common life, in medicine, architecture, and other arts; in short, he speaks of morality, proverbs, devices, riddles, hieroglyphics, and many other things which relate to his subject.
ALDSTON-MOOR, a market-town of the Ward of Leath, in the county of Cumberland. It is on the banks of the Tyne, in a picturesque district, abounding in mines of lead, whose produce is shipped from Hexham. It is 302 miles from London. The market is held on a Saturday. The population has been as follows: in 1801, 3626; in 1811, 5079; and in 1821, 5699.
[7:2:396]
ALEA, in Roman Antiquity, denotes in general all manner of games of chance, but, in a more restricted sense, was used for a particular game played with dice and tables, not unlike our backgammon.
ALEANDER, Jerome, cardinal and archbishop of Brindisi, was born in 1480, and distinguished himself at the beginning of the Reformation by the opposition he made to Luther; for being sent into Germany as the pope’s nuncio in 1519, he acted, as occasion served, in the character of both ambassador and doctor, and declaimed three hours together against Luther’s doctrine before the diet at Worms, but could not prevent that celebrated reformer from being heard in that diet. He published several works, and died at Rome in 1542.

Aleander, Jerome, nephew of the former, a learned man of the seventeenth century, born in the principality of Friuli, of the same family with the preceding. When he went to Rome, he was employed as secretary under Cardinal Octavius Bandini, and discharged this office with great honour for almost twenty years. He afterwards, by the persuasion of Urban VIIL, who had a great esteem for him, became secretary to Cardinal Barberini, whom he accompanied to Rome when he went thither in the character of legate a latere, and in whose service he died in 1631. He was one of the first members of the Academy of Humorists, wrote a learned treatise in Italian on the device of the society, and displayed his genius on many different subjects. Barber ini gave him a magnificent funeral at the academy of Humorists; the academists carried his corpse to the grave, and Gaspar de Simeonibus, one of the members, made his funeral oration.
ALECTO, one of the Furies, daughter of Acheron and Night, or, as others would have it, of Pluto and Proserpine.
ALECTORIA, a stone said to be formed in the gallbladder of old cocks, to which the ancients ascribed many fabulous virtues. This is otherwise called Αlectormt lapis, sometimes Alectorolithos, in English the cock-stone. The more modern naturalists hold the alectorius lapis to be originally swallowed down, not generated in, the stomach and gizzards of cocks and capons. It is known that many of the fowl kind make a practice of swallowing pebbles, which are supposed to be of service in the business of trituration and digestion.
ALECTOROMANTIA, in Antiquity, a species of divination performed by means of a cock. This is otherwise called Alectryomanxy, of which there appear to have been different species. But that most spoken of by authors was in the following manner: a circle was described on the ground, and divided into twenty-four equal portions; in each of these species was written one of the letters of the alphabet, and on each of the letters was laid a grain of wheat; after which, a cock being turned loose in the circle, particular notice was taken of the grains picked up by the cock, because. the letters under them, being formed into a word, made the answer desired. It was thus, according to Zonaras, that Libanius and Jamblicus sought who should succeed the emperor Valens; and the cock eating the grains answering to the spaces ΘEOΔ, several whose names began with those letters, as Theodotus, Theodistes, Theodulus, &c. were put to death; which did not hinder, but promote Theodosius, to the succession. But the story, however current, is but ill supported: it has been called in question by some, and refuted by others, from the silence of Marcellinus, Socrates, and other historians of that time.
[7:2:397]
ALEE, in the sea-language, a term only used when the wind, crossing or flanking the line of a ship’s course, presses upon the masts and sails so as to make her incline to one side, which is called the lee-side. Hence, when the helm is moved over to this side, it is said to be alee, or hard-alee.
ALEGRETTE, a small town of Portugal, in Alentejo, on the confines of Port Alegre, on the river Caja, which falls into the Guadiana a little below Badajos, near the frontiers of Spanish Estremadura. It is a very pretty town, and finely situated; seven miles south-east of Port Alegre, and thirty north of Elvas. Long. 5. 20. W. Lat. 39. 6. N.
ALEIUS Campus, in Ancient Geography, a plain in Cilicia, on this side the river Pyramus, near the mountain Chimera, famous for Bellerophon’s wandering and perishing there, after being thrown off Pegasus; which is the reason of the appellation.
ALEMANIA, or Allemania, in Ancient Geography, a name of Germany, but not known before the time of the Antonines, and then used only for a part. After the Marcomanni and their allies had removed from the Rhine, a rabble or collection of people from all parts of Gaul, as the term Alemanni denotes, prompted either by levity or poverty, occupied the lands, called Decumates by Tacitus, because they held them on a tithe; now supposed to be the duchy of Wirtemberg. Such appear to have been the small beginnings of Alemania, which was in after-times greatly enlarged; but still it was considered as a distinct part; for Caracalla, who conquered the Alemanni, assumed the surname both of Alemannicus and Germanicus.
ALEMBDAR, an officer in the court of the Grand Signior, who bears the green standard of Mahomet when the sultan appears in public on any solemn occasion.
ALEMBIC, a chemical vessel, usually made of glass or copper, formerly used for distillation. The bottom part, which contained the subject for distillation, is called, from its shape, the cucurbit; the upper part, which receives and condenses the steam, is called the head, the beak of which is fitted into the neck of a receiver. Retorts, and the common worm still, are now more generally employed.
ALEMBROTH, in the writings of the alchemists, a word used for a sort of fixed alkaline salt, which had the power of the famous alkahest, in dissolving bodies, opening the pores of most or all known substances, and thence, as well as by destroying sulphurs, promoting the separation of metals from their ores. It is also used for a compound of corrosive mercury and sal ammoniac.