with him, while others think he was the Alfric, archbishop of York, who died about the middle of the eleventh century.
Eighteen works have been enumerated as Alfric's, the most famous being two collections of Anglo-Saxon homilies, one of which, a "Paschal Sermon, or Sermon for Easter Sunday," attracted the attention of the sixteenth-century reformers, as an early denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation. It was published by Archbishop Parker in 1566.—J. B.
ALFTEKIN, originally a Turkish slave at Bagdad, rose to the command of considerable forces, and after making unsuccessful war against Aziz-billah was generously forgiven, and became his devoted servant. Died about 982.
ALGARDI, Alessandro, an Italian sculptor and architect of great eminence, born at Bologna in 1598, and died at Rome in 1654. Brought up as a painter under Lodovico Caracci, he soon abandoned that career to become a sculptor. He proceeded to Rome, where, supported by the friendly assistance of Domenichino, and under the patronage of Cardinal Ludovisi, he obtained a very great success. Amongst his most important works are to be noted: in Rome, the great bas-relief in St. Peter's, representing Pope Leo going to meet Attila; the St. Magdalen and St. John the Baptist for the church of St. Silvester; a statue of St. Philip Neri, and the statue in bronze of Pope Innocent X.; many fountains and decorations for the Pamfili Villa; the façade of the church of St. Ignace, and the chief altar of that of San Nicola Tolentino; in Bologna, the beautiful group of the martyrdom of St. Paul, &c. Algardi imitated the mannered style of his great rival, Cavalier Bernini, to whom, however, he was often superior in purity of design, owing to his having spent some time in restoring many of the relics of ancient sculpture. He conducted a numerous school, from which sprang almost all the best sculptors of the following period.—R. M.
ALGAROTTI, Francesco, an Italian author, who was alike distinguished for his cultivation of polite literature, and of the arts and sciences, was born in Venice on the 11th of December, 1712. He was one of six children of a wealthy merchant of that city. At an early age he was sent to Rome, after which he returned to Venice; and on the death of his father, his elder brother Bonomo took the charge of his education, and sent him to the university of Bologna, where he studied science and the belles lettres. In all these branches of learning he soon distinguished himself, and some of his poetical compositions were published without his knowledge in his seventeenth year. He also devoted himself to the study of Greek and Latin, and went to Florence to make himself a perfect master of his own tongue. He subsequently visited Paris, and became personally acquainted with the most distinguished savans there, being already known to them by his contributions to the transactions of the Institute of Bologna. In 1733 he published his "Newtonianismo per le donne," in which he popularized the philosophy of Newton, as Fontenelle had done that of Descartes, a work which became widely diffused throughout Europe. He next wrote several essays in verse, upon different scientific and philosophical subjects, which greatly increased his reputation.
He travelled through Italy in company with a painter of the name of Tesi, and was himself a very distinguished connoisseur, as well as proficient in the art of. painting, and composed an essay upon the subject, "Saggio supra la Pittura," which was received with great admiration by his countrymen, and was esteemed by himself as one of his best productions. Algarotti visited Russia, and on his return in 1738, was introduced at Reinsburg to Frederick the Great, then crown prince, who was at once attracted towards him, and pressed him to come to him when he should ascend the throne; the intimacy then formed continued without interruption during the life of Algarotti. Subsequently, Algarotti went to London, where he was well received, and formed the acquaintance of many distinguished persons, and, amongst others, of Pitt, earl of Chatham. On his return, he settled in Berlin, for many years enjoying the friendship of Frederick, who conferred on him the title of count, and made him his chamberlain. He visited the court of the elector of Saxony, Augustus III., who gave him the rank of councillor of war. The pope, Benedict XIV., and the dukes of Savoy and Parma conferred upon him honours and distinctions, and he was everywhere received with the distinction and respect of one who, to elegance of manners and great talents, united the magnificence of a man of wealth, taste, and erudition.
The climate of Germany having sensibly affected his health, Algarotti returned to his native city of Venice, where he remained for some time, but finally fixed his abode in Bologna. Here consumption set in, but he awaited the issue with the resignation of a philosopher. He spent his mornings in the practice of painting, architecture, and the fine arts; after dinner he occupied himself in correcting his works, and in the evening he listened to music, and thus he met calmly his end. He died at Pisa on March 3, 1764, at the age of fifty-two. He made a design for his tomb, and composed a simple epitaph, "Hic jacet Franciscus Algarottus. Non omnis." The king of Prussia, however, raised a more magnificent monument to him at Pisa, on which, in addition to Algarotti's inscription, he caused to be written, "Algarotto Ovidii Æmulo, Newtoni discipulo, Fredericus Rex," for which last word Magnus was substituted after the king's death.—(Algarotti Opera; Biog. Univ.)—J. F. W.
AL-GAZALI, GAZALI, or ALGAZEL (Abou-Hamed-Mohammed-ibn-Mohammed); born at Tous in Khorasan in 1038; died in a.d. 1111. Gazali occupies a very peculiar position among philosophic Arabians; a position, however, that has existed in all ages, and which has been occupied by thinkers of exactly the same character. He is essentially the Sceptic of Arabian philosophy; not that his life closed in doubt, but that through his conviction of the powerlessness of Reason he fled to Faith, and found refuge away from Intelligence, in the mysticism and extasis of the Sonfis. According to the account he has given of himself, Gazali passed through utter scepticism. He doubted the evidence of the senses; he doubted or denied the evidence on which our acceptance of first principles must ever repose; and, as a necessary consequence, he declared unrelenting war against philosophy. The power and originality of Gazali were so great, that he was enabled to inflict a deadly blow on the course of metaphysical inquiry in the East—a blow the more easily inflicted because of its consonance with the inclinations and chief characteristics of the Semitic races. (See article Averrhoès.) The works produced by this writer were in number prodigious: two have always been held as the most remarkable—his treatise on the "Tendency of Philosophers," and that still more remarkable production, the "Overthrow of Philosophy." The first treatise seems to be simply expository. It is a resumè, and a very clear one, of the existing state of the philosophical sciences; logic, metaphysics, and physics occupying portions of it: and Gazali writes wholly as a peripatetic, or as if he had been a faithful disciple of Farabi or Avicenna. He stated afterwards, in self-defence, that he thought it right to explain fairly what he meant to demolish. The work Tchâfot, or the "Overthrow," rests—according to the able summing-up of M. Munk—on two propositions:—First, Although two circumstances or occurrences may exist always simultaneously, it does not follow that one of them is the cause of the other: for instance, a man born blind, to whom the sense of sight was restored during the day only, or while the sim is up, would imagine that he saw through the agency of the colours presented to him, and would take no account of the light of the sun which enables these colours to make an impression on him. Secondly, Admitting the action of certain causes, as constituted by a law of Nature, it by no means follows that even in circumstances wholly similar and on similar objects, their effects will always be the same: cotton, for instance, may, without ceasing to be cotton, assume (through the will of God) some quality which prevents it from taking fire. In a word, what philosophers designate as a law of nature or the principle of causality, merely is, "that one thing occurs habitually, because God so wills;" and we admit it as certain, because God, knowing through his prescience that things will always happen thus, has imparted to us portions of his own knowledge. But there is no immutable law of nature capable of fettering the will of the Supreme.—The fallacies inherent in this style of thought, cannot require, in these our modern times, to be specially pointed out. Averrhoès and others appear to have doubted the good faith and sincerity of Gazali. Unnecessarily, we think. There always have been clever men who rush to enormous beliefs—denying, at the same moment, and even spurning, those simple first principles, on the ground of which alone, any belief whatever can become rationally possible. Perhaps they discern some incongruity, and choose the alternative most acceptable to their moods and inclinations.—J. P. N.
ALGAZI, Samuel-ben-Isaac, a rabbi of Crete, author of some rare works. Lived in the sixteenth century.
