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294 ALEXIS PETEOVITCH ALFIERI Alexis ordered these rebels to deposit all the documents relating to their rank in the chan- cery of the imperial council, and 'then burned them together with the old nobiliar record of the empire, called the Velvet Book. Under his reign Russia for the first time began to have the advantage over the Poles, whom he defeated in two wars. By the treaties of Mos- cpw (1656) and Andruszow (1667) Alexis re- covered several provinces formerly taken from Kussia. He was also for several years at war with Sweden, which ended with an armistice in 1658 and a treaty in 1661, mutually guaran- teeing their former possessions. During his reign the Cossacks of the Ukraine, for centuries tributaries of Poland, seceded and submitted to Russia. He was twice married, and left children by both wives. The first was a Milos- lavska, of a Russian boyar family ; the sec- ond a Naryshkin, a person of lower rank, whom Alexis chose from the sight of her shoe, which made him think she had a very small foot. She was the mother of Peter the Great. ALEXIS PETROVITCH, the eldest son of Peter the Great and of Eudoxia Lapukhin, born in Moscow, Feb. 18, 1690, died July 7, 1718. Sur- rounded from childhood by the relations of his mother, he was the centre of all those who were, like her, averse to the reforms introduced by his father. He affected a fanatic love of old Russian customs and superstitions, and Pe- ter decided to exclude him from the throne. Alexis, then about 22 years old, seemingly con- sented to this plan, saying it was his wish to become a monk. He entered a monastery, but still kept up his intercourse with the malcon- tents, with his mother, who had likewise be.en shut up in a convent, and with her numerous dissatisfied relations. During the travels of Peter through various European countries in 1717, Alexis announced that he had re- ceived the order of his father to join him abroad. He thus managed to escape to Vien- na, where he claimed the protection of the Ger- man emperor, and thence he went to Naples. Peter sent after the fugitive Rumiantzoff, cap- tain of the guards, and Tolstoi, the privy coun- cillor, who, partly by coaxing, partly by men- aces, succeeded in bringing him back to St. Petersburg. On Feb. 2, 1718, Peter disinherit- ed Alexis, impeaching him and many of his kindred and advisers for high treason. He was found guilty by the great council of the empire and condemned to death. Peter par- doned him, but he died July 7, 1718, a few days after the condemnation, some say from fear and excitement ; but the more general belief is, that he was either poisoned or secretly be- headed by the order of his father. Peter him- self published the proceedings of the trial. Alexis, when very young, was married to a princess of Wolfenbuttel, who died in 1715, leaving a daughter, and a son who reigned afterward as Peter II. ALFANI, the name of two Italian painters, Domenico di Paris, born in Perugia about 1483, died after 1540 ; and Orazio di Paris, son of the former, born in Perugia in 1510, died in 1583. Their pictures have often been con- founded with each other, and also mistaken for those of Raphael. ALFARABIUS, an Arabian philosopher, died about 950. He travelled, acquired the knowl- edge of a large number of languages, and settled at Damascus, where he was joyfully received by the Abbasside caliph, who settled a pen- sion upon him. He led an extremely temper- ate life, approaching asceticism. His writings were very voluminous and comprehensive, and he is reputed to have been the first who at- tempted the compilation of an encyclopaedia, the MS. of which is in the Escurial. ALFIERI, Vlttorio, count, an Italian tragic poet, born at Asti, Piedmont, Jan. 17, 1749, died in Florence, Oct. 8, 1803. He received a very imperfect education at the college of nobles in Turin, which was terminated by his entrance at the age of 17 into the army. As his regiment was a provincial one, from which only a few days' service at stated annual pe- riods was required, he easily obtained the roy- al assent to an extended leave of absence for the purpose of travel. -With ample wealth, a restless and excitable temperament, and a keen appreciation of the pleasures of life, he passed several years in wandering over the continent, and in 1773 returned to Turin. This period of travel was without any considerable benefit to him, being spent in a great measure in frivo- lous dissipation, and at the age of 25 he had given no hint of any dramatic talent or literary ability. Chance seems to have led him, while watching at the sick bed of his mistress, to sketch a few scenes in Italian between Antony and Cleopatra. Crude as these necessarily were, the occupation developed his latent pow- ers and gave the first impulse to literary com- position. It awakened in him also the desire to lead a more profitable and reputable life. " Cleopatra " was gradually finished, and, to- gether with a farce called "The Poets," was in 1775 produced with considerable success on the stage. His labors on these pieces having re- vealed to him his ignorance of the structure and resources of his own language, at the age of 27 he deliberately set about educating himself in Italian. A year or two of study in the society of learned men sufficed to familiarize him with the works of the classic writers of Italy, an- cient and modern, and in 1777 he returned with enthusiasm to his dramatic labors. At this time he met the beautiful and accom- plished countess of Albany, the ill-treated wife of Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the English crown. For this lady he conceived an absorbing passion, and the desire to win her approbation stimulated his genius to higher ef- forts. To be near her he took up his resi- dence in Florence, having first settled the bulk of his fortune upon his sister, while reserving to himself an annuity ; and during the next few years he labored with an energy and success