British army in 1825. As aide-de-camp to the British envoy
to Persia, he was an eye-witness of the fighting in the war
between Persia and Russia (1826), and in 1829 was present in
the Balkans during the Russo-Turkish war. In 1832-1834 he was
in Portugal during the Miguelete war, and in 1835 served in
the Kaffir war in South Africa as aide-de-camp to Sir Benjamin
D'Urban. Subsequently he conducted an exploring expedition into
Namaqualand and Damaraland, and was knighted for his services
(1838). From 1841 to 1855 he served in Canada, proceeding
thence to the Crimea, and in 1862 held an important command
in New Zealand during the Maori war. He retired from the
service in 1877, and in 1881 was given the honorary rank of
general. He was largely responsible for the preservation
and transfer to England of Cleopatra's Needle in 1877. His
varied experiences provided material for a large number of
books, among which were Travels from India to England
(1827); Transatlantic Sketches (1833); An Expedition of
Discovery into the Interior of Africa (1838); Passages in
the Life of a Soldier (1857); Incidents of the Maori War
(1863). He was also the author of a Life of Field-Marshal the
Duke of Wellington (1840). He died on the 2nd of April 1885.
ALEXANDER, JOHN WHITE (1856- ), American painter, was
born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of October
1836. He was left an orphan when very young, became an
illustrator for Harper's Magazine, studied in Europe, became
a pupil of the Royal Academy at Munich, and also worked in
Venice, in Holland and in Paris, where he attracted much
attention by his exhibition at the Salon of two female
portraits entitled ``Gris'' and ``Noir.'' He became a member
of the Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts (Paris), of the
National Academy of Design (New York), of the International
Society (London), and of the Vienna and Munich Societies of
Painters. In 1901 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of
Honour. He executed decorative panels for the Congressional
Library, Washington, D.C., and a large decoration for
the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and his
works include numerous portraits and subject pictures.
ALEXANDER, JOSEPH ADDISON (1809-1860), American biblical
scholar, the third son of Archibald Alexander, was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of April 1809. He
graduated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University)
in 1826, having devoted himself especially to the study of
Hebrew and other oriental languages, and from 1830 to 1833
was adjunct professor of ancient languages and literature
there. In 1834 he became an assistant to Dr Charles Hodge,
professor of oriental and biblical literature in the Princeton
Theological Seminary, and in 1838 became associate professor
of oriental and biblical literature there, succeeding Dr Hodge
in that chair in 1840 and being transferred in 1851 to the
chair of biblical and ecclesiastical history, and in 1859 to
that of Hellenistic and New Testament literature, which he
occupied until his death at Princeton on the 28th of January
1860. Alexander was a remarkable linquist and exegete. He
had been ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1839, and
was well known for his pulpit eloquence. He was the author
of The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah (1846), The Later
Prophecies of Isaiah (1847), and an abbreviation of these
two volumes, Isaiah Illustrated and Explained (2 vols.,
1851), The Psalms Translated and Explained (3 vols.,
1850), commentaries on Acts (2 vols., 1857), Mark (1858)
and Matthew (1860), and two volumes of Sermons (1860).
See The Life of Joseph A. Alexander (2 vols., 2nd
ed., New York, 1875) by his nephew, Henry C. Alexander.
His brother, JAMES WADDEL ALEXANDER (1804-1859), born in
Louisa county, Virginia, on the 13th of March 1804, was a famous
Presbyterian preacher. He graduated at the College of New Jersey
in 1820, studied theology in the Princeton Seminary, and was
pastor of a Presbyterian church in Charlotte county, Virginia,
from 1826 to 1828, and of the First Presbyterian church in
Trenton, New Jersey, in 1829-1832. From 1833 to 1844 he was
professor of belles-lettres and Latin language and literature
in the College of New Jersey, from 1844 to 1849 was pastor of
the Duane Street Presbyterian church in New York City, from
1849 to 1851 was professor of ecclesiastical history, church
government and sacred rhetoric in the Princeton Theological
Seminary, and from 1851 until his death, at Red Sweet Springs,
Virginia, on the 31st of July 1859, was pastor of the Fifth
Avenue Presbyterian church in New York City. He wrote numerous
magazine articles and published a number of books, including
The American Mechanic and Workingman (2 vols., 1847, a
coltection of papers to mechanics first printed under the
pseudonym of ``Charles Quill''), Thoughts on Family Worship
(1847), Sacramental Addresses (1854), The Revival and
its Lessons (1859), Thoughts on Preaching (1861), Faith
(1862), and many juvenile books for Sunday-school libraries.
See Forty Years' Familiar Letters of James W. Alexander (2 vols.,
New York, 1860), edited by Dr John Hall (1806-1894) of Trenton, N. J.
ALEXANDER, WILLIAM (1824- ), Protestant archbishop of
Armagh and primate of all Ireland, was born at Londonderry
on the 13th of April 1824 and educated at Tonbridge Grammar
School and Brasenose College, Oxford. After holding several
livings in the north of Ireland he was made bishop of Derry
and Raphoe in 1867, and was elevated to the primacy in
1896. He was Bampton lecturer in 1816. An eloquent preacher
and the author of numerous theological works, he is best
known to literature as a master of dignified and animated
verse. His poems were collected in 1887 under the title of
St Augustine's Holiday, and other Poems. His wife, Cecil
Francis Humphreys (1818-1895), wrote some tracts in connexion
with the Oxford movement, but is famous as the author of
``Jesus calls us o'er the tumult,'' ``There is a green hill
far away'' and other well-known hymns (nearly four hundred in
all). A collection of her verse was published in 1896.
ALEXANDER, WILLIAM LINDSAY (1808-1884), Scottish divine,
was born at Leith on the 24th of August 1808. He was educated
at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where he
gained a lasting reputation for classical scholarship. He
entered Glasgow Theological Academy under Ralph Wardlaw in
September 1827, but in December of the same year he left
to become classical tutor at the Blackburn Theological
Academy (afterwards the Lancashire Independent College).
At Blackburn he stayed till 1831, lecturing on biblical
literature, metaphysics, Greek and Latin. After short visits
to Germany and London he was invited in November 1834 to
become minister of North College Street church (afterwards
Argyle Square), Edinburgh, an independent church which had
arisen out of the evangelical movement associated with the
Haldanes. He deliberately put aside the ambition to become a
pulpit orator in favour of the practice of biblical exposition,
which he invested with a singular charm and impressiveness.
In 1836 he became one of the editors of the Congregational
Magazine, to which he contributed articles on biblical
literature and theology and on the ``voluntary'' controversy.
In 1840 he delivered the Congregational Lecture in London on
the ``Connexion and Harmony of the Old and New Testaments.''
Alexander took an active part in the ``voluntary'' controversy
which ended in the Disruption, but he also maintained
broad and catholic views of the spiritual relations between
different sections of the Christian church. In 1845 he
visited Switzerland with the special object of inquiring into
the religious life of the churches there. He published an
account of his journey in a book, Switzerland and the Swiss
Churches, which led to an interchange of correspondence
between the Swiss and Scottish churches. In 1845 he received
the degree of D.D. from the university of St Andrews. In 1861
he undertook the editorship of the third edition of Kitto's
Biblical Encyclopaedia with the understanding that the whole
work should be thoroughly revised and brought up to date. In
January 1870 he became one of the committee of Old Testament
revisers, and by his thorough biblical scholarship rendered
exceptional service to the board; he enjoyed the work and
devoted much time to it for the next fourteen years. In 1877 he
became principal of the Edinburgh Theological Hall, a position
which he held, in spite of many tempting offers of preferment
elsewhere, until his death on the 20th of December 1884.
See his Life and Work by James Ross (1887). (D. Mn.)
ALEXANDER AETOLUS, of Pleuron in Aetolia, Greek poet and
man of letters, the only representative of Aetolian poetry,
flourished about 280 B.C. When living in Alexandria he was
commissioned by Ptolemy Philadelphus to arrange the tragedies
and satyric dramas in the library; some ten years later he
took up his residence at the court of Antigonus Gonatas,
king of Macedonia. His reputation as a tragic poet was so
high that he was allotted a place in the Alexandrian tragic
Pleiad; we only know the title of one play (Astragalistae.)
He also wrote short epics, epigrams and elegies, the
considerable fragments of which show learning and eloquence.
Meineke, Analecta Alexandrina (1853); Bergk, Poetae
Lyrioi Graeci; Couat, La Poesie alexandrine (1882).
ALEXANDER BALAS (i.e. ``lord''), ruler of the Greek kingdom
of Syria 150-146 B.C., was a native of Smyrna of humble
origin, but gave himself out to be the son of Antiochus IV.
Epiphanes and heir to the Syrian throne. His claims were
recognized by the Roman senate, Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt
and others. At first unsuccessful, he finally defeated
the reigning king Demetrius Soter in 150 B.C. Being now
undisputed master of Syria, he abandoned himself to a life of
debauchery. Demetrius Soter's son profited by the opportunity
to regain the throne. Ptolemy Philometor, who was Alexander's
father-in-law, went over to his side, and Alexander was defeated
in a pitched battle near Antioch in Syria. He fled for refuge
to a Nabataean prince, who murdered him and sent his head to
Ptolemy, who had been mortally wounded in the engagement.
See 1 Maccab. 10 ff.; Justin xxxv. 1 and 2; Josephus,
Antiq. xiii. 2; Appian, Sir. 67; Polybius xxxiii. 14.
ALEXANDER CORNELIUS, Greek grammarian, surnamed POLYHISTOR
from his great learning, born at Miletus or Myndus in
Caria, flourished about 70 B.C. He was taken prisoner in
the Mithridatic war by Sulla, from whom (or from Cornelius
Lentulus) he received his freedom and assumed the name
Cornelius. He accompanied Crassus on his Parthian
campaigns, and perished at the destruction by fire of his
house at Laurentum. He is said to have written ``books
without number,'' chiefly on historical and geographical
subjects. Of the extant fragments (Muller, Fragmenta
Historicorum Graecorum, iii:) those relating to the Jews are
important as containing quotations from lost Jewish authors.
ALEXANDER JANNAEUS, king of the Jews, succeeded his brother
Aristobulus in 103 B.C. and died in 76 B.C. His first act
was the murder of one of his brothers who claimed the throne,
and his reign was disgraced by the cruelties that he perpetrated
in order to retain his position. (See JEWS and PHARISEES.)
ALEXANDER NEVSKY, SAINT (1220-1263), grand-duke of Vladimir,
was the second son of the grand-duke Yaroslav. His childhood
and youth were spent at Great Novgorod, whither his father
sent him to rule (1228) with some guardian boyars. In 1239
