Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/175

 A L C U I N U S. 139 council of Francfort, and upon his recommendation was ad- mitted a member thereof; this prince- gave him likewile the abbeys of Ferrara, St. Jodocus, and St. Lupus. 111796, he defired leave to retire from (ecular iift.iirs, bu f his rcqudt was not granted. In 798, he wrote ;igainft the bimop of Urgcl, vited by Charlemagne to accompany him in his journey to Rome, but excufed himfclt on account of old a^c and in- firmities. In 8or, Charlemagne being returned ffom Italy, and newly declared emperor, Alcuinus vvenf to congratulate ' him upon this occafiun ; and he importuned him fo warmly lor leave to retire from court, that lie at leiii-h obtained his 9 requeft, and went to the abbey of St. M.irtin at Tours, which the emperor had lately given him. Here he fpentthe remainder of his life in devotion and ttiulv; and inftrutcd the youth in the fchool which he had founded in that city, though the emperor in vain endeavoured to recall him co court by repeated letters. He died at Tours, on Whitfunday, ^04, and was buried in the church of St. Martin, where a Latin ^ epitaph, of twenty-four verfes, of his own compofition, was' infcribed upon his tomb. This epitaph is prelerved by father Labbe, in his " Thefaurus Epitaphiorum," printed at Paris 1686. He underwood the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew lan- guages extremely well j was an excellent orator, philofopher, mathematician; and, according to William of Malmefbury, the beft Englifh divine after riede and Adhelme. France was greatly indebted to him for her flouriftvng ftate of learning in that and the following ages, as we learn from a German poet, cited by Camden, in his Britannia : Quid non Alcuino, facunda Lutetia, debes ? Inftaurarebonas ibi qui feliciter artes, Barbariemque procul folus dcpcllere caepit. He wrote a great number of books, moft of which are extant. His ftyle is elegant and fprighily, and his language very pure, confidering the aae in which he lived. His works were col- leded and publilhed in one volume folio, by Andrew du Chefne, at Paris, in 1617. The y are divided into thrcc P arts. the firft contains his tracts upon (cripture; the fecond, thol upon dodtrine, difcipline, and morality ; and the third, his hillorical treatifes, letters, tnd poems. ALCYONIUS (PETF.R), a learned Italian, wholourilhed in the 1 6th century. He was well verfed in the Greek and Latin tongues, and wrote feme pieces of eloquence whic iiKt with great approbation, He was corner of the prci conlidcrablc
 * uid confuted his errors in fcven bonks. In 799, he was in-