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/193

 A L E X A N D K R. Plutarch, who aft'e^s to rontrndi^ it, ov. nothing but drink the whole d.iy he '.en ill. In /hurt, to (u:n up r.1 . acterot th> p i;u be of opinion, th.it his '^-> qualities did in pcnfaie !'j; his bad ot . . n'are, r.nd Hi ike the fen fed forcibly ; wi-.i. fbuQion aiul nulery they occafuui lies m r-: in ih-j U.- and out of fight. One good Icgiilator is woi th a!! UK that ever did or will exitt. After his death, his conquefts were . into a yj many pieces ; but the fragments v ;m- verfjd thule of his generals into kings to vhcfe lot tiu-y u-il in the Jdivifion j and made ti^e Greek nation a lo:; ie- nowned and powerful in Afia. ALEXANDER (NECKAM), an eminent EngliHi writer in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, born at St. Aii in Hertfordfliire. Alter having finilhed his ftudies in his native country, he went abroad to the univerfities of France^ and Italy, where he applied with great ailiduity. He rtfided chiefly at Paris, which was at that time the moft cel<-hr univerfity of Europe, where he greatly cJiltinguifhed hin for. his genius and learning, being confidered as an excellent philofopher, a profound divine, and a good rhetorician and poet, for the age wherein he lived. In the year 1180, re- read lectures at Paris with great applaufe. About the year 1186, he returned to England ; and the yaar following, at his defire, Guarin'JS abbot of St. Alban's entruftcj him the care of the fthools belonging to that abbey. He was afterwards made canon of Chichelter, whence he foon. removed to Exeter, and there became a ranon repularo; order of St. Augultin. In 1215, he was made abbot ot Exeter, and died in 1227. He wrote feveral wotk-, which were never publifhed [A] ; but they are to be found in ma- nufcript in the libraries of England and other countries. " [ A "1 They are as follow: larpe poetical work, anJ treats of I. " Commentaria fupia quatuor vjriou . as will j.-r.:Ln. us (A - " evangelia." Clrt! > of angels, the r, 2 ""Expofitio fuper Ecclefiaften." t!. uli.ly birds, I ,' ' Expofitio fuper Cantica." an.l ^jnis, which iu i " Laudes divinx fapienti*." This phyfical a It w v-ork. is the fame with that " He na- ' Of tl.J N-ti,re of turis rerum" as Oudin allures us it tteU for the mofl from his own rc,ding (Comrrent. de ofcr. Sciipt. Eech-f. icin. u,.) It is a The Praifes of Divin. Wi.A,^