Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/230

 1361; but the choice of the convent was again overruled, and Simon Langham, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury and cardinal, was consecrated bishop of Ely in his stead.

The possessions of the convent were said to have increased under his wise and capable administration. The date of his death is somewhat uncertain, but it is believed to have taken place in or about the year 1364.



ALAN, WlLLIAM. [See .]

ALAND, JOHN FORTESCUE, first  of Credan (1670–1746), justice of the common pleas, was the second son of Edmund Fortescue, a descendant of Sir John Fortescue, chief justice in the reign of Henry VI. His father took the name of Aland on his marriage with Sarah, daughter of Henry Aland, of Waterford. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1712, and became reader to that society in 1716. On the accession of George I he became solicitor-general to the Prince of Wales, and subsequently (December 1715) solicitor-general to the king. In January 1717 he was raised to the bench as a baron of the exchequer, and in 1718 appointed a justice of the king's bench. On the accession of George II he was superseded, but in January 1728 was appointed a justice of the common pleas. He held this office till June 1746, when he resigned. It is said that he had four years before petitioned for leave to retire with a pension, and had requested that a seat in the House of Commons might be obtained for him. This request, if it was ever made, was of course refused; but on his resignation in 1746 he received an Irish peerage. He died a few months afterwards, 19 Dec. 1746. He married first a daughter of Lord Chief-Justice Pratt, and secondly a daughter of Sir William Dormer, a justice of the king's bench. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and a D.C.L. of Oxford, though he was probably not educated there (see, Hist. of the Family of Fortescue, ii. 73). He was the author of ‘Reports on Select Cases in all the Courts of Westminster Hall,’ published after his death in 1748. He also issued a good edition of his ancestor Sir John Fortescue's work, ‘The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy’ (London, 1714), with an excellent introduction containing some sensible remarks on the importance of studying the earliest specimens of English law, and of understanding the ‘Saxon’ language. Lord Fortescue's appearance was very peculiar, and his nose was specially remarkable. There is a well-known story told of him to the effect that a counsel practising before him, being reproached with handling his case in a lame manner, replied: ‘Have patience with me, and I will make it as plain as the nose on your lordship's face.’ Lord Fortescue has been sometimes confused (as in Biograph. Dict.) with his kinsman William Fortescue, master of the rolls, the friend of Pope.



ALANE, ALEXANDER [See .]

ALASCO, JOHN. [See .]

ALBANY, LOUISA, (1753–1824), wife of Prince Charles Edward, commonly called the Young Pretender, and the connecting link of half a century of celebrities, was born in 1753. Her parentage was illustrious. Gustavus Adolphus, prince of Stolberg-Gedern, her father, came of an ancient and distinguished family which had been lately raised to princely rank, whilst her mother was a daughter of the house of Horn, and consequently connected with the Montmorencys of France, the Bruces of Scotland, the Colonnas of Italy, and the Medinas of Spain. The pecuniary circumstances of her family were, however, in an inverse ratio to their splendour of descent, and on the death of Prince Stolberg, who held a commission in the Austrian service, at the battle of Leuthen, she and her mother became pensioners of the Empress Maria Theresa. Through the imperial protection Louisa was appointed at the age of seventeen a canoness of Mons, then the wealthiest and most distinguished chapter in the Austrian Netherlands, and exclusivelv reserved for such high-bred dames as could prove the requisite number of quarterings. Her connection with the order was soon terminated. Three years after her admission, tempted by the empty prospect of a crown, she quitted the convent to link her fate with that of the Young Pretender, then an exile and dependent upon the bounty of the Vatican. The marriage took place secretly at Paris on 28 March 1772, by proxy, the mother of the bride hurrying on the ceremony for fear that Maria Theresa might oppose the proceedings. Hastening to Ancona the princess was joined by her