Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/247

Albin 1. ‘A Natural History of English Insects, with 100 coloured plates, 4to, London, 1720; 2nd edition, with observations by W. Derham, 4to, 1724; 3rd edition, in Latin, 1731; 4th edition, 1749. 2. ‘A Natural History of Birds, with (306) copper-plates curiously engraved from the life and exactly coloured by the author, &c.,’ 3 vols. 4to, London, 1731, 1734, 1738; 2nd edition, 1738–1740; a translation of this book, entitled ‘Histoire naturelle des oiseaux, augmentée de notes et de remarques par W. Derham, trad. de l'anglais,’ was published at the Hague, 1750. 3. ‘A Natural History of Spiders and other Curious Insects,’ plates and portrait of the author, 4to, 1736. 4. ‘A Natural History of English Songbirds,’ &c., with coloured plates, 8vo, 1737; later editions, 1747, 1759, and 1779; an Edinburgh edition, 1776. 5. ‘The History of Esculent Fish,’ with plates drawn and egraved by Eleazar Albin; with an essay on the breeding of fish and the construction of fishponds, by Roger North. This work was not published till 1794. Plates, 4to.

[Nagler, Künstler-Lexicon, 2nd edit.; Redgrave's Dictionary of Painters; Biog. Dict. of Useful Knowledge Society, 1842; Füssli. Supplement to Künstler-Lexicon, 1824; Nouvelle Biographie Générale; Brit. Mus. General Catalogue.]  ALBIN, HENRY (1624–1696), ejected minister, was born at Batcombe, Somersetshire, famous still in association with Richard Bernard and Richard Alleine, on 20 June 1624. He was educated at the grammar school of Glastonbury, and afterwards proceeded to the university of Oxford, though no mention is made of him by Anthony à Wood. He was ordained as clergyman of the parish of West Cammel, but in 1660 was ejected for nonconformity. Appointed later to Donyatt, also in Somersetshire, the Act of Uniformity found him again ready to be ejected and to share the witness and the sufferings of the two thousand. On his second ejection he retired to his native place, where he lived unobtrusively till his death. He held, as all the nonconformist ministers did, that his orders were of divine sanction, and could not be annulled by any bishop or other dignitary unless for proved fault. Accordingly he went about as an evangelist and preacher. His most successful ministry was in the ‘church in the house’ of separate families. But he also frequently attended as a worshipper at the parish church. For many years of his life he was occupied with preaching, as a kind of chaplain, in the house of Thomas Moore, Esq., of Spargrove—a fine example of the ancient stately puritan gentleman. In 1687 he became ‘stated preacher’ at Frome Selwood, Shepton Mallet, Bruton, and Wincanton in rotation. He died on 25 Sept. 1696. His funeral sermon was preached by William Hopkins, who held the same opinions as himself. ‘He was a judicious man, and of good learning; eminent for his piety, and very diligent in his work. He was a great redeemer of time, a hard student, and remarkable for prudence. He had a large acquaintance, and was of a very friendly temper. He taught by his life as well as his doctrine, and lived and died a great example of strict and close walking with God, and of a heavenly convention. He had a majestic countenance, but was clothed with humility.’ Such is the well-balanced eulogy of the ‘Nonconformists' Memorial.’ He published little, if anything, besides two sermons—the one entitled ‘A Practical Discourse on loving the World,’ from 1 John ii. 15, and the other, published posthumously, ‘The Dying Pastor's Last Farewell to his Friends in Frome Selwood’ (1697).

[Palmer's Nonconf. Mem. iii. 189–90.]  ALBINI, WILLIAM (d. 1155–6), justiciar, was son and heir of Robert de Todeni, lord of Belvoir, and is supposed to have been named de Aubigny (Albini) from his place of birth, and to have been distinguished by the addition Brito from his namesake, the Pincerna, who belonged to a different family. He assisted in the victory of Tenchebray in 1106, and became high in favour with Henry I. In 1130 (not, as Dugdale states, under Stephen) he appears as an itinerant justice, and on Henry's death he espoused the cause of his daughter. Stephen forfeited his lands, but subsequently restored them, and he lived to see the accession of Henry II. Foss wrongly states that he died in 1135.

[Dugdale's Baronage (1675), i. 112; Foss's Judges (1848), i. 96; Nichols's Leicestershire, ii. 26; Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. 505.]  ALBINI, WILLIAM (d. 1176), was son of William de Albini Pincerna (the Butler), lord of Buckenham, Norfolk, by Maud, daughter of Roger le Bigod [see Bigod, Roger (d.1221) (DNB00)]. He is said to have been surnamed ‘with the strong hand,’ a sobriquet that may have suggested the story of the Lion invented to account for his family arms. Between 1135 and 1139 (Chron. Norm.) he married Adeliza, widow of Henry I [see Adeliza of Louvain (DNB00)