Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/354

Almeida White's—met at Almack's rooms soon after they were opened.

Almack is said to have lived at Hounslow in his later years, and to have amassed great wealth. He died on 3 Jan. 1781 (Morning Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1781). The assembly-rooms he bequeathed to a niece, the wife of a Mr. Willis, after whom the rooms are now called. He married Elizabeth, elder daughter of William Cullen, of Sanches, Lanarkshire, who was waiting-maid to the Duchess of Hamilton, and sister of Dr. Cullen, the celebrated physician; Almack had by her two children, William, a barrister, who died on 27 Oct. 1806, and Elizabeth, who married David Pitcairn, F.R.S., F.S.A., and M.D., physician extraordinary to the Prince of Wales.



ALMEIDA, JOHN (1572–1653), Jesuit missionary, was a native of London, his real name being. At the age of ten he was taken, apparently without the consent of his parents, to Viana in Portugal, where he was piously brought up in the family of Benedict da Rocha, with whom he afterwards made the voyage to Pernambuco in Brazil. There he abandoned mercantile pursuits, and was admitted a member of the Society of Jesus in 1592. In describing the circumstances which led to his ‘vocation’ he says: ‘I have been withdrawn from England, from the city of London, a very nest of heresies, at a time when they were most rampant, and that too at an age when as yet I was ignorant of good and evil. I was taken away by one unknown to me, whom until then I had never seen, when alone, and in the absence of my parents, and, overcoming the objections to my accompanying him that suggested themselves, I went with him to Viana, and afterwards to Pernambuco in Brazil. It was here that God first inspired me to join this dear, beloved, and most holy society, of which I am so unworthy.’ At the end of the first year of his novitiate he was transferred to the city of Santo Spirito, where he had the Venerable Joseph Anchieta, the ‘modern thaumaturgus,’ for his master, on whose pattern he is said to have formed himself. After his ordination in 1602 he spent many years in wandering through the wilds of Brazil to preach the gospel and to reclaim unknown tribes to even a semblance of humanity. He always journeyed on foot, and, however rugged the way might be, he would never allow himself to be carried, as was the custom there, in a net. A detailed account of his missionary labours, his fastings, watchings, and other almost incredible austerities, is given by his companion, close friend, and religious superior, Fatheor Simon de Vasconcellos, in the scarce biography which bears the following title: ‘Vida do Joam d'Almeida da Companhia de Iesv, na provincia do Brazil, composta pello Padre Simam de Vasconcellos da mesma Companhia, Prouincial na dita Prouincia do Brazil. Dedicada ao Senhor Salvador Correa de Sâ, & Benauides dos Conselhos de Guerra, & Vltramarino de Sua Magestade,’ Lisbon, 1658, fol. pp. 414, with a fine portrait.

Father Almeida died in the Jesuit college at Rio Janeiro, 24 Sept. 1653. He had the reputation of a saint, and it is said that miracles were wrought in connection with him after his death.



ALMON, JOHN (1737–1805), bookseller and journalist, was born at Liverpool on 17 Dec. 1737. He was sent to school at Warrington, and afterwards apprenticed (March 1751) to a printer and bookseller at Liverpool. In September 1758 he left his native town to visit Holland and several other parts of Europe, and in the following year obtained employment in London as a journeyman printer. Here he speedily became acquainted with the booksellers, who discovered his abilities as a ready writer, and as an intelligent observer of the occurrences of the day.

Almon had already produced several pamphlets, when, in Jan. 1761, Mr. Say, the printer and proprietor of the ‘Gazetteer,’ determined to engage him at a fixed salary, in order the better to meet the rivalry of the ‘Public Ledger,’ to which Goldsmith then contributed. Some of Almon's letters to the ‘Gazetteer’ were reprinted in a volume. After the death of George II he produced ‘A Review of his late Majesty's Reign,’ and he wrote, upon Mr. Pitt's resignation in October 1761, ‘A Review of Mr. Pitt's Administration,’ which obtained for him introductions to several distinguished members of the opposition. Lord Temple patronised him at once, and afterwards made Almon the factotum of his party. Burke and other members of the opposition learned to place the