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 and bitter and stock ales, the latter term being generally reserved for superior beers, such as are used for bottling. The terms pale, bitter, stock, light, &c., are to be regarded as trade distinctions and not as exact definitions of quality or type. (See and .)

Parish Ales.—In old England an “ale” was synonymous with a parish festival or merry-making at which ale was the chief drink. The word was generally used in composition. Thus there were leet-ales (that held on leet or manorial court day); lamb-ales (that held at lamb-shearing); Whitsun-ales, clerk-ales, church-ales and so on. The word bridal is really bride-ale, the wedding feast. Bid-ales, once very common throughout England, were “benefit” feasts to which a general invitation was given, and all the neighbours attending were expected to make some contribution to help the object of the “benefit.” (See “Bidding-Weddings” under .) These parish festivals were of much ecclesiastical and social importance in medieval England. The chief purpose of church-ales and clerk-ales, at least, was to facilitate the collection of parish-dues, or to make an actual profit for the church from the sale of the liquor by the church wardens. These profits kept the parish church in repair, or were distributed as alms to the poor. At Sygate, Norfolk, on the gallery of the church is inscribed—

On the beam of a screen in the church of Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, is the following inscription in raised Gothic letters, on a scroll held by two angels—“This cost is the bachelers made by ales thesn be ther med.” The date is about 1480. The feast was usually held in a barn near the church or in the churchyard. In Tudor times church-ales were held on Sundays. Gradually the parish-ales were limited to the Whitsun season, and these still have local survivals. The colleges of the universities used formerly to brew their own ales and hold festivals known as college-ales. Some of these ales are still brewed and famous, like “chancellor” at Queen’s College, and “archdeacon” at Merton College, Oxford, and “audit ale” at Trinity, Cambridge.

ALEANDRO, GIROLAMO (1480–1542), Italian cardinal, was born at Motta, near Venice, on the 13th of February 1480. He studied at Venice, where he became acquainted with Erasmus and Aldus Manutius, and at an early age was reputed one of the most learned men of the time. In 1508 he went to Paris on the invitation of Louis XII. as professor of belles lettres, and held for a time the position of rector in the university. Entering the service of Eberhard, prince bishop of Liége, he was sent by that prelate on a mission to Rome, where Pope Leo X. retained him, giving him (1519) the office of librarian of the Vatican. In the following year he went to Germany to be present as papal nuncio at the coronation of Charles V., and was also present at the diet of Worms, where he headed the opposition to Luther, advocating the most extreme measures to repress the doctrines of the reformer. His conduct evoked the fiercest denunciations of Luther, but it also displeased more moderate men and especially Erasmus. The edict against the reformer, which was finally adopted by the emperor and the diet, was drawn up and proposed by Aleandro. After the close of the diet the papal nuncio went to the Netherlands, where he kindled the flames of persecution, two monks of Antwerp, the first martyrs of the Reformation, being burnt in Brussels at his instigation. In 1523 Clement VII., having appointed him archbishop of Brindisi and Oria, sent him as nuncio to the court of Francis I. He was taken prisoner along with that monarch at the battle of Pavia (1525), and was released only on payment of a heavy ransom. He was subsequently employed on various papal missions, especially to Germany, but was unsuccessful in preventing the German princes from making a truce with the reformers, or in checking to any extent the progress of the new doctrines. He was created cardinal in 1536 by Paul III. (at the same time as Reginald Pole) and died at Rome on the 1st of February 1542.

ALEARDI, ALEARDO, (1812–1878), Italian poet, was born at Verona on the 4th of November 1812, and thus soon after his birth became an Austrian subject. Inspired from his cradle with a hatred of the foreigner, he found himself disqualified for the position in the public service to which his rank would have entitled him, and unable to publish his patriotic verses. Arnaldo da Rocca, a narrative poem, nevertheless appeared in 1842, and the revolutionary year 1848 made an opening for his Lettere a Maria. He took an active part in the popular uprising, and was for some time imprisoned. In 1856 he produced the finest of his pieces, an ode to the maritime cities of Italy, and in 1858 a poem on his own misfortunes. After the expulsion of the Austrians from Lombardy he returned to Verona, published his poems in a collected edition (1862), became professor at the Academy of Fine Art, member of the Italian parliament and eventually senator. He died on the 17th of July 1878. Aleardi’s warmth of patriotic feeling hardly finds adequate expression in his poetry; it is his merit to excel in description, but his fault to substitute description for action.

ALE-CONNER, an officer appointed yearly at the court-leet of ancient English manors for the assize of ale and ale-measures. The gustatores cervisiae—called in different localities by the different names “ale-tasters,” “ale-founders,” and “ale-conners”—were sworn to examine beer and ale, to take care that they were good and wholesome and were sold at proper prices. In London four ale-conners, whose duty it is to examine the measures used by beer and liquor sellers to guard against fraud, are still chosen annually by the liverymen in common hall assembled on Midsummer Day. Since ale and beer have become excisable commodities the custom of appointing ale-tasters has in most places fallen into disuse. (See also .)

 ALECSANDRI, or, VASILE (1821–1890), Rumanian lyric poet, was born at Bacau in Moldavia on the 21st of July 1821. His father was the Spatar Alecsandri, of Jewish and Italian origin, who had settled in Moldavia in the 18th century. Vasile was educated first in Jassy and afterwards (1834–1839) in Paris. In 1839 he started on a long journey through the Carpathian Mountains, and was the first to collect Rumanian popular songs, no doubt influenced by Western examples. He first published his collection in 1844. His Doine şi Lacrimioare, lyrical poems, appeared at Paris in 1852, and in 1852–1853 he produced at Jassy a fuller collection of popular ballads and songs. He then adapted some French plays for the newly founded Rumanian theatre, and wrote some original pieces. His connexion with the revolutionary movement of 1848 compelled him to seek shelter in the west of Europe, and he visited England, where a beautifully illuminated edition of his poems was printed in the original Rumanian language. In 1867 he published some fugitive pieces, written in a lighter vein, and entitled Pastele; these were followed in 1871 by the Legende of similar character. More serious are his dramatic writings which began with Despot Voda and culminated in Ovid. In later life Alecsandri took an active part in politics; he became minister for foreign affairs from 1859 to 1860, and in 1885 was appointed Rumanian minister in Paris. He died on the 26th of August 1890 at his country seat, Mirceşti. His best title to fame consists in the fact that he