Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/344

ALBERT. nest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and his wife Louise, daughter of Augustus, Duke of Saxe- Gotha-Altenburg. Tn the Prince's sixth year his parents separated, and he never afterward saw his mother, who died in 1S31. The Prince and his elder brother, under a private tutor, received a careful education, and after a year of study at Brussels he attended the University of Bonn, where, in addition to the sciences connected with statecraft, he devoted himself with ardor to the study of natural history and cliemistry, and dis- played great taste for the fine arts, especially painting and music. Several compositions of his obtained puldicity, and an opera, afterward per- formed in London, is said to have been com- posed by him. He was gifted with a handsome figure, and obtained expertness in all manly exercises. He married the young Queen of Great P.ritain on February 10, 1840. On his marriage Prince Albert received the title of Koyal High- ness, was naturalized as a subject of Great Britain, and obtained the rank of field-marshal, the knighthood of the Order of the Batli, and the command of a regiment of hussars. As the union proved in the highest degi-ee a happy one. the Prince was loaded with honors and distinctions both by the Queen and tfie nation. The title of Consort of Her Most Gracious Majesty was formally conferred in 1842, and that of Prince Consort,' in 1857, made him a prince of the United Kingdom. He was also made a member of the Privy Council, governor and constable of Windsor Castle, colonel of the Grenadier Guards, acting Grand Master of the Order of the Bath, chanceflor of the University of Cambridge, the standard of which he succeeded in raising considerably, and Master of the Trinity House. Notwithstanding his high and favored position as the Quecn's^trusted counselor, the Prince, with rare prudence and tact, abstained from meddling with State affairs, and thus escaped the jealousy and detraction of parties, gradually attaining, indeed, the widest popularity. When the ^^ hig ministry in 1840 proposed to him the income of £50,000J as consort of Queen Victoria, the Tories, in conjunction with the Radicals, succeeded in limiting the sum to £30,000. This incident, which occurred before the marriage, appears to have been the only instance of any manifestation of party feeling w'itli reference to the Prince. On the other hand, he opened for himself an influential sphere of action, in the encouragement and promotion of science and art, appearing as the patron of many useful associations and public undertakings. "The Exhibition of 1851 owed its origin and the greater part of its success to the Pri'iice. An incessant worker in the interests of his adopted country, his toil undermined his con- stitution, and lie succumbed to an attack of ty- phoid fever. December 14, 1801. His memory is perpetuated under the surname "Albert the Good." The last of his political acts, one of particular interest to the United States, was instrumental in preventing a war which threat- ened to arise out of the seizure of the Confederate envoys on the English steamer Trent. The draft of the ministerial ultimatum submitted to the Queen seemed to the Prince fraught with perilous irritation. Weak then from the beginning of his last illness, he arose at seven the next morning . (December 1, 1801), and wrote and presented a memorandum of his objections to the Queen. His suggestions, adopted by Lord Kussell, proved ac- ceptable to President Lincoln. Consult: Martin, (? (London, 1875-80) ; Xitztlnim, Remliusccnses (English translation, 1887) ; Grey, The Early Years of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort (iS'ew York, 1867) ; Du'nchley, The Croun and the Cabinet: Five Letters on the Biography of the Prince Consort (Manchester, 1878) ; Kenyon, Albert the Good (London. 1890) ; Wintle, The Story of Albert the Good (London, 1897) ; Stock- mar. Dcnkwiirdigkeiten aus den Papieren da Freiherrn Christian Friedrich von Stockmnr (Brunswick, 1872), translated by G. A. ]L under the title Memoirs of Baron Stockmar (London, 1873).

ALBERT, (1828-1902). King of Saxony. 1873-1902. He served in the first Schieswig-Holstein War, and after his father's accession in 1854. presided over the Council of State. In 1866 he commanded the Saxon army, cooperating with Austria against Prussia. On the entrance of Saxony into the North German Confederation, this force became the twelfth corps of the North German army, and with them the Prince won high honors at Gravelotte and Sedan, receiving the Prussian Iron Cross and the command of the newly formed fourth army, at the head of which he entered Paris with the Emperor and the German princes. He succeeded his father on the throne in 1873. He married, June 18, 1853, Caroline, daughter of Prince Gustavus Vasa. Consult Dittrich, Konig Albert iind Prinz Georg von iiachstn (ilinden, 189G).

ALBERT, (1817-95), genera 11 V spoken of by English writers as the Archduke Albert. Archduke of Austria, son of Archduke Charles, grandson of Leopold II., and first cousin of the father of the reigning emperor. He was distinguished in youth as a cavalry commander, doing good service in the battle'of Novara in 1849. He was governor of Hungary, 1851-60; in 1806 he commanded the Ausfria'ns in Venetia. and won the victory of Custozza, .Tune 24; but Benedek's defeat at Sado- wa, July' 3, made his success nugatory. He be- came Field-Marshal in 1803 and Inspector-Gen- eral of the Austrian Army in 1866. Albert married, ilay I, 1844, Archduchess Hildegarde. daughter of Ludwig I. of Bavaria. She died AprU 2. 1864.

ALBERT, (1604-51). A celebrated German composer, sometimes erroneously called Alberti, who was instrumental in developing the present form of the German Lied. He was born at Lobenstein, Saxony, and in 1622 went to Dresden to study miisie under his uncle, the Kapellmeister Heinrich Schutz. In conformity with the wishes of his parents, however, he discontinued his musical studies and entered the University of Leipzig to study law. He resumed the study of music at Konigsberg in 1626, under Stobiius," and three years later became organist at the cathedral in "that city. Albert was not only a fine musician, but a poet of distinction as wel"l, and the verses which lie set to music were usually of his own composition. Several of these, "however, were written by the poet Simon Dach, an intimate friend of Albert, and one whose influence is still evident in the well-defined poetic rhythm of the song-forms created by the latter. "Albert published eight books of a'rias (1638-50) and the Kiirbishiitte (1645), a collection of chorals, arias, and Lieder for one or several voices. Many of his hymn-tunes, such as the well-known Gott des Himmels jind der