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ALEXANDER. mained at Princeton, becoming adjunct professor of mathematics (1834-45), professor of mathematics (1845-54), and professor of astronomy from 1840 until liis retirement in 1878 as professor emeritus. During a part of this time he was professor of natural philosopliy. In 1860 he was at the head of the expedition to Labrador to observe the solar eclipse of July 18. He was the author of many scientific papers, chiefly astronomical, such as Physical Phenomena Attendant Upon Solar Eclipses ( 1843), Origin of the Forms and Present Ccndition of Some of the Clusters of Stars (1850), and Harmonies in the Arrangement of the Solar System. He also wrote on the runduniciital Principles of Mathematics.

ALEXANDER, (c. 1508-1040). A Scottish poet and statesman ; born probably at Menstrie. He was educated at Glasgow University, traveled on the Continent, was tutor to the young Earl of Argyle, and so found access to the court of James I. Ho wrote soimets, the Four Monuroliick Tragedies, Elegy on the Death of Prince Henry. Doomsday, and many minor poems. In 1021 he received the largest gift ever bestowed on a subject, viz.. a "gift and grant" of Canada, including Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ; a striking expression of royal ignorance of geographical limits in America. Charles I. confirmed the grant. Alexander was made Secretary of State for Scotland in 1026, and in 1030 was created a peer as Lord Alexan- der of Tullibody and A'iscount Stirling, and was made judge of the Sessions in 1031. The next year he built the Argyle House, still one of the sights of Stirling. In 1033 he was made Earl of Stirling and Viscount of Canada, and in 1039 Earl of Dovan. Consult Poetical Works, with memoir (Glasgow, 1870-73).

ALEXANDER, William (1720-83). An American soldier, generally called "Lord Stirling." He was born in New York City and was the son of James Alexander (1690-1750), a colonial lawyer and attorney-general of New York (1721-23) who took an active part in the defense of Zenger (q.v. ), and was prominent on the side of the colonists in the early disputes with the British ministry. He served in the French and Indian War, first as commissary and then as aide-de-camp to General Shirley: but went to England in 1756 to defend Shirley against the charge of neglect of duty (see Shirley, William), and to urge his claim before the House of Lords to the earldom of Stirling, through descent from Sir William Alexander. Earl of Stirling (1550-1640). This claim was not allowed, and in 1701 he returned to America. He soon became surveyor-general and a member of the Provincial Council, and in November, 1775, enlisted as colonel in a New Jersey regiment. In January, 1770, he was promoted to the rank of biigadier-general, and on August 27 took a conspicuous part in the battle of Long Island (q.v.). where his brigade was almost annihilated and he himself was captured. He was exchanged within a montli, became a major-general in February, 1777. served with great gal- lantry and elliciency in the battles of Brandywine. Germantown. and Jlonmouth, and subsequently was in command at .lbany, N. Y., until his death. He was well <'(lucated, was an enthusiastic student of mathematics and astronomy, and was one of the founders and first governor of King's College (now Columbia University) . He published a pamphlet entitled The Conduct of Major-Oeneral Shirley, Briefly Stated (1756), and An Account of the Comet of June and July (1770). Consult: W. A. Duer, Life of William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society for 1847, and Charles Rogers, The House of Alexander (1877).

ALEXANDER, William (1824—). Arch- bishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland. He was born at Londonderry and was educated at Tunbridge School and at Exeter and Brasenose Colleges, Oxford. After entering holy orders he first served a curacy in the north of Ireland, and later became chaplain to the JIarquis of Abercorn, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He then successively occupied the positions of Dean of Emly {1863) and Bishop of Derry and Raphoe (1867). In 1896 he was enthroned as Archbishop of Armagh. The Bishop, who has been select ])reaclier before the Universities of Oxford (1870-72 and 1882), Cambridge (1872 and 1S92) and Dublin ( 1879), is the author of the following important works: Witness of the Psalms to Christ ( Bampton Lectures, 1874' third edition), Verbum Crucis (fifth edition), Discourses on Ejiistles of St. John (sixth edition), Commentar- ies on Epistles to Colossians. Thrssaloniansi. Phile- mon (Speakers' Commentaries, Volumes IV., V.).

ALEXANDER, William Lindsay (1808-84). A Scotch divine, born in Edinburgh. He was edu- cated at Edinburgh and St. Andrews, became pas- tor in Edinburgh, 1835, and professor of theology in the Congregational Theological Hall in that city, 1854. He was a member of the Old Testa- ment Company of the Bible Revision Committee. His publications embrace. The Connection and Harmony of the Old and New Testaments (Lon- don. 1841; second edition, 1853); The Ancient British Church (1852; edited by S. G. Cireen, 1891) ; Christ and Christianifi/ (1854) ; Life of Ralph Wardlan:, D.D. (Edinburgh, 1856) ; Labor and Adventure in Northern Europe and Russia (edited by J. Paterson, D.D.. London. 1858); A Commentary on Deuteronomy (1881), and one on Zechariah (1885), edited with a life; Charles Ferme's Analysis on Romans and A. Melville's Commentary on Romans, both translated from Latin (Edinburgh, 1800) ; and the third edition of Kitto's Biblical Eneyclopwdia ( 1802-06, 3 volumes), translated, Haevernick's Introduction (1852), and part of Dorner's Person of Christ (1801). For ills biography, consult J. Ross (Ed- inburgh. 1886).

ALEXANDER ÆTO′LUS (Gk., Alexandros ho Aitōlos) A Greek poet of the third century B.C. He was born in Ætolia, but lived mainly at Alexandria, where he was considered one of the seven poets of the Alexandrian tragic pleiad. He also wrote short epics, elegies, and epigrams, of which fragments have been preserved. These fragments, published in Bergk's Poetæ Lyrici, attest the cultivated taste of the writer, and prove him one of the immediate predecessors of Callimachus. See Couat's La poésie alexandrine (1882). ALEXANDER ARCHIPELAGO. A group of over 1100 islands and islets off the west coast of Alaska. United States, in lat. 54° 40' to 58° 25' N. The largest are Chiehagov, Baranov, Kupreanov, Kulu, Admiralty, and Prince of Wales. The town of Sitka is on Baranov Island.