ALDROVAND (Father), chaplain of sir Raymond Berenger, the old Norman warrior.—­Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

ALDUS, father of Al’adine (3 syl), the “lusty knight.”—­Spenser, Faery Queen, vi. 3 (1596).

ALEA, a warrior who invented dice at the siege of Troy; at least so Isidore of Seville says.  Suidas ascribes the invention to Palamedes.

Alea est ludus tabulae inventa a Graecis, in otio Trojani belli, a quodam milite, nomine ALEA, a quo et ars nomen accepit.—­Isidorus, Orig. xviii. 57.

ALEC’TRYON, a youth set by Mars to guard against surprises, but he fell asleep, and Apollo thus surprised Mars and Venus in each others’ embrace.  Mars in anger changed the boy into a cock.

  And from out the neighboring farmyard
  Loud the cock Alectryon crowed. 
  Longfellow, Pegasus in Pound.

ALEC YEATON, the Gloucester skipper in T. B. Aldrich’s ballad, Alec Yeaton’s Son.

  The wind it wailed, the wind it moaned,
  And the white caps flecked the sea;
  “An’ I would to God,” the skipper groaned,
  “I had not my boy with me!”

* * * * *

  Long did they marvel in the town
  At God His strange decree;
  That let the stalwart skipper drown,
  And the little child go free. (1890.)

ALE’RIA, one of the Amazons, and the best beloved of the ten wives of Guido the Savage.—­Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

ALESSANDRO, husband of the Indian girl Ramona, in Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel Ramona.  The story of the young couple is a series of oppressions and deceits practised by U. S. officials (1884).  ALESSIO, the young man with whom Lisa was living in concubinage, when Elvi’no promised to marry her.  Elvino made the promise out of pique, because he thought Ami’na was not faithful to him, but when he discovered his error he returned to his first love, and left Lisa to marry Alessio, with whom she had been previously cohabiting.—­Bellini’s opera, La Sonnamlula (1831).

ALE’THES (3 syl.), an ambassador from Egypt to king Al’adine (3 syl.); subtle, false, deceitful, and full of wiles.—­Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

ALEXANDER PATOFF, brother of the young Russian who figures most prominently in F. Marion Crawford’s novel Paul Patoff.  Alexander’s mysterious disappearance in a mosque leads to suspicions involving his brother, even the mother of the two brothers accusing Paul of fratricide (1887).

ALEX.  WALTON, physician and suitor of Margaret Kent in The Story of Margaret Kent, by Henry Hayes (Ellen Olney Kirke) (1886).

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, a tragedy by Nathaniel Lee (1678).  In French we have a novel called Roman d’Alexandre, by Lambert-li-cors (twelfth century), and a tragedy by Racine (1665).

Alexander an Athlete.  Alexander, being asked if he would run a course at the Olympic games, replied, “Yes, if my competitors are all kings.”