ALLOTROPY, the capability which certain compounds show of assuming
different properties and qualities, although composed of identical
elements.

ALLOWAY, the birthplace of Burns, on the Doon, 2 m. from Ayr, the
assumed scene of Tam o' Shanter's adventure.

ALLOWAY KIRK, a ruin S. of Ayr, celebrated as the scene of the
witches' dance in "Tam o' Shanter."

ALL-SAINTS' DAY, the 1st of November, a feast dedicated to all the
Saints.

ALL-SOULS' DAY, a festival on the 2nd November to pray for the souls
of the faithful deceased, such as may be presumed to be still suffering
in Purgatory.

ALLSPICE, the berry of the pimento, or Jamaica pepper.

ALLSTON, WASHINGTON, an American painter and poet, whose genius was
much admired by Coleridge (1779-1843).

ALMA, a river in the Crimea, half-way between Eupatoria and
Sebastopol, where the allied English, French, and Turkish armies defeated
the Russians under Prince Menschikoff, Sept. 20, 1854.

ALMACK'S, a suite of assembly rooms, afterwards known as Willis's
Rooms, where select balls used to be given, admission to which was a
certificate of high social standing.

ALMADEN (9), a town on the northern slope of the Sierra Morena, in
Spain, with rich mines of quicksilver.

ALMA`GRO, DIEGO D', a confederate of Pizzaro in the conquest of
Peru, but a quarrel with the brothers of Pizzaro about the division of
the spoil on the capture of Cuzco, the capital of Chile, led to his
imprisonment and death (1475-1538).--DIEGO D', his son, who avenged
his death by killing Pizzaro, but being conquered by Vaca de Castro, was
himself put to death (1520-1542).

AL-MAMOUN, the son of HAROUN-EL-RASCHID, the 7th Abbaside
caliph, a great promoter of science and learning; _b_. 833.

ALMANACH DE GOTHA, a kind of European peerage, published annually by
Perthes at Gotha; of late years extended so as to include statesmen and
military people, as well as statistical information.

ALMANSUR, ABU GIAFAR, the 2nd Abbaside caliph and the first of the
caliphs to patronise learning; founded Bagdad, and made it the seat of
the caliphate; _d_. 775.

ALMANSUR, ABU MOHAMMED, a great Moorish general in the end of the
10th century, had overrun and nearly made himself master of all Spain,
when he was repulsed and totally defeated by the kings of Leon and
Navarre in 948.

AL`MA-TAD`EMA, LAURENCE, a distinguished artist of Dutch descent,
settled in London; famous for his highly-fini