ALCY'ON "the wofullest man alive," but once "the jolly shepherd swain that wont full merrily to pipe and dance," near where the Severn flows. One day he saw a lion's cub, and brought it up till it followed him about like a dog; but a cruel satyr shot it in mere wantonness. By the lion's cub he means Daphne, who died in her prime, and the cruel satyr is death. He said he hated everything--the heaven, the earth, fire, air, and sea, the day, the night; he hated to speak, to hear, to taste food, to see objects, to smell, to feel; he hated man and woman too, for his Daphne lived no longer. What became of this doleful shepherd the poet could never ween. Alcyon is sir Arthur Gorges.--Spencer, _Daphnaida_ (in seven fyttes, 1590). And there is that Alcyon bent to mourn, Though fit to frame an everlasting ditty. Whose gentle sprite for Daphne's death doth turn Sweet lays of love to endless plaints of pity. Spenser, _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_ (1591). ALCY'ONE or HALCYONE (4 _syl_.), daughter of Aeolus, who, on hearing of her husband's death by shipwreck, threw herself into the sea, and was changed to a kingfisher. (See HALCYON DAYS.) ALDABEL'LA, wife of Orlando, sister of Oliver, and daughter of Monodan'tês.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso, etc_. (1516). _Aldabella_, a marchioness of Florence, very beautiful and fascinating, but arrogant and heartless. She used to give entertainments to the magnates of Florence, and Fazio was one who spent most of his time in her society. Bian'ca his wife, being jealous of the marchioness, accused him to the duke of being privy to the death of Bartoldo, and for this offence Fazio was executed. Bianca died broken-hearted, and Aldabella was condemned to spend the rest of her life in a nunnery.--Dean Milman, _Fazio_ (a tragedy, 1815). ALDEN (_John_), one of the sons of the Pilgrim fathers, in love with Priscilla, the beautiful puritan. Miles Standish, a bluff old soldier, wishing to marry Priscilla, asked John Alden to go and plead for him; but the maiden answered archly, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John!" Soon after this, Standish being reported killed by a poisoned arrow, John spoke for himself, and the maiden consented. Standish, however, was not killed, but only wounded; he made his reappearance at the wedding, where, seeing how matters stood, he accepted the situation with the good-natured remark: If you would be served you must serve yourself; and moreover No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season of Christmas. Longfellow, _Courtship of Miles Standish_ (1858). ALDIBORONTEPHOSCOPHORNIO _[Al'diboron'te-fos'co-for'nio]_, a character in _Chrononhotonthologos_, by H. Carey. (Sir Walter Scott used to call James Ballantyne, the printer, this nickname, from his pomposity and formality of speech.) AL'DIGER, son of Buo'vo, of the house of Clarmont, brother of Malagi'gi and Vivian.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).