_Alexander and Raphael_. Alexander encountered Raphael in a cave in the mountain of Kaf, and being asked what he was in search of, replied, "The water of immortality." Whereupon Raphael gave him a stone, and told him when he found another of the same weight he would gain his wish. "And how long," said Alexander, "have I to live?" The angel replied, "Till the heaven above thee and the earth beneath thee are of iron." Alexander now went forth and found a stone almost of the weight required, and in order to complete the balance, added a little earth; falling from his horse at Ghur he was laid in his armor on the ground, and his shield was set up over him to ward off the sun. Then understood he that he would gain immortality when, like the stone, he was buried in the earth, and that his hour was come, for the earth beneath him was iron, and his iron buckler was his vault of heaven above. So he died. _Alexander and the Robber_. When Dion'idês, a pirate, was brought before Alexander, he exclaimed, "Vile brigand! How dare you infest the seas with your misdeeds?" "And you," replied the pirate, "by what right do you ravage the world? Because I have only one ship, I am called a brigand, but you who have a whole fleet are termed a conqueror." Alexander admired the man's boldness, and commanded him to be set at liberty. _Alexander's Beard_, a smooth chin, or a very small beard. It is said that Alexander the Great had scarcely any beard at all. Disgracèd yet with Alexander's bearde. G. Gascoigne, _The Steele Glas_ (died 1577). _Alexander's Runner_, Ladas. ALEXAN'DRA, daughter of Oronthea, queen of the Am'azons, and one of the ten wives of Elba'nio. It is from this person that the land of the Amazons was called Alexandra.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516). ALEX'IS, the wanton shepherd in _The Faithful Shepherdess_, a pastoral drama by John Fletcher (1610). ALFA'DER, the father of all the Asen _(deities)_ of Scandinavia, creator and governor of the universe, patron of arts and magic, etc. ALFONSO, father of Leono'ra d'Este, and duke of Ferrara, Tasso the poet fell in love with Leonora. The duke confined him as a lunatic for seven years in the asylum of Santa Anna, but at the expiration of that period he was released through the intercession of Vincenzo Gonzago, duke of Mantua. Byron refers to this in his _Childe Harold_, iv. 36. _Alfonso XI_ of Castile, whose "favorite" was Leonora de Guzman.--Donizetti, _La Favorita_ (an opera, 1842). _Alfon'so (Don)_, of Seville, a man of fifty and husband of donna Julia (twenty-seven years his junior), of whom he was jealous without cause.--Byron, _Don Juan_, i. _Alfon'so_, in Walpole's tale called _The Castle of Otranto_, appears as an apparition in the moonlight, dilated to a gigantic form (1769).