ALME'RIA, daughter of Manuel king of Grana'da. While captive of Valentia, prince Alphonso fell in love with her, and being compelled to fight, married her; but on the very day of espousal the ship in which they were sailing was wrecked, and each thought the other had perished. Both, however, were saved, and met unexpectedly on the coast of Granada, to which Alphonso was brought as a captive. Here Alphonso, under the assumed name of Osmyn, was imprisoned, but made his escape, and at the head of an army invaded Granada, found Manuel dead, and "the mournful bride" became converted into the joyful wife.--W. Congreve, _The Mourning Bride_ (1697). ALMES'BURY (3 _syl_.). It was in a sanctuary of Almesbury that queen Guenever took refuge, after her adulterous passion for sir Lancelot was made known to the king. Here she died, but her body was buried at Glastonbury. ALMEY'DA, the Portuguese governor of India. In his engagement with the united fleets of Cambaya and Egypt, he had his legs and thighs shattered by chain-shot, but instead of retreating to the back, he had himself bound to the shipmast, where he "waved his sword to cheer on the combatants," till he died from loss of blood. Similar stories are told of admiral Benbow, Cynaegeros brother of the poet Æschylos, Jaafer who carried the sacred banner of "the prophet" in the battle of Muta, and of some others. Whirled by the cannons' rage, in shivers torn, His thighs far scattered o'er the waves are borne; Bound to the mast the godlike hero stands, Waves his proud sword and cheers his woeful hands: Tho' winds and seas their wonted aid deny, To yield he knows not; but he knows to die. Camoens, _Lusiad_, x. (1569). ALMIRODS (_The_), a rebellions people, who refused to submit to prince Pantag'ruel after his subjugation of Anarchus king of the Dipsodes (2 _syl_). It was while Pantagruel was marching against these rebels that a tremendous shower of rain fell, and the prince, putting out his tongue "halfway," sheltered his whole army.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 32 (1533). ALNAS'CHAR, the dreamer, the "barber's fifth brother." He invested all his money in a basket of glassware, on which he was to gain so much, and then to invest again and again, till he grew so rich that he would marry the vizier's daughter and live in grandeur; but being angry with his supposed wife, he gave a kick with his foot and smashed all the ware which had given birth to his dream of wealth.--_The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_. _The Alnaschar of Modern Literature_, S.T. Coleridge, so called because he was constantly planning magnificent literary enterprises which he never carried out (1772-1834). ALOA'DIN (4 _syl_.), a sorcerer, who made for himself a palace and garden in Arabia called "The Earthly Paradise." Thalaba slew him with a club, and the scene of enchantment disappeared.--Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_, vii. (1797).