The young Alphonso was in truth an heir Of nature's largest patrimony; rich In form and feature, growing strength of limb, A gentle heart, a soul affectionate, A joyous spirit, filled with generous thoughts, And genius heightening and ennobling all. Southey, _Roderick, etc._, viii. (1814). ALQUI'FE (3 _syl_.), a famous enchanter in _Amadis of Gaul_, by Vasco de Lobeira, of Oporto, who died 1403. La Noue denounces such beneficent enchanters as Alquife and Urganda, because they serve "as a vindication of those who traffic with the powers of darkness."--Francis de la Noue, _Discourses_, 87 (1587). ALRINACH, the demon who causes shipwrecks, and presides over storms and earthquakes. When visible it is always in the form and dress of a woman.--_Eastern Mythology_. ALSCRIP (_Miss_), "the heiress," a vulgar _parvenue_, affected, conceited, ill-natured, and ignorant. Having had a fortune left her, she assumes the airs of a woman of fashion, and exhibits the follies without possessing the merits of the upper ten. _Mr. Alscrip_, the vulgar father of "the heiress," who finds the grandeur of sudden wealth a great bore, and in his new mansion, Berkeley Square, sighs for the snug comforts he once enjoyed as scrivener in Furnival's Inn.--General Burgoyne, _The Heiress_ (1781). AL'TAMONT, a young Genoese lord, who marries Calista, daughter of lord Sciol'to (3 _syl_). On his wedding day he discovers that his bride has been seduced by Lotha'rio, and a duel ensues, in which Lothario is killed, whereupon Calista stabs herself.--N. Rowe, _The Fair Penitent_ (1703). (Rowe makes Sciolto three syllables always.) ALTAMO'RUS, king of Samarcand', who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. He surrendered himself to Godfrey (bk. xx.).--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575). ALTASCAR (_Señor_). A courtly old Spaniard in Bret Harte's Notes by _Flood and Field_. He is dispossessed of his corral in the Sacramento Valley by a party of government surveyors, who have come to correct boundaries (1878). ALTEMERA. Typical far-southern girl, with a lovely face, creamy skin, and a "lazy sweet voice," who takes the leading part in Annie Eliot's _An Hour's Promise_ (1888). ALTHAEA'S BRAND. The Fates told Althaea that her son Melea'ger would live just as long as a log of wood then on the fire remained unconsumed. Althaea contrived to keep the log unconsumed for many years, but when her son killed her two brothers, she threw it angrily into the fire, where it was quickly consumed, and Meleager expired at the same time.--Ovid, _Metaph_. viii. 4. The fatal brand Althaea burned. Shakespeare, 2 _Henry VI_. act i. sc. 1 (1591). ALTHE'A (_The divine_), of Richard Lovelace, was Lucy Saeheverell, also called by the poet, _Lucasta_. When love with unconfinèd wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at my grates.