ALEXIS, a Piedmontese (whose real name, according to Haller, was Hieronimo Rosello), the reputed author of the Book of Secrets. It was printed at Basil in 1536, in 8vo, and translated from Italian into Latin by Wecher. It has also been translated into most European languages; and in an abridged form was long a popular book. There is a preface to the piece, wherein Alexis informs us that he was born of a noble family; that he had from his most early years applied himself to study; that he had learned many languages; that having an extreme curiosity to be acquainted with the secrets of nature, he had collected as much as he could during his travels for 57 years; that he piqued himself upon not communicating his secrets to any person; but that when he was 82 years of age, having seen a poor man who had died of a sickness which might have been cured had he communicated his secret to the surgeon who took care of him, he was touched with such a remorse of conscience, that he lived almost like a hermit; and it was in this solitude that he arranged his secrets in such order as to make them fit to be published.