HENRY, a German divine, was born at Emden, in 1583. His father was minister of the church of Emden, and early destined his son to the same profession. In the year 1602, after a grammatical course he was sent to the university of Herborn: there he studied with so much assiduity and success, that he soon had the honour of being a preceptor. Qualified by the vigorous exertions of his talents, he was appointed tutor to the three young counts of Nassau, Solms, and Hessenburg, who studied with the elector prince palatine, first at Sedan, and afterwards at Heidelberg. A proper discharge of the duties of a lower station generally paves the way for a higher. For he was appointed preceptor to the prince in 1608: and in consequence of his assiduity and success, he was chosen to accompany the elector into England. Among the number of celebrated men to whose acquaintance he was introduced in England, was the famous Dr Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury. In 1613, Alting returning to Heidelberg after the marriage of the elector with the princess of England, received his degree of doctor of divinity, and was appointed director of the college of Wisdom. The increased knowledge and invigorated talents of Alting, were always receiving renewed opportunities of exertion; thus his eloquence quence and learning obtained full scope in the synod of Dort, to which he had been deputed by the Palatinate, along with two other divines.

It was but reasonable for Alting to expect high preferment and high advantages from the avowed patronage of the elector; but in this he was greatly disappointed, and he had only to participate in his misfortunes. In 1622, Count Tilly took the city of Heidelberg, and devoted it to plunder. In order to escape the fury of the soldiers, Alting endeavoured to pass by a back door into the chancellor's house, which was put under a strong guard; but the officer who guarded the house, as he was entering, said to him; "with this battle-axe I have to-day killed ten men, and Alting, if I knew where to find him, should be the eleventh; who are you?" Alting with a singular presence of mind returned an evasive answer, which saved his life. "I am (said he) a teacher in the college of Würtemberg." The officer took him under his protection, but the Jesuits unfortunately taking possession of the house, the next day, left the generous officer no time at his departure to take care of the teacher of the college of Würtemberg. Alting evaded the hands of the Jesuits, by hiding himself in a garret, and a cook of the electoral court supplied him with food, who happened to be employed by Count Tilly in the kitchen occupied by him in the chancellor's house. In this perilous situation he remained until an opportunity offered of making his escape to Heilbronn, whither his family had been conducted before.

But ecclesiastical intolerance harassed Alting, as much as he was formerly endangered by military hostility. With the permission of the duke of Würtemberg he retired for a few months to Schorndorf after the defection of the Palatinate by the victorious forces of Count Tilly. It was reasonable to expect that a welcome and hospitable reception might have been given, among Protestants, to one who had just escaped the flames of a Popish war. But the doctrine of mutual forbearance and candour seems to have been little attended to by the Protestants, at this period, whatever was their progress in the knowledge of the other doctrines of Christianity. The palatinate being in the vicinity of the duchy of Würtemberg, the professors of Tubingen and Heidelberg frequently attacked each other in polemic writings and theological disputations. The natural consequence was, that a settled jealousy and enmity existed between the two schools and their respective vicinities. The injuries which Alting had suffered from the common enemy were not sufficient to secure him a friendly reception among the Lutheran ministers of Schorndorf, who were involved in these feuds, and therefore murmured at the permission which the duke had given to a professor of Heidelberg to reside there. The mischievous effects of religious dissensions have been universally felt.

In 1623, Alting retired with his family to Embden, and afterwards followed to the Hague his late pupil, now king of Bohemia. Such was the unfeigned attachment of his master to him, that he still retained him as a preceptor to his eldest son; and prevented him from accepting the charge of the church at Embden, and likewise of a professorship at the university of Franeker. In 1627 his importunity prevailed upon his patron, and he obtained leave to remove to Groningen, and there ascended the divinity chair; and continued to lecture with increasing reputation until the day of his death. The ardent desire and repeated endeavours of several universities to appropriate to themselves the honour and benefit of his services, is the most unequivocal proof of the general esteem in which his character was held. The states of Groningen positively refused to give their consent to this removal, when the university of Leyden solicited him to come and labour among them. But some time after, the prospect of extensive usefulness in re-establishing the university of Heidelberg, and restoring the churches of the Palatinate, determined him to accept the office of professor of divinity and ecclesiastical senator, presented to him by Prince Lewis Philip. In the year 1634, amidst numerous hardships, to which the existing war exposed him, he set out for Heidelberg, and pursued his journey as far as Frankfort; when the battle of Norlingen, in which the imperialists were victorious, rendered his farther progress impracticable, and therefore with great difficulty he returned to Groningen.

Domestic affliction and personal sufferings embittered the remaining years of this excellent man's life. Deprived of his eldest daughter by death, such was his great affection for her that it brought on a settled melancholy, attended with a bodily disease which was with great difficulty removed; but after an interval of four years a settled and irrecoverable melancholy seized him, in consequence of the loss of an amiable and beloved wife, which, together with a return of his bodily disease, in a few months put a period to his useful life in the year 1644.

Alting was a man of eminent talents and extensive learning, possessed of amiable dispositions, which induced him to be more solicitous to serve the public than to benefit himself. The amiable character and extensive learning of Alting, cannot fail deeply to interest every reader, in consequence of his misfortunes. He was averse to quarrels and disputes about trifles, although no friend to the innovations introduced at this period by the Socinians. According to his own judgment, adhering to the plain doctrine of Scripture, he was equally delirious to avoid fanatical scrupulosity and sophistical subtlety. The productions of his pen are, Notæ in Decadem Problematum Jacobi Böhm, Heidelbergae, 1618; "Notes on a Decad of Jacob Böhm's Problems;" Loci Communes; "Common Places;" Problematæ; "Problems;" Explicatio Catachæsos Palatinatæ; "Explanation of the Palatine Catechism;" Exegesis Auguflanæ Confessionis, &c., Amst., 1647; "Commentary on the Augustan Confession;" Methodus Theologica Didactica et Catachetica, Amst., 1650; "A Method of Didactic and Catechetical Theology." The Medulla Historiae Prophanae, "Marrow of Profane History," published under the name of Pareus, was written by Alting. (Gen. Biog.)

Alting, James, son of Henry-Alting, was born at Heidelberg in 1618. After the usual course of grammatical studies, he became a student, and soon after professor of divinity in the university of Groningen. The Oriental languages were his favourite studies at an early period of his life; and in 1638 he put himself under the tuition of a Jewish rabbi at Embden. Determining to take up his residence in England, he arrived there in 1640, and was admitted to clerical orders, by Dr Prideaux bishop of Worcester. By an offer of the Hebrew professorship in the university of Groningen, he was soon induced to alter his plan of life, and consequently again returned to Germany in 1643. His active fidelity in these languages, and his knowledge in other sciences, procured him universal esteem, and great reputation as a scholar. About this time he received many academic honours; he was admitted doctor of philosophy, academic preacher, and at last, in conjunction with a colleague, Samuel des Marets, was chosen professor of divinity. These professors followed different methods of teaching, and adopted different systems. Des Marets was an admirer and follower of the subtleties of the scholastics; and by the ingenuity with which he purified the scholastic plan of instruction had acquired great reputation and considerable influence. Alting spent his time in the study of the Scriptures, and in the pursuit of Rabbinical learning; and he delivered a course of lectures on divinity, which gained him great popularity. As it might naturally be expected, a mutual jealousy arose between the two professors: and their respective partisans in the university carried their animosity to an undue height. Established opinion, and the weight of authority, marshalled on the side of Des Marets. By the permission of the curators of the university he appeared as public accuser of Alting, and produced a long list of erroneous propositions to the divines of Leyden for their opinion. The judgment of the divines upon the dispute shows a great degree of moderation and good sense: they pronounced Alting innocent of heresy, but imprudently fond of innovation; and they declared Des Marets deficient in modesty and candour. If the superiors had not prohibited the farther discussion of these subjects in the confestories, classes, and synods, they would have occasioned as much mischief as they had excited general attention. Such was the protection given to Alting, that whenever any of the order of ecclesiastics proposed any further measures against him, they were immediately rejected by the civil power; nay, the penalty of deprivation was decreed against those clergy who should revive the Marfo-Altingian controversy. Whatever might be the advantages resulting to Alting from this protection, the magistrates certainly did wrong in proceeding so far in prohibiting a free discussion from the press, either for or against the judgments of the divines of Leyden. Although a kind of reconciliation was attempted by their common friends while Des Marets lay upon his deathbed, yet the breach between Des Marets and Alting was never perfectly healed. Dr Alting died of a fever in 1679. The fondness which he showed for Rabbinical learning gave birth to the general report, that he was inclined to become a Jew. His opinions, which seem to have excited more general attention than they deserve, may be seen at large in his writings, which were collected a few years after his death, and published in five volumes folio, by his cousin Menno Alting, who wrote a good description of the Low Countries, under the title of Notitia Germaniae Inferioris. (Gen. Biog.)

**Altitude**, accessible and inaccessible. See Geometry.

The method of taking considerable terrestrial altitudes, of which those of mountains are the greatest, by means of the barometer, is very easy and expeditious. It is done by observing, on the top of the mountain, how much the mercury has fallen below what it was at the foot of the mountain. See Barometer.

**Altitude of the Eye**, in Perspective, is a right line let fall from the eye, perpendicular to the geometrical plane.

**Altitude**, in Astronomy, is the distance of a star or other point, in the mundane sphere, from the horizon.

This altitude may be either true or apparent. If it be taken from the rational or real horizon, the altitude is said to be true or real; if from the apparent or sensible horizon, the altitude is apparent. Or rather, the apparent altitude is such as it appears to our observation; and the true is that from which the refraction has been subtracted.

The true altitudes of the sun, fixed stars, and planets, differ but very little from their apparent altitudes; because of their great distance from the centre of the earth, and the smallness of the earth's semidiameter, when compared thereto. But the difference between the true and apparent altitude of the moon is about 52°. This subject is further explained under Astronomy.

**Altitude Instrument**, or Equal Altitude Instrument, is that used to observe a celestial object when it has the same altitude on the east and west sides of the meridian. See Astronomy.

**Altkirch**, a town of France, in the department of the Upper Rhine, situated on the river Ill, in N. Lat. 47° 40'. E. Long. 7° 15'.

**Altmore**, a town of Ireland, in the county of Tyrone, and province of Ulster, situated in N. Lat. 54° 34'. W. Long. 7° 2'.

**Alton**, a town in Hampshire, seated on the river Wey; W. Long. 0° 46'. N. Lat. 51° 5'. It is governed by a constable; and consists of about 300 houses, indifferently built, chiefly laid out in one pretty broad street. It has one church, a Presbyterian, and a Quaker meeting, a famous free school, a large manufacture of plain and figured bargains, ribbed druggets, and ferges de Nîmes; and round the town is a large plantation of hops.

**Alton**, or **Avelton**, a village in Staffordshire, five miles north of Uttoxeter. There are the ruins of a castle here, which some would have to be built before the Norman conquest; but Dr Plot is pretty certain that it was erected by Theobald de Verdun, in the beginning of the reign of Edward II. A great part of the walls are still standing, but they are in a very ruinous condition.

**Alto Basso**, or in Alto et in Basso, in Law, signifies the absolute reference of all differences, small and great, high and low, to some arbitrator or indifferent person. Patet universis per praefentes, quod Wil- lielmus Tylar de Yetton et Thomas Gower de Almefre, postrum se in Alto et in Ballo, in arbitrio quattuor hominum; viz. de quadam querela pendente inter eos in curia. Nos et terram nuftram altè et balsè iufius domini Regis fappofimus voluntati.

**Alto-Relieve**. See Relieve.

**Alto-Ripieno**, in Music, the tenor of the great chorus, which sings and plays only now and then in some particular places.

**Altorf**, a town of the circle of Franconia, in Germany. ALV

Germany. It has a botanical garden, with a great variety of plants, an anatomical theatre, and a handsome library. It is subject to the house of Brandenburg; and is seated on the confines of Bavaria, 15 miles from Nuremberg. E. Long. 11. 7. N. Lat. 49. 25.