William, an English divine, was born at Hadley, in the county of Suffolk. He was one of the doctors of Trinity College in Cambridge; and attended the Earl of Essex as his chaplain in the expedition to Cadiz in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Apparently from pique at Alabaster not being advanced in the English Church according to his own estimation of his merits, he there joined the Roman communion. Disappointed, however, in his expectations, he returned to England in order to resume his former religion. He obtained a prebend in the cathedral of St Paul, and after that the rectory of Therfield in Hertfordshire. He was well skilled in the Hebrew tongue; but wasted his ingenuity in the study of the Cabala, as is testified by his theological writings. He was also a poet, and is honoured with the praises of Spenser and Herrick. He died in the year 1640.

in Natural History, a mineral substance whose base is calcareous earth. It differs from marble in being combined, not with the carbonic, but with the sulphuric acid. The oriental alabaster of the antiquary and sculptor is a fibrous carbonate of lime.

in Antiquity, a term used for a vase wherein odoriferous liquors were anciently put. The reason of the denomination is that vessels for this purpose were frequently made of the alabaster stone, which Pliny and other ancients represent as peculiarly proper for this purpose.

ALABASTER is also said to have been used for an ancient liquid measure, containing ten ounces of wine, or nine of oil. In this sense the alabaster was equal to half the sextary.