young man he was appointed tutor to the earl of Argyll and accompanied him abroad. At a later date he received the place of gentleman usher to Prince Charles, son of James VI. of Scotland, and continued in favor at court after the king became James I. of England. He attained reputation as a poet and writer of rhymed tragedies, and assisted the king in preparing the metrical version known as “The Psalms of King David, translated by King James,” and published by authority of Charles I., in 1631, after his father's death. Sir William held a copyright of this version, but it was never remunerative. In view of the successful result in Ireland of the establishment of baronets of Ulster, Sir William proposed to the king that the system should be extended to North America. On 21 Sept., 1621, a charter was issued, granting to him, “his heirs and assigns, whomsoever, . . . the continent, lands, and islands situate and lying in America within the cape or promontory commonly called Cape de Sable . . . to the river called by the name of Santa Cruz, . . . and thence northward to ‘the great river of Canada’ [i. e., the St. Lawrence] . . . to the aforesaid Cape Sable, where the circuit began.” In other words, the king made a present to the ambitious poet of what are now the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The magnificent grant was subsequently extended to include a large section of the present northern United States and the Dominion of Canada an empire larger than all the rest of the British possessions. Charles, on his accession to the throne in 1625, not only confirmed his father's charter, but, in July of that year, gave full powers to use the “mines and forests, erect cities, appoint fairs, hold courts, grant lands, and coin money.” As portions of the domain had already been granted by Henry IV. of France, and occupied by his subjects, wars among the rival claimants followed in due time as a matter of course; but first the new American baronetcies were offered for sale at £150 each, for which sum a grant of land three miles long by two miles broad was certified to the purchaser. Sir William speedily became involved in troublesome disputes, and was the object of bitterly sarcastic attacks on the part of his envious contemporaries; but he and his sons persevered in their efforts to turn their prodigious possessions to some practical account. That they failed is evident from the “noble poverty,” as one of his biographers terms it, of his last years. He was appointed secretary of state for Scotland in 1626, and held the office until his death, representing the king with remarkable ability and faithfulness, and receiving his earldom in 1680 as a reward for his services. During his last years he became involved in debt, and he died insolvent. There are various editions of his poems and tragedies. A complete edition of his works was published at Glasgow in 1870, in three octavo volumes, entitled “The Poetical Works of Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, etc., now first collected and edited, with Memoir and Notes.” See Walpole's “Royal and Noble Authors,” Wilson's “Poets and Poetry of Scotland,” Irving's “Lives and History,” Anderson's “ Scottish Nation,” “A Mapp and Description of New England, together with a Discourse of Plantations and Colonies” (1630), and Rogers's “ Memorials of the Earl of Stirling and the House of Alexander.”
ALEXANDER, William, called Lord Stirling,
soldier, b. in New York city in 1726; d. in Albany,
15 Jan., 1783. He engaged in the provision business
with his mother, the widow of David Provost.
In connection with his business young Alexander
subsequently joined the British army in the
commissariat department, and became aide-de-camp to
Gov. Shirley. In 1757 he prosecuted his claim to
the earldom of Stirling before the house of lords,
without success. After his return in 1761 he
married the daughter of Philip Livingston. He held
the office of surveyor-general, and was also a member
of the provincial council. The former office
had belonged to his father, James Alexander, who,
formerly an adherent of the pretender, had come
to America, risen to be colonial secretary in New
York, and died in 1756, leaving a large fortune. He
was an ardent patriot, and entered the revolutionary
army as colonel of the battalion of east New
Jersey in October, 1775. He distinguished himself
by the capture of a British armed transport, for
which exploit congress, in March, 1776, appointed
him a brigadier-general. At the battle of Long
Island, 26 Aug., 1776. his brigade, ordered by Gen.
Putnam to attack a greatly superior force, was
nearly cut to pieces, and he himself was taken prisoner.
He was soon exchanged, and in February,
1777, was promoted a major-general. When Lee
marched to succor Philadelphia in December, 1776,
Stirling was left in command at New York. At
Trenton he received the surrender of a Hessian
regiment. On 24 June, 1777, at Matouchin (now
called Metuchin), he awaited an attack, contrary to
Washington's orders; his position was turned and
his division defeated, losing two guns and 150
men. At the battle of Brandywine and Germantown
he acted with bravery and discretion. At
the battle of Monmouth he displayed tactical
judgment in posting his batteries, and repelled
with heavy loss an attempt to turn his flank. In
1779, when in command in New Jersey, he
surprised a British force at Paulus' Hook. In 1781
he commanded at Albany. He died of gout, five
days after the preliminaries of peace were agreed
upon. Lord Stirling was one of the founders of
Columbia college, called King's college before the
revolution, and became its first governor. His
journey to England in 1756 was undertaken in
order to give testimony in behalf of Gen. Shirley,
who was charged with neglect of duty. He
wrote “The Conduct of Major-General Shirley,
briefly stated,” a pamphlet published about the
time of the investigation; and “An Account of
the Comet of June and July, 1770.” He was
proficient in the sciences of mathematics and astronomy.
See “Life of William Alexander, Earl of
Stirling,” by his grandson, William Alexander
Duer, in the collections of the New Jersey
Historical Society (1847); and Charles Rogers's “House
of Alexander” (1877).
ALGER, Cyrus, inventor, b. in West Bridgewater, Mass., 11 Nov., 1781 ; d. in Boston, 4 Feb., 1856. Early in life he became an iron-founder, and established "his business in Easton, Mass. In 1809 he removed to South Boston, where he founded the works that since 1817 have been known as the South Boston iron company. He supplied the government with large numbers of cannon-balls during the war of 1812, and his works became famed for the excellent ordnance there manufactured. He was one of the best practical metallurgists of his time, and his numerous patents of improved processes show continued advance in the art practised by him. The first gun ever rifled in America was made at his works in 1834, and the first perfect
bronze cannon was made at his foundry for the U. S. ordnance department. The mortar "Columbiad," the largest gun of cast iron that had then been made in the United States, was cast under his personal supervision. Mr. Alger also devised
