deny access to any file named private.html

1. regardless of where it is found,

<Files private.html>
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>

2. found in a praticular part of the filesystem, "/var/web/dir1/"

<Directory /var/web/dir1>
<Files private.html>
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>
</Directory>

Directives enclosed in a <Directory> section apply to the named filesystem directory and all subdirectories of that directory.
Directives enclosed in a <Files> section apply to any file with the specified name, regardless of what directory it lies in.


Prevent access to any URL-path the begins in /private

<Location /private>
Order Allow,Deny
Deny from all
</Location>

It will apply to requests for,
http://yoursite.example.com/private, http://yoursite.example.com/private123, and http://yoursite.example.com/private/dir/file.html as well as any other requests starting with the /private string.


[Reference : Apache HTTP Server Documentation - Configuration Sections]