X J. Haddon, Printer, Castle Street, London. THE LONDON ENCYCLOPEDIA, UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY SCIENCE, ART, LITERATURE, AND PRACTICAL MECHANICS, COMPRISING A POPULAR VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS, A GENERAL ATLAS, AND APPROPRIATE DIAGRAMS. Sic oportet ad librum, presertim miicellanei generis, legendum accedere lecturem, nt solet ad cormvium conTira civilis. Convivator anaititur omnibus satisfacere ; et tamen si quid apponitur, quod hujui ant illius palato non respondeat, et hie et ille urbane dissimulant, et alia fercula probant, ne quid contristent cotivivatorcm. Eratmtu. A reader should sit down to a book, especially or the miscellaneous kind, as a well-behared visitor does to a ban- quet. The master of the feast exerts himself to satisfy hit guests ; but if, after all his care and pains, something should appear on the table that does not suit this or that person's taste, they politely pass it over without notice, and commend other dishes, that they may not distress a kind host. Tranilatio*. BY THE ORIGINAL EDITOR OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITAN^ ASSISTED BY EMINENT PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER GENTLEMEN. IN TWENTY-TWO VOLUMES. VOL I. LONDON : PRINTED FOR T. TEGG & SON, 73, CHEAPS1DE; R. GRIFFIN & Co., GLASGOW; T. T. & H. TEGG, DUBLIN; ALSO J. & S. A. TEGG, SYDNEY AND HOBART TOWN. 1837. THE LONDON ENCYCLOPEDIA. A i s the first letter, and first vowel of the al- phabet, in all the modern, and in most of the ancient languages ; which place of eminence has been assigned to it on account of its simplicity, being little more than an opening of the mouth. It corresponds in order and power to the Hebrew ulcph and the Greek alpha, signifying an ox or a leader, and expressing extensive usefulness, ex- cellence and propriety ; for which reason, accord- ing to Plutarch, it was placed at the head of all the letters of the Phoenician language. In the earlier ages of the Hebrews, Greeks, and Ro- mans, before the introduction of arithmetical figures, this letter was used for the numeral 1 ; and its value in this respect is even yet retained in the calendar, where it is the first of the do- minical letters, and in the commercial character for perfect and sea-worthy vessels, which are marked with the sign A 1. In Scripture the Greek alpha is applied to Christ as the beginner or first, in connexion with the omega, or last letter, to shew that he is also the finisher of all things. Rev. i. 8, 11, xxi. 6, xxii. 13. Another mystical sense of the Greek A was to express the word AirtiXi, or a declaration of denouncing ; but the Latin letter is called by Cicero a health- ful character, because, in capital cases, a tablet covered with wax and marked with it denoted absolvo, I absolve, in contradistinction to C, which signified condemno, I condemn, and which the orator therefore terms a sorrowful character. An A was very extensively used as an abbrevia- tion by the Romans, for which purpose it is also still employed ; as in heraldry for argent, or silver ; in algebra for a known quantity ; in chemistry for amalga-ma, when treble ; in medi- cine for ana, equal parts of each, and in several other instances, both in the arts and sciences. 1 . A, taken materially, or for itself, is a noun ; as, a great A, a little a. Truly were I great A, before I would be willing to be so abused, I should wish myself little a- a thou- sand times. Wallis's Corrections of Hobbes. 2. A, an article set before nouns of the singu- lar number ; a man, a tree, denoting the number one ; as a man is coming, that is, no more than one ; or an indefinate indication, as, a man may come this way, that is, any man. This article has no plural signification. Before a word be- ginning with a vowel it is written an ; as, an ox, an egg, of which a is the contraction. 3. A is placed before a participle, or participial VOL. I. noun ; and is considered by Wallis as a con- traction of ut, when it is put before a word de- noting some action not yet finished ; as, I am a walking. It also seems to be anciently con- tracted from at when placed before local sur- names ; as, Thomas a Becket In other cases, it seems to signify to, like the French a. A hunting Chloe went. Prior, They go a begging to a bankrupt's door. Dryden. May peace still slumber by these purling fountains, Which we may every year Find, when we come a fishing here, Wotton. Now the men fell rubbing of armour which a great while had lain oiled. Id. He will knap the spears a pieces with his teeth. More's Antid. Athm. Another falls a ringing a Pescennius Niger, and judiciously distinguishes the sound of it to be mo- dern. Addison on Medals. 4. A is used in burlesque poetry to lengthen out a syllable, without adding to the sense. For cloves and nutmegs to the liue-a And even for oranges to China. Dryden. 5. A is sometimes, in provincialisms, and in familiar writings, used by a barbarous corruption for he ; as, will a come, for will ht come. 6. A, in composition., seems to have sometimes the power of the French a in these phrases, a droit, a gauche, &c., and sometimes to be con- tracted from at ; as aside, aslope, afoot, asleep, athirst, aware. I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun ; And wish the state o' the world were now undone. Shakspeare. 7. A is sometimes redundant ; as, arise, arouse, awake ; the same with rise, rouse, wake. A, with the addition of ftie two Latin words per se, meaning by itself, is used by our elder writers to denote a nonesuch. It may have been adopted from the custom of the child's school, in which every letter, we may presume, was taught to be expressed per se. AA (Peter Vander), a celebrated bookseller of Leyden, nourished in the beginning of the last century, and compiled many useful geographical works. He published an Atlas of 290 Charts, (Galerie Agreable du Monde, 66 vols. folio), editions of the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Graeco- rum and of the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Italia, and a Collection of Travels in Europe, 30 vols, 12mo. &c. AA, a river of Samogitia, Courland, which runs into the Gulf of Riga. B AAM 2 AA, a river of France, whicli rises in the de- partment of Pas de Calais, beyond Rumilly le Comte, near Taeroune, runs N. E. through Artois, and becomes navigable near St. Omers ; whence it passes N. to Gravelines, below which it falls into the English Channel. At St. Omers, the Colme and an inferior branch separate from it. A A, a river in Westphalia, which rises near Munster, waters that city, and falls into the river Ems. AA, a river of Switzerland, which rises in Underwalden, and empties itself into the Lake of Lucerne : also a river of Underwalden, which falls into the Lake of Waldstadten opposite Ger- sau. This is likewise the name of a third river of Switzerland, which rises N. W. of Lucerne, and unites itself with the Aar, three miles S. W. of Brugg ; and of a fourth in the canton of Zurich, which rises near Gruningen, and empties itself in the Greiffen. AA, a river of Dutch Brabant, rising on the borders of Guelderland, and running into the Dommel, near Bois le Due. Also, a river of Overyssel, in Holland, falling into the Lake of Giter. AABAM, or AABAN, a term used by some alchemists to signify lead. AACH, a river in Suabia, which falls into the Lake of Constance. AACH, a town in the circle of Suabia, situated near the source of the above river, and almost equidistant from the Danube, and the lake Con- stance. Also another river of Suabia, joining the Iller. AAHUS, a small district of Germany, in the circle of Westphalia, and bishopric of Munster, containing twenty parishes and four towns. AAHUS, the capital, has a good castle, and lies N. E. of Coesfeldt. AAKIRKE, a town in the island of Bornholm, Denmark, with the rank and privileges of a city. The provincial court and synod are held in it. AALBORG, or AALBOURG, a bishopric of Denmark, in North Jutland, length and breadth about 75 miles. It occupies the whole northern part of the peninsula, and contains several flou- rishing towns and noble manors. Population about 90,000. AALBORG, the capital of the bishopric of that name, lies on the south coast of Lymfurt, on the confines of the bishopric of Wiburg. Next to Copenhagen and Odensee, it is the richest and most populous town in Denmark. The name signifies Eel-town, great quantities of eels being caught here. It has an exchange for merchants, a safe and deep harbour, (though the entrance near Hals is somewhat dangerous,) a consider- able trade in corn, and herrings, and manufac- tories of soap, train oil, guns, pistols, saddles, and gloves. It was taken by the Swedes, in the years 1643 and 1658. Lon. 9. 46. E. lat. 57. N. AALEN. See AHLEN. AALTEN, a town of Breedevort, in Dutch Guelderland, near Munster, containing 3500 inhabitants. AAM, or HAAM, a liquid measure, used by the Dutch, containing 128 mingles, (a measure weighing nearly 36 ounces avoirdupois,) or 288 > English, or 148| Paris measure. AAR AANCHE, in music, a name sometimes gi ven to wind instruments and organ pipes, with reeds or tongues, as the clarionet, hautboy, &c. AANES, in music, the tones and modes of the modern Greeks. AAR, a small island in the Baltic. AAR, a river of Germany, falling into the Rhine, near Sintzig. AAR, a large river of Switzerland, which has its source in a lake, near Mount Schreckhorn, in the south of the canton of Berne, and running N. W. through the whole extent of the lakes of Brientz and Thun to Berne, takes a circuitous course to Soleure ; whence it flows E. to Arburg, and N. E. to Brugg ; below which, being joined by the Reuss and Limmat, it falls into the Rhine, opposite Waldschut. AARASSUS, in ancient geography, a town of Pisidia, in Asia, supposed to be the Anassus of Ptolemy. AARCHET, in music, instruments played with a bow, as the violin and violincello. AARGAU, ARGOVIA, or ARGOU, anciently one of the 45 districts or divisions of Switzerland, receiving its name from the Aar, and composing the German part of the canton of Berne, with part of Solothurn, Lucerne, and Underwalden. It now includes only that part of Berne which in 1798 was formed into a separate canton, having Arau for its capital; but received in 1803 the whole of Baden and the Frickthal, in addition to its territory. It is bounded by Zug and Zurich on the N. has the Rhine for its boundary E. the cantons of Solothurn and Basil W. and Zug S. containing 11 districts, and 48 jurisdictions. Population 132,763. AARHUUS, a large diocese in N. Jutland, which extends from that of Wiburg to Categat, about 65 miles in length, and 33 in breadth. It is intersected by many excellent rivers, and lakes, abounding with fish, and adorned with a variety of large forests. It contains five towns, eight royal bailiwicks, and six counties. Population 135,000. AARHUUS, or ARHUSEN, the capital of the bishopric of that name, lies between the sea and a lake, from which water is conveyed by a broad canal, that divides the town into two un- equal parts. It is large and populous, and has six gates, two principal churches, two market places, an university, a free school, and a well endowed hospital. It carries on a good trade in corn. The cathedral, which was begun in 1201, is 150 paces in length, 96 in breadth, and nearly 45 German ells in height. AARON, Heb. a mountaineer, the brother of Moses, and first high priest of the Israelites, was great-grand-son of Levi by the father's side, and grandson by the mother's. His history being fully narrated in the Pentateuch, it needs only to be added here, that he died upon Mount Hor, in the 123d year of his age, being the 40th after the departure from Egypt; A. M. 2522, of the Julian period, 3262, and before the Christian sera, 1452. See MOSES and MAGICIAN. AA RON,(St.) a British martyr, who suffered along with St. Julius, another native of Britain, under Dioclesian, about the same time with St. Alban, the British proto-martyr. A15 AARON, of Alexandria, a learned presbyter and physician of the seventh century, in whose works ihe small-pox is first mentioned. AARON, a market town of France, in the de- partment of Mayenne, having extensive iron works. AARON HARISCHON. See HARISCHON. AARON, or HAROUN, AL RASCHio,a celebrated khalif of the Saracen empire, of whom many fabulous legends are told. AARSENS, (Francis,) Lord of Someldyck and Spy ck, was one of the greatest statesmen the United Provinces ever produced. Having been some years under M. Mornay, at the court of William I. prince of Orange, Barneveldt sent him, as agent for the States, to Paris, where he acquired for himself great reputation under Henry IV. Villeroi, &c. Being soon after invested with the character of ambassador, Henry gave him precedence next to the Venetian minister. He resided at the court of France 15 years, and was created a knight and a baron by the king; was after- wards ambassador at Venice; and to several princes in Germany and Italy : and in 1620, was appointed the first of three extraordinary ambas- sadors to England, where, in 1641, he settled the marriage between the princess Mary and prince William, the father of our William III. He died at a very advanced age. AARSENS, (Peter,) a painter, called Long Peter, on account of his stature, born at Amsterdam in 1519. He was eminent in altar and kitchen pieces. A lady of Alckmaer offered 200 crowns to preserve one of his altar pieces, that was destroyed in the insurrection, in 1566. AARTGEN, or AERTGENS, a painter of merit, the son of a wool-comber of Leyden, born in 1498. He studied painting under Engelbrechtz, but was devoted to the bottle, and was drowned in 1564. AASAR, in ancient geography, a town of Ju- daea, in the tribe of Judah, between Azotus and Ascalon. In St. Jerome's time it was a hamlet. AAVORA, in natural history, the fruit of a large species of the palm tree, that grows in Africa and the West Indies. It is of the size of a hen's egg, and several are included in one shell. AB, in the Hebrew calendar, the llth month of the civil year and the 5lh of the ecclesiastical. It answers to the moon, which begins in July and ends in August, and consists of 30 days. The Jews fast on the 1st of this month in memory of Aaron's death ; on the 9th, because on that day, both the first and second temples were burnt ; and on the 18th, because the sacred lamp in the sanctuary was that night extinguished, in the reign of Ahaz. The 9th of this month was also remarkable for the publication of Adrian's edict, which prohibited that unfortunate people, not only from continuing in Judcea, but even from looking back to Jerusalem to lament its desola- tion. AB, in the Syriac Calendar, is the last of the summer months. The eastern Christians called the first day of this month Suum Miriam, the fast of Mary, and fasted from that to the 15th, which they called Fathr-Miriam, the cessation of the fast of the Virgin. AB, at the beginning of the names of places, 3 ABA generally shews that they have some relation to an abbey, as Abingdon. ABA, or ABAU, HANIFAH. See HANIFAII. ABA, ABAS, ABOS, or ABUS, in ancient geogra- phy, a mountain of Greater Armenia; Strabo says, the Euphrates and Araxes both rose in it, the former running eastward and the latter west- ward. ABA, or ABJE, in ancient geography, a town of Phocis in Greece, near Helicon, famous for an oracle of ApoUo, older than that at Delphi ; as well as for a rich temple, plundered and burnt by the Persians. See ABANTIS. ABABDE, in geography, a tribe of the Be- douin Arabs, inhabiting, according to M. Burck- hardt, that part of the west shore of the Arabian Gulf, which is south of the Kosseir, and in about the latitude of Derr. The country is mountainous, and the people faithless and barbarous. ABABILO, or AsABiL,in mythology, a fabu- lous bird mentioned in the Koran, who, according to the Mahometan doctors, has a foot like that of a dog. ABACA, in botany, an Indian plant, a native of the Philippine Islands. There are two spe- cies, the white and the grey. The former pro- duces lint, of which very fine linen is made ; the latter hemp, which is used for nothing but cor- ABACj?ENUM, or ABACENE, in ancient geo- graphy, a town of Sicily, whose ruins are supposed to be those still lying near Trippi, a citadel on a high mountain, near Messina. ABACAY, in natural history, a species of par- rot in the Philippine Islands, called also Calan- gay- ABACH, or WELTENBURG, a market town in Lower Bavaria, seated on the Danube ; nine miles from Ratisbon. It is defended by a citadel, and is remarkable for Roman antiquities, as well as for its mineral waters, which are celebrated for curing various diseases. Lon. 11.56. E. lat. 48. 53. N. ABACINARE, in archaeology, Ital. from bacino, a basin, or bacio, a dark place, a pun- ishment, described by writers of the middle age, wherein the criminal was blinded, by holding a red hot basin, or hot irons before his eyes. ABACISCUS, in ancient architecture, the. square compartments of Mosaic pavements. ABACISTA, O. L. an arithmetician. ABACK', on back, backwards. So that the white was aboue, as the folk y seye, And drof the rede al abak out of the put ney The rede, as for sorinesse, by turnede hym atten ende, And asailede the wyte, and made hym abac wende. R. Gloucester, p. 131. But when they came where thou thy skill didst show, They drew abacke, as half with shame confound. Spenser's Pastorals, June. A noble heart ought not the sooner yield, Not shrink abacke for any weal or woe. Mir. for May. p. 359. Yet Albert new resources still prepares, Conceals his grief, and doubles all his cares ; " Away there ! lower the mizen-yard on deck," He calls, " and brace the foremost-yards aback !" Falconer's Shipwreck. ABACK, or ABAKE, in sea-language signifies B2 ABA the situation of the sails, when their surfaces are flatted against the mast by the force of the wind. This may be either by a sudden change of the wind, or an alteration in the ship's course to avoid some imminent danger. ABACO, one of the most considerable of the Bahama islands, lying in N. Lat. 26. 22. W. Long. 77. 14. Some writers have conjectured that this was the first spot of the western world upon which Columbus touched. See BAHAMA. ABACOOCHE, or COOSEE, a river of N. America, which rising in the S. W. territory, and flowing through Georgia, unites with the Oakfus- kee, and forms the Alabama. ABACOT, a cap of state, worn in ancient limes by the kings of England, the upper part of which was in the form of a double crown. AB ACT ED, from abactus, L. drawn away by stealth or violence. ABACTUS, or ABIGEATUS, among ancient medical writers, an abortion procured by the foice of medicines. See MIDWIFERY. ABACUS, among the ancients, was a kind of cup-board or buffet. Livy, describing the luxury into which the Romans degenerated after the conquest of Asia, says they had their abaci, beds, &c. plated over with gold. See also Juv. Sat. in. 203. ABACUS, signified also a table covered with dust on which mathematicians drew their dia- grams, and a draft or chess board, on which the ancients played games of chance. Macrob. \. Stuck. Ant. Conviv. xi. 16. The ABACUS, in architecture, Vitruvius tells us, was originally intended to represent a square tile laid over an urn, or rather over a basket. An old woman of Athens happening to place a basket covered thus, over the root of an acanthus, the plant, shooting up the following spring, encom- passed the basket all around, till meeting with the tile, it curled back in a kind of scroll. Cal- limachus, an ingenious sculptor, passing by, took the hint, and immediately executed a ca- pital on this plan ; representing the tile by the abacus, the leaves by the volutes, and the basket by the vase, or body of the capital. The form of the abacus is not the same in all orders : in the Tuscan, Doric, and Ionic, it is generally square; but in the Corinthian and Composite, its four sides are arched inwards, and embellished in the middle with some ornament, as a rose or other flower. Scammozzi uses abacus for a con- cave moulding on the capital of the Tuscan pedestal ; and Palladio calls the plinth above the echinus, or boultin, in the Tuscan and Doric orders, by the same name. ABACUS is also the name of an ancient instru- ment for facilitating operations in arithmetic. It is variously contrived. That chiefly used in Eu- rope is made by drawing any number of parallel lines at the distance of two diameters of one of the counters used in the calculation. A counter placed on the lowest line, signifies 1 ; on the 2d 10 ; on the 3d, 100 ; on the 4th, 1000, &c. In the intermediate spaces, the same counters are es- timated at one half of the value of the line im- mediately superior, viz. between the 1st and 2d 5 ; between the 2d and 3d, 50, &c. ABACUS, the Chinete. See SWANPAN. I ABA ABACUS Pythagoricus, the multiplication table of Pythagoras, similar to the common one, which has also been attributed to him. ABACUS Logisticus, is a rectangled triangle, whose sides, forming the right angle, contain the numbers from 1 to 60 ; and its area, the facta of each two of the numbers perpendicularly oppo- site. This is also called a canon of sexagesimals. ABACUS & Palmula, in the ancient music, de- note the machinery, whereby the strings of Poly- plectra, or instruments of many strings, were struck with a plectrum made of quills. ABACUS Harmonicas, is used by Klrcher for the structure and disposition of the keys of a musical instrument, whether to be touched with the hands or the feet. ABACUS Major, in metallurgic operations, the name of a trough used in the mines, wherein the ore is washed. ABACUS, a/3a?, Gr. Ben Jonson uses aback to denote simply a square surface. In the centre or midst of the Pegm, there Mras an aback or square in which this elegy was written. Jonson's Coronation Pageant. ABADDON, the name which St. John in the Revelation gives to the angel of the bottomless pit. The inspired writer says, this word is Hebrew, and in Greek signifies ATroXXvwv, i. e. a destroyer. See Rev. ix. 11. ABADE, or SCHECK ABADE, a small town in Egypt- ABADEH, a town of Persia, in the district of Fars., which is celebrated in the Persian civil wars of the last century. Its fortifications are in decay, but the neighbourhood is fruitful. Po- pulation 5000. ABADIR, a title which the Carthaginians gave to gods of the first order. In the Roman mythology, it is the name of a stone which Sa- turn swallowed, by the contrivance of his wife Ops, believing it to be his new born son Jupiter: hence it ridiculously became the object of re- ligious worship. AB/E, or ABA. See ABA. ABATT, adv. abajtan, Sax. behind. From the fore part of the ship, towards the stern ; in opposition to afore. ABAFT THE BEAM, in maritime affairs, signifies the position of an object somewhere between a line at right angles with the keel, and the points to which the ship's stern is directed. ABAGI, a silver coin of Persia, worth about 36 sols, French money. Four chaouris, which are also called sains, make one abagi. ABAGUN, in ornithology, an Ethiopian bird of great beauty, having a crested horn on its head, adding much to its appearance and giving it perhaps its name, which signifies lordly abbot. Lobo. 71. ABAI'SANCE, . *. from the French abaiser, to depress, to bring down. An act of reverence, a bow. Obeysance is considered by Skinner as a corruption of abeitance, but is now universally used. ABAISIR, in chemistry, a name sometime.. given to spodumene ABAIS'SED, ABAISSE', in heialdry, an epi- thet applied to the wings of eagles, &c. when the ABA tip looks downwards to the point of the shield, or when the wings are shut. ABAISSED, or ABAISSE, in heraldry. See HERALDRY. ABAlTE, a river of Brazil in the Minas Geraes province, falling into the Francisco, near which was found the largest diamond ever dis- covered in the country. ABAKA khan, the 18th emperor of the Mo- guls, a wise and clement prince, who is said to have been so far a Christian, as to have joined in keeping the feast of Easter, a short time before his death. He reigned 17 years. ABAKANSKOI, or ABANKANSK, a town of Siberia, on the river Abakan. It was founded in 1707, and rebuilt in 1725. It has a garrison, and is provided with artillery. Population 1250. Lon. 91.5. E. Lat. 53. 5. N. ABALAK, a town in Siberia, sixteen miles from Tobolsk, celebrated for an image of the Virgin, which is visited by many pilgrims. Lon. 08. 20. E. Lat. 58. 11. N. ABALIENATUS, in medicine, signifies that the part spoken of is in a state that requires amputation ; and, when applied to the mind, de- notes its total derangement. ABALLABA, the ancient name of Appleby, in Westmoreland, remarkable as having been a Roman station. See APPLEBY. ABALUS, in ancient geography, supposed to be an island in the German Ocean, called by Timseus, Basilio, and by Xenophon Lampsa- cenus, Baltiu. Here, according to Pliny, amber dropped from the trees ; and sacrifices were offered to the manes of the drowned if the body were lost. ABALUS, the peninsula of Scandinavia. ABANA, or AMANA, in ancient geography, a river of Phoenicia, called Chrysorrhsea, by the Greeks, which, rising from mount Hermon, wash- ed the south and west sides of Damascus, and fell into the Phoenician sea, north of Tripolis. Scripture supplies a fine instance of the expres- sion of disdain, in the reply of the Syrian General, Naaman, to the prophet Elisha, respect- ing this river : " Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel ? may I not wash in them and be clean ?" 2 Kings v. 12. ABANCAY, or AVANCAY, a province of Peru, bounded on the E. by the city of Cuzco ; S. by the provinces of Cochabamba & Aimarez ; W. by Andahuelas ; and N. by Calcayleres. It is the jurisdiction of a corregidor, containing 17 settlements or towns, and a noble chain of moun- tains, which diversify the climate to almost every degree of temperature. Silver mines are found here ; the sugar cane flourishes, as well as wheat, maize, and all grain, which, together with the hemp manufactured into cloth, is conveyed by the Apurimac to the Amazons. Abancay has also a fine breed of horned cattle. ABAND', v. ~\ Sax. Bannan, Abannau, ABAN'DON, v. n. I past. part. Abanned. From ABAN'DONER, \ this past participle is form- ABAN'DONING, i ed the verb abandon, sig- ABAN'DONMEST, J nifying primarily to band or bind, or put in bondage. From this original i ABA sense are derived to resign, quit, desert, forsake, reject, and repel. And Vortigern enforc'd the kingdom to aland. Spenser's Faerie Queene, II. x. 65. All pleasures quite and joys he did aband, Pursuing war Mir. for May. p. 172. The barons of this land, For him trauailed sore, and brought him out of band. R. Brunne, p. 201. For he that Yaue whole his hart, in will and thought, And to himselfe kepeth right nought, After this swift it is good reason He yaue his good in abandon. Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose. Moris hir soune was coroned, Which so fer forth was abandoned, To Christes feith, that men hym calle Moris the christnest of all. Gower, b. II. With women, which were abandoned To werche Gower, Conf. Am. h. 7. If she be so abandoned to her sorrow, As it is spoke, she never will admit me. Shakspeare's Twelfth Night. The passive Gods behold the Greeks defile Their temples, and abandon to the spoil Their own abodes. Dryden's fiSneid. Must he, whose altars on the Phrygian shore, With frequent rites, and pure, avow'd thy power, Be doom'd the worst of human ills to prove, Unbless'd, abandon'd to the wrath of Jove ? Popes Odyssey. Oh ! sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant queen, Abandonner of revels, mute, contemplative ! Beaumont and Fletcher's two Noble Kinsmen. See how he lies at random, carelessly diffused, With languish'd head unpropt, As one past hope, abandon'd, And by himself given over. Milton's Samson Agonistet. She loses all her influence. Cities then Attract us, and neglected nature pines Abandon'd, as unworthy of our love. Camper's Task. When thus the helm of justice is abandoned, an universal abandoning of all other posts will succeed. Burke. ABANDUM, in old law, any thing that is se- questrated, confiscated, or forfeited. ABANGA, the name given by the black na- tives of the Island of St. Thomas, to the fruit of the ady or palm tree. The Portuguese call it caryoces and cariosse. See ADY. ABANNEG, or ABNET, Heb. a girdle worn by the priests of the Jews. ABANNITION, n. s. Lat. abannitio, an old punishment, of one or two year's banishment for manslaughter. ABANO, a town of Italy near Padua, famous in ancient as well as modern times, for its hot .baths. Population 3000. ABANTIS or ABANTIAS, in ancient geo- graphy, an island in the .ZEgean sea, extending along the coast of Greece from the promontory Sunium in Attica, to Thessaly; and separated from Bceotia by a narrow strait called Euripus. It is known in history by the different names of Chalcis, Ellopia, Aonia, &c. It was afterwards called Euboza, from a famous cave on the eastern coast of the island; and Macris from its length. Its present name is Negropont. It derived the name Abantis from the* ABASTES, a people ABA 6 oricimdly of Thrace, although some historians suppose they were Arabians who followed Cad- mus. The Abantes are well known in history ; Homer calls them oviaQiv Ko/iowvr*c from their .vearing the hair long behind. They are also called Curetes, from cutting their hair short before. ABANTIS, a country of Epirus. Pans. lib. v. c. 22. ABAPTISTON, or ANABAPTISTON, in sur- gery, an ancient name for the perforating part of the instrument called a (repan. ABARCA, or ABAREA, an ancient kind of shoe, used by the Spaniards, in travelling over mountains. ABARIM, mountains which separated the territory of the Moabites and Ammonites from Canaan. Nebo and Pisgah were among them. Josephus says, they stood opposite to Jericho, and were the last station but one of the Israelites, before they took possession of Canaan. ABARIS, the Hyperborean, a celebrated sage of antiquity, of whom a great number of fabu- lous stories are told ; such as, that he received a present of a miraculous arrow from Apollo, with which he travelled without taking food ; that he could foretel earthquakes, allay tempests, drive away the pestilence, &c. &c. Harpocration tells us, that the whole earth being infested with a deadly plague, Apollo ordered, that the Athe- nians should offer up prayers in behalf of all other nations ; upon which, ambassadors were sent to Athens from different countries. Among these was Abaris, who, during this journey, re- newed the alliance between his countrymen, and the inhabitants of the Isle of Delos. He also went to Lacedaemon, where he built a temple to Proserpine the Salutary. It is said that there is a Greek MS. of his epistles to Phalaris in the library of Augsburg. AB'ARNARE, Sax. in Law. To discover to a magistrate any secret crime. ABARNUS, ABARNIS, or APARNIS, in ancient geography, a city, country, and promontory of Pariana, near the Hellespont. Milesius calls it a promontory of Lampsacus. The Phocians are said to have given it the name of Abarnis from one of their countrymen, who built Lamp- sacus. ABARTAMEN, in chemistry, a name for lead. ABARTICULATION. n. s. from ab, from, and artiadus, a joint, Lat. A good and apt con- struction of the bones, by which they move strongly and easily ; or that species of articula- tion that has manifest motion. ABARTICULATION, in anatomy, that species of articulation, that takes place in the joints of the arras, hands, thighs, &c. which is called also Dfiirticiilutw, and Diarthro$ii, to distinguish it from that sort of articulation, which admits of a very obscure motion, and is called Synarthrosis. ABAS, a small weight used in Persia, for weighing pearls. It is one eighth less than the European carat. ABAS, in the heathen mythology, the son of Hypothoon and Metanira, who entertained the goddess Ceres, and offered a sacrifice to her ; but Abas, ridiculing the ceremony, and giving her ABA opprobrious language, she turned him into a wa- ter lizard. Also in ancient history, the llth king of Argos, who built Abae. A son of Eury- demus, killed by TEneas near Troy ; a companion of TEneas killed in Italy ; another lost in the storm which drove him to Carthage ; a Latian chief who befriended him, and was killed by Lausus ; and an author, quoted by Servius, who described Troy. Virg. Mneid. ABAS, in ancient geography, a river of Arme- nia, near which Pompey routed the Albani ; also a mountain of Syria, near the sources of the Euphrates. ABAS, in medicine, a name sometimes given to the epilepsy. See TINEA. ABAS or ABASIA, in entomology, a species of the Bombyx of Fabricius, and of the Phalsena of Linnaeus, found in Surinam. It has brown, spreading wings, the hinder wings cinereous, and the ocellus of a reddish colour. ABAS, Schah, the Great, 7th Sophi, or em- peror of Persia, succeeded his father in 1585, at eighteen. The empire having been much re- duced by the conquests of the Turks and Tartars, he recovered most of the provinces they had taken ; but death put a period to his victories, in 1626, in the 62nd year of his age, and 44th of his reign. He transferred the seat of empire to Ispahan. ABAS, II. Schah, the 9th Sophi of Persia, the son of Sefi, and grandson of Abas the Great, succeeded his father at thirteen, and was only eighteen years of age, when he retook the city of Candahar, and the whole province around it, from the Great Mogul, who had seized it in his father's reign; and he afterwards defended it against him, though he besieged it more than once, with an army of 300,000 men. He was a merciful prince, and openly protected the Chris- tians. He died at thirty-seven years of age, in 1666. ABASE', ~) Fr. abaisser ; Lat. basis or ABAS'ING, n. ybassus; Ital. abbassare ; Span. ABASE'MENT, jabaxar. These are all to be referred to the Gr. /Jounc, the foot of a pillar. Hence it signifies, to lessen or keep under, to depress, to bring low, to degrade, to disgrace in a figurative and personal sense, says Johnson, which is the common use. Our kynge hath do this thing amissc, So to abesse his roialtee. And will she yet abase her eyes on me, That cropt the golden prime of this sweet prince, And made her widow to a wofull bed ? Shaktpeare's Rich. III. act i, sc. 2. It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye ; yet with a demure abating of it sometimes. Lord Bacon's Essaf on Cunning. Her cither cheek resembled blushing morn ; Or roses gules in field of lilies borae ; T \vixt which an ivory wall so fair is raised, That it is but abased when it's praised. Dntmtnond. Behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Job Til. 11. If the mind be curbed and humbled too much in children ; if their spirits be abased and broken much, by loo strict an hand over them ; they lose all their vigour and industry. Locke on Education. ABA There is an abasement because of glory ; and there is that lifteth up his head from a low estate. Ecclesiatticus, xx. 11. Heaven was to be earned only by penance and mortification ; by the austerities and abasement of a monk, not by the liberal, generous, and spirited con- duct of a man. Smith's Wealth of Nation*. ABASCIA, or ABCAS, a country in Asia, tri- butary to Russia, surrounded by Mingrelia on the E. and S. by Circassia on the N. and W. and the Black Sea on the S.W. It has few towns, and they are of little consequence. Anacopia, Dandar, and Czekorni, are the chief. Great and Little Abcas are both included in the government of Caucasus, but the Russian authority in the heart of the country is but nominal. The inhabitants called ABASCIANS, or ABKHAS, have the name of Christians, but nothing else. The men are robust and strong, and the women beautiful; but they are so poor, thievish, and treacherous, that there is no trading with them, without the utmost caution. They even live in continual dread of each other, for the most powerful seize as many as they can of the poorer sort, especially the females, and sell them to the Turks. The tribe of Natukasch is the principal. Their commodities are furs, buck and tiger skins, linen yarn, box-wood and bees'-wax ; but their chief traffic lies in selling their own children. An Abascian prince lately (1807) carried his de- predations far into the neighbouring governments, and was sometime captive in Russia, but he escaped. Their customs resemble those of the MJNGRELIANS, which see. ABASH', v. ) of the same derivation as abase, ABASH'MENT, } unless it comes from abaw, a verb peculiar to Chaucer, and which Barret translates, to be abashed or astonied. Abash is used by Gower as a substantive. It is to be distinguished, however, from the preceding arti- cle, as it is applied to the feelings of those who are abased, depressed, disgraced. It generally implies a sudden impression of shame which ge- nerates painful surprise and confusion. The substantive is used to signify the state of being confused, and the cause of confusion. He stode al abashed, with colour wan and pale. Chawer's 2nd Tale. The town restlesse with furie as I sought Th' unlucky figure of Creusae's ghost, Of stature more than wont, stood fore mine eyen Abashed then I waxe : therewith my heare Gan start right up : my voice stuck in my throte. Surrey. Why, then, (you princes) Do you with cheeks abashed behold our -vorkes, And think them shame, which are (indeed) nought else, But the protractiue trials of great Joue, To find persistiue constancy in men. Shakspeare's Tro. and Cressida . They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung, Upon the wing. Milton's Paradise Lost. Silence was in the court at this rebuke : Nor could the gods, abash'd, sustain their sovereign's look. Dryden's Fable*. She was afrayde ; The ruddy shamefastness in her vysage fyll, Which manner of abashement became her not yll. Skelton's Poems, p. 38. Methinks it may be some abashment to reason, and 1 ABA that vast perfection to which some men would extol it, that it scarce knows what man or itself is. Ellis's Knowledge of Divine Things. ABASITIS, in ancient geography, a tract of Asiatic Mysia, in which the city of Ancyra was situated. Strabo. ABASK.I, a town of Circassia, 40 miles S. E. of Kopiel. ABASSI, or ABASSIS, a silver com, current in Persia, so named after Schah Abbas, II. equal to about a shilling of English money. ABASSUS, in ancient geography, a town of the Greater Phrygia, on the confines of Galalia. ABAT-CHAUVEE, a name given in Poitou, and other parts of France, to a species of very coarse wool. ABATE, (A.) a Neapolitan painter of some eminence, who was employed in the Escurial. His boldness of colouring and shade was highly, praised by Luca Giordano. Abate died in 1732. ABATE', v. ") a. s. beatan, to beat. The word ABATE'MEST, Sexists without the prefix a, as AB A'TE R, j bate ; but, in modern usage, it is more limited in its application. The verb is both active and neuter. It not only signifies to beat down, but to subtract, as in arithmetic. Thus it has grown to mean to lessen, diminish, contract, deject, and depress. It is employed technically in law and in horsemanship. In the one it is used in reference to a nuisance, to get rid of it ; to a castle, to beat it down or remove it ; to a writ to defeat and overthrow it : in horseman- ship, it implies the exact performance of any downward motion. Its general and popular usage is set forth in the following specimens. The kyng did samen his men, to abate Gryflyn's pride, And Harald tham betaught ageyn the Walsch to ride. Chaucer'* Personnel Tale, p. 63. And when the sunne hath eke the darke opprest, And brought the day, it doth nothing abate The trauailes of mine endlesse smart and paine. Surrey. Who can tell whether the divine wisdom, to abate the glory of those kings, did not reserve this work to be done by a queen, that it might appear to be his own immediate work. Sir John Davies on Ireland. This iron world Brings down the stoutest hearts to lowest state : For misery doth bravest minds abate. Spenser. M. 'Hubberd's Tale. Till at length Your ignorance deliver you, As most abated captives to some nation That won you without blows. Shakspeare's Coriolanut. HEL. O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy houres, shine comforts from the East, That I may backe to Athens by day-light, From these that my poore company detest. Shakspeare's Mid. N. Dream, act iii, sc. 2. Will come a day (hear this, and quake ye potent great ones) When you yourselves shall stand before a judge, Who in a pair of scales will weigh your actions, Without abatement of one grain. Beaumont and Fletcher's Plays. Impiety of times, chastity's abator. Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond. If we could arrest time, and strike off the nimble wheels of his chariot, and like Joshua, bid the sun stand still, and make opportunity tarry as long as ABB we had occasion for it ; this were something to ex- cuse our delay, or at least to mitigate or abate the folly and unreasonableness of it. Tittotson's Works. The law of works is that law, which requires per- fect obedience, without remission or abatement. Locke. ABATELEMENT, in commerce, a sentence of prohibition from trade, issued by the French consuls against those who would not stand to their bargains, or who refused to pay their delns. It was required to be taken off before they could sue any person for payment. ABATEMENT, in heraldry, a certain mark of degradation, inserted in the bearings of particu- lar persons or families, called also diminutiones, vel discernula armorum. Authors on this subject mention nine of these marks. See SELDEN, and GUILL. DISP. HERALD. ABATEMENT, in commerce. See DISCOUNT and REBATE. ABATIS, or ABBATIS, from batum, an old measure for corn, an ancient term for an officer of the stables, who had the care of the pro- vender. ABATIS, or ABBATIS, from Abuttre to pull down, Fr. in fortification, a heap of large trees thrown together, to guard intrenchments, ob- struct roads, and prevent the approaches of an enemy. ABATOS, from a priv. and f3aivw to go, i. e. inaccessible, in ancient geography, an island in the Lake Moeris, famous for its papyrus, and for being the burial place of Osiris. Hence sacred from profane intrusion. ABATUTTA, or ABUTUTTA, in music, an Italian direction for continuing to beat the time as before. ABAUZIT, (F.) a modern French writer and philosopher of some celebrity. He was born at Rezes, 1679; but sent off to Geneva, at two years of age, by his mother, a zealous protestant, to secure his education in that religion. He well rewarded her solicitude, becoming after- wards in this country the friend of Sir Isaac Newton, who complimented him by observing that he was " a fit judge between Leibnitz and himself." William III. wished him to re- main in England, but he returned to become the librarian of the city of Geneva, in 1726. In 1730 he republished Spon's History of Geneva, with notes and dissertations, which was his chief work. Voltaire and Rousseau compliment him. He died 1767. ABA-U J VAR, a palatinate of Upper Hungary, on the W. of Thorn. It contains the four circles of Futzer, Kaschau, Siepschow, and Tscherchat : There are 40 catholic, and 41 reformed parishes ; 18 of the Greek church, and 3 Lutheran, com- prised in this palatinate, which is about 50 miles in length, and from 12 to 15 in breadth. Popu- lation 125,000. ABAVI, or ABAY. i. c. the Father of waters, an Abyssinian name for the Bahr-el-Azergue, which they consider as the head of the Nile. ABAVI, ABAVO, or ABAVUM, in botany, p. large tree in Ethiopia, that bears a fruit like a gourd. It is a synonime of the ADANSONIA, which see. ABB, or ABB-YARN, n. x. the yarn on a weaver's warp ; a term among clothiers. A.BB ABBA, in ancient geography, a town of Africa, near Carthage. AB'BA, n. ~\ In Chaldee and Syriac ;JK, AB'BACY, | Father. Titles of honour and AB'BESS, ^-authority, first derived from the AB'BEY, | literal signification of the word. AB'BOT. J In scripture Abba is once used by Jesus Christ in prayer, and twice in the epistles, having in each place the explanation Trarqp annexed to it. In the eastern churches, it was given at a very early date to their bishops ; and Baba, Papa, Pope, had their origin from the same root. ABBAT, or ABBOT, in the fourth and fifth cen- turies was gradually, and at last distinctively, applied to the heads of those religious orders who then began to exclude themselves from the world. For a particular account of these we refer our readers to the history of Monachism at large. Mosheim's Eccles. His. &c. And anon, after this abbot Then spaken another ; I wode that thyn hede were of, Though thou were my brother. Chaucer's Coke's Tale of Gamelyn, ABBACY, n. s. Lat. abbatia, the rights or privileges of an ABBOT, which see. ABBADIE, (James,) an eminent protestant divine, born at Nay in Beam, in 1654; educated under the famous La Placette, and afterwards at the university of Sedan; from whence he went into Holland and Germany, and became minis- ter of the French church at Berlin. In 1690, he came into England, was minister of a French church in London, and was made dean of Killaloe in Ireland. He died at St. Mary- le-bone, 1727, aged 75. His writings, pub- lished in French, were, A Treatise on the Truth of the Christian Religion; The Art of Knowing one's Self; A Defence of the British Nation; The Deity of Jesus Christ essential to the Christian Religion ; The History of the last Conspiracy in England, written by order of King William III.; and the Triumph of Provi- dence and Religion, or the opening the Seven Seals by the Son of God. ABBAISSEUR, in anatomy, a name given by Winslow and the French writers to one of the muscles of the eye, called by others the deprimens and humilis ; and by Fabricius the rectus inferior. ABBAS, the son of Abdalmothleb, and Maho- met's uncle. He at first opposed his nephew, but being taken prisoner at the battle of Bedir, in 623, (the 2d of the hegira,) and a great ransom being demanded, he represented that so large a sum would reduce him to poverty: but Maho- met, reminded him of the gold he had left with his mother at Mecca: whereupon Abbas, be- lieving him to be really inspired, embraced his religion, became one of his chief officers, and saved his life, when in the utmost danger, at the battle of Honain. He afterwards commenced a doctor of the Mussulman law, and read lectures upon the Koran. ABBATHY. See ABBACY and ABBOT. ABBE, n. s. 1. In a monastic sense, the same with Abbot, which see. This was also, before the revolution, the name of a kind of ABB secular clergyman, popular in France. The Abbe had many privileges in the church, with- out any fixed station : and rose occasionally to eminence both in the literary and political world. The ABBESS has the same rights and au- thority over her nuns, that the Abbots regular have over their monks. Her sex does not allow her to perform the spiritual functions, annexed to the priesthood, wherewith the abbot is usually invested; but there are instances of some ab- besses who commission a priest to act for them, and possess a kind of episcopal jurisdic- tion, exempt from the visitation of their diocesan. Martene, in his treatise on the rights of the church, observes, that some abbesses have for- merly confessed their nuns. But he adds, that their excessive curiosity carried them such lengths, that there arose a necessity for checking it. How- ever, St. Basil, in his Rule, allows the abbess to be present with the priest at the confession of her nuns. ABBE-BOYLE. See BOYLE. ABBERFORD, or ABERFORD, a parish and market-town, in the wapintake of Skyrack, W. Riding of Yorkshire, on the Cook, where the Roman highway crossed it. It is 16 miles S. W. from York, and 186 N. of London: market on Wednesday. ABBEVILLE, a considerable town of France, the chief of an arrondissement, in the de- partment of Somme, and late province of Picardy, seated in a pleasant valley, where the river Somme divides into several branches, and separates the town into two parts. It has 14 parish churches, and a collegiate one ; the princi- pal churches are St. George's and St. Giles's. It is partially fortified, being flanked with bastions, and surrounded by large ditches. Here is a good woollen manufactory, which was erected in 1665, by Van Robais, a Dutchman, whose family retain it. The cloths are said to be little inferior to those of England and Holland. They also manufacture sail cloth, coarse linens, and black and green soap, and carry on a good trade. It lies 15 miles E from the British channel, 20 N.W. from Amiens, 22 S. of Calais, and 85 N. by W. of Paris. Population 30,000. The arrondissement of ABBEVILLE extends to the English Channel, the Somme watering its whole extent, and falling into the sea near Crotoy. It contains the old counties of Ponthieu, and Vimeux and 114,000 inhabitants. ABBEYS, priories and monasteries, differ little but in name. FAUCHET observes, that, in the early days of the French monarchy, dukes and counts were called abbots, and duchies and counties abbeys. Even some of their kings are mentioned in history under the former title. Monasteries were at first nothing more than re- ligious houses, whither persons retired from the bustle of the world, to spend their time in solitude and devotion. But they soon degene- rated from their original institution, and procured large privileges, exemptions, and riches. They prevailed greatly in Britain before the reforma- tion ; particularly in England : and as they in- creased in riches, so the state became poor : for the lands which these regulars possessed, were 9 ABB in mortuo manu, i. e. could never revert to the lords who gave them. This inconvenience gave rise to the statutes against gifts in mortmaine, which prohibited donations to these religious houses : and Lord Coke tells us, that several lords, at their creation, had a clause in their grant, that the donor might give or sell his land to whom he would, (exceptis viris religiosis et Judxis) excepting monks and Jews. Henry VIII. having appointed visitors to enquire into the lives of the monks and nuns, which were found in some places very disorderly : the abbots, perceiving their dissolution unavoidable, were induced to resign their houses to the king, who by that means became invested with the abbey lands : these were afterwards granted to different persons, whose descendants enjoy them at this day : they were then valued at 2,853,000 per annum. Though the suppression of religi- ous houses, even considered in a political light only, was a great national benefit, it must be owned, that, at the time they flourished, they were not entirely useless. Abbeys or monasteries were then the repositories as well as the semi- naries of learning; many valuable books and national records, as well as private evidences, have been preserved in their libraries; the only places wherein they could have been safely lodged in turbulent times. See MONASTERY. ABBEY-HOLM, a town in Cumberland, on the Waver, so called from an abbey built in it by David I., king of Scots. Abbey-holm stands on an arm of the Irish Sea, near Solway Firth, 309 miles from London, and 16 S. W. from Carlisle. t contains four townships, i. e. the Abbey, East Waver, Low Waver, and St. Cuthberts. The ab- bots of Holm Cultram, (the ancient name of this foundation) built a castle about 5 miles from the sea, as a depository for their books and papers in the border wars : considerable ruins of which remain. ABBEY-LUBBER, n. s. See LUBBER. A slothful loiterer in a religious house, under pre- tence of retirement and authority. This is no father Dominic; no huge overgrown abbey-lubber ; this is but a diminutive sucking friar. Vryd. Sp. Fr. ABBIATI, (F.) an Italian historical painter of eminence, who was born in 1640, and died in 1715. He studied under Nouvolone. ABBOT (Charles), from 1802 till 1817 speaker of the British house of commons ; born 1755, studied at Westminster. He was the son of Dr. Abbot, minister of All Saints' church, at Col- chester. Impelled by the desire of distinction, lie devoted himself to the study of the law, though possessed of a considerable fortune. His object, however, was not professional reputation, though he had an extensive practice in the court of chancery. In 1790 he entered the house of commons. He was successively first secretary of state in Ireland, and lord commissioner of the treasury ; was made privy counsellor, and in ) 802 speaker of the house of commons. In 1817 he resigned his office of speaker, on ac- count of weakness in his eyes, and entered the liouse of lords, having been created viscount Colchester. He died May 8, 1829. ABBOT, or ABBAT, and ARCHIMANDRITE. ABB 10 were titles at first indifferently assumed by the governors of the primitive monasteries. They were really distinguished from the clergy ; though frequently confounded with them, because a degree above laymen. In those early days, the abbots were subject to the bishops and the ordi- nary pastors. Their monasteries being remote from cities, built in the farthest solitudes, they had no share in ecclesiastical affairs. They went on Sundays to the parish church with the rest of the people ; or, if they were too remote, a priest was sent them to administer the sacraments; till at length they were allowed to have priests of their own. The abbot or archimandrite him- self was usually the priest : but his function ex- tended no farther than to the spiritual assistance of his monastery ; and he remained still in obedi- ence to the bishop. There being among the abbots several persons of learning, they made a vigorous opposition to the rising heresies of those times ; which first occasioned the bishops to call them out of their deserts, and fix them about the suburbs of cities, and at length in the cities them- selves : from which aera their degeneracy is to be dated. The abbots, now, soon wore off their former plainness and simplicity, and began to be looked on as prelates. They aspired at being independent of the bishops; and became so in- supportable, that some severe laws were made against them at the council of Chalcedon ; not- withstanding this, in time many of them carried the point of independency, and got the appella- tion of lord, with other badges of the episcopate, particularly the mitre. Hence arose a new species of distinction between the abbots. Those were termed mitred abbots, who were privileged to wear the mitre, and exercised episcopal au- thority within their respective precincts, being exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishop. Others were termed crosiered abbots, from their bearing the crosier or pastoral staff. Others were styled ecumenical or universal abbots, in imitation of the patriarch of Constantinople : while others were termed cardinal abbots, from their superiority over all other abbots. Among us, the mitred abbots were lords of parliament ; and called abbots sovereign, and abbots general. And as there were lords abbots, so there were also lords priors, who had exempt jurisdiction, and were likewise lords of parliament. Some reckon 26 of these lords abbots and priors that sat in par- liament. Sir EDWARD COKE says, that there were 27 parliamentary abbots, and two priors. In the parliament, 20 Rich. II. there were but 25 abbots and two priors ; but in the summons to parliament, anno 4, Ed. III. more are named. At present, in the Roman catholic countries, the principal distinctions observed between abbots are those of regular and commendatory. The former take the vow and wear the habit of their order; whereas the latter are seculars, though they are obliged by their bulls to take orders when of proper age. Anciently the ceremony of creating an abbot consisted in clothing him with the habit, called cuculus, or cowl; putting the pastoral staff into his hand, and the shoes called //< dales on his feet ; but at present it is only a simple benediction, improperly called, by some, consecration. ABB ABBOT, (George,) archbishop of Canterbury was born 29th Oct. 1562, atGuildford in Surrey. He studied at Oxford, was chosen principal of University College in 1597, installed dean of Winchester in 1599, and thrice elected vice-chan- cellor of the University of Oxford, in 1600, 1603, and 1605. The translation of the Bible, now in use, bemg begun in 1604, by order of K. James, dean Abbot was one of the eight divines to whom the New Testament was committed. In 1608, he went to Scotland, to assist in bringing about an union between the kirk of Scotland and the church of England a business which he conducted with so much moderation, as well as address, that the origin of all his after pre- ferment may be traced to it. In December, 1609, he was consecrated bishop of Litch- field and Coventry; in January, 1610, bi- shop of London; and on the 2d November following, appointed to the archiepiscopal see. His enemies have ascribed this rapid accumula- tion of honours less to his merits, than to the flattering compliments he paid the king; by equalling him with several of the wisest and best monarchs of antiquity. In 1613, however, he opposed that favourite object of the king's, the divorce between lady Frances Howard, and Robert, earl of Essex; and in 1618, the royal declaration permitting Sunday sports, which he prohibited being read in the church. When his health began to decline, he went to Hampshire for recreation, and being invited to a hunting match by Lord Zouch, he had the misfortune to kill the game-keeper by an arrow, which he shot at one of the deer from a cross bow. This ac- cident affected the archbishop so much, that, be- sides settling an annuity of 201. on the widow, he kept a monthly fast on Tuesday, the day when the misfortune happened, all his life afterwards. His enemies endeavouring, on this account, to lessen him in the king's favour, James smartly observed, that, " an angel might have miscarried in this sort." Ten commissioners were appoint- ed to inquire into the matter, whose report en- tirely exculpated the archbishop from crime, but it was thought proper that a dispensation of par- don and restoration should pass the great seal. After this he seldom assisted at the council, but attended it during the king's last illness very con- stantly. And, although troubled with the gout, he performed the ceremony of crowning king Charles I. He was never, however, greatly in this monarch's favour, and the duke of Bucking- ham and Laud being his enemies, he was sus- pended from all his functions as primate, upon his refusing to license a sermon of Dr. Sibthorpe's, justifying a loan which the king had demanded. At the meeting of parliament he was restored, and died at Croydon, the 5th of August, 1633, aged 71. Archbishop Abbot was a man of great moderation, and wished that the clergy should attract esteem, by the purity of their manners, rather than by the dignity of their function. He partook of the stern Calvinism that so largely pervaded the .minds of most of the protestant reformers; but was more remarkable in early life than afterwards for his high-churchmanship. Being, at the former period, asked ' Whether a protestant prince night assist the subjects of u ABBOTSFORD. 11 neighbouring state in resisting tyranny and op- pression?' he answered 'No; for even tyranny was God's authority.' In latter life, he manfully opposed those extreme measures of Laud and his misguided sovereign, which brought the lat- ter to the block. Dr. Southey, in his Book of the Church, speaks of him as " inclining to the puritans ;" and as bringing the court of High Commission into disgrace by his great severity. We cannot reconcile these charges. Lord Cla- rendon, also, in the evident spirit of party, thtows out some severe reflections against him, but Dr. Wellwood has done justice to his merits, in his Memoirs. He endowed a hospital at Guildford (where he was buried) with an in- come of 300 a year. He wrote various tracts of temporary interest, and " Six Latin Lectures on Divinity, at Oxford," 1598, 4to. ; " Expo- sition of the prophet Jonah," 4to. 1600; "A Brief Description of the whole World," 12mo. 1634; " Treaties on the Perpetual Visibility and Succession of the True Church," 4to. 1 624 ; and a " History of the Massacre in the Valteliue," inserted in Fox's Book of Martyrs. ABBOT (Robert), Bishop of Salisbury, elder brother to the archbishop, was born at Guildford, in 1560, studied at Oxford, took his degree of A. M. in 1582, and became a celebrated preacher. Upon his first sermon at Worcester, he was chosen lecturer in that city, soon after rector of All-saints; and John Stanhope, Esq. happening to hear him preach, immediately presented him to the rich living of Bingham, in Nottinghamshire. In 1597, he took the degree of D. D., and was appointed soon after, chaplain in ordinary to king James ; who had such an opinion of him, that he ordered hts book, De AntichristoAo be print- ed along with his own Commentary upon part of the Apocalypse. In 1609 he was elected master of Baliol College, a trust which he discharged with the utmost care. In 1615, he was appoint- ed to the see of Salisbury, in which he exercised primitive diligence, visiting his diocese person- ally, and preaching weekly. He died of the stone, on the 2d of March, 1618, being one of the five bishops which Salisbury had in six years. Dr. Fuller, speaking of the two brothers, says " that George was the more plausible preacher, Robert the greatest scholar ; George the abler statesman ; Robert the deeper divine : gravity did frown in George, and smile in Robert." He published several pieces ; he also left behind him sundry manuscripts, which Doctor Corbet, his son-in-law, made a present of to the Bodleian library. ABBOTS-BROMLEY, or FACET'S BROMLEY, a town in the hundred of South Pirchil, Stafford- shire, 6 miles E. from Stafford, and 129 N. W. from London. It has a weekly market on Tues- day, and three annual fairs for horses and catlle. On the dissolution of the monasteries it was given to Lord Paget, whence its modern name, which it bears in the county map, though it still retains its old names with regard to the fairs, and in the king's books. ABBOTSBURY, a market-town in Dorset- shire, so named from the abbey near it, founded as some say, by a steward of Canute the Great, others, by a Norman lady, about 1026 ; to which Edward the Confessor, and William ^. were both benefactors. It has a market on Thursday, a fair on the tenth of July, and lies eight miles S. W. of Dorchester, and 127 W. by S. from London. ABBOTS-CASTLE, or APEWOOD CASTLE, an old fortification in Staffordshire, seven miles from Wolverhampton, on the north side of the road from Shrewsbury to London, situated on a lofty round promontory, and a steep ridge of hills; which extend a mile in length, and are supposed to have been one continued fortification of the ancient Britons. ABBOTSFORD, a most romantic and pic- turesque estate, on the banks of the Tweed, about an hour's ride from Selkirk, of recent cele- brity, but given henceforth to everlasting fame, both as the creation and the residence of the greatest writer of his age, and one of the most considerable in point of genius among all the distinguished men of Scotland. Abbotsford and Sir Walter Scott are associated for ever. This beautiful ' romance in stone and lime,' as it has been quaintly denominated, will exhibit him to future generations in the most striking peculiarities of his mind and character. It will be visited by many a pilgrim of nature and poetry. It will become, nay, it has become already, the sanctuary and the shrine of enthu- siastic adoration. It may be truly affirmed that no man, by the exercise of his mental powers alone, in the quiet pursuit of literature and lite- rary eminence, ever awakened so deep, so strik- ing, so universal an interest, as well to himself as to his works, as the departed laird of Abbots- ford ; an interest which is so far from diminu- tion, that its sphere is perpetually extending, so that it may be truly affirmed, his name is gone forth to the ends of the earth. Sir Walter became first generally known by what has been with goreat propriety described as an attempt to transfer the refinements of modern poetry to the matter and the manner of the an- cient metncal romance. Enamoured of the lofty visions of Chivalry, and partial to the strains in which they were formerly embodied, the author of ' The Lay of the Last Minstrel' employed all the resources of his genius in endeavouring to recal them to the favor and admiration of the public, and in adapting to the taste of modern readers a species of poetry which was once the delight of the courtly, but which had long since ceased to gladden any other eyes than those of the scholar and the antiquary. In this difficult undertaking, if he did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the critics, he secured the favor of the whole reading population. His next great work, which made its appearance so soon after the first, established his fame in the species of composition to which he had at that time dedi- cated his genius, and which may fairly be consi- dered as original ; this was ' Marmion.' Then came, in all the fascinations of unrivalled beauty, < The Lady of the Lake.' The Edinburgh Re- view, in noticing this most finished of Mr. Scott's productions, justly observed 'that, though living in an age unusually prolific of original poetry, he had manifestly outstripped all his competitors 12 ABBOTSFORD. race of uopularity, and that he stood even melted him into tenderness, with regard to a eight which no other writer had diction and imagery, too it is quite obvious that aUaineH the memory of any one then alive.' Sir Walter has not aimed at writing ma pure, or U was even then asserted that nearly 30,000 a very consistent style. He seems to have been of 'The Lay' had been disposed of in anxious only to strike, and to be easily and this country and that the demand for ' Marmion ' universally understood ; and for this purpose to H TV Ladv of the Lake' had been still have culled the most glittering and conspicuous nore considerable. This was in the year 1810. expressions of the most popular authors, and to three ereat poems, intended to work out have interwoven them in splendid confusion with lt b his own nervous diction and irregular versification. jlt'M* mice t.*v*v i- ,. . the same principles and the same results by his own nervous dictK similar means, though sufficiently distinguished There is nothing in Sir VV alter Scott of the severe from each other led to a critical investigation and majestic style of Milton, orof the terse and fine of Mr. Scott's peculiar and extraordinary merit, composition of Pope, or of the elaborate elegance and to an analysis of his poetical character. It is evident that the charm of Sir Walter Scott's poetry is not in the story, or in a judicious and dextrous management of his materials, but in the inspira- tions of genius, which are every where breathed through his not very well compacted narrations ; in the variety and brilliancy, rather than in the exquisite finish in its images and descriptions ; and in its touching lightly on many passions, without raising any so high as to transcend the comprehension of ordinary mortals, or dwelling on it so long as to exhaust their patience. Con- fident in the force and originality of his own and melody of Campbell, or even of the flowing and redundant diction of Southey. But there is a medley of bright images and glowing words set carelessly and loosely together ; a diction tinged successively with the careless richness of Shakspeare, the harshness and antique simplicity of the old romances, the homeliness of vulgar ballads and anecdotes, and the sentimental glitter of the most modern poetry. Passing from the borders of the ludicrous to those of the sublime ; alternately minute and energetic : sometimes artificial, and frequently negligent ; but always full of spirit and vivacity, abounding in images genius, he does not seem afraid to avail himself that are striking, at first sight, to minds of every of common-places both of diction and sentiment, *""* - 1 *"""" - *; whenever they appeared to be beautiful or impres- sive. Using these however with the skill and spirit of an in ventor,he has made use of thatgreat treasury of characters, images, and expressions, which had been accumulated by the most celebrated of his contexture; and never expressing a sentiment which it can cost the most ordinary reader any exertion to comprehend. Such seem to be the leading qualities that contribute to Sir Walter Scott's popularity as a. poet, and we may safely affirm that, where these predecessors ; at the same time that the rapidity are wanting, poetry is necessarily divested of of his transitions, the novelty of hv? combf- much of its great aim to please, to please the nations, and the spirit and variety of his own thoughts and inventions, show plainly that he was a borrower from any thing but poverty, and took only what he could have given, if he had been born in an earlier generation , The great secret of his popularity, however, and the leading characteristics of his poetry, appear to consist greatest number and for ever. But as some of the qualities we have enumerated, as peculiarly characteristic of Sir W. Scott, are obviously of a kind to diminish his merit, in the eyes of some fas- tidious judges, it is but fair to complete this view of his peculiarities, by a hasty notice of such of them as entitle him to unqualified admiration. And evidently in this, that he has made more use of here it is impossible not to be struck with that common topics and expressions than any ori- ginal poet of later times ; and at the same time displayed more genius and originality than any recent author, who has worked on the same materials. In the choice of his subjects, for example, he does not attempt to interest merely by fine observation or pathetic sentiment, but takes the assistance of a story, and enlists vivifying spirit of strength and animation which pervades all the inequalities of his composition, and keeps constantly in the mind of the reader the impression of great power, spirit, and intre- pidity. There is nothing cold, creeping, or feeble, in all Sir Walter Scott's poetry : no laborious littleness, or pulling classical affecta- tion. Allied to this inherent vigor and animation, the reader's curiosity among his motives, for at- and in a great degree derived from it, is that air of tention. Thus his characters are all selected from facility and freedom which adds so peculiar a the most common dramatis persona of poetry grace to most of Sir Walter Scott's compositions, kings, warriors, knights, outlaws, nuns, minstrels, There is certainly no living poet whose works secluded damsels, wizards, and true lovers. He never ventures to carry us into the cottage of the peasant, like Crabbe or Cowper ; nor into the bosom of domestic privacy, like Campbell ; nor among creatures of the imagination, like Southey or Darwin. In the management of the passions, again, Sir Walter Scott appears to us to have pursued the same popular and comparatively easy course. He has raised all the most familiar and poetical emotions, by the most obvious aggravations, and in the most compendious and judicious way. He has dazzled the reader with the splendour, and even warmed him with the transient heat of various affections ; but he has no where fairly kindled him with ent -"siasm, or seem to come from him with so much ease, or who so seldom appears to labour, even in the most burdensome parts of his performance. It is owing partly to these qualities, and partly to the great variety of his style, that Sir Walter Scott is much less frequently tedious than any other bulky poet with whom we are acquainted. His store of imagery is so copious that he never dwells upon one long enough to produce weariness in the reader ; and, even when he deals in borrowed or in tawdry wares, the rapidity of his transitions, and the transient glance with which he is satisfied as to each, leave the cretic no time to be offended, and hurry him forward along with the enchanted multitude. A B B O T S F O R D. i (v lo These we think are the general characteristics of Sir Walter Scott's poetry. Among his main peculiarities, we might notice his singular talent for description, and especially for the description of scenes abounding in motion or action of any kind. In this department, indeed, we conceive him to be almost without a rival, either among modern or ancient poets ; and the character and process of his descriptions are as extraordinary as their effects are astonishing. Another very striking peculiarity of Sir Walter Scott's poetry is the air of freedom and nature which he has contrived to impart to most of his distinguished characters, and with which no poet more modern than Shakspeare has ventured to represent personages of such dignity. We do not allude here merely to the genuine familiarity and homeliness of many of his scenes and dialogues, but to that air of gaiety and playfulness in which persons of high rank seem from time immemorial to have thought it necessary to array, not their courtesy only, but their generosity and their hos- tility. This tone of good society Sir Walter has shed over his higher characters with great grace and effect ; and has in this way not only made his representations much more faithful and true to nature, but has very agreeably relieved the monotony of that tragic solemnity which or- dinary writers appear to think indispensable to the dignity of poetical heroes and heroines. The Lady of the Lake was probably the last of Sir Walter Scott's poems that was worthy of his genius and unparalleled reputation. It is de- scribed, and we think justly, as combining more attractions than either the Lay or Marmion, and as being a far more regular and finished work. The vision of Don Roderick Rokeby, and the Lord of the Isles added nothing to Sir Walter Scott's reputation ; they exhibit in succession fainter and fainter manifestations of the author's talents, and the world felt little regret when his muse ceased her biennial announcement of an increase in her very prolific family. Yet any one of the poems we have referred to would have set up an ordinary poet ; nay, it would have placed him very nearly at the head of his brightest and most successful contemporaries; and, when taken together as the rapid creation of a single mind, they afford an astonishing illustration of its power. Of the four, though Rokeby was the last, and indicated a lamentable falling off, a critic truly remarked, ' after all the hyperbolical praises and hypercritical censures which have been lavished on Mr. Scott's talents, that mind must be indeed of extraordinary capacity which could in the course of about eight years produce four such poems as the Lay of the Minstrel, Marmion, The Lady of the Lake, and Rokeby.' The periodical minstrel who paid his regular visits and charmed all ears and all hearts, from John a Groat's house to the Land's end, at length suddenly disappeared. One morn I missed him on the custom 'd hill ; Along the heath and near his favorite tree ; Another rame, nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he. The harp of the north was silent ; and men wondered what had become of the mitrhty ma- gician who had so long entranced them with his melody. Those who were intimately acquainted with the bard well knew the irrepressible acti- vity of his spirit, and that he could not repose in voluptuous indolence amidst the fragrant in- cense of the fame he had acquired that it was impossible for his mirrd to relax its labor, which was in truth its highest enjoyment ; and there- fore they felt assured that, having renounced the lighter pursuits of literature, he was bending his power to the achievement of some noble per- formance that should rank his name among the loftiest of the sons of immortality. For many years this continued to be the general impression. In the mean time, the vacuum occasioned by Sir Walter's retirement was mysteriously filled up by a writer of novels and romances, who seemed destined in prose to outstrip all the poets of the age, whose creations only wanted rhythm and the appropriate forms of versification to surpass the Southeys and the Scotts in their own particular walk of excellence, while he threw into shade and forgetful ness the class of authors whose province he had invaded with a success which made him at once the admiration and the envy of the world. The buzz went round Who is he ? A Scotsman certainly but, beyond this, curiosity was utterly at fault ; the scret was so well kept that the author of ' the Waverly novels,' as this most rich and marvellous series of works has since been denominated, was only talked of as ' the Great Unknown.' Some indeed imagined that performanoes of such transcendant merit, following each other in breathless succes- sion, so that one was scarcely read before another was in circulation, must have been the joint production of two or three kindred minds. It seemed almost physically impossible that they could have been the labor of one. Yet this has since been proved to be the case and that one, to the delight and pride of his admirers, is Sir Walter Scott. The remarks which we have ventured to offer on the peculiarities of his poetry apply gene- rally to his novels, only that in these he takes a wider range, and in addition developes other powers altogether so extraordinary in their com- bination that Sir Walter Scoot will never have a rival in his own times; and it is questionable whether posterity will ever produce in all re- spects his equal. Speaking of the wonderful success of Waverly, the review before quoted observes ' the secret of this success, we take it, is merely that the author is a person of genius, and that he has, notwithstanding, had virtue enough to be true to nature throughout, and to content himself, even in the marvellous parts of his story, with copying from actual existences rather than from the phantasms of his own imagination. The charm which this communicates to all works that deal in the representation of human actions and characters is more readily felt than understood, and operates with unfailing efficacy even upon those who have no acquaintance with the originals from which the picture has been borrowed. There is a consistency in na- ture and truth, the want of which may always be detected in the happiest combinations of fancy, and the consciousness of their support gives a confidence and assurance to the artist which en- courages him occasionally to risk a strength of coloring, and a boldness of drawing, upon which AB-BOTSFORD. he would scarcely have ventured in a sketch that was purely ideal.' The article concludes with something like an intimation that the un- known was at least suspected. ' There has been much speculation, says the critic, at least in this quarter of the island, about the author of this singular performance, and certainly it is not easy to conjecture why it is still anonymous. Judging by internal evidence, to which alone we pretend to have access, we should not scruple to ascribe it to the highest of those authors to whom it has been assigned by the sagacious conjectures of the public ; and this at least we will venture to say, that, if it be indeed the work of an author hitherto unknown, Mr. Scott will do well to look to his laurels, and to rouse himself for a sturdier competitor than any he has yet had to encounter.' Guy Mannering and The Antiquary followed, and sustained the high reputation of the author of Waverly, then known only under that envia- ble character ; then were announced The Tales of my Landlord ; then Rob Roy, which was im- mediately succeeded by the splendid and un- rivalled performance, Ivanhoe; and then a multitude to which additions are made during tho progress of each succeeding year ; so that to enumerate, much less to notice them, would extend this article beyond - all reasonable limits, and answer no good purpose, as they have been read in both hemispheres, and in every spot where the English tongue is written and under- stood. From this useless task we shall therefore refrain, and content ourselves with a discriminat- ing view of the talents of Sir Walter in this new and delightful sphere of his labors and his fame. The first thing that cannot fail to astonish every body is the wonderful fertility of the writer, and the unexampled continuousness of his exertions. In the year 1822 the Edinburgh Review, in its article on the Fortunes of Nigel, takes occasion to say, ' our last particular notice we think was of Ivanhoe, in the end of 1819 ; and, in the two years that have since elapsed, we have had the Monastery, the Abbot, Kenilworth, the Pirates, and Nigel ; one, two, three, four, five, large original works from the same fertile and inex- haustible pen. It is a strange manufacture ! and, though depending entirely on invention and original fancy, really seems to proceed with all the steadiness and regularity of a thing that was kept in operation by industry and applica- tion alone ; our whole fraternity, for example, with all the works of all other writers to supply them with materials, are not half so sure of bringing out their two volumes in the year as this one author, with nothing but his own genius to depend on, is of bringing out his six or seven.' The same authority in various other articles furnishes us with the very best exhibitions of the characteristic features of that genius whose fertility and perseverence it pronounces to be so wonderful. ' In the period of little more than five years, the author has founded a new school of invention, and established and en- dowed it with nearly thirty volumes (this was in 1819) of the most animated and original com- position that have enriched English literature for a century, volumes that have cast sensibly into the shade all contemporary prose, and even all recent poetry (except perhaps that inspired by the genius or the demon of Byron) ; and by their force of coloring and depth of feeling, by their variety, vivacity, magical facility, and living presentiment of character, have rendered conceivable to this later age the miracles of the mighty dramatist.' The critic had before al- luded to the thirty-eight plays of Shakspeare, written in the brief space of his early manhood ; and he goes on to observe, ' Shakspeare, to be sure, is more purely original ; but it should not be forgotten that in his time there was much less to borrow, and that he too has drawn freely and largely from the sources that were open to him at least for his Fable, and graver sentiments ; for his wit and humor, as well as his poetry, are always his own.' We subjoin the following, which is more comprehensive, and at the same time more de- finite, than any thing we have met with on the subject of this author's peculiar merits as a novelist. ' The author, whoever he is, has a truly graphic and creative power in the inven- tion and delineation of characters, which he sketches with an ease, and colors with a bril liancy, and scatters about with a profusion which reminds us of Shakspeare himself; yet, with all this force and felicity in the representa- tion of living agents, he has the eye of a poet for all the striking aspects of nature; and usually contrives, both in his scenery and in the groups with which it is enlivened, to combine the picturesque with the natural with a grace that has rarely been attained by artists so co- pious and rapid. His narrative in this way is kept constantly full of life, variety, and color ; and is so interspersed with glowing descriptions, and lively allusions, and flying traits of sagacity and pathos, as not only to keep our attention continually awake, but to afford a pleasing ex- ercise to most of our other faculties. The pre- vailing tone is very gay and pleasant ; but the author's most remarkable, and perhaps his most delightful talent, is that of representing kindness of heart in unison with lightness of spirits and great simplicity of character, and of blending the expression of warm and generous and exalted affections with scenes and persons that are in themselves both lowly, and ridiculous. It is very honorable, we think, both to the author and to the readers among whom he is so extremely popular, that the great interest of his pieces is for the greater part a moral in- terest, that the concern we take in his characters is less on account of their adventures than of their amiableness, and that the great charm of his works is derived from the kindness of heart, the capacity of generous emotions, and the lights of native taste, which he ascribes so lavishly, and at the same time with such an air of truth and familiarity, even to the humblest of his favorites. With all his relish for the ridiculous, accordingly, there is no tone of misanthropy or even of sarcasm in his representations ; but, on the contrary, a great indulgence and relenting towards those who are to be the objects of our disapprobation. There is no keen or cold- blooded satire, no bitterness of heart or fierce- ness of resentment, in any part of his writings. His love of ridicule is little else than a lo.ye of ABBOT SFORD. 15 mirth, and savours throughout of the joyous tem- perament in which it appears to have its origin, while the buoyancy of a raised and poetical imagination lifts him continually above the region of mere jollity and good humour, to which a taste, by no means nice and fastidious, .seems constantly in danger of sinking him. He is evidently a person of a very sociable and liberal spirit, with great habits of observation, who has ranged pretty extensively through the varieties of human life and character, and mingled with them all, not only with intelligent familiarity, but with a free and natural sym- pathy for all the diversity of their tastes, plea- sures, and pursuits, one who has kept his heart as well as his eyes open to all that has offered itself to engage them, and learned indulgence for human faults and follies, not only from find- ing kindred faults in their most intolerant cen- sors, but also for the sake of the virtues by which they are often redeemed, and the sufferings by which they have still oftener been taught. The temper of his writings, in short, is precisely the reverse of those of our Laureates and Lakers, who, being themselves the most whim- sical of mortals, make it a conscience to loathe and detest all with whom they happen to dis- agree, and labor to promote mutual animosity, and all manner of uncharitableness, among man- kind, by referring every supposed error of taste, or peculiarity of opinion, to some hateful corruption of the heart and understanding. With all the in- dulgence, however, which we so justly ascribe to him, we are far from complaining of the writer before us for being too neutral and undecided on the great subjects which are most apt to en- gender excessive zeal and intolerance, and we are almost as far from agreeing with him as to most of these subjects. In politics it is suffi- ciently manifest that he is a decided tory ; and we are afraid something of a latitudinarian both in morals and religion. It is rather remarkable, how- ever, that with propensities decidedly aristo- cratical, the ingenious author has succeeded by far the best in the representation of rustic and homely characters ; and not in the ludicrous or contemptuous representation of them, but by making them at once more natural and more in- teresting than they had ever been made before in any work of fiction ; by showing them, not as clowns to be laughed at, or wretches to be pitied and despised, but as human creatures, with as many pleasures, and fewer cares than their superiors, with affections not only as strong, but often as delicate as those whose lan- guage is smoother, and with a vein of humor, a force of sagacity, and very frequently an ele- vation of fancy as high and as natural as can be met with among more cultivated beings. ' Next to these we think he has found his hap- piest subjects, or at least displayed his greatest powers, in the delineation of the grand and gloomy aspects of nature, and of the dark and fierce passions of the heart. The natural gaiety of his temper does not indeed allow him to dwell long on such themes ; but the sketches he occasionally introduces are executed with ad- mirable force and spirit, and gave a strong im- pression both of the vigor of his imagination and the variety of his talents. It is only in the third rank that we would place his pictures of chivalry and chivalrous character, his traits of gallantry, nobleness, and honor, and that be- witching assemblage of gay and gentle manners, with generosity, candor, and courage, which has long been familiar enough to readers and writers of novels, but has never before been represented with such an air of truth and so much ease and happiness of execution.' It will be seen that the Edinburgh Reviewers, on more than one occasion, insinuated very strong suspicions of their knowledge of the author, from the internal evidence furnished by his works ; they associated the name of Scott, both in their notice of Waverly and in that of Ivan- hoe, in such a way with the productions under review, that no reader could possibly misunder- stand what were their convictions on the subject. Still public curiosity was kept alive by positive assurances that Mr. Scott had repeatedly dis- claimed the henor so earnestly and officiously thrust upon him. It was said that there was a kind of secret manufactory established in the north for getting up an annual story for the literary market under the presidency of a master mind ; yet the secret was still profoundly kept, and conjecture was almost wearied, when disastrous events occurred in the commercial, and especially in the literary 'commercial world, that tore off the veil that had so long concealed the writer from the gaze of the public. The intelligence ran and rung from ' side to side ' that it was no other than Sir Walter Scott : at the very moment when the accumulations of his life, and which placed him in a situation of almost noble inde- pendence, were reduced to nothing, he became the object of universal sympathy, wonder, and admiration. The story of Abbotslord, as it existed in the lifetime of its gifted proprietor, will probably be read with a deeper interest than that of Abbotsford in subsequent years, bereft of its brightest ornament : and this consideration has induced us to preserve the fol owing description of this interesting seat, written by one of the poet's transatlantic admirers, in the very same tense that it originally appeared, whereby per- haps a sacrifice of its spirit and feeling will also be avoided, and an additional degree of interest excited. ' Some fifteen or sixteen years ago, as my friend informed me, there was not a more unlovely spot,ic this part of the world, than that on which Abbots- ford now exhibits all its quaint architecture and beautiful accompaniment of garden andwoodland. A mean farm house stood on part of the site of the present edifice ; a ' kale yard ' bloomed where the stately embattled court yard now spreads it- self ; and for many thousand acres of flourishing plantations, half of which have all the appearance of being twice as old as they really are, there was but a single long straggling stripe of unthriv- ing firs. The river, however, must needs remain in statu quo ; and I will not believe that any place so near those clearest and sweetest of all waters could ever have been quite destitute of charms. The scene, however, was no doubt wild enough, a naked moor a few little turnip fields pain- fully reclaimed from it a Scotch cottage a Scotch farm yard, and some Scotch firs. It is 16 A K B O T S F O II D. difficult to imagine a more complete contrast to the Abbotsfordof 1825. ' Sir W. is, as you have no doubt heard, a most zealous agriculturist, and arboriculturist especial- ly ; and he is allowed to have done things with this estate, since it came into his possession, which would have been reckoned wonders, even if they had occupied the whole of a clever and skilful man's attention, during more years than have elapsed since he began to write himself Laird of Abbotsford. He has some excellent arable land on the banks of the Tweed, and to- wards the little town of Melrose, which lies some three miles from the mansion ; but the bulk of the property is hilly country, with deep narrow dells interlacing it. Of this he has planted fully one half, and it is admitted on all hands that his rising forest has been laid out, arranged, and managed with consummate taste, care, and suc- cess so much so, that the general appearance of Tweedside, for some miles, is already quite altered and improved by the graceful ranges of his woodland ; and that the produce of these plantations must, in the course of twenty or thirty years more, add immensely to the yearly rental of the estate. In the mean time, the shel- ter afforded by the woods to the sheep walks re- served amidst them has prodigiously improved the pasturage, and half the surface yields already double the rent the whole was ever thought capable of affording, while in the old unprotected condition. All through those woods there are broad riding-ways, kept in capital order, and con- ducted in such excellent taste that we might wan- der for weeks amidst their windings without ex- hausting the beauties of the Poet's lounge. There are scores of charming waterfalls in the ravines, and near every one of them you find benches or bowers at the most picturesque points of view. There are two or three small mountain lakes in- cluded in the domain one of them not so small neither, being, I should suppose, nearly a mile in circumference and of these also every advan- take has been taken. On the whole, it is already a very beautiful scene ; and, when the trees have gained their proper dignity of elevation, it must be a very grand one. Amidst these woods, Mr. * tells me, the proprietor, when at home, usually spends many hours daily, either on his pony, or on foot, with axe and pruning knife in hand. Here is his study; he, it seems, like Jaques, is never at a loss to find ' books in trees.' ' The Muse nae poet ever fand her Till by hiinscl' he learned to wander Adown some trotting burn's meander, An' no think lane.' OI As Burns says ; and one of his burns, by the by, is Huntley Bum, where Thomas of Erceldoune met the queen of Faery. The rencontre, accord- ing to the old Rhymer himself, occurred beside 'The Eildon Tree.' That landmark has long since disappeared, but most of Sir Walter's walks have the Eildon Hills, in some one or other of their innumerable aspects, for background. But I am keeping you too long away from 'The Rooftree of Monkbarns,' which is situated on the brink of the last of a series of irregular hills, descending from the elevation of the Eidons stepwise, to the Tweed. On all sides, except towards the river, the house connects itself with the gardens (according to the old fashion, now generally condemned) ; so that there is no want of air and space about the habitation. The building is such a one, I dare say, as nobody but he would ever have dreamed of erecting ; or, if he had, escaped being quizzed for his pains. Yet it is eminently imposing in its general effect ; and, in most of the details, not only full of his- torical interest, but of beauty also. It is no doubt a thing of shreds and patches, but they have been combined by a masterly hand ; and if there be some whimsicalities, that in an ordinary case might have called up a smile, who is likely now or hereafter to contemplate such a monument of such a man's peculiar tastes and fancies, without feelings of a far different order ? Borrowing outlines and ornaments from every part of Scot- land, a gateway from Linlithgow, a roof from Roslin, a chimneypiece from Melrose, a postern from the ' Heart of Midlothian,' &c. &c. &c., it is totally unlike any other building in the king- dom, as a whole ; and that hole is, I have said, a beautiful and a noble whole almost enough so to make me suspect that, if Sir Walter had been bred an architect, he might have done a? much in that way as he has, de facto, in the wood- man's craft, or (which they swear he is less vain of) the novelist's. ' By the principal approach you come very sud- denly on the edifice as the French would say, ' Vous tombez sur le chateau ;' but this evil, if evil it be, was unavoidable, in consequence of the vicinity of a public road which cuts off the chateau and its plaisance from the main body of park and wood, making it a matter of necessity that what is called, in the improvement men's slang, ' the avenue proper,' should be short. It is but slightly curved, and you find yourself, a very few minutes after turning from the road, at the great gate already mentioned. This is a lofty arch rising out of an embattled wall of consider- able height ; and the jougs, as they are styled, those well known emblems of feudal authority, hang rusty at the side ; this pair being dit on relics from that great citadel of the old Doug- lasses, Thrieve Castle, in Galloway. On enter- ing, you find yourself within an enclosure of per- haps half an acre or better, two sides thereof being protected by the high wall above mentioned, all along which, inside, a trellissed walk extends itself broad, cool, and dark overhead with roses and honeysuckles. The third side,to the east,shows a serene of open arches of Gothic stonework, filled between with a net-work of iron, not visible until you come close to it, and affording therefore de- lightful glimpses of the gardens, which spread up- wardswith many architectural ornaments of turret, porch, urn, vase, and what not, after a fashion that would make the heart of old Price of the Picturesque to leap within him : this screen is a feature of equal novelty and grace, and, if ever the old school of gardening come into vogue again, will find abundance of imitators. It abutts on the eastern extremity of the house, which runs along the whole of the northern side (and a small part of the western) of the great enclo- sure. And, by the way, nothing can be more de- lightful than the whole effect of the said enclosure, m the still and solitary state in which I chanced to see it. There is room for a piece of the most ABBOTSFORD. 17 elaborate turf within it, and rosaries of all man- ner of shapes and sizes generally connect this green pavement with the roof of the trellis walk, a verdant cloister, over which appears the gray wall with its little turrets ; and over that, again, climb oak, elm, birch, and hazel, up a steep bank so steep that the trees, young as they are, give already all the grand effect of a sweeping am- phitheatre of wood. The back ground on that side is wholly forest ; on the east, garden loses itself in forest by degrees ; on the west there is wood on wood also, but with glimpses of the Tweed between ; and in the distance (some half a dozen miles off) a complete sierra, the ridge of the mountain between Tweed and Yarrow, to wit its highest peak being that of Newark hill, at the bottom of which the old castle, where the ' latest Minstrel sang,' still exhibits some noble ruins. ' Not being skilled in the technical tongue of the architects, I beg leave to decline describ- ing the structure of the house, farther than merely to say that it is more than 150 feet long in front, as I paced it ; was built at two different onsets ; has a tall tower at either end, the one not in the least like the other ; presents sundry crowfooted, alias zigzagged, gables to the eye ; a myriad of indentations and parapets and machicolated eaves ; most fantastic waterspouts ; labelled windows, not a few of them of painted glass ; groups of right Elizabethan chimneys ; balconies of divers fashions, greater and lesser ; stones carved with heraldries innumerable let in here and there in the wall ; and a very noble pro- jecting gateway, a fac simile, I am told, of that appertaining to a certain dilapidated royal palace, which long ago seems to have caught in a parti- cular manner the Poet's fancy, as witness the ctanza, Of all the palaces so fair, Built for the royal dwelling, Above the rest, beyond compare, Linlithgow is excelling. From the porchway, which is quite open to the elements in front,and adorned with some enormous petrefied staghorns overhead, you are admitted by a pair of folding doors at orce into the hall, and an imposing coup d'tril the first glimpse of the Poet's interior does present. The lofty windows, only two in number, being wholly covered with coats of arms, the place appears as dark as the twelfth century, on your first entrance from noon- day ; but the delicious coolness of the atmosphere is luxury enough for a minute or two ; and by de- grees your eyes get accustomed to the effect of those ' storied panes,' and you are satisfied that you stand in one of the most picturesque of apartments. The hall is, I should guess, about forty feet long, by twenty in height and breadth. The walls are of richly carved oak, most part of it exceedingly dark, and brought, it seems, from the old palace of Dunfermline : the roof, a se- ries of pointed arches of the same, each beam presenting, in the centre, a shield of arms richly blazoned : of these shields there are sixteen, enough to bear all the quarterings of a perfect pedigree, if the Poet could show them ; but on the material side (at the extremity) there are two or three blanks (of the same sort which made Louis le Grand unhappy) which have been co- vered with sketches of Cloudland, and equipped VOL. I. with the appropriate motto, ' Nox alia -cetat. The shields properly filled up are distinguished ones ; the descent of Scott and Harden on one side, and Rutherford of that ilk on the other ; all which matters, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of Douglas andNisbet ? There is a doorway at the eastern end, over and round which the baronet has placed another series of escutcheons, which I looked on with at least as much respect : they are the memorials of his im- mediate personal connexions, the bearings of his friends and companions. All around the cor- nice of this noble room there runs a continued series of blazoned shields, of another sort still ; at the centre of one end, I saw the bloody heart of Douglas ; and, opposite to that, the royal lion of Scotland, and between the ribs there is an inscription in black letter, which I, after some trials, read, and of which I wish I had had sense enough to take a copy. To the best of my re- collection, the words are not unlike these : ' These be the coat armories of the clannis and chief men of name, wha keepit the marchys of Scotlande in the auld tyme of the Kinge. Trewe ware they in their tyme, and in there defense God them defendyt.' There are from thirty to forty shields thus distinguished Douglas, Soulis, Buccleugh, Maxwell, Johnstoune, Glendoning, Herries, Ru- therford, Kerr, Elliott, Pringle, Home, and all the other heroes, as you may guess, of the border minstrelsy. The floor of this hall is black and white marble,from the Hebrides, wrought lozenge- wise ; and the upper walls are completely hung with arms and armour. Two full suits of splen- did steel occupy niches at the eastern end by themselves ; the one an English suit of Henry the Fifth's time, the other an Italian, not quite so old. The variety of cuirasses, black and white, plain and sculptured, is endless ; helmets are in equal profusion ; stirrups and spurs, of every fantasy, dangle about and below them ; and there are swords of every order, from the enor- mous two-handed weapon with which the Swiss peasants dared to withstand the spears of the Austrian chivalry, to the claymore of the ' Forty- five,' and the rapier of Dettingen. Indeed, I might come still lower; for, among the other spoils, I saw Polish lances, gathered by the author of Paul's Letters on the field of Waterloo, and a complete suit of chain mail taken off the corpse of one of Tippoo's body-guard at Seringapatam. A series of German executioners' swords was inter alia pointed out to me ; on the blade of one of which I made out the arms of Augsburg, and a legend which may be thus rendered : Dust, when I strike, to dust : From sleepless grave. Sweet Jesu, stoop, a sin-staiued soul to save I am sorry there is no catalogue of this curious collection. Sir Walter ought to make one him- self ; for my .cicerone informs me there is some particular history attached to almost every piece in it, and known in detail to nobody but himself. ' Stepping westward,' as Wordsworth says, from this hall, you find yourself in a narrow, low, arched room, which runs quite across the house, having a blazoned window again at either extre- mity, and filled all over with smaller pieces of ar- mour, and weapons, such as swords, firelocks, spears, arrows, darts, daggers, &c. &c. &c. Here are the pieces esteemed most precious by reason 18 of their histories respectively. I saw, among the rest, Rob Roy's gun, with his initials, R. M. C i e Robert Macgregor Campbell, round the touch-hole : the blunderbuss of Hofer, a present to Sir Walter from his friend Sir Humphry ,- : Asvn * a w/\i*/1 Q c m n 0*n in- ABBOTSFORD. as both by Jervas ; and the head of Mary ^ Scots, in a charger, painted by Amias Canrood the day after the decapitation at Fothermgay, and sent some years ago as a present to Sir Walter from a Prussian nobleman, in whose i mly it had greai JLVAUUUU^, i.vi "-;B ~-~ f nl j nava ii e r mentioned in one of the epistles Henry worked on the hilt ; the hunting bottle of old ^cava her mem ^ ^ bonnie King Jamie; Buonapartes pistols (found Ma ^ J^, the First | nd who here in his carriage at Waterloo, I believe) cum ^^'ordingly, with a most venerable ap- nndti, alii*. I should have mentioned that stag- appears J^^ even JT horns and bull's horns (the petnfied relics of the jendag ot sUver w ^ ^ fe ^ old mountain monster, I mean), and so forth, are his girdle . ims . 5 ^^^^^S^lSSr &c, I should have taken it for a likeness of Sir ways of these armories ; and that in one<.orner c., common , which Cardinal Carstairs did not flinch, and the more terrific iron crown of Wisheart the Martyr, being a sort of barred head-piece, screwed on the victim at the stake, to prevent him from crying aloud in his agony. In short, there can be no doubt that, like Grose of merry memory, the mighty Minstrel Has a fourth o* auld nick-nackets, Rusty aim caps and jiiiglin' jackets, Wad baud the Lothians three in tackets, A towmnont' guid. These relics of other, and for the most part darker, years, are disposed, however with so much grace and elegance, that I doubt if Mr. Hope himself would find any thing to quarrel with in the beautiful apartments which contain them. The smaller of these opens to the drawing room on one side and the dining room on the other, and is fitted up with low divans rather than sofas ; so as to make, I doubt not, a most agreeable sitting room when the apartments are occupied, as for my sins I found them not. In the hall, when the weather is hot, the baronet is accustomed to dine ; and a gallant refectory no question it must make. A ponderous chan- delier of painted glass swings from the roof; and the chimneypiece (the design copied from the stonework of the Abbot's Stall at Melrose) would hold rafters enough for a Christmas fire of the good old time. Were the company suitably attired, a dinner party here would look like a scene in the Mysteries of Udolpho. ' Beyond the smaller, or rather, I should say, the narrower armory, lies the dining parlour proper, however ; and, though there is nothing Udolphoish here, yet I can well believe that, when lighted up and the curtains drawn at night, the place may give no bad notion of the private snuggery of some lofty lord abbot of the time of the Canterbury Tales. The room is a very hand- some one, with a low and very richly carved roof of dark oak again ; a hugh projecting bow win- dow, and the dais elevated more majorum ; the ornaments of the roof, niches for lamps, &c.&c., in short, all the minor details, are, I believe, fac similes after Melrose. The walls are hung in crimson, but almost entirely covered with pic- tures, of which the most remarkable are the parliamentary general, Lord Essex, a full length on horseback ; the Duke of Monmouth, by Lely ; a capital Hogarth, by himself; Prior and Gay, try's bust.' There is also a very splendid full length of Lucy Waters, mother of the Duke of Monmouth ; and an oval, capitally painted, of Anne Duchess of Buccleugh, the same who, In pri'de of youth, in beauty's bloom, Had wept o'er Monmouth's bloody tomb. All the furniture of this room is massy Gothic oak ; and, as I said before, when it is fairly lit up, and plate and glass set forth, it must needs have a richly and luxuriously antique aspect. Be- yond and alongside are narrowish passages,which make one fancy one's self in the penetralia of some dim old monastery ; for roofs and walls and windows (square, round, and oval alike), are sculptured in stone, after the richest relics of Melrose and Roslin Chapel. One of these leads to a charming breakfast room, which looks to the Tweed on one side, and towards Yarrow and Ettricke, famed in song, on the other : a cheerful room fitted up with novels, romances, and poetry, I could perceive, at one end; and the other walls covered thick and thicker with a most valuable and beautiful collection of water-color drawings, chiefly by Turner, and Thompson of Dudding- stone : the designs, in short, for the magnificent work entitled ' Provincial Antiquities of Scot- land.' There is one very grand oil-painting over the chimneypiece, Fastcastle, by Thompson, alias the Wolfs Crag of the Bride of Lammer- moor, one of the most majestic and melancholy sea pieces I ever saw ; and some large black and white drawings of the Vision of Don Roderick, by Sir James Steuart of Allenbank (whose illustra- tion of Marmion and Mazeppa you have seen or heard of), are at one end of the parlour. The room is crammed with queer cabinets and boxes, and in a niche there is a bust of old Henry Mackenzie, by Joseph of Edinburgh. Returning towards the armory, you have, on one side of a most re- ligious looking corridor, a small greenhouse with a fountain playing before it the very fountain that in days of yore graced the cross of Edin- burgh, and used to flow with claret at the coro- nation of the Stuarts a pretty design, and a standing monument of the barbarity of modern innovation. From the small armory you pass, as I said before, into the drawing room, a large, lofty, and splendid salon, with antique ebony furniture and crimson silk hangings, cabinets, china, and ihirrors quantum suff., and some por- traits ; among the rest the glorious John Dryden, A B B O T S F R D. by Sir Feter Lely, with his gray hairs floating about in a most picturesque style, eyes full of vvildness, presenting the old bard, I take it, in one of those ' tremulous moods' in which we have it on record he appeared when interrupted in the midst of his Alexander's Feast. From this you pass into the largest of all the apart- ments, the library, which. I must say, is really a noble room. It is an oblong of some fifty feet by thirty, with a projection in the centre, oppo- site the fire-place, terminating in a grand bow window, fitted up with books also, and. in fact, constituted a sort of chapel to the church. The roof is of carved oak again a very rich pattern, I believe chifly a la Roslin, and the book- cases, which are also of richly carved oak, reach high up the walls al-1 round. The collection amounts, in this room, to some fifteen or twenty thousand volumes, arranged according to their subjects ; British history and antiquities filling the whole of the chief wall. English poetry and drama, classics and miscellanies, one end, fo- reign literature, chiefly French and German, the other The cases on the side opposite the fire are wired, and locked, as containing articles very precious and very portable. One consists en- tirely of books and MSS. relating to the insur- rections of 1715 and 1745; and another (within .the recess of the bow window) of treatises de re niaica, both of these being (I am told, and can well believe), in their several ways, collections of the rarest curiosity. My cicerone pointed out, in one corner, a magnificent set of Montfaucon, ten volumes folio, bound in the richest manner in scarlet, and stamped with the royal arms, the gift of his present Majesty. There are few living authors of whose works presentation copies are not to be found here. My friend showed me in- scriptions of that sort in, I believe, every Euro- pean dialect extant. The books are all in prime condition, and bindings that would satisfy Mr. Dibdin. The only picture is Sir Walter's eldest son is hussar uniform, and holding his horse, by Allen of Edinburgh, a noble portrait, over the fire place ; and the only bust is that of Shakspeare, from the Avon monument, in a small niche in the centre of the east side. On a rich stand of porphyry, in one corner, reposes a tall silver urn filled with bones from the Pii;eus, and bearing the inscription, ' Given by George Gordon, Lord Byron, to Sir Walter Scott, Bart.' It contained the letter which accompanied the gift till lately : it has disappeared ; no one guesses who took it, but whoever he was, as my guide observed, he must have been a thief for thieving's sake truly, as he durst no more exhibit his autograph than tip himself with a bare bodkin. Sad, infamous tourist indeed ! Although I saw abundance of comfort- able looking desks and arm chairs, yet this room seemed rather too large and fine for work, and I found accordingly, after passing a double pair of doors, that there was a sanctum within and beyond this library. And here you may believe was not to me the least interesting, though by no means the most splendid, part of the suit. ' The lion's own den proper, then, is a room of about five-and-twenty feet square by twenty feet high, containing of what is properly called furni- ture nothing but a small writing table in the centre, a plain arm chair covered with black lea- ther a very comfortable one though, for I trif <( it and a single chair besides, plain symptoms that this is no place for company. On either side of the fire-place there are shelves filled with duodecimos, and books of reference, chiefly, of course, folios ; but except these there are no- books rave the contents of a light gallery which runs round three sides of the room, and is reached by a hanging stair of carved oak in one corner. You have been both at the Elisee Bourbon and Malmaison, and remember the library at one or other of those places, 1 forget which ; this gallery is much in the same style. There are only two portraits, an original of the beautiful and melan- choly head of Claverhouse, and a small full length of Rob Roy. Various little antique cabinets stand round about, each having a bust on it : Stothard's Canterbury Pilgrims are on the man- telpiece ; and in one corner I saw a collection of really useful weapons, those of the forest-craft, to wit axes and bills and so forth of every cali- bre. There is only one window pierced in a very thick wall, so that the place is rather som- bre ; the light tracery work of the gallery over- head harmonises with the books well. It is a very comfortable looking room, and very un- like any other I ever was in. I should not forget some Highland claymores, clustered round a target over the Canterbury people, nor a writing box of carved wood, lined with crimson velvet, and furnished with silver plate of right venerable aspect, which looked as if it might have been the implement of old Chaucer himself, but which from the arms on the lid much have belonged to some Italian prince of the days of Leo the Mag- nificent at the farthest. In one corner of this sanctum there is a little holy of holies, in the shape of a closet, which looks like the oratory of some dame of old ro- mance, and opens into the gardens ; and the tower, which furnishes this below, forms above a private staircase, accessible from the gallery and leading to the upper regions. Thither also I pe- netrated, but I suppose you will take the bed rooms and dressing rooms for granted. The view to the Tweed from all the principal apartments is beautiful. You look out from among bowers, over a lawn of sweet turf, upon the clearest of all streams, fringed with the wildest of birch woods, and backed with the green hills of Ettricke Forest, The rest you must imagine. Altogether, the place destined to receive so many pilgrimages contains within itself beauties not unworthy of its associations. Few poets ever inhabited such a place ; none, ere now, ever created one. It is the realization of dreams. See SCOTT- ABBOTS-LANGLEY, a village in Herts, four miles from St. Alban's (and formerly belonging to the abbey there), famous for being the birth- place of the Pope Adrian IV. ABBOTT (Charles), lord Tenterden. This learned and amiable judge was born on the 7th of October, 1762, in the ancient city of Canter- bury, where he also received the elements of his education at the free grammar school in that place. Having continued at school beyond the usual period of youthfyl studies, he was entered of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he evinced the same vigor and perseverence in the 20 acquisition of knowledge that had induced him to outstay the customary period at Canterbury echool. In the year 1784 he obtained the chancellor's prize for his poem entitled Aerostaticus," and a second prize in 1786 for an essay on "the Use and Abuse of Satire. Having enjoyed one of the foundation scholar- ships, he became a 'fellow and tutor, and, in the discharge of the duties of the latter occupation, formed an acquaintance with the family of Mr. Justice Buller, a circumstance that led him sub- sequently to select and pursue the legal pro- fession, and to which, therefore, he is in some degree indebted for the fame and fortune he ultimately reached, and his country for the benefit of his great and well-remembered services. Having entered the Inner Temple, Mr. Abbot gave himself up to the study of the law with the same intenseness of devotion that characterised his progress both at school and college; and succeeded, ultimately, in acquiring those vast stores of legal information which he afterwards displayed both as counsel and as judge. In 1796 he was called to the bar, and having joined the Oxford circuit, advanced almost immediately into respectable practice, and acquired an early popularity. Before he was elevated to the bench, his practice was unusually extensive ; it is asserted that his fees exceeded 10,000 per annum. Mr. Abbot's merit was of an order so conspicuous, that, upon the death of his friend and patron, Sir Francis Buller, he was instantly adopted into the friendship of lord Ellenborough, to whom he was mainly indebted for his pro- motion to a puisne-judgeship, in the Court of Common Pleas, in the Michaelmas term of 1816, upon the decease of Mr. Justice Heath. The following Easter, on the death of Sir Simon Le Blanc, Mr. Abbot was appointed his successor in the Court of King's Bench, and received on the occasion the honor of knighthood. He was then happily and proudly seated at the side of his great patron ; and, upon the retirement of that learned judge, in November, 1818, was himself appointed Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. Here he displayed, in a forcible manner, the difference of those qualities that constitute the advocate and the judge : as the former he was always unable to distinguish him- self ; in the latter capacity he has seldom been excelled, either in the despatch of business, or correctness of his rulings. His own pithy and affectionate observation on the character of his departed friend, lord Ellenborough, is with great justice applied to himself, "that the wonder is, not that he was sometimes wrong, but that he was so often right." On the 30th of April, 1 827, he was raised to the peerage by the title of baron Tenterden, of Hendon, in the county of Middlesex, and during his career as legislator, was not undistinguished. Never having sat in the commons, his political bias was unknown when introduced into the upper house, where, without any tinge of partizanship, he usually ap- peared upon the ministerial side, or rather was a great respecter of existing authorities. Besides many important bills brought into the house by his lordship, he published " A Treatise on the ABBREVIATIONS. Law relating to Merchant-ships and Seamen," a work of high authority, and which has passed through several editions. His lordship's last ap- pearance on the judgment-seat was on Friday, the 26th of October, 1832, being the second day of the trial of the mayor and magistrates of Bristol. On this public occasion, although his faculties seemed as sound and healthy as ever, his frame was obviously weak and incapable of farther effort. Upon returning from the bench, he became alarmingly ill, and after a short illness, expired on the morning of Sunday, November 4th, 1832, in the 70th year of his age. His lordship married the daughter of J. S. Lamotte, Esq., by whom he left issue two sons and two daughters. He is succeeded in his titles and estates by his eldest son, John Henry, a barrister at law. ABBREVIATE, v. n.^ Ital. Abbremare, ABBREVIATION, n. s. (from Lat. brevis, ad. ABBRE'VIATOR, i breve agere, which is ABBRE'VIATURE. J from tlie Gr. ppa%oo. Anglo-Saxon, braecan, to break. To make short, to shorten by contraction or cutting off, retain- ing the substance of the original ; to make an epitome, or compendium ; to abridge ; curtail. The derivatives correspond. ABBREVIATE, or ADJUDICATIONS, in Jscots law, an abstract or abridgment of a decree of adju- dication, which is recorded in a register kept for that purpose. ABBREVIATIOK, in archaiology, is a short method of expressing words by initials, or other letters. Ancient MSS.,and early-printed Greek books, are frequently identified and classed ac- cording to the mode of the abbreviations that abound in them. These are sometimes made by putting the first and last, and sometimes the middle letter of a word, tfnder a line; thus 0C, KG, IC,_XC, Y2",_2HP, IRA, ISHA, HNA, 11HP, MHP, OYNOS, ~ANOS, IAHM, AAA, signify re- spectively, Otoc, God ; Kt/pwe, Lord ; IJJITOVC, Jesus ; XptTog, Christ ; Yw>e, a Son ; 2wrjp, a Saviour ; Irpajj\, Israel ; Trvtvpa, spirit ; Trarijp, father, /ijrjp, mother ; ovpavos, heaven ; av6>pw7roc, man ; ItpovffaXrjp, Jerusalem ; Aav5, David. But, of all people, the Jewish Rabbins are the most remarkable for this practice With- out a key to their abbreviatures their writings are unintelligible. They not only abbreviate words like the Greeks and Latins, by retrench- ing letters or syllables, but they often take away all except the initials ; and, what is still worse, they frequently join the initials of several words together, and, adding vowels to them, make a barbarous sort of a word representative of all the words thus abridged. Thus Rabbi Schdemoh Jarchi, in the Jargon of Hebrew abbreviatures, is called Rasi, and Rabbi Moses Ben Malemon is Rambam. Mercerus, David de Pomis, Schind- ler, Buxtorf, &c. have given explanations of the Hebrew abbreviatures. We subjoin the most useful abbreviations commonly found in English writings : A. B. or B. A., Artium Baccalaureus, Bachelor of Arts. A. C., Ante Christum, Before Christ. ABB A. D., Anno Domini, In the year of our Lord. A. M., Ante meridiem, Before noon, or Anno mundi, In the year of the world. A. U. C., Anno urbis condits, in the year of the city, i. e. the building of Home. Bart., Baronet. B. C., Before Christ. B. C. L., Bachelor of civil law. B. D., Baccalaureus divinitatis, Bachelor of divinity. B. L., Baccalaureus legum, Bachelor of laws. B. M., Baccalaureus medicinse, Bachelor of me- dicine. C. or Cent., Centum, A hundred. C. B., Companion of the Bath. C. P. S., Custos Privati Sigilli, Keeper of the privy seal. C. S., Custos Sigilli, Keeper of the seal. D. D., Divinitatis Doctor, Doctor of divinity. Dec., December. D. F., Defensor fidei, Defender of the faith. D. G., Dei gratia, By the grace of God. Dr., Doctor. D. T., Doctor Theologize, Doctor of divinity. F., Fiat, Let it be done. F. A. S., Frateraitatis Antiqvrorum Socius, Fel- low of the Antiquarian Society. Feb.. February. F. L. S. Fraternitatis Linneanae Socius. F. R. S. and A. S., Fraternitatis Regiae Socius et Associatus, Fellow and Associate of the Royal Society. F. S. A., Fellow of the Society of Arts. G. C. B., Knight of the Grand Cross of the Bath. Gent., Gentleman G.'R., Georgius Rex, King George. H. M. S., His Majesty's Ship. Ib. or Ibid., Ibidem, In the same place. I. e., Id est, That is. J. H. S., Jesus Hominum Salvator, Jesus the Saviour of men. Incog., Incognito, Unknown, As a stranger. Inst., Instant, Of this month. Itin. Itinerary. K. B., Knight of the Bath. K. C. B., Knight Commander of the Bath. K. P., Knight of St. Patrick. Kt., Knight. K. T., Knight of the Thistle. L. or Lib., Libra, Pound, or Liber, Book. Lieut. Lieutenant. LL. D., Legum Doctor, Doctor of Laws. L. S., Locus Sigilli, The Place of the Seals. M. A., Artium Magister, Master of Arts. M. B., Medicinze Baccalaureus, Bachelor of Phy- sic, or Musicae Baccalaureus,Bachelor of Music. M. D., Medicinae Doctor, Doctor of Physic. Mem., Memento, Remember. Messrs. Messieurs, Gentlemen. M. P., Member of Parliament. Mr., Mister. Mrs., Mistress. M. S., Manuscriptum, Manuscript. MSS., Manuscripta, Manuscripts. N. B., Nota bene, Observe, Take notice. Nem. con., or Nem. diss., Nemine contradicente, orNemine dissentiente, Unanimously. Nov., November. 21 ABD N. S., New Style. Obt. Obedient. Oct., October. O. S., Old Style. Oxon., Oxford. Per. Cent., Per Centum, By the hundred. P. M., Post meridiem, Afternoon. Prob., Problem. Prof., Professor. P. S., Post scriptum, Postscript. Q. D., Quasi dictum, As if it were said. Q. E. D., Quod erat demonstrandem, Which. was to be demonstrated. Q. E. F., Quod erat faciendum, Which was to be done. Q. P. L., Quantum placet, As much as you please Q. S., Quantum sufficit, A sufficient quantity. Q. V., Quantum vis, As much as you wish. R., Rex, King. Reg. pref. Regius professor. R. N., RoyalNavy. Rt. Hon., Right Honorable. Rt. Wpful., Right Worshipful. Sept., September. St., Saint or Street. Viz., Videlicit, That is to say, Namely. ABBROCHMENT, in law, the forestalling a fair or market. ABBUTALS, or ABUTTALS. See ABUTTAL. ABB-WOOL, among clothiers, the wool of a weaver's warp. ABCAS. See ABASCIA. ABCEDE, or ABSCEDE, from abcedo, in sur- gery, to suppurate ; an abceded surface, being that whose texture has been vitiated or separated by the formation of pus or purulent matter. ABCEDARY, or ABCF.DARIAN, an epithet given to compositions whose parts are arranged in the order of the alphabet, chiefly applied to Hebrew writings. ABDA a district of Morocco, on the west coast, famous for its grain and for its breed of horses. ABDALAVI, or AEDELAVI, in botany, an Egyptian plant, very like a melon, except that the fruit is more oblong, and acute at the ex- tremities. ABDALLA, the son of Abdalmothleb, the father of the prophet Mahomet. This parent of the prophet, though a slave, is clothed with such personal attractions by the Arabian historians, that after he had passed the age of 75 his hand was solicited by the fairest and most virtuous women of his tribe; and on the night of his nuptials, we are told, 100 young females expired with grief. ABDALLATIF, or ABDOLLATIPH, an Arabian physician and author, born at Bagdad, in the year 1161. A hundred and fifty works have been ascribed to this author : one only, an account of Egypt, now remains. Dr. Pococke brought it to Europe in MS., and deposited it in the Bodleian library. Dr. White published it with a Latin translation, in 1800, and a French translation, by Silvestre de Sacy, appeared at Paris, in 1810. Abdallatifs book on Egypt supplies a valuable link between ancient and modern history, giving us the only account ex- tant of that country in the middle ages. ABDALMALEK, the 5th khalif of the race of ABD 5 the Ommiades, called the skinner of a stone, be- cause of his extreme avarice; as also Aboulzebah, because his breath was said to be so poisonous as to kill all the flies which rested on his face. He surpassed all his predecessors in power and dominion ; penetrating to India in the east, and Spain in the west : he likewise made himself master of Medina and Mecca. His reign began in the 65th of the hegira, A. D. 685, and con- tinued twenty-one years. ABDALMELEK, (Ben Zohar,) an eminent Spanish physician, of the l'2th century, called by the Europeans AVENZOR, which see. ABDALONYMUS, or ABDOLONYMUS, (in classic history,) of the royal family of Sidon, and descended from king Cyniras. Alexander the Great having deposed Strato, inquired whether any of the race of Cyniras was living, that he might set him on the throne ; and found this prince happy in his poverty : " I wish," said Abdalonymus, " I may bear my new condition as well ; these hands have supplied my necessi- ties : I have had nothing, and I have wanted nothing." This answer pleased Alexander so much, that, besid es giving him all that was Strato's, he augmented his dominions, and presented him with a large portion of the Persian spoils. ABDALS, in the eastern countries, fanatics, supposed to be inspired to a degree of madness. The word comes, perhaps, from the Arabic, Ab- dullah, the servant of God. The Persians call them devaneh khoda, q- d. furentes deo, raging with the God. They have been known in India to run about the streets, and kill all they meet of a different religion. ABDARA, or ABDEKA, in ancient geography, a (own of Bcetica in Spain, a Phoenician colony ; now called Adra, to the west of Almeria, in Gra- nada, ABDELAVI. See ABDALAVI. ABDEHA, in ancient geography, a maritime town of Thrace, near the mouth of the Nessus, on the east. Timesius the Clazomenian attempted to found it, but was forced to give it up by the Thracians. The Teians, however, succeeded, and settled in it to avoid the Persians. Pliny and Justin report that the grass of Abdera was so strong that such horses as ate of it ran mad. It is famous for being the birth-place of Protagoius, Democritus, Anaxarchus, Hecataeus the historian ISicenaetus the poet, &c. Many accounts are given of its unwholesome atmosphere, and of the pride of its inhabitants. Hence the phrases, ab- dentica men, and abderian laughter. ABDERAHMA, a Saracen viceroy in Spain who revolted and set up an independent princi- pality at Cordova. He had several successors of the same name. ABDEST, a Persian word literally signifying the water placed in a basin for washing the hands, but used to express the purifications practised by the Mahometans before they enter on their religious ceremonies. ABDEVENAM, in astrology, the head of the 12th house in the scheme of the heavens. ABDI, n3N, Heb. i. e. my servant. The lather of Kish, and grand-father of king Saul. ABDICARIA proposito, in logic, a negative proposition. ABDICATIO, airoKtjpvZtG, a Grecian custom of renouncing children, prohibited by the Roman laws. Lucian. AB'DlCATE,-\ Ab : dico, SIKTI, right, to go ABDICA'TION, f from a right ; to go from, quit. AB'DICATIVE. i or leave, put away from, or ABDICAN'T. J deprive of that which has been possessed by law and right. To resign, disclaim, renounce, dispossess. ABDITARIUM, O. L. A chest in which relics were kept, or a place to hide goods, plate, or money. ABDOLLATIPH. See ABDALLATIF. ABDOMEN, n.s. Lat. from abdo, to hide; a cavity commonly called the lower venter, 01 belly : it contains the stomach, guts, liver, spleen, and bladder, and is within lined with a mem- brane, called the peritonaeum. SEE ANATOMY. ABDOMINAL, adj. relating to the abdomen. ABDOMINALES, in ichthyology, fish which have the ventral fins placed behind the pectoral in the abdomen, and constitute the order of the fourth class of animals in the Linnsean System. See ICHTHYOLOGY and ZOOLOGY. ABDON, one of the Papuan isles, N. of Wageoo, in N. Lat. 30', E. long- 131 15'. ABDUCE', v. ^ Ab : duco, to lead from ; to ABDUC'TION. J draw, bring or take away from; to withdraw ; chiefly a scientific word applied in physic and in logic; in the one, it signifies flexion or extension of the muscles; in the other, a particular kind of argument. Abduc- tion is also used in law, and is the act of carrying off a woman and marrying her against her will; it refers also to the forcible taking away a wife or child, and to common kidnapping. ABDUCENS, labiorwn, in anatomy, a name given by Spigellius to a muscle, which is the levator unguli oris of Albinus, and the cuninus elevator of others. ABDUCENTES NERVI, that part of the sixth pair of nerves, which is lost on the abductores oculi. ABDUCTION, in logic, by the Greeks called apugogue, is an argument from the conclusion to the demonstration of the proposition assumed. ABDUCTION, in law, the forcible carrying away of a person, as of an heiress, &c. To enter a woman's house forcibly, carry off, and marry her without her own consent, has in Scot- land been punished with death. ABDUCTION, in surgery, a species of fracture, wherein the broken parts of the bone recede from each other, after the manner of a stalk. ABDUCTOR AURIS, called also posterior auris, by Winslow, a muscle that pulls the ear backwards. ABDUCTOR AURICULARIS, or of the little fin- ger, called by Winslow, hypothenar, arises from the angular ligament, and the third and fourth bones of the carpus in the second rank ; and is inserted externally into the first bone of the little finger : it serves to draw that finger from the rest, and also to bend it a little. ABDUCTORES FEMORIS. Anatomists reckon four of these. Their use is to move the thigh bone, according to their different directions. ABDUCTOR INDICES, or of the fore-finger, arises from the inside of the bone of the thumb, ABE 23 ABE and is inserted into the first bone of the fore-finger, which it draws from the rest towards the thumb. ABDUCTOR MINIMI DIGITI MANUS. See AB- DUCTOR AURICULARIS. ABDUCTOR MINIMI DIGITI PEDIS, or of the little toe, arises from the outside of the os calcis, near the exterior bone of the metatarsus, and is inserted laterally into the outside of the second bone of that toe, whu-h it pulls from the rest. ABDUCTOR OCULI, or of the eye, is one of the four recti, or straight muscles, arising from the bottom of the orbit, and spread over the first proper tunic ; serving to draw the eye towards the outer canthus. It is also called the scornful muscle. ABDUCTOR POLLICIS MANUS, called also The- nar, springs from the annular ligament and first bone of the carpus ; whence passing the thumb, it makes that fleshy body called mons lunze : it draws the thumb from the fingers. ABDUCTOR POLLICIS PEDIS, or of the great toe, springs from the inside of the os calcis, and the greater os cuneiforme ; and is inserted into the outside of the exterior os sesamoideum polli- cis ; it serves to draw the great toe from the rest. ABEAR', v. ( Applied to the behaviour or ABEAR'IXG. S conduct The word abearance, instead of abearyng, is used by modern writers in English law. See BEAR. Upon assurance takyn of the said Hunyldus, that there after he shulde be of good abearynge to warde the king, he clerely forgaue vnto hym all his former offence. Fabyan, repr. 1811, p. 141. So did the Faery Knight himself abeare, And stouped oft, his head from shame to shield. Spenser's Faerie Queene. The other species of recognizance with sureties is for the good abearance, or good behaviour. Blackftone's Commentaries. Not to be "released, till they found sureties for their good abearing. Lord Herbert 's Hist, of Hen. VIII. p. 381. ABED', adv. On bed. See BED. Some radde, that hir ssoide wende in at on hepe, To habbe inome horn vnarmed, and somme abedde aslepe. R. Gloucester, p. 547. Hir kyrtells, and hir mantell eke, Abrode vpon his bedde he spredde, And thus thei slepen both abedde. Gower, Con. A. b. v. ABEDNEGO, the name given by Nebuchad- nezzar to one of the three captive Jewish chil- dren, who were miraculously delivered from the fiery furnace. Dan. iii. . ABEILLE (Gasper), an eminent wit of the sixteenth century, was born at Reiz in 1648, and died at Paris in 1718. He wrote several dra- matic pieces, but his genius was not equal to the wit of his conversation, which appears to have been singularly aided by an unseemly wrinkled countenance, susceptible of the most ludicrous expression. ABEILLE (L. P.), a writer on agriculture and natural history, inspector general of the manu- factures of France, and secretary to the council of trades before the revolution ; born at Tou- louse, 1719; died at Paris 1807. ABEL, San, Heb. Vanity, the second son of Adam and Eve, who was a shepherd, and was killed by his brother Cain, from envy of the superior mark of divine favor bestowed on. him. Though he was the first martyr, his name is not to be found iu any catalogue of saints or martyrs, cither in the Greek or Roman church, earlier than the tenth century. Several Roman litanies however contain prayers to him for persons at the point of death. ABEL (Charles Frenerick), an eminent mu- sician and composer, was by birth a German. He came to England in 1759, and was soon ap- pointed chamber-musician to the queen. He died at London in 1787. Burney, in his history of music, says, ' The knowledge Abel had ad- quired in Germany, in every part of musical science, rendered him the umpire in all difficult points. His concertos and other peices were very popular, and frequently played on public occasions.' He excelled on the viol di Gamba. ABEL (Clarke), M. D., is well known as the historian of Lord Amherst's embassy to China, which he accompanied as chief medical officer and naturalist. Although at the most interesting period of that expedition he was disabled, by a most serious attack of sickness, from following up his observations with the closeness and re- gularity he had anticipated, his Narrative suf- ficiently testifies his masculine understanding, his various yet sound knowledge, his high talents, and benevolent bent of mind. Indeed, had Dr. Abel never written any thing besides his Essay on the Geology of the Cape of Good Hope, contained in the work alluded to, he would have sufficiently proved his claim to the title of a deep and philosophical thinker, and of an acute observer of the mysteries of nature. He died December 12th, 1826. ABELA (J. F.), commander of the Order of Malta, born 1622, was the author of Malta Illustrata, an able work on the topography and history of the island. ABELARD (Peter), a famous doctor of the twelfth century, born at Palais in Britany. He was eminent for his acuteness in logic, of which he gave proofs wherever he travelled, by disput- ing with and baffling all who would enter the lists with him. He read lectures with great ap- plause at Paris, where he lodged with one Ful- bert, a canon, who had a beautiful neice, called Eloise. Abelard was appointed her preceptor ; but seduced her instead of teaching her the sciences, and, Eloise proving with child, he sent her to a sister of h ; s in Britany, where she was delivered of a son. To soften the canon's anger, he offered to marry Eloise privately ; and the old man was better pleased with the proposal than the neice, who, from a singular excess of passion, chose to be Abelard's mistress rather than his wife. She married, however ; but used often to protest upon oath that she was single, which provoked the canon to use her ill. Upon this, Abelard sent her to the monastery of Argenteuil; where she put on a religious habit, but did not take the veil. Eloise's relations, considering this as a second treachery, hired ruffians, who, forcing into his chamber in the dead of night, emascu- lated him. This infamous treatment made him fly to the gloom of a cloister. He assumed the ABE 24 ABE habit of St. Dennis : but the disorders of the iionse soon drove him from thence. He was afterwards charged with heresy ; and having en- dured several persecutions for his religious senti- ments, he settled in a solitude in the diocese of Troies, where he built an oratory, to which he gave the name of the Paraclete. He was after- wards chosen superior of the abbey of Iluis, in the diocese of Vannes ; when the nuns being ex- pelled from the nunnery in which Eloise had been placed, he gave her his oratory ; where she settled with some of her sister nuns, and became their prioress. Abelard mixed the philosophy of Aristotle with his divinity, and in 1140 was condemned by the council of Rheims and Sens. Pope Innocent II. ordered him to be imprisoned, his books to be burnt, and forbade him ever teach- ing again. However, he was soon after par- doned, at the solicitation of Peter the Venerable, who received him into his abbey of Cluni, where he led an exemplary life. He died in the priory of St. Marcel, at Chalons, April 21, 1142, aged 63. His corpse was sent to Eloise, who buried it in the Paraclete. He left seve- ral works; the most celebrated of which are the letters that passed between him and Eloise, with the account of their misfortunes prefixed ; which have been translated into English, and immortalised by the harmony of Mr. Pope's numbers. ABEL-BETHMAACAH, or ABEL-MAIM, a city of Judea, south of Mount Lebanon. Tig- lathpileser, king of Assyria, took it, and carried the inhabitants captive. It was afterwards rebuilt, and became the capital of Abilene in Syria. ABELIANS, or ABELINS, in church history, a sect of heretics mentioned by St. Austin, who pretended to regulate marriage after the example of Abel ; allowing each man to marry one wo- man, but enjoined them to live in continence. ABELIN, a large hamlet in Palestine, con- taining a castle of the same name, eight miles from Acre. Some have conjectured that the ruins in the vicinity are those of the ancient Zabulon. ABELL, (John,) an English musician, and celebrated singer of the 17th century, who quitted this country, at the revolution, for his attachment to popery. Being at Warsaw, he was summoned to court to display his talents, but refused to go : the king then sent for him peremptorily ; and on Abell's appearance, he was drawn up in a chair to the top of a spacious hall, at one end of which sat the king and his nobles in a gallery. Some wild bears were now turned into the apartment, and Abell was called upon to sing or be let down amongst them, lie preferred, of course, the former, and said that he never made a better use of his voice. In 1701, he published a collection of songs in several languages. ABELLA, an ancient town of Campanin, near the river Clanis, now called AVELLA. Its nuts, called avellanae, were very famous, as also its apples. ABEL-MIZRAIM, a place between Jordan and Jericho; supposed to have been near Hebron, where the Egyptians celebrated Jacob's funeral. It was also called the threshing floor of Atad. ABEL-MOSCH, or ABEl>MpsCH, in botany, a species of the HIBISCHUS, which see. ABELOITES, or ABELONIANS. See ABE- LIANS. ABEN-EZRA, (Abraham,) a celebrated rsbt*, born at Toledo, in 1099. He was much admired for his learning, being not only skilled in philo- sophy, astronomy, medicine, and poetry, but a complete master of the Arabic. He was styled by his brethren, the wise and admirable Doc- tor. His principal works are, Commentaries on the Old Testament, which are printed in Bom- berg's and Buxtorf 's Hebrew Bibles, and Jesud Mora, a work (now very scarce,) intended to recommend the study of the Talmud. His style is elegant and concise. He died in 1 1 74, aged 75. ABENRADE, or APENRADE, a jurisdiction, and town of Denmark in Sleswick. It is seated on a spacious open bay, in the Baltic, surrounded on three sides by high mountains. Just without the town stands the castle of Brunbend. Lon. 9 24', E. Lat. 55 6', N. ABENS, or ABENTZ, a river of Upper Bava- ria, joining the Danube 4 mi. below Abensberg. ABENSBERG, or ABENSPURG, a district and town of Bavaria, circle of Regen, seated on the Abens, near the Danube, S. W. of Ratisbon. Lon. 11 15', E. Lat. 48 46', N. ABER, an old British or Welsh word, signify ing the fall of a lesser water into a greater, as o( a brook into a river, or of a river into the sea : also, the mouth of the river. In both these senses, it makes part of the names of many towns in Britain. See the following articles. ABERAVON, a borough town of Glamor- ganshire, governed by a port-reeve, seated on the mouth of the Avon, 19 miles W. of Cow- bridge, and 195 W. from London. The iron and copper works contiguous, have given it some importance. The delightful seat of Lord Vernon stands in the neighbourhood. ABERBROTHOCK, or ARBROATH, a small neat town, on the E. coast of Scotland, in the county of Angus, 15 miles N. E. of St. Andrew's, and 56 N. N. E. from Edinburgh. It is situated on the mouth of the small river Brothock, is a royal burgh, and is well built and nourishing. The number of its inhabitants has greatly increased within these last 40 years, and they are now esti- mated at upwards of 9000. Their chief manu- factures are brown linens or Osnaburghs, sail- cloths, and white and brown thread. The foreign imports are flax, flax-seed, and timber from the Baltic. The coasting trade consists of coals from Borrowstounness, and lime from Fife. At this place, in default of a natural harbour, an artificial one of piers has been formed, where, at. spring-tides, which rise here 15 feet, ships of two hundred tons can come, and of 80 at neap tides ; but they must lie dry at low water. The port is of great antiquity : there is an agreement yet extant, between the abbot and the burghers of Aberbrothock, in 1194, concerning the making of the harbour. Both parties were bound to contribute their proportions ; but the largest fell to the share of the former, for which he was to receive an annual tax payable out of every rood of land lying within the borough. The glory of the town was the abbey, whose very ruins give ABE 25 ABE some idea of its former magnificence. It was founded by William the Lion in 1178, and dedi- cated to Thomas a Becket. The founder was buried here. ABERCONVVAY, or CONWAY, an ancient borough and market-town in the county of Caer- narvon, 223 miles north-west of London, situated upon the western bank of the river Conway, which is here crossed by a chain suspension bridge, erected after the designs of Mr. Telford. The town is enclosed by the ancient fortifica- tions, erected by Edward I., the founder of the noble castle which overlooks them. It is one of three stately palaces, reared by that monarch upon the final extinction of independence in Wales. The town consists of a few irregular streets, with one broad avenue forming part of the new line carried round the base of Penmaen- mawr. Here is one of the ancient houses called the Plas Mawr, a venerable Church, meeting- houses of Dissenters, and two spacious inns. Ship-building occupies the greater portion of the inhabitants, and the mouth of the river affords a safe asylum for vessels navigating the Conway river up to Trefriw, as well a shipping place for the produce of Llandudno mines. ABE11CORN, the ABERCURRING of Bede, a romantic little town of Scotland, in Linlithgow, on the Frith of Forth, 12 miles W. of Edinburgh. Antoninus's Roman wall commenced here. The Earl of Hopetoun has a magnificent seat at a small distance. ABERCROMBY, (Sir Ralph,) K. B. the son of George A. Esq. of Tullibody, Clackmannan- shire, was born in 1738. In 1756 he became a cornet of the 3d Dragoon Guards. In 1781 he was colonel of the 103d, or King's Irish Infantry; and in 1783 went on half-pay. In 1787 he obtained the command of the 7th Dragoons; and acquired great experience in his profession in the seven years war, and in the war of the American revolution. That of the French re- volution furnished him with an opportunity of eminently displaying his talents and experience. Iii two campaigns on the continent he gave dis- tinguished proofs of his skill and intrepidity ; and though the last, in the end of 1794, was singularly disastrous, his character both abroad and at home was in the highest es- timation. In the autumn of 1795, he received the Order of the Bath, and succeeded Sir Charles Gray in the West Indies. In this command he was eminently successful, having carried every island and port which he attempted. Early in 1797 he took the Spanish island of Trinidad, and returned soon after to England. In No- vember the same year he went commander-in- ch ief to Ireland ; but this situation he held not fong, the civil and military command being united in the person of Marquis Cornwallis. In 1798 he was made commander of the forces in Scotland; and in the autumn of 1799 was em- ployed under the Duke of York in the unfortu- nate expedition to Holland. No failure ever pro- duced a stronger sensation in the public mind han this ; but Sir R. Abercromby was always mentioned with respect, and with an undisguised confidence, that he nobly performed his duty. At the close of 1800, he took the command of the army destined to deliver Egypt from the French. He landed his troops 8th of March, 1801, in Aboukir bay, facing the French army. On the 13th he fought the battle of Alex- andria, and was nearly made prisoner by the French, through a defect in his sight. The 21st was marked by a more decisive and general en- gagement, when after an obstinate struggle, the enemy retreated. Sir Ralph was wounded and unhorsed in one of the first charges, but wrested the sabre from his antagonist, and gave it to Sir Sidney Smith. He afterwards received a musket ball in the thigh, which proved a mortal wound, notwithstanding which, he would not suffer himself to be removed from the field until the victory was declared to be his. He died on board the Admiral's ship in the bay a week afterwards, and was interred at Malta. On the account of the victory reaching England, Lady Abercromby was immediately raised to the peer- age, with reservation to the sons of the deceased general ; and a noble monument was erected to his memory soon after in St. Paul's. ABERDEEN, or ABERDEN, a principal city in the north of Scotland, which comprehends two towns under that denomination, viz. OLD and NEW ABERDEEN. The Old Town is a place of great antiquity, and was of some importance so long ago as 893, when, tradition says, king Gregory conferred upon it some particular privi- leges. A bishopric, founded at Mortlicn by Malcolm II. was translated to Aberdeen by David I, and in 1163, Malcolm IV. granted a new charter to the bishop of Aberdeen : there is still extant a charter of Alexander II, dated 1217, granting to Aberdeen the same privileges he had granted to his town of Perth. Both towns are situated on the coast of the German Ocean; 127 miles N. E. from Edinburgh. Lon. 1 50', W. Lat. 57 6', N. Old Aberdeen lies about a mile N. from the new town, at the mouth of the Don, over which is a fine Gothic bridge, of a single arch, greatly admired, which rests on both sides on two rocks. This arch, said to have been built by a bishop of Aberdeen, about the year 1 290, is 67 feet wide at the bottom, and 34J feet high above the surface of the river, which at ebb-tide here is 19 feet deep. The old town was formerly the seat of the bishop, and had a large cathedral commonlj called St. Mocker's. Two very antique spires and one aisle, which is used as a church, are now the only remains of it. The cathedral had an- ciently two rows of stone pillars across the church, and three turrets, the steeple which was the largest of these turrets, rested upon an arch, supported by four pillars. In this cathedral there was a fine library ; but, about the year 1560, it was almost totally destroyed. On the south side of the town, is the King's college, which is a large and stately fabric. It is built round a square, with cloisters on the south side. The chapel is very ruinous within ; but there still remains some exquisite workmanship. This was preserved by the spirit of the principal at the time of the reformation, who armed his peo- ple, and checked the blind zeal of the barons ot the Mearns, when about to violate this seat of learning. A ship, freighted with their sacri- ARE 26 ABE legious booty bound to Holland, had scarcely gone out of port, when it perished in a storm with all its lading. The college was founded in 1494, by William Elphinston, bishop of this place, lord chancellor of Scotland in the reign of James III, and lord privy seal in that of James IV. But James IV. claimed the patron- age of it, and it has since been called the King's College. Together with the Marischal college in the new town, it forms one university, called the University of King Charles. The library is large, but not remarkable for many curiosities. Hector Boethius was the first prin- cipal ; and sent for from Paris for that purpose, on an annual salary of 40 Scots marks, at 13 pence each. The square tower on the side of the college was built for the reception of stu- dents, by contributions from General Monk, and the officers under him, when quartered at Aberdeen. There are now about 150. There are several bussaries for poor students, professor- ships of humanity, Greek, philosophy (three) Oriental languages, civil law, divinity, and medicine ; annual revenue about 700. Here is also a neat town-house ; a trades' hospital for decayed freemen and their widows ; and an hos- pital for 12 poor men. Old Aberdeen has its own government, of a provost, three bailies, a treasurer, and council, with the deacons of six incorporated trades. ABERDEEN, New, the capital of the shire of Aberdeen. It is built on a hill or rising ground, and lies on a small bay formed by the Dee, deep enough for a ship of 200 tons, and above two miles in circumference. The town is approached from the N. and S. by two elegant streets, the latter passing over an arch, the span of which is 132 feet, and its width between the parapet 40 feet. The buildings, which are of granite from the neighbouring quarries, are generally four stories high ; and have, for the most part, gardens be- hind them, which give them a beautiful appear- ance. In the high street is a large church, formerly belonging to the Franciscans, which was begun by bishop William Elphinston, and finished by Gavin Dunbar, bishop of Aberdeen, about 1500. Bishop Dunbar is said likewise to have built the bridge over the Dee, which con- sists of seven arches. In the middle of Castle- street is an octagon building, with neat bas- relievos of the kings of Scotland, from James I. to James VII. The town-house has a handsome spire in the centre. Opposite, is the Aberdeen bank, a fine building of polished granite. The grammar-school is a low but neat building. Gordon's hospital is handsome; in front is a good statue of the founder: it maintains forty boys, who are apprenticed at proper ages. The infirmary is a large plain building, sending out be- tween eight and nine hundred patients. But the chief public building in the new town is the Marischal college, founded by George Keith, carl of Marischal, in the year 1593 ; and since greatly augmented with additional buildings. There are about 150 students belonging to it. In both the Marischal and King's college, the languages, mathematics, natural philosophy, di- vinity, &c., are taught by able professors. In the former is a good observatory. In new Aber- deen are also a lunatic asylum, erected in 1800, by subscription; three dispensaries, which in 1816, relieved 2700 patients; and a bridewell, which has been recently finished at an expense of 10,000. The convents in Aberdeen were: One of Mathurines, or of the order of the Trinity, founded by William the Lion, who died in 1214; another of Dominicans, by Alexander II. a third of Observantines, a building of great length in the middle of the city, founded by the citizens; and a fourth of Carmelites, or White Friars, founded by Philip de Arbuthnot, in 1350. Aberdeen, including the old town, is supposed to contain 88,000 people. Its trade is consider- able, but might be greatly extended by an atten- tion to the white fisheries. The ancient harbour was narrow at the mouth, having the easterly rocky point of the Grampian mountains on the south, and a flat blowing sand on the north, extending along the coast for many miles. This was driven in a long ridge across the harbour's mouth at the bar, where the depth of water at low tide was sometimes not above three feet. The town at last came to the resolution of erect- ing a strong pier on the north side of the harbour. This pier is 1200 feet in length, and gradually increases in thickness and height, as it approaches to the sea, where the head or rounding is 60 feet diameter at the base, and the perpendicular ele- vation 38 feet. The whole is built of granite, and was under the direction of Mr. Smeaton ; the expense amounting to above 17,000. A little to the south of the bar, they have now a depth of 17 fathoms at low water; and, at the harbour mouth, from 8 to 9 fathoms. Two bat- teries defend the pier ; which has lately been extended to the N. so as to form a wet dock. There is also a navigable canal fiom New Aber- deen to the Don at Inverney. Aberdeen once enjoyed a good tobacco trade. At present, its imports are from the Baltic, and the merchants trade to the Mediterranean, the West Indies, and North America. Its exports are stockings, thread, salmon, pickled-pork, and oat-meal. Large quantities of granite are also sent to Lon- don. The cotton manufactories of the vicinity employ nearly 1000 persons; and an extensive flax manufactory stands on the Don. Linen and woollen goods of most kinds are wrought here, as well as nails, cordage, and all ship- building articles. Vessels to the burthen of about 40,000 tons, belong to the port which is exten- sively engaged in the whale and other fisheries. The salmon exported, averages 2000 barrels annually. New Aberdeen has a provost, four bailies, a dean of guild, treasurer, town-council, and seven deacons of trades, incorporated for its civil government; and with Aberbrothock, Bre- chin, Montrose, and Inverbervie, returns one member to parliament. Its fairs are on the 3 1st of January, 3d Wednesday in June, and 18th of July. ABERDEENSHIRE, a county of Scotland, bounded on the N. W. by Banffshire, and the Deveron ; on the N. and N. E. by the German Ocean ; on the S. by the counties of Kincardine, Angus, and Perth ; and on the W. by Inverness- shire. Its length from N. E. to S.W. is about 85 miles ; its breadth not quite 40. It compre- hends the districts of Mar, Garioch, Formartin, ABE 27 ABE Strathbogie, and the greater part of Buchan ; and sends one member to parliament. It abounds in sea ports, from whence there is a safe and ready passage to the Orkney and Shetland isles, the Greenland fisheries, Norway, and the regions round the Baltic, the German coast, Holland, Flanders, and France ; and is watered by nu- merous streams, as the Don, the p Ythan, the Ugie, &c., all of them the resort of salmon, and whose banks display the most extensive plantations, as well as natural woods. Cattle are sent to the south in great numbers. In the Ythan is a pearl fishery, which has yielded single pearls of from two to three pounds value. Several beautiful lakes also diversify the face of this country; Loch Murick, Loch Kander, Loch Builg, and Callader, are the principal. The granite quarries yield the most valuable mineral of Aberdeenshire, sending annually to London upwards of 12,000 tons ; mill stone, blue slate, and lime stone also abound : as well as the asbetos, talc, schistus, and mica. On the coast of Buchan amber is found in considerable quantities, and in Lesley parish, a beautiful green and variegated amian- thus, of which snuft' boxes and ornamental arti- cles are made. Some of the mountains (as in the district of Mar) retain evident proofs of volcanic origin ; and Peterhead, Aberdeen, Pan- nanach, or Glendye, are celebrated mineral waters. The whole county is tolerably fertile, but ill cultivated ; the improvements introducing by spirited proprietors being but slowly adopted. Here are 87 parishes, three royal boroughs, and one city ; several handsome towns and noble- men's and gentlemen's seats. The valued rent of the county is 241,931. ABERDOUEY, a sea-port town in the parish of Towyn, hundred of Yotumaner, county of Merioneth, North Wales ; possessing many na- tural advantages, and likely to become the prin- cipal port in the shire. It stands at the mouth of the river Dyfi, across which there is a regular ferry; consists of one street enclosing a quay, in front of which vessels of 500 tons may ride, and extending half a mile in length. Here are some excellent houses built for the accommodation of summer visitants, besides a spacious and noble inn. A new post road connects this place with Towyn, four miles distant, and an improved and level line extends through Pennel village, to the market town of Mashyullaeth. ABERDOUR, a town and parish in Fifeshire, Scotland, on the Frith of Forth, about 10 miles N. W. of Edinburgh, resorted to in summer as a sea bathing-place. William, lord of Liddesdale, surnamed the Flower of Chivalry, in the reign of David II., conveyed it by charter to James Douglas, ancestor of the present owner, the earl of Morton. The old castle of Aberdour stands on the bank of a rivulet, falling into the Frith. The poor Clares had a convent at this place. In the neighbourhood are found free-stone, iron- stone, lime-stone, and coal of a superior quality. Here is also a muslin manufactory of some re- pute ; and a manufactory of coarse cloths. The neighbouring island of Inch Colm, belongs to the parish. ABERE-MURDER, Sax. from ebere, proved, and morth, killing. In old law, murder that has been proved by a judiciary process. It was a crime that could not be expiated by money, as most others could be. ABERFORD, or ABERFDHTH. See ABBER- FORD. ABERFOYLE, a parish in the county of Perth, 11 miles in length and five in breadth, in the western extremity of which the Forth has its rise. It is remarkable for its fine lakes and nu- merous streams, and the marked direction taken by the Grampions through the lower part of it ; as well as for producing a great variety of rare plants, and excellent pasturage. The hills abound with oak; and granite, coarse marble, limestone, and slate, compose their bases. ABERFRAW, a village in the isle of Angle- sey, formerly a place of note, the princes of N. Wales baring had a palace in it. It has still a good harbour, navigable for vessels of 30 or 40 tons, and the Ffraw runs up to it. It is 20 miles W. of Holyhead. ABERGAVENNY, a well built market-town of Monmouthshire, the Gibbanium of Antoninus, 16 miles W. of Monmouth, and 142 W. by N. from London, having two churches and an old castle. It stands on the confluence of the Usk and Gavenny, having a fine bridge of 15 arches over the former ; and is surrounded by a wall in ruins. The neighbourhood yields abundance of coal and iron ore. Market on Tuesday. ABERGEMENT LE DUC, a market-town of Burgundy, France, in the arrondissement of Beaune, and department of the Cote d'Or, near the Saone, and eight leagues S. of Dijon. ABERGUILLY, a parish of Carmarthenshire, 12 miles W. of Carmarthen, and 216 N. W. of London, and remarkable as containing the only palace belonging to the bishop of St. David's. ABERNETHY, (John), an eminent surgeon, was born in 1763-4, in the city of Derry, in Ireland ; or, according to others, in the town of Abernethy, in Scotland, and at a very early age removed to London. He received the rudiments of his education at a day-school in Lothbuiy. After the completion of his scholastic studies, he was apprenticed to Mr. Charles Blick, surgeon, and, under the tuition of this eminent prac- titioner, as well as from the experience derived from the infinite variety of cases witnessed at St. Bartholomew's hospital, attained that extraor- dinary knowledge of the diseases and decays to which the human frame is subject, on which his fame in after life was erected. He early exhi- bited an eccentricity of character, and from the singularity of his dress, was nicknamed " The Hostler " by his fellow students ; but this neither interrupted the seriousness of his professional studies, nor retarded his rapid progress to repu- tation and wealth. Mr. Abernethy was the pupil and friend of the celebrated Hunter. His first promotion was to be assistant surgeon of St. Bartholomew's hospital his second to be lec- turer on anatomy and surgeiy in the same bene- volent institution. He struggled for fame as a public teacher against the learned and popular Dr. Marshal, and finally succeeded Sir Charles Blick as the senior surgeon of the hospital. His reputation as an author is deservedly spread, and the ability displayed in some of his early publications was liberally and loudly acknow- ledged by the French surgeons. His published ABE 28 ABH works, amounting to eight volumes, contain dis- putations on the Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases; on Aneurisms; Disorders of the Digestive Organs; Lumba Abscesses; Physi- ological Lectures, &c. &c. After a protracted illness, which he bore with true philosophy, he expired at Enfield, on the 20th of April, 1831 ; having expressed his conviction that a disordered stomach, a disease most fatal to the majority of mankind, would occasion his own dissolution. It is an extraordinary truth, that he exacted a solemn promise from his friends that they would secure to his remains an undisturbed repose within the tomb, and on no account submit them to a post mortem examination. ABERNETHY, a village in Strathern, a district of Perthshire, in Scotland, seated on the Tay, a little below its junction with the Erne. It is said to have been the seat of the Pictish kings, as well as the see of an archbishop. Here was a cathedral, which became a collegiate church in 854, an university being established in the place. This in 1273 became a priory of regular canons. Here is a good manufacture of household linen and silesias ; the church has been lately re-built. In the church-yard is a tower of a circular con- struction, 48 feet in circumference, and 74 feet in height. There is only another of this description (at Brechin) in Scotland. ABERNETHY, (John), an eminent dissenting clergyman of Dublin, born 1680, and author of sermons on the Divine Attributes, which have been much admired. ABERRATION, in astronomy, a small appa- rent motion of the fixed stars discovered by the late Dr. Bradley, astronomer royal. It is oc- casioned by the progressive motion of light, and tiie earth's annual motion in its orbit. For the hibtory of its discovery, see Philosophical Trans. March, 1728, No. 406. ABER'RANCE, } Ab: erro, to stray or ABERRA'TION, > wander; primarily applied ABER'RING. j to the errors or mistakes of the mind, and to irregularity of conduct. ABERRATION, in optics, is used to denote that error or deviation of the rays of light, when in- flected by a lens or speculum, whereby they are hindered from meeting or uniting in the same point. There are two species of the aberrations of rays, distinguished by their different causes ; one arising from the spherical form of the re- fracting and reflecting surfaces ; the other from the unequal refrangibility of the rays of light. This last species is sometimes called the New- tonian, from the name of its discoverer. See OPTICS. ABERYSTWYTH, a borough, market, and sea-port town, in the hundred of Genaur-GIyn, and county of Cardigan, South Wales, situated' on an eminence overhanging the confluence of the Ystwyth and Rhydal rivers. It is 208 miles from London, 39 from Cardigan, contains a po- pulation of 3556, and is the most frequented watering-place in the principality. The old town consists of steep streets, enclosed by houses cased with black slate. 'The new town is regular handsome, and adorned with an assembly room' market-house, theatre, and three large inns ; and the parade, called the " Marine Terrace," contains several excellent houses, in a situation both salu- brious and agreeable. Besides the chapel of ease, there are four meeting-houses of dissenters. The town is governed by a mayor, recorder, and com- mon council, and is contributary with Cardigan, Lampeter, and Aptar, in returning one member to parliament. Lead and silver ores, calamine, black lead, slates, and agricultural produce, constitute the chief exports, in which 8000 tons of shipping are annually engaged. The ruins of the castle occupy the summit of a rocky eminence, com- manding a view of Cardigan Bay, and of the North Wales coast ; it was built by Edward I., who in- corporated the town; and the walks surrounding it form delightful promenades for the numerous parties who visit this agreeable watering-place in the summer season. Races are held here in the month of August. Markets on Mondays and Saturdays ; and fairs four times in each year. ABESTA, or AVESTA, the name of one of the sacred books of the Persian magi, which they ascrrbe to their great founder, Zoroaster. It is a commentary on the Zend and Pazend; the three together including the whole system of the Igni- colffi, or worshippers of fire. ABESTON. See ASBESTOS. ABESUM, in chemistry, unslacked, or quick lime. See CALX. ABET', v. n. 3 Anglo Sax. Betan, (meliorare, ABET'MENT, / melius reddere, says Skinner.) ABET'TER, J To better, to make better. It primarily signifies to enkindle or animate. It is applied to encouraging, inciting, assist- ing, supporting, aiding. 'It was once indifferent/ says Johnson, 'but is almost always taken by modern writers in an ill sense.' ABEVACUATION, in medicine, a partial evacuation, either by nature or art. ABEX,aname sometimes given to that country of Africa which bounds Abyssinia on the east, and the Red Sea west. It is mountainous, and so barren as to offer little to the notice of travel- lers. It is 500 miles in length, and 100 in breadth. The inhabitants are Mahometans. ABEY'ANCE, n. Abaiance, or en abeiance, old Fr. Expectation. A term of law, but sometimes of more general application. ABGAR, or ABGARUS, a name given to seve- ral kings of Edessa in Syria; the most celebrated of whom is said by Eusebius to have sent a letter to Jesus Christ, requesting him to come and re- move a distemper in bis feet. The Saviour is stated to have returned an answer, accompanied by his portrait. Some great names in ecclesias- tical history support the authenticity of these let- ters, as they are still extant in Eusebius ; Mo- sheim rejects the letters, but sees "no reason of sufficient weight to destroy the credibility of the story." The general opinion of learned men, however, is decidedly against the whole. ABHOR', v. ~\ Ab : horreo. Vossius con- ABHOR'RER, fceives the word, "horreo" ABHOR'RENCE, to express the effect produced ABHOR'RENT. J by the determination of the breath (or rather the blood) to the heart, occa- sioned by a sudden and painful emotion, which causes a general rigidity, and convulsive shud- dering of the body, so that the hair is said to stand on end. ABI : Justly thou aWwrr'st Thai sou, who on the quiet state of men Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue Rational liberty. Milton's Paradise Lost, xii. 79. The self-same thing they will abhor One way, and long another for. Hudibr. p. i . cant. 1 . The first tendency to any injustice that appears, must he suppressed with a show of wonder and 06- horrency in the parents and govcrnours. Locke on Education. For if the worlds, In worlds inclosed, could on his senses burst, He would abhorrent turn. Thomson's Sum. 1. 310. The legal, and as it should seem, injudicious pro- *"anation, so abhorrent to our stricter principles, was received with a very faint murmur, by the easy nature of polytheism. Gibbon, vol. i. p. 112. Lands intercepted by a narrow frith, Abhor each other. Cotvper. But peace abhorreth artificial joys, And pleasure, leagued with pomp, the zest of both destroys. Lord Byron's Childe Harold. ABHORRERS, a name which was given to a political party in England, in distinction from the petitioners of the same period, (1680.) The name and the party soon ceased ; but Hume gives an account of their origin and principles. They paid excessive court to the king, by expressing their abhorrence against those who petitioned for redress of grievances, or who presumed to pre- scribe or dictate to his majesty any period for as- sembling parliament. ABI A, or IRE, in ancient history, a maritime town of Messinia, so called after Abia, a daughter of Hercules, and one of the seven cities promised by Agamemnon to Achilles. ABIAD, a river of Africa, descending, accord- ing to Mr. Brown, from the Mountains of the Moon, several hundred miles south of Darfour. ABI ANS, or AB 1 1 , anciently a people of Th race, or, according to some authors, of Scythia. They led a wandering life, living on the flesh of their herds and flocks ; on milk and cheese. They cultivated little intercourse with their neighbours, but boldly maintained their own independence, and were a people of great integrity, according to Homer, II. xiii. 5, 6. ABIB, 3'3X, Heb. i. e. a ripe ear of corn. The first month of the ecclesiastical, and the seventh of the civil year, among the Jews. It answers to our moon that begins in March and ends in April ; and contains the feast of the pass- over and of unleavened bread. ABIDE', -\ Bidian, or abidian, Sax. To ABI'DER, f stay, remain, tarry, dwell or con- ABI'DING, ftinue in a place or state; also, ABO'DE, J to stay under, or support ; to bear up against, or endure with fortitude, good temper, or the contrary. In the latter senses, however, the words are nearly obsolete. The pacient abyding of the righteous shal be turned to gladnesse, but the hope of the vngodiy shall perish. Bible, Land. 1539. Prm. chap. x. DEM. Abide me, if thou dar'st : for well I wot Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place, ^Thou dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. Shakspeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. MRS. FORD. I would my husband would meet U) ABI him in this shape ; he cannot abide the old woman of Brainford ; he swears she is a witch, forbad her my house, and hath threatened to beat her. Shakspeare's Merry Wives of Windsor. Ah me ! they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain Under what torments inwardly I groan, While they adore me on the throne of Hell. Milton. To remain in sin and abide in death is all one. Bishop Taylor's Sermons. Why do we abide our thoughts and affections scat- tered from thee, from thy saints, from thine anointed. Hall's Contemplations. He (God) does not inflict sensible judgment upon all his enemies, lest the wicked should think there were no punishment abiding for them elsewhere. Idem. Thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I biing him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman to my lord : and let the lad go up with his brethren. Gen. xliv. 32, 33. The marquis Dorset, as I hear, is fled To Richmond, in the parts where he abides. Shakspeare's Richard III. Those who apply themselves to learning, are forced to acknowledge one God, incorruptible and unbegotten ; who is the only true being, and abides for ever above the highest heavens, from whence He beholds all the things that are done in heaven and earth. Stillingjl. Defence of Disc, on Rom. Idolat. ABIES, in botany, the fir tree. See PINUS. ABIGA, in botany, the ground pine, or Cha- mapitys. ABILA, or ABYLA, a mountain of Africa, one of the pillars of Hercules, as they were anciently called, being directly opposite to Calpe, in Spain, from which it is only 18 miles distant ABILENE, a small canton in Syria, between Lebanon and Antilibanus, west of Damascus. See ABEL-MAIM. ABINEAU POINT, a neck of land projecting into Lake Erie, Canada, and forming a fine bay On each side of the point. It runs out about 10 miles west of Fort Erie. The northern bay is most commonly called Abineau Port. ABINGDON, the chief town of Washington county, in Virginia, North America, 310 miles S. W. of Richmond. Also a town of Maryland, North America, 20 miles N. E. of Baltimore; and a township of Plymouth county, Massachu- setts, 22 S. E. of Boston. ABINGDON, or ABINGTON, a market town of Berks, in the hundred of Hormer, on the Isis, so named from an abbey formerly built in it, six miles S. of Oxford, and 56 W. from London. The streets are well paved, and have a spacious area in the centre, where the markets are held on Monday and Friday, and where an elegant market-house is built, supported on lofty pillars, with a handsome Town-house of free-stone above it, where the assizes, sessions, and county meet- ings are held. It has two churches, dedicated to St. Nicholas and St. Helena, and two hospi- tals, the one for 12 persons, six of each sex, the other for 26, viz. 1 3 of each ; besides a charity and a free grammar school. This town is sup- posed by Bp. Gibson to be the Saxon Clove- shoo, where synods were held, in A. D. 742 and ABJ 30 ABJ 822. It was incorporated by Queen Mary I. and sends one member to parliament, elected by the suffrages of the inhabitants generally. It is a considerable malting town. ABIPONIANS, a decayed tribe of S. Ame- rican Indians, inhabiting the banks of the Plata. The whole nation does not exceed 5000 in num- ber. They are naturally fair ; but, by exposure to the air and smoke, become of a brown colour. They are a strong and hardy race of people ; which is attributed to their marrying late ; and are greatly celebrated on account of their chastity and other virtues ; though, according to some writers, they have no knowledge of a Deity, or name to express his existence : but they believe in an evil principle whom they call " Uncle." They are but slightly acquainted with agricul- ture, living by hunting and fishing, and holding the flesh of their jaguars in great repute. They have a kind of order of chivalry for their warriors ; and are so formidable, that 100 of their enemies will Hy before ten of these horsemen, armed with the long spears of the country. The caciques in war are their judges in time of peace ; but the whole people have long ceased to be of any con- sideration in the neighbourhood. ABISCA, a province of Peru of considerable extent, between the Yetan and Amarumain to the S. of Cuzco. It is little known to Euro- peans, being principally the resort of expelled barbarous tribes. ABISHERING, an ancient law-term, denoting a being free, or exempt, from all amercements. ABITELLO, in ecclesiastical affairs, a sort of penitential garment, in the Romish church. Eym. Direct. Inquisit. iii. 332. ABITIBBE LAKE, a lake of Upper Canada, ip N. lat. 48 35', W. long. 82 0', near the set- tlement of Frederic. ABITIBBE RIVER, a river of Upper Canada, flowing out of the lake of that name, and empty- ing itself into the Moose river, near James's Bay. The Abitibbes are a native tribe of this neigh- bourhood. ABJECT>.&.\ Ab . . ad to cast Qr throw ABJECTEDNESS -f away from; to be reduced t0 a low rank or Condition ; o be degraded. The audacite and bolde speeche of Daniel signi- fy eth the abiection of the kynge and his realme. The Exposition of Daniel, by Geo. Joye, p. 75. I deemed it better so to die, Than at my foemen's feet an abject lie. Mirr. for Mag. p. 20. Rebellion Came like itself in base and abject routs, Led on by bloody youth goaded with rage, And countenanc'd by boys and beggary. Shakspeare's Henry IV. I was at first, as other beasts that graze The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low. Milt. Paradise Lost. b. ix. 1. 571. The rarer thy example stands, By how much from the top of wond'rous glory. Strongest of mortal men, To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n. Milton's Sampson Agonistes. By humility I mean not the abjectness of a base mind ; but a prudent care not to ovcr-valun oursclvoa upon any account. Grew's Cosmoluyiu Sacra, b. ii. c. 7. Let mean princes Of abject souls, fear to reward great actions. I mean to show, That whatsoe'er subjects, like you, dare merit, A king, like me, dares give. Dry den's Marriage a la Mode. To what base ends, and by what abject ways, Are mortals urg'd through sacred lust of praise ! Pope's Essay on Criticism. How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, How complicate, how wonderful is man ! How passing wonder, He who made him such. Young, ABJURE', ( Ab : juro, to swear from, to ABJURA'TION. ( forswear; to swear; to go away from, or leave ; to disown, to disclaim, to renounce upon oath. By our ancient customs felons were allowed to fly to a sanctuary, and on swearing to leave the kingdom forthwith, and for ever were exempted from farther punishment. Vide Rastall's Collection of Statutes. In this season were banished out of Southwarke, twelve Scottes whiche had dwelt there a long season, and werconveied fro parishe toparishe by the consta- ble, like men yt had abiured the realme, and on their vttermost garment a white crosse before, and another behynd them. Thus were they conueyed through London northwarde till they came to Scotlande. Hall, repr. 1809, p. 648. Either to die the death, or to abjure For ever the society of man. Shakspeare's Midsum. Night's Dream. No man, therefore, that hath not abjured his reason and sworn allegiance to a preconceived fantastical hypothesis, can undertake the defence of such a supposition. Hale. A Jacobite, who is persuaded of the pretender's right to the crown, cannot take the oath of allegiance ; or, if he could, the oath of abjuration follows, which contains an express renunciation of all opinions in favour of the claim of the exiled family. Paley's Moral Philosophy. ABJURATION, in ancient customs. The following oath taken by a person guilty of felony ; who, having fled to a place of sanctuary, engages to leave the kingdom for ever, will furnish a cu- rious illustration of this subject : " This heare, thou sir Coroner, that I, M. of H. am a robber of sheepe, or of any other beast, or a Murderer of one, or of mo, and a felon of our Lord the king of Englad; and because I haue done many such euilles or robberies in his land, I do abjure the land of our Lord Edward, king of England, and I shall haste me towards the Port of such a place, which thou hast given me, and that I shal not go out of the high way, and if I doe, I wil that I be taken as a robber, and a felon of our Lorde the king : And that at such a place I will diligently seeke for passage, and I will tarie there but one flud and ebbe, if I can have passage, and unlesse I can haue it in such a place, I wil goe euery day into the Sea up to my knees, assaying to passe ouer, and unlesse I can do this within fortie dayes, I wil put my selfe againe into the Church, as a robber and a felon of our L9rd the king, so God me helpe & his holie iudgement," ,c. Rastatt's Collect. ofStat. p. 2. ABJURATION, in English law, signifies the renouncirg and disclaiming upon oath, any right ABL 31 ABL of the late Pretender to the crown of these king- doms; also, according to 25 Charles II. an oath abjuring particular doctrines of the church of Rome. ABLA'CTATE, > Ab : from, and lacto, to ABLACTA'TION, J feed with milk. To wean a child. ABLAIQUET, or ABLAIKET, a town of Rus- sian Tartary, 540 miles S. E. of Tobolsk, remark- able only for the remains of a great temple and other antiquities. ABLANCOURT, (PERROT, D',) See PERROT. ABLANIA, in botany, the trichocarpus genus of Linnaeus. ABLAQUEATION, in horticulture, the art or practice of opening the ground about the roots of trees, to let the air and water operate upon them. ABLATIVE, in grammar, the 6th case of the Latin nouns, pronouns, participles, and gerunds. Priscian calls it the comparative case, as it serves for comparing as well as taking away. It is op- posed to the dative, as the latter expresses the action of giving. In English, French, &c. there is no precise mark whereby to distinguish the ablative from other cases ; and we only use the term in analogy to the Latin. Thus, in the two phrases, " the importance of the question," and " he spoke much of the question," we say, that of the question in the first is genitive, and in the latter ablative ; because it would be so, if the two phrases were expressed in Latin. The question concerning the Greek ablative has been the sub- ject of a famous literary war between two great grammarians, Frischlin and Crusius ; the former of whom maintained, and the latter opposed, the reality of it. The dispute still subsists among their respective followers. ABLATIVE ABSOLUTE, in the Latin grammar, is a clause or phrase detached from, and indepen- dent of the rest of the sentence, and answering to the genitive absolute of the Greek gramma- rians. ABLAZE', a. On blaze. See BLAZE. A'BLE, v. & adj.-\ Abal, Goth. Strength, A'BLENESS, f power, force, skill, are the ABIL'ITY, Heading ideas. The verb, A'BLY. / to able, had two other sig- nifications, now obsolete : first, to make able, or to give power for any purpose, of the same im- port as to enable ; and, secondly, to warrant, or answer for. God tokeneth and assigneth the times Ming hem to her proper offices. Chaucer's Boecius, b. i. fol. 215, col. 1. And ye, my ladies, that ben trewe and stable, By -way of kinde ye oughtin to ben able To haue pitie of folke that ben in paine, Now haue ye cause to clothin you in sable. Chaucer, the Complaint of Mars, fol. 326, col. 4. Lytel Lowys, my Sonne, I perceive well by cer- taine evidences thyne abylyte to lerne scyences, touching nombres and proporcions, and also will consydre I thy besye prayer in especyal to lerne the tretyse of the Astrolabye. Chaucer's Conclusion of the Aitrolabie. That if God willinge to schewe his wraththe, and to make his power knownn, hath suffrid in greet pa- cience vessels of wrathhe able into deeth, to schewe the richossis of his glorie into vessels of mcrci whiche he made redi into glorie. Wiclif. Romayns. chap. ix. For no doute to dreade to ofifende God and to loue to please him, in all thing quyckeneth and sharpeneth all the wittes of Cristes chosen people : and ableth them so to grace, that they joy greatly to withdrawe their eares, and all their wittes and mem- bres frome all worldly delyte, and frome all fleschely solace. Howell's State Trials, vol i. p. 202. Trial of Master William Thorpe for Heresy, 8, Henry IV. A. D. 1407, written by himself. A noble crew about them waited round Of sage and sober peeres all gravely gownd, Whom farre before did marche a goodly band Of tall young men all able armes to sound, But now they laurell-branches bore in hand ; Glad signe of victory and peace in all their land. Spenser's Faerie Qveene, b. i. canto, xii. Love all ; trust a few ; Do wrong to none : be able for thine enemy Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend Under thy own life's key. Shakspeare. Cuts. They say all louers sweare more perfor- mance than they are able, and yet reserue an ability that they neuer perform ; vowing more than the per- fection of ten, and discharging lesse than the tenth part of one. Shakspeare's Troi. fy Cres. act iii. sc. 1. To sell away all the powder in the kingdom, To prevent blowing up. That's safe, ile able it. Middl. Game at Chess. D. ii. b. act 2 Of singing thou hast got the reputation, Good Thyrsis, mine I yield to thy ability My heart doth seek another estimation. Sidney , b. i. If aught in my ability may serve To lighten what thou suffer'st, and appease Thy mind with what amends is in my pow'r. Milton's Sampson Agonistes, 1. 744. They gave after their ability unto the treasure. Ezra, ii. 69. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth : that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter, iv. 11. Wherever we find our abilities too weak for the per- formance, he assures us of the assistance of his Holy Spirit. Rogers'* Sermons. And novels (witness every month's review,) Belie their name, and offer nothing new. The mind, relaxing into needful sport, Should turn to writers of an abler sort, Whose wit well manag'd, and whose classic stylej Give truth a lustre, and make wisdom smile. Cowper's Retirement. ABLECTI, in Roman antiquity, a select body of soldiers chosen from among those called ex- traordinarii. Polyb. vi. 31. ABLEGMINA, in Roman antiquity, those parts of the entrails of victims, which were offered in sacrifice. They were sprinkled with flour, and burnt upon the altar ; the priests pouring wine on them. ABLET, or ALBLEN, in ichthyology, the com- mon bleak, a small fresh-water fish, called in Latin alburnus. See ALBURNUS and CYPRINUS. ABLIS, a market town of France, in Orleans, department of the Seine and Oise, arrondissement of Etampes, six leagues E. N. E. of Chartres. ABLUTION, Ab: luo, to wash from. The act of washing, or the water used in cleansing or purifying. Also the ceremonial purification ob- ABO served under most systems of religion, ancient and modern, true and false. Lastly, the cup oi wine and water, formerly given to the people in the Romish church after the host. SOB. Sirrah, my varlct, stand you forth and speak to him, Like a philosopher. Answer i'the language. Name the vexations, and the martyrizations Of metals, in the work. FAC. Sir, Putrefaction. Solution, ablution, sublimation, Cohobation, Calcination, Ceration, and Fixation. Jonson's Alchemist, act ii. sc. 4. Hearts may be found, that harbour at this hour That love of Christ, and all its quick'ning pow'r And lips unstain'd by folly or by strife, Whose wisdom, drawn from the deep well of life. Tastes of its healthful origin, and fiows A Jordan for the ablution of our woes. Cowper's Conversation. ABLUTIONS, in religion, appear to be as old as any ceremonies, or even external worship itself. Moses enjoined them; the heathens adopted them ; and Mahomet and his followers have continued them : they thus make a consi- derable part of the most ancient religions. The Egyptian priests had their diurnal and nocturnal ablutions; the Grecians their sprinklings; the Romans their lustrations and lavations ; the Jews their washing of hands and feet, besides their baptisms. The ancient Christians practised ab- lution before communion ; which the Romish church still retains before mass, and sometimes after. The attachment of the Hindoos for the Ganges is such, that ablution in its streams is placed amongst the first duties of their reli- gion ; and when, from necessity, they cannot reach that river, if in bathing they use the exclamation, " O Ganges, purify me !" the Brahmins assure them that the service is equally efficacious. ABLUTION, in pharmacy, is applied both to a preparation which divers remedies undergo, by washing them in water, to cleanse them or increase their power, and to medicines which carry off impurities flora the system. ABO, a seaport, an ancient capital of Finland, which lies upon the point where the gulphs of Bothnia and Finland unite, 120 miles N. E. of Stockholm. It stands on the estuary of the Aura- jocki, is a good port, and is the see of a bishop ; the seat of a governor, and of a high court of justice for S. Finland. The city became incorporated with the Russian empire in 1809. It is well built, and carries on a thriving trade with Eng- land, Holland, and the Mediterranean, in its manufactures of silk, cotton, cloth, paper, rope, &c. It has an extensive glass-house, a sugar refinery of good repute, and two excellent dock yards. Its external trade in iron, timber, fur and corn is also considerable. It has an university, founded by queen Christina in 1640, and endowed with the same privileges as that of Ups'L Long. 22, 13'. E. Lat. 60, 27'. N. Population about i AOOO. which differs among our older writers, corres im- mediately from the French dbord, as alter abord, to enter a ship, to go aboard. And afterwards a great wynde arrising iu y sea, by meane whereof their shippes might no longar tarry there, for that, that it was a place wt out porte ; one part of the embarqued theself, and passing bifore a rockky place call'd Ithis, they came to aborde in the porte of Philie. Thucidides, by Tttomas Nicolls, Lond. 1550, fo. 53, p. 1. But there it resteth and abode This great shyp on anker rode ; The lorde came forth, and when he sigh ; That other ligge on borde so nighe ; He wondreth, what it might bee, And bad men to go in and see. Gower, Con. A. book ii. And how the tempest all began, And how he lost his steersman Which that the sterne, or he tooke keepe, Smote ouer the hard as he slepe, Chaucer's, Fame, b. i. fol. 277. c. 2. And wha we had gotte a shippe y' wolde sayle vnto Phenices, we went aborde into it, and set forth. Bible, Lond. 1539, Actes xxi. We left this place about eleven in the morning, and were again conveyed, with more sunshine than wind, aboard our ship. Fielding's Voyage to Lisbon. ABODE', -\ Bodian, Sax. to portend; ABOD'ANCE, (to abode, bode, and forbode, ABODE'MENT, fare synonymous, and signify ABOD'ING. 3 to show, or exhibit some ap- pearance, sign, or token, from which good or evil is inferred. Nay, nay, it may nat stonden in this wise For nece mine, this writen clerkes wise That percii is with dretching in draw Nay, such abodes ben nat worth an haw. Chaucer, third Booke of Troilus, fol. 171. col. 2. For he (bishop Felix) brought all the province unto the faith, and workos of iustice, and in the end to rewarde of perpetuall blessednesse, according to the abodement of his name, which in Latine is called Felix, and in our English tongue, Happie. Stowe's Chronicle, Howe's ed. 1614, p. 61. ABO-HUS, or ABO-SLOT, an ancient fort in Finland, on a peninsula, near the mouth of the river Aura-jocki, which has often suffered from enemies, and by fire. ABOI-VENTS, in fortification, lodgments con- structed in a oveted way to protect soldiers from the weather. ABOLISH, ) Ab : oleo. to emit an odour. ABOLISHMENT, > Hence aboleo, to lose an ABOH'TION, j odour. To extinguish the very odour ; to destroy, to annul, to abrogate, tc annihilate. Now to th' entent that ye may yet farther perceive and se, that they by the distruccion >f the clergy, meane the clere abolycion of Christes faith : it may like you to conferre, and compare together ii places of hys beggars bill. Sir Thomas More's Works, p. 311 The plain and direct way had been to prove, that all such ceremonies, as thev require to be abolished are retained by us with the hurt of the church, or with less benefit than the abolishment of them would bring. Hooker, b. iv BORU. familiar 3 sea-term, the orthography of For him , hat for th } thou hast made ? Jlfito,b. Hi. 1. 163. ABO 3r Nor could Vulranian flame The stench abolish, or the savour tame. Dryd. Virg. Geo. iii. An apoplexy is a sudden abolition of all the senses nd of all voluntary motion, by the stoppage of the flux and reflux of the animal spirits through the nerves destined for those motions. Arbuthnot on Diet. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. The Society for mitigating and gradually abolishing the state of Slavery throughout the British Dominions, some- times called the ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, has been recently formed. His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester is president of the society. In the list of vice- presidents, are the names of many of the most distinguished philanthropists of the day, and among them, that of the never to be forgotten champion of the negro's cause, Mr. Wilber- force. The society has already published several works illustrative of the state of slavery, and pointing out its atrocious evils, in a commercial and political, as well as a religious point of view; and which, by apparently unanswerable arguments tend to hold up the system to merited detestation, by every class of society, from the statesman to the peasant. The following sum- mary of the evils to which the slaves in the British colonies are subject, may serve to give some idea of their miserable and degraded con- dition : There are, in the colonies of Great Britain, upwards of 800,000 human beings in a state of degrading personal slavery. These unhappy persons are the absolute property of their master, who may sell or trans- fer them at his pleasure, and who may also re- gulate, according to his discretion, (within certain limits) the measure of their labour, their food, and their punishment. Many of the slaves are (and all may be) branded like cattle, by means of a hot iron, on the shoulder or other conspicuous part of the body, with the initials of their master's name ; and thus bear about them, in indelible characters, the proof of their debased and servile state. The slaves, whether male or female, are driven to labour by the impulse of the cart- whip, for the sole benefit of their owners, from whom they receive no wages ; and this labour is continued (with certain intermissions for break- fast and dinner,) from morning to night through- out the year. In the season of crop, which lasts for four or five months of the year, their labour is pro- tracted, not only throughout the day, as at other times, but during either half the night, or the whole of every alternate night. Besides being generally made to work under the lash, without wages, the slaves are further obliged to labour for their own maintenance on that day which ought to be devoted to repose and religious instruction. And as that day is also their only market-day, it is of necessity a day of worldly occupation, and much bodily exertion. The colonial laws arm the master, or any one to whom he may delegate his authority, with a power to punish his slaves to a certain extent, A 01 I without the intervention of the magistrate, and without any responsibility for the use of this tremendous discretion; and to that extent he may punish them for any offence, or lor no ot- fence. These discretionary punishments are usually inflicted on the naked body with the cart-whip, an instrument of dreadful severity, which cruelly lacerates the flesh of the sufferer. Even the unhappy females are equally liable with the men to have their persons thus shame- lessly exposed and barbarously tortured at the caprice of their master or overseer. The slaves being regarded in the eye of the law as mere chattels, they are liable to be seized in execution for their master's debts ; and, with- out any regard to the family ties which may be broken by this oppressive and merciless process, to be sold by auction to the highest bidder, who may remove thtin to a distant part of the same colony, or even exile them to another colony. Marriage, that blessing of civilized, and even of savage life, is protected in the case of the slaves by no legal sanction. It cannot be said to exist among them. Those, therefore, who live together as man and wife, are liable to be sepa- rated by the caprice of their master, or by sale for the satisfaction of his creditors. The slaves in general have little or no access to the means of Christian instruction. The effect of the want of such instruction, as well as of the absence of any marriage tie, is, that the most unrestrained licentiousness (ex- hibited in a degrading, disgusting, and depopu- lating promiscuous intercourse,) prevails almost universally among the slaves ; and is encouraged no less universally by the example of their superiors the whites. The evidence of slaves is not admitted by the colonial courts, in any civil or criminal case affecting a person of free condition. If a white man, therefore, perpetrates the most atrocious acts of barbarity, in the presence of slaves only, the injured party is left without any means of legal redress. In none of the colonies of Great Britain have those legal facilities been afforded to the slave to purchase his own freedom, which have produced such extensive beneficial effects in the colonial possessions of Spain and Portugal. On the con- trary, in many of our colonies, even the volun- tary manumission of slaves by their masters has been obstructed, and in some rendered nearly im possible, by large fines. It is an universal principle of colonial law, that all black or coloured persons are presumed and taken to be slaves, unless they can legally prove the contrary. The liberty, therefore, even of free persons, is thus often greatly endangered, and sometimes lost. They are liable to be ap- prehended as run-away slaves, and to be sold into endless bondage as such, if they fail to do that which though free, nay, though born perhaps in Great Britain itself, they may be unable to do namely, to establish the fact of their freedom by such evidence as the colonial laws require. Many thousand infants are annually born within the British dominions to no inheritance but that of the hapless, hopeless servitude which has been described ; and the general oppressive* D ABO 34 ness of which might be inferred from this strik- ing and most opprobrious fact alone, that while in the United States of America the slaves in- crease rapidly so rapidly as to double their number in 20 years there is, even now, in the British colonies, no increase, but on the con- trary a diminution of their numbers. The more immediate objects of the society are, to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and to facilitate the means by which they may obtain their freedom, and for the accomplish- ment of these intentions : To remove all the existing obstructions to the manumission of slaves ; To cause the slaves to cease to be chattels in the eye of the law ; To prevent their removal, as slaves, from colony to colony, and, under certain modifications, their sale or transfer, except with the land to which they might be attached ; To abolish markets and compulsory labour on the Sunday ; and to make that day a day of rest, as well as of religious worship and in- struction ; and also to secure to the slaves equivalent time in each week, in lieu of Sun- day, and in addition to any time which in- dependently of Sunday is now afforded them, for cultivating their provision grounds ; To protect the slaves, by law, in the possession and transmission of the property they may thus, or in any other way, acquire ; To enable the slave to purchase his freedom, by the payment at once of a fair price for his re- demption, or of a fifth part of that price at a time, in return for an additional day in the week to be employed for his own bene- fit; To make the testimony of slaves available in courts of justice, both in civil and criminal cases ; To relieve all negros and persons of colour from the burden of legally proving their free- dom, when brought into question, and to throw on the claimant of their persons the burden of legally proving his right to them ; To provide the means of religious instruction for the black and coloured population, and of Christian education for their children ; To institute marriage among the slaves ; and to protect that state from violation, and from either forcible or voluntary disruption ; To put an end to the driving system ; To put an end also to the arbitrary punishment of slaves, and to place their persons as well as property under the guardianship of the law ; To provide that all children born after a certain dav shall be free, care being taken of their education and maintenance until they shall be capable of acting for themselves ; To provide that no colonial governor, judge attorney-general, or fiscal, shall be a pos- sessor of slaves, or shall have a direct and obvious reversionary interest in such property, or shall be the agent of the proprietors of slaves. The society has further proposed, that the final extinction of slavery should be accom- plished, by the redemption of all females from tlie lowest age, to about 40 ; by which means, ABO all their posterity would be born free. The cost of this measure is estimated at 300,000 ; but should parliament refuse to accede to this, or some other effective plan, the society trust that their object will nevertheless be obtained, by bringing free labour into competition with slave labour ; so that the latter shall become of so little value as to be not worth retaining. The parent society is supported by many auxiliaries, not fewer than 250 of which are in active opera- tion in various parts of the kingdom ; and if they continue to proceed with the energy that has hitherto marked their progress, there can be little doubt but that they will finally succeed in a cause, in which, truth, justice, and every noble principle of human nature, as well as the dic- tates of religion, are arrayed on their side. ABOLLA, from the Lat. bulla, Roman or- naments, or from the Gr. a/i/3o\jj ava/3o\?j, cloth- ing, a warm kind of garment, lined or doubled, worn by the Greeks and Romans, chiefly out of the city, in following the camp. Abolla seems to have stood opposed to the toga, which was a garment of peace, as the abolla was of war. Kings appear to have used it, and Caligula was jealous of the notice attracted by king Ptolemy for appearing at the shows in a purple one. It was also worn by judges in the execution of their office, whence the phrase of Juvenal : 'Facinora majores abolla.' Mart, viii. 46. v. 1. ABOMASUM, or ABOMASIUM, names of the fourth stomach of ruminating animals. It is in the abomasus of calves and lambs, that the runnet, or earning, is formed, wherewith milk is curdled. See COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. ABOMEY, the capital of Dahomey, on the Slave Coast of Africa, E. of Ashantee, about 100 miles from the sea. It consists of mud houses and huts scattered over a large area, and surrounded by a broad and deep ditch. The king's palaces, of which he has two within the town and one in the suburbs, are said to be ornamented in various parts with human skulls. Cotton is manufactured here with some success, and the colours used in dying it, are both bright and permanent. ABOMINATE, v.-\ Ab : ominor, to turn ABOM'INABLE, / away from, as from an ABOM'INABLENESS, \evil omen; to deprecate ABOM'INABLY, i an ill omen ; to turn ABOMINA'TION. j away from, with loath- ing and detestation ; to hate utterly, to execrate. Thei knowlochen that thei knowen God ; but bi dedis thei denyen whanne thei ben abominable, and unbileeful, and reprenable to all good werk. Widif. Tyte. chap. 1. Al whom therfore by the whole thousande on an heape (for no fewer he nombreth them) dothe thys dywelyshe dronken soule abomynably blaspheme, and calleth them lyars and falsefiers of scripture, maketh them no better then draffe. Sir Thomas Mwe's Work, p. 679 I abhor such phanatical phantasms, such insoci- able and point-devise companions, such rackers of orthography, as do speak dout fine, when he should say doubt ; det, when he should pronounce debt ; d, e, b, t, not d, e, t. He clepcth a calf, cauf, half, hauf : neighbour, vocatur nebour ; neigh abbre- viated ne ; this is abhominable, which he would call ABO abtiominable : it insinuateth me of insanie. Ne in- telligis Domine, to make frantick,lunatick ? Shakspeare's Love's Labour Lost. Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, Abominable, inutterable, and worse Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd, Gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras dire. Milton's Paradise Lost, b. ii. This infernal pit Abominable, accurs'd, the house of woe. Milton. Pride goes hated, cursed, and abominated by all. Hammond. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of Cor- ruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 2 Kings, xxiii. 13. The queen and ministry might easily redress this abominable grievance, by endeavouring to choose men of virtuous principles. Swift's Project for the Advancement of Religion. Covetousness is idolatry, that the love of money is the root of -all evil, that it has occasioned in some even the shipwreck of their faith, and is always, in whomsoever it obtains, an abomination. Cowper's Letters ABON, ABONA, or ABOXIS, from abbon, or avon, Celt, a river, the ancient name of a river : n Britain, supposed to be the Avon ; also a town in Albion, supposed by Camden to be Abingdon, and by others, who argue from the distance, (9 miles from Venta Silurum) to be Porshut, upon Avon, opposite Bristol. ABONY, a flourishing Hungarian settlement, in the Ketskemet and county of Pest. ABORIGINES. The term aborigines, though now an appellative, was originally a proper name given only to a people of Italy, who inhabited ancient Latium. St. Jerome says, they were so called, as being, absque origine, the primitive planters of the country after the flood ; Aurelius Victor, that they were called Aborigines, q. d. Aberrigines, from ab, from, and errare, to wander ; as ha'ving been before a wandering people. The term in fact signifies, of unknown origin ; and has therefore in ancient and modern times described the oldest inha- pitants of any country. ABORT', a. & n. Ab : orior, to rise from ; ABOR'TIOX, ^ to arise out of season; ABORSE'MEXT, f to bring forth premature- ABOR'TIVE, { ly, or before the time ; to ABOR'TIVELY, \ miscarry ; to fail in bring- ABORT MEXT. ing to perfection. Of these words abortion and abortive only are in present use. They are all applied to animal and vegetable productions, and to imperfect or unsuccessful mental operations. Thou eluish mark'd abortive rooting hogge, Thou that wast seal'd in thy natiuitie The slaue of nature, and the sonne of hell. Shakspeare's Richard III. act i. sc. 3. How often hast thou waited at my cup, Remember it, and let it make thee crest-fall'n ; Ay, and allay this thy abortive pride. Shakspeare's Henry VI. p. ii. 35 ABO All tli' unaccomplished works of nature's hand, Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mix'd, Dissolv'd on earth, fleet hither. Milton's Paradise Lett, b. iii. 1. 456. The void profound Of unessential night receives him next, Wide-gaping ; and with utter loss of being Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf. Idem, b. ii. 1. 451. Concealed treasures, now lost to mankind, shall be brought into use by the industry of converted peni- tents, whose wretched carcases the impartial laws dedicate, as untimely feasts, to the worms of the earth, in whose womb those deserted mineral riches must ever lie buried as lost abortments, unless those be made the active midwives to deliver them. Bacon's Physical Remains. Many politic conceptions, so elaborately formed and wrought, and grown at length ripe for delivery, do yet, in the issue, miscarry and prove abortive. South' s Sermons Nor will his fruit expect Th' autumnal season, but, in summer's pride ; When other orchards smile, abortive fail. Phillips. Behold my arm thus blasted, dry, and wither'd, Shrunk like a foul abortion, and decay'd, Like some untimely product of the seasons. Howe, ABORTION, in midwifery, the exclusion of a foetus before it has acquired a sufficient de- gree of perfection to enable it to perform respira- tion and the other vital functions. See MID- WIFERY. ABORTIVE CORN, a distemper of corn men- tioned by M. Gillet, and suspected to be occa- sioned by insects. It appears long before harvest, and may be known by a deformity of the stalk, the leaves, the ear, and even the grain. ABORTIVE VELLUM, is made of the skin of an abortive calf. ABOU-HANIFET, in Mahometan theology, a doctor and founder of a sect in the 8th century, who was imprisoned and died at Bagdad, A.D. 757, for his denial of predestination. His fol- lowers became numerous, and a mausoleum was built by one of the caliphs to his memory. ABOUILLONA, or ABELLIONTE, a lake, is- land, and town of Asiatic Turkey, at the foot of Olympus, and supposed to contain the scite of the ancient Apollonia. Itis distant eight miles, and a stream called Lupat communicates from the W. of the lake to the sea of Marmora. ABOUKIR, a town of Egypt, 10 miles N.E. of Alexandria, between the sea, and the lake Mareotis. It is the ancient Canopus, according to M. Savary, and stands upon a ridge of rocks which communicates with Aboukir, a small island, about a league from the town, mentioned by Pliny and Strabo. ABOUKIR BAY, formed by the same ridge of rocks, offered the best landing place which Sir Ralph Abercrombie could select for the disem- barkation of the British army in 1801, (see Abercrombie,) and is distinguished in the British annals as the scene of the memorable battle of the Nile, (or of Aboukir,) fought by our intrepid NELSOX, 1st of August, 1798. ABOULFEDA, (Ismael,) prince of Hamah in Syria, one of the most celebrated of the Arabian geographers and historians. He was born at Damascus in 1 273, and soon became distinguished ABO 36 ABR by his learning. In 1321 he wrote an important geographical work, which Graevius published in London, in 1660. He wrote also the lives of Mahomet and Saladin ; the former was printed at. Oxford in 1723, and the latter at Ley den in 1 732. His Annals of Mahometanism, a work in high estimation, was published with a Latin ver- sion at Copenhagen, in 5 vols. 4to. in 1789 1794. He was a soldier as well as a scholar, and served in several expeditions with his father; was present at the storming of Tripoli in 1289, and in 1291 at the capture of Acre, distinguishing himself as well by his skill as his bravery. He died in 1331. Professor White gives several chapters of extracts from Abulfeda in his Pocock's Specimen Hist. Arabum, Oxon. 1806. ABOULOLA, (Ahmed,) an eminent Arabian poet, blind, like our great Milton ; but esteemed one of the principal ornaments of his country. He was born A.D. 973, and died 1057. ABOUTIGE, or ABUTIGE, a market-town in Upper Egypt, near the Nile, where quantities of poppies grow, of which the natives make the best opium in the Levant. It was formerly the abotis of Stephanas. ABOVE', prep, and adv. Ang. Sax. bufan, be-ufan ; top or head. Written variously by our older writers. It designates the upper or uppermost, and is much used as a prefix in composition. And God sent him tokenyng on nyght als he slepe, Dat he suld fynd a palmere orly at morn, At pe south zate, alone as he was born, And if he wild praie him, for Jhesu Crite's loue, He wild dope bataile, and pe suld be aboue. R. Brunne, p. 32. But one thing yet there is aboue all other I gaue him winges, wherewith he might up flie To honour and fame ; and if he would to hygher Then mortal things aboue the starry skye. Wyatt. Descend from Heav'n, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine Following, above th' Olympian hill I soar Above the flight of Pegasean wing. Milton. The inhabitants of Tirol have many privileges above those of the other hereditary countries of the emperor. Addison. True dignity is his, whose tranquil mind Virtue has raised above the things below ; Who, every hope and fear to heaven resigned, Shrinks not, though Fortune aim her deadliest blow. Seattle's Minstrel. ABOUND', v.-v Abundo, ab: from undo, ABOUND'ING, fa wave. A metaphor derived ABUN'DANCE, \fromwaterwhenit exceeds ABUN'DANT. I the bounds which should ABUN'DANTLY,.) contain its stream. Hence, to overflow ; to be rich ; to have in great plenty. And, brethren, we preien ghou, that ghe knowe hem that traucilen among ghou, and ben souereyns to ghou in the lord, and techen ghou that ghe haue hem aboundauntli in charite, and for the werk of hem haue ghe pees with hem. Wiclif. 1 Tessal. chap. v. For well I wot, most mighty sovereign, That all this famous antique history, Of some th' abundance of an idle brain Will judged be, and painted forgery. Spemer. Good, the more Communicated, more abundant grows ; The author not impair'd ; but honour'd more. Paradise Lost, b. v. God on thee Abundantly his gifts hath also pour'd . Inward and outward both, his image fair. Paradise Lost, b. vnt, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life. Genesis i. 20. Their chief enterprise was the recovery of the Holy Land ; in which worthy, but extremely diffi- cult action, it is lamentable to remember what abun- dance of noble blood hath been shed, with very small benefit unto the Christian state. Sir Walter Raleigh'i Essays. At the whisper of thy word, Crown 'd abundance spreads my board. Craihaw Circles are prais'd, not that abound In largeness, but the' exactly bound : So life we praise that does excel, Not in much time, but acting well. Waller '1'ne doubled charge his subjects' love supplies ; Who, 'in that bounty, to themselves are kind : So glad Egyptians see their Nilus rise ; And, in his plenty, their abundance find. Dryd. Ann. tfvr. Heroic poetry has ever been esteemed the greatest work of human nature. In that rank has Aristotle placed it ; and Longinus is so full of the like expres- sions, that he abundantly confirms the other's testi- mony. Dryd. State of Innocence, pref. The river Inn is shut up between mountains covered with woods of fir-trees. Abundance of peasants are employed in hewing down the largest of these trees ; that, after they are barked and cut into shape, are tumbled down. Addis, on Italy. If the Prophecies have been fulfilled (of which there is abundant demonstration) the Scripture must be the word of God ; and if the Scripture is the w.ord of God, Christianity must be true. Cowper's Letters. ABOUT', prep, and adv. Saxon abuba, on bu-ja, or on bot>a. The first limit or boundary of any thing. It also implies approximation to other things. About was also used like a verb in the imperative mood, and is so still in nautical phraseology. In this sense it is derived imme- diately from the French a-bout, a verb being understood. Goggomagog was a geand swibe grete and strong, Aboute four and twenti fet me seib he was long. R. Gloucester, p. 22. Gold hath these natures : greatness of weight ; closeness of parts ; fixation ; pliantness, or softness ; immunity from rust ; colour, or tincture of yellow : Therefore the sure way (though most about) to make gold, is to know the causes of the several natures before rehearsed. Bacon's Natural Hist. No. 328. About him all the sanctities of Heav'n Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd Beatitude past utt'rance. Milton. My brain, about again ; for thou hast found New projects now to work upon. Iron Age. 1632. Children should always be heard, and fairly and kindly answered, when they ask after any thing they would know, and desire to be informed about. Cu- riosity should be as carefully cherished in children, as other appetites suppressed. Locke. Even in the hour of death, he (the good man) considers the pains of his dissolution to be nothing else than the breaking down of that partition which stands betwixt his soul, and the sight of that being who is always present, and is about to display himself to him in fulness of joy. Spectator. ABRA, a silver coin of Poland, formerly ABR 37 ABR worth about one shilling sterling, also a coin of Poland of the value of three half-pence. ABRA, an island of the Southern Ocean, in the straits of Magellan, at the entrance of the passage, as it is called. ABRABANEL, ABARBANEL, or AVRAVANEL, (Isaac,) a celebrated rabbi, born at Lisbon, in 1437, and said to be descended from king David. He was counsellor to Alphonso V, and after- wards to Ferdinand I. but was obliged to leave Portugal along with his brethren Jews, in 1492. Though he was an avowed enemy to Christianity in his writings, yet he treated Christians with politeness. The Jews called him the sage, the prince, and the great politician. He wrote a commentary on the Old Testament, which is scarce ; a Treatise on the Creation, wherein he refutes Aristotle's notion of the eternity of the world ; another on the prophecies relating to the Messiah, against the Christians ; with a work concerning articles of Faith, and some others of less importance. He died at Venice in 1508, aged 71. ABRACADABRA, is said to have been the name of a god worshipped by the Syrians, and was recommended as a magical antidote against agues and fevers. It was written in a kind of inverted cone, omitting the last letter of the former every time it was repeated : thus, a/3paicawv salvans 200 A Ayiw per sacrum 1 S EfXw lignum 60 365 It is also frequently put for the stone, or medal, on which the word was engraved. ABRASION, in medicine, the wearing away, or paring off, superficial ulcerations. ABRAUM, in natural history, a popular name for a species of red clay, used in England by the cabinet-makers, &c. to give a red colow to new mahogany wood. ABREAST, a maritime phrase, signifying side by side, or even opposite to ; and used to denote ships lying, or sailing, with their sides parallel to each other. It has a more particular reference to the line of battle at sea. When the line is formed abreast, the whole squadron ad- vances uniformly and evenly ; the commander-in- chief being always stationed in the centre, and the ships equi-distant from each other. Abreasc of any place, signifies being opposite to it. In the interior of the ship, abreast means to be on. the starboard or larboard side of the main hatch- way, in opposition to afore or abaft the hatch way. ABREAST. See BREAST. ABREIRO, a market-town of Trast-los- Montes, in Portugal, comprehending a district of ten parishes, belonging "to the Villa-Real family. ABRENTIUS, in ancient history, the govern c r of Tarentum, appointed by Hannibal, who gave up that city to the Romans at the instigation of a beautiful woman. ABR 38 ABRETTINE, in ancient of Mysia, in Asia, from whidTthe epithet Abrettenus was given to Jupiter. Strabo. ABREUVOIR, in military affairs, a tank to receive water in the case of encampment; also, small trenches in stone quarries to carry off the ABRI, in military affairs, shelter, or protec- tion, as that derived from a wood, &c. ABRIDGE', v.-) Abreger, Fr. from the G ABRIDG'ER, > man Brechen, to break. Sax. ABRIDGMENT. 3 Abraeccan, nearly synommous with abbreviate; to shorten, to lessen, to give the same substance, or that portion of- it which may be considered necessary in less compass than the original, to make an abstract. Largesse it is, whose .priuilege There maie no auarice abrege. Gower Con. A. b. vii. Surely this commandment containeth the law and the prophets ; and, in this one word, is the abridge- ment of all volume* of Scripture. Hooker, b. ii. sec. 5. THES. Say, what abridgment have you for this evening ? What mask ? what musick ? how shall we beguile The lazy time, if not with some delight ? PHILOST. There is a brief, how many sports are ripe ; Make choice of which your highness will see first. Shakspeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. I have disabled mine estate, By shewing something a more swelling port, Than my faint means would grant continuance ; Nor do I now make moan, to be abridg'd From such a noble rate. Shaksp. Merchant of Venice. After thou hadst drawn that large and real map of the world, thou didst thus abridge it into this little table of man : he alone consists of heaven and earth, soul and body. Hall's Contemplations. They were formerly, by the common law, dis- charged from pontage and murage ; but this privilege has been abridged them since, by several statutes. Ayliffe's Parergon Juris Canonici. It is not barely a man's abridgment in his exter- nal accommodations which makes him miserable ; but when his conscience shall tell him that it was his sin and his folly which brought him under that abridgment. South. Idolatry is certainly the first-born of folly, the great and leading paradox ; nay the very abridgment and sum total of all absurdities. South's Sermons. All trying, by a love of littleness, To make abridgments, and to draw to less Even that nothing, which at first we were. Donne. The constant desire of happiness, and the con- straint it puts upon us, no body (I think) accounts an abridgment of liberty ; or at least an abridgment of liberty to be complained of. Locke. ABROACH', v. and adv. Sax. Abrtzcan, to break. To abroach, or broach a vessel, is to break into it, to tap it, to prepare to draw off its contents. Hence figuratively, to commence, to set any thing going. Broach has also a different signification, which see under the word. From when had you this doctrine M. Hardinge ? who set it first abrochc ? who taught it ? who conrm- ed it ? who allowed it ? Jewel's Defence of the Apologie. Let but some upstart heresy be set abroach, and presently there are some out of a curious hnmour ; others, as if they watched ap occasion of singularity, ABR will take It up for canonical, and make it part of their creed and profession. Bishop Wilkins's Discovery of a new WorM. The jars of gen'rous wine He set abroach, and for the feast prepar'd Dryd. Virgil. Hast thou no friend to set thy mind abroach ? Good sense will stagnate. Thoughts shut up want air And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun. Young's Complaint, night ii. ABROAD', adv. Broad from the Ang. Sax. Broedan, Abrcedan, to broaden, enlarge, extend. The orthography of this word differs among ancient writers. See the following authorities. Opposed to home, or at home. With thulke stroc he smot al of the scolle and ek the croune, That the brain orn al abrod in the pauiment their doune. -R. Gloucester, p. 476. Ane felloun rusche it maid and sound withal] And large on brede ouer Grekis routes did fal. Douglas, b. ii. p. 54. Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home And so am come abroad to see the world. Shakspeare's T. Shrew. On cherubim and seraphim full royally he rode, And on the wings of mighty winds came flying all abroad. Sternhold. Intermit no watch Against a wakeful foe ; while I abroad, Thro' all the coasts of dark destruction, seek Deliverance. Milton's Par. Lost, b. ii. 1. 463. Again the lonely fox roams far abroad, On secret rapine bent, and midnight fraud ; Now haunts the cliff, now traverses the lawn, And flies the hated neighbourhood of man. Prior. Welcome, Sir ! This cell's my court ; here have I few attendants, And subjects none abroad. Shaksp. Tempest. Lady walked a whole hour abroad, without dying after it. Pope's Letters. What learn our youth abroad, but to refine The homely vices of their native land ? Dryd. Span. Friar. He who sojourns in a foreign country, refers what he sees and hears abroad, to the state of things at home. Atterb. Serm. We have no slaves at home. Why then abroad ? Cowper. ABROCHMENT, or ABROCAMENTUM, in old law. See ABBROCHMENT. AB'ROGATE, ) Ab rogo : Rogare legem, ABROGATION, $ or facere rogationem populi, among the Romans, to propose a new law to the people in order to obtain their sanction to its passing. A successful application to the same authority was essential to the repeal of a law ; hence also, abrogare legem ; conformably to the latter usage, to unmake, repeal, annul, or make void, are the significations in English. Besides this all estatutes made by king Edward were clerely reuoked, abrogated, and made frustrate. Hall, p. 286. I do not abrogate the grace of God, for if righteous- ncsse be by the law, then Christ died without a cause. Geneva Bible, 1561. Gal. chap. ii. v. 21. Laws have been made, upon special occasions ; which occasions ceasing, laws of that kind do abro- gate themselves. Hooker, b. iv. sec. 14. The negative precepts of men may cease by many instruments , by contrary customs, by public disrelish. ABR 39 ABS by long omission : but the negative precepts of God never can cease, but when they are expressly abro- gated by the same authority. Taylor's Rule of Living Holy. The commissioners from the confederate Roman catholics demanded the abrogation and repeal of all those laws, which were in force against the exercise of the Roman religion. Clarend. b. viii. ABROHANNI, ABROANI, or MALLEMOLLI, a kind of muslin, or clear, white, fine cotton cloth, brought from the East Indies, particularly from Bengal. ABROLHOS, or ABROI.KOS, dangerous shoals about fifty miles from the coast of Brazil, and near the Island of St. Barbe. Their centre is in lat. 17, 51'. S. Long. 39, 18'. W, ABROMA, in botany, a genus of the class polyadelphia, and order dodecandria. It has been denominated Indian flax, as being excellent for making cordage. The fibres are interwoven with the bark, and are remarkably beautiful, fine, and strong. To procure their separation from the parenchymatous substance, they are mace- rated in water from four to eight days. The world owes to Dr. Roxburgh this important dis- covery. See his paper on the subject in Memoirs of the Society of Arts for 1804. ABRON, a river of France, entering the Loire, between Avril and Lamotte. ABRONO, or ABRUGI, in botany, a name given by Serapion and others to the hearts ease. ABROTANUM, in botany. See ARTEMISIA and SANTOLINA. ABROTANOIDES, in natural history, a coral in the form of the abrotanum. ABROTONUM, in ancient geography, a town on the Mediterranean, in the district of Syrtis Parva, in Africa. ABRUG-BANYA, a populous town in Tran- sylvania, on the river Ompay, 21 miles above Alba Julia. There are mines of gold and silver near it, and the mine court was formerly held in it. It is the chief of what are called the Metal towns. ABRUGI. See ABRONO. ABRUPT', adj.-\ Ab : rumpo, ruptum, to ABRUP'TION, (break off, or away from. ABRUPT'LY, Broken off from. These ABRUPTNESS J words express or imply sud- den, violent, or unexpected separation of a part from the whole. Pardon, if my abruptnnse breed disease ; " He merits not t' offend that hastes to please." Jonson. The devel he is a spirit, and hath means and op- portunitie to mingle himselfe with our spirits, and sometimes more slily, sometimes more abruptly and openly, to suggest devellish thoughts into our hearts. Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Abrupt, with eagle-speed, she cut the sky ; Instant invisible to mortal eye. Pope's Homer's Odyssey, b. i. Abrupt and horrid as the tempest roars, Thunder and flash upon the steadfast shores, Till he, that rides the -whirlwind, checks the rein, Then all the world of waters sleeps again. Cowper's Retirement. AHRUS, in botany, the trivial name of the GLYCIXE. See GLYCINE. ABRUZZO, a mountainous province of Na- ples, bounded on the E. by the gulph of Venice ; on the N. and W. by Ancona, Umbria and the Campagna of Rome; and on the S. by the Terra di Lavora and Molise. It is divided into two parts by the river Pescara, called Ulteriore and Citeriore. The former has Aquila, and the latter Sulmona, for its capital. The country, though cold, is fertile in corn, rice, fruits, saffron, vines and olives. The rice of Teramo is little inferior to that of Lombardy. A great deal of it is exported, as well as of oil, wines, and Turkey wheat; but the staple commodity is wool, the greatest part of which is sent off unwrought, there being no woollen manufactures in the pro- vince, except two small ones of coarse cloth. The sheep, after spending the summer on the mountains, are brought down to pass the winter in the warm plains of Puglia, and some other places on the coast, where the snow does not lie. This whole coast, one hundred miles in length, is utterly destitute of sea-ports ; and the only spots where the produce can be embarked are dangerous inconvenient roads, at the mouths of rivers and along a lee shore. Villages, castles, and feudatory estates, are to be met with in abundance ; but the numbers of their inhabitants are to be reckoned by hundreds, not thousands : the political and social system being here wholly in decay. Monte-corno and Mayallo are among the most interesting natural features of the pro- vince ; the first evidently contains many valuable veins of metallic ore ; but the great difficulty of access renders the search of them almost im- practicable. Mayallo has other merits, and of a gayer kind. Nature has clothed its declivities and elevated fields with an infinite variety of her most precious plants ; vulnerary herbs grow there in as great perfection as on the Alps of Switzer- land, and are applied by the natives to wounds with equal success. The warlike nations, who descended hither from the north, have left many traces of their customs and languages, as well as numerous monumental inscriptions ; and the in- habitants^ are said to differ remarkably from the more southern Neapolitans. ABSCESS, in surgery, from abscedo, to depart : a cavity containing pus, or, a gathering of matter ; so called, because the parts which were joined are now separated; one part receding from another, to make way for the collected matter. See SURGERY. ABSCIND', v. ) Ab : scindo, to cut off or ABSCIS'SION. $ away from. Applied na- turally, and to operations in surgery, &c. figuratively in medicine, astrology, rhetoric, and divinity. Fabricius ab Aquapendente renders the abscission of them difficult enough, and not without danger. Wiseman's Surgery. By cessation of oracles, with Montacutius, we may understand this intercision, not abscission or consum- mate desolation. 'Brown's Vulgar Errours, b. vi. c. 12. When two syllables likewise are abscinded from the rest, they evidently want some associate sounds to make them harmonious Rambler. ABSCISSE, or ABSCISSA, m mathematics, part of the diameter or transverse axis of a conic section, intercepted between the vertex, or some ABS other fixed point and a semiordinate. 40 ABS In a more Ireland who reside in England or on the conti- of land- , exagge- ABS ION m asttology, is when one planet rated ; they 'have been said to contribute nothing oumrins anomer, and joins a third before it, and to the good government or prosperity, and to consti- ff th 1 ht of the first tutealtogetheranunnaturalandoppressive burden ! A U n rhetoric a 'figure of speech on the resources of a country. Taxes on absen- wherebv the o'rator stopping short in the middle teeship trom Ireland were, for a length of time, of Ms dscouL leaves the audience to draw therefore, popular in that country. In 1715, a me inference e g. He started from me, toward tax of four shillings in the pound was levied on edTe of 'the precipice, and my attention all profits employments fees, and pensions, de- being caUt for the moment by another voice rived from Ireland, in all cases where the persons Tn the next I heard a plunge in the receiving them should not reside in that country water . I need add no more." for six months of the year ; power to grant leave ABSCISSION in surgery, the act of taking away of absence being reserved to the crown, something morbid or unsound in the fleshy or dispensing power, however was brought so much membraneous parts of the body. Sometimes into exercise, as to render th .ct of little pra ^ABScOND^^AbsrToHrfo, to hide from, to Mr. Flood, the great Irish orator, proposed in P to a r,lace of secrecy. 1773, a more general measure, i. e a tax of two I- v i j shillings m the pound on the emoluments of ab- Jr In ! sentees, without exception ; and the bill was at remove to a place of secrecy. The marmotte, or mus alpinus, all winter lives on its own fat: for in autumn, ^ ^ ^ nm wlipn it shuts itself UD in its hole, it is very iai . rr . >. _p ....'. bttL the spring-time, when it comes forth again, some communications from England inducing very lean R"y the Creation, the lord lieutenant to withdraw his support, the Outlawry always supposes a precedent right of measure was lost in a division of 122 to 102. In arresting, which has been defeated by the parties 1 783 the question was renewed in the Insh House absconding Blackstone's Commentaries, of Commons, by Mr. Molineux, but again lost by a division of 184 to 122. ABSCONSIO, in anatomy, a hiding or con- uch ig ^ history o f a direct tax upon ab- cealing of the head of one bone in the cavity of sentees> and the different attempts at taxing them another. i in Ireland ; which, as proceeding upon the theory AB'SENT, v. adj.-\ Ab : esse. Participial of their being wholly a burden to the country, AB'SENCE, / adj. Absens. To be away mugt be un j ugt . they can en j oy but the surp i us ABSENTEE', Vfrom, to withdraw Ap- p ronto fth a t capital and labour which employ ABSENT-ER, i plied more particularly to humblerj andj it may be gr ante d, more useful ABSENT'MENT. ) persons, and intimates ra- dasges of the community . still their capital so ther a temporary removal than final departure jn operation must be a benefit ^ far ^ it goes , to The archebisshop desirying the duke (Henry of the country in which it is working, and not an Lancaster) to absent all other persons than suche as injury. As a punishment, such a tax is mani- were his co-panions saied these or like wordes of f es tl y impolitic, and calculated only to inflame niin ' HaU - animosity, and inspire contempt of the legislature Persons who can afford to live en- So, badde is nothing els but absence or negatiue of good, as darkness is absence or negatiue of light. Chaucer's third Booke of the Test of. Love, folio 309, col. 1. Night with her will bring Silence, and sleep ; listening tothee will watch, Or we can bid bis absence till thy song End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine. Milton's Paradise Lost, b. vii. Our Lord being absent in body from us (sitting in Heaven at God's right hand), to supply that absence that we should not be apt to forget him, and thereby become wholly estranged from him, is pleased to order this occasion of being present, and conversing with us in such a manner as may retain in our memories his gracious performances for us , may impress in our hearts a kindly sense of them J may raise us up in imposing it. tirely out of the country, are generally those of superior rank and influence : they would wholly withdraw their capital from it, in many instances, and will despise that attempt to control their movements which they have unusual power of resenting. The justice of this reasoning, accord- ing to Mr. Hardy, the biographer of Lord Char- lemont, led to the rejection of the absentee tax in 1773. It was felt that a general land tax was likely to result from this partial one proposed upon the absentees. " If the powerful interest of that body," argued the great commoner, " had hitherto been able to secure interest against such a tax, the same interest would be sufficient, and would be exerted to introduce it, in order that mind and affections. Barrow, . e T i j j i_ tn e other inhentors of landed property should, A great part of estates in Ireland are owned by u u absentee, ; and such, as draw over the profit* raised M , SUC , 1 J' T be made . l P a ? a tax as Wel1 aS them - out of Ireland, refunding nothing. selves - In opposition to this, Dr. Smith argues, Child't Discourse on Trade. Those who live in another country contribute nothing by their consumption, towards the support AUbEW I EL, m political ceconomy, may de- of the government of that country in which is si- scribe those who are systematically absent from tuate the source of their revenue. If,in this latter any country, or, indeed, any particular station ; country, there should be no land tax nor any consi - but has been in modern times more particularly dcrable duty on the transference either of moveable npphed to those land-owners and churchmen of or immovable property, as is the case in Ireland, ABS uch absentees may derive a great revenue from the protection of a government, to the support of which they do not contribute a shilling. This inequality' is likely to be greatest in a country of which the government is, in some respects, subordinate or dependent on that of some other. The people who possess the most extensive pro- perty in the dependent, will in this case generally choose to live in the governing country. Ireland is precisely in this situation, and we cannot there- fore wonder that the proposal of a tax upon ab- sentees, should be so very popular in that coun- try. It m e. 12 ABS ABSOLUTION, in the canon law, is a juridical act, whereby the priest declares the sins of peni- tents remitted. The Romanists hold absolution a part of the sacrament of penance, and the council of Trent, sess. xiv. cap. 3. declares the essence of the sacrament to lie in the words of absolution. The formula of absolution, in the Romish church, has been said to be absolute ; in the Greek church deprecatory ; and in the churches of the reformed, declarative. But this is a matter strongly contested between protestants at large and the Romanists ; as well as between the dis- senters of England and the Anglican church. Dissenters object, generally, to all forms of ab- solution which suppose a power residing in mor- tals to appease the conscience, or purify the cha- racter of a sinner. The church of England, and all protestants, oppose the Absolute claims of the Romish hierarchy (as they at least understand them,) to forgive sins on earth. The form that Tetzel used in vending the indulgences which first awoke the indignation and resistance of LUTHER, has been often quoted, but is said by Catholics to be unauthentic. They have thus stated their opinions upon this subject: " Catholics be- lieve, that when a sinner repents of his sins frcmhis heart, and acknowledges his transgressions to God and his ministers, the dispensers of the mysteries of Christ, resolving to turn from his evil ways and to bring forth fruits worthy of penance; there is then (and not otherwise) an authority left by Christ to absolve such a penitential sinner from his sins : which authority we believe Christ gave to his apostles and their successors, the bi- shops and priests of his church, in these words, when he said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," &c. The foregoing is an extract from an authentic catholic work, entitled, " The Faith }f Catholics confirmed by Scripture, and attested by the Fa- thers of the first five centuries of the Church," by the Rev. Messrs. Berrington and Kirk, Lond. 1813. The same work confirms the proposition stated by these assertions of St. Ephrem of Edessa: " The exalted dignity of the priesthood is far above our understanding and the power of speech ! The remission of sins is not granted to mortals, but through the ministry of the priest." De Sacerdatio, i. p. 1 : and these observationsof Chrysostom; "Temporal princes have a power to bind but the body only ; whereas the power of the priesthood binds the soul, and reaches to heaven. In this sense, that God ratifies above what the priests do here below, and the master confirms the sentence of his servants. And what is this but that all power, even the concerns of heaven, has been entrusted to them." De Sacerd. iii. c. 5. ABSONIARE, in old records, to shun, avoid or detest ; a term introduced in the Anglo-Saxon oaths of allegiance. ABSORB', v. ~\ Ab : sorbeo, to drink up ; ABSORB'ENT, 'to swallow; to imbibe; to ABSORB'ING, ? devote one's whole time and ABSORP'TION. J attention to a pursuit, so as to be insensible to others; to contemplate in- tensely. The rays of the sun are reflected from a white body, but absorbed by a black one. Bacon's Distribution of . ABS 43 ABS It was below the dignity of those sacred penmen, or the Spirit of God that directed them, to shew us the causes of this disruption, or of this absorption : this is left to the enquiries of men. Bur net's Tlieory of the Earth. Moses imputed the deluge to the disruption of the abyss ; and St. Peter to the particular constitution of that earth, which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in water. Idem. Some tokens shew Of fearless friendship, and their sinking mates Sustain ; vain love, though laudable, absorpt By a fierce eddy, they together found The vast profundity. Phillips. An earthquake reel'd unheededly away ! None felt stern Nature rocking at his feet, And yawning forth a grave, for those that lay Upon their bucklers for a winding sheet ; Such is the absorbing hate when warring nations meet ! Lord Byron's Childe Harold. ABSORBENT VESSELS, a name given pro- miscuously to the lacteal vessels, lymphatics, and inhalent arteries. See ANATOMY. Plants are also said to possess absorbent vessels in their fibrous and hairy roots. ABSORBENTS, in medicine. The term abso' Lent was introduced into chemistry by physicians, on the erroneous supposition that the faculty of withdrawing moisture from the air was confined to substances which freely unite with water ; and hence applied to such as seemed to check diar- rhoea, by the absorption of the redundant liquids. The substance, says Dr. Ure, whose absorbent power is to be chemically examined, after thorough desiccation before a fire, is immediately transferred into a phial, furnished with a well ground stopper. When it is cooled, a portion of it is put into a large wide-mouthed bottle, where it is closely confined for some time. A delicate hygrometer being then introduced, indicates on its scale the dryness produced in the enclosed air, which should have been previously brought to the point of extreme humidity, by suspending a moistened rag within the bottle." The following are the results of experiments made by Professor Leslie : Alumina causes a dryness of 84 degrees. Carbonate of magnesia - 75 Carbonate of lime 70 Silica - - - - 40 Carbonate of barytes - 32 Carbonate of strontites - 23 Pipe clay 85 Greenstone, or trap in powder 80 Shelly sea sand - - - 70 Clay indurated by torrefaction 35 Clay strongly ignited - 8 Greenstone do - - 23 Quartz do. - - 19 Decomposed greenstone - 86 Greenstone resolved into soil 92 Garden mould 95 The more a soil is comminuted by labour and vegetation, the greater is ; ts absorbent power. This ingenious philosopher infers, that the fertility of soils depends chiefly on their disposition to imbibe moisture ; and illustrates this idea by recent and disintegrated lava. May not the finely divided state most penetrable by the deli- cate fibres of plants, derive its superior power of acting on atmospherical vapour from the aug- mentation of its surface, or the multiplication ol the points of contact ? In similar circumstances, 100 gr. of the follow- ing organic substances absorb the following quan- tities of moisture: ivory 7 gr. boxwood 14, down 16, wool 18, beech 28. Charcoal, and other porous solids of a fibrous texture, have the faculty of absorbing gases in a remarkable de- gree. See Leslie on Heat and Moisture; and Ure's Dictionary of Chemistry. ABSORPTION. By this term modern chemists understand the conversion of a gaseous fluid into a liquid or solid, on being united with some other substance. It differs from condensation in being the effect of mechanical pressure, or the abstrac- tion of caloric. Thus, if muriatic acid gas be introduced into water, it is absorbed, and muriatic acid is formed ; if carbonic acid gas and ammo- niacal gas be brought into contact, absorption takes place, and some carbonate of ammonia is produced by the union of their ponderable bases. lire's Dictionary. ABSORPTIONS OF THE EARTH, a phrase used by Kircher and other geologists, for the sinking in of large tracts of land, by subterranean commo- tions or other accidents. Pliny tells us of the mountain Cymbotus, with the town of Curites, which stood on its side, being thus wholly ab- sorbed into the earth. He records the like fate of the city of Tantalis in Magnesia, and after it of the mountain Sypelus. Galanis and Garnatus, towns once famous in Phoenicia, are said to have met the same fate. But the fact is, no fair dis- tinction can be drawn between these remarkable incidents, and what have been more generally call- ed earthquakes. ABSORUS, or APSORUS, in ancient geogra- phy. See ABSYRTIDES. ABSTAIN', v. ~\ Ab or Abs : teneo, to hold ABSTEN'TION, I or keep from ; to forbear, to AB'STINENCE, > refrain from. In this verb AB'STINENT, \ a middle or reflected action AB'STINENTLY. j is distinguishable, and a re- semblance between the Latin and English de- rivatives preserved. Among some religious persons, abstinence is forbearance from certain kinds of prohibited food, as well as the almost total absence of nou- rishment experienced for an extraordinary period by individuals, many of whose cases are au- thentically recorded. Moost dere, I biseche you as comelingis and pil- gryms to absteine you fro fleischli desires thot figten agens the soule. Wiclif, Peter i, chap. 2. Say, can you fast ? your stomachs are too young, And abstinence engenders maladies. Shaky. Love's Labour Lost. Abstain To ask : nor let thine own inventions hope Things not revealed, which the invisible King Only omniscient hath suppressed in night, To none communicable in earth, in heaven : Enough is left besides to search and know. Milton. A little wisdom, and an easie observation were enough to make all men that love themselves, wisely to abstain from such diet which does not nourish. Taylor's Dissuasive from Popery. ABS 44 ABS Abstinence merits not for religion consists not in sual pleasure, to render themselves mere hardy in the public games. The Jews were also com- manded to observe various kinds of abstinence by their laws. Many of the primitive Christians denied themselves the use of particular meats, as we learn from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, (chap, xiv.) And the council assembled at Je- rusalem, which the Apostles superintended, en- joined the Christian converts to abstain from things strangled, and from blood. Not that the reception of these things was, in itself a moral evil, but because the Jews were so offended by it, that it was the source of perpetual discord Jewish and Gentile converts. abstinence is however still retained the belly either full or empty Hall's Contemplations. Ksligious men, who hither must be sent, As awful guides of heavenly government ; To teach you penance, fasts, and abstinence, To punish bodies for the soul's offence. Dry den's Indian Emp. Because the abstinence from a present pleasure, that offers itself, is a pain -, nay, oftentimes a very great one : it is no wonder that, that operates after the same manner pain does ; and lessens, in our thoughts, what is future ; and so forces us, as it were, blindfold into its embraces. Locke. ABSTE'MIOUS, adj. ) Ab or abs : temetum, ABSTEMIOUSLY. * from strong wines. communities, and is prescribed by rules To be abstemious is to refrain with more than or- ^ J^^ of ; he Roim - sh church : The dinary caution from the inebriating liquids. c h u rch of England has also enforced abstinence The instances of longevity are chiefly amongst the f rom mea ts on certain days, and since the re- abstemious. Abstinence in extremity will prove a f ormat j on> the practice has been enforced by mortal disease ; but the experiments of it are very statute Injunctions of general abstinence were "" , Arbuthnot on Aliments renewed under n Elizabeth, not out of The pearch is not only _ valiant to defend hrmself, ^.^ of religk)n> u was said> but to encourage and to increase the num- winter. Walton's Angler. ABSTEMIOUS, properly signifies a person who refrains from all use of wine. So particular were the ancient Romans in exacting this virtue ABSTINENCE, in medicine, is used to sig- ' nify a suppression. Thus in Ccelius'Aurelianus, abstinentia sudoris, signifies a suppression of , sweat. Sometimes in this author it means a from their ladies, that they were willing, it would ression . as s iritus ob a b s tinentiam clausus, seem, to put some others to hazard. In the first ages ^^ ^ wind ghut in the intestines by of the commonwealth, it was expected that they c ession there by causing the iliac passion, should kiss their friends and relatives whenever ular sense of t they accosted them, that it might be known by their breath whether they had been indulging in wine - -,,,j- .u u ABSTENSION, in law, a withholding the he ir from taking possession of his estate. Among ec- clesiastical writers, the word is also used for a ABSTINENCE in a more popular sense of the signifies a spare and parsimonious diet, which has been recommended medicinally, ob- served through superstition, or practised to impose on the credulity or benevolence of man- kind. The Venetian Cornaro, after his life was despaired of, betook himself to a regular but abstinent life, revived his health, though almost ABSTERGENTS, or abstersive medicines in hi e a ' t 40 and lived to ' the protracted a mnrli^MTioc r\i a car^rtnQfpmia ncitiirp Pmnmvpci rr^i i period of nearly 100 years of age. Ihe early Christians of the east, driven by persecution into the deserts of Arabia, lived on very spare food, in health and cheerfulness. St. Anthony is said to have taken only 12 ounces of bread and water in 24 hours, and on this slender subsistence, to have lived to the age of 105 years. In like manner, James the hermit, lived 104 years; Arsenius, tutor of the emperor Arcadius, 120; St. Epiphanius, 115; Simeon the Sty lite, 112; and Romauld, 120. By temperance and labour, one Laurence, mentioned by Buchanan, attained the age of 140 ; and Kentigern, commonly called St. Mungah or Mungo, mentioned by Spottis- wood, lived to 185, by the same means. Lon- gevity appears to have been frequently connected with remarkable cases of abstinence, a considera- tion which led Dr. Cheyne to affirm, that most of the chronical diseases prevalent in luxurious cli- ABSTINENCE, from abs, from, and tenere, mates, the common infirmities of old age, and the to hold, signifies the act or the habit of refrain- short lives of Englishmen, are the common effects ing from something to which there is a strong of repletion; and might be prevented or cured by propensity. Pythagoras earnestly enforced upon abstinence. Sudden and immediate abstinence his followers the necessity of abstaining from all is however, extremely detrimental to the con- animal food, except the remains of sacrifices, and stitution ; and many persons who have attempted to drink nothing but water, except in the evening, it, have never afterwards enjoyed health. when they might take a little wine ; and the Some animals seem to possess extraordinary ancient Athletae abstained from all kinds of sen- powers of abstinence. The dormouse tortoise, are medicines of a saponaceous nature, employed for removing inward obstructions, by dissolving concretions. They are also called Detergents. ABSTERGE',^ Ab : stergo, to wipe off, to ABSTERGE'NT, I cleanse by wiping or scour- ABSTERSE', Vii'g- The latter words are ABSTER'SION, i not so analogical, and still ABSTER'SIVE. J less in use than the preced- ing. Abstersion is plainly a scouring off, or incision of the more viscous humours, and making the humours more fluid, and cutting between them and the part ; as is found in nitrous water, which scoureth linen cloth speedily from the foulness. Bacon's Nat. Hist. No. 42. The seats with purple clothe in order due ; And let th' abstersive sponge the board renew ; Let some refresh the vase's sullied mould, Some bid the goblets boast their native gold. Pope's Homer's Odyssey, b. xx. ABS bear, serpent, &c. pass four, five, or six months in the year without eating or drinking. Several species of birds, and almost the whole tribe of insects, live throughout the winter without food. Rattle-snakes atter many months' abstinence, have retained their vigour and fierceness. Two ceras- tes, a sort of Egyptian serpent, mentioned by Dr. Shaw, lived five years in a bottle closely corked, without any thing in the bottle, except a small quantity of sand. When he saw them, they had just cast their skins, and appeared as brisk and lively as ever. Vipers again, seem to live occasionally on those well-know r n nutritious substances floating in the atmosphere, and which are continually taken in by animal respiration : their young kept from every thing but air, will grow considerably in a few days. The eggs of lizards are observed to increase in bulk after they are produced, and seem to be nourished in the air in the same way as the spawn of fishes is in the water. Pliny says, a man may live seven days, and that many have been known to continue more than eleven days, without either meat or drink. Hist. Nat. lib. ii. c. 54. Alexander Benedictus, that a person at Venice lived without food for 46 days. Pract. lib. xii. c. 2. Clausius et Garcia ab Horto, that some rigid Banians in India, frequently abstain from food 'for 20 days together; and Guaguinus states, that Louis the Pious, emperor and king of France, who died 840, existed the last 40 days of his life without food or drink. Hist. Francor. lib. v. Albertus Magnus saw a woman at Cologne, who often fasted 20, and sometimes 30 days ; and a hypo- chondriacal man,who drank nothing but a draught of water every other day, for seven weeks. De Animalibus, lib. vii. Democritus is said to have lived to the age of 109 years, and that in the latter part of his life he subsisted for 40 days at one time, by smelling honey and hot bread. Petrus de Abano gives an account of a woman in Normandy, who lived without food for 18 years. Exposit. Ult. prob. x. Joubertus, of a woman that lived in good health three years; and of another, who to her tenth year, subsisted without either food or drink : and when she was of proper age, married and had children, and lived like other people. Decad. 1, paradox 2. Albertus Krantzius says, that a hermit in the mountains of the canton of Schwitz, lived 20 years without food. Hist . Eccles. lib. xii. c. 21 . Hildanus relates the case of a girl who lived many years without food or drink. The abdo- men had wasted and retracted toward the spine, and she neither voided urine nor faces. Cent. 5, Obs. Chirurg. 33. Sylvius says, there was a young woman in Spain, 22 years of age, who never ate any food, but lived entirely on water. And that there was a girl in Narbonne, and another in Germany, who lived three years in good health without meat or drink. We shall now subjoin a few modern cases of abstinence, which have been given more at large : " Gilbert Jackson, of Carse-Grange, Scotland, about 15 years of age, was seized in February, 1716, with a violent fever, which returned in April for three weeks, and again on the 10th of Tune. He then lost his speech, his appetite, and 45 ABS the use of his limbs, and took no food whatever. On June 30, he was seized with a fever again, and the next day recovered his speech, but with- out eating or drinking, or the use of his limbs. On the llth of October, he recovered his healtu with the use of one of his legs, but neither eat nor drank, only sometimes washed his mourn with water. On the 18th of June, 1718, the fever returned and lasted till September. He then recovered, and continued in pretty good health, and fresh coloured, but took no kind of meat nor drink. On the 6th of June, 1719, he was again seized with a severe fever; and on the 10th, at night, his father prevailed on him to take a spoonful of milk, boiled with oatmeal ; it stuck so long in his throat, that his friends feared he had been choked ; but ever since that time he took food, though so little, that a halfpenny loaf lasted him eight days. All the time he fasted, he had no evacuation, and it was 14 days after he began to eat, before he had any. He still con- tinued in pretty good health" " In the year 1724, John Ferguson, of Kill- melfoord, in Argyleshire, overheated himself in the pursuit of some cattle on the mountains, then drank largely of cold water, and fell asleep. He slept for 24 hours, and awoke in a high fever, and ever since, his stomach loathed, and could retain no kind of aliment but water. Mr. Campbell, a neighbouring gentleman, to whom his father was tenant, locked him up for 20 days, supplying him only with water, and taking care that he should have no other food ; but it made no difference either in his look or strength ; at the age of 36, (when the account was sent to the Philosophical Society,) he was of a fresh com- plexion, and as strong as any common man." Phil. Trans. 1742, vol. xlii. page 240. PENNANT says of his second visit to Barmouth, in 1770, " My curiosity was excited to examine into the truth of a surprising relation of a wo- man in the parish of Cylynin, who had fasted a most supernatural length of time. I took boat and had a most pleasant passage up the harbour, charmed with the beauty of the shores intermixed with woods, verdant pastures, and corn fields. I landed, and after a short walk, found in a farm called Tydden Back, the object of my excursion, Mary Thomas. She was of the age of 47, of a good countenance, very pale, thin, but not so much emaciated as might be ex- pected from the strangeness of the circumstances I am going to relate. Her eyes were weak, her voice low, and deprived of the use of her lower ex- tremities, and quite bed-ridden ; her pulse rather strong, her intellects clear and sensible. On examining her, she informed me that at the age of seven, she had some eruptions like the measles, which grew confluent and universal ; and she became so sore that she could not bear the least touch : she received some ease by the application of a sheep's skin just taken from the animal, After this she was seized at the spring and fall, with swellings and inflammations, during which time she was confined to her bed ; but in the intervals she could walk about. When she was about 27 years of age she was attacked with the same complaint, but in a more violent manner ; and during two years and a half remained in- ABS 46 ABS sensible, and took no mannei of nourishment, although her friends forced open her mouth with a spoon to pet something down, but the moment the spoon was taken away, her teeth met and closed with snapping violence ; during that time she flung up vast quantities of blood. She well remembers the return of her senses, and her know- ledge of every body about her. She thought she had slept but a night, and asked her mother whe- ther she. 'had given her any thing the day before, as she found herself hungry. Meat was brought to her, but so far from being able to take any thing solid, she could scarcely swallow a spoon- ful of thin whey. From this, she continued seven years and a half without any food or liquid, excepting sufficient of the latter to moisten her lips. At the end of this period she fancied herself again hungry, and desired an egg, of which she got down the quantity of a nut kernel. She requested to receive the sacrament, which she did, by having a crumb of bread steeped in wine. She now eats a bit of bread about two penny weights seven grains daily, and drinks a glass of water, and sometimes a spoonful of wine; but frequently abstains whole days to- gether from food and liquids. She sleeps very indifferently ; the ordinary functions of nature are seldom performed, and are very small ; her temper is even, her disposition mild ; she is re- ligious, and prays fervently ; the natural effect of the state of her body unembarrassed by food, and a constant alienation of thought from all worldly affairs." Journey to Snowden, vol. ii. p. 105. A very curious instance of nearly four years' abstinence from all food and drink, is related in two numbers of Hufeland's Practical Journal, Vols. viii. and ix. No 2. And a pamphlet has been since published respecting this fact by Dr. Schmidtmann of Melle, in the bishopric of Osnabruck. " A country girl, 16 years old, in a village near Osnabruck, had enjoyed a good state of health, during her childhood ; but, at about 10 years of age she was seized with epileptic fits against which a number of remedies were em- ployed in vain ; since that time she was mostly confined to her bed, particularly in winter, but in summer she found herself a little better. From February 1798, the alvine and urinary excretions began to cease; though she took now and then a little nourishment. But from the beginning of April the same year, she ab- stained entirely from all food and drink, falling into an uninterrupted slumber, almost senseless, from which she only awoke from time to time for a few hours. Her sensibility during this time was so great that the slightest touch on any part of her body brought on partial convul- sive motions. In this state she had continued for nearly 10 months, when Dr. Schmidtmann saw her first, in 1799. Though she had not taken the least nourishment during all this time, Dr. S. found her to his great astonishment, fresh and blooming. For the last two months only the in- tervals of sleep began to be longer, her senses of sight and hearing were in perfect order ; but her feelings, she seemed to have quite lost, as she could suffer pinching of the arms and legs with- out pain; her gums bled frequently, and the pulse was scarcely perceptible in the arms, but beat strong and full in the carotids, about 120 in a minute. Dr. S. attempted to make her drink a little milk, but she protested she could not swallow it. The alvine and urinary excretions had quite ceased. Although there could hardly be a suspicion of imposition, the parents being honest people, yet to remove all doubt, six sworn men were appointed from different places in the neighbourhood to watch her day and night, and instructions given them accordingly. This being continued about a fortnight, the men were dismissed, having given evidence upon oath that the patient had never taken any food or drink whatever during that time, nor had any excretion, alvine or urinary ; she had become very ill, and nearly dying, seized w ; th convul- sions, feverish, and sometimes in a great sweat, which had the extraordinary property of turning water black. When Dr. S. saw her again, he found her quite recovered, not in the least emaciated ; but rather looking lustier ; her gums however, still frequently bled, and her feeling was not yet returned ; but her memory was not impaired, and she amused herself sometimes with reading and writing. No alvine or urinary excretions had taken place. Some- times she was attacked with sudden weakness, particularly after having bled at the mouth. During the last seveie winter she could not endure the heat of the stove, because she felt then faint and oppressed. Dr. Schmidtmann then enters into an enquiry by what means the patient in this case was nourished and maintained in that state in which she was found. And hav- ing discussed the matter at large, he is of opinion, that she drew by resorption such elementary particles from the atmosphere as were sufficient for the nutrition of the body, and that the ex- cretions were likewise replaced by the skin." Instances of the like kind might be multiplied from Haller, in his Elements Physiology, torn, vi. sec. 2 6 ; Conf. Memoires del' Academic des Sciences de Toulouse, torn. i. 1783. Prichter's Li- brary devoted to Surgery, (in German,) vol. xii. p. 184. Swieten Comments in Boerhaave, Aph. torn. iii. p. 508 ; Histoire de V Academic Royale des Sciences, I' an 1769; and in Huf eland's Art of Prolonging Life, I ed. p. 67 ; Halpart Van der Wiel Observat, rar Centur Poster. In the London Magazine for August 1769, there is an account of a young woman, 24 years of age, who had fasted for two years, and whose excretions were entirely suppressed. London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. iv. p. 87. In the Philosophical Transactions, we have an account of four colliers who were confined 24 days in a coal pit at Herst 1, near Leige, with nothing to support them but water. A French officer of infantry, who had retired from service, and became deranged, took it into his head to refuse food, and persisted in that deter- mination from the 25th of December, till the 9th of February, drinking only about a pint and a half of water daily, with a few drops of aniseed liquor in each glass, till 39th day, from which time till the 47th day he remained out of bed , but weakness at length obliged him to lie down. The return to food was followed by a temporary ABS 47 ABS cure of his insanity. Hist, de VAcademie des Sciences, 1769. In the Medical Commentaries, December, vol. iv. p. 360, there is a history of a girl who lost her way, and remained 18 days on a barren moor in the island of Lewis, vhere she could have had no other sustenance than water. Mr. Miller saw her two hours after she was found, and describes her as much emaciated. We infer, from these instances, the possibility of maintain- ing life for a considerable time on small quantities of water and other liquids. The feeling of hunger, if not appeased by food, often ceases entirely ; but the feeling of thirst becomes increasingly urgent, and where it is attended with bodily heat, be- comes aggravated and insupportable. ABSTINENTES, in ecclesiastical history, a party who appeared in France and Spain, in the third century, and who enjoined abstinence from the use of marriage, and particular foods, especially wine. Some consider them to have been a branch of the Gnostics. AB'STRACT, n. v. & adj. ~) Abs : traho, trac- ABSTRACT'ED, turn, to draw away ABSTRACT'EDLY, from ; to sepa- ABSTRACT'EDXESS, I rate. Hence, by ABSTRACT'ER, i an easy transition, ABSTRACTION, to refine, to puri- ABSTRACT'LY, fy. Also, to con- ABSTRACT'NESS. J sider any thing in its essence, or simple being, independently of modes or accidents. PAL. But man, the abstract Of all perfection which the -workmanship Of Heaven hath modell'd, in himself contains Passions of several qualities. Ford's Lover's Melancholy, act iv. sc. 3. He -whose understanding is prepossest with the doctrine of abstract general ideas, may be persuaded that extension in abstract is infinitely divisible. Berkley's Principles of Human Knowledge. Precepts of morality, besides the natural corruption of our tempers which makes us averse to them, are so abstracted from ideas of sense, that they seldom give an opportunity for those beautiful descriptions and images which are the spirit and life of poetry. Addison. To abstract the mind from all local emotions would be impossible if it were endeavoured ; and would be foolish if it were possible. Dr. Johnson. Abstract terms signify the mode or quality of a being, without any regard to the subject in which it is ; as whiteness, roundness, length, breadth, wisdom, mortality, life, death. Watts's Logic. He may be justly driven out from the commerce of mankind, who has so far abstracted himself from it as to neglect the endearments of his wife and the ca- resses of his children, to count the drops of rain, note the changes of the wind, and calculate the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter". Rambler. ABSTRACT IDEA, in metaphysics, is a partial idea of a complex object, limited to one or more of the component parts or properties, laying aside the rest. ABSTRACT MATHEMATICS, otherwise called Pure Mathematics, treat of magnitude or quan- tity, absolutely and generally considered, with- out regard to any species of particular magnitude, such are arithmetic and geometry. ABSTRACT NUMBERS, are assemblages of units, considered in themselves, without denoting any particular and determined articles. Thus six is an abstract number, when not applied to any thing ; but if we say six feet, six becomes a con- crete number. See NUMBER, and ARITHMETIC. ABSTRACTI, a name given to a sect among the Lutherans. ABSTRACTITIOUS, in pharmacy, a term used to distinguish that spirit which is drawn from plants, naturally abounding with it. Bailey. ABSTRUSE', } AV> , , ABSTRUSF'LY ' : d ' trudum > to ISnuSEk j thrust or push away. To cast away from the sight. Cicero. Hence, not obvious, plain, nor evident. Let the Scriptures be hard : Are they more harsh ? are they more hard, more crabbed, more abstruse than the fathers ? Milton on the Reformation in England. Yet it must be still confessed that there are some mysteries in religion both natural and revealed, as well as some abstruse points in philosophy, wherein the wise as well as the unwise must be content with obscure ideas. Watts's Logic. ABSURD', adj. ~\ Ab : surdus. Supposed to ABSURD'ITY, (be formed from ab and sur- ABSURD'LY, fdus, a deaf person, who ABSURD'JJESS. J from not hearing, frequent- ly replies altogether unsuitably to the question proposed. Foolish, nonsensical, not to the pur- pose. There was never proud man thought so absurdly well of himself, as the lover doth of the person loved : and therefore it was well said, That it is im- possible to love, and to be wise. Lord Bacon's Essays. The capital things of nature generally lie out of the beaten paths, so that even the absurdness of a thing sometimes proves useful. Idem. But grant, that those can conquer, these cau cheat ; Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great ; Who wickedly is wise, or madly brave, Is but the more a fool, the more a knave. Pope's Essay on Man. How clear soever this idea of the infinity of num- ber be, there is nothing more evident, than the ab- surdity of the actual idea of an infinite number. Locke. That satisfaction we receive from the opinion of some pre-eminence in ourselves, when we see . the absurdities of another, or when we reflect on any past absurdities of our own. Addison. But man, we find the only creature ; Who, led by folly, combats nature ; Who, when she loudly cries, Forbear, With obstinacy fixes there ; And where his genius least inclines, . Absurdly bends his whole designs. Swift's Miscel. We may proceed yet further with the atheist ; and convince him, that not only his principle is absurd, but his consequences also as absurdly deduced from it. Bentley's Sermons. Truth indeed needs no ornament, neither does a beautiful person ; but to clothe it therefore, in rags when a decent habit was at hand, would be esteemed preposterous and absurd. Cowper's Letters, ABSUS, the Egyptian LOTUS. ABSYNTHIUM, or .ABSINTHIUM. See AR- TEMESIA. ABSYRTES, or ABSYRTUS, in ancient mythp logy, the infant son of .ZEetes, king of Colchu>, and Hypsea, who was torn to pieces by his sister ABU and his limbs scattered . , . the road m 8 ABU 40 miles S. of Damietta ; also, two fortified towns lilesW. of Alexandria, and for.n- in ancient geography, islands gulf of there by his sister. They and Osero. ABUARISCK, a town and principality of Arabia, on the Red Sea, extending from 15, 2'. to 17, 40'. N. Lat. ; yielding little more than salt from its arid hills, although watered by several streams. The principal sea port is Gesar. ABUBEKER, the immediate successor of Mahomet, succeeded him A.D. 632, taking the title of caliph, vicar or successor, to show his inferiority, it is said, to the prophet, a title which all his successors have since adopted. ABUKESKO, orAsLANi in commerce, Turk- ish names given to the Dutch dollar. ABULFARAGIUS, (Gregory,) the son of Aaron, a physician and prelate of Armenia, born at Malatia, in 1226. He was elected primate of Carlyle selects some of his most elegant mens of Arabian poetry from this author. ABUSE', v. & n. ABU'SER, ABU'SIVE, ABU'SIVELY, ABU'SIVENESS, ABU'SAGE, ABUSE'FUL, ABU'SION, I see how thine abuse hath wrested so thy wittes, That all it yeldes to thy desire, and followes thee by fittes. Surrey. Was it not enough for him, to have deceived me ; and, through the deceit, abused me ; and, after the abuse, forsaken me : but, that he must now, of all the company, lay want of beauty to my charge. Sidney, b. ii. ROS. No : I will not cast away my physick but Ab: utor, usus, to use from ; to put to a con- trary use ; to use ill in any way ; to insult, to take an unfair advantage of; to violate, or defile ; to misapply, to mispend. the Jacobites in 1266, an office which he held on those that are sick. There is a young man haunts for 20 years He wrote, an Epitome of Universal the forests, that abuses our young plants with carving History, which was published, with a Latin Rosalind on their barks ; hangs odes upon hawthorns, translation by Dr. Pocock, in 1663. and ele /; es on *"*"*]** * " forso ^ ff^ the ABULFAZEL, Vizier and historiographer name of R^lmd. ' I W meet that fancy-mon- to Akber, the great mogul, and author of Ayeen Akberry. Few particulars are known of his life, but he bears a high character for learning and elegance as a writer ; he was assassinated in 1664, on his return from a mission to the Deccan. ABULGHAZI, (Bayatur,) khan of Tartary de- scended from Jenghiz khan, was born in 1 605 at Urgens. He endured a long series of misfor- tunes before his accession to the throne of Kha- razn in 1645, in which he continued twenty years, having by his courage rendered himself formidable to all his enemies. In 1665, he resigned his sceptre in favour of his son, and undertook a genealogical history of the Turks, which was completed by his successor, and is considered the most authentic history extant of the Turks and Tartars. It was procured by Count Strahlenberg when a captive in Siberia, and has been very generally translated into the European languages. ABUNDANTIA, or COPIA, a heathen god- dess generally crowned with garlands of flowers, and pouring all sorts of fruit out of a horn which ger, I would give him some good counsel, for he seems to have the quotidian of love upon him. Shakspeare's As You like it. Happy are those persons who use the world and abuse it not, who possess a part of it, and love it ior no other ends but for necessities of nature, and con- veniences of persons, and discharge of all their duty and the offices of religion, and charity to Christ, and all Christ's members. Jeremy Taylo" , They that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away. 1 Cor. vii. 31. He has fixed and determined the time for our re- pentance, beyond which he will no longer await the perverseness of men, no longer suffer his compassion to be abused. Rogers's Sermons. The world hath been much abused by the opinion, of making ; the work itself I judge to be possible ; but the means, hitherto propounded, are in practise full of error. Brown's Natural History, No. 126. Nor be with all these tempting words abused ; These tempting words were all to Sappho us'd. Pope. ABUT', -} Abuttan, from Bo^a. The ABUT'MENT, > first, outward extremity of any ABUTT'AL, j thing; to border on the sui- she holds in her right hand. On a medal of face or ?dge of, to touch the boundary of any Trajan, she is represented with two cornucopia?. tnin g in juxta-position. Two mighty monarchies, Whose high, upreared, and abutting fronts The narrow perilous ocean parts asundor. Shakspeare's Henry V The Looes are two several corporations, di ABUNDANT NOTION, in logic, that which includes more marks and characteristics, than are absolutely necessary for distinction. ABUNDANT NUMBER, in arithmetic, a number, .. t* i .. . iuc JUUUCB arc L\\ u several L'uri.'uraiiuii, uiani:. the sum of whose aliquot parts is greater than gu;shed by thc addition of east an ' d west , abuttinjf the number itself. Thus the aliquot parts of 12, upon a navigable creek, and joined by a fair bridge of being 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, they make, when added many arches. Ca'rew. together, 16. It is opposed to a deficient number. . ABUT1LON, in botany, a genus of mallows ABUS, in ancient geography, a name for the called by Linnaeus SIDA, which see. confluence of the Ure, the Derwent, the Trent, ABYDOS, in ancient geography, a town built &c. forming the mouth of the Humber. by the Milesians in Asia, on the narrowest part ABU* IK, or BUSIR, a town of Egypt, the of the Hellespont, opposite to Sestos on the Ancient Busiris on the right bank of the Nile, European side. Here Xerxes constructed his A B Y S S 1 N I A. 49 famous bridge, and Ovid makes it the scene of the loves of Leander and Hero. The inhabitants are called by some writers a soft and effeminate people, much given to detraction ; hence the pro- verb, ' Ne temere Abydum/ We need hardly re- mind our readers of the celebrity given to this place by the admirable poem of Lord Byron. ABYDOS, in ancient geography, a town of Egypt, between Ptolemais and Diospolis Parva, towards Cyrene ; famous for the palace of Mem- non and the temple of Osiris ; into which singers and dancers were forbid to enter. This city, re- duced to a village under the empire of Augustus, now presents to our view only an heap of ruins without inhabitants; but to the west of these ruins is still found the celeb rated tomb of Osy- mandes. The entrance is under a portico 60 feet high, and supported by two rows of massy columns, loaded with hieroglyphics. Beyond it, is a temple 300 feet long and 155 wide. Upon entering the monument we meet with an im- mense hall, the roof of which is supported by 28 columns, 60 feet high, and 19 in circumference at the base. They are 12 feet distant from each other. The enormous stones that form the ceiling, perfectly joined, and incrusted, as it were, one in the other, offer to the eye nothing but one solid platform of marble, 126 feet long, and 26 wide. Monsieur Chevalier, formerly governor of Chandernagore, who resided 20 years in that country, carefully visited , this monument on his return from Bengal. He re- marked here the gods Jaggrcnat, Gonez, and Vechnou or Wistnou, such as they are repre- sented in the temples of Indostan. A great gate opens at the bottom of the first hall, which leads to an apartment, 46 feet long by 22 wide. Six square pillars support the roof of it ; and at the angles are the doors of four other chambers, but so choaked up with rubbish that they cannot now be entered. The last hall, 64 feet long by 24 wide, has stairs by which one descends into the subterraneous apartments of this grand edifice. The Arabs, in searching after treasure, have piled tip heaps of earth and rubbish. The walls, the roof, and the columns of this edifice, have suf- fered so little from the injuries of time, that did not the hieroglyphics mark its antiquity, it would appear to have been newly built. To the left of this great building we meet with another much smaller, at the bottom of which is a sort of altar, probably the sanctuary of the temple. ABYLA. See ABILA. ABYO, or ABUYO, one of the Philippine is- lands in the E. Indies, E.oi Layla. Lon. 124, 15'. E. Lat. 10, 6'. N. ABYSM', n. \ a./3i>