and objects of still life. His colouring is bold, and nothing can be finer than the effect which he gave to the vases and other ornaments introduced into his pictures. He was employed by the king of Spain at the Escuriel, where he had for a coadjutor Luca Giordano, who esteemed him highly on account of his amiable qualities, and his merit as an artist. He died in 1732. Pilk. ABAUZIT (Firmin), a French writer, was born at Uzes in 1679. At the age of two years he had the misfortune to lose his father; but his mother, who was of the reformed religion, attended with the greatest care to his education; and to prevent him from being brought up in the Romish faith, caused him, to be conveyed to Geneva; for which act of maternal solicitude she was confined in the castle of Somieres. On regaining her liberty at the expiration of two years, she joined her son at Geneva, where the small remains of her fortune were in a considerable degree expended upon his tuition. His progress, however, amply repaid this care; and in 1698 he visited Holland, where he obtained the friendship of the principal refugees who had been driven thither by the repeal of the edict of Nantes. From Rot terdam he crossed over to England, and being introduced to Sir Isaac Newton, that great man was so pleased with his conversation as to say, in reference to a controversy then pending, "You are a very fit person to judge between Leibnitz and me." King William wished much to retain Abauzit in this country, and made him some flattering offers to that purpose; but these were declined, and filial affection drew him back to Geneva, where, in 1726, he lost his mother, and the same year was appointed librarian to the city. In 1730 he published an improved edition of Spon's History of Geneva, with dissertations and notes. Abauzit was a man of a retiring disposition, and though somewhat inclined to Socinianism, no way ardent for the promulgation of his opinions. He was consulted by Voltaire and Rousseau, the latter of whom wrote a flattering enco mium upon him as the only philosopher of his age. He died at Geneva, in 1767. The principal of his works is an Essay on the Apocalypse, in which he questions the canonical authority of that book; though it is but just to say he altered his opinion on the subject, after having sent the treatise to Dr. Twells, and received his answer.-Dict. Hist. ABRADIE (James), a French protestant divine, was born at Hay, in Berne, in 1654, according to some accounts, and in 1658, to another authority. After completing his theological studies, and taking nis doctor's degree at Sedan, he went to Holland, and from thence to Berlin, where he became pastor of the French church. At the revolution he accompanied marshal Schomberg to England, and was present when that gallant general fell at the battle

of the Boyne. After the victory, Abbadie returned to London, and officiated for some time at the French church in the Savoy, till his promotion to the deanery of Killaloe. He died in the parish of Mary-le-bone in 1727. Dean Abbadie was universally esteemed for the excellence of his character, and greatly admired as a preacher. He was well versed in the languages, a good scripturist, and orthodox without bigotry. His works are1. Sermons sur divers Textes de l'Ecriture, 8vo. 1680. 2. Panegyrique de M. l'Electeur de Brandenbourg, 4to. 1684. 3. Traité de la Verité de la Religion Chrêtienne. 8vo. This excellent work, which has gone through many editions, has been translated into English, in 2 vols. 4. Reflexions sur la Presence réele du Corps de J. C. dans l'Euchariste, 12mo. 1685. 5. Traité de le Divinitie de notre Seignieur Jesus Christ, 8vo. 1689. This also has been translated into English. 6. L'Art de se connoitre soi-meme, ou la Recherche des Sources de le Morale, 1692, 12mo. 7. Defence de la Nation Britannique, 1692, 8vo. This was an answer to a tract by Bayle on the English Revolution. 8. Panegyrique de Marie Reine d'Angleterre, 1695, 4to. 9. Histoire de la Conspiration dernière d'Angleterre, 1698, 8vo. This very scarce book was written by cominand of William III., and contains all the particulars of what was called the Assassination Plot. 10. La Verité de la Religion Reformée, 2 vols. 8vo. 1718. 11. Le Triomphe de la Providence et de la Religion, 4 vols. 12mo. 1723. This is a commentary on the Revelation. Besides these works, he published some single sermons, and had a concern in the French translation of the English Liturgy. Biog. Hist.

-

ABBAS, the uncle of Mahomet, to whose pretensions he was at first an enemy, but afterwards became his disciple, and one of his generals. He saved the life of his nephew at the battle of Honain, by recalling the fugitive Arabs; for which his memory is much revered by the mussulmans, who consider him as a saint. His son Abbas is also regarded among the ornaments of Islamism, and bears the title of Doctor of Doctors. The dynasty of caliphs called Abbassides descended from these two chiefs. — D' Herbelot.

ABBAS (Hali), the same with Ali Ebnol Abbas, who is also called Magus, as being one of the followers of Zerdusht or Zoroaster. He was a Persian physician, and wrote a pompous book on medicine, called the royal work, because it was composed at the command of the son of the caliph Adado'daula, about the year 980. A Latin version of it has been printed both at Venice and Leyden. An Arabic MS. of it is in the Leyden library, in 4 folio volumes. Friend's Hist. Phys.

ABBATI (Nicolo), an Italian artist, was born at Modena in 1512. He was the scholar of Antonio Beggarelli, an eminent sculptor,

but quitted that profession for painting in fresco. It is remarkable, however, that notwithstanding his excellence and the celebrity of the pictures which he executed in the gallery and apartments at Fontainbleau, where he was associated with his countryman, Primatticcio, his real name is lost; that of Nicolo del Abbati being given to him from his connection with the above artist, who was abbot of St. Martin, near Troyes. There are few of his pictures in existence; but a series on the history of Ulysses has been engraved by Theodore Van Tulden. - Pilkington.

ABBATISSA (Paul), a native of Messina, and one of the most celebrated poets of Sicily, flourished about the year 1570. He translated into Italian verse the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, and the Metamorphoses of Ovid. - Nouv. Dict. Hist.

ABBATIUS (Baldus Angelus), an Italian physician of the 16th century. He was a native of Eugubio, and wrote-1. De Admirabili Viperæ Naturà, et de mirificis ejusdem facultatibus; of which work there have been four editions from 1589 to 1660. 2. Discussæ Concertationes de Rebus, Verbis et Sententiis Controversis, 1594, 4to. Nouv. Dict. Hist.

ABBIATI (Filippo), an Italian painter, was born at Milan in 1640, and died in 1715. He was the disciple of Nouvolone, and attained great eminence in historical subjects. To a remarkable fertility of invention, he added such a freedom of hand and lightness of touch, as made him very expeditious in his works, which were both in fresco and oil. Pilkington.

to Rome, to appease Gregory V., who had threatened to lay France under an interdict. Abbo succeeded in obtaining all that he desired of the Pope; but on his return lost his life in a quarrel between the French and the Gascons, in 1004. He wrote an epitome of the Lives of the Popes; the Life of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, printed in Surius's Lives of the Saints; Letters, and various pieces on ecclesiastical subjects.— Cave Hist. Lit. Du Pin.

ABBOT (George), Archbishop of Canterbury, was the second son of a cloth-worker at Guildford, in Surrey, and born there in 1562. A foolish story is told of a presage of his future greatness, while his mother was pregnant, and that in consequence of it he was patronised by some persons of eminence. But that this could not be true is plain, because his elder brother Robert received a university education as well as himself. George, after passing through Guildford school, entered at Baliol-college, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship. In 1597 he was chosen master of University-college, and two years after was made dean of Winchester. He served the office of vice-chancellor, in which he displayed great zeal against the espousers of the Arminian doctrines, and was remarkably hostile to Dr. Laud, who never forgot this enmity when he rose into favour at court. On the death of the earl of Dorset, Dr. Abbot obtained the patronage of the earl of Dunbar, with whom he went to Scotland, and while at Edinburgh had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the particulars of the Gowrie conspiracy, of which he printed an account in 1608. The next year he was consecrated bishop of Lichfield; and within a month translated to London, from whence, in about a year, he was elevated to the archbishopric. His zeal for Calvinism now alarmed many of the best friends to the church, especially when the king, at his instigation, wrote to the States to eject Vorstius from his profes sorship at Leyden, and in other respects busied himself in the persecution of the remon

ABHO (Floriacensis), or Abbot of Fleuri, a Benedictine monk of the 10th century. He was a native of the territory of Orleans, and educated in the abbey of which he afterwards became monk and abbot. Such was his reputation for learning, that when Os wald, Bishop of Worcester, in 985, applied to the abbey of Fleuri for a proper person to preside over his monastery at Ramsay, Abbo was sent to England, where he became a great favourite with King Ethelred. On his return home, he suffered much from the bishops with whom he had to contend about the rights of his society. Though his adversaries were powerful; yet Abbo overcame all difficulties, and having gained the goodwill of king Robert, that monarch sent him

selves from the charges brought against them. The archbishop, however, remained inflexible, and treated Grotius as a mere pretender to letters. His grace acted more becomingly in opposing the divorce of the lady Frances Howard, daughter to the earl of Suffolk, from her husband the earl of Essex, though the king was in favour of the separation. In 1616, the archbishop of Spalato came to England as a convert from popery, and was well received by our primate, who thus obtained Father Paul's History of the Coun cil of Trent, which he caused to be translated and published. In 1618 his grace resisted the publication of the Book of Sports, and the year following founded a hospital at Guildford, with a liberal endowment. The following summer a misfortune occurred,

168. He also edited Observations sur Historei Naturelle de Buffon, written by M. Malesherbes, to which he gave a preface and notes, 2 vols. 8vo. 1756. - Nouv. Dict. Hist.

ABEL (Gaspar), a German historian, was born at Hindenburg in 1676. He wrote the history of Prussia and Brandenburg, which was published in German in 1710, in to. He is also the author of Satires; a work entitled "Historia Monarchiarum Orbis Antiqui," 8vo.; a Greek Archæology, and a translation of Boileau into German. He died at Westdorf in 1763. - Biog. Universelie.

ABEL (Frederick Gottfried), son of the preceding, was born at Halberstadt in 1714. He was originally intended for the ministry in the Lutheran persuasion; but missing preferment, he entered upon the study of physic, took his degree in that faculty, and practised with reputation in his native city til his death in 1794. He translated Juvenal into German, and published several poems. - Ibid.

ABFL (Charles Frederick), a German musician and composer, was the disciple of Sebastian Bach. After ten years' residence in the service of the king of Poland, he came to England, and though very poor at first, he soon obtained considerable patronage, particularly from the Duke of York, by whose interest he was appointed musician to her late majesty. He was alebrated by his performance on the viol di Ganba, when that instrument was in

vogue.

of Music.

He died in 1787.- Burney's Hist.

ABELA (John Francis), commander of the order of Malta, was a native of that island, and the last of an illustrious family. In the year 1622, he was vice-chancellor of the erder, and at last attained the highest distinction. Towards the close of his life, he employed himself in writing a very curious and interesting work in Italian, under the title of Malta Illustrata ;" which was printed in the island, in one volume folio, 1647. It contains the topography of Malta, its ancient history, an account of the order and genealogies of the principal families. There is a Latin translation of it by Seiner, published separately, and also in Grævius's Thesaurus. Nouv. Dict. Hist.

ABELARD OF ABAILARD (Peter), was born in 1079, at Palais, near Nantes, of a noble family. His father, Berenger, intended him for his own profession, which was that of arms; but the youth being strongly inclined to learning, relinquished that pursuit for the study of philosophy. With this view, be frequented several schools, and particularly Paris, where he became the disciple of William de Champeaux, the most famous professor of his time. The love of disputation in Abelard soon alienated the esteem which his master had conceived for him,

and a separation taking place, the pupil commenced teacher, first at Milan, next at Corbeil, and lastly at Paris, where he completely supplanted both the old professor and his successor. This academic warfare ended in the elevation of De Champeaux to a mitre; after which, Abelard directed his studies to theology under Anselm of Laon, with whom also he quarrelled, and returned once more to Paris. Here he led a more quiet life, but not one of much regularity; as the applauses with which he was followed, by intoxicating him with vanity, corrupted his morals. Among other acquaintances formed by him, the principal was with Fulbert, a wealthy canon of the cathedral. This man had a beautiful and accomplished niece, named Heloise, to whom Abelard, though forty years old, paid the greatest attentions, under the pretence of teaching her philosophy. The uncle was so pleased with the progress of his niece, that he consented to take Abelard into his house as a boarder; the consequences of which soon appeared obvious to every body; and when at length Fulbert discovered the disgrace that had been brought upon his family, he turned Abelard out of doors. Heloise followed secretly, and being conveyed into the country, was delivered of a child, who received the name of Astrolabius. Abelard now endeavoured to pacify the incensed uncle, by promising to marry his niece, which offer was accepted; though, strange to say, the lady herself refused compliance, in regard to the honour of her seducer. Her scruples being removed, they were privately married; but when Fulbert naturally wished to make the circumstance known, the obstinacy of Heloise again appeared to such a degree, that the uncle was exasperated; and the husband affecting concern for her safety, conveyed her to an abbey of Benedictine nuns. Fulbert thinking that this was done to increase the injury, hired ruffians, who broke into the chamber of the unfortunate Abelard at night, and, by a cruel operation, put an end to all his future prospects of happiness. Abelard, upon his recovery, prevailed with Heloise to take the vows in the abbey of Argenteuil, and he, a few days afterwards, took the habit in that of St. Denys. The troubles of Abelard, however, were far from being at an end; for, having obtained permission to read lectures as usual, his popularity, and the number of his followers, gave offence to other teachers, who were not long without an occasion to bring him under ecclesiHis book on astical censure. "the Unity of God" was supposed to contain heterodox positions, in consequence of which the archbishop of Rheims called a council in 1121, where the author was required to burn the book with his own hand, to read a recantation, and be imprisoned in the After a short conconvent of St. Medard.