tip looks downwards to the point of the shield, or when the wings are shut.

ABAISSED, OF ABAISSE, in heraldry. See HERALDRY.

ABAITE, a river of Brazil in the Minas Geraes province, falling into the Francisco, near which was found the largest diamond ever discovered in the country.

ABAKA khan, the 18th emperor of the Moguls, 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. 68. 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, denotes 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 Timæus, Basilio, and by Xenophon Lampsacenus, Baltia. 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 Chrysorrhæa, by the Greeks, which, rising from mount Hermon, washed the south and west sides of Damascus, and fell into the Phœnician sea, north of Tripolis.

Scripture supplies a fine instance of the expression of disdain, in the reply of the Syrian General, Naaman, to the prophet Elisha, respecting 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 mountains, 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, Abannan, ABANDON, v. n. past. part. Abanned. From ABANDONER, this past participle is formABANDONING, ed the verb abandon, sigABANDONMENT, nifying primarily to band or bind, or put in bondage. From this original

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 Agonistes.
She loses all her influence. Cities then
Attract us, and neglected nature pines
Abandon'd, as unworthy of our love.

Couper'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 sequestrated, confiscated, or forfeited.

ABANGA, the name given by the black natives 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 geography, an island in the Egean sea, extending along the coast of Greece from the promontory Sunium in Attica, to Thessaly; and separated from Boeotia by a narrow strait called Euripus. It is known in history by the different names of Chalcis, Ellopia, Aonia, &c. It was afterwards called Eubea, 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 ABANTES, a peop.e

originally of Thrace, although some historians suppose they were Arabians who followed Cadmus. The Abantes are well known in history; Homer calls them оTIOεv KoμоwVTEC from their wearing the hair long behind. They are also called Curetes, from cutting their hair short before.

ABANTIS, a country of Epirus. Paus. v.

c. 22.

ABAPTISTON, or ANABAPTISTON, in surgery, an ancient name for the perforating part of the instrument called a trepan.

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 fabulous 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 Athenians 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, renewed the alliance between his countrymen, and the inhabitants of the Isle of Delos. He also went to Lacedæmon, 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.

ABARNARE, 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 articulus, a joint, Lat. A good and apt construction of the bones, by which they move strongly and easily; or that species of articulation that has manifest motion.

ABARTICULATION, in anatomy, that species of articulation, that takes place in the joints of the arms, hands, thighs, &c. which is called also Dearticulatio, and Diarthrosis, 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

opprobrious language, she turned him into a water lizard. Also in ancient history, the 11th king of Argos, who built Abæ. A son of Eurydemus, killed by Eneas near Troy; a companion of Eneas 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. Æneid.

ABAS, in ancient geography, a river of Armenia, 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 OF ABASIA, in entomology, a species of the Bombyx of Fabricius, and of the Phalana of Linnæus, 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 emperor of Persia, succeeded his father in 1585, at eighteen. The empire having been much reduced 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 Christians. He died at thirty-seven years of age, in 1666. ABASE', Fr. abaisser; Lat. basis or ABAS'ING, n. bassus; Ital. abbassare; Span. ABASE MENT, abaxar. These are all to be referred to the Gr. Basic, 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 amisse,
And will she yet abase her eyes on me,
So to abesse his roialtee.

Gower.

That cropt the golden prime of this sweet prince,
And made her widow to a wofull bed?

Shakspeare'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 abasing of it sometimes.

Lord Bacon's Essay on Cunning. Her either cheek resembled blushing morn; Or roses gules in field of lilies borne; "Twixt which an ivory wall so fair is raised, That it is but abased when it's praised.

Drummond. Behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Job xl. 11.

If the mind be curbed and humbled too much in

children; if their spirits be abased and broken much, by too strict an hand over them; they lose all their vigour and industry. Locke on Education.

ABASCIA, or ABCAS, a country in Asia, tributary to Russia, surrounded by Mingrelia on the E. and S. black 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 depredations far into the neighbouring governments, and was sometime captive in Russia, but he escaped. Their customs resemble those of the MINGRELIANS, 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 article, as it is applied to the feelings of those who are abased, depressed, disgraced. It generally implies a sudden impression of shame which generates 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. Chaucer'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.

Ellis's Knowledge of Divine Things ABASITIS, in ancient geography, a tract of Asiatic Mysia, in which the city of Ancyra was situated. Strabo.

ABASKI, a town of Circassia, 40 miles S. E of Kopiel.

ABASSI, or ABASSIS, a silver coin, 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 Galatia. 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 ABATEMENT, exists without the prefix a, as ABATER, 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 horsemanship, 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's Personnes' 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 Coriolanus.
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

we had occasion for it; this were something to excuse our delay, or at least to mitigate or abate the folly and unreasonableness of it. Tillotson's Works. The law of works is that law, which requires perfect obedience, without remission or abatement.

Locke. ABATELEMENT, in commerce, a sentence of prohibition from trade, issued by the French consuls against those who will not stand to their bargains, or who refuse to pay their debts. It must be taken off, before they can sue any person for payment.

ABATEMENT, in heraldry, a certain mark of degradation, inserted in the bearings of particular 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. and REBATE.

See DISCOUNT

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 provender.

ABATIS, OF ABBATIS, from Abattre to pull down, Fr. in fortification, a heap of large trees thrown together, to guard intrenchments, obstruct roads, and prevent the approaches of an enemy.

ABATOS, from a priv. and Bave 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 afterwards 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 remain 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-UJVAR, 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, comprised in this palatinate, which is about 50 miles in length, and from 12 to 15 in breadth. Population 125,000.

ABAVI, or ABAY, i. e. 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, a 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. s. the yarn on a weaver's warp; a term among clothiers.

ABBA, in ancient geography, a town of Africa, near Carthage. AB'BA, n. AB'BACY, AB'BESS, ABBEY, AB'BOT.

In Chaldee and Syriac 8, Father. Titles of honour and authority, first derived from the literal signification of the word.

In scripture Abba is once used by Jesus Christ in prayer, and twice in the epistles, having in each place the explanation it was given at a very early date to their bishops; πατηρ annexed to it. In the eastern churches, and Baba, Papa, Pope, had their origin from

the same root.

turies was gradually, and at last distinctively, ABBAT, OT ABBOT, in the fourth and fifth cenapplied 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 Bearn, 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 minister 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. Maryle-bone, 1727, aged 75. His writings, published 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 Providence and Religion, or the opening the Seven Seals by the Son of God.

ABBAISSEUR, in anatomy, a name given by Winslow and other 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 Mahomet'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 Mahomet, reminded him of the gold he had left with his mother at Mecca: whereupon Abbas, believing 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.

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

The

secular clergyman, popular in France. Abbé had many privileges in the church, without any fixed station: and rose occasionally to eminence both in the literary and political world.

The ABBESS has the same rights and authority 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 abbesses who commission a priest to act for them, and possess a kind of episcopal jurisdiction, exempt from the visitation of their diocesan. Martene, in his treatise. on the rights of the church, observes, that some abbesses have formerly confessed their nuns. But he adds, that their excessive curiosity carried them such lengths, that there arose a necessity for checking it. However, 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 department 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 principal 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 religious houses, whither persons retired from the bustle of the world, to spend their time in solitude and devotion. But they soon degenerated from their original institution, and procured large privileges, exemptions, and riches. They prevailed greatly in Britain before the reformation; particularly in England: and as they increased in riches, so the state became poor: for the lands which these regulars possessed, were

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 Judais) 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 religious 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 seminaries 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 fodged in turbulent times; and many of those, which had escaped the ravages of the Danes, were destroyed with more than Gothic barbarity at the reformation. "Covetousness," says BALE, "was at that time so busy about private commodity, that public wealth, in that most necessary article of respect, was not any where regarded. A number of them who purchased these superstitious mansions, reserved of the library books, some to serve their jakes, some to scour the candlesticks, and some to rub their boots; some they sold to the grocer and soap-seller; and some they sent over sea to the book-binders, not in small numbers, but in whole ships full; yea the universities of this realm are not clear of so detestable a fact. I know a merchant, that bought the contents of two noble libraries for 40s. price; a shame it is to be spoken!" 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. It contains four townships, i. e. the Abbey, East Waver, Low Waver, and St. Cuthberts. The abbots 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 pretence of retirement and authority.

This is no father Dominic; no huge overgrown abbey-lubber; this is but a diminutive sucking friar.

Dryd. Sp. Fr.

ABBIATI, (F.) an Italian historical painter of eminence, who was born in 1640, and died in 1715. He studied under Nouvolone.

ABBOT, or ABBAT, and ARCHIMANDRITE,