Et. or Etat. (Etatis [anno]), In the year of his age. A.H. (Anno Hegira), In the year of the Hegira (the Mohammedan era). A.M. (Anno Mundi), In the year of the world. A.M. (Ante meridiem), Forenoon. Anon. Anonymous. A.U.C. (Anno urbis condita), In the year from the building of the city (ie., Rome.) B.C. Before Christ. Prize-ring. prox. (Proximo [mense]), Next month. Postscript. Part. p.t. or pro. tem. (Pro tempore), For the time. P.T.O. Please turn over. Q., Qu., or Qy. Query; Question. q.d. (Quasi dicat), As if he should say; as much as to say. Q.E..D. (Quod erat demonstrandum), which was to be demonstrated. Q. E.F. (Quod erat faciendum), which was to be done. q.s. or quant. suff. (Quantum sufficit), As much as is sufficient. q.v. (Quod vide), Which see. R. or B. (Recipe), Take. ✔(= r. for radix), the sign of the square root. R. I. P. (Requiescat in pace 1), May he rest in peace! SC. (Scilicet), Namely; that is to say. Sc. or Sculp. (Sculpsit), He engraved it. S.D. U.K. Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. seq. or sq., seqq. or sqq. (Sequens, sequentia), The followings. p. (Sine prole), Without offspring. S.P.G. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Sup. (Supra), Above. S.V. (Sub voce), Under the word (or heading). T.C. D. Trinity College, Dublin. ult. (Ultimo [mense), Last month. U.S. United States. V. (Versus), Against. v. or vid. (Vide), See. viz. (Videlicet), Namely, V. R. (Victoria Regina), Victoria the Queen. Xmas. Christmas [This X is a Greek letter, corresponding to Ch (See Grævius's Thesaurus Antiquitatum, 1694, sqq.; Nicolai's Tractatus de Siglis Veterum; Mommsen's Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 1863, sqq.; Natalis de Wailly's Paléographie, Paris, 1838; Alph. Chassant's Paléographie, 1854, and Dictionnaire des Abréviations, 3d ed., 1866. manual of the abbreviations in current use is a desideratum.) Chancery, whose business is to sketch out and prepare in ABBREVIATORS, a body of writers in the Papal due form the Pope's bulls, briefs, and consistorial decrees. They are first mentioned in a bull of Benedict XII., early in the 14th century. Their number is fixed at seventytwo, of whom twelve, distinguished as de parco majori, hold prelatic rank; twenty-two, de parco minori, are clergymen of lower rank; and the remainder, examinatores, may be laymen. ABDALLATIF, or ABD-UL-LATIF, a celebrated physician and traveller, and one of the most voluminous writers of the East, was born at Baghdad in 1162. An interesting memoir of Abdallatif, written by himself, has been preserved with additions by Ibn-Abu-Osaiba, a contemporary. From that work we learn that the higher education of the youth of Baghdad consisted principally in a minute and careful study of the rules and principles of grammar, and in their committing to memory the whole of the Koran, a treatise or two on philology and jurisprudence, and the choicest Arabian poetry. After attaining to great proficiency in that kind of learning, Abdallatif applied himself to natural philosophy and medicine. To enjoy the society of the learned, he went first to Mosul (1189), and afterwards to Damascus, the great resort of the eminent men of that age. The chemical fooleries that engrossed the attention of some of these had no attraction for him, but he entered with eagerness into speculative discussions. With letters of recommendation from Saladin's vizier, he visited Egypt, where the wish he had long cherished to converse with Maimonides, "the Eagle of the Doctors," was gratified. He afterwards formed one of the circle of learned men whom Saladin gathered around him at Jerusalem, and shared in the great sultan's favours. He taught medicine and philosophy at Cairo and at Damascus for a number of years, and afterwards, for a shorter period, at Aleppo. His love of travel led him in his old age to visit different parts of Armenia and Asia Minor, and he was setting out on a pilgrimage to Mecca when he died at Baghdad in 1231. Abdallatif was undoubtedly a man of great knowledge and of an inquisitive and penetrating mind, but is said to have been somewhat vain of his attainments. Of the numerous works-most of them on medicine-which Osaiba ascribes to him, one only, the Account of Egypt, appears to be known in Europe. The manuscript of this work, which was discovered by Pococke the Orientalist, is preserved in the Bodleian Library. It was translated into Latin by Professor White of Oxford in 1800, and into French, with very valuable notes, by De Sacy in 1810. It consists of two parts: the first gives a general view of Egypt; the second treats of the Nile, and contains a vivid description of a famine caused, during the author's residence in Egypt, by the river failing to overflow its banks. The work gives an authentic detailed account of the state of Egypt during the middle ages. ABD-EL-KADER, celebrated for his brave resistance to the advance of the French in Algeria, was born near Mascara, in the early part of the year 1807. His father was a man of great influence among his countrymen from his high rank and learning, and Abd-el-Kader himself at an early age acquired a wide reputation for wisdom and piety, as well as for skill in horsemanship and other manly exercises. In 1831 he was chosen Emir of Mascara, and leader of the combined tribes in their attempt to check the His efforts were growing power of the French in Africa. at first successful, and in 1834 he concluded a treaty with the French general, which was very favourable to his cause. This treaty was broken in the succeeding year; but as the war that followed was mainly in favour of the Arabs, peace was renewed in 1837. War again broke out in 1839, and for more than a year was carried on in a very desultory manner. In 1841, however, Marshal Bugeaud assumed the chief command of the French force, which numbered nearly 100,000 men. The war was now carried on with great vigour, and Abd-el-Kader, after a | most determined resistance, surrendered himself to the Duc d'Aumale, on the 22d December 1847. The promise, that he would be allowed to retire to Alexandria or St Jean d'Acre, upon the faith of which Abd-el-Kader had given himself up, was broken by the French government. He was taken to France, and was imprisoned first in the castle of Pau, and afterwards in that of Amboise. In 1852 Louis Napoleon gave him his liberty on condition of his not returning to Algeria. Since then he resided successively at Broussa, Constantinople, and Damascus. He is reported to have died at Mecca in October 1873. See ALGERIA. ABDERA (1.), in Ancient Geography, a maritime town of Thrace, eastward from the mouth of the river Nestus. Mythology assigns the founding of the town to Hercules; but Herodotus states that it was first colonised by Timesias of Clazomenæ, whom the Thracians in a short time expelled. Rather more than a century later (B.c. 541), the people of Seos recolonised Abdera. The town soon became one of considerable importance, and in B.c. 408, when it was reduced by Thrasybulus the Athenian, it is described as in a very flourishing condition. Its prosperity was greatly impaired by its disastrous war with the Triballi (circa B.C. 376), and very little is heard of it thereafter. The Abderitæ, or Abderitani, were proverbial for their want of wit and judgment; yet their city gave birth to several eminent persons, as Protagoras, Democritus, and Anaxarchus the philosophers, Hecatæus the historian, Nicænetus the poet, and others. ABDERA (2.), a town in Hispania Batica, founded by the Carthaginians, on the south coast, between Malaça and Prom. Charidemi. It is probably represented by the modern Adra. ABDICATION, the act whereby a person in office renounces and gives up the same before the expiry of the time for which it is held. The word is seldom used except in the sense of surrendering the supreme power in a state. Despotic sovereigns are at liberty to divest themselves of their powers at any time, but it is otherwise with a limited monarchy. The throne of Great Britain cannot be lawfully abdicated unless with the consent of the two Houses of Parliament. When James II., after throwing the Great Seal into the Thames, fled to France in 1688, he did not formally resign the crown, and the question was discussed in Parliament whether he had forfeited the throne or had abdicated. The latter designation was agreed on, for in a full assembly of the Lords and Commons, met in convention, it was resolved, in spite of James's protest, "that King James II. having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant." The Scotch Parliament pronounced a decree of forfeiture and deposition. Among the most memorable abdications of antiquity may be mentioned that of Sulla the dictator, B.C. 79, and that of the Emperor Diocletian, A.D. 305. The following is a list of the more important abdications of later times:Benedict IX., Pope, Stephen II. of Hungary, Albert (the Bear) of Brandenburg, Ladislaus III., Duke of Poland, John Balliol of Scotland, John Cantacuzene, Emperor of the East, Eric VII. of Denmark and XIII. of Sweden, Amurath II., Ottoman Emperor, John Casimir of Poland, A.D. 1048 1131 1169 1207 1296 1355 1415 1439 1444 and 1445 1556 1654 1668 1688 1706 Joseph Bonaparte of Naples, Victor Emanuel of Sardinia, Don Miguel of Portugal, A.D. 1724 1759 1795 Mar. 19, 1808 July 2, 1810 express instructions, Abdul Medjid set at once about carrying out the extensive reforms to which Mahmoud had so In November 1839 was 1730 energetically devoted himself. proclaimed an edict, known as the Hatti-sherif of Gulhané, consolidating and enforcing these reforms, which was supplemented, at the close of the Crimean war, by a similar statute, issued in February 1856. By these enactments it was provided that all classes of the sultan's subjects should have security for their lives and property; that taxes should be fairly imposed and justice impartially administered; and that all should have full religious liberty and equal civil rights. The scheme was regarded as so revolutionary by the aristocracy and the educated classes (the Ulema) that it met with keen opposition, and was in consequence but partially put in force, especially in the remoter parts of the empire; and more than one conspiracy was formed against the sultan's life on account of it. Of the other measures of reform promoted by Abdul Medjid the more important were the reorganisation of the army (1843-4), the institution of a council of public instruction (1846), the abolition of an odious and unfairly imposed capitation tax, the repression of slave trading, and various provisions for the better administration of the public service and for the advancement of commerce. The public history of his times-the disturbances and insurrections in different parts of his dominions throughout his reign, and the great war successfully carried on against Russia by Turkey, and by England, France, and Sardinia, in the interest of Turkey (1853-56)-can be merely alluded to in this personal notice. in this personal notice. When Kossuth and others sought. refuge in Turkey, after the failure of the Hungarian rising in 1849, the sultan was called on by Austria and Russia to surrender them, but boldly and determinedly refused. It is to his credit, too, that he would not allow the conspirators against his own life to be put to death. He bore the character of being a kind and honourable man. Against this, however, must be set down his excessive extravagance, especially towards the end of his life. He died on the 25th of June 1861, and was succeeded, not by one of his sons, but by his brother, Abdul Aziz, the present sultan, as the oldest survivor of the family of Othman. Feb. 11, 1873 ABDOMEN, in Anatomy, the lower part of the trunk of the body, situated between the thorax and the pelvis. See ANATOMY. ABDOMINALES, or ABDOMINAL FISHES, a sub-division of the Malacopterygious Order, whose ventral fins are placed behind the pectorals, under the abdomen. The typical abdominals are carp, salmon, herring, silures, and pike. ABDUCTION, a law term denoting the forcible or fraudulent removal of a person, limited by custom to the case where a woman is the victim. In the case of men or children, it has been usual to substitute the term KIDNAPPING (q.v.) The old severe laws against abduction, generally contemplating its object as the possession of an heiress and her fortune, have been repealed by 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 53, which makes it felony for any one from motives of lucre to take away or detain against her will, with intent to marry or carnally know her, &c., any woman of any age who has any interest in any real or personal estate, or is an heiress presumptive, or co-heiress, or presumptive next of kin to any one having such an interest; or for any one to cause such a woman to be married or carnally known by any other person; or for any one with such intent to allure, take away, or detain any such woman under the age of twenty-one, out of the possession and against the will of her parents or guardians. By s. 54, forcible taking away or detention against her will of any woman of any age with like intent is felony. Even without such intent, abduction of any unmarried girl under the age of sixteen is a misdemeanour. In Scotland, where there is no statutory adjustment, abduction is similarly dealt with by practice. ABDUL MEDJID, Sultan of Turkey, the thirty-first sovereign of the house of Othman, was born April 23, 1823, and succeeded his father Mahmoud II. on the 2d of July 1839. Mahmoud appears to have been unable to effect the reforms he desired in the mode of educating his children, so that his son received no better education than that given, according to use and wont, to Turkish princes in the harem. When Abdul Medjid succeeded to the throne, the affairs of Turkey were in an extremely critical state. At the very time his father died, the news was on its way to Constantinople that the Turkish army had been signally defeated at Nisib by that of the rebel Egyptian viceroy, Mehemet Ali; and the Turkish fleet was at the same time on its way to Egypt, to be surrendered perfidiously by its commander to the same enemy. But through the intervention of the great European powers, Mehemet Ali was obliged to come to terms, and the Ottoman empire was saved. In compliance with his father's 1 Pedro had succeeded to the throne of Portugal in 1826, but abdicated it at once in favour of his daughter, À BECKET, THOMAS, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England in the 12th century, was born in London on the 21st of December 1118. His father, Gilbert Becket, and his mother Rocsa or Matilda, were both, there can be little doubt, of Norman extraction, if indeed they themselves were not immigrants from Normandy to England. Gilbert Becket, a merchant, and at one time Sheriff of London, a man of generous impulses and somewhat lavish hospitality, provided for his only child Thomas all the attainable advantages of influential society and a good education. At ten years of age Thomas was placed under the tuition of the canons regular of Merton on the Wandle in Surrey. From Merton he proceeded to study in the London schools, then in high repute. At Pevensey Castle, the seat of his father's friend Richer de l'Aigle, one of the great barons of England, he subsequently became a proficient in all the feats and graces of chivalry. From Pevensey he betook himself to the study of theology in the University of Paris. He never became a scholar, much less a theologian, like Wolsey, or even like some of the learned ecclesiastics of his own day; but his intellect was vigorous and original, and his manners captivating to his associates and popular with the multitude. His father's failure in business recalled him to London, and for three years he acted as a clerk in a lawyer's office. But a man so variously accomplished could not fail to stumble on preferment sooner or later. Accordingly, about 1142, Archdeacon Baldwin, a learned civilian, a friend of the elder Becket, introduced him to Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who at once appointed him to an office in the Archiepiscopal Court. His talents speedily raised him to the archdeaconry of the see. A Becket's tact in assisting to thwart an attempt to interest the Pope in favour of the coronation of Stephen's son Eustace, paved the way to the archdeacon's elevation to the Chancellorship of England under Henry II., a dignity to which he was raised in 1155. As he had served Theobald the archbishop, so he served Henry the king faithfully and well. It was his nature to be loyal. Enthusiastic partisanship is, in fact, the key to much that is otherwise inexplicable in his subsequent conduct towards Henry. When at a later period À Becket was raised to the primacy of England, a dignity not of his own seeking, he must needs quarrel with Henry in the interest of the Pope and "for the honour of God." As Chancellor of England he appeared in the war of Toulouse at the head of the chivalry of England, and "who can recount," says his attendant and panegyrist Grim, "the carnage, the desolation he made at the head of a strong body of soldiers? He attacked castles, and razed towns and cities to the ground; he burned down houses and farms, and never showed the slightest touch of pity to any one who rose in insurrection against his master." In single comba: he vanquished and made prisoner the valiant Knight Engelram de Trie. Nor did À Becket the chancellor seek to quell Henry's secular foes alone. He was the able mouthpiece of the Crown in its contention with the Bishop of Chichester, who had alleged that the permission of the Pope was necessary to the conferring or taking away of ecclesiastical benefices; and he rigorously exacted scutage, a military tax in lieu of personal service in the field, from the clergy, who accused him of "plunging a sword into the bosom of his mother the church." His pomp and munificence as chancellor were beyond precedent. In 1159 he undertook, at Henry's request, an embassy to the French Court for the purpose of affiancing the king's eldest son to the daughter of the king of France. His progress through the country was like a triumphal procession. "How wonderful must be the king of England himself whose chancellor travels in such state!" was on every one's lips. In 1162 he was elected Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of Herford, alone dissenting, and remarking sarcastically, at the termination of the ceremony, that "the king had worked a miracle in having that day turned a layman into an archbishop and a soldier into a saint." Hitherto À Becket had only been in deacon's orders, and had made no profession of sanctity of life. At the same time, there is nothing to show that his character was stained by the gross licentiousness of the times. Now, however, he devoted himself body and soul to the service of the church. The fastidious courtier was at once transformed into the squalid penitent, who wore hair-cloth next his skin, fed on roots, drank nauseous water, and daily washed the feet of thirteen beggars. Henry, who had expected to see the archbishop completely sunk in the chancellor, was amazed to receive the following laconic message from À Becket:-"I desire that you will provide yourself with another chancellor, as I find myself hardly sufficient for the duties of one office, much less of two." From that moment there was strife between A Becket and Henry, A Becket straining every nerve to extend the authority of the Pope, and Henry doing his utmost to subject the church to his own will. Throughout the bitter struggle for supremacy which ensued between A Becket and the king, A Becket was backed by the sympathy of the Saxon populace, Henry by the support of the Norman barons and by the greater dignitaries of the church. At the outset A Becket was worsted. He was constrained to take an oath, "with good faith and without fraud or reserve, to observe the Constitutions of Clarendon," which subjected clerks guilty of crime to the ordinary civil tribunals, put ecclesiastical dignities at the royal dis posal, prevented all appeals to Rome, and made Henry the virtual "head of the church." For his guilty compliance with these anti-papal constitutions he received the special pardon and absolution of his holiness, and proceeded to anathematise them with the energy of a genuine remorse. The king resolved on his ruin. He was summoned before a great council at Northampton, and in defiance of justice was called on to account for the sum of 44,000 marks declared to have been misappropriated by him during his chancellorship. "For what happened before my consecration," said A Becket, "I ought not to answer, nor will I. Know, moreover, that ye are my children in God; neither law nor reason allows you to judge your father. I refer my quarrel to the decision of the Pope. To him I appeal, and shall now, under the protection of the Catholic Church and the Apostolic See, depart." He effected his escape to France, and took refuge in the Cistercian monastery of Pontigny, whence he repeatedly anathematised his enemies in England, and hesitated not to speak of Henry as a "malicious tyrant." Pope Alexander III., though at heart a warm supporter of Becket, was guarded in his conduct towards Henry, who had shown a disposition to support the anti-pope Pascal III., and it was not till the Archbishop of York, in defiance of a papal bull, had usurped the functions of the exiled primate by officiating at the coronation of Henry's son, that Alexander became really formidable. À Becket was now resolute for martyrdom or victory. Henry began to tremble, and an interview between him and Becket was arranged to take place at Fereitville in 1170. It was agreed that À Becket should return to his see, and that the king should discharge his debts and defray the expenses of his journey. À Becket proceeded to the coast, but the king, who had promised to meet him, broke his engagement in every particular. A Becket, in retaliation, excommunicated the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of London and Salisbury for officiating at the coronation of the king's son. The terrified prelates took refuge in Normandy with Henry, who, on hearing their tale, accompanied by an account of A Becket's splendid reception at Canterbury, exclaimed in ungovernable fury, "Of the cowards who eat my bread, is there not one who will free me from this turbulent priest?" Four knights, Fitzurse, Tracy, Morville, and Brito, resolveb to avenge their sovereign, who it appears was ignorant of their intention. They arrived in Canterbury, and finding the archbishop, threatened him with death if he would not absolve the excommunicated bishops. "In vain," replied A Becket, "you threaten me. If all the swords in England were brandishing over my head, your terrors could not move Foot to foot you will find me fighting the battle of the Lord." He was barbarously murdered in the great cathedral, at the foot of the altar of St Benedict, on the 29th December 1170. Two years thereafter he was canonised by the Pope; and down to the Reformation innumerable pilgrimages were made to the shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury by devotees from every corner of Christendom. So numerous were the miracles wrought at his tomb, that Gervase of Canterbury tells us two large volumes kept in the cathedral were filled with accounts of them. Every fiftieth year a jubilee was celebrated in his honour, which lasted fifteen days; plenary indulgences were then granted to all who visited his tomb; and as many as 100,000 pilgrims were registered at a time in Canterbury. The worship of St Thomas superseded the adoration of God, and even that of the Virgin. In one year there was offered at God's altar nothing; at that of the Virgin £4, 1s. 8d.; while St Thomas received for his share £954, 6s. 3d.-an enormous sum, if the purchasing power of money in those times be considered. Henry VIII., with a just if somewhat ludicrous appreciation of the issue which À Becket had raised me. with his royal predecessor Henry II., not only pillaged the rich shrine dedicated to St Thomas, but caused the saint himself to be cited to appear in court, and to be tried and condemned as a traitor, at the same time ordering his name to be struck out of the calendar, and his bones to be burned and the ashes thrown in the air. A Becket's character and aims have been the subject of the keenest ecclesiastical and historic controversy down to the present time, but it is impossible to doubt the fundamental sincerity of the one or the disinterestedness of the other, however inconsistent his actions may sometimes appear. If the fruit of the Spirit be "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance," A Becket was assuredly not a saint, for he indulged to the last in the bitterest invectives against his foes; but that he fought with admirable courage and devotion the "battle of the Lord," according to the warlike ideas of an age with which he was in intense sympathy, is beyond dispute. He was the leading Ultramontane of his day, hesitating not to reprove the Pope himself for lukewarmness in the cause of the "church's liberty." He was the last of the great ecclesiastics of the type of Lanfranc and Anselm, who struggled for supremacy with the civil power in England on almost equal terms. In his day the secular stream was running very strong, and he might as chancellor have floated down the current pleasantly enough, governing England in Henry's name. He nevertheless perished in a chivalrous effort to stem the torrent. The tendency of his principles was to supersede a civil by a spiritual despotism; " but, in point of fact," says Hook, in his valuable Life, "he was a high-principled, high-spirited demagogue, who taught the people to struggle for their liberties," a struggle soon to commence, and of which he was by no means an impotent if an unconscious precursor.-See Dr Giles's Vita et Epistolæ S. Thoma Cantuariensis; Canon Morris's Life of St Thomas Becket; Canon Robertson's Life of Becket; Canon Stanley's Historical Memorials of Canterbury; J. G. Nichol's Pilgrimages of Walsingham and Canterbury; Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury; and Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England. A'BECKETT, GILBERT ABBOTT, a successful cultivator of light literature, was born in London in 1811, and educated at Westminster School. He wrote burlesque dramas with success from his boyhood, took an active share in the establishment of different comic periodicals, particularly Figaro in London and Punch, and was a constant contributor to the columns of the latter from its commencement till the time of his death. His principal publications, all overflowing with kindly humour, and rich in quaint fancies, are his parodies of living dramatists (himself included), reprinted from Punch (1844); The Small Debts Act, with Annotations and Explanations (1845); The Quizziology of the British Drama and The Comic Blackstone (1846); A Comic History of England (1847); and A Comic History of Rome (1852). He contributed occasionally, too, to the Times and other metropolitan papers. A'Beckett was called to the bar in 1841, and from 1849 discharged with great efficiency the duties of a metropolitan police magistrate. He died at Boulogne on the 30th of August 1856. ABEL (, breath, vanity, transitoriness), the second son of Adam, slain by Cain his elder brother (Gen. iv 1-16). The narrative in Genesis, which tells us that "the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect," is supplemented by the statement of the New Testament, that "by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," (Heb. xi. 4), and that Cain slew Abel "because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous" (1 John iii. 12). In patristic theology the striking contrast between the brothers was mystically explained and typically applied in various ways. Augustine, for example, regards Abel as the representative of the regenerate or spiritual man, and Cain as the representative of the natural or corrupt man. Augustine in his treatise De Hæresibus, c. 86, mentions a sect of Abelitae or Abelians, who seem to have lived in North Africa, and chiefly in the neighbourhood of HippoRegius. According to their tradition, Abel, though married, lived in continence, and they followed his practice in this respect, so as to avoid the guilt of bringing sinful creatures into the world. ABEL, KARL FRIEDRICH (1726-1787), a celebrated German musician. His adagio compositions have been highly praised, but he attained greater distinction as a performer than as a composer, his instrument being the Viola di gamba, which from his time has given place to the violoncello. He studied under Sebastian Bach, played for ten years (1748-58) in the band formed at Dresden by the Elector of Saxony, under Hasse, and then, proceeding to England, became (1759) chamber-musician to the queen of George III. His life was shortened by habits of intemperance. ABEL, NIELS HENRIK, one of the ablest and acutest mathematicians of modern times, was born at Findöe in Norway in 1802, and died near Arendal in 1829. Considering the shortness of his life, the extent and thoroughness of his mathematical investigations and analyses are marvellous. His great powers of generalisation were displayed in a remarkable degree in his development of the theory of elliptic functions. Legendre's eulogy of Abel, "Quelle tête celle du jeune Norvegien !" is the more forcible, that the French mathematician had occupied himself with those functions for most of his lifetime. Abel's works, edited by M. Holmboe, the professor under whom he studied at Christiania, were published by the Swedish government in 1839. ABEL, THOMAS, a Roman Catholic divine during the reign of Henry VIII., was an Englishman, but when or where born does not appear. He was educated at Oxford, where he passed B.A. on 4th July 1513, M.A. on 27th June 1516, and proceeded D.D. On 23d June 1530 he was presented by Queen Catherine to the rectory of Bradwell in Essex, on the sea-coast. He had been introduced to the court through the report of his learning in classical and living languages, and accomplishments in music; and he was appointed domestic chaplain to Queen Catherine. It speaks well both for the chaplain and his royal mistress, that to the last he defended the outraged queen against "bluff King Hal." The Defence, "Invicta Veritas," was printed at Luneberge in 1532. This pungent little book was replied to, but never answered, and remains the defence on Queen Catherine's part. Abel was ensnared, as greater men were, in the prophetic delusions and ravings of Elizabeth Barton, called the "Holy Maid of Kent." As belonging to the Church of Rome, he inevitably opposed Henry VIII.'s assumption of supremacy in the church. Ultimately he was tried and condemned for "misprision of treason," and perished in the usual cruel and ignoble way. The execution, as described, took place at Smithfield on July 30, 1540. If we may not concede the venerable and holy name of martyr to Abel-and John Foxe is passionate in his refusal of it-yet we must hold that he at least fell a victim to his unsparing defence of his queen and friend, the "misprision of treason" having been a foregone conclusion. In stat. 25, Henry VIII., c. 12, he is described as having "caused to be printed and set forth in this realme diverse books against the divorce and separation." Neither the Tractatus nor the "diverse books" are known. -Dodd, Church History, Brussels, 1737, folio, vol. i. p. 208; Bourchier, Hist. Eccl |