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death, which took place on Mount Hor, when he was 123 | years old.

AARSSENS, FRANCIS VAN (1572-1641), one of the greatest diplomatists of the United Provinces. He represented the States-General at the Court of France for many years, and was also engaged in embassies to Venice, Germany, and England. His great diplomatic ability appears from the memoirs he wrote of his negotiations in 1624 with Richelieu, who ranked him among the three greatest politicians of his time. A deep stain rests on the memory of Aarssens from the share he had in the death of Barneveldt, who was put to death by the States-General, after the semblance of a trial, in 1619.

ABABDE, an African tribe occupying the country between the Red Sea and the Nile, to the S. of Kosseir, nearly as far as the latitude of Derr. Many of the race have settled on the eastern bank of the Nile, but the greater part still live like Bedouins. They are a distinct race from the Arabs, and are treacherous and faithless in their dealings. They have few horses; when at war with other tribes, they fight from camels, their breed of which is famed. They possess considerable property, and trade in senna, and in charcoal made from acacia wood, which they send as far as Cairo.

ABACA or ABAKA, a name given to the Musa textilis, the plant that produces the fibre called Manilla Hemp, and also to the fibre itself.

ABACUS, an architectural term (from the Gr. áßas, a tray or flat board) applied to the upper part of the capital of a column, pier, &c. The early form of an abacus is

2.

Forms of the Abacus.

simply a square flat stone, probably derived from the
Tuscan order. In Saxon work it is frequently simply
chamfered, but sometimes grooved, as in the crypt at
Repton (fig. 1), and in the arcade of the refectory at West-
minster. The abacus in Norman work is square where
the columns are small; but on larger piers it is sometimes
octagonal, as at Waltham Abbey. The square of the
abacus is often sculptured, as at the White Tower and
at Alton (fig. 2). In early English work the abacus is
generally circular, and in larger work a continuation of
circles (fig. 4), sometimes octagonal, and occasionally square.
The mouldings are
generally rounds,
which overhang
deep hollows. The
abacus in early
French work is
generally square, as
at Blois (fig. 3).
The term is ap-
plied in its diminu-
tive form (Abacis-
cus) to the chequers
or squares of a tes-
sellated pavement.

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Fig. 5.-Roman Abacus.

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ABACUS also signifies an instrument employed by the ancients for arithmetical calculations; pebbles, bits of bone, or coins, being used as counters. The accompanying figure (5) of a Roman abacus is taken from an ancient monument. It contains seven long and seven shorter rods or bars, the former having four perforated beads running on

them, and the latter one. The bar marked I indicates
units, X tens, and so on up to millions. The beads on the
shorter bars denote fives,-five units, five tens, &c. The rod
and correspond-
ing short rod are
for marking ounces;
and the short quar-
ter rods for fractions
of an ounce.

[graphic]

The Swan-Pan of the Chinese (fig. 6) closely resembles the Roman abacus in its Fig. 6.-Chinese Swan-Pan. construction and use. Computations are made with it by means of balls of bone or ivory running on slender bamboo rods similar to the simpler board, fitted up with beads strung on wires, which is employed in teaching the rudiments of arithmetic in elementary schools.

ABÆ, a town of ancient Greece in the E. of Phocis, famous for a temple and oracle of Apollo. The temple was plundered and burned by the Persians (B. c. 480), and again by the Boeotians (B.C. 346), and was restored on a smaller scale by Hadrian. Remains of the temple and town may still be traced on a peaked hill near Exarkho. See Leake's Northern Greece.

ABAKANSK, a fortified town of Siberia, in the government of Yeniseisk, on the river Abakan, near its confluence with the Yenisei. Lat. 54° N.; long. 91° 14' E. This is considered the mildest and most salubrious place in Siberia, and is remarkable for the tumuli in its neighbourhood, and for some statues of men from seven to nine feet high, covered with hieroglyphics. Population about 1000.

ABANA and PHARPAR, "rivers of Damascus" (2 Kings v. 12), are now generally identified with the Barada and the Awaj respectively. The former flows through the city of Damascus; the Awaj, a smaller stream, passes eight miles to the south. Both run from west to east across the plain of Damascus, which owes to them much of its fertility, and lose themselves in marshes, or lakes, as they are called, on the borders of the great Arabian desert. Mr Macgregor, who gives an interesting description of these rivers in his Rob Roy on the Jordan, affirms that "as a work of hydraulic engineering, the system and construction of the canals by which the Abana and Pharpar are used for irrigation, may be still considered as the most complete and extensive in the world."

ABANCAY, a town of Peru, in the department of Cuzco, 65 miles W.S.W. of the town of that name. It lies on the river Abancay, which is here spanned by one of the finest bridges in Peru. Rich crops of sugar-cane are produced in the district, and the town has extensive sugar refineries. Hemp is also cultivated, and silver is found in the mountains. Population, 1200.

ABANDONMENT, in Marine Assurance, is the surrendering of the ship or goods insured to the insurers, in the case of a constructive total loss of the thing insured. There is an absolute total loss entitling the assured to recover the full amount of his insurance wherever the thing insured has ceased to exist to any useful purpose, and in such a case abandonment is not required. Where the thing assured continues to exist in specie, yet is so damaged that there is no reasonable hope of repair, or it is not worth the expense of bringing it, or what remains of it, to its destination, the insured may treat the case as one of a total loss (in this case called constructive total loss), and demand the full sum insured. But, as the contract of insurance is one of indemnity, the insured must, in such a case, make an express cession of all his right to the recovery of the subject insured to the underwriter by abandonment. The insured must intimate his intention to abandon, within a

reasonable time after receiving correct information as to the loss; any unnecessary delay being held as an indication of his intention not to abandon. An abandonment when once accepted is irrevocable; but in no circumstances s the insured obliged to abandon. After abandonment, the captain and crew are still bound to do all in their power to save the property for the underwriter, without prejudice to the right of abandonment; for which they are entitled to wages and remuneration from the insurers, at least so far as what is saved will allow. See Arnould, Marshall, and Park, on the Law of Insurance, and the judgment of Lord Abinger in Roux v. Salvador, 3 Bing. N.C. 266, Tudor's Leading Cases, 139.

ABANDONMENT has also a legal signification in the law of railways. Under the Acts 13 and 14 Vict. c. 83, 14 and 15 Vict. c. 64, 30 and 31 Vict. c. 126, and 32 and 33 Vict. c. 114, the Board of Trade may, on the application of a railway company, made by the authority and with the consent of the holders of three-fifths of its shares or stock, and on certain conditions specified in the Acts, grant a warrant authorising the abandonment of the railway or a portion of it. After due publication of this warrant, the company is released from all liability to make, maintain, or work the railway, or portion of the railway, authorised to be abandoned, or to complete any contracts relating to it, subject to certain provisions and exceptions.

ABANDONING a young child under two years of age, so that its life shall be endangered, or its health permanently injured, or likely to be so, is in England a misdemeanour, punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment, 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, § 273. In Scotland abandoning or exposing an infant is an offence at common law, although no evil consequences should happen to the child.

ABANO, a town of Northern Italy, 6 miles S.W. of Padua. There are thermal springs in the neighbourhood, which have been much resorted to by invalids for bathing, both in ancient and modern times. They were called by the Romans Aponi Fons, and also Aquæ Patavinæ. Population of Abano, 3000.

ABANO, PIETRO D', known also as Petrus de Apono or Aponensis, a distinguished physician and philosopher, was born at the Italian town from which he takes his name in 1250, or, according to others, in 1246. After visiting the east in order to acquire the Greek language, he went to study at Paris, where he became a doctor of medicine and philosophy. In Padua, to which he returned when his studies were completed, he speedily gained a great reputation as a physician, and availed himself of it to gratify his avarice by refusing to visit patients except for an exorbitant fee. Perhaps this as well as his meddling with astrology caused the charge to be brought against him of practising magic, the particular accusations being that he brought back into his purse, by the aid of the devil, all the money he paid away, and that he possessed the philosopher's stone. He was twice brought to trial by the Inquisition; on the first occasion he was acquitted, and he died (1316) before the second trial was completed. He was found guilty, however, and his body was ordered to be exhumed and burned; but a friend had secretly removed it, and the Inquisition had, therefore, to content itself with the public proclamation of its sentence and the burning of Abano in effigy. In his writings he expounds and advocates the medical and philosophical systems of Averrhoes and other Arabian writers. His best known works are the Conciliator differentiarum quæ inter philosophos et medicos versantur (Mantua, 1472, Venice, 1476), and De venenis eorumque remediis (1472), of which a French translation was published at Lyons in 1593.

ABARIS, the Hyperborean, a celebrated sage of antiquity, who visited Greece about 570 B.C., or, according to

others, a century or two earlier. The particulars of his history are differently related by different authors, but all accounts are more or less mythical. He is said to have travelled over sea and land, riding on an arrow given him by Apollo, to have lived without food, to have delivered the whole earth from a plague, &c. Various works in prose and verse are attributed to Abaris by Suidas and others, but of these we have no certain information.

ABATEMENT, ABATE, from the French abattre, abater, to throw down, demolish. The original meaning of the word is preserved in various legal phrases. The abatement of a nuisance is the remedy allowed by law to a person injured by a public nuisance of destroying or removing it by his own act, provided he commit no breach of the peace in doing so. In the case of private nuisances abatement is also allowed, provided there be no breach of the peace, and no damage be occasioned beyond what the removal of the nuisance requires.

Abatement of freehold takes place where, after the death of the person last seised, a stranger enters upon lands before the entry of the heir or devisee, and keeps the latter out of possession. It differs from intrusion, which is a similar entry by a stranger on the death of a tenant for life, to the prejudice of the reversioner, or remainder man ; and from disseisin, which is the forcible or fraudulent expulsion of a person seised of the freehold.

Abatement among legatees (defalcatis) is a proportionate deduction which their legacies suffer when the funds out of which they are payable are not sufficient to pay them in full.

Abatement in pleading is the defeating or quashing of a particular action by some matter of fact, such as a defect in form or personal incompetency of the parties suing, pleaded by the defendant. Such a plea is called a plea in abatement; and as it does not involve the merits of the cause, it leaves the right of action subsisting. Since 1852 it has been competent to obviate the effect of such pleas by amendment, so as to allow the real question in controversy between the parties to be tried in the same suit.

In litigation an action is said to abate or cease on the death of one of the parties.

ABATEMENT, or REBATE, is a discount allowed for prompt payment; it also means a deduction sometimes made at the custom-house from the fixed duties on certain kinds of goods, on account of damage or loss sustained in warehouses. The rate and conditions of such deductions are regulated by Act 16 and 17 Vict. c. 107.

ABATI, or DELL'ABBATO, NICCOLO, a celebrated frescopainter of Modena, born in 1512. His best works are at Modena and Bologna, and have been highly praised by Zanotti, Algarotti, and Lanzi. He accompanied Primaticcio to France, and assisted in decorating the palace at Fontainbleau (1552-1571). His pictures exhibit a combination of skill in drawing, grace, and natural colouring. Some of his easel pieces in cil are in different collections; one of the finest, now in the Dresden Gallery, represents the martyrdom of St Peter and St Paul. Abati died at Paris in 1571.

ABATTOIR, from abattre, primarily signifies a slaughterhouse proper, or place where animals are killed as distinguished from boucheries and étaux publics, places where the dead meat is offered for sale. But the term is also employed to designate a complete meat market, of which the abattoir proper is merely part.

Perhaps the first indication of the existence of abattoirs may be found in the system which prevailed under the Emperors in ancient Rome. A corporation or guild of butchers undoubtedly existed there, which delegated to its officers the duty of slaughtering the beasts required to supply the city with meat. The establishments requisite

for this purpose were at first scattered about the various streets, but were eventually confined to one quarter, and formed the public meat market. This market, in the time of Nero, was one of the most imposing structures in the city, and some idea of its magnificence has been transmitted to us by a delineation of it preserved on an ancient coin. As the policy and customs of the Romans made themselves felt in Gaul, the Roman system of abattoirs, if it may be so called, was introduced there in an imperfect form. A clique of families in Paris long exercised the special function of catering for the public wants in respect of meat. But as the city increased in magnitude and population, the necessity of keeping slaughter-houses as much as possible apart from dwelling-houses became apparent. As early as the time of Charles IX., the attention of the French authorities was directed to the subject, as is testified by a decree passed on the 25th of February 1567. But although the importance of the question was frequently recognised, no definite or decided step seems to have been taken to effect the contemplated reform until the time of Napoleon I. The evil had then reached a terribly aggravated form. Slaughter-houses abutted on many of the principal thoroughfares; the traffic was impeded by the constant arrival of foot-sore beasts, whose piteous cries pained the ear; and rivulets of blood were to be seen in the gutters of the public streets. The constant accumulation of putrid offal tainted the atmosphere, and the Seine was polluted by being used as a common receptacle for slaughter-house refuse. This condition of things could not be allowed to continue, and on the 9th of February 1810, a decree was passed authorising the construction of abattoirs in the outskirts of Paris, and appointing a Commission, to which was committed the consideration of the entire question.

The result of the appointment of this Commission was the construction of the five existing abattoirs, which were formally opened for business on the 15th of September 1818. The Montmartre abattoir occupics 8 English acres;

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arrangement of the abattoirs will be understood from the preceding plan of that of Ménilmontant. The component parts of a French abattoir are-1. Echaudoirs, which is the name given by the Paris butcher to the particular division allotted to him for the purpose of knocking down his beasts; 2. Bouveries et Bergeries, the places set apart for the animals waiting to be slaughtered, where the animals, instead of being killed at once, after a long and distressing journey, when their blood is heated and their flesh inflamed, are allowed to cool and rest till the body is restored to its normal healthy condition; 3. Fondeurs, or boiling-down establishments; and, 4. Triperies, which are buildings set apart for the cleaning of the tripe of bullocks, and the fat, heads, and tripe of sheep and calves. Besides these, a Paris abattoir contains Logements des agens, Magasins, Réservoirs, Voiries, Lieux d'aisance, Voûtes, Remises et écuries, Parcs aux Boeufs, &c., and is provided with an abundant supply of water. All the abattoirs are under the control of the municipal authorities, and frequent inspections are made by persons regularly appointed for that purpose.

The abattoirs are situated within the barriers, each at a distance of about a mile and three-quarters from the heart of the city, in districts where human habitations are still comparatively few. There are two principal markets from which the abattoirs at Paris are supplied, the one at Poissy, about 13 miles to the north-west, and the other at Sceaux, about 5 miles and a quarter to the south of the city. There are also two markets for cows and calves, namely, La Chapelle and Les Bernadins.

The Paris abattoirs were until recently the most perfect specimens of their class; and even now, although in some of their details they have been surpassed by the new Islington meat market, for their complete and compact arrangement they remain unrivalled.

The example set by Paris in this matter has been followed in a more or less modified form by most of the principal Continental towns, and the system of abattoirs has become almost universal in France.

The condition of London in this important sanitary respect was for a long period little more endurable than that of Paris before the adoption of its reformed system. Smithfield market, situated in a very populous neighbourhood, continued till 1852 to be an abomination to the town and a standing reproach to its authorities. No fewer than 243,537 cattle and 1,455,249 sheep were sold there in 1852, to be afterwards slaughtered in the crowded courts and thoroughfares of the metropolis. But public opinion at length forced the Legislature to interfere, and the corporation was compelled to abandon Smithfield market and to provide a substitute for it elsewhere.

The site selected was in the suburb of Islington, and the designs for the work were prepared by Mr Bunning. The first stone was laid March 24, 1854, and the market was opened by Prince Albert, June 15, 1855. The Islington market is undoubtedly the most perfect of its kind. It occupies a space of some 20 acres on the high land near the Pentonville prison, and is open to both native and foreign cattle, excepting beasts from foreign countries under quarantine.

In connection with the Islington cattle market are a few slaughter-houses, half of which were originally public, and half rented to private individuals; but at present they are all practically private, and the majority of the cattle sold are driven away and killed at private slaughter-houses. In this respect the London system differs from that of Paris; and it may be said for the former that the meat is less liable to be spoiled by being carted to a distance, and is therefore probably delivered in better condition; but the latter secures that great desideratum, the practical extinction of isolated slaughter-houses.

The Edinburgh abattoir, erected in 1851 by the corpora- | than by the tedious and troublesome method of handtion, from designs prepared by Mr David Cousin, the city cleaning. architect, is the best as regards both construction and management in the United Kingdom. It occupies an area of four acres and a quarter, surrounded by a screen-wall, from which, along the greater part of its length, the buildings are separated by a considerable open space. Opposite

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the principal gateway is a double row of buildings, extending in a straight line to about 376 feet in length, with a central roadway (marked AA in the annexed plan), 25 feet wide. There are three separate blocks of building on each side of the roadway, the central one being 140 feet in length, and the others 100 feet each-cross-roads 18 feet wide separating the blocks. These ranges of building, as well as two smaller blocks that are placed transversely behind the eastern central block, are divided into compartments, numbering 42 in all, and all arranged on the same plan. Next the roadway is the slaughtering-booth (BB), 18 feet by 24, and 20 feet in height, and behind this is a shed (CC) 18 feet by 22, where the cattle are kept before being slaughtered All the cattle are driven into these sheds by a back-entrance, through the small enclosed yards (DD). The large doors of the booths are hung by balance weights, and slide up and down, so as to present no obstruction either within the booth or outside. By a series of large ventilators along the roof, and by other contrivances, the slaughtering-booths are thoroughly ventilated. Great precautions have been used to keep rats out of the buildings. To effect this, the booths are laid with thick well-dressed pavement, resting on a stratum of concrete 12 inches thick, and the walls, to the height of 7 feet, are formed of solid ashlar; the roadways, too, are laid with concrete, and causewayed with dressed whinstone pavement; and the drainage consists entirely of glazed earthenware tubes.

The ground on which the abattoir is built was previously connected with a distillery, and contains a well 100 feet deep (E), which, with the extensive system of tunnels attached to it, provides the establishment with an abundant supply of pure water. By means of a steam-engine (F), introduced in 1872, the water is pumped up into a raised tank (G), whence it is distributed to the different booths and sheds, as well as for scouring the roadways and drains. The steam from the engine is utilised in heating water for the numerous cast-iron tanks required in the operations of cleansing and dressing the tripery (H) and pig slaughtering-house (I). By an ingenious arrangement of rotary brushes driven by the steam-engine, the invention of Mr Rutherford, the superintendent, the tripe is dressed in a superior manner, and at greatly less cost

By the Edinburgh Slaughter-Houses Act of 1850, the management is vested in the city authorities. Booths are let at a statutory rent of £8 each per annum, and, in addition to this, gate-dues are payable for every beast entering the establishment. The present rates for tenants of booths are 1d. for an ox or cow, d. for a calf or pig, and d. for a sheep. Common booths are provided for butchers who are not tenants, on payment of double gate-dues. The city claims the blood, gut, and manure. The tripe and feet are dressed for the trade without extra charge.

The blood was formerly collected in large casks, and disposed of for manufacturing purposes. This necessitated the storage of it for several days, causing in warm weather a very offensive effluvium. It even happened at times, when there was little demand for the commodity, that the blood had to be sent down the drains. All nuisance is now avoided, and the amount received annually for the blood has risen from between £200 and £450 to from £800 to £1200, by a contract into which Messrs Smith and Forrest of Manchester have entered with the city authorities, to take over the whole blood at a fixed price per beast. They have erected extensive premises and apparatus at their own cost, for extracting from the blood the albumen, for which there is great demand in calico-printing, and for converting the clot into

manure.

In connection with the establishment is a boiling-house, where all meat unfit for human food is boiled down and destroyed. The number of carcases seized by the inspector, and sent to the boiling-house, during the 5 years ending with the close of 1872, amounted to 1449, giving a weight of upwards of 400,000 pounds.

Before the erection of these buildings, private slaughterhouses were scattered all over the city, often in the most populous districts, where, through want of drainage and imperfect ventilation, they contaminated the whole neighbourhood. Since the opening of the public abattoir, all private slaughtering, in the city or within a mile of it, is strictly prohibited.

Few of the provincial towns in Great Britain have as yet followed the example of London and Edinburgh. In some instances improvements on the old system have been adopted, but Great Britain is still not only far behind her foreign neighbours in respect of abattoirs, but has even been excelled by some of her own dependencies. In America abattoirs are numerous, and at Calcutta and other towns in British India, the meat markets present a very creditable appearance from their cleanliness and systematic arrangement. (C. N. B.)

ABAUZIT, FIRMIN, a learned Frenchman, was born. of Protestant parents at Uzès, in Languedoc, in 1679. His father, who was of Arabian descent, died when he was but two years of age; and when, on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the authorities took steps to have him educated in the Roman Catholic faith, his mother contrived his escape. For two years his brother and he lived as fugitives in the mountains of the Cevennes, but they at last reached Geneva, where their mother afterwards joined them on escaping from the imprisonment in which she was held from the time of their flight. Abauzit's youth was spent in diligent study, and at an early age he acquired great proficiency in languages, physics, and theology. In 1698 he travelled into Holland, and there became acquainted with Bayle, Jurieu, and Basnage. Proceeding to England, he was introduced to Sir Isaac Newton, who found in him one of the earliest defenders of the great truths his discoveries disclosed to the world.

Sir Isaac corrected in the second edition of his Principia an error pointed out by Abauzit. The high estimate Newton entertained of his merits appears from the compliment he paid to Abauzit, when, sending him the Commercium Epistolicum, he said, "You are well worthy to judge between Leibnitz and me." The reputation of Abauzit induced William III. to request him to settle in England, but he did not accept the king's offer, preferring to return to Geneva. There from 1715 he rendered valuable assistance to a society that had been formed for translating the New Testament into French. He declined the offer of the chair of philosophy in the University in 1723, but accepted, in 1727, the sinecure office of librarian to the city of his adoption. Here he died at a good old age, in 1767. Abauzit was a man of great learning and of wonderful versatility. The varied knowledge he possessed was so well digested and arranged in his retentive mind as to be always within his reach for immediate use. Whatever chanced to be discussed, it used to be said of Abauzit, as of Professor Whewell of our own times, that he seemed to have made it a subject of particular study. Rousseau, who was jealously sparing of his praises, addressed to him, in his Nouvelle Héloïse, a fine panegyric; and when a stranger flatteringly told Voltaire he had come to see a great man, the philosopher asked him if he had seen Abauzit. Little remains of the labours of this intellectual giant, his heirs having, it is said, destroyed the papers that came into their possession, because their religious opinions differed from those of Abauzit. A few theological, archæological, and astronomical articles from his pen appeared in the Journal Helvétique and elsewhere, and he contributed several papers to Rousseau's Dictionary of Music. A work he wrote throwing doubt on the canonical authority of the Apocalypse was answered-conclusively, as Abauzit himself allowed-by Dr Leonard Twells. He edited, and made valuable additions to Spon's History of Geneva. A collection of his writings was published at Geneva in 1770, and another at London in 1773. Some of them were translated into English by Dr Harwood (1770, 1774). Information regarding Abauzit will be found in Senebier's Histoire Littéraire de Genève, Harwood's Miscellanies, and Orme's Bibliotheca Biblica, 1834.

ABB, a town of Yemen in Arabia, situated on a mountain in the midst of a very fertile country, 73 miles N.E. of Mocha. Lat. 13° 58′ N., long. 44° 15′ E. It contains about 800 houses, and is surrounded by a strong wall; the streets are well paved; and an aqueduct from a neighbouring mountain supplies it with water, which is received in a reservoir in front of the principal mosque. population is about 5000.

The

ABBADIE, JAMES, an eminent Protestant divine, was born at Nay in Bern about 1657. His parents were poor, but through the kindness of discerning friends, he received an excellent education. He prosecuted his He prosecuted his studies with such success, that on completing his course at Sedan, though only seventeen years of age, he had conferred on him the degree of doctor in theology. After spending some years in Berlin as minister of a French Protestant church, he accompanied Marshal Schomberg, in 1688, to England, and became minister of the French church in the Savoy, London. His strong attachment to the cause of King William appears in his elaborate defence of the Revolution, as well as in his history of the conspiracy of 1696, the materials of which were furnished, it is said, by the secretarics of state. king promoted him to the deanery of Killaloe in Ireland. He died in London in 1727. Abbadie was a man of great ability and an eloquent preacher, but is best known by his religious treatises, several of which were translated from the original French into other languages, and had a

The

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wide circulation all over Europe. The most important of these are Traité de la Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne; its continuation, Traité de la Divinité de Jésus-Christ; and L'Art de se connaître Soi-même.

ABBAS I., surnamed THE GREAT, one of the most celebrated of the sovereigns of Persia, was the youngest son of Shah Mohammed Khodabendeh. After heading a successful rebellion against his father, and causing one of his brothers (or, as some say, both) to be assassinated, he obtained possession of the throne at the early age of eighteen (1585). Determined to rais: the fallen fortunes of his country, he first directed his efforts against the predatory Uzbeks, who occupied and harassed Khorasan. After a long and severe struggle, he defeated them in a great battle near Herat (1597), and drove them cut of his dominions. In the wars he carried on with the Turks during nearly the whole of his reign, his successes were numerous, and he acquired or regained a large extent of territory. By the victory he gained at Bassorah (1605), he extended his empire beyond the Euphrates; Achmed I. was forced to cede Shirwan and Kurdistan in 1611; the united armies of the Turks and Tartars were completely defeated near Sultanieh in 1618, and Abbas made peace on very favourable terms; and on the Turks renewing the war, Baghdad fell into his hands after a year's siege (1623). In the same year he took the island of Ormuz from the Portuguese, by the assistance of the British. When he died in 1628, his dominions reached from the Tigris to the Indus. Abbas distinguished himself, not only by his successes in arms, and by the magnificence of his court, but also by his reforms in the administration of his kingdom. He encouraged commerce, and, by constructing highways and building bridges, did much to facilitate it. To foreigners, especially Christians, he showed a spirit of tolerance; two Englishmen, Sir Anthony and Sir Robert Shirley, were admitted to his confidence, and seem to have had much influence over him. His fame is tarnished, however, by numerous deeds of tyranny and cruelty. His own family, especially, suffered from his fits of jealousy; his eldest son was slain, and the eyes of his other children were put out, by his orders.

ABBAS MIRZA (b. 1785, d. 1833), Prince of Persia, third son of the Shah Feth Ali, was destined by his father to succeed him in the government, because of his mother's connection with the royal tribe of the Khadjars. He led various expeditions against the Russians, but generally without success (1803, 1813, 1826). By a treaty made between Russia and Persia in 1828, the right of Abbas to the succession was recognised. When the Russian deputies were murdered by the Persian populace in 1829, Abbas was sent to St Petersburg, where he received a hearty welcome from the Czar, and made himself a favourite by his courtesy and literary taste. He formed a design against Herat, but died shortly after the siege had been opened by his son, who succeeded Feth Ali as the Shah Mohammed Mirza. He was truthful-a rare quality in an Eastern-plain in dress and style of living, and fond of literature.

ABBASSIDES, the caliphs of Baghdad, the most famous dynasty of the sovereigns of the Mahometan or Saracen empire. They derived their name and descent from Abbas (b. 566, d. 652 a.D.), the uncle and adviser of Mahomet, and succeeded the dynasty of the Ommiads, the caliphs of Damascus. Early in the 8th century the family of Abbas had acquired great influence from their near relationship to the Prophet; and Ibrahim, the fourth in descent from Abbas, supported by the province of Khorasan, obtained several successes over the Ommiad armies, but was captured and put to death by the Caliph Merwan (747). Ibrahim's brother, Abul-Abbas, whom he

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