at Geneva in Oct. 1770, and translated into English in the same year by Dr. Harwood. These writings afford an idea of the merit of Abauzit as a divine. To judge of the depth of his physical and mathematical knowledge, it must be remembered that he defended Newton against father Castel; that he discovered an error in the "Principia," at a time when there were few people in Europe capable of reading that work; and that Newton corrected the error in the second edition. Abauzit was one of the first who adopted the grand conceptions of Newton, because he was a geometrician suffi ciently learned to see their truth. He was perfectly acquainted with many languages; he understood antient and modern history so exactly, as to be master of all the principal names and dates; he was so accurate a geographer, that the celebrated Pococke concluded, from his minute description of Egypt, that he must, like himself, have travelled in that country; he had a very extensive knowledge of physics; and lastly, he was intimately conversant with medals and antient manuscripts. All these different sciences were so well digested and arranged in his mind, that he could in an instant bring together all that he knew upon any subject. Of this the following example has been given. Rousseau, in drawing up his Dictionary of Music, had taken great pains to give an accurate account of the music of the antients. Conversing with Abauzit upon the subject, the librarian gave him a clear and exact account of all that he had with so much labour collected. Rousseau concluded that Abauzit had lately been studying the subject: but this learned man, of whom it might almost literally be said that he knew every thing, and never forgot any thing, unaffectedly confessed, that it was then thirty years since he had inquired into the music of the antients. It was probably owing to the strong impression which this incident made upon the mind of Rousseau, that the only panegyric which his wretched temper ever permitted him to write upon a living person, was what is given above upon Abauzit. It yet remains to be noticed that an edition of his works was printed at Amsterdam in 2 vols. after that of Geneva, and, according to the editors of the Dict. Historique, considerably different from it'. 1 Hist. Lit. de Geneve par Senebier, vol. III. p. 63.-General Biog. by Aikin-Dict. Historique, 1810. ABBADIE (JAMES), a learned Protestant divine, was born at Nay in Berne, in 1658, according to Niceron, or in 1654, as in the Gen. Dictionary. He studied at Puy Laurent, at Saumur, at Paris, and at Sedan; at which last place hé received the degree of doctor in divinity. He intended to have dedicated himself very early to the ministry; but the circumstances of the Protestants of France rendering it impracticable there, he accepted the offer of the count d'Espense, an officer in the service of the elector of Brandenburgh, by whom he was settled at Berlin, as a French minister. Here he resided many years, and his congregation, at first very thin, was greatly increased by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. In 1688, the elector, Frederic William, died, and our author accepted of an invitation from marshal Schomberg, to go with him first into Holland, and then into England, with the prince of Orange. In 1689 he went to Ireland, and was there in the following year, when his patron was killed at the battle of the Boyne. On his return to England, he became minister of the French church at the Savoy, but the air disagreeing with him, he went again to Ireland, and would have been promoted to the deanery of St. Patrick's had he been acquainted with the English language. He obtained, however, that of Killaloo, the value of which was far inferior, and never had any other promotion. He occasionally visited England and Holland, for the purpose of printing his works, which were all in French. In one of these visits to London, he died at Marybone, Sept. 25, 1727. He was strongly attached to the cause of king William, as appears by his elaborate defence of the Revolution, and his history of the Assassination-plot. He had great natural abilities, which he cultivated with true and useful learning. He was a most zealous defender of the primitive doctrine of the Protestants, as appears by his writings; and that strong nervous eloquence, for which he was so remarkable, enabled him to enforce the doctrines of his profession from the pulpit with great spirit and energy. His works are: 1. "Sermons sur divers textes de l'Ecriture," Leyden, 1680. 2. "Panegyrique de M. l'Electeur de Brandenbourg," Rotterdam, 1684, 4to. Gregorio Leti translated this into Italian, and inserted it in his History of Brandenburgh. 3. "Traité de la Verité de la Religion Chrêtienne." This treatise on the truth of the Christian Religion has passed through many editions, and has been translated into English, 2 vols. 8vo, and Dutch, and has long been esteemed an able 'confutation of infidel principles. The abbé Houteville, a steady Catholic, gives it the following character: "The most shining of these treatises in defence of the Christian religion, which were published by the Protestants, is that written by Mr. Abbadie. The favourable reception it obtained, the almost unexampled praise it received on the publication, the universal approbation it still preserves, render it unnecessary for me to join my commendations, which would add so little to the merit of so great an author. He has united in this book all our controversies with the infidels. In the first part, he combats the Atheists; the Deists in the second; and the Socinians in the third. Philosophy and theology enter happily into his manner of composing, which is in the true method, lively, pure, and elegant, especially in the first books." 4. "Reflexions sur la Presence réelle du Corps de Jesus Christ dans l'Eucharistie," Hague, 1685, 12mo, and Rotterdam, 1713, but both editions so erroneous as to induce the author to disown them. 5. "Traité de la Divinitie de notre Seigneur Jesus Christ," Rotterdam, 1689, 8vo. A translation of this was published about the year 1777, by the Rev. Abraham Booth, a dissenting clergyman in London. 6. "L'art de se Connoitre Soimeme; ou, la recherche des Sources de la Morale," Rotterdam, 1692, 12mo. An edition of this excellent treatise was published at Lyons in 1693, in which all the passages in favour of the Protestant religion are left out. fence de la Nation Britannique," &c. London, 1692, 8vo. This defence of the Revolution in England was in answer to Mr. Bayle's "Avis important." 8. "Panegyrique de Marie reine d'Angleterre," Hague, 1695, 4to. 9. "Histoire de la Conspiration derniere d'Angleterre," &c. Lond. 1698, 8vo, reprinted in Holland, and translated into English, but at present a very scarce book. It regards what was called the Assassination-plot, and was written by order of king William III.; the original papers and documents were furnished by the earl of Portland, and sir William Trumball, secretary of state. 10. "La Verité de la Religion Reformée," Rotterdam, 1718, 2 vols. 8vo. Dr. Henry Lambert, bishop of Dromore, translated this work for the instruction of the Roman Catholics in his diocese. 11. "Le triomphe de la Providence et de la Religion, en l'ouverture des Sept Sceaux par le Fils de Dieu," &c. Amsterdam, 1723, 4 vols. 12mo. In this commentary on the Revelations, for such it is, the author has been supposed more inclining to conjecture and fancy than in his other works. Besides these he revised, in 1719, the French translation of the Common Prayer, and published some single sermons and small tracts'. 7. "De ABBAS (HALLI), or Ali Ebnol Abbas, as Abulpharagius calls him in his Hist. Dyn. or, as he is usually called, Magus, as being one of the Magi, the followers of Zaradusht or Zoroaster; and not for his learning, as the learned Dr. Freind supposes. He was a Persian physician, and studied under Abu Maher, another Persian doctor, who probably was of the Magian religion also; he wrote his book, or Royal Work, at the request of Bowaia the son of Adado'ddaula the calif, to whom he dedicates it in the oriental manner, in lofty hyperbolical language, about A. D. 980. It was translated into Latin by Stephen of Antioch in 1127, in which language we have two editions, Venice 1492, and Leyden 1523, fol. There is an Arabic MS copy in 4 vols. folio in the Leyden library, which was brought by James Golius from the East. ABBATI (NICOLO), an eminent historical painter, was born at Modena in 1512, and was the scholar of Antonio Beggarelli, a Modenese sculptor, whose models Correggio is said to have often made use of for his works. Little is known of his progress at Modena, except that, in partnership with his fellow-scholar Alberto Fontana, he painted the pannels of the Butchers hall in that place; and at the age of thirty-five, for the church of the Benedictines, the celebrated picture of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, now in the Dresden gallery: with some fresco paintings, drawn from Ariosto and Virgil, in the palace Scandiano. Of his works at Bologna, tradition has left a very distinguished account, though little or nothing exists of them now but the large symbolic picture in the Via di St. Mamolo; a nativity of Christ, under the portico of the Leoni palace; and four conversation pieces and concertos, of exquisite taste, in the Academical Institute, which have been engraved. Notwithstanding the innate vigour, the genial facility, and independent style of this artist, he owes his fame, in a great measure, to his coalition with Francisco Primaticcio, and to his happy execution of the 1 Biog. Britan. Niceron. Freind's Hist. of Physic, Mangeti Bibl. in art. Haly. Fabric. Bibl. Grec, designs of that great master, particularly the frescoes he painted in the galleries and apartments at Fountainbleau. These, however, being destroyed in 1738, to make room for a new fabric, nothing remains but a few pictures of the history of Alexander. Some of the others were engraved. The period of his death is not known'. ABBATIUS (BALDUS ANGELUS), a physician, a native of Eugubio, a man who is said to have surmounted the prejudices of his age, and wrote: 1. "De admirabili Viperæ natura, et de mirificis ejusdem facultatibus," of which there are four editions, 1589-1660. 2. "Discussæ concertationes de Rebus, Verbis, et Sententiis controversis," Pisaur. 1594, 4to. There is no account of his death. ABBO (CERNUUS), a monk of St. Germain-des-Pres, was the author of a poetical relation of the siege of Paris by the Normans and Danes towards the end of the 9th century. He was himself of Normandy, and an eye-witness; and if not eminent as a poet, is at least a faithful and minute historian. His poem consists of twelve hundred verses, in two books, and has been admitted into Pithou's and Duchesne's collections; but a more correct edition, with notes, and a French translation, may be seen in the "Nouvelles Annales de Paris," published by D. Toussaint Duplessis, a Benedictine of the congregation of St. Maur, 1753, 4to. There are also "Five select Sermons" under his name in vol. IX. of D'Acheri's Spicilegium ; and in vol. V. Bibl. P. P. Colon. 1618, is "Abbonis Epistola ad Desiderium episc." There was originally a third book to his History of the siege, addressed "to the Clergy," which his editors omitted as having no connexion with the history3. ABBO (FLORIACENSIS), or Abbot of Fleuri, a Benedictine monk of the tenth century, was born in the territory of Orleans, and educated in the abbey of Fleuri, and afterwards at Paris and Rheims, where he distinguished himself in all the learning of the times, and particularly in mathematics, theology, and history. Oswald, bishop of Worcester, in 985, applied to the abbey of Fleuri to obtain a proper person to preside over the abbey of Ramsay, which he had founded, or rather re-established. Abbo was sent over to England for this purpose, and much caressed by king Ethelred and the nobility. Returning to Fleuri upon • Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters by Fuseli, in art. Abbati, and p. 684. Dict. Hist. 1810.-Manget. Biblioth. 3 Vossius de Hist. Lat.-Cave, vol. II.-Fabric, Bibl. Lat. Med. Etat.-Dict. Mist. Saxji Onomast. |