incidents. In his theological tracts he is more jejune, and in his letters he has not the elegance, nor the harmony, nor the soul of Heloise. Therefore, did we not know how much his abilities were extolled by his contemporaries, what encomiums they gave to his pen, and how much the proudest disputants of the age feared the fire of his tongue, we certainly should be inclined to say, perusing his works, that Abelard was not an uncommon man. "Nor was he uncommon in his moral character. He had not to thank nature for any great degree of sensibility, that source of pain and of pleasure, of virtue and of vice. Thrown, from early youth, into habits which could not meliorate his dispositious, he became selfish, opiniative, and vain-glorious. What did not serve to gratify his own humour, called for little of his regard. He wished to appear above the common feelings of humanity, for his philosophy was not of a nature to make him the friend of man. Of religion he knew little more than the splendid theory; and its amiable precepts were too obvious and familiar to engage the attention, and modify the heart, of an abstruse and speculative reasoner. When he loved Heloise, it was not her person, nor her charms, nor her abilities, nor her virtues, which he loved: he sought only his own gratifica. tion; and in its pursuit no repulsion of innocence could thwart him, no voice of duty, of friendship, of unguarded confidence, could impede his headlong progress. He suffered: and from that moment rather he became a man. We may blame him, perhaps, that he should so easily forget Heloise: but I have said that he never really loved her. More than other men, he was not free to command his affections: and from motives of religion, perhaps even of compassion, he wished in her breast to check that ardent flame, which burned to no other purpose than to render her heart miserable, and her life forlorn. "To erase these unfavourable impressions which the mind has conceived of Abelard, we must view him in distress, smarting from oppression and unprovoked malevolence. There was in his character something which irritated opposition, whether it was a love of singularity, an asperity of manners, or a consciousness of superior talents, which he did not disguise. However this might be, the behaviour of his enemies was always harsh, and sometimes cruel; and him we pity. He now became a religious, a benevolent, and a virtuous man; and thousands reaped benefit from his instructions, as they were tutored by his example. The close of his unhappy life was to the eye of the Christian spectator its most brilliant period. In his death he was the great and good man, the philosopher and the Christian." In what manner Heloise received the tidings of Abelard's death is uncertain. She requested, however, that his body might be sent for interment to the Paraclete, and this was said to have been in consequence of a wish formerly expressed to her by Abelard. Her request was complied with, and the remains of her lover deposited in the church with much solemnity. For one-and-twenty years after we hear no more of her, only that she was held in the highest estimation; that she was a pattern of every monastic and Christian virtue; and that, ever retaining the tenderest affection of a wife, she prayed unceasingly at her husband's tomb. In 1163, she fell sick. History does not inform us what her disorder was, nor does it relate the circumstances of her death. She expired, however, on Sunday, May 17th, in the sixty-third year of her age, and her body was deposited, by her own orders, in the tomb by the side of Abelard. Their bones have lain in the abbey of the Paraclete, in the diocese of Troyes, in France, ever since 1142 and 1163. They have been at several times, and in different centuries, moved to other parts of the church. The last transposition was made by order of the present abbess madame de Roucy, in the year 1779, with the following ceremonies. The relics of this fond pair were taken up out of the vault, and laid by a priest in a leaden coffin separated into two divisions, in order that they might not be mixed, which was exposed to view for a quarter of an hour, and then soldered up. After which the coffin was borne, attended by the ladies of the convent singing anthems, first into the choir, and then to the place of its destination under the altar; where, after prayers had been said over it, it was solemnly interred. The abbess has caused a monument of black marble to be erected on the spot, with the following inscription: Nunc æterna, quod speramus, felicitate Petrus obiit xx prima Apr. anno 1141. Of Abelard's works, we have "Abælardi et Heloisa, conjugis ejus, Opera; ex éditione Andreæ Quercetam*," 4to, Paris, 1616. This collection was published from the MS. of Francis d'Amboise. It contains Letters, which have been elegantly translated by Mr. Berrington in the work already referred to; "Sermons, and Doctrinal tracts." There is a scarce edition of the Letters, "ex recensione Ric. Rawlinson," 8vo. London, 1716, which is said to be the best, as it was corrected from the most authentic manuscripts.1 ABELIN (JOHN PHILIP), a historian, born at Strasburgh, and who died about 1646, is perhaps better known by the name of John Louis Gottfried, or Gothofredus, which he used in most of his numerous works. Under his proper name, he published only the first volume of the "Theatre of Europe," which contains the history of Europe from 1617 to 1628; and the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th volumes of the "Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus," begun by Gothard Arthus, and containing the annals of Europe, but particularly of France, from 1628 to 1636, Francfort, 1628-1636, 8vo. The Mercurius is in Latin, but the Theatre in German. The second volume of the latter bears the name of Avelin; but Christian Gryphius, in his account of the historians of the seventeenth century, attributes it to John George Schleder, who also compiled some of the subsequent volumes. The best edition of the "Theatre of Europe" is that published at Francfort, from 1662 to 1738, in 21 vols. fol. illustrated by the engravings of Matthew Maittaire. The volumes composed by Abelin, Schleder, and Schneider, are most esteemed; the others, composed by their continuators, have neither the same reputation or merit.. In 1619, Abelin published an explanation of the metamorphoses of Ovid, under the title "P. Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseon plerarumque historica, naturalis, moralis Εκφρασις," Francfort, 8vo, with the engravings of J. Theodore de Bry. He signs the dedication to this work, "Ludovicus Gottofridus." In 1628, he was concerned in a German and Latin translation of D'Ativy's "Etats, Empires, Royaumes, et Principautez du Monde," under the title of "Archontologia cosmica," of which there have been three editions, the two last with plates by Merian; but, since the modern improvements in geography, this work is less esteemed. He also compiled or translated the 12th and last volume of the History of the East Indies, published at Francfort 1628, fol. under the title of "Historiarum Orientalis Indiæ tomus XII." This history bears a high price, when complete. The copy in the French imperial library cost 4000 francs. In 1632, Abelin published, in German, his "Description of Sweden," folio; and the year following, also in German, a "Hiştorical Chronicle," from the beginning of the world to the year 1619, folio, with a great number of plates by Merian, of which the letter-press is merely the description. His last work was a "History of the Antipodes, or the New World;" this, which is in German, is a description of the West Indies, and was published at Francfort, 1655, folio. It is thought that he published a German translation of the Plagium, a comedy by Daniel Cramer, under the fictitious name of John Philip Abel, in 1627; but why he assumed these disguises, we are not told.' * Or Du Chesne. 1 Biographical Dictionary, vol. I.-Bayle.-Moreri. Bruckher Hist, Philos. Saxii Onomast. But principally Berrington. ABELL (JOHN), an English musician, was celebrated for a fine counter-tenor voice, and for his skill on the lute. Charles II. of whose chapel he was, and who admired his singing, had formed a resolution of sending him to the carnival at Venice, in order to shew the Italians what England could produce in this way; but the scheme was dropped. Abell continued in the chapel till the Revolution, when he was discharged as being a Papist. Upon this he went abroad, and distinguished himself by singing in public in Holland, at Hamburgh, and other places; where, acquiring considerable wealth, he set up a splendid equipage, and affected the man of quality, though at intervals he was so reduced, as to be obliged to travel through whole provinces with his lute slung at his back. In rambling he got as far as Poland, and at Warsaw met with a very extraordinary adventure. He was sent for to court; but, evading to go by some slight excuse, was commanded to attend. At the palace he was seated in a chair, in the middle of a spacious hall, and suddenly drawn up to a great height, and the king, with his attendants, appeared in a gallery opposite to him. At the same instant a number of wild bears were turned in, when the king bid him choose, whether he would sing, or be let down among the bears? Abell chose to sing, and declared afterwards, that he never sung so well in his life. 1 Biographie Universelle, 1811. After having rambled for many years, he probably returned to England; for, in 1701, he published at London a collection of songs in several languages, with a dedication to king William. Towards the end of queen Anne's reign he was at Cambridge with his lute, but met with little encouragement. How long he lived afterwards is not known. This artist is said to have possessed some secrets, by which he preserved the natural tone of his voice to an extreme old age.1 ABELLI (LOUIS) was born in the Vexin Francois, in 1603. He was promoted to be grand vicar of Bayonne, then curate of Paris, and lastly bishop of Rhodes, in 1664, which he resigned about three years afterwards, in order to live a retired life in the house of St. Lazare, at Paris. He died Oct. 4, 1691, aged 88 years. His principal works are: 1. "Medulla Theologica," 2 vols. 12mo, which gained him the title of Moelleux Abelli (the marrowy) from Boileau. 2. A treatise "De la Hierarchie, et de l'autorité du Pape," 4to. 3. "La Tradition de l'Eglise, touchant la devotion à Sainte Vierge," 8vo, 1662, a work which the Protestants have often quoted against Bossuet. 4. "La Vie de M. Renard," 12mo. 5. "La Vie de St. Vincent de Paul," 4to, in which he openly declares himself against the Jansenists. 6. "Enchiridion sollicitudinis pastoralis," 4to. 7. "Meditation pour chaque jour de l'année," 2 vols. 12mo. His Latin style is harsh, and his French writings are accounted by his countrymen flat and insipid. They allow him, however, to have excelled in every sacerdotal virtue, and to have been exemplary in his pastoral offices. ABENDANA (JACOB), a Spanish Jew, who died in 1685, was prefect of a synagogue in London, and the author of a Spicilegium of explanations of various passages in the Hebrew bible, published at Amsterdam, folio, about the time of his death. He published also some other works in considerable esteem with Hebrew scholars. 3 Hawkins's Hist. of Music. • Dict. Historique. -Gen. Dict. 3 Dict. Hist. |