languages. As a sound, its power in the English language is at least fourfold, as in the words father, call, tame, and hat. The first of these sounds is that which generally prevails in other languages. The modified pronunciation of the vowel in tame is partly due to the vowel e at the end of the word; in call and similar forms, the peculiarity arises from the letter l; so that the only true sounds of the vowel are perhaps the long sound in father, and the short one in hat. The printed forms of this letter, viz., the capital A, the small character a, and the italic a, are all derived from a common form, differing but slightly from the first of the three. In the old Greek and Latin alphabets, from which our own has descended, the following were the ordinary figures of this letter:

among which, the fourth and fifth only differ from the rest in the rounding of the angle; the form consisting of straight lines being well adapted for writing on stone, metal, &c.; the rounded letter, on the other hand, being better suited for expeditious writing, with softer or more flexible materials. From this last our two small characters are easily deduced. For the explanation of the fact that this letter is allowed the first place in the series of letters, see ALPHABET.

A or AN, the indefinite article. Of the two, an is used before a vowel. Where the following word begins with a consonant, it being more troublesome to express the final n, this letter, from not being pronounced ceased to be written. Thus we say an emperor, but instead of an king, we find it more convenient to say a king. Some times a virtual consonant exists at the beginning of a word without being written, as in union and once, where the ear catches the initial sounds of y and w, younion and wunce. Before such words it is customary to drop the final letter of the article, at least in pronunciation, and there can be no good reason for not writing a union, a once beloved monarch. On the other hand, whenever his mute, we should retain the n both in writing and speaking, thus, a history, but an historical work. That an and not a is the primitive form of the article, is proved by the Anglo-Saxon an, and the German ein; indeed, our own numeral one is only another and fuller form of the same word. In such phrases as three shillings a pound, the article evidently has this meaning. The double shape of our article has led to a corrupt mode of writing certain words, thus from an eft was deduced a neft, a newt; and the reverse seems to have taken place in the change of a nadder to an adder.

A, as a prefix in English words. 1. In such words as afoot, aside, aboard, we have simply, as Horne Tooke observes, corrupted abbreviations of on fote, on syde, on borde, &c. This on is an Anglo-Saxon preposition with the meaning of in. Thus, in the old translation of the New Testament we have he fell on sleep, for asleep. The same is the origin of the a, which so often precedes our verbal nouns in ing, as he is gone a-walking, the house was so many years a-building; and indeed it was only by the suppression of this a that our imperfect participles in ing came into use. A similar formation appears in the French en sortant, &c., and the Celtic languages generally form their imperfect participle, by prefixing a preposition of similar power to the infinitive, that is, to an abstract noun expressing the idea of the verb. 2. But an a also appears at times in the formation of the perfect participle. Thus ago, formerly agone, ashamed, afeard, now dishonoured as a vulgarism, are

ARTS AND SCL DIV. VOL. I.

which meant in our old writers, to cause, not to feel fear. It was only as a reflective verb I fear me, that we have the idea of the Latin vereor, and our modern I fear. This non-accented a is but a variety of the y, so familiar in the old participles yclept, yscen, &c., and consequently it represents the ge of the German ge-gangen, &c., which is commonly allowed to be an old preposition signifying thoroughly. 3. In some verbs of Saxon origin, the prefixed a represents the inseparable preposition on of the Anglo-Saxon, a little word no way connected with the preposition on already noticed, for it corresponds to the German ent and Greek ava. Thus to awake, that is, to wake up, is the AngloSaxon on-wacan; and a-cknowledge is closely related to the AngloSaxon on-cnáwan, and the Latin a-gnosc-ere, whose prefix is of similar origin, and no way related to the ordinary Latin preposition ad. 4. On the other hand, in some of our Norman words, such as amount, avail, and their compounds, so familiar in legal language, par-amount, par-aral (See Mr. Ludlow's paper, Philolog. Soc. Trans.' for 1854, p. 114), we have, as in the ordinary French preposition à, the representative of the Latin ad, ad montem, up; ad vallem, down. 5. Lastly, our obsolete or Lowland-Scotch compound prepositions a-fore, a-yont, a-hint, must be placed beside the current forms, be-fore, be-yond, be-hind, ab-aft, ab-out, ab-ove; forms which point to a disyllabic preposition abe. In the same way, the Homeric ev, appears in kindred languages sometimes as in or en, sometimes as ni or ne, and as i alone, as in 'the, &c.

AB, the fifth month of the ancient Hebrew year, but now the eleventh (or, in intercalary years, the twelfth), in consequence of the transfer of the new year from spring to autumn.

On the 1st day of Ab a fast is held in commemoration of the death of Aaron. On the 9th a fast is observed in remembrance of the destruction of the Holy Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 B.C., and of the destruction of the second Temple by Titus, A.D. 70. This fast is considered the most mournful of the whole year. On the 18th another fast is observed. All these fasts are postponed one day if they fall on the Saturday.

A little festival called Tub-ab, or the fifteenth Ab, is celebrated on the 15th day, to commemorate an ancient custom, according to which the young girls of each tribe came forth into the fields clothed in white, and exhibited themselves in dances before the young men, with the view of being selected by them in marriage.

The month of Ab may begin in some years as early as the 10th of July, in others as late as the 7th of August.

Ab is the name of the twelfth month of the Syrian year, coinciding with our August.

ABACISCUS, in architecture, is a diminution of the architectural term ABACUS, and is principally applied, when used at all, which is not often, to the tiles or squares of a tessellated pavement.

A'BACUS, a game among the Romans; so called from its being played on a board, somewhat in the manner of chess.

A'BACUS, in architecture, is the level tablet, whether square or oblong, which is almost always placed on the moulded or otherwise enriched capital of a column, to support the horizontal entablature. The architectural application of the term Abacus, which in the original is applied to any rectangular tile-like figure, arises from a story which Vitruvius tells of the manner in which the foliated capital called the Corinthian originated. The modifications in its form in the various orders of Greek and Roman architecture will be seen in the article COLUMN. In Gothic architecture, the abacus undergoes numerous changes and modifications, not merely in the several styles, but also in

B

each style. To a great extent, it appears to have been treated in Gothic architecture according to the fancy of the individual architect: at any rate, it was not regulated by strict rules as in the classic orders. But it may be stated generally, that in the Romanesque, or what in England is commonly known as the Norman style, the abacus is usually square; in first pointed, or Early English gothic, it is nearly always round; and in the later styles more commonly octagonal. In French gothic however the square abacus was retained much longer than in the English.

A'BACUS, an instrument employed to facilitate arithmetical calculations. The name may be given with propriety to any machine for reckoning with counters, beads, &c., in which one line is made to stand for units, another for tens, and so on. For teaching the first principles of arithmetic, a convenient abacus would be about three times as long as it is broad. It consists of a frame, traversed by stiff wires, on which beads or counters are strung so as to move easily. The beads on the first row are units, those on the next tens, and so on. There is an instrument sold in the toy-shops with twelve wires, and twelve beads on each wire, for teaching the multiplication-table; but it may be made still further useful in judicious hands.

The abacus can never be much used in this country, owing to our various division of weights and measures. We should need one abacus for pounds, shillings, and pence; another for avoirdupois weight; a third for troy weight; and so on. In China, however, where the whole system is decimal, that is, where every measure, weight, &c., is the tenth part of the next greater one, this instrument, called in Chinese shwanpan, is very much used, and with astonishing rapidity. It is said that while one man reads over rapidly a number of sums of money, another can add them so as to give the total as soon as the first has done reading. Their abacus differs from the one described above, in having only five beads on each wire, one of which is distinguished from the rest either in colour or size, and stands for five. There is one of these instruments in the East India Company's Museum. The Greeks and Romans used the same sort of abacus, at least in later times. The Russians are also much in the habit of performing calculations by strings of beads. A chequered board, such as we still sometimes see at the doors of public-houses, was formerly used in this country as an abacus, and a chess-board would now do very well for the purpose of instruction above-mentioned. The multiplicationtable is sometimes called the Pythagorean abacus.

In 1839, Dr. Reid brought before the notice of the British Association a small apparatus, which he called a Chemical Abacus, and which he had found useful in introducing his pupils to a precise knowledge of the constitution of the more important chemical compounds. It consisted of a wooden frame with cross-wires and beads on the wires; each wire corresponded to a chemical element, and the beads to atoms; while the names of the elements were placed on the frame at the extremities of the wires. Dr. Daubeny suggested that the apparatus might be improved, by having the beads of different colours to correspond with the different elements.

The advocates of decimal coinage in England might strengthen their advocacy by a notice of the possible usefulness of the abacus as a reckoning apparatus under that system.

For mechanical aid of a more complex kind, in calculating and registering processes, see CALCULATING MACHINES. Examples of a special character are noticed under SLIDE RULE.

ABANDONMENT, a term used in marine insurances. Before a person, who insures a ship or goods, can demand from an insurer, or underwriter, the stipulated compensation for a total loss of such ship or goods, he must abandon or relinquish to the insurer, all his interest in any part of the property which may be saved.

ABATEMENT. This word is derived from the old French word abater, which signifies to beat down, prostrate, or destroy. But before entering upon an explanation of the present meaning of the term, it will be well to observe, for the information of those who may not be acquainted with the history of our law, that by far the greater number of the terms of art (as they may be called) peculiar to it, are derived either from the Norman-French, or the Latin. We shall therefore give a cursory view of the circumstances which led to their adoption.

When William I., commonly styled the Conqueror, became King of England, he filled all the posts of profit and honour with subjects from his Norman dominions-the civil places chiefly with ecclesiastics. Foreign priests having thus obtained all the seats of the judges and other officers of the superior courts of justice, it was found necessary to ordain that all proceedings in them should be carried on in the Norman tongue instead of the English, of which these new judges were for the most part altogether ignorant. This practice continued until Edward III. abolished the use of French, and substituted English as the

language of such pleadings. At the same time that all arguments and judgments were spoken in French, the written parts of the proceedings, such as the writs and records, were engrossed in the Latin language, a practice which continued long after Edward III. had expelled the French tongue from our courts; for it was not until the reign of George II., that an Act of Parliament was passed, providing that writs and records should for the future be in English.

It will be evident that, under the circumstances described, the more ancient legal terms would, whenever that could conveniently be done, be translated into the French and Latin languages; and as, during the periods mentioned above, the laws of England experienced great alterations and received many additions, abundance of new terms were necessarily called for to express new notions, and were naturally drawn from the languages then in legal use. Many of the expressions thus translated, and those first invented, are employed at the present day with little or no alteration. Of this we have an example in the term which is the subject of this article.

The word abatement is used in its literal sense when we speak of abating or beating down a nuisance. Whatever unlawfully annoys or does damage to any person, is a nuisance, which he may abate, that is, beat down and remove: provided he commits no breach of the peace, and does no more injury to the thing than is necessary for effecting his purpose. If a new house or a wall be erected so near to an old house as to obstruct its ancient lights, this is a private nuisance, which the person injured may peaceably abate. If a gate or other obstruction be placed across a public road, this is a public nuisance, and any person may beat down and remove it. But a person thus taking the law into his own hands, must be careful, in every case, to do no more than is absolutely necessary to enable him to exercise or enjoy his own right.

Another signification of abatement is that of abating a civil action, or an indictment. Here it is taken figuratively, and signifies the beating down or overthrowing such action or indictment. This is effected in an action at law, by way of plea, stating some matter which renders it the duty of the court to put an end to the proceedings. Thus, it may be alleged that the plaintiff in such proceedings is an outlaw, or an attainted person, or otherwise incompetent to maintain an action; or that there are other persons still living who are equally liable with the defendant, and ought to be joined with him in the demand. But it is a rule that he who takes advantage of a flaw must, at the same time, show how it can be amended; and pleas in abatement must, therefore, not only point out the flaw, but disclose the remedy. Therefore, if a defendant pleads that another ought to be sued along with him, he must state where he can be found; for if he be not within the jurisdiction so as to be served with a writ, the plea is bad. Pleas in abatement have always been discouraged by the courts; and they are required to be verified by affidavit (4 & 5 Anne c. 16; 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 45). But in consequence of the ample powers of amendment conferred by the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, such pleas are now of rare occurrence.

A similar observation applies to pleas in abatement in criminal proceedings (14 & 15 Vict. c. 100). If an indictment assign to the defendant no Christian name or a wrong one, no surname or a wrong one, he may plead this matter in abatement; and so formerly, when an addition or description of the calling of a defendant was required, an error in or want of it was the subject of a plea. This addition or description is no longer necessary. (13 & 14 Vict. c. 100, s. 24.) Misnomer then is the only case in which a plea in abatement has been usual in practice; and, at the present day, such a plea is of no avail to a defendant, for the court has authority to amend the indictment, and then call upon the party to plead to the charge (Blackst. 'Comm.' Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. iii. p. 325; iv. 396). Again, if a plaintiff dies, or a female plaintiff marries, the proceedings are said to be abated; and if a defendant dies, the proceedings as to him are said to abate. Whenever the interest of the person who dies survives to those who represent hin, the action or suit may be revived; and so when the subject matter of the proceeding is one for which the representatives of the deceased may be made liable, the action or suit may be revived and continued against them. (Blackst. Comm.' Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. iii. pp. 463, 519.)

It is said to be "an abatement when a man dies seised of an estate of inheritance, and between the death and the entry of the heir, a stranger doth interpose himself and abate." (Co. Litt.' 277 a.) This entry of a stranger on the lands is an abatement; the effect of which is that the true owner can only recover the seisin by entry [ENTRY). If the abator died scised, the land descended to his heir, and the right of entry at common law was gone. The true owner must then have resorted to a particular form of action. Now, however, the right of entry subsists (3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27), enabling the true owner to recover either by entry or the ordinary action of ejectment.

(Blackstone's Commentaries, Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. iii. p. 170.) ABATEMENT OF LEGACIES. [LEGACY.] ABATIS, a military term, signifying a work composed of felled trees, with the softer branches cut off, laid side by side with the ends from which the branches grow towards the enemy; thus forming an obstruction to his progress, and a breast-work for musketry to fire over. This species of defence is often used in fieldworks, where wood, not of too great size, is plentiful. Lines, flanked by bastions, are thus

them at his leisure.

formed, either simply by laying down and fastening the trees, or, if when so placed they would be too high to fire over, by sinking them in a ditch whose section is an angle with its longest slope towards the enemy. They are sometimes formed against the counterscarp of a rampart, sometimes in the covered way, and may generally be used wherever an obstruction is to be raised to the enemy's progress, provided they can be flanked by a fire sufficient to prevent his destroying ABATTOIR. An abattoir is the French name for a slaughter-house. The existing French system was first adopted at Paris in 1817, and completed in 1818. There are three abattoirs on the north side of Paris, and two on the south side, not far from the barriers, and about two miles from the centre of the city. The cattle markets for the supply of Paris are several miles distant, and the cattle are driven from them round the exterior boulevards to the abattoirs, and consequently do not enter the city. At one of the abattoirs each butcher has his slaughter-house, a place for keeping the meat, an iron rack for fat, pans for melting it, and a place with convenience for giving cattle hay and water, and where they may be kept before being slaughtered. A fixed sum is charged for this accommodation, the charge for cattle being a frane and a half per head, and the blood, brains, and entrails. In some of the abattoirs, two or three butchers use the same slaughterhouse. There are 240 slaughter-houses in all. The income of the establishment, arising from these fees, the sale of manure, &c., was above 48,000l. in 1842. An inspector is appointed at each abattoir, and means are taken to prevent unwholesome meat being sold. The manufactories of glue, gelatine, Prussian blue, hoof-oil, blood-manure, and other chemicals produced from offal, are conveniently placed near the abattoirs. Much of the fat is melted down at the abattoirs, and tripe is also prepared within the establishments. An excellent account of the abattoirs at Montmartre will be found in 'Household Words,' vol. ii. p. 556; and another in Head's 'Faggot of French Sticks.' There are slaughter-houses under public regulations in most of the Continental cities; and those of New York and Philadelphia, and some other of the cities of the American Union, are, it is said, placed on a similar footing. The great cattle-market in Smithfield, for the supply of London, existed above five centuries, but the spot was originally a piece of waste ground beyond the city, instead of being, as at present, surrounded by a dense population. The cattle sold for the London market amount annually to about 240,000, the sheep to about 1,700,000, calves 28,000, and pigs 35,000. A large proportion of these are slaughtered within the limits of the metropolis. There are slaughtermen who kill for other butchers frequently above a hundred head of cattle, and perhaps five or six hundred sheep, every week; many butchers kill for themselves to a considerable extent, and there are few who have not accommodation for slaughtering and dressing a few sheep, either in the cellar underneath their shop, or in the rear of their premises. The slaughterhouses for sheep in Newgate Market, many of which are in cellars, and in Warwick Lane, are close to Newgate Street, and within a hundred and fifty yards of Ludgate Street, two of the great thoroughfares of London.

The inconveniences attending the system of having the cattlemarket and the slaughter-houses in the midst of the metropolis were seriously felt; and, after a long opposition on the part of the city authorities, an Act of Parliament was passed in August 1851 for removing it to a spot of ground of about 15 acres, between the Caledonian Road and Maiden Lane, on the north of London. The exccution was intrusted to the corporation of the city of London. It was undertaken and carried out in a liberal spirit. Considerable architectural merit is shown in the designs for the various buildings and the surrounding wall. Excellent accommodation has been provided for the animals, with a large supply of water for them and for cleansing the market, and facilities for the transaction of business, by the erection of banking-houses, hotels, &c. When completed, the old market in Smithfield was closed on September 11th, 1855, and the new one opened on September 13th. It provides space for about 35,000 sheep, 6600 oxen, 1425 calves, and 900 pigs; with lairage for 3000 oxen and 8000 sheep. There are two public slaughter-houses, at which 600 oxen can be killed weekly,-the only approach made in the metropolis to the abattoir system; but still the greater proportion of beasts and sheep are driven through the crowded streets of the metropolis to be killed at private slaughter-houses, many yet remaining in Warwick Lane and the vicinity of Newport Market. But strenuous attempts have been made to lessen the nuisance even in these. By the Towns Improvement Act (10 & 11 Vict. cap. 34, 1857), they have to be registered and licensed; even for those in which private butchers slaughter at home powers of inspection are given, and provision is made for the removal of offal and ordure. These regulations are not confined to the metropolis, but are extended to all towns; and the execution of the provisions of the Act were intrusted to Boards of Health, and are now, by the Local Government Act (21 & 22 Vict. cap. 98), transferred to the municipality or other governing body of the town or place; but as the adoption of this Act is optional, the supervision in many places remains with the Boards of Health, or has not been brought into operation. These Acts are confined to England and Wales; but in Edinburgh an abattoir has been provided that may be a model to municipalities who may concern themselves for public good, and many

other towns have provided themselves with excellent abattoirs within the last few years. In these places, however, the use of the abattoir is not compulsory and private slaughter-houses continue to exist in most if not in all of them.

ABBÉ is the French term for Abbot. In France, before the Revolution, Abbé was the denomination of a very numerous body of persons, who had little or no connection with the Church, except the apparent one which they derived from this title, which frequently occurs in the literary and political history of that period. Many of them had not even received the tonsure, which is, in Roman Catholic countries, the first and indispensable mark of the clerical character. So far back as the end of the 17th century, we find Richelet, the lexicographer, complaining that there was scarcely a young man, tolerably well made, and who had acquired the air of an ecclesiastic, who did not, by an insufferable abuse, assume the style of Monsieur l'Abbé. Another author, Mercier, writing a century later, describes, with some asperity, the effeminate manners and dandyism of the same class of characters. The abbés occupied a very conspicuous place in French society, and discharged a variety of domestic functions. Many of the abbes however followed a more useful and creditable way of life. Some acted as private tutors in families, though these were seldom treated with much respect, and were consequently in general persons of very inferior qualifications. Others were professors of the university; and a great many employed themselves as men of letters, in which capacity their labours have given to the title of Abbé an honourable celebrity, and redeemed it from the universal contempt to which swarms of frivolous and intriguing sycophants would otherwise have reduced it.

ABBES COMMENDATAIRES, were such abbés as held abbeys in commendam,-that is, with the right of administering their revenues, or a part of them. There were, before the Revolution, between 200 and 300 abbeys in France, which the king had the privilege of conferring in commendam; and it was the expectation of obtaining one of these benefices which induced so many persons to take the title of Abbé. Before obtaining such preferment, they used to be called Abbés de sainte espérance, abbés of holy hope. After they were thus provided for, they were Abbés Commendataires. The papal bull, which ratified their appointment, commanded them in all cases to get themselves ordained priests within the year, or as soon as they should arrive at the canonical age (five-and-twenty) on pain of the benefice being declared vacant; but it was common to obtain dispensations for disregarding this condition, and most of them remained Secular Abbés. The Abbé Commendataire received the third part of the revenues of his abbey, and also enjoyed certain dignities and privileges which it is unnecessary to specify; but the actual government of the house was committed to the hands of a resident superior, the prieur claustral, who was in almost all respects quite independent of the sinecurist, his colleague. ABBESS, the superior of a nunnery, or other female religious community. An abbess, in the Roman Catholic Church, possesses, in general, the same dignity and authority as an abbot, except that she cannot exercise the spiritual functions appertaining to the priesthood. According to a decree of the Council of Trent, an abbess, at the time of her election, ought to be at least forty years old, and to have made profession for eight years. It is forbidden that any person be elected to the dignity who has not been professed for five years, or is under thirty years of age.

ABBEY, a religious community presided over by an abbot or abbess. When the superior was denominated a prior, the establishment was called a priory; but there was latterly no real distinction between a priory and an abbey. The priories appear to have been all originally off-shoots from certain abbeys, to which they continued for some time to be regarded as subordinate. The wealthiest abbeys, in former times, were in Germany; and of all such foundations in the world, the most splendid and powerful was that of Fulda, or Fulden, situated near the town of the same name in Franconia. This monastery, which belonged to the order of St Benedict, was founded by St. Boniface, in the year 784. Every candidate for admission was required to prove his nobility. The monks elected their abbot from their own number; and that dignitary became, by right of his office, Arch-Chancellor to the Empress, and Prince Bishop of the diocese of Fulda. He claimed precedence over all the other abbots both of Germany and of France. One of the first effects of the Reformation both in England and in Germany was the destruction of the religious houses; although, even in the Protestant parts of the latter country, a few male and female monastic communities still subsist. In England their extinction was complete. The preface to Bishop Tanner's Notitia Monastica' may be consulted for the most accurate account that has been given of the number and revenues of the English monasteries at the time of the dissolution. From this statement, it appears that, by the Act of Parliament passed in 1535 for the suppression of all those having a less revenue than 2001. a-year, about 380 houses were dissolved; from whose possessions the crown derived a revenue of 32,000l., besides plate and jewels to the value of about 100,000l. By an act passed in 1539, all the remaining monasteries were suppressed, to the number of 186; the revenues of these amounted to 100,000l. per annum. Besides the monasteries, 48 houses of the knights hospitallers of St. John were also confiscated to the crown. Other authorities make the wealth of the monastic establishments much greater than it would appear to have been from

this account; and it is probable that the revenues of many of them, at the period of the dissolution, had been considerably diminished by the precautions which the abbots were led to take in anticipation of that event. Camden states the whole number of the religious houses that were suppressed at 645. In the earlier times of the French monarchy, the term abbey was applied to a duchy or carldom, as well as to a religious establishment; and the dukes and counts called themselves abbots, although remaining in all respects secular persons. They took this title in consequence of the possessions of certain abbeys having been conferred upon them by the crown.

ABBOT, the title of the superior of certain establishments of religious persons of the male sex, thence called Abbeys. The word Abbot, or Abbat, as it has been sometimes written, comes from Abbatis, the genitive of Abbas, which is the Greek and Latin form of the Syriac Abba, of which the original is the Hebrew Ab, father. It is, therefore, merely an epithet of respect and reverence, and appears to have been at first applied to any member of the clerical order, just as the French Père and the English Father, having the same signification, still are in the Catholic Church. In the earliest age of monastic institutions, however, the monks were not even priests; they were merely religious persons who retired from the world to live in common, and the abbot was that one of their number whom they chose to preside over the association. In regard to general ecclesiastical discipline, all these communities were at this time subject to the bishop of the diocese, and even to the pastor of the parochial district within the bounds of which they were established. At length it began to be usual for the Abbot, or, as he was called in the Greek Church, the Archimandrite, or Hegumenos (that is, the chief monk, or leader), to be in orders; and since the 6th century monks generally have been priests. In point of dignity an abbot is next to a bishop; but there have been many abbots in different countries who have claimed almost an equality in rank with the episcopal order. A minute account of the different descriptions of abbots may be found in Du Cange's Glossary,' and in Carpentier's Supplement to that work. In England, according to Coke, there used to be twenty-six abbots (Fuller says twenty-seven), and two priors who were Lords of Parliament. These, sometimes designated Sovereigns, or General Abbots, wore a mitre, not exactly the same as that of the bishops, carried the crozier in their right hand, while the bishops carried theirs in their left, and assumed the episcopal style of Lord. Some croziered abbots, again, were not mitred, and others who were mitred were not croziered. Abbots who presided over establishments that had sent out several branches were styled Cardinal-Abbots. There were likewise, in Germany, Prince-Abbots, as well as PrinceBishops. In early times we read of Field-Abbots (in Latin, Abbates Milites) and Abbot-Counts (Abba-Comites, or Abbi-Comites). These were secular persons, upon whom the sovereign had bestowed certain abbeys, for which they were obliged to render military service as for common fiefs. A remnant of this practice appears to have subsisted in our own country long after it had been discontinued on the Continent. Thus, in Scotland, James Stuart, the natural son of James V., more celebrated as the Regent Murray, was, at the time of the Reformation, Prior of St. Andrew's, although a secular person. The secularisation of some of the German ecclesiastic dignities has since occasioned something like a renewal of the ancient usage. We have in the present century seen a prince of the House of Brunswick (the late Duke of York) at the same time Commander-in-Chief of the British army and Bishop of Osnaburg. The efforts of the abbots to throw off the authority of their diocesans long disturbed the Church, and called forth severe denunciations from several of the early councils. Some abbeys, however, obtained special charters recognising their independence; a boon which, although acquired at first with the consent of the bishop, was usually defended against his successors with the most jealous punctiliousness. Many of the abbots lived in the enjoyment of great power and state. In ancient times they possessed nearly absolute authority in their monasteries. The external pomp and splendour with which an abbot was in many cases surrounded, corresponded to the extensive authority which he enjoyed within his abbey, and throughout its domains. St. Bernard is thought to refer to the celebrated Luger, abbot of St. Denis, in the beginning of the 12th century, when he speaks, in one of his writings, of having seen an abbot at the head of more than 600 horsemen, who served him as a cortège. Even in the unreformed parts of the Continent, however, and long before the French Revolution, the powers of the heads of monasteries, as well as those of other ecclesiastical persons, had been reduced to comparatively narrow limits; and the sovereignty both of abbots and bishops had been subjected in all material points to the authority of the civil magistrate.

The title of Abbot has also been borne by the civil authorities in some places, especially among the Genoese, one of whose chief magistrates used to be called the Abbot of the People. Nor must we forget another application of the term which was once famous in our own and other countries. In many of the French towns there used, of old, to be annually elected from among the burgesses, by the magistrates, an Abbé de Liesse (in Latin Abbas Lætitia), that is, an Abbot of Joy, who acted for the year as a sort of master of the revels, presiding over and directing all their public shows. Among the retainers of some great families in England was an officer of a similar description, styled the Abbot of Misrule; and in Scotland the Abbot of Unreason was, before

the Reformation, a personage who acted a principal part in the diver sions of the populace, and one of those whom the zeal of the reforming divines was most eager in proscribing. ABBREVIATION, a mathematical term, given to the process by which a fraction is reduced to lower terms. Thus, the division of the numerator and denominator of it by 8, which reduces it to, abbreviates the fraction. ABBREVIATION, in music, is a kind of stenography, or shorthand, which much diminishes the labour of the composer and copyist. It frequently happens, not only that the same note is reiterated, but that the same passage is repeated; and the necessity of writing at length such repetitions is avoided by the use of certain well-contrived and simple abbreviations. Those most commonly employed are:-I. One dash or more, through the stem of a minim or crochet, or under a semibreve, by which such note is converted into as many quavers, semiquavers, &c., as it is equal to in time. Ex.

IV. The word simili (the same) signifies that the group of notes is to be repeated. Bis (twice) written over a bar, or a passage, denotes repetition. ABBREVIATIONS, the shortening of a word or phrase, made either by omitting some letters or words, or by substituting some arbitrary mark. Abbreviations are of two kinds; first, those which are used in won't for will not, &c., and those which are employed in writing only; familiar speech, by which two words are made one, as can't for can not,

our business is with the latter.

Before the invention of printing, every expedient to abridge the ciple, once introduced, was followed where the necessity which led to enormous labour of copying would be naturally adopted, and the prinits first employment no longer existed. Latin inscriptions are not unfrequently quite unintelligible to the best scholar who has not given the subject his particular attention, and many are ambiguous even to the most skilful. The most usual Latin abbreviation is the initial letter instead of the whole word; whether a name, as M. for Marcus, P. for Publius; or a relation, as F. for filius, a son; or an officer, as C. for consul, Qu. for quæstor, &c.

The Rabbins carried this practice to a great extent; and although, in copying the Bible, they carefully abstained from abbreviations, their other writings are filled with them. They even carried their abbreviations into their common tongue, and when they had contracted a unconnected letters by the interposition of vowels. Thus, for Rabbi name or sentence, by taking the initials only, they made words of the Levi ben Gerson, they took the first letters, R.L.B.G.; and, by the interposition of vowels, made the word Ralbag.

in printing, where the employment of contractions was much less In the middle ages the practice of abbreviating increased; and even necessary, the old mode was by no means abandoned. Many writings became unintelligible; and in matters of law and government the difficulties thus created demanded the interposition of Government. An Act of Parliament was passed in the fourth year of George II., by documents; and although this was so far modified by another act, which the use of abbreviations was altogether forbidden in legal within a year or two, allowing the use of those of common occurrence, the old practice was never completely revived. A few only are still employed, chiefly in titles, coins, and commercial transactions; the most important of which follow: