of French monuments at Paris, and, in Nov. 1817, were deposited under a chapel, within the precincts of the church of Monamy. A. was distinguished as a grammarian, orator, logician, poet, musician, philosopher, theologian, and mathematician; but he has left nothing to justify the reputation which he enjoyed among his contemporaries. He excelled in the art of disputation. His doctrines were often reprehensible, and his behavior censurable. His love and his misfortunes have secured his name from oblivion; and the man, whom his own century admired as a profound divine, is now celebrated as the martyr of love. The letters of A. and Heloise have been often published, in the original and in translations. ABELITES, Abelians, or Abelonians. St. Augustine gives this name to a Christian sect, which probably sprang from the Gnostics. They abstained from matrimony, to avoid propagating original sin, but adopted the children of others, and brought them up in their own principles. This society existed, towards the end of the 4th century, among the people who dwelt near Hippo, in the northern part of Africa, and borrowed their name from Abel, the son of Adam, because he died unmarried and without children. They have found followers in the Shakers, (q. v.) ABENSBERG, district and town in the circle of Regen, and kingdom of Bavaria, 83 miles from Ratisbon, on the Abens, has 230 houses, and 1080 inhabitants. It is the birth-place of the Bavarian historian, John Thurmaier, who called himself, from his native place, Aventinus, lived from 1466 to 1534, and left seven books of Bavarian annals. Here Napoleon, April 20, 1809, obtained a victory over an Austrian army, under the archduke Louis and general Hiller, (see Eckmühl,) who retired, with the loss of 12 cannons and 13000 men taken prisoners, to Landshut. This battle became important from its consequences-the taking of Landshut, on the 21st, the battle of Eckmühl, on the 22d, and the taking of Ratisbon, on the 23d of April.

ABERCROMBY, Sir Ralph, a distinguished British general officer, was born in 1738, at Tillibodie in Clackmannanshire. His first commission was that of cornet in the 3d regiment of dragoon guards, in 1756; and he gradually passed through all the ranks of the service, until he became a major-general, in 1787. On the commencement of the war with France, he was employed in Flanders and Holland, with the local rank of lieu

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tenant-general, and, in that critical service, displayed equal skill and humanity. In 1795, he received the order of the Bath, and was appointed commander-inchief of the forces in the West Indies. In this expedition he captured the islands of Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad, with the settlements of Deme rara and Essequibo. On his return, he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland; but, for reasons very honorable to himself, was quickly removed to the correspondent command in Scotland. In the attempt upon Holland, in 1799, sir Ralph had the sole command on the first landing, and both his troops and himself greatly distinguished themselves. His royal highness the duke of York subsequently arrived, under whom sir Ralph acted. The final failure of the expedition is well known. The next and concluding service of this able and meritorious officer was in the expedition to Egypt, of which he was commander-in-chief. He landed, after a severe contest, at Aboukir, Mar. 8, 1801; and on the 21st of the same month was fought the battle of Alexandria, in which sir Ralph was unhorsed and wounded in two places; notwithstanding which he disarmed his antagonist, and gave the sword to sir Sidney Smith.

The general kept the field during the day, and was then conveyed on board the admiral's ship, where he survived about a week. His body was conveyed to Malta, and interred beneath the castle of St. Elmo, and a monument was voted to him, by parliament, in St. Paul's cathedral. His widow was also created baroness Abercromby, with remainder to the issue male of her late husband; and a pension of 2000l. a year was granted in support of the dignity. Ralph A. left four sons, George, a barrister at law; John, a major-general; James and Alexander.

Sir

ABERDEEN; the principal city in the north of Scotland; lat. 57 9′ N. lon. 2o 8′ W. It is divided into Old and New A. The old town was of some importance as early as 893. The population of O. and N. A. is supposed to be about 40,000. A. has two colleges, King's and Marischal's, which, though quite distinct, are considered as forming one university, called the U. of king Charles. There are about 150 students in each of these colleges. The cotton manufactories in the vicinity of A. employ nearly 1000 persons. Vessels to the burthen of about 40,000 tons belong to the port, which is extensively engaged in the whale and

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other fisheries. About 2000 barrels of salmon are exported annually.

ABERDEEN, George Gordon, earl of, also viscount Formatine, one of the 16 Scottish peers, who have seats in the house of lords, was sent as ambassador to Vienna, for the purpose of concluding an alliance between England and Austria, which he signed Oct. 3, 1813, at Teplitz. He negotiated, also, the alliance of king Murat, of Naples, with Austria, in 1813; but endeavored in vain to reconcile those courts in 1815. Lord A., as an admirer of Grecian art, instituted, in 1804, the Athenian Society, each member of which must have visited Athens.

ABERLI, John Lewis, a landscape painter, famous for his Views of Switzerland; born in 1723, at Winterthur. He relinquished the manner of his teacher, Meyer, an indifferent artist, went to Berne, received better instruction from John Grimm, and at first painted portraits. But his inclination for landscape painting gained the ascendency. He went, in 1759, with his pupil Zingg, to Paris, and returned, esteemed and admired, to Berne, where he died in 1786. His manner has been very often imitated, yet his sketches have always maintained the reputation of being the best in their kind.

ABERRATION of light. We see an object because the rays of light proceeding from it strike our eyes, and we see the place of the object in the direction in which they proceed. Let us now imagine the earth, in its circuit round the sun, just arrived opposite to a fixed star, which sends off rays perpendicularly to the direction of the earth's motion. The eye of the spectator meets the ray, and as he perceives not his own motion, he supposes the light to be moving in an opposite direction; as, when we sail in a boat, the trees on the shore appear to pass along by us. Thus the eye misses the perpendicular ray, but meets an oblique one, and thence receives the impression of the light in the direction which results from this compound motion, namely, in the diagonal of a parallelogram, the sides of which represent the real motion of the light, and the apparent one, (i. e. the motion of the earth,) which take place at the same time. The spectator sees the star in its true place only when he is either approaching it, or receding from it, in a straight line. When moving in any other direction, the star appears a little in advance of its true position in the same direction (the maximum is 20-25"); and we call by the name of aberration

We

of light these apparent changes in the situation of the heavenly bodies, occasioned by the motion of the earth. easily see that these changes are common to all the heavenly bodies, and are only more striking in the case of the fixed stars. They afford an additional proof of the motion of the earth. In consequence of this aberration, the fixed stars appear, during the revolution of the earth about the sun, according as they are situated, either in the plane of the ecliptic, or in its poles, or somewhere between them, in the first case to deviate in a straight line to the right or left of their true place, in the second to describe a circle, in the third an ellipse about that point, which further observation determines to be their real situation. This discovery we owe to Bradley, (q. v.) For the aberration of light, see the elementary works on astronomy, the dictionaries of natural philosophy by Gehler, Fischer, &c. There is a very good account of it in Biot's Traité Elémentaire d'Astronomie Physique, Paris, 1811, 2d Treatise, vol. 3, page 120, et seq. Tables of aberration, accompanied with explanations, are to be found in the baron von Zach's works, Tabula speciales Aberrationis et Nutationis, etc., Gotha, 1806, and in the same author's Nouvelles Tables d'Aberration et de Nutation pour 1404 Etoiles, avec une Table générale d' Aberration pour les Planètes et les Comètes, Marseilles, 1812, and Supplément, 1813.

ABILDGAARD, Nicolai Abraham, historical painter to the king of Denmark, and knight of the order of Danebrog. He was born at Copenhagen, in 1744, and died there in 1809, director and professor of the academy of fine arts. He was undoubtedly the greatest genius, in painting, that Denmark ever possessed. All his works display profound study, richness of imagination, and remarkable power of expression. Five years' resi dence in Italy completed the education which he had received in the academy of arts at Copenhagen, yet his works never lost the character of originality. The creations of his productive imagination were sometimes of a gloomy, and always of a grand and solemn character. Modern painting can hardly show a finer coloring. A considerable number of the large pictures in the apartments of the royal palace at Christiansburg, burnt down in 1794, were by A. A. has painted four pictures, representing, with much force of allegorical expression, the most striking periods of European history. But few of his works in the palace were saved

from the conflagration. A considerable number of his pictures, however, still exist in and out of Copenhagen. The wounded Philocletes is as vigorous as his Cupid is delicate; both are executed in the style of a master. There are also an excellent Socrates, Jupiter weighing the fate of man, and others. His last works were four large paintings, representing scenes from Terence. Nearly all his works are those of a painter formed by the study of the ancients, and of the remains of antiquity. Nothing escaped his observation, which stood in the remotest relation to his art. He was likewise a distinguished lecturer in the royal academy of arts, and has left several disciples, painters as well as sculptors, who do honor to their master and to their country; amongst whom, superior to all the rest, is Thorwaldsen. A. acquired reputation as a writer by some short essays, the object of which was, partly, to correct a false taste in regard to the arts, partly to illustrate the earlier works of art.

ABIPONIANS; a warlike tribe of Indians, between 28° and 30° S. lat., on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, consisting of 5000 persons, who pay little attention to agriculture, but employ themselves principally in hunting and fishing. During the five rainy months, they resort to the islands of the Rio de la Plata, or to the tops of trees. The Abiponians prefer the flesh of tigers to every other meat, superstitiously believing that it gives new courage to the warrior. Long lances, and arrows with iron points, are their weapons. They are often at war with the Spaniards. Their wives are not much browner than the Spanish ladies. The men are tall, with aquiline noses, are good swimmers, and fond of painting figures on their skin. Their caziques are, in times of peace, their judges, in war their leaders. In peace, however, their authority is very limited; for if a cazique should attempt an unpopular innovation, the multitude would leave him, and join

other tribes.

ABJURATION, Oath of; the oath by which an Englishman binds himself not to acknowledge any right in the pretender to the throne of England. It signifies, also, according to 25 Charles II., an oath abjuring particular doctrines of the church of Rome.

ABLEGATI; in diplomatic language, papal ambassadors of the second rank, who are sent with a less extensive commission, to a court where there are no nuncios. This title is equivalent to envoy. (See Ambassador.)

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ABO (in Finnish, Turku) contains 1100 houses, and 11,300 inhabitants. Since 1817, it has ceased to be the capital of the government of Finland. The Russian administration has endeavored, however, to support it by other means; and it continues to be the capital city of a district, as well as the seat of a Lutheran bishopric, (in 1817, raised to an archbishopric,) and of the supreme court of justice for South Finland. The mouth of the river Aurajocki, protected by a promontory of the gulf of Bothnia, forms the harbor of the city, which, since 1817, has been the chief place of export from Finland to Sweden, and even to the Mediterranean. It has important sugarworks, and manufactures of leather, linen, sail-cloth, cordage, glass, coarse broadcloth, &c. Many ships are built in its docks. The academy which Gustavus Adolphus established in 1628 was changed by Christina, queen of Sweden, into a university, which was endowed still more liberally by the emperor Alexander. It had, in 1824, forty professors, and more than 500 students, a library of 30,000 vols., a botanical garden, an observatory, an anatomical building, and a chemical laboratory, a cabinet of medals and minerals, a collection of mechanical and agricultural models, a society for the promotion of science, one for natural history, a Bible society, &c. In the autumn of 1827, the whole city, including the buildings and library of the university, was burnt down. The Russian government has taken energetic measures for rebuilding it.

Aво, peace of. Aug. 17, 1743, Sweden here concluded peace with Russia. This ended the war which broke out Aug. 24, 1741, between Russia and Sweden, at the instigation of France, in order to prevent Russia from partaking in the Austrian war of succession. In this war, after the victory of Lacy, near Wilmanstrand, Sept. 3, 1741, the Russians conquered all Finland, in consequence of the mistakes of the Swedish generals, Löwenhaupt and Buddenbrog. The empress Elizabeth promised, however, to give up a great part of her conquests, if Sweden would choose the prince Adolphus Frederic of Holstein-Gottorp, bishop of Lubec, heir to the Swedish crown, instead of the crown-prince of Denmark. This was done July 4, 1743. Thus, in 1751, the house of Holstein-Gottorp took possession of the Swedish throne, which it lost again after the abdication of Gustavus IV., in consequence of a resolution of the states of the kingdom, May 10, 1809, which took effect upon the death of

Charles XIII., Feb. 5, 1818. After this election, the treaty of peace was signed at A., in which Sweden ceded to Russia the Finnish province of Kymmenégord, with the cities and fortresses of Fredericshamm and Wilmanstrand, and the city and fort of Nyslot. From that time, the river Kymmené has been the boundary between Sweden and Russia, until the latter power obtained the whole of Finnland, at the peace of Fredericshamm, Sept. 17, 1809. June 25, 1745, peace was concluded between Sweden and Russia, at St. Petersburg.

ABOLITION. (See Pardon, right of.) ABOLITION of slavery. The Society for mitigating and gradually abolishing the State of Slavery throughout the British Dominions, sometimes called the Anti-slavery Society, has been recently formed. His R. H. the duke of Gloucester is president of the society. In the list of the vice-presidents are the names of many of the most distinguished philanthropists, and, among them, that of the never-to-be-forgotten champion of the negro's cause, Mr. Wilberforce. The society has already published several works illustrative of the state of slavery, and pointing out its evils in a commercial, political, and religious point of view. (See Slavery, Colonization Society and Wilberforce.) The more immediate objects of the society are to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and to facilitate the means by which they may obtain their freedom; and, for the accomplishment of these purposes,-To remove all the existing obstructions to the manumission of slaves: To cause the slaves to cease to be chattels in the eye of the law: To prevent their removal, as slaves, from colony to colony, and, under certain modifications, their sale or transfer, except with the land to which they may be attached: To abolish markets and compulsory labor on Sunday, and to make it a day of rest, as well as of religious worship and instruction; and also to secure to the slaves equivalent time in each week, in lieu of Sunday, and in addition to any time which, independently of Sunday, is now afforded them, for cultivating their provision grounds: To protect the slaves, by law, in the possession and transmission of the property they may thus or in any other way acquire: To enable the slave to purchase his freedom by the payment at once of a fair price for his redemption, or of a fifth part of that price at a time, in return for an additional day in the week to be employed for his own benefit: To make the testimony of

slaves available in courts of justice, both in civil and criminal cases: To relieve all negroes and persons of color from the burden of legally proving their freedom, when brought into question, and to throw on the claimant of their persons the burden of legally proving his right to them: To provide the means of religious instruction for the black and colored population, and of Christian education for their children: To institute marriage among the slaves, and to protect that state from violation and from either forcible or voluntary disruption: To put an end to the driving system: To put an end, also, to the arbitrary punishment of slaves, and to put their persons as well as property under the guardianship of the law: To provide that all children born after a certain day shall be free,-care being taken of their education and maintenance until they shall be capable of acting for themselves: To provide that no colonial governor, judge, attorney-general or fiscal, shall be a possessor of slaves, or shall have a direct and obvious reversionary interest in such property, or shall be the agent of the proprietors of slaves. The society has further proposed, that the final extinction of slavery should be accomplished by the redemption of all females from the lowest age, to about 40; by which means all their posterity would be born free. The cost of this measure is estimated at 300,000l.; but should parliament refuse to accede to this or some other effective plan, the society trust that their object will, nevertheless, be obtained by bringing free labor into competition with slave labor; so that the latter shall become of so little value as to be not worth retaining. The parent society is supported by many auxiliaries, not fewer than 250 of which are in active operation in various parts of the kingdom; and if they continue to proceed with the energy that has hitherto marked their progress, there can be little doubt that they will finally succeed in a cause, in which truth, justice, and the dictates of religion, are arrayed on their side.

ABORIGINES; the name given to the eldest inhabitants of a country, of whose origin nothing certain is known. The Roman historians give this name to the people who dwelt in the vicinity of Rome, before the arrival of the Trojans. Different derivations of the word are given. For the right of aborigines to the soil, see Indians, and Occupancy, right of.

ABOUKIR, the ancient Canopus, is at present a village with 100 Arabian inhabit