I^I A B 



M A B 



by tlie river Joliba, wliich runs to the tajl, but miftaken 



by d Anville and Delifle for thi; head of the river Senegal, 



which runs to the 'u.'j}. 



MABEUSE. or MabeuGE, Joiis- dl, in Biography, 



one of the cnrly hiboiious praftitioncrs in the art of painting 



after the ufe of oil became known in Flanders, He was 

 born at Maubcuge, in Hainaiilt, in 1499. 



He was invited by Henry VIH. to England, and cm- 

 ployed by him to pai:it the portraits of his children. By 

 his neat mode of fini/hing, a-d the fmoothnefs and high polifh 



of his works, he gained in this country, where the art of mortal reputation. The manners and ufages of thofe dark 

 painting was then almoil unknown, a very confiderable rcpu- agei are examined with great care, and an hundred import 

 tation, and in confequence his paintings are not unfrequent ant queftions are dilcuflVd by an exact and folid critique.' 



collefting and die:eftir.g materials. The fird voluoje was 

 p^iblifhed in 1668, under the title of •' Afta Sandoruai 

 Ordinis S. Bcaedidi, &c. ;" this was followed at difTerent 

 periods by eight others, of which the lail was publifhed in 

 1702. The work was regarded by the journalifts of the 

 day, " not as a fimple colk-ftion of n:emoirs relating to 

 monadic liiftory, but as a valuable compilation of ancient 

 monuments, which bein;; lUuftrated by learned notes, throw 

 much light on the mod obfcure part of eccleliaftical hidory. 

 The prefaces tliemfelves would fecure to the author an im- 



among us. 



They are known by their dry,. ItifF, and formal manner ; 

 both of atticn in the figfures and in the folding-s of their 

 draperies, by a total lack of chiaro-fcuro, and yet podefl- 

 iiig much ingenious tade in colour ; great care i:i the face.";, 

 which al.says appear to have been portraits; and an almod 

 boundlels labour in the finidiing ; particularly of all the 

 ornamental parts, fuch as gems, pearls, 5:c. &c. which he 

 was fond of bedowing laviHily. 



He is faid to have been immoderately addifted to drink- 

 ing, though he lived to the age of 63. 



MABILLON, John, a very learned French BenediAine 

 monk, was born at Pierre-mont, a village belonging to the 



The prefaces were reckoned lo valuable, that they were 

 publidied feparately in 1732, in quarto. In 1674 he pub- 

 lished " De Pane Eucharillico azimo et fermentaro Difler- 

 tatio," intcndwl to prove that the Latin church made ufe 

 of leavened bread iii the con 'ecration of the Eucharid for 

 many ages, and that the ufe of unleavened bread was not 

 introduced till after Pholiui's fchifm. In the following 

 year he publifhed " Veterum AnaletStorum, &c. ;" but the 

 work wliich has done mod honour to the memory of 

 Mahilloii appeared in i68i, entitled " De Re diplomatica 

 Libri fe.x, 5cc." So high was the opin.on generall) enter- 

 tained of his extraordinary merit, that the celebrated Col- 

 bert was deiirous of bedowing on liini a penfion of two thou- 



diocefe of Rheims, in the year 1632. He was indrufted fand livres, but his unambitious and dilintereded fpirit led him 



in grammar learning by one of his uncles, who afterwards 

 fent him to the college of Rheims, where he foou didin- 

 guidied himfelf by the vivacity of his genius, and an uncom- 

 mon application to dudy. Hence he was taken into the 

 feminary of the cathedral, in which the young perfons de- 

 figtied for the fervice of the diocefe were educated. He 

 continued here three j'ears, and took the habit in an abbey 

 belonging to the Beaediftines of the congregation of St. 

 Maur in 1653, "^'"^ '" '^^ following year he made his pro- 

 fefTion. The highed expeftations were formed of him ; 

 but an incedant and almoil perpetual head-ache renderedhim 

 incapable of application, and he was fent to different places 

 in the country for the recovery of his health. In the year 

 1660 he was ordained pried at Amiens, and as he dill la- 

 boured under fo much indifpofition, as to render it unfit for 

 him to apply to his dudies, he was accordingly employed 

 in fuch temporal affairs of the congregation as were more 

 adapted to his enfeebled conditulion. In 1663, in order to 



to decline that generous offvr In 1682, Colbert engaged him 

 to take a journeyinto Burgundy,for the purpofe of exainining 

 fome ancient titles' relating to the royal family ; after which 

 he fent him into Germany, to fearch into the archives and libra- 

 ries of the ancient abbies in that country, for fuch documents 

 as might contribute to illudrate the hidory of France, and 

 that of tiie church in general, and of the church of France 

 in pariicuLir. The refu ts of his enquiries into thefe fub- 

 jedls were given in the fourth volume of his " Analecia." 

 In 1685, he pilblidied " De Liturgia Gallicana Libri tre?, 

 in quibus veteris n;iffae, quK ante annos mille apud Gallos 

 in ufu erat, forma ritufque eruntur ex antiquis monumenti.'!,. 

 &c." In the fame year Mabillon was fent at the king's 

 expence into Italy, with the fame view as he hadbeen formerly 

 fent into Germany, and was received at Rome with great 

 relpeft ; he had free accefs graited him to all the archives, 

 and to all the libraries, from which he collefted a vaft num- 

 ber of interefting and important papers, adapted to the de- 



redrain him from clofe dudies, he was feut to St. Dennis, fign of his journey. On his return to France he carried 



and was employed in the low office of exhibiting to drangers 

 the various treafures and ancient monuments of the abbey. 

 The duties of this fervile pod were ill adapted to his mind, 

 and an accident which occurred diortly relieved him from the 

 burden which was become almod intolerable. He broke a 

 mirror, which it was pretended belonged to the pcjet Virgil ; 

 this fo enraged !us fuperiors, that they gladly allowed hi:n 

 to make his retreat. His vacant hours he employed in ■read- 

 ing the fathers, and in laying up la'ge dores of theological, 

 ecclefiadical, and critical learning, la 1 764 he wcut to 

 Paris to afTi't d'Achery in compiling his " Splcilegiuni," 

 and took a large thare in the buiinefs. The zeal and talents 

 which- he'manifeded in this work caufed him to be ap- 



with him a fine coUeftion of books and rare MSS. which 

 he placed in his majedy's library ; and in 1C87 he publidied 

 an account of his journey, and of the pieces which he had 

 difcovered, under the title of " Mulxum Italicum, feu 

 Colleftlo veterum Scriptorum ex Bibliochtcis Ilalicis eruta,. 

 &c.'' in two volumes 410, In 1688, father Mabillon en- 

 gaiied in a difpute between the Benedi£lines of Burgundy, 

 and the canons regular, on the fubjecl of the precedence of 

 thofe orders in the dates, and, in 169T, he entered into a 

 controverfy with father Ranee, abbot of La Trappe, who 

 maintained, that learning and the fcieiices were foreign to 

 the monadic profefiion, and who had prohibited the monks 

 almod all forts of reading, excepting that of the fcripf.ires 



pointed to fuperintend the publication of a complete edi- and certain moral treatiies. In 169S he publiihcd a work, 



tion of the works of S'. Bernard, which he executed with which involved him in much controverfy and many ferious 



miic!i correAnefs, judgment, and learning- This wor.^ was difficulties, entitled " Eufebii Romaui ad Theophilum 



publidied, in 1667, in two folio volumes, and alio ia nine Galium Epillola de Cultu fandtorum ignotorum." It was 



volumes oclavo. Immediately after the pubhcalion of this- received by the fuperditious and interelled, particularly at 



great work, he was employed in completing the lives of Rome, in a moll unfavourable manner. For fome time ir 



the faints, for which d'Achery and Chantelou had- beeii was attacked only by complaints,, murmurs, and criiicifms 



publiihcd 



