20 A B I 
years of age, was not fafe in it; for Abimelech carried her 
off, and was fo enamoured of her, that he refolved to 
marry her. Abraham did not declare himfelf Sarah’s 
hufbar.d; but gave out fhe was his filter. But the king- 
being warned in a dream, that die was married to a pro¬ 
phet, and that he fhould die if he did not reftore her to 
Abraham, the king obeyed, at the fame time reproving 
Abraham for his difingenuity; who, thereupon, among 
other excufes, faid fhe was really his fifter, being born of 
the fame father, though of a different mother. Abime- 
lech afterwards gave conliderable prefents to Abrahain; 
and a covenant was entered into between them.—After the 
death of Abraham, there being a famine in the neigh¬ 
bouring countries’, Ifaac hisfonalfo withdrew into Gerar, 
which was then likewife governed by a king called 
Abimelech, probably the fucceffor of the former. 
Here Rebecca’s beauty forced her hufband to employ 
Abraham’s artifice. Abimelech difcovering that they ■ 
were nearly related, chid Ifaac for calling his wife his lif¬ 
ter ; and at the fame time forbad all his fubjefts, upon pain 
of death, to do the lead injury to Ifaac or Rebecca.— 
Ifaac’s profperity loft him the king’s friendfhip, and he was 
defired to go away from among them. He obeyed; but 
Abimelech afterwards entered into a covenant with him. 
Abimelech, the natural fon of Gideon, by Drumahis 
concubine. His violent a&s and death are recorded in 
Judges, chap. ix. 
ABINGDON, the county-town of Berkfhire, feated on 
a branch of the Thames, is of great antiquity. It had 
its name and principal glory from the abbey, founded by 
the father of king Ina, about the year of Chrift 675, which 
was one of the fineft and richeft in England. Henry I. 
furnamed Beauclerk, was educated in this monaftery. Ke- 
nulpluis, king of the Weft Saxons, gave to the monaftery 
of Abingdon fifteen manfions, called Oulnam, with all 
profits to the fame belonging, as an inheritance for ever, 
and that it ftiould be for ever free from all epifcopal ju- 
rifdiction ; and that all difcuflions of caufes ftiould be fub- 
je£t to the decree of the abbot of that monaftery only. 
From this charter Sir Edw-ard Coke inferred, that the ec- 
clefiaftical jurifdiftion was always inverted in the imperial 
crown of England; and, therefore, the ftatute made under 
Henry VIII. concerning the king’s fpiritual authority, 
was not introductory of a new law, but declaratory only 
of an old one. 
The town, (which has two churches and three meeting- 
houfes for diifenters,) confifts of feveral ftreets, which 
centre in a fpacious area, where the market is kept on 
Monday and Friday, toll-free, and is very confiderable 
for barley, as there are great quantities of malt made here, 
and fent down the Thames in barges to London. The 
market-houfe is a (lately edifice, of moft curious work- 
manfhip, and claims the preference of moft others in the 
kingdom; over which there is a noble hall, where the fum- 
mer affize is held; the Lent allize being held at Reading. 
The county-court is kept here once a month, at which the 
members for the county are elected; as alfo the coroners, 
and verdurers of Windfor foreft. It had formerly an 
elegant crofs, but it was quite demolifhed in the civil wars. 
It is a free borough, and fends one member to parliament; 
the firft of which it fent to parliament in the 4th year of 
the reign of Philip and Mary. The right of election is in 
the inhabitants paying fcot and lot, and not receiving alms, 
or any charity, by a refolution of tire houfe of commons 
of the jgth of January, 1708. The fuppofed number of 
voters is 600. It is a town-corporate, confiding of a 
mayor, recorder, two bailiffs, twelve principal burgeffes, 
fixteen fecondary burgeffes, two ferjeants, and a beadle. 
Here is a good free-fchool, founded in 1563, by Mr. 
John Royfe; alfo feveral alms-houfes well endowed; and 
about 900I. per ann. left for charitable ufes. Alfo a large 
manufactory, which employs a great number of hands in 
the facking, bagging, and floor and fail cloths, which are 
principally fent to London. Here are feven fairs annually, 
y'lT,, on the firft Monday in Lent, May the 6th, June 20, 
AST 
Auguft 5, September 19; Monday before Old Michael- 
mas-day, for fervants, &c. and on" December 11. 
Abingdon is diftant from Oxford fix miles, from Wan¬ 
tage ten, Farringdon fourteen, Wallingford ten, Newbury 
twenty-one, Reading twenty-fix, and fifty-fix from Lon¬ 
don. This town is fuppofed by Biihop Gibfon to be the 
place called, in the Saxon annals, Clovejkoo , where two fy- 
nods are faid to have been held,' one in 742, and the other 
in 822. Lat. 51.42. Ion. 1. 20. 
Abingdon, a pretty town of Philadelphia county, in 
Pennfylvania; alfo a final! town in Ireland, feven miles eaft 
of Limerick, and ninety miles from Dublin. 
ABINTESTATE, adj. [of ab, from, and inteftatus , 
Lat.] A term of law', implying him that inherits from a 
man, who, though he had the power to make a will, yet 
did not make it. 
ABIPONIANS, a tribe of American Indians, who for¬ 
merly inhabited the diftricts pf Chaks , in Paraguay; but 
the hoftilities of the Spaniards have now obliged them to 
remove fouthvvard into the territory lying between Santa 
Fe and St. Jago. The only account we have of them is 
that publifhed by M. Dobrizhoffer in 1785. This gentle¬ 
man, who lived feven years in their country, informs us, 
that they are not numerous, the whole nation not much ex¬ 
ceeding 5000; for which lie afligns as a reafon an unnatural 
cuflom among their women of fometimes deftroying their 
own children from motives of jeaioufy, left their hufbands 
ftiould take other mates during the long time they give 
fuck, which is not lefs than two years. They are natu¬ 
rally white, but, by expofure to the air and fmoke, be¬ 
come of a brown colour. They are a ftrong and hardy 
race of people; which our author attributes to their mar¬ 
rying fo late, an Abiponian feldom or never thinking of 
marriage till thirty years of age. They are greatly cele¬ 
brated on account of their chaftity and other virtues; 
though they feem to have no knowledge of a Deity. They 
make frequent incurfions into the territories of the Spa¬ 
niards, mounted on the horfes which run wild in thofe 
parts. They have a kind of order of chivalry for their 
warriors ; and are fo formidable, that a hundred of their 
enemies will fly before ten of thefe horfemen. The hatred 
which thefe favages, whofe manners, though rude and un¬ 
cultivated, are in many refpe£ts pure and virtuous, bear 
to the Spaniards, is invincible. “ Thefe pretended Chrif- 
tians, (fays our author,) who are the feum of the Spanifh 
nation, praCtife every kind of fraud and viilany among 
thefe poor barbarians; and their corrupt and vicious mo¬ 
rals are fo adapted to prejudice the Abiponians againft the 
Chriftian religion, that the Jefuit miflionaries have, by a 
fevere law, prohibited any Spaniard from coming, w ith¬ 
out a formal permiffi.on, into any of their colonies.”— 
From this account of the fuccefs of the Jefuits in convert¬ 
ing them to Chriftianity, it does not appear that they have 
been able to make any impreflion on their minds; fo that 
in general they are*quite ignorant and uncivilized: a moft 
ftriking inftance of which is, that in counting they can go 
no farther than three; and all the art of the Jefuits to 
teach them the fimpleft ufeand exprelfton of numbers, has 
proved unfuccefsful. 
ABIRAM, a feditious I.evite, who, in concert with 
Korah and Dathan, rebelled againft Mofes and Aaron, in 
order to (hare with them in the government of the people ; 
when Mofes ordering them to come with their cenfers be¬ 
fore the altar of the Lord, the earth fuddenly opened un¬ 
der their feet, and fwallowed up them and their tents; 
and at the fame inftant fire came from heaven, and con- 
fumed 250 of their followers. Numb. xvi. 
ABISHAT, fon of Zeruiah, and brother to Job, was 
one of the celebrated warriors w'ho flouriftied in the reign 
of David. He killed with Iris own hand 300 men, with 
no other weapon but his lance; and flew a Philiftine giant, 
the iron of whofe fpear weighed 300 ftiekels. 1 Samuel, 
xxvi. 2 Samuel, xxiii. 
To ABJUGATE, v. a. [abjugo, Lat.] To unyoke, to 
uncouple. 
ABIUL, 
