$ ABB 
John la Placettc, and afterwards at the univerfity of Sedan. 
From thence he went into Holland and Germany, and 
was minifter in tbe French church of Berlin. He left that 
place in 1690; came into England; and was fome time 
minifter in the French church in the Savoy, London; and 
was made dean of Killalow in Ireland. He died in Lon¬ 
don, in 1727, aged 73. He was ftrongly attached to the 
caufe of King William, as appears in his elaborate de¬ 
fence of the revolution, and his hiftory of the affafii- 
nation-plot. He had great natural abilities, which he 
improved by true and.ufeful learning. He was a moft 
zealous defender of the primitive doitrine of the prctef- 
tants, as appears by his writings; and that ftrong nervous 
eloquence for which he was fo remarkable, enabled him 
to enforce the doftrines of his profeftion from the pulpit 
with great fpirit and energy. He publifhed feveral works 
in French, that were much efteemed. 
ABBAS, fon of Abdalmothleb, and Mahomet’s uncle, 
oppofed his nephew .with all his power, efteeming him an 
impoftor and infidel; but, in the fecond year of the Hegira, 
being overcome and made a prifoner at the battle of 
Bendir in 623, and a great ranfom being demanded for 
him, he reprefented to Mahomet, that his paying it would 
reduce him to poverty, which would redound to the dif- 
honour of the family. But Mahomet having been in¬ 
formed of Abbas’s having fecreted large fums of money, 
allied him after the purl’es of gold he had left in his mo¬ 
ther’s cuftody at Mecca. Abbas, upon this, conceiving 
him to be really a prophet, embraced his new religion; 
became one of his principal captains; and faved his life 
when in imminent danger at the battle of Henain, againft 
the Thakefites, foon after the reduflion of Mecca. B.ut 
belides being a great commander, Abbas was alfo a 
famous doftor of the Muffulman law, infomuch that lie 
read ledhires upon every chapter of the Koran, as his ne¬ 
phew pretended to receive them one by one from heaven. 
He died in 652, and his memory is held in the higheft ve¬ 
neration among the Muffulmans to this day. 
Abbas (Abul), furnamed Saflali, was proclaimed kha- 
lif; and in him began the dynafty of the 
ABBASIDES, who polfeffed the khalifate for 524 
years; and there were thirty-feven khalifs of tliis race 
who l'ucceeded one another without interruption. 
ABBE ,f. ina modern fenfe, the name of a curious po¬ 
pular character in France, of late very much mentioned, 
but very little known, in Britain. The term is not to be 
rendered in our language, as the exiftence of the clafs it 
denominates is pofterior to the reformation, and no fuch 
chara&er was known among the Romanifts till about a 
century and a half ago. 
Abbes, according to the ftridteft definition, are perfons 
who have never obtained any precife or fixed fettlement in 
church or ftate, yet poftefted, till very lately, the moft 
ready accefs to all tables, and to all communities in France. 
Their drefs was rather that of an academic, or of a pro- 
fefted fcholar, than of an ecclefiaftic; and, by never vary¬ 
ing in colour, was no incumbrance on the pocket. We are 
told thefe abb£s were very numerous, and no lefs infinua- 
ting. They were, in colleges, the inftruftors of youth ; 
in private families, the tutors of young gentlemen; and 
many procured a decent livelihood by their literary and 
witty compofttions of all kinds, from the profoundeft phi- 
lofophy, to the moft airy romances. They were in (Tiort, 
a body of men who poftefted a fund of univerfal talents 
and learning, and were inceftantly employed in the publi¬ 
cation of the moft witty larcafms, and impreflive truths. 
No fubjeft efcaped them; ferious or gay, folid or ludicrous, 
facred or profane, all were fubfervient to their refearches; 
and, as they were converfant in the loweft as well as the 
higheft political topics, their fame was equally great in the 
learned, and in the fcribbling world. A diftinguiftiing 
part of their charafter too was their devotion to the fair- 
fex : whofe favourites, in return, they had the honour of 
being in the moft enviable degree; the wit and fmartnefs 
for which they were remarkable, being juft the very thing 
ABB 
that fuited the French ladies, In fine, thefe abbes were 
fought after by moft people, on varior accounts; as they 
were equally men of bufinefs and pleaf .re, not lefs expert 
in the moft ferious tranfaclions, than fond of enjoying 
their (hare in whatever occupied the gay world. Hence 
they diligently frequented all public fpettacles, which were 
thought incomplete without them; and they compofed the 
moft intelligent part of the company, as they were the 
moft weighty approvers or condemners of what paffed in 
all places. And it is now faid, that by the wit, and fub- 
tlety of their writings,—by the poignancy of their fatire, 
and the freedom of their fpeech, they were, in a great 
meafure, the inftruments of ftirring up the public mind, 
and of bringing about that aftonifhing revolution, which 
will ever make the moft prominent feature in the civil and 
political hiftory of France. 
Abbe, in a monaftic fenfe, the fame with abbot. 
ABBEFIORD, a fea-port of Norway. 
ABBERLOUGH, a beautiful lake in Argylefhire. 
ABBERTON, near Lexden, Effex. —Abberton, near 
Perfliore, (even miles' from Worcefter, famous for its mi¬ 
neral water. —Asberwick, near Alnwick, Northumber¬ 
land.— Abbenhall, twelve miles from Gloucefter, three 
from Newnham, noted for a fpring of water very efficaci¬ 
ous in the cure of cutaneous eruptions. 
ABBESS, f. the fuperior of an abbey or convent of nuns. 
The abbefs has the fame rights and authority over her 
nuns that the abbots regular have over their monks. 
The fex indeed does not allow her to perform the fpiritual 
functions annexed to the priefthood, wherewith the abbot 
is ufually invefted; but there are inftances of fome ab- 
beftes who have a right or rather a privilege, to commif- 
fion a prieft to aft for them. They have even a kind of 
epifcopal jurifdiftion, as well as fome abbots who are ex¬ 
empted from the vifitation of their diocefans. Martene, 
in his Treatife on the Rites of the Church, obferves, that 
fome abbeffes have formerly confefted their nuns. But 
he adds, that their exceffive curiofity carried them fuch 
lengths, that there arofe a neceffity of checking it. How¬ 
ever, St. Bafil, in his rule, allows the abbefs to he prefent 
with the prieft at the confeftion of her nuns. 
ABBEVILLE, a confiderable city of France in Picar¬ 
dy, and the capital of Ponthieu; the river Somme runs 
through the middle of it, and divides it into two parts. 
It has a collegiate-church, and twelve parifh-churches; 
the moft confiderable of which are St. George’s and St. 
Giles’s, befides a great number of monafteries and nun¬ 
neries, a bailiwic, and a prefidial court. It is a fortified 
town; the walls are flanked with baftions, and furrounded 
by large ditches. The country about it is low, marftiy, 
and dirty. It is pretty well peopled, and is famous for 
its manufaftory of foaps, and linen and woollen cloths. It 
is about fifteen miles eaft of the Britifh channel, and (Trips 
may'come by the river Somme to the middle of the town. 
This city is 52 miles S. of Calais, and 80 N. by W, of 
Paris. E. Ion. 2. 6. lat. 50. 7. 
ABBEY, or ABBY, / [ab'oatia, Lat.] A monaftery of 
religious perfons, whether men or women; diftinguiffied 
from religious houfes of other denominations by larger 
privileges. 
Abbeys differ from priories, in that the former are un¬ 
der the direction of an abbot, and the others of a prior.: 
but abbot and prior (we mean a prior conventual) are 
much the fame thing, differing in little but the name. 
Thefe abbeys were at firft no tiling more than religious 
houfes, whither perfons retired from the buftle of the 
world to fpend their time in ftftitude gnd devotion. But 
they foon degenerated from their original inftitution, and 
procured large privileges, exemptions, and riches. They 
prevailed greatly in England : and, as they increafed in 
riches, fo the date became poor; for the lands which thefe 
regulars pofleffed were in mortua manu, i. e- could never 
revert to the lords who £ave them. This inconvenience 
gave rife to the ftatutes againft gifts in mortmain, which 
prohibited donations to thefe religious houfes: and Lord 
Coke 
