A, in almost all languages, is the first let ter of the alphabet, because, if pronounced open, as in father, it is the simplest and easiest of all sounds. This is the only mode of pronouncing it in almost every language except the English. To produce this sound, the mouth is merely opened, without the contraction or extension necessarily accompanying the utterance of either of the other vowels. A is the letter with which children generally begin to speak, and it serves to express many and even opposite emotions, e. g. admiration, pain, astonishment, laughter, (with the preceding H,) disgust, pleasure, according to the mode in which it is uttered. For the same reason, a is found, in all original languages, in many words which-infants utter to designate the objects with which they are most nearly connected, e. g. in the names by which they call their parents. Hence, in Hebrew, am is mother, ab father; in old Greek and Gothic, atta is father; in Latin, mamma signifies the breast. Many philologists are of opinion, that a (as in father) was the original vowel in most of those words which designate objects expressive of great strength, quickness, &c., as these first attracted the attention of men; and it is true, that, in original languages, a appears in very many words belonging to the class just mentioned, e. g. the numerous rivers, Aa (pronounced like a as in father) in Switzerland and Germany, Jakarta (thalatta, Greek for sea.) A (as in father) is very rarely the predominating sound in the cries of animals. In these, the sounds ee, ow, u, and a, (as in fate,) generally prevail. We do not include the sounds of singing birds, which are inarticulate music, like that of wind instruments. The regularly arched roof of the human mouth, and the VOL. 1. 1

other fine organs of speech, with which the Creator has blessed mankind above all lower orders of animals, are necessary to pronounce the melodious sound a (open.) A is, generally speaking, the favorite sound of singers, because it is the most musical and full of those which the mouth of man can utter. Several diphthongal sounds, as i (in pine), are, in singing, to be resolved into a (open) and another simple sound. The frequent occurrence of a (open) in the Italian language, is one of the many causes which render the Tuscan dialect so favorable for music. The English language is the only one among the cultivated modern tongues, which has four (according to others still more) sounds for the single character a. Most of the modern languages, as French, Italian, German, &c., have only the open or Italian a, pronounced short or long. Other languages have also the sound of the English a, as in all, e. g. the dialect of Finland. In Greek, this letter, when prefixed to a word, has the power of negation, like the syllable un in English, and hence it was called alpha privativum. In many English words derived from the Greek, the a has the same power.-Among the Greeks and Romans, a was used as an arithmetical sign: by the former, for 1; by the latter, for 500. (See Abbreviations.)—–—–—Ă, in music, the sixth diatonic interval of the first or lowest octave of the modern scale : a indicates the same interval in the second octave. As the capital A is used in the first instance, and the small a in the next, the former is called the great octave, the other the small. a, with a line above, denotes the same interval in the third, and a, with two lines, the same interval in the fourth octave. The first of these, from each denomination of the note in the oc

dained clergymen were those only who devoted themselves entirely to the performance of clerical duty: the others were engaged in every kind of literary occupation. There were so many of thein, poor and rich, men of quality and men of low birth, that they formed a particular class in society, and exerted an important influence on its character. They were seen every where; at court, in the halls of justice, in the theatre, in the coffee-houses. In almost every wealthy family there was an abbé, occupying the post of familiar friend and spiritual adviser, and not seldom that of the gallant of the lady. They corresponded, in a certain degree, to the philosophers who lived in the houses of the wealthy Romans in the time of the emperors. A round toupet, a short, black, brown, or violet coat, completed the appearance of an abbé.

ABBÉS COMMENDATAIRES. The king of France had formerly the right of appointing abbots over two hundred and twenty-five monasteries. These abbots enjoyed a third part of the revenues of the monastery, but had no authority over it, the charge of superintendence being committed to a prieur claustral. According to rule, every abbot ought to receive ordination in the course of a year, but the pope dispensed with the rule, and the abbe spent his income (from 1200 to 150,000 French livres) wherever he pleased. This shocking abuse excited the indignation of the people, and was one of the causes of the revolution. The lower sinecures of this kind, the abbayes des savans, were used as pensions for learned men; the richer, to provide for the younger sons of the nobility.

ABBEY. (See Abbot and Monastery.) ABBOT, George, archbishop of Canterbury, born 29 Oct. 1562, studied at Oxford. When the translation of the Bible was begun, in 1604, by order of king James, Abbot was one of the eight divines to whom it was committed. In 1609, he went to Scotland to assist in effecting a union between the kirk of that country and the church of England, and conducted the business with much moderation and address. In Dec. 1609, he was made bishop of Litchfield and Coventry; in Jan. 1610, bishop of London; in Nov. following, archbishop of Canterbury. His enemies ascribed his rapid promotion to flattery of the king, In 1613, however, he opposed James' project of a divorce between lady Frances Howard and the earl of Essex, and,

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in 1618, the royal declaration, permitting Sunday sports, which he prohibited the reading of in church. His health declining, he went to Hampshire for recreation, and, being invited to a hunt by lord Zouch, had the misfortune to shoot the game-keeper with an arrow aimed at a deer from a cross-bow. This accident affected him so much, that, besides settling an annuity of 201. on the widow, he kept, during the remainder of his life, a monthly fast on Tuesday, the day of the unhappy event. Though troubled with the gout, he performed the ceremony of crowning Charles I. He was never much in this monarch's favor, and was suspended from the exercise of his functions as primate, on refusing to license a sermon preached by Dr. Sibthorpe, in justification of a loan demanded by the king. At a meeting of parliament he was restored, and died at Croydon, Aug. 5, 1633, aged 71.

ABBOT, Charles, from 1802 till 1817 speaker of the British house of commons; born 1755, studied at Westminster. His father was Dr. Abbot, minister of All Saints' church, at Colchester. Impelled by the desire of distinction, he devoted himself to the study of the law, though possessed of a considerable fortune. His object, however, was not professional reputation, though he had an extensive practice in the court of chancery. On account of a Latin poem which he wrote on the empress of Russia, Catherine II., the Russian ambassador in London presented him, in the name of the empress, a gold medal. He wrote some treatises on legal subjects, and was chosen in 1790, 1796, and 1802, into the house of commons. As a member of parliament, he exerted himself to introduce better order into the printing and distribution of the acts of parliament; and endeavored, though in vain, to effect a reform in the phraseology of the statutes, which should make them more perspicuous. In 1795, he supported Pitt's famous Riot Act, and always attached himself to the ministerial party. In 1796, he proposed, as chairman of the committee of finance, an amendment in the promulgation of the laws, which was accepted. In 1799, he supported the imposition of the in- ' come tax. In 1800, he proposed to impose upon the collectors of the public revenues the interest of the sums uncollected, in order to prevent deficits in their returns; and voted to continue the Mutiny Bill till 1807. He was successively first secretary of state in Ireland,

and lord commissioner of the treasury; was made privy counsellor, and in 1802 speaker of the house of commons. This post is fatiguing, but lucrative on account of the large fees for the enrolment of private bills which pass the house. These bills are referred to a committee, whose reports are almost always accepted, unless they propose an innovation on some established usage. The speaker is very watchful to prevent the occurrence of any thing informal in the wording of the bills, and to check all personalities in debate. This superintendence A. is said to have exercised with much impartiality. When the opposition made a motion in the house of commons to impeach lord Melville, (Dundas,) the votes were equal, and the motion was decided in the affirmative by A.'s casting vote. In 1817, he resigned his office of speaker, on account of weakness in his eyes, and entered the house of lords, having been created viscount Colchester. He is the author of a treatise on commerce and maritime law, according to the principles of the British ministry, (Lond. 1802, a third edit. 1808.) Died May 8, 1829.

ABBOT, (Heb. abbas, father,) was originally the name of every aged monk; but since the 8th century, it denotes the head of a monastery. The abbot requires unconditional obedience from his monks, and his office is to supervise the whole brotherhood, to enforce the observance of the rules of the order, and manage the property of the convent. Since the 6th century, abbots have always been priests; and, since the second council of Nice, in 787, have enjoyed the power of conferring the lower orders of priesthood; but, in the essential points of jurisdiction, were every where subject to the diocesan bishop, till the 11th century, and independent of each other. The consequence of the abbots grew with the wealth of their monasteries; several, especially in those countries where the diffusion of Christianity proceeded from the monastic establishments, received episcopal titles and privileges; all held a rank next to that of bishop, and had a vote in the ecclesiastical councils. Equal privileges and rights appertained to the abbesses as the superiors of the nunneries, except that they have seldom been allowed to vote in synods; and the power of ordaining, the administration of the sacraments, and other sacerdotal offices, were expressly forbidden them, in the 9th centu

ry.

About this time, by the favor or from the wants of the kings, abbeys fre

quently came into the hands of the laity What avaricious barons had extorted from single convents in the 8th century, the weakness of the Carlovingians accorded to their partisans, as a reward of fidelity and military merit, since the kings possessed the right of patronage over all abbeys established on their crown lands or family estates, and generally over all which derived their origin from the royal bounty, (monasteria regalia.) Thus, in the 10th century, a number of the most considerable convents in the territory of the Roman church had lay abbots, or abbot-counts, (abbates milites, abba comites,) who appropriated to their own use the income of these institutions. In cloisters fallen to such worldly masters, the spiritual supervision was discharged by inferior abbots, deans, or priors. To the princes and princesses of the royal family, abbeys were presented, to defray the expenses of their tables: the richest were retained by the kings themselves; (thus Hugh Capet was abbot of St. Denis, near Paris, and of St. Martin, at Tours.) Nunneries were sometimes assigned to men, and monasteries to distinguished females. But this abuse, which had crept even into the Byzantine empire, rarely survived the laymen who had received the gifts. These were called commendatory abbots, because the form of the presentation was a recommendation of the convent to their protection. The zeal, which, in the beginning of the 10th century, urged a reform in monastic discipline, gradually succeeded in abolishing such donatives to the laity; and military abbots were now more rarely seen discharging, in person, the duties of a soldier, though the convents under royal patronage were for a long time retained, to reward the services of the crown vassals in war, by contributions of money and peasants. The superiors of the military clergy bore, in the camp, the name of field abbots, as the name of abbot was, in the middle ages, frequently used to denote not only magistrates (as abbas populi, the prætor at Genoa) and secular ecclesiastical dignitaries, but also the chiefs of religious and jovial fraternities, e. g. abbas cornardorum, stultorum,the abbot of misrule. In consequence of the reform commenced at Cluny, there arose new monasteries without abbots, over which the abbot of the convent of reformed Benedictines, at this place, appointed priors or pro-abbates, or even coabbates, who remained dependent on him. Besides the Benedictines, only the gray monks of Vallombrosa, the Cistercians,

Bernardines, Feuillans, Trappists, Grandmontani, Præmonstratenses, and some bodies of regular choristers, denominate their superiors abbots. In the other orders, the titles majores, ministri, priors or rectors, were in use. Besides the female branches of the above orders, the nuns of Fontevraud and the female secular choristers have abbesses. These have always remained under the jurisdiction of their diocesan bishops. The abbots of many other convents, on the contrary, shook off the authority of the bishops, and acknowledged no master but the pope. The mitred abbots enjoyed the right, frequently conferred on the Benedictines in the middle ages by the papal legate, of adopting the episcopal title and insignia. Only a few, however, possessed the episcopal power with dioceses of their own, of whom there was not one in France. Before the period of secularization, there were in Germany, but in Germany only, princely abbots and princely abbesses. These abbeys were secularized in 1803, and became principalities. By rule, the choice of abbots appertains to the chapters of their convents. In the independent abbeys, this is followed by the papal confirmation; in the dependent, by the episcopal: yet, for a long time, many abbeys in Italy have been conferred by the pope, and, in France, by the king, notwithstanding the concordat of 1516. The secular clergy, who enjoy these benefices without observing the rules of the order, are termed secular abbots; on the other hand, their vicars in the convents themselves, like all abbots of the monkish order, are called regular abbots. Younger sons of distinguished families have often entered the ranks of the secular clergy, in order to become secular abbots, and to receive the income of an abbey,without being restricted by monastic rules. As such expectants were called in France abbés, this became a general appellation for young secular clergy who were out of office. (See Abbé.) Since the revolution, which changed the abbeys into national property, and took from those expectants the object of their exertions, this class has diminished in France; but it is yet numerous in Italy, where young scholars are called abbots, merely from having undergone the tonsure, though not in orders. Napoleon led a whole army of Italian abbots to Corsica, where they lived on reduced incomes, till the restoration scattered them again over Italy. At the time of the reformation, several abbeys and convents were retained for the benefit of the clergy and the support of unmarried

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females. Some Protestant clergymen, therefore, still bear the title of abbot, with which dignity the right of sitting in the diet of the states is united; as, for example, in the Wurtemburg assembly. There are also Protestant ladies who are called abbesses. In Lower Saxony, this dignity was indeed abolished, at the time of the confiscation of the cloisters, etc., under the French Westphalian government; but in some countries, e. g. in the kingdom of Hanover, it has been restored. In the Greek church, the superiors of a convent are called higumeni, mandoa, and the abbots general, archimandrites.

ABBREVIATIONS; (called by the Romans nota; hence notarius, a short-hand writer.) The desire of saving time and space, or of secrecy, led to the invention of abbreviations in writing. The abbreviations of the Romans were of three sorts: 1. Words and syllables were abbreviated, sigla; 2. One letter was substituted for another, for the purpose of secrecy; 3. Arbitrary signs were used, like those of mathematics. The sigle are again of three kinds, according as the abbreviations relate to syllables, words, or phrases. The two last kinds of sigla are sometimes called nota Tironiana, from Cicero's freed man, Tullius Tiro. Ennius, however, had already invented 1100 of those signs, to which Tiro added the prepositions. Others increased their number still more, and Lucius Annæus Seneca collected and arranged 5000 of them. But even Ennius was not their first inventor. Every written language has such abbreviations. Many of them are indeterminate and uncertain, and the contents of many old writings and inscriptions remain, on that account, ambiguous. The oldest and most common abbreviations are those of names, titles, and formulas; e. g. M. Marcus, Æd. ædilis, Cos. consul, Coss. consules, &c. The monks, in the middle ages, made use of many abbreviations in copying the classic authors. on which account the manuscripts of that time cannot be read with ease, except by practised eyes. These abbreviations often give rise to different readings. They have been much less used since the invention of printing. The Germans employ them, for ordinary words, in greater proportion than other civilized nations. The abbreviations in the English law are numerous; there are also a great many for English titles. Many words in the modern languages arose from abbreviations of Latin terms, as they were taken by the ignorant for the words themselves. The following