Abelard, whose ambition required a wider field than that of Laon, obeyed the prohibition, and withdrew. He returned to Paris, whither the fame of his theological talents had arrived before him, and opened his school with his lectures on the prophecy of Ezekiel. His auditors were delighted; his school was crowded with scholars; and he united in his lectures the sciences of theology and philosophy with so much success, that multitudes repaired to his school from various parts of France, from Spain, Italy, Germany, Flanders, and Great Britain.

Abelard. would bring discredit upon his master.

Hitherto Abelard has appeared with high distinction, as an able disputant, and a popular preceptor: we must now view him under a different character, and, when nearly arrived at the sober age of forty, see him, on a sudden, exchanging the school of philosophy for the bower of pleasure, and even disgracing himself, as will too plainly appear in the sequel, by forming and executing a deliberate plan for the seduction of female innocence. It happened that there was at this time, resident in Paris, Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, one of the canons of the cathedral church, a lady about eighteen years of age, of great personal beauty, and highly celebrated for her literary attainments. Abelard, whose vanity had been satiated with fame, and the vigour of whose mind was now enervated by repose, found himself inclined to listen to the voice of passion. He beheld with ardent admiration the lovely Heloise, and confident that his personal attractions were still irresistible, he determined to captivate her affections. Fulbert, who doubtless thought himself honoured by the visits of so eminent a scholar and philosopher, received him into his house as a learned friend. He was soon afterwards prevailed upon, by a handsome payment which Abelard offered for his board, to admit him into his family; and, apprehending no hazard from a man of Abelard's age and profession, confidentially requested him to undertake the instruction of Heloise. Abelard accepted the trust, bút, as it seems, without any other intention than to betray it. The hours of instruction were employed in other lessons than those of learning and philosophy; and to such a master as Abelard, it was not surprising that Heloise was an apt scholar. Fulbert's respectful opinion of the philosopher, and his partiality for his niece, long concealed from him an amour, which was become the subject of general conversation. At length the discovery burst upon him like a clap of thunder. Upon discovering her pregnancy, it was thought necessary for her to quit her uncle's house, and Abelard conveyed her to Bretagne, where his sister was prepared to receive them. Here Heloise was delivered of a son, to whom they gave the whimsical name of AstroJabus. Abelard, upon the birth of the child, proposed to Fulbert to marry his niece, provided the marriage might be kept secret: Fulbert consented, and Abelard returned to Bretagne to fulfil his engagement. Heloise, partly out of regard to the honour of AbeJard, whose profession bound him to celibacy, and partly from a romantic notion that love like hers ought not to submit to ordinary restraints, at first gave Abelard a peremptory refusal. He, however, at last prevailed, and they were privately married at Paris. Heloise from this time met with severe treatment from

her uncle, which furnished Abelard with a plea for removing her from his house, and placing her in the abbey of Benedictine nuns, in which she had been educated. Fulbert concluded, perhaps not without reason, that Abelard had taken this step, in order to rid himself of an incumbrance which obstructed his future prospects. Deep resentment took possession of his soul, and he meditated revenge. He employed several ruffians to enter his chamber by night, and inflict upon his person a disgraceful and cruel mutilation. The deed was perpetrated; the ruffians were taken, and suffered, according to the Lex Talionis, the punishment they had inflicted; and Fulbert, for his savage revenge, was deprived of his benefice, and his goods were confiscated. Unable to support his mortifying reflections, Abelard resolved to retire to a convent. At the same time he formed the selfish resolution, that, since Heloise could no longer be his, she should never be another's, and ungenerously demanded from her a promise to devote herself to religion; and even insisted upon her taking the holy vow before him, suspecting, as it seems, that if he first engaged himself, she might violate her promise, and return to the world; a circumstance, with which she afterwards thus tenderly reproached him: "In that one instance, I confess, your mistrust of me tore my heart; Abelard, I blushed for you." Heloise submitted to the harsh injunction, professed herself in the abbey of Argenteuil, and receiving the religious habit, exclaimed in the words of Cornelia:

A few days after Heloise had taken her vows, Abelard assumed the monastic babit in the abbey of St Denys, determined as it seems to forget, in hope of being forgotten by the world. However, his admirers and scholars in Paris were unwilling that the world should lose the benefit of his labours, and sent deputies to entreat him to return to his school. After some deliberation, he again yielded to the call of ambition; and at a small village in the country, he resumed his lectures, and soon found himself surrounded with a numerous train of scholars. The revival of his popularity renewed the jealousy of other professors, who took the first opportunity of bringing him under ecclesiastical censure. A treatise which he published at this time, entitled, "The Theology of Abelard," was supposed to contain some heretical tenets. A synod was called at Soissons in the year 1121; the work was condemned to be burnt, and Abelard was commanded to throw it. into the flames. After being involved in other controversies, new charges were brought against him, and he fled to the convent of St Ayoul at Provins in Champagne, the prior of which was his intimate friend. The place of his retreat was soon discovered, and

threats

years.

About this time, Suger the abbot of St Denys, on the plea of an ancient right, obtained a grant for annexing the convent of Argenteuil, of which Heloise was now prioress, to St Denys, and the nuns, who were accused of irregular practices, were dispersed. Abelard, informed of the distressed situation of Heloise, invited her, with her companions, eight in number, to take possession of the Paraclete.

It was during Abelard's residence at St Gildas, that the interesting correspondence passed between him and Heloise, which is still extant. The letters of Heloise, in this correspondence, abound with proofs of genius, learning, and taste, which might have graced a better age. It is upon these letters that Mr Pope has formed his" Epistle from Eloisa to Abelard;" a piece which is entitled to the highest praise for its poetical merit, but which deviates in many particulars from the genuine character and story of Heloise, and culpably violates moral propriety. Here, too, Abelard probably wrote his "Theology," which again subjected him to persecution. His opinions were pronounced heretical by a council; and although he appealed to Rome, the judgment of the council was confirmed by the pope; and he was sentenced, unheard, to perpetual silence and imprisonment. By the interposition of some friends, however, and by a submissive apology, he obtained his pardon, with permission to end his days in the monastery of Cluni.

At Cluni he was retired, studious, and devout. The monks of the convent importuned him to resume the business of instruction. In a few occasional efforts he complied with their solicitation; and his lectures were heard with undiminished applause. But his health and spirits were much enfeebled, and gradually declined till he died in the 63d year of his age, A. D. 1142. His body was sent to Heloise to be interred in the convent of the Paraclete. Heloise survived her husband 21 years, a pattern of conjugal affection and monastic virtue; and was buried in the same grave, as appears by the following epitaph:

Hic

Sub eodem marmore, jacent

Hujus Monasterii

Conditor, Petrus Abelardus,

Et abbatissa prima, Heloisa,
Olim studiis, ingenio, infaustis nuptiis
Et pœnitentia,

Nunc æterna, ut speramus, felicitate,
Conjuncti.

Petrus obiit 21 Aprilis 1142.
Heloisa 17 Maiï 1163.

The amour, which has given Abelard so much celebrity, will remain an eternal blot upon his memory. It was not a juvenile indiscretion of which Abelard was guilty, but according to his own confession, the seduction of innocence, deliberately planned, and resolutely executed. It was accompanied with breach of confidence, violation of duty, and degradation of character. Except in the grant of the Paraclete as an asylum to Heloise and her sisterhood, an uniform selfishness appears in Abelard's conduct. In Heloise, the criminality, though not obliterated, was palliated by youthful ardour and inexperience; and extreme sensibility, romantic attachment, noble generosity, and disinterested invincible constancy, united to throw a veil over human frailty. Considered apart from this disgraceful affair, Abelard appears with more advantage. His writings, indeed, will not give the reader a high idea of his genius or taste: but it cannot be questioned, that the man who could foil the first masters of the age at the weapons of logic, could draw round him crowded and admiring auditors, and could collect scholars from different provinces and countries whereever he chose to form a school, must have possessed extraordinary talents. Had his love of truth been equal to his thirst of fame, and had his courage in adhering to his principles been equal to his ingenuity in defending them, his sufferings and persecutions might have excited more regret, and his title to honourable remembrance would have been better established. Upon the whole, of Abelard it may perhaps with truth be said, that he was too vain to be truly great, and too selfish to be eminently good, and that his character is rather adapted to excite admiration than to command respect. His principal works, written in Latin, are, Address to the Paraclete on the Study of the Scriptures; Problems and Solutions; Sermons on the Festi vals; A Treatise against Heresies; An Exposition of the Lord's Prayer; A Commentary on the Romans; A System of Theology; and his Letters to Heloise and to others." (Gen. Biog.).

An

ABEL TREE, or ABELE TREE, an obsolete name for a species of the poplar. See POPULUS, BOTANY Index.

ABELIANS, ABEOLITES, or ABELONIANS, in church history, a sect of heretics mentioned by St Austin, which arose in the diocese of Hippo in Africa, and is supposed to have begun in the reign of Arcadius, and ended in that of Theodosius. Indeed it was not calculated for being of any long continuance. Those of this sect regulated marriage after the example of Abel; who, they pretended, was married, but died without ever having known his wife. They therefore allowed each man to marry one woman, but enjoined them to live in continence; and, to keep up the sect, when a man and woman entered into this society, they adopted a boy and a girl, who were to inherit their goods, and to marry upon the same terms of not be

getting

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Abelians.

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editions of these works, which renders it unnecessary Abercrom. to point out those papers of which Mr Abercromby was the author.

In May 1792, he was appointed one of the judges of the court of session, and in December following he was called to a seat in the court of justiciary. Lord Abercromby continued to discharge the arduous duties of these important offices till summer 1795, when he was seized with a pectoral complaint, of which he died on the 17th November the same year, at Exmouth in Devonshire, where he had gone for the recovery of his health.

As a lawyer, Lord Abercromby had acquired great reputation. His papers on law-cases were distinguished for precision and perspicuity. His speeches were elegant, animated, and eloquent. With the most pathetic feeling he pled the cause of the unfortunate; while he could assume the severe tone of virtuous indignation in rebuking injustice and oppression. With such qualifications, added to the strictest attention and punctuality, he could not fail to become an able and respectable judge. In this high station, his deportment was grave, dignified, and decided. His elocution was solemn and deliberate; and his opinions, delivered in this manner, had an impressive effect. Avoiding a detail of circumstances, and never arguing the cause as a lawyer, he pronounced with brevity and precision the opinion of a judge drawn from its striking and prominent features. His only writings are the papers in the periodical publications already alluded to. They are marked by an easy turn of expression, manly and virtuous sentiments, and, when the subject required it, by delicate irony or unaffected tenderness. (Phil. Trans. Edin.).

Abercrom. view he was educated at the university of Edinburgh, where he passed through the requisite course of languages, philosophy, and law, and was admitted advocate in the year 1766: but neither during the time of his education, or for some years after he entered his professional career, did he give much promise of those eminent abilities and that assiduous application which afterwards distinguished him as a pleader and a judge. The vivacity of his disposition, and the sprightliness of his manners, led him to prefer the gayer amusements of life, and the society of men of fashion and pleasure, to the arduous prosecution of philosophical studies, and to the less inviting and more barren paths of legal disquisitions. When, however, either during his academical course, or the first years of his practice at the bar, occasions required the exertion of his talents, the quickness of his perception, and the acuteness and strength of his understanding, enabled him to display such powers of attention and application to business as are seldom acquired but by regular and uniform habits of industry, and by the force of constant application. But, to attain that distinction and eminence to which he aspired, and to secure that independence which the patrimony of a younger son of a family, more respectable than opulent, could not afford him, he found it necessary to withdraw from those scenes of amusement and pleasure, and to seclude himself from that society which his gaiety and agreeable manners had enlivened and entertained, and to think seriously of applying to the labours of his profession. With much credit to himself, and with undiminished vigour of mind, he threw off the character of the man of fashion, and devoting his time and talents to the toilsome detail of business as a lawyer, by his successful efforts, he soon gave solid proofs of the distinguished abilities which he possessed. About this time, he was engaged as counsel in a cause in which public curiosity and opinion were much interested and divided. This cause, which was of a very intricate nature, afforded an opportunity of making a more eminent display of his professional talents. By a speech which he delivered on this occasion, conspicuous for accurate discrimination, strength of argument, and impressive eloquence, he gave a favourable presage of his future.celebrity. The marks of approbation which he now received probably taught him to appreciate those talents which had hitherto remained concealed or unemployed, and encouraged him to call them forth into exertion.

In 1780, Mr Abercromby resigned the office of sheriff depute of Stirlingshire, which he had held for several years, and accepted of that of depute-advocate, with the hope of extending his employment in the line of his profession. In this step he was not disappointed; for his reputation and business rapidly increased, and soon raised him to the first rank of lawyers at the Scotch bar. In the midst of the laborious duties of his profession, Mr Abercromby did not entirely preclude himself from indulging in the elegant amusements of polite literature. He was one of that society who set on foot two periodical papers, the Mirror and Lounger, published at Edinburgh; the former in 1779, and the latter in 1785. To the Mirror he contributed ten papers, and to the Lounger nine. The names of the authors have been published in the late

ABERCROMBY, Sir Ralph, knight of the Bath, and a lieutenant-general in the British army, an elder brother of the preceding, was born in the year 1738. Being destined for the army, he obtained, in May 1756, a cornet's commission in the 2d dragoon guards; and rose, April 24. 1762, to the rank of a captain in the 3d regiment of horse. Ascending through the intermediate gradations of rank, he was appointed, November 3. 1781, to the colonelcy of the 103d infantry. September 28. 1787, he was promoted to the rank of major-general. November 5. 1795, he obtained the command of the 7th regiment of dragoons. Having been nearly 40 years in the army, having served with honour in two wars, and being esteemed one of the ablest, coolest, and most intrepid officers in the whole British forces, he was employed on the continent under his royal highness the duke of York, in the commencement of the present war. In the action on the heights of Cateau, he commanded the advanced guard; and was wounded at Nimeguen. He conducted the march of the guards from Deventer to Oldeusaal, in the retreat of the British out of Holland, in the winter of 1794-5. In August 1795, he was appointed to succeed Sir Charles Grey, as commander in chief of the British forces in the West Indies. March 24, 1796, Grenada was suddenly attacked and taken by a detachment of the army under his orders. He afterwards obtained possession of the settlements of Demarara and Issequibo, in South America. St Lucia was next taken by more difficult exertions, in which the ability of this eminent commander was signally displayed.

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