been appointed high-priest, continued to occupy this high station, till, at a very advanced period, in the presence of the assembled people, he transferred the robes of his office to his son Eleazer, and died upon Mount Hor.

From the few particulars preserved concerning Aaron, little can be gathered with respect to his character. The request of the Hebrews that Aaron should make them a golden calf, may be accounted for from their long intercourse with the Egyptians, among whom this kind of idolatry prevailed; but it may be more difficult to assign a reason, which will excuse the conduct of Aaron in complying with their request. Perhaps he might be terrified into compliance by the threats of the people; for his apology to Moses was, "thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief." In what manner Aaron acquitted himself in his pontifical office, we are not informed; but, through the whole course of his connection with Moses, he appears to have acted the part of a faithful and useful associate. Exod. iv. v. xxxii. Numb. xx. Joseph. Antiq. lib. ii. c. 13. --E.

AARON, a Briton, honoured with the title of saint, according to Venerable Bede, in the year 1303, suffered martyrdom with his brother Julius, during the persecution of the emperor Dioclesian. Accounts remain of two churches, dedicated to St. Aaron and St. Julius, in which their bodies were interred, at Caer-Leon, the ancient metropolis of Wales. Beda Eccl. lib. i. Girald. Cambr. Itin. lib. v. Biographia Britannica.-E.

AARON, the Caraite, a learned Jew, flourished about the year 1299. He left many works on the Old Testament, among which is one, upon which father Simon, an excellent critic, sets great value, and which he frequently cites in his "Critical History of the Old Testament;" it is entitled, "A Commentary upon the Pentateuch." It was written in Hebrew, and was printed in folio, with a Latin translation by Danzius, at Jena, in 1710. The author is to be distinguished from another Aaron, a Caraite Jew, the author of a concise Hebrew grammar, entitled "Chelil Jophi," [The Perfection of Beauty] printed in 12mo, at Constantinople, in 1581. Simon, Hist. Crit. du Vieux Test. lib. ii. c. 31. Moreri.-E.

AARSENS, FRANCIS, lord of Somelsdyck, was the son of Cornelius Aarsens, register of the states of the United Provinces. He was early employed in public affairs, and in 1598 was appointed resident for the States at the court of Henry IV. of France. Upon this footing he resided

there till 1609, when, on the twelve years' truce with Spain, he was acknowledged as embassador, and was the first minister of the republic who received that honour in France. He remained in that country fifteen years, much favoured and honoured by the king, who raised him to the rank of nobility. Afterwards, his attachment to the interests of his own country made him obnoxious to the French king and ministers; and being recalled, he was employed by the States in various missions to Venice, to several princes in Germany and Italy, and also in extraordinary embassies to France and England. This last country he visited in the years 1620 and 1641; the latter time, to negotiate the marriage of the prince of Orange with a daughter of Charles I. He revisited France at the beginning of the administration of Richelieu, who had a high opinion of him. Of all his negotiations he has left very exact memoirs, which show him to have been one of the ablest men of his time, and fully deserving of the confidence which was placed in him by his country. It should not, however, be concealed that he showed a bitter enmity to the remonstrants, and is supposed to have been the principal adviser of the violent measures pursucd by prince Maurice against the venerable patriot Barneveldt. The assembling of the famous and persecuting synod of Dordrecht is also attributed chiefly to his counsel. He died at an advanced age, possessed of a large property. He left behind him one son, known by the name of Mons. de Somelsdyck, and reckoned the richest man in Holland. Bayle. Mod. Univ. Hist.-A.

ABA, ALBON, or Ovon, king of Hungary, married the sister of St. Stephen I. in consequence of which he was elected on the deposition of Peter, in 1041. The emperor Henry III. preparing soon after to restore Peter, Aba made an incursion into his dominions, and brought back a great booty, but was next year obliged to make restitution, and pay a large sum, in order to prevent an invasion from the emperor. Thinking himself now confirmed on the throne, he treated with great severity the malcontents, and rendered himself universally odious to his nobility, fifty of whom he put to death on account of a conspiracy. Their dislike of him was aggravated by the familiarity with which he treated the lower class of people, whom he often admitted to his conversation and table; an indulgence shocking to the prejudices of the aristocracy. A revolt was raised against him by the fugitive nobles, aided by the emperor and marquis of Moravia, in which, after a bloody battle

fought near Javarin, Aba was obliged to fly to the village of Scoebe near the Teiss, where he was murdered by his own soldiers, in 1044. Mod. Univ. Hist. Hist. de Hongrie par Sacy.A. ABAKA-KHAN, eighth emperor of the Mogols, of the race of Zingis, was the son of Hulagu, who, in 1264, left him heir to the kingdoms of Irak, Mazanderan, and Khorasan. During his reign the Musulmans enjoyed great repose, the Mogols lived in exact discipline, the ruins of Bagdat were repaired, and the arts and sciences revived. Abaka, however, had fome wars to sustain. In the beginning of his reign, Barkah Khan, king of Bokharia, attempted to break into Persia through the straits of Caucasus, but was defeated by Abaka's brother. He returned foon after with a prodigious army, and having penetrated to Teflis in Georgia, was about to give battle to the Mogols, when he was carried off by a sudden illness, and his troops dispersed. Borak-Khan, another prince of the fame race with Barkah, afterwards passed the Amur with a great body of horse, and reducing Khorasan, advanced to Aderbijan, where he was met by Abaka, who near the city of Herat obtained a great victory over him, and forced him back across the Amur. The Egyptians having made incursions into Anatolia, Abaka repulsed them; and in 1280, on the accession of sultan Seifeddin to the throne of Egypt and Syria, Abaka sent an army into the latter country in order to take possession of it. The first expedition was only a predatory incursion; but in 1282, Mango Timur, Abaka's younger brother, marched with a large army, accompanied by the king of Armenia; and encountering the Egyptians between Hamah and Hems, was defeated, and soon after died. Abaka himself did not long survive. In the same year, having celebrated Easter-day in the church of the Christians at Hamadan, he partook of a magnificent feast the next day, given by a Persian; after which he was taken ill, and died in a short time. It was suspected that he was poisoned by the contrivance of his first minister. D'Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. Univ. Hist. — A.

ABANO, PETRUS DE. See APONO. ABARIS, a native of Hyperborean Scythia, is more celebrated as an impostor than as a philosopher. Writers differ widely concerning the time when he lived. Porphyry and Jamblichus make him contemporary with Pythagoras, and mention a conversation which he had with that philosopher, while he was detained prisoner by Phalaris: but little credit is due to the accuracy of writers who are so credulous as seriously to relate that Pythagoras showed his golden thigh

to Abaris, and that Abaris passed through the air, over land and sca, on a golden arrow, which he had received from the Hyperborean Apollo. Passing by this tale of a witch riding upon a broomstick, we may mention, as better entitled to credit, the story that in the time of a general pestilence, probably in the third Olympiad, or B. C. 768, when the oracle directed that the Athenians should be requested to supplicate the gods for all other nations, Abaris was sent on this embassy from Scythia. In the course of his travels, he is said to have delivered prophecies, and written oracles, which remained extant long after his death: they are now lost, but probably the loss is not much to be regretted. Herod. lib. iv. c. 36. Diod. Sic. lib. iii. c. 11. Jamblich. Vit. Pythag. c. 28. Euseb. Chron. n. 1568. Suidas ad Harpocrat. Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. i. Bayle.-E.

ABAUZIT, FIRMIN, a learned Frenchman, librarian of Geneva, was born at. Usez, in Languedoc, in November 1679. He lost his father at two years of age. The edict of Nantz was at that time revoked, and the French protestants were commanded to bend their consciences to the will of Louis XIV. or submit to the cruelties of persecution. Young Abauzit's mother, who was a protestant, experienced its terrors. To fecure her son from danger, and afford him the benefit of education, she with difficulty conveyed him to Geneva. From his tenth to his nineteenth year, his time was devoted to learning; and, after making great proficiency in languages, history, and antiquities, he studied mathematics, natural history, physics, and theology. finish his education, he travelled in the year 1698 into Holland, where he became acquainted with Bayle, Basnage, and Jurieu. Thence he passed over into England, where he was introduced to fir Ifaac Newton, as a young man deeply conversant in mathematical studies. That great man discerned and appreciated his merit, and fent him his Commercium Epistolicum, accompanied with the following honourable testimony in writing: "You are well worthy to judge between Leibnitz and me." The reputation of Abauzit became known to king William, who attempted, by a handsome offer, to detain him in England, but he chose to return to Geneva.

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Here, devoting himself to study, Abauzit, in 1715, entered into the society, formed for the purpose of translating the New Testament into the French language; and the clergy, of whom, chiefly, the society consisted, acknowledged themselves indebted to him for useful assistance in this important work. The University, in 1723, offered him the chair of philosophy, which he refused, pleading the weakness of his

constitution, and of his talents. The former plea was allowed to be valid; the latter, his friends, who knew his eminent qualifications, could not admit. In 1727, Abauzit was presented with the freedom of the city of Geneva, and appointed to the office of librarian to the city, which, laying him under no burdenfome restraint, he cheerfully accepted. It may be questioned, whether this excellent man was not deficient in the duty which he owed to his age, in with-holding the instructions, which he was so well able to give. He was religious by principle, and a Christian upon conviction. He defended religion to the time of his death, and employed some of his last days in endeavouring to establish its evidence. Pious without hypocrisy, virtuous without austerity, he loved mankind; he sought to be useful to them; and he never blamed others for thinking differently from himself. His love of simplicity appeared in all his actions; he shunned ceremony, and retired from flattery. His conversation, always heard with eagerness, was delivered without ostentation. Even the exterior of his house, and of his person, discovered an unaffected dislike of parade and luxury. Always himself, he was always the modest, the wise Abauzit. This valuable man died, lamented by the republic, and regretted by the learned, in the year 1767, at the advanced age of 87 years.

Voltaire is said to have paid a fine compliment to Abauzit. A stranger, having said to the poet of Ferney, that he was come to Geneva to see a great man, Voltaire asked him, whether he had seen Abauzit?

Abauzit left behind him some writings, chiefly theological. Of these the principal was, an Essay upon the Apocalypse," written to show that the canonical authority of the book of Revelation was doubtful, and to apply the predictions to the destruction of Jerusalem. This work was sent by the author to Dr. Twells, in London, who translated it from French into English, and added a refutation, with which Abauzit was so well fatisfied, that he desired his friend in Holland to stop an intended impression. The Dutch editors, however, after his death, admitted this essay into their edition of his works, which, besides, comprehends, "Reflections on the Eucharist;""on Idolatry;" ;""on the Mysteries of Religion;""Paraphrases and Explanations of sundry Parts of Scripture;" several critical and antiquarian pieces, and various letters. An edition, without the Essay on the Apocalypse, was printed at Geneva, in 8vo. in 1770.

Thefe writings, though valuable, by no

means afford an adequate idea of the merit of Abauzit. Abauzit. To judge of the depth of his physical and mathematical knowledge, it must be remembered, that he defended Newton against father Castel; that he discovered an error in the Principia, at a time when there were few people in Europe capable of reading that work; and that Newton corrected the error in the second edition. Abauzit was one of the first who adopted the grand conceptions of Newton, because he was a geometrician fufficiently learned to see their truth. He was, withal, perfectly acquainted with many languages; he underftood ancient and modern history so exactly, as to be master of all the principal names and dates: he was so accurate a geographer, that the celebrated Pococke concluded, from his minute description of Egypt, that he must, like himself, have travelled in that country: he had a very extenfive knowledge of physics; and lastly, he was intimately conversant with medals and ancient manuscripts. All these different sciences were so well digested and arranged in his mind, that he could, in an instant, bring together all that he knew upon any subject. Of this we shall add a striking example. Rousseau, in drawing up his Dictionary of Music, had taken great pains to give an accurate ac count of the music of the ancients. Conversing with Abauzit upon the subject, the librarian gave him a clear and exact account of all that he had with so much labour collected. Rousseau concluded, that Abauzit had lately been studying the subject: but this learned man, of whom it might almost literally be said that he knew every thing, and never forgot any thing, unaffectedly confeffed, that it was then thirty years fince he had inquired into the music of the ancients. It was, probably, owing to the strong impression which this incident made upon the mind of Rousseau, that the only panegyric which he ever wrote upon a living person, and at the same time one of the finest of his eloges, was addressed to Abauzit. Hist. Lit. de Geneve par Senebier, vol. iii. p. 63, &c. -E.

ABBADIE, JAMES, a celebrated protestant divine, was born at Nay, in Béarn, in 1654, or, according to Niceron, in 1658. He studied at Sedan, and took the degree of doctor in divinity; but not being able to exercise his clerical functions with safety in his own country, he accompanied the count d' Espense to Berlin, where he was appointed minister of the French church, established under the patronage of the elector of Brandenburg. After the death of the elector, Abbadie accompanied marshal

had not Abbas, who had a very loud voice, recalled the fugitives, and animated them to his defence. Abbas was also one of the first doctors of Islamism, the whole of whose science consisted in being able to repeat and explain the Koran, and preserve in their memory certain apocryphal histories; but in this he was greatly surpassed by his son. The Musulmans had a great veneration for Abbas; and the caliphs Omar and Othman never paffed him on horseback without dismounting to salute him. He died in the year of the Hegira 32, A. D. 653.

Schomberg to Holland, where he fell into the train of the prince of Orange, and passed over with him into England. He was zealously attached to the interests of king William, and to the principles of the revolution, of which he wrote an able defence. In his profeffional capacity he acquitted himself with great reputation; and he was the author of a treatise" on the Truth of the Christian Religion," written in French, and translated into English and Dutch; a work which was universally read, and esteemed an excellent defence of revelation. His clerical preferment does not appear to have been equal to his merit. The deanry of Killaloe in Ireland, with other appendages, afforded him a slender income. After a tour to Holland, he paid a vifit to his friends in London, where he was taken ill, and died in the year 1727.

Abbadie appears to have been attached to the cause of civil and religious freedom both by fituation and principle. It may be regretted, that he somewhat discredited the independence of his spirit, by writing, while in Berlin, a panegyric on the elector of Brandenburg, and afterwards in England, another on queen Mary. He was, however, a good scholar, an eloquent preacher, and an able divine. He possessed uncommon powers of memory: he is said to have composed his works, throughout, in his head, and not to have committed them to writing, but as they were wanted for the press. Befides the works already mentioned, he has left little that deserves particular notice: his last performance, on the Apocalypse, entitled, "The Triumph of Providence and Religion in the Opening of the Seven Seals," was fanciful and visionary. His works were all written in French. Niceron, Mem. des Hommes Ill. tom. 33. Bing. Brit.E.

ABBAS, EBN ABDALMOTHLEB, uncle of Mahomet, was at first hostile to his nephew, whom he regarded as an impostor and traitor to his country. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Beder, and set at a high ransom. On complaining to his nephew, that it was hard to reduce his uncle to beggary, Mahomet, who knew that he had money concealed, said to him, "Where are the purses of gold that you gave your mother to keep when you left Mecca?" Abbas, who thought this transaction secret, was much surprised, and began to entertain such an opinion of his nephew, that he embraced his religion. He afterwards became one of Mahomet's principal captains, and was with him in the battle of Honain fought against the Thakefites. In this combat Mahomet was brought into imminent danger, and would have perished,

Abul-abbas, surnamed Saffah, one of his grandsons, was caliph a century after his death, and gave commencement to the dynasty of the Abbassides, who possessed this dignity 524 years. D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient.-A.

ABBAS I. (SHAH) the Great. This famous Perfian king was the third son of Shah Mohammed Khodabandeh, and was born about A. D. 1558. He was at first governor or king of Khorasan; but, on the murder of his brother Ismael (who had himself caused that of his elder brother Hamzeh), he succeeded to the throne of Persia in 1585. One of his first actions was to put to death, partly with his own hand, his tutor Murshid, to whom he had been indebted for his life and crown, but who showed a disposition to keep him in subjection; and this bloody deed, in a barbarous and despotic country, was confidered as an indication of the vigour of character, and ability for governing, which he afterwards displayed.

When he ascended the throne, Perfia was divided among more than twenty princes, who had usurped their governments, and rendered themselves independent. There was also a body of troops, resembling the janizaries in Turkey, who kept all former sovereigns under controul. These, as well as the leading families, were of the race of Kurchi, or Turkmans; and were affociated for mutual defence, so as to set the supreme authority at defiance. It was therefore the great object of Abbas to destroy all the ancient families, and reform the refractory troops; a design in the main justifiable, though he pursued it with all the perfidy and cruelty that have ever distinguished eastern policy.

Abbas began his public exploits by a warfare of three years against Abdallah, khan of the Usbecks, who had invaded Khorazan. It terminated in the capture and death of the khan, and all his family. Abbas then visited Ispahan, with the situation of which he was so much delighted, that he made it the seat of his empire. He next undertook an expedition against the Othman Turks, from whom he took Tauris,