Abbatucci, Jacques

PIERRE CHARLES, a French diplomatist, B.1791, administrator in Corsica, and several times elected to the Chamber of Deputies; he distinguished himself in the National A embly of 1848 by his opposition to the social democratic movement. Appointed by Louis Napoleon minister of justice and keeper of the seals in 1852. He died Nov. 11, 1857. into the Yadkin. In the middle ages, abbeys or monasteries were the re- Abbott's Creek, a river of North Carolina; it flows pos i tories, as well as the seminaries, of learning; many valuable books and national records, as well as private history, having been preserved in their libraries, the only place in which they could have been safely lodged in those turbulent times. Every abbey had at least one person whose office it was to instruct youth; and the historians of this time are chiefly beholden to the monks for the knowledge they have of former national events. In these houses, also the arts of painting, architecture, and printing were cultivated. They were hospitals for the sick and poor, and afforded entertainment to travel- lers at a time when there were no inns. They were like- wise an asylum for aged and indigent persons of good family. The abbeys were wholly abolished in England by Henry VIII. at the time of the Reformation. Abbreviate, v . a . [Lat. abbreviare.] To shorten by contraction or omi ion of parts without lo of the main substance; - to shorten, to abridge, to cut short. (Math.) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction, Abbreviate, a. ( Bot .) Having one part relatively shorter than another. Abbiate-Gra o, a town of northern Italy, prov. of Pavia. It is situate on the canal of Bereguardo, 14 miles from Milan. Abbit/ibbee, former name of a district, river, and trading station in British America, forming part of the Hudson Bay Co.'s po e ions; now part of Ontario. Ab'bon, or ABBO TERNUUS, & French monk of St. Ger- main-des-Prés, author of a "Poetical Relation of the Siege of Paris by the Normans and Danes, toward the end of the Ninth Century; " a work only curious as a narra- tive by an eye-witne of the events which he describes. Abbon, or ABBO FLORIOCENCIS, a French Benedictine monk of the tenth century, abbot of Fleuri, was employed by King Robert of France to negotiate with Pope Gregory V., who had laid France under an interdict. Author of "Epitome of the Lives of the Popes." Abbot, [Heb. abba , father.] The superior of a monastery of monks erected into an abbey or priory. The principal distinction observed between abbots are those of regu- Abbreviation and Abbreviature, a contraction of a word or pa age, made by the omi ion of the letters, or by the substitution of some arbitrary sign; as, La., Louisiana; Oz., ounce, etc. Also , the act of abbreviating. The principal abbreviations in common use are given on the initial page of this work. (Mus.) One dash, or more, through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or demisemiquavers. B IMG:content-0013.jpg:[graphic] Abbreviator, one who abbreviates or reduces to a smaller compa . Abbreviator i. [It.] A body of notaries (72 in number) belonging to the papal court, whose busine it is to draw up briefs, and do various kinds of writing usually devolving on official secretaries. Abbreviatory, a . That abbreviates; shortening. Abbs, (St.,) a promontory on the eastern coast of Scotland, Lat. 55° 55' N., Lon. 2o 8′ 30′′ W. The tide runs by it with a strong current, and a little wind causes a great rolling sea. Abchas'ia, Abasia, Abkhasia, ( ab - ka'ze -ah,) a prov. of Asiatic Ru ia, comprehended between Lat. 42° 30' and 44° 45' N., and between Long. 37° 3′ and 40° 36′ E. The high mountains of the Caucasus divide it from Cir ca ia on the N.; on the S. E. it is bounded by Mingrelia; and on the S. and W. by the Black Sea. The country is generally mountainous, the climate mild, and the land fertile. In later times this country was subject to Colchis, until subdued by the Emperor Just in i an, who introduced civilization and Christianity. Afterward the Persians, Georgians, Mongol i ans, and more recently the Turks, in turn, ruled over the country. By the treaties of Akerman in 1826, and of Adrianople in 1829, it was ceded to Ru ia, but except the po e ion of a few commanding fortre es on the coast, Ru ia has very little authority over the people, and the chiefs have almost unlimited power. Mahometanism is the religion of the higher cla es, but the people generally are buried in idolatry. Abd, an Arabian prefix, signifying slave or servant ; it enters, with the name of God, into the composition of a great number of proper names; as, Abd -allah, servant of God; Abd -el-Kader, servant of the mighty God. Ab'dal, one of a cla of religious devotees in Persia, corresponding to a dervise in Turkey. Abdallah, son of Abd-el-Malek-ben-Omar, A. D. 785, a succe ful leader of the Spanish Moors in their irruption into southern France. He laid siege to and captured the towns of Gironne and Narbonne Abdallah, the last chieftain of the Wahabee sect in Arabia. He was defeated by Ibrahim Bey, son of Mehemet Ali, who treacherously seized him while conferring on terms of peace. Sent to Constantinople, Abdallah was paraded through the streets, and beheaded as a rebel, December, 1818. Abdallah BEN-ABD-EL-MOTTALIB, father of Mohammed, born at Mecca A. D. 545; died 570. The paternity of the prophet is Abdallah's sole claim to distinction. Abdallah BEN YASSIM, founder of the warlike tribe of Almoravides in Barbary, A. D. 1050, which were afterward conspicuous for the subjugation of part of Spain, and the founding of a d, nasty in the Moorish kingdom. Abdallah BEN ZOBAIR, sultan of Mecca, b. about 622. He was the son of Zobaïr, a companion of Mohammed, and of Asma the sister of Ayesha, the prophet's favorite wife. On the death of the prophet, the a a ination of Ali, Mohammed's succe or, and the defeat of Yezid, succe or of Ali, Abdallah was acknowledged sultan and caliph of Mecca, A. D. 685. Vanquished in his turn by Abd-el-Malek, caliph of Damascus, he retired to the Caaba, where he was killed by a blow on the head from a tile, A. D. 692. Abdal'lat if, or Abdollatiph, a celebrated physician and traveller, and one of the most voluminous writ ers of the East, was born at Bagdad, in 1179, and died in 1231. Of his numerous works, one only has found its way inte Europe; nor do any of the others appear to be known at this day in the East. The work here alluded to is an "Account of Egypt;" it presents us with a detailed and authentic view of the state of Egypt during the middle ages. Abdal-m'alek, or Abdulmelech, the son of Mirvan, and the fifth caliph of the race of the Ommiades. In his reign the Indies were conquered in the east, and his armies penetrated Spain in the west; he likewise extended his empire toward the south, by making himself master of Medina and Mecca. He began his reign in the 65th year of the Hegira, A. D. 684; reigned 25 years; and four of his sons succe ively enjoyed the caliphate. Abdal-m'alek. See AVENZOAR. Abdalonimus, or Abdolonimus, also called BALLONYMUS, a gardener, but of royal descent. Was made king of Sidon by Alexander the Great.