however, in part over-ruled; and the primate and bishops, who seem to have been no strangers to the value of the prudent maxim, medio tutiffimus ibis, determined that the cross only should be erected, without the body, or the -dove.

A new path of ascent to clerical honours now opened before Abbot. King James, who, though a native of Scotland, was fond of the English hierarchy, earnestly wished to establish an union between the churches of the two kingdoms. This important commission he entrusted to the care of his treasurer in Scotland, the earl of Dunbar; and Abbot, whose character for discretion had been long established, was fixed upon as a proper person to accompany the treasurer as his chaplain, and assist him in the arduous task of bending the necks of the Scotch clergy to the yoke of episcopal jurisdiction. By the prudent management of the dean, aided, perhaps, by the powerful influence of some seasonable distributions from the treasury, (Calderwood's Hist. of the Church of Scotland, p. 588.) this favourite object was, without much opposition, so far accomplished, that the bishops were appointed to be perpetual moderators in the diocesan synods, and to possess the power of presentation to benefices, and of deprivation, or suspension, of ministers, with other privileges. The success of this commission was highly gratifying to the king; and Abbot, to whose judicious exertions this success was principally owing, from this time stood high in his royal master's favour. Another circumstance, which contributed to ingratiate him with James, was, that, during his residence in Edinburgh, an account being published by judge Hart of the trial of George Sprot, who, on his own confession, was convicted and executed for being concerned in Gowrie's conspiracy, Abbot prefixed to this account a preface, which cleared up that mysterious affair to the satisfaction of the king and the public. Possibly, too, Abbot might be a little indebted for his good fortune to adulation; for we find that he so far adopted the fashion of the times, as, in the preface just mentioned, to load his royal master with the following fulsome panegyric: "His whole life has been so immaculate and unspotted in the world, so free from all touch of viciousness and staining imputation, that even malice itself, which leaveth nothing unsearched, could never find true blemish in it, nor cast probable aspersion on it: zealous as David; learned and wise, the Solomon of our age; religious as Josias, careful of spreading Christ's faith as Constantine the Great; just as Moses;

VOL. 1.

undefiled in all his ways, as a Jehosaphat, or Hezekias; full of clemency, as another Theodosius."

Abbot now possessed a considerable portion of the royal confidence, and was consulted by the king on the propriety of his interfering as a mediator between the crown of Spain and the United Provinces. Of the dean's opinion upon this business we have no other information than from a singular letter from the king to Abbot, first published by Sherlock, dean of St Paul's. From this letter it appears, that Abbot's ideas of regal power were, at this time at least, not very consistent with the principles of liberty. To the king's enquiry, "whether a Christian and a protestant king may concur to assist his neighbours in shaking off their obedience to their own sovereign, upon the account of oppression or tyranny?" he gave, it seems, a reply in the negative, on the slavish principle, that even tyranny is God's authority. (New Observator, vol. iii. Numb. 12.) In the present case the good dean may be allowed to have had some merit in bringing forward even this servile doctrine, at a time when it did not suit the king's convenience to listen to it. There was not, however, much danger that he would give such a prince as James lasting offence by such doctrine; and we are not surprised that the king dismissed the argument and the doctor, with this piece of pleasantry:-" Mr. Doctor, I have no time to express my mind further on this theory business; I shall give you my orders about it by Mr. Solicitor; and until then, meddle no more in it, for they are edge-tools; or rather like that weapon, that is said to cut with one edge and cure with the other." The event proved, that the doctor's notions on this ❝ theo

ry

business" were not very offensive to his master; for, very soon afterwards ecclesiastical honours were heaped upon him in rapid succes. sion; first, the bishopric of Litchfield and Coventry; then the mitre of London, and about two years afterwards, in April 1611, the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury.

To this summit of ecclesiastical preferment Abbot arrived in the midst of many envious rivals, among whom were several dignitaries who were inclined to favour the papists and his learning, probity, and industry enabled him to sustain the burden of his high office with reputation. Some facts, however, occurred in the course of his life, which plainly showed, that, though at the head of what might then be called the low party in the church, and though a decided enemy to the superstition and intolerance of the Romish church, his mind was

C

deeply tinctured with the tyrannical principles, and bigoted spirit, of the age. The same principles, which had before prompted him to discourage the king from assisting the Dutch in regaining their liberty, now inclined him, as soon as he was vested with the supreme ecclesiastical power, to assert in their full extent the prerogatives of his office, as exercised in the high count of commission, and to refuse submission to those restrictions, which that upright judge, Sir Edward Coke, attempted to put upon its formidable and oppressive jurisdiction; (Win wood's Memorials, fol. 1725. vol. iii. p. 281. 294.) concerning which judge Blackstone says, that "in the reigns of James and Charles I. means were found to vest in the high commission extraordinary and almost despotic powers of fining and imprisoning." (Comment. b. iii. ch. 5.) At a subsequent period, however, we shall find the tone of the archbishop's political principles considerably lowered.

With respect to religious opinions, archbishop Abbot was a rigid Calvinist; and his zeal for the reformed faith, according to his own standard, was accompanied with so little liberality, that he was scarcely less inclined to treat with severity the protestant heretics on one side, than the Roman catholics on the other. When Conrade Vorstius, who had, in Holland, written, in Latin, an Arminian treatise, "On the Attributes of God," was nominated to a professorship in the university of Leyden, the archbishop, as appears from authority which the author of the Confessional (See Confessional, p. 285. 3d ed. Brandt's Hist. of the Ref. vol. ii. p. 19. Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 296.) has in vain attempted to invalidate, persuaded the king to interpose his protest, by means of his minister Sir Ralph Winwood, in the assembly of the States-General, against the admission of this heretic to the professional chair. And, when this effort of bigotry met with unexpect ed opposition, it was with an ill grace that the archbishop concurred in the pitiful expedient of postponing the decision till the opinion of the churches of France, Germany, and other countries, on the subject, could be collected.

The powerful effect of prepossession to mislead the judgment is singularly exemplified in an interview, which, in consequence of the affair of Vorstius, took place between Abbot and the illustrious Grotius. In hope of giving the king a more favourable idea of the Arminians, or remonstrants, of Holland, this great man, who was their most able advocate, came over to England, and had several conferences with the king and the bishops. From the archbishop's

own letter to Sir R. Winwood, we learn that Grotius, though so eminent for learning, genius, and judgment, introduced under an unfavourable association, appeared to Abbot in no better light than that of an impertinent prater, rude and troublesome by his garrulity. A pas sage in this letter is too curious to be omitted. "You must take heed how you trust Dr. Grotius too far; I perceive him to be so addicted to some partialities in those parts, that he feareth not to lash, so it may serve a turn. At his first coming to the king, by reason of his good Latin tongue, he was so tedious, and full of tittle-tattle, that the king's judgment was of him, that he was some pedant full of words, and of no great judgment. And I myself, discovering that to be his habit, as if he did imagine that every man was bound to hear him so long as he would talk (which is a great burden to men replete with business), did privately give him notice thereof, that he should plainly and directly deliver his mind, or else he would make the king weary of him. This did not so take place, but that afterwards he fell to it again, as was especially observed one night at supper at the lord bishop of Ely's, whither being brought by Mr. Casaubon (as I think), my lord entreated him to stay supper, which he did. There was present Dr. Steward and another civilian, unto whom he flings out some question of that profession, and was so full of words, that Dr. Steward afterwards told my lord, that he did perceive by him, that like a smatterer he had studied some two or three questions, whereof when he came in company he must be talking to vindicate; but if he were put from those, he would fhew himself but a simple fellow. There was also Dr. Richardson, the king's professor of divinity in Cambridge, and another doctor in that faculty, with whom he falleth in also about some of those questions, which are now controverted among the ministers in Holland: and being matters wherein he was studied, he uttered all his skill concerning them; my lord of Ely sitting still at the supper all the while, and wondering what a man he had there, who, never being in the place or company before, could overwhelm them so with talk for so long a time." (Winwood's Mem. vol. iii. p. 459.) For a simple fellow, this Grotius seems, from the archbishop's own account, to have played his part tolerably well among these doctors. If the preceding passage will remain an unequivocal proof of Abbot's want of skill and discernment in judging of characters, other parts of the letter clearly evince his want of candour. Displeased with Grotius for presuming to advise

the king not to give his judgment hastily concerning points of religion then in difference in Holland, for that his majesty had information but of one side, the archbishop indulges himself in invective against the remonstrants. "Grotius," says he, "might have let his majesty know how factious a generation these contradicters are; how they are like to our puritans in England; how refractory they are to the authority of the civil magistrate, and other things of the like nature. After this oblique stroke at the puritans, we cannot easily credit the report that he secretly favoured them, and admitted their leading men to his private confi

dence.

We

pass on to affairs in which our metropolitan appears with greater advantage. In the business of the divorce between the earl of Essex and lady Frances Howard, referred to a court of delegates, consisting of bishops and civilians, although it was well known that the king and the court were desirous of the divorce, the archbishop, who foresaw that it would afford public countenance to licentious gallantry, with inflexible firmness gave his vote against it, and afterwards wrote a vindication of himself, (Case of the earl of Essex and lady Frances Howard) which was answered by the king, but without producing any alteration in the archbishop's opinion or conduct.

From this time it is probable, that Dr. Abbot's interest with the king declined: he, however, made use of the queen's favour, to introduce to the royal patronage George Villiers, afterwards duke of Buckingham, who at first expressed the warmest gratitude to the archbishop, calling him father, and requesting his advice how to conduct himself in his new post, but whose subsequent enmity against his benefactor was such, as brought to the archbishop's recollection the reflection of Tacitus, that benefits while they may be requited are valued as such; but when they are so great that they cannot be repaid, they become occasions of hatred. (Rufhworth's Hist. Collect. vol. i. p. 460.)

The archbishop's zeal for the protestant interest, which never deserted him, was shewn, in the pains which he took to promote the marriage of the princess Elizabeth to the elector Palatine; in the polite attention which he paid to the elector during his visit to England; and in the importunity with which, in a letter (Cabala, 3d ed. p. 102.) written to the secretary of state while he was confined in bed by the gout, he urged the king to support, with a military force, the elector's claim to the crown of Bohemia.

In the year 1621 an accident happened, which occasioned the archbishop much trouble and vexation. The declining state of his health requiring that he should use much exercise, he sometimes took the diversion of hunting. Discharging from a cross-bow an arrow at one of the deer in lord Zouch's park, it unfortunately ftruck Peter Hawkins, his lordship's game-keeper, and the wound proved mortal. The affair, though it appears to have been a perfect casualty, without any indiscretion on the part of the archbishop, gave him such lasting uneasiness, that from that time till his death he kept, on this account, a monthly fast. He settled an annuity on the unfortunate man's widow. The archbishop's enemies did not fail to seize the oppor tunity, which this accident presented, of bringing him into discredit. They attempted to represent the affair in an unfavourable light to the king; but he smartly replied, " An angel might have miscarried in this sort." Doubts were raised, whether this action might not amount to an irregularity, which disqualified him for sacred offices. A commission was appointed to examine the merits of the case; and it was determined, that there had been an irregularity, and that it must be expurgated both by a pardon from the king, and by a dispensation to reinftate Abbot in his metropolitan authority. All this was not sufficient to remove the delicate scruples of those who were now waiting for consecration; and they obtained the king's permission to receive it from the hands of sundry bishops. It does not appear that this affair at all abated the archbishop's zeal and courage in withstanding any measures, which seemed injurious to the protestant cause. On this ground he strenuously opposed the marriage of prince Charles to the infanta of Spain, both by a personal address to the king on presenting the remonstrance of the house of lords; and by a letter (Rushworth's Collect. vol. ii. p. 85. Frankland's Annals of K. James, p. 80.) to his majesty, (if the letter be genuine, of which some doubts have been entertained) in which he reprobates in strong terms the toleration of popish doctrines. If we condemn the bigotry, we must admire the intrepidity, of this conduct; and it is pleasing to find that it did not diminish the archbishop's interest in the king's favour; though he seldom assisted him in the council, he attended him frequently during his last illness, and was with him when he expired.

Under the next reign, the current of court favour turned towards the ecclesiastical party which countenanced the Roman catholics; and the enemies of the archbishop, among whom the

most forward was the ungrateful duke of Buckingham, determined to bring him to disgrace. When an occasion of offence is wanted, it is soon found. A sermon was preached at the Lent assises in 1627 by Dr. Sibthorpe, the purport of which was, to justify and support the loan which Charles had demanded. This sermon was transmitted to the archbishop, with the king's order to license it for the press. Abbot, whose political principles appear at this time to have been more liberal than in the early part of his life, refused to obey the king's command; and the sermon, after some corrections, was licensed by the bishop of London. Such was the resentment of the king and the court at this refusal, that the archbishop received a command to retire, and was suspended from the offices of metropolitan jurisdiction. (Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 435. 438.) It was soon, however, found necessary to recal him; and he returned to his public post, with the same notions of constitutional rights, and the same firmness in maintaining them: for when the Petition of Right was under consideration, he gave it his decided support; and when Dr. Manwaring was brought to the bar of the house of lords, for maintaining, in two sermons, the right of the king to impose taxes and loans upon the people without consent of parliament, he officially reprimanded him, declaring that he disliked and abhorred his doctrine. (Parliament. Hist. vol. iii. p. 209.)

In his clerical, as well as in his civil capacity, archbishop Abbot acted with great steadiness and consistency. As in the former reign he refused to read the king's proclamation permitting sports and pastimes on the Lord's day, so now he ventured, in several instances, to act contrary to certain instructions, which, through the influence of bishop Laud, were sent by the king to the bishops of his province, and were intended to favour the opinions of the prevailing party. If archbishop Abbot was less zealous for ceremonies than some of his brethren, it does not appear that he, in any instance, neglected his clerical duty, or betrayed the interests of the church in which he presided. One of his last official actions was, an order to the parishioners of Crayford in Kent to receive the sacrament kneeling at the steps of the communion table. About a month after this order was given, in the year 1633, the archbishop died at his palace of Croydon. His remains were in terred in the parish church of Guildford.

Neither the political nor the religious principles of archbishop Abbot agreeing with those of

the ruling party under Charles I. it is no won der that towards the latter part of his life he had many enemies, and suffered much obloquy. He seems to have been particularly obnoxious to bishop Laud; and the mutual dislike, which early sprung up between them at the university, appears to have continued through life. We see no reason to with-hold from Abbot the praise of having uniformly supported the character of an upright and worthy man. His natural temper seems to have leaned towards the extreme of severe gravity. No suspicion lies against his personal virtues, and numerous testimonies remain of his liberality and munificence; among which one of the principal is the erection and endowment of the hospital at Guildford, upon which he expended considerable sums during his life-time. His deep contrition on account of the innocent homicide which he unfortunately perpetrated, displays a feeling heart. If his religious zeal was deeply tinged with bigotry, the fault was chiefly in the times: even protestants, of all sects, were still strangers to the first principles of religious freedom. His political principles seem to have undergone some change, but his religious system remained the same; and while Calvinism was his idol, popery and Arminianism were his aversion. The trait of his character which appears most respectable, and most worthy of honourable re→ membrance, is the integrity with which in all situations he adhered to his principles, and the firmness with which he supported them, in defiance of powerful opposition, and at the hazard of incurring royal displeasure.

Besides the work already mentioned, archbishop Abbot wrote "An Exposition of Jonah," published in 1600; a geographical work entitled, "A brief Description of the whole World," first printed in 1617, and afterwards frequently reprinted; and some temporary pieces. Fuller's Abel Redivivus. Wood's Athen. Oxon. and Fasti Oxon. Aubrey's Hist. and Antiq. of Surry. Neve's Lives of Protest. Archbishops. Biogr. Brit.-E.

ABBOT, ROBERT, the elder brother of the archbishop, born at Guildford in 1560, shared his good fortune, and perhaps was not his inferior in merit. Having passed, with great credit, through the same course of education with his brother, he early distinguished himself as a preacher, and his popular talents procured him the living of Bingham, in Nottinghamshire. In 1594, he appeared as a writer against popery, in a piece entitled, "A Mirror of Popish Subtlety." King James, who had, at least, the

merit of being the patron of learned men, appointed Dr. Robert Abbot one of his chaplains in ordinary. The strong aversion to popery, which he, together with his brother, inherited from his parents and retained through life, ap peared in all his writings. One of these, entitled, "Antichristi Demonstratio" [A Demonstration of Antichrist] was so much admired by the king, that he ordered his own "Paraphrase on the Apocalypse" to be printed with it" by which," says Mr. Granger, "he paid himself a much greater compliment than he did the doctor." In 1609, Robert Abbot was elected master of Baliol College; and the manner, in which he conducted himself in this difficult post, did credit to the choice. His college was distinguished by the industry, sobriety, and harmony of its members, and was a fertile nursery of literature and science. His zeal against popery was ably displayed in a course of lectures, read in his college, and published after his death, "On the King's Supremacy:" it was also expressed, with singular keenness, in a sermon preached before the university, in which he laid open the secret methods by which certain persons were attempting to undermine the reformation, with so manifest a reference to Dr. Laud, who was present, that the whole auditory made the application. The doctor wrote to his friend Dr. Neal, bishop of Lincoln, complaining, that "he was fain to sit patiently at the rehearsal of this sermon, though abused almost an hour together, being pointed at as he sat," (Rushworth's Collect. vol. i. p. 62.) and consulting him, whether he ought to take public notice of the insult. As we hear nothing more of the affair, it is probable that the bishop, aware that the attack had not been unprovoked, advised the doctor to remain quiet. Robert Abbot's talents and zeal, united probably with the interest of the archbishop, at last obtained for him the see of Salisbury, and his brother had the gratification of performing upon him the ceremony of consecration. On his departure from the university, he delivered a farewell oration in Latin, which was much admired. He possessed his episcopal dignity little more than two years; but discharged his duty, during that short period, with great diligence and fidelity, and left behind him an unblemished reputation. Comparing the merits of the two brothers, Robert and George, Fuller remarks, (Worthies of England, Surry, p. 82.) that "George was the more plausible preacher, Robert the greater scholar; George wa, the abler statesman, Robert the deeper divine." Robert Abbot died in the year 1617, being one of five bishops, who succeeded to the

see of Salisbury within six years. The writings of this prelate were chiefly levelled against popery. He wrote several commentaries on the scriptures which were not printed: among these is a Latin commentary on the whole epistle to the Romans, in four volumes folio, which has remained to this time, unpublished, in the Bodleian library; a circumstance which will be the less regretted, when it is observed, what numerous volumes of printed commentaries on the scriptures are permitted, by modern divines, to sleep undisturbed on the shelves of our public libraries. Fuller's Worthies of England. Wood's Athen. Oxon. Biogr. Brit. Grainger's Biogr. Hist. of England. James I. Class 1.-E.

ABBT, THOMAS, was born in 1738, at Ulm, and died in 1766, at Bückeberg, a privycounsellor of the count of Schaumburg-Lippe. Nicolai, of Berlin, composed his biography. He translated successfully the historian Sallust into German. He also published an original volume "concerning Merit," and another "concerning Death for one's Country," which display boldness of style, compression of thought, and intimate familiarity with the ancient historians. He is one of the earliest writers of the Germans who retain a classical rank, and would probably have excelled in history had he lived longer.-J. ABDALLA-ÉBN-ZOBEIR. When the caliph Moawiyah procured his son Yezid to be recognised as his successor, several of the Arabian chiefs at Medina opposed this design of rendering the caliphate hereditary, among whom was Abdalla the son of Zobeir. Moawiyah, describing to his son the characters of his opponents, told him, "Abdalla-ebn-Zobeir is the man you ought most to fear: he is of an enterprising genius, and capable of any undertaking; he will attack you with the strength of the lion, and the subtlety of the fox; and death alone can free you from such an enemy. Abdalla made good the prediction of Moawiyah. He retired. to Mecca; and after the battle of Kerbela, in which Houssain, the son of Ali, was killed, the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina, with whom Abdalla had much ingratiated himself by his religious zeal and engaging behaviour, proclaimed him caliph, A. D. 680. Hegir. 62. On the news of this event, Yezid sent an officer to Mecca, with a silver collar, commanding him to tell Abdalla, that if he would acknowledge his authority he should remain in peace at Mecca, otherwise, he must put the collar round his neck, and bring him to Damascus. Abdalla refusing the proposition, Yezid raised an army, which first pillaged Medina, and then besieged Abdalla in Mecca. The siege was carried on