SHIRE

ABER- knitting of stockings and hose. This county contains DEEN- three royal boroughs; Aberdeen, Kintore, and Inverury and several large and handsome towns; as ABER- Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Huntly, and Old Meldrum. YSTWITH. It is also ornamented with many fine seats of the nobility and gentry; of which Slains castle, the seat of the earl of Errol; Aboyne castle, of the earl of Aboyne; Ellon, of the earl of Aberdeen; Inverury, of the earl of Kintore; are the principal. Aberdeenshire sends only one member to parliament.

ABERGAVENNY, a large, populous, and flourishing town in Monmouthshire; seated at the confluence of the rivers Usk and Gavenny; supposed to be the Gibbanium of Antoninus. There is a fine gothic bridge, of fifteen arches, over the Usk. It is a walled town, and on the south side are the ruins of a castle celebrated in Welch history. The church is ancient. It carries on a considerable trade in flannels. Population, 2815; distant 142 miles from London. W. lon. 2o, 45'. N. lat. 51°, 50'.

The

ABERNETHY, a small town in Scotland, situated on the river Tay, a little above the mouth of the Erne, about six miles from Perth. It is said to have been founded in 460, and to have been the capital of the Pictish kings. In the churchyard is a tower of singular construction. It is of à circular form, 74 feet in height, and 48 feet in circumference. researches of the antiquarian have hitherto failed in discovering the uses of this and similar buildings. Some suppose that they are of Pictish origin, and were intended as places of confinement for religious devotees in performing penance; hence they have been called towers of repentance. Others imagine them to be watch-towers, or belfries for summoning the people to prayers.

ABER'RANCE. ABER RATION.

ABER RING.

Ab erro, to stray or wander from. A wandering from.

to be stamped on both sides with the feathers.

Its dis- ABERYSTWITHI

tance from London is 203 miles W. N. W. W. lon. 4°, 15'. N. lat. 52°, 30'.

ABESTA, or AVESTA, the name of one of the sacred books of the Persian magi, which they ascribe to their great founder Zoroaster. It is a commentary on two others of their religious books, called Zend and Pazend; the three together include the whole system of the Ignicolæ or worshippers of fire. ABET', v. ABET', n. ABET MENT. ABETTER.

A Sax. Betan, (meliorare, melius reddere, says Skinner). To better, to make better.

inciting, assisting, supporting, aiding, to beat or beOur use of the word is applied to the encouraging, come better. And thus, to better, to aid, assist, support, the designs of.

I am thine Eme, the shame were to me
As wel as the, if that I should assent
Through mine abet y he thine honour shent.

Chaucer. The second Booke of Troilus, fol. 159, col. 4.

But in this kind, to come in brauing armes,
Be his owne carver, and cut out his way,
To find out right with wrongs-it may not be ;.
And you that doe abett him in this kind
Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.

Shakespeare, Richard II. p. 33, act ii. scene 3.

I am not ignorant that Cicero, in defence of his own nation, tells vs, our people, by defending their associates, became masters of the world: but I would willingly be informed, whether or no, they did not often set their associates to complaine without a cause, or abet them in vnjust quarrels. Hakewill's Apologies, p. 452.

Yet Christian laws allow not such redress; Then let the greater supersede the less. But let th' abetters of the panther's crime Learn to make fairer wars another time. Dryden's Hind and the Panther, Chalmers' edition, p. 577. That which demands to be next considered is happiness; as being in itself most considerable; as abetting the cause of truth; and as

So, then we draw near to God, when, repenting us of our former

aberrations from him, we renew our covenants with him.

Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v. p. 302.

And therefore they not only fwarm with errors, but vices depending thereon. Thus they commonly affect no man any further than he deserts his reason, or complies with their aberrancies.

Brown's Vulgar Errors, p. 9, ed. 4, 1658.

For though there were a fatality in this year, ["the great climactrical year, that is, sixty-three"] yet divers were, and others might be out in their account, aberring several wayes from the true and just compute, and calling that one year, which perhaps might be another. Brown's Vulgar Errors, p. 269. ABERRATION, in Astronomy, an apparent motion of the celestial bodies, produced by the progressive motion of light and the earth's annual motion in her

orbit.

ABERSPERG, anciently ABUSINA or AVENTINUM, a town and castle in Upper Bavaria, on the river Umbs, celebrated as the birth-place of Johannes Aventinus. ABERYSTWITH, a market town of Cardiganshire, in Wales, on the Ridal, near its confluence with the Istwith, where it falls into the sea. It is a populous, rich town, has a great trade in lead, and a considerable fishery of whiting, cod, and herrings. It was formerly surrounded with walls, and fortified with a castle; both are now in ruins. Of late it is become a place of resort for sea bathing. In 1637, king Charles established here a mint for the coinage of silver, and the coin was

It is

ABIER.

ABHER. taining 2500 houses, and governed by a deroga. N. lat. 36°, 14'. E. lon. 50°, 59′. ab horreo. "Horreo" (says Vossius) vox facta est ad expreimendum fugam spiritus versus cor, et provenientem inde corporis rigorem et asperitatem."

ABHORRENT,

ABHOR'RER.

Corpus, ut impulsa segetes Aquilonibus, horret. Applied to that which we utterly dislike or detest, loath or disdain; which makes the body stiffen, the hair stand on end. And thus,

To dislike or detest, to loath, disdain, abominate.

But sins so great is thy delight to here

Of our mishaps and Troyès last decay :
Though to record the same my minde abhorres,
And plaint eschues: yet thus wil I begyn.

Surrey, Chalmers' Poets, vol. ii. p. 338. When this knight perceuiued that he (Kyng Kichard II) was deade, he sobbed, wept, and rent his heare crying, Oh Lord, what haue we done, we haue murthered hym whom by the space of xxII yeres we haue obeied as king, and honored as our soueraigne lord, now all noble men will abhorre vs, all honest persons will disdaine vs, and all pore people will rayle and crie out vpon vs.

Hall, p. 20.

Shakespeare, Henry VIII. p. 217. act ii.

Be gentle graue vnto me, rather on Nylus mudde
Lay me starke-nak'd, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring; rather make
My countries high pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me vp in chaines.

Id. Ant. and Cleo. p. 365. act v. sc. 2. He who wilfully abstains from marriage, not being supernaturally gifted; and he who, by making the yoke of marriage unjust and intolerable, causes men to abhor it, are both in a diabolical sin, equal to that of Antichrist, who forbids to marry.

Milton's Prose Works, vol. i. p. 221.

We see in many cases, that time and calmer considerations, together with different customs, which, (like the tide or flood) insensibly prevail over both manners and minds of men; do oft take off the edge and keenness of men's spirits against those things, whereof they sometimes were great abhorrers.

Bp. Taylor's Artif. Hands. p. 134.

Then wanton fulness vain oblivion brought,
And God, that made and sav'd thee, was forgot:
While gods of foreign lands, and rites abhorr'd,
To jealousies and anger mov'd the Lord.

Parnell's Gift of Poetry, Chalmers' edition, vol. ix. p. 375. That which constitutes an object of contempt to the malevolent, becomes the object of other passions to a worthy and good-natured man; for, in such a person, wickedness and vice must raise hatred and abhorrence.

Fielding's Works, vol. xiv. p. 138.

Yet from Leonidas, thou wretch, inur'd
To vassalage and baseness, hear. The pomp,
The arts of pleasure in despotic courts

I spurn abhorrent. In a spotless heart

I look for pleasure.

Glover's Leonidas, book x, Chalmers' edition, vol. xvii. p. 69. This legal, and, as it should seem, injudicious profanation, so abhorrent to our stricter principles, was received with a very faint murmur, by the easy nature of polytheism.

Gibbon's, vol. i. p. 112. ABHORRERS, the name of a party formed in 1680, in opposition to the petitioners against grievances. See HUME's Hist. of England, vol. viii. p. 128-133. ABIAD, a town of Africa, on a high mountain; remarkable for its trade in ebony and aromatic plants. It is also the name of a river which flows into the Nile, and supposed by some to be the Nile itself.

ABIDE.

ABIANS, anciently a people of Thrace; or, accord- ABIANS. ing to some, of Scythia, who led a wandering life. They carried all their possessions in waggons; lived on the flesh of their herds and flocks, on milk, and cheese, and were unacquainted with commerce. They only exchanged commodities with their neighbours; assigning their agriculture to any who would undertake it, reserving only a tribute; which they exacted merely to enjoy the necessaries of life. They never took arms but to oblige those to fulfil a promise which had been broken. They paid tribute to none of the neighbouring states; and relied on their strength and courage to repel any invasion. They were, according to Homer, a people of great integrity. STRABO, tom. i. p. 454-5, 460, 478.

ABIB, which signifies an ear of corn, was a name given by the Jews to the first month of their ecclesiastical year, afterwards called Nisan. It commenced at the vernal equinox; and answered to the latter part of our March and beginning of April.

To stay, or remain; to tarry, to dwell, to continue, to wait, to expect.

To stay under, or support; to bear up against, or endure, with fortitude, good temper, kindness, hope, or the reverse.

He fley in to be yle of Tenet, he no dorste a bude no ner.

R. Gloucester, p. 122. de oper were of hem y war, and garkede hem in here syde, And lette arme here ost wel, batail forto abyde.

Id. p. 153.

We war from thens affrayit, durst nocht abide
Bot fled anon, and within burd has brocht
That faithful Greik, quhilk vs of succour socht.
Douglas, Booke iii. p. 90.

Do grete diligence (saith Salomon), in keping of thy frendes, and of thy good name, for it shal lenger abide with thee, thau any tresor, be it never so precious.

Chaucer. The Tale of Melibeus, vol. ii. p. 119.

But in alle thingis we ghyue ussilf as the mynystris of God in mych pacience, in tribulaciouns, in needis, in angwisschis, in betyngis, in prisouns, in dissenciouns withynne, in traueilis, in wakyngis, in fastyngis, in chastite, in kunnyng, in long abiding, in swetnesse, in the hooli goost, in charite not feyned, in the word of treuthe, in the uirtu of god.

Wiclif. 2 Corynth. chap. vi.

The pacient abyding of the righteous shal be turned to gladnesse, but the hope of the vngodly shall perish. Bible, Lond. 1539. Prov. chap. x.

Doun fallis salis, the aris sone we span
But mair abaid, the marinaris euery man
Egirly rollis ouer the fomy flude

And the haw se weltis vp as it war wod.

Douglas, booke iii. p. 74. There he made his abode fortye dayes and as many nightes, still continuing in prayer and fastyng.

Erasmus' Paraphrase of N. T. by Udall, on St. Marke, chap. i. fol. 5. col. ii.

Aut. I cannot tell, good Sir, for which of his vertues it was, but hee was certainly whipt out of the court.

Clo. His vices you would say: there's no vertue whipt out of the court they cherish it to make it stay there; and yet it will no more but abide.

Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, p. 291, Act iv. Scene ii. Lor. Sweete friends, your patience for my long abode, Not I, but my affaires haue made you wait.

Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, p. 170, Act ii. Scene vi.

Knox's Hist. of the Reformation.

Abating all the rueful consequences of abiding in sin, abstracting from the desperate hazards it exposeth us to in regard to the future life, it is most reasonable to abandon it. Barrow's Sermons.

Let it be supposed, that, in that day, when you had been guilty of the three notorious sins above-mentioned, that, in your eveningrepentance, you had only called one of them to mind; is it not plain, that the other two are unrepented of, and that therefore their guilt still abides upon you? Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. When he, whom e'en our joys provoke, The fiend of nature, join'd his yoke,

And rush'd in wrath to make our isle his prey,
Thy form, from out thy sweet abode,
O'ertook him on his blasted road,

And stopp'd his wheels, and look'd his rage away.

Collins's Ode to Mercy.

ABIE', is very variously written. By Chaucer, Abegge, Abeye, Abie; which Tyrwhit says is Saxon, and means "To suffer for." In Piers Plouhman, Abegge. In Gower, Abeie, Abedge, Abidge. In Chaucer, are found the participles Abying, Abien, Abought. And in Gower, also, Abought.

Skinner thinks the etymon of Abey-from the verb To
Buy is the more simple, and therefore the more true.
He offers (needlessly) a different origin for Abedge.
In all the examples following, "buy or pay for, dear-
ly, cruelly, sorely," appears to be the correct meaning.
Turne we þiderward, and delyuer our prisons,
And so it may betide, þei salle dere abie
My þat þei hide, my men in prison lie.

R. Brunne, p. 159.
Ther dorste no wight hond upon him legge,
That he ne swore he shuld anon abegge.

Chaucer. The Reves Tale.

Ye fathers, and ye mothers eke also,
Though ye han children, be it on or mo,
Your is the charge of all hir surveance,
While that they ben under your governance.
Beth ware, that by ensample of your living,
Or by your negligence in chastising,
That they ne perish: for I dare wel saye,
If that they don, ye shul it dere abeye.

Id. The Doctoures Tale.

Which when his brother saw, fraught with great griefs
And wrath, he to him leaped furiously,
And fouly said, by Mahoune, cursed thiefe,
That direfall stroake thou dearely shalt dby.

Spenser's Faerie Queene, book ii. canto viii. BAR. Fool-hardy knight, full soon thou shalt aby This fond reproach, thy body will I bang. Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle, act iii. sc. 1. ABINGDON, formerly ABAN DUNE, a market-town of Berks, situate on the confluence of the Ock and Thames. It derives its name from an ancient abbey, of which a principal gate-way alone remains; it is supposed by bishop Gibson to be the Cloveshoo of the Saxon annals, and to have been built by Cissa, king of Sussex, A. D. 517. It has a capacious market-place, with market-hall and sessions-house in the centre, where the summer assizes for the county are held; also two churches; one dedicated to St. Nicholas, and the other to St. Helena; and three places of worship for the dissenters; a hospital for six indigent persons, and another for thirteen; a free grammar school, and a charity school. Abingdon is a borough-town, and sends one member to parliament; it formerly was considerable for its malt trade, but is now a principal and netting. It is seven miles south of Oxford, and manufacturing town in floor and sail-cloth, sacking 55 west of London. Population about 5000. W. łon. 10, 12'. N. lat. 51°, 42'.

ABIPONIANS, or ABIPONS, a tribe of South American Indians, in the territory between Santa Fè and St. times at upwards of 50,000) but who, at the best modern Jago, whose numbers have been variously stated (somecomputation, do not much exceed 5000. The women from motives of jealousy, lest their husbands should be have been accused of destroying their own children, unfaithful during the long time they give suck, which is not less than two years. They are a warlike people, of a light brown complexion, and fond of painting their bodies. In general, they are quite ignorant and uncivilized; insomuch, that, in counting, they can go no further than the number three. Their government is not unlike that of the Jews in the time of the Judges; the chiefs or caiques who lead their armies in war, presiding over the administration of justice in time of peace.

ABJECT', v. AB'JECT, adj. AB'JECT, N. ABJECT'EDNESS, ABJECTION, AB'JECTLY,

AB'JECTNESS.

Ab: jacio, to cast, or throw away from; to cast down. The nouns, adjective, and adverb, have a consequent application to that which is base, servile, worthless, despicable, mean, contemptible. :

The duches desiring to knowe whiche waye lady Fortune turned her whele, herynge hym to be repudiate and abiected oute of the Frenche courte, was in a greate agony, and muche amased, and more appalled. Hall, repr. 1809, p. 463.

John the apostle, was now of late in a certaine yle of Licia called Pathmos, exiled for the gospel-preaching, and made a vile abject for testifying the name and word of Jesus Christ the onely Saviour of the world. Bale's Image of both Churches. The audacite and bolde speche of Daniel signifyeth the abiection of the kynge and his realme.

The Exposicion of Daniel, by Geo. Joye, p. 75.

Oh noble Lord, bethinke thee of thy birth;
Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,
And banish hence these abiect lowlie dreames;

Looke how thy seruants do attend on thee,
Each in his office readie at thy becke.

Shakespeare, Tam. of Sh. act i, sc. 3.

D

It abjected his [Wolsey's] spirit to that degree, that he fell dangerously sick such an influence the troubles and sorrows of his mind had upon his body.

Strype's Memorials of the Reformation.

To what base ends, and by what abject ways, Are mortals urg'd, through sacred lust of praise! Pope's Essay on Criticism. Nor did he sooner see the hoy approaching the vessel than he ran down again into the cabin, and, his rage being perfectly subsided, he tumbled on his knees, and a little too abjectly implored for mercy. Fielding's Voyage to Lisbon.

ABJURE', v. ABJURATION. S To swear. To go away from, or leave. To disown, to disclaim, to renounce (upon oath).

Ab: juro, to swear from, to forswear.

But now was he so obstinate, that he woulde not abiure of lōg time. And dyuers daies wer his iudges fayn of their fauour to geue hym with sufferance of some his best frendes, and who he most trusted -to resort vnto him. And yet scantly could al this make him submitte himself to make hys abiuracion.

Sir Thomas More's Works, p. 214, Lon. 1557.

In this season were banished out of Southwarke XII Scottes, whiche had dwelt there a long season, and wer conueied fro parishe to parishe by the constable, like men y' had abiured the realme, and on their vttermost garment a white crosse before and another bebynd them. Thus were they conucyed through London northwarde, till they came to Scotlande.

After they had thus humbled and mortified the miserable man [Abp. Cranmer] with recantations and subscriptions, submissions and abjurations, putting words into his mouth which his heart abhorred; by all this drudgery they would not permit him to redeem his unhappy life.

Strype's Memorials of the Reformation.

Yes, Alpheus! fly the purer paths of Fate;
Abjure these scenes from venal passions free;
Know, in this grove, I vow'd perpetual hate,
War, endless war, with lucre and with thee.
Shenstone's Poems.

A Jacobite, who is persuaded of the pretender's right to the crown, cannot take the oath of allegiance; or, if he could, the oath of ab

juration follows, which contains an express renunciation of all opinions Paley's Moral Philosophy.

in favour of the claim of the exiled family.

ABLAY.

ABJURATION, in our Ancient Customs, an oath ABJURE. taken by a person guilty of felony; who, having fled to a place of sanctuary, engages to leave the kingdom for ever. The following passage will furnish a curious illustration of this subject: "This heare thou sir Coroner, that I, M. of H. am a robber of sheepe, or of any other beast, or a Murderer of one, or of mo, and a felon of our Lord the king of Englad, and because I haue done many such euilles or robberies in his land I do abjure the land of our Lord Edward king of England, and I shall haste me towards the Port of such a place, which thou hast giuen me, and that I shal not go out of the high way, and if I doe, I wil that I be taken as a robber, and a felon of our Lorde the king: And that at such a place I wil diligently seeke for passage, and I wil tarie there but one flud and ebbe, if I can have passage, and unlesse I can haue it in such a place, I wil goe euery day into the Sea up to my knees, assaying to passe ouer, and unlesse I can do this within fortie dayes, I wil put my selfe againe into the Church, as a robber and a felon of our Lord the king, so God me helpe & his holie iudgement, &c." Rastall's Collect. of Stat. p. 2.

ABJURATION is used, in English law, to signify the renouncing and disclaiming upon oath, any right of the late Pretender to the crown of these kingdoms.

ABKHAS, one of the seven nations in the countries comprehended between the Black sea and the Caspian, tributary to the Turks. Their language is peculiar to themselves, supposed to be a dialect of the Celtic, and having some affinity to the Circassian. They preserve some indistinct traces of Christianity.

breast.

ABLACTATION, the weaning a child from the This is done in different countries at various periods from the birth.

ABLACTATION, in Ancient Agriculture, a method of engrafting, by which the cyon of one tree being for some time united to the stock of another, is afterwards cut off, and, as it were, weaned from the parent It is now called inarching,' or grafting by

tree. approach.' ABLATIVE, in Grammar, formed from auferre, to take away.' Priscian also calls it the comparative case; as serving among the Latins for comparing, as well as taking away. It is the sixth case of Latin nouns, and is opposite to the dative; as expressing the action of taking away, while the latter denotes that of giving. In modern languages there is no precise distinction between the ablative and other cases; and we only use the term in analogy to the Latin. The question concerning the Greek ablative has been the subject of a famous literary war between two great grammarians, Frischlin and Crusius; the former maintaining, and the latter opposing, the reality of it. See GRAMMAR, Div. ii.

ABLATIVE ABSOLUTE, in Grammar, a phrase detached or independent of the other parts of a sentence or discourse. In Latin it is frequent, and it has been adopted in the modern languages.

ABLAY, a country of Great Tartary, under the Russian government, which appoints a Calmuck chief; the inhabitants are called Buchars' or Buchares,'

6

It hes east of the river Irtisch, and extends 500 leagues along the southern frontiers of Siberia, from E. lon. 72° to 83°. N. lat. from 51° to 54°.

A'BLE, T. A'BLE, adj. A'BLENESS, ABILITY, A'BLY.

Gower, Con. A. b. v.

Goth. Abal, strength.

To give force, power, strength; to strengthen, to empower; and, as we now say, to enable.

The verb, to able, appears to have been in as common usage in ancient writers, as to enable is in modern, and with similar applications.

Hable and Hability are in the old writers as commonly found as able and ability.

For no doute to dreade to offende God, and to loue to please him in all thing quyckeneth and sharpeneth all the wittes of Christes chosen people: and-ableth them so to grace, that they joye greatly to withdrawe their eares, and all their wittes and membres frome all worldly delyte, and from all fleschly solace.

Howell's State Trials, vol. i. p. 202. Trial of Master William Thorpe for Heresy, 8 Henry IV. a. D. 1407, written by himself. God tokeneth and assigneth the times abling hem to her proper

offices.

CRES. They say all louers sweare more performance than they are able, and yet reserue an ability that they neuer performe; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging lesse then the tenth part of one.

Shakespeare, Troi, and Cres. act. iii. scene 2.

A noble crew about them waited round
Of sage and sober peeres, all gravely gownd;
Whom farre before did march a goodly band
Of tall young men all able armes to sound,
But now they laurell-branches bore in hand;
Glad signe of victory and peace in all their land.

Spenser's Faerie Queene, b. i. canto xil.

All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell;
Winning, by conquest, what the first man lost,
By fallacy surpris'd.

Milton's Paradise Regained, b. i. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, who is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Acts, chap. xx. v. 32. That is one head (said Lethington), whereunto you and I never agreed; for how are you able to prove, that God ever struck or plagued any nation or people for the iniquity of their prince, if they themselves lived godlily?

Knox's History of the Reformation..

Certainly the force of imagination is wonderfull, either to beget in vs an ability for the doing of that which wee apprehend we can 4o, or a disability for the not doing of that which wee concieue wee cannot do.

Hakewill's Apologie, lib. i. cap. ii. sect. 3.

Henry the second reigned in France; Philip the second, in Spain: princes in the vigour of their age, of great ambition, of great talents, and seconded by the ablest ministers and generals in Europe.

Bolingbroke's Remarks on the Hist. of Eng.

And novels (witness every month's review),
Belie their name, and offer nothing new.
The mind, relaxing into needful sport,
Should turn to writers of an abler sort,
Whose wit well manag'd, and whose classic style,
Give truth a lustre, and make wisdom smile.

Couper's Retirement.

ABLEGMINA, those choice parts of the entrails of victims anciently offered in sacrifice to the gods. They were sprinkled with flour, and burnt upon the altar; the priests pouring some wine on them. Tertullian ridicules the heathens for thus serving the gods with offals.

ABLUDE', v. Ab: ludo, to play from. To play from, or out of tune; and thus to differ; to be unlike.

So Ambrose interprets that place of 1 Tim. ii. 4. He would have all to be saved," saith he, if themselves will: for he hath given his law to all; and excepts no man, in respect of his law and will revealed, from salvation. Neither doth it much ablude from this, that our English divines at Dort, call the decree of God, whereby he hath appointed, in and by Christ to save those that repent, believe and persevere, Decretum annunciativum salutis omnibus ex aquo et indiscriminatim promulgandum.

Bishop Hall's Via Media.

ABLUENTS, in Medicine, the same with Diluters, or Diluents, Detergents, and Abstergents; names given to certain diluting medicines used to wash off from the body any accidental adhesions, and administered as lotions or injections.

ABLU'TION, n. Ab: luo. To wash from. Washing off or away from; cleansing, purifying.

SUB. Sirrah, my varlet, stand you forth and speak to him,
Like a philosopher. Answer i'the language.
Name the vexations, and the martyrizations
Of metals, in the work.
FAC.

Sir, Putrefaction,
Solution, ablution, sublimation,
Cohobation, calcination, ceration, and

Fixation.

Jonson's Alchemist, act ii. scene 4.

ABLUTION, a religious ceremony of ancient and modern times, which consisted in certain purifications of men or things, accompanied with washing them either wholly or partially. The Egyptians appear to have practised it from the earliest antiquity; the Greeks adopted it under various forms; and the Romans are said to have been scrupulous in their use of it before they performed a sacrifice. It was more or less partial according to the occasion; but at the entrance of the Roman temples convenient vessels were placed for this sacred washing. Several ceremonies of the Mosaic law may be called ablutions ; and the early Christians appear to have practised it before partaking of the communion; in imitation