Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/60

 A B E L A R D. monks; and his whole behaviour (hewed the greateft humility and induftry. At length, being grown intirm from the preva- lence of the fcurvy and other diforders, he was removed to the priory of Sr. Marcellus, a very agreeable place on the Saon, near Chalons; where he died April 21, 1142. in the fixty- third year of his age. His corpfe was fent to Heloife, who de- pofued it in the Paraclet. ABELL (JoHN), an Englifh Mufkian, was celebrated for a fine counter-tenor voice, and for his fkill on the lute. Charles' II. of whofe chapel he was, and who admircJ his finging, had formed a refolution of fending him to the Carni- val at Venice, in order to (hew the Italians what England could produce in this way ; but the fchenie was dropped. Abel coniinucd in the chapel litl ihe Revolution, when he was difcharaed as being a Papiil. Upun tnis he went abroad, and diftinguifhed himfelf by finging in public in Holland, at Ham- burg, and other places ; where, acquiring plenty of money, he fet up a fplendid equipage, and affected the man of qua- lity : though at intervals he was fo reduced, as to be obliged to travel through whole provinces, with his lute flung at his back. In rambling he got as far as Poland, and at Warfaw met with a very extraordinary adventure. He was fent for to Court; but, evading to go by fome flight excufe, was com- manded to attend. At the palace he was feated in a chair, in the middle of a fpactous hall, and fuddenly drawn up to a great height ; when the King with his attendants appeared in a gallery oppofite to him. At the fame inftant a number of v/ild bears were turned in ; when the king bid him chufe, whether he would fmg, or be let down among the bears ? Abell chofe to fmg, and declared afterwards, that he never funs: fo well in his life. After having rambled for many years, it feems that he re- turned to England i for, in 1701, he publifhed at London a collection of fongs in feveral languages, with a deJication to King William. Towards the end of Queen Anne's reign he was at Cambridge with his lute, but met with little encourage- ment. How long he lived afterwards, is not known. This artift is faid to have poffeiTed fome fecrets, by which he pre- ferved the natural tone of his voice to an extreme old age. ABERNETHY (JoHNJ, an eminent difienting minifter in Ireland, was born Ol. 19, 1680: his father a difTenting minifter in Colraine, his mother a Walkinfhaw of Renfrew- fhire in Scotland. In 1689, he was fcparated from his parents; his