Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/49

Rh with his royal predecessor Henry II., not only pillaged the rich shrine dedicated to St Thomas, but caused the saint himself to be cited to appear in court, and to be tried and condemned as a traitor, at the same time ordering his name to be struck out of the calendar, and his bones to be burned and the ashes thrown in the air. À Becket's character and aims have been the subject of the keenest ecclesiastical and historic controversy down to the present time, but it is impossible to doubt the fundamental sincerity of the one or the disinterestedness of the other, however inconsistent his actions may sometimes appear. If the fruit of the Spirit be "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance," À Becket was assuredly not a saint, for he indulged to the last in the bitterest invectives against his foes; but that he fought with admirable courage and devotion the "battle of the Lord," according to the warlike ideas of an age with which he was in intense sympathy, is beyond dispute. He was the leading Ultramontane of his day, hesitating not to reprove the Pope himself for lukewarmness in the cause of the "church's liberty." He was the last of the great ecclesiastics of the type of Lanfranc and Anselm, who struggled for supremacy with the civil power in England on almost equal terms. In his day the secular stream was running very strong, and he might as chancellor have floated down the current pleasantly enough, governing England in Henry's name. He nevertheless perished in a chivalrous effort to stem the torrent. The tendency of his principles was to supersede a civil by a spiritual despotism; "but, in point of fact," says Hook, in his valuable Life, "he was a high-principled, high-spirited demagogue, who taught the people to struggle for their liberties," a struggle soon to commence, and of which he was by no means an impotent if an unconscious precursor.—See Dr Giles's Vita et Epistolœ S. Thomœ Cantuariensis; Canon Morris's Life of St Thomas Becket; Canon Robertson's Life of Becket; Canon Stanley's Historical Memorials of Canterbury ; J. G. Nichol's Pilgrimages of Walsingham and Canterbury; Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury; and Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England.

 A'BECKETT,, a successful cultivator of light literature, was born in London in 1811, and educated at Westminster School. He wrote burlesque dramas with success from his boyhood, took an active share in the establishment of different comic periodicals, particularly Figaro in London and Punch, and was a constant contributor to the columns of the latter from its commencement till the time of his death. His principal publications, all overflowing with kindly humour, and rich in quaint fancies, are his parodies of living dramatists (himself included), reprinted from Punch (1844); The Small Debts Act, with Annotations and Explanations (1845); The Quizziology of the British Drama and The Comic Blackstone (1846); A Comic History of England (1847); and A Comic History of Rome (1852). He contributed occasionally, too, to the Times and other metropolitan papers. A'Beckett was called to the bar in 1841, and from 1849 discharged with great efficiency the duties of a metropolitan police magistrate. He died at Boulogne on the 30th of August 1856.  ABEL (, breath, vanity, transitoriness), the second son of Adam, slain by Cain his elder brother (Gen. iv. 1–16). The narrative in Genesis, which tells us that "the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect," is supplemented by the statement of the New Testament, that "by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," (Heb. xi. 4), and that Cain slew Abel "because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous" (1 John. iii. 12). In patristic theology the striking contrast between the brothers was mystically explained and typically applied in various ways. Augustine, for example, regards Abel as the representative of the regenerate or spiritual man, and Cain as the representative of the natural or corrupt man. Augustine in his treatise De Hœresibus, c. 86, mentions a sect of Abelitae or Abelians, who seem to have lived in North Africa, and chiefly in the neighbourhood of Hippo-Regius. According to their tradition, Abel, though married, lived in continence, and they followed his practice in this respect, so as to avoid the guilt of bringing sinful creatures into the world.  ABEL, (1726-1787), a celebrated German musician. His adagio compositions have been highly praised, but he attained greater distinction as a performer than as a composer, his instrument being the Viola di gamba, which from his time has given place to the violoncello. He studied under Sebastian Bach, played for ten years (1748-58) in the band formed at Dresden by the Elector of Saxony, under Hasse, and then, proceeding to England, became (1759) chamber-musician to the queen of George III. His life was shortened by habits of intemperance.  ABEL,, one of the ablest and acutest mathematicians of modern times, was born at Findöe in Norway in 1802, and died near Arenclal in 1829. Considering the shortness of his life, the extent and thoroughness of his mathematical investigations and analyses are marvellous. His great powers of generalisation were displayed in a remarkable degree in his development of the theory of elliptic functions. Legendre's eulogy of Abel, "Quelle tête celle du jeune Norvegien!" is the more forcible, that the French mathematician had occupied himself with those functions for most of his lifetime. Abel's works, edited by M. Holmboe, the professor under whom he studied at Christiania, were published by the Swedish government in 1839.   ABEL,, a Roman Catholic divine during the reign of Henry VIII., was an Englishman, but when or where born does not appear. He was educated at Oxford, where he passed B.A. on 4th July 1513, M.A. on 27th June 1516, and proceeded D.D. On 23d June 1530 he was presented by Queen Catherine to the rectory of Bradwell in Essex, on the sea-coast. He had been introduced to the court through the report of his learning in classical and living languages, and accomplishments in music; and he was appointed domestic chaplain to Queen Catherine. It speaks well both for the chaplain and his royal mistress, that to the last he defended the outraged queen against "bluff King Hal." The Defence, "Invicta Veritas," was printed at Luneberge in 1532. This pungent little book was replied to, but never answered, and remains the defence on Queen Catherine's part. Abel was ensnared, as greater men were, in the prophetic delusions and ravings of Elizabeth Barton, called the "Holy Maid of Kent." As belonging to the Church of Rome, he inevitably opposed Henry VIII.'s assumption of supremacy in the church. Ultimately he was tried and condemned for "misprision of treason," and perished in the usual cruel and ignoble way. The execution, as described, took place at Smithfield on July 30, 1540. If we may not concede the venerable and holy name of martyr to Abel—and John Foxe is passionate in his refusal of it—yet we must hold that he at least fell a victim to his unsparing defence of his queen and friend, the "misprision of treason" having been a foregone conclusion. In stat. 25, Henry VIII., c. 12, he is described as having "caused to be printed and set forth in this realme diverse books against the divorce and separation." Neither the Tractatus nor the "diverse books" are known.—Dodd, Church History, Brussels, 1737, folio, vol. i. p. 208; Bourchier, ''Hist. Eccl.'' 