ABDOMEN, the belly, from abdo, to hide, because it conceals or hides its contents.

have been recorded, about one-fourth of which lution the Houses gave a new meaning to the were on medical subjects. Of all these writings word. only one has been translated and published in Among the Romans, the term 'abdicatio' sigEurope, the Compendium of the History of nified generally a rejection or giving up a thing; Egypt.' Only a single MS. of this work is and a magistrate was said to abdicate who for known to exist in Europe, which was brought any reason gave up his office before the term was by Pococke from the East, and is now in the expired. Bodleian Library at Oxford. The work is divided into two parts, of which the first treats of -The General Character of Egypt-of Plants-of The human body is divided by anatomists into Animals of the Ancient Monuments-of Build- three portions, the head, the trunk, and the exings and Ships-of the Food of the Egyptians; tremities. The head and trunk enclose caviand the second treats of The Overflowing of the ties which contain the organs by which the most Nile, and of the years 1200 and 1201, which important functions of the living body are perwere seasons of dreadful famines. A German formed. The trunk forms two cavities, the supetranslation of this work, by Professor Wahl, was rior of which is termed the thorax or chest, and published at Halle, in 1790, 8vo. It is not of the lower constitutes the abdomen. much value. De Sacy's translation is very valuable, not only for his own critical and explanatory notes, but on account of the assistance which he received from the most eminent zoologists and botanists of Paris. It is a work well worth consulting for the geography, natural history, and antiquities of Egypt.

In the artificial skeleton nothing is shown, because nothing remains except the mere framework of the body or the bones; but in the natural state, when the soft parts remain as well as the bones, there is a complete partition between the cavity of the chest and that of the abdomen. This partition is effected by means of an organ ABDICATION (from the Latin abdicatio), is which is termed the diaphragm, a name derived the voluntary renouncing and giving up an office from a Greek word signifying to divide. The by the party who holds it. The term is now diaphragm is composed partly of membrane, but generally applied to the giving up of the kingly chiefly of muscle. It is placed transversely across office; and in some countries a king can abdicate, the trunk at about its middle portion, dividing it in the proper sense of the term. But the king of into two pretty nearly equal halves. [RESPIRAEngland cannot abdicate, except with the consent |TION.]

of the two Houses of Parliament, in any constitu- The cavity of the abdomen is bounded above tional form; for a proper abdication would be a by the diaphragm, below by the bones of the divesting himself of his regal powers by his own pelvis, or basin, which may be considered as bewill, which is inconsistent with the nature of his longing to the bones of the lower extremities, bekingly office. It is, however, established by a fore and at the sides by the abdominal muscles, precedent, that he abdicates, or an abdication may behind partly by the muscles of the loins and be presumed, if he does acts which are inconsistent partly by the bone of the spine.

with that system of government of which he forms The cavity of the abdomen is lined throughout a part. In Blackstone's Commentaries,' vol. i. | by a thin, but dense, firm, and strong membrane, pp. 210-212, and iv. p. 78, mention is made of termed the peritoneum.

the resolution of both Houses, in 1688, that King We have spoken of the abdomen as a cavity, James II. having endeavoured to subvert the con- but without explanation this mode of expression stitution of the kingdom by breaking the original may occasion misconception. During the state of contract between king and people; and by the life there is no cavity. The abdomen is always advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having completely full. The diaphragm alternately enviolated the fundamental laws, and having with-larges and diminishes the space proper to the drawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated abdomen; but the abdominal and lumbar muscles the government, and that the throne is thereby which form so large a part of the boundaries of vacant.' Thus, it appears, that the Houses of the abdomen in front, at the sides, and behind, in Lords and Commons assumed the doctrine of an like manner alternately contract and relax. The original contract between the king and the people consequence is, that a firm and uniform pressure as the foundation of their declaration that James II. had abdicated the throne; and Blackstone, in arguing upon this declaration, assumes, what is contrary to the evidence of history, that the powers of the King of England were originally delegated to him by the nation.

is at all times maintained upon the whole contents of the abdomen, so that there is always the most exact adaptation of the containing to the contained parts, and of the viscera one to the other, not the slightest space or cavity ever intervening either between the walls of the abdomen and its viscera, or between one viscus and another. By the cavity of the abdomen, therefore, is not meant what the expression might at first view seem to denote, namely, a void or empty space; but the term is merely employed to mark the extent of the boundary within which the abdominal viscera are inclosed.

In the conference between the two Houses of Parliament, previous to the passing of the statute which settled the crown upon William III., it was disputed whether the word 'abdicated,' or 'deserted,' should be the term used to denote in the 'Journals' the conduct of James II. in quitting the country. It was then resolved that the word 'abdicate' should be used, as including When the number, the diversity, the proximity, maladministration. But by making this reso- the relation, and the importance of the organs con

tained within the abdomen is considered, it will be | Linnæan system in this respect, revived the more obvious that it must be a matter of absolute neces- correct and natural arrangement of Artedi; and sity to the anatomist, the physiologist, the physician, after, first of all, dividing the class of fishes and the surgeon, to mark with accuracy the situa- into the three great orders-Chondropterygii, tion of each. An effectual expedient for the accom- Acanthopterygii, and Malacopterygii, according plishment of this object is now in universal use. to the cartilaginous or osseous nature of their It consists in dividing the whole extent of the skeletons and fins, afterwards applies the prinabdomen into certain parts or regions. It must ciples of Linnæus, or the relative position of the be borne in mind that this division is altogether pectoral and ventral fins, to subdivide the last of arbitrary, and is adopted not because there is any these orders into families. In its present acceptasuch division in nature, but solely because it is tion, therefore, the term abdominales denotes a convenient for the purposes of science. family, or subdivision of malacopterygious (or softABDOMEN, in Insects, has a somewhat dif- finned) fishes only; and, in this restricted sense, ferent signification from the same term when ap-includes the greater number of the fresh-water plied to other animals, being used for the whole species, as well as those which, like the salmon, portion of the body of an insect behind the corselet periodically migrate from the ocean to deposit (thorar), and including the back as well as the their spawn in fresh-water lakes and rivers. belly. It consists, in most cases, of a number of M. Cuvier subdivides this family into five subrings without any jointed members for locomotion, ordinate groups, all of which he has defined by and uniformly incloses a portion of the intestines, appropriate and unequivocal characters. He denothough sometimes but a very small one. These minates these subfamilies cyprinoïdes, siluroïdes, rings, or very short hollow cylinders, are severally salmonoïdes, clupeoïdes, and lucioïdes respectively, united with each other by a joint, by a membrane, from the carps, silures, salmons, herrings, and pikes, or sometimes by an intimate junction, the exact the typical genera from which their characters are line of which is not very apparent. The rings in severally taken. some cases, as in the grub of the chameleon fly, slide into one another like the tubes of an operaglass. Each ring is technically termed a segment (segmentum), virtually composed of two principal pieces, which, when distinct, are termed arches; the upper the arch of the back, the under the By 9 George IV. c. 31, s. 19, when any woman arch of the belly. In some cases these two por-shall have any interest, legal or equitable, present tions are not distinct, but, when they are so, the or future, in any estate real or personal, or shall two borders usually come into contact. When be heiress presumptive, or next of kin to any one they do not, but remain free, one usually, more having such interest, any person who from motives or less, overlaps the other, as in bees. In cater- of lucre shall take or detain her against her will pillars, grubs, and wingless insects, such as the for the purpose of her being married or defiled, flea, where the joining of the corselet with the and all counsellors, aiders, and abettors of such abdomen is not apparent, the abdomen may al-offences are declared guilty of felony, and punishways be known by the legs never being jointed with it; and in caterpillars it usually consists of all the body behind the six fore legs, which are always on the corselet.

ABDOMINALES, in Zoology, the name of a group of fishes, to which different naturalists have attached a more or less extensive signification, according to the particular principles of their several systems.

ABDUCTION (from the Latin word abductio, which is from the verb abducere, to lead or carry off) is an unlawful taking away of the person of another, whether of child, wife, ward, heiress, or women generally.

able by transportation for life or not less than seven years, or imprisonment, not exceeding four years, with or without hard labour. The taking of any unmarried girl under sixteen out of the possession of a parent or guardian, is declared a misdemeanor, and is punishable by fine and imprisonment (s. 20).

The forcible abduction and marriage of women The system of ichthyology is a felony. Here, and in the case of stealing an (the knowledge of fishes) of Linnæus is founded heiress, the usual rule, that a wife shall not give upon the presence and position of the ventral fins evidence for or against her husband, is departed (those of the belly) in relation to the pectoral from; for in such case the woman can with no pro(those of the breast); and these he justly enough priety be reckoned a wife, where a main ingredient, regards as analogous to the fore and hind members her consent, was wanting to the contract of marof quadrupeds, and to the wings and feet of birds. riage; besides which there is another rule of law, Linnæus includes, in his order Abdominales, all that' a man shall not take advantage of his own those species which have the ventral fins placed wrong,' which would obviously be done here, if behind the pectoral, or upon the abdomen, the he who carries off a woman could, by forcibly cartilaginous fishes alone excepted; which, after marrying her, prevent her from being evidence the example of Ray, Willughby, and Artedi, he against him, when she was perhaps the only witvery properly considers as forming an order apart. ness to the fact. But this arrangement, though at first sight plausi- ABEL, the second son of Adam. His bioble, and apparently founded upon the modifica-graphy is contained in the fourth chapter of tions of important organs, is, in reality, extremely defective, and fails altogether in displaying the different genera and species of this class of animals, according to their natural affinities.

M. Cuvier, perceiving the deficiency of the

Genesis.'

ABEL, CARL FRIEDRICH, was a native of Germany, and a pupil of Sebastian Bach. He served for some years in a military band at Dresden; but he quitted that service in 1758, and reached

England, where he was appointed chamber-musi- | Champeaux had been made bishop of Châlons-surcian to the queen, at a salary of 2001. per annum; Marne.

and shortly after he united with J. Christian The dialectic conflicts having now ceased, AbeBach in forming a weekly subscription concert, lard commenced the study of divinity, under which for many years continued to be highly Anselm, at Laon. Here also the pupil became patronised and liberally supported. His chief in- the rival of his master, and Anselm at length had strument was the viol da gamba, a small violon-him expelled from Laon, when he returned to cello with six strings, now fallen into disuse. Paris, and established a school of divinity, which With this he produced an effect on his auditors was still more numerously attended than his which scarcely any one since has been able to former schools had been. Guizot says, 'In achieve on bowed instruments. Dr. Burney this celebrated school were trained one pope spoke highly of Abel's adagio compositions and performances; but similar works by later masters, such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, and Cramer, are in the present day much more highly esteemed. Abel was intemperate in the use of fermented liquors, and brought his life to a hasty close in the year 1787.

(Celestine II.), nineteen cardinals, more than fifty bishops and archbishops, French, English, and German; and a much larger number of those men with whom popes, bishops, and cardinals, had often to contend, such as Arnold of Brescia, and many others. The number of pupils who used at that time to assemble round Abelard has been

estimated at upwards of 5000.'

cathedral of Paris. She was probably under twenty years of age. Abelard fell in love with Heloise, and got himself introduced into the house of Fulbert as the tutor of his niece. The result was a criminal intercourse between the two lovers, which was at length discovered by Fulbert, and Heloise was removed by Abelard to the residence of his sister in Britanny, where she gave birth to a boy.

ABEL, NIELS-HENRI, was born Aug. 5, 1802, in the province of Christiansand in Abelard was about thirty-five or thirty-six years Norway, where his father was a clergyman. of age, when he formed an acquaintance with He commenced his studies at the cathedral Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, a canon in the school of Christiania, and at the age of sixteen showed a decided turn for mathematics. In 1821 he entered the university, and soon afterwards published his first essay. In 1825 the government gave him an allowance to enable him to travel. He went accordingly through France, Germany, and Austria, and formed an acquaintance with M. Crelle, in whose journal most of his works are published. He returned in 1827, and died of consumption April 6, 1829. Abel's mathematical writings are among the most remarkable of the present century; particularly those on elliptic functions, and on the impossibility of the solution of the equation of the fifth degree.

Abel's collected works, including those which he left in manuscript, were published in French, by the Norwegian government, in 2 vols. 4to, 1839.

Fulbert insisted that the wounded honour of his niece should be repaired by a marriage, to which Abelard assented willingly; but Heloise with more reluctance, probably from a fear that his prospects would be ruined, the highest dignities of the church in those days being exclusively bestowed on unmarried ecclesiastics. The marriage took place at Paris, and it was agreed to be kept secret; but Fulbert took pains to make it public, while Heloise, who resided with him, (Biographical Dictionary, published by the denied it; the consequence of which was that Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.) her uncle treated her with great harshness, and ABELARD, or ABAILARD, PIERRE, was Abelard took her away and placed her in the born in 1079, at Palais, in Britanny. His father convent of Argenteuil, near Paris. Fulbert, who was a man of some rank and property, and spared seems to have thought that he intended to make no expense in the education of Abelard. He left her a nun in order to get rid of the incumbrance Palais before he was twenty years of age, and of a wife, vowed a cruel revenge, which he soon went to Paris, where he became a pupil of Guil- found means to execute. The valet having been laume de Champeaux, a teacher of logic and bribed, admitted Fulbert and his party into philosophy of the highest reputation in those Abelard's bed-room by night, when they pertimes. At first the favourite disciple, by degrees formed a cruel mutilation of his person. The Abelard became the rival, and finally the antago- perpetrators fled, but the valet and another were nist of Champeaux. To escape the persecution of taken, and were punished by putting out their his former master, Abelard, at the age of twenty- eyes and the infliction of a similar mutilation. two, removed to Melun, and established himself The canon Fulbert was banished from Paris, and there as a teacher, with great success. Thence he all his property was confiscated. Abelard reremoved to Corbeil, where his labours seem to covered from the wound; but as the canon have injured his health; and he sought repose and law rendered him incapable of holding any ecclerestoration by retirement to his native place, siastical preferment, he entered the abbey of St. Palais, where he remained a few years, and then Denis as a monk, and Heloise became a nun in returned to Paris: the controversy between the the convent of Argenteuil. two antagonists was then renewed, and the con- The abbot and monks of St. Denis were distests continued till Champeaux's scholars deserted solute, and Abelard reproved them in a course of him; and he retired to a monastery. Abelard lectures which he delivered in a cell detached from having paid a visit to his mother at Palais, the abbey: the monks got up a charge of heresy found on his return to Paris in 1113, that against a work which he wrote on the Trinity,

and by a council held in 1121 at Soissons, in which he was not permitted to defend himself, the book was condemned and ordered to be burnt. Abelard had also denied that the abbey of St. Denis was founded by Dionysius of Athens, the Areopagite, as the monks asserted. This enraged the monks and abbots still more, and by a series of persecutions and threats Abelard was compelled to By from St. Denis and place himself under the protection of the Count of Champagne. In a solitary spot of the territory of Troyes he erected a small oratory of wickerwork and thatch, and commenced giving lectures, to which numerous scholars crowded from far and near; the wickerwork was then changed into a building of stone and timber, and Abelard named it Paraclete, or 'the Comforter.' But persecution still attending him, he left the Paraclete to become superior of the monks in the abbey of St. Gildas of Ruys, near Vannes, in Britanny.

Abelard was a proficient in the scholastic learning of the times, a dexterous dialectician, and a subtle thinker. His theological works gave an impulse to the age, and though his writings are of little value now, they belong to the history of philosophy and the progress of the human mind. The disputes of that age turn largely on verbal trifles, but these disputes form part of the effort of philosophy to emancipate itself from the fetters of religious intolerance. [NOMINALISTS.] Though Abelard possessed the learning of the times, it is probable that he knew little of Greek or Hebrew, and yet Heloise, according to his testimony, knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The personal character of Abelard is best shown by his letters and those of Heloise. When he had once transgressed the bounds of his duty by his illicit commerce with Heloise, he lost all self-control, and appears a sensualist. When his misfortunes drove him from the world, he became cold and unfeeling Heloise too was not without her share of troubles. towards the noble minded woman, whose passion The convent of Argenteuil, of which she had been and ardent attachment show that she was capable made prioress, was claimed by an abbot as belong of the most unbounded devotion to him whom she ing to his abbey, and Heloise and her nuns were loved. The most complete edition of their works ordered to leave it. Abelard gave them the ora- is 'Petri Abelardi et Heloisa Conjujis ejus Opera, tory of the Paraclete, and there they were esta- nunc primum edita ex MSS. Codd. Francisci blished, Abelard himself, after eleven years of Ambosi,' Paris, 1616, 4to. M. Victor Cousin has separation from Heloise, officiating in the ceremony of consecration.

Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, whose monastery was not far from the Paraclete, having objected to some of the forms of prayer used by Heloise and her nuns, Abelard defended them; and this led to a controversy with the abbot, who eventually accused Abelard of heresy. Abelard appealed to a council, which was held in the year 1140, in the cathedral of Sens, in Champagne, where he defended himself. But the influence of Bernard was more powerful than the logic of Abelard; he was condemned by the assembly; but he appealed to the Pope, and set out on his journey to Rome, which, however, he never reached, having been induced by Peter the Venerable to remain in his monastery at Cluni, near Maçon. The Pope confirmed the sentence of the council of Sens, and Abelard was ordered to be confined, all his works to be burned, and he himself was prohibited from writing anything more. Peter the Venerable addressed a remonstrance to the Pope, Innocent II., and the sentence was suspended. During this suspension Abelard was removed to the priory of St. Marcel, near Châlons, for change of air, and there he died April 21, 1142, in the 63rd year of his age. He was at first interred by the monks of Cluni in their monastery, but his remains were afterwards removed to the Paraclete.

Heloise lived twenty years afterwards, as prioress of the Paraclete, and when she died was baried, at her own request, in Abelard's tomb. The remains of Abelard and Heloise remained undisturbed for upwards of 300 years, till in 1497, they were removed to the church of the abbey, and were afterwards shifted to other places. In 1800 they were removed to the garden of the Musée Français at Paris, and in 1817 were placed in the cemetery of Père la Chaise, where they still remain beneath their gothic tomb.

also published' Ouvrages Médits d'Abailard, Paris, 1836. There are several other editions, some of which have portions, such as the 'Letters,' translated.

(Biographical Dictionary published by the Useful Knowledge Society; Biographie Universelle; Bayle's Dictionary.)

ABELE TREE. [SALICACEE.]
ABELMOSCHUS. [HIBISCUS.]

ABEN ESRA, or with his complete name, Abraham ben Meir ben Esra, a celebrated Jewish scholar, was born at Toledo, probably in A. D. 1119, and died about 1194, at an age of seventyfive years. A considerable portion of his life was spent in travelling. He visited Mantua in 1145, and the island of Rhodes in 1156; in 1159 he was in England, and in 1167 at Rome. His celebrity among his contemporaries, as a scholar and as an accomplished writer of the Hebrew language, was very great. Among ourselves Aben Esra has become known chiefly through his great commentary on the Old Testament, which, it seems, he wrote at different periods, between the years 1140 and 1167. It has been printed in the great Rabbinical editions of the Bible, which have appeared at Venice, Bâle, and Amsterdam; and there have been besides many separate editions of single parts of it. Aben Esra wrote also on mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, medicine, philology, and astrology. His treatise in verse on the game of chess, translated by Thomas Hyde (Oxford, 1667, 1694), affords us a specimen of his skill in poetic composition. For an enumeration of the works of Aben Esra, which are still preserved in MS. in several of the libraries of Europe, see the article Aben Esra,' by Hartmann, in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopædia.

ABENCERRAGES (Beni Serraj), is the name given by Spanish chroniclers and romance writers

to a noble family in the Arabic kingdom of Gra- is a bar of rock at a short distance from the nada, several members of which distinguished mouth of the harbour, which prevents vessels of themselves during the period immediately pre- large burthen from entering it. The harbour ceding the fall of the Mohammedan empire in consists of a basin faced with stone, about 124 Spain. [MOORS.] yards long by 80 wide, and defended by an outer stone bulwark and by beams of timber. About 80 vessels belong to the port. There are railways from Arbroath to Forfar, and from Arbroath to Dundee. (New Statistical Account of Scotland)

ABER, a Celtic term which forms the prefix of several names of places in Great Britain. It means generally the mouth or embouchure of a river, whether it falls into the sea or into another river; and sometimes it means a port or harbour. Most of the places so named are in Wales, as Abergavenny, at the confluence of the Usk and Gavenny, and Aberystwith, at the outlet of the Ystwith; and a few in Scotland, as Aberbrothock (Arbroath), at the mouth of the Brothock, in Forfarshire; Aberdour, at the mouth of the Dour, in Aberdeenshire.

ABERCROMBIE, JOHN, M.D., was born on the 11th of November, 1781. He was the son of the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, for many years one of the town-ministers of Aberdeen. He studied medicine in the Scottish metropolis, and took his degree there on the 4th of June, 1803. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in the year 1805. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1823, and in 1824 was admitted a fellow of the body. In 1834 the University of Oxford marked their estimation of his character and talents by conferring on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the year 1835 Dr. Abercrombie was elected Lord Rector of the Marischal College of Aberdeen. He died suddenly, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 1844, at his house in York Place, Edinburgh.

ABERBROTHOCK, ABERBROTHWICK, or most commonly ARBROATH, a sea-port and town in Forfarshire, Scotland, at the mouth of the small river Brothock, 56° 35′ N. lat., 2o 30' W. long. The town or ancient royal burgh of Arbroath is on the east side of the river, in the parish of Arbroath; but the suburbs extend on the west side of the river into the adjoining parish of St. Vigean's. In 1831 the town contained, in Arbroath parish, 6624 inhabitants; in St. Vigean's parish, 4587; in all, 11,211. In 1841 the town The writings of Dr. Abercrombie contributed no contained, in Arbroath parish, 7218 inhabitants; less to the establishment and maintenance of his in St. Vigean's parish, 5195; in all, 12,413. The fame, than his singularly useful career as a pracerection of Arbroath into a royal burgh is very tical member of his profession. In the early part ancient, but the date is not known; the most of his course he confined his literary labours to ancient charter extant was granted by James VI. the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,' in 1599. Previous to the Reform Bill it sent and other periodicals in his own department of one member to Parliament, in conjunction with science. His first distinct work was one entitled Aberdeen, Montrose, Bervie, and Brechin. It is Pathological and Practical Researches on Diseases now included in the Montrose District, which of the Brain and the Spinal Cord,' Edinburgh, consists of Montrose, Arbroath, Forfar, Bervie, 1828, 8vo. In 1828 he published Pathological and Brechin. The population of the parliament- and Practical Researches on the Diseases of the ary borough in 1841 was 14,568, of whom Intestinal Canal, Liver, and other Viscera of the 6764 were males, and 7804 females. There was Abdomen,' Edinburgh, 8vo. In 1830 appeared formerly an abbey at Arbroath, founded by King his Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers William the Lion in 1178, and dedicated to and the Investigation of Truth,' Edinburgh, 8vo. ; Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. and, in 1833,The Philosophy of the Moral The abbey was destroyed at the Reformation, in Feelings,' London, 8vo. The latter is in some 1560, but considerable portions of the ruins yet measure a sequel to the first, and the whole comremain. Of the modern buildings, the parish poses a view of human nature intellectually and church, with a very elegant gothic spire, and morally, in which the facts of science and the the chapel of ease, are the most conspicuous. revelations of religion are combined together in There are several dissenting meeting-houses. peculiar harmony. The best of these two works The town-house and the academy are handsome in every respect, is that on the Intellectual buildings, and there is also a guild-hall and a Powers. For range of acquirements, solid as well trades-hall. The prison is in the upper part of as extensive, Dr. Abercrombie stood unequalled the town-house. There is a signal-tower for among the Scottish physicians of his day. He communicating with the Bell-Rock Lighthouse. earned by his writings a name that will not be [BELL-ROCK.] Most of the houses are built of a forgotten, and he will long be remembered, as a red sandstone from quarries in the neighbour- private individual, for his singular piety and behood. Part of the high-street looks well, but nevolence. most of the other streets are narrow. The prinABERCROMBY, SIR RALPH, was the cipal manufactures of the town are, yarn spun son of George Abercromby, Esq., of Tullibody, in from flax and hemp, canvas, brown and bleached Clackmannanshire. Ralph Abercomby was born linen, leather, cast-iron, and bone-dust. In the in Oct. 1734, at Menstry, in Clackmannanshire. town and suburbs there are altogether sixteen After receiving a liberal education, he entered spinning-mills, which are driven by the river. the army in March, 1756, as a cornet in the 3rd The harbour is small, and dry at low-water; at regiment of dragoon guards. By the year 1787 spring-tides there is about 15 feet of water at the he had reached the rank of major-general. When entrance, and 9 or 10 feet at neap-tides. There the war with France broke out in 1793, Aber