PREFACE. THE need of a good portable Universal Biography has been long felt, not only by literary men but by the reading public in general. With the exception of Maunder's Biographical Treasury, published in London, there is none extant. The small works of Jones, Bellchambers, Davenport, &c., are very incomplete; and as they are only brought down to the time of their publication, quite valueless now. Maunder's book is for the most part excellent, condensing a vast variety of biographical knowledge within a small compass, and coming down to the year 1850; but the objections to it are, that it almost wholly ignores American names, and is quite anti-republican in its sympathies. Under the titles of the various kings, too, it furnishes a great deal of matter which properly belongs to history, to the exclusion of more appropriate subjects. The compiler of the present volume, therefore, making Maunder the basis of his work, has endeavored to preserve the compactness, while he improved upon the fidelity and comprehensiveness of his original. He has re-written most of the articles, either to enlarge or condense them; and has added a vast number of names, especially of American men of eminence, and those who have died since former works were prepared. In all cases he has consulted the most reliable authorities, and given as much authentic information under each head as could be condensed into the allotted space. Of course a work of this kind can be little more than a record of names and dates; it gives no scope to the expression of opinions, and its merits, if it has any, must be simply those of accuracy and comprehen PREFACE. siveness. In these respects, therefore, the compiler believes that his Many names are doubtless work is the best now offered to the public. omitted which ought to have been in it, and many are in it which might better have been omitted; but on the whole, he thinks that he has presented as large a variety of names, and said as much about each of them, as will be required by ordinary readers. Students and investigators will always have at hand the larger works of Gorton, Chalmers, Rose, the Biographie Universelle, and the Encyclopedias. It should be added, that besides Maunder, the compiler has consulted the works of Allen, Blake, and Aikin, and particularly that most valuable publication, the Encyclopedia Americana by Prof. Lieber, with its continuation by Professor Vethake. In the typographical arrangement, in order to save room, all the same generic names are treated under one head, in the manner of classical dictionaries, and the initial letters of the words "born" and "died," which so often occur, are commonly used in place of the full word. P. G. CYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY. A. AA, PETER VAN DER, an eminent | sent to England in 1620; and the second bookseller of Leyden. D. 1730. AA, CHARLES HENRY VANDER, a Lutheran minister, who was among the founders of the Academy of Sciences. at Harlem, b. at Zwolle, 1718, d. 1795. A family of this name was distinguished in the annals of the United Provinces, for their resistance to the tyranny of Philip II. of Spain. AAGARD, CHRISTIAN, a Danish poet. B. 1616; d. 1664.-NICHOLAS, a brother of the above, b. 1612, d. 1657, was a philosophical writer. AALST, EVERARD, a Dutch painter of fruit pieces. B. 1602; d. 1658.-His nephew, WILLIAM, also a painter, was b. 1620, d. 1679. AAGESEN, SVEND, a Danish historian of the 12th century. Sometimes called Sueno Agonis. AARON, ST., a Briton, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in 303, and was canonized ten centuries later. AARON, a physician and priest at Alexandria in the 12th century; the first man who described measles and the small-pox, on their first appearance in Egypt. AARON, OF BARCELONA, a Spanish Jew, who wrote a book called "Precepts of Moses," at Venice, in 1523. AARON BEN ASSER, a Jew, who is said to have invented the points in Hebrew writing, in the 5th century, AARSENS, FRANCIS VAN, lord of Someldyck and Spyck, one of the greatest ministers for negotiation that the United Provinces of Holland have at any time possessed. He was the first person ever recognized as Dutch Ambassador by the French court: the first of three extraordinary ambassadors in 1641, who were to treat about the marriage of Prince William, son of the prince of Orange. Aarsens died at an advanced age; and left behind him very accurate and judicious memoirs of all embassies in which he was employed. B. 1572; d. 1679. ABACO, AVARISTO FELICE D'ALL, & musical composer and violinist of Verona. There was another of the same name, who flourished about the same time in 1750. ABAGA, an emperor of the Moguls, who opposed the Crusaders with firmness and warlike skill, and d. in 1284. ABARIS, a celebrated character of antiquity, said to have possessed vast abilities, and to have been endowed with the power of performing miraculous cures. He was a Scythian by birth. ABAS, SCHAH, surnamed the Great, 7th king of Persia. D. in 1629.—ABAS, Schah, great grandson of the preceding, was a prince remarkable for mildness and humanity. D. in 1666. ABASCAL, DON JOSE FERNANDO, viceroy of Peru during several years of the South American war of independence, was born at Oviedo in 1743, and having entered the military service of Spain, served in the numerous campaigns of that country during the latter half of last century in all parts of the globe. Appointed viceroy of Peru in 1804, he governed with a firm but gentle hand till 1816, when he was superseded by General Pezuela; and, on his retirement, he left behind him a character for ability and moderation which is still held in grateful remembrance. D. at Madrid, 1821. ABASSA, or ABBASSA, sister of the caliph Haroun al Raschid, who gave her in marriage to his vizier Giafar, on condition that their marriage should never be consummated; but having broken the contract, the caliph put Giafar to death, and banished his wife from the palace, giving orders that no one should afford her relief. ABATE, ANDREA, a Neapolitan artist, who was employed, together with Luca Giordio, in adorning the Escurial for Charles II. of Spain. D. 1732. ABAUZIT, FIRMIN, a French author of great merit and erudition. He was profoundly learned, and acquired the friendship of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Newton. B. at Uzes in 1679, and d. at Geneva in 1767. was born, in 1562, at Guildford, in Surrey, where his father was a weaver and clothworker. He raised himself gradually till he became primate of all England; was the author of several theological works; and one of the eight divines, who, in 1604, by the order of James I., translated the edition of the Bible now in use. D. at Croydon in 1633.-ROBERT, bishop of Salisbury, the elder brother of the above, was an eminent divine, and famous for his skill in conducting polemical discussions, and vindicating the supremacy of kings. B. 1560; d. 1617.- MAURICE, youngest brother of the above, was an eminent London merchant, knighted by Charles I. Maurice's son, George, was the auABBADIE, JAMES, an eminent Prot- thor of a Paraphrase on the Book of Job. estant divine, who accompanied Mar- B. 1600; d. 1648.-HULL, a respectable shal Schomberg to England in 1688, and minister of Charlestown, (Mass.) B. was present when that great commander 1696; d. 1774.-SAMUEL, one of the fell at the battle of the Boyne. He wrote founders of the Andover Theological many works, chiefly theological and in Seminary. B. 1732; d. 1812.-ABDIEL, the French language, the most esteem- a preacher, and author of several pubed of which is entitled "Traité de la lished sermons. B. at Andover, 1770; Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne." B. d. at Staten Island, 1828.-CHARLES, Was at Berne in 1658; d. in London, 1727. a celebrated statesman, once speaker of ABBAS, the uncle of Mahomet, of the house of commons, and subsequentwhom, though opposed to him at first, ly raised to the peerage as Lord Colhe became a disciple, and served in his chester. B. at Abingdon, 1757; d. 1829. army as a general. D. 653.-EBN ABBAS-CHARLES, a distinguished lawyer, who, ABDALLAH, son of the foregoing; chief in 1818, was made lord chief justice of of the " "Sahabab," or companions of the King's Bench, and during the prethe Prophet, and author of a "Com-miership of Mr. Canning, was created a mentary on the Koran."-HALI or peer, by the title of Lord Tenterden. MAGUS, a Persian physician of the 10th B. 17 ; d. 1832. century; author of a pompous book on medicine, called "The Royal Work," which has been translated into Latin. ABBATI, NICOLO, an Italian painter in fresco; b. at Modena in 1512. ABBATISSA, PAUL, a poet of Sicily, who flourished about the year 1570, and translated the Iliad and Odyssey into Latin verse. ABBE, LOUISE, a French poet of the 17th century, surnamed "La Belle Cordonnière." ABBIATI, FILIPPO, an historical painter, of considerable eminence. B. at Milan in 1640; d. in 1715. ABBON, or ABBO, CERNUUS, a Norman monk of the 9th century, who wrote, in Latin verse, an account of the siege of Paris by the Normans. ABBO, FLORIACENSIS, a learned writer of ecclesiastical biographies, who was killed in 1004. ABBOT, GEORGE, archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of James I. and Charles I., and one of the most active political characters of that period. He ABBT, THOMAS, a German writer who wrote a clever work, called "Historia Vitæ Magistra," when he was only 13 years of age. He was professor of philosophy at Frankfort, and of mathematics at Ritelin; wrote a treatise on "Merit," and on the "Duty of Dying for one's Country." B. at Ulm, in Suabia, 1738; d. 1766. ABDALLAH, a camel driver, the father of Mahomet. He was so much esteemed by his tribe, that the stories relate how one hundred girls broke their hearts on the night of his wedding. ABDAS, a bishop of Persia, who instigated the thirty years' persecution of the Christians, under Theodosius the Younger. ABDIAS, author of a legend called "Historia Certaminis Apostilici," published at Basle in 1571. ABDOLLATIPH, a Persian, who wrote the history of Egypt, published in England in 1800. B. at Bagdad 1161. ABDOLMAMEN, a potter's son, who became a general and conquered Mo rocco, and made himself monarch. D. 1156. ABEEL, JOHN NELSON, an eloquent preacher, of New-York, who died in 1812, aged 43. ABEILLE, GASPAR, a French dramatic writer of extraordinary versatility and wit. B. 1648; d. 1718.-SCIPIO, a brother of the above, wrote a "History of the Bones," and the "Complete Army Surgeon." D. 1697. ABEL, THOMAS, teacher of grammar and music to Queen Catharine, but having opposed Henry VIII.'s separation from her, he was condemned and executed, under a pretence of denying the king's supremacy, in 1540.-GASPAR, a German historian. B. 1675; d. 1763.CHARLES FREDERICK, a famous German composer, and player on the viol di gamba, appointed musician to Queen Charlotte. D. 1787. ABELA, JOHN FRANCIS, a commander of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, who wrote "Malta Illustrata," which was published in Malta in 1647. He ABELARD, PETER, a native of Palais, in Brittany, made immortal rather by his unfortunate love, than by his immense and varied attainments. was educated at the University of Paris, and became one of the most learned men of his day. He opened a school of theology and rhetoric, which was so popular that it attracted more than three thousand pupils. But in the midday of his fame he fell in love with a young and beautiful scholar, called Heloise, the niece of the canon of Paris, Fulbert. He was then forty and she but fifteen, yet the attachment grew into a passion which for warmth and intensity has never been surpassed. Abelard forgot his lectures, his studies, and his fame in his abandonment to the raptures of delight. Yet the attachment was an unhappy one for both; Fulbert separated the lovers; when Abelard betook himself to the residence of his aunt in Brittany, whither he was instantly followed by Heloise, and where she gave birth to a son. Abelard would. have married her secretly, but she disdained the restraints of wedlock, preferring her free attachment to him to a relation sanctioned and enforced by law. After a while, however, she reluctantly consented to marry him, yet refused to confess the marriage in public. She even denied it under oath. Her uncle was so incensed at this conduct, that he treated her with great severity, to release her from which Abelard carried her away and placed her in the convent of Argenteuil. Baffled by this manoeuvre, Fulbert was so enraged that he had Abelard ignominiously mutilated, and thereby caused him, through sorrow and shame, to become a monk of St. Denis. When his mortification had somewhat subsided, he began to lecture again, but his enemies charged him with heterodoxy, and had him condemned. He then erected an oratory, called the Paraclete, in the diocese of Troyes, but, being still pursued by bitter persecutions, after a few years of vicissitude and desertion, died at the priory of St. Marcel. Heloise, then abbess of the Paraclete, did not desert him in death, but had his ashes removed to a place where, in a few years later, she was destined to sleep by his side. The remains of both were taken to Père-laChaise, in 1817, by order of the nation. Abelard was a poet, an orator, a philosopher and a mathematician-in short, a man possessing the highest qualities of mind and heart-but, while his works have mostly perished, his name is rescued from oblivion by the story of his passion. The letters which passed between him and Heloise have been made the foundation of many poems and novels. The best of these is the celebrated version of Pope. B. 1079; d. 1142. ABELL, JOHN, a musician who flourished at the court of Charles II. ABELLI, LOUIs, bishop of Rhodes, and author of several theological works. B. 1604; d. 1691. But ABERCROMBIE, JOHN, M. D., an eminent Scotch physician and author, was born at Aberdeen, Nov. 11, 1781. Having taken his degree at Edinburgh in 1803, he permanently fixed his residence in the Scotch metropolis, where he soon gained the first rank as a practising and consulting physician. the writings of Dr. Abercrombie contributed more to his fame than his skill as a physician. His purely professional works are meritorious, but the most permanent monuments to his memory are his "Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, &c.," published 1830, and the "Philosophy of the Moral Feelings," published 1833. In these works he has brought all the medical facts accumulated in the course of his extensive experience and research to bear on various moral and metaphysical systems. To his wide range of acquirements he added a piety as genuine as it was unassuming, and he will long be remem |