" Armada" year as his birth-time; the latter to 1616-17 (id supra). In his Bee Tliankfull London and her Sisters (1626), he describes himself as formerly "assistant to a reverend divine .... now with God," and the name on the margin is " Master Haiward of Wool Church." This was doubtless previous to his going to Cranbrook. Very remarkable and effective was Abbot s ministry at Cran brook, where the father of Phineas and Giles Fletcher was the first " Reformation" pastor, and which, relatively small as it is, is transfigured by being the birth-place of the poet of the " Locustse" and " The Purple Island." His parish ioners were as his own " sons and daughters" to him, and by day and night he thought and felt, wept and prayed, for them and with them. He is a noble specimen of the rural clergyman of his age. Puritan though he was in his deepest convictions, he was a thorough Churchman as toward Non conformists, e.g., the Brownists, with whom he waged stern warfare. He remained until 1643 at Cranbrook, and then chose the very inferior living of Southwick, Hants, as be tween the one and the other, the Parliament deciding against pluralities of ecclesiastical offices. Succeeding the " extruded" Udall of St Austine s, Abbot continued there until a good old age. In 1657, in the Warning-piece, he is described as still " pastor of Austine s in London." He disappears silently between 1657-8 and 1662. Robert Abbot s books are distinguished from many of the Puritans by their terseness and variety. (Brook s Puritans, iii. 182, 3; Walker s Sufferings; Vfood s Athene? (Bliss); Cata- logus Impressorum Librorum in BibliotJteca Bodleiana, s.v. ;
Palmer s Nonconf. Mem., ii. 218.)ABBOTSFORD, the celebrated residence of Sir Walter Scott, situated on the south bank of the river Tweed, about three miles above Melrose. The nucleus of the property was a small farm of 100 acres, with the "inharmonious designation" of Clarty Hole, acquired by Scott on the lapse of his lease (1811) of the neighbouring house of Ashesticl. It was gradually increased by various acquisitions, the last and principal being that of Toftfield (afterwards named Huntly bum), purchased in 1817. The present new house was then commenced, and was completed in 1824. The general ground-plan is a parallelogram, with irregular outlines ons side overlooking the Tweed, and the other facing a courtyard ; and the general style of the building is the Scottish baronial. Scott had only enjoyed his new resi dence one year when (1825) he met with that reverse of fortune (connected with the failure of Ballantyne and Constable), which involved the estate in debt. In 1830, the library[1] and museum were presented as a free gift by the creditors; and after Scott s death, which took place at Abbotsford in September 1832, a committee of friends subscribed a further sum of about 8000 towards the same object. The property was wholly disencumbered in 1847, by Mr Cadell, the publisher, accepting the remaining claims of the family over Sir Walter Scott s writings in requital of his obligation to obliterate the heritable bond on the property. The result of this transaction was, that not only was the estate redeemed by the fruit of Scott s brain, but a handsome residue fell to the publisher. Scott s only son Walter (Lieutenant-Colonel 15th Hussars) did not live to enjoy the property, having died on his way from India in 1847. Its subsequent possessors have been Scott s son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart, and the latter s son-in-law, J. R. Hope Scott, Q.C., whose daughter (Scott s great- granddaughter) is the present proprietor. Mr Lockhart died at Abbotsford in 1854. See Life of Scott, by J. G. Lockhart; Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, by Washing ton Irving; Abbotsford Notanda in Gentleman s May., April and May 1869; The Lands of Scott, by James F. Hunnewell, cr. 8vo, 1871; Scott Loan Exhibition Cata logue, 4to, 1871.
ABBOTSFORD CLUB, one of the principal printing clubs, was founded in 1834 by Mr W. B. D. D. Turnbull, and named in honour of Sir Walter Scott. Taking a wider range than its predecessors, the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs, it did not confine its printing (as remarked by Mr Lockhart) to works connected with Scotland, but admitted all materials that threw light on the ancient history of literature of any country, anywhere described or discussed by the Author of Waverley. The club, now dissolved, consisted of fifty members; and the publications extend to 34 vols. quarto, issued during the years 1835-1864.
ABBREVIATION, a letter or group of letters, taken from a word or words, and employed to represent them for the sake of brevity. Abbreviations, both of single words and of phrases, having a meaning more or less fixed and recognised, are common in ancient writings and inscriptions, and very many are in use at the present time. A distinction is to be observed between abbreviations and the contractions that are frequently to be met with in old manuscripts, and even in early printed books, whereby letters are dropped out here and there, or particular collocations of letters represented by somewhat arbitrary symbols. The commonest form of abbreviation is the substitution for a word of its initial letter; but, with a view to prevent ambiguity, one or more of the other letters are frequently added. Letters are often doubled to indicate a plural or a superlative.
- ↑ The Catalogue of the Library at Abbotsford forms vol. Ixi. of the Bannatyne Club publications.
