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10 ABBOTS-LANGLEY ABBOTT is situated in the parish of Melrose, in Rox- burghshire and Selkirkshire, on the right bank of the Tweed, and in the neighborhood of the abbeys of Melrose, Jedburgh, and Dryburgh, and the towns of Selkirk and Galashiels. Sir Walter bought the estate in 1811, built the mansion, and gave it its present name, adopted from an adjoining ford in the Tweed. The house is irregular, and after the pattern of the old English manor houses ; flourishing planta- tions hem it round, and a beautiful haugh or meadow on the opposite side of the Tweed forms its immediate prospect. The external walls of the house and garden are interca- lated with antique carved stones taken from old castles and abbeys. The inside was decorated with beautiful paintings, the work of D. B. Hay of Edinburgh, and a library of curious works and British antiquities. Ab- botsford was occupied by James Hope Scott, Esq., and his wife, the sole surviving grand- daughter of Sir Walter Scott, until that lady's death, Oct. 26, 1858. Since that period, pend- ing the minority of Miss Scott, the only sur- viving child, the mansion has been let for the use of a Roman Catholic seminary for girls. ABBOTS-LANGLEY, a parish in Hertfordshire, England, 21 m. N. of London, noted as the birthplace of Nicholas Breakspear (Pope Adrian IV.), the only Englishman who ever oc- cupied the holy see. "The Booksellers' Re- treat " in this place is an institution founded by English booksellers as a home for decayed members of the trade. ABBOTT, a family of American writers, whose name was originally spelled Abbot. I. Jaeob, born at Hallowell, Me., Nov. 14, 1803. He graduated at Bowdoin college, Brunswick, Me., in 1820, and studied divinity at the theological seminary in Andover, Mass. From 1825 to 1829 he was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Amherst college, and afterward took charge of the newly founded Mount Vernon school for girls in Bos- ton. In 1834 he engaged in organizing a new Congregational church in Roxbury (the Eliot church); and about 1838, relinquishing the pastoral charge to his brother John S. C., he removed to Farmington, Me., and has since de- voted himself almost exclusively to literary la- bor, chiefly in the production of books for the young. For several years he has resided in New York. A complete catalogue of his works would considerably exceed 200 titles. Many of them have been serial, each series comprising from 3 to 36 volumes. Among them are the "Young Christian" series (4 vols.), the "Rollo Books" (28 vols.), the "Lucy Books" (6 vols.), the "Jonas Books" (6 vols.), the "Franconia Stories" (10 vols.), the "Harper's Story Books" (36 vols.), the "Marco Paul Series" (6 vols.), the "Gay Family" series (12 vols.), the "Juno Books" (6 vols.), "Rainbow and Lucky" "Aeries (5 vols.), and 4 or 5 other series of 5 or .6 vol- umes each ; " Science for the Young " (4 vols. issued, "Heat," "Light," "Water and Land," and "Force"); "A Summer in Scotland"; " The Teacher " ; more than 20 of the series of illustrated histories to which his brother John S. C. contributed, and a separate series of his- tories of America in 4 volumes. He has also edited, with additions, several historical text books, and compiled a series of school readers. II. John Stephens Cabot, brother of the preced- ing, born in Brunswick, Me., Sept. 18, 1805. He was also educated at Bowdoin college and Andover theological seminary, graduating from the former in 1825. He was ordained to the ministry in the Congregational church in 1830, and was settled successively at Worces- ter, Roxbury, and Nantucket, Mass. His first published work, " The Mother at Home," ap- peared in 1833, and was followed not long af- ter by "The Child at Home." In 1844 he re- linquished the pastorate, and devoted himself exclusively to literature, but has since occa- sionally resumed his ministerial labors for brief periods, and in 1866-'8 acted as stated sup- ply in New Haven. With few exceptions his works have been professedly historical. The principal of them are: "Practical Christian- ity. " ; " Kings and Queens, or Life in the Palace " ; " The French Revolution of 1789 " ; " The History of Napoleon Bonaparte " (2 vols.) ; " Napoleon at St. Helena " ; " The His- tory of Napoleon III." (1868); 10 vols. of illustrated histories ; " A History of the Civil War in America" (2 vols., 1863-'6); "Ro- mance of Spanish History" (1870); and "The History of Frederick the Second, called Fred- erick the Great" (1871). Most of Mr. Ab- bott's books have had a large sale, and several of them have been translated into many lan- guages. III. Gorham D. See ABBOT. IV. Ben- jamin Yanghan, son of Jacob, a Ifiwyer, born in Boston, June 4, 1830. He was educated in New York, and admitted to the bar in 1851. He has produced many volumes of reports and digests of state and United States laws and de- cisions of the higher courts of New York. He is now (1872) a member of the national com- mission for revising the laws of the United States, and is also preparing a National Digest. V. Aiivtin. brother of the preceding, also a law- yer, born in Boston, Dec. 18, 1831. He was admitted to the New York bar about 1852, en- tered into partnership with his brother, and has codperated with him in the preparation of legal treatises, compilations, and digests. He has also occasionally contributed to lighter literature,, his earliest ventures being two joint novels entitled " Conecut Corners " and "Mat- thew Caraby," in which his brothers Benjamin and Lyman participated. VI. Lyman, brother of the preceding, born in Roxbury, Mass., Dec. 18, 1835. He graduated from the university of the city of New York in 1853, studied law, and went into partnership with his brothers in 1856; but he afterward studied theology with his uncle, the Rev. J. S. C. Abbott, and was ordained to the ministry in the Congrega-