| 130 | A B B | |
" respect; but the piles that wanted a
" character to excuse them, I considered
" as the monuments of folly. I have wan-
" dered with pleasure into the most gloomy
" recesses of this last resort of grandeur, to
" contemplate human life, and trace man-
" kind thro' all the wilderness of their
" frailties and misfortunes, from their cradles
" to their grave. I have reflected on the
" shortness of our duration here, and that
" I was but one of the millions who had
" been employed in the same manner, in
" ruminating on the trophies of mortality
" before me; that I must moulder to dust
" in the same manner, and quit the scene
" to a new generation, without leaving
" the shadow of my existence behind me;
" that this huge fabric, this sacred reposi-
" tory of fame and grandeur, would only
" be the stage for the same performances;
" would receive new accessions of noble
" dust; would be adorned with other se-
" pulchres of cost and magnificence; would
" be crouded with successive admirers; and
" at last, by the unavoidable decays of time,
" bury the whole collection of antiquities
" in general obscurity, and be the monu-
" ment of its own ruin."
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| A B C | 131 |
Abbots Langley, a village in Hertford-
shire, situated to the east of Kings Langley,
and three or four miles to the S. W. of
St. Albans, to whose abbey it once be-
longed. It is famous for being the birth
place of Nicholas Breakspeare, who was
made Pope by the title of Adrian IV. and
had his stirrup held by the Emperor Fre-
deric while he dismounted: but notwith-
standing his pride, it is a still more indeli-
ble stain to his memory, that when Sove-
reign Pontiff, he suffer'd his mother to
be maintained by the alms of the church
of Canterbury. This place gives the title
of Baron to the Lord Raymond, who has
a seat in this neighbourhood.
Abbs Court, in the parish of Walton up-
on Thames in Surry. The Lord of this
Manor, which is also called Aps, used
formerly upon All-Saints Day to give a
barrel of beer, and a quarter of corn baked
into loaves, to as many poor as came.
This charity was begun in the days of
Popery, in order, as 'tis supposed, to en-
courage the prayers for deliverance of
souls out of purgatory.
Abchurch lane, 1. Gracechurch street.
2. Lombard street. See St. Mary Ab-
church.
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| K 2 | Abel |
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