in a monastic sense, the same with ABBOT.

in a modern sense, is the name of a curious popular character in France, very much mentioned, but very little known, in Britain. The term is not to be rendered in our language, as the existence of the being which it designates is posterior to the reformation, and no such character was known among the Romanists till about a century and a half ago.

Abbés, according to the strictest definition, are persons who have not yet obtained any precise or fixed settlement in church or state, but most heartily with for, and would accept of, either, just as it may happen. In the mean while, their privileges are many. They are admissible in all companies, and no degradation to the best, notwithstanding they are sometimes found in the worst. Their dress is rather that of an academic, or of a professed scholar, than of an ecclesiastic; and, never varying in colour, is no encumbrance on the pocket.

These abbés are very numerous, and no less useful. They are, in colleges, the instructors of youth; in private families, the tutors of young gentlemen; and many procure a decent livelihood by their literary and witty compositions of all kinds, from the profoundest philosophy to the most airy romances. They are, in short, a body of men who possess a fund of universal talents and learning, and are incessantly employed in the cultivation of every various branch of literature and ingenuity. No subject whatever escapes them; serious or gay, solid or ludicrous, sacred or profane, all pay tribute to their researches; and as they are conversant in the lowest as well as the highest topics, their fame is equally great in the learned and in the scribbling world.—A distinguishing part of their character, too, though we shall but slightly touch it, is their devotion to the fair sex: whose favourites, in return, they have the honour of being in the most enviable degree; the wit and smartness for which they are usually remarkable, being just the very thing that suit the French ladies.—In fine, these abbés are sought after by most people, on various accounts; as they are equally men of business and pleasure, not less expert in the most serious transactions, than fond of enjoying their share in whatever occupies the gay world. Hence they diligently frequent all public spectacles, which are thought incomplete without them; as they compose the most intelligent part of the company, and are the most weighty approvers or condemners of what passes in almost all places.