ABELARD, Peter, an eminent scholastic philosopher of France, the son of Berenger, of noble descent, was born at Palais near Nantes in Bretagne, in the year 1079. Abelard had received from nature a vigorous and active mind; but it was his lot to live at a period, when logic, metaphysics, and polemic theology, Abelard, logic, constituted a learned education, when abstruse speculations and verbal subtleties occupied the ingenuity of literary men, and distinguished talents for disputation led to honour and preferment. Devoted to letters by his father's appointment, and by his own inclination, his literary attainments could at this time only be exhibited in the field of scholastic philosophy; and, that he might be fitted for his destined career of life, he was placed, after a previous course of grammatical studies, under the tuition of Rosceline, a celebrated metaphysician, and founder of the sect of the Nominalists. Under the instructions of this able master, at the early age of fifteen, he furnished himself with a large store of scholastic knowledge, and acquired a subtlety and quickness of thought, a fluency of speech, and facility of expression, which were necessary qualifications in scholastic disputation.

Having spent some time in visiting the schools of several provinces, after the example of the ancient philosophers who travelled in search of wisdom, in the twentieth year of his age, he fixed his residence in the university of Paris, then the first seat of learning in Europe. The master, William de Champeaux, was at that time in high repute for his knowledge of philosophy, and his skill in the dialectic art; to him he committed the direction of his studies, and was at first contented with receiving instruction from so eminent a preceptor. De Champeaux was proud of the talents of his pupil, and admitted him to his friendship. But the aspiring youth ventured to contradict the opinions of his master, and in the public school held disputations with him, in which he was frequently victorious. The jealousy of the master and the vanity of the pupil naturally occasioned a speedy separation.

Elated by success, and confident of his own powers, Abelard, without hesitation, at the age of twenty-two, opened a public school of his own. "I was young indeed," says he; "but confident of myself, my ambition had no bounds: I aspired to the dignity of a professor, and only waited till I could fix on a proper place to open my lectures." Melun, a town ten leagues from Paris, where the court frequently resided, was the place which he chose for this bold display of his talents. But it was not without considerable difficulty that Abelard executed his plan; for De Champeaux, who regarded him as a rival, openly employed all his interest against him. Abelard at length prevailed, his school was opened, and his lectures were attended by crowded and admiring auditoriums. Emboldened by this success, and perhaps stimulated by unworthy resentment, Abelard resolved to maintain an open contest with his master, and for this purpose removed his school to Corbeil near Paris. The disputants frequently met in each other's schools; and the contest was supported on each side with great spirit, amidst crowds of their respective scholars. The young champion was in the end victorious, and his antagonist was obliged to retire.

Constant application and violent exertions had now so far impaired Abelard's health, that it was become necessary for him to interrupt his labours; and, with the advice of his physician, he withdrew to his native country. Two years afterwards, he returned to Corbeil, and found that De Champeaux had taken the monastic habit among the regular canons in the convent of St Victor; but that he still continued to teach rhetoric and logic, and to hold public disputations in theology. Returning to the charge, he renewed the contest, and his opponent was obliged to acknowledge himself defeated; and the scholars of De Champeaux deserted him, and went over in crowds to Abelard. Even the new professor, who had taken the former school of De Champeaux, voluntarily surrendered the chair to the young philosopher, and requested to be enrolled among his disciples. A triumph so complete, while it gratified the vanity of Abelard, could not fail to provoke the resentment of his old master, who had influence to obtain the appointment of a new professor, and drive Abelard back to Melun. De Champeaux's motive for this violent proceeding was soon perceived; even his friends were ashamed of his conduct; and he retired from the convent into the country. When Abelard was informed of the flight of his adversary, he returned towards Paris and took a new station at the abbey on Mount St Genevieve. His rival, the new professor, was unequal to the contest, and was soon deserted by his pupils, who flocked to the lectures of Abelard. De Champeaux too returning to his monastery, renewed the struggle; but so unsuccessfully, that Abelard was again victorious.

During a short absence, in which Abelard visited his native place, De Champeaux was preferred to the see of Chalons. The long and singular contest between these philosophers terminated; and Abelard, perhaps for want of a rival to stimulate his exertions, or possibly through envy of the good fortune of his rival, determined to exchange the study and profession of philosophy for that of theology. He therefore quitted his school at St Genevieve, and removed to Laon, to become a scholar of Anselm. From this celebrated master he entertained high expectations; but they were soon disappointed. On attending his lectures, he found that, though he possessed uncommon fluency of language, he left his auditors without instruction. "You would have thought," says Abelard, "he was kindling a fire, when instantly the whole house was filled with smoke, in which not a single spark was visible: he was a tree covered with a thick foliage, which pleased the distant eye; but, on a nearer inspection, there was no fruit to be found: I went up to this tree in full expectation, but I saw that it was the fig-tree which the Lord had cursed." (High Calamity.) Abelard gradually retired from these unprofitable lectures, but without offering offence either to the veteran professor, or his scholars. In conversation one of them asked him, what he thought of the study of the Scriptures? Abelard replied, that he thought the explanation of them a task of no great difficulty; and, to prove his assertion, he undertook to give a comment, the next day, upon any part of the Scriptures they should mention. They fixed upon the beginning of the prophecy of Ezekiel; and the next morning he explained the passage in a theological lecture, which was heard with admiration. For several successive days, the lectures were at the request of the audience continued; the whole town pressed to hear them; and the name of Abelard was echoed through the streets of Laon. Anselm, jealous of the rising fame of this young theologian, prohibited his lectures, under the pretence that so young a lecturer might fall into mistakes, which would would bring discredit upon his master. Abelard, whose ambition required a wider field than that of Laon, obeyed the prohibition, and withdrew. He returned to Paris, whither the fame of his theological talents had arrived before him, and opened his school with his lectures on the prophecy of Ezekiel. His auditors were delighted; his school was crowded with scholars; and he united in his lectures the sciences of theology and philosophy with so much success, that multitudes repaired to his school from various parts of France, from Spain, Italy, Germany, Flanders, and Great Britain.

Hitherto Abelard has appeared with high distinction, as an able disputant, and a popular preceptor: we must now view him under a different character, and, when nearly arrived at the sober age of forty, see him, on a sudden, exchanging the school of philosophy for the bower of pleasure, and even disgracing himself, as will too plainly appear in the sequel, by forming and executing a deliberate plan for the seduction of female innocence. It happened that there was at this time, resident in Paris, Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, one of the canons of the cathedral church, a lady about eighteen years of age, of great personal beauty, and highly celebrated for her literary attainments. Abelard, whose vanity had been satiated with fame, and the vigour of whose mind was now enervated by repose, found himself inclined to listen to the voice of passion. He beheld with ardent admiration the lovely Heloise, and confident that his personal attractions were still irresistible, he determined to captivate her affections. Fulbert, who doubtless thought himself honoured by the visits of so eminent a scholar and philosopher, received him into his house as a learned friend. He was soon afterwards prevailed upon, by a handsome payment which Abelard offered for his board, to admit him into his family; and, apprehending no hazard from a man of Abelard's age and profession, confidentially requested him to undertake the instruction of Heloise. Abelard accepted the trust, but, as it seems, without any other intention than to betray it. The hours of instruction were employed in other lessons than those of learning and philosophy; and to such a matter as Abelard, it was not surprising that Heloise was an apt scholar. Fulbert's respectful opinion of the philosopher, and his partiality for his niece, long concealed from him an amour, which was become the subject of general conversation. At length the discovery burst upon him like a clap of thunder. Upon discovering her pregnancy, it was thought necessary for her to quit her uncle's house, and Abelard conveyed her to Bretagne, where his father was prepared to receive them. Here Heloise was delivered of a son, to whom they gave the whimsical name of Astrobus. Abelard, upon the birth of the child, proposed to Fulbert to marry his niece, provided the marriage might be kept secret; Fulbert consented, and Abelard returned to Bretagne to fulfil his engagement. Heloise, partly out of regard to the honour of Abelard, whose profession bound him to celibacy, and partly from a romantic notion that love like hers ought not to submit to ordinary restraints, at first gave Abelard a peremptory refusal. He, however, at last prevailed, and they were privately married at Paris. Heloise from this time met with severe treatment from her uncle, which furnished Abelard with a plea for removing her from his house, and placing her in the abbey of Benedictine nuns, in which she had been educated. Fulbert concluded, perhaps not without reason, that Abelard had taken this step, in order to rid himself of an incumbrance which obstructed his future prospects. Deep resentment took possession of his soul, and he meditated revenge. He employed several ruffians to enter his chamber by night, and inflict upon his person a disgraceful and cruel mutilation. The deed was perpetrated; the ruffians were taken, and suffered, according to the Lex Talionis, the punishment they had inflicted; and Fulbert, for his savage revenge, was deprived of his benefice, and his goods were confiscated. Unable to support his mortifying reflections, Abelard resolved to retire to a convent. At the same time he formed the selfish resolution, that, since Heloise could no longer be his, she should never be another's, and ungenerously demanded from her a promise to devote herself to religion; and even inflicted upon her taking the holy vow before him, suspecting, as it seems, that if he first engaged himself, she might violate her promise, and return to the world; a circumstance, with which she afterwards thus tenderly reproached him: "In that one instance, I confess, your mistrust of me tore my heart; Abelard, I blushed for you." Heloise submitted to the harsh injunction, professed herself in the abbey of Argenteuil, and receiving the religious habit, exclaimed in the words of Cornelia:

O maxime conjux! O thalamis indigna mei! hoc juris habebat In tantum fortuna capit? cur impia nupsi, Si miserum factura fut? nunc accepse poenas, Sed quas fponete tuam.

Lucan.

"Ah! my once greatest lord! Ah! cruel hour! Is thy victorious head in Fortune's power! Since milieries my baneful love pursue, Why did I wed thee, only to undo! But see, to death my willing neck I bow; Atone the angry gods by one kind blow."

Rowe.

A few days after Heloise had taken her vows, Abelard assumed the monastic habit in the abbey of St. Denys, determined as it seems to forget, in hope of being forgotten by the world. However, his admirers and scholars in Paris were unwilling that the world should lose the benefit of his labours, and sent deputies to entreat him to return to his school. After some deliberation, he again yielded to the call of ambition; and at a small village in the country, he resumed his lectures, and soon found himself surrounded with a numerous train of scholars. The revival of his popularity renewed the jealousy of other professors, who took the first opportunity of bringing him under ecclesiastical censure. A treatise which he published at this time, entitled, "The Theology of Abelard," was supposed to contain some heretical tenets. A synod was called at Soissons in the year 1121; the work was condemned to be burnt, and Abelard was commanded to throw it into the flames. After being involved in other controversies, new charges were brought against him, and he fled to the convent of St. Ayoul at Provins in Champagne, the prior of which was his intimate friend. The place of his retreat was soon discovered, and threats threats and persuasions were in vain employed to recall him; at last he obtained permission to retire to some solitary retreat, on condition that he should never again become a member of a convent.

The spot which he chose was a vale in the forest of Champagne, near Nogent upon the Seine. Here Abelard, in 1122, erected a small oratory, which he dedicated to the Trinity, and which he afterwards enlarged and consecrated to the Third Person, the Comforter, or Paraclete. Here he was soon discovered, and followed by a train of scholars. A rustic college arose in the forest, and the number of his pupils soon increased to six hundred. Jealousy again provoked the exertions of his enemies, and he was meditating his escape, when, through the intercess of the duke of Bretagne, and with the consent of the abbot of St Denys, he was elected superior of the monastery of St Gildas, in the diocese of Vannes, where, though not without frequent and grievous vexations, he remained several years.

About this time, Suger the abbot of St Denys, on the plea of an ancient right, obtained a grant for annexing the convent of Argenteuil, of which Heloise was now prioress, to St Denys, and the nuns, who were accused of irregular practices, were dispersed. Abelard, informed of the distressed situation of Heloise, invited her, with her companions, eight in number, to take possession of the Paraclete.

It was during Abelard's residence at St Gildas, that the interesting correspondence passed between him and Heloise, which is still extant. The letters of Heloise, in this correspondence, abound with proofs of genius, learning, and taste, which might have graced a better age. It is upon these letters that Mr Pope has formed his "Epistle from Eloisa to Abelard;" a piece which is entitled to the highest praise for its poetical merit, but which deviates in many particulars from the genuine character and story of Heloise, and culpably violates moral propriety. Here, too, Abelard probably wrote his "Theology," which again subjected him to persecution. His opinions were pronounced heretical by a council; and although he appealed to Rome, the judgment of the council was confirmed by the pope; and he was sentenced, unheard, to perpetual silence and imprisonment. By the intervention of some friends, however, and by a submissive apology, he obtained his pardon, with permission to end his days in the monastery of Cluni.

At Cluni he was retired, studious, and devout. The monks of the convent importuned him to resume the business of instruction. In a few occasional efforts he complied with their solicitation; and his lectures were heard with undiminished applause. But his health and spirits were much enfeebled, and gradually declined till he died in the 63rd year of his age, A.D. 1142. His body was sent to Heloise to be interred in the convent of the Paraclete. Heloise survived her husband 21 years, a pattern of conjugal affection and monastic virtue; and was buried in the same grave, as appears by the following epitaph:

Hic sub eodem marmore, jacent Hujus Monasterii Conditor, Petrus Abelardus,

Et abbatis prima, Heloisa, Olim studitis, ingenio, infansfatis nupiss Et penitentia, Nunc externa, ut speramus, felicitate, Conjuncti.

Petrus obit 21 Aprilis 1142 Heloisa 17 Maii 1163.

The amours, which has given Abelard so much celebrity, will remain an eternal blot upon his memory. It was not a juvenile indiscretion of which Abelard was guilty, but, according to his own confession, the seduction of innocence, deliberately planned, and resolutely executed. It was accompanied with breach of confidence, violation of duty, and degradation of character. Except in the grant of the Paraclete as an asylum to Heloise and her sisterhood, an uniform selfishness appears in Abelard's conduct. In Heloise, the criminality, though not obliterated, was palliated by youthful ardour and inexperience; and extreme sensibility, romantic attachment, noble generosity, and disinterested invincible constancy, united to throw a veil over human frailty. Considered apart from this disgraceful affair, Abelard appears with more advantage. His writings, indeed, will not give the reader a high idea of his genius or taste; but it cannot be questioned, that the man who could foil the first masters of the age at the weapons of logic, could draw round him crowded and admiring auditors, and could collect scholars from different provinces and countries wherever he chose to form a school, must have possessed extraordinary talents. Had his love of truth been equal to his thirst of fame, and had his courage in adhering to his principles been equal to his ingenuity in defending them, his sufferings and persecutions might have excited more regret, and his title to honourable remembrance would have been better established. Upon the whole, of Abelard it may perhaps with truth be said, that he was too vain to be truly great, and too selfish to be eminently good, and that his character is rather adapted to excite admiration than to command respect.

His principal works, written in Latin, are, "An Address to the Paraclete on the Study of the Scriptures; Problems and Solutions; Sermons on the Festivals; A Treatise against Heresies; An Exposition of the Lord's Prayer; A Commentary on the Romans; A System of Theology; and his Letters to Heloise and to others." (Gen. Biog.)