in this— that they were wont to meet together on a Stated day before it was light, and sing anion:: themselves alter- nately a hymn to Christ, as to God, and bind themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but
guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsity their word, nor to deny a pledge Committed to them when called upon to return it. When these things t was their custom to separate, and then to come to a meal, which they ate in com-
mon without any disorder ; but this they had forborne
publication of m \ .diet, by which, according to your commands, I prohibited assemblies. After receiv- ing this account, I judged it the more necessarv to exam- ine, and that by torture, two maid-servants, which were called ministers: but I have discovered nothing besides a bad and excessive superstition. Suspending, therefore, all judicial proceedings, 1 have recourse to you for advice, for it has appeared to me matter highly deserving consid- eration, especially upon account of the great number of in danger of suffering, for many of all
ages and every rank, of DOth sexes likewise, are accused,
and will be accused. Nor has the contagion of this su- perstition Seized Cities only, but the lesser towns also, and .Titleless, it seems to me thai it
may be restrained and corrected. It is certain that the which were almost forsakeu begin to be more 1; andthe sacred solemnities, after a longinter- i rived. Victims likewise are everywhere
bonght tip. whereas for a time there were few purchasers. Whence tl b it numbers of men might
be reclaimed ifpardon were -ranted to those who repent." So few and uncertain are the records left to guide our through the obscure period which immediately followed the conclusion of the labors of the apostles, that the above testimony to the numbers and virtues of our forefathers in faith becomes indeed invaluable. See Milman, Hist, of Christianity ,• Liddon, Divinity of Christ: Mosheim, of Christian History;
Schaff, Hist, of the Christian Church, i. 164 sq.; Smith, l'"'- °J ' ■ ■■: Bahr, Gesch. der romischen
I Hagenbach, Kirchengesch. der ersten drei
Jahrh. eb.viii; Al/.og, Kirchenyi ch. i. 112, 136; l.'id- iquities,?. I76sq.; Bender, Derjungen Plinius i . Intellectual l
•'"'"• •'" 1838 . i bur. b.
Pliny's l
Plisson, M vmi -Pnt m s< i ,a I'r. rich fi m ,i. math- ematician, celebrated in her time by her eccentricities
Was born at I dartres Nov. 27, 1727." II. r father was a
magistrate. Her taste for learned pursuits kept hi r aloof fn.in the world, and induced her to prefer Bingli ness to matrimonial bliss. II. r quaint disposition soon engaged her in disputes with which her sex evidently Ought to have nothing to do. She first mad
known by several pieces in prose and in verse, published by the newspapers of the time. In 176J the question ited whether a child born ten months and ten daj - after the dissolution of the matrimonial tie was le- gitimate? ftflle. Plisson boldly intervened in this mo- mentous debate, and attacked with no little vivacity the opinion of Lebos, Berlin. Ant. due Petit, etc. : many were the epigrams darted at the female philosopher. There was a time when she took to observe v.ith pas- sionate curiosity the nature of the cat, and comparing n..i.- withal! the naturalists who bad written anything about ii. She undertook to write the physiology oi this interesting animal. "What animal," she says, in one of her pamphlets, liis more common, more at hand to be examined by educated people, than the cat?" Her li- brary was remarkable in every respect. She dii d Dec. 17. 1788. Mile. Plisson left, Odes sut la Vie champetre (1750): — Projet pour soulager les Pauvres </. /" Cam- pagne (Chartres, 1758): Recherches sur la Durei dela Grossesse (Amsterdam, 1705):—/.!/ Promenade dt Pro- ving . Nouvt 11 . avi c ii s 1 '"//".'/' s d'Oromasis dans Pile de Bienveillana et dans la Planett dt Mercun (Paris, 1783, l2mo): and Maxim s moral* d"un Philosophe Chretien (Paris, 1783, lGmo). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. <•■ 186.
Ploos van Amstel, Cornelius, a celebrated Dutch amateur engraver and designer, was born at Am- sterdam in 1726. He is chiefly distinguished for his im- itations of the drawings of old masters, of which he pos- sessed one of the best collections known, amounting to five thousand drawings by celebrated Italian. German, French, Flemish, and Dutch masters, from Giotto to his own time, liorn of a good and wealthy family, he had every opportunity for improving his taste and advanc- ing his pursuits. Being acquainted with all the prin- cipal collectors of Amsterdam, he commenced making his own valuable collection at a very early age He had likewise a very valuable collection >A' prints and etchings, especially of the works of Lucas van Levden, Albert DUrer, Golzius. Cornelius and dan Yisser. X. I!er- chem, and especially Rembrandt. Ploos van Amstel's own works consist chiefly of imitations of drawings of old masters, in chalk, washed and colored; the colored imitations wen- accomplished by priming with several plates. In 1765 he published a collection of forty-six such imitations in various styles, after drawings bj A. Vandevel.le. Rembrandt. Osta.le. Gerard Dow, Back- huysen, Metzu, Berchem, A. Bloemaert, Wbuvermann, Mieris, Terburg, and otln rs. There are altogether up- wards of one hundred imitations of drawings by Ploos van Amsbel, and many of these .are published in various stages of progress, but very few impressions were taken of any. They are enumerated and described by Wei- gel in the Kunst-Katalog, and in Nagler's Kii ■'-/■- Ham. A collection of one hundred of Van Amstel's and some .additional similar imitations, with a portrait of Van Amstel, was published by C. Josi (London. [821, royal folio); but only one hundred copies were print- ed, and at the enormous price of forty guinea- per copy. Ploos van Amstel died at Amsterdam Dec 20, 1798, and on March 3, 1800, bis valuable collection, with the exception ..f the etching- of Rembrandt, was sold al auction, and realized the large sum of 109,406 flor- ius. See Van Lyn.leii en Vander Willigen, Geschie- denis der Vaterlandscht Schildekunst sedert d\ Uelft der XVIII Eeuw. 1816 1842.— Engl. Cyclop. -. \.