# The Nuttall Encyclopædia/C

C
Caaba, an ancient Arab temple, a small square structure in the grand mosque of Mecca, with a mysterious black stone, probably an aerolite, built in it, on which all pilgrims who visit the shrine imprint a kiss; “the Keblah of all Moslem, the eyes of innumerable praying men being turned towards it from all the quarters of the compass five times a day.”
Cabal`, a secret intriguing faction in a State, a name applied to a junto of five ministers of Charles II. in power from 1668 to 1673, the initials of whose names go to make up the word; their names were Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale; derived from Cabala (q. v.).
Cab`ala, a secret science alleged to have been divinely imparted to Moses and preserved by tradition, by means of which the Rabbis affected to interpret the pretended mystic sense of the words, letters, and very accents of the Hebrew Scriptures, a science which really owes its existence to a dissatisfaction in the rabbinical mind with the traditional literal interpretation, and a sense that there is more in Scripture than meets the ear. The name comes from a Hebrew word suggesting “to receive,” and denotes “that which is received” or tradition.
Caballero, Fernan, the nom de plume of Cecilia Boehl, a popular Spanish authoress, born in Switzerland, of German descent; a collector of folk tales; wrote charmingly; told stories of Spanish, particularly Andalusian, peasant life (1797-1877).
Cabanel, Alexandre, a French painter, born at Montpellier (1828-1889).
Cabanis, Pierre Jean George, a celebrated French medical man, born in Cosnac, in the dep. of Charente Inférieure, a pronounced materialist in philosophy, and friend of Mirabeau; attended him in his last illness, and published an account of it; his materialism was of the grossest; treated the soul as a nonentity; and held that the brain secretes thought just as the liver secretes bile (1757-1808).
Cabel, a celebrated painter of the Dutch school, born at Ryswick (1631-1698).
Cabet, Étienne, a French communist, born in Dijon; a leader of the Carbonari; provoked prosecution, and fled to England; wrote a history of the First Revolution, in which he defended the Jacobins; author of the “Voyage en Icarie,” in description of a communistic Utopia, which became the text-book of a communistic sect called “Icarians,” a body of whom he headed to carry out his schemes in America, first in Texas and then at Nauvoo, but failed; died at St. Louis broken-hearted (1788-1856).
Cabi`ri, certain mysterious demonic beings to whom mystic honours were paid in Lemnos and elsewhere in Greece, in connection with nature-worship, and especially with that of Demeter and Dionysus (q. v.).
Cable, George Washington, a journalist, born at New Orleans, has written interestingly on, and created an interest in, Creole life in America; b. 1844.
Cabot, Giovanni, a Venetian pilot, born at Genoa, settled in Bristol, entered the service of Henry VII., and discovered part of the mainland of N. America, at Labrador, about 1497: d. 1498.
Cabot, Sebastian, son of the preceding, born either in Venice or Bristol; accompanied his father to N. America; sought service as a navigator, first in Spain then in England, but failed; returned to Spain; attempted under Charles V. to plant colonies in Brazil with no success, for which he was imprisoned and banished; was the first to notice the variation of the magnetic needle, and to open up to England trade with Russia (1474-1557).
Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, a Portuguese navigator, sailing for the Indies, drifted on the coast of Brazil, on which he planted the Portuguese flag, 1500, and of which he is accounted by some the discoverer, continued his course, and established a factory at Calicut in 1501 (1460-1526).
Cabre`ra, one of the Balearic Isles, used as a penal settlement by Spain, produces wild olives.
Cabrera, a Spanish general, born at Tortosa, Catalonia, a zealous supporter of the claims of Don Carlos, took up arms in his behalf; died in England; he was an unscrupulous adversary (1810-1877).
Cabul`, or Kabul (50), cap. of a province of the name in Afghanistan, in a mild climate, on an elevated plateau of great fertility, 6000 ft. in height, on the high route between Central Asia and the Punjab, a great highway of trade, and a depôt for European goods.
Caccia, Italian fresco-painter, did altar-pieces; his best work, “Deposition from the Cross,” at Novara; d. 1625.
Caceras (350), a Spanish province in the N. of Estremadura; the name also of its capital (14), famous for its bacon and sausages, as the province is for cattle-rearing.
Cachar (313), a great tea-growing district in Assam.
Cache, name given in Canada to a hole in the ground for hiding provisions when they prove cumbersome to carry.
Cachet, Lettre de, a warrant issued in France before the Revolution, under the royal seal, for the arrest and imprisonment of a person, often obtained to gratify private ends; abolished in 1790.
Ca`cus, a mythological brigand of gigantic stature who occupied a cave in Mount Aventine, represented by Virgil as breathing smoke and flames of fire; stole the oxen of Hercules as he was asleep, dragging them to his cave tail foremost to deceive the owner; strangled by Hercules in his rage at the deception quite as much as the theft.
Cadastre, a register of the landed proprietors of a district, and the extent of their estates, with maps illustrative called Cadastral Maps.
Cade, Jack, an Irish adventurer, headed an insurrection in Kent, in 1450, in the reign of Henry VI.; encamped with his following on Blackheath; demanded of the king redress of grievances; was answered by an armed force, which he defeated; entered the city, could not prevent his followers from plundering; the citizens retaliating, he had to flee, but was overtaken and slain.
Cademosto, a Venetian in the service of Portugal, discovered the Cape de Verde Islands in 1457; wrote the first book giving an account of modern voyages, published posthumously (1432-1480).
Cadiz (62), one of the chief commercial ports in Spain, in Andalusia; founded by the Phoenicians about 1100 B.C.; called Gades by the Romans; at the NW. extremity of the Isle of Leon, and separated from the rest of the island by a channel crossed by bridges; it is 7 m. from Xeres and 50 m. from Gibraltar, and carries on a large export trade.
Cad`mus, a semi-mythological personage, founder of Thebes, in Boeotia, to whom is ascribed the introduction of the Greek alphabet from Phoenicia and the invention of writing; in the quest of his sister Europa, was told by the oracle at Delphi to follow a cow and build a city where she lay down; arrived at the spot where the cow lay down, he sent, with a view to its sacrifice, his companions to a well guarded by a dragon, which devoured them; slew the dragon; sowed its teeth, which sprang up into a body of armed men, who speared each other to death, all but five, who, the story goes, became the forefathers of Thebes.
Cadoudal, Georges, a brave man, chief of the Chouans (q. v.), born in Brittany, the son of a farmer; tried hard and took up arms to restore the Bourbons in the teeth of the Republic, but was defeated; refused to serve under Bonaparte, who would fain have enlisted him, having seen in him “a mind cast in the true mould”; came over from London, whither he had retired, on a secret mission from Charles X.; was suspected of evil designs against the person of Bonaparte; arrested, and, after a short trial, condemned and executed, having confessed his intention to overthrow the Republic and establish Louis XVIII. on the throne (1769-1804).
Caduceus, the winged rod of Hermes, entwined with two serpents; originally a simple olive branch; was in the hands of the god possessed of magical virtues; it was the symbol of peace.
Cædmon, an English poet of the 7th century, the fragment of a hymn by whom, preserved by Bede, is the oldest specimen extant of English poetry; wrote a poem on the beginning of things at the call of a voice from heaven, saying as he slept, “Cædmon, come sing me some song”; and thereupon he began to sing, as Stopford Brooke reports, the story of Genesis and Exodus, many other tales in the sacred Scriptures, and the story of Christ and the Apostles, and of heaven and hell to come.
Caen (45), a fine old Norman town, capital of Calvados, about 80 m. SE. of Cherbourg; lace the chief manufacture; the burial-place of William the Conqueror, and the native place of Charlotte Corday; it is a well-built town, and has fine old public buildings, a large library, and a noble collection of pictures.
Caer`leon, a small old town in Monmouthshire, on the Usk, 2½ m. NE. of Newport; celebrated by Tennyson in connection with Arthurian legend; it is a very ancient place, and contains relics of Roman times.
Cæsalpinus, Italian natural philosopher, born at Arezzo; was professor of botany at Pisa; was forerunner of Harvey and Linnæus; discovered sex in plants, and gave hints on their classification (1519-1603).
Cæsar, name of an old Roman family claiming descent from the Trojan Æneas, which the emperors of Rome from Augustus to Nero of right inherited, though the title was applied to succeeding emperors and to the heirs-apparent of the Western and the Eastern Empires; it survives in the titles of the Kaiser of Germany and the Czar of Russia.
Cæsar, Caius Julius, pronounced the greatest man of antiquity, by birth and marriage connected with the democratic party; early provoked the jealousy of Sulla, then dictator, and was by an edict of proscription against him obliged to quit the city; on the death of Sulla returned to Rome; was elected to one civic office after another, and finally to the consulship. United with Pompey and Crassus in the First Triumvirate (60 B.C.); was appointed to the government of Gaul, which he subdued after nine years to the dominion of Rome; his successes awoke the jealousy of Pompey, who had gone over to the aristocratic side, and he was recalled; this roused Cæsar, and crossing the Rubicon with his victorious troops, he soon saw all Italy lying at his feet (49 B.C.); pursued Pompey, who had fled to Greece, and defeated him at Pharsalia (48 B.C.); was thereupon elected dictator and consul for five years, distinguishing himself in Egypt and elsewhere; returned to Rome (47 B.C.); conceived and executed vast schemes for the benefit of the city, and became the idol of its citizens; when he was assassinated on the Ides (the 15th) of March, 44 B.C., in the fifty-sixth year of his age; b.100 B.C.
Cæsarea, a Syrian seaport, 30 m. N. of Joppa, built in honour of Augustus Cæsar by Herod the Great, now in ruins, though a place of note in the days of the Crusades. Also C. Philippi, at the source of the Jordan, whence Christ, on assuring Himself that His disciples were persuaded of His divine sonship, turned to go up to Jerusalem, and so by His sacrifice perfect their faith in Him.
Cagliari (44), the cap of Sardinia, and the chief port, on the S. coast, was a colony of Jews from the time of Tiberius till 1492, whence they were expelled by the Spaniards; lies on the slopes of a hill, the summit of which is 300 ft. high, and is on the site of an ancient Carthaginian town.
Cagliari, Paolo, proper name of Paul Veronese (q. v.).
Cagliostro, Count Alessandro di, assumed name of an arch-impostor, his real name being Giuseppe Balsamo, born in Palermo, of poor parents; early acquired a smattering of chemistry and medicine, by means of which he perpetrated the most audacious frauds, which, when detected in one place were repeated with even more brazen effrontery in another; married a pretty woman named Lorenza Feliciani, who became an accomplice; professed supernatural powers, and wrung large sums from his dupes wherever they went, after which they absconded to Paris and lived in extravagance; here he was thrown into the Bastille for complicity in the Diamond Necklace affair (q. v.); on his wife turning informer, he was consigned to the tender mercies of the Inquisition, and committed to the fortress of San Leone, where he died at 52, his wife having retired into a convent (1743-1795). See Carlyle's “Miscellanies” for an account of his character and career.
Cagnola, Luigi, Marquis of, Italian architect, born at Milan; his greatest work, the “Arco della Pace,” of white marble, in his native city, the execution of which occupied him over 30 years (1762-1833).
Cagots, a race in the SW. of France of uncertain origin; treated as outcasts in the Middle Ages, owing, it has been supposed, to some taint of leprosy, from which, it is argued, they were by their manner of life in course of time freed.
Cahors (13), a town in the dep. of Lot, in the S. of France, 71 m. N. of Toulouse, with interesting Roman and other relics of antiquity.
Caiaphas, the High-Priest of the Jews who condemned Christ to death as a violator of the law of Moses.
Caiapos, a wild savage race in the woods of Brazil, hard to persuade to reconcile themselves to a settled life.
Caicos, a group of small islands connected with the Bahamas, but annexed to Jamaica since 1874.
Caille, Louis de la, astronomer, studied at the Cape of Good Hope, registered stars of the Southern Hemisphere, numbering 9000, before unknown; calculated the table of eclipses for 1800 years (1713-1762).
Caillet, a chief of the Jacquerie, a peasant insurrection in France in 1358, taken prisoner and tortured to death.
Cailliaud, French mineralogist, born in Nantes, travelled in Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia, collecting minerals and making observations (1787-1869).
Caillié, René, French traveller in Africa, born in Poitou, the first European to penetrate as far as Timbuctoo, in Central Africa, which he did in 1828; the temptation was a prize of 10,000 marks offered by the Geographical Society of Paris, which he received with a pension of 1000 besides (1799-1839).
Cain, according to Genesis, the first-born of Adam and Eve, and therefore of the race, and the murderer of his brother Abel.
Cain, Thomas Henry Hall, eminent novelist, born in Cheshire, of Manx blood; began life as architect and took to journalism; author of a number of novels bearing on Manx life, such as the “Deemster” and the “Manxman”; his most recent novel, the “Christian,” his greatest but most ambiguous work, and much challenged in England, though less so in America; it has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, where the verdict is divided; b. 1853.
Ça ira, “It will go on,” a popular song in France during the Revolution, said to have been a phrase of Benjamin Franklin's, which he was in the habit of using in answering inquirers about the progress of the American revolution by his friends in France.
Caird, Edward, brother of the following, interpreter of Kant and Hegel; succeeded Jowett as master of Balliol; has written on the “Evolution of Religion,” and edited the lectures and sermons of his brother; b. 1825.
Caird, John, an eloquent Scotch preacher, born at Greenock, Principal of Glasgow University, famous for a sermon entitled “The Religion of Common Life” preached before the Queen at Crathie in 1855; made a special study of the philosophy of religion, and wrote eloquently on it, more especially the Christian version of it (1820-1898).
Cairn, a heap of stones often, though not always, loosely thrown together, generally by way of a sepulchral monument, and it would seem sometimes in execration of some foul deed.
Cairnes, John Elliot, a political economist of the school of John Stuart Mill with modifications, born in co. Louth, Ireland; professor successively in Dublin, Galway, and London; author of works on political economy (1823-1875).
Cairngorm, a yellowish-brown variety of rock-crystal, so called from being found, among other places, on one of the Scottish Grampians, in Aberdeenshire, so named.
Cairns, Hugh MacCalmont, Earl, lawyer and politician, born in co. Down, Ireland; called to the English bar; entered Parliament, representing Belfast; became Lord Chancellor under Disraeli's government in 1868, and again in 1874; took an active interest in philanthropic movements (1819-1885).
Cairo (400), cap. of Egypt, and largest city in Africa, on the right bank of the Nile, just above the Delta, 120 m. SE. of Alexandria, covers an extensive area on a broad sandy plain, and presents a strange agglomeration of ancient and modern elements. The modern city is the fourth founded in succession on the same site, and remains of the former cities are included in it, old walls, gateways, narrow streets, and latticed houses, palaces, and 400 mosques. These, though much spoiled by time and tourists, still represent the brightest period of Saracenic art. The most modern part of the city consists of broad boulevards, with European-built villas, hotels, &c., and has all the advantages of modern civic appliances. There is a rich museum, and university with 2000 students. Extensive railway communication and the Nile waterway induce a large transport trade, but there is little industry. The population is mixed; the townsfolk are half Arab, half Egyptian, while Copts, Turks, Jews, Italians, and Greeks are numerous; it is a centre of Mohammedan learning, and since 1882 the centre of British influence in Egypt.
Caithness (37), a level, except in the W. and S., bare, and somewhat barren, county in the NE. of Scotland, 43 m. by 28 m., with a bold and rocky coast; has flagstone quarries; fishing the chief industry, of which Wick is the chief seat; the inhabitants are to a great extent of Scandinavian origin, and English, not Gaelic, is the language spoken.
Cajetan, Cardinal, general of the Dominicans, born in Gaeta; represented the Pope at the Diet of Augsburg, and tried in vain to persuade Luther to recant; wrote a Commentary on the Bible, and on the “Summa Theologiæ” of Aquinas.
Calabar`, a district under British protection on the coast of Upper Guinea, the country flat and the climate unhealthy.
Calabar Bean, seed of an African bean, employed in medicine, known as the Ordeal Bean, as, being poisonous, having been used to test the innocence of people charged with witchcraft.
Calabria (1,500), a fertile prov. embraced in the SW. peninsula of Italy, and traversed by the Apennines, with tunny and anchovy fisheries; yields grains and fruits, and a variety of minerals; is inhabited by a race of somewhat fiery temper; is much subject to earthquakes.
Calais (56), a fortified seaport in France, on the Strait of Dover, where it is 21 m. across; was in possession of the English from 1347 to 1558, and the last town held by them on French soil; is the chief landing-place for travellers from England to the Continent, and has considerable export trade, as well as cotton and tulle manufactures.
Calamy, Edmund, a Presbyterian divine, born in London; favourable to Royalty, but zealously opposed to Episcopacy, against which he vigorously protested with his pen; opposed the execution of Charles I. and the protectorate of Cromwell; made chaplain to Charles II. after the Restoration; refused a bishopric, which he could not, on conscientious grounds, accept (1600-1666).
Calamy, Edmund, a grandson of the preceding, an eminent Nonconformist minister in London, on whom, for the high esteem in which he was held, honorary degrees were conferred by the Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen universities (1671-1732).
Calas, Jean, a tradesman of Toulouse, whose son committed suicide, and who was charged with murdering him to prevent his going over to the Catholic Church; was tried, convicted, and sentenced to torture and death on the wheel (1762); after which his property was confiscated, and his children compelled to embrace the Catholic faith, while the widow escaped into Switzerland. Voltaire, to his immortal honour, took up her case, proved to the satisfaction of the legal authorities in France the innocence of the victims, got the process revised, and Louis XV. to grant a sum of money out of the royal bounty for the benefit of the family.
Calave`ras, an inland county of California, E. of San Francisco, rich in minerals, with copper and gold mines.
Calchas, the soothsayer who accompanied Agamemnon to the siege of Troy; enjoined the sacrifice of Iphigenia to propitiate the gods, foretold the length or the war, and advised the construction of the wooden horses, a device by means of which Troy was surprised and taken.
Calculus, Differential and Integral, in mathematics, is the method by which we discuss the properties of continuously varying quantities. The nature of the method and the necessity for it may be indicated by a simple example; e. g. the motion of a train in a track, or the motion of a planet in its orbit. If we know the successive positions of the moving body at successive short intervals of time, the rules of the differential calculus enable us to calculate the speed, the change of speed, the change of direction of motion (i. e. the curvature of the path), and the effective force acting on the body. Conversely, given the force at every point, and the initial position and velocity, the rules of the integral calculus assist us in calculating the position and velocity of the body at any future time. Expressed somewhat crudely, the differential calculus has to do with the differentials (increments or decrements) of varying quantities; while the integral calculus is a process of summation or integration of these differentials.
Calcutta (900), on the left bank of the Hooghly, the largest and westernmost branch of the Ganges delta, about 80 m. from the sea; is the capital of Bengal and the Indian Empire, and the residence of the Governor-General; the Government buildings, Bishop's College (now an engineering school) High Court, town hall, bank, museum, university, St. Paul's cathedral, and many other English Buildings have earned for it the name “city of palaces”; but the native quarters, though being improved, are still squalid, the houses of mud or bamboo; an esplanade, numerous quays, an excellent water-supply, gas, and tramway services, add to the amenities; there are extensive dockyards, warehouses, iron-works, timber yards, and jute mills; extensive railway and steamboat communications make it the chief emporium of commerce in Asia; ships of 5000 tons enter the docks; founded in 1686, Calcutta was captured by Surajah Dowlah, and the “Black Hole” massacre perpetrated in 1756; became the capital of India in 1772, and has suffered frequently from cyclones; the population are two-thirds Hindus, less than a third Mohammedan, and 4½ per cent. Christian.
Caldecott, Randolph, artist, born in Chester; exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations, which were full of life, and instinct with a kindly, graceful humour; though professionally untrained, his abilities as an artist were promptly and generously recognised by the Academy; he suffered from ill-health, and died in Florida, whither he had gone to recruit (1846-1886).
Calder, Sir Robert, British naval officer; served bravely in several naval engagements; was tried by court-martial, and reprimanded for not following up a victory which he had gained, a sentence which was afterwards found to be unjust; attained afterwards the rank of admiral (1745-1818).
Calderon de la Barca, the great Spanish dramatist, born at Madrid; entered the army, and served in Italy and Flanders, producing the while dramas which were received with great enthusiasm; took holy orders, and became a canon of Toledo, but to the last continued to write poems and plays; he was a dramatist of the first order, and has been ranked by the more competent critics among the foremost of the class in both ancient and modern times (1600-1681).
Calderwood, David, a Scotch ecclesiastic, born at Dalkeith; became minister of Crailing; first imprisoned, and then banished for resisting the attempts of James VI. to establish Episcopacy in Scotland; wrote a book, “Altare Damascenum,” in Holland, whither he had retired, being a searching criticism of the claims of the Episcopacy; returned on the death of the king, and wrote a “History of the Kirk” (1575-1650).
Caledonia, the Roman name for Scotland N. of the Wall of Antoninus, since applied poetically to the whole of Scotland.
Caledonian Canal, a canal across the NW. of Scotland, executed by Telford, for the passage of ships between the Atlantic and the North Sea, 60 m. long, 40 m. of which consist of natural lakes; begun 1803, finished 1823; cost £1,300,000; has 28 locks; was constructed for the benefit of coasting vessels to save the risks they encountered in the Pentland Firth.
Calends, the first day of the Roman month, so called as the day on which the feast days and unlucky days of the month were announced.
Cal`gary, the capital of Alberta, in NW. territory of Canada.
Calhoun, John Caldwell, an American statesman, born in S. Carolina, of Irish descent; all through his public life in high civic position; leader of “the States rights” movement, in vindication of the doctrine that the Union was a mere compact, and any State had a right to withdraw from its conditions; and champion of the slave-holding States, regarding slavery as an institution fraught with blessing to all concerned. His chief work is a treatise on the “Nature of Government” (1789-1850).
Caliban, a slave in Shakespeare's “Tempest,” of the grossest animality of nature.
Calicut (66), chief town on the Malabar coast, in the Madras Presidency of India, the first port at which Vasco da Gama landed in 1498, whence the cotton cloth first imported from the place got the name “calico.”
California (1,208), the most south-westerly State in the American Union; occupies the Pacific seaboard between Oregon and Mexico, and is bounded landward by Nevada and Arizona. It is the second largest State, larger by a quarter than the United Kingdom. In the N. the rainfall is excessive, and winters severe; in the S. there is little rain, and a delightful climate. Wheat is the most important product; the grape and all manner of fruits grow luxuriantly. Mineral wealth is great: it is the foremost State for gold and quicksilver; lead, silver, copper, iron, sulphur, coal, and many other minerals abound. The industries include brandy and sugar manufactures, silk-growing, shipbuilding, and fishing. All products are exported, eastward by the great Central, Union, and Southern Pacific railroads; and seaward, the chief port being San Francisco, the largest city, as Sacramento is the capital of the State. The Yosemite Valley, in the Sierra Nevada, through which falls the Merced River, is the most wonderful gorge in the world. Captured from Mexico in 1847, the discovery of gold next year raised great excitement, and brought thousands of adventurers from all over the world. Constituted a State in 1850, the original lawlessness gradually gave way to regular administration, and progress has since been steady and rapid.
California, Lower (30), an extensive, mountainous, dry, and scarcely habitable peninsula, stretching southward from the State, in Mexican territory; agriculture is carried on in some of the valleys, and pearl and whale fisheries support some coast towns.
Caligula, Roman emperor from A.D. 37 to 41, youngest son of Germanicus and Agrippina, born at Antium; having ingratiated himself with Tiberius, was named his successor; ruled with wisdom and magnanimity at first, while he lived in the unbridled indulgence of every lust, but after an illness due to his dissipation, gave way to the most atrocious acts of cruelty and impiety; would entertain people at a banquet and then throw them into the sea; wished Rome had only one head, that he might shear it off at a blow; had his horse installed as consul in mockery of the office; declared himself a god, and had divine honours paid to him, till a conspiracy was formed against him on his return from an expedition into Gaul, when he was assassinated (12-41).
Caliph, the title adopted by the successors of Mahomet, as supreme in both civil and religious matters. The principal caliphates are: (1) the Caliphate of the East, established by Abubekr at Mecca, transferred to Bagdad by the Abassides (632-1258); (2) the Caliphate of Cordova, established at Cordova by Abderrahman (756-1031); (3) the Caliphate of Egypt, established by the Fatimites (909-1171). It was at Bagdad that Moslem civilisation achieved its final development.
Calisto, daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia; changed by Juno into a she-bear, and placed by Jupiter among the stars.
Calixtus, the name of three Popes: C. I., Pope from 218 to 222; C. II., Pope from 1119 to 1124; C. III., Pope from 1455 to 1458.
Calixtus, George, a Lutheran theologian of an eminently tolerant type, born at Sleswick; travelled for four years in Germany, Belgium, England, and France; accused of heresy, or rather apostasy, for the liberal spirit in which he had learned in consequence to treat both Catholics and Calvinists, and for considering the Apostles' Creed a broad enough basis for Christian union and communion, which might embrace both; his friends, however, stood by him, and he retained the position he held in the Lutheran Church (1586-1656).
Calla`o (32), a port in Peru, 7 m. from Lima, with a fine harbour the safest on the coast, if not in the world; its prosperity depends on trade, which is less than it was before the annexation of the nitrate fields to Chile.
Callcott, John Wall, an eminent musical composer, born at Kensington; was a pupil of Händel's, and is celebrated for his glee compositions (1766-1821). Sir Augustus Wall, landscape painter, brother; was knighted for his eminent skill as an artist (1779-1841). Lady Maria, wife of Sir Augustus, author of “Little Arthur's History of England” (1779-1842).
Callernish, a district in the W. of the island of Lewis, 10 m. from Stornoway; noted for its circles of standing stones, from 10 to 17 ft. in height, the whole in cruciform arrangement.
Callic`rates, along with Ictinos, architect of the Parthenon in Athens.
Callim`achus, Greek architect, inventor of the Corinthian order, 4th century B.C.
Callimachus, Greek poet, born in Cyrena; taught grammar and belles-lettres at Alexandria; was keeper of the library there; of his writings, which are said to have been on a variety of subjects and very numerous, only a few epigrams and hymns remain; was admired by Catullus, Ovid, and Propertius, and flourished in the 3rd century B.C.
Calli`ope, the muse of epic poetry and eloquence, is represented with a tablet and stylus, and sometimes with a paper roll. See Muses.
Callis`thenes, a disciple of Aristotle, who accompanied Alexander the Great to India, and was put to death by his order for remonstrating with him on his adoption of the manners and style of the potentates of the East, but professedly on a charge of treason.
Callis`tratus, an Athenian orator, who kindled in Demosthenes a passion for his art; his Spartan sympathies brought him to grief, and led to his execution as a traitor.
Callot, Jacques, engraver and etcher, born at Nancy; his etchings, executed many of them at the instance of the Grand-duke of Tuscany and Louis XIII. of France, amounted to 1600 pieces, such as those of the sieges of Breda and Rochelle, which are much admired, as also those of the gipsies with whom he associated in his youth (1593-1633).
Calmet, Augustine, a learned Benedictine and biblical scholar, born in Lorraine, but known in England by his “Historical, Critical, and Chronological Dictionary of the Bible,” the first published book of its kind of any note, and much referred to at one time as an authority; he wrote also a “Commentary on the Bible” in 23 vols., and a “Universal History” in 17 vols. (1672-1757).
Calms, The, tracts of calm in the ocean, on the confines of the trade winds, and which lasts for weeks at a time.
Calomar`de, Duke, a Spanish statesman; minister of Ferdinand VII.; a violent enemy of liberal principles and measures, and a reactionary; obnoxious to the people; arrested for treachery, escaped into France by bribing his captors (1773-1842).
Calonne, Charles Alexandre de, French financier under Louis XVI., born at Douay; a man of “fiscal genius; genius for persuading, before all things for borrowing”; succeeded Necker in 1783 as comptroller-general of the finances in France; after four years of desperate attempts at financial adjustment, could do nothing but convoke the Notables in 1787; could give no account of his administration that would satisfy them; was dismissed, and had to quit Paris and France; “his task to raise the wind and the winds,” says Carlyle, “and he did it,” referring to the Revolution he provoked; was permitted by Napoleon to return to France, where he died in embarrassed circumstances (1734-1802).
Caloric, the name given by physicists to the presumed subtle element which causes heat.
Calorius, Abraham, a fiery Lutheran polemic, a bitter enemy of George Calixtus (1612-1686).
Calotype, a process of photography invented by Fox Talbot in 1840, by means of the action of light on nitrate of silver.
Calpë, Gibraltar, one of the Pillars of Hercules (q. v.).
Calpurnia, the last wife of Julius Cæsar, daughter of the consul Piso, who, alive to the danger of conspiracy, urged Cæsar to stay at home the day he was assassinated.
Caltagirone (28), a city 38 m. SW. of Catania; the staple industry is pottery and terra-cotta ware.
Cal`umet, among the American Indians a pipe for smoking, which if accepted when offered, was an emblem of peace, and if rejected, a declaration of war.
Calvados (428), a maritime dep. in N. of France, skirted by dangerous rocks of the same name, with a fertile soil and a moist climate.
Calvaert, Denis, a painter, born at Antwerp; settled at Bologna, where he founded a school, from whence issued many eminent artists, among others Guidi Reni, Domenichino, and Albani; his masterpiece, “St. Michael” in St. Peter's, Bologna (1555-1619).
Calvary, the place of the crucifixion, identified with a hill on the N. of Jerusalem, looked down upon from the city, with a cliff on which criminals were cast down prior to being stoned; also name given to effigies of the crucifixion in Catholic countries, erected for devotion.
Calverley, Charles Stuart, a clever English parodist, Fellow of Christ's Church, Oxford; wrote “Fly-Leaves” and “Verses and Translations”; his parodies among the most amusing of the century, flavoured by the author's scholarship (1831-1884).
Calvert, George and Cecil, father and son, Lords Baltimore; founders, under charter from James I., of Maryland, U.S.
Calvin, John, or Cauvin, the great Reformer, born at Noyon, in Picardy; devoted for a time to the law, was sent to study at the university of Orleans, after having mastered Latin as a boy at Paris; became acquainted with the Scriptures, and acquired a permanently theological bent; professed the Protestant faith; proceeded to Paris; became the centre of a dangerous religious excitement; had to flee for his life from France; retired to Basel, where he studied Hebrew and wrote his great epoch-making book, the “Institutes of the Christian Religion”; making after this for Strassburg, he chanced to pass through Geneva, was arrested as by the hand of God to stay and help on God's work in the place, but proceeded with such rigour that he was expelled, though recalled after three years; on his return he proposed and established his system of Church government, which allowed of no license in faith any more than conduct, as witness the burning of Servetus for denying the doctrine of the Trinity; for twenty years he held sway in Geneva, and for so long he was regarded as the head of the Reformed Churches in Scotland, Switzerland, Holland, and France. Besides his “Institutes,” he found time to write Commentaries on nearly all the books of the Bible; was a man of masculine intellect and single-hearted devotion to duty, as ever in the “Great Taskmaster's” eye. His greatest work was his “Institutes,” published in Basel in 1535-36. It was written in Latin, and four years after translated by himself into French. “In the translated form,” says Prof. Saintsbury, “it is beyond all question the first serious work of great literary merit not historical in the history of French prose.... Considering that the whole of it was written before the author of it was seven-and-twenty, it is perhaps the most remarkable work of its particular kind to be anywhere found; the merits of it being those of full maturity and elaborate preparation rather than of youthful exuberance” (1509-1564).
Calvinism, the theological system of Calvin, the chief characteristic of which is that it assigns all in salvation to the sovereign action and persistent operation of Divine grace.
Calvo, Charles, an Argentine publicist, born at Buenos Ayres in 1824; author of “International Law, Theoretical and Practical.”
Calypso, in the Greek mythology a nymph, daughter of Atlas, queen of the island of Ogygia, who by her fascinating charms detained Ulysses beside her for 7 of the 10 years of his wanderings home from Troy; she died of grief on his departure.
Camarilla, a name of recent origin in Spain for a clique of private counsellors at court, who interpose between the legitimate ministers and the crown.
Cambacérès, Jean Jacques Régis de, Duke of Parma, born at Montpellier; bred to the legal profession, took a prominent part as a lawyer in the national Convention; after the Revolution of the 18th Brumaire, was chosen second consul; was sincerely attached to Napoleon; was made by him High Chancellor of the Empire as well as Duke of Parma; his “Projet de Code” formed the basis of the Code Napoléon (1753-1824).
Cambay (31), a town and seaport N. of Bombay, on a gulf of the same name, which is fast silting up, in consequence of which the place, once a flourishing port, has fallen into decay.
Cambo`dia (1,500), a small kingdom in Indo-China, occupying an area as large as Scotland in the plains of the Lower Mekong. The coast-line is washed by the Gulf of Siam; the landward boundaries touch Siam, Annam, and French Cochin-China; in the N. are stretches of forest and hills in which iron and copper are wrought; a branch of the Mekong flows backward and forms the Great Lake; most of the country is inundated in the rainy season, and rice, tobacco, cotton, and maize are grown in the tracts thus irrigated; spices, gutta-percha, and timber are also produced; there are iron-works at Kompong Soai; foreign trade is done through the port Kampot. The capital is Pnom-Penh (35), on the Mekong. The kingdom was formerly much more extensive; remarkable ruins of ancient grandeur are numerous; it has been under French protection since 1863.
Cambrai (17), a city in the dep. of Nord, in France, on the Scheldt; famous for its fine linen fabrics, hence called cambrics. Fénélon was archbishop here, in the cathedral of which is a monument to his memory.
Cambria, the ancient name of Wales, country of the Kymry, a Celtic race, to which the Welsh belong.
Cambridge (44), county town of Cambridgeshire, stands in flat country, on the Cam, 28 m. NE. of London; an ancient city, with interesting archæological remains; there are some fine buildings, the oldest round church in England, Holy Sepulchre, and a Roman Catholic church. The glory of the city is the University, founded in the 12th century, with its colleges housed in stately buildings, chapels, libraries, museums, &c., which shares with Oxford the academic prestige of England. It lays emphasis on mathematical, as Oxford on classical, culture. Among its eminent men have been Bacon, Newton, Cromwell, Pitt, Thackeray, Spenser, Milton, Dryden, Wordsworth, and Tennyson.
Cambridge (70), a suburb of Boston, U.S., one of the oldest towns in New England; seat of Harvard University; the centre of the book-making trade; here Longfellow resided for many years.
Cambridge, first Duke of, seventh and youngest son of George III.; served as volunteer under the Duke of York, and carried a marshal's baton; was made viceroy of Hanover, which he continued to be till, in 1837, the crown fell to the Duke of Cumberland (1774-1850).
Cambridge, second Duke of, son of the preceding and cousin to the Queen, born in Hanover; served in the army; became commander-in-chief in 1856 on the resignation of Viscount Hardinge; retired in 1895, and was succeeded by Lord Wolseley; b. 1819.
Cambridge University contains 17 colleges: Peterhouse, founded 1257; Clare College, 1326; Pembroke, 1347; Gonville and Caius, 1348; Trinity Hall, 1350; Corpus Christi, 1352; King's, 1441; Queens', 1448; St. Catherine's, 1473; Jesus, 1496; Christ's, 1505; St John's, 1511; Magdalene, 1519; Trinity, 1546; Emmanuel, 1584; Sidney Sussex, 1598; and Downing, 1800. Each college is a corporation by itself, governed by statutes sanctioned by the crown, and capable of holding landed or other property.
Cambridgeshire (188), an inland agricultural county, nine-tenths of its surface under cultivation; famed for its butter and cheese; very flat, marshy in the N., with a range of chalk-hills, the Gog-Magog in the S.; is rich in Roman remains.
Cambronne, French general, born at Nantes; served under the Republic and the Empire; accompanied Napoleon to Elba in 1814; commanded a division of the Old Guard at Waterloo; fought to the last; though surrounded by the enemy and summoned to surrender, refused, and was taken prisoner; is credited with the saying, La Garde meurt, et ne se rend pas, “The Guard dies, but does not surrender” (1770-1842).
Cambus`can, king of Tartary, identified with Genghis Khan, who had a wonderful steed of brass, magically obedient to the wish of the rider, together with a magical mirror, sword, and ring.
Camby`ses, king of Persia, succeeded his father, the great Cyrus; invaded and subdued Egypt, but afterwards suffered serious reverses, and in the end gave himself up to dissipation and vindictive acts of cruelty, from which not only his subjects suffered, but the members of his own family; d. 54 B.C.
Cambyses, King, a ranting character in a play called “The Lamentable Tragedy”; referred to by Falstaff in I Henry IV., Act ii. sc. 4.
Camden (58), a busy town in New Jersey, U.S., on the left bank of the Delaware, opposite Philadelphia; the terminus of six railways.
Camden, Charles Pratt, first Earl of, a distinguished British lawyer and statesman, chief-justice of the King's Bench in George I.'s reign, and ultimately Lord Chancellor of England; opposed, as judge in the case, the prosecution of Wilkes as illegal, and as a statesman the policy and action of the government towards the American colonies; he was created earl in 1786 (1713-1794).
Camden, William, a learned English antiquary, the first and most famous born in London; second master, and eventually head-master in Westminster School, during which time he gave proof of his antiquarian knowledge, which led to his appointment as Clarencieux king-at-arms; author of “Britannia,” a historical and topographical account of the British Isles, his most widely known work, and “Annals of Elizabeth's Reign,” both, as all the rest of his works, written in Latin; he has been surnamed the Strabo and the Pausanias of England (1551-1623).
Camelot, a place in Somerset, where, it is presumed, King Arthur held his court, and where entrenchments of an old town are still to be seen.
Camenæ, in the Roman mythology a set of nymphs endowed with semi-prophetic powers, and sometimes identified with the Muses.
Cameo, a precious stone cut in relief; consists generally of two or three different colours, the upper cut in relief and the under forming the ground.
Camera Lucida, an optical instrument or contrivance, by means of which the image of an object may be made to appear on a light or white surface.
Camera Obscura, an optical contrivance, by means of which the images of external objects are exhibited distinctly on a surface in the focus of the lens.
Camerarius, a distinguished scholar, born at Bamberg; active as a German Reformer; played a prominent part in the religious struggles of his time; friend and biographer of Melanchthon; collaborated with him in drawing up the Augsburg Confession (1500-1574).
Cameron, John, a learned divine, born in Glasgow, who held several professorial appointments on the Continent; was for a time Principal of Glasgow University; his knowledge was so extensive that he was styled a “walking library,” but he fell in disfavour with the people for his doctrine of passive obedience, and he died of a wound inflicted by an opponent of his views (1579-1625).
Cameron, Richard, a Scotch Covenanter of the 17th century, born in Falkland, Fife; a ringleader of the persecuted Presbyterians, took to arms along with sixty others in defence of his rights; was surprised by a body of dragoons at Airds Moss (q. v.), and after a brave fight slain, his head and hands cut off, and fixed on the Netherbow Port, at the head of the Canongate, Edinburgh, in 1680.
Cameron, Verney Lovett, African explorer, born near Weymouth; traversed Africa all the way from east to west (1873-75); he was on the track of important discoveries, but his explorations were cut short by the natives; wrote “Across Africa” (1844-1894).
Cameronians (1), a Presbyterian body in Scotland who derived their name from Richard Cameron, contended like him for the faith to which the nation by covenant had bound itself, and even declined to take the oath of allegiance to sovereigns such as William III. and his successors, who did not explicitly concede to the nation this right. (2) Also a British regiment, originally raised in defence of Scottish religious rights; for long the 26th Regiment of the British line, now the Scottish Rifles.
Cameroon, (1) a river in W. Africa, falling by a wide estuary into the Bight of Biafra, known as the oil river, from the quantities of palm-oil exported; (2) a mountain range, a volcanic group, the highest peak nearly 14,000 ft., NW. of the estuary; (3) also a German colony, extending 199 m. along the coast.
Camilla, (1) a virgin queen of the Volsci, one of the heroines in the “Æneid,” noted for her preternatural fleetness on the racecourse, and her grace; (2) also a sister of the Horatii (q. v.), killed by her brother because she wept at the death of her affiancé, one of the Curiatii (q. v.), whom the Horatii slew.
Camillus, Marcus Furius, a famous patrician of early Rome; took Veii, a rival town, after a ten years' siege; retired into voluntary exile at Ardea on account of the envy of his enemies in Rome; recalled from exile, saved Rome from destruction by the Gauls under Brennus, was five times elected dictator, and gained a succession of victories over rival Italian tribes; died at eighty of the plague, in 365 B.C., lamented by the whole nation, and remembered for generations after as one of the noblest heroic figures in Roman history.
Camisards, Huguenots of the Cévennes, who took up arms by thousands in serious revolt against Louis XIV., in which others joined, under Jean Cavalier their chief, after, and in consequence of, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685); so called because they wore a camiso (Fr. a chemise), a blouse over their armour; were partly persuaded and partly compelled into submission by Marshal Villars in 1704.
Camoëns, the poet of Portugal, born at Lisbon, studied at Coimbra; fell in passionate love with a lady of high rank in Lisbon, as she with him, but whom he was not allowed to marry; left Lisbon, joined the army, and fought against the Moors; volunteered service in India, arrived at Goa, and got into trouble with the Portuguese authorities; was banished to Macao, and consoled himself by writing his “Lusiad”; coming home he lost everything but his poem; died neglected and in poverty; the title of the poem is properly “The Lusiads,” or the Lusitanians, i. e. the Portuguese, and is their national epic, called, not inaptly, the “Epos of Commerce”; it has been translated into most European languages, and into English alone no fewer than six times (1524-1580).
Camorra, a secret society in Naples with wide ramifications, which at one time had by sheer terrorism considerable political influence in the country; when steps were taken by Francis II. to suppress it, the members of it joined the revolutionary party, and had their revenge in the expulsion eventually of the Bourbons from Italy.
Campagna, (1) an unhealthy flat district round Rome, co-extensive with ancient Latium, infested with malaria; (2) a town in Italy, in Salerno, with a cathedral, and a trade in wine, oil, and fruit.
Campaign, The, poem by Addison in celebration of Marlborough's victory at Blenheim.
Campan, Mme. de, born at Paris, faithful friend and confidante of Marie Antoinette; after the Revolution opened a boarding-school at St. Germain; became under Napoleon matron of an institution for daughters of officers of the Legion of Honour; wrote the “Private Life of Marie Antoinette” (1752-1822).
Campanella, Tommaso, an Italian philosopher of the transition period, originally a Dominican monk, born in Calabria; contemporary of Bacon; aimed, like him, at the reform of philosophy; opposed scholasticism, fell back upon the ancient systems, and devoted himself to the study of nature; was persecuted all along by the Church, and spent 27 years of his life in a Neapolitan dungeon; released, he retired to France, and enjoyed the protection of Richelieu; he was the author of sonnets as well as philosophical works (1568-1639).
Campania, an ancient prov. in the W. of Italy, of great fertility, and yields corn, wine, and oil in great abundance; Capua was the capital, the chief towns of which now are Naples, Salerno, and Gaeta; it was a favourite resort of the wealthy families of ancient Rome.
Campanile, a tower for bells constructed beside a church, but not attached to it; very common in Italian cities, the leaning tower of Pisa being one, and that of Florence one of the most famous.
Campbell, a celebrated Scottish Highland clan, the members of which have played an important role in English and Scottish history.
Campbell, Alexander, an Anti-Calvinistic Baptist, born in Antrim; emigrated to America in 1807, and founded a sect called the “Disciples of Christ”; disowned creeds, and owned no authority in religion but the Bible; the sect has upwards of 5000 meeting-houses in America, and over half a million members. Campbell executed a translation of the New Testament, in which he employed the words “immercer” and “immersion” for “baptist” and “baptism” (1788-1866).
Campbell, Sir Colin, Lord Clyde, born in Glasgow, son of a carpenter named Macliver; entered the army, and rose rapidly; served in China and the Punjab; commanded the Highland Brigade in the Crimea; won the day at Alma and Balaclava; commanded in India during the Mutiny; relieved Lucknow, and quelled the rebellion; was made field-marshal, with a pension of £2000, and created Lord Clyde; he was one of the bravest soldiers of England (1792-1863).
Campbell, George, a Scotch divine, Principal of Aberdeen University; wrote “Philosophy of Rhetoric,” and an able reply to Hume's argument against miracles, entitled “Dissertation on Miracles” (1709-1796).
Campbell, John, Lord Chancellor of England, born at Cupar-Fife; a son of the manse; destined for the Church, but took the study of law; was called to the bar; did journalistic work and law reports; was a Whig in politics; held a succession of offices both on the Bench and in the Cabinet; wrote the “Lives of the Chancellors” and the “Lives of the Chief Justices” (1779-1861).
Campbell, John Francis, born at Islay, author of, among other works, “Popular Tales of the West Highlands, orally collected,” a collection all his own, and a remarkable one for the enthusiasm and the patriotic devotion it displays (1822-1885).
Campbell, John Macleod, a Scotch clergyman, born in Argyll; deposed from the ministry of the Scotch Church in 1831 for his liberal theological sentiments; a saintly man, whose character alone should have protected him from such an indignity; his favourite theme was the self-evidencing character of revelation, while the doctrine for which he was deposed, the Fatherhood of God, is being now adopted as the central principle of Scotch theology; he continued afterwards to ply his vocation as a minister of Christ in a quiet way to some quiet people like himself, and before his death a testimonial and address in recognition of his worth was presented to him by representatives of nearly every religious community in Scotland (1801-1872).
Campbell, Thomas, poet, born in Glasgow; studied with distinction at the University; when a student of law in Edinburgh wrote “The Pleasures of Hope”; the success of the work, which was great, enabled him to travel on the Continent, where he wrote the well-known lines, “Ye Mariners of England,” “Hohenlinden,” and “The Exile of Erin”; married, and settled in London, where he did writing, lecturing, and some more poetry, in particular “The Last Man”; after settling in London a pension of £200 was awarded him through the influence of Fox; he wrote in prose as well as verse; he was elected Rector of Glasgow University in 1827, and again in the following year: buried in Westminster (1777-1844).
Campbeltown, a town in Kintyre, Argyllshire, with a fine harbour; is a great fishing centre; and has over 20 whisky distilleries.
Campe, Joachim Heinrich, German educationist; disciple of Basedow, and author of educational works (1746-1818).
Campeachy (12), a Mexican seaport on a bay of the same name; manufactures cigars.
Campeggio, Lorenzo, cardinal; twice visited England as legate, the last time in connection with the divorce between Henry VIII. and Catherine, with the effect of mortally offending the former and being of no real benefit to the latter, whom he would fain have befriended; his mission served only to embitter the relations of Henry with the see of Rome (1474-1539).
Camper, Peter, a Dutch anatomist, born at Leyden; held sundry professorships; made a special study of the facial angle in connection with intelligence; he was an artist as well as a scientist, and a patron of art (1722-1789).
Camperdown, a tract of sandy hills on the coast of N. Holland, near which Admiral Duncan defeated the Dutch fleet under Van Winter in 1797.
Camphuysen, a Dutch landscape painter of the 17th century, famous for his moonlight pieces.
Campi, a family of painters, distinguished in the annals of Italian art at Cremona in the 16th century.
Campine, a vast moor of swamp and peat to the E. of Antwerp, being now rendered fertile by irrigation.
Campion, Edmund, a Jesuit, born in London; a renegade from the Church of England; became a keen Catholic propagandist in England; was arrested for sedition, of which he was innocent, and executed; was in 1886 beatified by Pope Leo XIII. (1540-1581).
Campo-Formio, a village near Udine, in Venetia, where a treaty was concluded between France and Austria in 1797, by which the Belgian provinces and part of Lombardy were ceded to France, and certain Venetian States to Austria in return.
Campo Santo (Holy Ground), Italian and Spanish name for a burial-place.
Campos (13), a trading city of Brazil, in the prov. of Rio Janeiro.
Campvere, now called Vere, on the NE. of the island of Walcheren; had a Scotch factory under Scotch law, civil and ecclesiastical.
Camus, bishop of Belley, born at Paris; a violent enemy of the mendicant monks (1582-1663).
Camus, a learned French jurisconsult, member of the National Convention; a determined enemy of the Court party in France; voted for the execution of the king as a traitor and conspirator; was conservator of the national records, and did good service in preserving them (1740-1804).
Canaan, originally the coast land, but eventually the whole, of Palestine W. of the Jordan.
Canaanites, a civilised race with towns for defence; dependent on agriculture; worshippers of the fertilising powers of nature; and the original inhabitants of Palestine, from which they were never wholly rooted out.
Canada (5,000), which with Newfoundland forms British North America, occupies the northern third of the continent, stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the United States to Alaska and the Arctic Ocean; nearly as large as Europe, it comprises a lofty and a lower tableland W. and E. of the Rocky Mountains, the peninsulas of Labrador and Nova Scotia, and between these a vast extent of prairie and undulating land, with rivers and lakes innumerable, many of them of enormous size and navigable, constituting the finest system of inland waterways in the world; the Rocky Mountains rise to 16,000 ft., but there are several gorges, through one of which the Canadian Pacific railroad runs; the chief rivers are the Fraser, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan, and St. Lawrence; Great Slave, Great Bear, Athabasca, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario are the largest lakes; the climate is varied, very cold in the north, very wet west of the Rockies, elsewhere drier than in Europe, with hot summers, long, cold, but bracing and exhilarating winters; the corn-growing land is practically inexhaustible; the finest wheat is grown without manure, year after year, in the rich soil of Manitoba, Athabasca, and the western prairie; the forests yield maple, oak, elm, pine, ash, and poplar in immense quantities, and steps are taken to prevent the wealth of timber ever being exhausted; gold, coal, iron, and copper are widely distributed, but as yet not much wrought; fisheries, both on the coasts and inland, are of great value; agriculture and forestry are the most important industries; the chief trade is done with England and the United States; the twelve provinces, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Manitoba, Keewatin, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca, each with its own Parliament, are united under the Dominion Government; the Governor-General is the Viceroy of the Queen; the Dominion Parliament meets at Ottawa, the federal capital; nearly every province has its university, that of Toronto being the most important; the largest town is Montreal; Toronto, Quebec, Hamilton, and Halifax are all larger than the capital; taken possession of by France in 1534, settlement began at Quebec in 1608; by the treaty of Utrecht, 1703, Hudson Bay, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland passed to England; the rest of French territory was ceded to England in 1763; constituted at different times, the various provinces, except Newfoundland, were finally confederated in 1871.
Canaletto, Antonio, a Venetian painter, famous for his pictures of Venice and handling of light and shade (1697-1768).
Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto, nephew and pupil of preceding; distinguished for his perspective and light and shade (1720-1780).
Canaris, Constantine, a Greek statesman, did much to free and consolidate Greece, more than any other statesman (1790-1877).
Canary Islands (288), a group of mountainous islands in the Atlantic, off the NW. African coast, belonging to Spain, with rocky coasts, and wild, picturesque scenery; on the lower levels the climate is delightful, and sugar, bananas, and dates grow; farther up there are zones where wheat and cereals are cultivated; the rainfall is low, and water often scarce; sugar, wine, and tobacco are exported; the islands are a health resort of growing favour.
Cancan, the name of an ungraceful and indecent dance practised in the Paris dancing saloons.
Candia (12), the ancient name of Crete, now the name of the capital, in the centre of the N. coast.
Candide, a philosophic romance by Voltaire, and written in ridicule of the famous maxim of Leibnitz, “All for the best in the best of all possible worlds”; it is a sweeping satire, and “religion, political government, national manners, human weakness, ambition, love, loyalty, all come in for a sneer.”
Candlemas, a festival in commemoration of the purification of the Virgin, held on February 2, celebrated with lighted candles; an old Roman custom in honour of the goddess Februa.
Candlish, Robert Smith, a Scottish ecclesiastic, born in Edinburgh; distinguished, next to Chalmers, for his services in organising the Free Church of Scotland; was an able debater and an eloquent preacher (1806-1873).
Candolle. See De Candolle.
Candour, Mrs., a slanderess in Sheridan's “Rivals.”
Canea (12), chief commercial town in Crete, on NW. coast; trades in wax, oil, fruit, wool, and silk.
Canina, Luigi, Italian architect; wrote on the antiquities of Rome, Etruria, &c. (1795-1856).
Cannæ, ancient town in Apulia, near the mouth of the Aufidus, where Hannibal, in a great battle, defeated the Romans in 216 B.C., but failing to follow up his success by a march on Rome, was twitted by Maherbal, one of his officers, who addressing him said, “You know how to conquer, Hannibal, but not how to profit by your victory.”
Cannes (15), a French watering-place and health resort on the Mediterranean, in the SE. of France, where Napoleon landed on his return from Elba.
Canning, Charles John, Earl, grandson of the succeeding; after service in cabinet offices, was made Governor-General of India, 1856, in succession to Lord Dalhousie; held this post at the time of the Mutiny in 1857; distinguished himself during this trying crisis by his discretion, firmness, and moderation; became viceroy on the transfer of the government to the crown in 1858; died in London without issue, and the title became extinct (1812-1862).
Canning, George, a distinguished British statesman and orator, born in London; studied for the bar; entered Parliament as a protégé of Pitt, whom he strenuously supported; was rewarded by an under-secretaryship; married a lady of high rank, with a fortune; satirised the Whigs by his pen in his “Anti-Jacobin”; on the death of Pitt became minister of Foreign Affairs; under Portland distinguished himself by defeating the schemes of Napoleon; became a member of the Liverpool ministry, and once more minister of Foreign Affairs; on the death of Liverpool was made Prime Minister, and after a period of unpopularity became popular by adopting, to the disgust of his old colleagues, a liberal policy; was not equal to the opposition he provoked, and died at the age of 57 (1770-1827).
Cano, Alonzo, a celebrated artist, born at Granada; surnamed the Michael Angelo of Spain, having been painter, sculptor, and architect (1601-1667).
Cano, Sebastian del, a Spanish navigator, the first to sail round the world; perished on his second voyage to India (1460-1526).
Canon, the name given to the body of Scripture accepted by the Church as of divine authority.
Cañon of Colorado, a gorge in Arizona through which the Colorado River flows, the largest and deepest in the world, being 300 m. long, with a wall from 3000 to 6000 ft. in perpendicular height.
Canonisation, in the Romish Church, is the solemn declaration by the Pope that a servant of God, renowned for his virtue and for miracles he has wrought, is to be publicly venerated by the whole Church, termed Saint, and honoured by a special festival. A preparatory stage is beatification, and the beatification and canonisation of a saint are promoted by a long, tedious, and costly process, much resembling a suit at law.
Canopus, the blue vault of heaven with its stars, revered and worshipped by the son of the sandy desert as a friend and guide to him, as he wanders over the waste at night alone.
Canosa (18), a town in Apulia, abounding in Roman remains, on the site of ancient Canusium.
Canossa, a town NW. of Bologna, in the courtyard of the castle of which the Emperor Henry IV. stood three days in the cold, in January 1077, bareheaded and barefooted, waiting for Pope Gregory VII. to remove from him the sentence of excommunication.
Canova, Antonio, a great Italian sculptor, born in Venetia; gave early proof of his genius; his first great work, and which established his fame, was the group of “Theseus and the Minotaur,” which was by-and-by succeeded by his “Cupid and Psyche,” distinguished by a tenderness and grace quite peculiar to him, and erelong by “Perseus with the Head of Medusa,” perhaps the triumph of his art; his works were numerous, and brought him a large fortune, which he made a generous use of (1757-1822).
Canrobert, François, marshal of France; served for some 20 years in Algeria; was a supporter of Napoleon III., and a tool; commanded in the Crimea, first under, and then in succession to St. Arnaud; fought in Italy against Austria; was shut up in Metz with Bazaine, and made prisoner; became a member of the senate under the Republic (1809-1895).
Cant, affectation of thinking, believing, and feeling what one in his heart and reality does not, of which there are two degrees, insincere and sincere; insincere when one cants knowing it, and sincere when one cants without knowing it, the latter being of the darker and deeper dye.
Cant, Andrew, a Scotch Presbyterian minister, who had an equal zeal for the Scotch covenant and the cause of Charles Stuart (1610-1664). A son of his was Principal of Edinburgh University from 1675 to 1685.
Cantabri, the original inhabitants of the N. of Spain; presumed to be the ancestors of the Basques.
Cantacuze`nus, John, emperor of the East; an able statesman, who acting as regent for the heir, had himself crowned king, but was driven to resign at length; retired to a monastery on Mount Athos, where he wrote a history of his time; died in 1411, 100 years old.
Cantarini, Simone, an Italian painter, born at Pesaro; a pupil of Guido and a rival, but only an imitator from afar (1612-1648).
Canterbury (23), in E. Kent, on the Stour, by rail 62 m. SE. of London; is the ecclesiastical capital of England; the cathedral was founded A.D. 597 by St. Augustin; the present building belongs to various epochs, dating as far back as the 11th century; it contains many interesting monuments, statues, and tombs, among the latter that of Thomas à Becket, murdered in the north transept, 1170; the cloisters, chapter-house, and other buildings occupy the site of the old monastic houses; the city is rich in old churches and ecclesiastical monuments; there is an art gallery; trade is chiefly in hops and grain. Kit Marlowe was a native.
Canterbury (128), a district in New Zealand, in the centre of the South Island, on the east side of which are the Canterbury Plains or Downs, a great pasture-land for sheep of over three million acres.
Canterbury Tales, a body of tales by Chaucer, conceived of as related by a small company of pilgrims from London to the shrine of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. They started from the Tabard Inn at Southwark, and agreed to tell each a tale going and each another coming back, the author of the best tale to be treated with a supper. None of the tales on the homeward journey are given.
Canticles, a book in the Bible erroneously ascribed to Solomon, and called in Hebrew the Song of Songs, about the canonicity and interpretation of which there has been much debate, though, as regards the latter, recent criticism inclines, if there is any unity in it at all, to the conclusion that it represents a young maiden seduced into the harem of Solomon, who cannot be persuaded to transfer to the king the affection she has for a shepherd in the northern hills of Galilee, her sole beloved; the aim of the author presumed by some to present a contrast between the morals of the south and those of the north, in justification possibly of the secession. It was for long, and is by some still, believed to be an allegory in which the Bridegroom represents Christ and the Bride His Church.
Canton (1,800), chief commercial city and port of Southern China; stands on a river almost on the seaboard, 90 m. NW. of Hong-Kong, and is a healthy town, but with a heavy rainfall; it is surrounded by walls, has narrow crooked streets, 125 temples, mostly Buddhist, and two pagodas, 10 and 13 centuries old respectively; great part of the population live in boats on the river; the fancy goods, silk, porcelain, ivory, and metal work are famous; its river communication with the interior has fostered an extensive commerce; exports, tea, silk, sugar, cassia, &c.
Canton, John, an ingenious experimentalist in physics, and particularly in electricity, born at Stroud; discovered the means of making artificial magnets and the compressibility of water (1718-1772).
Cantù, Cæsare, an Italian historian, born in Lombardy; imprisoned by the Austrian government for his bold advocacy of liberal views, but at length liberated; wrote, among a number of other works, literary as well as historical, a “Universal History” in 35 vols. (1807-1895).
Canute, or Cnut, the Dane, called the Great, son of Sweyn, king of Denmark; invaded England, and after a success or two was elected king by his fleet; the claim was repudiated by the Saxons, and he had to flee; returned in 1015, and next year, though London held out for a time, carried all before him; on the death of his sole rival became undisputed king of England, and ruled it as an Englishman born, wisely, equitably, and well, though the care of governing Denmark and Norway lay on his shoulders as well; died in England, and was buried in Winchester Minster; every one is familiar with the story of the rebuke he administered to the courtiers by showing how regardless the waves of the sea were of the authority of a king (994-1035).
Cape Breton (92), the insular portion of the prov. of Nova Scotia at its eastern extremity, 100 m. long and 85 broad; is covered with forests of pine, oak, &c., and exports timber and fish.
Cape Coast Castle (11), capital of the Gold Coast colony.
Cape Colony (1,527), comprises the extremity of the African continent south of the Orange River and Natal, and is nearly twice the size of the United Kingdom; the Nieuwveld Berge, running E. and W., divides the country into two slopes, the northern slope long and gradual to the Orange River, the southern shorter and terraced to the sea; two-thirds of the country is arid plain, which, however, only requires irrigation to render it very fertile; the climate is dry and healthy, but hot in summer; the prevalent vegetation is heath and bulbous plants. Sheep and ostrich farming are the chief industries; wool, goats' hair, ostrich feathers, hides, diamonds from Kimberley and copper from Namaqualand are the chief exports; two-thirds of the people are of African race, chiefly Kaffirs, who flourish under British rule; the remainder are of Dutch, English, French, and German origin; Cape Town is the capital, Kimberley and Port Elizabeth the only other large towns, but there are many small towns; roads are good; railway and telegraph communication is rapidly developing. The government is in the hands of a governor, appointed by the crown, assisted by an executive council of five and a parliament of two houses; local government is in vogue all over the country; education is well cared for; the university of the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1873. Discovered by the Portuguese Diaz in 1486, the Cape was taken possession of by the Dutch in 1652, from whom it was captured by Great Britain in 1805. Various steps towards self-government culminated in 1872. In recent years great tracts to the N. have been formally taken under British protection, and the policy of extending British sway from the Cape to Cairo is explicitly avowed.
Cape Horn, a black, steep, frowning rock at the SE. extremity of the Fuegean Islands; much dreaded at one time by sailors.
Cape of Good Hope, a cape in South Africa, discovered by Diaz in 1486; called at first “Cape of Storms,” from the experience of the first navigators; altered in consideration of the promised land reached beyond.
Cape Town (84), capital of Cape Colony, situated at the head of Table Bay, on the SW. coast, with Table Mountain rising behind it; is a regularly built, flat-roofed, imposing town, with handsome buildings and extensive Government gardens; well drained, paved, and lit, and with a good water supply. The Government buildings and law courts, museum and art gallery, bank and exchange, are its chief architectural features. It has docks, and a graving dock, and is a port of call for vessels of all nations, with a thriving commerce.
Cape Verde Islands (110), a group of mountainous, volcanic islands, belonging to Portugal, 350 m. from Cape Verde, on the W. of Africa, of which 10 are inhabited, the largest and most productive Santiago and St. Vincent, with an excellent harbour, oftenest visited. These islands are unhealthy, and cattle-breeding is the chief industry.
Capell, Edward, an inspector of plays, born at Bury St. Edmunds; spent 20 years in editing the text of Shakespeare, in three vols., with notes and various readings (1713-1781).
Capella, a reddish star of the first magnitude in the northern constellation of Auriga.
Capella, an encyclopædist, born in North Africa in the 5th century; author of a work called the “Satiricon,” a strange medley of curious learning.
Capercailzie, the wood-grouse, a large game-bird found in fir woods in mountainous districts, and highly esteemed for table.
Capernaum, a town on the N. side of the Sea of Galilee, the centre of Christ's labours, the exact site of which is uncertain.
Capet, the surname of Hugh, the founder, in 987, of the third dynasty of French kings, which continued to rule France till 1328, though the name is applied both to the Valois dynasty, which ruled till 1589, and the Bourbon, which ruled till 1848, Louis XVI. having been officially designated as a Capet at his trial, and under that name sentenced to the guillotine.
Capgrave, John, Augustine friar, wrote “Chronicle of England,” and voluminously both in French and English (1393-1464).
Capistrano, Giovanni da, an Italian Franciscan, a rabid adversary of the Hussites, aided John Hunniades in 1456 in defending Belgrade against the Turks (1385-1456).
Capitol, a temple and citadel erected by Tarquin on the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, and where victors who were voted a triumph were crowned; terminated at its southern extremity by Tarpeian Rock, from which criminals guilty of treason were precipitated; hence the saying, “The Tarpeian Rock is near the Capitol,” to denote the close connection between glory and disgrace.
Capitularies, collections of royal edicts issued by the Frankish kings of the Carlovingian dynasty, with sanction of the nobles, for the whole Frankish empire, as distinct from the laws for the separate peoples comprising it, the most famous being those issued or begun by Charlemagne and St. Louis.
Capo d'Istria, Count of, born in Corfu; entered the Russian diplomatic service; played a prominent part in the insurrection of the Greeks against Turkey; made President of the Greek Republic; assassinated at Nauplia from distrust of his fidelity (1776-1831).
Capo d'Istria, a port of a small island in the government of Trieste, connected with the mainland by a causeway half a mile in length.
Cappadocia, an ancient country in the heart of Asia Minor, of varied political fortune; a plateau with pastures for immense flocks.
Caprara, Cardinal, born at Bologna, legate of Pius VII. in France, concluded the “Concordat” of 1801 (1733-1810).
Capre`ra, a small, barren island off the N. coast of Sardinia, the home of Garibaldi, where he died, and his burial-place.
Capri, a small island at the entrance from the S. of the bay of Naples, with a capital of the same name on the eastern side; a favourite retreat of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and noted for its fine air and picturesque scenery.
Caprivi, Count, born in Berlin, entered the army in 1849; held chief posts in the Austrian and Franco-German wars; in 1890 succeeded Bismarck as Imperial Chancellor; resigned in 1894 (1831-1899).
Capua (11), a fortified city in Campania, on the Volturno, 27 m. N. of Naples, where, or rather near which, in a place of the same name, Hannibal, at the invitation of the citizens, retired with his army to spend the winter after the battle of Cannæ, 216 B.C., and where, from the luxurious life they led, his soldiers were enervated, after which it was taken by the Romans, destroyed by the Saracens in 840, and the modern city built in its stead.
Capuchins, monks of the Franciscan Order, founded in 1526, so called from a cowl they wear; they were a mendicant order, and were twice over suppressed by the Pope, though they exist still in Austria and Switzerland.
Capulets, a celebrated Ghibelline family of Verona at mortal feud with that of the Montagues, familiar to us through Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet,” Romeo being of the latter and Juliet of the former.
Capyba`ra, the water-hog, the largest rodent extant, in appearance like a small pig.
Caracalla, a Roman emperor, son of Septimius Severus, born at Lyons; his reign (211-217) was a series of crimes, follies, and extravagances; he put to death 20,000 persons, among others the jurist Papinianus, and was assassinated himself by one of his guards.
Caracas or Carracas (72), the cap. of Venezuela, stands at an altitude 3000 ft. above the level of the sea; subject to earthquakes, in one of which (1812) 12,000 perished, and great part of the city was destroyed; it contains the tomb of Bolivar.
Caracci or Carracci, a family of painters, born at Bologna: Ludovico, the founder of a new school of painting, the principle of which was eclecticism, in consequence of which it is known as the Eclectic School, or imitation of the styles of the best masters (1555-1619); Annibale, cousin and pupil, did “St. Roche distributing Alms,” and his chief, “Three Marys weeping over Christ”; went to Rome and painted the celebrated Farnese gallery, a work which occupied him four years (1560-1609); Agostino, brother of above, assisted him in the frescoes of the gallery, the “Communion of St. Jerome” his greatest work (1557-1602).
Caractacus, a British chief, king of the Silures, maintained a gallant struggle against the Romans for nine years, but was overthrown by Ostorius, 50 A.D., taken captive, and led in triumphal procession through Rome, when the Emperor Claudius was so struck with his dignified demeanour, that he set him and all his companions at liberty.
Caradoc, a knight of the Round Table, famous for his valour and the chastity and constancy of his wife.
Caraffa, a distinguished Neapolitan family, which gave birth to a number of distinguished ecclesiastics, Paul IV. one of them.
Caraglio, an eminent Italian engraver, born at Verona, engraved on gems and medals as well as copper-plate, after the works of the great masters (1500-1570).
Caravaggio, an Italian painter, disdained the ideal and the ideal style of art, and kept generally to crass reality, often in its grossest forms; a man of a violent temper, which hastened his end; a painting by him of “Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus” is in the National Gallery, London (1569-1609).
Caravanserai, a large unfurnished inn, with a court in the middle for the accommodation of caravans and other travellers at night in the East.
Carbohydrates, a class of substances such as the sugars, starch, &c., consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the latter in the proportion in which they exist in water.
Carbonari (lit. charcoal burners), a secret society that, in the beginning of the 19th century, originated in Italy and extended itself into France, numbering hundreds of thousands, included Lord Byron, Silvio Pellico, and Mazzini among them, the object of which was the overthrow of despotic governments; they were broken up by Austria, and absorbed by the Young Italy party.
Cardan, Jerome, Italian physician and mathematician, born at Pavia; was far-famed as a physician; studied and wrote on all manner of known subjects, made discoveries in algebra, believed in astrology, left a candid account of himself entitled “De Vita Propria”; was the author of “Cardan's Formula” a formula for the solution of cubic equations; he is said to have starved himself to death so as to fulfil a prophecy he had made as to the term of his life (1501-1576).
Cardiff (129), county town of Glamorganshire, S. Wales, on the river Taff, the sea outlet for the mineral wealth and products of the district, a town that has risen more rapidly than any other in the kingdom, having had at the beginning of the century only 2000 inhabitants; it has a university, a number of churches, few of them belonging to the Church of England, and has also three daily papers.
Cardigan, Earl of, a British officer; commanded the Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimean war, and distinguished himself in the famous charge of the Six Hundred, which he led; his favourite regiment, the 11th Hussars, on the equipment of which he lavished large sums of money (1797-1868).
Cardiganshire (62), a county in S. Wales, low-lying on the coast, level towards the coast, and mountainous in the interior, but with fertile valleys.
Cardinal virtues, these have been “arranged by the wisest men of all time, under four general heads,” and are defined by Ruskin as “Prudence or Discretion (the spirit which discerns and adopts rightly), Justice (the spirit which rules and divides rightly), Fortitude (the spirit that persists and endures rightly), and Temperance (the spirit which stops and refuses rightly). These cardinal and sentinel virtues,” he adds, “are not only the means of protecting and prolonging life itself, but are the chief guards or sources of the material means of life, and the governing powers and princes of economy.”
Cardinalists, name given to the partisans in France of Richelieu and Mazarin.
Carducci, Florentine artists, brothers, of the 17th century; did their chief work in Spain.
Carducci, Giosue, an Italian poet and critic; author of “Hymn to Satan,” “Odi Barbari,” “Commentaries on Petrarch,” &c.; b. 1837.
Carew, Thomas, English courtier poet; his poems, chiefly masks and lyrics (1589-1639).
Carey, Henry, English poet and musician, excelled in ballads; composed “Sally in Our Alley”; d. 1743.
Carey, Sir Robert, warden of the Border Marches under Elizabeth; present at her deathbed rode off post-haste on the occurrence of the death with the news to Edinburgh to announce it to King James (1560-1639).
Carey, William, celebrated Baptist missionary, born in Northamptonshire; founder of the Baptist Missionary Society, and its first missionary; founded the mission at Serampore and directed its operations, distributing Bibles and tracts by thousands in native languages, as well as preparing grammars and dictionaries; was 29 years Oriental professor in the College of Fort William. Calcutta (1761-1834).
Cargill, Donald, a Scotch Covenanter, born in Perthshire; was minister of the Barony Parish, Glasgow; fought at Bothwell Brig; suffered at the Cross of Edinburgh for daring to excommunicate the king; died with the faith and courage of a martyr (1619-1681).
Caria, a SW. country in Asia Minor, bordering on the Archipelago, of which the Mæander is the chief river.
Caribbean Sea, an inland sea of the Atlantic, lying between the Great Antilles and South America, subject to hurricanes; it corresponds to the Mediterranean in Europe, and is the turning-point of the Gulf Stream.
Caribs, a race of American Indians, originally inhabiting the West Indies, now confined to the southern shores of the Caribbean Sea, as far as the mouth of the Amazon; they are a fine race, tall, and of ruddy-brown complexion, but have lost their distinctive physique by amalgamation with other tribes; they give name to the Caribbean Sea.
Carinthia (361), since 1849 crownland of Austria, near Italy; is a mountainous and a mineral country; rears cattle and horses; manufactures hardware and textile fabrics; the principal river is the Drave; capital, Klagenfurt.
Carisbrooke, a village in the Isle of Wight, in the castle of which, now in ruins, Charles I. was imprisoned 13 months before his trial; it was at one time a Roman station.
Carlén, Emilia, Swedish novelist; her novels, some 30 in number, treat of the everyday life of the lower and middle classes (1807-1883).
Carleton, William, Irish novelist; his first work, and the foundation of his reputation, “Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry,” followed by others of a like class (1794-1860).
Carli, Italian archæologist, numismatist, and economist, born at Capo d'Istria; wrote as his chief work on political economy; president of the Council of Commerce at Milan (1720-1795).
Carlile, Richard, English Radical and Freethinker, born in Devonshire; a disciple of Tom Paine's, and propagandist of his views with a zeal which no prosecution could subdue, although he time after time suffered imprisonment for it, as well as those who associated themselves with him, his wife included; his principal organ was “The Republican,” the first twelve volumes of which are dated from his prison; he was a martyr for the freedom of the press, and in that interest did not suffer in vain (1790-1843).
Carlisle (39), county town of Cumberland, on the Eden; a great railway centre; with an old castle of historical interest, and a cathedral founded by William Rufus and dedicated to Henry I.
Carlisle, George Frederick William Howard, Earl Of, a Whig in politics; supported the successive Whig administrations of his time, and became eventually Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland under Palmerston (1802-1864).
Carlists, a name given in France to the partisans of Charles X. (1830), and especially in Spain to those of Don Carlos (1833), and those of his grandson (1873-1874).
Carloman, son of Charles Martel, and brother of Pepin le Bref, king of Austrasia from 741 to 747; abdicated, and retired into a monastery, where he died.
Carloman, son of Pepin le Bref, and brother of Charlemagne, king of Austrasia, Burgundy, and Provence in 768; d. 771.
Carloman, king of France conjointly with his brother Louis III.; d. 884.
Carlos, Don, son of Philip II. of Spain, born at Valladolid, and heir to the throne, but from incapacity, or worse, excluded by his father from all share in the government; confessed to a priest a design to assassinate some one, believed to be his father; was seized, tried, and convicted, though sentence against him was never pronounced; died shortly after; the story of Don Carlos has formed the subject of tragedies, especially one by Schiller, the German poet (1545-1568).
Carlos, Don, the brother of Ferdinand VII. of Spain, on whose death he laid claim to the crown as heir, against Isabella, Ferdinand's daughter who by the Salic law, though set aside in her favour by her father, had, he urged, no right to the throne; his cause was taken up by a large party, and the struggle kept up for years; defeated at length he retired from the contest, and abdicated in favour of his son (1785-1855).
Carlos, Don, grandson of the preceding, and heir to his rights; revived the struggle in 1870, but fared no better than his grandfather; took refuge in London; b. 1848.
Carlovingians, or Karlings, the name of the second dynasty of Frankish kings, in succession to the Merovingian, which had become fainéant; bore sway from 762 to 987, Pepin le Bref the first, and Louis V. the last; Charlemagne was the greatest of the race, and gave name to the dynasty.
Callow (40), an inland county in Leinster, Ireland; also the county town.
Carlowitz, a town on the Danube, 30 m. NW. of Belgrade, where a treaty was concluded in 1699 between Turkey and other European powers, very much to the curtailment of the territories of the former.
Carlsbad (10), a celebrated watering-place in Bohemia, of aristocratic resort, the springs being the hottest in Europe, the water varying from 117° to 165°; population nearly trebled in the season; the inhabitants are engaged in industries which minister to the tastes of the visitors and their own profit.
Carlscrona (21), a Swedish town, strongly fortified, on the Baltic, with a spacious harbour, naval station, and arsenal; it is built on five rocky islands united by dykes and bridges.
Carlsruhe (73), the capital of the Grand-Duchy of Baden, a great railway centre; built in the form of a fan, its streets, 32 in number, radiating so from the duke's palace in the centre.
Carlstadt, a German Reformer, associated for a time with Luther, but parted from him both on practical and dogmatical grounds; succeeded Zwingli as professor at Basel (1483-1541).
Carlton Club, the Conservative club in London, so called, as erected on the site of Carlton House, demolished in 1828, and occupied by George IV. when he was Prince of Wales.
Carlyle, Alexander, surnamed Jupiter Carlyle, from his noble head and imposing person, born in Dumfriesshire; minister of Inveresk, Musselburgh, from 1747 to his death; friend of David Hume, Adam Smith, and Home, the author of “Douglas”; a leader of the Moderate party in the Church of Scotland; left an “Autobiography,” which was not published till 1860, which shows its author to have been a man who took things as he found them, and enjoyed them to the full as any easy-going, cultured pagan (1722-1805).
Carlyle, Thomas, born in the village of Ecclefechan, Annandale, Dumfriesshire; son of James Carlyle, a stone-mason, and afterwards a small farmer, a man of great force, penetration, and integrity of character, and of Margaret Aitken, a woman of deep piety and warm affection; educated at the parish school and Annan Academy; entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of 14, in the Arts classes; distinguished himself early in mathematics; enrolled as a student in the theological department; became a teacher first in Annan Academy, then at Kirkcaldy; formed there an intimate friendship with Edward Irving; threw up both school-mastering and the church; removed to Edinburgh, and took to tutoring and working for an encyclopedia, and by-and-by to translating from the German and writing criticisms for the Reviews, the latter of which collected afterwards in the “Miscellanies,” proved “epoch-making” in British literature, wrote a “Life of Schiller”; married Jane Welsh, a descendant of John Knox; removed to Craigenputtock, in Dumfriesshire, “the loneliest nook in Britain,” where his original work began with “Sartor Resartus,” written in 1831, a radically spiritual book, and a symbolical, though all too exclusively treated as a speculative, and an autobiographical; removed to London in 1834, where he wrote his “French Revolution” (1837), a book instinct with the all-consuming fire of the event which it pictures, and revealing “a new moral force” in the literary life of the country and century; delivered three courses of lectures to the élite of London Society (1837-1840), the last of them “Heroes and Hero-Worship,” afterwards printed in 1840; in 1840 appeared “Chartism,” in 1843 “Past and Present,” and in 1850 “Latter-Day Pamphlets”; all on what he called the “Condition-of-England-Question,” which to the last he regarded, as a subject of the realm, the most serious question of the time, seeing, as he all along taught and felt, the social life affects the individual life to the very core; in 1845 he dug up a hero literally from the grave in his “Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell,” and after writing in 1851 a brief biography of his misrepresented friend, John Sterling, concluded (1858-1865) his life's task, prosecuted from first to last, in “sore travail” of body and soul, with “The History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, called Frederick the Great,” “the last and grandest of his works,” says Froude; “a book,” says Emerson, “that is a Judgment Day, for its moral verdict on men and nations, and the manners of modern times”; lies buried beside his own kindred in the place where he was born, as he had left instructions to be. “The man,” according to Ruskin, his greatest disciple, and at present, as would seem, the last, “who alone of all our masters of literature, has written, without thought of himself, what he knew to be needful for the people of his time to hear, if the will to hear had been in them ... the solitary Teacher who has asked them to be (before all) brave for the help of Man, and just for the love of God” (1795-1881).
Carmagnole, a Red-republican song and dance.
Carmarthenshire (30), a county in S. Wales, and the largest in the Principality; contains part of the coal-fields in the district; capital Carmarthen, on the right bank of the Towy, a river which traverses the county.
Carmel, a NW. extension of the limestone ridge that bounds on the S. the Plain of Esdraëlon, in Palestine, and terminates in a rocky promontory 500 ft. high; forms the southern boundary of the Bay of Acre; its highest point is 1742 ft. above the sea-level.
Carmelites, a monastic order, originally an association of hermits on Mount Carmel, at length mendicant, called the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, i. e. the Virgin, in consecration to whom it was founded by a pilgrim of the name Berthold, a Calabrian, in 1156. The Order is said to have existed from the days of Elijah.
Carmen Sylva, the nom-de-plume of Elizabeth, queen of Roumania; lost an only child, and took to literature for consolation; has taken an active interest in the elevation and welfare of her sex; b. 1843.
Carmontel, a French dramatist; author of little pieces under the name of “Proverbes” (1717-1806).
Carnac, a seaside fishing-village in the Bay of Quibéron, in the dep. of Morbihan, France, with interesting historical records, particularly Celtic, many of them undecipherable by the antiquary.
Carnarvon, a maritime county in N. Wales, with the highest mountains and grandest scenery in the Principality, and a capital of the same name on the Menai Strait, with the noble ruins of a castle, in which Edward II., the first Prince of Wales, was born.
Carnarvon, Henry Howard, Earl of, Conservative statesman; held office under Lord Derby and Disraeli; was a good classical scholar; wrote the “Druses of Mount Lebanon” (1831-1890).
Carnatic, an old prov. in the Madras Presidency of India that extended along the Coromandel coast from Cape Comorin, 600 m. N.
Carneades, a Greek philosopher, born at Cyrene; his whole philosophy a polemic against the dogmatism of the Stoics, on the alleged ground of the absence of any criterion of certainty in matters of either science or morality; conceded that truth and virtue were admirable qualities, but he denied the reality of them; sent once on an embassy to Rome, he propounded this doctrine in the ears of the Conscript Fathers, upon which Cato moved he should be expelled from the senate-house and sent back to Athens, where he came from (213-129 B.C.).
Carnegie, Andrew, ironmaster, born in Dunfermline, the son of a weaver; made a large fortune by his iron and steel works at Pittsburg, U.S., out of which he has liberally endowed institutions and libraries, both in America and his native country; b. 1835.
Carniola (500), a crownland of the Austrian empire, SW. of Austria, on the Adriatic, S. of Carinthia; contains quicksilver mines, second only to those of Almaden, in Spain; the surface is mountainous, and the soil is not grain productive, though in some parts it yields wine and fine fruit.
Carnival, in Roman Catholic countries the name given to a season of feasting and revelry immediately preceding Lent, akin to the Saturnalia of the Romans.
Carnot, Leonard Sadi, son of Nicolas, founder of thermo-dynamics; in his “Reflexions sur la Puissance du Feu” enunciates the principle of Reversibility, considered the most important contribution to physical science since the time of Newton (1796-1832). See Dr. Knott's “Physics.”
Carnot, Marie François, civil engineer and statesman, born at Limoges, nephew of the preceding; Finance Minister in 1879 and 1887; became President in 1887; was assassinated at Lyons by an anarchist in 1894.
Carnot, Nicolas, French mathematician and engineer, born at Nolay, in Burgundy; a member of the National Convention; voted for the death of the king; became member of the Committee of Public Safety, and organiser of the armies of the Republic, whence his name, the “organiser of victory”; Minister of War under Napoleon; defender of Antwerp in 1814; and afterwards Minister of the Interior (1753-1823).
Caro, Annibale, an Italian author and poet, notable for his classic style (1507-1566).
Caro, Marie, a French philosopher, born at Poitiers; a popular lecturer on philosophy, surnamed le philosophe des dames; wrote on mysticism, materialism, and pessimism (1826-1887).
Carolina, North, one of the original 13 States of N. America, on the Atlantic, about the size of England, S. of Virginia, 480 m. from E. to W. and 180 m. from N. to S.; has a fertile, well-watered subsoil in the high lands; is rich in minerals and natural products; the mountains are covered with forests, and the manufactures are numerous.
Carolina, South, S. of N. Carolina, is alluvial with swamps, 100 m. inland from the coast, is well watered; produces rice and cotton in large quantities and of a fine quality.
Caroline Islands (36), a stretch of lagoon islands, 2000 m. from E. to W., belonging to Spain, N. of New Guinea and E. of the Philippine Islands; once divided into eastern, western, and central; the soil of the western is fertile, and there is plenty of fish and turtle in the lagoons.
Caroline of Brunswick, queen of George IV. and daughter of the Duke of Brunswick; married George, then Prince of Wales, in 1795; gave birth to the Princess Charlotte the year following, but almost immediately after her husband abandoned her; she retired to a mansion at Blackheath; was allowed to go abroad after a time; on the accession of her husband she was offered a pension of £50,000 if she stayed out of the country, but rejected it and claimed her rights as queen; was charged with adultery, but after a long trial acquitted; on the day of the coronation sought admission to Westminster Abbey, but the door was shut against her; she died a fortnight after (1768-1821).
Caron, Lieutenant-Colonel, under the first Empire; head of the Belford conspiracy in 1820 under the Restoration; executed 1822.
Carpaccio, Vittore, a Venetian painter of great celebrity, particularly in his early pieces, for his truth of delineation, his fertile imagination, and his rich colouring; his works are numerous, and have nearly all of them sacred subjects; an Italian critic says of him, “He had truth in his heart” (1450-1522).
Carpathians, a range of wooded mountains in Central Europe, 880 m. long, which, in two great masses, extend from Presburg to Orsova, both on the Danube, in a semicircle round the greater part of Hungary, particularly the whole of the N. and E., the highest of them Negoi, 8517 ft., they are rich in minerals, and their sides clothed with forests, principally of beech and pine.
Carpeaux, Jean Baptiste, sculptor, born at Valenciennes; adorned by his art, reckoned highly imaginative, several of the public monuments of Paris, and the façade of the Opera House (1827-1875).
Carpentaria, Gulf of, a broad, deep gulf in the N. of Australia; contains several islands, and receives several rivers.
Carpenter, Mary, a philanthropist, born at Exeter, daughter of Dr. Lant Carpenter, Unitarian minister; took an active part in the establishment of reformatory and ragged schools, and a chief promoter of the Industrial Schools Act; her philanthropic efforts extended to India, which, in her zeal, she visited four times, and she was the founder of the National Indian Association (1807-1877).
Carpenter, William Benjamin, biologist, brother of the preceding; author, among other numerous works, of the “Principles of General and Comparative Physiology” (1838); contributed to mental physiology; held several high professional appointments in London; inaugurated deep-sea soundings, and advocated the theory of a vertical circulation in the ocean (1813-1877).
Carpi, Girolamo da, Italian painter and architect, born at Ferrara; successful imitator of Correggio (1501-1556).
Carpi, Ugo da, Italian painter and wood engraver; is said to have invented engraving in chiaroscuro (1486-1530).
Carpini, a Franciscan monk, born in Umbria; headed an embassy from Pope Innocent IV. to the Emperor of the Mogul Tartars to persuade him out of Europe, which he threatened; was a corpulent man of 60; travelled from Lyons to beyond Lake Baikal and back; wrote a report of his journey in Latin, which had a quieting effect on the panic in Europe (1182-1252).
Carpio, a legendary hero of the Moors of Spain; is said to have slain Roland at Roncesvalles.
Carpoc`rates, a Gnostic of Alexandria of the 2nd century, who believed in the transmigration of the soul and its final emancipation from all external bonds and obligations, by means of concentrated meditation on the divine unity, and a life in conformity therewith; was the founder of a sect called after his name.
Carrara (11), a town in N. Italy, 30 m. NW. of Leghorn; famous for its quarries of white statuary marble, the working of which is its staple industry; these quarries have been worked for 2000 years, are 400 in number, and employ as quarrymen alone regularly over 3000 men.
Carrel, Armand, French publicist, born at Rouen; a man of high character, and highly esteemed; editor of the National, which he conducted with great ability, and courage; died of a wound in a duel with Émile de Girardin (1800-1836).
Carrick, the southern division of Ayrshire. See Ayrshire.
Carrickfergus (9), a town and seaport N. of Belfast Lough, 9½ m. from Belfast, with a picturesque castle.
Carrier, Jean Baptiste, one of the most blood-thirsty of the French Revolutionists, born near Aurillac; an attorney by profession; sent on a mission to La Vendée; caused thousands of victims to be drowned, beheaded, or shot; was guillotined himself after trial by a Revolutionary tribunal (1756-1794). See Noyades.
Carrière, Moritz, a German philosopher and man of letters, born in Hesse, author of works on æsthetics and art in its relation to culture and the ideal; advocated the compatibility of the pantheistic with the deistic view of the world (1817-1893).
Carrol, Lewis, pseudonym of C. L. Dodgson (q. v.), the author of “Alice in Wonderland,” with its sequel, “Through the Looking-Glass.”
Carse, the name given in Scotland to alluvial lands bordering on a river.
Carson, Kit, American trapper, born in Kentucky; was of service to the States in expeditions in Indian territories from his knowledge of the habits of the Indians (1809-1878).
Carstairs, William, a Scotch ecclesiastic, born at Cathcart, near Glasgow; sent to Utrecht to study theology; recommended himself to the regard of the Prince of Orange, and became his political adviser; accompanied him to England as chaplain in 1688, and had no small share in bringing about the Revolution; controlled Church affairs in Scotland; was made Principal of Edinburgh University; was chief promoter of the Treaty of Union; was held in high esteem by his countrymen for his personal character as well as his public services; was a most sagacious man (1649-1715).
Carstens, Asmus Jakob, Danish artist, born in Sleswig; on the appearance of his great picture, “The Fall of the Angels,” rose at once into fame; was admitted to the Berlin Academy; afterwards studied the masters at Rome; brought back to Germany a taste for art; was the means of reviving it; treated classical subjects; quarrelled the Academy; died in poverty at Rome (1754-1798).
Cartagena (86), a naval port of Spain, on the Mediterranean, with a capacious harbour; one of the oldest towns in it, founded by the Carthaginians; was once the largest naval arsenal in Europe. Also capital (12) of the Bolivar State in Colombia.
Carte, Thomas, historian, a devoted Jacobite, born near Rugby; wrote a “History of England,” which has proved a rich quarry of facts for subsequent historians (1686-1754).
Carte-blanche, a blank paper with a signature to be filled up with such terms of an agreement as the holder is authorised to accept in name of the person whose signature it bears.
Carter, Elizabeth, an accomplished lady, born at Deal, friend of Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and others; a great Greek and Italian scholar; translated Epictetus and Algarotti's exposition of Newton's philosophy; some of her papers appear in the Rambler (1717-1806).
Carteret, John, Earl Granville, eminent British statesman, orator, and diplomatist, entered Parliament in the Whig interest; his first speech was in favour of the Protestant succession; after service as diplomatist abroad, was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, in which capacity he was brought into contact with Swift, first as an enemy but at length as a friend, and proved a successful viceroy; in Parliament was head of the party opposed to Sir Robert Walpole and of the subsequent administration; his foreign policy has been in general approved of; had the satisfaction of seeing, which he was instrumental in securing, the elder Pitt installed in office before he retired; was a “fiery, emphatic man” (1690-1763).
Carteret, Philip, English sailor and explorer, explored in the Southern Seas, and discovered several islands, Pitcairn's Island among the number; d. 1796.
Carthage, an ancient maritime city, on a peninsula in the N. of Africa, near the site of Tunis, and founded by Phoenicians in 850 B.C.; originally the centre of a colony, it became the capital of a wide-spread trading community, which even ventured to compete with, and at one time threatened, under Hannibal, to overthrow, the power of Rome, in a series of protracted struggles known as the Punic Wars, in the last of which it was taken and destroyed by Publius Cornelius Scipio in 146 B.C., after a siege of two years, though it rose again as a Roman city under the Cæsars, and became a place of great importance till burned in A.D. 698 by Hassan, the Arab; the struggle during the early part of its history was virtually a struggle for the ascendency of the Semitic people over the Aryan race in Europe.
Carthusians, a monastic order of a very severe type, founded by St. Bruno in 1086, each member of which had originally a single cell, eventually one consisting of two or three rooms with a garden, all of them opening into one corridor; they amassed considerable wealth, but were given to deeds of benefaction, and spent their time in study and contemplation, in consequence of which they figure not so much in the outside world as many other orders do.
Cartier, a French navigator, born at St. Malo, made three voyages to N. America in quest of a North-West passage, at the instance of Francis I.; took possession of Canada in the name of France, by planting the French flag on the soil (1494-1554).
Cartoons, drawings or designs made on stiff paper for a fresco or other paintings, transferred by tracing or pouncing to the surface to be painted, the most famous of which are those of Raphael.
Cartouche, a notorious captain of a band of thieves, born in Paris, who was broken on the wheel alive in the Place de Grève (1698-1721).
Cartwright, Edmund, inventor of the powerloom and the carding machine, born in Nottinghamshire; bred for the Church; his invention, at first violently opposed, to his ruin for the time being, is now universally adopted; a grant of £10,000 was made him by Parliament in consideration of his services and in compensation for his losses; he had a turn for versifying as well as mechanical invention (1743-1823).
Cartwright, John, brother of the preceding; served in the navy and the militia, but left both services for political reasons; took to the study of agriculture, and the advocacy of radical political reform much in advance of his time (1740-1824).
Carus, Karl Gustav, a celebrated German physiologist, born at Leipzig; a many-sided man; advocate of the theory that health of body and mind depends on the equipoise of antagonistic principles (1789-1869).
Cary, Henry Francis, translator of Dante, born at Gibraltar; his translation is admired for its fidelity as well as for its force and felicity (1772-1844).
Caryatides, draped female figures surmounting columns and supporting entablatures; the corresponding male figures are called Atlantes.
Casa, Italian statesman, Secretary of State under Pope Paul IV.; wrote “Galateo; or, the Art of Living in the World” (1503-1556).
Casabianca, Louis, a French naval officer, born in Corsica, who, at the battle of Aboukir, after securing the safety of his crew, blew up his ship and perished along with his son, who would not leave him (1755-1798).
Casa`le (17), a town on the Po; manufactures silk twist.
Casanova, painter, born in London, of Venetian origin; painted landscapes and battle-pieces (1727-1806).
Casanova de Seingalt, a clever Venetian adventurer and scandalous impostor, of the Cagliostro type, who insinuated himself into the good graces for a time of all the distinguished people of the period, including even Frederick the Great, Voltaire, and others; died in Bohemia after endless roamings and wrigglings, leaving, as Carlyle would say, “the smell of brimstone behind him”; wrote a long detailed, brazen-faced account of his career of scoundrelism (1725-1798).
Casas, Bartolomeo de Las, a Spanish prelate, distinguished for his exertions in behalf of the Christianisation and civilisation of the Indians of S. America (1474-1566).
Casaubon, Isaac, an eminent classical scholar and commentator, born in Geneva; professor of Greek at Geneva and Montpellier, and afterwards of belles-lettres at Paris, invited thither by Henry IV., who pensioned him; being a Protestant he removed to London on Henry's death, where James I. gave him two prebends; has been ranked with Lepsius and Scaliger as a scholar (1559-1614).
Casaubon, Meric, son of preceding; accompanied his father to England; held a church living under the Charleses; became professor of Theology at Oxford, and edited his father's works (1599-1671).
Cascade Mountains, a range in Columbia that slopes down toward the Pacific from the Western Plateau, of which the Rocky Mountains form the eastern boundary; they are nearly parallel with the coast, and above 100 m. inland.
Caserta (35), a town in Italy, 20 m. from Naples, noted for a magnificent palace, built after plans supplied by Vanvitelli, one of the architects of St. Peter's at Rome.
Cashel, a town in Tipperary, Ireland, 49 m. NE. of Cork; a bishop's see, with a “Rock” 300 ft. high, occupied by interesting ruins; it was formerly the seat of the kings of Munster.
Cashmere or Kashmir (2,543), a native Indian State, bordering upon Tibet, 120 m. long and 80 m. wide, with beautiful scenery and a delicious climate, in a valley of the Himalayas, forming the basin of the Upper Indus, hemmed in by deep-gorged woods and snow-peaked mountains, and watered by the Jhelum, which spreads out here and there near it into lovely lakes; shawl weaving and lacquer-work are the chief occupations of the inhabitants.
Casimir, the name of five kings of Poland; the most eminent, Casimir III., called the Great, after distinguishing himself in wars against the Teutonic Knights, was elected king in 1333; recovered Silesia from Bohemia in two victories; defeated the Tartars on the Vistula, and annexed part of Lithuania; formed a code of laws, limiting both the royal authority and that of the nobles (1309-1370).
Casimir-Perier, president of the French Republic, born in Paris; a man of moderate views and firm character; was premier in 1893; succeeded Carnot in 1894; resigned 1895, because, owing to misrepresentation, the office had become irksome to him; b. 1847.
Casino, a club-house or public building in Continental towns provided with rooms for social gatherings, music, dancing, billiards, &c.
Casiri, a Syro-Maronite religious, and a learned Orientalist (1710-1791).
Caspari, Karl Paul, German theologian, born at Dessau; professor at Christiania (1814-1892).
Caspian Sea, an inland sea, partly in Europe and partly in Asia, the largest in the world, being 600 m. from N. to S. and from 270 to 130 m. in breadth, with the Caucasus Mts. on the W. and the Elburz on the S., is the fragment of a larger sea which extended to the Arctic Ocean; shallow in the N., deep in the S.; the waters, which are not so salt as the ocean, abound in fish, especially salmon and sturgeon.
Cass, Lewis, an eminent American statesman, a member of the Democratic party, and openly hostile to Great Britain; though in favour of slave-holding, a friend of Union; wrote a “History of the U.S. Indians” (1782-1867).
Cassagnac, Granier de, a French journalist; at first an Orleanist, became a supporter of the Empire; started several journals, which all died a natural death; edited Le Pays, a semi-official organ; embroiled himself in duels and lawsuits without number (1806-1880).
Cassagnac, Paul, son of preceding; editor of Le Pays and the journal L'Autorité; an obstinate Imperialist; b. 1843.
Cassander, king of Macedonia, passed over in the succession by his father Antipater; allied himself with the Greek cities; invaded Macedonia and ascended the throne; married Thessalonica, the sister of Alexander the Great, but put Alexander's mother to death, thus securing himself against all rival claimants; left his son Philip as successor (354-297 B.C.).
Cassandra, a beautiful Trojan princess, daughter of Priam and Hecuba, whom Apollo endowed with the gift of prophecy, but, as she had rejected his suit, doomed to utter prophecies which no one would believe, as happened with her warnings of the fate and the fall of Troy, which were treated by her countrymen as the ravings of a lunatic; her name is applied to any one who entertains gloomy forebodings.
Cassano, a town in the S. of Italy; also a town near Milan, scene of a French victory under Vendôme in 1705, and a French defeat under Moreau in 1799.
Cassation, Court of, a court of highest and last appeal in France, appointed in the case of appeal to revise the forms of a procedure in an inferior court; it consists of a president and vice-president, 49 judges, a public prosecutor called the procureur-général, and six advocates-general; it consists of three sections: first, one to determine if the appeal should be received; second, one to decide in civil cases; and third, one to decide in criminal cases.
Cassel (72), capital of Hesse-Cassel, an interesting town, 120 m. from Frankfort-on-Main; it is the birthplace of Bunsen.
Cassell, John, the publisher, born in Manchester; a self-made man, who knew the value of knowledge and did much to extend it (1817-1865).
Cassianus, Joannus, an Eastern ascetic; came to Constantinople, and became a pupil of Chrysostom, who ordained him; founded two monasteries in Marseilles; opposed the extreme views of Augustine in regard to grace and free-will, and human depravity; and not being able to go the length of Pelaganism, adopted semi-Pelagianism, q. v. (360-448).
Cassini, name of a family of astronomers of the 17th and 18th centuries, of Italian origin; distinguished for their observations and discoveries affecting the comets, the planets, and the moon; they settled, father and son and grandson, in Paris, and became in succession directors of the observatory of Paris, the last of whom died in 1864, after completing in 1793 a great topographical map of France begun by his father.
Cassiodo`rus, a Latin statesman and historian, born in Calabria; prime minister of Theodoric the Great and his successor; retired into a monastery about 70, and lived there nearly 30 years; wrote a history of the Goths, and left letters of great historical value (468-568).
Cassiope`ia, queen of Ethiopia, mother of Andromeda, placed after death among the constellations; a constellation well north in the northern sky of five stars in the figure of a W.
Cassiquia`ri, a remarkable river in Venezuela, which, like a canal, connects the Rio Negro, an affluent of the Amazon, with the Orinoco.
Cassiter`ides, islands in the Atlantic, which the Phoenician sailors visited to procure tin; presumed to have been the Scilly Islands or Cornwall, which they adjoin.
Cassius, Caius, chief conspirator against Cæsar; won over Brutus to join in the foul plot; soon after the deed was done fled to Syria, made himself master of it; joined his forces with those of Brutus at Philippi; repulsed on the right, thought all was lost; withdrew into his tent, and called his freedmen to kill him; Brutus, in his lamentation over him, called him the “last of the Romans”; d. 42 B.C.
Cassius, Spurius, a Roman, thrice chosen consul, first time 502 B.C.; subdued the Sabines, made a league with the Latins, promoted an agrarian law, the first passed, which conceded to the plebs a share in the public lands.
Cassivellaunus, a British warlike chief, who unsuccessfully opposed Cæsar on his second invasion of Britain, 52 B.C.; surrendered after defeat, and became tributary to Rome.
Castalia, a fountain at the foot of Parnassus sacred to the Muses; named after a nymph, who drowned herself in it to escape Apollo.
Castanet, bishop of Albi; procured the canonisation of St. Louis (1256-1317).
Castaños, a Spanish general; distinguished for his victory over the French under Dupont, whom he compelled to surrender and sign the capitulation of Baylen, in 1808; after this he served under Wellington in several engagements, and was commander of the Spanish army, ready, if required, to invade France in 1815 (1758-1852).
Caste, rank in society of an exclusive nature due to birth or origin, such as prevails among the Hindus especially. Among them there are originally two great classes, the twice-born and the once-born, i. e. those who have passed through a second birth, and those who have not; of the former there are three grades, Brahmans, or the priestly caste, from the mouth of Brahma; Kshatriyas, or the soldier caste, from the hands of Brahma; and Vaisyas, or the agricultural caste, from the feet of Brahma; while the latter are of one rank and are menial to the other, called Sudras, earth-born all; notwithstanding which distinction often members of the highest class sink socially to the lowest level, and members of the lowest rise socially to the highest.
Castel, René-Richard, French poet and naturalist (1758-1832).
Castelar, Emilio, a Spanish republican, born in Cadiz; an eloquent man and a literary; appointed dictator of Spain in 1873, but not being equal to the exigency in the affairs of the State, resigned, and made way for the return of monarchy, though under protest; wrote a history of the “Republican Movement in Europe” among other works of political interest; b. 1832.
Castellamare (15), a port on the coast of Italy, 115 m. SE. of Naples, the scene of Pliny's death from the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79. It takes its name from a castle built on it by the Emperor Frederick II.; has a cathedral, arsenal, and manufactures.
Castellio, Protestant theologian, a protégé of Calvin's for a time, till he gave expression to some heretical views, which led to a rupture; he ventured to pronounce the Song of Solomon a mere erotic poem (1515-1563).
Castiglione, a town of Sicily, on N. slope of Etna, 35 m. SW. of Messina; famed for hazel nuts.
Castiglione, Count, an accomplished Italian, born in Mantua; author of “II Cortegiano,” a manual for courtiers, called by the Italians in admiration of it “The Golden Book”; had spent much of his time in courts in England and Spain, as well as Rome, and was a courtly man (1478-1529).
Castile, a central district of Spain, divided by the mountains of Castile into Old Castile (1,800) in the N., and New Castile (3,500) in the S.: the former consisting of a high bare plateau, bounded by mountains on the N. and on the S., with a variable climate, yields wheat and good pasturage, and is rich in minerals; the latter, also tableland, has a richer soil, and yields richer produce, breeds horses and cattle, and contains besides the quicksilver mines of Almaden. Both were at one time occupied by the Moors, and were created into a kingdom in the 11th century, and united to the crown of Spain in 1469 by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Castle Garden, the immigration depôt of New York where immigrants land, report themselves, and are advised where to settle or find work.
Castle of Indolence, a poem of Thomson's, a place in which the dwellers live amid luxurious delights, to the enervation of soul and body.
Castleford (14), a town 10 m. SE. of Leeds, with extensive glass-works, especially bottles.
Castlereagh, Lord, entered political life as a member of the Irish Parliament, co-operated with Pitt in securing the Union, after which he entered the Imperial Parliament, became War Minister (1805), till the ill-fated Walcheren expedition and a duel with Canning obliged him to resign; became Foreign Secretary in 1812, and the soul of the coalition against Napoleon; represented the country in a congress after Napoleon's fall; succeeded his father as Marquis of Londonderry in 1821, and committed suicide the year following; his name has been unduly defamed, and his services to the country as a diplomatist have been entirely overlooked (1769-1822).
Castles in Spain, visionary projects.
Castletown, a seaport in the Isle of Man, 11 m. SW. of Douglas, and the former capital.
Castlewood, the heroine in Thackeray's “Esmond.”
Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, the twin sons of Zeus by Leda; great, the former in horsemanship, and the latter in boxing; famed for their mutual affection, so that when the former was slain the latter begged to be allowed to die with him, whereupon it was agreed they should spend a day in Hades time about; were raised eventually to become stars in the sky, the Gemini, twin signs in the zodiac, rising and setting together; this name is also given to the electric phenomenon called St. Elmo's Fire (q. v.).
Castren, Mathias Alexander, an eminent philologist, born in Finland, professor of the Finnish Language and Literature in Helsingfors; travelled all over Northern Europe and Asia, and left accounts of the races he visited and their languages; translated the “Kalevala” (q. v.) the epic of the Finns; died prematurely, worn out with his labours (1813-1852).
Castres (22), a town in the dep. of Tarn, 46 m. E. of Toulouse; was a Roman station, and one of the first places in France to embrace Calvinism.
Castro, Guillen de, a Spanish dramatist, author of the play of “The Cid,” which gained him European fame; he began life as a soldier, got acquainted with Lope de Vega, and took to dramatic composition (1569-1631).
Castro, Inez de, a royal heiress of the Spanish throne in the 14th century, the beloved wife of Don Pedro, heir of the Portuguese throne; put to death out of jealousy of Spain by the latter's father, but on his accession dug out of her grave, arrayed in her royal robes, and crowned along with him, after which she was entombed again, and a magnificent monument erected over her remains.
Castro, Juan de, a Portuguese soldier, born at Lisbon, distinguished for his exploits in behalf of Portugal; made viceroy of the Portuguese Indies, but died soon after in the arms of Francis Xavier (1500-1548).
Castro, Vaca de, a Spaniard, sent out by Charles V. as governor of Peru, but addressing himself to the welfare of the natives rather than the enrichment of Spain, was recalled, to pine and die in prison in 1558.
Castrogiovanni (18), a town in a strong position in the heart of Sicily, 3270 ft. above the sea-level; at one time a centre of the worship of Ceres, and with a temple to her.
Castruccio-Castracani, Duke of Lucca, and chief of the Ghibelline party in that town, the greatest war-captain in Europe in his day; lord of hundreds of strongholds; wore on a high occasion across his breast a scroll, inscribed, “He is what God made him,” and across his back another, inscribed, “He shall be what God will make”; d. 1328, “crushed before the moth.”
Catacombs, originally underground quarries, afterwards used as burial-places for the dead, found beneath Paris and in the neighbourhood of Rome, as well as elsewhere; those around Rome, some 40 in number, are the most famous, as having been used by the early Christians, not merely for burial but for purposes of worship, and are rich In monuments of art and memorials of history.
Catalani, Angelica, a celebrated Italian singer and prima donna, born near Ancona; began her career in Rome with such success that it led to engagements over all the chief cities of Europe, the enthusiasm which followed her reaching its climax when she came to England, where, on her first visit, she stayed eight years; by the failure of an enterprise in Paris she lost her fortune, but soon repaired it by revisiting the capitals of Europe; died of cholera in Paris (1779-1840).
Catalonia (1,900), old prov. of Spain, on the NE.; has a most fertile soil, which yields a luxuriant vegetation; chief seat of manufacture in the country, called hence the “Lancashire of Spain”; the people are specially distinguished from other Spaniards for their intelligence and energy.
Catamar`ca (ISO), NW. prov. of the Argentine Republic; rich in minerals, especially copper.
Cata`nia (123), an ancient city at the foot of Etna, to the S., on a plain called the Granary of Sicily; has been several times devastated by the eruptions of Etna, particularly in 1169, 1669, and 1693; manufactures silk, linen, and articles of amber, &c., and exports sulphur, grain, and fruits.
Catanza`ro (20), a city in Calabria, 6 m. from the Gulf of Squillace, with an old castle of Robert Guiscard.
Categorical imperative, Kant's name for the self-derived moral law, “universal and binding on every rational will, a commandment of the autonomous, one and universal reason.”
Categories are either classes under which all our Notions of things may be grouped, or classes under which all our Thoughts of things may be grouped; the former called Logical, we owe to Aristotle, and the latter called Metaphysical, we owe to Kant. The Logical, so derived, that group our notions, are ten in number: Substance or Being, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Place, Time, Position, Possession, Action, Passion. The Metaphysical, so derived, that group our thoughts, are twelve in number: (1) as regards quantity, Totality, Plurality, Unity; (2) as regards quality, Reality, Negation, Limitation; (3) as regards relation, Substance, Accident, Cause and Effect, Action and Reaction; (4) as regards modality, Possibility and Impossibility, Existence and Nonexistence, Necessity and Contingency. John Stuart Mill resolves the categories into five, Existence, Co-existence, Succession, Causation, and Resemblance.
Catesby, Mark, an English naturalist and traveller, wrote a natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas (1680-1750).
Catesby, Robert, born in Northamptonshire, a Catholic of good birth; concerned in the famous Gunpowder Plot; shot dead three days after its discovery by officers sent to arrest him (1573-1605).
Cath`ari, or Catharists, i. e. purists or puritans, a sect of presumably Gnostic derivation, scattered here and there under different names over the S. and W. of Europe during the Middle Ages, who held the Manichæan doctrine of the radically sinful nature of the flesh, and the necessity of mortifying all its desires and affections to attain purity of soul.
Catharine, St., of Alexandria, a virgin who, in 307, suffered martyrdom after torture on the wheel, which has since borne her name; is represented in art as in a vision presented to Christ by His Mother as her sole husband, who gives her a ring. Festival, Nov. 25.
Catharine I., wife of Peter the Great and empress of Russia, daughter of a Livonian peasant; “a little stumpy body, very brown,... strangely chased about from the bottom to the top of the world,... had once been a kitchen wench”; married first to a Swedish dragoon, became afterwards the mistress of Prince Menschikoff, and then of Peter the Great, who eventually married her; succeeded him as empress, with Menschikoff as minister; for a time ruled well, but in the end gave herself up to dissipation, and died (1682-1727).
Catharine II. the Great, empress of Russia, born at Stettin, daughter of Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst; “a most-clever, clear-eyed, stout-hearted woman”; became the wife of Peter III., a scandalous mortal, who was dethroned and then murdered, leaving her empress; ruled well for the country, and though her character was immoral and her reign despotic and often cruel, her efforts at reform, the patronage she accorded to literature, science, and philosophy, and her diplomatic successes, entitle her to a high rank among the sovereigns of Russia; she reigned from 1763 to 1796, and it was during the course of her reign, and under the sanction of it, that Europe witnessed the three partitions of Poland (1729-1796).
Catharine de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, wife of Henry II. of France, and mother of his three successors; on the accession of her second son, Charles IX.—for the reign of her first, Francis II., was very brief—acted as regent during his minority; joined heart and soul with the Catholics in persecuting the Huguenots, and persuaded her son to issue the order which resulted in the massacre of St. Bartholomew; on his death, which occurred soon after, she acted as regent during the minority of her third son, Henry III., and lived to see both herself and him detested by the whole French people, and this although she was during her ascendency the patroness of the arts and of literature (1519-1589).
Catharine of Aragon, fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and wife of Henry VIII., her brother-in-law as widow of Arthur, from whom, and at whose instance, after 18 years of married life, and after giving birth to five children, she was divorced on the plea that, as she had been his brother's wife before, it was not lawful for him to have her; after her divorce she remained in the country, led an austere religious life, and died broken-hearted. The refusal of the Pope to sanction this divorce led to the final rupture of the English Church from the Church of Rome, and the emancipation of the nation from priestly tyranny (1483-1536).
Catharine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II. of England, of the royal house of Portugal; was unpopular in the country as a Catholic and neglected by her husband, on whose death, however, she returned to Portugal, and did the duties ably of regent for her brother Don Pedro (1638-1705).
Catharine of Sienna, born at Sienna, a sister of the Order of St. Dominic, and patron saint of the Order; celebrated for her ecstasies and visions, and the marks which by favour of Christ she bore on her body of His sufferings on the Cross (1347-1380). Festival, April 30. Besides her, are other saints of the same name.
Catharine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI. of France, and wife of Henry V. of England, who, on his marriage to her, was declared heir to the throne of France, with the result that their son was afterwards, while but an infant, crowned king of both countries; becoming a widow, she married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, whereby a grandson of his succeeded to the English throne as Henry VII., and the first of the Tudors (1401-1438).
Catharine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII. and the daughter of a Westmoreland knight; was of the Protestant faith and obnoxious to the Catholic faction, who trumped up a charge against her of heresy and treason, from which, however, she cleared herself to the satisfaction of the king, over whom she retained her ascendency till his death; d. 1548.
Catharine Theot, a religious fanatic, born in Avranches; gave herself out as the Mother of God; appeared in Paris in 1794, and declared Robespierre a second John the Baptist and forerunner of the Word; the Committee of Public Safety had her arrested and guillotined.
Cathay, the name given to China by mediæval writers, which it still bears in Central Asia.
Cathcart, Earl, a British general and diplomatist, born in Renfrewshire; saw service in America and Flanders; distinguished himself at the bombardment of Copenhagen; represented England at the court of Russia and the Congress of Vienna (1755-1843).
Cathcart, Sir George, a lieutenant-general, son of the preceding; enlisted in the army; served in the later Napoleonic wars; was present at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo; was governor of the Cape; brought the Kaffir war to a successful conclusion; served in the Crimea, and fell at Inkerman (1794-1854).
Cathedral, the principal church in a diocese, and which contains the throne of the bishop as his seat of authority; is of a rank corresponding to the dignity of the bishop; the governing body consists of the dean and chapter.
Cathelineau, Jacques, a famous leader of the Vendéans in their revolt against the French Republic on account of a conscription in its behalf; a peasant by birth; mortally wounded in attacking Nantes; he is remembered by the peasants of La Vendée as the “Saint of Anjou” (1759-1793).
Catholic Emancipation, the name given to the emancipation in 1829 of the Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom from disabilities which precluded their election to office in the State, so that they are eligible now to any save the Lord Chancellorship of England and offices representative of royalty.
Catholic Epistles, the name, equivalent to encyclical, given to certain epistles in the New Testament not addressed to any community in particular, but to several, and given eventually to all not written by St. Paul.
Catholic Majesty, a title given by the Pope to several Spanish monarchs for their zeal in the defence of the Catholic faith.
Catiline, or Lucius Sergius Catilina, a Roman patrician, an able man, but unscrupulously ambitious; frustrated in his ambitious designs, he formed a conspiracy against the State, which was discovered and exposed by Cicero, a discovery which obliged him to leave the city; he tried to stir up hostility outside; this too being discovered by Cicero, an army was sent against him, when an engagement ensued, in which, fighting desperately, he was slain, 62 B.C.
Catinat, Nicolas, a marshal of France, born in Paris; one of the greatest military captains under Louis XIV.; defeated the Duke of Savoy twice over, though defeated by Prince Eugene and compelled to retreat; was an able diplomatist as well as military strategist (1637-1712).
Catlin, George, a traveller among the North American Indians, and author of an illustrated work on their life and manners; spent eight years among them (1796-1872).
Cato Dionysius, name of a book of maxims in verse, held in high favour during the Middle Ages; of unknown authorship.
Cato, Marcus Portius, or Cato Major, surnamed Censor, Priscus, and Sapiens, born at Tusculum, of a good old family, and trained to rustic, frugal life; after serving occasionally in the army, removed to Rome; became in succession censor, ædile, prætor, and consul; served in the second Punic war, towards the end of it, and subjugated Spain; was a Roman of the old school; disliked and denounced all innovations, as censor dealt sharply with them; sent on an embassy to Africa, was so struck with the increasing power and the threateningly evil ascendency of Carthage, that on his return he urged its demolition, and in every speech which he delivered afterwards he ended with the words, Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam, “But, be that as it may, my opinion is Carthage must be destroyed” (234-149 B.C.).
Cato, Marcus Portius, or Cato the Younger, or Uticensis, great-grandson of the former, and a somewhat pedantic second edition of him; fortified himself by study of the Stoic philosophy; conceived a distrust of the public men of the day, Cæsar among the number; preferred Pompey to him, and sided with him; after Pompey's defeat retired to Utica, whence his surname, and stabbed himself to death rather than fall into the hands of Cæsar (95-46 B.C.).
Cato-Street Conspiracy, an insignificant, abortive plot, headed by one Thistlewood, to assassinate Castlereagh and other ministers of the crown in 1820; so called from their place of meeting off the Edgeware Road, London.
Catrail, an old Roman earthwork, 50 m. long, passing S. from near Galashiels, through Selkirk and Roxburgh, or from the Cheviots; it is known by the name of the “Devil's Dyke.”
Cats, Jacob, a Dutch poet and statesman, venerated in Holland as “Father Cats”; his works are written in a simple, natural style, and abound in wise maxims; he did service as a statesman; twice visited England as an envoy, and was knighted by Charles I. (1577-1660).
Catskill Mountains, a group of mountains, of steep ascent, and with rocky summits, in New York State, W. of the Hudson, none of them exceeding 4000 feet; celebrated as the scene of Rip Van Winkle's long slumber; belong to the Appalachians.
Cattegat, an arm of the sea, 150 m. in length and 84 of greatest width, between Sweden and Jutland; a highway into the Baltic, all but blocked up with islands; is dangerous to shipping on account of the storms that infest it at times.
Cattermole, George, artist, born in Norfolk; illustrated Britton's “English Cathedrals,” “Waverley Novels,” and the “Historical Annual” by his brother; painted mostly in water-colour; his subjects chiefly from English history (1800-1868).
Cattle Plague, or Rinderpest, a disease which affects ruminants, but especially bovine cattle; indigenous to the East, Russia, Persia, India, and China, and imported into Britain only by contagion of some kind; the most serious outbreaks were in 1865 and 1872.
Catullus, Caius Valerius, the great Latin lyric poet, born at Verona, a man of wealth and good standing, being, it would seem, of the equestrian order; associated with the best wits in Rome; fell in love with Clodia, a patrician lady, who was the inspiration, both in peace and war, of many of his effusions, and whom he addresses as Lesbia; the death of a brother affected him deeply, and was the occasion of the production of one of the most pathetic elegies ever penned; in the civic strife of the time he sided with the senate, and opposed Cæsar to the length of directing against him a coarse lampoon (84-54 B.C.).
Cauca, a river in Colombia, S. America, which falls into the Magdalena after a northward course of 600 m.
Caucasia, a prov. of Russia, geographically divided into Cis-Caucasia on the European side, and Trans-Caucasia on the Asiatic side of the Caucasus, with an area about four times as large as England.
Caucasian race, a name adopted by Blumenbach to denote the Indo-European race, from the fine type of a skull of one of the race found in Georgia.
Caucasus, an enormous mountain range, 750 m. in length, extending from the Black Sea ESE. to the Caspian, in two parallel chains, with tablelands between, bounded on the S. by the valley of the Kur, which separates it from the tableland of Armenia; snow-line higher than that of the Alps; has fewer and smaller glaciers; has no active volcanoes, though abundant evidence of volcanic action.
Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, infamous for the iniquitous part he played in the trial and condemnation of Joan of Arc; d. 1443.
Cauchy, Augustin Louis, mathematician, born in Paris; wrote largely on physical subjects; his “Memoir” on the theory of the waves suggested the undulatory theory of light; professor of Astronomy at Paris; declined to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon III., and retired (1789-1857).
Caucus, a preliminary private meeting to arrange and agree on some measure or course to propose at a general meeting of a political party.
Caudine Forks, a narrow mountain gorge in Samnium, in which, during the second Samnite war, a Roman army was entrapped and caught by the Samnites, who obliged them to pass under the yoke in token of subjugation, 321 B.C.
Caudle, Mrs., an imaginary dame, a conception of Douglas Jerrold, famous for her “Curtain Lectures” all through the night for 30 years to her husband Mr. Job Caudle.
Caul, a membrane covering the head of some children at birth, to which a magical virtue was at one time ascribed, and which, on that account, was rated high and sold often at a high price.
Caulaincourt, Armand de, a French general and statesman of the Empire, a faithful supporter of Napoleon, who conferred on him a peerage, with the title of Duke of Vicenza, of which he was deprived at the Restoration; represented Napoleon at the Congress of Châtillon (1772-1827).
Caus, Salomon de, a French engineer, born at Dieppe; discovered the properties of steam as a motive force towards 1638; claimed by Arago as the inventor of the steam-engine in consequence.
Causality, the philosophic name for the nature of the relation between cause and effect, in regard to which there has been much diversity of opinion among philosophers.
Cauterets, a fashionable watering-place in the dep. of the Hautes-Pyrénées, 3250 ft. above the sea, with sulphurous springs of very ancient repute, 25 in number, and of varying temperature.
Cavaignac, Louis Eugène, a distinguished French general, born in Paris; appointed governor of Algeria in 1849, but recalled to be head of the executive power in Paris same year; appointed dictator, suppressed the insurrection in June, after the most obstinate and bloody struggle the streets of Paris had witnessed since the first Revolution; stood candidate for the Presidency, to which Louis Napoleon was elected; was arrested after the coup d'état, but soon released; never gave in his adherence to the Empire (1802-1857).
Cavalcaselle, Giovanni Battista, Italian writer on art; joint-author with J. A. Crowe of works on the “Early Flemish Painters” and the “History of Painting in Italy”; chief of the art department under the Minister of Public Instruction in Rome; b. 1820.
Cavalier, Jean, leader of the Camisards (q. v.), born at Ribaute, in the dep. of Gard; bred a baker; held his own against Montreval and Villars; in 1704 concluded peace with the latter on honourable terms; haughtily received by Louis XIV., passed over to England; served against France, and died governor of Jersey (1679-1740).
Cavaliers, the royalist partisans of Charles I. in England in opposition to the parliamentary party, or the Roundheads, as they were called.
Cavallo, a distinguished Italian physicist, born at Naples (1749-1809).
Cavan (111), inland county S. of Ulster, Ireland, with a poor soil; has minerals and mineral springs.
Cave, Edward, a London bookseller, born in Warwickshire; projected the Gentleman's Magazine, to which Dr. Johnson contributed; was the first to give Johnson literary work, employing him as parliamentary reporter, and Johnson was much attached to him; he died with his hand in Johnson's (1691-1754).
Cave, William, an English divine; author of works on the Fathers of the Church and on primitive Christianity, of high repute at one time (1637-1713).
Cavendish, the surname of the Devonshire ducal family, traceable back to the 14th century.
Cavendish, George, the biographer of Wolsey; never left him while he lived, and never forgot him or the lesson of his life after he was dead; this appears from the vivid picture he gives of him, though written 30 years after his death (1500-1561).
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, brother of the ninth Duke of Devonshire, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Liberal; was made Chief-Secretary for Ireland in 1882, but chancing to walk home one evening through the Phoenix Park, he fell a victim, stabbed to the heart, of a conspiracy that was aimed at Mr. Burke, an unpopular subordinate, who was walking along with him, and came to the same fate. Eight months after, 20 men were arrested as concerned in the murder, when one of the 20 informed; five of them were hanged; the informer Carey was afterwards murdered, and his murderer, O'Donnel, hanged (1836-1882).
Cavendish, Henry, natural philosopher and chemist, born at Nice, of the Devonshire family; devoted his entire life to scientific investigations; the first to analyse the air of the atmosphere, determine the mean density of the earth, discover the composition of water, and ascertain the properties of hydrogen; was an extremely shy, retiring man; born rich and died rich, leaving over a million sterling (1731-1810).
Cavendish, Spencer Compton, ninth Duke of Devonshire, for long known in public life as Marquis of Hartington; also educated at Trinity College, and a leader of the Liberal party; served under Gladstone till he adopted Home Rule for Ireland, but joined Lord Salisbury in the interest of Union, and one of the leaders of what is called the Liberal-Unionist party; b. 1833.
Cavendish, Thomas, an English navigator, fitted out three vessels to cruise against the Spaniards; extended his cruise into the Pacific; succeeded in taking valuable prizes, with which he landed in England, after circumnavigating the globe; he set out on a second cruise, which ended in disaster, and he died in the island of Ascension broken-hearted (1555-1592).
Cavendish, William, English courtier and cavalier in the reigns of James I. and Charles I.; joined Charles II. in exile; returned at the Restoration; was made Duke of Newcastle; wrote on horsemanship (1592-1676).
Cavendish, William, first Duke of Devonshire; friend and protector of Lord William Russell; became a great favourite at court, and was raised to the dukedom (1640-1707).
Caviare, the roe (the immature ovaries) of the common sturgeon and other kindred fishes, caught chiefly in the Black and Caspian Seas, and prepared and salted; deemed a great luxury by those who have acquired the taste for it; largely imported from Astrakhan.
Cavour, Count Camillo Benso de, one of the greatest of modern statesmen, born the younger son of a Piedmontese family at Turin; entered the army, but was precluded from a military career by his liberal opinions; retired, and for 16 years laboured as a private gentleman to improve the social and economic condition of Piedmont; in 1847 he threw himself into the great movement which resulted in the independence and unification of Italy; for the next 14 years, as editor of Il Risorgimento, member of the chamber of deputies, holder of various portfolios in the government, and ultimately as prime minister of the kingdom of Sardinia, he obtained a constitution and representative government for his country, improved its fiscal and financial condition, and raised it to a place of influence in Europe; he co-operated with the allies in the Crimean war; negotiated with Napoleon III. for the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy, and so precipitated the successful war of 1859; he encouraged Garibaldi in the expedition of 1860, which liberated Sicily and Southern Italy, and saw the parliament of 1861 summoned, and Victor Emmanuel declared king of Italy; but the strain of his labours broke his health, and he died a few months later (1810-1861).
Cawnpore (188), a city on the right bank of the Ganges, in the North-Western Provinces of India, 40 m. SW. of Lucknow, and 628 NW. of Calcutta; the scene of one of the most fearful atrocities, perpetrated by Nana Sahib, in the Indian Mutiny in 1857.
Caxton, William, the first English printer, born in Kent, bred a mercer, settled for a time in Bruges, learned the art of printing there, where he printed a translation of the “Recuyell of the Historyes of Troyes,” and “The Game and Playe of Chesse”; returning to England, set up a press in Westminster Abbey, and in 1477 issued “Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers,” the first book printed in England, which was soon followed by many others; he was a good linguist, as well as a devoted workman (1422-1491).
Cayenne (10), cap. and port of French Guiana, a swampy, unhealthy place, rank with tropical vegetation; a French penal settlement since 1852.
Cayla, Countess Of, friend and confidante of Louis XVIII. (1784-1850).
Cayley, Arthur, an eminent English mathematician, professor at Cambridge, and president of the British Association in 1883 (1821-1895).
Cayley, Charles Bagot, a linguist, translated Dante into the metre of the original, with annotations, besides metrical versions of the “Iliad,” the “Prometheus” of Æschylus, the “Canzoniere” of Petrarch, &c. (1823-1883).
Caylus, Count, a distinguished archæologist, born in Paris; author of a “Collection of Antiquities of Egypt, Etruria,” &c., with excellent engravings (1692-1765).
Caylus, Marquise de, born in Poitou, related to Mme. de Maintenon; left piquant souvenirs of the court of Louis XIV. and the house of St. Cyr (1672-1729).
Cazalès, a member of French Constituent Assembly, a dragoon captain, a fervid, eloquent orator of royalism, who “earned thereby,” says Carlyle, “the shadow of a name” (1758-1805).
Cazotte, author of the “Diable Amoureux”; victim as an enemy of the French Revolution; spared for his daughter's sake for a time, but guillotined at last; left her a “lock of his old grey hair” (1720-1792).
Cean-Bermudez, a Spanish writer on art; author of a biographical dictionary of the principal artists of Spain (1749-1834).
Ceara (35), cap. of the prov. (900) of the name, in N. of Brazil.
Ce`bes, a Greek philosopher, disciple and friend of Socrates, reputed author of the “Pinax” or Tablet, a once popular book on the secret of life, being an allegorical representation of the temptations that beset it.
Cecil, Robert, Earl of Salisbury, succeeded his father, Lord Burleigh, as first Minister under Elizabeth, and continued in office under James I., whose friendship he sedulously cultivated before his accession, and who created him earl (1565-1612). See Burleigh, Lord.
Cecilia, St., a Roman virgin and martyr, A.D. 230, patron saint of music, especially church music, and reputed inventor of the organ; sometimes represented as holding a small organ, with her head turned heavenwards as if listening to the music of the spheres, and sometimes as playing on an organ and with a heavenly expression of face. Festival, Nov. 22.
Cecrops, the mythical first king and civiliser of Attica and founder of Athens with its citadel, dedicated by him to Athena, whence the name of the city.
Cedar Rapids (25), a manufacturing town in Iowa, U.S.; a great railway centre.
Celadon, poetical name for a languid swain, all sighs and longings.
Celæno, name of one of the Harpies (q. v.).
Celebes (1,000), an island in the centre of the Eastern Archipelago, third in size, in the shape of a body with four long limbs, traversed by mountain chains, and the greater part of it a Dutch possession, though it contains a number of small native states; it yields among its mineral products gold, copper, tin, &c.; and among its vegetable, tea, coffee, rice, sugar, pepper, &c.; capital. Macassar.
Céleste, Mme., a dancer, born in Paris; made her début in New York; in great repute in England, and particularly in the States, where she in her second visit realised £40,000 (1814-1882).
Celestial Empire, China, as ruled over by a dynasty appointed by Heaven.
Celestine, the name of five Popes: C. I., Pope from 422 to 432; C. II., Pope from 1143 to 1144; C. III., Pope from 1191 to 1198; C. IV., Pope for 18 days in 1241; C. V., Pope in 1294, a hermit for 60 years; nearly 80 when elected against his wish; abdicated in five months; imprisoned by order of Boniface VIII.; d. 1296; canonised 1313.
Celestines, an order of monks founded by Celestine V. before he was elected Pope in 1354; they followed the rule of the Benedictine Order, and led a contemplative life.
Cellini, Benvenuto, a celebrated engraver, sculptor, and goldsmith, a most versatile and erratic genius, born at Florence; had to leave Florence for a bloody fray he was involved in, and went to Rome; wrought as a goldsmith there for 20 years, patronised by the nobles; killed the Constable de Bourbon at the sack of the city, and for this received plenary indulgence from the Pope; Francis I. attracted him to his court and kept him in his service five years, after which he returned to Florence and executed his famous bronze “Perseus with the Head of Medusa,” which occupied him four years; was a man of a quarrelsome temper, which involved him in no end of scrapes with sword as well as tongue; left an autobiography, from its self-dissection of the deepest interest to all students of human nature (1500-1571).
Celsius, a distinguished Swedish astronomer, born at Upsala, and professor of Astronomy there; inventor of the Centigrade thermometer (1701-1744).
Celsus, a celebrated Roman physician of the age of Augustus, and perhaps later; famed as the author of “De Medicina,” a work often referred to, and valuable as one of the sources of our knowledge of the medicine of the ancients.
Celsus, a philosopher of the 2nd century, and notable as the first assailant on philosophic grounds of the Christian religion, particularly as regards the power it claims to deliver from the evil that is inherent in human nature, inseparable from it, and implanted in it not by God, but some inferior being remote from Him; the book in which he attacked Christianity is no longer extant, only quotations from it scattered over the pages of the defence of Origen in reply.
Celtibe`ri, an ancient Spanish race occupying the centre of the peninsula, sprung from a blending of the aborigines and the Celts, who invaded the country; a brave race, divided into four tribes; distinguished in war both as cavalry and infantry, and whom the Romans had much trouble in subduing.
Celts. The W. of Europe was in prehistoric times subjected to two invasions of Aryan tribes, all of whom are now referred to as Celts. The earlier invaders were Goidels or Gaels; they conquered the Ivernian and Iberian peoples of ancient Gaul, Britain, and Ireland; their successors, the Brythons or Britons pouring from the E., drove them to the westernmost borders of these countries, and there compelled them to make common cause with the surviving Iberians in resistance; in the eastern parts of the conquered territories they formed the bulk of the population, in the W. they were in a dominant minority; study of languages in the British Isles leads to the conclusion that the Irish, Manx, and Scottish Celts belonged chiefly to the earlier immigration, while the Welsh and Cornish represent the latter; the true Celtic type is tall, red or fair, and blue-eyed, while the short, swarthy type, so long considered Celtic, is now held to represent the original Iberian races.
Cenci, The, a Roman family celebrated for their crimes and misfortunes as well as their wealth. Francesco Cenci was twice married, had had twelve children by his first wife, whom he treated cruelly; after his second marriage cruelly treated the children of his first wife, but conceived a criminal passion for the youngest of them, a beautiful girl named Beatrice, whom he outraged, upon which, being unable to bring him to justice, she, along with her stepmother and a brother, hired two assassins to murder him; the crime was found out, and all three were beheaded (1599); this is the story on which Shelley founded his tragedy, but it is now discredited.
Cenis, Mont, one of the Cottian Alps, over which Napoleon constructed a pass 6884 ft. high in 1802-10, through which a tunnel 7½ m. long passes from Modane to Bardonnêche, connecting France with Italy; the construction of this tunnel cost £3,000,000, and Napoleon's pass a tenth of the sum.
Censors, two magistrates of ancient Rome, who held office at first for five years and then eighteen months, whose duty it was to keep a register of the citizens, guard the public morals, collect the public revenue, and superintend the public property.
Cen`taurs, a savage race living between Pelion and Ossa, in Thessaly, and conceived of at length by Pindar as half men and half horses, treated as embodying the relation between the spiritual and the animal in man and nature, in all of whom the animal prevails over the spiritual except in Chiron, who therefore figures as the trainer of the heroes of Greece; in the mythology they figure as the progeny of Centaurus, son of Ixion (q. v.) and the cloud, their mothers being mares.
Central America (3,000), territory of fertile tableland sloping gradually to both oceans, occupied chiefly by a number of small republics, lying between Tehuantepec and Panama in N. America; it includes the republics of Guatemala, Honduras, St. Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and a few adjoining fractions of territory.
Central India (10,000), includes a group of feudatory States lying between Rajputana in the N. and Central Provinces in the S.
Central Provinces (12,944), States partly British and partly native, occupying the N. of the Deccan, and lying between the Nerbudda and the Godavary.
Ceos, one of the Cyclades, a small island 13 m. by 8 m., yields fruits; was the birthplace of Simonides and Bacchylides.
Cephalonia (80), the largest of the Ionian Islands, 30 m. long, the ancient Samos; yields grapes and olive oil.
Cephalus, king of Thessaly, who having involuntarily killed his wife Procris, in despair put himself to death with the same weapon.
Ceram` (195), the largest of S. Moluccas; yields sago, which is chiefly cultivated and largely exported.
Cerberus, the three-headed or three-throated monster that guarded the entrance to the nether world of Pluto, could be soothed by music, and tempted by honey, only Hercules overcame him by sheer strength, dragging him by neck and crop to the upper world.
Ceres, the Latin name for Demeter (q. v.); also the name of one of the asteroids, the first discovered, by Piazzi, in 1801.
Ceri`go (14), an Ionian island, the southernmost, the ancient Cythera; yields wine and fruits.
Cerinthus, a heresiarch of the first century, whom, according to tradition, St. John held in special detestation, presumably as denying the Father and the Son.
Cerro de Pasco, a town in Peru, 14,200 ft. above the sea-level, with the richest silver mine in S. America.
Cerutti, a Jesuit, born at Turin; became a Revolutionary in France; pronounced the funeral oration at the grave of Mirabeau in 1789.
Cervantes-Saavedra, Miguel de, the author of “Don Quixote,” born at Alcalá de Henares; was distinguished in arms before he became distinguished in letters; fought in the battle of Lepanto like a very hero, and bore away with him as a “maimed soldier” marks of his share in the struggle; sent on a risky embassy, was captured by pirates and remained in their hands five years; was ransomed by his family at a cost which beggared them, and it was only when his career as a soldier closed that he took himself to literature; began as a dramatist before he devoted himself to prose romance; wrote no fewer than 30 dramas; the first part of the work which has immortalised his name appeared in 1605, and the second in 1615; it took the world by storm, was translated into all the languages of Europe, but the fortune which was extended to his book did not extend to himself, for he died poor, some ten days before his great contemporary, William Shakespeare; though carelessly written, “Don Quixote” is one of the few books of all time, and is as fresh to-day as when it was first written (1547-1616).
Cervin, Mont, the French name for the Matterhorn, 705 ft., the summit of the Pennine Alps, between Valais and Piedmont.
Cesarewitch, the eldest son and heir of the Czar of Russia.
Ce`sari, Giuseppe, sometimes called Arpino, an eminent Italian painter; painted a series of frescoes in the Conservatorio of the Capitol, illustrative of events in the history of Rome (1568-1640).
Cesarotti, an Italian poet, translator of the “Iliad” and “Ossian” into Italian (1730-1808).
Cestus, a girdle worn by Greek and Roman women, specially the girdle of Aphrodité, so emblazoned with symbols of the joys of love that no susceptible soul could resist the power of it; it was borrowed by Hera to captivate Zeus.
Cetinje, the capital of Montenegro, in a valley 2000 ft. high; smallest of capital cities, with a population under 2000.
Cette (36), a seaport, trading, and manufacturing town, on a tongue of land between the lagoon of Thau and the Mediterranean, 23 m. SW. of Montpellier, with a large safe harbourage.
Ce`uta (12), a port opposite Gibraltar belonging to Spain, on the coast of Morocco, guarded by a fort on one of the Pillars of Hercules, overlooking it; of importance as a military and convict station.
Cévennes, a range of low mountains on the eastern edge of the central plateau of France, separating the basin of the Rhône from those of the Loire and Garonne; average height from 3000 to 4000 ft.; the chief scene of the dragonnades against the Huguenots under Louis XIV.
Ceylon (3,008), a pear-shaped island about the size of Scotland, separated from India, to which it geographically belongs, and SE. of which it lies, by Palk Strait, 32 m. broad; comprises a lofty, central tableland with numerous peaks, the highest Tallagalla, 8000 ft., and a broad border of well-watered plains. It was an ancient centre of civilisation; the soil is everywhere fertile; the climate is hot, but more equitable than on the mainland; the chief products are tea, cinnamon, and tobacco; the forests yield satin-wood, ebony, &c.; the cocoa-nut palm abounds; there are extensive deposits of iron, anthracite, and plumbago; precious stones, sapphires, rubies, amethysts, &c., are in considerable quantities; the pearl fisheries are a valuable government monopoly. The chief exports are tea, rice, cotton goods, and coals. Two-thirds of the people are Singhalese and Buddhists, there are 6000 Europeans. The island is a crown colony, the largest in the British Empire, administered by a governor with executive and legislative councils; the capital and chief port is Colombo (127).
Chabas, François, a French Egyptologist, born in Briançon; his works have contributed much to elucidate the history of the invasion and repulsion of the Hyksos in Egypt (1817-1882).
Chabot, a member of the National Convention of France, a “disfrocked Capuchin,” adjured “Heaven,” amid enthusiasm, “that at least they may have done with kings”; guillotined (1759-1794).
Chacktaw Indians. See Chocktaw.
Chad, Lake, a shallow lake in the Sahara, of varied extent, according as the season is dry or rainy, at its largest covering an area as large as England, and abounding in hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, &c., as well as waterfowl and fish.
Chadband, Rev. Mr., a character in “Bleak House.”
Chadwick, Sir Edwin, an English social reformer, born in Manchester, associated with measures bearing upon sanitation and the improvement of the poor-laws, and connected with the administration of them (1801-1890).
Chæronea, a town in Boeotia, where Philip of Macedon defeated the Athenians, and extinguished the liberties of Greece.
Chalais, Count de, a favourite of Louis XIII., accused of conspiracy against Richelieu, arrested at Nantes, and beheaded (1599-1626).
Chalaza, one of the two filaments attached to the ends of the yoke of an egg to steady it in the albumen.
Chalcedon, a city of Bithynia, at the entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus, where the fourth Council of the Church was held in 451, which defined the orthodox conception of Christ as God-man.
Chalcidicé, the 3-fingered peninsula of the Balkan territory stretching into the Ægean Sea.
Chalcis, the ancient capital of Euboea or Negropont.
Chaldea, ancient name for Babylonia.
Chalier, a Piedmontese, head of the party of the Mountain at Lyons; his execution the signal for an insurrection at Lyons against the Convention (1747-1793).
Challenger Expedition, a scientific expedition sent out by the British Government in the Challenger in 1872 in the interest of science, and under the management of scientific experts, to various stations over the globe, to explore the ocean, and ascertain all manner of facts regarding it open to observation, an expedition which concluded its operations in 1876, of which as many as 50 volumes of reports have been compiled.
Challis, James, an astronomer, born in Essex, noted the position of the planet Neptune before its actual discovery (1803-1882).
Challoner, Richard, a Roman Catholic bishop, born at Lewes; a zealous Catholic, author of “Garden of the Soul,” a popular devotional book, as well as several controversial books (1691-1781).
Chalmers, Alexander, a miscellaneous writer, born at Aberdeen; settled in London; edited the “British Essayists” in 45 vols., and author of “A General Biographical Dictionary.”
Chalmers, George, an English publicist, born at Fochabers, author of “An Account, Historical and Topographical, of North Britain” (1742-1825).
Chalmers, Thomas, a celebrated Scotch ecclesiastic and pulpit orator, born at Anstruther, Fife; studied for the Church, and entered the ministry; after he did so was for some years more engrossed with physical studies and material interests than spiritual, but he by-and-by woke up to see and feel that the spiritual interest was the sovereign one, and to the promotion of that he henceforth devoted himself body and soul; it was for the sake of the spiritual he took the interest he did in the ecclesiastical affairs of the nation, and that the Church might have scope and freedom to discharge its spiritual functions was one chief ruling passion of his life, and it is no wonder he bent all his energies on a movement in the Church to secure this object; he was not much of a scholar or even a theologian, but a great man, and a great force in the religious life of his country; though the first pulpit-orator of his day, and though he wrote largely, as well as eloquently, he left no writings worthy of him except the “Astronomical Discourses” perhaps, to perpetuate his memory; he was distinguished for his practical sagacity, and was an expert at organisation; in his old age he was a most benignant, venerable-looking man: “It is a long time,” wrote Carlyle to his mother, just after a visit he had paid him a few days before he died—“it is a long time since I have spoken to so good and really pious-hearted and beautiful old man” (1780-1847).
Châlons-sur-Marne (25), capital of the French dep. of Marne, 100 m. E. of Paris, where Attila was defeated by the Romans and Goths in 451; Napoleon III. formed a camp near it for the training of troops.
Châlons-sur-Saône (24), a trading centre some 80 m. N. of Lyons; manufactures machinery, glass, paper, and chemicals.
Chains, chief town of the French dep. of Haute Vienne, where Richard Coeur de Lion was mortally wounded in 1199 by a shot with an arrow.
Cham, the pseudonym of the French caricaturist Amédee de Noé, famous for his humorous delineations of Parisian life (1819-1884).
Chamber of Commerce, an association of merchants to promote and protect the interests of trade, particularly of the town or the district to which they belong.
Chamber of Deputies, a French legislative assembly, elected now by universal suffrage.
Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph, born in London, connected as a business man with Birmingham; after serving the latter city in a municipal capacity, was elected the parliamentary representative in 1876; became President of the Board of Trade under Mr. Gladstone in 1880, and chief promoter of the Bankruptcy Bill; broke with Mr. Gladstone on his Home Rule measure for Ireland, and joined the Liberal-Unionists; distinguished himself under Lord Salisbury as Colonial Secretary; b. 1836.
Chambers, Ephraim, an English writer, born in Kendal, author of a cyclopædia which bears his name, and which formed the basis of subsequent ones, as Johnson confessed it did of his Dictionary (1680-1750).
Chambers, George, an English marine painter, born at Whitby; d. 1840.
Chambers, Robert, brother of the succeeding and in the same line of life, but of superior accomplishments, especially literary and scientific, which served him well in editing the publications issued by the firm; was the author of a great many works of a historical, biographical, and scientific, as well as literary interest; wrote the “Vestiges of Creation,” a book on evolutionary lines, which made no small stir at the time of publication, 1844, and for a time afterwards, the authorship of which he was slow to own (1802-1871).
Chambers, Sir William, born at Peebles; apprenticed to a bookseller in Edinburgh, and commenced business on his own account in a small way; edited with his brother the “Gazetteer of Scotland”; started, in 1832, Chambers's Edinburgh Journal to meet a demand of the time for popular instruction in company with his brother founded a great printing and publishing establishment, from which there has issued a number of valuable works in the interest especially of the propagation of useful knowledge of all kinds; was a distinguished Edinburgh citizen, and did much for the expansion and improvement of the city (1800-1883)
Chambers, Sir William, architect, born at Stockholm, of Scotch origin; architect of Somerset House; was of the Johnson circle of wits (1726-1796)
Chambéry (19), chief town of dep. of Savoy, in a beautiful district; is the ancient capital, and contains the castle, of the dukes of Savoy; manufactures cloth, wines, soap, and textile fabrics; is also a summer resort.
Chambeze, a head-stream of the Congo, N. of lake Nyassa.
Chambord, spacious château in the dep. of Loire-et-Cher, France, built by Francis I.; after being long a residence for royalty and people of distinction, was presented in 1821 to the Duc de Bordeaux, the Comte de Chambord.
Chambord, Comte de, Duc de Bordeaux, son of the Duc de Berri and grandson of Charles X., born at Paris; exiled in 1830, he retired to the château of Frohsdorf, in Austria, where he died without issue; his father and grandfather being dead, the monarchical party resolved to attempt a restoration in his behalf in 1872, but he refused to adopt the tricolor flag of the Revolution, and the scheme was abandoned, a like opportunity offering itself twice before being let slip (1820-1883).
Chambre Ardente, a name given to certain courts of justice established to try certain cases that required to be sharply dealt with; they were held at night, and even when held in the daytime with lighted torches; a court of the kind was instituted for trial of the Huguenots in 1530, and again in 1680 and 1716.
Chamfort, a French wit and littérateur, born in Auvergne; took to the Revolution, but offended the leaders, and being threatened with arrest committed suicide, “cutting and slashing with frantic, uncertain hand, gaining, not without difficulty, the refuge of death”; he was a born cynic, and was famous for his keen insight into human nature and his sharp criticisms of it, summed up in a collection of maxims he left, as well as for his anecdotes in incisive portraiture of character. “He was a man,” says Professor Saintsbury, “soured by his want of birth, health, and position, and spoilt by hanging on to the great persons of his time. But for a kind of tragi-comic satire, a soeva indignatio, taking the form of contempt for all that is exalted and noble, he has no equal in literature except Swift” (1741-1794).
Chamillard, Minister of Finance and of War under Louis XIV.; “distinguished himself by his incapacity” (1651-1721).
Chamisso, Adalbert von, a German naturalist and littérateur born in France, but educated in Berlin; is famous for his poetical productions, but especially as the author of “Peter Schlemihl,” the man who lost his shadow, which has been translated into nearly every European language; he wrote several works on natural history (1781-1838).
Chamouni, or Chamonix, a village in the dep. of Haute-Savoie, 33 m. SE. of Geneva, in a valley forming the upper basin of the Arve, famous for its beauty and for its glaciers; it is from this point that the ascent of Mont Blanc is usually made.
Chamousset, a French philanthropist, born in Paris; the originator of mutual benefit societies (1717-1773).
Champagne, an ancient province of France, 180 m. long by 150 broad, annexed to the Crown 1286, and including the deps. of Aube, Haute-Marne, Marne, and Ardennes; the province where the wine of the name is principally manufactured.
Champ-de-Mars, a large space, of ground in Paris, between the front of the École Militaire and the left bank of the Seine; the site of recent Expositions, and the scene of the Federation Féte, 14th July 1790.
Champlain`, a beautiful lake between the States of New York and Vermont; it is 100 m. in length, and from 1 m. at its S. end to 14 m. at its N. end broad.
Champlain, Samuel de, a French navigator, born at Brouage, in Saintonge, was founder of Quebec, and French Governor of Canada; wrote an account of his voyages (1570-1635).
Champollion, Jean François, a celebrated French Egyptologist, born in Figeac, dep. of Lot; early gave himself to the study of Coptic and Egyptian antiquities; was the first to decipher the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, a great discovery; conducted a scientific expedition to Egypt in 1828, and returned in 1830 with the fruits of his researches; a chair of Egyptology was in consequence instituted in the College of France, and he was installed as the first professor; his writings on the science, of which he laid the foundation, are numerous (1790-1832).
Champs-Elysées, a Parisian promenade between the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe.
Chancellor, Richard, an English seaman, voyaging in northern parts, arrived in the White Sea, and travelled to Moscow, where he concluded a commercial treaty with Russia on behalf of an English company; wrote an interesting account of his visit; after a second visit, in which he visited Moscow, was wrecked on the coast of Aberdeenshire in 1556.
Chandernagore (25), a small town and territory on the Hooghly, 22 m. N. of Calcutta, belonging to France.
Chandler, Richard, a learned Hellenistic archæologist, born in Hants; travelled in Asia Minor and Greece, along with two artists, to examine and describe the antiquities; the materials collected were published in his “Ionian Antiquities,” “Travels in Asia Minor,” &c. (1738-1810).
Chandos, an English title inherited by the Grenville family, of Norman origin.
Chandos, John, a celebrated English general in the 14th century; was present at Crécy, governor of English provinces in France ceded by treaty of Bretigny; defeated and took prisoner Du Guesclin of Auray; served under the Black Prince, and was killed near Poitiers, 1369.
Changarnier, Nicolas, French general, born at Autun; distinguished himself in Algeria, was exiled after the coup-d'état, returned in 1870, served in the Franco-German war; surrendered at Metz, at the close of the war came back, and assisted in reorganising the army (1793-1877).
Channel, The English, an arm of the Atlantic between France and England, 280 m. long and 100 m. wide at the mouth; the French call it La Manche (the sleeve) from its shape.
Channel Islands (92), a group of small islands off the NW. coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark; formerly part of the Duchy of Normandy, and now all that remains to Britain of her French dominions, being subject to it since 1066; have a delightful climate mild and bright, and varied and beautiful scenery; the soil is fertile; flowers and fruit are grown for export to Britain, also early potatoes for the London market; Guernsey pears and Jersey cows are famous; valuable quarries of granite are wrought; the language is Norman-French.
Channing, William Ellery, a Unitarian preacher and miscellaneous writer, born at Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.; a man of the most liberal sentiments, who shrank from being classed with any sect; ranked high in point of moral character; was a vigorous thinker, and eloquent with the pen; “a man of faithful, long-continued striving towards what is Best” (1780-1842).
Chanson De Gestes (i. e. Songs of Deeds), poems of a narrative kind much in favour in the Middle Ages, relating in a legendary style the history and exploits of some famous hero, such as the “Chanson de Roland,” ascribed to Théroulde, a trouvère of the 9th century.
Chantrey, Sir Francis, an English sculptor, born in Derbyshire; was apprenticed to a carver and gilder in Sheffield; displayed a talent for drawing and modelling; received a commission to execute a marble bust for the parish, church, which was so successful as to procure him further and further commissions; executed four colossal busts of admirals for Greenwich Hospital; being expert at portraiture, his busts were likenesses; executed busts of many of the most illustrious men of the time, among them of Sir Walter Scott, Wordsworth, Southey, and Wellington, as well as of royal heads; made a large fortune, and left it for the encouragement of art (1781-1841).
Chanzy, a French general, born at Nouart, Ardennes; served in Algeria; commanded the army of the Loire in 1870-71; distinguished himself by his brilliant retreat from Mans to Laval; was afterwards Governor-General in Algeria; died suddenly, to the regret of his country (1823-1883).
Chaos, a name in the ancient cosmogomy for the formless void out of which everything at first sprang into existence, or the wide-spread confusion that prevailed before it shaped itself into order under the breath of the spirit of life.
Chapelain, a French poet, protégé of Richelieu, born at Paris; composed a pretentious poem on Joan of Arc, entitled “Pucelle,” which was laughed out of existence on the appearance of the first half, consisting of only 12 of the 24 books promised, the rest having never passed beyond the MS. stage (1595-1674).
Chapman, George, English dramatic poet, born at Hitchin, Hertfordshire; wrote numerous plays, both in tragedy and comedy, as well as poems, of unequal merit, but his great achievement, and the one on which his fame rests, is his translation into verse of the works of Homer, which, though not always true to the letter, is instinct with somewhat of the freshness and fire of the original; his translation is reckoned the best yet done into English verse, and the best rendering into verse of any classic, ancient or modern (1559-1634).
Chappell, musical amateur, collector and editor of old English airs, and contributor to the history of English national music; was one of the founders of the Musical Hungarian Society, and the Percy Society (1809-1888).
Chaptal, a distinguished French chemist and statesman, born at Nogaret, Lozère; author of inventions in connection with the manufacture of alum and saltpetre, the bleaching and the dyeing of cotton; held office under Napoleon, and rendered great service to the arts and manufactures of his country (1756-1832).
Charcot, Jean Martin, a French pathologist; made a special study of nervous diseases, including hypnotism, and was eminent for his works in connection therewith (1823-1893).
Chardin, Sir John, traveller, born in Paris; author of “Travels in India and Persia,” valuable for their accuracy (1643-1713).
Charente (360), a dep. of France, W. of the Gironde, capital Angoulême; with vast chestnut forests; produces wines, mostly distilled into brandy.
Charente-Inférieure (456), a maritime dep. of France, W. of the former; includes the islands of Rhé, Oléron, Aix, and Madame; capital, La Rochelle.
Chariva`ri, a satirical journal, such as the English Punch; originally a discordant mock serenade.
Charlemagne i. e. Charles or Karl the Great, the first Carlovingian king of the Franks, son and successor of Pepin le Bref (the Short); became sole ruler on the death of his brother Carloman in 771; he subjugated by his arms the southern Gauls, the Lombards, the Saxons, and the Avares, and conducted a successful expedition against the Moors in Spain, with the result that his kingdom extended from the Ebro to the Elbe; having passed over into Italy in support of the Pope, he was on Christmas Day 800 crowned Emperor of the West, after which he devoted himself to the welfare of his subjects, and proved himself as great in legislation as in arms; enacted laws for the empire called capitularies, reformed the judicial administration, patronised letters, and established schools; kept himself in touch and au courant with everything over his vast domain; he died and was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle (742-814).
Charleroi (21), a manufacturing town in Hainault, Belgium, 35 m. SE. of Brussels.
Charles II., surnamed The Bald, son of Louis “le Débonnaire”; after conquering his brother Lothaire at Fontenoy in 841, became by the treaty of Verdun king of France, 843; was unable to defend his kingdom against the Normans; went to Italy, and had himself crowned emperor at Rome: d. 877.
Charles III., surnamed The Simple, became king of France in 893; his reign one long struggle against the Normans, which ended by conceding Normandy to Rollo; was conquered by Hugh Capet, a rival for the crown, at Soissons, and dethroned in 922; died in captivity, 929.
Charles IV., The Fair, third son of Philip the Fair, king of France from 1322 to 1328; lost to France Guienne, which was taken from him by the English; was the last of the Capetians; d. 1328.
Charles V., The Wise, son of John II., king of France from 1361 to 1380; recovered from the English almost all the provinces they had conquered, successes due to his own prudent policy, and especially the heroism of Du Guesclin, De Clisson, and De Boucicaut; France owed to him important financial reforms, the extension of privileges to the universities, and the establishment of the first national library, into which were gathered together thousands of MSS.; the Bastille was founded in his reign.
Charles VI., The Well-Beloved, king of France from 1380 to 1422, was son and successor of Charles V.; began his reign under the guardianship of his uncles, who rifled the public treasury and provoked rebellion by their exactions; gained a victory at Rossbach over the Flemings, then in revolt, and a little after dismissed his uncles and installed in their stead the wise councillors of his father, whose sage, upright, and beneficent administration procured for him the title of “Well-Beloved,” a state of things, however, which did not last long, for the harassments he had been subjected to drove him insane, and his kingdom, torn in pieces by rival factions, was given over to anarchy, and fell by treaty of Troyes almost entirely into the hands of the English conquerors at Agincourt (1368-1422).
Charles VII., The Victorious, son of Charles VI., became king of France in 1422; at his accession the English held possession of almost the whole country, and he indolently made no attempt to expel them, but gave himself up to effeminate indulgences; was about to lose his whole patrimony when the patriotism of the nation woke up at the enthusiastic summons of Joan of Arc; her triumphs and those of her associates weakened the English domination, and even after her death the impulse she gave continued to work, till at the end of 20 years the English were driven out of France, and lost all they held in it except the town of Calais, along with Havre, and Guines Castle (1403-1461).
Charles VIII., king of France, son and successor of Louis XI.; during his minority the kingdom suffered from the turbulence and revolts of the nobles; married Anne of Brittany, heiress of the rich duchy of that name, by which it was added to the crown of France; sacrificed the interests of his kingdom by war with Italy to support the claims of French princes to the throne of Naples, which, though successful in a military point of view, proved politically unfruitful (1470-1498).
Charles IX., second son of Henry II. and Catharine de' Medici, became king of France in 1560; the civil wars of the Huguenots and Catholics fill up this reign; the first war concluded by the peace of Amboise, during which Francis of Guise was assassinated; the second concluded by the peace of Longjumeau, during which Montmorency fell; the third concluded by the peace of St. Germain, in which Condé and Moncontour fell, which peace was broken by the massacre of St. Bartholomew, into the perpetration of which Charles was inveigled by his mother and the Guises; incensed at this outrage the Huguenots commenced a fourth war, and were undertaking a fifth when Charles died, haunted by remorse and in dread of the infinite terror (1550-1574).
Charles X., brother of Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII., the latter of whom he succeeded on the throne of France in 1824; was unpopular in France as Duc d'Artois in the time of the Revolution, and had to flee the country at the outbreak of it, and stayed for some time as an exile in Holyrood, Edinburgh; on his accession he became no less unpopular from his adherence to the old régime; at an evil hour in 1830 he issued ordinances in defiance of all freedom, and after an insurrection of three days in the July of that year had again to flee; abdicating in favour of his son, found refuge for a time again in Holyrood, and died at Görtz in his eightieth year (1757-1837).
Charles V., (I. of Spain), emperor of Germany, son of Philip, Archduke of Austria, born at Ghent; became king of Spain in 1516, on the death of his maternal grandfather Ferdinand, and emperor of Germany in 1519 on the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I., being crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1520; reigned during one of the most important periods in the history of Europe; the events of the reign are too numerous to detail; enough to mention his rivalry with Francis I. of France, his contention as a Catholic with the Protestants of Germany, the inroads of the Turks, revolts in Spain, and expeditions against the pirates of the Mediterranean; the ambition of his life was the suppression of the Protestant Reformation and the succession of his son Philip to the Imperial crown; he failed in both; resigned in favour of his son, and retired into the monastery of St. Yuste, in Estremadura, near which he built a magnificent retreat, where, it is understood, notwithstanding his apparent retirement, he continued to take interest in political affairs, and to advise in the management of them (1500-1558).
Charles VI., emperor of Germany from 1711 to 1740, as well as king of Spain from 1703, was son of the Emperor Leopold I., and father of Maria Theresa.
Charles XII., king of Sweden, son of Charles XI., a warlike prince; ascended the throne at the age of 15; had to cope with Denmark, Russia, and Poland combined against him; foiled the Danes at Copenhagen, the Russians at Narva, and Augustus II. of Poland at Riga; trapped in Russia, and cooped up to spend a winter there, he was, in spring 1709, attacked by Peter the Great at Pultowa and defeated, so that he had to take refuge with the Turks at Bender; here he was attacked, captured, and conveyed to Demotica, but escaping, he found his way miraculously back to Sweden, and making peace with the Czar, commenced an attack on Norway, but was killed by a musket-shot at the siege of Friedrickshall; “the last of the Swedish kings”; “his appearance, among the luxurious kings and knights of the North” at the time, Carlyle compares to “the bursting of a cataract of bombshells in a dull ballroom” (1697-1718).
Charles I., king of England, third son of James I., born at Dunfermline; failing in his suit for the Infanta of Spain, married Henrietta Maria, a French princess, a devoted Catholic, who had great influence over him, but not for good; had for public advisers Strafford and Laud, who cherished in him ideas of absolute power adverse to the liberty of the subject; acting on these ideas brought him into collision with the Parliament, and provoked a civil war; himself the first to throw down the gauntlet by raising the royal standard at Nottingham; in the end of which he surrendered himself to the Scots army at Newark, who delivered him to the Parliament; was tried as a traitor to his country, condemned to death, and beheaded, 30th January, at Whitehall (1600-1649).
Charles II., king of England, son of Charles I., horn at St. James's Palace, London; was at The Hague, in Holland, when his father was beheaded; assumed the royal title; was proclaimed King by the Scots; landed in Scotland, and was crowned at Scone; marching into England, was defeated by Cromwell at Worcester, 3rd September 1651; fled to France; by the policy of General Monk, after Cromwell's death, was restored to his crown and kingdom in 1660, an event known as the Restoration; he was an easy-going man, and is known in history as the “Merry Monarch”; his reign was an inglorious one for England, though it is distinguished by the passing of the Habeas Corpus Act, one of the great bulwarks of English liberty next to the Magna Charta (1630-1685).
Charles, a French physicist, born at Beaugency; was the first to apply hydrogen to the inflation of balloons (1746-1823).
Charles, Archduke, of Austria, son of the Emperor Leopold II. and younger brother of Francis II., one of the ablest generals of Austria in the wars against the French Republic and the Empire; lost the battle of Wagram, after which, being wounded, he retired into private life (1771-1847).
Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, succeeded Charles Felix in 1831; conceived a design to emancipate and unite Italy; in the pursuit of this object he declared war against Austria; though at first successful, was defeated at Novara, and to save his kingdom was compelled to resign in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel; retired to Oporto, and died of a broken heart (1798-1849).
Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, grandson of James II. of England, born at Rome, landed in Scotland (1745); issued a manifesto in assertion of his father's claims; had his father proclaimed king at Edinburgh; attacked and defeated General Cope at Prestonpans; marched at the head of his adherents into England as far as Derby; returned, and defeated the king's force at Falkirk, but retired before the Duke of Cumberland, who dispersed his army at Culloden; wandered about thereafter in disguise; escaped to France, and died at Florence (1721-1789).
Charles Martel (i. e. “Charles the Hammer”), son of Pépin d'Héristal and grandfather of Charlemagne; became mayor of the Palace, and as such ruler of the Franks; notable chiefly for his signal victory over the Saracens at Poitiers in 732, whereby the tide of Mussulman invasion was once for all rolled back and the Christianisation of Europe assured; no greater service was ever rendered to Europe by any other fighting man (689-741).
Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis, king of Naples; lost Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers (1220-1285).
Charles of Valois, third son of Philip the Bold, one of the greatest captains of his age (1270-1324).
Charles the Rash, last Duke of Burgundy, son of Philip the Good, born at Dijon; enemy of Louis XI. of France, his feudal superior; was ambitious to free the duchy from dependence on France, and to restore it as a kingdom, and by daring enterprises tried hard to achieve this; on the failure of the last effort was found lying dead on the field (1433-1477).
Charles's Wain, the constellation of Ursa Major, a wagon without a wagoner.
Charleston (56), the largest city in S. Carolina, and the chief commercial city; also a town in Western Virginia, U.S., with a spacious land-locked harbour; is the chief outlet for the cotton and rice of the district, and has a large coasting trade.
Charlet, Nicolas Toussaint, a designer and painter, born in Paris; famous for his sketches of military subjects and country life, in which he displayed not a little humour (1792-1845).
Charleville (17), a manufacturing and trading town in the dep. of Ardennes, France; exports iron, coal, wines, and manufactures hardware and beer.
Charlevoix, a Jesuit and traveller, born at St. Quentin, explored the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi (1682-1761).
Charlotte, Princess, daughter and only child of George IV. of England, married to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, afterwards king of Belgium; died after giving birth to a still-born boy, to the great grief of the whole nation (1796-1817).
Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria, second wife of the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV., called the Princess Palatine (1652-1722).
Charlottenburg (76), a town on the Spree, 3 m. W. of Berlin, with a palace, the favourite residence of Sophie Charlotte, the grandmother of Frederick the Great, and so named by her husband Frederick I. after her death; contains the burial-place of William I., emperor of Germany.
Charlottetown (13), the capital of Prince Edward Island.
Charmettes, a picturesque hamlet near Chambéry, a favourite retreat of Rousseau's.
Charnay, a French traveller; a writer on the ancient civilisation of Mexico, which he has made a special study; b. 1828.
Charon, in the Greek mythology the ferryman of the ghosts of the dead over the Styx into Hades, a grim old figure with a mean dress and a dirty beard, peremptory in exacting from the ghosts he ferried over the obolus allowed him for passage-money.
Charondas, a Sicilian law-giver, disciple of Pythagoras; is said to have killed himself when he found he had involuntarily broken one of his own laws (600 B.C.).
Charron, Pierre, a French moralist and theologian, as well as pulpit orator, born in Paris; author of “Les Trois Vérités,” the unity of God, Christianity the sole religion, and Catholicism the only Christianity; and of a sceptical treatise “De la Sagesse”; a friend and disciple of Montaigne, but bolder as more dogmatic, with less bonhommie and originality, and much of a cynic withal (1541-1603).
Charterhouse, a large London school, originally a Carthusian monastery, and for a time a residence of the dukes of Norfolk.
Chartier, Alain, an early scholarly French poet and prose writer of note, born at Bayeux; secretary to Charleses V., VI., and VII. of France, whom Margaret, daughter of James I. of Scotland and wife of Louis XI., herself a poetess, once kissed as he lay asleep for the pleasure his poems gave her; was a patriot, and wrote as one (1390-1458).
Chartism, a movement of the working-classes of Great Britain for greater political power than was conceded to them by the Reform Bill of 1832, and which found expression in a document called the “People's Charter,” drawn up in 1838, embracing six “points,” as they were called, viz., Manhood Suffrage, Equal Electoral Districts, Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliaments, Abolition of a Property Qualification in the Parliamentary Representation, and Payment of Members of Parliament, all which took the form of a petition presented to the House of Commons in 1839, and signed by 1,380,000 persons. The refusal of the petition gave rise to great agitation over the country, which gradually died out in 1848.
Chartres (23), the capital of the French dep. of Eure-et-Lois, 55 m. SW. of Paris; gave title of Duke to the eldest of the Orleanist Bourbons.
Chartreuse, La Grande, a monastery founded by St. Bruno in 1084 in the dep. of Isère, 14 m. NE. of Grenoble; famous as the original place of the manufacture of the Chartreuse liqueur, held in much repute; it was honoured by a visit of Queen Victoria in 1887; Ruskin was disappointed with both monks and monastery.
Charybdis. See Scylla.
Chase, Salmon Portland, Chief-Justice of the United States; a great anti-slavery advocate and leader of the Free-Soil party; aimed at the Presidency, but failed (1773-1808).
Chasi`dim, a party among the Jews identified with the Pharisees, their supreme concern the observance of their religion in its purity.
Chasles, Michel, an eminent French mathematician, and held one of the first in the century; on the faith of certain autographs, which were afterwards proved to be forgeries, he in 1867 astonished the world by ascribing to Pascal the great discoveries of Newton, but had to admit he was deceived (1793-1880).
Chasles, Philarète, a French littérateur, born near Chartres, a disciple of Rousseau; lived several years in England, and wrote extensively on English subjects, Shakespeare, Mary Stuart, Charles I., and Cromwell among the chief (1799-1873).
Chassé, David Hendrik, Baron, a Dutch soldier; served France under Napoleon, who called him “General Baïonnette,” from his zealous use of the bayonet; fought at Waterloo on the opposite side; as governor of Antwerp, gallantly defended its citadel in 1832 against a French and Belgian force twelve times larger than his own (1765-1849).
Chassepot, a French breech-loading rifle named from the inventor.
Chasseurs, picked bodies of light cavalry and infantry in the French service, called respectively Chasseurs-à-cheval and Chasseurs-à-pied.
Chastelard, Pierre de Boscosel de, grandson of Bayard; conceived an insane passion for Queen Mary, whom he accompanied to Scotland; was surprised in her bedchamber, under her bed, and condemned to death, it being his second offence (1540-1562).
Chat Moss, a large bog in Lancashire, 7 m. W. of Manchester, which is partly reclaimed and partly, through the ingenuity of George Stephenson, traversed by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Châteaubriand, François René de, eminent French littérateur, born in St. Malo, younger son of a noble family of Brittany; travelled to N. America in 1791; returned to France on the arrest of Louis XVI., and joined the Emigrants (q. v.) at Coblenz; was wounded at the siege of Thionville, and escaped to England; wrote an “Essay on Revolutions Ancient and Modern,” conceived on liberal lines; was tempted back again to France in 1800; wrote “Atala,” a story of life in the wilds of America, which was in 1802 followed by his most famous work, “Génie du Christianisme”; entered the service of Napoleon, but withdrew on the murder of the Duc d'Enghien; though not obliged to leave France, made a journey to the East, the fruit of which was his “Itinéraire de Paris à Jerusalem”; hailed with enthusiasm the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814; supported the Bourbon dynasty all through, though he wavered sometimes in the interest of liberty; withdrew from public life on the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne; he was no thinker, but he was a fascinating writer, and as such exercised no small influence on the French literature of his day; he lived in a transition period, and hovered between legitimism and liberty, the revolution and reaction, and belonged to the Romantic school of literature—was perhaps the father of it in France (1766-1848).
Châteaux en Espagne, castles in Spain, visionary projects.
Châtelet, Marquise de, a learned Frenchwoman, born at Paris, with whom Voltaire kept up an intimate acquaintanceship (1706-1749).
Châtellerault (18), a town in the dep. of Vienne, 24 m. NE. of Poitiers; gave title to the Scottish regent, the Earl of Arran; manufactures cutlery and small-arms for the Government.
Chatham (59), a town in Kent, on the estuary of the Medway, a fortified naval arsenal; is connected with Rochester.
Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, a great British statesman and orator, born in Cornwall; determined opponent of Sir Robert Walpole; succeeded in driving him from power, and at length installing himself in his place; had an eye to the greatness and glory of England, summoned the English nation to look to its laurels; saw the French, the rivals of England, beaten back in the four quarters of the globe; driven at length from power himself, he still maintained a single regard for the honour of his country, and the last time his voice was heard in the Parliament of England was to protest against her degradation by an ignoble alliance with savages in the war with America; on this occasion he fell back in a faint into the arms of his friends around, and died little more than a month after; “for four years” (of his life), says Carlyle, “king of England; never again he; never again one resembling him, nor indeed can ever be.” See Smelfungus on his character and position in Carlyle's “Frederick,” Book xxi. chap. i. (1708-1775).
Chatham Islands, a group of islands 360 m. E. of New Zealand, and politically connected with it; the chief industry is the rearing of cattle.
Chatsworth, the palatial seat of the Duke of Devonshire, in Derbyshire, 8 m. W. of Chesterfield, enclosed in a park, with gardens, 10 m. in circumference.
Chatterton, Thomas, a poet of great promise, had a tragic fate, born at Bristol, passed off while but a boy as copies of ancient MSS., and particularly of poems which he ascribed to one Rowley, a monk of the 17th century, what were compositions of his own, exhibiting a genius of no small literary, not to say lyric, power; having vainly endeavoured to persuade any one of their genuineness, though he had hopes of the patronage of Sir Robert Walpole, he left Bristol for London, and made vehement efforts with his pen to bespeak regard, but failed; grew desperate, and committed suicide at the early age of 18 (1752-1770).
Chaucer, Geoffrey, the great early English poet, and father of English poetry, the son of a vintner and taverner, born probably in London, where he lived almost all his days; when a lad, served as page in the royal household; won the favour and patronage of the king, Edward III. and his son, John of Gaunt, who pensioned him; served in an expedition to France; was made prisoner, but ransomed by the king; was often employed on royal embassies, in particular to Italy; held responsible posts at home; was thus a man of the world as well as a man of letters; he comes first before us as a poet in 1369; his poetic powers developed gradually, and his best and ripest work, which occupied him at intervals from 1373 to 1400, is his “Canterbury Tales” (q. v.), characterised by Stopford Brooke as “the best example of English story-telling we possess”; besides which he wrote, among other compositions, “The Life of St. Cecilia,” “Troilus and Cressida,” the “House of Fame,” and the “Legend of Good Women”; his influence on English literature has been compared to that of Dante on Italian, and his literary life has been divided into three periods—the French, the Italian, and the English, according as the spirit of it was derived from a foreign or a native source (1340-1400).
Chaumette, Pierre Gaspard, a violent member of the extreme party in the French Revolution, could “recognise the suspect from the very face of them”; provoked the disgust of even Robespierre, and was arrested amid jeers and guillotined (1763-1794).
Chautauqua, a summer resort on a lake of the name in the W. of New York State, centre of a novel institution, which prescribes a four years' course of private readings, and grants diplomas to those who anywhere achieve it.
Chauvinism, a name among the French for what is known as Jingoism among the English, i. e. an extravagant zeal for the glory of one's country or party, from one Chauvin, who made threatening displays of his devotion to Napoleon after his fall in 1815.
Cheddar, a village in Somersetshire, on the Mendip Hills, famous for its cheese.
Cheke, Sir John, a zealous Greek scholar, born at Cambridge, and first regius professor of Greek there; did much to revive in England an interest in Greek and Greek literature; was tutor to Edward VI., who granted him landed estates; favouring the cause of Lady Jane Grey on the accession of Mary, left the country, was seized, and sent back; for fear of the stake abjured Protestantism, but never forgave himself, and died soon after; he introduced the mode of pronouncing Greek prevalent in England (1514-1557).
Chelmsford (11), the county town of Essex, on the Chelmer.
Chelsea (96), a western suburb of London, on the N. of the Thames; famous for its hospital for old and disabled soldiers, and the place of residence of sundry literary celebrities, among others Sir Thomas More, Swift, Steele, and Carlyle.
Cheltenham (49), a healthy watering-place and educational centre in Gloucestershire; first brought into repute as a place of fashionable resort by the visits of George III. to it; contains a well-equipped college, where a number of eminent men have been educated.
Chelyuskin, Cape, in Siberia, the most northerly point in the Eastern hemisphere.
Chemical Affinity, the tendency elementary bodies have to combine and remain in combination.
Chemism, in the Hegelian philosophy “the mutual attraction, interpenetration, and neutralisation of independent individuals which unite to form a whole.”
Chemistry, the science that treats of elementary bodies and their combinations: inorganic, relating to physical compounds; organic, relating to vegetable and animal compounds.
Chemnitz (160), a manufacturing town in Saxony, called the “Saxon Manchester,” at the foot of the Erzgebirge, in a rich mineral district; manufactures cottons, woollens, silks, machinery, &c.
Chemnitz, Martin, an eminent Lutheran theologian, born in Brandenburg, a disciple of Melanchthon; author of “Loci Theologici,” a system of theology; took a leading part in procuring the adoption of the “Formula of Concord”; his chief work “Examen Concilii Tridentini” (1522-1586).
Chemosh, the national god of the Moabites, akin to Moloch, and their stay in battle, but an abomination to the children of Jehovah.
Chemulpo, a town on the W. coast of Corea; a thriving town since it became a treaty-port in 1883.
Chenab`, an affluent on the left bank of the Indus, and one of the five rivers, and the largest, which give name to the Punjab; is 750 m. long.
Chenery, Thomas, a journalist; became editor of the Times; was distinguished for his knowledge of Arabic and Hebrew, and was one of the Old Testament revisers (1826-1884).
Chénier, Marie-André, French poet, greatest in the 18th century, born at Constantinople; author of odes, idylls, and elegies, which place him high among French poets; took part in the Revolution as a lover of order as well as of liberty; offended Robespierre, and was guillotined two days before the fall of Robespierre; as a poet he was distinguished for the purity of his style and his originality (1762-1794).
Chenonceaux, a magnificent château near Amboise, in, France; built by Francis I. for the Duchesse d'Etampes, afterwards the property of the Condés, and afterwards of Madame Dupont.
Chenu, a French naturalist; author of an “Encyclopædia of Natural History” (1808-1879).
Cheophren, king of Egypt, brother and successor of Cheops; built the second great pyramid.
Cheops, king of Memphis, in Egypt, of the 4th dynasty; builder of the largest of the pyramids about 3000 B.C.
Chepstow (4), a port on the Wye, Monmouthshire, 17 m. N. of Newport; with a tubular suspension bridge, and where the tides are higher than anywhere else in Britain.
Cher, an affluent of the Loire below Tours; also the dep. in France (359) to which it gives name; an agricultural and pastoral district; capital Bourges.
Cherbourg (40), a French port and arsenal in the dep. of Manche, opposite the Isle of Wight, 70 m. distant, on the construction and fortifications of which immense sums were expended, as much as eight millions; the fortifications were begun by Vauban.
Cherbuliez, Victor, novelist, critic, and publicist, born at Geneva, of a distinguished family; professor of Greek at Geneva; holds a high place, and is widely known, as a writer of a series of works of fiction; b. 1826.
Cher`ibon (11), a seaport of Java, on the N. of the island.
Cherith, a brook E. of the Jordan, Elijah's hiding-place.
Cherokees, a tribe of American Indians, numbering some 20,000, in the NW. of the Indian Territory, U.S.; civilised, self-governing, and increasing; formerly occupied the region about the Tennessee River.
Cherone`a, a town in Boeotia, where Philip of Macedon conquered the Athenians and Thebans, 338 B.C., and Sulla defeated Mithridates, 86 B.C.; the birthplace of Plutarch, who is hence called the Cheronean Sage.
Cherra Punji (5), a village in the Khasi Hills, Assam, with the heaviest rainfall of any place on the globe.
Chersone`sus (i. e. continent island), a name which the Greeks gave to several peninsulas, viz., the Tauric C., the Crimea, the Thracian C., Gallipoli; the Cimbric C., Jutland; the Golden C., the Malay Peninsula.
Chertsey (11), a very old town of Surrey, 21 m. SW. of London, on the right bank of the Thames.
Cherubim, an order of angelic beings conceived of as accompanying the manifestations of Jehovah, supporting His throne and protecting His glory, guarding it from profane intrusion; winged effigies of them overshadowed the Mercy Seat (q. v.).
Cherubim, a character in the “Mariage de Figaro”; also the 11th Hussars, from their trousers being of a cherry colour.
Cherubini, a celebrated musical composer, born at Florence; naturalised in France; settled in Paris, the scene of his greatest triumphs; composed operas, of which the chief were “Iphigenia in Aulis,” and “Les deux Journeés; or, The Water-Carrier,” his masterpiece; also a number of sacred pieces and requiems, all of the highest merit; there is a portrait of him by Ingres (1842) in the Louvre, representing the Muse of his art extending her protecting hand over his head (1760-1842).
Chéruel, Adolphe, French historian, born at Rouen; author of “History of France during the Minority of Louis XIV.”; published the “Memoirs of Saint-Simon” (1809-1891).
Cherusci, an ancient people of Germany, whose leader was Arminius, and under whom they defeated the Romans, commanded by Varus, in 9 A.D.
Chesapeake Bay, a northward-extending inlet on the Atlantic coast of the United States, 200 m. long and from 10 to 40 m. broad, cutting Maryland in two.
Cheselden, William, an English anatomist and surgeon, whose work, “Anatomy of the Human Body,” was long used as a text-book on that science (1688-1752).
Cheshire (730), a western county of England, between the Mersey and the Dee, the chief mineral products of which are coal and rock-salt, and the agricultural, butter and cheese; has numerous manufacturing towns, with every facility for inter-communication, and the finest pasture-land in England.
Cheshunt (9), a large village in Hertfordshire, 14 m. N. of London, with rose gardens, and a college founded by the Countess of Huntingdon.
Chesil Beach, a neck of land on the Devonshire coast, 15 m. long, being a ridge of loose pebbles and shingle.
Chesney, C. Cornwallis, professor of Military History, nephew of the succeeding, author of “Waterloo Lectures” (1826-1876).
Chesney, Francis Rawdon, explorer, born in co. Down, Ireland; explored with much labour the route to India by way of the Euphrates, though his labours were rendered futile by the opposition of Russia; proved, by survey of the isthmus, the practicability of the Suez Canal (1798-1872).
Chester (41), the county town of Cheshire, on the Dee, 16 m. SE. of Liverpool; an ancient city founded by the Romans; surrounded by walls nearly 2 m. long, and from 7 to 8 ft. thick, forming a promenade with parapets; the streets are peculiar; along the roofs of the lower storeys of the houses there stretch piazzas called “Rows,” at the original level of the place, 16 ft. wide for foot-passengers, approached by steps; it abounds in Roman remains, and is altogether a unique town.
Chesterfield (22), a town in Derbyshire, 21 m. N. of Derby; in a mineral district; manufactures cotton, woollen, and silk; has a canal connecting it with the Trent.
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, statesman, orator, and man of letters, eldest son of the third earl, born in London; sat in the House of Commons from 1716 to 1726; was an opponent of Walpole; held office under the Pelhams; in 1748 retired from deafness, or perhaps disgust, into private life; celebrated for his “Letters to his Son,” models of elegance, though of questionable morality, which it appears he never intended to publish, and for the scorn with which Dr. Johnson treated him when he offered to help him, after he no longer needed any, in a letter which gave the death-blow to the patronage of literature; is credited by Carlyle with having predicted the French Revolution; it should be added, the “Letters” were printed by his son's widow (1694-1773).
Chevalier, Michel, a celebrated French economist, born at Limoges; originally a Socialist of the St. Simonian school; for defending Socialism was imprisoned, but recanted, and wrote ably against Socialism; was a free-trader and coadjutor of Cobden (1806-1879).
Chevalier, Sulpice. See Gavarni.
Chevalier d'Industrie, one who lives by his wits, specially by swindling.
Chevalier St. George, the Pretender.
Chevaux-de-Frise, a military fence composed of a beam or a bar armed with long spikes, literally Friesland horses, having been first used in Friesland.
Chevert, a French general, born at Verdun; “a bit of right soldier stuff”; distinguished himself in many engagements, and especially at the siege of Prague in 1757 (1696-1773).
Cheviot Hills, a range on the borders of England and Scotland, extending 35 m. south-westwards, the highest in Northumberland 2676 ft., the Carter Fell being 2020 ft.; famous for its breed of sheep.
Chevreul, Michel Eugène, a French chemist, born at Angers; an expert in the department of dyeing, and an authority on colours, as well as the chemistry of fats; was director in the dyeing department in the Gobelins manufactory; he lived to witness the centenary of his birth (1786-1889).
Chevreuse, Duchesse de, played an important part in the Fronde and in the plots against Richelieu and Mazarin; her Life has been written by Victor Cousin (1600-1679).
Chevron, in heraldry an ordinary of two bands forming an angle descending to the extremities of the shield; representing the two rafters of a house, meeting at the top.
Chevy Chase, the subject and title of a highly popular old English ballad, presumed to refer to an event in connection with the battle of Otterburn; there were strains in it which Sir Philip Sidney said moved his heart more than with a trumpet.
Cheyenne Indians, a warlike tribe of Red Indians, now much reduced, and partially settled in the Indian Territory, U.S.; noted for their horsemanship.
Cheyne, George, a physician and medical writer, born in Aberdeenshire, in practice in London; suffered from corpulency, being 32 stone in weight, but kept it down by vegetable and milk diet, which he recommended to others in the like case; wrote on fevers, nervous disorders, and hygiene; wrote also on fluxions (1671-1743).
Cheyne, Thomas Kelly, an eminent Biblical scholar, born in London; Oriel Professor of Scripture Exegesis, Oxford, and canon of Rochester; author of numerous works on the Old Testament, particularly on “Isaiah” and the “Psalms,” in which he advocates conclusions in accord with modern critical results; b. 1841.
Chézy, De, a French Orientalist, born at Neuilly; the first to create in France an interest in the study of Sanskrit (1773-1832).
Chiabrera, Gabriello, an Italian lyric poet, born at Savona; distinguished, especially for his lyrics; surnamed the “Pindar of Italy,” Pindar being a Greek poet whom it was his ambition to imitate (1552-1637).
Chia`na, a small, stagnant, pestilential affluent of the Tiber, now deepened into a healthful and serviceable stream, connecting the Tiber with the Arno.
Chiapas, Las (270), a Pacific State of Mexico, covered with forests; yields maize, sugar, cacao, and cotton.
Chiaroscuro, the reproduction in art of the effects of light and shade on nature as they mutually affect each other.
Chibchas or Muyscas, a civilised people, though on a lower stage than the Peruvians, whom the Spaniards found established in New Granada in the 16th century, now merged in the Spanish population; they worship the sun.
Chica, an orange-red colouring matter obtained from boiling the leaves of the Bignonia chica, and used as a dye.
Chicago (1,700), the metropolis of Illinois, in the NE. of the State, on the SW. shore of Lake Michigan, is the second city in the Union; its unparalleled growth, dating only from 1837—in 1832 a mere log-fort, and now covering an area of 180 sq. m., being 21 m. in length and 10 m. in breadth—is due to its matchless facilities for communication. Situated in the heart of the continent, a third of the United States railway system centres in it, and it communicates with all Canada, and with the ocean by the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River; laid out with absolute regularity, it has many magnificent buildings, enormously tall office “sky-scrapers,” and an unrivalled system of parks and avenues; there are a university, medical, commercial, and theological colleges, an art institute, libraries, and observatory; it suffered severely from fire in 1871 and 1874; it is the greatest grain and pork market in the world, and its manufactures include almost every variety of production; the population is a mixture of all European peoples; native-born Americans are a small minority, outnumbered by the Germans and almost equalled by the Irish.
Chicard, the harlequin of the modern French carnival, grotesquely dressed up.
Chicheley, Henry, archbishop of Canterbury, a scholar and statesman, often employed on embassies, a moderate churchman; accompanied Henry V. to Agincourt (1362-1442).
Chichester (9), a cathedral city in the W. of Sussex, 17 m. NE. of Portsmouth, with a port on the Channel 2 m. SW. of it; chief trade in agricultural produce.
Chichevache, a monster fabled to feed on good women, and starved, from the scarcity of them, to skin and bone, in contrast with another called Bicorn, that fed on good men, who are more plentiful, and was fat and plump.
Chickasaws, N. American Indians, allied to the Chocktaws, settled in a civilised state in the Indian Territory like the Cherokees.
Chiclana (12), a watering-place 12 m. SB. of Cadiz, with mineral baths.
Chief, the upper part of an escutcheon cut off by a horizontal line.
Chiem-see, a high-lying lake in Upper Bavaria, 48 m. from Münich, adorned with three islands; famous for its fish.
Chien de Jean de Nivelle, the dog that never came when it was called. See Nivelle.
Chië`ti (22), a city in Central Italy, 78 m. NE. of Rome, with a fine Gothic cathedral.
Chigi, a distinguished Italian family, eminent in the Church.
Chigoe, an insect which infests the skin of the feet, multiplies incredibly, and is a great annoyance to the negro, who, however, is pretty expert in getting rid of it.
Chihua`hua (25), a town in Mexico; capital of a State (298), the largest in Mexico, of the same name, with famous silver and also copper mines.
Child, Francis James, an American scholar, born in Boston; professor of Anglo-Saxon and Early English Literature at Harvard; distinguished as the editor of Spenser and of “English and Scottish Ballads,” “a monumental collection”; b. 1825.
Child, Lydia Maria, an American novelist and anti-slavery advocate (1802-1880).
Child, Sir Joshua, a wealthy London merchant, author of “Discourse on Trade,” with an appendix against usury; advocated the compulsory transportation of paupers to the Colonies (1630-1699).
Childe, the eldest son of a nobleman who has not yet attained to knighthood, or has not yet won his spurs.
Childe Harold, a poem of Byron's, written between 1812 and 1819, representing the author himself as wandering over the world in quest of satisfaction and returning sated to disgust; it abounds in striking thoughts and vivid descriptions; in his “Dernier Chant of C. H.” Lamartine takes up the hero where Byron leaves him.
Childerbert I., son of Clovis, king of Paris, reigned from 511 to 558. C. II., son of Siegbert and Brunhilda, king of Austrasia, reigned from 575 to 596. C. III., son of Thierri III., reigned over all France from 695 to 711, under the mayor of the palace, Pépin d'Héristal.
Childerbrand, a Frank warrior, who figures in old chronicles as the brother of Charles Martel, signalised himself in the expulsion of the Saracens from France.
Childéric I., the son of Merovig and father of Clovis, king of the Franks; d. 481. C. II., son of Clovis II., king of Austrasia in 660, and of all France in 670; assassinated 673. C. III., son of the preceding, last of the Merovingian kings, from 743 to 752; was deposed by Pepin le Bref; died in the monastery of St. Omer in 755.
Childermas, a festival to commemorate the massacre of the children by Herod.
Childers, Robert C., professor of Pâli and Buddhistic Literature in University College, and author of Pâli Dictionary (1809-1876).
Children of the Wood, two children, a boy and girl, left to the care of an uncle, who hired two ruffians to murder them, that he might inherit their wealth; one of the ruffians relented, killed his companion, and left the children in a wood, who were found dead in the morning, a redbreast having covered their bodies with strawberry leaves; the uncle was thereafter goaded to death by the furies.
Chile (2,867), the most advanced and stable of the S. American States, occupies a strip of country, 100 m. broad, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, and stretching from Cape Horn northward 2200 m. to Peru, with Argentine and Bolivia on its eastern borders. The climate is naturally various. In the N. are rainless tracts of mountains rich in copper, manganese, silver, and other metals, and deserts with wonderful deposits of nitrate. In the S. are stretches of pastoral land and virgin forest, with excessive rains, and cold, raw climate. The central portion enjoys a temperate climate with moderate rainfall, and produces excellent wheat, grapes, and fruits of all kinds. The Andes tower above the snow-line, Aconcagua reaching 23,500 ft. The rivers are short and rapid, of little use for navigation. The coast-line is even in the N., but excessively rugged and broken in the S., the most southerly regions being weird and desolate. The people are descendants of Spaniards, mingled with Araucanian Indians; but there is a large European element in all the coast towns. Mining and agriculture are the chief industries; manufactures of various kinds are fostered with foreign capital. The chief trade is with Britain: exports nitre, wheat, copper, and iodine; imports, textiles, machinery, sugar, and cattle. Santiago (250) is the capital; Valparaiso (150) and Iquique the principal ports. The government is republican; Roman Catholicism the State religion; education is fairly well fostered; there is a university at Santiago. The country was first visited by Magellan in 1520. In 1540 Pedro Valdivia entered it from Peru and founded Santiago. During colonial days it was an annex of Peru. In 1810 the revolt against Spain broke out. Independence was gained in 1826. Settled government was established in 1847. Since then a revolution in 1851, successful wars with Spain 1864-66, with Bolivia and Peru 1879-81, and a revolution in 1891, have been the most stirring events in its history.
Chillianwalla, a village in the Punjab, 80 m. NW. of Lahore, the scene in 1849 of a bloody battle in the second Sikh War, in which the Sikhs were defeated by Gen. Gough; it was also the scene of a battle between Alexander the Great and Porus.
Chillingham, a village in Northumberland, 8 m. SW. of Belford, with a park attached to the castle, the seat of the Earl of Tankerville, containing a herd of native wild cattle.
Chillingworth, William, an able English controversial divine, who thought forcibly and wrote simply, born at Oxford; championed the cause of Protestantism against the claims of Popery in a long-famous work, “The Religion of Protestants the Safe Way to Salvation,” summing up his conclusion in the oft-quoted words, “The Bible, the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants”; though a Protestant, he was not a Puritan or a man of narrow views, and he suffered at the hands of the Puritans as an adherent of the Royalist cause (1602-1643).
Chillon, Castle of, a castle and state prison built on a rock, 62 ft. from the shore, at the eastern end of the Lake of Geneva; surnamed the Bastille of Switzerland, in which Bonivard, the Genevese patriot, was, as celebrated by Byron, incarcerated for six years; it is now an arsenal.
Chiloë (77), a thickly wooded island off the coast, and forming a province, of Chile, 115 m. long from N. to S., and 43 m. broad; inhabited chiefly by Indians; exports timber; is said to contain vast deposits of coal.
Chiltern Hills, a range of chalk hills extending about 70 m. NE. from the Thames in Oxfordshire through Bucks, from 15 to 20 m. broad, the highest Wendover, 950 ft.
Chiltern Hundreds, a wardship of beech forests on the Chiltern Hills against robbers, that at one time infested them; now a sinecure office, the acceptance of which enables a member of Parliament to resign his seat if he wishes to retire, the office being regarded as a Government one.
Chimæra, a fire-breathing monster of the Greek mythology, with a goat's body, a lion's head, and a dragon's tail; slain by Bellerophon, and a symbol of any impossible monstrosity.
Chimbora`zo, one of the loftiest peaks of the Andes, in Ecuador, 20,700 ft.; is an extinct volcano, and covered with perpetual snow.
Chimpanzee, a large African ape, from 3 to 4 ft. in height, and more allied in several respects to man than any other ape: it is found chiefly in W. Africa.
China (300,000 to 400,000), which, with Tibet, Mongolia (from which it is separated by the Great Wall), and parts of Turkestan, forms the Chinese Empire; is a vast, compact, and densely peopled country in Eastern Asia; bounded on the N. by Mongolia; W. by Tibet and Burmah; S. by Siam, Annam, and the China Sea; and E. by the Pacific. In the W. are lofty mountain ranges running N. and S., from which parallel ranges run E. and W., rising to greatest height in the S. Two great rivers traverse the country, the Hoang-ho and the Yangtse-kiang, the latter with many large lakes in its course, and bearing on its waters an innumerable fleet of boats and barges. Between the lower courses of these rivers lies the Great Plain, one of the vastest and richest in the world, whose yellow soil produces great crops with little labour and no manure. The coast-line is long and much indented, and out of it are bitten the gulfs of Pe-che-lee, the Yellow Sea, and Hang-chou. There are many small islands off the coast; the mountainous Hainau is the only large one still Chinese. The climate in the N. has a clear frosty winter, and warm rainy summer; in the S. it is hot. The country is rich in evergreens and flowering plants. In the N. wheat, millet, and cotton are grown; in the S. rice, tea, sugar, silk, and opium. Agriculture is the chief industry, and though primitive, it is remarkably painstaking and skilful. Forests have everywhere been cleared away, and the whole country is marvellously fertile. Its mineral wealth is enormous. Iron, copper, and coal abound in vast quantities; has coal-fields that, it is said, if they were worked, “would revolutionise the trade of the world.” The most important manufactures are of silk, cotton, and china. Commerce is as yet chiefly internal; its inter-provincial trade is the largest and oldest in the world. Foreign trade is growing, almost all as yet done with Britain and her Colonies. Tea and silk are exported; cotton goods and opium imported. About twenty-five ports are open to British vessels, of which the largest are Shanghai and Canton. There are no railways; communication inland is by road, river, and canals. The people are a mixed race of Mongol type, kindly, courteous, peaceful, and extremely industrious, and in their own way well educated. Buddhism is the prevailing faith of the masses, Confucianism of the upper classes. The Government is in theory a patriarchal autocracy, the Emperor being at once father and high-priest of all the people, and vicegerent of heaven. The capital is Pekin (500), in the NE. Chinese history goes back to 2300 B.C. English intercourse with the Chinese began in 1635 A.D., and diplomatic relations between London and Pekin were established this century. The Anglo-Chinese wars of 1840, 1857, and 1860 broke down the barrier of exclusion previously maintained against the outside world. The Japanese war of 1894-95 betrayed the weakness of the national organisation; and the seizure of Formosa by Japan, the Russo-Japanese protectorate over Manchuria and Corea, the French demand for Kwang-si and Kwang-tung, enforced lease of Kiao-chau to Germany, and of Wei-hai-wei to Britain (1898), seem to forebode the partition of the ancient empire among the more energetic Western nations.
China, the Great Wall of, a wall, with towers and forts at intervals, about 2000 m. long, from 20 to 30 ft. high, and 25 ft. broad, which separates China from Mongolia on the N., and traverses high hills and deep valleys in its winding course.
Chinampas, floating gardens.
Chincha Islands, islands off the coast of Peru that had beds of guano, often 100 ft. thick, due to the droppings of penguins and other sea birds, now all but, if not quite, exhausted.
Chinchilla, a rodent of S. America, hunted for its fur, which is soft and of a grey colour; found chiefly in the mountainous districts of Peru and Chile.
Chinese Gordon, General Gordon, killed at Khartoum; so called for having, in 1851, suppressed a rebellion in China which had lasted 15 years.
Chinook, a tribe of Indians in Washington Territory, noted for flattening their skulls.
Chinsura, a Dutch-built town on the right bank of the Hoogly, 20 m. N. of Calcutta, with a college; is famous for cheroots.
Chinz, a calico printed with flowers and other devices in different colours; originally of Eastern manufacture.
Chioggia (25), a seaport of Venetia, built on piles, on a lagoon island at the mouth of the Brenta, connected with the mainland by a bridge with 43 arches.
Chios, or Scio (25), a small island belonging to Turkey, in the Grecian Archipelago; subject to earthquakes; yields oranges and lemons in great quantities; claims to have been the birthplace of Homer.
Chippendale, Thomas, a cabinet-maker, born in Worcestershire; famous in the last century for the quality and style of his workmanship; his work still much in request.
Chippeways, a Red Indian tribe, some 12,000 strong, located in Michigan, U.S., and in Canada adjoining; originally occupied the N. and W. of Lake Superior.
Chiquitos, Indians of a low but lively type in Bolivia and Brazil.
Chiriqui, an archipelago and a lagoon as well as province in Costa Rica.
Chiron, a celebrated Centaur, in whose nature the animal element was subject to the human, and who was intrusted with the education of certain heroes of Greece, among others Peleus and Achilles; was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and skilled in athletics as well as music and the healing art. See Centaurs.
Chislehurst (6), a village in Kent, 10 m. SE. of London, where Napoleon III. died in exile in 1873.
Chiswick (21), a suburb of London, 7 m. SW. of St. Paul's; the Church of St. Nicholas has monuments to several people of distinction.
Chitin, a white horny substance found in the exoskeleton of several invertebrate animals.
Chitral, a State on the frontier of India, NW. of Cashmere; since 1895 occupied by the British; a place of great strategical importance.
Chittagong (24), a seaport in the Bay of Bengal, 220 m. E. of Calcutta; exports rice, gum, tobacco, and jute.
Chittim, the Bible name for Cyprus.
Chivalry, a system of knighthood, for the profession of which the qualifications required were dignity, courtesy, bravery, generosity; the aim of which was the defence of right against wrong, of the weak against the strong, and especially of the honour and the purity of women, and the spirit of which was of Christian derivation; originally a military organisation in defence of Christianity against the infidel.
Chivalry, Court of, a court established by Edward III., which took cognisance of questions of honour and heraldry, as well as military offences.
Chladni, Friedrich, a physicist, born at Wittenberg; one of the earliest investigators of the phenomena of sound; wrote also on aërolites (1756-1827).
Chlopicki, Joseph, a Polish hero, born in Galicia; fought against Russia under Napoleon; was chosen Dictator in 1830, but was forced to resign; fought afterwards in the ranks, and was severely wounded (1771-1854).
Chloral, a colourless narcotic liquid, obtained at first by the action of chlorine on alcohol; treated with water it produces chloral hydrate.
Chlorine, elementary, greenish-yellow gas obtained from common salt; powerful as a disinfectant, and a bleaching agent.
Chloris, the wife of Zephyrus, the goddess of flowers.
Chloroform, a limpid, volatile liquid, in extensive use as an anæsthetic; produced by treating alcohol with chloride of lime.
Chlorophyll, the green colouring matter in plants, especially the leaves; due to the presence and action of light.
Chlorosis, green sickness, a disease incident to young females at a critical period of life, causing a pale-greenish complexion.
Chocolate, a paste made by grinding the kernels of cocoa-nuts.
Chocktaws, or Chactaws, a tribe of American Indians, settled to civilised life in the Indian Territory, U.S.; the Chactaw Indian, with his proud array of scalps hung up in his wigwam, is, with Carlyle, the symbol of the pride of wealth acquired at the price of the lives of men in body and soul.
Choiseul, Duc de, minister of Louis XV.; served his master in various capacities; was rewarded with a peerage; effected many reforms in the army, strengthened the navy, and aided in bringing about the family compact of the Bourbons; exercised a great influence on the politics of Europe; was nicknamed by Catharine of Russia Le Cocher de l'Europe, “the Driver of Europe”; but becoming obnoxious to Mme. du Barry, “in whom he would discern nothing but a wonderfully dizened scarlet woman,” was dismissed from the helm of affairs, Louis's “last substantial man” (1719-1795).
Choisy, Abbé, a French writer, born in Paris; author of a “History of the Church” (1644-1724).
Cholera Morbus, an epidemic disease characterised by violent vomiting and purging, accompanied with spasms, great pain, and debility; originated in India, and has during the present century frequently spread itself by way of Asia into populous centres of both Europe and America.
Cholet (15), a French manufacturing town, 32 m. SW. of Angers.
Cholula, an ancient city, 60 m. SE. of Mexico; the largest city of the Aztecs, with a pyramidal temple, now a Catholic church.
Chopin, a musical composer, born near Warsaw, of Polish origin; his genius for music early developed itself; distinguished himself as a pianist first at Vienna and then in Paris, where he introduced the mazurkas; became the idol of the salons; visited England twice, in 1837 and 1848, and performed to admiration in London and three of the principal cities; died of consumption in Paris; he suffered much from great depression of spirits (1809-1849).
Chorley (23), a manufacturing town in N. Lancashire, 25 m. NE. of Liverpool, with mines and quarries near it.
Chorus, in the ancient drama a group of persons introduced on the stage representing witnesses of what is being acted, and giving expression to their thoughts and feelings regarding it; originally a band of singers and dancers on festive occasions, in connection particularly with the Bacchus worship.
Chosroës I., surnamed the Great, king of Persia from 531 to 579, a wise and beneficent ruler; waged war with the Roman armies successfully for 20 years. Ch. II., his grandson, king from 590 to 625; made extensive inroads on the Byzantine empire, but was defeated and driven back by Heraclius; was eventually deposed and put to death.
Chouans, insurrectionary royalists in France, in particular Brittany, during the French Revolution, and even for a time under the Empire, when their head-quarters were in London; so named from their muster by night at the sound of the chat-huant, the screech-owl, a nocturnal bird of prey which has a weird cry.
Chrétien, or Chrestien, de Troyes, a French poet or trouvère of the last half of the 12th century; author of a number of vigorously written romances connected with chivalry and the Round Table.
Chriemhilde, a heroine in the “Niebelungen” and sister of Gunther, who on the treacherous murder of her husband is changed from a gentle woman into a relentless fury.
Chrisaor, the sword of Sir Artegal in the “Faërie Queene”; it excelled every other.
Christ Church, a college in Oxford, founded by Wolsey 1525; was Gladstone's college and John Ruskin's, as well as John Locke's.
Christabel, a fragmentary poem of Coleridge's; characterised by Stopford Brooke as, for “exquisite metrical movement and for imaginative phrasing,” along with “Kubla Khan,” without a rival in the language.
Christadelphians, an American sect, called also Thomasites, whose chief distinctive article of faith is conditional immortality, that is, immortality only to those who believe in Christ, and die believing in him.
Christchurch (16), capital of the province of Canterbury, New Zealand, 5 m. from the sea; Littleton the port.
Christian, the name of nine kings of Denmark, of whom the first began to reign in 1448 and the last in 1863, and the following deserve notice: Christian II., conquered Sweden, but proving a tyrant, was driven from the throne by Gustavus Vasa in 1522, upon which his own subjects deposed him, an act which he resented by force of arms, in which he was defeated in 1531, his person seized, and imprisoned for life; characterised by Carlyle as a “rash, unwise, explosive man” (1481-1559). Christian IV., king from 1588 to 1648; took part on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years' War, and was defeated by Tilly; he was a good ruler, and was much beloved by his subjects; was rather unsteady in his habits, it is said (1577-1648). Christian IX., king from 1863; son of Duke William of Sleswick-Holstein, father of the Princess of Wales, George I., king of Greece, and the dowager Empress of Russia; b. 1818.
Christian Connection, a sect in the United States which acknowledges the Bible alone as the rule of faith and manners.
Christian King, the Most, a title of the king of France conferred by two different Popes.
Christian Knowledge, Society for Promoting (S. P. C. K.), a religious association in connection with the Church of England, under the patronage of the Queen and the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, established 1698, the object of which is to disseminate a knowledge of Christian doctrine both at home and abroad by means of churches, schools, and libraries, and by the circulation of Bibles and Christian literature.
Christiania (130), the capital of Norway, romantically situated at the head of Christiania Fiord; the residence of the king and the seat of government; a manufacturing and trading city, but it is blocked up against traffic for four months in the year.
Christianity, Belief (q. v.) that there is in Christ, as in no other, from first to last a living incarnation, a flesh and blood embodiment, for salvation of the ever-living spirit of the ever-living God and Father of man, and except that by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, that is, except by participating in His divine-human life, or except in His spirit, there is no assurance of life everlasting to any man; but perhaps it has never been defined all round with greater brevity and precision than it is by Ruskin in his “Præterita,” under the impression that the time is come when one should say a firm word concerning it: “The total meaning of it,” he says, “was, and is, that the God who made earth and its creatures, took, at a certain time upon the earth, the flesh and form of man; in that flesh sustained the pain and died the death of the creature He had made; rose again after death into glorious human life, and when the date of the human race is ended, will return in visible human form, and render to every mail according to his work. Christianity is the belief in, and love of, God thus manifested. Anything less than this,” he adds, “the mere acceptance of the sayings of Christ, or assertion of any less than divine power in His Being, may be, for aught I know, enough for virtue, peace, and safety; but they do not make people Christians, or enable them to understand the heart of the simplest believer in the old doctrine.”
Christiansand (12), a town and seaport in the extreme S. of Norway, with a considerable trade.
Christie, William Henry Mahoney, astronomer-royal, born at Woolwich, of Trinity College, Cambridge; author of “Manual of Elementary Astronomy”; b. 1845.
Christina, queen of Sweden, daughter and only child of Gustavus Adolphus; received a masculine education, and was trained in manly exercises; governed the country well, and filled her court with learned men, but by-and-by her royal duties becoming irksome to her, she declared her cousin as her successor, resigned the throne, and turned Catholic; her cousin dying, she claimed back her crown, but her subjects would not now have her; she stayed for a time in France, but was obliged to leave; retired to Rome, where she spent 20 years of her life engaged in scientific and artistic studies, and died (1628-1689).
Christina, Maria, daughter of Francis I. of Naples, and wife of Ferdinand VII. of Spain, on whose death she acted for four years as regent, during the infancy of her daughter Isabella (1806-1878).
Christison, Sir Robert, toxicologist, born at Edinburgh, and professor, first of Medical Jurisprudence and then of Materia Medica, in his native city; wrote a “Treatise on Poison,” a standard work (1797-1882).
Christmas, the festival in celebration of the birth of Christ now celebrated all over Christendom on 25th December, as coinciding with an old heathen festival celebrated at the winter solstice, the day of the return of the sun northward, and in jubilation of the prospect of the renewal of life in the spring.
Christology, the department of theology which treats of the person of Christ.
Christophe, Henri, a negro, born in Grenada; one of the leaders of the insurgent slaves in Hayti, who, proving successful in arms against the French, became king under the title of Henry I., but ruling despotically provoked revolt, and shot himself through the heart; he was a man of powerful physique; b. 1820.
Christopher, St., (the Christ-Bearer), according to Christian legend a giant of great stature and strength, who, after serving the devil for a time, gave himself up to the service of Christ by carrying pilgrims across a bridgeless river, when one day a little child, who happened to be none else than Christ Himself, appeared to be carried over, but, strange to say, as he bore Him across, the child grew heavier and heavier, till he was nearly baffled in landing Him on the opposite shore. The giant represented the Church, and the increasing weight of the child the increasing sin and misery which the Church has from age to age to bear in carrying its Christ across the Time-river; the giant is represented in art as carrying the infant on his shoulder, and as having for staff the stem of a large tree.
Christopher North, the name assumed by John Wilson (q. v.) in Blackwood's Magazine.
Christopher's, St., (30), popularly called St. Kitts, one of the Leeward Islands, discovered by Columbus (1493), who named it after himself; belongs to England; has sugar plantations.
Christ's Hospital, the Blue-Coat School, London, was founded in 1547, a large institution, on the foundation of which there are now 2170 pupils instead of 1200 as formerly; entrance to it is gained partly by presentation and partly by competition, and attached are numerous exhibitions and prizes; among the alumni have been several noted men, such as Bishop Stillingfleet, Coleridge, Leigh Hunt, and Charles Lamb.
Chromatics, that department of optics which treats of colours, and resolves the primary colours into three—red, yellow, and blue.
Chroniclers, The Rhyming, a series of writers who flourished in England in the 13th century, and related histories of the country in rhyme, in which the fabulous occupies a conspicuous place, among which Layamon's “Brut” (1205) takes the lead.
Chronicles i and ii., two historical books of the Old Testament, the narratives of which, with additions and omissions, run parallel with those of Samuel and Kings, but written from a priestly standpoint, give the chief prominence to the history of Judah as the support in Jerusalem of the ritual of which the priests were the custodians; Ezra and Nehemiah are continuations.
Chrysëis, the daughter of Chryses, priest of Apollo, a beautiful maiden who fell among the spoils of a victory to Agamemnon, and became his slave, and whom he refused to restore to her father until a deadly plague among the Greeks, at the hands of Apollo, whose priest her father was, compelled him to give her up.
Chrysippus, a Greek philosopher, born at Soli, in Cilicia, and lived in Athens; specially skilled in dialectic; the last and greatest expounder and defender of the philosophy of the Stoa, so pre-eminent, that it was said of him, “If Chrysippus were not, the Stoa were not”; is said to have written 705 books, not one of which, however, has come down to us save a few fragments (280-208 B.C.). See Stoicism.
Chrysolo`ras, a Grecian scholar, born at Constantinople, left his native country and lived in Florence, where he, in the 14th century, became a teacher of Greek literature, and contributed thereby to the revival of letters in Italy; d. 1415.
Chrysostom, St. John, that is, Mouth of Gold, so called from his eloquence, born at Antioch; converted to Christianity from a mild paganism; became one of the Fathers of the Church, and Patriarch of Constantinople; he was zealous in suppressing heresy, as well as corruption in the Church, and was for that reason thrice over subjected to banishment; in the course of the third of which and while on the way, he died, though his remains was brought to Constantinople and there deposited with great solemnity; he left many writings behind him—sermons, homilies, commentaries, and epistles, of which his “Homilies” are most studied and prized (347-407). Festival, Jan. 27.
Chubb, Thomas, an English Deist, born near Salisbury; he regarded Christ as a divine teacher, but held reason to be sovereign in matters of religion, yet was on rational grounds a defender of Christianity; had no learning, but was well up in the religious controversies of the time, and bore his part in them creditably (1679-1746).
Chunder Sen, one of the founders of the Brahmo-Somaj (q. v.); he visited Europe in 1870, and was welcomed with open arms by the rationalist class of Churchmen and Dissenters.
Chuquisa`ca (20), (i. e. Bridge of Gold), the capital of Bolivia, in a sheltered plain 9000 ft. above the sea-level; is a cathedral city; has a mild climate; it was founded in 1538 by the Spaniards on the site of an old Peruvian town.
Church, Richard William, dean of St. Paul's, born in Lisbon; a scholarly man; distinguished himself first as such by his “Essays and Reviews,” wrote thoughtful sermons, and “A Life of Anselm,” also essays on eminent men of letters, such as Dante, Spenser, and Bacon (1815-1890).
Church, States of the, the Papal States, extending irregularly from the Po to Naples, of which the Pope was the temporal sovereign, now part of the kingdom of Italy.
Churchill, Charles, an English poet, born at Westminster; began life as a curate, an office which he was compelled to resign from his unseemly ways; took himself to the satire, first of the actors of the time in his “Rosciad,” then of his critics in his “Apology,” and then of Dr. Johnson in the “Ghost”; he wrote numerous satires, all vigorous, his happiest being deemed that against the Scotch, entitled “The Prophecy of Famine”; his life was a short one, and not wisely regulated (1731-1764).
Churchill, Lord Randolph, an English Conservative politician, third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, who, though a man of mark, and more than once in office, could never heart and soul join any party and settle down to steady statesmanship; set out on travel, took ill on the journey, and came home in a state of collapse to die (1849-1895).
Chuzzlewit, Martin, the hero of a novel by Dickens of the name. James, a character in the same novel, a man distinguished for his mean and tyrannical character.
Chusan (30 or 40), principal island in the Chusan Archipelago, 18 m. long and 10 broad; near the estuary of the Yangtse-kiang, has been called “the Key of China.”
Chyle, a fluid of a milky colour, separated from the chyme by the action of the pancreatic juice and the bile, and which, being absorbed by the lacteal vessels, is gradually assimilated into blood.
Chyme, the pulpy mass into which the food is converted in the stomach prior to the separation in the small intestines of the chyle.
Cialdini, Enrico, an Italian general and politician, born at Modena; distinguished himself in Spain against the Carlists, and both as a soldier and diplomatist in connection with the unification of Italy (1811-1892).
Cibber, Colley, actor and dramatist, of German descent; was manager and part-proprietor of Drury Lane; wrote plays, one in particular, which procured for him the post of poet-laureate, which he held till his death; was much depreciated by Pope; wrote an “Apology for his Life,” the most amusing autobiography in the language (1671-1757).
Cibrario, Luigi, an Italian historian and statesman, born at Turin; he held office under Charles Albert of Sardinia (1802-1870).
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, a Roman orator, statesman, and man of letters, born near Arpinum, in Latium; trained for political life partly at Rome and partly at Athens; distinguished himself as the first orator at the Roman bar when he was 30, and afterwards rose through the successive grades of civic rank till he attained the consulship in 63 B.C.; during this period he acquired great popularity by his exposure and defeat of the conspiracy of Catiline, by which he earned the title of Father of his Country, though there were those who condemned his action and procured his banishment for a time; on his recall, which was unanimous, he took sides first with Pompey, then with Cæsar after Pharsalia, on whose death he delivered a Philippic against Antony; was proscribed by the second triumvirate, and put to death by Antony's soldiers; he was the foremost of Roman orators, the most elegant writer of the Latin language, and has left behind him orations, letters, and treatises, very models of their kind; he was not a deep thinker, and his philosophy was more eclectic than original (100-43 B.C.).
Cicero of Germany, John III., Elector of Brandenburg, “could speak 'four hours at a stretch, in elegantly flowing Latin,' with a fair share of meaning in it too” (1455-1499).
Cicognara, Count, an Italian writer, born at Ferrara; author of a “History of Sculpture” (1767-1834).
Cid Campeador, a famed Castilian warrior of the 11th century, born at Burgos; much celebrated in Spanish romance; being banished from Castile, in the interest of which he had fought valiantly, he became a free-lance, fighting now with the Christians and now with the Moors, till he made himself master of Valencia, where he set up his throne and reigned, with his faithful wife Ximena by his side, till the news of a defeat by the Moors took all spirit out of him, and he died of grief. Faithful after death, his wife had his body embalmed and carried to his native place, on the high altar of which it lay enthroned for 10 years; his real name was Don Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar, and the story of his love for Ximena is the subject of Corneille's masterpiece, “The Cid.”
Cigoli, a Florentine painter, called the Florentine Correggio, whom he specially studied in the practice of his art; “The Apostle Healing the Lame,” in St. Peter's, is by him, as also the “Martyrdom of St. Stephen,” in Florence (1559-1613).
Cilicia, an ancient province in S. of Asia Minor.
Cilician Gates, the pass across Mount Taurus by which Alexander the Great entered Cilicia.
Cimabu`e, a Florentine painter, and founder of the Florentine school, which ranked among its members such artists as Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci; was the first to leave the stiff traditional Byzantine forms of art and copy from nature and the living model, though it was only with the advent of his great disciple Giotto that art found beauty in reality, and Florence was made to see the divine significance of lowly human worth, at sight of which, says Ruskin, “all Italy threw up its cap”; his “Madonna,” in the Church of Santa Maria, has been long regarded as a marvel of art, and of all the “Mater Dolorosas” of Christianity, Ruskin does not hesitate to pronounce his at Assisi the noblest; “he was the first,” says Ruskin, “of the Florentines, first of European men, to see the face of her who was blessed among women, and with his following hand to make visible the Magnificat of his heart” (1240-1302).
Cimarosa, Domenico, a celebrated Italian composer; composed between 20 and 30 operas, mostly comic, his masterpiece being “II Matrimoneo Segreto”; he was imprisoned for sympathising with the principles of the French Revolution, and treated with a severity which shortened his life; said by some to have been poisoned by order of Queen Caroline of Naples (1754-1801).
Cimber, a friend of Cæsar's who turned traitor, whose act of presenting a petition to him was the signal to the conspirators to take his life.
Cimbri, a barbarian horde who, with the Teutons, invaded Gaul in the 2nd century B.C.; gave the Romans no small trouble, and were all but exterminated by Marius in 101 B.C.; believed to have been a Celtic race, who descended on Southern Europe from the N.
Cimerians, an ancient people N. of the shores of the Black Sea, fabled to inhabit a region unvisited by a single ray of the sun.
Cimon, an Athenian general, son of Miltiades; distinguished himself in the struggle of Athens against Persia in 466 B.C.; gained two victories over the Persians in one day, one by land and another by sea, was banished by the democratic party, and after four years recalled to continue his victories over his old foes, and died at Cyprus (510-449 B.C.).
Cincinnati (326), the metropolis of Ohio, stands on the Ohio River, opposite Covington and Newport, by rail 270 m. SE. of Chicago; the city stands on hilly ground, and is broken and irregular; there are many fine buildings, among them a Roman Catholic cathedral, and large parks; there is a university, the Lane Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), schools of medicine, law, music, and art, an observatory, zoological garden, and large libraries; it is a centre of culture in the arts; manufactures include clothing, tobacco, leather, moulding and machine shops; there is some boat-building and printing; but the most noted trade is in pork and grain; is the greatest pork market in the world; a third of the population is of German origin.
Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius, an old hero of the Roman republic, distinguished for the simplicity and austerity of his manners; was consul in 460 B.C., and on the defeat of a Roman army by the Æqui, called to the dictatorship from the plough, to which he returned on the defeat of the Æqui; he was summoned to fill the same post a second time, when he was 80, on the occasion of the conspiracy of Mælius, with the like success.
Cincinnatus, the Order of, an American order founded by officers of the revolutionary army at its dissolution in 1753; was denounced by Franklin as anti-republican in its spirit and tendency; it still survives in a feeble way; the order is hereditary.
Cincinnatus of the Americans, George Washington.
Cinderella (the little cinder-girl), the youngest member of a family who must drudge at home while her elder sisters go to balls, till one day a fairy befriends her and conveys her to a ball, where she shines as the centre of attraction, and wins the regard of a prince. On quitting the hall she leaves a slipper behind her, by means of which she is identified by the prince, who finds that hers is the only foot that the slipper will fit, and marries her. The story in one version or another is a very ancient and wide-spread one.
Cineas, the minister of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; was the ablest orator of his time, and his master was in the habit of saying of him, that his eloquence had gained him more cities than his own arms; sent on a mission to Rome, the senate refused to hear him, lest his eloquence should prove too fascinating.
Cingalese, a native of Ceylon.
Cinna, Lucius Cornelius, a Roman patrician, a friend and supporter of Marius; drove Sulla from Rome and recalled Marius from exile; participated in the murders which followed his recall, and after the death of Marius was assassinated when organising an expedition against Sulla, 84 B.C.
Cinnabar, a sulphide of mercury from which the mercury of commerce is obtained.
Cinq-Mars, Henri, Marquis de, a French courtier, a favourite of Louis XIII.; a man of handsome figure and fascinating manners; died on the scaffold for conspiring with his friend De Thou against Richelieu (1620-1642).
Cinqué Cento (lit. five hundred), the Renaissance in literature and art in the 16th century, the expression 5 hundred standing for 15 hundred.
Cinque Ports, the five ports of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich, to which were added Winchelsea and Rye, which possessed certain privileges in return for supplying the royal power with a navy; the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is only an honorary dignity.
Cintra, a Portuguese town, 17 m. NW. of Lisbon, where a much reprobated convention between the French under Marshal Junot and the English under Sir Hew Dalrymple was signed in 1808, whereby the former were let off with all their arms and baggage on condition of evacuating Portugal.
Cipango, an island on the Eastern Ocean, described by Marco Polo as a sort of El Dorado, an object of search to subsequent navigators, and an attraction among the number to Columbus, it is said.
Cipriani, an Italian painter and etcher, born in Florence; settled in London; was an original member of the Royal Academy, and designed the diploma (1727-1785).
Circars, The, a territory in India along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, from 18 to 100 m. wide; ceded first to the French and in 1766 to the East India Company, now of course under the Crown, and forming part of the Madras Presidency.
Circassia, a territory on the Western Caucasus, now subject to Russia; celebrated for the sturdy spirit of the men and the beauty of the women; the nobles professing Mohammedanism and the lower classes a certain impure form of Christianity; they are of the Semite race, and resemble the Arabs in their manners.
Circe, a sorceress who figures in the “Odyssey.” Ulysses having landed on her isle, she administered a potion to him and his companions, which turned them into swine, while the effect of it on himself was counteracted by the use of the herb moly, provided for him by Hermes against sorcery; she detained him with her for years, and disenchanted his companions on his departure.
Circean poison, a draught of any kind that is magically and fatally infatuating, such as the effect often of popular applause.
Circuits, districts outside of London into which England is divided for judicial purposes, for the trial of civil as well as criminal cases connected with them; are seven in number—the Midland, the Oxford, the North-Eastern, the South-Eastern, the Northern, the Western, and North Wales and South Wales; the courts are presided over by a judge sent from London, or by two, and are held twice a year, or oftener if the number of cases require it.
Circulation of the Blood, the course of the blood from the heart through the arteries to the minute vessels of the body, and from these last through the veins back to the heart again.
Circumcision, the practice of cutting away the foreskin, chiefly of males, as observed by the Jews and the Mohammedans, as well as other nations of remote antiquity; regarded by some as a mark of belonging to the tribe, and by others as a sacrifice in propitiation by blood.
Circumlocution Office, a name employed by Dickens in “Little Dorrit” to designate the wearisome routine of public business.
Cisalpine Gaul, territory occupied by Gauls on the Italian or south side of the Alps.
Cisalpine Republic, a republic so called on both sides of the Po, formed out of his conquests by Napoleon, 1797; became the Italian Republic in 1802, with Milan for capital, and ceased to exist after the fall of Napoleon.
Cisleithania, Austria proper as distinguished from Hungary, which is called Transleithania, on account of the boundary between them being formed by the river Leitha.
Cistercians, a monastic order founded by Abbot Robert in 1098 at Citeaux, near Dijon; they followed the rule of St. Benedict, who reformed the Order after it had lapsed; became an ecclesiastical republic, and were exempt from ecclesiastical control; contributed considerably to the progress of the arts, if little to the sciences.
Cithæron, a wood-covered mountain on the borders of Boeotia and Attica; famous in Greek legend.
Cities of Refuge, among the Jews; three on the E. and three on the W. of the Jordan, in which the manslayer might find refuge from the avenger of blood.
Cities of the Plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, with adjoining cities under the like doom.
Citizen King, Louis Philippe of France, so called as elected by the citizens of Paris.
City of Bells, Strasburg.
City of Churches, Brooklyn, now incorporated with New York.
City of Destruction, Bunyan's name for the world as under divine judgment.
City of God, Augustine's name for the Church as distinct from the cities of the world, and the title of a book of his defining it.
City of Palaces, Calcutta and Rome.
City of the Prophet, Medina, where Mahomet found refuge when driven out of Mecca by the Koreish and their adherents.
City of the Seven Hills, Rome, as built on seven hills—viz., the Aventine, Coelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal.
City of the Sun, Baalbek (q. v.); and a work by Campanella, describing an ideal republic, after the manner of Plato and Sir Thomas More.
City of the Violet Crown, Athens.
Ciudad Real (royal city) (13), a Spanish town in a province of the same name, 105 m. S. of Madrid, where Sebastian defeated the Spaniards in 1809.
Ciudad Rodrigo (8), a Spanish town near the Portuguese frontier, 50 m. SW. of Salamanca; stormed by Wellington, after a siege of 11 days, in 1812, for which brilliant achievement he earned the title of Earl in England, and Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain.
Çiva, or Siva, the third member of the Hindu Trinity, the destroyer of what Vishnu is the preserver and Brahma is the creator, is properly Brahma undoing what he has made with a view to reincarnation.
Civil Law, a system of laws for the regulation of civilised communities formed on Roman laws, digested in the pandects of Justinian.
Civil List, the yearly sum granted by the Parliament of England at the commencement of each reign for the support of the royal household, and to maintain the dignity of the Crown: it amounts now to £385,000.
Civil Service, the paid service done to the State, exclusive of that of the army and navy.
Civilis, Claudius, a Batavian chief who revolted against Vespasian, but on defeat was able to conclude an honourable peace.
Civita Vecchia (11), a fortified port on the W. coast of Italy, 40 m. NW. of Rome, with a good harbour, founded by Trajan; exports wheat, alum, cheese, &c.
Clackmannanshire (28), the smallest county in Scotland, lies between the Ochils and the Forth; rich in minerals, especially coal.
Clair, St., a lake 30 m. long by 12 broad, connecting Lake Erie with Lake Huron.
Clairaut, Alexis Claude, a French mathematician and astronomer, born at Paris, of so precocious a genius, that he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences at the age of 18; published a theory of the figure of the earth, and computed the orbit of Halley's comet (1713-1765).
Clairvaux, a village of France, on the Aube, where St. Bernard founded a Cistercian monastery in 1115, and where he lived and was buried; now used as a prison or reformatory.
Clairvoyance, the power ascribed to certain persons in a mesmeric state of seeing and describing events at a distance or otherwise invisible.
Clan, a tribe of blood relations descended from a common ancestor, ranged under a chief in direct descent from him, and having a common surname, as in the Highlands of Scotland; at bottom a military organisation for defensive and predatory purposes.
Clan-na-Gael, a Fenian organisation founded at Philadelphia in 1870, to secure by violence the complete emancipation of Ireland from British control.
Clapham, a SW. suburb of London, in the county of Surrey, 4 m. from St. Paul's, and inhabited by a well-to-do middle-class community, originally of evangelical principles, and characterised as the Clapham Set.
Clapperton, Captain Hugh, an African explorer, born at Annan; bred in the navy, joined two expeditions into Central Africa to ascertain the length and course of the Niger, but got no farther than Sokoto, where he was attacked with dysentery and died (1788-1827).
Clärchen, a female character in Goethe's “Egmont.”
Clare (124), a county in Munster, Ireland; also an island at the mouth of Clew Bay, county Mayo.
Clare, John, the peasant poet of Northamptonshire, born near Peterborough; wrote “Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery,” which attracted attention, and even admiration, and at length with others brought him a small annuity, which he wasted in speculation; fell into despondency, and died in a lunatic asylum (1793-1864).
Clare, St., a virgin and abbess, born at Assisi; the founder of the Order of Poor Clares (1193-1253). Festival, Aug. 12.
Claremont, a mansion in Surrey, 14 m. SW. of London, built by Lord Clive, where Princess Charlotte lived and died, as also Louis Philippe after his flight from France; is now the property of the Queen, and the residence of the Duchess of Albany.
Clarence, Duke of, brother of Edward IV.; convicted of treason, he was condemned to death, and being allowed to choose the manner of his death, is said to have elected to die by drowning in a butt of Malmsey wine (1459-1478).
Clarenceux, or Clarencieux, the provincial king-at-arms, whose jurisdiction extends from and includes all England S. of the Trent.
Clarendon, a place 2 m. SE. of Salisbury, where the magnates of England, both lay and clerical, met in 1164 under Henry II. and issued a set of ordinances, called the Constitutions of Clarendon, 16 in number, to limit the power of the Church and assert the rights of the crown in ecclesiastical affairs.
Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, sat in the Short Parliament and the Long on the popular side, but during the Civil War became a devoted Royalist; was from 1641 one of the chief advisers of the king; on the failure of the royal cause, took refuge first in Jersey, and then in Holland with the Prince of Wales; contributed to the Restoration; came back with Charles, and became Lord Chancellor; fell into disfavour, and quitted England in 1667; died at Rouen; wrote, among other works, a “History of the Great Rebellion,” dignifiedly written, though often carelessly, but full of graphic touches and characterisations especially of contemporaries; it has been called an “epical composition,” as showing a sense of the central story and its unfolding. “Few historians,” adds Prof. Saintsbury, “can describe a given event with more vividness. Not one in all the long list of the great practitioners of the art has such skill in the personal character” (1608-1674).
Clarendon, George Villiers, Earl of, a Whig statesman; served as a cabinet minister under Lord Melbourne, Lord John Russell twice, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone; held the office of Foreign Secretary under the three preceding; was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland at the time of the potato failure, and represented Britain at the Congress of Paris; died in harness, deeply lamented both at home and abroad (1800-1870).
Clarétie, Jules, a French journalist, novelist, dramatic author, and critic, born at Limoges; has published some 40 volumes of causeries, history, and fiction; appointed Director of the Theatre Français in 1893; b. 1840.
Clarissa Harlowe, the heroine of one of Richardson's novels, exhibiting a female character which, as described by him, is pronounced to be “one of the brightest triumphs in the whole range of imaginative literature,” is described by Stopford Brooke “as the pure and ideal star of womanhood.”
Clark, Sir Andrew, an eminent London physician, born near Cargill, in Perthshire, much beloved, and skilful in the treatment of diseases affecting the respiratory and digestive organs (1826-1893).
Clark, Sir James, physician to the Queen, born in Cullen; an authority on the influence of climate on chronic and pulmonary disease (1788-1870).
Clark, Thomas, chemist, born in Ayr; discovered the phosphate of soda, and the process of softening hard water (1801-1867).
Clarke, Adam, a Wesleyan divine, of Irish birth; a man of considerable scholarship, best known by his “Commentary” on the Bible; author also of a “Bibliographical Dictionary” (1762-1832).
Clarke, Charles Cowden, a friend of Lamb, Keats, and Leigh Hunt; celebrated for his Shakespearian learning; brought out an annotated Shakespeare, assisted by his wife; lectured on Shakespeare characters (1787-1877).
Clarke, Dr. Samuel, an English divine, scholar and disciple of Newton, born at Norwich; author, as Boyle lecturer, of a famous “Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God,” as also independently of “The Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion”; as a theologian he inclined to Arianism, and his doctrine of morality was that it was congruity with the “eternal fitness of things” (1675-1729).
Clarke, Edward Daniel, a celebrated English traveller, born in Sussex; visited Scandinavia, Russia, Circassia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Greece; brought home 100 MSS. to enrich the library of Cambridge, the colossal statue of the Eleusinian Ceres, and the sarcophagus of Alexander, now in the British Museum; his “Travels” were published in six volumes (1769-1822).
Clarke, Henri, Duc de Feltre, of Irish origin, French marshal, and minister of war under Napoleon; instituted the prevotal court, a pro re nata court without appeal (1767-1818).
Clarke, Mary Cowden, née Novello, of Italian descent, wife of Charles Cowden, assisted her husband in his Shakespeare studies, and produced amid other works “Concordance to Shakespeare,” a work which occupied her 16 years (1809-1898).
Clarke, William George, English man of letters; Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; edited the “Cambridge Shakespeare,” along with Mr. Aldis Wright (1821-1867).
Clarkson, Thomas, philanthropist, born in Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire; the great English anti-slavery advocate, and who lived to see in 1833 the final abolition in the British empire of the slavery he denounced, in which achievement he was assisted by the powerful advocacy in Parliament of Wilberforce (1760-1846).
Classic Races, the English horse-races at Newmarket—Derby, the Oaks, and the St. Leger.
Classics, originally, and often still, the standard authors in the literature of Greece or Rome, now authors in any literature that represent it at its best, when, as Goethe has it, it is “vigorous, fresh, joyous, and healthy,” as in the “Nibelungen,” no less than in the “Iliad.”
Claude, Jean, a French Protestant controversial divine, a powerful antagonist of Bossuet and other Catholic writers, allowed only 24 hours to escape on the eve of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, though other Protestant ministers were allowed 15 days (1619-1687).
Claude Lorraine, a great landscape painter, born in Lorraine, of poor parents, and apprenticed to a pastry-cook; went as such to Rome; became servant and colour-grinder to Tassi, who instructed him in his art; by assiduous study of nature in all her aspects attained to fame; was eminent in his treatment of aërial perspective, and an artist whom it was Turner's ambition to rival; he was eminent as an etcher as well as a painter; Turner left one of his finest works to the English nation on condition that it should hang side by side of a masterpiece of Claude, which it now does; his pictures are found in every gallery in Europe, and a goodly number of them are to be met with in England; there are in the St. Petersburg gallery four pieces of exquisite workmanship, entitled “Morning,” “Noon,” “Evening,” and “Twilight” (1600-1682).
Claudian, a Latin epic poet of the 4th century, born in Alexandria, panegyrist of Stilicho on his victory over Alaric; a not unworthy successor of Catullus and Propertius, though his native tongue was Greek.
Claudius, Appius, a Roman decemvir and patrician in 451 B.C.; outraged Virginia, a beautiful plebeian damsel, whom her father, on discovering of the crime, killed with a knife snatched from a butcher's stall, rousing thereby the popular rage against the decemvir, who was cast into prison, where he put an end to himself, 449 B.C.
Claudius, Appius, censor in 312-307 B.C.; wrought important changes in the Roman constitution; set on foot the construction of the Appian Way and the Appian Aqueduct, named after him.
Claudius I, Tiberius Drusus, surnamed Germanicus, brother of Tiberius, emperor of Rome from 41 to 54, born at Lyons; after spending 50 years of his life in private, occupying himself in literary study, was, on the death of Caligula, raised very much against his wish by the soldiers to the imperial throne, a post which he filled with honour to himself and benefit to the State; but he was too much controlled by his wives, of whom he had in succession four, till the last of them, Agrippina, had him poisoned to make way for her son Nero.
Claudius II., surnamed Gothicus, Roman emperor from 268 to 270; an excellent prince and a good general; distinguished himself by his ability and courage against the Goths and other hordes of barbarians.
Clausel, Bertrand, marshal of France, born at Mirepoix; served under Napoleon in Holland, Italy, Austria, and Spain; was defeated at Salamanca, executing thereafter a masterly retreat; left France for America in 1815 on the fall of Napoleon, to whom he was devoted; returned in 1830, became commander-in-chief in Algeria, and ultimately governor (1772-1842).
Clausewitz, Karl von, a Prussian general, born at Burg; distinguished himself against Napoleon in Russia in 1812; an authority on the art of war, on which he wrote a treatise in three volumes, entitled “Vom Krieg” (1780-1831).
Clausius, Rudolf, an eminent German physicist, born at Köslin, in Pomerania; professor of Natural Philosophy at Bonn; specially distinguished for his contributions to the science of thermo-dynamics, and the application of mathematical methods to the study, as also to electricity and the expansion of gases (1822-1888).
Claverhouse, John Graham of, Viscount Dundee, commenced life as a soldier in France and Holland; on his return to Scotland in 1677 was appointed by Charles II. to the command of a troop to suppress the Covenanters; was defeated at Drumclog 1679, but by the help of Monmouth had his revenge at Bothwell Brig; affected to support the Revolution, but intrigued in favour of the Stuarts; raised in Scotland a force in their behalf; was met at Killiecrankie by General Mackay, where he fell (1643-1689).
Clavière, Minister of Finance in France after Necker, born at Geneva; projector of the Moniteur; friend of Mirabeau; committed suicide in prison (1735-1793).
Clavije`ro, a Jesuit missionary, born in Vera Cruz; laboured for 40 years as missionary in Mexico; on the suppression of his Order went to Italy, and wrote a valuable work on Mexico (1718-1793).
Clavigo, a drama by Goethe in five acts, the first work to which he put his name; was received with disfavour.
Clavileño, Don Quixote's wooden horse.
Clay, Henry, an American statesman, born in Virginia; bred for the bar, and distinguished for his oratory; was for many years Speaker of the House of Representatives; was a supporter of war with Britain in 1812-15, and party to the treaty which ended it; was an advocate of protection; aspired three times unsuccessfully to the Presidency; his public career was a long one, and an honourable (1777-1852).
Clear the Causeway Riots, bickerings in the streets of Edinburgh in 1515 between the rival factions of Angus and Arran, to the utter rout of the former, or the Douglas party.
Cleanthes, a Stoic philosopher, born at Assos, in Troas, of the 3rd century B.C.; wrought as a drawer of water by night that he might earn his fee as pupil of Zeno's by day; became Zeno's successor and the head of his school; regarded “pleasure as a remission of that moral energy of the soul, which alone is happiness, as an interruption to life, and as an evil, which was not in accordance with nature, and no end of nature.”
Clear, Cape, a headland S. of Clear Island, most southerly point of Ireland, and the first land sighted coming from America.
Clearchus, a Spartan general who accompanied Cyrus on his expedition against Artaxerxes; commanded the retreat of the Ten Thousand; was put to death by Tissaphernes in 401 B.C., and replaced by Xenophon.
Clearing-House, a house for interchanging the respective claims of banks and of railway companies.
Cleishbotham, Jedediah, an imaginary editor in Scott's “Tales of My Landlord.”
Clelia, a Roman heroine, who swam the Tiber to escape from Porsenna, whose hostage she was; sent back by the Romans, she was set at liberty, and other hostages along with her, out of admiration on Porsenna's part of both her and her people.
Clemenceaux, Georges Benjamin, French politician, born in La Vendée; bred to medicine; political adversary of Gambetta; proprietor of La Justice, a Paris journal; an expert swordsman; b. 1841.
Clemencet, Charles, a French Benedictine, born near Autun; one of the authors of the great chronological work, “Art de Vérifier les Dates,” and wrote the history of the Port Royal (1703-1778).
Clemencin, Diego, a Spanish statesman and littérateur; his most important work a commentary on “Don Quixote.”
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, an American humorist with the pseudonym of “Mark Twain,” born at Florida, Missouri, U.S.; began his literary career as a newspaper reporter and a lecturer; his first book “The Jumping Frog”; visited Europe, described in the “Innocents Abroad”; married a lady of fortune; wrote largely in his peculiar humorous vein, such as the “Tramp Abroad”; produced a drama entitled the “Gilded Age,” and compiled the “Memoirs of General Grant”; b. 1835.
Clemens Alexandrinus, one of the Greek Fathers of the Church, of the 2nd and 3rd centuries; had Origen for pupil; brought up in Greek philosophy; converted in manhood to Christianity from finding in his appreciation of knowledge over faith confirmations of it in his philosophy, which he still adhered to; his “Stromata” or “Miscellanies” contain facts and quotations found nowhere else.
Clement, the name of 14 Popes: C. I., Pope from 91 to 100; one of the Apostolic Fathers; wrote an Epistle to the Church of Corinth, with references to the Canonical books. C. II., Pope from 1046 to 1047. C. III., Pope from 1187 to 1191. C. IV., Pope from 1265 to 1268. C. V., Bertrand de Goth, Pope from 1305 to 1314; transferred the seat of the Papacy to Avignon, and abolished the Order of the Knights Templars. C. VI. Pope from 1342 to 1352; resided at Avignon. C. VII., Giulio de Medici, Pope from 1523 to 1534; celebrated for his quarrels with Charles V. and Henry VIII., was made prisoner in Rome by the Constable of Bourbon; refused to sanction the divorce of Henry VIII., and brought about the schism of England from the Holy See. C. VIII., Pope from 1592 to 1605; a patron of Tasso's; readmitted Henry IV. to the Church and the Jesuits to France. C. IX., Pope from 1667 to 1669. C. X., Pope from 1670 to 1676. C. XI., Pope from 1700 to 1721; as Francesco Albani opposed the Jansenists; issued the bull Unigenitus against them; supported the Pretender and the claims of the Stuarts. C. XII., Pope from 1738 to 1740. C. XIII., Pope from 1758 to 1769. C. XIV., Pope from 1769 to 1774, Ganganelli, an able, liberal-minded, kind-hearted, and upright man; abolished the Order of the Jesuits out of regard to the peace of the Church; his death occurred not without suspicions of foul-play.
Clement, French critic, born at Dijon, surnamed by Voltaire from his severity the “Inclement” (1742-1812).
Clement, a French manufacturer and savant, born near Dijon; author of a memoir on the specific heat of the gases (1779-1841).
Clement, Jacques, a Dominican monk; assassinated Henry III. of France in 1589.
Clement, St., St. Paul's coadjutor, the patron saint of tanners; his symbol an anchor.
Clementi, Muzio, a musical composer, especially of pieces for the pianoforte, born in Rome; was the father of pianoforte music; one of the foremost pianists of his day; was buried in Westminster (1752-1832).
Clementine, the Lady, a lady, accomplished and beautiful, in Richardson's novel, “Sir Charles Grandison,” in love with Sir Charles, who marries another he has no partiality for.
Cleobulus, one of the seven sages of Greece; friend of Plato; wrote lyrics and riddles in verse, 530 B.C.
Cleom`brotus, a philosopher of Epirus, so fascinated with Plato's “Phædon” that he leapt into the sea in the expectation that he would thereby exchange this life for a better.
Cleome`des, a Greek astronomer of the 1st or 2nd century; author of a treatise which regards the sun as the centre of the solar system and the earth as a globe.
Cleomenes, the name of three Spartan kings.
Cleomenes, an Athenian sculptor, who, as appears from an inscription on the pedestal, executed the statue of the Venus de Medici towards 220 B.C.
Cleon, an Athenian demagogue, surnamed the Tanner, from his profession, which he forsook that he might champion the rights of the people; rose in popular esteem by his victory over the Spartans, but being sent against Brasidas, the Spartan general, was defeated and fell in the battle, 422 B.C.; is regarded by Thucydides with disfavour, and by Aristophanes with contempt, but both these writers were of the aristocracy, and possibly prejudiced, though the object of their disfavour had many of the marks of the vulgar agitator, and stands for the type of one.
Cleopa`tra, Queen of Egypt, a woman distinguished for her beauty, her charms, and her amours; first fascinated Cæsar, to whom she bore a son, and whom she accompanied to Rome, and after Cæsar's death took Mark Antony captive, on whose fall and suicide at Actium she killed herself by applying an asp to her arm, to escape the shame of being taken to Rome to grace the triumph of the victor (69-30 B.C.).
Cleopatra's Needle, an obelisk of 186 tons weight and 68½ ft. high, brought from Alexandria to London in 1878, and erected on the Thames Embankment, London.
Clerc, or Leclerc, Jean, a French theologian of the Arminian school, born at Geneva; a prolific author; wrote commentaries on all the books of the Old Testament, on lines since followed by the Rationalist school or Neologians of Germany (1657-1736).
Clerfayt, Comte de, an Austrian general, distinguished in the Seven Years' War; commanded with less success the Austrian army against the French armies of the Revolution (1733-1798).
Clerk, John, of Eldin, of the Penicuik family, an Edinburgh merchant, first suggested the naval manoeuvre of “breaking the enemy's lines,” which was first successfully adopted against the French in 1782 (1728-1812).
Clerk, John, son of preceding, a Scottish judge, under the title of Lord Eldin, long remembered in Edinburgh for his wit (1757-1832).
Clerkenwell (66), a parish in Finsbury, London, originally an aristocratic quarter, now the centre of the manufacture of jewellery and watches.
Clermont, Robert, Comte de, sixth son of St. Louis, head of the house of Bourbon.
Clermont Ferrand (45), the ancient capital of Auvergne and chief town of the dep. Puy-de-Dôme; the birthplace of Pascal, Gregory of Tours, and Dessaix, and where, in 1095, Pope Urban II. convoked a council and decided on the first Crusade; it has been the scene of seven Church Councils.
Clermont-Tonnerre, Marquis, minister of France under the Restoration of the Bourbons (1779-1865).
Clery, Louis XVI.'s valet, who waited on him in his last hours, and has left an account of what he saw of his touching farewell with his family.
Cleveland, a hilly district in the North Riding of Yorkshire, rich in iron-stone.
Cleveland (381), the second city of Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie, 230 m. NE. of Cincinnati; is built on a plain considerably above the level of the lake; the winding Cuyahoga River divides it into two parts, and the industrial quarters are on the lower level of its banks; the city is noted for its wealth of trees in the streets and parks, hence called “The Forest City,” and for the absence of tenement houses; it has a university, several colleges, and two libraries; it is the terminus of the Ohio Canal and of seven railways, and the iron ore of Lake Superior shores, the limestone of Lake Erie Islands, and the Ohio coal are brought together here, and every variety of iron manufacture carried on; there is a great lumber market, and an extensive general trade.
Cleveland, Grover, President of the United States, born in New Jersey, son of a Presbyterian minister; bred for the bar; became President in the Democratic interest in 1885; unseated for his free-trade leaning by Senator Harrison, 1889; became the President a second time in 1893; retired in 1897.
Cleveland, John, partisan of Charles I.; imprisoned for abetting the Royalist cause against the Parliament, but after some time set at liberty in consequence of a letter he wrote to Cromwell pleading that he was a poor man, and that in his poverty he suffered enough; he was a poet, and used his satirical faculty in a political interest, one of his satires being an onslaught on the Scots for betraying Charles I.; d. 1650.
Clèves (10), a Prussian town 46 m. NW. of Düsseldorf, once the capital of a duchy connected by a canal with the Rhine; manufactures textile fabrics and tobacco.
Clichy (30), a manufacturing suburb of Paris, on the NW. and right bank of the Seine.
Clifford, George, Earl of Cumberland, a distinguished naval commander under Queen Elizabeth, and one of her favourites (1558-1605).
Clifford, John, D.D., Baptist minister in London, author of “Is Life Worth Living?” b. 1836.
Clifford, Paul, a highwayman, the subject of a novel by Bulwer Lytton, who was subdued and reformed by the power of love.
Clifton (13), a fashionable suburb of Bristol, resorted to as a watering-place; romantically situated on the sides and crest of high cliffs, whence it name.
Climacteric, the Grand, the 63rd year of a man's life, and the average limit of it; a climacteric being every seven years of one's life, and reckoned critical.
Clinker, Humphry, the hero of Smollett's novel, a poor waif, reduced to want, who attracts the notice of Mr. Bramble, marries Mrs. Bramble's maid, and proves a natural son of Mr. Bramble.
Clinton, George, American general and statesman; was governor of New York; became Vice-President in 1804 (1739-1812).
Clinton, Sir Henry, an English general; commanded in the American war; censured for failure in the war; wrote an exculpation, which was accepted (1738-1795).
Clinton, Henry Fynes, a distinguished chronologist, author of “Fasti Hellenici” and “Fasti Romani” (1781-1852).
Clio, the muse of history and epic poetry, represented as seated with a half-opened scroll in her hand.
Clisson, Olivier de, constable of France under Charles VI.; companion in arms of Du Gueselin, and victor at Roosebeke (1326-1407).
Clisthenes, an Athenian, uncle of Pericles, procured the expulsion of Hippias the tyrant, 510 B.C., and the establishment of Ostracism (q. v.).
Clitus, a general of Alexander, and his friend, who saved his life at the battle of Granicus, but whom, at a banquet, he killed when heated with wine, to his inconsolable grief ever afterwards.
Clive, Robert, Lord Clive and Baron Plassey, the founder of the dominion of Britain in India, born in Shropshire; at 19 went out a clerk in the East India Company's service, but quitted his employment in that capacity for the army; distinguishing himself against the rajah of Tanjore, was appointed commissary; advised an attack on Arcot, in the Carnatic, in 1751; took it from and held it against the French, after which, and other brilliant successes, he returned to England, and was made lieutenant-colonel in the king's service; went out again, and marched against the nabob Surajah Dowlah, and overthrew him at the battle of Plassey, 1757; established the British power in Calcutta, and was raised to the peerage; finally returned to England possessed of great wealth, which exposed him to the accusation of having abused his power; the accusation failed; in his grief he took to opium, and committed suicide (1725-1774).
Clodius, a profligate Roman patrician; notorious as the enemy of Cicero, whose banishment he procured; was killed by the tribune Milo, 52 B.C.
Clodomir, the second son of Clovis, king of Orleans from 511 to 524; fell fighting with his rivals; his children, all but one, were put to death by their uncles, Clotaire and Childebert.
Clootz, Anacharsis, Baron Jean Baptiste de Clootz, a French Revolutionary, born at Clèves; “world-citizen”; his faith that “a world federation is possible, under all manner of customs, provided they hold men”; his pronomen Anacharsis suggested by his resemblance to an ancient Scythian prince who had like him a cosmopolitan spirit; was one of the founders of the worship of Reason, and styled himself the “orator of the human race”; distinguished himself at the great Federation, celebrated on the Champ de Mars, by entering the hall on the great Federation Day, June 19, 1790, “with the human species at his heels”; was guillotined under protest in the name of the human race (1755-1794).
Clorinda, a female Saracen knight sent against the Crusaders, whom Tancred fell in love with, but slew on an encounter at night; before expiring she received Christian baptism at his hands.
Clotaire I., son and successor of Clovis, king of the Franks from 558; cruel and sanguinary; along with Childebert murdered the sons of his brother Clodomir. C. II., son of Chilpéric and Fredigonda, king of the Franks from 613 to 628; caused Brunhilda to be torn in pieces. C. III., son of Clovis II., King of Neustria and Burgundy from 656 to 670. C. IV., king of ditto from 717 to 720.
Clothes, Carlyle's name in “Sartor Resartus” for the guises which the spirit, especially of man, weaves for itself and wears, and by which it both conceals itself in shame and reveals itself in grace.
Clotho, that one of the three Fates which spins the thread of human destiny.
Clotilda, St., the wife of Clovis I.; persuaded her husband to profess Christianity; retired into a monastery at Tours when he died (475-545). Festival, June 3.
Cloud, St., the patron saint of smiths.
Cloud, St., or Clodoald, third son of Clodomir, who escaped the fate of his brothers, and retired from the world to a spot on the left bank of the Seine, 6 m. SW. of Paris, named St. Cloud after him.
Clouds, The, the play in which Aristophanes exposes Socrates to ridicule.
Clough, Arthur Hugh, a lyric poet, born at Liverpool; son of a cotton merchant; educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, whom he held in the highest regard; was at Oxford, as a Fellow of Oriel, at the time of the Tractarian movement, which he arrayed himself against, and at length turned his back upon and tore himself away from by foreign travel; on his return he was appointed examiner in the Education Office; falling ill from overwork he went abroad again, and died at Florence; he was all alive to the tendencies of the time, and his lyrics show his sense of these, and how he fronted them; in the speculative scepticism of the time his only refuge and safety-anchor was duty; Matthew Arnold has written in his “Thyrsis” a tribute to his memory such as has been written over few; his best-known poem is “The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich” (1819-1861).
Clovis I., king of the Franks, son of Childéric I.; conquered the Romans at Soissons 486, which he made his centre; married Clotilda (q. v.) 493; beat the Germans near Cologne 496, by assistance, as he believed, of the God of Clotilda, after which he was baptized by St. Remi at Rheims; and overthrew the Visigoths under Alaric II. near Poitiers in 507, after which victories he made Paris his capital. C. II., son of Dagobert; was king of Neustria and Burgundy from 638 to 656. C. Ill, son of Thierry III., and king of ditto from 691 to 695, and had Pépin d'Héristal for mayor of the palace.
Cluny (3), a town in the dep. of Saône-et-Loire, on an affluent of the Saône; renowned in the Middle Ages for its Benedictine abbey, founded in 910, and the most celebrated in Europe, having been the mother establishment of 2000 others of the like elsewhere; in ecclesiastical importance it stood second to Rome, and its abbey church second to none prior to the erection of St. Peter's; a great normal school was established here in 1865.
Clusium, the ancient capital of Etruria and Porsenna's.
Clutha, the largest river in New Zealand, in Otago, very deep and rapid, and 200 m. long.
Clutterbuck, the imaginary author of the “Fortunes of Nigel,” and the patron to whom the “Abbot” is dedicated.
Clyde, a river in the W. of Scotland which falls into a large inlet or firth, as it is called, the commerce on which extends over the world, and on the banks of which are shipbuilding yards second to none in any other country; it is deepened as far as Glasgow for ships of a heavy tonnage.
Clyde, Lord. See Campbell, Colin.
Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, and the mother of Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes; killed her husband, and was killed by her son, Orestes, seven years after.
Clytie, a nymph in love with Apollo, god of the sun, who did not respond to her; but, with all the passion he durst show to her, turned her into a sunflower.
Coanza, a W. African river, which rises in the Mossamba Mountains, falling into the sea after a course of 600 m.; owing to falls is navigable for only 140 m. from its mouth.
Coast Range, a range in the U.S., W. of the Sierra Nevada, parallel to it, with the Sacramento Valley between.
Cobbett, William, a political and miscellaneous writer, born at Farnham, Sussex; commenced life as a farm labourer, and then as copying clerk; enlisted, and saw seven years' service in Nova Scotia; being discharged, travelled in France and America; on his return started the Weekly Register, at first Tory, then Radical; published a libel against the Government, for which he was imprisoned; on his release issued his Register at a low price, to the immense increase of its circulation; vain attempts were made to crush him, against which he never ceased to protest; after the passing of the Reform Bill he got into Parliament, but made no mark; his writings were numerous, and include his “Grammar,” his “Cottage Economy,” his “Rural Rides,” and his “Advice to Young Men”; his political opinions were extreme, but his English was admirable (1762-1835).
Cobbler Poet, Hans Sachs (q. v.).
Cobden, Richard, a great political economist and the Apostle of Free Trade, born near Midhurst, Sussex; became partner in a cotton-trading firm in Manchester; made a tour on the Continent and America in the interest of political economy; on the formation of the Corn-Law League in 1838, gave himself heart and soul to the abolition of the Corn Laws; became Member of Parliament for Stockport in 1841; on the conversion of Sir Robert Peel to Free-Trade principles saw these laws abolished in 1846; for his services in this cause he received the homage of his country as well as of Continental nations, but refused all civic honours, and finished his political career by negotiating a commercial treaty with France (1804-1865).
Cobentzell, Comte de, an Austrian diplomatist, born at Brussels; negotiated the treaties of Campo Formio and Lunéville; founded the Academy of Sciences at Brussels (1753-1808).
Coblenz (32), a fortified city, manufacturing and trading town, in Prussia, at the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle, so called as at the confluence of the two; opposite it is Ehrenbreitstein.
Coburg (18), capital of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, on the Itz, the old castle on a height 500 ft. above the town; gave shelter to Luther in 1530, and was besieged by Wallenstein.
Coburg, field-marshal of Austria; vanquished Dumouriez at Neerwinden; was conquered by Moreau and Jourdan (1737-1815).
Cocaine, an alkaloid from the leaf of the coca plant, used as an anæsthetic.
Cocceius, or Koch, Johann, a Dutch divine, professor at Leyden; held that the Old Testament was a type or foreshadow of the New, and was the founder of the federal theology, or the doctrine that God entered into a threefold compact with man, first prior to the law, second under the law, and third under grace (1603-1669).
Cocceji, Henry, learned German jurist, born at Bremen; an authority on civil law; was professor of law at Frankfurt (1644-1719).
Cocceji, Samuel, son of the preceding; Minister of Justice and Chancellor of Prussia under Frederick the Great; a prince of lawyers, and “a very Hercules in cleansing law stables” as law-reformer (1679-1755).
Cochabamba (14), a high-lying city of Bolivia, capital of a department of the name; has a trade in grain and fruits.
Cochin (722), a native state in India N. of Travancore, cooped up between W. Ghâts and the Arabian Sea, with a capital of the same name, where Vasco da Gama died; the first Christian church in India was built here, and there is here a colony of black Jews.
Cochin-China (2,034), the region E. of the Mekong, or Annam proper, called High Cochin-China (capital Hué), and Low Cochin-China, a State S. of Indo-China, and S. of Cambodia and Annam; belonging to France, with an unhealthy climate; rice the chief crop; grows also teak, cotton, &c.; capital Saigon.
Cochlæus, Johann, an able and bitter antagonist of Luther's; d. 1592.
Cochrane, the name of several English naval officers of the Dundonald family; Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis (1758-1832); Sir Thomas John, his son (1798-1872); and Thomas, Lord. See Dundonald.
Cock Lane Ghost, a ghost which was reported in a lane of the name in Smithfield, London, in 1762, to the excitement of the public, due to a girl rapping on a board in bed.
Cockaigne, an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, from a satirical poem of that name (coquina, a kitchen), where the monks live in an abbey built of pasties, the rivers run with wine, and the geese fly through the air ready roasted. The name has been applied to London and Paris.
Cockatrice, a monster with the wings of a fowl, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a cock; alleged to have been hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg; its breath and its fatal look are in mediæval art the emblem of sin.
Cockburn, Sir Alexander, Lord Chief-Justice of England from 1859; called to the bar in 1829; became Liberal member for Southampton in 1847, and Solicitor-General in 1850; was prosecutor in the Palmer case, judge in the Tichborne, and an arbitrator in the Alabama (1802-1880).
Cockburn, Alison, author of “Flowers of the Forest”; in her day the leader of Edinburgh society; was acquainted with Burns, and recognised in his boyhood the genius of Scott (1713-1795).
Cockburn, Sir George, an English admiral, born in London; rose by rapid stages to be captain of a frigate; took an active part in the expedition to the Scheldt, in the defence of Cadiz, and of the coast of Spain; was second in command of the expedition against the United States; returned to England in 1815, and was selected to convey Napoleon to St. Helena (1771-1853).
Cockburn, Henry, Lord, an eminent Scotch judge, born in Edinburgh; called to the bar in 1800; one of the first contributors to the Edinburgh Review; was Solicitor-General for Scotland in 1830, and appointed a judge four years after; was a friend and colleague of Lord Jeffrey; wrote Jeffrey's Life, and left “Memorials of His Own Time” and “Journals”; he was a man of refined tastes, shrewd common-sense, quiet humour, and a great lover of his native city and its memories; described by Carlyle as “a bright, cheery-voiced, hazel-eyed man; a Scotch dialect with plenty of good logic in it, and of practical sagacity; a gentleman, and perfectly in the Scotch type, perhaps the very last of that peculiar species” (1779-1854).
Cocker, Edward, an arithmetician, and a schoolmaster by profession; wrote an arithmetic, published after his death, long the text-book on the subject, and a model of its kind; gave rise to the phrase “according to Cocker” (1631-1672).
Cockney, a word of uncertain derivation, but meaning one born and bred in London, and knowing little or nothing beyond it, and betraying his limits by his ideas, manners, and accent.
Cockney School, a literary school, so called by Lockhart, as inspired with the idea that London is the centre of civilisation, and including Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, and others.
Cockpit of Europe, Belgium, as the scene of so many battles between the Powers of Europe.
Cockton, Henry, a novelist, born in London, author of “Valentine Vox” (1807-1853).
Cocles, Horatius, a Roman who defended a bridge against the army of Porsenna till the bridge was cut down behind him, when he leapt into the river and swam across scatheless amid the darts of the enemy.
Cocos Islands, a group of 20 small coral islands about 700 m. SW. of Sumatra.
Cocytus, a dark river which environed Tartarus with bitter and muddy waters.
Codrington, Sir Edward, a British admiral; entered the navy at 13; served under Howe at Brest, in the capacity of captain of the Orion at Trafalgar, in the Walcheren expedition, in North America, and at Navarino in 1827, when the Turkish fleet was destroyed; served also in Parliament from 1832 to 1839, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth (1770-1851).
Codrington, Sir William John, a British general; served in the Crimean war, and Commander-in-Chief after the death of General Simpson (1800-1884).
Codrus, the last king of Athens; sacrificed his life to fulfil an oracle, which promised victory to the side whose king fell in an engagement between the Athenians and Dorians in 1132 B.C.
Coehoorn, Baron van, a Dutch military engineer; fortified Namur, and defended it against Vauban; was successful in besieging many towns during the war of the Spanish Succession; author of a treatise on fortification (1641-1704).
Coelebs (a bachelor), the title of a novel by Hannah More.
Coele-Syria (the Howe of Syria), or El Buka'a, a valley between the Lebanons, about 100 m. long by 10 m. broad.
Coelian, one of the seven hills of Rome, S. of the Capitoline.
Coello, the name of two Spanish painters in the 16th and 17th centuries, whose works are in the Escurial.
Coeur, Jacques, a rich merchant of Bourges, financier to Charles VII., for whom he provided the sinews of war against the English, but who banished him at the instigation of detractors; he was reinstated under Louis XI. (1400-1456).
Coeur de Lion (lion-hearted), a surname on account of their courage given to Richard I. of England (1151), Louis VIII. of France (1181), and Boselas I. of Poland (960).
Cogito, ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes' principle of certainty, and on which, as on a stable basis, he reared his whole philosophy. See Descartes. “Alas, poor cogitator,” Carlyle exclaims, “this takes us but a little way. Sure enough, I am; and lately was not; but Whence? How? Whereto?”
Cognac (17), a French town in the dep. of Charente, birthplace of Francis I.; famous for its vines and the manufacture of brandy.
Cogniet, a French painter, author of “Tintoret painting his Dead Daughter” (1794-1880).
Coila, a poetic name for Kyle, the central district of Ayrshire.
Coimbatore (46), a town of strategic importance in the Madras Presidency, 30 m. SW. of Madras, situated in a gorge of the Ghâts, 1437 ft. above the sea-level, in a district (2,004) of the same name.
Coimbra (14), a rainy town in Portugal, of historical interest, 110 m. NNE. of Lisbon, with a celebrated university, in which George Buchanan was a professor, where he was accused of heresy and thrown into prison, and where he translated the Psalms into Latin.
Coke, coal with a residue of carbon and earthy matter after the volatile constituents are driven off by heat in closed spaces.
Coke, Sir Edward, Lord Chief-Justice of England, born at Milcham, Norfolk; being a learned lawyer, rose rapidly at the bar and in offices connected therewith; became Lord Chief-Justice in 1613; was deposed in 1617 for opposing the king's wishes; sat in his first and third Parliaments, and took a leading part in drawing up the Petition of Rights; spent the last three years of his life in revising his works, his “Institutes,” known as “Coke upon Littleton,” and his valuable “Reports” (1549-1634).
Colbert, Jean Baptiste, a French statesman, of Scotch descent, born in Rheims, the son of a clothier; introduced to Louis XIV. by Mazarin, then first minister; he was appointed Controller-General of the Finances after the fall of Fouquet, and by degrees made his influence felt in all the departments of State affairs; he favoured, by protectionist measures—free trade not yet being heard of—French industry and commerce; was to the French marine what Louvois was to the army, and encouraged both arts and letters; from 1671 his influence began to decline; he was held responsible for increased taxation due to Louis XIV.'s wars, while the jealousy of Louvois weakened his credit at Court; he became so unpopular that on his death his body was buried at night, but a grateful posterity has recognised his services, and done homage to his memory as one of the greatest ministers France ever had (1619-1683).
Colburn, Zerah, an American youth, with an astonishing power of calculation, born in Vermont, and exhibited as such, a faculty which he lost when he grew up to manhood (1804-1840).
Colchester (35), the largest town in Essex, 51 m. from London, on the right bank of the Colne, of great antiquity, and with Roman remains; has been long famous for its oyster fishery; has silk manufactures; is the port of outlet of a large corn-growing district.
Colchester, Charles Abbot, Lord, English statesman; sometime Chief Secretary of Ireland, and Speaker of the House of Commons; raised to the peerage in response to an address of the House of Commons (1757-1829).
Colchis, a district on the E. of the Black Sea, and S. of Caucasus, where the Argonauts, according to Greek tradition, found and conquered the Golden Fleece; the natives had a reputation for witchcraft and sorcery.
Coldstream Guards, one of the three regiments of Foot Guards; was raised by General Monk in Scotland in 1660, and marched under him from Coldstream to place Charles II. on the throne; originally called Monk's regiment.
Cole, Henry an English ecclesiastical zealot, who held handsome preferments under Henry VIII. and Mary, but was stripped of them under Edward VI. and Elizabeth.
Cole, King, a legendary jovial British king, celebrated in song.
Colebrooke, Henry Thomas, a celebrated Indianist, born in London; served under the East India Company, and devoted his spare time to Indian literature; studied the Sanskrit language, wrote on the Vedas, translated the “Digest of Hindu Law” compiled by Sir William Jones, compiled a Sanskrit Dictionary, and wrote various treatises on the law and philosophy of the Hindus; he was one of the first scholars in Europe to reveal the treasures that lay hid in the literature of the East (1765-1837).
Colenso, Dr., an English clergyman and mathematician; was appointed bishop of Natal in 1845; applied himself to the study of the Zulu language, and translated parts of the Bible and Prayer-book into it; calling in question the accuracy and Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, was deposed by his metropolitan, which deposition was declared null and void by the Privy Council; besides his theological work, produced text-books on arithmetic and algebra; died at Durban, Natal; he favoured the cause of the Zulus against the Boers, and did his utmost to avert the Zulu war (1814-1883).
Coleridge, Hartley, an English man of letters, eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born at Clevedon, Somerset; lived with his father in the Lake District, and grew up in the society of Wordsworth, De Quincey, and others; gained a Fellowship at Oxford, but forfeited it through intemperance; tried school-mastering at Ambleside, but failed, and took to literature, in which he did some excellent work, both in prose and poetry, though he led all along a very irregular life; had his father's weaknesses, and not a little of his ability; his best memorials as a poet are his sonnets, of which two have been especially admired, “The Soul of Man is Larger than the Sky,” and “When I Survey the Course I have Run” (1796-1849).
Coleridge, Henry Nelson, nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and a great admirer; editor of many of his works, his “Table Talk” in especial (1800-1843).
Coleridge, John Duke, Lord, an English lawyer, cousin of Hartley Coleridge; after serving in inferior appointments, appointed Lord Chief-Justice of England in 1880; when at the bar he was prominent in connection with Tichborne case.
Coleridge, Sir John Taylor, an English judge, nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; was editor of the Quarterly, edited “Blackstone,” &c.; wrote a “Memoir of the Rev. John Keble” (1790-1876).
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, poet, philosopher, and critic, born in Devonshire; passionately devoted to classical and metaphysical studies; educated at Christ's Hospital; had Charles Lamb for schoolmate; at Cambridge devoted himself to classics; falling into debt enlisted as a soldier, and was, after four months, bought off by his friends; gave himself up to a literary life; married, and took up house near Wordsworth, in Somersetshire, where he produced the “Ancient Mariner,” “Christabel,” and “Remorse”; preached occasionally in Unitarian pulpits; visited Germany and other parts of the Continent; lectured in London in 1808; when there took to opium, broke off the habit in 1816, and went to stay with the Gillmans at Highgate as their guest, under whose roof, after four years' confinement to a sick-room, he died; among his works were “The Friend,” his “Biographia Literaria,” “Aids to Reflection,” &c., published in his lifetime, and “Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit,” “Literary Remains,” and “Table Talk” after his death; he was a man of subtle and large intellect, and exercised a great influence on the thinkers of his time, though in no case was the influence a decisive one, as it had the most opposite effects on different minds; his philosophy was hazy, and his life was without aim, “once more the tragic story of a high endowment with an insufficient will” (1772-1834). See Carlyle's estimate of him in the “Life of Sterling.”
Coleridge, Sarah, poetess, only daughter of preceding; her sole poem, “Phantasmion”; left “Letters” of interest (1803-1852).
Coles, Cowper Phipps, an English naval captain and architect; entered the navy at 11; distinguished himself at Sebastopol; designer of the turret-ship the Captain, which capsized off Finisterre, himself on board, and drowned with a crew of 500 men (1819-1870).
Colet, John, dean of St. Paul's, a patron of learning, a friend and scholar of Erasmus, a liberal and much persecuted man; far in advance of his time; founded and endowed St. Paul's School; wrote a number of works, chiefly theological, and “Letters to Erasmus”' (1466-1519).
Colet, Louise, a French literary lady, born at Aix; wrote numerous works for the young (1808-1876).
Coligny, Gaspard de, French admiral, born at Châtillon; a leader of the Huguenots; began his life and distinguished himself as a soldier; when the Guises came into power he busied himself in procuring toleration for the Huguenots, and succeeded in securing in their behalf what is known as the Pacification of Amboise, but on St. Bartholomew's Eve he fell the first victim to the conspiracy in his bed; was thrown out of the window, and exposed to every manner of indignity in the streets, though it is hard to believe that the Duke of Guise, as is said, demeaned himself to kick the still living body (1517-1572).
Colima (25), capital of a State of the same name in Mexico.
Colin Clout, the name Spenser assumes in the “Shepherd's Calendar.”
Colin Tampon, the nickname of a Swiss, as John Bull of an Englishman.
Colise`um, a magnificent amphitheatre in Rome, begun under Vespasian and finished under Titus; it rose from the area by 80 tiers of seats, and could contain 80,000 spectators; it was here the gladiators fought with wild beasts, and also the early Christians.
Collatinus, the nephew of Tarquinius Priscus, the husband of Lucretia, and with Brutus, her avenger, the first consul of Rome.
Collectivism, the Socialistic doctrine that industry should be carried on by capital as the joint property of the community.
Collège de France, an institution founded at Paris by Francis I. in 1530, where instruction is given to advanced students in several departments of knowledge.
Collier, Arthur, an English metaphysician, born in Wilts; studied Descartes and Malebranche, and who, anticipating Berkeley, published a “Demonstration of the Non-Existence and the Impossibility of an External World” (1680-1732). See Berkeley.
Collier, Jeremy, an English non-juring divine, refused to take oath at the Revolution; was imprisoned for advocating the rights of the Stuarts; had to flee the country at length, and was outlawed; wrote with effect against “The Profaneness and Immorality of the Stage,” as well as an “Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain,” and a translation of the “Meditations of Marcus Aurelius” (1650-1726).
Collier, John Payne, a Shakespearian commentator and critic; wrote a great deal on various subjects, but got into trouble by his emendations of Shakespeare (1789-1883).
Collingwood, Cuthbert, Lord, a celebrated English admiral, entered the navy at 13; his career was intimately connected all along with that of Nelson; succeeded in command when Nelson fell at Trafalgar, and when he died himself, which happened at sea, his body was brought home and buried beside Nelson's in St. Paul's Cathedral (1740-1810).
Collins, Anthony, an English deist, an intimate friend of Locke; his principal works were “Discourse on Freethinking,” “Philosophical Inquiry into Liberty and Necessity,” and “Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion,” which gave rise to much controversy; he was a necessitarian, and argued against revelation (1676-1729).
Collins, Mortimer, a versatile genius, born at Plymouth; wrote poems, novels, and essays; was the author of “Who was the Heir?” and “Sweet Anne Page”; was a tall, handsome man, fond of athletics, a delightful companion, and dear to his friends (1827-1876).
Collins, Wilkie, English novelist, son of the succeeding, born in London; tried business, then law, and finally settled to literature; his novel “The Woman in White” was the first to take with the public, and was preceded and succeeded by others which have ensured for him a high place among the writers of fiction (1824-1889).
Collins, William, a gifted and ill-fated English poet, born at Chichester; settled in London; fell into dissipated habits and straitened circumstances; had £2000 left him by an uncle, but both health and spirits were broken, and he died in mental imbecility; his “Odes” have not been surpassed, among which the most celebrated are the “Odes to the Passions,” to “Simplicity,” and to “Evening” (1720-1756).
Collins, William, R.A., a distinguished English painter, born in London; he made his reputation by his treatment of coast and cottage scenes, and though he tried his skill in other subjects, it was in the subjects he started with that he achieved his greatest triumphs; among his best-known works are “The Blackberry Gatherers,” “As Happy as a King,” “The Fisherman's Daughter,” and “The Bird-Catchers” (1788-1847).
Collinson, Peter, an English horticulturist, to whom we are indebted for the introduction into the country of many ornamental shrubs (1694-1768).
Collot d'Herbois, Jean Marie, a violent French Revolutionary, originally a tragic actor, once hissed off the Lyons stage, “tearing a passion to rags”; had his revenge by a wholesale butchery there; marched 209 men across the Rhône to be shot; by-and-by was banished beyond seas to Cayenne, and soon died there (1750-1790).
Collyer, Joseph, an eminent stipple engraver, born in London (1768-1827).
Colman, George, an English dramatist, born at Florence; bred for and called to the bar; author of a comedy entitled “The Jealous Wife,” also of “The Clandestine Marriage”; became manager of Drury Lane, then of the Haymarket (1733-1794).
Colman, George, son of the preceding, and his successor in the Haymarket; author of “The Iron Chest,” “John Bull,” “The Heir at Law,” &c. (1762-1836).
Colmar (30), the chief town of Upper Alsace, on the Lauch, on a plain near the Vosges, 42 m. SW. of Strasburg; passed into the hands of the French by treaty of Ryswick in 1697, was ceded to Germany in 1871.
Colocetronis, a Greek patriot, born in Messina, distinguished himself in the War of Independence, which he chiefly contributed to carry through to a successful issue (1770-1843).
Cologne (282), in German Köln, capital of Rhenish Prussia, and a fortress of first rank, on the left bank of the Rhine, 175 m. SE. of Rotterdam; is a busy commercial city, and is engaged in eau-de-Cologne, sugar, tobacco, and other manufactures. It has some fine old buildings, and a picture gallery; but its glory is its great cathedral, founded in the 9th century, burnt in 1248, since which time the rebuilding was carried on at intervals, and only completed in 1880; it is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture.
Cologne, The Three Kings of, the three Magi who paid homage to the infant Christ, and whose bones were consigned to the archbishop in 1164; they were called Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
Colombia (4,000), a federal republic of nine States, occupying the isthmus of Panama and the NW. corner of S. America, between Venezuela and Ecuador. The country, nearly three times the size of France, though it has only a ninth of the population, comprises in the W. three chains of the Andes and the plateaus between them, in the E. plains well watered by tributaries of the Orinoco. The upper valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca are the centres of population, where the climate is delightful, and grain grows. Every climate is found in Colombia, from the tropical heats of the plains to the Arctic cold of the mountains. Natural productions are as various: the exports include valuable timbers and dye-woods, cinchona bark, coffee, cacao, cotton, and silver ore. Most of the trade is with Britain and the United States. Manufactures are inconsiderable. The mineral wealth is very great, but little wrought. The Panama Railway, from Colon to Panama, connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and is a most important highway of commerce. The people are descendants of Spaniards and Indians; education is meagre, but compulsory; the State Church is Roman Catholic. The capital is Bogotá. Panama and Cartagena the chief ports.
Colombo (126), the capital of Ceylon, and the chief port on the W. coast; it is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and on the other by a lake and moat; is supplied with water and gas; has many fine buildings; has a very mixed population, and has belonged to Britain since 1796; communicates with Kandy by railway.
Colon, a town at the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railway. See Aspinwall.
Colonna, an illustrious Italian family, to which belonged popes, cardinals, and generals.
Colonna, Victoria, a poetess, married to a member of the above family, who consoled herself for his early death by cultivating her poetic gift; one of her most devoted friends was Michael Angelo (1490-1547).
Colonne, Edouard, musical conductor, born at Bordeaux, conductor of what are known as “Colonne Concerts”; b. 1838.
Colonus, a demos of Attica, a mile NW. of Athens, the birthplace of Sophocles.
Colophon, an Ionian city in Asia Minor, N. of Ephesus, is supposed to give name to the device at the end of books, the cavalry of the place being famous for giving the finishing stroke to a battle.
Colora`do (412), an inland State of the American Union, traversed by the Rocky Mountains, and watered by the upper reaches of the S. Platte and Arkansas Rivers, is twice as large as England. The mountains are the highest in the States (13,000 to 14,000 ft.), are traversed by lofty passes through which the railways run, have rich spacious valleys or parks among them, and have great deposits of gold, silver, lead, and iron. There are also extensive coal-beds; hence the leading industries are mining and iron working. The eastern portion is a level, treeless plain, adapted for grazing. Agriculture, carried on with irrigation, suffers from insect plagues like the Colorado potato beetle. The climate is dry and clear, and attracts invalids. Acquired partly from France in 1804, and the rest from Mexico in 1848; the territory was organised in 1861, and admitted to the Union in 1876. The capital is Denver (107). There is a small Spanish-speaking population in the S.
Colossæ, a city in the S. of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, and the site of one of the earliest Christian churches.
Colossians, The Epistle to the, by St. Paul, directed mainly against two errors of that early date, that the fleshly nature of man is no adequate vehicle for the reception and revelation of the divine nature, and that for redemption recourse must be had to direct mortification of the flesh.
Colossus, any gigantic statue, specially one of Apollo in bronze, 120 ft. high, astride over the mouth of the harbour at Rhodes, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world, erected in 280 B.C., destroyed by an earthquake 56 years after, and sold to a Jew centuries later for old metal; besides this are celebrated the statue of Memnon at Thebes, the Colossi of Athene in the Parthenon at Athens, and of Zeus at Olympia and at Tarentum, as well as others of modern date; for instance, Germania, 112 ft. high, in the Niederwald, and Liberty enlightening the World, 160 ft. high, in New York harbour.
Colot, the name of a family of French surgeons in the 16th and 17th century, distinguished for their skill in operating in the case of stone.
Colour-blindness, inability, still unaccounted for, to distinguish between colours, and especially between red and green, more common among men than women; a serious disqualification for several occupations, such as those connected with the study of signals.
Colour-sergeant, a sergeant whose duty is to guard the colours and those who carry them.
Colquhoun, John, a noted sportsman and writer on sport in Scotland, born in Edinburgh (1805-1885).
Colston, Edward, an English philanthropist, founded and endowed a school in Bristol for the education of 100 boys, as well as almshouses elsewhere (1636-1721).
Colt, Samuel, the inventor of the revolver, born in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.; having difficulty in raising money to carry out his invention it proved a commercial failure, but being adopted by the Government in the Mexican war it proved a success, since which time it has been everywhere in use (1814-1862).
Columba, St., the apostle of Christianity to the Scots, born in Donegal; coming to Scotland about 563, in his forty-second year, founded a monastery in Iona, and made it the centre of his evangelistic operations, in which work he was occupied incessantly till 596, when his health began to fail, and he breathed his last kneeling before the altar, June 9, 597.
Columban, St., an Irish missionary, who, with twelve companions, settled in Gaul in 585; founded two monasteries, but was banished for the offence of rebuking the king; went to Italy, founded a monastery at Bobbio, where he died 616.
Columbia, a district of 70 sq. m. in the State of Maryland, U.S., in which Washington, the capital of the Union, stands.
Columbia, British (100), the most westerly province in Canada, lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, the United States and Alaska, and is four times the size of Great Britain. It is a mountainous country, rugged and picturesque, containing the highest peaks on the continent, Mount Hooker, 15,700 ft., and Mount Brown, 16,000 ft, with a richly indented coast-line, off which lie Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver. The chief river is the Frazer, which flows from the Lake region southwards through the centre and then westward to the Gulf of Georgia; the upper waters of the Columbia flow southward through the E. of the State. The climate resembles that of northern England, but is in some parts very rainy. The chief industries are lumbering—the forests are among the finest in the world, fishing—the rivers abound in salmon and sturgeon, and mining—rich deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and many other valuable minerals are found; there are great coal-fields in Vancouver. In Vancouver and in the river valleys of the mainland are extensive tracts of arable and grazing land; but neither agriculture nor manufactures are much developed. Made a Crown colony in 1858, it joined the Dominion as a province in 1871. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 joined it to the eastern provinces. The capital is Victoria (17), in the S. of Vancouver.
Columbus (125), capital of Ohio, U.S., a manufacturing town.
Columbus, Bartholomew, cosmographer, brother of Christopher Columbus; accompanied him to St. Domingo, and became governor; d. 1514.
Columbus, Christopher, discoverer of America, on Oct. 12, 1492, after two months of great peril and, in the end, mutiny of his men, born in Genoa; went to sea at 14; cherished, if he did not conceive, the idea of reaching India by sailing westward; applied in many quarters for furtherance; after seven years of waiting, was provided with three small vessels and a crew of 120 men; first touched land at the Bahamas, visited Cuba and Hayti, and returned home with spoils of the land; was hailed and honoured as King of the Sea; he made three subsequent visits, and on the third had the satisfaction of landing on the mainland, which Sebastian Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci had reached before him; he became at last the victim of jealousy, and charges were made against him, which so cut him to the heart that he never rallied from the attack, and he died at Valladolid, broken in body and in soul; Carlyle, in a famous passage, salutes him across the centuries: “Brave sea-captain, Norse sea-king, Columbus my hero, royalist sea-king of all” (1438-1506).
Columella, Junius, a Latin writer of the 1st century, born at Cadiz; author of “De Re Rustica,” in 12 books, on the same theme as Virgil's “Georgics,” viz., agriculture and gardening; he wrote also “De Arboribus,” on trees.
Colu`thus, a Greek epic poet of 6th century, born in Egypt; wrote the “Rape of Helen.”
Colvin, Sidney, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge, born at Norwood; contributor to the journals on art and literature; has written Lives of Keats and Landor; friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, and his literary executor; b. 1845.
Comacchio (10), a walled town, 30 m. SE. of Ferrara; famous for fish, specially eel-culture in a large lagoon adjoining, 90 in. in circumference.
Combe, Andrew, M.D., a physician and physiologist, born in Edinburgh; studied under Spurzheim in Edinburgh and Paris, but on his return to his native city was seized with pulmonary consumption, which rendered him a confirmed invalid, so that he had to spend his winters abroad; was eminent as a physician; was a believer in phrenology; produced three excellent popular works on Physiology, Digestion, and the Management of Infancy (1797-1847).
Combe, George, brother of the preceding, born in Edinburgh; trained to the legal profession; like his brother, he became, under Spurzheim, a stanch phrenologist and advocate of phrenology; but his ablest and best-known work was “The Constitution of Man,” to the advocacy of the principles of which and their application, especially to education, he devoted his life; he married a daughter of the celebrated Mrs. Siddons (1788-1858).
Combe, William, born in Bristol; author of the “Three Tours of Dr. Syntax”; inherited a small fortune, which he squandered by an irregular life; wrote some 86 works (1741-1823).
Combermere, Viscount, a British field-marshal, born in Denbighshire; served in Flanders, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in India; was present at the siege of Seringapatam; was sent to Spain in 1808; distinguished himself in the Peninsula, and particularly at Talavera; received a peerage in 1827; was made commander-in-chief in India, and Constable of the Tower in succession to Wellington in 1832 (1773-1865).
Comenius, John Amos, a Moravian educational reformer, particularly as regards the acquisition of languages in their connection with the things they denote; his two most famous books are his “Janua Linguarum” and his “Orbis Sensualium Pictus”; his principle at bottom was, words must answer to and be associated with things and ideas of things, a principle still only very partially adopted in education, and that only at the most elementary stages.
Comet, a member of the solar system under control of the sun, consisting of a bright nucleus within a nebulous envelope, generally extended into a tail on the rear of its orbit, which is extremely eccentric, pursuing its course with a velocity which increases as it approaches the sun, and which diminishes as it withdraws from it; these bodies are very numerous, have their respective periods of revolution, which have been in many cases determined by observation.
Comines, a French town in the dep. of Nord, France, 15 m. SW. of Courtrai.
Comines, Philippe de, a French chronicler, born at Comines; was of Flemish origin; served under Charles the Bold, then under Louis XI. and Charles VIII.; author of “Memoires,” in seven vols., of the reigns of these two monarchs, which give a clear and faithful picture of the time and the chief actors in it, but with the coolest indifference as to the moral elements at work, with him the end justifying the means, and success the measure of morality (1443-1509).
Comitia, constitutional assemblies of the Roman citizens for electing magistrates, putting some question to the vote of the people, the declaration of war, &c.
Comity of nations, the name given for the effect given in one country to the laws and institutions of another in dealing with a native of it.
Commandite, Société en, partnership in a business by a supply of funds, but without a share in the management or incurring further liability.
Commelin, Isaac, Dutch historian; wrote the “Lives of the Stadtholders William I. and Maurice” (1598-1676).
Commentaries of Julius Cæsar, his memoirs of the Gallic and Civil Wars, reckoned the most perfect model of narration that in such circumstances was ever written, and a masterpiece.
Committee of Public Safety, a committee of nine created by the French Convention, April 6, 1793, to concentrate the power of the executive, “the conscience of Marat, who could see salvation in one thing only, in the fall of 260,000 aristocrats' heads”; notable, therefore, for its excesses in that line; was not suppressed till Oct. 19, 1796, on the advent of the Directory to power.
Com`modus, Lucius Aurelius, Roman emperor, son and successor of Marcus Aurelius; carefully trained, but on his father's death threw up the reins and gave himself over to every form of licentiousness; poison administered by his mistress Marcia being slow in operating, he was strangled to death by a hired athlete in 162.
Common Law is law established by usage and confirmed by judicial decision.
Common-sense, Philosophy of, the philosophy which rests on the principle that the perceptions of the senses reflect things as they actually are irrespectively of them.
Commune, The, a revolutionary power installed in Paris after the “admonitory” insurrection of March 18, 1871, and overthrown in the end of May.
Communism, community of property in a State.
Comne`nus, name of a dynasty of six emperors of Constantinople.
Como, Lake of, one of the chief lakes of Lombardy and the third in size, at the foot of the Pennine Alps, 80 m. long and 2½ at greatest breadth; is traversed by the Adda, and is famed for the beauty and rich variety of its scenery.
Comorin, Cape, a low sandy point, the most southerly of India, from which the seaman is beckoned off by a peak 18 m. inland.
Comoro Isles (63), an archipelago of four volcanic islands at the N. of the channel of Mozambique; under the protectorate of France since 1886; the people are Mohammedans, and speak Arabic.
Comparetti, an Italian philologist; his writings are numerous; b. 1835.
Compiègne (14), a quiet old town in the dep. of Oise, 50 m. NE. of Paris; has some fine old churches, but the chief edifice is the palace, built by St. Louis and rebuilt by Louis XIV., where the marriage of Napoleon to Maria Louisa was celebrated; here Joan of Arc was made prisoner in 1430, and Louis Napoleon had hunting ground.
Compton, Henry, bishop of London, son of the Earl of Northampton; fought bravely for Charles I.; was colonel of dragoons at the Restoration; left the army for the Church; was made bishop; crowned William and Mary when the archbishop, Sancroft, refused; d. 1713.
Comrie (8), a village in Perthshire, on the Earn, 20 m. W. of Perth, in a beautiful district of country; subject to earthquakes from time to time; birthplace of George Gilfillan.
Comte, Auguste, a French philosopher, born at Montpellier, the founder of Positivism (q. v.); enough to say here, it consisted of a new arrangement of the sciences into Abstract and Concrete, and a new law of historical evolution in science from a theological through a metaphysical to a positive stage, which last is the ultimate and crowning and alone legitimate method, that is, observation of phenomena and their sequence; Comte was first a disciple of St. Simon, but he quarrelled with him; commenced a “Cours de Philosophie Positive” of his own, in six vols.; but finding it defective on the moral side, he instituted a worship of humanity, and gave himself out as the chief priest of a new religion, a very different thing from Carlyle's hero-worship (1795-1857).
Comus, the Roman deity who presided over festive revelries; the title of a poem by Milton, “the most exquisite of English or any masks.”
Comyn, John (the Black Comyn), Lord of Badenoch, a Scottish noble of French descent, his ancestor, born at Comines, having come over with the Conqueror and got lands given him; was one of the competitors for the Scottish crown in 1291, and lost it.
Comyn, John (the Red Comyn), son of the preceding; as one of the three Wardens of Scotland defended it against the English, whom he defeated at Roslin; but in 1304 submitted to Edward I., and falling under suspicion of Bruce, was stabbed by him in a monastery at Dumfries in 1306.
Concepcion (24), a town in Chile, S. of Valparaiso, with its port, Talcahuano, 7 m. off, one of the safest and most commodious in the country, and ranks next to Valparaiso as a trading centre.
Conception of our Lady, an order of nuns founded in Portugal in 1484; at first followed the rule of the Cistercians, but afterwards that of St. Clare.
Conciergerie, a prison in the Palais de Justice, Paris.
Conclave, properly the room, generally in the Vatican, where the cardinals are confined under lock and key while electing a Pope.
Concord, a town in U.S., 23 m. NW. of Boston; was the residence of Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne; here the first engagement took place in the American war in 1775.
Concord (17), capital of New Hampshire, U.S., a thriving trading place.
Concordat, The, a convention of July 15, 1801, between Bonaparte and Pius V., regulative of the relations of France with the Holy See.
Concorde, Place de la, a celebrated public place, formed by Louis XV. in 1748, adorned by a statue of him; at the Revolution it was called Place de la Revolution; here Louis XVI. and his queen were guillotined.
Concordia, the Roman goddess of peace, to whom Camillus the dictator in 367 B.C. dedicated a temple on the conclusion of the strife between the patricians and plebeians.
Condé, Henry I., Prince of, fought in the ranks of the Huguenots, but escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew by an oath of abjuration (1552-1588).
Condé, House of, a collateral branch of the house of Bourbon, the members of which played all along a conspicuous rôle in the history of France.
Condé, Louis I., Prince of, founder of the house of Condé, a brave, gallant man, though deformed; distinguished himself in the wars between Henry II. and Charles V., particularly in the defence of Metz; affronted at court, and obnoxious to the Guises, he became a Protestant, and joined his brother the king of Navarre; became the head of the party, and was treacherously killed after the battle of Jarnac; he had been party, however, to the conspiracy of Amboise, which aimed a death-blow at the Guises (1530-1569).
Condé, Louis II., Prince of, named “the Great Condé,” born at Paris; was carefully educated; acquired a taste for literature, which stood him in good stead at the end of his career; made his reputation by his victory over the Spaniards at Recroi; distinguished himself at Fribourg, Nordlingen, and Lens; the settlement of the troubles of the Fronde alienated him, so that he entered the service of Spain, and served against his country, but was by-and-by reconciled; led the French army to success in Franche-Comté and Holland, and soon after retired to Chantilly, where he enjoyed the society of such men as Molière, Boileau, and La Bruyère, and when he died Bossuet pronounced a funeral oration over his grave (1621-1686).
Condé, Louis Joseph, Prince de, born at Chantilly; served in the Seven Years' War; attended in the antechamber in the palace when Louis XV. lay dying; was one of the first to emigrate on the fall of the Bastille; seized every opportunity to save the monarchy; was declared a traitor to the country, and had his estates confiscated for threatening to restore Louis XVI.; organised troops to aid in the Restoration; settled at Malmesbury, in England, during the Empire; returned to France with Louis XVIII. (1736-1818).
Condillac, Étienne Bonnot, a French philosopher, born at Grenoble, of good birth; commenced as a disciple of Locke, but went further, for whereas Locke was content to deduce empirical knowledge from sensation and reflection, he deduced reflection from sensation, and laid the foundation of a sensationalism which, in the hands of his successors, went further still, and swamped the internal in the external, and which is now approaching the stage of self-cancelling zero; he lived as a recluse, and had Rousseau and Diderot for intimate friends (1715-1780).
Conditional Immortality, the doctrine that only believers in Christ have any future existence, a dogma founded on certain isolated passages of Scripture.
Condorcet, Marquis de, a French mathematician and philosopher, born near St. Quentin; contributed to the “Encyclopédie”; was of the Encyclopedist school; took sides with the Revolutionary party in the interest of progress; voted with the Girondists usually; suspected by the extreme party; was not safe even under concealment; “skulked round Paris in thickets and stone-quarries; entered a tavern one bleared May morning, ragged, rough-bearded, hunger-stricken, and asked for breakfast; having a Latin Horace about him was suspected and haled to prison, breakfast unfinished; fainted by the way with exhaustion; was flung into a damp cell, and found next morning lying dead on the floor”; his works are voluminous, and the best known is his “Exquisse du Progrès de l'Esprit Humain”; he was not an original thinker, but a clear expositor (1743-1794).
Condottie`ri, leaders of Italian free-lances, who in the 14th and 15th centuries lived by plunder or hired themselves to others for a share in the spoils.
Confederate States, 11 Southern States of the American Union, which seceded in 1861 on the question of slavery, and which occasioned a civil war that lasted till 1865.
Confederation of the Rhine, a confederation of 16 German States, which in 1806 dissolved their connection with Germany and leagued with France, and which lasted till disaster overtook Napoleon in Russia, and then broke up; the Germanic Confederation, or union of all the States, took its place, till it too was dissolved by the defeat of Austria in 1866, and which gave ascendency to Prussia and ensured the erection of the German empire on its ruins.
Conference, a stated meeting of Wesleyan ministers for the transaction of the business of their Church.
Confessions of Faith, are statements of doctrine very similar to Creeds, but usually longer and polemical, as well as didactic; they are in the main, though not exclusively, associated with Protestantism; the 16th century produced many, including the Sixty-seven Articles of the Swiss reformers, drawn up by Zwingli in 1523; the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the work of Luther and Melanchthon, which marked the breach with Rome; the Tetrapolitan Confession of the German Reformed Church, 1530; the Gallican Confession, 1559; and the Belgic Confession of 1561. In Britain the Scots Confession, drawn up by John Knox in 1560; the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England in 1562; the Irish Articles in 1615; and the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1647; this last, the work of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, has by its force of language, logical statement, comprehensiveness, and dependence on Scripture, commended itself to the Presbyterian Churches of all English-speaking peoples, and is the most widely recognised Protestant statement of doctrine; it has as yet been modified only by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which adopted a Declaratory Statement regarding certain of its doctrines in 1879, and by the Free Church of Scotland, which adopted a similar statement in 1890.
Confessions of Rousseau, memoirs published after his death in 1788, in which that writer makes confession of much that was good in him and much that was bad.
Confessions of St. Augustine, an account which that Father of the Church gives of the errors of his youth and his subsequent conversion.
Confucius, the Latin form of the name of the great sage of China, Kung Futsze, and the founder of a religion which is based on the worship and practice of morality as exemplified in the lives and teachings of the wise men who have gone before, and who, as he conceived, have made the world what it is, and have left it to posterity to build upon the same basis; while he lived he was held in greater and greater honour by multitudes of disciples, till on his death he became an object of worship, and even his descendants came to be regarded as a kind of sacred caste; he flourished about 550 B.C.
Congé d'élire, a warrant granted by the Crown to the dean and chapter of a cathedral to elect a particular bishop to a vacant see.
Congo, the second in length and largest in volume of the African rivers, rises NE. of the Muchinga Mountains in Rhodesia, flows SW. through Lake Bangueola, then N. to the equator; curving in a great semicircle it continues SW., passes in a series of rapids through the coast range, and enters the S. Atlantic by an estuary 6 m. broad. It brings down more water than the other African rivers put together. The largest affluents are the Kassai on the left, and the Mobangi on the right bank; 110 m. are navigable to ocean steamers, then the cataracts intervene, and 250 m. of railway promote transit; the upper river is 2 to 4 m. broad, and navigable for small craft up to Stanley Falls, 1068 m. The name most associated with its exploration is H. M. Stanley; during its course of 3000 m. it bears several names.
Congo, French (5,000), a continuous and connected territory extending westward along the right bank of the Congo from Brazzaville to the mouth of the Mobangi, and as far as 4° N. run N. behind the Cameroons, and along the E. of Shari to Lake Tchad.
Congo Free State embraces most of the basin of the Congo, touching British territory in Uganda and Rhodesia, with a very narrow outlet to the Atlantic at the river mouth. It is under the sovereignty of Leopold II. of Belgium, who, in 1890, made over his rights to Belgium with power to annex the State in 1900. It is nine times the size of Great Britain, and continual native unrest gives great trouble to its administrators. Its waters are open to all nations, and traders exchange manufactured goods for ivory, palm-oil, coffee and caoutchouc, bees-wax and fruits. The climate is tropical, on the lower levels malarial. The population is from 20 to 40 millions. The centre of administration is Boma, 80 m. from the sea.
Congregationalism, the ecclesiastical system which regards each congregation of believers in Christ a church complete in itself, and free from the control of the other Christian communities, and which extends to each member equal privileges as a member of Christ's body. It took its rise in England about 1571, and the most prominent name connected with its establishment is that of Robert Brown (q. v.), who seceded from the Church of England and formed a church in Norwich in 1580. The body was called Brownists after him, and Separatists, as well as “Independents.” The several congregations are now united in what is called “The Congregational Union of England and Wales.”
Congress is a diplomatic conference at which the representatives of sovereign States discuss matters of importance to their several countries, the most celebrated of which are those of Münster and Osnabrück, which issued in the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years' War; of Rastadt, at the end of Spanish Succession War, in 1797; of Vienna, at the end of Napoleon's wars, in 1815; of Paris, in 1856, at the end of Russian War; and of Berlin, in 1878, at the end of Russo-Turkish war; but the name has come to be applied in federal republics to the legislative assembly which directs national as distinct from State concerns. In the United States, Congress consists of the Senate, elected by the State legislatures and the House of Representatives, elected directly by the people. It meets on the first Monday in December, and receives the President's message for the year. It imposes taxes, contracts loans, provides for national defence, declares war, looks after the general welfare, establishes postal communication, coins money, fixes weights and measures, &c. &c., but it is prohibited from preferential treatment of the several States, establishing or interfering with religion, curtailing freedom of speech, or pursuing towards any citizen, even under legal forms, a course of conduct which is unjust or even oppressive.
Congress, the Belgian Constituent Assembly, 1830-1831.
Congreve, Richard, author of political tracts, was a pupil of Dr. Arnold's, and a disciple of Comte in philosophy; b. 1818.
Congreve, William, English comic dramatist, born near Leeds; entered a student of the Middle Temple, but soon abandoned law for literature; the “Old Bachelor” first brought him into repute, and a commissionership of substantial value; the production of “Love for Love” and the “Mourning Bride,” a stilted tragedy, added immensely to his popularity, but his comedy “The Way of the World” being coldly received, he gave up writing plays, and only wrote a few verses afterwards; he was held in great esteem by his contemporaries, among others Dryden, Pope, and Steele (1670-1729).
Congreve, Sir William, an English artillery officer, inventor of the rocket which bears his name (1772-1828).
Coningsby, a novel by Disraeli.
Conington, John, classical scholar and professor of Latin at Oxford, born at Boston, translator of the “Æneid” of Virgil, “Odes, Satires, and Epistles” of Horace, and 12 books of the “Iliad” into verse, as well as of other classics; his greatest work is his edition of “Virgil” (1823-1869).
Conisburgh Castle, an old round castle referred to in “Ivanhoe,” 5 in. SW. of Doncaster.
Coniston Water, a lake 5 m. long and ½ m. broad, at the foot of Coniston Fells, in Lancashire, with Brantwood on the E. side of it, the residence of John Ruskin.
Conkling, Roscoe, an American politician, a leading man on the Republican side; was a member of the House of Representatives, and also of the Senate; retired from politics, and practised law at New York (1828-1888).
Connaught (724), a western province of Ireland, 105 m. long and 92 m. broad, divided into five counties; is the smallest and most barren of the provinces, but abounds in picturesque scenery; the people are pure Celts.
Connaught, Duke of, the third son of Queen Victoria, bred for the army, has held several military appointments; was promoted to the rank of general in 1893, and made commander-in-chief at Aldershot; b. 1850.
Connecticut (746), southernmost of the New England States, is washed by Long Island Sound, has New York on the W., Rhode Island on the E., and Massachusetts on the N. It is the third smallest State, rocky and uneven in surface, unfertile except in the Connecticut River valley. Streams abound, and supply motive-power for very extensive manufactures of clocks, hardware, india-rubber goods, smallwares, textiles, and firearms. There are iron-mines in the NW., stone-quarries, lead, copper, and cobalt mines. Climate is healthy, changeable, and in winter severe. Education is excellently provided for. Yale University, at New Haven, is thoroughly equipped; there are several divinity schools, Trinity College at Hartford, and the Wesleyan University at Middleton. The capital is Hartford (53); New Haven (81) is the largest town and chief port. The original colony was a democratic secession from Massachusetts in 1634. The constitution of 1639 was the first written democratic constitution on record. Its present constitution as a State dates from 1818.
Connecticut, a river in the United States which rises on the confines of Canada, and, after a course of 450 m., falls into the Atlantic at Long Island.
Connemara, a wild district with picturesque scenery in W. of co. Galway, Ireland.
Conolly, John, physician, born in Lincolnshire, studied at Edinburgh, settled in London, distinguished for having introduced and advocated a more rational and humane treatment of the insane (1794-1866).
Conrad, Cadet of the House of Hohenzollern, served under the illustrious Barbarossa; proved a capable young fellow under him; married the heiress of the Vohburgs; was appointed Burggraf of Nürnberg, 1170, and prince of the empire; “he is the lineal ancestor of Frederick the Great, twentieth in direct ascent, let him wait till nineteen generations, valiantly like Conrad, have done their part, Conrad will find he has come to this,” that was realised in Frederick and his time.
Conrad, Marquis of Tyre, threw himself into Tyre when beset by Saladin, and held it till Richard Coeur de Lion and Philip Augustus arrived; was assassinated by emissaries of the Old Man of the Mountain in 1192.
Conrad I., count of Franconia, elected on the extinction of the Carlovingian line Emperor of the Germans, which he continued to be from 911 to 915; fell wounded in battle with the Huns, egged on by a rival.
Conrad II., the Salic, of the same family as the preceding; elected Emperor of Germany in 1024; reigned 15 years, extending the empire, suppressing disorders, and effecting reforms.
Conrad III., founder of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; elected Emperor of Germany in 1138; had Henry the Proud, as head of the German Guelfs, for rival; crushed him at Weinsberg; joined Louis VII. of France on a third crusade, and returning, overthrew the Guelfs again, leaving Barbarossa as his heir; d. 1152.
Conrad of Thüringia, a proud, quick, fiery-tempered magnate, seized the archbishop of Mainz once, swung him round, and threatened to cut him in two; stormed, plundered, and set fire to an imperial free town for an affront offered him; but admonished of his sins became penitent, and reconciled himself by monastic vow to the Pope and mankind about 1234.
Conradin the Boy, or Conrad V., the last representative of the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Romish Kaisers, had fallen into the Pope's clutches, who was at mortal feud with the empire, and was put to death by him on the scaffold at Naples, October 25, 1265, the “bright and brave” lad, only 16, “throwing out his glove (in symbolic protest) amid the dark mute Neapolitan multitudes” that idly looked on. See Carlyle's “Frederick the Great” for the Conrads.
Consalvi, Italian cardinal and statesman, born at Rome, secretary of Pius VII.; concluded the Concordat with Napoleon in 1801; represented the Pope at the Congress of Vienna; was a liberal patron of literature, science, and arts; continued minister of the Pope till his death (1757-1824).
Conscience, Hendrik, a brilliant Flemish novelist, born at Antwerp; rose to popularity among his countrymen by his great national romance the “Lion of Flanders,” a popularity which soon extended all over Europe; his writings display great descriptive power and perfect purity of sentiment (1812-1883).
Conscript Fathers, the collective name of members of the Roman Senate, and addressed as such, fathers as seniors and conscripts as enrolled.
Conservation of Energy, the doctrine that, however it may be transformed or dissipated, no fraction of energy is ever lost, that the amount of force, as of matter, in the universe, under all mutation remains the same.
Conservatism, indisposition to change established laws and customs that have wrought beneficially in the past and contributed to the welfare of the country; in practical politics often a very different thing, and regarded by Carlyle in his time “a portentous enbodied sham; accursed of God, and doomed to destruction, as all lies are.”
Considérant, Victor Prosper, a French Socialist and disciple of Fourier; founded a colony in Texas on Fourier's principles, which proved a failure; wrote much in advocacy of his principles, of which the most important is “La Destinée Sociale”; b. 1808.
Consols, the Consolidated Fund, loans to Government made at different times and at different rates of interest, consolidated for convenience into one common loan, bearing interest at 3 per cent., reduced in 1830 to 2¾, and in 1893 to 2½.
Constable, a high officer of State in the Roman empire, in France, and in England, charged at one time with military, judicial, and regulative functions.
Constable, Archibald, Edinburgh publisher, born in Carnbee, Fife; started as a bookseller near the Cross in Edinburgh; published the Scots Magazine, the Edinburgh Review, and the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” and from 1802 to 1826 the works of Sir Walter Scott, when the bankruptcy connected with the publication of these so affected him that it ruined his health, though he lived after the crash came to start the “Miscellany” which bears his name (1774-1827).
Constable, Henry, English poet, author of sonnets, 28 in number, under the title of “Diana” (1560-1612).
Constable, John, an eminent landscape-painter, born in Suffolk; his works were more generously appreciated in France than in his own country, as they well might be, where they had not, as in England, to stand comparison with those of Turner; but he is now, despite the depreciation of Ruskin, becoming recognised among us as one of our foremost landscapists, and enormous prices have been given of late for his best pictures; some of his best works adorn the walls of the National Gallery; Ruskin allows his art is original, honest, free from affectation, and manly (1776-1837).
Constable de Bourbon, Charles, Duc de Bourbon, a brilliant military leader, and a powerful enemy of Francis I.; killed when leading the assault on Rome (1489-1527).
Constance (16), a city of the Grand-Duchy of Baden, on the S. bank of the Rhine, at its exit from the lake; famous for the seat of the council (1414-1418) which condemned John Huss and Jerome of Prague to death; long famous for its linen manufacture.
Constance, Lake, or Bodensee, partly in Germany and partly in Switzerland; is about 44 m. long and 9 m. broad at most; is traversed by the Rhine from W. to E., is 1306 ft. above sea-level; is surrounded by vineyards, cornfields, and wooded slopes; its waters are hardly ever frozen, and often rise and fall suddenly.
Constant, Benjamin, a highly popular French painter of the Realistic school, born at Paris; his first picture was “Hamlet and the King”; afterwards he took chiefly to Oriental subjects, which afforded the best scope for his talent; occupies a high place in the modern French school, and has been promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour; b. 1845.
Constant de Rebecque, Henry Benjamin de, a French politician, of liberal constitutional principles, born at Lausanne, of Huguenot parents; settled in Paris at the commencement of the Revolution, where he distinguished himself by his political writings and speeches; was expelled from France in 1802, along with Mme. de Staël, for denouncing the military ascendency of Napoleon; lived for a time at Weimar in the society of Goethe and Schiller; translated Schiller's “Wallenstein”; returned to France in 1814; declared for the Bourbons, and pled in favour of constitutional liberty; he was a supporter of Louis Philippe, and a rationalist in religion, and declared himself opposed to the supernatural element in all religions (1760-1830).
Constantia, a wine district of Cape Colony under E. flank of Table Mountain.
Constantine (50), inland city of Algeria, on a rocky height; leather-working its staple industry.
Constantine, the name of 13 emperors who reigned at Rome or Byzantium between 306 and 1453.
Constantine I., called the Great, born in Moesia, son of Constantius Chlorus by Helena; on the death of his father at York, where he accompanied him, was proclaimed Emperor by the troops; this title being challenged by Maximian, his father-in-law, and Maxentius, his brother-in-law, he took up arms against first the one and then the other, and defeated them; when one day he saw a cross in the sky with the words By this Conquer in Greek, under this sign, known as the labarum, which he adopted as his standard, he accordingly marched straight to Rome, where he was acknowledged Emperor by the Senate in 312; and thereafter an edict was issued named of Milan, granting toleration to the Christians; he had still to extend his empire over the East, and having done so by the removal of Lucinius, he transferred the seat of his empire to Byzantium, which hence got the name of Constantinople, i. e. Constantine's city; had himself baptized in 337 as a Christian, after having three years before proclaimed Christianity the State religion (274-337).
Constantine Nicolaievitch, second son of the Czar Nicholas I.; was appointed grand-admiral while but a boy; had command of the Baltic fleet during the Crimean war; came under suspicion of sinister intriguing; became insane, and died in seclusion (1827-1892).
Constantine Paulovitch, Grand-duke of Russia, son of Paul I.; distinguished himself at Austerlitz; was commander-in-chief in Poland, where he ruled as despot; waived his right to the throne in favour of his brother Nicholas (1779-1831).
Constantine XIII., Palæologus, the last of the Greek emperors; had to defend Constantinople against a besieging force of 300,000 under Mahomet II., and though he defended it bravely, the city was taken by storm, and the Eastern empire ended in 1543.
Constantinople (1,000), capital of the Turkish empire, on the Bosphorus, situated on a peninsula washed by the Sea of Marmora on the S. and by the Golden Horn on the N., on the opposite side of which creek lie the quarters of Galata and Pera, one of the finest commercial sites in the world; it became the capital of the Roman empire under Constantine the Great, who gave name to it; was capital of the Eastern empire from the days of Theodosius; was taken by the crusaders in 1204, and by Mahomet II. in 1452, at which time the Greek and Latin scholars fled the city, carrying the learning of Greece and Rome with them, an event which led to the revival of learning in Europe, and the establishment of a new era—the Modern—in European history.
Constantius Chlorus, or the Pale, Roman emperor; after a struggle of three years reunited Britain with the empire, which had been torn from it by Allectus; was equally successful against the Alemanni, defeating them with great loss; died at York, on an expedition against the Picts; was succeeded by Constantine, his son (250-305).
Constituent Assembly, the legislative body which the National Assembly of France resolved itself into in 1789, a name it assumed from the task it imposed on itself, viz., of making a constitution, a task which, from the nature of it proved impossible, as a constitution is an entity which grows, and is not made, nascitur, non fit.
Consuelo, the heroine of George Sand's novel of the name, her masterpiece; the impersonation of the triumph of moral purity over manifold temptations.
Consul, (1) one of the two magistrates of Rome elected annually after the expulsion of the kings, and invested with regal power; (2) a chief magistrate of the French Republic from 1799 to 1804; (3) one commissioned to protect, especially the mercantile rights of the subjects of a State in foreign country.
Consulate, name given to the French Government from the fall of the Directory till the establishment of the Empire. At first there were three provisional consuls, Bonaparte, Siéyès, and Roger Ducos; then three consuls for ten years, Bonaparte, Cambacérès, and Lebrun, which was dissolved with the establishment of the Empire on the 20th May 1804.
Contari`ni, an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished eight Doges to the Republic, as well as an array of men eminent in the Church, statecraft, generalship, art, and letters.
Conte, Nicolas Jacques, a French painter; distinguished for his mechanical genius, which was of great avail to the French army in Egypt (1755-1805).
Conti, an illustrious French family, a younger branch of the house of Bourbon-Condé, all more or less distinguished as soldiers; François Louis especially, who was a man of supreme ability both in war and science, and had the merit to be elected king of Poland (1664-1709).
Continental System, Napoleon's scheme for interdicting all commerce between the Continent and Great Britain, carried out with various issues till the fall of Napoleon. See Berlin and Milan Decrees.
Contrat, Social, Rousseau's theory of society that it is based on mere contract, each individual member of it surrendering his will to the will of all, under protection of all concerned, a theory which led to the conclusion that the rule of kings is an usurpation of the rights of the community, and which bore fruit as an explosive in the Revolution at the end of the century.
Convention, National, a revolutionary convention in France which, on September 20, 1792, succeeded the Legislative Assembly, proclaimed the Republic, condemned the king to death, succeeded in crushing the royalists of La Vendée and the south, in defeating all Europe leagued against France, and in founding institutions of benefit to France to this day; it was dissolved on October 26, 1795, to make way for the Directory.
Conversations Lexicon, a popular German encyclopædia of 16 vols., started in 1796, and since 1808 published by Brockhaus, in Leipzig.
Conversion, “the grand epoch for a man,” says Carlyle, “properly the one epoch; the turning-point, which guides upwards, or guides downwards, him and his activities for evermore.”
Convocation, an assemblage of the English clergy, with little or no legislative power, summoned and prorogued by an archbishop under authority of the Crown; one under the Archbishop of Canterbury, held at Canterbury, and one under the Archbishop of York, held at York, consisting each of two bodies, an Upper of bishops, and an Under of lesser dignitaries and inferior clergy, in separate chambers, though they originally met in one.
Conway, a port in Carnarvon, on the river Conway, with a massive castle, one of those built by Edward I. to keep Wales in check; is a favourite summer resort, and is amid beautiful scenery.
Conway, Hugh, the nom de plume of Frederick Fargus, born in Bristol; bred to the auctioneer business; author of “Called Back,” a highly sensational novel, and a success; gave up his business and settled in London, where he devoted himself to literature, and the production of similar works of much promise, but caught malarial fever at Monte Carlo and died (1847-1885).
Conway, Moncure, an American writer, born in Virginia; began life as a Unitarian preacher; came to England as a lecturer on war; became leader of the advanced school of thought, so called; was a great admirer of Emerson, and wrote, among other works, “Emerson at Home and Abroad”; b. 1832.
Conybeare, William Daniel, an English clergyman, devoted to the study of geology and palæontology, and a Bampton lecturer (1787-1857).
Conybeare, William John, son of the preceding; author, along with Dean Howson, of the “Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” and of an “Essay on Church Parties” (1815-1857).
Cook, Dutton, novelist, dramatic author, and critic; born in London, and bred a solicitor; contributed to several periodicals, and the “Dictionary of National Biography” (1822-1883).
Cook, Edward T., journalist, born at Brighton; educated at Oxford; had been on the editorial staff of the Pall Mall Gazette and the Westminster Gazette, became, in 1893, editor of the Daily News; is an enthusiastic disciple of Ruskin; wrote “Studies on Ruskin”; b. 1857.
Cook, Eliza, a writer of tales, verses, and magazine articles; born in Southwark; daughter of a merchant; conducted, from 1849 to 1854, a journal called by her name, but gave it up from failing health; enjoyed a pension of £100 on the Civil List till her death; was the authoress of “The Old Arm-Chair” and “Home in the Heart,” both of which were great favourites with the public, and did something for literature and philanthropy by her Journal (1818-1889).
Cook, James, the distinguished English navigator, born at Marton, Yorkshire; was the son of a farm labourer; began sea-faring on board a merchantman; entered the navy in 1755, and in four years became a master; spent some nine years in survey of the St. Lawrence and the coasts of Newfoundland; in 1768, in command of the Endeavour, was sent out with an expedition to observe the transit of Venus, and in 1772 as commander of two vessels on a voyage of discovery to the South Seas; on his return, receiving further promotion, he set out on a third voyage of farther exploration in the Pacific, making many discoveries as far N. as Behring Strait; lost his life, on his way home, in a dispute with the natives, at Owhyhee, in the Sandwich Islands, being savagely murdered, a fate which befell him owing to a certain quickness of temper he had displayed, otherwise he was a man of great kindness of heart, and his men were warmly attached to him (1728-1779).
Cook, Joseph, a popular lecturer, born near New York; delivered Monday Lectures at Boston in the discussion of social questions, and the alleged discrepancy between science and religion or revelation; b. 1838.
Cook, Mount, the highest point, 12,350 ft., in the Southern Alps, Canterbury Island, New Zealand.
Cook Strait, strait between the North and the South Island, New Zealand.
Cooke, Sir Antony, an eminent scholar, tutor to Edward VI.; of his daughters, one was married to Lord Burleigh and another to Sir Nicholas Bacon, who became the mother of Lord Bacon (1506-1576).
Cooke, Benjamin, composer, born in London; organist in Westminster Abbey; author of “How Sleep the Brave,” “Hark! the Lark,” and other glees, as well as some excellent church music (1739-1793).
Cooke, George Frederick, an actor, famous for his representation of Richard III.; stood in his day next to Kemble in spite of his intemperate habits (1756-1811).
Cooke, T. P., an actor in melodrama; began life at sea; took to the stage; his most popular representations were William in “Black-eyed Susan” and Long Tom Coffin in the “Pilot” (1786-1864).
Coolgardie, a mining district and head-quarters of rich gold-fields in W. Australia.
Coolies, labourers from India and China, who now emigrate in large numbers, especially from China, often to where they are not wanted, and where they, as in the British Colonies and the United States, are much disliked, as they bring down the wages of native labourers.
Coomassie, the capital of the negro kingdom of Ashanti, 130 m. NNW. of Cape Coast Castle; once a large populous place; was much reduced after its capture by Wolseley in 1874, though it is being rebuilt.
Cooper, Anthony Ashley. See Shaftesbury.
Cooper, Sir Astley, English surgeon, born in Norfolk; was great in anatomy and a skilful operator, stood high in the medical profession; contributed much by his writings to raise surgery to the rank of a science; was eminent as a lecturer as well as a practitioner (1768-1841).
Cooper, James Fenimore, an American novelist, born in Burlington, New Jersey; having a passion for the sea, he entered the navy as a midshipman in 1808, but in three years resigned his commission, married, and settled to literature; his novels, which are well known, achieved instant popularity, made him a great favourite with boys, in which he showed himself an expert in the narration of events, the description of scenes, as well as in the delineation of character; he came to loggerheads with the newspaper press, had recourse to actions for libel, conducted his own cases himself, and was always successful (1789-1851).
Cooper, Thomas, a self-taught man, born in Leicester; bred a shoemaker; became a schoolmaster, a Methodist preacher, and then a journalist; converted to Chartism; was charged with sedition, and committed to prison for two years; wrote here “Purgatory of Suicides”; after liberation went about lecturing on politics and preaching scepticism; returning to his first faith, he lectured on the Christian evidences, and wrote an autobiography (1805-1892).
Cooper, Thomas Sidney, a distinguished animal-painter, born in Canterbury; struggled with adversity in early life: rose to be supreme in his own department of art; he has written an account of his career; b. 1803.
Cooperage, a system of barter which has for some time gone on in the North Seas, consisting of exchange of spirits and tobacco for other goods or money, a demoralising traffic, which endeavours are now being made to suppress.
Cooper's Hill, a hill of slight elevation near Runnymede, with a Government civil engineering college, originally for the training for the service in India, now for education in other departments of the Government service, forestry especially.
Coorg (173), an inland high-lying province, about the size of Kent, on the eastern slope of the W. Ghâts, on the SW. border of Mysore, under the Indian Government; it is covered with forests, infested with wild animals; the natives, a fine race, are distinguished for their loyalty to the British.
Coote, Sir Eyre, a general, born in co. Limerick, Ireland; distinguished himself at Plassey; gained victories over the French in India; afterwards routed Hyder Ali at Porto Novo; died at Madras (1726-1783).
Cope, Charles West, a painter, born at Leeds; his pictures have for subjects historical or dramatic scenes, and were very numerous; executed the frescoes that adorn the Peers' corridor at Westminster; was professor of Painting to the Royal Academy (1811-1890).
Cope, Sir John, a British general; was in command at Prestonpans, and defeated by the Pretender there in 1745, in connection with which his name is remembered in Scotland as not having been ready when the Highlanders attacked him, by the song “Heigh! Johnnie Cowp, are ye wauken yet?” d. 1760.
Copenhagen (380), the capital of Denmark, and the only large town in it; lies low, and is built partly on the island of Seeland and partly on the island of Amager, the channel between which forms a commodious harbour; is a thriving place of manufacture and of trade, as its name “Merchants' Haven” implies; has also a university, an arsenal, and numerous public buildings.
Copernicus, Nicolas, founder of modern astronomy, born at Thorn, in Poland, and educated at Cracow and Bologna; became canon of Frauenburg, on the Frisches Haff; studied medicine; was doctor to a wealthy uncle, with whom he lived, and became his heir when he died; his chief interest lay in the heavenly bodies, and his demonstrations regarding their movements, which yet he deferred publishing till he was near his end; and indeed it was only when he was unconscious and dying that the first printed copy of the work was put into his hands; it was entitled “De Orbium Revolutionibus,” and was written in proof of the great first principle of astronomy, that the sun is the centre of the solar system, and that the earth and planets circle round it; the work was dedicated to Pope Paul III., and was received with favour by the Catholic Church, though, strange to say, it was denounced by Luther and Melanchthon as contrary to the Scriptures of truth (1473-1543).
Copiapó, a river, a village, a city, and a district in Chile.
Copley, John Singleton, portrait and historical painter, born in Boston, U.S.; painted Washington's portrait at the age of eighteen; came to England in 1776, having previously sent over for exhibition sundry of his works; painted portraits of the king and the queen; began the historical works on which his fame chiefly rests, the most widely known perhaps of which is the “Death of Chatham,” now in the National Gallery (1737-1815).
Coppée, François, a poet, born in Paris; has produced several volumes of poetry, excellent dramas in verse, and tales in prose; his poetry is the poetry of humble life, and “has given poetic pleasure,” as Professor Saintsbury says, “to many who are not capable of receiving it otherwise, while he has never sought to give that pleasure by unworthy means”; b. 1842.
Copper Captain, a Brummagem captain; the name given to Percy in Beaumont and Fletcher's play, “Rule a Wife and Have a Wife.”
Copper Nose, name given to Oliver Cromwell, from a brownish tinge on his nose.
Copperheads, secret foes in one's own camp, so called from a set of serpents which conceal their purpose to attack.
Coppermine, a river in NW. Canada which falls into the Arctic Ocean after a broken course of 250 m.
Coppet, a Swiss village in the Canton de Vaud, on the Lake of Geneva; celebrated as the abode of Mme. de Staël, her burial-place and that of Necker, her father.
Copts, the Christian descendants of the ancient Egyptians, who are Monophysites in belief, some regarding the Patriarch of Alexandria and some the Pope as their head; they adhere to the ancient ritual, are prelatic, sacramentarian, and exclusive; they speak Arabic, their original Coptic being as good as dead, though the grammar is taught in the schools.
Copyright, the sole right of an author or his heirs to publish a work for a term of years fixed by statute, a book for 42 years, or the author's lifetime and 7 years after, whichever is longer; copyright covers literary, artistic, and musical property. By the Act an author must present one copy of his work, if published, to the British Museum, and one copy, if demanded, to the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh; and Trinity College Library, Dublin.
Coquelin, Benoit Constant, a noted French actor, born at Boulogne; played in classical pieces and others, composed for himself in the Théâtre Français from 1860 to 1886; since then in London, S. America, and the United States; without a rival in the broader aspects of comedy; b. 1841.
Coquerel, Athanase, a pastor of the French Reformed Church, born in Paris, where he preached eloquently from 1830 till his death; was elected in 1848 deputy for the Seine to the national Assembly, but retired from political life after the coup d'état; wrote a reply to Strauss (1795-1858).
Coquerel, Athanase, a Protestant pastor, son of preceding, born at Amsterdam; celebrated for his liberal and tolerant views, too much so for M. Guizot; edited Voltaire's letters on toleration; his chief work, “Jean Calas et sa Famille” (1820-1875).
Coquimbo (14), capital of a mining province of Chile (176) of the name; exports minerals and cattle.
Coraïs, a distinguished Hellenist, born in Smyrna, of the mercantile class; settled in Paris, where he devoted himself to awakening an interest in Greek literature and the cause of the Greeks (1748-1833).
Coram, Thomas, English philanthropist, the founder of the Foundling Hospital, born at Lyme Regis; a man of varied ventures by sea and land; settled in London; was touched by the sufferings of the poor, where, with warm support from Hogarth, he founded the said institution; his charity so impoverished him that he ended his days as an object of charity himself, being dependent on a small annuity raised by subscription (1667-1751).
Corato (30), a town in a fertile region in S. Italy, 25 m. W. of Bari.
Corble-steps, or Crow-steps, steps ascending the gable of a house, common in old Scotch gables as well as in the Netherlands and elsewhere in old towns.
Cor`bulo, a distinguished general under Claudius and Nero, who conquered the Parthians; Nero, being jealous of him, invited him to Corinth, where he found a death-warrant awaiting him, upon which he plunged his sword into his breast and exclaimed, “Well deserved!” in 72 A.D.
Corcy`ra, an Ionian island, now Corfu (q. v.).
Corday, Charlotte, a French heroine, born at St. Saturnin, of good birth, granddaughter of Corneille; well read in Voltaire and Plutarch; favoured the Revolution, but was shocked at the atrocities of the Jacobins; started from Caen for Paris as an avenging angel; sought out Marat, with difficulty got access to him, stabbed him to the heart as he sat “stewing in slipper-bath,” and “his life with a groan gushed out, indignant, to the shades below”; when arrested, she “quietly surrendered”; when questioned as to her motive, she answered, “I killed one man to save a hundred thousand”; she was guillotined next day (1763-1793).
Cordelia, the youngest and favourite daughter of King Lear.
Cordeliers, (1) the strictest branch of the Franciscan Order of Monks, so called from wearing a girdle of knotted cord; (2) also a club during the French Revolution, founded in 1789, its prominent members, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Marat; was a secession from the Jacobin Club, which was thought lukewarm, and met in what had been a convent of the Cordeliers monks; it expired with Danton.
Corderius, a grammarian, born in Normandy; being a Protestant settled in Geneva and taught; author of Latin “Colloquies,” once very famous (1478-1567).
Cordilleras, the name of several chains of mountains in S. America.
Cordite, a smokeless powder, invented by Sir F. A. Abel, being composed principally of gun-cotton and glycerine.
Cordon Blue, formerly the badge of the Order of the Holy Ghost, now the badge of highest excellence in a cook.
Cordouan, a lighthouse at the mouth of the Gironde.
Cor`dova (70), a city on the Paraná, in the Argentine; also a town (48) in Andalusia, Spain, on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, in a province of the name, 80 m. NE. of Seville; once a Moorish capital, and famous for its manufacture of goat leather; has a cathedral, once a magnificent mosque.
Corea (6,511), an Eastern Asiatic kingdom occupying the mountainous peninsula between the Yellow and Japan Seas, in the latitude of Italy, with Manchuria on its northern border, a country as large as Great Britain. The people, an intelligent and industrious race, are Mongols, followers of Confucius and Buddha. After being for 300 years tributary to China, it passed under Japanese influence, and by the Chinese defeat in the war with Japan, 1894-95, was left independent. The climate is healthy, but subject to extremes; rivers are ice-bound for four months. Wheat, rice, and beans are grown. There are gold, silver, iron, and coal mines, and great mineral wealth. There are extensive manufactures of paper, and some silk industry. Three ports are open to foreigners; but most of the trade is with Japan; exports hides, beans, and paper; imports cotton goods. The capital is Seoul (193).
Corelli, Arcangelo, an Italian musical composer, celebrated for his skill on the violin; his compositions mark a new musical epoch; he has been called the father of instrumental music (1653-1713).
Corelli, Marie, a novelist, a prolific authoress, and very popular; her first work “The Romance of Two Worlds,” one of her latest “The Sorrows of Satan”; b. 1864.
Corfe Castle, a village in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire, round a castle now in ruins, and the scene of martyrdoms and murders not a few in its day.
Corfu (78), the most northerly of the Ionian Islands and the largest, 40 m. long, from 4 to 18 broad; was under the protection of Britain, 1815-64; has since belonged to Greece; has a capital (79) of the same name.
Corin`na, a poetess of ancient Greece, born in Boeotia; friend and rival of Pindar; only a few fragments of her poetry remain.
Corinne, the heroine and title of a novel of Mme. de Staël's, her principal novel, in which she celebrates the praises of the great men and great masterpieces of Italy; her heroine is the type of a woman inspired with poetic ideas and the most generous sentiments.
Corinth, an ancient city of Greece, and one of the most flourishing, on an isthmus of the name connecting the Peloponnesus with the mainland; a great centre of trade and of material wealth, and as a centre of luxury a centre of vice; the seat of the worship of Aphrodité, a very different goddess from Athene, to whom Athens was dedicated.
Corinthians, Epistles to the, two epistles of St. Paul to the Church he had established in Corinth, the chief object of which was to cleanse it of certain schisms and impurities that had arisen, and to protest against the disposition of many in it to depart from simple gospel which they had been taught.
Coriola`nus, a celebrated Roman general of patrician rank, who rallied his countrymen when, in besieging Corioli, they were being driven back, so that he took the city, and was in consequence called Coriolanus; having afterwards offended the plebs, he was banished from the city; took refuge among the people he had formerly defeated; joined cause with them, and threatened to destroy the city, regardless of every entreaty to spare it, till his mother, his wife, and the matrons of Rome overcame him by their tears, upon which he withdrew and led back his army to Corioli, prepared to suffer any penalty his treachery to them might expose him.
Corioli, a town of ancient Latium, capital of the Volsci.
Cork (73), a fine city, capital of a county (436) of the same name in Munster, Ireland, on the Lee, 11 m. from its mouth; with a magnificent harbour, an extensive foreign trade, and manufactures of various kinds.
Cormenin, a French statesman and jurist, born at Paris; had great influence under Louis Philippe; his pamphlets, signed Timon, made no small stir; left a work on administrative law in France (1788-1886).
Cormontaigne, a celebrated French engineer, born at Strasburg; successor of Vauban (1696-1752).
Cornaro, an illustrious patrician family in Venice, from which for centuries several Doges sprung.
Corn-Cracker, the nickname of a Kentucky man.
Corneille, Pierre, the father of French tragedy, born at Rouen, the son of a government legal official; was bred for the bar, but he neither took to the profession nor prospered in the practice of it, so gave it up for literature; threw himself at once into the drama; began by dramatising an incident in his own life, and became the creator of the dramatic art in France; his first tragedies are “The Cid,” which indeed is his masterpiece, “Horace,” “Cinna,” “Polyeucte,” “Rodogune,” and “Le Menteur”; in his verses, which are instinct with vigour of conception as well as sublimity of feeling, he paints men as they should be, virtuous in character, brave in spirit, and animated by the most exalted sentiments. Goethe contrasts him with Racine: “Corneille,” he says, “delineated great men; Racine, men of eminent rank.” “He rarely provokes an interest,” says Professor Saintsbury, “in the fortunes of his characters; it is rather in the way that they bear their fortune, and particularly in a kind of haughty disdain for fortune itself... He shows an excellent comic faculty at times, and the strokes of irony in his serious plays have more of true humour in them than appears in almost any other French dramatist” (1606-1684).
Corneille, Thomas, younger brother of the preceding, a dramatist, whose merits were superior, but outshone by those of his brother (1625-1709).
Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus and the mother of the Gracchi (q. v.), the Roman matron who, when challenged by a rival lady to outshine her in wealth of gems, proudly led forth her sons saying, “These are my jewels”; true to this sentiment, it was as the mother of the Gracchi she wished to be remembered, and is remembered, in the annals of Rome.
Cornelius, Peter von, a distinguished German painter, born at Düsseldorf; early gave proof of artistic genius, which was carefully fostered by his father; spent much time as a youth in studying and copying Raphael; before he was 20 he decorated a church at Neuss with colossal figures in chiaroscuro; in 1810 executed designs for Goethe's “Faust”; in the year after went to Rome, where, along with others, he revived the old art of fresco painting, in which he excelled his rivals; the subjects of these were drawn from Greek pagan as well as Christian sources, his “Judgment” being the largest fresco in the world; the thought which inspires his cartoons, critics say, surpasses his power of execution; it should be added, he prepared a set of designs to illustrate the “Nibelungen” (1787-1867).
Cornell University, a university in Ithaca, New York State, founded in 1868 at a cost of £152,000, named after its founder, Ezra Cornell; it supports a large staff of teachers, and gives instruction in all departments of science, literature, and philosophy; it provides education to sundry specified classes free of all fees, as well as means of earning the benefits of the institution to any who may wish to enjoy them.
Corn-Laws, laws in force in Great Britain regulating the import and export of corn for the protection of the home-producer at the expense of the home-consumer, and which after a long and bitter struggle between these two classes were abolished in 1846.
Corn-Law Rhymer, The, Ebenezer Elliott (q. v.) who, in a volume of poems, denounced the corn-laws and contributed to their abolition.
Corno, Monte, the highest peak of the Apennines, 9545 ft.
Cornwall (322), a county in the SW. extremity of England, forming a peninsula between the English and the Bristol Channels, with a rugged surface and a rocky coast, indented all round with more or less deep bays inclosed between high headlands; its wealth lies not in the soil, but under it in its mines, and in the pilchard, mackerel, and other fisheries along its stormy shores; the county town is Bodmin (5), the largest Penzance (12), and the mining centre Truro (11).
Cornwall, Barry, the nom de plume of B. W. Procter (q. v.).
Cornwallis, Lord, an English general and statesman; saw service in the Seven Years' and the American Wars; besieged in the latter at York Town, was obliged to capitulate; became Governor-General of India, and forced Tippoo Sahib to submit to humiliating terms; as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland crushed the rebellion of '98; re-appointed Governor-General of India; died there (1738-1805).
Coromandel Coast, E. coast of Hindustan, extending from the Krishna to Cape Comorin.
Coronation Chair, a chair inclosing a stone carried off by Edward I. from Scone in 1296, on which the sovereigns of England are crowned.
Corot, Jean Baptiste, a celebrated French landscape-painter, born at Paris; was 26 years of age before he began to apply himself to art, which he did by study in Italy and Rome, returning to Paris in 1827, where he began to exhibit, and continued to exhibit for nearly 50 years; it was long before his pieces revealed what was in him and the secret of his art; he appeared also as a poet as well as a painter, giving free play to his emotions and moving those of others (1796-1875).
Corps Législatif, the lower house of the French legislature, consisting of deputies.
Corpuscular Philosophy, the philosophy which accounts for physical phenomena by the position and the motions of corpuscles.
Corr, Erin, an eminent engraver, born in Brussels, of Irish descent; spent 10 years in engraving on copper-plate Rubens's “Descent from the Cross” (1793-1862).
Corrector, Alexander the, Alexander Cruden, who believed he had a divine mission to correct the manners of the world.
Correggio, Antonio Allegri da, an illustrious Italian painter, born at Correggio, in Modena; founder of the Lombard school, and distinguished among his contemporaries for the grace of his figures and the harmony of his colouring; he has been ranked next to Raphael, and it has been said of him he perfected his art by adding elegance to truth and grandeur; he is unrivalled in chiaroscuro, and he chose his subjects from pagan as well as Christian legend (1494-1534).
Corrib, Lough, an irregularly shaped lake in Galway and Mayo, 25 m. long and from 1 to 6 m. broad, with stone circles near it.
Corrientes (300), a province of the Argentine Republic, between the Paraná and the Uruguay; also its capital (18), surrounded by orange-groves; so called from the currents that prevail in the river, along which steamers ply between it and Buenos Ayres.
Corrugated Iron, in general, sheet-iron coated with zinc.
Corsair, The, a poem of Byron's, in which the author paints himself in heroic colours as an adventurer who drowns reflection in the intoxication of battle.
Corsica (288), an island belonging to France, in the Mediterranean, ceded to her by Genoa in 1768, but by position, race, and language belongs to Italy; has been subject by turns to the powers that in succession dominated that inland sea; is 116 m. long and 52 broad; it abounds in mountains, attaining 9000 ft.; covered with forests and thickets, which often serve as shelter for brigands; it affords good pasturage, and yields olive-oil and wine, as well as chesnuts, honey, and wax.
Corsica Paoli, a native of Corsica, who vainly struggled to achieve the independence of his country, and took refuge in England, where he enjoyed the society of the Johnson circle, and was much esteemed. See Paoli.
Corssen, William Paul, a learned German philologist, born at Bremen; made a special study of the Latin languages, and especially the Etruscan, which he laboured to prove was cognate with that of the Romans and of the races that spoke it (1820-1875).
Cort, an eminent Dutch engraver, went to Venice, lived with Titian; engraved some of his pictures; went to Rome and engraved Raphael's “Transfiguration”; executed over 150 plates, all displaying great accuracy and refinement (1536-1578).
Cortes, the name given in Spain and Portugal to the National Assembly, consisting of nobles and representatives of the nation.
Cortes, a Spanish soldier and conqueror of Mexico, born in Estremadura; went with Velasquez to Cuba; commanded the expedition to conquer Mexico, and by burning all his ships that conveyed his men, cut off all possibility of retreat; having conquered the tribes that he met on landing, he marched on to the capital, which, after a desperate struggle, he reduced, and laid waste and then swept the country, by all which he added to the wealth of Spain, but by his cruelty did dishonour to the chivalry of which Spain was once so proud (1485-1547).
Cortona, Pietro da, an Italian painter, born at Cortona, in Tuscany, and eminent as an architect also; decorated many of the finest buildings in Rome (1596-1669).
Coruña (34), a fortified town on NW. of Spain, with a commodious harbour, where Sir John Moore fell in 1809 while defending the embarkation of his army against Soult, and where his tomb is.
Corvée, obligation as at one time enforced in France to render certain services to Seigneurs, such as repairing of roads, abolished by the Contituent Assembly.
Coryat, Thomas, an English traveller and wit, who, in his “Crudities,” quaintly describes his travels through France and Italy (1577-1617).
Corybantes, priests of Cybele (q. v.), whose religious rites were accompanied with wild dances and the clashing of cymbals.
Corydon, a shepherd in Virgil, name for a lovesick swain.
Coryphæus, originally the leader of the chorus in a Greek drama, now a leader in any dramatic company, or indeed in any art.
Cos (10), an island in the Ægean Sea, birthplace of Hippocrates and Apelles.
Cosenza (18), a town in Calabria, in a deep valley, where Alaric died.
Cosin, John, a learned English prelate, Dean of Peterborough, deposed by the Puritans for his ritualistic tendencies; exiled for 10 years in Paris; returned at the Restoration, and was made Bishop of Durham, where he proved himself a Bishop indeed, and a devoted supporter of the Church which he adorned by his piety (1594-1672).
Cosmas, St., Arabian physician and patron of surgeons, brother of St. Damian; suffered martyrdom in 303. Festival, Sept. 27.
Cosmas Indicopleustes (i. e. voyager to India), an Egyptian monk of the 6th century, born in Alexandria, singular for his theory of the system of the world, which, in opposition to the Ptolemaic system, he viewed as in shape like that of the Jewish Tabernacle, with Eden outside, and encircled by the ocean, a theory he advanced as in conformity with Scripture.
Cosmo I., Grand-duke of Tuscany, head of the Republic of Florence, of which he made himself absolute master, a post he held in defiance of all opposition, in order to secure the independence of the state he governed, as well as its internal prosperity (1519-1574).
Cosmography, any theory which attempts to trace the system of things back to its first principle or primordial element or elements.
Cosquin, Emmanuel, a French folk-lorist, and author of “Popular Tales of Lorraine,” in the introduction to which he argues for the theory that the development as well as the origin of such tales is historically traceable to India; b. 1841.
Cossacks, a military people of mixed origin, chiefly Tartar and Slav, who fought on horseback, in their own interest as well as that of Russia, defending its interests in particular for centuries past in many a struggle, and forming an important division of the Russian army.
Costa Rica (262), a small republic of Central America; it is mostly tableland; contains many volcanoes; is chiefly agricultural, though rich in minerals.
Costard, a clown in “Love's Labour Lost,” who apes the affected court-wits of the time in a misappropriate style.
Costello, Louisa Stuart, an English authoress; her descriptive powers were considerable, and her novels had a historical groundwork (1799-1870).
Coster, alias Laurens Janszoon, born at Haarlem, to whom his countrymen, as against the claims of Gutenberg, ascribe the invention of printing (1370-1440).
Cosway, Richard, a distinguished miniature portrait-painter, born at Tiverton; Correggio his model (1740-1821).
Côte d'Or, a range of hills in the NE. of France, connecting the Cévennes with the Vosges, which gives name to a department (376) famed for its wines.
Cotentin, a peninsula NW. of Normandy, France, jutting into the English Channel, now forms the northern part of the dep. La Manche, the fatherland of many of the Norman conquerors of England.
Cotes, Roger, an English mathematician of such promise, that Newton said of him, “If he had lived, we should have known something” (1682-1716).
Côtes du Nord (618), a dep. forming part of Brittany; the chief manufacture is linen.
Cotin, the Abbé, a French preacher, born in Paris; a butt of the sarcasm of Molière and Boileau (1604-1682)
Cotman, John Sell, an English painter, born at Norwich; made Turner's acquaintance; produced water-colour landscapes, growing in repute; has been pronounced “the most gifted of the Norwich School” (1782-1842).
Cotopaxi, a volcano of the Andes, in Ecuador, the highest and most active in the world, nearly 20,000 ft., 35 m. SE. of Quito; it rises in a perfect cone, 4400 ft. above the plateau of Quito.
Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, separating the Lower Severn from the sources of the Thames; they are of limestone rock, 50 m. long, and extend N. and S.
Cotta, Caius, a distinguished Roman orator, 1st century B.C.; mentioned with honour by Cicero.
Cotta, German publisher, born at Stuttgart; established in Tübingen; published the works of Goethe, Schiller, Jean Paul, Herder, and others of note among their contemporaries (1764-1832).
Cottian Alps, the range N. of the Maritime between France and Italy.
Cottin, Sophie, a celebrated French authoress; wrote, among other romances, the well-known and extensively translated “Elizabeth; or, the Exiles of Siberia,” a wildly romantic but irreproachably moral tale (1773-1807).
Cottle, Joseph, a publisher and author; started business in Bristol; published the works of Coleridge and Southey on generous terms; wrote in his “Early Recollections” an exposure of Coleridge that has been severely criticised and generally condemned (1770-1853).
Cotton, Bishop, born at Chester; eminent as a master at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, and as head-master at Marlborough College; was appointed Bishop of Calcutta, an office he fulfilled zealously; was drowned in the Ganges; he figures as “the young master” in “Tom Brown's School-days” (1813-1866).
Cotton, Charles, a poet, born in Staffordshire; his poetry was of the burlesque order, and somewhat gross; chiefly famous for his translation of “Montaigne's Essays”; was friend and admirer of Isaak Walton, and wrote a supplement to his “Angler” (1630-1687).
Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce, a distinguished antiquary, and founder of the Cottonian Library, now in the British Museum, born at Denton; was a friend of Camden, and assisted him in his great work; was a great book-collector; was exposed to persecution for his presumed share in the publication of an obnoxious book, of which the original was found in his collection; had his books, in which he prided himself, taken from him, in consequence of which he pined and died (1571-1631).
Coucy, an old noble family of Picardy, who had for device, “Roi ne suis, ne duc, ne comte aussi; je suis le sire de Coucy.” Raoul, a court-poet of the family in the 12th century, lost his life at the siege of Acre in the third crusade.
Coulomb, a learned French physicist and engineer, born at Angoulême; the inventor of the torsion balance, and to whose labours many discoveries in electricity and magnetism are due; lived through the French Revolution retired from the strife (1736-1806).
Councils, Church, assemblies of bishops to decide questions of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline. They are oecumenical, national, or provincial, according as the bishops assembled represented the whole Church, a merely national one, or a provincial section of it. Eastern: Nice, 325 (at which Arius was condemned), 787; Constantinople, 381 (at which Apollinaris was condemned), 553, 680, 869; Ephesus, 431 (at which Nestorius was condemned); Chalcedon, 451 (at which Eutyches was condemned). Western: Lateran, 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, 1274; Synod of Vienne, 1311; Constance, 1414; Basel, 1431-1443; Trent, 1545-1563; Vatican, 1869.
Courayes, a French Roman Catholic ecclesiastic who pled on behalf of Anglican orders; was censured; fled to England, where he was welcomed, and received academic honours (1681-1777).
Courbet, a French vice-admiral, born at Abbeville; distinguished himself by his rapid movements and brilliant successes in the East (1827-1885).
Courbet, Gustave, French painter, born at Ornans; took to landscape-painting; was head of the Realistic school; joined the Commune in 1871; his property and pictures were sold to pay the damage done, and especially to restore the Vendôme Column; died an exile in Switzerland (1819-1877).
Courier, Paul Louis, a French writer, born at Paris; began life as a soldier, but being wounded at Wagram, retired from the army, and gave himself to letters; distinguished himself as the author of political pamphlets, written with a scathing irony such as has hardly been surpassed, which brought him into trouble; was assassinated on his estate by his gamekeeper (1772-1825).
Courland (637), a partly wooded and partly marshy province of Russia, S. of the Gulf of Riga; the population chiefly German, and Protestants; agriculture their chief pursuit.
Court de Gébelin, a French writer, born at Nîmes, author of a work entitled “The Primitive World analysed and compared with the Modern World” (1725-1784).
Courtney, William, archbishop of Canterbury, no match for Wickliffe in debate, but had his revenge in persecuting his followers (1341-1396).
Courtois, Jacques, a French painter of battle-pieces; became a Jesuit, died a monk (1621-1676).
Courtrais (29), a Belgian town on the Lys.
Cousin, Victor, a French philosopher, born in Paris; founder of an eclectic school, which derived its doctrines partly from the Scottish philosophy and partly from the German, and which Dr. Chalmers in his class-room one day characterised jocularly as neither Scotch nor German, but just half seas over; he was a lucid expounder, an attractive lecturer, and exerted no small influence on public opinion in France; had a considerable following; retired from public life in 1848, and died at Cannes; he left a number of philosophic works behind him, the best known among us “Discourses on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good” (1792-1867).
Cousin Michael, a disparaging designation of our German kindred, as slow, heavy, unpolished, and ungainly.
Cousin-Montauban, a French general, commanded the Chinese expedition of 1860, and, after a victory over the Chinese, took possession of Pekin (1796-1878).
Cousins, Samuel, a mezzotint engraver, born at Exeter; engraved “Bolton Abbey,” “Marie Antoinette in the Temple,” and a number of plates after eminent painters; left a fund to aid poor artists (1801-1880).
Couston, the name of three eminent French sculptors: Nicolas (1658-1733); Guillaume, father (1678-1746); and Guillaume, son (1716-1777).
Couthon, Georges, a violent revolutionary, one of a triumvirate with Robespierre and St. Just, who would expel every one from the Jacobin Club who could not give evidence of having done something to merit hanging, should a counter-revolution arrive; was paralysed in his limbs from having had to spend a night “sunk to the middle in a cold peat bog” to escape detection as a seducer; trapped for the guillotine; tried to make away with himself under a table, but could not (1756-1794).
Coutts, Thomas, a banker, born in Edinburgh, his father having been Lord Provost of that city; joint-founder and eventually sole manager of the London banking house, Coutts & Co.; left a fortune of £900,000 (1735-1822).
Couvade, a custom among certain races of low culture in which a father before and after childbirth takes upon himself the duties and cares of the mother.
Couza, Prince, born at Galatz, hereditary prince of Moldavia and Wallachia; reigned from 1858 to 1860; died in exile, 1873.
Covenant, Solemn League and, an engagement, with representatives from Scotland, on the part of the English Parliament to secure to the Scotch the terms of their National Covenant, and signed by honourable members in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, September 25, 1643, on the condition of assistance from the Scotch in their great struggle with the king.
Covenant, The National, a solemn engagement on the part of the Scottish nation subscribed to by all ranks of the community, the first signature being appended to it in the Greyfriars' Churchyard, Edinburgh, on February 28, 1638, to maintain the Presbyterian Church and to resist all attempts on the part of Charles I. to foist Episcopacy upon it; it was ratified by the Scottish Parliament in 1640, and subscribed by Charles II. in 1650 and 1651.
Covenanters, a body of strict Presbyterians who held out against the breach of the Solemn League and Covenant.
Covent Garden, properly Convent Garden, as originally the garden of Westminster Abbey, the great fruit, flower, and vegetable market of London; is one of the sights of London early on a summer morning.
Coventry (55), a town in Warwickshire, 18½ m. SE. of Birmingham; famous for the manufacture of ribbons and watches, and recently the chief seat of the manufacture of bicycles and tricycles; in the old streets are some quaint old houses; there are some very fine churches and a number of charitable institutions.
Coventry, Sir John, a member of the Long Parliament; when, as a member of Parliament in Charles II.'s reign, he made reflections on the profligate conduct of the king, he was set upon by bullies, who slit his nose to the bone; a deed which led to the passing of the Coventry Act, which makes cutting and maiming a capital offence (1640-1682).
Coverdale, Miles, translator of the English Bible, born in Yorkshire; his translation was the first issued under royal sanction, being dedicated to Henry VIII.; done at the instance of Thomas Cromwell, and brought out in 1535, and executed with a view to secure the favour of the authorities in Church and State, displaying a timid hesitancy unworthy of a manly faith in the truth; both he and his translation nevertheless were subjected to persecution, 2500 copies of the latter, printed in Paris, having been seized by the Inquisition and committed to the flames (1487-1568).
Coverley, Sir Roger de, member of the club under whose auspices the Spectator is professedly edited; represents an English squire of Queen Anne's reign.
Cowell, John, an English lawyer, author of “Institutes of the Laws of England” and of a law dictionary burnt by the common hangman for matter in it derogatory to the royal authority; d. 1611.
Cowen, Frederick Hymen, a popular English composer, born in Kingston, Jamaica; his works consist of symphonies, cantatas, oratories, as well as songs, duets, &c.; is conductor of the Manchester Subscription Concerts in succession to Sir Charles Hallé; b. 1852.
Cowes, a watering-place in the N. of the Isle of Wight, separated by the estuary of Medina into E. and W.; engaged in yacht-building, and the head-quarters of the Royal Yacht Club.
Cowley, Abraham, poet and essayist, born in London; a contemporary of Milton, whom he at one time outshone, but has now fallen into neglect; he was an ardent royalist, and catered to the taste of the court, which, however, brought him no preferment at the Restoration; he was a master of prose, and specially excelled in letter-writing; he does not seem to have added much to the literature of England, except as an essayist, and in this capacity has been placed at the head of those who cultivated that clear, easy, and natural style which culminated in Addison (1618-1667).
Cowley, Henry Wellesley, Earl, an eminent diplomatist, brother of the Duke of Wellington; served as a diplomatist in Vienna, Constantinople, and Switzerland, and was ambassador to France from 1852 to 1867 (1804-1884).
Cowper, William, a popular English poet, born at Great Berkhampstead, Hertford, of noble lineage; lost his mother at six, and cherished the memory of her all his days; of a timid, sensitive nature, suffered acutely from harsh usage at school; read extensively in the classics; trained for and called to the bar; was appointed at 32 a clerk to the House of Lords; qualifying for the duties of the appointment proved too much for him, and he became insane; when he recovered, he retired from the world to Huntingdon beside a brother, where he formed an intimacy with a family of the name of Unwin, a clergyman in the place; on Mr. Unwin's death he removed with the family to Olney, in Buckinghamshire, where he lived as a recluse and associated with the Rev. John Newton and Mrs. Unwin; shortly after he fell insane again, and continued so for two years; on his recovery he took to gardening and composing poems, his first the “Olney Hymns,” the melancholy being charmed away by the conversation of a Lady Austin, who came to live in the neighbourhood; it was she who suggested his greatest poem, the “Task”; then followed other works, change of scene and associates, the death of Mrs. Unwin, and the gathering of a darker and darker cloud, till he passed away peacefully; it is interesting to note that it is to this period his “Lines to Mary Unwin” and his “Mother's Picture” belong (1731-1800).
Cox, David, an eminent landscape painter, rated by some next to Turner, born at Birmingham; began his art as a scene-painter; painted as a landscapist first in water-colour, then in oil; many of his best works are scenes in N. Wales; his works have risen in esteem and value; an ambition of his was to get £100 for a picture, and one he got only £20 for brought £3602 (1793-1830).
Cox, Sir George, an English mythologist, specially distinguished for resolving the several myths of Greece and the world into idealisations of solar phenomena; he has written on other subjects, all of interest, and is engaged with W. T. Brande on a “Dictionary of Science, Literature, and Art”; b. 1827.
Coxcie, Michael, a celebrated Flemish painter, born at Mechlin (1497-1592).
Coxe, Henry Octavius, librarian, became assistant-librarian of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in 1838, and ultimately head-librarian in 1860; under his direction the catalogue, consisting of 720 folio volumes, was completed; held this post till his death; has edited several works of value; is one of Dean Burgon's “Twelve Good Men” (1811-1881).
Coxe, William, a historical writer, heavy but painstaking, born in London; wrote “History of the House of Austria” and the “Memoirs of Marlborough,” and on “Sir Robert Walpole and the Pelham Administrations” (1747-1828).
Coxwell, a celebrated English aëronaut; bred a dentist; took to ballooning; made 700 ascents; reached with Glaisher an elevation of 7 m.; b. 1819.
Cozens, John Robert, a landscape painter, a natural son of Peter the Great; pronounced by Constable the greatest genius that ever touched landscape, and from him Turner confessed he had learned more than from any other landscapist; his mind gave way at last, and he died insane (1752-1801).
Crabbe, George, an English poet, born at Aldborough, in Suffolk; began life as apprentice to an apothecary with a view to the practice of medicine, but having poetic tastes, he gave up medicine for literature, and started for London with a capital of three pounds; his first productions in this line not meeting with acceptance, he was plunged in want; appealing in vain for assistance in his distress, he fell in with Burke, who liberally helped him and procured him high patronage, under which he took orders and obtained the living of Trowbridge, which he held for life, and he was now in circumstances to pursue his bent; his principal poems are “The Library,” “The Village,” “The Parish Register,” “The Borough,” and the “Tales of the Hall,” all, particularly the earlier ones, instinct with interest in the lives of the poor, “the sacrifices, temptations, loves, and crimes of humble life,” described with the most “unrelenting” realism; the author in Byron's esteem, “though Nature's sternest painter, yet the best” (1754-1832).
Cracow (75), a city in Galicia, the old capital of Poland; where the old Polish kings were buried, and the cathedral of which contains the graves of the most illustrious of the heroes of the country and Thorwaldsen's statue of Christ; a large proportion of the inhabitants are Jews.
Cradle Mountain, a mountain in the W. of Tasmania.
Craig, John, a Scottish Reformer, educated at St. Andrews, and originally a Dominican monk; had been converted to Protestantism by study of Calvin's “Institutes,” been doomed to the stake by the Inquisition, but had escaped; the coadjutor in Edinburgh of Knox, and his successor in his work, and left a confession and catechism (1512-1580).
Craig, Sir Thomas, an eminent Scottish lawyer, author of a treatise on the “Jus Feudale,” which has often been reprinted, as well as three others in Latin of less note; wrote in Latin verse a poem on Queen Mary's marriage to Darnley (1538-1608).
Craigenputtock, a craig or whinstone hill of the puttocks (small hawks), “a high moorland farm on the watershed between Dumfriesshire and Galloway, 10 m. from Dumfries,” the property for generations of a family of Welshes, and eventually that of their heiress, Jane Welsh Carlyle, “the loneliest spot in all the British dominions,” which the Carlyles made their dwelling-house in 1828, where they remained for seven years, and where “Sartor” was written. “It is certain,” Carlyle says of it long after, “that for living and thinking in I have never since found in the world a place so favourable.... How blessed,” he exclaims, “might poor mortals be in the straitest circumstances if their wisdom and fidelity to heaven and to one another were adequately great!”
Craik, George Little, an English author, born in Fife, educated at St. Andrews; settled early in London as a littérateur; was associated with Charles Knight in his popular literary undertakings; was author of the “Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,” and the “History of English Literature and Learning”; edited “Pictorial History of England,” contributed to “Penny Cyclopædia,” and became professor of English Literature, Queen's College, Belfast (1799-1866).
Craik, Mrs., née Mulock, born at Stoke-upon-Trent; authoress of “John Halifax, Gentleman,” her chief work, which has had, and maintains, a wide popularity; married in 1865 a nephew and namesake of the preceding, a partner of the publishing house of Macmillan & Co.; wrote for the magazines, besides some 14 more novels (1826-1887).
Crail, a little old-fashioned town near the East Neuk of Fife, where James Sharp was minister; a decayed fishing-place, now a summer resort.
Cramer, Johann Baptist, a distinguished German composer and pianist (1771-1858).
Cranach, Lucas, a celebrated German painter, born at Kronach, in the bishopric of Bamberg; was patronised by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, whom he accompanied in 1493 to the Holy Land; was engraver as well as painter, skilled in portraiture as well as in historical scenes; was intimately associated with the German reformers Luther and Melanchthon, whose portraits he painted among others; the works of his that remain are chiefly altar-pieces; his chief work is the “Crucifixion” in Weimar, where he died (1472-1553).
Crane, Ichabod, a tall, lean, lank, Yankee schoolmaster in Irving's “Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Crane, Walter, poet and painter; has published various illustrated books and poems illustrated by himself, and is an authority on decorative art; b. 1845.
Cranmer, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, born in Nottinghamshire; educated at Jesus College, Cambridge; recommended himself to Henry VIII. by favouring his divorce, writing in defence of it, and pleading for it before the Pope, the latter in vain, as it proved; on his return was elevated to the archbishopric, in which capacity he proved a zealous promoter of the Reformation, by having the Bible translated and circulated, and by the suppression of monasteries; pronounced sentence of divorce of Catharine, and confirmed the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn; by these and other compliances he kept the favour of Henry, but on the accession of Mary he was committed to the Tower and persuaded to recant, and even signed a recantation, but on being called to recant in public, and refusing to do so, he was dragged to the stake, thrust his right hand into the flames, and exclaimed, “Oh, this unworthy hand” (1489-1566).
Crannoge, a species of lake-dwelling and stronghold, of which remains are found in Scotland and Ireland.
Crapaud, Jean, a nickname of the Frenchmen.
Crashaw, Richard, a minor poet, born in London; bred for the English Church; went to Paris, where he became a Roman Catholic; fell into pecuniary difficulties, but was befriended by Cowley and recommended to a post; was an imitator of George Herbert, and his poems were of the same class, but more fantastical; his principal poems were “Steps to the Temple” and the “Delights of the Muses”; both Milton and Pope are indebted to him (1616-1650).
Crassus, Lucius Licinius, the greatest Roman orator of his day, became consul 55 B.C.; during his consulship a law was passed requiring all but citizens to leave Rome, an edict which provoked the Social War (140-91 B.C.).
Crassus, Marcus Licinius, the triumvir with Pompey and Cæsar; was avaricious, and amassed great wealth; appointed to the province of Syria, provoked out of cupidity war with the Parthians, in which he was treacherously slain; Orodes, the king, cut off his head, and poured melted gold into his mouth, saying as he did so, “Now sate thyself with the metal of which thou wert so greedy when alive” (115-53 B.C.).
Crates, a Greek cynic philosopher, disciple of Diogenes; 4th century B.C.
Cratinus, a Greek comic poet, born at Athens; limited the actors in a piece to three, and the first to introduce into the drama attacks on public men, wrote also satires on vice (519-424 B.C.).
Cratippus, a Peripatetic philosopher of Mytilene, contemporary of Pompey and Cicero; soothed the sunken spirit of the former after the defeat at Pharsalia with the consolations of philosophy.
Cratylus, a dialogue of Plato's on the connection between language and thought.
Crawford, Marion, a novelist, born in Tuscany, of American origin, son of the succeeding; spent a good deal of his early years in India, and now lives partly in New York and partly in Italy; his works, which are numerous, are chiefly novels, his first “Mr. Isaacs” (1882), original and striking; an able writer, and a scholarly; b. 1854.
Crawford, Thomas, an American sculptor, studied at Rome under Thorwaldsen; his “Orpheus in Search of Eurydice” brought him into notice, and was followed by an array of works of eminent merit; died in London from a tumour on the brain, after being struck with blindness (1814-1857).
Crawford and Balcarres, Earl of, better known as Lord Lindsay, and as the author of “Letters from the Holy Land,” “Progression by Antagonism,” and “Sketches of the History of Christian Art”; died at Florence, and was entombed at Dunecht, whence his body was abstracted and found again in a wood near by after a seven months' search (1812-1880).
Crayer, Caspar de, a celebrated Flemish painter, born at Antwerp; pictures and altar-pieces by him are to be seen in Brussels and Ghent (1582-1669).
Creakle, Mr., a bullying schoolmaster in “David Copperfield.”
Creasy, Sir Edward, chief-justice of Ceylon, author of “The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,” “Rise and Progress of the British Constitution,” &c. (1812-1878).
Creatin, a substance found in the muscles of vertebrate animals, but never in invertebrate.
Crébillon, a French dramatist, born at Dijon, bred to the law, devoted to literature and the composition of tragedies, of which he produced several, mostly on classical subjects, such as “Atreus and Thyestes,” “Electra,” of unequal merit, though at times of great power; he ranked next Voltaire among the dramatists of the time (1674-1762).
Crécy, a French village, 12 m. NE. of Abbeville, where Edward III., with 30,000, defeated the French with 68,000, and destroyed the flower of the chivalry of France, Aug. 26, 1346.
Crédit Foncier, a system of credit originating in France on the security of land, whereby the loan is repayable so that principal and interest are extinguished at the same time.
Creech, William, an Edinburgh bookseller, for 40 years the chief publisher in the city; published the first Edinburgh edition of Burns's poems (1745-1815).
Creeks, a tribe of American Indians settled in Indian territory.
Creighton, Mandell, bishop of London, born at Carlisle; previously bishop of Peterborough; has written on Simon de Montfort, on Wolsey, and on the Tudors and the Reformation, but his great work is the “History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome,” a work of great value; b. 1843.
Crémieux, a French advocate and politician, born at Nîmes, of Jewish birth; a member of the Provisional Government of 1848, and of the National Defence in 1870; took a deep interest in the destiny of his race (1796-1880).
Cremona, old town on the Po, in Lombardy, 46 m. SE. of Milan; interesting for its churches, with their paintings and frescoes; noted at one time for the manufacture of violins.
Cremorne (37), gardens in Chelsea; a popular place of amusement, now closed.
Creole State, Louisiana, U.S.
Crescent City, New Orleans, U.S., as originally occupying a convex bend of the Mississippi.
Crescentini, a celebrated Italian soprano (1769-1846).
Crescentius, a patrician of Rome who, in the 10th century, sought to destroy the imperial power and restore the republic; on this he was defeated by Otho III., to whom he surrendered on promise of safety, but who hanged and beheaded him; Stephano, his widow, avenged this treachery by accepting Otho as her lover, and then poisoning him.
Crespi, Giuseppe, an Italian painter; copied the works of Correggio, Caracci, and other masters (1665-1747).
Creswell, Sir Creswell, judge, born in Newcastle; represented Liverpool in Parliament; was raised to the bench by Peel, and, on the establishment of the Divorce Court, was in 1858 named first judge (1794-1863).
Creswick, Thomas, an English landscape painter, born in Sheffield; simple, pleasantly-suggestive, and faithfully-painted scenes from nature were the subjects of his art; was employed a good deal in book illustrations (1811-1869).
Crete or Candia (295), a mountainous island in the Mediterranean, 160 m. long and from 7 to 30 m. broad; in nominal subjection to Turkey after 1669, it was in perpetual revolt. The rising of 1895 led to the intervention of the great powers of Europe, and the Turkish troops having been withdrawn in 1898 under pressure from Great Britain, Russia, France, and Italy, Prince George of Greece was appointed High Commissioner, ruling on behalf of these powers. Turkey still retains the nominal suzerainty.
Cretinism, a disease prevalent in valleys as those of the Alps, characterised by mental imbecility, and associated with abnormal and arrested physical development.
Creusa, a wife of Æneas, fell behind her husband, lost her way in escaping from Troy, and perished.
Creusot, Le (18), a town in the dep. Saône-et-Loire, near Autun, which owes its importance to the large iron-works established there; is a district rich in coal and iron.
Creuzer, a learned German philologist, born at Marburg; became professor of Ancient History and Philology at Heidelberg; his chief work, and one by which he is most widely known, “Symbolik und Mythologie der Alten Völker, besonders der Griechen,” “Symbolism and Mythology of Ancient Peoples, especially the Greeks”; left an autobiography (1771-1858).
Crewe (29), a town in Cheshire, 43 m. SE. of Liverpool, a great railway junction, and where the London and North-Western Railway Company have their works.
Crichton, James, surnamed The Admirable, a Scotchman of gentle, even noble birth, educated at St. Andrews, had George Buchanan for tutor; early developed the most extraordinary gifts of both body and mind; travelled to Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Mantua; astonished every one by his strength and skill as an athlete, and his dexterity and agility in debate; at Mantua he became tutor to the son of the Duke, when one night he was attacked in the streets by a band of masked men, whom he overcame by his skill, recognised his pupil among them, and presented to him his sword, upon which, it is said, the young man immediately ran him through with it (1560-1585).
Crieff (5), a town in Perthshire, at the foot of the Grampians, 18 m. W. of Perth, amid exquisite scenery; has a climate favourable for invalids.
Crillon, a French military captain, born at Mars, in Provence; distinguished himself through five reigns, those of Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV., of the last of whom he became companion in arms, who designated him Le brave des braves, and who wrote to him this famous note after the victory of Arques: “Where were you, brave Crillon? we have conquered, and you were not there.” (1541-1615).
Crimea (250), a peninsula in the S. of Russia, almost surrounded by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, being connected with the mainland by the narrow isthmus of Perekop; has a bold and precipitous coast 650 m. in length; is barren in the N., but fertile and fruitful in the S.; population chiefly Russians and Tartars.
Crimean War, a war carried on chiefly in the Crimea, on the part of Turkey aided by Britain and France, in which Sardinia eventually joined them, against the encroachments of Russia in the E., and which was proclaimed against Russia, March 24, 1854, and ended by the fall of Sebastopol, September 8, 1855, the treaty of peace following having been signed at Paris, March 1856.
Crinan Canal, a canal for vessels of light burden, 9 m. long, from Loch Fyne, in Argyllshire, constructed to avoid sailing round the Mull of Kintyre, thereby saving a distance of 115 m.
Crispi, Francesco, an Italian statesman, born in Sicily; co-operated with Garibaldi in the Sicilian Revolution, and since active as a member of the Government in the kingdom of Italy; b. 1819.
Crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers, of noble birth, who with his brother had to flee from persecution in Rome to Gaul, where they settled at Soissons; preached to the people and supported themselves by shoemaking; they finally suffered martyrdom in 287. Festival, Oct. 25.
Critias, a pupil of Socrates, who profited so little by his master's teaching that he became the most conspicuous for his cruelty and rapacity of all the thirty tyrants set up in Athens by the Spartans (450-402 B.C.).
Criton, a rich Athenian, friend and disciple of Socrates; supported him by his fortune, but could not persuade him to leave the prison, though he had procured the means of escape.
Croa`tia and Slavonia (2,201), a Hungarian crownland, lying between the Drave and Save, tributaries of the Danube, and stretching westward to the Adriatic. It is half as large as Ireland, wooded and mountainous, with marshy districts along the river courses. The soil is fertile, growing cereals, fibres, tobacco, and grapes; silkworms and bees are a source of wealth; horses, cattle, and swine are raised in large numbers. The province is poor in minerals, and lacks a harbour. The people are Slavs, of Roman Catholic faith; backward in education, but showing signs of progress.
Crockett, Samuel Rutherford, novelist, born near New Galloway, Kirkcudbright; bred for the Church, and for some time Free Church minister at Penicuik, Midlothian, a charge he resigned in 1895, having previously published a volume of sketches entitled “The Stickit Minister,” which was so received as to induce him to devote himself to literature, as he has since done with more or less success; b. 1859.
Croesus, the last of the kings of Lydia, in the 6th century B.C.; celebrated for his wealth, so that his name became a synonym for a man overwhelmed by the favours of fortune; being visited by Solon, he asked him one day if he knew any one happier than he was, when the sage answered, “No man can be counted happy till after death.” Of the truth of this Croesus had ere long experience; being condemned to death by Cyrus, who had defeated him and condemned him to be burnt, and about to be led to the burning pile, he called out thrice over the name of Solon; when Cyrus, having learned the reason, moved with pity, ordered his release, retained him among his counsellors, and commended him when dying to the care of his son.
Croker, John Wilson, a politician and man of letters, born in Galway, though of English descent; bred for the bar; wrote in advocacy of Catholic emancipation; represented Downpatrick in Parliament; was in 1809 appointed Secretary to the Admiralty, a post he held for 20 years; was one of the founders of the Quarterly Review, to which, it is said, he contributed 200 articles; edited Boswell's “Life of Johnson” with Notes; was an obstinate Tory, satirised by Disraeli and severely handled by Macaulay; founded the Athenæum Club (1780-1857).
Croker, T. Crofton, Irish folk-lorist, born in Cork; held a well-paid clerkship in the Admiralty; collected and published stories, legends, and traditions of the S. of Ireland; he wrote with a humour which was heartily Irish; his most original work being “The Adventures of Barney Mahoney”; he was a zealous antiquary; he was a brilliant conversationalist (1798-1854).
Croll, James, a geologist, born near Coupar-Angus; contributed materially to geology by his study of the connection between alterations of climate and geological changes (1821-1890).
Croly, George, a versatile author; designed for the Church; took to literature, and wrote in all kinds, poetry, biography, and romance; his best romance “Salathiel”; died rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook (1780-1860).
Cromarty, a county in the N. of Scotland, consisting of ten fragments scattered up and down Ross-shire; the county town, the birthplace of Hugh Miller, being on the N. side of Cromarty Firth, which opens eastward into the Moray Firth, and forms a large harbour 1 m. long and 7 broad, protected at the mouth by two beetling rocks called Sutors, one on each side, 400 and 463 ft. high.
Crome, John, usually called Old Crome, a landscape-painter, born in Norwich, of poor parents; began as a house-painter and then a drawing-master; one of the founders of the Norwich Society of Artists; took his subjects from his native county, and treated them with fidelity to nature; his pictures have risen in value since his death (1768-1821).
Crompton, Samuel, inventor of the spinning-mule, born near Bolton; for five years he worked at his project, and after he got it into shape was tormented by people prying about him and trying to find out his secret; at last a sum was raised by subscription to buy it, and he got some £60 for it, by which others became wealthy, while he had to spend, and end, his days in comparative poverty, all he had to subsist on being a life annuity of £63 which some friends bought him (1753-1827).
Cromwell, Oliver, Lord-Protector of the commonwealth of England, born at Huntingdon, the son of Robert Cromwell, the younger son of Sir Henry Cromwell, and of Elizabeth Steward, descended from the royal family of Scotland, their third child and second boy; educated at Huntingdon and afterwards at Cambridge; left college at his father's death, and occupied himself in the management of his paternal property; entered Parliament in 1629, and represented Cambridge in 1640, where to oppose the king he, by commission in 1642 from Essex, raised a troop of horse, famous afterwards as his “Ironsides”; with these he distinguished himself, first at Marston Moor in 1644, and next year at Naseby; crushed the Scots at Preston in 1648, who had invaded the country in favour of the king, now in the hands of the Parliament, and took Berwick; sat at trial of the king and signed his death-warrant, 1649; sent that same year to subdue rebellion in Ireland, he sternly yet humanely stamped it out; recalled from Ireland, he set out for Scotland, which had risen up in favour of Charles II., and totally defeated the Scots at Dunbar, Sept. 3, 1650, after which Charles invaded England and the Royalists were finally beaten at Worcester, Sept. 3, 1651, upon which his attention was drawn to affairs of government; taking up his residence at Hampton Court, his first step was to dissolve the Rump, which he did by military authority in 1653; a new Parliament was summoned, which also he was obliged to dismiss, after being declared Lord-Protector; from this time he ruled mainly alone, and wherever his power was exercised, beyond seas even, it was respected; at last his cares and anxieties proved too much for him and wore him out, he fell ill and died, Sept. 3, 1658, the anniversary of his two great victories at Dunbar and Worcester; they buried him in Westminster, but his body was dug up at the Restoration, hanged at Tyburn, and buried under the gallows; such treatment his body was subjected to after he was gone, and for long after he was no less ignobly treated by several succeeding generations as a hypocrite, a fanatic, or a tyrant; but now, thanks to Carlyle, he is come to be regarded as one of the best and wisest rulers that ever sat on the English throne (1599-1658). See “Cromwell's Letters and Speeches,” edited by Carlyle.
Cromwell, Richard, son of the Protector; appointed to succeed him; was unequal to the task, and compelled to abdicate, April 26, 1659; retired into private life; went after the Restoration for a time abroad; returned under a feigned name, and lived and died at Cheshunt (1626-1712).
Cromwell, Thomas, minister of Henry VIII., and malleus monachorum, the “mauler of the monks,” born at Putney; the son of a blacksmith; led a life of adventure for eight or nine years on the Continent; settled in England about the beginning of Henry's reign; came under notice of Wolsey, whose confidant he became, and subordinate agent in suppressing the smaller monasteries; on his master's fall rose into favour with Henry by suggesting he should discard the supremacy of the Pope, and assume the supremacy of the Church himself; attained, in consequence, the highest rank and authority in the State, for the proposal was adopted, with the result that the Crown remains the head of ecclesiastical authority in England to this day; the authority he thus acquired he employed in so high-handed a fashion that he lost the favour of both king and people, till on a sudden he was arrested on charges of treason, was condemned to death, and beheaded on Tower Hill (1485-1540).
Cronstadt (42), the port of St. Petersburg, at the mouth of the Neva; a strongly fortified place, and the greatest naval station in the country; it is absolutely impregnable.
Crookes, William, an eminent chemist and physicist, born in London; distinguished for researches in both capacities; discovered the metal thallium, and invented the radiometer; b. 1832.
Cross, Mrs., George Eliot's married name.
Cross, Southern, a bright constellation in the southern hemisphere, consisting of four stars.
Cross, Victoria, a naval and military decoration instituted in 1854; awarded for eminent personal valour in the face of the enemy.
Cross Fell, one of the Pennine range of mountains in the N. of England, 2892 ft., on the top of which five counties meet.
Crosse, Andrew, electrician, born at Somersetshire; made several discoveries in the application of electricity; he was a zealous scientist, and apt to be over-zealous (1784-1855).
Crossraguel, an abbey, now in ruins, 2 m. SW. of Maybole, Ayrshire, where John Knox held disputation with the abbot, and of which in his “History of the Reformation” he gives a humorous account (1562).
Crotch, William, musical composer of precocious gifts, and writer in music, born in Norwich; became, in 1797, professor of Music in Oxford, and in 1822 Principal of the Royal Academy; his anthems are well known (1775-1847).
Crotona, an ancient large and flourishing Greek city, Magna Græcia, in Italy; the residence of the philosopher Pythagoras and the athlete Milo.
Crowe, Eyre Evans, historian and miscellaneous writer, born in Hants; editor of the Daily News; author of the “History of France” and “Lives of Eminent Foreign Statesmen” (1799-1868).
Crowe, Sir James Archer, writer on art and a journalist, born in London, son of the preceding; is associated with Cavalcaselle in several works on art and famous artists; b. 1825.
Crowne, John, playwright, born in Nova Scotia, a contemporary and rival of Dryden; supplied the stage with plays for nearly 30 years (1640-1705).
Crowther, Samuel Adjai, bishop of the Niger Territory; an African by birth; was captured to be sold as a slave, but released by an English cruiser; baptized a Christian in 1825; joined the first Niger Expedition in 1841; sent out as a missionary in 1843; appointed bishop in 1864, the duties of which he discharged faithfully, zealously, and well (1810-1891).
Croydon (103), the largest town in Surrey, on the Wandle, 10 m. SW. of London Bridge, and practically now a suburb of London.
Cruden, Alexander, author of a “Complete Concordance of the Holy Scriptures,” with which alone his name is now associated; born in Aberdeen; intended for the Church, but from unsteadiness of intellect not qualified to enter it; was placed frequently in restraint; appears to have been a good deal employed as a press corrector; gave himself out as “Alexander the Corrector,” commissioned to correct moral abuses (1701-1770).
Cruikshank, George, a richly gifted English artist, born in London, of Scotch descent; the first exhibition of his talent was in the illustration of books for children, but it was in the line of humorous satire he chiefly distinguished himself; and he first found scope for his gifts in this direction in the political squibs of William Hone, a faculty he exercised at length over a wide area; the works illustrated by him include, among hundreds of others, “Grimm's Stories,” “Peter Schlemihl,” Scott's “Demonology,” Dickens's “Oliver Twist,” and Ainsworth's “Jack Shepherd”; like Hogarth, he was a moralist as well as an artist, and as a total abstainer he consecrated his art at length to dramatise the fearful downward career of the drunkard; his greatest work, done in oil, is in the National Gallery, the “Worship of Bacchus,” which is a vigorous protestation against this vice (1792-1878).
Crusades, The, military expeditions, organised from the 11th century to the 13th, under the banner of the Cross for the recovery of the Holy Land from the hands of the Saracens, to the number of eight. The First (1096-1099), preached by Peter the Hermit, and sanctioned by the Council of Clermont (1095), consisted of two divisions: one, broken into two hordes, under Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless respectively, arrived decimated in Syria, and was cut to pieces at Nicæa by the sultan; while the other, better equipped and more efficiently organised, laid siege to and captured in succession Nicæa, Antioch, and Jerusalem, where Godfrey of Bouillon was proclaimed king. The Second (1147-1149), preached by St. Bernard, consisting of two armies under Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France, laid siege in a shattered state to Damascus, and was compelled to raise the siege and return a mere remnant to Europe. The Third (1189-1193), preached by William, archbishop of Tyre, and provoked by Saladin's capture of Jerusalem, of which one division was headed by Barbarossa, who, after taking Iconium, was drowned while bathing in the Orontes, and the other, headed by Philippe Augustus and Richard Coeur de Lion, who jointly captured Acre and made peace with Saladin. The Fourth (1202-1204), under sanction of Pope Innocent III., and undertaken by Baldwin, count of Flanders, having got the length of Venice, was preparing to start for Asia, when it was called aside to Constantinople to restore the emperor to his throne, when, upon his death immediately afterwards, the Crusaders elected Baldwin in his place, pillaged the city, and left, having added it to the domain of the Pope. The Fifth (1217-1221), on the part of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem, and Andrew II., king of Hungary, who made a raid upon Egypt against the Saracens there, but without any result. The Sixth (1228-1229), under conduct of Frederick II. of Germany, as heir through John of Brienne to the throne of Jerusalem, who made a treaty with the sultan of Egypt, whereby the holy city, with the exception of the Mosque of Omar, was made over to him as king of Jerusalem. The Seventh (1248-1254), conducted by St. Louis in the fulfilment of a vow, in which Louis was defeated and taken prisoner, and only recovered his liberty by payment of a heavy ransom. The Eighth (1270), also undertaken by St. Louis, who lay dying at Tunis as the towns of Palestine fell one after another into the hands of the Saracens. The Crusades terminated with the fall of Ptolemaïs in 1291.
Crusoe, Robinson, the hero of Defoe's fiction of the name, a shipwrecked sailor who spent years on an uninhabited island, and is credited with no end of original devices in providing for his wants. See Selkirk.
Csoma de Körös, Alexander, a Hungarian traveller and philologist, born in Körös, Transylvania; in the hope of tracing the origin of the Magyar race, set out for the East in 1820, and after much hardship by the way arrived in Thibet, where, under great privations, though aided by the English Government, he devoted himself to the study of the Thibetan language; in 1831 settled in Calcutta, where he compiled his Thibetan Grammar and Dictionary, and catalogued the Thibetan works in the library of the Asiatic Society; died at Darjeeling just as he was setting out for fresh discoveries (1784-1836).
Ctesias, Greek physician and historian of Persia; was present with Artaxerxes Mnemon at the battle of Cunaxa, 401 B.C., and stayed afterwards at the Persian court, where he got the materials for his history, of which only a few fragments are extant.
Ctesiphon, an Athenian who, having proposed that the city should confer a crown of gold on Demosthenes, was accused by Æschines of violating the law in so doing, but was acquitted after an eloquent oration by Demosthenes in his defence.
Cuba (1,500), the largest of the West India Islands, 700 m. long and from 27 m. to 290 m. in breadth; belonged to Spain, but is now under the protection of the United States; is traversed from E. to W. by a range of mountains wooded to the summit; abounds in forests—ebony, cedar, mahogany, &c.; soil very fertile; exports sugar and tobacco; principal town, Havana.
Cubbit, Sir William, an eminent English engineer, born in Norfolk; more or less employed in most of the great engineering undertakings of his time (1785-1861).
Cudworth, Ralph, an eminent English divine and philosopher, born in Somerset; his chief work, a vast and discursive one, and to which he owes his fame, “The True Intellectual System of the Universe,” in which he teaches a philosophy of the Platonic type, which ascribes more to the abiding inner than the fugitive outer of things; he defends revealed religion on grounds of reason against both the atheist and the materialist; his candour and liberality exposed him to much misconstruction, and on that account was deemed a latitudinarian. “He stands high among our early philosophers for his style, which, if not exactly elegant and never splendid, is solid and clear” (1617-1688).
Cuenca, a fine old city in Spain, 83 m. E. of Madrid; also a high-lying city of Ecuador, over 100 m. S. of Quito, with a delightful climate; both in provinces of the same name.
Cujas, or Cujacius, a celebrated French jurist, born at Toulouse; devoted to the study of Roman law in its historical development, and the true founder of the Historical school in that department (1522-1590).
Culdees, fraternities of uncertain origin and character scattered up and down Ireland, and especially Scotland, hardly at all in England, from the 9th or 10th to the 14th century; instituted, as would appear, to keep alive a religious spirit among themselves and disseminate it among their neighbours, until on the establishment of monastic orders in the country they ceased to have a separate existence and lost their individuality in the new communities, as well as their original character; they appear to have been originally, whatever they became at length, something like those fraternities we find later on at Deventer, in Holland, with which Thomas à Kempis was connected, only whereas the former sought to plant Christianity, the latter sought to purify it. The name disappears after 1332, but traces of them are found at Dunkeld, St. Andrews, Brechin, and elsewhere in Scotland; in Ireland they continued in Armagh to the Reformation, and were resuscitated for a few years in the 17th century.
Cullen, Paul, Cardinal, Catholic primate of Ireland, born in Kildare; was an extreme Ultramontanist; vigorously opposed all secret societies in the country with revolutionary aims, as well as the system of mixed education then in force (1803-1878).
Cullen, William, physician, born at Hamilton; studied in Glasgow; held successively the chairs of Chemistry, the Institutes of Medicine, and Medicine in Edinburgh University; author of several medical works; did much to advance the science of medicine; the celebrated Dr. Black was one of his pupils in chemistry (1710-1790).
Culloden, a moor, 5 m. NE. of Inverness, where the Duke of Cumberland defeated Prince Charles in 1746, and finally wrecked the Stuart cause in the country.
Culpeper, Nicholas, a herbalist, born in London, who practised medicine and associated therewith the art of the astrologer as well as the faith of a Puritan; was a character and a phenomenon of his time (1616-1654).
Culverwel, Nathaniel, an English author, born in Middlesex; educated at Cambridge, and one of the Platonist school there; wrote “Light of Nature,” “Spiritual Optics,” “Worth of Souls,” &c., works which evince vigour of thinking as well as literary power (1633-1651).
Cumæ, a considerable maritime city of Campania, now in ruins; alleged to be the earliest Greek settlement in Italy; famous as the residence of the Sibyl (q. v.), and a place of luxurious resort for wealthy Romans.
Cumberland (250), a county in N. of England, of mountain and dale, with good agricultural and pasture land, and a rich coal-field on the coast, as well as other minerals in the interior.
Cumberland, Dr. Richard, bishop of Peterborough, born in London, educated at Cambridge, wrote several works, the chief “An Inquiry into the Laws of Nature,” in reply to Hobbes, in which he elevates the tendency to produce happiness into something like a moral principle; wrought hard, lived to a great age, and is credited with the saying, “Better wear out than rust out” (1631-1718).
Cumberland, Richard, dramatist, great-grandson of the preceding; was a prolific writer for the stage; the play “The West Indian,” which established his reputation, was his best (1732-1811).
Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of, second son of George II., was defeated at Fontenoy by the French in 1745; defeated the Pretender next year at Culloden; earned the title of “The Butcher” by his cruelties afterwards; was beaten in all his battles except this one (1721-1765).
Cumbria, a country of the Northern Britons which, in the 6th century, extended from the Clyde to the Dee, in Cheshire.
Cumming, Gordon, the African lion-hunter, of Celtic origin; served for a time in the army; wrote an account of his hunting exploits in his “Five Years of a Hunter's Life” (1820-1866).
Cumming, John, a Scotch clergyman, popular in London, born at Fintray, in Aberdeenshire; of a highly combative turn, and rather foolhardy in his interpretations of prophecy (1807-1881).
Cunard, Sir Samuel, founder of Cunard Line of Steamships, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1787-1865).
Cunaxa, a town in Babylonia, on the Euphrates, 60 m. N. of Babylon.
Cunctator, a name given to Fabius Maximus on account of the tantalising tactics he adopted to wear out his adversary Hannibal.
Cune`iform, an epithet applied to the wedge-shaped characters in which the Assyrian and other ancient monumental inscriptions are written.
Cunningham, Allan, poet and man of letters, born in the parish of Keir, Dumfriesshire; bred to the mason craft, but devoted his leisure hours to study and the composition of Scottish ballads, which, when published, gained him the notice of Sir Walter Scott; in 1810 he went to London, where he wrote for periodicals, and obtained employment as assistant to Chantrey the sculptor, in which post he found leisure to cultivate his literary proclivities, collating and editing tales and songs, editing Burns with a Life, and writing the Lives of famous artists, and died in London; “a pliant, Naturmensch,” Carlyle found him to be, “with no principles or creed that he could see, but excellent old habits of character” (1784-1842).
Cunningham, Peter, son of the preceding, author of the “Life of Drummond of Hawthornden,” “Handbook of London,” &c. (1816-1867).
Cunningham, William, a Scotch divine, born in Hamilton, well read in the Reformation and Puritan theology, a vigorous defender of Scottish orthodoxy, and a stanch upholder of the independence of the Church of State control; was a powerful debater, and a host in any controversy in which he embarked (1805-1861).
Cupid, or Amor, the god of love, viewed as a chubby little boy, armed with bow and arrows, and often with eyes bandaged.
Cupid and Psyche, an allegorical representation of the trials of the soul on its way to the perfection of bliss, being an episode in the “Golden Ass” of Apuleius. See Psyche.
Curaça`o (26), one of Antilles, in the West Indies, belonging to the Dutch, 36 m. long by about 8 broad; yields, along with other West Indian products, an orange from the peel of which a liqueur is made in Holland.
Curé of Meudon, Rabelais.
Cure`tes, priests of Cybele, in Crete, whose rites were celebrated with clashing of cymbals.
Cureton, William, Syriac scholar, born in Shropshire, assistant-keeper of MSS. at the British Museum; applied himself to the study and collation of Syriac MSS., and discovered, among other relics, a version of the Epistle of Ignatius; was appointed canon of Westminster (1808-1864).
Curiatii, three Alban brothers who fought with the three Horatii Roman brothers, and were beaten, to the subjection of Alba to Rome.
Curle, Edmund, a London bookseller, notorious for the issue of libellous and of obscene publications, and for prosecutions he was subjected to in consequence (1675-1747).
Curling, a Scottish game played between rival clubs, belonging generally to different districts, by means of cheese-shaped stones hurled along smooth ice, the rules of which are pretty much the same as those in bowling.
Curran, John Philpot, an Irish orator and wit, born in co. Cork; became member of Parliament in 1784; though a Protestant, employed all his eloquence to oppose the policy of the Government towards Ireland, together with the Union; retired on the death of Pitt; was Master of the Rolls for a time; was Irish to the core (1750-1817).
Currie, James, a Liverpool physician, born in Kirkpatrick-Fleming, Dumfriesshire; was the earliest biographer and editor of Burns, in 4 vols., a work he undertook for behoof of his widow and family, and which realised £1400, involved no small labour, was done con amore, and done well (1756-1805).
Currie, Sir Philip, her Majesty's ambassador at Constantinople since 1893; has been connected with the Foreign Office since 1854; had been attaché at St. Petersburg, and was secretary to Lord Salisbury; b. 1834.
Curtis, George William, an American writer, born in Rhode Island, distinguished as contributor or editor in connection with several American journals and magazines; b. 1824.
Curtius, a noble youth of Roman legend who leapt on horseback full-armed into a chasm in the Forum, which the soothsayers declared would not close unless at the sacrifice of what Rome held dearest, and which he did, judging that the wealth of Rome lay in its citizens, and tradition says the chasm thereupon immediately closed.
Curtius, Ernst, a German archæologist and philosopher, born at Lübeck; travelled in Greece and Asia Minor; contributed much by his researches to the history of Greece, and of its legends and works of art; his jubilee as a professor was celebrated in 1891, when he received the congratulations of the Emperor William II., to whose father he at one time had acted as tutor; b. 1814.
Curtius, Georg, German philologist, born at Lübeck, brother of the preceding; held professorial appointments in Prague, Kiel, and Berlin; one of the best Greek scholars in Germany, and contributed largely to the etymology and grammar of the Greek language (1820-1885).
Curtius, Quintus Rufus, a Roman historian of uncertain date; wrote a history of Alexander the Great in ten books, two of which have been lost, the rest surviving in a very fragmentary state.
Curtmantle, a surname of Henry II., from a robe he wore shorter than that of his predecessors.
Curule chair, a kind of ivory camp-stool, mounted on a chariot, on which a Roman magistrate, if consul, prætor, censor, or chief edile, sat as he was conveyed in state to the senate-house or some public function.
Curwen, John, an Independent clergyman, born in Yorkshire; the founder of the Tonic Sol-fa system in music; from 1864 gave himself up to the advocacy and advancement of his system (1816-1880).
Curzon, George Nathaniel, Lord, English statesman, son of a clergyman, educated at Eton and Oxford; became Fellow of All Souls; became Under-Secretary for India in 1891; travelled in the East, and wrote on Eastern topics, on which he became an authority; was appointed Viceroy of India in 1899; b. 1859.
Cushing, an American jurist and diplomatist (1800-1879).
Cushman, Charlotte, an American actress, born in Boston; represented, among other characters, Lady Macbeth, Rosalind, Meg Merilees, and Romeo (1810-1876).
Custine, Count de, a French general, born at Metz; seized and occupied Mayence, 1792; was forced out of it by the Prussians and obliged to retreat; was called to account and sent to the guillotine; “unsuccessfulness,” his crime; “had fought in America; was a proud, brave man, and his fortune led him hither” (1746-1793)
Cüstrin, a strong little town, 68 or 70 m. E. of Berlin, where young Frederick the Great was kept in close confinement by his father.
Cutch, a native State in the Bombay Presidency, in the country called Gujarat.
Cutch, Rann of, a salt-water morass between Gujarat and Scinde, which becomes a lake during the SW. monsoon.
Cuthbert, a monk of Jarrow, a disciple of Bede; was with him when he died, and wrote in a letter a graphic and touching account of his death.
Cuthbert, St., born in Northumbria; originally a shepherd; saw a vision in the night-watches of the soul of St. Aidan ascending to heaven, which determined his destiny, and he became a monk; entered the monastery of Melrose, and eventually became prior, but devoted most of his time to mission-work in the surrounding districts; left Melrose to be prior of Lindisfarne, but longing for an austerer life, he retired to, and led the life of a hermit on, an island by himself; being persuaded to come back, he acted as bishop of Lindisfarne, and continued to act as such for two years, but his previous longings for solitude returned, and he went back to a hermit life, to spend a short season, as it happened, in prayer and meditation; when he died; what he did, and the memory of what he did, left an imperishable impression for good in the whole N. of England and the Scottish borders; his remains were conveyed to Lindisfarne, and ere long to Durham (635-687).
Cuttack (47), capital of a district in S. of Bengal, at the apex of the delta formed by the Mahanuddy; noted for its gold and silver filigree work.
Cuvier, Georges, a celebrated naturalist, born at Montebéliard, of Huguenot ancestry; the creator of comparative anatomy and palæontology; was educated at Stuttgart, where he studied natural science; but the observation of marine animals on the coast of Normandy, where he held a tutorship, first led him to the systematic study of anatomy, and brought him into correspondence with Geoffroy St. Hilaire and others, who invited him to Paris, where he prosecuted his investigations, matured his views, and became professor of Comparative Anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes, a member of the French Institute, and Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, and eventually a peer of France; his labours in the science to which he devoted his life were immense, but he continued to the last a determined opponent of the theory, then being broached and now in vogue, of a common descent (1769-1832).
Cuxhaven, a German watering-place at the mouth of the Elbe, on the southern bank.
Cuyp, Albert, a celebrated Dutch landscape-painter, son of Jacob Cuyp, commonly called Old Cuyp, also a landscapist, born at Dort; painted scenes from the banks of the Meuse and the Rhine; is now reckoned a rival of Claude, though he was not so in his lifetime, his pictures selling now for a high price; he has been praised for his sunlights, but these, along with Claude's, have been pronounced depreciatively by Ruskin as “colourless” (1605-1691).
Cuzco (20), a town in Peru, about 11,440 ft. above the sea-level, the ancient capital of the Incas; still retains traces of its former extent and greatness, the inhabitants reckoned as then numbering 200,000, and the civilisation advanced.
Cybele, a nature-goddess worshipped in Phrygia and W. Asia, whose worship, like that of the nature divinities generally, was accompanied with noisy, more or less licentious, revelry; identified by the Greeks with Rhea (q. v.), their nature-goddess.
Cyclades, islands belonging to Greece, on the East or the Ægean Sea, so called as forming a circle round Delos, the most famous of the group.
Cyclic Poets, poets who after Homer's death caught the contagion of his great poem and wrote continuations, additions, &c.
Cyclopean Walls, a name given to structures found in Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, and Sicily, built of large masses of unhewn stone and without cement, such as it is presumed a race of gigantic strength like the Cyclops (3) must have reared.
Cyclops, a name given to three distinct classes of mythological beings: (1) a set of one-eyed savage giants infesting the coasts of Sicily and preying upon human flesh; (2) a set of Titans, also one-eyed, belonging to the race of the gods, three in number, viz., Brontes, Steropes, and Arges—three great elemental powers of nature, subjected by and subject to Zeus; and (3) a people of Thrace, famed for their skill in building.
Cymbeline, a legendary British king, and the hero of Shakespeare's romance play of the name.
Cynægirus, a brother of Æschylus; distinguished himself at Marathon; is famed for his desperate attempt to seize a retreating ship.
Cynewulf, a Saxon poet, flourished at the second half of the 8th century; seems to have passed through two phases, first as a glad-hearted child of nature, and then as a devout believer in Christ; at the former stage wrote “Riddles” and “Ode to the West Wind,” at the latter his themes were the lives of Christ and certain Saints.
Cynics, a sect of Greek philosophers, disciples of Antisthenes, who was a disciple of Socrates, but carried away with him only part of Socrates' teaching and enforced that as if it were the whole, dropped all regard for humanity and the universal reason, and taught that “virtue lay wholly in the avoidance of evil, and those desires and greeds that bind us to enjoyments,” so that his disciples were called the “Capuchins of the Old World.” These in time went further than their master, and conceived a contempt for everything that was not self-derived; they derived their name from the gymnasium in Athens, where their master taught.
Cyprian, St., one of the Fathers of the Church, born at Carthage, about the year 200, converted to Christianity in 245; devoted himself thereafter to the study of the Bible, with the help of Tertullian his favourite author; became bishop of Carthage in 248; on the outbreak of the Decian persecution had to flee for his life, ministering to his flock the while by substitutes; on his return, after two years, he was involved in the discussion about the reception of the lapsed; under the Valerian persecution was banished; being recalled, he refused to sacrifice to the gods, and suffered martyrdom in 258; he was a zealous bishop of the High Church type, and the father of such, only on broader lines. Festival, Sept. 16.
Cyprus (21), a fertile, mountainous island in the Levant, capital Nicosia (12); geographically connected with Asia, and the third largest in the Mediterranean, being 140 m. long and 60 m. broad; government ceded to Great Britain in 1878 by the Sultan, on condition of an annual tribute; is a British colony under a colonial governor or High Commissioner; is of considerable strategic importance to Britain; yields cereals, wines, cotton, &c., and has 400 m. of good road, and a large transit trade.
Cyrenaics, a sect of Greek philosophers, disciples of Aristippus, who was a disciple of Socrates, but who broke away from his master by divorcing virtue from happiness, and making “pleasure, moderated by reason, the ultimate aim of life, and the supreme good.”
Cyre`ne, a town and Greek colony in Africa, E. of Egypt, extensive ruins of which still exist, and which was the capital of the State, called Cyrenaica after it, and the birthland of several illustrious Greeks.
Cyril, St., surnamed the Philosopher, along with his brother Methodius, the “Apostle of the Slavs,” born in Thessalonica; invented the Slavonic alphabet, and, with his brother's help, translated the Bible into the language of the Slavs; d. 868. Festival, March 9.
Cyril of Alexandria, St., born at Alexandria, and bishop there; an ecclesiastic of a violent, militant order; persecuted the Novatians, expelled the Jews from Alexandria, quarrelled with the governor, excited a fanaticism which led to the seizure and shameful murder of Hypatia; had a lifelong controversy with Nestorius, and got him condemned by the Council of Ephesus, while he himself was condemned by the Council at Antioch (608), and both cast into prison; after release lived at peace (376-444). Festival, Jan. 28.
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., patriarch of Jerusalem, elected 351, and a Father of the Greek Church; in the Arian controversy then raging was a Semi-Arian, and was persecuted by the strict Arians; joined the Nicene party at the Council of Constantinople in 381; was an instructor in church doctrine to the common people by his catechisms (315-386). Festival, March 18.
Cyropædia, a work by Xenophon, being an idealistic account of the “education of Cyrus the Great.”
Cyrus, surnamed the Great, or the Elder, the founder of the Persian empire; began his conquests by overthrowing his grandfather Astyages, king of the Medes; subdued Croesus, king of Lydia; laid siege to Babylon and took it, and finished by being master of all Western Asia; was a prince of great energy and generosity, and left the nations he subjected and rendered tributary free in the observances of their religions and the maintenance of their institutions; this is the story of the historians, but it has since been considerably modified by study of the ancient monuments (560-529 B.C.).
Cyrus, surnamed the Younger, second son of Darius II.; conspired against his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon, was sentenced to death, pardoned, and restored to his satrapy in Asia Minor; conspired anew, raised a large army, including Greek mercenaries, marched against his brother, and was slain at Cunaxa, of which last enterprise and its fate an account is given in the “Anabasis” of Xenophon; d. 401 B.C.
Cythera, the ancient name of Cerigo; had a magnificent temple to Venus, who was hence called Cytheræa.
Czartoryski, a Polish prince, born at Warsaw; passed his early years in England; studied at Edinburgh University; fought under Kosciusko against the Russians, and was for some time a hostage in Russia; gained favour at the Court there, and even a high post in the State; in 1830 threw himself into the revolutionary movement, and devoted all his energies to the service of his country, becoming head of the government; on the suppression of the revolution his estates were confiscated; he escaped to Paris, and spent his old age there, dying at 90 (1770-1861).
Czechs, a branch of the Slavonic family that in the later half of the 6th century settled in Bohemia; have a language of their own, spoken also in Moravia and part of Hungary.
Czerno`witz (54), the capital of the Austrian province of Bukowina, on the Pruth.
Czerny, Charles, a musical composer and pianist, born at Vienna; had Liszt and Thalberg for pupils (1791-1857).
Czerny, George, leader of the Servians in their insurrection against the Turks; assisted by Russia carried all before him; when that help was withdrawn the Turks gained the advantage, and he had to flee; returning after the independence of Servia was secured, he was murdered at the instigation of Prince Milosch (1766-1817).