[1] An argument for the allegorical interpretation has been often
drawn from Mahommedan mysticism--from the poems of Hafiz, and the
songs still sung by dervishes. See Jones, _Poeseos Asiaticae Com._
pt. in. cap. 9; Rosenmuller's remarks on Lowth's _Praelectio_, xxxi.,
and Lane's _Modern Egyptians_, ch. xxiv. But there is no true analogy
between the Old Testament and the pantheistic mysticism of Islam, and
there is every reason to believe that, where the allegory takes a
form really analogous to Canticles, the original sense of these songs
was purely erotic.
[2] Repeated recently by Scholz, _Kommentar_, pp. iii. and iv.
[3] The chief passages of Jewish writings referring to this dispute
are Mishna _Jadaim_, iii. 5 and Tosifta _Sanhedrin_, xii. For other
passages see Gratz's _Commentary_, p. 115, and in control of his
criticism the introduction to the commentary of Delitzsch.
[4] The text of the Targum in the Polyglots and in Buxtorf's Rabbinic
Bible is not complete. The complete text is given in the Venice
editions, and in Lagarde's _Hagiographa Chaldaice_ (Lipsiae, 1873).
The Polyglots add a Latin version. A German version is given by
Riedel in his very useful book, _Die Auslegung des Hohenliedes_
(1898), which also reviews the interpretation of Canticles by
Hippolytus, Origen and later Greek writers.
[5] Ewald and others make this song a distinct scene in the action of
the poem, supposing that the author here exhibits the honourable form
of espousal by which Solomon thought to vanquish the scruples of the
damsel. This view, however, seems to introduce a complication foreign
to the plan of the book.
[6] Wetstein, _Zeitschrift f. Ethn._, 1873, pp. 270-302; quoted and
condensed by Budde as above in _Comm_. p. xvii.; for a fuller
reproduction of Wetstein in English see Harper, _The Song of Songs_,
pp. 74-76.
[7] For the connexion of the threshing-floor with marriage through
the idea of sexual fertility, we may compare many primitive ideas and
customs, such as those described by Frazer (_The Golden Bough_, ii.
p. 181 f., 186).
[8] Castelli (_Il Cantico dei Cantici_, 1892) has written a very
attractive little book on Canticles (quite apart from the Wetstein
development) regarded as "a poem formed by a number of dialogues
mutually related by a certain succession"; they require for their
understanding nothing but some indication of the speaker at each
transition (such as we find in codex A of the Septuagint).
[9] On the erotic meaning of many of the figures employed see the
notes of Haupt in _The American Journal of Semitic Languages_ (July
1902); also G. Jacob, _Das Hohelied_ (1902), who rightly protests
against the limitation in the _Comm_. of Budde and Siegfried (p. 10)
of all the songs to the marriage relation. Haupt thinks that the
songs were not originally composed for weddings, though used there
(p. 207, _op. cit._). Diestel had pointed out, in another connexion
(_B.L._ 125), that nothing is said in the book of the blessing of
children, the chief end of _marriage_ from a Hebrew standpoint.
[10] Rothstein's criticism of Budde turns chiefly on the latter's
admission of redactional elements, introducing "movement and action,"
and may be summed up in the statement that "Budde himself by the
characteristics he assigns to the redactor points the way again past
his own hypothesis to the dramatical view of the Song" (_loc cit._
594b). A. Harper, "The Song of Songs" (_Cambridge Bible_) also
criticizes Budde at length in favour of the conventional dramatical
theory (Appendix).
[11] _E.g._ the late form of the relative pronoun used throughout
except in title; foreign words, Persian and Greek; Aramaic words and
usages (details in the _Comm_. or in _E.B._ 693).
CANTILEVER (a word of doubtful origin, probably derived from "lever," in
its ordinary meaning, and "cant," an angle or edge, or else from modern
Lat. _quanta libra_, of what weight), a building term for a stone, iron
or wooden bracket, considerably greater in length than depth, used to
support a gallery, &c.; and for a system of bridge-building (see
BRIDGES).
CANTILUPE, THOMAS DE (c. 1218-1282), English saint and prelate, was a
son of William de Cantilupe, the 2nd baron (d. 1251), one of King John's
ministers, and a nephew of Walter de Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester. He
was educated at Paris and Orleans, afterwards becoming a teacher of
canon law at Oxford and chancellor of the university in 1262. During the
Barons' War Thomas favoured Simon de Montfort and the baronial party. He
represented the barons before St Louis of France at Amiens in 1264; he
was made chancellor of England in February 1265, but was deprived of
this office after Montfort's death at Evesham, and lived out of England
for some time. Returning to England, he was again chancellor of Oxford
University, lectured on theology, and held several ecclesiastical
appointments. In 1274 he attended the second council of Lyons, and in
1275 he was appointed bishop of Hereford. Cantilupe was now a trusted
adviser of Edward I.; he attended the royal councils, and even when
differing from the king did not forfeit his favour. The archbishop of
Canterbury, Robert Kilwardby, was also his friend; but after Kilwardby's
death in 1279 a series of disputes arose between the bishop and the new
archbishop, John Peckham, and this was probably the cause which drove
Cantilupe to visit Italy. He died at Orvieto, on the 25th of August
1282, and he was canonized in 1330. Cantilupe appears to have been an
exemplary bishop both in spiritual and secular affairs. His charities
were large and his private life blameless; he was constantly visiting
his diocese, correcting offenders and discharging other episcopal
duties; and he compelled neighbouring landholders to restore estates
which rightly belonged to the see of Hereford. In 1905 the Cantilupe
Society was founded to publish the episcopal registers of Hereford, of
which Cantilupe's is the first in existence.
See the _Ada Sanctorum, Boll._, 1st October; and the _Register of
Thomas de Cantilupe_, with introduction by W.W. Capes (1906).
CANTILUPE, WALTER DE (d. 1265), bishop of Worcester, came of a family
which had risen by devoted service to the crown. His father and his
elder brother are named by Roger of Wendover among the "evil
counsellors" of John, apparently for no better reason than that they
were consistently loyal to an unpopular master. Walter at first followed
in his father's footsteps, entering the service of the Exchequer and
acting as an itinerant justice in the early years of Henry III. But he
also took minor orders, and, in 1236, although not yet a deacon,
received the see of Worcester. As bishop, he identified himself with the
party of ecclesiastical reform, which was then led by Edmund Rich and
Robert Grosseteste. Like his leaders he was sorely divided between his
theoretical belief in the papacy as a divine institution and his
instinctive condemnation of the policy which Gregory IX. and Innocent
IV. pursued in their dealings with the English church. At first a court
favourite, the bishop came at length to the belief that the evils of the
time arose from the unprincipled alliance of crown and papacy. He raised
his voice against papal demands for money, and after the death of
Grosseteste (1253) was the chief spokesman of the nationalist clergy. At
the parliament of Oxford (1258) he was elected by the popular party as
one of their representatives on the committee of twenty-four which
undertook to reform the administration; from that time till the outbreak
of civil war he was a man of mark in the councils of the baronial party.
During the war he sided with Montfort and, through his nephew, Thomas,
who was then chancellor of Oxford, brought over the university to the
popular side. He was present at Lewes and blessed the Montfortians
before they joined battle with the army of the king; he entertained
Simon de Montfort on the night before the final rout of Evesham. During
Simon's dictatorship, the bishop appeared only as a mediating influence;
in the triumvirate of "Electors" who controlled the administration, the
clergy were represented by the bishop of Chichester. Walter de Cantilupe
died in the year after Evesham (1266). He was respected by all parties,
and, though far inferior in versatility and force of will to
Grosseteste, fully merits the admiration which his moral character
inspired. He is one of the few constitutionalists of his day whom it is
impossible to accuse of interested motives.
See the _Chronica Maiora_ of Matthew Paris ("Rolls" series, ed.
Luard); the _Chronicon de Bellis_ (ed. Halliwell, Camden Society); and
the _Annales Monastici_ ("Rolls" series, ed. Luard); also T.F. Tout
in the _Political History of England_, vol. iii. (1905).
CANTO (from the Lat. _cantus_, a song), one of the divisions of a long
poem, a convenient division when poetry was more usually sung by the
minstrel to his own accompaniment than read. In music, the _canto_, in a
concerted piece, is that part to which the air is given. In modern
music this is nearly always the soprano. The old masters, however, more
frequently allotted it to the tenor. _Canto fermo_, or _cantus firmus_,
is that part of the melody which remains true to the original motive,
while the other parts vary with the counterpoint; also in Church music
the simple straightforward melody of the old chants as opposed to _canto
figurato_, which is full of embellishments of a florid character (see
PLAIN SONG).
CANTON, JOHN (1718-1772), English natural philosopher, was born at
Stroud, Gloucestershire, on the 31st of July 1718. At the age of
nineteen, he was articled for five years as clerk to the master of a
school in Spital Square, London, with whom at the end of that time he
entered into partnership. In 1750 he read a paper before the Royal
Society on a method of making artificial magnets, which procured him
election as a fellow of the society and the award of the Copley medal.
He was the first in England to verify Benjamin Franklin's hypothesis of
the identity of lightning and electricity, and he made several important
electrical discoveries. In 1762 and 1764 he published experiments in
refutation of the decision of the Florentine Academy, at that time
generally accepted, that water is incompressible; and in 1768 he
described the preparation, by calcining oyster-shell with sulphur, of
the phosphorescent material known as Canton's phosphorus. His
investigations were carried on without any intermission of his work as a
schoolmaster. He died in London on the 22nd of March 1772.
CANTON (more correctly KWANG-CHOW FU), a large and populous commercial
city of China, in the province of Kwangtung, situated on the eastern
bank of the Pearl river, which at Canton is somewhat broader than the
Thames at London Bridge, and is navigable 300 m. into the interior. The
Pearl river has an additional course of 80 m. to the sea, the first part
of which lies through a rich alluvial plain. Beyond this rises a range
of hills terminating in abrupt escarpments along the course of the
river. The bold shore thus formed compresses the stream at this point
into a narrow pass, to which the Chinese have given the name of Hu-mun,
or Tiger's Gate. This the Portuguese translated into Boca Tigre, whence
the designation of "the Bogue," by which it is commonly known among
Europeans. When viewed from the hills on the north, Canton appears to be
little more than an expanse of reddish roofs relieved by a few large
trees,--two pagodas shooting up within the walls, and a five-storeyed
tower near the northern gate, being the most conspicuous objects. These
hills rise 1200 ft. above the river. Little or no vegetation is seen on
them; and their acclivities, covered for miles with graves and tombs,
serve as the necropolis of this vast city. Three or four forts are built
on the points nearest the northern walls. Facing the city on the
opposite side of the river is the suburb and island of Honan. The part
of Canton enclosed by walls is about 6 m. in circumference, and has a
partition wall, running east and west, and dividing the city into two
unequal parts. The northern and larger division is called the old, and
the southern the new city. Including the suburbs, the city has a circuit
of nearly 10 m. The houses stretch along the river for 4 m., and the
banks are almost entirely concealed by boats and rafts. The walls of the
city are of brick, on a foundation of sandstone and granite, are 20 ft.
thick, and rise to an average height of 25 ft. On the north side the
wall rises to include a hill which it there meets with, and on the other
three sides the city is surrounded by a ditch, which is filled by the
rising tide, when, for a time, the revolting mass of filth that lies in
its bed is concealed from view. There are twelve outer gates--four of
which are in the partition wall, and two water gates, through which
boats pass from east to west across the new city. The gates are all shut
at night, and in the daytime a guard is stationed at them to preserve
order. The streets, amounting in all to upwards of 600, are long,
straight, and very narrow. They are mostly paved and are not as dirty as
those of some of the other cities in the empire; in fact, considering
the habits of the people and the inattention of the government to these
matters, Canton may be said to be a well-governed and comparatively
cleanly city. The houses are in general small, seldom consisting of more
than two storeys, the ground floor serving as a shop, and the rest of
the house, with the court behind, being used as a warehouse. Here are to
be found the productions of every quarter of the globe; and the
merchants are in general attentive, civil, expert men of business, and
generally assiduous.
The temples and public buildings of Canton are numerous, but none of
them presents features worthy of special remark. There are two pagodas
near the west gate of the old city, and 124 temples, pavilions, halls
and other religious edifices within the city. One of the pagodas called
the _Kwangtah_, or Plain Pagoda, is a Mahommedan mosque, which was
erected by the Arabian voyagers who were in the habit of visiting Canton
about ten centuries ago. It rises in an angular tapering tower to the
height of 160 ft. The other is an octagonal pagoda of nine storeys, 170
ft. in height, and was first erected more than thirteen centuries ago. A
Buddhist temple at Honan, opposite the foreign factories, and named in
Chinese _Hai-ch'wang-sze_, or the Temple of the Ocean Banner, is one of
the largest in Canton. Its grounds, which cover about seven acres, are
surrounded by a wall, and are divided into courts, gardens and a
burial-ground, where are deposited the ashes of priests, whose bodies
are burned. There are about 175 priests connected with this
establishment. Besides the _Hai-ch'wang-sze_ the most noteworthy temples
in and about the city are those of the Five Hundred Gods and of
Longevity, both in the western suburbs; the Tatar City Temple and the
Temple of the Five Genii. The number of priests and nuns in Canton is
not exactly known, but they probably exceed 2000, nine-tenths of whom
are Buddhists. The temples are gloomy-looking edifices. The areas in
front of them are usually occupied by hucksters, beggars and idlers, who
are occasionally driven off to make room for the mat-sheds in which the
theatrical performances got up by the wealthy inhabitants are acted. The
principal hall, where the idol sits enshrined, is lighted only in front,
and the inner apartments are inhabited by a class of men almost as
senseless as the idols they serve.
The residences of the high officers of government are all within the
walls of the old city. The residence of the governor-general used to be
in the south-west corner of the new city, but it was utterly destroyed by
the bombardment in 1856. The site remained desolate until 1860, when it
was taken possession of by the French authorities, who erected a Roman
Catholic cathedral upon it. The residence of the commander-in-chief is in
the old city, and is said to be one of the best houses in Canton. There
are four prisons in the city, all large edifices. For the space of 4 or 5
m. opposite Canton boats and vessels are ranged parallel to each other in
such close order as to resemble a floating city; and these marine
dwellings are occupied by numerous families, who reside almost constantly
on the water. In the middle of the river lie the Chinese junks, some of
them of from 600 to 1000 tons burden, which trade to the north and to the
Strait Settlements. The various gilds and associations among the people
and the merchants from other provinces have public halls each for its own
particular use. The number of these buildings is not less than 150.
Canton was long the only seat of British trade with China, and was no
doubt fixed upon by the Chinese government for the European trade, as
being the most distant from the capital Peking.
Formerly only a limited number of merchants, called the _hong_ or
security merchants, were allowed to trade with foreigners. They were
commonly men of large property and were famed for integrity in their
transactions. All foreign cargoes passed through the hands of these
merchants, and by them also the return cargoes were furnished. They
became security for the payment of customs duties, and it was criminal
for any other merchant to engage in the trade with foreigners.
Although it is in the same parallel of latitude as Calcutta, the climate
of Canton is much cooler, and is considered superior to that of most
places situated between the tropics. The extreme range of the
thermometer is from 38 deg. to 100 deg. F., though these extremes are
rarely reached. In ordinary years the winter minimum is about 42 deg.
and the maximum in summer 96 deg.. The hot season is considered to last
from May to October; during the rest of the year the weather is cool.
In shallow vessels ice sometimes forms at Canton; but so rarely is snow
seen that when in February 1835 a fall to the depth of 2 in. occurred,
the citizens hardly knew its proper name. Most of the rain falls during
May and June, but the amount is nothing in comparison with that which
falls during a rainy season in Calcutta. July, August and September are
the regular monsoon months, the wind coming from the south-west with
frequent showers, which allay the heat. In the succeeding months the
northerly winds begin, with some interruptions at first, but from
October to January the temperature is agreeable, the sky clear and the
air invigorating. Few large cities are more generally healthy than
Canton, and epidemics rarely prevail there.
Provisions and refreshments of all sorts are abundant, and in general
are excellent in quality and moderate in price. It is a singular fact
that the Chinese make no use of milk, either in its natural state or in
the form of butter or cheese. Among the delicacies of a Chinese market
are to be seen horse-flesh, dogs, cats, hawks, owls and edible
birds'-nests. The business between foreigners and natives at Canton is
generally transacted in a jargon known as "pidgin English," the Chinese
being extremely ready in acquiring a sufficient smattering of English
words to render themselves intelligible.
The intercourse between China and Europe by the way of the Cape of Good
Hope began in 1517, when Emanuel, king of Portugal, sent an ambassador,
accompanied by a fleet of eight ships, to Peking, on which occasion the
sanction of the emperor to establish a trade at Canton was obtained. It
was in 1596, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that the English first
attempted to open an intercourse with China, but ineffectually, for the
two ships which were despatched on this mission were lost on the outward
voyage, and it was not till about 1634 that English ships visited
Canton. Unfortunately at this time a misunderstanding having occurred
with the Chinese authorities owing to the treachery of the Portuguese, a
rupture and a battle took place, and it was with difficulty that peace
was again restored. In 1673 China was again visited by an English ship
which was subsequently refused admission into Japan, and in 1677 a
factory was established at Amoy. But during an irruption of the Tatars
three years later this building was destroyed, and it was not till 1685
that the emperor permitted any trade with Europeans at that port. Upon
the union of the two East India Companies in London, an imperial edict
was issued, restricting the foreign commerce to the port of Canton.
Tea was first imported into England about the year 1667, and in 1689 a
customs duty of 5s. per lb was for the first time imposed. From this
date to 1834 the East India Company held a monopolv of the trade at
Canton, and during this period the prosperity of the port increased and
multiplied, notwithstanding the obstructions which were constantly
thrown in the way of the "barbarians" by the Chinese government. The
termination of the Company's monopoly brought no alteration in the
conduct of the native authorities, whose oppressions became before long
so unbearable that in 1839 war was declared on the part of Great
Britain. In 1841, while the forces under Sir Hugh (afterwards Lord)
Gough were preparing to capture Canton, Captain Elliott entered into
negotiations with the Chinese, and consented to receive a pecuniary
ransom in lieu of occupying the city. Meanwhile the war was carried on
in central China, and finally resulted in the conclusion of the Nanking
treaty in August 1842, under the terms of which four additional ports,
viz. Shanghai, Ningpo, Fu-chow and Amoy, were thrown open to foreign
trade, and foreigners were granted permission to enter the city of
Canton, from which they had hitherto been excluded. This latter
provision of the treaty, however, the Chinese refused to carry out; and
after endless disputes about this and other improper acts of the Chinese
government, war was again declared in 1856, the immediate cause of which
was an insult offered to the British flag by the capture of certain
Chinese on board the "Arrow," a small craft trading under English
colours. The outbreak of hostilities was followed by the pillage and
destruction of the foreign "factories" in December 1856 by a Chinese
mob, and twelve months later Canton was taken by assault by a force
under Sir Charles Straubenzee, which had been sent out from England for
the purpose. From this time until October 1861 the city was occupied by
an English and French garrison, and the administration of affairs was
entrusted to an allied commission, consisting of two English officers
and one French officer, acting under the English general. Since the
withdrawal of this garrison, the city of Canton has been freely open to
foreigners of all nationalities, and the English consul has his
residence in the Yamun formerly occupied by the allied commissioners,
within the city walls.
On the conclusion of peace it became necessary to provide a foreign
settlement for the merchants whose "factories" had been destroyed, and
after some consultation it was determined to fill in and appropriate as
the British settlement an extensive mud flat lying to the westward of
the old factory site, and known as Sha-mien or "The Sand Flats." This
site having been leased, it was converted into an artificial island by
building a massive embankment of granite in an irregular oval form.
Between the northern face of the site and the Chinese suburb a canal of
100 ft. in width was constructed, thus forming an island of about 2850
ft. in length and 950 ft. in greatest breadth. The expense of making
this settlement was 325,000 Mexican dollars, four-fifths of which were
defrayed by the British government and one-fifth by the French
government. The British portion of the new settlement was laid out in
eighty-two lots; and so bright appeared the prospect of trade at the
time of their sale that 9000 dollars and upwards was paid in more than
one instance for a lot with a river frontage, measuring 12,645 sq. ft.
The depression in trade, however, which soon followed acted as a bar to
building, and it was not until the British consulate was erected in 1865
that the merchants began to occupy the settlement in any numbers. The
British consulate occupies six lots, with an area of 75,870 sq. ft. in
the centre of the site, overlooking the river, and is enclosed with a
substantial wall. A ground-rent of 15,000 cash (about L3) per _mow_ (a
third of an acre) is annually paid by the owners of lots to the Chinese
government.
The Sha-mien settlement possesses many advantages. It is close to the
western suburb of Canton, where reside all the wholesale dealers as well
as the principal merchants and brokers; it faces the broad channel known
as the Macao Passage, up which the cool breezes in summer are wafted
almost uninterruptedly, and the river opposite to it affords a safe and
commodious anchorage for steamers up to 1000 tons burden. Steamers only
are allowed to come up to Canton, sailing vessels being restricted to
the anchorage at Whampoa. There is daily communication by steamer with
Hong-Kong, and with the Portuguese colony of Macao which lies near the
mouth of the river. Inland communication by steam is now open by the
west river route to the cities of Wuchow and Nanking. The opening of
these inland towns to foreign trade, which has been effected, cannot but
add considerably to the volume of Canton traffic. The native population
is variously estimated at from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000, the former being
probably nearer the truth. The foreign residents number about 400.
Canton is the headquarters of the provincial government of Kwangtung and
Kwangsi, generally termed the two Kwang, at the head of which is a
governor-general or viceroy, an office which next to that of Nanking is
the most important in the empire. It possesses a mint built in 1889 by
the then viceroy Chang Chih-tung, and equipped with a very complete
plant supplied from England. It turns out silver subsidiary coinage and
copper cash. Contracts have been entered into to connect Canton by
railway with Hong-Kong (Kowlun), and by a grand trunk line with Hankow
on the Yangtsze. It is connected by telegraph with all parts. The value
of the trade of Canton for the year 1904 was L13,749,582, L7,555,090 of
which represented imports and L6,194,490 exports. (R. K. D.)
CANTON, a city of Fulton county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the W. part of the
state, 12 m. N. of the Illinois river, and 28 m. S.W. of Peoria. Pop.
(1890) 5604; (1900) 6564 (424 foreign-born); (1910) 10,453. Canton is
served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Toledo, Peoria &
Western, and the Illinois Central Electric Interurban railways. About 1
m. from the centre of the city are the Canton Chautauqua grounds. The
city has a public library. Canton is situated in a rich agricultural
region, for which it is a supply point, and there are large coal-mines
in the vicinity. Among the manufactures are agricultural implements
(particularly ploughs), machine-shop and foundry products (particularly
mining-cars and equipment), flour, cigars, cigar-boxes, brooms, and
bricks and tile. The municipal water-works are supplied from a deep
artesian well. Canton was laid out in 1825; it was incorporated as a
town in 1837 and as a village in 1849, and was chartered as a city in
1854.
CANTON, a village and the county-seat of St Lawrence county, New York,
U.S.A., 17 m. S.E. of Ogdensburg, on the Grasse river. Pop. (1890) 2580;
(1900) 2757; (1905) 3083; (1910) 2701. The village is served by the
Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg division of the New York Central & Hudson
River railway. Canton is the seat of St Lawrence University
(co-educational; chartered in 1856; at first Universalist, afterwards
unsectarian), having a college of letters and science, which developed
from an academy, opened in 1859; a theological school (Universalist),
opened in 1858; a law school, established in 1869, discontinued in 1872
and re-established in Brooklyn, New York, in 1903 as the Brooklyn Law
School of St Lawrence University; and a state school of agriculture,
established in 1906 by the state legislature and opened in 1907. In
1907-1908 the university had 52 instructors, 168 students in the college
of letters and science, 14 students in the theological school, 287 in
the law school and 13 in the agricultural school. The Clinton Liberal
Institute (Universalist, 1832), which was removed in 1879 from Clinton
to Fort Plain, New York, was established in Canton in 1901. The Grasse
river furnishes water-power, and the village has saw-, planing- and
flour-mills, and plant for the building of small boats and launches. The
village corporation owns a fine water-supply system. Canton was first
settled in 1800 by Daniel Harrington of Connecticut and was incorporated
in 1845. It was for many years the home of Silas Wright, who was buried
here.
CANTON, a city and the county-seat of Stark county, Ohio, U.S.A., on
Nimisillen Creek, 60 m. S. by E. of Cleveland. Pop. (1890) 26,189;
(1900) 30,667, of whom 4018 were foreign-born; and (1910) 50,217. It is
served by the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Wheeling &
Lake Erie railways, and is connected by an interurban electric system
with all the important cities and towns within a radius of 50 m. It lies
at an elevation of about 1030 ft. above sea-level, in a wheat-growing
region, in which bituminous coal, limestone, and brick and potter's clay
abound. Meyer's Lake in the vicinity is a summer attraction. The
principal buildings are the post-office, court-house, city hall, an
auditorium with a seating capacity of 5000, a Masonic building, an
Oddfellows' temple, a Y.M.C.A. building and several handsome churches.
On Monument Hill, in West Lawn Cemetery, in a park of 26 acres--a site
which President McKinley had suggested for a monument to the soldiers
and sailors of Stark county--there is a beautiful monument to the memory
of McKinley, who lived in Canton. This memorial is built principally of
Milford (Mass.) granite, with a bronze statue of the president, and with
sarcophagi containing the bodies of the president and Mrs McKinley, and
has a total height, from the first step of the approaches to its top, of
163 ft. 6 in., the mausoleum itself being 98 ft. 6 in. high and 78 ft. 9
in. in diameter; it was dedicated on the 30th of September 1907, when an
address was delivered by President Roosevelt. Another monument
commemorates the American soldiers of the Spanish-American War. Among
the city's manufactures are agricultural implements, iron bridges and
other structural iron work, watches and watch-cases, steel, engines,
safes, locks, cutlery, hardware, wagons, carriages, paving-bricks,
furniture, dental and surgical chairs, paint and varnish, clay-working
machinery and saw-mill machinery. The value of the factory product in
1905 was $10,591,143, being 10.6% more than the product value of 1900.
Canton was laid out as a town in 1805, became the county-seat in 1808,
was incorporated as a village in 1822 and in 1854 was chartered as a
city.
CANTON (borrowed from the Ital. _cantone_, a corner or angle), a word
used for certain divisions of some European countries. In France, the
canton, which is a subdivision of the arrondissement, is a territorial,
rather than an administrative, unit. The canton, of which there are
2908, generally comprises, on an average, about twelve communes, though
very large communes are sometimes divided into several cantons. It is
the seat of a justice of the peace, and returns a member to the _conseil
d'arrondissement_ (see FRANCE). In Switzerland, canton is the name given
to each of the twenty-two states comprising the Swiss confederation (see
SWITZERLAND).
In heraldry, a "canton" is a corner or square division on a shield,
occupying the upper corner (usually the dexter). It is in area
two-thirds of the quarter (see HERALDRY).
CANTONMENT (Fr. _cantonnement_, from _cantonner_, to quarter; Ger.
_Ortsunterkunft_ or _Quartier_). When troops are distributed in small
parties amongst the houses of a town or village, they are said to be in
cantonments, which are also called quarters or billets. Formerly this
method of providing soldiers with shelter was rarely employed on active
service, though the normal method in "winter quarters," or at seasons
when active military operations were not in progress. In the field,
armies lived as a rule in camp (q.v.), and when the provision of canvas
shelter was impossible in bivouac. At the present time, however, it is
unusual, in Europe at any rate, for troops on active service to hamper
themselves with the enormous trains of tent wagons that would be
required, and cantonments or bivouacs, or a combination of the two have
therefore taken the place, in modern warfare, of the old long
rectilinear lines of tents that marked the resting-place and generally,
too, the order of battle of an 18th-century army. The greater part of an
army operating in Europe at the present day is accommodated in
widespread cantonments, an army corps occupying the villages and farms
found within an area of 4 m. by 5 or 6. This allowance of space has been
ascertained by experience to be sufficient, not only for comfort, but
also for subsistence for one day, provided that the density of the
ordinary civil population is not less than 200 persons to the square
mile. Under modern conditions there is little danger from such a
dissemination of the forces, as each fraction of each army corps is
within less than two hours' march of its concentration post. If the
troops halt for several days, of course they require either a more
densely populated country from which to requisition supplies, or a wider
area of cantonments. The difficulty of controlling the troops, when
scattered in private houses in parties of six or seven, is the principal
objection to this system of cantonments. But since Napoleon introduced
the "war of masses" the only alternative to cantoning the troops is
bivouacking, which if prolonged for several nights is more injurious to
the well-being of the troops than the slight relaxation of discipline
necessitated by the cantonment system, when the latter is well arranged
and policed. The troops nearest the enemy, however, which have to be
maintained in a state of constant readiness for battle, cannot as a rule
afford the time either for dispersing into quarters or for rallying on
an alarm, and in western Europe at any rate they are required to
bivouac. In India, the term "cantonment" means more generally a military
station or standing camp. The troops live, not in private houses, but in
barracks, huts, forts or occasionally camps. The large cantonments are
situated in the neighbourhood of the North-Western frontier, of the
large cities and of the capitals of important native states. Under Lord
Kitchener's redistribution of the Indian army in 1903, the chief
cantonments are Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Nowshera,
Sialkot, Mian Mir, Umballa, Muttra, Ferozepore, Meerut, Lucknow, Mhow,
Jubbulpore, Bolarum, Poona, Secunderabad and Bangalore.
CANTU, CESARE (1804-1895), Italian historian, was born at Brivio in
Lombardy and began his career as a teacher. His first literary essay
(1828) was a romantic poem entitled _Algiso, o la Lega Lombarda_ (new
ed., Milan, 1876), and in the following year he produced a _Storia di
Como_ in two volumes (Como, 1829). The death of his father then left
him in charge of a large family, and he worked very hard both as a
teacher and a writer to provide for them. His prodigious literary
activity led to his falling under the suspicions of the Austrian police,
and he was mixed up in a political trial and arrested in 1833. While in
prison writing materials were denied him, but he managed to write on
rags with a tooth-pick and candle smoke, and thus composed the novel
_Margherita Pusterla_ (Milan, 1838). On his release a year later, as he
was interdicted from teaching, literature became his only resource. In
1836 the Turinese publisher, Giuseppe Pomba, commissioned him to write a
universal history, which his vast reading enabled him to do. In six
years the work was completed in seventy-two volumes, and immediately
achieved a general popularity; the publisher made a fortune out of it,
and Cantu's royalties amounted, it is said, to 300,000 lire (L12.000).
Just before the revolution of 1848, being warned that he would be
arrested, he fled to Turin, but after the "Five Days" he returned to
Milan and edited a paper called _La Guardia Nazionale_. Between 1849 and
1850 he published his _Storia degli Italiani_ (Turin, 1855) and many
other works. In 1857 the archduke Maximilian tried to conciliate the
Milanese by the promise of a constitution, and Cantu was one of the few
Liberals who accepted the olive branch, and went about in company with
the archduke. This act was regarded as treason and caused Cantu much
annoyance in after years. He continued his literary activity after the
formation of the Italian kingdom, producing volume after volume until
his death. For a short time he was member of the Italian parliament; he
founded the Lombard historical society, and was appointed superintendent
of the Lombard archives. He died in March 1895. His views are coloured
by strong religious and political prejudice, and by a moralizing
tendency, and his historical work has little critical value and is for
the most part pure book-making, although he collected a vast amount of
material which has been of use to other writers. In dealing with modern
Italian history he is reactionary and often wilfully inaccurate. Besides
the above-mentioned works he wrote _Gli Eretici in Italia_ (Milan,
1873); _Cronistoria dell' Indipendenza italiana_ (Naples, 1872-1877);
_II Conciliatore e i Carbonari_ (Milan, 1878), &c. (L. V.*)
CANUSIUM (Gr. [Greek: Kanusion], mod. _Canosa_), an ancient city of
Apulia, on the right bank of the Aufidus (Ofanto), about 12 m. from its
mouth, and situated upon the Via Traiana, 85 m. E.N.E. of Beneventum. It
was said to have been founded by Diomede, and even at the time of Horace
(_Sat._ i. 10. 30) both Greek and Latin were spoken there. The legends
on the coins are Greek, and a very large number of Greek vases have been
found in the necropolis. The town came voluntarily under Roman
sovereignty in 318 B.C., afforded a refuge to the Roman fugitives after
Cannae, and remained faithful for the rest of the war. It revolted in
the Social War, in which it would appear to have suffered, inasmuch as
Strabo (vi. 283) speaks of Canusium and Arpi as having been, to judge
from the extent of their walls, the greatest towns in the plain of
Apulia, but as having shrunk considerably in his day. Its importance was
maintained, however, by its trade in agricultural products and in
Apulian wool (which was there dyed and cleaned), by its port (probably
Cannae) at the mouth of the Aufidus, and by its position on the
high-road. It was a _municipium_ under the early empire, but was
converted into a _colonia_ under Antoninus Pius by Herodes Atticus, who
provided it with a water-supply. In the 6th century it was still the
most important city of Apulia. Among the ancient buildings which are
still preserved, an amphitheatre, an aqueduct and a city gate may be
mentioned.
See N. Jacobone, _Ricerche sulla storia e la topografia di Canosa
Antica_ (Canosa di Puglia, 1905). (T. As.)
CANUTE (CNUT), known as "the Great" (c. 995-1035), king of Denmark and
England, second son of King Sweyn Forkbeard and his first wife, the
daughter of the Polish prince, Mieszko, was born c. 995. On the death
of his father he was compelled to quit England by a general rising of
the Anglo-Saxons, on which occasion in a fit of rage, for he was not
naturally cruel, he abandoned his hostages after cutting off their
hands, ears and noses. In the following year, 1015, he returned with a
great fleet manned by a picked host, "not a thrall or a freedman among
them." He speedily succeeded in subduing all England except London, now
the last refuge of King Aethelred and his heroic son, Edmund Ironside.
On the death of Aethelred (23rd of April 1016) Canute was elected king
by an assembly of notables at Southampton; but London clung loyally to
Edmund, who more than once succeeded in raising the western shires
against Canute. Edmund indeed approved himself the better general of the
two, and would doubtless have prevailed, but for the treachery of his
own ealdormen. This was notably the case at the great battle of
Assandun, in which by the desertion of Eadric an incipient Anglo-Saxon
victory was converted into a crushing defeat. Nevertheless, the
antagonists were so evenly matched that the great men on both sides,
fearing that the interminable war would utterly ruin the land, arranged
a conference between Canute and Edmund on an island in the Severn, when
they agreed to divide England between them, Canute retaining Mercia and
the north, while Edmund's territory comprised East Anglia and Wessex
with London. On the death of Edmund, a few months later (November 1016),
Canute was unanimously elected king of all England at the beginning of
1017. The young monarch at once showed himself equal to his
responsibilities. He did his utmost to deserve the confidence of his
Anglo-Saxon subjects, and the eighteen years of his reign were of
unspeakable benefit to his adopted country. He identified himself with
the past history of England and its native dynasty by wedding Emma, or
Aelgifu, to give her her Saxon name (the Northmen called her Alfifa),
who came over from Normandy at his bidding, Canute previously
repudiating his first wife, another Aelgifu, the daughter of the
ealdorman Aelfhem of Deira, who, with her sons, was banished to Denmark.
In 1018 Canute inherited the Danish throne, his elder brother Harold
having died without issue. He now withdrew most of his army from
England, so as to spare as much as possible the susceptibilities of the
Anglo-Saxons. For the same reason he had previously dispersed all his
warships but forty. On his return from Denmark he went a step farther.
In a remarkable letter, addressed to the prelates, ealdormen and people,
he declared his intention of ruling England by the English, and of
upholding the laws of King Edgar, at the same time threatening with his
vengeance all those who did not judge righteous judgment or who let
malefactors go free. The tone of this document, which is not merely
Christian but sacerdotal, shows that he had wisely resolved, in the
interests of law and order, to form a close alliance with the native
clergy. Those of his own fellow-countrymen who refused to co-operate
with him were summarily dismissed. Thus, in 1021, the stiffnecked jarl
Thorkil was banished the land, and his place taken by an Anglo-Saxon,
the subsequently famous Godwin, who became one of Canute's chief
counsellors. The humane and conciliatory character of his government is
also shown in his earnest efforts to atone for Danish barbarities in the
past. Thus he rebuilt the church of St Edmundsbury in memory of the
saintly king who had perished there at the hands of the earlier Vikings,
and with great ceremony transferred the relics of St Alphege from St
Paul's church at London to a worthier resting-place at Canterbury. His
work of reform and reconciliation was interrupted in 1026 by the attempt
of Olaf Haraldson, king of Norway, in conjunction with Anund Jakob, king
of Sweden, to conquer Denmark. Canute defeated the Swedish fleet at
Stangebjerg, and so seriously injured the combined squadrons at the
mouth of the Helgeaa in East Scania, that in 1028 he was able to subdue
the greater part of Norway "without hurling a dart or swinging a sword."
But the conquest was not permanent, the Norwegians ultimately rising
successfully against the tyranny of Alfifa, who misruled the country in
the name of her infant son Sweyn. Canute also succeeded in establishing
the dominion of Denmark over the southern shores of the Baltic, in
Witland and Samland, now forming part of the coast of Prussia. Of the
details of Canute's government in Denmark proper we know but little. His
most remarkable institution was the _Tinglid_, a military brotherhood,
originally 3000 in number, composed of members of the richest and
noblest families, who not only formed the royal bodyguard, but did
garrison duty and defended the marches or borders. They were subject to
strict discipline, embodied in written rules called the _Viderlog_ or
_Vederlag_, and were the nucleus not only of a standing army but of a
royal council. Canute is also said to have endeavoured to found
monasteries in Denmark, with but indifferent success, and he was
certainly the first Danish king who coined money, with the assistance of
Anglo-Saxon mint-masters. Of his alliance with the clergy we have
already spoken. Like the other great contemporary kingdom-builder,
Stephen of Hungary, he clearly recognized that the church was the one
civilizing element in a world of anarchic barbarism, and his submission
to her guidance is a striking proof of his perspicacity. But it was no
slavish submission. When, in 1027, he went to Rome, with Rudolf III. of
Burgundy, to be present at the coronation of the emperor Conrad II., it
was quite as much to benefit his subjects as to receive absolution for
the sins of his youth. He persuaded the pope to remit the excessive fees
for granting the _pallium_, which the English and Danish bishops had
found such a grievous burden, substituting therefor a moderate amount of
Peter's pence. He also induced the emperor and other German princes to
grant safe-conducts to those of his subjects who desired to make the
pilgrimage to Rome.
Canute died at Shaftesbury on the 12th of November 1035 in his 40th
year, and was buried at Winchester. He was cut off before he had had the
opportunity of developing most of his great plans; yet he lived long
enough to obtain the title of "Canute the Wealthy" (i.e. "Mighty"), and
posterity, still more appreciative, has well surnamed him "the Great." A
violent, irritable temper was his most salient defect, and more than one
homicide must be laid to his charge. But the fierce Viking nature was
gradually and completely subdued; for Canute was a Christian by
conviction and sincerely religious. His humility is finely illustrated
by the old Norman poem which describes how he commanded the rising tide
of the Thames at Westminster to go back. The homily he preached to his
courtiers on that occasion was to prepare them for his subsequent
journey to Rome and his submission to the Holy See. Like his father
Sweyn, Canute loved poetry, and the great Icelandic skalder, Thorar
Lovtunge and Thormod Kolbrunarskjold, were as welcome visitors at his
court as the learned bishops. As an administrator Canute was excelled
only by Alfred. He possessed in an eminent degree the royal gift of
recognizing greatness, and the still more useful faculty of conciliating
enemies. No English king before him had levied such heavy taxes, yet
never were taxes more cheerfully paid; because the people felt that
every penny of the money was used for the benefit of the country.
According to the _Knytlinga Saga_ King Canute was huge of limb, of great
strength, and a very goodly man to look upon, save for his nose, which
was narrow, lofty and hooked; he had also long fair hair, and eyes
brighter and keener than those of any man living.
See _Danmarks Riges Historie. Old Tiden og den aeldre Middelalder_,
pp. 382-406 (Copenhagen, 1897-1905); Freeman, _Norman Conquest_
(Oxford, 1870-1875); Steenstrup, _Normannerne_ (Copenhagen,
1876-1882). (R. N. B.)
CANUTE VI. (1163-1202), king of Denmark, eldest son of Valdemar I., was
crowned in his seventh year (1170), as his father's co-regent, so as to
secure the succession. In 1182 he succeeded to the throne. During his
twenty years' reign Denmark advanced steadily along the path of
greatness and prosperity marked out for her by Valdemar I.,
consolidating and extending her dominion over the North Baltic coast and
adopting a more and more independent attitude towards Germany. The
emperor Frederick I.'s claim of overlordship was haughtily rejected at
the very outset, and his attempt to stir up Duke Bogislav of Pomerania
against Denmark's vassal, Jaromir of Rugen, was defeated by Archbishop
Absalon, who destroyed 465 of Bogislav's 500 ships in a naval action off
Strela (Stralsund) in 1184. In the following year Bogislav did homage to
Canute on the deck of his long-ship, off Jomsborg in Pomerania, Canute
henceforth styling himself king of the Danes and Wends. This victory
led two years later to the voluntary submission of the two Abodrite
princes Niklot and Borwin to the Danish crown, whereupon the bulk of the
Abodrite dominions, which extended from the Trave to the Warnow,
including modern Mecklenburg, were divided between them. The concluding
years of Canute's reign were peaceful, as became a prince who, though by
no means a coward, was not of an overwhelmingly martial temperament. In
1197, however, German jealousy of Denmark's ambitions, especially when
Canute led a fleet against the pirates of Esthonia, induced Otto,
margrave of Brandenburg, to invade Pomerania, while in the following
year Otto, in conjunction with Duke Adolf of Holstein, wasted the
dominions of the Danophil Abodrites. The war continued intermittently
till 1201, when Duke Valdemar, Canute's younger brother, conquered the
whole of Holstein, and Duke Adolf was subsequently captured at Hamburg
and sent in chains to Denmark. North Albingia, as the district between
the Eider and the Elbe was then called, now became Danish territory.
Canute died on the 12th of November 1202. Undoubtedly he owed the
triumphs of his reign very largely to the statesmanship of Absalon and
the valour of Valdemar. But he was certainly a prudent and circumspect
ruler of blameless life, possessing, as Arnold of Lubeck (c. 1160-1212)
expresses it, "the sober wisdom of old age even in his tender youth."
See _Danmarks Riges Historic. Oldtiden og den aeldre Middelalder_
(Copenhagen, 1897-1905), pp. 721-735. (R. N. B.)
CANVAS, a stout cloth which probably derives its name from _cannabis_,
the Latin word for hemp. This would appear to indicate that canvas was
originally made from yarns of the hemp fibre, and there is some ground
for the assumption. This fibre and that of flax have certainly been used
for ages for the production of cloth for furnishing sails, and for
certain classes of cloth used for this purpose the terms "sailcloth" and
"canvas" are synonymous. Warden, in his _Linen Trade_, states that the
manufacture of sailcloth was established in England in 1590, as appears
by the preamble of James I., cap. 23:--"Whereas the cloths called
_Mildernix_ and _Powel Davies_, whereof sails and other furniture for
the navy and shipping are made, were heretofore altogether brought out
of France and other parts beyond sea, and the skill and art of making
and weaving of the said sailcloths never known or used in England until
about the thirty-second year of the late Queen Elizabeth, about what
time and not before the perfect art or skill of making or weaving of the
said cloths was attained to, and since practised and continued in this
realm, to the great benefit and commodity thereof." But this, or a
similar cloth of the same name had been used for centuries before this
time by the Egyptians and Phoenicians. Since the introduction of the
power loom the cloth has undergone several modifications, and it is now
made both from flax, hemp, tow, jute and cotton, or a mixture of these,
but the quality of sailcloth for the British government is kept up to
the original standard. All flax canvas is essentially of double warp,
for it is invariably intended to withstand some pressure or rough usage.
In structure it is similar to jute tarpaulin; indeed, if it were not for
the difference in the fibre, it would be difficult to say where one type
stopped and the other began. "Bagging," "tarpaulin" and "canvas" form an
ascending series of cloths so far as fineness is concerned, although the
finest tarpaulins are finer than some of the lower canvases. The cloth
may be natural colour, bleached or dyed, a very common colour being tan.
It has an enormous number of different uses other than naval.
Amongst other articles made from it are:--receptacles for photographic
and other apparatus; bags for fishing, shooting, golf and other sporting
implements; shoes for cricket and other games, and for yachting;
travelling cases and hold-alls, letter-bags, school-bags and nose-bags
for horses. Large quantities of the various makes of flax and cotton
canvases are tarred, and then used for covering goods on railways,
wharves, docks, etc.
Sail canvas is, naturally, of a strong build, and is quite different
from the canvas cloth used for embroidery purposes, often called "art
canvas." The latter is similar in structure to cheese cloths and
strainers, the chief difference being that the yarns for art canvas are,
in general, of a superior nature. All kinds of vegetable fibres are used
in their production, chief among which are cotton, flax and jute. The
yarns are almost invariably two or more ply, an arrangement which tends
to obtain a uniform thickness--a very desirable element in these
open-built fabrics.
[Illustration.]
The plain weave A in the figure is extensively used for these fabrics,
but in many cases special weaves are used which leave the open spaces
well defined. Thus weave B is often employed, while the "imitation
gauze" weaves, C and D, are also largely utilized in the production of
these embroidery cloths. Weave B is known as the hopsack, and probably
owes its name to being originally used for the making of bags for hops.
The cloth for this purpose is now called "hop pocketing," and is of a
structure between bagging and tarpaulin. Another class of canvas, single
warp termed "artists' canvas," is used, as its name implies, for
paintings in oils. It is also much lighter than sail canvas, but must,
of necessity, be made of level yarns. The best qualities are made of
cream or bleached flax line, although it is not unusual to find an
admixture of tow, and even of cotton in the commoner kinds. When the
cloth comes from the loom, it undergoes a special treatment to prepare
the surface for the paint.
CANVASS (an older spelling of "canvas"), to sift by shaking in a sheet
of canvas, hence to discuss thoroughly; as a political term it means to
examine carefully the chances of the votes in a prospective election,
and to solicit the support of the electors.
CANYNGES, Canynge, WILLIAM (c. 1399-1474), English merchant, was born
at Bristol in 1399 or 1400, a member of a wealthy family of merchants
and cloth-manufacturers in that city. He entered, and in due course
greatly extended, the family business, becoming one of the richest
Englishmen of his day. Canynges was five times mayor of, and twice
member of parliament for, Bristol. He owned a fleet of ten ships, the
largest hitherto known in England, and employed, it is said, 800 seamen.
By special license from the king of Denmark he enjoyed for some time a
monopoly of the fish trade between Iceland, Finland and England, and he
also competed successfully with the Flemish merchants in the Baltic,
obtaining a large share of their business. In 1456 he entertained
Margaret of Anjou at Bristol, and in 1461 Edward IV. Canynges undertook
at his own expense the great work of rebuilding the famous Bristol
church of St Mary, Redcliffe, and for a long time had a hundred workmen
in his regular service for this purpose. In 1467 he himself took holy
orders, and in 1469 was made dean of Westbury. He died in 1474. The
statesman George Canning and the first viscount Stratford de Redcliffe
were descendants of his family.
See Pryce, _Memorials of the Canynges Family and their Times_
(Bristol, 1854).
CANYON (Anglicized form of Span. _canon_, a tube, pipe or cannon; the
Spanish form being also frequently written), a type of valley with huge
precipitous sides, such as the Grand Canyons of the Colorado and the
Yellowstone livers, and the gorge of the Niagara river below the falls,
due to rapid stream erosion in a "young" land. A river saws its channel
vertically downwards, and a swift stream erodes chiefly at the bottom.
In rainy regions the valleys thus formed are widened out by slope-wash
and the resultant valley-slopes are gentle, but in arid regions there is
very little side-extension of the valleys and the river cuts its way
downwards, leaving almost vertical cliffs above the stream. If the
stream be swift as in the western plateau of North America, the cutting
action will be rapid. The ideal conditions for developing a canyon are:
great altitude and slope causing swift streams, arid conditions with
absence of side-wash, and hard rock horizontally bedded which will hold
the walls up.
CANZONE, a form of verse which has reached us from Italian literature,
where from the earliest times it has been assiduously cultivated. The
word is derived from the Provencal _canso_, a song, but it was in
Italian first that the form became a literary one, and was dedicated to
the highest uses of poetry. The canzone-strophe consists of two parts,
the opening one being distinguished by Dante as the _fronte_, the
closing one as the _sirma_. These parts are connected by rhyme, it being
usual to make the rhyme of the last line of the _fronte_ identical with
that of the first line of the _sirma_. In other respects the canzone has
great liberty, as regards number and length of lines, arrangement of
rhymes and conduct of structure. An examination of the best Italian
models, however, shows that the tendency of the canzone-strophe is to
possess 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 or 16 verses, and that of these the strophe of
14 verses is so far the most frequent that it may almost be taken as the
type. In this form it resembles an irregular sonnet. The _Vita Nuova_
contains many examples of the canzone, and these are accompanied by so
many explanations of their form as to lead us to believe that the
canzone was originally invented or adopted by Dante. The following is
the _proemio_ or _fronte_ of one of the most celebrated canzoni in the
_Vita Nuova_ (which may be studied in English in Dante Gabriel
Rossetti's translation):--
"Donna pietosa e di novella etate,
Adorna assai di gentilezza umane,
Era la ov' io chiamava spesso Morte.
Veggendo gli occhi miei pien di pietate,
Ed ascoltando le parole vane,
Si mosse con paura a pianger forte;
Ed altro donne, che si furo accorte
Di me per quella che meco piangia,
Fecer lei partir via
Ed apprissarsi per farmi sentire.
Quel dicea: 'Non dormire';
E qual dicea: 'Perche si te sconforte?'
Allor lasciai la nuova fantasia,
Chiamando il nome della donna mia."
The _Canzoniere_ of Petrarch is of great authority as to the form of
this species of verse. In England the canzone was introduced at the end
of the sixteenth century by William Drummond of Hawthornden, who has
left some very beautiful examples. In German poetry it was cultivated by
A.W. von Schlegel and other poets of the Romantic period. It is
doubtful, however, whether it is in agreement with the genius of any
language but Italian, and whether the genuine "Canzone toscana" is a
form which can be reproduced elsewhere than in Italy. (E. G.)
CAPE BRETON, the north-east portion of Nova Scotia, Canada, separated
from the mainland by a narrow strait, known as the Gut of Canceau or
Canso. Its extreme length from north to south is about 110 m., greatest
breadth about 87 m., and area 3120 sq. m. It juts out so far into the
Atlantic that it has been called "the long wharf of Canada," the
distance to the west coast of Ireland being less by a thousand miles
than from New York. A headland on the east coast is also known as Cape
Breton, and is said by some to be the first land made by Cabot on his
voyage in 1497-1498. The large, irregularly-shaped, salt-water lakes of
Bras d'Or communicate with the sea by two channels on the north-east; a
short ship canal connects them with St Peter's bay on the south, thus
dividing the island into two parts. Except on the north-west, the
coast-line is very irregular, and indented with numerous bays, several
of which form excellent harbours. The most important are Aspy, St Ann's,
Sydney, Mira, Louisburg, Gabarus, St Peter's and Mabou; of these, Sydney
Harbour, on which are situated the towns of Sydney and North Sydney, is
one of the finest in North America. There are numerous rivers, chiefly
rapid hill streams not navigable for any distance; the largest are the
Denys, the Margaree, the Baddeck and the Mira. Lake Ainslie in the west
is the most extensive of several fresh-water lakes. The surface of the
island is broken in several places by ranges of hills of moderate
elevation, well wooded, and containing numerous picturesque glens and
gorges; the northern promontory consists of a plateau, rising at Cape
North to a height of 1800 ft. This northern projection is formed of
Laurentian gneiss, the only instance in Nova Scotia of this formation,
and is fringed by a narrow border of carboniferous rocks. South of this
extends a Cambrian belt, a continuation of the same formation on the
Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. On various portions of the west coast,
and on the south side of the island at Seacoal Bay and Little River
(Richmond county), valuable seams of coal are worked. Still more
important is the Sydney coal-field, which occupies the east coast from
Mira Bay to St Ann's. The outcrop is plainly visible at various points
along the coast, and coal has been mined in the neighbourhood from a
very early period. Since 1893 the operations have been greatly extended,
and over 3,000,000 tons a year are now shipped, chiefly to Montreal and
Boston. The coal is bituminous, of good quality and easily worked, most
of the seams dipping at a low angle. Several have been mined for some
distance beneath the ocean. Slate, marble, gypsum and limestone are
quarried, the latter, which is found in unlimited quantities, being of
great value as a flux in the blast-furnaces of Sydney. Copper and iron
are also found, though not in large quantities.
Its lumber, agricultural products and fisheries are also important.
Nearly covered with forest at the time of its discovery, it still
exports pine, oak, beech, maple and ash. Oats, wheat, turnips and
potatoes are cultivated, chiefly for home consumption; horses, cattle
and sheep are reared in considerable numbers; butter and cheese are
exported. The Bras d'Or lakes and the neighbouring seas supply an
abundance of cod, mackerel, herring and whitefish, and the fisheries
employ over 7000 men. Salmon are caught in several of the rivers, and
trout in almost every stream, so that it is visited by large numbers of
tourists and sportsmen from the other provinces and from the United
States. The Intercolonial railway has been extended to Sydney, and
crosses the Gut of Canso on a powerful ferry. From the same strait a
railway runs up the west coast, and several shorter lines are controlled
by the mining companies. Of these the most important is that connecting
Sydney and Louisburg. Numerous steamers, with Sydney as their
headquarters, ply upon the Bras d'Or lakes. The inhabitants are mainly
of Highland Scottish descent, and Gaelic is largely spoken in the
country districts. On the south and west coasts are found a number of
descendants of the original French settlers and of the Acadian exiles
(see NOVA SCOTIA), and in the mining towns numbers of Irish are
employed. Several hundred Mic Mac Indians, for the most part of mixed
blood, are principally employed in making baskets, fish-barrels and
butter-firkins. Nearly the whole population is divided between the Roman
and Presbyterian creeds, and the utmost cordiality marks the relations
between the two faiths. The population is steadily increasing, having
risen from 27,580 in 1851 to over 100,000 in 1906.
There is some evidence in favour of early Norse and Icelandic voyages to
Cape Breton, but they left no trace. It was probably visited by the
Cabots in 1497-1498, and its name may either have been bestowed in
remembrance of Cap Breton near Bayonne, by the Basque sailors who early
frequented the coast, or may commemorate the hardy mariners of Brittany
and Normandy.
In 1629 James Stewart, fourth Lord Ochiltree, settled a small colony at
Baleine, on the east side of the island; but he was soon after taken
prisoner with all his party by Captain Daniell of the French Company,
who caused a fort to be erected at Great Cibou (now St Ann's Harbour).
By the peace of St Germain in 1632, Cape Breton was formally assigned to
France; and in 1654 it formed part of the territory granted by patent to
Nicholas Denys, Sieur de Fronsac, who made several small settlements on
the island, which, however, had only a very temporary success. When by
the treaty of Utrecht (1713) the French were deprived of Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland, they were still left in possession of Cape Breton, and
their right to erect fortifications for its defence was formally
acknowledged. They accordingly transferred the inhabitants of Plaisance
in Newfoundland to the settlement of Havre a l'Anglois, which soon
after, under the name of Louisburg, became the capital of Cape Breton
(or Ile Royale, as it was then called), and an important military post.
Cod-fishing formed the staple industry, and a large contraband trade in
French wines, brandy and sugar, was carried on with the English colonies
to the south. In 1745 it was captured by a force of volunteers from New
England, under Sir William Pepperell (1696-1759) aided by a British
fleet under Commodore Warren (1703-1752). By the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, the town was restored to France; but in 1758 was again
captured by a British force under General Sir Jeffrey Amherst and
Admiral Boscawen. On the conclusion of hostilities the island was ceded
to England by the treaty of Paris; and on the 7th of October 1763 it was
united by royal proclamation to the government of Nova Scotia. In 1784
it was separated from Nova Scotia, and a new capital founded at the
mouth of the Spanish river by Governor Desbarres, which received the
name of Sydney in honour of Lord Sydney (Sir Thomas Townshend), then
secretary of state for the colonies. There was immediately a
considerable influx of settlers to the island, which received another
important accession by the immigration of Scottish Highlanders from 1800
to 1828. In 1820, in spite of strong opposition, it was again annexed to
Nova Scotia. Since then, its history has been uneventful, chiefly
centring in the development of the mining industry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Historical: Richard Brown, _A History of the Island of
Cape Breton_ (1869), and Sir John Bourinot, _Historical and
Descriptive Account of Cape Breton_ (1892), are both excellent. See
also Denys, _Description geogr. et hist, des cotes de l'Amerique
septentrionale_ (1672); Pichon, _Lettres et memoires du Cap
Breton_ (1760). General: _Reports_ of Geological Survey, 1872 to
1882-1886, and 1895 to 1899 (by Robb, H. Fletcher and Faribault); H.
Fletcher, _The Sydney Coal Fields, Cape Breton, N.S._ (1900); Richard
Brown, _The Coal Fields of Cape Breton_ (1871; reprinted, 1899).
CAPE COAST, a port on the Gold Coast, British West Africa, in 5 deg. 5'
N., 1 deg. 13' W., about 80 m. W. of Accra. Pop. (1901) 28,948, mostly
Fantis. There are about 100 Europeans and a colony of Krumen. The town
is built on a low bank of gneiss and micaceous slate which runs out into
the sea and affords some protection at the landing-place against the
violence of the surf. (This bank was the _Cabo Corso_ of the Portuguese,
whence the English corruption of Cape Coast.) The castle faces the sea
and is of considerable size and has a somewhat imposing appearance. Next
to the castle, used as quarters for military officers and as a prison,
the principal buildings are the residence of the district commissioner,
the churches and schools of various denominations, the government
schools and the colonial hospital. Many of the wealthy natives live in
brick-built residences. The streets are hilly, and the town is
surrounded on the east and north by high ground, whilst on the west is a
lagoon. Fort Victoria lies west of the town, and Fort William (used as a
lighthouse) on the east.
The first European settlement on the spot was that of the Portuguese in
1610. In 1652 the Swedes established themselves here and built the
castle, which they named Carolusburg. In 1659 the Dutch obtained
possession, but the castle was seized in 1664 by the English under
Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir) Robert Holmes, and it has not since
been captured in spite of an attack by De Ruyter in 1665, a French
attack in 1757, and various assaults by the native tribes. Next to
Elmina it was considered the strongest fort on the Guinea Coast. Up to
1876 the town was the capital of the British settlements on the coast,
the administration being then removed to Accra. It is still one of the
chief ports of the Gold Coast Colony, and from it starts the direct road
to Kumasi. In 1905 it was granted municipal government. In the courtyard
of the castle are buried George Maclean (governor of the colony
1830-1843) and his wife (Laetitia Elizabeth Landon). The graves are
marked by two stones bearing respectively the initials "L.E.L." and
"G.M." The land on the east side of the town is studded with disused
gold-diggers' pits. The natives are divided into seven clans called
companies, each under the rule of recognized captains and possessing
distinct customs and fetish.
See A. Ffoulkes, "The Company System in Cape Coast Castle," in _Jnl.
African Soc._ vol. vii., 1908; and GOLD COAST.
CAPE COLONY (officially, "PROVINCE OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE"), the most
southern part of Africa, a British possession since 1806. It was named
from the promontory on its south-west coast discovered in 1488 by the
Portuguese navigator Diaz, and near which the first settlement of
Europeans (Dutch) was made in 1652. From 1872 to 1910 a self-governing
colony, in the last-named year it entered the Union of South Africa as
an original province. Cape Colony as such then ceased to exist. In the
present article, however, the word "colony" is retained. The "provinces"
referred to are the colonial divisions existing before the passing of
the South Africa Act 1909, except in the sections _Constitution and
Government_ and _Law and Justice_, where the changes made by the
establishment of the Union are set forth. (See also SOUTH AFRICA.)
_Boundaries and Area._--The coast-line extends from the mouth of the
Orange (28 deg. 38' S. 16 deg. 27' E.) on the W. to the mouth of the
Umtamvuna river (31 deg. 4' S. 30 deg. 12' E.) on the E., a distance of
over 1300 m. Inland the Cape is bounded E. and N.E. by Natal,
Basutoland, Orange Free State and the Transvaal; N. by the Bechuanaland
Protectorate and N.W. by Great Namaqualand (German S.W. Africa). From
N.W. to S.E. the colony has a breadth of 800 m., from S.W. to N.E. 750
m. Its area is 276,995 sq. m.--more than five times the size of England.
Walfish Bay (q.v.) on the west coast north of the Orange river is a
detached part of Cape Colony.
_Physical Features._--The outstanding orographic feature of the country
is the terrace-formation of the land, which rises from sea-level by
well-marked steps to the immense plateau which forms seven-eighths of
South Africa. The coast region varies in width from a few miles to as
many as fifty, being narrowest on the south-east side. The western coast
line, from the mouth of the Orange to the Cape peninsula, runs in a
general south-east direction with no deep indentations save just south
of 33 deg. S. where, in Saldanha Bay, is spacious and sheltered
anchorage. The shore is barren, consisting largely of stretches of white
sand or thin soil sparsely covered with scrub. The Cape peninsula, which
forms Table Bay on the north and False Bay on the south, juts pendant
beyond the normal coast line and consists of an isolated range of hills.
The scenery here becomes bold and picturesque. Dominating Table Bay is
the well-known Table Mountain (3549 ft.), flat-topped and often covered
with a "tablecloth" of cloud. On its lower slopes and around Table Bay
is built Cape Town, capital of the colony. Rounding the storm-vexed Cape
of Good Hope the shore trends south-east in a series of curves, forming
shallow bays, until at the saw-edged reefs of Cape Agulhas (Portuguese,
Needles) in 34 deg. 51' 15" S. 20 deg. E. the southernmost point of the
African continent is reached. Hence the coast, now very slightly
indented, runs north by east until at Algoa Bay (25 deg. 45' E.) it
takes a distinct north-east bend, and so continues beyond the confines
of the colony. Along the southern and eastern shore the country is
better watered, more fertile and more picturesque than along the western
seaboard. Cape Point (Cape of Good Hope) stands 840 ft. above the sea;
Cape Agulhas 455 ft. Farther on the green-clad sides of the Uiteniquas
Mountains are plainly visible from the sea, and as the traveller by boat
proceeds eastward, stretches of forest are seen and numbers of mountain
streams carrying their waters to the ocean. In this part of the coast
the only good natural harbour is the spacious estuary of the Knysna
river in 23 deg. 5' E. The entrance, which is over a bar with 14 ft.
minimum depth of water, is between two bold sandstone cliffs, called the
Heads.
Off the coast are a few small islands, mainly mere rocks within the bay.
None is far from the mainland. The largest are Dassen Island, 20 m. S.
of Saldanha Bay, and Robben Island, at the entrance to Table Bay. St
Croix is a rock in Algoa Bay, upon which Diaz is stated to have erected
a cross. A number of small islands off the coast of German South-West
Africa, chiefly valuable for their guano deposits, also belong to Cape
Colony (see ANGRA PEQUENA).
_Ocean Currents._--Off the east and south shores of the colony the
Mozambique or Agulhas current sweeps south-westward with force
sufficient to set up a back drift. This back drift or counter current
flowing north-east is close in shore and is taken advantage of by
vessels going from Cape Town to Natal. On the west coast the current
runs northwards. It is a deflected stream from the west drift of the
"roaring forties" and coming from Antarctic regions is much colder than
the Agulhas current. Off the southern point of the continent the Agulhas
current meets the west drift, giving rise to alternate streams of warm
and cold water. This part of the coast, subject alike to strong westerly
and southeasterly winds, is often tempestuous, as is witnessed by the
name, Cabo Tormentoso, given to the Cape of Good Hope, and to the many
wrecks off the coast. The most famous was that of the British troopship
"Birkenhead," on the 26th of February 1852, off Danger Point, midway
between Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas.
[Illustration: CAPE COLONY MAP.]
_Mountains and Tablelands._--It has been stated that the land rises by
well-marked steps to a vast central plateau. Beyond the coast plain,
which here and there attains a height of 600 ft., are mountain ranges
running parallel to the shore. These mountains are the supporting walls
of successive terraces. When the steep southern sides of the ranges
nearest the sea are ascended the hills are often found to be flat-topped
with a gentle slope northward giving on to a plateau rarely more than 40
m. wide. This plateau is called the Southern or Little Karroo, Karroo
being a corruption of a Hottentot word meaning dry, arid. Having crossed
the Little Karroo, from which rise minor mountain chains, a second high
range has to be climbed. This done the traveller finds himself on
another tableland--the Great Karroo. It has an average width of 80 m.
and is about 350 m. long. Northwards the Karroo (q.v.) is bounded by the
ramparts of the great inner tableland, of which only a comparatively
small portion is in Cape Colony. This sequence of hill and plain--namely
(1) the coast plain, (2) first range of hills, (3) first plateau (Little
Karroo), (4) second range of hills, (5) second plateau (the Great
Karroo), (6) main chain of mountains guarding, (7) the vast interior
tableland--is characteristic of the greater part of the colony but is
not clearly marked in the south-east and north-west borders. The
innermost, and most lofty, chain of mountains follows a curve almost
identical with that of the coast at a general distance of 120 m. from
the ocean. It is known in different places under different names, and
the same name being also often given to one or more of the coast ranges
the nomenclature of the mountains is confusing (see the map). The most
elevated portion of the innermost range, the Drakensberg (q.v.) follows
the curve of the coast from south to north-east. Only the southern
slopes of the range are in Cape Colony, the highest peaks--over 10,000
ft.--being in Basutoland and Natal. Going westward from the Drakensberg
the rampart is known successively as the Stormberg, Zuurberg,
Sneeuwberg and Nieuwveld mountains. These four ranges face directly
south. In the Sneeuwberg range is Compass Berg, 8500 ft. above the sea,
the highest point in the colony. In the Nieuwveld are heights of over
6000 ft. The Komsberg range, which joins the Nieuwveld on the east,
sweeps from the south to the north-west and is followed by the Roggeveld
mountains, which face the western seaboard. North of the Roggeveld the
interior plateau approaches closer to the sea than in southern Cape
Colony. The slope of the plateau being also westward, the mountain
rampart is less elevated, and north of 32 deg. S. few points attain 5000
ft. The coast ranges are here, in Namaqualand and the district of Van
Rhyns Dorp, but the outer edges of the inner range. They attain their
highest point in the Kamies Berg, 5511 ft. above the sea. Northward the
Orange river, marking the frontier of the colony, cuts its way through
the hills to the Atlantic.
From the Olifants river on the west to the Kei river on the east the
series of parallel ranges, which are the walls of the terraces between
the inner tableland and the sea, are clearly traceable. Their general
direction is always that of the coast, and they are cut across by rugged
gorges or _kloofs_, through which the mountain streams make their way
towards the sea. The two chief chains, to distinguish them from the
inner chain already described, may be called the coast and central
chains. Each has many local names. West to east the central chain is
known as the Cedarberg, Groote Zwarteberg (highest point 6988 ft.),
Groote river, Winterhoek (with Cockscomb mountain 5773 ft. high) and
Zuurberg ranges. The Zuurberg, owing to the north-east trend of the
shore, becomes, east of Port Elizabeth, a coast range, and the central
chain is represented by a more northerly line of hills, with a dozen
different names, which are a south-easterly spur of the Sneeuwberg. In
this range the Great Winter Berg attains a height of 7800 ft.
The coast chain is represented west to east by the Olifants mountains
(with Great Winterhoek, 6618 ft. high), Drakenstein, Zonder Einde,
Langeberg (highest point 5614 ft.), Attaquas, Uiteniquas and various
other ranges. In consequence of the north-east trend of the coast,
already noted, several of these ranges end in the sea in bold bluffs.
From the coast plain rise many short ranges of considerable elevation,
and on the east side of False Bay parallel to Table Bay range is a
mountain chain with heights of 4000 and 5000 ft. East of the Kei river
the whole of the country within Cape Colony, save the narrow seaboard,
is mountainous. The southern part is largely occupied with spurs of the
Stormberg; the northern portion, Griqualand East and Pondoland, with the
flanks of the Drakensberg. Several peaks exceed 7000 ft. in height.
Zwart Berg, near the Basuto-Natal frontier, rises 7615 ft. above the
sea. Mount Currie, farther south, is 7296 ft. high. The Witte Bergen
(over 5000 ft. high) are an inner spur of the Drakensberg running
through the Herschel district.
That part of the inner tableland of South Africa which is in the colony
has an average elevation of 3000 ft., being higher in the eastern than
in the western districts. It consists of wide rolling treeless plains
scarred by the beds of many rivers, often dry for a great part of the
year. The tableland is broken by the Orange river, which traverses its
whole length. North of the river the plateau slopes northward to a level
sometimes as low as 2000 ft. The country is of an even more desolate
character than south of the Orange (see BECHUANALAND). Rising from the
plains are chains of isolated flat-topped hills such as the Karree
Bergen, the Asbestos mountains and Kuruman hills, comparatively
unimportant ranges.
Although the mountains present bold and picturesque outlines on their
outward faces, the general aspect of the country north of the
coast-lands, except in its south-eastern corner, is bare and monotonous.
The flat and round-topped hills (_kopjes_), which are very numerous on
the various plateaus, scarcely afford relief to the eye, which searches
the sun-scorched landscape, usually in vain, for running water. The
absence of water and of large trees is one of the most abiding
impressions of the traveller. Yet the vast arid plains are covered with
shallow beds of the richest soil, which only require the fertilizing
power of water to render them available for pasture or agriculture.
After the periodical rains, the Karroo and the great plains of
Bushmanland are converted into vast fields of grass and flowering
shrubs, but the summer sun reduces them again to a barren and burnt-up
aspect. The pastoral lands or _velds_ are distinguished according to the
nature of their herbage as "sweet" or "sour." Shallow sheets of water
termed _vleis_, usually brackish, accumulate after heavy rain at many
places in the plateaus; in the dry seasons these spots, where the soil
is not excessively saline, are covered with rich grass and afford
favourite grazing land for cattle. Only in the southern coast-land of
the colony is there a soil and moisture supply suited to forest growth.