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.