The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
by
Edited by Rev. James Wood
Part 13 out of 53
CHURCHILL, CHARLES, an English poet, born at Westminster; began life
as a curate, an office which he was compelled to resign from his unseemly
ways; took himself to the satire, first of the actors of the time in his
"Rosciad," then of his critics in his "Apology," and then of Dr. Johnson
in the "Ghost"; he wrote numerous satires, all vigorous, his happiest
being deemed that against the Scotch, entitled "The Prophecy of Famine";
his life was a short one, and not wisely regulated (1731-1764).
CHURCHILL, LORD RANDOLPH, an English Conservative politician, third
son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, who, though a man of mark, and more
than once in office, could never heart and soul join any party and settle
down to steady statesmanship; set out on travel, took ill on the journey,
and came home in a state of collapse to die (1849-1895).
CHUZZLEWIT, MARTIN, the hero of a novel by Dickens of the name.
JAMES, a character in the same novel, a man distinguished for his
mean and tyrannical character.
CHUSAN (30 or 40), principal island in the Chusan Archipelago, 18 m.
long and 10 broad; near the estuary of the Yangtse-kiang, has been called
"the Key of China."
CHYLE, a fluid of a milky colour, separated from the chyme by the
action of the pancreatic juice and the bile, and which, being absorbed by
the lacteal vessels, is gradually assimilated into blood.
CHYME, the pulpy mass into which the food is converted in the
stomach prior to the separation in the small intestines of the chyle.
CIALDINI, ENRICO, an Italian general and politician, born at Modena;
distinguished himself in Spain against the Carlists, and both as a
soldier and diplomatist in connection with the unification of Italy
(1811-1892).
CIBBER, COLLEY, actor and dramatist, of German descent; was manager
and part-proprietor of Drury Lane; wrote plays, one in particular, which
procured for him the post of poet-laureate, which he held till his death;
was much depreciated by Pope; wrote an "Apology for his Life," the most
amusing autobiography in the language (1671-1757).
CIBRARIO, LUIGI, an Italian historian and statesman, born at Turin;
he held office under Charles Albert of Sardinia (1802-1870).
CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS, a Roman orator, statesman, and man of
letters, born near Arpinum, in Latium; trained for political life partly
at Rome and partly at Athens; distinguished himself as the first orator
at the Roman bar when he was 30, and afterwards rose through the
successive grades of civic rank till he attained the consulship in 63
B.C.; during this period he acquired great popularity by his exposure and
defeat of the conspiracy of Catiline, by which he earned the title of
_Father of his Country_, though there were those who condemned his action
and procured his banishment for a time; on his recall, which was
unanimous, he took sides first with Pompey, then with Caesar after
Pharsalia, on whose death he delivered a Philippic against Antony; was
proscribed by the second triumvirate, and put to death by Antony's
soldiers; he was the foremost of Roman orators, the most elegant writer
of the Latin language, and has left behind him orations, letters, and
treatises, very models of their kind; he was not a deep thinker, and his
philosophy was more eclectic than original (100-43 B.C.).
CICERO OF GERMANY, John III., Elector of Brandenburg, "could speak
'four hours at a stretch, in elegantly flowing Latin,' with a fair share
of meaning in it too" (1455-1499).
CICOGNARA, COUNT, an Italian writer, born at Ferrara; author of a
"History of Sculpture" (1767-1834).
CID CAMPEADOR, a famed Castilian warrior of the 11th century, born
at Burgos; much celebrated in Spanish romance; being banished from
Castile, in the interest of which he had fought valiantly, he became a
free-lance, fighting now with the Christians and now with the Moors, till
he made himself master of Valencia, where he set up his throne and
reigned, with his faithful wife Ximena by his side, till the news of a
defeat by the Moors took all spirit out of him, and he died of grief.
Faithful after death, his wife had his body embalmed and carried to his
native place, on the high altar of which it lay enthroned for 10 years;
his real name was Don Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar, and the story of his love
for Ximena is the subject of Corneille's masterpiece, "The Cid."
CIGOLI, a Florentine painter, called the Florentine Correggio, whom
he specially studied in the practice of his art; "The Apostle Healing the
Lame," in St. Peter's, is by him, as also the "Martyrdom of St. Stephen,"
in Florence (1559-1613).
CILICIA, an ancient province in S. of Asia Minor.
CILICIAN GATES, the pass across Mount Taurus by which Alexander the
Great entered Cilicia.
CIMABU`E, a Florentine painter, and founder of the Florentine
school, which ranked among its members such artists as Michael Angelo,
Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci; was the first to leave the stiff
traditional Byzantine forms of art and copy from nature and the living
model, though it was only with the advent of his great disciple Giotto
that art found beauty in reality, and Florence was made to see the divine
significance of lowly human worth, at sight of which, says Ruskin, "all
Italy threw up its cap"; his "Madonna," in the Church of Santa Maria, has
been long regarded as a marvel of art, and of all the "Mater Dolorosas"
of Christianity, Ruskin does not hesitate to pronounce his at Assisi the
noblest; "he was the first," says Ruskin, "of the Florentines, first of
European men, to see the face of her who was blessed among women, and
with his following hand to make visible the Magnificat of his heart"
(1240-1302).
CIMAROSA, DOMENICO, a celebrated Italian composer; composed between
20 and 30 operas, mostly comic, his masterpiece being "II Matrimoneo
Segreto"; he was imprisoned for sympathising with the principles of the
French Revolution, and treated with a severity which shortened his life;
said by some to have been poisoned by order of Queen Caroline of Naples
(1754-1801).
CIMBER, a friend of Caesar's who turned traitor, whose act of
presenting a petition to him was the signal to the conspirators to take
his life.
CIMBRI, a barbarian horde who, with the Teutons, invaded Gaul in the
2nd century B.C.; gave the Romans no small trouble, and were all but
exterminated by Marius in 101 B.C.; believed to have been a Celtic race,
who descended on Southern Europe from the N.
CIMERIANS, an ancient people N. of the shores of the Black Sea,
fabled to inhabit a region unvisited by a single ray of the sun.
CIMON, an Athenian general, son of Miltiades; distinguished himself
in the struggle of Athens against Persia in 466 B.C.; gained two
victories over the Persians in one day, one by land and another by sea,
was banished by the democratic party, and after four years recalled to
continue his victories over his old foes, and died at Cyprus
(510-449 B.C.).
CINCINNATI (326), the metropolis of Ohio, stands on the Ohio River,
opposite Covington and Newport, by rail 270 m. SE. of Chicago; the city
stands on hilly ground, and is broken and irregular; there are many fine
buildings, among them a Roman Catholic cathedral, and large parks; there
is a university, the Lane Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), schools of
medicine, law, music, and art, an observatory, zoological garden, and
large libraries; it is a centre of culture in the arts; manufactures
include clothing, tobacco, leather, moulding and machine shops; there is
some boat-building and printing; but the most noted trade is in pork and
grain; is the greatest pork market in the world; a third of the
population is of German origin.
CINCINNATUS, LUCIUS QUINCTIUS, an old hero of the Roman republic,
distinguished for the simplicity and austerity of his manners; was consul
in 460 B.C., and on the defeat of a Roman army by the AEqui, called to
the dictatorship from the plough, to which he returned on the defeat of
the AEqui; he was summoned to fill the same post a second time, when he
was 80, on the occasion of the conspiracy of Maelius, with the like
success.
CINCINNATUS, THE ORDER OF, an American order founded by officers of
the revolutionary army at its dissolution in 1753; was denounced by
Franklin as anti-republican in its spirit and tendency; it still survives
in a feeble way; the order is hereditary.
CINCINNATUS OF THE AMERICANS, George Washington.
CINDERELLA (the little cinder-girl), the youngest member of a family
who must drudge at home while her elder sisters go to balls, till one day
a fairy befriends her and conveys her to a ball, where she shines as the
centre of attraction, and wins the regard of a prince. On quitting the
hall she leaves a slipper behind her, by means of which she is identified
by the prince, who finds that hers is the only foot that the slipper will
fit, and marries her. The story in one version or another is a very
ancient and wide-spread one.
CINEAS, the minister of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; was the ablest
orator of his time, and his master was in the habit of saying of him,
that his eloquence had gained him more cities than his own arms; sent on
a mission to Rome, the senate refused to hear him, lest his eloquence
should prove too fascinating.
CINGALESE, a native of Ceylon.
CINNA, LUCIUS CORNELIUS, a Roman patrician, a friend and supporter
of Marius; drove Sulla from Rome and recalled Marius from exile;
participated in the murders which followed his recall, and after the
death of Marius was assassinated when organising an expedition against
Sulla, 84 B.C.
CINNABAR, a sulphide of mercury from which the mercury of commerce
is obtained.
CINQ-MARS, HENRI, MARQUIS DE, a French courtier, a favourite of
Louis XIII.; a man of handsome figure and fascinating manners; died on
the scaffold for conspiring with his friend De Thou against Richelieu
(1620-1642).
CINQUE CENTO (lit. five hundred), the Renaissance in literature
and art in the 16th century, the expression 5 hundred standing for 15
hundred.
CINQUE PORTS, the five ports of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, and
Sandwich, to which were added Winchelsea and Rye, which possessed certain
privileges in return for supplying the royal power with a navy; the Lord
Warden of the Cinque Ports is only an honorary dignity.
CINTRA, a Portuguese town, 17 m. NW. of Lisbon, where a much
reprobated convention between the French under Marshal Junot and the
English under Sir Hew Dalrymple was signed in 1808, whereby the former
were let off with all their arms and baggage on condition of evacuating
Portugal.
CIPANGO, an island on the Eastern Ocean, described by Marco Polo as
a sort of El Dorado, an object of search to subsequent navigators, and an
attraction among the number to Columbus, it is said.
CIPRIANI, an Italian painter and etcher, born in Florence; settled
in London; was an original member of the Royal Academy, and designed the
diploma (1727-1785).
CIRCARS, THE, a territory in India along the coast of the Bay of
Bengal, from 18 to 100 m. wide; ceded first to the French and in 1766 to
the East India Company, now of course under the Crown, and forming part
of the Madras Presidency.
CIRCASSIA, a territory on the Western Caucasus, now subject to
Russia; celebrated for the sturdy spirit of the men and the beauty of the
women; the nobles professing Mohammedanism and the lower classes a
certain impure form of Christianity; they are of the Semite race, and
resemble the Arabs in their manners.
CIRCE, a sorceress who figures in the "Odyssey." Ulysses having
landed on her isle, she administered a potion to him and his companions,
which turned them into swine, while the effect of it on himself was
counteracted by the use of the herb moly, provided for him by Hermes
against sorcery; she detained him with her for years, and disenchanted
his companions on his departure.
CIRCEAN POISON, a draught of any kind that is magically and fatally
infatuating, such as the effect often of popular applause.
CIRCUITS, districts outside of London into which England is divided
for judicial purposes, for the trial of civil as well as criminal cases
connected with them; are seven in number--the Midland, the Oxford, the
North-Eastern, the South-Eastern, the Northern, the Western, and North
Wales and South Wales; the courts are presided over by a judge sent from
London, or by two, and are held twice a year, or oftener if the number of
cases require it.
CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD, the course of the blood from the heart
through the arteries to the minute vessels of the body, and from these
last through the veins back to the heart again.
CIRCUMCISION, the practice of cutting away the foreskin, chiefly of
males, as observed by the Jews and the Mohammedans, as well as other
nations of remote antiquity; regarded by some as a mark of belonging to
the tribe, and by others as a sacrifice in propitiation by blood.
CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE, a name employed by Dickens in "Little Dorrit"
to designate the wearisome routine of public business.
CISALPINE GAUL, territory occupied by Gauls on the Italian or south
side of the Alps.
CISALPINE REPUBLIC, a republic so called on both sides of the Po,
formed out of his conquests by Napoleon, 1797; became the Italian
Republic in 1802, with Milan for capital, and ceased to exist after the
fall of Napoleon.
CISLEITHANIA, Austria proper as distinguished from Hungary, which is
called Transleithania, on account of the boundary between them being
formed by the river Leitha.
CISTERCIANS, a monastic order founded by Abbot Robert in 1098 at
Citeaux, near Dijon; they followed the rule of St. Benedict, who reformed
the Order after it had lapsed; became an ecclesiastical republic, and
were exempt from ecclesiastical control; contributed considerably to the
progress of the arts, if little to the sciences.
CITHAERON, a wood-covered mountain on the borders of Boeotia and
Attica; famous in Greek legend.
CITIES OF REFUGE, among the Jews; three on the E. and three on the
W. of the Jordan, in which the manslayer might find refuge from the
avenger of blood.
CITIES OF THE PLAIN, Sodom and Gomorrah, with adjoining cities under
the like doom.
CITIZEN KING, Louis Philippe of France, so called as elected by the
citizens of Paris.
CITY OF BELLS, Strasburg.
CITY OF CHURCHES, Brooklyn, now incorporated with New York.
CITY OF DESTRUCTION, Bunyan's name for the world as under divine
judgment.
CITY OF GOD, Augustine's name for the Church as distinct from the
cities of the world, and the title of a book of his defining it.
CITY OF PALACES, Calcutta and Rome.
CITY OF THE PROPHET, Medina, where Mahomet found refuge when driven
out of Mecca by the Koreish and their adherents.
CITY OF THE SEVEN HILLS, Rome, as built on seven hills--viz., the
Aventine, Coelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and
Viminal.
CITY OF THE SUN, BAALBEK (q. v.); and a work by Campanella,
describing an ideal republic, after the manner of Plato and Sir Thomas
More.
CITY OF THE VIOLET CROWN, Athens.
CIUDAD REAL (royal city) (13), a Spanish town in a province of the
same name, 105 m. S. of Madrid, where Sebastian defeated the Spaniards in
1809.
CIUDAD RODRIGO (8), a Spanish town near the Portuguese frontier, 50
m. SW. of Salamanca; stormed by Wellington, after a siege of 11 days, in
1812, for which brilliant achievement he earned the title of Earl in
England, and Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain.
CIVA, or SIVA, the third member of the Hindu Trinity, the
destroyer of what Vishnu is the preserver and Brahma is the creator, is
properly Brahma undoing what he has made with a view to reincarnation.
CIVIL LAW, a system of laws for the regulation of civilised
communities formed on Roman laws, digested in the pandects of Justinian.
CIVIL LIST, the yearly sum granted by the Parliament of England at
the commencement of each reign for the support of the royal household,
and to maintain the dignity of the Crown: it amounts now to L385,000.
CIVIL SERVICE, the paid service done to the State, exclusive of that
of the army and navy.
CIVILIS, CLAUDIUS, a Batavian chief who revolted against Vespasian,
but on defeat was able to conclude an honourable peace.
CIVITA VECCHIA (11), a fortified port on the W. coast of Italy, 40
m. NW. of Rome, with a good harbour, founded by Trajan; exports wheat,
alum, cheese, &c.
CLACKMANNANSHIRE (28), the smallest county in Scotland, lies between
the Ochils and the Forth; rich in minerals, especially coal.
CLAIR, ST., a lake 30 m. long by 12 broad, connecting Lake Erie with
Lake Huron.
CLAIRAUT, ALEXIS CLAUDE, a French mathematician and astronomer, born
at Paris, of so precocious a genius, that he was admitted to the Academy
of Sciences at the age of 18; published a theory of the figure of the
earth, and computed the orbit of Halley's comet (1713-1765).
CLAIRVAUX, a village of France, on the Aube, where St. Bernard
founded a Cistercian monastery in 1115, and where he lived and was
buried; now used as a prison or reformatory.
CLAIRVOYANCE, the power ascribed to certain persons in a mesmeric
state of seeing and describing events at a distance or otherwise
invisible.
CLAN, a tribe of blood relations descended from a common ancestor,
ranged under a chief in direct descent from him, and having a common
surname, as in the Highlands of Scotland; at bottom a military
organisation for defensive and predatory purposes.
CLAN-NA-GAEL, a Fenian organisation founded at Philadelphia in 1870,
to secure by violence the complete emancipation of Ireland from British
control.
CLAPHAM, a SW. suburb of London, in the county of Surrey, 4 m. from
St. Paul's, and inhabited by a well-to-do middle-class community,
originally of evangelical principles, and characterised as the _Clapham
Set_.
CLAPPERTON, CAPTAIN HUGH, an African explorer, born at Annan; bred
in the navy, joined two expeditions into Central Africa to ascertain the
length and course of the Niger, but got no farther than Sokoto, where he
was attacked with dysentery and died (1788-1827).
CLAeRCHEN, a female character in Goethe's "Egmont."
CLARE (124), a county in Munster, Ireland; also an island at the
mouth of Clew Bay, county Mayo.
CLARE, JOHN, the peasant poet of Northamptonshire, born near
Peterborough; wrote "Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery," which
attracted attention, and even admiration, and at length with others
brought him a small annuity, which he wasted in speculation; fell into
despondency, and died in a lunatic asylum (1793-1864).
CLARE, ST., a virgin and abbess, born at Assisi; the founder of the
Order of Poor Clares (1193-1253). Festival, Aug. 12.
CLAREMONT, a mansion in Surrey, 14 m. SW. of London, built by Lord
Clive, where Princess Charlotte lived and died, as also Louis Philippe
after his flight from France; is now the property of the Queen, and the
residence of the Duchess of Albany.
CLARENCE, DUKE OF, brother of Edward IV.; convicted of treason, he
was condemned to death, and being allowed to choose the manner of his
death, is said to have elected to die by drowning in a butt of Malmsey
wine (1459-1478).
CLARENCEUX, or CLARENCIEUX, the provincial king-at-arms, whose
jurisdiction extends from and includes all England S. of the Trent.
CLARENDON, a place 2 m. SE. of Salisbury, where the magnates of
England, both lay and clerical, met in 1164 under Henry II. and issued a
set of ordinances, called the _Constitutions of Clarendon_, 16 in number,
to limit the power of the Church and assert the rights of the crown in
ecclesiastical affairs.
CLARENDON, EDWARD HYDE, Earl of, sat in the Short Parliament and the
Long on the popular side, but during the Civil War became a devoted
Royalist; was from 1641 one of the chief advisers of the king; on the
failure of the royal cause, took refuge first in Jersey, and then in
Holland with the Prince of Wales; contributed to the Restoration; came
back with Charles, and became Lord Chancellor; fell into disfavour, and
quitted England in 1667; died at Rouen; wrote, among other works, a
"History of the Great Rebellion," dignifiedly written, though often
carelessly, but full of graphic touches and characterisations especially
of contemporaries; it has been called an "epical composition," as showing
a sense of the central story and its unfolding. "Few historians," adds
Prof. Saintsbury, "can describe a given event with more vividness. Not
one in all the long list of the great practitioners of the art has such
skill in the personal character" (1608-1674).
CLARENDON, GEORGE VILLIERS, EARL OF, a Whig statesman; served as a
cabinet minister under Lord Melbourne, Lord John Russell twice, Lord
Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone; held the office of Foreign
Secretary under the three preceding; was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland at
the time of the potato failure, and represented Britain at the Congress
of Paris; died in harness, deeply lamented both at home and abroad
(1800-1870).
CLARETIE, JULES, a French journalist, novelist, dramatic author, and
critic, born at Limoges; has published some 40 volumes of _causeries_,
history, and fiction; appointed Director of the Theatre Francais in 1893;
_b_. 1840.
CLARISSA HARLOWE, the heroine of one of Richardson's novels,
exhibiting a female character which, as described by him, is pronounced
to be "one of the brightest triumphs in the whole range of imaginative
literature," is described by Stopford Brooke "as the pure and ideal star
of womanhood."
CLARK, SIR ANDREW, an eminent London physician, born near Cargill,
in Perthshire, much beloved, and skilful in the treatment of diseases
affecting the respiratory and digestive organs (1826-1893).
CLARK, SIR JAMES, physician to the Queen, born in Cullen; an
authority on the influence of climate on chronic and pulmonary disease
(1788-1870).
CLARK, THOMAS, chemist, born in Ayr; discovered the phosphate of
soda, and the process of softening hard water (1801-1867).
CLARKE, ADAM, a Wesleyan divine, of Irish birth; a man of
considerable scholarship, best known by his "Commentary" on the Bible;
author also of a "Bibliographical Dictionary" (1762-1832).
CLARKE, CHARLES COWDEN, a friend of Lamb, Keats, and Leigh Hunt;
celebrated for his Shakespearian learning; brought out an annotated
Shakespeare, assisted by his wife; lectured on Shakespeare characters
(1787-1877).
CLARKE, DR. SAMUEL, an English divine, scholar and disciple of
Newton, born at Norwich; author, as Boyle lecturer, of a famous
"Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God," as also independently
of "The Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion"; as a theologian he
inclined to Arianism, and his doctrine of morality was that it was
congruity with the "eternal fitness of things" (1675-1729).
CLARKE, EDWARD DANIEL, a celebrated English traveller, born in
Sussex; visited Scandinavia, Russia, Circassia, Asia Minor, Syria,
Palestine, Egypt, and Greece; brought home 100 MSS. to enrich the library
of Cambridge, the colossal statue of the Eleusinian Ceres, and the
sarcophagus of Alexander, now in the British Museum; his "Travels" were
published in six volumes (1769-1822).
CLARKE, HENRI, Duc de Feltre, of Irish origin, French marshal, and
minister of war under Napoleon; instituted the prevotal court, a _pro re
nata_ court without appeal (1767-1818).
CLARKE, MARY COWDEN, _nee_ Novello, of Italian descent, wife of
Charles Cowden, assisted her husband in his Shakespeare studies, and
produced amid other works "Concordance to Shakespeare," a work which
occupied her 16 years (1809-1898).
CLARKE, WILLIAM GEORGE, English man of letters; Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge; edited the "Cambridge Shakespeare," along with Mr.
Aldis Wright (1821-1867).
CLARKSON, THOMAS, philanthropist, born in Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire;
the great English anti-slavery advocate, and who lived to see in 1833 the
final abolition in the British empire of the slavery he denounced, in
which achievement he was assisted by the powerful advocacy in Parliament
of Wilberforce (1760-1846).
CLASSIC RACES, the English horse-races at Newmarket--Derby, the
Oaks, and the St. Leger.
CLASSICS, originally, and often still, the standard authors in the
literature of Greece or Rome, now authors in any literature that
represent it at its best, when, as Goethe has it, it is "vigorous, fresh,
joyous, and healthy," as in the "Nibelungen," no less than in the
"Iliad."
CLAUDE, JEAN, a French Protestant controversial divine, a powerful
antagonist of Bossuet and other Catholic writers, allowed only 24 hours
to escape on the eve of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, though
other Protestant ministers were allowed 15 days (1619-1687).
CLAUDE LORRAINE, a great landscape painter, born in Lorraine, of
poor parents, and apprenticed to a pastry-cook; went as such to Rome;
became servant and colour-grinder to Tassi, who instructed him in his
art; by assiduous study of nature in all her aspects attained to fame;
was eminent in his treatment of aerial perspective, and an artist whom it
was Turner's ambition to rival; he was eminent as an etcher as well as a
painter; Turner left one of his finest works to the English nation on
condition that it should hang side by side of a masterpiece of Claude,
which it now does; his pictures are found in every gallery in Europe, and
a goodly number of them are to be met with in England; there are in the
St. Petersburg gallery four pieces of exquisite workmanship, entitled
"Morning," "Noon," "Evening," and "Twilight" (1600-1682).
CLAUDIAN, a Latin epic poet of the 4th century, born in Alexandria,
panegyrist of Stilicho on his victory over Alaric; a not unworthy
successor of Catullus and Propertius, though his native tongue was Greek.
CLAUDIUS, APPIUS, a Roman decemvir and patrician in 451 B.C.;
outraged Virginia, a beautiful plebeian damsel, whom her father, on
discovering of the crime, killed with a knife snatched from a butcher's
stall, rousing thereby the popular rage against the decemvir, who was
cast into prison, where he put an end to himself, 449 B.C.
CLAUDIUS, APPIUS, censor in 312-307 B.C.; wrought important changes
in the Roman constitution; set on foot the construction of the Appian Way
and the Appian Aqueduct, named after him.
CLAUDIUS I, TIBERIUS DRUSUS, surnamed GERMANICUS, brother of
Tiberius, emperor of Rome from 41 to 54, born at Lyons; after spending 50
years of his life in private, occupying himself in literary study, was,
on the death of Caligula, raised very much against his wish by the
soldiers to the imperial throne, a post which he filled with honour to
himself and benefit to the State; but he was too much controlled by his
wives, of whom he had in succession four, till the last of them,
Agrippina, had him poisoned to make way for her son Nero.
CLAUDIUS II., surnamed GOTHICUS, Roman emperor from 268 to 270;
an excellent prince and a good general; distinguished himself by his
ability and courage against the Goths and other hordes of barbarians.
CLAUSEL, BERTRAND, marshal of France, born at Mirepoix; served under
Napoleon in Holland, Italy, Austria, and Spain; was defeated at
Salamanca, executing thereafter a masterly retreat; left France for
America in 1815 on the fall of Napoleon, to whom he was devoted; returned
in 1830, became commander-in-chief in Algeria, and ultimately governor
(1772-1842).
CLAUSEWITZ, KARL VON, a Prussian general, born at Burg;
distinguished himself against Napoleon in Russia in 1812; an authority on
the art of war, on which he wrote a treatise in three volumes, entitled
"Vom Krieg" (1780-1831).
CLAUSIUS, RUDOLF, an eminent German physicist, born at Koeslin, in
Pomerania; professor of Natural Philosophy at Bonn; specially
distinguished for his contributions to the science of thermo-dynamics,
and the application of mathematical methods to the study, as also to
electricity and the expansion of gases (1822-1888).
CLAVERHOUSE, JOHN GRAHAM OF, VISCOUNT DUNDEE, commenced life as a
soldier in France and Holland; on his return to Scotland in 1677 was
appointed by Charles II. to the command of a troop to suppress the
Covenanters; was defeated at Drumclog 1679, but by the help of Monmouth
had his revenge at Bothwell Brig; affected to support the Revolution, but
intrigued in favour of the Stuarts; raised in Scotland a force in their
behalf; was met at Killiecrankie by General Mackay, where he fell
(1643-1689).
CLAVIERE, Minister of Finance in France after Necker, born at
Geneva; projector of the _Moniteur_; friend of Mirabeau; committed
suicide in prison (1735-1793).
CLAVIJE`RO, a Jesuit missionary, born in Vera Cruz; laboured for 40
years as missionary in Mexico; on the suppression of his Order went to
Italy, and wrote a valuable work on Mexico (1718-1793).
CLAVIGO, a drama by Goethe in five acts, the first work to which he
put his name; was received with disfavour.
CLAVILENO, Don Quixote's wooden horse.
CLAY, HENRY, an American statesman, born in Virginia; bred for the
bar, and distinguished for his oratory; was for many years Speaker of the
House of Representatives; was a supporter of war with Britain in 1812-15,
and party to the treaty which ended it; was an advocate of protection;
aspired three times unsuccessfully to the Presidency; his public career
was a long one, and an honourable (1777-1852).
CLEAR THE CAUSEWAY RIOTS, bickerings in the streets of Edinburgh in
1515 between the rival factions of Angus and Arran, to the utter rout of
the former, or the Douglas party.
CLEANTHES, a Stoic philosopher, born at Assos, in Troas, of the 3rd
century B.C.; wrought as a drawer of water by night that he might earn
his fee as pupil of Zeno's by day; became Zeno's successor and the head
of his school; regarded "pleasure as a remission of that moral energy of
the soul, which alone is happiness, as an interruption to life, and as an
evil, which was not in accordance with nature, and no end of nature."
CLEAR, CAPE, a headland S. of Clear Island, most southerly point of
Ireland, and the first land sighted coming from America.
CLEARCHUS, a Spartan general who accompanied Cyrus on his expedition
against Artaxerxes; commanded the retreat of the Ten Thousand; was put to
death by Tissaphernes in 401 B.C., and replaced by Xenophon.
CLEARING-HOUSE, a house for interchanging the respective claims of
banks and of railway companies.
CLEISHBOTHAM, JEDEDIAH, an imaginary editor in Scott's "Tales of My
Landlord."
CLELIA, a Roman heroine, who swam the Tiber to escape from Porsenna,
whose hostage she was; sent back by the Romans, she was set at liberty,
and other hostages along with her, out of admiration on Porsenna's part
of both her and her people.
CLEMENCEAUX, GEORGES BENJAMIN, French politician, born in La Vendee;
bred to medicine; political adversary of Gambetta; proprietor of _La
Justice_, a Paris journal; an expert swordsman; _b_. 1841.
CLEMENCET, CHARLES, a French Benedictine, born near Autun; one of
the authors of the great chronological work, "Art de Verifier les Dates,"
and wrote the history of the Port Royal (1703-1778).
CLEMENCIN, DIEGO, a Spanish statesman and litterateur; his most
important work a commentary on "Don Quixote."
CLEMENS, SAMUEL LANGHORNE, an American humorist with the pseudonym
of "Mark Twain," born at Florida, Missouri, U.S.; began his literary
career as a newspaper reporter and a lecturer; his first book "The
Jumping Frog"; visited Europe, described in the "Innocents Abroad";
married a lady of fortune; wrote largely in his peculiar humorous vein,
such as the "Tramp Abroad"; produced a drama entitled the "Gilded Age,"
and compiled the "Memoirs of General Grant"; _b_. 1835.
CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, one of the Greek Fathers of the Church, of the
2nd and 3rd centuries; had Origen for pupil; brought up in Greek
philosophy; converted in manhood to Christianity from finding in his
appreciation of knowledge over faith confirmations of it in his
philosophy, which he still adhered to; his "Stromata" or "Miscellanies"
contain facts and quotations found nowhere else.
CLEMENT, the name of 14 popes: C. I., Pope from 91 to 100; one
of the Apostolic Fathers; wrote an Epistle to the Church of Corinth, with
references to the Canonical books. C. II., Pope from 1046 to 1047.
C. III., pope from 1187 to 1191. C. IV., Pope from 1265 to
1268. C. V., Bertrand de Goth, Pope from 1305 to 1314; transferred
the seat of the Papacy to Avignon, and abolished the Order of the Knights
Templars. C. VI. Pope from 1342 to 1352; resided at Avignon. C.
VII., Giulio de Medici, Pope from 1523 to 1534; celebrated for his
quarrels with Charles V. and Henry VIII., was made prisoner in Rome by
the Constable of Bourbon; refused to sanction the divorce of Henry VIII.,
and brought about the schism of England from the Holy See. C. VIII., Pope
from 1592 to 1605; a patron of Tasso's; readmitted Henry IV. to the
Church and the Jesuits to France. C. IX., Pope from 1667 to 1669. C. X.,
pope from 1670 to 1676. C. XI., Pope from 1700 to 1721; as Francesco
Albani opposed the Jansenists; issued the bull _Unigenitus_ against them;
supported the Pretender and the claims of the Stuarts. C. XII., Pope from
1738 to 1740. C. XIII., Pope from 1758 to 1769. C. XIV., Pope from 1769
to 1774, Ganganelli, an able, liberal-minded, kind-hearted, and upright
man; abolished the Order of the Jesuits out of regard to the peace of the
Church; his death occurred not without suspicions of foul-play.
CLEMENT, French critic, born at Dijon, surnamed by Voltaire from his
severity the "Inclement" (1742-1812).
CLEMENT, a French manufacturer and savant, born near Dijon; author
of a memoir on the specific heat of the gases (1779-1841).
CLEMENT, JACQUES, a Dominican monk; assassinated Henry III. of
France in 1589.
CLEMENT, ST., St. Paul's coadjutor, the patron saint of tanners; his
symbol an anchor.
CLEMENTI, MUZIO, a musical composer, especially of pieces for the
pianoforte, born in Rome; was the father of pianoforte music; one of the
foremost pianists of his day; was buried in Westminster (1752-1832).
CLEMENTINE, THE LADY, a lady, accomplished and beautiful, in
Richardson's novel, "Sir Charles Grandison," in love with Sir Charles,
who marries another he has no partiality for.
CLEOBULUS, one of the seven sages of Greece; friend of Plato; wrote
lyrics and riddles in verse, 530 B.C.
CLEOM`BROTUS, a philosopher of Epirus, so fascinated with Plato's
"Phaedon" that he leapt into the sea in the expectation that he would
thereby exchange this life for a better.
CLEOME`DES, a Greek astronomer of the 1st or 2nd century; author of
a treatise which regards the sun as the centre of the solar system and
the earth as a globe.
CLEOMENES, the name of three Spartan kings.
CLEOMENES, an Athenian sculptor, who, as appears from an inscription
on the pedestal, executed the statue of the Venus de Medici towards 220
B.C.
CLEON, an Athenian demagogue, surnamed the Tanner, from his
profession, which he forsook that he might champion the rights of the
people; rose in popular esteem by his victory over the Spartans, but
being sent against Brasidas, the Spartan general, was defeated and fell
in the battle, 422 B.C.; is regarded by Thucydides with disfavour, and
by Aristophanes with contempt, but both these writers were of the
aristocracy, and possibly prejudiced, though the object of their
disfavour had many of the marks of the vulgar agitator, and stands for
the type of one.
CLEOPA`TRA, Queen of Egypt, a woman distinguished for her beauty,
her charms, and her amours; first fascinated Caesar, to whom she bore a
son, and whom she accompanied to Rome, and after Caesar's death took Mark
Antony captive, on whose fall and suicide at Actium she killed herself by
applying an asp to her arm, to escape the shame of being taken to Rome to
grace the triumph of the victor (69-30 B.C.).
CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE, an obelisk of 186 tons weight and 681/2 ft. high,
brought from Alexandria to London in 1878, and erected on the Thames
Embankment, London.
CLERC, or LECLERC, JEAN, a French theologian of the Arminian
school, born at Geneva; a prolific author; wrote commentaries on all the
books of the Old Testament, on lines since followed by the Rationalist
school or Neologians of Germany (1657-1736).
CLERFAYT, COMTE DE, an Austrian general, distinguished in the Seven
Years' War; commanded with less success the Austrian army against the
French armies of the Revolution (1733-1798).
CLERK, JOHN, OF ELDIN, of the Penicuik family, an Edinburgh
merchant, first suggested the naval manoeuvre of "breaking the enemy's
lines," which was first successfully adopted against the French in 1782
(1728-1812).
CLERK, JOHN, son of preceding, a Scottish judge, under the title of
Lord Eldin, long remembered in Edinburgh for his wit (1757-1832).
CLERKENWELL (66), a parish in Finsbury, London, originally an
aristocratic quarter, now the centre of the manufacture of jewellery and
watches.
CLERMONT, ROBERT, COMTE DE, sixth son of St. Louis, head of the
house of Bourbon.
CLERMONT FERRAND (45), the ancient capital of Auvergne and chief
town of the dep. Puy-de-Dome; the birthplace of Pascal, Gregory of Tours,
and Dessaix, and where, in 1095, Pope Urban II. convoked a council and
decided on the first Crusade; it has been the scene of seven Church
Councils.
CLERMONT-TONNERRE, Marquis, minister of France under the Restoration
of the Bourbons (1779-1865).
CLERY, Louis XVI.'s valet, who waited on him in his last hours, and
has left an account of what he saw of his touching farewell with his
family.
CLEVELAND, a hilly district in the North Riding of Yorkshire, rich
in iron-stone.
CLEVELAND (381), the second city of Ohio, on the shores of Lake
Erie, 230 m. NE. of Cincinnati; is built on a plain considerably above
the level of the lake; the winding Cuyahoga River divides it into two
parts, and the industrial quarters are on the lower level of its banks;
the city is noted for its wealth of trees in the streets and parks, hence
called "The Forest City," and for the absence of tenement houses; it has
a university, several colleges, and two libraries; it is the terminus of
the Ohio Canal and of seven railways, and the iron ore of Lake Superior
shores, the limestone of Lake Erie Islands, and the Ohio coal are brought
together here, and every variety of iron manufacture carried on; there is
a great lumber market, and an extensive general trade.
CLEVELAND, GROVER, President of the United States, born in New
Jersey, son of a Presbyterian minister; bred for the bar; became
President in the Democratic interest in 1885; unseated for his free-trade
leaning by Senator Harrison, 1889; became the President a second time in
1893; retired in 1897.
CLEVELAND, JOHN, partisan of Charles I.; imprisoned for abetting the
Royalist cause against the Parliament, but after some time set at liberty
in consequence of a letter he wrote to Cromwell pleading that he was a
poor man, and that in his poverty he suffered enough; he was a poet, and
used his satirical faculty in a political interest, one of his satires
being an onslaught on the Scots for betraying Charles I.; _d_. 1650.
CLEVES (10), a Prussian town 46 m. NW. of Duesseldorf, once the
capital of a duchy connected by a canal with the Rhine; manufactures
textile fabrics and tobacco.
CLICHY (30), a manufacturing suburb of Paris, on the NW. and right
bank of the Seine.
CLIFFORD, GEORGE, Earl of Cumberland, a distinguished naval
commander under Queen Elizabeth, and one of her favourites (1558-1605).
CLIFFORD, JOHN, D.D., Baptist minister in London, author of "Is
Life Worth Living?" _b_. 1836.
CLIFFORD, PAUL, a highwayman, the subject of a novel by Bulwer
Lytton, who was subdued and reformed by the power of love.
CLIFTON (13), a fashionable suburb of Bristol, resorted to as a
watering-place; romantically situated on the sides and crest of high
cliffs, whence it name.
CLIMACTERIC, THE GRAND, the 63rd year of a man's life, and the
average limit of it; a climacteric being every seven years of one's life,
and reckoned critical.
CLINKER, HUMPHRY, the hero of Smollett's novel, a poor waif, reduced
to want, who attracts the notice of Mr. Bramble, marries Mrs. Bramble's
maid, and proves a natural son of Mr. Bramble.
CLINTON, GEORGE, American general and statesman; was governor of New
York; became Vice-President in 1804 (1739-1812).
CLINTON, SIR HENRY, an English general; commanded in the American
war; censured for failure in the war; wrote an exculpation, which was
accepted (1738-1795).
CLINTON, HENRY FYNES, a distinguished chronologist, author of "Fasti
Hellenici" and "Fasti Romani" (1781-1852).
CLIO, the muse of history and epic poetry, represented as seated
with a half-opened scroll in her hand.
CLISSON, OLIVIER DE, constable of France under Charles VI.;
companion in arms of Du Gueselin, and victor at Roosebeke (1326-1407).
CLISTHENES, an Athenian, uncle of Pericles, procured the expulsion
of Hippias the tyrant, 510 B.C., and the establishment of
OSTRACISM (q. v.).
CLITUS, a general of Alexander, and his friend, who saved his life
at the battle of Granicus, but whom, at a banquet, he killed when heated
with wine, to his inconsolable grief ever afterwards.
CLIVE, ROBERT, LORD CLIVE AND BARON PLASSEY, the founder of the
dominion of Britain in India, born in Shropshire; at 19 went out a clerk
in the East India Company's service, but quitted his employment in that
capacity for the army; distinguishing himself against the rajah of
Tanjore, was appointed commissary; advised an attack on Arcot, in the
Carnatic, in 1751; took it from and held it against the French, after
which, and other brilliant successes, he returned to England, and was
made lieutenant-colonel in the king's service; went out again, and
marched against the nabob Surajah Dowlah, and overthrew him at the battle
of Plassey, 1757; established the British power in Calcutta, and was
raised to the peerage; finally returned to England possessed of great
wealth, which exposed him to the accusation of having abused his power;
the accusation failed; in his grief he took to opium, and committed
suicide (1725-1774).
CLODIUS, a profligate Roman patrician; notorious as the enemy of
Cicero, whose banishment he procured; was killed by the tribune Milo, 52
B.C.
CLODOMIR, the second son of Clovis, king of Orleans from 511 to 524;
fell fighting with his rivals; his children, all but one, were put to
death by their uncles, Clotaire and Childebert.
CLOOTZ, ANACHARSIS, Baron Jean Baptiste de Clootz, a French
Revolutionary, born at Cleves; "world-citizen"; his faith that "a world
federation is possible, under all manner of customs, provided they hold
men"; his pronomen Anacharsis suggested by his resemblance to an ancient
Scythian prince who had like him a cosmopolitan spirit; was one of the
founders of the worship of Reason, and styled himself the "orator of the
human race"; distinguished himself at the great Federation, celebrated
on the Champ de Mars, by entering the hall on the great Federation Day,
June 19, 1790, "with the human species at his heels"; was guillotined
under protest in the name of the human race (1755-1794).
CLORINDA, a female Saracen knight sent against the Crusaders, whom
Tancred fell in love with, but slew on an encounter at night; before
expiring she received Christian baptism at his hands.
CLOTAIRE I., son and successor of Clovis, king of the Franks from
558; cruel and sanguinary; along with Childebert murdered the sons of his
brother Clodomir. C. II., son of Chilperic and Fredigonda, king of
the Franks from 613 to 628; caused Brunhilda to be torn in pieces. C.
III., son of Clovis II., King of Neustria and Burgundy from 656 to
670. C. IV., king of ditto from 717 to 720.
CLOTHES, Carlyle's name in "Sartor Resartus" for the guises which
the spirit, especially of man, weaves for itself and wears, and by which
it both conceals itself in shame and reveals itself in grace.
CLOTHO, that one of the three Fates which spins the thread of human
destiny.
CLOTILDA, ST., the wife of Clovis I.; persuaded her husband to
profess Christianity; retired into a monastery at Tours when he died
(475-545). Festival, June 3.
CLOUD, ST., the patron saint of smiths.
CLOUD, ST., or CLODOALD, third son of Clodomir, who escaped the
fate of his brothers, and retired from the world to a spot on the left
bank of the Seine, 6 m. SW. of Paris, named St. Cloud after him.
CLOUDS, THE, the play in which Aristophanes exposes Socrates to
ridicule.
CLOUGH, ARTHUR HUGH, a lyric poet, born at Liverpool; son of a
cotton merchant; educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, whom he held in the
highest regard; was at Oxford, as a Fellow of Oriel, at the time of the
Tractarian movement, which he arrayed himself against, and at length
turned his back upon and tore himself away from by foreign travel; on his
return he was appointed examiner in the Education Office; falling ill
from overwork he went abroad again, and died at Florence; he was all
alive to the tendencies of the time, and his lyrics show his sense of
these, and how he fronted them; in the speculative scepticism of the time
his only refuge and safety-anchor was duty; Matthew Arnold has written in
his "Thyrsis" a tribute to his memory such as has been written over few;
his best-known poem is "The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich" (1819-1861).
CLOVIS I., king of the Franks, son of Childeric I.; conquered
the Romans at Soissons 486, which he made his centre; married
CLOTILDA (q. v.) 493; beat the Germans near Cologne 496, by
assistance, as he believed, of the God of Clotilda, after which he was
baptized by St. Remi at Rheims; and overthrew the Visigoths under Alaric
II. near Poitiers in 507, after which victories he made Paris his
capital. C. II., son of Dagobert; was king of Neustria and Burgundy
from 638 to 656. C. ILL, son of Thierry III., and king of ditto from
691 to 695, and had Pepin d'Heristal for mayor of the palace.
CLUNY (3), a town in the dep. of Saone-et-Loire, on an affluent of
the Saone; renowned in the Middle Ages for its Benedictine abbey, founded
in 910, and the most celebrated in Europe, having been the mother
establishment of 2000 others of the like elsewhere; in ecclesiastical
importance it stood second to Rome, and its abbey church second to none
prior to the erection of St. Peter's; a great normal school was
established here in 1865.
CLUSIUM, the ancient capital of Etruria and Porsenna's.
CLUTHA, the largest river in New Zealand, in Otago, very deep and
rapid, and 200 m. long.
CLUTTERBUCK, the imaginary author of the "Fortunes of Nigel," and
the patron to whom the "Abbot" is dedicated.
CLYDE, a river in the W. of Scotland which falls into a large inlet
or firth, as it is called, the commerce on which extends over the world,
and on the banks of which are shipbuilding yards second to none in any
other country; it is deepened as far as Glasgow for ships of a heavy
tonnage.
CLYDE, LORD. See CAMPBELL, COLIN.
CLYTEMNESTRA, the wife of Agamemnon, and the mother of Iphigenia,
Electra, and Orestes; killed her husband, and was killed by her son,
Orestes, seven years after.
CLYTIE, a nymph in love with Apollo, god of the sun, who did not
respond to her; but, with all the passion he durst show to her, turned
her into a sunflower.
COANZA, a W. African river, which rises in the Mossamba Mountains,
falling into the sea after a course of 600 m.; owing to falls is
navigable for only 140 m. from its mouth.
COAST RANGE, a range in the U.S., W. of the Sierra Nevada, parallel
to it, with the Sacramento Valley between.
COBBETT, WILLIAM, a political and miscellaneous writer, born at
Farnham, Sussex; commenced life as a farm labourer, and then as copying
clerk; enlisted, and saw seven years' service in Nova Scotia; being
discharged, travelled in France and America; on his return started the
_Weekly Register_, at first Tory, then Radical; published a libel against
the Government, for which he was imprisoned; on his release issued his
_Register_ at a low price, to the immense increase of its circulation;
vain attempts were made to crush him, against which he never ceased to
protest; after the passing of the Reform Bill he got into Parliament, but
made no mark; his writings were numerous, and include his "Grammar," his
"Cottage Economy," his "Rural Rides," and his "Advice to Young Men"; his
political opinions were extreme, but his English was admirable
(1762-1835).
COBBLER POET, HANS SACHS (q. v.).
COBDEN, RICHARD, a great political economist and the Apostle of Free
Trade, born near Midhurst, Sussex; became partner in a cotton-trading
firm in Manchester; made a tour on the Continent and America in the
interest of political economy; on the formation of the Corn-Law League in
1838, gave himself heart and soul to the abolition of the Corn Laws;
became Member of Parliament for Stockport in 1841; on the conversion of
Sir Robert Peel to Free-Trade principles saw these laws abolished in
1846; for his services in this cause he received the homage of his
country as well as of Continental nations, but refused all civic honours,
and finished his political career by negotiating a commercial treaty with
France (1804-1865).
COBENTZELL, COMTE DE, an Austrian diplomatist, born at Brussels;
negotiated the treaties of Campo Formio and Luneville; founded the
Academy of Sciences at Brussels (1753-1808).
COBLENZ (32), a fortified city, manufacturing and trading town, in
Prussia, at the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle, so called as at
the confluence of the two; opposite it is Ehrenbreitstein.
COBURG (18), capital of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, on the Itz,
the old castle on a height 500 ft. above the town; gave shelter to
Luther in 1530, and was besieged by Wallenstein.
COBURG, field-marshal of Austria; vanquished Dumouriez at
Neerwinden; was conquered by Moreau and Jourdan (1737-1815).
COCAINE, an alkaloid from the leaf of the coca plant, used as an
anaesthetic.
COCCEIUS, or KOCH, JOHANN, a Dutch divine, professor at Leyden;
held that the Old Testament was a type or foreshadow of the New, and was
the founder of the federal theology, or the doctrine that God entered
into a threefold compact with man, first prior to the law, second under
the law, and third under grace (1603-1669).
COCCEJI, HENRY, learned German jurist, born at Bremen; an authority
on civil law; was professor of law at Frankfurt (1644-1719).
COCCEJI, SAMUEL, son of the preceding; Minister of Justice and
Chancellor of Prussia under Frederick the Great; a prince of lawyers, and
"a very Hercules in cleansing law stables" as law-reformer (1679-1755).
COCHABAMBA (14), a high-lying city of Bolivia, capital of a
department of the name; has a trade in grain and fruits.
COCHIN (722), a native state in India N. of Travancore, cooped up
between W. Ghats and the Arabian Sea, with a capital of the same name,
where Vasco da Gama died; the first Christian church in India was built
here, and there is here a colony of black Jews.
COCHIN-CHINA (2,034), the region E. of the Mekong, or Annam proper,
called HIGH COCHIN-CHINA (capital Hue), and LOW COCHIN-CHINA, a
State S. of Indo-China, and S. of Cambodia and Annam; belonging to
France, with an unhealthy climate; rice the chief crop; grows also teak,
cotton, &c.; capital Saigon.
COCHLAEUS, JOHANN, an able and bitter antagonist of Luther's; _d_.
1592.
COCHRANE, the name of several English naval officers of the
Dundonald family; SIR ALEXANDER FORRESTER INGLIS (1758-1832); SIR
THOMAS JOHN, his son (1798-1872); and THOMAS, LORD. See
DUNDONALD.
COCK LANE GHOST, a ghost which was reported in a lane of the name in
Smithfield, London, in 1762, to the excitement of the public, due to a
girl rapping on a board in bed.
COCKAIGNE, an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, from a
satirical poem of that name (_coquina_, a kitchen), where the monks live
in an abbey built of pasties, the rivers run with wine, and the geese fly
through the air ready roasted. The name has been applied to London and
Paris.
COCKATRICE, a monster with the wings of a fowl, the tail of a
dragon, and the head of a cock; alleged to have been hatched by a serpent
from a cock's egg; its breath and its fatal look are in mediaeval art the
emblem of sin.
COCKBURN, SIR ALEXANDER, Lord Chief-Justice of England from 1859;
called to the bar in 1829; became Liberal member for Southampton in 1847,
and Solicitor-General in 1850; was prosecutor in the Palmer case, judge
in the Tichborne, and an arbitrator in the _Alabama_ (1802-1880).
COCKBURN, ALISON, author of "Flowers of the Forest"; in her day the
leader of Edinburgh society; was acquainted with Burns, and recognised in
his boyhood the genius of Scott (1713-1795).
COCKBURN, SIR GEORGE, an English admiral, born in London; rose by
rapid stages to be captain of a frigate; took an active part in the
expedition to the Scheldt, in the defence of Cadiz, and of the coast of
Spain; was second in command of the expedition against the United States;
returned to England in 1815, and was selected to convey Napoleon to St.
Helena (1771-1853).
COCKBURN, HENRY, LORD, an eminent Scotch judge, born in Edinburgh;
called to the bar in 1800; one of the first contributors to the
_Edinburgh Review_; was Solicitor-General for Scotland in 1830, and
appointed a judge four years after; was a friend and colleague of Lord
Jeffrey; wrote Jeffrey's Life, and left "Memorials of His Own Time" and
"Journals"; he was a man of refined tastes, shrewd common-sense, quiet
humour, and a great lover of his native city and its memories; described
by Carlyle as "a bright, cheery-voiced, hazel-eyed man; a Scotch dialect
with plenty of good logic in it, and of practical sagacity; a gentleman,
and perfectly in the Scotch type, perhaps the very last of that peculiar
species" (1779-1854).
COCKER, EDWARD, an arithmetician, and a schoolmaster by profession;
wrote an arithmetic, published after his death, long the text-book on the
subject, and a model of its kind; gave rise to the phrase "according to
Cocker" (1631-1672).
COCKNEY, a word of uncertain derivation, but meaning one born and
bred in London, and knowing little or nothing beyond it, and betraying
his limits by his ideas, manners, and accent.
COCKNEY SCHOOL, a literary school, so called by Lockhart, as
inspired with the idea that London is the centre of civilisation, and
including Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, and others.
COCKPIT OF EUROPE, Belgium, as the scene of so many battles between
the Powers of Europe.
COCKTON, HENRY, a novelist, born in London, author of "Valentine
Vox" (1807-1853).
COCLES, HORATIUS, a Roman who defended a bridge against the army of
Porsenna till the bridge was cut down behind him, when he leapt into the
river and swam across scatheless amid the darts of the enemy.
COCOS ISLANDS, a group of 20 small coral islands about 700 m. SW. of
Sumatra.
COCYTUS, a dark river which environed Tartarus with bitter and muddy
waters.
CODRINGTON, SIR EDWARD, a British admiral; entered the navy at 13;
served under Howe at Brest, in the capacity of captain of the _Orion_ at
Trafalgar, in the Walcheren expedition, in North America, and at Navarino
in 1827, when the Turkish fleet was destroyed; served also in Parliament
from 1832 to 1839, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth
(1770-1851).
CODRINGTON, SIR WILLIAM JOHN, a British general; served in the
Crimean war, and Commander-in-Chief after the death of General Simpson
(1800-1884).
CODRUS, the last king of Athens; sacrificed his life to fulfil an
oracle, which promised victory to the side whose king fell in an
engagement between the Athenians and Dorians in 1132 B.C.
COEHOORN, BARON VAN, a Dutch military engineer; fortified Namur, and
defended it against Vauban; was successful in besieging many towns during
the war of the Spanish Succession; author of a treatise on fortification
(1641-1704).
COELEBS (a bachelor), the title of a novel by Hannah More.
COELE-SYRIA (the Howe of Syria), or EL BUKA'A, a valley between
the Lebanons, about 100 m. long by 10 m. broad.
COELIAN, one of the seven hills of Rome, S. of the Capitoline.
COELLO, the name of two Spanish painters in the 16th and 17th
centuries, whose works are in the Escurial.
COEUR, JACQUES, a rich merchant of Bourges, financier to Charles
VII., for whom he provided the sinews of war against the English, but who
banished him at the instigation of detractors; he was reinstated under
Louis XI. (1400-1456).
COEUR DE LION (lion-hearted), a surname on account of their courage
given to Richard I. of England (1151), Louis VIII. of France (1181), and
Boselas I. of Poland (960).
COGITO, ERGO SUM, "I think, therefore I am." Descartes' principle of
certainty, and on which, as on a stable basis, he reared his whole
philosophy. See DESCARTES. "Alas, poor cogitator," Carlyle
exclaims, "this takes us but a little way. Sure enough, I am; and lately
was not; but Whence? How? Whereto?"
COGNAC (17), a French town in the dep. of Charente, birthplace of
Francis I.; famous for its vines and the manufacture of brandy.
COGNIET, a French painter, author of "Tintoret painting his Dead
Daughter" (1794-1880).
COILA, a poetic name for Kyle, the central district of Ayrshire.
COIMBATORE (46), a town of strategic importance in the Madras
Presidency, 30 m. SW. of Madras, situated in a gorge of the Ghats, 1437
ft. above the sea-level, in a district (2,004) of the same name.
COIMBRA (14), a rainy town in Portugal, of historical interest, 110
m. NNE. of Lisbon, with a celebrated university, in which George Buchanan
was a professor, where he was accused of heresy and thrown into prison,
and where he translated the Psalms into Latin.
COKE, coal with a residue of carbon and earthy matter after the
volatile constituents are driven off by heat in closed spaces.
COKE, SIR EDWARD, Lord Chief-Justice of England, born at Milcham,
Norfolk; being a learned lawyer, rose rapidly at the bar and in offices
connected therewith; became Lord Chief-Justice in 1613; was deposed in
1617 for opposing the king's wishes; sat in his first and third
Parliaments, and took a leading part in drawing up the Petition of
Rights; spent the last three years of his life in revising his works, his
"Institutes," known as "Coke upon Littleton," and his valuable "Reports"
(1549-1634).
COLBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE, a French statesman, of Scotch descent, born
in Rheims, the son of a clothier; introduced to Louis XIV. by Mazarin,
then first minister; he was appointed Controller-General of the Finances
after the fall of Fouquet, and by degrees made his influence felt in all
the departments of State affairs; he favoured, by protectionist
measures--free trade not yet being heard of--French industry and
commerce; was to the French marine what Louvois was to the army, and
encouraged both arts and letters; from 1671 his influence began to
decline; he was held responsible for increased taxation due to Louis
XIV.'s wars, while the jealousy of Louvois weakened his credit at Court;
he became so unpopular that on his death his body was buried at night,
but a grateful posterity has recognised his services, and done homage to
his memory as one of the greatest ministers France ever had (1619-1683).
COLBURN, ZERAH, an American youth, with an astonishing power of
calculation, born in Vermont, and exhibited as such, a faculty which he
lost when he grew up to manhood (1804-1840).
COLCHESTER (35), the largest town in Essex, 51 m. from London, on
the right bank of the Colne, of great antiquity, and with Roman remains;
has been long famous for its oyster fishery; has silk manufactures; is
the port of outlet of a large corn-growing district.
COLCHESTER, CHARLES ABBOT, LORD, English statesman; sometime Chief
Secretary of Ireland, and Speaker of the House of Commons; raised to the
peerage in response to an address of the House of Commons (1757-1829).
COLCHIS, a district on the E. of the Black Sea, and S. of Caucasus,
where the Argonauts, according to Greek tradition, found and conquered
the Golden Fleece; the natives had a reputation for witchcraft and
sorcery.
COLDSTREAM GUARDS, one of the three regiments of Foot Guards; was
raised by General Monk in Scotland in 1660, and marched under him from
Coldstream to place Charles II. on the throne; originally called Monk's
regiment.
COLE, HENRY an English ecclesiastical zealot, who held handsome
preferments under Henry VIII. and Mary, but was stripped of them under
Edward VI. and Elizabeth.
COLE, KING, a legendary jovial British king, celebrated in song.
COLEBROOKE, HENRY THOMAS, a celebrated Indianist, born in London;
served under the East India Company, and devoted his spare time to Indian
literature; studied the Sanskrit language, wrote on the Vedas, translated
the "Digest of Hindu Law" compiled by Sir William Jones, compiled a
Sanskrit Dictionary, and wrote various treatises on the law and
philosophy of the Hindus; he was one of the first scholars in Europe to
reveal the treasures that lay hid in the literature of the East
(1765-1837).
COLENSO, DR., an English clergyman and mathematician; was appointed
bishop of Natal in 1845; applied himself to the study of the Zulu
language, and translated parts of the Bible and Prayer-book into it;
calling in question the accuracy and Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch,
was deposed by his metropolitan, which deposition was declared null and
void by the Privy Council; besides his theological work, produced
text-books on arithmetic and algebra; died at Durban, Natal; he favoured
the cause of the Zulus against the Boers, and did his utmost to avert the
Zulu war (1814-1883).
COLERIDGE, HARTLEY, an English man of letters, eldest son of Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, born at Clevedon, Somerset; lived with his father in
the Lake District, and grew up in the society of Wordsworth, De Quincey,
and others; gained a Fellowship at Oxford, but forfeited it through
intemperance; tried school-mastering at Ambleside, but failed, and took
to literature, in which he did some excellent work, both in prose and
poetry, though he led all along a very irregular life; had his father's
weaknesses, and not a little of his ability; his best memorials as a poet
are his sonnets, of which two have been especially admired, "The Soul of
Man is Larger than the Sky," and "When I Survey the Course I have Run"
(1796-1849).
COLERIDGE, HENRY NELSON, nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and a
great admirer; editor of many of his works, his "Table Talk" in especial
(1800-1843).
COLERIDGE, JOHN DUKE, LORD, an English lawyer, cousin of Hartley
Coleridge; after serving in inferior appointments, appointed Lord
Chief-Justice of England in 1880; when at the bar he was prominent in
connection with Tichborne case.
COLERIDGE, SIR JOHN TAYLOR, an English judge, nephew of Samuel
Taylor Coleridge; was editor of the _Quarterly_, edited "Blackstone,"
&c.; wrote a "Memoir of the Rev. John Keble" (1790-1876).
COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR, poet, philosopher, and critic, born in
Devonshire; passionately devoted to classical and metaphysical studies;
educated at Christ's Hospital; had Charles Lamb for schoolmate; at
Cambridge devoted himself to classics; falling into debt enlisted as a
soldier, and was, after four months, bought off by his friends; gave
himself up to a literary life; married, and took up house near
Wordsworth, in Somersetshire, where he produced the "Ancient Mariner,"
"Christabel," and "Remorse"; preached occasionally in Unitarian pulpits;
visited Germany and other parts of the Continent; lectured in London in
1808; when there took to opium, broke off the habit in 1816, and went to
stay with the Gillmans at Highgate as their guest, under whose roof,
after four years' confinement to a sick-room, he died; among his works
were "The Friend," his "Biographia Literaria," "Aids to Reflection," &c.,
published in his lifetime, and "Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit,"
"Literary Remains," and "Table Talk" after his death; he was a man of
subtle and large intellect, and exercised a great influence on the
thinkers of his time, though in no case was the influence a decisive one,
as it had the most opposite effects on different minds; his philosophy
was hazy, and his life was without aim, "once more the tragic story of a
high endowment with an insufficient will" (1772-1834). See Carlyle's
estimate of him in the "Life of Sterling."
COLERIDGE, SARAH, poetess, only daughter of preceding; her sole
poem, "Phantasmion"; left "Letters" of interest (1803-1852).
COLES, COWPER PHIPPS, an English naval captain and architect;
entered the navy at 11; distinguished himself at Sebastopol; designer of
the turret-ship the _Captain_, which capsized off Finisterre, himself on
board, and drowned with a crew of 500 men (1819-1870).
COLET, JOHN, dean of St. Paul's, a patron of learning, a friend and
scholar of Erasmus, a liberal and much persecuted man; far in advance of
his time; founded and endowed St. Paul's School; wrote a number of works,
chiefly theological, and "Letters to Erasmus"' (1466-1519).
COLET, LOUISE, a French literary lady, born at Aix; wrote numerous
works for the young (1808-1876).
COLIGNY, GASPARD DE, French admiral, born at Chatillon; a leader of
the Huguenots; began his life and distinguished himself as a soldier;
when the Guises came into power he busied himself in procuring toleration
for the Huguenots, and succeeded in securing in their behalf what is
known as the Pacification of Amboise, but on St. Bartholomew's Eve he
fell the first victim to the conspiracy in his bed; was thrown out of the
window, and exposed to every manner of indignity in the streets, though
it is hard to believe that the Duke of Guise, as is said, demeaned
himself to kick the still living body (1517-1572).
COLIMA (25), capital of a State of the same name in Mexico.
COLIN CLOUT, the name Spenser assumes in the "Shepherd's Calendar."
COLIN TAMPON, the nickname of a Swiss, as John Bull of an
Englishman.
COLISE`UM, a magnificent amphitheatre in Rome, begun under Vespasian
and finished under Titus; it rose from the area by 80 tiers of seats, and
could contain 80,000 spectators; it was here the gladiators fought with
wild beasts, and also the early Christians.
COLLATINUS, the nephew of Tarquinius Priscus, the husband of
Lucretia, and with Brutus, her avenger, the first consul of Rome.
COLLECTIVISM, the Socialistic doctrine that industry should be
carried on by capital as the joint property of the community.
COLLEGE DE FRANCE, an institution founded at Paris by Francis I. in
1530, where instruction is given to advanced students in several
departments of knowledge.
COLLIER, ARTHUR, an English metaphysician, born in Wilts; studied
Descartes and Malebranche, and who, anticipating Berkeley, published a
"Demonstration of the Non-Existence and the Impossibility of an External
World" (1680-1732). See BERKELEY.
COLLIER, JEREMY, an English non-juring divine, refused to take oath
at the Revolution; was imprisoned for advocating the rights of the
Stuarts; had to flee the country at length, and was outlawed; wrote with
effect against "The Profaneness and Immorality of the Stage," as well as
an "Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain," and a translation of the
"Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" (1650-1726).
COLLIER, JOHN PAYNE, a Shakespearian commentator and critic; wrote a
great deal on various subjects, but got into trouble by his emendations
of Shakespeare (1789-1883).
COLLINGWOOD, CUTHBERT, LORD, a celebrated English admiral, entered
the navy at 13; his career was intimately connected all along with that
of Nelson; succeeded in command when Nelson fell at Trafalgar, and when
he died himself, which happened at sea, his body was brought home and
buried beside Nelson's in St. Paul's Cathedral (1740-1810).
COLLINS, ANTHONY, an English deist, an intimate friend of Locke; his
principal works were "Discourse on Freethinking," "Philosophical Inquiry
into Liberty and Necessity," and "Grounds and Reasons of the Christian
Religion," which gave rise to much controversy; he was a necessitarian,
and argued against revelation (1676-1729).
COLLINS, MORTIMER, a versatile genius, born at Plymouth; wrote
poems, novels, and essays; was the author of "Who was the Heir?" and
"Sweet Anne Page"; was a tall, handsome man, fond of athletics, a
delightful companion, and dear to his friends (1827-1876).
COLLINS, WILKIE, English novelist, son of the succeeding, born in
London; tried business, then law, and finally settled to literature; his
novel "The Woman in White" was the first to take with the public, and was
preceded and succeeded by others which have ensured for him a high place
among the writers of fiction (1824-1889).
COLLINS, WILLIAM, a gifted and ill-fated English poet, born at
Chichester; settled in London; fell into dissipated habits and straitened
circumstances; had L2000 left him by an uncle, but both health and
spirits were broken, and he died in mental imbecility; his "Odes" have
not been surpassed, among which the most celebrated are the "Odes to the
Passions," to "Simplicity," and to "Evening" (1720-1756).
COLLINS, WILLIAM, R.A., a distinguished English painter, born in
London; he made his reputation by his treatment of coast and cottage
scenes, and though he tried his skill in other subjects, it was in the
subjects he started with that he achieved his greatest triumphs; among
his best-known works are "The Blackberry Gatherers," "As Happy as a
King," "The Fisherman's Daughter," and "The Bird-Catchers" (1788-1847).
COLLINSON, PETER, an English horticulturist, to whom we are indebted
for the introduction into the country of many ornamental shrubs
(1694-1768).
COLLOT D'HERBOIS, JEAN MARIE, a violent French Revolutionary,
originally a tragic actor, once hissed off the Lyons stage, "tearing a
passion to rags"; had his revenge by a wholesale butchery there; marched
209 men across the Rhone to be shot; by-and-by was banished beyond seas
to Cayenne, and soon died there (1750-1790).
COLLYER, JOSEPH, an eminent stipple engraver, born in London
(1768-1827).
COLMAN, GEORGE, an English dramatist, born at Florence; bred for and
called to the bar; author of a comedy entitled "The Jealous Wife," also
of "The Clandestine Marriage"; became manager of Drury Lane, then of the
Haymarket (1733-1794).
COLMAN, GEORGE, son of the preceding, and his successor in the
Haymarket; author of "The Iron Chest," "John Bull," "The Heir at Law,"
&c. (1762-1836).
COLMAR (30), the chief town of Upper Alsace, on the Lauch, on a
plain near the Vosges, 42 m. SW. of Strasburg; passed into the hands of
the French by treaty of Ryswick in 1697, was ceded to Germany in 1871.
COLOCETRONIS, a Greek patriot, born in Messina, distinguished
himself in the War of Independence, which he chiefly contributed to carry
through to a successful issue (1770-1843).
COLOGNE (282), in German KOeLN, capital of Rhenish Prussia, and
a fortress of first rank, on the left bank of the Rhine, 175 m. SE. of
Rotterdam; is a busy commercial city, and is engaged in eau-de-Cologne,
sugar, tobacco, and other manufactures. It has some fine old buildings,
and a picture gallery; but its glory is its great cathedral, founded in
the 9th century, burnt in 1248, since which time the rebuilding was
carried on at intervals, and only completed in 1880; it is one of the
masterpieces of Gothic architecture.
COLOGNE, THE THREE KINGS OF, the three Magi who paid homage to the
infant Christ, and whose bones were consigned to the archbishop in 1164;
they were called Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
COLOMBIA (4,000), a federal republic of nine States, occupying the
isthmus of Panama and the NW. corner of S. America, between Venezuela and
Ecuador. The country, nearly three times the size of France, though it
has only a ninth of the population, comprises in the W. three chains of
the Andes and the plateaus between them, in the E. plains well watered by
tributaries of the Orinoco. The upper valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca
are the centres of population, where the climate is delightful, and grain
grows. Every climate is found in Colombia, from the tropical heats of the
plains to the Arctic cold of the mountains. Natural productions are as
various: the exports include valuable timbers and dye-woods, cinchona
bark, coffee, cacao, cotton, and silver ore. Most of the trade is with
Britain and the United States. Manufactures are inconsiderable. The
mineral wealth is very great, but little wrought. The Panama Railway,
from Colon to Panama, connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and
is a most important highway of commerce. The people are descendants of
Spaniards and Indians; education is meagre, but compulsory; the State
Church is Roman Catholic. The capital is Bogota. Panama and Cartagena the
chief ports.
COLOMBO (126), the capital of Ceylon, and the chief port on the W.
coast; it is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and on the other by a
lake and moat; is supplied with water and gas; has many fine buildings;
has a very mixed population, and has belonged to Britain since 1796;
communicates with Kandy by railway.
COLON, a town at the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railway. See
ASPINWALL.
COLONNA, an illustrious Italian family, to which belonged popes,
cardinals, and generals.
COLONNA, VICTORIA, a poetess, married to a member of the above
family, who consoled herself for his early death by cultivating her
poetic gift; one of her most devoted friends was Michael Angelo
(1490-1547).
COLONNE, EDOUARD, musical conductor, born at Bordeaux, conductor of
what are known as "Colonne Concerts"; _b_. 1838.
COLONUS, a demos of Attica, a mile NW. of Athens, the birthplace of
Sophocles.
COLOPHON, an Ionian city in Asia Minor, N. of Ephesus, is supposed
to give name to the device at the end of books, the cavalry of the place
being famous for giving the finishing stroke to a battle.
COLORA`DO (412), an inland State of the American Union, traversed by
the Rocky Mountains, and watered by the upper reaches of the S. Platte
and Arkansas Rivers, is twice as large as England. The mountains are the
highest in the States (13,000 to 14,000 ft.), are traversed by lofty
passes through which the railways run, have rich spacious valleys or
parks among them, and have great deposits of gold, silver, lead, and
iron. There are also extensive coal-beds; hence the leading industries
are mining and iron working. The eastern portion is a level, treeless
plain, adapted for grazing. Agriculture, carried on with irrigation,
suffers from insect plagues like the Colorado potato beetle. The climate
is dry and clear, and attracts invalids. Acquired partly from France in
1804, and the rest from Mexico in 1848; the territory was organised in
1861, and admitted to the Union in 1876. The capital is Denver (107).
There is a small Spanish-speaking population in the S.
COLOSSAE, a city in the S. of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, and the site of
one of the earliest Christian churches.
COLOSSIANS, THE EPISTLE TO THE, by St. Paul, directed mainly against
two errors of that early date, that the fleshly nature of man is no
adequate vehicle for the reception and revelation of the divine nature,
and that for redemption recourse must be had to direct mortification of
the flesh.
COLOSSUS, any gigantic statue, specially one of Apollo in bronze,
120 ft. high, astride over the mouth of the harbour at Rhodes, reckoned
one of the seven wonders of the world, erected in 280 B.C., destroyed by
an earthquake 56 years after, and sold to a Jew centuries later for old
metal; besides this are celebrated the statue of Memnon at Thebes, the
Colossi of Athene in the Parthenon at Athens, and of Zeus at Olympia and
at Tarentum, as well as others of modern date; for instance, Germania,
112 ft. high, in the Niederwald, and Liberty enlightening the World, 160
ft. high, in New York harbour.
COLOT, the name of a family of French surgeons in the 16th and 17th
century, distinguished for their skill in operating in the case of stone.
COLOUR-BLINDNESS, inability, still unaccounted for, to distinguish
between colours, and especially between red and green, more common among
men than women; a serious disqualification for several occupations, such
as those connected with the study of signals.
COLOUR-SERGEANT, a sergeant whose duty is to guard the colours and
those who carry them.
COLQUHOUN, JOHN, a noted sportsman and writer on sport in Scotland,
born in Edinburgh (1805-1885).
COLSTON, EDWARD, an English philanthropist, founded and endowed a
school in Bristol for the education of 100 boys, as well as almshouses
elsewhere (1636-1721).
COLT, SAMUEL, the inventor of the revolver, born in Hartford,
Connecticut, U.S.; having difficulty in raising money to carry out his
invention it proved a commercial failure, but being adopted by the
Government in the Mexican war it proved a success, since which time it
has been everywhere in use (1814-1862).
COLUMBA, ST., the apostle of Christianity to the Scots, born in
Donegal; coming to Scotland about 563, in his forty-second year, founded
a monastery in Iona, and made it the centre of his evangelistic
operations, in which work he was occupied incessantly till 596, when his
health began to fail, and he breathed his last kneeling before the altar,
June 9, 597.
COLUMBAN, ST., an Irish missionary, who, with twelve companions,
settled in Gaul in 585; founded two monasteries, but was banished for the
offence of rebuking the king; went to Italy, founded a monastery at
Bobbio, where he died 616.
COLUMBIA, a district of 70 sq. m. in the State of Maryland, U.S.,
in which Washington, the capital of the Union, stands.
COLUMBIA, BRITISH (100), the most westerly province in Canada, lies
between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, the United States and
Alaska, and is four times the size of Great Britain. It is a mountainous
country, rugged and picturesque, containing the highest peaks on the
continent, Mount Hooker, 15,700 ft., and Mount Brown, 16,000 ft, with a
richly indented coast-line, off which lie Queen Charlotte Islands and
Vancouver. The chief river is the Frazer, which flows from the Lake
region southwards through the centre and then westward to the Gulf of
Georgia; the upper waters of the Columbia flow southward through the E.
of the State. The climate resembles that of northern England, but is in
some parts very rainy. The chief industries are lumbering--the forests
are among the finest in the world, fishing--the rivers abound in salmon
and sturgeon, and mining--rich deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper,
mercury, antimony, and many other valuable minerals are found; there are
great coal-fields in Vancouver. In Vancouver and in the river valleys of
the mainland are extensive tracts of arable and grazing land; but neither
agriculture nor manufactures are much developed. Made a Crown colony in
1858, it joined the Dominion as a province in 1871. The completion of the
Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 joined it to the eastern provinces. The
capital is Victoria (17), in the S. of Vancouver.
COLUMBUS (125), capital of Ohio, U.S., a manufacturing town.
COLUMBUS, BARTHOLOMEW, cosmographer, brother of Christopher
Columbus; accompanied him to St. Domingo, and became governor; _d_. 1514.
COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER, discoverer of America, on Oct. 12, 1492,
after two months of great peril and, in the end, mutiny of his men, born
in Genoa; went to sea at 14; cherished, if he did not conceive, the idea
of reaching India by sailing westward; applied in many quarters for
furtherance; after seven years of waiting, was provided with three small
vessels and a crew of 120 men; first touched land at the Bahamas, visited
Cuba and Hayti, and returned home with spoils of the land; was hailed and
honoured as King of the Sea; he made three subsequent visits, and on the
third had the satisfaction of landing on the mainland, which Sebastian
Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci had reached before him; he became at last the
victim of jealousy, and charges were made against him, which so cut him
to the heart that he never rallied from the attack, and he died at
Valladolid, broken in body and in soul; Carlyle, in a famous passage,
salutes him across the centuries: "Brave sea-captain, Norse sea-king,
Columbus my hero, royalist sea-king of all" (1438-1506).
COLUMELLA, JUNIUS, a Latin writer of the 1st century, born at Cadiz;
author of "De Re Rustica," in 12 books, on the same theme as Virgil's
"Georgics," viz., agriculture and gardening; he wrote also "De
Arboribus," on trees.
COLU`THUS, a Greek epic poet of 6th century, born in Egypt; wrote
the "Rape of Helen."
COLVIN, SIDNEY, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Slade
Professor of Art at Cambridge, born at Norwood; contributor to the
journals on art and literature; has written Lives of Keats and Landor;
friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, and his literary executor; _b_. 1845.
COMACCHIO (10), a walled town, 30 m. SE. of Ferrara; famous for
fish, specially eel-culture in a large lagoon adjoining, 90 in. in
circumference.
COMBE, ANDREW, M.D., a physician and physiologist, born in
Edinburgh; studied under Spurzheim in Edinburgh and Paris, but on his
return to his native city was seized with pulmonary consumption, which
rendered him a confirmed invalid, so that he had to spend his winters
abroad; was eminent as a physician; was a believer in phrenology;
produced three excellent popular works on Physiology, Digestion, and the
Management of Infancy (1797-1847).
COMBE, GEORGE, brother of the preceding, born in Edinburgh; trained
to the legal profession; like his brother, he became, under Spurzheim, a
stanch phrenologist and advocate of phrenology; but his ablest and
best-known work was "The Constitution of Man," to the advocacy of the
principles of which and their application, especially to education, he
devoted his life; he married a daughter of the celebrated Mrs. Siddons
(1788-1858).
COMBE, WILLIAM, born in Bristol; author of the "Three Tours of Dr.
Syntax"; inherited a small fortune, which he squandered by an irregular
life; wrote some 86 works (1741-1823).
COMBERMERE, VISCOUNT, a British field-marshal, born in Denbighshire;
served in Flanders, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in India; was present
at the siege of Seringapatam; was sent to Spain in 1808; distinguished
himself in the Peninsula, and particularly at Talavera; received a
peerage in 1827; was made commander-in-chief in India, and Constable of
the Tower in succession to Wellington in 1832 (1773-1865).
COMENIUS, JOHN AMOS, a Moravian educational reformer, particularly
as regards the acquisition of languages in their connection with the
things they denote; his two most famous books are his "Janua Linguarum"
and his "Orbis Sensualium Pictus"; his principle at bottom was, words
must answer to and be associated with things and ideas of things, a
principle still only very partially adopted in education, and that only
at the most elementary stages.
COMET, a member of the solar system under control of the sun,
consisting of a bright nucleus within a nebulous envelope, generally
extended into a tail on the rear of its orbit, which is extremely
eccentric, pursuing its course with a velocity which increases as it
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