Charlevoix, a Jesuit and traveller, born at St. Quentin, explored the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi (1682-1761).
Charlotte, Princess, daughter and only child of George IV. of England, married to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, afterwards king of Belgium; died after giving birth to a still-born boy, to the great grief of the whole nation (1796-1817).
Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria, second wife of the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV., called the Princess Palatine (1652-1722).
Charlottenburg (76), a town on the Spree, 3 m. W. of Berlin, with a palace, the favourite residence of Sophie Charlotte, the grandmother of Frederick the Great, and so named by her husband Frederick I. after her death; contains the burial-place of William I., emperor of Germany.
Charlottetown (13), the capital of Prince Edward Island.
Charmettes, a picturesque hamlet near Chambéry, a favourite retreat of Rousseau's.
Charnay, a French traveller; a writer on the ancient civilisation of Mexico, which he has made a special study; b. 1828.
Charon, in the Greek mythology the ferryman of the ghosts of the dead over the Styx into Hades, a grim old figure with a mean dress and a dirty beard, peremptory in exacting from the ghosts he ferried over the obolus allowed him for passage-money.
Charondas, a Sicilian law-giver, disciple of Pythagoras; is said to have killed himself when he found he had involuntarily broken one of his own laws (600 B.C.).
Charron, Pierre, a French moralist and theologian, as well as pulpit orator, born in Paris; author of "Les Trois Vérités," the unity of God, Christianity the sole religion, and Catholicism the only Christianity; and of a sceptical treatise "De la Sagesse"; a friend and disciple of Montaigne, but bolder as more dogmatic, with less bonhommie and originality, and much of a cynic withal (1541-1603).
Charterhouse, a large London school, originally a Carthusian monastery, and for a time a residence of the dukes of Norfolk.
Chartier, Alain, an early scholarly French poet and prose writer of note, born at Bayeux; secretary to Charleses V., VI., and VII. of France, whom Margaret, daughter of James I. of Scotland and wife of Louis XI., herself a poetess, once kissed as he lay asleep for the pleasure his poems gave her; was a patriot, and wrote as one (1390-1458).
Chartism, a movement of the working-classes of Great Britain for greater political power than was conceded to them by the Reform Bill of 1832, and which found expression in a document called the "People's Charter," drawn up in 1838, embracing six "points," as they were called, viz., Manhood Suffrage, Equal Electoral Districts, Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliaments, Abolition of a Property Qualification in the Parliamentary Representation, and Payment of Members of Parliament, all which took the form of a petition presented to the House of Commons in 1839, and signed by 1,380,000 persons. The refusal of the petition gave rise to great agitation over the country, which gradually died out in 1848.
Chartres (23), the capital of the French dep. of Eure-et-Lois, 55 m. SW. of Paris; gave title of Duke to the eldest of the Orleanist Bourbons.
Chartreuse, La Grande, a monastery founded by St. Bruno in 1084 in the dep. of Isère, 14 m. NE. of Grenoble; famous as the original place of the manufacture of the Chartreuse liqueur, held in much repute; it was honoured by a visit of Queen Victoria in 1887; Ruskin was disappointed with both monks and monastery.
Chase, Salmon Portland, Chief-Justice of the United States; a great anti-slavery advocate and leader of the Free-Soil party; aimed at the Presidency, but failed (1773-1808).
Chasi`dim, a party among the Jews identified with the Pharisees, their supreme concern the observance of their religion in its purity.
Chasles, Michel, an eminent French mathematician, and held one of the first in the century; on the faith of certain autographs, which were afterwards proved to be forgeries, he in 1867 astonished the world by ascribing to Pascal the great discoveries of Newton, but had to admit he was deceived (1793-1880).
Chasles, Philarète, a French littérateur, born near Chartres, a disciple of Rousseau; lived several years in England, and wrote extensively on English subjects, Shakespeare, Mary Stuart, Charles I., and Cromwell among the chief (1799-1873).
Chassé, David Hendrik, Baron, a Dutch soldier; served France under Napoleon, who called him "General Baïonnette," from his zealous use of the bayonet; fought at Waterloo on the opposite side; as governor of Antwerp, gallantly defended its citadel in 1832 against a French and Belgian force twelve times larger than his own (1765-1849).
Chassepot, a French breech-loading rifle named from the inventor.
Chasseurs, picked bodies of light cavalry and infantry in the French service, called respectively Chasseurs-à-cheval and Chasseurs-à-pied.
Chastelard, Pierre de Boscosel de, grandson of Bayard; conceived an insane passion for Queen Mary, whom he accompanied to Scotland; was surprised in her bedchamber, under her bed, and condemned to death, it being his second offence (1540-1562).
Chat Moss, a large bog in Lancashire, 7 m. W. of Manchester, which is partly reclaimed and partly, through the ingenuity of George Stephenson, traversed by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Châteaubriand, François René de, eminent French littérateur, born in St. Malo, younger son of a noble family of Brittany; travelled to N. America in 1791; returned to France on the arrest of Louis XVI., and joined the Emigrants (q. v.) at Coblenz; was wounded at the siege of Thionville, and escaped to England; wrote an "Essay on Revolutions Ancient and Modern," conceived on liberal lines; was tempted back again to France in 1800; wrote "Atala," a story of life in the wilds of America, which was in 1802 followed by his most famous work, "Génie du Christianisme"; entered the service of Napoleon, but withdrew on the murder of the Duc d'Enghien; though not obliged to leave France, made a journey to the East, the fruit of which was his "Itinéraire de Paris à Jerusalem"; hailed with enthusiasm the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814; supported the Bourbon dynasty all through, though he wavered sometimes in the interest of liberty; withdrew from public life on the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne; he was no thinker, but he was a fascinating writer, and as such exercised no small influence on the French literature of his day; he lived in a transition period, and hovered between legitimism and liberty, the revolution and reaction, and belonged to the Romantic school of literature—was perhaps the father of it in France (1766-1848).
Châteaux en Espagne, castles in Spain, visionary projects.
Châtelet, Marquise de, a learned Frenchwoman, born at Paris, with whom Voltaire kept up an intimate acquaintanceship (1706-1749).
Châtellerault (18), a town in the dep. of Vienne, 24 m. NE. of Poitiers; gave title to the Scottish regent, the Earl of Arran; manufactures cutlery and small-arms for the Government.
Chatham (59), a town in Kent, on the estuary of the Medway, a fortified naval arsenal; is connected with Rochester.
Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, a great British statesman and orator, born in Cornwall; determined opponent of Sir Robert Walpole; succeeded in driving him from power, and at length installing himself in his place; had an eye to the greatness and glory of England, summoned the English nation to look to its laurels; saw the French, the rivals of England, beaten back in the four quarters of the globe; driven at length from power himself, he still maintained a single regard for the honour of his country, and the last time his voice was heard in the Parliament of England was to protest against her degradation by an ignoble alliance with savages in the war with America; on this occasion he fell back in a faint into the arms of his friends around, and died little more than a month after; "for four years" (of his life), says Carlyle, "king of England; never again he; never again one resembling him, nor indeed can ever be." See Smelfungus on his character and position in Carlyle's "Frederick," Book xxi. chap. i. (1708-1775).
Chatham Islands, a group of islands 360 m. E. of New Zealand, and politically connected with it; the chief industry is the rearing of cattle.
Chatsworth, the palatial seat of the Duke of Devonshire, in Derbyshire, 8 m. W. of Chesterfield, enclosed in a park, with gardens, 10 m. in circumference.
Chatterton, Thomas, a poet of great promise, had a tragic fate, born at Bristol, passed off while but a boy as copies of ancient MSS., and particularly of poems which he ascribed to one Rowley, a monk of the 17th century, what were compositions of his own, exhibiting a genius of no small literary, not to say lyric, power; having vainly endeavoured to persuade any one of their genuineness, though he had hopes of the patronage of Sir Robert Walpole, he left Bristol for London, and made vehement efforts with his pen to bespeak regard, but failed; grew desperate, and committed suicide at the early age of 18 (1752-1770).
Chaucer, Geoffrey, the great early English poet, and father of English poetry, the son of a vintner and taverner, born probably in London, where he lived almost all his days; when a lad, served as page in the royal household; won the favour and patronage of the king, Edward III. and his son, John of Gaunt, who pensioned him; served in an expedition to France; was made prisoner, but ransomed by the king; was often employed on royal embassies, in particular to Italy; held responsible posts at home; was thus a man of the world as well as a man of letters; he comes first before us as a poet in 1369; his poetic powers developed gradually, and his best and ripest work, which occupied him at intervals from 1373 to 1400, is his "Canterbury Tales" (q. v.), characterised by Stopford Brooke as "the best example of English story-telling we possess"; besides which he wrote, among other compositions, "The Life of St. Cecilia," "Troilus and Cressida," the "House of Fame," and the "Legend of Good Women"; his influence on English literature has been compared to that of Dante on Italian, and his literary life has been divided into three periods—the French, the Italian, and the English, according as the spirit of it was derived from a foreign or a native source (1340-1400).
Chaumette, Pierre Gaspard, a violent member of the extreme party in the French Revolution, could "recognise the suspect from the very face of them"; provoked the disgust of even Robespierre, and was arrested amid jeers and guillotined (1763-1794).
Chautauqua, a summer resort on a lake of the name in the W. of New York State, centre of a novel institution, which prescribes a four years' course of private readings, and grants diplomas to those who anywhere achieve it.
Chauvinism, a name among the French for what is known as Jingoism among the English, i. e. an extravagant zeal for the glory of one's country or party, from one Chauvin, who made threatening displays of his devotion to Napoleon after his fall in 1815.
Cheddar, a village in Somersetshire, on the Mendip Hills, famous for its cheese.
Cheke, Sir John, a zealous Greek scholar, born at Cambridge, and first regius professor of Greek there; did much to revive in England an interest in Greek and Greek literature; was tutor to Edward VI., who granted him landed estates; favouring the cause of Lady Jane Grey on the accession of Mary, left the country, was seized, and sent back; for fear of the stake abjured Protestantism, but never forgave himself, and died soon after; he introduced the mode of pronouncing Greek prevalent in England (1514-1557).
Chelmsford (11), the county town of Essex, on the Chelmer.
Chelsea (96), a western suburb of London, on the N. of the Thames; famous for its hospital for old and disabled soldiers, and the place of residence of sundry literary celebrities, among others Sir Thomas More, Swift, Steele, and Carlyle.
Cheltenham (49), a healthy watering-place and educational centre in Gloucestershire; first brought into repute as a place of fashionable resort by the visits of George III. to it; contains a well-equipped college, where a number of eminent men have been educated.
Chelyuskin, Cape, in Siberia, the most northerly point in the Eastern hemisphere.
Chemical Affinity, the tendency elementary bodies have to combine and remain in combination.
Chemism, in the Hegelian philosophy "the mutual attraction, interpenetration, and neutralisation of independent individuals which unite to form a whole."
Chemistry, the science that treats of elementary bodies and their combinations: inorganic, relating to physical compounds; organic, relating to vegetable and animal compounds.
Chemnitz (160), a manufacturing town in Saxony, called the "Saxon Manchester," at the foot of the Erzgebirge, in a rich mineral district; manufactures cottons, woollens, silks, machinery, &c.
Chemnitz, Martin, an eminent Lutheran theologian, born in Brandenburg, a disciple of Melanchthon; author of "Loci Theologici," a system of theology; took a leading part in procuring the adoption of the "Formula of Concord"; his chief work "Examen Concilii Tridentini" (1522-1586).
Chemosh, the national god of the Moabites, akin to Moloch, and their stay in battle, but an abomination to the children of Jehovah.
Chemulpo, a town on the W. coast of Corea; a thriving town since it became a treaty-port in 1883.
Chenab`, an affluent on the left bank of the Indus, and one of the five rivers, and the largest, which give name to the Punjab; is 750 m. long.
Chenery, Thomas, a journalist; became editor of the Times; was distinguished for his knowledge of Arabic and Hebrew, and was one of the Old Testament revisers (1826-1884).
Chénier, Marie-André, French poet, greatest in the 18th century, born at Constantinople; author of odes, idylls, and elegies, which place him high among French poets; took part in the Revolution as a lover of order as well as of liberty; offended Robespierre, and was guillotined two days before the fall of Robespierre; as a poet he was distinguished for the purity of his style and his originality (1762-1794).
Chenonceaux, a magnificent château near Amboise, in, France; built by Francis I. for the Duchesse d'Etampes, afterwards the property of the Condés, and afterwards of Madame Dupont.
Chenu, a French naturalist; author of an "Encyclopædia of Natural History" (1808-1879).
Cheophren, king of Egypt, brother and successor of Cheops; built the second great pyramid.
Cheops, king of Memphis, in Egypt, of the 4th dynasty; builder of the largest of the pyramids about 3000 B.C.
Chepstow (4), a port on the Wye, Monmouthshire, 17 m. N. of Newport; with a tubular suspension bridge, and where the tides are higher than anywhere else in Britain.
Cher, an affluent of the Loire below Tours; also the dep. in France (359) to which it gives name; an agricultural and pastoral district; capital Bourges.
Cherbourg (40), a French port and arsenal in the dep. of Manche, opposite the Isle of Wight, 70 m. distant, on the construction and fortifications of which immense sums were expended, as much as eight millions; the fortifications were begun by Vauban.
Cherbuliez, Victor, novelist, critic, and publicist, born at Geneva, of a distinguished family; professor of Greek at Geneva; holds a high place, and is widely known, as a writer of a series of works of fiction; b. 1826.
Cher`ibon (11), a seaport of Java, on the N. of the island.
Cherith, a brook E. of the Jordan, Elijah's hiding-place.
Cherokees, a tribe of American Indians, numbering some 20,000, in the NW. of the Indian Territory, U.S.; civilised, self-governing, and increasing; formerly occupied the region about the Tennessee River.
Cherone`a, a town in Boeotia, where Philip of Macedon conquered the Athenians and Thebans, 338 B.C., and Sulla defeated Mithridates, 86 B.C.; the birthplace of Plutarch, who is hence called the Cheronean Sage.
Cherra Punji (5), a village in the Khasi Hills, Assam, with the heaviest rainfall of any place on the globe.
Chersone`sus (i. e. continent island), a name which the Greeks gave to several peninsulas, viz., the Tauric C., the Crimea, the Thracian C., Gallipoli; the Cimbric C., Jutland; the Golden C., the Malay Peninsula.
Chertsey (11), a very old town of Surrey, 21 m. SW. of London, on the right bank of the Thames.
Cherubim, an order of angelic beings conceived of as accompanying the manifestations of Jehovah, supporting His throne and protecting His glory, guarding it from profane intrusion; winged effigies of them overshadowed the Mercy Seat (q. v.).
Cherubim, a character in the "Mariage de Figaro"; also the 11th Hussars, from their trousers being of a cherry colour.
Cherubini, a celebrated musical composer, born at Florence; naturalised in France; settled in Paris, the scene of his greatest triumphs; composed operas, of which the chief were "Iphigenia in Aulis," and "Les deux Journeés; or, The Water-Carrier," his masterpiece; also a number of sacred pieces and requiems, all of the highest merit; there is a portrait of him by Ingres (1842) in the Louvre, representing the Muse of his art extending her protecting hand over his head (1760-1842).
Chéruel, Adolphe, French historian, born at Rouen; author of "History of France during the Minority of Louis XIV."; published the "Memoirs of Saint-Simon" (1809-1891).
Cherusci, an ancient people of Germany, whose leader was Arminius, and under whom they defeated the Romans, commanded by Varus, in 9 A.D.
Chesapeake Bay, a northward-extending inlet on the Atlantic coast of the United States, 200 m. long and from 10 to 40 m. broad, cutting Maryland in two.
Cheselden, William, an English anatomist and surgeon, whose work, "Anatomy of the Human Body," was long used as a text-book on that science (1688-1752).
Cheshire (730), a western county of England, between the Mersey and the Dee, the chief mineral products of which are coal and rock-salt, and the agricultural, butter and cheese; has numerous manufacturing towns, with every facility for inter-communication, and the finest pasture-land in England.
Cheshunt (9), a large village in Hertfordshire, 14 m. N. of London, with rose gardens, and a college founded by the Countess of Huntingdon.
Chesil Beach, a neck of land on the Devonshire coast, 15 m. long, being a ridge of loose pebbles and shingle.
Chesney, C. Cornwallis, professor of Military History, nephew of the succeeding, author of "Waterloo Lectures" (1826-1876).
Chesney, Francis Rawdon, explorer, born in co. Down, Ireland; explored with much labour the route to India by way of the Euphrates, though his labours were rendered futile by the opposition of Russia; proved, by survey of the isthmus, the practicability of the Suez Canal (1798-1872).
Chester (41), the county town of Cheshire, on the Dee, 16 m. SE. of Liverpool; an ancient city founded by the Romans; surrounded by walls nearly 2 m. long, and from 7 to 8 ft. thick, forming a promenade with parapets; the streets are peculiar; along the roofs of the lower storeys of the houses there stretch piazzas called "Rows," at the original level of the place, 16 ft. wide for foot-passengers, approached by steps; it abounds in Roman remains, and is altogether a unique town.
Chesterfield (22), a town in Derbyshire, 21 m. N. of Derby; in a mineral district; manufactures cotton, woollen, and silk; has a canal connecting it with the Trent.
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, statesman, orator, and man of letters, eldest son of the third earl, born in London; sat in the House of Commons from 1716 to 1726; was an opponent of Walpole; held office under the Pelhams; in 1748 retired from deafness, or perhaps disgust, into private life; celebrated for his "Letters to his Son," models of elegance, though of questionable morality, which it appears he never intended to publish, and for the scorn with which Dr. Johnson treated him when he offered to help him, after he no longer needed any, in a letter which gave the death-blow to the patronage of literature; is credited by Carlyle with having predicted the French Revolution; it should be added, the "Letters" were printed by his son's widow (1694-1773).
Chevalier, Michel, a celebrated French economist, born at Limoges; originally a Socialist of the St. Simonian school; for defending Socialism was imprisoned, but recanted, and wrote ably against Socialism; was a free-trader and coadjutor of Cobden (1806-1879).
Chevalier, Sulpice. See Gavarni.
Chevalier d'Industrie, one who lives by his wits, specially by swindling.
Chevalier St. George, the Pretender.
Chevaux-de-Frise, a military fence composed of a beam or a bar armed with long spikes, literally Friesland horses, having been first used in Friesland.
Chevert, a French general, born at Verdun; "a bit of right soldier stuff"; distinguished himself in many engagements, and especially at the siege of Prague in 1757 (1696-1773).
Cheviot Hills, a range on the borders of England and Scotland, extending 35 m. south-westwards, the highest in Northumberland 2676 ft., the Carter Fell being 2020 ft.; famous for its breed of sheep.
Chevreul, Michel Eugène, a French chemist, born at Angers; an expert in the department of dyeing, and an authority on colours, as well as the chemistry of fats; was director in the dyeing department in the Gobelins manufactory; he lived to witness the centenary of his birth (1786-1889).
Chevreuse, Duchesse de, played an important part in the Fronde and in the plots against Richelieu and Mazarin; her Life has been written by Victor Cousin (1600-1679).
Chevron, in heraldry an ordinary of two bands forming an angle descending to the extremities of the shield; representing the two rafters of a house, meeting at the top.
Chevy Chase, the subject and title of a highly popular old English ballad, presumed to refer to an event in connection with the battle of Otterburn; there were strains in it which Sir Philip Sidney said moved his heart more than with a trumpet.
Cheyenne Indians, a warlike tribe of Red Indians, now much reduced, and partially settled in the Indian Territory, U.S.; noted for their horsemanship.
Cheyne, George, a physician and medical writer, born in Aberdeenshire, in practice in London; suffered from corpulency, being 32 stone in weight, but kept it down by vegetable and milk diet, which he recommended to others in the like case; wrote on fevers, nervous disorders, and hygiene; wrote also on fluxions (1671-1743).
Cheyne, Thomas Kelly, an eminent Biblical scholar, born in London; Oriel Professor of Scripture Exegesis, Oxford, and canon of Rochester; author of numerous works on the Old Testament, particularly on "Isaiah" and the "Psalms," in which he advocates conclusions in accord with modern critical results; b. 1841.
Chézy, De, a French Orientalist, born at Neuilly; the first to create in France an interest in the study of Sanskrit (1773-1832).
Chiabrera, Gabriello, an Italian lyric poet, born at Savona; distinguished, especially for his lyrics; surnamed the "Pindar of Italy," Pindar being a Greek poet whom it was his ambition to imitate (1552-1637).
Chia`na, a small, stagnant, pestilential affluent of the Tiber, now deepened into a healthful and serviceable stream, connecting the Tiber with the Arno.
Chiapas, Las (270), a Pacific State of Mexico, covered with forests; yields maize, sugar, cacao, and cotton.
Chiaroscuro, the reproduction in art of the effects of light and shade on nature as they mutually affect each other.
Chibchas or Muyscas, a civilised people, though on a lower stage than the Peruvians, whom the Spaniards found established in New Granada in the 16th century, now merged in the Spanish population; they worship the sun.
Chica, an orange-red colouring matter obtained from boiling the leaves of the Bignonia chica, and used as a dye.
Chicago (1,700), the metropolis of Illinois, in the NE. of the State, on the SW. shore of Lake Michigan, is the second city in the Union; its unparalleled growth, dating only from 1837—in 1832 a mere log-fort, and now covering an area of 180 sq. m., being 21 m. in length and 10 m. in breadth—is due to its matchless facilities for communication. Situated in the heart of the continent, a third of the United States railway system centres in it, and it communicates with all Canada, and with the ocean by the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River; laid out with absolute regularity, it has many magnificent buildings, enormously tall office "sky-scrapers," and an unrivalled system of parks and avenues; there are a university, medical, commercial, and theological colleges, an art institute, libraries, and observatory; it suffered severely from fire in 1871 and 1874; it is the greatest grain and pork market in the world, and its manufactures include almost every variety of production; the population is a mixture of all European peoples; native-born Americans are a small minority, outnumbered by the Germans and almost equalled by the Irish.
Chicard, the harlequin of the modern French carnival, grotesquely dressed up.
Chicheley, Henry, archbishop of Canterbury, a scholar and statesman, often employed on embassies, a moderate churchman; accompanied Henry V. to Agincourt (1362-1442).
Chichester (9), a cathedral city in the W. of Sussex, 17 m. NE. of Portsmouth, with a port on the Channel 2 m. SW. of it; chief trade in agricultural produce.
Chichevache, a monster fabled to feed on good women, and starved, from the scarcity of them, to skin and bone, in contrast with another called Bicorn, that fed on good men, who are more plentiful, and was fat and plump.
Chickasaws, N. American Indians, allied to the Chocktaws, settled in a civilised state in the Indian Territory like the Cherokees.
Chiclana (12), a watering-place 12 m. SB. of Cadiz, with mineral baths.
Chief, the upper part of an escutcheon cut off by a horizontal line.
Chiem-see, a high-lying lake in Upper Bavaria, 48 m. from Münich, adorned with three islands; famous for its fish.
Chien de Jean de Nivelle, the dog that never came when it was called. See Nivelle.
Chië`ti (22), a city in Central Italy, 78 m. NE. of Rome, with a fine Gothic cathedral.
Chigi, a distinguished Italian family, eminent in the Church.
Chigoe, an insect which infests the skin of the feet, multiplies incredibly, and is a great annoyance to the negro, who, however, is pretty expert in getting rid of it.
Chihua`hua (25), a town in Mexico; capital of a State (298), the largest in Mexico, of the same name, with famous silver and also copper mines.
Child, Francis James, an American scholar, born in Boston; professor of Anglo-Saxon and Early English Literature at Harvard; distinguished as the editor of Spenser and of "English and Scottish Ballads," "a monumental collection"; b. 1825.
Child, Lydia Maria, an American novelist and anti-slavery advocate (1802-1880).
Child, Sir Joshua, a wealthy London merchant, author of "Discourse on Trade," with an appendix against usury; advocated the compulsory transportation of paupers to the Colonies (1630-1699).
Childe, the eldest son of a nobleman who has not yet attained to knighthood, or has not yet won his spurs.
Childe Harold, a poem of Byron's, written between 1812 and 1819, representing the author himself as wandering over the world in quest of satisfaction and returning sated to disgust; it abounds in striking thoughts and vivid descriptions; in his "Dernier Chant of C. H." Lamartine takes up the hero where Byron leaves him.
Childerbert I., son of Clovis, king of Paris, reigned from 511 to 558. C. II., son of Siegbert and Brunhilda, king of Austrasia, reigned from 575 to 596. C. III., son of Thierri III., reigned over all France from 695 to 711, under the mayor of the palace, Pépin d'Héristal.
Childerbrand, a Frank warrior, who figures in old chronicles as the brother of Charles Martel, signalised himself in the expulsion of the Saracens from France.
Childéric I., the son of Merovig and father of Clovis, king of the Franks; d. 481. C. II., son of Clovis II., king of Austrasia in 660, and of all France in 670; assassinated 673. C. III., son of the preceding, last of the Merovingian kings, from 743 to 752; was deposed by Pepin le Bref; died in the monastery of St. Omer in 755.
Childermas, a festival to commemorate the massacre of the children by Herod.
Childers, Robert C., professor of Pâli and Buddhistic Literature in University College, and author of Pâli Dictionary (1809-1876).
Children of the Wood, two children, a boy and girl, left to the care of an uncle, who hired two ruffians to murder them, that he might inherit their wealth; one of the ruffians relented, killed his companion, and left the children in a wood, who were found dead in the morning, a redbreast having covered their bodies with strawberry leaves; the uncle was thereafter goaded to death by the furies.
Chile (2,867), the most advanced and stable of the S. American States, occupies a strip of country, 100 m. broad, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, and stretching from Cape Horn northward 2200 m. to Peru, with Argentine and Bolivia on its eastern borders. The climate is naturally various. In the N. are rainless tracts of mountains rich in copper, manganese, silver, and other metals, and deserts with wonderful deposits of nitrate. In the S. are stretches of pastoral land and virgin forest, with excessive rains, and cold, raw climate. The central portion enjoys a temperate climate with moderate rainfall, and produces excellent wheat, grapes, and fruits of all kinds. The Andes tower above the snow-line, Aconcagua reaching 23,500 ft. The rivers are short and rapid, of little use for navigation. The coast-line is even in the N., but excessively rugged and broken in the S., the most southerly regions being weird and desolate. The people are descendants of Spaniards, mingled with Araucanian Indians; but there is a large European element in all the coast towns. Mining and agriculture are the chief industries; manufactures of various kinds are fostered with foreign capital. The chief trade is with Britain: exports nitre, wheat, copper, and iodine; imports, textiles, machinery, sugar, and cattle. Santiago (250) is the capital; Valparaiso (150) and Iquique the principal ports. The government is republican; Roman Catholicism the State religion; education is fairly well fostered; there is a university at Santiago. The country was first visited by Magellan in 1520. In 1540 Pedro Valdivia entered it from Peru and founded Santiago. During colonial days it was an annex of Peru. In 1810 the revolt against Spain broke out. Independence was gained in 1826. Settled government was established in 1847. Since then a revolution in 1851, successful wars with Spain 1864-66, with Bolivia and Peru 1879-81, and a revolution in 1891, have been the most stirring events in its history.