ter which grew partly out of his CAP-A-PIE (kap-ä-pē'), from head to CARTHAGINIAN (-jin'yan), pertaining to ancient Carthage. The Cartha- CAT'A-PHRACT, a species of heavy CAT'ILINE (-line), a Roman patrician, battle. CAUSTICITY (-tis'i-ty). CENTRE or CENTER. The latter form CHALICE (chal'is; but there is au- CHANNING, WM. ELLERY, was born (Oct. 2, 1842), during which period CHARADE (sha-rade'), a syllabic enig- CHATHAM, WM. PITT, earl of, was - of his appeals, are all confessed by was the celebrated William Pitt. CHOPS, in nautical usage, the mouth or entrance. CHRISTENDOM (kris'n-dom), Christian countries collectively. CHRISTIANITY (kris-te-an'i-ty). CICERO, Marcus Tullius, the most eminent of Roman orators, was born B. C. 106. He distinguished himself not only as a statesman, but as an advocate and writer. His works are numerous. While occupying the office of consul, he denounced the conspiracy of Catiline, and drove the profligate from Rome. For this service the public enthusiasm heaped upon Cicero unwonted honors; in the senate and in the forum. he was saluted as parens patria (the parent of his country). For an account of the death of Cicero, see note, p. 375; speech, p. 456. CIMBRI (sim'bri), a Celtic people who occupied a region, now a part of Denmark. They were defeated in battle by Marius, B. C. 102. CI'MON, an Athenian general, son of Miltiades, distinguished himself against the Persians, 470 B. C. He displayed his wisdom and patriotism by founding public schools. CLANGOR (klang'gur). CLERK (klerk or klark). COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor, distin guished as a poet and philosopher, was the son of a clergyman, and born in Devonshire, England, in 1772. He entered the university at Cambridge, but suddenly left and enlisted in London into a horse regiment. Discovered and rescued by his friends, he returned to Cambridge, which he subsequently left without a degree. He now associated himself with Southey, and another young poet, Lovel, in a Utopian scheme of founding a Pantisocracy, or republic of pure freedom, in America; but this project evaporated very harmlessly in the marriages of the poets with three sisters at Bristol. Coleridge's habits of mind and of business rendered his publications unprofitable to him. self, and disastrous to his publishers. Opium-eating gradually unhinged the structure of his mind, and he became an exile from his family and his dearest friends, of whom Wordsworth had been one. His capital defect seemed to be a want of energetic will. His prose works include dissertations on theology, history, politics, the principles of society. His poetical works consist of odes, ballads, dramas; but most of them exhibit incompleteness of design. His translations from the German of Schiller are very admirable. The conspicuous features of his poetry are its exquisite melody of versification, and the fine literary taste by which the diction is chastened. His "Hymn to Mont Blanc," in its exultant sublimity, equals the best efforts of Milton. Coleridge was celebrated for his powers of conversation. He died at Highgate, July, 1834. His son, Hartley Coleridge inherited his father's infirmities, and much of his father's genius. See pp. 274, 434. COLLINS, WILLIAM, the son of a hatter, was born in Chichester, England, 1720. In 1744 he settled in London, but suffered from poverty even beyond the common lot of poets. He published his Odes, and planned gigantic enterprises of authorship; but his mode of life, acting on latent tendencies to insanity, nursed the fatal seed that germinated into incurable madness. After a seven years' existence in this state, he died at Chichester in 1756. Dr. Johnson called on him in the midst of his malady, and found him reading the New Testament. "I have but one book," said poor Collins, "but it is the best." Collins's poems are not numerous; but they exhibit a fine literary taste, a spiritual transparency of conception and expression, great refinement of diction, and an unerring ear for rhythmical melody. See pp. 131, 307. COL-OS-SE'UM or COLISEUM, the amphitheatre of Vespasian at Rome. COLTER or COULTER, the fore-iron COM-MUNE, to converse; also, to re- CORDON (kor'don or kor'dong), a band worn as a badge; also, a line of military posts. CORSELET (kors'let). CORTES (kor'těz), FERNANDO, the conqueror of Mexico, was born in Spain, 1485; died 1554. COTTLE, JOSEPII, a bookseller of Bristol, England, born 1769, died 1853. He was the author of various poems and of a volume of Reminiscences of Coleridge and others. See his account of Henderson, p. 444. COUNCILOR or COUNCILLOR. COUNSELOR or COUNSELLOR. COURTEOUS (kurt'e-us or kōrt'yus). COWPER, WM., was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1731. He was only six years old when he lost his mother. More than fifty years after the day on which a sad little face, looking from the nursery window, had seen a dark hearse moving slowly from the door, an old man, smitten with incurable madness, but | then enjoying a brief lucid interval, bent over a picture, and saw the never-forgotten image of that kindest earthly friend, from whom he had so long been severed, but whom he was so soon to join in the sorrowless land. There are no more touching or beautiful lines in English poetry than Cowper's Verses to his mother's picture. The circumstance to which his morbid nervousness and melancholy may most of all be traced, is full of warning for the young. The poor, motherless boy of six was sent to a boarding-school, where a senior pupil, whose brutality and cowardice cannot be too strongly condemned, led the child a terrible life for two years, crushing down his young spirit with cruel blows and bitter persecution. Cowper's principal poems, Table Talk, The Task, &c., are mostly of a didactic character; but their lofty strain of religious and moral reflection is mingled with general satire, and interspersed with description. His language, simple, elegant, and expressive, gushes without effort into every avenue of feeling. In 1791 he published a translation of Homer, which we think deserving a higher reputation than it has yet reached. In 1794, the gloom of madness fell again upon his mind, and only for very brief intervals was there any light, until the ineffable brilliance of a higher life broke on his raptured gaze. He died April 25, 1800. See pp. 286, 400. CORSE (kōrs or kōrs). CRIMEAN (kri-me'an), pertaining to the Crimea. CROLY, Rev. GEORGE, poet and theologian, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1780, and studied for the Church. He is the author of "Tales of the Great St. Bernard," "Salathiel, a Novel," " Catiline, a Tragedy," and several minor poems, marked by dramatic power and great literary skill. His diction is sometimes overwrought in its intensity, but never tame or inelegant. He died 1860. See p. 104. CUR'FEW (from the French couvrefeu, cover fire), a bell anciently rung at eight o'clock in the evening, when people were obliged to extinguish their fires and lights. CURRAN, JOHN PHILPOT, an Irish lawyer and patriot, celebrated for his eloquence and wit, was born of humble parents in the neighborhood of Cork, 1750. He became a member of the Irish house of commons in 1784. His oratorical powers were of the most brilliant description, and through them he wielded an immense influence over his countrymen. He died in London 1817. See p. 260. DACTYL'IC, pertaining to a dactyl or poetical foot consisting of three syllables, the first long and the others short, like the joints of a finger; the Greek word daktulos meaning a finger. DANIEL (dan'e-el). DANTE (dän'te), ALIGHIERI, the sublimest of the Italian poets, was born at Florence, 1265, and died at Ravenna, 1321. DAUNT (dänt). DAVY, SIR HUMPHREY, a celebrated chemist, born in England, 1779, died 1838. DECATUR, STEPHEN, an American naval officer, distinguished for bravery and skill, was born 1779, and fell in a duel with Commodore Barron, 1820. DECEASE (-sese not -seze). DECIUS (de'se-us), a consul of ancient Rome, B. C. 340. The night before a great battle, he and his colleague had a vision, announcing that the general of one side and the army of the other were devoted to death. The consuls thereupon agreed that the one whose wing first began to waver should devote himself and the army of the enemy to destruction. This fortune fell to Decius; and as his wing gave way, he rushed among the thickest of the enemy, and was slain, leaving the victory to the Romans." DEFENSE or DEFENCE. Webster prefers s, because s is used in the derivative defensive. DEMOCRACY. This word is derived from the Greek demos, people, krateo, to govern. DEMOS THE-NES, the greatest orator of antiquity, was born at Athens, in Greece, about 380 B. C. In his first attempts to speak before the people, his feeble and stammering voice, his interrupted respiration, his ungraceful gestures, and his illarranged periods, brought upon him general ridicule. His failure, however, only roused his energies DESIGN (de-sine' or de-zine'). He DEXTEROUS or DEXTROUS. Webster prefers the latter form. DICKENS, CHARLES, the most popular English novelist of his day, was born at Portsmouth, England, 1812. Early in life he was placed in an attorney's office; then he became a reporter for some of the daily papers of London, and at length began to sketch on paper, under the signature of Boz, the va ried life he witnessed. His fame dates from the publication of his "Pickwick Papers" in 1837. Then followed "Nicholas Nickleby," a tale crowded with finely drawn portraits and scenes of modern English life; and "Oliver Twist," in which some of the lowest forms of London life are depicted. A visit to America in 1842 supplied material for two new works," American Notes for General Circulation," and "Martin Chuzzlewit." In both his besetting tendency to caricature is prominent. Seizing an odd feature or whimsical trait in a man or woman, he creates from that single quality a character. Dickens's works all betray haste in the composition. Commanding large sums by his pen, he is obviously tempted to give little time to that condensation and elaboration which might secure for his writings a more en- DIET, an assembly of rulers and del- DISCERN (diz-zern'). DONNELLY, IGNATIUS, member of DRYDEN, JOHN, a celebrated poet, by her grandmother, a believer in DYNASTY (din'- or di'-). ELD, old times; old age. 363. ERE (pronounced air), before. ELYSIAN (e-lizh'e-an or e-lizh'yan). 1536. EQUALED or EQUALLED. |