Part 117 (2/2)

CHAMBRE ARDENTE, a name given to certain courts of justice established to try certain cases that required to be sharply dealt with; they were held at night, and even when held in the daytime with lighted torches; a court of the kind was inst.i.tuted for trial of the Huguenots in 1530, and again in 1680 and 1716.

CHAMFORT, a French wit and litterateur, born in Auvergne; took to the Revolution, but offended the leaders, and being threatened with arrest committed suicide, ”cutting and slas.h.i.+ng with frantic, uncertain hand, gaining, not without difficulty, the refuge of death”; he was a born cynic, and was famous for his keen insight into human nature and his sharp criticisms of it, summed up in a collection of maxims he left, as well as for his anecdotes in incisive portraiture of character. ”He was a man,” says Professor Saintsbury, ”soured by his want of birth, health, and position, and spoilt by hanging on to the great persons of his time.

But for a kind of tragi-comic satire, a _soeva indignatio_, taking the form of contempt for all that is exalted and n.o.ble, he has no equal in literature except Swift” (1741-1794).

CHAMILLARD, Minister of Finance and of War under Louis XIV.; ”distinguished himself by his incapacity” (1651-1721).

CHAMISSO, ADALBERT VON, a German naturalist and litterateur born in France, but educated in Berlin; is famous for his poetical productions, but especially as the author of ”Peter Schlemihl,” the man who lost his shadow, which has been translated into nearly every European language; he wrote several works on natural history (1781-1838).

CHAMOUNI, OR CHAMONIX, a village in the dep. of Haute-Savoie, 33 m.

SE. of Geneva, in a valley forming the upper basin of the Arve, famous for its beauty and for its glaciers; it is from this point that the ascent of Mont Blanc is usually made.

CHAMOUSSET, a French philanthropist, born in Paris; the originator of mutual benefit societies (1717-1773).

CHAMPAGNE, an ancient province of France, 180 m. long by 150 broad, annexed to the Crown 1286, and including the deps. of Aube, Haute-Marne, Marne, and Ardennes; the province where the wine of the name is princ.i.p.ally manufactured.

CHAMP-DE-MARS, a large s.p.a.ce, of ground in Paris, between the front of the ecole Militaire and the left bank of the Seine; the site of recent Expositions, and the scene of the Federation Fete, 14th July 1790.

CHAMPLAIN', a beautiful lake between the States of New York and Vermont; it is 100 m. in length, and from 1 m. at its S. end to 14 m. at its N. end broad.

CHAMPLAIN, SAMUEL DE, a French navigator, born at Brouage, in Saintonge, was founder of Quebec, and French Governor of Canada; wrote an account of his voyages (1570-1635).

CHAMPOLLION, JEAN FRANcOIS, a celebrated French Egyptologist, born in Figeac, dep. of Lot; early gave himself to the study of Coptic and Egyptian antiquities; was the first to decipher the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, a great discovery; conducted a scientific expedition to Egypt in 1828, and returned in 1830 with the fruits of his researches; a chair of Egyptology was in consequence inst.i.tuted in the College of France, and he was installed as the first professor; his writings on the science, of which he laid the foundation, are numerous (1790-1832).

CHAMPS-ELYSeES, a Parisian promenade between the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe.

CHANCELLOR, RICHARD, an English seaman, voyaging in northern parts, arrived in the White Sea, and travelled to Moscow, where he concluded a commercial treaty with Russia on behalf of an English company; wrote an interesting account of his visit; after a second visit, in which he visited Moscow, was wrecked on the coast of Aberdeens.h.i.+re in 1556.

CHANDERNAGORE (25), a small town and territory on the Hooghly, 22 m.

N. of Calcutta, belonging to France.

CHANDLER, RICHARD, a learned h.e.l.lenistic archaeologist, born in Hants; travelled in Asia Minor and Greece, along with two artists, to examine and describe the antiquities; the materials collected were published in his ”Ionian Antiquities,” ”Travels in Asia Minor,” &c.

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