Part 122 (1/2)

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 EUGeNE, 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, d.u.c.h.eSSE 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 s.h.i.+eld; representing the two rafters of a house, meeting at the top.

CHEVY CHASE, the subject and t.i.tle 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 horsemans.h.i.+p.

CHEYNE, GEORGE, a physician and medical writer, born in Aberdeens.h.i.+re, 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.

CHeZY, 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,”