Part 126 (1/2)
CHRONICLERS, THE RHYMING, a series of writers who flourished in England in the 13th century, and related histories of the country in rhyme, in which the fabulous occupies a conspicuous place, among which Layamon's ”Brut” (1205) takes the lead.
CHRONICLES I. and II., two historical books of the Old Testament, the narratives of which, with additions and omissions, run parallel with those of Samuel and Kings, but written from a priestly standpoint, give the chief prominence to the history of Judah as the support in Jerusalem of the ritual of which the priests were the custodians; Ezra and Nehemiah are continuations.
CHRYSeIS, the daughter of Chryses, priest of Apollo, a beautiful maiden who fell among the spoils of a victory to Agamemnon, and became his slave, and whom he refused to restore to her father until a deadly plague among the Greeks, at the hands of Apollo, whose priest her father was, compelled him to give her up.
CHRYSIPPUS, a Greek philosopher, born at Soli, in Cilicia, and lived in Athens; specially skilled in dialectic; the last and greatest expounder and defender of the philosophy of the Stoa, so pre-eminent, that it was said of him, ”If Chrysippus were not, the Stoa were not”; is said to have written 705 books, not one of which, however, has come down to us save a few fragments (280-208 B.C.). See STOICISM.
CHRYSOLO'RAS, a Grecian scholar, born at Constantinople, left his native country and lived in Florence, where he, in the 14th century, became a teacher of Greek literature, and contributed thereby to the revival of letters in Italy; _d_. 1415.
CHRYSOSTOM, ST. JOHN, that is, Mouth of Gold, so called from his eloquence, born at Antioch; converted to Christianity from a mild paganism; became one of the Fathers of the Church, and Patriarch of Constantinople; he was zealous in suppressing heresy, as well as corruption in the Church, and was for that reason thrice over subjected to banishment; in the course of the third of which and while on the way, he died, though his remains was brought to Constantinople and there deposited with great solemnity; he left many writings behind him--sermons, homilies, commentaries, and epistles, of which his ”Homilies” are most studied and prized (347-407). Festival, Jan. 27.
CHUBB, THOMAS, an English Deist, born near Salisbury; he regarded Christ as a divine teacher, but held reason to be sovereign in matters of religion, yet was on rational grounds a defender of Christianity; had no learning, but was well up in the religious controversies of the time, and bore his part in them creditably (1679-1746).
CHUNDER SEN, one of the founders of the BRAHMO-SOMAJ (q. v.); he visited Europe in 1870, and was welcomed with open arms by the rationalist cla.s.s of Churchmen and Dissenters.
CHUQUISA'CA (20), (i. e. Bridge of Gold), the capital of Bolivia, in a sheltered plain 9000 ft. above the sea-level; is a cathedral city; has a mild climate; it was founded in 1538 by the Spaniards on the site of an old Peruvian town.
CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM, dean of St. Paul's, born in Lisbon; a scholarly man; distinguished himself first as such by his ”Essays and Reviews,” wrote thoughtful sermons, and ”A Life of Anselm,” also essays on eminent men of letters, such as Dante, Spenser, and Bacon (1815-1890).
CHURCH, STATES OF THE, the Papal States, extending irregularly from the Po to Naples, of which the Pope was the temporal sovereign, now part of the kingdom of Italy.
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, ent.i.tled ”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 statesmans.h.i.+p; 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 d.i.c.kens of the name.
JAMES, a character in the same novel, a man distinguished for his mean and tyrannical character.
CHUSAN (30 or 40), princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.similated into blood.
CHYME, the pulpy ma.s.s 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).