Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 68

_Ce'lia_, a poetical name for any lady-love: as "Would you know my Celia's charms ...?" Not unfrequently Streph'on is the wooer when Celia is the wooed. Thomas Carew calls his "sweet sweeting" Celia; her real name is not known.

_Ce'lia (Dame)_, mother of Faith, Hope, and Charity. She lived in the hospice called Holiness. (Celia is from the Latin, _coelum_, "heaven.")--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, i. 10 (1590).

CELIA SHAW, a gentle-hearted mountain girl who, learning that her father and his clan intend to "clean out" a family fifteen miles up the mountain, steals out on a snowy night and makes her way to their hut to warn them of their danger. She takes cold on the fearful journey, and dies of consumption.--Charles Egbert Craddock, _In the Tennessee Mountains_ (1884).

CeLIMeNE (3_syl_.), a coquette courted by Alceste (2 _syl_.) the "misanthrope" (a really good man, both upright and manly, but blunt in behavior, rude in speech, and unconventional). Alceste wants Celimene to forsake society and live with him in seclusion; this she refuses to do, and he replies, as you cannot find, "tout en moi, comme moi tout en vous, allez, je vous refuse." He then proposes to her cousin Eliante (3 _syl_.), but Eliante tells him she is already engaged to his friend Philinte (2 _syl_), and so the play ends.--Moliere, _Le Misanthrope_ (1666).

"Celimene" in Moliere's _Les Precieuses Ridicules_ is a mere dummy.

She is brought on the stage occasionally towards the end of the play, but never utters one word, and seems a supernumerary of no importance at all.

CELIN'DA, the victim of count Fathom's seduction.--Smollett, _Count Fathom_ (1754).

CEL'LIDE (2 _syl_.), beloved by Valentine and his son Francisco. The lady naturally prefers the younger man.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons.

Thomas_ (1619).

CELTIC HOMER _(The)_, Ossian, said to be of the third century.

If Ossian lived at the introduction of Christianity, as by all appearances he did, his epoch will be the latter end of the third and beginning of the fourth century.

The "Caracul" of Fingal, who is no other than Caracalla (son of Seve'rus emperor of Rome), and the battle fought against Caros or Carausius ... fix the epoch of Fingal to the third century, and Irish historians place his death in the year 283. Ossian was Fingal's son.--_Era of Ossian._

CENCI. Francesco Cenci was a most profligate Roman n.o.ble, who had four sons and one daughter, all of whom he treated with abominable cruelty.

It is said that he a.s.sa.s.sinated his two elder sons and debauched his daughter Beatrice. Beatrice and her two surviving brothers, with Lucretia (their mother), conspired against Francesco and accomplished his death, but all except the youngest brother perished on the scaffold, September 11, 1501.

It has been doubted whether the famous portrait in the Barberini palace at Rome is really of Beatrice Cenci, and even whether Guido Eeni was the painter.

Percy B. Sh.e.l.ley wrote a tragedy called _The Cenci_ (1819).

CENIMAG'NI, the inhabitants of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge.--Caesar, _Commentaries_.

CENTAUR (_The Blue_), a human form from the waist upwards, and a goat covered with blue s.h.a.g from the waist downwards. Like the Ogri, he fed on human flesh.

"Shepherds," said he, "I am the Blue Centaur. If you will give me every third year a young child, I promise to bring a hundred of my kinsmen and drive the Ogri away." ... He [_the Blue Centaur_] used to appear on the top of a rock, with his club in one hand ... and with a terrible voice cry out to the shepherds, "Leave me my prey, and be off with you!"--Comtesse d'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Princess Carpillona,"

1682).

CEN'TURY WHITE, John White, the nonconformist lawyer. So called from his chief work, ent.i.tled _The First Century of Scandalous, Malignant Priests, etc._ (1590-1645).

CE'PHAL (Greek, _Kephale_), the Head personified, the "acropolis" of _The Purple Island_, fully described in canto v. of that poem, by Phineas Fletcher (1633).

CEPH'ALUS (in Greek, _Kephalos_). One day, overcome with heat, Cephalus threw himself on the gra.s.s, and cried aloud, "Come, gentle Aura, and this heat allay!" The words were told to his young wife Procris, who, supposing Aura to be some rival, became furiously jealous. Resolved to discover her rival, she stole next day to a covert, and soon saw her husband come and throw himself on the bank, crying aloud, "Come, gentle Zephyr; come, Aura, come, this heat allay!" Her mistake was evident, and she was abont to throw herself into the arms of her husband, when the young man, aroused by the rustling, shot an arrow into the covert, supposing some wild beast was about to spring on him. Procris was shot, told her tale, and died.--Ovid, _Art of Love_, iii.

(Cephalus loves Procris, _i.e._ "the sun kisses the dew." Procris is killed by Cephalus, _i.e._ "the dew is destroyed by the rays of the sun.")

CERAS'TES (3 _syl_.), the horned snake. (Greek, _keras_, "a horn.") Milton uses the word in _Paradise Lost_, x. 525 (1665).

CERBERUS, a dog with three heads, which keeps guard in h.e.l.l. Dante places it in the third circle.

Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange, Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog ...

His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard, His belly large, and clawed the hands with which He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs Piecemeal disparts.

Dante, _h.e.l.l_, vi. (1300, Cary's translation).

CER'DON, the boldest of the rabble leaders in the encounter with Hu'dibras at the bear-baiting. The original of this character was Hewson, a one-eyed cobbler and preacher, who was also a colonel in the Rump army.--S. Butler, _Hudibras_, i. 2 (1663).

CERES (2 _syl._), the Fruits of Harvest personified. In cla.s.sic mythology Ceres means "Mother Earth," the protectress of fruits.

_Ceres_, the planet, is so called because it was discovered from the observatory of Palermo, and Ceres is the tutelar G.o.ddess of Sicily.

CER'IMON, a physician of Ephesus, who restored to animation Thaisa, the wife of Per'icles, prince of Tyre, supposed to be dead.--Shakespeare, _Pericles Prince of Tyre_ (1608).

CHAB'OT (_Philippe de_), admiral of France, governor of Bourgoyne and Normandy under Francois I. Montmorency and the cardinal de Lorraine, out of jealousy, accused him of malversation. His faithful servant Allegre was put to the rack to force evidence against the accused, and Chabot was sent to prison because he was unable to pay the fine levied upon him. His innocence, however, was established by the confession of his enemies, and he was released; but disgrace had made so deep an impression on his mind that he sickened and died. This is the subject of a tragedy ent.i.tled _The Tragedy of Philip Chabot, etc._, by George Chapman and James s.h.i.+rley.

CHAD'BAND (_The Rev. Mr._), type of a canting hypocrite "in the ministry." He calls himself "a vessel," is much admired by his dupes, and pretends to despise the "carnal world," but nevertheless loves dearly its "good things," and is most self-indulgent.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Bleak House_ (1853).

CHAFFINGTON (_Mr. Percy_), M.P., a stockbroker.--T. M. Morton, _If I had a Thousand a Year_.

CHALBROTH, the giant, the root of the race of giants, including Polypheme (3 _syl._), Goliath, the t.i.tans, Fierabras, Gargantua, and closing with Pantag'ruel. He was born in the year known for its "week of three Thursdays."--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. (1533).

CHAL'YBES (3 _syl._), a people on the south sh.o.r.e of the Black Sea, who occupied themselves in the working of iron.

On the left hand dwell The iron-workers called the Chalybes, Of whom beware.

E. B. Browning, _Prometheus Bound_ (1850).

CHAM, the pseudonym of comte Amedee de Noe, a peer of France, a great wit, and the political caricaturist of _Charivari_ (the French _Punch_). The count was one of the founders of the French Republic in 1875. As Cham or Ham was the second son and scapegrace of Noah, so Amedee was the second son and scapegrace of the comte de Noe _[Noah]._

CHAM OF LITERATURE, _(The Great_), a nickname given to Dr. Samuel Johnson by Smollett in a letter to John Wilkes (1709-1784).

CHAM OF TARTARY, a corruption of Chan or Khan, _i.e._ "lord or prince," as Hoccota Chan. "Ulu Chan" means "great lord," "ulu" being equal to the Latin _magnus_, and "chan" to _dominus_ or _imperator_.

Sometimes the word is joined to the name, as Chan-balu, Cara-chan, etc. The Turks have also had their "Sultan Murad chan bin Sultan Selim chan," _i.e. Sultan Murad prince, son of Sultan Selim prince_.--Selden, _t.i.tles of Honor_, vi. 66 (1672).

CHAM'BERLAIN _(Matthew)_, a tapster, the successor of Old Roger Raine (1 _syl_.).--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

CHAMONT, brother of Monimia "the orphan," and the troth-plight husband of Seri'na (daughter of lord Acasto). He is a soldier, so proud and susceptible that he is forever taking offence, and setting himself up as censor or champion. He fancies his sister Monim'ia has lost her honor, and calls her to task, but finds he is mistaken. He fancies her guardian, old Acasto, has not been sufficiently watchful over her, and draws upon him in his anger, but sees his folly just in time to prevent mischief. He fancies Castalio, his sister's husband, has ill-treated her, and threatens to kill him, but his suspicions are again altogether erroneous. In fact, his presence in the house was like that of a madman with fire-brands in a stack-yard.--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).

There are characters in which he _[C. M. Young_] is unrivalled and almost perfect. His "Pierre" [_Venice Preserved_, Otway] is more soldierly than Kemble's; his "Chamont" is full of brotherly pride, n.o.ble impetuosity, and heroic scorn.--_New Monthly Magazine_ (1822).

CHAMPAGNE _(Henry earl of_), a crusader.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

CHAM'PERNEL', a lame old gentleman, the husband of Lami'ra, and son-in-law of judge Vertaigne (2 _sy_).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Little French Lawyer_ (1647).

CHAMPION OF THE VIRGIN. St. Cyril of Alexandria is so called from his defence of the "Incarnation" or doctrine of the "hypostatic union," in the long and stormy dispute with Nesto'rius bishop of Constantinople.

CHAMPNEYS _(Sir Geoffry_), a fossilized old country gentleman, who believes in "blue blood" and the "British peerage." Father of Talbot, and neighbor of Perkyn Middlewick, a retired b.u.t.terman. The sons of these two magnates are fast friends, but are turned adrift by their fathers for marrying in opposition to their wishes. When reduced to abject poverty, the old men go to visit their sons, relent, and all ends happily.

_Miss Champneys_, sir Geoffry's sister, proud and aristocratic, but quite willing to sacrifice both on the altar of Mr. Perkyn Middlewick, the b.u.t.terman, if the wealthy plebeian would make her his wife and allow her to spend his money.--H. J. Byron, _Our Boys_ (1875).

_Talbot Champneys_, a swell with few brains and no energy. His name, which is his pa.s.sport into society, will not find him salt in the battle of life. He marries Mary Melrose, a girl without a penny, but his father wants him to marry Violet the heiress.

CHAN'TICLEER (3 _syl_.), the c.o.c.k, in the beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498), and also in "The Nonne Preste's Tale," told in _The Canterbury Tales_, by Chaucer (1388).