The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 103

Catherine's, 1473; Jesus, 1496; Christ's, 1505; St John's, 1511; Magdalene, 1519; Trinity, 1546; Emmanuel, 1584; Sidney Suss.e.x, 1598; and Downing, 1800. Each college is a corporation by itself, governed by statutes sanctioned by the crown, and capable of holding landed or other property.

CAMBRIDGEs.h.i.+RE (188), an inland agricultural county, nine-tenths of its surface under cultivation; famed for its b.u.t.ter and cheese; very flat, marshy in the N., with a range of chalk-hills, the Gog-Magog in the S.; is rich in Roman remains.

CAMBRONNE, French general, born at Nantes; served under the Republic and the Empire; accompanied Napoleon to Elba in 1814; commanded a division of the Old Guard at Waterloo; fought to the last; though surrounded by the enemy and summoned to surrender, refused, and was taken prisoner; is credited with the saying, _La Garde meurt, et ne se rend pas_, "The Guard dies, but does not surrender" (1770-1842).

CAMBUS'CAN, king of Tartary, identified with Genghis Khan, who had a wonderful steed of bra.s.s, magically obedient to the wish of the rider, together with a magical mirror, sword, and ring.

CAMBY'SES, king of Persia, succeeded his father, the great Cyrus; invaded and subdued Egypt, but afterwards suffered serious reverses, and in the end gave himself up to dissipation and vindictive acts of cruelty, from which not only his subjects suffered, but the members of his own family; _d_. 54 B.C.

CAMBYSES, KING, a ranting character in a play called "The Lamentable Tragedy"; referred to by Falstaff in I Henry IV., Act ii. sc. 4.

CAMDEN (58), a busy town in New Jersey, U.S., on the left bank of the Delaware, opposite Philadelphia; the terminus of six railways.

CAMDEN, CHARLES PRATT, FIRST EARL OF, a distinguished British lawyer and statesman, chief-justice of the King's Bench in George I.'s reign, and ultimately Lord Chancellor of England; opposed, as judge in the case, the prosecution of Wilkes as illegal, and as a statesman the policy and action of the government towards the American colonies; he was created earl in 1786 (1713-1794).

CAMDEN, WILLIAM, a learned English antiquary, the first and most famous born in London; second master, and eventually head-master in Westminster School, during which time he gave proof of his antiquarian knowledge, which led to his appointment as Clarencieux king-at-arms; author of "Britannia," a historical and topographical account of the British Isles, his most widely known work, and "Annals of Elizabeth's Reign," both, as all the rest of his works, written in Latin; he has been surnamed the Strabo and the Pausanias of England (1551-1623).

CAMELOT, a place in Somerset, where, it is presumed, King Arthur held his court, and where entrenchments of an old town are still to be seen.

CAMENae, in the Roman mythology a set of nymphs endowed with semi-prophetic powers, and sometimes identified with the Muses.

CAMEO, a precious stone cut in relief; consists generally of two or three different colours, the upper cut in relief and the under forming the ground.

CAMERA LUCIDA, an optical instrument or contrivance, by means of which the image of an object may be made to appear on a light or white surface.

CAMERA OBSCURA, an optical contrivance, by means of which the images of external objects are exhibited distinctly on a surface in the focus of the lens.

CAMERARIUS, a distinguished scholar, born at Bamberg; active as a German Reformer; played a prominent part in the religious struggles of his time; friend and biographer of Melanchthon; collaborated with him in drawing up the Augsburg Confession (1500-1574).

CAMERON, JOHN, a learned divine, born in Glasgow, who held several professorial appointments on the Continent; was for a time Princ.i.p.al of Glasgow University; his knowledge was so extensive that he was styled a "walking library," but he fell in disfavour with the people for his doctrine of pa.s.sive obedience, and he died of a wound inflicted by an opponent of his views (1579-1625).

CAMERON, RICHARD, a Scotch Covenanter of the 17th century, born in Falkland, Fife; a ringleader of the persecuted Presbyterians, took to arms along with sixty others in defence of his rights; was surprised by a body of dragoons at AIRDS MOSS (q. v.), and after a brave fight slain, his head and hands cut off, and fixed on the Netherbow Port, at the head of the Canongate, Edinburgh, in 1680.

CAMERON, VERNEY LOVETT, African explorer, born near Weymouth; traversed Africa all the way from east to west (1873-75); he was on the track of important discoveries, but his explorations were cut short by the natives; wrote "Across Africa" (1844-1894).

CAMERONIANS (1), a Presbyterian body in Scotland who derived their name from Richard Cameron, contended like him for the faith to which the nation by covenant had bound itself, and even declined to take the oath of allegiance to sovereigns such as William III. and his successors, who did not explicitly concede to the nation this right. (2) Also a British regiment, originally raised in defence of Scottish religious rights; for long the 26th Regiment of the British line, now the Scottish Rifles.

CAMEROON, (1) a river in W. Africa, falling by a wide estuary into the Bight of Biafra, known as the oil river, from the quant.i.ties of palm-oil exported; (2) a mountain range, a volcanic group, the highest peak nearly 14,000 ft., NW. of the estuary; (3) also a German colony, extending 199 m. along the coast.

CAMILLA, (1) a virgin queen of the Volsci, one of the heroines in the "aeneid," noted for her preternatural fleetness on the racecourse, and her grace; (2) also a sister of the HORATII (q. v.), killed by her brother because she wept at the death of her affiance, one of the CURIATII (q. v.), whom the Horatii slew.

CAMILLUS, MARCUS FURIUS, a famous patrician of early Rome; took Veii, a rival town, after a ten years' siege; retired into voluntary exile at Ardea on account of the envy of his enemies in Rome; recalled from exile, saved Rome from destruction by the Gauls under Brennus, was five times elected dictator, and gained a succession of victories over rival Italian tribes; died at eighty of the plague, in 365 B.C., lamented by the whole nation, and remembered for generations after as one of the n.o.blest heroic figures in Roman history.

CAMISARDS, Huguenots of the Cevennes, who took up arms by thousands in serious revolt against Louis XIV., in which others joined, under Jean Cavalier their chief, after, and in consequence of, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685); so called because they wore a _camiso_ (Fr. a _chemise_), a blouse over their armour; were partly persuaded and partly compelled into submission by Marshal Villars in 1704.

CAMOeNS, the poet of Portugal, born at Lisbon, studied at Coimbra; fell in pa.s.sionate love with a lady of high rank in Lisbon, as she with him, but whom he was not allowed to marry; left Lisbon, joined the army, and fought against the Moors; volunteered service in India, arrived at Goa, and got into trouble with the Portuguese authorities; was banished to Macao, and consoled himself by writing his "Lusiad"; coming home he lost everything but his poem; died neglected and in poverty; the t.i.tle of the poem is properly "The Lusiads," or the Lusitanians, i. e. the Portuguese, and is their national epic, called, not inaptly, the "Epos of Commerce"; it has been translated into most European languages, and into English alone no fewer than six times (1524-1580).

CAMORRA, a secret society in Naples with wide ramifications, which at one time had by sheer terrorism considerable political influence in the country; when steps were taken by Francis II. to suppress it, the members of it joined the revolutionary party, and had their revenge in the expulsion eventually of the Bourbons from Italy.

CAMPAGNA, (1) an unhealthy flat district round Rome, co-extensive with ancient Latium, infested with malaria; (2) a town in Italy, in Salerno, with a cathedral, and a trade in wine, oil, and fruit.

CAMPAIGN, THE, poem by Addison in celebration of Marlborough's victory at Blenheim.

CAMPAN, MME. DE, born at Paris, faithful friend and confidante of Marie Antoinette; after the Revolution opened a boarding-school at St.

Germain; became under Napoleon matron of an inst.i.tution for daughters of officers of the Legion of Honour; wrote the "Private Life of Marie Antoinette" (1752-1822).

CAMPANELLA, TOMMASO, an Italian philosopher of the transition period, originally a Dominican monk, born in Calabria; contemporary of Bacon; aimed, like him, at the reform of philosophy; opposed scholasticism, fell back upon the ancient systems, and devoted himself to the study of nature; was persecuted all along by the Church, and spent 27 years of his life in a Neapolitan dungeon; released, he retired to France, and enjoyed the protection of Richelieu; he was the author of sonnets as well as philosophical works (1568-1639).

CAMPANIA, an ancient prov. in the W. of Italy, of great fertility, and yields corn, wine, and oil in great abundance; Capua was the capital, the chief towns of which now are Naples, Salerno, and Gaeta; it was a favourite resort of the wealthy families of ancient Rome.

CAMPANILE, a tower for bells constructed beside a church, but not attached to it; very common in Italian cities, the leaning tower of Pisa being one, and that of Florence one of the most famous.

CAMPBELL, a celebrated Scottish Highland clan, the members of which have played an important role in English and Scottish history.

CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER, an Anti-Calvinistic Baptist, born in Antrim; emigrated to America in 1807, and founded a sect called the "Disciples of Christ"; disowned creeds, and owned no authority in religion but the Bible; the sect has upwards of 5000 meeting-houses in America, and over half a million members. Campbell executed a translation of the New Testament, in which he employed the words "immercer" and "immersion" for "baptist" and "baptism" (1788-1866).