Chapter XVII: Part 17

CHAPTER (a shortened form of _chapiter_, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. _chapitre_, Lat. _capitellum_, diminutive of _caput_, head), a principal division or section of a book, and so applied to acts of parliament, as forming "chapters" or divisions of the legislation of a session of parliament. The name "chapter" is given to the permanent body of the canons of a cathedral or collegiate church, presided over, in the English Church, by the dean, and in the Roman communion by the provost or the dean, and also to the body of the members of a religious order. This may be a "conventual" chapter of the monks of a particular monastery, "provincial" of the members of the order in a province, or "general" of the whole order. This ecclesiastical use of the word arose from the custom of reading a chapter of Scripture, or a head (_capitulum_) of the _regula_, to the assembled canons or monks. The transference from the reading to the assembly itself, and to the members constituting it, was easy, through such phrases as _convenire ad capitulum_. The title "chapter" is similarly used of the assembled body of knights of a military or other order. (See also CANON; CATHEDRAL; DEAN).

CHAPTER-HOUSE (Lat. _capitolium_, Ital. _capitolo_, Fr. _chapitre_, Ger. _Kapitelhaus_), the chamber in which the chapter or heads of the monastic bodies (see ABBEY and CATHEDRAL) assembled to transact business. They are of various forms; some are oblong apartments, as Canterbury, Exeter, Chester, Gloucester, &c.; some octagonal, as Salisbury, Westminster, Wells, Lincoln, York, &c. That at Lincoln has ten sides, and that at Worcester is circular; most are vaulted internally and polygonal externally, and some, as Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln, Worcester, &c., depend on a single slight vaulting shaft for the support of the massive vaulting. They are often provided with a vestibule, as at Westminster, Lincoln, Salisbury and are almost exclusively English.

CHAPU, formerly an important maritime town of China, in the province of Cheh-kiang, 50 m. N.W. of Chen-hai, situated in one of the richest and best cultivated districts in the country. It is the port of Hang-chow, with which it has good canal communication, and it was formerly the only Chinese port trading with Japan. The town has a circuit of about 5 m. exclusive of the suburbs that lie along the beach; and the Tatar quarter is separated from the rest by a wall. It was captured and much injured by the British force in 1842, but was abandoned immediately after the engagement. The sea around it has now silted up, though in the middle of the 19th century it was accessible to the light-draught ships of the British fleet.

CHAR (_Salvelinus_), a fish of the family Salmonidae, represented in Europe, Asia and North America. The best known and most widely distributed species, the one represented in British and Irish lakes, is _S. alpinus_, a graceful and delicious fish, covered with very minute scales and usually dark olive, bluish or purplish black above, with or without round orange or red spots, pinkish white or yellowish pink to scarlet or claret red below. When the char go to sea, they assume a more silvery coloration, similar to that of the salmon and sea trout; the red spots become very indistinct and the lower parts are almost white. The very young are also silvery on the sides and white below, and bear 11 to 15 bars, or parr-marks, on the side. This fish varies much according to localities; and the difference in colour, together with a few points of doubtful constancy, have given rise to the establishment of a great number of untenable so-called species, as many as seven having been ascribed to the British and Irish fauna, viz. _S. alpinus, nivalis, killinensis, willoughbyi, perisii, colii_ and _grayi_, the last from Lough Melvin, Ireland, being the most distinct. _S. alpinus_ varies much in size according to the waters it inhabits, remaining dwarfed in some English lakes, and growing to 2 ft. or more in other localities. In other parts of Europe, also, various local forms have been distinguished, such as the "omble chevalier" of the lakes of Switzerland and Savoy (_S. umbla_), the "Sabling" of the lakes of South Germany and Austria (_S. salvelinus_), the "kullmund" of Norway (_S. carbonarius_), &c., while the North American _S. parkei, alipes, stagnalis, arcturus, areolus, oquassa_ and _marstoni_ may also be regarded as varieties. Taken in this wide sense, _S. alpinus_ has a very extensive distribution. In central Europe, in the British islands and in the greater part of Scandinavia it is confined to mountain lakes, but farther to the north, in both the Old World and the New, it lives in the sea and ascends rivers to spawn. In Lapland, Iceland, Greenland and other parts of the arctic regions, it ranks among the commonest fishes. The extreme northern point at which char have been obtained is 82 deg. 34' N. (Victoria lake and Floeberg Beach, Arctic America). It reaches an altitude of 2600 ft. in the Alps and 6000 ft. in the Carpathians.

The American brook char, _S. fontinalis_, is a close ally of _S. alpinus_, differing from it in having fewer and shorter gill-rakers, a rather stouter body, the back more or less barred or marbled with dark olive or black, and the dorsal and caudal fins mottled or barred with black. Many local varieties of colour have been distinguished. Sea-run individuals are often nearly plain bright silvery. It is a small species, growing to about 18 in. abundant in all clear, cold streams of North America, east of the Mississippi, northward to Labrador. The fish has been introduced into other parts of the United States, and also into Europe.

Another member of the same section of Salmonidae is the Great Lake char of North America, _S. namaycush_, one of the largest salmonids, said to attain a weight of 100 lb. The body is very elongate and covered with extremely small scales. The colour varies from grey to black, with numerous round pale spots, which may be tinged with reddish; the dorsal and caudal fins reticulate with darker. This fish inhabits the Great Lakes regions and neighbouring parts of North America.

CHAR-A-BANC (Fr. for "benched carriage"), a large form of wagonette-like vehicle for passengers, but with benched seats arranged in rows, looking forward, commonly used for large parties, whether as public conveyances or for excursions.

CHARACTER (Gr. [Greek: charakter] from [Greek: charattein], to scratch), a distinctive mark (spelt "caracter" up to the 16th century, with other variants); so applied to symbols of notation or letters of the alphabet; more figuratively, the distinguishing traits of anything, and particularly the moral and mental qualities of an individual human being, the sum of those qualities which distinguish him as a personality. From the latter usage "a character" becomes almost identical with "reputation"; and in the sense of "giving a servant a character," the word involves a written testimonial. For the law relating to servants' characters see MASTER AND SERVANT. A further development is the use of "character" to mean an "odd or eccentric person"; or of a "character actor," to mean an actor who plays a highly-coloured strange part. The word is also used as the name of a form of literature, consisting of short descriptions of types of character. Well-known examples of such "characters" are those of Theophrastus and La Bruyere, and in English, of Joseph Hall (1574-1656) and Sir Thomas Overbury.

CHARADE, a kind of riddle, probably invented in France during the 18th century, in which a word of two or more syllables is divined by guessing and combining into one word (the answer) the different syllables, each of which is described, as an independent word, by the giver of the charade. Charades may be either in prose or verse. Of poetic charades those by W. Mackworth Praed are well known and excellent examples, while the following specimens in prose may suffice as illustrations. "My _first_, with the most rooted antipathy to a Frenchman, prides himself, whenever they meet, upon sticking close to his jacket; my _second_ has many virtues, nor is its least that it gives its name to my first; my _whole_ may I never catch!" "My _first_ is company; my _second_ shuns company; my _third_ collects company; and my _whole_ amuses company." The solutions are _Tar-tar_ and _Co-nun-drum_. The most popular form of this amusement is the acted charade, in which the meaning of the different syllables is acted out on the stage, the audience being left to guess each syllable and thus, combining the meaning of all the syllables, the whole word. A brilliant example of the acted charade is described in Thackeray's _Vanity Fair_.

CHARCOAL, the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing the volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances; wood gives origin to wood-charcoal; sugar to sugar-charcoal; bone to bone-charcoal (which, however, mainly consists of calcium phosphate); while coal gives "coke" and "gas-carbon." The first part of the word charcoal is of obscure origin. The independent use of "char," meaning to scorch, to reduce to carbon, is comparatively recent, and must have been taken from "charcoal," which is quite early. The _New English Dictionary_ gives as the earliest instance of "char" a quotation dated 1679. Similarly the word "chark" or "chak," meaning the same as "char," is also late, and is probably due to a wrong division of the word "charcoal," or, as it was often spelled in the 16th and 17th centuries, "charkole" and "charke-coal." No suggestions for an origin of "char" are satisfactory. It may be a use of the word "chare," which appears in "char-woman," the American "chore"; in all these words it means "turn," a turn of work, a job, and "charcoal" would have to mean "turned coal," i.e. wood changed or turned to coal, a somewhat forced derivation, for which there is no authority. Another suggestion is that it is connected with "chirk" or "chark," an old word meaning "to make a grating noise."

_Wood-charcoal._--In districts where there is an abundance of wood, as in the forests of France, Austria and Sweden, the operation of charcoal-burning is of the crudest description. The method, which dates back to a very remote period, generally consists in piling billets of wood on their ends so as to form a conical pile, openings being left at the bottom to admit air, with a central shaft to serve as a flue. The whole is covered with turf of moistened soil. The firing is begun at the bottom of the flue, and gradually spreads outwards and upwards. The success of the operation--both as to the intrinsic value of the product and its amount--depends upon the rate of the combustion. Under average conditions, 100 parts of wood yield about 60 parts by volume, or 25 parts by weight, of charcoal. The modern process of carbonizing wood--either in small pieces or as sawdust--in cast iron retorts is extensively practised where wood is scarce, and also by reason of the recovery of valuable by-products (wood spirit, pyroligneous acid, wood-tar), which the process permits. The question of the temperature of the carbonization is important; according to J. Percy, wood becomes brown at 220 deg. C., a deep brown-black after some time at 280 deg., and an easily powdered mass at 310 deg. Charcoal made at 300 deg. is brown, soft and friable, and readily inflames at 380 deg.; made at higher temperatures it is hard and brittle, and does not fire until heated to about 700 deg. One of the most important applications of wood-charcoal is as a constituent of gunpowder (q.v.). It is also used in metallurgical operations as a reducing agent, but its application has been diminished by the introduction of coke, anthracite smalls, &c. A limited quantity is made up into the form of drawing crayons; but the greatest amount is used as a fuel.

The porosity of wood-charcoal explains why it floats on the surface of water, although it is actually denser, its specific gravity being about 1.5. The porosity also explains the property of absorbing gases and vapours; at ordinary temperatures ammonia and cyanogen are most readily taken up; and Sir James Dewar has utilized this property for the preparation of high vacua at low temperatures. This character is commercially applied in the use of wood-charcoal as a disinfectant. The fetid gases produced by the putrefaction and waste of organic matter enter into the pores of the charcoal, and there meet with the oxygen previously absorbed from the atmosphere; oxidation ensues, and the noxious effluvia are decomposed. Generally, however, the action is a purely mechanical one, the gases being only absorbed. Its pharmacological action depends on the same property; it absorbs the gases of the stomach and intestines (hence its use in cases of flatulence), and also liquids and solids. Wood-charcoal has also the power of removing colouring matters from solutions, but this property is possessed in a much higher degree by animal-charcoal.

_Animal-charcoal_ or _bone black_ is the carbonaceous residue obtained by the dry distillation of bones; it contains only about 10% of carbon, the remainder being calcium and magnesium phosphates (80%) and other inorganic material originally present in the bones. It is generally manufactured from the residues obtained in the glue (q.v.) and gelatin (q.v.) industries. Its decolorizing power was applied in 1812 by Derosne to the clarification of the syrups obtained in sugar-refining; but its use in this direction has now greatly diminished, owing to the introduction of more active and easily managed reagents. It is still used to some extent in laboratory practice. The decolorizing power is not permanent, becoming lost after using for some time; it may be revived, however, by washing and reheating.

_Lampblack_ or _soot_ is the familiar product of the incomplete combustion of oils, pitch, resins, tallow, &c. It is generally prepared by burning pitch residues (see COAL-TAR) and condensing the product. Thus obtained it is always oily, and, before using as a pigment, it must be purified by ignition in closed crucibles (see CARBON).

CHARCOT, JEAN MARTIN (1825-1893), French physician, was born in Paris on the 29th of November 1825. In 1853 he graduated as M.D. of Paris University, and three years later was appointed physician of the Central Hospital Bureau. In 1860 he became professor of pathological anatomy in the medical faculty of Paris, and in 1862 began that famous connexion with the Salpetriere which lasted to the end of his life. He was elected to the Academy of Medicine in 1873, and ten years afterwards became a member of the Institute. His death occurred suddenly on the 16th of August 1893 at Morvan, where he had gone for a holiday. Charcot, who was a good linguist and well acquainted with the literature of his own as well as of other countries, excelled as a clinical observer and a pathologist. His work at the Salpetriere exerted a great influence on the development of the science of neurology, and his classical _Lecons sur les maladies du systeme nerveux_, the first series of which was published in 1873, represents an enormous advance in the knowledge and discrimination of nervous diseases. He also devoted much attention to the study of obscure morbid conditions like hysteria, especially in relation to hypnotism (q.v.); indeed, it is in connexion with his investigation into the phenomena and results of the latter that his name is popularly known. In addition to his labours on neurological and even physiological problems he made many contributions to other branches of medicine, his published works dealing, among other topics, with liver and kidney diseases, gout and pulmonary phthisis. As a teacher he was remarkably successful, and always commanded an enthusiastic band of followers.

CHARD, JOHN ROUSE MERRIOTT (1847-1897), British soldier, was born at Boxhill, near Plymouth, on the 21st of December 1847, and in 1868 entered the Royal Engineers. In 1878 Lieutenant Chard was ordered to South Africa to take part in the Zulu War, and was stationed at the small post of Rorke's Drift to protect the bridges across the Buffalo river, and some sick men and stores. Here, with Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead (1856-1891) and eighty men of the 2nd 24th Foot, he heard, on the 22nd of January 1879, of the disaster of Isandhlwana from some fugitives who had escaped the slaughter. Believing that the victorious Zulus would attempt to cross into Natal, they prepared, hastily, to hold the Drift until help should come. They barricaded and loopholed the old church and hospital, and improvised defences from wagons, mealie sacks and bags of Indian corn. Early in the afternoon they were attacked by more than 3000 Zulus, who, after hours of desperate hand-to-hand fighting, carried the outer defences, an inner low wall of biscuit boxes, and the hospital, room by room. The garrison then retired to the stone kraal, and repulsed attack after attack through the night. The next morning relieving forces appeared, and the enemy retired. The spirited defence of Rorke's Drift saved Natal from a Zulu invasion, and Chard's and Bromhead's gallantry was rewarded with the V.C. and immediate promotion to the rank of captain and brevet-major. On Chard's return to England he became a popular hero. From 1893-1896 he commanded the Royal Engineers at Singapore, and was made a colonel in 1897. He died the same year at Hatch-Beauchamp, near Taunton, on the 1st of November.

CHARD, a market town and municipal borough in the Southern parliamentary division of Somersetshire, England, 142-1/2 m. W. by S. of London by the London & South Western railway. Pop. (1901) 4437. It stands on high ground within 1 m. of the Devonshire border. Its cruciform parish church of St Mary the Virgin is Perpendicular of the 15th century. A fine east window is preserved. The manufactures include linen, lace, woollens, brassware and ironware. Chard is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 444 acres.

Chard (_Cerdre_, _Cherdre_, _Cherde_) was commercial in origin, being a trade centre near the Roman road to the west. There are two Roman villas in the parish. There was a British camp at Neroche in the neighbourhood. The bishop of Bath held Chard in 1086, and his successor granted in 1234 the first charter which made Chard a free borough, each burgage paying a rent of 12d. Trade in hides was forbidden to non-burgesses. This charter was confirmed in 1253, 1280 and 1285. Chard is said to have been incorporated by Elizabeth, as the corporation seal dates from 1570, but no Elizabethan charter can be found. It was incorporated by grant of Charles I. in 1642, and Charles II. gave a charter in 1683. Chard was a mesne borough, the first overlord being Bishop Joceline, whose successors held it (with a brief interval from 1545 to 1552) until 1801, when it was sold to Earl Poulett. Parliamentary representation began in 1312, and was lost in 1328. A market on Monday and fair on the 25th of July were granted in 1253, and confirmed in 1642 and 1683, when two more fair days were added (November 2 and May 3), the market being changed to Tuesday. The market day is now Monday, fairs being held on the first Wednesday in May, August and November, for corn and cattle only, their medieval importance as centres of the cloth trade having departed.

CHARDIN, JEAN SIMEON (1699-1779), French _genre_ painter, was born in Paris, and studied under Pierre Jacques Cazes (1676-1754), the historical painter, and Noel Nicolas Coypel. He became famous for his still-life pictures and domestic interiors, which are well represented at the Louvre, and for figure-painting, as in his _Le Benedicite_ (1740).

CHARDIN, SIR JOHN (1643-1713), French traveller, was born at Paris in 1643. His father, a wealthy jeweller, gave him an excellent education, and trained him in his own art; but instead of settling down in the ordinary routine of the craft, he set out in company with a Lyons merchant named Raisin in 1665 for Persia and India, partly on business and partly to gratify his own inclination. After a highly successful journey, during which he had received the patronage of Shah Abbas II. of Persia, he returned to France in 1670, and there published in the following year _Recit du Couronnement du roi de Perse Soliman III_. Finding, however, that his Protestant profession cut him off from all hope of honours or advancement in his native country, he set out again for Persia in August 1671. This second journey was much more adventurous than the first, as instead of going directly to his destination, he passed by Smyrna, Constantinople, the Crimea, Caucasia, Mingrelia and Georgia, and did not reach Ispahan till June 1673. After four years spent in researches throughout Persia, he again visited India, and returned to Europe by the Cape of Good Hope in 1677. The persecution of Protestants in France led him, in 1681, to settle in London, where he was appointed jeweller to the court, and received from Charles II. the honour of knighthood. In 1683 he was sent to Holland as representative of the English East India Company; and in 1686 he published the first part of his great narrative--_The Travels of Sir John Chardin into Persia and the East Indies, &c._ (London). Sir John died in London in 1713, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his monument bears the inscription _Nomen sibi fecit eundo_.

It was not till 1711 that the complete account of Chardin's travels
appeared, under the title of _Journal du voyage du chevalier Chardin_,
at Amsterdam. The Persian portion is to be found in vol. ii. of
Harris's _Collection_, and extracts are reprinted by Pinkerton in vol.
ix. The best complete reprint is by Langles (Paris, 1811). Sir John
Chardin's narrative has received the highest praise from the most
competent authorities for its fulness, comprehensiveness and fidelity;
and it furnished Montesquieu, Rousseau, Gibbon and Helvetius with most
important material.

CHARENTE, an inland department of south-western France, comprehending the ancient province of Angoumois, and inconsiderable portions of Saintonge, Poitou, Marche, Limousin and Perigord. It is bounded N. by the departments of Deux-Sevres and Vienne, E. by those of Vienne and Dordogne, S. by Dordogne and W. by Charente-Inferieure. Area 2305 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 351,733. The department, though it contains no high altitudes, is for the most part of a hilly nature. The highest points, many of which exceed 1000 ft., are found in the Confolentais, the granite region of the extreme north-east, known also as the Terres Froides. In the Terres Chaudes, under which name the remainder of the department is included, the levels vary in general between 300 and 650 ft., except in the western plains--the Pays-Bas and Champagne--where they range from 40 to 300 ft. A large part of Charente is thickly wooded, the principal forests lying in its northern districts. The department, as its name indicates, belongs mainly to the basin of the river Charente (area of basin 3860 sq. m.; length of river 225 m.), the chief affluents of which, within its borders, are the Tardoire, the Touvre and the Ne. The Confolentais is watered by the Vienne, a tributary of the Loire, while the arrondissement of Barbexieux in the south-west belongs almost wholly to the basin of the Gironde.

The climate is temperate but moist, the rainfall being highest in the north-east. Agriculturally, Charente is prosperous. More than half its surface is arable land, on the greater part of which cereals are grown. The potato is an important crop. The vine is predominant in the region of Champagne, the wine produced being chiefly distilled into the famous brandy to which the town of Cognac gives its name. The best pasture is found in the Confolentais, where horned cattle are largely reared. The chief fruits are chestnuts, walnuts and cider-apples. The poultry raised in the neighbourhood of Barbezieux is highly esteemed. Charente has numerous stone quarries, and there are peat workings and beds of clay which supply brick and tile-works and earthenware manufactories. Among the other industries, paper-making, which has its chief centre at Angouleme, is foremost. The most important metallurgical establishment is the large foundry of naval guns at Ruelle. Flour-mills and leather-works are numerous. There are also many minor industries subsidiary to paper-making and brandy-distilling, and Angouleme manufactures gunpowder and confectionery. Coal, salt and timber are prominent imports. Exports include paper, brandy, stone and agricultural products. The department is served chiefly by the Orleans and Ouest-Etat railways, and the Charente is navigable below Angouleme. Charente is divided into the five arrondissements of Angouleme, Cognac, Ruffec, Barbezieux and Confolens (29 cantons, 426 communes). It belongs to the region of the XII. army corps, to the province of the archbishop of Bordeaux, and to the academie (educational division) of Poitiers. Its court of appeal is at Bordeaux.

Angouleme (the capital), Cognac, Confolens, Jarnac and La Rochefoucauld (q.v.) are the more noteworthy places in the department. Barbezieux and Ruffec, capitals of arrondissements and agricultural centres, are otherwise of little importance. The department abounds in churches of Romanesque architecture, of which those of Bassac, St Amant-de-Boixe (portions of which are Gothic in style), Plassac and Gensac-la-Pallue may be mentioned. There are remains of a Gothic abbey church at La Couronne, and Roman remains at St Cybardeaux, Brossac and Chassenon (where there are ruins of the Gallo-Roman town of Cassinomagus).

CHARENTE-INFERIEURE, a maritime department of south-western France, comprehending the old provinces of Saintonge and Aunis, and a small portion of Poitou, and including the islands of Re, Oleron, Aix and Madame. Area, 2791 sq.m. Pop. (1906) 453,793. It is bounded N. by Vendee, N.E. by Deux-Sevres, E. by Charente, S.E. by Dordogne, S.W. by Gironde and the estuary of the Gironde, and W. by the Bay of Biscay. Plains and low hills occupy the interior; the coast is flat and marshy, as are the islands (Re, Aix, Oleron) which lie opposite to it. The department takes its name from the river Charente, which traverses it during the last 61 m. of its course and drains the central region. Its chief tributaries are on the right the Boutonne, on the left the Seugne. The climate is temperate and, except along the coast, healthy. There are several sheltered bays on the coast, and several good harbours, the chief of which are La Rochelle, Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente, the two latter some distance up the Charente. Royan on the north shore of the Gironde is an important watering-place much frequented for its bathing.

The majority of the inhabitants of Charente-Inferieure live by agriculture. The chief products of the arable land are wheat, oats, maize, barley and the potato. Horse and cattle-raising is carried on and dairying is prosperous. A considerable quantity of wine, most of which is distilled into brandy, is produced. The department has a few peat-workings, and produces freestone, lime and cement; the salt-marshes of the coast are important sources of mineral wealth. Glass, pottery, bricks and earthenware are prominent industrial products. Ship-building, brandy-distilling, iron-founding and machine construction are also carried on. Oysters and mussels are bred in the neighbourhood of La Rochelle and Marennes, and there are numerous fishing ports along the coast.

The railways traversing the department belong to the Ouest-Etat system, except one section of the Paris-Bordeaux line belonging to the Orleans Company. The facilities of the department for internal communication are greatly increased by the number of navigable streams which water it. The Charente, the Sevre Niortaise, the Boutonne, the Seudre and the Gironde furnish 142 m. of navigable waterway, to which must be added the 56 m. covered by the canals of the coast. There are 6 arrondissements (40 cantons, 481 communes), cognominal with the towns of La Rochelle, Rochefort, Marennes, Saintes, Jonzac and St Jean d'Angely--La Rochelle being the chief town of the department. The department forms the diocese of La Rochelle, and is attached to the 18th military region, and in educational matters to the academie of Poitiers. Its court of appeal is at Poitiers.

La Rochelle, St Jean d'Angely, Rochefort and Saintes (q.v.) are the principal towns. Surgeres and Aulnay possess fine specimens of the numerous Romanesque churches. Pons has a graceful chateau of the 15th and 16th centuries, beside which there rises a fine keep of the 12th century.

CHARENTON-LE-PONT, a town of northern France in the department of Seine, situated on the right bank of the Marne, at its confluence with the Seine, 1 m. S.E. of the fortifications of Paris, of which it is a suburb. Pop. (1906) 18,034. It derives the distinctive part of its name from the stone bridge of ten arches which crosses the Marne and unites the town with Alfortville, well known for its veterinary school founded in 1766. It has always been regarded as a point of great importance for the defence of the capital, and has frequently been the scene of sanguinary conflicts. The fort of Charenton on the left bank of the Marne is one of the older forts of the Paris defence. In the 16th and 17th centuries Charenton was the scene of the ecclesiastical councils of the Protestant party, which had its principal church in the town. At St Maurice adjoining Charenton is the famous Hospice de Charenton, a lunatic asylum, the foundation of which dates from 1641. Till the time of the Revolution it was used as a general hospital, and even as a prison, but from 1802 onwards it was specially appropriated to the treatment of lunacy. St Maurice has two other national establishments, one for the victims of accidents in Paris (_asile national Vacassy_), the other for convalescent working-men (_asile national de Vincennes_). Charenton has a port on the Canal de St Maurice, beside the Marne, and carries on boat-building and the manufacture of tiles and porcelain.

CHARES, Athenian general, is first heard of in 366 B.C. as assisting the Phliasians, who had been attacked by Argos and Sicyon. In 361 he visited Corcyra, where he helped the oligarchs to expel the democrats, a policy which led to the subsequent defection of the island from Athens. In 357, Chares was appointed to the command in the Social War, together with Chabrias, after whose death before Chios he was associated with Iphicrates and Timotheus (for the naval battle in the Hellespont, see TIMOTHEUS). Chares, having successfully thrown the blame for the defeat on his colleagues, was left sole commander, but receiving no supplies from Athens, took upon himself to join the revolted satrap Artabazus. A complaint from the Persian king, who threatened to send three hundred ships to the assistance of the confederates, led to the conclusion of peace (355) between Athens and her revolted allies, and the recall of Chares. In 349, he was sent to the assistance of Olynthus (q.v.) against Philip II. of Macedon, but returned without having effected anything; in the following year, when he reached Olynthus, he found it already in the hands of Philip. In 340 he was appointed to the command of a force sent to aid Byzantium against Philip, but the inhabitants, remembering his former plunderings and extortions, refused to receive him. In 338 he was defeated by Philip at Amphissa, and was one of the commanders at the disastrous battle of Chaeroneia. Lysicles, one of his colleagues, was condemned to death, while Chares does not seem to have been even accused. After the conquest of Thebes by Alexander (335), Chares is said to have been one of the Athenian orators and generals whose surrender was demanded. Two years later he was living at Sigeum, for Arrian (_Anabasis_ i. 12) states that he went from there to pay his respects to Alexander. In 332 he entered the service of Darius and took over the command of a Persian force in Mytilene, but capitulated on the approach of a Macedonian fleet on condition of being allowed to retire unmolested. He is last heard of at Taenarum, and is supposed to have died at Sigeum. Although boastful and vain-glorious, Chares was not lacking in personal courage, and was among the best Athenian generals of his time. At the best, however, he was "hardly more than an ordinary leader of mercenaries" (A. Holm). He openly boasted of his profligacy, was exceedingly avaricious, and his bad faith became proverbial.

Diod. Sic. xv. 75, 95, xvi. 7, 21, 22, 85-88; Plutarch, _Phocion_, 14;
Theopompus, _ap._ Athenaeum, xii. p. 532; A. Schafer, _Demosthenes und
seine Zeit_ (1885); A. Holm, _History of Greece_ (Eng. trans., 1896),
vol. iii.

CHARES, of Lindus in Rhodes, a noted sculptor, who fashioned for the Rhodians a colossal bronze statue of the sun-god, the cost of which was defrayed by selling the warlike engines left behind by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he abandoned the siege of the city in 303 B.C. (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxiv. 41). The colossus was seventy cubits (105 ft.) in height; and its fingers were larger than many statues. The notion that the legs were planted apart, so that ships could sail between them, is absurd. The statue was thrown down by an earthquake after 56 years; but the remains lay for ages on the spot.

CHARES, of Mytilene, a Greek belonging to the suite of Alexander the Great. He was appointed court-marshal or introducer of strangers to the king, an office borrowed from the Persian court. He wrote a history of Alexander in ten books, dealing mainly with the private life of the king. The fragments are chiefly preserved in Athenaeus.

See _Scriptores Rerum Alexandri_ (pp. 114-120) in the Didot edition of
Arrian.

CHARGE (through the Fr. from the Late Lat. _carricare_, to load in a _carrus_ or wagon; cf. "cargo"), a load; from this, its primary meaning, also seen in the word "charger," a large dish, come the uses of the word for the powder and shot to load a firearm, the accumulation of electricity in a battery, the necessary quantity of dynamite or other explosive in blasting, and a device borne on an escutcheon in heraldry. "Charge" can thus mean a burden, and so a care or duty laid upon one, as in "to be in charge" of another. With a transference to that which lays such a duty on another, "charge" is used of the instructions given by a judge to a jury, or by a bishop to the clergy of his diocese. In the special sense of a pecuniary burden the word is used of the price of goods, of an encumbrance on property, and of the expenses of running a business. Further uses of the word are of the violent, rushing attack of cavalry, or of a bull or elephant, or football player; hence "charger" is a horse ridden in a charge, or more loosely a horse ridden by an officer, whether of infantry or cavalry.

CHARGE D'AFFAIRES (Fr. for "in charge of business"), the title of two classes of diplomatic agents, (1) _Charges d'affaires_ (_ministres charges d'affaires_), who were placed by the _reglement_ of the congress of Vienna in the 4th class of diplomatic agents, are heads of permanent missions accredited to countries to which, for some reason, it is not possible or not desirable to send agents of a higher rank. They are distinguished from these latter by the fact that their credentials are addressed by the minister for foreign affairs of the state which they are to represent to the minister for foreign affairs of the receiving state. Though still occasionally accredited, ministers of this class are now rare. They have precedence over the other class of _charges d'affaires_. (2) _Charges d'affaires per interim_, or _charges des affaires_, are those who are presented as such, either verbally or in writing, by heads of missions of the first, second or third rank to the minister for foreign affairs of the state to which they are accredited, when they leave their post temporarily, or pending the arrival of their successor. It is usual to appoint a counsellor or secretary of legation _charge d'affaires_. Some governments are accustomed to give the title of minister to such _charges d'affaires_, which ranks them with the other heads of legation. Essentially _charges d'affaires_ do not differ from ambassadors, envoys or ministers resident. They represent their nation, and enjoy the same privileges and immunities as other diplomatic agents (see DIPLOMACY).

CHARGING ORDER, in English law, an order obtained from a court or judge by a judgment creditor under the Judgment Acts 1838 and 1840, by which the property of the judgment debtor in any stocks or funds stands charged with the payment of the amount for which judgment shall have been recovered, with interest. A charging order can only be obtained in respect of an ascertained sum, but this would include a sum ordered to be paid at a future date. An order can be made on stock standing in the name of a trustee in trust for the judgment debtor, or on cash in court to the credit of the judgment debtor, but not on stock held by a debtor as a trustee. The application for a charging order is usually made by motion to a divisional court, though it may be made to a judge. The effect of the order is not that of a contract to pay the debt, but merely of an instrument of charge on the shares, signed by the debtor. An interval of six months must elapse before any proceedings are taken to enforce the charge, but, it necessary, a stop order on the fund and the dividends payable by the debtor can be obtained by the creditor to protect his interest A solicitor employed to prosecute any suit, matter or proceeding in any court, is entitled, on declaration of the court, to a charge for his costs upon the property recovered or preserved in such suit or proceeding. (See _Rules of the Supreme Court_, o. XLIX.)

CHARIBERT (d. 567), king of the Franks, was the son of Clotaire I. On Clotaire's death in 561 his estates were divided between his sons, Charibert receiving Paris as his capital, together with Rouen, Tours, Poitiers, Limoges, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Besides his wife, Ingoberga, he had unions with Merofleda, a wool-carder's daughter, and Theodogilda, the daughter of a neatherd. He was one of the most dissolute of the Merovingian kings, his early death in 567 being brought on by his excesses. (C. Pf.)

CHARIDEMUS, of Oreus in Euboea, Greek mercenary leader. About 367 B.C. he fought under the Athenian general Iphicrates against Amphipolis. Being ordered by Iphicrates to take the Amphipolitan hostages to Athens, he allowed them to return to their own people, and joined Cotys, king of Thrace, against Athens. Soon afterwards he fell into the hands of the Athenians and accepted the offer of Timotheus to re-enter their service. Having been dismissed by Timotheus (362) he joined the revolted satraps Memnon and Mentor in Asia, but soon lost their confidence, and was obliged to seek the protection of the Athenians. Finding, however, that he had nothing to fear from the Persians, he again joined Cotys, on whose murder he was appointed guardian to his youthful son Cersobleptes. In 357, on the arrival of Chares with considerable forces, the Chersonese was restored to Athens. The supporters of Charidemus represented this as due to his efforts, and, in spite of the opposition of Demosthenes, he was honoured with a golden crown and the franchise of the city. It was further resolved that his person should be inviolable. In 351 he commanded the Athenian forces in the Chersonese against Philip II. of Macedon, and in 349 he superseded Chares as commander in the Olynthian War. He achieved little success, but made himself detested by his insolence and profligacy, and was in turn replaced by Chares. After Chaeroneia the war party would have entrusted Charidemus[1] with the command against Philip, but the peace party secured the appointment of Phocion. He was one of those whose surrender was demanded by Alexander after the destruction of Thebes, but escaped with banishment. He fled to Darius III., who received him with distinction. But, having expressed his dissatisfaction with the preparations made by the king just before the battle of Issus (333), he was put to death.

See Diod. Sic. xvii. 30; Plutarch, _Phocion_, 16, 17; Arrian,
_Anabasis_, i. 10; Quintus Curtius iii. 2; Demosthenes, _Contra
Aristocratem_; A. Schafer, _Demosthenes und seine Zeit_ (1885).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] According to some authorities, this is a second Charidemus, the
first disappearing from history after being superseded by Chares in
the Olynthian war.

CHARING CROSS, the locality about the west end of the Strand and the north end of Whitehall, on the south-east side of Trafalgar Square, London, England. It falls within the bounds of the city of Westminster. Here Edward I. erected the last of the series of crosses to the memory of his queen, Eleanor (d. 1290). It stood near the present entrance to Charing Cross station of the South-Eastern & Chatham railway, in the courtyard of which a fine modern cross has been erected within a few feet of the exact site. A popular derivation of the name connected it with Edward's "dear queen" (_chere reine_), and a village of Cherringe or Charing grew up here later, but the true origin of the name is not known. There is a village of Charing in Kent, and the name is connected by some with that of a Saxon family, Cerring.