CADER ARTHUR
(better known as C. IDRIS, i.e. ARTHUR'S SEAT). Mtn. in Wales 2900 ft. high, in the S. of Merioneth. In Jonson's Wales "Caider A." is mentioned amongst the mtns. of Wales; and Jenkins pays an ingenious compliment to K. James by pointing out that "Charles James Stuart" makes anagrammatically "Claimes Arthur's Seat": "which is as much as to say, your Majesty s'ud be the first king of Gread Prittan, and sit in Cadier A., which is A.'s Chair." It was locally known as MANNOCKDENNY, q.v.
CADES
(i.e. KADESH, or more fully, KEDESHNAPHTHALI). Town in N. Palestine,
a little N.W. of the Lake of Huleh, now Kedes. In Greene & Lodge's Looking
Glass i. 1, Rasni, K. of Nineveh, boasts that he has "Beat proud Jeroboam
from his holds, Winning from C. to Samaria." This is quite unhistorical, for Jeroboam
II "restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the Sea of
the Arabah," and was never attacked by the Assyrians.
CADIZ
See CALES.
CADUSIA
The country of the Cadusi, on the S.W. shores of the Caspian Sea. They were a
warlike race, and often in revolt against the Persians. In Suckling's Aglaura
ii. 1, Thersames, the Prince of Persia, says, "Nothing but my marriage with
C. Can secure the adjoining country to it."
CAECUBUS AGER
A dist. of Latium on the Gulf of Amyclz, between Tarracina and Speluncae. It produced a wine which is most highly praised by Horace, Pliny, and Martial, though it afterwards lost its reputation. Herrick, in A Frolic (1647), says, "I'll drink the aged Cecubum Until the roof turn round."
CAELIAN
One of the 7 hills of Rome, lying in the S. part of the city, to the E. of the Aventine. Spenser, in Ruines of Rome iv., pictures Rome buried under her 7 hills, and says that "the C." is on her right hand.
CAEN
Town in Normandy, 123 m. N.W. of Paris, at the confluence of the Orne and the
Odon. William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda adorned it with many edifices,
including a palace, some parts of which are incorporated in the Palais de Justice;
and William is buried there in the Abbaye aux Hommes. The scene of B.&F. Brother
is laid at C. in the time of D. Rollo of Normandy, circ. A.D. 900. Dekker,
in Dead Term (1608), makes St. Paul's Steeple say, "Mauritius mounted me upon
arches and gave me ribs of stone which was fetched from Cane in Normandy." This
was after the destruction of the cathedral by fire in 1087. The gift of the C.
stone was one of the last acts of William the Conqueror.
CAERBRANCK
In Greene's Never too Late the hero, Francesco, lives at C. Probably Greene was thinking of the vill. of Brancaster in his native county of Norfolk.
CAERLEON
An ancient town in Monmouthsh. on the Usk. Formerly the chief town of Wales and 3rd city in Britain, but now reduced to something over 1000 inhabitants. Jonson, in Wales, pays a very forced compliment to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, by making Rheese say, "Then Car is plain Welse, C., Caermardin, Cardiffe." Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10, 25, says that king Leill "built Cairleill and built C. strong."
CAERMARTHEN
In S. Wales, the largest of the Welsh counties, and its capital. In Merlin
iv. 1, 8, the Clown says to Merlin, "If the devil were thy father, was not
thy mother born at Carmarden?" Spencer, F. Q iii. 3, 10, says, "A little while
Before that Merlin died he did intend A brasen wall in compass to compile About
Cairmardin." Drayton, Polyolb. iv., tells the same story. See also CAERLEON.
CAESAREA
A spt. town of Palestine, 30 m. N. of Jaffa and abt. the same distance from Jerusalem.
Built by Herod the Great 22 B.C. On the site of Strato's Tower, it was the capital
of Judea under the Roman procurators, but fell into decay after the Crusades and
is now a heap of ruins. In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. 2, 1, Frederick reports that the K. of Natolia has withdrawn his forces
from Europe and "sent them marching up to Belgasar, Acanthe, Antioch, and C. To
aid the kings of Soria and Jerusalem." The scene of Massinger's Virgin is laid
at C. during the reigns of Diocletian and Maximin about A.D. 300.
CAESAR'S GARDENS
At Rome on the Janiculum, on the further side of the Tiber. Caesar bequeathed
these gardens to the people of Rome. In J.
C. iii. 2, 353 Antony says, "He hath left you all his walks, His private arbours
and new-planted orchards, On this side Tiber." Shakespeare's mistake is due to
North's mistranslation of Plutarch: "the gardens . . . which he had on this side
of the river Tiber." Plutarch correctly places them on the other side of the river.
In Jonson's Poetaster iii. 1, Horace
speaks of someone as lodging "on the far side of all Tyber yonder, by C. g." This
is a translation of Horace, Sat. i. 9, 18: "Trans Tiberim longe cubat is, prope
Caesaris hortos."
CAFFARES
Used for the whole of S.W. Africa, extending, according to Heylyn, from the mtns.
of the Moon to the Cape of Good Hope. It is now limited, in the form Kaffraria,
to a small district on the E. of Cape Colony. In Cockayne's Obstinate
iii. 3, the Emperor of AEthiopia is described as also Emperor of C. See under
ADEA.
CAGE
A lock-up for malefactors. There was one such in Cornhill (q.v.), by the
Conduit, made of strong timbers with a pair of stocks and a pillory on the top
of it. There was another in High St., St. Giles' (q.v.). In H6
B. iv. 2, 56, Dick says of Cade, "his father had never a house but the C."
In B.&F.'s Wit Money iv. 4., Luce
says, "Say, he had been in the c., was there no mercy To look abroad but yours?"
CAGLIARI
The capital and chief spt. of Sardinia on the Bay of C. in the S. of the island.
In Ford's Trial iii. 4, Benatzi says,
"I was born at sea as my mother was in passage from Cape Ludugory to Cape C.,
toward Afric, in Sardinia." Probably he means Cape Carbonara on the E. of the
Bay of C.
CAIRFAX
See CARFAX.
CAIRO
(often called GRAND C.; Arabic, ELKAHIRAH). A city of Egypt founded by the
Arabs about A.D. 970, on the Nile. It was the 2nd largest city in the Turkish
Empire, and from 1517 onward was the capital of the Egyptian sultans. Marlowe,
in Tamb. B. i. 1, represents Tamburlaine
as "Marching from C. Northward with his camp To Alexandria"; and in i. 2 Callapine
is a prisoner in C. This is not historically accurate. Tamburlaine defeated Farag,
the Egyptian Sultan, near Damascus in 1499, but he never actually entered Egypt.
In Marlowe's Jew i. 1, Barabas says to
a merchant, "Thou could'st not come from Egypt or by Caire, But . . . Thou needs
must sail by Alexandria." In Greene's Orlando
i. 1, 21, the Souldan says, "Egypt is mine and there I hold my state, Seated
in Cairye and in Babylon." Peele, in Anglorum Feriae 28, says that Clio celebrates
the praises of Elizabeth "Beyond Grand Cair by Nilus' slimy bank." Milton, P.
L. i. 518, says of Pandemonium, "Not Babylon Nor great Alcairo such magnificence
Equalled in all their glories." Hall, in Satires iv. 6, says, "What monstrous
cities there erected by, Cayro, or the city of the Trinity."
CAITHNESS
The county in the extreme N.E. of Scotland. Strumbo, the clown in Locrine,
is a cobbler of C.: the author's geographical knowledge is somewhat vague, for
he apparently regards C. as a town. Strumbo, in ii. 2, is cited to appear "in
the town-house of Cathnes"; and the county as a whole he calls Cathnesia (ii.
3).
CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
(pronounced KEYS, more fully GONVILLE and CAIUS). It was originally founded as
Gonville Hall in 1348 by Edward Gonville, and refounded in 1558 by John Caius,
M.D. It has been greatly altered during the last cent., but the 3 famous gatesof
Humility, of Virtue, and of Honourare still retained. It is on the W. side
of Trinity St., next to Trinity. The author of Richardus Tertius was Thomas Legge,
master of C. In John Day's Peregrinatio Scholastica, he speaks of himself as the
"sometimes student of Gunvill and C. Colledge in Cambridge." Nathanael Richards,
the author of Messallina, was a scholar
of C., which he entered in 16289.
CAJETA
(the old CAIETA, now GAETA). Town on W. coast of Italy, at the N. extremity of
the Gulf of Gaeta, 70 m. S.E. of Rome. It is one of the most strongly fortified
ports in Italy, and was the summer residence of the Kings of Naples. It is an
archbp.'s See. In Davenant's Favourite
iii. i. Saladine brings to Eumena a petition from the "Abbot of C."
CALABRIA
The province which forms the "toe" of Italy, between the Gulf of Taranto and the
Mediterranean. It was a part of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In H6
B. i. 1, 7, "The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne, Alençon" are reported
as being present at the betrothal of Margaret of Anjou to Henry VI. The list is
taken verbatim from Hall. The D. of Calaber is apparently Rini, the father of
Margaret, who was titular K. of Sicily by the nomination of Joan II of Naples,
though he never succeeded in getting his inheritance. In Hycke
we have the similar form Calabre, mentioned as one of the countries that had
been visited by that very extensive traveller. In B.&F.'s Philaster
i. 1, Cleremont states that it is thought that the Spanish prince who has
come to woo Arethusa "shall enjoy both these kingdoms of Sicily and C." The kingdom
of the Two Sicilies passed to the Spanish house of Arragon in 1282. Ferdinand,
"the great Cn. Duke," is one of the principal characters in Webster's Malfi;
as the supposed date of the play is stated in ii. 3, to be Anno. Dom. 1504, he
must be Ferdinand V, who died in 1516. The allusion to Galileo's telescope, invented
about 1609, in ii. 4, is a mere anachronism. In Barnes' Charter
i. 4, Pope Alexander allots to Caesar Borgia the provinces from Tuscany "to
Petrosalia in C." In Dekker's If it
be 278, Jovinelli announces to the K., "Your long-expected happiness is arrived,
The princess of C." In Marlowe's Jew v.
4, Calymath points out the strong situation of Malta: "Strong countermined with
other petty isles, And, towards C., backed by Sicily." In Kyd's Cornelia v., the
Messenger talks of wolves attacking the flocks "in the fair Cn. fields." Milton,
P. L. ii. 661, speaks of Scylla bathing "in the sea that parts C. from the hoarse
Trinacrian shore."
The wines of C. had some reputation in ancient times. In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. i. 3, Tamburlaine promises, "Lachryma Christi and Cn. wines Shall common
soldiers drink in quaffing bowls." In Nabbes' Microcosmus iii., Sensuality specially
praises the wine of "Cn. Aulon."
There was a kind of fur called Calabre, apparently from the name of this province, though the reason for the name does not appear. In Greene's Quip, p. 239, Clothbreeches expostulates with the skinner, "If you have some fantastic skin not worth two-pence, you will swear 'tis a most precious skin, and came from Musco, or the furthest part of C.'' In Langland's Piers C. ix. 293, Physic is represented as having to sell "hus cloke of Calabre" in the good time coming when people give up gluttony and so do not suffer from illness. In Coventry M.P. 242, we have "Here colere splayed and furryd with ermyn, calabere, or saran." In Rabelais, Gargantua i. 56, the ladies in Theleme wear "martlet skins of C."
CALAIS
(Ce. = Callice). A town and fortress in N. France on the Straits of Dover, 26
m. from Dover and 185 from Paris. The word was pronounced as it is usually spelt
in the 16th cent.: Callice. It was taken by Edward III in 1346, and was held by
England until 1558, when it was captured by the D. of Guise. It was the last of
the English possessions in France. After the capture of Arthur near Angiers, John
leaves Q. Elinor behind in France, and returns to England by way of C.: "On toward
Callice, ho!" (K.J. iii. 3, 73).
In the reign of Richd. II, Thomas, D. of Gloucester (q.v.), was arrested
and confined at C. in the custody of Mowbray, the Earl Marshal; he died there,
and one of the charges made by Bolingbroke against Mowbray was that he was guilty
of the murder of Gloucester; and another was that he had detained the public money
for his own uses. He replies (R2 i.
1, 126): "Three parts of that receipt I had for Ce. Disbursed I duly . . . For
Gloucester's death, I slew him not." In iv. 1, 13, Bagot charges Aumerle with
complicity in Gloucester's murder: "I heard you say ` Is not my arm of length
That reacheth . . . As far as Ce., to mine uncle's head?" and in line 82 Fitzwater
adds, "Thou, Aumerle, didst send 2 of thy men To execute the noble D. at Ce."
The murder of Gloucester at C. is the subject of Trag.
Richd. II v. 1, where the Governor is wrongly called Lapoole. He says (53),
"This town of Callys shall for ever tell Within her castle walls plain Thomas
fell"; in iv. 1, 40, Richd. says he will send to the K. of France for aid: "And
in requital we'll surrender up our forts of Guynes and Callys to the French."
H5 iii. 2, 48 bears witness that
Nym and Bardolph "in Ce. stole a fire-shovel." After the capture of Harfleur Henry
resolves, "The winter is coming on and sickness growing Upon our soldiers, we
will retire to Ce." (iii. 3, 56). Henry was "willing to march on to Ce. Without
impeachment" (iii. 6, 150), but the French K. would not let him, and Agincourt
was the result. After the battle the K. proclaims, "Do we all holy rites . . .
And then to Ce., and to England then "(iv. 8, 130); and in v. prol. 7, the Chorus
bids the audience, "Bear the K. toward Ce." In H6
A. iv. 1, 9, Fastolfe rides "from Ce. In haste unto your coronation": and
after the coronation Henry announces (iv. 1, 170), "Ourself After some respite
will return to Ce., From thence to England." After the 1st battle of St. Alban's
and the subsequent revival of the Q.'s power, Warwick retired to C., of which
he was Governor. "Warwick," says the Q., "is Chancellor and the lord of Ce." (H6
C. i. 1, 238). Thence he came to win the battle of Northampton in 1460.
The story of the capture of C. by Edward III in 1347, and the successful intercession
of the Queen for the citizens, is related in Ed.
III iv. 2, and v. Langland's Piers B. iii. 105, has a curious allusion
to alleged proposals which were made to Edward to sell C. to the French. Mede,
reproaching Conscience, says, "Pore men thou robbedst and bere here bras at
thi bakke to Caleys to selle." The Treaty of Bretigny, which seemed to give
England no reward for her victories, provoked much dissatisfaction; and Mede
blames Conscience for this. In World
Child , Haz. i. 251, Manhood says, "C., Kent and Cornwall have I conquered
clean." The reference is to the taking of C. by Edward III. In Day's B.
Beggar i., Momford is accused of intending to "yield up Callis to the enemy."
The date is the early part of the reign of Henry VI. In Jonson's Devil
ii. 1, Fitz-Dottrell says, "Thomas of Woodstock was made away at Calice
as D. Humphrey was at Bury": an allusion to the murder of Gloucester mentioned
overleaf. In Chapman's D'Olive iv.
2, D'Olive says that in future all events will be dated from his ambassage:
"the loss of C. and the winning of Cales [i.e. Cadiz] shall grow out
of use." This is the capture of C. in 1558. In Webster's Law
Case iv. 2, the Waiting-Woman, to prove her age, says, "I can remember
the loss of C." In Sampson's Vow v.
3, 94, Q. Elizabeth says that Grey and Clifton "fought for our Sister [i.e.
Mary] at Ce." In Marmion's Leaguer
iv. 2, the Bawd says, "They may talk of Dunkirk or of Callis, enriched with
foreign booties." This is after C. had ceased to belong to England. In Hycke,
p. 101, written before the loss of the town, Frewyll, in answer to Contemplacyon,
who has been exhorting him to amend his life that "God may bring thee to Heaven,
the joyful city," says, "Will ye have me a fool? Nay, yet I had liefer be Captain
of Calyse.'' "Hance, the hangman of C. town," is mentioned in Fulwell's Like,
Haz. iii, 316. In John Evangel p. 359, Eugenio says to Actio, "By my faith,
ye shall be hangman of C." It will be remembered that the executioner of Q.
Anne Boleyn was the hangman of C.
"By the arms of C.'' seems to have been a common oath in the reign of Henry
VIII. The heraldic blazon of them runs: "Per Pale; dexter, sable on a cross
between 4 keys wards upward and to the dexter, a fleur-de-lis gules; impaling
sinister barry wavy argent and sable a lion rampant or." Roister
twice in the course of the play swears "by the arms of Caleys." In Respublica
iii. 5, Adultery swears, "by th' arms of C." In Skelton's Magnificence
fo. ix., Counterfeit Countenaunce says, "By the arms of Calys, well conceived."
I can suggest no reason for this oath, unless it was really taken by the Cross
in the arms: is it possible that the arms of C. means the Jousts at the Field
of the Cloth of Gold? During the wars in the Netherlands in the latter part
of the reign of Elizabeth, the soldiers returning by way of C. and Dover were
a set of sturdy beggars and annoyed the folk along the road by their insolent
demands. In Histrio iii. 100, we
read, "Callis cormorants from Dover road Are not so chargeable as you to feed."
In Thersites (Anon. Plays i. 209),
Miles says, "I am a poor soldier come of late from Ce.: I trust ere I go to
debate some of his malice": where the rhyme with" malice "shows the current
pronunciation.
The shortest way to the Continent was by way of Dover and C. Nash, in Pierce
G.1, says, "A man standing upon Callis sands may see men walking upon Dover
cliffs." In B.&F. Scornful i. 2,
Savil speaks of sham sailors as "Captains of galley-foists; such as in a clear
day have seen C.," i.e. they have only sailed on the Thames and have
never been to sea at all. In Jonson's Every
Man O. v. 4, Macilente suggests that Brisk would pay the insurance he has
promised to Puntarvolo on his safe return from Constantinople, "upon his bare
return from C.": the shortest possible sea-journey. In Massinger's Madam
iii. 2, Lacy says of Sir John Frugal, "I saw him take post for Dover, and, the
wind Sitting so fair, by this he's safe at C." In B.&F. Scornful
i. 1, the lady speaks of the "dangers of the merciless Channel, 'twixt Dover
and C., 5 long hours' sail." In Elements, Haz. 1, 28, Experience, giving a lecture
on the map of the world, points out the narrow sea "to C. and Boulogne the next
way." Taylor, in Works ii. 41, tells of one Bernard Calvard who rode and sailed
"from Southwark near to Ce. to and fro" in 15 hours. It was customary to go
over to C. to fight duels so as to be out of the range of the English law. In
Rowland's Good News and Bad News (1622), we read, "Gilbert, this glove I send
thee from my hand, And challenge thee to meet in Callis sand." "C. sand," says
Mr. Strangeways to Mr. Fussell (Harl. Misc. iv. 8), "were a fitter place for
our dispute than Westminster Hall." In Tomkins' Albumazar
iv. 7, Trincalo, proposing to fight a duel, humorously suggests, "Meanwhile
I make provision Of C. sand, to fight upon securely." One is reminded of Naaman
and his mule's burden of earth from the land of Israel. In Webster's Cuckold
i. 2, Lessingham says, "Soon after sunrise upon C. sands To-morrow we should
meet"; and later in the play a duel is fought there. In Swetnam
i. 2, Misogonus says, "I was going this morning to practice a young duellist
that shortly goes to fight at Callis sands."
C. sand was imported for scouring purposes. In B.&F. Hon.
Man v. 3, one of the servants, discussing the suitors for his mistress's
hand, says of the merchant, "When he brings in a prize, unless it be cockles,
or C. sand to scour with, I'll renounce my 5 mark a year." In Ital.
Gent. iv. 4, Medusa has among her wares, "Calles gorgets"the gorget
being a kind of necklace.
CALATRAVA
An ancient Spanish city on the S. bank of the Guadiana, some 80 m. S.E. of Madrid. Its strong fortifications have disappeared with the exception of one tower. Three leagues away is the convent erected for the knights of C. in 1214. This "gallant order "was founded in 1158, and did notable service against the Moors. They wore a white robe with a red cross on the breast. In Shirley's Ct. Secret ii. 2, Mendoza promises Pedro, "The K. shall knight thee too of C."
CALDEY
See CHALDAEA.
CALECO
See CALICUT.
CALEDON
Caledonia, the Roman name for the N. part of Britannia: practically equivalent
to Scotland. In Fuimus iii. 2, Nennius
says, "Before he [Caesar] climb the craggy rocks of C., a life is spent." In Locrine,
C. is throughout used for Scotland. In Glapthorne's Wallenstein
v. 2, Newman, when a song is about to be sung, says to Leslie, a Scotchman,
"Let not your voice be exalted into a Cia. tune, 'twill spoil our ditty."
CALES (1)
Ancient town in N. Campania, 100 m. S.E. of Rome. It was on the borders of the Falernian territory, and was almost equally famous for the quality of its wines. Milton, P. R. iv. 117, speaks of the Roman banquets, and of "Their wines of Setia, C. and Falerne."
CALES (2)
(now CADIZ; in Latin, GADES). An ancient city on the S.W. coast of Spain, abt. 50 m. N. of Gibraltar. It stands on a long narrow isthmus to the S. of a fine bay, at the head of which was La Carraca, one of the chief arsenals of Spain. The city was founded by the Phoenicians under the name of Gadir, which in Roman times became Gades. Legend reported that Hercules, having reached this point, erected 2 brazen pillars there, with the motto "Ne plus ultra." Strabo mentions (Geogr. iii. 5) that these 2 pillars were still standing in the temple of Hercules at Gades; but what was inscribed on them was the cost of the building. The city was taken by the Goths and later by the Moors, but was recovered for Spain in 1262. It was a port and arsenal of the first importance in the 16th cent., and received the bulk of the Spanish trade from the W. Indies and S. America. It was sacked by Howard and Essex in 1596, and all the ships in the harbour were destroyed. This expedition was famous as the C. voyage. A later attempt in 1625 was a dismal failure.
In Greene's Orlando i. 1, Marsilius
speaks of "Gadis Ilands, where stout Hercules Imblased his trophies on 2 posts
of brass." In T. Heywood's Challenge
iii. 1, Petrocella says, "Hercules, coming to this country into the island
called Calis, reared his pillar [and] writ that motto No further." In Look
about xv., Richd. says that Gloster "hath driven out the Saracens from
Gad's and Sicily." The reference is to Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and to
the Crusaders who in 1147 took Lisbon from the Moors; but Gloucester was not
there. In Stucley, 1271, the
hero is represented as landing at C., where the Governor threatens him, "I'll
make him know a governor of C.": but this is a mistake, as Stucley landed at
Vivero. This was just before the battle of Alcazar in 1587. In Peele's Alcazar
iii. 1, Sebastian says that he expects reinforcements "At Cardis, as we
sail alongst the coast." The same spelling is used in iii. 3. In Lust's
Domin. ii. 3, the Q. orders, "Spread abroad in Cadiz, Madrid, Granada, and
Medina, The ambitious hope of Philip." In T. Heywood's Maid
of West A. i. 1, Carrol says, speaking of the C. voyage of 1596, "'Tis
like The great success at C., under the conduct of such a noble general, hath
put heart Into the English." Dekker, in Hornbook v., advises the young gallant
to "talk how often you have been in action: as the Portingale voyage, C. voyage,
the Iland voyage." In Jonson's Epicoene
i. 4, La Foole boasts, "I had as fair a gold jerkin on that day as any worn
in the island voyage or at Cadiz." In Beguiled
Dods. ix. 228, Churms says, "I have been at Cambridge a scholar, at C. a
soldier." In Chapman's D'Olive iv.
2, D'Olive boasts that in future all events will be dated, not from "the loss
of Calais and the winning of C.," but from his ambassage. In Davenant's Plymouth
v. 1, Cable is reminded in a letter of his promise to pay his creditor "last
C. voyage." Hall, in Characters, describes the Vainglorious Man telling "what
exploits he did at C. or Nieuport." In his Satires iii. 7, 2, he says, "The
nuns of new-won C. his bonnet lent": where it is pronounced as a monosyllable.
Devonshire tells the story of
the 1625 expedition.
There was a particular cut of beard, known as the C. beard. Nash, in Lenten, p. 289, speaks of "lusty blood Bravemente Signiors, with C. beards as broad as scullers' maples that they make clean their boats with." In Laneham's Letter, p. 47, he tells of an ancient minstrel "seemly begirt in a red caddiz girdle." Furnivall, in his note on this passage, says, "A red Caddiz girdle was one of those of Spanish manufactures of which Stafford so much complains; they derived their name from being made at the city of Cadiz in Spain, out of the fells of untanned hides, which were sent to England to be formed into skins of Spanish leather." But there is a confusion here with another word, "caddis," which means a kind of worsted, and has no connection with Cadiz. In the first place Cadiz is generally called C. in the 16th and 17th cents., and never Caddiz with two "d's." In the second Cadiz had no leather manufactures. On the other hand, caddis, or caddice, in the sense of worsted, is very common, as a reference to O.E.D. s.v. will show.
CALEYS
See CALAIS.
CALICUT
A town on W. coast of Malabar, abt. 250 m. N. of Cape Comorin. It was the first
port in India visited by Vasco di Gama in 1498. Heylyn speaks of it as a famous
mart town and a staple of all the Indian traffic. In B.&F. Corinth
iv. 1, Crates advises Onos to challenge Neanthes: "If he accept, you may crave
both to choose the weapon, time and place, which may be 10 years hence, and C."
The play abounds with similar anachronisms. In Juggler (A. P. iii. 36), Dame Coy
says, "A more ungracious knave is not even now between this place and Calicow":
where it simply stands for any remote place. In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Frescobaldi says, "My name is Rubosangal, the grim ghost of Bombocamber,
king of C."which is mere mouthing and nonsense. In Apius & V. 1006, Haphazard
the Vice comes skipping in with, "I came from Caleco even the same hour." Burton,
A. M. ii. 4, 1, 4, says that "Granatus, an imperfect kind of ruby, comes from
Calecut." Boorde, in Intro. of Knowledge (1542) vi., calls it" the new found land
named Calyco." In B.&F. Gentleman iv.
3, Jaques, afraid of losing his life, says, "Would I were safe under hatches once,
for Callicut."
CALIDON
See CALYDON.
CALIFORNIA
Originally included the whole of the W. coast of N. America from Mexico to Oregon.
It was discovered by Cabrillo in 1542 and visited by Drake in 1578, when he gave
it the name of New Albion. It was colonized by the Spaniards in 1768; in 1848
it was ceded to the United States at the conclusion of the war with Mexico. In
Middleton's No Wit ii. 3, Weatherwise
predicts an eclipse "not visible in our horizon, but about the Western inhabitants
of Mexicana and C."
CALLIDON
See CALYDON.
CALLIS, CALLICE
See CALAIS.
CALPE
The ancient name of the Rock of Gibraltar. It was supposed to be the N. Pillar of Hercules, the S. being Abyla on the African coast. These pillars were the boundary of the world as known to the ancient Greeks. So C. is used to mean the furthest limit of the world. In T. Heywood's Dialogues iii. 2005, Nero boasts that his gluttonies and lusts were well known to "C., to the farthest parts of Spain."
CALVARY
(or CALVERY). Latin Calvaria, a translation of the Hebrew Gulgoleth, transliterated
into Greek as Golgotha. It means the place of a skull. It was the place for the
public execution of criminals in Roman Jerusalem, and was outside the walls of
the city. The Palmer in J. Heywood's Four
PP. i. 1, had seen "the Mt. of C." in the course of his pilgrimages. In Candlemas,
p. 25, Symeon prophesies that Jesu shall be "Slain by Jews at the Mt. of C." In
York M.P. xxxiii. 45 1, Pilate sentences Jesus: "Crucify him on a cross and on
Calverye him kill." In Ibid. xxxii. 350, the plot of land bought for a burying-place
for strangers with the betrayal money returned by Judas, and afterwards called
Aceldama, the Field of Blood, is (quite wrongly) identified with C. The owner
of it says to Pilate, "C. locus men calls it." Donne, Divine Poems (1633) Hymn
to God, says, "We think that Paradise and C., Christ's cross and Adam's tree stood
in one place." See also GOLGOTHA.
CALVERLEY
A vill. in Yorks, some 4 m. E. of Bradford. It was the scene of the murder by
Walter C. of his wife and children, which took place in 1605, and was dramatized
in All's One, or A Yorkshire Tragedy
, falsely attributed to Shakespeare. The same story forms the basis of Wilkins'
Enforced Marriage , which takes place
in Yorks.; the name of the unfortunate husband is taken from another Yorks. town,
Scarborow.
CALYDON
Ancient city of AEtolia, between the Evenus and the Achelous, some 10 m. from
the N. shore of the Corinthian Gulf, near its entrance. It is chiefly remembered
from the famous hunting of the Cian. boar by Meleager and the heroes associated
with him. This boar, sent by Artemis to ravage the country on account of the neglect
of her sacrifices by K. Oeneus, was slain by Meleager. He gave its hide to Atalanta
and killed his own mother's brothers who were seeking to wrest it from her. Hereupon
his mother, Althea, who had been informed at his birth that his life would last
until a brand then on the hearth should be consumed, and who had therefore snatched
it from the flames and preserved it is a chest, set fire to the brand and so caused
his death. In H6 B. i. 1, 235,
York says, "The realm of England, France, and Ireland Bear that proportion to
my flesh and blood As did the fatal brand Althaea burned Unto the Prince's heart
of C.," i.e. "my life depends upon their preservation." In H4
B. ii. 2, 93, the Page calls Bardolph, "you rascally Althaea's dream," because
"Althaea dreamed she was delivered of a fire-brand." The Page is, however, a little
to seek in his mythology: it was Hecuba who dreamed she was delivered of a firebrand.
In Marlowe's Tamb. A. iv. 3, the
Soldan says, "Methinks we march as Meleager did . . . To chase the savage Cian.
boar." In Lyly's Maid's Meta. i.,
Silvio says, "So Atalanta came to hunt the Boar of C." In T. Heywood's B.
Age i. 1, Hercules asks, "Have we The Calidonian boar crushed with our
club?"and the scene describes his contest with the river-god Achelous
for the hand of Deianira, the daughter of Oeneus, "K. of C." In Trag.
Richd. II iv. 2, 103, Cinthia, leading in a masque of huntsmen, says, "The
groves of Callidon and Arden woods Of untamed monsters, wild and savage herds
We and our knights have freed." In Chapman's Trag.
Byron iv. 1, Byron, eulogizing the late K. of Spain, Philip II, says that
he did not spend his wealth on "Banquets and women and Calidonian wine." This
may mean Aetolian wines, as Holland (Plutarch, Morals 1283) speaks of "the good
and pleasant wines of Cia." But in the passage in Plutarch De Alexandro, from
which this is taken, the better reading is Chalybonium. See under CHALYBON.
CAMBAL
(or CAMBALUC). An old name for Pekin, the capital of China. In N.E. China, between
the rivers Petang Ho and When Ho, abt. 100 m. W. from the Gulf of Pechili and
40 m. S. of the Great Wall. It was made their capital by the Mongol Khans in 1282.
Marco Polo says that the palace of Kublai Khan was "in the capital city of Cathay,
called Cambaluc." The Chinese name was doubtless Kaan-baligh, i.e. the
city of the Khan. In B.&F. Beggars'
i. 3, the merchants describe their freight as "Indigo, cochineal, choice China
stuffs, and cloth of gold, brought from C." Milton, P. L. xi. 388, mentions "the
destined walls Of Cu., seat of Cathaian Can" amongst the cities shown in vision
to Adam. In Il Penseroso 111, he calls Chaucer, "him that left half-told the story
of Cambuscan bold, Of C., and of Algarsife." The reference is to the Squier's
Tale, in which the 2 sons of Cambuskan are called Algarsyf and Cambalo; but the
latter name is obviously derived from the name of the capital. Burton, A.M. i.
2, 2, 3, speaks of "Pekin, which Riccius contends to be the same with Cambulu
in Cataia.'' In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Hoskins says, "Fame
is but wind, thence wind may blow it . . . From Mexico and from Peru To China
and to Cu.''
CAMBERBRITON
A Welshman. See under CAMBRIA.
CAMBRA
See COIMBRA.
CAMBRAI
The Roman Camaracum, a town in France on the Scheldt, 100 m. N.E. of Paris. It
gave its name to cambric, for the manufacture of which it was celebrated." Inkles,
caddises, cambrics, lawns" were part of the stock-in-trade of Autolycus (W.T.
iv. 4, 208). In Cor. i. 3, 95, Valeria
wishes that Virginia's cambric were as sensible as her finger, that she might
leave pricking it for pity. In Per.
iv. prol. 24, Marina "would with sharp needle wound the cambric." The scene of
Chapman's Rev. Bussy iv. 1, is in
a field near C.; and in line i. 16, Clermont asks leave to send a message "to
my most noble mistress, Countess of C." She appears to be an imaginary person.
CAMBRIA
A variant of Cumbria, from the Celtic Cymru, now the Welsh name for Wales. The
words were gradually differentiated, Cumbria being used for Cumberland and C.
for Wales. In Cym. iii. 2, 44, Leonatus
writes to Imogen, "Take notice that I am in C., at Milford Haven." In Cym.
v. 5, 17, Belarius says, "In C. are we born, and gentlemen." In Peele's Ed.
I p. 15, the K. says to Prince David, "Thou could'st not be a Camber-Briton,
if thou didst not love a soldier"; and later in the play (p. 36) the soldiers
claim England's promise, "That none be C. 's prince to govern us But he that is
a Welshman, born in Wales."
Taylor, Works ii. 181, speaks of "The Cn. game of whip-her-ginny or English
one and thirty." This was a card game, possibly something like vingt-et-un.
In the old play of Leir there is
a K. of C., by name Morgan, who marries Ragan. He is replaced by Cornwall in
Shakespeare's Lear. Caradoc, the
hero of Val. Welsh., is styled "K.
of C." (i. 1). In Locrine iii.
1, 71, Camber says, "In the fields of martial C., Close by the boisterous Iscan's
silver streams . . . Full 20,000 brave courageous knights . . . Young Camber
hath." The Iscan is the Usk. W. Rowley, in Search, p. 33, says, "We had . .
. a piece of cheese for the Cambro-Brittane." In his Shoemaker
ii. 2, 83, Maximinus calls the Welsh prince Amphiabell "That Cn. sectarist."
CAMBRIDGE
The county town of Cambridgesh., on the Cam, formerly the Granta, 50 m. N.E. of Lond. There was a Roman settlement here called Camboritum, with a castle of which some remains have been discovered. The authentic annals of its great University begin during the 12th cent. The following is a list of the colleges which were in existence during our period, with the dates of their foundation: - Peter-House (vulgo Pot-house) 1257;
- Clare Hall 1326;
- Pembroke 1347;
- Gonville and Caius (vulgo Keys) 1348, refounded 1558;
- Trinity Hall 1350;
- Corpus Christi 1351;
- King's 1441;
- Queen's 1446;
- St. Catherine's Hall (vulgo Cats) 1473;
- Jesus 1496;
- Christ's 1505;
- St. John's 1511;
- Magdalene (pronounced Maudlin) 1519;
- Trinity 1546;
- Emmanuel 1584;
- Sidney-Sussex 1598.
Chaucer, in Reeves Tale A. 3920, tells of a miller at "Trumpyngtoun not fer fro
Cantebrigge," who ground their corn for "a greet collegge Men clepen the Soler
Halle at Cantebregge." This Soler Hall has been shown by Mr. Riley to be the King's
Hall founded by Edward III in 1337, afterwards absorbed into Trinity. Spenser
entered as a Sizar at Pembroke in 1569. In F. Q. iv. 11, 34, he speaks of "My
mother C. . . . adorned . . . With many a gentle Muse and learned wit." In Beguiled
(Dods. ix. 228), Churms says, "I have been at C. a scholar." In Greene's Friar
ix., Vandermast says, "Oxford and C. must go seek their cells To find a man to
match him [Vandermast] in his art."
In Ret. Pernass. i. 1, Philomusus
abuses "the hidebound brethren of C. and Oxford that abused us in time past."
In ii. 6, Amoretto speaks of his tutor as "a scurvy mere C. scholar "; and goes
on, "Because when I was in C. and lay in a trundle-bed under my tutor, I invited
the hungry slave sometimes to my chamber, he thought himself eternally possessed
of my love." Again, in v. 4, Philomusus talks of the time when he "turned a
C. apple by the fire." In Merry Devil
i., Fabel tells how he read the liberal arts at C., and "so many nights
Watched on the top of Peter-house highest tower." In Cooke's Greene's
Tu Quoque , p. 562, Joice remonstrates with her brother, "Did I not send
money to you at C. when you were a freshman?" In Middleton's Chaste
Maid iii. 2, Maudlin threatens her son Tim to make his tutor whip him. To
which Tim replies: "Ne'er was the like in C. since my time. 'Life! Whip a bachelor!
You'd be laughed at soundly." There appears to be evidence, however, that undergraduates,
if not Bachelors, were birched on occasion, whether the story of Milton's being
birched by Chappell be true or not. In Misogonus
iii. 3, Cacurgus comes in in a cap and gown, and Madge says, "Warrant him
has been at C." In Webster's Wyat i.
4, which is located at C., the Clown asks, "Who's that goes in rank like beans,
with cheesecakes on their heads instead of caps?" And Brett answers: "Sirrah,
this is a famous University and those, scholars; these, lofty buildings and
goodly houses, founded by noble patrons."
The recently (in 1925) discovered play called Club
Law , acted in 1599, gives an amusing picture of the relations of Town and
Gown in C. (under the transparent pseudonym of Athens) in the latter part of
the 16th cent. The members of the University are styled "the gentle Athenians."
In Shirley's Fair One iv. 2,
Treedwell boasts, "I have had my head in most of the butteries of C. and it
has been sconced to purpose": and when Violetta tells him of the poets in town,
he replies," In the town? What makes so many scholars then come from C. and
Oxford with dossers full of lamentable tragedies and ridiculous comedies which
they might vent here to the players, but they will take no money for them?"
In Jonson's Devil iii. 1, Gilthead,
the goldsmith, professes a poor opinion of the Universities: he tells his son,
whom he has placed with a local justice, "You shall learn that in a year shall
be worth 20 of having staid you at Oxford or at C." In B.&F. Wit
S.W. iv. 1, Oldcraft reproaches his supposed nephew, "A C. man for this?
these your degrees, Sir? 9 years at university for this fellowship?" In Glapthorne's
Wit i. 1, Holdfast has just "come
up from C." In Middleton's Michaelmas
ii. 3, Quomodo tells us that his son "was a C. man, but now he's a Templar."
Milton, in Sonn. xi. 14, speaks of Sir John Cheek having taught "C. and K. Edward
Greek." Sir John was the first Professor of Greek at C., 15141557.
A famous personage in C. in the early 17th cent. was the carrier Hobson, whose
name survives in Hobson St., Hobson's Conduit, and the phrase "Hobson's choice."
In Middleton's Chaste Maid i. 1, a letter
is brought to Yellowhammer "from a gentleman in C." by "one of Hobson's porters,"
who has "took a great deal of pains and come from the Bull sweating." See BULL
INN. In his Hubburd, p. 101, the student says, "You see me set forth to the
University, in Hobson's wagon." In Kirke's Champions
iii. 1, the Clown asks the Devil, "Have you no carriers in your kingdom?
. . . Is Hobson there, or Dawson, or Tom Long?" He died one of the richest men
in C. in 1631, and Milton wrote 2 epitaphs for him: the first beginning, "Here
lies old Hobson; Death has broke his girt," and relating how "he had any time
this 10 years full Dodged with him [Death] betwixt C. and the Bull"; and the
2nd, "Here lieth one who did most truly prove That he could never die while
he could move." Another celebrity was a certain Mannington, whose exploit and
execution are described in a ballad published in 1576. In Eastward
v., Quicksilver, the idle apprentice, has, like Greene, written a Repentance,
which he says "is in imitation of Mannington's: he that was hanged at C., that
cut off the horse's head at a blow." It contained the lines, "O Mannington,
as stories show, That cut'st a horse-head off at a blow."
One of the most remarkable buildings in C. is the Ch. of St. Sepulchre, or the Round Ch. It was built in 1101 in imitation of the Ch. of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and has been carefully maintained. It stands on the E. side of Bridge St., a little N. of Jesus Lane. Nash, in Pierce, E. 2, speaks of a glutton as having "a belly as big as the round ch. in C."
C., like Oxford, took an important part in the revival of the Drama in England
in the 16th cent. Kirchmayer's Pammachius, an anti-papal satire in Latin, was
acted at Christ's in 1545. Before this Thomas Artour wrote Mundus Plumbeus and
Microcosmus between 1520 and 1532; and the Plutus of Aristophanes was acted
in Greek at St. John's in 1536. In 1546 the Pax of Aristophanes and the Tragedy
of Jephthe, by John Christopherson, were performed at Trinity. Roger Ascham
mentions having seen at C. "M. Watson's Absalon and Georgius Buckananus Jephthe."
Gammer Gurton's Needle, the first university
play in English, was "played not long ago in Christ's College in C. Made by
Mr. S. Master of Art." The date was about 1553, and the author probably William
Stevenson. On the occasion of Elizabeth's visit in 1564 the Aulularia of Plautus
was played in King's College Chapel on Sunday afternoon; on Monday Edward Halliwell's
Dido; and on Tuesday Udall's Ezechias. Thomas Legge's Richardus Tertius was
produced at St. John's in 1580, and occupied three successive evenings. Other
C. plays were as follows:
- Gager's Meleager (Christ's 1581);
- Fraunce's
- Victoria (St. John's 1575),
- Hymenaeus (St. John's 1578),
- Pedantius (Trinity 1580),
- Tarrarantantara (Clare Hall),
- Dicky Harvey (Peter-house),
- Terminus et Non Terminus (St. John's 1586);
- Hawkesworth's
Leander and Labyrinthus (Trinity 1598 and 1602 respectively), - Laelia (Queen's 1590),
- Club Law (Clare Hall 1597)[ed. note: now ascribed to Ruggles.],
- the Pernassus Trilogy (St. John's 15981602),
- Lingua (post 1602);
- Ruggle's Ignoramus and
- Tomkis' Albumazar (1615);
- Hacket's Loyola (Trinity 1623); and
- Ward's Fucus (Queen's 1623).
Nash, in Saffron Walden iii. 117, speaks of "Pedantius, that exquisite comedy
in Trinitie Colledge." The performance of Ignoramus stimulated the passage in
Milton's Apol. for Smectymnuus, wks. (1851) iii. 267, where he speaks of having
seen young divines "upon the stage, writhing and unboning their clergy limbs to
all the antic and dishonest gestures of Trinculoes, buffoons, and bawds." In Ret.
Pernass. iv. 3, Kempe says, "I was once at a comedy in C. and there I saw
a parasite make faces and mouths of all sorts." In Tomkis' Albumazar
i. 3, Pandolpho sees in the magic glass "An honourable throng of noble persons;
Seems by their gracious brows and courteous looks Something they see which, if
it be indifferent, Theyll favourably accept; if otherwise, they'll pardon." Ronca
explains the vision: "Why, that's the Court at C."an obvious bid for the
applause of the C. audience before which the play was first presented.
Shakespeare never mentions the University of C. His only use of the word is
in the title of Richd., Earl of C., who was executed at Southampton for his
share in a plot to set Edmund Mortimer on the throne. He was the younger son
of Edmund of Langley, 5th son of Edward III and Isabel, the daughter of Pedro
the Cruel. He married Anne Mortimer, daughter of Roger, Earl of March, and great-great-granddaughter
of Edward III through Lionel of Clarence, his 2nd son. The son of this union
was Richd. Plantagenet, afterwards D. of York, and father of K. Edward IV. Edward
IV thus represented the claim of the 2nd son of Edward III, whilest Henry VI
was descended from his 3rd son, John of Gaunt. The discovery of the plot and
the execution of C. are the theme of H5
ii. 2. In H6 A. ii. 5, 54
and 84, and H6 B. ii. 2, 45,
the claim of Richd. of York through his father, the Earl of C., is set forth.
In Oldcastle iii. 1, this same
Earl of C. is introduced and states his claim to the throne to Scroop and Gray.
He calls Lionel of Clarence the 3rd son of Edward III; otherwise his account
agrees with that given above. In Trag.
Richd. II iv. 2, 174, Thomas of Woodstock is addressed as "Earl of C. and
of Buckingham."
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
One of the inland counties of England, lying W. of Norfolk and Suffolk. These
counties suffered much in the invasions of the Danes. In Brewer's Lovesick
King v. 1, Alured speaks of the Danes having planted themselves in "Norfolk,
Suffolk, and in C."
CAMEL
A river in N.W. Cornwall, rising near Camelford and flowing past Wadebridge into
the Bristol Channel. Arthur's last battle was fought in its neighbourhood. In
Fulbeck's prol. to Hughes' Misfort Arth.,
he says, "And on the banks of Ca. shall lie The bones of Arthur and of Arthur's
knights." In the alternative speech for Gorlois in v. 2, he says, "Tamar's flood
with drooping pace doth flow For fear of touching C.'s bloody stream." Drayton,
in Polyolb. i. 181, says that C. was frantic "ever since her British Arthur's
blood By Mordred's murtherous hand was mingled with her flood."
CAMELOT
(or CAMILOT). The legendary capital of K. Arthur. It has been variously identified
with Camel in Somersetsh. and Camelford in Cornwall, on account of the similarity
of the name; with Cadbury in Somersetsh., near which are extensive remains of
an old fortification, supposed to be Arthur's castle; and with Winchester. In
the Morte d'Arthur we find "the city of C. that is in English Winchester." In
Lear ii. 2, 90, Kent says to Oswald,
"Goose, if I had you upon Sarum Plain, I'd drive ye cackling home to C." I think
it most likely that Shakespeare had Winchester in his mind, with a further allusion
to the Winchester Goose he so often refers to (see s.v. BANKSIDE). There
were no doubt plenty of geese on Salisbury Plain, as there are on every common
in England. In Merlin iii. 6, 134,
Aurelius says, "We'll hence to Winchester and raise more powers To man with strength
the castle Camilot."
CAMERINO
The old Camerinum, a town in Italy, 86 m. N.E. of Rome. In Barnes' Charter
iv. 5, Guicchiardine, as chorus, says of Caesar Borgia, "Through treacheries
He did surprise the State of Camerine." This was in 1499. One of the characters
in Ford's Fancies is Julio de Varana,
Lord of C.
CAMPANIA
A vill. on W. coast of Italy, S. of Latium, between the Gulfs of Gaeta and Policastro.
In Marlowe's Faustus vii., Faust describes
his travels "up to Naples, rich C." In Jonson's Poetaster
v. 1, Caesar says of Vergil, "Now he is come out of C. I doubt not he hath
finished all his AEneids." In Marcus Germinal, a Latin comedy performed at Christ
Ch., Oxford, in 1566, the hero Germinus is a native of C. in the reign of Alexander
Severus. In Tiberius 1693, Sejanus
says, "Caesar, 3 days since, Removed his court unto C." Tiberius retired to Capreae
about A.D. 30. In May's Agrippina iv.
72, Narcissus says, "Into C. I will go." Milton, P. R. iv. 93, calls Capreae "an
island small but strong On the Cn. shore." C. was famous for its wines. In Ford's
Sun iv. 1, Autumn says, "Thou shall command The Lydian Tmolus and Cn. mts. To
nod their grape-crowned heads into thy bowls." In Nabbes' Hannibal
i. 1, Maharball says, "We drink no wine but of C.'s Mascicus or grape-crowned
Aulon." The Massic Hills were in N. C. In May's Agrippina
iv. 353, Otho speaks of a rich Roman whose cellars are "full of rich Cn. wine."
In Cockayne's Trapolin iii. 2, Mattemores
talks of "Thunderbolts worked by the Cyclops of Campagnia's stithy." But he is
confusing Vesuvius in C. with AEtna in Sicily, under which was the forge of the
Cyclopes.
CAMPUS MARTIUS
An open plain in Rome to the N.W. of the city, between the Capitol and the Tiber.
It was the training-ground for the Roman youth during the earlier days of the
Republic; but became later covered with noble buildings and porticos. It is now
entirely occupied by the houses of the modern city. Jonson's Catiline
iii. 1, is laid in "The field of Mars." In Alimony i. 3, Timon, when Halter
brings him notice to stop the production of his play, says, "Let wit perish if
I leave not the precious rills of Hippocrene and wing my course for C. M.," i.e.
prepare to fight. In Fisher's Fuimus
iii. 2, Nennius, after putting Caesar to flight, cries: "Stay, stay! Thou
art at home: here's C. M."
CAMUS
The river Cam, on which Cambridge stands. It rises in Herts. and flows into the Gt. Ouse after a sluggish course of abt. 40 m. Its slow current allows the growth of large quantities of river-sponge and sedge. It was originally called the Grants. Milton, in Lyc. 103, says, "Next C., reverend sire, went footing slow, His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim." The sedges of the Cam have still faint dark marks on the leaves.
CANAAN
The old name for W. Palestine. It means the Lowlands, and was properly applied
to the coastal dists., but was afterwards extended to cover the whole country
W. of the Jordan. In Bale's Promises,
v., David says of Israel, "They did wickedly consent to the Philistines and Cites.,
ungodly idolaters." Milton, P. L. xii, 135 seq., tells the story of the visit
of Abraham to C. and the subsequent settlement of Israel there. Spencer, Shep.
Cal. July 132, calls the patriarchs the brethren 12 "that came from C." In T.
Heywood's S. Age ii., Jupiter,
telling of the long night, 3 nights in 1, which he has brought about to lengthen
his pleasure with Alcmena, says, "Now at this hour is fought By Josua, Duke unto
the Hebrew nation, Who are indeed the Antipodes to us, His famous battle 'gainst
the Cananites And at his orison the sun stands still" (see Joshua x. 12). In Milton's
S. A. 380, Samson calls Dalila "A Cannaanite, my faithless enemy," but this is
an error: she was a Philistine, and the Philistines were an Aryan race, and not
in any way connected in blood with the Cites. In Marlowe's Jew
ii. 3, Barabas calls Lodowick, "This offspring of Cain, this Jebusite, That never
tasted of the Passover, Nor e'er shall see the land of C." The allusion is to
the hope that the Jews will return to C. when the Messiah comes. The Puritans
used the phrase "the grapes of C." to mean the highest spiritual blessings with
a reference probably to the story of the spies who brought back from Eshcol a
huge bunch of grapes. (See Numbers xiii. 23). In Cowley's Cutter [a.k.a. Guardian]iv.
5, Cutter predicts the rise of "a great confounder of Gogmagog, who shall be called
the Pestle of Anti-Christ, and his Children shall inherit the grapes of C." In
the Puritan slang of the time a Cite. meant one who did not belong to the true
people of God, i.e. their own sect. In Jonson's Alchemist
iii. 1, Ananias, the Puritan, says of Face," In pure zeal I do not like the man,
he is a heathen, and speaks the language of C. truly." Similarly, the Jews use
it of a Christian. In Day's Travails
(Bullen, p. 59), Zariph the Jew says, "Who owns it? A Christian, C.'s brood."
Hence the word is used as a term of abuse. In Chivalry (Bullen iii. 285), Bowyer
says of the watch, "What foolish Cits. were they to run in debt to their eyes
for an hour's sleep."
CANARIES
(Cy. = Canary, Ce. = Canarie). A group of islands off the N.W. coast of Africa,
the chief of which are Tenerife and Grand Canary. Pliny knew of them, and gave
the largest island the name of Canaria Insula from the large dogs (Canes) which
were found there. They became known in more modern times through the wreck of
a French ship there in 1330; and after various attempts at private occupation
they were taken possession of by Spain in 1461, and have since remained in her
hands. In Marlowe's Tamb. B. i. 3, Usumcasane
reports, "We made Canaria call us kings and lords": a quite unfounded claim. In
Stucley 2450, Mahamet speaks of
his kingdom in N.W. Africa as "looking upon Canaraes wealthy isles." In Pickering's
Horestes D. 3, the Vice asks Fame
whether she is going "to Pourtagaull or to the Isles Canarey?" In Mayne's Match
iv. 3, Timothy reports that his father "was drowned This morning, as he went
to take possession Of a summerhouse and land in the C." Thomas Lodge took part
in an expedition to the C. in 1584, and on the voyage wrote his Rosalynde.
The islands produce a wine which is often mentioned. Heylyn says, "Ce. wines
fume into the head less, please the palate more, and better help the natural
weakness of a cold stomach, than any other wines whatsoever." In Veneer's Via
Recta ad Vitam Longam (1622), he says, "Ce. wine is of some termed a sack,
with this adjunct, sorest; but yet very improperly, for it differeth not only
from sack in sweetness and pleasantness of taste, but also in colour and consistence;
for it is not so white in colour as sack, nor so thin in substance." In M.W.W.
iii. 2, 89, the Host says, "I Will to my honest knight Falstaff and drink Cy.
with him." In Tw. N. i. 3, 85, Sir
Toby says, "Thou lackest a cup of Cy.; when did I see thee so put down?" To
which Sir Andrew replies: "Never in your life, I think; unless you see Cy. put
me down." In H4 B. ii. 4., 29,
the Hostess says to Doll, "You have drunk too much C.; and that's a marvellous
searching wine, and it perfumes [i.e. sends its fumes through] the blood
ere one can say What's this?" In Jonson's Alchemist
iii. 2, Face promises Dapper "the best drink, sometimes Two glasses of Cy.,
and pay nothing." In his Staple v.
2, Pennyboy smells the porter's breath and exclaims, "Wine, o' my worship! Sack,
Cy. sack!" In Glapthorne's Wit v.
1, Busie invites the company to the St. John's Head: "there is a cup of pure
Cy." In his Wallenstein v. 2, Newman
says, "He'll make us all as drunk as rats in the C." In Chaunticleers xiii.,
Welcome complains that men would rather "be drunk like the Spaniard with cy.
than with their own native beer." In Massinger's Madam
iv. 1. Hoist predicts that he shall see Luke Lord Mayor, "All the conduits Spouting
cy. sack." In May's Old Couple
ii. 1, Theodore speaks of "Rich C. or sweet Candian wines." In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Bagnioli speaks of "Bacchus which Cy. land inherits." In T. Heywood's
Traveller i. 2, Reignald says
to Robin, "Drink whig and sour milk, whilst I rinse my throat With Bordeaux
and Cy." In Brome's Moor iii.
2, the boy orders, "Draw a quart of the best cy. into the Apollo."
The C. was a kind of lively dance, said to have been borrowed by the Spaniards
from the natives of these islands: it was something like our Sir Roger. In All's
ii. 1, 77, Lafeu tells the K. he has found a medicine "That's able to breathe
life into a stone, Quicken a rock, and make you dance cy. With spritely fire
and motion." In M.W.W. iii. 2,
89, when the Host proposes to drink Cy with Falstaff, Ford punningly remarks
aside: "I think I shall drink in pipe-wine first with him; I'll make him dance."
In L.L.L. iii. 1, 12, Moth, describing
a French brawl, says it is "to jig off a tune at the tongue's end, cy. to it
with your feet." In Dekker's Hon. Wh.
A. ii. 1, Castruccio tells Bellafront that he supped last night where her
health "danced the C.," i.e. went round again and again. In Shirley's
Hyde Park ii. 2. Lacy tries to
force Bonavent to dance: "Fill a bowl of sack, and then to the Ce." In Ev.
Woman I i. 1, it is said, "Another as she goes treads a Ce.pace." Nash,
in Pierce 18b, speaks of a woman jetting it "as gingerly as if she were dancing
the C." In Devonshire i. 1, Bustamente
brings news "such as will make all Spain Dance the C."
"The islands," says Heylyn, "abound in Ce.-birds." This bird is Fringella
Canaria, and is green in its native state, though the usual colour of the
cage-bird is yellow. Gascoigne, in Compl. Philomene (1576) 33. says, "Canara
birds come in to bear the bell." Laneham, in Letter 70, tells of an aviary at
Kenilworth "replenished with lively birds, English, French, Spanish, Canarian,
and African." In Lyly's Midas iii.
3, Amerula says, "In her fair looks were his thoughts entangled, like the birds
of Ce. that fall into a silken net." In thieves' slang, a Cy. Bird means one
who ought to be in the Cage or prison hence a young rascal. In B.&F. Beggars'
iii. 1, after the boy has sung a song, one of the Boors says, with double
appropriateness, "My fine Cy.-bird, there's a cake for your worship." C. is
used in the sense of a pleasure resort, especially a brothel. In Marmion's Leaguer
i. 2, Ardelio says, "Once a week, when I am ballasted with wine and lust,
I'll sail to my C." When in M.W.W.
ii. 2, 89 Quickly tells Falstaff that he has brought Mrs. Ford "into such a
c. as is wonderful," she is using a more familiar word for one that she doesn't
understand, viz. quandary; just as, a little further on, she uses aligant, the
name of another wine, for elegant.
CANBURY
(more fully, CANONBURY). One of the N. suburbs of Lond., between Highbury and
Hoxton. It was so called from the mansion of the Prior of the Canons of St. Bartholomew;
which was given to the priory soon after the Conquest. It reverted to the Crown
at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and having passed through various hands
became the property of the rich Sir John Spenser, Lord Mayor of Lond. in 1594.
The mansion occupied what is now Canonbury Place. In Jonson's Tub
iii. 5, the scene is laid at Kentish Town. Lady Tub, who lives at Totten Court,
says, "We will cross o'er to C. in the interim and so make home." She would go
E. to C. and then strike the Kingsland Rd., which goes right up to Tottenham.
In the folio of 1692 it is printed by mistake "Canterbury."
CANDAOR
(i.e. KANDAHAR). The former capital of Afghanistan or Arachosia. It lies in the centre of the country, abt. 200 m. S.W. of Cabul. The present city was built in 1754, but it occupies the site of an older one. Milton, P. R. iii. 316, mentions troops "From Arachosia, from C. east."
CANDIA
(Cy. = Candy). Properly the capital of Crete, the island S. of the AEgean Archipelago,
but commonly applied to the whole island by outsiders, though the natives themselves
always call it Kriti, or Crete. The name is said to be from the Saracen "Khandax,"
which means "great fort." It came into the hands of the Venetians in 1204, and
was retained by them till 1648, when the Turks attacked it and took it after a
siege of 20 years. It became part of the kingdom of Greece in 1898. Shakespeare
uses Cy. but once, and then correctly for the town, not the island. In Tw.
N. v. 1, 64, the officer says, "This is that Antonio That took the Phoenix
and her freight from Cy." Heylyn preserves the same distinction; but for the most
part the Elizabethans mean by Cy. the whole island. In T. Heywood's B.
Age v., Hercules calls the Minotaur "the bull of Cy." In Marlowe's Jew
i. 1, Barabas tells how "Mine argosy from Alexandria . . . Are smoothly gliding
down by Cy. shore to Malta." In i. 2, the Basso says, "We came from Rhodes, From
Cyprus, Cy., and those other isles That lie between the Mediterranean seas." In
Haughton's Englishmen ii. 1, the
Italian Alvaro, in his broken English, says, "De ship go dribe on de isola de
Cy." In Webster's White Devil
v. 1, Flamineo affirms that the Moor "hath served the Venetian in Cy. these twice
7 years." In B.&F. Candythe scene
is laid in the island, but the laws are purely imaginary, though perhaps a reference
is intended to the Laws of Crete, so dear to Plato (see his Laws, especially Book
I) and other ancient writers. They are
- (1) that anyone who can convict another of ingratitude may demand his life; and
- (2) that the best warrior in any fight may demand his own reward on his return.
The background of the play is a war between Crete and Venice, on the historical ground that the Emperor Baldwin made the Marquis of Montferrato Governor of Crete and that he sold it to Venice. Hence the Cretans are contesting the right of Venice.
In Nash's Wilton, I. 4, Jack says, "He is not fit to travel that cannot with
the Cns. live on serpents, make nourishing food even of poison." Heylyn, on
the other hand, says that the island "breedeth no venomous worms." In Glapthorne's
Privilege iii. 1. Adorns says, "Precious
Cy. wives will meet their gamesters At a convenient tavern, rob their husbands
Without a scruple." To send a man to Cy. seems to have been used much as we
say "to send one to Jericho," or "to the devil." In Webster's White
Devil ii. 1, Flamineo says, "They are sending him to Naples, but I'll send
him to Cy." In B.&F. Double Mar.
ii. 3, a sailor says of a ship that has been taken and set on fire, "Her men
are gone to Cy.; they are peppered."
Heylyn quotes from DuBartas, "From C. [come] currants, muscadells, and oils."
Blount, Glossograph, s.v., says, "Muscadel comes for the most part from
the isle Crete or Cy." In Jonson's Volpone
i. 1, Mosca speaks of "Rich Cn. wines. In B.&F. French
Law. i. 1, Dinant upbraids Champernel for the wrong he has done in getting
his wealth; "for this" he says, "this Cy. wine, 3 merchants were undone." In
Massinger's Very Woman iii. 5, Antonio
assures Borachia, "'Tis wine forsooth, good wine, excellent Cy. wine." To which
she replies: "Is this a drink for slaves? Why, saucy Sirrah (excellent Cy. wine!),
reach me the bottle." In May's Old Couple
ii. 1, Theodore speaks of "Rich Canaries or sweet Cn. wines." In Davenant's
Rhodes A., a song occurs with the line, "The wine bravely works which was brought
us from Cy." Donne, in Ode to Painted Lady, says, "Often times we see Rich Cn.
wines in wooden bowls to be." In B.&F. Bonduca
1, 2, Petillius complains that the Roman soldiers are grown so dainty that
"No oil but Cy., Lusitanian figs, And wine from Lesbos now can satisfy 'em."
In their Beggars' i. 3, Goswin,
speaks of "Cy. sugars." In Greene's Friar
ix. 268, Bacon says, "Cy. shall yield the richest of her canes." Sir Adolphus
Ward's note is: "This place, which still gives its name to an infantile sweetmeat,
is in Ceylon." With all respect for my old teacher, I think this is wrong. First,
sugar-cy has nothing to do with the place Cy., whether in Ceylon or elsewhere,
but is derived from the Persian qand, meaning crystallized sugar; and second,
sugar was not imported from Ceylon. On the other hand, Eden, in Treat. New Ind.
(1553), p. 41, speaks of "Sugar which excelleth the sugre of Candye or Sicilia,"
where Candye obviously means Crete; and Heylyn (s.v. CRETA) says of Crete,
"They transport sugar candie, gummes, honey," etc. So that there is little doubt
that Cy. in this passage means Crete, or Candia.
CANDIE
In Barnes' Charter. See GANDIA.
CANDLEWICK ST.
See CANWICK ST.
CANE
See CAEN.
CANIBEY
In the old Shrew (Haz., p. 511) Aurelius
says, "When I crossed the bubbling C. And sailed along the crystal Hellespont,
I filled my coffers of the wealthy mines." I have not succeeded in identifying
C: possibly it is a corruption of Khandligen, or Kalliley, a place on the Asiatic
side of the Bosporus; and bubbling C. may mean the Bosporus with its violent currents.
CANNAE
A vill. in Apulia on the Aufidus, 6 m. from its mouth and abt. 200 m. S.E. of
Rome. Here in 216 B.C. Hannibal inflicted a terrible defeat on the Romans, in
which half their army was killed and a large number were taken prisoners. The
battle appears to have been fought on the N. side of the river, though the evidence
is somewhat conflicting. In Nero iii.
3, Seneca, bewailing the condition of Rome under the tyranny of Nero, says, "Let
C. come, Let Allia's waters turn again to blood, To these will any miseries be
light." In Caesar's Rev. ii. 5, Cato
of Utica, referring to the victory of Caesar at Pharsalia, says, "O talk not now
of Canna's overthrow." In Alimony i. 2, Timon speaks of the closing of the theatres
in 1642 as "our great disaster at C. than which none ever more tragical to our
theatre." In Fisher's Fuimus ii.
8, the Britons sing a war-song, "Black Allia's day and C.'s fray Have for a third
long stayed." In T. Heywood's Dialogues iii. 1524, Earth laments the "valiant
Roman spirits" who "Fell in one fatal day at Canna's field.'' In Nabbes' Hannibal
iv. 2, Hannibal boasts, "I o'erthrew 6 Consuls, and at Cannas in one fight
killed 100 Roman Senators." In Tiberius
1158, Germanicus, speaking of his victory over the Germans, says, "Not Cannas
nor the fields of Pharsalie So dyed in blood as was Danubius."
CANNON ROW
A st. in Westminster running into Bridge St., E. of Parliament St. It led from
the New Palace Yard to the Privy Garden, and took its name from being the residence
of the Dean and Canons of St. Stephen's Chapel. The name was corrupted in the
18th cent. into Channel Row. In Jonson's Staple
iii. 2, Gossip Tattle says she has "all the news of Tuttle St., and both the
Alm'ries, the two Sanctuaries, long and round Wool-staple, with King's St., and
Canon Row to boot."
CANNON ST.
(or CANNING ST.). See CANWICK ST.
CANTERBURY
(originally CANTWARABYRIG, the borough of the Kentishmen). A city in Kent, 55 m. S.E. of Lond., on the site of the old Roman Durovernum. It is the cathedral city of the Primate of All England, the 1st archbp. having been the missionary Augustine. The first ch. was entirely rebuilt by Lanfranc in 1070. It was burnt down in 1172 and rebuilt, the choir of the cathedral still remaining as it was then constructed. The nave was added in the 14th cent., and the central tower completed about 1500. Adjoining the cathedral was the Abbey of St. Augustine. Edward the Black Prince and Henry IV and his Q. were buried in the cathedral. The oldest ch. in the city is St. Martin's, where K. Ethelbert was baptized: the ch. itself is Norman, but some of the Saxon masonry can still be seen.
General references. In Hycke,
p. 102, Frewyll relates how he got so drunk at Salisbury that he leaped "out
of Burdeaux unto C., almost 10 m. between "(see under BORDEAUX). In Three
Ladies 88, Lucre mentions C. as one of several towns where men "great rents
upon little room do bestow," because of the numbers who flock thither to trade.
In J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100,
Merry Report claims to have been "at C., at Coventry, at Colchester." In W.
Rowley's Shoemaker i. 1, 216, Maximinus
says, "Our daughter Leodice Well leave to keep her court at C."; and several
of the later scenes in the play are enacted there. In Middleton's Queenborough
v. 1, Aminadab informs Simon that the players whom he has been entertaining
"only take the name of country comedians to abuse simple people with a printed
play or two which they bought at C. for sixpence." C. is the nearest town to
Queenborough where there would be bookshops; though hardly in the time of Hengist,
in which the action of the play takes place. In Lyly's Bombie
iv. 2, Dromio complains of the paces of the horse he has hired: "I had thought
I had rode upon addeces [i.e. adders] between this [i.e. Rochester]
and C." In Feversham v. 5, the Mayor
sentences Mrs. Arden to be burnt alive "at Ce., the capital of the county in
which the murder was committed."
Ecclesiastical references. Lyly, in Euphues England, p. 232,
describes C. as "an old city, somewhat decayed yet beautiful to behold; most
famous for a cathedral ch., the very majesty whereof struck them into a maze.''
Langland, in Piers B. xv. 437, reminds us that "Austyn at Caunterbury crystened
the Kynge," sc. Ethelbert. In C. xviii. 274, he mentions the death of "seynt
Thomas of Caunterbury "as an example of devotion to all bps. In Bale's Johan
2111, Dissimulation says, "I die for the ch. with Thomas of C." This is
Thomas a Becket, who was murdered by the knights of Henry II in the cathedral
in 1170. A magnificent shrine was erected to his memory in 1175, which became
one of the most popular resorts of pilgrims during the Middle Ages. It was entirely
destroyed by the commissioners of Henry VIII, but the place where the archbp.
was murdered is still shown, and the apse at the E. end of the cathedral is
called Becket's Crown. For the pilgrimages, see below. In K.J.
iii. 1, 144, Pandulph charges K. John with having kept "Stephen Langton,
chosen Archbp. Of C., from that holy see." Langton is also mentioned in Bale's
Johan 1309. He was appointed archbp.
by Pope Innocent III and consecrated in 1207.John, whose nominee was the Bp.
of Norwich, refused to acknowledge Langton, and the Pope put his kingdom under
an interdict in consequence. In 1215 John gave way and Langton was admitted
to the see. In Trag. Richd. II
v. 1, 57, the Ghost of the Black Prince says, "from my tombe late at Ce. The
ghost of Edward the Black Prince is come." This tomb is still to be seen, with
the arms of the Prince suspended over it. The archbp. mentioned in R2
ii. 1, .282 as one of those in revolt against Richd. was Thomas Arundel,
brother of the Earl of Arundel, who had been deprived of his see for complicity
in Gloucester's alleged conspiracy in 1398 and had taken refuge at Cologne.
He was subsequently reinstated and died archbp. in 1414. The archbp. who in
H5 i. 2 justifies Henry's claim
to the Crown of France was Henry Chicheley (14141443). He was the founder
of All Souls College, Oxford, and made important additions to Lambeth Palace.
The archbp. who appears in R3 1
iii. is Cardinal Thomas Bourchier (14541486) The archbp. who presided
at the divorce proceedings in H8
ii. 4, whose installation is announced to Wolsey (iii. 2, 401), who crowns
Anne Bullen (iv. 1), and who is delivered by the King's intervention from the
plot of the Privy Councillors (v. 3), is Thomas Cranmer (15331556). He
was one of the Council of Government during the minority of Edward VI, espoused
the cause of Lady Jane Grey, and was imprisoned for treason on the accession
of Mary. In 1556 he was burnt for heresy at Oxford, near the present Martyrs'
Memorial. In Sampson's Vow, iv.
1, 82, "Wotton, Dean of C., "is one of the English Commissioners to treat with
the Scotch and French after the siege of Leith in 1560.
The pilgrimages to the shrine of St Thomas a Becket have their most enduring
monument in the C. T. of Chaucer, which are based upon an actual pilgrimage
starting from the Tabard, in Southwark, on April 17, 1386. In prol. 16, he says,
"Than [i.e. in spring] longen folk to goon on pilgrimages . . . And specially
from every shires ende Of Engelonde to Caunterbury they wende The holy blisful
martir for to seke That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke." The pilgrims
took the journey in four stages, and enlivened it with song, story, and jest.
In H4 A. i. 2, 140, Poins brings
word that "there are pilgrims going to C. with rich offerings," who may be beset
and plundered. These pilgrimages have left permanent traces in the language.
A C. pace, or canter, is the easy amble which was the pilgrims' usual speed;
C. bells were the bells they wore as pilgrim-signs, the name being afterwards
transferred to a bell-shaped flower of the genus Campanula; a C. tale is a cock-and-bull
story such as used to be told by the pilgrims. In Sampson's Vow,
v. 2, 19, Miles says he has practised, for the part of the hobby horse in a
morris dance, "my smooth ambles and C. paces." Bale, in Exam. of Thorne 1407
(Parker Soc.), 101, says, "Every town that the pilgrims come through, what with
the noise of their singing, and with the sound of their piping, and with the
jangling of their C. bells . . . they make more noise than if the K. came there."
Latimer, Serm (Parker Soc. i. 107), says that "we might as well spend that time"
given to reading the Bible "in reading of profane histories, of Ce. tales, or
a fit of Robyn Hood" if we do not amend our lives accordingly. In Dekker's Northward
iv. 1, Mayberry says, "A C. Tale smells not half so sweet" "as the comedy. In
Goosecap iii. 1, when it is said that
Lord Tales is from C., Will says, "The best tales in England are your C. Tales."
Lyly, in Euphues England, p. 240, says of the story of the Fox and the Wolf,
"I cannot tell whether it be a C. tale or a fable in AEsop." In J. Heywood's
Four PP. i. 45, the Palmer says
that he has been as a pilgrim, "At Mayster Johan Shorne in C." This John Shorne
was the Rector of N. Marston, in Bucks., and died early in the 14th cent. His
body was enclosed in a shrine at N. Marston, and became a great resort of pilgrims,
especially those suffering from ague. His well may still be seen near the vill.
ch. He was reported to have conjured the devil into a boot, and a picture of
him may be seen on the roodscreen of Gately Ch, in Norfolk, with the boot in
his hand and the devil peeping out of it. Foxe, in Book of Martyrs, says that
penitents were sometimes compelled as a penance to make pilgrimages to "Sir
John Schorn." A ballad is quoted in Chambers' Book of Days, May 8th, "To Maister
John Schorn, That blessed man born, For the ague to him we apply." Latimer,
Serm (Parker Soc. i. 474), speaks of "the popish pilgrimage which we were wont
to use in times past, in running hither and thither to Mr. J. Shorn or to our
Lady of Walsingham." Bale, in Image of Both Churches xvii., gives a list of
objects of papistical veneration, amongst which is "Master J. Shorn's boot."
In Legh's Accidence of Armoury (1597) pref., there is a story of a coat which
its owner had not worn "since he came last from Sir J. Shorne." Heywood can
hardly have been ignorant that the shrine of Sir John was not in C., and it
seems certain that we should read, "At Mayster Johan Shorne, in C.": 2 shrines
being intended, Shorn's at Marston, and Becket's (which is otherwise not mentioned
at all) at C.
Plays were regularly acted by the boys of the King's School, C., under the mastership of Anthony Rushe, in the middle of the 16th cent. It may have been these that gave Marlowe his first impulse towards dramatic writing. He was born at C., and his christening is recorded in the parish register of St. George the Martyr under date Feb. 26, 1564, "Christofer, the son of John Marlowe": he was educated at the King's School. Greene, in Menaphon, sneers at Marlowe's plays as "C. tales."
CANWICK ST.
(originally CANDLEWRIGHT or CANDLEWICK ST.: then it became C. ST., then CANNING ST., and finally, as now, CANNON ST.). A st. in Lond. running from the S.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard to the corner of K. William St., parallel to Cheapside. In our period it only went as far as Walbrook: it was extended to St. Paul's Churchyard in 1854. It derived its name from the candlemakers who had their shops there, but as early as the 15th cent. it had passed from them to the cloth-dealers. Lond. Stone was originally on the S. side of the st., but was removed across the road in 1742. It is now [in 1925] built into the wall of St. Swithin's Ch. [ed. note, see "London Stone"], nearly opposite the railway station, 35 ft. N.E. of its original position.
In H6 B. iv. 6, the direction
in F. 1 is: "Enter Jack Cade and the rest and strikes his staffe on Lond.-stone."
Modern editions locate the scene as "Cannon St," but it would be more exact
to say "C. St." In T. Heywood's Prentices,
sc. 4, Eustace cries: "O that I had with me as many good lads, honest prentices,
from Eastcheap, C. St., and London-stone, to end this battle." In Haughton's
Englishmen iv. 2, Pisaro asks Frisco,
"Why led you him through Cornhill? Your way had been to come through Canning-st."
In Lickpenny 72, Lydgate relates, "Then went I forth by Lond.-stone Throughout
all C.-st. Drapers much cloth me offered anon." In Nobody
378, Nobody says, "If my breeches had as much cloth in them as ever was drawn
between Kendall and Canning-st., they were scarce great enough to hold all the
wrongs that I must pocket." In Deloney's Newberie ix., Jack "took him a shop
in Canweek st. and furnished [it] . . . with a thousand pounds worth of cloth."
In his Reading vi., the clothiers' wives, coming up to Lond., saw "in Candleweeke
ste. the weavers." A ballad follows, with the lines, "The day will come before
the doom In Candleweeke st. shall stand no loom Nor any weaver dwelling there."
Stow testifies, "There dwelled also of old divers weavers of woollen clothes
brought in by Edward the third." In Middleton's Triumph Truth, one of the characters
in the pageant is Sir John Poultney, who "founded a college in the parish of
St. Laurence Poultney by Candlewick st." (see under LAURENCE POULTNEY, ST.).
CAPE, THE
Used for the C. of Good Hope, S. Africa. The first example of this use is in Milton, P. L. ii. 641, where Satan is compared in his flight to a fleet of merchantmen which "on the trading flood Through the wide Ethiopian to the C. Ply stemming nightly toward the pole." Fuller, Church Hist. ii. 11, 43, calls the Archbp. of Armagh (Usher) "the Cape-merchant of all learning."
CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS
In the N. Atlantic, 320 m. W. of C. Verd in Africa. They were discovered by the
Portuguese in 1449, and have ever since belonged to them. They were attacked by
Drake in his famous Island Voyage in 1585. In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. 333 the chorus tells how "The Q. sets forth a fleet of one and twenty sail
to the W. Indies under the conduct of Francis Drake and Christopher Carlisle,
who set on C. d. V., then Hispaniola."
CAPHAREUS
The rocky promontory, at the S.E. extremity of Euboea; now KAVO DORO. Here the
Grecian fleet was said to have been wrecked on the return of the chiefs from the
Trojan War. In Locrine iv. 1, 61,
Estrild envies the Q. of Pergamus, because she saw the overthrow of her enemies
"Nigh to the rock of high C." Spenser, in Virgil's Gnat 586, says of the returning
Greeks, "Some on the rocks of C. are thrown, Some on th' Euboick cliffs in pieces
rent."
CAPHTOR
Probably to be identified with Crete (q.v.). According to Amos ix. 7, the Philistines came from C. to Palestine; and this is borne out by the Egyptian records. Crete was a great pre-historic centre of AEgean civilization, and the Philistines, the sea-peoples of the Egyptian monuments, introduced it into Palestine towards the end of the 13th cent. B.C. Milton, in S. A. 1713, makes Manoah say that Samson "hath left . . . lamentation to the sons of C. Through all Philistian bounds."
CAPITOL
At Rome, the hill at the N.W. end of the Forum. It was divided into 2 peaks by a saddle in which it was said that the Asylum of Romulus was situated. The S.W. peak was actually the C., the N.E. being the Arx, but whole hill was often spoken of as the C. On it was the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, begun by the Tarquins, and completed in 509 B.C. In 83 B.C. it was burnt down, and rebuilt by Sulla. Twice subsequently it was destroyed by fire; it was finally rebuilt by Domitian in A.D. 82, and this temple survived till the 5th cent. The site is now occupied by the Palazzo Caffarelli. Surrounding the main temple were smaller ones to Honour and Virtue, Fides, Jupiter Custos, and Jupiter Tonans. On the Arx was the Temple of Juno Moneta, the mint of ancient Rome.
In Milton, P. R. iv. 47, the Tempter says to our Lord, "There the C. thou
seest Above the rest lifting his stately head On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel
Impregnable." In Cor. iii. 1, 240,
Coriolanus refuses the name of Romans to the plebeians, "Though calved i' the
porch o' the C." In iv. 2, 39, Volumnia exclaims: "As far as does the C. exceed
The meanest house in Rome, so far my son . . . does exceed you all." In v. 4,
1, Menenius says it would be easier to displace "Yon coign o' the C., yon corner
stone" with a little finger than to move Coriolanus from his purpose. In J.C. i. 3, 20, Casca relates, "Against the C. I met a lion." In ii. 1, 111, Casca
says, "the high east Stands, as the C., directly here." Possibly Shakespeare
was thinking of the Tower of Lond., which is E. of the Globe Theatre. In ii.
2, 21, Calpurnia tells how armies have been seen fighting in the sky, "Which
drizzled blood upon the C." In iii. 3, 27, we learn that Cinna, the poet, dwelt
"by the C." In Jonson's Sejanus
v. 1, Sejanus ridicules the importance of prodigies: if they are worth a thought,
then "The running of the cat betwixt our legs As we set forth unto the C." were
a prodigy. In his Catiline iii.
3, Catiline says, "Now's the time, this year, The 20th from the firing of the
C., As fatal too to Rome." The C. was burnt 83 B.C.; the date of Catiline's
conspiracy was 63 B.C. The prophecy was found in the Sibylline Books that the
20th year after the burning of the C. would be fatal to Rome. In Chivalry, Pembroke
says, "I'll have his sepulchre hang richer with the spoils of proud passengers
than was the Romans' wealthy C.'' When, in Cym.
i. 6, 106, Iachimo speaks of "lips as common as the stairs That mount the C.,"
he is referring proleptically to the steps up to the C. erected in 1536 on the
occasion of the visit of the Emperor Charles V. In T. Heywood's Traveller
i. 1, young Geraldine tells how he has visited Rome and seen "their Pantheon
and their C." In Jonson's Poetaster
iv. 3, 30, Albinos swears, "By Jove and all the gods i' the C.." i.e.
the other gods who had temples there. In the temple of Jupiter itself there
were 3 shrines occupied by Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Milton, P. L. ix. 508,
calls the God of the Romans "Cine." Jove.
Rome was sacked and burnt by the Gauls 390 B.C., but an attack on an undefended
part of the Arx was betrayed by the cackling of the geese sacred to Juno and
the valour of Manlius: who was nevertheless executed 6 years later by precipitation
from the Tarpeian rock, which was part of the Cine. Hill, on the charge of attempting
to make himself king by the help of the plebeians. In Caesar's
Rev. iv. 1, Antony says that Caesar, by his conquests in Gaul, "Recompensed
the fiery C. With many cities unto ashes burnt." In Jonson's Staple
v. 2, Pennyboy, being jeered at by the rest of the company, calls them geese;
and Madrigal adds: "but such as will not keep your C." In Dekker's Northward
v. 1, Kate reviles the captains "that fight, as the geese saved the C., Only
with prattling." In Shirley's Honoria [a.k.a. The Contention
for Honor and Riches ] iv. 1, a citizens says, "[I am] one of the birds
that keep the C.; our feathers are all at your service, gentlemen; when you
have plucked and picked us well, you may give order for our roasting.'' In Alimony
iii. 5, the Constable addresses the watch: "My birds of the C., be it your care
to watch while I sleep." In Tiberius
1800, Vonones says, "Brennus scaled the C." Brennus was the leader of the Gauls
in this attack. In Fisher's Fuimus
Ind., Brennus says to Camillus, "'Bout your C. Pranced our vaunting steeds,
defended more By geese than by your gods." In Middleton's Women
Beware i. 2, Livia says, with some confused recollection of this story,
"You are now in another country, where your laws are no more set by than the
cacklings of geese in Rome's great C." In Chapman's Trag.
Byron v. 1, the Chancellor, presiding at the trial of Byron, draws a parallel
between him and Manlius: "If his deserts have had a wealthy share In saving
of our land from civil furies, Manlius had so that saved the C.; Yet for his
after traitorous factions They threw him headlong from the place he saved."
The triumphal processions of victorious Roman generals went along the Sacred
Way up to the C. Such a triumph is described in Massinger's Actor i. 4., where Caesar is pictured "Riding in triumph to the C." In Tiberius
1276, Nero speaks of "Going to the-C. to the triumph." In Fisher's Fuimus
iii. 2, Nennius, after putting Caesar to flight, cries ironically, "Open
the C.'s ivory gates; Caesar returns a victor!" In Dekker's Wonder
iii. 1, Torrenti says, "Say to the Duke that never Caesar came More welcome
to the C. of Rome." The Elizabethans, with the exception of Ben Jonson, fell
into the natural mistake of regarding the C. as the place of meeting of the
Roman Senate, the Parliament-house of Rome. As a matter of fact, the Senate
met in the Curia Hostilia in the Forum, till it was burnt down in 52 B.C., or
in various temples and other consecrated places. In Cor.
1, 1, 49, the revolting plebeians cry: "To the C.!" In i.1, 192, Coriolanus
bitterly complains: "They . . . presume to know What's done i' the C." In i.
1, 244, the Senator invites Menenius and Marcus, "Your company to the C., where
I know Our greatest friends attend us." In ii. 1, 74, the Senators are called,
"Benchers in the C." The Senate-meeting of ii. 2 is held in the C. In ii. 3,
243, the Tribunes exhort the plebeians to "repair to the C." to annul their
election of Coriolanus to the consulship. In iv. 6, 75, the tribunes are summoned
to the Senate, and Brutus says, "Let's to the C." In J.
C. i. 2, 187, Brutus says, "Cicero looks . . . As we have seen him in the
C. Being crossed in conference by some Senators." The meeting of the Senate
at which Caesar was assassinated was actually held in the Curia Pompeii, some
distance N. of the C.; but both Shakespeare and the other dramatists uniformly
represent the death of Caesar as occurring in the C. In J.
C. ii. 1, 201, the conspirators fear lest the augurers should "hold Caesar
from the C. to-day." The scene of iii. 1, is laid there. In line 11, Cassius
says to Artemidorus, "Come to the C.": probably the Senate was discovered sitting
in the backstage, and Caesar and his train went up from the front stage to the
Senate at line 12. In Ham. iii. 2, 109, Polonius says, "I did enact Julius Caesar;
I was killed in the C." In Ant.
ii. 6, 18, Pompeius describes the conspirators as "drenching the C." when they
killed Caesar. In B.&F. False One
prol., it is stated that Caesar "fell i' th' c." In their Gentleman
v. i. Marine says, "So Caesar fell, when in the C. They gave his body two-and-thirty
wounds." Chaucer, C. T. B. 3893, says, "This Julius to the Cie. wente . . .
And in the Cie. anon hym hente This false Brutus." In Tit.
i. 1, 41, Marcus entreats the crowd "in the C. and Senate's right" to withdraw.
In Chapman's Chabot v. 3, 180,
the King says, "Pompey could hear it thunder, when the Senate And C. were deaf
to heaven's loud chiding." Pompey prevented the election of Cato by dismissing
the Assembly under the pretext that he had heard it thunder (Plutarch Vit. Catonis
42). The C. was also called Mt. Saturnal from the legend mentioned in Verg.
An. viii. 357, that Saturnus founded a city there. Spenser, in Ruines of Rome
iv., says of Jove, "Upon her (i.e. Rome's] head he heaped Mt. Saturnal."
C. is used generically for any senate or parliament-house or centre of government.
In Peele's Ed. I i., the K., sitting
in state in the palace of Westminster, exclaims: "O glorious C.! beauteous Senate-house!"
In B.&F. Candy iii. 2, Cassilane
says, "I think myself as great, As mighty, as if in the c. I stood amidst the
senators": the reference being to the Senate-house of Candia, in Crete. Drummond
of Hawthornden uses it of heaven, in Poems (1630), where he says of the ascending
Christ, "The spotless spirits of light . . . Greet their great victor in his
c." When Milton, P. L. i. 756, speaks of Pandaemonium as "the high Capital Of
Satan and his peers" I am pretty sure that he meant to spell it C., and that
the "a" is due to the mistake of his secretary. O.E.D. gives no other example
of Capital used as a noun in this sense until 1750.
CAPO D'ISTRIA
A spt. on a small rocky island in the Gulf of Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic.
It is the scene of Middleton's Widow.
CAPPADOCIA
Dist. in E. Asia Minor, S. of Pontus, E. of Galatia, and N. of the Taurus. It
extended E. to the Euphrates, but its boundaries cannot be very exactly determined.
It was for long an independent kingdom under a series of monarchs with Persian
names. But in 39 B.C. Antonius put to death Ariarthes IX and set Archelaus on
the throne. He was ultimately summoned to Rome by Tiberius to meet charges laid
against him before the Senate, and died there in A.D. 17, In T. Heywood's Iron
Age B. i. Pentiselea, Q. of the Amazons, boasts, "We are those women who conquered
Asia, Egypt, and C." This was a legend of prehistoric times. In Caesar's
Rev. v. 1. Cassias says, "Proud C. saw her k. captived." This was Ariobarzanes,
assassinated by order of Cassias 42 B.C. In Ant.
iii. 6, 70, Caesar mentions "Archelaus of C." as one of the kings levied for war
by Antony. According to one form of the legend, St. George of England was a Cn.
soldier, who afterwards was made bp. of Alexandria. In Habington's Arragon
ii. 1, he is called "St. George, that Cn. man-at-arms." In the old Timon
ii. 4, Gelasimus says, "In C. they choose a friend That's gelt, to keep their
wives in chastity." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
v. 1, Simon Eyre speaks of his apprentices as "mad Cns.": elsewhere he calls them
"Assyrians" and "Mesopotamian." The long words evidently tickled his fancy. Cappadochio,
and its corrupted form, Caperdewsie, is used in the sense of a prison. In Puritan
i. 3, Nicholas says, "How, captain Idle? my old aunt's son . . . in Cappadochio?"
In T. Heywood's Ed. IV A. iv.
4, we have, "my son's in Dybel here, in Caperdochy, i' the gaol"; and in i. 1.
86, "He's in Caperdochy, Ned, in Stafford Gaol." It is suggested that this use
is due to the fact that there were many slaves in C., but I think it is more probably
due to the first syllable, which suggests cop, to catch, from which we get our
"copper" for a policeman.
CAPREAE
(now CAPRI). A small island at the S. entrance of the Bay of Naples. It is separated
from the mainland by a strait 3 m. in width. Augustus made it a part of the imperial
domain, and often visited it; Tiberius resided there during the last 10 years
of his reign, and built 12 villas on the island, the ruins of which are still
to be seen. According to Tacitus and Suetonius, he retired there for the purpose
of gratifying his unnatural lusts in privacy; but it is likely that they have
exaggerated his depravity. In Jonson's Sejanus
iv. 4, Macro advises Caligula, "To go for C. presently; and there Give up yourself
entirely to your uncle"; and in iv. 5, Arrius says of Tiberius, "He hath his slaughter
house at C., Where he doth study murder as an art." In Massinger's Actor
iii. 1, Domitilla charges Nero with gratifying his passion at her expense "in
a kind Tiberius at C. never practised." In Rawlin's Rebellion
iv. 1, Giovanno speaks of "the whorish front of C." In Milton, P. R. iv. 92,
the Tempter relates how Tiberius is "Old and lascivious, and from Rome retired
To C., an island small but strong On the Campanian shore." In Bale's Johan
2088, the monk who poisons the K. hands him a cup, saying, "It passeth malmsey,
capric, tyre, or hippocras." I presume capric wine means wine from Capri. This
wine is mentioned in Russet's Bk. of Nurture (1460) and Harrison's England (1587).
CAPSA
(now CAFSAH). A city in an oasis in the extreme S. of Numidia, abt. 200 m. S. of Carthage. It was said to have been founded by the Libyan Hercules, and was destroyed by Marius in the Jugurthine war. In Bacchus the 8th guest "was of C., a town well known in Numidia: his name was Geoffrey Gooscap, and with him he brought a nightcap for god Bacchus." The name is chosen for the sake of the pun.
CAPUA
A city in Campania, near the Volturnus, abt. 90 m. S.W. of Rome. It was founded
by the Etruscans in the 9th cent. B.C., but was captured by the Samnites in 424
B.C. It fell into the hands of Rome at the close of the Latin war, but revolted
in the 2nd Punic War, and opened its gates to Hannibal, who spent the winter after
Cannae there. His subsequent ill-success was attributed by the Romans to the enervating
influence of the city. Under Julius Caesar it became a Roman Colonia. It was partially
destroyed by the Vandals in A.D. 216, and the destruction was completed by the
Saracens in 840. The inhabitants rebuilt it on the site of the ancient Casilinum,
but the site of the old city was occupied later by the village of Santa Maria
di Capua. The scene of Act I of Nabbes' Hannibal
is laid at C. during the winter of 2165 B.C. In i. 1, Maharball calls
it "Pleasure's only storehouse. Were I an Hannibal and conquest girt me As far
as daylight spreads his crystal wings, One C. should ransom all." In Cockayne's
Trapolin ii. 3, Horatio speaks of
"C., effeminate and amorous, wherein the Carthaginian captain's soldiers were
spoiled and debauched with pleasures." In Lodge's Wounds
of Civil War i. 1, Sulpicius speaks of "our legions Waiting our idle wills
at C." His reference is to the 6 legions under Sulla's command which were destined
for the Mithradatic war, and which Sulpicius wished to get transferred to Marius
88 B.C. In Jonson's Sejanus iii.
3, Tiberius declares his intention of proceeding to Campania "to dedicate a pair
of temples, One to Jupiter at C." Tacitus, Ann. iv. 57 and 67, mentions this intention
and its fulfilment in A.D. 27. In Davenant's Platonic
v. 7, Theander says, "The arms I won at C. are thine." In Barnes' Charter
iv. 3, Lucretia says, "This night I purpose privately to sup With my Lord
Cardinal of C."
CARDIFF
(Welsh, CAERDYDD). The capital of Glamorgansh. in S. Wales, on the Taff. For reference in Jonson's Wales, see under CAERLEON.
CARDIGAN
A spt. town in Wales, the capital of Cardigansh. It has an ancient ch. dedicated
to St. Mary, and is in the diocese of St. David's. In B.&F. Wit
S. W. iv. 1, Oldcraft relates that he has got a Welsh benefice in reversion
for his nephew, "Dean of C.," though C. has no dean in the technical sense.
CARDINAL'S HAT
A tavern on the Bankside, Southwark, between Emerson St. and Moss Alley. The site was long marked by C.-Cap Alley. The name may have been given in honour of Cardinal Beaufort, Bp. of Winchester, whose Lond. palace was on Bankside. Taylor, Works ii. 173, denies the charge that had been made against him that he had been bribed by the players and had had a supper with them "at the C. H. on the Bankside."
CARDIS
See CADIZ.
CAREFUX
See CARFAX.
CARENTIGNE (CARENTAN)
A maritime town of Normandy, in the department of La Manche, 14 m. N.W. of St.
Lo and 160 W. of Paris. In Ed. III
iii. 3, Prince Edward reports, "Some of their strongest cities we have won, As
Harflew, Lo, Crotay, and C." This was in 1346. The town had a strong castle, but
it surrendered after 2 days' siege, and was destroyed by the English.
CARFAX
From the Latin quadri-furcus, a place where 4 roads meet, especially the centre
of a town where the 2 main sts. cross. It is particularly applied to the point
in Oxford where the High St. is intersected by St. Aldates and the Corn Market.
The intersection of Leadenhall St. and Bishopsgate, Lond., was also called Carfukes.
In Abington iii. 2, Barnes sends
word to Francis and Moll Barnes to go to Oxford; and says, "At C., boy, I mean
to meet them." In Cuckqueans i. 3,
Pearle says, "The word Finis, being cut in the waist, is Fine is, which, Carfox
way, may indifferently be alluded to my mother, to my self, to my wife, as also,
most adaptly, to this my bowl now." Carfox way means in 4 directions. In Seven
Days iv., Sunday says, "Some men's hard lucks In Wednesday market lost their purse
at Carefux." The scene is in Oxford. Executions were carried out there. In Scot.
Presb. ii. 1, Priscilla says, "I will not . . . send [my son] to Oxford, send
him to Cairfax rather, and see him caper in a string." Rabelais, Pantagruel ii.
10, speaks of "the Carrefours" of Paris, meaning the places where the main streets
intersected.
CARIA
A dist. in S.W. Asia Minor. Artemisia, the valiant Q. of C., accompanied Xerxes
to the battle of Salamis with 5 vessels. In Jonson's Queens, "chaste Artemisia,
the Cn. dame," figures as one of the famous queens of times long gone. In Caesar's
Rev. i. 5, Pompey eulogizes his wife Cornelia as "far more loving than the
Charian Q. That drank her husband's never-sundered heart." The reference is to
Artemisia, the wife of the Cn. K. Mausolus. She is said to have mixed the ashes
of his body with her daily drink; and she built the famous Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
in his memory. She reigned 352350 B.C. Mausolus is one of the interlocutors
in T. Heywood's Dialogues xiii., and is addressed, "O Carion." Spencer, in Ruines
of Rome ii., says, "Mausolus' work will be the Cns.' glory." Lyly, in Euphues
Anat. Wit 47, speaks of "that river in C. which turneth those that drink of it
to stones" On page 145 he mentions "the stone that groweth in the river of C.,
the which the more it is cut the more it increaseth."
CARIBDIS
See CHARYBDIS.
CARIMANIA
See CARMANIA.
CARLEGION
Intended for the old name of Chester, Caer Leon Gawr, i.e. the city of the Great Legion. This the English made into Leganceaster, and it was finally cut down to Chester: often distinguished as W. Chester (see CHESTER). Drayton, in Idea (1594) xxxii. 5, says, "C. Chester vaunts her holy Dee."
CARLINGFORD
A spt. town on E. coast of Ireland in Co. Louth, abt. 50 m. N. of Dublin and 10
m. E. of Dundalk. Dundalk was attacked by the rebel Shane O'Neill in 1566 and,
according to Stucley, Stucley played
a large part in its defence, but it is doubtful whether he remained in Ireland
after 1565. In the play the attack on Dundalk is described; and in line 885 O'Neale
says, "Fan [i.e. when] O'Cane and Magennis come from C., we will enter
lustily the town" (sc. Dundalk).
CARLISLE
The capital of Cumberland, on the Eden, 301 m. N.W. of Lond. It is a bishop's
see, and the cathedral dates from the time of Henry I. In R2
iii. 3, 30, Percy, in a list of those who are supporting Richd., says there
is "besides a clergyman Of holy reverence; who, I cannot learn." Northumberland
says, "Belike it is the Bp. of C." In iv., the Bp. of C. alone protests against
the usurpation of the throne by Bolingbroke; whereupon Northumberland arrests
him for capital treason. In v. 6, 24, Bolingbroke permits him to go into retirement,
"For though mine enemy thou hast ever been, High sparks of honour in thee have
I seen." This was Thomas Merkes, who became bp. in 1397. He alone of the lords
stood by Richd., and was committed to the Tower, but he was released and pardoned
in 1400 "on account of the excellence of his character." The Countess Elinor of
C. is mentioned in Greene's James IV
i. 3. There was, however, no Earl of C. between the execution of Sir Andrew Harcla,
1st Earl, in 1323, and the creation of James Hay in 1622, Spencer, F. Q. ii. 10,
24, says that Cairleill was built by "k. Leill," an ancient K. of Britain.
CARMANIA
(or CARIMANIA). A province of Asia on the N.E. side of the Persian Gulf. It corresponds
to the S.E. corner of modern Persia, and the name is preserved is the town of
Kerman. In Marlowe's Tamb. B. iii. 1,
Callipinus is proclaimed "Emperor of Natolia . . . C. and all the 130 kingdoms
late contributory to his mighty father." In Suckling's Aglaura
iv. 1, Ziriff says, "The prince does intend to join with C."
CARMARDEN
See CAERMARTHEN.
CARMEL
The mtn. range terminating in the headland of C., on the W. coast of Palestine,
on the S. of the Bay of Acre. It is chiefly remembered as the scene of the contest
between Elijah and the priests of Baal, related in 1 Kings xviii. In Greene &
Lodge's Looking Glass i. 2, 155,
an Angel, having carried Oseas through the air to Nineveh, says, "So was Elias
rapt within a storm, And set upon Mt. C. by the Lord." There is nothing in the
Biblical account to suggest this legend. In Milton, P. L. xii. 144, Michael points
out to Adam "on the shore, Mt. C." as the W. boundary of the territories of Israel.
CARNARVONSHIRE
A county in N.W. Wales. It is very mountainous, and only one-third of the land
is capable of cultivation. The chief peak is Snowdon. The capital is Carnarvon,
on the Menai Straits, 235 m. N.W. of Lond. The castle was built by Edward I (12831293),
and Edward II, Prince of Wales, was born there. In H8
ii. 3, 48, when Anne Bullen swears, "I would not be a queen for all the world,"
the old lady replies: "In faith, for little England you'd venture an emballing;
I myself would for C.": the point being the poverty of the county. In Peele's
Ed. I, p. 49, Elinor asks that her
young son may be "In Carnarvon christened royally." "Then," says the K., "Edward
of Carnarvon shall he be, Born Prince of Wales." Earlier in the same play (p.
23), the Harper predicts, "When the weather-cock of Carnarvon steeple shall engender
young ones in the belfry . . Then shall Brute be born anew And Wales record their
ancient hue." Apparently this is a riddling reference to the birth of the Prince
of Wales there. In Jonson's Wales, Evan says of the old man who has been representing
Atlas, "He is caull now Craigereri, a Mtn. in Carnarvanseere."
CARNON
A mtn. range in Servia, near Belgrade, S. of the Danube, near the ancient city
of Carnuntum. The huge underground reservoirs of Constantinople, known as the
palace of the 1001 pillars, and the Subterranean Palace, were supplied with water
from these hills. In Marlowe's Tamb. A.
iii. 1, Bajazeth, who is besieging Constantinople, sends pioneers to "Cut off
the water that by leaden pipes Runs to the city from the mtn. C."
CARPATHUS
An island in the AEgean, between Crete and Rhodes, some 50 m. N.E. of Crete, now called Skarpanto. Proteus, the seer and shepherd of Neptune's flocks, had a cave sacred to him in C. In Milton's Comus 872, Proteus is referred to as "the Carpathian wizard." In Nabbes' Microcosmus iv., Temperance speaks of "lampreys' guts fetched from Carpathian streights" as amongst the luxuries which foster gluttony. Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 29, speaks of the Scarus, or lamprey, being found abundantly in the Carpathian Sea.
CARPEIAN
In Caesar's Rev. v. 1, Anthony swears
by "the overburning [? everburning] fires of Vesta and C. towers of Jove." The
reference is obviously to the Capitol, and I am satisfied that C. is a misprint
for Tarpeian. One of the old names of the hill was the Tarpeian Hill.
CARRARA
A town and dist. close to the W. coast of Italy, some 200 m. N.W. of Rome, in
the old Duchy of Modena. It has been famous from Roman times for the white marble
which is quarried from the lower ridges of Monte Sagro. In Davenant's Wits
iv., Engine speaks of "snails taken from the dewy marble quarries of C."
CARREBD
See CHARYBDIS.
CARTAGENA
A spt. on the N.W. coast of S. America, in New Granada. Its fine harbour is formed
by 2 islands extending along the coast and protecting it like a natural breakwater.
In Devonshire i. 2, the Merchant
says, "Nombre de Dios, C., Hispaniola with Cuba by Drake were ravished." Drake
sacked Nombre de Dios in 1572, and the other places mined in 1585.
CARTER LANE
A St. in Lond. running W. from the corner of Old Change and Cannon St. to Water
Lane. The 1st quarto of Henry V
(1600) was "Printed by Thomas Creede for Tho. Millington and John Busby. And are
to be sold at his house in C. L., next the Powle Head." The Paul's Head was at
the corner of Sermon L. and Carter L. One of Tarlton's Jests (1611) begins," In
C. L. dwelt a merry cobler." Richd. Quiney addressed a letter to Shakespeare "from
the Bell in C. L., the 25 October, 1598."
CARTERTON
An alleged vill. in Sussex; but the name is obviously invented for the occasion.
In Nabbes' C. Garden i. 2, Ralph
says that his master's name may be found in the church-register at "C. in the
Co. of Sussex"; and that he is the son of Rowland Dungworth of Dirtall Farm.
CARTHAGE
(Cn. = Carthaginian). An ancient Phoenician city on what is now the Bay of Tunis
on the N. coast of Africa. It was founded, according to tradition, by Dido, who
fled thither from Tyre to escape from her brother Pygmalion, who had murdered
her husband. The Roman legends told how AEneas, after the capture of Troy by the
Greeks, was driven by a storm to C. and was warmly welcomed by Dido, who bore
him a son. In obedience to the gods, however, he left her and proceeded to Italy,
and she in despair burnt herself to death on a funeral pyre as his ships departed.
Her sister and confidant, Anna, followed AEneas to Italy and, becoming the object
of his wife Lavinia's jealousy, drowned herself in the Numicius and was afterwards
worshipped as Anna Perenna. C. became the leading commercial city of the Mediterranean,
and during the 5th cent. B.C. made herself mistress of Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily
(where she came into conflict with the Greek colonies and was defeated by Timoleon
343 B.C.), and the Balearic Islands, and founded colonies in Spain. In 264 B.C.
she came into conflict with Rome, and the 1st Punic war lasted with varying fortune,
but on the whole favourably to Rome, until 241. In 218 the 2nd Punic war began
with the invasion of Italy by Hannibal, who conquered the Romans at the battles
of Lake Trasimene and Cannae, but was finally driven from Italy. Scipio then carried
the war into Africa, and finished it by the victory of Zama in 202. In Temp.
ii. 1, 72, Adrian, referring to the recent marriage of the K.'s daughter to the
K. of Tunis, says, "Tunis was never graced before With such a paragon to their
queen." "Not," says Gonzalo, "since widow Dido's time." "She was of C.," replies
Adrian, "not of Tunis"; to which Gonzalo responds, "This Tunis, Sir, was C." In
M.N.D. i. 1, 173, Hermia swears,
"By that fire which burned the C. queen When the false Troian under sail was seen."
In Merch. v. 1. 12, Lorenzo says, "In such a night Stood Dido with a willow in her hand Upon the wild sea banks,
and waft her love To come again to C." In Shrew
i. 1, 159, Lucentio says to Tranio, "Thou art to me as secret and as dear As Anna
to the Q. of C. was." Chaucer tells the story of Dido in Leg. Fair Women 924,
and refers to it in House of Fame i. 221 Marlowe makes it the subject of a tragedy
(Dido, Queen of C.). Jonson, in Tub,
has a woman called Dido Wispe, whom in i. 2 Puppy refers to ironically as "brave
C. queen!" In Greene's Orlando i.
1, 173, Rodomant says that Orlando "Skipped from his country as Anchises son And
means, as he did to the C. queen, To pay her ruth and ruin for her loss." In B.&F.
Maid's Trag. ii. 2 Aspatia speaks
of "The C. queen when from a cold searock Full with her sorrows, she tied fast
her eyes To the fair Trojan ships." In Shirley's Venice
iii. 4, Thomazo, referring to Rosabella, the hostess of the inn, says, "Drink,
whilst I embrace my queen of C.," i.e. Dido.
Historical references. In Massinger's Bondman,
the scene is laid in Syracuse in 343 B.C., when Timoleon delivered Syracuse
from the attacks of the Cns. In i. 1, Leosthenes assures Timagoras, "The thundering
threats of C. fright not me." In iii. 3, Gracculo dresses Asotus as an ape,
and asks him, "What for the Cns.?whereupon Asotus "makes moppes." Apes
were trained to show contempt for Spain, or the Turk, or the Pope, by refusing
to come aloft, or by making grimaces when they were mentioned. Probably Massinger
means this play to be more or less significant of existing political conditions:
Spain is intended by C., and Gisco the Admiral represents the D. of Buckingham.
Marlowe's Faustus prol. opens: "Not
marching now in fields of Thrasimene Where Mars did mate the Cns . . . Intends
our Muse to vaunt his heavenly verse." Mate is used in the sense of match, not
defeat; for Marlowe cannot have been ignorant that the Cns. were the victors
at L. Trasimenus 217 B.C. In Caesar's
Rev. iii. 1, Caesar's Ghost speaks of Hannibal as "the stout Cn. lord, The
fatal enemy to the Roman name."
Brandon's Octavia 115, Octavia says of her husband Marcellus, "Proud C. knows,
his youthful sword did pay Large tributes of their souls to Stygian lake." This
is an absurd confusion between the great M. Claudius Marcellus, who fought against
Hannibal in the 2nd Punic war and was killed in battle 208 B.C., and C. Claudius
Marcellus, the husband of Octavia, who died about 41 B.C. Sir P. Sidney, in
Sonnet, My Mistress Lowers, says, "If e'er my face with joy be clad, Think Hannibal
did laugh when C. lost." In Milton, P. R. iii. 35, the Tempter tells our Lord
that, before he was his age, "young Scipio had brought down The Cn. pride."
Scipio took command against C. in Spain when he was 24, and gained his surname
Africanus when he was 33. In Massinger's Actor
i. 3, Paris, defending the stage, points out the stimulating effect of an actor
showing "Scipio, After his victories imposing tribute On conquered C." In Machin's
Dumb Knight i. 1, Phylocles thinks
that "Caesar's Pharsalia nor Scipio's C." were worthy of chariots of triumph.
In Caesar's Rev. i. 3 Caesar quotes
Scipio Africanus as saying, "Let pity then move us to rue no traitorous C. fall."
In Skelton's Magnificence, Fancy
speaks of "Typpo, that noble C wan." Typpo is a misprint for Scipio. Scene I
of Massinger's Believe is laid
in the neighbourhood of C about 190 B.C., after the defeat of Antiochus the
Gt. by the Romans at Magnesia. The play begins: "You are now in sight of C.,
that great city, Which in her empire's vastness rivals Rome." Amilcar, Prince
of the Cn. Senate, and 3 other senators take part in the play.
Chaucer refers to the final destruction of C. in 146 B.C, when Hasdrubal killed
himself and his wife and children flung themselves into the flames of his funeral
pyre. In Nun's Priest's Tale B. 4555 he tells how the hen shrieked when the
fox carried off Chaunticleer, "Ful louder than dide Hasdrubales wyf Whan that
the Romayns hadde brend Cartage." In F. 1399, he says, "What shal I seyn of
Hasdrubales wyf That at Cartage birafte hirself hit lyf?" In Jonson's Catiline
iii. 3, Catiline boasts that he will do "what the Gaul or Moor could ne'er effect,
Nor emulous C.," i.e. destroy Rome. In Kyd's Cornelia i., Cicero says,
"C. and Sicily we have subdued." In H. Shirley's Mart.
Soldier i. 1, Hubert brings the news that he has taken "Eugenius, bp. of
C.," and later his martyrdom is related. This is all wrong: Eugenius was Bp.
Of C. 2 years after the death of Genseric, who is here represented as his persecutor;
and he died in Gaul A.D. 505. In Chapman's Caesar
i. 2, 275, Caesar tells of one so clear-sighted that from Sicily he "could discern
the Cn. navy And number them distinctly leaving harbour, Though full a day and
night's sail distant." Plutarch is the authority for this impossible story.
The scenes of Marlowe's Dido, Marston's
Sophonisba, and Act IV of Nabbes'
Hannibal are laid at C.
CARTHAGENA
(the ancient CARTHAGO Nova). A spt. in Spain, on the coast of Murcia, 240 m. S.E.
of Madrid. It was founded by the Carthaginians 242 B.C., and was taken by Scipio
211 B.C.: the fortress was supposed to be impregnable, but Scipio surprised it
by marching his troops over the shallows laid bare by the ebbing tide. It is one
of the finest harbours in Spain, and was the headquarters of the Spanish plate-fleet,
which came and went annually to the W. Indies for tribute to Spain. In Tiberius
i. 109, Germanicus says, "The elder African [i.e. Scipio Africanus Major]
in Spaine By ebbing Thetis scarred Carthage walls." In Greene's Orlando
ii. 1, 767, Marsilius, who is represented as K. of Spain, says to Mandrecarde,
"Mine shall honour thee And safe conduct thee to Port Carthagene." In Shirley's
Heir v. 4, Alfonso, who has come
to help to restore Ferdinand to the throne of Murcia, says, "We had command To
steer our course by sea to C." In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. 333, the D. of Medina says, "Non sufficit orbis, our proud Spanish motto,
By the English mocked, and found at Carthagen, Shall it not now take force?" In
Davenant's Rutland, p. 221, the Parisian compares Moorfields with its acres of
old linen hung out to dry with "the fields of C. when the 5 months' shifts of
the whole fleet are washed and spread," i.e. on the return of the plate-fleet
from America.
CARVENOW
(probably CARMENOW). A manor in the parish of Mawgan, in S.E. Cornwall, abt. 7 m. S.W. of Falmouth. In Cornish M. P. iii. 94, Pilate gives "C." to the gaoler for his good service.
CASBIN
(or CASBEEN, i.e. KAZVIN). An important city in Persia, 90 m. N.W. of Teheran.
It was made the capital by Tahmasp (15241576), and remained so till Shah
Abbas removed the seat of government to Ispahan early in the 17th cent. In 1598
Sir Anthony and Robert Sherley visited C. and were warmly welcomed by Abbas. Robert
remained there in the service of the Shah, but he fell out of favour through the
machinations of Haly Beg and died in C. in 1628. His adventures, and those of
his 2 brothers, are the subject of Day's Travails.
In i. 1, Sir Anthony and Robert are welcomed with "a peal of shot, The like rill
now was never heard in C." Milton, P. L. x. 436, describes the retreat of the
Bactrian Sophi (i.e. the Shah of Persia) from the Turks "To Tauris or C."
CASIUS
(now EL KATIEH or RASELKASAROON). A sand-hill on the coast of Egypt, abt. 50 m. E. of Port Said. Milton, P. L. ii. 593, describes the Serbonian Bog (i.e. L. Tanais) as lying "Betwixt Damiata and Mount C. old."
CASPIA
In Chapman's Blind Beggar ix., Clearchus
says to Ptolemy, "Your bands in Memphis and in C., joined with your power of Alexandria,
Will double all the forces of these kings." The context seems to show that some
city or dist. in Egypt is meant. possibly Casium, which lies just E. of Pelusium
at the foot of Mt. Casius, where Pompey was buried. See CASIUS.
CASPIAN
The largest inland sea of Asia, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Aral. It
derived its name from the Caspii, who lived on its S.E. shores, in the dist. called
Caspia. In Marlowe's Tamb. A. i. 1,
Cosroes is crowned Emperor of Asia and "chief Lord of . . . the ever-raging C.
Lake." The word is used a little earlier in the Act for a very remote place: "Allegiance,"
says Mycetes, "is Fled to the C. or the Ocean main." In ii. 3, Tamburlaine speaks
of the "craggy rocks of Caspia." In Caesar's
Rev. iii. 2, Caesar says that Alexander, "Through Hydaspis and the C. waves
His praise did propagate." Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7, 14, speaks of the evils endured
by the man "Who swelling sails in C. sea doth cross "for the sake of wealth. Milton,
P. L. ii. 716, describes a thunderstorm "when two black clouds With heaven's artillery
fraught, come rattling on Over the C." In P. R. iii. 271, he mentions "Araxes
and the C. Lake "as the bounds of the Assyrian Empire. Fuller, Church Hist. ii.
11, 43, describes certain scholars as "like the C. Sea, receiving all and having
no outlet."
CASSIANS
The Cassi, a British tribe living in the basin of the Thames, possibly in Bucks.,
Beds., and Herts., where the hundred of Cashio and Cashiobury, close to Watford,
may preserve their name. In Fisher's Fuimus
iv. 4, Mandubratius says to Caesar, "By me the Trinobants submit and C." See
Caesar B. G. v. 21.
CASTALIA
A spring at the foot of Mt. Parnassus, close to Delphi, dedicated to the Muses,
and hence supposed to impart poetic inspiration to anyone who drank of its waters.
In Barnes' Charter i. 2, a Gentleman
says, "We poets Which in Cn. fountains dipped our quills, Are forced of men's
impiety to plain." T. Heywood, in Hierarchie of Blessed Angels B. 4, says, "Famous
Jonson, though his learned pen He dipt in Castaly, is still but Ben." In Brewer's
Lovesick King ii., Thornton says,
"I'll sit down and write, sweet Helicon inspire me with thy Cn. Luck!" On the
title page of Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare put the couplet from Ovid Am. 1, xv.
35, "Vilia miretur vuigus; mihi flavus Apollo Pocula C. plena ministret aqua."
In Jonson's Poetaster i. 1, Luscus
asks Ovid, "Why, young master, you are not Cn. mad, ha!" i.e. poetry mad;
and in iii. 1, Crispus speaks of the city ladies sitting "in every shop, like
the Muses offering you the Cn. dews and the Thespian liquors." Spenser, in Ruines
of Time 431, says of Achilles, "But that blind bard did him immortal make With
verses, dipt in dew of Castalie." Nash, in Somewhat to Read (1591), says to the
Countess of Pembroke, "Thou only . . . keepest the springs of C. from being dried
up." Herrick, in Farewell to Sack (1647), calls the Muses "Those thrice three
Cn. sisters. The name was also applied to a spring which watered the grove of
Apollo at Daphne, in Syria, close by Antioch (see Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap.
xxiii, note 106). Milton, P. L. iv. 274, denies that "that sweet grove Of Daphne,
by Orontes and the inspired Cn. spring," could vie with the beauties of the Garden
of Eden.
CASTELBLANCO
There are several places in Spain so called. This particular one must be sought
in the neighbourhood of Osuna and Seville. In B.&F. Pilgrimage
i. 1, Incubo calls himself "master Baily of C.-B.," and immediately afterwards
speaks of "master Dean of Seville, our neighbour."
CASTILE
Sp. CASTILLA (Cn.=Castilian). One of the ancient kingdoms of Spain, so called
from the forts, or castillos, built on its borders by Alfonso I to defend it from
the Moors. It occupies the N. and central parts of the peninsula. At first a province
of the kingdom of Leon, it was erected into a separate kingdom in 1033, and in
1037 was united to Leon. In 1212 the Moors were driven out of it into S.W. Spain,
and the dist. recovered from them was distinguished as New C., the N. portion
being Old C. 1n 1469 Isabella of C. married Ferdinand of Aragon, and the united
kingdoms became the kingdom of Spain. In Greene's Friar
iv., the K. of C. is entertained in England by Henry III. This was Ferdinand III,
the Saint, whose daughter Elinor married our Edward I. There are many allusions
to her Spanish origin in Peele's Ed.
I. In Middleton's Chess v. 3,
the Black Knight relates that "Fat Sanctius, k. of C., was killed by an herb,
taken to make him lean, which old Corduba, k. of Morocco, counselled his fear
to." Sanctius is Sancho III (12831295) and old Corduba is Mahomet Mir Almir,
or Miramoline (12721302). In Trag.
Richd. II i. 1, 50, Lancaster says, "Why, the proud Castillyan, Where John
of Gaunt writes king and sovereign, Would not throw off their vile and servile
yoke By treachery so base." John of Gaunt assumed the title of K. of C. after
his marriage with the daughter of Pedro the Cruel, but the throne was actually
occupied by Henry of Trastamara. In Kyd's Span.
Trag. there is a Cyprian, D. of C., whom the king addresses as "my loving
brother of C.," and after his death laments him as the heir to his throne, "That
Spain expected after my decease." In Act I Hieronymo says that "John of Gaunt
. . . came to Spain And took our K. of C. prisoner." This is not true. A D. of
C. also appears in the dumb-show at the beginning of Jeronimo. In Webster's Malfi
ii. 5, the Cardinal, in conversation with Ferdinand, D. of Calabria, says, "Shall
our blood, The royal blood of Aragon and C., Be thus attainted?" This was Ferdinand
V, who in 1498 became K. of Naples. He died in 1516. The supposed date of the
play is given in ii. 3, as 1504. In Stucley,
1545, Philip II of Spain speaks of his wish for many years "that Portingal And
fruitful C., being one continent, Had likewise been the subject of one sceptre."
This was in 1578, and in 1580 he gained his wish and added Portugal to his dominions.
In Chapman's Consp. Byron ii. 1,
Savoy relates how Byron "did take Beaune In view of that invincible army led By
the Lord great Constable of C." This was in 1595, during the wars of the League:
John Ferdinand de Velasque, the Constable of C., was one of the chief commanders
on the Spanish side; but he was in Lombardy and had not yet marched into France
at the time when Byron took Beaune. In Devonshire
i. 2, the Merchant says that when Drake sacked the Spanish W. Indies, "the Cn.
Lion began to roar." In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. 335, Ricaldus mentions "14 great ships of Biskey, of C.," as forming part
of the Spanish Armada. In Greville's Mustapha ii. 1, Achmat says he is "no governor
of C., No petty prince's choice whose weak dominions Make weak counsels current."
Cn. is used for Spanish. In Dekker's Fortunatus
iii. 1, Insultado is called indifferently, "my Spanish prisoner" and "my Cn.
prisoner." In his Shoemaker's
ii. 3, Eyre says, "Firk, scour thy throat! Thou shalt wash it with Cn. liquor,"
i.e. Spanish wine. In Three
Lords (Dods. vi. 458), Policy says, "Now, Fealty, prepare thy wits for war
To parley with the proud Cns."; and again, p. 466, "With London's pomp C. cannot
compare." In M.W.W. ii. 3, 34,
the Host says to Caius, "Thou art a Castalion king-Urinall; Hector of Greece,
my boy." Needless difficulty has been made of the word. It is clearly intended
as an ironical compliment, like the Hector of Greece which follows. The K. of
Spain was the wealthiest monarch in Europe; and his Court had the reputation
of being the most dignified and proudest in the world. Caius is but a king-urinal,
a king of physicians, but for all that he is a Cn. king, a king of the first
water. In Marston's Malcontent
i. 4, Malevole says to Bilioso, "Adieu, my true court-friend, farewell, my dear
Castilio": where Castilio may mean a dignified courtier, or may be an allusion
to Baldessar Castiglioni, the author of the Courtier. In Glapthome's Privilege
ii. 1, Adorni tells how "A Cn. was in Paris to be whipped through the sts.,
and, being admonished to be more swift of foot, in scorn answered he would rather
be flayed alive than break a tittle of his gravity." In Cowley's Riddle iii.,
Alupis calls Don Hercules Alcido de Secundo "A brave Cn. name": in allusion
to the high-sounding titles of the Spanish grandees.
In Tw. N. ii. 3, 34, Sir Toby
says to Maria, when Sir Andrew is entering, "What, wench? Castiliano vulgo;
for here comes Sir Andrew Aguecheek." It is perhaps hardly necessary to suppose
that Toby meant anything at all by this exclamation, unintelligible as it stands:
if something has to be made of it, Warburton's conjecture, "Castiliano volto,"
i.e. put on a grave Spanish countenance, is as good as any. Possibly
there may be some connection with the drunken cry, "Castiliano rivo." In Marlowe's
Jew iv. 6, Ithamor, in the midst of
a drinking bout, cries: "Hey, Rivo-castiliano! a man's a man!" In Look
about iv., it is said of a drunken man, "And Rivo will he cry and C. too."
Rivo alone is found as a drunken exclamation in H4
A. ii. 4, 124: "Rivo, says the drunkard"; and in Marston's What
You ii. 1, "We'll quaff or any thing; Rivo, St. Mark!" O.E.D. takes Rivo
to be perhaps the Spanish Arriba (up, upwards), but it cannot be said that any
satisfactory explanation of either part of the phrase has been discovered. Cn.
soap was made out of olive-oil and soda, and had a great reputation. In Jonson's
Devil v. 3, Meercraft instructs
FitzDottrel how to feign epilepsy by foaming at the mouth; "a little castle-soap
will do't, to rub your lips." Burton, A.M. ii. 4, 3, recommends "suppositories
of Cn. Soap" as a purge. In Davenant's Italian
v. 3, Altamont says, "The cymbals of India call Cn. cornets forth." Why the
cornet should be called Cn., I do not know.
There were 3 languages spoken in the peninsula: - (1) the Catalan, spoken in the N.W., a dialect of the Langue d'Oc of S. France;
- (2) the Cn. in the centre, the parent of modern Spanish; and
- (3) the Portuguese.
In Middleton's Gipsy ii. 2, Pedro
says to Sancho, "Thy father was as brave a Spaniard as ever spake the haut Cn.
tongue." In Cockayne's Obstinate
iii. 3, Carionil says, "My long residence in the Spanish Court hath made me speak
the Cn. language perfectly." Dekker, in Lanthorn, says that in the golden age
"there was no Spaniard to brave his enemy in the rich and lofty Cn."
CASTLE INN (1)
A tavern on the N. side of Paternoster Row, Lond., near the site afterwards occupied
by Dolly's Coffee House, close to Queen's Head Passage. Later still it became
the Oxford Bible Warehouse. The C. I. was kept at one time by Tarlton; and one
of his Jests relates how 2 of his friends "foxed Tarlton [i.e. made him
drunk] at the C. in Pater Noster Row." There was a C. Tavern on the N. side of
Cornhill, near the R. Exchange. Davenport's New
Trick was "Printed for John Okes for Humphrey Blunden and are to be sold at
his shop in Cornehill next to the C. Tavern. 1639."
CASTLE INN (2)
- (a) An inn in St. Albans near which Somerset was killed in the 1st battle
of St. Albans, 1455. In H6 B.
v. 2, 68, Richd. apostrophizes his dead body: "So lie thou there; For underneath
an alehouse' paltry sign, The C. in St. Albans, Somerset Hath made the wizard
famous in his death." In H6 B.
i. 4, 38, the spirit conjured up by Bolingbroke had warned Somerset, "Let
him shun castles."
- (b) An inn in Plymouth where Bess Bridges, the heroine of T. Heywood's Maid
of West, was barmaid. "The C. needs no bush," says one of the Captains
in i. 1; "her beauty draws to them more gallant customers than all the signs
i' the town else." The next 2 scenes take place in front of the inn and in
one of its rooms respectively.
CASTLE NOVO
(i.e. CASTEL NUOVO at Naples, fronting the Largo del Castello). It is strongly
fortified with a wall and ditch, and was founded in the 13th cent. by Charles
of Anjou. In Webster's Law Case v.
6, the scene of which is laid at Naples, Romelio says, "Run To C. N.; this key
will release A Capuchin and my mother, whom I shut Into a turret."
CASTLE OF ANTWERP
A fort built on the S. of the city by the D. of Alva in 1567. Its site is now
appropriated for new docks. In Larum
A. 3, Danila speaks of the Spaniards as being "sole commanders of the C.," in
which the scene is laid.
CASTOR AND POLLUX (TEMPLE OF)
In Rome on the S.W. side of the Forum, between the Basilica Sempronia and the
Temple of Vesta. It was built in 494 B.C. by Aulus Postumius, and restored in
119 B.C. by Metellus Dalmaticus and in A.D. 6 by Tiberius. Three Corinthian columns,
which formed part of it, are still conspicuous. It was often used for meetings
of the Senate. In Chapman's Caesar
i. 1, 48, Statilius reports, "I saw C. and P. t. thrust up full With all the damned
crew" of Caesar's agents. The next scene is laid in the Forum, before the T. of
C. and P.
CATADUPES
The people living by the cataracts (Greek Katadoupoi) of the Nile in Upper Egypt.
Heylyn (s.v. EGYPT) says, "In the place where this Egypt and Habassia meet
is the last cataract of Nilus; which is a fall of the waters after much struggling
with the rocks for passage, an incredible way down into the lower vallies. The
hideousness of the noise which it maketh not only deafeth all the by-dwellers,
but the hills also are torn with the sound." In Brewer's Lingua
iii. 7, Memory says, "The Egyptian C. never heard the roaring of the falls of
Nilus, because the noise was so familiar unto them." In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. (quarto edition), Clement says, "No; we'll come a step or two lower
then in styleFrom Catadupa and the banks of Nile Where only breeds your
monstrous crocodile Now are we purposed for to fetch our style." Lodge, in Wits
Miserie (1596), says, "Sien of my science in the Catadupe of my knowledge, I nourish
the crocodile of thy conceit."
CATAIA, or CATHAY
(Cia. = Cataia). The names used vaguely for China, especially N. China, in medieval Europe. They were derived from the Khitai, the 1st of the foreign dynasties which conquered China, and which was displaced by the Nyuche in A.D. 1123. After the conquests of Jenghiz Khan and Kublai Khan in the 13th cent. C. became known in Europe through the Dominican and Franciscan missionaries, and Italian travellers and merchants, like the Polos. By the end of the 16th cent. C. had been replaced by China as the name of the country, and was mostly used in a vague sort of way for the mysterious, distant E. Heylyn (s.v. CATHAIE) says "The people are very warlike, strong in matters of action, fearless of the greatest dangers, and patient of labour and want. They are of mean stature, little eyes, sharp sight, and wear their beards thin. They are of a very good wit, dress themselves gorgeously, and fare on occasions sumptuously. They are the most honourable people of the Tartars, indifferently civil, lovers of arts both mechanical and civil." In Experience's lecture on geography in Elements, Haz. i. 32, he says, "But eastward on the sea-side A prince there is that ruleth wide, Called the Can of Catowe"; and he estimates that America, "the new lands," "from the Can of Catowes land cannot lie little past 1000 miles." In Rabelais' Pantagruel, iv. 1, the oracle of the Holy Bottle "lay near Catay in the Upper India." For the vagueness of the 17th cent. notions about C. see under CHINA.
In B.& F. Prize iv. 5, Maria
says to Petruchio, "When I hear not from you once a quarter, I'll wish you in
the Indies or Cataya: Those are the climes must make you." Petruchio comments,
"She'll wish me out of the world anon." In their Span.
Cur. ii. 1, Diego says, "Nova Hispanic! and Signor Tiveria! What are these?
He may as well name you friends out of Cia." In iii. 2, Lopez greets Arsenio
and Milanes: "You look like travelled men; maybe, some old friends that happily
I have forgot; some Signors in China or Cia." Nash, in Lenten (p. 302), says
of Yarmouth, "Not any where is justice soundlier ministered betwixt this and
the Grand C. and the strand of Prester John." In Barry's Ram
iv. 2, Smallshanks exhibits Capt. Face as a baboon, and describes him as "an
outlandish beast lately brought from the land of Cia." In Brome's Antipodes
i. 3, Barbara says of Peregrine, "He talks much of the kingdom of Ca., Of one
great Caan, and goodman Prester John." Milton, P. L. x. 293, describes icebergs
"that stop the imagined way Beyond Petsora eastward to the rich Cian. coast,"
i.e. the much-sought-for N.E. passage. In P. L. xi. 388, Cambalu (Pekin)
is called the "seat of the Cian. Can." One of the ingredients of Maquerelle's
restorative in Marston's Malcontent
ii. 4. is "amber of Cia." In Dekker's Match
me ii., Bilbo says, "The musk, upon my word, Sir, is perfect Cathayne."
Cian. is used in a slang way for a sharper. In M.W.W.
ii. 1, 148, Page, speaking of Nym, says, "I will not believe such a Cian., though
the priest of the town commended him for a true man." In Tw.
N. ii. 3, 80, Sir Toby says, "My lady's a Cian., we are politicians, Malvolio's
a Peg-o-Ramsey": where the name is simply abusive. In Dekker's Hon.
Wh. B. iv. 1, Matheo says, "Shallow knight! poor squire Tinacheo! I'll make
a wild Cian. Of 40 such; hang him, he's an ass, he's always sober": apparently
he means that it would take 40 such fools to make one clever sharper.
CAT AND FIDDLE
The sign of a Lond. ordinary or eating-house, in Cheapside, near the Cross (q.v.).
In Middleton's Witch i. 2, after
the stage direction, "Hecate conjures; enter a Cat playing on a fiddle, and Spirits
with meat," Almachildes remarks, "The C.&F. is an excellent ordinary." The nursery
rhyme, "Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle," does not appear to be earlier
than the 18th cent. Day, in prol. to Law
Tricks , asks, "Must a musician of necessity dwell at the C. & the F.?"
CAT AND PARRETS
The sign of T. Pavier's bookshop in Cornhill, near the Exchange (qq.v). The 1602
quarto of Henry V was "Printed
by Thomas Creede for Thomas Pauier and are to be sold at his shop in Cornhill
at the sign of the C. & P. near the Exchange." The 1602 edition of the Span.
Trag. was published at the same place.
CATARYNA, SANTA
See KATHERINE'S, SAINT.
CATEATON (also CATTE or CATTETON) STREET
Lond., running from the junction of Old Jury and Lothbury to Lad Lane. It is now
called Gresham St. Stow calls it Catts St. The change of name was made in 1845.
In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iv., Moll,
being surprised by the watch at the corner of Bishopsgate St. and Cornhill, says
to Randall, "Go you back through Cornhill, I'll run round about the Change, by
the Ch. corner, down C. St., and meet you at Bartholomew Lane end." To which Randall
replies, "Cat's St. was call hur?"
CATHANEA (or CATANIA)
A spt. town on the E. coast of Sicily, 31 m. N. of Syracuse. In Gascoigne's Supposes
ii. 1, Erostrato tells how he has persuaded a traveller from Sienna to pretend
that he is "a Sicilian of C."
CATHARINE'S (SAINT) HALL
University of Cambridge, founded by Robert Woodlark in 1475. It stands on the W. side of Trumpington St., opposite Corpus Christi. James Shirley, the dramatist, was at one time a student there.
CATHARINE WHEEL (1)
An ancient tavern in Southwark, between Union St. and Mint St., opposite St. George's
Ch.: it survived until 1870. The name was corrupted into The Cat and Wheel. Taylor,
in his Carriers' Cosmography, mentions the C. W. in Southwark as the lodging of
the carriers from Tunbridge and other places in Kent. I suspect that it is the
tavern meant by the Cat, or the Cats, in the following passages. In Brome's Northern
i. 5, Pate asks, "Where's the supper? at the Bridgefoot or the Cat?" In his
Moor iv. 2, Quicksands mentions
"the Bridgefoot Bear, the Tunnes, the Cats, the Squirrels" as taverns frequented
by his wife and her gallant.
CATHARINE WHEEL (2)
The sign of Thomas Creed's bookshop in Thames St., Lond. The Tragedy of Selimus
was "Printed by Thomas Creede, dwelling in Thames ste. at the signe of the
Kathern Wheele neare the olde Swanne. 1594."
CATHAY
See CATAIA.
CATHERIA
Possibly CATHAEA is meant, a dist. in the Punjaub, between the Ravee and the Gharra,
whose capital was Sangala, now Lahore. In Day's Travails,
Bullen, p. 50, the Grand Turk Ahmed I says, "Are we not Hamath, Soldan and Emperor
of Babilon, of C., AEgipt, Antioche?"
CATHERINE'S (SAINT) CREE
A ch. in Lond. on N. side of Leadenhall St. It was built about 1300, but was pulled down, all but the tower, in 1628 and rebuilt. Holbein is said to have been buried here. The churchyard was used in the Middle Ages for the acting of morality plays. In 1565 there is a record of 27/8 being paid by the players for the right to act there.
CATHNESIA
See CAITHNESS.
CATOMPYLON
See HECATOMPYLOS.
CATTI (or CHATTI)
A German tribe inhabiting the modern Hessen, which preserves their name. Germanicus,
in his campaigns of A.D. 15 and 16, destroyed their capital Mattium, but they
were never reduced to permanent submission. Domitian at the beginning of his reign
conducted 2 campaigns in Germany, and celebrated a triumph over the C. and Dacii
on his return to Rome, but his alleged victories were without any result. In Massinger's
Actor i. 1, Latinus says, "'Tis frequent
in the city he [Domitian] hath subdued The C. and the Daci, and, ere long, The
second time will enter Rome in triumph." In Tiberius
1156, Germanicus says, "Of stiff-necked Chatti, never yet controlled, An hundred
thousand perished in one field."
CATWADE (or CATTAWADE)
A small vill. just at the head of the estuary of the Stour in the parish of Brantham,
in Suffolk. Amongst the holy places visited by the Palmer in J. Heywood's Four
PP. i. is "the great God of Katewade." I think that we should read "rod,"
or "rood," for "God," and that there was a rood or cross at C., though I have
not been able to find any other record of its existence.
CAUCASUS
The well-defined range of mtns. running from the Black Sea to the Caspian, and
forming the boundary at that point between Europe and Asia. The central part of
the range is lofty, and most of the peaks rise above the limit of perpetual snow.
The highest peak is Elburz (18,526 ft.). AEschylus introduced the C. into literature
by making it the scene of the sufferings of Prometheus, who was chained to a cliff
there whilst his liver was daily devoured by a vulture: his crime being that he
had stolen fire from heaven to bestow it on men. In Tit.
ii. 1, 17, Tamora is "Faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes Than is Prometheus
tied to C." In Jonson's Catiline
iii. 1, Catiline says of Cethegus, "This man, If all our fire were out, would
fetch down new Out of the hand of Jove; and rivet him To C., should he but frown;
and let His own gaunt eagle fly at him, to tire." In Richards' Messalina
v. 1, 2076, the Emperor speaks of suffering "Tortures no less than if on C. We
were exposed, a never-dying prey, To the eagle's beak." In Peele's Ed.
I iv., Lluellen speaks of "The chains that Mulciber erst made To tie Prometheus'
limbs to C." In Locrine v. 4, 191,
Guendoline talks of Titius, i.e. the Titan Prometheus, "bound to houseless
C." Constable, in Diana (1594) v. 10, 4, speaks of "Prometheus . . . Bound fast
to C. 's low foot beneath." In Mason's Mulleasses
2349, Mulleasses says, "If on C. My growing liver were exposed a prey To ravening
vultures, I still would laugh."
In R2 i. 3, 295, Bolingbroke
asks, "Who can hold a fire in his hand By thinking on the frosty C.?" In Stucley
2352, Muly Hamet speaks of the teeth of his queen as "More white Than Caucase
frosty clots." Lily, in Euphues Anat Wit, p 105, advises the lover: "If thou
be as hot as the mt. AEtna, feign thyself as cold as the hill C." In Marlowe's
Dido v., Dido says to the faithless
AEneas, "Thou art sprung from Scythian C. And tigers of Hyrcania gave thee suck."
In his Ed. II v. 5, Edward says to Lightborn,
"Thy heart, were it hewn from the C., Yet will it melt." In Nero
i. 4, Scaevinus says that, compared with Nero, "The inhospitable C. is mild."
In Selimus 1236, Zonara says to
Acomat, "Thou wast born in desert C. And the Hircanian tigres gave thee suck":
a couplet filched from Marlowe (see above). In Brandon's Octavia 2119, Octavia
says, "O Antony, some cruel C. Did thee beget." Barnes, in Parthenophil lxxv.
10, asks Cupid, "Was craggy C. thy crabbed sire?" In the old Timon
iv. 1, Timon prays, "Mt. C. Fall on my shoulders, so on them it fall!" In Fisher's
Fuimus iv. 1, Caesar begs Mars
to utter a roar, "Which C. may as a catch repeat." Burton, A. M. ii. 3, 1, 1,
says, "You may as soon remove Mt. C. as alter some men's affections." In Locrine
ii. 5, 44, Albanact says, "I'll over-run the mtn. C. Where fell chimaera in
her triple shape Rolleth hot flames from out her monstrous paunch." The Chimaera
was not associated with C., but with Mt. Chymera in Lycia, q.v. In T.
Heywood's B. Age i., Deianeira
professes that she would feel safe in the arms of Hercules, even were she attacked
by "Those rude bears that breed in C." Milton, P.R. iii. 318, mentions troops
from "the Hyrcanian cliffs Of C." When Chaucer, C. T. D. 1140, uses the phrase
"Betwix this and the mt. of Kaukasous" he means to include all possibilities
of place.
CAUX
A dist. in France at the mouth of the Seine. The chief town is Caudebec, on the Seine, abt. 30 m. E. of Havre. Drayton, in Ode XII on Agincourt (1606) 6, says, "At C., the mouth of Seine, With all his martial train Landed K. Harry."
CAYRO
See CAIRO.
CAYSTER
A river in Asia Minor, in the S. of Lydia, flowing W. from Mt. Tmolus to the AEgean Sea close to Ephesus. The flats in its lower course were known as the Asian Plain, or Caystri Campus, and were famous for swans and other wild fowl that abounded there. In T. Heywood's Dialogues iii. 1924, Thisbe says, "The white Caistrian bird to me did yield." In Nabbes' Microcosmus iii., Sensuality promises Physander, "Shalt sleep upon a bed of purest down Driven from white necks of C.'s swans."
CAZATES
In Marlowe's Tamb. B. i. 3, Techelles,
describing his African expedition, says, "I marched along the r. Nile to Machda
[i.e. Magdala, in Abyssinia); From thence unto C. did I march Where Amazonians
met me in the field . . . And with my power did march to Zanzibar." Evidently
C. must be looked for somewhere between Magdala and Zanzibar: Kazeh, which lies
some 200 m. S. of the Victoria Nyanza Lake and 400 m. from the coast of Zanzibar,
may be the place intended. It is also known as Unyanyembe.
CECROPIA
An ancient name for Athens, derived from the tradition that its citadel was built
by Cecrops. In Peele's Alcazar i.
2, 85, the Moor cries, "Roll on, my chariot wheels . ,. . till I be safely set
in shade Of some unhaunted place . . . there To sick [i.e. to sicken] as
Envy at C.'s gate." See Ovid, Metam. ii. 775.
CECUBUM
See CAECUBUS AGER.
CELAENAE
A city of Phrygia, in a cave near which the r. Marsyas had its source. The Meander also rose at Celaenae. Legend said that Apollo hung up the skin of Marsyas in this cave, and that it moved in rhythm with the sounds of Phrygian music, but not when music appropriate to Apollo was sounded. Lyly, in Euphues England, p. 321, says, "The Phrygian harmony being moved to the Celaenes it maketh a great noise, but being moved to Apollo it is still and quiet."
CELTIBERIA
Properly the central dist. of Spain, but also loosely applied to the whole country.
In Jonson's Neptune, written to celebrate the return of Prince Charles and Buckingham
from their fruitless wooing of the Spanish Infanta in 1623, he says, "The mighty
Neptune late did please to send His Albion forth through C." In Nabbes' Hannibal
iv. 5, one of the minor characters is Lucius, who describes himself as "A
prince amongst the Cns."
CELTS
Applied by the Greeks and Romans to the inhabitants of ancient Gaul and other
kindred tribes. In Caesar's Rev. iv.
2, Cassius says, "Brutus, thou hast commanded The feared C. and Lusitanian horse,"
i.e. the Gaulish and Portuguese cavalry. In Milton, Comus 60, Comus is
described as "Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields," i.e. the plains of
Gaul and Spain. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10, 5, calls Gaul "the Celticke mainland,"
and in ii. 10, 29, speaks of Codelia's husband as "Aggannip of Celtica." Milton,
P. L. i. 121, says that the old Greek gods fled with Saturn "over Adria to the
Hesperian fields And o'er the Celtic [sc. region, i.e. Gaul] roamed the
utmost isles."
CEMONIAN
See GEMONIES.
CENIMAGNIANS
The Cenimagni, a British tribe, by some identified with the Iceni. They lived
in Suffolk and Norfolk. In Fisher's Fuimus
iv. 4., Mandubratius says to Caesar, "By me the Trinobants submit And C."
See Caesar B. G. v. 21.
CEPHISSUS
A r. of Attica, now the Sarandaforo, rising in Mt. Cithaeron and flowing past Eleusis into the N. end of the Saronic Gulf. The river-god was said to have been the father of Narcissus. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11, 30, speaking of the Well of Life, says, "Ne can Cephise, nor Hebrus, match this well." In iii. 2, 44, Britomart says, "I, fonder than Cephisus' foolish child, Who, having viewed in a fountain sheer His face, was with the love thereof beguiled."
CERAUNIA (or CERANNIA)
ACROCERAUNIA, q.v. In Marlowe's Dido
i., AEneas reminds his followers that they have overpassed "The Cyclops' shelves
and grim C. 's seat." In Locrine
iii. 6, 30, Humber curses the sea "that did not rive my ships Against the rocks
of high C."
CERES
See SERES.
CESILL
See SICILY.
CESTUS
See SESTOS.
CEUTA
(the ancient SEPTUM). A spt. in Morocco, on a peninsula opposite to Gibraltar.
It was taken from the Moors by the Portuguese in 1415, and from them it passed
to the Spanish in 1580, to whom it still belongs. In Stucley
2461, Abdelmelek mentions "Aginer, Zahanra, C., Penon, Melilla" as towns in Africa
held by the Portuguese.
CHAERONEA
A town in ancient Boeotia, which commanded the entrance from Phocis, and so became the scene of many battles. It was 25 m. N.W. of Thebes. The most famous of the battles was that in which Philip of Macedon defeated the united forces of the Athenians and Boeotians in 338 B.C., and so destroyed the liberties of Greece. Isocrates, the orator, died soon after this battle. Milton, Sonn. to Margaret Ley 7, says, "that dishonest victory At C., fatal to liberty, Killed with report that old man eloquent."
CHALCEDON
A city of Bithynia at the entrance of the Pontus, opposite to Byzantium, some
2 m. S. of the present Scutari. In Middleton's Chess
v. 3, the Black Knight enumerates amongst dainties for the table "The pelamis
which some call summer-whiting, From C." Strabo and Pliny both speak of the shoals
of pelamys which pass through the Bosporus; but they add that a white rock at
C. frightened them across to Byzantium, the fishermen of which made a great profit
out of them, In Nabbes' Hannibal i.
1, Maharball says of Capua, "Here we are feasted With Cian. tunny."
CHALCOT
A suburb of Lond., N. of Regent's Park. corrupted into Chalk Farm. Upper C. was
at Haverstock Hill, and Lower C. has left its name on C. Cresc. and Chalk Farm
Rd. The old Chalk Farm Tavern, the modern representative of which stands at 89
Regent's Park Rd., was a well-known resort for Londoners in the 18th cent., and
many duels were fought there. In Jonson's Tub
i. 1, "Diogenes Scriben, the great writer of C.," is a member of the "Council
of Finsbury," who have joined together in order to find a husband for Awdrey,
the daughter of the High Constable of Kentish Town.
CHALDAEA
Originally the district to the W. and N. of the head of the Persian Gulf, where
the Kaldu were settled. In the later books of the O.T. the Cns. mean the Babylonians,
and C. the country round Babylon. Their language was partly adopted by the Jews
during their captivity in Babylon, and certain parts of the books of Ezra and
Daniel are in Cn. The Cns. were great students of astrology, and after the destruction
of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the name Cn. lost its national significance
and was used as a generic name for the official astrologers of the court, as in
the earlier chapters of Daniel. During the earlier days of the Roman Empire the
eastern astrologers and fortune-tellers who flocked to Rome were called Cns.;
and so the word came to mean simply a soothsayer. The Puritans affected the study
of Hebrew and Chaldee as being the sacred languages of the O.T. Chaucer, C.T.B.
3387, uses Chaldeye for Babylonia: and "Caldey, Tartare, and Inde" were among
the countries visited by Hycke, p. 88. Milton, P. L. xii. 130, tells how Abraham
left "Ur of Chaldea" at the Divine call (see UR). In Darius, p. 89, Zorobabell
speaks of the time "when Jerusalem was . . . by the Chaldees dejected." In Jonson's
Sejanus iv. 5, Arrius says that Tiberius
is "retired Into an obscure island, where he lives Amidst his route of Chaldees."
Tacitus tells of the superstitious regard paid by Tiberius to the Cn. soothsayers.
In Massinger's Actor iv. 1, Parthenius
is commanded "with all speed to fetch in Ascletario, the Cn., who is condemned
of treason for calculating the nativity of Caesar." In Middleton's Changeling
iv. 2, Alsemero talks of "a pretty secret by a Cn. taught me." In Marston's Malcontent
v. 1, Maquerelle says, "Look ye, a Cn., or an Assyrian, 'twas a most sweet Jew,
told me, Court any woman in the right sign, you shall not miss." In Shirley's
Sisters iii. 1, Giovanni says, "My
lady hath given the Cn. her nativity, who is to give account how the stars will
dispose of her." In Davenant's Italian
i. 1, Rossa says, "Thy province is C.; thy father was a Rabbi and thy aunt a Sybil."
In Chapman's Rev. Hon. i. 1, 163,
Selinthus says, "I can speak thus, Though from no Memphian priest or sage Cn."
In May's Agrippina v. 87, Petronius
says, "I dare swear Poppaea ere this time Has asked and heard what the Cns. say
About her fortunes; our fine dames of Rome Must still be tampering with that kind
of cattle." In Mayne's Match ii.
2, Baneswright promises the Puritan waiting-maid Dorcas to help her into the service
of a lady who "can expound, and teaches to knit in Chaldee and work Hebrew samplers."
In Glapthorne's Wit ii. 1, Thorowgood,
pretending to be a scholar, says to Grace, "I'll court you now in the Cn. or Arabick
tongues."
CHALONSSURSAÔNE
The ancient Caballinum, a city in France on the Saône, 239 m. S.E. of Paris. In
Devonshire iv. 1, Manuel says he
left his father ''at C. in Burgundy." In Wilson's Inconstant
v. 3, the D. of Burgundy tells how he had a child who died "going from Chalon
Castle to Besançon."
CHALYBES
A tribe who lived near the S. coast of the Black Sea in Asia Minor, a little W. of Trapezus, to the N. of the river Lycus. They worked the iron ore from the mtns. to the S. of their home, and were probably the first to supply it to the Greeks. In Milton's S. A. 133, the Chorus describes how the prowess of Samson "made useless . . . the forgery Of brazen shield and spear, the hammered cuirass, Chalybean-tempered steel, and frock of mail."
CHALYBON
A city in Syria, afterwards called Beroea, abt. 60 m. due E. of Antioch. Its wine
was the chosen drink of the kings of Persia; and Plutarch De Alexandro Magni Virtute
i. 5, praises Alexander for not drinking "vinum Chalybonium." In Chapman's Trag.
Byron iv. 2, 144, Byron transfers Plutarch's praise to Philip II of Spain:
he did not spend his wealth on "Median luxury, Banquets and women, Calydonian
wine, Nor dear Hyrcanian fishes." Either Chapman's edition of Plutarch had a different
reading, or he made a slip in his transliteration.
CHAMBERY
The capital of the old Duchy of Savoy, in the valley of the Liesse, 45 m. S.W.
of Geneva. In Davenant's U. Lovers
iv. 4, Galeotto shows "the very sword I won in duel from the famed Da Roche i'
th' vale of Chamberie."
CHAMONT (or CHAMOND)
A town in France on the Rhône, near St. Etienne, abt. 260 m. S. of Paris. In Webster's
Weakest ii. 1, the D. of Medina says,
"Chamount shall stoop, Medina says the word."
CHAMPAGNE
A province in N.E. France on the Upper Seine, N. of Burgundy. The sparkling wine
which now bears its name appears to have been introduced into England after the
restoration of Charles II. The 1st reference to it by name is in Butler's Hudibras
(1664). In H6 A. i. 1, 60, word
is brought to Bedford that "Guienne, C., Rheims, Orleans, Paris, Guysors, Poictiers
are all quite lost.'' In Chettle's Hoffman
ii., Lorrique, disguised as a French doctor, says, "I have for tendre to your
Excellence de service of one poor gentlehome of Champaigne."
CHANCERY LANE
A st. in Lond., running N. from Fleet St., just E. of the New Law Courts, to Holborn.
It was originally called New St.; then, during the 14th cent., Chancellors Lane,
probably from Ralph Neville; then, in Elizabeth's time, it was abbreviated to
C. L. In Wise Men iii. 3, Simplom
tells Antonio, who has sent him to see his lawyer, "Sir, I met him in Chauncery
L." In Dekker's Jests 326, one of the haunts of the foyst, or pickpocket, is "the
dark entry going to the 6 clerks office in C. L." It is sometimes called The Lane
par excellence. In Jonson's Devil iii.
5, Meercraft says that Lady Tailbush lives "here, hard by in the L.": the scene
being in Fitzdotterel's house in Lincolns-Inn. In iv. 5, Fitzdotterel says that
Mr. Justice Eitherside is "A knight here in the L." Merlin
was "sold at the Princes Arms in C.L." Marlowe's Ed.
II, ed. 1612, is to be sold "By Roger Barnes at his shop in Chauncerie L.
over against the Rolles." Machin's Dumb
Knight, ed. 1633, is to be sold by "William Sheares at his shop in C. L. near
Seriants Inn." Middleton's Quiet Life
was "Printed by Tho. Johnson for Francis Kirkman and Henry Marsh and are to
be sold at the Princes Arms in C. L. 1662." Bacon's Essays were "Printed for Humfry
Hooper and are to be sold at the Blacke Beare in Chauncery L. 1597." T. Heywood's
Hogsdon was "Printed by M. P. for
Henry Shephard and are to be sold at his shop in Chancerie-L. at the sign of the
Bible, between Serjeants-Inne and Fleete St. 1638."
CHANGE
See EXCHANGE.
CHANNEL
Used specifically of the sea between England and France: Fr., La Manche.
In H6 B. iv. 1, 114, Suffolk says
to the Capt. of the vessel, "I go of message from the Q. to France, I charge thee
waft me safely cross the C." In B.& F. Scornful
i. 1, the lady speaks ironically of "the dangers of the merciless C. 'twixt Dover
and Calais." In Davenant's Rutland H., p. 223, the Londoner says, "I make bold
to cross the C., march up to Paris." See also NARROW SEAS.
CHAPEL, THE
St. Anthony's Chapel is meant, which lies at the extremity of the N. spur of Arthur's
Seat in Edinburgh. In Sampson's Vow i.
3, 123, Crosse, at the siege of Leith in 1560, says of the French, "The Crag and
C. They make a refuge 'gainst our great Artillery." Immediately afterwards Grey
announces "The Crag and C.'s ours."
CHARBID'S
(an obvious misprint for CHARYBDIS, q.v.). Barnes, in Parthenophil Elegy ix. 27, prays, "Zanclaean C. me devour."
CHARING CROSS
A cross erected by Edward I in honour of his Queen, Elinor, at the vill. of C.,
between Lond. and Westminster. The Queen died at Herdelie, near Lincoln, in 1290,
and her body was brought to Westminster for burial. Wherever the bier rested the
K. set up a cross. There appear to have been 14 of these crosses, of which those
at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham alone remain, the last 2 being in Cheapside
and at C. The 1st cr. at C. was of wood, but it was replaced by a fine one in
Caen stone in 1294. This was destroyed by the Puritan Parliament in 1647. It stood
at the W. end of the Strand, at its junction with Whitehall. The present cr. in
front of the C. Cr. Station was erected in 1863 near to the original site, from
a design by Barry based on drawings of the old cr. The only reference to it in
Shakespeare is in H4 A. ii. 1,
27, where the Carrier at Rochester announces that he has "a gammon of bacon and
2 razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as C. cr." The origin of the Cr. is
described in Peele's Ed. I v., where
the K. says, "In remembrance of her [Q. Elinor's] royalty Erect a rich and stately
carved cr., Whereon her statue shall with glory shine, And henceforth see you
call it C. Cr." There was a curious legend about this same Q. Elinor and C. Cr.,
which is dramatically rendered in the same play. Elinor is accused of having made
away with the Lady Mayoress of Lond. She exclaims (p. 69), "Gape, Earth, and swallow
me . . . if I were author of That woman's tragedy": she is taken at her word and
sinks into the ground. Her daughter Joan cries out, "Ah, C. Green, for ever change
thy hue . . . But wither and return to stones, because That beauteous Elinor sunk
on thee.'' The engulfed Q. rises up at Potter's Hive, to the consternation of
the Potter's wife, who exclaims (p. 71), "It is the Q., who sunk this day on C.
Cr., and now is risen up on Potter's Hive." Potter's Hive, or Hythe, was therefore
rechristened Q. Hythe, as the title of the play records. In Cartwright's Ordinary
v. 4., Hearsay suggests that the fellows for whom the Watch is searching are
"Sunk, like the Queen; they'll rise at Queen-hive, sure." There is a ballad on
the subject in Evans' Old Ballads i. 237. In Middleton's Witch
i. 1, Almachildes says to Amoretta, who refuses to kiss him, "Amsterdam swallow
thee for a Puritan and Geneva cast thee up again! like she that sunk at C. Cr.
and rose again at Queenhithe.'' In Middleton's Quiet
Life v. 3, Knavesby says, "I will sink at Q. Hive and rise again at C. Cr.,
contrary to the statute in Edwardo primo." In all the above passages C.Cr. is
used proleptically, for the Cross was not erected until after Q. Elinor's death.
By the beginning of the 17th cent. the cr. had fallen into a very ruinous
condition, and early in the reign of James I it was proposed to take it down,
and, indeed, the different parts of it were bespoken by various people. It was
not, however, till 1643 that it was finally condemned, and the actual destruction
was not carried out till 1647. The author of Old Meg (p. 11) speaks of "Charing
Cr . . . . losing his rotten head, which (through age being windshaken) fell
off, and was trod upon in contempt." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Honeysuckle says, "They say C. Cr. is fallen down since I went to
Rochelle; but that's no such wonder. 'twas old and stood awry." In Peacham's
Dialogue between the Crosse in Cheap and C. Cr. (1641), C. Cr. says, "The greatest
danger of all I was in was in the time of K. James." In Dekker's Satiro.
iii. i. 235, Tucca calls Miniver "my mouldy decayed C. Cr." In Dekker's Dead
Term (1608), Westminster laments the decay of "that ancient and oldest son of
mine [C. Cr.] with his limbs broken to pieces, his reverend head cut off, the
ribs of his body bruised, his arms lopped away, his back almost cleft in sunder."
In Day's Law Tricks iv. 2, Joculo
tells a cock-and-bull story about a dispute between Westminster and Winchester,
and goes on: "In parting the fray C. cr. got such a box o' the ear that he will
carry it to his death day." In Wise
Men iv. 2, the Puritan wife of Hortano says of her hopeful son, "He never
sees the relics of C. cr. but wisheth he were on horseback with a lance in his
hand in full speed to bear it down." Taylor, Works ii. 1. has a poem on the
"Dismal Downfall of Old C. Cr.," and there is a ballad on the subject in Percy's
Reliques beginning, "Undone, undone the lawyers are; They wander about the town;
Nor can find the way to Westminster Now C. Cr. is down." This last ballad refers
to the final destruction of 1647. The equestrian statue of Charles I at the
head of Whitehall is on the actual site of the old cr. It was set up just before
the beginning of the Civil War, but taken down by the Parliament and sold to
a brazier named Rivett to be broken up. He concealed it, however, in the vaults
of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and it was re-erected in 1674.
Donne, Satire iv. (1597), speaks of "Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throw
C. Cr. or a bar." In Dekker's Northward
i. 2, Doll, the courtesan, says, "I'll change my lodging, it stands out
o' the way; I'll lie about C. Cr., for if there be any stirrings, there we shall
have 'em." In Phillips' Grissil 50, Politick Persuasion tells how he fell from
heaven, "but C. Cr. was my friend and caught my leg in his hand." In Chaunticleers
v., Welcome says of Bung, "He has tricks enou' to furnish all the tapsters between
C. Cr. and Fleet Bdge." In Killigrew's Parson
ii. 7, the Capt. says, "Any porter at C. Cr. may take you like a letter
at the carrier's." Taylor, in Carriers' Cosmography, mentions the Chequers near
C. Cr. as a carriers inn.
In Day's B. Beggar iv., young
Strowd says, when he is asked to go and see the motion of Norwich in the corner
of a little chamber, "I had as lieve thou hadst told me C. Cr. stood in Cheapside,"
i.e. he does not believe it possible. In Brome's Northern
ii. 5, Pate promises Humphrey, "thou shalt instantly start up as pretty
a gentleman Usher as any between Temple Bar and C. Cr.; marry, further I cannot
promise you." In his Antipodes i.
6, the Dr. says that foreign travel "is not near so difficult as for some man
in debt and unprotected to walk from C. Cr. to th' Old Exchange." In T. Heywood's
I.K.M. A. 225, a Spaniard kills
an Englishman at C. Cr., and is sentenced by K. Philip to be hanged there. In
Nobody 1145, No-body, being driven
out of Fleet St. by 2 swaggerers, goes down to the Thames and "desired a waterman
To row me thence away to C. Cr." In Nash's Penn. Parl. 38, it is enacted that
"the images in the Temple ch., if they rise again, shall have a commission to
dig down C. Cr. with their fauchions." In Shirley's Lady
of Pleasure i. 2, Celestina, who lives in the Strand, intends to have her
house so frequented that "the horses shall be taught, with frequent waiting
upon my gates, to stop in their career toward C.-cr." In Randolph's Muses'
ii. 2, Deilus has seen a comet which "reached from Paul's to C." He is probably
referring to Halley's comet, which was visible in 1608. In Lupton's London Carbonadoed
(1632), it is predicted that when "the women are all fair and honest, then Cheapside
shall stand by C. Cr." In Shakespeare's time the King's Mews, then used as stables,
stood to the N. of C. Cr.; and there were shops in the neighbourhood, for in
Harman's Caveat (1567) ) C. 12, the author speaks of a seal which he bought
"beside C.-crosse," and the bookseller Robert Wyer dwelt "in St. Martin's parish
in the D. of Suffolk's rents, beside Ce. Cre." (Title page of The Booke of Fortune.)
Milton lived for a few months in 1649 "at one Thomson's, next door to the Bull
Head Tavern at C. Cr.; opening into the Spring Garden."
CHARLECOT HOUSE
The residence of Sir Thomas Lucy, who built the present mansion in 1558. It lies
on the Kineton Rd., 4. m. E. of Stratford. According to the very probable legend
Shakespeare got into trouble for poaching in the C. deer-park; [ed. note: the
legend was "very probable" in 1925. It has since lost favor.] certainly he
ridiculed Sir Thomas as Justice Shallow in H4
B. and M.W.W. The house is still
in the Lucy family.
CHARLTON
There are about a dozen villages of this name in the S. of England; probably one
of the 2 Kentish Cs. is meant in the following passage. In S. Rowley's When
You F. 1, Will Summers, when Wolsey says, "I have a quarrel to you," replies:
"About your fair leman at C., my Lord; I remember."
CHARNECO
A vill. near Lisbon, in Portugal, which, according to Steevens, gave its name
to the wine so called. There were 2 villages of this name: one abt. 5 m. N. of
Lisbon; the other near the sea, between Collares and Carcavellos. In H6
B. ii. 3, 63, one of the Lond. crowd says, "Here's a cup of C." In The Puritan
iv. 3, Sir Godfrey says, "We'll talk of your noble acts in sparkling Charnico."
In B.& F. Wit Money ii. 3, Shorthose
professes his intention of following Lady Heartwell to the country, and Luce says,
"where no old C. is, nor no anchovies." In T. Heywood's Maid
of West A. iii. 4, Clem asks the company what wine they will drink: "Aragoosa
or Peter-see-me, Canary, or charnico?" In Dekker's Hon.
Wh. B. iv. 3, the vintner brings in "a pottle of Greek wine, a pottle of Petersamee,
a pottle of Charnico and a pottle of Leatica." In Middleton's Black Book (1604),
p. 38, the devil says, "Thou and thy counter-leech may swallow down 6 gallons
of Charnico." In Contention, Part
1, Haz., p. 453. one of the neighbours says, "Here's a cup of C." In Black
Dog of Newgate, we have in a list of wines, "charnoco, malago, etc."
CHARTERHOUSE
See CHARTREUSE.
CHARTREUSE
(commonly corrupted in England into the form CHARTERHOUSE). A vill. in the
depnt. of Isère, 14 m. N. of Grenoble, in France, where Bruno founded the 1st
Abbey of the Carthusian Order in 1084. It had several monasteries in England,
of which the most famous was the Charter-House N. of Smithfield, Lond., in the
angle between Aldersgate St. and Clerkenwell Rd. It was founded by Sir Walter
Manny in 1371 on a piece of land known as Pardon Churchyard. The monastery was
dissolved by Henry VIII in 1537, and the brethren and their Prior, John Houghton,
were treated with great cruelty, and some 10 of them were either executed or died
in prison from their ill-treatment. The house was given to Sir Thomas Audley,
and passed successively through the hands of Lord North, the D. of Northumberland,
and the D. of Norfolk. On Norfolk's execution in 1572 it escheated to the Crown,
but was restored to the Norfolk family by Elizabeth and became the town residence
of Lord Thomas Howard under the name of Howard House. From him it was bought by
Thomas Sutton for £13,000, and made into a hospital for aged men and a school
for the children of poor parents. The letters patent were issued in June 1611,
and on Dec. 12th Sutton died. He is buried in the chapel of the Charter House.
Provision was made for 80 pensioners and 40 free scholars. Of the old priory there
still remain the gateway and part of the chapel. The school was removed to Godalming,
in Surrey, in 1872 and the buildings sold to the Merchant Taylors Company, who
use it as a school. In H8 i.
1, 221, "A monk of the C., Nicholas Hopkins," is mentioned as implicated in the
supposed plot of Buckingham; and in i. 2, 148 the surveyor of the D. says, "He
was brought to this By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins . . . a Chartreux friar."
He was a monk of the Charter House at Henton, near Bristol. Nash, in Lenten (p.
311), speaks of "Valiant Sir Walter Manny, the martial tutor unto the Black Prince,
he that built the Charter-House."
CHARYBDIS
A whirlpool in the Straits of Messina, which has been made famous by Homer's account
of it in Odyssey xii. Opposite, on the Italian coast, was the rock of Scylla,
and the difficulty was to avoid the one without falling into the other. The whirlpool
is due to the action of the tides and currents, and though our modern steamers
pass through it without noticing it, it is dangerous for small craft. The classical
writers are full of allusions to it, all depending on the Homeric story; and from
them it has passed into modern literature. In Merch.
iii. 5, 19, Launcelot says to Jessica, "When I shun Scylla, your father, I fall
into C., your mother." In Jonson's Staple
iv. 1, Pennyboy, junr., says, "My Princess . . . hales me in, as eddies draw in
boats, Or strong C. ships that sail too near The shelves of love." In Chapman's
Bussy iii. 1, Monsieur exclaims, "Oh,
the unsounded sea of women's bloods! Not any wrinkle creaming in their faces,
When in their hearts are Scylla and C." In Randolph's Muses'
v. 1, Mediocrity says, "I am . . . The middle tract 'twixt Scylla and C." In the
old Timon v. 5, Timon cries: "Or
in the wide devouring Scylla's gulf Or in C. I will drown myself Before I'll show
humanity to man." In Greene's Alphonsus
iii. 3, 1084, Iphigina says, "So shall we soon eschew Caribdis lake And headlong
fall to Syllae's greedy gulf." Evidently Greene was not clear as to the nature
of either. In Brandon's Octavia 620, Octavia asks the messenger who brings news
of Anthony's faithlessness, "What Sylla, what C. can impart But half these horrors
which in thee appear?" In Shirley's Ct. Secret iv. 1, Pedro says, "I have dangerous
sailing betwixt your Grace's Scylla and her C." In W. Rowley's Wonder
iii., Poster, hearing of the loss of his ships between Dover and Lond., cries:
"What English C. has the devil digged to swallow nearer home?" In Milton's Comas
259, when Circe sung, "fell C. murmured soft applause." In Apius & V., Haz. iv. 139,
Virginius says, "The huge Carrebd his hazards thou for him hast oft assayed; Was
Silla's force by thee oft shunned, or yet Lady Circe's land?" Milton, P. L. ii.
1020, tells how "Ulysses on the larboard shunned C., and by the other whirlpool
steered." But Scylla was not a whirlpool, as Milton ought to have known.
CHATHAM
A town in Kent on the Medway, 30 m. S.E. of Lond. The dockyard was founded by
Elizabeth, who erected Upnor Castle on the other side of the river for its defence.
It is still (in 1925) the seat of great dockyards and an arsenal. In H6
B. iv. 2, 92, the story is told of the execution of Emmanuel, "the clerk of
C.," by Jack Cade, because he can write his name.
CHATTI
See CATTI.
CHEAPGATE
A little gate at the N.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond., leading into Cheapside. Sidney's Apology for Poetry was "Printed for Henry Olney and are to be sold at his shop in Paul's Churchyard, at the sign of the George, near to C.-g., anno 1595."
CHEAPSIDE
(CHEAP, or WEST CHEAP); Cp. = Cheap. As its name implies, the old Market Place of Lond., extending from the N.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard to the Poultry. The names of the sts. running into it indicate the points where the various wares were exposed for sale, e.g. on the S. side, Friday St., where fish was sold, and Bread St.; on the N., Wood St., Milk St., Honey Lane, and Ironmongers Lane. At first the N. side was open ground, and when buildings were erected they were on the line of the old market stalls, and left the st. as it now became, the widest in old Lond. "'Tis thought," says Lupton, in London Carbonadoed (1632), "the way through this st. is not good, because so broad, and so many go in it; yet though it be broad, it's very straight, because without any turnings." There were 4 erections down the centre of the market or st.: at the W. end, near the ch. of St. Michael le Quern, was an old cross, sometimes called the Brokers' Cross, which was taken down in 1390; on its site was erected in 1442 a conduit, known as the little, or pissing, conduit; opposite the end of Wood St. was the Cross, one of those set up by Edward I at the place where the body of Q. Elinor rested on its way from Lincoln to Westminster. The others were at - Lincoln,
- Grantham,
- Stamford,
- Geddington,
- Northampton,
- Stony Stratford,
- Woburn,
- Dunstable,
- St. Albans,
- Waltham, and
- Charing.
Those at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham still remain (as of 1925). It was
re-edified in 1441, and often regilded and otherwise restored during the Tudor
period. The Puritans, however, regarded it with detestation as a Romish symbol,
and the images of the Virgin and Saints were constantly defaced by them; and in
1596 a naked figure of Diana with water trilling from its breasts was put in the
place of the image of the Virgin: it must have been a poor piece of work, for
Stow says it was decayed in 1603. Probably this is the Diana referred to by Rosalind
in As You Likeiv. 1, 154, "I will
weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain." On May 2, 1643, the Cross was pulled
down by order of Parliament to the sound of drums and trumpets, and amid the shoutings
of the Puritan crowd. A little further to the E., opposite the end of Milk St.,
was the Standard, a square pillar with a conduit, statues round the sides, and
an image of Fame on the top. At the E. end of Cheapside, at its junction with
the Poultry, was the Gt. Conduit, to which water was brought in lead pipes from
Paddington, set up in 1285 and new-built in 1479.
Walking down the S. side of Cp. from the W. end, Shakespeare would first pass Old Change, where bullion was received for coining; then the Nag's Head Inn at the corner of Friday St and the Mermaid at the W. corner of Bread St., then Goldsmiths Row, consisting of "10 fair dwellings and 14 shops, all in one frame uniformly built 4 stories high"; then the Ch. of St. Mary de Arcubus, or Bow Ch., standing 40 ft. back from the st. with a stone pavilion in front of it, called Crown-sild, or Seldam, from which the kings and queens used to watch the tournaments and pageants which were held in the Cp, and which is now represented by a stone gallery on Sir Christopher Wren's steeple: beyond the ch. were shops, chiefly occupied by mercers and drapers. Crossing Sopar's Lane, now Queen St., he would reach the end of Bucklersbury, where the grocers and druggists had their headquarters. Crossing over by the Gt. Conduit and turning back towards the W., on the N. side of Cp., he would pass the Mercers' Chapel and Hall on the site of the old Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, and cross in succession Ironmongers Lane, Lawrence Lane (New King St. was not cut through to the Guildhall till after the Gt. Fire), Milk St., Wood St., Gutter Lane, and Foster Lane, and so into St. Paul's Churchyard to the booksellers' shops.
In H6 B. iv. 2, 94, Cade boasts," In C. shall my palfrey go to grass"; and in iv. 7, 194, Dick asks Cade "My
lord, when shall we go to C and take up commodities upon our bills?" C. was
the scene of all the City pageants. In Chaucer's C T. B. 4377, it is said of
the prentice Perkyn, "Whan then any ridyng was in Chepe, Out of the shoppe thider
wolde he lepe." It was also a promenade for people of fashion In Jonson's Devil
iii. 1, Meercraft advises Gilthead to buy his son a Captain's place and
"let him with his plumes and scarfs march through C. and draw down a wife there
from a window." In Davenant's Wits
i., Thwack "will match my Lord Mayor's horse, make jockeys of his hench-boys,
and run them through C." In Barry's Ram
iii., Throate promises himself: "My coach shall now go prancing through
C." Hall, in Satires v. 4, 14, ridicules the farmer's son, who "hires a friezeland
trotter . . . To drag his tumbrell through the staring Cp." Public proclamations
were usually made at the Cross, and executions were often carried out at the
Standard. In More iii. 1, the Sheriff
gives orders that "a gibbet be erected in C., hard by the Standard, whither
you must bring Lincoln . . . to suffer death." Taylor, ii. 311, says, "The rebels
beheaded the Lord Say at the Standard in Cp." Harman, in his Caveat i. 1, tells
of a "crafty Crank" who for his offence "stood upon the Pillory in C." In Mayne's
Match ii. 1, Dorcas refers to Prynne's
Histriomastix as "a book that suffered martyrdom by fire in C." It was burnt
there by order of the Star-chamber. Drayton, in Barons' Wars iv. 43, tells how
Stapleton "Beheaded was before the Cross in Cp."
References to the Cross are plentiful. In Elynour Ramming iv., drunken Alice
comes in with tales "how there hath been great war between Temple-Bar and the
Cross in Cp." Earle, in Microcosmus 1xviii., says of the Lond. citizen, "The
gilding of the Cross he counts the glory of this age." This refers to the gilding
of the Cross in 1600. In Marston's Mountebanks, the Mountebank says, "I could
encounter thee . . . with Cheape Crosse, though it be new gilt." In Randolph's
Muses' v. 1, Mrs. Flowerdew, the
Puritan, says that Mediocrity "looketh like the Idol of C." Lupton, in London
Carbonadoed (1632), says, "Puritans do hold it [C.] for a fine st. but something
addicted to popery for adorning [? adoring] the cross too much." There was an
abundant crop of pamphlets in regard to the destruction of the Cross, such as
The dialogue between the Cross in Chepe and Charing Cross; Articles of High
Treason Exhibited against C. Cross; The Downfall of Dagon, or The Taking down
of C. Cross, and many more. The Cross was one of the best-known objects in old
Lond. In T. Heywood's Hogsdon v.
1, Old Chartley, returning from his travels, says, "This 7 years I have not
seen Paul's steeple or Cp. Cross." In Shirley's Riches
iii., Gettings swears by "C. Cross and loud Bow-bell."
The Conduits were utilised in the pageants for decorative purposes and speeches
were delivered from them. In the Ovatio Carolina, describing the entry of Charles
into Lond. in 1641, it is recorded that "the great conduit in C. ran with claret
wine." When Anne Boleyn went from the Tower to Westminster just before her coronation
"at the Little Conduit of C. was a rich pageant"; and when Elizabeth entered
the City on her accession there was a grand Allegory of Time and Truth at the
Little Conduit (see also s.v. CONDUIT). The Lord Mayor's show went along
C. on St. Simon and Jude's Day, Oct. 28th. In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Justiniano says, "Men and women are born and come running into the
world faster than coaches do into C. upon Simon and Jude's day." In Shirley's
Riches, Clod says, "The next day
after Simon and Jude you go a feasting to Westminster; you land in shoals and
make the understanders in C. wonder to see ships swim upon men's shoulders."
Originally the Lord Mayor went to Westminster by land; but Sir John Norman in
1485 went in a barge rowed by silver oars, and this practice continued for 4
centuries. On the return journey he landed at Paul's Wharf and went by C. to
the Guildhall, the oarsmen carrying their boats on their shoulders. In Phillips'
Grissil 54, Politick Persuasion tells how, when he was saved from destruction
as he fell from the sky, "The Cross in Cp. for joy did play on a bagpipe and
the Standard did dance." In Glapthorne's Wit
ii. 1, Thorowgood says, "The cross and standard in C. I will convert into
Hercules' pillars; and the little conduit that weeps in lamentation for the
Ch. removed that it did lean on, it shall be still filled with wine and always
running. The great Conduit shall be a magazine of sack." In Jonson's Devil
i. 1, Iniquity promises Pug, "I will fetch thee a leap From the top of Paul's
steeple to the Standard in Cp." In Nature (Lost Plays, 98), Lust says he knocked
so hard at Margery's door that "a man might have heard the noise from Poules
to the farthest end of Cp."
In the neighbourhood of C. were the 2 City counters, or lock-ups, in Wood
St. and the Poultry. In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford talks of being arrested by a couple of sergeants
and falling "into one of the unlucky cranks about C., called Counters." In Lyly's
Bombie v. 3, the Sergeant threatens
the Hackneyman "with such a noverim as C. can show none such." "Noverim" is
a mistake, or misprint, for "Noverint," the first word in a writ. The shops
of C. furnished a large number of prentices, who formed a compact body capable
on occasion of causing no little trouble. In More
ii. 1, the scene is laid in C. and is opened by the entrance of "3 or 4
Prentises of trades with a pair of cudgells." The cry of "Clubs!" brought these
young fellows out in a swarm ready for any kind of mischief. The Black May-Day
riot directed against the Lombards started with the prentices of C., and forms
the subject of Acts II and III of More.
In T. Heywood's Prentices, sc.
iv., p. 82, Charles cries: "Oh for some C. boys for Charles to lead!" Their
work ceased when Bow-bell rang the curfew: hence the old rhyme in which the
apprentices address the clerk of the ch., "Clerk of the Bow bell with thy yellow
locks, For thy late ringing thy head shall have knocks." To which he replies:
"Children of Chepe, hold you all still; For you shall have Bow bell rung at
your will." The mercers' shops were mostly in the E. end of Cheap. In Jonson's
Barthol. i. 1, Littlewit challenges
"all C. to show such another" habit as his wife is wearing. In Massinger's Madam
iv. 2. Goldwire promises Shav'em, "The tailor and embroiderer shall kneel to
thee; C. and the Exchange shall court thy custom." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon
iii. 2, Chartley tells Luce, "There are brave things to be bought in the
city; C. and the Exchange afford variety and rarity." In Jonson's Underwoods
ix., "Another answers, 'las, those silks are none . . . as he would deride Any
comparison had with his C." In Lydgate's Lickpenny, the author says: "Then to
the Chepe I began me drawn, Where much people I saw for to stand; One offered
me velvet, silk and lawn, Another he taketh me by the hand, 'Here is Paris thread,
the fin'st in the land.'" In Mayne's Match
i. 4, we are told of a mercer who "lives in C." In Brome's City
Wit iii. 3, Crack says, "All the sattin in C. were not enough to make you
a wedding-gown.'' In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 10, Spicing says, "You know C.; there are the mercers' shops Where
we will measure velvet by the pikes And silks and satins by the st.'s whole
breadth" Donne, Satire iv. (1597), says of the courtiers, "Whoe'er looks . .
. o'er C. books, Shall find their wardrobe's inventory." In Deloney's Reading
vi., Simon's wife would swear it was quite spoiled "If she thought a tailor
of C. made not her gown."
Between Bread St. and Bow Ch. was Goldsmiths' Row. In Richard the Redeless
iii. 139, the poet complains that the young lords "Kepeth no coyne that cometh
to here hondis But chaunchyth it ffor cheynes that in Chepe hangith." In Nobody
441, the Clown tells Nobody, "Go into C. and Nobody may take up as much
plate as he can carry." In Field's Amends
ii. 1, Proudly says to the Page, "What said the goldsmith for the money?"
And having heard the answer: "How got that wit into C., trow?" In the prologue
to Marston's Malcontent, Sly says,
"Ill lay a hundred pound, Ill walk but once down by the Goldsmiths' Row in Cp.,
take notice of the signs, and tell you them with a breath instantly. They begin,
as the world did, with Adam and Eve; there's in all just five-and-fifty." In
Eastward v. 4, Quicksilver sings," In
C., famous for gold and plate, Quicksilver I did dwell of late." In T. Heywood's
Prentices, sc. vii., p. 90, Guy
speaks of the time "When once I was a goldsmith in C." In More
iii. 2, Faukner says, "If the locks were on again, all the goldsmiths in
C. should not pick them open.'' In Dekker's Northward
ii. 1, Hornet, who is wearing a copper chain round his neck, explains: "Your
right whiffler hangs himself in St. Martin's, not in C." St. Martin's (q.v.)
was a sort of Alsatian market for finery of the second class, like this copper
chain: C. sold the genuine article. In Marston's Courtesan
ii. 1, Mulligrub "will to C. to buy a fair piece of plate." In Eastward
v. 4, Quicksilver sings, "Farewell, C.! farewell, sweet trade Of goldsmiths
all, that ne'er shall fade." In Glapthorne's Wit
v. 1, Husie promises Mendwell, "Thou shaft be a constable, carry thy staff
with the red cross and dagger, in as much state as the best goldsmith that ere
bore office in C." In Brome's Couple
ii. 1, Bellamie says, as he gives Alicia a ring, "I would not that he should
know for all the rubies in C. where I bought this but now.'' In T. Heywood's
Ed. IV A. 10, Falconbridge says,
"We'll shod our coursers with no worse than the purest silver that is sold in
C." In Nabbes' C. Garden iv. 4,
Ralph says, "'Tis a fine chamber, it shines like a goldsmith's shop in C." In
Deloney's Craft ii. ii, Anthony says that his ballad "hath made me as well acquainted
in C. as the cat in the cream-pan; for as soon as the goldsmiths' wives spy
me, and as I pass along by the merchants' daughters, the apes will laugh at
me.'' In his Reading vi., the clothiers' wives "when they were brought into
C., there with great wonder they beheld the shops of the Goldsmiths; and on
the other side, the wealthy Mercers, whose shops shined with all sorts of coloured
silks." Herrick, in Tears of Thamesis (1647), relates that he was born in "the
golden C."
There were, of course, other things sold in the market. In More
i. 1, Caveller enters with a pair of doves and says, "I bought them in C."
Dove Court, running from Old Jewry to Grocers' Hall Court, still preserves the
name of the place where doves were sold. In Cartwright's Ordinary
v. 3, Shape, relating Bitefig the miser's confession, says, "I've often
bought a C. custard, and so refreshed my soul under my cloak." In Jonson's Epicoene
iv. 1, Truewit advises: "Give cherries at time of year or apricots; and say
they were sent you out of the country, though you bought them in C." In Webster's
Weakest i. 3, Bunch says to Smelt,
"Ye Smelt, your kinsfolks dwell in the Thames and are sold like slaves in C.
by the hundreth, two pence a quartern." In Jonson's New
Inn i. 1, the Host guesses that "C. debt-books" are weighing on Lovel's
spirits. In Jonson's Eastward iv. 4,
Touchstone speaks of himself as "a poor C. groom." "A rakyer [scavenger] of
Chepe" is one of the merry party in Piers B. v. 322. In Lupton's London Carbonadoed
(1632), he says, "If all the men be rich and true, and the women all fair and
honest, then C. shall stand by Charing Cross for a wonder." In Day's B.
Beggar iv., young Strowd, hearing of what he regards as an impossibility,
says, "I had as lieve thou hadst told me Charing Cross stood in C." C. is used
for the shopkeeping class, as when in Glapthorne's Wit
i. 1, Clare says that young Holdfast, fresh from Cambridge, "is learned
enough to make C. a college"; and in iii. 1, Knowell speaks of "Illustrious
names, the glory of C., Stars of the City."
The Dagger Inn, famous for its pies, was at the corner of Foster Lane. In
T. Heywood's I.K.M. B. 257, a prentice
says, "I must need step to the Dagger in Cheape, to send a letter into the country
unto my father." C. is mentioned by Dekker, in Bellman 158, as a favourite haunt
of foysts, or pickpockets.
CHEATLOAF
A sign in Holborn, Lond. (q.v.) C.-bread was bread of the 2nd quality,
somewhat coarser than manchet. In Middleton's Quarrel
iv. 1, an advertisement is read setting forth that those who wish to be instructed
in the art of "roaring" should "repair into Holborn to the sign of the C.-l."
Chough comments, "Now your bill speaks of that I was wondering a good while at,
your sign; the 1. looks very like bread, i' faith, but why is it called the C.-1.?"
To which the first speaker replies: "The house was sometimes a baker's, Sir, that
served the Court, where the bread is called c." "Ay, ay," says Trimtram, "'twas
a baker that cheated the court with bread."
CHEBAR
River, or perhaps canal, near Babylon, where Ezekiel saw his first vision of the Cherubim (Ezekiel i. 1). Possibly it was a name for the Royal Canal of Nebuchadrezzar; but it is not certain. Milton, in Ode on Passion 37, speaks of "those rushing wheels That whirled the prophet up at C. flood."
CHECKER
A tavern on the E. side of Dowgate Hill, Lond., near Queen Hythe. In Middleton's
Chaste Maid ii. 2, one of the promoters
proposes, "Let's e'en go to the C. at Queen-hive, and roast the loin of mutton."
CHELSEA
Now a W. suburb of Lond. on the N. of the Thames, but formerly a separate vill.
It was a favourite country residence in Elizabeth's time, and Sir Thomas More
had his house there. The old ch. near Battersea Bdge. has a monument to his memory.
Near to the ch. Crosby Hall was re-erected in 1910. In B.& F. Wit
S. W. iv. 1, Pompey remarks, "I ha' got a stomach 6 times and lost it again,
as often as a traveller from C. shall lose the sight of Paul's and get it again."
In Middleton's R. G. iv. 2, Mrs.
Openwork, suspecting her husband of having gone by the Thames to Brentford with
another woman, says to him, "The star by which you sail shines yonder above C.":
C. being on the way to Brentford. In Randolph's Muses,
iii. 1, one of the projects of Banausus is to found "a college of physicians too
at C. only to study the cure of the French pox": the suggestion being that the
place was a haunt of young profligates. In Jonson's Forest vi., he asks Celia
for as many kisses as "the sands in C. fields." Several of the scenes in More
are laid in his house at C. In iv. 2, he is ordered on his arrest to "strait depart
unto your house at Chelsey"; and in iv. 3, Roper's wife tells how in a dream she
saw her father, Sir Thomas, "here in Chelsey Ch. Standing upon the rood-loft now
defaced," which fell with him and killed him. In the 10th Merry Jest of the Wido
Edyth, that lady walks from Eltham to a thorp called Batersay, takes a wherry,
and is rowed over to C. to Sir T. Mores. The 2nd title of Middleton's City Love
(1616) is "an entertainment by water at Chelsey and Whitehall."
CHENFORD (CHINGFORD)
A vill. in Essex on the borders of Epping Forest, abt. 8 m. N. of Lond. In Day's
B. Beggar ii., Old Strowd says to
his son, "Go post to C., run to Mr. Glasscock"; and the son passes on the order
to his man Swash, "Hie thee to C. for the 100 pound, and soon towards evening
I'll meet thee at Ilford": Ilford being 6 m. S.E. of C.
CHENNARY
(now CANARA). A farm in the Mylor Downs, 2 m. from Penryn, in S. Cornwall. In Cornish M. P. i. 2772, the Bp. gives to the executioner of Maximilla "Hag of C. an clos," i.e. "All C. of the Close."
CHEPSTEAD
A vill. in Kent, near Sevenoaks, 15 m. due W. of Maidstone. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 10, Smoke says, "I hope Smoke, the smith of C., is as good a man as
Chub, the chandler of Sandwich."
CHEPSTOW
A spt. in Monmouthsh. on the Wye, 135 m. W. of Lond. The castle, now in ruins,
was built soon after the Conquest by Fitz-Osborne, Earl of Hereford. In Downfall
Huntington iii. 1, FitzWater says to Prince John, "Earl C.'s daughter is thy
married wife." This lady was heiress to the House of Gloucester, and John divorced
her in order to marry Isabella of Angoulême.
CHERITH
A brook, or ravine, where Elijah was fed by the ravens, or, more probably, Arabs (1 Kings xvii. 3). It was probably E. of the Jordan: the old identification with the Wady es Kelt between Jerusalem and Jericho cannot be maintained. Milton, P. R. ii. 266, says of our Lord after His 40 days' fast, "Him thought he by the brook of C. stood, And saw the ravens with their horny beaks Food to Elijah bringing."
CHERSONESE, THE GOLDEN
The Malay Peninsula, running to the S. of Farther India, between the G. of Siam and the Straits of Malacca. Josephus, Antony viii. 6, 4, calls it Aurea Chersonesus, and identifies it with Solomon's Ophir. Milton, P. L. xi. 392, makes Adam survey in vision all Asia, "Down to the golden C." In P. R. iv. 74, the Tempter shows to our Lord ambassadors coming to Rome, "From India and the Golden C." Burton, A. M. ii. 2, 3, says, "I would examine . . . where Ophir was whence Solomon did fetch his gold; from Peruana, or that Aurea Chersonesus."
CHERSONESON
Apparently for Chersonesian; the Chersonese being the peninsula running along
the N. side of the Hellespont. The C. Sea may mean the Sea of Marmora. In T. Heywood's
B. Age iii., Hercules says, "Have
we in the Argoe pierced Samothrace, The C. sea, the Hellespont?"
CHERTSEY
A town in Surrey, 20 m. S.W. of Lond. There was an ancient monastery there, which
was refounded in 964 by K. Edgar and placed under the rules of St. Benedict. It
became a wealthy establishment. Here Henry VI was buried, but the body was afterwards
removed to Westminster by Henry VII. In R3
i. 2, 29, we are shown the funeral of Henry on its way to C., but in 225 Richd.
orders the bearers to take the body first to White Friars, apparently a slip for
Black Friars. In the charm for worms in Thersites (A. P. i. 220), mention is made
of "Mabel of C." as a witch.
CHESHIRE
A county on the W. coast of England. It was made a county Palatine by William
I. It has long been noted for its salt and its cheese. In Ret.
Pernass, Pt. 1, prol. 10, we read: "He never since durst name a piece of cheese,
Though C. seems to privilege his name." In Dekker's Northward
iii. 1, Doll says, "If you should but get 3 or 4 C. cheeses, and set them a running
down Highgate-hill, he [the Welshman] would make haste after them." Markham, in
Country Contentments (1611), advises the choice of "the largest dogs which have
the greatest mouths and deepest flews, such as your W. country, C., and Lancashire
dogs are." In Mayne's Match iii.
1, Roseclap, hanging out the picture of a strange fish, says, "Others say, `tis
the fish caught in C.": referring, no doubt, to some recent occurrence. In Trag.
Richd. II iv. 1, 213, the K. gives "Chesshere" and several other counties
to his favourite Bushy.
CHESHUNT
(also called CHESSUM, or CHESTON). Town in Herts., some 4 m. N. of Edmonton. There
was a Benedictine nunnery there, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, founded in the
12th cent. In Dekker's Edmonton
iii. 1, the Clown charges Cuddy Banks with being in love with Carter's daughter,
and in confirmation says, "I have seen you walk up to Carter's of Chessum." In
Drayton's Merry Devil i. 2, Clare
says, "There are crosses, wife; here's one in Waltham, another at the abbey, and
a third at C.''; and later in the scene he declares his intention of sending his
daughter "unto C. nunnery."
CHESSUM
See CHESHUNT.
CHESTER
The capital of Cheshire, on the Dee, 179 m. N.W. of Lond. It is the only city
in England that is entirely surrounded by a wall. At the S.W. of the city on the
banks of the Dee is the Roodee, a large common, named from the Rood, or Cross,
which, according to tradition, was originally at Hawarden; but being thrown into
the river by the people of Hawarden it floated down to C., and was re-edified
there and became a famous place of pilgrimage. The Chester M. P. were celebrated
from the latter part of the 13th cent They were acted by the members of the Trade
Guilds on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Whit-week. In H4
B. i. 1, 39, Travers tells how he was caught on his way from Shrewsbury to
Warkworth by a messenger who "asked the way to C." There is an Earl of C. in Dekker's
Fortunatus, which is supposed to
take place in the reign of Athelstan; and in Merlin there is an Edoll, Earl of
C., and general to K. Aurelius of Britain. These are both imaginary personages,
but bear witness to the knowledge on the authors' part of the antiquity of the
city. In Piers B. v. 402, Sloth professes, "I can rymes of Robin Hood and Randolf
erle of Chestre": this was Randle, or Ranulph, who was Earl from 1181 to 1232,
and who being besieged by the Welsh in Rhuddlan Castle was delivered by a rabble
of minstrels led by Roger Lacy. This event was celebrated by an annual procession
on St. John the Baptist's day, which lasted till 1756. Fair Em iv. 1, is laid
at C., and Valingford endeavours to win Em by telling her that her lover, Manvile,
has forsaken her, and "at C. must be married To a man's daughter of no little
wealth." In B.& F. Pestle iii. 5, Mrs.
Merrythought claims to be niece "to a Worshipful gentleman and a conductor: he
has been 3 times is his Majesty's service at C." A conductor was an officer in
charge of military stores and supplies. One of the characters in T. Heywood's
Royal King is the Earl of C.; but
no particular person is meant. The scene of Munday's John Kent is laid in C.,
and one of the characters is Ranulph (the Randle mentioned above), Earl of C.
In v. 1, John a Kent says, "These weddings must be at C. Abbey," i.e. the
Abbey of the Monastery, now the cathedral. The same Earl of C. is one of the characters
in Davenport's Matilda. In Trouble.
Reign, Haz., p. 295, "C. 's banishment" is one of the grievances alleged by
the revolting Barons. This was the same Ranulph. In Piers B. v. 467, and Richard
the Redeless, prol. 56, we find, "bi the rode of C." as an oath. In Fulke's Rejoinder-to
Martiall (1580), art. x., he says, "Who went a pilgrimage to the Roods of Boston,
Dovercourt, and C.? Were they not Papists?" In Gascoigne's Government ii. 4, Eccho
says, "They are as much akin to the Margrave as Robyn Fletcher and the sweet Roode
of C.," i.e. not akin at all.
In Richard the Redeless iii. 317, we read of "chyders of C.," who were made counsel in the Courts for the K. Richd. had courted the favour of C. by assuming the title of "Prince of C.," and there was a rising in his favour in C. after his return from Ireland. In Jonson's Gipsies an explanation is given of the practice of making jugs with a man's head and beard on them by the fact that a mother and her son, meeting one another unexpectedly, "turn'd stone, upon the sight each of other, at C.," and were reconciled by a jug of the town ale. These jugs were known as Greybeards, or Bellarmines, from their supposed resemblance to the cardinal of that name. They were made in the Low Countries: the only reason I can guess for dragging in C. is that the son is described just before as "a spark struck out of Flintsh.," which is next door to C., "upon justice jug's daughter." See also WEST CHESTER.
CHESTON
See CHESHUNT.
CHETAS
The 4th gate of Troy. Troil., prol. 16, "Priam's six-gated city, Dardan, and Tymbria, Helias, C., Troien, And Antenorides." The names are taken from Caxton (see the passage s.v. ANTENORIDES). Is this name a survival of the Hittites, or Kheta, who were the most powerful people in Asia Minor at the time of the Trojan War?
CHEYNEY
See CHINA.
CHIAN
A mistake for Cean, i.e. belonging to Ceos, one of the group of the Cyclades in the AEgean, now Zea, 13 m. S.E. of the promontory of Sunium in Attica. Simonides, the lyric poet, was born at Iulis, the capital of the island. E. D., in Trans. of Theocritus Idyl xvi., speaks of "Simonides the C. poet." The original has the adjective correctly, "Ceian."
CHICK LANE
(also CHICKEN LANE per Stowe). A st. in Lond., otherwise known as West St., running
from Field L. to the Sheep Pens in Smithfield. It was near a timber bdge. crossing
the Turnmill Brook, as the upper part of Fleet Ditch was called, N. of the Holbourn
Bdge. No. 3 was the infamous Red Lion Inn, which abutted on the Fleet Ditch at
the back, and was a notorious haunt of thieves and ruffians. It was at the corner
of Brewhouse Yard, a few steps from Saffron Hill. The whole dist. had a most evil
reputation. The Red Lion was pulled down in 1844, and the improvements made in
1857 swept away C. L. altogether. In Middleton's R.
G. iii. 1, Moll, dressed as a man, tells Trapdoor she is one of the Temple;
but, she adds, "Sometime I lie about C. L."
CHIEGO
According to Prof. Moore Smith, this is a mtn. on the coast of Spain at the entrance
of the straits of Gibraltar. In Sharpham's Fleire
iv. 17, Petoune swears "by the towering head of high mt. C., the seaman's southward
mark."
CHIERONTE (CHAERONEIA)
A town of Boeotia, on the border of Phocis. It occupied a strong military position and commanded the entrance to Boeotia from Phocis. It is chiefly celebrated on account of the victory of Philip of Macedon over the Athenians and Boeotians under Theagenes in 338 B.C. In Lyly's Campaspe i. 1, Timoclea says to Alexander, "I am the sister of Theagines, who fought a battle with thy father before the city of C., where he died valiantly."
CHIMERA
See CHYMERA.
CHINA
(Ce. = Chinese). The country on the E. coast of Asia which occupies the centre
of the continent. The name first appears in English about the middle of the 16th
cent. It gradually took the place of the older Cataia, or Cathay, which had always
been used somewhat vaguely. Burton, A.M. ii. 2, 3, indicates the uncertainty that
was felt about the exact meaning of the words: he imagines himself possessing
the power of flight and surveying the whole world from the air: "I shall soon
perceive," he says, "whether Marcus Polus the Venetian's narration be true or
false of that great city of Quinsay and Cambalu; whether there be any such places,
or that, as Matth. Riccius the Jesuit hath written, C. and Cataia be all one,
the great Chain of Tartary and the K. of C. be the same." Ultimately C. came to
be the geographical name, and Cathay was limited to vague and poetical use. C.
first became known in the W. world through the Mongol conquest of N. C. by Jenghiz
Khan in 1234; 40 years later Kublai Khan added S. C. to the Mongol Empire. Missionaries
of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders ventured into the Mongol Empire, and 2
of them have left accounts of what they saw. Carpini (1245) says, "They seem kindly
and polished folk enough. They have no beard and in character of countenance have
a considerable resemblance to the Mongols, but are not so broad in the face."
He goes on to speak of their peculiar language, their skill in various crafts,
and the wealth of the country in corn, wine, gold, silver, and silk. William of
Rubruk (1253) says, "They are little fellows, speaking much through the nose,
and . . .their eyes are very narrow. They are first-rate artists . . .and physicians."
He remarks on their paper-money, and their use of brushes for pens in writing.
Later the Italian Polos brought back much further information to Europe. In 1368
the Mongol power was broken and Yuen-Chang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, became
Emperor. In 1644 the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the Manchoos, who founded
the Ta-Tsing Dynasty, which endured till the end of the 19th cent. Though some
of its products were known, C. was felt to be a mysterious and very distant land.
In Jonson's Volpone ii. 1, Peregrine
has heard "that your baboons were spies, and that they were a kind of subtle nation
near to C." In B.& F. Span. Cur.
iii. 2, Lopes says, "You look like travelled men; Some Signors in C. or Cataya."
In their Chances v. 3, Don John tells
Antonio that his lady has "gone to C., to be the Gt. Chum's mistress." The Gt.
Chum is the usual title for the Emperor of C. In their Fair
Maid i. iv. 2, Forobosco suggests to the tailor to go to the new world in
the moon for his fashions: "this," he says, "lies beyond C." In Davenant's Favourite
i. 1, Thorello says, "The Q. Dowager of C. should not remove my suit." In his
Albovine ii. 1, Conrade says of the courtiers, "They are men of C., for aught
I know." In Dekker's Match me iii.,
the Q. says, "I keep the fashion of the Kings of C., who never walk abroad but,
besides their attendants, have 5 or 6 as richly attired as themselves, to cut
off treason." Davies, in Nosce, says of the soul, "She's sent as soon to C. as
to Spain." Hoskins, in verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), says, "Fame
is but wind, thence wind may blow it . . . From Mexico and from Peru To C. and
to Cambalu." During the 2nd half of the 16th cent. the Jesuits established a Mission
in C., which was very successfully prosecuted by Mateo Ricci. In Jonson's Staple
iii. 2, it is asked: "Ha' you any miracle Done in Japan by the Jesuits, or in
C.?"
In Marston's Parasitaster
iii. 3, Dulcimel says, "They say in C., when women are past child-bearing they
are all burnt to make gunpowder." The Chinese are supposed to have discovered
gunpowder in a remote antiquity, Heylyn says, "3 or 4 years before or after
the departure of Israel out of Egypt!" But I have not found any other authority
for the use of the old women for the mannfactute of explosives. The Ce. had
light wagons propelled by sails: I remember as a boy seeing a picture of one,
but I can't recall where it was. In Jonson's New World, the Herald says, "The
coaches go only with wind"; and the Chronicler comments, "Pretty; like C. waggons."
Milton, P. L. iii. 438. speaks of "Sericana, where Chineses drive With sails
and wind their carry waggons light." Heylyn, p. 680, says of the Chinoys, as
he calls them, "They have coaches and carts driven ordinarily with sails." He
also credits them with the invention of gunpowder, and, doubtfully, of printing.
Burton, A.M. iii. 2, 3, speaks of the "C. flat" nose.
Dishes made of C. clay were brought to Europe by the Portuguese towards the
end of the 16th cent., and the name for the material (C.) was already in use
throughout the East. In this sense the word was pronounced, and often spelt,
Chiney or Chaney. In Meas. ii. 1, 97, Pompey speaks of "a dish of some three-pence
. . . they are not C. dishes, but very good dishes." In Ford's Warbeck
iii. 2, Huntley, describing a Scotch festival, speaks of "Ale in dishes never
fetched from C." In Massinger's Renegado
i. 3, Gazet, advertising the goods in his shop, cries: "What do you lack? Your
choice C. dishes?" In Drake's Voyages (1579), Hakluyt, iii. 736, we read of
"fine C. dishes of white earth and great store of C. silks." Florio (1598) defines
porcellana as that "whereof they make C. dishes, called Porcellan dishes." Sir
T. Browne, in Paradoxes (1646) ii. 5, 7, says, "We are not thoroughly resolved
concerning porcellane or C. dishes that according to common belief they are
made of earth." In Davenant's Plymouth
i. 1, Cable says that the people of Plymouth "would sell the very air, if they
could serve it out in fine C.-bottles." In his Love Hon. i. 1, Frivolo says,
"You may dip your morsel in good C. earth." Blount, Glossographia (1656) (s.v.
PORCELLANE), says, "Porcellane or C. dishes, brought out of C., are made of
a chalky earth . . . which being formed they gild or paint." Herbert, in Travels
(1634) 41, speaks of "Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware."
Silks and other textile fabrics were brought from C. In B.& F. Beggars'
i. 3, the freight of a ship just come in includes "Indigo, cochineal, choice
C. stuffs, and cloth of gold, brought from Cambal." In their Valour
v. 1, we read of "half an ell of C. damask." A sort of coarse Ce. cloth was
called Cheyney: in their Wit S. W.
ii. 1, Lady Ruinous says that £13 "will put a lady scarce in Philip and cheyney":
Philip being also a kind of coarse stuff. Drugs were imported from C., especially
the root of Smilax C. Burton, A. M. ii. 5, 1, 5, says, "I may say the same of
a decoction of C. roots . . . C. makes a good colour in the face." In ii. 4,
1, 3, he calls it "C. sarsaparilla." In B.& F. Hon.
Man v. 3, Montague tells the Capt. he will live to see him "bring in rotten
pippins To cure blue eyes, and swear they came from C." Blue eyes are what we
call black eyes. Nash, in Pierce E. 2, inveighs against the glutton who has
factors abroad "to provide him of strange birds, C. mustard, and odd patterns
to make custards by." Tea was not introduced into England till the middle of
the 17th cent., but Heylyn (s.v. C.) says, "It yieldeth an herb out of
the which they press a delicate juice which serveth them instead of wine, and
also preserveth their health and freeth them from the evils which the immoderate
use of wine doth breed unto us." See also CATAIA.
CHINAHOUSES
The name given to shops in Lond. where Chinese silks and porcelain were sold.
They were a favourite resort of women of fashion, and were often used as places
of assignation: hence the word came to mean in the later 17th cent. a brothel.
In Jonson's Epicoene i. 1, Sir La-foole
"has a lodging in the Strand to watch when ladies are gone to the c: h. or the
Exchange, that he may meet them." In the same scene La-foole says that Otter's
wife "was the rich c. woman, that the courtiers visited so often"; and in iii.
1, Lady Haughty comes to Mrs. Otter's "to see some C. stuffs." In iv. 2, she invites
the heroine to "go with us to Bedlam, to the c: h., and to the Exchange." In his
Alchemist iv. 2, Subtle promises Dame
Pliant "6 mares to hurry her through Lond., to the Exchange, Bethlem, the c.-h."
In Brome's Sparagus ii. 2, Moneylack
says, "Though now you keep a c.-shop, and deal in brittle commodities, pots, glasses,
pusslane dishes, and trinkets, you must not forget your old trade."
CHIOS
An island in the AEgean Sea off the coast of Asia Minor, at the S. of the Gulf
of Smyrna. The modern name is Scio. It was one of the places that claimed to be
the birthplace of Homer. It has long been famous for its excellent wines. In Marlowe's
Tamb. B. iii. 1, the K. of Trebizond
announces that he is bringing forces from "Trebizond, C., Famastro, and Amasia."
In J. Heywood's Weather 106, the
Merchant says, "I trust or Mid-lent to be to Scio." In Davenant's Rhodes A. i.,
the Admiral announces, "The Bassa's fleet appears, To Rhodes his course from C.
steers." Lodge, in Answ. to Gosson, p. i. 1, says, "What made the Chians and Colophonians
fall to such controversy? Why seek the Smirnians to recover from the Salaminians
the praise of Homer?" In B.& F. Corinth
ii. 4, the Vintner asks his guests what wine they will have: "C. or Lesbos' Greek?"
Milton, P. R. iv. 118, mentions wines of "C. and Crete" as esteemed highly by
the Romans. In Middleton's Chess
v. 3, the Black Knight mentions amongst dainties esteemed by the Romans "cockles
from C." Lyly, in Euphues England, p. 394, says, "There is in Chio the image of
Diana, which to those that enter seemeth sharp and sour, but returning after their
suits made looketh with a merry and pleasant countenance." This story is told
in Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 4. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5, 12, speaks of him "that thought
For Chian folk to pourtraict beauty's Queen." The reference is to the picture
of Aphrodite by Apelles; but it was in the temple of Cos, not C.
CHIPPING NORTON
A mkt. town in Oxfordsh., 20 m. N.W. of Oxford and 72 m. N.W. of Lond. In Three
Lords, Dods. vi. 393, Simplicity has a ballad called, "C: N., 1 m. from Chapel
o' th' Heatha lamentable ballad of burning the Pope's dog." Probably the
allusion is to some outburst of Protestant enthusiasm in connection with the arrest
of Campion in Oxfordsh. in 1581. Was the Pope's dog a Dominican Friar (Domini
canis) burnt in effigy?
CHIRKE
A vill. in Denbighsh. in Wales, on the border of Shropsh. The old Norman castle,
one of the strongholds of the Lords Marchers, is still in a good state of preservation.
In Marlowe's Ed. II, the elder Mortimer
is called "Lord Mortimer of C."
CHIURLU
A vill. in Rumelia, near Adrianople on the E., where Selim I attacked his father
Bayazet, and where he himself died on his way from Constantinople to Adrianople.
In Selimus 2163, Acomat says to Selim,
"Selim, in C. didst thou set upon Our aged father in his sudden flight; In C.
shaft thou die a grievous death."
CHOASPES
A river in S.W. Persia, rising in the mtns. of Luristan and flowing S. into the Tigris, a little below its junction with the Euphrates. Susa was built on its banks, and according to Herodotus i. 188, the Kings of Persia would drink no other water and had a supply of it carried with them on all their campaigns. It is now called Kerkhah. Milton, P. R. iii. 288, tells of "Susa by C., amber stream, The drink of none but kings."
CHOKA
(perhaps a misprint for MOCHA, or MOKHA). A spt. on the E. coast of the Red S., at the S.W. point of Arabia, just within the Straits of Babelmandeb, chiefly known for its export of coffee. In Bacchus, the 13th guest "came from C., a city in Arabia, gamed Nicholas Neverthrive; he brought with him a pudding-pie."
CHRISCIS
(apparently CHRYSE is intended). A city on the coast of the Troad in Asia Minor.
In T. Heywood's Iron Age v., Ulysses
boasts, "'Twas I sacked Thebes, C. and Scylla with Lernessus walls."
CHRIST CHURCH (1)
Canterbury Cathedral, originally the chapel of the Priory of Christ Ch. Deloney, in Craft i. 6, tells how Crispine met a friar in Canterbury "at C. Ch. one evening after the anthem."
CHRIST CHURCH (2)
The famous Oxford college founded (under the name of Cardinal College) by Wolsey in 1525, on a scale of great magnificence. His fall in 1529 put an end to the building, and the N. side of the quadrangle was not completed till the reign of Charles II. In Nash's Lenten, p. 299, he refers to the "imperfect works of C.-ch. in Oxford," which has "too costly large foundations to be ever finished." Richd. Edwards, the dramatist, was at one time a member of C. Ch. Armin says in the preface to his Ninnies, "I was admitted in Oxford to be of C. Ch." Nicholas Grimald wrote his Archipropheta sive Johannes Baptista whilst a lecturer here in 1548. William Gager's Meleager was performed at C. Ch. in 1581 in the presence of Sidney, Leicester, and other distinguished visitors.
CHRISTCHURCH, LONDON
At the dissolution of the monasteries Henry VIII gave the monastery of the Grey
Friars on the N. side of Newgate St. to the City of Lond., and made the old ch.
the head of a new parish to be called C. Ch., the monastery itself being at the
same time dedicated to the purpose of the education of poor children (see CHRIST'S
HOSPITAL). The graveyard of the old Ch. was invested with a peculiar sanctity
in the popular imagination, and a large number of distinguished people had been
buried there, including Margaret, wife of Edward 1, Isabella, wife of Edward II,
Roger Mortimer, John, D. of Bourbon, who was taken prisoner at Agincourt, and
Sir T. Malory. The ch. was destroyed in the Gt. Fire and rebuilt by Wren. In Eastward
i. 1, Quicksilver says of Touchstone, "His mother sold gingerbread in C. Ch.";
and in Taylor's Works ii. 234, he says, "The world runs on wheels like the great
gridiron in C: ch." In both cases the reference is to the school. The old lady
doubtless came to sell gingerbread to the boys; and the great gridiron would be
used for cooking their meals. In Heywood's Captives
iv. 1, a document is produced stating that Mirable was "born in C: ch., Lond.,
anno 1600." In T. Heywood's I.K.M. B.
320, Lady Ramsie says, "I have known old Hobson sit in Christs Ch. morn by morn
to watch poor couples that come there to be married and give them some few angels
for a dower." Armin, in Ninnies, mentions "a cobler, next to C.'s Ch. gate in
Newgate Market." Burton, A.M. Intro., says, "Had I been as forward as some others
I might have haply printed . . . a sermon at C: ch."
The 1609 edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets "Are to be sold by John Wright,
dwelling at C. Ch. Gate." The Booke of Mery Riddles, to which Slender refers
in M.W.W. i. 1, 209, was "Printed
by Edward Allde, dwelling in Little Saint Bartholomewes, neere C: ch. 1600."
Chapman's Caesar was "Imprinted
by G. E. for John Wright, and are to be sold at his shop at C: ch. Gate."
CHRISTCHURCH
A spt. in Hants, 101 m. S.W. of Lond. The parish ch. was the abbey of the Priory founded in the reign of Edward the Confessor. It is a noble building, almost on the scale of a cathedral. It contains a monument to Shelley. John Marston, the dramatist, was for a time vicar of C., after he had deserted the stage for Holy Orders in 1607
CHRISTENDOM
That portion of the world that had embraced Christianity, as opposed to the heathen
countries, and especially to the nations that were Mohammedan. Hence it is practically
equivalent to Europe. In Shrew Ind.
ii. 26, Sly says, "Score me up for the lyingest knave in C." In ii. 1, 188, Petruchio
calls Katharine "the prettiest Kate in C." In H6
B. ii. 1, 125, Gloucester calls Saunder "the lyingest knave in C." In H6
C. iii. 2, 83, Clarence says that K. Edward is "the bluntest wooer in C."
In R3 iii. 4, 53. Hastings says
of Richd., "I think there's never a man in C. That can less hide his love or hate
than he." In K. J. ii. 1t 74, Chatillon
says that the English army is the bravest that ever set out "To do offence and
scath in C." In iii. 1, 162, John speaks of "all the kings of C." being led so
grossly by the Pope. In H4 A. i.
2, 109, Falstaff swears, "I'll be damned for never a king's son in C." In iii.
1, 164, Hotspur says, "I had rather live With cheese and garlic in a windmill,
far, Than . . . have him talk to me In any summer-house in C." In H6
A. ii. 4, 89, Somerset says, "I'll maintain my words On any plot of ground
in C." In v. 4, 96, Beaufort says, "The States of C . . . . Have earnestly implored
a general peace. In H8 ii. 2,
88, Wolsey commends the King for "committing freely Your scruple to the voice
of C." In iii. 2, 67, Suffolk says that "all famous colleges Almost in C." are
in favour of the divorce. In iv. 2, 63, Griffith says of Wolsey, "C. shall ever
speak his virtue." In Mac. iv. 3,
192, Malcolm says of Siward, "An older and a better soldier none That C. gives
out." In Thracian iii. 3, the Alcalde says, "In Africa the Moors are only known,
And never yet searched part of C." In Middleton's Queenborough
v. 1, Simon cries: "The K. of Kent! The K. of Kirsendom Shall not be better
welcome. For you must imagine now, neighbours, this is The time when Kent stands
out of Kirsendom For he that's king here now was never kirsened." The phrase "In
Kent and C." was proverbial for the whole world. In Ford's Queen
ii. 912, Lodovico says, "Your Ladyship shall be ballated through all C., and
sung to scurvy tunes." In Kirke's Champions
i. 1, George says, "At all the world we'll play, But C., that is our tiring-house,
The rest our stage."
CHRISTOPHER
A tavern at Gravesend. Taylor, Works iii. 77, says, "Landing at Gravesend, we all went to C., where we took a Bacchanalian farewell one of another." There was a tavern with the same sign at Waltham. One of Tarlton's Jests relates an adventure of his with the hostess of the C. at Waltham.
CHRISTOPHER STREET
Mentioned in Dekker's Hon. Wh. A.
i. 2, as a st. in Milan. I cannot find any such st.: possibly the name was suggested
by C. St., Lond., running from the N.E. corner of Finsbury Sq. to Clifton St.
CHRIST'S COLLEGE
University of Cambridge, at the top of St. Andrew's St., in C. Lane, opposite
the end of Petty Curey. It was founded by the Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII,
in 1505. Gurton was staged here about
1552. (The author was probably William Stevenson, a fellow of the college.) Milton
was a student at C. C., and a mulberry tree in the garden is said to have been
planted by him. Nicolas Grimald, the author of Christus Redivivus and Archipropheta
(1543, 1548), was a student of this college at one time, but went to Oxford in
1542.
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL
Lond., on the N. side of Newgate St., a little to the E. of the Old Bailey. It is on the site of Christ Ch., q.v. In 1552 Edward VI, at the instigation of Ridley, founded and endowed it as a school for poor children. Two or three arches on the S. side of the quadrangle are all that remains of the original building, which was destroyed in the Gt. Fire. The scholars were dressed in blue, hence the popular name "The Bluecoat School." In 1902 the school was removed to W. Horsham, and one of the most interesting buildings in Lond. was swept away. The new buildings of the G.P.O. occupy the site.
In Awdeley's Fraternity of Vagabonds (1575), he describes the Cheatour, or
Fingerer, as walking "in such places whereas gentlemen and other worshipful
citizens do resort, as at Poules, or Christen H., and sometime at the Royal
Exchange." In Middleton's Widow ii.
1, Valeria's suitor congratulates himself that his 2 bastard children "are well
provided for, they're i' the H." In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. ii. 1, Kitely explains that he picked up Cash as a child at his door,
and "bred him at the H." In Ford's Queen
i. 1, 99, Muretto says, "A H. boy in a blue coat shall transcribe as much
in 6 hours." Armin, in Ninnies 50, says, "Write the sermon, boy, as the H. boys
do." Machin, in his Diary 33, speaks of "all the children, both men and women
children, all in blue coats, and wenches in blue frocks." Armin's Moreclacke
has for a 2nd title, "The Life and Simple Maner of John in the H." The direction
on the 1st entry of John is, "Enter John, Nurse, Boy, all in blue coats"; and
later, "Enter John o' th' H. and a blue-coat boy with him." In Brome's City
Wit iii. 1, Tryman says of his brother, "He has been one of the true Blue
boys of the H." In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 57, Sir John Crosbie soliloquizes: "I do not shame to say the H. of
Lond. was my chiefest fostring place. The Maisters of the H. bound me apprentice
to the Grocer's trade, and to the H. an hundred pound a year I give for ever."
The poet is guilty of a slight anachronism here, for the H. was not in existence
as such in the reign of Edward IV. In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. 319, Lady Ramsie tells of one Master Rowland, "now an able citizen, late
chosen a master of the H." Armin, in Ninnies, says, "On Easter Sunday the ancient
custom is that all the children of the h. go before my Lord Mayor to the Spittle"
(see SPITTLE). The Anatomy of a Woman's Tongue was "Printed for Richd. Harper
and are to be sold at his shop at the H: Gate. 1638." The Gate was opposite
Warwick Lane. In Wise Men i. 1,
Proberio says of Antonio's writings, "We'll put them in print and set them up
to be sold at the H. porch near St. Nicholas Shambles."
CHYMAERIAN
See CIMMERIAN.
CHYMERA
A mtn. in Lycia, just S. of Phaselis. An unquenchable flame was said to issue
from a cleft in the mtn., which seems to have been due to a jet of gas. The legend
of the fire-breathing Chimaera probably took its origin from this phenomenon.
In Richards' Messallina v. 2175,
Saufellus says, "My heart is far more Unpassable than C. mt." In T. Heywood's
Gold Age iii., Saturn, being exhorted
to be patient, cries: "Teach me to mollify the Corsicke rock Or make the Mt. C.
passable." In his B. Age i., Deianeira
speaks of being attacked by "the lions in Chimera bred."
CICELY
See SICILY.
CILICIA
The province in S.E. Asia Minor, between the Taurus Range and the sea. Up till
the time of Alexander the Gt. it was ruled by kings under the title of Syennesis.
It then passed under the power of the Seleucid dynasty at Antioch, and was constituted
a Roman province by Pompeius in 66 B.C. In Ant.
iii. 6, 15, Caesar mentions it as one of the provinces assigned by Antony to his
son Ptolemy: "To Ptolemy he assigned Syria, C., and Phoenicia." This is a verbal
quotation from Plutarch. In Greene & Lodge's Looking
Glass, the scene of which is laid at Nineveh in the time of the prophet Jonah,
a K. of .C. appears as one of the characters. In T. D. 's Banquet,
there is an unhistorical K. of C. called Armatrites. In Chapman's Caesar
ii. 4, 125, the K. of C. offers his services to Pompey: there was no such K. at
this time, C. being a Roman province. Spenser, in Virgil's Gnat 671, speaks of
"Saffron, sought for in Cn. soil." Browne, in Brittania's Pastorals i. 2, speaks
of "Saffron, confected in C.''
CIMBRI
A Celtic tribe whose exact home is uncertain. Along with the Teutones they invaded
Italy 101 B.C., and were defeated by C. Marius at Campi Raudii. In Jonson's Catiline
iii. 3, Catiline says, "Behold this silver eagle." Twas Marius' standard in the
Can. war." In Kyd's Cornelia iii. chor., we have, "Noble Marius, Arpin's friend,
That did the Latin state defend From Cymbrian rage." In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. iv. 2, Tamburlaine compares himself and his troops to "an herd of lusty
Cymbrian bulls." The meaning would seem to be savage, untamed, like the C. So
Spenser, F. Q. i. 8, 11, speaks of a herd of bulls "in Cymbrian plain."
CIMMERIANS
(Cn. = Cimmerian). A legendary people who dwelt beyond the Ocean-river in perpetual darkness unvisited by the rays of the sun (Hom., Odyss. xi. 14). The name is also applied historically to a Thracian tribe living about the Tauric Chersonese, who in early times invaded Asia Minor and caused widespread terror amongst the Greeks on the coast. But it is the legendary C. who have through Homer passed into literature.
In Tit. ii. 3, 74, the Moor is
spoken of as "your swarth Cn.," the reference being to his dark colour; for
all Shakespeare's Moors are represented as black. Marlowe, in Tamb.
A. v. 1, speaks of "the Cn. Styx" meaning to suggest the gloom of the underworld.
In Massinger's Virgin iv. 3, Antoninus says, "the glorious sun himself To me's
Cn. darkness." In Chaucer, House of Fame i. 73, the abode of the God of Sleep
is "Besyde a folk men clepe Cymerie." In Milton's L'Allegro 10 (1632), Melancholy
is adjured, "There under ebon shades and low-brow'd rocks, In dark Cn. desert
ever dwell." Taylor, Works iii. 111, has "the Leathean den of oblivious Cimerianism."
In Chettle's Hoffman iv., Hoffman
cries: "All ye yellow tapers of the heaven Vail your clear brightness in Ciamerian
mists." In Brome's Concubine iv.
8, the K. prays, "Shew me some light Through these Cymmerian mists of doubts
and fears." In W. Rowley's All's Lost
v. 5, 126, Julianus says, "Where's this tyrant? Turn me but to him, and
from these darkened eyes I shall discover his Cymerian face." In Cowley's Cutter
[a.k.a. Guardian] i. 5, Worm says,
"Dost thou not live, Cutter, in the Chymaerian darkness of ignorance?" At which
Jolly protests, "Cymmerian, Capt., let it be Cymmerian." Evidently Worm thought
the word had to do with Chymaera. In Caesar's
Rev. iii. 2, Caesar boasts, "I displayed the Eagle . . . in the rough Cn.
Bosphorus," i.e. the modern Strait of Kertch connecting the Sea of Azov
with the Black Sea. The reference is to Caesar's campaign against Pharnaces
49 B.C.
CINQUE PORTS
(Lat. QUINQUE PORTUS: the 5 ports). On the S.E. coast of England, viz. Hastings,
Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich, to which were added later Winchelsea and Rye.
They furnished the greater part of the English navy, and had in return many privileges,
including freedom from taxation and full cognizance of all criminal and civil
cases within their liberties. The Governor of Dover Castle is also Warden of the
C. P.: the Barons of the C. P. had the right of bearing the canopy over the Sovereign
at his coronation. In H8 iv.
1, in the order of Q. Anne's coronation procession, we find: "8. A canopy borne
by 4 of the C. P.; under it, the Q. in her robes." Lower down (29) one of the
spectators says, "They that bear The cloth of honour o'er her are 4 Barons Of
the C: p." The "Barones de Hastingiis et de quinque portibus" are mentioned
in a Charter of Richard 1, 1191. In Oldcastle
iv. 3, the Bp. charges the Lord Warden, "That all the C. P., whereof you are chief,
Be laid forthwith that he escape us not." In Look
about xxxiii., old Richard Fauconbridge is described as "Lord of the C. P."
In Armin's Moreclacke D. 4, Sir William,
when his daughter has eloped, demands "a warrant for a general search, restraints
for Cinck-p." The phrase was also applied to the 5 senses. Taylor, Works i. 79,
speaks of "the C.-port senses" of Lond. Rogers, Sacraments ii. 7 (1633), says,
"Conscience keeps the C. p., the out-lets and in-lets of the heart and life."
It is also used of the gates of a city, port being taken as equivalent to Aorta.
In Timon i. 2, Eutrapelus says,
"I walked through the byways of the town, the Schools, the C. p., the market places."
The scene is at Athens, and it is just possible that Eutrapelus means the harbours
of the city, which were within the Long Walls. In Three
Lords (Dods., vi. 398), Simplicity says to Wealth, "Thou are no C: port man;
thou art not wit free ": the allusion being to the freedom from taxation enjoyed
by the C. P.
CIRCASSIA
The dist. N. of the Caucasus Range, between the Caspian and the Black Seas. The women are fair and famous for their beauty, and are sold in large numbers for the harems of the Turks. In Davenant's Rhodes B. iv., Solyman speaks of Mustapha as "the pledge of my Cn. wife."
CIRCEII
A town on the coast of Latium, some 50 m. S.E. of Rome. It was a favourite summer
resort of the Romans, and was specially celebrated for its oysters. In Jonson's
Catiline i. 1, Catiline, speaking
of the luxury of the nobles, says, "Circei too is searched To please the witty
gluttony of a meal."
CIRENCESTER
(called sometimes CICESTER, sometimes CIREN). A town in Gloucestersh., abt. 90
m. W. of Lond. It was a British town and, as its name implies, a Roman station.
It has one of the finest parish churches in England, with a tower 132 ft. high.
In R2 v. 6, 3, Bolingbroke says,
"The rebels have consumed with fire Our town of Cicester in Gloucestersh.'' The
account is given in Holinshed. The leaders of the army were in the town and their
army camped outside. They were attacked in their Inns by the bailiff, and as a
signal to their army set one of the Inns on fire. The army, taking this to be
a signal of Bolingbroke's approach, fled; but the fire burnt a large part of the
town. William Cartwright, the dramatist, was the son of an innkeeper at C.
CIRRHA
The port of Delphi on the Gulf of Corinth at the foot of Mt. Cirphis. The plain
around it was dedicated to Apollo, the god of poetry. In Nero
i. 4, Lucan, the poet of the Civil Wars of Rome, says, "I love the unnatural wounds
from whence did flow Another C., a new Helicon": a somewhat egotistical reference
to his poems. In Barclay's Lost Lady i. 1, the Physician says of Lysicles, "He
lost his mistress; her urn is in C., which my lord nightly visits." In T. Heywood's
Dialogues xiv. 4392, Crates tells of 2 rich men who "being from Sycion to Cyrra
bound Were in the midway near Iapygium drowned." In going from Sycion to C. they
would not get outside of the Corinthian Gulf, so would not be near Iapygium at
all.
CIRTA
(now CONSTANTINEH). The ancient capital of the Massylii in Numidia. It lies 185
m. S.E. of Algiers and 45 m. from the coast. It was a strong fortress, and was
captured by Metellus in 108 B.C. from Jugurtha. The scene of Marston's Sophonisba
is laid at C. in 203 B.C. during the war between the Romans and Syphax. In ii.
2, Jugurtha says, "Syphax runs his well-breathed horse Direct to C., the most
beauteous city Of all his kingdom." The scene of Act II of Nabbes' Hannibal
is laid at the Court of Syphax in Cyrtha, 204 B.C.
CISSEPHUS
I suspect a misprint, or mistake, for Cephissus, the little stream which flowed
through Athens to the B. of Phalerum. Heywood seems to think of it as in Sicily,
but he may have confused the Eleusinian Mysteries, which celebrated the story
of Persephone and were held at Eleusis, near Athens, and the annual festivals
held in honour of the goddess at Enna, in Sicily. There were many streams at Enna,
but I cannot find one with this name. In T. Heywood's Mistress
v. 1, Pluto says, "This day The virgins of Sicilia on C. banks Are gathered
in well-ordered multitudes "to celebrate the return to upper Earth of Persephone.
CITHAERON
The range of mtns. separating Boeotia from Attica. It was the scene of the deaths
of Actaeon and Pentheus. It abounded in game. In Chapman's Bussy
v. 1, Montsurry says that men will not be stayed "Till they embrace within their
wife's 2 breasts All Pelion and Cythxron with their beasts." In Mason's Mulleasses
2376, Borgias cries in death, "Sink, sink, Cytheron; high Pallene, tremble": cf.
Seneca, Herc. Fur. 979. In Pickering's Horestes
C. 2, in a song by Aegisthus, it is said that Helen found occasion to meet
Paris "in Cytheron where each of them the other did greet the feast upon." There
was an annual festival to Zeus on the top of C, called the Daedala. In Peele's
Arraignment v. 1, Venus swears, "By
all the honour and the sacrifice That from C. and from Paphos rise." There is
probably a confusion here between C, and Cythera, the island sacred to Venus.
Spencer, F. Q. iii. 6, 29, also speaks of "Cytheron hills" as one of the haunts
of Venus; and again in vi. 10, 9. In Brome's Ct.
Beggar iv. 2, the mad Frederick says, "Carry me up to Hymettus top, Cytheron,
Othris or Pindus where she [Diana] affects to walk and take the air." Hall, in
Satires i. 2, 19, says, in reference to the erotic poetry of the day, "Cytheron
hill's become a brothel bed."
CITY MILLS
In Cor. i. 10, 31, Aufidius says,
"I am attended at the cypress grove; I pray you'Tis S. the c. m.-bring me
word thither." Aldis Wright points out that in 1588 the Mayor and Corporation
of Lond. petitioned the Q. for power to build 4 cornmills on the Thames near the
bdge.: these would be near to the Globe and familiar to the audience. For a similar
transference of a local reference, see under CAPITOL.
CIVILL
See SEVILLE.
CIVITA VECCHIA
The port of Rome, 38 m. N.W. of the city on the coast of the Mediterranean. It
was constructed by the Emperor Trajan, and later was strongly fortified. In Barnes'
Charter ii. 1, Pope Alexander offers
to Charles VIII "to render presently the citadels of Terracina, C. V., and Spoleto"
as the condition of peace. In Middleton's R.
G. v. 1, Trapdoor claims to have visited, amongst other places in Italy, "Roma,
V., Bonomia, etc."
CIZICUM
See CYZICUM.
CLANGIBBON
In Middleton's Quiet Life iv. 1,
Knavesby, pointing to a map of Ireland, says, "Here is C.-G., a fruitful country
and well-wooded. This upper part is the Cossacks' land; here runs the Kernesdale,
admirable feed for cattle; and hereabout is St. Patrick's Purgatory." All these
places seem to be imaginary, though Patrick's Purgatory has found a local habitation
on an island in Lough Dearg, in Donegal.
CLAPHAM
Originally a vill. in Surrey, abt. 5 m. S.W. of St. Paul's; now a suburb of Lond. The Common is an open space abt. 200 acres in extent. Taylor, Works ii. 1, says, "I saw the cedars of Lebanon read a sad lecture unto C. Heath."
CLARE HALL
(now CLARE COLLEGE). University of Cambridge, founded by Elizabeth de Burgh in
1359. It stands on the river, which is crossed at this point by C. Bdge., W. of
King's. Robert Greene, the dramatist, proceeded M.A. from C. H. in 1583. The recently
[in 1925] discovered play called Club
Law, a diverting account of the feud between Town and Gown, was performed
at C. H. in 1597.
CLARE'S ORDINARY
An eating-house in Lond.: possibly that which afterwards became Jonson's Hotel
in Clare Court, on the E. side of Drury Lane next to Blackmoor St. In Barry's
Ram iii. 1, Ruff, describing what
he would do if he could get a rich wife, says, "I would eat at C. o. and dice
at Antony's."
CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT
An aqueduct at Rome, begun by Caligula and finished by Nero. It brought water
to the city from the Alban Hills across the Campagna, over a series of noble arches
of travertine, the ruins of which are still a conspicuous feature of the landscape.
Its whole length was 46 m., and for 10 of them it was carried on arches. It entered
the city at the S.E. corner. In May's Agrippina
i. 1, 338, Vitellius mentions amongst the buildings of Rome, "Julius' Temple,
Claudius' Aquaeducts."
CLEMENT DANES (ST.). (MAP 17 REF 5FERASE THIS NOTE FROM ALL LISTINGS, LONDON ONLY)
A ch. in Lond. at the E. end of the Strand, in the middle of the rd. and slightly
athwart the direction of it owing to its exact orientation E. and W. The origin
of the suffix D. is variously explained as due to the burial there of Harold Harefoot,
the illegitimate son of Canute; or to a defeat of the D. by the Londoners in the
reign of Ethelred; or to a small settlement of D. who were allowed to remain after
the expulsion of the rest from England. The 1st ch. was built somewhere about
A.D. 1000. It was repaired at various times during the 17th cent., and was finally
pulled down in 1680 and rebuilt by Wren, the steeple being added in 1719. It was
repaired and restored in 1839. It has a fine peal of 10 bells, cast in 1693, to
replace those whose chimes Falstaff and Shallow "heard at midnight" when they
were students in C.'s Inn (H4 B.
iii. 2, 228). They figure in the nursery rhyme, "Oranges and lemons, Say the bells
of St. Clemens." Dr. Johnson occupied a pew in the N. gaffery, indicated by a
brass plate affixed in 1851. Stow tells of the disturbances caused in the neighbourhood
of the church by the "unthrifts of the Inns of Chancery." In Jonson's Augurs,
the bearward sings, to the dancing of his bears, "Nor the Vintry-Cranes, nor St.
C. D., Nor the Devil can put us down." The point would seem to lie in the opposition
to bear-baiting by the players, who found that that sport diminished their houses:
doubtless the young lawyers supported them in their protest. In Middleton's Five
Gallants, the 1st Gallant is "of St. C. 's parish"; and in v. 1, we learn
that young Franklin's tailor is "Master Weatherwise by St. C.'s ch." In Dekker's
Northward v. 1, Bellamont advises
Kate to setup as periwig maker in the Strand, and promises, "You shall have as
good a coming in by hair and by other foolish tiring as any between St. C.'s and
Charing." Swetnam was "Printed for
Richd. Meighen and are to be sold at his shops at St. Cs. Ch., over-against Essex
House, and at Westminster Hall. 1620."
CLEMENT'S INN
One of the Inns of Court in Lond., lying immediately W. of the New Law Courts,
and near the Ch. of St. C. Danes on the N. of the Strand. Near by was C Well,
which in Shakespeare's time was paved and curbed and always full of water. It
was connected with the Inner Temple, and was an I. of Chancery before the reign
of Edward IV. These Inns were places of residence for students of the Law, and
resembled in many ways the colleges of the universities. Shallow, in H4
B. iii. 2, indulges in some pleasant reminiscences of the time when "I was
once of C. I., where I think they will talk of mad Shallow yet." It was "55 year
ago," and Jane Nightwork "had Robin Nightwork by old Nightwork before I came to
C. I." He remembers being Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show, "when I lay at C. I."
Falstaff was his fellow student there: "I do remember him," says the Fat Knight,
"at C. I. like a man made after supper of a cheeseparing: when he was naked, he
was for all the world like a forked radish with a head fantastically carved upon
it with a knife." Harman, in his Caveat ii., tells of a counterfeit crank who
begged about the Temple the most part of the day, "unless it were about xii of
the clock he went on the backside of C. I. without Temple Bar; there is a lane
that goeth into the Fields; there he renewed his face again with fresh blood which
he carried about him in a bladder."
CLEMENT'S (SAINT) LANE
(now C. LANE). A st. in Lond. running from 28 Lombard St. to K. William St., just above its junction with East Cheap. In Deloney's Craft i. 10, Mrs. Eyre says, "We'll dine at my cousin John Barber's in St. C. L., which is not far from the George in Lumbard-st."
CLEONAE
A town in the Peloponnesus, between Corinth and Argon, abt. 15 m. N.E. of the
latter city. It was close to Nemea, and the Nemean games were celebrated in its
territory. In T. Heywood's S. Age
iii. the Herdsman says of the Nemean lion that it "commands the Cleonean continent,
Unpeoples towns." The lion was killed by Herakles. In Scot. Presb. v. 1, Anarchy
says, "Cleonian lions and Daonian bears Are not so ravenous."
CLERKENWELL
A dist. in Lond., N. of C. Rd., between Gray's Inn Rd. and Goswell Rd. So named
from a well at the S.E. end of Ray St., which was used by the Brothers of St.
John and the Benedictine nuns. The dist. shared with Hockley-in-the-hole and Turnmill
St. a particularly bad reputation as a haunt of thieves and loose women. In Middleton's
Mad World iii. 2, the Courtesan, supposed
to be on her deathbed, sends her commendations "to all my good cousins in C. and
St. John's." In Randolph's Muses' iv.
3, justice Nimis reckons, "The yearly value of my fair manor of C. is pounds so
many," and adds Turnbal, Pickthatch, and Shoreditch as other contributors to his
income. In T. Heywood's Hogsdon ii.
1, the Wise Woman, in a list of female quacks and fortune-tellers, says, "There's
a very reverend matron on C. Green, good at many things." In Dekker's News from
Hell, we are told of the "whores and thieves that live in C." Taylor, Works ii.
102, speaks of a certain lady as "the honestest woman that dwells between Smithfield
Bars and C." In Marston's Courtesan
i. 2, Cocledemoy says, "They [bawds] must needs both live well and die well, since
most commonly they live in Clerkenwell and die in Bridewell." In Middleton's No
Wit i. 1, Weatherwise says, "Some lousy fiddler run away with your daughter;
may C. have the first cut of her and Houndsditch pick her bones!" In Brome's City
Wit ii. 2, Crack says of Mrs. Tryman: "She was born in Clearkenwell and was
never half a day's journey from Bridewell in her life." There was an annual wrestling
match at C. which was attended by competitors from all parts of the country. Hentzner
tells how he saw the Lord Mayor present at it in all the glory of his state robes.
CLERMONT
(more fully, C. FERRAND). The capital of Basse-Auvergne, 237 m. S. of Paris. It
is the old Augustonometum, or Averni. It has a fine Gothic cathedral, built in
1248. Here the Council was held in 1095 which decided on the 1st Crusade. In Marlowe's
Ed. II v. 5, the unhappy K. recalls how
he ran at tilt in France for the sake of his Q. Isabel, "And there unhorsed the
D. of C." In Cavendish's Life of Wolsey iii. we are told that the Viscount C.
was one of the prisoners brought back from France by Henry VIII in 1513.
CLEVELAND
The dist. around Clever, on the Rhine, 75 m. E. of Rotterdam. It was part of the
theatre of the war between the Spaniards and the Dutch in the early years of the
17th cent.; and Clever was taken by the Dutch in 1625. Many English volunteers
assisted the Dutch in these wars. In Dekker's Hon.
Wh., B. v. 2, Bots boasts of having served there: "In C. I missed but little,
having the bridge of my nose broken down with 2 great stones, as I was scaling
a fort." There is a double entendre here. In Field's Weathercock i. 2, Kate says
to Capt. Pout, "I shall be here at home, and you in C. abroad." In Taylor's Works
iii. 24, we are told that "Lieut. Puffe from Cleaveland is returned." In Dekker's
Northward iv. 2, Jenkin speaks
of "all the Low Countries in Christendom, as Holland and Zealand, and Netherland
and C. too.'' In B. & F. Scornful
v. 3, Loveless says of Morecraft's reformation, "There will be no more talk of
the Cleve wars while this lasts." In the next scene Welford says to Martha, "When
you can hold out no longer, marry some cast Cleve capt. and sell bottle-ale."
CLEVES
(German, CLEVE.). A town in Rhenish Prussia, 70 m. N.W. of Cologne. The old castle
of Schwanenburg, the former residence of the Dukes of C., is now (in 1925) the
public offices of the town. Here was born Anne of C., the 4th wife of Henry VIII.
In S. Rowley's When You F. 1, the
K. says, "Anne of Cleave shall be sent home again."
CLIFFORD'S INN
Originally the town house of the Cliffords, leased to the students of Law by Isabel,
widow of Robert de Clifford, in 1344. It lies on the N. side of Fleet St., between
Chancery Lane and Fetter Lane, behind St. Dunstan's Ch. It was the oldest of the
Inns of Chancery. The Honourable Society of C. I. was dissolved in 1902, and the
hall and some of the buildings have been recently acquired by the Society of Knights
Bachelors. In Middleton's R. G. iv.
1, Moll, disguised as a man, pretends to be a teacher of music "right against
C. I." Andromana was "Printed for John Bellinger and are to be sold at his shop
in C. I. Lane in Fleet St. 1660." C. I. Lane was the entrance to the I. from Fleet
St., by St. Dunstan's Ch.
CLIFTON
(more fully C.-cum-GLAPTON). A vill. in Notts., 3 m. S.W. of Nottingham. It possesses
a fine old ch. and almshouses for 6 old women. C. is the home of the heroine of
Sampson's Vow. In v. 2, 58, Miles
quotes from the ballad which is the foundation of the play "Not far from Nottingham
of late In C., as I hear, There dwelt a fair and comely dame, For beauty without
peer."
CLINK
A prison on the Bankside, Southwark, W. of Winchester House, at the corner of
Maid Lane. C. St. still preserves the name. It was removed to Deadman's Place
in 1745 and was burnt down by the Gordon rioters in 1780. Bp. Hooper was committed
"from the Counter in Southwark to the C." (Works ii. 18 1). After Bradford's excommunication
in St. Mary Overies, he was "delivered to the sheriffs of Lond., and so had to
the C." (Works i. 492). In T. Heywood's Fortune
iii. 4, the Clown, who is making a proclamation at the dictation of the Pursevant,
changes "Purser and Clinton" into "Lost their purses at the C." In verses prefixed
to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Vadianus says, "I have . . . left my wits fast fettered
in the Ce." C. is used to-day as a slang term for prison.
CLOTHFAIR
A st. in Lond. running from the E. side of W. Smithfield, parallel to and just
S. of Long Lane it formerly went right through to Aldersgate St., but now stops
at Kinghorn St. It is one of the last surviving bits of mediaeval Lond. It was,
as the name implies, the resort of drapers and clothiers. In Jonson's Barthol.
Ind., the Stage-keeper regrets that Tarleton had not lived to have played in Bartholomew
Fair: "You should have seen him come in, and have been cozened in the c.-quarter
so finely!"
CLOUGH
A narrow valley between 2 steep hills. Clym, or Clem, o' the C. was one of the
trio of famous archers, the others being Adam Bell and William of Cloudesley.
The ballad detailing their exploits will be found in Percy's Reliques. Their home
was in the forest of Englewood, near Carlisle. In Davenant's Wits
ii. 1, Ample speaks of Thwack as "this rude Clim o' the C." In Lawyer ii., Curfew
addresses Vaster as "My brave Clem o' th' C." In W. Rowley's Match
Mid. i. 2, Randall says the hills near Kingston "are no more near mountains
in Wales than Clim of the C.'s bow to her cozen David's harp." In Jonson's Alch.
i. 1, Face says, "I bring you no cheating Clim o' the Cloughs, or Claribels."
Nash, in Pierce, calls the devil "Clim of the C., thou that usest to drink nothing
but scalding lead and sulphur in hell."
CNIDOS
See GNIDON.
COBHAM
A vill. in Kent, 4 m. S. of Gravesend. In R2
ii. 1, 279, "Rainold, Lord C." is mentioned amongst those who accompanied
Bolingbroke from Brittany in his attack upon Richd. II. This Rainold, or Reginald,
is praised by Froissart as one of the best warriors in England: he was banished
to Jersey in 1398 for complicity in Gloucester's supposed plot. His daughter and
heiress Joan married the famous Sir J. Oldcastle, who by this marriage became
Lord C. He is the hero of the pseudo-Shakespearian play Oldcastle,
and the part afterwards transferred to Sir J. Falstaff in the Henry IV plays was
originally given to him. He headed an insurrection of the Lollards and was hanged
as a traitor and burned as a heretic in 1417. In the very lame disclaimer (qui
s'excuse s'accuse!) in the Epilogue to H4
B., it is said "Falstaff shall die of a sweat; for Oldcastle died a martyr,
and this is not the man." The Prince addresses Falstaff in H4
A. i. 2, 47, as "my old lad of the Castle."; and in Fam.
Vict., the part is assigned to Sir John Old-Castle which Shakespeare gives to
Falstaff. The Eleanor C. of H6 B.
ii. 3 was the 3rd daughter of Sir Reginald C., son of the 2nd Lord Reginald C.
mentioned above. She was the 2nd wife of the good D. Humphrey of Gloucester, and
died in prison in the Isle of Man in 1454. In H6
C. i. 2, 40, York sends his son Edward to win over "my Lord of C. With whom
the Kentishmen will willingly rise"; and in line 56 we learn that "noble Warwick,
C., and the rest" have been left by York as protectors of the King. In Oldcastle
several of the scenes are laid at Sir John's house at C. In iii. 3, Doll complains
to the priest of Wrootham, "You might have left me at C. until you had been better
provided for"; and in iv. 1, this same priest, who is also a highwayman, mentions
"Chobham Down" as one of the places which pay him tithe.
COCITUS
See COCYTUS.
COCK
A well-known tavern in Fleet St., Lond., near the corner of Chancery Lane (q.v.). It was originally called the C. and Bottle. It escaped the Gt. Fire and can be traced back to the time of Elizabeth, when John Garlak wrote to Mr. Latimer "at the sign of the C. near St. Dunstan's Ch." It was pulled down to make room for a branch of the Bank of England in 1887, but was reopened under the old name on the opposite side of the rd. in 1888. The old sign, said to have been carved by Griming Gibbons, is preserved in the house: the sign outside is modern. Everyone knows Tennyson's lyrical monologue to Will Waterproof, "the plump headwaiter at the C." There were other C. Taverns in Tothill St., Westminster, pulled down in 1873 to make room for the Aquarium; in Bow St.; and on the S. side of Old St. Harman, in Caveat, speaks of another in Kent St., in Southwark. It was also a bookseller's sign Arthur of Litil Bretaygne was "Imprinted at Lond. in Powles Ch. yard at the sign of the Ce. by Roberte Redborne."
COCK AND HEN
A tavern in Highgate. Highgate, being the last stage on the way to Lond., had
a great many taverns. Hone, in Every-Day Bk. (1826), enumerates 19 in the High
St. In Jonson's Tub i. 2, we are
told of Sim Valentine, who "kept brave house at the C.-and-Hen in Highgate."
COCKATRICE
One of the taverns in Rome (i.e. Lond.) enumerated by Valerius in T. Heywood's
Lucrece ii. 5: "The punk unto the
C." C. was often used for a prostitute; and the name of the tavern may have been
invented to suit the author's purpose. I have not been able to find any reference
to a tavern with this sign.
COCKERMOUTH
An ancient town in Cumberland, at the junction of the Cocker and Derwent, 24 m.
S.W. of Carlisle. It has a finely situated castle, which was in olden times a
strong fortress. In Skelton's Magnificence
fol. xii., in a nonsensical dialogue between Folly and Fancy, Folly irrelevantly
turns the conversation by saying, "Marry, Sir, C is a good way hence." To which
Fancy retorts: "What? Of Cockermowth spake I no word." Folly seems to mean, if
anything at all, "I am far from flattering you."
COCK LANE
A st. in Lond. running E. from Snow Hill to Giltspur St., in W. Smithfield. Pie
Corner is at the corner of Giltspur St. and Cock L. It is mentioned in 1383 as
the only allowed place of abode for courtesans on that side of the city; and Clarice
of Cokkeslane is one of the merry company of Glutton's fellowship in Piers B.
v. 319. In Whetstone's Promos iv. 1, Gresco orders the beadles to "search Ducke
Alley, Cockelane, and Scouldes corner" for lewd persons. There was another C.
L. in Shoreditch, now called Boundary St., running N. from Church St. to Austin
St. This is the one referred to by Davenant in Wits
v. 3, "O, Sir, 'twill make 'em sing like the silk-knitters of C.-l."
COCKNEY
In the sense of a born Londoner only occurs after 1600. The original meaning is
a cock's egg (cocken-ey) which was supposed to be small and misshapen; then a
milksop, a foolish, affected person. It is in this sense only that Shakespeare
uses the wordTw. N. iv. 1, 15:
"This great lubber, the world, will prove a c."; and Lear
ii. 4, 123, "Cry to it, nuncle, as the c. did to the eels when she put 'em
i' the paste alive." The 1st example of the localized sense quoted in O.E.D. is
in Rowlands' Lett. Hum. Blood iv. 65 (1600), "I scorn to let a Bow-bell C. put
me down." Minsheu, Ductor (1617), says, "A C., or Cockny, applied only to one
born within the sound of Bow-bell"; and goes on to give an absurd derivation of
it from a young Londoner going into the country and talking about a cock neighing.
In Dekker's Shoemaker's iii. 5,
the Lord Mayor of Lond. says of his daughter, "My fine c. would have none of him."
In Prodigal ii. 1, Oliver, the Devonshire
clothier, in response to Flowerdale's chaff about his provincial pronunciation,
says, "Ay, and well said, cocknell, and Bow-bell too." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 2, Birdlime says, "As Frenchmen love to be bold . . . so cs., especially
she-cs., love not aqua vitae when 'tis good for them." In Day's B.
Beggar v., Strowd says, "I think you be sib to one of the London-cs. that
asked whether haycocks were better meat boiled or roasted." In Brome's Northern
ii. 1, Widgin says, "I am a C. and was never further than Hammersmith." In
his Ct. Beggar iii. 1, Swaynwit
says to Citywit, who has just been boasting that he was born in the City, "Darst
thou tell me of clowns, thou c. chicken-hearted whelp thou?"
COCKPIT
Properly an enclosed circle for the sport of cock-fighting: then applied to a
theatre, especially to the pit. So Shakespeare, H5
prol. 11, says, "Can this C. hold The vasty fields of France?" L. Digges,
in Steaks. Suppl. i. 71, says, "Let but Beatrice and Benedict be seen; lo! in
a trice The C., galleries, boxes, all are full." The name was then appropriated
to one particular theatre, erected on the site of a c. in Drury L. about 1615.
It was sacked by the prentices in 1617 and reopened under the name of the "Phoenix.''
[ed. note: here Sugden is mistaken. The apprentices' vandalism probably had
nothing to do with the name. The theatre was more likely built on the site of
a former cockpit that had burned and was therefore named The Phoenix but continued,
albeit atavistically, to be referred to as The Cockpit. The apprentices did not
burn the building in 1617.] In Dekker's Owl's Almanac (1618), we read: "Shrove
Tuesday falls on that day which the prentices pulled down the C."; and in Middleton's
Inner Temp. 174, Dr. Almanac says, "Stand forth, Shrove Tuesday! 'tis in your
charge to pull down bawdy-houses; ruin the C.! the poor players never thrived
in it." [ed. note: the players never thrived in the Cockpit probably because
it had just been erected in 1617 when the apprentices pulled it down.] It
may fairly be regarded as the progenitor of the famous Drury Lane. In Jonson's
Epicoene iv. 2, Centaure talks of the
lovers who "invite us to the C. and kiss our hands all the play-time." L. Digges,
in Steaks. Suppl. i. 71, says, "May the Bull or C. have Your lame blank verse
to keep you from the grave." The actors, in their Remonstrance (1643), say, "It
is not unknown to all the audience that have frequented the private houses of
Blackfriars, the C., and Salisbury Court, without austerity we have purged our
stages from all obscene and scurrilous jests." Brome, in a note at the end of
the Antipodes, says, "It was at first
intended for the C. stage." In Dekker's Babylon
214, Plain Dealing says, "This one little C. is able to shew all the follies
of your kingdom, in a few apes of the kingdom." In Nabbes' C.
Garden i. 1, Ralph is delighted that his master is coming to live in Covent
Garden: "we shall then be near the C., and see a play now and then." In Cockayne's
Obstinate iii. 2, Lorece says, "I
at any time will carry you to a play either to the Black Friar's or C." In the
1st Folio (preface) of Shakespeare, the authors address the critics as you that
"Sit on the stage at Blackfriars or the C. to arraign plays daily." Glapthorne's
Hollander was "acted at the C. in
Drury Lane"; and his Argalus "at
the private house in Drury-Lane," which is obviously the C.
COCKPITINCOURT
See under WHITEHALL.
COCK'S HEATH
A heath in Kent, mentioned, in Oldcastle
iv. 1, by the parson of Wrotham as one of the places from which he levies tithe
as a highwayman.
COCYTUS
A river of Epirus flowing into the Acheron, now the Vuvo. Homer places it in the
lower world: Odyss. x. 514, "There into Acheron C. glides, Streaming from Styx
and Pyriphlegethon." Vergil is not altogether self-consistent, but seems to regard
C. as a deep pool into which the Acheron discharges itself down a great steep;
and describes it as a stagnant marsh with black mud and hideous reed beds. Dante
makes it a frozen lake into which all the waters of Hell collect. In Tit.
ii. 3, 236, Martius describes Aaron's pitfall as "this fell, all-devouring receptacle,
As hateful as C.' misty mouth." In the old Timon
iv. 3, Timon declares that Speusippus "deserves the pain Of Sisyphus, thirst of
Tantalus, And in thy lake, C., to remain." In Marlowe, Tamb.
A. v. 1, Bajazeth invokes "Furies from the black C. lake." Vergil calls C.
"the dread river of the Furies" (AEn. vi. 375). In Massinger's Believe
iii. 2, Berecinthius says, "I do not fear thee, Pluto, though thou hast Assumed
a shape not to be matched in C." where the conception is vague and the accent
wrong. In Wilson's Cobler 677, Charon tells the Cobbler that in order to accommodate
the huge crowds that are coming to hell, "C., Lethe, Phlegeton, shall all be digged
into Styx." In Kyd's Cornelia iv., Caesar asks, "Can I too soon go taste C.-flood?"
In T. Heywood's Mistress iii., Psyche
speaks of "Cocitus, That fearful stream, which feeds the river Stix." In Marmion's
Leaguer i. 2, Jeffrey says, "We shall
fall into a lake that will foully dight us, Darker and deeper than Styx or C.":
where the rhyme should be noted. In Locrine
iii. 6, 13, Humber invokes "You ugly sprites that in Cocitus mourn And gnash your
teeth": where it means simply Hell. Milton, P. L. ii. 579, names the rivers of
Hell, Acheron, Styx, "C., named of lamentation loud Heard on the rueful stream,"
and Phlegeton; Lethe, the river of oblivion, flows "far off from these." In Contention,
Pt. 1, Haz., p. 435, Bullenbroke, in his invocation, says, "Send up, I charge
you, from Sosetus lake The spirit Askalon to come to me."
CODEMIA
A town near the Dniester, or Tyras, alleged in Marlowe, Tamb.
B. i. 3, to have been subdued by Theridamas: "By the r. Tyras I subdued Stoka
[? Starakostaninow], Podolia, and C." It is probably Kodma, a small town in the
Polish province of Volhynia, just N. of Podolia, on a confluent of the Bug of
the same name.
CODPIECE ROW
A court in Westminster on the S. side of Petty France (q.v.), now York
St. It was notorious as a haunt of women of bad character, from which it doubtless
gained its name. In Middleton's Inner Temp. 173, Dr. Almanac says, "Stand forth,
Shrove Tuesday! 'Tis in your charge to pull down bawdy-houses: deface Turnbull
and tickle C. R." The reference is to the annual attack made by the prentices
on houses of ill-fame on Shrove Tuesday. In Brome's Covent
G. i. 1, Nicholas addresses the prostitute Damaris as "old Countess of C.
R."
COIMBRA
A city of Portugal 110 m. N. of Lisbon on the road to Oporto. It is the seat of
a university. In Stucley 2671,
the "Bish. of Cambra" is named in the list of those who were slain at the battle
of Alcazar.
COINTREE
See COVENTRY.
COKERMOWTHE
See COCKERMOUTH.
COLCHESTER
(the CAMALODUNUM of the Romans). An ancient town in Essex, on the Colne, 51 m.
N.E. of Lond. It had a special reputation for the excellence of its oysters. In
Jonson's Volpone ii. 1, Sir Politick
relates that Mass Stone, the fool, had "weekly intelligence" of foreign affairs
conveyed "sometimes In C. oysters and your Selsey cockles." In Massinger's New
Way iv. 1, Overreach asks Greedy, "Did you not devour this morning a shield
of brawn and a barrel of C. oysters?" Nash, in Lenten, mentions the "C. oystermen."
In J. Heywood's Weather, Farmer,
p. 99, Merry Report claims to have been, amongst many other places alliteratively
enumerated, "at Canterbury, at Coventry, at C." Dekker, in News from Hell, says
that the miles to Hell "are not half so long as those between C. and Ipswich in
England." C. is only abt. 15 m. from Ipswich. In Percy's Cuckqueans
(first performed in the Tarlton Inn in C.), the stage represents simultaneously
Harwich, C., and Maldon. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10, 58, says of K. Coyl (old K. Cole),
"He of his name Coyl-chester built of stone and lime." Drayton, in Polyolb. xix.
125, speaking of C., asks, "Think you our oysters here unworthy of your praise?"
Deloney, in Craft i. 5, tells how the Q. of Logria "was laid in prison in C. Castle."
COLCHOS
The dist. at the extreme E. end of the Black Sea: it is chiefly known through
the story of the Argonautic expedition, which set out under the leadership of
Jason to recover the fleece of the golden ram on which Phrixus had fled thither
from his father Athamas, K. of Thessaly. Jason got the fleece through the help
of Medea, the daughter of the K. Aeetes, and returned with it to Greece, having
married Medea. The legend is a very ancient one and was known to Homer. In Merch.
i. 1, 171, Bassanio says of Portia, "Her sunny locks Hang on her temples like
a golden fleece, Which makes her seat of Belmont C.' strand, And many Jasons come
in quest of her." Chaucer, in Leg. of Good Women 1368, tells the story of Medea:
"in an ile that called was C., beyond Troye, estwarde in the see, etc.," and mentions
the dragon and the "2 bolles maked al of bras, that spitten fire" who kept guard
over the fleece. In Marlowe's Tamb. A.
iv. 4, Tamburlaine promises his soldiers, "Damascus [shall be] spoils as rich
to you As was to Jason C.' golden fleece." In Chapman's Consp.
Byron iii. 1, Byron, hearing the predictions of the astrologer La Brosse,
exclaims: "The bulls of C. . . . could not have burnt my blood so." In Nero
iii. 3, Seneca cries: "O Rome, the Getes, the men of Colchis at thy sufferings
grieve": the men of C. standing for the most savage barbarians. In Greene's Orlando
v. 2, 1437, Orlando speaks of "That gallant Grecian keel That brought away the
Colchyan, fleece of gold." In Alimony iii. 6, the Ghost says, "Jason won much
at Colchis.'' In T. Heywood's B. Age
iii., Jason says, "Our next expedition Shall be for C. and the golden fleece."
In Day's Law Tricks ii. 1, Horatio
says, "Your hair is softer than the Colchian fleece." In May's Agrippina
ii. 33, Otho says, "Fire-breathing bulls did guard the Colchian fleece." W. Smith,
in Chloris (1596) xxxvii, speaks of the "Golden Fleece Which Jason stout from
C. island bore." Puttenham, Art of Poesie ii., says, "Charles V, Emperor, gave
for his new order the Golden Fleece, usurping it upon Prince Jason and his Argonauts'
rich spoil brought from C." In Philotus
162, the Lovers sing, "Was greater gladness in the land of Greece When Jason
came from C. home again?" C., as the home of Medea, was supposed to be fertile
in deadly poisons. In Nabbes' Hannibal
v. 3, Hannibal, having drunk a poison, says, "C. never yielded A juice more
baneful." Spenser, F. Q. v. 8, 47, speaks of "fell Medea, when on Colchicke strand
Her brothers' bones she scattered all about": he is thinking of her murder of
her brother Absyrtus, whose remains she mangled and left behind to check her father
in his pursuit of her and Jason.
COLD HARBOUR
or COLDHARBOROUGH: often spelt COLE HARBOUR (Ce. H. = Cole Harbour). Originally
a fine mansion in Upper Thames St., Lond., next door to Allhallows Ch., on the
site where the City of Lond. Brewery now stands. It is first mentioned in the
reign of Edward II. It became a little later the property of Sir John Poultney,
and was called Poultney's Inn. After passing through many hands it was pulled
down about 1570 by the Earl of Shrewsbury, and a number of small tenements was
built on the site. In some obscure way it had acquired the right of sanctuary.
In Middleton's Trick to Catch iii.
1, a plot is laid to abduct the Courtesan "by boat to Ce.-H., have a priest ready,
and there clap it up instantly." In iii. 3, Lucre, being told that "they have
took Ce.-H.," exclaims: "The devil's Sanctuary!" In his R.
G. iv. 2, Goswell, punning on the word, says, "I sweat; would I lay in C.
H.!" In his Black Book 1, 14, we find, "Is not our house our own Ce. H.?" i.e.
sanctuary. In Jonson's Epicoene ii. 3,
Morose, cursing his nephew, says, "It knighthood shall take sanctuary in Ce.-h.
and fast." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon
ii. 1, the Wise Woman, in a list of female quacks and fortune-tellers, says, "There's
another in Ce.h., that's skilled in the planets." T. Heywood and Rowley, in Fortune
iii. 1, say, "C. H., where, of 20 chimnies standing, you shall scarce, in
a whole winter, see 2 smoking." In Dekker's Westward
iv. 2, Justiniano says, "You swore you would build me a lodging by the Thames
side with a water gate to it, or else take me a lodging in Ce. H." In Middleton's
Quiet Life ii. 3, young Franklin
says, "Go, take water at Ce. H." In his Hubburd, p. 96, he says, "Shoreditch was
the only Ce. H. (i.e. sanctuary) for wenches and soldiers." Hall, in Satires
v. 1, 99, satirizes the man who let his "starved brother live and die Within the
cold Coal-h. sanctuary." Healy, in Disc. of New World, p. 182, says, "Here is
that ancient model of Coal H., bearing the name of the Prodigal's Promontory,
and being as a sanctuary for banque-rupt debtors."
COLDHARBOUR
See under TOWER.
COLEBROOK
In M.W.W. iv. 5, 80; Sir Hugh Evans
warns the host of the Garter: "There is 3 cozen-germans that has cozen'd all the
hosts of Readings, of Maidenhead, of C., of horses and money." He evidently means
Colnbrook, a vill. on the Colne, some 5 m. E. of Windsor. In Abington
i. 2, Coomes says, "Now do I stand like the George at C.": the landlord of which
was doubtless one of those who were cozen'd by Evans' Cozen-germans. In Middleton's
Quarrel iv. 4, Trimtram, as a sample of
"roaring," wishes that Meg "may be burnt to [? At] C. for destroying of Maidenhead."
The double pun on the names hardly needs elucidation. Deloney, in Craft ii. 11,
tells how the Green K. of St. Martin's, after staying the night at Brainford,
"told his friends he would bring his wife to see the George in C." He then made
them walk on to Bristol. C. is on the main road from Lond. to the W. Deloney,
in Reading, tells how the W. clothiers always dined at C. on their way to Lond.;
and how Cole of Reading was murdered by the innkeeper there, from which the river
Cole and the town got their name, which is, of course, mere nonsense.
COLEMANHEDGE
(or COLEMANHAWE). A garden on the S. side of Fenchurch St., Lond, near the Ch.
of St. Katharine Coleman (q.v.). In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Frescobaldi calls the leader of a gang of prostitutes "the grand Capt.
of Coleman-hedge."
COLEMAN STREET
A st. in Lond., running N. from the E. end of Gresham St. to Fore St. It probably got its name from the charcoal dealers who lived there. It was a haunt of Puritans, and the Star Inn in C. St. was a meeting-place for Oliver Cromwell and his friends. It was there that the 5 members (Pym, Hampden, etc.) took refuge when Charles I came to demand them from the H. of Commons (Jan. 1642).
In Jonson's Ev. Man I. iii. 2,
Brainworm speaks of "Justice Clement's house here in C. St." Cash later (iii.
2) specifies that it was "in the middle of C. St."; iii. 3, and v take place
there. In Prodigal ii. 4, Lancelot
is led to believe that Flowerdale has left him "2 housen furnished well in Cole-man
St" The Bell in C. St. was the inn used by the Cambridge carriers (Taylor's
Cosmographie 1637). In Middleton's Five
Gallants iii. 5, Pursenet tells of a wound he had received "in a paltry
fray in C. St." Cowley transformed his play, The
Guardian , into The Cutter of C. St., the scene of which is in Lond. in
the year 1658. In iv. 5, Tabitha says, "Brother Abednego, will you not pronounce
this evening-tide before the congregation of the Spotless in C.-st.?" Dekker,
in Seven Sins, tells how Lying "musters together all the hackney-men and horse-coursers
in and about Colman-st." Abingtonwas
"Imprinted at Lond. for Joseph Hunt and William Ferebrand, and are to be sold
at the corner of Colman St., near Laathburie. 1599."
COLESHILL
A town in Warwicksh., on the Cole, 7 m. E. of Birmingham. In T. Heywood's Ed IV. A. 43, Hobs, the tanner of Tamworth, says to the supposed highwayman, "I fear thee not, for I have wared ail my money in cowhides at C. mkt."
COLINA
See COLLINE GATE.
COLITENSIAN
See COLLYTUS.
COLLATIUM
(more properly COLLATIA). A city of Latium, 10 m. E. of Rome. It was subjected
to Rome by Tarquinius Priscus, and was the home of L. Tarquinius Collatinus, the
husband of Lucretia. Its site is probably marked by the ruins known as Castel
dell'Osa. It is mentioned in T. Heywood's Lucrece,
arg. 15, and ii. 4 and 50, as the scene of the rape of Lucrece.
COLLEN
See COLOGNE.
COLLICKE
(i.e. COLWICK). A vill. on the Trent, abt. 1 m. S.E. of Nottingham. In
Sampson's Vow iv. 2, 246, Mother
Prattle says of Ann, "Drowned we found her on the river side Nigh C. Ferry."
COLLINE GATE
(the PORTA COLLINA). The gate at the N.E. corner of the old Servian wall of Rome.
It stood at the point where the Via Salaria diverged from the Via Nomentina. The
place of burial of unfaithful vestals was in the Campus Sceleratus, just outside
the Porta Collina. In Richards' Messallina
v. 1, 2112, Vibidea speaks of the Vestal Virgins being "hurried in sad silence
unto The gate Colina. . . . there to be buried alive."
COLLUMPTON
(or CULLOMPTON). A vill. in Devonsh., 11 m. N.E. of Exeter. A lost play by Day and Haughton, produced in 1599, was entitled Cox of C., and was probably a story of domestic tragedy founded on fact.
COLLYTUS
A deme of Athens, lying between the Pnyx and the Museium: it was a fashionable
residential quarter. Timon the Misanthrope and Plato the Philosopher belonged
to it. In T. Heywood's Dialogues iv. 2249, Mercury describes Timon as "son to
Echicratides, in Collite born." In the old Timon
v. 5, Timon is described as "Timon, the son of Echeratides, the Colitensian."
COLMEKILL
(more fully ICOLMEKILL: that is, the island of the cell of Columb).
The island of Iona, one of the W. Hebrides, at the S.W. extremity of Mull. It
was the residence of St. Columba, who evangelized Scotland about the middle of
the 6th cent. It contains the ruins of St. Mary's Cathedral, 5 chapels, of which
the most ancient is St. Oran's, and a nunnery. In the burial-ground were the graves
of many of the old kings of Scotland. In Mac.
ii. 4, 33, Ross asks, "Where is Duncan's body?" And Macduff answers: "Carried
to C., The sacred storehouse of his predecessors, And guardian of their bones."
COLME'S INCH
(or INCHCOLM, i.e. the island of Columba). In the Firth of Forth, off the
coast of Fife, Scotland. It was once occupied by St. Columba (see above), and
contains the a ruins of an abbey dedicated to him. In Mac.
i. 2, 62, Ross relates that Sweno, the Norway's K., "disbursed, at St. C. L, 10,000
dollars to our general use." Colme must be pronounced as a dissyllable.
COLOGNE
(or KOLN). The ancient Colonia Agrippina, on the left bank of the Rhine, 390 m.
S.W. of Berlin. The magnificent cathedral, begun in 1248, was not finished until
1848. In it is the shrine of the 3 kings, or Wise Men of the E., and the chapel
of St. Ursula and her virgins. The Archbp. of C. was one of the 7 Electors of
the Holy Roman Empire; and in Chapman's Alphonsus,
"The Bp. of Collen" appears in that capacity. He was Conrad von Hochstaden. In
Barnavelt iv. 3, Sir John mentions
amongst his letters one from "the Archbp. of Cullen": it was probably concerned
with the closing of the Rhine by the Dutch, which seriously affected the commerce
of Cologne. The Bp. of Cullen is one of the characters in Hector. It was a famous
place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: the wife of Bath had been "at Coloigne"
(Chaucer, C.T.A. q. 66). In Gurton ii.
2, Diccon makes Dame Chat swear to keep his secret "by the 3 kings of Kullaine."
In Woodes' Conf. Cons. iii. 4., Hypocrisy speaks of 3 men as being "as honest
as the 3 Kings of C."; and in the same scene Cacon, the country parson, says,
"The service whilk on 12th Day mun be done Ay seek bay the mark of the 3 Kings
of C." The visit of the Kings was celebrated at Epiphany, the 12th day after Christmas
Day. Their names are traditionally Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.
COLOPHON
city in Ionia, on the Hales, near to the W. coast of Asia Minor, some 10 m. N. of Ephesus. It was one of the 7 cities that claimed to be the birthplace of Homer. In Lodge's Answer to Gosson, p. 11, he asks, "What made the Chians and Colophonians fall to such controversy? Why seek the Smirnians to recover from the Salarninians the praise of Homer?"
COLOPS
(probably COLOBA is meant). The capital of the Colobi, a tribe of the Troglodytes, who were supposed to have lived near Ras Benass on the W. coast of the Red Sea, on the boundaries of Egypt and Nubia. In Bacchus, the 7th guest was "one Simon Swil-kan: he came from C., a city in Africa, and presented to Bacchus a buttock of bacon."
COLOSSAE
A city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, 130 m. E. of Ephesus. The ch. there was founded by Epaphras; and an epistle was addressed to it by St. Paul during his 1st imprisonment at Rome about A.D. 63. In Gascoigne's Government ii. 1, Gnomaticus quotes from" the 3rd chapter to the Colossianes."
COLOSSUS
A gigantic statue, especially applied to a statue of Apollo at Rhodes, which was
said to have stood astride of the entrance to the harbour and to have been 70
cubits high. In H4 A. v. 1, 123,
Falstaff appeals to Prince Hal, "if thou see me down in the battle and bestride
me, so; 'tis a point of friendship." Hal replies, "Nothing but a C. can do thee
that friendship." In J.C. i. 2, 136, Cassius says of Caesar, "He doth bestride
the narrow world Like a C." In Troil.
v. 5, 9, Agamemnon describes Margarelon standing "c.-wise, waving his beam." Shirley,
in Mart. Soldier v., says, "The
mightiest kings of earth Carry Colossi heads." Dekker, in Match
me, iv. 202, says, "On kings' shoulders stand The heads of the Colossi of
the gods Above the reach of traitors." In Marston's What
you i. 1. Iacomo cries: "Ruin to Chance and all that strive to stand Like
swollen Colosses on her tottering base." In Glapthorne's Wallenstein
i. 1, the hero says, "So now methinks I stand Like a C. through whose spacious
arch Flows the vast sea of honour." In Nabbes' Hannibal
iv. 3, Hannibal says, "I will stand like a C. to be gazed at by all beneath
me." In Chapman's Chabot iv. 1, 17,
the K. speaks of Chabot as "a C. That could so lately straddle o'er a province."
Spencer, in Ruines of Rome ii., says, "The antique Rhodian will likewise set forth
The great Colosse."
COLTS, THREE
See THREE COLTS.
COLUMB, SAINT
A town in Cornwall, abt. 35 m. N.E. of Penzance. In Brome's Damoiselle ii. 1, Amphilus, showing the shoes of his dead mare, says, "She would have carried me on this little iron from Pensans to St. C. on a day."
COMAGENE
A dist. in N. Syria, between the Euphrates and the Arnanus and Taurus Ranges. It formed part of the Syrian kingdom of the Seleucids, but about the beginning of the 1st cent. B.C. it regained its independence and was governed by kings until its annexation to the Roman Empire in A.D. 17. In Antony iii. 6, 74, "Mithradates, K. of C.," is mentioned as one of the allies of Antony against Caesar.
COMBE PARK
See COOMBE HOUSE.
COMBERLAND
See CUMBERLAND.
COMERTON
Mater's charm for the worms in Thersites
(A.P. i. 218) opens, "The cowherd of C. with his crooked spade Cause from
thee the worms soon to vade." There is a C. in Cambridgesh., and there are 3 in
Worcestersh.: it is impossible to say which is meant here.
COMPOSTELLA
(more commonly called SANTIAGO). A city in N.W. Spain, abt. 300 m. N.W. of Madrid. Hither the body of the apostle James (Iago) was said to have been miraculously transported over the sea, and to have been discovered by a star which appeared over the place. It became one of the most famous shrines of the Middle Ages, and was visited by hosts of pilgrims (see s.v. JAMES, ST.). In T. Heywood's Dialogues i. 410, a man in danger of shipwreck vowed, if he were saved, "steps he'd tell To where St. James yet lives in Compostell." Burton, A.M. Intro., says, "In our days they run to C., our Lady of Sichem, or Lauretta, to seek for help."
CONCORD (TEMPLE OF)
One of the most famous temples of Rome. It stood at the N.W. corner of the Forum,
and was built in 367 B.C. to celebrate the union of the patricians and plebeians.
It was restored by Tiberius in A.D. 10. It was often used for meetings of the
Senate. In Jonson's Catiline, the
scene of v. 2 and 4, is laid in the T. of C., and in v. 6, on the receipt of the
news of Catiline's defeat, Cicero proposes to "withdraw into the house of C."
CONCORDIA
A legendary Temple of C. in Lond., at which Locrine intended to marry Estrild.
In Locrine v. 4, 81, Locrine says
to Estrild after their defeat, "Ne'er shall we view the fair C. Unless as captives
we be thither brought.''
CONDÉ
A town of France, near Valenciennes, at the junction of the Scheidt and the Haine,
139 m. N. of Paris. It gave their name to a branch of the House of Bourbon, Louis
de Bourbon (15301569) being the first to assume the title. His son Henry
was the Prince of C. in Marlowe's Massacre,
and cousin to Henry of Navarre.
CONDUIT
(pronounced Condit). The water-supply of Lond. was at first obtained from the Thames and the streams which ran into it from the N., and from the wells which were sunk successfully, as Stow tells us, "in every st. and lane of the city." The largest of the tributaries of the Thames was that which ran into the r. between Bridewell and the Blackfriars, and which was known first as the Wells river, then as Turnmill Brook, and finally as Fleet Ditch. It was bridged at the bottom of Fleet St. and at Holborn, and was navigable up to the Holborn Bdge. Above that point it was called the Old Bourne, the Hole Bourne, or the Hil-Bourne. It had become in Shakespeare's time a noisome open sewer, as described by Jonson in the Famous Voyage. It is now conveyed underground into the main sewer of the Embankment. Further W. was the Tye-bourne; and to the E. Walbrook and the Langbourne, both of which had been undergrounded by the beginning of the 17th cent. The principal wells were as follows: - Holy Well,
- Clement's Well,
- Clerken-well,
- Skinner's Well,
- Fagges Well, near Smithfield,
- Tod Well,
- Loder's Well,
- Radwell,
- Dame Annis le Clere,
- the Horse Pool in Smithfield, and
- the Pool by St. Giles' Ch.
The water from these various sources was conveyed to the houses by water-carriers,
one of whom is sketched by Jonson in Ev.
Man I. in the person of Oliver Cob. During the 14th cent. the practice became
common of erecting conduits, or fountains, in the principal sts. to which the
waters from the sources to the N. of the City were conveyed in leaden pipes, and
so made available for the use of the citizens. The 1st and most famous of these
was the Great C. at the E. end of Cheapside (1285), to which the water was brought
from the Tye Bourne, in Paddington. The convenience was appreciated and, partly
by private benefactions, partly by the city authorities, many similar cs. were
set up. Amongst them were
- the Standard in Cheapside (13th cent.),
- the Tun in Cornhill (1401),
- the Little C. (or Pissing C.) at the W. end of Cheapside (1442),
- the Standard in Fleet St., which was adorned with the image of St. Christopher and surmounted by angels who chimed the hours on bells (1471),
- cs. in Aldermanbury (1471),
- Grace St. (1491),
- Holborn Cross (1498), repaired and adorned by William Lambe (1577),
- Stock's Market (1500),
- Bishopsgate (1513),
- Lond. Wall (1528),
- Aldgate Without (1535),
- Lothbury (1546),
- Coleman St. (1546), and
- Dowgate (1568).
There were also bosses, or fountains, projecting from the wall, in - Billingsgate,
- Paul's Wharf, and
- St. Giles without Cripplegate.
These cs. were often adorned with sculptured figures, and formed striking architectural features in the sts.; and when pageants traversed the City they were utilized for the exhibition of masques, and on great occasions were made to flow with claret instead of water. The water was mostly brought from reservoirs constructed at Highbury, Pentonville, Bayswater (i.e. Baynard's Watering), and other N. suburbs, and these c.-heads became favourite summer evening resorts. An important development took place in 1582, when Peter Moris, a Dutchman, set up a force-pump, worked by horse-power, near Lond. Bdge., to pump Thames water into the houses of the City: other forciers, as they were called, were soon erected, and with the extension of this system of private supply the cs. became less necessary; so that when they were destroyed in the Gt. Fire they were not re-erected, and a very characteristic feature of Elizabethan Lond. disappeared. But in those days the sound of running water must have formed as delightful an accompaniment to the open-air life of the City as it does in Rome to-day. In the dramatists the cs. are often specifically mentioned; and figures drawn from the pipes that brought water to them, and the statues that adorned them, are of frequent occurrence.
In Shakespeare's Err. v. 1, 313,
old AEgeus speaks of the "cs. of his blood" being frozen up by age. In Cor.
ii. 3, 250, Brutus recalls the names of Publius and Quintus Marcius, "That our
best water brought by cs. hither." Brutus speaks prophetically, for the Aqua
Marcia at Rome only dates from 144 B.C., but the allusion would be congenial
to the Londoners, who would think of men like William Lambe, who magnificently
repaired the c. in Holborn, which bore his name, and Barnard Randulph, who had
quite recently (1583) made the munificent gift of £900 for the City cs. In Lucr.
1234, Lucretia's weeping maidens are compared to "Ivory cs. coral cisterns filling."
In W.T. v. 2, 60, the old shepherd
stands by, weeping for joy "like a weather-bitten c. of many kings' reigns."
In Tit. ii. 4, 30, Marcus compares
the wounded body of Lavinia to "a c. with 3 issuing spouts." In Rom.
iii. 5, 129, Capulet, finding Juliet weeping, exclaims, "How now? a c., girl?
What, still in tears?" In A.Y.L.
iv. 1, 155, when Rosalind says "I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain,"
there is probably an allusion to the figure of Diana, with water trilling from
its breasts, which was set up on the Cheapside Cross in the place of the image
of the Virgin Mary in 1596, but was decayed in 1603: if so, it is decisive as
to the date of the production of the play, which on other grounds appears to
be about 1600. In More ii. 1, Robin
says to his fellow prentice, "The head drawer at the Miter by the great C. called
me up and we went to breakfast into St. Anne's Lane." This is the Mitre Tavern,
at the corner of Bread St. and Cheapside (see MITRE). In Mayne's Match
ii. 6, Timothy professes to have made some speeches "which have been spoke
by a green Robin Goodfellow from Cheapside C." The allusion is to the practice
of having complimentary orations, or verses, spoken at the Great C. on the occasion
of pageants and processions. The name "Pissing C." seems to have been applied
to more than one of the smaller cs. Stow definitely states that the c. by the
Stocks mkt., which was at the N. end of Walbrook, near the present Mansion House,
was so called. The name seems to have been suggested by the slenderness of the
stream of water. But when, in H6
B. iv. 6, 3, Cade commands that "the pissing c. run no thing but claret
wine this 1st year of our reign," it is more likely that he is thinking of the
Little C. at the W. end of Cheapside. Similarly, in Middleton's Chaste
Maid, Allwit, whose house is in Cheapside, says to the gossips, "Come along
presently by the Pissing-C." (iii. 2): where the Cheapside c. seems the one
intended. The word, however, is generic rather than specific in some passages.
Thus, in Haughton's Englishmen iv.
1, Frisco, wandering about Fenchurch St. in the night with Delion and Alvaro,
says, "Now for a dirty puddle, the pissing c., or a great post, that might turn
these 2 from asses to oxen by knocking their horns to their foreheads." In B.&F.
Mad Lover ii. 1, Memnon is giving
directions to Chilar for a pageant. "Make me," he says, "a heaven, for here
shall run a constellation." "And there," interjects Chilar, "a pissing c . .
. . with wine, Sir." In Nash's Wilton A. 4, the hero says, "I have wept so immoderately
that I thought my palate had been turned to Pissing C. in Lond." In Nice
Wanton iii. 1, Thirsty says, "Your miserable churl dribbles like the Pissing
C." In Dekker's Shoemaker's iv.
5, Firk says, "[I am as sure of it as I am sure] that the Pissing C. leaks nothing
but pure Mother Bunch." Mother Bunch was a tavern-keeper whose ale was of the
weakest: hence pure Mother Bunch means "nothing but water." In B. & F. Women
Pleased i. 2, Penurio, when his miserly master gives him for his dinner
the water he has boiled an egg in, says, "I shall turn pissing-c. shortly."
In Nabbes' Totenham iii. 5, George
having hidden in a tub, one of the maids pours a bucket of water over him, and
cries: "Mischief on you, Sir; you have spoiled me a pail of c.water, cost me
many a weary step the fetching." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon
v. 1, Charley says he can be found "at Grace Ch. by the C." Stow says there
was a c. in Grasstreet erected in 1491. In Ovatio Carolina (1641), we are told
that on the entry of the K. into Lond. "the c. in Cornhill and the great c.
in Cheapside ran with claret wine"; and in the afternoon "the little c. in Cheapside
and the c. in Fleet St. ran with wine as the other 2 cs. had done in the morning."
In Massinger's Madam iv. 1, Hoist
predicts that on Luke's return "all the cs. [will be] spouting canary sack."
The names of benefactors to the City appear to have been inscribed on the cs.
In Eastward iv. 4, Touchstone predicts
that Gresham and Whittington shall be forgotten, and Golding's name "shall be
written upon cs." The cs. were great gathering places for the prentices who
came to get water for then masters' households, and all the gossip of the town
was retailed there. In Dekker's Shoemaker's
v. 1, Eyre says, "I promised the mad Cappadocians [his fellow rentices]
when we all served at the C. together, that if ever I came to be Mayor of Lond.
I would feast them all." In Massinger's Parl.
Love iv. 5, Chamont says to Perigot, "Live to be the talk of the c. and
the bakehouse." In Trouble. Reign
ii., we have c. as a verb: "My eyes should c. forth a sea of tears." In
Nash's Summers', Haz. viii. 83, Christmas complains of the extortionate rates
of the water-carriers "These water-bearers will empty the c. and a man's coffers
at once." In Glapthorne's Hollander
iv. 1, Sconce says, "This cup was as deep as Fleet-st. C." In Jonson's
Ev. Man I. i. 2, Knowell says to
Stephen, "A gentleman of your sort to talk o' your turn i' this company, and
to me alone, like a tankard-bearer at a c.! Fie!" Of course, the tankard-bearer
had to take his turn at the c., but Stephen is such a wit that he can speak
when he likes. In Nabbes' Bride i.
2, Theophilus says that the cook's taunts "Will be the sts.' discourse, the
cs.' lecture." Woodes' Conf. Cons. was "Printed by Richard Bradocke dwelling
in Aldermanbury, a little above the Conduict. 1581." Three
Ladies was "Printed by Roger Warde dwelling near Holburne C. at the signe
of the Talbot." In Marston's Courtezan
ii. 1, Cocledemoy mentions "the C. at Greenwich, and the under-holes that spouts
up water." This c. was in Greenwich Park, and was still in existence in 1835.
Phillip's Grissil was "Imprinted at Lond. in Fleetestreat beneath the C. by
Thomas Colwell."
CONEY STREET
One of the principal sts. in York, running parallel to the Ouse, past the Guildhall and St. Michael's Ch. In Taylor, Works ii. 14, he tells how he sold his boat "to honest Mr. Kayes in Canny St."
CONGO
A dist. on the W. coast of Africa, between Loango and Angola. In Milton, P. L. xi. 401, Adam is shown "the realm Of C. and Angola farthest S."
CONNAUGHT
The most W. of the 4 provinces of Ireland. In Jonson's Irish, Dennis, one of the footmen, says, "We be Irishman . . . of Connough, Leymster, Ulster, Munster."
CONSTANTINOPLE
The capital of the Ottoman Empire, on the European side of the Sea of Marmora,
at its junction with the Bosphorus. It was founded by Constantine the Gt. on the
site of the ancient Byzantium A.D. 328, and was the capital of the Roman Empire
of the East until 1453, when it was besieged and taken by the Sultan Mohammed
II. Since then it has remained the capital of the Turkish Empire. In H5
v. 2, 222, Henry says to Katharine, "Shall not thou and I compound a boy
. . . that shall go to C. and take the Turk by the beard?" In Greene's Alphonsus
iii. 2, 846, Amurack sends Bajazet to bid his vassals "To come and wait on Amurack
their k. At his chief city C." This is historically inaccurate, as C. was not
taken by the Turks till 1453 and Amurack died in 1389. In Kyd's Solyman v., Basilisco
informs us: "The Great Turk whose seat Is C. hath beleaguered Rhodes." In Marlowe's
Tamb A. iii. 1, Bajazeth reports that
Tamburlaine "thinks to rouse us from our dreadful siege Of the famous Grecian
C." Bajazeth did not besiege C.: Marlowe is probably thinking of the siege by
Amurath in 1422, which was not successful. In Massinger's Renegado
iii. 5, Asambeg, viceroy of Tunis, sends "a well-manned galley for C.," to take
the news of his niece's apostasy to Amurath, i.e. Murad III. In B. & F.
Double Mar.i. 1, Virolet thinks that
the sufferings of Naples are so great "As that fair city that received her name
From Constantine the Gt., now in the power Of barbarous infidels, may forget her
own To look with pity on our miseries." In their Malta
v. 2, Colonna, who had been taken by the Turkish gallies, says he has since
lived "in C." In Nabbes' Totenham iv.
7, Stitchwell says, "I will beget a race of warriors shall cage thy great Turkship
again, and restore C. to the Emperor."
C. was invested with the glamour of the East, and, in spite of the length
and danger of the journey, was not infrequently visited by English travellers
and merchants. In T. Heywood's Maid
of West A. ii. 1, Roughman boasts, "There shall be doings that shall make
this Windmill my grand seat, my mansion, my palace, and my C." In Marlowe's
Faustus ix., Mephistopheles complains,
"From C. am I hither come Only for pleasure of these damned slaves." To which
Robin coolly responds: "You have had a great journey." Hycke,
p.88, has been "at Rhodes, Constantyne, and in Babylonde." In Jonson's Cole
ii. 1, Valentine has seen C. in the course of his travels. In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. 295, one of the Lords says, "I have been in Turkies great C.; the merchants
there meet in a goodly temple, but have no common Burse." Nash, in Pierce B.
2, describes the traveller who "will despise the barbarism of his own country,
and tell a whole legend of lies of his travels unto C." There was a chance of
making great profits at C., but the journey was dangerous, and it was a common
practice to insure one's safe return by putting down a sum of money, to be paid
back fivefold when the insurer came back; otherwise, the person accepting the
insurance premium kept the money. In Jonson's Epicoene
ii. 4, Morose, in contemplation of his nephew's ruin, says, "It shall not have
hope to repair itself by C., Ireland, or Virginia." In his Ev.
Man O. ii. 1, Puntarvolo, setting out on his travels, is determined "to
put forth some 5000 pound, to be paid me 5 for 1 upon the return of myself,
my wife, and my dog from the Turk's court in C." In Fynes Moryson's Itin. (1595)
i. 3, 198, he tells how his brother Henrie "was then beginning that voyage [i.e.
to C. and Jerusalem], having to that purpose put out some £400, to be repaid
£1200 upon his return from those 2 cities." Cf. Shakespeare's Temp.
iii. 3, 48, where Gonzalo speaks of the travellers' tales "which now we find
Each putter-out of 5 for 1 will bring us Good warrant of." Obviously we should
read "1 for 5." The scene of Massinger's Emperor
is laid in C. during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger.
CONTINENT
is used
- (1) for the bank of a river. In M.N.D.
ii. 1, 92, Titania says that the rivers have "overborne their cs." In H4
A. iii. 1, 110, Mortimer speaks of the Trent by its winding "Gelding the
opposing c."
- (2) For the solid land as opposed to the sea. In H4
B. iii. 1, 47, the K. remarks that the revolution of the times makes "the
c., Weary of solid firmness, melt itself Into the sea." In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. i. 1, Orcanes speaks of having "with the cannon shook Vienna walls
And made it dance upon the c."
- (3) For the sun. In Tw.N. v.
1, 278, Viola speaks of "that orbed c., the fire That severs day from night."
The use of the word for one of the 4 great divisions of the world is found early
in the 17th cent.: the 1st example of it, in the special sense of the C. of Europe,
apart from the British Isles, is quoted in O.E.D. from R. Johnson's Kingdom and
Commonwealth (1601). In B.&F. Malta
v. 2, Valetta banishes Mountferrat from Malta "to the c.," i.e. the
c. or mainland of Europe; but there is another reading, "We banish you the c.,"
i.e. from the boundaries of Malta, which I think is more likely to be right.
CONYTUS
(a misprint for COCYTUS, q.v.). In Nash's Pierce (1592) A. 4, the devil is addressed as "Marquesse of C."
COOMBE HOUSE (or COOMBE PARK)
The ancient seat of the Nevilles of Warwick. .It was in Surrey, abt. 1 m. from
Kingston-on-Thames. The H. has disappeared. The Park was the scene of many highway
robberies. Fleming, in English Dogs (1576), tells of a man who was robbed on his
way to Kingston in "Come P.; a perilous bottom, compassed about with woods, too
well known for the manifold murders and mischievous robberies there committed."
In W. Rowley's Match Mid. i. 2, Capt.
Carvegut and Lieut. Bottom spur "towards Coomb-h." in order to waylay and rob
Randall in C. P., or, as the Capt. nicknames it, "Coxcomb p." The scene of a large
part of Middleton's Five Gallants
is laid in C. P. In ii. 2, Tailby rides to Kingston to see his mistress, and is
robbed in C. P. In S. Rowley's When You
E. 3, one of the prisoners in the Counter tells the disguised K., "I got some
hundred pound by a crooked measure at Coome-P." In Middleton's Black Book 37,
the Devil says to Gregory, the highwayman, "I make thee keeper of Combe P., sergeant
of Salisbury Plain."
COPPERSMITHS' HALL
There was no company of Coppersmiths in Lond., nor was there any such Hall. The
phrase is coined from the analogy of Goldsmiths' H.; and is used humorously for
a tavern, where the topers' noses became copper-coloured through their drinking.
In Greene & Lodge's Looking Glass i.
3, 202, the Clown says, "His nose . . . was so set with rubies that after his
death it should have been nailed up in C. H. for a monument." In Greene's Friar
ii. 2, 537 Edward asks, "Where is Brasen-nose College?" And Miles answers: "Not
far from Coppersmithes H." Nash, in Prognostication ii. 165, speaks of drunkards
as "knights of Coppersmith"; and Middleton, in Black Book prol., calls them "copper
captains."
COPTHALL
Two blocks of houses in Lond.: (1) on the W. side of Dowgate Hill, (q.v.)
now the Hall of the Skinners' Company; (2) in an alley running N out of Throckmorton
St. (q.v.), close to Drapers' Hall. In Brome's Sparagus
iii. 10 a gentleman, who is being dunned for his bill by the keeper of the
Garden, says to the servant, "Tell your mistress that the Countess of Copt Hall
is coming to be her neighbour again and she may decline her trade very dangerously."
CORCE
See CORSICA.
CORCYRA
(now CORFU). The largest of the Ionian Islands, off the coast of Epirus in the
Ionian Sea. In Richards' Messallina iii.
1, 1274, Annaeus Mela, after referring to his brother Seneca's banishment, says
to his soul, "Fly to the island of C., there Learn the soul's comfort, sweet Philosophy."
It is evidently a mistake for Corsica, where Seneca lived for 8 years (A.D. 4149).
Later on he calls it "the Ile of Corce," and says it is "on the Tyrhen shore."
CORDOVA
(CORDOBA or CORDUBA). The capital of the Province of. C., in S. Spain, on the
N. bank of the Guadalquiver, 180 m. S.W. of Madrid. It was a Roman Colonia, founded
in 152 B.C.: the poet Lucan and the philosopher Seneca were born there. Martial,
Epig. i. 62, 8, says, "Duosque Seneca's unicumque Lucanum facunda loquitur
Cordoba." The Moors held it from A.D. 756 to 1234, when it was taken by Ferdinand
of Castile. The cathedral was originally a Moorish mosque, the roof of which was
supported by a grove of over 1000 costly pillars, some 850 of which still remain.
The city was famous for its silver filagree-work and for its goat skin leather,
which was a favourite material for shoes in the Middle Ages. When the Moors were
expelled from Spain they transferred the leather industry to Morocco. The forms
cordwain (ie. leather) and cordwainer (i.e. shoemaker) appear in English
from the 11th cent. onward. Towards the end of the 16th cent. we get the form
Cordovan, or Cordovant, taken directly from the Spanish. Chaucer's Sir Thopas
(G. T. B. 1922) had "his shoon of cordewane." In the Coventry M. P. 241, we read
of "a goodly peyre of long pekyd schon off ffyne cordewan." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
i. 1, Eyre, being asked by the Lord Mayor, "Are all these shoemakers?" replies:
"All cordwainers, my good Lord Mayor." In Spenser's F.Q. vi. 2, 6, Tristram wears
"buskins of costliest cordwayne." In B.& F. Shepherdess
i. 1, Clorin describes a shepherd-boy with "hanging scrip of finest cordevan."
In their Subject iv. 7, the Ancient
apostrophizes a Russian gentleman as "You musk-cat, Cordevan-skin" alluding to
the strong smell of Cordevan leather. In Davenant's Love
Hon. iv. 1, Altesto says, "I kiss your soft hands. Noble Sir, keep on your
cordevan; I swear your glove is a preferment 'bove the merit of my lips" where
cordevan means glove. In Jonson's Magnetic
iii. 3, Compass says that Ironside "is but a carrier's son, And has not two
old Cn. skins to leave In leather caps to mourn him in." In B. & F. Maid
in Mill v. 2, Gillian tells how "nurse Amaranta In a remove from Mora to
C. Was seized on by a fierce and hungry bear." In Middleton's Gipsy
ii. 1, Alvarez says, "If one city cannot maintain us, away to another! Valladoly
is open; so C., so Toledo." Hall, in Virgidemiarium i. 3, refers to Seneca as
"the famous Corduban." In Middleton's Chess
v. 3, Mahomet Mir Almir is spoken of as "old Cordoba, K. of Morocco." The scenes
of B. & F. Span. Cur. and of Davenant's
Distresses are laid at C. A Don Hugo
de C. is mentioned in Webster's Weakest
v. i. Dekker's Match me opens in
C.
CORINTH
The Greek city on the isthmus of C., between the Peloponnesus and the mainland
of Greece. It was allied with Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian war.
Politically it rivalled Athens and Sparta, and its colonies, especially Corcyra
and Syracuse, added to its importance. C. became the capital of the Achaean League,
and was taken and completely destroyed by L. Mummius, the Roman general, 146 B.C.
It lay in ruins for a cent., and then Julius Caesar refounded it as a Roman Colonia.
The visits and epistles of St. Paul gave it a prominent place in the early history
of the Christian Ch. The modern town, Gortho, is small and unimportant, but it
has given its name to the currant, one of its principal exports. In Massinger's
Bondman, the background of the play
is the war between the Syracusans and the Carthaginians in the 4th cent. B.C.,
and Timoleon of C. is one of the chief characters. Corinth is the scene of B.&
F. Corinth, but there is nothing
historical about the play, and its period is quite indeterminate. The authors
go so far as to speak of the exposure of traitors' heads on "the poles on C. bdge."
just as if it was Lond., but in iii. 2, Euphanes quite properly says, "There are
2 seas in C." In Massinger's Believe
ii. 1, Chrysalus tells Flaminius that after the Achaean war he and Antiochus "sailed
to C., thence to India." In Nero
i. 3, "C., proud of her 2 seas," is mentioned as one of the Greek cities that
has been fascinated by the Emperor's literary and musical accomplishments. In
Ford's Lover's Melan. ii. 1, Rhetias tells how Eroclea "was conveyed like a ship-boy
from the country where she lived into C. first, afterwards to Athens." In Err.
i. 1, AEgeus relates how, after his shipwreck, his wife and son were picked up
from a floating mast by "Fishermen of C."; and in v. 1, 351, the Abbess supplements
his story by explaining that they were at first picked up by a ship of Epidamnus,
but that her son and his slave, the Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus, were taken
from it by "rude fishermen of C.," she herself being left behind. In Glapthorne's
Argalus iii. 4, Parthenia, infected
with leprosy, was cured "by the Q. of C."; but this all belongs to the fairyland
of Arcadia. In Brewer's Lovesick King
i., Canute says of his lady, "Fair Phaedra, who in C. once was found, Compared
to her, as different would they show As sable ebony to Alpine snow." The mythological
Phaedra had nothing to do with C.: possibly Brewer was thinking of Phryne of Athens,
the rival in beauty of Lais of C. In Brome's Lovesick
Ct , iii. 1, Geron says, "My business is the same that whilom drew Demosthenes
to C., some repentance." Of St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians, Bale, in God's
Promises , Epil., says, "St. Paul doth write unto the Cians. plain."
C., from its situation on the Isthmus, was a very important mercantile city;
and the great wealth so gained the people spent in objects of art and luxury.
The Cian. Order bears witness to their initiative in architecture; Cian. bronze
to their skill in metal-work; and their ivory and plate were famous throughout
the ancient world. In Webster's White
Devil i. 2, Flamineo ridicules the idea of calling Vittoria's brow "The
snow of Ida or ivory of C." In Davenport's Matilda
v. 3, the K. demands, "Cian. ivory, her sweet shape to raise," after the
death of Matilda. In Nabbes' Hannibal
i. 1, Maharball says, "Boys serve the banquet up In golden dishes or Cian.
plate." Spenser, in Ruines of Rome xxix., speaks of "C skilled in curious works
to grave." In Jonson's Catiline
i. 1, Catiline, inveighing against the luxury of the Roman nobles, says, "They
buy Ephesian pictures and Cian. plate." In Massinger's Renegado
i. 3, Vitelli says, "Cian. plate, studded with diamonds Concealed oft deadly
poison." So, in his Actor i. 3,
Paris, in defence of his profession, urges: "We show no arts of Lydian panderism,
Cian. poisons, Persian flatteries." Possibly these references to poison are
due to the story of Medea, Q. of C., killing Jason's bride, Creusa, by sending
her a poisoned robe and diadem as a wedding-present.
C. had a great reputation for the beauty and profligacy of its courtesans,
the most famous of whom was Lais, whose tomb is still to be seen near the city,
and who received after her death honours almost divine. Their charges were in
proportion to their beauty, and were often the cause of the ruin of merchants
who came there and were ensnared by their charms: hence the proverb quoted by
Horace (Epp. i. 17, 36): "Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum."
In Nero iv. 7, Petronius says
that in Elysium "Every man his own desires enjoys; Nor us, though Roman, Lais
will refuse; To C. any man may go," i.e. in the future life there will
be no difficulty in any man attaining his desires. In Mason's Mulleasses
1866, Timoclea, offering herself to Mulleasses, says, "Kings shall not come
to C., where thou mayest" In Massinger's Great
Duke iii. 1, Sanazarro refers to "the cold Cynic whom Cian. Lais (not moved
with her lust's blandishments) called a stone." This was Diogenes of Sinope,
whose tomb, by a singular freak of Fate, is close to that of Lais. In T. Heywood's
Captives i. 1, Raphael asks,
"Because we read one Lais was unchaste Are all Can. ladies courtesans?" In Daniel's
Arcadia, one of the characters
is "Techne, a subtle wench of C." In Massinger's Believe
iv. 2, Sempronius says of the Courtesan, "Her mother sold her To a Cian. letcher
at 13." In Tim. ii. 2, 73, the
Fool says to the servants, "Would we could see you at C.!" i.e. in a
house of ill fame. Cian. was used, with a double reference to the licentiousness
of the city and the brass for which it was famous, in the sense of a brazen
profligate. In H4 A. ii. 4,
13, Prince Hal says, "They will tell me flatly, I am not a proud Jack, like
Falstaff, but a Cian., a lad of mettle." It must be remembered that mettle and
metal are the same word, and the 2 were not differentiated either in spelling
or pronunciation in the 16th cent. In Bacchus, the 6th of the topers was "One
Francis Franckfellow, a Cian. In the coasts of Achaia; with him he brought a
box of oil."
CORIOLI
An ancient town of Latium which fell into the hands of the Volscians, and was taken from them by
the Romans 493 B.C. under the leadership of Caius Marcius, who received for his valour on that occasion the
name of Coriolanus. After his expulsion from Rome he recaptured the town for the Volscians. The whole story is
unhistorical. The site of the town is uncertain. Pliny says that it had entirely disappeared in his time. It was evidently not far from Antium: the most probable site is Monte Glove, 19 m. from Rome, on the rd. to Antium. Others place it at Osteria Vecchia, some 4 m. further S. It is mentioned several times in Coriolanus.
CORK
A city in Ireland, near the mouth of the Lee, 166 m. S.W. of Dublin. John a Water,
Mayor of C., is one of the characters in Ford's Warbeck.
Warbeck landed in C. in 1492 and gained a great deal of support from the Irish.
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11, 44, says, "The spreading Lee that, like an island fair,
Encloseth Ce. with his divided flood."
CORNHILL
A st. in Lond., running E. from the end of the Poultry past the Royal Exchange
to Leadenhall St. It was originally the Corn Market for Lond., and in 1310 had
the privilege granted of holding a market after noon, all the other markets being
closed at noon. Later it came to be mainly occupied by drapers. In C. were a stocks
and pillory, a prison called the Tun, a conduit, and a standard erected in 1582
to supply water pumped up from the Thames. In Piers C. vi. 1, the author says,
"Ich wonede on Cornehulle, Kytte and Ich in a cote, clothed as a lollere." Lydgate,
in Lickpenny, says, "Then into Corn-hyl anon I yode, Where was much stolen gere
amonge; I saw where honge myne owen hoode, That I had lost amonge the thronge."
In Fair Women ii. 278, Roger tells
how he followed Sanders from his own door to C., where he stayed an hour and then
went directly to the Burse. In More ii.
3, the Lord Mayor commands, "Gather some forces to C. and Cheapside" to quell
the riot of the prentices. In Haughton's Englishmen
iv. 2, Frisco explains, "when we came from Bucklersbury into C. you should
have turned down on your left hand." And Pisaro exclaims, "You ass! You dolt!
why led you him through C.? Your way had been to come through Canning St." In
Jonson's Devil iii. 1, Meercraft
exhorts Gilthead to buy his son a capt.'s place, "and let him with his plume and
scarfs march through Cheapside or along C." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
ii. 1, we learn that Sybil, the maid of the Lord Mayor's daughter, watched Lacy
pass in his scarf and feathers "at our door in C.": where evidently the Lord Mayor
lived. In the same play (v. 5), the K. says to Simon Eyre, "that new building
Which at thy cost in C. is erected Shall take a name from us; we'll have it called
The Leadenhall, because in digging it You found the lead that covereth the same."
The Leadenhall, which was built by Eyre on the site of an old mansion belonging
to Sir Hugh Neville and presented by him to the City as a storehouse and market
for grain, was not actually in Cornhill, but on the E. side of Gracechurch St.,
near the corner of Fenchurch St. (see LEADENHALL; for reference to C. in W. Rowley's
Match Mid., see under CATEATON ST.).
In the list of taverns in News Barthol. Fair, we find "the Mermaid in C." This
is not the famous Mermaid Tavern, which was at the corner of Bread St., in Cheapside.
In Three Lords (Dods., vi. 397),
Simplicity says of Tarlton, the actor, that in his youth he was a water-bearer,
"and hath tossed a tankard in C. ere now." In W. Rowley's Wonder
iii. 1, Mrs. Foster says, "It is my gossip, the rich widow of C." Ford's Heart
was "Printed by J. E. for Hugh Beeston and are to be sold at his shop near
the Castle in Corn-hill. 1633." Gresham's Royal Exchange was built in C. In T.
Heywood's I.K.M. B. 289, Ramsie says
to Gresham, "We have determined of a place for you In C., the delightful of this
city, Where you shall raise your frame." In his F.M.
Exch. 38, Anthony says, "In C. by the Exchange Dwells an old merchant, Flower
they call his name." Sidney, in Remedy for Love, speaks of "C.'s square Exchange."
CORNUBIA
(i.e. CORNWALL, q.v.). In Locrine
v. prol. 12, we are told that Guendoline "Flies to the dukedom of C."
CORNWALL
(Ch. = Cornish). A county in the S.W. of England. It remained a Celtic kingdom
under its own chiefs long after the rest of Britain had been conquered by the
Angles and Saxons. It was not until the 10th cent. that it came completely under
English rule. William I conferred the Earldom of C. on his half-brother, Robert
of Mortain, and the earldom remained an apanage of the Crown through the Norman
and Plantagenet periods. In 1336 it was made a duchy and conferred on the Black
Prince; and since then the Prince of Wales has always been D. of C. The old Celtic
language lingered till the 18th cent., but is now extinct. Fortunately, a set
of Mystery Plays in Cornish has been preserved and made accessible to students.
Tin-mining was carried on in C. at a very early period, and the Phoenicians traded
in Ch. tin and gave the name of Cassiterides (Tin-islands) to C. and Devon. The
coppermines were not worked to any purpose till the close of the 17th cent. In
our period the Ch. were nicknamed "Choughs," from the Fregillus Graculus,
a bird with red bill and legs, common on the coast of the county. They were famous
as wrestlers, and the Ch. hug was a hold from which it was not at all easy to
escape without a fall. The husband of Regan, in Lear,
is the D. of C.: his name, according to Holinshed, was Henninus. There is also
a D. of C. in the old Leir, but he is the husband of Goneril. In Hughes' Misfort.
Arth ., the scene of Arthur's last battle and death is fixed near the Camel
in C. In Locrine i. 1, 135, Corineus
says that, as a reward for fighting Gogmagog, "brave C. I received." Spencer,
F. Q. ii. 10, 12, says; "Corineus had that province utmost west . . . Which of
his name and memorable gest He called Cornwaile": an entirely fanciful derivation.
C. is really the horn-shaped country. In Fisher's Fuimus
iv. 4, Cassibelanus says, "The Ch. band made havoc of their [ie. the Roman]
ranks." The Earl of C. is one of the principal characters in K.K.Knave; the time
being the reign of Edgar the Peaceable. So in the old English courts in Nobody,
and Dekker's Fortunatus, we find
a Lord of C. Richd. Earl of C., the younger brother of Henry III, was elected
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1257, though the Electors afterwards changed
their minds and chose Alfonso of Castile. Chapman's Alphonsus
deals with the dispute between these rival claimants, and Richd. of C. is one
of the characters in the play. In Marlowe's Ed.II
i. 1, the K. creates Gaveston "Earl of C., k. and lord of Man." In Trouble.
Reign, p. 300, the oath sworn by the English lords is "to Lewis of France,
as true and rightful k. to England, C., and Wales:' In Ford's Warbeck
iv. 5, the scene is laid on the coast of C., where Warbeck landed to raise the
district in his favour. In World Child
, Haz. 1, 251, Manhood claims "Calais, Kent, and C. have I conquered clean."
The reference would seem to be to the English conquest of Kent and C., or to the
suppression of rebellions in those counties.
In H5 iv. 1, 50, the disguised
K. gives his name to Pistol as "Harry le Roy "; and Pistol replies: "Le Roy!
A Ch. name; art thou of Ch. crew?" In Brome's Northern
v. 8, when Squelch, disguised as a Spaniard, pretends not to understand English,
Nonsense says, "I will spout some Ch. at him: Peden bras vidne whee his cregas."
Boorde, in Intro. of Knowledge (1542) i., gives a number of Ch. sentences and
phrases. The Cornish Mystery Plays, edited by Mr. E. Norris, with a translation,
probably date from the 14th cent., and were acted in the "rounds," or amphitheatres,
which may still be seen. In Jonson's Alchemist
ii. 1, Mammon, thinking that he is going to get the philosopher's stone, says,
"I'll purchase Devonshire and C. And make them perfect Indies," i.e.
by transmuting the tin and copper to gold. Quartz crystals found in the mines
were used as gems, and were called Ch. diamonds. In Middleton's Quarrel
ii. 2. Chough says of himself and his servant, "We are right Ch. Diamonds."
And Trim adds:""Yes, we cut our quarrels [i.e. panes of glass]
and break glasses where we go." In Jonson's Devil
iii. 1, Meercraft says to Gilthead, "You have there now Some Bristol stone or
Ch. counterfeit You'd put upon us." In Nash's Lenten, p. 300, he says, "It pities
me that in cutting of so fair a diamond as Yarmouth I have not a casket of dusky
Ch. diamonds by me, the better to set it forth." In his Somewhat to Read (1591),
he says, "'Tis as good to go in cut-fingered pumps as cork shoes, if one wear
Ch. diamonds on his toes."
In Middleton's Quarrel iv. 1, Chough
informs the company," In C. we are all for wrestling"; and in ii. 2, when he
meets Russet's daughter, he exclaims, "I'll show her the Ch. hug, Sir." For
reference to wrestling in Nabbes' Totenham,
see s.v. BARTHOLOMEW (ST.) THE GREAT. In Jonson's Magnetic
i. 1, the boy of the Playhouse gives his name as "John Try-Gust; a Ch: youth
and the poet's servant . . . Faith, we do call a spade a spade in C." In Locrine
v. 3, Locrine asks, "Are the Ch. chuffes In such great number come to Mertia?"
In Ford's Warbeck iv. 2, Astley
advises Warbeck to "pell-mell run amongst the Ch. choughs presently." The Cornishman
in Middleton's Quarrel is called Chough,
and lodges appropriately "at the Crow in Aldgate." In Rabelais' Pantagruel iii.
14, Panurge predicts that his wife "will be jocund, feat, compt . . . even as
a pretty little Ch. chough." C., with a recollection of its derivation from
Cornu, a horn, is taken jocosely to be the land of cuckolds. In Nabbes' Covent
G. v. 6, Ralph predicts that if Worthy marries a-city wife "You shall be
shipped at Cuckolds Haven, and so transported into C." Hycke,
p. 88, has travelled in "Cornewale and Northumberlonde." St. Michael's Mt. is
spoken of as the Mt. in C. In Brome's Antipodes
i. 3, Barbara speaks of news "beyond the moon and stars, I think, or mt. in
C."
CORPUS CHRISTI (COLLEGE)
University of Cambridge, formerly called St. Bene't, founded in 1352 by the Guilds of C. C. and of the Blessed Virgin. After the Reformation it became a Puritan stronghold. It is in Trumpington St., between Downing St. and Benet St., which keeps the old name. Richd. Fletcher, the father of the dramatist, was President of Bene't. Marlowe entered at Bene't in 1580.
CORPUS CHRISTI (COLLEGE)
University of Oxford, on the S. side of King St., between Merton and Christ Ch. It was founded by Bp. Fox in 1516. Richd. Edwards, the dramatist, was a member of this college.
CORRUCUS
In Chapman's Blind Beggar ii., Bragiardo
says to the Count, "We'll meet at C. and we'll have a pipe of Tobacco"; and in
v., Leon says that the Count "took his horse and rode unto C." It is evidently
some place near to Alexandria: if it is anything but an invented name, I suggest
that it is a mistake for Canopus, which lies a few m. E. of Alexandria, or possibly
a muddled reminiscence of Rhacotis, the Egyptian quarter of the city. The Corycos
in Cilicia, and the Corruca in Hispania Baetica are too far away to suit the context.
CORSICA
(Cc. = Corsic). An island in the Mediterranean, N. of Sardinia. It has successively
passed under the domination of the Phocians, Tuscans, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals,
Goths, Pisans, and Genoese. In 1768 it was ceded to France by the Genoese, and
still remains under French Government. In Ford's' Trial iii. 2, Martino says to
Auria, "Our state of Genoa hath cast upon you the government of C." The Genoese
conquered the island in 1481. In Marlowe's Jew
ii. 2, Bosco relates the successful issue of a fight he has had with a Turkish
fleet "upon the coast of C." In Davenant's Favourite
iii. 1, amongst the slaves redeemed from the gullies of Algiers by Eumena, are
some "of C." In Glapthorne's Privilege
iii. 1, Adorni says, "How base and sordid it appears To have our cellars stuffed
with Corsike wines." Wine is made in C., but it has only a poor reputation. In
Davenant's Platonic ii. 4., the
D. takes a "rouse of Cck. wine"; and in his Albovine ii. 1, Albovine says, "This
is legitimate blood Of the rich Cck. grape."
Seneca lived in exile in C. A.D. 4149. Richards' Messallina
iii. 1, Mela, his brother, exhorts himself to "Fly to the island of Corcyra"
where he obviously means C. Later on (line 1642) he says to Montanus, "Make
for the Ile of Corce there on the Tyrhen shore . . . we'll practise to be heavenly
wise." Corsica is very mountainous. In Span.
Trag, iii., Hieronimo says, "My cause May melt the Ccke. rocks with ruthful
tears." In Richards' Messallina
v. 2174, Saufellus says, "My heart is like the Cck. rock, more hard." In T.
Heywood's Gold. Age iii., Saturn,
exhorted to patience, cries: "Teach me to mollify the Ccke. rock." A play by
Francis Jaques entitled The Queen of C. is in manuscript in the British Museum.
The scene of Partiall is laid at the court of an imaginary K. of C.
COS
(now STANCHO). An island off the S.W. coast of Asia Minor, is the mouth of the
Gulf of Kos. It was the centre of the worship of AEsculapius, the god of Healing,
and there was a famous medical school attached to his temple. Hippocrates, the
Father of Medicine, was born at C. 460 B.C. In Shirley's Honoria [a.k.a.
The Contention for Honor and Riches ] iii. 3, Traverse says to the Dr., "If
I thrive, thou shalt be K. of C., my learn'd Hippocrates." In the temple of Aphrodite
at C. was a picture of the goddess by Apelles, which was taken to Rome by Octavian.
This is referred to by Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5, 12, where, however, he by a not uncommon
mistake speaks of it as being at Chios.
COSSA
(a misprint for OSSA, q.v.). In Tiberius
2341, Seianus says, "Had Pelion and C. been conjoined . . . Yet would Sejanus,
like Briarius, Have been embowelled in this earthly hell To save the life of great
Tiberius."
COSSACKS
The tribes inhabiting the S. and S.E. borders of the Russian Empire, probably
of Tartar descent. They became known in England towards the end of the 16th cent.
as a savage and predatory people. They fought on horseback, and after being subjugated
by Russia furnished the larger part of her cavalry. In Middleton's Quiet
Life iv. 1, Knavesby applies the word to the Irish: showing a map of Ireland,
he says, "this upper part is the C.' land."
COTSWOLD
(or COTSALL). A range of hills running from the N.E. to the S. of Gloucestersh.,
and dividing the basins of the Severn and the Thames. They reach something over
1000 ft. above sea-level. The soil is poor, but produces good feed for sheep,
which are largely bred there. The C. sheep are big in the carcass and coarse in
the wool. Winchcombe, the centre of the dist., is abt. 24 m. S. of Stratford-on-Avon;
and it is plain from the local references in H4
B. iii. 2 and v. 1, that Shakespeare knew it well. "How a score of ewes now?"
asks Shallow; and Silence opines they may be worth £10 (iii. 2, 55). In v. 1,
16, Davy asks, "Shall we sow the headland with wheat?" and is answered: "With
red wheat, Davy." The allusion is to the local custom of sowing red Lammas wheat
early in the season. Hinckley, where William lost his sack at the Fair, is in
Leicestersh., about 50 m. away from Winchcombe. Woncot, or Woodmancote, is 3 m.
W. of Winchoombe, and the Visors, or Vizards, were living there until quite recently.
The hill where Clement Perkes lived is Stinchcombe Hill, and a certain J. Purchas,
Esq. (i.e. Purkes), of Stinchcombe Hill, died at Margate in 1812 (v. 1,
42). In Shrew Ind. ii. 95, for Old
John Napps of Greece we should probably read "of Greet," the "dingy Greet" of
local rhyme, a hamlet close to Winchcombe; and the Winoot where Marian Hacket,
the fat ale-wife, lived is most likely the Woncot already mentioned (Shrew
Ind. ii. 22). In H4 B. iii. 2,
23, Shallow mentions "Will Squele, a C. man," as one of his fellow-students at
Clements Inn. In M.W.W. i. 1, 92,
Slender has heard that Page's fallow greyhound "was outrun on C." In R2
ii. 3, 9, we find Bolingbroke traversing "in Glostershire These high wild
hills and rough uneven ways"; and Northumberland bethinking himself "what a weary
way From Ravenspurg to C. will be found In Ross and Willoughby." In Brome's M.
Beggars ii. 1, Vincent asks, "Will you to the hill-top of sports then, and
merriments, Dover's Olympicks or the C. Games?" These games were founded in the
reign of James I by Robert Dover, of Barton on the Heath, probably the home of
Christopher Sly, "old Sly's son of Burton Heath" (Shrew
Ind. ii. 19). They are celebrated in a volume published in 1636 entitled "Annalia
Dubrensia, upon the yearly celebration of Mr. Robert Dover's Olympic Games upon
C. Hills," and were held annually for 40 years.
It was a humorous bit of slang to call a sheep a C. lion. In Roister
iv. 6, Merrygreke says, "I will set him on; then will he look as fierce
as a Cotssold lion." In Oldcastle
ii. 1, Sir John of Wrotham calls Harpool "you old stale ruffian, you lion of
C.!" In Thersites (Dods. i. 400),
the hero exclaims: "Now have at the lions on Cots'old.'" In Nature (Lost Plays
108), Lust says to Wrath, "Ye are wont to be as bold As it were a lion of C."
Jewel, in his Defence of the Apology (1569) iii. 415, says, "This proverb might
better become a sheep of Cotswould with his bell." Drayton, in Polyolb. xiv.
256, gives a description of the C. sheep: they are "of the whitest kind . .
. The staple deep and thick A body long and large, the buttocks equal broad.''
He also mentions that the Isis has its source in the C. Hills. In Idea (1594)
xxxii. 9, he says, "C. commends her Isis to the Tame."
COUNTER
(or COMPTER). The latter is the official spelling since the 17th cent. A prison
for debtors connected with the City court in Lond. There were 2 cs. in Lond. in
the 16th cent.: the Poultry C. (Map 4O),
taken down in 1817, and the Bread St. C., transferred in 1555 to Wood St. (Map
4M). This last was transferred to Giltspur St. in 1791, and the Giltspur St.
C. was closed in 1854. The Poultry C. was on the N. side of the st., 4 doors W.
of the Ch. of St. Mildred, which stood at the corner of the Poultry, opposite
to Walbrook. The Bread St. C. was on the W. side of the st.: it was transferred
to Wood St. because of the cruelty of the keeper, one Richd. Husband, to the prisoners;
and also because he had allowed thieves and strumpets to lodge there at 4-pence
a night, in order to escape arrest. The Wood St. C. was on the E. side of the
st., N. of Lad, or Ladle Lane, now Gresham St. There was also a C. in Southwark
on the site of the old Church of St. Margaret, q.v.
The only references to the cs. in Shakespeare are the punning one in Err.
iv. 2, 39, where Dromio describes a sheriff's officer as "a fellow all in buff,
A backfriend, shoulder-clapper . . . A hound that runs c. and yet draws dry-foot
well" (a hound is said to hunt c. when he goes back on the scent and so pursues
the game in the opposite direction to that which it is taking: to draw dry-foot
is to follow the game by the scent alone); and Falstaff's remark in M.W.W.
iii. 3, 85, "Thou mightst as well say I love to walk by the C.-Gate, which
is as hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln."
In Nobody i. 307, an unnamed
person says, "I am, Sir, a Keeper of the C., and there are in our wards above
100 poor prisoners that are like ne'er to come forth without satisfaction."
In Ret. Pernass. iv. 2, Ingenioso
tells how "the silly Poet goes muffled in his cloak, to escape the C." In More
ii. 3, More reports that the "captains of this insurrection . . . came but
now To both the Cs. where they have released Sundry indebted prisoners." In
Jonson's Ev. Man I. ii. 1, Downright
declares, "an he [Wellbred] think to be relieved by me, when he is got into
one of your city-pounds, the Cs., he has the wrong sow by the ear." In Ev.
Man O. Ind., Asper speaks of the Puritan (or Non-Conformist) conscience:
"[It] is vaster than the ocean and devours more wretches than the Cs." In v.
4, Brisk is arrested and taken to the c.; and in v. 7, Fallace visits him there
and opens the scene by exclaiming, "O Mr. Fastidius, what pity 'tis to see so
sweet a man as you are in so sour a place!" [kisses him]. Cordatus, who is watching
the play along with Mitis, says to him, "As upon her lips, does she mean?" To
which Mitis, "O, this is to be imagined the C., belike." The passage is interesting,
for it shows that no scenic devices were used to indicate that the actors were
in the c.: it had to be inferred from the dialogue. In Eastward
ii. 2, Quicksilver exhorts Sir Petronel, "Put 'em in sufficient sureties; let
'em take their choice; either the King's Bench, or the Fleet, or which of the
2 Cs. they like best." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford says, "So sure will I be arrested by a couple of
serjeants, and fall into one of the unlucky cranks about Cheapside, called Cs."
In Barry's Ram iii. 3, Mrs. Taffeta
cries: "Run to the C., fetch me a red-bearded serjeant.'" In Middleton's R.
G. iii. 3, Wengrave makes an elaborate comparison between the c. and the
university: "A C.! Why, 'tis an University, who not sees? As scholars there,
so here men take degrees. Scholars learn first Logic and Rhetoric; So does a
prisoner; with fine honeyed speech At 's first coming in, he doth persuade,
beseech, He may be lodged with one that is not itchy, To lie in a clean chamber,
in sheets not lousy: But when he has no money, then does he try, By subtle Logic
and quaint sophistry, To make the keepers trust him. Say they do, Then he's
a Graduate. Say they trust him not, Then is he held a freshman and a sot, And
never shall commence; but, being still barred, Be expulsed from the Master's
side to the Twopenny ward, Or else in the Hole beg place. When he can get out
clear, he's then a Master of Arts. Sir Davy, send your son to Wood St. College:
A gentleman can nowhere get more knowledge." The accommodation afforded to the
prisoners depended on what they could pay. There seem to have been 4 grades:
- (1) the Master's side;
- (2) the Knights' Ward;
- (3) the Two-penny Ward; and
- (4) the free Quarters, or the Hole.
In Cooke's Greene's Tu Quoque, p.
563, Holdfast, the servant of the Master of the C. in which Spendall is lying,
asks him for money, and says, "If you have no money, You'd best remove into some
cheaper Ward.""What ward should I remove in?" asks the debtor. "Why," replies
Holdfast, "to the two-penny ward; or, if you will, you may go into the Hole, and
there you may feed for nothing.""Aye," says Spendall, "out of the alms basket."
The poor wretches in the Hole used to hold a basket out to the passers-by through
a grating and beg for food. We have an interesting picture in Eastward
v. 2, where Wolf, the officer of the c., explains to Golding, "The knight will
be in the knights' ward, do what we can, Sir: and Mr. Quicksilver would lie i'
the Hole, if we would let him. I never knew or saw prisoners more penitent or
more devout. They will sit you up all nights singing of Psalms and edifying the
whole prison. Only Sincerity sings a note too high sometimes; because he lies
i' the two-penny ward far off, and cannot take his tune. And he has converted
one Fangs, a serjeant: he was called the Bandog o' the Counter, and he has brought
him already to pare his nails and say his prayers." In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. v. 4, Carlo says, "He walks as melancholy as one o' the Master's side
in the C." In Dekker's Westward
iii. 2, Monopoly asks, "Which is the dearest Ward in prison, serjeant the Knight's
Ward?"" No, Sir," is the answer, "the Master's side." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford declares, "I, Frank Ilford, was in forced from the
Mitre in Bread St. to the Compter in the Poultry. If you shall think it meet to
submit myself from the feather-bed in the Master's side, or the flock bed in the
knights' ward to the straw-bed in the Hole, I shall do 't." In the Puritan
iii. 4, Puttock says, "These maps are pretty painted things: they say all the
world's in one of them, but I could ne'er find the C. in the Poultry." Nash, in
his Prognostication, predicts that the stones in Cheapside will grow so hot "that
divers persons should fear to go from Paul's to the C. in the Poultry." The lawyers
who touted for clients at the Cs. were naturally of an inferior class. In Barry's
Ram iv., justice Tutchin says to
Throate, "You, some common bail, or C.-lawyer, marry my niece!" In Dekker's Westward
iii. 1, Tenterhook says to his wife, "Buy a link and meet me at the C. in
Wood St." In 1598 Henslowe provided 40/- to secure Dekker's release from "the
C. in the Poultrey." In W. Rowley's Wonder
v., the Sheriff orders, "See your prisoners presently conveyed From Ludgate
unto Newgate and the Cs." In Middleton's Inner Temp., Fasting Day says that Plumporridge
"moves like one of the great porridge tubs going to the C.": presumably for the
feeding of the prisoners. In Wapull's Tarrieth F. 2, the Sergeant says to the
Debtor, "10 groats thou shalt pay, or else to the C. we must out of hand." In
Dekker's Northward i. 3, Philip
says that he has come "from the house of prayer and fasting, the C." In Fam.
Vict., p. 330, the boy says that as the result of a street fray, "the young
Prince was carried to the C." by the mayor and sheriffs. In B. & F. Mad
Lover i. 1, the Fool says to Chilax, "I'll have a shilling for a can of wine,
When you shall have 2 sergeants for a c.": where a pun is intended between counter
and shilling.
COURCELLES
A town in Belgium, near Charleroi, some 30 m. S. of Brussels. In Chapman's Consp.
Byron v. 1, it is one of the places which Byron "peopled with the triumphant
issue of victory."
COVENT GARDEN
(or more properly CONVENT G.) was so called from the fact that it belonged originally
to the Abbey of Westminster. It lay N. of the Strand at the back of Burghley House,
now Exeter Hall. In the 16th cent. it was a large enclosed g., with no buildings
on it except a cottage or two. At the dissolution of the monasteries it came to
the Crown and was given to the D. of Somerset: at his execution it reverted to
the Crown, and in 1552 was granted to the Earl of Bedford. The square, with piazzas
on the N. and E. sides and the Ch. of St. Paul on the W., was built about 1631
from designs by Inigo Jones. The flower and fruit market began about the middle
of the 17th cent. in a small way, but its real foundation was in 1678. It soon
became a resort of women of loose character, and is frequently mentioned by the
restoration dramatists. In Davenant's Wits
iv. 2, Thwack says, "A new plantation [i.e. colony] is made i' the
C. G. from the sutlery o' the German camps and the suburbs of Paris." In News
from Hell C. G. is mentioned in a list of places where whores and thieves live.
St. Hilary's Tears (1642) are "shed upon all professions from the C.-G. Lady of
Iniquity to the Turnbull-st. Trull." In the London Prentice Declaration (1642),
it is stated that they met "at the piazza's in C. G." In Shirley's Ball
(licensed 1632) v. 1, Freshwater invents a story that when he was in Venice
"2 or 3 English spies told us they had lain lieger for 3 months to steal away
the Piazza and ship it to C. G." In Killigrew's Parson
iv. 3, the Widow says, "We'll go to my nephew's at C. G." For reference to
C. G. in Underwit, see s.v.
COCKPIT. Brome's Covent G. tells
of the efforts of justice Cockbrain to purify the G. from the loose women and
profligate men who were already beginning to haunt it. He exclaims (i. 1), "Here's
Architecture expressed indeed! It is a most sightly situation and fit for gentry
and nobility. Yond magnificent piece, the Piazzo, will excell that at Venice."
The New Ch. (St. Paul's) is spoken of, and the "belconies," which were the first
examples of that feature of domestic architecture in England. The scene of Nabbes'
C. Garden is laid here in i. 3,
Mrs. Tongall speaks with enthusiasm of the "balconees"; "they set off a lady's
person well when she presents herself to the view of gazing passengers." The word
was accented on the 2nd syllable up to the beginning of the 19th cent.
COVENTRY
A city in Warwickshire, on the Sherbourne, 10 m. N.E. of Warwick and 91 m. N.W. of Lond., on the N.W. Rd. to Chester and the N. It derived its name from the Benedictine Convent founded by Earl Leofric in 1043. It was surrounded by walls, which were demolished by Charles II. Its ancient cathedral was levelled with the ground by Henry VIII, but the Churches of St. Michael and Trinity, and the spire of the old Grey Friars Ch., now attached to Christ Ch., are still the most prominent features of the city, and give it its name of "The City of the Three Spires." St. Mary's Hall, erected in the reign of Henry VI, is a fine example of 15th cent. architecture. The noble Gothic cross, set up in the market-place in the 16th cent., was removed in 1771. Drayton, in Polyolb. xiii. 321, describes C. "Flourishing with fanes and proud pyramides; Her walls in good repair, her ports so bravely built, Her halls in good estate, her cross so richly gilt." In Hymn on his Lady's Birthplace (1619), he says, "C., thou dost adorn The country wherein I was born." He was born at Hartshill, in Warwickshire. Parliaments were held here in 1404 and in 1459.
C. was famous for its pageants and processions, and especially for its Mystery
Plays, which were performed on movable stages in the sts. on Corpus Christi
Day. It is but a short 20 m. from Stratford to C., and there can be little doubt
that the boy Shakespeare saw some of these performances, and had them in his
memory when he wrote of "out-Heroding Herod" (Ham.
iii. 2, 16); compared Falstaff to "Herod of Jewry" (M.W.W.
ii. 1, 20); likened an infuriated soldiery to "Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen"
(H5 iii. 3, 41); or thought of
a smut on Bardolph's red nose as "Dives in his robes, burning, burning" (H4
A. iii. 3, 36). In J. Heywood's Four
PP., p. 18, the Pardoner claims the acquaintance of the devil, who met him
at the gate of Hell, "For oft in the play of Corpus Christi He hath played the
devil at C." The Puritan opposition to the plays indicated in B.&F. Thomas
iii. 3, where one of the fiddler's ballads is "Jonas his crying out against
C." Jonah's mission to Nineveh was often used as a parallel, or exemplar, of
protesters against modern abuses, as e.g. in Greene & Lodge's Looking
Glass. An annual procession was held in honour of Lady Godiva's devotion
in riding naked through the streets to save the citizens from the exactions
of Earl Leofric. St. George headed the procession, and Lady Godiva herself was
represented. In Shirley's Hyde Park
ii. 4, Mrs. Carol says, "You would not have me ride through the city naked,
as once a Princess of England did through C.?" In Middleton's Quiet
Life v. 1, Saunders says, "My lady talked about what a goodly act it was
of a Countess, Northamptonshire breed belike, that to make C. a corporation
rode through the city naked." In Kirke's Champions
i, 1, St. George is represented as "heir to the Earl of C.," doubtless because
of the part he played in the procession. In Jonson's Owls, Cox, on his hobbyhorse,
says, "He is the Pagasus that uses To wait on Warwick Muses; And on gaudy-days
he paces Before the C. Graces," i.e. in the pageant. In Sampson's Vow
v. 2, 35, Miles, who is preparing to take part in a pageant, says, "I'll
stand out like a man of C.''
In J. Heywood's Weather, Farmer,
p. 99, Report claims to have been "At Canterbury, at C., at Colchester." In
John, Tyb, Farmer, p. 72, John says that Margery "is the most bawdy hence to
C.," i.e. between Lond. and C. In John
Evangel. B. 3, Evil Counsel says, "I will no more go to C., for there knaves
set me on the pillory and threw eggs at my head." In Marlowe's Ed.II
i. 1, the Bp, of C. is arrested and taken to the Tower for his share in the
banishment of Gaveston, and the revenues of his see are given to the favourite.
The appeal to combat between "Hereford and fell Mowbray" was arranged to take
place "At C. upon St. Lambert's day" (R2
i, 1, 199), and the proceedings in "the lists at C." are described in i.
3. Falstaff marched his "150 tattered prodigals" by way of C. to Shrewsbury,
though he was ashamed to take them through the city, and kept them outside whilst
he sent Bardolph in to fill his bottle with sack (H4
A. iv. 2, 1, 42). In H6 C.
iv. 8 some rearrangement is urgently needed. The scene is in the palace in Lond.,
and at the beginning Warwick is present, and goes out at line 32, saying, "Farewell,
sweet Lords; let's meet at C." Then K. Edward enters, seizes K. Henry, and says,
"Towards C. bend we our course Where peremptory Warwick now remains." Evidently
a new scene should begin at line 33. The next scene (v. 1) is before the walls
of C. Warwick appears on the walls with the mayor, looking out for his friends;
Oxford from Dunsmore between Daventry and C., Montague from Daventry, and Clarence
from Southam to the S.E. He is looking in the direction of Southam (line 12),
and bears behind him the drums of Edward's army which is advancing from Warwick
in the S.W. to the Greyfriars Gate through which the Warwick Rd. entered. Finding
this closed against him, Edward marches round towards the New Gate, or the Gosford
Gate, on the E. of the city;, meanwhile Oxford, Montague, and Somerset arrive
and enter through one or other of the E. gates. Clarence now arrives and joins
himself unexpectedly to Edward's forces. Warwick then marches out to Barnet,
where the great battle of the next scene takes place.
The chief manufactures of C. in the 15th and 16th cents. were woollens, broadcloths,
caps, and a thread of a special colour called C. blue, in the production of
which the water of the Sherbourne was supposed to play an essential part. Ribbon-weaving
and watch-making were introduced at a later time. In Jonson's Owls, the 3rd
Owl is described as "a pure native bird this, And though his hue Be not C. blue
Yet is he undone By the thread he has spun; For since the wise town Has let
the sports down Of may-games and morris . . . Where the maids and their makes
. . . Had their smocks all bewrought With his thread which they bought It now
lies on his hands." This owl represents a Puritan of C. who has spoilt the trade
in blue thread by putting down the pageants. In his Gipsies, we have "The C.
blue Hangs there upon Prue." In Greene's George
ii. 3, Jenkin has a shirt collar wrought over with "right C. blue," which
he thinks is better than gold. In Stafford's Brief Conceipt of English Policy
(1581), we are told "The chief trade of C. Was heretofore in making of blue
thread; but now our thread comes all from beyond sea. Wherefore that trade of
C. is decayed." In Drayton's Dowsabell, the shepherd's breech was of "Cointree
blue." In Greene's Quip, p. 228, the Broker wears "a C. cap of the finest wool."
In his James IV iv. 3, Slipper
says, "Edge me the sleeves with C.-blue." In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 86, Hobs gives the king "a handkercher wrought with . . . C.-silk
blue thread." In Sampson's Vow i,
2, 52, Miles leaves a handkercher "wrought with blue C."
In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Peacham mentions, amongst other curiosities, "The C. Boares-shield," i.e. the hide of the boar slain by Guy of Warwick, but Peacham appears to be confusing the boar of Windsor with the great cow of Dunsmore, near C., both of which were the victims of Guy's prowess. The dramatist John Marston was born at C.
COW CROSS
An old cross in Lond. near Smithfield, in C. C. St., which runs from St. John
St., past the S. end of Turnmill St., to Farringdon Rd. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 57, Crosby tells how he was picked up as an infant by an honest citizen
"near unto a cross, commonly called C. C., near Islington," and taken to the Foundling
Hospital. Hence he was named John Crosby.
COW LANE
A st. in Lond., now called King St., running from the N.W. corner of W. Smithfield
to Snow Hill. In Jonson's Barthol. i,
1, Mrs. Littlewit tells, "My mother has had her nativity-water cast lately by
the cunning men in C. L., and they have told her her fortune." The 1599 edition
of Span. Trag. was printed by William
White in C. L.; he also published The Fraternitie of Vagabondes in 1663.
COWE
A place visited by Hycke in his travels
(p.88): "I have been in Gene and in C., Also in the land of Rumbelowe." Possibly
he means Cowes in the I. of Wight, which took its rise from the building of a
castle at W. Cowes by Henry VIII.
COWLING CASTLE
An ancient castle in Kent, some 3 m. S. of Gravesend. It was built in the reign
of Richard II, and the ruins are still considerable. It belonged to Lord Cobham
(Sir John Oldcastle). In Oldcastle
iii. 1, Lord Cobham says to the Earl of Cambridge and his companions, "Will ye
not take C. for your host And see what entertainment it affords?" In Bale's Process
against Lord Cobham (1544), he says, "The Archbp. sent a very sharp citation unto
the castle of C., where he [i.e. Cobham] at that time dwelt for his solace."
COYLCHESTER
See COLCHESTER.
CRACKFIELD
See CRATFIELD.
CRACOVIA
(CRACOW). The ancient capital of Poland, on the Vistula, 158 m. S.W. of Warsaw.
In its magnificent cathedral the Kings of Poland were crowned, and here most of
them were buried. In B. & F. Pestle
iv. 1, the citizen's wife says, "Let Ralph travel over great hills, and come to
the K. of C.'s house." In the next scene Ralph comes to the court of Moldavia,
which is held at C.: as a matter of fact, Poland claimed the lordship over Moldavia
and had many wars with the Turks about it in the 16th cent. Ralph refuses the
love of the k.'s daughter. "He will not stoop to a Cn.!" In Davenant's Albovine
iii. 1, Paradine says to the Messenger, "You bring me letters from C., Sir?"
CRAG, THE
The conical hill on the S.E. of the city of Edinburgh, commonly called ARTHUR'S
SEAT. It rises to a height of 822 ft., and is crowned by an ancient castle. On
the W. it is encircled by a range of precipitous rocks, called Salisbury Cs.,
or The Cs. At the time of the siege of Leith by the English in 1560 it was held
by the French, the English troops being encamped near its foot. For reference
to the Crag in Sampson's Vow Breaker,
see s.v. CHAPEL, THE.
CRAIG ERIRI
(or, more properly, CREIGIAN'R ERYRAU). The Welsh name for Snowdon. In Jonson's Wales, Evan says, "Is called the British Aulpes, C. E., a very sufficient hills."
CRANBORNE
A town in Dorsetsh., 27 m. N.E. of Dorchester. It has a fine old Gothic ch. In
Nabbes' Totenham v. 1, one of the
neighbours tells how he and his companions slept soundly, "and dreamed we were
in C. Ch. at a drowsy sermon."
CRANE
The sign of a bookseller's shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond. (q.v.).
Middleton's Mad World was "Printed by
H. B. for Walter Burre; and are to be sold in Paule's Church-yard at the sign
of the C. 1608." The 4th Folio of Shakespeare's works was "Printed for H. Herringham,
E. Brewster, and R. Bentley at the Anchor in the New Exchange, the C. in St. Paul's
Church-yard, and in Russel-St., Covent Garden. 1685." Massinger's Dowry
was "Printed by John Norton for Francis Constable and are to be sold at his
shop at the C. in Paul's Churchyard. 1632." W. Rowley's New
Wonder was "Imprinted by G. L. for Francis Constable and are to be sold at
his shop at the sign of the C. in St. Pauls Churchyard. 1632."
CRANES, THREE
See THREE CRANES.
CRANFORD
A vill. in Middlesex, on the Crane, 2 m. S.W. of Southall. In Harman's Caveat 24, "the Cross keyes in C. parish" is mentioned as one of the haunts of vagabonds in Middlesex.
CRANON
A town in ancient Thessaly, 10 m. S.W. of Larissa. It was the home of the Scopadae, and the poet Simonides resided there for some time under their patronage. E. D., in trans. of Theocritus' Idyl xvi., says, "The Scopedans had many droves of calves . . . and shepherds kept in the Cian. dales Infinite flocks."
CRATFIELD
(or CRACKFIELD). A vill. in Suffolk, 9 m. N. of Framlingham. In Greene's Friar
xiii. 23, one of the scholars says, "Our fathers' lands adjoin: In C. mine doth
dwell, and his in Laxfield."
CRAY
The name of 4 villages in Kent, lying S.W. of Dartford, on the rd. from Crayford
to Farnborough. They run in order from N. to S.: North C., Footscray, St. Paul's
C., and St. Mary's C. In Oldcastle
iii. 3, Sir John of Wrotham and Doll being on their way from Cobham to Blackheath,
Sir John says, "Come, Doll; I'll see thee safe at some alehouse here at C." In
Fair Women ii. 156, Barnes sends
his son to Lond. to "pray Mr. Sounders to be here next week about the matter at
S. Mary C." In ii. 189, Old John, meeting Beane near Woolwich, asks him, "Walk
ye to Greenwich or walk ye to C.?"
CREED LANE
St. in Lond., running from near the top of Ludgate Hill to Carter L. It was originally called Spurriers Row, but the name was changed in the reign of Elizabeth to C. L., from the scriveners who lived there and wrote copies of the Pater Noster, Ave, Creed, Graces, etc. Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar, 1st edn., was "Printed and sold by Hugh Singleton, dwelling at the sign of the Golden Tun, in C. L., near unto Ludgate." An undated edition of Elinor Ramming was "Imprinted at Lond., in Credo L., by John Kyage and Thomas Marches '
CREST
See CRETE.
CREMA
A town in N. Italy, on the Serio, 25 m. S.E. of Milan. In Cockayne's Obstinate
ii. 1, Lorece, in his wholly imaginary account of his travels, says, "From thence
to Naples in Savoy; from Naples to C.; and thence to Alexandria."
CREMONA
A city in N. Italy, on the Po, 45 m. S.E. of Milan. Vergil was born between C.
and Mantua: after the Civil War the lands of C. were confiscated by Octavian,
and Mantua was involved in its troubles; hence Vergil's well-known line (Ecl.
ix. 28): "Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Ce." The lofty belfry-tower
of the Duomo is seen from many miles round. It is chiefly famous for the incomparable
violins made there by the families of the Amati and Stradivari in the 18th cent.
In Ford's 'Tis Pity iv. 2, Richardetto
advises his niece to free her years "From hazard of these woes by flying hence
[from Parma] To fair C., there to vow your soul To holiness." Parma is some 25
m. S.E. Of C. In T. Heywood's B. Age
iv., Jason speaks of Hercules as "he by whom the C. giants fell"; and Hercules
himself says, "I the 100 giants of C. slew." This was when he passed through Italy
after capturing the oxen of Geryon: Alebion and Nemausus, princes of the Ligurians,
tried to get the oxen, and he fought with them and killed them and their supporters.
Milton, Ode on Passion 26, speaking of those who had dealt with the same theme,
says, "Loud o'er the rest C.'s trump doth sound." The reference is to the Christiad
of Vida of C. (14901566).
CRESCENTIA (CHURCH AND NUNNERY OF)
A ch. and nunnery in Modena. St. C. was a virgin of whom little is known, except that her tomb is near Paris. In Laelia, the heroine is placed by her father in the nunnery; and in i. 4, 53. we have mention of the ch.
CRESSINGHAM
Two adjoining vills. in Norfolk, Gt and Little C., some 26 in. W. of Norwich.
In Middleton's Quiet Life iv. 1,
Sir Francis C. says, "C. of C. has continued many years, and must the name sink
now?"
CRESSY
A small town in France near the month of the Somme, abt. 100 m. N. of Paris. It
is chiefly known through the defeat of the French there by Edward III on Aug.
26, 1346. In H5 ii. 4, 54, the
French K recalls the day "When C. battle fatally was struck, And all our princes
captiv'd by the hand Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales." The battle
is described in Ed.III iii., where the name is spelt Cressi and Cressey. Jonson,
in Prince Henry's Barriers, speaks of "that Mars of men, The Black Prince Edward,
who then At C. field had no more years than you." In Trag.
Richd.II i. 1, 35, Lancaster speaks of the "warlike battles won At Cressey
field, Poyteeres, Artoyse and Mayne" by the Black Prince. Drayton, in Ballad of
Agincourt (1606) 41, says, "Poitiers and C. tell, When most their pride did swell,
Under our sword they fell."
CRETE
(Cn. = Cretan). The large island in the S. of the AEgean archipelago. The capital
is Candia, whence the Elizabethans call the whole island Candy, or Candia (q.v.).
When they speak of C they almost always refer to the island as it appears in Greek
mythology and history. According to legend, Rhea, in fear of Cronos, who was in
the habit of swallowing his children, bore Zeus in a cave in C., where he was
suckled by the goat Amalthea, whilst a stone was palmed off on Cronos in his place.
Hence C. became one of his principal shrines. In Wilson's Pedler 754, the Mariner
says, "Jupiter over a far country, Creta, was king." In T. Heywood's Dialogues
iv. 2233, Timon prays Jupiter to take vengeance of the sins of men "Else still
to those reproaches subject be, The Cns. cast upon thy tomb and thee." Callimachus,
Hymn to Zeus 8, says, "The Cns. are ever liars; for, O Lord, they have fabricated
a tomb for thee ; but thou didst not die, for thou art everlasting." In T. Heywood's
Gold. Age iv. 1, Jupiter says,
"Our unkind father Left to our head the imperial crown of Creet"; and a line or
two later he calls himself "the Cn. Jupiter." Milton, P. L. i. 514, says of the
Greek gods, "These, first in C. And Ida known." It was the kingdom of the mythological
Minos, the husband of Pasiphae. As he failed to sacrifice to Poseidon the snow-white
bull which had risen from the sea, the god inspired Pasiphae with a monstrous
passion for the bull, and she bore as the result the Minotaur, a hideous brute
with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Minos confined this creature in
the famous labyrinth. Having conquered the Athenians, Minos imposed on them a
tribute of 7 youths and 7 maidens to be sent every year. These were devoured by
the Minotaur. But Theseus, the son of AEgeus, came as one of the youths and, having
killed the monster, escaped from the labyrinth by means of a thread given him
by Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, who had fallen in love with him. Theseus took
her away with him, but deserted her on the isle of Naxos. Daedalus, the constructor
of the labyrinth, had furnished Ariadne with a clue, and to escape the vengeance
of Minos he made wings for himself and his son Icarus and they flew away N. Icarus
got too near the sun, and, the wax by which the wings were attached to his shoulders
having melted, he fell into the Icarian sea and was drowned. Daedalus reached
Sicily and Minos, pursuing him, was slain there. In H6
A. iv. 6, 54, Talbot, rushing into the battle, says to his son, "Then follow
thou thy desperate sire of C., Thou Icarus." In H6
C. v. 6, 18, Gloucester says, "Why, what a peevish fool was that of C., That
taught his son the office of a fowl; and yet, for all his wings, the fool was
drowned." (Note the pun on "fowl" and "fool."). In Histrio
ii. 335, Landulpho boasts of a mistress "whose entangling wit Will turn and
wind more cunning arguments than could the Cn. Labyrinth ingyre," i.e.
intertwine. In B. & F. Thomas iii.
3, one of the ballads of the Fiddler is entitled," In C. when Dedimus fast began":
where "Dedimus" is an absurd mistake for Daedalus. In Middleton's Changeling
iv. 3, Isabella, feigning madness, cries: "Stand up, thou son of Cn. Daedalus,
And let us tread the lower labyrinth; I'll bring thee to the clue." "Cn. Daedalus"
is mentioned in Marston's Insatiate.
Chaucer tells the story of Ariadne, or Adriatic, as he calls her, in the Leg.
of Good Women 1886. In C. T. A. 980, he refers to "The Mynotaur which that he
[Theseus] slough in C."; and in D. 733 he hints at the grisly story of "Phasifpha
that was the Q. of C." In Mason's Mulleasses
1788, Borgias cries: "Let the Cretian bull Bellow and burst my brains." In Bale's
Laws iii., Ambition says, "I gape
for empire and worship desire as Minos did in C." In Shirley's Duke's
Mist. iii. 1, Valerio says, "Unless this face content you, you may stay till
the Cn. lady go to bull again." The reference is to Pasiphae and her monstrous
passion. In Pickering's Horestes A
2, Rusticus says, "Horestes to C. with Idomeneus did go." Idomeneus was the grandson
of Minos and took part in the Trojan War. I can find no authority for this visit
of Orestes to Crete. In Apius & V. 181, Virginia sings, "When Daedalus from Creete
did fly With Icarus his joy, He naught regarding father's words Did seek his own
annoy."
In Shrew i. 1, 175, Lucentio
says, "I saw sweet beauty in her face Such as the daughter of Agenor had, That
made great Jove to humble him to her hand, When with his knees he kissed the
Cn. strand." The reference is to Europa, the daughter of Agenor, whom Zeus carried
off from Phoenicia into C. In M.N.D.
iv. 1, 118, Hippolyta relates, "I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, When in
a wood of C. they bayed the bear." This conjunction of celebrities will not
fit in with any scheme of their relative periods; and, beside, there never were
any bears in C.: a lady, however, may be allowed some latitude in her sporting
reminiscences. C. was no doubt a hunting country. Theseus says (line 131), "A
cry more tuneable Was never holla'd to . . . In C., in Sparta, nor in Thessaly";
and in H5 ii. 1, 77, Pistol,
with his usual affectation of classic knowledge, apostrophizes Nym as a "hound
of C." The ancient proverb, "The Cns. are alway liars," received a new lease
of life from St. Paul's quotation of it in Titus
i. 12. In the old Timon i.
4, Pseudolus, professing himself a worldling (ie. a citizen of the world), tells
some amazing travellers' tales: on which Paedio says, "This is no rldling, he's
some Cretian." In Brewer's Lingua
ii. 1, Mendacio (Liar). says, "Three thousand years ago was Mendacio born in
Greece, nursed in C., and ever since honoured everywhere." In Edwards' Damon,
sc. xi. p. 86, Stephano, after giving his name wrongly as Onaphets (which is
Stephano read backwards), says, "I turn my name in and out, Cretiso cum Cretense,
to make him a lout." In this sense we find Creticism, or Cretism, and Cretize
(see O.E.D.). In Tiberius 685,
Sejanus says that the man who will climb must adapt himself to circumstances:"
Flatter in Creet and faun in Grecia."
There are a few examples of the modern geographical use of the word. In Ford's
Lover's Melan. ii. 1, Sophronos
reports, "Letters are come from C." to Cyprus. In Marlowe's Tamb
B.. i. 2, Callapine proposes to arrive in Turkish seas "'twixt the isles
of Cyprus and of C." In Jonson's Volpone
iii. 6, the voluptuary's bath includes "The milk of unicorns and panthers'
breath Mixed with Cn. wines "(see CANDIA). In Davenant's Platonic
i. 1, Sciolto speaks of "good pure muskaden of C."; and in iv. 5, Eurithea speaks
of "Cn. wines that are too excellent to last." In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Frescobaldi has washed his "liver, lungs, and heart in Cn. wines."
Milton, P. R. iv. 118, speaks of wines of "Chios and C." as highly esteemed
by the ancient Romans. In Ford's Sun v. 1, Winter says, "Plump Lyaeus Shall
in full cups abound of Cn. wine." Hall, in Satires iv. 3, 72, says, "C. ever
wont the cypress sad to bear." The cypress grows luxuriantly there. Lyly, in
Euphues Anat. Wit, p. 10, says, "No owl [will] live in C." See Pliny, Hist.
Nat. s. 41
CRETICK SEA
The S. part of the AEgean Sea, round the island of Crete. In Hercules iv. 3, 2256, Jove, as Amphitruo, claims to have subdued the pirates who "awed. . . the Ionian, AEgean, and C. Seas."
CRIPPLEGATE
One of the N, gates of Lond., between Moorgate and Aldersgate. Stow says it was
so called from the cripples who begged there, but this looks like an afterthought.
It was new-built in 1244, and again in 1491. It was sold and pulled down in 1760.
The name is preserved in C. Buildings, 11 Fore St. In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. Ind., Asper speaks of one "as lame as Vulcan or the founder of C.":
another unlikely suggestion as to the derivation of the name. In T. Heywood's
Woman killed iv. 5, Nicolas says
of the gate, "It must ope with far less noise than C. or your plot's dashed ":
from which it may be inferred that the gate had some reputation for creaking when
it was opened. Taylor, Works i. 87, puns on the name: "Footmen are brought to
anchor 'in the harbour of C." Dekker, in Seven Sins, makes Apishness "come prancing
in at C." because of the lame imitations he gives of those whom he copies. In
his Shoemaker's iv. 3, Firk chaffingly
says to Ralph, "Thou lie with a womanto build nothing but Cs.!" In Middleton's
Hubburd, p. 96, the soldier says, "I came hopping out of my lodging like old lame
Giles of C." Deloney, in Reading vi., tells a cock-and-bull story of a cripple
who stole the silver weathercock of St. Paul's, and with the proceeds of the theft
"budded a gate on the N. side of the city which to this day is called Criple-gate."
CROME
One of the places of pilgrimage visited by the Palmer in J. Heywood's Four
PP, i. i. It has not been located with certainty. It is said by some authorities
to have been in Kent, near Greenwich, but it may p'bly be Croom in Worcestersh.,
the ch. of which is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In John,
Tyb i. 1, John swears "by our Lady of C." to beat his wife when she comes
home.
CRONIAN SEA (the ARCTIC OCEAN)
Puny, Nat. Hist. iv. 30, calls it Cronium Mare from Kronos, or Saturn. Milton, P. L. x. 290, describes "two polar winds blowing adverse Upon the C. s.," and blocking the N.E. passage to China by icebergs.
CROOKED LANE
A st, in Lond., which formerly ran from New Fish St. to St. Michael's L. Part
of it was taken down to make the approach to the new Lond. Bdge.: what is left
of it runs from near the corner of Cannon and K. William Sts., S. to Miles L.
Just above the end of it, in Fish St. Hill, was an old inn called the Black Bell,
formerly the house of Edward the Black Prince. In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas
puns on the name: "Last is child Rowlan, and a straight young man, Though he come
out of C. L." In Dekker's Edmonton
ii. 1, the Clown says, in response to Cuddy's request for bells, "Double bellsC.
L.ye shall have 'em straight in C. L." The reference is probably to the
Black Bell Inn at the corner of the Lane. In Middleton's No
Wit ii. 1, Weatherwise says, "Her crabbed Uncle, dwelling in C. L., crossed
the marriage." In Davenant's Rutland, p. 221, the Parisian, in his account of
Lond., says, "Football is not very conveniently civil in the sts., especially
in such irregular and narrow roads as C. L." In Brome's City
Wit v. 1, the boy sings a song "made by a couple that were lately married
in C.-L." In Urquhart's Rabelais i. 28, Friar John says, "They go into Paradise
as straight as a sickle or as the way is to Faye (like C. L. at Eastcheap)."
CROSBY HOUSE (or CROSBY PLACE)
A mansion in Lond. on the E, side of Bishopsgate St. Within, which covered the
greater part of what is now Crosby Sq. It was built by Sir John Crosby about 1470,
and was then the highest house in Land. He occupied it till his death in 1475,
when it was let by his widow to Richd., D. of Gloucester. Sir T. More lived in
it from 1516 to 1523, and after him his friend Antonio Bonvici, an Italian merchant.
Later still it was occupied by the Countess of Pembroke, "Sydney's sister, Pembroke's
mother." In 1672 the great hall became a Presbyterian chapel; and 2 years later
the house was partly destroyed by fire, though luckily the Hall was spared. About
1769 it was converted into a warehouse. It was partially restored by public subscription
in 1836, and from 1840 to 1860 was the home of a Literary and Scientific Institute.
Then it was turned into a restaurant, and"last stage of this eventful history"was
pulled down in 1910 and re-erected at Chelsea, near the ch. In R3
i. 2, 213, Gloucester invites Anne to "Presently repair to C. H."; but as
this was in 1471 C. was still living, and it was not till after his death that
Gloucester went to reside there. In i. 3, 345, he bids the murderers of the young
princes, "When you have done, repair to C. Place "; and in iii. 1, 190, he tells
Catesby, "At C. H, there shall you find us both ": himself, that is, and Buckingham.
In T. Heywood's Ed. IV A. 57,
Sir John C. says, "In memory of me, J. Crosbie, In Bishopsgate St. a poor house
have I built And in my name have called it C. H."
CROSS
The sign of an inn at Valetta, in Malta. In B. & F. Malta
iii. 1, one of the watchmen says, "Let's eat (our breakfast] at the C." To
which the Corporal responds: "There's the best liquor." It is mentioned in Middleton's
Widow iv. i., as the sign of an inn
in Capo D'Istria, where a quack doctor has hung out his flag.
CROSS KEYS
A tavern in Cranford, mentioned in Harman's Caveat 24 as a haunt of Morts and their Dories. There was also a C. K. Tavern on the W. side of Gracechurch St., Lond., between Lombard St. and Cornhill, where Henslowe relates that Lord Strange's company played about 1590. Here Banks used to exhibit the wonderful feats of his horse Marocco. In Tarlton's Jests, we read: "There was one Banks who had a horse of strange qualities, and being at the Crosse Keyes in Gracious St., Tarlton came into the Crosse Keyes among many people." It was one of the 5 taverns in which plays were acted before the building of the theatres.
CROTAY (i.e. CROTOY)
A town in France on the N. side of the estuary of the Somme. In Ed. III iii. 3, Prince Edward says, "Some of their strongest cities we have won, As Harflew, Lo, C., and Carentigne."
CROTONA
A Greek colony in S. Italy, at the S.W. corner of the Gulf of Tarentum, at the mouth of the Assarus. It was one of the most powerful and populous cities of Magna Graecia, and the rival of Sybaris. At the period of its greatest prosperity it controlled the whole dist. across to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The country is rough and mountainous, and doubtless sheltered many wolves. In Nabbes' Microcosmus iv., Physander talks of the moon being "affrighted with the howlings of Caean. wolves."
CROW
The sign of an inn in Aldgate. I suspect that it is the same as the Pye Inn in
Aldgate High St., over against Houndsditch. One of the tokens of the Pye Inn is
extant, dated 1648; and The Presbyterian Lash (1661) was "acted in the great room
at the Pye Tavern in Aldgate." In Middleton's Quarrel
i. 1, Russell says that Chough has his lodgings "at the C. in Aldgate."
CROWLAND
An ancient town in Lincolnsh., 60 m. N. of Lond. It possesses a unique triangular bdge., with a statue, said to be of Alfred the Gt., and the ruins of a monastery. It was in the Fen country, and was much resorted to for duck hunting.
In Jonson's Devil ii. 1, Fitzdottrel
tells his wife, "All C. is ours; and the fens from us in Norfolk to the utmost
bounds in Lincolnsh." In Glapthorne's Hollander
i. 1, Sconce says that his father "undertook to have drained the Fens and
there was drowned, and at the ducking time at C. drawn up in a net for a widgin."
Ducking time means the duck-shooting season. In Brome's Northern
i. 2, when Widgine says, "Our ancestors flew out of Holland in Lincolnsh. to
prevent persecution," Tridewell says, "From C., I warrant you, a little before
a moulting time." The suggestion is that they were geese. Drayton, in Polyolb.
xi. 353, says of Ethelbald of Mercia, "Then to the Eastern Sea, in that deep
watery fen. . . He that great Abbey built of C."
CROWN (1)
A bookseller's sign in Lond. Look about
was "Printed for William Ferbrand and are to be sold at his shop at the sign
of the C. near Guildhall Gate. 1600." Kinsmen
was "Printed at Lond. by Tho. Cotes for John Waterson; and are to be sold
at the sign of the C. in Paul's Churchyard. 1634." Webster's Malfi
has the same imprint, 1623.
CROWN (2)
A Lond. tavern sign. A C. Tavern is in the list in T. Heywood's Lucrece
ii. 5: "The gentry to the King's Head, the nobles to the C." There were C.
Inns on the N. side of Holborn, near Furnival's Inn; on the E. side of Warwick
L., near Newgate St.; on the W. side of Coleman St., about halfway up the st.;nd
on the N. side of Aldgate, near the gate. In Bale's Later Exam. of Anne Askewe
(1547), Anne says, "I was sent from Newgate to the sign of the C. . .. where the
Bp. of Lond. went about to persuade me from God." This was probably the C. in
Warwick Lane. In Glapthome's Hollander
v. 1, Sconce says, "Ere I went to the ch. I had gotten a touch in the C."
CROWN (3)
An inn in Cambridge, probably the Rose and C., in Rose Cresc., fronting the Market
Pl. and running back to Trinity St. The old balcony and part of the house still
remain. In Pilg. Pernass v. 633,
Ingenioso says, "Seest thou not my host Johns of the C.?" The mention of Hobson,
the carrier, in the same paragraph seems to show that Johns was a real person
at Cambridge.
CROXTON
There are 5 vills. of this name in England one each in Cambridge, Lincoln, and Norfolk, and 2 in Leicester. The play of the Blessed Sacrament was acted at one of the Cs.it is uncertain whichbetween 1461 and 1500.
CROYDON
Mkt. town in Surrey, on the Wandle, 9 m. S. of Lond. Large quantities of charcoal
were made there for the supply of Lond. There are 2 fairs, on July 6 and October
2, the latter being specially famous for its walnuts. The Archbps. of Canterbury
had a palace here from the Conquest onward. It was sold in 1780, and the old chapel
is used as a school of industry for girls. In Jonson's New
Inn iv. 3, Pinnacia tells how Stuff hires a coach and "runs in his velvet
jacket, thus, to Rumford, C., Hounslow or Barnet" along with her. In Shirley's
Fair One iv. 2, Treedle says, "We
will keep our wedding at my own house at C." The scene of ii. 1, is laid there.
In Prodigal i. 1, Flowerdale orders
his father, who is disguised as a serving-man, to get some new clothes: "thou
shah ride with me to C. Fair."
Grim, the Collier of Croydon, [ed. note: probably the same as Haughton's
The Devil and His Dam.] is
the title of an old anonymous play, and Grim appears in Edwards' Damon,
where Jack compliments him ironically on his good complexion: "a right C sanguine,
beshrew me!" A Ca. sanguine is said by Nares to be a kind of sallow colour,
but in this quotation it seems to mean no more than that Grim has a black face.
In Grim ii. 1, the hero says, "There's
never a day in the week but I carry coals from C. to Lond." In Locrine
ii. 6, Trumpart calls on the "Colliers of C. and rusticks of Royden and fishers
of Kent" to lament the death of Strumbo the cobbler. In Greene's Quip, p. 235,
one of the characters says, "Though I am black, I am not the devil, but indeed
a collyer of C." There was also a Tom Collier of C. introduced in Fulwell's
Like, about whom there was an ancient quatrain: "Tom Collier of C. hath sold
his coals, And made his market to-day; And now he danceth with the devil, For
like will to like alway." There is a Grim, a collier, in Brewer's Lovesick
King; but in iii., he predicts, "Newcastle coals shall conquer C." Just
above he has said, "There are a new sort of colliers crept up near Lond., at
a place called C., that have found out a way by scorching of wood to make charcoals."
In the Cobler of Canterburie (1608), the author says, "I confess 'tis a book;
and so is the collier's jade of C. a horse as well as the courtier's courser."
In Killigrew's Parson ii. 4, Faithful
tells of a charitable Member of Parliament that "got an order to have it but
5 m. to C. for ease of the market-women." In Wise
Men vi. 4, Purgato says to, Antonio, "Will you take up the best chamber
and spend but 2 pence for your part; and this at C. near Lond.?" Nash's Summers
was acted at, or near, C. In 1592.
CRUK HEYTH (i.e. BARROW HEATH; now GRUGITH)
In the parish of St. Keverne in S. of Cornwall, 8 m. S. of Falmouth. In Cornish M. P. iii. 377, it is one of the places given by Pilate to the soldier who has guarded the tomb of our Lord.
CRUTCHED FRIARS
A st. in Lond., running E. from Mark Lane to Fenchurch Station and then N. to
Aldgate. It was so called from a Convent of C., or Crossed, F. which stood at
its S.E. corner. The C. F. were a minor order distinguished by their wearing a
red cross on the breast of their habit. The convent was founded in 1298, and after
the dissolution of the monasteries was converted into a glass-house, where the
first window-glass was made that was produced in England. In Haughton's Englishmen
i 2, as the company are walking over Tower Hill; Harvey accounts for Heigham's
liking for it because it "leads to C. F. Where old Pisaro and his daughters dwell."
Much fun is gained in iv. 1 from the wanderings about Lond. of the various, foreigners
who are looking for Pisaro's home. In Dekker's Westward
i. 1, Birdlime says, "I keep a hot-house in Gunpowder L., near C. F;" In
Davenport's New Trick, Bernard and
Friar John belong to the C. F. In iii. 1, Friar John says, "We are now at Islington;
what hope have we to get to C. F, before the gates be shut?"
CTESIPHON
A famous city in S. Assyria, on the Tigris, abt. 50 m. N.E. of Babylon. It was built by the Parthian kings near the ruins of Seleucia, and was used by them as a winter residence. It has completely disappeared, but its site is called by the Arabs A1 Madain. In Milton, P. R. iii. 292, it is mentioned amongst the cities shown to our Lord by the Tempter; and in 300 he says, "Now the Parthian K. In C. hath gathered all his host Against the Scythian."
CUBA
The largest of the W. Indian islands, discovered by Columbus in 1493 and settled
in by the Spaniards in 1511. Greene, in his Orlando,
makes one of the suitors of Angelica, Rodamant, k. of C., and another, Mandrecarde,
K. of Mexico. In Ariosto's poem they are respectively kings of Algiers and of
Tartary. In i. 1, 36, Rodamant describes, "C. my seat, a region so enriched With
savours sparkling from the smiling heavens. . . The earth within her bowels hath
enwrapt Millions of gold." In Devonshire
i. 2, the Merchant relates how "C. by Drake was ravished." This was in 1585. A
particular way of smoking was called the Cn. ebullition. In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. iii. 1, Puntarvolo speaks of "the practice of the Cn. ebullition, Euripus,
and Whiff" as parts of the gentlemanlike use of tobacco.
CUBAR
The land of the negroes on the W. coast of Africa. In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. i. 3, Techelles says, "By the coast of Byather [Biafra] at last I came
to C. where the negroes dwell"; and thence he goes to Nubia by way of Borno in
Central Africa.
CUCKOLDS HAVEN (or CUCKOLDS POINT)
On the Surrey side of the Thames at the entrance of Limehouse Reach, below Rotherhithe
Ch., and opposite the W. India Docks. The legend goes that the Miller of Chariton,
having discovered K. John kissing his wife, demanded compensation, and was granted
all the land he could see from his door. He therefore claimed all as far as this
point, which was thereafter called C. P. The K., however, added this condition,
that he should walk every 18th of October (St. Luke's Day) to the point with a
pair of buck's horns on his head; and he also gave him the right to hold a fair
at Charlton on that day, which was called Horn Fair; it was kept up till 1872.
A post was erected at the point with a pair of horns upon it. In the Diary of
a Resident of London 283, we read that "the same day [May 25, 1562] was set up
at the Cuckold H. a great May-pole by botchers and fisher-men, full of horns;"
Hentzner, in his Travels, describes "the long pole with rams' horns upon it" on
the opposite shore to Radcliffe. In Eastward
iv., "Enter Slitgut with a pair of ox-horns, discovering C. H. above." He proceeds,
"All hail, fair h. of married men only! For there are none but married men cuckolds.
For my part, I presume not to arrive here, but in my master's behalf, a poor butcher
of Eastcheap, who sends me to set up, in honour of St. Luke, these necessary ensigns
of his honour." He then rescues Security, Winifred, and Quicksilver, whose boat
has been overturned on their way to Drake's ship, where they had proposed to sup
before seeing Sir Petronel off to Virginia. "What!" cries Security, "landed at
C. H.? Hell and damnation! I will run back and drown myself." In Prodigal
iii. 1, Civet says, "My estate is £40 a year ; besides 20 mark a year at C.
H., and that comes to us all by inheritance." In Dekker's Edmonton
ii, 2, Warbeck says, "That confidence is a wind that has blown many a married
man ashore at C. H." In Day's Gulls ii.
1, Manassas says, "Now doth my master long more to finger that gold than a young
girl, married to an old man, doth to run her husband ashore at C. H." In Northward
iii. 2, Squirrel says, "I will tell thee the most politic trick of a woman
that e'er made a man's face look withered and pale, like the tree in C. H. in
a great snow." In Westward iv.
1, Birdlime says, "You went to a butcher's feast at C. H. the next day after St.
Luke's day." St. Luke is usually represented as an ox in ancient symbolism. Taylor,
Works ii. 21, laments the decay of the H.; "Passing further I at first observed
That C. H. was but badly served; For there old Time bath such confusion wrought
That of that ancient place remaineth nought, No monumental memorable horn Or tree
or post which hath these trophies borne Was left" In Wit
Woman 1461, Veronte tells Rinaldo that his wife "will make thy head like
C. H.," i.e. put horns on it. In Dekker's Match
me i. 1, Bilbo says, "If she should drive you by foul weather into C. H. before
St. Luke's day comes, Signor Luco, how then?"In Nabbes' C.
Garden v. 6, Ralph predicts that Worthy will marry a wife in the city; "you
shall then be shipped at C. H. and so transported into Cornwall," i.e.
the land of horns. In Dekker's News from Hell, he says that though hell stands
farther off than the Indies, "yet you may sail sooner thither than a married man
can upon S. Luke's day to C. H. from St. Katherines." Dekker, in Raven's Almanac
(1609), predicts, "Upon St. Luke's day bitter storms of wind and hail are likely
to happen about C H." In Day's Travails,
Bullen, p. 59, Kemp says, "You are in the right way to C. -h. ; St. Luke be your
speed!" In Day's Gulls iii. 1, Basilius
says, "An a duchess long to give her husband the horning let it never grieve butchers
to do homage at c. h."
CUE
See KEW.
CULLEN
See COLOGNE.
CUMA (more properly Cures)
An ancient town on the coast of Campania in Italy, some 10 m. N. of Naples. It
was famous in antiquity as the home of the Sibyl. It was completely destroyed
by the Saracens in the 13rd cent., and is now only a mass of ruins. In Davenant's
Favourite iii. 1, Eumena announces,
"The Chancellor of C.'s dead." C. was for some time an archbishopric, but at its
destruction the see was annexed to that of Naples. Apparently Davenant thought
that the title survived, as it probably did.
CUMBERLAND
A county in N.W. England. The name Cumbria was at first applied to the whole kingdom
of Strathclyde, but in the 10th cent. it became limited to the part of it S. of
the Solway Firth. It was formally handed over to Malcolm of Scotland by Edmond
in 945; and the heir to the Scottish Crown was entitled Prince of C. William Rufus
conquered it and built Carlisle, which had been destroyed by the Danes, but it
was not till the reign of Henry III that it was definitely recognized as belonging
to England, and for a long time it was a sort of no-man's land, or March, between
the 2 kingdoms. In Sackville's Ferrex i.
2, Philander recalls how "Morgan slain did yield his conquered part Unto his cousin's
sword in C." The battle is related in Geoffrey of Monmouth ii. 15. In Brewer's
Lovesick v., Alured grants to the
K. of Scotland "all those our N. borders Bounding on C., from Tine to Tweed,"
in return for his help against the Danes. In Mac.
i. 4, 39, Duncan makes his eldest son, Malcolm, "prince of C."; and Macbeth, recognizing
that this was equivalent to declaring him heir to the throne, says, "The Prince
of C.! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way
it lies." In Munday's John Kent, John
a Cumber is a Scotsman, Cumber being used for the whole of Strathclyde. In
Trag. Richd. II iv. 1, 217, the
K. gives "Comberland" and several other counties to Sir Thomas Scroope. In H6
B. v. 2, 1, Warwick challenges "Clifford of C." This was Thomas, 8th Lord
de Clifford, sheriff of Westmorland and member for that county, which was not
yet clearly distinguished from its neighbour C. In Respublica
v. 6, Avarice tells Respublica, if she would have trusted him, "Somersetsh.
should have taught to C.": the point being their remoteness from each other. In
Middleton's R.G. v. 1, a cutpurse
is described as "one of C.," in order to give Moll the opportunity of saying,
"'Tis one that cumbers the land indeed."
CUMNOR
Vill. in Berks., some 5 m. S.W. of Oxford. Here Amy Robsart was murdered by Anthony
Forster: notwithstanding, he is described in his epitaph in C. Ch. as amiable
and accomplished! In the string of nonsense rhymes in Thersites
D. 1, occurs the couplet, "Simkin Sydn'am Sumn'nor, That killed a cat at C."
CUNDRESTINE (i.e. CUNZIERTON)
A hill in E. Roxburgh, Scotland, 6 m. S.E. of Jedburgh. In Ford's Warbeck
iv. 1, Surrey says, "Can they [the Scots] look on the strength of C. defaced?"
CUNNY STREET
See CONEY STREET.
CUPS, THREE
See THREE Cups.
CURRIERS' HALL
Stood in Lond. Wall near Philip Lane. It was destroyed in the Gt. Fire and rebuilt in 1670. It was again re-erected in 1874. For a long time it was used as a meeting-place for a dissenting congregation, and even in the time of James I seems to have been connected with Puritanism. In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas, declaring that he is a good Protestant, says, "The Masque. . . was intended, I confess, for C. H."
CURTAIN
The second Playhouse built in Lond, the Theatre being the first. It was erected
in 1577 at the point where Hewett St. debouches into Curtain Rd. Shoreditch, on
the opposite side to St. James' Ch., a little to the N. of it. It took its name
from C. Close, a meadow belonging to the Holywell Priory, the C. being some part
of the outworks of the old Lond. walls. Here Shakespeare's Henry
V was probably produced, in which reference is made to its shape and construction:
Prol. 12, "May we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright
the air at Agincourt?" An unsuccessful attempt was made to close it, as the result
of a riot that broke out in the neighbourhood. The riot is described in a letter
from William Fleetwood, the City Recorder, to Lord Burleigh, 1584. Indeed, as
the letter says, "Upon Sunday my lord sent 2 aldermen to the court for the suppressing
and pulling down of the Theatre and C." It was still standing in 1627. John Stockwood,
in a sermon at St. Paul's Cross in 1578, complains, "If you resort to the Theatre,
the C., and other places of plays in the city, you shall on the Lord's day have
those places so full as possible they can throng." In Northbrooke's Treatise against
Dicing (1577), he speaks of "Places builded for such days and interludes as the
Theater and C. is." Wither, in Abuses Stript and Whipt, says, "Base fellow, whom
mere time bath made sufficient to bring forth a rhyme, a C. jig, a libel, or a
ballad." Middleton, in Hubburd, p. 90, adds to its bad reputation: "The camp,"
he says, "was supplied with harlots as well as the C." In Tarlton's Jests a story
is told of how someone in the audience interrupted Tarlton, "he then playing at
the C." Marston, in Scourge of Villainie (1598), says that Romeo and Juliet "won
C. plaudites."
CURTIAN GULF (i.e. LACUS CURTIUS)
A puteal or well-mouth in the centre of the Forum at Rome, marking the spot where
about the middle of the 4th cent. B.C. a gulf opened in the Forum, which could
not be closed until the most precious thing in Rome had been flung into it. M.
Curtius leapt in on his horse and the gulf at once closed (Livy vii. 6). In Chapman's
Consp. Byron iii. 1, Byron compares
the K.'s ingratitude to this gulf: "Did ever C. G. play such a part?" In Dekker's
Northward v. 1, Mayberry says of
Featherstone, "He's in the C. G. and swallowed, horse and man." In Richards' Messallina
iii. 1, 175, Montanus speaks of "the C.-g-like appetite" of Messallina. In Marston's
Courtesan i. 2, 193, it is said of
a lady: "She's none of . . . your C. gs. that will never be satisfied until the
best thing a man has be thrown into them." In B. & F. Custom
iv. 4, Rutilio cries: "But women! women! . . . Curtius' G. was never half
so dangerous." In their Brother iii.
1, Rollo says, "My mother here, My sister, this just lord, and all had filled
The C. g. of this conspiracy." In their Double
Mar.iv. 4, the D. says, "Like Curtius, I'll leap the g. before you, fearless
leap it." In their Prize i. 2, Maria
says, "Like Curtius, to redeem my country, have I leaped Into this g. of marriage."
CUSCO
A city in the centre of Peru, abt. 350 m. S.E. of Lima. It was the capital of the Empire of the Incas, whose last K., Atahualpa, called by the Spaniards Atabalipa, was conquered by Pizarro in 1533. Milton, P. L. xi. 408, says of Adam: "In spirit perhaps he also saw . . . C. in Peru, the richer seat of Atabalipa."
CUSTOMHOUSE
On the S. side of Lower Thames St., Lond., E. of Billingsgate. During Chaucer's
tenure of the Comptrollership of Customs, the C. H. was rebuilt, a little to the
E. of its present site, in 1385. In the reign of Elizabeth it was replaced by
a larger building, which was destroyed in the Gt. Fire. It was rebuilt by Wren,
and again burnt down in 1718. The next building was also destroyed by fire in
1814. The present building was then erected, but so badly that extensive repairs
had to be made in 1828. In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. iii., Wellbred, after being taken in by Brainworm, says, "Would we
were e'en pressed to make porters of, and serve out the remnant of our days in
Thames St. or at C. H. Key, in a civil war against the carmen!" In his Devil
i. i. Iniquity says to Pug, "From thence we will put in at C.-H. Key there,
And see how the factors and prentices play there False with their masters and
geld many a full pack." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Honeysuckle says to his wife, "[I am going] to the C. H., to the 'Change,
to my warehouse, to divers places." In W. Rowley's New
Wonder iv., George informs Brewen that his wares have been conveyed "in carts
to the C. H., there to be shipped."
CUTHEIA
(ie. CYTAEA). On the r. Phasis in Colchis, at the E. end of the Black Sea. In
Marlowe's Tamb. B. ii. 1, Frederick
announces that "Natolia hath dismissed the greatest part Of all his army pitched
against our power Betwixt C. and Orminius' mt.": i.e. Mt. Orminius, on
the borders of Bithynia and Paphlagonia.
CYCLADES
A group of islands in the AEgean Sea, lying in a circle round Delos, S.E. of Euboea. There were 12, or, according to other authorities, 15 of them. Delos was the smallest, though the most famous, of them, but Samos was on the other side of the AEgean. Milton, P. L. v. 264, compares Satan's first view of the earth thus: "as when . . . A pilot from amidst the C. Delos or Samos first appearing kens, A cloudy spot."
CYDNUS
A r. in Cilicia, running from the Taurus range past Tarsus into the Mediterranean.
It has silted up so rapidly that it can only be entered now by the smallest boats,
and it is 12 m. from Tarsus to its mouth. In the 1st century it was navigable
by large vessels up to Tarsus, which was less than 1 m. from the sea. Its water
is cold, and Alexander, bathing in it when he was in a violent perspiration, caught
a chill which almost cost him his life. When Antony came into Asia Minor in 41
B.C. he summoned Cleopatra to appear before him on the charge of having refused
to help the triumvirs in their campaign against the murderers of Caesar. She was
now in her 28th year and in the prime of her beauty, and she sailed up the Cydnus
to Tarsus reclining as Venus in a gorgeous barge with purple sails and silver
oars. Her judge speedily became her lover, and the rest of his life is the story
of his infatuation for the serpent of old Nile. Plutarch's description of this
famous meeting in his life of Antony is too familiar to need quotation; and Shakespeare
has enshrined it in immortal verse in Ant.
ii. 2, 190 ss. In v. 2, 228, as she attires herself for her death, Cleopatra,
exclaims: "Go fetch My best attires; I am again for C. To meet Mark Antony." The
story wrought in the tapestry of Imogen's bedchamber, as Iachimo relates in Cym.
ii. 4., 70, was "Proud Cleopatra, when she met her Roman, And C. swelled above
the banks, or for The press of boats or pride." In Daniel's Cleopatra v. 5, Titus
says, "Great Cleopatra sat, Even as she was, when on thy crystal streams, Clear
Cydnos, she did shew what earth could shew."
CYLLENE
(now called ZYRIA). A lofty mtn. in N.E. Arcadia in the Peloponnesus, where, according
to tradition, Hermes (Mercury) was born. In Jonson's Penates, Mercury says, "This
place is the Arcadian Hill C., the place where myself was both begot and born."
In Marston's Parasitaster iv.
4., Herod exclaims, "Where are we now? Cyllenian Mercurie, And thou, quick issue
of Jove's broken pate, Aid and direct us!" In his Malcontent
v. 4„ Mercury calls himself "Cyllenian Mercury, the god of ghosts." In Milton's
Arcades 98, the song begins: "Nymphs and shepherds, dance no more On old Lycaeus
or C. boar."
CYMBRI
See CIMBRI.
CYMERIAN, CYMMERIAN
See CIMMERIAN.
CYNE
In Misogonus iii. 3, Cacurgus says,
"I have seen the black Moors and the men of C." The word, however, rhymes with
"kind," and is obviously a misprint for Inde.
CYNOSARGES
A sanctuary of Hercules and a gymnasium at Athens, on the E. of the city, at the
foot of the S.E. extremity of Mt. Lycabettus. Antisthenes taught here, and his
followers were in consequence called Cynics. In Marmion's Leaguer
iv. 2, Trimalchio calls Holland's Leaguer, a well-known house of ill-fame, "A
C., such as Hercules Built in the honour of his pedigree For entertainment of
the bastard issue Of the bold Spartan." Hercules is meant by the bold Spartan,
and the reference is to the reception of his son Hyllos by Deianira at Athens
after he had been expelled from Trachis.
CYPARISSUS
A town of ancient Greece in Phocis, near Delphi, famous for its cypress trees.
In Greene's Orlando v. 2, 1445, Orlando
says, "Our planks and sides framed out of cypress wood That bears the name of
C. Change," i.e. is bought from C. in the course of trade.
CYPRUS
(Cn. = Cyprian). The island in the N.E. corner of the Mediterranean Sea, nearly equi-distant from the coasts of Asia Minor and Syria. Originally colonized by the Phoenicians and Greeks, it was conquered by the Egyptians in the 6th cent. B.C., but in 525 it declared in favour of the Persians, and remained a part of that empire until the time of Alexander the Gt. After his death it was the object of constant contention between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids at Antioch. In 58 B.C. the Romans seized it from its Egyptian governor and incorporated it in their empire. On the division of the Empire it naturally passed to the Eastern Emperors. The Caliph Othman destroyed Salamis, the capital, in A.D. 646, and held the island for 2 years; and Haroun el Raschid had possession of it for a short time after 802, but in each case it was recovered by the Greek Emperors of the East. In 1184 it became an independent kingdom under Isaac Comnenus In 1195 Richd.I took it and conferred it on Guy de Lusignan, where descendants occupied the throne until 1487, when their last representative, Catherine, ceded it to the Republic of Venice. The Venetians held it successfully against the Turks until 1571, when Selim II invaded and captured it, and it remained a part of the Turkish Empire until 1878, when by the terms of the Turkish Convention it passed under English administration, although nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire. In ancient times it was the chief source of copper, or AEs Cuprium. In the Middle Ages it gave its name to a kind of fine gauze (cipres, c., or cypress: sometimes spelt with an initial "s") At Paphos was one of the most celebrated temples of the Goddess of Love (Aphrodite, or Venus), whence she was constantly called the Cn. Goddess (diva potens Cypri: Hor. Od. i. 3, 1).
In Chapman's Alphonsus, the Emperor's
secretary is called "Lorenzo de C." He is an entirely imaginary person. Othello
is sent by the Venetian Council to defend C. against the Turk, who "with a most
mighty preparation makes for C." (i. 3, 221). He had already seen service there:
"At Rhodes, at C., and on other grounds" (i. 1, 29). In Act II he arrives at
"a seaport town in C.": undoubtedly Famagosta, the strongly fortified capital
of the island, attacked by Selim II in 1569 and taken in 1571. Here the rest
of the action of the play takes place; and one of the towers of the old castle
is pointed out still as "Desdemona's Tower." In Ant.
iii. 6, 10, Caesar complains that Antony has made Cleopatra "Of lower Syria,
C., Lydia, Absolute Queen." The statement is taken verbatim from Plutarch. In
Ford's Lover's Melan. i. 1, Amethus,
the cousin of the Prince of C., says, "This little isle of C. sure abounds In
greater wonders, both for change and fortune, Than any you have seen abroad."
In Marlowe's Tamb. B. iii. 5, Callapine
boasts that his army is as great as that of Tamburlaine "that, from the bounds
of Phrygia to the sea Which washeth C. with his brinish waves Covers the . .
. plains." In his Jew i. 2, the Turkish
Bassoes come "from Rhodes, From C., Candy, and those other isles That lie betwixt
the Mediterranean eras." The date of the play is therefore to be supposed later
than 1571. In Dekker's Fortunatus
i. 1, Fortunatus compares women to "the great bell of St. Michael's in C., that
keeps most rumbling when men would most sleep." This is probably enough "that
dreadful bell" which Othello silenced for frighting the isle from her propriety
(Oth. ii. 3, 175). The scene of Cartwright's Lady
Errant is laid in C. The Prince of C. is one of the characters in Kyd's
Soliman. The date is 1522. In Downfall
Huntington iv. 1, John says, "Richd. is a k. in C.": referring to his conquest
of the island in 1195. A Prince of C. is a suitor for the hand of the Princess
of Corsica in Partiall. One of the characters in Marston's Insatiate
is "Roberto, Count of Cypress." Some scenes in Dekker's Fortunatus
are laid in C.: the date is in the early 10th cent. The scene of Ford's Lover's
Melan. is laid at Famagosta in C. during the reign of Palador: the date
is vague, but seems to be, judging by the names of the characters, some time
during the Persian period and before the coming of Alexander the Gt. Athens
is evidently an important city. But it is doubtful if the author had any very
definite idea of the period he was describing. The scene of Machin's Dumb
Knight is laid in C., and the K. of C. engages in a combat with the K. of
Epire. Chapman's Widow's Tears also
takes place in C. at some date before the Roman occupation.
In Jonson's Case iii. 3, Aurelia
says to her sister, "I thought you'd dwell so long in Cypres isle, You'd worship
Madam Venus at the length." In Massinger's Picture
ii. 2, Ladislaus says to Honoria, "The Cn. Q., compared to you, in my opinion,
is a negro." In his Great Duke
v. 3, Cozimo swears "by all the vows which lovers offer at the Cn. goddess'
altars." Marston, in Scourge of Villanie i. 3, talks of consuming all the year
"In Cn. dalliance," i.e. in love-making; and in his Pygmalion he uses
"Cu." in the sense of a profligate: "See how he paceth like a Ciprian." In his
Parasitaster ii. 1, Tiberio
says, "I court the lady? I was not born in C.," i.e. I am not a devotee
of the Goddess of Love. Content, Sonnets (1501) ii. 26, speaks of going a pilgrimage
"Towards Love's holy Land, Fair Paphos or C." Percy, in Coelia (1594) ii. 4,
calls love "the cup of Cypria." Cupid, as the son of Venus, is called the Cn.
boy. In Rutter's Shepherd's Hol.
v. 3, Daphne says, "The Cn. boy from our abundance shall take his fires to kindle
other hearts." In Middleton's Five
Gallants iii. 5, Goldstone exclaims, "What has Fate sent us, in the name
of Venus, goddess of C.!" In Davenant's Cr.
Brother iv. 4, Foreste says to his mistress, "When must you quench the
Cn. fire?" i.e. the fire of love. In Brome's Covent
G. i. 1, Damaris refers to women of loose morals as "Cn. dames." In Glapthorne's
Argalus iv. 1, Kalander says, "Our
dull wits are not so fortunate in rich conceits as your quick Cn. intellects":
where Cn. means "inspired by love." In Greene's Orlando
i. 1, 61, Mandrecarde says, "Paphos and brave Cypres set aside, With me sweet
lovely Venus would abide."
In W. T. iv. 4, 221, Autolycus
enumerates amongst his wares "Lawn as white as driven snow; cypresse black as
e'er was crow." In Tw. N. iii. 1,
131, Olivia declares, "A cipresse, not a bosom, hides my heart," i.e.
a fabric so transparent that it can be easily seen through. In Dekker's Shoemaker's,
iii. 1, Firk asks, "can you Dutch spreaken for a ship of silk C., laden with
sugar-candy?" He is, of course, talking nonsense: he means a ship made of thin
lawn. Nash, in Unfortunate Traveller 84, speaks of "a hundred pages in suits
of white cipresse." Jonson, in Epigr. lxxiii, tells of Fine Grand's "partie-per-pale
picture, one half drawn In solemn c., th' other cobweb lawn." In J Heywood's
Four PP., p. 10, the pedlar has
in his pack "Sypers, swathbonds, rybandes and sieve laces." In The
Puritan i. 1 [stage direction], "Enter the Widow, Her 2 daughters . . .
all in mourning apparel, Edmond in a Cypresse hat." Black Cypress was used,
like crepe nowadays, as a sign of mourning. Milton, Penseroso 36, dresses Melancholy
in "sable stole of cypress lawn." "Wine of C." is mentioned amongst the commodities
brought to Bruges by traders in B.& F. Beggars'
i. 3. Jonson, in Devil iv.
1, speaks of "soap of C." amongst the ingredients of a skin-wash. In Massinger's
Emperor iv. 4, Empiric puts first
amongst his drugs "my boteni terebinthina of Cypris": apparently some kind of
turpentine. Heylyn mentions wine and turpentine amongst the products of the
island.
CYRENE
A famous Greek colony on the N. coast of Africa, abt. 500 m. W. of Alexandria.
It was founded by Battus of Thera 631 B.C. It fell successively under the domination
of the Ptolemies and the Romans. Its ruins are very extensive. In Middleton's
Chess v. 3, the Black Knight says,
"There was once a ruler, C.'s governor, choked with his own paunch." This was
Magas, and the story is told by Athenaeus, in Deipnosophistoe xii. 12. Milton,
P. L. ii. 904, says that the hosts of warring atoms in chaos were "unnumbered
as the sands Of Barca or C. 's torrid soil."
CYRTHA
See CIRTA.
CYTHAERON
See CITHAERON.
CYTHERA
(CEA. = CYTHEREA). An island off the S.E. extremity of Greece. It was an ancient
settlement of the Phoenicians, and it was supposed that the worship of the Syrian
Goddess of Love was introduced from C. into Greece. Hence the legend arose that
Aphrodite, when she was born from the sea, first came to C. Venus is called "sweet
Cea." (Pass. Pilg. 43. 73). In Shrew.
Ind. ii. 53, she is "Cea. all in sedges hid." Violets are "sweeter than Cea.'s
breath" (W.T. iv. 4,122). Iachimo,
in Cym. ii. 2, 14, apostrophizes
Imogen as "Cea." In B.& F. Woman Hater
i. 1, the D. prays to Venus as "Bright Paphian Q., thou Cean. goddess." In
Caesar's Rev. i. 6, Caesar says that
the presence of Cleopatra at Alexandria makes "Paphian temples and Cytherian hills
bonnet vail to it." Watson, in Tears of Fancie (1593) v. 5, speaks of "Cea. from
Olimpus mt. Descending." Daniel, in Sonnets after Astrophel (1591) xi. 2, calls
Cupid "Cea.'s son." R. Linche, in Diella v. 9, says, "Cea. checked her lordly
son." Herrick, in Oberon's Palace (1647), speaks of "Citherea's ceston which All
with temptation doth bewitch." Milton, P. L. ix. 19, calls AEneas "Cea.'s son."
C., like other islands in the AEgean, was used in the time of Tiberius as
a place of banishment for persons who had come under the Emperor's suspicion.
In Jonson's Sejanus i. 2, Tiberius
thanks the Senate for "their grace in confining of Silanus to the isle Cithera
at the suit of his religious sister."
CYVILT
See SEVILLE.
CYZICUM
A city on the neck of the peninsula on the S. coast of the Propontis in Mysia. It is now a heap of ruins. It was celebrated amongst the Romans for its oysters. Drayton, in Polyolb. xix. 118, praises the oysters of Walfleet as being "As excellent as those which are esteemed most, The Cizic shells, or those on the Lucrinian coast."