Imatges de pągina
PDF
EPUB

538

CARRACCI-CARRERAS.

ment and distribution of figures. He is one of the greatest imitators of Correggio. His St. Roque distributing Alms, now in Dresden, was the first painting which gave him reputation. His Genius of Glory is likewise celebrated. In the Farnesian gallery, which he painted, there breathes an antique elegance, and all the grace of Raphael. You find there imitations of Tibaldi (who painted at Bologna, about 1550, with Nicolo del Abate), of Michael Angelo (the style, indeed, somewhat softened), and the excellences of the Venetian and Lombard schools. Out of Bologna, he is acknowledged as the greatest of the Carracci. In that city, however, Ludovico is more admired. Agostino, perhaps, had more invention, and Ludovico more talent for teaching; but Annibale had a loftier spirit, and his style is more eloquent and noble. He died of grief (1609), at the ingratitude of cardinal Farnese, who paid him for 20 years' labor with 500 gold scudi. He was buried at the side of Raphael, in the Pantheon of Rome.-Francesco Carracci, another brother, is unimportant.-Antonio Carracci, a natural son of Agostino, born, 1583, at Venice, has more merit. Among the many well-known disciples of the Carracci, Domenichino deserves to be particularly named.

CARRERAS; three brothers, distinguished in the revolution of Chile. José Miguel Carrera, Juan José Carrera, and Luis Carrera, were the sons of a rich landholder in Santiago, don Ignacio Carrera. One of them served in Europe until 1811, and attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel and commandant of a regiment of hussars. The three brothers took an active part in the revolution from its commencement, and, in November, 1811, obtained the effective control of the revolutionary government; don José Miguel, the eldest, being a member of the junta, and colonel in the army, and the two younger brothers being also colonels in different corps, and the military being strongly in their favor. They continued in the possession of power until 1813, when they were taken prisoners by the Spaniards, and confined at Taloa. During their confinement, O'Higgins placed himself at the head of affairs. But they soon regained their liberty, and, by means of their popularity with the army, were enabled to displace O'Higgins, and resume their former influence, although not without a conflict with their antagonist. They became reconciled to him, however, and acted in concert with him at the battle of

Don

Rancagua, in October, 1814, in which the patriots were defeated, and in consequence of which the Carreras and their associates fled across the Andes. José Miguel left South America for the U. States, seeking supplies of men and money. Meanwhile, don Juan José and don Luis remained in Buenos Ayres, where they were detained, on their parole, by Pueyrredon, and not allowed to join the army sent for the liberation of Chile, commanded by their personal enemy, O'Higgins, and his bosom friend, general San Martin. Don José Miguel found them in this condition upon his return in 1817, and was himself arrested at Buenos Ayres, but made his escape. His brothers fled from Buenos Ayres, but were apprehended, Aug. 17, 1817, near Mendoza, and thrown into prison. Upon learning this, general San Martin despatched his secretary, Monteagudo, to bring them to trial, and, if possible, invent some plausible cause for their execution, so as to prevent their return to Chile. Accordingly, a false accusation of having murdered some obscure person in 1814 was brought against don Juan José, but, as this did not inculpate don Luis, a plot was contrived with the soldiers, and the brothers were induced to attempt their escape; after which the proceedings were resumed, and they were condemned, on the 8th of March, 1818, to be shot on the same day. They heard their sentence at three o'clock in the afternoon, and were slaughtered at six. They walked arm in arm to the place of execution, gave the word to the soldiers to fire, and embraced each other in death. So causeless were these legal murders, that public opinion charges them upon San Martin, who, finding the friends of the Carreras numerous in Chile, employed his creature Monteagudo to procure their death. With brutal cruelty, San Martin sent their aged father an account of the expenses of their execution, with an order for its immediate payment. He paid the bloody charge, and, two days afterwards, expired of a broken heart. Don José Miguel resolved to avenge their death. He raised a small body of troops, natives and foreigners, and marched across the pampas, having found means to correspond with his friends in Santiago. His progress was viewed with great uneasiness by O'Higgins, then supreme director of Chile; for the people cherished the fondest recollections of the Carreras, whose wisdom in government, and personal condescension, affability and munificence, had won all

CARRERAS-CARRIER PIGEON.

hearts. A conspiracy in favor of Carrera, unfortunately, was detected by O'Higgins, and suppressed. Don José Miguel arrived near Mendoza in January, 1822, and was there unexpectedly met by a superior force, and surrounded and taken prisoner, after a brave resistance. Being conducted to Mendoza, he was hurried through a brief form of trial, and executed on the very spot where his brothers suffered. Thus, by a singularly adverse fortune, perished a family of brothers, who left not their equals in patriotism, talents and purity of character in Chile. Their friend and adviser, Rodriguez, also perished, a victim of the same enemies. In testimony of their respect for the memory of the Carreras, the government of Chile have recently ordered the removal of their remains from Mendoza to their native country. (Stevenson's South America, vol. iii; North American Review, vol. xxiv, p. 313; Miller's Mem., i. p. 383.) CARRIER, COMMON. (See Common Carrier.)

CARRIER, John Baptist, born in 1756, at Volai, near Aurillac, in Upper Auvergne, an obscure attorney at the beginning of the revolution, was chosen, in 1792, member of the national convention, aided in the establishment of the revolutionary tribunal, March 10, 1793, and exhibited the wildest rage for persecution. He voted for the death of Louis XVI, demanded the arrest of the duke of Orleans, April 6, 1793, and contributed greatly to the revolution of May 31. Oct. 8, 1793, he was sent to Nantes with a commission to suppress the civil war by the exercise of greater severity than had yet been used. The prisons were already full,' while the defeat of the Vendeans near Savenay increased the number of prisoners. Multitudes, informally and precipitately condemned, were executed daily; but Carrier found this process too slow. He resolved, therefore, to destroy the prisoners in a mass, and without a trial. He caused 94 priests to be conveyed to a boat with a perforated bottom, under pretence of transporting them, but, in reality, with a view of having them drowned by night. Every day this artifice was repeated. In the evening, the destined victims, of every age and of both sexes, were brought to the boats. Two were tied together, and plunged into the water, at the point of the bayonet and the edge of the sabre. The executioners sometimes amused themselves by tying together a young man and woman; and they called these noyades (republican marriages). Be

539

sides this, more than 500 prisoners were daily shot in the quarries at Gigan. For more than a month, these deeds of madness were perpetrated. It has been estimated that 15,000 individuals perished in this way. The banks of the Loire were strewed with the dead, and the water was so polluted, that it was prohibited to drink it. Some months before the fall of Robespierre, Carrier was recalled. The 9th Thermidor (July 27), 1794, he was appre hended, and brought before the revolutionary tribunal, which condemned him to death, Dec. 16, 1794.

CARRIER PIGEON (pavedette, columba tabellaria). This bird is a native of the East; and the practice of sending letters by pigeons belongs, therefore, principally to Eastern countries. The pigeons chosen for this service are called, in Arabic, hamahn. They have a ring of particolored feathers round the neck, red feet, covered with down, and build their nests in the neighborhood of human habitations. In the province of Irak (that is, Chaldæa, Babylonia and Assyria), white pigeons are trained with the least difficulty. The first pigeon used as a messenger some consider to be that which Noah sent from the ark, and which returned with the leaf of the olive. An actual post-system, in which pigeons were the messengers, was established by the sultan Noureddin Mahmood, who died in 1174. It was improved and extended by the caliph Ahmed Alraser-Lidiv-Allah, of Bagdad, who died in 1225. The price of a welltrained pair of such pigeons was, at that time, 1000 dinars, that is, Arabic ducats. This flying post lasted till 1258, when Bagdad fell into the hands of the Mongols, and was destroyed by them. At present, only a few wealthy individuals in the East keep these pigeons. It requires much time and patience to train them. As soon as the young (a cock and a hen are preferred) are fledged, they are made as tame as possible, and accustomed to each other's society. They are then sent, in an uncovered cage, to the place whither they are usually to carry messages. If one of them is carried away, after having been well treated for some time, it will certainly return to its mate. A small letter is written on the finest silk-paper sometimes on a particular kind called bird-paper. This is placed lengthwise under one wing, and fastened with a pin (the point being turned from the body) to a feather. It needs not to be mentioned, that no part of the letter must hang loose, lest the wind should be collected in it,

540

CARRIER PIGEON-CARRON.

the wing become tired, and the pigeon be compelled to alight. A pigeon of this kind can go a distance of upwards of 1000 parasangs (more than 2700 English miles) in a day. There were similar posts in Egypt, in 1450, for which columbaries were prepared in towers, erected at certain distances for the public security. This custom is, however, not confined to the nations of the East. Decius Brutus, according to the elder Pliny's account, sent despatches from Modena by pigeons; and in modern times, they were made use of, during the Dutch war, by the inhabitants of Haerlem, when besieged in 1573, and in Leyden, in 1574. It is also well known, that some merchants in Paris and Amsterdam employ carrier-pigeons, in order that the course of exchange and the prices of stocks, in Paris, may be known as soon as possible in Amsterdam. CARRO, Giovanni di; a physician of Milan, who settled in Vienna. He is celebrated for his efforts in spreading inoculation, as a protection from the small-pox, in Germany, Poland, Hungary and Russia. He found means to overcome even the prejudices of the Turks, by sending to lord Elgin, at Constantinople, in 1800, a quantity of virus, together with a work of his, translated into Turkish, on inoculation. All the attempts of the English to introduce inoculation into India had been hitherto unsuccessful, because the virus had always been spoiled on the way. Carro procured the matter from Lombardy cows, for doctor Harford, at Bagdad. It retained all its strength, and was the means of imparting the benefits of kinepock inoculation to India, which the Indians consider as derived from a sacred cow, and to which they have given the name of amurtum (immortality). Carro's Observations et Experiences sur la Vaccination, avec une Planche colorée (Vienna, 1801 and 1802), and his translation (Vienna, 1802) of an English work, by J. J. Loy, on the origin of the kine-pock virus, are very valuable works. In the Bibliothéque Britannique are some letters deserving of notice, written by him, particularly one, dated Aug. 27, 1803, on the antipestilential nature of the kine-pock matter.

CARROLL, John, first Catholic bishop of the U. States, was born in Maryland, in the year 1734. His parents were Catholics of distinguished respectability, and sent him, at the age of 13, to the college of St. Omer's, in Flanders, where he remained for six years, when he was transferred to the colleges of Liege and Bruges. In 1769, he was ordained a priest, and

soon after became a Jesuit. In 1770, he accompanied the present lord Stourton, the son of an English Catholic nobleman, on a tour through Europe, in the capacity of private tutor; and, on his return to Bruges, in 1773, accepted a professorship in the college. Shortly afterwards, he was on the point of going back to his native country; but his voyage was prevented by the intelligence of the entire suppression of the Jesuits by the pope; and he retired to England, where he resided until 1775, when he returned to America. His stay in Europe was prolonged in order that he might assist his brethren in procuring a mitigation of the severe sentence that had been passed upon them. He acted as secretary-general to the dispersed fathers in their remonstrances with the courts, by which they had been persecuted. Upon his arrival in Maryland, he entered upon the duties of a parish priest. In 1776, at the solicitation of congress, he accompanied doctor Franklin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and Samuel Chase, on a mission to Canada, designed to induce the people of that province to preserve a neutral attitude in the war between England and the colonies, but was unsuccessful. The Roman Catholic clergy of the U. States having requested from the pope the establishment of a spiritual hierarchy here, in preference to being under the superintendence of one in England, Mr. Carroll was appointed vicargeneral in 1786, when he fixed his abode in Baltimore. In 1789, he was named first Catholic bishop of the U. States, and went to England, in the summer of 1790, where he was consecrated. In the same year, he returned to Baltimore, and, as the seat of his episcopal see was established in that city, assumed the title of bishop of Baltimore. He was universally esteemed and beloved for the exemplary manner in which he discharged his duties, the mildness and courtesy of his manners, and the sanctity of his life. He lived in friendly communion with persons of other sects, his character being entirely devoid of intolerance. A few years before his demise, he was elevated to the archiepiscopal dignity. He died Dec. 3, 1815, in the 81st year of his age.

CARRON; a village of Scotland, on the banks of a stream of the same name, in Stirlingshire, and about three miles from the shore of the Forth. Its extensive iron-foundery is one of the most noted in Great Britain. This was established in 1760, and now employs nearly 2000 men. There are about 20 furnaces, and

CARRON-CARSTARES.

many kinds of iron articles are made in great quantities, as heavy pieces of ordnance, cylinders for steam-engines, pumps, boilers, wheels, with all kinds of ponderous apparatus used in the arts. That species of ordnance called a carronade, used in the navy, derived its name from being first made here. Immense numbers of shot and shells, of all sizes, are annually sent from Carron. Carron is about 2 miles north-east of Falkirk, and 26 in the same direction from Edinburgh. The banks of the river Carron were the boundary of the Roman empire in Britain; for the wall of Antoninus stood within a short distance, and ran parallel to them for several miles. Two mounds, one of them 50 feet in height, called the hills of Dunipail, rise about the middle of its course. Tradition affirms that they were monuments of a peace between the Romans and Caledonians, and that they take their name from dun, a hill, and pax, peace. It is more probable that they are barrows. CARRONADES (from the river Carron, in Scotland, where they were first made); a sort of artillery, resembling howitzers. They are of very large caliber, and carry balls, shells or cartouches. They are much lighter than common cannon, and have a chamber for the powder, like mortars. They are mostly used on board of ships, in close engagements, from the poop and forecastle. Sometimes they are employed in fortifications. They have been cast from 12 to 68 pounders. They were first used in the North American revolutionary war.

CARROT (daucus carota, Linnæus) is a biennial plant, a native of Britain. The leaves are pinnatifid, and much cut. The plant rises to the height of two feet, and produces white flowers, succeeded by rough, hispid seeds. The root of the plant, in its wild state, is small, dry, sticky, of a white color, and strong-flavored; but the root of the cultivated variety is large, succulent, and of a red-yellow or pale strawcolor, and shows remarkably the improvement which may be effected by cultivation. Though long known as a garden plant, it is comparatively of recent introduction in agriculture. It appears to have been cultivated from an early period in Germany and Flanders, and introduced from the latter country to Kent and Suffolk early in the 16th century. The various uses of the carrot in cookery are well known. But, although it contains much nutriment, it is difficult of digestion, particularly if eaten raw or imperfectly boiled. Carrots are an excellent fodder for 46

VOL. II.

541

cattle and horses, either alone or mixed with hay; and, if given to cows in winter or the early part of spring, they are said to cause a great increase of milk, which will have a much less offensive taste and smell than when they are fed on turnips. Hogs thrive well upon carrots boiled with their wash. In some parts of England, this vegetable has been cultivated as a winter food for deer; and the tops have even been made into hay. Carrots contain a large proportion of saccharine matter, and various but unsuccessful experiments have been made to extract sugar from them. They have been more advantageously employed in distillation. Ten pounds weight of carrots will yield about half a pint of very strong ardent spirit; and the carrots produced by an acre of ground, amounting to 20 tons, have been known to yield 240 gallons of spirit. A sirup made of these roots, and clarified with the whites of eggs, has been found useful for several purposes. An infusion of the seeds, and the expressed juice of the roots, are said to afford relief in fits of the gravel. A marmalade of carrots has been used with success in seascurvy, and a poultice prepared from them is sometimes employed in cancerous ulcers. Crickets are so fond of these roots, that they may easily be destroyed by making a paste of flour, powdered arsenic and scraped carrots, and placing this near their habitation. Parkinson informs us that, in his day, ladies wore carrot leaves in the place of feathers. In winter, an elegant ornament is sometimes formed by cutting off a section from the head or thick end of a carrot, containing the bud, and placing it in a shallow vessel with water. Young and delicate leaves unfold themselves, forming a radiated tuft of a very handsome appearance, heightened by contrast with the season of the year.

CARRYING TRADE. (See Commerce.) CARSTARES, William, a Scotch divine of political eminence, was born in 1649, at Cathcart, near Glasgow, where his father was minister. He pursued his studies at the university of Edinburgh, whence he was removed to that of Utrecht, was introduced to the prince of Orange, and intrusted with all his views in regard to Britain. He, however, returned to Scotland, with the view of entering the ministry, but, after receiving a license to preach, resolved to return to Holland. As he was to pass through London, he was employed by Argyle and his party to treat with the English exclusionists, and became privy

542

CARSTARES-CARTE.

to the rye-house plot. On the discovery of that conspiracy, he was apprehended. After a rigorous confinement in irons, he was subjected to the torture, and endured this trial with great firmness; but, being afterwards deluded with the hopes of a full pardon, and assured that his answers should never be made evidence against any one, he submitted to make a judicial declaration. The privy council violated their engagement, by producing his evidence in court against his friend, Mr. Baillie, of Jerviswood. Being released, he returned to Holland, and was received by the prince of Orange as a sufferer in his cause. The prince made him one of his own chaplains, and procured his election to the office of minister of the English congregation at Leyden. He accompanied the prince in his expedition, and always remained about his person, both at home and abroad. During this reign, he was the chief agent between the church of Scotland and the court, and was very instrumental in the establishment of the presbytery, to which William was averse. On the death of William, he was no longer employed on public business; but Anne continued him her chaplainroyal, and made him principal of the university of Edinburgh. When the union of the two kingdoms was agitated, he took a decided part in its favor. He did not long survive this event, dying in 1715, at the age of 66. The memory of Carstares is, for the most part, revered by his countrymen as that of an enlightened patriot; and few men of active power and influence have steered between parties more beneficially and ably.

CARSTENS, Asmus Jacob, a distinguished painter, born at St. Jurgen, near Sleswic, in 1754, died at Rome in 1798. He studied at Copenhagen, where he produced his first picture-the Death of Eschylus. In 1783, he set out for Rome; but, after having seen some works of Julio Romani and Leonardo da Vinci, was obliged to return to Germany, from want of means, and ignorance of the Italian language. In Lübec, he lived almost five years by painting likenesses. A piece, containing more than 200 figures--the Fall of the Angels-procured him the place of a professor in the academy at Berlin. In 1792, he went to Rome. His picture of Megapont was compared to the productions of Raphael and Michael Angelo. His subjects were almost all taken from Homer, Pindar, Sophocles, Eschylus, Shakspeare and Ossian. In Carstens works, we find that effort to attain cor

rectness of form and outline, gracefulness of attitude, and loftiness and vigor of expression, by which the works of the ancients are distinguished; but they frequently exhibit a certain harshness, arising from too close imitation. He was often defective in anatomy and perspective, and, having begun late to paint in oil, was unacquainted with the secrets of coloring. (See Fernow.)

CARTE, Thomas, an English historian, was born at Dunmoor, Warwickshire, in 1686. He was admitted at University college, Oxford, in 1698, and was afterwards incorporated at Cambridge, where he took his degree of M. A. in 1706. His first publication was entitled the Irish Massacre set in a true Light, &c. Incurring suspicions during the rebellion of 1715, a warrant was issued for his apprehension, which he eluded by concealment in the house of a clergyman at Coleshil. He subsequently acted as secretary to bishop Atterbury; and, as it was supposed that he was concerned in the conspiracy imputed to that intriguing prelate, he was charged with high treason, and a reward of £1000 was offered for his apprehension. He was again successful in making his escape, and, reaching France, he resided there several years under the name of Philips. Having obtained various introductions to persons of influence and learning, he obtained free access to the principal libraries, and employed himself in collecting materials for an English edition of the History of Thuanus. At length, queen Caroline, the liberal patroness of literary merit of every party, procured leave for his return to England. His important work, the Life of James Duke of Ormond, was published in 3 vols, folio, 1735—6. This work gained him great reputation, especially with the tory party, and led him to meditate a general history of England, as a counterbalance to the tendency of that of Rapin de Thoyras, which the tories charged with error and partiality. In 1744, he was arrested, under a suspension of the habeas corpus act, and examined, on a suspicion of being employed by the Pretender. Nothing, however, appearing against him, he was discharged. The first volume of his history, in folio, concluded with the death of king John, and might have been very well received, had not the author materially injured the credit of his work, and his own reputation as a man of sense, by the unnecessary insertion of a note, containing the ridiculous story of the cure of one Christopher Lovel, who went from Somersetshire to Paris to

« AnteriorContinua »