certained, because the three languages of Latin descent, whose proportions have been given, have so far simplified their orthography, that little more is written than the pronunciation requires: but how different is the case in French and English! What a difference, for instance, between the sounds and number of letters in the third verse of the Thébaïde,

Mes yeux depuis six mois étoient ouverts aux larmes, and in the first verse of Childe Harold,

Oh thou, in Hellas deemed of heavenly birth! In the specimens of these two languages, therefore, the writer first counted all the written consonants and vowels, and secondly the consonantal and vocal sounds, reckoning all the simple sounds, as th, sh, in English, or eu, ou, in French, as one, and leaving out the letters not pronounced at all, as gh in though, or ent in étoient. The proportion ascertained by the first enumeration may be termed the orthographic proportion; that ascertained by the second, the phonic proportion. The same way of counting was employed on German, not because, in this idiom, so many letters are written, without being pronounced at all, as in the two preceding languages, but because, in German, many simple sounds, as eu, äu, sch, ch, &c. are written with two characters. Every body sees, that such a distinction between the orthographic and phonic proportion was necessary, with a view to a comparison between these languages and those before mentioned. A Greek would have written though in this way, Ow. In French, the orthographic proportion of the consonants to the vowels was found to be 1.27: 1, and the phonic proportion, 1.34:1; so that, in French, more vowels are written and not separately pronounced, or not at all, than consonants. In English, the orthographic proportion of the consonants to the vowels was 1.52: 1, and the phonic proportion, 1.51 : 1. In German, the orthographic proportion of consonants to vowels was 1.64: 1, and the phonic proportion, 1.67: 1. In Swedish, the proportion was 1.64: 1; in Dutch, the proportion was 1.5: 1, or 3:2. Of the two latter languages, the orthographic proportion only is given, as the writer is not sufficiently acquainted with them to decide, in regard to some letters, whether they should be taken phonically as one or two. The language of the Sandwich islands exhibited the uncommon proportion of consonants to vowels 1: 1.8, or five consonants to nine vowels. The

great proportion of vowels to consonants, in this idiom, may be seen in the following line, in which it ought to be remembered that every letter is to be pronounced: nei au ia oukou; ai no i ka olelo mai, i ka olelo a

ke Akua.

This line is taken from the missionary spelling-book above mentioned. In the Seneca Indian language, into which the Gospel of St. Luke was translated by T. S. Harris, and published in New York, 1829, the proportion of the consonants to the vowels was as 1.18: 1; in Chahta Indian, or the language of the Choctaws, the proportion was 1.2: 1. The phonic proportion of consonants to vowels in Sanscrit was 1.12: 1; in Malay, 1.33 : 1; in Persian, 1.33:1; in Hebrew, 1.2: 1, and in common Arabic, 1.08: 1. If we then arrange all these proportions in a tabular form, we shall have the following

series:

belong, as Asiatic, European, &c. languages, and many other calculationsmight lead to very interesting conclusions. This branch of philology might be compared to the new department of stachiometry in chemistry, which treats the proportions of the quantities of the elements in a state of neutralization or solution-a branch of science which every day becomes more important, and which has been illustrated by the labors, past and present, of a Berzelius, Klaproth, Döbereiner and others.

peace, and, in some places, by the parishioners of towns and parishes, according to ancient and particular usage. The duties of constables are multifarious, but may be summed up under two heads-repressing felonies, and keeping the peace, of which they are the conservators by the common law; they are also bound to execute the precepts of sheriffs, justices of the peace and coroners. In the U. States, constables are town or city officers of the peace, with powers similar to those possessed by the constables of Great Britain. They are invested also with powers to execute civil as well as criminal process, and to levy executions.

CONSTANCE, LAKE OF (or Boden See; properly Bodman See, from the old castle of Bodman), lies between Germany and Switzerland; is 10 leagues in its greatest length, and 3 in its greatest breadth, and 1 in its least. It is 368 fathoms in its greatest depth, and 1089 feet above the level of the sea. It is divided into the Zell, or lower, and the Bregentz, or upper lake. Several rivers flow into it; e. g. the Rhine, which enters it at Rheineck, and issues from it at Stein; also the Bregentz, the Argen, the Schüssen, and four streams which bear the name of Aach. It contains the islands of Lindau, Reichenau, and Meinau. It has 73 kinds of marsh birds and water fowl, 20 kinds of shell fish, and 26 kinds of other fish, among which is the salmontrout. The trade and commerce of the lake are inconsiderable, on account of the falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, and are confined to grain, salt, and lake wine, as the wine there made is called. The lake has not been frozen over since 1695. In 1824, steam-boat navigation was commenced on this lake.

CONSTABLE (French connétable, from the Latin comes stabuli, count of the stable). This office existed as early as under the Roman emperors, and passed into the constitution of the Franks. After the major domus, or mayor of the palace, had become king, the comes stabuli became the first dignitary of the crown, the commander in chief of the armies, and the highest judge in military affairs. Under the last kings of the house of Valois, the connétable was of so much political influence, that Louis XIII., after the death of the connétable de Lesdiguieres, thought it best not to appoint a new one; and, in 1627, he abolished the office entirely. Napoleon reestablished it as one of the high offices of the empire, but it vanished with his downfall. In England, there was formerly a lord high constable of England, an officer of the crown of the highest dignity. The office of constable appears to have been first granted by William the Conqueror to Walter, earl of Gloucester; or, according to some, to William Fitzosborne, or Roger de Mortimer, and became hereditary in two different families, as annexed to the earldom of Hereford. After two centuries, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, then constable, being attainted of high treason, the office was forfeited to the crown (13 Henry VIII); since which time, lord high constables have been appointed only to officiate at coronations, and on other solemn occasions. There is also the constable of the hundred, or high, chief or head constable, probably sprung from this office, and the constable of the village, or petty constable. The first statute which appears to notice the constable is 13 Edward I, ch. 6, wherein "it is ordained that in every hundred, or franchise, there shall be chosen two constables, to make view of armor," &c.; since which period, the office as been familiarly known in law, and various duties have been imposed upon it by different statutes. Both the high and petty constables are chosen at the leet or term of the hundred, or by justices of the

CONSTANCE; capital of the Seekreis (Circle of the Lake), in the grand-duchy of Baden, on the lake of Constance, or Boden, where the Rhine unites the upper part of the lake with the lower; lat. 47° 36′ 10′′ N., and lon. 9° 8 E. The city and its two suburbs, connected by a bridge over the Rhine, are partially fortified, and very extensive, considering the small number of inhabitants (4500). The ancient episcopal residence and the cathedral contain beautiful monuments of Gothic architecture. Constance is memorable for the council of 1414-18. The German emperor, the pope, 26 princes, 140 counts, more than 20 cardinals, 7 patriarchs, 20 archbishops, 91 bishops, 600 other clerical dignitaries and doctors, and about 4000 priests, were present at this ecclesiastical

assembly, which was occasioned by the divisions and contests about the affairs of the church. From 1305-77, the popes had resided at Avignon; but, in 1378, Gregory XI removed the papal seat back to Rome. After his death, the French and Italian cardinals could not agree upon a successor, and so each party chose its own candidate. This led to a schism which lasted 40 years. Indeed, when the emperor Sigismund ascended the throne, in 1411, there were three popes, each of whom had anathematized the two others. (See Antipope). To put an end to these disorders, and to stop the diffusion of the doctrines of Huss, Sigismund went in person to Italy, France, Spain and England, and (as the emperor Maximilian I used to say in jest, performing the part of the beadle of the Roman empire) summoned a general council. The pretended heresies of Wickliffe and Huss were here condemned, and the latter, notwithstanding the assurances of safety given him by the emperor, was burnt, July 6, 1415; and his friend and companion, Jerome of Prague, met with the same fate, May 30, 1416. After the ecclesiastical dignitaries supposed they had sufficiently checked the progress of heresy by these executions, they proceeded to depose the three popes John XXII (also called XXIII), Gregory XII and Benedict XIII. John, who was present at the council, was forced to consent to his own removal. He escaped, indeed, with the aid of Frederic, duke of Austria, who was excommunicated and put under the ban of the empire for rendering him assistance, and also lost a large part of his territory. But Frederic at last yielded, delivered John up to the council, and allowed him to be imprisoned. The former pope now gladly received the humbler office of a cardinal. Gregory XII experienced a similar loss of dignity. Benedict XIII, in Spain, retained, for some time, the name of pope, but was little noticed. Martin V, on the contrary, was legally chosen to the chair of St. Peter. Sigismund now thought a complete reformation might be effected in the affairs of the church; but, the new pope having retired to Italy against the emperor's will, the assembly was dissolved, and his object was not attained. It was first accomplished at the council of Basil. (q. v.) Travellers are still shown the hall where the council assembled (now occupied as a market-house); the chairs on which sat the emperor and the pope; the house where Huss was apprehended, and where his bust is still to be seen; his dungeon, in the

Dominican monastery; his statue, which serves as a support to the cathedral; and, in the nave of the church, a brazen plate on the spot where the venerable martyr listened to his sentence of death; also the place, in a garden, where he was burnt. After the council had been convinced of the heresy of Huss, the bishop of Concordia read, in the cathedral, the sentence, that his books should first be burnt, and that he, as a public and scandalous heretic, and an evil and obstinate man, should be disgracefully deprived of his priestly dignity, degraded and excommunicated. The sentence was immediately executed, and began with the degradation. The bishop of Milan and six other bishops led Huss to a table where lay the garments used in the mass, and the other raiment of the priests: they clothed him with them, and, when he was in full dress, with the cup in his hand, the bishops once more called upon him to save his life and honor, and to abjure his opinions. Huss refused, and spoke to the people from the scaffold. After he had spoken, the bishops cried out to him, "Descend from the scaffold." The bishop of Milan and another bishop now took the cup, saying, "O Huss, we take from thee the cup in which was offered the blood of Christ; thou art not worthy of him.” The other bishops then came forward, and each one took off some part of the priestly apparel, with the same speech. When they had finished with the clothes, they scraped his shaven crown (to designate the removal of the oil of consecration). Finally, when the excommunication was ended, they placed upon his head a paper crown, nearly a yard high, with devils painted upon it, and the inscription, "John Huss, arch-heretic." The bishops now turned to the emperor, and said, "The holy council of Constance now surrenders to the temporal power and tribunal John Huss, who has no longer office or dignity in the church of God."* The emperor arose, and took Huss, and said to the palatine Louis, “As we, dear cousin and prince, wear the temporal sword, take this John Huss, and have him punished as becomes a heretic." Louis laid down his princely ornaments, and led Huss to the provost of Constance, to whom he said, Upon the sentence of our gracious lord, *The Catholic clergy have always maintained that they cannot be concerned in the shedding of blood, being prohibited from so doing by the ecclesiastical law, so that a priest cannot even be a On this ground, the inquisition prosurgeon. has done is to deliver up culprits to be dealt with fesses never to have taken away life: all that it by the secular power.

66

the Roman emperor, and our special order, take this master Huss, and burn him as a heretic." The governor gave him to the executioner and his attendants, and Huss was burnt.

CONSTANCE FALCON, or PHAULKON; a political adventurer of the 17th century, whose proper name was Constantin. He was born in the island of Cephalonia. His mother was a Greek. At the age of 12, he embarked for England, whence he went to the East Indies. Having gained some property in the service of the company, he undertook a trading voyage to the coast of Malabar. He was shipwrecked, and lost every thing; but, meeting with an ambassador from the king of Siam to Persia, who had suffered the same misfortune, he procured a bark, and conveyed the Siamese envoy to his own country. The latter recommended Constance to the barcalon, or prime minister, who took him into his service. On the death of his master, the king offered him the same post, which he accordingly accepted. He undertook the project of introducing Christianity among the Siamese, and induced the king of Siam to send an embassy to Louis XIV. The ambassadors died on their route; but the French monarch, hearing of the scheme, sent two envoys, with some Jesuits, to Siam. French troops were also introduced into the country. These circumstances aroused the jealousy of the native princes and nobility, the result of which was a conspiracy, which terminated in the dethronement of the king, and the death of Constance, who was beheaded.

CONSTANT DE REBECQUE, Benjamin de; born at Lausanne, 1767; one of the most distinguished authors and greatest orators of the liberals or constitutionalists, on the left side of the French chamber of deputies; son of a general in the Dutch service, who had retired into his native country, French Switzerland, and commanded the militia there. The first of the family, Augustin Constant de Rebecque, quitted France, in 1605, and went to Geneva. The father of Benjamin Constant removed to France in 1791, and died, in 1812, a renaturalized citizen. The subject of this article was educated in the Carolinum, at Brunswick, in Germany, and, at a later period, studied the law. He subsequently accepted employments at the court of Brunswick, which, however, did not confine him there, for he resided partly in Paris, and partly in the Pays de Vaux, until he final ly fixed his residence entirely in France. At the beginning of the revolution, he went

to Paris, conducted, before the council of the five hundred, the cause of his countrymen who had been expelled by the repeal of the edict of Nantes, and soon distinguished himself by several works upon politics and revolutionary subjects, while he studied the German language and literature. With equal courage and sternness of purpose, he opposed anarchy and despotism. As a member of the cercle constitutionnel, in 1797, he distinguished himself by the fire of his orations. This caused his election to the office of tribune, in which capacity he brought every power into action, to maintain the equality of citizens, the representative system, the freedom of the press, and the regular administration of justice. He was the principal cause of the election of Talleyrand to the office of minister of foreign affairs, by the directory, in 1797. His speeches and writings rendered him odious to the first consul, and he was, consequently, dismissed from his station in 1802. Similarity of sentiments connected him with madame de Staël; and with her he travelled through several countries, till Napoleon permitted him to return to Paris for a limited period. He then went to Göttingen, and employed himself principally in the study of German literature, and in preparing a work on the history of different modes of worship. He again appeared at Paris in 1814, in the retinue of the crown-prince of Sweden, and publicly showed himself zealous for the cause of the Bourbons, particularly in March, 1815, by the violent articles which he published in the Journal des Debats. Notwithstanding this, however, he suffered himself to be elected counsellor of state by Napoleon, and assisted in forming the constitution of the Champ de Mai, which he defended warmly in many writings. On the return of the king, he went to Brussels. In November, 1816, he was permitted to return to Paris. In 1819, he was elected a member of the chamber of deputies. As an orator, he is one of the most clear and eloquent defenders of the Charte, and of constitutional principles; but his voice is indistinct, and his speech hasty; nor has he that powerful expression which carries away the hearer. In general, he writes better than he speaks; but no one knows better how to take advantage of any opportunities afforded by his opponents. He unites to great power of reasoning a fine irony, elegance of expression, and a pleasing style, so that, without overstepping the bounds of courtesy, he entirely discomfits his antagonists. He has, also, the art of justly timing his enthu

siasm. He was particularly admired in the debate in which he spoke against the laws of exception, and against the alteration of the law of election. In his famous pamphlet Des Motifs qui ont dicté le Nouveau Projet de Loi sur les Élections (Paris, 1820), he considers the new law in the light of a victory of the party of the old nobility, not only over the liberals, but also over the interests of the nation, the ministry, and the king personally. He likewise gives vivid portraits of the duke Decazes, and the duke de Richelieu. With this spirit, he has always been one of the leading characters of the opposition; but his resistance to the administration has become more violent and bitter since the laws of 1822, which deprived the jury of the right to decide in cases of offences against the press, and subjected periodicals to the strict surveillance of the police. He and his friends have refused to vote several times during the last session, and Benjamin Constant has availed himself of every opportunity to pass from the subject in question to general accusations of the whole prevailing system of government. Amongst the speeches in which he proves the danger to the state, if the aristocracy should, by means of the new laws, gain ascendency, the one, in particular, discussing the police regulations in regard to periodicals, deserves to be named; likewise his speech of March 13, 1822, on the occasion of opening the budget, in which he attacks the whole system of administration, and expresses himself decidedly against the existing law of election, the missionaries, and the ministry in general. His works are distinguished by perspicuity and liveliness of style, richness of imagination, and often by depth of knowledge and acute observation, although he cannot entirely divest himself of his propensity for declamation, witticisms and sophisms. As early as 1796, he excited attention by his work De la Force du Gouvernement actuel de la France, &c.; again, in 1797, by Des Réactions Politiques, and Des Effets de la Terreur. In 1800, he wrote Suites de la Contre-Révolution de 1660 en Angleterre. The following essays are much esteemed :-De l'Esprit de Conquête et de l'Usurpation dans leurs Rapports avec la Civilisation Européenne (1814); De la Liberté des Brochures, des Pamphlets et des Journaux, sous le Rapport de l'Intérêt du Gouvernement (1814); Réflexions sur les Constitutions, la Distribution des Pouvoirs, et les Garanties dans une Monarchie Constitutionnelle (1814); Observations sur le Discours prononcé par S. E. le Ministre

into

de l'Intérieur en Faveur du Projet de Loi sur la Liberté de la Presse (1814); De la Responsibilité des Ministres (1815); Principes de Politique applicables à tous les Gouvernemens représentatifs et particulièrement à la Constitution actuelle de la France (1815); Principes du Droit Public (1815); and De la Religion considérée dans sa Source, ses Formes et ses Développemens (Paris, 1824, 2 vols.). Besides these works, he has translated Schiller's Wallenstein French, and adapted it for the stage. At the election of the chamber, in 1824, he was again chosen deputy, and, after a long dispute, at last acknowledged as a French citizen. A brother of Benjamin, Jean Victor, baron of Constant de Rebecque, born at Geneva, Sept. 22, 1773, lieutenant-general in the service of the Netherlands, served in the French army till 1792, and, after 1793, under the hereditary prince of Orange, at present king of the Netherlands, in the army of the allies: he entered the British service in 1795, and the Prussian service in 1798. The king of Prussia made him governor to the prince of Orange in 1805, whom he accompanied in the campaign in Spain, in 1811. In 1814, he fought in the Netherlands, and distinguished himself at the siege of Bergen-opZoom, at Quatrebras and Waterloo.

CONSTANTIA; a village of the colony of the cape of Good Hope, between Table bay and False bay, 5 leagues from the cape. It is celebrated for its wine, made from vines brought originally from Persia and the Rhine: 200 tons of this wine are annually made.

CONSTANTINE. Caius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Claudius Constantine, surnamed the Great, son of the emperor Constantius Chlorus and of his wife Helena, was born A. D. 274. When Constantine's father was associated in the government by Diocletian, the son was retained at court as a hostage, but was educated with the greatest care. After Diocletian and Maximian Hercules had laid down the reins of government, Constantine fled to Britain, to his father, to escape the machinations of Galerius. After the death of his father, he was chosen emperor by the soldiery, in the year 306. Galerius was very unwilling to allow him the title of Augustus, and gave him that of Cæsar only. Constantine, however, took possession of the countries which had been subject to his father, viz., Gaul, Spain and Britain. He overcame the Franks, who had formerly overrun the territory of Gaul, made prisoners of two of their leaders, followed them over the Rhine, sur