Deuxponts, was distinguished for his intelligence, noble character, and extensive knowledge. She declined his offer, but induced the states-general, in 1649, to designate him for her successor. In 1650, she caused herself to be crowned, with great pomp, and with the title of king. From that time, a striking change in her conduct was perceptible. She neglected her ancient ministers, and listened to the advice of ambitious favorites. Intrigues and base passions succeeded to her former noble and useful views. The public treasure was squandered with extravagant profusion. Distinctions were conferred upon the undeserving, and jealousy produced murmurs, complaints and factions. In this state of confusion, the queen declared her intention of abdicating the crown. The old ministers, honoring the memory of Gustavus Adolphus, remonstrated in the strongest terms, and, above all, Oxenstiern expressed himself with so much energy, that the queen desisted from her resolution. She now grasped with more firmness the reins of government, and dissipated, for a time, the clouds which had darkened her throne. She occupied herself again with study, bought paintings, medals, manuscripts, books, maintained a correspondence with many learned men, and invited several to her court. Descartes, Grotius, Salmasius, Bochart, Huet, Chevreau, Naudé, Vossius, Conring, Meibom, appeared in Stockholm, and the queen conversed familiarly with them on literary and philosophical subjects. Among the literary amusements which she united with serious studies, was the Grecian dance, which she caused to be exhibited by Meibom (q. v.) and Naudé. But new troubles occurred; and the conspiracy of Messenius threatened not only the favorites of the queen, but the queen, herself. Christina, who loved whatever was uncommon, resumed the determination to resign the crown. In 1654, at the age of 29, she assembled the states-general at Upsal, and, in their presence, laid aside the insignia of royalty, to surrender them into the hands of prince Charles Gustavus. She reserved to herself a certain income, entire independence, and full power over her suite and household. A few days after, she left Sweden, and went through Denmark and Germany to Brussels, where she made a public entry, and remained for some time. There she made a secret profession of the Catholic religion, which she afterwards publicly confirmed in Inspruck-a step which excited great astonishment, and of

the causes of which nothing certain is known. Christina went from Inspruck to Rome, which she entered on horseback, in the costume of an Amazon, with great pomp. When the pope Alexander VII confirmed her, she adopted the surname of Alessandra. She visited the monuments of the city, and attentively examined every thing which could awaken historical recollections. In 1656, she visited France, and remained at Fontainebleau, at Compiegne, where the court was then held, and at Paris. Her dress and manners produced an unfavorable impression, but her talents and knowledge were generally admired. She offered to mediate between France and Spain; but Mazarin declined the offer, and succeeded in accelerating her departure from France, under various pretexts. In the following year, she returned. This second residence in France was rendered remarkable by the execution of her grand equerry, Monaldeschi, who had enjoyed her entire confidence, but whom she accused of treason. This act of vengeance, though defended by Leibnitz, is a stain on the memory of Christina. The French court testified its displeasure, and two months passed before the queen showed herself publicly in Paris. In 1658, she returned to Rome, where she received very unpleasing news from Sweden. Her revenue was not transmitted to her, and nobody would make her advances. Alexander VII relieved her from this embarrassment by a pension of 12,000 scudi (dollars). After the death of Charles Gustavus, in 1660, the queen made a visit to Sweden, under pretence of wishing to arrange her private affairs; but it was soon perceived that she had other views. As the crownprince was very young, she declared, that, in case of his death, she should lay claim to the throne. This project was unfavorably received, and she was compelled to sign a formal act of abdication. Other unpleasant circumstances induced her to abandon Stockholm. She visited Sweden a second time in 1666, but returned to Hamburg without reaching the capital, having heard that the public exercise of her religion would not be allowed her. About this time, she aspired to the Polish crown, but the Poles took no notice of her wishes. Finally, she returned to Italy, where she passed the remainder of her life, at Rome, in the cultivation of the arts and sciences. She founded an academy, collected valuable manuscripts, medals and paintings, and died, after having experienced many vexations, April 19, 1689.

She was interred in the church of St. Peter, and the pope erected a monument to her with a long inscription. She had asked only for these few words: Vixit Christina annos LXIII. Her principal heir was the cardinal Azzolini, her intendant. Her library was bought by pope Alexander VIII, who placed 900 manuscripts of this collection in the Vatican, and gave the remainder of the books to his family. Odescalchi, the nephew of Innocent XI, purchased the paintings and antiquities. The duke of Orleans, regent of France, bought a part of the paintings for 90,000 scudi, in 1722. The value of these collections may be learned from the two works which give a description of them, namely, Havercamp's Nummophylacium Regina Christina, and the Museum Odescalcum. The life of Christina presents a series of inconsistencies and contradictions: we see, on one side, magnanimity, frankness, mildness; on the other, vanity, severity, revenge and dissimulation. Her knowledge of the world, her acuteness and penetration, did not preserve her from visionary projects, from the dreams of alchemy and astrology, and other illusions. She left some small works, in which her character and manner of thinking are perceptible, and which, for the most part, are contained in Archenholz's Memoirs of this princess (1751, 4 vols. 4to.). The authenticity of the letters which appeared in 1762, under her name, is not proved.

CHRISTMAS, the feast of Christ's birth, was, according to many critics, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage, in general, was, to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth. The death of the martyr Stephen, and the massacre of the innocents at Bethlehem, had been already long celebrated, when, perhaps in opposition to the doctrine of the Manichæans respecting the birth of the Savior, a feast was established, in memory of this event, in the 4th century. In the 5th century, the Western church ordered it to be celebrated for ever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, on the 25th of December, though no information respecting the day of Christ's birth existed. In the East, Christmas was celebrated on the 6th of January. From the gospel of St. Luke, it was known that Christ was born during the night, and therefore divine service was performed in the night of Dec. 24-25, from which circumstance Christmas is called, in German, Weihnachten, i. e. Holy

or Consecrated Night. The feasts of the martyr Stephen and the evangelist St. John were united with it, and a feast of three days' continuance was thus formed. In the ecclesiastical year, this festival gives name to a period extending from the first Sunday of Advent to the feast of Epiphany, Jan. 6. Some say that Christmas has always been celebrated in the church. In the Catholic church, three masses are performed-one at midnight, one at daybreak, and one in the morning. In the Greek and Roman churches, the manger, the holy family, &c., are sometimes represented at large. Some convents in Rome, chiefly the Franciscans, are famous for attracting many people by such exhibitions. The church of England celebrates this feast, as do the great body of European Protestants. In the U. States, it is little regarded, except by the Episcopalians. The custom of making presents on Christmas-eve is derived from an old heathen usage, practised at the feast of the birth of Sol, or, in Germany, on the occasion of some feast peculiar to that country (at least the Ruprecht seems to have had such an origin); but it has become consecrated by ages, and contributes a great deal to make this festival an interesting event to families. In the north of Germany, this custom prevails most, pervading all the classes and relations of society. In some German churches, sermons are delivered on Christmas-eve for the benefit of children, who attend, carrying each a little taper. In the Catholic church, the officium pastorum is sung in which a chorus of children respond to the priest.

CHRISTOPHE, Henri, king of Hayti, was born Oct. 6, 1767, in the island of Grenada, as stated by some, but, as others say, in that of St. Christopher. According to the latter account, he was carried to St. Domingo, at the age of twelve, sold as a slave, and employed by his new master in the business of a cook, which calling he exercised at the Cape. Others relate that, after having served in the American war, and received a wound at the siege of Savannah, he went to St. Domingo, and was employed on the plantation of Limonade, in the capacity of an overseer, wherein he displayed his characteristic severity. From the commencement of the troubles among the blacks, he took a decided part in favor of independence, and signalized himself by his energy, boldness and activity, in many bloody engagements. ToussaintLouverture, the acknowledged chief of the blacks, at length gave him the com

mission of brigadier-general, and employed him to suppress an insurrection headed by his nephew Moyse. This object was speedily accomplished by Christophe, who made himself master of the person of Moyse, and succeeded him as governor of the province of the North. The execution of Moyse excited new troubles at the Cape, which the activity and intrepidity of Christophe completely suppressed. He commanded there in 1802, when Leclerc arrived with a French army, destined for the subjugation of the Negroes. Most of them, deceived by the promises of Leclerc, at first gave way to his designs; but Dessalines and Christophe resisted from the beginning, and were declared outlaws. Christophe was compelled to make his peace, but resumed arms again upon the perfidious seizure of the person of Toussaint. The climate aided the heroic efforts of Dessalines and Christophe, and, at the close of 1805, there was no longer a French force in Hayti,—for so the island was now denominated by the insurgent chiefs. During the short-lived government of Dessalines, Christophe was general-in-chief of the Haytian army; and, being the senior officer, and most distinguished among the blacks, possessed, of course, powerful claims to succeed him in authority. But the popularity of Petion in the South balanced that of Christophe in the North. In February, 1807, an assembly convened at the Cape appointed Christophe president for life of the state of Hayti; and, about the same time, a republic was organized at Port-auPrince, with Petion at its head. A civil war between the two chiefs ensued, but did not prevent Christophe from taking judicious measures to establish public order in the territory which he governed. He organized the administration, the tribunals, the marine, and the army, made suitable regulations for the encouragement of agriculture, commerce, and other branches of industry among his people, and, by his energy, attained the most flattering results. His military force was placed on a respectable footing, and his finances were brought into a flourishing condition. He constructed fortifications, and was enabled to set the French at defiance. Following the example of Napoleon, whom he imitated, he abolished the republican forms, March 28, 1811, and was proclaimed king of Hayti, by the name of Henri I. The dignity and title were made hereditary in his family; a hereditary nobility was created, to give lustre and strength to the new institutions,

with an appropriate order of knighthood; and, to complete the imitation of feudal sovereignties, he was solemnly crowned at the Čape, June 2, 1812, with the ceremonies customary in Europe. He also sought to perpetuate his name by the compilation of the Code Henri-a digest founded upon the Code Napoléon, but not servilely copied. On the contrary, it was judiciously adapted to the situation of Hayti. In 1813, some cases of defection occurred among his subjects, which tended to exasperate the violent and suspicious temper of Christophe, and prompted him to impolitic acts of cruelty. In 1814, he and Petion suspended hostilities, not by a formal agreement, but, as it were, by tacit consent. For several years in succession, after this, the efforts of the French to regain their authority in the island gave a new turn to the policy of Christophe's government. He constantly refused to hear any proposition from the ex-colonists, short of an acknowledgment of the unqualified independence of the island; and he adopted the most decided measures to counteract the attempts made by France. Beside his military preparations for defence against aggression, he multiplied, through the agency of the press, writings calculated to render the views of the ex-colonists odious, and to maintain the spirit of independence among the emancipated blacks. To further the same object, he conceived, and, at one period, seriously set about effecting, the plan of substituting the English language in the island in place of the French; his intercourse with the English and American merchants having communicated to him a partiality for their language. This project entered into a system of general education, which he devised for the Haytians. Things continued to proceed in this way until the death of Petion, in 1818, and the accession of Boyer. Discontents had increased, meanwhile, among the subjects of Christophe, who contrasted the mild and easy rule of Boyer with the iron despotism under which they groaned; and the army itself was ripe for a change. Insurrection began among the garrison of St. Marc, which mutinied in a body, killed the governor of the town, and sent a deputation to Boyer, signifying their desire to join the republic. Boyer hastily assembled a force of 15,000 men, and marched to the support of the insurgent garrison. At this time, Christophe was confined, by illness, in his fortified palace of Sans Souci, where he commonly resided. The insurrection soon spread to the Cape, where Richard, duc de Marmalade,

and one of the first dignitaries of the kingdom, proclaimed the abolition of royalty at the head of the troops. The élite of Christophe's army, composing his guard of about 1500 men, continued faithful to him for a while, but, when marched up to oppose the insurgents from the Cape, joined with the latter in demanding the deposition of Christophe. Perceiving his case to be desperate, and resolved not to gratify the insurgents by becoming their prisoner, Christophe shot himself with a pistol, October 8, 1820. His corpse remained exposed several days on the highway, and his oldest son was massacred; but Boyer protected his widow and daughters from injury, and enabled them to retire to Europe in the possession of a competent fortune. A large treasure

was

found in fort Henri, which Christophe had amassed from the customs on merchandise. His palace was dismantled by the populace, who seemed to take pleasure in defacing what had cost them so much toil to construct. Thus ended a reign, from which the friends of the blacks anticipated much and with justice. Christophe's policy was probably better calculated than that of Petion and Boyer to advance the prosperity of Hayti. Agriculture and commerce flourished under him, and declined under the latter; but, his government being purely a military despotism, in which he himself was every thing, and the wishes of his people were totally disregarded, the administration degenerated into a system of tyranny which proved insupportable. (An. Necrol., 1821; Franklin's Hayti; Malo, His. d'Hayti.)

Christopher, duke of Wurtemberg; born in 1515; one of the wisest rulers mentioned in history. His youth was a constant scene of adversity. When he was but four years old, the confederated Suabian cities expelled his father, the duke of Wurtemberg, from his dominions, and sold the dukedom to Austria. Christopher was brought to Vienna, and was hardly saved by his tutor, Tyfferni, from the hands of the Turks, when that city was besieged by Solyman. He was a second time preserved from captivity, by the same individual, in 1532, when Charles V intended to bury his person and his claims on Wurtemberg in a Spanish convent. Christopher had been conveyed almost to the frontiers of Spain, when he fled, and safely reached Bavaria, the duke of which was his uncle, and, together with Philip of Hesse, now commenced a war against Austria, to compel her to resign her claims to Wurtemberg. Francis I

supplied them with money to carry on the contest. The battle of Laufen, in 1534, restored the father of Christopher to the government of Wurtemberg. Christopher himself, whom his father disliked, went into the French service. After eight years, he was recalled. In 1550, his father died; but he could not consider himself securely possessed of the dukedom until 1552, when he immediately began to devote himself in every way to the improvement of his subjects. He reestablished the Lutheran religion, which had been prohibited during the interregnum, and, in so doing, gratified the wishes of his subjects. But he did not appropriate the possessions of convents, and other ecclesiastical establishments, to himself, as so many or most of the Protestant princes did, but formed out of it a great fund, called the Wurtembergian church property, to be used for supplying the wants of the church, and for other beneficent purposes. The Wurtembergian cloister schools, for the education of young clergymen, and the great theological seminary at Tübingen, are his work. He improved the schools, so that education in Wurtemberg, even at the present time, is, perhaps, in a more flourishing state than in any other part of the world. He extended the liberties of his subjects, and established a civil code, which still exists. At the same time, he was continually attentive to the state of Europe. The fate of Protestantism in Germany was a subject in which he took great interest. He had an interview with Catharine of Medicis and the Guises, in order to alleviate the fate of the Huguenots, and contributed much to the religious peace at Augsburg in 1555. He endeavored to unite the Protestant princes of Germany, and was intrusted with many highly honorable commissions by the empire. He ruled 18 years, and died in December, 1568; but lives still in the memory of the people of Wurtemberg, who regard him as the model of a ruler. J. C. Pfister has well described the life of Christopher.

CHRISTOPHER, St.; a saint whose name and worship are celebrated, but whose history is little known. He is reported to have been a native of Syria or Cilicia, who was baptized by St. Babylas, bishop of Antioch, and received the crown of martyrdom, in Asia Minor, about the middle of the third century. Relics of him are found in several places, principally in Spain. The Eastern church celebrates his festival on the 9th of May; the Western, on the 25th of July. His intercession was particularly sought in the time of the

plague. Christopher, or Christophel, literally means bearer of Christ. He is represented as a giant, bearing the child Jesus upon his shoulders through the sea, which refers to a legend of this saint. The St. Christopher of Hemmling is one of the finest pictures in the gallery of Boisserée. (q. v.)

CHRISTOPHER, St. (commonly called St. Kitt's); an island in the West Indies, belonging to Great Britain, discovered by Columbus in 1493, about 15 miles in length, and, in general, about 4 in breadth, but towards the eastern extremity, not more than 3. Between that part and the rest of the island is a strip of land 3 miles in length, which does not measure half a mile across. This island contains 43,726 acres, of which about 17,000 acres are appropriated to the growth of sugar, and 4000 to pasturage. As sugar is the only commodity of any consequence that is raised, except the necessary articles of food, and a little cotton, it is probable that nearly one half of the whole island is unfit for cultivation. The interior part of the country consists, indeed, of many rugged precipices and barren mountains. Of these the loftiest is mount Misery (evidently an extinguished volcano), which rises 3711 feet in perpendicular height from the sea. The general average produce of sugar for a series of years is 16,000 hogsheads of 16 cwt., which, as one half only of the whole cane land, or 8500 acres, is annually cut (the remainder being young canes), gives nearly two hogsheads of 16 cwt. per acre for the whole of the land in ripe canes. This island is divided into nine parishes, and contains four towns and hamlets, viz. Basseterre, the present capital, as it was formerly that of the French, containing about 800 houses, Sandy Point, Old Road and Deep Bay. Of these, the two first are ports of entry, established by law.

The fortifications consist of Charles Fort and Brimstone Hill, both near Sandy Point, three batteries at Basseterre, one at Fig-tree Bay, another at Palmetto Point, and some smaller ones of no great importance. Population, in 1823 -4, according to Humboldt, 23,000, of whom 3500 were free persons, and 19,500 slaves. Official value of imports and exports :Exports. In 1809 £266,064. 132,845

1810

....

.....

Imports.

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Lon. 62° 49′ W.; lat. 17° 19′ N.

89,362

Chromate of IRON, or CHROMEISENSTEIN, is a mineral substance of very considerable interest, as affording one of the

most beautiful and durable pigments in the arts. It is found disseminated in grains and imperfectly crystallized masses,-occasionally in regular octoedral crystals, its primary form, of a black color, a shining and somewhat metallic lustre. It scratches glass, is opaque, and has a specific gravity of 4.03.. According to Vauquelin, that of France consists of 43 chromic acid, 34.7 oxide of iron, 20.3 alumine, silex 2. But chemists, at the present day, consider the chrome in this mineral in the state of an oxide, and not of an acid; accordingly the mineral is now more correctly denominated the ferruginous oxide of chrome. It is found in great abundance in Maryland, at the Bare hills, near Baltimore, and is contained in a steatitic or serpentine rock. It also occurs in small quantities at numerous other places in the U. States, and has many localities in other countries.

CHROMATIC, in music; one of the three ancient genera-diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic. The word chromatic has been adopted, as it is believed, because the Greeks were in the habit of designating this genus by characters of various. colors, or, as some say, because the chromatic genus is a mean between the other two, as color is a mean between white and black (this seems to be a very poor explanation); or, lastly, because the chromatic genus, by its semitones, varies and embellishes the diatonic, thus producing an effect similar to that of coloring. In modern music, the word chromatic simply means a succession of semitones, ascending or descending. Thus the expressions chromatic semitone (the interval which is found between any given note and that same note raised by a sharp or lowered by a flat), chromatic scale, chromatic modulation, are terms in use.

CHROME; the name of a metal, which, combined with oxygen so as to be in the state of an acid, was discovered by Vauquelin, in an ore of lead from Siberia. This metal has since been found combined with iron in the U. States, and at Unst, one of the Shetland isles. It appears also to be the coloring principle of the emerald and the ruby, and has received its name from its property of assuming brilliant colors in the combinations into which it enters. Chrome, which has hitherto been procured in very small quantities, owing to its powerful attraction for oxygen, may be obtained by mixing the oxide of chrome with charcoal, and exposing the mixture to the most intense heat of a smith's forge. It is brittle, of a grayish-white color, and