CKNCI 



cKN.srs 



61 



buriahiof dissenters. In the United States great 

 nuiiiM are bestowed on the adornment of cemeteries. 

 I'll-- most famous are Mount Auburn, near Boston, 

 < ,i.-i-M\\iin.l in lirooklyn, and Laurel Hill, near 

 Philadelphia. See BURIAL. 



I ViH'i. Hi: \ i KII K, ' tlie l>eautiful parricide,' was 

 the daughter of Francesco Cenci, a Roman noble- 

 man of colossal wealth. According to Muratori 

 {Aniitt/i-x, lilt. x. ), Francesco was twice married, 

 Beatrice lieing the youngest of twelve children by 

 ilif first wife. After his second marriage, he 

 treated the children of his first wife in a revolting 

 manner, and wax even accused of hiring bandits to 

 murder two of his sons on their return from Spain. 

 Tin' beauty of Beatrice inspired him with the 

 horrible and incestuous desire to possess her person ; 

 with mingled lust and hate he persecuted her from 

 da\ to day, until circumstances enabled him to 

 Consummate his brutality. The unfortunate girl 

 besought the help of her relatives, and of Pope 

 ciiMiient VII. (Aldobrandini), but did not receive 

 it : whereupon, in company with her step-mother 

 am I her brother, Giacomo, she planned the murder 

 of her unnatural parent, into whose brain two 

 hired assassins drove a large nail (9th September 

 1598). The crime was discovered, and both she 

 and Giacomo were put to the torture ; Giacomo 

 confessed, but Beatrice persisted in the declaration 

 that she was innocent. All, however, were con- 

 demned and beheaded (10th September 1599). 

 Such is Muratori's narrative. Others allege that 

 Beatrice was the innocent victim of an infernal 

 plot. The results, however, of Bertolotti's investi- 

 gations (.Francesco Cenci e la sua Famiglia, 1877), 

 based on original documents and contemporary 

 notices, go far to deprive the story of the Cenci 

 tragedy of the romantic elements on which Shelley's 

 powerful tragedy mainly turns. Francesco, it 

 would appear, was profligate, but no monster : 

 Beatrice at the time she murdered her father was 

 not sixteen, but twenty-one years of age, was far 

 from beautiful, and was probably the mother of 

 an illegitimate son. And Bertolotti further shows 

 that the sweet and mournful countenance which 

 forms one of the treasures of the Barberini Palace 

 in Rome cannot possibly be a portrait of Beatrice 

 by Guido, who never painted in Rome till some 

 nine years after Beatrice's death. See an article 

 in the Edinburgh Review for January 1879. 



Cents. See MONT CENIS. 

 Cenobites. See MONACHISM. 



Cenomailian, the name given by French geo- 

 logists to the Lower Chalk and Upper Greensand 

 of English geologists. 



Cenotaph (Gr. kenotafion; kenos, 'empty,' 

 and tafos, ' & tomb ' ), a monument which does not 

 contain the remains of the deceased. They were 

 originally erected for those whose bones could not 

 be found, as for those who had perished at sea. 

 Latterly the name was applied to tombs built by 

 a man during his lifetime for himself and the 

 members of his family. The memorials in West- 

 minster Abbey to Franklin and Gordon are ceno- 

 taphs. 



Censer ( Fr. encensoir, from Lat. incendo, ' I 

 burn'), a vase, or other sacred vessel, used for 

 burning Incense (q.v.). Censers were used in the 

 Hebrew service of the temple. The ordinary 

 censer, called also a thurible (Lat. thuribulum, 

 from thus, 'frankincense'), used in Catholic ser- 

 vices, is a metallic vessel for holding burning char- 

 coal, of brass or latten, silver, silver-plated, or 

 even of gold. It is shaped like a vase or cup, 

 has a movable cover, usually perforated, and is 

 suspended by chains (generally four in number) so 

 jas to be swung to and fro for the readier dispersion 



of the smoke of the incense, which U thrown upon 

 the live charcoal. 



Censors, the name of two Roman officers of 

 state of higji dignity, whose duties related to the 

 official registration of the citizens (censun), the 

 superintendence of public morals (regimen morum), 

 and arrangements for the collection of the public 

 revenue and the execution of public works. They 

 were elected in the conntm i-rntnr<ntn, presided 

 over by a consul. The term of office at iirst lasted 

 five years, but was shortly afterwards limited to 

 eighteen months. The censorship was regarded as 

 the highest dignity in the state, except the dictator- 

 ship. It was a sacred and irresponsible magis- 

 tracy, whose powers were vast and undefined, and 

 whose decisions were received with solemn rever- 

 ence. The census or registration was taken in the 

 Campus Martius, in a building called Villa Publica. 

 It was a complete catalogue of the citizens of 

 Rome, stating in detail the age of each, the amount 

 of his property, and the number of his children. 

 Next the censors drew up a list of the equites, 

 entitled to have a horse at the public expense, 

 and made up the roll of senators, supplying the 

 vacancies. The regimen morum was the most 

 dreaded and absolute of their powers. It grew 

 naturally out of the exercise of the previous duty, 

 which compelled them to exclude unworthy persons 

 from the lists of citizens. Gradually the super- 

 intendence of the censor extended from the public 

 to the private life of citizens. They could inflict 

 disgrace (ignominia) on any one whose conduct 

 did not square with their notions of rectitude or 

 duty. For instance, if a man neglected the cul- 

 tivation of his fields, or carried on a disreputable 

 trade, or refused to marry, or treated his family 

 either too kindly or too harshly, or was extrava- 

 gant, or guilty of bribery, cowardice, &c., he might 

 be degraded, according to his rank, or otherwise 

 punished. The administration of the finances of 

 the state included the regulation of the tributum 

 or property-tax ; of the vectigalia, such as the 

 tithes paid for the public lands, salt-works, mines, 

 customs, &c., which were usually leased out to 

 speculators for five years ; the preparation of the 

 state budget, &c. The office of censor continued 

 to be filled by patricians till 351 B.C., when Censor 

 Marcius Rutilus, a plebeian, was elected. Twelve 

 years later it was enacted that one of the censors 

 (there were always two) must be a plebeian. In 

 131 B.C. both censors for the first time were 

 plebeians. 



Censorship of Press. See PRESS. 



Census means the counting of the people. The 

 word is a Latin one, and was applied to the 

 functions which the Roman Censors (q.v.) per- 

 formed of periodically enumerating the people, out 

 no records of these enumerations remain, ana indeed 

 we have but a few scattered notices of them. In 

 Greece a census was established by Solon at Athens 

 for the double purpose of facilitating taxation and 

 classifying the citizens. Religious prejudice pre- 

 vented any censuses being taken during the 

 middle ages, and it was not till the 18th century 

 that the necessity for obtaining correct informa- 

 tion as to the population of European countries over- 

 came this feeling. The first country to undertake 

 a census on a scientific basis was Sweden in 

 1749 ; in France an enumeration was made in 

 1700, but the first reliable was not taken till 

 1801. In America the first census was taken 

 in 1790, and in England in 1801. Censuses are 

 now taken in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Norway 

 and Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, the United 

 States of America, India, and most of the 

 British colonies, every ten years ; in France 

 and Germany every five years ; in Spain at irreg- 



