CHAPONE 



CHAPTER-HOUSE 



107 



..ti.-n in rhymed verses of fourteen syllables. The 

 dedi.-ainry epistle to the Earl of Essex admirably 

 iiiiiMi-..,t. ( >s the writer's dignifitMl temper. Later iii 

 : published Achilles Shield, translated from 

 jhteenth book of the Iliad. In thin transla- 

 .. he used rhymed verses of ten syllables, the 

 tie t hat he afterwards employed in* his render- 

 : i IK- Ddii*x?ii. It was not until 1610 or there 

 alMiut> that he published Homer, Prince of Poets: 

 Jnti-il m;-i,ritinif tn the Greeke in twelve Bookes 

 if hits Ilindx, with a fine dedicatory epistle in verse 

 iiu-e Henry. The complete translation of The 

 Hinds of lloinrr, 1'riin;- of Poets, in rhymed verses 

 nf fourteen syllables, appeared in 1611. In the 

 1'reface to the Reader he states that the last twelve 

 iKioks had been translated in less than fifteen 

 weeks. Having linished the Hind, he set to work 

 on the Odyssey, and in 1616 appeared The Whole 

 Works of Homer t Prince of Poets, in his Iliads and 

 -*eys, which was followed (about 1624) by The 

 m\ of nil Homer's Workes, Batrachomyomachia, 

 <>r the Battaile of Frogs and Mice : His Hymns and 

 Epigrams. In spite of all harshnesses, obscurities, 

 and conceits, Chapman's translation of Homer is a 

 mible achievement. He was not a profound scholar, 

 and has often missed the sense where a schoolboy 

 could set him right. But the work is instinct with 

 life, full of heat and energy. By his contemporaries 

 Jonson, Dray ton, Daniel, and the rest it was 

 applauded, and in later days it has never lacked 

 admirers. Pope acknowledged its merits ; Cole- 

 ridge declared that it was such a poem as Homer 

 might have written if he had lived in England in 

 the time of Elizabeth; Lamb admired it enthusi- 

 astically ; and Keats wrote a famous sonnet in its 

 E raise. While he was busy with his Homeric 

 i hours, Chapman was also writing for the stage. 

 He joined Jonson and Marston in the composition 

 of Eastward Ho (1605), and in 1606 published a 

 graeeful comedy, The Gentleman Usher. In 1607 

 appeared Bnssy d'Ambois: a Tragedie; and The 

 Revenge of Bussy d'Ambois followed in 1613. 

 These tragedies contain much inarticulate bombast 

 intermingled with exalted poetry. Heavy and un- 

 dramatic though they were, they held the stage for 

 many years by reason of their impassioned earnest- 

 nesg. Two other tragedies, The Conspiracie and 

 Tragedie of Charles, Duke of Byron ( 1608), are also 

 undramatic, but abound in fine poetry. Lamb was 

 of opinion that of all the Elizabethan dramatists 

 Chapman came nearest to Shakespeare ' in the 

 descriptive and didactic, in passages which are 

 less purely dramatic.' Chapman's other plays are 

 The May Day (1611), The Widow's Tears (1612), 

 ;'iicl Ccesar and Pompey (1631). Two posthu- 

 mous tragedies, published in 1654, Alphonsus and 

 1!< -1-,'nge for Honour, bear his name, but their 

 authorship is uncertain. The Ball, a comedy, and 

 The Tragedie of Chabot were published in 1*639 as 

 the joint work of Chapman and Shirley. Among 

 < 'hapman's non-dramatic works are Enthymice 

 Raptus (1(509), Petrarch's Seven Pen Unit in 1 1 

 Ptalmes (1612), The Divine Poem of Musceus 

 1 I lilti), and The Georgicks of Hesioil (1618). 

 Chapman died in the parish of St Giles's in the 

 Fields, 12th May 1634. Wood describes him 'as a 

 person of reverend aspect, religious and temperate, 

 qualities rarely meeting in a poet.' A complete 

 edition of Chapman's works in 3 vols., with an 

 essay by A. C. Swinburne, appeared in 1873-75. 



4 liaponr. HESTER, authoress, daughter of 

 Thomas Mulso, was born at Twywell, Northamp- 

 tonshire, 27th October 1727. She wrote a short 

 romance in her tenth year, and after her mother's 

 death her attention was divided between house- 

 hold duties and the study of French, Italian, 

 Latin, music, and drawing. She wrote for the 

 Rambler (No. 10), Adventurer, and Gentleman's 



Maguzini , and soon became known to a literary 

 circle, including Richardson ; but she i* now chiefly 

 remeniWed by her Letters on the Improvement 

 of the Mind (1772), which went through many 

 editions. She married an attorney in 1760, but 

 next year was left a widow ; she herself died at 

 Hadley, 26th December 1801. See her Works with 

 Life (4 vols. 1807). 



Chapped Hands, a form of inflammation of 

 the skin of the back of the hands characterised by 

 abnormal dryness and roughness, with the forma 

 tion of craclis or fissures. It is caused by ex- 

 posure to cold, and can generally be prevented or 

 cured by carefully drying the Lands after they 

 are washed, and applying glycerine, vaseline, or 

 other simple ointment. The hands should also be 

 protected in cold weather by warm gloves. 



happell f WILLIAM, F.S.A., the author of 

 the most learned work on ancient English music, 

 ^yas born November 20, 1809. Most of his life he 

 lived in London, where he was for some years a 

 member of a great music publishing house. His 

 first work of importance was A Collection of 

 National English Airs, consisting of Ancient 

 Song, Ballad, and Dance Tvnes (2 vols. [1838-40]). 

 This work, which contained 245 airs, ultimately 

 grew into the greater and entirely rewritten work, 

 containing over 400 airs, re-harmonised on a con- 

 sistent plan by Macfarren, Popular Music of 

 the Olden Time; a Collection of Ancient Songs, 

 Ballads and Dance Tunes, illustrative of the 

 National Music of England (2 vols. 1855-59 ; new 

 ed. by Wooldridge, 1893). The first volume, con- 

 taining 200 airs, is a complete collection of English 

 airs, so far as known, down to the reign of Charles 

 I. ; the second is rather a selection, containing, 

 however, all the more interesting or important airs 

 of later date. Mr Chappell took a principal part in 

 the foundation in 1840 of the Musical Antiquarian 

 Society and the Percy Society, and edited some 

 of Dowland's songs for the former and several rare 

 collections for the latter. He published a few 

 papers in the Archceologia, contributed invaluable 

 notes to Hales and Furnivall's reprint of the Percy 

 Folio MS. (1867-68), and annotated the first three 

 volumes (1869-79) of the Ballad Society edition of 

 The Roxburghe Ballads (continued by his friend Mr 

 Ebsworth). ' Mr Chappell published in 1874 the 

 first volume of a History of Music. He died in 

 London, 20th August 1888. 



Chapra, a town in Bengal, on the Gogra, 1 

 mile above its confluence with the Ganges. It is 

 capital of the district of Saran.' Pop. (1891 ) 57,3-VJ. 

 Chaptal, JEAN ANTOINE, COMTE DE CHANTK- 

 LOUP, French statesman and chemist, was born 

 at Nogaret, Lozere, 4th June 1756, and studied at 

 Montpellier, where in 1781 the states of Langue- 

 doc founded for him a chair of Chemistry. A con- 

 siderable fortune left him by his uncle he devoted 

 to the establishment of works for the manufacture 

 of mineral acids, alum, soda, &c. He was made a 

 member of the Institute in 1798, and in 1800 Min- 

 ister of the Interior. He resigned in 1804, but in 

 1811 was made a count by the emperor. During 

 the Hundred Days he was a minister of state and 

 director of commerce and manufactures ; after the 

 Restoration he withdrew into private life, but was 

 admitted to the chamber of peers by Louis XVIII. 

 in 1819. He died in Paris, 30th July 1832. 

 Chapter. See BIBLE, Vol. II. p. 126. 

 riiapter-hoiise (Fr. salle capitulaire), the 

 building in which the monks and canons of monastic 

 establishments, and the dean and prebendaries 

 of cathedral and collegiate churches, meet for the 

 management of the affairs of their order or society 

 ( see CATHEDRAL ). Chapter-houses frequently ex- 

 hibit the most elaborate architectural adornment. 



