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CHERUSCI 



CHESHIRE 



to the post of maitre-de-chapelle to King Louis. 

 The list of his works from this period comprises 

 a Mass in C (1816), and Requiems in C and D 

 (1817 and 1836), all of the highest rank, besides 

 numerous other church pieces, and six string 

 quartets. In 1822 he became director of the Con- 

 servatoire of Paris, which his energetic adminis- 

 trative talent soon raised to the greatness it still 

 preserves. His work on counterpoint and fugue 

 appeared in 1835, and remains a standard book. 

 His severe rule over the institution continued till 

 1842, when, after only a month's retirement, he 

 died on 15th March. The universal feeling in 

 musical Europe at the time was that its foremost 

 figure was gone. Though the greater part of his 

 career was run in Paris, and the most famous 

 French operatic composers of the early part of the 

 century, Boieldieu, Auber, Halevy, &c., came 

 under his instructions, he has not permanently 

 influenced the French school ; his music lives and 

 preserves a strong hold rather in Germany, with 

 the musicians of which he has more affinity. His 

 style has been aptly called that of effect, the 

 means employed being unusual harmonic and 

 orchestral combinations, the agreement of the 

 music with the dramatic situation, and a remark- 

 able architectural structure in point of form. He 

 is always careful, however, to keep within ortho- 

 dox limits. As already indicated, his operas have 

 numerous parallels with those of Mozart ; but along 

 with the lustre and polish of skilfully cut gems, 

 they possess also somewhat of their coldness. The 

 emotional element is often strong, but is always 

 dominated by the intellectual. His artistic ideal 

 was a lofty one, and he never stooped from it. 

 His music commanded high admiration from Beet- 

 hoven, who even took him as a model of style in 

 composition for the voice. His masses and over- 

 tures are well known, and frequently performed in 

 this country, and at least Medee and the Deux 

 Journees have kept a place on the stage. The 

 stern manner of trie ' grim Florentine ' finds illus- 

 tration in his stereotyped reply to all requests in 

 connection with his office, ' It cannot be done,' 

 from which, however, he frequently departed ; and 

 he inspired almost enthusiastic attachment in many 

 of his pupils. The antagonism between him and 

 Berlioz, on the other hand, is strongly brought 

 out in the memoirs of the latter ; and he was 

 prejudiced against Beethoven. See the Life of 

 Cherubini by Bellasis (1874) ; the Life by Pougin, 

 which appeared first in Le Menestrel ( 1882-83), and 

 vindicates him from the repellent asperity with 

 which he has been reproached ; and Crowest's 

 Cherubini ('Great Musicians,' 1890). 



CherilSCi, a German tribe first mentioned by 

 Caesar, whose exact locality is somewhat uncertain, 

 save that they touched the Weser and lay north 

 of the Harz Forest. They are chiefly memorable in 

 connection with their great leader Arminius (q.v. ). 



Chervil (Anthriscus Cerefolium), an umbelli- 

 ferous plant, which has been long cultivated, 

 especially on the Continent, as a pot-herb, and 

 used in soups and for a garnish, &c. in the same 

 manner as parsley. The leaves have a peculiar, 

 somewhat sweetish, pleasantly aromatic smell and 

 taste, by which the plant may be known from its 

 congener A nthriscus vulgaris or Scandix Anthriscus, 

 a poisonous weed, whose leaves have a disagreeable 

 smell, and which is also distinguished by its hispid 

 fruit. A. sylvestris has large roots, for the sake of 

 which it is cultivated. The allied Venus' Comb or 

 Shepherd's Needle (Scandix pecten-Veneris), often 

 found in cornfields, as also S. australis of southern 

 Europe, have a similar taste and smell, and are 

 used in the same way on the Continent. Sweet 

 Chervil or Sweet Cicely ( Myrrhis odorata ; Scandix 



odorata of the older botanists ), a native of the south 

 of Europe and of some parts of Asia, common in 

 the neighbourhood of houses in Britain, although 

 probably not a true native, is frequently cultivated 

 in Germany under the name of Spanish or Anise 

 Chervil. In Scotland the plant is popularly called 

 Myrrh. Its smell is considered attractive to bees ; 

 and the insides of empty hives are sometimes 

 rubbed with its leaves, to induce swarms to enter. 

 The species of Chaerophyllum, coarse weeds, are 

 also called chervil. 



Cherwell, a stream falling into the Isis or 

 Thames near Oxford (q.v.). 



Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland and Virginia, 

 and dividing the former state into two parts, is the 

 largest inlet on the Atlantic coast of the United 

 States, being 200 miles long, and from 4 to 40 

 broad. Its entrance, 12 miles wide, has on the 

 north Cape Charles, and on the south Cape Henry, 

 both promontories being in Virginia. The bay has 

 numerous arms, which receive many navigable 

 rivers, such as the Susquehanna on the north, the 

 Potomac, Rappahannock, and York on the west, 

 and the James on the south-west. Unlike the 

 shallow sounds towards the south, this network of 

 gulfs and estuaries, with its noble feeders, affords 

 depth of water for ships of any burden, virtually 

 carrying the ocean up to the wharves of Baltimore 

 and the arsenals of Washington. For the Chesa- 

 peake and Shannon sea-fight, see BROKE. 



Cheselden, WILLIAM, a great surgeon and 

 anatomist, was born in 1688, at Somerby, near 

 Melton-Mowbray, and having in 1711 established 

 himself in London as a lecturer on anatomy, was 

 next year elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He 

 was afterwards appointed surgeon to St Thomas's, 

 St George's, and Westminster hospitals, where he 

 acquired great reputation, especially by his ' lateral 

 operation for the stone' in 1727 (see LITHOTOMY). 

 In 1728 he operated on a young man born blind, 

 and the successful result of the operation did much 

 to develop the theory of Vision (q.v.). He died at 

 Bath, 10th April 1752. His four works included 

 Anatomy of the Human Body ( 1713), long a text- 

 book on the subject in England ; and Osteolo- 

 graphia, or Anatomy of the Bones (1733). See an 

 article in the Asclepiad ( 1886). 



Chesham, a market-town of Buckinghamshire, 

 18 miles NW. of London. Pop. of parish ( 1891 ) 8018. 



Cheshire, a maritime county in the west of 

 England, on the Welsh border, bounded N. by 

 the river Mersey, separating it from Lancashire, 

 and partly also by the Irish Sea. Its greatest 

 length from north to south is 48 miles ; greatest 

 breadth from east to west, 32 ; total area of land and 

 water, 1102 sq. in., of which 76 per cent, is under 

 cultivation. The coast-line is confined to the 

 hammer-headed peninsula, called Wirral, about 8 

 miles broad, between the estuaries of the Mersey 

 and Dee. The surface forms an extensive nearly 

 level plain between the Derbyshire and Welsh 

 mountains, well wooded, and studded with small 

 lakes or meres. This plain, comprising four- 

 fifths of the surface, rests on new red sandstone, 

 and is crossed, near the middle, by a tract of high 

 ground running south-west from a promontory over- 

 looking the Mersey, near the mouth of the Weaver, 

 to Beeston Castle rock, 366 feet high. On the east 

 border of the county is a line of new red sandstone 

 hills. In the east are large tracts of peat, and much 

 of the county is wet and rushy. Coal-measures 

 appear on the Flintshire border, and also on the 

 borders of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The chief 

 rivers are the Dee, Mersey, and Weaver, which are 

 navigable. The Dee skirts the county on the west 

 for 55 miles, and the Mersey on the north for 40 

 miles. The Weaver rises in the east part of the 



