CHILD 



< III I.I 



177 



|iu|iiiliir poetry. Professor ('liilil also contributed 

 -nine valuable noti-. to Halo ami Fiirnival! 

 print of Bishop I'eiey's folio inainiseri|it (ISliT (>8). 

 His UliservatioiiM on the Language of Chaucer 

 and Gower,' in the Jlf0m0tr* of the . \nieriean A<-a- 

 deiny, and reprinted in Kllis's Kuril/ Knylixh l'n>- 

 iiiiiii-intinii (isii'.t) show a marvellous grasp of 

 Middle English grammar. He died llth Septeinl>er 

 1896. 



Child. SIR JOSIAII, writer on commerce, was 

 lion i in lt;:id, the second son of a merchant of 

 London. He himself made a fortune of 200,000 

 as a nas v victualler at Portsmouth and a director 

 of the Ka-t India Company. In 1678 he was made 

 a haronet, and he died '2*2(1 June 1699. His prin- 

 cipal work is Brief Observations concerning Trade 

 a in/ the Interest of Money (1668); a 3d edition 

 (1690), much enlarged, is entitled A New Dis- 

 i-nnrxe of Trcule, and has as an appendix, ' A small 

 Treatise against Usury.' In this work he explains 

 his plans for the relief and employment of the poor, 

 including the substitution of districts or unions for 

 parishes, and the compulsory transportation of 

 paupers to the colonies. His brother, SIR JOHN 

 CHILD, was governor of Bombay, where he died, 

 4th February 1690. 



Child (born FRANCIS), LYDIA MARIA, American 

 author, born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1802, 

 published her first novel in 1821, and in 1828 married 

 David Lee Child (1794-1874), a journalist, with ( 

 whom she edited the Anti-slavery Standard in New I 

 York in 1843-44. She was a conspicuous champion 

 of the slaves, for whom she published an Appeal in 

 1833 ; the principal of her numerous other works 

 are novels, the best of them relating to early New 

 England history, and an ambitious out inaccurate 

 work on the history of religion (1855). She died 

 20th October 1880. 



Childermas, or HOLY INNOCENTS' DAY (28th 

 December), is observed by the Church of Rome 

 with masses in commemoration of the children 

 killed by Herod. It was long considered unlucky 

 to marry or to begin any work on this day, and 

 from Fenn's Letters we learn that the coronation of 

 King Edward IV. was put off till the Monday, 

 because the preceding Sunday was Childermas 

 Day. Innocents' Day is also a red-letter festival 

 of the Church of England. 



Children, PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO. Ex- 

 perience has proved that defenceless children, even | 

 within the range of our boasted civilisation, are I 

 not infrequently grossly maltreated by parents, I 

 their natural protectors, and that therefore special j 

 legislation is necessary to secure their proper j 

 treatment. To ameliorate the condition or chil- 

 dren has therefore entered largely into the scope 

 of modern legislation. The Factory Acts (q.v.), 

 the Education Acts, the Reformatory and Indus- 

 trial Schools Acts, the Criminal Law Amend- 

 ment Act, and the Dangerous Performances Act 

 are all evidence of this fact. The operations of 

 the recently formed Societies for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Children show in the strongest light the 

 necessity for their action, though it is but a very 

 few years since this special agency was introduced 

 aiiion;* us. The first societies of the kind were 

 established in the United States. That in New 

 York was the earliest, as it is the largest and 

 most influential. Liverpool in 1883, ana London 

 in 1884, followed this example, and now, by means 

 of other local societies, or of local aid commit- 

 tees affiliated to the London society, the work 

 they have undertaken is rapidly spreading ; con- 

 victions for cruelty are secured and children are 

 sheltered and fed. The Rev. Benjamin Waugh 

 deserves mention as the main promoter of the 

 society (now incorporated by royal charter) and its 

 116 



work. The Prevention of Cruelty to Children 



Act of I vi i has given great help t" the < an - It 

 imposes penalties on those who inflict needle** Mif 

 ferine on children ; punishes neglect, exposure, 

 ami assault es|>ecially where insurance money U 

 a bait ; specially deals with oHenceH by drunken 

 parents, and with parents who make their children 

 under eleven beg or vend in the Htreet between 

 nine at night and six in the morning. It also 

 provides for government inspection of places where 

 acrobats and pantomime children are trained, and 

 abolishes the necessity of the oath in many cases. 

 Sentences of from three months' imprisonment to 

 three years' penal servitude may be inflicted. And 

 the Act further modifies the conditions of guardian- 

 ship, and brings in the authority of the Home Olli< e 

 in connection with the emigration of ill-treated chil- 

 dren. Yet further legislation is required. A wife 

 cannot give evidence against her husband of his 

 drunken midnight cruelty to their child which she 

 alone has witnessed, though a mother's evidence 

 is legally admissible if she is not married to her 

 child's father. State protection should be as 

 freely accorded to the lives and limbs of chil- 

 dren as, through the Court of Chancery, it is 

 to their property. This benevolent work for 

 children is indeed essentially a special work, and the 

 police have not the sufficiency of time, resource, 

 and special training which its full discharge re- 

 quires. Municipal corporations should be em- 

 powered to regulate as in America what is called 

 ' street peddling,' as of evening newspapers and 

 the like. The hours, varying with the season of 

 the year, in which it may be carried on at all, and 

 the ages of the boys and girls Who may be engaged 

 in it, should be fixed and enforced. Once give the 

 necessary powers, and many present evils will 

 cease. For the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 

 see ABDUCTION ; see also INFANTICIDE. 



Childs, GEORGE WILLIAM, born in Baltimore, 

 Maryland, 12th May 1829, became clerk in a book- 

 store in Philadelphia, by 1850 was head of a publish- 

 ing firm, and in 1864 purchased the Public Ledger. 

 He died 2d February 1894. He devoted much of 

 his wealth to beneficence, and he erected a memo- 

 rial window in Westminster Abbey to Cowper and 

 (leorge Herbert, a monument to Leigh Hunt at 

 Kensal Green, and a fountain to Shakespeare at 

 Stratford-on-Avon. See his Recollections ( 1890). 



Chili (written CHILE by its own citizens), one 

 of the republics of South America. It is situated 

 on the west coast, and may be described as a long 

 strip of territory lying between the summit of the 

 Andes and the Pacific Ocean, extending from alwut 

 the 18th parallel of south latitude to the southern 

 extremity of Tierradel Fuego. Boundaries : N. by 

 Peru, E. by Bolivia and Argentine Republic, \\ . 

 and S. by the Pacific Ocean. By recent treaties 

 the territory of Chili has been considerably ex- 

 tended. After the war with Bolivia and Peru 

 ( 1879-81 ), Chili acquired the coast between 23 and 

 25 S. claimed by Bolivia, and annexed the Peru- 

 vian province of Tarapaca. She also occupies the 

 Peruvian provinces of Arica and Tacna, subject to 

 the payment of a war-indemnity by Peni. In the 

 south the disputed claims of Chili and Argentina to 

 Patagonia have been settled by Chili taking all 

 territory and islands south of the 52d parallel and 

 west of 68 30' W. This includes the larger portion 

 of Tierra del Fuego. The Strait of Magellan is by 

 treaty considered neutral. The length of Chili is 

 about 2500 English miles. Its breadth varies 

 from 40 to 200 miles. The Andes extend in two 

 parallel lines throughout nearly the entire length 

 of the country. Between these two ranges of the 

 4 Cordillera ' there is a central valley or tableland 

 which attains its greatest breadth between 33 and 



