C H U 



461 



C H U 



Churchill 

 John. 



Chmr.oma- CHRONOMETER. See TIMEKEEPER. 



ter CHRONOMETER, in Music, an instrument for ac- 



curately measuring time. Of these, two different kinds 

 are in use with musicians. One of them is for measu- 

 ring the equal spaces of time, in which the bars and prin- 

 cipal notes in any given piece of music are to be perform- 

 ed, in place of the signals of the coryphxus, mesochori, 

 or manuductor of the ancients, and the motions of the 

 maestro di capella, conductore, or leader of our modern 

 performances, or concerts. The late Dr Robinson, in 

 the British Magazine, vol. ii. p. 283, proposed the use 

 of a graduated pendulum, for marking the lengths of the 

 notes in performance, and gave a table of the lengths of 

 pendulums for the notes of several of the most popular of 

 Handel's songs, &c. The late Mr Clagget, and since 

 him Mr Peck of Lombard street, sold a machine for 

 beating time, as it is called among singers. The other 

 kind of chronometer is useful to tuners of organs and 

 piano fortes, being calculated, according to the sugges- 

 tion of the late Dr Robert Smith, in his Harmonics, 2d 

 edit. p. 210, to measure fractions of a quarter of a mi- 

 nute, or of one second in other machines, according to 

 the calculated velocity of the BEATS (see that article) 

 of any particular system of temperament that is wished 

 to be tuned. A simple, accurate, and general beat- 

 counter, is still, however, a great desideratum with the 

 tuners of organs, piano-fortes, harps, &c. ($) 



CHRYSANTHELLUM, a genus of plants of the 

 cla*s Syngenesia, and order Polygamia Superflua. See 

 BOTANY, p. 31 1. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM, a genus of plants -of the 

 class Syngenesia, and order Polygamia Superflua. See 

 EI.TANY, p. 300. 



CH KYSITRIX, a genus of plants of the class Poly- 

 gamia, and order Dicccia. See BOTANY, p. 31-6. 



CHRYSOBALANUS, a genus of plants of the 

 class Icosandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, 

 p. 229. 



CHRYSOBERYL. See OHYCTOGNOSY. 



CHRYSOCOMA, a genus of plants of the class Syn- 

 geneaia, and order Polygamia ./Equalis. See BOTANY, 

 p. 29. 



CHRYSOLITE. See ORYCTOGNOSY. 



CHRYSOMELA. See ENTOMOLOGY. 



CHRYSOPHYLLUM, a genus of plants of the 

 class Pvntandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY. 

 p. 1-MJ. 



CHRYSOPLENIUM, a genus of plants of the class 

 Decandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, page 



CHRYSOPRASE. See ORYCTOGNOSY. 

 CHUKA or CIIOOKA. See THIBET. 

 CHUNCHOA, a gt-nus of plants <if the class Decan- 

 dria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, p. 222. 

 CHURCH HISTORY. See ECCLESIASTICAL His- 



TOItV. 



CHURCHILL, JOHN, Duke of Marlborough, the 

 most successful general in English history, was the son 

 of Sir Winston Churchill, and was born at Ashe in De- 

 vonshire in 1650. The course of his early education has 

 not been accurately recorded, and it is probable, that he 

 had acquired little beyond the rU-ments of learning, when 

 In- t.itlier was induced to carry him, at the early age of 

 twelve, to court. The hereditary loyalty of the family 

 eemed to have paved the way for the appointment of 

 young dill-chill to those stations of whtcti his years ad- 

 mitted, as he soon became a page to the Duke of York, 

 and an ensign in the guards. His farther advancement 

 wa promoted by his comely person, his prepossessing 



manners, and, by a circumstance of loss credit to his fa- 

 mily, we mean, that of his sister being mistress to the 

 Duke of York. She was the mother of the celebrated 

 Duke of Berwick. Churchill's first opportunities of 

 acquiring military knowledge were in the service of 

 France, in which, in consequence of King Charles's un- 

 natural alliance in 1672, a body of English auxiliaries 

 served under command of the king's natural son, the 

 Duke of Monmouth. Churchill was then a captain, and 

 distinguished himself by many acts of bravery. Turenne 

 was commander in chief, and young as Churchill was, it 

 is probable that the tactics of that distinguished leader 

 furnished him with much matter of reflection. Being 

 equally in favour with the Duke of Monmouth and the 

 Duke of York, he attained, before the end of the war, 

 the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After the peace of Ni- 

 meguen, his official duties kept him a great deal about 

 court ; and though he was thought somewhat too free 

 a speaker for that situation, he contrived to pass through 

 those years of disquietude and civil dissension without 

 committing himself with either party. His station was 

 with the Duke of York ; but, dependant as he was on 

 his Royal Highness, he never thought of courting his fa- 

 vour by condescension on the score of religion. 



In the year 1681 he became a married man, by espou- 

 sing Miss Sarah Jennings, one of the maids of honour to 

 the Princess Anne. Miss Jennings was then about 21, 

 highly beautiful, and in great favour with her young 

 mistress. Appearances thus seemed to promise mucn 

 advantage from the match ; and it is certain that Marl- 

 borough's ascendency over our councils in the early 

 part of Queen Anne's reign, might have bsen less com- 

 plete without the influence of his wife. But, on the 

 other hand, we cannot help thinking it, on the whole, 

 matter of regret, that he interfered at all with the bu- 

 siness of the court. Had he confined himself strict- 

 ly to his profcsbion, his country might have had equal 

 benefit from his services, and his character might have 

 been free from the serious charge of wilfully prolong- 

 ing the war. Certain it is, that his unfortunate fall- 

 ing, the love of money, was greatly aggravated by his 

 wife's disposition ; for several of those acts which drew 

 odium upon him, proceeded evidently from her interfe-. 

 rence. In 1681, he obtained a regiment of dragoons, 

 and was next year created Baron of Eymouth in Scot- 

 land. On James's accession in 1685, he was sent over 

 on a short mission to France, and made an English peer 

 by the title of Baron Churchill. He appears to have acted 

 a prudent part during the three years of this infatuated 

 reign, adhering to his own principles, and taking no 

 share in the king's obnoxious acts.. He was one of those, 

 who sent over early an assurance of attachment to the 

 Prince of Orange, and took an opportunity of joining 

 him soon after he landed. On this occasion he thought 

 proper to leave a letter to King Jamss, lamenting the 

 necessity of the step, ascribing it to the imperious dic- 

 tates of conscience, and repeating, in the strongest terms, 

 his attachment to the king personally. 



After William's accession to the crown, Churchill 

 was for some time in favour, being raised to the dignity 

 ef Earl of Marlborough, and entrusted, when William 

 was in Ireland, with the command of the British auxili- 

 aries in Flanders. It was in this summer, at the battle 

 of Walcourt, that Marlborough first taught the French 

 what they were to expect in future from his talents. 

 Prince Waldeck, the commander in chief, declared, that 

 " Marlborough saw more into the art of war in a day, 

 than some generals in a course of years." Next year he 

 distinguished himself in Ireland by the capture of Cork 



3 



Churchill, 

 John. 



