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CARNOT CARO. 



presentations of human life." It was in Nuremberg, 

 renowned for its wares and its wit, that the first fast- 

 eve's play was produced, coarse and frolicsome, to 

 suit the taste of the citizens. These pieces have a 

 near relationship to the masques of the English and 

 the forces of the French, as have the spiritual fast- 

 eve's plays, religious burlesques, to the Mysteries 

 and Moralities. According to the ancient custom, 

 these plays were opened and closed by a crier or 

 herald. The carnival is celebrated in modern times 

 with the greatest show and spirit at Venice and 

 Rome. In the former place, it begins after Christ- 

 mas. The diversions of it are shows, masquerades, 

 the amusements of the place of St Mark, and some- 

 times, in case of the visits of great princes, a regatta, 

 or boatrrace. After tliis, there was a second carnival 

 in Venice, the Venetian mass, called also the festival 

 of the Ascension, and the Bucentaur festival, because 

 it commonly began on Ascension-day, and because 

 the celebration of the marriage of the doge with the 

 Adriatic sea was connected^ with it. It continued 

 fourteen days. No character-masks were worn 

 there, however, except Venetian dominos. . The car- 

 nival at Rome (see Goethe's excellent description, 

 Das Romische Carneval, and that of lady Morgan) 

 continues but eight days, and is occupied mostly in 

 masquerades and races. Since the return of peace, 

 the carnival has been celebrated again in Cologne, 

 on the Rhine, under the direction of the committee of 

 fools, to the great satisfaction of all who were pre- 

 sent. In Spain, the carnival is called carnestolendas. 

 CARNOT, LAZARE NICHOLAS MARGUERITE ; born 

 at Nolay, in Burgundy, 1753 ; the sono&an advocate. 

 From his youth, he exhibited an uncommon talent 

 for the mathematical and military sciences, entered 

 the corps of engineers, and rose in office by the fa- 

 vour of the prince of Conde. He published, after- 

 wards, Mathematical Essays, which caused him to 

 be elected a member of several learned societies. 

 His eulogy on Vauban received the prize of the aca- 

 demy at Dijon. At the beginning of the revolution, 

 he was captain in the corps of engineers. In 1791, 

 he was appointed deputy to the constituent assem- 

 bly, but at first took part only in military affairs. At 

 his proposal, the officers of the nobility were removed 

 from the army, and others substituted from the citi- 

 zens. As a member of the convention, he voted for 

 the death of Louis. In the following March he was 

 sent to the army of the north, where lie deprived the 

 cowardly general Gratien of his command on the 

 field, put himself at the head of the army, and re- 

 pulsed the enemy. On his return to the convention, 

 he was made a member of the committee of public 

 safety (q. v.). The influence of Carnot in the mili- 

 tary operations now began to be more deeply felt. 

 In possession of all the plans deposited in the ar- 

 chives of Louis XIV., he organized and directed the 

 French armies ; and his direction undoubtedly con- 

 tributed very much to their success. After the fall 

 of Robespierre, he was often accused, but always 

 acquitted, because his duty had been to take care of 

 the defence of the country, and he could not be made 

 answerable for the cruel decrees of Robespierre, in 

 which Carnot's name, as he was a member of the 

 committee, of course, was to be found. At the es- 

 tablishment of the directory, in 1795, Carnot was 

 chosen a member, and for some time maintained an 

 important influence. Barras at length succeeded 

 him in the department of war, and was ever after his 

 enemy. His plan for the overthrow of Barras was 

 unsuccessful, and with some others he was sentenced 

 to transportation on the 18th Fructidor (Sept. 4), 

 1797. He fled to Germany, and published a defence, 

 which was eagerly read in Paris, and, by the expo- 

 sure of the conduct of his former colleagues, hastened 



their overthrow on the 30th Prairial (June 18), 1799. 

 After the 18th Brumaire, Carnot was recalled, and 

 appointed inspecteur aux revues, and two months 

 later, in April, 1800, minister of war. He soon 

 after retired into the bosom of his family, but was 

 called to the tribunate, March 9, 1802. The same 

 inflexible integrity and republican principle, which 

 had hitherto distinguished him, dia not now desert 

 him. He often opposed the views of the govern- 

 ment, voted alone against the consulship for me, and 

 resisted strenuously the proposal for the imperial 

 dignity. He remained, however, a member of the 

 tribunate till it was abolished, passed the next seven 

 years of his life in retirement, and published several 

 valuable military works. In 1814, Napoleon gave 

 him the chief command at Antwerp. He connected 

 a vigorous defence with a careful regard for die in- 

 terest of the city, which, by the command of Louis 

 XVIII. he afterwards surrendered to the British 

 general Graham. He still retained his titles and 

 his honours, but, as a firm republican, he could nevei 

 expect the favour of the court ; particularly as, in 

 his memorial to the king, he openly and severely 

 censured the measures of government, in conse- 

 quence of which he was passed over in the new or- 

 ganization of the academy of sciences. When Na- 

 poleon was once more at the helm of state, in 1815, 

 he made Carnot count and peer of the empire, and 

 pressed upon him the ministry of the interior. Car- 

 not discharged the difficult duties of this office with 

 his usual integrity. After the emperor's second fall, 

 he was made a member of the provisory government 

 of France, and was afterwards the only one of the 

 members of it comprehended in the ordinance of 

 July 24. He retired to Cerney, where he employed 

 his pen on political subjects ; then to Warsaw, in 

 1815, with his family ; and, finally, to Magdeburg, 

 where he died Aug. 3, 1823. (See the Corresp. de 

 Nap. Bonap. av. le Cte. Carnot pend. les 100 Jours 

 (Paris, 1819), and Carnot's Leben (Carnot's Life), by 

 Korte.) The brothers Baudouin^ in Paris, who have 

 in their possession all Carnot's manuscripts, publish* 

 ed, in 1824, Mem, histor. et militaires sur Camot, re- 

 diges d'apres ses Manuscrits, sa Corresp. inedite, et 

 ses Ecrits, etc. par Tissot. Among Carnot's writ- 

 ings, the most valuable are his Essai sur les Ma- 

 chines ; Reflexions sur la Metaphysique du Calcul in- 

 finitesimal; Sur la Geometric du Position; De la 

 Defense des Places fortes ; Expose de la Conduite po- 

 litique de Carnot, depuis le 1 Juill., 1814. In Magde- 

 burg, Carnot published Memoire sur la Fortification 

 primitive, and a volume of poems. He was rigid in 

 his love of virtue, a scholar, a general, and an in- 

 flexible republican. He was universally esteemed 

 both in France and in foreign lands, and was ho- 

 noured by all parties. Carnot's life is one of those 

 which ought to be familiar to every young repub- 

 lican, like that of Barneveldt. 



CARO, ANNIBALE, one of the most celebrated 

 Italian authors of the sixteenth century, born 1507, 

 at Citta Nuova, in the March of Ancona, after the 

 death of liis patron, Gaddi, 1543, was appointed se- 

 cretary to Pietro Ludovico Farnese, duke of Parma 

 and Piacenza, who intrusted him with several mis- 

 sions to Charles V. After the assassination of the 

 duke, his own life was in considerable danger. He 

 took refuge in Parma, and was treated in a friendly 

 manner by the new duke, Octavio Farnese, whose 

 two brothers, the cardinals Ranuccio and Alexander, 

 took him successively into their service. With the 

 latter he remained from 1548 to his death in 1566, 

 and received from him several ecclesiastical prefer- 

 ments. Caro devoted himself chiefly to the study of 

 numismatics and the Tuscan language, and his pure 

 and elegant style, in verse and prose, soon became 



