CAR YATIDES C AS AS. 



77 



Bient and mental culture in which he so much de- 

 lighted. One of his sayings marks his taste and cha- 

 racter" I pity unlearned gentlemen on a rainy day." 

 Lord Falkland left behind him several published 

 speeches and pamphlets on political and theological 

 subjects, as also a few poems. 



CARYATIDES ; a kind of pillars, which repre- 

 sent the upper part of female bodies. The name is 

 of Greek origin. The goddess Diana, who had a 

 temple in Karyatis, a Peloponnesian city, was, for 

 tins reason, called Karyatis. In honour of her, vir- 

 gins danced in a festive procession, on the feast of 

 Karyatis, which suggested to architects the idea of 

 adopting the image of virgins in a kind of column 

 which ornamented the Pantheon. Thus Lessing ex- 

 plains die name and form of the Caryatides. Ano- 

 ther explanation of the origin of Caryatides is the 

 following : The inhabitants of Carya, a city of Pelo- 

 ponnesus, allied themselves with the barbarians in 

 the Persian war. The Greeks, on the successful ter- 

 mination of that struggle, exterminated the males of 

 Carya, and reduced all the women to slavery. The 

 captives, as a farther mark of infamy, were forbidden 

 to lay aside the robes in which they had decorated 

 the conquerors' triumph ; and the architects of the 

 time, to perpetuate the memory of the transaction, 

 made statues representing these women in the ser- 

 vile office of supporting entablatures. For represen- 

 tations of Caryatides, see plate VI. fig. 7. 



C ASA, GIOVANNI DELLA, an Italian poet and orator, 

 of an ancient and noble family of Mugello, near Flo- 

 rence, was born 1503, studied at Bologna, Padua, 

 Rome, and entered as an ecclesiastic, into the service 

 of the two cardinals Alessandro Farnese, the first of 

 whom, in 1534, ascended the papal chair, under the 

 name of Paul III. He rose through various offices 

 in the church, till Paul IV. made him Ids private se- 

 cretary. He died probably in 1556. His most cele- 

 brated work is Galatea, ovvero de' Costumi, to which 

 one, Degli ujpzj, Communi tra gli Amid Superior! e 

 In/eriori, forms a supplement. This last is a trans- 

 lation of his Latin treatise, De Officiis inter Potentio- 

 res et Tenuiores Amicos. The best and most com- 

 plete edition of his works appeared at Venice, 1752, 

 in 3 vols. 4to. 



CASANOVA, FRANCIS, a painter famous for his 

 battle-pieces, born at London, 1730, went, while a 

 boy, to Venice, where he applied himself to the art 

 of painting. He afterwards obtained admission into 

 the academy in Dresden, and painted several pieces 

 for the prince of Concle. The spirit and liveliness of 

 his colouring and execution cannot be surpassed. At 

 the request of Catharine of Russia, he painted, in Vi- 

 enna, a piece representing the victory of this princess 

 over the Turks, which she afterwards put up in her 

 palace. He was constantly occupied with his art, 

 and died at Bruhl, near Vienna, 1805. His brother 

 John, likewise a painter, was born, 1729, at London ; 

 died, 1795, at Dresden, where he was professor and 

 superintendent in the academy of painting, and had 

 instructed many able pupils in his art. His work on 

 the Ancient Monuments of Art, published in Italian, 

 and also in German (Leipsic, 1771), istill in esteem. 



CASANOVA, JOHN JAMES, DE SEINGALT; eldest 

 brother of the preceding ; born at Venice, 1725 ; 

 known by his Memoirs as an original and gay tem- 

 pered man, who acted an interesting part in all situ- 

 ations, amongst all classes of society, and in all the 

 large cities of Europe. His various adventures are 

 related by himself in a most entertaining manner. 

 They were first published, in part, at Leipsic, 1826, 

 in a German Iran- bit ion. The French original has 

 since appeared. His father, Cajetan John James, a 

 descendent of the Spanish family of Palafox, falling 

 in love with a dancer, turned actor, but afterwards 



united himself with the daughter of a shoemaker, Fa- 

 nosi, who followed the profession of her husband. 

 James Casanova, then- eldest son, received the rudi- 

 ments of his education in Padua, and made rapid pro* 

 gress in the Latin language, as well as hi the other 

 branches of learning. His ardent temperament, ear- 

 ly developed, soon, however, involved him hi many 

 adventures that served to sharpen his observation and 

 enlarge his knowledge of human nature. He studied 

 law, and, in his sixteenth year, wrote two disserta- 

 tions ; one, De Testamentis, the other on the ques- 

 tion, Utrum Hebreei possint construere novas Synago- 

 gas. His talent for shining in society introduced 

 him, at Venice, into the select circles, in which a re- 

 fined but frivolous tone of manners prevailed. The 

 patriarch of Venice gave him the inferior ordination, 

 and his first sermon was received with general ap- 

 plause ; but he tailed in his second ; and from this 

 period commences his restless career, in which he be- 

 came entangled in a series of love adventures, that 

 can be understood only from his memoirs. He is ar- 

 rested in Venice, comes into personal contact with 

 pope Benedict XIV. at Rome, goes to Constantino- 

 ple, is in the military service at Corfu, and, in short, 

 visits all the principal cities of Europe, being conti- 

 nually connected with the highest personages, is fol- 

 lowed and caressed, till at last he accompanies the 

 count of Waldstein to Dux, hi Bohemia, where he be- 

 comes his librarian. He died at Vienna in 18C3. 

 The escape of Casanova from the lead prisons of Ve- 

 nice was managed with admirable address and inge- 

 nuity. He has left several works in Italian and 

 French, which give proof of the great powers of this 

 Proteus, though he was more at home in the bustling 

 world than in the pursuits of learning. Of these may 

 be mentioned, Confutazione della Storia del Goberno 

 Veneto d'Amelot de la Houssaie, divisi in tre Parti 

 (Amsterdam, 1769) ; Istoria delle Turbulenze della 

 Polonia dalla Morte di Elisabet Petrowna fino alia 

 pace fra la Russia e la Porta Ottomana, in cut si tro- 

 vano tutti gli Avenimenti Cagioni della Rivoluzione di 

 quel Regno (Gratz, 1774, 3 vols.) ; Histoire de ma Fu- 

 ite des Prisons de la Republique de Venise, tfu 1 on ap- 

 pelle les Plombs (Prague, 1788). His memoirs are a 

 mirror of the manners of his time. 



CASAS, BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS, a Spanish pre- 

 late, was born at Seville in 1474, and in his nine- 

 teenth year, accompanied his father, who sailed with 

 Columbus, to the West Indies. Five years after- 

 wards, he returned to Spain, and. pursuing lu's stu- 

 dies, he entered the ecclesiastical order. He again 

 accompanied Columbus in his second voyage to His- 

 paniola, and, on the conquest of Cuba, settled there, 

 and distinguished himself by his humane conduct to- 

 wards the oppressed natives, of whom he became, in 

 a manner, the patron. He set at liberty the Indians 

 who had fallen to his share in the division ; and, so 

 much was he interested for them, that, in 1516, he 

 went to Spain to lay a statement of their case before 

 king Ferdinand, whose death, at that time, prevented 

 any measures for their redress. The regent, cardinal 

 Ximenes, however, appointed a commission to exa- 

 mine circumstances upon the spot, and to determine 

 accordingly. Las Casas was to accompany them, with 

 the title of protector of the Indians. The commis- 

 sioners found that it was impossible to liberate the 

 Indians, and therefore endeavoured to secure them 

 Immune treatment ; but Las Casas, still dissatisfied, 

 remonstrated so wannly, that he was obliged to 

 take refuge in a convent, from the rage of the 

 planters. He again returned to Europe, and, on 

 the accession of Charles V., in consequence of 

 his representations, the council appointed a cliief 

 judge to re-examine the points of controversy be- 

 tween the partisans of Indian liberty and the colo- 



