136 



CHAMBERRY CHAMELEON. 



chamberlain of the household, a lord chamberlain of 

 the quern's household, 840. In feet, there are almost 

 i> many chamberlains as chamber^. 



Cttambertain of London is the oilicer who keeps the 

 city money, which is laid uj in a chamber of London, 

 in Guildhall. He also presides over the affairs 

 of masters and apprentices, makes free of the 

 city, &c. 



CHAMBERRY, or CHAMBERI (anciently Ca- 

 meria, Canifrium, and Camerincnm) ; capital of Sa- 

 voy, at the conflux of two small rivers, near the 

 Isere ; 12$ posts E. Lyons ; Ion. 5 S5 7 E. ; lat. 45 

 26' N. ; population, U, 991 ; houses, 1985. It is a 

 bishop's see. It contains a cathedral, two parish 

 churches, fourteen convents, four hospitals, a college, 

 and a public library. In its vicinity are excellent 

 baths, much frequented in summer. It is situated in 

 a delightful valley, and is defended by a castle plac- 

 ed on an eminence. Its suburbs are large and ele- 

 gant ; all I lie houses liave piazzas. It has consider- 

 able manufactures and distilleries. At this place the 

 emperor Sigismund erected the earldom of Savoy 

 into a dukedom, and it was once the residence of the 

 princes ; but, after the court was removed to Turin, 

 it lost its splendour. 



CHAMBERS, EPHRAIM ; a miscellaneous writer, 

 and compiler of a popular dictionary of arts and 

 sciences. He was a native of Milton, in Westmore- 

 land, and was educated at a school at Kendal, under 

 the father of the celebrated bishop Watson. On 

 leaving school, he was apprenticed to J. Senex, a 

 mathematical instrument and globe maker in London. 

 Here he acquired such a taste Tor the study of science, 

 and made so much proficiency in it, that he not only 

 formed the design of compiling his famous Cyclopae- 

 dia, but actually wrote some of the articles for it be- 

 hind his master's counter. The first edition of this 

 work was published in 1728, in 2 vols. folio ; and 

 Chambers was soon after chosen F. R. S. Two sub- 

 sequent editions, in 1738 and 1739, appeared pre- 

 viously to lu's death, which happened May 15, 1740. 

 Several improved editions of the Cyclopaedia have 

 been published, and it has served as the basis of 

 many subsequent works. See Rees, Abraham. 



CHAMBERS, DAVID; a Scottish historical and 

 legal writer, of the sixteenth century ; was a native 

 or Ross-shire. He received his education in the laws 

 and theology at Aberdeen college, and afterwards 



Eursued his studies in the former branch of know- 

 xlge in France and Italy. The earliest date ascer- 

 tained in his life is his studying at Bologna under 

 Marianus Sozenus in 1 556. Soon after, returning to 

 his native country, he assumed the clerical offices of 

 parson of Study and chancellor of the diocese of 

 Ross. His time, however, seems to have been de- 

 voted to the legal profession, which was not then in- 

 compatible with the clerical. In 1564 he was ele- 

 vated to the bench by his patroness queen Mary, to 

 whose fortunes he was faithfully attached through 

 life. He was one of the high legal functionaries en- 

 trusted at this time with the duty of compiling and 

 publishing the acts of the Scottish parliament. The 

 result of the labours of these men was a volume, now 

 known by the title of " the Black Acts," from the 

 letter in which it is printed. After the fortunes of 

 his mistress experienced an overthrow, Chambers, un- 

 able to protect himself from the wrath of the ascend- 

 ant party, found it necessary to take refuge in Spain. 

 He here experienced a beneficent protection from king 

 Philip, to whom he must have been strongly recom- 

 mended by his faith, and probably also the transac- 

 tions in which he had lately been engaged. Subse- 

 quently retiring to France, he published, in 1572, 

 tfistoire Abregee de tous les Roys de France, Angle- 

 te>-rs, ft Ecoste, which he dedicated to Henry III. 



His chief authority in this work was the fabulous 

 narrative of Boece. In 1579 he published other two 

 works in the French language, La Recherche des 

 singularites, les plus remarkables concernant /' Es'nit 

 d' Ecosse, and Dtscours de la legitime succession /It-: 

 femmes aux possessions des leurs parens et du gon- 

 vernement des princesses aux empires et royanmr. 

 On the return of quieter times he returned to his 

 native country, where he was, in the year l;",sii. re- 

 stored to the bench, in which situation lie continued 

 till his death in Noveml>er, 1592. 



CHAMBORD ; a castle, park, and village, with 

 the surrounding territory, comprising 5000 acres of 

 forest and twenty-three farms; the whole ground 

 embraces 11,000 acres. It is situated in the depart- 

 ment of Loire-and-Cher, near Blois. It was intended 

 by the French nation as a present to the son of the 

 murdered duke of Berry, the young duke of Bor- 

 deaux; but the conduct of the ministry in this affair 

 did not meet with the approbation of the public. 

 The splendid castle of Chambord is situated in the 

 middle of a park, enclosed by walls extending eight 

 leagues. It contains 440 rooms, 13 large staircases, 

 ana stalls for the reception of 1200 horses. It was 

 built, in the Gothic style, by Primation, for Francis 

 I., and completed under Louis XIV. Here Francis 

 I. indulged his inclination for gallantry ; here the arts 

 first sprang to life in France ; and here king Stanis- 

 laus Leczinsky resided for nine years. In 1745 it 

 was given by Louis XV. to marslial Saxe, who died 

 there in 1750. The emperor Napoleon gave the do- 

 mains of Chambord to the prince of Wagram (Berth- 

 ier), and constituted it the principality of Wagram. 

 When the widow of the marshal offered the estate for 

 sale, a company was formed, which bought it for 

 1,542,000 franks, and gave it to the duke of Bordeaux 

 in the name of the people of France, on the day of 

 his baptism, May 1, 1821. Several lithographic 

 prints of Chambord, with descriptions, were publish- 

 ed by Engelmann, Paris, 1822 ; also a large litho- 

 graph by Isabey, tiiS largest of the kind in 

 France. 



CHAMBRE ARDENTE (French; burning cham- 

 ber) ; formerly, in France, a chamber in which state 

 prisoners of high rank were tried by torch-light. 

 The chamber was hung with black cloth. When 

 Francis II., in the sixteenth century, established a 

 court to try the Protestants, who were usually con- 

 demned to be burned, the people called Uu's court, 

 likewise, chambre ardente, in allusion to its sentences, 



CHAMBRE INTROUVABLE (French; the 

 chamber not to be found) ; an appellation that was 

 bestowed, in ridicule, on the French chamber of de- 

 puties, which met after the second restoration of 

 Louis XVIII., for its coldness and anti-nationality. 

 This appellation has been preserved. 



CHAMELEON (chamatleo, Daud.); a genus of 

 reptiles belonging to the saurian or lizard-like order, 

 a native of parts of Asia and Africa. The very re- 

 markable power which these animals possess of 

 changing their colour, and at pleasure producing a 

 succession of rich and beautifully varied tints ovei 

 the whole body, at a very early period called the at- 

 tention of observers to their habits. Aristotle has 

 left a very perfect description of the chameleon, in 

 the eleventh chapter of his second book on the history 

 of animals. Various poets and fabulists have, at dif- 

 ferent periods, contributed to its celebrity, and, by 

 inaccurate or fanciful representations, have rendered 

 it far more of a prodigy than nature ever designed it 

 to be. 



The skin of the chameleon is composed of a sort 

 of small, scaly grains, and, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, is of a greenish-grey colour. The general 

 form of the body reminds one of the lizard, but the 



