142 



CHANCERY CIIAPELAIN. 



nuik, who is installed with great ceremony. The 

 duties of the office are almost eJitirely discharged by 

 the vice-chancellor ; the chancellor's own acts being 

 limited to the signing of diplomas, &c. Under the 

 vice-chancellor are four pro-vice-chancellors, nomi- 

 nated by him from among the heads of colleges, to 

 one of whom, in his absence from the university, he 

 delegates his authority. 



The Chancellor of Cambridge, whose duties are very 

 similar to those of the chancellor of Oxford, is elect- 

 ed biennially by the senate ; but there is no instance, 

 at least in modern times, where a re-election has not 

 taken place. The title chancellor is given, in Eng- 

 land, to several other officers of inferior bodies. 



The chancellor was one of the highest officer^ in 

 the ( i cnn; 1 11 states, and, by the influence of his office, 

 was one of the most important. In Germany, this 

 dignity was, from the remotest times, vested in one of 

 tike higher clergy, until the head of the German 

 clergy, the archbishop and elector of Mentz, united 

 it for ever with his office as arch-chancellor of the 

 empire. The two other spiritual electors held the 

 same dignity, but it was merely titular ; the archbishop 

 of Cologne, as arch-chancellor of Italy ; the arch- 

 bishop of Treves, as arch-chancellor of Gaul, and 

 Aries, i. e., the kingdom of Burgundy, once belong- 

 ing to Germany, 't he arch-chancellorship of Mentz, 

 on the contrary, had important duties attached to it 

 the direction of the diet, and of the public business, 

 as well as of all the imperial chanceries. The 

 elector appointed a vice-chancellor, who was the ac- 

 tual minister of the empire at the imperial court. 

 The chancellor of France was the highest officer of 

 state, and the only one, who, when once appointed, 

 could not be dismissed. In case, therefore, it was 

 desired to remove him from participation in affairs, a 

 keeper of the seals (garde des sceaux) was appointed. 

 As the chancellor was properly the minister of jus- 

 tice, he was chosen from the body of jurists. A relic 

 of his spiritual character was, that all his furniture, 

 liveries, and even his coach, were black. This dig- 

 nity is now restored. Besides the chancellor of the 

 kingdom, the chancelier de France, the queen (in 

 Germany, also, the empress had her arch-chancellor, 

 the bishop of Fulda), the sons and grandsons of the 

 king, the first prince of the blood, the orders of 

 knighthood, the universities, &c. , all had their chan- 

 cellors. The German states began about the middle 

 of the fifteenth century to appoint chancellors, whose 

 duties are widely different, but are generally united 

 with the office of president of the higher judicial and 

 executive authorities. In Bavaria, for example, there 

 were a chancellor of the privy council, and a court- 

 chancellor, a chancellor of fiefs, and executive chan- 

 cellors, in the different provinces. King Frederic II. 

 (the Great) of Prussia established, some years after his 

 accession to the throne, hi 1747, the office of a grand- 

 chancellor and chef de justice for the famous Samuel 

 de Cocceji, to whom he had committed the reform 

 of the judiciary. He had several successors in this 

 dignity, but it was finally abolished. In the Aus- 

 trian monarchy there are three court-chanceries 1. 

 the imperial-royal, at the head of which stand the 

 high court-chancellor, with three other courtKJian- 

 cellors, viz., the Bohemian-Galician, the Lombardo- 

 Venetian, and the Austrian-Illyrian ; 2. the Hun- 

 garian; and 3. the Transylvanian. In Austria, al- 

 most every office of importance is called a court 

 office. The dignity of a privy-chancellor of the 

 court and state was conferred, after a long interrup- 

 tion, on prince Metternich. 



CHANCERY. See Equity, Courts of. 



CHANGES. See Combination. 



CHANNEL, ENGLISH; the sea between Eng- 

 land and France, the passage of which is often very 



tedious for vessels going from the Atlantic into the 

 German ocean. See Calais and Dover. 



CHANNELS, or CHAIN WALKS, of a ship 

 broad and thick planks projecting horizontally from 

 the ship's outside, abreast of and soinewliat behind 

 the masts. They are formed to extend the shrouds 

 from each other, and form the axis or middle line of 

 i lie sliip, so as to give greater security and support 

 to the masts, as well as to prevent the shrouds from 

 damaging the gunwale, or being injured by rubbing 

 against it. 



CHANT. See Church Musie 



CHAOS; according to the signification of the 

 word, the void which embraces all tilings. Ilesiod 

 mentions, as the original principles of all things, 

 Chaos, Earth, Tartarus, and Eros (Love); other an- 

 cient poets made Chaos alone the primeval source 

 from which everything is derived ; others added to 

 it Night, Erebus, and Tartarus ; and others still re- 

 presented Chaos as the parent of the Earth and 

 Heaven; after the production of which, Eros (Love) 

 completed the creation. In later times, by chaos 

 is understood the unformed primeval matter, of which 

 every tiling is made. Chaos, according to Hesiod, 

 produced by and out of itself Erebus and Night, who, 

 in turn, were the parents of ^Ether and Day. 



CHAPEL HILL; a post-town in Orange county, 

 North Carolina, near the head of New Hope creek , 

 a branch of the Haw; Ion. 79 3' W. ; lat. 35 40 

 N. It has an elevated and healthy situation, and 

 contains about thirty houses. The surrounding 

 country is hilly, abounding in springs, and the soil 

 is not remarkably fertile. This is the seat of the 

 university of North Carolina, which was incorporated 

 in 1793 ; and degrees were first conferred in 1797. 

 The college buildings consist of a chapel, two spa- 

 cious edifices for the accommodation of students, all 

 of brick, and a president's house. The funds consist 

 of 30 or 40,000 dollars in bank stock, 50 or 60,000 

 acres of land, and all escheated property. There is 

 a good chemical apparatus. The college library 

 contains about 1800 volumes. The executive offi- 

 cers consist of a president, who is also professor of 

 moral philosophy, and four professors, one of mathe- 

 matics, one of chemistry, one of languages, and one 

 of rhetoric ; and two tutors. 



CHAPELAIN, JEAN, better known by an unsuc- 

 cessful poem than many poets by successful ones, 

 was born in Paris, Dec. 4, 1595. Marini, who went 

 to Paris to have his Adonis printed there, induced 

 him to write a preface to that poem, by which Chape- 

 lain attracted the notice of cardinal Richelieu. The 

 latter, having the weakness to set up for a bel esprit, 

 stood in need of a poet who would labour with liim, 

 and, at times, also, for him. Cliapelain was pos- 

 sessed of talents and learning ; he was obsequious 

 and (which was the principal thing) discreet, and thus 

 his fortune was made. He became one of the first 

 members of the Academic Franvaise, and was charged 

 with the organization of that body. He received a 

 large pension, and soon became the oracle of the 

 French poets of that time. It would have been bet- 

 ter, however, if he himself had not set up for a poet . 

 His Maid of Orleans (Pucelle) was begun hi 1630, 

 and was, consequently, one of the first epic attempts 

 in French literature. As it was announced twenty 

 years before its publication, great expectations had 

 been raised, which were by no means answered on 

 its appearance (1656). In the first eighteen month-;, 

 indeed, six editions were rapidly sold ; but it soon 

 became an object of ridicule with the modern French 

 poets, and sunk into oblivion. As a man, Cliapelain 

 was universally esteemed. He died Feb. 22, 1G74. 

 The most complete edition of his Pucelle (eighteen 

 books) appeared at Geneva in 1762. The ro>al 



