ica C H A 
CHAR, a river of France, which, runs into the Bou- 
tonne, near St. Jean d’Angeli. 
CHA'RA, /. [x a f a y the joy or delight of the water.] 
In botany, a genus of the clalsmonoecia, order monandria, 
natural order inundatse. The generic characters are—I. 
Female flower. Calyx: perianthium four-leaved : leaflets 
fubuiate, ereCt, .permanent: the two oppofite exterior 
ones longer than the.others. Corolla: none. Piftiilum ; 
germ turbinate. Style: none. Stigma: flve-cleft, ob¬ 
long, deciduous. Pericarpium : emit ovate, unilocular, 
adhering; Seed : Angle ovate, fpirally ftriated. II. Male 
flower at the bale of the germ, beyond the calyx. Calyx: 
none.. Corolla: none. Stamina: filament none. An¬ 
ther : globofe, before the germ, beyond the calyx, beneath. 
EJfcntial Charafter. Male : Calyx and corolla none ; an¬ 
ther before the germ, underneath. Female : Calyx four-, 
leaved ; corolla none ; fligma five cleft; feed one. 
Species, i. Chara tomentofa, or brittle chara or ftone- 
wort:. prickles on the Item ovate. Thefe plants, which 
were ranged by Linnaeus among the cryptogamia alga;, 
have in his latter works, on more accurate ’infpeCtion, 
been removed to momec'm monandria. The firft fpecies is 
always flelh-coloured when alive, but when dry it becomes 
afh-coloured. Stem twifted, brittle and gritty in the 
mouth. Low and creeping in marflies and where there 
is little water, but in deep waters growing out in length 
and ereCt. The briftles at the joints fometimes naked, 
fometimes rough with little fpines, efpecially towards tire 
top. According to Weis, the ftems much branched;flexi¬ 
ble when young, but growing veiy ftiff as they advance 
in age, and covered with a gritty tufo; when dry they 
are lo brittle as to fly with the leaft touch. In fummer 
this plant abounds in oblong berries, growing yellow 
when ripe, and having very final 1 black feeds in them. 
Grows in fait marihes, ditches, pools, lakes, &c. in many 
parts of Europe. In England, Mr. Leonard Buckner firft 
found it three miles beyond Oxford, near Evan (bain-ferry, 
in 1632 ; Mr. Bowles found it afterwards on a bog near 
ChiflehurftinKent. FoundalfonearBath ; Beforfleigh ; in 
the rivulet that runs from Malham Tarn ; and common 
in peat ditches in Lancalhire and Weftmoreland. An¬ 
nual ; flowering from June to October. 
2. Chara vulgaris, or common or {linking chara or 
flonewort: ftems glofly; leaves toothed on the infide. 
The whole plant is yellowifh or reddilh green. Flowers 
in the divifions of the ftem ; green when frefti, and ex¬ 
tremely fetid; glaucous when dry, and very brittle. Stem 
but little branched, fix to nine inches long, flexible. Found 
in ditches and pools. Annual, floweringin j uly and Auguft. 
3. Chara hifpida, or prickly chara or flonewort: 
prickles on the ftem capillary crowded. Whitifli or pale 
green when frefh; with fpines or prickles ufually bent 
down. Stem twifted fpirally, its lower part, branches, and 
lower leaves, frequently naked ; upper part thick fet with 
prickles. The whole plant has a ftrong feent of garlic. 
It is foUnd in feveral parts of Europe, on the fea-coafts, 
&c. with us by Hinton-moor near Cambridge; Elling- 
harn, Norfolk; near Gavton, Stafrordfhire; in Yorklhire, 
Lancafliire and Weftmoreland ; Eaft-Lothian, Scotland; 
and on the turf bogs of Ireland. Annual, flowering from 
June to OCtober. 
4. Chara flexilis, or fmooth chara or flonewort: joints 
of the ftem unarmed, diaphanous, broader upwards. 
Stems eight or ten inches long, fiftular, tender, fmooth, 
flexible, dull green, pellucid. Place^and time of growth 
as in the preceding. 
Propagation amiCulture. Thefe plants haying no beauty, 
nor any ufe that we are acquainted with, and growing 
only in water, are not cultivated in gardens. 
CHARABAUN', or Tsieriron, a'feaport town, on 
the north coaft of the Eland of java, fituated in a coun¬ 
try which produces plenty of rice, fugar, coffee, pepper, 
cotton, &c. which the Dutch purchafe at a low price: 
about 130 miles eall of Batavia. Lat, 6.5.S. Ion. 109,4. E. 
CH ARABEY', a town of Perfia, in the province of 
Mazanderan : fixty miles weft- of Afterabat. 
C H A 
CHARACE'NE, See Ckorasah, 
CHARA'CIAS, f. in botany. See Euphorbia. 
CH A'RACTER, f. [charafter, Lat. x a -i a> '- rr ‘i> Gr. from 
Xcipa-o-w, to engrave.] A mark; aftamp; areprefentation; 
Imputward alfo herrefembling lefs 
His image, who made both ; and lefs exprefling 
The character of that dominion giv’n 
O’er other creatures. Milton. 
A letter u.fed in writing or printing.—It were much to be 
wifhed, that there were throughout the world but one fort 
of character for each letter, to exprefs it to the eye ; and 
that exaCtly proportioned to the natural alphabet formed in 
the mouth. Holder .—The hand or manner of writing.— 
I found the letter thrown in at the cafement of ray-clo- 
fet. You know the char aider to be your brother’s. Shake- 
fpeare.—A representation cf any man as to his perfonal 
qualities.—Homer has excelled all the heroic poets that 
ever wrote, in the multitude and variety of his charac¬ 
ters-, every god that is admitted into his poem, aCts a 
part which would have been fuitable to no other deity. 
Addifon. —An account of any thing as good or bad.—This 
fubterraneous paffage is much mended, fince Seneca gave 
fo bad a character of it. Addifon. —The perfon with his 
aflemblage of qualities; a perfonage.—In a tragedy or 
epic poem, the hero of the piece mult be advanced 
foremoft to the view of the reader or fpeCtator; he muft 
outfhine the reft of all the charallers ; he muft appear 
the prince of them, like the fun in the Copernican lyf- 
tem, encompafied with the lefs noble planets. Dryden .—■ 
Perfonal qualities; particular conftitution of the mind: 
Nothing fo true as what you once let fall. 
Molt women have no characters at all. Pope. 
Adventitious qualities impreffed by a poll or office.—. 
The chief honour of the magiftrate coniifts in maintain¬ 
ing the dignity of his charafter by fuitable aCtions. At- 
terbury. 
CHARACTER, in refpect to poetical compofition, or 
the drama, is the refillt of the manners or peculiarities 
by which each perfon or part is diftinguifhed from others. 
The poetical character, fays M. Boflu, is not properly 
any particular virtue or quality, but a compofition of 
feveral which are mixed together, in a different degree, 
according to the neceflity of the fable and the xmity of 
the aCtion: there muft be one, however, to reign over 
all the reft; and this muft be found, in fome degree, in 
every part. The firft quality in Achilles, is wrath; in 
Uly lies, diffimulation; and in EEneas, mildnefs: but, 
as thefe characters cannot exift alone, they muft be ac- 
companied-with others to embellilh them, as far as they 
are capable, either by biding their defeCts, as in the an¬ 
ger of Achilles, which is palliated by extraordinary va¬ 
lour; or by making them centre in fome folid virtue, as 
in Ulyfles, whole difiimulation makes a part of his pru¬ 
dence; and in EEneas, whofe mildnefs is employed in a 
fubmiflion to the will of the gods. In the making up of 
this union, it is to be obferved, the poets have joined 
together fuch qualities as are by nature the molt compa¬ 
tible; valour with anger, piety with miidnels, aud pru¬ 
dence with difiimulation. The fable required prudence 
in Ulyfles, and piety in EEneas; in this therefore the 
poets were not left to their choice,: but Homer might 
have made A.chilles a coward, without abating any thing 
from the juftnefs of his fable: fo that it was the neceflity 
of adorning his character that obliged him to make him 
valiant. The character then of a hero in an epic poem is 
compounded cf three forts of qualities; the firft, elfen- 
tial to the fable; the fecond,- an embellifhment of the 
firft; and valour, which fuftains the other two, makes 
the third. Unity of character, is as neseflary as the 
unity of the fable. For this purpofe a perlon IhouUl be 
the fame from the beginning to the end; not that he is 
always to betray the fame ienciments, or one paflion, 
but that he fliould never fpeak or aCt inconfiftentiy with 
his fundamental character. Forinftance, the weak may 
tally 
