C I R 
from raw materials imported from Madras and China, and 
the bay fait exported to Madras, which alone amounts in 
value to twenty-five lacks of rupees, or 7500I. fterling. 
CIRCAS'SIA, a country of Alia, bounded on the north 
by the river Don, on the eaft by the Cafpian Sea and the 
mouths of the Volga, on the fouth by Mount Caucalus 
and the Black Sea, and on the weft by part of the Black 
Sea and the lake of Az.oph. It was formerly governed by 
feveral independent princes, but is now almoft wholly fub- 
jeft to Rufiia, and included in the government of Cauca¬ 
fus. The Circaflians are in general well made, and ex¬ 
cellent horfemen; the women generally handfome. Their 
principal traffic is in flaves, honey, wax, flcins of cattle, 
deer, and tigers. They have no money, and all their 
commerce is by exchange. The Circaflians were formerly 
Chriftians ; but, for want of inftru&ion and written laws, 
they content themfelves with a bare profeflion of being 
Chriftians or Mahometans. 
CIR/CE, in fabulous hiftory, a daughter of Sol and 
Perfeis, celebrated for her knowledge of magic and poi- 
fonous herbs. She was lifter to vEetes king of Colchis, 
and to Pafiphae the wife of Minos. She married a Sar- 
tnatian prince of Colchis, whom (he murdered to obtain 
the kingdom. She was expelled by her fubjedts, and carried 
by her father upon the coafts of Italy in an ifland called 
JEcea. Ulyfles, at his return from the Trojan war, vifited 
her coaft; and all his companions, who ran headlong into 
pleafure and voluptuoufnels, were changed by Circe’s po¬ 
tions into filthy fwine. Ulyfles, who was fortified againlt 
all enchantments by an herb called moly, which he had 
received from Mercury, went to Circe, and demanded, 
fword in hand, the reftoration of his companions to their 
former ftate. She complied, and loaded the hero with 
pleaiures and honours. In this voluptuous retreat, Ulyf- 
fes had by Circe one fon called Telegonus , or two, accord¬ 
ing to Hefiod, called Agrius and Latinus. For one Whole 
year Ulyfles forgot his glcfiy in Circe’s arms. At his de¬ 
parture, the nymph advifed him to defcend to hell, and to 
confult the manes of Tirefias, concerning the fates that 
attended him. Circe (hewed herfelf cruel to Scylla her 
rival, and to Picus. Homer. 
CIRCEhPSIAN GAMES,/A general term under which 
was comprehended all combats exhibited in the Roman 
circus, in imitation of the Olympic games in Greece. Moft 
of the fealls of the Romans were accompanied with Cir- 
cenfian games; and the magiftrates, and other officers of 
the republic, frequently preiented the people with them, 
in order to procure their favour. The grand games were 
held five days, commencing on the 15th of September, 
See Circus. 
To CIR'CINATE, <v. a. [circino, Lat.] To make a cir¬ 
cle; to compafs round, or turn round. 
CIRCINA'TION,/ [circinatio, Lat.] An orbicular mo¬ 
tion ; a turning round ; a meafuring with the compafles. 
CIR'CIUS, a rapid and tempeftuous wind frequent 
sn Gallia Narbonenfis, and unknown, in any other coun¬ 
try. Lucan. 
CIR'CLE,/. [ circulus , Lat.] A line continued till it 
ends where it begun, having all its parts equidiftant from 
a common center. For the mathematical properties of 
the circle, fee Geometry 5 and for circles of the 1 'phere, 
fee Astronomy, vol. ii. p. 325. — By a circle I under¬ 
hand not here perfedl geometrical circle, but an orbicular 
figure, whofe length is equal to its breadth ; and which, 
as to lenfe, may feem circular. Newton. 
Then a deeper ftill, 
In circle following circle, gathers round 
To clofe the face of things. TPomfon. 
The fpace included in a circular line. A round body; an 
orb. It is he that fitteth upon the circle of the earth. 
Ifaiah. —Compafs ; inclofure : 
A great magician, 
©bfeured in the circle of the foreft. ' Shakefpekre. 
Vol. IV. No. 22,3, 
C I R 609 
An affembly furrounding the principal perfon: 
To have a box where eunuchs fing, 
And, foremoft in the circle, eye a king. Pope. 
A company; an aflembly.—I will call over to him the 
whole circle of beauties that are difpofed among the boxes. 
Addifon. —Any leries ending as it begins, and perpetually 
repeated.—There be fruit trees in hot countries, which 
have blofioms and young fruit, and young fruit and ripe 
fruit, almoft all the year, fucceeding one another; but this 
circle of ripening cannot be but in fucculent plants, and 
hot countries. Bacon. 
Thus in a circle runs the peafant’s pain, 
And the year rolls, within itfelf again. Dryden „ 
An inconclufive form of argument, in which the forego¬ 
ing propofnion is proved by the following, and the fol¬ 
lowing propofition inferred from the foregoing.—That 
heavy bodies defcend by gravity; and again, that gravity 
is a quality whereby an heavy body deicends, is an im¬ 
pertinent circle, and teacheth nothing. Glanville. —Cir¬ 
cumlocution : indirect form of words : 
Has he given the lye 
In circle or oblique,, or femicircle. 
Or direft parallel ? You mull challenge him. Fletcher. 
In electricity, the courfe of the eleCtrical fluid. See the 
article Electricity. 
To CIR'CLE, <v. a. .To move round any thing: 
Another Cynthia her new journey runs, 
And other planets circle other funs. Pope , 
To inclofe; to furround ; 
What ftern ungentle hands 
Have lopp’d and liew’d, and made thy body bare 
Of her two branches, thofe fweet ornaments, 
Whofe circling lhadows kings have fought to deep in ? 
Shakefpedrt. 
To CIR'CLE in. To confine; to keep together.—We 
term thofe things dry which have a confidence within 
themfelves, and which, to enjoy a determinate figure, do> 
not require the ftop or hindrance of another body to limit 
and circle them in. Digby. 
To CIR'CLE, v. n. To move circularly; to end where 
it begins: 
The well-fraught bowl 
Circles inceflant; whilft the humble cell 
With quavering laugh and rural jefts refounds. Philips. 
CIR'CLED, adj. Having the form of a circle; round ; 
Th’ inconftant moon, 
That monthly changes in her circled orb. Shakefpeare. 
CIR'CLES of the German Empire,/ Such provinces 
and principalities of the German empire as have a right to 
be prefent at diets. Maximilian I. divided the empire into 
fix, and 1’ome years after into ten, circles. This laft divi- 
fion was confirmed by Charles V. The circles, as they 
ftand in the Imperial Matricola, are as follow : Auftria, 
Burgundy, the Lower Rhine, Bavaria, Upper Saxony, 
Franconia, Swabia, Upper Rhine, Weltphalia, and the 
Lower Saxony. 
CIR'CLET,/ A circle; an orb: properly a little circle : 
Then take repaft, till Hefperus difplay’d 
His golden circlet in the weltern (hade. Pope . 
CIR'CLING, particip. adj. Having the form of a circle ; 
circular; round: 
Round he furveys, and well might, where he flood 
So high above the circling canopy 
Of night’s extended lhade. Milton. 
CIRCOCE'LE, corrupted from Cirsocele, which fee„ 
7 CIRKON- 
