Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/32

 this will had been properly witnessed or not. A curious portrait of Capper will be found in the third volume of Granger.

[St. James's Chronicle, 13 Sept. 1804; Granger's New, Original, and Complete Wonderful Museum and Magazine Extraordinary (1805), iii. 1692–6.] 

CAPPOCH, THOMAS (1718–1746). [See .]

CARACCIOLI, CHARLES (fl. 1766), topographer, was master of the grammar school at Arundel in 1766, and was probably an Italian. In 1758 appeared a work, anonymous, 2 vols. ‘Chiron, or the Mental Optician’ (Monthly Review, 1758, xviii. 276), of which Gough says that Caraccioli was the author (Brit. Topog. ii. 288, note); and about two years later a 6d. pamphlet, entitled ‘An Historical Account of Sturbridge, Bury, and the most Famous Fairs,’ &c., also anonymous, was published at Cambridge for the author, which is attributed in the British Museum Library Catalogue to Caraccioli. This is doubtful, as Caraccioli's own evidence shows that about 1758 and 1760 he did not know English. In 1766 Caraccioli published ‘The Antiquities of Arundel’ by subscription, and dedicated it to the Duke of Norfolk and to the Hon. Edward Howard, the duke's heir-apparent. In 1775 a Charles Caraccioli, gent., published the first volume of ‘The Life of Robert, Lord Clive,’ not dated (Monthly Review, 1775, liii. 80), following this in 1777 by vols. ii. iii. and iv. of the same work (ib. 1777, lv. 480); and Gough identifies this author with the subject of this article (supra). The ‘Monthly Review’ says of ‘Chiron,’ ‘It is a poor imitation of “Le Diable Boiteux”’ (xviii. 276); Gough says of parts of ‘Arundel,’ ‘They are most awkwardly contrived from printed books’ (Brit. Topog. ii. 288); Lowndes says of ‘Clive,’ ‘It is a confused jumble’ (Bibl. Manual, i. 369); and the ‘Monthly Review’ says of it, ‘It is ill-digested, worse connected, and similarly printed.’

[Monthly Review, xviii. 276, liii. 80, lv. 480; Gough's Brit. Topog. ii. 288; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. i. 369.] 

CARACTACUS (fl. 50), king of the Britons, whose name is the latinised form of the English Caradoc and the Welsh Caradawg, was one of the sons of Cunobelin, king of the Trinobantes, whose capital was the fortified enclosure known as ‘Camulodunum’ (Colchester). As chief of the Catuvellauni he maintained an energetic resistance to the Romans for nearly nine years. Our only authority for the campaign of Aulus Plautius (A.D. 43–7) is a passage of Dio Cassius. The Romans landed in three divisions in the spring of A.D. 43. Plautius met and defeated in successive battles Caractacus and his brother Togodumnos, received the submission of the Dobuni (Gloucestershire), and, having established a stronghold in their country, pushed up the valley, of the Thames, and came opposite once more to the enemy, who were on the north bank of the river. The Britons, thinking themselves safe under the protection of the broad stream, took no precautions, and were surprised by the Celtic troops of Plautius swimming the river to attack them. This advantage was further extended by the exploits of a body of men which crossed the river under Vespasian, the future emperor. A desperate engagement was fought the next day, in which the Britons made a brave stand, but were completely defeated. The site of this decisive battle is uncertain. Dr. Guest seems to have good reason for placing it at Wallingford, on the Thames. Caractacus was doubtless the chief commander on the British side. The Britons retreated eastward, and put the Lea between themselves and the Romans, who, following them, crossed the Lea, partly by swimming and partly by a bridge, and succeeded in engaging and inflicting a great slaughter upon them once more. In attempting to follow up the flying Britons the Roman army became entangled in the Essex marshes and suffered severe loss. Plautius recalled his troops, and, settling them in some spot on the banks of the Thames, sent for the emperor Claudius, in accordance with orders which he had received when starting for Britain. Dr. Guest thinks that this spot was the site of London, and that the Roman works were the beginning of our metropolis. Dio, however, seems to imply that the Romans were on the south bank of the river. When Claudius arrived with reinforcements and a troop of elephants, the Romans advanced northward, fought a successful battle with the Britons, and captured Camulodunum. Claudius only remained seventeen days in Britain, and then hurried home to celebrate his triumph, leaving Plautius to complete the conquest of southern Britain. Caractacus meanwhile seems to have retired with his followers to the neighbourhood of the Silures (South Wales), and from his western fastnesses to have made frequent sallies to stop the gradually extending Roman dominion. For when in A.D. 47 Ostorius Scapula succeeded Aulus Plautius as pro-prætor, he found Britain in a disturbed and dangerous state. He seems to have taken measures at once to fortify the line of the Severn and Avon, but to have been recalled eastward by