Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/73

 Iohn Charldon, Doctor of Diuinitie,' London, 1594, 12mo. This sermon, which is in the library of the British Museum, is dedicated 'To the worshipfull Master Thomas Fulford, Esquire.' It is prefaced by three sets of Latin verses addressed to Fulford, and three to his wife, 'Ad Ursulam Thomse Fulfordi conjuffem orthodoxam.' It contains a lively defence of the endowments of the clergy; prayers are printed both at the beginnmg and the end of the discourse. The deliverance it commemorates was the relief of Exeter by Grey and Russell on 6 Aug. 1549, when the city was besieged by the rebels. Besides these sermons, we have 'The Casket of Jewels, contaynynge a playne descripcion of Morall Philosophie. . . by Cornelius Valerius. Lately turned out of Latin into Englishe by I. C.. . . Imprinted at London by William How for Richarde Iohnes,' 1571, also in the British Museum. At the end of the volume it is stated that the translation is the work of John Charlton, late fellow of 'Exetre College, Scholemaster of Worksop.' This name does not occur among the fellows of Exeter, nor, indeed, among the graduates of Oxford at this period; it must therefore be taken to be a form of Chardon, and so the 'Casket' supplies a hitherto unknown link in the history of the bishop's life. The dedicatory epistle is addressed to 'Sir Gervis Clyfton, Knt.,' and is signed 'Your Dayly Oratour.' This knight was the 'Gentle Sir Gervase' of Clifton Hall, Nottinghamshire, who died on 20 Jan. 1581. An acrostic on his name is added under the heading 'Holsome counsell for a christian man.' In the preface to the reader the translator commends his work as more profitable than 'brutish works of Venus plaies.'

 CHARITE, WILLIAM (1422–1502?), monkish writer, compiled a register of St. Mary's Abbey, Leicester, of which he was prior, a collection of charters and other muniments belonging to the abbey, and a catalogue of the library. The register ('Rentale Novum Generale Mon. B. M. de Pratis Leycestrie') contains the rent-roll of the abbey, affording the means of estimating the depreciation of landed property caused by the plague of 1436, detailed information as to the various customary tenures on which the lands were let, a list of the incumbents of the benefices in the gift of the house, and the like. A considerable portion of it was printed from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Laud MS. 623) by Nichols in the appendix to vol. i. of his 'History of Leicestershire' (vol. i. pt. ii. app. 53-100). The collection of charters ('Repertorium Chartarum Abbatie de Leycestria') is preserved in a damaged condition in the Cottonian Library (Vitellius, F xvii.) The catalogue of the library, also printed by Nichols from Laud MS. 623 (Leicestershire, i. pt. ii. app. 101), contains few works of importance, but mentions in all twenty-three rolls as written by Charite with ms own hand, of which all but the foregoing have perished.

 CHARKE, CHARLOTTE (d. 1760?), actress and writer, was the youngest daughter of Colley Cibber [q. v.] An autobiography, published five years before her death, and since reprinted, has supplied the materials for many subsequent lives of its author. This work is without dates, and in many respects untrustworthy. According to it Charlotte Cibber was born when her mother was forty-five years of age, and came 'not only as an unexpected but an unwelcome guest into the family.' Her education at 'a famous school in Park Street, Westminster,' kept by a Mrs. Draper, included Italian and Latin in addition to music and dancing. After her mother's retirement to Hillingdon, near Uxbridge, Charlotte showed the addiction to manly pursuits characteristic of her future life, and, besides becoming a good shot, took to dressing horses and digging in the garden. While very young she was married (assumably in February 1729) to Richard Charke, variously described as a violinist and a singer, who was at this period a member of the Drury Lane company. The marriage proved unhappy, and shortly after the birth of a child Mrs. Charke quitted a husband whom she charges with excessive irregularity. She now took to the stage. According to her own statement her first appearance was on the last night of Mrs. Oldfield's performance, when (28 April 1730) she played Mademoiselle in the 'Provoked Wife.' This was, in fact, Mrs. Charke's second appearance, her first having taken place on 8 April in the same part for the benefit of Mrs. Thurmond. Her success was fairly rapid. The following season, 1730–1, she replaced for a while Mrs. Porter as Alicia in 'Jane Shore,' and was assigned Arabella in the 'Fair Quaker.' She was (22 June 1731) the original Lucy in the 'Merchant,