Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/199

Rh Q U I Q U I 181 (11,369 in 1875) it is exceeded only by the capital and six other towns. It is famous for the quality of its chiri- moyas (Anona Cherimolia) and lucumas ; and in the neigh- bourhood there are rich copper mines. In 1822 and 1851 it suffered from earthquakes. QUILON, a seaport town in Quilon district, Travancore state, Madras presidency, India, between the towns of Trevandrum and Aleppi, in 8 54' N. lat, and 76 37' E. long. It is a healthy town, and contained in 1881 a popu- lation of 13,588. It enjoys great facilities of water com- munication, and has an active export trade in timber, cocoa-nuts, ginger, pepper, &c. The outer point of the town (Tangacheri) is slightly elevated above the adjoining ground, and contains high cocoa-nut trees. Besides being a very projecting point, Quilon is rendered still more unsafe to approach by the bank of hard ground called the Tangacheri reef which extends some distance to the south- west and west of the point and along the coast to the northward. There is, however, good anchorage in a bight about 3 miles from the fort. Quilon is one of the oldest towns on the Malabar coast, and continued to be a place of considerable importance down to the beginning of the 16th century. It was garrisoned by a strong British force from 1803 to 1830; but the subsidiary force has since been reduced to one native regiment, whose cantonments lie to the east of the town. The town is 385 miles south-west of Madras. QUIMPER, or QUIMPER-CORENTIN, a town of France, formerly the capital of the county of Cornouailles, and now the chief town of the department of Finistere, is situ- ated 158 miles north-west of Nantes and 68 miles south- east of Brest on the railway between those towns. The delightful valley in which it lies is surrounded by high hills and traversed by the Steir and the Odet, which, meeting above the town, form a navigable channel for vessels of 150 tons during the rest of their journey to the sea (11 miles). With its communal population of 15,288, Quimper ranks in Finistere next to Brest and Morlaix. The only articles in which it has any consider- able trade are fish and marine manures ; and in 1882 the total movement of the port was 31 vessels (2976 tons) entering and 36 vessels (3352 tons) clearing. The real interest of the town lies in its old churches and its historic associations. Of the old town-walls a few portions are still preserved in the terrace of the episcopal palace and in the neighbourhood of the college. Quimper is the seat of a bishop belonging to the province of Rennes. The cathedral, dedicated to the patron .saint St Corentin and erected between 1239 and 1515, has a fine fa9ade, the pediment of which is crowned by an equestrian statue of King Grallon, and adorned (like several other external parts of the building) with heraldic devices cut in granite. Two lateral towers with modern spires (1854-56) and turrets reach a height of 247 feet. The total length of the build- ing is 303 feet and its width 52, the length of the transept 118 feet and the height 66. The nave and the transept are in the style of the 15th century, and the central boss bears the arms of Anne of Brittany (1476-1514). The terminal chapel of the apse dates from the 13th century. In the side chapels are the tombs of several early bishops. The high altar, tabernacle, and ciborium are costly works of contemporary art. The pulpit panels represent episodes in the life of St Corentin. Of the other churches may be mentioned St Matthieu, rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century, with a fine belfry; the church of Locmaria, dating from the llth century; and the college chapel, in the "Jesuit" style. The old seminary is now used as a poorhouse, and there is also a lunatic asylum in the town. The public library in the town-hall possesses 25,000 volumes. The museum built in 1869-70 contains archae- ological collections and about 1300 paintings and draw- ings. In 1868 a bronze statue of Laennec the inventor of- the stethoscope (born at Quimper in 1781) was erected in Place St Corentin. Quimper, or at least its suburb Locmaria (which lies below the town on the left bank of the Odet), was occupied in the time of the Romans, and numerous traces of the ancient foundations still exist. At a later period Quimper became the capital of Cornouailles and the residence of its kings or hereditary counts. It is said to have been Grallon Meur (i.e., the Great) who brought the name of Cornouailles from Great Britain and founded the bishopric, which was first held by St Corentin about 495. Ho el, count of Cornouailles, marrying the sister and heiress of Duke Conan in 1066, united the countship with the duchy of Brittany. Quimper was surrounded by walls in the course of the 13th century. It suffered greatly in the local wars of succession. In 1344 it was savagely sacked by Charles of Blois. Monfort did not succeed in his attempt to take the town by storm on August 11, 1345, but it opened its gates to his son John IV. in 1364 after the victory at Auray. At a later period it sided with the League. Besides Laeunec, already mentioned, it has given birth to Kerguelen the navigator, Freron the critic, Hardouin the anti- quary, and Count Louis de Carne. Doubtless on account of its dis- tance from the capital, Quimper, like Carpentras and Landerneau, has undeservedly been made a frequent butt of French popular wit. QUINAULT, PHILIPPE (1635-1688), a dramatist of merit, and the only European writer who has made the opera libretto a work of literature (so much so that the popularity of opera may be said to be not a little due to him), was born at Paris on June 3, 1635. He was educated by the liberality of Tristan, the author of Marianne. His first play was produced at the Hotel de Bourgogne in 1653 when Quinault was only eighteen. It is said that it was the occasion of an important innova- tion in dramatic history. Tristan had offered it and it had been accepted as his own at the price of a hundred crowns, which, though little enough, was twice the regular price of a few years before. When Tristan told the actors that it was the work of a novice they wished to throw up their bargain and only held to it on the terms of a ninth part of the receipts. The piece succeeded and Quinault followed it up, but he also read for the bar ; and in 1660, when he married a widow with money, he bought himself a place in the Cour des Comptes. Then he tried tragedies (Agrippa, &c.) with more success than desert. He re- ceived one of the literary pensions then recently established, and was elected to the Academy in 1670. Up to this time he had written some sixteen or seven- teen comedies, tragedies, and tragi-comedies, of which the tragedies were mostly of very small value and the tragi- comedies not of much more. But his comedies especially his first piece Les Rivales, L'Amant Indiscret (1654) (which has some likeness to Moliere's jZtourdi, and was with it used to make up Newcastle's and Dryden's Sir Martin Mar-all), Le Fantume Amoureux (1659), and La Mere Coquette (1665), perhaps the best are much better. None of these styles, however, made Quinault worthy of a place here. In 1671 he contributed to the singular miscellany of Psyche, in Avhich Corneille and Moliere also had a hand, and which was set to the music of Lulli. Here he showed a remarkable faculty for lyrical drama, and from this time till just before his death he confined himself to composing libretti for Lulli's work. This was not only very profitable (for he is said to have received four thousand livres for each, which was much more than was usually paid even for tragedy), but it established Quinault's reputation as the master of a new style, so much so that even Boileau, who had previously attacked and satirized his dramatic work, was converted, less to the opera, which he did not like, than to Quinault's remarkably ingenious and artist-like work in it. His libretti are among the very few which are readable without the music, and which are yet carefully adapted to it. They certainly do not contain very exalted poetry or very perfect drama.