Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1001

CAU and one Tales of the Arabian Nights," translated from the Arabic; and "A History of Sicily under the Mussulmans," also translated from the Arabic, 1802.—B. de B.  CAUX, __ , born at Rouen in 1700. His admiration for Voltaire's not very sublime epic, the Henriade, was so enthusiastic as to inspire him with resolution to translate it into the becoming language of Virgil. That his own taste was not unexceptionable, may be considered proved by the singular, if not original poem which he wrote under the title of "Parnassus." The poet imagines Apollo to take that precious monarch, Louis XV., to the top of Parnassus, and to march before his eyes all distinguished persons of all times in every branch of literature and art. Disgusted with the coldness of the public, the poet retired to Manheim, where he died in 1774.—J. F. C.  CAVAGNA, : this artist was born at di San Borgo Leandro in the territory of Bergamo in 1560. He visited Venice in the noon of Titian's glory, and is supposed to have received instruction from that master. On his return to Bergamo he entered the school of Moroni, the eminent portrait painter, and for some time he followed his delicate colour and firm free manner. Subsequently, however, he adopted the style of Paolo Veronese, and caught very happily his florescence, dash, and dramatic effect. He painted both in oil and fresco, and acquired repute for the expression of his old men and children. He died in 1627.—W. T.  CAVAIGNAC,, a French statesman, born 1762, studied law, and, after holding some subordinate offices, was elected a member of the national convention, in which he voted for the death of Louis XVI. He subsequently served in several diplomatic missions, had a seat in the council of five hundred and in the cabinet of Murat at Naples, was prefect of the Somme during the hundred days, and died in exile at Brussels in 1829.—His brother,, Viscount Cavaignac, born in 1773, rose to the rank of general in the French service. He distinguished himself under Moreau and Murat in Italy, received from Napoleon the grand cross of the legion of honour at Austerlitz, commanded a brigade of cavalry in covering the retreat from Moscow, and fell into the hands of the allies at the capitulation of Dantzig. After his liberation, he obtained his peerage, and other honours.—W. B.  CAVAIGNAC,, a younger son of Jean-Baptiste, was born in 1802. Having chosen the military profession, he served in the Morea, obtaining his captaincy in 1829; and in the following year, being at Arras with his regiment when the revolution broke out, he promptly declared himself in favour of the republic. In Algeria, to which he was commissioned in 1832, he built up the fabric of his military reputation by ten years of active service, during which his bravery in the field, his resolute endurance of hardships, and his strategic skill, were equally conspicuous; especially at the taking of Tlemcen, where he won from Marshal Clausel the honour of being appointed commander of the captured fortress; and also in his obstinate defence of that post with a small company of volunteers, against repeated assaults of the Arabs, and an exhausting blockade directed by Abd-el-Kader in person. In 1840 he commanded the advanced guard of Marshal Bugeaud's army, and after other important services was appointed governor of Algeria, with the rank of general of division, by the provisional government in 1848. In the same year he declined the portfolio of the war-office, but promptly undertook the defence of the government against the disaffected and insurgent classes of the Parisian populace. A fierce struggle followed, during which the capital was declared in a state of siege, and Cavaignac invested with the powers of dictator; but at length, after four days of hard fighting at the barricades, he succeeded in completely crushing the insurrection. On resigning his dictatorship, he was elected president of the council; and in the close of the year was the rival of Louis Napoleon for the presidency of the republic. At the coup d'état of 1851 he was arrested and imprisoned, but speedily released, and permitted to reside in France. In 1852, and again in 1857, his popularity with the Parisians secured his election to the legislative assembly, but refusing to take the oath of adhesion to the new government, he was excluded from his seat by the votes of a majority of his fellow-deputies. He died in 1857.—W. B.  CAVALCANTI,, an Italian writer, born in 1503; author of a treatise called "Rettorica," which has been often reprinted; of "Trattati, ovvero discorsi sopra gli ottimi reggimenti delle republiche antiche e moderne;" and of a translation into Italian of the Castrametation of Polybius, 1552. He died at Padua in 1652.—J. T.  CAVALCANTI,, an Italian philosopher and poet, known as the intimate friend of Dante, and a sufferer with him in the political troubles of the thirteenth century, was born at Florence. It is curious to note, that while the greater poet takes Virgil for his guide in the infernal regions, the lesser minstrel decries the study of the Roman bard as hostile to the spread of the Italian language, and, therefore, a crime against national feeling. Cavalcanti's most famous productions are his canzones to love, written under the inspiration of a passion he entertained for a French girl, whom he names Mandetta. He died of a fever at Sarzana in 1300.—A. C. M.  CAVALIER,, one of the principal leaders of the Camisards or protestants of the district of Cevennes in France, who rose in insurrection on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He was the son of a peasant, and was born in 1679 at the village of Ribaute. When the persecution of Louis XIV. had driven the protestants of his native district into rebellion in 1702, Cavalier, who was only twenty-three years of age, was one of their first chiefs, and by his great courage, aided by the predictions of a pretended prophetess, he acquired vast influence among the insurgents. Like the Scottish covenanting ministers, the leaders of the Camisards discharged the duties both of preachers and of generals. Cavalier, who possessed military talents of a very high order, worsted the French generals in a succession of sanguinary conflicts, and ultimately compelled the marshal de Villars, who had a great admiration of his abilities, to offer him, in 1704, highly favourable terms. It was agreed that he should be received into the royal service, with the rank of colonel of a regiment of his fellow-protestants, who were to be allowed the free exercise of their own religion. The other chiefs of the Camisards, however, refused to agree to these terms, and persevered in their resistance. But Cavalier, faithful to his engagement, abandoned his native mountains and proceeded to Paris. Finding, however, that he was regarded with jealousy and suspicion by the king and court, he withdrew to Lausanne and afterwards to Holland. He organized a regiment of seven hundred refugees, whom he commanded at the battle of Almanza, where they fought with desperate fury against the French. He ultimately entered the English service, and obtained the rank of a general, with the governorship of Jersey. He discharged the duties of this post with great discretion, as well as bravery and talent. He died at Chelsea in 1740.—J. T. <section end="1001H" /> <section begin="1001Zcontin" />CAVALIERE,, a musician of noble family, was born at Rome about 1550, and died in 1601. He cultivated his natural taste for music in the severe schools of his native city, and produced some madrigals that proved his practical knowledge of the contrapuntal style. He quitted Rome at the invitation of Ferdinand de Medicis, to officiate at the court of this prince as inspector of the fine arts. Here he became associated with Bardi, Corsi, Vincenzo Galileo, and Rinuccini, in their purpose of restoring to music the declamatory character it held with the ancient Greeks, as opposed to its very vague expression of sentiment and frequent confusion of sense, by the repetition of words, in the imitative style of canonical contrivance, which at that time universally prevailed. Unlike the two greatly esteemed singers, Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri (who were likewise concerned in this important movement, which originated recitative and founded the modern lyrical drama), Cavaliere had a large amount of theoretical knowledge to bring to bear upon the subject, and had, besides this, much of the natural feeling for vocal effect, by which alone their writings are distinguished. In 1590 he produced "Il Satiro," and "La Disperazioni di Filene," two of the earliest attempts in that class of composition which has been modified into the opera of the present day; and, in 1595, "Il Giuoco della Cieca," another piece in the same form, was represented before Cardinals Monte and Mont' Alto. Cavaliere's most important work, and the only one that is printed, is the oratorio of "La Rappresentazioni di Anima e di Corpo," the poem of which was furnished by Laura Guidiccioni, a noble and religious lady of Lucca, and which was performed in the oratory of St. Maria in Vallicella in February, 1600. The oratorios of Animuccia, so called on account of their performance in the oratory of the church, had, half a century earlier, excited such general interest, that it was now a piece of ecclesiastical polity to attract the public to the churches by similar <section end="1001Zcontin" />