Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1071

CHE 1562; "Examen Concilii Tridentini," 1565; "De duabus naturis in Christo:" Jenæ, 1570. It was acknowledged by the Romish divines that since Luther's death, no protestant theologian had brought such formidable weapons to bear against their system, or had inflicted such heavy blows upon it as Chemnitz.—P. L.  CHENEDOLLÉ,, was born at Vire in 1769. On the breaking out of the Revolution, he took part with the royalists, joining the array of the prince of Condé, and suffering great hardships. In 1807 appeared his poem, the "Genius of Man," in which he treats with eloquence and feeling the ordinary yet never common-place subject of wonder and mystery—that mixed nature which, sinking at one time to bestial debasement, rises at another to angelic power. While holding the inspectorship of the university of Val de Vire, his unfortunate sovereign Charles X. passed by, a discrowned king, on the road to exile, when Chenedollé, unmindful of place, turned out his whole family to pay homage to his old master. The act did him no harm with the new governor. Two years afterwards he resigned office, to cultivate in retirement his love of poetry and of nature. His poems descriptive of pastoral scenes reveal the fine spirit of the man, who in his youth took Klopstock to his heart, and in his old age revised the translated works of Shakespeare. He died in 1833.—J. F. C.  CHENEVIX,, an Irish chemist of French extraction, died in 1830. Chenevix is known in literature by his "Mantuan Rivals" and tragedy of Henry VII.; but it is on his chemical writings that his reputation chiefly rests. His earliest work was entitled "Remarks on Chemical Nomenclature according to the System of the French Neologists," 1802. His "Observations on Mineralogical Systems" appeared first in a French translation in the Annales de Chimie. It may be added that an "Essay on Natural Character" was published after his death.—R. M., A.  CHENIER,, a poet, was born at Constantinople on 29th October, 1762. His father, who exercised the functions of consul, married a Greek lady. André imbibed, with the knowledge of Greek taught him by his mother, a passionate love for the poets of ancient Greece, whose style he successfully imitated. Brought to France when two years old, he was, when arrived at the proper years, sent to the college of Carcassonne. His parents, who ambitiously desired for him a diplomatic career, had him attached to the embassy at London; but yielding to his overruling love of letters, he devoted his attention to the study of Milton and Shakspeare. Soon after the outbreak of the French revolution he returned to France, sharing the hopes felt by so many at the outset of that great national movement. Acquainted with Condorcet, Sieyes, and other men of the same high stamp, he was introduced into the distinguished club which met at the palais royal; and in the character of secretary wrote a manifesto, expressing at once love of liberty and hatred of violence. King Stanislaus sent the writer a medal in testimony of his admiration, but revolutionists of the temper of Camille Desmoulins repudiated such moderate sentiments. As the jacobite party increased in strength, André's opposition to their principles grew more decided and his courage became more conspicuous. On the occasion of the banquet given by the municipality of Paris to the forty-five soldiers who had mutinied, the poet's indignation found vent in a vehement satire, in which he boldly attacked the formidable Collot d'Herbois, the author of the affair, by name. With still more courage he offered himself to Malesherbes, the counsel for the unfortunate Louis XVI., and his services being accepted, wrote several of the papers for the defence, and was the author of the king's letter to the assembly, claiming right of appeal from its sentence to the judgment of the people. At last he became so obnoxious to the terrorists that, yielding to the advice of his friends, he retired to Versailles; but hearing of the arrest of his friend, madame de Pastoret, he flew to her assistance, and committed the further imprudence of getting into an altercation with the officer charged with her arrest. Taken off as a suspected person, his antecedents soon became known, and he was summarily examined and condemned by the revolutionary tribunal. While in prison he composed that exquisite production, "La Jeune Captive," inspired by the youth and beauty of his companion in misfortune, mademoiselle de Coigny. Fully conscious of his own powers, and thinking that his scattered papers were little likely to be collected, he, on leaving prison for the place of execution, struck his hand against his forehead, saying—"There was something here." He was guillotined with forty-four others, 25th July, 1794. Twenty-six years afterwards the poems of André Chenier appeared for the first time in a collected shape, and were received with a burst of admiration; and there can be no doubt that his influence on modern French poetry was very decided. "The most melodious verses of Lamartine," observes the fine critic, M. de Villemain, "have perhaps derived inspiration from Chenier's poetry, and have not eclipsed it." Nor did Victor Hugo and the rising romantique school, whose canons of criticism were directly opposed to those of M. de Villemain and his classic followers, show less delight. Under that pure attic form which they thought superannuated, they recognized the true beat of a fervid heart.—J. F. C.  CHENIER,, brother of the foregoing, born at Constantinople in 1764; died in 1811. He produced on the 4th of February, 1789, his tragedy of Charles IX., remarkable as an exposure of the crimes of a king of France, while the old regime was yet standing in apparent strength, and remarkable also as having furnished Talma with the part which began his splendid career. The shock which the execution of his brother André gave his mind, was felt so profoundly that he wrote nothing more till the year 1804, when he produced the "Advent of Cyrus," meant to please Napoleon by flattering allusions to the new emperor. The old jacobin, while missing the aim of his production, stirred up the anger of former associates, who saw in him a renegade; and with the too frequent recklessness of party, they did not hesitate to circulate accusations of his having been privy to his brother's death, for which there does not appear to have been a shadow of proof. Besides his tragedies, which, although they had much success when first produced, are now little remembered, he wrote lyrical pieces, one of which, the "Champ du Depart," almost rivalled the Marseillaise, during the late revolutionary days of February, 1848, as much as it did when the republican youth rushed to the frontier at the cry of "La Patrie est en danger." Successively a member of the convention, of the council of Five Hundred, and of the tribunate, Marie Chenier honourably distinguished himself by his wise zeal in the cause of public education, which he is acknowledged to have much advanced.—J. F. C.  CHEOPS or CHEMBES and CHEPHREN, ancient kings of Egypt. According to Herodotus, Cheops was a wicked and impious prince. He closed the temples, and robbed his people of their labour. The first and largest pyramid is thought to have been built by him. Chephren, his brother and successor, was not less cruel. It was he who built the second great pyramid. The Egyptians so inveterately hated these two brothers, that they publicly reported that the pyramid had been erected by a shepherd called Philition.—R. M., A.  CHERON, : this artist was born in Paris in 1648. She was the daughter and pupil of Henry Cheron, a painter in enamel. She distinguished herself by her portraits, which were not merely correct likenesses, but had the additional artistic merit of being good pictures—remarkable for their beauty of colour, graceful design, and dexterity of execution. She painted also historical subjects with marked success; and on the proposal of Le Brun she was received with marked respect and distinction by the Academy of Paris in 1676. She died in 1711. She plied the graver felicitously, and left many plates from original and other designs.—W. T.  CHERON, : this painter, the brother of Elizabeth Sophia Cheron, was born in Paris in 1660. When young, and furnished with means through the liberal love of his sister, he went to prosecute his studies in Italy. He particularly studied the works of Raffaelle and Romano; and on his return to Paris he painted two pictures for the church of Notre Dame—one being "Herodias with the head of John the Baptist," and the other "Agabus before St. Paul." He was a coldly correct painter, and worked as though he knew design, but did not love it, and neither knew nor loved colour. The religious troubles of France compelled him to seek refuge in England, where he obtained considerable patronage, particularly from the duke of Montague, for whom he painted "The Council of the Gods," "The Judgment of Paris," and other works. He etched several plates in a spirited and agreeable manner. He died in 1713, or in 1723 as others say, who credit him with the ornamental designs to the edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, published in 1720.—W. T. <section end="1071H" /> <section begin="1071Zcontin" />CHERRY,, an Irish actor and dramatic author, was born in Limerick on the 11th January, 1762, and was the eldest son of John Cherry, an eminent printer and bookseller of that city. <section end="1071Zcontin" />