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 324 CHARTER PARTY CHARTRES vent of Carthusians. After the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. it passed through several hands, till at length it was bought by Thomas Sutton, who built a hospital and endowed the present foundation. The mastership of the Charterhouse is generally filled by some distinguished scholar, and the school has the repute of being among the first classical schools of England. The establish- ment supports 42 boys as pupils, and 80 pension- ers, who must be at least 50 years old. Each boy is educated at a certain expense, and each pensioner receives food, clothing, lodging, fire, and a stipend of money. The right of presen- tation to the Charterhouse is vested by rota- tion in the 16 governors of the hospital. Nine church livings are also in their immediate gift. Besides the scholars upon the foundation, there are usually 60 or 70 others who pay. In 1872 extensive repairs and alterations were made in the buildings. CHARTER PARTY, the name given to a con- tract by which the owner of a vessel lets the whole or a part thereof to another person, called the charterer, for the conveyance of goods. The charterer either hires the vessel for a cargo to be provided by him and carried by the owner, in which case the owner will provide, victual, and pay the captain and crew ; or the contract may give him posses- sion thereof for the voyage, with the usual rights and liabilities accompanying possession. It is implied in the contract that contraband goods are not to be taken on board, thereby rendering the vessel liable to seizure. CHARTIER, Alain, a French writer, born in Ba- yeux toward the close of the 14th century, died probably in Avignon in or after 1449. He com- pleted his education at the university of Paris, and was intrusted with several missions during the latter part of the reign of Charles VI., and afterward was attached to Charles VII. in va- rious capacities. Although he had not taken holy orders, he received a prebend and archdea- conship in the cathedral of Paris. Among his principal works may be mentioned X,e litre des quatre dames; Le quadrilogue invectif, a kind of colloquy between France, the people, the no- bility, and the clergy; and ISEsperance, ou consolation des trois vertus, written in 1428. He was called by his contemporaries the father of French eloquence. CHARTISM, a political creed in England, which takes its name from a proposed charter or bill of rights, known as the " people's charter," drawn up in 1838, the principal points of which were universal suffrage, vote by ballot, paid representatives, abolition of prop- erty qualification for representatives, annual parliaments, and equal electoral districts. These were the essential points, and are known as the six points of chartism. They had been previously advocated separately or two or more of them in conjunction ; but chartism, as a dis- tinctive political creed, took its rise in the wide-spread distress and popular disappoint- ment that followed the adoption of the reform bill of 1832. The movement in favor of chart- ism was attended in many instances by popular outbreaks and riots, which were promptly sup- pressed by the government, and many promi- nent chartists were imprisoned and transport- ed. The last disturbances occurred about the time of the French revolution of 1848, since which time chartism as an organization has gradually died out, the last public meeting having been held in 1857. Two of the six points have since been adopted : the abolition of the property qualification of members of par- liament, in 1858, and the vote by ballot, in 1872. CHARTRES, a city of France, capital of the department of Eure-et-Loire, 45 m. S. W. of Paris; pop. in 1866, 19,442. It is situated on the railroad running S. W. from Paris, and is Cathedral of Chartres. built on a slope at the bottom of which runs the river Euro, which divides the town into two parts, connected by a bridge planned by Vauban. Upon the site of the former fortifi- cations are fine boulevards, and some of the modern buildings are well built ; but the gen- eral appearance of the city is not prepossessing, most of the streets being narrow and crooked. The great object of interest is the cathedral of Notre Dame, commenced about 1020, and ded- icated in 1260, though one of the spires was not finished till the 16th century. The principal front presents two square towers surmounted by two lofty octagonal pyramids. The old spire, of plain architecture, but cased with stone carved like the scales of a fish, is 374 ft. high. The new spire is 413 ft. high, built in the florid style. The rich portals, the painted