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 CASEIN CASOARILLA 51 sanne, and afterward at Geneva, where he be- came professor of Greek at the age of 23, hold- ing the position for 14 years. Meanwhile he married the daughter of Henry Stephens, the celebrated French printer and publisher, by whom he had 20 children. In 1596 he became professor of Greek and belles-lettres in the uni- versity of Montpellier. Two years afterward, at the solicitation of Henry IV., he went to Paris to take a similar professorship in the uni- versity of France; but the jealousy of the Catholic party made the measure impolitic, and Henry finally appointed a Catholic to the chair, and made Casaubon royal librarian. At the conference of Fontainebleau, May 4, 1600, Hen- ry constituted him one of the Protestant judges. The Catholics made strong efforts to win him to their side, and it was given out that he wa- vered in his faith. Chagrined that his Protes- tant reputation was thus impaired, Casaubon determined to leave France, and therefore, availing himself of the occasion of Henry's death to get leave of absence from the queen, he accompanied Sir Henry Wotton to England in October, 1610. He was received with dis- tinction, made prebendary of Canterbury, and some say also of Westminster, and received a pension of 200, which he lived three years to enjoy. He was buried in Westminster abbey. He spoke Latin as well as he did his mother tongue, and was the most critical Greek scholar of his age. His works are numerous, mostly philological and critical, many of them being an- notated editions of the classics, including Dioge- nes Laertius, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Sue- tonius. II. Merle, an English divine, son of the preceding, born at Geneva, Aug. 14, 1599, died in England, July 14, 1671. He accompanied his father to England, studied at Oxford, was ap- pointed to the cure of Bleadon in 1624, and four years afterward was made prebendary of Canterbury and rector of Ickham. He received the degree of D. D. at Oxford in 1636. Through his attachment to the Stuarts he lost both property and preferments during the protecto- rate ; and Cromwell made frequent efforts to win him over to the cause of the commonwealth. Christina, queen of Sweden, offered him the superintendency of all the Swedish universities, but he persisted in living in retirement in Eng- land until the accession of Charles II., when his ecclesiastical preferments were all restored. He published in his lifetime two vindications of his father from the* aspersions of his enemies. His theological and critical works are numer- ous ; he edited some of the classics ; and his MSS. are preserved in Oxford. He believed in the existence of witches and familiar spirits, a faith which he endeavored to defend in a work entitled " Credulity and Incredulity." CASBIN, Kasbin, Kazbln, or Casveen, a fortified city of Persia, in the province of Irak-Ajemi, 90 m. N. W. of Teheran, in lat. 36 12' N., Ion. 49 53' E. ; pop. in 1868 estimated at 25,000. It is surrounded by brick walls with towers, and is said to exceed Teheran in extent ; but whatever grandeur it may have once possessed has been destroyed by repeated earthquakes. Whole streets lie in ruins, and most of the an- cient buildings have been overthrown. The palace, though much dilapidated, is still occu- pied by the governor. A mosque with a large dome, bazaars, schools, atfd baths are the other principal buildings. The chief manufactures are velvets, brocades, a coarse cotton cloth called kerbas, carpets, sword blades, and wine. Grapes and nuts are produced abundantly, and of good quality. It is also an entrepot for the silks of Ghilan and Shirvan destined for Bag- dad and India, and for rice from the Caspian provinces. The surrounding plain was for- merly one of the most productive districts of Persia, its natural fertility being greatly en- hanced by a vast system of irrigating canals, most of which are now choked up, except in the immediate vicinity of the city. Casbin was founded about the middle of the 4th century, and under the Suffide dynasty be- came the capital of the kingdom. The re- moval of the government to Ispahan checked its prosperity. CASCA, Pnblius Servlllns, one of the conspirators against the life of Julius Caesar. He had been attached to the Pompeian party, and, like many others of the dictator's slayers, submitted him- self to Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia, and received a free pardon. It is stated by Plutarch, in his life of Caesar, that when Tullius Cimber, according to the preconcerted plan, gave the signal for the assassination by dropping the fold of his toga from his shoulder, Casca struck the dictator on the back of the neck with a short sword, or dagger, but failed to inflict either, a deep or deadly wound, being under the influence of agitation, if not of fear, when delivering the blow. Caesar on feeling the stroke turned round, it is said, abruptly, and caught the assassin by the arm, crying out, in Latin, "What dost thou, villain Casca?" when Casca calling to his brother in Greek, " Help, brother ! " the others rallied to his as- sistance, and completed the bloody deed. No- thing is known of Casca's history after the death of Caesar. CASCADE RANGE, a chain of mountains in the W. part of Washington and Oregon, forming a continuation of the Sierra Nevada of California. It lies about 100 m. from the Pacific, and runs nearly N. and S. Its highest summits are Mt. Ranier, 14,444 ft., and Mt. Baker, 10,760 ft., in Washington. Mts. Pitt, Jefferson, and Hood are notable peaks of this range in Oregon. The name of the chain is derived from the cascades of the Columbia, which are formed where that river breaks through the Cascade range. CASCARILLA (Span, cascara, bark), a medici- nal bark, obtained from croton Eleuiheria, a small tree or shrub which grows wild in the West Indies and Bahama islands, especially on the island of Eleuthera. It has a spicy, bitter taste, and is used as a tonic. When burnt, it emits an odor so agreeable that smokers have