Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/607

* CHARPENTIER. 5! wards effected numerous imiirovemeuts in the eonstruction of liglitliouses, war-vessels, and lirearius. CHARPENTIEH., Gistave (ISOO-). A Frenrli coiiiposer. l)orn in Diouze, l>orraine. He studied at the Paris t'onservatory under Massart, IVssard. and Massinet. taking the (Jrand I'rix de Kome in 1S87. He lias written numerous songs and orchestral pieces and a symi)lu)nic drama, /.(( tie (III poite, produced at the (irande Opera in 1892. But the most notahle of his works is the opera Louise, of which he wrote both words and music, and which was produced in 1000 at the OjH'ra Comiqne. The scene is laid in modern Paris (in Montmartre) and the realism and dra- matic power of the lihrctto as well as tlic beauty and originality of the music took Paris by storm, and placed Charpentier in the front rank of nuulern composers, lie is also the author of three o|KTas which are as yet in manuscript. CHABPENTIER, .Joii.v^.n FitiEnRicii Wil- liELM TousSAiST (1738-1805). A German min- ing engineer. He was born in Dresden, studied law and mathematics at the University of Leip- zig, and became instructor in mathematics at the Mining School of Freiberg, where he became interested in mining methods and metallurgj-. As the introducer into Germany of the processes of amalgamation employed in Hungary and of variovis other improvements, Charpentier takes high rank among the German metallurgists of the Eighteenth Century. His scientific methods of mining as well as his geognostic investigations greatly stimulated the development of these brandies in Germany. CHARPENTIER, Loos Eugene (1811-90). A French painter. He was born in Paris and studied there under Gerard and Cogniet. He e.vhibited first in the Salon of 1831, "Le bivouac de cuirassiers," and afterwards became known entirely as a painter of battle pictures in a large panoramic style with great attention to detail. In Versailles, where he became i>rofessor of de- signing in 1876, there are three pictures by him — "La bataille de la Moscova" (1843), "L'episode du si^ge d'-Xnvers" (1845), and "La bataille de Tchernala" ( 1 857 ). CHARPENTIER, Marc Antoine (1634- 17021. A French composer, born in Paris. He studied under Carissimi in Rome, and became chapelmaster to the Daviphin under Louis XIV. Here he came into rivalry with LuUy, who dis- placed him. Charpentier then turned his atten- tion to religious music and was at his death chapelmaster of the Sainte Chapelle. He wrote the opera Circe (1075) ; the nuisic to the Mahide imaifinaire, Le sort d'Andromrde (c.l670) : Midee (1693); and a number of masses and pa.storales. Some of his music, still in nianu- scri])!. is in the Hil)liotli&que Xationale in Paris. CHARPIE, shiir'p.'. (Fr., from p.p. of OF. rharjiir, to pluck, from ]>at. carpere. to seize). Ravelings of linen; lint. They were used by sur- geons as dressing for discharging wounds, nicers, etc., before sterilized and sublimated gauze came into vogue. CHARRAS, shft'rft', Jean Baptiste Adolphe (18I0-5|. A French military writer, born in Pfalzhurg, Lorraine. He entered the artillery and engineering school in Metz, became an officer of artillery, served in .Algeria, and in 1848 was appointed a lieutenant-colonel and UnderSpcre- 17 CHART. tary of State in the Ministry of War. Having vigorously opposed the politics of Louis Napo- leon, he was banished after the coup d'etat, and resided in Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland. He wrote two valuable works — Uistoire de In compa6). CHARRETTE, sha'ret'. The Kniuht of the ( Irau^latiiiii of Fr. Chevalier de la Churrctte). .V contemptuous nickname earned by Lancelot (q.v.), in a French variation of the Arthurian legends, .ccording to this version the knight, while galloping to the rescue of Guinevere, fell from his horse and was brought home in a cart trluirrette). A modernized edition of Chrestien de Troyes's Hanuin dr la Charrrtlc ajipeared in lllieims, 1S49, muler the direction of Tarbe. CHARRIERE, slui'ryar', Isabelle de Saint- Hy.cinthe de (1740-1805). A Swiss writer. She was born in Utrecht, the daughter of a Dutch nobleman. Hi 1771 she married a Swiss who had been her brother's teacher, and went to live near Neuchatcl. As a writer she was entirely French in spirit. Under the pseudonyni Abbe de Latour, she published Lettres- neuchdte- loises (1784) ; Calistc, ou Icttres ierites de Lau- sanne (1788) — her masterpiece — and Les trois femmes (1798). She also wrote some plays. She was on terms of close friendship with Madame de Stael and Ik'njamin Constant, and was well known as a brilliant and beautiful woman. CHARRON, sha'rox'. Pierre (1541-1603). A Frencli theologian and philosopher. He was one of the twenty-five children of a bookseller of Paris. He practiced law for a time in Paris, but not having immediate success, he studied theology, and rose to eminence as a preacher. In Bordeaux he formed a short but important friendship Avith ^Montaigne, who, on his death in 1592, requested Charron to bear the arms of the Montaigne family. In 1594 Charron published Traitc dcs trois verites. in which he dog- matically defended the Roman Catholic Church. This was followed by a book of sermons, and in 1004 came his most remarkable work, Traite dr la. snfjesse, in which he expressed himself skepti- cally with regard to science, but asserted the com- petence of reason to construct an adequate sys- tem of morality. Consult Liebscher, Charron nnd fifin Vicrl;:'De la saaesse (Leipzig, 1890). CHARRUA, chiir-roo'i. A savage and war- like tribe formerly roving, without fixed homes, over the greater |)art of Uruguay. They were of dark complexion and heavily built, fought on horseback, and used the bolas. They had the custom of cutting off a finger-joint on the death of a relative. Owing to their fierce and con- tinuous wars with the Spaniards, they are now practically extinct. Their language, spoken also by a few subordinate tribes, constituted a dis- tinct -^tock. CHART (Fr. charte, charter, Lat. charta, paper, from f;k. jtt/ir?/, ehurte, pajier). A marine or liydrugraphic map. exhibiting a portion of a sea or other body of water, with the islands, ad- jacent coasts, soundings, currents, etc. (See -Map.) Charts are made of convenient size and scale for the purpose desired and are usually constructed on the principle of Mercator's pro- jection ; charts of the oceans <m the gnomonic projection are, however, published by the Hydro-