Chaos
(See Philosopher's Stone.) Charcot, Prof. J. M.: (See Hypnotism.) Charlemagne; or Charles the Great: The greatest of Frankish kings; was the elder son of Pepin the Short, and succeeded his father in 768 A.D. He is included in this work chiefly because of his close connection with the supernatural so far as legend is concerned. Again and again in the pages of French romance, notably in these romances dealing with the adventures of William of Orange, do we find the Emperor visited by angels who are the direct messengers of the heavenly power. This of course is to symbolise his position as the head and front of Christendom in the world. He was its champion and upholder, surrounded as he was on all sides by the forces of paganism, the Moors on his southern borders, and the Prussians and Saxons on his flank. Charles was regarded by the Christians of Europe as the direct representative of heaven, whose mission it was to Christianise Europe and to defend the true faith in every way. No less do we find him and his court connected with the realm of fäery. Notices of the encounters of the fairy folk by his paladins are not so numerous in the original French romances which deal with him and them; but in the hands of Boiardo, Ariosto, and Pulci, they dwelt in an enchanted region where at any moment they might meet with all kinds of supernatural beings. But both in the older and later romances the powers of magic and enchantment are ever present. These are chiefly instanced in magical weapons such as the Sword Durandal of Roland which cannot be shivered; the magical ointments of giants like Ferragus, which rubbed on their bodies make them invulnerable; the wearing of armour which exercises a similar guardianship on the body of its possessor, and so forth. But we find heroes like Ogier, the Dane, penetrating into fairy land itself, and wedding its queen. This was the fate of a great many mediæval heroes, and Ogier finds in the enchanted realm King Arthur, and several other paladins. The analogous cases of Tom-a-Lincolne, Tannhäuser and Thomas the Rhymer, will readily occur to the reader. The magical and the marvellous is everywhere in use in the romances which deal with Charlemagne. Indeed in this respect they entirely put in the shade the later romances proper, as distinguished from the Chansons de Geste.
Charm (Carmen) : A magical formula, sung or recited to bring about a supposedly beneficial result, or to confer magical efficacy on an amulet. In popular usage the same word is employed to designate the incantation and the object which is charmed. For the material object (See Amulet :) for the recital (See Spells.) Charnock, Thomas : Alchemist. (1524? - 1581). Comparatively little biographical matter concerning this English alchemist is forthcoming, but it is recorded that he was born somewhere in the Isle of Thanet, Kent; while as to the date, this is revealed inasmuch as one of his manuscripts, dated 1574, is stated by the writer to have been penned in "the fifty yeare of my age." As a young man he travelled all over England in search of alchemistic knowledge, but eventually he fixed his residence at Oxford, and here he chanced to make the acquaintance of a noted scientist. The latter, greatly impressed with the youth's cleverness, straightway appointed him his confidant and assistant in general; and, after working in this capacity for a number of years, Charnock found himself the sole legatee of his patron's paraphernalia, and likewise of the various secrets written in his note-books. Armed thus, he proceeded to devote himself more eagerly than ever to the quest of gold-production; but in 1555, just as he imagined himself on the verge of triumph, his hopes were frustrated by a sudden explosion in his laboratory; while in 1557, when he again thought that success was imminent, the press-gang arrived at his house and laid violent hands on him, being anxious for recruits wherewith to swell the English army then fighting the French. The alchemist was bitterly chagrined on being kidnapped in this wise, and, lest his secrets should be discovered by prying eyes, he set himself to destroy all his precious impedimenta. "
With my worke made such a furious faire That the gold flew forth in the aire,”— so he writes concerning this iconoclasm, and, subsequent to this event, he proceeded to France as a soldier, and took part in the disastrous campaign which culminated in the English being worsted at Calais by the Duc de Guise. How Charnock fared during the expedition is not known, and it is likely that he found small pleasure in the rough life; but be that as it may, he returned to England safely, and in 1562 he was married to one Agnes Norton. Thereafter he settled at Stockland, in the county of Somerset, and here he continued to pursue scientific researches, apparently unmolested by further visitations from the military powers. Nor would it seem that the clergy molested him either, or looked askance on his alchemistic studies; for on his death, which occurred in 1581, his mortal remains were duly interred at Otterhampton Church, Bridgwater. That facetious antiquary and historian, Anthony Wood, in his Athenæ Oxoniensis, credits Charnock with a considerable amount of writing, and it is possible that several items enumerated are in reality from some other pen than the alchemist's. However, there are certain books which the latter undoubtedly wrote, notably Ænigma ad Alchimiam, issued in 1572; while no less interesting than this is the Breviary of Natural Philosophy, which is couched in verse, was published originally in 1557, and was subsequently reprinted in the Theatrum Chemicum of Elias Ashmole.
Chase, Warren: (See Spiritualism.) Chazel, Comte de: (See Rosicrucians.)