Canrobert
FRANÇOIS CERTAIN (kän-rō-bār'), Marshal of France, born at St. Céré in Lot, June 27, 1809, studied in the military academy of St. Cyr, and in 1828 entered the army. He had seen close upon 20 years' brilliant service in Algeria, and had actively supported the future emperor at the coup d'état of 1851, when in January, 1853, he received the rank of a general of division. As such he commanded the first division of the French army under Marshal St. Arnaud, sent to the Crimea in 1854; and at the battle of the Alma was wounded in the breast and hand by the splinter of a shell. On St. Arnaud's death, nine days later, Canrobert assumed the chief command of the French army. In the war in Italy against the Austrians (1859) Canrobert had the command of the third division of the French army, and fought at the battles of Magenta and Solferino. In the Franco-German war of 1870 he was shut up in Metz with Bazaine, and became a prisoner in Germany. He was an ardent Imperialist till the death of the Prince Imperial (1879). In 1876 he became a member of the Senate. He died Jan. 28, 1895.
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Canso
CAPE, the E. extremity of Nova Scotia, at the entrance of Chedabucto Bay. Canso Strait, a passage 17 miles in length and 2½ in average breadth, separates Nova Scotia from the island of Cape Breton.
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Cantabile
in music, a term applied to movements intended to be performed in a graceful, elegant, and melodious style.
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Cantabri
the rudest and most valiant of all the old Iberian tribes anciently inhabiting the N. mountains of Spain.
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Cantabrian Mountains
the general name of the various mountain ranges extending from the western Pyrenees along the N. coast of Spain to Cape Finisterre.
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Cantacuzenus
a Greek princely family. (1) JOHANNES CANTACUZENUS was a noted soldier and statesman of the Byzantine empire in the reigns of Andronicus II. and III., the latter of whom in 1341 left him guardian and prime minister of his son, Johannes V., then n nine years old. Cantacuzenus, however, proclaimed himself the child's colleague, Oct. 26, 1341, and after a five years' civil war secured his recognition, as well as the marriage of one daughter to the young emperor, and of another to the Sultan Orchan, whose help had been necessary to him. A second war, during which the Turks occиpied Gallipoli, caused his retirement in 1355 to a monastery, where he died in 1383. (2) MATTHIAS, his son, was also made a colleague in the empire in 1353, and on his father's abdication began a war which ended two years later in his own deposition. He, too, died in 1383. (3) His brother MANUEL (died 1380) governor of Peloponnesus from was 1348, and was recognized as despot of Misithra by Johannes V.; he did much to encourage the immigration of the Albanians into the depopulated Morea. The family was notable among the Fanariots, and in later years a Russian branch supplied several brave and successful leaders to the cause of Greek independence.
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Cantal
a central department in France, area 2,217 square miles; capital, Aurillac. This department, formerly part of upper Auvergne, is named from its highest mountain, the Plomb du Cantal, 6,094 feet in height. The greater part of it, occupied by the Cantal mountains and highlands, furnishes only timber, archil, and pasture. It is watered by numerous rivers, the principal of which are the Dordogne, Cère, and Lot. The principal crops are rye, buckwheat, potatoes, chestnuts, hemp, and flax. Cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, and mules are reared in large numbers. Large quantities of cheese ("Auvergne cheese") are made. Hot mineral springs are abundant. Pop. about 225,000.
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Cantata
a poem or dramatic composition set to music, with solos and choruses. A cantata consisted origi. nally of a mixture of recitative and melody, and was given to a single voice, but the introduction of choruses altered the first character of the cantata, and gave rise to some confusion in the manner of describing it.
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Canteen
in military language, a regimental establishment managed by a committee of officers, in barracks or forts, for the sale of liquors, tobacco, groceries, etc., to the soldiers at reasonable prices. The profits are employed for the benefit of the soldiers themselves. In the United States the official term used now is post exchange. In 1901 Congress passed a law forbidding the sale of liquors in post exchanges. The word is also applied to a flat can or metallic bottle used by soldiers for carrying drinking water.
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Canterbury Tales, The
The, a collection of stories by Chaucer, first printed in 1475. The work consists of twenty-two poems and two prose tales, told by a company of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. See Chaucer
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Canterbury-Bell
a name given to species of Campanula, C. medium and C. trachelium.
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Cantharis
Spanish-fly or the Blister Beetle-fly, Cantharis vesicatoria, a coleopterous inseet, the typical one of the family Cantharidæ. They are collected principally Hungary in , Russia, and the south of France, and are imported in cases of 100 to 175 pounds weight. In several parts of England they have become so naturalized as to be almost native. They are about eight lines long; the elytra are a fine green color. They have a disagreeable odor and a burning taste, taste, and contain a crystalline substance, Cantharidine. The insects described above are externally used as a rubefacient in the form of a liniment, also as a vesicant in the form of the common blister. They are applied to diseases and painful joints, also in cases of pleuritis, pericarditis, pneumonia, and other internal inflammations. Internally they are given in chronic affections of the nervous system, especially of the spinal cord. They have also a diuretic action. They should never be administered except by a physician.
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Canticle
certain detached psalms and hymns used in the service of the Anglican Church, such as the Venite exultemus, Te Deum laudamus, Benedicite omnia opera, Benedictus, Jubilate Deo, Magnificat, Cantate Domino, Nunc dimittis, Deus misereatur, and the verses used instead of the Venite on Easter day. The word is also applied to that book of the Old Testament also known as the "Song of Solomon."
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