Cavalcanti
GUIDO (kav-al-kan' tē), a Florentine poet, born about 1246. He married Beatrice, daughter of Farinata degli Uberti (chief of the Ghibelline faction at Florence); but he himself seems to have had leanings toward the Guelph party; for, becoming too intimate with the followers of the Cerchi, he was banished (June 24, 1300), along with the others, to Sarzana. As a poet he was, until the coming of Dante, the head of that school of poetry which had been founded by Guinicelli of Bologna, a school which delighted in philosophical, mystical sentiment. His writings are confined chiefly to sonnets, canticles, and ballads. His best known poem is his canzone on the "Nature of Love." Among his contemporaries his epicurean philosophy gained him suspicion of atheism. Cavalcanti's friendship with Dante, one of the most interesting things about his life, took the delightful form of exchange of sonnets; and to it we owe of both. some of the most delicate work He died in Florence in 1300.
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Cavalier
a term akin to cavalry. It was applied to the gay followers of the Stuarts during the great Civil War in England by way of distinction from the somber, austere followers of Cromwell. Their best side is turned toward us by Macaulay in his celebrated Essay on Milton: Thinking as we do that the cause of the King was the cause of bigotry and tyranny, we yet cannot refrain from looking with complacency on the character of the honest old Cavaliers. . . . It was not for a treacherous king or an intolerant church that they fought, but for the old banner which had waved in so many battles over the heads of their fathers, and for the altars at which they had received the hands of their brides. Though nothing could be more erroneous than their political opinions, they possessed, in a far greater degree than their adversaries, those qualities which are the grace of private life. With many of the vices of the Round Table, they had also many of its virtues, courtesy, generosity, veracity, tenderness, and respect for women. They had far more both of profound and of polite learning than the Puritans. Their manners were more engaging, their tempers more amiable, their tastes more elegant, and their households more cheerful.
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Cavan
a county in the province of Ulster, Ireland, having Longford and wister, Westmeath on the S., S., Fermanagh Fern and N., Louth on the E., Monaghan on the and Leitrim on the W. Area, 746 square miles. It is traversed by a number of rivers, of which the chief are the Blackwater, the Erne, the Annalee, and the 4 Woodford. The county is also interspersed by several lakes, Ramor , Sheelin , Gowna, and Oughter. The main crops are oats and potatoes, the ground being too wet and cold for diversified agriculture, although there is good grazing in the higher portions . The manufacture of linen and the distilling of whiskey are the chief industries . Pop. about 90,000, of whom about four-fifths are Catholics. The county sends two members to Parliament. The town of Cavan (pop. about 3,000) is the business center and county-seat.
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Cave
an underground chamber. Generally speaking it may be said that soaking, trickling, and running waters form caves by dissolving and removing rock material around some crack or fissure. In case of sandstone the cement is dissolved, and the stone falls into sand easily carried away. In limestone caves practically the same action takes place. Lava caves are due to the action of gas. Such are found near Naples, and in Iceland and Hawaii. For a basalt cave, see FINGAL'S CAVE . The Peak cave in Derbyshire, England, is half a mile in length and 600 feet below the surface. It is noted for marble formations in the form of cascades and trees. The deepest cave known is that of Frederikshall, Norway, 11,000 feet below the surface. Many of the European caves contain remains of the cave dwellers, the cave bear , the cave hyena, and of elephants all well preserved in deposits of lime. One of the most remarkable cave regions of the world is the limestone basin of the Ohio Valley. The various passageways of Wyandotte Cave in Crawford County, Indiana, have a total length of twenty-three miles. One stalagmite, called the Pillar of the Constitution, is 75 feet in circumference and 30 feet high. Monument Mountain is 175 feet high; and 75 feet overhead again is a vaulted dome, so lofty are some of the passages. See Mammoth Cave ; Stalactite
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Cave Bear
an extinct bear of Europe. In the floors of limestone caves in various parts of Europe the bones of a large bear have been found, to which the name of cave bear has been given. Its bones are found with those of many other animals now extinct. A belief is gaining ground that the cave bear was simply a large variety of the common brown bear of Europe. See Bear
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Caveat
in law, a process in a court to stop proceedings, as to prevent the enrollment of a decree in chancery in order to gain time to present a petition of appeal to the Lord-Chancellor . In the United States this name is given to a notice lodged in the patent-office by a person who wishes to patent an invention, but desires to be protected till he has perfected it. It stands good for a year, and may be renewed. See PATENT.
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Cavendish (WILLIAM Duke of Newcastle born)
WILLIAM, Duke of Newcastle; born in 1592. Son of Sir Charles Cavendish, he was made Earl of Newcastle by Charles I. On the approach of hostilities between the crown and Parliament he embraced the royal cause, and was invested with a commission constituting him general of all his majesty's forces raised N. of the Trent, with very ample powers. Through great exertions and the expenditure of large sums from his private fortune he levied a considerable army, with which, for some time, he maintained the King's cause in the N. When the royal cause became hopeless he retired to Holland. He returned after an absence of 18 years, and was rewarded for his services and sufferings with the dignity of duke. He was the author of several mediocre poems and plays, and a treatise on horsemanship. He died in 1676.
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