1804, which established the imperial dignity. This acte sought to gain the favor of the people by the grant of more extensive privileges to the two chambers, by conferring greater independence on the courts, by a tacit abolition of the special courts and of the state prisons (prisons d'état), by granting entire liberty of the press, and totally suppressing hereditary distinctions. A general electoral assembly (champ de Mai) was convoked to gratify the taste of the people for great spectacles. But the charm, once broken, could not be renewed. With one party, Napoleon found no confidence in his promises; the other used its new independence to impose further restrictions on the government. The loss of a battle was sufficient to overthrow his ill-supported power; and Napoleon, deserted and pressed by his former adherents (Fouché, Caulaincourt, Carnot, &c.), was obliged to abdicate a second time. The ministers, during this period, appointed by a decree of the 20th of March, 1815, were Gaudin, duke of Gaëta, minister of finance; Maret, duke of Bassano, secretary of state; the duke Decres, minister of the marine; Fouché, minister of the police; Mollien, treasurer; Davoust, prince of Eckmühl, minister of war; Caulaincourt, duke of Vicenza, minister of foreign affairs; Carnot, minister of the interior; Cambacérès, duke of Parma, arch-chancellor and minister of justice. After the return of the king, by the ordinance of the 24th of July, 1815, all members of the chamber of peers of 1814 (29 in number), who had accepted places during the "hundred days," were excluded from the chamber; but they have since been restored, with the exception of two (Barral, archbishop of Tours, and count Canclaux). Of the 117 peers of the "hundred days," there are at present only 40 in the chamber. The law of the 12th of January, 1816, declared a general amnesty, with the exception of those who had voted for the death of Louis XVI, and of those who had accepted office during the "hundred days." They were condemned to perpetual banishment, were declared to have forfeited all public rights, and to be incapable of possessing estates. (See Chambre Introuvable; also the articles France and Napoleon.)

CENTLIVRE, Susanna, a dramatic writer, was born in Ireland, in 1667. Her mind having early taken a romantic turn, on being unkindly treated by those who had the care of her after the death of her mother, she formed the resolution of going to London. Travelling by herself on

foot, she was met by Mr. Hammond, father of the author of the love elegies, then a student at the university of Cambridge, who persuaded her to assume the habit of a boy, in which disguise she lived with him some months at college. At length, fearing a discovery, he induced her to proceed to the metropolis, where, being yet only in her 16th year, she married a nephew of sir Stephen Fox. Becoming a widow within a year, she took for a second husband an officer of the army, of the name of Carrol, who was killed in a duel the second year of their wedlock. This event in her singular career reduced her to considerable distress, and led her to attempt dramatic composition. Her first production was a tragedy, entitled the Perjured Husband, which was performed in 1700. This was followed by several comedies, chiefly translations from the French, which exhibited the vivacity that distinguishes her literary character, and met with some temporary success. She also tried the stage as an actress on the provincial boards, and by that means attracted the attention of her third and last husband, Mr. Centlivre, yeoman of the mouth to queen Anne, whom she married in 1706. She still continued writing for the stage, and produced several more comedies. Some of these remain stock pieces, of which number are the Busy Body, the Wonder, and a Bold Stroke for a Wife. They are diverting from the bustle of the incident and the liveliness of the characters, but want the accompaniments of adequate language and forcible delineation. They partook of the license of the age. Mrs. Centlivre enjoyed the friendship of Steele, Farquhar, Rowe, and other wits of the day. Having, however, offended Pope, she obtained a place in the Dunciad, but is introduced by no means characteristically. She was handsome in person, and her conversation was sprightly and agreeable; her disposition also appears to have been friendly and benevolent. She died in 1723. Besides her dramatic works, published in 3 vols., 12mo., 1763, a volume of her poems and letters were collected and published by Boyer.

CENTO (Latin); originally, a cloak made of patches (hence, as Lessing observes, the dress of Harlequin is called, in Apuleius, mimi_centuculus). The term has been transferred to such poems as have been formed out of verses taken from other poems. It was a particular art to combine passages of different authors, on different subjects, in this manner, so as to form a regular whole. Thus

going on around them, they remained for a long time in perfect tranquillity. At length, in September, 1821, they declared their independence of Spain; and although, for a time, Iturbide obtained the control of a large part of the country, yet, on his downfall, they recurred to their original purpose of forming a separate republic. A constituent congress was convoked, which completed the organization of the general government, Nov. 22, 1824, by the adoption of a federal constitution analogous to that of the U. States. Under the constitution, Manuel Jose Arce was elected first president of the republic. Various differences, however, of a political nature, have prevented his administration from being a tranquil or happy one. Violent factions have plunged the country into a civil war, which has continued since the beginning of 1827. It was commenced by the inhabitants of the state of Salvador, who, on account of some jealousy of the people of Guatimala, proceeded from one degree of opposition to another, until they actually levied troops, and marched into the territory of the Guatimaltecans. They were beaten by the troops of the general government under the command of Arce, and driven back into Salvador; but still the war has been protracted with various success. Besides this, disturbances of a serious character have existed in others of the states; all tending to show that the people are far from being well fitted for the delicate task of self-government. The government consists of a president, a senate, and a chamber of representatives. The Catholic is the established religion. No other is tolerated. Slavery is abolished. The commercial regulations are on a much more liberal footing than in the other new republics. Foreigners have the same rights with the natives. Englishmen and adventurers from the U. States wander over this rich republic, and carry on a lucrative commerce with the natives, the treasures which the country offers in gold and silver being in the hands of the laboring class. The flag of the United Provinces of Central America consists of three stripes of different colors, with three volcanoes (signifying the three principal provinces-Guatimala, Nicaragua and Comayagua), under a rainbow, with the inscription, "God, concord, liberty." The principal town, Guatimala, and the province of the same name, are so called from the Indian word guanhtemali (rotten wood), the Indian term for Campeachy wood. Cortez founded the towns of Guatimala

and San Salvador. No colony cost Spain less blood than the vice-kingdom of Ġuatimala; but no other had so noble a governor as Las Casas. The soil is volcanic, and luxuriantly fertile. A large quantity of indigo is annually exported. The lake of Nicaragua, 121 miles in length and 41 in breadth, may become highly important in a commercial respect, as the navigable river S. Juan unites it to the Atlantic ocean, and a canal has been proposed for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, to receive its water from this lake. There are several volcanoes on its shores. The aboriginal population of the country has very much decreased. The ruins of Huehuetlapallan (q. v.) are remarkable. The converted Indians are called Ladiños; the others, Barbaros, or Bravos. Two pieces of land (Tagurgalpa and Tolagalpa), belonging to the United Provinces, have never been subjected by the European settlers, or their descendants, and are inhabited by the independent Moscos, or Mosquitos, and other tribes. That part of the coast called the Mosquito coast, and extending to cape Gracias-a-Dios, the congress at Colombia, in 1824, declared to belong to the territory of Colombia. A part of that coast called Poyais (q. v.), containing a town of the same name, was erected into a separate state by the Scotch adventurer, Mac Gregor.-Central America contains antiquities of a very interesting nature, which have been but imperfectly examined and described hitherto, and which indicate that the aboriginal inhabitants of the country had even attained a very respectable proficiency in the knowledge of the arts of life. Near the village of Palenque are the ruins of what was once a city of several leagues in circumference. Remains of temples, altars, and ornamental stones, statues of deities, and other works of sculpture, are permanent proofs of its former importance. Like remains are found near Ocosingo, in the same part of Central America. A circus, and several stone pyramids, in the valley of Copan, in Honduras, are better known than the ruins of Palenque and Ocosingo. Vestiges of the city of Utatlan, before mentioned, of Patinamit and Mixco, and of many fortresses and castles in the province of Quezaltenango, are mentioned by Juarros and other authors.-This country has attracted attention incidentally of late, owing to its geographical position, and the hope entertained by many of seeing a canal cut across the isthmus in some part of Central America, so as to unite the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by a navigable channel.

It has been well described by a native, Domingo Juarros, whose account has been translated into English by Mr. Baily Statistical and Commercial History of Guatimala. (See also don Francia de Fuente's History of Guatimala, before and after the Spanish Conquest.)

CENTRAL FIRE. Many natural philosophers have supposed a perpetual fire to exist in the centre of the earth, which they call central fire. In ancient times, volcanoes and other similar phenomena were explained by it. At a later period, when it was understood that such a fire in the interior of the earth was impossible, the phrase was used to express the interior warnth of the earth. To this central warmth Mairan ascribes a great part of the warmth on the surface of the earth. To a certain depth, there appears to be a fixed temperature in the interior of the earth, which probably arises from the penetrating heat of the sun. At least experiments show that in hot climates the interior of the earth is warmer than in cold ones. In Siberia, for instance, some workmen, having penetrated 80 feet in digging a well, found the earth frozen even at that depth. Interesting information on this subject may be found in Biot's Astronomie Physique (2d ed., Paris, 1810), in the 2d vol. 15th chap. De la Température de la Terre.

CENTRAL FORCES; those forces by the cooperation of which circular motion is produced; that is, the centripetal and centrifugal forces. Many natural philosophers deny the existence of the latter, and assert it to be a mere mathematical idea. They say, a body, once put in motion, continues its motion in the same direction, and with the same velocity, without the interposition of a new power, on account of its inertia. Now the heavenly bodies were impelled, in the beginning, by the Creator, with an almighty power, and would be obliged, by their inertia, to go on eternally in one direction, and with the same velocity, if they were not attracted, in all points of their motion, towards a point out of this direction, by which a circular motion is produced. Of the first moving force, there is now no longer any question. That power by which the heavenly bodies are drawn towards points out of their rectilinear path, is called the centripetal force. This power would put the heavenly body in motion if it were at rest; as it finds it already in motion, it changes its direction at every point. The case is quite different with the centrifugal force. This appears to be merely the re4

VOL. III.

sult of the inertia of the body, or rather of the motion which, having been once given to the body, is continued by means of this inertia. (See Circular Motion.) CENTRAL MOTION. (See Circular Motion.)

CENTRE, LE (French; signifying the centre). In the French chamber of deputies, the seats are ranged in a semicircle in front of the president, and leave only a narrow passage in the centre. The ministers themselves do not sit, as in England, among the deputies, but in the front seat, on the left side of the centre. In England, the ministry is the centre of the majority, and all who do not vote with it, however different their views, unite in the opposition. In France, the two chief parties, one of which is attached to the old, the other to the new system of things, are opposed to each other independently of the ministers, and thus enable the ministry to maintain itself, as has been the case till very lately, without belonging decidedly to either party. The ministry bestows many offices on the condition that the officers shall always vote with it. In the French chamber of deputies, the adherents of the ministry chiefly sit near their leaders, on the seats in the centre (le centre). Here are to be found, therefore, the prefects, state-attorneys, and other officers of the government, who, for the sake of office, support all the propositions of the ministers. They are joined by those who, like the Doctrinaires (q. v.), under the ministry of Decazes, keep the centre, independently of the two chief parties, and support the ministers from conviction. (During the ministry of Villèle, the Doctrinaires went over almost wholly to the side of the opposition.) But private opinion, and the circumstances by which it is influenced, often operate so powerfully, that parties even appear in the centre. It is itself divided into a right and left side. The members of the late ministry, preceding that of prince Polignac, belonged chiefly to the moderate party.-In England, the members of the parliament also sit on different sides, according to their party. In the U. States of North America, the seats are decided by lot, in both houses, and thus the members of all parties are distributed all over the house.

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, in astronomy, is the force by reason of which the heavenly bodies, in their revolutions, tend to fly off from the centre. The circular motion is said to be caused by the perpetual conflict of the centrifugal and centripetal forces.

CENTRIPETAL FORCE. (See Central Forces.)

CENTURIES OF MAGDEBURG. The first comprehensive work of the Protestants on the history of the Christian church was so called, because it was divided into centuries, each volume containing a hundred years, and was first written at Magdeburg. Matthias Flacius (q. v.) formed the plan of it in 1552, in order to prove the agreement of the Lutheran doctrine with that of the primitive Christians, and the difference between the latter and that of the Catholics. Joh. Wigand, Matth. Judex, Basilius Faber, Andreas Corvinus, and Thomas Holzhuter, were, after Flacius, the chief writers and editors. Some Lutheran princes and nobles patronised it, and many learned men assisted in the work, which was drawn, with great care and fidelity, from the original sources, compiled with sound judgment, and written in Latin. It was continued by the centuriatores (as the editors were called) only to 1300. It was published at Bâle, from 1559 to 1574, in 13 vols. fol., at great expense. A good modern edition, by Baumgarten and Semler, which reaches, however, only to the year 500, appeared at Nuremburg, from 1757 to 1765, in 6 vols. 4to. A good abridgment was prepared by Lucas Osiander (Tübingen, 1592-1604, 9 vols. 4to.), of which the Tübingen edition, 1607 and 1608 (usually in four thick vols. 4to.), comprehends also the period from the 14th to the 16th century. The Catholics finding themselves attacked in this alarming way, and confuted by matters of fact, Baronius (q. v.) wrote his Annals, in opposition to the Centuria.

CENTURY (Latin centuria); a division of 100 men. This kind of division was very common with the Romans, and was used, in general, to denote a particular body, although this might not contain exactly 100 men. Thus centuries, in the army, were the companies into which the Roman legions were divided. This name was also given to the divisions of the six classes of the people, introduced by Servius Tullius. The first class contained 80, to which were added the 18 centuries of the knights; the three following classes had each 20 centuries, the fifth 30, and the sixth only 1 century. The people voted in the public elections by centuries. (See Census.)

CEPHALONIA, or CEFALONIA; the largest of the islands in the Ionian sea, west of the Morea, at the entrance of the golfo di Patrasso, or gulf of Lepanto, about 40

miles in length, and from 10 to 20 in breadth; lon. 20° 40′ to 21° 18′ E.; lat. 38° to 38° 28′ N.; square miles 340, with 63,200 inhabitants, who own 400 vessels of different kinds. The island has 203 towns and villages, three ports, and excellent anchoring places and bays. The climate is warm and delightful, the landscape is adorned with flowers during the whole year, and the trees yield two crops of fruit annually. A great part of the soil is devoted to the production of raisins, currants, wine, oil, citrons, melons, pomegranates and cotton. The raisins are preferred to those of any other of the Grecian islands, and even to those of the Morea. About 2500 tons are produced annually. Between 25 and 30,000 casks of oil, and 50,000 of wine, 5 or 6,000,000 pounds of currants, and 100,000 pounds of cotton, are likewise obtained yearly. Silks, medicinal herbs, oranges and lemons are also raised. The system of agriculture adopted by the great land owners requires that a large proportion of the grain and meat consumed in the island should be imported from the Morea. The island is subject to frequent earthquakes. Cephalonia belonged to the Venetians until 1797, when the French took possession of it. Since 1815, it has belonged to the republic of the united Ionian islands. (q. v.) (See Napier's Statistical Account of the Island of Cefalonia, London, 1824.)-The ancient name of the island was Cephallenia, from the mythological Cephalus, husband of Procris. It was tributary to Thebes, the Macedonians and the Etolians, till the Romans took it. In the time of Thucydides, it had four cities; Same, Prone, Cranii and Pale. Strabo only knew of two.

CEPHALUS; the son of Creusa; according to some, the son of Deioneus, king of Phocis, and of Diomede. He was the husband of Procris. Shortly after his marriage, Aurora carried off the beautiful youth while he was hunting on mount Hymettus. He refused the love of the goddess, who induced him to put the virtue of his wife to a trial which it could not withstand. Procris, in return, tempted him likewise, and he yielded also. Learning their mutual weakness, they became reconciled. But Procris subsequently became jealous of her husband, and concealed herself in a wood to watch him. He mistook her, among the leaves, for a wild animal, and killed her. On this, he was banished from Greece by the court of Areopagus, or, as some relate, killed himself with the same dart which had destroyed Procris.