Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/170

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Cabanel
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Cabot

1638 under the title ‘Lingua Eruditorum,’ was several times reprinted. An edition of this work was published by Dr. Hessey in 1853, accompanied by the author's ‘Institutio Chaldaica’ (first printed in 1650). Of Bythner's other writings, the most important is his ‘Lyra Prophetica Davidis Regis’ (London, 1650), which is a grammatical analysis of every word in the Hebrew psalter. An English translation of this book, by T. Dee, was published in 1836, and a second edition of this translation appeared in 1847.

[Wood's Athenæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, iii. 675; MS. Egerton 1324, f. 106.]

H. B.


C

CABANEL, RUDOLPH (1762–1839), architect, was born at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1762. He came to England early in life, and settled in London, where he was employed in construction of several theatres. He designed the arrangements of the stage of old Drury Lane Theatre, the Royal Circus, afterwards called the Surrey Theatre, 1805 (burnt down 30–1 Jan. 1868), and the Cobourg Theatre, 1818. He was the inventor of the roof known by his name, besides a number of machines, &c. He died in Mount Gardens, Lambeth, on 5 Feb. 1839.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. (1839), i. 325]

C. M.


CABBELL, BENJAMIN BOND (1781–1874), patron of art, fourth son of George Cabbell, apothecary, of 17 Wigmore Street, London, by Mary, daughter of Thomas Bliss, astronomer royal, was born in Vere Street, London, in 1781, educated at Westminster School, and matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, 19 June 1800, ‘aqed 17;’ thence he matriculated to Exeter College on 25 Feb. 1801, left the university in 1803 without a degree. He was called to the bar, at the Middle Temple, 9 Feb. 1818, when he went the Western and Somerset circuits. In 1850 he became bencher of his inn. On 11 Aug. 1848 he entered parliament, in the conservative interest, as member for St. Albans, and in the following year, on 11 July, was returned for Boston, which he represented till 21 March 1857. He was a staunch supporter of protestant principles, and was in favour of very great alterations in the then existing poor laws; he opposed the grant to Maynooth, and, according to Dod's ‘Parliamentary Companion,' ‘was anxious to promote the improvement of the social, moral, and mental condition of the industrious classes’

Cabbell was elected a. fellow of the Royal Society 19 Jan. 1837, was a magistrate for Norfolk, Middlesex, and Westminster, and served as high sheriff for the first-named county in 1854. He was president of the City of London General Pension Society, a vice-president of the Royal Literary Fund, treasurer to the Lock Hospital, and sub-treasurer to the Infant Orphan Asylum. He was also a zealous and influential mason, a trustee of the Royal Masonic Institution, and grand master of the freemasons of Norfolk. His country residence was at Cromer Hall, Norfolk, and to Cromer and its neighbourhood he was a munificent benefactor ,having defrayed the cost of building a lifeboat for the town, besides presenting a considerable piece of land for the purposes of a cemetery.

He was widely known as an art patron. He became a member of the Artists’ Benevolent Fund, 1824, aided in obtaining n charter of incorporation for the society in 1827, and contributed 20l. towards the preliminary expenses. He died at 39 Chapel Street, Marylebone Road, London, 9 Dec. 1874, in his 94th year.

[Solicitor’s Journal, 19 Dec. 1874, p. 128; Law Times, 19 Dec. 1874, p. 124; Pye's Patronage of British Art, 1845, pp. 358, 365, with portrait; Times, 11 Dec. 1874, p. 10.]

G. C. B.


CABOT, SEBASTIAN (1474–1557), cosmographer and cartographer, was the second son of John Cabot, a Venetian pilot, who afterwards settled in Bristol as a merchant, probably as early as 1472, and who, after having made discoveries on the east coast of North Amarica, assisted by his sons Sebastian, Lewes, and Sancto, is supposed to have died in Bristol about 1498.

Sebastian Cabot has recently been described as the ‘Sphinx of North American history for over three hundred years' (Winsor, iii. 32.) A confusion between himself and his father on the part of many of his recent biographers has been the main cause of their perplexity. This error can be avoided by a cautious use of the materials found in the pages of Peter Martyr (Anglerius), Ramusio, Eden and Hakluyt, checked by comparisons with the letters patent granted Henry VII to the elder Cabot and his sons, 1496–8.

Recent writers have injudiciously rejected the old tradition that referred Cabot's birthplace to Bristol in favour of a