Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/789

This page needs to be proofread.
CAL—CAL
713

hospital. Its inhabitants are said to have a much greater amount of culture than is common in the provincial towns of Sicily, and great encouragement is given by the higher classes to the cause of education. The most remarkable industry in the town is the manufacture of terra-cotta figures, representing different types of Italian costume. The remains of an aqueduct, an ancient subterranean road cut out of the rock, and various mosaics and other antiquities discovered by excavation, show that the site of the town was already occupied at a very early date ; and according to some an identification may be effected with Hybla Minor. The present city, however, owes its origin to the Saracens, who defeated the Greeks there in 83-1, and

remained in possession till 1060. Population, 25,978.

CALTANISETTA, or Calatanisetta, the capital of a province of the same name in Sicily, is situated in an extensive and fertile plain, dominated by Monte San Giuliano, near the right bank of the Salso, 62 miles S.E. of Palermo. It is well built, and contains several handsome edifices, is defended by a castle, and is the seat of judicial courts. In the neighbourhood, at Terra-Pilata, are several spring} emitting hydrogen gas, a mud-volcano, and extensive sulphur-works ; and about 2 miles distant is the Abbey of Santo Spirito, founded by Roger I., where a great national festival is held every Whitmonday. The town is of Saracenic origin, as indeed its name suggests Kalat-al-Nisa, the Ladies Castle ; but it has been completely modernized. In 1820 the people of Palermo were defeated near it by the Neapolitan General Pepe. Population, 26,156.

CALVADOS, a department in the north of France, extending from 48 46 to 49 25 N. lat., and from 26 E. to 1 10 W. long., formed out of that part of Lower Normandy which comprised Bessin, Bocage, the Champagne de Caen, Auge, and the western part of Lieuvin. It is said to have received its name from a ledge of rocks, stretching along the coast for a distance of about 15 miles between the mouths of the rivers Orne and Vire, on which the Calvados, a vessel of the Spanish Armada, was wrecked in 1588. It is bounded N. by the English Channel, E. by the department of Eure, S. by that of Orne, W. by that of Manche, and has an area of 2132 square miles. The southern part of the department is somewhat elevated, being crossed by a mountain range, and forms a continuation of the great water-shed between the basins of the Seine and Loire ; but the rest of the surface is gently undulating, and consists of extensive valleys watered by numerous streams which fall into the English Channel. The coast is high, and generally inaccessible, except at the mouths of the principal rivers, such as the Touques, the Dives, the Orne, and the Vire, which are navigable at high tide for several miles inland, and are indicated by lighthouses at their mouths. The valleys, which ganerally slope in a direction from south to north, afford abundant pasturage for horses and cattle, and the agriculture of the district is superior to that of most of the other departments. Wheat, potatoes, and all kinds of vegetables are raised in great quantities for the markets of the interior and for exportation. The orchards of the Auge district produce a very superior kind of cider, of which upwards of 30,000,000 gallons are made in the department ; while Isigny is the centre of a large domestic and export trade in butter, cheese, and other dairy produce. Poultry is reared to a considerable extent for the Paris market. In the larger towns, of which on account of the agricultural pursuits of the inhabitants there are very few, there are manufactories of lace, woollen yarn and cloth, linen, calicoes, flannel, shawls, cutlery, and earthenware. Besides these the paper-mills, oil-mills, tanneries, refineries of beet-root and foreign sugar, distilleries, and bleach-fields, scattered throughout the department, give employment to a great number of hands. Although seams of coal are found and wrought at Ligny, most of the coal used in the department is imported from England or Belgium. Build ing stone and fuller s earth are plentiful. The fisheries along the coast are extensively prosecuted for Parisian consumpt, and consist chiefly of lobster, oyster, herring, and mackerel fishing. There is a canal from Caen to Ouistreham. A line of railway from Paris to Cherbourg runs through the country and gives off five branches. The department is divided into six arrondissements, Caen, Falaise, Bayeux, Vire, Lisieux, and Pont Tjuveque, the chief towns of which bear the same name. The principal port is Honfleur. The population in 1872 was 454,012.

CALVART, Denis (1555-1619), a Flemish painter, born at Antwerp in 1555. After studying landscape- painting for some time in his native city he went to Bologna, where he perfected himself in the anatomy of the human form under Prospero Fontana, and so completely lost the mannerism of Flemish art that his paintings appear to be the work of an Italian. From Bologna he went to Rome, where he assisted Sabbatini in his works for the Papal palace, and devoted much of his time to copying and studying the works of Raft aelle. He ultimately returned to Bologna, and founded a school, of which the greatest ornaments are Guido and Domenichino. His works are especially admired for the power of grouping and colouring which they display. He died at Bologna in 1619

CALVERT, George, Lord Baltimore (1582-1632), one of the principal secretaries of state under James I., was born at Kipling in Yorkshire in 1582. He was educated at Oxford, and after travelling on the Continent entered public service as secretary to Robert Cecil, afterwards earl of Salisbury. In 1617 he was knighted, and in 1619 he was made one of the principal secretaries of state. He retained office for five years, at the end of which term he resigned, alleging as a reason that he had recently adopted the Catholic faith. He still continued at court, however, in the capacity of a privy-councillor. In 1625 he was made Baron Baltimore, in the county of Longford, Ireland, and among other rewards he received for his services was a patent as lord of the province of Avalon in Newfoundland. As this colony was much exposed to ths attacks of the French he left it, and obtained another patent for Mary land, in the north of Virginia. He died in 1632 before the grant was confirmed, but in that year it was made out in the name of his son Cecil. The city of Baltimore derives its name from the title of this family.

CALVI, a fortified town in Corsica, the capital of an arrondissement, is situated on a peninsula in the bay to which it gives its name, 38 miles W.S.W. of Bastia, in 42 34 7" N. lat. and 8 45 10" E. long. Its position is unsheltered, and its ancient fortifications present a mournful appearance, while its climate is rendered unhealthy by the exhalations from the neighbouring lagoon. Since the foundation of He Rousse by Paoli it has greatly decayed, and its interest is now mainly historical or antiquarian. The most important buildings are the old palace of the Genoese governor and the church with the monuments of the Baglioni family. Calvi was founded in the 13th cen tury by Giovanniello of Pietra Allerata, one of the military adventurers of that restless period. In 1278 it passed into the hands of the Genoese, and from that date ib was remarkable for its adherence to their side. It was attacked by De Thermes in 1553, and two years after it stood no fewer than three sieges with such determined resistance that the Genoese senate caused Civitas Calvi semper fiddis to be carved on the chief gate of the city, which still pre serves the proud inscription. In 1794 Calvi was captured by the English, but it was retaken by the Corsicans in the following year. Population in 1872, 2164.