such that no one bad the least suspicion of the deception. From all this gaiety and licence Cazotte rushed into the opposite extreme, embracing the views of the Illuminati, and declaring himself possessed of the power of prophecy. It was upon this fact that La Harpe based his famous jeu d esprit, in which he represents Cazotte prophesying the most minute events of the revolution. Cazotte was attached to the royal cause, and, on the discovery of some of his letters in August 1792, was arrested; and, though he escaped for a time, through the love and courage of his daughter, lie was executed on the 25th of the following month. A
complete edition of his works was published in 1817.CEARÁ, or Fortaleza, or Villa do Forte, a town of Brazil, in a province of the same name, situated at the mouth of the River Ceara, on an open bay between the promontory of Mararanguape and Cape Mocoripe, in 3 42 S. lat. and 38 30 W. long. It consists of a new and old town, and has regular and well-paved streets. Opened to general trade in the present century, it exports a consider able quantity of coffee, cotton, and sugar ; but it has recently suffered somewhat by the formation of the new port of Aracaty, about ninety miles distant. In 1871 the number of British vessels engaged in the trade was 45, with a tonnage of 28,784. Population about 20,000.
CEBES of Thebes, a disciple of Socrates, mentioned by Plato in the Phcedo, and by Xenophon as distinguished both for his virtue and for his love of truth, was the author of a once popular didactic dialogue, the Hiva or Tabula Cebetis. This work, which professes to be an explanation of an allegorical picture, commences with the Platonic doc trine that men enter the earth from a pre-existent state. There they have been taught how to guide their course in this world; but the draught of oblivion of which all must drink though not all in equal degree causes them to forget the instruction. Many allurements entice them to vice, but by patience and endurance they may attain virtue and happiness. The sciences grammar, geography, arithmetic, geometry, and music are declared not to be the true discipline, but yet to be useful, especially as a kind of restraining bridle for the young. From certain passages, which are probably interpolations, some have supposed the work to be the production of a Stoic of the same name, who lived under M. Aurelius. The Tabula Cebetis has been translated into all the European languages. An Arabic version, with the Greek text, and a Latin translation, was published by Salmasius in 1 640. It is usually printed together with Epictetus, as at Strasburg, 1806, and Paris, 1826. Cebes was also, according to Suidas and Laertius, the author of the E/JSop; and the 3>pvWos, which have been entirely lost.
CEBU, a city of the Philippine Islands, on the eastern side of an island of the same name, about 400 miles S.E. of Manilla. It is the oldest provincial town in the archipelago, and still ranks as one of the best built ; while its position renders it the chief commercial centre for the Southern Philippines. It is the residence of a military governor and an alcalde, as well as of the governor-general of the Vissagas ; and its public buildings comprise a cathedral, an episcopal palace, and a lazaretto. It exports sugar, hemp, tobacco, and sapan-wood, the quantity of the first two in 1870 being 114,806 and 40,756 piculs respec tively. Its foreign goods are obtained via Manilla. There is an old fort built of coral, and in the island of Matan opposite the town is situated the grave of Magellan. The population, inclusive of the suburb of St Nicholas, is reckoned at 34,000.
CECCO D'ASCOLI (1257-1327) is the popular name of Francesco degli Stabili, a famous medieval encyclopedist and poet, Cecco being the diminutive of Francesco, and Ascoli, in the marshes of Ancona, the place of the philosopher s birth. He devoted himself to the study of mathematics and astrology, and in 1322 was made pro fessor of the latter science at the university of Bologna. It is alleged that he entered the service of Pope John XXII. at Avignon, and that he cultivated the acquaint ance of Dante Alighieri, only to quarrel with the great poet afterwards ; but of this there is no evidence. It is certain, however, that, having published a commentary on the sphere of John de Sacrobosco, in which he propounded audacious theories concerning the employment and agency of demons, he got into difficulties with the clerical party, and was condemned in 1324 to certain fasts and prayers, and to the payment of a fine of seventy crowns. To elude this sentence he betook himself to Florence, where he was attached to the household of Carlo di Calabria. But his freethinking and plain-speaking had got him many enemies; he had attacked the Commedia of Dante, and the Canzone d Amore of Guido Cavalcanti ; and his fate was sealed. Diao di Garbo, the physician, was indefatigable in pursuit of him ; and the old accusation of impiety being renewed, Cecco was again tried and sentenced, this time to the stake. He was burned at Florence the day after sentence, in the seventieth year of his age.
Cecco d Ascoli left many works in manuscript, most of which have never been given to the world. The book by which he achieved his renown and which led to his death was the Acerba (from acervus), an encyclopaedic poem, of which in 1546, the date of the last reprint, more than twenty editions had been issued. It is unfinished, and consists of four books in sesta rima. The first book treats of astronomy and meteorology; the second of stellar influences, of physiog nomy, and of the vices and virtues; the third of minerals and of the love of animals ; while the fourth propounds and solves a number of moral and physical problems. Of a fifth book, on theology, the initial chapter alone was com pleted. A man of immense erudition and of great and varied abilities, Cecco, whose knowledge was based on experiment and observation (a fact that of itself is enough to distinguish him from the crowd of savants of that age), had outstripped his contemporaries in many things. He knew of metallic aerolites and shooting-stars ; the mystery of the dew was plain to him ; fossil plants were accounted for by him through terrene revolutions which had resulted in the formation of mountains ; he is even said to have divined the circulation of the blood. Altogether a remark able man, he may be described as one of the many Cassandras of the Middle Ages one of the many prophets who spoke of coming light, and were listened to but to have their words cast back at them in accusations of impiety and sentences of death.
The least faulty of the many editions of the Acerba is that of Venice, dated 1510. The earliest known, which has become exces sively rare, is that of Brescia, which has no date, but is ascribed to 1473 or thereabouts.
the son of Lord Burghley, whose character and ability lie inherited, and by whom he was carefully educated for political life. After residing at Cambridge and represent ing Westminster in parliament, he received a post in the French embassy, and was next made Secretary of State under Walsingham. He was also appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Lord Privy Seal, and he succeeded his father as Master of the Court of Wards and Walsingham as chief Secretary of State. It is noteworthy that, though his health was delicate and his person deformed, he served as a volunteer against the Armada. His career was simply a continuation of his father s. He toiled as laboriously and as carefully, and carried out the same system of espionage with equal success. The interest which he took
in the domestic affairs of the country and in the state of
