Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/667

CHENIEK. 585 CHENOPODIACE^. CH^NIER, JUbie Joseph de (1704-1811). A i'rtucli i^cHt and dramatist, the younger brother of Andro .Mane de Clienier. He was born in Constantinople, was educated in France, and en- tered the army at seventeen, but soon left it, and at twenty produced A:cinirc (1784), a rather feeble tragedy. His Charles IX., however, excited in 1789 intense enthusiasm, its intrin- sic merit being supplemented both by the occa- sion of the eve of the Kevolution and by the genius of the great actor Talma, wlio achieved in it his first reno^vn. This play is still acted. t)ther dramas, now forgotten, followed — Henri Xlll. and Jean Calas in 1791, Caius Gracchus in 1792. This last was proscribed for its anti- Jacobin phrase, 'Laws and not blood,' as was his Timolion in the following year. He now be- came, as member of the Jacobin Club, a literary politician and political poet. He was suc- cessively member of the Convention, the Coun- cil of Five Hundred, the Tribimate, and of the Committees of Public Instruction, General Secur- ity, and Public Safety. Under Xapoleon he was 7neml>er of the Educational Jury of the Seine, and member of the Committee of Public Instruc- tion (1803-06). He lectured on literature under imperial patronage, and wrote, at Napoleon's command, a good Tableau his:toriijue des progres de la littcrature fran<:aise (1808), that has been often reprinted. His most noteworthy poems are the national song, the Chant du depart : Sur la mori dc Mhnhcaii : and Sur Voligarchie de Kobea- pierrr. His best satires are the Lettre a Voltaire ( 180(3 ) . and the well-named Epitre xur la calom- ■riie ( 1797 ) . which may seem to illustrate the vice it denounces. Chenier also deserves remem- brance for his work as translator, not only from the Latin and Greek poets, but from the German Lessing and the English Gray. Chenier's Works are collected in eight volumes (1823-26). His poetry is separately printed (1844). CHENILLE, she-nel' (Fr.. caterpillar). A thick, velvety, tufted cord of silk, wool, or wor- sted, having "short fibres or threads standing out at right angles from a central core of thread or wire, and so bearing some resemblance to a woolly caterpillar. It is made by weaving four warp threads, or crossing three warp threads about filling threads that are afterwards cut; and is used in trimming and bordering dresses, in ornamental sewing, and in manufactured trim- mings. In certain kinds of carpet, chenille is used instead of yam to form the filling. (See C.RPKT. I In embroidery also chenille is em- ployed, being either laid on the surface of the stuff or drawn through with a needle. Chenille is used also in combination with wool or cotton in the manufacture of a cloth kno^vn as chenille cloth. CHENNEVIEBES - POINTEL, shi-nfv'yar' pwax'ti-1'. Ch.vri.es Pitii.ii'rF.. Mar<|uis de (1820 — ). . French administrator and art critic, bom at Falaise. In IS.tI he received the title of inspector of museums of the provinces, and in 18.5.5 was chosen inspector-general of ex- hibitions of aft, and was further given charge of the organi7.ation of the Salon at the Palais de I'Elysi'e. He was also made manager of the Luxembourg Museum, and in 1873 director of fine arts. In 1874 he instituted a prix du Halon, whose recipient was given the opportunity to spend three years in stud.v in Rome. In this capacity he had the choice of artists and subjects for the decoration of the Pantheon. His interest in things artistic included making the teaching 01 drawing obligatory in the common schools of France. Among his numerous works on art and kindred .subjects are: Lcttrcs sur I'art frangais (18.51); Notice historique et descriptive sur la galerie d'Apollon au l.ouire (1851); Portraits inedits d'urlistes frai'cais (1853) ; Lcs derniers eontcs de Jean de Falaise, his own nom-de-plume (I860). CHENONCEAUX, shc-nON'sy. A celebrated castle in the Dejiartment of Indre-et-Loire, France, built on piles in the river Cher, four miles east of Bl(^ri'. Its foundations were laid in 1515. It became Crown property in 1535. and was a favorite occasional residence of Francis I. Henry II. presented it to the cele- brated Diana of Poitiers, who lavished much monev on its embellishment, as did also Cath- arine de' Medici, after she had dispossessed Diana. Among the curiosities shown to the visitor is the mirror used by ilarj- Stuart, Queen of Scots, during her hone noon spent at Che- nonceaux with Francis II. in 1559. The ca.stle became private property in the Eighteenth Cen- tury, and was long an attractive resort for the distinguished literary and scientific men of that period, including Montesquieu, Voltaire, Fonte- nelle. Buffon, Bolingbroke, and Rousseau. It escaped the ravages of the revolutionary period, and is in a fine state of preservation. CHENOPODIACE.aE, ke'no-po'di-a'se-e (Xeo- Lat. nom. pi., from Gk. x'/"'- chen, goose + iroi'f, pons. foot). An order of dicotyledonous plants, consisting of herbs and half shrubs, with entire or divided leaves that are destitute of stipules. The flowers are inconspicuous, hermaphrodite, or unisexual : the perianth deeply divided, per- sistent; the stamens inserted into its base, oppo- site to its segments, and equal to them in num- ber, or fewer; the ovary single, free, or occa- sionally adhering to the tube of the perianth, with a" single ovule attached to the base of the cavity; the style generally with two to four di- visions. Tlie fruit is membranous, inclosed in the perianth, which sometimes becomes fleshy. The seed has a cur%-ed or spiral embryo. There are about seven t.v- five genera and five hundred known species, most of which have a weed-like appearance and grow in waste places. They are widelv difTused over the world, but are particu- larly "abundant in the northern parts of Eurojw and Asia. Beet and spinach are among the best known and most useful plants of the order. Many are occasionally tised as pot-herbs, as some" species of Chcnopodium and of Oraehe. The fruit of the strawberry blite (Blitum capi- tatum and Blitum virgatum), a common weed in the south of Europe, resembles the strawberry, and has a sweetish, insipid taste. It is also in- digenous in .merica. The seed of quinoa (q.v. » is used for food as a kind of grain. Some members of the order arc aromatic. See CHENoroBiCM. As most of the species of this order frequent situations where the soil abounds in salt, neces- sitating a reduction of transpiration by the plant, manv curious devices to prevent too abundant giving off of water are sho^vn. In Salicomia the leaves are wholly suppressed, and the stem is curiously jointed. In many others the leaves are covered with peculiar scales or hairs, giving to the plant a mealy appearance, and structural differences are also present by