army was defeated, and the Russians became the virtual masters of the country. In 1779 a treaty was entered into between the Empress Catherine and the Porte, through the intervention of the French court, by which the former became bound to evacuate the Crimea. But new disturbances soon arose among the Tartars, and the unhappy khan, worn out with domestic troubles and foreign intrigues, in 1783 renounced his rights in favour of Russia, and received in return a pension of eight hundred thousand roubles. Having afterwards sought an asylum in Constantinople, he was put to death by order of the sultan.—J. T.
CHAIS, Charles, an eminent protestant divine, born at Geneva in 1701, became pastor of a congregation at the Hague in 1728; and till the close of his long and laborious life enjoyed the reputation of an eloquent preacher, an erudite writer on theology, and a zealous promoter of institutions for charitable purposes. Besides a translation of the bible, with a commentary, in six volumes, he published various tracts on theological subjects, and an edition of Hainault's Chronological History. He died in 1785.—J. S., G.
CHALAFTA, R' Jose ben C., one of the Tanaim or teachers of the tradition among the Jews in Palestine, lived in the early part of the second century at Sepphoris. His moral sayings, amounting to upwards of three hundred, are preserved in the Talmud, and bear evidence of the depth of his feeling and of the correctness of his judgment. Notwithstanding his high authority as a teacher of the people, he practised the humble craft of a tanner. He composed for his own use an epitome of the traditional laws under the Greek title of "Nomicon." None of his contemporaries showed an equal zeal for the collection of chronological data bearing on the history of the Jews. He left behind him a chronicle extending from the creation of the world to the war of Bar Cochba, entitled "Seder Olam" (Order of the World). He endeavoured to fix the chronology of the biblical events, and to fill up historical gaps with traditional notices. From the epoch of Alexander downward, the chronicle of R' Jose furnishes independent and trustworthy, though but meagre data.—(Grätz, vol, iv., p. 218.) This "Seder Olam," of which mention is made in the Talmud, exists in two recensions, viz., "Seder Olam Rabba" and "Seder Olam Zuta" (the Great Chronicle and the Small Chronicle), the latter of which certainly speaks of facts by much posterior to the time of Jose Ben Chalafta.—T. T.
CHALCIDIUS, a platonic philosopher, who lived probably either in the fourth or the sixth century of our era. His translation into Latin of the Timæus of Plato, with its voluminous commentary, was edited by Meursius, Leyden, 1617; and by Fabricius, Hamburg, 1718. The religious tenets of this philosopher have been the subject of much controversy among the learned; some maintaining and others denying that he was a christian.
CHALCOCONDYLAS, Laonicos or Nicolaos, born at Athens towards the close of the fourteenth century; died about 1464. He was of a princely family. In the year 1430, or about that period, he went to Constantinople to solicit from the sultan a participation in the government of Attica, which was at the time in the hands of his family or their near connections. The visit to the sultan was an unfortunate one, for it not only failed in its object, but during Chalcocondylas' absence a different faction got the upper hand in Athens, expelled the governing party, and gave the management of the city to two Florentines. Chalcocondylas, becoming an object of suspicion to the sultan, was arrested, made his escape (with the loss, however, of considerable property), and fled to the Peloponnesus. He was there taken, delivered to the sultan—his money was of more moment to the sultan than his life—and the only measures taken against him were to declare thirty thousand pieces of gold, which had fallen into Amurath's hands, confiscated. Chalcocondylas' future course is no further traced than that we know he was occupied in long, and probably fruitless efforts, to beg back his money. His "History of the Turks" is, in some respects, one of the most valuable of the works of Byzantine history. It is divided into ten books. The first is introductory. If we are to regard it as the commencement of the work, the whole narration may be described as extending from 1298 to 1462. However, the year 1389 may more properly be described as the date from which the actual history commences. His account of the taking of Constantinople is very spirited, and has supplied many details to Gibbon and Von Hammer.—J. A., D.
CHALIER, Marie Joseph, a French revolutionist, born in 1747 in Piedmont. He was originally destined for the church, but ultimately settled at Lyons as a merchant. In 1789 he abandoned his mercantile pursuits, and threw himself with headlong fury into the vortex of the Revolution. He became a zealous partisan of the party of the Mountain, and applauded their most sanguinary edicts. He resolved to carry out their policy at Lyons, and proposed, February 6, 1793, to a club which he had established there, that they should put to death nine hundred of their fellow-citizens, and cast their bodies into the Rhone. But the mayor of the city having fortunately received notice of this diabolical plot, called out the national guard for the protection of the inhabitants. At length a conflict took place between them and the Jacobins on the 29th of May, in which the latter were worsted, Chalier and his accomplices were seized, tried, and condemned to death, and this ferocious monster was guillotined on the 16th of July.—J. T.
CHALKHILL, John. See Walton, Isaac.
CHALMERS, Alexander, an industrious man of letters and eminent biographer, was born at Aberdeen, March 29, 1759. Having received a classical and medical education, he left his native city in 1777, intending to proceed as surgeon to the West Indies; but when at Portsmouth and about to sail, he changed his mind and proceeded to London, where he soon found employment in connection with the periodical press. He contributed to many of the leading journals, and was for a time editor of the Morning Herald. It was as an editor of standard works, however, that he was to be permanently connected with the metropolitan press. We cannot afford space to enumerate all the works which were published under his editorial care. In 1803 he edited the British Essayists, in forty-five volumes, beginning with the Tatler and ending with the Observer. The historical and biographical prefaces of this work are executed with singular carefulness and discrimination. In the same year he prepared an edition of Shakspeare; and in 1805 prefixed lives of Burns and Dr. Beattie to editions of their respective works. In 1806 he edited the works of Fielding, Johnson, and Warton, and assisted Bowles with his edition of Pope. From this date to 1812 we find him editing Gibbon's History, Bolingbroke's works, the works of the English poets—with Johnson's Lives, and supplemental lives from his own pen—Hurd's edition of Addison, Pope's works, and Cruden's Concordance. He also wrote a history of the public buildings of Oxford, and in 1822 edited the ninth edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. But the work on which Mr. Chalmers' fame must rest is his "General Biographical Dictionary; containing a historical and critical account of the most eminent men in every nation." The first volume appeared in May, 1812, and the thirty-second and last was published in March, 1817. By this work, which might well seem to represent a lifetime of patient and conscientious toil, all subsequent publications of the same kind and literature in general have deeply profited. Mr. Chalmers was for the long period of fifty years well known and highly respected as an industrious, talented, and upright man, among the chief literary men and booksellers of the metropolis. He died, December 10, 1834. We are indebted for these facts to a biography in the Gentleman's Magazine, to the pages of which Mr. Chalmers was long a valued contributor.—J. B.
CHALMERS, George, a Scottish antiquary and general writer, was born in 1742 at Fochabers in Morayshire. He was educated at King's college, Aberdeen, and after studying law at Edinburgh, he emigrated to North America, where he followed the legal profession until the breaking out of the revolutionary war. He then returned to England, and was appointed clerk to the board of trade—an office which he continued to hold for the remainder of his life. He had previously written "Political Annals of the United Colonies from their Settlement till 1763," and "An Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain," which works, together with the losses he had sustained in consequence of his loyal sentiments, recommended him to the patronage of the government. He now devoted himself zealously to literary and antiquarian pursuits. He wrote the lives of De Foe, Thomas Ruddiman, Sir John Davis, Allan Ramsay, Sir James Stewart, Gregory, King, and Charles Smith; together with a number of pamphlets and fugitive pieces, and a life of Thomas Paine, which he published under the name of Oldys. He also edited the works of Allan Ramsay, Sir James Stewart of Coltness, and Sir David Lindsay of the Mount. His principal work,
