Chatterton (Thomas), the marvellous boy poet, b. Bristol, 20 Nov, 1752. His poems, which he pretended were written by one Thomas Rowley in the fourteenth century and discovered by him in an old chest in Redcliffe Church, attracted much attention. In 1769 he visited London in hopes of rising by his talents, but after a bitter experience of writing for the magazines, destroyed himself in a fit of despair 25 Aug. 1770. Several of his poems betray deistic opinions.
Chaucer (Geoffrey), the morning star of English poetry and first English Humanist, b. London about 1340. In 1357 he was attached to the household of Lionel, third son of Edward III. He accompanied the expedition to France 1359–60, was captured by the French, and ransomed by the king. He was patronised by John of Gaunt, and some foreign missions were entrusted to him, one of them being to Italy, where he met Petrarch. All his writings show the influence of the Renaissance, and in his Canterbury Pilgrims he boldly attacks the vices of the ecclesiastics. Died 25 Oct. 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Chaumette (Pierre Gaspard), afterwards Anaxagoras, French revolutionary, b. Nevers, 24 May, 1763. The son of a shoemaker, he was in turn cabin boy, steersman, and attorney’s clerk. In early youth he received lessons in botany from Rousseau. He embraced the revolution with ardor, was the first to assume the tri-color cockade, became popular orator at the club of the Cordeliers, and was associated with Proudhomme in the journal Les Revolutions de Paris. Nominated member of the Commune 10 Aug. 1792, he took the name of Anaxagoras to show his little regard for his baptismal saints. He was elected Procureur Syndic, in which capacity he displayed great activity. He abolished the rod in schools, suppressed lotteries, instituted workshops for fallen women, established the first lying-in-hospital, had books sent to the hospitals, separated the insane from the sick, founded the Conservatory of Music, opened the public libraries every day (under the ancien régime they were only open two hours per week), replaced books of superstition by works of morality and reason, put a graduated tax on the rich to provide for the burial of the poor, and was the principal mover in the feasts of Reason and closing of the churches. He was accused by Robespierre of conspiring with Cloots “to efface all idea of the Deity,” and was guillotined 13 April, 1794.
Chaussard (Pierre Jean Baptiste), French man of letters, b. Paris, 8 Oct. 1766. At the Revolution he took the name of Publicola, and published patriotic odes, Esprit de Mirabeau, and other works. He was preacher to the Theophilanthropists, and became professor of belles lettres at Orleans. Died 9 Jan. 1823.
Chemin-Dupontes (Jean Baptiste), b. 1761. One of the founders of French Theophilanthropy; published many writings, the best known of which is entitled What is Theophilanthropy?
Chenier (Marie André de), French poet, b. Constantinople, 29 Oct. 1762. His mother, a Greek, inspired him with a love for ancient Greek literature. Sent to college at Paris, he soon manifested his genius by writing eclogues and elegies of antique simplicity and sensibility. In 1787 he came to England as Secretary of Legation. He took part in the legal defence of Louis XVI., eulogised Charlotte Corday, and gave further offence by some letters in the Journal de Paris. He was committed to prison, and here met his ideal in the Comtesse de Coigny. Confined in the same prison, to her he addressed the touching verses, The Young Captive (La jeune Captive). He was executed 25 July, 1794, leaving behind, among other poems, an imitation of Lucretius, entitled Hermes, which warrants the affirmation of de Chênedolle, that “André Chénier était athée avec délices.”
Chenier (Marie Joseph de), French poet and miscellaneous writer, brother of the preceding, b. Constantinople, 28 Aug. 1764. He served two years in the army, and then applied himself to literature. His first successful drama, “Charles IX.,” was produced in 1789, and was followed by others. He wrote many patriotic songs, and was made member of the Convention. He was a Voltairean, and in his Nouveaux Saints (1801) satirised those who returned to the old faith. He wrote many poems and an account of French literature. Died Paris, 10 Jan. 1811.
Chernuishevsky or Tchernycheiosky (Nikolai Gerasimovich), Russian Nihilist, b. Saratof, 1829. Educated at the University of St. Petersburg, translated Mill’s Political Economy, and wrote on Superstition and the Principles of Logic, ’59. His bold romance, What is to be Done? was published ’63. In the following year he was sentenced to the Siberian mines, where, after heartrending cruelties, he has become insane.
Chesneau Du Marsais (César). See [Dumarsais].
Chevalier (Joseph Philippe), French chemist, b. Saint Pol, 21 March, 1806, is the author of an able book on “The Soul from the standpoint of Reason and Science,” Paris, ’61. He died at Amiens in 1865.