Camballo (kam-bal´o), or Cambel.—Faërie Queene, Spenser. A brother of Candace. He challenged every suitor to his sister’s hand, and overthrew all except Triamond, who married the lady.
Cambalu.—In the Voyages of Marco Polo the chief city of the province of Cathay.
Cambuscan (kam-bus-kan´, or kam-bus´kan).—A Tartar king identical with Genghis Khan. The king of the Far East sent Cambuscan a “steed of brass, which, between sunrise and sunset, would carry its rider to any spot on the earth.” All that was required was to whisper the name of the place in the horse’s ear, mount upon his back, and turn a pin set in his ear. When the rider had arrived at the place required, he had to turn another pin, and the horse instantly descended, and, with another screw of the pin, vanished till it was again required. This story is begun by Chaucer in the Squire’s Tale, but was never finished.
Camelot (kam´e-lot).—A parish in Somersetshire, England (now called Queen’s Camel), where King Arthur is said to have held his court. In this place there are still to be seen vast intrenchments of an ancient town or station—called by the inhabitants “King Arthur’s Palace.”
Camilla (ka-mil´ä).—(1) The virgin queen of the Volscians, famous for her fleetness of foot. She aided Turnus against Æneas. (2) Wife of Anselmo of Florence in Don Quixote. Anselmo, in order to rejoice in her incorruptible fidelity, induced his friend Lothario to try to corrupt her. This he did, and Camilla was not trial-proof, but fell. Anselmo for a time was kept in the dark, but at the end Camilla eloped with Lothario. Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and Camilla died in a convent.
Camille (kä-mēl´).—(1) In Corneille’s tragedy of Les Horaces. When her brother meets her and bids her congratulate him for his victory over the three curiatii, she gives utterance to her grief for the death of her lover. Horace says, “What! can you prefer a man to the interests of Rome?” Whereupon Camille denounces Rome, and concludes with these words: “Oh, that it were my lot!” (2) Whitehead dramatized the subject and called it The Roman Father.
Canace (kan´a-se).—Faërie Queene, Spenser. A paragon among women, the daughter of King Cambuscan, to whom the king of the East sent as a present a mirror and a ring. The mirror would tell the lady if any man on whom she set her heart would prove true or false, and the ring (which was to be worn on her thumb) would enable her to understand the language of birds and to converse with them. Canace was courted by a crowd of suitors, but her brother gave out that anyone who pretended to her hand must encounter him in single combat and overthrow him. She ultimately married Triamond, son of the fairy, Agapë.
Candide (käN-dēd´), ou l’Optimisme (ōō lop-tē-mēzm´).—A philosophical novel by Voltaire, published in 1759. It is named from its hero, who bears all the worst ills of life with a cool, philosophical indifference, laughing at its miseries. Written ostensibly to ridicule philosophical optimism, and on the spur given to pessimist theories by the Lisbon earthquake, Candide is really as comprehensive as it is desultory. Religion, political government, national peculiarities, human weakness, ambition, love, loyalty—all come in for the unfailing sneer. The moral, wherever there is a moral, is, “Be tolerant, and cultivez vôtre jardin”; that is to say, Do whatsoever work you have to do diligently.
Candor, Mrs.—A most energetic slanderer in Sheridan’s School for Scandal.
Canterbury Tales, The, by Geoffrey Chaucer, consist of a Prologue and twenty-four narratives of which only two, Chaucer’s Tales of Melibœus and The Parson’s Tale, are in prose, the remainder being written in couplets of ten syllables, which have laid the foundation for the most popular form of English verse.