8. Escheator of Ulster.—This appointment was used in the united parliament three times, for Irish seats only; the last time in 1819.
See parliamentary paper—Report from the Select Committee on House of Commons (Vacating of Seats) (1894).
(T. A. I.)
CHILWA (incorrectly Shirwa), a shallow lake in south-east Africa, S.S.E. of Lake Nyasa, cut by 35°20′E., and lying between 15° and 15°35′S. The lake is undergoing a process of desiccation, and in some dry seasons (as in 1879 and 1903) the “open water” is reduced to a number of large pools. Formerly the lake seems to have found an outlet northwards to the Lujenda branch of the Rovuma, but with the sinking of its level it is now separated from the Lujenda by a wooded ridge some 30 to 40 ft. above the surrounding plains. There are four islands, the largest rising 500 ft. above the water. The lake was discovered by David Livingstone in 1859 and was by him called Shirwa, from a mishearing of the native name.
CHIMAERA, in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing female monster resembling a lion in the fore part, a goat in the middle, and a dragon behind (Iliad, vi. 179), with three heads corresponding. She devastated Caria and Lycia until she was finally slain by Bellerophon (see H.A. Fischer, Bellerophon, 1851). The origin of the myth was the volcanic nature of the soil of Lycia (Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 110; Servius on Aeneid, vi. 288), where works have been found containing representations of the Chimaera in the simple form of a lion. In modern art the Chimaera is usually represented as a lion, with a goat’s head in the middle of the back, as in the bronze Chimaera of Arezzo (5th century). The word is now used generally to denote a fantastic idea or fiction of the imagination.
CHIMAY, a town in the extreme south-east of the province of Hainaut, Belgium, dating from the 7th century. Pop. (1904) 3383. It is more commonly spoken of as being in the district entre Sambre et Meuse. Owing to its proximity to the French frontier it has undergone many sieges, the last of which was in 1640, when Turenne gave orders that it should be reduced to such ruin that it could never stand another. The town is chiefly famous for the castle and park that bear its name. Originally a stronghold of the Cröy family, it has passed through the D’Arenbergs to its present owners, the princes of Caraman-Chimay. The castle, which before Turenne’s order to demolish it possessed seven towers, has now only one in ruins, and a modern château was built in the Tudor style in the 18th century. This domain carried with it the right to one of the twelve peerages of Hainaut. Madame Tallien, daughter of Dr Cabarrus, the Lady of Thermidor, married as her second husband the prince de Chimay, and held her little court here down to her death in 1835. There is a memorial to her in the church, which also contains a fine monument of Phillippe de Cröy, chamberlain and comrade in arms of the emperor Charles V. John Froissart the chronicler died and was buried here. There is a statue in his honour on the Grand Place. Chimay is situated on a stream called the White Water, which in its lower course becomes the Viroin and joins the Meuse.