CAN
598
CAN
hung with rich tapestry, upon which the arms of the pope, andof the prince of state requiring the canonization, are embroideredin gold and silver. A vast number of lights blaze all round thechurch, which is crowded with pious souls, who wait with de-vout impatience till the new saint has made his public entry as itWere into paradise, that they may offer up their petitions to himwithout danger of being rejected. The following rule is now- ob-served, though it has not been followed above a century, viz. notto enter into the inquiries prior to canonization, till 50 years, atleast, after the deatli of the person to be canonized. This rite olthe modern Homans resembles the deification of the ancient Ro-mans, and, in all probability, takes its rise from it.
CANONNICUT, a small island of the United States be-longing to Rhode Island, and forming part of Newport comity.
CANONRY, the benefice filled by a canon. It differs froma prebend, in that the prebend may subsist without the cauoni-cate; whereas the canonicale is inseparable from the prebend:again, the rights of suffrages, and other privileges, are annexedto the canonicate, and not to the prebend.
CANONSBURG, a town of Pennsylvania, in Washingtoncounty, 7 miles N. E. by E. of Washington .
CANOPUS, in astronomy, a star of the first magnitude in therudder of Argo.
Canopus, in Pagan mythology, one of the deities of the an-cient Egyptians, and the god of water. It is said, that the Chal-deans, who worshipped lire, carried their deity through othercountries to try its power, in order that, if it obtained the victoryover the other gods, it might be acknowledged as the true objectof worship; and it having easily subdued the gods of wood, stone,brass, silver, and gold, its priests declared, that all gods did it ho-mage. .This the priests of Canopus hearing, and finding that theChaldeans had brought their gods to contend with Canopus, theytook a large earthen vessel, in which they bored several holes,which they afterwards stopped with wax, and having filled thevessel with water, painted it of several colours, and lilting the headof their idol to it, brought it out, in order to contend with theChaldean deity. The Chaldeans accordingly kindled their fireall around it; but the heat having melted the wax, the watergushed out through the holes, and extinguished the lire; and thusCanopus conquered the god of the Chaldeans.
CANOSA, a town of Naples, in Puglia , occupying part of thesite of the ancient Canusium .
CANQ.UES, in commerce, a sort of cotton cloth made inChina .
CANSIERA, in botany, a genus of the class and order te-trandria monogynia. Calyx venfricose, four-toothed; no co-rolla ; nectary four-leaved, surrounding the base of the genn ;berry one-celled, one-seeded, superior. One species, C, scan-dens, native of India .
CAN SO, a sea-port of Nova Scotia .
CANSTAT. a town of Germany, in Suabia .
CANTABRIA, a district of 1 erraconensis, on the OceanusCantabricus, now called Biscay .
CANTABRIAN Language. Dr. Wallis makes the Canta-brian the ancient language of all Spain ; which according to him,like the Gaulish, gave way to a kind of broken Latin , called ro-mance orromanshe: which by degrees was refined into the Cas-tilian, or present Spanish . But we can hardly suppose, that solarge a country inhabited by such a variety of people spoke allthe same language. The ancient Cantabrian, in fact, still subsistsin the more barren and mountainous parts of Biscay', Asturias , andNavarre, as far as Bayonne, much as the British does in Wales ;but the people only talk it; for in writing, they use either Spanish or French , as they happen to live under the one or the other nation.The Lord’s prayer, in the Cantabrian tongue, runs thus: “ Gureaita cervetan aicena, santifica bedi hire icena, ethor bedi hire re-suma, eguiu bedi hire vorondatea, cervan becala lurreunere, &c.
CANTABRIANS, the inhabitants of Cantabria , famous fortheir warlike character.
CANTABRUM, in antiquity, a large Hag used by' the Romanemperors, distinguished by its peculiar colour, and bearing somemotto of good omen, to encourage the soldiers.
CANT AL, a department of France , formed out the late pro-vince of Auvergne . St. Flour is the chief town.
Cantai., a mountain in the above department, which is almosconstantly covered with snow.
CANT Alt, or CANTARO, I. an eastern weight, of differentvalue in different places, equal at Acra in T urkey to 603 pounds-;at Tunis and Tripoli to 114 pounds; 2. an Egyptian weight,called also a quintal, consisting of 100, or 150 rotoloos, accordingto the goods they are to weigh: 3. another Egyptian weight,which at Naples is equivalent to 25 pounds, at Genoa to 150pounds; 4. at Leghorn there arc three kinds of cantaros; oneweighing 150 pounds, another 151, and a third 160 pounds
CANTARO is also a measure of capacity, used at Cochin, con-taining four rubies, the rubi two rotoloos.
Cantaro is also a Spanish liquid measure, used especially atAlicant , containing three gallons.
CANTATA, in music, is a composition , intermixed with re-citatives, airs, and different movements, ehielly intended for asingle voice, with a thorough bass, though sometimes for other in-struments. When performed with judgment, it is very agrc 'ahlc ;the variety of the movement not clogging the ear, like other com-positions. It was lirst used in Italy .
CANTA/.ARO, an episcopal city of Naples, in CalabriaUlterior.
CANTEENS , in military language, tin vessels in the form ofsquare bottles, used for carrying water to supply the soldiers incamp.
CANTEL, or CANTELLUM, in ancient English writers, acustom of selling by the lump, without tale or measure.
CANTEMIK, Antiochus, esteemed the founder of the'Rus-sian poetry, was the youngest -son of Demetrius. Under the mostingenious professors, whom the Czar Peter had invited to Peters-burgh, he learned mathematics, physic, history, moral philosophy,and polite literature ; without neglecting the study of the llolvScriptures, to which lie had a great inclination. Scarce had liefinished his academic course, when he printed a Concordance tothe Psalms in the Russian language, and was elected member ofthe academy. The affairs of state in which lie was soon after en-gaged, did not make him neglect his literary pursuits. In orderto make himself useful to liis fellow citizens, he composed hissatires, to ridicule certain prejudices which had got footing amongthem. When hut 23 years of age, he was nominated minister atthe court of Great Britain : and his dexterity in the managementof public affairs was as much admired as his taste for the sciences,lie had the same reputation in France , whither lie went in 1738,in quality of minister plenipotentiary, and soon after was investedwith the character of ambassador extraordinary. The wise and pru-dent mtuiner in which he conducted himself during the differentrevolutions which happened in Russia in his absence, gained himthe confidence and esteem of three successive princes, lie diedof a dropsy, at Paris , in 1744, aged 44. Besides the pieces al-ready mentioned, he wrote, 1. Some Fables and Odes. 2. Atranslation of Horace’s Epistles into Russian verse. 3. A Prosetranslation of Fontenclle’s plurality of worlds: and, 4. Algarotti ’sdialogues on sight. The abbe Guasco has written his life inFrench , and translated his satires into that language.
Cantemir, Demetrius, the son of a prince of Moldavia . Dis-appointed In not succeeding his father in that dignity, heldunder the Ottoman Porte, he went over with his army to the CzarPeter the great , against whom lie had been sent by the GrandSignior: he signalized himself in the Czar’s service; and in therepublic of letters, by a Latin history of the origin and decline ofthe Ottoman empire . He died in 1723.
CANTERBURY, a city of England, the capital of tire countyof Kent, It had the names of Durovernum and Darvernum givenit by the Romans, and Durobernia by Bede , which are thought tolie derived from Durwheni, i. e. a rapid stream, such as the. Stour,on which it stands. The Britons call it Caer-Kent, z. c. the cityof Kent; and its present English name, from the Saxon, is of thesame import. Modern writers in Latin call it Cantuaria. Itsgreat antiquity appears not only from Antoninus ’s Itinerary, butfrom the military way discovered in it, and the; causeways leadingto Dover and Lynitne, besides the coins and other curiositiesfound about it. The archiepiscopal and metropolitan dignity wassettled here very early; and to prevent its being removed, ananathema was decreed against any who should attempt it. Afterthat the city nourished greatly ; though it suffered in commonwith other towns during the Danish invasions, and at other times