Chapter 4

But water, though the most important condition, is not the only one affecting the incidence of cholera. The case of Grimsby furnished a striking lesson to the contrary. Here the disease obtained a decided hold, in spite of a pure water-supply, through the fouling of the soil by cesspits and defective drainage. At Havre also its prevalence was due to a similar cause. Further, it was conclusively proved at Grimsby that cholera can be spread by sewage-fed shell-fish. Several of the local outbreaks in England were traced to the ingestion of oysters obtained from the Grimsby beds. In short, it may be said that all insanitary conditions favour the prevalence of cholera in some degree. Preventive inoculation with an attenuated virus was introduced by W.M.W. Haffkine, and has been extensively used in India, with considerable appearance of success so far as the statistical evidence goes.

As already remarked, the latest manifestations of cholera show that it has lost none of its former virulence and fatality. The symptoms are now regarded as the effects of the toxic action of the poison formed by the micro-organismsTreatment.upon the tissues and especially upon the nervous system. But this theory has not led to any effective treatment. Drugs in great variety were tried in the continental hospitals in 1892, but without any distinct success. The old controversy between the aperient and the astringent treatment reappeared. In Russia the former, which aims at evacuating the poison, was more generally adopted; in Germany the latter, which tries to conserve strength by stopping the flux, found more favour. Two methods of treatment were invariably found to give great relief, if not to prolong life and promote recovery—the hot bath and the injection of normal saline solution into the veins or the subcutaneous tissue. These two should always be tried in the cold and collapsed stages of cholera.

SeeLocal Government Board Reports, 1892-93-94-95; Clemow,The Cholera Epidemic of 1892 in the Russian Empire; Wall,Asiatic Cholera; Notter,Epidemiological Society’s Transactions, vol. xvii.; Emmerich and Gemünd,München. med. Wochenschr. (1904), pp. 1086-1157; Wherry,Department of the Interior Bureau of Government Laboratories, No. 19 (October 1904, Manila); Wherry and M’Dill,Ibid.No. 31 (May 1905, Manila).

CHOLET, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Maine-et-Loire, 41 m. S.E. of Nantes on the Ouest-État railway between that town and Poitiers. Pop. (1906) 16,554. Cholet stands on an eminence on the right bank of the Moine, which is crossed by a bridge of the 15th century. A public garden occupies the site of the old castle; the public buildings and churches, the finest of which is Notre-Dame, are modern. The public institutions include the sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, and a communal college. There are granite quarries in the vicinity of the town. The chief industry is the manufacture of linen and linen handkerchiefs, which is also carried on in the neighbouring communes on a large scale. Woollen and cotton fabrics are also produced, and bleaching and the manufacture of preserved foods are carried on. Cholet is the most important centre in France for the sale of fat cattle, sheep and pigs, for which Paris is the chief market. Megalithic monuments are numerous in the neighbourhood. The town owes the rise of its prosperity to the settlement of weavers there by Edouard Colbert, count of Maulévrier, a brother of the great Colbert. It suffered severely in the War of La Vendée of 1793, insomuch that for years afterwards it was almost without inhabitants.

CHOLON(“great market”), a town of French Indo-China, the largest commercial centre of Cochin China, 3½ m. S.W. of Saigon, with which it is united by railway, steam-tramway and canal. Cholon was founded by Chinese immigrants about 1780, and is situated on the Chinese arroyo at the junction of the Lo-Gom and a canal. Its waterways are frequented by innumerable boats and lined in some places with native dwellings built on piles, in others by quays and houses of French construction. Its population is almost entirely Asiatic, and has more than trebled since 1880. In that year it had only 45,000 inhabitants; in 1907 it numbered about 138,000. Of these, 42,000 were Chinese, 73,000 Annamese, and 155 French (exclusive of a garrison of 92); the remainder consisted of Cambodians and Asiatic foreigners. During the rice season the town is visited by a floating population of 21,000 persons. The Chinese are divided into congregations according to their place of origin. Cholon is administered by a municipal council, composed of French, Annamese and Chinese traders. An administrator of native affairs, nominated by the governor, fills the office of mayor. There are a fine municipal hospital and municipal schools for boys and girls. The principal thoroughfares are lighted by electric light. The rice trade, almost monopolized by the Chinese, is the leading industry, the rice being treated in large steam mills. Tanning, dyeing, copper-founding, glass, brick and pottery manufacture, stone working, timber-sawing and junk building are also included among the industries.

CHOLONES, a tribe of South American Indians living on the left bank of the Huallaga river in the Amazon valley. The name is that given them by the Spanish. They were first met by the Franciscans, who established mission villages among them in 1676. They are a wild race but mild-mannered, very superstitious, and pride themselves on their skill as doctors. Their chief weapon is the blow-pipe, in the use of which they are adepts.

CHOLULA, an ancient town of Mexico, in the state and on the plateau of Puebla, 8 m. by rail W. by N. of the city of that name, and 6912 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1900, estimate) 9000. The Interoceanic railway passes through Cholula, but the city’s commercial and industrial standing is overshadowed by that of its larger and more modern neighbour. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Cholula—then known as Chololan—was a large and important town, consecrated to the worship of the god Quetzalcoatl, who had here one of the most imposing temples in Anahuac, built on the summit of a truncated pyramid, the largest of its kind in the world. This pyramid, constructed of sun-dried bricks and earth, 177 ft. high, and covering an area of nearly 45 acres, is the most conspicuous object in the town and is surmounted by a chapel dedicated toNuestra Señora de los Remedios. A corner of the lower terrace of this great pyramid was cut through in the construction of the Puebla road, but nothing was discovered to explain its purpose, which was probably that of furnishing an imposing site for a temple. Nothing definite is known of its age and history, as the fanatical zeal of Cortez and his companions destroyed whatever historical data the temple may have contained. Cholula was visited by Cortez in 1519 during his eventful march inland to Montezuma’s capital, Tenochtitlan, when he treacherously massacred its inhabitants and pillaged the city, pretending to distrust the hospitable inhabitants. Cortez estimated that the town then had 20,000 habitations, and its suburbs as many more, but this was undoubtedly a deliberate exaggeration. The Cholulans were of Nahuatl origin and were semi-independent, yielding only a nominal allegiance to Montezuma. They were a trading people, holding fairs, and exchanging their manufactures of textiles and pottery for other produce. The pyramid is believedto have been built by a people occupying this region before the Cholulans.

CHOPIN, FREDERIC FRANÇOIS(1810-1849), Polish musical composer and pianist, was born at Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw, on the 22nd of February 1810 (notthe 1st of March 1809). His father, of French origin, born at Nancy in 1770, had married a Polish lady, Justine Krzyzanowska. Frederic was their third child. His first musical education he received from Adalbert Ziwny, a Czech musician, who is said to have been a passionate admirer of J.S. Bach. He also received a good general education at one of the first colleges of Warsaw, where he was supported by Prince Antoine Radziwill, a generous protector of artistic talent and himself well known as the composer of music to Goethe’sFaustand other works. His musical genius opened to Chopin the best circles of Polish society, at that time unrivalled in Europe for its ease of intercourse, the beauty and grace of its women, and its liberal appreciation of artistic gifts. These early impressions were of lasting influence on Chopin’s development. While at college he received thorough instruction in the theory of his art from Joseph Elsner, a learned musician and director of the conservatoire at Warsaw. When in 1829 he left his native town for Vienna, where hisdébutas a pianist took place, he was in all respects a perfectly formed and developed artist. There is in his compositions little of that gradual progress which, for instance, in Beethoven necessitates a classification of his works according to different periods. Chopin’s individuality and his style were distinctly pronounced in that set of variations on “La ci darem” which excited the wonderingenthusiasmof Robert Schumann. In 1831 he left Vienna with the intention of visiting London; but on his way to England he reached Paris and settled there for the rest of his life. Here again he soon became the favourite and musical hero of society. His connexion with Madame Dudevant, better known by her literary pseudonym of George Sand (q.v.), is an important feature of Chopin’s life. When in 1839 his health began to fail, George Sand went with him to Majorca, and it was mainly owing to her tender care that the composer recovered his health for a time. Chopin declared that the destruction of his relations with Madame Dudevant in 1847 broke up his life. The association of these two artists has provoked a whole literature on the nature of their relations, of which the novelist’sUn Hiver à Majorquewas the beginning. The last ten years of Chopin’s life were a continual struggle with the pulmonary disease to which he succumbed in Paris on the 17th of October 1849. The year before his death he visited England, where he was received with enthusiasm by his numerous admirers. Chopin died in the arms of his sister, who hastened from Poland to his death-bed. He was buried in the cemetery of Père Lachaise. A small monument was erected to the memory of the composer at Wasswan in 1880. Portraits and medallions of Chopin were executed by Ary Scheffer and Eugène Delacroix, and by the sculptors Bary and Clésinger.

A distinguished English amateur thus records his impressions of Chopin’s style of pianoforte-playing compared with those of other masters. “His technical characteristics may be broadly indicated as negation ofbravura, absolute perfection of finger-play, and of thelegatissimotouch, on which no other pianist has ever so entirely leant, to the exclusion of that high relief and point which the modern German school, after the examples of Liszt and Thalberg, has so effectively developed. It is in these feature that we must recognize thatGrundverschiedenheit(fundamental difference) which according to Mendelssohn distinguished Chopin’s playing from that of these masters, and in no less degree from the example and teaching of Moscheles.... Imagine a delicate man of extreme refinement of mien and manner, sitting at the piano and playing with no sway of the body and scarcely any movement of the arms, depending entirely upon his narrow feminine hands and slender fingers. The wide arpeggios in the left hand, maintained in a continuous stream of tone by the strict legato and fine and constant use of the damper-pedal, formed an harmonious substructure for a wonderfully poetic cantabile. His delicate pianissimo, the ever-changing modifications of tone and time (tempo rubato) were of indescribable effect. Even in energetic passages he scarcely ever exceeded an ordinary mezzoforte. His playing as a whole was unique in its kind, and no traditions of it can remain, for there is no school of Chopin the pianist, for the obvious reason that he could never be regarded as a public player, and his best pupils were nearly all amateurs.”

In looking through the list of his compositions, teeming with mazurkas, valses, polonaises, and other forms of national dance music, one could hardly suppose that here one of the most melancholy natures has revealed itself. This seeming paradox is solved by the type of Chopin’s nationality, of which it has justly been said that its very dances are sadness intensified. But notwithstanding this strongly pronounced national type of his compositions, his music is always expressive of his individual feelings and sufferings to a degree rarely met with in the annals of the art. He is indeed the lyrical composerpar excellenceof the modern school, and the intensity of his expression finds its equal in literature only in the songs of Heinrich Heine, to whom Chopin has been justly compared. A sensation of such high-strung passion cannot be prolonged. Hence we see that the shorter forms of music, the étude, the nocturne, besides the national dances already alluded to, are chosen by Chopin in preference. Even when he treats the larger forms of the concerto or the sonata this concentrated, not to say pointed, character of Chopin’s style becomes obvious. The more extended dimensions seem to encumber the freedom of his movements. The concerto for pianoforte with accompaniment of the orchestra in E may be instanced. Here the adagio takes the form of a romance, and in the final rondo the rhythm of a Polish dance becomes recognizable while the instrumentation throughout is meagre and wanting in colour. Chopin is out of his element, and even the beauty of his melodies and harmonies cannot wholly banish the impression of incongruity. Fortunately he himself knew the limits of his power, and with very few exceptions his works belong to that class of minor compositions of which he was an unrivalled master. Barring a collection of Polish songs, two concertos, and a very small number of concerted pieces of chamber music, almost all his works are written for the pianoforte solo; the symphony, the oratorio, the opera, he never attempted.

Chopin’s works group themselves firstly into the period from Op. 1 to 22, which includes nearly all his attempts at large or classical forms,e.g.the works with orchestra, Op. 2 (variations onLa ci darem), Opp. 11 and 14 (concertos), Op. 13 (Polish fantasia), Op. 14 (Krakowiak, a concerto-rondo in mazurka-rhythm), and Op. 22 (Andante spianato and Polonaise), besides the solo rondos Opp. 1, 5, 16, and the variations Op. 12 and the essays in chamber music Opp. 3, 8, 65. Meanwhile, however, the mature lyric style of his second period already began with Op. 6 (4 mazurkas), and though it is not confined to small forms, the larger mature works (beginning with the ballade Op. 23 and excepting only the sonata Op. 58 and the Allegro de Concert Op. 46) are as independent of tradition as the smallest. It is well to sift the posthumous works from those published under Chopin’s direction, for the last three mazurkas are the only things he did not keep back as misrepresenting him. On these principles his mature works are summed up in the 42 mazurkas (Opp. 6, 7, 17, 24, 30, 33, 41, 50, 56, 59, 63, and the beautiful contribution to the collectionNotre temps); 7 polonaises (Opp. 26, 40, 53, 61); 24 preludes (in all the major and minor keys) Op. 28, and the single larger prelude Op. 45; 27 études (12 in Op. 10, 12 in Op. 25, and 3 written for theMéthode des méthodes); 18 nocturnes (Opp. 9, 15, 27, 32, 37, 48, 55, 62); 4 ballades, in forms of Chopin’s own invention (Opp. 23, 38, 47, 52); 4 scherzos (Opp. 20, 31, 39, 54); 8 waltzes (Opp. 18, 34, 42, 64); and several pieces of various description, notably the great fantasia Op. 49 and the impromptus Opp. 29, 36, 51.The posthumous works number 35 pieces, besides a small volume of songs a few of which are of great interest.Franz Liszt wrote a charming sketch of Chopin’s life and art (F. Chopin, par F. Liszt, Paris, 1851), and a very appreciative though somewhat eccentric analysis of his work appeared anonymously in 1842 (An Essay on the Works of Frédéric Chopin, London). The standard biography is the English work of Professor F. Niecks (Novello, 1888). See also W.H. Hadow,Studies in Modern Music, second series (1908). The editions of Chopin’s works by his pupil Mikuli and by Klindworth are full of valuable elucidation as to methods of performance, but unfortunately they do not distinguish the commentary from the text. The critical edition published by Breitkopf and Härtel, with all its mistakes, is absolutely necessary for students who wish to know what Chopin wished to put into the hands of players of independent judgment.

The posthumous works number 35 pieces, besides a small volume of songs a few of which are of great interest.

Franz Liszt wrote a charming sketch of Chopin’s life and art (F. Chopin, par F. Liszt, Paris, 1851), and a very appreciative though somewhat eccentric analysis of his work appeared anonymously in 1842 (An Essay on the Works of Frédéric Chopin, London). The standard biography is the English work of Professor F. Niecks (Novello, 1888). See also W.H. Hadow,Studies in Modern Music, second series (1908). The editions of Chopin’s works by his pupil Mikuli and by Klindworth are full of valuable elucidation as to methods of performance, but unfortunately they do not distinguish the commentary from the text. The critical edition published by Breitkopf and Härtel, with all its mistakes, is absolutely necessary for students who wish to know what Chopin wished to put into the hands of players of independent judgment.

CHOPSTICKS, the “pidgin-English” name for the pair of small tapering sticks used by the Chinese and Japanese in eating. “Chop” is pidgin-English for “quick,” the Chinese word for the articles beingkwai-tsze, meaning “the quick ones.” “Chopsticks” are commonly made of wood, bone or ivory, somewhat longer and slightly thinner than a lead-pencil. Held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, they are used as tongs to take up portions of the food, which is brought to table cut up into small and convenient pieces, or as means for sweeping the rice and small particles of food into the mouth from the bowl. Many rules of etiquette govern the proper conduct of the chopsticks; laying them across the bowl is a sign that the guest wishes to leave the table; they are not used during a time of mourning, when food is eaten with the fingers; and various methods of handling them form a secret code of signalling.

CHORAGUS(the Lat. form of Gr.χοραγόςorχορηγός, leader of the chorus), the citizen chosen to undertake the expense of furnishing and instructing the chorus at the Dionysiac festivals at Athens (seeLiturgyandFinance). The name is given to an assistant to the professor of music at the university of Oxford, whose office was founded, with that of the professor, in 1626 by Dr William Heather.

CHORALE(from the Lat.choralis, sc.cantus; the finaleis added to show the Ger. pronunciationchorāl), a term in music used by English writers to indicate the hymn-tunes composed or adopted for use in church by the German reformers. German writers, however, apply the terms “Choral” and “Chorale-gesang,” as Luther himself would apply them, to any solemn melody used in the church. It is thus the equivalent ofcanto fermo; and the German rhymed versions of the biblical and other ancient canticles, such as the Magnificat and the Te Deum, are set to curious corruptions of the corresponding Gregorian tunes, which adaptations the composers of classical German music called chorales with no more scruple than they applied the name to tunes of secular origin, German or foreign. The peculiarity of German chorale-music, however, is that its use, and consequently much of its invention, not only arose in connexion with the Reformation, by which the liturgy of the church became “understanded of the people,” but also that it belongs to a musical epoch in which symmetry of melody and rhythm was beginning to assume artistic importance. The growing sense of form shown by some of Luther’s own tunes (e.g.Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her) soon advanced, especially in the tunes of Crüger, beyond any that was shown by folk-music; and it provided an invaluable bulwark against the chaos that was threatening to swamp music on all sides at the beginning of the 17th century. By Bach’s time all the polyphonic instrumental and vocal art-forms of the 18th century were mature; and though he loved to derive the design as well as the details of a large movement from the shape of the chorale tune on which it was based, he became quite independent of any aid from symmetry in the tune as raw material. The chorus of his cantataJesus nun sei gepreisetis one of the most perfectly designed and quite the longest of movements ever based upon a chorale-tune treated phrase by phrase. Yet the tune is one of the most intractable in the world, though its most unpromising portion is the basis of the most impressive feature in Bach’s design (the slow middle section in triple time).

The national character of the German chorale, and the recent great development of interest in folk-music, together with the unique importance of Bach’s work, have combined to tempt writers on music to over-estimate the distinctness of the art-forms based upon the German chorale. There is really nothing in these art-forms which is not continuous with the universal practice of writing counterpoint on acanto fermo. And it should never be forgotten that, however fascinating may be the study of the relation between artistic forms and the spirit of the age, no art can successfully express more of the spirit of the age than its own technical resources will admit. Choral music in all ages has tended to consist largely of counterpoint on acanto fermo(seeContrapuntal Forms). Where there are not many canto fermos in constant use in the church, composers will be driven to use them rather unsystematically as special effects, and to rely for the most part on other artistic devices, though any use of melodies in long notes against quicker counterpoint will be aesthetically indistinguishable from counterpoint on acanto fermo. Thus Handel in his Italian and English works wrote no entire chorale movements, yet what is the passage in the “Hallelujah” chorus from “the kingdom of this world” to the end but a treatment of the second part of the choraleWachet auf? How shall we describe the treatment of the words “And their cry came up unto the Lord” in the first chorus ofIsrael in Egypt, except as the treatment of a phrase of chorale orcanto fermo? Again, to return to the 16th century, what are the hymns of Palestrina but figured chorales? In what way, except in the lack of symmetry in the Gregorian phrasing, do they differ from the contemporary setting by Orlando di Lasso, also a Roman Catholic, of the German choraleVater unser im Himmelreich? In modern times the use of German chorales, as in Mendelssohn’s oratorios and organ-sonatas, has had rather the aspect of a revival than of a development; though the technique and spirit of Brahms’s posthumous organ chorale-preludes is thoroughly modern and vital.

One of the most important, and practically the earliest collection of “Chorales” is that made by Luther and Johann Walther (1496-1570), theEnchiridion, published in 1524. Next in importance we may place the Genevan Psalter (1st ed., Strassburg, 1542, final edition 1562), which is now conclusively proved to be the work of Bourgeois. From this Sternhold and Hopkins borrowed extensively (1562). The psalter of C. Goudimel (Paris, 1565) is another among many prominent collections showing the steps towards congregational singing,i.e.the restriction to “note-against-note” counterpoint (sc. plain harmony), and, in twelve cases, the assigning of the melody to the treble instead of to the tenor. The first hymn-book in which this latter step was acted on throughout is Osiander’sGeistliche Lieder ... also gesetzt, dass ein christliche Gemein durchaus mitsingen kann(1586). But many of the finest and most famous tunes are of much later origin than any such collections. Several (e.g.Ich freue mich in dir) cannot be traced before Bach, and were very probably composed by him.

(D. F. T.)

CHORIAMBIC VERSE, orChoriambics, the name given to Greek or Latin lyrical poetry in which the sound of the choriambus predominates. The choriambus is a verse-foot consisting of a trochee united with and preceding an iambus, -∪∪-. The choriambi are never used alone, but are usually preceded by a spondee and followed by an iambus. The line so formed is called an asclepiad, traditionally because it was invented by the Aeolian poet Asclepiades of Samos. Choriambic verse was first used by the poets of the Greek islands, and Sappho, in particular, produced magnificent effects with it. The measure, as used by the early Greeks, is essentially lyrical and impassioned. Mingled with other metres, it was constantly serviceable in choral writing, to which it was believed to give a stormy and mysterious character. The Greater Asclepiad was a term used for a line in which the wild music was prolonged by the introduction of a supplementary choriambus. This was much employed by Sappho and by Alcaeus, as well as in Alexandrian times by Callimachus and Theocritus. Among the Latins, Horace, in imitation of Alcaeus, made constant use of choriambic verse. Metrical experts distinguish six varieties of it in his Odes. This is an example of his greater asclepiad (Od.i. 11):—

- ∪∪- -∪ ∪- - ∪∪ -

Tu ne | quaesieris | scire nefas | quem mihi, quem | tibi

Finem | Di dederint | Leuconoë; | nee Babylon|ïos

Tentar|is numeros. | Ut melius | quicquid erit, | pati!

Seu plu|res hiemes, | seu tribuit | Jupiter ul|timam,

Quae nunc | oppositis | debilitat | pumicibus | mare

Tyrrhe|num.

In later times of Rome, both Seneca and Prudentius wrote choriambic verse with a fair amount of success. Swinburne even introduced it into English poetry:—

Love, what | ailed them to leave | life that was made | lovely, we thought | with love?

What sweet | vision of sleep | lured thee away | down from the light | above?

Such lines as these make a brave attempt to resuscitate the measured sound of the greater asclepiad.

(E. G.)

CHORICIUS, of Gaza, Greek sophist and rhetorician, flourished in the time of Anastasius I. (A.D.491-518). He was the pupilof Procopius of Gaza, who must be distinguished from Procopius of Caesarea, the historian. A number of his declamations and descriptive treatises have been preserved. The declamations, which are in many cases accompanied by explanatory commentaries, chiefly consist of panegyrics, funeral orations and the stock themes of the rhetorical schools. The΄Επιθαλάμιοιor wedding speeches, wishing prosperity to the bride and bridegroom, strike out a new line. Choricius was also the author of so-called΄Εκφράσεις, descriptions of works of art after the manner of Philostratus. The moral maxims, which were a constant feature of his writings, were largely drawn upon by Macarius Chrysocephalas, metropolitan of Philadelphia (middle of the 14th century), in hisRodonia(rose-garden), a voluminous collection of ethical sayings. The style of Choricius is praised by Photius as pure and elegant, but he is censured for lack of naturalness. A special feature of his style is the persistent avoidance of hiatus, peculiar to what is called the school of Gaza.

Editions by J.F. Boissonade (1846, supplemented by C. Graux inRevue de philologie, 1877) and R. Förster (1882-1894); see also C. Kirsten, “Quaestiones Choricianae” inBreslauer philologische Abhandlungen, vii. (1894), and article by W. Schmid in Pauly-Wissowa’sRealencyclopädie, iii. 2 (1899). On the Gaza school see K. Seitz,Die Schule von Gaza(Heidelberg, 1892).

CHORIN, AARON(1766-1844), Hungarian rabbi and pioneer of religious reform. He favoured the use of the organ and of prayers in the vernacular, and was instrumental in founding schools on modern lines. Chorin was thus regarded as a leader of the newer Judaism. He also interested himself in public affairs; and his son Francis was a Hungarian deputy.

See L. Löw,Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 251.

CHORIZONTES(“separators”), the name given to the Alexandrian critics who denied the single authorship of theIliadandOdyssey, and held that the latter poem was the work of a later poet. The most important of them were the grammarians Xeno and Hellanicus; Aristarchus was their chief opponent (seeHomer).

CHORLEY, HENRY FOTHERGILL(1808-1872), English musical critic, one of an old Lancashire family, began in a merchant’s office, but soon took to musical journalism. He began to write for theAthenaeumin 1830, and remained its musical critic for more than a generation; and he also became musical critic forThe Times. In these positions he had much influence; he had strong views, and was a persistent opponent of innovation. In addition to musical criticism, he wrote voluminously on literature and art, besides novels, dramas and verse, and various librettos; and he published several books, includingModern German Music(1854),Handel Studies(1859), andThirty Years’ Musical Recollections(1862). He died in London on the 16th of February 1872.

See hisAutobiography, Memoir and Letters, edited by H.G. Hewlett (1873).

CHORLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the Chorley parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, on the river Yarrow, 202 m. N.W. by W. from London and 22 m. N.W. from Manchester, on the Lancashire & Yorkshire and London & North-Western railways and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Pop. (1891) 23,087; (1901) 26,852. The church of St Lawrence is of Perpendicular and earlier date, largely restored; it contains fine woodwork and some interesting monuments. Cotton spinning and the manufacture of cotton and muslin are extensively carried on, and there are also iron and brass foundries and boiler factories. Railway-wagon building is an important industry. The district contains a number of coal-mines and stone-quarries. Close to the town is the beautiful Elizabethan mansion of Astley Hall, which is said to have sheltered Oliver Cromwell after the battle of Preston (1648). The corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 24 councillors. Area, 3614 acres.

CHORLU,TchorlauorSchorlau, a town of European Turkey, in the vilayet of Adrianople; on the left bank of the Chorlu, a small left-hand tributary of the Ergene, 20 m. N.E. of Rodosto. Pop. (1905) about 12,000, of whom one-half are Greeks, one-third Turks, and the remainder Armenians and Jews. Chorlu has a station on the Constantinople-Adrianople branch of the Oriental railways. It manufactures woollen cloth (shayak) and native carpets, and exports cereals, oil-cloth, carpets, cattle, poultry, fresh meat, game, fruits, wine, alcohol, hides and bones.

CHOROGRAPHY. (1) (From the Gr.χώρα, a tract of country, andγράφειν, to write), a description or delineation on a map of a district or tract of country; it is to be distinguished from “geography” and “topography,” which treat of the earth as a whole and of particular places respectively. The word is common in old geographical treatises, but is now superseded by the wider use of “topography.” (2) (From the Gr.χορος, dance), the art of dancing, or a system of notation to indicate the steps and movements in dancing.

CHÓRUM, the chief town of a sanjak of the Angora vilayet in Asia Minor, altitude 2300 ft., situated on the edge of a wide plain, almost equidistant from Amasia and Yuzgat. Pop. about 12,500, including a few Christians. Its importance is largely due to its situation on the great trade-route from Kaisaríeh (Caesarea) by Yuzgat and Marzivan to Samsun on the Black Sea. It corresponds to the ancientEuchaïta, which lay 15 m. E. Euchaïti was attacked by the HunsA.D.508, and became a bishopric at an early period and a centre of religious enthusiasm, as containing the tomb of the revered St Theodore, who slew a dragon in the vicinity and became one of the great warrior saints of the Greek Church. Something of the old enthusiasm seems to have passed to the inhabitants of Chórum, whom most travellers have found bigoted and fanatical Mahommedans (see J.G.C. Anderson,Studia Pontica, pp. 6 ff.).

CHORUS(Gr.χορός) properly a dance, and especially the sacred dance, accompanied by song, of ancient Greece at the festivals of the gods. The wordχορόςseems originally to have referred to a dance in an enclosure, and is therefore usually connected with the root appearing in Gr.χόρτος, hedge, enclosure, Lat.hortus, garden, and in the Eng. “yard,” “garden” and “garth.” Of choral dances in ancient Greece other than those in honour of Dionysus we know of the Dance of the Crane at Delos, celebrating the escape of Theseus from the labyrinth, one telling of the struggle of Apollo and the Python at Delphi, and one in Crete recounting the saving of the new-born Zeus by the Curetes. In the chorus sung in honour of Dionysus the ancient Greek drama had its birth. From that of the winter festival, consisting of theκῶμοςor band of revellers, chanting the “phallic songs,” with ribald dialogue between the leader and his band, sprang “comedy,” while from the dithyrambic chorus of the spring festival came “tragedy.” For the history of the chorus in Greek drama, with the gradual subordination of the lyrical to the dramatic side in tragedy and its total disappearance in the middle and new comedy, seeDrama:Greek Drama.

The chorus as a factor in drama survived only in the various imitations or revivals of the ancient Greek theatre in other languages. A chorus is found in Milton’sSamson Agonistes. The Elizabethan dramatists applied the name to a single character employed for the recitation of prologues or epilogues. Apart from the uses of the term in drama, the word “chorus” has been employed chiefly in music. It is used of any organized body of singers, in opera, oratorio, cantata, &c., and, in the form “choir,” of the trained body of singers of the musical portions of a religious service in a cathedral or church. As applied to musical compositions, a “chorus” is a composition written in parts, each to be sung by groups of voices in a large body of singers, and differs from “glee” (q.v.), where each part is for a single voice. The word is also used of that part of a song repeated at the close of each verse, in which the audience or a body of singers may join with the soloist.

In the early middle ages the namechoruswas given to a primitive bagpipe without a drone. The instrument is best known by the Latin description contained in the apocryphal letter of St Jerome,ad Dardanum: “Chorus quoque simplex, pellis cum duabus cicutis aereis, et per primam inspiratur per secundamvocem emittit.” Several illuminated MSS.1from the 9th to the 11th century give fanciful drawings, accompanied by descriptions in barbarous Latin, evidently meant to illustrate those described in the letter to Dardanus. The original MS., probably an illustrated transcript of this letter, which served as a copy for the others, was apparently produced at a time when the Roman bagpipe (tibia utricularia) had fallen into disuse in common with other musical instruments, and was unknown except to the few. The Latin description given above is correct and quite unmistakable to any one who knows the primitive form of bagpipe; the illustrations must therefore represent the effort of an artist to depict an unknown instrument from a description. Virdung, Luscinius and Praetorius seem to have had access to a MS. of the Dardanus letter now lost, and to have reproduced the drawings without understanding them. In a MS. of the 14th century at the British Museum,2containing a chronicle of the world’s history to the death of King Edward I., the chorus is mentioned and described in similar words to those quoted above; in the margin is an elementary sketch of a primitive bagpipe with blowpipe and chaunter with three holes, but no drone. Bagpipes with drones abound on sculptured monuments and in miniatures of that century. Gerbert gives illustrations of the fanciful chorus from the Dardanus letter and of two other instruments of later date; one of these represents a musician playing thePlaterspiel, the other the bagpipe known aschevrette, in which the whole skin of the animal (a kid or pig), with head and feet, has been used for the bag. Edward Buhle,3in his admirable work on the musical instruments in the illuminated MSS. of the middle ages, points out that Gerbert,4who gives the dates of his two MSS. as “6th and 9th centuries,” has a singular method of reckoning the date of a MS.; he refers to the age of a MS. at the time of writing (18th century), not to the date at which it was produced. The MS. containing the two figures of musicians mentioned above, instead of being ascribed to the 6th century, was six centuries old when Gerbert wrote in 1774, and dates therefore from the 12th century. It is interesting to note that Giraldus Cambrensis5mentions the chorus as one of the three instruments of Wales and Scotland, ascribing superior musical skill to the latter. Historians record that King James I. of Scotland was renowned for his skill as a performer on various musical instruments, one of which was the chorus.6This bears out the traditional belief that the bagpipe had been a Scottish attribute from the earliest times. The word “chorus” occurs once or twice in French medieval poems with other instruments, but without indication as to the kind of instrument thus designated. The word was probably the French equivalent for thePlaterspiel.

See also G. Kastner,Danses des morts(pp. 200 to 202, pl. xv., No. 103); and Dom Pedro Cerone,El Melopeo y maestro(Naples, 1613), p. 248.

(K. S.)

1The MSS. are a psalterium, 9th century, Bibl. publique, Angers, fol. 13a; BoulognePsalterium glossatumc.A.D.1000, MS. No. 20, Bibl. publique. For reproduction of musical instruments seeAnnales archéologiques, tome iv. (1846), p. 38; Cotton MS., Tiberius C. vi., 10th to 11th century, fol. 16b, British Museum, illustrated in Strutt’sHorda Angel-cynnan, vol. ii. pls. xx. and xxi.; MS. psalter of St Emmeran, now in Munich Staatsbibliothek, clm. 14523, fol. 51b, 10th century, illustrated by Gerbert,De Cantu et Mus. Sacra, tome ii. pi. xxiii.; Paris, Bibl. Nat. Fonds Latin, 7211, 1Oth century, fol. 150 and 151a.2Cotton MS., Nero D. ii. f. 15a,Chronicon ab orbe condito ad obitum Regis Edwardi I., 1307.3Die musikalischen Instrumente in den Miniaturen des frühen Mittelalters, part i. “Die Blasinstrumente” (Leipzig, 1903), p. 7, note 1.4Op. cit. (1774), tome ii. pl. xxv. No. 13, pp. 130, 151, 152, and pl. xxxi. No. 12.5Topographia Hiberniae, cap. xi.6Scotichronicon(Fordun and Bower), xvi. 28; and Dalyell,Musical Memoirs of Scotland, p. 47, pls. x. and xi.

2Cotton MS., Nero D. ii. f. 15a,Chronicon ab orbe condito ad obitum Regis Edwardi I., 1307.

3Die musikalischen Instrumente in den Miniaturen des frühen Mittelalters, part i. “Die Blasinstrumente” (Leipzig, 1903), p. 7, note 1.

4Op. cit. (1774), tome ii. pl. xxv. No. 13, pp. 130, 151, 152, and pl. xxxi. No. 12.

5Topographia Hiberniae, cap. xi.

6Scotichronicon(Fordun and Bower), xvi. 28; and Dalyell,Musical Memoirs of Scotland, p. 47, pls. x. and xi.

CHOSE(Fr. for “thing”), a term used in English law in different senses.Chose localis a thing annexed to a place, as a mill. Achose transitoryis that which is movable, and can be carried from place to place. But the use of the word “chose” in these senses is practically obsolete, and it is now used only in the phraseschose in actionandchose in possession. A “chose in action,” sometimes called a chose in suspense, in its more limited meaning, denotes the right of enforcing by legal proceedings the payment of a debt, or the obtaining money by way of damages for breach of contract, or as a recompense for a wrong. Less accurately, the money itself which could be recovered is frequently termed a chose in action, as is also sometimes the document evidencing a title to a chose in action, such as a bond or a policy of insurance, though strictly it is only the right to recover the money which can be so termed. Choses in action were, before the Judicature Acts, eitherlegalorequitable. Where the chose could be recovered only by an action at law, as a debt (whether arising from contract or tort), it was termed a legal chose in action; where the chose was recoverable only by a suit in equity, as a legacy or money held upon a trust, it was termed an equitable chose in action. Before the Judicature Act, a legal chose in action was not assignable,i.e.the assignee could not sue at law in his own name. To this rule there were two exceptions:—(1) the crown has always been able to assign choses in action that are certain, such as an ascertained debt, but not those that are uncertain; (2) assignments valid by operation of law,e.g.on marriage, death or bankruptcy. On the other hand, however, by the law merchant, which is part of the law of England, and which disregards the rules of common law, bills of exchange were freely assignable. The consequence was that, with these and certain statutory exceptions (e.g.actions on policies of insurance), an action on an assigned chose in action must have been brought at law in the name of the assignor, though the sum recovered belonged in equity to the assignee. All choses in action being in equity assignable, except those which are altogether incapable of being assigned, in equity the assignee might have sued in his own name, making the assignor a party as co-plaintiff or as defendant. The Judicature Acts made the distinction between legal and equitable choses in action of no importance. The Judicature Act of 1873, s. 25 (6), enacted that the legal right to a debt or other legal chose in action could be passed by absolute assignment in writing under the hand of the assignor.

“Chose in possession” is opposed to chose in action, and denotes not only the right to enjoy or possess a thing, but also the actual or constructive enjoyment of it. The possession may be absolute or qualified. It is absolute when the person is fully and completely the proprietor or owner of the thing; it is qualified when he “has not an exclusive right, or not a permanent right, but a right which may sometimes subsist and at other times not subsist,” as in the case of animalsferae naturae. A chose in possession is freely transferable by delivery. Previously to the Married Women’s Property Act 1882, a wife’s choses in possession vested in her husband immediately on her marriage, while her choses in action did not belong to the husband until he had reduced them into possession, but this difference is now practically obsolete.

CHOSROES, in Middle and Modern PersianKhosrau(“with a good name”), a very common Persian name, borne by a famous king of the Iranian legend (Kai Khosrau); by a Parthian king, commonly called by the Greeks Osroes (q.v.); and by the following two Sassanid kings.

1.Chosroes I., “the Blessed” (Anushirvan), 531-579, the favourite son and successor of Kavadh I., and the most famous of the Sassanid kings. At the beginning of his reign he concluded an “eternal” peace with the emperor Justinian, who wanted to have his hands free for the conquest of Africa and Sicily. But his successes against the Vandals and Goths caused Chosroes to begin the war again in 540. He invaded Syria and carried the inhabitants of Antioch to his residence, where he built for them a new city near Ctesiphon under the name of Khosrau-Antioch or Chosro-Antioch. During the next years he fought successfully in Lazica or Lazistan (the ancient Colchis,q.v.), on the Black Sea, and in Mesopotamia. The Romans, though led by Belisarius, could do little against him. In 545 an armistice was concluded, but in Lazica the war went on till 556. At last, in 562, a peace was concluded for 50 years, in which the Persians left Lazistan to the Romans, and promised not to persecute the Christians, if they did not attempt to make proselytes among the Zarathustrians; on the other hand, the Romans had again to paysubsidies to Persia. Meanwhile in the east the Hephthalites had been attacked by the Turks, who now appear for the first time in history. Chosroes united with them and conquered Bactria, while he left the country north of the Oxus to the Turks. Many other rebellious tribes were subjected. About 570 the dynasts of Yemen, who had been subdued by the Ethiopians of Axum, applied to Chosroes for help. He sent a fleet with a small army under Vahriz, who expelled the Ethiopians. From that time till the conquests of Mahomet, Yemen was dependent on Persia, and a Persian governor resided here. In 571 a new war with Rome broke out about Armenia, in which Chosroes conquered the fortress Dara on the Euphrates, invaded Syria and Cappadocia, and returned with large booty. During the negotiations with the emperor Tiberius Chosroes died in 579, and was succeeded by his son Hormizd IV.

Although Chosroes had in the last years of his father extirpated the heretical and communistic Persian sect of the Mazdakites (seeKavadh) and was a sincere adherent of Zoroastrian orthodoxy, he was not fanatical or prone to persecution. He tolerated every Christian confession. When one of his sons had rebelled about 550 and was taken prisoner, he did not execute him; nor did he punish the Christians who had supported him. He introduced a rational system of taxation, based upon a survey of landed possessions, which his father had begun, and tried in every way to increase the welfare and the revenues of his empire. In Babylonia he built or restored the canals. His army was in discipline decidedly superior to the Romans, and apparently was well paid. He was also interested in literature and philosophical discussions. Under his reign chess was introduced from India, and the famous book of Kalilah and Dimnah was translated. He thus became renowned as a wise prince. When Justinian in 529 closed the university of Athens, the last seat of paganism in the Roman empire, the last seven teachers of Neoplatonism emigrated to Persia. But they soon found out that neither Chosroes nor his state corresponded to the Platonic ideal, and Chosroes, in his treaty with Justinian, stipulated that they should return unmolested.

2.Chosroes II., “the Victorious” (Parvez), son of Hormizd IV., grandson of Chosroes I., 590-628. He was raised to the throne by the magnates who had rebelled against Hormizd IV. in 590, and soon after his father was blinded and killed. But at the same time the general Bahram Chobin had proclaimed himself king, and Chosroes II. was not able to maintain himself. The war with the Romans, which had begun in 571, had not yet come to an end. Chosroes fled to Syria, and persuaded the emperor Maurice (q.v.) to send help. Many leading men and part of the troops acknowledged Chosroes, and in 591 he was brought back to Ctesiphon. Bahram Chobin was beaten and fled to the Turks, among whom he was murdered. Peace with Rome was then concluded. Maurice made no use of his advantage; he merely restored the former frontier and abolished the subsidies which had formerly been paid to the Persians. Chosroes II. was much inferior to his grandfather. He was haughty and cruel, rapacious and given to luxury; he was neither a general nor an administrator. At the beginning of his reign he favoured the Christians; but when in 602 Maurice had been murdered by Phocas, he began war with Rome to avenge his death. His armies plundered Syria and Asia Minor, and in 608 advanced to Chalcedon. In 613 and 614 Damascus and Jerusalem were taken by the general Shahrbaraz, and the Holy Cross was carried away in triumph. Soon after, even Egypt was conquered. The Romans could offer but little resistance, as they were torn by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Avars and Slavs. At last, in 622, the emperor Heraclius (who had succeeded Phocas in 610) was able to take the field. In 624 he advanced into northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of Gandzak (Gazaca); in 626 he fought in Lazistan (Colchis), while Shahrbaraz advanced to Chalcedon, and tried in vain, united with the Avars, to conquer Constantinople. In 627 Heraclius defeated the Persian army at Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon. Chosroes fled from his favourite residence, Dastagerd (near Bagdad), without offering resistance, and as his despotism and indolence had roused opposition everywhere, his eldest son, Kavadh II., whom he had imprisoned, was set free by some of the leading men and proclaimed king. Four days afterwards, Chosroes was murdered in his palace (February 628). Meanwhile, Heraclius returned in triumph to Constantinople, in 629 the Cross was given back to him and Egypt evacuated, while the Persian empire, from the apparent greatness which it had reached ten years ago, sank into hopeless anarchy.

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