seems to have published nothing during this period, yet to have acquired a great reputation as a probability. His first work given to the public was a preface for the Adone of Marini, who printed and published that notorious poem at Paris. This was followed by an excellent translation of Mateo Aleman’s novel, Guzmán de Alfarache, and by four extremely indifferent odes, one of them addressed to Richelieu. The credit of introducing the law of the dramatic unities into French literature has been claimed for many writers, and especially for the Abbé d’Aubignac, whose Pratique du théâtre appeared in 1657. The theory had of course been enunciated in the Art poétique of J. C. Scaliger in 1561, and subsequently by other writers, but there is no doubt that it was the action of Chapelain that transferred it from the region of theory to that of actual practice. In a conversation with Richelieu in about 1632, reported by the abbé d’Olivet, Chapelain maintained that it was indispensable to maintain the unities of time, place and action, and it is explicitly stated that the doctrine was new to the cardinal and to the poets who were in his pay. French classical drama thus owes the riveting of its fetters to Chapelain. Rewarded with a pension of a thousand crowns, and from the first an active member of the newly-constituted Academy, Chapelain drew up the plan of the grammar and dictionary the compilation of which was to be a principal function of the young institution, and at Richelieu’s command drew up the Sentiments de l’Académie sur le Cid. In 1656 he published, in a magnificent form, the first twelve cantos of his celebrated epic La Pucelle,[1] on which he had been engaged during twenty years. Six editions of the poem were disposed of in eighteen months. But this was the end of the poetic reputation of Chapelain, “the legist of Parnassus”. Later the slashing satire of Boileau (in this case fairly master of his subject) did its work, and Chapelain (“Le plus grand poète Français qu’ ait jamais été et du plus solide jugement,” as he is called in Colbert’s list) took his place among the failures of modern art.
Chapelain’s reputation as a critic survived this catastrophe, and in 1663 he was employed by Colbert to draw up an account of contemporary men of letters, destined to guide the king in his distribution of pensions. In this pamphlet, as in his letters, he shows to far greater advantage than in his unfortunate epic. His prose is incomparably better than his verse; his criticisms are remarkable for their justice and generosity; his erudition and kindliness of heart are everywhere apparent; the royal attention is directed alike towards the author’s firmest friends and bitterest enemies. To him young Racine was indebted not only for kindly and seasonable counsel, but also for that pension of six hundred livres which was so useful to him. The catholicity of his taste is shown by his De la lecture des vieux romans (pr. 1870), in which he praises the chansons de geste, forgotten by his generation. Chapelain refused many honours, and his disinterestedness in this and other cases makes it necessary to receive with caution the stories of Ménage and Tallemant des Réaux, who assert that he was in his old age a miser, and that a considerable fortune was found hoarded in his apartments when he died on the 22nd of February 1674.
There is a very favourable estimate of Chapelain’s merits as a critic in George Saintsbury’s History of Criticism, ii. 256-261. An analysis of La Pucelle is given in pp. 23-79 of Robert Southey’s Joan of Arc. See also Les Lettres de Jean Chapelain (ed. P. Tanuzey de Larroque, 1880–1882); Lettres inédites . . . à P. D. Huet (1658–1673, ed. by L. G. Pellissier, 1894); Julien Duchesne, Les Poèmes épiques du XVII e siècle (1870); the abbé A. Fabre, Les Ennemis de Chapelain (1888), Chapelain et nos deux premières Académies (1890); and A. Muehlan, Jean Chapelain (1893).
CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, a market town in the High Peak parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 20 m. S.E. of Manchester, on the London & North-Western and Midland railways. Pop. (1901) 4626. It lies in an upland valley of the Peak district, the hills of which rise above 1200 ft. in its immediate vicinity. There are paper-works and ironworks, and brewing is carried on. The foundation of the church of St Thomas of Canterbury is attributed to the foresters of the royal forest or frith of the Peak early in the 13th century; and from this the town took name. After the defeat of the Scottish forces at Preston by Cromwell in 1648, it is said that 1500 prisoners were confined in the church at Chapel-en-le-Frith.
CHAPEL HILL, a town of Orange county, North Carolina, U.S.A., about 28 m. N.W. of Raleigh. Pop. (1900) 1099; (1910) 1149. It is served by a branch of the Southern railway, connecting at University, 10 m. distant, with the Greensboro & Goldsboro division. The town is best known as the seat of the University of North Carolina (see North Carolina), whose campus contains 48 acres. There are cotton and knitting mills and lumber interests of some importance. Chapel Hill was settled late in the 18th century, and was first incorporated in 1851.
CHAPELLE ARDENTE (Fr. “burning chapel”), the chapel or room in which the corpse of a sovereign or other exalted personage lies in state pending the funeral service. The name is in allusion to the many candles which arc lighted round the catafalque. This custom is first chronicled as occurring at the obsequies of Dagobert I. (602–638).
CHAPERON, originally a cap or hood (Fr. chape) worn by nobles and knights of the Garter in full dress, and after the 16th century by middle-aged ladies. The modern use of the word is of a married or elderly lady (cf. “duenna”) escorting or protecting a young and unmarried girl in public places and in society.
CHAPLAIN, strictly one who conducts service in a chapel (q.v.), i.e. a priest or minister without parochial charge who is attached for special duties to a sovereign or his representatives (ambassadors, judges, &c.), to bishops, to the establishments of nobles, &c., to institutions (e.g. parliament, congress, colleges, schools, workhouses, cemeteries), or to the army and the navy. In some cases a parish priest is also appointed to a chaplaincy, but in so far as he is a chaplain he has no parochial duties. Thus a bishop of the English Church appoints examining chaplains who conduct the examination of candidates for holy orders; such officials generally hold ordinary benefices also. The British sovereign has 36 “Chaplains in Ordinary,” who perform service at St James’s in rotation, as well as “Honorary Chaplains” and “Chaplains of the Household.” There are also royal chaplains in Scotland and Ireland. The Scottish chaplains in ordinary are on the same basis as those in England, but the Irish chaplains are attached to the household of the lord-lieutenant. The Indian civil service appoints a number of clergymen of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. These clergymen are known as Chaplains, and are subject to the same conditions as other civil servants, being eligible for a retiring pension after 23 years of service. Chaplains are also appointed under the foreign office to embassies, legations, consulates, &c.
Workhouse chaplains are appointed by overseers and guardians on the direction of the Local Government Board, to which alone such chaplains are responsible. Prison chaplains are appointed by the home secretary.
In the British army there are two kinds of chaplains, permanent and occasional. The former, described as Chaplains to the Forces, hold commissions, serving throughout the empire except in India: they include a Chaplain-General who ranks as a major-general, and four classes of subordinate chaplains who rank respectively as colonels, lieutenant-colonels, majors and captains. There are about 100 in all. Special chaplains (Acting Chaplains for Temporary Service) may be appointed by a secretary of state under the Army Chaplains Act of 1868 to perform religious service for the army in particular districts. The permanent chaplains may be Church of England, Roman Catholic, or Presbyterian; Wesleyans (if they prefer not to accept commissions) may be appointed Acting Chaplains. The Church of England chaplains report to the chaplain-general, while other chaplains report to the War Office direct. In the navy, chaplains are likewise appointed but do not hold official rank. They must have a special ecclesiastical licence from the archbishop of Canterbury. In 1900 a Chaplains’ Department of the Territorial Force was formed; there is no denominational restriction.
- ↑ The last twelve cantos of La Pucelle were edited (1882) from the MS. with corrections and a preface in the author’s autograph, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, by H. Herluison. Another edition, by E. de Molènes (2 vols.), was published in 1892.
