have been very advantageous to science, and somewhat disadvantageous to literature. In politics, this want of a central point has had melancholy consequences for Germany. London never exercised that degree of influence over England which Paris has over France; one reason of which may be, that the two most extensive institutions for the diffusion of knowledge are not seated in the metropolis. The system of concentration has, there is little doubt, been carried to an extreme in Europe; the best of every thing having been collected in the capitals, and the provinces having been almost stripped of pictures, libraries, &c. In many countries, this fault is acknowledged, and a return to a more equitable system is perceptible. The great increase of wealth and consequence, which the capitals of large empires in Europe have acquired, in modern times, by the introduction of the bureau system (q. v.), which has brought together, in one place, the different departments of administration, has had much influence on military operations, having made the capture of the capital now far more important than formerly. -In the U. States, the word capital is not used officially, but, instead of it, the phrase seat of government, which is, in most cases, not the largest place of the state. It is not here the place to discuss, whether it would be more beneficial to the whole country if the seat of the general government were in one of the largest cities of the U. States. As it is now, to use the words of a traveller, "Washington must by no means be considered as the capital of the nation, but only as the capital of governmental business. It is a camp of business." CAPITAL, in architecture. (See Architecture.)

CAPITAL OFFENCE. (See Crime.) CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. (See Death, punishment of.)

CAPITANATA; a province of Naples, bounded N. and E. by the Adriatic, S. by the country of Bari and Basilicata, and W. by the Molise. This was the ancient Apulia Daunica. The whole country is a vast plain, and the soil generally sandy, with few trees, and scarcely any springs or rivers of fresh water; yet the land produces a great deal of corn, and feeds a great number of cattle. Salt is made along the coast. The Gargano is the only mountain: on the sides are plantations of oranges. The coasts are defended by 22 towers. The principal towns are Lucera, Foggia, St. Severo and Volturara.

Population, 254,809. Square miles, 3289. Manfredonia is the principal seaport Capitanata forms what is generally called the spur of Italy.

CAPITANI, OF CAPATANS; the hereditary chieftains who have taken possession of the district of Maina, the mountainous country of the ancient Messenia They exercised, under the Turkish government, an arbitrary jurisdiction, without any kind of responsibility. With the bey, whom they chose from among themselves, they formed a kind of great council. The bey took care that the haratsch, or poll-tax, was paid to the Turks, and was the agent in all dealings with the pacha. Generally, the capitani were robber chieftains, who lived retired in rocky fastnesses, and defied the Turks and their neighbors. They united only if resistance against the Turks became necessary. At other times, they lived at war amongst themselves. From this wild oligarchy most of the generals of the modern Greeks have sprung up; their Colocotroni, Odysseus, Niketas (called Tur kophagus) and others. The palikaris, or the Greek warriors, also called klephtes (i. e., robbers), followed the orders of the capitani as long as they had confidence in them, and met with good success. The French colonel Voutier has given us interesting information concerning them.

CAPITE CENSI were the Roman citizens, of the lowest class, who possessed no property. They had this name because they were counted by their heads, not by their property, in the divisions of the centuries.

CAPITOL, now Campidoglio; the citadel of ancient Rome, standing on the Capitoline hill, the smallest of the seven hills of Rome, anciently called the Saturnine and the Tarpeian rock. It was be gun A. C. 614, by Tarquinius Priscus, but not completed till after the expulsion of the kings. At the time of the civil com motions under Sylla, it was burnt down, and rebuilt by the senate. It again suffered the same fate twice, and was restored by Vespasian and Domitian. The latter caused it to be built with great splendor, and instituted there the Capitoline games. Dionysius says the temple, with the exterior pillars, was 200 feet long and 185 broad. The whole building consisted of three temples, which were dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Miverva, and separated from one another by walls. In the wide portico, triumphal banquets were given to the people. The statue of Jupiter, in the capitol, represented him sitting

fall of the Hohenstaufen family, certain advantageous promises from the new emperors, which were called capitulations. When Charles V was proposed as emperor, and it was apprehended, on account of his foreign education, that he would disregard the German constitution, he was obliged to make oath, that he would not reside without the German empire, nor appoint foreigners to office in the empire, &c. This was called his election capitulation. Such a Wahlcapitulation was afterwards presented to every new emperor, as a fundamental law of the empire, and shook the constitution of the German government to its very foundations, since the electors, at the choice of every new emperor, made some new infringement on the imperial privileges. The Wahlcapitulationen were acknowledged bargains, certainly unique in history.

CAPNIST, OF KAPNIST, Wassil Wassiljewitsch, Russian counsellor of state, member of the academy of St. Petersburg and other learned societies, one of the first lyric poets of Russia, born in 1756, was the rival of his friend and relation, the celebrated poet Derschavin. (q. v.) He translated Horace with applause. The collection of his works appeared at Petersburg, in 1806 (Lyric Poems, by Wassil Capnist). He wrote a comedy, called Jabeda, in 1799, and a tragedy, called Antigone, in 1815. His critique on Homer's Odyssey, published in Russian and French, is more acute than profound. His odes have not the easy and bold character by which those of Derschavin are distinguished, but they have a charm of another kind. Purity of style, richness of thought, and a sound philosophy, connected with deep and genuine feeling, are Capnist's characteristic traits. Some years ago, he retired to Obuchowka, his country-seat, in Little Russia, where he lived devoted to the muses till his death, which took place Oct. 28, 1823, in his 67th year.

CAPO D'ISTRIA, John, count of, formerly Russian secretary of state, now president of Greece, was born at Corfu, 1780, where his father was a physician, and studied medicine at Venice. When the Russian troops occupied the Ionian islands, in 1799, Anthony Maria de Capo d'Istria, his father, was at the head of the government. But, after the islands were again made dependent on France, in 1807, in consequence of the peace of Tilsit, he entered into the Russian service. He afterwards returned to Corfu, became a senator there, and died, April 17, 1821,

aged 80 years. The son still continued in Russia, where he was first employed in the office of count Rumanzoff, and afterwards went as Russian ambassador to Vienna. In 1812, he conducted the diplomatic business of the army of the Danube, of which admiral Tschitschagoff was commander-in-chief. When this army was united with the great Russian army, after the retreat of the French, Capo d'Istria managed the diplomatic correspondence at head-quarters, under the emperor's direction, and soon gained the confidence of his monarch to such a degree, that he was afterwards engaged in the most important public business, and appointed secretary of state for the department of foreign affairs. He was made grand-cross of the Wladimir order, knight of St. Ann, grand-cross of the royal Austrian Leopold order, and of the Prussian order of the red eagle. In 1813, he was Russian ambassador to Switzerland, negotiated with the Austrian ambassadors the new relations of this republic, and, in Sept., 1814, was present at the congress of Vienna as Russian plenipotentisry, from which the downfall of Napoleon, in 1815, recalled him to the head-quarters of the allies at Paris. As imperial Rus sian plenipotentiary, he subscribed the treaty of Paris, Nov. 20, 1815, and returned with his monarch to Petersburg, where he took a very active part in the business of the council of state. His endeavors for the restoration of the republic of the Ionian islands, for the support of the established religion in Russia against the intrigues of the Jesuits, and for the deliverance of the Greeks from the Turkish yoke, are well known. But, as Russia disapproved of the attempts of the Greeks, and Stroganoff (q. v.) returned from his mission to Constantinople, in 1822 count Capo d'Istria left the public service, and retired, as a private man, to Germany and Switzerland, living chiefly at Geneva, till the year 1827, when he was elected pres ident of the Greek republic. He stands now at the head of this government; but his means have been as yet so feeble, and the whole state of Greece such, that we are not able to judge of his talents for administration. So much, however, is certain, that he immediately brought Greece into closer connexion with the other governments of Europe, and has thus exerted a salutary influence.

CAPO D'ISTRIA (the ancient Egida); a seaport of Austria, on the gulf of Trieste, 8 miles south of Trieste; lon. 13° 43′ E.; lat. 45° 31′ N.; population 5,119;

is a bishop's see, and the capital of a district, containing 65,150 inhabitants. The town is two miles in circumference, has, besides the cathedral, 30 other churches, six convents, hospitals, &c.

CAPOC; a sort of cotton, so short and fine, that it cannot be spun. It is used, in the East Indies, to line palanquins, to make beds, mattresses, &c.

CAPONIER, OF CAPONNIERE, in fortresses; a place which is covered against the fire of the enemy, on the sides, sometimes also above, and serves for the connexion of two works, or for maintaining an important point. In particular 1. a passage secured by two parapets, in the form of glacis, which leads through the dry ditch, from one work to another; for instance, from the chief wall to the ravelin. If danger is to be apprehended only from one side, and consequently only one parapet is made, it is called a demi-caponniere: if it is covered above with hurdles or with wood, it is called a coffer: but this word is often used indifferently for caponniere.-2. Small blockhouses in the covered way, for its defence. Coehorn laid out similar, but less useful works below the glacis, and Scharnhorst proposes them, under the name of fieldcaponnieres, for the saliant angles of fieldfortifications.

CAPPADOCIA, in antiquity; one of the most important provinces of Asia, once a famous kingdom; bounded W. by Lycaonia, S. by Cilicia and Syria, E. by Armenia, and N. by the Pontus Euxinus. In the period of the Persian government, Cappadocia comprehended all the country between the Halys and Euphrates. By the former river, it was separated from Phrygia and Paphlagonia; by the latter, from Armenia: therefore the region afterwards called Pontus was comprehended in this territory. The Persians divided it, according to Strabo, into two satrapies, which bore the name of Cappadocia Magna (afterwards Cappadocia Proper) and Cappadocia Minor (afterwards Pontus). This division, however, was not always strictly observed. The Persian satraps governed, at a later time, under the title of kings, and sometimes made themselves independent. At the time of the famous retreat of the 10,000 Greeks, both the Cappadocias seem to have been under the rule of Mithridates, who had participated in the conspiracy of Cyrus the Younger, but retained his government, and became, after the defeat of Cyrus, again dependent upon the kings of Persia. Cappadocia Magna was a poorly-cultivated coun

try, little favored by nature, the plains of which were only fit for breeding sheep. The climate was rough, and, wood being scarce, the habitations of the people were low and mean. Even the capital, Mazaca, was more like a camp than a city. The Cappadocians, also called Leukosyri (the White Syrians), because they had a language resembling the Syrian, were considered stupid and ill-tempered.

CAPREA, or CAPREE. (See Capri.) CAPRI; an island in the beautiful gulf of Naples, which contributes not a little to the charms of this favorite scene of nature. Capri, five miles long and two broad, lies at the entrance of the gulf, and consists of two mountains of limestone, remarkable for their picturesque shape, and a well-cultivated valley. The inhabitants, amounting to 3000, are occupied in the production of oil and wine, in fishing and in catching quails, which come in immense numbers from Africa to the shores of Italy. Every spot on the island, which can be made productive, is cultivated. In fact, agriculture all around Naples is in the highest state of perfection. The town of Capri (lon. 14° & É.; lat. 40° 11' N.) is the seat of a bishop, to whom all the quails belong. A high rock separates Capri from Anacapri, 1600 feet high, with 3500 inhabitants, to which a stairway in the rock, of 522 steps, leads from the lower part of the island. With the Romans, Capri was called Capreœ. Augustus obtained it by exchange from the Neapolitans, and made it a place of agreeable retreat, but never made use of it Tiberius spent here the last seven years of his life in degrading voluptuousness and infamous cruelty. The ruins of his palace are still extant, and other ruins are scattered over the island.

CAPRICCIO. Caprice is the name applied to a sort of musical composition, in which the composer follows the bent of his humor. The capriccio may be used with propriety in pieces for exercise, in which the strangest and most difficult figures may be introduced, if they are not at variance with the nature of the instrument or of the voice.

CAPRIFICATION. (See Figs.)

CAPSICIN. Cayenne pepper contains a peculiar substance, discovered by Forchhammer, and called capsicin by doctor C. Conwell, which, according to the latter, when perfectly pure, is tasteless, inodorous, and crystallizes in acicular fragments. It is neither acid nor alkaline.

CAPSTAN, in shipping (in French, cabestan; Dutch, kapstani); a strong, massy

column of timber, in the form of a truncated cone, and having its upper extremity divided into several squares, with holes in them, to receive bars or levers. It is let down perpendicularly through the deck of a ship, and is fixed in such a manner, that the men, by turning it horizontally with their bars, are able to weigh the anchors, and to perform other work requiring great exertion.

CAPTAIN. This is one of those many words derived from the Latin of the middle ages, and now to be found in all the different idioms of Europe. Captain comes from the Latin capitaneus, from caput, head, and signified, first, a governor of a province, who, in the first half of the middle ages, was generally a military man. Thus the word captain soon came to be used chiefly to denote a high, or rather the highest, military officer. Opitz, an early German poet, calls God, Lord, Master, Captain; and, in English, Christ is called the Captain of our salvation. Like many other words, however, this has, in the course of time, lost much of its dignity, and, in military technology, now signifies the commander of a small body-a company-and, in maritime language, the master of a vessel. In the United States of America, the master of the smallest craft, and even the chief man on a raft, is styled captain. In the latter part of the middle ages, when armies were not yet so regularly divided and subdivided as at the present time, captains were the commanders of those small bodies of which the armies consisted. These were generally collected by their commander, who entered, with his company, into the service where most pay or most booty could be obtained. The practice of carrying on wars, by troops collected in this manner, prevailed to the greatest extent in Italy, where the continual quarrels of the numerous small states afforded ample employment to the unsettled and the dissolute. These companies play an important part in the history of the middle ages, particularly that of the two centuries preceding the reformation, and had a very important influence on the mauners and morals of the south of Europe. They are further interesting to the student of history, because they are so unlike any thing at present existing. We refer the reader, for some further remarks on this subject, to an able article on Macchiavelli, in the Edinburgh Review, March, 1827.-Captain, in modern armies, is the commander of a company of foot, or a troop of horse. In the English army, he appoints the ser

jeants, corporals and lance-corporals of his company--a right which belongs, in other armies, to the commander of the regiment. In the horse and foot-guards, the captains have the rank of lieutenantcolonels in the army. In the French army, besides the commanders of the companies of the line, commanders of certain detached bodies of guards, &c., are called captain, and have, sometimes, a very high rank in the army.--Captainlieutenant is, in the English army, a lieutenant, who, with the rank of captain, commands a troop or company in the name of some other person. Thus, the colonel being usually captain of the first company of his regiment, that company is commanded by his deputy as captainlieutenant.-Captain of a merchant ship; he who has the direction of the ship, her crew, lading, &c. In small vessels, he is more ordinarily called master. In the Mediterranean, he is called patroon.—Postcaptain; an English officer commanding any man-of-war, from a ship of the line down to a ship-rigged sloop. Formerly, a twenty-gun ship was the smallest that gave post-rank; but, by a late regulation, the largest class of ship-sloops has been added to the list of post-ships; and post-captains, under three years' standing, are now appointed to them, unless they happen to be selected as flag-captains to admirals' ships. After being three years posted, they are appointed to frigates, which they may continue to command till they are of 10 years' standing, when they are generally removed to 50 or 64 gun-ships, preparatory to their taking the command of ships of the line.-Captaingeneral signifies, in England, the first military rank, power and authority in the realm; therefore the king is, by the constitution, captain-general, or generalissimo, of all the forces in the United Kingdoms. In 1799, the king delegated this rank, with the powers annexed to it, to the duke of York. In France, it is an ancient title, which conferred an almost unlimited power on the person who possessed it, in the district where he commanded. But it never corresponded to that of generalissimo, except in the case of the duke of Savoy, in 1635, in the time of Louis XIII The count de Tessé was French captaingeneral in Italy in 1702. The title is not in use at present, nor would it agree with the existing organization of the adminis tration. In Spain, the rank of a captaingeneral corresponds with that of a marshal of France, who has the command of an army. This title was also given to the