CANCALE

cancale, a fishing port of north-western france in the department of ille-et-vilaine on the bay of cancale, 9 m. e.n.e. of st malo by road. pop. (1906) town 3827, commune 7061. it exports oysters, which are found in its bay in large numbers and of excellent quality, and equips a fleet for the newfoundland cod-fisheries. the harbour is protected by the rocks known as the rochers de cancale. in 1758 an english army under the duke of marlborough landed here for the purpose of attacking st malo and pillaged the town. it was again bombarded by the english in 1779. cancel (from the lat. _cancelli_, a plural diminutive of _cancer_, a grating or lattice, from which are also derived "chancel" and "chancellor"), a word meaning to cross out, from the crossed latticed lines drawn across a legal document to annul it, hence to delete or destroy. cancelli (plural of lat. _cancellus_, dim. of _cancer_, a crossing bar), in architecture, the term given to barriers which correspond to the modern balustrade or railing, especially the screen dividing the body of a church from the part occupied by the ministers; hence "chancel" (q.v.). by the romans _cancelli_ were similarly employed to divide off portions of the courts of law (cf. the english "bar").