CARTIER

cartier, jacques (1491-1557), french navigator, discoverer of the canadian river st lawrence, was born at st malo in brittany. of his early life nothing is known. on the suppression by admiral chabot of the trade to brazil, an expedition consisting of two ships and sixty-one men was despatched from st malo under cartier on the 20th of april 1534, to look for a north-west passage to the east. cartier reached newfoundland on the 10th of may, and at once entered the strait of belle isle, then known to the fishermen as the bay of castles. while the ships renewed their supply of wood and water in belles amours harbour on the north side of the strait, the long-boats discovered that the coast farther west was barren, rocky and uninviting. in view of this cartier set sail on monday, the 15th of june, for the south side of the strait, by following which he was led down almost the whole west coast of newfoundland. off st george's bay a storm drove the ships out into the gulf, but on resuming his course cartier fell in with the bird rocks. the island south of these he named brion island, after chabot. cartier mistook our magdalen and prince edward islands for the main shore on the south side of this inland sea. following the coast of new brunswick northward he was greatly disappointed to discover chaleur bay was not a strait. during a ten days' stay in gaspe harbour cartier made friends with a tribe of huron-iroquois indians from quebec, two of whom he carried off with him. a mirage deceived him into thinking the passage up the river south of anticosti was a bay, whereupon he proceeded to coast the southern, eastern and northern shores of anticosti. on discovering the passage between this island and the quebec shore a council was held, at which it was decided to postpone the exploration of this strait until the following year. heading eastward along the quebec shore, cartier soon regained the strait of belle isle and, entering the atlantic on the 15th of august, reached st malo in safety on the 5th of september. cartier set sail again from st malo with three vessels on the 16th of may 1536, and passing through the strait of belle isle anchored on the 9th of august in pillage bay, opposite anticosti. the next day he named this the bay of st lawrence. in course of time the name spread to the gulf and finally to the river. proceeding through the passage north of anticosti, cartier anchored on the 1st of september at the mouth of the saguenay, which the two indians who had passed the winter in france informed him was the name of a kingdom "rich and wealthy in precious stones." again on reaching the island of orleans, so named after the third son of francis i., they told cartier he was now in the kingdom of canada, in reality the huron-iroquois word for village. leaving his two larger vessels in the st charles, which there enters the st lawrence, cartier set off westward with the bark and the long-boats. the former grounded in lake st peter, but in the latter he reached, on the 2nd of october, the huron-iroquois village of hochelaga on the site of the city of montreal. further progress was checked by the lachine rapid. from the top of mount royal, a name still in use, cartier beheld the st lawrence and the ottawa stretching away to the west. on his return to the st charles, where during the winter twenty-five men died of scurvy, cartier sought further information about the rich country called saguenay, which he was informed could be reached more easily by way of the ottawa. in order to give francis i. authentic information of this northern mexico, cartier seized the chief and eleven of the headmen of the village and carried them off to france. this time he passed south of anticosti and, entering the atlantic through cabot strait, reached st malo on the 16th of july 1537. francis i. was unable to do anything further until the spring of 1541, when cartier set sail with five vessels and took up his quarters at cap rouge, 9 m. above quebec. a soldier, the seigneur de roberval, had been chosen to lead the men to the conquest of saguenay; but when he did not arrive, cartier made a fresh examination of the rapid of lachine, preparatory to sending the men up the river ottawa. roberval at length set sail in april 1542, but on reaching st john's, newfoundland, met cartier on his way back to france. in the summer of 1543, cartier was sent out to bring home roberval, whose attempt to make his way up the ottawa to this mythical saguenay had proved futile. from 1544 until his death at st malo, on the 1st of september 1557, cartier appears to have done little else than give technical advice in nautical matters and act as portuguese interpreter. a critical edition of cartier's _brief recit de la navigation faicte es isles de canada_ (1545), from the mss., has been published by the university of toronto. the best english version is that by james phinney baxter, published at portland, maine, in 1906. (h. p. b.) cartilage (lat. _cartilago_, gristle), the firm elastic and gristly connective tissue in vertebrates. (see connective tissues and joints.) cartoon (ital. _cartone_, pasteboard), a term used in pictorial art in two senses, (1) in painting, a cartoon is used as a model for a large picture in fresco, oil or tapestry, or for statuary. it was also formerly employed in glass and mosaic work. when cartoons are used in fresco-painting, the back of the design is covered with black-lead or other colouring matter; and, this side of the picture being applied to the wall, the artist passes over the lines of the design with a point, and thus obtains an impression. according to another method the outlines of the figures are pricked with a needle, and the cartoon, being placed against the wall, is "pounced," i.e. a bag of black colouring-matter is drawn over the perforations, and the outlines are thus transferred to the wall. in fresco-painting, the portions of the cartoon containing figures were formerly cut out and fixed (generally in successive sections) upon the moist plaster. their contour was then traced with a pointed instrument, and the outlines appeared lightly incised upon the plaster after the portion of the cartoon was withdrawn. in the manufacture of tapestries upon which it is wished to give a representation of the figures of cartoons, these figures are sometimes cut out, and laid behind or under the woof, to guide the operations of the artist. in this case the cartoons are coloured. cartoons have been executed by some of the most distinguished masters; the greatest extant performances in this line of art are those of raphael. they are seven in number, coloured in distemper; and at present they adorn the victoria and albert museum, in south kensington, having been removed thither from their former home, the palace of hampton court. with respect to their merits, they count among the best of raphael's productions; lanzi even pronounces them to be in beauty superior to anything else the world has ever seen. not that they all present features of perfect loveliness, and limbs of faultless symmetry,--this is far from being the case; but in harmony of design, in the universal adaptation of means to one great end, and in the grasp of soul which they display, they stand among the foremost works of the designing art. the history of these cartoons is curious. leo x. employed raphael in designing (in 1515-1516) a series of scriptural subjects, which were first to be finished in cartoons, and then to be imitated in tapestry by flemish artists, and used for the decoration of the sistine chapel. two principal sets of tapestries were accordingly executed at arras in flanders; but it is supposed that neither leo nor raphael lived to see them. the set which went to rome was twice carried away by invaders, first in 1527 and afterwards in 1798. in the first instance they were restored in a perfect state; but after their return in 1814 one was wanting--the cupidity of a genoese having induced him to destroy it for the sake of the precious metal which it contained. authorities differ as to the original number of cartoons, but there appear to have been twenty-five,--some by raphael himself, assisted by gianfrancesco penni, others by the surviving pupils of raphael. the cartoons after which the tapestries were woven were not, ~~ it would seem, restored to rome, but remained as lumber about the manufactory in arras till after the revolution of the low countries, when seven of them which had escaped destruction were purchased by charles i., on the recommendation of rubens. they were found much injured, "holes being pricked in them for the weavers to pounce the outlines, and in other parts they were almost cut through by tracing." it has never been ascertained what became of the other cartoons. three tapestries, the cartoons of which by raphael no longer exist, are in the vatican,--representing the stoning of st stephen, the conversion of st paul, and st paul in prison at philippi. besides the cartoons of raphael, two, to which an extraordinary celebrity in art-history attaches, were those executed in competition by leonardo da vinci and by michelangelo--the former named the battle of the standard, and the latter the cartoon of pisa--soldiers bathing, surprised by the approach of the enemy. both these great works have perished, but the general design of them has been preserved. in recent times some of the most eminent designers of cartoons have been masters of the german school,--cornelius, kaulbach, steinle, fuhrich, &c.; indeed, as a general rule, these artists appear to greater advantage in their cartoons than in the completed paintings of the same compositions. in england cartoon-work developed considerably in 1843 and 1844, when a competition was held for the decoration of the new houses of parliament. dyce and maclise left examples of uncommon mark in this line. the cartoon by fred. walker, a.r.a., made to advertise the dramatic version of wilkie collins's _woman in white_, is now at the tate gallery; and cartoons by ford madox brown are in the victoria and albert museum, south kensington. (w. m. r.) (2) "cartoon" is also a term now applied to the large political drawings in the humorous or satirical papers of the day. at an earlier period satirical prints were styled "caricatures," and were issued separately. gillray, rowlandson, the three cruikshanks, heath and others were popular favourites in this class of design. even the insignificant little cuts by robert seymour in _figaro in london_, the _diableries_ in _the fly_, and the vulgar and rancorous political skits identified with the flood of scurrilous little papers of the time, were dignified by the same term. the long series of _political sketches_ by "h.b." (john doyle) were the first examples of unexaggerated statement, and fair and decorous satire. with the advent of _punch_ and its various rivals (_the peep-show, the great gun, diogenes_ and the like), the general tone was elevated. _punch_ at first adopted the word "pencilling" to describe the "big cut," which dealt variously with political and social topics. but when in 1843 there was held in westminster hall the great exhibition of "cartoons" from which selection was to be made of designs for the decoration in fresco of the new houses of parliament, _punch_ jocularly professed to range himself alongside the great artists of the day; so that the "mad designe" of the reign of charles i. became the "cartoon" of that of queen victoria. john leech's drawing in no. 105 of that journal was the first caricature to be called a cartoon: it was entitled "substance and shadow: the poor ask for bread, and the philanthropy of the state accords--an exhibition." later, _punch_ dropped the word for a while, but the public took it up. yet the _new english dictionary_ curiously attributes the first use of it to miss braddon in 1863. in england the cartoon, no longer a weapon of venomous attack, has come to be regarded as a humorous or sarcastic comment upon the topic uppermost in the nation's mind, a witty or saturnine illustration of views already formed, rather than as an instrument for the manufacture of public opinion. it has almost wholly lost its rancour; it has totally lost its ferocity--the evolutionary result of peace and contentment, for satire in its more violent and more spontaneous form is but the outcome of the dissatisfaction or the rage of the multitude. the cartoon, it is agreed, must be suggestive; it must present a clear idea lucidly and, if possible, laughably worked out; and, however reserved or restrained it may be, or even, when occasion demands (as in the case of sir john tenniel and some of his imitators), however epic in intuition, it must always figure, so to say, as a leading article transformed into a picture. (see caricature and illustration.) (m. h. s.) cartouche (a french word adapted from the ital. _cartoccio_, a roll of paper, med lat. _carta_, for _charta_, paper), originally a roll of paper, parchment or other material, containing the charge of powder and shot for a firearm, a cartridge (q.v.), which itself is a corruption of cartouche. the term was applied in architecture to various forms of ornamentation taking the shape of a scroll, such as the volute of an ionian capital. it was particularly used of a sculptured tablet in the shape of a partly unrolled scroll on which could be placed an inscription or device. such "cartouches" are used for titles, &c., on engravings of maps, plans, and the like. the arms of the popes and ecclesiastics of high birth were borne on an oval cartouche; and it is thus particularly applied, in egyptian archaeology, for the oblong device with oval ends, enclosing the names of royal personages on the monuments. it is properly an oval formed by a rope knotted at one end. an amulet of similar shape, as the symbol of the "name," was worn by men and women as a protection against the blotting out of the name after death. cartridge (corruption of fr. _cartouche_), a case, of brass or other metal, cardboard, silk, flannel, &c., containing an explosive charge, and usually the projectile also, for small arms and ordnance (see ammunition).