CASSONE

cassone, in furniture, the italian name for a marriage coffer. the ancient and once almost universal european custom of providing a bride with a chest or coffer to contain the household linen, which often formed the major part of her dowry, produced in italy a special type of chest of monumental size and artistic magnificence. the cassoni of the people, although always large in size, were simple as regards ornament; but those of the nobles and the well-to-do mercantile classes were usually imposing as regards size, and adorned with extreme richness. the cassone was almost invariably much longer than the english chest, and even at a relatively early period it assumed an artistic finish such as was never reached by the chests of northern europe, except in the case of a few of the royal _corbeilles de mariage_ made by such artists as boulle for members of the house of france. many of the earlier examples were carved in panels of geometrical tracery, but their characteristic ornament was either _intarsia_ or _gesso_, or a mixture of the two. bold and massive feet, usually shaped as claws, lioncels, or other animals are also exceedingly characteristic of cassoni, most of which are of massive and sarcophagus-like proportions with moulded lids, while many of them are adorned at their corners with figures sculptured in high relief. the scroll-work inlay is commonly simple and graceful, consisting of floral or geometrical motives, or arabesques. the examples coated with gilded _gesso_ or blazoned with paintings are, however, the most magnificent. they were often made of chestnut, and decorated with flowers and foliage in a relief which, low at first, became after the renaissance very high and sharp. the panels of the painted cassoni frequently bore representations of scriptural and mythological subjects, or incidents derived from the legends of chivalry. nor was heraldry forgotten, the arms of the family for which the chest was made being perhaps emblazoned upon the front. these chests rarely bear dates or initials, but it is often possible to determine their history from their armorial bearings. cassowary (_casuarius_), a genus of struthious birds, only inferior in size to the emeu and ostrich, and, according to sir r. owen, approximating more closely than any other living birds to the extinct moas of new zealand. the species are all characterized by short rudimentary wings, bearing four or five barbless shafts, a few inches long, and apparently useless for purposes of flight, of running, or of defence; and by loosely webbed feathers, short on the neck, but of great length on the rump and back, whence they descend over the body forming a thick hair-like covering. they possess stout limbs, with which they kick in front, and have the inner toe armed with a long powerful claw. the common cassowary (_casuarius galeatus_) stands 5 ft. high, and has a horny, helmet-like protuberance on the crown of its head; the front of the neck is naked and provided with two brightly-coloured wattles. it is a native of the island of ceram, where it is said to live in pairs, feeding on fruits and herbs, and occasionally on small animals. the mooruk, or bennett's cassowary (_casuarius bennettii_), is a shorter and more robust bird, approaching in the thickness of its legs to the moas. it differs further from the preceding species in having its head crowned with a horny plate instead of a helmet. it has only been found in new britain, where the natives are said to regard it with some degree of veneration. when captured by them shortly after being hatched, and reared by the hand, it soon becomes tame and familiar; all the specimens which have reached europe alive have been thus domesticated by the natives. the adult bird in the wild state is exceedingly shy and difficult of approach, and, owing to its great fleetness and strength, is rarely if ever caught. it eats voraciously, and, like the ostrich, will swallow whatever comes in its way. (see emeu.) cast (from the verb meaning "to throw"; the word is scand. in origin, cf. dan. _kaste_, and swed. _kasta_; "cast" in middle eng. took the place of the a.s. _weorpan_, cf. ger. _werfen_), a throw, or that which is thrown, or that into which something is thrown. from these three meanings come the main uses of the word; for the throwing of dice, with the figurative sense of a chance or opportunity, as in "at the last cast"; for the throwing of a fisherman's line in fly-fishing; for hounds spreading out in search of a lost scent; or, with the further meaning of a twisted throw or turn, for a slight squint in the eye. "cast" is applied to a measure of herrings or other fish, being the amount taken in two hands to be thrown into a vessel, and similarly to a potter's measure for a certain quantity of clay; in fishing, to the casting line of gut with fly attached; to the hard refuse thrown out of the crop of a bird of prey, and to the coils of earth thrown up by earth-worms. from the old method, in making calculations, of using counters, which were thus "thrown" up into a heap, is probably derived the meaning of "cast" for the "casting up" of figures in an account. further, the word is found for a mould for the casting of metals, and more particularly for the copy of an original statue or relief taken from a mould; similarly, of fossils, for the mineral filling of the empty mould left by the organism. special uses of the word are also found in the theatrical term for the assignment of particular parts to the actors and actresses in a play, and in the many figurative senses of a type or stamp, as of features or characters.