CHAOS

chaos, in the hesiodic theogony, the infinite empty space, which existed before all things (_theog._ 116, 123). it is not, however, a mere abstraction, being filled with clouds and darkness; from it proceed erebus and nyx (night), whose children are aether (upper air) and hemera (day). in the orphic cosmogony the origin of all goes back to chronos, the personification of time, who produces aether and chaos. in the aristophanic parody (_birds_, 691) the winged eros in conjunction with gloomy chaos brings forth the race of birds. the later roman conception (ovid, _metam._ i. 7) makes chaos the original undigested, amorphous mass, into which the architect of the world introduces order and harmony, and from which individual forms are created. in the created world (cosmos, order of the universe) the word has various meanings:--the universe; the space between heaven and earth; the under-world and its ruler. metaphorically it is used for the immeasurable darkness, eternity, and the infinite generally. in modern usage "chaos" denotes a state of disorder and confusion. chapbook (from the o. eng. _chap_, to buy and sell), the comparatively modern name applied by booksellers and bibliophiles to the little stitched tracts written for the common people and formerly circulated in england, scotland and the american colonies by itinerant dealers or chapmen, consisting chiefly of vulgarized versions of popular stories, such as _tom thumb_, _jack the giant killer_, _mother shipton_, and _reynard the fox_--travels, biographies and religious treatises. few of the older chapbooks exist. samuel pepys collected some of the best and had them bound into small quarto volumes, which he called vulgaria; also four volumes of a smaller size, which he lettered _penny witticisms, penny merriments, penny compliments_ and _penny godlinesses_. the early chapbooks were the direct descendants of the black-letter tracts of wynkyn de worde. it was in france that the printing-press first began to supply reading for the common people. at the end of the 15th century there was a large popular literature of farces, tales in verse and prose, satires, almanacs, &c., stitched together so as to contain a few leaves, and circulated by itinerant booksellers, known as colporteurs. most early english chapbooks are adaptations or translations of these french originals, and were introduced into england early in the 16th century. the chapbooks of the 17th century present us with valuable illustrations of the manners of the time; one of the best known is that containing the story of dick whittington. others which had a great vogue are _jack the giant killer, little red riding hood_, and _mother shipton_. those of the 18th century are far inferior in every way, both as regards the literature and the printing; and unfortunately it is these which form the bulk of what is now known to us in collections as chapbooks. they have never exercised any great influence in england nor received much attention, owing no doubt to their poor literary character. in france, on the other hand, their french equivalents have been the object of close and systematic study, and _l'histoire des livres populaires ou de la litterature du colportage_ by charles nisard (1854) goes deeply into the subject. amongst english books may be mentioned _notices of fugitive tracts and chapbooks_, by j.o. halliwell-phillipps (1849); _chapbooks of the 18th century_, by john ashton (1882), and some reprints by the villon society in 1885. the word "chapbook" has not been noticed earlier than 1824, when dibdin, the celebrated bibliographer, described a work as being "a chapbook, printed in rather a neat black-letter." chape (from the fr. _chape_, a hood, cope or sheath), a cover or metal plate, such as the cap upon the needle in the compass, also the transverse guard of a sword which protects the hand. from the original meaning comes the use of the word as a support or catch to attach one thing to another, as the hook on a belt to which the sword is fastened. the word is also used for the tip of a fox's brush.