Chapter Charge to Chase of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

brass helmet, and sometimes a showy cap. He was a tooth-extracter as well as dispenser.
   Probably “Latan” was an assumed name, for charlatan is undoubtedly the Italian ciarlatano, a babbler or quack.

Charlemagne His nine wives were Hamiltrude, a poor Frankish woman, who bore him several children; Desiderata, who was divorced; Hildegarde, Fastrade (daughter of Count Rodólph the Saxon), and Luitgarde the German, all three of whom died before him, Maltegarde; Gersuinde the Saxon; Regina; and Adalinda.
   Charlemagne's peers. (See Paladins.)
   Charlemagne's sword. La Joyeuse.
   Faire Charlemagne. To carry off one's winnings without giving the adversaries “their revenge.”

“Faire Charlemagne cest se retirer du jeu avec tout son gain, ne point donner de revanche. Charlemagne garda jusqu' á la fin toutes ses conquetes et quitta le jeu de la vie sans avoir rien rendu du fruit de ses victoires. Le joueur qui se retire les mains pleins, fait conine Charlemagne.”- Genin Recreations. i. 186.

Charles An ill-omened name for kings:
   England: Charles I. was beheaded by his subjects.
   Charles II. lived long in exile.
   Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, died in poverty and disgrace in France.
   France: Charles I., the Bald, marching to repel the invading Saracens, was forsaken by his followers, and died of poison at Brios.
   Charles II., the Fat, reigned wretchedly, and died a beggarly dependent on the stinting bounty of the Archbishop of Metz.
   Charles III., the Simple, died in the dungeon of Château Thierry.
   Charles IV., the Fair, reigned six years, married thrice, but buried all his children except one daughter, who was forbidden by the Salic law to succeed to the crown.
   Charles VI. lived and died an idiot or madman.
   Charles VII. starved himself to death.
   Charles VIII. smashed his head against the lintel of a doorway in the Château Amboise, and died in agony.
   Charles IX. died at the age of twentyfour, harrowed in conscience for the part he had taken in the “Massacre of St. Bartholomew.”
   Charles X. spent a quarter of a century in exile, and when he succeeded to the throne, fled for his life and died in exile.
   Charles le Téméraire, of Burgundy, lost his life at Nancy, where he was utterly defeated by the Swiss.
   Naples: Charles I. saw the French massacred in the “Sicilian Vespers,” and experienced only disasters.
   Charles II., the Lame, was in captivity at his father's death.
   Charles III., his grandson, was assassinated. (See Jane)

Charles I When Bernini's bust of Charles I. was brought home, the King was sitting in the garden of Chelsea Palace. He ordered the bust to be uncovered, and at the moment a hawk with a bird in its beak flew by, and a drop of the blood fell on the throat of the bust. The bust was ultimately destroyed when the palace was burnt down.

Charles and the Oak When Charles II. fled from the Parliamentary army, he took refuge in Boscobel House; but when he deemed it no longer safe to remain there, he concealed himself in an oak. Dr. Stukeley says that this tree “stood just by a horse-track passing through the wood, and the king, with Colonel Carlos, climbed into it by means of the hen-roost ladder. The family reached them victuals with a nuthook.” (Itinerarium Curiosum, iii. p. 57, 1724.)

Charles's Wain The constellation called the Great Bear, which forms the outline of a wheelbarrow or rustic wagon. “Charles” is a corruption of the word churles, the farmer's wagon. (Anglo-Saxon, ceorles wan.)
    Sometimes still further corrupted into “King Charles's wain.”

Charleys or Charlies. The old night watch, before the police force was organised in 1829. So called from Charles I., in whose reign the system was re-organised. (1640.)

Charlotte Elizabeth Mrs. Tonna (1792-1846).

Charm means a song. Incantation is singing on or against some one. Enchant is the same. (Latin, carmen. )

Charon's Toll [care-un].' A coin, about equal to a penny, placed in the mouth or hand of the dead to pay Charon for ferrying the spirit across the river Styx to the Elysian fields.

Charter (See People's Charter )