CYR, ST.—C

'•264 square miles, and 120,000 inhabitants, of whom40000 are Greeks. Cyprus is the native place ofthe cauliflower. Wine, oil, honey, wool, &c., arestill as formerly, the principal productions. Thecountry is distinguished by remarkable places andmountains ; as Paphos, Amathusia, Salamis, andOlympus once adorned with a rich temple of Venus.Venus was particularly venerated here, because, ac-cording to tradition, the delightful shores of Cyprusreceived her when she emerged from the foam of thesea. The oldest history of this island is lost in thedarkness of antiquity. When Amasis brought itunder the Egyptian yoke, 550 B. C., Ionian andPhoenician colonists had formed several small statesin the island. It remained an Egyptian province till58 B. C., when it was conquered by the Romans.After the division of the Roman territories, Cypruscontinued subject to the Eastern empire, and wasruled by its own governors of royal blood, of whomComnenus I., made himself independent, and hisfamily sat upon the throne till 1191, when Richardof England rewarded the family of Lusignan with thesceptre. After the extinction of the legitimate maleline of Lusignan, James, an illegitimate descendant,came to the government. His wife was a Venetian,and, as she had no children at his death, the Vene-tians took advantage of this circumstance to makethemselves masters of the island (1473). They en-joyed the undisturbed possession of it till 1571, whenAmurath III., notwithstanding the bravest resistanceon the part of Marco Antonio Bragadino, who de-fended Famagusta eleven months, conquered Cyprus,and joined it to the empire of Turkey.

Nicosia, the chief city, was the seat of the Turkishgovernor, a Greek archbishop and an Armenianbishop. The wines of Cyprus are red when theyfirst come from the press ; but after five or six years,thev grow pale. Only the Muscatel wine is whiteat first; and even this, as it grows older, becomesredder, till, after a few years, it attains the thicknessof syrup. It is very sweet. The wines of Cyprusare not equally agreeable at all seasons of the year :they are best in spring and summer. Excessive coldinjures them, and destroys their flavour and colour.They are put up at first in leather bags covered withpitch, whence they acquire a strong pitchy flavourwhich is several years in escaping. They are broughtto the continent in casks, but cannot be kept unlessdrawn off after some time into bottles. The bestis distinguished by the name of Commandery. SeeVenus.

Cyr, St. A French village in the departmentof the Seine-and-Oise, one league west of Versailles,celebrated for the seminary which Louis XIV. foundedhere, at the persuasion of Madame Maintenon, in1686. Here two hundred and fifty noble ladies wereeducated, free of expense, until their twentieth year.Forty females of the order of St. Augustine instructedthe scholars. Madame Maintenon gave all her atten-tion to this establishment. She is buried at St. Cyr.During the revolution this institution was overturned,and a military preparatory school was founded by Na-poleon, which survived his fall, and still educates threehundred pupils. Napoleon established la maison impe-riate cCEcouen, an institution similar to the one at St.Dvr, and placed Madam Campari at the head of it.It has a population of about 1000 persons.

Cyrenaica (originally a Phoenician colony), oncea powerful Greek state in the north of Africa, west

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of Egypt, comprising five cities, among which wasCvrene, a Spartan colony. The site of the ancientCyrene is now called Crenne or Cayron, it is in thecountry of Barca, in the dominion of Tripoli. Till thefifth century Cyrenaica was the scat of the Gnostics.Surrounded by sterile and dry countries, Cyrenaicaitself is very fertile and well watered. Its bills arccovered with wood, and exhibit many melancholytraces of former cultivation. In ancient times, theinhabitants suffered much from the attacks of the peo-ple of the interior and the Carthaginians. 'Flic ruinsof Cyrene have given rise among the present inhabit-ants, to a belief in a petrified city. There are atpresent about 40,000 people in Djebcl Aklnlar.

Cyrillian Letters. Characters called, in Scla-vonic, Czuraliza; one of the modes of writing theSclavonic language, of which there are three :—1.Roman or German letters, used by the people ofPoland, Bohemia, and Lusatia ; 2. Cyrillian, so calledfrom their inventor, Cyrillus; they are much used bythe Russians, 3. From these Cyrillian characters,probably through the artifices of caligraphv, a pecu-liar alphabet was formed, which is used in printedbooks, but no where in common life.

Cythera. One of the seven Ionian islands, separated by a narrow strait from the south shore ofLaconia, was particularly celebrated for the worshipof Venus Urania, whose temple in Cythera, the chiefcity, was the oldest and most splendid of her templesin Greece. The ancient Cythera is now demolished,and exhibits nothing but a few ruins. It has a popu-lation of between eight and nine hundred persons.

Czar, Zar, or Zaar. A title of the autocrat ofRussia. The word is of old Sclavonic origin, and isnearly equivalent to king. The emperor is called, inthe same language, kessar. Until the sixteenth cen-tury, the rulers of the several Russian provinces werecalled grand-princes (wclila knaes). Thus there weregrand-princes of Wladimir, Kiev, Moscow, &c. Thegrand-prince of Wasilie first received, in 1505, thetitle of samodersheto, which is equivalent to the Greekword autocrat. The son of Wasilie, Ivan II., adopted,in 1579, the title of Czar of Moscow, which hisdescendants bore for along time. In 172!, the senateand clergy conferred on Peter I., in the name of thenation, the title of emperor of Russia, for which, inRussia, the Latin word imperator is used. SeveralEuropean powers declined to acknowledge this title,until the middle of the last century. The eldest sonand presumptive heir of the czar was called czarcviz(czar’s son); but with the unfortunate Alexis, son ofPeter I., this title ceased, and nearly all the princesof the imperial house have since been called grand-princes. The emperor Paul I., renewed the titleczarcviz, or czareivitch, in 1799, for his second son,Constantine. The rulers of Georgia and Imiretta, nowunder the Russian sceptre, called themselves czars.

Czernigov. A province in European Russia. Itis situated between Mohilev, Smolensko, Oreb,Kursh, Pultava, Kiev, and Minsk. The soil is ex-tremely fruitful, and the air remarkable for its salubrity.The number of inhabitants, according to the lastofficial returns, amounted to 749,850.

Czernovicz. A town in Austria. It is delight-fully situated at the foot of a range of mountains inthe circle of Galicia, on the banks of the river Pruth.This town contains between five and six thousandinhabitants. Lon. 26° 33' E., lat. 48° 25' 40" N.

Czongrad. A division of Hungary, thirty miles

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