re the buildings of the
convent. These are not very striking, the high roofs of dark slate, the
cross-surmounted turrets and the lofty clock-tower being the chief
features. But the situation is one of ideal peace and repose. Women were
formerly lodged in the old infirmary, close to the main gate, which is
now a hotel. Within the conventual buildings are four halls formerly
used for the reception of the priors of the various branch houses in
France, Italy, Burgundy and Germany. The very plain and unadorned chapel
dates from the 15th century, but the cloisters, around which cluster the
thirty-six small houses for the fully professed monks, are of later
date. The library contained before the Revolution a very fine collection
of books and MSS., now mostly in the town library at Grenoble.

The monks were expelled in 1793, but allowed to return in 1816, but then
they had to pay rent for the use of the buildings and the forests
around, though both one and the other were due to the industry of their
predecessors. They were again expelled in 1904, and are dispersed in
various houses in England, at Pinerolo (Italy) and at Tarragona (Spain).
It is at the last-named spot that the various pharmaceutical
preparations are now manufactured for which they are famous (though sold
only since about 1840)--the _Elixir_, the _Boule d'acier_ (a mineral
paste or salve), and the celebrated _liqueur_. The magnificent revenues
derived from the profits of this manufacture were devoted by the monks
to various purposes of benevolence, especially in the neighbouring
villages, which owe to this source their churches, schools, hospitals,
&c., &c., built and maintained at the expense of the monks.

See _La Grande Chartreuse par un Chartreux_ (Grenoble, 1898); H.
Ferrand, _Guide a la Grande Chartreuse_ (1889); and _Les Montagnes de
la Chartreuse_ (1899) (W. A. B. C.)

CHARWOMAN, one who is hired to do occasional household work. "Char" or
"chare," which forms the first part of the word, is common, in many
forms, to Teutonic languages, meaning a "turn," and, in this original
sense, is seen in "ajar," properly "on char," of a door "on the turn" in
the act of closing. It is thus applied to a "turn of work," an odd job,
and is so used, in the form "chore," in America, and in dialects of the
south-west of England.

CHASE, SALMON PORTLAND (1808-1873), American statesman and jurist, was
born in Cornish township, New Hampshire, on the 13t