BZOVIUS

BZOVIUS, ABRAHAM, one of the most celebrated wri-

ters in the seventeenth century, in as far as respects the number of pieces composed by him. His chief work is the continuation of Baronius's Annals. He was a native of Poland, and a Dominican friar. Upon his arrival at Rome he was received with open arms by the Pope, and

had an apartment assigned him in the Vatican. He merited that reception, for he has imitated Baronius to admiration, in his design of making all things conspire to enhance the power and glory of the papal see. He died in 1630, aged seventy.

C, THE third letter, and second consonant, of the alphabet, is pronounced like k before the vowels a, o, and u, and like s before e, i, and y. C is formed, according to Scaliger, from the $\backslash chi$ of the Greeks, by retrenching the stem or upright line; though others derive it from the $\backslash gamma$ of the Hebrews, which has in effect the same form; only, that as the Hebrews read towards the left, and the Latins and other western nations towards the right, each turned the letter their own way. However, the C not being the same as to sound with the Hebrew caph, $\backslash gamma$, and it being certain that the Romans did not borrow their letters immediately from the Hebrews or other orientals, but from the Greeks, the derivation from the Greek $\backslash chi$ is upon the whole the more probable. Indeed Montfaucon, in his Palæographia, gives some forms of the Greek $\backslash chi$ which approach very near to that of our C; and Suidas calls the C the Roman kappa. Before the first Punic war C held the place which is now occupied by G, as appears from the Duilian Column, where we meet with acnam for agnam, lectionem for legionem, and exfociont for effugiant. The second sound of C resembles that of the Greek $\backslash Sigma$; and many instances occur of ancient inscriptions, in which $\backslash Sigma$ has the same form with our C. Grammarians are pretty generally agreed that the Romans pronounced their Q like our C, and their C like our K. Mabillon informs us that Charles the Great was the first who wrote his name with a C; whereas all his predecessors of the same name wrote it with a K; and the same difference is observable in their coins. As an abbreviature, C stands for Caius, Carolus, Cæsar, condemno, &c., and CC represent consultibus. As a numeral, C signifies 100, CC 200, and so on. C, in Music, placed after the cleft, intimates that the music is in common time, which is either quick or slow as it is joined with allegro or adagio; but if alone, it is usually adagio. If the C be crossed or turned, the first requires the air to be played quick, and the last very quick.