in antiquity, a low column, with an inscription, erected on the high roads, or other places, to show the way to travellers; to serve as a boundary; to mark the grave of a deceased person, &c.

CIRK, ST., a village of France, two miles from Verfailles, which was remarkable for a nunnery founded by Louis XIV. The nuns were obliged to take care of the education of 250 girls, who could prove their families to have been noble from the 4th generation on the father's side. They could not enter before 7, nor after 12 years of age; and they continued till they were 20 years and 3 months old. The house was formerly a most magnificent structure.

CIRCÆA, ENCHANTER'S NIGHT-SHADE. See BOTANY Index.