CAMBY`SES, king of Persia, succeeded his father, the great Cyrus; invaded and subdued Egypt, but afterwards suffered serious reverses, and in the end gave himself up to dissipation and vindictive acts of cruelty, from which not only his subjects suffered, but the members of his own family; d. 54 B.C.

CAMBYSES, KING, a ranting character in a play called “The Lamentable Tragedy”; referred to by Falstaff in I Henry IV., Act ii. sc. 4.

CAMDEN (58), a busy town in New Jersey, U.S., on the left bank of the Delaware, opposite Philadelphia; the terminus of six railways.

CAMDEN, CHARLES PRATT, FIRST EARL OF, a distinguished British lawyer and statesman, chief-justice of the King’s Bench in George I.’s reign, and ultimately Lord Chancellor of England; opposed, as judge in the case, the prosecution of Wilkes as illegal, and as a statesman the policy and action of the government towards the American colonies; he was created earl in 1786 (1713-1794).

CAMDEN, WILLIAM, a learned English antiquary, the first and most famous born in London; second master, and eventually head-master in Westminster School, during which time he gave proof of his antiquarian knowledge, which led to his appointment as Clarencieux king-at-arms; author of “Britannia,” a historical and topographical account of the British Isles, his most widely known work, and “Annals of Elizabeth’s Reign,” both, as all the rest of his works, written in Latin; he has been surnamed the Strabo and the Pausanias of England (1551-1623).

CAMELOT, a place in Somerset, where, it is presumed, King Arthur held his court, and where entrenchments of an old town are still to be seen.

CAMENAE, in the Roman mythology a set of nymphs endowed with semi-prophetic powers, and sometimes identified with the Muses.

CAMEO, a precious stone cut in relief; consists generally of two or three different colours, the upper cut in relief and the under forming the ground.

CAMERA LUCIDA, an optical instrument or contrivance, by means of which the image of an object may be made to appear on a light or white surface.

CAMERA OBSCURA, an optical contrivance, by means of which the images of external objects are exhibited distinctly on a surface in the focus of the lens.

CAMERARIUS, a distinguished scholar, born at Bamberg; active as a German Reformer; played a prominent part in the religious struggles of his time; friend and biographer of Melanchthon; collaborated with him in drawing up the Augsburg Confession (1500-1574).

CAMERON, JOHN, a learned divine, born in Glasgow, who held several professorial appointments on the Continent; was for a time Principal of Glasgow University; his knowledge was so extensive that he was styled a “walking library,” but he fell in disfavour with the people for his doctrine of passive obedience, and he died of a wound inflicted by an opponent of his views (1579-1625).