CHILDE HAROLD, a man sated with the world, who roams from place to place, to kill time and escape from himself.  The “childe” is, in fact, lord Byron himself, who was only twenty-two when he began the poem, which was completed in seven years.  In canto i. the “childe” visits Portugal and Spain (1809); in canto ii.  Turkey in Europe (1810); in canto iii.  Belgium and Switzerland (1816); and in canto iv.  Venice, Rome, and Florence (1817).

("Childe” is a title of honor, about tantamount to “lord,” as childe Waters, childe Rolande, childe Tristram, childe Arthur, childe Childers, etc.)

CHIL’DERS (E.W.B.), one of the riders in Sleary’s circus, noted for his vaulting and reckless riding in the character of the “Wild Huntsman of the Prairies.”  This compound of groom and actor marries Josephine, Sleary’s daughter.

Kidderminster Childers, son of the above, known in the profession as “Cupid.”  He is a diminutive boy, with an old face and facetious manner wholly beyond his years.—­C.  Dickens, Hard Times (1854).

CHILDREN (The Henneberg).  It is said that the countess of Henneberg railed at a beggar for having twins, and the beggar, turning on the countess, who was forty-two years old, said, “May you have as many children as there are days in a year,” and sure enough, on Good Friday, 1276, the countess brought forth 365 at one birth; all the males were christened John, and all the females Elizabeth.  They were buried at a village near La Hague, and the jug is still shown in which they were baptized.

CHILDREN IN THE WOOD, the little son (three years old) and younger daughter (Jane) left by a Norfolk gentleman on his death-bed to the care of his deceased wife’s brother.  The boy was to have L300 a year on coming of age, and the girl L500 as a wedding portion; but if the children died in their minority the money was to go to the uncle.  The uncle, in order to secure the property, hired two ruffians to murder the children, but one of them relented and killed his companion; then, instead of murdering the babes, he left them in Wayland Wood, where they gathered blackberries, but died at night with cold and terror.  All things went ill with the uncle, who perished in gaol, and the ruffian, after a lapse of seven years, confessed the whole villainy.—­Percy, Reliques, III. ii. 18.

CHILDREN OF THE MIST, one of the branches of the MacGregors, a wild race of Scotch Highlanders, who had a skirmish with the soldiers in pursuit of Dalgetty and M’Eagh among the rocks (ch. 14).—­Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

CHILLIP (Dr.), a physician who attended Mrs. Copperfield at the birth of David.

He was the meekest of his set, the mildest of little men.—­C.  Dickens, David Copperfield, i. (1849).