Catgut

(kat'gut.) (Com.) The name given to the strings made from the dried and twisted peritoneal coverings of the intestines of sheep and other animals. They are used for musical instruments, for lathe-bands, whips, bows, ., and are largely manufactured at Lyon, Milan, and other cities. Catharine, or Catherine, (kath'ur-in,) the name of several empre es and queens, of whom the more noticeable are the following:-CATHARINE I., empre of Ru ia, B. 1683, the daughter of a Livonian peasant,who, after a loose life after the death of her first husband, a Swedish officer, married Peter the Great, to whom she proved a true, faithful, and loving wife, and who, by the sacrifice of her jewels, purchased from the Turkish general means of escape for her husband and his army, on the Pruth, in 1717. After Peter's death, C. became sole ruler. D. 1727.- CATHERINE II., empre of Ru ia, by birth a German, married, in 1745, the Grand-duke Peter, who ascended the throne in 1761. under the title of Peter III. C., whose whole life is a chronicle of female infamy, ruled the empire after the murder of her husband by her favorite, Alexis Orloff. She carried on a succe ful war against Turkey, a isted in the partition of Poland, and D. in 1796, after reigning 35 years. C. was a woman of great ability; she carried on the government of the country with great energy; and her reign was remarkable for the rapid increase of the extent and power of Ru ia.- CATHERINE DE' MEDICI (Fr., C. de Médicis), daughter of the Duke of Urbino by a French prince , married the Duke d'Orleans, afterwards Henri II. of France, in 1533. She was mother of Francis II., Charles IX., and Henri III., succe ively kings of France. The death of Francis II., in 1560, rendered her mistre of the kingdom, with the title of regent for Charles IX., who was a minor. She was artful, avaricious, and cruel. Το increase her political influence, she corrupted the morals of her sons. She fomented civil war among her subjects, and instigated the ma acre of Saint Bartholomew, Aug., 1572. She had but one redeeming quality: her love for, and fostering patronage of, the arts and literature. D. 1589.- CATHARINE HOWARD, 5th queen of Henry VIII. of England, s. Anne Boleyn, and proving guilty of a charge of infidelity to her husband, was summarily tried and beheaded in 1.542.-CATHARINE OF ARAGON, 1st wife of Henry VIII. of England, and daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, B. 1483, married,-1st, Arthur, Prince of Wales, who left her widow a year afterward. She married, 2dly, in 1509, his brother, afterwards Henry VIII., who divorced her in 1533, to marry Anne Boleyn. D. 1536.-CATHARINE PARR, 6th and last wife of Henry VIII. of England, whom she married in 1543, and outlived, married 4thly, in 1547, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral of England. D. 1548. [s. 153]