ut 2402 tons with 937 men and 92 guns under
Captain George Downie (d. 1814) confronted an American land force of
1500 men under Brigadier-General Alexander Macomb (1782-1841), strongly
entrenched at Plattsburg, and an American naval force (anchored in
Plattsburg Bay) of 14 vessels of about 2244 tons with 882 men and 86
guns under Commodore Thomas Macdonough (1783-1825). In the open lake the
British naval force should have been the superior, but at anchor in the
bay the Americans had a decided advantage. Expecting the British land
force to drive the American fleet from its anchorage, Captain Downie, on
the 11th of September 1814, began the battle of Lake Champlain. It had
continued only fifteen minutes when he was killed; the land force failed
to co-operate, and after a severe fight at close range for 2-1/2 hours,
during which the British lost about 300 men, the Americans 200 and the
vessels of both sides were greatly shattered, the British retreated both
by land and by water, abandoning their plan of invading New York.

See C.E. Peet, "Glacial and Post-Glacial History of the Hudson and
Champlain Valleys," in vol. xii. of the _Journal of Geology_
(Chicago, 1904); P.S. Palmer, _History of Lake Champlain_ (Albany.
1866); and Capt. A.T. Mahan, _Sea Power in its Relations to the War of
1812_ (2 vols., Boston, 1905).

CHAMPMESLE, MARIE (1642-1698), French actress, was born in Rouen of a
good family. Her father's name was Desmares. She made her first
appearance on the stage at Rouen with Charles Chevillet (1645-1701), who
called himself sieur de Champmesle, and they were married in 1666. By
1669 they were playing in Paris at the Theatre du Marais, her first
appearance there being as Venus in Boyer's _Fete de Venus_. The next
year, as Hermione in Racine's _Andromaque_, she had a great success at
the Hotel de Bourgogne. Her intimacy with Racine dates from then. Some
of his finest tragedies were written for her, but her repertoire was not
confined to them, and many an indifferent play--like Thomas Corneille's
_Ariane_ and _Comte d'Essex_--owed its success to "her natural manner of
acting, and her pathetic rendering of the hapless heroine." _Phedre_ was
the climax of her triumphs, and when she and her husband deserted the
Hotel de Bourgogne (see BEJART _ad fin._), it was selected to open the
Comedie Francaise on the 26th of August 1680. Here, with Mme Guerin as
the leading comedy actress, she played the great tragi