re is evidence
that he had been sentenced to eight years at the galleys previous to the
1st of January 1620, and that the penalty had been remitted; but the
nature of his offence is not stated. His treatment of political
questions in the _Historia apologetica en los sucesos del reyno de
Aragon, y su ciudad de Zaragoza, anos de 91 y 92_ (1622), having led to
the confiscation of the book, Cespedes took up his residence at
Saragossa and Lisbon. While in exile he issued a collection of short
stories entitled _Historias peregrinas y exemplares_ (1623), the
unfinished romance _Varia fortuna del soldado Pindaro_ (1626), and the
first part of his _Historia de Felipe IV._ (1631), a fulsome eulogy
which was rewarded by the author's appointment as official
historiographer to the Spanish king. Cespedes died on the 27th of
January 1638. His novels, though written in a ponderous, affected style,
display considerable imagination and insight into character. The _Poema
tragico_ has been utilized by Fletcher in _The Spanish Curate_ and in
_The Maid of the Mill_.

The _Historias peregrinas_ has been reprinted (1906) with a valuable
introduction by Sr. Cotarelo y Mori.

CESS (a shortened form of "assess"; the spelling is due to a mistaken
connexion with "census"), a tax; a term formerly more particularly
applied to local taxation, in which sense it still is used in Ireland;
otherwise it has been superseded by "rate." In India it is applied, with
the qualifying word prefixed, to any taxation, such as "irrigation-cess"
and the like, and in Scotland to the land-tax.

CESSIO BONORUM (Latin for a "surrender of goods"), in Roman law, a
voluntary surrender of goods by a debtor to his creditors. It did not
amount to a discharge unless the property ceded was sufficient for the
purpose, but it secured the debtor from personal arrest. The creditors
sold the goods in satisfaction, _pro tanto_, of their claims. The
procedure of _cessio bonorum_ avoided infamy, and the debtor, though his
after-acquired property might be proceeded against, could not be
deprived of the bare necessaries of life. The main features of the Roman
law of _cessio bonorum_ were adopted in Scots law, and also in the
French legal system. (See further BANKRUPTCY.)

CESTI, MARC' ANTONIO (1620?-1669?), Italian musical composer, was born
at Florence about 1620. He was a pupil of Carissimi, and after holding a
post somewhere in Florence as _maestro di cappella_