Queen's Majesty"), and to educate
forty boys. The school developed beyond the original intentions of its
founder, and now ranks among the most eminent public schools in England.
In 1872 it was removed, during the headmastership (1863-1897) of the
Rev. William Haig-Brown (d. 1907), to new buildings near Godalming in
Surrey, which were opened on the 18th of June in that year. The number
of foundation scholarships is increased to sixty. The scholars are not
now distinguished by wearing a special dress or by forming a separate
house, though one house is known as Gownboys, preserving the former
title of the scholars. The land on which the old school buildings stood
in London was sold for new buildings to accommodate the Merchant
Taylors' school, but the pensioners still occupy their picturesque home,
themselves picturesque figures in the black gowns designed for them
under the foundation. The buildings, of mellowed red brick, include a
panelled chapel, in which is the founder's tomb, a fine dining-hall,
governors' room with ornate ceiling and tapestried walls, the old
library, and the beautiful great staircase.

CHARTER-PARTY (Lat. _charta partita_, a legal paper or instrument,
"divided," i.e. written in duplicate so that each party retains half), a
written, or partly written and partly printed, contract between merchant
and shipowner, by which a ship is let or hired for the conveyance of
goods on a specified voyage, or for a definite period. (See
AFFREIGHTMENT.)

CHARTERS TOWERS, a mining town of Devonport county, Queensland,
Australia, 82 m. by rail S.W. of Townsville and 820 m. direct N.N.W. of
Brisbane. It is the centre of an important gold-field, the reefs of
which improve at the lower depths, the deepest shaft on the field being
2558 ft. below the surface-level. The gold is of a very fine quality. An
abundant water-supply is obtained from the Burdekin river, some 8 m.
distant. The population of the town in 1901 was 5523; but within a 5 m.
radius it was 20,976. Charters Towers became a municipality in 1877.

CHARTIER, ALAIN (c. 1392-c. 1430), French poet and political writer, was
born at Bayeux about 1392. Chartier belonged to a family marked by
considerable ability. His eldest brother Guillaume became bishop of
Paris; and Thomas became notary to the king. Jean Chartier, a monk of St
Denis, whose history of Charles VII. is printed in vol. iii. of _Les
Grands Chroniques de Saint-Denis_ (1477), was not