published (1887) his Dead Man’s Rock (a romance in the vein of Stevenson’s Treasure Island), and he followed this up with Troy Town (1888) and The Splendid Spur (1889). After some journalistic experience in London, mainly as a contributor to the Speaker, in 1891 he settled at Fowey in Cornwall. His later novels include The Blue Pavilions (1891), The Ship of Stars (1899), Hetty Wesley (1903), The Adventures of Harry Revel (1903), Fort Amity (1904), The Shining Ferry (1905), Sir John Constantine (1906). He published in 1896 a series of critical articles, Adventures in Criticism, and in 1898 he completed R. L. Stevenson’s unfinished novel, St Ives. From his Oxford days he was known as a writer of excellent verse. With the exception of the parodies entitled Green Bays (1893), his poetical work is contained in Poems and Ballads (1896). In 1895 he published a delightful anthology from the 16th and 17th-century English lyrists, The Golden Pomp, followed in 1900 by an equally successful Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900 (1900). In Cornwall he was an active worker in politics for the Liberal party. He was knighted in 1910.
QUILLOTA, a town of Chile in the province of Valparaiso, on the left bank of the Aconcagua river, 20 m. above its mouth and 26 m. E.N.E. of the city of Valparaiso. Pop. (1902 estimate) 9876. The valley is noted for its beauty, fertility, and healthfulness, and is the centre of thriving fruit and wine industries. Among its fruits is the “chirimoya” (Anona cherimolia). There are rich copper mines in the vicinity. Quillota is situated on a railway between Valparaiso and Santiago, which passes through a mountainous, semi-barren country. It is one of the oldest towns of Chile, dating from the first years of the conquest.
QUILON, a seaport of India, on the Malabar coast, in the state of Travancore. Pop. (1901) 15,691. Quilon enjoys great facilities of water communication, and has an active export trade in timber, coco-nuts, ginger, pepper, &c. The palace of the maharaja of Travancore stands on the bank of Quilon lake, a beautiful sheet of water. Besides being on a projecting point, Quilon is rendered still more unsafe to approach by the bank of hard ground called the Tangasseri reef, which extends some distance to the south-west and west of the point and along the coast to the northward. There is good anchorage, however, in a bight about 3 m. from the fort. Quilon is one of the oldest towns on the Malabar coast, and continued to be a place of considerable importance down to the beginning of the 16th century. It is now the headquarters of the Travancore army, with a subsidiary battalion. Cotton weaving and spinning and the manufacture of tiles are the chief industries. It is the terminus of a railway across the hills from Tinnevelly. Adjoining Quilon is the British village of Tangasseri, formerly a Portuguese and then a Dutch settlement, which is administered with Anjengo; pop. (1901) 1733.
QUILT, properly a coverlet for a bed, consisting of a mass of feathers, down, wool or other soft substance, surrounded by an outer covering of linen, cloth, or other material. In its earlier uses the “quilt” was made thick, and served as a form of mattress. The term was also given to a stitched wadded lining for body armour, and also, when made stout and closely padded, to a substitute for armour. The word came into English from O. Fr. cuilte, coilte, or coute, mod. couette. This is derived from Lat. culcita or culcitra, a stuffed mattress or cushion. From the form culcitra came O. Fr. cotre or coutre, whence coutre pointe, Low Lat. culcita puncta, i.e. stitched or quilted cushion; this was corrupted to contre pointe, Eng. counterpoint, which in turn was changed to “counterpane” (as if from Lat. pannus, piece of cloth). Thus “counterpane,” a coverlet for a bed, and “quilt,” are by origin the same word.
QUIMPER, formerly Quimper-Corentin, a town of France, capital of the department of Finistère, 158 miles north-west of Nantes and 68 miles south-east of Brest on the railway between those towns. Pop. (1906) 16,559. The delightful valley in which it lies is surrounded by high hills and traversed by the Steir and the Odet, which, meeting above the town, form a navigable channel for vessels of 150 tons to the sea (11 miles). There is a small general shipping trade. Of the town walls (15th century) a few portions are preserved in the terrace of the episcopal palace and in the neighbourhood of the college. Quimper is the seat of a bishopric in the province of Rennes. The cathedral, dedicated to St Corentin and erected between 1239 and 1515, has a fine facade (c. 1425), the pediment of which is crowned by a modern equestrian statue of King Grallon, and adorned (like several other external parts of the building) with heraldic devices in granite. Two lateral towers with modern spires (1854–56) and turrets reach a height of 247 feet. The axis of the choir is deflected towards the north, a feature not uncommon, but here exaggerated. The nave and the transept are in the style of the 15th century, and the central boss bears the arms of Anne of Brittany (1476–1514). The terminal chapel of the apse dates from the 13th century. In the side chapels are the tombs of several early bishops. The high altar, tabernacle, and ciborium are costly works of contemporary art. The pulpit panels represent episodes in the life of St Corentin. Of the other churches may be mentioned the church of Locmaria, dating from the 11th century, and the chapel of the 15th century connected with the episcopal palace. A number of houses, in wood or stone, date from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The museum, built in 1869–70, contains archaeological collections and about 1300 paintings and drawings. In 1868 a bronze statue of Laennec the inventor of the stethoscope (born at Quimper in 1781) was erected in Place St Corentin.
Quimper, or at least its suburb Locmaria (which lies below the town on the left bank of the Odet), was occupied in the time of the Romans, and traces of the ancient foundations exist. Later Quimper became the capital of, Cornouailles and the residence of its kings or hereditary counts. It is said to have been Grallon Meur (i.e. the Great) who brought the name of Cornouailles from Great Britain and founded the bishopric, which was first held by St Corentin about 495. Hoel, count of Cornouailles, marrying the sister and heiress of Duke Conan in 1066, united the count ship with the duchy of Brittany. Quimper suffered in the local wars of succession. In 1344 it was sacked by Charles of Blois. Monfort failed in his attempt to take the town by storm on August 11, 1345, but it opened its gates to his son John IV. in 1364 after the victory at Auray. At a later period it sided with the League. Doubtless on account of its distance from the capital, Quimper, like Carpentras and Landerneau, has been a frequent butt of French popular wit.
QUIMPERLÉ, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Finistère, at the confluence of two rivers which unite to form the Laiter, 28 m. E.S.E. of Quimper by rail. Pop. (1906) town 6203, commune 9176. Quimperlé grew up round the abbey of Ste Croix, founded in the 11th century, the romanesque basilica of which, restored in modern times, still remains. The church of St Michel (14th and 15th centuries), with a fine tower, crowns the hill above the town. Quimperlé has a tribunal of first instance, and carries on the manufacture of farm implements, railway material, paper, &c., and trades in grain, timber, cattle and agricultural products. The town has a small port.
QUIN, JAMES (1693–1766), English actor of Irish descent, was born in London on the 24th of February 1693. He was educated at Dublin, and probably spent a short time at Trinity College. Soon after his father’s death in 1710, he made his first appearance on the stage at Abel in Sir Robert Howard’s The Committee at the Smock Alley Theatre. Quin’s first London engagement was in small parts at Drury Lane, and he secured his first triumph at Bajazet in Nicolas Rowe’s Tamerlane, on the 8th of November 1715. The next year he appeared as Hotspur at Lincoln’s Inn, where he remained for fourteen years. On the 10th of July 1718 he was convicted of manslaughter for having killed Bowen, another actor, in a duel which the victim had himself provoked. Quin was not severely punished, the affair being regarded as more of an accident than a crime. The public took a similar view of another episode in which Quin, on being attacked by a young actor who had been angered by the sarcastic criticism of his superior,
