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although of less value than his larger works, are held in great estimation: they are very rare. Alexander VII made him a knight of the order of the golden spur, as a reward for the embellishment of the colonnade of the church Della Pace. He died in 1669, and obtained an honorable burial in the church dedicated to St. Luke, at Rome, where he had immortalized himself by the design of the altar of St. Martina. Cortona sacrificed truth to pleasing effect. This object, however, he did not attain. The defects of his drawing, which is rather heavy, were redeemed by the fertility of invention, the attractive charms of his young female figures (although it is objected to them that they are too uniform), and the fresh coloring of his harmonious tints. This last quality is an excellence peculiar to him, and which no other artist has attained in an equal degree, either before or since his time.

CORUNDUM, Sometimes called also, from its hardness and peculiar lustre, adamantine spar, is of a grayish, greenish tint, occasionally reddish; more rarely blue, yellow and black. It is translucent or opaque. Its specific gravity varies from 3.975 to 4.161. In hardness, it ranks next to the diamond. It occurs, crystallized, in the form of the regular six-sided prism, and also in acute and obtuse hexaedral pyramids. It is also found granular and compact. It consists almost wholly of pure clay, or alumine, sometimes containing 4 or 5 per cent. of silex or lime. The blue variety, when transparent, goes by the name of the sapphire; the rose red or the violet, which is sometimes chatoyant, is called the Oriental ruby. Both of these rank, as gems, next to the diamond. They are found in the sands of rivers, and among alluvial matter in Ceylon. The common corundum is found in a granite rock in India, also at Mont St. Gothard, and in Piedmont. A granular variety of corundum, containing considerable iron, is called emery. It is found in the island of Naxos, in rolled masses, at the foot of primitive mountains. Its powder is well known in commerce, and greatly valued as a polishing substance.

CORUNNA, a seaport of Spain, in the province of Galicia, on the north-west coast, on a peninsula at the entrance of the bay of Betanzos. The streets of the upper town are narrow and ill paved. The lower town stands on a small tongue of land, and has tolerably broad and clean streets. The chief objects of interest are the royal arsenal, and an ancient tower, admired for its elevation and solidity.

The harbor is spacious and secure, and is protected by two castles. About three miles from the harbor is a light-house. In 1809, the British were attacked at this place, previous to embarking, and their general, sir John Moore, was killed. Population, 4000. 30 miles N. W. Lago. Lon. 8° 20′ 23′′ W.; lat. 43° 23′ 32′ N.

CORVÉE (French, from cura via, care of the road); the obligation of the inhabitants of a certain district to do certain labor, for the feudal lord or the sovereign, gratis or for pay. As the name shows, corvée originally meant compulsory labor on roads, bridges, &c., but it is applied also to other feudal services. Generally, of course, the payment for such services is much below the wages of ordinary labor. In some cases, however, the corvées have been considered as a privilege, and people have insisted on their right to perform the services, and to receive the pay for them; as the tenth part, for threshing, &c. In some parts of Germany, they still exist. In Prussia, they were abolished under Hardenberg's administration. In France, the revolution extirpated this relic of the feudal times.

CORVETTE (French); a vessel of war having fewer than 20 guns.

CORVEY, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 15 leagues S. E. of Minden, famous, in former times, as Corbeia Nova; a Benedictine convent on the Weser, which, with the convent of Fulda, was one of the first centres of civilization in Germany. It was built in the sixth century. The history of this interesting convent is important with reference to the history of the civilization of the middle ages. (See Theatrum illustr. Viror. Corbeia Saxonica, Jena, 1686, 4to.; and Leibnitz's Introduct. ad Script. Brunsvic., vol. i, page 26 et seq.) Wittekind, the historiographer of the convent, and many other learned men, were educated here. From Corvey proceeded Ansgar, the "apostle of the North." In 1794, Corvey was made a bishopric. In 1802, the bishopric was abolished, and Corvey given to the prince of Nassau and Orange; in 1807, it was assigned to Westphalia; in 1815, to Prussia; in 1822, it was made a mediatised principality (106 square miles, 10,000 inhabitants). The magnificent cathedral contains many monuments. In 1819, Paul Wigand published a history of the abbey of Corvey.

CORVISART, Jean Nicolas, baron, a distinguished French physician, was born at Dricourt, in the present department of the Ardennes, Feb. 15, 1755. His father,

procureur to the parliament of Paris, wished to educate him for the law; but an invincible inclination for medical studies led him into a different career, in which he was soon distinguished for his intelligence and his extensive learning. He succeeded Rochefort as physician to the hôpital de la charité, and was the first professor of internal clinics in France. He was chief physician to the first consul (1802), and afterwards to the emperor (to whom he was faithfully attached, but with whom he had not, according to the Mémoire of him by baron Cuvier, any political influence, as some have asserted), professor in the collège de France from 1797, member of the imperial institute, &c. Corvisart's great merit was not overlooked after the restoration. The place of honorary member of the royal academy of medicine was conferred on him just before his death, which happened Sept. 18, 1821. Corvisart felt that the most distinguished practitioner of medicine has not performed his whole duty to his science, unless he leaves some memorial of his experience. He translated some important works, with commentaries, and was the author of several valuable treatises. His two principal works are a Treatise on Diseases of the Heart, and a Commentary on the work of Auenbrugger, a German physician, published in 1763, at Vienna. In 1770, it was translated into French, but so much forgotten, that Corvisart says, "I could have sacrificed Auenbrugger's name to my vanity, but I did not choose to do so: I only wish to revive his beautiful discovery." His place in the French academy of sciences has been filled by M. Magendie, and his chair in the college of France had been occupied by M. Hallé for several years before the time of his death.

CORYBANTES (Curetes, Idæi Dactyli, among the Romans, a peculiar order of priests called Galli) are said to have derived their origin from Corybas, son of Cybele and Jasion, who appointed them to perform religious service to his mother, the goddess Cybele, in the island of Crete and in Phrygia. According to much more ancient traditions, they were descendants of Vulcan. The story of their clashing together instruments of forged metal, when Rhea gave them the infant Jupiter, in order to prevent Saturn from hearing his cries, seems to have some connexion with this tradition. According to Apollodorus, the Corybantes were sons of Apollo and Thalia; according to others, of Apollo and Rhetia.

Cos, or Coos; an island in the Ægæan sea (now Stanchio or Stincho), on the coast of Asia Minor, opposite the towns of Halicarnassus and Cnidos (95 square miles, 4000 inhabitants); the land of Apelles and Hippocrates. Here was a celebrated temple of Esculapius. In Cos was manufactured a fine, semi-transparent kind of silk, much valued by the ancients.

COSEL; a small, yet not unimportant fortified town, on the left bank of the Upper Oder, in Upper Silesia (197 houses and 3600 inhabitants); first fortified by Frederic the Great, after the conquest of Silesia. It has been several times besieged in vain.

COSEL, Countess of; one of the many mistresses of the prodigal Augustus II, king of Poland and elector of Saxony. She was the wife of the Saxon minister Hoymb, who, well knowing the king's disposition, kept her far from court; but, on one occasion, when excited by wine, he praised her so much to the king, that the latter ordered her to be brought to Dresden. She was soon divorced from Hoymb, and appeared at court as the countess of Cosel, the mistress of the king. A palace was built for her, still called the Cosel palace, which was preeminent for magnificence and luxury. The furniture alone cost 200,000 Saxon dollars (150,000 Spanish). It must be remembered that the king had no income from Poland; on the contrary, the royal dignity was a source of great expense to the elector; thus the little electorate had to support, unaided, the enormous extravagance of its ruler. For nine years, the countess succeeded in preserving the king's favor, and exercised an arbitrary sway in affairs of government. At last, she fell into disgrace, and was dismissed from the king's presence. She retired into Prussia, and was afterwards arrested at Halle, at the request of Augustus, and carried to Stolpe, in Saxony, where she remained imprisoned 45 years, and died 80 years old. So much power had she over the king, when in favor, that dollars and florins were actually coined, bearing the stamp of the royal arms in conjunction with those of the countess. She is one among many similar instances of the advantages which legitimacy brings in its train, subjecting nations to the control of profligate monarchs, who are governed by equally profligate mistresses.

COSENZA (anciently Cosentia); a city of Naples, capital of Calabria Citra, situated on seven small hills, at the foot of the

Apennines; 145 miles S. E. Naples; lon. 16° 27′ E.; lat. 39° 22′ N.; population, 7989. The metropolitan is the only church within the walls; but there are three parish churches in the faubourgs. There are 12 convents. The environs are beautiful, populous and well cultivated, producing abundance of corn, fruit, oil, wine and silk. This town was anciently the capital of the Brutii, and a place of consequence in the second Punic war. Cosenza has frequently suffered from earthquakes, particularly in the year 1638.

COSMETICS (from Kooμέw, I ornament, beautify); means for preserving or increasing the beauty of the human body. Every one knows that such means are used by the most savage, as well as the most civilized, nations; that cosmetics have afforded a rich harvest to charlatans; and that it is very difficult to find good ones among the numberless bad ones.

COSMO I OF MEDICI. (See Medici.) COSMOGONY (from the Greek κóoμos, the world, and yóvos, generation), according to its etymology, should be defined the origin of the world itself; but the term has become, to a great degree, associated with the numerous theories of different nations and individuals respecting this event. Though the origin of the world must necessarily remain forever concealed from human eyes, there is, notwithstanding, a strong desire in the breasts of mortals to unveil it; so that we find hypotheses among all nations, respecting the beginning of all things. We may divide these hypotheses into three classes:-1. The first represents the world as eternal, in form as well as substance. 2. The matter of the world is eternal, but not its form. 3. The world had a beginning, and shall have an end. -I. Ocellus Lucanus is one of the most ancient philosophers who supposed the world to have existed from eternity. Aristotle appears to have embraced the same doctrine. His theory is, that not only the heaven and earth, but also animate and inanimate beings, in general, are without beginning. His opinion rested on the belief, that the universe was necessarily the eternal effect of a cause equally eternal, such as the Divine Spirit, which, being at once power and action, could not remain idle. Yet he admitted, that a spiritual substance was the cause of the universe; of its motion and its form. He says positively, in his Metaphysics, that God is an intelligent Spirit (vous), incorporeal, eternal, immovable, indivisible, and the Mover of all things. According to this great philosopher, the universe is less

a creation than an emanation of the Deity. Plato says the universe is an eternal image of the immutable Idea, or Type, united, from eternity, with changeable matter. The followers of this philosopher both developed and distorted this idea. Ammonius, a disciple of Proclus, taught, in the sixth century, at Alexandria, the coeternity of God and the universe. Modern philosophers, and also ancient ones (e. g., Xenophanes, according to Diogenes Laertius), went further, and taught that the universe is one with the Deity. Parmenides, Melissus, Zeno of Elea, and the Megaric sect, followed this doctrine.-II. The theory which considers the matter of the universe eternal, but not its form, was the prevailing one among the ancients, who, starting from the principle that nothing could be made out of nothing, could not admit the creation of matter, yet did not believe that the world had been always in its present state. The prior state of the world, subject to

a constant succession of uncertain movements, which chance afterwards made regular, they called chaos. The Phonicians, Babylonians, and also Egyptians, seem to have adhered to this theory. The ancient poets, who have handed down to us the old mythological traditions, represent the universe as springing from chaos, without the assistance of the Deity. Hesiod feigns that Chaos was the parent of Erebus and Night, from whose union sprung the Air (Alone) and the Day ('Huéça). He further relates how the sky and the stars were separated from the earth, &c. The system of atoms is much more famous. Leucippus and Democritus of Abdera were its inventors. The atoms, or indivisible particles, say they, existed from eternity, moving at hazard, and producing, by their constant meeting, a vari ety of substances. After having given rise to an immense variety of combina tions, they produced the present organiza tion of bodies. This system of cosmogony was that of Epicurus, as described by Lucretius. Democritus attributed to atoms form and size, Epicurus added weight. Many other systems have existed, which must be classed under this division. We only mention that of the Stoics, who admitted two principles, God and matter, in the abstract, both corporeal, for they did not admit spiritual beings. The first was active, the second passive. -III. The third theory of cosmogony makes God the Creator of the world out of nothing. This is the doctrine of the Etruscans, Druids, Magi and Bramins.

Before idolatry was introduced into China, the people worshipped a Supreme Being, Chang-Ti, the Mover and Regulator of the universe. Anaxagoras was the first among the Greeks, who taught that God created the universe from nothing. The Romans generally adopted this theory, notwithstanding the efforts of Lucretius to establish the doctrine of Epicurus. The beginning of Ovid bears a striking resemblance to the beginning of Genesis. Clement of Alexandria therefore thinks that the Pentateuch was known in Greece and Rome before the time of Christ. It is not necessary, however, to adopt this conclusion, for the two systems of cosmogony might have had a common origin. The Indian cosmogony also bears much resemblance to that of Moses. It is well known to every reader, that the Mosaic cosmogony belongs to the class we are now describing. It is distinguished by its great simplicity. The rationalists, as they are called in Germany, regard it as an Asiatic tradition, and not as a revelation. Some of the most important sources of information respecting the different systems of cosmogony, besides the book of Genesis, are the works of Hesiod, Diogenes Laertius, Nonnus of Panopolis, Eusebius, Philo the Jew, Pliny and Diodorus. A very learned and ingenious treatise on the Mosaic history of creation is contained in a work full of learning-Mythologus oder gesammelte Abhandlungen über die Sagen des Alterthums von Philipp Buttmann, vol. i, Berlin, 1828.

COSSACKS (Casacks); the tribes who inhabit the southern and eastern parts of Russia, Poland, the Ukraine, &c., guarding the southern and eastern frontier of the Russian empire, and paying no taxes, performing, instead, the duty of soldiers. Nearly all of them belong to the GrecoRussian church. Their internal administration, however, is independent of the Russian government. They form a military democracy. They must be divided into two principal classes, both on account of their descent and their present condition—the Cossacks of Little Russia (Malo-Russia), and those of the Don. Both classes, and especially those of the Don, have collateral branches. From those of the Don, who are the most civilized, are descended the Volgaic, the Terek, the Grebeskoi, the Uralian and Siberian Cossacks. To the other race belong the Zaporogians or Haydamaks, who are the wildest and most unrestrained. Writers are not agreed as to the origin of this 48

VOL. III.

people and of their name. Some derive both races from the province of Casachia, so called by Constantine Porphyrogenetes. In the Turkish, cazak signifies a robber; but, in the Tartar language, it signifies a soldier lightly armed, for rapid motion. Since the Cossacks came from the plains beyond the Volga, they may be the remains of the Tartar hordes who settled there at different times. Some suppose them to be of Russian origin. Their language is properly Russian, although, in consequence of their early wars with the Turks and Poles, they have adopted many words from these people. It is probable that both races of the Cossacks are descended from the united Russian adventurers, who came from the provinces of Novogorod. Their object was to collect booty in the wars and feuds with the Tartars, on the frontiers of the Russian empire. As they were useful in protecting the frontiers, the government granted them great privileges; and their numbers rapidly increased, more especially as grants of land were made them. Thus their power was augmented, and they became, by degrees, better organized and firmly established. Their privileges, however, have been very much limited since the year 1804. In the war of 1538, 3000 Cossacks of the Don made their first campaign with the Russians in Livonia. They then conquered Siberia, repulsed the Tartars from many Russian provinces, and assisted in defeating the Turks. During the frequent rebellions of the Cossacks of the Don (the last of which was conducted by the formidable Pugatscheff), quarrels arose among them, and the great family became divided into several parts. Thus a branch of the great tribe of the Don, consisting of about 7000 men, in order to escape the punishment of their offences, retired, in 1577, to the Kama and to Perm, and afterwards to the Oby. (See Siberia and Stroganoff.) They drove out the Woguls, the Ostiacs and Tartars, who were settled there. Their numbers having been much reduced by these contests with the inhabitants, and their leader being no longer able to maintain his conquest, they placed themselves under the protection of the Russian government, and obtained assistance. This branch of the Cossacks has since spread over all Siberia. The strength of the Cossacks is variously estimated. Archenholz makes the number of warriors 700,000; but not half this number is in actual service, and two thirds of those are employed only in the domestic service, and never enter Europe,

so that not many more than 100,000 men are at the disposal of the Russian government, in case of a war in Europe. During the seven years' war, the Russian army included but 10,000 Cossacks. According to the regulations of 1804, two out of three regiments do duty at home, and the third on the frontiers. But they are all liable to be called into the field, and they then receive pay and rations from the emperor. They form, in general (particularly those of the Don, who are the most independent), the irregular flying cavalry of the Russian army, being divided into separate troops. The Cossacks of Little Russia are more disciplined; they may almost be called regular troops. The Cossacks have no nobility among them. All are equal, and all may, without degrading themselves, alternately command and obey. Their officers are chosen by them from among themselves, only the commander-in-chief must be approved by the government. He cannot be displaced except by its consent. The commanders are always in the pay of the crown, but the common Cossacks receive pay only while they are on duty. Their regiments (pulks) are from 500 to 3000 strong, according to the size of the circle, and are commanded by a chief (hettman, q. v.; in their language, ataman). The commander of the whole corps is also called hettman. The officers under the colonel are without rank (with the exception of those of some particular regiments, who have an equal rank with the officers in the army), and, in case of necessity, may be commanded by the inferior officers of the regular army. Each Cossack is liable to do duty from the age of 18 to 50, and is obliged to furnish his own horse, and to be clothed in the Polish or Oriental fashion, although the texture and quality of his garments are left to himself. Their principal weapon is a lance from 10 to 12 feet in length: they have also a sabre, a gun or a pair of pistols, as well as a bow and arrows. The lances, in riding, are carried upright by means of a strap fastened to the foot, the arm, or the pommel of the saddle. Those who use bows carry a quiver over the shoulder. The kantschu, also, which is a thick whip of twisted leather, serves them for a weapon against an unarmed enemy, as well as for the management of their horses. Though little adapted for regular movements, they are very serviceable in attacking baggage, magazines, and in the pursuit of troops scattered in flight. Their horses are mostly small, and of poor appearance;

but they are tough and well broken, and so swift, that, when they do not move in compact bodies, and carry little or no baggage, they can travel, without much difficulty, from 50 to 70 miles a day, for several days in succession. Each pulk has two or more silken banners, usually adorned with images of the saints. The Cossacks fight principally in small bodies, with which they attack the enemy on all sides, but principally on the flanks and in the rear, rushing upon them at full speed, with a dreadful hurrah, and with levelled lances. If they succeed in breaking through the enemy by a bold attack, they drop their lances, which are dragged along by the strap, and, seizing on their sabres and pistols, do great execution. If they meet with opposition, and find it impossible to penetrate, they immediately retreat, hasten to some appointed place, form anew, and repeat the attack until the enemy is put to flight, when they bring destruction on the scattered forces. In 1570, they built their principal stanitza and rendezvous, called Tscherkask, 70 wersts above Azoph, on some islands in the Don, 1283 miles from Petersburg, now containing 2950 houses and 15,000 inhabitants, the seat of the ataman. It may be called the Tartar Venice, for the houses rest on high wooden piles, and are connected with each other by small bridges. When the river is high, which is from April to June, the city appears to be floating on the water. Their churches are richly adorned with gold and precious stones. There is a regular theatre here. There are also many private libraries, and a school where French, German, geometry, history, geography, natural philosophy, &c., are taught. A great deal of business is done by the Greeks, Armenians, Jews, &c. As the city is rendered unhealthy by the overflowing of the island on which it stands, they have lately built New Tscherkask, on an arm of the Don, about four miles from the present city, to which all the inhabitants of the old city will remove, so that, perhaps, in 50 years, no vestige of the old town will remain.

CossÉ, Charles de, more known by the title of marshal de Brissac, was son of René Cossé, who was lord of Brissac in Anjou, and chief falconer of France. He served with success in the Neapolitan and Piedmontese wars, and distinguished himself as colonel in the battle of Perpignan, in 1541. The first noblemen of France, and even the princes, received their military education in his school, while he com

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