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manded the French light cavalry. When the emperor Charles V attempted to besiege Landrecy, in 1543, Brissac repulsed him three times, and united himself, in spite of the superior numbers of the enemy, with Francis I, who lay, with his army, near Vitry. This monarch folded him in his arms, allowed him to drink out of his cup, and created him a knight of his order. After other great actions, he rose to the rank of grand master of the artillery of France, and Henry II sent him as ambassador to the emperor, for the purpose of negotiating a peace. Here he proved himself a good diplomatist, and obtained for his services the office of governor of Piedmont, and the baton of marshal of France, in 1550. He afterwards returned to France as governor of Picardy, and rendered that province important services. Brissac was small, but very well made. The ladies called him the handsome Brissac. It is said that the duchess of Valentinois regarded him with particular favor, and that Henry II appointed him lieutenant-general in Italy merely from jealousy. Brissac died at Paris, Dec. 31, 1563.

COSTA FURTADO DE MENDOÇA, Hippolyto Joseph da; a Portuguese gentleman, distinguished for his talents, learning and adventures. He was tried and imprisoned at Lisbon, by the inquisition, for the pretended crime of free-masonry. The following are said to have been the circumstances of his escape from captivity:The door of the cell in which Da Costa was confined opening into a hall, which was the centre of the prison, he had opportunities for remarking that the daily labors of his jailors terminated with throwing a bunch of keys on a table where a lamp was left burning. By patience and perseverance, though conscious of liability to espial through apertures in the walls and ceiling of his cell, he succeeded in forming, out of an old pewter plate, a key which would unlock his door. Upon making his final attempt, the bunch of keys proved to be a proper collection for threading the entire labyrinth of the prison, not excepting the outer gate. Besides the keys and lamp, there was a book, containing, among other records, the minutes of his own examinations. This he took with him, and, carefully closing and locking every door after him, he made his way, without interruption, to the outside of the prison walls; and, after remaining six weeks secluded and disguised in the neighborhood, he took his departure from Portugal, and reached England in safety,

carrying with him the book and keys of the inquisitors, as trophies of his success. M. da Costa was the proprietor of the Correio Braziliense, a monthly magazine in the Portuguese language, printed in London, and discontinued a short time before his death, which took place in the beginning of 1824.

COSTA RICA; the most eastern and most southern province of Guatimala; between lat. 8° 20′ and 11° 27' N., and lon. 80° 27' and 85° 49′ W.; bounded N. by Nicaragua, E. by the Spanish Main, S. E. by Veragua, and W. and S. W. by the Pacific ocean; 150 miles in length, and nearly as much in breadth. It is full of deserts and forests, thinly peopled, and illcultivated. A great part of the inhabitants live independent of the Spaniards. The principal commerce consists in cattle, hides, honey and wax. It has ports in each sea. Carthage is the capital. COSTA RICA; a river of Guatimala, which runs into the Escondida, five miles from St. Carlos, in Nicaragua.

COSTER, Laurens (called Jansoens, that is, son of John), a wealthy citizen of Haerlem, was born in that city in 1370 or 1371. He was a member of the chief council in 1418, and by turns performed the duties of a judge and a treasurer. In 1421, or, according to some, in 1399, he was appointed to the office of sacristan (Koster) of the parochial church at Haerlem, and continued in this station; and from this office, which, at that time, was very honorable, he derived his surname. He died, probably, of the contagious disease which raged, in the latter part of 1439, in Haerlem. This is all that the contemporary city records have preserved of his history. More than a hundred years after his death, in the middle of the 16th century, traces of a tradition appeared, which assigned to the city of Haerlem the invention of the art of printing. At this time, Hadrian_Junius produced (in a work entitled Batavia, written between 1562 and 1571, but not published till 1588, after his death), from the verbal information of some aged people, who, again, derived their knowledge from others, a complete history of the invention of the art of printing, in which Coster acted the chief part. During his walks in a wood near Haerlem (as Junius relates), he carved letters, at first for his amusement, in the bark of beech-trees. He persevered in these experiments, till he had finished entire lines, and finally proceeded so far as to cut out whole pages on the sides of boards. With blocks of this sort, he effected the impression of

the Spegel onzer Behoudenisse. After this, he improved his mode of printing by casting lead or pewter types. But a person by the name of John, whom he had employed as an assistant, stole his printing apparatus one Christmas night, and fled with it first to Amsterdam, and then to Cologne and Mentz, at which last place this theft occasioned the general diffusion of the art invented by Coster. In Holland, the people are so firmly convinced of the truth of this story, that a statue in honor of Coster was erected in 1622. His house, which fell down in 1818 through age, was shown with the greatest respect; and, in 1740, the jubilee of his invention of the art of printing was celebrated. This celebration was repeated in 1823, the justice of the claim of the Dutch being considered to be established by Meerman's Origines Typographica (1765), and Koning's Verhandeling over het Oorsprong der Boekdrukkunst (1816). The examination of the subject, in the last essay in the Hermes, by Ebert (No. xx), leads us to this result; that Coster, at a time at least as early as that of the invention of the art by the Germans, employed himself in experiments, the design and result of which was the invention of the art of printing. (See Ebert's article Buchdruckerkunst in the Encyclopædia by Ersch and Gruber.)

COSTUME, in the fine arts; the observance of propriety in regard to the person or thing represented, so that the scene of action, the habits, arms, proportions, &c., are properly imitated. The peculiarities of form, physiognomy, complexion; the dress, ornaments, habitations, furniture, arms, &c., should all be conformable to the period and country in which the scene is laid. The rules of costume would be violated by the introduction of a palmgrove and a tiger in a scene in Russia, by the representation of American Indians in turbans, or of Romans with cannons at the siege of Carthage, or an inhabitant of the East seated at table with a knife and fork. That the ancient painters, and even celebrated masters of the modern European schools, are often chargeable with deviations from propriety in regard to costume, is not to be denied; but nowhere have they been so glaring as on the stage, where Greek, Turkish and Peruvian princes used to make their appearance in long velvet mantles, embroidered with gold; Merope and Cleopatra were equipped in hooppetticoats, Medea and Phædra in French head-dresses; peasant-girls were dressed out in whale-bone, and heroes emerged

from the battle in stiff coats, not a fold of which was disordered. Le Kain and mademoiselle Clairon, it is said, were the first who introduced propriety of costume on the stage, under the patronage of the count de Lauraguais; but they excluded only the grosser absurdities: Scythians and Sarmatians were clothed in tiger-skins, Asiatics in the Turkish dress; but the old costume was retained in other respects. The scenery of the stage was as incongruous as the dresses. It is not long since Semiramis issued from a palace adorned with Corinthian columns, and entered a garden in which a whole American Flora was blooming; or perhaps she was seated on a throne, overshadowed with a canopy à la Polonaise. Those by whom she was surrounded were dressed in the Turkish style; while a master of horse, in the costume of the age of chivalry, offered her his hand. In Germany, the stage, at that time, was no better in this respect. It is not very long since the companions of Theseus made their appearance there with large perukes; and, in the Clemenza di Tito, Roman soldiers marched on the stage with stiff boots, and stiffer queues. The Germans, however, first made a thorough reform in these absurdities, and the national, now royal, theatre, in Berlin, in point of scenery and costume, is at present the most correct in the world. In France, Talma reformed the Parisian stage. What he did in this respect for the drama, David (who had, however, a predecessor in Vien) effected for painting, and his school is entitled to the honor of having strictly observed propriety of costume. The question, To what extent should truth be sacrificed to beauty? is answered in the best manner by an article on the subject of dramatic representation, in Müllner's Almanac for Private Theatres (Almanach für Privatbühnen, in two volumes, 1818). There, poetical correctness is distinguished from historical, and the cases are pointed out, in which the latter must yield to the former, partly on account of the harmony that must necessarily exist between the external appearances and the spirit of poetry, and partly for the sake of intelligibleness, and avoiding what would be offensive to the less informed spectators. That art may be permitted to idealize costume as well as language, cannot be denied. No perfect work on costume has as yet appeared. Dandré Bardon, in his Costumes of the most Ancient Nations, did not confine himself to the true sources of information. The Traité des Costumes of Lenz is a very

feeble production, and Martini's Commentaries have very little improved it. Spalart's Essay on the Costume of the most celebrated Nations of Antiquity, of the Middle Ages, and of Modern Times (Versuch über das Costume der vorzüglichsten Völker des Alterthums, des mittlern Alters und der neueren Zeiten, published by Ignatius Albrecht, Vienna, 1796-99, 3 vols.) is superior, but not entirely free from faults. The Recueils des Costumes Antiques, by Rocheggiani and Willemin, are more useful productions, but not sufficiently comprehensive. A new Essay on Antique and Modern Costumes, by Gironi, appeared in Italy, in 1819; and an Illustration of the Egyptian, Grecian and Roman Costume, in forty Sketches, with Descriptions, was published by Thomas Baxter, London, 1810. There is often no means of information for the artist but the original sources. For the costume of the ancients, he must have recourse to the engravings of antiquities; for the modern costume, he must resort to essays on painting in different ages, monumental figures, and treatises on costume; and in regard to the costume of foreign nations, he may derive information from books of travels: histories, antiquities and geographies, are indispensable guides in these inquiries. The costumes of modern times and foreign nations are described in the Costumes civils actuels de tous les Peuples connus, by St. Sauveur; and in a large work entitled Collections of Costumes of various Nations (London, 1800 et seq.); and in several publications on the costume of the theatre, viz., Costumes et Annales des grands Théátres de Paris; Costumes of the Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna (Costumes des K. K. Hoftheaters in Wien), with colored plates (Vienna, 1812 and 1813); Costumes of the National Theatre at Berlin (Theatercostumes des berliner nationaltheaters) from 1816 to 1823-the old ones were given from 1789 to 1813.

COTÉ DROIT, and COTÉ GAUCHE (French; signifying the right and left side in the French chamber of deputies). It would be, perhaps, desirable, in all national assemblies, that the seats of the members should be determined in such a way (either by lot or some other means) that the members of the same party should not be allowed to cluster together, and split up the assembly into hostile masses. Regulations of this kind are actually established in the congress of the U. States, and in most of the German states; but in the English and French parliaments, there are no rules of this nature. In the English

house of commons, indeed, the first seats on the right of the speaker are appropriated to the members from London; but they occupy them only at the opening of parliament, and afterwards resign them to the ministers, about whom their adherents arrange themselves, on this side of the house. The members of the opposition party take their stations on the opposite seats. In France, this party is always arranged on the left side. The most violent members of the national convention occupied the highest benches on this side, and obtained, from this circumstance, the name of the Mountain. The more moderate members, and the partisans of government, took their places in front, on the lower seats, which were called the plain, the belly, and the morass. At the present time, the different parties in the French chamber of deputies arrange themselves in the same manner. The ministerial party take their places in the centre (see Centre), the most violent members of the different parties at the extreme right and left, while the more moderate occupy the intervening spaces. The right side of the chamber was the strongest from 1815 to 1828.

The

A majority was secured to the ministry by means of new laws, regulating the elections, which gave to the great landholders alone the right of choosing a portion of the deputies, and of assisting in the election of the remainder. operation of these laws has been increased by the reduction of land taxes, and by the exertion of an illegal influence at the elections by the ministers. In 1828, a reaction took place, and a majority of liberal men were chosen, in spite of ministerial influence. In the beginning of 1830, the left side obtained a complete victory, in consequence of which the chambers were prorogued. The left side accuse the ministerial party of a design to increase the power of the church, and restore to the priests the influence which they exercised in ages of ignorance; to reestablish the feudal privileges of the nobility, and to encumber landed property with inalienability, indivisibility and the feudal tenures. They also accuse them of striving to exclude the commons from the higher offices of honor, and even of a desire to overthrow the charte, which, according to the right side, can be taken away by the same power which granted it. On the other hand, the right side accuse their opponents of aiming to make the present constitution of France more democratical, and to cramp the power of the king. They consider them, in fact, as wishing to dethrone the Bourbons.

In speaking of the political sentiments of a member of the house of deputies, it is generally said, he sits on the right side, on the left side, in the centre, &c.

CÔTE-D'OR; a chain of mountains in Burgundy, so called from the abundance of excellent wine which they yield. Their height varies from 1400 French feet to 1600. The chain runs from N. N. E. to S. S. W., and is about 36 leagues long, beginning at the plateau of Langres, and extending to the sources of the Bourbince and the Dheune.

CÔTE-D'OR; a department of France, formerly a part of Burgundy. (See Department.)

COTERIE; a French word, now much used in English society. Originally, coterie was a commercial term, signifying an association in which each member furnished his part, and received his proportion of the profits, or bore his proportion of the loss. Thence it was used for small societies, in which certain individuals are in the habit of meeting, and each contributes his share of conversation and entertainment. A coterie consisting of ladies and gentlemen of talent, vivacity and agreeable manners, is one of the finest productions of modern society. It is from coteries that we derive a large stock of the most entertaining and instructive matter in the numberless French memoirs.

CÔTES-DU-NORD; a French department, formerly the northern part of Upper Brittany.

CÔTES, VIN DE; a Bordelais wine. (See Bordelais.)

COTHEN, ANHALT; one of the Anhalt principalities. (See Anhalt.) All the possessions of the prince of Anhalt-Cöthen amount only to 300 square miles, containing 4 towns and 33,500 inhabitants, furnishing 320,000 guilders of revenue, and burdened with 1,200,000 guilders public debt. The prince and his wife-a natural daughter of Frederic William II of Prussia-embraced the Catholic religion in Paris, Oct. 24, 1815, which caused some religious excitement in Germany. Cöthen, the capital, has 700 houses and 5500 inhabitants.

COTHURNUS, with the ancients; a kind of shoes, laced high, such as Diana and her nymphs are represented as wearing. They are still worn by the hunters in Italy. They were particularly in use among the Cretans. Galen and Pollux describe them as reaching up to the middle of the calf, and laced tight by means of thongs, protect the foot and ankle, without obstructing freedom of motion. The tragic

actors also wore them, perhaps, at first, as commemorative of the expeditions of Bacchus; and, at a later period, in order to give additional height to the actors who played the part of heroes. Hence cothurnus is sometimes used figuratively for tragedy. The cothurnus used for this purpose differed from the hunting cothurnus in this respect, that it had a sole of cork, at least four fingers thick.

COTIN, Charles, counsellor and almoner of the king, and member of the French academy, was born at Paris, in 1604. He is indebted for his notoriety, in a great measure, to the satires of Boileau. He possessed a knowledge of theology and philosophy, understood the Hebrew and Syriac languages, and studied the Greek authors so diligently, that he could repeat large portions of Homer and Plato by heart. Among his poems are many which have much merit. It has often been supposed, that Boileau introduced the name of Cotin into his satires, because it furnished a convenient rhyme, and Moore refers to this in his Life of Byron, vol. 1. But Boileau had good reasons for complaining of Cotin, who had represented him, at the hotel Rambouillet, as a dangerous man. The ridicule of Boileau exasperated Cotin still more, and he attempted every means of silencing him. His influence at court, his title and wealth, appeared to give him the means of effecting this object; but, unluckily, his follies drew upon him a new enemy in Molière, who, in his Femmes Savantes, introduced him on the stage, and exposed him to ridicule, under the name of Trissotin. The sonnet to the princess Urania was composed by Cotin; and he engaged in a dispute respecting this poem with Ménage, in the presence of a select society, in which the disputants used the same kind of language which Molière places in the mouths of Trissotin and Vadius. Cotin died in 1682. His Œuvres Mêlées appeared in 1659, at Paris, and his Œuvres Galantes, in 2 vols., in 1665.

COTOPAXI; the most remarkable volcanic mountain of the Andes, in Quito; 35 miles S. S. E. of Quito, N. N. E. of Chimborazo; lat. about 0° 40′ S. It is the most beautiful of the colossal summits of the Andes. It is a perfect cone, which, being covered with an enormous layer of snow, shines with dazzling splendor at the setting of the sun, and stands forth in bold relief from the azure heavens. This covering of snow conceals from the eye of the observer even the smallest inequalities of the ground. No point or mass of rock penetrates the coating of snow and ice, or

breaks the exact regularity of the conical figure. The crater is surrounded by a small circular wall, which, when viewed through a telescope, appears like a parapet. Its height above the sea is 18,898 feet. It is the most tremendous volcano in Quito, and its explosions have been most disastrous, spreading destruction over the surrounding plains. Remarkable eruptions took place in 1698, 1738, 1742, 1744, 1766, and 1768; and one in 1803. In 1698, the eruption destroyed the city of Tacunga, with three fourths of its inhabitants, and other settlements. In 1738, the flames rose nearly 3000 feet above the brink of the crater; and in 1744, its roarings were heard as far as Honda, on the Magdalena, 600 miles distant. With respect to the explosion of 1803, Humboldt observes, "At the port of Guayaquil, 52 leagues distant, in a straight line, from the crater, we heard, day and night, the noise of this volcano, like continued discharges of a battery; and we distinguished these tremendous sounds even on the Pacific ocean." In viewing this volcano, every thing contributes to give it a most majestic and awful character. The pyramidal summits of Illinissa; the snowy ridges of the other mountains; the singular regularity of the inferior line of snow, and the luxuriance of the great plains, offer an unparalleled assemblage of the grand and picturesque features of nature. Humboldt found it difficult to ascend the mountain, in 1802, as far as to the limit of perpetual snow, and he pronounces it impossible, by any human art, to reach the summit.

His Allgemeine Zeitung is a daily political
paper; Das Morgen-Blatt is a daily paper,
principally devoted to entertaining matter;
Das Kunst-Blatt treats of the fine arts;
Das Ausland gives information only re-
specting foreign countries; Das Inland is
chiefly for Bavaria; Das Polytechnische
Journal is devoted to the useful arts; Die
Politischen Annalen is made up of long
political treatises and documents; Das
Literatur-Blatt is a daily paper containing
short critiques, somewhat similar to the
London Literary Gazette, but its contents
are more valuable. All these different
publications are carried on in Stuttgard,
Tübingen and Augsburg.
Some years
since, Mr. Cotta purchased the barony of
Cottenberg, in the kingdom of Würtem-
berg, whereby he became entitled to a
seat in the chamber of the nobles of that
state, where he has shown himself disposed
to liberal sentiments. His Allgemeine Zeit-
ung has likewise this character, as much
as is possible in a country in which the
conductor has been obliged already, three
times, to change the place of its publica-
tion, in order to evade a strict censorship.
It never contains matter professedly edito-
rial. Mr. Cotta's wealth is very great, and
he applies it liberally in procuring valuable
contributions to the various journals pub-
lished by him, which contain, for instance,
much original correspondence from for-
eign countries.

COTTIN, Sophie Ristaud, better known by the name of madame Cottin, the author of several novels and works of entertainment, was born in 1773, at Tonneins, in COTTA, J. G., baron of Cottenberg; the the department of Lot and Garonne, marmost eminent living bookseller of Ger- ried, at the age of 17, a banker at Bormany. Mr. Cotta, whose resources, in his deaux, and went soon after to Paris, youth, were but scanty, studied theology, where, in a few years, she lost her husand was, for some time, a private instructer. band. To relieve her sorrow, she gave In 1798, he established, in connexion with herself up to intellectual pursuits. To some other persons, the Allgemeine Zeit- divert her thoughts, she wrote down the ung (q. v.), which soon became, through fancies and reflections that strongly occuhis efforts, the best political paper of Ger- pied her active mind, without supposing many. Mr. Cotta then became a publisher that they would be of interest or value of books; and his establishment still con- beyond the circle of her immediate friends. tinues under the firm of J. G. Cotta' sche In the ease with which she expressed her Buchhandlung, and is distinguished, not— thoughts, she discovered a talent, which like those of his contemporaries, Crapelet even those most intimate with her had not and some others for the peculiar beauty hitherto appreciated. Her first attempts and correctness of the publications which were small poems, and a history of 200 proceed from it, but for the great number, pages. One of her friends having occaamong which have been many of the sion for 50 louis-d'ors, in order to leave best works of German literature. But France, from which he was banished, the circumstance which probably renders madame Cottin, to assist the unfortunate Mr. Cotta's press unique, is the number of man, published her Claire d'Albe, but kept periodicals that he has succeeded in estab- her name a secret. The necessity which lishing, which embrace a very extensive she felt of pouring out her feelings detercircle of scientific and literary subjects. mined her to appear again as an authoress.

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