The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 143

CORRIB, LOUGH, an irregularly shaped lake in Galway and Mayo, 25 m.

long and from 1 to 6 m. broad, with stone circles near it.

CORRIENTES (300), a province of the Argentine Republic, between the Parana and the Uruguay; also its capital (18), surrounded by orange-groves; so called from the currents that prevail in the river, along which steamers ply between it and Buenos Ayres.

CORRUGATED IRON, in general, sheet-iron coated with zinc.

CORSAIR, THE, a poem of Byron's, in which the author paints himself in heroic colours as an adventurer who drowns reflection in the intoxication of battle.

CORSICA (288), an island belonging to France, in the Mediterranean, ceded to her by Genoa in 1768, but by position, race, and language belongs to Italy; has been subject by turns to the powers that in succession dominated that inland sea; is 116 m. long and 52 broad; it abounds in mountains, attaining 9000 ft.; covered with forests and thickets, which often serve as shelter for brigands; it affords good pasturage, and yields olive-oil and wine, as well as chesnuts, honey, and wax.

CORSICA PAOLI, a native of Corsica, who vainly struggled to achieve the independence of his country, and took refuge in England, where he enjoyed the society of the Johnson circle, and was much esteemed. See PAOLI.

CORSSEN, WILLIAM PAUL, a learned German philologist, born at Bremen; made a special study of the Latin languages, and especially the Etruscan, which he laboured to prove was cognate with that of the Romans and of the races that spoke it (1820-1875).

CORT, an eminent Dutch engraver, went to Venice, lived with t.i.tian; engraved some of his pictures; went to Rome and engraved Raphael's "Transfiguration"; executed over 150 plates, all displaying great accuracy and refinement (1536-1578).

CORTES, the name given in Spain and Portugal to the National a.s.sembly, consisting of n.o.bles and representatives of the nation.

CORTES, a Spanish soldier and conqueror of Mexico, born in Estremadura; went with Velasquez to Cuba; commanded the expedition to conquer Mexico, and by burning all his s.h.i.+ps that conveyed his men, cut off all possibility of retreat; having conquered the tribes that he met on landing, he marched on to the capital, which, after a desperate struggle, he reduced, and laid waste and then swept the country, by all which he added to the wealth of Spain, but by his cruelty did dishonour to the chivalry of which Spain was once so proud (1485-1547).

CORTONA, PIETRO DA, an Italian painter, born at Cortona, in Tuscany, and eminent as an architect also; decorated many of the finest buildings in Rome (1596-1669).

CORUnA (34), a fortified town on NW. of Spain, with a commodious harbour, where Sir John Moore fell in 1809 while defending the embarkation of his army against Soult, and where his tomb is.

CORVeE, obligation as at one time enforced in France to render certain services to Seigneurs, such as repairing of roads, abolished by the Cont.i.tuent a.s.sembly.

CORYAT, THOMAS, an English traveller and wit, who, in his "Crudities," quaintly describes his travels through France and Italy (1577-1617).

CORYBANTES, priests of CYBELE (q. v.), whose religious rites were accompanied with wild dances and the clas.h.i.+ng of cymbals.

CORYDON, a shepherd in Virgil, name for a lovesick swain.

CORYPHaeUS, originally the leader of the chorus in a Greek drama, now a leader in any dramatic company, or indeed in any art.

COS (10), an island in the aegean Sea, birthplace of Hippocrates and Apelles.

COSENZA (18), a town in Calabria, in a deep valley, where Alaric died.

COSIN, JOHN, a learned English prelate, Dean of Peterborough, deposed by the Puritans for his ritualistic tendencies; exiled for 10 years in Paris; returned at the Restoration, and was made Bishop of Durham, where he proved himself a Bishop indeed, and a devoted supporter of the Church which he adorned by his piety (1594-1672).

COSMAS, ST., Arabian physician and patron of surgeons, brother of St. Damian; suffered martyrdom in 303. Festival, Sept. 27.

COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES (i. e. voyager to India), an Egyptian monk of the 6th century, born in Alexandria, singular for his theory of the system of the world, which, in opposition to the Ptolemaic system, he viewed as in shape like that of the Jewish Tabernacle, with Eden outside, and encircled by the ocean, a theory he advanced as in conformity with Scripture.

COSMO I., Grand-duke of Tuscany, head of the Republic of Florence, of which he made himself absolute master, a post he held in defiance of all opposition, in order to secure the independence of the state he governed, as well as its internal prosperity (1519-1574).

COSMOGRAPHY, any theory which attempts to trace the system of things back to its first principle or primordial element or elements.

COSQUIN, EMMANUEL, a French folk-lorist, and author of "Popular Tales of Lorraine," in the introduction to which he argues for the theory that the development as well as the origin of such tales is historically traceable to India; _b_. 1841.

COSSACKS, a military people of mixed origin, chiefly Tartar and Slav, who fought on horseback, in their own interest as well as that of Russia, defending its interests in particular for centuries past in many a struggle, and forming an important division of the Russian army.

COSTA RICA (262), a small republic of Central America; it is mostly tableland; contains many volcanoes; is chiefly agricultural, though rich in minerals.

COSTARD, a clown in "Love's Labour Lost," who apes the affected court-wits of the time in a misappropriate style.

COSTELLO, LOUISA STUART, an English auth.o.r.ess; her descriptive powers were considerable, and her novels had a historical groundwork (1799-1870).

COSTER, _alias_ LAURENS JANSZOON, born at Haarlem, to whom his countrymen, as against the claims of Gutenberg, ascribe the invention of printing (1370-1440).

COSWAY, RICHARD, a distinguished miniature portrait-painter, born at Tiverton; Correggio his model (1740-1821).

CoTE D'OR, a range of hills in the NE. of France, connecting the Cevennes with the Vosges, which gives name to a department (376) famed for its wines.

COTENTIN, a peninsula NW. of Normandy, France, jutting into the English Channel, now forms the northern part of the dep. La Manche, the fatherland of many of the Norman conquerors of England.