Volume 6

A new general biographical dictionary / projected and partly arranged by the late Rev. Hugh James Rose.

  • Rose, Hugh James, 1795-1838.
Date:
1853
    deaux. At the age of eighteen she mar- vied M. Cottin, a banker of Paris, who left her a widow when she was twenty- two. Her novels are,—1. Claire d’Albe. 2. Malvina, 4 vols. 3. Amelia Mansfield, 4 vols. 4. Mathilde, 6 vols. 5. Eliza- beth, ou les Exiles de Siberie, 2 vols. Her works were collected and published at Paris, in 5 vols, 8vo, 1817. She died in 1807. COTTON, (Sir Robert Bruce,) an eminent English antiquary, born at Den- ton, Huntingdonshire, in 1570. He was admitted of Trinity college, Cambridge, whence he removed to London, where he became a member of the Antiquarian Society. He was knighted by James I. and so high was his reputation for learn- ing, information, and integrity, that not only the most leading men of the times consulted him on affairs of state, but the king himself employed his pen on several occasions. On the creation of baronets, in 1611, by James, Sir Robert Cotton appeared as the thirty-sixth in the new dignity. But, though such a favourite with the court, he, in the succeeding reign, joined the Commons in the cry for the redress of grievances, though he recommended mild and gentle measures, which, in establishing the privileges of the people, might not endanger the safety of the sovereign. In 1629 he became an object of persecution to the court. A manuscript, which, it is said, laid down a plan how the kings of England might oppress the liberties of their subjects, and for ever enslave them and their posterity, was lent out of his library, and being in a surreptitious copy laid before the privy- council, produced his arrest and confine- ment in the Tower, and the seizure of his valuable library. Sir Robert with difficulty extricated himself from the virulence of his persecutors ; but he still felt the indignities offered to his person and character ; and the treatment he re- ceived in some degree undermined his constitution, and broke his heart. He died of a fever, at Westminster, on the 6th of May, 1631. Though distinguished as a man of letters and a skilful antiqua- rian, Sir Robert Cotton is particularly entitled to the admiration of posterity for the valuable library which now remains for the advantage of the public. In his time, the many records and important manuscripts, which had been carried off from the dissolved monasteries were scattered abroad, and some friendly hand was needed to collect and preserve them for the benefit of the learned. This 480 valuable collection, improved still by his son, Sir Thomas, and by his grandson, Sir John, was, after being removed to various places, and after being reduced by fire in 1731, at last deposited in the British Museum, in 1753. COTTON, (Charles,) born in Stafford- shire, of a respectable family, became known for his burlesque verses and ludi- crous poetry, in the reign of Charles II. and James 11. He translated, with great spirit and success, Montaigne’s Essays. Cotton published The Wonders of the Peak in Derbyshire; Virgil travestied; Lucian burlesqued; of which poems an edition was printed in 1751. He died in 1687. COTUGNO, (Domenico,) an eminent anatomist and physician, born in 1736, at Ruvo, in the territory of Naples. His medical education was commenced in his native town. When scarcely eighteen he came to Naples, and carried on his studies with such assiduity, that, in nine months after his arrival, he was, after a concours, appointed assistant at the hospital of In- curables, and in 1756 he graduated as M.D. at Palermo. Having returned to Naples, his unremitting application in- jured his health, and he was attacked with haemoptysis, from which he slowly recovered. He now engaged in teaching surgery, and his reputation was soon established by the publication of his work on the internal ear, which appeared in 1761. In this he was the first to describe the fluid of the labyrinth, which has been called after him the liquor of Cotugni; he also gave exact descriptions, and rational explanations, of the uses of the semicircular canals of the cochlea and of the vestibule. In 1764 he distinguished himself by his zeal and ability during a severe epidemic. His next most remark- able work was on sciatica, published in 1769. He also wrote several smaller dissertations published in the periodicals. In 1818 he had an attack of apoplexy, from which he nearly recovered; but in 1822 his health gradually gave way; his intellectual faculties began to fail, and in September of that year be died, aged eighty-six. His memory was held in deserved respect by the physicians of Naples, and in 1824 a medal was struck in honour of him, with the inscription, “ Hippocrati Neapolitano.” COULOMB, (Charles Augustin,) an ingenious mechanician, born at Angou- leme, in 1736. He came to Paris when very young, and soon manifested a decided taste for mathematics; presenting to the
    Academy of Sciences from time to time, memoirs on various interesting topics con- nected with his favourite pursuits. Soon after his return from America in 1779, he divided with Van Swinden the prize offered for the best construction of the mariner’s compass ; and two years after- wards he obtained another for a paper on the theory of simple machines. His ex- periments on the compass led to his invention of what he called a torsion balance—an instrument which he em- ployed extensively for increasing minute forces. On being elected a member of the Academy, in 1781, he settled at Paris, where he devoted himself chiefly to experimental inquiries into electricity and magnetism. In these researches he was led to form a new theory of attrac- tions, the basis of which is the existence of two electrical fluids. At the begin- ning of the revolution he retired to a small estate near Blois, where he con- tinued till recalled to occupy a place in the National Institute. He died in 1806. COULON, (Louis,) a French priest, who left the Jesuits’ society in 1640. His geographical works are greatly es- teemed, especially his Historical Treatise of all the Rivers in France, 2 vols, 8vo. He wrote besides, Lexicon Homericum, and some historical performances, &c. He died in 1664. COUPLET, (Philip,) a Jesuit, of Ma- lines, who went as missionary to China in 1659, and returned in 1680. He died on his second voyage to the same place in 1693. He wrote some works in the Chinese language and in Latin. His Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, 1687, fob, is a valuable and curious work, in which the history of China, and the man- ners and religion of the inhabitants, are ably treated. COURAYER, (Peter Francis,) a learned French divine, born at Vernon, in Nor- mandy, in 1681. While canon and libra- rian of St. Genevieve, in Paris, he, after some correspondence with archbishop Wake, published his Defence of English Ordinations, printed in Holland, 1727. This book exposed him to the persecution of the Papists, and he took refuge in England, where the university of Oxford granted him a doctor’s degree, and the crown settled a pension upon him. He died in 1776, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. He died in the faith of the Roman Catholic church ; though at Ealing, where he sometimes resided, he attended the English service regularly. Besides the above work; which vol. vi. 481 was translated into English, he published in 2 vols, fob, a French translation of father Paul’s History of the Council of Trent ; and also another of Sleidan’s History of the Reformation. COURCELLES. See Curcell^eus. COURIER, (Paul Louis,) a clever French writer, born at Paris in 1773. His earlier education was superintended by his father, and he afterwards studied at Paris, in the College de France, where he became distinguished for his know- ledge of Greek and the mathematics. In 1793 he was appointed an officer in the artillery; and he remained in the army till 1809, having served during the cam- paigns in Italy and Germany, without, however, neglecting his literary studies. Flis republican principles were obstacles to his advancement under the govern- ment of Buonaparte ; and after the battle of Wagram he resigned his commission. He then went to Italy, when he discovered the celebi-ated manuscript of the Pastoral Tale of Longus, in the abbey of Monte Cassino, of which he published an account in his Letter to M. Renouard ; a singular production, designed to vindicate his character from the charges of plagiarism or fraud brought against him by the Italians. Returning to France without a passport, in 1812, he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the con- spiracy of general Malet, but he was soon set at liberty. In 1819 he published his Petition aux deux Chambres, against arbitrary arrest. Being refused a seat in the Royal Academy, he avenged himself by a bitter philippic, entitled, Lettre a Messieurs de l’Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He was assassinated in April 1825, in a wood, at a short distance from his own house. A com- plete edition of his works was published at Paris, in 1831, in 4 vols, 8vo. COURT DE GEBELIN. See Gebelin. COURTEN, (William,) son of a tailor at Menin, in the Netherlands, escaped with difficulty from the tyranny and per- secution of Olivarez, duke of Alva, and in 1568 reached London, where he settled his family. Their business was the mak- ing of French hoods, which were in those days in great reputation ; so that, by in- dustry, the Courten family increased their connexions and property, and at the death of the father and mother, which happened about the end of Elizabeth’s reign, or the beginning of that of James I. they were opulent and respectable mer- chants in the trade of silk and fine linen* i i
    Iii the year 1G31, their returns averaged 150,000/. a year; and so highly re- spected was the family, that the brothers, William and Peter, received the honour of knighthood. Under the activity and able management of Sir William, the concerns of the company were greatly increased, so that not only the commerce of the nation was extended, but even the king’s dignity supported ; and it is said, that by their loans to James I. and to Charles I. the firm of Courten had a claim upon the crown of not less than 200,000/. The ex- tensive concerns of this extraordinary family were, however, lessened by the intrigues of lord Carlisle, who seized, as a grant from the crown, the island of Barbadoes, where Sir William had settled a factory, as on a place which had been discovered by his own ships, and been protected at his own expense. His pro- perty, likewise, suffered, some years after, by the murder of his factors at Amboyna, by the Dutch, and by the total loss of his property there. Though thus persecuted by the frowns of Fortune, he yet engaged with new ardour in the Chinese trade ; but the loss of two ships richly laden completed his disasters, and reduced him to poverty. He survived not long this heavy loss. He died in 1636, about the beginning of May, aged sixty-four, and was buried in the church of St. Andrew Hubbard, London. COURTEN, (William,) the last male descendant of the family mentioned in the preceding article, was born in Fen- church parish, London, in 1642. It is supposed that he lost his father and mother before he was fourteen years old. He was carefully educated under the eye of those many rich, independent, and noble relatives who remained to him in England. He early began to travel, and displayed a great genius for natural his- tory, which he considerably improved by a residence at Montpellier. When of age, he returned to London, to pursue his claims to the shattered fortune of his family. On the termination of a long lawsuit by arbitration, he exchanged his family name, and, under the appellation of William Charleton, retired to his favourite Montpellier, where he lived for five-and- twenty years. After his return to Eng- land, he lived for fourteen or fifteen years in chambers at the Temple, and died at Kensington Gravel-pits, in 1702. He began early to make a collection of what- ever was curious, important, and remark- able, in medallic and antiquarian history ; and his catalogue, embracing no less than 482 38 vols, in fol. and eight in 4to, remains as a proof of his indefatigable industry. His curious collection, after being about fifty years in the possession of his executor and residuary legatee, was purchased, in 1763, for the use of the public, and was deposited in the British Museum. COURTENAY, (John,) a native of Ireland, where he was born about the year 1741. His abilities attracted the notice of the marquis of Townshend, when lord- lieutenant of Ireland, who appointed him his official secretary. In 1780 he was elected member of parliament for the borough of Tamworth, and in 1797 he was elected for Appleby. In that year he was one of the minority of 93 to 258, on Mr. Grey’s motion for parliamentary re- form. In 1804 he sided with those who demanded an inquiry into the conduct of the then Board of Admiralty ; in June of the same year he divided against the Additional Defence Bill; in February, 1805, he joined Mr. Grey, relative to the Spanish papers ; and in April of the same year he formed one of the majority who passed a vote of censure on lord Melville. On the change of administration in the spring of 1806, he became a commissioner of the treasury ; and after enjoying this office for only a few months, he retired from public life. Not content with viewing the revolutionary struggle at a distance, he repaired to Paris in 1792, for the express purpose of contemplating the memorable characters and events on the spot. After this he crossed the Alps, and visited Rome and Naples. He died in 1816, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He wrote a Poetical Review of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 4to, 1786. Philoso- phical Reflections on the late Revolution in France, in a Letter to Dr. Priestley, 8vo, 1790. A Practical and Philosophical Review of the French Revolution, ad- dressed to Mr. Burke, 8vo, 1793. The Present State of Manners, Arts, and Politics in France and Italy, &c. in a series of Poetical Epistles, 8vo, 1794. COURTILZ, (Garien de,) sieur de Sandras, born at Paris in 1644. He was in the army, and was some time in Hol- land, and on his return was confined in the Bastile for his political writings, and remained there nine years. He was author of'different works, the best known of which are his Life of Coligni; The Conduct of France since the Peace of Nimeguen; History of the Dutch War; Political Testament of Colbert; The Life of Turenne; Annals of Paris and of the Court in 1697-8. He died in 1712.
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