Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/408

 COPPEE

354

COQUAKT

Nicolaus Copernicus mid Martin Luthrr (18681, ibitl.. TV; Idem, i^picitegium Copeniicanum (H^auTl^t)0^<?. ISTMi; liinri.

Capemico, etc. (Rome. 1876); lihi.i /.,,,/,',, <,,, ,, ,

(Leipzig, 1876); Prowe. Nicohi ■ 1. ;' ■ l^-

MuLLER, Nicolaus Copernicus lu '/-/■,

(FreiburgimBr., 1898).supplemfni. J, ll.ii 1) ■, \ ..,;-,„, in Popular S';ience Monthly (New York. June. lUOl); CosT.uiD. History of Astronomy (London, 1767); N.\rrien', Historical Account, etc. (London^ 1833) Rothma.n, Hist, of Astronomy in Library of Useful Knowledge ( — 1834).

J. G. Hagen.

Ooppee,FRANfois Edodard Joachim, poet, dram- atist and novelist, b, at Paris, 26 January, 1842; d. 23 May, 1908. His father, a clerk in the war depart- ment, gave him the example of a true Christian life. He studied for a few years at the Lyc^e Saint- Louis, but his family being in straightened circumstances, he left the school before graduating to aid in their sup- port. He completed his education by private study, spending long hours in the Li- brary Ste-Gene- vieve, after a hard day's work. In 186.3, he joined the group of poets later celebrated imder the name of the "Parnas- siens", and three years later pub- lished his first col- lection of verses, "Le Reliquaire", soon followed by "Intimites". His first play " Le Pas- sant ' ', was pro- duced in 1869. Through the in- fluence of Prin- cesse Mathilde, he was appointed as- sistant-librarian at the senate, a sinecure which allowed him to devote himself to literature. From 1871 to 1885 he was librarian at the Com^'die Fran(aise. In 1876 he received the cross of the Legion of Honour, and was elected to the French Academy in 1884, succeeding Lap- rade, another poet whose talent did no little honour to the Catholic Faith. The works of Coppee come under four classes : narrative poems, dramas, novels and short stories. The narrative poems, including " Le Reli- quaire" (1866), "Intimitfe" (1868), "Les Humbles" (1872), "Contes en Vers" (1880), and "Les Poemes Modernes" (1867-1869), present picturesque studies of contemporary life, the sentimental realism of which is entirely free from coarseness or triviality. He wrote a great nimiber of plays in verse, chief among which are: " Le Passant" "(1869), "Le Luthier de Cremone" (1876), "Severo Torelli" (1883), which is regarded as his dramatic masterpiece, " Les Jacobites" (1885), "Pour La Couronne" (1895), "Fais ce que Dois " ( 187 1 ), and " Le Pater ' ', a play dealing with an episode of the Commune; long forbidden by the Gov- ernment, it obtained a great success in 1890. His drama is remarkable for its lofty and generous ideals, while its technique shows a constant effort to combine the theory of romanticism with the demands of mod- ern theories. His works in prose comprise several novels- "Henriette" (1889); " Une idylle pendant le siftge" (1874); "Les vrais riches" (1898); "Rivales" (1893) ; " le Coupable" (1897), and many short stories " Contes en prose " ( 1 882) ; " Vingt contes nou veaux ' ' (1883); "Contes rapides" (1889). The short stories are the most popular part of his works. Simplicity, truth and vividness in the portrayal of familiar scenes, constitute the charm that has so endeared the author to readers the world over. In " La Boime Souf- france", written in 1898, after a serious illness that

brought him back to the religious faith of his child- hooil, there are elements of great strength and sweet- ness. The last years of his life were saddened by cruel sufferings enilured with jjatience He was a modest man and led a quiet simple life. He was always ready to help those who struggle through life in obscurity. He gave to the French Academy, in 1907, a sum yielding 81200 annually to be used as a prize for young poets.

.Standard editions: Edition ehh-iriennc (Paris, 1S70-1S94. 13 vol.); OcuiTps compWcs (Paris. 1887-1903). 16 vol.; Lescurs F. Coppee. I'homme. la rie et I'muvre (Paris, 18S9); de Jcllej- ■\TLLE, Hifttoire de la langue et de la litterature fran^aises (Paris, 1899) VIII; G.iUBEHT, F. Coppee (Paris. 1906).

Louis N. Del.\marre.

Coptic Church. See Egypt.

Coptic Versions of the Bible. See Versions op THE Bible. i

Coptos, a titular see of Upper Eg\-pt. It was the ' chief town of the Nomos of Harawi (Two Hawks i, :infl was once politically important, but under the elc\i utli dynasty it was overshadowed by Thefjes. Its ju iiici- pal god was Manou, with an Isis and an Horus infant; the remains of their temple were explored by Flinders Petrie in 1894. Coptos was at the starting-point of the two great routes leading to the coast of the Re<l Sea, the one towards the port Taaou (Myoshormos), the other more southerly, towards the port of Sha- shirit (Berenice). Under the Pharaohs the wliole trade of southern Egypt with the Red Sea passed over these two roads; under the Ptolemies, ami in Roman and Byzantine times, merchants followed the sami roads for purposes of barter with the coasts of Zanzi- bar, Southern Arabia, India, and the Far East Coptos was most prosperous under tlie Antoniiics; ii was captured in 292 by Diocletian after a Ions: ..-i.^c but soon recovered its former staiidiim. In tlir .sixtl century it was called Justiiiiaiiopi.lis. The scr w;i suffragan of Ptolemais in IIk hais .•<i(\iii.la. I'ivi bishops are known (Lequifu, 11, (.HIT): Throdorus, : partisan of Meletius; Phcebammon in 431; Sabinuli; in 451 ; Vincent, author of the "Canonical Solutions''^ preserved in an Arabic translation and highly esl teemed by the Copts; Moyses, who WTote the pane gjTic of Vincent. Under the caliphs and the sultan Koptos remained one of the chief cities of Said. I 1176 its Christian inhabitants raised the standard < revolt against the Mussulmans, but were proni;'tl suppressed by El Adel. brother of Saleh ed-Din iSak din), who hanged nearly 3000 on the trees arounil lli city. In the thirteenth century there were still in th region numerous monasteries. Co|.)tos was ruinid i the sixteenth century by the Turkish conquest. It to-day a village called Kebt, or Keft, with about 2,Jt inhabitants, subject to the mudirieh of Keneh: it situated near the right bank of the Xile, between Dei derail (Tynteris) and Karnak (Thebes), about 6: miles from Cairo.

Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geogr. (London. 1S78\ I. l)( S. VailI!!':. ;

Coquart, Claude-Godefroi. missionary- and am | chaplain, h. in Pays de Caux, France. 20 Februai ( 1706; d. at Chicoutimi, Canada, 4 July, 1765. ] ' began his novitiate in the Jesuit College at Paris. May, 1726, studied at the College of Louis le Gra and at La Fleche, and was professor at Arras a Hesdin. In 1740 he set out for Canada and, in I following year, journeyed with \'erendrye to Fort Rcine. lie probably returned with Verendr>-e wl' that explorer was compelled to resign his jjo.sition commandant in the North-West. From 1746 to 17 Father Coquart laboured on the Saguenay niissi; and later at Quebec. After the con(|Ucst of Camil he atteini>lif English avithorilies forced tlieni to leave. He tU: rcsmned his labours in the Saguenay region, wherci»i.

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