Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1145

COD CODRINGTON,, an English writer, born of an old family in Gloucestershire in 1602. He was educated at Oxford, and died of the plague in 1665. He wrote "The Life and Death of Robert, Earl of Essex;" "The Life of Æsop;" and translated Du Moulin, on the Knowledge of God, Justin, Quintus Curtius, the prophecies of the German prophets, &c.—R. M., A.  * CODRINGTON,, K.C.B., eldest surviving son of Sir Edward, was born in 1800. He entered the army in 1821, and rose through the intervening grades until he became lieutenant-colonel of the Coldstream Guards in 1836, and obtained the rank of major-general in 1854, without, however, having been engaged in any actual war service. At the commencement of the Russian war he accompanied, as a spectator, the British army sent out to Turkey, immediately before the sailing of the Crimean expedition, and was appointed by Lord Raglan to the command of the first brigade of the light division, vacant by the promotion of General Airey to the office of quarter-master general to the army. He led his brigade with great gallantry at the battle of the Alma, and was the first to give notice of the approach of the Russians at Inkermann. Lord Raglan noticed his conspicuous bravery during the battle, and appointed him to command the light division when Sir George Brown was obliged to leave for Malta, in consequence of a wound received at Inkermann. Sir William led the unsuccessful attack on the Redan, at the capture of Sebastopol, 8th September, 1855; and after the resignation of General Simpson, was appointed commander-in-chief of the British army in the Crimea. On his return home at the close of the war, he was elected M.P. for Greenwich.—J. T.  CODRUS, the seventeenth and last king of Athens, was the son of Melanthus, and reigned from 1123 to 1095.  COECK or KOECK. See.  COELLO,, an eminent Spanish painter, born at Madrid early in the seventeenth century. In 1680 he was appointed cabinet painter to Philip IV., and employed in the Escurial.—W. T.  COELN,, or , an eminent old German painter of the latter part of the fourteenth century, called also. He is supposed to have been born at Herle, a village near Cologne. As early as 1370 he was certainly settled in Cologne with his wife, Jutta; and a passage in the annals of the dominicans of Frankfort testifies to his extraordinary repute. Many paintings in distemper of the old Cologne school are credited to Coeln, but the evidence of their authenticity is often only conjectural. Other works are attributed to him, equally with his pupil, Meister Stephan, of whom, unfortunately, no reliable records are preserved. Of these pictures is the so-called Dom-bild, or cathedral picture, formerly the altarpiece of the chapel of the Rath-haus of Cologne, but now in the cathedral. The best accounts of both masters are to be found in Dr. Kugler's history of painting, part ii., and in Michiel's Etudes sur l'Allemagne. The disputed pictures are remarkable for simple beauty of colour, elaborate execution, Gothic manner of design, and extraordinary resemblance to the school of Van Eyck, without its accuracy of drawing.—W. T.  COÉN,, of Reggio, died at Florence in 1834, a learned Hebraist whose activity was especially directed towards the religious education of the Italian Jews. He wrote a vocabulary in Hebrew and Italian; a treatise on the language of the Mishna; an account of the heathen deities mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures; a collection of Hebrew synonymes moral dissertations for the use of young people; and valuable compendia on the poetic art of the Hebrews.—T. T.  COEN,, a Dutch East India governor, was born at Hoorn in 1587. He received a commercial education at Rome, went to India in 1607, and returned in 1611. In the following year he was sent out with two ships under his command, and acquitted himself so well, that in 1613 he received the entire management of the Indian trade, with the title of director-general—an office that was created expressly in his favour. He was chosen president of Bantam, and in 1619 founded the town of Batavia, which he declared the capital of the Dutch East India settlement. In 1629 the emperor of Java, jealous of the rising power of the Dutch, made an unsuccessful attack on the capital, soon after which event Coen died. <section end="1145H" /> <section begin="1145I" />COËTLOGON,, Count de, a poet, born at Versailles in August, 1773. His mother, having accompanied her royal highness the countess d'Artois in her exile, took her son with her, and so imbued his mind with the principles of loyalty that his poetry, when he began to write, derived its inspiration from the same source. His odes are all devoted to the royal family. He has written a poem on Bayard, the knight sans peur et sans reproche, and even aspired to the high theme of David, and with success enough to justify the council of public instruction bestowing their approbation upon the court bard. He was appointed governor of the rival chateau of Rambouillet. He died in September, 1827.—J. F. C. <section end="1145I" /> <section begin="1145J" />COEUR,, a celebrated French merchant, who was born about the end of the fourteenth century, and took a distinguished part in the political history of Charles VII. At an early age he made choice of a mercantile career, and by his remarkable ingenuity, prudence, and perseverance, soon acquired an immense fortune. He was appointed master of the mint to Charles VII., and was a special favourite of that monarch, whom he assisted with large sums of money to carry on the war for the expulsion of the English. A plot was formed against him in 1450 by Antoine de Chabannes and others, at whose suggestion he was arrested on the charge of having poisoned Agnes Sorel, the king's mistress, and was cast into prison, where he was long confined, tortured, and shamefully treated. Charles, with base ingratitude, left his faithful servant in the hands of his enemies, and even connived at their violation of all law and justice in their treatment of him. In 1453 Jacques Coeur was pronounced guilty, and condemned to pay a fine of four millions of crowns, to have the rest of his property confiscated to the king, and to be imprisoned till the fine was paid, and then to be banished the kingdom. The writers of that age are unanimously of opinion that his riches were his only crime, and "the vultures of the court" shared among them the plunder of their victim. After his liberation in 1455, by the dexterity and daring of one of his agents, Jacques was conveyed to Rome, where he was cordially welcomed by Pope Nicholas V. In the following year he was appointed captain-general of the church against the infidels, and was sent with a fleet to the assistance of the Greek isles, then menaced by the Turks. He was seized with an illness at Chios, and died there in 1456.—J. T. <section end="1145J" /> <section begin="1145K" />COFFEY,, an Irish dramatic author, born at the end of the seventeenth century. He wrote nine dramatic pieces which were all successful—one, "The Devil to Pay," decidedly so, as it has kept the stage ever since, and was the foundation of a successful modern ballet, Diable a Quatre. He died on the 13th May, 1745.—J. F. W. <section end="1145K" /> <section begin="1145L" />COFFIN,, born at Buzancy in 1676. Having risen to the distinction of rector of the university of France he signalized his position by a decree establishing gratuitous instruction in the colleges. After three years' occupation of this high post, he resumed his former station of principal of the college of Beauvais. He wrote Latin verses with ease and grace, in which language Coffin composed some hymns for the service of the church. While in one of his Horatian moods he wrote a Latin ode in praise of champagne wine, which so pleased some classic growers of the grape, that they agreed to send the poet a hamper every year. He died in 1749.—J. F. C. <section end="1145L" /> <section begin="1145M" />COFFIN,, Bart., a brave English naval officer, was born in 1760. He entered the naval service in 1773, obtained a lieutenancy in 1778, and was made a commander in 1781. He shared in a good deal of active service on the Halifax station on the coast of America, and on board the Barfleur, under Sir Samuel Hood. Disgusted at some shabby treatment which he had received from the admiralty, Captain Coffin in 1788 transferred his services to the Flemish patriots, but he soon returned to England, and in 1790 obtained the command of the Alligator, of twenty-eight guns. On the breaking out of the war with France, Captain Coffin was appointed to the Melampus frigate. He was for some time resident commissioner of Corsica, then the superintendent of the naval establishment at Lisbon, and in 1798 he was intrusted with the charge of the arsenal at Port Mahon in Minorca. In 1804 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, was soon after created a baronet, and became a full admiral in 1814. Sir Isaac was for a number of years member of parliament for the borough of Hehestor, and was a great favourite in the house, on account of his bonhommie, and the facetious remarks with which he enlivened the debates. He died in 1841.—J. T. <section end="1145M" /> <section begin="1145Zcontin" />COFFINHAL,, one of the most sanguinary <section end="1145Zcontin" />