Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1171

COM was certainly not a favourite with many excellent and able persons, some of whom took perhaps an exaggerated view of its supposed consequences, and attributed to the author designs which he had not in contemplation; but it has made headway, and left public opinion in a state very different from that in which it found it. Mr. Combe developed his fundamental views under various forms, never resting from applying them when public duty demanded that he should speak. His works in relation to this matter are numerous and various—works on education, on sanitary reform, on "Religion and Science," &c. Nor was his activity confined within this sphere. His pious biography of his brother is replete with interest. His pamphlet on the "Currency," although only a pamphlet, contains the whole principles of the subject, and contrasts strikingly with the volumes of trash one is doomed to read on this plain but much tortured subject. Whether on the currency, on moral philosophy, on phrenology, as a biographer, or as the writer of notes of travel, one never misses for a moment the clear and fearless thinker, the upright and benevolent man. Mr. Combe will long be missed in Edinburgh. His open and liberal hospitality made his house really a salon. Alongside of Lord Murray's, it was the house where every literary stranger of merit was sure to find a welcome. Nor was his kindness limited to strangers; was there a young man of apparent desert struggling and fighting his way, he could find no surer or more judicious friend than George Combe. As may be inferred from what has just been written, Mr. Combe had not arrived at any definite doctrinal creed. But he had learnt to bow humbly under the hand of his Creator; and in humility, in resignation, and firmest faith, he entered the valley of the shadow of death.—J. P. N.  COMBE,, son of the Dr. Charles Combe, was born in 1774, and was educated at Harrow and Oriel college, Oxford. In 1803 he was appointed to a situation in the British museum, and in 1807 was placed in charge of the department of antiquities. He was elected in 1806 a member of the Royal Society, and became its secretary in 1812. His knowledge of ancient coins, Greek, Roman, and British, was both profound and accurate. He wrote a considerable number of papers for the Society of Antiquaries. Mr. Combe died in 1826.—J. T.  COMBER,, D.D., was born in 1645, at Westerham, Kent. He graduated in arts at Cambridge, as a member of Sidney Sussex college, and afterwards received the degree of D.D. from the archbishop of Canterbury, a privilege used by the archbishops only on rare occasions, and in the case of men of distinguished learning. That it was fitly exercised on behalf of Dr. Comber, may be proved by his "Companion to the Temple, or, a Help to Devotion in the use of the Common Prayer," a work of great research, written in a strain of earnest piety, which can scarcely fail to recommend it to every unprejudiced reader. Dr. Comber became, in succession, prebendary of York and dean of Durham, and died in 1699.—T. S. P.  COMELLA,, a Spanish playwriter, flourished in 1790.—F. M. W.  COMENIUS, , a celebrated German educator, whose real name was , was born at Komna, near Brünn, 28th March, 1592. In 1614 he was chosen head master of the school at Prerau, and in 1616 of that of Fulneck. In order to escape the bloody persecution directed by the catholics against all dissenting ministers, he fled into the Bohemian mountains, where he became domestic tutor to the family of some nobleman, and wrote several works in the Bohemian language. When he was no longer safe even in this secluded spot, he resorted to Lissa, where he published in 1631 his "Janua Linguarum Reserata?" This work, in which he exhibited a new method of teaching languages, was translated into several European and even some eastern languages, and soon won so high a reputation for its author that he was invited to England in 1641 and Sweden in 1642, for the purpose of instituting and organizing schools. He then was commissioned at Elbing by Oxenstierna to write a detailed scheme for the organization of schools in Sweden—a task which it took him four years to perform. Towards the close of his life he went to Holland, settled at Amsterdam, and died at Naarden on 15th October, 1671. Among his numerous works perhaps his "Orbis Sensualium Pictus," Nuremberg, 1658, has had the greatest success. It has been many times translated and many times imitated, for instance, by Basedow. Opera Didactica Omnia, Amsterdam, 1657, fol.—K. E.  COMINES,, Lord of Argenton, was descended from an illustrious Flemish family, and was born in 1445. He was introduced in 1464 to the count of Charolais, afterwards Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, followed him in the war of the "Public Good," and was present at the battle of Montlhéry. He lived for a number of years at the court of that headstrong prince, and by his prudence and sagacity moderated many of his rash and violent projects. The impetuous temper of the duke at length became intolerable. Comines was in some way offended by the treatment he received, and was induced to transfer his services to Louis XI. of France, by whom he was leaded with honours and estates, and married to Héléne de Jambes, the heiress of a rich and noble family. In return, Comines rendered various important services to Louis, and preserved to the last the confidence of that jealous and suspicious monarch. After the death of Louis, Comines was expelled from the court on account of some intrigues against the government of Anne of Beaujeau, and attached himself to the constable de Bourbon. But that powerful noble having made his peace with the court, discarded Comines, who joined the party of the duke of Orleans (afterwards Louis XII.), and became involved in a plot formed by him and Count Dunois. He was in consequence arrested in 1486, and sent prisoner to Loches, where he was shut up for eight months in an iron cage. He was subsequently tried by the parliament, found guilty, and sentenced to banishment, and the confiscation of one-fourth of his estates. There is reason to believe, however, that the sentence was not executed. It is certain that he was employed by Charles VIII. in several important negotiations, and rendered to him most valuable services. He died at Argenton in Poitou, 16th August, 1509, at the age of sixty-four. Comines is indebted for his celebrity to his famous "Memoirs," which contain the history of his own times, from 1464 to 1498, published in Paris in 1525 and 1528. A new edition, published in 1552, has often been reprinted. The best and most recent edition is that of Dupont, 3 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1850. The work was translated into English in 1596. It is remarkable for its natural and easy style, cool and accurate discrimination of character, and profound and sagacious reflections. Its moral principles, however, do not rise above the low standard of the period. Comines has been compared to Tacitus, and he is undoubtedly one of the most sagacious historians of his own, or indeed of any other age.—(See De Barante's History of the Dukes of Burgundy and Scott's Quentin Durward.)—J. T.  COMMANDINE,, born at Urbino in 1509; died in 1575. He was a good mathematician, and most valuable writer. We owe, inter alia, to his industry our best Latin translations, and the earliest editions of the works of Archimedes, Apollonius, Euclid, Ptolemy, Pappus, &c. They were printed by the celebrated Aldus.—J. P. N.  COMMIRE,, born at Amboise in 1625; died at Paris in 1702. His reputation for Latin verse was very great, and some graceful lines of his are often quoted.—J. A., D. <section end="1171G" /> <section begin="1171H" />COMMODIANUS, a christian poet of the third century. His book, called "Institutiones," is written acrostically, in a loose kind of hexameter.—R. M., A. <section end="1171H" /> <section begin="1171Zcontin" />COMMODUS, L., one of the most profligate and cruel of the Roman emperors, was the reputed son of the virtuous M. Aurelius, and the undoubted son of his wife, the wicked Faustina, and was born at Lanuvium. 161. Aurelius bestowed the utmost care upon his education, and spared no expense in providing for him the most eminent teachers he could procure. His reign commenced under the most favourable auspices, but the discovery of a plot organized against him by his sister, Lucilla,. 183, roused the dormant ferocity of his nature, and he plunged into excesses in cruelty and bloodshed without a parallel in the history even of the most wicked of his predecessors. His licentiousness was equal to his ferocity. He was both a glutton and a drunkard. He commanded that he should be worshipped under the name of Hercules, on the ground that his victories over the ferocious animals in the circus gave him a strong resemblance to that hero. He offered sacrifices to Isis in his palace, and appeared dressed as one of her priests with his head shaved. His atrocities at length became intolerable, and various plots were formed against his life, but without effect. At last his mistress, Marcia, when he was asleep, found her name standing first on his tablets in the list of persons to be put to death, and forthwith administered poison to him. As its operation, however, was slow, she called in the assistance of a celebrated athlete named Narcissus, who strangled the emperor in the bath,. 192. <section end="1171Zcontin" />