Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1202

COS reputation soon spread beyond the bounds of his own duchy. He was appointed secretary to the states of Languedoc, and soon after he was placed at the head of the financial affairs of Corsica, and thence he was elevated to the post of first commissioner of finance, which he continued to hold till 1790, acquiring and preserving a high reputation for ability. Meantime he was nominated syndic general of the provincial assembly of Lorraine, and subsequently was elected mayor of Nancy. During the Revolution he was thrown into prison in 1793, but liberated soon after. Upon the establishment of the ecoles centrales, Coster was appointed to fill the chair of history in that establishment for the department of la Meurthe. He was perpetual secretary for the academy of Nancy, of which he published the memoirs. He died in 1813.—J. F. W.  COSWAY,, R.A.: this English artist was born in 1740, at Tiverton, Devonshire, his father being the master of the grammar school there. His uncle, the mayor of Tiverton, placed him as a pupil with Hudson, and afterwards at Shipley's school in the Strand) Cipriani and Bartolozzi were loud in their approval of his drawings from the antique. Cosway was a most diligent student, and between his fourteenth and twenty-fourth years he obtained five premiums from the Society of Arts. He was chiefly distinguished as a miniature painter, and he attained to very great success. The prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., expressed great admiration for his portrait by Cosway, and in consequence all the rank and beauty of the country seemed to flock to his easel. In 1771 he was elected a member of the academy. He contributed many fanciful portraits to its exhibitions—among others his "Psyche," "Cupid," "St. John," "Madonna and Child," and "Rinaldo and Armida." He married Miss Hadfield, who was born at Leghorn, but of English parents. She possessed great ability as an artist, and also as a musician. Her paintings attracted general admiration, and her musical soirées, at which she was prima donna, were amongst the most aristocratic haunts of the day. Cosway died on the 4th of July, 1821.—W. T.  COSYN,, a celebrated composer of lessons for the virginals, and probably an excellent performer on that instrument, flourished in the first half of the seventeenth century. There are many of his pieces extant, somewhat in the same style with those of Dr. Bull, and very little inferior to them. He was probably a son of John Cosyn, who published in 1585 sixty psalms, in six parts, in plain counterpoint.—E. F. R.  COTES,, R.A., an English portrait painter, was born in London in 1725. He was remarkable for his portraits in oil and crayons. At one time Hogarth maintained that he was superior to Reynolds. Like Sir Joshua, Cotes called in the aid of Toms to paint his draperies. Walpole mentions several of his pictures, and says of them that if they yield to Rosalba's in softness, they excel hers in vivacity and invention. Cotes died of the stone in July, 1770. He was one of the original members of the Royal Academy.—His brother,, was also a noted crayon painter. He died in 1818.—W. T.  COTES,, an English astronomer, born in Leicestershire in 1682. He was educated at St. Paul's, London, and Cambridge, where he was made Plumian professor of astronomy in 1706. In 1713 he took orders, and in the same year published, at the recommendation of Bentley, the Mathematica Principia of Newton. He also gave to the world a description of the great fiery meteor of 1716. His "Harmonia Mensurarum" appeared after his death, which occurred in the thirty-fourth year of his age.—R. M., A.  COTMAN,, an English artist, born at Norwich about 1780. His water-colour drawings were remarkable for their vigour and depth of effect; but it is as an engraver of architectural and archæological drawings that he will be more especially remembered. His first undertaking of the kind was his "Miscellaneous Etchings of Architectural Antiquities in Yorkshire," in 28 plates, folio, published in 1812; "Architectural Antiquities of Norfolk" and "Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk" followed. In 1817 he went to France, and subsequently produced the most important and valuable of his works, the "Architectural Antiquities of Normandy," published in 1820, with letterpress descriptive of the plates by Mr. Dawson Turner of Yarmouth. He afterwards resided in London, and held the appointment of teacher of drawing in King's college, London. He died in 1843.—W. T.  * COTTA,, an eminent German geologist, was born in 1808. He was appointed professor at Freiberg in 1842. He has prepared geognostic charts of the kingdom of Saxony and of Thuringia, and written extensively on his favourite science. Cotta advocates the theory of a progressive development of terrestrial bodies. One of his latest publications is entitled "Letters on Humboldt's Cosmos."—R. M., A.  COTTA,, one of the most distinguished orators of his time, was born 124. In the earlier part of his life he was obliged to retire from Rome in consequence of the law of Varius, which required the banishment of all who had supported the pretensions of the Italian allies to the rights of citizenship. At this time he spent nearly ten years in exile. He was elected consul 75 .; and in consequence of a proposal to restore the powers of which the tribunes had been deprived by Sylla, he became an object of dislike to the patrician order. As an orator he is frequently applauded by Cicero. <section end="1202H" /> <section begin="1202I" />COTTA,, one of the most eminent German publishers, was born at Stuttgart, 27th April, 1764. He was descended from an ancient Milanese family long settled in Germany. Johann Friedrich Cotta devoted himself to the study of jurisprudence at Tübingen, and then made a longer stay at Paris. In 1787 he began the management of the bookselling house, which, by his business-like habits, his energy and intelligence, he slowly but steadily raised to an almost unparalleled standing. He originated by degrees various highly successful newspapers and periodicals. He also formed acquaintances with almost all the literary and scientific celebrities of Germany, and published the works of Göethe, Schiller, Matthisson, Platen, Humboldt, and other classic authors. By these enterprises his fortune was greatly increased; he acquired considerable landed property, and thus was enabled to take part in the political affairs of his country. He was chosen a member, and afterwards vice-president of the Wurtemberg chamber of deputies, and in 1815 was sent to the Vienna congress by the booksellers' corporation, there to take care of their interests. In 1825 he started the first steam boat on the Bodensee, Three years later, Wurtemberg and Bavaria were joined by his negotiations to the Zollverein. He died at Stuttgart, 29th December, 1832.—K. E. <section end="1202I" /> <section begin="1202J" />COTTEREAU,, usually called , was born in 1757, and died in 1794. Cottereau became a soldier, and at the Revolution obtained a command in the national guard. A devoted royalist, he had soon, however, to quit his regiment; upon which he betook himself with a few companions to the forest of Misdon, where he carried on for some time a system of petty ambuscades and surprises. When the Vendeans passed the Loire, Cottereau joined them with five hundred young men. Their enterprise having failed, he returned to his ambuscades, and fell in an attempt to rescue the wife of his brother René.—R. M., A. <section end="1202J" /> <section begin="1202K" />COTTIN,, Madame, a French authoress, born at Tonneins in 1773, was married in 1790 to M. Cottin, a rich banker of Paris. She published successively "Claire d'Albe;" "Malvina;" "Amélie Mansfield;" "Mathilde;" "Elizabeth, ou les Exilés de Sibérie;" and "La Prise de Jéricho." These romances are full of sensibility, spirit, and eloquence, and the moral principles which they inculcate are pure and elevated. Her "Elizabeth" is well known in Great Britain and the United States. Madame Cottin was a protestant, but all her heroines are Roman catholics. She died at the age of thirty-seven years, on the 25th of August, 1807.—T. J. <section end="1202K" /> <section begin="1202Zcontin" />COTTON,, a well-known English writer, was born at Ovingden in Sussex on the 28th April, 1630. He was the son of that Charles Cotton whom Hyde, afterwards lord chancellor, mentions along with Ben Jonson, Selden, May, and others, as one of the friends of his youth. Young Cotton was sent to Cambridge, from which he returned to his father's house, where he remained till his marriage in 1656. His father dying two years after, Charles came into possession of the family estate; but he found it so heavily burdened, that it was probably as much from necessity as from natural inclination, that he from this time devoted himself so assiduously to literary pursuits. In 1660 he published a "Panegyric to the king's most excellent majesty," and in 1664 "Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie," the coarseness and obscenity of which render it one of the worst productions of the absurd class to which it belongs. His next undertaking was a translation of the Life of the Duke of Espernon, which was followed by his "Voyage to Ireland, in <section end="1202Zcontin" />