Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/364

 360 CORNBURY CORNEILLE in Venice in 1454, died there, July 5, 1510. In 1473 she succeeded her husband, James II., Lusignan, as regent, and reigned until Feb. 26, 1489, when, worried by incessant jealousies, she abdicated in favor of the Venetian republic. On her return to Venice she was received with great distinction by the doge, and the castle of Asola in Treviso was assigned to her as a resi- dence. Bembo, her relative, afterward eminent as cardinal, celebrated in his Gli Asolani her brilliant intellectual and social qualities. Her portrait was painted by Titian, and her life has afforded a rich field of romance to French novelists. II. Luigi, an advocate of temperance, born in Venice in 1467, died in Padua about 1567. After having injured his health by ex- cesses, he led from his 40th year to the time of his death an abstemious life, restricting hiin- self, by the advice of his physicians, to a daily allowance of 12 ounces of solid food and 14 ounces of wine. In his 83d year he wrote the first part of the Discorsi della vita sobria (Padua, 1558), which was followed by three others, composed at the ages of 86, 91, and 95 respectively. This work has been translated into Latin, French, German, English, and other languages, and the English version, " Sure and Certain Method of attaining a long and health- ful Life," reached its 39th edition in 1845. < OR BIR Y, Edward Hyde, lord, governor of New York, died in London, April 1, 1723. He was grandson of Edward Hyde, first earl of Clarendon, and eldest son of the second earl, and one of the first officers of his household troops to desert from the service of James II., his uncle by marriage, to the prince of Orange in 1688. In return for this service he was made governor of New York, where he arrived May 3, 1702. He was in debt, and was rapacious and bigoted to such a degree as to have left the reputation of being the worst governor ever appointed to the colony. When the yellow fever appeared in New York in 1703, he retired to Jamaica, L. I., and the best house in the place happening to belong to Mr. Hubbard, the Presbyterian minister, he re- quested to have it vacated for his accommoda- tion. Instead of returning the house to the owner, he made it over to the Episcopal party. He imprisoned two ministers sent out from London for preaching in New York without license. Complaints being made, he was re- moved from office in 1708. His creditors had him taken into custody; but after the death of his father he returned to England, and suc- ceeded to the earldom of Clarendon. CORNEA, the transparent concavo-convex disk which forms the anterior fifth of the globe of the eye, fitted accurately into the sclerotic or fibrous coat forming the posterior four fifths of the organ. It is a segment of a smaller sphere than the sclerotic, and is from 7 to 7 lines in diameter, the greatest diameter being the transverse. Its anterior convex surface is covered by a continuation of the conjunctival epithelium, and its posterior concave surface is lined also with delicate pavement epitheli- um, which is in contact with the aqueous hu- mor, and supposed by some to be concerned in the secretion of this fluid. The degree of con- vexity varies, being usually greatest in children and near-sighted persons. Its circumference is generally described as fitting into the scle- rotic like a watch crystal into its frame. Its principal thickness, which is nearly the same at all points, is made up of six to eight layers of soft indistinct fibres, continuous with and similar to those of the sclerotic ; these may be separated by maceration. Behind the cornea proper is described an elastic transparent lami- na, called the membrane of Demours. Though no vessels have been traced into the cornea, the phenomena of inflammation, adhesion, and ulceration indicate their existence. A super- ficial and a deep series of vessels surround the cornea, anastomosing freely around its margin ; the former are continuous with those of the conjunctiva, and the deep with the short ciliary arteries. In diseased conditions, both sets of vessels may be prolonged into its substance. It is supplied with delicate filaments from the ciliary nerves. Its diseases are many, frequent, and dangerous to vision ; from its exposed sit- uation, it is liable to suffer from blows, cuts, and the introduction of foreign substances. It is often inflamed in various ophthalmic diseases, resulting in opacity, ulceration, increased vas- cularity, softening, and rupture from gangrene ; thes^ affections are tedious and difficult to cure, are often painful, and generally leave the patient with more or less obstruction of the power of vision. In old persons, the circum- ference of the cornea often presents a whitish zone, a line or two wide, the result of physio- logical causes, and not interfering with vision. The convexity of the cornea in aquatic and am- phibious animals is slight, the membrane being sometimes nearly flat. CORNEILLE. I. Pierre, the father of the clas- sical drama in France, born in Rouen, June 6, 1606, died in Paris, Oct. 1, 1684. After study- ing under the Jesuits of Rouen, he followed his father's profession as an advocate, and prac- tised for a short time in the parliament of Nor- mandy, without taste for the bar and without success. In a love adventure he became the successful rival of a friend. This diverted him from the bar to poetry, and he made it the sub- ject of his first dramatic piece, the comedy Melite, which was produced in 1629. It ob- tained unusual success, and was followed be- tween 1632 and 1636 by Clitandre, La veuve, La galerie du palais, La suivante, La place royale, Medee, ^illusion comique. Though these pieces were composed according to the rude standard of the time, and were neither natural nor regular, they were yet superior to the works of his contemporaries, and were performed with applause. They made the au- thor known to Cardinal Richelieu, who himself composed plans of comedies, the execution of which was performed under his direction by