Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/584

* COUPLET. 500 COUKBET. kind of aphoristic versification. Pope, it has been said, reasons in couplets. For example: " 'Tis with our ludgim-nts as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his owu." COUPON, UoCpun (Fr. coupon, from couper, to rul, from coup, It. colpo, Lat. colpa, from Gk. K6ao!j;oltiphu!i, blow with the fist, from koXdjr- T«i', k-ohtptcin, to strike). An undertaking on the part of an obligor on a money bond or other interest or dividend bearing obligation to pay a definite amount of accrued interest or divi- dends to the holder thereof at a specified date. It is usually so attached to the bond, debenture, or other principal instrument that it can con- veniently be cut otV (whence the name) and pre- sented for payment. Each interest or dividend coupon- constitutes in law a separate claim or demand, and may be separately enforced. Cor- porate bonds and similar securities are usually issued in this form, and so, sometimes, are shares of preferred stock, in which case the coupons rep- resent the guaranteed dividend payments. Of course the coupon does not. in any of these forms, confer any additional legal rights on the holder of the security against the person bound thereby nor increase the liability of the latter. A gen- eral agreement to pay interest or dividends at such a rate would be equally valid and effica- cious. The advantage of the coupon lies in the convenience to the holder of furnishing him ■vith a separate undertaking for each interest or dividend )iayment ior presentment and collec- tion, and in the fact that corporate coupons are usually of a negotiable or quasi-negotiable char- acter, "facilitating their transfer from hand to hand. See Xegoti.bi.e In.strument. COURAJOD, kro'ra'zho', Louis (1841-96). A French archieologist and art critic, born in Paris. For many years he was in charge of monuments of the Jliddle Ages and Renaissance in the Jhiseum of the Louvre. He is the author of valuable books on the history of art in France -and Italy, particularly that of the Renaissance and Middle Ages. His most important work is Alexandre Lenoir, son journal ct Ic inusi'C (les monnnienis francais ( 1878-87), but also note- worthy are Livre-journal de Lazare Duvaux (1873) and L'ecole royale des eleves protigis (1874). COURANT, koo-riint' (Fr., pres. part, of courir, to run). In heraldry, a term used for running. COURAYER, koo'ra'ya', Pierre Francois LE ( lti81-177l)) . A French theologian. He is chiefly known for the part which he took in the discussion, which so interested Leibnitz and others at the time, on the possibility of the re- union of Chi'istendom. and especially of uniting the Church of England with the Roman Catholic communion at the Reformation. In 1723 he published anonymously a Dissertation sur la vaJiditc des ordinations anglaises (English trans. London, 172.5: new ed. Oxford, 1844), in which lie endeavored to prove that there had been no break in the line of ordination from the Apostles to the English clergA'. This was naturally re- ceived with enthusiasm in England, and Oxford conferred the degree of T).T). on him; but it sub- jected him to so much criticism and unpopularity in France that he presently fled to England, where be remained until his death. In 1736 he pub- lished a French translation of Sarpi's History of the Cuuncil of Trent, and in 1767 a translation of Sleidan's Uistonj of the llcformution. COURBET, kiior'ba', AiifioiiE A.n'atole Pros- per (1827-8.3). A French admiral, born at Abbeville. He was educated at the Ecole Poly- technique and graduated with honors. In 1880 he was made rear-admiral and three years after- wards commanded the French fleet in the cam- paign of Tongking. After the violation of the Treaty of Tientsin by the Chinese, Courbet. in a naval engagement (1884), destroyed the entire Chinese fleet without losing a vessel of his own. At the end of the war, in 1885, he started to re- turn to France, but his strength had given out under the stress of the campaign and he died at sea. COURBET, GusTAVE (1819-77). A French landscape, figure, and portrait painter, founder of the modern Realist School. He was born at Ornans (Franche-Comte) on June 10, 1819, of wealthy peasant parents. His first instruc- tion in art was acquired at his home under Klageoulet, a pupil of David. In his twentieth year he went to Paris, where he worked in dif- ferent studios, but he was in the main self- taught. He speedily found recognition, and soon liecame the chief leader of the Realists, in oppo- sition to both Classicists and Romanticists. Courbet was of a very independent character, and had so little regard for the opinions of the judges of the Salon that he returned for six successive years a picture rejected in 1841. When in the Exposition of 1855 his pictures were un- favorably hung, he withdrew them altogether and held a separate exposition. In 1870 he re- turned the' Cross of the Legion of Honor to Xa- jioleon with a protest. He was Radical and So- cialist in politics, and under the Commune he was made director of the fine arts. As such he saved the collections of Thiers and of the Luxembourg from the infuriated populace, but he sacrificed the Vendome Column in order to appease the crowd. For this act he was imprisoned afteT the downfall of the Commune, and all of his paintings were sold at public auction. In order to avoid further suits for damages, he went into voluntary exile, and died broken-hearted near Vevey, in Switzer- land. December 31, 1877. He was a strong but rather coarse character, blustering, but good- natured — a healthy animal without the least spirituality. His paintings portray nature exactly as it is, without the least addition of sentiment or ideal- ism, for he conceived realism to be possible only through the absolute negation of idealism. As he confined himself to the reproduction of nature, there could be no refined composition or real action in his work, for these depend on the painter himself. His figures were no more than models in the positions painted, his landscapes mere patches of forest or country taken at random. In figure painting he was partial to the coarse types preferred by the Flemish School, and he always painted them life size. His color- ing was excellent, and in his figure subjects, which are chiefl.v brush works, it was pure, strong, and mellow. In his landscapes he used the palette-knife very freely, obtaining brilliant and sparkling etteets of color. His chief defect is his lack of strength in drawing. The volume of Courbet's work was enormous, and his activity extends over a variety of sub-