Eclecticism is not open to the superficial objection of proceeding without a system or test in determining the complete or incomplete. But it is open to the objection of assuming that a particular analysis of consciousness hasGeneral estimate.reached all the possible elements in humanity and in history, and all their combinations. It may be asked, Can history have that which is not in the individual consciousness? In a sense not; but our analysis may not give all that is there, and we ought not at once to impose that analysis or any formula on history. History is as likely to reveal to us in the first place true and original elements, and combinations of elements in man, as a study of consciousness. Besides, the tendency of applying a formula of this sort to history is to assume that the elements are developed in a certain regular or necessary order, whereas this may not at all be the case; but we may find at any epoch the whole mixed, either crossing or co-operative, as in the consciousness of the individual himself. Further, the question as to how these elements may possibly have grown up in the general consciousness of mankind is assumed to be non-existent or impossible.
It was the tendency of the philosophy of Cousin to outline things and to fill up the details in an artistic and imaginative interest. This is necessarily the case, especially in the application to history of all formulas supposed to be derived either from an analysis of consciousness, or from an abstraction called pure thought. Cousin was observational and generalizing rather than analytic and discriminating. His search into principles was not profound, and his power of rigorous consecutive development was not remarkable. He left no distinctive permanent principle of philosophy. But he left very interesting psychological analyses, and several new, just, and true expositions of philosophical systems, especially that of Locke and the philosophers of Scotland. He was at the same time a man of impressive power, of rare and wide culture, and of lofty aim,—far above priestly conception and Philistine narrowness. He was familiar with the broad lines of nearly every system of philosophy ancient and modern. His eclecticism was the proof of a reverential sympathy with the struggles of human thought to attain to certainty in the highest problems of speculation. It was eminently a doctrine of comprehension and of toleration. In these respects it formed a marked and valuable contrast to the arrogance of absolutism, to the dogmatism of sensationalism, and to the doctrine of church authority, preached by the theological school of his day. His spirit, while it influenced the youth of France, saved them from these influences. As an educational reformer, as a man of letters and learning, who trod “the large and impartial ways of knowledge,†and who swayed others to the same paths, as a thinker influential alike in the action and the reaction to which he led, Cousin stands out conspicuously among the memorable Frenchmen of the 19th century.
Sir W. Hamilton (Discussions, p. 541), one of his most resolute opponents, described Cousin as “A profound and original thinker, a lucid and eloquent writer, a scholar equally at home in ancient and in modern learning, a philosopher superior to all prejudices of age or country, party or profession, and whose lofty eclecticism, seeking truth under every form of opinion, traces its unity even through the most hostile systems.â€
Bibliography.—J. Barthélemy St Hilaire,V. Cousin, sa vie et sa correspondence(3 vols., Paris, 1895); H. Höffding,Hist. of Mod. Phil.ii. 311 (Eng. trans., 1900); C. E. Fuchs,Die Philosophie Victor Cousins(Berlin, 1847); J. Alaux,La Philos. de M. Cousin(Paris, 1864); P. Janet,Victor Cousin et son œuvre(Paris, 1885); Jules Simon,V. Cousin(1887); Adolphe Franck,Moralistes et philosophes(1872); J. P. Damiron,Souvenirs de vingt ans d’enseignement(Paris, 1859); H. Taine inLes Philosophes(Paris, 1868), pp. 79-202.
Bibliography.—J. Barthélemy St Hilaire,V. Cousin, sa vie et sa correspondence(3 vols., Paris, 1895); H. Höffding,Hist. of Mod. Phil.ii. 311 (Eng. trans., 1900); C. E. Fuchs,Die Philosophie Victor Cousins(Berlin, 1847); J. Alaux,La Philos. de M. Cousin(Paris, 1864); P. Janet,Victor Cousin et son œuvre(Paris, 1885); Jules Simon,V. Cousin(1887); Adolphe Franck,Moralistes et philosophes(1872); J. P. Damiron,Souvenirs de vingt ans d’enseignement(Paris, 1859); H. Taine inLes Philosophes(Paris, 1868), pp. 79-202.
(J. V.; X.)
1Fragmens philosophiques—préface deuxième.2Du vrai, du beau, et du bien(preface).
1Fragmens philosophiques—préface deuxième.
2Du vrai, du beau, et du bien(preface).
COUSIN(Fr.cousin, Ital.cugino, Late Lat.cosinus, perhaps a popular and familiar abbreviation ofconsobrinus, which has the same sense in classical Latin), a term of relationship. Children of brothers and sisters are to each other first cousins, or cousins-german; the children of first cousins are to each other second cousins, and so on; the child of a first cousin is to the first cousin of his father or mother a first cousin once removed.
The word cousin has also, since the 16th century, been used by sovereigns as an honorific style in addressing persons of exalted, but not equal sovereign, rank, the term “brother†being reserved as the style used by one sovereign in addressing another. Thus, in Great Britain, dukes, marquesses and earls are addressed by the sovereign in royal writs, &c., as “cousin.†In France the kings thus addressed princes of the blood royal, cardinals and archbishops, dukes and peers, the marshals of France, the grand officers of the crown and certain foreign princes. In Spain the right to be thus addressed is a privilege of the grandees.
COUSINS, SAMUEL(1801-1887), English mezzotint engraver, was born at Exeter on the 9th of May 1801. He was preeminently the interpreter of Sir Thomas Lawrence, his contemporary. During his apprenticeship to S. W. Reynolds he engraved many of the best amongst the three hundred and sixty little mezzotints illustrating the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds which his master issued in his own name. In the finest of his numerous transcripts of Lawrence, such as “Lady Acland and her Sons,†“Pope Pius VII.†and “Master Lambton,†the distinguishing characteristics of the engraver’s work, brilliancy and force of effect in a high key, corresponded exactly with similar qualities in the painter. After the introduction of steelfor engraving purposes about the year 1823, Cousins and his contemporaries were compelled to work on it, because the soft copper previously used for mezzotint plates did not yield a sufficient number of fine impressions to enable the method to compete commercially against line engraving, from which much larger editions were obtainable. The painter-like quality which distinguished the 18th-century mezzotints on copper was wanting in his later works, because the hardness of the steel on which they were engraved impaired freedom of execution and richness of tone, and so enhanced the labour of scraping that he accelerated the work by stipple, etching the details instead of scraping them out of the “ground†in the manner of his predecessors. To this “mixed style,†previously used by Richard Earlom on copper, Cousins added heavy roulette and rocking-tool textures, tending to fortify the darks, when he found that the “burr†even on steel failed to yield enough fine impressions to meet the demand. The effect of his prints in this method after Reynolds and Millais was mechanical and out of harmony with the picturesque technique of these painters, but the phenomenal popularity which Cousins gained for his works at least kept alive and in favour a form of mezzotint engraving during a critical phase of its history. Abraham Raimbach, the line engraver, dated the decline of his own art in England from the appearance in 1837 of Cousins’s print (in the “mixed styleâ€) after Landseer’s “Bolton Abbey.†Such plates as “Miss Peel,†after Lawrence (published in 1833); “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,†after Landseer (1857); “The Order of Release†and “The First Minuet,†after Millais (1856 and 1868); “The Strawberry Girl†and “Lavinia, Countess Spencer,†after Reynolds; and “Miss Rich,†after Hogarth (1873-1877), represent various stages of Cousins’s mixed method. It reached its final development in the plates after Millais’s “Cherry Ripe†and “Pomona,†published in 1881 and 1882, when the invention of coating copper-plates with a film of steel to make them yield larger editions led to the revival of pure mezzotint on copper, which has since rendered obsolete the steel plate and the mixed style which it fostered. The fine draughtsmanship of Cousins was as apparent in his prints as in his original lead-pencil portraits exhibited in London in 1882. In 1885 he was elected a full member of the Royal Academy, to which institution he later gave in trust £15,000 to provide annuities for superannuated artists who had not been so successful as himself. One of the most important figures in the history of British engraving, he died in London, unmarried, on the 7th of May 1887.
See George Pycroft, M.R.C.S.E.,Memoir of Samuel Cousins, R.A., Member of the Legion of Honour(published for private circulation by E. E. Leggatt, London, 1899); Algernon Graves,Catalogue of the Works of Samuel Cousins, R.A.(published by H. Graves and Co., London, 1888); and Alfred Whitman,Samuel Cousins(published by George Bell & Sons, London, 1904), which contains a catalogue, good illustrations, and much detail useful to the collector and dealer.
See George Pycroft, M.R.C.S.E.,Memoir of Samuel Cousins, R.A., Member of the Legion of Honour(published for private circulation by E. E. Leggatt, London, 1899); Algernon Graves,Catalogue of the Works of Samuel Cousins, R.A.(published by H. Graves and Co., London, 1888); and Alfred Whitman,Samuel Cousins(published by George Bell & Sons, London, 1904), which contains a catalogue, good illustrations, and much detail useful to the collector and dealer.
(G. P. R.)
COUSTOU,the name of a famous family of French sculptors.
Nicolas Coustou(1658-1733) was the son of a wood-carver at Lyons, where he was born. At eighteen he removed to Paris, to study under C. A. Coysevox, his mother’s brother, who presided over the recently-established Academy of Painting and Sculpture; and at three-and-twenty he gained the Colbert prize, which entitled him to four years’ education at the French Academy at Rome. He afterwards became rector and chancellor of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. From the year 1700 he was a most active collaborator with Coysevox at the palaces of Marly and Versailles. He was remarkable for his facility; and though he was specially influenced by Michelangelo and Algardi, his numerous works are among the most typical specimens of his age now extant. The most famous are “La Seine et la Marne,†“La Saône,†the “Berger Chasseur†in the gardens of the Tuileries, the bas-relief “Le Passage du Rhin†in the Louvre, and the “Descent from the Cross†placed behind the choir altar of Notre Dame at Paris.
His younger brother,Guillaume Coustou(1677-1746), was a sculptor of still greater merit. He also gained the Colbert prize; but refusing to submit to the rules of the Academy, he soon left it, and for some time wandered houseless through the streets of Rome. At length he was befriended by the sculptor Legros, under whom he studied for some time. Returning to Paris, he was in 1704 admitted into the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, of which he afterwards became director; and, like his brother, he was employed by Louis XIV. His finest works are the famous group of the “Horse Tamers,†originally at Marly, now in the Champs Elysées at Paris, the colossal group “The Ocean and the Mediterranean†at Marly, the bronze “Rhône†which formed part of the statue of Louis XIV. at Lyons, and the sculptures at the entrance of the Hôtel des Invalides. Of these latter, the bas-relief representing Louis XIV. mounted and accompanied by Justice and Prudence was destroyed during the Revolution, but was restored in 1815 by Pierre Cartellier from Coustou’s model; the bronze figures of Mars and Minerva, on either side of the doorway, were not interfered with.
AnotherGuillaume Coustou(1716-1777), the son of Nicolas, also studied at Rome, as winner of the Colbert prize. While to a great extent a copyist of his predecessors, he was much affected by the bad taste of his time, and produced little or nothing of permanent value.
See Louis Gougenot,Éloge de M. Coustou le jeune(1903); Arsène Houssaye,Histoire de l’art français au XVIIIesiècle(1860); Lady Dilke,Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. xxv. (1901) (2 articles).
See Louis Gougenot,Éloge de M. Coustou le jeune(1903); Arsène Houssaye,Histoire de l’art français au XVIIIesiècle(1860); Lady Dilke,Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. xxv. (1901) (2 articles).
COUTANCES, WALTER OF(d. 1207), bishop of Lincoln and archbishop of Rouen, commenced his career in the chancery of Henry II., was elected bishop of Lincoln in 1182, and in 1184 obtained, with the king’s help, the see of Rouen. Throughout his career he was much employed in diplomatic and administrative duties. He started with Richard I. for the Third Crusade, but was sent back from Messina to investigate the charges which the barons and the official class had brought against the chancellor, William Longchamp. There was no love lost between the two; and they were popularly supposed to be rivals for the see of Canterbury. The archbishop of Rouen sided with the barons and John, and sanctioned Longchamp’s deposition—a step which was technically warranted by the powers which Richard had given, but by no means calculated to protect the interests of the crown. The Great Council now recognized the archbishop as chief justiciar, and he remained at the head of the government till 1193, when he was replaced by Hubert Walter. The archbishop did good service in the negotiations for Richard’s release, but subsequently quarrelled with his master and laid Normandy under an interdict, because the border stronghold of Château Gaillard in the Vexin had been built on his land without his consent. After Richard’s death the archbishop accepted John as the lawful heir of Normandy and consecrated him as duke. But his personal inclinations leaned to Arthur of Brittany, whom he was with difficulty dissuaded from supporting. The archbishop accepted the French conquest of Normandy with equanimity (1204), although he kept to his old allegiance while the issue of the struggle was in doubt. He did not long survive the conquest, and his later history is a blank.
See W. Stubbs’s editions ofBenedictus Abbas,HovedenandDiceto(Rolls series); R. Howlett’s edition of “William of Newburgh†and “Richard of Devizes†inChronicles, &c., of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II. and Richard I.(Rolls series). See also the preface to the third volume of Stubbs’sHoveden, pp. lix.-xcviii.; J. H. Round’sCommune of London, and the French poem onGuillaume le Maréchal(ed. P. Meyer,Soc. de l’Histoire de France).
See W. Stubbs’s editions ofBenedictus Abbas,HovedenandDiceto(Rolls series); R. Howlett’s edition of “William of Newburgh†and “Richard of Devizes†inChronicles, &c., of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II. and Richard I.(Rolls series). See also the preface to the third volume of Stubbs’sHoveden, pp. lix.-xcviii.; J. H. Round’sCommune of London, and the French poem onGuillaume le Maréchal(ed. P. Meyer,Soc. de l’Histoire de France).
(H. W. C. D.)
COUTANCES,a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement of the department of Manche, 7 m. E. of the English Channel and 58 m. S. of Cherbourg on the Western railway. Pop. (1906) 6089. Coutances is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Soulle on a granitic eminence crowned by the celebrated cathedral of Notre-Dame. The date of this church has been much disputed, but while traces of Romanesque architecture survive, the building is, in the main, Gothic in style and dates from the first half of the 13th century. The slender turrets massed round the western towers and the octagonal central tower, which forms a lantern within, are conspicuous features of the church. In the interior, which comprises thenave with aisles, transept and choir with ambulatory and side chapels, there are fine rose-windows with stained glass of the 14th century, and other works of art. Of the other buildings of Coutances the church of St Pierre, in which Renaissance architecture is mingled with Gothic, and that of St Nicolas, of the 16th and 17th centuries, demand mention. There is an aqueduct of the 14th century to the west of the town. Coutances is a quiet town with winding streets and pleasant boulevards bordering it on the east; on the western slope of the hill there is a public garden. The town is the seat of a bishop, a court of assizes and a sub-prefect; it has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a lycée for boys, a communal college and a training college for girls, and an ecclesiastical seminary. Leather-dressing and wool-spinning are carried on and there is trade in live-stock, in agricultural produce, especially eggs, and in marble.
Coutances is the ancientCosedia, which before the Roman conquest was one of the chief towns in the country of the Unelli. Towards the end of the 3rd century its name was changed toConstantia, in honour of the emperor Constantius Chlorus, who fortified it. It became the capital of thepagus Constantinus(Cotentin), and in the middle ages was the seat of a viscount. It has been an episcopal see since the 5th century. In the 17th century it was the centre of the revolt of theNu-pieds, caused by the imposition of the salt-tax (gabelle).
A good bibliography of general works and monographs on the archaeology and the history of the town and diocese of Coutances is given in U. Chevalier,Répertoire des sources, &c., Topo-Bibliographie(Montbéliard, 1894-1899), s.v.
A good bibliography of general works and monographs on the archaeology and the history of the town and diocese of Coutances is given in U. Chevalier,Répertoire des sources, &c., Topo-Bibliographie(Montbéliard, 1894-1899), s.v.
COUTHON, GEORGES(1755-1794), French revolutionist, was born at Orcet, a village in the district of Clermont in Auvergne. He studied law, and was admitted advocate at Clermont in 1785. At this period he was noted for his integrity, gentle-heartedness and charitable disposition. His health was feeble and both legs were paralysed. In 1787 he was a member of the provincial assembly of Auvergne. On the outbreak of the Revolution Couthon, who was now a member of the municipality of Clermont-Ferrand, published hisL’Aristocrate converti, in which he revealed himself as a liberal and a champion of constitutional monarchy. He became very popular, was appointed president of the tribunal of the town of Clermont in 1791, and in September of the same year was elected deputy to the Legislative Assembly. His views had meanwhile been embittered by the attempted flight of Louis XVI., and he distinguished himself now by his hostility to the king. A visit to Flanders for the sake of his health brought him into close intercourse and sympathy with Dumouriez. In September 1792 Couthon was elected member of the National Convention, and at the trial of the king voted for the sentence of death without appeal. He hesitated for a time as to which party he should join, but finally decided for that of Robespierre, with whom he had many opinions in common, especially in matters of religion. He was the first to demand the arrest of the proscribed Girondists. On the 30th of May 1793 he became a member of the Committee of Public Safety, and in August was sent as one of the commissioners of the Convention attached to the army before Lyons. Impatient at the slow progress made by the besieging force, he decreed alevée en massein the department of Puy-de-Dôme, collected an army of 60,000 men, and himself led them to Lyons. When the city was taken, on the 9th of October 1793, although the Convention ordered its destruction, Couthon did not carry out the decree, and showed moderation in the punishment of the rebels. The Republican atrocities began only after Couthon was replaced, on the 3rd of November 1793, by Collot d’Herbois. Couthon returned to Paris, and on the 21st of December was elected president of the Convention. He contributed to the prosecution of the Hébertists, and was responsible for the law of the 22nd Prairial, which in the case of trials before the Revolutionary Tribunal deprived the accused of the aid of counsel or of witnesses or their defence, on the pretext of shortening the proceedings. During the crisis preceding the 9th Thermidor, Couthon showed considerable courage, giving up a journey to Auvergne in order, as he wrote, that he might either die or triumph with Robespierre and liberty. Arrested with Robespierre and Saint-Just, his colleagues in the triumvirate of the Terror, and subjected to indescribable sufferings and insults, he was taken to the scaffold on the same cart with Robespierre on the 28th of July 1794 (10th Thermidor).
See Fr. Mège,Correspondance de Couthon ... suivie de “l’Aristocrate converti,†comédie en deux actes de Couthon(Paris, 1872); andNouveaux Documents sur Georges Couthon(Clermont-Ferrand, 1890); also F. A. Aulard,Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la Convention(Paris, 1885-1886), ii. 425-443.
See Fr. Mège,Correspondance de Couthon ... suivie de “l’Aristocrate converti,†comédie en deux actes de Couthon(Paris, 1872); andNouveaux Documents sur Georges Couthon(Clermont-Ferrand, 1890); also F. A. Aulard,Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la Convention(Paris, 1885-1886), ii. 425-443.
COUTTS, THOMAS(1735-1822), English banker and founder of the banking house of Coutts & Co., was born on the 7th of September 1735. He was the fourth son of John Coutts (1699-1751), who carried on business in Edinburgh as a corn factor and negotiator of bills of exchange, and who in 1742 was elected lord provost of the city. The family was originally of Montrose, but one of its members had settled at Edinburgh about 1696. Soon after the death of John Coutts the business was divided into two branches, one carried on in Edinburgh, the other in London. The banking business in London was in the hands of James and Thomas Coutts, sons of John Coutts. From the death of his brother in 1778, Thomas, as surviving partner, became sole head of the firm; and under his direction the banking house rose to the highest distinction. His ambition was to establish his character as a man of business and to make a fortune; and he lived to succeed in this aim and long to enjoy his reputation and wealth. A gentleman in manners, hospitable and benevolent, he counted amongst his friends some of the literary men and the best actors of his day. Of the enormous wealth which came into his hands he made munificent use. His private life was not without its romantic elements. Soon after his settlement in London he married Elizabeth Starkey, a young woman of humble origin, who was in attendance on the daughter of his brother James. They lived happily together, and had three daughters—Susan, married in 1796 to the 3rd earl of Guilford; Frances, married in 1800 to John, 1st marquess of Bute; and Sophia, married in 1793 to Sir Francis Burdett. Mrs Coutts dying in 1815, her husband soon after married the popular actress, Harriet Mellon; and to her he left the whole of his immense fortune. He died in London on the 24th of February 1822. His widow married in 1827 the 9th duke of St Albans, and died ten years later, having bequeathed her property to Angela, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, who then assumed the additional name and arms of Coutts. In 1871 this lady was created Baroness Burdett-Coutts (q.v.).
See C. Rogers,Genealogical Memoirs of the Families of Colt and Coutts(1879); and R. Richardson,Coutts & Co.(1900).
See C. Rogers,Genealogical Memoirs of the Families of Colt and Coutts(1879); and R. Richardson,Coutts & Co.(1900).
COUTURE, THOMAS(1815-1879), French painter, was born at Senlis (Oise), and studied under Baron A. J. Gros and Paul Delaroche, winning a Prix de Rome in 1837. He began exhibiting historical andgenrepictures at the Salon in 1840, and obtained several medals. His masterpiece was his “Romans in the Decadence of the Empire†(1847), now in the Luxembourg; and his “Love of Money†(1844; at Toulouse), “Falconer†(1855), and “Damocles†(1872), are also good examples.
COUVADE(literally a “brooding,†from Fr.couver, to hatch, Lat.cubare, to lie down), a custom so called in Béarn, prevalent among several peoples in different parts of the world, requiring that the father, at and sometimes before the birth of his child, shall retire to bed and fast or abstain from certain kinds of food, receiving the attentions generally shown to women at their confinements. The existence of the custom in ancient classical times is testified to by Apollonius Rhodius, Diodorus (who refers to its existence among the Corsicans), and Strabo (who noticed it among the Spanish Basques, by whom, as well as by the Gascons, it has been said to be still observed, though the most recent researches entirely discredit this). Travellers, from the time of Marco Polo, who relates its observance in Chinese Turkestan, have found the custom to prevail in China, India, Borneo, Siam, Africa and the Americas. Even in Europe it cannot be said to have entirely disappeared. In certain of the Baltic provinces of Russia the husband, on the lying-in of the wife, takes to his bed and groans in mock pain. One writer believes he found traces ofit in the little island of Marken in the Zuyder Zee. Even in rural England, notably in East Anglia, a curiously obstinate belief survives (the prevalence of which in earlier times is proved by references to it in Elizabethan drama) that the pregnancy of the woman affects the man, and the young husband who complains of a toothache is assailed by pleasantries as to his wife’s condition. In Guiana the custom is observed in its most typical form. The woman works to within a few hours of the birth, but some days before her delivery the father leaves his occupations and abstains from certain kinds of animal food lest the child should suffer. Thus the flesh of the agouti is forbidden, lest the child should be lean, and that of the capibara or water-cavy, for fear he should inherit through his father’s gluttony that creature’s projecting teeth. A few hours before delivery the woman goes alone, or with one or two women-friends, into the forest, where the baby is born. She returns as soon as she can stand, to her work, and the man then takes to his hammock and becomes the invalid. He must do no work, must touch no weapons, is forbidden all meat and food, except at first a fermented liquor and after the twelfth day a weak gruel ofcassavameal. He must not even smoke, or wash himself, but is waited on hand and foot by the women. So far is the comedy carried that he whines and groans as if in actual pain. Six weeks after the birth of the child he is taken in hand by his relatives, who lacerate his skin and rub him with a decoction of the pepper-plant. A banquet is then held from which the patient is excluded, for he must not leave his bed till several days later; and for six months he must eat the flesh of neither fish nor bird. Almost identical ceremonies have been noticed among the natives of California and New Mexico; while in Greenland and Kamchatka the husband may not work for some time before and after his wife’s confinement. Among the Larkas of Bengal a period of isolation and uncleanness, synchronous with that compulsory on the woman, is imperative for the man, on the conclusion of which the child’s parentage is publicly proclaimed.
No certain explanation can be offered for the custom. The most reasonable view is that adopted by E. B. Tylor, who traces in it the transition from the earlier matriarchal to the later patriarchal system of tribe-organization. Among primitive tribes, and probably in all ages, the former order of society, in which descent and inheritance are reckoned through the mother alone, as being the earliest form of family life, is and was very common, if not universal. The acknowledgment of a relationship between father and son is characteristic of the progress of society towards a true family life. It may well be that the Couvade arose in the father’s desire to emphasize the bond of blood between himself and his child. It is a fact that in some countries the father has to purchase the child from its mother; and in the Roman ceremony of the husband raising the baby from the floor we may trace the savage idea that the male parent must formally proclaim his adoption of and responsibility for the offspring. Max Müller, in hisChips from a German Workshop, endeavoured to find an explanation in primitive “henpecking,†asserting that the unfortunate husband was tyrannized over by “his female relatives and afterwards frightened into superstition,â€â€”that, in fact, the whole fabric of ceremony is reared on nothing but masculine hysteria; but this theory can scarcely be taken seriously. The missionary, Joseph François Lafitau, suspected a psychological reason, assuming the custom to be a dim recollection of original sin, the isolation and fast types of repentance. The explanation of the American Indians is that if the father engaged in any hard or hazardous work,e.g.hunting, or was careless in his diet, the child would suffer and inherit the physical faults and peculiarities of the animals eaten. This belief that a person becomes possessed of the nature and form of the animal he eats is widespread, being as prevalent in the Old World as in the New, but it is insufficient to account for the minute ceremonial details of La Couvade as practised in many lands. It is far more likely that so universal a practice has no trivial beginnings, but is to be considered as a mile-stone marking a great transitional epoch in human progress.
Authorities.—E. B. Tylor’sEarly History of Man(1865; 2nd ed. p. 301); F. Max Müller,Chips from a German Workshop(1868-1875), ii. 281; Lord Avebury,Origin of Civilisation(1900); Brett’sIndian Tribes of Guiana; Johann Baptist von Spix and Karl F. P. von Martius,Travels in Brazil(1823-1831), ii. 281; J. F. Lafitau,Mœurs des sauvages américains(1st ed., 1724); W. Z. Ripley,Races of Europe(1900); A. H. Keane’sEthnology(1896), p. 368 and footnote; A. Giraud-Teulon,Les Origines du mariage et de la famille(Paris, 1884).
Authorities.—E. B. Tylor’sEarly History of Man(1865; 2nd ed. p. 301); F. Max Müller,Chips from a German Workshop(1868-1875), ii. 281; Lord Avebury,Origin of Civilisation(1900); Brett’sIndian Tribes of Guiana; Johann Baptist von Spix and Karl F. P. von Martius,Travels in Brazil(1823-1831), ii. 281; J. F. Lafitau,Mœurs des sauvages américains(1st ed., 1724); W. Z. Ripley,Races of Europe(1900); A. H. Keane’sEthnology(1896), p. 368 and footnote; A. Giraud-Teulon,Les Origines du mariage et de la famille(Paris, 1884).
COVE,a word mostly used in the sense of a small inlet or sheltered bay in a coast-line. In English dialect usage it is also applied to a cave or to a recess in a mountain-side. The word in O. Eng. iscofa, and cognate forms are found in the Ger.Koben, Norwegiankove, and in various forms in other Teutonic languages. It has no connexion with “alcove,†recess in a room or building, which is derived through the Span.alcobafrom Arab.al, the, andqubbah, vault, arch, nor with “cup†or “coop,†nor with “cave†(Lat.cava). The use of the word was first confined to a small chamber or cell or inner recess in a room or building. From this has come the particular application in architecture to any kind of concave moulding, the term being usually applied to the quadrantal curve rising from the cornice of a lofty room to the moulded borders of the horizontal ceiling. The term “coving†is given in half-timbered work to the curved soffit under a projecting window, or in the 18th century to that occasionally found carrying the gutter of a house. In the Musée Plantin at Antwerp the hearth of the fireplace of the upper floor is carved on coving, which forms part of the design of the chimney-piece in the room below. The slang use of “cove†for any male person, like a “fellow,†“chap,†&c., is found in the form “cofe†in T. Harman’sCaveat for Cursetors(1587) and other early quotations. This seems to be identical with the Scots word “cofe,†a pedlar, hawker, which is formed from “coff,†to sell, purchase, cognate with the Ger.kaufen, to buy, and the native English “cheap.†The word “cove,†therefore, is in ultimate origin the same as “chap,†short for “chapman,†a pedlar.
COVELLITE,a mineral species consisting of cupric sulphide, CuS, crystallizing in the hexagonal system. It is of less frequent occurrence in nature than copper-glance, the orthorhombic cuprous sulphide. Crystals are very rare, the mineral being usually found as compact and earthy masses or as a blue coating on other copper sulphides. Hardness 1½-2; specific gravity 4.6. The dark indigo-blue colour is a characteristic feature, and the mineral was early known as indigo-copper (Ger.Kupferindig). The name covellite is taken from N. Covelli, who in 1839 observed crystals of cupric sulphide encrusting Vesuvian lava, the mineral having been formed here by the interaction of hydrogen sulphide and cupric chloride, both of which are volatile volcanic products. Covellite is, however, more commonly found in copper-bearing veins, where it has resulted by the alteration of other copper sulphides, namely chalcopyrite, copper-glance and erubescite. It is found in many copper mines; localities which may be specially mentioned are Sangerhausen in Prussian Saxony, Butte in Montana, and Chile; in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming a platiniferous covellite is mined, the platinum being present as sperrylite (platinum arsenide).
(L. J. S.)
COVENANT(an O. Fr. form, laterconvenant, fromconvenir, to agree, Lat.convenire), a mutual agreement of two or more parties, or an undertaking made by one of the parties. In the Bible the Hebrew word הירב,bÄ•rÄ«th, is used widely for many kinds of agreements; it is then applied to a contract between two persons or to a treaty between two nations, such as the covenant made between Abimelech and Isaac, representing a treaty between the Israelites and the Philistines (Gen. xxvi. 26, seq.); more particularly to an engagement made between God and men, or such agreements as, by the observance of a religious rite, regarded God as a party to the engagement. Two suggestions have been made for the derivation ofbÄ•rÄ«th: (1) tracing the word from a root “to cut,†and the reference is to the primitive rite of cutting victims into parts, between which the parties to an agreement passed, cf. the Greeká½…Ïκια Ï„Îμνειν, and the account (Gen. xv. 17) of the covenant between God and Abraham, where “a smoking furnace and burning lamp passedbetween the pieces†of the victims Abraham had sacrificed; (2) connecting it with an Assyrio-Babylonianbiritu, fetter, alliance.BÄ•rÄ«thwas translated in the Septuagint byδιαθήκη, which in classical Greek had the meaning of “willâ€; hence the Vulgate, in the Psalms and the New Testament, translates the word bytestamentum, but elsewhere in the Old Testament byfoedusorpactum; similarly Wycliffe’s version gives “testament†and “covenant†respectively. The books of Scripture dealing with the old or Mosaic, and new or Christian dispensation are sometimes known as the Books of the Old and the New Covenant. The word appears in the system of theology developed by Johannes Cocceius (q.v.), and known as the “Covenant†or “Federal†Theology, based on the two Covenants of Works or Life made by God with Adam, on condition of obedience, and of grace or redemption, made with Christ. In Scottish ecclesiastical history, covenant appears in the two agreements signed by the members of the Scottish Church in defence of their religious and ecclesiastical systems (seeCovenanters).
COVENANT,in law, is the English equivalent of the Lat.conventio, which, although not technical, was the most general word in Roman law for “agreement.†It was frequently used along withpactum, also a general term, but applied especially to agreements to settle a question without carrying it before the courts of law.
The word “covenant†has been used in a variety of senses in English law.
1. In its strict sense, covenant means an agreementunder seal, that something has or has not already been done, or shall or shall not be done hereafter (Shep.Touchstone, 160, 162). It is most commonly used with reference to sales or leases of land, but is sometimes applied to any promise or stipulation, whether under seal or not. The person who makes, and is bound to perform, the promise or stipulation is the covenantor: the person in whose favour it is made is the covenantee.
2. Covenants have been subdivided into numerous classes, only a few of which need to be described. It is unnecessary to do more than mention affirmative and negative covenants, joint or several, alternative or disjunctive covenants, dependent or independent covenants. As to collateral covenants, covenants “running with the land,†and covenants in leases (including “usual,†“proper†and “restrictive†covenants), seeLandlord and Tenant. But there are other classes as to which something must be said.
A covenant is said to beexpresswhen it is created by the express words of the parties to the deed declaratory of their intention. It is not indispensable that the word “covenant†should be used. Any word which clearly indicates the intention of the parties to covenant will suffice. Animpliedcovenant, orcovenant in law, “depends for its existence on the intendment and construction of law. There are some words which of themselves do not import an express covenant, yet, being made use of in certain contracts, have a similar operation and are called covenants in law; and they are as effectually binding on the parties as if expressed in the most unequivocal terms†(Platt onCovenants, p. 40). Thus, the word “demise,†used in a lease of deed, raises the implication of a covenant both for “quiet enjoyment†and for title to let; and it has been judicially suggested that a covenant for quiet enjoyment may be implied from any word or words of like import (Budd-Scottv.Daniell, 1902, 2 K.B. p. 359). The Conveyancing Act 1881 provides (§ 7) that in a conveyance for valuable consideration, other than a mortgage, there shall be implied, as against the person who conveys and is expressed to convey as “beneficial owner,†certainqualifiedcovenants—i.e.covenants extending only to the acts or omissions of the vendor, persons through whom he derives title otherwise than by purchase for value, and persons claiming under them—for “right to convey,†“quiet enjoyment,†“freedom from incumbrances†and “further assurance.†Of these statutory covenants for title the only one which requires explanation is the covenant for further assurance. It imports an agreement on the part of the covenantor to do such reasonable acts, in addition to those already performed, as may be necessary for the completion of the transfer made (or intended to be made) at the requirements of the covenantee (Platt onCovenants, p. 341). All these statutory implied covenants “run with the land†(seeLandlord and Tenant). Where a mortgagor conveys, and is expressed to convey, as “beneficial owner,†there are impliedabsolutecovenants—i.e.covenants amounting to a warranty against and for the acts and omissions of the whole world—that he has a right to convey, that the mortgagee shall have quiet enjoyment of the property after default, free from incumbrances and for further assurance. Special provisions as to implied covenants by the lessor in leases are made in England by § 7 (B) of the Conveyancing Act 1881 and in Ireland by the Land Act (Ireland) 1860, § 41. The distinction betweenrealandpersonalcovenants is that the former do, while the latter do not, run with the land. Aninherentcovenant is another name for arealcovenant (Shep.Touchstone, 176; Platt, 60). When a covenant relates to an act already done, it is usually termed a covenantexecuted; where the performance is future, the covenant is termedexecutory. Thecovenant for seisinwas an assurance to the grantee that the grantor had the estate which he purported to convey. In England it is now included in the covenant for right to convey; but is still in separate use in several states in America. Thecovenant to stand seised to useswas an assurance by means of which, under the Statute of Uses [1536] (seeUses), a conveyance of an estate might be effected. When such a covenant is made, the legal estate in the land passes at once to the covenantee under the statute. The consideration for the covenant must be relationship by blood or marriage. It is still occasionally though very rarely employed. Thecovenant nottosuebelongs to the law of contract and needs noexplanation.
Most of the classes of covenants above mentioned are in use in the United States. In New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin and Wyoming the implication of covenants for title has been, with certain exceptions, prohibited by statute. In Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas the wordsgrant,bargainandsell, in conveyances in fee, unless specially restricted, amount to qualified covenants that the grantor was seised in fee, free from incumbrances, and for quiet enjoyment (4 Kent,Commentaries, § 473; Bouvier,Law Dictionary, s.v. Covenant). In some of the states acovenant of non-claim, or ofwarranty, an assurance by the grantor that neither he nor his heirs, nor any other person shall claim any title in the premises conveyed, is in general use.
Most of the classes of covenants above mentioned are in use in the United States. In New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin and Wyoming the implication of covenants for title has been, with certain exceptions, prohibited by statute. In Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas the wordsgrant,bargainandsell, in conveyances in fee, unless specially restricted, amount to qualified covenants that the grantor was seised in fee, free from incumbrances, and for quiet enjoyment (4 Kent,Commentaries, § 473; Bouvier,Law Dictionary, s.v. Covenant). In some of the states acovenant of non-claim, or ofwarranty, an assurance by the grantor that neither he nor his heirs, nor any other person shall claim any title in the premises conveyed, is in general use.
3. Anaction of covenantlay for breaking covenant. As to the history of this action see Pollock and Maitland,History of English Law, ii. 106; and Holmes,The Common Law, p. 272. There was also awrit of covenant. But this remedy had fallen into disuse before 1830 (see Platt onCovenants, p. 543), and was abolished by the Common Law Procedure Acts. Since the Judicature Acts, an action on a covenant follows the same course as, and is indistinguishable from, any ordinary action for breach of contract. The remedy is by damages, decree of specific performance or injunction to prevent the breach.
The term “covenant†is unknown to Scots law. But its place is filled to some extent by the doctrine of “warrandice.†Many of the British colonies have legislated, as to the implication of covenants for title, on the lines of the English Conveyancing Act 1881;e.g.Tasmania, Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1884 (47 Vict. No. 10).As to covenants in restraint of trade seeRestraint.Authorities.—In addition to the authorities cited in the text see:English Law; Goodeve,Law of Real Property(5th ed., London, 1906); C. Foa,Landlord and Tenant(3rd ed., London, 1901); Hamilton,Law of Covenants(London); Fawcett,Law of Landlord and Tenant(3rd ed., London, 1905).American Law: Rawle, Law of Covenants for Title(Boston, 1887);Encyclopaedia of American Law(3rd ed., 1890), vol. viii., tit. “Covenants.â€
The term “covenant†is unknown to Scots law. But its place is filled to some extent by the doctrine of “warrandice.†Many of the British colonies have legislated, as to the implication of covenants for title, on the lines of the English Conveyancing Act 1881;e.g.Tasmania, Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1884 (47 Vict. No. 10).
As to covenants in restraint of trade seeRestraint.
Authorities.—In addition to the authorities cited in the text see:English Law; Goodeve,Law of Real Property(5th ed., London, 1906); C. Foa,Landlord and Tenant(3rd ed., London, 1901); Hamilton,Law of Covenants(London); Fawcett,Law of Landlord and Tenant(3rd ed., London, 1905).American Law: Rawle, Law of Covenants for Title(Boston, 1887);Encyclopaedia of American Law(3rd ed., 1890), vol. viii., tit. “Covenants.â€
(A. W. R.)
COVENANTERS,the name given to a party which, originating in the Reformation movement, played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England, during the 17th century. The Covenanters were thus named because in a series ofbandsorcovenantsthey bound themselves to maintain the Presbyterian doctrine and polity as the sole religion of their country. The first “godly band†is dated December 1557; but more important is the covenant of 1581, drawn up by John Craig in consequence of the strenuous effortswhich the Roman Catholics were making to regain their hold upon Scotland, and called the King’s Confession or National Covenant. Based upon the Confession of Faith of 1560, this document denounced the pope and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church in no measured terms. It was adopted by the General Assembly, signed by King James VI. and his household, and enjoined on persons of all ranks and classes; and was again subscribed in 1590 and 1596. In 1637 Scotland was in a state of turmoil. Charles I. and Archbishop Laud had just met with a reverse in their efforts to impose the English liturgy upon the Scots; and fearing further measures on the part of the king, it occurred to Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston, to revive the National Covenant of 1581. Additional matter intended to suit the document to the special circumstances of the time was added, and the covenant was adopted and signed by a large gathering in Greyfriars’ churchyard, Edinburgh, on the 28th of February 1638, after which copies were sent throughout the country for additional signatures. The subscribers engaged by oath to maintain religion in the state in which it existed in 1580, and to reject all innovations introduced since that time, while professed expressions of loyalty to the king were added. The General Assembly of 1638 was composed of ardent Covenanters, and in 1640 the covenant was adopted by the parliament, and its subscription was required from all citizens. Before this date the Covenanters were usually referred to asSupplicants, but from about this time the former designation began to prevail.
A further development took place in 1643. The leaders of the English parliament, worsted in the Civil War, implored the aid of the Scots, which was promised on condition that the Scottish system of church government was adopted in England. After some haggling a document called the Solemn League and Covenant was drawn up. This was practically a treaty between England and Scotland for the preservation of the reformed religion in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England and Ireland “according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches,†and the extirpation of popery and prelacy. It was subscribed by many in both kingdoms and also in Ireland, and was approved by the English parliament, and with some slight modifications by the Westminster Assembly of Divines. Charles I. refused to accept it when he surrendered himself to the Scots in 1646, but he made important concessions in this direction in the “Engagement†made with the Scots in December 1647. Charles II. before landing in Scotland in June 1650 declared by a solemn oath his approbation of both covenants, and this was renewed on the occasion of his coronation at Scone in the following January.
From 1638 to 1651 the Covenanters were the dominant party in Scotland, directing her policy both at home and abroad. Their power, however, which had been seriously weakened by Cromwell’s victory at Dunbar in September 1651, was practically destroyed when Charles II. was restored nine years later. Firmly seated upon the throne Charles renounced the covenants, which in 1662 were declared unlawful oaths, and were to be abjured by all persons holding public offices. Episcopacy was restored, the court of high commission was revived, and ministers who refused to recognize the authority of the bishops were expelled from their livings. Gathering around them many of the Covenanters who clung tenaciously to their standards of faith, these ministers began to preach in the fields, and a period of persecution marked by savage hatred and great brutality began. Further oppressive measures were directed against the Covenanters, who took up arms about 1665, and the struggle soon assumed the proportions of a rebellion. The forces of the crown under John Graham of Claverhouse and others were sent against them, and although the insurgents gained isolated successes, in general they were worsted and were treated with great barbarity. They maintained, however, their cherished covenants with a zeal which persecution only intensified; in 1680 the more extreme members of the party signed a document known as the “Sanquhar Declaration,†and were afterwards called Cameronians from the name of their leader, Richard Cameron (q.v.). They renounced their allegiance to King James and were greatly disappointed when their standards found no place in the religious settlement of 1689, continuing to hold the belief that the covenants should be made obligatory upon the entire nation. The Covenanters had a martyrology of their own, and the halo of romance has been cast around their exploits and their sufferings. Their story, however, especially during the time of their political predominance, is part of the general history of Scotland (q.v.).