COUZA—COWEN •Catalogue of the Works of Samuel Cousins, R.A. Published by H. Graves and Co., London, 1888. (G. P. R.) Couza, Alexander John (1820-1873), Prince of Rumania, was born 20th March 1820 at Husch, .and was educated in Paris, Pavia, and Bologna. He •entered the diplomatic service of his country, and became Btadtholder of Galatz, and head of a department in the Ministry of the Interior. By his marriage with a daughter of the Boyar Rosetti he became allied to the higher nobility •of the country, and in 1848 he joined the patriotic party. On the entry of the Russians he was imprisoned, but managed to escape on an Austrian steamer to Vienna. After their departure he entered the army, and again rose with great rapidity. Elected in 1858 to the Assembly of Moldavia, he became in the same year Minister of War of the united principalities. In the debates upon the Constitution he was chief speaker on the Unionist side, and in 1859 he assumed the government under the title of Prince Alexander John I. He was not recognized by the Porte until 23rd December 1861, on which day the union of the two principalities under the name of Rumania was proclaimed. The Prince made every effort to secure unity and relieve taxation. He suppressed the corvee, introduced the Code Napoleon, and caused the adoption of a system of free .education and the foundation of the universities of Jassy and Bucarest. His zeal for reforms and for absolute •centralization led to incessant conflict and discontent; financial distress supervened; a military conspiracy forced him to abdicate on 23rd February 1866, and led to the ■election of Prince Carol I. After his abdication, Prince Alexander John spent the remainder of his life chiefly in Paris, Vienna, and Wiesbaden. He died at Heidelberg •on 15th May 1873. (g. f. b.) Coventry, a municipal, county, and parliamentary borough of Warwickshire, England, on the Sherbourne, an .affluent of the Avon, 94 miles by rail north-north-west of London. A canal communicates with the Trent and Mersey •and Birmingham Canal. The derivation of the name from a convent of 1043 seems no longer tenable. A county of itself till 1843, the city in 1888 became a county borough. The corporation consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen, 30 •councillors, a treasurer, town clerk, and other officers. In 1885 the parliamentary representation was reduced to one. In 1894 a suffragan bishop, under the See of Worcester, was appointed with the title of bishop of Coventry. Among recent erections are a Baptist, a Congregational, a Primitive Methodist, and a Catholic chapel. A statue (1883) of Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London 1532-33, founder of St John’s College, &c., an opera house, and baths. The cemetery, planned by Sir Joseph Paxton, was extended in 1887. The present buildings of the Free Grammar School were opened in 1885. A technical school (1887) was enlarged in 1894. Besides Swanswell (1883) and Spencer Park (1883), there is a recreation ground (1880) of twelve acres. A daily paper is issued. Area of municipal borough, 3093 acres. Population (1881), 44,831 ; (1891), 52,724; (1901), 69,877. Coventry, a town of Kent county, Rhode Island, U.S.A., with an area of 17 square miles of hill country, interspersed with ponds. It contains a few small villages, but the population is mainly rural. It is traversed by the New England Railway. Population (1900), 5279. Covilha, a town of Portugal, district Castello Branco, on the east versant of the Serra da Estrella, near the river Zezere, 30 miles north from Castello Branco, some 4000 operatives are employed in manufacturing ■cloth. Population (1900), 15,527.
261
Covington, a city of Kenton county, Kentucky, U.S.A. It is situated in 39° 05' N. lat. and 84° 36' W. long., on the south bank of the Ohio river, opposite Cincinnati, with which it is connected by three bridges and by ferries. Two railways, the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Louisville and Nashville, pass through it. In 1890 the capital invested in manufactures was $6,900,000, the number of hands employed was i 600, and the output was valued at $16,000,000. In 1899 the assessed valuation of all property, real and personal, was $21,468,444, the tax rate $30.25 per $1000, and the net debt $2,195,544. To its proximity to Cincinnati, of which it is practically a suburb, it owes its rapid growth. Population (1880), 29,720; (1890), 37,371 ; (1900), 42,938, including 2487 negroes. The death-rate in 1900 was 20'2. Cowasjee Jehanghier Readymoney, Sir (1812-1878), “the Peabody of Bombay.” Early in the 18th century three Parsee brothers moved from Nowsaree, near Surat, in Gujarat, to Bombay, and became the pioneers of a lucrative trade with China. They gained the sobriquet of “ Readymoney,” which they adopted as a surname. Only Heerjee Jewanjee Readymoney left issue, two daughters, the elder of whom married a Banajee, and the younger a Dacly Sett. The son of the former, Jehanghier Heerjee, married Meerbae, the daughter of the latter, and was made the heir not only of his grandfather but of his two grand-uncles. The younger of their two sons was Cowasjee Jehanghier. His only English^ education was at the then well-known school kept by Serjeant Sykes in the Fort of Bombay. At the age of 15 he entered the firm of Duncan, Gibb, & Co. as “godown keeper,” or warehouse clerk. In 1837 he was promoted to the highly responsible and lucrative appointment of “ guarantee broker ” to two of the leading European firms of Bombay. In 1846 he was able to begin trading on his own account. He was made a J.P. for the town and island of Bombay, and a member of the Board of Conservancy; and in 1866 was appointed a Commissioner of Income Tax, his tactful management being largely responsible for the fact that this tax, then new to Bombay and most unpopular, was levied with unexpected financial success. He was made C.S.I. in 18/1; and in 18/2 he was created a Knight Bachelor of the L nited Kingdom, and his statue, by T. Woolner, R.A., was erected in the town-hall. His donations to the institutions of Bombay amounted to close on £200,000. His health broke down in 1871, and he died in 1878, being succeeded by his son, Sir J. Cowasjee Jehanghier [Readymoney], who was himself created a Knight Bachelor in 1895. (m. m. be.) Cowdenbeath, a mining town and police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, situated near the Cowdenbeath station of the North British Railway, 5 miles east-north-east of Dunfermline. The town is mainly occupied by miners. It possesses a public hall. The Police Act was adopted in 1890. Population (1891), 4249; (1901), 7466. Cowen, Frederic Hymen (1852—-), English musical composer, was born at Kingston, Jamaica, on 29th January 1852. At four years old he was brought to England, where his father became treasurer to the opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and private secretary to the Earl of Dudley. His first teacher was Henry Russell, and his first published composition appeared when he was but six years old. He studied the piano with Benedict, and composition with Goss; in 1865 he was at Leipzig under Hauptmann, Moscheles, Reinecke, and Plaidy.. Returning home on the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War, he appeared as a composer for the orchestra in an overture played at the Promenade Concerts at Covent Garden in
