Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1144

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
COC
1078
COD

returned to Scotland, embraced the reformed faith, and became first protestant minister of Haddington, and then professor of Oriental languages in the university of St. Andrews, where he died in 1559.—J. T.

COCKER, Edward, once a very familiar or rather household name in England. He was born about 1631; professionally an engraver, and a teacher of writing and arithmetic. He died about the year 1675. Taking advantage of his skill as an engraver, he is said to have been the first who published engraved copy-lines, or exercises in penmanship. Odd, indeed, was their subject matter, viz., descriptions of hell-fire and portraits of fiends! We have surely got a little way on in practical pedagogy since the days of Cocker? But his celebrated work was the one on arithmetic—the first truly commercial and practical treatise. It was not published by Cocker himself, but by one John Hawkins, who, on finding its great success, afterwards forged others bearing the name of Cocker.—Persons, we suppose, are still living who remember Cocker lying on the desks of their schoolmasters, alongside of Dillworth and others as venerable. But the day of these incomparable worthies has passed, and their place been usurped by Gray and Melrose, and a host of very microscopic modern men. Sic transit gloria!J. P. N.

COCKERELL, Charles Robert, R.A., architect, was born in 1788. After receiving the usual professional training, he spent several years in a careful study of the famous architectural remains in Asia Minor, Athens, Rome, Sicily, &c., and in 1811-12 assisted in excavating the ruins of the temple of Jupiter Ægina and of Apollo at Phygaleia. In 1829 he was elected associate of the Royal Academy; R.A. in 1836; and in 1840 he was appointed professor of architecture in the room of Mr. Wilkins. His lectures contain much valuable information respecting the history and theory of architecture, and sustain his well-earned reputation for ability and learning. He was one of the eight foreign associates of the Academy, of the Institute of France, a member of the academies of St. Luke, Rome, of Munich, &c., and a D.C.L. of Oxford. He had a decided predilection for the classic, style of architecture, though he latterly executed several designs in Gothic. The principal structures erected by him are the New Library at Cambridge, the University galleries at Oxford, the Philosophical Institution at Bristol, the College at Lampeter, the Sun Fire Office in London, Westminster Fire Office in the Strand, and the various alterations in the Bank of England. He died September 17, 1863.

COCKERILL, William, the celebrated iron-founder in the Netherlands, was a native of Lancashire, and first gained his living by making "roving billies," or flying shuttles. His mechanical genius, however, was of a very superior order, and he could with his own hands make models of any machine of modern invention for spinning. When the Empress Catherine of Russia wished to procure a few artisans from England to promote the progress of art in her own dominions, William Cockerill was recommended to her notice, and was accordingly invited to St. Petersburg, where he met with every encouragement from the empress. But her death, only two years after, blasted his prospects. Her insane successor, Paul, put Cockerill in prison, because he was unable to complete a model in a certain fixed time. He contrived to make his escape, however, and went to Sweden, where he was for some time employed by the government in the construction of the locks of a public canal. Having heard of the want of proper machinery in manufactures at Liege and Verviers, he proceeded to Holland, and commenced in 1807 an establishment in the Pays de Liege for the fabrication of machinery and steam-engines. In 1816 he established at Seraing on the Meuse the greatest iron foundry on the continent, or perhaps in the world. Not less than four thousand persons are employed in this establishment, in which the king of Holland was at one time a partner, having invested in it the sum of one hundred thousand pounds. William Cockerill retired from business a millionaire, and died at Brussels at an advanced age.—His son John, born in 1799; died in 1810, who succeeded him in the management of the great national concern at Seraing, was a very remarkable man. His manufacturing and financial talents were of the very highest order, and entitle him to a conspicuous place in the annals of modern industry.—J. T.

COCLES, Horatius, a Roman warrior, celebrated for his heroic conduct in defending the city against the army of Porsenna, an Etrurian king who invaded Rome with the view of establishing the Tarquinii on the throne. With the assistance of two others he is said to have kept the whole invading army at bay, while the bridge over the Tiber, which was the only means of communication with the city, was being demolished by the Romans; and, on this being accomplished, it is related that he plunged into the river with all his armour, and swam safely across to his friends. The story of Cocles is narrated by Livy; but little dependence can be placed on its truth.—W. M.

CODAGORA, Viviano: this painter flourished about 1650. He studied in the Roman academy, and was distinguished for his views of ancient Rome, and perspective composition. Lanzi designates Codagora the Vitruvius of his class of painters. Many of his best pictures are at Naples. He is often confounded with Ottavio Viviani of Brescia.—W. T.

CODDINGTON, William, a principal founder, and the first governor of the settlement at Rhode Island in America, was a native of Lincolnshire, England. He arrived at Salem, 12th June, 1630, in the Arabella. The settlement at Rhode Island was begun 7th March, 1638, when Coddington, with eighteen others, affixed their names to a social compact, which recognized the laws of Christ as the laws of their new society. He was at the same time chosen judge of the colony, and for nearly a year was its only magistrate, when three others were associated with him with the title of elders. In 1640 the style of the first magistrate was changed to governor, and the others were called assistants. He continued to be governor till 1645, when the patent was received which united Rhode Island with Providence Plantations, in one jurisdiction. In January, 1649, he sailed for England. At the end of a year or a little more he returned, bearing a commission from the council of state constituting him governor for life of Rhode Island, apart from the other settlements of the colony. This was in effect a revocation of the patent, and being not acceptable to the people, was imperfectly carried into effect. It was annulled by the council in 1652, through the representations of Dr. John Clarke and Roger Williams, who were sent to England for that purpose. From this period Mr. Coddington withdrew from public affairs, but later in life he was an assistant, and in 1674-75, he was again chosen governor. He died in 1678.—F. B.

CODINUS, Georgius: the date of Codinus' birth is not known; he died about 1534. Two works of his are preserved of considerable interest to the students of Byzantine history, viz., "De Officialibus palatii Constantinopolitani," and "Origines Constantinopolitanæ," The authorship of the latter work is not free from doubt.—J. A., D.

CODRINGTON, Christopher, was born at Barbadoes in 1668, and died there in 1710. After completing his studies at Oxford, he entered the military service, and took part in the campaigns in Flanders under King William III. He was rewarded for his distinguished services by being nominated governor of the Leeward islands after the peace of Ryswick. He bequeathed a portion of his immense fortune to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, on condition that it should establish in Barbadoes a college for teaching medicine, surgery, and theology. He also left a legacy often thousand pounds, and his library, to the college of All Souls, Oxford. Governor Codrington was the author of several poems in the Musæ Anglicanæ.—J. T.

CODRINGTON, Sir Edward, G.C.B., a distinguished British admiral, was born in 1770. He entered the navy in 1783, and acted as lieutenant of the Queen Charlotte, Lord Howe's flagship, in the famous conflict with the French on the 1st of June, 1794. He rose steadily in the service; commanded the Orion at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805; accompanied the expedition to Walcheren in 1808-9; served on the coast of Spain in 1810-11; in North America in 1814, and took part in the attack on New Orleans. He was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral in 1821. In 1826 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean squadron, and took the leading part in the battle of Navarino on the 20th of October, 1827, in which the Turkish fleet was destroyed by the combined squadrons of Great Britain, Russia, and France. The British government, however, regarded this victory as an "untoward event," and Sir Edward was recalled in April, 1828. He afterwards commanded a squadron of observation in the channel in 1831, attained the full rank of admiral in 1837, and from 1839 to 1842 was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. In 1832 he was elected member of parliament for Devonport, and was re-elected both in 1835 and 1837. He was a consistent supporter of liberal measures. Sir Edward died in 1851, aged eighty-one.—J. T.