Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/373

This page needs to be proofread.

CORNUCOPIA CORNWALL 369 painter of history, sacred and profane, genre subjects, and portraits. Among his chief pro- ductions are " Christ and the Doctors," " St. Anna instructing the Virgin," "The Crucifix- ion," and " Tha Surrender of Ascalon to Bald- win III." He was charged with the comple- tion of the decoration of the church of St. Ger- main des Pr6s, interrupted by the death of Flandrin, and in 1862 was appointed director of the musee Napoleon III., then newly estab- lished in the Louvre. He has received medals of the first, second, and third classes, and is an officer of the legion of honor. CORNUCOPIA (Lat. cornu, a horn, and copia, abundance), called also the horn of Amalthsea, and the horn of plenty, an emblem of riches and abundance. According to an ancient Greek legend, the infant Zeus was tended by the daughter of Melissus, king of Crete, and was nurtured upon the milk of the goat Amal- thsea. He rewarded her care by breaking off one of the horns of the goat, and presenting it to her, endowed with the power of being filled with whatever was desired, whenever the pos- sessor wished. According to Ovid, Amalthsea was the name of the daughter who presented the horn to Jupiter filled with fresh herbs and fruit. Among the Romans the cornucopia was the proper symbol of Fortuna, but other god- desses and Roman empresses are represented in statues bearing it on the left arm. The cor- nucopia appears on the most ancient Greek drinking vessels, and on many ancient coins, and the volutes of Ionic columns were often sculptured to represent it. CORNWALL, a S. W. maritime county of Eng- land, bounded E. by Devonshire and on all other sides by the Atlantic ; area, including the Scilly isles, 1,365 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 362,098. Its E. boundary, except for a short distance, is marked by the river Tamar, which flows S. into Plymouth sound, a considerable indenta- tion of the coast between Cornwall and Dev- onshire. Other indentations on the S. coast are Falmouth bay and Mount's bay. On the N. W. coast are St. Ives, Perran, and Padstow bays. The coasts are generally rugged, and at their angle is Land's End, the westernmost point of England, a promontory of granitic rock 60 ft. high. The country is hilly in some parts, especially in the east, where the two elevations, Brown Gilly and Brown Willy, are respective- ly 1,100 and 1,364 ft. high. There are many moors in Cornwall, and its appearance gene- rally is bleak and dreary. Many of the valleys, however, are fertile and beautiful. There are several rivers, none large, having usually har- borage at their mouths, and three navigable canals, which are used principally for the in- troduction of Welsh coal. The climate is moist, with a temperature of small variation. The winds are shifting and often violent. Corn and potatoes are the chief products of agriculture. There are valuable mines of tin and copper, situated mostly in the southwest. These mines number more than 300, and give employment to about 30,000 persons. In 1866 they produced 9,900 tons of tin, of the value of 870,000, and 6,551 tons of copper, value 600,770. The tin mines have been worked from a very remote pe- riod. The Phoenicians are believed to have visit- ed them, and they were subsequently worked by the Carthaginians, the merchants of Marseilles, and the Romans. Grain tin and gold are found in alluvial deposits. Silver occurs with lead, and ores of manganese, bismuth, cobalt, and anti- mony are met with. Soapstone is quarried to some extent, and 7,000 tons of porcelain clay are annually shipped. Carpets and a few coarse woollens are the only manufactures. The pilchard fishery is carried on extensive- ly at St. Ives, Mount's bay, and Mevagissey. The principal towns are Bodmin, the capital, Truro, Helston, Penzance, St. Ives, and Fal- mouth. The name Cornwall is derived by some from earn (Celtic, rock) and Gaul or Waal, the Saxon name of the Britons ; by oth- ers from the Latin cornu, Celtic Jcern, a horn, from the shape of that part of it which juts into the sea. It was early known to the Phoe- nicians and the Greeks. At the time of the Roman conquest it was occupied by tribes of the Cimbri and Darnnonii. After the depart- ure of the Romans the natives retained their independence till 680, when on the death of their la.st king, Cadwaladyr, the country was conquered by Ivar, son of Alain, king of Brit- tany, who was soon expelled by Kentwin, king of the West Saxons. The county has numer- ous remains of these early times. In 1337 Cornwall was made a dukedom, which is held by the eldest son of the British sovereign. In the civil war of the 17th century the people generally espoused the cause of Charles I., and Cornish troops distinguished themselves at Lansdowne and in the siege of Bristol. The Cornish language, a dialect of the Celtic, pre- vailed in the county up to the middle of the 17th century, and was partially spoken until the beginning of the present century. CORNWALL. I. A post village and township of Litchfield co., Conn., 37 m. W. by N. of Hart- ford ; pop. of the township in 1870, 1,772. The village is situated about 2m. E. of the Honsatonic railroad, which follows the course of the river of that name through the township. A foreign mission school was established here in 1818 for the purpose of qualifying converts from paganism to preach the gospel to their countrymen, and in 1820 it contained 29 pu- pils, of whom 19 were American Indians and 10 natives of Pacific islands. It was subse- quently discontinued. II. A town of Orange co., N. Y., on the W. bank of the Hudson, 5 m. S. of Newburgh, containing the villages of Cornwall Landing and West Point; pop. in 1870, 5,989. " Idlewild," the former residence of N. P. Willis, occupies a lofty plateau above and N. of Cornwall Landing. The town is much frequented as a summer resort. CORNWALL, Barry. See PBOCTER, BEYAN WALLEE.