[1] The epithet [Greek: kataktos] (let down) may refer to
the rod, which might be raised or lowered as required; to the lower
disk, which might be moved up and down the stem; to the moving up and
down of the scales, in the supposed variety of the game mentioned
below.
COTTBUS, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, on the Spree, 72
m. S.E. of Berlin by the main railway to Gorlitz, and at the
intersection of the lines Halle-Sagan and Grossenhain-Frankfort-on-Oder.
Pop. (1905) 46,269. It has four Protestant churches, a Roman Catholic
church and a synagogue. The chief industry of the town is the
manufacture of cloth, which has flourished here for centuries and now
employs more than 6000 hands. Wool-spinning, cotton-spinning and the
manufacture of tobacco, machinery, beer, brandy, &c., are also carried
on. The town is also a considerable trading centre, and is the seat of a
chamber of commerce and of a branch of the Imperial Bank (_Reichsbank_).
In the Stadtwald, close to the town, is a women's hospital for diseases
of the lungs, a government institution in connexion with the state
system of insurance against incapacity and old age. At Branitz, a
neighbouring village, are the magnificent chateau and park of Prince
Puckler-Muskau.
At one time Cottbus formed an independent lordship of the Empire, but in
1462 it passed by the treaty of Guben to Brandenburg. From 1807 to 1813
it belonged to the kingdom of Saxony.
COTTENHAM, CHARLES CHRISTOPHER PEPYS, 1st EARL OF (1781-1851), lord
chancellor of England, was born in London on the 29th of April 1781. He
was the second son of Sir William W. Pepys, a master in chancery, who
was descended from John Pepys, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, a
great-uncle of Samuel Pepys, the diarist. Educated at Harrow and Trinity
College, Cambridge, Pepys was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in
1804. Practising at the chancery bar, his progress was extremely slow,
and it was not till twenty-two years after his call that he was made a
king's counsel. He sat in parliament, successively, for Higham Ferrars
and Malton, was appointed solicitor-general in 1834, and in the same
year became master of the rolls. On the formation of Lord Melbourne's
second administration in April 1835, the great seal was for a time in
commission, but eventually Pepys, who had been one of the commissioners,
was appointed lord chancellor (January 1836) with the title of Baron
Cottenham. He held office until the defeat of the ministry in 1841. In
1846 he again became lord chancellor in Lord John Russell's
administration. His health, however, had been gradually failing, and he
resigned in 1850. Shortly before his retirement he had been created
Viscount Crowhurst and earl of Cottenham. He died at Pietra Santa, in
the duchy of Lucca, on the 29th of April 1851.
Both as a lawyer and as a judge, Lord Cottenham was remarkable for his
mastery of the principles of equity. An indifferent speaker, he
nevertheless adorned the bench by the soundness of his law and the
excellence of his judgments. As a politician he was somewhat of a
failure, while his only important contribution to the statute-book was
the Judgments Act 1838, which amended the law for the relief of
insolvent debtors.
The title of earl of Cottenham descended in turn to two of the earl's
sons, Charles Edward (1824-1863), and William John (1825-1881), and then
to the latter's son, Kenelm Charles Edward (b. 1874).
AUTHORITIES.--Campbell, _Lives of the Lord Chancellors_ (1869); E.
Foss, _The Judges of England_ (1848-1864); E. Manson, _Builders of our
Law_ (1904); J. B. Atlay, _The Victorian Chancellors_ (1906).
COTTER, COTTAR, or COTTIER, a word derived from the Latin _cota_, a cot
or cottage, and used to describe a man who occupies a cottage and
cultivates a small plot of land. This word is often employed to
translate the _cotarius_ of Domesday Book, a class whose exact status
has been the subject of some discussion, and is still a matter of doubt.
According to Domesday the _cotarii_ were comparatively few, numbering
less than seven thousand, and were scattered unevenly throughout
England, being principally in the southern counties; they were occupied
either in cultivating a small plot of land, or in working on the
holdings of the _villani_. Like the _villani_, among whom they were
frequently classed, their economic condition may be described as "free
in relation to every one except their lord."
See F. W. Maitland, _Domesday Book and Beyond_ (Cambridge, 1897); and
P. Vinogradoff, _Villainage in England_ (Oxford, 1892).
COTTESWOLD HILLS, or COTSWOLDS, a range of hills in the western midlands
of England. The greater part lies in Gloucestershire, but the system
covered by the name also extends into Worcestershire, Warwickshire,
Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somersetshire. It extends on a line from N.E.
to S.W., forming a part of the great Oolitic belt extending through the
English midlands. On the west the hills overlook the vales of Evesham,
Gloucester and Berkeley (valleys of the Worcestershire Avon and the
Severn), with a bold escarpment broken only by a few abrupt spurs, such
as Bredon hill, between Tewkesbury and Evesham. On the east they slope
more gently towards the basins of the upper Thames and the Bristol Avon.
The watershed lies close to the western line, except where the Stroud
valley, with the Frome, draining to the Severn, strikes deep into the
heart of the hills. The principal valleys are those of the Windrush,
Lech, Coln and Churn, feeders of the Thames, the Thames itself, and the
Bristol Avon. The last, wherein lie Bath and Bristol, forms the southern
boundary of the Cotteswolds; the northern is formed by the valleys of
the Evenlode (draining to the Thames) and the Stour (to the
Worcestershire Avon), with the low divide between them. The crest-line
from Bath at the south to Meon Hill at the north measures 57 m. The
breadth varies from 6 m. in the south to 28 towards the north, and the
area is some 300 sq. m. The features are those of a pleasant sequestered
pastoral region, rolling plateaus or wolds and bare uplands alternating
with deep narrow valleys, well wooded and traversed by shallow, rapid
streams. The average elevation is about 600 ft., but Cleeve Cloud above
Cheltenham in the Vale of Gloucester reaches 1134 ft., and Broadway
Hill, in the north, 1086 ft. These heights command splendid views over
the rich vales towards the distant hills of Herefordshire and the Forest
of Dean. The picturesque village of Broadway at the foot of the hill of
that name is much in favour with artists.
In the soil of the hill country is so much lime that a liberal supply of
manure is required. With this good crops of barley and oats are
obtained, and even of wheat, if the soil is mixed with clay. But the
poorest land of the hill country affords excellent pasturage for sheep,
the staple commodity of the district; and the sainfoin, which grows
wild, yields abundantly under cultivation. The Cotteswolds have been
famous for the breed of sheep named from them since the early part of
the 15th century, a breed hardy and prolific, with lambs that quickly
put on fleece, and become hardened to the bracing cold of the hills,
where vegetation is a month later than in the vales. Improved by
judicious crossing with the Leicester sheep, the modern Cotteswold has
attained high perfection of weight, shape, fleece and quality. An
impulse was given to Cotteswold farming by the chartering in 1845 of the
Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester.
A number of small market-towns or large villages lie on the outskirts of
the hills, but in the inner parts of the district villages are few. The
"capital of the Cotteswolds" is Cirencester, in the east. In the north
is Chipping Campden, its great Perpendicular church and the picturesque
houses of its wide street commemorating the wealth of its wool-merchants
between the 14th and 17th centuries. Near this town, in the parish of
Weston-sub-Edge, Robert Dover, an attorney, founded the once famous
Cotteswold games early in the 17th century. Horse-racing and coursing
were included with every sort of athletic exercise from quoits and
skittles to wrestling, cudgels and singlestick. The games were
suppressed by act of parliament in 1851.
See _Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, passim_;
W. H. Hutton, _By Thames and Cotswold_ (London, 1903).
COTTET, CHARLES (1863- ), French painter, was born at Puy. He studied
at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and under Puvis de Chavannes and Roll. He
travelled and painted in Egypt, Italy, and on the Lake of Geneva, but he
made his name with his sombre and gloomy, firmly designed, severe and
impressive scenes of life on the Brittany coast. His signal success was
achieved by his painting of the triptych, "_Au pays de la mer_," now at
the Luxembourg museum. The Lille gallery has his "Burial in Brittany."
COTTII REGNUM, a district in the north of Liguria, including a
considerable part of the important road which led over the pass (6119
ft.) of the Alpis Cottia (Mont Genevre) into Gaul. Whether Hannibal
crossed the Alps by this route is disputed, but it was certainly in use
about 100 B.C. (see PUNIC WARS). In 58 B.C. Caesar met with some
resistance on crossing it, but seems afterwards to have entered into
friendly relations with Donnus, the king of the district; he must have
used it frequently, and refers to it as the shortest route. Donnus's son
Cottius erected the triumphal arch at his capital Segusio, the modern
Susa, in honour of Augustus. Under Nero, after the death of the last
Cottius, it became a province under the title of "Alpes Cottiae," being
governed by a _procurator Augusti_, though it still kept its old name
also.
COTTIN, MARIE [called SOPHIE] (1770-1807), French novelist, _nee_
Risteau (not Ristaud), was born in Paris in 1770. At seventeen she
married a Bordeaux banker, who died three years after, when she retired
to a house in the country at Champlan, where she spent the rest of her
life. In 1799 she published anonymously her _Claire d'Albe_. _Malvina_
(1801) was also anonymous; but the success of _Amelie Mansfield_ (1803)
induced her to reveal her identity. In 1805 appeared _Mathilde_, an
extravagant crusading story, and in 1806 she produced her last tale, the
famous _Elisabeth, ou les exiles de Siberie_, the subject of which was
treated later with an admirable simplicity by Xavier de Maistre.
Sainte-Beuve asserted that she committed suicide on account of an
unfortunate attachment. This story is, however, unauthenticated. She
died at Champlan (Seine et Oise) on the 25th of April 1807.
A complete edition of her works, with a notice by A. Petitot, was
published, in five volumes, in 1817.
COTTINGTON, FRANCIS COTTINGTON, BARON (1578-1652), English lord
treasurer and ambassador, was the fourth son of Philip Cottington of
Godmonston in Somersetshire. According to Hoare, his mother was Jane,
daughter of Thomas Biflete, but according to Clarendon "a Stafford
nearly allied to Sir Edward Stafford," through whom he was recommended
to Sir Charles Cornwallis, ambassador to Spain, becoming a member of his
suite and acting as English agent on the latter's recall, from 1609 to
1611. In 1612 he was appointed English consul at Seville. Returning to
England, he was made a clerk of the council in September 1613. His
Spanish experience rendered him useful to the king, and his bias in
favour of Spain was always marked. He seems to have promoted the Spanish
policy from the first, and pressed on Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador,
the proposal for the Spanish in opposition to the French marriage for
Prince Charles. He was a Roman Catholic at least at heart, becoming a
member of that communion in 1623, returning to Protestantism, and again
declaring himself a Roman Catholic in 1636, and supporting the cause of
the Roman Catholics in England. In 1616 he went as ambassador to Spain,
making in 1618 James's proposal of mediation in the dispute with the
elector palatine. After his return he was appointed secretary to the
prince of Wales in October 1622, and was knighted and made a baronet in
1623. He strongly disapproved of the prince's expedition to Spain, as an
adventure likely to upset the whole policy of marriage and alliance, but
was overruled and chosen to accompany him. His opposition greatly
incensed Buckingham, and still more his perseverance in the Spanish
policy after the failure of the expedition, and on Charles's accession
Cottington was through his means dismissed from all his employments and
forbidden to appear at court. The duke's assassination, however, enabled
him to return. On the 12th of November 1628 he was made a privy
councillor, and in March 1629 appointed chancellor of the exchequer. In
the autumn he was again sent ambassador to Spain; he signed the treaty
of peace of the 5th of November 1630, and subsequently a secret
agreement arranging for the partition of Holland between Spain and
England in return for the restoration of the Palatinate. On the 10th of
July 1631 he was created Baron Cottington of Hanworth in Middlesex.
In March 1635 he was appointed master of the court of wards, and his
exactions in this office were a principal cause of the unpopularity of
the government. He was also appointed a commissioner for the treasury,
together with Laud. Between Cottington and the latter there sprang up a
fierce rivalry. In these personal encounters Cottington had nearly
always the advantage, for he practised great reserve and possessed great
powers of self-command, an extraordinary talent for dissembling and a
fund of humour. Laud completely lacked these qualities, and though
really possessing much greater influence with Charles, he was often
embarrassed and sometimes exposed to ridicule by his opponent. The aim
of Cottington's ambition was the place of lord treasurer, but Laud
finally triumphed and secured it for his own nominee, Bishop Juxon, when
Cottington became "no more a leader but meddled with his particular
duties only."[1] He continued, however, to take a large share in public
business and served on the committees for foreign, Irish and Scottish
affairs. In the last, appointed in July 1638, he supported the war, and
in May 1640, after the dismissal of the Short Parliament, he declared it
his opinion that at such a crisis the king might levy money without the
Parliament. His attempts to get funds from the city were unsuccessful,
and he had recourse instead to a speculation in pepper. He had been
appointed constable of the Tower, and he now prepared the fortress for a
siege. In the trial of Strafford in 1641 Cottington denied on oath that
he had heard him use the incriminating words about "reducing this
kingdom." When the parliamentary opposition became too strong to be any
longer defied, Cottington, as one of those who had chiefly incurred
their hostility, hastened to retire from the administration, giving up
the court of wards in May 1641 and the chancellorship of the exchequer
in January 1642. He rejoined the king in 1643, took part in the
proceedings of the Oxford parliament, and was made lord treasurer on the
3rd of October 1643. He signed the surrender of Oxford in July 1646, and
being excepted from the indemnity retired abroad. He joined Prince
Charles at the Hague in 1648, and became one of his counsellors. In
1649, together with Hyde, Cottington went on a mission to Spain to
obtain help for the royal cause, having an interview with Mazarin at
Paris on the way. They met, however, with an extremely ill reception,
and Cottington found he had completely lost his popularity at the
Spanish court, one cause being his shortcomings and waverings in the
matter of religion. He now announced his intention of remaining in Spain
and of keeping faithful to Roman Catholicism, and took up his residence
at Valladolid, where he was maintained by the Jesuits. He died there on
the 19th of June 1652, his body being subsequently buried in Westminster
Abbey. He had amassed a large fortune and built two magnificent houses
at Hanworth and Founthill. Cottington was evidently a man of
considerable ability, but the foreign policy pursued by him was opposed
to the national interests and futile in itself. According to Clarendon's
verdict "he left behind him a greater esteem of his parts than love of
his person." He married in 1623 Anne, daughter of Sir William Meredith
and widow of Sir Robert Brett. All his children predeceased him, and his
title became extinct at his death.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Article in the _Dict. of Nat. Biography_ and
authorities there quoted; Clarendon's _Hist. of the Rebellion,
passim_, and esp. xiii. 30 (his character), and xii., xiii. (account
of the Spanish mission in 1649); Clarendon's _State Papers and Life_;
Strafford's _Letters_; Gardiner's _Hist. of England and of the
Commonwealth_; Hoare's _Wiltshire_; Laud's _Works_, vols, iii.-vii.;
Winwood's _Memorials: A Refutation of a False and Impious Aspersion
cast on the late Lord Cottington_; Dart, _Westmonasterium_, i. 181
(epitaph and monument). (P. C. Y.)