[1] The exact significance of a title is difficult to reproduce in a
foreign language. Actually, only some foreign counts could be said to
be equivalent to English earls; but "earl" is always translated by
foreigners by words (_comte_, _Graf_) which in English are
represented by "count," itself never used as the synonym of "earl."
Conversely old English writers had no hesitation in translating as
"earl" foreign titles which we now render "count."
[2] The changing language of this epoch speaks of _civitates_,
subsequently of _pagi_, and later of _comitatus_ (counties).
[3] The A.S. _gerefa_, however, meaning "illustrious," "chief," has
apparently, according to philologists, no connexion with the German
_Graf_, which originally meant "servant" (cf. "knight," "valet,"
&c.). It is the more curious that the _gerefa_ should end as a
servant ("reeve"), the _Graf_ as a noble (count).
[4] "Count of the Lateran Palace" (_Comes Sacri Lateranensis
Palatii_) was later the title usually bestowed by the popes in
creating counts palatine. The emperors, too, continued to make counts
palatine under this title long after the Lateran had ceased to be an
imperial palace.
[5] Of these there were four who, as counts of the Empire _par
excellence_, were sometimes styled "simple counts" (_Schlechtgrafen_),
i.e. the counts of Cleves, Schwarzburg, Cilli and Savoy; they were
entitled to the ducal coronet. Three of these had become dukes by the
17th century, but the count (now prince) of Schwarzburg still styled
himself "Of the four counts of the Holy Roman Empire, count of
Schwarzburg" (see Selden, ed. 1672, p. 312).
[6] This title is borne by certain English families, e.g. by Lord
Arundell of Wardour. In other cases it has been assumed without due
warrant. See J. H. Round, "English Counts of the Empire," in _The
Ancestor_, vii. 15 (Westminster, October 1903).
COUNTER. (1) (Through the O. Fr. _conteoir_, modern _comptoir_, from
Lat. _computare_, to reckon), a round piece of metal, wood or other
material used anciently in making calculations, and now for reckoning
points in games of cards, &c., or as tokens representing actual coins or
sums of money in gambling games such as roulette. The word is thus used,
figuratively, of something of no real value, a sham. In the original
sense of "a means of counting money, or keeping accounts," "counter" is
used of the table or flat-topped barrier in a bank, merchant's office or
shop, on which money is counted and goods handed to a customer. The term
was also applied, usually in the form "compter," to the debtors' prisons
attached to the mayor's or sheriff's courts in London and some other
boroughs in England. The "compters" of the sheriff's courts of the city
of London were, at various times, in the Poultry, Bread St., Wood St.
and Giltspur St.; the Giltspur St. compter was the last to be closed, in
1854. (2) (From Lat. _contra_, opposite, against), a circular parry in
fencing, and in boxing, a blow given as a parry to a lead of an
opponent. The word is also used of the stiff piece of leather at the
back of a boot or shoe, of the rounded angle at the stern of a ship,
and, in a horse, of the part lying between the shoulder and the under
part of the neck. In composition, counter is used to express contrary
action, as in "countermand," "counterfeit," &c.
COUNTERFEITING (from Lat. _contra-facere_, to make in opposition or
contrast), making an imitation without authority and for the purpose of
defrauding. The word is more particularly used in connexion with the
making of imitations of money, whether paper or coin. (See COINAGE
OFFENCES; FORGERY.)
COUNTERFORT (Fr. _contrefort_), in architecture, a buttress or pier
built up against the wall of a building or terrace to strengthen it, or
to resist the thrust of an arch or other constructional feature inside.
COUNTERPOINT (Lat. _contrapunctus_, "point counter point," "note against
note"), in music, the art happily defined by Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley
as that "of combining" melodies: this should imply that good
counterpoint is the production of beautiful harmony by a combination of
well-characterized melodies. The individual audibility of the melodies
is a matter of which current criticism enormously overrates the
importance. What is always important is the peculiar life breathed into
harmony by contrapuntal organization. Both historically and
aesthetically "counterpoint" and "harmony" are inextricably blended; for
nearly every harmonic fact is in its origin a phenomenon of
counterpoint. And if in later musical developments it becomes possible
to treat chords as, so to speak, harmonic lumps with a meaning
independent of counterpoint, this does not mean that they have really
changed their nature; but it shows a difference between modern and
earlier music precisely similar to that between modern English, in which
metaphorical and abstract expressions are so constantly used that they
have become a mere shorthand for the literal and concrete expression,
and classical Greek, where metaphors and abstractions can appear only as
elaborate similes or explicit philosophical ideas. The laws of
counterpoint are, then, laws of harmony with the addition of such laws
of melody as are not already produced by the interaction of harmonic and
melodic principles. In so far as the laws of counterpoint are derived
from purely harmonic principles, that is to say, derived from the
properties of concord and discord, their origin and development are
discussed in the article HARMONY. In so far as they depend entirely on
melody they are too minute and changeable to admit of general
discussion; and in so far as they show the interaction of melodic and
harmonic principles it is more convenient to discuss them under the head
of harmony, because they appear in such momentary phenomena as are more
easily regarded as successions of chords than as principles of design.
All that remains, then, for the present article is the explanation of
certain technical terms.
1. _Canto Fermo_ (i.e. plain chant) is a melody in long notes given to
one voice while others accompany it with quicker counterpoints (the term
"counterpoint" in this connexion meaning accompanying melodies). In the
simplest cases the _Canto Fermo_ has notes of equal length and is
unbroken in flow. When it is broken up and its rhythm diversified, the
gradations between counterpoint on a _Canto Fermo_ and ordinary forms of
polyphony, or indeed any kind of melody with an elaborate accompaniment,
are infinite and insensible.
2. _Double Counterpoint_ is a combination of melodies so designed that
either can be taken above or below the other. When this change of
position is effected by merely altering the octave of either or both
melodies (with or without transposition of the whole combination to
another key), the artistic value of the device is simply that of the
raising of the lower melody to the surface. The harmonic scheme remains
the same, except in so far as some of the chords are not in their
fundamental position, while others, not originally fundamental, have
become so. But double counterpoint may be in other intervals than the
octave; that is to say, while one of the parts remains stationary, the
other may be transposed above or below it by some interval other than an
octave, thus producing an entirely different set of harmonies.
_Double Counterpoint in the 12th_ has thus been made a powerful means of
expression and variety. The artistic value of this device depends not
only on the beauty and novelty of the second scheme of harmony obtained,
but also on the change of melodic expression produced by transferring
one of the melodies to another position in the scale. Two of the most
striking illustrations of this effect are to be found in the last chorus
of Brahms's _Triumphlied_ and in the fourth of his variations on a theme
by Haydn.
_Double Counterpoint in the 10th_ has, in addition to this, the property
that the inverted melody can be given in the new and in the original
positions simultaneously.
Double counterpoint in other intervals than the octave, 10th and 12th,
is rare, but the general principle and motives for it remain the same
under all conditions. The two subjects of the _Confiteor_ in Bach's B
minor Mass are in double counterpoint in the octave, 11th and 13th. And
Beethoven's Mass in D is full of pieces of double counterpoint in the
inversions of which a few notes are displaced so as to produce momentary
double counterpoint in unusual intervals, obviously with the intention
of varying the harmony. Technical treatises are silent as to this
purpose, and leave the student in the belief that the classical
composers used these devices, if at all, in a manner as meaningless as
the examples in the treatises.
3. _Triple, Quadruple and Multiple Counterpoint._--When more than two
melodies are designed so as to combine in interchangeable positions, it
becomes increasingly difficult to avoid chords and progressions of which
some inversions are incorrect. In triple counterpoint this difficulty is
not so great; although a complete triad is dangerous, as it is apt to
invert as a "6/4" which requires careful handling. On the other hand, in
triple counterpoint the necessity for strictness is at its greatest,
because there are only six possible inversions, and in a long polyphonic
work most of these will be required. Moreover, the artistic value of the
device is at its highest in three-part polyphonic harmony, which,
whether invertible or not, is always a fine test of artistic economy,
while the inversions are as evident to the ear, especially where the top
part is concerned, as those in double counterpoint. Triple counterpoint
(and a fortiori multiple counterpoint) is normally possible only at the
octave; for it will be found that if three parts are designed to invert
in some other interval this will involve two of them inverting in a
third interval which will give rise to incalculable difficulty. This
makes the fourth of Brahms's variations on a theme of Haydn almost
miraculous. The plaintive expression of the whole variation is largely
due to the fact that the flowing semiquaver counterpoint below the main
theme is on each repeat inverted in the 12th, with the result that its
chief emphasis falls upon the most plaintive parts of the scale. But in
the first eight bars of the second part of the variation a third
contrapuntal voice appears, and this too is afterwards inverted in the
12th, with perfectly natural and smooth effect. But this involves the
inversion of two of the counterpoints with each other in the 9th, a kind
of double counterpoint which is almost impossible. The case is unique,
but it admirably illustrates the difference between artistic and merely
academic mastery of technical resource.
_Quadruple Counterpoint_ is not rare with Bach. It would be more
difficult than triple, but for the fact that of its twenty-four possible
inversions not more than four or five need be correct. _Quintuple
counterpoint_ is admirably illustrated in the finale of Mozart's
_Jupiter Symphony_, in which everything in the successive statement and
gradual development of the five themes conspires to give the utmost
effect to their combination in the coda. Of course Mozart has not room
for more than five of the 120 possible combinations, and from these he
selects such as bring fresh themes into the outside parts, which are the
most clearly audible. _Sextuple Counterpoint_ may be found in Bach's
great double chorus, _Nun ist das Heil_, and in the finale of his
concerto for three claviers in C, and probably in other places.
4. _Added Thirds and Sixths._--An easy and effective imitation of triple
and quadruple counterpoint, embodying much of the artistic value of
inversion, is found in the numerous combinations of themes in thirds and
sixths which arise from an extension of the principle which we mentioned
in connexion with double counterpoint in the 10th, namely, the
possibility of performing it in its original and inverted positions
simultaneously. The _Pleni sunt coeli_ of Bach's B minor Mass is written
in this kind of transformation of double into quadruple counterpoint;
and the artistic value of the device is perhaps never so magnificently
realized as in the place, at bar 84, where the trumpet doubles the bass
three octaves and a third above while the alto and second tenor have the
counter subjects in close thirds in the middle.
Almost all other contrapuntal devices are derived from the principle of
the _canon_ and are discussed in the article CONTRAPUNTAL FORMS.
As a training in musical grammar and style, the rhythms of 16th-century
polyphony were early codified into "the five species of counterpoint"
(with various other species now forgotten) and practised by students of
composition. The classical treatise on which Haydn and Beethoven were
trained was Fux's _Gradus ad Parnassum_ (1725). This was superseded in
the 19th century by Cherubini's, the first of a long series of attempts
to bring up to date as a dead language what should be studied in its
original and living form. (D. F. T.)
COUNTERSCARP ( = "opposite scarp," Fr. _contrescarpe_), a term used in
fortification for the outer slope of a ditch; see FORTIFICATION and
SIEGECRAFT.
COUNTERSIGN, a military term for a sign, word or signal previously
arranged and required to be given by persons approaching a sentry, guard
or other post. In some armies the "countersign" is strictly the reply of
the sentry to the pass-word given by the person approaching.
COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. _contre_ or _contrie_, and O. Fr. _cuntree_;
Late Lat. _contrata_, showing the derivation from _contra_, opposite,
over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger.
_Gegend_, neighbourhood), an extent of land without definite limits, or
such a region with some peculiar character, as the "black country," the
"fen country" and the like. The extension from such descriptive
limitation to the limitation of occupation by particular owners or races
is easy; this gives the common use of the word for the land inhabited by
a particular nation or race. Another meaning is that part of the land
not occupied by towns, "rural" as opposed to "urban" districts; this
appears too in "country-house" and "country town"; so too "countryman"
is used both for a rustic and for the native of a particular land. The
word appears in many phrases, in the sense of the whole population of a
country, and especially of the general body of electors, as in the
expression "go to the country," for the dissolution of parliament
preparatory to a general election.
COUNTY (through Norm. Fr. _counte_, cf. O. Fr. _cunte_, _conte_, Mod.
Fr. _comte_, from Lat. _comitatus_, cf. Ital. _comitato_, Prov.
_comtat_; see COUNT), in its most usual sense the name given to certain
important administrative divisions in the United Kingdom, the British
dominions beyond the seas, and the United States of America. The word
was first introduced after the Norman Conquest as the equivalent of the
old English "shire," which has survived as its synonym, though
occasionally also applied to divisions smaller than counties, e.g.
Norhamshire, Hexhamshire and Hallamshire. The word "county" is also
sometimes used, alternatively with "countship," to translate foreign
words, e.g. the French _comte_ and the German _Grafschaft_, which
connote the territorial jurisdiction of a count (q.v.). The present
article is confined to a sketch of the origin and development of English
counties, which have served in a greater or less degree as the model
for the county organizations in the various countries of the
English-speaking world which are described under their proper headings.
About one-third of the English counties represent ancient kingdoms,
sub-kingdoms or tribal divisions, such as Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Devon;
but most of the remaining counties take their names from some important
town within their respective boundaries. The counties to the south of
the Thames (except Cornwall) already existed in the time of Alfred, but
those of the midlands seem to have been created during the reign of
Edward the Elder (901-925) and to have been artificially bounded areas
lying around some stronghold which became a centre of civil and military
administration. There is reason, however, for thinking that the counties
of Bedford, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Northampton are of Danish origin.
Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland were not recognized as
English counties until some time after the Norman Conquest, the last two
definitely appearing as fiscal areas in 1177. The origin of Rutland as a
county is obscure, but it had its own sheriff in 1154.
In the period preceding the Norman Conquest two officers appear at the
head of the county organization. These are the ealdorman or earl, and
the _scirgerefa_ or sheriff. The shires of Wessex appear each to have
had an ealdorman, whose duties were to command its military forces, to
preside over the county assembly (_scirgemot_), to carry out the laws
and to execute justice. The name ealdorman gave way to that of earl,
probably under Danish influence, in the first half of the 11th century,
and it is probable that the office of sheriff came into existence in the
reign of Canute (1017-1035), when the great earldoms were formed and it
was no longer possible for the earl to perform his various
administrative duties in person in a group of counties. After the Norman
Conquest the earl was occasionally appointed sheriff of his county, but
in general his only official connexion with it was to receive the third
penny of its pleas, and the earldom ceased to be an office and became
merely a title. In the 12th century the office of coroner was created,
two or more of them being chosen in the county court as vacancies
occurred. In the same century verderers were first chosen in the same
manner for the purpose of holding inquisitions on vert and venison in
those counties which contained royal forests. It was the business of the
sheriff (_vicecomes_) as the king's representative to serve and return
all writs, to levy distresses on the king's behalf, to execute all royal
precepts and to collect the king's revenue. In this work he was assisted
by a large staff of clerks and bailiffs who were directly responsible to
him and not to the king. The sheriff also commanded the armed forces of
the crown within his county, and either in person or by deputy presided
over the county court which was now held monthly in most counties. In
1300 it was enacted that the sheriffs might be chosen by the county,
except in Worcestershire, Cornwall, Rutland, Westmorland and Lancashire,
where there were then sheriffs in fee, that is, sheriffs who held their
offices hereditarily by royal grant. The elective arrangement was of no
long duration, and it was finally decided in 1340 that the sheriffs
should be appointed by the chancellor, the treasurer and the chief baron
of the exchequer, but should hold office for one year only. The county
was from an early period regarded as a community, and approached the
king as a corporate body, while in later times petitions were presented
through the knights of the shire. It was also an organic whole for the
purpose of the conservation of the peace. The assessment of taxation by
commissioners appointed by the county court developed in the 13th
century into the representation of the county by two knights of the
shire elected by the county court to serve in parliament, and this
representation continued unaltered save for a short period during the
Protectorate, until 1832, when many of the counties received a much
larger representation, which was still further increased by later acts.
The royal control over the county was strengthened from the 14th century
onward by the appointment of justices of the peace. This system was
further developed under the Tudors, while in the middle of the 16th
century the military functions of the sheriff were handed over to a new
officer, the lord-lieutenant, who is now more prominently associated
with the headship of the county than is the sheriff. The lord-lieutenant
now usually holds the older office of _custos rotulorum_, or keeper of
the records of the county. The justices of the peace are appointed upon
his nomination, and until lately he appointed the clerk of the peace.
The latter appointment is now made by the joint committee of quarter
sessions and county council.
The Tudor system of local government received little alteration until
the establishment of county councils by the Local Government Act of 1888
handed over to an elected body many of the functions previously
exercised by the nominated justices of the peace. For the purposes of
this act the ridings of Yorkshire, the divisions of Lincolnshire, east
and west Sussex, east and west Suffolk, the soke of Peterborough and the
Isle of Ely are regarded as counties, so that there are now sixty
administrative counties of England and Wales. Between 1373 and 1692 the
crown granted to certain cities and boroughs the privilege of being
counties of themselves. There were in 1835 eighteen of these counties
corporate, Bristol, Chester, Coventry, Gloucester, Lincoln, Norwich,
Nottingham, York and Carmarthen, each of which had two sheriffs, and
Canterbury, Exeter, Hull, Lichfield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Poole,
Southampton, Worcester and Haverfordwest, each of which had one sheriff.
All these boroughs, with the exception of Carmarthen, Lichfield, Poole
and Haverfordwest, which remain counties of themselves, and forty-seven
others, were created county boroughs by the Local Government Act 1888,
and are entirely dissociated from the control of a county council. The
City of London is also a county of itself, whose two sheriffs are also
sheriffs of Middlesex, while for the purposes of the act of 1888 the
house-covered district which extends for many miles round the City
constitutes a county.
The county has always been the unit for the organization of the militia,
and from about 1782 certain regiments of the regular army were
associated with particular counties by territorial titles. The army
scheme of 1907-1908 provided for the formation of county associations
under the presidency of the lords-lieutenant for the organization of the
new territorial army.
See _Statutes of the Realm_; W. Stubbs, _Constitutional History of
England_ (1874-1878); F. W. Maitland, _Domesday Book and Beyond_
(1897); Sir F. Pollock and F. W. Maitland, _History of English Law_
(1895); H. M. Chadwick, _Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions_ (1905),
and _The Victoria History of the Counties of England_. (G. J. T.)
COUNTY COURT, in England, a local court of civil jurisdiction. The
county court, it has been said, is at once the most ancient and the most
modern of English civil tribunals. The Saxon Curia Comitatus, maintained
after the Norman Conquest, was a local court and a small debts court. It
was instituted by Alfred the Great, its jurisdiction embracing civil,
and, until the reign of William I., ecclesiastical matters. The officers
of the court consisted of the earldorman, the bishop and the sheriff.
The court was held once in every four weeks, being presided over by the
earl, or, in his absence, the sheriff. The suitors of the court, i.e.
the freeholders, were the judges, the sheriff being simply a presiding
officer, pronouncing and afterwards executing the judgment of the court.
The court was not one of record. The appointment of judges of assize in
the reign of Henry II., as well as the expensive and dilatory procedure
of the court, brought about its gradual disuse, and other local courts,
termed courts of request or of conscience, were established. These, in
turn, proved unsatisfactory, owing both to the limited nature of their
jurisdiction (restricted to causes of debt not exceeding 40s. in value,
and to the fact that they were confined to particular places).
Accordingly, with the view of making justice cheaper and more accessible
the County Courts Act 1846 was passed. This act had the modest title of
"An Act for the Recovery of Small Debts and Demands in England." The
original limit of the jurisdiction of the new courts was L20, extended
in 1850 to L50 in actions of debt, and in 1903 (by an act which came
into force in 1905) to L100. Thirteen amending acts were passed, by
which new jurisdiction was from time to time conferred on the county
courts, and in the year 1888 an act was passed repealing the previous
acts and consolidating their provisions, with some amendment. This is
now the code or charter of the county courts.
The grain of mustard-seed sown in 1846 has grown into a goodly tree,
with branches extending over the whole of England and Wales; and they
embrace within their ambit a more multifarious jurisdiction than is
possessed by any other courts in the kingdom. England and Wales were
mapped out into 59 circuits (not including the city of London), with
power for the crown, by order in council, to abolish any circuit and
rearrange the areas comprised in the circuits (sec. 4). There is one
judge to each circuit, but the lord chancellor is empowered to appoint
two judges in a circuit, provided that the total number of judges does
not exceed 60. The salary of a county court judge was originally fixed
at L1200, but he now receives L1500. He must at the time of his
appointment be a barrister-at-law of at least seven years' standing, and
not more than sixty years of age; after appointment he cannot sit as a
member of parliament or practise at the bar.
Every circuit (except in Birmingham, Clerkenwell, and Westminster) is
divided into districts, in each of which there is a court, with a
registrar and bailiffs. The judges are directed to attend and hold a
court in each district at least once in every month, unless the lord
chancellor shall otherwise direct (secs. 10, 11). But in practice the
judge sits several times a month in the large centres of population, and
less frequently than once a month in the court town of sparsely
inhabited districts. By sec. 185 of the act of 1888 the judges and
officers of the city of London court have the like jurisdiction, powers,
and authority as those of a county court, and the county court rules
apply to that court.