[1] _Fragmens philosophiques--preface deuxieme._
[2] _Du vrai, du beau, et du bien_ (preface).
COUSIN (Fr. _cousin_, Ital. _cugino_, Late Lat. _cosinus_, perhaps a
popular and familiar abbreviation of _consobrinus_, which has the same
sense in classical Latin), a term of relationship. Children of brothers
and sisters are to each other first cousins, or cousins-german; the
children of first cousins are to each other second cousins, and so on;
the child of a first cousin is to the first cousin of his father or
mother a first cousin once removed.
The word cousin has also, since the 16th century, been used by
sovereigns as an honorific style in addressing persons of exalted, but
not equal sovereign, rank, the term "brother" being reserved as the
style used by one sovereign in addressing another. Thus, in Great
Britain, dukes, marquesses and earls are addressed by the sovereign in
royal writs, &c., as "cousin." In France the kings thus addressed
princes of the blood royal, cardinals and archbishops, dukes and peers,
the marshals of France, the grand officers of the crown and certain
foreign princes. In Spain the right to be thus addressed is a privilege
of the grandees.
COUSINS, SAMUEL (1801-1887), English mezzotint engraver, was born at
Exeter on the 9th of May 1801. He was preeminently the interpreter of
Sir Thomas Lawrence, his contemporary. During his apprenticeship to S.
W. Reynolds he engraved many of the best amongst the three hundred and
sixty little mezzotints illustrating the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds
which his master issued in his own name. In the finest of his numerous
transcripts of Lawrence, such as "Lady Acland and her Sons," "Pope Pius
VII." and "Master Lambton," the distinguishing characteristics of the
engraver's work, brilliancy and force of effect in a high key,
corresponded exactly with similar qualities in the painter. After the
introduction of steel for engraving purposes about the year 1823,
Cousins and his contemporaries were compelled to work on it, because the
soft copper previously used for mezzotint plates did not yield a
sufficient number of fine impressions to enable the method to compete
commercially against line engraving, from which much larger editions
were obtainable. The painter-like quality which distinguished the
18th-century mezzotints on copper was wanting in his later works,
because the hardness of the steel on which they were engraved impaired
freedom of execution and richness of tone, and so enhanced the labour of
scraping that he accelerated the work by stipple, etching the details
instead of scraping them out of the "ground" in the manner of his
predecessors. To this "mixed style," previously used by Richard Earlom
on copper, Cousins added heavy roulette and rocking-tool textures,
tending to fortify the darks, when he found that the "burr" even on
steel failed to yield enough fine impressions to meet the demand. The
effect of his prints in this method after Reynolds and Millais was
mechanical and out of harmony with the picturesque technique of these
painters, but the phenomenal popularity which Cousins gained for his
works at least kept alive and in favour a form of mezzotint engraving
during a critical phase of its history. Abraham Raimbach, the line
engraver, dated the decline of his own art in England from the
appearance in 1837 of Cousins's print (in the "mixed style") after
Landseer's "Bolton Abbey." Such plates as "Miss Peel," after Lawrence
(published in 1833); "A Midsummer Night's Dream," after Landseer (1857);
"The Order of Release" and "The First Minuet," after Millais (1856 and
1868); "The Strawberry Girl" and "Lavinia, Countess Spencer," after
Reynolds; and "Miss Rich," after Hogarth (1873-1877), represent various
stages of Cousins's mixed method. It reached its final development in
the plates after Millais's "Cherry Ripe" and "Pomona," published in 1881
and 1882, when the invention of coating copper-plates with a film of
steel to make them yield larger editions led to the revival of pure
mezzotint on copper, which has since rendered obsolete the steel plate
and the mixed style which it fostered. The fine draughtsmanship of
Cousins was as apparent in his prints as in his original lead-pencil
portraits exhibited in London in 1882. In 1885 he was elected a full
member of the Royal Academy, to which institution he later gave in trust
L15,000 to provide annuities for superannuated artists who had not been
so successful as himself. One of the most important figures in the
history of British engraving, he died in London, unmarried, on the 7th
of May 1887.
See George Pycroft, M.R.C.S.E., _Memoir of Samuel Cousins, R.A.,
Member of the Legion of Honour_ (published for private circulation by
E. E. Leggatt, London, 1899); Algernon Graves, _Catalogue of the Works
of Samuel Cousins, R.A._ (published by H. Graves and Co., London,
1888); and Alfred Whitman, _Samuel Cousins_ (published by George Bell
& Sons, London, 1904), which contains a catalogue, good illustrations,
and much detail useful to the collector and dealer. (G. P. R.)
COUSTOU, the name of a famous family of French sculptors.
NICOLAS COUSTOU (1658-1733) was the son of a wood-carver at Lyons, where
he was born. At eighteen he removed to Paris, to study under C. A.
Coysevox, his mother's brother, who presided over the recently-established
Academy of Painting and Sculpture; and at three-and-twenty he gained the
Colbert prize, which entitled him to four years' education at the French
Academy at Rome. He afterwards became rector and chancellor of the Academy
of Painting and Sculpture. From the year 1700 he was a most active
collaborator with Coysevox at the palaces of Marly and Versailles. He was
remarkable for his facility; and though he was specially influenced by
Michelangelo and Algardi, his numerous works are among the most typical
specimens of his age now extant. The most famous are "La Seine et la
Marne," "La Saone," the "Berger Chasseur" in the gardens of the Tuileries,
the bas-relief "Le Passage du Rhin" in the Louvre, and the "Descent from
the Cross" placed behind the choir altar of Notre Dame at Paris.
His younger brother, GUILLAUME COUSTOU (1677-1746), was a sculptor of
still greater merit. He also gained the Colbert prize; but refusing to
submit to the rules of the Academy, he soon left it, and for some time
wandered houseless through the streets of Rome. At length he was
befriended by the sculptor Legros, under whom he studied for some time.
Returning to Paris, he was in 1704 admitted into the Academy of Painting
and Sculpture, of which he afterwards became director; and, like his
brother, he was employed by Louis XIV. His finest works are the famous
group of the "Horse Tamers," originally at Marly, now in the Champs
Elysees at Paris, the colossal group "The Ocean and the Mediterranean"
at Marly, the bronze "Rhone" which formed part of the statue of Louis
XIV. at Lyons, and the sculptures at the entrance of the Hotel des
Invalides. Of these latter, the bas-relief representing Louis XIV.
mounted and accompanied by Justice and Prudence was destroyed during the
Revolution, but was restored in 1815 by Pierre Cartellier from Coustou's
model; the bronze figures of Mars and Minerva, on either side of the
doorway, were not interfered with.
Another GUILLAUME COUSTOU (1716-1777), the son of Nicolas, also studied
at Rome, as winner of the Colbert prize. While to a great extent a
copyist of his predecessors, he was much affected by the bad taste of
his time, and produced little or nothing of permanent value.
See Louis Gougenot, _Eloge de M. Coustou le jeune_ (1903); Arsene
Houssaye, _Histoire de l'art francais au XVIII^e siecle_ (1860); Lady
Dilke, _Gazette des beaux-arts_, vol. xxv. (1901) (2 articles).
COUTANCES, WALTER OF (d. 1207), bishop of Lincoln and archbishop of
Rouen, commenced his career in the chancery of Henry II., was elected
bishop of Lincoln in 1182, and in 1184 obtained, with the king's help,
the see of Rouen. Throughout his career he was much employed in
diplomatic and administrative duties. He started with Richard I. for the
Third Crusade, but was sent back from Messina to investigate the charges
which the barons and the official class had brought against the
chancellor, William Longchamp. There was no love lost between the two;
and they were popularly supposed to be rivals for the see of Canterbury.
The archbishop of Rouen sided with the barons and John, and sanctioned
Longchamp's deposition--a step which was technically warranted by the
powers which Richard had given, but by no means calculated to protect
the interests of the crown. The Great Council now recognized the
archbishop as chief justiciar, and he remained at the head of the
government till 1193, when he was replaced by Hubert Walter. The
archbishop did good service in the negotiations for Richard's release,
but subsequently quarrelled with his master and laid Normandy under an
interdict, because the border stronghold of Chateau Gaillard in the
Vexin had been built on his land without his consent. After Richard's
death the archbishop accepted John as the lawful heir of Normandy and
consecrated him as duke. But his personal inclinations leaned to Arthur
of Brittany, whom he was with difficulty dissuaded from supporting. The
archbishop accepted the French conquest of Normandy with equanimity
(1204), although he kept to his old allegiance while the issue of the
struggle was in doubt. He did not long survive the conquest, and his
later history is a blank.
See W. Stubbs's editions of _Benedictus Abbas_, _Hoveden_ and _Diceto_
(Rolls series); R. Howlett's edition of "William of Newburgh" and
"Richard of Devizes" in _Chronicles, &c., of the Reigns of Stephen,
Henry II. and Richard I._ (Rolls series). See also the preface to the
third volume of Stubbs's _Hoveden_, pp. lix.-xcviii.; J. H. Round's
_Commune of London_, and the French poem on _Guillaume le Marechal_
(ed. P. Meyer, _Soc. de l'Histoire de France_). (H. W. C. D.)
COUTANCES, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement
of the department of Manche, 7 m. E. of the English Channel and 58 m. S.
of Cherbourg on the Western railway. Pop. (1906) 6089. Coutances is
beautifully situated on the right bank of the Soulle on a granitic
eminence crowned by the celebrated cathedral of Notre-Dame. The date of
this church has been much disputed, but while traces of Romanesque
architecture survive, the building is, in the main, Gothic in style and
dates from the first half of the 13th century. The slender turrets
massed round the western towers and the octagonal central tower, which
forms a lantern within, are conspicuous features of the church. In the
interior, which comprises the nave with aisles, transept and choir with
ambulatory and side chapels, there are fine rose-windows with stained
glass of the 14th century, and other works of art. Of the other
buildings of Coutances the church of St Pierre, in which Renaissance
architecture is mingled with Gothic, and that of St Nicolas, of the 16th
and 17th centuries, demand mention. There is an aqueduct of the 14th
century to the west of the town. Coutances is a quiet town with winding
streets and pleasant boulevards bordering it on the east; on the western
slope of the hill there is a public garden. The town is the seat of a
bishop, a court of assizes and a sub-prefect; it has tribunals of first
instance and of commerce, a lycee for boys, a communal college and a
training college for girls, and an ecclesiastical seminary.
Leather-dressing and wool-spinning are carried on and there is trade in
live-stock, in agricultural produce, especially eggs, and in marble.
Coutances is the ancient _Cosedia_, which before the Roman conquest was
one of the chief towns in the country of the Unelli. Towards the end of
the 3rd century its name was changed to _Constantia_, in honour of the
emperor Constantius Chlorus, who fortified it. It became the capital of
the _pagus Constantinus_ (Cotentin), and in the middle ages was the seat
of a viscount. It has been an episcopal see since the 5th century. In
the 17th century it was the centre of the revolt of the _Nu-pieds_,
caused by the imposition of the salt-tax (_gabelle_).
A good bibliography of general works and monographs on the archaeology
and the history of the town and diocese of Coutances is given in U.
Chevalier, _Repertoire des sources, &c., Topo-Bibliographie_
(Montbeliard, 1894-1899), s.v.
COUTHON, GEORGES (1755-1794), French revolutionist, was born at Orcet, a
village in the district of Clermont in Auvergne. He studied law, and was
admitted advocate at Clermont in 1785. At this period he was noted for
his integrity, gentle-heartedness and charitable disposition. His health
was feeble and both legs were paralysed. In 1787 he was a member of the
provincial assembly of Auvergne. On the outbreak of the Revolution
Couthon, who was now a member of the municipality of Clermont-Ferrand,
published his _L'Aristocrate converti_, in which he revealed himself as
a liberal and a champion of constitutional monarchy. He became very
popular, was appointed president of the tribunal of the town of Clermont
in 1791, and in September of the same year was elected deputy to the
Legislative Assembly. His views had meanwhile been embittered by the
attempted flight of Louis XVI., and he distinguished himself now by his
hostility to the king. A visit to Flanders for the sake of his health
brought him into close intercourse and sympathy with Dumouriez. In
September 1792 Couthon was elected member of the National Convention,
and at the trial of the king voted for the sentence of death without
appeal. He hesitated for a time as to which party he should join, but
finally decided for that of Robespierre, with whom he had many opinions
in common, especially in matters of religion. He was the first to demand
the arrest of the proscribed Girondists. On the 30th of May 1793 he
became a member of the Committee of Public Safety, and in August was
sent as one of the commissioners of the Convention attached to the army
before Lyons. Impatient at the slow progress made by the besieging
force, he decreed a _levee en masse_ in the department of Puy-de-Dome,
collected an army of 60,000 men, and himself led them to Lyons. When the
city was taken, on the 9th of October 1793, although the Convention
ordered its destruction, Couthon did not carry out the decree, and
showed moderation in the punishment of the rebels. The Republican
atrocities began only after Couthon was replaced, on the 3rd of November
1793, by Collot d'Herbois. Couthon returned to Paris, and on the 21st of
December was elected president of the Convention. He contributed to the
prosecution of the Hebertists, and was responsible for the law of the
22nd Prairial, which in the case of trials before the Revolutionary
Tribunal deprived the accused of the aid of counsel or of witnesses or
their defence, on the pretext of shortening the proceedings. During the
crisis preceding the 9th Thermidor, Couthon showed considerable courage,
giving up a journey to Auvergne in order, as he wrote, that he might
either die or triumph with Robespierre and liberty. Arrested with
Robespierre and Saint-Just, his colleagues in the triumvirate of the
Terror, and subjected to indescribable sufferings and insults, he was
taken to the scaffold on the same cart with Robespierre on the 28th of
July 1794 (10th Thermidor).
See Fr. Mege, _Correspondance de Couthon ... suivie de "l'Aristocrate
converti," comedie en deux actes de Couthon_ (Paris, 1872); and
_Nouveaux Documents sur Georges Couthon_ (Clermont-Ferrand, 1890);
also F. A. Aulard, _Les Orateurs de la Legislative et de la
Convention_ (Paris, 1885-1886), ii. 425-443.
COUTTS, THOMAS (1735-1822), English banker and founder of the banking
house of Coutts & Co., was born on the 7th of September 1735. He was the
fourth son of John Coutts (1699-1751), who carried on business in
Edinburgh as a corn factor and negotiator of bills of exchange, and who
in 1742 was elected lord provost of the city. The family was originally
of Montrose, but one of its members had settled at Edinburgh about 1696.
Soon after the death of John Coutts the business was divided into two
branches, one carried on in Edinburgh, the other in London. The banking
business in London was in the hands of James and Thomas Coutts, sons of
John Coutts. From the death of his brother in 1778, Thomas, as surviving
partner, became sole head of the firm; and under his direction the
banking house rose to the highest distinction. His ambition was to
establish his character as a man of business and to make a fortune; and
he lived to succeed in this aim and long to enjoy his reputation and
wealth. A gentleman in manners, hospitable and benevolent, he counted
amongst his friends some of the literary men and the best actors of his
day. Of the enormous wealth which came into his hands he made munificent
use. His private life was not without its romantic elements. Soon after
his settlement in London he married Elizabeth Starkey, a young woman of
humble origin, who was in attendance on the daughter of his brother
James. They lived happily together, and had three daughters--Susan,
married in 1796 to the 3rd earl of Guilford; Frances, married in 1800 to
John, 1st marquess of Bute; and Sophia, married in 1793 to Sir Francis
Burdett. Mrs Coutts dying in 1815, her husband soon after married the
popular actress, Harriet Mellon; and to her he left the whole of his
immense fortune. He died in London on the 24th of February 1822. His
widow married in 1827 the 9th duke of St Albans, and died ten years
later, having bequeathed her property to Angela, youngest daughter of
Sir Francis Burdett, who then assumed the additional name and arms of
Coutts. In 1871 this lady was created Baroness Burdett-Coutts (q.v.).
See C. Rogers, _Genealogical Memoirs of the Families of Colt and
Coutts_ (1879); and R. Richardson, _Coutts & Co._ (1900).
COUTURE, THOMAS (1815-1879), French painter, was born at Senlis (Oise),
and studied under Baron A. J. Gros and Paul Delaroche, winning a Prix de
Rome in 1837. He began exhibiting historical and _genre_ pictures at the
Salon in 1840, and obtained several medals. His masterpiece was his
"Romans in the Decadence of the Empire" (1847), now in the Luxembourg;
and his "Love of Money" (1844; at Toulouse), "Falconer" (1855), and
"Damocles" (1872), are also good examples.
COUVADE (literally a "brooding," from Fr. _couver_, to hatch, Lat.
_cubare_, to lie down), a custom so called in Bearn, prevalent among
several peoples in different parts of the world, requiring that the
father, at and sometimes before the birth of his child, shall retire to
bed and fast or abstain from certain kinds of food, receiving the
attentions generally shown to women at their confinements. The existence
of the custom in ancient classical times is testified to by Apollonius
Rhodius, Diodorus (who refers to its existence among the Corsicans), and
Strabo (who noticed it among the Spanish Basques, by whom, as well as by
the Gascons, it has been said to be still observed, though the most
recent researches entirely discredit this). Travellers, from the time of
Marco Polo, who relates its observance in Chinese Turkestan, have found
the custom to prevail in China, India, Borneo, Siam, Africa and the
Americas. Even in Europe it cannot be said to have entirely disappeared.
In certain of the Baltic provinces of Russia the husband, on the
lying-in of the wife, takes to his bed and groans in mock pain. One
writer believes he found traces of it in the little island of Marken in
the Zuyder Zee. Even in rural England, notably in East Anglia, a
curiously obstinate belief survives (the prevalence of which in earlier
times is proved by references to it in Elizabethan drama) that the
pregnancy of the woman affects the man, and the young husband who
complains of a toothache is assailed by pleasantries as to his wife's
condition. In Guiana the custom is observed in its most typical form.
The woman works to within a few hours of the birth, but some days before
her delivery the father leaves his occupations and abstains from certain
kinds of animal food lest the child should suffer. Thus the flesh of the
agouti is forbidden, lest the child should be lean, and that of the
capibara or water-cavy, for fear he should inherit through his father's
gluttony that creature's projecting teeth. A few hours before delivery
the woman goes alone, or with one or two women-friends, into the forest,
where the baby is born. She returns as soon as she can stand, to her
work, and the man then takes to his hammock and becomes the invalid. He
must do no work, must touch no weapons, is forbidden all meat and food,
except at first a fermented liquor and after the twelfth day a weak
gruel of _cassava_ meal. He must not even smoke, or wash himself, but is
waited on hand and foot by the women. So far is the comedy carried that
he whines and groans as if in actual pain. Six weeks after the birth of
the child he is taken in hand by his relatives, who lacerate his skin
and rub him with a decoction of the pepper-plant. A banquet is then held
from which the patient is excluded, for he must not leave his bed till
several days later; and for six months he must eat the flesh of neither
fish nor bird. Almost identical ceremonies have been noticed among the
natives of California and New Mexico; while in Greenland and Kamchatka
the husband may not work for some time before and after his wife's
confinement. Among the Larkas of Bengal a period of isolation and
uncleanness, synchronous with that compulsory on the woman, is
imperative for the man, on the conclusion of which the child's parentage
is publicly proclaimed.
No certain explanation can be offered for the custom. The most
reasonable view is that adopted by E. B. Tylor, who traces in it the
transition from the earlier matriarchal to the later patriarchal system
of tribe-organization. Among primitive tribes, and probably in all ages,
the former order of society, in which descent and inheritance are
reckoned through the mother alone, as being the earliest form of family
life, is and was very common, if not universal. The acknowledgment of a
relationship between father and son is characteristic of the progress of
society towards a true family life. It may well be that the Couvade
arose in the father's desire to emphasize the bond of blood between
himself and his child. It is a fact that in some countries the father
has to purchase the child from its mother; and in the Roman ceremony of
the husband raising the baby from the floor we may trace the savage idea
that the male parent must formally proclaim his adoption of and
responsibility for the offspring. Max Muller, in his _Chips from a
German Workshop_, endeavoured to find an explanation in primitive
"henpecking," asserting that the unfortunate husband was tyrannized over
by "his female relatives and afterwards frightened into
superstition,"--that, in fact, the whole fabric of ceremony is reared on
nothing but masculine hysteria; but this theory can scarcely be taken
seriously. The missionary, Joseph Francois Lafitau, suspected a
psychological reason, assuming the custom to be a dim recollection of
original sin, the isolation and fast types of repentance. The
explanation of the American Indians is that if the father engaged in any
hard or hazardous work, e.g. hunting, or was careless in his diet, the
child would suffer and inherit the physical faults and peculiarities of
the animals eaten. This belief that a person becomes possessed of the
nature and form of the animal he eats is widespread, being as prevalent
in the Old World as in the New, but it is insufficient to account for
the minute ceremonial details of La Couvade as practised in many lands.
It is far more likely that so universal a practice has no trivial
beginnings, but is to be considered as a mile-stone marking a great
transitional epoch in human progress.
AUTHORITIES.--E. B. Tylor's _Early History of Man_ (1865; 2nd ed. p.
301); F. Max Muller, _Chips from a German Workshop_ (1868-1875), ii.
281; Lord Avebury, _Origin of Civilisation_ (1900); Brett's _Indian
Tribes of Guiana_; Johann Baptist von Spix and Karl F. P. von Martius,
_Travels in Brazil_ (1823-1831), ii. 281; J. F. Lafitau, _Moeurs des
sauvages americains_ (1st ed., 1724); W. Z. Ripley, _Races of Europe_
(1900); A. H. Keane's _Ethnology_ (1896), p. 368 and footnote; A.
Giraud-Teulon, _Les Origines du mariage et de la famille_ (Paris,
1884).
COVE, a word mostly used in the sense of a small inlet or sheltered bay
in a coast-line. In English dialect usage it is also applied to a cave
or to a recess in a mountain-side. The word in O. Eng. is _cofa_, and
cognate forms are found in the Ger. _Koben_, Norwegian _kove_, and in
various forms in other Teutonic languages. It has no connexion with
"alcove," recess in a room or building, which is derived through the
Span. _alcoba_ from Arab. _al_, the, and _qubbah_, vault, arch, nor with
"cup" or "coop," nor with "cave" (Lat. _cava_). The use of the word was
first confined to a small chamber or cell or inner recess in a room or
building. From this has come the particular application in architecture
to any kind of concave moulding, the term being usually applied to the
quadrantal curve rising from the cornice of a lofty room to the moulded
borders of the horizontal ceiling. The term "coving" is given in
half-timbered work to the curved soffit under a projecting window, or in
the 18th century to that occasionally found carrying the gutter of a
house. In the Musee Plantin at Antwerp the hearth of the fireplace of
the upper floor is carved on coving, which forms part of the design of
the chimney-piece in the room below. The slang use of "cove" for any
male person, like a "fellow," "chap," &c., is found in the form "cofe"
in T. Harman's _Caveat for Cursetors_ (1587) and other early quotations.
This seems to be identical with the Scots word "cofe," a pedlar, hawker,
which is formed from "coff," to sell, purchase, cognate with the Ger.
_kaufen_, to buy, and the native English "cheap." The word "cove,"
therefore, is in ultimate origin the same as "chap," short for
"chapman," a pedlar.
COVELLITE, a mineral species consisting of cupric sulphide, CuS,
crystallizing in the hexagonal system. It is of less frequent occurrence
in nature than copper-glance, the orthorhombic cuprous sulphide.
Crystals are very rare, the mineral being usually found as compact and
earthy masses or as a blue coating on other copper sulphides. Hardness
1-1/2-2; specific gravity 4.6. The dark indigo-blue colour is a
characteristic feature, and the mineral was early known as indigo-copper
(Ger. _Kupferindig_). The name covellite is taken from N. Covelli, who
in 1839 observed crystals of cupric sulphide encrusting Vesuvian lava,
the mineral having been formed here by the interaction of hydrogen
sulphide and cupric chloride, both of which are volatile volcanic
products. Covellite is, however, more commonly found in copper-bearing
veins, where it has resulted by the alteration of other copper
sulphides, namely chalcopyrite, copper-glance and erubescite. It is
found in many copper mines; localities which may be specially mentioned
are Sangerhausen in Prussian Saxony, Butte in Montana, and Chile; in the
Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming a platiniferous covellite is mined,
the platinum being present as sperrylite (platinum arsenide).
(L. J. S.)
COVENANT (an O. Fr. form, later _convenant_, from _convenir_, to agree,
Lat. _convenire_), a mutual agreement of two or more parties, or an
undertaking made by one of the parties. In the Bible the Hebrew word
[Hebrew: briia], _b[)e]r[=i]th_, is used widely for many kinds of
agreements; it is then applied to a contract between two persons or to a
treaty between two nations, such as the covenant made between Abimelech
and Isaac, representing a treaty between the Israelites and the
Philistines (Gen. xxvi. 26, seq.); more particularly to an engagement
made between God and men, or such agreements as, by the observance of a
religious rite, regarded God as a party to the engagement. Two
suggestions have been made for the derivation of _b[)e]r[=i]th_: (1)
tracing the word from a root "to cut," and the reference is to the
primitive rite of cutting victims into parts, between which the parties
to an agreement passed, cf. the Greek [Greek: horkia temnein], and the
account (Gen. xv. 17) of the covenant between God and Abraham, where "a
smoking furnace and burning lamp passed between the pieces" of the
victims Abraham had sacrificed; (2) connecting it with an
Assyrio-Babylonian _biritu_, fetter, alliance. _B[)e]r[=i]th_ was
translated in the Septuagint by [Greek: diatheke], which in classical
Greek had the meaning of "will"; hence the Vulgate, in the Psalms and
the New Testament, translates the word by _testamentum_, but elsewhere
in the Old Testament by _foedus_ or _pactum_; similarly Wycliffe's
version gives "testament" and "covenant" respectively. The books of
Scripture dealing with the old or Mosaic, and new or Christian
dispensation are sometimes known as the Books of the Old and the New
Covenant. The word appears in the system of theology developed by
Johannes Cocceius (q.v.), and known as the "Covenant" or "Federal"
Theology, based on the two Covenants of Works or Life made by God with
Adam, on condition of obedience, and of grace or redemption, made with
Christ. In Scottish ecclesiastical history, covenant appears in the two
agreements signed by the members of the Scottish Church in defence of
their religious and ecclesiastical systems (see COVENANTERS).
COVENANT, in law, is the English equivalent of the Lat. _conventio_,
which, although not technical, was the most general word in Roman law
for "agreement." It was frequently used along with _pactum_, also a
general term, but applied especially to agreements to settle a question
without carrying it before the courts of law.
The word "covenant" has been used in a variety of senses in English law.
1. In its strict sense, covenant means an agreement _under seal_, that
something has or has not already been done, or shall or shall not be
done hereafter (Shep. _Touchstone_, 160, 162). It is most commonly used
with reference to sales or leases of land, but is sometimes applied to
any promise or stipulation, whether under seal or not. The person who
makes, and is bound to perform, the promise or stipulation is the
covenantor: the person in whose favour it is made is the covenantee.
2. Covenants have been subdivided into numerous classes, only a few of
which need to be described. It is unnecessary to do more than mention
affirmative and negative covenants, joint or several, alternative or
disjunctive covenants, dependent or independent covenants. As to
collateral covenants, covenants "running with the land," and covenants
in leases (including "usual," "proper" and "restrictive" covenants), see
LANDLORD and TENANT. But there are other classes as to which something
must be said.
A covenant is said to be _express_ when it is created by the express
words of the parties to the deed declaratory of their intention. It is
not indispensable that the word "covenant" should be used. Any word
which clearly indicates the intention of the parties to covenant will
suffice. An _implied_ covenant, or _covenant in law_, "depends for its
existence on the intendment and construction of law. There are some
words which of themselves do not import an express covenant, yet, being
made use of in certain contracts, have a similar operation and are
called covenants in law; and they are as effectually binding on the
parties as if expressed in the most unequivocal terms" (Platt on
_Covenants_, p. 40). Thus, the word "demise," used in a lease of deed,
raises the implication of a covenant both for "quiet enjoyment" and for
title to let; and it has been judicially suggested that a covenant for
quiet enjoyment may be implied from any word or words of like import
(_Budd-Scott_ v. _Daniell_, 1902, 2 K.B. p. 359). The Conveyancing Act
1881 provides (S 7) that in a conveyance for valuable consideration,
other than a mortgage, there shall be implied, as against the person who
conveys and is expressed to convey as "beneficial owner," certain
_qualified_ covenants--i.e. covenants extending only to the acts or
omissions of the vendor, persons through whom he derives title otherwise
than by purchase for value, and persons claiming under them--for "right
to convey," "quiet enjoyment," "freedom from incumbrances" and "further
assurance." Of these statutory covenants for title the only one which
requires explanation is the covenant for further assurance. It imports
an agreement on the part of the covenantor to do such reasonable acts,
in addition to those already performed, as may be necessary for the
completion of the transfer made (or intended to be made) at the
requirements of the covenantee (Platt on _Covenants_, p. 341). All these
statutory implied covenants "run with the land" (see LANDLORD and
TENANT). Where a mortgagor conveys, and is expressed to convey, as
"beneficial owner," there are implied _absolute_ covenants--i.e.
covenants amounting to a warranty against and for the acts and omissions
of the whole world--that he has a right to convey, that the mortgagee
shall have quiet enjoyment of the property after default, free from
incumbrances and for further assurance. Special provisions as to implied
covenants by the lessor in leases are made in England by S 7 (B) of the
Conveyancing Act 1881 and in Ireland by the Land Act (Ireland) 1860, S
41. The distinction between _real_ and _personal_ covenants is that the
former do, while the latter do not, run with the land. An _inherent_
covenant is another name for a _real_ covenant (Shep. _Touchstone_, 176;
Platt, 60). When a covenant relates to an act already done, it is
usually termed a covenant _executed_; where the performance is future,
the covenant is termed _executory_. The _covenant for seisin_ was an
assurance to the grantee that the grantor had the estate which he
purported to convey. In England it is now included in the covenant for
right to convey; but is still in separate use in several states in
America. The _covenant to stand seised to uses_ was an assurance by
means of which, under the Statute of Uses [1536] (see USES), a
conveyance of an estate might be effected. When such a covenant is made,
the legal estate in the land passes at once to the covenantee under the
statute. The consideration for the covenant must be relationship by
blood or marriage. It is still occasionally though very rarely employed.
The _covenant not_ to _sue_ belongs to the law of contract and needs no
explanation.
Most of the classes of covenants above mentioned are in use in the
United States. In New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin and
Wyoming the implication of covenants for title has been, with certain
exceptions, prohibited by statute. In Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware,
Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico,
Pennsylvania and Texas the words _grant_, _bargain_ and _sell_, in
conveyances in fee, unless specially restricted, amount to qualified
covenants that the grantor was seised in fee, free from incumbrances,
and for quiet enjoyment (4 Kent, _Commentaries_, S 473; Bouvier, _Law
Dictionary_, s.v. Covenant). In some of the states a _covenant of
non-claim_, or of _warranty_, an assurance by the grantor that neither
he nor his heirs, nor any other person shall claim any title in the
premises conveyed, is in general use.
3. An _action of covenant_ lay for breaking covenant. As to the history
of this action see Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_, ii.
106; and Holmes, _The Common Law_, p. 272. There was also a _writ of
covenant_. But this remedy had fallen into disuse before 1830 (see Platt
on _Covenants_, p. 543), and was abolished by the Common Law Procedure
Acts. Since the Judicature Acts, an action on a covenant follows the
same course as, and is indistinguishable from, any ordinary action for
breach of contract. The remedy is by damages, decree of specific
performance or injunction to prevent the breach.
The term "covenant" is unknown to Scots law. But its place is filled
to some extent by the doctrine of "warrandice." Many of the British
colonies have legislated, as to the implication of covenants for
title, on the lines of the English Conveyancing Act 1881; e.g.
Tasmania, Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1884 (47 Vict. No. 10).
As to covenants in restraint of trade see RESTRAINT.
AUTHORITIES.--In addition to the authorities cited in the text see:
_English Law_; Goodeve, _Law of Real Property_ (5th ed., London,
1906); C. Foa, _Landlord and Tenant_ (3rd ed., London, 1901);
Hamilton, _Law of Covenants_ (London); Fawcett, _Law of Landlord and
Tenant_ (3rd ed., London, 1905). _American Law: Rawle, Law of
Covenants for Title_ (Boston, 1887); _Encyclopaedia of American Law_
(3rd ed., 1890), vol. viii., tit. "Covenants." (A. W. R.)
COVENANTERS, the name given to a party which, originating in the
Reformation movement, played an important part in the history of
Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England, during the 17th
century. The Covenanters were thus named because in a series of _bands_
or _covenants_ they bound themselves to maintain the Presbyterian
doctrine and polity as the sole religion of their country. The first
"godly band" is dated December 1557; but more important is the covenant
of 1581, drawn up by John Craig in consequence of the strenuous efforts
which the Roman Catholics were making to regain their hold upon
Scotland, and called the King's Confession or National Covenant. Based
upon the Confession of Faith of 1560, this document denounced the pope
and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church in no measured terms. It
was adopted by the General Assembly, signed by King James VI. and his
household, and enjoined on persons of all ranks and classes; and was
again subscribed in 1590 and 1596. In 1637 Scotland was in a state of
turmoil. Charles I. and Archbishop Laud had just met with a reverse in
their efforts to impose the English liturgy upon the Scots; and fearing
further measures on the part of the king, it occurred to Archibald
Johnston, Lord Warriston, to revive the National Covenant of 1581.
Additional matter intended to suit the document to the special
circumstances of the time was added, and the covenant was adopted and
signed by a large gathering in Greyfriars' churchyard, Edinburgh, on the
28th of February 1638, after which copies were sent throughout the
country for additional signatures. The subscribers engaged by oath to
maintain religion in the state in which it existed in 1580, and to
reject all innovations introduced since that time, while professed
expressions of loyalty to the king were added. The General Assembly of
1638 was composed of ardent Covenanters, and in 1640 the covenant was
adopted by the parliament, and its subscription was required from all
citizens. Before this date the Covenanters were usually referred to as
_Supplicants_, but from about this time the former designation began to
prevail.
A further development took place in 1643. The leaders of the English
parliament, worsted in the Civil War, implored the aid of the Scots,
which was promised on condition that the Scottish system of church
government was adopted in England. After some haggling a document called
the Solemn League and Covenant was drawn up. This was practically a
treaty between England and Scotland for the preservation of the reformed
religion in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England and Ireland
"according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed
churches," and the extirpation of popery and prelacy. It was subscribed
by many in both kingdoms and also in Ireland, and was approved by the
English parliament, and with some slight modifications by the
Westminster Assembly of Divines. Charles I. refused to accept it when he
surrendered himself to the Scots in 1646, but he made important
concessions in this direction in the "Engagement" made with the Scots in
December 1647. Charles II. before landing in Scotland in June 1650
declared by a solemn oath his approbation of both covenants, and this
was renewed on the occasion of his coronation at Scone in the following
January.
From 1638 to 1651 the Covenanters were the dominant party in Scotland,
directing her policy both at home and abroad. Their power, however,
which had been seriously weakened by Cromwell's victory at Dunbar in
September 1651, was practically destroyed when Charles II. was restored
nine years later. Firmly seated upon the throne Charles renounced the
covenants, which in 1662 were declared unlawful oaths, and were to be
abjured by all persons holding public offices. Episcopacy was restored,
the court of high commission was revived, and ministers who refused to
recognize the authority of the bishops were expelled from their livings.
Gathering around them many of the Covenanters who clung tenaciously to
their standards of faith, these ministers began to preach in the fields,
and a period of persecution marked by savage hatred and great brutality
began. Further oppressive measures were directed against the
Covenanters, who took up arms about 1665, and the struggle soon assumed
the proportions of a rebellion. The forces of the crown under John
Graham of Claverhouse and others were sent against them, and although
the insurgents gained isolated successes, in general they were worsted
and were treated with great barbarity. They maintained, however, their
cherished covenants with a zeal which persecution only intensified; in
1680 the more extreme members of the party signed a document known as
the "Sanquhar Declaration," and were afterwards called Cameronians from
the name of their leader, Richard Cameron (q.v.). They renounced their
allegiance to King James and were greatly disappointed when their
standards found no place in the religious settlement of 1689, continuing
to hold the belief that the covenants should be made obligatory upon the
entire nation. The Covenanters had a martyrology of their own, and the
halo of romance has been cast around their exploits and their
sufferings. Their story, however, especially during the time of their
political predominance, is part of the general history of Scotland
(q.v.).
The texts of the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant
are printed in S. R. Gardiner's _Constitutional Documents of the
Puritan Revolution_ (Oxford, 1899). See also J. H. Burton, _History of
Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1905); A. Lang, _History of Scotland_
(Edinburgh, 1900); S. R. Gardiner, _History of England_ (London,
1883-1884); G. Grub, _Ecclesiastical History of Scotland_ (Edinburgh,
1861); J. Macpherson, _History of the Church in Scotland_ (Paisley,
1901); and J. K. Hewison, _The Covenanters_ (1908).
COVENT GARDEN, formerly an open space north of the Strand, London,
England, now occupied by the principal flower, fruit and vegetable
market in the metropolis. This was originally the so-called "convent
garden" belonging to the abbey of St Peter, Westminster. In the first
half of the 17th century the site of the garden was laid out as a square
by Inigo Jones, with a piazza on two sides; and as early as 1656 it was
becoming a market place for the same commodities as are now sold in it.
Covent Garden Theatre (1858) is the chief seat of grand opera in London.
The site has carried a theatre since 1733, but earlier buildings were
burnt in 1809 and 1856.
COVENTRY, SIR JOHN (d. 1682), son of John Coventry, the second son of
Thomas, Lord Keeper Coventry, was returned to the Long Parliament in
1640 as member for Evesham. During the Civil War he served for the king,
and at the Restoration was created a knight. In 1667, and in the
following parliaments of 1678, 1679 and 1681, he was elected for
Weymouth, and opposed the government. On the 21st of December 1670,
owing to a jest made by Coventry in the House of Commons on the subject
of the king's amours, Sir Thomas Sandys, an officer of the guards, with
other accomplices, by the order of Monmouth, and (it was said) with the
approval of the king himself, waylaid him as he was returning home to
Suffolk Street and slit his nose to the bone. The outrage created an
extraordinary sensation, and in consequence a measure known as the
"Coventry Act" was passed, declaring assaults accompanied by personal
mutilation a felony without benefit of clergy. Sir John died in 1682.
Sir William Coventry, his uncle, speaks slightingly of him, ridicules
his vanity and wishes him out of the House of Commons to be "out of
harm's way."
COVENTRY, THOMAS COVENTRY, 1ST BARON (1578-1640), lord keeper of
England, eldest son of Sir Thomas Coventry, judge of the common pleas (a
descendant of John Coventry, lord mayor of London in the reign of Henry
VI.), and of Margaret Jeffreys of Earls Croome, or Croome D'Abitot, in
Worcestershire, was born in 1578. He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in
1592, and the Inner Temple in 1594, becoming bencher of the society in
1614, reader in 1616, and holding the office of treasurer from 1617 till
1621. His exceptional legal abilities were rewarded early with official
promotion. On the 16th of November 1616 he was made recorder of London
in spite of Bacon's opposition, who, although allowing him to be "a well
trained and an honest man," objected that he was "bred by my Lord Coke
and seasoned in his ways."[1] On the 14th of March 1617 he was appointed
solicitor-general and was knighted; was returned for Droitwich to the
parliament of 1621; and on the 11th of January in that year was made
attorney-general. He took part in the proceedings against Bacon for
corruption, and was manager for the Commons in the impeachment of Edward
Floyd for insulting the elector and electress palatine.
On the 1st of November 1625 he was made lord keeper of the great seal;
in this capacity he delivered the king's reprimand to the Commons on the
29th of March 1626, when he declared that "liberty of counsel" alone
belonged to them and not "liberty of control." On the 10th of April 1628
he received the title of Baron Coventry of Aylesborough in
Worcestershire. At the opening of parliament in 1628 he threatened that
the king would use his prerogative if further thwarted in the matter of
supplies. In the subsequent debates, however, while strongly supporting
the king's prerogative against the claims of the parliament to executive
power, he favoured a policy of moderation and compromise. He defended
the right of the council to commit to prison without showing cause, and
to issue "general" warrants; though he allowed it should only be
employed in special circumstances, disapproved of the king's sudden
dissolution of parliament, and agreed to the liberation on bail of the
seven imprisoned members on condition of their giving security for their
good behaviour. He showed less subservience than Bacon to Buckingham,
and his resistance to the latter's pretensions to the office of lord
high constable greatly incensed the duke. Buckingham taunted Coventry
with having gained his place by his favour; to which the lord keeper
replied, "Did I conceive I had my place by your favour, I would
presently unmake myself by returning the seal to his Majesty."[2] After
this defiance Buckingham's sudden death alone probably prevented
Coventry's displacement. He passed sentence of death on Lord Audley in
1631, drafted and enforced the proclamation of the 20th of June 1632
ordering the country gentlemen to leave London, and in 1634 joined in
Laud's attack on the earl of Portland for peculation. The same year, in
an address to the judges, he supported the proposed levy of ship-money
on the inland as well as the maritime counties on the plea of the
necessity of effectually arming, "so that they might not be enforced to
fight," "the wooden walls" being in his opinion "the best walls of this
kingdom."[3] In the Star Chamber Coventry was one of Lilburne's judges
in 1637, but he generally showed conspicuous moderation, inclining to
leniency in the cases of Richard Chambers in 1629 for seditious
speeches, and of Henry Sherfield in 1632 for breaking painted glass in a
church. He prevented also the hanging of men for resistance to
impressment, and pointed out its illegality, since the men were not
subject to martial law. While contributing thirty horse to the Scottish
expedition in 1638, and lending the king L10,000 in 1639, he gave no
support to the forced loan levied upon the city in the latter year. He
died on the 14th of January 1640.
Lord Coventry held the great seal for nearly fifteen years, and was
enabled to collect a large fortune. He was an able judge, and he issued
some important orders in chancery, probably alluded to by Wood, who
ascribes to him a tract on "The Fees of all law Officers."[4] Whitelocke
accuses him of mediocrity,[4] but his contemporaries in general have
united in extolling his judicial ability, his quick despatch of business
and his sound and sterling character. Clarendon in particular praises
his statesmanship, and compares his capacity with Lord Strafford's,
adding, however, that he seldom spoke in the council except on legal
business and had little influence in political affairs; to the latter
circumstance he owed his exceptional popularity. He describes him as
having "in the plain way of speaking and delivery a strange power of
making himself believed," as a man of "not only firm gravity but a
severity and even some morosity," as "rather exceedingly liked than
passionately loved."
Lord Coventry married (1) Sarah, daughter of Sir Edward Sebright of
Besford in Worcestershire, by whom besides a daughter he had one son,
Thomas, who succeeded him as 2nd baron, and (2) Elizabeth, daughter of
John Aldersley of Spurstow, Cheshire, and widow of William Pitchford, by
whom he had four sons, John, Francis, Henry and Sir William Coventry,
the statesman.
Thomas Coventry, 5th baron (d. 1699), was created an earl in 1697 with a
special limitation, on failure of his own male issue, to that of Walter,
youngest brother of the lord keeper, from whom the present earl of
Coventry is descended.