COTES, FRANCIS, R.A. 



COTTLE, JOSEPH. 



402 



conveut, where she was taught music and drawing arts which she 

 eventually pursued with such success as to excita general admiration 

 both in Italy and in England. After her marriage with Cosway she 

 became a very distinguished exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and her 

 musical parties, in which she was the chief performer, at her house, 

 formerly Astley's, in Pall Mall, and afterwards at 20, Stratford-place, 

 Oxford-street, were among the chief attractions of the age. The Prince 

 of Wales and the leading members of the nobility were frequent 

 visitors, and all the political, literary, artistic, and social ' lions ' of 

 London were there to see and be seen. The house in which these 

 parties were held was furnished in the most costly and gorgeous style 

 imaginable : aim ost every room was a museum of works of art and unique 

 fur.iiture of the most elaborate workmanship, adorned with natural 

 aud artificial curiosities from the four quarters of the globe. In his 

 dress also Cosway was proportionably magnificent, a port of modern 

 Parrhasius ; and all this magnificence and splendour were the fruit of 

 his industry. His wife was equally industrious, and painted many 

 portraits aud other works of a poetic and imaginative nature ; but 

 Co-way would not allow her to paint portraits professionally. There 

 are several prints after her works by Bartolozzi, V. Green, aud others. 



ay died in 1821, aged 80, and his widow retired to Lodi, 

 established a ladies' college there, aud became widely known and 

 respected. She bad spent some years at Lodi previously, during the 

 war, for tho benefit of her health, aud had acquired a strong attach- 

 ment fur the place. 



(Smith, NoUtktns and hit Times ; Cunningham, Lives of the most 



', British Paintert, <tc.) 



COl'KS, FRANCIS, R.A., one of tho originators of the Royal 

 Academy of Art* in London, was born in London in 1725, where his 

 father was an apothecary. He was the pupil of George Knapton, aud 

 distinguished himself by hU portraits in crayons, in which he was 

 unrivalled. He was a good painter in oil, and was by many regarded 

 as equal or superior to Reynolds : both painters had recourse to th-) 

 same artist, Toms, for the painting of their draperies. Cotes was in 

 great practice, and lived in the house in Cavendish-square which after 

 his death was occupied by Roinney, and subsequently by Sir M. A. 

 Sncc. Walpole mentions a few of hU best works as a full-length 

 of the queen of George III. holding the princess-royal on her lap, 

 engraved by \V. \V. Ryland ; Mrs. Child, of Osterly Park ; the beautiful 

 daughter of Wilton the sculptor, afterwards the wife of Sir Robert 

 Chambers; his own wife; O'Bricn, the comedian; and Polly Jone., a 

 woman of pleasure. Many of his portrait* have been engraved by 

 Lartoloz/.i, Green, JI'Ardell, aud others. He died in consequence of 

 taking soap-lees for the atone in 1770, before he had completed his 

 forty-fifth year. 



COTES, ROG1ER, born July 10, 1682, at Burlmge, near Leicester, of 

 which placo his father was rector. HU first education was received 

 partiy at Leicester school, partly from an uncle, who was th father 

 of Dr. Robert Smith, the author of the 'Optics.' He was afterwards 

 placed at St. Paul's School, and in April 1699 was admitted at Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, of which foundation he was elected fellow in 1705. 

 In January 1706 he was elected Plumian Professor, at the time of the 

 establishment of that chair. In 1713 he took orders. He died June 5, 

 1716, aged 34, and was buried in the chapel of hU college, where there 

 is an epitaph upon him by Dr. Bentley. He was succeeded in the 

 Plumian prof-ssorabip by his cousin, Dr. R. Smith, the editor of his 

 works. (' BiOi?raphia Britannica.') 



The early death of Cotes being taken into account, few persons 

 have left more reputation behind them than he di I in matters of exact 

 science. Newton is reported to have said, " If Cotes had lived, we 

 should have known something." As it is, we have not much to say 

 in a biographical article. The discoveries of Cotes have exercised a 

 decided influence upon various parts of mathematics. For his repu- 

 tation on the continent, it is unfortunate that he died so near the 

 termination of the discussion relative to fluxions. The problems which 

 he left were mado the subject of a challenge to foreign mathematicians 

 by Dr. Brook Taylor, in the interval which elapsed between his death 

 and the publication of his works; and some bitterness of f eling was 

 excitod which was unfavourable to the proper estimation of their 

 merits. (Montucla, 'Hist, dts Math.,' vol. iii., p. 154) We shall now 

 briefly describe them. 



Tho first work which Colas published was the second edition of 

 Newton's 'Principia' (1713), to which he prefixed the well-known 

 preface. This treats of gravitation in general, and of the objections 

 winch were mado to it. He also published an account of a remarkable 

 meteor in the ' Phil TranV for 1715. His hydrostatical and pneunri 

 tical lectures were printed after his death, in 1733, by Dr. R. Smith. 



The mathematical papers of Cotes were published after his death 

 by Dr. Smith, under tlie title of ' Harmonia Mensurarum, sive analysis 

 et synthesis per nttionum et anguloram mensuras promota) : accedunt 

 alia opuscnla mathematical Cambridge, 1722. The mo.st definite 

 description which can be given of it is, that it was the earliest work 

 in which decided progress was made in the application of logarithms 

 and of the properties of the circle, to the calculus of fluents. The first 

 book contains an extended comp-irisun of systems of logarithms, with 

 applications of the u to the finding of areas. The second is what we 

 should now call a table of integrals, depending on logarithms and arcs 

 of a circle. The third consists in application* of tho second. Then 



follows a mass of extensions, digested, mostly from Cotcs's paper?, 

 by Dr. Smith. The o/msciiln consist in 1. A tract on the estimation 

 of errors in mixed mathematics, consisting mostly of an investigation 

 of the method of choosing spherical triangles, so that the errors of the 

 data shall produce least effect upon the yiKesita, but ending with what 

 we must call the first glimpse of a method of choosing the proper 

 mean for discordant observations. 2. A tract on the differential 

 method of Newton. 3. On the construction of tables by differences. 

 4. On tho descent of heavy bodies ; on cycloidal motion, &c. 



COTMAN, JOHN SELL, an artist whose masterly etchings of 

 architectural subjects old buildings and other antiquities have 

 obtained for him the honourable distinction of the English Piranesi, 

 was bora at Norwich, about the year 1780, and educated at the freo 

 school of that city, on quitting which he immediately took to his 

 pencil as his future profession. He first practised chiefly in water- 

 colour painting, in which ho displayed a vigour and boldness very 

 unusual at that period; but though he did not entirely abandoa that 

 branch of art, he afterwards applied himself more particularly to 

 architectural drawing aud engraving aud to etching upon copper 

 views made for that purpose by himself. His first publication of tha 

 kind was his ' Miscellaneous Etchings of Architectural Antiquities in 

 Yorkshire,' &c., in 23 plates, folio, 1812; immediately succeeded by 

 the ' Architectural Antiquities of Norfolk,' fol., 1812-17 ; and ho at 

 the same time brought out the 'Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk,' 84 

 plates, large 4to, 1813-1(5. In 1817 he went to France, where ha spent 

 some time in collecting the materials for his next, and the finest of 

 all his works, the. ' Architectural Antiquities of Normandy," which 

 appeared in two volumes folio, 1820, with 100 plates, and descriptivo 

 and historical letter-press by Mr. Daxvson Turner of Yarmouth, who 

 zealously patronised him during his residence in Norfolk. He after- 

 wards settled entirely in London, and for a fow years before hi.s death, 

 which took place in 1813, held the appointment of teacher of drawing 

 in King's College, London. 



COTTI'tf, SOPHIE HESTAUD, born in 1773, was brought up at 

 Bordeaux by her mother, who was an accomplished and well-informed 

 woman. At the age of seventeen she married -Mr. Cottin, a wealthy 

 Parisian banker, with whom she resided in the capital. Three years 

 after, she lost her husband, which circumstance, added to the horrors 

 of the revolution, induced her to retire to a cottage in the valley 

 D'Or.-ay. To beguile her solitude she be^an to write a novel, ' Claire 

 d'Albe,' which, notwithstanding the good intentions of the authoress, 

 whose object was to point out tho dangers of seduction, had tho 

 unfortunate effect of enlisting the sympathies in favour of the heroine, 

 who is guilty of adultery a tendency however common to many, 

 and some of the best French novels. In Madam Cottin this was 

 only an error of judgment and inexperience, for her heart was pure, 

 aud her sentiments and conduct strictly virtuous. It is. said that tho 

 publication of ' Claire d'Albe ' was owing to a desire to assist a person 

 of her acquaintance, who, being proscribed, during the revolution, 

 stood in need of money to effect his escape ; Madam Cottin hastily 

 offered the sheets, which she had bcea writing for her amusement, to 

 a bookseller, and gave the produce to the fugitive. Sha followed 

 'Claire d'Albe' by 'Malvina,' 'Amelia Mansfield,' and ' Mathilde,' a 

 tale of the Crusades, which had great popularity. Her last and in 

 many respects her best work was ' Elizabeth, or the Exiles in Siberia,' 

 the characters and sentiments of which are most unexceptionable, 

 the action w<ll conducted, and tho termination satisfactory. ' Eliza- 

 beth" is accordingly a work, which, fora long succession of years, was 

 generally put into tho hands of young persons studying French, aud 

 has been translated into most European languages. The style of 

 ' Elizabeth ' is considered more carefully correct and finished than 

 that of her other novels. Madam Cottin, who was a Protestant, aud 

 had attentively studied the Scriptures, had begun a work intended to 

 demonstrate the truth of the Christian religion by its sympathy with 

 the be-t sentiments and affections of the heart. Sho had also begun 

 a work on education. She did not live to finish either : she died in 

 August 1807, at the age of thirty-four. Most of her works were pub- 

 lished anonymously. They were collected and published at Paris, in 

 5 vols. 8vo, 1817. 



COTTLE, JOSEPH, born in 1774, was a bookseller and publisher 

 in Bristol, but retired from business in 1793. Mr. Cottlo wrote a 

 poem entitled 'Alfred,' one on 'The Fall of Cambria,' another on 

 ' Malvera Hills,' aud some other pieces in verse and prose. But ho 

 is more likely to ba remembered by his connection with the po^t.s 

 Coleridge, Southey, and Wordsworth, of which he has given a very 

 full account in his ' Recollections of Coleridge," a work of some value 

 in connection with tho early part of the poet's career. Tho earliest 

 poems of Coleridge and Southey wero published by Mr. Cottlo, who 

 was a kind and "generous friend to both of the young poets at their 

 outset in life. Mr. Cottlc was much respected in Bristol for his amiable 

 personal qualities, aud for his active connection with various benevolent 

 projects. Ho had a brother, AMOS COTTLE, who also wrote verses, and 

 translated the ' Edda.' Tho name of Amos Cottle seems to have 

 afforded much mirth to the wits of the last generation : Byron has 

 hitched both tha brothers into more than one stanza, while the Anti- 

 jacobin has coupled their names in a like ludicrous manner. Amos 

 Cottie is said to have been a superior scholar and an excellent man. 

 He died in 1800. His verses have long been forgotten. 



