452 



COQUETRY CORDAY D'ARMANS. 



from the market. Washington Irving, it is well 

 known, was compelled to prepare an abridgment him- 

 self of his Life of Columbus, for his own protec- 

 tion. 



It would seem but just to allow a man the exclu- 

 sive property in his own book during his life, and 

 even to extend the siime, for a given period, to his 

 heirs, in certain cases ; for the most valuable books 

 are, in many cases, those which have the slowest 

 sale. For a novel which is forgotten within six 

 months from its appearance, the term of copyright 

 may be sufficiently long ; but for a standard work in 

 history or science, it is often much too short. 



Tlie sums which have In-en paid for copyrights 

 have varied with the nature of the work, the reputa- 

 tion of the author, and the liberality of the publisher. 

 An original work, the author of which is unknown, 

 and the success of which must depend on the taste 

 and talents of the writer, and the taste and wants of the 

 age, will stand little chance ; while a book suited 

 to the market, for which the publisher can calculate 

 the demand, may command a liberal price. A com- 

 pilation or a dictionary may succeed, where the 

 poems of a Milton, the philosophy of a Hume, or the 

 histories of a Robertson could find no encouragement. 

 Chateaubriand received for his complete works, from 

 the bookseller L'Avocat, half a million of francs. 

 Moore has a life annuity of 500 for his Irish 

 Melodies. Sir Walter Scott received, for three of 

 his large poems, 3000 guineas apiece. Campbell re- 

 ceived for his Pleasures of Hope, after it had been 

 published fifteen years, 1000 guineas -, for his Gertrude, 

 after having been published six years, 1500 guineas. 

 Byron received for the fourth canto of Childe Harold, 

 2100. Cowper's poems, in 1815, though the copy- 

 right had only two years to run, were sold for 8000 

 guineas. Cotta, a German bookseller, is said to 

 have given Goethe, for his complete works, 30,000 

 crowns. In Britain, large sums are paid for books 

 which promise a rapid sale ; the same is true, in a 

 less degree, of France and the United States of 

 America. Germany and Italy remunerate authors 

 very poorly, only a few instances, such as Goethe, ex- 

 cepted. In Spain, the book-trade has been so crushed 

 by a merciless censorship, that an author must publish 

 his books, in that country, on his own account. For 

 a long time after the art of printing was invented, 

 no remuneration was paid to authors. 



COQUETRY ; an undue manifestation on the part 

 of a woman, of a desire to attract admirers. The 

 wish of woman to please gives rise to much that 

 is amiable in the female character, and delightful 

 in the intercourse of good society, and is blamable 

 only when it is carried so far as to overstep delicacy. 

 Its degrees are very different, and, in a French woman 

 particularly, it is often united with much that is 

 graceful and amiable. That which is nurtured by 

 the system of the English boarding-schools has fewer 

 redeeming qualities. It received its name in France. 

 We learn from madame Scudery's Histoire de Co- 

 mietterie, which is to be found in the 2d volume of 

 her Novelles Conversations, that this word was first 

 introduced into the French language in the time of 

 Catharine de Medici. 



COQUIMBO, or SERENA ; a jurisdiction in 

 Chile. The fertility and beauty of the country have 

 induced many families to reside here. The country 

 produces corn enough to supply annually four or live 

 vessels, of 400 tons each, for Lima. There are many 

 mines of gold and silver. 



COQUIMBO ; capital of a jurisdiction in Chile, the 

 second town founded by Valdivia, about a quarter of 

 a league from the sea, on a river of the same name ; 

 10 miles.S. W. of Rioja ; Ion. 17 19' W. ; lat. 29 ' 

 55' S. The population consists of Spaniards and 



people of colour, with some Indians. The harbour 

 U accounted one of the best on the west coast of 

 South America, and is much frequented. The 

 streets are built in a line from north to south, and 

 east to west ; well watered, and shaded with fig- 

 trees, palms, oranges, olives, &c., always green. 

 The number of houses is between three and four 

 hundred. 



CORAL (corallium, Lat. ; *{aj, Gr.), in gem 

 sculpture ; a marine zoophyte that becomes, atier 

 removal from the water, as hard as a stone, of a fine 

 red colour, and will take a good polish. Coral is 

 much used by gem sculptors tor small ornaments, but 

 is not susceptible of receiving the finer execution of 

 a gem as the hard and precious stones. Caylus has 

 published an antique head of Medusa, sculptured in 

 coral, of which the eyes are composed of a while. 

 subsUince resembling shells, incrusted or let in. 

 He supposes it to have been an amulet, because the 

 ancients, who were partial to a mystical analogy be- 

 tween the substance and the subject represented (see 

 Allegory), supposed, as Ovid relates in his .Metamor- 

 phoses, that Perseus, after having cut off the head of 

 Medusa, concealed it under some plants of coral, 

 which instantly became petrified, and tinged with the 

 colour of the blood which flowed from it, and from a 

 green turned to a red colour. Pliny and other an- 

 cient authors attribute many superstitious qualities to 

 the coral ; therefore it is no wonder that it was 

 often taken for an amulet. Pliny also relates that 

 the Gauls, and the people inhabiting maritime parts 

 of Italy, as well as other nations on the sea-coast, 

 used it to form ornaments for their armour and house- 

 hold furniture. 



CORAN. See Koran. 



C ORB AN (from the Hebrew karab, to approach). 

 In the Scriptures, this word signifies an offering to 

 the Lord. Jesus is represented as using this word 

 in Mark vii. 11. 



CORDAY D'ARMANS, MARIE ANNE CHAR- 

 LOTTE, the murderer of Marat, was born at Saint Sa- 

 turnin, near Seez, in Normandy, in the year 1768. 

 With the charms of her sex she united a rare courage. 

 Her lover, an officer in the garrison at Caen, was 

 accused by Marat as a conspirator against the 

 republic, and assassinated by villains hired for that 

 purpose. This excited Charlotte Corday to revenge. 

 History had inspired her with a deep-rooted hatred 

 against all oppressors, and she determined to free 

 her country from Marat, whom she considered as the 

 head of those monsters called huveurs de sang (the 

 drinkers of blood). Another motive confirmed her 

 purpose. Many deputies, such as Barbaroux, Lou- 

 vet, Gaudet, and others, who were persecuted by 

 Marat, and afterwards proscribed, May 31, 1793, to 

 whose opinions she had attached herself, invoked the 

 assistance of Frenchmen in behalf of liberty, now ex- 

 piring beneath the horrors of the times. Charlotte 

 then left home, entered Paris July 12, 1793, and 

 went twice to Marat's house, but was not admitted. 

 On the same evening, she wrote to him as follows : 

 "Citizen, I have just now come from Caen. Your 

 love for your country no doubt makes you desirous 

 of being informed of the unhappy transactions in that 

 part of the republic. Grant me an interview for a mo- 

 ment. I have important discoveries to make to you." 

 The following day came, and, with a dagger in her 

 bosom, she proceeded to the house of Marat, who, just 

 on the point of coming out of his bath, immediately 

 gave orders that she should be admitted. The assem- 

 blies at Calvados were the first subjects of conversa- 

 tion, and Marat heard with eagerness the names of 

 those who were present at them. " All these," he 

 exclaimed, " shall he guillotined." At these words 

 Charlotte plunged her dagger into his bosom, and he 



