CORNELIS CORNWALL. 



461 



whence its name carnaline. It is much used for 

 seals, bracelets, necklaces, and other articles of mi- 

 nute gem sculpture. Its name, cornelian, is derived 

 from corneus, or horny, it being reckoned by mineral- 

 ogists among the hornstones. It was known to the 

 Romans, as we learn from Pliny, by the name of 

 sarda, from being found originally in Sardinia. Cor- 

 nelians are of various colours, from a light and fleshy 

 red, opaque, and semi-transparent, with and without 

 veins, to a brilliant transparency and colour approach- 

 ing the ruby, from which they are, however, known 

 by sure distinctive marks. Winckelmann describes 

 a cornelian of this latter sort, on which was engrav- 

 ed a portrait of Pompey. The cornelian is a stone 

 well fitted for engraving in intaglio, or sinking as for 

 seals, being of sufficient hardness to receive a fine 

 polish, and wax does not adhere to it, as it does to 

 some other sorts of stones which are used for seals, 

 and the impression comes off clear and perfect. 

 The number of the cornelians that were engraved by 

 the ancients, and have reached our times, is very 

 considerable, and nearly equal to that of all the 

 other kinds of gems with which we are acquainted. 

 From an ancient epithet "cornelian of the old 

 rock" Pliny conceives that they were taken from 

 a rock of that material near Babylon. He thinks 

 they were clarified by being steeped in the honey of 

 Corsica. The royal collection at Paris, and the 

 British Museum of London, have numerous ancient 

 and beautiful engraved cornelians. Many of the 

 latter were found in the field of Cannae in Apulia, 

 where Hannibal defeated the Romans. 



CORNELIS, CORNELIUS, a painter, born at Haer- 

 Jem, in 1562, studied the rudiments of his art with 

 Peter yErtsens the younger, and afterwards worked 

 at Antwerp, under Peter Porbus and Giles Coignet. 

 In 1 583, he returned to Haerlem, where his great 

 painting the company of arquebusiers established 

 iiis reputation. Descamps called it a collection of 

 figures, sketched by the Genius of History. In 1595, 

 with Charles van Mander, he instituted an academy 

 for painting at Haerlem. His numerous pictures 

 are rarely to be bought, on account of the great 

 falue which the Flemings set upon them. Cornelis 

 painted great and smalt pieces, historical subjects, 

 portraits, flowers, and especially subjects from ancient 

 mythology. His drawing is admirable. He is a 

 true imitator of nature, and his colouring is always 

 lively and agreeable. The galleries at Vienna and 

 Dresden contain some of his pieces. J. Mueller, H. 

 Golzius, Saenredam, L. Killian, Matham, Van Geyn, 

 and many others, have imitated his manner. He 

 died in 1638. 



CORNELIUS NEPOS, a Roman historian, born 

 in Cisalpine Gaul, lived in the golden age of the Ro- 

 man language, in friendship with Catullus, Cicero, 

 and Pomponius Atticus, and died thirty years B. C. 

 Of his numerous writings, only his Lives of distin- 

 guished Generals have come down to us. In this 

 work, he gives, in a classical style, with great bre- 

 vity and distinctness, twenty-four biographies of the 

 most remarkable Grecian heroes of antiquity, to- 

 gether with the lives of some barbarian generals, and 

 also that of Cato the elder, finishing his work with 

 the life of Atticus. His characters are, in general, 

 strikingly illustrated, though he does not always 

 observe a just proportion in his relations, sometimes 

 treating important subjects in too concise, and trifl- 

 ing ones in too prolix a manner ; and, indeed, he 

 does not always draw from the most trustworthy 

 sources. On account of his brevity, he throws little 

 new light on history ; and it is generally believe'! that 

 the book which has reached us is an extract from 

 the works of Nepos, made by Emilius Probus, in the 

 time of Theodosius. The edition of this author by 



Van Staveren (Leyden, 1773) is the most valuable. 

 Other good editions, of a later date, are those of 

 Fischer, Harles, Tzschucke and Bremi. 



CORNET; a wind instrument, now but little 

 known, having, more than a century since, given 

 place to the hautboy. There were three kinds of 

 cornets the treble, the tenor, and the bass. The 

 treble and tenor cornets were simple curvilineal 

 tubes, about three feet in length, gradually increas- 

 ing in diameter from the mouth-piece towards the 

 lower end. The bass cornet was a serpentine tube, 

 four or five feet long, and increasing in diameter in 

 the same manner. 



CORNET, in military language, is the third officer 

 in a company, in Britain and the United States 

 of America. He bears the colours of the troop. 

 In the Prussian army, the name cornet is abolished. 



CORNU COPI^E ; horn of plenty. See Ache- 

 lous and Amalthea. 



CORNWALL, a maritime county of England, 

 forming the south-western extremity of Great Britain, 

 is surrounded by the sea, except on the eastern side. 

 Its superficial area has been found, by actual survey, 

 to contain 758,484 statute acres, or 1407 square miles. 

 It is divided into nine hundreds, and 206 parishes. 

 The general aspect of Cornwall is very dreary, a 

 ridge of bleak and rugged hills stretching through 

 its whole length. Comparatively little attention is 

 paid to agriculture in Cornwall, and most of its opera- 

 tions are still conducted in a very rude manner. Its 

 principal wealth is derived from its mines, of which, 

 according to an accurate map made in 1800, it ap- 

 pears that there were then forty-five of copper, 

 twenty-eight of tin, eighteen of copper and tin, two 

 of lead, one of lead and silver, one of copper and 

 silver, one of silver, one of copper and cobalt, one 

 of tin and cobalt, and one of antimony. Some 

 mines of manganese have been opened since that 

 time. Of the minerals of this county, which are 

 numerous, one of the most interesting is the soap 

 rock, particularly used in the manufacture of porce 

 lain. The china-stone, which is raised in great 

 quantities near St Austell, forms a principal ingredi- 

 ent in the Staffordshire potteries. A great variety 

 of fish frequent the coasts of this county : by far the 

 most important of these are the pilchards, in the 

 fishery of which a great capital is employed. Corn- 

 wall can boast of but few manufactures, except the 

 preparation of its metals. Antiquities, generally 

 supposed to be Druidical, abound. The Scilly is 

 lands lie about nine leagues W. by S. of the Land's 

 End, and are supposed to have been formerly con- 

 nected witli Cornwall. The intermediate and sur- 

 rounding rocks are innumerable. 



Under the Romans, Cornwall made a part of the 

 province called Britannia Prima ; and here, when 

 invaded by the Saxons, considerable numbers of the 

 Britons sought refuge, and maintained their indepen- 

 dence long after the other parts of England had been 

 subdued. Egbert, king of Wessex, in the beginning 

 of the ninth century, invaded Cornwall, when the 

 native inhabitants invited the Danes to their assist- 

 ance, and, though repeatedly defeated, they succeed- 

 ed in repelling the invaders. About 100 years later. 

 King Athelstan attacked the Cornish Britons, whom 

 he reduced to subjection, and their territory has since 

 formed an integral part of the realm of England 

 Among the various occurrences of which this coun- 

 ty has been the theatre, may be noted, the landing of 

 Perkin Warbeck, in 1497, and two formidable insur- 

 rections against the government of Henry VII. ; and 

 in Cornwall took place almost the latest efforts of the 

 royalists towards the close of the contest which prov- 

 ed fatal to Charles I. The difference of languagt 

 which long prevailed between the people of Cornwall 



