CORREGIDOR CORSET. 



4:j9 



of St Catharine, at Naples. By the nearness of 

 these timorous animals, the idea of the innocence 

 and purity of the persons delineated is strongly 

 represented, and the stillness and repose of the scene 

 are forcibly impressed on the mind. Among his 

 best pictures, besides the Night, are, the St Je- 

 rome, which has kindled tlie admiration of se- 

 veral distinguished painters to such a degree as to 

 render them unjust towards Raphael; the 1 eni- 

 tent Magdalen; the altar-pieces of St Francis, St 

 George, and St Sebastian ; Christ in the Garden of 

 Olives (in Spain); Cupid (in Vienna); the fresco 

 painting in Parma ; and, above all, the paintings on 

 the ceiling of the cathedral, in the same city. He 

 died in 15.54. The story of his extreme poverty, and 

 of his death in consequence of it, has been long 

 since disproved, yet Oehlensehlager has made it the 

 subject of one of his best tragedies in German and 

 Danish. 



CORREGIDOR, in Spain and Portugal ; a ma- 

 gistrate ; a police ji'dge witli appellate jurisdiction. 



CORREZE; a French department, formed of a 

 part of what was the Lo '. er Limousin. See Depart- 

 ments. 



CORRIDOR (Italian and Spanish), in architec- 

 ture ; a gallery or long aisle leading to several cham- 

 bers at a distance from each other, sometimes wholly 

 enclose;!, sometimes open on one side. In fortifi- 

 cation, corridor signifies the same as covert way, 

 which see. 



COKRIENTES, LAS ; a town of Buenos Ayres, in 

 Santa Fe, at the union of the Parana and Paraguay, 

 440 miles north of Buenos Ayres ; Jon. 60 36^ W. ; 

 lat. 21 50' S. : population, about 4500. 



CORROSIVES (from corrodere, to eat away), in 

 surgery, are medicines which corrode whatever part 

 of the body they are applied to ; such are burnt alum, 

 white precipitate of mercury, white vitriol, red pre- 

 cipitate of mercury, butter of antimony, lapis infer- 

 nulis, &c. 



CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. See Mercury. 



CORRUPTION OF BLOOD. See Attainder. 



CORSAIRS (from the Italian corso, the act of 

 running, incursion) are pirates who cruise after and 

 capture merchant vessels. Commonly those pirates 

 only which sail from Algiers, Tunis, '1 ripoli, and the 

 ports of Morocco, are called corsairs. Those ships 

 which, in time of war, are licensed by European or 

 American governments to seize upon hostile ships, 

 are called privateers. Lord Byron's Corsair, it is 

 well known, derives its name from the character of 

 the hero. 



CORSET; an article of dress, especially intended 

 to preserve or display the beauties of the female 

 form. Its name appears to have been derived from 

 its peculiar action of tightening or compressing the 

 body, and may be compounded of the French words 

 corps and server. 



The influence of female charms, among civilized 

 people, has, in all ages, been extensive and benefi- 

 cial, and the sex have always regarded the possession 

 of beauty as their richest endowment, and thought 

 its acquisition to be cheaply made at any expense of 

 fortune To this cause may be attributed the origin 

 of the cosmetic arts, with their countless baneful and 

 innocent prescriptions, for restoring smoothness to 

 the skin, and reviving the delicate roses upon cheeks 

 too rudely visited by sickness or time. The preser- 

 vation or production of beauty of form, as even more 

 admired than mere regularity of features, or from be- 

 ing, apparently, more attainable by art, received an 

 early and ample share of attention, and has largely 

 exercised the ingenuity of the fair aspirants for love 

 and admiration. 



To prevent the form from too early showing the 



inroads of time ; to guard it from slight inelegances, 

 resulting from improper position, or the character of 

 exterior drapery ; to secure the beauteous propor, 

 tions of the bust from compression or displacement ; 

 and, at once, agreeably to display the general con- 

 tour of the figure, without impeding the gracefulness 

 of its motions, or tl.e gentle undulations caused by 

 natural respiration, fire the legitimate objects of the 

 corset. For this purpose, it should be composed of 

 the smoothest and most elastic materials, should be 

 accurately adapted to the Individual wearer, so that 

 no point may receive undue, pressure, and should 

 never be drawn so tight as to interfere with perfect- 

 ly free breathing, or with graceful attitudes and 

 movements. It is obvious that such corsets should 

 be entirely destitute of those barbarous innovations 

 of steel and whalebone, which, by causing disease, 

 have thrown them into disrepute, and which, under 

 no circumstances, can add to the value of the instru- 

 ment, when worn, by a well-formed individual. Such 

 hurtful appliances were first resorted to by the ugly, 

 deformed, or diseased, who, having no natural preten- 

 sions to figure, pleased themselves with the hope of 

 being able, by main strength, exerted upon steel- 

 ribbed, whaleboned and padded corsets, to squeeze 

 themselves into delicate proportions. If, however, 

 it be remembered that the use of corsets is to pre- 

 serve -and display a fine figure, not to make one, and 

 that they are to be secondary to a judicious course of 

 diet and exercise, it will be readily perceived that 

 such injurious agents are utterly uncalled for in their 

 composition. By selecting a material proportioned, 

 in its thickness and elasticity, to the size, age, &c., 

 of the wearer, and by a proper employment of quilt- 

 ing and wadding, they may be made of any proper 

 or allowable degree of stiffness. If it be then ac- 

 curately fitted to the shape of the individual, and 

 laced no tighter than to apply it comfortably, all the 

 advantages of tiie corset may be fully obtained. But 

 such, unfortunately, is not the course generally pur- 

 sued. Ladies purchase corsets of the most fashion- 

 able makers, and of the most fashionable patterns 

 and materials, regardless of the peculiarities of their 

 own figures, which may require a construction and 

 material of very different description. Hence it often 

 happens that females, naturally endowed with fine 

 forms, wear corsets designed for such as are dispro- 

 portionately thick or thin, and destroy the graceful 

 ease of their movements, by hedging themselves in 

 the steel and whalebone originally intended to re- 

 duce the superabundant corpulence of some luxuri- 

 ous dowager. As no two human figures are precisely 

 alike, it is absolutely requisite that the corset should 

 be suited with the minutest accuracy to the earer ; 

 and a naturally good figure cannot derive advantage 

 from any corset but one constructed and adi'i ltd in 

 the manner above indicated. Slight irregul; rities or 

 defects may be remedied or rendered incoii; picuous, 

 by judicious application of wadding, or by interpos. 

 ing an additional thickness of the cloth. But it 

 should be remembered that certain changes occur to 

 the female frame, after the cares of maternity have 

 commenced, which are absolutely unavoidable. 

 Among these, the general enlargement or filling up 

 of the figure is the most observable, but it is never 

 productive of inelegance, unless it take place very 

 disproportionately. The undue enlargement of the 

 bust fuid waist is most dreaded, and the attempt to 

 restrain their development by absolute force has led to 

 the most pernicious abuse of the corset. There is 

 no doubt but that a judiciously fitted corset, whose 

 object should be to support, and gently compress, 

 might, in such cases, be advantageously worn ; bu^ 

 at the same time, it must be thoroughly understood 

 that the corset can only be really beneficial when 



