COR 



'235 



COR 



Corncills 



a 



Cornwall 



There is one department in which no comparison can 

 be stated, as it is unattempted by Corneille/but in which 

 : it seems hardly possible that Shakespeare should have 

 been surpassed. We allude to the invention of* preter- 

 natural agents, or what, in epic composition, has been 

 termed machinery. When Shakespeare wrote, the pub- 

 lic mind was in that state of juvenility, whicli delights 

 in ascribing to-fmiraculous powers those appearances 

 whicli its rude philosophy is unable to explain. This 

 popular predilection Shakespeare was obliged to indulge; 

 but he did so in a manner which, instead of debasing, 

 bestows additional interest and ornament on his produc- 

 tions. His fancy gives a new character to the ideal beings 

 of the vulgar mythology, and enriches it with others of 

 his own creation; nor do we think the ingenuity of Cor- 

 neille could have produced such a visionary offspring as 

 the fairies *nd the ghosts, or the Ariel and Caliban of 

 Shakespeare. From this comparison, we hope to escape 

 the charge of a childish nationality, if we conclude with 

 assigning the palm of genius to Shakespeare, and that 

 of art to Corneille; and with admiring the varied and ex- 

 tensive powers brought into action by the former, and 

 the scientific skill with which a smaller portion is dis- 

 ciplined and arrayed by the latter, (w) 



CORNET Stop, in Music, is the name of a com- 

 pound set of pipes on the organ ; in the use of which, 

 each finger-key acts upon and occasions five different 

 pipes to sound at the same time, viz. one which is tuned 

 unison m with the proper note of such finger-key, 

 (and with the same note of the diapason stop), ano- 

 ther is tuned a true Illrd above this, another a true 

 Vth another an VHIth, and the uppermost a true 

 X V 1 Jth above the lowest. This stop is usually, in church 

 organs, only a treble or half-stop ; that is, its lowest 

 note is the tenor-cliff C, or at most the bass-cliff F: 

 and from being most frequently used (with the diapason) 

 >n interludes between the verses, or in giving out the 

 psalms, in the English churches ; some organ concerto 

 players have also used it, and hence it is also called a 

 solo stop, as well as because it is not used in chorus or 

 the lull organ for want of a bass, unless that the Ses- 

 quialtera, another compound stop, or such organ, is 

 divided into two parts at C or F, so that the lower part 

 can be drawn along with the cornet, and its own upper 

 half omitted for the sake of variety. Dr Smith re- 

 marks, that the best tuning cannot wholly prevent these 

 very compound stops from battering the ears with 

 a constant rattling noise of beats. See Compound 

 Jbtops. (g) 



CORNICE. See Civil Architecture. 



CORNIDIA, a genus of plants of the class Octan- 

 dria, and order Trigynia. See Botany, p. 206. 



CORNU Ammonis. See Ammonites. 



CORNUCOPIA, a genus of plants of the class Tri- 



rrvu vi o™ Monogynia. See Botany, p. 102. 



LOttNUS, a genus of plants of the class Tetrandria, 



r™Sr?™ nogynia - See B otany, p. 124. 



CUKJNUTIA, a genus of plants of the class Didy- 

 Tn»S??f Angiospermia. See Botany, p. 254. 



iajkjn WALL, is the county which forms the south- 

 western extremity of Great Britain. The Land's-end 

 wnieh is its western termination, lies in latitude 50° 5' 

 north, and- in. longitude & 0' west. Its most south- 

 ern point is the Lizard, which lies in latitude 49° 57' 

 M north, and m longitude 5° 1 5' west. Tins county is 

 surrounded every where by the sea, except on its east- 

 ern side, where it is separated from Devonshire by the 

 river Tamar, and an artificial boundary of a few miles 

 in length at its northern extremity. On the south it is 



1 



washed by the British channel, and on the north by Cornwall. 

 the Bristol" channel, so that it forms nearly a complete T""""'' 

 island. Its form is nearly that of a cornucopias, and, 

 from its resemblance to a horn, it seems to have de- 

 rived its original name in the British language, cernyn, , 

 which signifies a horn or promontory. The north-east- 

 ern angle of the parish of Morvinstow, near the source 

 of the Tamar, to the east, and the Land's-end, in the 

 parish of Sennan, to the west, are the two most dis- 

 tant points of Cornwall : measured in this direction, in 

 a line nearly south-west and north-east, its length is 

 seventy-eight miles and a half. Its widest part, from 

 Morvinstow on the north, to the Ramhead on the south, 

 is rather more than forty-three miles ; but this width 

 rapidly contracts, and its medium width, between Pad- 

 stow on the north, and Fowey on the south, is about 

 eighteen miles : if measured from Mounts-bay on the 

 south, to Heyle river on the north, its width does not 

 exceed four miles. Its circumference is estimated at 

 210 miles; and, according to Martyn's map, which 

 was drawn from an actual survey, the whole area con- 

 tains 758,484 statute acres, or 1185 square miles. It 

 is divided into the following- hundreds : Shalton, eastj 

 west; Lesneeoth, Trigg, Pyder, Powder, Kirrier, and 

 Penwith. 



The climate of Cornwall is damp and uncertain: the climate., 

 winters are, in general, mild and open, and the sum- 

 mers cool and cloudy. For nearly three fourths of the 

 year, the wind blows from the intermediate points be- 

 tween the south and the west, and consequently sweep- 

 ing over a large tract of the Atlantic ocean, they bring 

 vast bodies of clouds, which being broken by the hills, 

 descend in frequent showers. It is observed, however, 

 that the rains are not near so violent in this county as 

 in many other parts of England ; and the moisture of 

 the climate is as much owing to the fogs as to the show- 

 ers that fall. The winds are often changing from one 

 quarter to another with great violence ; and this cir- 

 cumstance, though it increases the mutability of the 

 weather, prevents those stagnations of damp air which 

 are so prejudicial in some wet countries. On the north 

 side of the county, the north-west winds are extreme- 

 ly violent and desolating, but they are generally dry, 

 and bring fair weather. In consequence of the salt- 

 ness of the atmosphere, and the violence of the winds> 

 the most hardy trees are very stinted and unhealthy 

 in their appearance near the sea-shore : and the salt 

 spray of the sea is sometimes driven with such violence 

 as to destroy the crops of wheat and turnips. Most of 

 the trees and shrubs lean to the eastward, and have the 

 appearance of being clipped by the gardener's shears. 

 Notwithstanding the unfavourable nature of the cli- 

 mate of Cornwall, its southern latitude, and the pre- 

 valence of the south-west winds, give it such a degree 

 of mildness, that geraniums, myrtles, and other tender 

 shrubs, thrive uncommonly well in the open air. The 

 surface of this county is, with very few exceptions, 

 very unequal. The ridge of bare and rugged hills 

 which runs through its whole length, is however in- 

 tersected and broken by some picturesque and fertile 

 valleys. The highest hills are Carradon, Roughter, 

 Blown Willy, and Heresborough, but none of them 

 deserve the name of mountains. The height of Brown 

 Willy above the level of the sea at low water, according 

 to Major Mudge, is 1368 feet. 



The soils of Cornwall are of three descriptions : the g y o 

 black growan, or gravelly ; the shelfy, or slaty ; and 

 the loams. The first consists of a light mossy black 

 earth, intermixed with small pasticles of granite, caU- 



