234 COR 
COR'TES, or CORTEZ, (Ferdinand), a Spaniffi ge¬ 
neral, famous under the emperor Charles V'. for the con- 
quefi: of Mexico. He palfed over to the Indies in 1504, 
continued fome time at St. Domingo, and then went to 
the ifle of Cuba. He fo diftinguifhed himfelf by his ex¬ 
ploits, that Velafquez, governor of Cuba, made him 
captain general of the army which he deftined for the 
difcoyery of new countries. Cortez failed from St. 
Jago November r8, 1518, Rationed his little army at the 
Havannah, and arrived the year after at Tabafco in 
Mexico. He beat the Indians, founded Vera-Cruz, re¬ 
duced the province of Tlafcala, and marched directly to 
Mexico, the capital of the empire. Montezuma, the 
emperor of the Mexicans, was conftrained to receive 
him, and thus became a prifoner in his own capital : 
and Cortez not only demanded immenfe monies of him, 
but obliged him to fubmit all his dominions to CharlesV. 
Meanwhile Velafquez, growing jealous of his fuc- 
cefs, refolved to traverfe the operations of Cortez, 
and with this view fent a fleet of tw-elve fhips againft 
him : but Cortez already diftrufted him ; and, having 
obtained new' fuccours from the Spaniards, made himfelf 
matter of all Mexico, and detained as prifoner Gnati- 
mofin, the fucceflor of Montezuma, and laft emperor of 
the Mexicans. This was accompliflied, Auguftrj, 1521. 
Charles V. rewarded thefe fervices with the valley of 
Guaxaca in Mexico, which Cortez erected into a mar- 
quifite: however, he afterwards returned to Spain, load¬ 
ed with riches mod cruelly acquired, and died there in 
1554, aged fixty-three. Many have written the hiftory 
of this “ Conqueft of Mexico,” and particularly Anto¬ 
nio de Solis, whofe work has been tranflated into many 
other languages belides the Englifli. 
COR'TEX,/! [from corium, a hide, and tego, to cover; 
as covering the (kin or inner rind of the tree. ] In botany, 
the outer bark of a vegetable, or the fecond integument 
within the epidermis; plated, lax, dry, hard, often in 
chinks. The name of many drugs which confitt of the 
bark of trees or roots. , 
COR'TEX CARYOPHYLI.OI'DES. See Laurus. 
COR'TEX PAPETA'RIUS, See Dialium. 
COR'TEX PERUVIA'NUS. Sec Cinchona. 
COR'TEX WINTERA'NUS. See Wintfria. 
CORTE'ZI (Paul), born in 1465, at San Geminiano, 
inTufcany. In early life he applied himfelf to the form¬ 
ing of his ftyle by reading the bed authors of antiquity, 
and particularly Cicero. He was not above twenty-three 
when he publifhed a Dialogue on the learned Men of 
Italy, This production, elegantly compofed, and ufeful 
to the hiftory of the literature of his time, remained in 
©bfeurity till 1734, when Alexander Politi had it printed 
at Florence, in quarto, with notes, and the life of the 
author. There is dill extant by this w r riter a Commen¬ 
tary on the four Books of Sentences, 1540, folio. He 
alfo wrote a trad on the Dignity of the Cardinals, full of 
erudition, variety, and elegance. P. Cortezi died bidiop 
of Urbino, in 1510, in the forty-fifth year of his age. His 
houfe was the afylum of the mules, and of all that cul¬ 
tivated their favour. 
COR'TICAL, adj. [cer/e.r, bark, Lat.] Barky; be¬ 
longing to the outer part ; belonging to the rind; out¬ 
ward.—Their laft extremities form a little gland (all 
thefe little glands together make the cortical part of the 
brain), terminating in two little veflels. Cheyne. 
COR'TICATED, adj. [from corticatus, Lat.] Re- 
fernbling the bark of a tree.—This animal is a kind of 
lizard, a quadruped corticated and depilous ; that is, with¬ 
out wool, fur, or hair. Broun. 
COR'TICOS, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Tra-los-Montes : three leagues eali of Mirandella. 
COR'TICOSE, adj. [from corticofus , Lat.] Full of 
bark. 
CORTICOU'SNESS, f. Fullnefs of, or likenefs to, 
bark. 
CORTISA'DAS, a town of Portugal, in the province 
«£ Eftramadyra: twenty miles north-eaft of Thomar. 
s 
COR 
CGR'TLANDT, a townftiip of the American States, 
in the northern part of the county of Weft Chefter, on 
the eaft bank of Hudfon river, New York, containing by 
the cenfus 1932 inhabitants. 
CORTO'NA, a town of Italy, in the duchy of Tuf- 
cany, the fee of a biftiop, futfragan of Florence, with a 
celebrated academy. It contains feven churches, built 
with tafte and adorned with beautiful paintings, and twelve 
convents of both fexes. The walls were conftructed of 
large blocks of done, without cement, many parts of 
which are in good prefervation : thirty miles fouth-eaft 
of Sienna. Lat. 43. 14. N. Ion. 29. 50. E. Ferro. 
CORTO'NA (Pietro da). See Beretini. 
CORTONE'SE (Pietro Palo). See Gobbo, 
CORTULA'RIUM, or Cortarium, f. in old law- 
records, a court or yard adjoining to a farm. 
CORTU'-SA, /. [fo named by Matthiolus, in honour 
of his friend Jacob Ant. Cortufus , profelfor of botany at 
Padua.] In botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria,’or¬ 
der inonogynin, natural order precis:. The generic cha- 
rafters are—Calyx : perianthium five-cleft, fpreading, 
very fmall, permanent; divifions lanceolate, three-tooth¬ 
ed. Corolla : one-petalled, wheel-fhaped ; tube fcarcely 
any ; border flat, five-parted, ample, divifions ovate, 
acute ; throat with an elevated ring. Stamina : filaments 
five, obtufe ; antherae two-plated, oblong, eretft, affixed 
to the outward part. Piftillum : germ ovate ; ftyle fili¬ 
form, longer than the corolla; ftigma almoft headed. 
Pericarpium: capfule oval, acuminate, half five-valved. 
Seeds: numerous, comprefled, cornered.— EJfential Cha¬ 
mber. Corolla wheel-ihaped, the throat having an ele¬ 
vated ring; capfule one-celled, oval, five-valved at 
the end. 
Species. 1. Cortufa Matthioli, or Matthiolus’s cortufa; 
calyxes fliorter than the corolla. This plant fends out 
many oblong fmooth leaves, a little indented on the 
edges, and forming a fort of head, like the auricula. The 
peduncles come out in the center of the leaves, rife about 
four inches high, and fupport an umbel of flowers, each 
on a (lender ihort pedicel; they are of a flefh colour, and 
fpread open like thofe of the auricula. Scapes eight or 
nine inches in height, ere< 5 t, round, fmooth at the top. 
Native of the Alps, Auftria, Silefia, and Siberia; flow'- 
ering in April and May. According to Allioni, it is 
biennial. Cultivated in 1596, by Gerarde. 
2. Cortufa Gmelini, or Gmelin’s cortufa: calyxes 
longer than the corolla. Very like the firft, but the 
flowers much (mailer, and the calyxes larger. The um¬ 
bel has about three flowers; the corolla is white, and 
the leaflets of the involucre are ovate. Seeds about 
twenty, lubovate, varioufly angled, rough-dotted, red- 
difh brown. This is a genuine fpecies of androface, and 
has nothing in common with cortufa, but the long pe¬ 
tioles of the leaves. Native of Siberia. 
Propagation and Culture. The(e plants are witli great 
difficulty kept in a garden. The only method to pre- 
ferve them, has been by planting them in pots, and 
placing them in a (hady (ituation, where they muft be 
duly watered in dry weather; in this place they may con- 
ftantly remain both Cummer and winter, for the cold 
will not deftroy them ; the earth for thefe plants (hould 
be light, and not too rich, for dung is very injurious to 
them. As they very rarely produce any feeds in Eng¬ 
land, the only method to propagate them is, by parting 
the roots in the fame manner as is praftifed for auriculas ; 
the bed time for this is about Michaelmas, foon after which 
the leaves decay. See Buchnera, Heuchera, Mitel- 
la, Thalia, Tiarella, and Verbascum. 
CORVE, f. A term ufed for a kind of cradle or 
balket, in which coals, ores. See. are drawn out of the 
mines. See the article Coal, vol. iv. p. 70 6. 
COR'VET, Courvet, or Corvetto,/! in horfe- 
manlhip, a leap made by a horfe in raifing firft his two 
fore-legs in the air, and making the two hinder feet fol¬ 
low with an equal cadency, fo that his haunches go dow n 
regular and even together. 
COR'VEYj 
