•236 C O S 
dicioufly tacked to mo ft of the editions of the characters 
of Theophraftus. 5. The Life of the Grand Conde, 4to. 
and nmo. accurate enough, but cold. Cofte, as an edi¬ 
tor, was often tedioufly minute ; and, as an atithor, not 
above mediocrity; but he bcftowed great attention on 
whatever he did. He was an excellent corrector of the 
prefs ; and by that term we would imply a man who is 
thoroughly verfed in his own language, is well acquainted 
with the foreign tongues, and has a general knowledge of 
the fcien'c’es. 
COS'TER (Lawrence), an inhabitant of Harlem, died 
about- 1440, defcended from the ancient counts of Hol¬ 
land, by a natural child. His name is famous in the 
annals of printing, as the Dutch affirm him to be the in¬ 
ventor of that art, about the year 1430. However, this 
claim is far from being built on any folid foundation. It 
was not till one hundred and thirty years after the firft 
exercife of this art at Mayence, that the town of Harlem 
formed any pretence to the honour of this invention. 
But, to the known and certain faffs, to the (hiking and 
inconteftable proofs that certify 11s of its belonging to 
Mayence, the men of Harlem oppofe nothing but ob- 
fcure traditions, and not one typographical produftion 
that can in anyway {hew the merit of it to belong to 
Cofter. All that we can allow to Harlem, is the circum- 
ftanoe of being one of the firft towns that praftifed the 
art of cutting in wood, which led by degrees to the idea 
of printing a book, firft in wooden blocks engraved, then 
in moveable charaflers of wood, and laftly in fufile types. 
But it ftill remains to be proved that this idea was con¬ 
ceived and executed at Harlem ; whereas it is demon- 
ftrated that Guttemberg printed, firft at Strafburg, and 
afterwards at Mayence, in moveable charaflers of wood, 
and that the fufile types were invented at Mayence by 
Schceffert. The learned Meerman, counfellor and pen- 
fionary of Rotterdam, zealous for the honour of his coun¬ 
try, fupported the caufe of Harlem with ail the fagacity 
and all the erudition that could be exerted, in a work 
Entitled, Origines Typographicse, printed at the Hague 
in 1765, 2 vols. 4to. and it may be affirmed, that never 
was bad cattle better defended. 
COS'TERMONGER, J. [from cojlard, a fort of ap¬ 
ple.] A dealer in apples.—He ftudies falfe dice to cheat 
tojlermongers. Ovcrbury. 
COS'THA (Ben Luca), a Chriftian philofopher, na¬ 
tive of Baalbek, in Syria, who lived in the year 230 of 
the hegira, under the caliphate of Moftain Billah. He 
tranflated many Greek books into the Arabic tongue ; 
and, among others, that of the Sphaerics of Theodolius. 
He alfo compofed feveral original works, as well on the 
prafti'ce of phyfic, as on aftronomy and the mathematical 
fcienees, of which M. Cafiri has given the catalogue in 
his Biblioth. Arab, de l’Efcurial, tom. i. p. 420. Of his 
tranflations of the Greek writers, are feveral very in- 
tereffing ones in the public library at Leyden ; as, the 
Sphaerics of Theodolius, numb. 1165. (1031.) Autolycus 
rie ortu & occafu fidcrum, numb. 1164. (1031.) and the 
Barulcus of Hero Alexandrinus, numb. 1091. (51.) a 
work of which the original Greek is entirely loft. Coflha 
Ben Luca likewife tranflated the commentaries of Galen 
on the aphorifms of Hippocrates, as may be feen from 
the catalogue of the oriental manufcripts in the library 
of the Mcdicis at Florence, made by M. Affemani, page 
375, though this tranflation was not made from the original, 
but a Syriac tranflation of Honain Ben Ifaac. Another 
work that Collha tranflated into Arabic is mentioned by 
M. d’Herbelot, tom. ii. p. 399, under the title of Ke- 
tab al Fetahat al roumiah. 
COSTIGLIO'LA, a town of Piedmont, in the marqui- 
fate of Saluzzo : four miles and a half fouth of Saluzzo. 
COS'TIVE, adj. \_confipatus, Lat. conjtipe, Fr.] Bound 
in tire body ; having the excretions obftruifed.—When 
the pallage of the gall becomes obftracted, the body 
grows coftive, and the excrements of the belly white, 
Brown. 
COS 
While fjfter than his cejlive brain indites, 
Philo’s quick hand in flowing letters writes ; 
His cafe appears to me like honeft Teague’s, 
When he was run away with by his legs. Prior. 
Clofe ; impermeable.—Clay in dry feafons is cojlive, bar 
dening with the fun and wind, till unlocked by induf- 
try, fo as tj admit of the air and heavenly influences. 
Mortimer. 
COS'TI VENESS,yi The ftate of the body in which 
excretion is obftrucied.— Cojlivenefs difperfes malign pu¬ 
trid fumes out of the bowels and mefentery into all parts 
of the body, occafioning head-aches, fevers, lofs of appe¬ 
tite, and disturbance of concoition. Harvey. 
COST'LINESS,y. Sumptuoufnefs; expenfivenefs.— 
Though not with curious ccfilincfs, yet with cleanly fuffi- 
ciency, it entertained me. Sidney. 
COST'LY, adj. Sumptuous ; expenfive ; of a high 
price : 
Cojlly thy habit as thy purfe can buy, 
But not expreft in fancy ; rich, not gaudy 3 
For the apparel oft proclaims the man. S/iakefpeare. 
COST'MARY, f. [co-pt, Sax. kerba maria.'] The 
trivial name of a fpecies of tanfy. See Tanacetum. 
COS'TOW, or Costway, a river of England, which 
runs into the Derwent: two miles north of New Malton, 
in the eaft-riding of the county of York. 
COS'TREL, f. [fuppofed to be derived from cojler. 3 
A bottle. Skinner. 
COSTS, J. [ Expenja litis, Lat.] In the profecution 
and defence of attions at law, parties are neceffarily put 
to certain expences, or as they are commonly called 
cofs • Confiding of money paid to the king and govern¬ 
ment for fines and damp duties, to the officers of the 
court, and to the counfel and attornies for their fees. 
Thefe cods may be confidered either as between attorney 
and client, being what are payable in every cafe to the 
attorney, by his client, whether he ultimately fucceed 
or not; or as between party and party, being-thole only 
which are allowed in lome particular cafes, to the party 
fucceeding againlt his adverfary. As between party and 
party, they are interlocutory or final; the former are 
given on various interlocutory motions and proceedings 
in the courfe of the fuit : the latter (to which the term 
of cofts is mod generally applied, and the rules refpeft- 
ing which are of the mod: confequence) are not allowed 
till the conclufion of the fuit. 
No cofts were allowed to, or recoverable by the plain¬ 
tiff or defendant at common law, until the ffatute of 
Glouceffer, 6 Edw. I. c. 1. whereby it is provided, 
“ that the demandant may recover againlt the tenant the 
cofts of his writ purchafed ; (which, by a liberal inter¬ 
pretation of the court, has been conftrued to extend to 
the whole cofts of his fuit, 2 Inji. 288;) together with 
the damages given by that ffatute, and that this ait fhall 
hold place in all places where a man recovers damages.” 
This was the origin of cofts de incremento. Gilb. Eq. Iicp. 
195. And hence the plaintiff has, generally fpeaking, 
a right to cofts, in all cafes where he was entitled to 
damages, antecedent to, or by the provifions of, the fta- 
tute of Glouceffer; as in aflumpfit, covenant, debt on 
contrail, cafe, trefpafs, replevin, ejectment, &c. or 
where, by a fubfequent ffatute, double or treble damages 
are given, in a cafe where Tingle damages were before 
recoverable; as 2 Hen. IV. c. it . for fuing in the Ad¬ 
miralty court ; upon 8 Hen. VI. c. 9. for a forcible entry; 
2 & 3 Will. & Mary, fefT. 1. c. 3. for refeuing a diltrefs 
for rent. And he hath alfo a right to cofts in all cafes 
where a certain penalty is given by ffatute to the party 
grieved ; for otherwife the remedy might prove inade¬ 
quate. But the ffatute of Glouceffer did not extend to 
cafes where no damages were recoverable at common law, 
as in feirefacias, prohibition, &c. nor where double or 
treble damages were given by a fubfequent ffatute, in a, 
new cafe where Tingle damages were not before rccovera- 
