£66 
COT 
ma, and inHearnc’s Difcourfes; while others yet remain 
in manufcript in the Cotton library. But, without in¬ 
tending to derogate from the juft merits of this learned 
author, it may reafonably be queftioned, whether he lias 
not done more fervice to literature, by fecuring, as he 
did, his valuable library for the ufe'of pofterity, than by 
all Iris writings : and it is for this library that he is now' 
mod famous. It confifts wholly of manuforipts, many 
of which being in loofe Ikins, fmall trails, or very thin 
volumes, when they were purchafed, fir Robert caufed 
feveral of them to be bound up in one cover. They re¬ 
late chiefly to the hiftory and antiquities of Great Bri¬ 
tain and Ireland, though the ingenious colle&or refufed 
nothing that was curious or valuable in, any department 
of learning. He lived indeed at a time when he had 
great opportunities of making fuch a fine collection: 
when there were many valuable books yet remaining in 
private hands, which had been taken from the monaf- 
teries at their diflblution, and from our univerfities and 
colleges, at their vilitations : when feveral learned anti¬ 
quaries, inch as Joceline, Noel, Allen, Lambarde, 
Bowyer, Ellinge, Camden, and others, died, who had 
made it their chief bufinefs to fcrapc up the fcattered 
remains of our monaftical libraries : and, either by le¬ 
gacy or purchafe, he became poflefled of all he thought 
valuable in their ftudies. This library was placed in 
his own houfe at Weftminfter, near the houfe of com¬ 
mons ; and very much augmented by his fon fir Thomas 
Cotton, and his grandfon fir John, who died in 1702, 
aged 71. In 1700 an ait of parliament was made for 
tire better fecuring and preferving this library, in the 
name and family of the Cottons, for the benefit of the 
public ; that it might not be fold, or othenvife difpofed 
of and embezzled. Sir John, great grandfon of fir Ro¬ 
bert, having fold Cotton-houle to queen Anne, about 
1706, to be a repofitor.y for the royal as well as the Cot¬ 
tonian library, an ait was. made for the better fecuring 
of her majefty’s purchafe of that houfe ; and both houfe 
and library were fettled and veiled in truftees. The 
books were then removed into a more convenient room, 
and Cotton-houfe was fet apart for the ufe of the king’s 
library-keeper, who had there the royal and Cottonian 
libraries under his cafe. In 1712 the Cottonian library 
was removed to Effex-houfe in Effex-ftreet; and in 1730 
to a houfe in Little Dean’s-yard, Weftminfter, purchafed 
of lord Afhburnham by the king ; where a fire happen¬ 
ing October 23, 1731, one hundred and eleven books 
were burnt, and ninety-nine rendered imperfeft. It was 
thereupon removed to the Old Dormitory belonging to 
Weftminlter-fchool; and finally in 1753, to the Britilh 
JMufeum, where it now remains. 
It is almoft incredible how much we are indebted to 
this library, for what we know of our own country : wit- 
refs the works of fir H. Spelman, fir W. Dugdale, the 
Decent Scriptores, dean Gale, Burnet’s Hiftory of the 
Reformation, Strype’s Works, Rymer’s Fcedera, feveral 
pieces publiihed by Hearne, and every book almoft that 
hath appeared lince, relating to the hiftory and antiquities 
of Great Britain and Ireland. Nor was fir Robert Cot¬ 
ton lels communicative of his library and other collec¬ 
tions in his life-time. Speed’s Hiftory of England is 
faid to owe ntoft of its value and ornaments to it; and 
Camden acknowledges, that he received the coins in his 
Britannia from this collection. To Knolles, author of 
the Turkifh Hiftory, he communicated authentic let¬ 
ters of the mailers of the knights of Rhodes, and the 
difpatches of Edward Barton, ambaflador from queen 
Elizabeth to the Porte; to fir Walter Raleigh, books 
and materials for the fecond volume of his hiftory, never 
publiihed ; and the fame to fir F. Bacon, lord Verulam, 
for his Hiftory of Henry VII. The, famous Mr. Selden 
was highly indebted to the books and inftruClions of fir 
Robert Cotton, as he thankfully acknowledges in more 
places than one. In a word, this great and worthy man 
was the generous patron of all lovers of antiquities, 
1 
COT 
and his houfe and library were always open to ingenious 
and inquilitive perfons. He died of a fever, at his houfe 
in Weftminfter, May 6, 1631, aged fixty years three 
months and fitteen days. He married Elizabeth, one of 
the daughters and coheirs of William Brocas, of Thed- 
ingworth in the county of Leicefter, efquire, by whom 
he left one only fon, fir Thomas, the fecond baronet, 
who died 1662, and was fucceeded by fir John, the third, 
and he, 1702, by his fon John, who died in the life-time 
of his father, 1681, leaving two fons, of whom the 
elder, John, fucceeded his grandfather-, and died without 
ilfue, 1731. The title and part of the eftate went to his 
uncle Robert, by whole death, at the age of eighty, 
July 12, 1749, the title became extinCt. 
COT'TON (Charles), a gentleman of good family in 
Staftordfhire, who lived in the reigns of Charles and 
James II. He had a genius for poetry, and was parti¬ 
cularly famous for burlefque verfe. He tranflated one 
of Corneille’s tragedies, called Horace, printed in 1671. 
He publiihed a volume of poems on fevered occafions: 
T. he Wonders of the Peak in Derbylliire ; Scarronides, 
or Virgil traveftie; Lucian burlefqued, or the Scoffer 
fcoffea : a new edition of which was printed in 1751. 
But the chief of his productions is his tranflation of 
Montaigne’s Elfays. This was dedicated to George 
Saville, marquis of Halifax ; and Cotton foon after re¬ 
ceived a polite letter from that lord, which gives a high 
character of the tranflator and his performance. Cotton 
died fome time about the revolution; but in what year 
has never yet been afcertained. 
COT'TRE, or Cottrel, f. A trammel to hang or 
fet a pot over the fire. 
COT'TUS, a giant, fon of Ccelus and Terra, fabled 
to have had one hundred hands, and fifty heads. Hejiod. 
COT'TUS, f. the Bullhead ; in ichthyology, a ge¬ 
nus of fifties belonging to the order of thoracici. The 
generic character is, a large difproportioned head, broader 
and thicker than the body ; it is armed with prickles or 
tubercles, and rounded before ; the mouth is alfo large, 
and each jaw belet with teeth ; the eyes are at the top of 
the head, and have a nictating membrane ; the noftrils, 
which are hardly vifible, are double, and placed near the 
eyes. The coverings of the gills are large, and in fome 
fpecies ferrated ; the membrane of the gills, which is 
under the covering, contains from four to eight rays. 
The body has a rounded and lengthened form. It di- 
minilhes towards the tail, and in fome fpecies, inftead of 
fcales, it is covered with prickles, and in others with 
fhark fpines. Thefe fifti, one fpecies excepted, are in¬ 
habitants of the feas; they do not feem to have been 
known to the Greeks and Romans. In fome the colours 
are dull ; in others remarkably bright: fome of the fpe¬ 
cies, efpeciaily the grunniens , utter a faint cry or hilling 
when feized upon. 
1. Cottus fcorpius, the father-lafher, or fea fcorpien. 
The protrufion of the upper jaw, and the undivided rays 
of the peiloral fin, form the fpecific character : there are 
fix rays in the membrane of the gills, leventeen in the 
pettoral fin, three in the ventral, twelve in the anal, 
eighteen in the tail, ten in the firft dorfal, and fixteen in 
the fecond. The /harp-pointed worts or lumps, and the 
fpines and bones of the cheeks, give this fifti a polygonal 
form and a frightful afpeif: two of thefe fpines ftand 
before the eyes, and are moveable or loofe ; but there 
are three or four on each fide which are fixed. The 
aperture of the mouth is very large; the jaws, which 
are both moveable, are armed, as well as the palate, with 
many lharp teeth; the bones of the cheeks are very 
broad ; the tongue is (hort, thick, and hard ; at the roof 
of the mouth are too long rough bones like a file ; the 
noftrils are fingle, fmall, and placed near the eyes ; the 
eyes are at the top of the head ; they are large, lozenge- 
lliaped, with a black pupil, furrounded with yellowilh- 
white iris ; the bones of the orbits advance above, and 
form a furrow which reaches to the back ; the cheeks are 
flattened. 
