COB 
t lie paint prepared from cobalt: About the end of the 
fifteenth century, cobalt appeal’s to have been dug up in 
great quantity in the mines on the borders of Saxony and 
.Bohemia, di(covered not long before that period. As it 
was not known at firft to what ufe it could be applied, it 
v was thrown afide as a ufelefs mineral. The miners had 
aai averfion to it, not only becatife it gave them much 
rruitlefs labour, but becaui'e it often proved prejudicial 
to their health by the arfenical particles with which it is 
combined; for from it the greatett quantity of arfenic is 
obtained that is ufed all over Europe; and it appears that 
the mineralogical name cobalt then firft took its rife, which 
was about the beginning of the fixteenth century; and 
Mathefius and Agricola leem to have firft tiled it in their 
writings. Frifch derives it from the Bohemian word koiv, 
which lignifies metal; but the conjecture that it was formed 
from cobalus, which was the name of a fpirit that, accord¬ 
ing to the fuperftitious notions of the times, haunted 
mines, deftroyed the labours of the miners, and often 
gave them a great deal of trouble, is more probable; and 
there is reaion to think that the latter is borrowed from 
the Greek. It was even cuftomary to introduce into the 
church-fetvice a prayer, that God would prel'erve miners 
and their works from kobolts and ipirits. Kofler lays, 
that the Bohemian cobalt is not fo good as that of Mif- 
nia,.and that its colour is more like that of allies. We 
truft, however, that the qualities of foreign cobalt will 
foon be a matter of little importance to the Britifh artift, 
as a rich mine of this mineral has lately been difcovered 
near Penzance in Cornwall. See Chemistry, p. 269. 
COBA'YA, in zoology. §ee Cavia. 
COBB (Samuel), an ingenious poet, a man of tafte, 
wit, and learning, was matter of the grarnmar-fchool of 
Chrift’s hofpital, where he was himl'elf educated. He 
took the degree of matterbf arts in Trinity college, Cam¬ 
bridge. His principal works are, Obi'ervations upon Vir¬ 
gil, and a Collection of Poems, in 8vo. 1700 He aflifted 
Mr. Rowe in his tranflation of the Callipaedia, and Mr. 
Ozell in the tranflation of Boileau’s Lutrin. Died at Lon¬ 
don, 1713. 
COB'BE, a principal town in the kingdom of Dar-Fur, 
in the interior of Africa. 
COB'BE,/. in botany. See Rhus. 
COBBESCON'TE, or Copsecook, which, in the In¬ 
dian language, figthfies thedand where fturgeons are takew, 
is a river of North America, which rifes from ponds in 
the town of Winthrop, in the diftriCt of Maine; and falls 
into the Kennebeck, within three miles of Nahunkeag 
ifland, and fifteen from Moofe ifland. 
To COBBLE, v. a. [kobler, Dan.] To men^l any thing 
coarfely: ufed generally offhoes. To do or make any 
thing clumfily, or unhandily : 
Rejeft the r.aufeous praifes of the times; 
Give thy bale poets back their cobbled rhimes. Dryden. 
COB'BLE,/ [according to Ray, a north-country word 
for] pebble.—Their hands fhook fwords, their flings held 
cobbles round. Fairfax._ 
COB'BLER,/. A mender of old (hoes ; a clumfy work¬ 
man in general.—Truly, fir, in refpeCtof a fine workman, 
I am but a cobbler. Sbakefpeare. —In a kind of proverbial 
fenfe, any mean perfon : 
Think you the great prerogative to enjoy 
Of doing ill, by virtue of tliat race? 
As if what we efteern in cobblers bafe 
Would the high family pf Brutus grace. Dryden. 
COBBS, a town of United America, in the ftate of 
Virginia : twenty miles louth-weft of Richmond. 
COB'DEN (Edward), D. D. and chaplain in ordinary 
to George II. became early in life chaplain to bifhop Gib- 
fon, to whole patronage he was indebted for the follow¬ 
ing preferments, viz. the united rectories of St. Auftin 
and St. Faith in London, with that of ACton in Middle¬ 
sex, a prebend in Sr. Paul’s, another at Lincoln, and the 
COB 715 
archdeaconry of London, in which iaft he fucceeded Dr. 
Tyrwhit, in July 1742. His works Were collected by him- 
' fell, in 1757, under the title of Difcouries and Eflays, in 
profe and verfe, by Edward Cobden, D. D. archdeacon of 
London, and chaplain to king George II. above twenty- 
two years, in which time molt of thefe difcou>’fes were 
preached before him. Publifheri chiefly for the ufe of his 
parifhioners, one large quarto volume, divided in two 
parts. Of this volume two hundred and fifty copies only 
were printed, fifty of which were appropriated to a cha¬ 
ritable ufe. He died April 22, 1764, aged more than 
eighty years. 
CO'BEQUIT, or Colchester River, in North Ame¬ 
rica, rifes within twenty miles of Tatamogouche, on the 
north-eaft coaft of Nova Scotia; from whence it runs 
foutherly, then fouth-weft and weft into the Bafin of Mi¬ 
nas. At its mouth is a fnort bank, but there is a good 
channel on each fide, which vefl'els of fixty tons burden 
may pafs, and go forty miles up the river. Some fcat- 
tered fettlements are on its banks. 
CO'BER, a river of England, in the county of Corn¬ 
wall, which runs into the Englifn channel, a little below 
Hellion. 
COB'HAM, a pieafant and populous village in the 
county of Surrey, fituate on Bagfhot-heath, and on the 
liver Mole, over which are two very good bridges built 
within a few years at the expence of the county. In this 
parifh are two medicinal fprings, Cobham-w'eiis, and the 
Spa, which were formerly much reforted to; but have 
been fome time neglebled on account of Jefibp’s-wel!, 
which is in the vicinity. Thefe are all ranged among the 
weaker faline purging waters. The principal manufac¬ 
tory in this place is Raby’s iron and copper works. It 
has a fair on December nth, for horfes, cows, and other 
cattle. Cobham park, late lord Ligonier’s, is built 
in a Angular tafte, after the manner of an Italian villa. 
The principal rooms are richly ornamented ; the ceilings 
are gilt; and the offices below are contrived with great 
judgment. The river Mole pafleS by the fide of the gar¬ 
dens, and, being made here four or five times broader 
than it was naturally, has a happy efFedl, efpeeially as the 
banks are difpofed into a flope, with a broad grafs walk, 
planted on each fide with fweet fhrubs. At one end of 
this walk is a very elegant room, which is a delightful 
retreat in hot weather, it being fliaded with large elms 011 
the foutli fide, and having the water on the north and eatt. 
The houfe is fituated about half a mile from the road to 
Portlinouth, and is fo much hid by the trees near it, as 
not to be feen till you rife on the heath beyond Cobham. 
The beautiful gardens at Pain’s-hill, from their vicinity 
to Cobham, being divided from the village only by the 
river Mole, ought not to be omitted here. They are ex¬ 
tended in a femicircular form, between the winding river 
which def’cribes their outward boundary, and the park 
which fills up the cavity of the crefcent. The houfe, 
which was lately built, is an elegant villa, fituated on a 
pleafing eminence, which has a very fine and command¬ 
ing profpeft ; but is faid to be incommoded by its too 
near approximation to the Portfmouth turnpike-road. 
COB'HAM, a town of the American States in Virgi¬ 
nia, on the fouth bank of James river, oppofite Jamef- 
town: twenty miles north-weft of Suffolk, and nine fouth- 
weft of Williamfburg. 
COB'HAM, an ifland in the American feas, mentioned 
by captain Middleton, in the journal of his voyage for 
finding a north-eaft paflage. Its two extremities bear 
north by eaft, and eaft by north. Lat. 63. N. Ion. 3. 50. E. 
from Churchill, which he takes to be the Brook Cobham 
of'Fox. 
CO'BI, a defert part of Tartary, called by the Chinefe 
Chamo, bounded on the north by the country of the Kal- 
kas, on the eaft by the Moguls and Cliinele Tartary, on 
the fouth by China, and on the weft by Kalmuc Tartary. 
COBI'JAH, a fea-port town of South America, on the 
coaft of Chili, in the Pacific Ocean ■, with a good harbour 
for 
