Chapter Cornubia to Councils of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Cortejo, a cavalier servente, who as Byron says in Beppo—

Coach, servants, gondola, must go to call,
And carries fan and tippet, gloves and shawl.
Was it for this that no cortejo ere
I yet have chosen from the youth of Seville?
   —Byron: Don Juan, i. 148 (1819).

Cortina [a cauldron]. It stood on three feet. The tripod of the Pythoness was so called, because she sat in a kind of basin standing on three feet. When not in use, it was covered with a lid, and the basin then looked like a large metal ball.

Corvia or Corvina, a valuable stone, which will cause the possessor to be both rich and honoured. It is obtained thus: Take the eggs from a crow’s nest, and boil them hard, then replace them in the nest, and the mother will go in search of the stone, in order to revivify her eggs.—Mirror of Stones.

Corvino (Signior), a Venetian merchant, duped by Mosca into believing that he is Volpone’s heir.—Ben Jonson: Volpone, or the Fox (1605).

Coryat’s Crudities, a book of travels by Thomas Coryat, who called himself the “Odcombian Legstretcher.” He was the son of the rector of Odcombe (1577–1617). (See Coriat, p. 234.)

Corycian Cave (The), on mount Parnassus, s o called from the nymph Corycia. Sometimes the Muses are called Corycides .

The immortal Muse
To your calm habitations, to the cave
Corycian, or the Delphic mount will guide
His footsteps.
   —Akenside: Hymn to the Naiads.

Corycian Nymphs (The), the Muses, so ca lled from the cave of Corycia on Lycorea, one of the two chief summits of mount Parnassus, in Greece.

Corydon, a common name for a shepherd. It occurs in the Idylls of Theocritos; the Eclogues of Virgil; The Cantata, v., of Hughes, etc.

Corydon, the shepherd who languished for the fair Pastorella (canto 9). Sir Calidore, the successful rival, treated him most courteously, and when he married the fair shepherdess, gave Corydon both flocks and herds to mitigate his disappointment (canto II).—Spenser: Faërie Queene, vi. (1596).

Corydon, the shoemaker, a citizen.—Sir W. Scott: Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Coryphæus of German Literature (The), Göethe.

The Polish poet called upon…the great Coryphæus of German literature.—W. R. Morfell: Notes and Queries, April 27, 1878.

Corypheus , a model man or leader, from the Koruphaios or leader of the chorus in the Greek drama. Aristarchos is called The Corypheus of Grammarians.

I was in love with honour, and reflected with pleasure that I should pass for the Corypheus of all domestics.—Lesage: Gil Blas, iv. 7 (1724).

Cosme (St.), patron of surgeons, born in Arabia. He practised medicine in Cilicia with his brother St. Damien, and both suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in 303 or 310. Their fête day is December 27. In the twelfth century there was a medical society called Saint Cosme.

Cosmiel , the genius of the world. He gave to Theodidactus a boat of asbestos, in which he sailed to the sun and planets.—Kircher: Ecstatic Journey to Heaven.