[Cort], an eminent Dutch engraver, went to Venice, lived with Titian; engraved some of his pictures; went to Rome and engraved Raphael's "Transfiguration"; executed over 150 plates, all displaying great accuracy and refinement (1536-1578).
[Cortes], the name given in Spain and Portugal to the National Assembly, consisting of nobles and representatives of the nation.
[Cortes], a Spanish soldier and conqueror of Mexico, born in Estremadura; went with Velasquez to Cuba; commanded the expedition to conquer Mexico, and by burning all his ships that conveyed his men, cut off all possibility of retreat; having conquered the tribes that he met on landing, he marched on to the capital, which, after a desperate struggle, he reduced, and laid waste and then swept the country, by all which he added to the wealth of Spain, but by his cruelty did dishonour to the chivalry of which Spain was once so proud (1485-1547).
[Cortona, Pietro da], an Italian painter, born at Cortona, in Tuscany, and eminent as an architect also; decorated many of the finest buildings in Rome (1596-1669).
[Coruña] (34), a fortified town on NW. of Spain, with a commodious harbour, where Sir John Moore fell in 1809 while defending the embarkation of his army against Soult, and where his tomb is.
[Corvée], obligation as at one time enforced in France to render certain services to Seigneurs, such as repairing of roads, abolished by the Contituent Assembly.
[Coryat, Thomas], an English traveller and wit, who, in his "Crudities," quaintly describes his travels through France and Italy (1577-1617).
[Corybantes], priests of [Cybele] (q. v.), whose religious rites were accompanied with wild dances and the clashing of cymbals.
[Corydon], a shepherd in Virgil, name for a lovesick swain.
[Coryphæus], originally the leader of the chorus in a Greek drama, now a leader in any dramatic company, or indeed in any art.