Corea is estimated at 640,000 men, and the navy at 200 vessels. The political organization is similar to that of China. The king unites in his person temporal and spiritual authority. The ministry is divided into 5 departments, and the country into 8 provinces, each of which is ruled by special governors, who, as in Japan, are responsible to the government. The capi tal, King-ki-tao, is situated on the Kiang river, in the centre of the kingdom, lat. 37° 40' N., and long. 127° 20′ E.-The ARCHIPELAGO OF COREA is a group of small islands in the Yellow sea, on the W. coast of the peninsula of Corea, extending from lat. 33° 29'42" N., long. 126° 56' 30" E., to lat. 36° 50' N. They are most numerous and thickly strewn between lat. 34° and 35°. The islands are chiefly of granite rock, some of them rising to the height of 2,000 feet above the sea. Some of them, however, are fertile, and the houses of the wealthy inhabitants are delightfully situated.

CORENTYN, or ČORANTYN, a river of South America, navigable by boats for a distance of 150 m. from the sea. It rises in Mount Acarai, and after forming the boundary line between British and Dutch Guiana, enters the Atlantic by an estuary about 25 m. wide at its mouth. Sir R. Schomburgk ascended the Corentyn in 1836 as far as lat. 4° 21' 30" N., long. 57° 36′ 30" W., where the river forms a series of cataracts 900 yards across.

CORFU (anc. Corcyra), the most northern and most important of the Ionian islands, separated from the coast of Albania by an irregular channel, lies between lat. 39° 21' and 39° 51' N., long. 19° 36' and 20° 8' E.; area, 227 sq. m.; pop. in 1856, 52,000. The island was supposed by the ancients to be identical with the Homeric Scheria, where were the gardens of Alcinous and the "aërial Phæacian summits." Its form is that of a curve; hence its ancient name Drepane, or the Sickle. Its length from N. W. to S. E. is about 40 m. Its breadth varies at different points; in the N. part of the island it is 20 m.; a little S. of this it is but 6 m.; in the vicinity of the city of Corfu it increases to 11; still further S. the island contracts in width to 3 m., and finally terminates in a high narrow cape. It has ever been celebrated for its fertility; and even in the most ancient times it abounded in luxurious groves of olive and cypress. The principal products of the island beside fruits are salt, honey, wine, and olive oil, the latter amounting in ordinary seasons to 190,000 barrels.-CORFU, the capital, pop. in 1856, 15,921, is the seat of government and of the legislative assembly, of a Greek archbishop, and a Catholic bishop. It consists of 3 parts, the citadel, the town, and the suburbs, possesses a good harbor, 2 strong castles, the palace of the lord high commissioner, an arsenal and barracks, several churches and charitable institutions, a gymnasium, and a university founded in 1823 by Lord Guildford, containing a botanical garden and a public library. The number of students attending the various pub

lic institutions amounted in 1853 to about 6,000, beside several private schools. The garrison in Corfu numbers about 2,000, and a large proportion of the 9,500 foreign residents of the Ionian islands reside there. An Ionian bank is established there, with branches at Cephalonia and Zante. According to the report of the lord high commissioner to the British government, dated July 18, 1857, the prosperity of Corfu is continually increasing. Mr. Gladstone arrived in Corfu, Nov. 24, 1858, on a special mission from England.-The earliest authentio fact which we can record in the history of Corcyra, is its colonization by the Corinthians, about 700 B. C. The fertility of the soil and the commercial advantages of the island at once stimulated the enterprise of its people, and soon made it one of the first maritime powers of Greece and the formidable rival of the mother city Corinth. Thus the friendly relations which generally subsisted between the Grecian cities and the colonies were early interrupted between Corinth and Corcyra. About the year 665 B. C. the Corcyrean fleet met and vanquished the naval force which the mother city had sent against it; and this battle is cited by Thucydides as the earliest naval engagement on record. In the Persian wars the Corcyreans, according to Herodotus, deserted the national cause, and subsequently by invoking the aid of Athens against Corinth they kindled the Peloponnesian war, in which for a time they acted a somewhat important part, but which finally stripped them of their influence and power. For the next 2 centuries their fortunes were various, and they often found themselves but the sport of other Grecian powers. Indeed, they scarcely regarded it as a misfortune when in 229 B. C. the island fell into the hands of the Romans. It was at the beginning of the 15th century conquered by the Vene tians, and afterward often but unsuccessfully attacked by the Turks. Corcyra, under its modern name Corfu, is now one of the 7 Ionian islands under the protection of Great Britain. The principal city of the island bore the same name, and was situated on the eastern coast, a little south of the modern town of Corfu, where a promontory is pointed out as the ancient Acropolis. Among its public buildings were the temples of Jupiter, Juno, Bacchus, and Alcinous, of which no traces now remain.

CORIANDER, the seeds of the coriandrum sativum, a plant growing wild in many parts of Europe, the fruit of which is imported to this country. The fresh plant when bruised has an extremely unpleasant odor, but when dried the smell and taste are agreeable. In medicine, it is used principally, combined with nauseous preparations, either to improve their taste or to mitigate their effects.

CORINTH, a city in the Morea, near the S. W. extremity of the isthmus of the same name, between the gulfs of Corinth and Ægina, 48 m. from Athens, lat. 37° 58′ 22′′ N., long. 23° 28' 29" E., celebrated in the ancient history of Greece, and one of the cities of modern Greece

antil Feb. 21, 1858, when it was destroyed by an earthquake. Mr. Bayard Taylor, who visited it soon afterward, found the greater part of the city in ruins, and deserted by most of its inhabitants, who had numbered about 4,000. The modern Corinth was the seat of an archbishop, and was noted for its flourishing trade in raisins and other articles.-The origin of Corinth dates far back, and is lost in mythical obscurity. An ancient tradition represents it to have been founded by Ephyra, daughter of Oceanus, whose name it bore till Corinthus, the reputed son of Zeus, having greatly improved and enlarged it, gave it his own name. The territory of Corinth, known as the Corinthia, extending around the city on every side, was of very limited extent. It was bounded N. by Megaris, E. by the Saronic gulf, S. by Argolis, and W. by Sicyonia. It was for the most part mountainous and barren; the rocky sides of the Geraneian range on the N., the sandy plain of the isthmus, and the rugged Oneian hills, offered no reward for the labors of the husbandman. The only truly good land in the territory was found in the plain on the N. W. of the city, extending along the coast in the direction of Sicyon; a plain so celebrated for its fertility, that to possess "what lies between Corinth and Sicyon" became in ancient Greece a proverbial expression for great wealth. The dense population of the Corinthia could not, of course, be supported from the productions of its soil; and accordingly, applying themselves to commercial pursuits, they early 'made Corinth one of the first maritime powers of Greece. Their merchant vessels carried commerce westward over the Ionian seas, and along the shores of the Mediterranean, while eastward they traversed the gaæan, and visited the Hellespont and the Pontus. The trade of the East and of the West met in the great emporium of Corinth. The most striking natural feature in the Corinthia was the Acrocorinthus, the Acropolis of Corinth. This is a rocky hill rising abruptly in its isolated grandeur to the height of 1,885 feet, and is the arx in immanem altitudinem edita of Livy. Col. Mure remarks of it, that "neither the Acropolis of Athens, nor the Larissa of Argos, nor any of the more celebrated mountain fortresses of western Europe, not even Gibraltar, can enter into the remotest competition with this gigantic citadel." On the N. side of this stood the ancient city, which was 5 miles in circumference, though its entire perimeter, enclosing the Acrocorinthus, was upward of 10 miles. It was situated some little distance inland from either coast, but had 2 excellent port towns, viz.: Lechoum on the gulf of Corinth, with which it was connected by means of "long walls," and Cenchrew on the Saronic gulf. Of the topography of the city as it existed in the flourishing periods of Grecian history, we are comparatively ignorant; though of the Roman city afterward built upon its ruins we have much fuller accounts. Ancient

Corinth, we are assured, was one of the finest cities in all Greece; it was adorned with the most sumptuous buildings; its public squares and temples, its theatres and porticoes, were famed in antiquity. For much of our knowledge of this interesting city we are indebted to Pausanias, who visited it in the 2d century of our era. In the port Lechæum, he specifies the temple of Neptune and a brazen statue of that god, and at Cenchres a temple of Venus and a stone statue. He describes the agora or forum as surrounded by temples and adorned with columns and statues. In this stood the statues of Bacchus and of Diana of the Ephesians; here too was the temple of Fortune, with its statue of Parian marble; here the temple dedicated to all the gods, adjoining which was a fountain surmounted by a brazen Neptune. Near by stood statues of Apollo Clarius and of Venus; also 2 of Mercury and 8 of Jupiter; while conspicuous among them all, in the very centre of the agora, stood a Minerva of bronze on a pedestal adorned with a beautiful bass-relief of the muses. Such was the agora. North of this was the Propylæa, surmounted by two gilded cars, the one bearing Phaeton, the other the sun. Beyond stood a brazen Hercules, near which was the celebrated fountain Pirene, so called from a nymph fabled to have dissolved in tears at the death of her daughter, who had been accidentally slain by Diana. This fountain, constructed of white marble, was celebrated for the salubrity of its waters, which issued from artificial caverns, and were collected in an open basin. This was so celebrated in antiquity, that Pindar characterizes Corinth as the "city of Pirene;" and the Delphic oracle, according to Herodotus, speaks of the Corinthians as "those who dwell around the beautiful Pirene." The ascent to the citadel was lined on either side with temples and altars, 9 of which are mentioned by Pausanias; while on the summit itself stood the famed temple of Venus, to which goddess the entire Acrocorinthus was especially conse crated. In the days of Corinthian luxury and opulence, this shrine is said to have been attended by 1,000 female slaves. On the street which led from the agora to Sicyon stood the temple of Apollo, some traces of which still remain in the N. W. outskirts of the modern town. Leake, in commenting upon these ruins, says: "The temple seems to have been a hexastyle about 75 feet in breadth. . . . . Its dimensions and its situation, which is one of the most beautiful and commanding in Greece, show that it was one of the chief, or rather the principal temple of the lower city..... The temple of Neptune was the chief building at the isthmus; that of Venus occupied the summit of the Acrocorinthus; the temple of Apollo, therefore, was probably the chief sacred building in the lower town of Corinth."The earliest rulers of Corinth are represented as Eolians, though a large proportion of the population were no doubt Ionians.

The re

puted founder of the ancient dynasty was Sisy phus, whose avarice and cunning have been interpreted as typifying the commercial enter prise and habits of a rude, unscrupulous maritime people. Under this dynasty the city is represented to have been very prosperous, and to have grown in wealth and power. For the first really historical fact in the annals of this ancient city, we are indebted to Thucydides, who tells us that the Dorian invaders, as they descended to the conquest of the Peloponnesus, took possession of the hill Solygia, near the Saronic gulf, from which they carried on war against the Eolian inhabitants of Corinth, till they reduced the city. Aletes, their leader, became the first Dorian king, and the founder of a dynasty, which, continuing through 12 generations, according to tradition, ruled upward of 300 years. During this period, Corinth, though thus ruled by Dorian kings, and regarded as a Dorian city, did not by any means conform to all the severe institutions of the Dorians; the commercial connections and importance of the city, the luxury and wealth which foreign trade introduced, exerted a powerful influence upon the fortunes of the state. In the year 747 B. C., the powerful Dorian family known as the Bacchiada succeeded in abolishing royalty, and in electing one of their own number as annual prytanis, or president. Thus was established an oligarchy which lasted till 657 B. C., when it was overthrown by Cypselus. Under the Bacchiads, we find Corinth at the very dawn of Grecian history already distinguished for commercial enterprise, wealth, and power; then she stood preeminent even among those cities which in the meridian ages of Grecian glory far surpassed her in greatness and power. It was under the Bacchiads that Syracuse and Corcyra were colonized by the Corinthians; it was probably under them also that the first navy of triremes, or war galleys, was launched upon the Grecian waters. Thucydides expressly assures us that the Corinthians were the first of the Greeks who made use of triremes or galleys with three banks of oars. Cypselus overthrew the Bacchiad dynasty by espousing the cause of the people against the nobles, and then made himself despot of the city, thus establishing a new dynasty, which for a period of 74 years ruled Corinth with great energy and skill. The sway of Cypselus was mild and popular; that of Periander, his son and successor, cruel and oppressive. But both these rulers unquestionably did much to advance the prosperity and power of the state. The numerous Corinthian colonies planted under their sway fully attest the growing strength of the city; and indeed, at no period in its long and eventful history was Corinth more respected, whether by friend or foe, than under their rule. Periander also patronized letters and art. He took delight in the company of the learned, and welcomed to his court the poet Arion and the philosopher Anacharsis. By some he was classed among the seven sages

of Greece. Psammetichus, the last of the despots of Corinth, was undoubtedly deposed by the Spartans, who were ever the avowed enemies of the Grecian despots. From this time Corinth became the firm ally of Sparta, and a prominent member of the Peloponnesian confederacy. Its government became a mild and moderate aristocracy, and long enjoyed the greatest internal tranquillity. Its relations to Athens were also entirely friendly, till the growing prosperity and power of the latter state subsequent to the Persian wars began to excite jealousy. Megara was long a subject of contention between them; and when at length Athens extended a helping hand to Corcyra against the mother city, Corinth, aroused to bitter hate, exerted all her influence to induce the Peloponnesian confederacy to declare war against her powerful enemy. Thus commenced the Peloponnesian war, throughout which Corinth acted an important part; at first, indeed, she furnished almost the entire Peloponnesian fleet. Her great object was to humble Athens; and so implacable was her hatred, that when the peace of Nicias was concluded in the year 421 B. C., she positively refused to ratify it; and when at length she saw the power of her great enemy broken in the disastrous defeat of Ægospotami, she urged the confederacy to raze the city to the ground. But Sparta, more magnanimous to her fallen rival and foe, would not consent that "one of the eyes of Greece" should be thus put out. But it was not long before the Spartans, rendered haughty by their victories, began in their turn to excite the jealousy of the other Grecian states; and the Corinthians were ready at once to unite with the Baotians, the Argives, and even their mortal enemies the Athenians, in a war against them. This contest, known in history as the Corinthian war, lasted from 394 to 387 B. C., when the infa mous peace of Antalcidas restored Corinth to the Lacedæmonian alliance, to which she remained faithful in the Theban war. In 346 Timophanes, attempting to establish tyranny, was killed by his brother Timoleon. After the battle of Charonea, the Macedonians took possession of the city, and stationed a strong garrison in the fortress of the Acrocorinthus; but after the defeat of Philip at Cynoscephala, 197 B. C., Corinth, now declared free by the Ro mans, was again united to the Achæan league, which it originally joined 143 B. C. At the head of the league, Corinth struck the last blow in defence of Greece, and then fell herself before the conquering legions of Rome, in the year 146 B. C. Mummius, the Roman consul, on entering the city as victor, put the men to death, and sold the women and children into slavery; he plundered the city of its precious treasures, and consigned it to the flames. From this time Corinth remained desolate for a century, when a colony was planted there by Julius Cæsar, which made it once more a prosperous and populous city. It was of course this Roman city which St. Paul visited a cen

tury later; but nothing in the entire history of Corinth will be pondered with deeper interest by the Christian, than the simple fact that the great apostle to the gentiles made it for almost two years his home, and that he here founded that important church to which he afterward addressed two epistles. Roman Corinth finally shared the fate of its predecessor, and fell before the devastating march of Alaric the Goth, In modern times, it was taken in 1458 by Mohammed II., transferred to the Venetians in 1687, and retaken by the Turks in 1715, who held it until 1823, when with the Greek revolution it passed into the possession of modern Greece. Corinth in the day of Grecian greatness was distinguished more for commerce and the arts than for war. Architecture was early cultivated; sculptors and artists were honored and rewarded. Corinth not only gave name to the most elaborate order of Grecian architecture, but also claimed the honor of having invented the art of painting. "One of the earliest works of Corinthian art, which retained its celebrity in later times, was the celebrated chest of Cypselus, made of cedar wood and adorned with figures. It was dedicated at Olympia, where it was seen by Pausanias, who has given a minute description of it. The Corinthian vases of terra cotta were among the finest in Greece; and such was their beauty, that all the cemeteries of the city were ransacked by the colonists of Julius Caesar, who sent them to Rome, where they fetched enormous prices." The Corinthians were not distinguished in the field of literature. Under Periander, indeed, letters enjoyed a brief period of favor, but were ever after left to languish in neglect.

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CORINTHIANS, EPISTLES TO THE, two canonical epistles of the New Testament, ascribed by the unanimous testimony of Christian antiquity to the apostle Paul, and addressed by him to the church which he had planted at Corinth, about A. D. 52. The first was written from Ephesus between A. D. 56 and 58. It was designed to rebuke party divisions, and consequent disorders which had arisen in the Corinthian church, and also to give decisive judgments on certain practices, in regard to which the Corinthian converts had been affected by the proverbial immorality of the place. "Every one of you," Paul wrote to them (i. 12), "saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." Critics have not been able to distinguish certainly the doctrines which characterized the respective followers of these 4 teachers, and from allusions in Clement's epistle, it appears that the parties were of short duration. Many suppose that the party of Apollos favored a Hellenico-philosophical tendency, and adopted Alexandrian forms of thought; that the followers of Peter encouraged the tendency, common in the early churches, to engraft upon Christianity the ritual and restrictions of Judaism; and that the Christine party sprang from a reaction against the authority of the later teachers

and in favor of the pure doctrine of Christ. In the first 4 chapters, the apostle condemns their assumption of wisdom, and disposition to glory in men, and urges them to unity on the foundation which is laid in Christ. In the remainder of the epistle, he censures the church for having tolerated immoralities, condemns lawsuits between Christians before heathen judges, and in answer to queries proposed to him by the Corinthians, gives various instructions concerning marriage and celibacy, the use of meat which had been offered to idols, the exercise of supernatural gifts, and the proprieties of public worship. The epistle closes with an elaborate exposition of the doctrine of the resurrection, and with general greetings. The second epistle has been much admired for its oratorical structure. The occasion of it seems to have been less special, at least less urgent; for he congratulates the disciples on the effect of his former censures, which had produced a godly sorrow, and a revival of proper discipline. The burden of the second epistle is to commend them for their steadfastness, to rejoice in the conviction that he had labored with them in all sincerity and with all zeal, and to apologize to them for what might appear to be a foolish pride. It vindicates the character and effects of the religion which he had proclaimed, and his own dignity and authority as an apostle, apparently with reference to anti-Pauline influences which were still operating in the church. This 2d letter was probably written from Philippi, and about one year after the sending of the first.

CORIOLANUS, the name of honor bestowed by the Roman people on the patrician Caius or Cneius Marcius, for the illustrious conquest of Corioli, a Volscian town. Young, brave, and arrogant, he was a leading member of the senate during the dissensions which followed soon after the establishment of the tribunes. Having been rejected as candidate for the consulship, he was so exasperated against the people, that during the great famine which then occurred, he proposed in the senate the retention of grain sent from Sicily until the plebeians should consent to sacrifice the new magistracy created for the defence of their rights (491 B. C.). Το revenge the people, and their own dignity so violently assailed, the tribunes summoned him before their comitia. He refused to appear; tumults and disputes followed, and finally a complaint was made against him by the tribunes in the senate, which referred the cause to the assembly of the people. The efforts of his colleagues to save him were all in vain, and he was condemned to perpetual exile. He left Rome, but made his way to Antium, the capital of the Volsci, took the command of their army, ravaged the Roman colonies, conquered the towns of the Latins, their allies, and compelled this people to join him. The attack was so sudden, the terror of his arms so great, that hardly any resistance was made by the Romans. He penetrated to Rome, and ravaged from his camp at the Cluilian dike the lands of the ple

beians, sparing those of his own order. The terrified plebs now entreated the senate to revoke the decree of banishment; the senators refused to compromise the dignity of Rome, but were finally compelled to yield. Five consular and other distinguished citizens carried the decree of recall into the camp of Coriolanus; but he demanded the restitution to the Volsci of all the lands formerly conquered from them, and the acceptance of this condition within 30 days. Before the expiration of this term the Romans, reduced to extremity, sent one embassy after another to the haughty exile. He refused to listen to the senators or to the priests, but could not resist the reproaches of his mother Veturia, and the tears of his wife Volumnia, who led an embassy of matrons. "Thou hast saved Rome," said he to his mother, "but lost thy son." He then returned with his army into the land of the Volsci, who, according to some historians, punished his defection with death; according to others, he was suffered to live quietly among them. The matrons of Rome, they say, mourned his death for a whole year, in a temple erected to Fortuna Muliebris, to commemorate their merits. The history of Coriolanus contains so many improbabilities that its authenticity has been seriously questioned by modern critics.

CORIOLI, an ancient town of Latium, in the land of the Volsci, from whom it was taken by the Romans in the early part of the 5th century B. C. It was for his valor and good conduct on this occasion that the Roman Caius Marcius received his surname of Coriolanus. When Coriolanus joined the Volsci against his countrymen, this city was retaken by the former. Under the Romans it soon fell into decay, and its exact site is now unknown.

CORK (Lat. cortex, bark), the soft elastic bark of a species of oak (quercus suber) which grows abundantly in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. When the tree is 15 years old the barking is commenced, and may be repeated every 8 or 10 years after ward, the crops improving both in quality and quantity at each operation. Trees thus barked will, it is said, live 150 years. The cork is removed from the trees in July and August. This is done by making incisions around the tree and longitudinally to the root, when the pieces are easily detached. These are then soaked in water, pressed under heavy weights, dried before a fire, and stacked or packed in bales for exportation. The cork-cutters divide the sheets of cork into narrow strips, and after cutting these of the proper length, round them into a cylindrical form, with a very sharp, thin-bladed knife. The French excel in this art. Spanish black is made from the burnt parings of cork. Cork and its uses were known among the ancients, but it does not appear to have been common until the 15th century, when glass bottles first came into general use. Cork is employed in various ways, but especially for stopping vessels containing liquids, and, on account of its buoyancy in water, in the construction of life-boats. Before the invention of the air belt

it was used in the manufacture of life-preserv ers or cork jackets. These consisted of two strips of strong canvas made to fit the body, which enclosed pieces of cork. This invention appears to be of very early date, as Plutarch in his life of Camillus refers to it.

CORK, a maritime co. of Ireland, province of Munster, bounded S. by St. George's channel; greatest length from E. to W. 110 m.; greatest breadth, 70 m.; area, 2,885 sq. m.; pop. in 1841, 773,398; in 1851, 563,158. The W. part of the county is hilly; the N. and E. are remarkably fertile, and a larger extent of land is arable than in any other county of Ireland. It is watered by the Lee, Blackwater, Bandon, and smaller streams, none of which are here navigable to any great distance. The coast is broken by fine bays and inlets, and there are several islands off it belonging to this county. Iron, copper, and coal mines, manganese, fullers' earth, brick clay, and limestone exist here. The iron mines are no longer worked, but those of copper are the richest in Ireland. Agriculture, except near the sea-coast and in the neighborhood of the great lines of communication, is carried on with little skill. The staples are potatoes, oats, wheat, and dairy produce. Fisheries are extensively prosecuted. The chief trade is in provisions, and almost the only manufactures are whiskey and porter. The county is divided for judicial purposes into the East and West ridings, and returns 2 members to parliament, beside 2 for Cork city, and one for each of the boroughs of Bandon, Kinsale, Mallow, and Youghal.-CORK, a city and river port of Ireland, capital of the above county and a county in itself, situated at the head of the estuary of the Lee, 138 m. S. W. from Dublin; pop. in 1841, 80,720; in 1851, 85,755. It is the 3d city of Ireland in impor tance and population, Dublin and Belfast alone ranking before it. On the land side it is encompassed by hills of no great height, and by suburbs, the squalid poverty of which contrasts painfully with its own cheerful, spacious, and well kept main streets. It is lighted with gas and well supplied with water. The central part occupies half of an island in the river, connected with the mainland by bridges, the whole num ber of which within the city limits is 9. The principal streets are on the S. side of the Lee, and both channels are lined with quays almost throughout the extent of the city. The most prominent public buildings are the court houses, gaols, house of correction, female penitentiary, convict depot, lunatic asylums, 2 infirmaries, bank of Ireland, savings bank, chamber of com merce, county club-house, custom house, and churches. Of the latter there are 7, including the cathedral, beside which the Roman Catholics have 3 chapels, the established church has 2 chapels of ease, and the dissenting sects have 10 places of worship. There are 4 monasteries and 2 nunneries, with a chapel attached to each. Near the city is a cemetery after the plan of Père la Chaise, and to the W. of this is a fine promenade 1 m. long, called the Mardyke. A