COTTONWOOD-COUGHING. twopence or threepence per pound. The stems of a Himalayan species, E. cannabinum, called Bhabhur, yield a very strong fibre, and are much employed for making cordage, being simply twisted into cables, of which rope-bridges are usually made; but they are not durable, and require much repairing every year.-C. G. is said to be valuable for sheep-pasture. Its leaves were formerly employed as a remedy for diarrhoea, and the spongy pith of the stem to expel tape-worms. COʻTTONWOOD. See POPLAR and ASPEN. COTTUS, a genus of acanthopterygious fishes, of the Mailed Check family or Sclerogenida, having a large depressed head, more or less armed with spines or tubercles, a tapering body destitute of scales, and two dorsal fins. Some of the species are marine, others inhabit fresh water. Of the latter, the Bull-head (q. v.) is an example. The marine species are mostly found in northern seas. A few occur on the shores of Britain, of which the most common are the Sea Scorpion (C. scorpius) and the Father Lasher (C. bubalis), both of which are very often left by the receding tide in rock-pools, and amongst sea-weeds. The greatest size to which they attain on the British coasts is only about 10 inches, but in more northerly seas, they become much larger. They form a principal part of the food of the Greenlanders. Notwithstanding their large gill-openings, they live long out of water. COTU'RNIX. See QUAIL. It COUCH GRASS (Triticum repens), also called Wheat Grass, Dog Grass, Quickens, and Squitch or Quitch, a grass which, although of the same genus with wheat, is chiefly known to British farmers as a troublesome weed. is common in most parts of Europe and North America. It grows to a height of 14-3 feet, and has tworowed spikes and flat spikelets, the side of which is applied to the rachis. It is perennial, and its creeping roots render it extremely difficult of extirpation; they are carefully gathered out of land under cultivation, but they make the plant very useful in fixing loose sandy soils, so as to form pasture. It is not, however, esteemed a very nutritious grass. The roots are sweet and mucilaginous, and are collected at Naples for feeding horses; they have also been dried and ground into meal, to make bread in times of scarcity. A kind of beer is made from them, and in some countries COUCHING. See CATARACT. COUCY, RENAUD, CASTELLAN OF, Couch Grass. a court-poet belonging to the north of France, who flourished probably in the latter part of the 12th century. The love-songs ascribed to him are distinguished above all similar productions of the same epoch by the great warmth of passion displayed. They are addressed, of course, to a mistress, whose name, in accordance with the fashion of the time, is not mentioned. From their contents, we can gather little or nothing of the circumstances of C.'s life, except that he had become a crusader, and had separated himself very reluctantly from the object of his adoration. It is supposed that he accompanied Philippe Auguste and Richard Coeur de Lion to the Holy Land, probably in the service of Raoul Sieur de Coucy, with whom, indeed, he is often confounded. Like Tristan and Isolde, C. and his mistress soon became patterns of true but unfortunate lovers. As early as the first half of the 13th c., the Roman d'Aventure gives a very prolix and incredible account of both. The best edition of the Chansons du Châtelain de C. was edited by Franç. Michel (Paris, 1830). COTYLEDON (Gr. the name of a plant) or SEED-LOBE, in Botany, a principal part of the embryo in phanerogamous or flowering-plants. Cryptogamous plants are Acotyledonous (q. v.); their seeds or spores have no cotyledons. Phanerogamous plants are divided according to their seeds into Monocotyledonous (q. v.), having only one C., and Dicotyledonous (q. v.), having two cotyledons. With the latter are ranked some Conifera remarkable for having more than two cotyledons, which form a sort of whorl. The cotyledons enclose the plumule or gemmule; and in germination they usually come above ground as the first leaves (seed-leaves) of the young plant the plumule in dicotyledonous plants, appearing between them--and they become at the same time more leaf-like; but in some plants, which have thick fleshy cotyledons, they remain underground. In either case, they contain a store of nourishment, by which the young plant is sustained on its first germination. Instances of cotyledons remaining under ground, may be seen in the common pea and bean; and instances of cotyledons coming above ground, in the kidney-bean and scarlet-runner, plants of the same natural order. Cotyledons are sometimes very thick, sometimes very thin and delicate; those of the same seed are generally equal, but not COUGHING, considered physiologically, conalways so; they are frequently undivided, but some-sists, 1st, in a long inspiration which fills the lungs times cut and lobed. The cotyledons of dicotyle- to a greater extent than usual; 2d, in the closure donous plants are often simply applied face to of the glottis, or narrow opening in the organ of face; when if the radicle is folded along their edges, they are said to be accumbent; if it is folded on their back, they are incumbent. Sometimes the two cotyledons of a seed are conduplicate, or laterally folded; sometimes they are reclinate, or folded from apex to base; sometimes convolute, or laterally rolled up; sometimes circinate, or spirally rolled up with the apex innermost. These terms are of importance in descriptive botany, as characters of high value are often furnished by the seed. COU'CHANT. In Heraldry, a beast lying down, with his head up, is couchant. If the head is Couchant. lown, he is DORMANT. COUGAR. See PUMA. C. may voice (see LARYNX), at the commencement of the COULOMB-COUNCIL. the lining membrane of the air-passages is abnor- Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum); and the Faam or mally irritable. It is not very easy to explain to the non-professional reader how cough is produced. From the medulla oblongata, or uppermost part of the spinal cord (lying within the cavity of the cranium), there is given off a very important nerve called, from its distribution to the lungs and stomach, the pneumogastric nerve (q. v.), which contains both sensory and motor filaments. The sensory filaments are distributed to the mucous lining of the larynx, trachea, &c. Any of the irritating substances already mentioned may produce an impression upon these sensory filaments which, being conveyed to the medulla oblongata, gives rise, through the motor filaments, to the transmission of motor impulses to the various muscles which are concerned in the act of coughing. Other motor nerves, especially those supplying the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm, co-operate powerfully with the motor filaments of the pneumogastric. The object of C. in the animal economy is unquestionably to guard against the danger of the entrance of mechanical and chemical irritants into the air-passages; and accordingly the mucous membrane, especially of their upper part, is endowed with a most exquisite sensibility which, when aroused by irritation or by a state of disease, provokes incessant coughing until the irritation be allayed or removed. Cough is an exceedingly common symptom of all diseases of the respiration. See PNEUMONIA, CONSUMPTION, BRONCHITIS, CATARRH, &c. Cough occurs amongst the lower animals under similar conditions. From continued breathing of a close foul atmosphere, the bronchial mucous membrane becomes unduly irritable, hence the prevalence of chronic cough amongst the cows in our overcrowded town-dairies. Chronic cough also occurs in horses, usually as a sequel to repeated attacks of bronchitis. It constitutes unsoundness, is best treated by repeated doses of belladonna and camphor, but often requires for its entire removal a run at grass. COULOMB, CHARLES AUGUSTIN DE, known by his experiments on friction, and his invention of an instrument the Torsion Balance (q. v.)-to measure the force of magnetic and electrical attraction, was born at Angoulême in 1736, and in early life entered the engineers. In 1777, he gained a prize by an essay on the construction of magnetic needles (Sur les Aiguilles Aimantées). In 1779, his Théorie des Machines simples gained the prize offered by the Academy; and in 1781, he was a third time successful in an essay on the friction and resistance of cordage, &c., used in machines. In the same year he was elected as member of the Academy, and his services were employed on all the most difficult problems in mechanics. Having offended certain influential persons by reporting unfavourably on their project of a navigable canal in Bretagne, C. was for some time imprisoned, but received from the States of Bretagne a present of a seconds' watch, as a reward of his firm opposition to an expensive and unprofitable scheme. C. lived in retirement during the Revolution; became a member of the Institute, 1304; and died August 23, 1806. COULTER. See PLOUGH. COUMARIN, or TONKA STEARO'PTEN (see STEAROPTEN), is a camphor-like substance of a very agreeable smell, which gives their fragrance to the well-known Tonka Bean (q. v.), (Dipterix odorata), so much used for, flavouring snuff; the Woodruff (Asperula odorata); the Melilot (Melilotus officinalis); a number of grasses, as the sweet-scented Vernal Faham leaves (Angræcum fragrans), much prized among the Asiatics for their vanilla-like scent; aud is probably the cause of similar fragrance in many other plants. C. may be procured from Tonka beans by digestion in ether. It crystallises in small prisms, is colourless, has the smell of the bean, and is scarcely soluble in cold water, but dissolves pretty easily in boiling water. A beverage well known in Germany as May Drink, and made of wine and woodruff, derives its flavour from coumarin. In COUNCIL, or SYNOD, is an assembly of ecclesiastical dignitaries held for the purpose of regulating the doctrine or discipline of the church. As early as the 2d c., church councils were convened in which only one or two provinces took part, the bishops and presbyters binding themselves to carry out the decisions arrived at in their own communities. These assemblies were commonly held in the chief town or metropolis of the province, and the bishops of such capitals-who, after the 3d c., bore the title of metropolitan-were wont to preside over the meetings, which possessed no other legislative power than flowed from the mutual agreement of the members. Over these provincial councils were established, at a later period, the diocesan synods, exercising authority over several united provinces, and finally, the national councils. After the 4th c., when the Christian religion was established in the Roman empire, we read of oecumenical, i. e., universal councils, so called because all the bishops of Christendom were invited or summoned by the emperor. earlier times, all Christian teachers, presbyters, and others, were invited to take part in the councils, but after the opening of the 4th c., only the bishops were convened. According to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the pope alone, or, by way of excep tion, in some cases the college of cardinals had the power of convening œcumenical councils, which were supposed to represent the universal church under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Questions were determined by the majority of votes, and the pope or his proxy presided and confirmed the resolutions carried in the synod. In matters of faith, councils professed to be guided by the Holy Scriptures and the traditions of the church; while in lighter matters, human reason and expediency were consulted. In the former, cecumenical councils are held to be infallible, and hence it is maintained that all such syno.ls have agreed together; but in other matters of discipline, &c., the latest synod decides questions. The question of the pope's subordination to the decrees of the cecumenical councils was long and warmly debated. Twenty cecumenical councils are recognized in the Roman Catholic Church-nine eastern and eleven western. 1. The synod of apostles in Jerusalem, wherein the relation of the Christian doctrine to the Mosaic law was determined. (See Acts, c. xv.) 2. The first C. of Nice, held 325 A. D., to assert the Catholic doctrine respecting the Son of God in opposition to the opinions of Arius. 3. The first C. of Constantinople, convoked under the Emperor Theodosius the Great (381 A. D.), to determine the Catholic doctrine regarding the Holy Ghost. 4. The first C. of Ephesus, convened under Theodosius the Younger (431 A. D.), to condemn the Nestorian heresy. 5. The C. of Chalcedon, under the Emperor Marcian (451 A. D.), which asserted the doctrine of the union of the divine with the human nature in Christ, and condemned the heresies of Eutyches and the Monophysites. 6. The second C. of Constantinople. under Justinian (553 A. D.), which condemned the doctrines of Origen, Arius, Macedonius, and others. 7. The third C. of Constantinople, convoked under the Emperor Constantine V., Pogonatus (681 A.D.) COUNCIL-COUNT. for the condemnation of the Monothelite heresy. 8. The second C. of Nice, held in the reign of the Empress Irene and her son Constantine (787 A. D.), to establish the worship of images. Against this C., Charlemagne convened a counter synod at Frank fort (794 a. D.). 9. The fourth C. of Constantinople, under Basilius and Adrian (869 A. D.), the principal business of which was the deposition of Photius, who had intruded himself into the see of Constantinople, and the restoration of Ignatius, who had leen unjustly expelled. 10. The first Lateran C., held in Rome under the Emperor Henry V., and convoked by the pope, Calixtus II. (1123 A. D.), to settle the dispute on investiture (q. v.). 11. The second Lateran C., under the Emperor Conrad III. and Pope Innocent II. (1139 A. D.), condemned the errors of Arnold of Brescia and others. 12. The third Lateran C., convened by Pope Alexander III. (1179 A. D.), in the reign of Frederick I. of Germany, condemned the errors and impieties' of the Waldences and Albigenses. 13. The fourth Lateran C., held under Innocent III. (1215 A. D.), among other matters asserted and confirmed the dogma of transubstantiation and necessity for the reformation of abuses and the extirpation of heresy. 14. The first œcumenical synod of Lyon, held during the pontificate of Innocent IV. (1245 A. D.), had for its object the promotion of the Crusades, the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline, &c. 15. The second œcumenical synod of Lyon, was held during the pontificate of Gregory X. (1274 A. D.). Its principal object was the re-union of the Greek and Latin churches. 16. The Synod of Vienne in Gaul, under Clemens V. (1311 A. D.), was convoked to suppress the Knights Templars, &c. 17. The C. of Constance was convoked at the request of the Emperor Sigismund, 1414 A. D., and sat for 4 years. It asserted the authority of an oecumenical C. over the pope, and condemned the doctrines of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. 18. The C. of Basel was convoked by Pope Martin V., 1430 a. D. It sat for nearly 10 years, and purposed to introduce a reformation in the discipline, and even the constitution of the Roman Catholic Church. All acts passed in this C., after it had been formally dissolved by the pope, are regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as null and void. 19. The celebrated C. of Trent, held 1545-1563 A. D. It was opened by Paul III., and brought to a close under the pontificate of Paul IV. A detailed account of the more important of these oecumenical councils is given under the separate heads, Nice, Basel, Constance, Trent, etc. 20. The C. of the Vatican, 1869–70. Among the provincial or local synods convened after the division of the church into east and west, we may mention that of Clermont (1096 A. D.), when the first crusade was proposed, and that of Pisa (1409 A. D.) when three popes were contending for the see of Rome. Among Protestants no general C. has ever been convened, but several particular synods have decided various questions. Of these synods one of the more remarkable was that of Dort in 1618, when Calvin's creed was asserted against the Ar minians. The decrees of the councils of the Roman Catholic Church were edited by Mansi (31 vols., Florence and Venice, 1759-1798). COUNCIL, PRIVY. See PRIVY COUNCIL COUNCIL, TOWN. See ToWN COUNCIL. COUNCIL OF WAR is a conference of officers, in military or naval warfare, on some matter in which the commander wishes to fortify his judgment by an appeal to that of others. The French make a special provision for a Council of Defence in a garrison. The governor or commandant may summon the heads of departments to meet him in consultation whenever he may think such a step desirable; and the opinions expressed at such meetings are placed upon record. The commandant of a garrison generally solicits the opinion cf a C. of W. before surrendering to besiegers. The English military code leaves these matters to the discretion of the commander. In the navy, a C. of W. consists usually of flag-officers only; but officers of lower rank occasionally assist. COUNSEL. See ADVOCATE and BARRISTER. COUNT (Fr. comte; Lat. comes). In classical writers, down to the end of the 4th c., the meanings attached to the word comes were comparatively few and simple. At first it signified merely an attendant, and differed from socius chiefly in expressing a less intimate and equal relation to the person accompanied. Suetonius uses it for an attendant on a magistrate. A little later, in Horace's time, it was applied to those young men of family whom it had become customary to send out as pupils under the eye of the governor of a province, or the commander of an army. Very soon the fashion of having similar attendants at home was introduced, and Horace speaks of this necessity as one of the miseries of a high position. The emperor, of course, had many comites in this sense; and to these, as he gradually became the centre of power, he transferred the various offices of his household, and even of the state. Around his person these comites formed a sort of council of state, very much resembling that instituted by the first Napoleon. The example of the emperors of the west was followed by the emperors of the east, though at Byzantium the title attached less to the office than to the individual. Most of the titles of our own court officials are translations of those belonging to similar officers in the lower empire. The comes sacrarum largitionum was the grand almoner; the comes curia, the grand-master of ceremonies; the comes vestiarius, the grand-master of the wardrobe; comes equorum regiorum, the grand equerry, &c. The comes marcarum, or count of the marches, there can be little doubt, was the original of the marquis of later times. In France, the C. of the palace (comes palatii nostri) was the highest dignitary in the state after the maire of the palace; and in the 11th c. he had already acquired a rank apart from that of the other counts. He presided in the court of the sovereign in his absence, and possessed sovereign jurisdiction. The habit of instituting counts-palatine was adopted by Spain and England. Those counts, again, who, at a later period, as rulers of provinces, assumed something approaching to sovereign power, arrogated to themselves the right of appointing counts-palatine under them-e. g., the Counts of Chartres, of Champagne, of Blois, Toulouse, &c.; and the ancient houses of Chartres and of Blois continued to claim in perpetuity the title of C.-palatine as that of their eldest sons. Counts of this sovereign class owed their origin to the feebleness of the later Carlovingian kings, under whom they contrived gradually to convert the provinces and towns which they had governed as royal officers into principalities hereditary in their families. It was then that the counts came to be known by the names of their counties. Since the great revolution, the title of C. in France has been purely honorary, and has been used with a licence which has almost deprived it even of that character. The title was never used in England, though its Latin equivalent has always been the common translation for Earl (q. v.), and the wife of an earl, from a very early period, has been styled countess. For the history of the office in Germany, where it was of great importance, see GRAF. COUNT AND RECKONING-COUNTERPOINT. COUNT AND RECKONING, the technical name given in the law of Scotland to a form of process, by which one party compels another to account judicially, and to pay the balance which may be found to be due. In these actions a remit is usually made to an accountant. COUNTER APPROACH, in Military Engineering, is a trench or passage, cut by the defenders of a fortified post from some of the outworks towards the besiegers, and leading to a battery in a small work. Its object is to enable the defenders to foil the approaches of the besiegers, by carrying the fight further away from the body of the place; and enabling the besieged to enfilade the besiegers' batteries and approaches. COUNTER-CHANGED, or CO'NTERCHANGED, in Heraldry. When several metals and colours are intermixed, one being set against he other, they are said to be counter-changed. COUNTERFEIT. See COINING. COUNTERFORT, in Fortification, is a mass of stone or brickwork added to the revetment of a rampart, in such a way as to form a buttress for resisting the pressure of the mass of earth. Counterforts occur at intervals of about 20 feet, and assist in preventing the earth from pushing down the revetment-wall into the ditch. COUNTER-GUARD, is an outwork designed to defend the two faces of a bastion or ravelin from a direct fire, so as to retard a breach being made. The C. consists of two lines of rampart parallel to the faces of the bastion or ravelin, and separated from them by a narrow ditch. The crest of the C. must be some three feet lower than that of the works it covers, in order not to obstruct the defence. Lest the enemy should establish a battery on the C., the terre-plein, or flat space behind its parapet, is made very narrow. COUNTER-IRRITANTS, agents applied to the skin so as to redden (rubefacients), to vesicate (blisters or vesicatories), or to produce pustules, purulent issues, or even sloughs of skin and of the subcutaneous textures. The milder C. are mustard (see CATAPLASM), turpentine applied on warm cloths, and spirit or acetic acid in lotion. The stronger are blisters of cantharides (q. v.) or of ammonia; croton-oil (q. v.) or tartar emetic (q. v.), in ointment; setons, caustic or pea-issues, and the moxa; and above all, the actual cautery (q. v.) or hot iron. None of the stronger C. should be used without careful consideration and medical advice; great mischief is often done by their careless or improper use. C. relieve internal pain, and tend to promote the absorption of morbid effusions. Amongst horses, C. are much used for strains and diseases of the joints, but should never be applied, as they too often are, in recent cases, or whilst the part is hot or inflamed. Cantharidine preparations, or ointment of biniodide of mercury, are the most convenient. For cows, use hot fomentations, fol lowed by the smart infriction of mustard-paste; for dogs, soap-liniment, strengthened, if required, by ammonia or turpentine. COUNTERMARCHING. See MARCHING. COUNTERMINE, in Military Engineering, is a gallery or chamber excavated under the glacis or some other part of a defence-work of a fortress. Its purpose is to foil a besieger. In a fortress on a large scale, there are envelope galleries, counterscarp galleries, listening galleries, galleries of com various parts of the outworks, all for the purpose of munication, and other subterranean passages, under assisting the defenders in discovering and frustrating plans laid by the besiegers. Listening galleries are sometimes pushed forward even to the foot of the glacis. In such places, selected men put their ear to the ground, and listen for the approach of the enemy, as denoted by the sound of tools used in driving a mine or gallery of attack. The sound of a pickaxe so employed can be heard through the ground at a distance of 60 feet. As there are no openings above, these galleries cannot be driven beyond a certain distance, as the sappers would be stifled for want of air. If a mine be driven to blow up the defence-works, a C. is driven to blow up the besiegers; and sometimes the two parties carry their works so far as to meet in the subterranean wall of earth left between them, they will fire pistols and there fight. If there be only a thin passages, through bored holes, or drive in cartridges or smokeballs. This terrible work is mostly carried on by sappers and miners. COUNTER-PASSANT, in Heraldry, when two beasts are passing each other the contrary way. COUNTERPOINT, in Music, means the setting of a harmony of one or more parts to a melody In the early age of the science, notation was represented by mere points on the lines. The setting of parts to a melody already represented by a row of dots or points was therefore called punctum contrapunctum. in this respect C. is nothing else but the uniting of various harmonious parts. In a more circumscribed sense, it is the art or manner of accompanying a given melody with other parts. Simple C. is a musical combination where the melody of the parts is not mixed or changed, and may be either all in notes of the same length or of different lengths, as for example: If the parts be constructed in regard to one another so that they can be changed, or transposed over or under each other, without alteration in the movement, or injury to the harmony, it is then called double C., for example: As double C. consists of the changing or trans- follows that there must be as many different posing of one part over or under another, it kinds of it as there are different intervals in the COUNTER-PROOF-COUNTY COURTS. scale. We have, therefore, double C. of the as it is more free in movement, and easier to octave as above, of the twelfth, tenth, ninth, &c. recognise. The following admits of different transThat of the octave is, however, the most useful, positions: The first indication of contrapuntal writing is to be found in the 12th c. by Adam de la Hale, who received a genuine artistic education in the Netherlands, but was far in advance of his time, for his style of music was forbidden to be performed in the church by a bull of the pope, who gave Palestrina an order to replace it with a more simple music. The best masters for C. have been Kirnberger and Albrechtsberger in former times, and in modern times, Schneider, Hauptmann, and Dehn. COUNTER-PROOF. An impression which is obtained from a freshly-printed proof of an engraving, by laying it, before the ink is dry, upon plain paper, and passing it through the press. By this means the ink is transferred from the wet proof to the plain paper, and a reversed impression is obtained, which is often of use in enabling the engraver to judge of the success of his work. COUNTERSCARP, in Fortification, is the vertical or nearly vertical side of the ditch nearest to the besiegers, and opposite to the scarp or escarp. COUNTERSIGN, in military discipline or manœuvres, is a word exchanged between sentinels, inspectors of posts going their rounds, or persons having business with the soldiers in camp garrison. The C. in use at any particular time is supposed to be known only to those immediately concerned, and is generally a simple word. or COUNTERSIGN, the signature of a secretary, minister, or other subordinate, to any writing signed by the principal or superior, as a guarantee for its authenticity. COUNTER-TENOR, the highest adult male voice, and the lowest female voice. COUNTER-VAIR, a heraldic fur. It differs from Vair by having its cups or bells of the same tinctures placed base against base, and point against point. The tinctures are OR and AZURE. COUNTERVALLATION, in Military Engineering, is a chain of posts constructed by the besiegers of a fortified place; it completely surrounds the place at a certain distance, and is intended to prevent sorties of the besieged. The posts are generally small redoubts, either isolated or connected by a line of earthworks. It is only during very protracted sieges that countervallations are constructed. They bear a certain relation to Circumvallation (q. v.). COUNTIES CORPORATE. In England there are certain cities and towns, some having territory annexed to them, some scarcely any, which possess the privilege of being governed by their own sheriffs and other magistrates altogether independently of the counties in which they are situated. The Act 3 Geo. I. c. 5, for regulating the office of sheriff, enumerates twelve cities and five towns in this position. The cities are London, Chester, Bristol, Coventry. Canterbury, Exeter, Gloucester, Lichfield, The Lincoln, Norwich, Worcester, and York. towns are Kingston-upon-Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Poole, Southampton. From forming no part of the counties with which they were locally connected, they had no share in the county elections. To this extent twelve of the number are now included in their respective counties (2 Will. IV. c. 45, s. 17, schedule G). COUNTRY DANCE (Fr. contre-danse, of which the English term is a corruption), a dance in which as many couples can take part as there is space to accommodate them; at the commencement, the gentlemen being_ranged on one side, and the ladies on the other. In its figure, the dancers are constantly changing places, leading one another back and forward, up and down, parting and uniting again. The numerous different figures, which give an interest to this dance, are generally designated with a particular name. The music is sometimes in time, and sometimes in time, and the step is more smooth than springing. The C. D. introduction of many fashionable new dances. See keeps its ground in England notwithstanding the DANCING. COUNTY, a term equivalent to shire. Although of the same signification, the terms are applied on no uniform principle. In England and Scotland, the shires are also called counties; but in Ireland, the term C. seems to be exclusively employed. Such, likewise, appears to be the case in the British colonies and United States. See SHIRE. COUNTY COURTS. The present C. C. were established in 1846, principally for the purpose of affording a cheap and speedy mode of recovering small debts. The old C. C., kept by the sheriffs, were in most cases limited to the recovery of sums not exceeding 408., and the expense and difficulty of enforcing moderate claims often amounted to a denial of justice. There were a few local courts whose jurisdiction had a rather wider range, but in most cases there were great abuses connected with their management. The courts now take cognizance of all personal actions where the debt or damage claimed is not more than £50, except actions of 'ejectment, or in which the title to any corporeal or incorporeal hereditaments, or to any toll, fair, market, or franchise, shall be in question, or in which the validity of any devise, bequest, or limitation, under any will or settlement may be disputed, or any malicious prosecution, libel, or slander, criminal conversation, seduction, or breach of promise of marriage.' But all the actions here excluded, except actions of criminal conversation, may be tried in the C. C. by consent of the parties concerned. By similar consent, actions for any greater amount than £50 may be tried. In England and Wales, there are 502 courts, divided into 59 circuits, and presided over by 60 judges, the Liverpool circuit possessing two. The |