Cockayne
The Land of, or Cockaigne, kok-an, a satirical poem, supposed to have been written by Michael of Kildare during the thirteenth century. It has been said that it is "probably the earliest specimen of modern English poetry which we possess." There is also an old French poem of the same title. The word Cockayne, although of uncertain origin, is probably from an old French word signifying abundance. Cockayne was an imaginary land of idleness and plenty. "The houses were built of cake and barley sugar; the streets paved with pastry; roast geese went slowly down the streets inviting the passers-by to eat them; buttered larks fell in profusion; and the rivers ran wine." It was doubtless intended to ridicule the stories of Avalon, the mythical island in the west. In the sixteenth century the word Lubberland was used with the same significance. The term Land of Cockaigne has been derisively applied to both London and Paris. See Avalon
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Cockburn
SIR ALEXANDER, an English jurist; born Dec. 24, 1802; studied at Cambridge; was called to the bar in 1829, and soon became distinguished as a pleader before Parliamentary committees. In 1847 he became member of Parliament for Southampton in the Liberal interest; became Solicitor- General and was knighted in 1850; was made Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas in 1856; and Lord Chief-Justice in 1859. He presided at the Tichborne and other famous trials. He represented Great Britain at the Geneva arbitration in the "Alabama" case. He died Nov. 20, 1880.
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Cocker
a dog of the spaniel kind, allied to the Blenheim dog, used for raising woodcocks and snipes from their haunts in woods and marshes.
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Cockney
a nickname for a native of London. The origin of the word is unknown. One suggestion is that cockney is related to coquina, a kitchen, in the sense of a hanger-on for broken victuals. Another equally wise suggestion connects the term with cock's egg--a small misshapen egg. A genuine cockney must be born within hearing of Bowbells,--that is within the city. The term is used rather in derision, as cockney conceit, cockney speech.
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Cockney Poets
or Cockney School, a name given to a coterie of writers, including Shelley, Keats, Leigh Hunt, and Hazlitt. The term was first applied to these writers by Lockhart in Blackwood's Magazine. It suggested effeminacy, and was applied in derision.
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Cockpit
in a ship of war, the name still given to the compartment in the lower part of the ship where the wounded are attended to during action.
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Cockran
WILLIAM BOURKE, an American lawyer and public official, born in Sligo, Ireland, in 1854. He was educated in France and Ireland and at Georgetown College, from which he graduated in 1900. After his removal to the United States in 1871 he taught school in Westchester co., N. Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1876 and soon became prominent in New York politics. He was delegate to many conventions, where he became well known as an orator. He opposed the nomination of Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892. He was a member of the 52d and 53d Congresses. In 1896 he opposed the silver wing of the party and supported McKinley for president. He returned to the Democratic party, however, in 1900, supporting William J. Bryan. He was elected to the 58th Congress in 1904, but later resigned. He was re-elected to the 59th and 60th Congresses, declining re-election, but resumed law practice in New York. He was a conspicuous ous figure at the Democratic National Convention in 1920 and made the speech nominating James M. Cox for presidency . artic-
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Cockscomb
the comb of a cock, being a sort of ensign or token which the fool was accustomed to wear. Also a name sometimes given to Celosia cristata. The flowers are astringent and are prescribed in Asia in cases of diarrhea, blennorrhea, excessive menstrual discharges, hæmatesis, and similar disorders.
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Cocles
HORATIUS, a hero of ancient Rome, who alone, in 506 b. c., opposed the whole army of Porsenna at the head of a bridge, while his companions were destroying it behind him. This effected, though wounded, he leaped into the Tiber and swam safely across. COCOA. See CACAO.
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Cocoon
the silken sheath spun by the larvæ of many insects in passing into the pupa or resting stage. The cocoon proper is due to the secretion of special spinning glands, situated anteriorly or posteriorly, but larval hairs and foreign objects of many kinds may also be utilized. The most typical and perfect : cocoons are those of many moths, a familiar example being that of the silkworm.
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Cocos Island
Pacific Ocean, a small island southwest of Panama, known as the scene of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story of "Treasure Island." It is also reputed to be the site of buried gold and other treasure stolen by pirates from the Spanish settlements on the neighboring coasts of S. America. Numerous searching parties have been organized for the purpose of discovering these treasures.
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Cocos Islands
Indian Ocean. (See KEELING ISLANDS, Vol. V.)
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Cocytus
named of lamentation loud, Heard on the rueful stream.--Milton. A blacke flood, which flowed about it round-- That is the river of Cocytus deepe In which full many soules do endlesse wayle and weepe.--Spenser. There stood the first and prayed him hard to waft their bodies o'er, With hands stretched out for utter love of that far-lying shore; But that grim sailor now takes these, now those, from out the band, While all the others far away he thrusteth from the sand. ... Those borne across the wave Are buried; none may ever cross the awful roaring road Until their bones are laid at rest within their last abode. An hundred years they stray about and wander round the shore, Then they at last have grace to gain the pools desired to sore.--Virgil.
ko-si'tus, in classical mythology, a river of Hades. The name came from a Greek word meaning to weep, and the Cocytus was the "River of Lamentation." Those whose bodies had not received burial rites were doomed to wander a hundred years on the banks of this stream before the ferryman Charon could take them across. See Hades
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