hy, lived and worked in Cothen. From 1603 to 1847 Cothen was
the capital of the principality, later duchy, of Anhalt-Cothen.

COTMAN, JOHN SELL (1782-1842), English landscape-painter and etcher, son
of a well-to-do silk mercer, was born at Norwich on the 16th of May
1782. He showed a talent for art and was sent to London to study, where
he became the friend of Turner, T. Girtin and other artists. He first
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800. In 1807 he went back to Norwich
and joined the Norwich Society of Artists, of which in 1811 he became
president. In 1825 he was made an associate of the Society of Painters
in Water-colours; in 1834 he was appointed drawing-master at King's
College, London; and in 1836 he was elected a member of the Institute of
British Architects. He died in London on the 24th of July 1842. Cotman's
work was not considered of much importance in his own day, and his
pictures only procured small prices; but he now ranks as one of the
great figures of the Norwich school. He was a fine draughtsman, and a
remarkable painter both in oil and water-colour. One of his paintings is
in the National Gallery. His fine architectural etchings, published in a
series of volumes, the result of tours in Norfolk and Normandy, are
valuable records of his interest in archaeology. He married early in
life, and had five children, his sons, Miles Edmund (1810-1858) and
Joseph John (1814-1878), both becoming landscape-painters of merit; and
his younger brother Henry's son, Frederic George Cotman (b. 1850), the
water-colour artist, continued the family reputation.

COTONEASTER, a genus of the rose family (Rosaceae), containing about
twenty species of shrubs and small trees, natives of Europe, North
Africa and temperate Asia. C. _vulgaris_ is native on the limestone
cliffs of the Great Orme in North Wales. Several species are grown in
shrubberies and borders, or as wall plants, mainly for their clusters of
bright red or yellow berry-like fruits. Plants are easily raised by
seeds, cuttings or layers, and grow well in ordinary soil.

COTOPAXI, a mountain of the Andes, in Ecuador, South America, 35 m.
S.S.E. of Quito, remarkable as the loftiest active volcano in the world.
The earliest outbursts on record took place in 1532 and 1533; and since
then the eruptions have been both numerous and destructive. Among the
most important are those of 1744, 1746, 1766, 1768 and 1803. In 1744 the
thunderings of the volc