feated at the mouth of the river Perfant, on the Baltic Colbert. fea, 60 miles north-east of Stetin, and 30 north-east of Camin. E. Long. 15. 57. N. Lat. 54. 18. In COLBERT (JOHN BAPTIST), marquis of Segnelai, one of the greatelt ftatefmen that France ever had, was born at Paris in 1619; and defcended from a family that lived at Rheims in Champaigne, no way confiderable for its fplendor and antiquity. His grandfather is faid to have been a wine-merchant, and his father at fift followed the fame occupation; but afterwards traded in cloth, and at laft in filk. Our Colbert was inftructed in the arts of merchandize; and afterwards became clerk to a notary. In 1648, his relation John Baptift Colbert, lord of S. Pouange, preferred him to the fervice of Michael Le Tellier, fecretary of itate, whofe fifter he had married; and here he dif covered fuch diligence, and exactness in executing all the commiffions that were entrusted to his care, that he quickly grew diftinguished. One day his mafter fent him to cardinal Mazarine, who was then at Sedan, with a letter written by the queen mother; and ordered him to bring it back, after that minifter had feen it. Colbert carried the letter, and would not return without it, though the cardinal treated him roughly, ufed feveral arts to deceive him, and obliged him to wait for it feveral days. Some time after, the cardinal returning to court, and wanting one to write his agenda or memoranda, defired Le Tellier to furnish him with a fit perfon for that employment and Colbert being prefented to him, the cardinal had fome remembrance of him, and defired to know where he had feen him. Colbert was afraid of putting him in mind of Sedan, left the remembrance of his importunacy, in demanding the queen's letter, fhould renew the cardinal's anger. But his eminency was fo far from hating him for his faithfulness to his late mafter, that he received him on condition, that he fhould ferve him with the like zeal and fidelity.

one of their knights in parliament; and the houfe of
commons, for their speaker, in the 35th year of queen
Elizabeth. The queen appointed him folicitor-general
in 1592, and attorney-general the next year.
1603, he was knighted by king James I.; and in No-
vember the fame year, upon the trial of Sir Walter
Raleigh, &c. at Winchefter, he treated that gentle-
man with a fcurrility of language hardly to be paral-
leled. June 27. he was appointed lord chief juftice
of the common pleas; and in 1613, lord chief juftice
of the king's bench, and fworn one of the privy coun-
cil. In 1615, he was very vigorous in the difcovery
and profecution of the perfons employed in poifoning
Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower in 1612. His
conteft not long after with the lord chancellor Egeton,
with fome other cafes, haftened the ruin of his inte-
reft at court: so that he was fequeftered from the
council-table and the office of lord chief juftice. In
1621, he vigorously maintained in the house of com-
mons, that no proclamation is of any force against the
parliament. The fame year, being looked upon as
one of the great incendiaries in the houfe of commons,
he was removed from the council of ftate with dif-
grace; the king faying, that " he was the fitteft in-
trument for a tyrant that ever was in England:" he
was alfo committed to the Tower, and his papers were
feized. Upon the calling of a new parliament in
1625, the court party, to prevent his being elected a
member, got him appointed fheriff of Buckingham-
fhire; to avoid the office, if poffible, he drew up ex-
ceptions against the oath of a fheriff, but was obliged
to undertake the office. In 1628, he spoke vigorously
upon grievances; and made a fpeech in which he af.
firmed, that "the duke of Buckingham was the caufe
of all our miferies." While he lay upon his death-
bed, his papers and laft will were feized by an order
of council. He died in 1634, and published many
works: the moft remarkable are his Inftitutes of the
laws of England; the firft part of which is only a tranf-
lation and comment of Sir Thomas Littleton, one of
the chief juftices of the common pleas in the reign of
Edward IV.

COKENHAUSEN, a ftrong town of Livonia in
Sweden, on the river Divina. E Long. 24. 26. N.
Lat. 56. 40.

COL, a name given by fome to one of the weftern
iflands of Scotland; it abounds in corn, pafture, falmon,
eels, and cod. W. Long. 7. 35. N. Lat. 57.

COLAPIS, COLOPS (anc. geog.), a river of Li-
burnia, which after a winding north-ealt courfe, falls into
the Savus, at the Infula Segeftica. Now the Culpe, the
boundary of the Alps, running through Croatia into
the Save. Colapiani, the people living on it (Pliny).
COLARBASIANS, or COLORBASIANS, a fet of
Christians in the second century; fo called from their
leader Colarbafus, a disciple of Valentinus; who, with
Marcus, another difciple of the fame mafter, maintain-
ed the whole plenitude, and perfection, of truth and
religion, to be contained in the Greek alphabet: and
that it was upon this account that Jefus Chrift was
called the alpha and omega. This fect was a branch of
the Valentinians. See alfo MARCOSIANS.

COLBERG, a ftrong, handfome fea-port town of
Germany, in Pomerania, belonging to the king of
Pruffia. It is remarkable for its falt works; and is

Colbert applied himself wholly to the advancement of his master's interefts, and gave him so many marks of his diligence and skill, that afterwards he made him his intendant. He accommodated himself so dexterously to the inclinations of that minifter, by retrenching his fuperfluous expences, that he was entrusted with the management of that gainful trade of felling benefices and governments. It was by Colbert's counfel, that the cardinal obliged the governors of frontier places to maintain their garrifons with the contributions they exacted; with which advice his eminency was extremely pleafed. He was fent to Rome, to negociate the reconciliation of cardinal de Rets, for which the Pope had fhowed fome concern; and to perfuade his holinefs to confent to the difincamerating of Cafto, according to the treaty concluded with his predeceffor Urban VIII. Upon the whole, Mazarine had fo high an opinion of Colbert's abilities, and withal fuch a regard for his faithful fervices, that at his death, which happened in 1661, he earneftly recommended him to Louis XIV. as the propereft perfon to regulate the finances, which at that time food in much need of reformation. Louis accept ed the recommendation, and made Colbert intendant of the finances. He applied himself to their regulation, and fucceeded: though it procured him many enemies, and fome affronts. France is allo

obliged

Colbert. obliged to this minifter for establishing at that time her trade with the East and West Indies: a great defign, and from which he has reaped innumerable advantages.

In 1664, he became fuperintendant of the buildings; and for that time applied himfelf fo carneftly to the enlarging and adorning of the royal edifices, that they are at prefent fo many mafter-pieces of architecture: witness the palace of the Thuilleries, the Louvre, St Germain, Fontainbleau, and Chombord. As for Verfailles, it may be faid that he raised it from the ground. It was formerly a dog-kennel, where Louis XIII. kept his hunting furniture: it is now a palace fit for the greatest monarch. But royal palaces were not Colbert's only care: he formed feveral defigns for increafing the beauty and convenience of the capital city, and he did it with great magnificence and grandeur. The public was obliged to this fame minifter for the eftablishment of the academy for painting and fculpture in 1664. The king's painters and fculptors, with other skilful profeffors of thofe arts, being profecuted at law by the master-painters at Paris, joined together; and began to form a fociety, under the name of the Royal Academy for Sculpture and Painting. Their defign was to keep public exercifes, for the fake of improving thofe fine arts, and advancing them to the highest degree of perfection. They put themfelves under the protection of Mazarine, and chofe chancellor Seguier their vice-protector; and after Mazarine's death chose Seguier their protector, and Colbert their vice-protector. It was at his folicitation that they were finally eftablished by a patent, containing new privileges, in 1664. Colbert, being made protector after the death of Seguier, thought fit that an hiftoriographer fhould be appointed, whofe bufinefs it fhould be to collect all curious and ufeful obfervations that fhould be made at their conferences. This was accordingly done; and his majefty was pleased to fettle on him a falary of 300 livres. To Colbert alfo the lovers of naval knowledge are obliged for the erection of the Academy of Sciences: for the making of which the more useful, he caufed to be erected, in 1667, the royal obfervatory at Paris, which was firft inhabited by Caffini. But thefe are not the only obligations France has to that minifter: fhe owes to him all the advantages the receives by the union of the two feas; a prodigious work, begun in 1666 and finished in 1680. Colbert was alfo very intent upon matters of a more private nature, fuch as regarded the order, decency, and well-being of fociety. He undertook to reform the courts of justice, and to put a stop to the ufurpation of noble titles; which it feems was then very common in France. In the former of those attempts he failed, in the latter he fucceeded.

In 1669, he was made fecretary of ftate, and entrufted with the management of affairs relating to the fea and his performances in this province were anfwerable to the confidence his majefty repofed in him. He fuppreffed feveral offices, which were chargeable, but ufelefs and in the mean time, perceiving the king's zeal for the extirpation of herefy, he fhut up the chamber inftituted by the edicts of Paris and Roan. He propofed feverally new regulations concerning criminal courts; and was extremely fevere with the parliament of Tholoufe for obftructing the measures he

Colchester.

took to carry the fame into execution. His main de- Colbert,
figu in reforming the tedious methods of proceeding at
law, was to give the people more leifure to apply them-
felves to trading: for the advancement of which he
procured an edict, to erect a general infurance-office
at Paris, for merchants, &c. In 1672, he was made
minifter, of ftate: for how bufied foever he was in the
regulation of public affairs, yet he never neglected his
own or his family's intereft and grandeur, or miffed any
opportunity of advancing either. He had been mar-
ried many years, had fons and daughters grown up;
all of which, as occafion ferved, he took care to marry
to great perfons. For though he had no reason to
doubt of his mafter's favour, yet he wifely fecured his
fortune by powerful alliances. However, bufinefs was
certainly Colbert's natural turn; and he not only loved
it, but was very impatient to be interrupted in it, as
the following anecdote may ferve to fhow. A lady of
great quality was one day urging him, when he was in
the height of his power, to do her fome piece of fer-
vice; and perceiving him inattentive and inflexible,
threw herself at his feet, in the prefence of above 100
perfons, crying, "I beg your greatnefs, in the name
of God, to grant me this favour." Upon which Col-
bert, kneeling down over againft her, replied, in the
fame mournful tone, "I conjure you, madam, in the
name of God, not to disturb me."

This great minifter died of the ftone, September 6.
1683, in his 65th year; leaving behind him fix fons
and three daughters. He was of a middle ftature, ra-
ther lean than fat. His mien was low and dejected,
his air gloomy, and his afpect ftern. He flept little,
and was very fober. Though naturally four and mo-
rofe, he knew how to act the lover, and had mittreffes.
He was of a flow conception, but spoke judici-
oufly of every thing after he had once comprehended
it. He understood bulinels perfectly well, and he pur-
fued it with unwearied application. Thus he filled
the molt important places with high reputation and
credit; and his influence diffufed itself through every
part of the government. He reftored the finances,
the navy, the commerce: and he erected thofe various
works of art, which have ever fince been monuments.
of his tafte and magnificence. He was a lover of
learning, though he never applied to it himself; and
therefore conferred donations and peufions upon fcho-
lars in other countries, while he established and pro-
tected academies in his own. He invited into France
painters, tatuaries, mathematicians, and artifts of all
kinds, who were any way eminent: thus giving new
life to the fciences, and making them flourish, as they
did, exceedingly. Upon the whole, he was a wife, ac-
tive, generous-fpirited minifter; ever attentive to the
interefts of his mafter, the happiness of the people, the
progrefs of arts and manufactures, and in fhort to
every thing that could advance the credit and intereft
of his country. He was a pattern for all minifters of
ftate; and every nation may wish thenfelves bleffed
with a Colbert.

COLCHESTER, the capital of the county of Effex in England. It is by fome thought to be the place mentioned by Antoninus under the name of Colonia, different from Colonia Camaloduni, and by the Saxons called Caer Colin. It is a beautiful, populous, and pleasant town, extended on the brow of a hill from

caft

Cold.

of its water of cryftallization; and thus the mineral
alkali alfo augmented the cold of fome of the mix- 9
tures: but when the water of crystallization was dif Obferva-
fipated, neither of them had any effect of this kind. tions on the
"This circumftance (fays Dr Beddoes) leads us in experiment.
fome measure to the theory of the phenomenon. Wa-
ter undoubtedly exifts in a folid state in cryftals; it
must therefore, as in other cafes, absorb a determinate
quantity of fire before it can return to its liquid ftate.
On this depends the difference between Glauber's falt
and mineral alkali in its different states of crystalliza-
tion and efflorefcence. The fame circumftance, too,
enables us to understand the great effect of Glauber's
falt; which, as far as I understand, has the greatest
quantity of water of crystallization." On this the re-
viewers remark, that "if in fummer the water brought
from a deep well is at 52°, in this cheap and easy way
it might be reduced to 12°; and wine placed in it
would be chilled."

the nitrous acid, the thermometer fell from 50° to -1°,
or 52 degrees; and on the addition of the fal ammoniac,
to - 9o. Thus Mr Walker was able to freeze quick-
filver without either ice or fnow, when the thermo-
meter flood at 45°. For the experiment four pans
were procured of different fizes, fo that one might be
put within the other. The largest of thefe pans was
placed in a veffel ftill larger, in which the materials for
the fecond frigorific mixture were thinly spread in or-
der to be cooled; the fecond pan, containing the li-
quor, viz. the vitriolic acid properly diluted, was pla-
ced in the largeft pan; the third pan, containing the
falts for the third mixture, was immersed in the liquor
of the fecond pan; and the liquor for the third mix-
ture was put into wide-mouthed phials, which were
immerfed in the fecond pan likewife, and floated round
the third pan; the fourth pan, which was the smalleft
of all, containing its cooling materials, was placed in
the midst of the falts of the third pan. The materials
for the first and fecond mixtures confifted of diluted Thefe exceffive degrees of cold occur naturally in
vitriolic acid and Glauber's falt; the third and fourth of many parts of the globe in the winter-time.
It is
diluted nitrous acid, Glauber's falt, and fal ammoniac, true, we are very much unacquainted with them in this
in the proportions above mentioned. The pans being country: yet in the winter of 1780, Mr Wilfon of
adjusted in the manner already mentioned, the mate- Glafgow obferved, that a thermometer laid on the
rials of the firit and largeft pan were mixed: this re- fnow funk to 25° below o; but this was only for a
duced the thermometer to 10, and cooled the liquor fhort time; and in general our atmosphere does not
in the second pan to 20°; and the falts for the fecond admit of very great degrees of cold for any length of
mixture, which were placed underneath in the large time. Mr Derham, however, in the year 1708, ob-
veffel, nearly as much. The fecond mixture was then ferved in England, that the mercury flood within one-
made with the materials thus cooled, and the thermo- tenth of an inch of its ftation when plunged into a
meter was reduced to 3. The ingredients of the third mixture of fnow and falt. In 1732, the thermometer
mixture, by immerfion in this, were cooled to 10°; at Petersburg flood at 28° below o; and in 1737,
and, when mixed, reduced the thermometer to -15. when the French academicians wintered at the north
The materials for the fourth mixture were cooled by polar circle, or near it, the thermometer funk to 33°
immerfion in this third mixture to about —- 12o. On below o; and in the Afiatic and American continents,
mixture they funk the mercury very rapidly, and feem- ftill greater degrees of cold are very common.
ingly below -40°, though the froth occafioned by the
ebullition of the materials prevented any accurate ob-
servation. The reafon why this last mixture reduced
the thermometer more than the third, though both
were of the fame materials, and the latter of a lower
temperature, was fuppofed to have been partly becaufe
the fourth pan had not another immerfed in it to give
it heat, and partly because the materials were reduced
to a finer powder.

The experiments were repeated with many variations; but only one mixture appeared to Dr Beddoes, by whom the account was communicated to the Royal Society, to be applicable to any useful purpose. This is oil of vitriol diluted with about an equal quantity of water; which, by diffolving Glauber's falt, produces about 46° of cold, and by the addition of fal ammoniac becomes more intenfe by a few degrees. At one time, when Mr Walker was trying a mixture of two parts of oil of vitriol and one of water, he perceived, that at the temperature of 35° the mixture coagulated as if frozen, and the thermometer became flationary; but on adding more Glauber's falt, it fell again in a fhort time but lefs cold was produced than when this circumftance did not occur, and when the acid was weaker. The fame appearance of coagulation took place with other proportions of acid and water, and with other temperatures.

It is obfervable, that this effect of Glauber's falt in producing cold took place only when it was poffeffed No 84.

2

The effects of thefe extreme degrees of cold are very furprifing. Trees are burit, rocks rent, and rivers and lakes frozen, feveral feet deep: metallic fubstances blitter the fkin like red-hot iron : the air, when drawn in by refpiration, hurts the lungs, and excites a cough: even the effects of fire in a great measure feem to ceafe; and it is obferved, that though metals are kept for a confiderable time before a ftrong fire, they will ftill freeze water when thrown upon them. When the French mathematicians wintered at Tornca in Lapland, the external air, when fuddenly admitted into their rooms, converted the moisture of the air into whirls of fnow; their breafts feemed to be rent when they breathed it, and the contact of it was intolerable to their bodies; and the spirit of wine, which had not been highly rectified, burft fome of their thermometers by the congelation of the aqueous part.

Extreme cold very often proves fatal to animals in thofe countries where the winters are very fevere; and thus 7000 Swedes perished at once in attempting to pass the mountains which divide Norway from Sweden. It is not neceffary, indeed, that the cold, in order to prove fatal to the human life, fhould be so very intense as has been juft mentioned. There is only requifite a degree fomewhat below 32° of Fahrenheit, accompa nied with fnow or hail, from which fhelter cannot be obtained. The fnow which falls upon the clothes, or the uncovered parts of the body, then melts, and by a continual evaporation carries off the animal heat to

fuch