CORYAT CORYPHAEUS 389 studied at school or at home, as opportunity offered. Though there were no good schools in the country, then almost a wilderness, he nevertheless acquired much solid information. In 1814 he entered the clerk's office of Warren co., then or soon after under the charge of an elder brother, Matthias Corwin, jr. The next year he commenced the study of the law, and in May, 1818, he was admitted to the bar. As a lawyer, besides his power as an advocate, he was distinguished for keenness of discrimina- tion in the use of authorities and the manage- ment of evidence. In 1822 he was elected to the house of representatives of the state legis- lature, and soon distinguished himself in a speech in opposition to a bill proposing to re- store public whipping as a punishment for small crimes. After serving in the state legislature for seven years, he was elected to congress in 1830. He had supported Mr. Clay for presi- dent in 1824, when he received the electoral vote of Ohio ; and in the presidential election of 1828 he had been the supporter of John Quincy Adams. During the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren he uniformly acted in concert with the whigs in regard to all con- troverted political questions. In 1836, and again in 1840, he supported Gen. Harrison. Having been selected in 1840 as the candidate of the whigs for governor of Ohio, he delivered a brilliant speech in defence of Gen. Harrison, in reply to an attack of Gen. Crary of Michi- gan ; and during the presidential canvass of that year he made speeches in almost every county of the state, discussing the political topics of the day, and exercising an effective influence in favor of Gen. Harrison. He was elected governor, and in 1845 United States senator; and in 1846, when war with Mexico was affirmed to exist by the act of Mexico, he denounced the policy of the executive and the party in power as an attempt to possess themselves of Mexican territory which they had failed to purchase by treaty. In 1848 he supported Gen. Taylor as a candidate for the presidency; and on the death of President Taylor in July, 1850, he re- ceived from Mr. Fillmore the office of secretary of the treasury, which he filled till March 4, 1853, when he returned to Lebanon, Ohio, where he again engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1858 he was again elected to the house of representatives in congress, where he served till 1861, when he was appointed minister to Mexico. He remained there until the arrival of Maximilian, when he returned to Washington and resumed the practice of law. He supported Abraham Lincoln for the presi- dency in 1860, but was conservative on the subject of slavery, and favored a compromise in order to avert a conflict. CORYAT, Thomas, an eccentric English trav- eller, who called himself the " Odcombian leg- stretcher," born at Odcombe, Somersetshire, in 1577, died at Surat, India, in December, 1617. He was the son of the rector of his na- tive town, and received an excellent univer- sity education. In his first journey, which oc- cupied five months in 1608, he travelled nearly 2,000 miles in Europe, about one half of which distance he walked. On his second journey, 1612 to 1617, he explored the Levant, resided for a time in Constantinople, examined the ves- tiges of Troy, visited as many of the sites of the seven churches of Asia Minor as he could discover, and proceeded through Persia to India, where he died of dysentery. He pub- lished in 1611 some of his travelling experi- ences in a curious book entitled " Cory at' s Crudities," &c., to which quizzical verses in va- rious ancient and modern languages, written by Ben Jonson, Donne, and other authors, are ap- pended. The latter were afterward published separately under the title of " Odcombian Ban- quet," with an advertisement reflecting satiri- cally upon Coryat, who was a butt of the wits with whom he associated in London. In a second volume, however, entitled " Cramb, or Colwort twice Sodden," published the same year, he protested that the verses were ap- pended to the former without his consent. CORYBANTES, in antiquity, the priests of Cybele or Rhea in Phrygia. They celebrated the worship of this goddess by arraying them- selves in full armor and performing licentious dances in the forests and on the mountains, to the music of flutes, drums, and cymbals. Persons under the influence of the corybantic spirit became demented, according to Maximus Tyrius, whenever they heard the sound of any of their sacred instruments; and the Greek and Latin equivalent of the verb "to corybantize" was hence used by the ancients in reference to any one who was transported by or possessed with a devil. When the worship of Cybele was introduced at Rome, her priests were called Galli, probably from the river Gallus in Phry- gia, regarding which it was fabled that all who drank of its waters became mad and emascu- lated themselves, two attributes held indispen- sable to the Cybelean priesthood. Mythical Corybantes are also mentioned in the legends of Crete, in connection with the Curetes. Many suppose that Corybantes, Curetes, Cabiri, Idsean Dactyli, and Telchines are identical terms, and refer to the same order of priests. CORYELL, a central county of Texas, watered by Leon river and several of its tributaries ; area, 960 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 4,124, of whom 279 were colored. It has a rolling or hilly surface, well diversified with prairie and tim- ber land, and a fertile soil suitable for Indian corn and wheat. Stock raising is the principal business. Fine building stone is abundant. The chief productions in 1870 were 5,778 bushels of wheat, 109,900 of Indian corn, 34,- 061 Ibs. of butter, and 378 bales of cotton. There were 3,469 horses, 3,046 milch cows, 22,138 other cattle, 2,889 sheep, and 6,275 swine. Capital, Gatesville. CORYPHAEUS, the leader of the chorus in the dramatic and religious festivals of ancient Athens. He at first performed the various
