COPERNICUS. 388 COPLEY. «lapsed before he could l)e persuaded to give his book to the world. Perhaps the strongest mo- tive for his reticence vas the fear of the unpopu- larity which the work threatened to bring him; for many wlio had heard of the views it advo- cated doubted if these were in harmony with -Scripture. At all events, it is pretty certain that it was his desire to conciliate the Church that led him to dedicate his book, when it was published, to Pope Paul III. By the time the book was actually i)rinted, however, the author was beyond the power of the Church. An attack of dj-sen- tery, followed by paralysis of the right side, had destroyed his memoiy and obscured his under- standing, and he is said to have died a few hours after a copy of the labor of his life reached him. Besides the Dc Ilevolutionibus, may be men- tioned among Corpernicus's worlcs a treatise on trigonometry, entitled De Lalerihus et Au(iulis Trianguloruin (Eimeland, 1542) ; and TJieo- phi/lactici Scholastici Simocattw Epistolw ilor- ales, Rurales, et AmatoricF, cion Tersione Latiiia. He also wrote a work on money, and several JIS. treatises from his pen are in the library of tile bishopric of Ermeland. COPHET'XJA. An African king who loved and married a beggar maiden, Penelophon. The story is told in a ballad contained in Percy's Hcliqiies, and is alluded to in various plays of Shakespeare, and by other writers. Tennyson's Bccigar Maid gives the legend in modern form. C0PIAp6, ku'pya-po' (So. Amer. Copai/aipii). The ca]iital of the Province of Atacama, Chile, situated on the Copiapo, 50 miles by rail from its port, Caldera (Map: Chile, C 9). It is regu- larly laid out and possesses a fine parish church, a bronze statue of Juan Godoy, the discoerer of the Chailarcillo silver - mines, and also a provincial high school, a mining - school, and a public library. The town is the centre of a productive mining district and contains machine- shops and smelting-works. Population, in 1895, 9301. COPING, kop'Ing ( from cope, variant of cape, from Lat. capa, cape). The upper or covering course or cop of a wall, generally either over- hanging or slo])ing or rounded, so as to shed the water. It can be of stone, brick, or terra-cotta. In the Jliddle Ages, where the coping was of hewn stone, it was often ornamented with a circular molding along the top. a stepped slope, and a groove under the lower edge. COP'INGER, Walter Arthik (1847—). An English jurist. He served as president of the Bibliographical Society and became professor of law at Owens College and at Victoria University. Among his numerous publications may be men- tioned: Index to Precedents (1872) ; Title Deeds (1875) ; An Essay on the Abolition of Capital Punishment (1876) : The Law of Rents (1886) ; and Law of Copi/right (3d ed-, 1891). COP'LAND, James (1791-1870). An Eng- lish physieiai). He was born at Deemess, stud- ied medicine at Edinburgh, traveled on the Con- tinent, and subsequently undertook a Journey to Africa to investigate the nature of epidemic dis- eases prevalent in tropical lands. He settled in London about 1818 and was made a member of the Royal College of Physicians. In 1822 he undertook the editorship of the London Medical depositor)/ : and, being chosen in that year to deliver the annual oration before the London iledieal Association, he advanced in his lecture a new theory of electro-galvanism. His Outlines of Palholoyy and Pniclical Medicine, in which he especially treated of the ganglionic nerves and their functions, and proposed a new and more simple classification of diseases, appeared in 1822; the Elements of Physioloiiy in 1S24, and On Pestilential Cholera in 1832. But Copland's most important work was the Dictionary of Prac- tical Medicine (1833-58), four closely - printed olumes, to which he devoted the labor of many years. COPLEY, kop'li, JoHX SiXGLETOX (1737- 1815). An American historical and portrait painter, born in Boston of Irish parents, July 3, 1737. He received instruction in America from Peter Pelham, a portrait painter, advanced rapidly in his profession, and executed numerous portraits in this country. He traveled much on the Continent, but e.xhibited mainly in London, where he lived after 1775. He was made R.A. in 1783. Of his large historical paintings, "Charles I. Demanding the Five Jlembers from Parliament" is now in the Boston Public Li- brary. His picture "The Death of SLajor Pier- son" is in the Xational Gallery, London. In Buckingham Palace is the portrait of three children of George III. His portraits of promi- nent Americans are held in high esteem by their descendants for their distinction, dignity, and fine coloring. That of ilrs. Thomas Boylston is in the JMemorial Hall of Harvard University. Copley died September 9, 1815, and was buried in Croydon Clnirch, near London. He was father of .John Singleton Copley. Lord Lyndhurst. Consult: Amorv, Domestic and Artistic Life of J. K. Copley. '/?. A. (Boston. 1882); Perkins, S!krtrh of the Life of Copley (Boston. 1873). COPLEY, .Jonx Sixgletox, Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863). A British lawyer and statesman, four times Lord Chancellor of England. He was the son of J. S. Copley. E.A.. and was born in Boston, Mass., May 21, 1772. While yet an infant, his father removed to England for the practice of his art. He was educated at Trinity Colleae, Cambridge, where he was second wrangler and Smith's prizeman in 1794. In 1795-96, as a traveling bachelor and fellow of his college, he visited the United States, and in company with the French author Volney made a tour which he described in Latin letters to the vice-chan- cellor of his university. Called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1804. he chose the Midland cir- cuit, but did not achieve financial success until 1812, when his defense of a Luddite at Xotting- ham established his reputation. In politics he was at first a Liberal, and long expressed senti- ments hostile to the Ministry of the day. He ably defended Watson and Thistlewood on their trial for high treason in 1817, and obtained their acquittal. In 1818 he entered Parliament; in 1810 he became Solicitor-General in the Liverpool administration and was knighted, and in 1824 he was ])romoted to the rank of Attorney-General. In 1826 he became "Master of the Pvolls. When Cannina was chamed to form a ^linistry in 1827. he offered the Great Seal to Sir John Copley, who was raised to the Upper House as Baron Lynd- hurst, and remained Lord Chancellor from 1827 to 1830. In 1831 he became Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, which office he exchanged for the woolsack during the brief adninistration of Sir Robert Peel in 1834-35. In 1835 he led the opposi-
