COUNTER-PROOF. 497 COUNTY. of use in enabling the engraver to judge of tlio sucecss of liis work. Seo E.xniiAviNO. COUNTER-REFORMATION. The term u.sed to describe those measures whieli the Eonian Catholic Church took, after the Reforma- tion was fairly started, ( 1 ) to reform abuses, (2) to counteract the Protestant movement in those lands where it threatened to succeed, and (3) to uproot it where it had entirely or very considerably succeeded. Long before the Prot- estant revolt to<]k place there had been a demand upon the ])art of faithful sons of the Church for II reform in iicad and members," from the Pope down to the humblest Christian. Several coun- cils had lieen called to accomplish it, but did little. At last the Council of Trent was as- •sembled, which, lasting with interruptions from l.")45 to 1563, solemnl}- reaffirmed and defined Catholic doctrine, and enacted elisciplinary meas- ures to rectify widespread and ]nevalcnt abuses. Of the agents most active in raising the lone of the Cliurch, animating its pulpit and its schools, and inspiring self-sacrifice and ardent piety, the chief have been the Jesuits — so much so, indeed, that the counter-reformation is frequently spoken of as their work. The other measures spoken of have naturally incurred more censure. The check or extirpation of Protestantism has been accom- panied necessarily with violence, and thus con- travenes modern notions of religious freedom — • though it nuist be said that the intolerance of the Roman Catholic ruler or prelate was matched, when opportunity served, by that of Protestants in similar positions. In Bavaria the nobility which had favored Protestantism were expelled in l.'iGi. At Treves the Elector, James of Eltz, in 1572, forbade Protestants his Court. In other ecclesiastical States of the Empire, as Bam- berg and Salzburg, the rulers drove out the evangelical clergy and gave the laity the alter- native of conformity to the Catholic Church or exile. Austria attempted to uproot religious lib- erty in Hungary, but w.as forced to restore it. In Bohemia Protestantism was extirpated dur- ing the Thirty Years' War. As far as the Ger- man Empire was concerned, the arbitrary ex- ercise of jiower to repress Protestantism ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1048. In such countries as Spain and Italy Protestan- tism never had more than a feeble existence, and so was rather easily suppressed by the Inquisition. In France there was never more than a possibilitj' of Protestantism gaining an ascendency, but in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries it had many influential ad- herents. Civil wars, the result of political intrigue, and the acceptance from personal ambition of Romanism by Henry IV., ruined whatever prospects the Protestants had; and with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, all sciublance of State favor to Prot- estantism was removed and the faith outlawed. In the Netherlands persecution and war wrested the southern provinces from Protestant domi- nation, but it remained in the northern. Scan- dinavia was not seriously shaken in her accept- ance of Protestantism. In England, after tire- less, ingenious, and heroic attempts of seminary priests, upon whose head a price was fixed, to effect a return to Catliolicisin, with the secret cooperation of many noliles and other ]u-ominent men, the scheme had to be abandoned, mainly ■because the audacious invasion of England bv the Spanish Armada in I.ISS welded the nation into a whole against foreign political or religious dominion. Consult: Rankc. Ilislory of I he I'opcs, English trans. (London, 18()7) ; A. Ward, History of the (.'uuntcr-Hcformution (New York, 188!)) ; A. R. Pennington, flistory of the C'ountcr-licfoniiation (London, 1!)00). COUNTERSCARP. The side of the ditch of a fortiticatiiin (jpposite to the parapet. The slopes of the scarp and counterscarp will depend on the nature of the soil, and the action on it of frost and rain. The scarp or extreme slope of the parapet is less steep than the counterscarp, because it has to sustain the weight of the parapet. See Eohtification. COUNTERSIGN. A watchword used by military bodies as a precaution against an enemy or enemies. The countersign may be changed at any moment, or any number of times, but is usually altered each twenty-four hours. It is given primarily to commanders of guards, and outposts and their sentries, to reconnoitring and visiting patrols, and to the field and regimental officers of the day. All others desiring to pass through the lines must first be supplied with the countersign, wdiicli is thus a guard against spies, strangers, and surprise. COUNTER-TENOR. The highest adult male voice; most conaiionly the male alto (q.v.). COUNTER-VAIR. A fur used in heraldry (q.v.). COUNTESS'S POWDER. See Cinchona. COUN'TIES COR'PORATE. In England, cities and towns possessing the privilege of being governed by their own sheriff and magistrates independently of the county in which they are situated. COUNTING-OUT RHYMES. See Nursery Rhymes. COUNT JULIAN. A gloomy but impressive tragedy by Walter Savage Land'or (1812). The scene is laid in the time of Roderick, the last of the Goths, .about 711. COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. A late novel of Sir Walter Scott (1833), the scene of which is laid at Constantinople in the eleventh cen- tury. The title character was a renowned French Crusader. The novel, written after Scott's financial troubles, betrays the author's failing powers. COUNTRY LASSES, or The Custom op the JIanor. The title of a play by Charles .Johnson (1715), based on Fletcher and Massinger's Cus- tom of tJir Countrij and iliddleton's A Mad World, Ml) Masters. COUNTRY PARTY. The. The anti-Royalist party in England in Charles II. 's time, which opposc'il the Court party. It finally developed into the -Whig' Party. COUNTRY WIFE, The. A comedy by Wycherley (1073), drawn lai'gely from Jlolifere's h'Ecole dcs maris and L'Ecole des femmcs. It is called by llacaulay "one of the most profligate and heartless of human compositions." COUNTY (OF. counie. coiitee, Pr. comt^. It. rontado, from Lat. comitatus, county, escort, from comes, count, companion). Either (a) one of the civil divisions of a country, for judi-
