COPPERFIELD 
 
 
and terror to the boy. When his mother 
died, Murdstone sent David to lodge with 
the Micawbers, and bound him apprentice 
to Messrs. Murdstone and Grinby, by 
whom he was put into the warehouse, and 
set to paste labels upon wine and spirit 
bottles. David soon became tired of this 
dreary work, and ran away to Dover, 
where he was kindly received by his 
[great]-aunt Betsey Trotwood, who clothed 
him, and sent him as day-boy to Dr. Strong, 
but placed him to board with Mr. Wick- 
field, a lawyer, father of Agnes, between 
whom and David a mutual attachment 
sprang up. David's first wife was Dora 
Spenlow, but at the death of this pretty 
little "child-wife," he married Agnes Wick- 
field.-C. Dickens, David      Copperfield 
(1849). 
 
   Copperheads, members of a faction in 
the North, during the civil war in the 
United   States.  The copperhead is a 
poisonous serpent, that gives no warning 
of its approach, and hence is a type of a 
concealed or secret foe. (The Trigonecep- 
halus contortrix.) 
 
  Coppernose (3 syl.). Henry VIII. was 
so called, because he mixed so much cop- 
per with the silver coin that it showed 
after a little wear in the parts most pro- 
nounced, as the nose. Hence the sobri- 
quets "Coppernosed Harry," "Old Copper- 
nose," etc. 
 
  Copple, the hen killed by Reynard, in 
the beast-epic called Beynard the Fox 
(1498). 
 
  Cora, the gentle, loving wife of Alonzo, 
and the kind friend of Rolla, general of the 
Peruvian army.-Sheridan, Pizarro (al- 
tered from Kotzebue, 1799). 
 
 
   Cora Munro, the daughter of an En- 
 glish officer and the elder of the sisters 
 whose adventures fill Cooper's Last of the 
 Mohicans. Cora loves Heyward the as yet 
 undeclared lover of Alice, and has, herself, 
 attracted the covetous eye of Magua, an 
 Indian warrior. He contrives to gain pos- 
 session of her, and drawing his knife, 
 gives her the choice between death and 
 his wigwam. 
 Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand ... 
 Once more he struggled with himself and lifted 
 the keen weapon again-but just then a pierc- 
 ing cry was heard above them, and Uncas 
 appeared, leaping frantically from a fearful 
 height upon the ledge. Magua recoiled a step, 
 and one of his assistants, profiting by the chance, 
 sheathed his own knife in the bosom of Cora." 
 (1826). 
 
 Co'rah, in Dryden's satire of Absalom 
 and Achitophel, is meant for Dr. Titus Oates. 
 As Corah was the political calumniator of 
 Moses and Aaron, so Titus .Oates was the 
 political calumniator of the pope and En- 
 glish papists. As Corah was punished by 
 "going down alive into the pit," so Oates 
 was "condemned to imprisonment for 
 life," after being publicly whipped and 
 exposed in the pillory. North describes 
 Titus Oates as a very short man, and says, 
 "if his mouth were taken for the centre of 
 a circle, his chin, forehead, and cheekbones 
 would fall in the circumference. 
 Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud, 
 Sure signs he neither choleric was, nor proud; 
 His long chin proved his wit; his saint-like 
    grace, 
A Church vermilion, and a Moses' face; 
His memory miraculously great 
Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat. 
     Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1631). 
 
  Corbac'cio (Siqnior), the dupe of Mosca 
the knavish confederate of Vol'pone (2 
syl.). He is an old man with, "seeing and 
hearing faint, and understanding dulled 
 
 
258 
 
 
CORBACCIO