Cousin, Victor

( kodzan,) a French philosopher, and the founder of systematic eclecticism in modern philosophy, B. at Paris, 1792. In 1815, he became a istant profe or to Royer-Collard, at the Sorbonne. In 1820, in consequence of the royalist reaction in the state, his views of free agency were thought to have a political intent, and his course was indefinitely suspended. From 1825 to 1840, appeared his celebrated translations of Plato, in 13 vols. In 1827 he was reinstated in his chair, and the year 1828 witne ed the most splendid triumph in the career of C. as a philosophic teacher. It is said that to find an audience as numerous, and as pa ionately interested in the topics discu ed, as gathered round C., it would be nece ary to go back to the days of Abelard, and other medieval teachers of philosophy. C. was still young, simple, and pure in his habits; his doctrines were for the most part new to his hearers, bold, and in harmony with the spirit of the time. The finest qualities of the national genius appeared in his lectures, a wonderful lucidity of exposition, an exquisite beauty of style such as no modern or ancient philosopher, excepting Plato, has equalled; a brilliancy of generalization and criticism that enchanted every one; and a power of co-ordinating the facts of history and philosophy in such a manner as to make each illustrate the other, and reveal their most intricate relations. At this period, C. was one of the most influential leaders of opinion among the educated cla es in Paris; and consequently, after the revolution of 1830, when his friend Guizot became prime-minister, ( was made a peer of France, and later, Director of the Ecole Normale. In 1840, he was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, and in the same year became Minister of Public Instruction. After the revolution of 1848 he disappeared from public life. His principal works are, Cours d'His to ire de la Philosophie; Cours d'His to ire de la Philosophie Moderne Cours d'His to ire de la Philosophie Morale au xvme. Siècle; Du Vrai, du Beau, et du Bien; Etudes sur les Femmes et la Société du xvII. Siècle; Ouvrages inédits d' Abelard, . D. 1867. Cou's in, JEAN, a celebrated French painter, sculptor, and engraver, B. abt. 1501; D. 1590. Cous'in-ger'man, n.; pl. COUSINS-GERMAN. A first cousin. "Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son, And cousin - german to great Priam's seed." - Shaks. Cous'inhood, Cous'inship, n . State or condition of a cousin. Cous'inly, adv . Like a cousin: befitting a cousin. Cous's inet, n . [Fr.] ( Arch .) The crowning stone of a pier from which the arch springs, or that which lies between the capital of the impost and under the sweep of the arch; its bed is level below and inclined above, receiving the first rise or the spring of the arch. This word is also used for the ornament in the Ionic capital between the abacus and the echinus, which serves to form the volute.