RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Comparative Religion Comte
On Totemism consult: A. Lang, Secret of the Totem, London, 1905 (with which may be compared his Custom and Myth and his Myth, Ritual and Religion); J. McLennan Studies in Ancient History, 2 series, ib. 1876-96; W R. Smith, in Journal of Philology, ix (1880), 79 sqq., and in his Rel. of Sem. and Kinship (Smith and McLennan are the highest authorities); J. Kohler, Zur Urgetchichte der Eke, Totemismus . . , Stuttgart, 1897; Mrs. K. Langloh Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, ib. 1905 (with Mrs. Parker's books should be read B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, ib. 1899, and Northern Tribes of Central Australia, ib. 1904); H. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, New York, 1908. The subject is illustrated also by H. C. Trumbull, Blood Covenant, New York, 1885; idem. Threshold Covenant, ib. 1896.
On Taboo consult: Smith, Rel. of Sem., 151 sqq., 446 sqq., 479 sqq.; idem, Kinship, passim; A. Lang, Custom and' Myth, pp. 64-86; Granger, ut sup., pp. 200-219; S.Hartland, Legend of Perseus, ii., chaps, ix.-xiii., London, 1897; Crawley, Mystic Rose, pp. 10-80.
On Sacrifice consult: A. Lang, Custom and Myth, pp. 105-120; idem. Modern Mythology, pp. 70-91; H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, part i., chap, xix., London, 1889; G. Allen, Evolution of Idea of God, chaps, v.-vii., xvi., ib. 1897; F. B. Jevons, ut sup., chaps, xi.-xii.; W. R. Smith, Rel, of Sem., pp. 213-end; idem, Kinship, pp. 308 sqq.; Frazer, ut sup., chap, iii.; S. Hartland, ut sup., chap, xviii.
Consult further: J. F. C. Hacker, Dancing Mania of the Middle Ages, New York, 1888; B. Sidis, Psychology of Suggestion, ib. 1898; R. N. Cust, Common Features which appear in all Religions, London, 1895.
COMPLINE: The concluding part of the day's office in the breviary (q.v.), normally recited just before bedtime and corresponding in some ways to prime, though even more than the latter office it has a general and invariable character all through the year. It begins with a short lesson (I Pet. v. 8), followed by the confession and absolution, four psalms, the hymn, another short lesson with responsory, the Nunc dimittis or Song of Simeon (Luke ii. 29-32), and certain prayers. See Vespers.
COMPOSTELLA: Properly Santiago de Compostella, a city of Galicia, northwestern Spain (33 m. s. by w. of Corunna), reputed burial-place of the apostle James the Greater and for several centuries the most frequented place of pilgrimage in Western Europe. Although the book of Acts (xii. 2) states that James was put to death in Jerusalem (44 A.D.), Spanish tradition declares that he went to Spain and suffered martyrdom there. For a long time his burial-place was unknown, but it was miraculously discovered early in the ninth century. A chapel — which in time gave way to a cathedral —was built on the spot, and a town grew up there, called Ad sanctum Jacobum apostolum or Giacomo postolo, whence Compostella (?). The story is first found in the ninth century (Walafried Strabo, Poema de xii. apostolis, and others), and is generally rejected by Protestants. Most Roman Catholic scholars also do not accept the alleged visit of James to Spain, but incline to believe the tradition concerning his burial-place. Santiago is now a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, the seat of an archbishop and of a university. For the Order of Compostella see James, Saint, of Compostella, Order op. (O. ZoCKLERt.)
Bibuographt: H. Florez, Espana sagrada, iii., app. x., pp. *1 4-435, Madrid, 1754; Natalis Alexander, i/istoria eccle- •KMftco, sec. i., dissert., prop, i., vol. iii. 161 sqq., Venice, '78; P. B. Gams, Die Kirchengeschichte Spaniens, ii. 1, pp. 285-299, ii. 2, pp. 361-396, Regensburg, 1864; KL. lu. 774-777.
COMPSTON, HERBERT FULLER BRIGHT.
Church of England; b. at Barnsley (21 m. n. of Sheffield), Yorkshire, England, Oct. 17, 1866. He studied at Exetor College, Oxford (B.A., 1891), and was curate of Totnes (1893-94), Holy Trinity, Bournemouth (1895-97), and St. Saviour's, Brixton Hill (1898-1903). In 1900 he was appointed lecturer in Latin at King's College, London, and lecturer in Hebrew three years later. He is also a member of the faculty of theology in the University of London and has been curate of St. Mark's, North Audley Street, London, W., since 1903. In theology he is a liberal Churchman.
COMPTON, HENRY: Bishop of London; b. at Compton Wynyates (25 m. n.n.w. of Oxford), Warwickshire, 1632, youngest son of the Earl of Northampton; d. at Fulham, near London, July 7, 1713. He studied at Queen's College, Oxford, 1649-52, went abroad and did not return to England until the Restoration, when he received a commission in the army; decided to enter the Church and was admitted M.A. at Cambridge 1661; entered Christ Church, Oxford, 1666 (B.D. and D.D., 1669); was consecrated bishop of Oxford 1674, translated to London 1675. He was privy councilor, and was entrusted with the religious education of the king's nieces, Mary and Anne, each of whom afterward became queen of England. In 1686, under James II., he was suspended from his bishopric for having refused to suspend at the king's command Dr. John Sharp, dean of Norwich, who had preached against popery. He actively espoused the cause of William and Mary, crowned them king and queen in 1689, and was reinstated in his old positions and given new honors and responsibilities. The close of his life was embittered by disappointment at not receiving the primacy. He was conciliatory toward dissenters, but his efforts to unite them to the Church met with little appreciation from either churchmen or non-conformists. He gave liberally to all in need and for building churches and hospitals, and died poor in consequence. He was a good botanist and in his grounds at Fulham had " a greater variety of curious exotic plants and trees than had at the time been collected in any garden in England." Besides episcopal letters (republished as Episcopalia with Memoir by S. W. Cornish, Oxford, 1842) and charges, he published The Life of Donna Olimpia Maldachini (1667), translated from the Italian; The Jesuits' Intrigues (1669) and A Treatise of the Holy Communion (1677), translated from the French.
COMTE, cent, ISIDORE AUGUSTE MARIE FRANCOIS XAVIER (usually simply AUGUSTE): The founder of the positive school of philosophy (see Positivism); b. at Montpellier (76 m. w.n.w. of Marseilles) Jan. 19, 1798; d. in Paris Sept. 5, 1857. He was educated mainly at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. In 1817 he came under the influence of Saint-Simon, who helped to determine the future course of his mental activity. In 1826 he began a course of lectures covering the whole range of science as conceived by him, which was terminated by an attack of brain fever, resulting in such cerebral disturbance as to necessitate his
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