Chapter VIII: Part 8

Curran's legal erudition was never profound; and though he was capable of the most ingenious pleading, his appeal was always to the emotions of his audience. His best speeches are one fiery torrent of invective, pathos, national feeling and wit. His diction was lofty and sonorous. He was, too, a most brilliant wit and of wonderful quickness in repartee. To his personal presence he owed nothing; for he was short, slim and boyish-looking, and his voice was thin and shrill.

See _Curran and his Contemporaries_, a most entertaining work, by
Charles Phillips, a personal friend of Curran's (1818), and the _Life
of Curran_, by his son, W. H. Curran (1819), and with additions by Dr
Shelton Mackenzie, New York, (1855), both of which contain numerous
samples of Curran's eloquence. See also _Curran's Speeches_ (1805,
1808, 1845); _Memoirs of Curran_, by Wm. O'Regan (1817); Letters to
Rev. H. Weston (1819); T. Moore's _Memoirs_ (1853).

CURRANT. (1) The dried seedless fruit of a variety of the grape-vine, _Vitis vinifera_, cultivated principally in Zante, Cephalonia and Ithaca, and near Patras, in the Morea (see GREECE). Currants were brought originally from Corinth, whence their name; in the 13th and 14th centuries they were known as _raisins de Corauntz_. In the Ionian Islands the currant-vine is grown on the sides of the lower hills, or in the valleys, the grape-vine occupying the higher and less open and rich ground. Gypseous marls, or calcareous marls containing a little gypsum, are preferred to limestone soils, as they allow of deep penetration of the roots of the vines. The most favourable situations are those where a good supply of water can be obtained for the irrigation of the plantations. This is carried on from the end of October to the close of the year, after which all that is necessary is to keep the ground moist. The vines are planted in rows 3 or 4 ft. apart. Propagation is effected by grafting on stocks of the grape-vine, or by planting out in spring the young, vigorous shoots obtained at the end of the previous year from old currant-vines that have been cut away below the ground. The grafts bear fruit in three years, the slips in about double that time. The vine stock for grafting is cut down to the depth of a foot below the surface of the soil; two or three perpendicular incisions are made near the bark with a chisel; and into these are inserted shoots of the last year's growth. The engrafted part then receives an application of moist marls, is wrapped in leaves and bound with rushes, and is covered with earth, two or three eyes of the shoots being left projecting above ground. In December the currant plantations are cleared of dead and weak wood. In February the branches are cut back, and pruned of median shoots, which are said to prevent the lateral ones proceeding from the same bud from bearing fruit. In order effectually to water the trees, the earth round about them is in February and March hoed up so as to leave them in a kind of basin, or is piled up against their stems. In March, when the leaves begin to show, the ground is thoroughly turned, and if requisite manured, and is then re-levelled. By the middle of April the leaves are fully out, and in June it is necessary to break back the newly-formed shoots. The fruit begins to ripen in July, and in the next month the vintage takes place. At this season rain is greatly dreaded, as it always damages and may even destroy the ripe fruit. The plantations, which are commonly much exposed, are watched by dogs and armed men. In Cephalonia the currant-grape is said to ripen at least a week earlier than in Zante. To destroy the oidium, a fungal pest that severely injures the plantations, the vines are dusted, at the time the fruit is maturing, with finely-ground brimstone. The currants when sufficiently ripe are gathered and placed on a drying ground, where they are exposed to the sun in layers half an inch thick; from time to time they are turned and swept into heaps, until they become entirely detached from stalk. They are then packed in large butts for exportation. The wine made from the currant-grape is inferior in quality, but is said to be capable of much improvement. The fresh fruit is luscious and highly flavoured, but soon cloys the palate.

(2) The currants of British kitchen-gardens--so called from a resemblance to the foregoing--are the produce of _Ribes nigrum_ and _R. rubrum_, deciduous shrubs of the natural order _Ribesiaceae_, indigenous to Britain, northern and central Europe, Siberia and Canada. The former species bears the black, the latter the red currant. White currants are the fruit of a cultivated variety of _R. rubrum_. Both red and black currants are used for making tarts and pies, jams, jellies and wine; the latter are also employed in lozenges, popularly supposed to be of value in relieving a sore throat, are occasionally preserved in spirits, and in Russia are fermented with honey to produce a strong liquor.

Currants will flourish in any fairly good soil, but to obtain large crops and fine fruit a good rich loam is desirable; with an annual dressing of farmyard manure or cowdung, after the winter pruning, for established trees. The plants are best propagated by cuttings, which should consist of strong well-ripened young shoots taken off close to the old wood. These should be planted as soon as possible after the wood is matured in autumn about 6 in. apart. The plants are grown with the best results as bushes, but may also be trained against a wall or trellis. In the matter of pruning it must be borne in mind that red and white currants form their fruit buds on wood two to three years old, and the main shoots and side branches may therefore be cut back. Black currants on the other hand form fruit buds on the new wood of the previous year, hence the old wood should be cut away and the young left.

The black currant is subject to the attacks of a mite, _Phytoptus ribis_, which destroys the unopened buds. The buds, when attacked, recognized by their swollen appearance, should be picked off and burned. The attacks of the caterpillars of the gooseberry and other moths may be met by dusting the bushes with lime and soot when the plants are moist with dew or after syringing.

The following forms are recommended for cultivation:--_Black_: Lee's Prolific, Baldwin's or Carter's Champion and Black Naples; _Red_: Cherry, Raby Castle, Red Dutch and Comet; _White_: White Dutch. A kind of black currant (_Ribes magellanicum_), bearing poor and acid fruit, is indigenous to Tierra del Fuego.

CURRICLE (Lat. _curriculum_, a small car), a light two-wheeled vehicle, generally for driving with two horses.

CURRIE, SIR DONALD (1825-1909), British shipowner, was born at Greenock on the 17th of September 1825. At a very early age he was employed in the office of a shipowner in that port, but at the age of eighteen left Scotland for Liverpool, where shipping business offered more scope. By a fortunate chance he attracted the notice of the chief partner in the newly started Cunard steamship line, who found him a post in that company. In 1849 the Cunard Company started a service between Havre and Liverpool to connect with their transatlantic service. Currie was appointed Cunard agent at Havre and Paris, and secured for his firm a large share of the freight traffic between France and the United States. About 1856 he returned to Liverpool, where till 1862 he held an important position at the Cunard Company's headquarters. In 1862 he determined to strike out for himself, and leaving the Cunard established the "Castle" line of sailing-ships between Liverpool and Calcutta. Business prospered, but in 1864 Currie found it profitable to substitute London for Liverpool as the home port of his vessels, and himself settled in London. In 1872 he came to the conclusion, after a careful study of all the circumstances, that the development of Cape Colony justified the starting of a new line of steamers between England and South Africa. The result of this decision was the founding of the successful Castle line of steamers (see under Steamship Lines), which after 1876 divided the South African mail contract with the older Union line, and was finally amalgamated with the latter under the title Union Castle line in 1900. Currie's intimate knowledge of South African conditions and persons was on several occasions of material service to the British government. His acquaintance with Sir John Brand, the president of what was then the Orange Free State, caused him to be entrusted by the home government with the negotiations in the dispute concerning the ownership of the Kimberley diamond-fields, which were brought to a successful conclusion. He introduced the two Transvaal deputations which came to England in 1877 and 1878 to protest against annexation, and though his suggestions for a settlement were disregarded by the government of the day, the terms on which the Transvaal was subsequently restored to the Boers agreed, in essentials, with those he had advised. The first news of the disaster of Isandhlwana in the Zulu War was given to the home government through his agency. At that time there was no cable between England and South Africa, and the news was sent by a Castle liner to St Vincent, and telegraphed thence to Currie. At the same time by diverting his outward mail-boat then at sea from its ordinary course to St Vincent, he enabled the government to telegraph immediate instructions to that island for conveyance thence by the mail, thus saving serious delay, and preventing the annihilation of the British garrison at Eshowe. The present arrangement under which the British admiralty is enabled to utilize certain fast steamers of the mercantile marine as armed cruisers in war-time was suggested and strongly urged by Currie in 1880. In the same year he was returned to parliament as Liberal member for Perthshire, but, though a strong personal friend of W. E. Gladstone, he was unable to follow that statesman on the Home Rule question, and from 1885 to 1900 he represented West Perthshire as a Unionist. In 1881 his services in connexion with the Zulu War were rewarded with knighthood, and in 1897 he was created G.C.M.G. He died at Sidmouth on the 13th of April 1909.

CURRIE, JAMES (1756-1805), Scottish physician and editor of Burns, son of the minister of Kirkpatrick-Fleming, in Dumfriesshire, was born there on the 31st of May 1756. Attracted by the stories of prosperity in America he went in 1771 to Virginia, where he spent five hard years, much of the time ill and always in unprofitable commercial business. The outbreak of war between the Colonies and England ended any further chance of success, and sailing for home in the spring of 1776 after many delays he reached England a year later. He then proceeded to study medicine at Edinburgh, and after taking his degree at Glasgow he settled at Liverpool in 1780, where three years later he became physician to the infirmary. He died at Sidmouth on the 31st of August 1805. Among other pamphlets Currie was the author of _Medical Reports on the Effects of Water, Cold and Warm, as a Remedy in Fevers and Febrile Diseases_ (1797), which had some influence in promoting the use of cold water affusion, and contains the first systematic record in English of clinical observations with the thermometer. But he is best known for his edition (1800), long regarded as the standard, of Robert Burns, which he undertook in behalf of the family of the poet. It contained an introductory criticism and an essay on the character and condition of the Scottish peasantry.

See the _Memoir_ by W. W. Currie, his son (1831).

CURRY. (1) (Through the O. Fr. _correier_, from Late Lat. _conredare_, to make ready, prepare; a later form of the French is _courroyer_, and modern French is _corroyer_), to dress a horse by rubbing down and grooming with a comb; to dress and prepare leather already tanned. The currier pares off roughnesses and inequalities, makes the leather soft and pliable, and gives it the necessary surface and colour (see LEATHER). The word "currier," though early confused in origin with "to curry," is derived from the Late Lat. _coriarius_, a leather dresser, from _corium_, hide. The phrase "to curry favour," to flatter or cajole, is a 16th century corruption of "to curry favel," i.e. a chestnut horse. This older phrase is an adaptation of an Old French proverbial expression _estriller fauvel_, and is paralleled in German by the similar _den fahlen Hengst streichen_. A chestnut or fallow horse seems to have been taken as typical of deceit and trickery, at least since the appearance of a French satirical beast romance the _Roman de fauvel_ (1310), the hero of which is a counterpart of Reynard the Fox (q.v.).

(2) A name applied to a great variety of seasoned dishes, especially those of Indian origin. The word is derived from the Tamil _kari_, a sauce or relish for rice. In the East, where the staple food of the people consists of a dish of rice, wheaten cakes, or some other cereal, some kind of relish is required to lend attraction to this insipid food; and that is the special office of curry. In India the following are employed as ingredients in curries: anise, coriander, cumin, mustard and poppy seeds; allspice, almonds, assafoetida, butter or ghee, cardamoms, chillies, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa-nut and cocoanut milk and oil, cream and curds, fenugreek, the tender unripe fruit of _Buchanania lancifolia_, cheroonjie nuts (the produce of another species, _B. latifolia_), garlic and onions, ginger, lime-juice, vinegar, the leaves of _Bergera Koenigii_ (the curry-leaf tree), mace, mangoes, nutmeg, pepper, saffron, salt, tamarinds and turmeric.

The cumin and coriander seeds are generally used roasted. The various materials are cleaned, dried, ground, sifted, thoroughly mixed and bottled. In the East the spices are ground freshly every day, which gives the Indian curry its superiority in flavour over dishes prepared with the curry-powders of the European market.

CURSOR, LUCIUS PAPIRIUS, Roman general, five times consul and twice dictator. In 325 he was appointed dictator to carry on the second Samnite War. His quarrel with Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, his _magister equitum_, is well known. The latter had engaged the enemy against the orders of Cursor, by whom he was condemned to death, and only the intercession of his father, the senate and the people, saved his life. Cursor treated his soldiers with such harshness that they allowed themselves to be defeated; but after he had regained their good-will by more lenient treatment and lavish promises of booty, they fought with enthusiasm and gained a complete victory. After the disaster of the Caudine Forks, Cursor to some extent wiped out the disgrace by compelling Luceria (which had revolted) to surrender. He delivered the Roman hostages who were held in captivity in the town, recovered the standards lost at Caudium, and made 7000 of the enemy pass under the yoke. In 309, when the Samnites again rose, Cursor was appointed dictator for the second time, and gained a decisive victory at Longula, in honour of which he celebrated a magnificent triumph. Cursor's strictness was proverbial; he was a man of immense bodily strength, while his bravery was beyond dispute. He was surnamed Cursor from his swiftness of foot.

Livy viii., ix.; Aurelius Victor, _De viris illustribus_, 31;
Eutropius ii. 8. 9.

His son of the same name, also a distinguished general, completed the subjection of Samnium (272). He set up a sun-dial, the first of its kind in Rome, in the temple of Quirinus.

Livy x. 39-47; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, vii. 60.

CURSOR MUNDI, an English poem in the Northern dialect dating from the 13th century. It is a religious epic of 24,000 lines "over-running" the history of the world as related in the Old and New Testaments. "Cursur o werld man aght it call, For almast it over-rennes all." The author explains in his prologue his reasons for undertaking the work. Men desire to read old romances of Alexander, Julius Caesar, Greece, Troy, Brut, Arthur, of Tristram, Sweet Ysoude and others. But better than tales of love is the story of the Virgin who is man's best lover, therefore in her honour he will write this book, founded on the steadfast ground of the Holy Trinity. He writes in English for the love of English people of merry England, so that those who know no French may understand. The history is treated under seven ages. The first four include the period from the creation of the world to the successors of Solomon, the fifth deals with Mary and the birth and childhood of Jesus, the sixth with the lives of Christ and the chief apostles, and with the finding of the holy cross, and the seventh with Doomsday. Four short poems follow, more in some MSS. The bulk of the poem is written in rhyming couplets of short lines of four accents, and maintains a fair level throughout. The narrative is enlivened by many legends and much entertaining matter drawn from various sources; and the numerous transcripts of it prove that it was able to hold its own against profane romance.

The chief sources of the compilation have been identified by Dr Haenisch. For the Old Testament history the author draws largely from the _Historia scholastica_ of Peter Comestor; for the history of the Virgin he often translates literally from Wace's _Etablissement de la fete de la conception Notre Dame_; the parables of the king and four daughters, and of the castle of Love and Grace, are taken from "Sent Robert bok" (1.9516), that is, from the _Chasteau d'Amour_ of Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln; other sources are the apocryphal gospels of Matthew and Nicodemus, a southern English poem on the Assumption of Our Lady, attributed by the writer of _Cursor mundi_ to Edmund Rich of Pontigny, the Vulgate, the _Legenda aurea_ of Jacobus de Voragine, and the _De vita et morte sanctorum_ of Isidore of Seville. The original of the section on the invention of the holy cross is still to seek. In its general plan the work is similar to the _Livre de sapience_ of Herman de Valenciennes.

Of the author nothing is known. In the Cotton MS. Vespasian (A III.) the name of the owner William Cosyn is given (for particulars of this family, which is mentioned in Lincolnshire records as early as 1276, see Dr H. Hupe in the E.E.T.S. ed. of _Cursor mundi_, vol. i. p. 124 *). The date of the book was placed by Dr J. A. H. Murray (_The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland_, 1873, p. 30) in the last quarter of the 13th century, and the place of writing near Durham. Dr Hupe (_loc. cit._ p. 186 *) gives good reasons for believing that the author was a Lincolnshire man, who wrote between 1260 and 1290, although the Cotton MS. probably belongs to the late 14th century. In the Gottingen MS. there are lines (17099-17110) desiring the reader to pray for John of Lindbergh, "that this bock gart dight," and cursing anybody who shall steal it. Lindberg is probably Limber Magna, near Ulceby, in north Lincolnshire. Dr Hupe hazards an identification of the author with this John of Lindberg, who may have been a member of the Cistercian Abbey of Lindberg; but this is improbable.

_Cursor mundi_ was edited for the Early English Text Society in
1874-1893 by Dr Richard Morris in parallel columns from four
MSS.:--Cotton Vespasian A III., British Museum; Fairfax MS. 14, in the
Bodleian library, Oxford; MS. theol. 107 at Gottingen; and MS. R. 3.8
in Trinity College, Cambridge. The edition includes a "Preface" by the
editor, "An Inquiry into the Sources of the _Cursor mundi_" (1885),
by Dr Haenisch, an essay "On the Filiation and the Text of the MSS. of
_Cursor mundi_" (1885), by Dr H. Hupe, "Cursor Studies and Criticisms
on the Dialects of its MSS." (1888), by Dr Hupe and a glossary by Dr
Max Kaluza.

CURTAIN, a screen of any textile material, running by means of rings fixed to a rod or pole. Curtains are now used chiefly to cover windows and doors, but for many centuries every bed of importance was surrounded by them, and sometimes, as in France, the space thus screened off was much larger than the actual bed and was called the _ruelle_. The curtain is very ancient--indeed the absence of glass and ill-fitting windows long made it a necessity. Originally single curtains were used; it would appear that it was not until the 17th century that they were employed in pairs. Curtains are made in an infinite variety of materials and styles; when placed over a door they are usually called _portieres_. In fortification the "curtain" is that part of the enceinte which lies between two bastions, towers, gates, &c.

The word comes into English through the O. Fr. _cortine_ or _courtine_ from the Late Lat. _cortina_. According to Du Cange (_Glossarium_, s.v. "Cortis") this is a diminutive of _cortis_, an enclosed space, a court. It is used in the various senses of the English "curtain." Classical Latin had also a word _cortina_, meaning a caldron or round kettle. It was very rarely applied to round objects generally. In the Vulgate _cortina_ is used of the curtains of the tabernacle (Exodus xxvi). There is some difficulty in connecting the classical and the Late Latin words. The earliest use in English is, according to the _New English Dictionary_, for the hangings of a bed.

CURTANA (a latinized form of the A.-Fr. _curtein_, from Lat. _curtus_, shortened), the pointless sword of mercy, known also as Edward the Confessor's sword, borne at the coronation of the kings of England between the two pointed swords of temporal and spiritual justice (see REGALIA).

CURTEA DE ARGESH (Rumanian, _Curtea de Arges_; also written _Curtea d'Argesh_, _Curtea d'Ardges_, _Argish_ and _Ardjish_), the capital of the department of Argesh, Rumania; situated on the right bank of the river Argesh, where it flows through a valley of the lower Carpathians; and on the railway from Pitesci to the Rothenthurm Pass. Pop. (1900) 4210. The city is one of the oldest in Rumania. According to tradition it was founded early in the 14th century by Prince Radu Negru, succeeding Campulung as capital of Walachia. Hence its name _Curtea_, "the court." It contains a few antique churches, and was created a bishopric at the close of the 18th century.

The cathedral of Curtea de Argesh, by far the most famous building in Rumania, stands in the grounds of a monastery, 1(1/2) m. N. of the city. It resembles a very large and elaborate mausoleum, built in Byzantine style, with Moorish arabesques. In shape it is oblong, with a many-sided annexe at the back. In the centre rises a dome, fronted by two smaller cupolas; while a secondary dome, broader and loftier than the central one, springs from the annexe. Each summit is crowned by an inverted pear-shaped stone, bearing a triple cross, emblematic of the Trinity. The windows are mere slits; those of the tambours, or cylinders, on which the cupolas rest, are curved, and slant at an angle of 70 deg., as though the tambours were leaning to one side. Between the pediment and the cornice a thick corded moulding is carried round the main building. Above this comes a row of circular shields, adorned with intricate arabesques, while bands and wreaths of lilies are everywhere sculptured on the windows, balconies, tambours and cornices, adding lightness to the fabric. The whole is raised on a platform 7 ft. high, and encircled by a stone balustrade. Facing the main entrance is a small open shrine, consisting of a cornice and dome upheld by four pillars. The cathedral is faced with pale grey limestone, easily chiselled, but hardening on exposure. The interior is of brick, plastered and decorated with frescoes. Close by stands a large royal palace, Moorish in style. The archives of the cathedral were plundered by Magyars and Moslems, but several inscriptions, Greek, Slav and Ruman, are left. One tablet records that the founder was Prince Neagoe Bassarab (1512-1521); another that Prince John Radu completed the work in 1526. A third describes the repairs executed in 1681 by Prince Sherban Cantacuzino; a fourth, the restoration, in 1804, by Joseph, the first bishop. Between 1875 and 1885 the cathedral was reconstructed; and in 1886 it was reconsecrated. Its legends have inspired many Rumanian poets, among them the celebrated V. Alexandri (1821-1890). One tradition describes how Neagoe Bassarab, while a hostage in Constantinople, designed a splendid mosque for the sultan, returning to build the cathedral out of the surplus materials. Another version makes him employ one Manole or Manoli as architect. Manole, being unable to finish the walls, the prince threatened him and his assistant with death. At last Manole suggested that they should follow the ancient custom of building a living woman into the foundations; and that she who first appeared on the following morning should be the victim. The other masons warned their families, and Manole was forced to sacrifice his own wife. Thus the cathedral was built except the roof. So arrogant, however, did the masons become, that the prince bade remove the scaffolding, and all, save Manole, perished of hunger. He fell to the ground, and a spring of clear water, which issued from the spot, is still called after him.

CURTESY (a variant of "courtesy," q.v.), in law, the life interest which a husband has in certain events in the lands of which his wife was in her lifetime actually seised for an estate of inheritance. As to the historical origin of the custom and the meaning of the word there is considerable doubt. It has been said to be an interest peculiar to England and to Scotland, hence called the "curtesy of England" and the "curtesy of Scotland"; but this is erroneous, for it is found also in Germany and France. The _Mirroir des Justices_ ascribes it to Henry I. K. E. Digby (_Hist. Real Prop._ chap. iii.) says that it is connected with curia, and has reference either to the attendance of the husband as tenant of the lands at the lord's court, or to mean simply that the husband is acknowledged tenant by the courts of England (_tenens per legem Angliae_). The requisites necessary to make tenancy by the curtesy are: (1) a legal marriage; (2) an estate in possession of which the wife must have been actually seised; (3) issue born alive and during the mother's existence, though it is immaterial whether the issue live or die, or whether it is born before or after the wife's seisin; in the case of gavelkind lands the husband has a right to curtesy, whether there is issue born or not; but the curtesy extends only to a moiety of the wife's lands and ceases if the husband marries again. The issue must have been capable of inheriting as heir to the wife, e.g. if a wife were seised of lands in tail male the birth of a daughter would not entitle the husband to a tenancy by curtesy; (4) the title to the tenancy vests only on the death of the wife. The Married Women's Property Act 1882 has not affected the right of curtesy so far as relates to the wife's undisposed-of realty (_Hope_ v. _Hope_, 1892, 2 Ch. 336), and the Settled Land Act 1884, s. 8, provides that for the purposes of the Settled Land Act 1882 the estate of a tenant by curtesy is to be deemed an estate arising under a settlement made by the wife.

See Pollock and Maitland, _Hist. Eng. Law_; K. E. Digby, _Hist. Real
Prop._; Goodeve, _Real Property_.

CURTILAGE (Med. Lat. _curtilagium_, from _curtile_ or _cortile_, a court or yard, cf. "court"), the area of land which immediately surrounds a dwelling-house and its yard and outbuildings. In feudal times every castle with its dependent buildings was protected by a surrounding wall, and all the land within the wall was termed the curtilage; but the modern legal interpretation of the word, i.e. what area is enclosed by the curtilage, depends upon the circumstances of each individual case, such as the terms of the grant or deed which passes the property, or upon what is held to be a convenient amount of land for the occupation of the house, &c. The importance of the word in modern law depends on the fact that the curtilage marks the limit of the premises in which housebreaking can be committed.

CURTIN ANDREW GREGG (1817-1894), American political leader, was born at Bellefonte, Centre county, Pennsylvania, on the 22nd of April 1817, the son of a native of Ireland who was a pioneer iron manufacturer in Pennsylvania. He graduated from the law department of Dickinson College in 1837, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and successfully practised his profession. Entering politics as a Whig, he was chairman of the Whig state central committee in 1854, and from 1855 to 1858 was secretary of the commonwealth. In this capacity he was also _ex officio_ the superintendent of common schools, and rendered valuable services to his state in perfecting and expanding the free public school system, and in establishing state normal schools. Upon the organization of the Republican party he became one of its leaders in Pennsylvania, and in October 1860 was chosen governor of the state on its ticket, defeating Henry D. Foster, the candidate upon whom the Douglas and Breckinridge Democrats and the Constitutional Unionists had united, by 32,000 votes, after a spirited campaign which was watched with intense interest by the entire country as an index of the result of the ensuing presidential election. During the Civil War he was one of the closest and most constant advisers of President Lincoln, and one of the most efficient, most energetic and most patriotic of the "war governors" of the North. Pennsylvania troops were the first to reach Washington after the president's call, and from first to last the state, under Governor Curtin's guidance, furnished 387,284 officers and men to the Northern armies. One of his wisest and most praiseworthy acts Was the organization of the famous "Pennsylvania Reserves," by means of which the state was always able to fill at once its required quota after each successive call. In raising funds and equipping and supplying troops the governor showed great energy and resourcefulness, and his plans and organizations for caring for the needy widows and children of Pennsylvania soldiers killed in battle, and for aiding and removing to their homes the sick and wounded were widely copied throughout the North. He was re-elected governor in 1863 and served until January 1867. He was United States minister to Russia from 1869 until 1872, when he returned to America and took part in the Liberal Republican revolt against President U. S. Grant. In 1872-1873 he was a member of the state constitutional convention. Subsequently he joined the Democratic party and was a representative in Congress from 1881 to 1887. He died at his birthplace, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of October 1894.

See William H. Egle's _Life and Times of Andrew Gregg Curtin_
(Philadelphia, 1896), which contains chapters written by A. K.
McClure, Jno. Russell Young, Wayne McVeagh, Fitz John Porter and
others.

CURTIS, GEORGE TICKNOR (1812-1894), American lawyer, legal writer and constitutional historian, was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on the 28th of November 1812. He graduated at Harvard in 1832, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and practised in Worcester, Boston, New York and Washington, appearing before the United States Supreme Court in many important cases, including the Dred Scott case, in which he argued the constitutional question for Scott, and the "legal tender" cases. In Boston he was for many years the United States commissioner, and in this capacity, despite the vigorous protests of the abolitionists and his own opposition to slavery, ordered the return to his owner of the famous fugitive slave, Themas Sims, in 1852. He was the nephew and close friend of George Ticknor, the historian of Spanish literature, and his association with his uncle was influential in developing his scholarly tastes; while his other personal friendships with eminent Bostonians during the period of conservative Whig ascendancy in Massachusetts politics were of direct influence upon his political opinions and published estimates. He is best known as the author of _A History of the Origin, Formation and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, with Notices of its principal Framers_ (1854), republished, with many additions, as _The Constitutional History of the United States from their Declaration of Independence to the Close of their Civil War_ (2 vols., 1889-1896). This history, which had been watched in its earlier progress by Daniel Webster, may be said to present the old Federalist or "Webster-Whig" view of the formation and powers of the Constitution; and it was natural that Curtis should follow it with a voluminous _Life of Daniel Webster_ (2 vols., 1870), the most valuable biography of that statesman. Both these works are characterized by solidity and comprehensiveness rather than by rhetorical attractiveness or literary perspective. In his later years Mr Curtis, like so many of the followers of Webster, turned towards the Democratic party; and he wrote, among other works of minor importance, an exculpatory life of President James Buchanan (2 vols., 1883) and two vindications of General George B. McClellan's career (1886 and 1887). He died in New York on the 28th of March 1894.

In addition to the works above mentioned he published: _Digest of the
English and American Admiralty Decisions_ (1839); _Rights and Duties
of Merchant Seamen_ (1841), which elicited the hearty praise of
Justice Joseph Story; _Law of Patents_ (1849); _Equity Precedents_
(1850); _Commentaries on the Jurisprudence, Practice and Peculiar
Jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States_ (1854-1858);
_Creation or Evolution: A Philosophical Inquiry_ (1887); and a novel,
_John Chambers: A Tale of the Civil War in America_ (1889).

His brother, BENJAMIN ROBBINS CURTIS (1809-1874), also an eminent jurist, was born on the 4th of November 1809, in Watertown, Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard in 1829, studied law at Cambridge and at Northfield, Mass., where, after his admission to the bar in 1832, he practised law for two years, and then in Boston in 1834-1851. In 1851, being then a member of the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature, he was on the 22nd of September appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he gained his greatest fame in 1857 by his dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott case, in which he argued that the Missouri Compromise was constitutional, and that negroes could become citizens. His argument was immediately published as an anti-slavery document. On the 1st of September 1857 he resigned from the Supreme Court and resumed his private practice. In 1868 he was one of the counsel for President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial, and opened for the defence in a remarkable two-days' speech. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 15th of September 1874. He prepared _Decisions of the Supreme Court_ (22 vols.) and a _Digest_ of its decisions down to 1854.

_A Memoir of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, with Some of his Professional
and Miscellaneous Papers_, edited by his son Benjamin R. Curtis, was
published at Boston in 1879, the _Memoir_ being by George Ticknor
Curtis.

CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1824-1892), American man of letters, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on the 24th of February 1824, of old New England stock. His mother died when he was two years old. At six he was sent with his elder brother to school in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, where he remained for five years. Then, his father having again married happily, the boys were brought home to Providence, where they stayed till, in 1839, their father removed to New York. Three years later, Curtis, being allowed to determine for himself his course of life, and being in sympathy with the spirit of the so-called Transcendental movement, became a boarder at the community of Brook Farm. He was accompanied by his brother, James Burrill Curtis, whose influence upon him was strong and helpful. He remained there for two years, brought into stimulating and serviceable relations with many interesting men and women. Then came two years, passed partly in New York, partly in Concord in order mainly to be in the friendly neighbourhood of Emerson, and then followed four years spent in Europe, Egypt and Syria.

Curtis returned from Europe in 1850, handsome, attractive, accomplished, ambitious of literary distinction. He instantly plunged into the whirl of life in New York, obtained a place on the staff of the _Tribune_, entered the field as a popular lecturer, set himself to work on a volume published in the spring of 1851, under the title of _Nile Notes of a Howadji_, and became a favourite in society. He wrote much for _Putnam's Magazine_, of which he was associate editor; and a number of volumes, composed of essays written for that publication and for _Harper's Monthly_, came in rapid succession from his pen. The chief of these were the _Potiphar Papers_ (1853), a satire on the fashionable society of the day; and _Prue and I_ (1856), a pleasantly sentimental, fancifully tender and humorous study of life. In 1855 he married Miss Anna Shaw. Not long after his marriage he became, through no fault of his own, deeply involved in debt owing to the failure of _Putnam's Magazine_; and his high sense of honour compelled him to devote the greater part of his earnings for many years to the discharge of obligations for which he had become only by accident responsible, and from which he might have freed himself by legal process. In the period just preceding the Civil War other interests became subordinate to those of national concern. Curtis made his first important speech on the questions of the day at Wesleyan University in 1856; he engaged actively in the presidential campaign of that year, and was soon recognized not only as an effective public speaker, but also as one of the ablest, most high-minded, and most trustworthy leaders of public opinion. In 1863 he became the political editor of _Harper's Weekly_, and no other journal exercised during the war and after it a more important part in shaping public opinion. His writing was always clear, direct, forcible; his fairness of mind and sweetness of temper were invincible. He never became a mere partisan, and never failed to apply the test of moral principle to political measures. From month to month he contributed to _Harper's Monthly_, under the title of "The Easy Chair," brief essays on topics of social and literary interest, charming in style, touched with delicate humour and instinct with generous spirit. His service to the Republican party was such, that more than once he was offered nominations to office of high distinction, and might have been sent as minister to England; but he refused all offers of the kind, feeling that he could render more essential service to the country as editor and public speaker.

In 1871 he was appointed by President Grant chairman of the commission to report on the reform of the civil service. The report which he wrote was the foundation of every effort since made for the purification and regulation of the service and for the destruction of political patronage. From that time till his death Curtis was the leader in this reform, and to his sound judgment, his vigorous presentation of the evils of the corrupt prevailing system, and his untiring efforts, the progress of the reform is mainly due. He was president of the National Civil Service Reform League and of the New York Civil Service Reform Association. In 1884 he refused to support the nomination of James G. Blaine as candidate for the presidency, and thus broke with the Republican party, of which he had been one of the founders and leaders. From that time he stood as the typical independent in politics. In April 1892 he delivered at Baltimore his eleventh annual address as president of the National Civil Service Reform League, and in May he appeared for the last time in public, to repeat in New York an admirable address on James Russell Lowell, which he had first delivered in Brooklyn on the 22nd of the preceding February, the anniversary of Lowell's birth. On the 31st of the following August he died. He was a man of consistent virtue, whose face and figure corresponded with the traits and stature of his soul. The grace and charm of his manner were the expression of his nature. Of the Americans of his time few were more widely beloved, and the respect in which he was held was universal.

See _George William Curtis_, by Edward Cary, in the "American Men of
Letters" series (Boston, 1894), an excellent biography; "An Epistle to
George William Curtis," by James Russell Lowell (1874-1887), in
Lowell's _Poems; George William Curtis_, a Commemorative Address
delivered before The Century Association, 17th December 1892, by Parke
Godwin (New York, 1893); _Orations and Addresses by George William
Curtis_, edited by Charles Eliot Norton (3 vols. New York, 1894).
(C. E. N.)

CURTIUS, ERNST (1814-1896), German archaeologist and historian, was born at Lubeck on the 2nd of September 1814. On completing his university studies he was chosen by C. A. Brandis to accompany him on a journey to Greece for the prosecution of archaeological researches. Curtius then became Otfried Muller's companion in his exploration of the Peloponnese, and on Muller's death in 1840 returned to Germany. In 1844 he became an extraordinary professor at the university of Berlin, and in the same year was appointed tutor to Prince Frederick William (afterwards the Emperor Frederick III.)--a post which he held till 1850. After holding a professorship at Gottingen and undertaking a further journey to Greece in 1862, Curtius was appointed (in 1863) ordinary professor at Berlin. In 1874 he was sent to Athens by the German government, and concluded an agreement by which the excavations at Olympia (q.v.) were entrusted exclusively to Germany. Curtius died at Berlin on the 11th of July 1896. His best-known work is his _History of Greece_ (1857-1867, 6th ed. 1887-1888; Eng. trans. by A. W. Ward, 1868-1873). It presented in an attractive style what were then the latest results of scholarly research, but was criticized as wanting in erudition. It is now superseded (see GREECE: _History, Ancient_, S Bibliography). His other writings are chiefly archaeological. The most important are: _Die Akropolis von Athen_ (1844); _Naxos_ (1846); _Peloponnesos, eine historisch-geographische Beschreibung der Halbinsel_ (1851); _Olympia_ (1852); _Die Ionier vor der ionischen Wanderung_ (1855); _Attische Studien_ (1862-1865); _Ephesos_ (1874); _Die Ausgrabungen zu Olympia_ (1877, &c.); _Olympia und Umgegend_ (edited by Curtius and F. Adler, 1882); _Olympia; Die Ergebnisse der von dem deutschen Reich veranstalteten Ausgrabung_ (with F. Adler, 1890-1898); _Die Stadtgeschichte von Athen_ (1891); _Gesammelte Abhandlungen_ (1894). His collected speeches and lectures were published under the title of _Altertum und Gegenwart_ (5th ed., 1903 foll.), to which a third volume was added under the title of _Unter drei Kaisern_ (2nd ed., 1895).

A full list of his writings will be found in L. Gurlitt, _Erinnerungen
an Ernst Curtius_ (Berlin, 1902); see also article by O. Kern in
_Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, xlvii. (1903), to which may be added
_Ernst Curtius. Ein Lebensbild in Briefen_, by F. Curtius (1903); T.
Hodgkin, _Ernest Curtius_ (1905).

His brother, GEORG CURTIUS (1820-1885), philologist, was born at Lubeck on the 16th of April 1820. After an education at Bonn and Berlin he was for three years a schoolmaster in Dresden, until (in 1845) he returned to Berlin University as _privat-docent_. In 1849 he was placed in charge of the Philological Seminary at Prague, and two years later was appointed professor of classical philology in Prague University. In 1854 he removed from Prague to a similar appointment at Kiel, and again in 1862 from Kiel to Leipzig. He died at Hermsdorf on the 12th of August 1885. His philological theories exercised a widespread influence. The more important of his publications are: _Die Sprachvergleichung in ihrem Verhaltniss zur classischen Philologie_ (1845; Eng. trans. by F. H. Trithen, 1851); _Sprachvergleichende Beitrage zur griechischen und lateinischen Grammatik_ (1846); _Grundzuge der griechischen Etymologie_ (1858-1862, 5th ed. 1879); _Das Verbum der griechischen Sprache_ (1873). The last two works have been translated into English by A. S. Wilkins and E. B. England. From 1878 till his death Curtius was general editor of the _Leipziger Studien zur classischen Philologie_. His _Griechische Schulgrammatik_, first published in 1852, has passed through more than twenty editions, and has been edited in English. In his last work, _Zur Kritik der neuesten Sprachforschung_ (1885), he attacks the views of the "new" school of philology.

_Opuscula_ of Georg Curtius were edited after his death by E. Windisch
(_Kleine Schriften von E. C._, 1886-1887). For further information
consult articles by R. Meister in _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_,
xlvii. (1903), and by E. Windisch in C. Bursian's _Biographisches
Jahrbuch fur Alterthumskunde_ (1886).

CURTIUS, MARCUS, a legendary hero of ancient Rome. It is said that in 362 B.C. a deep gulf opened in the forum, which the seers declared would never close until Rome's most valuable possession was thrown into it. Then Curtius, a youth of noble family, recognizing that nothing was more precious than a brave citizen, leaped, fully armed and on horseback, into the chasm, which immediately closed again. The spot was afterwards covered by a marsh called the Lacus Curtius. Two other explanations of the name Lacus Curtius are given: (1) a Sabine general, Mettius (or Mettus) Curtius, hard pressed by the Romans under Romulus, leaped into a swamp which covered the valley afterwards occupied by the forum, and barely escaped with his life; (2) in 445 B.C. the spot was struck by lightning, and enclosed as sacred by the consul, Gaius Curtius. It was marked by an altar which was removed to make room for the games in celebration of Caesar's funeral (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xv. 77), but restored by Augustus (cf. Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 403), in whose time there was apparently nothing but a dry well. The altar seems to have been restored early in the 4th century A.D. In April 1904, on the N. side of the Via Sacra and 20 ft. N.W. of the Equus Domitiani, remains of the buildings were discovered.

See Livy i. 12, vii. 6; Dion Halic. ii. 42; Varro, _De lingua Latina_,
v. 148; Ch. Hulsen, _The Roman Forum_ (Eng. trans. of 2nd ed., J. B.
Carter, 1906); O. Gilbert, _Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom
im Altertum_, i. (1883), 334-338.

CURTIUS RUFUS, QUINTUS, biographer of Alexander the Great. Of his personal history nothing is known, nor can his date be fixed with certainty. Modern authorities regard him as a rhetorician who flourished during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54). His work (_De Rebus gestis Alexandri Magni_) originally consisted of ten books, of which the first two are entirely lost, and the remaining eight are incomplete. Although the work is uncritical, and shows the author's ignorance of geography, chronology and military matters, it is written in a picturesque style.

There are numerous editions: (text) T. Vogel (1889), P. H. Damste
(1897), E. Hedicke (1908); (with notes), T. Vogel (1885 and later), M.
Croiset (1885), H. W. Reich (1895), C. Lebaigue (1900), T. Stangl
(1902). There is an English translation by P. Pratt (1821). See S.
Dosson, _Etude sur Quinte-Curce, sa vie, et ses oeuvres_ (1887) a
valuable work; F. von Schwarz, _Alexander des Grossen Feldzuge in
Turkestan_ (1893), a commentary on Arrian and Curtius based upon the
author's personal knowledge of the topography; C. Wachsmuth,
_Einleitung in das Studium der alten Geschichte_ (1895), p. 574, cf.
p. 567, note 2; Schwarz, "Curtius Rufus" No. 31 in Pauly-Wissowa
(1901).

CURULE (Lat. _currus_, "chariot"), in Roman antiquities, the epithet applied to the chair of office, _sella curulis_, used by the "curule" or highest magistrates and also by the emperors. This chair seems to have been originally placed in the magistrate's chariot (hence the name). It was inlaid with ivory or in some cases made of it, had curved legs but no back, and could be folded up like a camp-stool. In English the word is used in the general sense of "official." (See CONSUL, PRAETOR and AEDILE.)

CURVE (Lat. _curvus_, bent), a word commonly meaning a shape represented by a line bending continuously out of the straight without making an angle, but only properly to be defined in its geometrical sense in the terms set out below. This subject is treated here from an historical point of view, for the purpose of showing how the different leading ideas were successively arrived at and developed.

1. A curve is a line, or continuous singly infinite system of points. We consider in the first instance, and chiefly, a plane curve described according to a law. Such a curve may be regarded geometrically as actually described, or kinematically as in the course of description by the motion of a point; in the former point of view, it is the locus of all the points which satisfy a given condition; in the latter, it is the locus of a point moving subject to a given condition. Thus the most simple and earliest known curve, the circle, is the locus of all the points at a given distance from a fixed centre, or else the locus of a point moving so as to be always at a given distance from a fixed centre. (The straight line and the point are not for the moment regarded as curves.)

Next to the circle we have the conic sections, the invention of them attributed to Plato (who lived 430-347 B.C.); the original definition of them as the sections of a cone was by the Greek geometers who studied them soon replaced by a proper definition _in plano_ like that for the circle, viz. a conic section (or as we now say a "conic") is the locus of a point such that its distance from a given point, the focus, is in a given ratio to its (perpendicular) distance from a given line, the directrix; or it is the locus of a point which moves so as always to satisfy the foregoing condition. Similarly any other property might be used as a definition; an ellipse is the locus of a point such that the sum of its distances from two fixed points (the foci) is constant, &c., &c.

The Greek geometers invented other curves; in particular, the conchoid (q.v.), which is the locus of a point such that its distance from a given line, measured along the line drawn through it to a fixed point, is constant; and the cissoid (q.v.), which is the locus of a point such that its distance from a fixed point is always equal to the intercept (on the line through the fixed point) between a circle passing through the fixed point and the tangent to the circle at the point opposite to the fixed point. Obviously the number of such geometrical or kinematical definitions is infinite. In a machine of any kind, each point describes a curve; a simple but important instance is the "three-bar curve," or locus of a point in or rigidly connected with a bar pivoted on to two other bars which rotate about fixed centres respectively. Every curve thus arbitrarily defined has its own properties; and there was not any principle of classification.

2. _Cartesian Co-ordinates._--The principle of classification first presented itself in the _Geometrie_ of Descartes (1637). The idea was to represent any curve whatever by means of a relation between the co-ordinates (x, y) of a point of the curve, or say to represent the curve by means of its equation. (See GEOMETRY: _Analytical_.)

Any relation whatever between (x, y) determines a curve, and conversely every curve whatever is determined by a relation between (x, y).

Observe that the distinctive feature is in the _exclusive_ use of such determination of a curve by means of its equation. The Greek geometers were perfectly familiar with the property of an ellipse which in the Cartesian notation is x^2/a^2 + y^2/b^2 = 1, the equation of the curve; but it was as one of a number of properties, and in no wise selected out of the others for the characteristic property of the curve.

3. _Order of a Curve._--We obtain from the equation the notion of an algebraical as opposed to a transcendental curve, viz. an algebraical curve is a curve having an equation F(x, y) = 0 where F(x, y) is a rational and integral function of the co-ordinates (x, y); and in what follows we attend throughout (unless the contrary is stated) only to such curves. The equation is sometimes given, and may conveniently be used, in an irrational form, but we always imagine it reduced to the foregoing rational and integral form, and regard this as the equation of the curve. And we have hence the notion of a curve of a _given order_, viz. the order of the curve is equal to that of the term or terms of highest order in the co-ordinates (x, y) conjointly in the equation of the curve; for instance, xy - 1 = 0 is a curve of the second order.