pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
CURRAN, John Philpot, a celebrated Irish advocate and orator, was born at Newmarket, near Cork, in the year 1750. He received his education at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he went to London, and studied at one of the inns of court. In due time he was called to the bar; and shortly afterwards he married Miss O’Dell, an Irish lady of a very respectable family. His talents soon rendered him conspicuous, and during the Duke of Portland’s administration he received a silk gown. In 1784 he was chosen a member of the Irish House of Commons, where his abilities were advantageously employed; and he gradually rose to be the most popular advocate of his age and country. The distracted state of Ireland towards the close of the last century gave frequent opportunities for the display of Curran’s forensic powers; and he was often called upon to defend persons accused of political offences. Mr Fitzgibbon, afterwards Lord Clare, but at that period attorney-general, was bis opponent; and from being brought so frequently into collision with each other, their professional rivalry at last degenerated into personal animosity, which was finally consummated in a bloodless duel. On a change of ministry, during the vice-royalty of the Duke of Bedford, the patriotism of Curran was rewarded with the situation of master of the rolls. This situation he held till 1814, when he resigned it, and obtained a compensation of L.3000 a year. With this he retired to England, and resided chiefly in the neighbourhood of London till his death, which took place at Brompton, on the 13th November 1817. Curran’s talents were of a very high order. His wit, drollery, and pathos were alike remarkable. If the expression may be used, the character of his eloquence was peculiarly Irish. It was replete with bold and striking metaphor, and went moreto interest the feelings by its irresistible appeals, than to convince the judgment by its closely reasoned deductions. It was the language of fearless and impassioned genius. And this was just the kind of eloquence that was wanted in the cases upon which he was employed, and among the people before whom he pleaded. If it be the test of supreme genius to produce strong emotions, some of Curran’s speeches maybe placed amongst the noblest efforts of forensic skill which modern times can boast of. Even after the lapse of half a century, when the circumstances which called them forth have begun to fade into dimness and distance, they cannot be perused without rousing the feelings to the highest pitch.

As a companion, he could be exceedingly agreeable; and his conversation was often highly fascinating. In his domestic relations he was very unfortunate; and it seems that he laid himself open to censure. Curran does not [7:7:552]appear to have committed any thing to the press; but some poetical effusions published in his memoirs possess considerable merit. In 1805 there appeared an unauthorized collection of his forensic speeches, in one volume 8vo. Memoirs of his life have been published by his son, Mr Charles Phillips, and Mr O’Regan.
CURRANS, or Currants, the fruit of a species of grossularia.
CURRENCY. See Money.
CURRICULUS, in ancient writers, denotes the year or course of a year. Actum est hoc annorum Pominicae incarnationis quater quinquagenis et quinquies quinis lustris, et tribus curriculis, that is, in the year 1028; for four times fifty make two hundred, and five times two hundred make one thousand; five lustres are twenty-five years, and three curriculi are three years.
CURRIERS, those who dress and colour leather after it comes from the tan-yard. See Tanning.
CURRODREPANUS, compounded of currus, ŭ. chariot, and ¾žwatot’, a scythe or sickle, in antiquity, a kind of chariot armed with scythes. The driver of a chariot of this kind was obliged to ride on one of the horses, as there was no other seat for him; the usual place for the charioteer being armed with knives, as was likewise the hinder part of the chariot. There were no scythes pointing down to the earth, either from the beam or axle-tree; but these were fixed at the head of the axle-tree, in such a manner as to be moveable by means of a rope, and thereby could be raised or let down, drawn forward or let fall backward, at pleasure.
CURRYING, the method of preparing leather with oil, tallow, and other substances. The chief business of currying is to soften cow and calf-skins, which form the upper leathers and quarters of shoes, coverings of saddles, coaches, and other things intended to exclude water. These skins, after coming from the tanner’s yard, having many fleshy fibres on them, the currier soaks them some time in common water. He then takes them out, stretches them on a very even wooden horse, and with a paring knife scrapes off all the superfluous flesh, and puts them in to be soaked again. He next puts them wet on a hurdle, and tramples them with his heels till they begin to grow soft and pliant. He then soaks thereon train-oil, which by its unctuous quality is the best liquid for this purpose; after which he spreads them on large tables, and fastens them at the ends. Then, with the help of an instrument called a pummel, which is a thick piece of wood, the under side of which is full of furrows crossing each other, he folds, squares, and moves them forwards and backwards several times, under the teeth of this instrument, which breaks their too great stiffness. This is what is properly called currying. The order and number of these operations is varied by different curriers, but the material part of them is always the same. After the skins are curried there may be occasion to colour them. The colours are black, white, red, yellow, and green; the other colours are given by the skinners, who differ from curriers in this, that they apply their colours on the flesh side, whereas the curriers do so on the hair side. In order to whiten skins, they are rubbed with lumps of chalk or white lead, and afterwards with pumice-stone. When a skin is to be made black, the currier, after having oiled and dried it. passes over it a puff dipped in water impregnated with [7:7:557]iron; and after his first wetting, he gives it another in water prepared with soot, vinegar, and gum-arabic. These different dyes gradually turn the skin black, and the operations are repeated till it be of a shining black. The grain and wrinkles, which contribute to the suppleness of calves’ and cows’ leather, are made by the reiterated folds given to the skin in every direction, and by the care taken to scrape off all hard parts on the colour side.
CURSITOR, a clerk belonging to the court of chancery, whose business it is to make out original writs.
CURTAIN, or Courtine, in Fortification, is that part of the body of a place which joins the flank of one bastion to that of another.
CURTIUS, Marcus, a Roman youth, who, about 360 years before the Augustan age, devoted himself to the gods manes for the safety of his country. A wide gap had suddenly opened in the Forum, and the oracle had declared that it never would close until Rome threw into it whatever she had that was accounted most precious. Curtius immediately perceived that no less than a human sacrifice was required; and having armed himself and mounted his charger, he plunged into the gulf, which instantly closed over his head.

Curtius, Quintus, a Latin historian, who wrote the life of Alexander the Great in ten books, of which the first two are not indeed extant, but they were so well supplied by Freinshemius that the loss is scarcely regretted. Where this writer was born, or when he lived, are points which no one pretends to know. By his style he is supposed to have flourished in or near the Augustan age; whilst some imagine the work to have been composed in Italy about three centuries ago, and the name of Quintus Curtius to be fictitiously added to it. Cardinal Duperron was so great an admirer of this work as to declare that one page of it was worth thirty of Tacitus, a declaration which at least shows that the cardinal’s judgment was by no means equal to his admiration. M. le Clerc, at the end of his Art of Criticism, has charged this writer with great ignorance and many contradictions. But Curtius has nevertheless many valuable qualities as a writer, which will always make him read if not admired.
CURVATURE of a Line, is the peculiar manner of its bending or flexure, by which it becomes a curve of any r form and properties. Thus the nature of the curvature of a circle is such as that every point in the periphery is equally distant from a point within, called the centre; and hence the curvature of the circle is everywhere the same. But the curvature in all other curves is continually varying.
CURVE, in Geometry, a line which, running on continually in all directions, may be cut by a right line in more points than one.

Curve of Equable Approach. Leibnitz first proposed to find a curve, down which a body descending by the force of gravity shall make equal approaches to the horizon in equal portions of time. This curve, as it has been found by Bernoulli and others, is the second cubical parabola placed with its vertex uppermost, and which the descending body must enter with a certain determinate velocity. The question was rendered general by Varignon for any law of gravity, by which a body may approach towards a given point by equal spaces in equal times. Maupertuis also resolved the problem in the case of a body descending in a medium, the resistance of which is as the square of the velocity.

Curves, Algebraical or Geometrical, are those in which the relation of the abscisses to the ordinates can be expressed by a common algebraic equation.

Curves, Transcendental or Mechanical, are those which cannot be defined or expressed by an algebraic equation.
CURULE Chair, in Roman antiquity, a chair adorned with ivory, in which the superior magistrates of Rome had a right to sit and be carried.

The curule magistrates were the aediles, the praetors, the censors, and the consuls. The chair was fitted in a kind of chariot, whence it had its name. The senators who had borne the offices of aediles, praetors, censors, or consuls, were carried to the senate-house in this chair, as were all those who had triumphed, and such as had been appointed to administer justice.
CURUMAH, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Bahar, 82 miles south-south-east from Patna. Long. 85. 43. E. Lat. 24. 29. N.
CURYPUM, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Orissa, possessed by independent rajahs. It is 103 miles west by north of Ganjam. Long. 83. 47. E. Lat. 19.40. N.
CURZOLA, an island in the Gulf of Venice, lying on the coast of Dalmatia. It is about twenty miles long, and has a small town of the same name, with a bishop’s sec. It now belongs to the Austrians. Long. 17. 15. E. Lat. 43. 6. N.
CUSA, Nicholas de, a learned cardinal, of mean parentage, and so named from Cusa, the place of his birth. He was made a cardinal in 1448; and being appointed governor of Rome by Pope Pius II. during his absence at Mantua, he became the chief author and manager of the war against the Turks. He founded a church, and a noble library of Greek and Latin authors, at Cusa; and left many excellent works, which were collected and published in three volumes at Basil in 1565. In these he made no scruple to expose the fabulous traditions and the sophistries of the Roman church.
CUSCO, a large and handsome town of South America, in Peru, formerly the residence of the Incas. It is situated at the foot of a mountain, and is built in a square form, in the middle of which there is the best market in all America. Four large streets, which are all as straight as a line, terminate in this square. The Spaniards relate wonderful things of the richness of the Inca’s palace, and of the temple of the sun; but more sober travellers, judging from what remains, think most of these stories fabulous. From this town there is a very long road, which runs along the Cordilleras; and, at certain distances, there are small houses for resting places, some parts of which are so artificially wrought that it is surprising how a people who had no iron tools could execute such workmanship. There are streams of water running through the town, which are a great convenience in so hot a country, where it never rains. It is 375 miles east of Lima. Long. 71. 47. W. Lat. 13. 40. S.
CUSH, the eldest son of Ham, and father of Nimrod. Though we know of no other person in Scripture who is indicated by this name, yet there are several countries which are called by it; but whether the same man may have dwelt in all of them at different times, or whether there were some other men of this name, we are unable to say.

The Vulgate, Septuagint, and other interpreters, both ancient and modern, generally translate Cush, Ethiopia ; but there are many passages in which this translation cannot take place.

Cusn is the name of the country watered by the Araxes. They who, in translating the passage relative to the situation of Eden, made Cush Ethiopia, gave rise to the unwarrantable opinion which Josephus and several others have entertained, that the river Gihon was the Nile. Cuth is the same as Cush; the Chaldees generally putting the tau where the Hebrews use the schiri.

But Ethiopia in the Hebrew is frequently called Cush ; St Jerome tells us that the Hebrews call the Ethiopians [7:7:558] by this name, and the Seventy gave them no other. Jeremiah (xiii. 23) asks, “can the Cushaean, or Ethiopian, change his colour ?” In Ezekiel (xxxix. 10) the Lord threatens to reduce “Egypt to a desert, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Cush or Ethiopia;” and in Isaiah (xi. 11) it is said, “he will recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and Pathros, and from Cush.” All these marks agree with Ethiopia properly so called, which lies to the south of Egypt.

Bochart has shown very clearly that there was a country called the land of Cush in Arabia Petraea, bordering upon Egypt; that this country extended itself principally along the eastern shore of the Red Sea, and at its extremity to the point of the sea, inclining towards Egypt and Palestine.

Thus there are three countries of the name of Cush, described in Scripture, and all confounded by interpreters under the general name of Ethiopia.
CUSHION, in engraving, is a bag of leather filled with sand, commonly about nine inches square, and three or four thick, used for supporting the plate to be engraved.
CUSP (cw,ψzs) properly denotes the point of a spear or sword; but it is used in astronomy to express the points or horns of the moon, or any other luminary.

Cusp, in Astrology, is used for the first point of each of the twelve houses, in a figure or scheme of the heavens.
CUSPINIAN, John, a German, whose native name was Speishammer, was born at Sweinfurt in 1473, and died at Vienna in 1529. He was first physician to the Emperor Maximilian I. and employed by that prince in several delicate negociations. We have of his, in Latin, 1. A History of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to the death of Maximilian I. which Wheare, in his Methodus Legendes Historice, calls luculentum sane opus, et omnium lectione dignissimum, 1519, fol.; 2. A History of Austria, being a continuation of the preceding, Basil, 1553, fol.; 3. A History of the origin of the Turks, and of their cruelties towards Christians, Antwerp, 1541, 8vo; and some other works. Gerard Vossius calls Cuspinian magnum suo cevo historice lumen.
CUSTOMS, or the duties, toll, tribute, or tariff, payable upon merchandise exported and imported. See England and Taxation. Custom-House, an office established by the king’s authority in the maritime cities or sea-ports, for the receipt and management of the customs and duties of importation and exportation, imposed on merchandises, and regulated by books of rates.
CUSTOS Brevium, the principal clerk belonging to the court of common pleas, whose business it is to receive and keep all the writs made returnable in that court, filing every return by itself; and, at the end of each term, to receive of the prothonotaries all the records of the nisi prius, called the posteas. Custos Rotulorum, an officer who has the custody of the rolls and records of the session of peace, and also of the commission of the peace itself. He is usually some person of quality, and always a justice of the peace, of the quorum, in the county where he is appointed.

Custos Spiritualium, he who exercises the spiritual jurisdiction of a diocese, during the vacancy of any see, which by the canon law belongs to the dean and chapter, but at present, in England, to the archbishop of the province by prescription.

Custos Temporalium was the person to whom a vacant see or abbey was given by the king, as supreme lord. His office, as steward of the goods and profits, was to give an account to the escheator, who did the same to the exchequer.
CUTAKI, a small town of Hindustan, in the province of North Canara, above the Western Ghauts. The neighbourhood was formerly infested by robbers, from whose depredations the Brahmins, an industrious class of persons, fled and concealed themselves, with their effects, in the forests during the rainy season. Under the British regime these disorders have been checked, and the tranquillity of the country maintained. Long. 74. 48. E. Lat. 14. 52. N.
CUTH, or Cuthah, in Ancient Geography, a province of Assyria, situated, according to some, upon the Araxes, and the same with Cush; whilst others take it to be the same with the country which the Greeks call Susiana, and which is by the inhabitants called Chusestan. Calmet is of opinion that Cuthah and Scythia are the Same, and that the Cuthites who were removed into Samaria by Salmanaser (2 Kings, xvii. 24) came from Cush or Cuth. (See the article Cusn.) The Cushites worshipped the idol Nergal. These people were transplanted into Samaria in the room of the Israelites, who before inhabited it. Calmet is of opinion that they came from the land of Cush, or Cuthah, upon the Araxes, and that their first settlement was in the cities of the Medes subdued by Salmanaser and the kings of Syria his predecessors. The Scripture observes, that the Cuthites, upon their arrival in this new country, continued to worship the gods formerly adored by them beyond the Euphrates. But Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who succeeded Sennacherib, appointed an Israelitish priest to go thither and instruct them in the religion of the Hebrews. These people, however, thought that they might reconcile their old superstition with the worship of the true God, and they therefore framed particular gods for themselves, which they placed in the several cities where they dwelt. The Cuthites then worshipped both the true God and their false gods together, and chose the lowest of the people to make of them priests to serve in the high places; and they continued this practice for a long time. But afterwards they forsook the worship of idols, and adhered to the law of Moses.
CUTTACK, an extensive district of Hindustan, in the province of Orissa, lying chiefly between the twentieth and twenty-second degrees of north latitude. To the north it is bounded by Midnapoor and Mohurbunge, on the south by the Circars, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, and on the west by different small states in the interior of Orissa. Its length is computed at about 140 or 150 miles, and its average breadth at about sixty milcs. The country varies in the quality of its soil; in some parts it is fertile and highly cultivated, other parts are sandy and barren, and that lying near the hills is overrun with brushwood. This district is inhabited by a great many weavers, who manufacture muslins, in pieces chiefly for turbans. But its chief source of gain is the celebrated temple of Juggernaut, which is annually visited by some hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, who, besides offerings to their idol, pay a considerable tribute to government, in addition to the sums of money spent on their route. Many Brahmins are dependents on this temple, and do not therefore attend to agriculture. The country is well watered by the Mahanuddy and Bramnce or Bonnce rivers, and their branches, and many small streams. Its chief towns are Cuttack, Juggernaut, Balasore, and Jagepore. This district is mentioned so early as the year 1212, under the title of Jagepore, by the Mahommedan historians; and it was not properly subdued till the year 1569, when it was conquered and annexed to Bengal. It was ceded.in the year 1751 to the Mahrattas, and came into the possession of the British in the year 1803, during the administration of Marquis Wellesley, who subdivided it into the southern and northern districts of Juggernaut and Balasore. The inhabitants are estimated at 1,200,000, almost wholly professing Brahminical doctrines.

Cuttack, the capital of the above district, which was formerly fortified, and contained a number of good houses and bazars; but during the period when it was possessed by the Mahrattas it fell into decay. Its position is naturally strong, being on a neck of land washed by the Mahanuddy and Gunjoory rivers, and it is a place of some consequence, being the only road between Bengal and the Northern Circars. The low country round the town is under water during the rainy season for a circuit of ten miles, and the station is considered unhealthy. In the year 1592 it withstood the Mogul arms for nearly a month. Long. 86. 10. E. Lat. 20. 31. N.
CUTTER, a small vessel, commonly navigated in the English Channel. It is furnished with one mast, and rigged as a sloop. Many of these vessels are used in an illicit trade, while others arc employed by government to take them, and either under the direction of the admiralty or that of the custom-house.

Cutter is also a small boat used by ships of war.
CUTTERAH, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Delhi, and district of Bareilly. Here was fought the decisive battle, in 1774, in which Sujah ud Dowlah, with the aid of the British forces, defeated the Rohillahs, who were nearly all exterminated by the cruelty of the conquerors, and annihilated as an independent state.
CUTTING, a term used in various senses in various arts; but in general it implies a division or separation.

Cutting is particularly used in heraldry where the shield is divided into two equal parts from right to left, parallel to the horizon, or in the fesse-way.

The word is also applied to the honourable ordinaries, and even to animals and moveables, when they are divided equally the same way, so as that one moiety is colour, and the other metal. The ordinaries are said to be cut, couped, when they do not come full to the extremities of the shield.

Cutting, in the manege, is when the horse’s feet inter- l fere, or when with the shoe of one foot he beats off the skin from the pastern joint of another. This is more frequent in the hind feet than in the fore; and the causes are either weariness, weakness in the reins, not knowing how to go, or ill shoeing.

Cutting, in Painting, the laying one strong lively colour over another, without any shade or softening. The cutting of colours has always a disagreeable effect.

Cuttings, or slips, in Gardening, the branches or sprigs of trees or plants cut or slipped off to set again, which is done in any moist fine earth. (See Horticulture).