The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 149

CULLODEN, a moor, 5 m. NE. of Inverness, where the Duke of c.u.mberland defeated Prince Charles in 1746, and finally wrecked the Stuart cause in the country.

CULPEPER, NICHOLAS, a herbalist, born in London, who practised medicine and a.s.sociated therewith the art of the astrologer as well as the faith of a Puritan; was a character and a phenomenon of his time (1616-1654).

CULVERWEL, NATHANIEL, an English author, born in Middles.e.x; educated at Cambridge, and one of the Platonist school there; wrote "Light of Nature," "Spiritual Optics," "Worth of Souls," &c., works which evince vigour of thinking as well as literary power (1633-1651).

c.u.mae, a considerable maritime city of Campania, now in ruins; alleged to be the earliest Greek settlement in Italy; famous as the residence of the SIBYL (q. v.), and a place of luxurious resort for wealthy Romans.

c.u.mBERLAND (250), a county in N. of England, of mountain and dale, with good agricultural and pasture land, and a rich coal-field on the coast, as well as other minerals in the interior.

c.u.mBERLAND, DR. RICHARD, bishop of Peterborough, born in London, educated at Cambridge, wrote several works, the chief "An Inquiry into the Laws of Nature," in reply to Hobbes, in which he elevates the tendency to produce happiness into something like a moral principle; wrought hard, lived to a great age, and is credited with the saying, "Better wear out than rust out" (1631-1718).

c.u.mBERLAND, RICHARD, dramatist, great-grandson of the preceding; was a prolific writer for the stage; the play "The West Indian," which established his reputation, was his best (1732-1811).

c.u.mBERLAND, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, DUKE OF, second son of George II., was defeated at Fontenoy by the French in 1745; defeated the Pretender next year at Culloden; earned the t.i.tle of "The Butcher" by his cruelties afterwards; was beaten in all his battles except this one (1721-1765).

c.u.mBRIA, a country of the Northern Britons which, in the 6th century, extended from the Clyde to the Dee, in Cheshire.

c.u.mMING, GORDON, the African lion-hunter, of Celtic origin; served for a time in the army; wrote an account of his hunting exploits in his "Five Years of a Hunter's Life" (1820-1866).

c.u.mMING, JOHN, a Scotch clergyman, popular in London, born at Fintray, in Aberdeenshire; of a highly combative turn, and rather foolhardy in his interpretations of prophecy (1807-1881).

CUNARD, SIR SAMUEL, founder of Cunard Line of Steamships, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1787-1865).

CUNAXA, a town in Babylonia, on the Euphrates, 60 m. N. of Babylon.

CUNCTATOR, a name given to Fabius Maximus on account of the tantalising tactics he adopted to wear out his adversary Hannibal.

CUNE'IFORM, an epithet applied to the wedge-shaped characters in which the a.s.syrian and other ancient monumental inscriptions are written.

CUNNINGHAM, ALLAN, poet and man of letters, born in the parish of Keir, Dumfriesshire; bred to the mason craft, but devoted his leisure hours to study and the composition of Scottish ballads, which, when published, gained him the notice of Sir Walter Scott; in 1810 he went to London, where he wrote for periodicals, and obtained employment as a.s.sistant to Chantrey the sculptor, in which post he found leisure to cultivate his literary proclivities, collating and editing tales and songs, editing Burns with a Life, and writing the Lives of famous artists, and died in London; "a pliant, _Naturmensch_," Carlyle found him to be, "with no principles or _creed_ that he could see, but excellent old _habits_ of character" (1784-1842).

CUNNINGHAM, PETER, son of the preceding, author of the "Life of Drummond of Hawthornden," "Handbook of London," &c. (1816-1867).

CUNNINGHAM, WILLIAM, a Scotch divine, born in Hamilton, well read in the Reformation and Puritan theology, a vigorous defender of Scottish orthodoxy, and a stanch upholder of the independence of the Church of State control; was a powerful debater, and a host in any controversy in which he embarked (1805-1861).

CUPID, or AMOR, the G.o.d of love, viewed as a chubby little boy, armed with bow and arrows, and often with eyes bandaged.

CUPID AND PSYCHE, an allegorical representation of the trials of the soul on its way to the perfection of bliss, being an episode in the "Golden a.s.s" of Apuleius. See PSYCHE.

CURAcA'O (26), one of Antilles, in the West Indies, belonging to the Dutch, 36 m. long by about 8 broad; yields, along with other West Indian products, an orange from the peel of which a liqueur is made in Holland.

CURe OF MEUDON, Rabelais.

CURE'TES, priests of Cybele, in Crete, whose rites were celebrated with clashing of cymbals.

CURETON, WILLIAM, Syriac scholar, born in Shropshire, a.s.sistant-keeper of MSS. at the British Museum; applied himself to the study and collation of Syriac MSS., and discovered, among other relics, a version of the Epistle of Ignatius; was appointed canon of Westminster (1808-1864).

CURIATII, three Alban brothers who fought with the three Horatii Roman brothers, and were beaten, to the subjection of Alba to Rome.

CURLE, EDMUND, a London bookseller, notorious for the issue of libellous and of obscene publications, and for prosecutions he was subjected to in consequence (1675-1747).

CURLING, a Scottish game played between rival clubs, belonging generally to different districts, by means of cheese-shaped stones hurled along smooth ice, the rules of which are pretty much the same as those in bowling.

CURRAN, JOHN PHILPOT, an Irish orator and wit, born in co. Cork; became member of Parliament in 1784; though a Protestant, employed all his eloquence to oppose the policy of the Government towards Ireland, together with the Union; retired on the death of Pitt; was Master of the Rolls for a time; was Irish to the core (1750-1817).

CURRIE, JAMES, a Liverpool physician, born in Kirkpatrick-Fleming, Dumfriesshire; was the earliest biographer and editor of Burns, in 4 vols., a work he undertook for behoof of his widow and family, and which realised 1400, involved no small labour, was done _con amore_, and done well (1756-1805).

CURRIE, SIR PHILIP, her Majesty's amba.s.sador at Constantinople since 1893; has been connected with the Foreign Office since 1854; had been attache at St. Petersburg, and was secretary to Lord Salisbury; _b_.

1834.

CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM, an American writer, born in Rhode Island, distinguished as contributor or editor in connection with several American journals and magazines; _b_. 1824.

CURTIUS, a n.o.ble youth of Roman legend who leapt on horseback full-armed into a chasm in the Forum, which the soothsayers declared would not close unless at the sacrifice of what Rome held dearest, and which he did, judging that the wealth of Rome lay in its citizens, and tradition says the chasm thereupon immediately closed.

CURTIUS, ERNST, a German archaeologist and philosopher, born at Lubeck; travelled in Greece and Asia Minor; contributed much by his researches to the history of Greece, and of its legends and works of art; his jubilee as a professor was celebrated in 1891, when he received the congratulations of the Emperor William II., to whose father he at one time had acted as tutor; _b_. 1814.