and, his patron being made lord-lieutenant of Ireland, he accompanied him to that kingdom. When lord Halifax became secretary of state, he procured nothing better for Cumberland than the clerkship of reports in the office of trade and plantations. In the course of the next two or three years, he wrote an opera, entitled the Summer's Tale, and his comedy of the Brothers. His West Indian, which was brought out by Garrick in 1771, proved eminently successful. The Fashionable Lover not obtaining the success of the West Indian, he exhibited that soreness of character which exposed him to the satire of Sheridan, in his sketch of Sir Fretful Plagiary, and which induced Garrick to call him the man without a skin. The Choleric Man, the Note of Hand, and the Battle of Hastings, were his next productions. On the accession of lord George Germaine to office, he was made secretary to the board of trade. In 1780, he was employed on a confidential mission to the courts of Lisbon and Madrid, which, owing to some dissatisfaction on the part of the ministry, involved him in great distress, as they withheld the reimbursement of his expenses to the amount of £5000, which rendered it necessary for him to dispose of the whole of his hereditary property. To add to his misfortune, the board of trade was broken up, and he retired with a very inadequate pension, and devoted himself entirely to literature. The first works which he published, after his return from Spain, were his entertaining Anecdotes of Spanish Painters, and the most distinguished of his collection of essays, entitled the Observer. To these may be added the novels of Arundel, Henry, and John de Lancaster, the poem of Calvary, the Exodiad (in conjunction with sir James Bland Burgess), and, lastly, a poem called Retrospection, and the Memoirs of his own Life. He also edited the London Review, in which the critics gave their names, and which soon expired. His latter days were chiefly spent in London, where he died, May 7, 1811. The comic drama was his forte; and, although he wrote much, even of comedy, that was very indifferent, the merit of the West Indian, the Fashionable Lover, the Jew, and the Wheel of Fortune, is of no common description. His Observer, since his acknowledgment of his obligations to doctor Bentley's manuscripts, no longer supports his reputation as a Greek critic; and as a poet, he was never more than a ver

sifier.

CUMBERLAND; a post-town, and capital

of Alleghany county, Maryland, on the Potomac, at the junction of Will's creek, 70 miles W. Hagerstown, 130 E. S. E. Wheeling, 150 W. by N. Baltimore. It is a considerable town, and contains a courthouse, a jail, a market-house, a bank, and four houses of public worship-one for Lutherans, one for Roman Catholics, one for Methodists, and one built jointly by the Presbyterians and Episcopalians. The mountains in the vicinity abound in stonecoal, great quantities of which are transported down the Potomac in flat and keel boats. The Cumberland or Great Western road extends from this town to the banks of the Ohio at Wheeling. It was made by the government of the U. States, at the expense of $1,800,000; and a survey has been made from thence to the Mississippi, 600 miles farther.

CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS, in Tennessee. The range commences in the S. W. part of Pennsylvania, and, in Virginia, it takes the name of Laurel mountain, passes through the S. E. part of Kentucky, and terminates in Tennessee, 80 miles S. E. Nashville. A considerable portion of this mountain in Tennessee is composed of stupendous piles of craggy rocks. It is thinly covered with trees, and has springs impregnated with alum. Lime-stone is found on both sides of it.

CUMBERLAND; a river which rises in the Cumberland mountains, Virginia, and runs through Kentucky and Tennesseeinto the Ohio, 60 miles from the Mississippi. It is navigable for steam-boats to Nashville, near 200 miles, and for boats of 15 tons, 300 miles farther. At certain seasons, vessels of 400 tons may descend 400 miles, to the Ohio.

CUMMAZEE, or COOMASSIE; a town of Africa, capital of Ashantee; 120 miles N.N. W. Cape Coast Castle; lon. 2°6′ W.; lat. 6° 30′ N.: population estimated by Mr. Bowdich, in 1818, at 15,000; stated by the inhabitants at 100,000. It is situated in a vale, surrounded by an unbroken mass of the deepest verdure. Four of the principal streets are half a mile long, and from 50 to 100 yards broad. The houses are low and small, of a square or oblong form, composed of canes wattled together, and plastered with clay and sand. The town has considerable trade. The king's harem is said to contain 3333 women!

CUNDINAMARCA; the northern part of New Grenada. It forms a department of the republic of Colombia, and comprehends the provinces of Bogotá, Antioquia, Mariquita and Neiva, with 371,000 inhabitants. The chief place is Santa Fe de Bogotá.

CUNERSDORF; a village near Frankfort on the Oder, known on account of the bloody battle in which Frederic the Great was defeated, Aug. 12, 1759. It is only about 50 miles distant from Berlin, his capital. Opposed to him were the Russians under Soltikoff, and the Austrians under Laudon. Victory seemed, at first, likely to declare in favor of Frederic, but, eventually, he lost all his artillery and 20,000 men. (See Seven Years' War.) The king at first gave up all hope, but soon recovered his spirits, when Soltikoff, with inconceivable tardiness, neglected to follow up his victory.

CUPEL; a shallow earthen vessel, somewhat resembling a cup, from which it derives its name. It is formed of boneashes, and is extremely porous. It is used in assays, to separate the precious metals from their alloys. The process of cupellation consists in fusing an alloy of a precious metal, along with a quantity of lead, in a cupel. The lead is extremely susceptible of oxidation, and, at the same time, it promotes the oxidation of other metals, and vitrifies with their oxides. The foreign metals are thus removed; the vitrified matter is absorbed by the cupel, or is driven off by the blast of the bellows, as it collects on the surface; and the precious metal at length remains nearly pure.

CUPELLATION. (See Cupel.)

CUPICA; a seaport and bay of Colombia, on the S. E. side of Panama, following the coast of the Pacific ocean, from cape St. Miguel to cape Corrientes. This is thought by Humboldt the most favorable point for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by a canal. From the bay of Cupica, there is a passage of only 15 or 18 miles, over a country quite level, and suited to a canal, to the head of navigation of the river Naipi, a branch of the river Atrato, which flows into the Atlantic. Gogueneche, a Biscayan pilot, is said to have first pointed out this spot as almost the only place where the chain of the Andes is completely interrupted, and a canal thus made practicable.

CUPID; a celebrated deity among the ancients; the god of love, and love itself. There are different traditions concerning his parents. Cicero mentions three Cupids; one, son of Mercury and Diana; another, son of Mercury and Venus; and the third, son of Mars and Venus. Plato mentions two. Hesiod, the most ancient theogonist, speaks only of one, who, as he says, was produced at the same time as Chaos and the Earth. There are, accord

ing to the more received opinions, two Cupids, one of whom is a lively, ingenious youth, son of Jupiter and Venus, whilst the other, son of Nox and Erebus, is distinguished by his debauchery and riotous disposition. Cupid is represented as a winged infant, naked, armed with a bow, and a quiver full of arrows. On gems and all other antiques, he is represented as amusing himself with some childish diversion. Sometimes he appears driving a hoop, throwing a quoit, playing with a nymph, catching a butterfly, or with a lighted torch in his hand. At other times, he plays upon a horn before his mother, or closely embraces a swan, or, with one foot raised in the air, he, in a musing posture, seems to meditate some trick. Sometimes, like a conqueror, he marches triumphantly, with a helmet on his head, a spear on his shoulder, and a buckler on his arm, intimating that even Mars himself owns the superiority of love. His power was generally shown by his riding on the back of a lion, or on a dolphin, or breaking to pieces the thunder-bolts of Jupiter. Among the ancients, he was worshipped with the same solemnity as his mother, Venus, and his influence was extended over the heavens, the sea, and the earth, and even the empire of the dead. His divinity was universally acknowledged, and vows, prayers and sacrifices were daily offered to him. According to some accounts, the union of Cupid with Chaos gave birth to men, and all the animals which inhabit the earth; and even the gods themselves were the offspring of love, before the foundation of the world. (See Amor.)

CUPOLA (Ital.), in architecture; a hemispherical roof, often used as the summit of a building. The Italian word cupola signifies a hemispherical roof, which covers a circular building, like the Pantheon at Rome, and the round temple at Tivoli. Many of the ancient Roman temples were circular; and the most natural form for a roof for such a building was that of a half globe, or a cup reversed. The invention, or at least the first use, of the cupola belongs to the Romans; and it has never been used with greater effect than by them. The greater part of modern cupolas (unlike those of the ancients, which are mostly hemispherical) are semi-elliptical, cut through their shortest diameter. The ancients seldom had any other opening than a large circle in the centre, called the eye of the cupola; while the moderns elevate lanterns on their top, and perforate them with luthern and dormant win

dows, and other disfigurements. The ancients constructed their cupolas of stone; the moderns, of timber, covered with lead or copper. Of cupolas, the finest, without any comparison, ancient or modern, is that of the Rotundo or Pantheon at Rome. Of modern constructions, some of the handsomest are the cupola on the bank of England, that of St. Peter's at Rome, those of St. Paul's, London, the Hotel des Invalides, and the church of St. Genevieve at Paris, Santa Maria da Fiori at Florence, and St. Sophia at Constantinople. CURAÇAO; an island in the Caribbean sea, about 75 miles from the continent of South America, belonging to the Netherlands; 30 miles long, and 10 broad; producing sugar and tobacco, also large and small cattle; but not generally fertile. It has several good ports, particularly one on the southern coast, called St. Barbara, where a great trade was formerly carried on by the Dutch in African slaves. Lon. 69° 26′ W.; lat. 12° N.; population, 8500. The principal towns are Curaçao and Williamstadt. The city of Curaçao is well situated, and elegantly built. It is full of storehouses, and provided with every species of merchandise. Williamstadt is considered the capital.

CURASSOA ORANGES (aurantia curassaventia), or small oranges fallen from the tree long before their maturity, have properties similar to those of the orange-peel: they are, however, more bitter and acrid. They are used in the U. States and in England for the same purposes as the orange-peel, and also as issue peas.

CURDS; a wandering people, divided into many tribes, and dwelling in the country which lies between the foot of mount Caucasus and the Black sea, and stretches to the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates. Their incursions into the Russian territories have been checked by the troops on the frontier, and they have preferred to leave Persia rather than to become settled and tributary to the shah. They are Mohammedans, but neither of the Turkish nor Persian sect. The most unprincipled part of the Curds are the Yezides, who esteem the plunder of caravans, murder, theft and incest lawful. There are no Armenian Christians among this people, who, in spite of the repeated demands of the pacha, have never paid to the Porte either poll-tax or taxes on their property (miri). They, however, sometimes propose to the Porte the persons whom they wish as pachas and beys, and the Porte has never failed to comply with their request. It is said that the Curds

are descended from the Usbeck Tartars or from the Mongols; but their external appearance is very unlike that of the Tartars. The Curds wear a cloak of black goatskin, and, instead of a turban, a high, red cap. The Turkish dress is never worn, because they consider that it would mark them as vassals of the sultan. The young men wear mustachios; the old men suffer their beards to grow. The Curd is a good rider, and uses his lance with skill. He is fond of music, and sings in ballads the exploits of his nation. There are some of this people settled in the plains of Armenia, but no branch acknowledges itself tributary to the Porte. If the winter among the highlands proves too cold for the wild mountain Curd, he descends to these plains, and lives in low tents of dark, coarse linen. An enclosure made of reeds, near his tent, surrounds the place where he keeps his cattle, which he has brought from the mountains. This people, who live by plunder, respect the rights of hospitality, and usually make their guest some present when he departs. The patriarchal authority of parents is very great. A son never marries without their consent. Although otherwise so deficient in moral principle, they believe that no one can refuse the request of an unfortunate man without being punished by God. Mithridates, king of Pontus, took advantage of this belief to supply the losses of his army in his wars with the Romans. The more wonderful the escapes of the unfortunate individual, the more confident are they that he will experience a change of fortune. On this account, these mountains are the refuge of the enemies of the Turkish pachas; and they often return from them more formidable than they' were before. Pottage, milk and honey form the principal food, of the Curds. They drive annually to Constantinople alone 1,500,000 sheep, and goats in flocks of 1500-2000, the shepherds being from 15 to 18 months on the road, in going and returning. Northern Curdistan produces grain, sulphur and alum: the southern and warmer parts of the country produce corn, rice, sesamum, fruits, cotton, tobacco, honey, wax, manna and gall-nuts, exported by the way of Smyrna. Curdistan has sangiacks at Bayazid, Mouch, Van, Julamerk, Amadia, Suleihmanieh, Kara-Djiolan and Zahou. Of all these sangiacks, the Porte appoints only that of Van. Each sangiack governs a number of the tribes of his nation, who obey his commands in war, but are wholly independent of him in time of peace. The Chris

tians, who constitute the principal population of the plains of Armenia, suffer every year from the incursions of the Curds, and, the Porte being unable to protect them, they are compelled continually to remove farther to the south, where they are also liable to be plundered by the Bedouins or Wechabites. Their only hope is in the increasing power of the Russian army on the Turkish, Curdish and Persian frontiers, and in the expectation that the Russians will at last put an end to the robberies of the Turks and the oppression of the pachas.

CURETES. (See Corybantes.) CURIA, PAPAL, is a collective appellation of all the authorities in Rome, which exercise the rights and privileges which the pope enjoys as first bishop, superintendent and pastor of Roman Catholic Christendom. The right to grant or confirm ecclesiastical appointments is exercised by the dataria. (q. v.) This body receives petitions, draws up answers, and collects the revenues of the pope for the pallia, spolia, benefices, annates, &c. It is a lucrative branch of the papal government, and part of the receipts go to the apostolic chamber. There is more difficulty attending the business of the rota (q. v.), the high court of appeal. In former times, the cardinal grand penitentiary, as president of the penitenzieria, had a very great influence. He issues all dispensations and absolutions in respect to vows, penances, fasts, &c., in regard to which the pope has reserved to himself the dispensing power; also with respect to marriages within the degrees prohibited to Catholics. Besides these authorities, whose powers extend over all Catholic Christendom, there are, in Rome, several others, occupied only with the government of the Roman state; as the sagra consulta, the chief criminal court, in which the cardinal secretary of state presides; the signatura di giustizia, a court for civil cases, consisting of 12 prelates, over which the cardinalprovveditore, or minister of justice of the pope, presides, and with which the signatura di grazia concurs; the apostolic chamber, in which 12 prelates are employed, under the cardinale camerlingo, administering the property of the church and the papal domains, and receiving the revenue which belongs to the pope as temporal and spiritual sovereign of the Roman state; also that which he derives from other countries which stand immediately under him, and are his fiefs. Besides these, there is a number of governors, prefects, procuratori, &c., in the different

branches of the administration. The drawing up of bulls, answers and decrees, which are issued by the pope himself, or by these authorities, is done by the papal chancery, consisting of a vice-chancellor and 12 abbreviatori (q. v.), assisted by several hundred secretaries: the breves only are excepted, and are drawn up by a particular cardinal. All these offices are filled by clergymen; and many of them are so lucrative, that considerable sums are paid for them, somewhat in the same manner as commissions are purchased in the English army. At the death of Sixtus V, there existed 4000 venal offices of this kind; but this number has since been diminished, and many abuses have been abolished. The highest council of the pope, corresponding, in some measure, to the privy council of a monarch, is the college of the cardinals, convened whenever the pope thinks fit. The sessions of this senate, which presides over all the other authorities in Rome, are called consistories. They are of three different kinds. The secret consistory is held, generally, twice a month, after the pope has given private audience to every cardinal. In these sessions, bishops are elected, pallia granted, ecclesiastical and political affairs of importance transacted, and resolutions adopted on the reports of the congregations delegated by the consistory: beatifications and canonizations also originate in this body. Different from the secret consistories are the semi-secret ones, whose deliberations relate principally to political affairs, and the results of them are communicated to the ambassadors of foreign powers. The public consistories are seldom held, and are, principally, ceremonial assemblies: in these the pope receives ambassadors, and makes known important resolutions, canonizations, establishments of orders, &c. According to rule, all cardinals residing in Rome should take part in the consistories; but, in point of fact, no one appears without being especially summoned by the pope. The pope, if able to do so, always presides in person, and the cardinal secretary of state (who is minister of the interior and of foreign affairs) is always present, as are likewise the cardinals presidents of the authorities. At present, there are 22 congregations of cardinals at Rome: 1. the holy Roman and general inquisition, or holy office (santo officio); 2. visita apostolica; 3. consistoriale; 4. vescovi regolari; 5. de concilio (tridentino); 6. residenza di vescovi; 7. immunita ecclesiastica; 8. propaganda; 9. indici (of prohibited books); 10. sagri riti

(of the holy rites); 11. ceremoniale; 12. disciplina regolare (orders of monks); 13. indulgenze e sagre reliquie; 14. esame dei vescovi; 15. correzioni dei libri della chiesa Orientale; 16. fabbrica di S. Pietro (who have charge of the repairs of St. Peter's); 17. consulta; 18. Buongoverno; 19. Loretto; 20. hydraulic works and the Pontine marshes; 21. economica; 22. extraordinary ecclesiastical affairs. Few, however, of these congregations, are fully supplied with officers.

CURIA; certain divisions of the Roman people, which Romulus is said to have established. According to Liv. i. 13, he divided Rome into 30 curia, and assigned to each a separate place, where they might celebrate their feasts, under their particular priest (curio). At the comitia, the people assembled in curia, to vote on important matters. The whole Roman people were divided by Romulus (Dionys. Halic. ii. c. 62) into three tribes, each tribe into 10 curie, each curia into 10 decuria. To vote curiatim, therefore, is to vote by curia. The division into curia was founded on locality, and therefore contradistinguished from the division according to tribes (a number of families of the same descent). Niebuhr, in his Roman History, treats this subject with uncommon erudition and perspicuity in vol. i, chapter The Patrician Houses and the Curia.-Curia also signified a public building; as, curia municipalis, &c.

CURIATII. (See Horatii.)

CURIUS DENTATUS, Marcus Annius; an illustrious Roman, who was three times consul, and twice obtained the honors of a triumph. He vanquished the Samnites, Sabines and Lucanians, and defeated Pyrrhus, near Tarentum, B. C. 272. When the deputies of the Samnites appeared before him for the purpose of concluding a peace, they found him on his farm, boiling vegetables in an earthen pot. They attempted to purchase his favor by offering him vessels of gold, but the noble Roman disdainfully refused their offers. "I prefer," said he, "my earthen pots to your vases of gold. I have no desire for wealth, and am satisfied to live in poverty, and rule over the rich."

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CURLEW (numenius, Briss.); a genus of birds belonging to the order grallæ, or waders, and family limicola, whose most remarkable characteristic is, that the bill is wholly or partially covered by a soft, sensitive skin, which enables them to obtain their food from the mud with facility, though unable to discover it by sight. The genus is characterized by a very long,

slender, almost cylindrical, compressed and arcuated bill, having the upper mandible longer than the lower, furrowed for three fourths of its length, and dilated and rounded towards the tip. The nostrils are situated in the furrow, at the base, and are lateral, longitudinal and oblong. The tongue is very short and acute. The feet are rather long, slender, and four-toed; the tarsus is one half longer than the middle toe. The fore toes are connected, at the base, by a short membrane, to the first joint. The nails are compressed, curved, acute, and the cutting edge of the middle one is entire. The first primary is the longest; the tail, which is somewhat rounded, consists of 12 feathers. The plumage of the curlew is generally dull, being grayish-brown, rusty-white and blackish, in both sexes, which are similar in size. The young bird also differs very little from the parents, except that the bill is much shorter and straighter. Their favorite resorts are marshy and muddy places, in the vicinity of water, over which they run with great quickness. They feed on various worms, small fishes, insects and molluscous animals, and are very shy, wary and vigilant of the approach of man. They are monogamous, and pass most of their time separate from the rest of their species. Their nests are built on tufts or tussocks in the marshes, and, during incubation, both parents assiduously devote themselves to their charge. The eggs are usually four, being much larger at one end than the other, or pyriform in shape. The young, as soon as hatched, leave the nest to seek their own subsistence. the period of migration, the curlews unite to form large flocks, and their flight is high, rapid and protracted. They utter a loud, whistling note, easily recognised when once heard, but not easy to be characterized by description. Three species of curlew are inhabitants of this continent

At

the long-billed curlew (N. longirostris, Wils.), the Esquimaux curlew (N. Hudsonicus, Lath.) and the boreal curlew (N. borealis, Lath.). The two first are common in spring and autumn, in the Middle States of the Union: the last is rare in the U. States.

CURRAN, John Philpot, a celebrated Irish advocate, of humble origin, was born at Newmarket, near Cork, in 1750. He was educated at Trinity college, Dublin, after which he repaired to London, and studied at one of the inns of court. due time, he was called to the bar; shortly after which he married Miss O'Dell, an Irish lady of a very respectable family.

In