No measuring of shots allowable previous to the termination of the end. Disputed shots to be determined by the skips, or, if they disagree, by the umpire, or, when there is no umpire, by some neutral person chosen by the skips. All measurements to be taken from the centre of the tee, to that part of the stone which is nearest it. No stone shall be considered without a circle, or over a line, unless it clear it;—and in every case, this is to be determined by placing a square on the ice, at the circle or line.
Skips shall have the exclusive regulation and direction of the game for their respective parties, and may play last stone, or in what part of it they please; and, when their turn to play comes, they may name one of their party to take charge for them.
If any player shall speak to, taunt or interrupt another, not being of his own party, while in the act of delivering his stone, one shot shall be added to the score of the party so interrupted.
If from any change of weather after a match has been begun, or from any other reasonable cause, one party shall desire to shorten the rink, or to change to another one, and, if the two skips cannot agree, the umpire shall, after seeing one end played, determine whether the rink shall be shortened, and how much or whether it shall be changed, and his decision shall be final.
See Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, Edinburgh.
CURLL, EDMUND (1675-1747), English bookseller, was born in 1675 in the west of England. His parents were in humble circumstances. After being apprenticed to an Exeter bookseller he came to London and started business on his own account, advertising himself by a system of newspaper quarrels. His connexion with the anonymously-published Court Poems in 1716 led to the long quarrel with Pope, who took his revenge by immortalizing Curll in the Dunciad. Curll became notorious for his indecent publications, so much so that “Curlicism” was regarded as a synonym for literary indecency. In 1716 and again in 1721 he had to appear at the bar of the House of Lords for publishing matter concerning its members. In 1725 he was convicted of publishing obscene books, and fined in 1728 for publishing The Nun in her Smock and De Usu Flagrorum, while his Memories of John Ker of Kersland cost him an hour in the pillory. When Curll in 1735 announced the forthcoming publication of “Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence,” his stock, at Pope’s instigation, was seized. It has since been proved that the publication was really instigated by Pope, who wanted an excuse to print his letters, as he actually did (1737-1741). In his forty years of business Curll published a great variety of books, of which a very large number, fortunately, were quite free from “Curlicisms.” A list of his publications contains, indeed, 167 standard works. He died on the 11th of December 1747.
For Curll’s relations with Pope, see the Life of Pope, by Sir Leslie Stephen in the English Men of Letters series.
CURRAGH, a level stretch of open ground in Co. Kildare, Ireland, famous for its race-course and its military camp. It has an area of upwards of 4800 acres; and its soft natural sward, which has never been broken by the plough, affords excellent pasture for sheep. From the peculiarity of its herbage, the district is known in the neighbourhood as “the short grass”; and the young men of Kildare are jocularly distinguished as the “boys of the short grass.” The land is the property of the crown, which appoints a special officer as the ranger of the Curragh; but the right of pasturage is possessed by the landowners of the vicinity. The oldest mention of the Curragh occurs in the Liber Hymnorum (the manuscript of which probably dates from the 10th century) in connexion with St Bridget, who is said to have received a grant of the district from the king of Leinster, and is popularly credited with the honour of having turned it into a common. It is evident, however, that long before the days of the saint the downs of Kildare had afforded a regular place of assembly for the people of the south of Ireland. The word cuirrech, cognate with the Lat. cursus, signifies a race-course, and chariot-races are spoken of as taking place on the Curragh as early as the 1st century A.D. The Aenach Colmain (Curragh fair), also called Aenach Lifè (the fair on the plain of the Liffey), is frequently mentioned in the Irish annals, and both racing and other sports were carried on at this, the principal meeting of its kind in southern Ireland, and the plain appears from time to time as the scene of hostile encounters between the kings of Meath, Leinster and Offaly. In 1234 the earl of Pembroke was defeated here by the viceroy of Ireland, Lord Geoffrey de Monte Marisco; and in 1406 the Irish under the prior of Connell were routed by the English. In 1789 the Curragh was the great rendezvous for the volunteers, and in 1804 it saw the gathering of 30,000 United Irishmen. The camp was established at the time of the Crimean War, and is capable of accommodating 12,000 men. The races are held in April, June, September and October.