Every rink of players shall be composed of four a side. No shoes
likely to break the ice may be worn.
The skips opposing each other shall settle by lot, or in any other way they may agree upon, which party shall lead at the first head, after which the winning party shall do so.
All curling stones shall be of a circular shape. No stone shall be of a greater weight than 44 ℔ imperial, or of greater circumference than 36 in., or of less height than one-eighth part of its greatest circumference.
No stone, or side of a stone, shall be changed after a match has been begun, or during its continuance, unless by consent.
Should a stone happen to be broken, the largest fragment shall be considered in the game for that end—the player being entitled afterwards to use another stone or another pair.
If a played stone rolls over, or stops, on its side or top, it shall be put off the ice. Should the handle quit the stone in delivery, the player must keep hold of it, otherwise he shall not be entitled to replay the shot.
Players, during the course of each end, to be arranged along the sides of the rink, anywhere skips may direct; and no party, except when sweeping according to rule, shall go upon the middle of the rink, or cross it, under any pretence whatever. Skips alone to stand at or about the tee—that of the playing party having the choice of place, and not to be obstructed by the other.
If a player should play out of turn, the stone so played may be stopped in its progress, and returned to the player. Should the mistake not be discovered till the stone be at rest, or has struck another stone, the opposite skip shall have the option of adding one to his score, allowing the game to proceed, or declaring the end null and void. But if a stone be played before the mistake has been discovered, the head must be finished as if it had been properly played from the beginning.
The sweeping shall be under the direction and control of the skips. The player’s party may sweep the ice anywhere from the centre line to the tee, and behind it,—the adverse party having liberty to sweep behind the tee, and in front of any of their own stones when moved by another, and till at rest. Skips to have full liberty to clean and sweep the ice behind the tee at any time, except when a player is being directed by his skip.
If in sweeping or otherwise, a running stone be marred by any of the party to which it belongs, it may, at the option of the opposite skip, be put off the ice; if by any of the adverse party, it may be placed where the skip of the party to which it belongs shall direct. If otherwise marred, it shall be replayed.
Every player to be ready to play when his turn comes, and not to take more than a reasonable time to play. Should he play a wrong stone, any of the players may stop it while running; but if not stopped till at rest, the one which ought to have been played shall be placed instead, to the satisfaction of the opposing skip.
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.
See W. M. Hennessy, in Proceedings of Royal Irish Acad., 1866.
CURRAN, JOHN PHILPOT (1750–1817), Irish politician and judge, was born on the 24th of July 1750, at Newmarket, Cork, where his father, a descendant of one of Cromwell’s soldiers, was seneschal to the manor-court. He was educated at Middleton, through the kind help of a friend, the Rev. Nathaniel Boyse, and at Trinity College, Dublin; and in 1773, having taken his M.A. degree, he entered the Middle Temple. In 1774 he married a lady who brought him a small dowry; but the marriage proved unhappy, and Mrs Curran finally eloped from her husband.
In 1775 Curran was called to the Irish bar, where he very soon obtained a practice. On his first rising in court excessive nervousness prevented him from even reading distinctly the few words of a legal form, and when requested by the judge to read more clearly he became so agitated as to be totally unable to proceed. But, his feelings once roused, all nervousness disappeared. His effective and witty attack upon a judge who had sneered at his poverty, the success with which he prosecuted a nobleman for a disgraceful assault upon a priest, the duel which he fought with one of the witnesses for this nobleman, and other similar exploits, gained him such a reputation that he was soon the most popular advocate in Ireland.
In 1783 Curran was appointed king’s counsel; and in the same year he was presented to a seat in the Irish House of Commons. His conduct in connexion with this affair displays his conduct
