Curran s legal erudition was never profound ; and though he was capable of the most ingenious pleading, his appeal was always to the emotions of his audience. His best speeches are one fiery torrent of invective, pathos, national feeling, and wit. His diction was lofty and sonorous. To his personal presence he owed nothing ; foj he was short, slim, and boyish-looking, and his voice was thin and shrill.
See Curran ami his Contemporaries, a most entertaining work, by Charles Phillips, personal friend of Curran s (1818), and the Life of Curran by his son, W. H. Curraii (1819, and with additions "by Dr Shelton Mackenzie, New York, 1855), both of which con tain numerous samples of Curran s eloquence. See also Curran s Speeches (1805, 1808, 1845), Memoirs of Curran, by Win. O Eegan (1817), Letters to Rev. H. Weston (1819).
CURRANTS, the dried seedless fruit of a variety of the grape-vine, Vitis vinifera, cultivated principally in Zante, Cephalonia, and Ithaca, and near Patras, in the Morea. Currants were brought originally from Corinth, whence their name; in the 13th and 14th centuries they were known as raisins de Corauntz. In the Ionian Islands the currant- vine is grown on the sides of the lower hills, or in the valleys, the grape-vine occupying the higher and less open and rich ground. Gypseous marls, or calcareous marls containing a little gypsum, are prsferred to limestone soils, as they allow of the deep penetration of the roots of the vines. The most favourable situations are those where a good supply of water can be obtained for the irrigation of the plantations. This is carried on from the end of October to the close of the year, after which all that is necessary is to keep the ground moist. The vines are planted in rows 3 or 4 feet apart. Propagation is effected by grafting on stocks of the grape-vine, or by planting out in spring the young vigorous shoots obtained at the end of the previous year from old currant-vines that have been cut away below the ground. The grafts bear fruit in three years, the slips in about double that time. The vine-stock for grafting is cut down to the depth of a foot below the surface of the soil j two or three perpendicular incisions are made near the bark with a chisel and rnto these are in serted shoots of the last year s growth. The engrafted part then receives an application of moist marl, is wrapped in leaves and bound with rushes, and is covered with earth, two or three eyes of the shoots being left projecting above ground. In December the currant plantations are cleared of dead and weak wood. In February the branches are cut back, and pruned of median shoots, which are said to prevent the lateral ones proceeding from the same bud from bearing fruit. In order effectually to water the trees, the earth round about them is in February and March hoed up so as to leave them in a kind of basin, or is piled up against their steins. In May, when the leaves begin to show, the ground is thoroughly turned, and if requisite manured, and is then re-levelled. By the middle of April the leaves are fully out, and in June it is necessary to break back the newly-formed shoots. The fruit begins to ripen in July, and in the next month the vintage takes place. At this season rain is greatly dreaded, as it always damages and may even destroy the ripe fruit. The planta tions, which are commonly much exposed, are watched by dogs and armed men. In Cephalonia the currant-grape is said to ripen at least a week earlier than in Zante. To destroy the oidium, a pest that severely injures the plantations, the vines are dusted, at the time the fruit is maturing, with finely-ground brr istone. The currants when sufficiently ripe are gathered and placed on a drying ground, where tlrjy are exposed to the sun in layers half an inch thick ; frjin time to time they are turned and swept into heaps, until they become entirely detached from stalk. They are then packed in large butts for exportation. The wine Eiade from the currant-grape is inferior in quality, but is said to be capable of much improvement. The fresh fruit is luscious and highly flavoured, but soon cloys the palate. In 1834 the duty on currants was made 22s. 2d. per cwt., or one-half what it had previously been ; in 1844 it was reduced to 15s., and in 1860 to 7s. per cwt. In 1874 the imports of currants into the United Kingdom were:—
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Cwts. From Austrian territories 6978 ,, Greece 963,358 , , other countries 2,119 Value. 8,606 1,278,974 2,994 Total 972,455 l,2tiu,574
The currants of British kitchen-gardens are the produce of Kibes niariim and K. nibrum, deciduous shrubs of the natural order Grossulariacece, indigenous to Britain, North ern and Central Europe, Siberia, and Canada The former species bears the black, the latter the red currant. -White currants are the fruit of Ji. album, a cultivated variety of R. rubrum. Both red and black currants are used for making tarts and pies, jams, jellies, and wme ; the latter are also employed medicinally in lozenges, and in the preparation of a gargle for sore throat, are occasionally preserved in spirits, and in Russia are fermented with honey to produce a strong liquor. The leaves as well as the roots of the black currant have been recommended for their therapeutic virtues. A kind of black currant, bearing poor and acid fruit, is indigenous to Tierra del Fuego. Royle mentions three Himalayan species of currants ; their fruit he found to contain less saccharine matter than that of their cultivated European congeners.
CURRENCY. See Money.
CURRIE, James (1756-1805), a Scotch physician and an editor of Bums, wasthe son of theminitter of Kirkpatrick Fleming, in Dumfriesshire, where he was born. He was destined for business, and while still very young was sent out to Virginia. The outbreak of the first American war, however, changed his prospects considerably ; he had a long and dangerous illness ; and he still further damaged his chance of success by contributing a series of letters to an American journal, under the signature of " An Old Man," in defence of the mother country. At last he found it necessary to leave America, and reaching home at the age of twenty, he applied himself with energy to the study of medicine. In 1780, with the object of procuring military service in Jamaica, lie took his degree at Glasgow ; but not obtaining the post he had in view, he settled at Liverpool, where in 1783 he was elected physician to the infirmary. 3 he fatigues of Lis professional work, acting upon a hereditary tendency to pulmonary disease, forced him in 1804 to give up practice, and retire to the south of England, where he died in the following year. Among Currie s works may be mentioned a Tory pamphlet signed " Jasper Wilson" and entitled A Letter, Commercial and Political, addressed to the Right Honourable William Pitt, which ran quickly through several editions ; and Medical Reports en the Effects of Water, Cold and Warm, as a Remedy in Fevers and other Diseases. But he is best known for the edition of Burns, with an introductory criticism and an essay on the character and condition of the Scottish peasantry, which he undertook in behalf of the family of the poet, whose personal acquaintance he had enjoyed.
dishes. In India the following are employed as ingredients in curries : anise, coriander, cumin, mustard, and poppy see.ls ; allspice, almonds, asafoetida, butter or ghee, cardamoms, chillies, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa-nut and cocoa- nut milk and oil, cream and curds, fenugreek, the tender unripe fruit of Buchanania lancifolia, cheroonjie nuts (the
produce of another species, B. latifolia), garlic and onions,