262 GUMMING, ROUALEYN G. G. 



Useful Knowledge. His life was now wholly 

 that of a literary man, whose work lay in the 

 solid sphere of learning and criticism, rather 

 than in the more profitable line of light liter- 

 ature. In 1849 he was appointed professor of 

 English Literature and History at Queen's Col- 

 lege, Belfast, whither he removed with his 

 family, and which post he filled with honor 

 until his death. In 1859 and 1862 he was ap- 

 pointed examiner of the Indian civil service, 

 and in this capacity made frequent visits to 

 London. "While delivering one of his lectures 

 at the college, a few months since, he was 

 stricken with paralysis, from which he only 

 temporarily recovered. Among his works may 

 be mentioned his " Pursuit of Knowledge under 

 Difficulties," for the Library of Entertaining 

 Knowledge, the "Pictorial History of Eng- 

 land," "Sketches of Literature and Learning 

 in England, from the Norman Conquest to the 

 Accession of Elizabeth," " History of British 

 Commerce," "Spenser and his Poetry," "The 

 English of Shakespeare," and "The Romance 

 of the Peerage." He also wrote a valuable 

 pamphlet on the "Representation of Minori- 

 ties," a subject upon which he had bestowed 

 much thought. One of his latest important 

 works was a " History of the English Language 

 aud Literature." 



CRETE. (See CANDIA.) 



GUMMING, RotrALEYtf GEORGE GORDOX, a 

 Scottish sportsman and author, known as the 

 African Lion Hunter, born in Scotland, March, 

 1820, died at Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, 

 March 24, 1866. He was the second son of Sir 

 William Gordon Gordon Cumming of Gordon- 

 stone, and from an early age had abundant expe- 

 rience in deer-stalking in the Highlands. He 

 was trained for the military service, became an 

 officer in the Madras Cavalry, and in the Cape 

 Mounted Rifles, and, leaving the army in 1843, 

 soon brought his daring and courage into more 

 exciting exercise by joining hunting expe- 

 ditions into the South of Africa. . An account 

 of these adventures he gave to the public in 

 his "Hunter's Life in South Africa," published 

 in London, in 1850, and republished in the 

 United States. In 1851 he first exhibited the 

 trophies of his skill and daring at the Great 

 Exhibition in London, and since that period 

 had shown the collection in different parts 

 of the country. His profits from the sale 

 of skins, tusks, &c., have been very large. 

 Though well deserving the title of "The 

 Mighty Hunter," some of his accounts of per- 

 sonal encounters with the fierce and blood- 

 thirsty denizens of the forest are considered 

 somewhat exaggerated. For the last eight 

 years he had located himself at Fort Augustus, 

 where his museum of curiosities formed a 

 source of attraction to passengers by the route 

 of the Caledonian Canal. In person Mr. Cum- 

 ming was remarkable for his great height and 

 massive symmetry of build, with handsome 

 Highland features and the eye of an eagle ; he 

 was physically a king of men. 



CURTIS, SAMUEL R. 



CUMMINGS, JEREMIAH W., D. D., a Roman 

 Catholic clergyman and author, pastor of St. 

 Stephen's Roman Catholic Church in New 

 York City, born in Washington, D. 0., April 5, 

 1823; died in New York City, January 4, 1866. 

 He was of Irish descent, his ancestors having 

 emigrated to this country in 1782. He was 

 early destined to the church, and having pur- 

 sued his preliminary studies in "Washington and 

 Georgetown College, he proceeded to Rome, 

 where he studied for fourteen years in the Col- 

 lege of the Propaganda, and graduated with 

 high honors. On his return to the United 

 States in 1848 he was at first attached to the 

 Cathedral in Mulberry Street, but in 1856 ho 

 built St. Stephen's Church in East Twenty- 

 eighth Street, of which he continued to be the 

 pastor until his death. He was a profound 

 scholar, especially in the classics and belles 

 lettres, and cultivated literature with greater 

 zeal and success than most of the Catholic 

 clergy; and his eminent attainments cause/I 

 him to be regarded as an authority in 

 Catholic literature. While taking a leading 

 part in all the Catholic movements in his 

 diocese, he was very social and genial in his 

 intercourse with his Protestant fellow-citizens. 

 He was the author of several works, one, 

 "Italian Legends," published not long after his 

 return from Europe ; another, " Spiritual Prog- 

 ress," in 1864. He was a very considerable 

 contributor, in biography and other topics con- 

 nected with his church, to the " New American 

 Cyclopaedia." . He took great delight in sacred 

 music, and under his administration the choir 

 of St. Stephen's was not surpassed by any in 

 the city. 



CUMMINS, Miss MAEIA S., a distinguished 

 author, born in Salem, Mass., about 1834, died 

 at Dorchester, Mass., October 1, 1866. Her 

 literary career commenced in 1853, when her 

 Lamplighter was published, and within eight 

 weeks, so great was its popularity, over forty 

 thousand copies were sold, and as it has passed 

 through numerous editions, both in this country 

 and England, its sale has probably exceeded 

 one hundred thousand copies. In 1857 she 

 produced Mabel Vaughan, and in 1860 El 

 Fureidis, published simultaneously in this coun- 

 try and England. Subsequently she wrote an- 

 other work, entitled "Haunted Hearts." Her 

 late productions have been chiefly for the "At- 

 lantic Monthly," and " Young Folks." A short 

 time since she prepared a catalogue of books 

 suitable for the Sabbath-school of the Unitarian 

 church, with which she was connected ; the re- 

 sult of careful examination upon her part of 

 several hundred volumes. She was a writer 

 of great power; her characters were drawn 

 with skill, and there was always a motive in 

 her productions aside from their general inter- 

 est. For many years her literary labor had 

 been performed while suffering more or les? 

 from ill-health. 



CURTIS, Major-General SAMUEL R., U. S 

 Vols., born in Ohio, February, 1807; died al 



