

CURFEW 



of a Syriac recension of the Gospels, and other 

 M^v n't more or leas value, which involved their 

 r.litor in Ion;,' controversies. In 1849 Cure ton was 

 iii>|niiiiii-<l canon of Westminster and rector of St 

 Margaret's. Among other honours, he received 

 tin- il.-^iff of LL.D. from Oxford and of D.D. 

 from lliillc, iinil \\ILS a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 ami a foreign associate of the Institute of France. 

 M.- .li.-.l ITil. June 1804. 



riir'few (Fr. conrre-feu, 'cover fire'). To 

 'William the Conqueror is ascribed the introduc- 

 tion of the curfew-bell into England, the object 

 of which was to warn the people to cover up 

 their fires, and retire to rest. The time for ring- 

 ing these bells was sunset in summer, and about 

 ei.ijht o'clock in winter; and certain penalties 

 wrre imposed upon (hose who did not attend to 

 tin- signal. The practice of ringing the curfew- 

 bell, however, appears to have prevailed through- 

 out Europe long before the era of the Norman 

 Coixiuest, its object being the prevention of fires, 

 which, owing to houses being chiefly composed 

 of wood, were then both frequent and destructive. 

 The custom of ringing the curfew-bell at eight or 

 nine o'clock is still continued in many parts of 

 England, though its original significance is of 

 course lost, and a list of the various places where 

 the custom has been kept up will be found in Notes 

 and Queries for 1883 and earlier years. The name 

 has passed into literature as a current synonym for 

 nightfall it occurs in the opening line of Gray's 

 Elegy. The curfew survives in some parts of New 

 England. See BELL. 



< uri:i. See ROME, also AULA REGIS. The 

 Papal Curia, or Curia Romana, the functionaries 

 forming the court of the pope, including the congre- 

 gations of cardinals, the secretariat of state, the 

 functionaries through whom the holy see has 

 relations with foreign powers. See POPE. 



Curia IMuria. See KURIA MURIA. 



t'uriro, a town of Chili, capital of a province 

 of the same name, lies near the Rio Lontue, 140 

 miles SSE. of Valparaiso. Pop. 10,110. 



Curlew (Numenius), a genus of birds of the 

 order Grallatores, and of the same family (Scolo- 

 pacida?) with the snipe, sandpiper, avocet, stilt, 

 &c. The bill is much longer than the head, 

 slender, curved, and compressed ; the face and 

 head are feathered ; the legs are slender, and part 

 of the ///*/,/ is naked as well as the shank ; the tail 

 is short, and the folded wings extend about as far 

 as the tail. The plumage is lark-like. The genus 

 is cosmopolitan in its distribution. The Common 

 Curlew (N. arguatus), the Whaup of the Scotch, 

 frequents the seashores in winter, and elevated 

 moors in summer. Its peculiarly -weird and 

 plaintive cry is familiar to every visitor of the 



621 



uplands. It tod* on worms, mollusc*, and in 

 sect*, and it* long bill enables it to seek ite food in 

 marshy or boggy ground. A slight nest of leaves 

 or other dry materials is built in some tuft of 

 n is lii-s or among long grass or heath, and usually 

 contains four eggs. The curlew is good eating. 



Common Curlew (Numenius arquatus). 



The Whimbrel (N. phceopus) is a smaller species, 

 much resembling the common curlew. Like the 

 latter it is veiy widely distributed in the Old 

 World, and frequently occurs on the shores of 

 Britain, though apparently breeding only in the 

 most northerly moors. North America has several 

 species of curlew, some of which extend their 

 summer migrations to very northerly regions. 



Curling, a sport on the ice common in Scot- 

 land, where it is played by all classes of people in 

 winter. Frozen-over lakes and rivers answer for 

 the purpose, but under the auspices of curling 

 clubs, artificial shallow ponds are maintained for 

 the sake of this popular national sport ; and the 

 bonspiels, or set matches, are contested with great 

 spirit. The sport is regulated by a body of rule* 

 issued by a central asso- 

 ciation called the Royal 

 Caledonian Curling Club, 

 which has grand matches 

 in which nundreds are 

 engaged once, if possible, 

 every winter, and which 

 awards medals to pro- 

 vinces and parishes for 

 competition. The re- 

 markable and pleasing 

 peculiarity of curling is, 

 that it produces for the 

 time a thorough mingling of ranks peers, peasants, 

 clergymen, farmers, country gentlemen, and trades- 

 men, all meeting familiarly and hilariously for the 



Curling-stone. 



The Rink. 



occasion. Latterly, curling has migrated to Eng- 

 land, Canada, and other countries where Scotch- 

 men can find ice of sufficient strength and 

 keenness, and in Southport Glaciarium (1878-89) 

 the game was played in summer on artificial ice. 

 Curling is played with flatfish round stones, about 

 inches in diameter, prepared by curling-stone 



manufacturers, each stone weighing from 30 to 60 

 Ib. Each of the players haa a pair. The stones 

 are provided with handles, to enable the player to 

 hurl them on the ice with the proper degree of 

 force. As at bowls, the stones are hurled to an 

 assigned point or mark. The game is as follows : 

 Sides are made up, usually consisting of foot 



