70 



CARRON CARSTAIRS. 



neutral attitude in the war between England and the 

 colonies, but was unsuccessful. The Roman Catho- 

 lic clergy of the United States having requested from 

 the pope the establishment of a spiritual hierarchy 

 here, in preference to being under the superintend- 

 ence of one in England, Mr Carroll was appointed 

 vicar-general in 1786, when he fixed his abode in 

 Baltimore. In 1789, he was named first Catholic 

 bishop of the United States, and went to England, in 

 the summer of 1790, where he was consecrated. In 

 the same year, he returned to Baltimore, and, as the 

 seat of his episcopal see was established in that city, 

 assumed the title of bishop of Baltimore. He was 

 universally esteemed and beloved for the exemplary 

 maiuier in which he disdiargexl his duties, the mild- 

 ness and courtesy of his manners, and the sanctity of 

 his life. He lived in friendly communion with per- 

 sons of other sects, his cliaracter being entirely devoid 

 of intolerance. A few years before his demi.se, he 

 was elevated to the archiepiscopal dignity. He died 

 Dec. 3d, 1815, in the eighty-first year of his age. 



CARRON ; a village of Scotland, on the banks of 

 a stream of the same name, in Stirlingshire, and about 

 three miles from the shore of the Forth. Its exten- 

 sive iron-foundery is one of the most noted in Great 

 Britain. This was established in 1760, and now em- 

 ploys from 2000 to 3000 individuals. There are 

 about twenty furnaces, and many kinds of iron arti- 

 cles are made in great quantities, as heavy pieces of 

 ordnance, cylinders for steam-engines, pumps, boilers, 

 wheels, with all kinds of ponderous apparatus used in 

 the arts. That species of ordnance called a carronade, 

 used in the navy, derived its name from being first 

 made here. Immense numbers of shot and shells, of 

 all sizes, are annually sent from Carron. Carron is 

 about two miles northwest of Falkirk, and twenty- 

 six in the same direction from Edinburgh. The banks 

 of the river Carron were the boundary of the Roman 

 empire in Britain ; for the wall of Antoninus stood 

 within a short distance, and ran parallel to them for 

 several miles. Two mounds, one of them fifty feet 

 in height, called the hills of Dunipace, rise about the 

 middle of its course. Tradition affirms that they 

 were monuments of a peace between the Romans and 

 Caledonians, and that they take their name from dun, 

 a hill, and pax, peace. It is more probable that they 

 are barrows. 



At a place called Storehouse, a little distance from 

 the founderies, upon a small eminence, stood a cele- 

 brated piece of antiquity, supposed to have been a 

 sacellum, or repository for the Roman insignia, or 

 standard, which was pulled down by its owner, whom 

 the antiquaries will never forgive, to make a mill- 

 dam. A ground-plan and elevation of it are given 

 by general Roy, in the thirty-sixth plate of his Mili- 

 tary Antiquities. 



CARRONADES (from the Carron works in Scot- 

 land, where they were first made) ; a sort of artillery, 

 resembling howitzers. They are of very large cali- 

 ber, and carry balls, shells, or cartouches. They are 

 much lighter than common cannon, and have a cham- 

 ber for the powder, like mortars. They are mostly 

 used on board of ships, in close engagements, from 

 the poop and forecastle. Sometimes they are em- 

 ployed in fortifications. They have been cast from 

 twelve to sixty-eight pounders. They were first used 

 in the North American revolutionary war. 



CARROT (daucus carota, Linnasus) is a biennial 

 plant, a native of Britain. The leaves are pinnatifid, 

 and much cut. The plant rises to the height of two 

 feet, and produces white flowers, succeeded by rough, 

 hispid seeds. The root of the plant, in its wild state, 

 is small, dry, sticky, of a white colour, and strong- 

 iavoured ; but the root of the cultivated variety is 

 large, succulent, and of a red-yellow or pale straw- 



colour, and shows remarkably the improvement which 

 may In- cllt ci t d liy cultivation. Though long known 

 as a garden plant, it is comparatively of recent intro- 

 duction in agriculture. It appears to have been cul- 

 tivated from an early period in Germany and Flan- 

 ders, and introduced from the latter country to Kent 

 and Suffolk early in the sixteenth century. The va- 

 rious uses of the carrot in cookery are well known. 

 But, although it contains much nutriment, it is diili- 

 cult of digestion, particularly if eaten raw or imper- 

 fectly boiled. Carrots are an excellent fodder for 

 cattle and horses, either alone or mixed with hay ; 

 and, if given to cows in winter or the early part of 

 spring, they are said to cause a great increase of 

 milk, which will have a much less offensive taste and 

 smell tlian when they are fed on turnips. Hogs 

 thrive well upon carrots boiled with their wash. In 

 some parts of England, this vegetable has been cul- 

 tivated as a winter food for deer ; and the tops have 

 even been made into hay. Carrots contain a large 

 proportion of saccharine matter, and various but un- 

 successful experiments have been made to extract 

 sugar from them. They have been more advanta- 

 geously employed in distillation. Ten pounds' weight 

 of carrots will yield about half a pint of very strong 

 ardent spirit ; and the carrots produced by an acre of 

 ground, amounting to twenty tons, have been known 

 to yield 240 gallons of spirit. A sirup made of these 

 roots, and clarified with the whites of eggs, has been 

 found useful for several purposes. An infusion of 

 the seeds, and the expressed juice of the roots, are 

 said to afford relief in fits of the gravel. A marma- 

 lade of carrots has been used with success hi sea- 

 scurvy, and a poultice prepared from them is some- 

 times employed in cancerous ulcers. Crickets are 

 so fond of these roots, that they may easily be de- 

 stroyed by making a paste of flour, powdered arsenic, 

 and scraped carrots, and placing this near their habi- 

 tation. Parkinson informs us that, in his day, ladies 

 wore carrot leaves in the place of feathers. In win- 

 ter, an elegant ornament is sometimes formed by 

 cutting off a section from the head or thick end of a 

 carrot, containing the bud, and placing it in a sJial- 

 low vessel with water. Young and delicate leaves 

 unfold themselves, forming a radiated tuft of a very 

 handsome appearance, heightened by contrast with 

 the season of the year. 



CARRYING TRADE. See Commerce. 



CARSTAIRS, WILLIAM, a Scottish divine of poli- 

 tical eminence, was born in 1649, at Cathcart, near 

 Glasgow, where his father was minister. He pursued 

 his studies at the university of Edinburgh, whence he 

 was removed to that of Utrecht, was introduced to 

 the prince of Orange, and intrusted with all his views 

 in regard to Britain. He, however, returned to Scot- 

 land, with the view of entering the ministry, but, 

 after receiving a license to preach, resolved to return 

 to Holland. As he was to pass through London, he 

 was employed by Argyle and his party to treat with 

 the English exclusionists, and became privy to the 

 rye-house plot. On the discovery of that conspiracy, 

 he was apprehended. After a rigorous confinement 

 in irons, he was subjected to the torture, and endured 

 this trial with great firmness ; but, being afterwards 

 deluded with the hopes of a full pardon, and assured 

 that his answers should never be made evidence 

 against any one, he submitted to make a judicial 

 declaration. The privy council violated their en- 

 gagement, by producing his evidence in court against 

 his friend, Mr Baillie, of Jerviswood. Being re- 

 leased, he returned to Holland, and was received by 

 the prince of Orange as a sufferer in his cause. The 

 prince made him one of his own chaplains, and pro- 

 cured his election to the office cf minister of the 

 English congregation at Leyden. He accompanied 



