C U L 



494 



CUM 



Culro.<s, 

 (iumae. 



in Scotland for baking cakes over the fire ; about forty 

 girdle-smiths were employed in this manufacture for 

 the supply of Scotland ; they had two royal grants of 

 exclusive privilege, the one from King James VI. the 

 other from King Charles II. But the Court of Session, 

 in the year 1727, set aside the monopoly, after which 

 the trade gradually declined, and it is now extinct. 



Lord Dundonald, so justly celebrated for his exten- 

 sive and practical knowledge in chemistry, resided 

 long in the mansion-house at the abbey, which, with 

 the estate adjoining, were his paternal inheritance : He 

 endeavoured to revive the collieries, but met with in- 

 surmountable difficulties, to the great prejudice of his 

 fortune : Here he invented and put in practice, upon a 

 large scale, the process of extracting tar from pit coal, 

 while the coal was converted into excellent coak for the 

 manufacture of iron; the many other important discove- 

 ries in chemistry made by his Lordship, are well known 

 to the world. We regret to think, however, that these 

 discoveries have been of no advantage to himself in 

 point of fortune, while many of them have been high- 

 ly beneficial to the public. 



All the collieries and works at Culross being entirely 

 laid aside, have quickly accelerated the ruin of the 

 place, and there is now but very little chance of seeing 

 it revive. 



Edward Lord Bruce, who built the mansion-house 

 named the Abbey, fell in the fierce and noted duel 

 fought betwixt him and Sir Edward Sackville, in Hol- 

 land, where they agreed to meet. Lord Bruce request- 

 ed, that if he fell in the contest, his heart might be 

 sent home, and laid in his tomb in the abbey church. 

 This tomb was opened lately, and there was found a 

 leaden box which inclosed a large silver heart, within 

 which was the heait of Lord Bruce preserved in spirits. 

 The family arms, the words Edward Lord Bruce, and 

 a leafless tree, with the appearance of clouds, were en- 

 graved on the silver heart, and perfectly distinct. The 

 whole was carefully replaced, and entombed as they 

 originally were. 



Culross was erected into a royal burgh in 15S8, 

 by King James VI. ; and in conjunction with Stirling, 

 Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, and South Queensferry, 

 sends a representative to Parliament, The population 

 of the town and parish is about 1300. West Long. 3° 34'. 

 North Lat. 56° 8'. (r. b.) 



CUMiE, Cuma, or Cyme, is the name of an an- 

 cient city of Italy, in the Campagna. It was situated 

 on a lofty rock near the sea, and was founded by a 

 Grecian colony from Chalcis in Eubcea, and from Cumae 

 in iEolia. Its power and population gradually increased, 

 and Puteoli, and afterwards Naples, owed their origin 

 to the enterprize of the Cumaeans. Its favourable si- 

 tuation for commerce, and the fame of its oracle, its 

 sibyl, and its temples, attracted votaries from every 

 quarter. Cuma;, however, at length yielded to the 

 power of the Romans, and from that time it seems to 

 have gradually declined. The more beautiful and healthy 

 coasts of Baiae, Puteoli, and Naples, atti'acted from 

 Cuma. 1 its numerous visitors; and so rapid was its de- 

 cline, that in the sixth century it was reduced to a ' 

 military position, containing merely a fortress, situ- 

 ated upon a rock. In the 13th century, it became the 

 head-quarters of banditti, and the neighbouring cities 

 found it necessary to complete its destruction. The 

 scite of the ancient Cuma? is now covered with a soli- 

 tary wood, which is a royal chace, inhabited by stags 

 and wild boars. A range of broad smooth stones here 

 and there, and a few mouldering walls, overgrown with 



myrtles and vines, are the only vestiges of this great 

 city. The following interesting account of the grotto 

 of the sibyl, is taken from the classical tour of Mr 

 Eustace, the most recent traveller in Italy. It is too 

 interesting to be given in any other words but his 

 own : 



" Continuing," says Mr Eustace, " to advance to- 

 wards the sea, we come to a high craggy rock near 

 the shore. On the top of a precipice stands the castle, 

 erected in the middle ages, oil the ruins of an ancient 

 fortress. In the side of this rock are two great chasms; 

 in one, there are several steps leading upwards; the other, 

 which leads downwards, was formerly lined with brick, 

 and seems to have opened into several galleries. This 

 cavern is now called the Grotto of Sibyl, and is proba- 

 bly part of that celebrated cavern. The grotto existed 

 in all its splendour in the year 105 of the Christian era, 

 and is described by Justin the Martyr, an author of 

 that period, and represented by him as an immense 

 cavity, cut out of the solid rock, large as a basilica, 

 highly polished, and adorned with a recess or sanctu- 

 ary, in which the sibyl, seated on a lofty tribunal or 

 throne, uttered her oracles. It may have been stripped 

 of its ornaments, disfigured, and perhaps materially 

 damaged in the reign of Constantine, when the great- 

 er temples, and more peculiar seats of Pagan supersti- 

 tion, were demolished as objects likely to encourage 

 and foster the ancient delusions. However, though 

 despoiled and neglected, the cavern still remained en- 

 tire, till the fatal and most destructive war carried on 

 by Justinian against the Goths ; when Narses, the im- 

 perial general, in order to undermine the ramparts of 

 the fortress erected on the summit of the rock, ordered 

 his engineers to work through the roof of the cavern 

 beneath, and thus brought down the wall, towers, and 

 even gates of the fortress, into the cavity, which in 

 part destroyed, and in part filled it with rubbish. The 

 grotto, as I have already observed, branched out into 

 various subterranean galleries, alluded to by Virgil 

 under the appellation of approaches and portals, which 

 furnished the sibyl with the means of forming those 

 tremendous sounds that in the moment of inspira- 

 tion issued from the depths of the cavern. Of these 

 communications, two only are now visible; all the 

 others, with the body and recesses or sanctuary of the 

 temple, are filled with ruins of the roof, the lining, 

 and the walls." Mr Eustace is of opinion, that very 

 interesting dicoveries might be made in this quarter by 

 excavating the ground ; and that from the advantage 

 of sea carriage, the very materials would be sufficient 

 to defray the expence. See Keysler's Travels through 

 Germany, &c. vol. iii. p. 142, 143, 3d edition ; and 

 Eustace's Classical Tour through Italy, vol. i. p. 354 — 

 357. Lond. 1813. (» 



CUMANA, Nueva Andalucia, New Andalusia, is 

 one of the governments which form the captain-general- 

 ship of the Caraccas. This government is bounded by 

 the sea on the north; by the river Unara on the west ; 

 by the Orinoco on the south, excepting those parts 

 where the left bank of that river is inhabited; and in 

 this undefined part of its frontier, the jurisdiction of the 

 governor of Spanish Guiana extends to within cannon 

 shot of the establishments on the north of the Orinoco. 



The interior of this government is covered with moun- 

 tains, some of which have a great elevation. The high- 

 est of these, called Tumeriquiri, is more than 5600 feet 

 above the level of the sea. The immense cavern of Gu- 

 acharo, so famous among the Indians, forms a part of 

 this mountain. It has a majestic situation, and is re- 



1 



Cuma?, 



daman*. 



