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514 



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Curling, before that time, it is highly probable that it did not 

 v ~""~ v .'~"*"' then exist, or that it was only in its infancy. 

 The coun- Connected with this, is the inquiry respecting the 

 try where country in which it originated. Upon this subject there 

 it ongina- are different opinions. Some seem to think that it 

 was an amusement originally Scotish; others, that it 

 was introduced into this country from the continent. 

 The latter of these opinions appears to be best found- 

 ed. 



We have not been able, indeed, to find any direct 

 evidence that it existed on the continent before it ap- 

 peared in this country, but we have all the evidence 

 which etymology can give in favour of its continental 

 origin. The technical terms employed in it are all 

 Dutch or German, and therefore point to the Low Coun- 

 tries as the place in which it most probably originated, 

 or at least from whence it was conveyed to us. For if 

 it was not introduced from the continent, but was first 

 ' invented in this country, it must have been at a time 

 when the German and Low Dutch were the prevailing 

 languages. Now though the Saxon was once pretty 

 common in this country, and there are still many Dutch 

 words in our language, yet those German dialects were 

 never so general, as to make it credible that our coun- 

 trymen, in any particular invention, would employ them 

 alone as the appropriate terms. In the history of in- 

 ventions, such a phenomenon is not to be found. The 

 origin of the game, then, is certainly continental. 



But we have farther evidence that curling, or some- 

 thing like it, was originally practised on the continent. 

 Kilian, in his Dictionary, renders the Teutonic Muyten, 

 kalluyten, ludere massis sive globis glaciatis, ceriare dis- 

 cis in equore glaciata. Whatever those round masses 

 of ice were, they seem to have been employed in a game 

 on the ice resembling quoits. Indeed it is highly pro- 

 bable that the game which we now call curling, was 

 originally nothing else than the game of quoits practi- 

 sed upon the ice. Besides, the game of curling was, 

 till lately, hardly known by that name among the com- 

 mon people. From one end of Scotland to the other, 

 it was always named hiding, to curl meaning nothing 

 more than to slide upon the ice. The games are so si- 

 milar, that the one might easily arise out of the other, 

 and assume that form in which it at present exists. 



Hence we conjecture that the game of curling was 

 introduced into this country by the Flemings, in the 

 fifteenth, or about the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. In the reigns of Henry V. and VI. of England, 

 and James I. of Scotland, many of them came over to 

 this country, which had been much depopulated during 

 the destructive wars betwixt the two kingdoms, and 

 settled in it as mechanics and manufacturers. 

 Its pro- Curling is said to have been carried into Ireland by 



gress. the Scotish colonies which were planted there so 



early as the reign of James I. of England. In that 

 country, however, it seems now to be completely un- 

 known. It has made its appearance in some of the 

 northern counties of England, and has even found its 

 way to the capital of the British empire. There the 

 first essay was made upon the New River; but the 

 crowd of spectators attracted by such a novel spectacle 

 becoming very great, the ice threatened to give way, 

 and the curlers were compelled to desist. It has not 

 been confined within the boundaries of Europe ; it has 

 been carried over the Atlantic, and established in the 

 frozen regions of North America, and particularly in 

 the province of Canada. There, on account of the length 

 and severity of the winter, it bids fair to attain a degree 

 t>f celebrity unexampled in the milder climate of ScoN 



land. In this country, it can be practised only a few Ciirrenry. 

 days in the season, so few, that for the last twenty years *~" "V"""' 

 the average number is not more than eight ; while in 

 that country, the amusement may be enjoyed during 

 the greater part of the winter. 



There are feAV amusements which excite more inte- Its charac 

 rest than the game of curling. In the severest weather, ter - 

 a good curler, while engaged in his favourite amuse- 

 ment, feels no cold. In playing himself, and assisting 

 his partners witli his broom, he finds sufficient exercise 

 to keep him warm. And being performed at a time 

 when the labours of the field are at a stand, and when 

 several mechanical employments cannot be carried on, 

 it gives little interruption to business. It brings men 

 together in social intercourse ; it enlarges and strength- 

 ens the ties of friendship, and enlivens the dreary hours 

 of winter with festivity and happiness. It may there- 

 fore be regarded as one of the most healthy and inno- 

 cent amusements that are practised in this country, (m) 



CURRENCY, in commercial and money transactions, 

 is a word of as general import as " circulating me- 

 dium." It may be said, indeed, that all the extension 

 given by political economists to the word " money," 

 is applicable to its synonyme " currency," and that the 

 cowries of India, philosophically speaking, come as 

 much under the description of " currency" as our bank 

 notes or our guineas. We shall confine ourselves, how- 

 ever, to the ordinary acceptations of the word, viz. me- 

 tallic or paper money, and shall restrict the present no- 

 tice to a portion only of the observations belonging to 

 the subject of Money, reserving the remainder for the 

 discussion which we intend to give under the latter 

 title. 



Metallic currency. The keenest advocates for the Metallic 

 abolition of restraints on trade and manufacture, will currency., 

 not refuse to admit the necessity of a stamp being put 

 on the coin by government, or by some association of 

 undoubted responsibility. Without such a precaution, 

 there would be no security for the weight or the fine- 

 ness of the coin. Here, however, the interference of 

 public authority should terminate. To affix to a speci- 

 fic coin any other denomination than a mere declaration 

 of its weight, is an act of supererogation ; attended too, 

 as such acts generally are, with considerable inconve- 

 nience. To declare an ounce of silver worth five shil- 

 lings, is, in fact, to say nothing more than that it is 

 worth an ounce of silver. It is merely giving a new 

 name to the same thing, the five shillings being useful 

 for nothing more than the ounce of silver. With equal 

 propriety, might government enact, that wheat, coffee, 

 or chocolate should assume a new denomination as soon 

 as they are divided respectively into bushels and pounds. 

 We are led to dwell on this peculiarity, not by a wish 

 to multiply theoretical distinctions, but by the perplex- 

 ing irregularity attendant, particularly of late years, on 

 the state of our money system. After all the discus- 

 sions that have taken place on the bullion question, the 

 majority of our countrymen are still at a loss to account 

 for the remarkable difference between the market price 

 and the coinage value of silver. Had our coins been 

 known merely by their weight, had our crowns, for 

 example, been nothing but ouhces of silver, one ma- 

 terial cause of perplexity would have been removed. 

 Relatively to gold, silver might have fluctuated, as it is 

 always liable to do, but no difference could have existed 

 between silver in coin and in bullion, except that which 

 mi^ht arise from their comparative fineness. In that 

 case, it would have been clear, that the existing depre- 

 ciation applies to our bank notes, and that it arises less 

 1 



