Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/750

714  1em 1em 1em 1em 1em 1em  CURRAGH, a level stretch of open ground in the county of Kildare, in Ireland, famous for its race-course and its military camp. It has an area of upwards of 4800 acres; and its soft natural sward, which has never been broken by the plough, affords excellent pasture for sheep. From the peculiarity of its herbage, the district is known in the neighbourhood as &quot; the short grass; &quot; and the young men of Kildare are jocularly distinguished as the &quot; boys of the short grass.&quot; The land is the property of the Crown, which appoints a special officer as the ranger of the Curragh; but the right of pasturage is possessed by the landowners of the vicinity. The oldest mention of the Curragh occurs in the Liber Hymnorum (the manuscript of which probably dates from the 10th century) in connection with St Bridget, who is said to have received a grant of the district from the king of Leinster, and is popularly credited with the honour of having turned it into a common. It is evident, however, hat long before the days of the saint the downs of Kildare had afforded a regular place of assembly for the people of the south of Ireland, and the turf had already become familiar with the hoofs of the race-horse. The Aenach Colmain, or Curragh fair, is frequently mentioned in the Irish annals from the Book of Lecan downwards; and the plain appears from time to time as the scene of hostile encounters between the kings of Meath, Leinster, and Offaly. In 1234 the earl of Pembroke was defeated there by the viceroy of Ireland, Lord Geoffrey de Monte Marisco; and in 1406 the Irish under the prior of Council were routed by the English. In 1789 the Curragh was the great rendezvous for the volunteers; and in 1804 it saw the gathering of 30,000 United Irishman. The camp was established at the time of the Crimean war, and is capable of accommodating 10,000 men; 6769 was the number of persons registered at the census of 1871. The races, for which Sir William Temple obtained a grant of 100 a year from Government, are held in April, June, September, and October. The early history of the Curragh has been in vestigated by Mr W. M. Hennessy, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 1866.  CURRAN, (1750-1817), Master of the Hulls in Ireland, and one of the most brilliant wits and orators of his day, was born on the 24th July 1750, at Newmarket, Cork, where his father, a descendant of one of Cromwell s soldiers, was seneschal to the manor-court. Pleased with his bright boyish vivacity and wit, the rector of his native place, the Rev. Nathaniel Boyse, first gave him lessons and then sent him to school at Middleton. At the age of nineteen he became a sizar of Trinity College, Dublin; and in 1773, having taken his M.A. degree, he entered the Middle Temple. During his residence in London he gave some little attention to the study of law, but gained far more by his assiduous attendance at the students debating societies. In 1774 he married a lady who brought him a small dowry; but the marriage proved most unhappy, not without fault on the part of Curran, and Mrs Curran finally eloped from her husband. In 1775 Curran was called to the Irish bar, where he very soon obtained a practice. On his first rising in court, excessive nervousness prevented him from even reading dis tinctly the few words of a legal form, and when requested by the judge to read more clearly he became so agitated as to be totally unable to proceed. But, his feelings once roused, all nervousness disappeared. His effective and witty attack upon a judge who had sneersd at his poverty, the success with which he prosecuted a nobleman for a disgraceful assault upon a priest, the duel which he fought with one of the witnesses for this nobleman, and other similar exploits, gained him such a reputation that he was soon the most popular advocate in Ireland. In 1783 Curran was appointed king s counsel; and in the same year he was presented to a seat in the Irish House of Commons. His conduct in connection with this affair displays his conduct in a most honourable light; finding that he differed radically in politics from the gentleman from whom he had received his seat, he offered to buy another to replace that which he occupied. In his parliamentary career Curran was throughout sincere and consistent. He spoke vigorously in behalf of Catholic emancipation, and strenuously attacked the ministerial bribery which prevailed. His declamations against the Government party led him intj two duels the first with Fitzgibbon, then attorney-rcneral, afterwards Lord Clare; the second with the secretary of state, Major Hobart, afterwards Lord Buckingham. The Union caused him the bitterest disappointment; he even talked of leaving Ireland, either for America or for England. Curran s fame rests most of all upon his speeches in behalf of the acoused in the state trials that were so numerous between 1794 and 1803; and among them may be mentioned those in defence of Hamilton Rowan, the Rev. William Jackson, the brothers Shears, Finnerty, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Tone, and Kirwan. Another of his most famous and characteristic speeches is that against the mar quis of Headfort, who had eloped with the wife of a clergy man named Massey. On the arrest of Emmett, who had formed an attachment to his daughter, Curran was himself under suspicion; but, on examination before the Privy Council, nothing was brought forward to implicate him in the intended rebellion. In 1806, on the death of Pitt and the formation of the Fox ministry, Curran received the post of Master of the Rolls, with a seat in the Privy Council, much to his dis-^ appointment, for he had desired a position of greater political influence. For eight years, however, he performed the distasteful duties of this office. He then retired on a pension of 3000; and the three remaining years of his life were spent in London, where he became one of the most brilliant members of the brilliant society which in cluded Sheridan, Erskine, Thomas Moore, and William Godwin. He died at his house in Broinpton on the 14th October 1817.