SG Heritage Dictionary

Curran Encyclopedia Britannica

CURRAN, John Philpot (1750—1817), Master of the Rolls 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 distinctly 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 sneered 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; andin 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 into two duels—the first with Fitzgibbon, then attorney-general, 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 accused 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 marquis of Headfort, who had eloped with the wife of a clergyman 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 disappointment, 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 included Sheridan, Erskine, Thomas Moore, and William Godwin. He died at his house in Bromptón on the 14th October 1817.

Curran’s legal erudition was never profound; and though he was capable of the most ingenious pleading, his appeal was always to the emotions of his audience. His best speeches are one fiery torrent of invective, pathos, national feeling, and wit. His diction was lofty and sonorous. To his personal presence he owed nothing; foi he was short, slim, and boyish-looking, and his voice was thin and shrill.

See Curran and his Contemporaries, a most entertaining work, by Charles Phillips, personal friend of Curran’s (1818), and the Life of Curran by his son, W. H. Curran (1819, and with additions by Dr Shelton Mackenzie, New York, 1855), both of which contain numerous samples of Curran’s eloquence. See also Currans Speeches (1805, 1808, 1845), Memoirs of Curran, by Wm. O’Regan (1817), Letters to Rev. H. Weston (1819).

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 6, p. 714
[807 words — estimated reading time: 5 minutes]

Currant [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. The fruit of a well known shrub belonging to the genus Ribes, of which Grossularia is now considered a species; the grossberry or gooseberry and the currant falling under the same genus. Currants are of various species and varieties; as the common red and white currants, and the black currant

2. A small kind of dried grape, imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and Cephalonia; used in cookery.

Currant [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A small kind of seedless raisin, imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and Cephalonia; -- used in cookery.

2. The acid fruit or berry of the Ribes rubrum or common red currant, or of its variety, the white currant.

3. A shrub or bush of several species of the genus Ribes (a genus also including the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum.

Currants Encyclopedia Britannica

CURRANTS, the dried seedless fruit of a variety of the grape-vine, Vitis vinifera, cultivated principally in Zante, Cephalonia, and Ithaca, and near Patras, in the Morea. Currants were brought originally from Corinth, whence their name; in the 13th and 14th centuries they were known as raisins de Corauntz. In the Ionian Islands the currant-vine is grown on the sides of the lower hills, or in the valleys, the grape-vine occupying the higher and less open and rich ground. Gypseous marls, or calcareous marls containing a little gypsum, are preferred to limestone soils, as they allow of the deep penetration of the roots of the vines. The most favourable situations are those where a good supply of water can be obtained for the irrigation of the plantations. This is carried on from the end of October to the close of the year, after which all that is necessary is to keep the ground moist. The vines are planted in rows 3 or 4 feet apart. Propagation is effected by grafting on stocks of the grape-vine, or by planting out in spring the young vigorous shoots obtained at the end of the previous year from old currant-vines that have been cut away below the ground. The grafts bear fruit in three years, the slips in about double that time. The vine-stock for grafting is cut down to the depth of a foot below the surface of the soil; two or three perpendicular incisions are made near the bark with a chisel; and into these are inserted shoots of the last year’s growth. The engrafted part then receives an application of moist marl, is wrapped in leaves and bound with rushes, and is covered with earth, two or three eyes of the shoots being left projecting above ground. In December the currant plantations are cleared of dead and weak wood. In February the branches are cut back, and pruned ...

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 6, p. 715
[814 words — estimated reading time: 5 minutes]