only original and genuine text. He published his ‘Epistles of St. Ignatius’ in 1845, and a spirited controversy followed. Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, Lee, and Bunsen supported Cureton, while Baur, Jacobson, and others opposed him. Cureton himself replied to Wordsworth in a calm and convincing manner in his ‘Vindiciæ Ignatianæ,’ 1846, and Lipsius afterwards confirmed his view. The latest verdict, however, that of Dr. Lightfoot, bishop of Durham, has been given decisively against the position taken by Cureton. Another discovery was of at least equal importance. Among the British Museum MSS. Cureton lighted upon some fragments of a Syriac version of the Gospels, differing decidedly from the ordinary Peshito version, and, as the discoverer maintained, representing the original Hebrew of St. Matthew much more closely than the Peshito. The ‘Curetonian Gospels’ will always remain a monument of his discernment and industry. Another important discovery was that of the ‘Festal Letters of Athanasius,’ which Cureton hastened to publish through the Oriental Text Society in 1848; they have been translated into English for Pusey's ‘Library of the Fathers,’ and also into German. Other editions of this energetic scholar during his official career were the ‘Corpus Ignatianum,’ 1849, and ‘Fragments of the Iliad from a Syriac palimpsest,’ found among the Nitrian MSS., and published by the trustees in 1851. After his retirement to Westminster, Cureton continued his scholarly labours unabated. In 1853 appeared his text of the ‘Ecclesiastical History of John of Ephesus’ (Oxford University Press), an important work, which was translated in 1860 by Dr. Payne Smith, the present (1887) dean of Canterbury. In 1855 Cureton brought out his ‘Spicilegium Syriacum,’ containing valuable remains of Bardesanes, Melito of Sardes, Ambrose, and others, the attribution of which, however, has since been contested by Merx and Ewald. The ‘Remains of an ancient recension of the Four Gospels in Syriac,’ already referred to, came out in 1858; Eusebius's ‘History of the Martyrs in Palestine’ in 1861; and Cureton's latest work, ‘Ancient Syriac Documents relative to the earliest Establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the Neighbouring Countries,’ was published, after his death, in 1864. As a Syriac scholar, Cureton's industry and zeal gave him a high, though not an unassailable, position, and his amiability of character was seen alike in controversy and in the help he was ever pleased to render to fellow-students. Witnesses of his early labours in Arabic are his edition of Esh-Shahrastani's ‘Kitab el-milal wa-n-nahal,’ or ‘History of Mohammedan Sects,’ published by the Oriental Text Society in 1842 (vol. ii. 1846); of Nasafi's ‘Pillar of the Faith of the Sunnites,’ in the same series, 1843; and of Thancum ben Joseph of Jerusalem's Arabic ‘Commentary on Lamentations,’ 1843. He was an active member of the Society for the Publication of Oriental Texts, a member of the Royal and other societies, and an honorary D.D. of Halle. In 1855 he was elected a correspondent of the Institute of France. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, and in 1860 obtained the rare distinction of being chosen a foreign associate of that academy. He was also crown trustee of the British Museum. As a clergyman he was noted for his excellent educational work in Westminster, and several of his sermons have been published.
[Times, 30 June 1864, an article understood to have originated in the department of manuscripts of the British Museum; British Museum and Bodleian Library Archives; Report of Commissioners appointed to inquire into the constitution, &c., of the British Museum, Minutes of Evidence, 1850; Oxford University Calendar, 1829 ff.; private information.]
CURLE, HIPPOLITUS (1592–1638), Scotch jesuit, was son of Gilbert Curle, secretary to Mary Queen of Scots, by his wife, Barbara Mowbray. He studied in the Scotch seminary at Douay, and entered the Society of Jesus at Tournai. During the second year of his noviceship his aunt, Elizabeth Curle, died at Antwerp (29 March 1619), leaving him sixty thousand florins. The bulk of this fortune he devoted to the use of the seminary at Douay, of which he is regarded as the second founder. He was appointed rector of the college in 1633, and died on 21 Oct. 1638.
[Dodd's Church Hist. ii. 42; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 18; Foley's Records, vii. 189; Gordon's Catholic Church in Scotland, p. 539.]
CURLING, HENRY (1803–1864), novelist, was a captain in the 52nd foot, and died at Kensington on 10 Feb. 1864. Among his numerous novels are ‘The Soldier of Fortune,’ 1843; ‘John of England,’ 1846; ‘Frank Beresford,’ 1847; ‘The Miser Lord,’ 1847; ‘Shakspeare, a Romance,’ 1848; ‘Nonpareil House,’ 1855; ‘Love at First Sight,’ 1860; and ‘Self-Divorced,’ 1861. He also published a variety of other works, including ‘Recollections of the Mess-table and the Stage,’ 1855; ‘The Merry Wags of War, a Drama,’ 1854; and ‘Camp Club in the Crimea,’ 1856.
