CUENZA-C

Colombia ; and it is considered as the first Colombian

gre3S> being the first convened under the funda-mental law for uniting Venezuela and New Grenadainto a single republic. . .

Cuenza, anciently Can^a. A city ot Spam, mNew Castile, and the capital of a province. It con-tains a handsome cathedral, several monasteries, andan hospital. It was built by the Moors, on a highand craggy hill, between the rivers Xucar and Hues-car which makes it naturally strong. Here the painterSahneron, and the famous Jesuit Molina were born.The north and east part of the province is moun-tainous, and fit only for sheep pasture ; the other partsare fertile, producing corn, hemp, and fruit, &c. Popu-lation of the province, ‘296,650 ; square miles, 11,884.The city contains 6,000 inhabitants, and is twenty-ei<dit leagues E. S.E. of Madrid. Lon. 2° 16' W.,lat. 40° 10' N.

Cuenza, or Bamba. A town of Colombia, inQuito, capital of a province. The streets are straightand broad, and the houses mostly of adobes, or unburntbricks. The environs are very fertile and pleasant.The town contains several churches and convents.It is 150 miles, S. of Quito. Lon. 79° 13' W., lat.2° 55' S.; population 15 or 20,000.

Cufic Writing. The written characters of whichthe Arabians now make use, and which we meet within printed works, viz., the Neski characters, are aninvention of the fourth century of the Hegira. Beforethis time, the Cufic characters, so called from thetown of Cufa, where they are said to have beeninvented, were in use. These old characters have somuch resemblance to the ancient Syriac writing, theEstrangel, that it hardly admits of a doubt, that theArabians borrowed them from the inhabitants ofSvria. Historical traditions confirm this supposition.The Cufic characters, and, perhaps, others of an earlierdate, which essentially resembled them, were probablyfirst introduced among the Arabians a short time beforeMohammed. Although we are, at present, ignorant ofthe characters which were previously in use amongthem, and although the imperfect accounts of the Mus-sulman writers throw' very little light upon the subject,yet it is scarcely credible that the Arabians remaineddestitute of a written character until the sixth centuryof the Christian era. Perhaps traces of the earliercharacter are to be found in the Palmyrene and Phoe-nician inscriptions, and also on the coins of the Sas-sanides. We find the transition of the Cufic to theNeski on the ruins of Chilminar. The influencewhich the school of Cufa exerted on Islamism causedthe use of the character which proceeded from it;and when the others had fallen into oblivion, Cuficwriting was the name commonly applied to all kindsof Arabic writing, previous to the change made byEbn Mokla. A knowledge of it is important onaccount of the many monuments in which it is pre-served ; especially the coins inscribed with Cufic cha-racters, and made in the first centuries of the Hegira.

Culdees. A religious order, which, at one period,had considerable establishments in almost every partof Great Britain and Ireland. The name is of un-certain etymology; some derive it from the Latincultor Dei (a worshipper of God), while others thinkthey discover its origin in the Gaelic hyldee, (fromcylk, a cell, and dee, a house,) a building composedof cells. The history of the Culdees has acquired afactitious importance in the quarrels of the episco-palians and presbyterians; the latter asserting that

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they were of very great antiquity, and were presby-terians in their ecclesiastical policy; the formermaintaining that neither of these positions is correct,that there is no mention of them in the early Britishwriters, but that they are first spoken of subsequentto the year 854, and that they then appear in theattitude of maintaining their right to confirm theelection of the bishops of the several sees where theyhad establishments. Their origin is, by some, attri-buted to St. Colomba, in the middle of the sixthcentury. After having exercised a great influencethroughout the country, they appear to have beenoverthrown by the increase of the papal power, andthe institution of monasteries more congenial to theaspiring views of the see of Rome.

Cullen. A royal burgh in Bamffshire, Scotland,and the second in importance in that county. Itformerly consisted of three separate towns—the NewTown, the Old Town, and the Fish Town ; but theOld Town is now destroyed, for the extension of theparks of Cullen-house. At a short distance from itis Castle Hill, on which was built an ancient fortress,and, according to a local tradition, it was in this castlethat Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Bruce, died. Theprincipal manufactures of Cullen are linen, yarn, anddamask cloths, and near the town are several largebleaching grounds. This town, in conjunction withElgin, Bamff, Inverary, Kintore, and Peterhead, sendsone member to the British parliament. It has apopulation of 1593 persons, and the annual value othe real property assessed amounts to 1312/. It is190 miles from Edinburgh, and fourteen from Bamff.

Culloden. A large plain in Invernesshire, onwhich was fought the last battle between the housesof Stuart and Hanover, on the 16th of April, 1746,when the hopes of the former were for ever extin-guished. The spot on w hich the heat of the battletook place is marked by a number of green mounds,beneath which the slain lie buried. The whole hasa desolate appearance, and many separate graves areto be seen between the moor and the town of Inver-ness. The political motives which influenced thedifferent individuals connected with this rising aretoo well know'll to require any repetition, but we addan account of the engagement, which is especiallyinteresting from the devoted bravery shown by theHighland followers of prince Charles. In the be-ginning of April, 1746, the duke of Cumberland com-menced his march from Aberdeen, and on the 12thof the same month passed the river Spey, withoutany opposition being ottered by the insurgents. Theduke then proceeded to Nairn, where he receivedintelligence that the enemy had advanced as far asCulloden, which lay about nine miles from the royalarmy, with the intention of giving him battle. Onthe morning of the 16th, the king’s troops began theirmarch from Nairn, forming into five lines of threebattalions each, headed by major-general Husk onthe left, lord Semple on the right, and brigadier Mor-dant in the centre, flanked by the horse soldiers undergenerals Bland and Hawley, who at the same timecovered the cannon on the right and left. Theymarched in this order about eight miles when a bodyof Highlanders, having advanced a little a-head, dis-covered the van of prince Charles’ army movingtowards them. The duke immediately ordered histroops to form in order of battle. The battalions ofthe second line defiled to the left of those whichformed the van; at the head of the line and in the