Robert Wilks, Esq.,’ London, E. Curll, 1733, 8vo (the dedication to Mrs. Wilks is signed ‘E. C.’). 20. ‘A true Copy of the last Will and Testament of Matthew Tindal, LL.D.,’ London, E. Curll, 1733, 8vo. 21. ‘Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Matthew Tindal, LL.D., with a History of the Controversies wherein he was engaged,’ London, E. Curll, 1733, 8vo (dedicated to the Mrs. Lucy Price of No. 22). 22. ‘The Life of the late Honourable Robert Price, Esq., one of the Justices of her Majesty's Court of Common Pleas,’ London, printed by the appointment of the family, 1734, 8vo (the dedication is signed ‘E. C., Strand,’ 18 Dec. 1733; Mrs. Price was connected with the Budgell-Tindal forgery). 23. ‘The History of the English Stage from the Restoration to the Present Times, including the Lives, Characters, and Amours of the most eminent Actors and Actresses, by Mr. Thomas Betterton,’ London, E. Curll, 1741, 8vo. (William Oldys is usually credited with the authorship; the dedication to the Duke of Grafton is signed E. Curll; the Life of Mrs. Oldfield forms the second part). 24. ‘An impartial History of the Life, Character, Amours, Travels, and Transactions of Mr. John Barber, city printer and lord mayor of London,’ London, 1741, 8vo.
[Many facts are collected in Curll Papers, stray notes on the life and publications of E. Curll, 1879, 12mo, privately reprinted from Notes and Queries by W. J. Thoms. Curll's dealings with Pope are summarised in ch. vi. of Pope by Mr. Leslie Stephen (English Men of Letters series) and dealt with in detail in Dilke's Papers of a Critic, i. 97–339, and in Elwin and Courthope's edition of Pope, passim, especially Poetry, vols. i. and iv.; see also lives of Pope by Roscoe and Carruthers. There are numerous references in Swift's Correspondence, Works, 1814, vols. ii. xvi–xix. Curll's own statements in the Curliad, 1729, as to personal matters can be confirmed in many particulars. There is a burlesque life in Remarks on Sqre. Ayre's Memoirs of Pope, in a letter to Mr. E. Curll, with authentic Memoirs of the said E. C., by J. H., 1745, 8vo. The Memoirs of the Society of Grub Street, 1737, 2 vols. 12mo, contain passages relating to Curlus and his bookselling; see also Amhurst's Terræ Filius, 1726, i. 142, 155, and E. Budgell's Bee, 1733–4; see also Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xii. 277, 392, 431, 2nd ser. ii. 203–4, iii. 50, x. 381, 485–7, 505–6, xi. 61–2, 3rd ser. ii. 162, 295, v. 425, 6th ser. ii. 484, iii. 95, iv. 98, 112, 171, 192, 437, x. 204, xii. 55; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 455, v. 491, viii. 295; Timperley's Encyclopædia, pp. 600, 635, 677, 712, 713; Curwen's Hist. of Booksellers, 1873, pp. 36–48; Curll's bibliography is treated by Mr. W. Roberts in Notes and Queries, 6th ser. xi. 381–2, and in articles by him and Mr. E. Solly in Antiquarian Magazine, 1885, vii. 157–9, 868–73.]
CURLL, WALTER, D.D. (1575–1647), bishop of Winchester, was born at Hatfield in Hertfordshire in 1575. His father was probably the same William Curll who was auditor of the court of wards to Queen Elizabeth, and who has a monument in Hatfield church. At Hatfield Walter Curll came under the notice of the Cecil family, and their influence had a great deal to do with his subsequent success in life. In 1592 Curll entered at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was eventually elected fellow of his college. Shortly after his election he travelled for four years on the continent, still holding his fellowship, and receiving also a small annual sum from the college towards defraying his expenses. In 1602 he took holy orders, and held in turn the livings of Plumstead in Kent, Bemerton in Wiltshire, and Mildenhall in Suffolk. He was admitted to the degrees of B.D. in 1606, and D.D. in 1612. He resigned his fellowship in 1616, receiving from the college one year's profits in addition to what he was entitled to; this was a mark of the esteem in which he was held, but it was rather hard upon his successor. He was appointed chaplain to James I, prebendary of Lyme and Halstock in Salisbury Cathedral, and dean of Lichfield in 1621, in succession to William Tooker. While dean of Lichfield he was elected prolocutor of the lower house of the convocation of Canterbury. He was consecrated bishop of Rochester in 1628; was translated to Bath and Wells in 1629; and finally, through the influence of Archbishop Laud, was chosen to succeed Neal as bishop of Winchester in 1632. He was also lord high almoner to Charles I. It was at once seen that in the new bishop of Winchester Laud had secured a most zealous co-operator in his efforts for removing abuses and restoring something of the dignity and beauty of divine worship. ‘In the first year of his accession to this see,’ says Milner, ‘he [i.e. Bishop Curll] set on foot many improvements respecting the cathedral. Several nuisances and encroachments were removed; the south end of the cathedral had been so blocked up that there was no way northward of going into the close without going through the church itself; these obstructions he removed, and opened a passage where the houses had stood.’ He also at great expense decorated and improved the interior of the cathedral. Great abuses had sprung up under the two previous deans, Abbott and Morton, but Dean Young cordially seconded the bishop's efforts. The altar was restored to its original position, and duly railed in according to the archbishop's regulations. Suitable plate and sanctuary hangings were provided, and four copes
