The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 146

CRAIL, a little old-fas.h.i.+oned town near the East Neuk of Fife, where James Sharp was minister; a decayed fis.h.i.+ng-place, now a summer resort.

CRAMER, JOHANN BAPTIST, a distinguished German composer and pianist (1771-1858).

CRANACH, LUCAS, a celebrated German painter, born at Kronach, in the bishopric of Bamberg; was patronised by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, whom he accompanied in 1493 to the Holy Land; was engraver as well as painter, skilled in portraiture as well as in historical scenes; was intimately a.s.sociated with the German reformers Luther and Melanchthon, whose portraits he painted among others; the works of his that remain are chiefly altar-pieces; his chief work is the "Crucifixion"

in Weimar, where he died (1472-1553).

CRANE, ICHABOD, a tall, lean, lank, Yankee schoolmaster in Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

CRANE, WALTER, poet and painter; has published various ill.u.s.trated books and poems ill.u.s.trated by himself, and is an authority on decorative art; _b_. 1845.

CRANMER, THOMAS, archbishop of Canterbury, born in Nottinghams.h.i.+re; educated at Jesus College, Cambridge; recommended himself to Henry VIII.

by favouring his divorce, writing in defence of it, and pleading for it before the Pope, the latter in vain, as it proved; on his return was elevated to the archbishopric, in which capacity he proved a zealous promoter of the Reformation, by having the Bible translated and circulated, and by the suppression of monasteries; p.r.o.nounced sentence of divorce of Catharine, and confirmed the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn; by these and other compliances he kept the favour of Henry, but on the accession of Mary he was committed to the Tower and persuaded to recant, and even signed a recantation, but on being called to recant in public, and refusing to do so, he was dragged to the stake, thrust his right hand into the flames, and exclaimed, "Oh, this unworthy hand" (1489-1566).

CRANNOGE, a species of lake-dwelling and stronghold, of which remains are found in Scotland and Ireland.

c.r.a.pAUD, JEAN, a nickname of the Frenchmen.

CRASHAW, RICHARD, a minor poet, born in London; bred for the English Church; went to Paris, where he became a Roman Catholic; fell into pecuniary difficulties, but was befriended by Cowley and recommended to a post; was an imitator of George Herbert, and his poems were of the same cla.s.s, but more fantastical; his princ.i.p.al poems were "Steps to the Temple" and the "Delights of the Muses"; both Milton and Pope are indebted to him (1616-1650).

CRa.s.sUS, LUCIUS LICINIUS, the greatest Roman orator of his day, became consul 55 B.C.; during his consuls.h.i.+p a law was pa.s.sed requiring all but citizens to leave Rome, an edict which provoked the Social War (140-91 B.C.).

CRa.s.sUS, MARCUS LICINIUS, the triumvir with Pompey and Caesar; was avaricious, and ama.s.sed great wealth; appointed to the province of Syria, provoked out of cupidity war with the Parthians, in which he was treacherously slain; Orodes, the king, cut off his head, and poured melted gold into his mouth, saying as he did so, "Now sate thyself with the metal of which thou wert so greedy when alive" (115-53 B.C.).

CRATES, a Greek cynic philosopher, disciple of Diogenes; 4th century B.C.

CRATINUS, a Greek comic poet, born at Athens; limited the actors in a piece to three, and the first to introduce into the drama attacks on public men, wrote also satires on vice (519-424 B.C.).

CRATIPPUS, a Peripatetic philosopher of Mytilene, contemporary of Pompey and Cicero; soothed the sunken spirit of the former after the defeat at Pharsalia with the consolations of philosophy.

CRATYLUS, a dialogue of Plato's on the connection between language and thought.

CRAWFORD, MARION, a novelist, born in Tuscany, of American origin, son of the succeeding; spent a good deal of his early years in India, and now lives partly in New York and partly in Italy; his works, which are numerous, are chiefly novels, his first "Mr. Isaacs" (1882), original and striking; an able writer, and a scholarly; _b_. 1854.

CRAWFORD, THOMAS, an American sculptor, studied at Rome under Thorwaldsen; his "Orpheus in Search of Eurydice" brought him into notice, and was followed by an array of works of eminent merit; died in London from a tumour on the brain, after being struck with blindness (1814-1857).

CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES, EARL OF, better known as Lord Lindsay, and as the author of "Letters from the Holy Land," "Progression by Antagonism," and "Sketches of the History of Christian Art"; died at Florence, and was entombed at Dunecht, whence his body was abstracted and found again in a wood near by after a seven months' search (1812-1880).

CRAYER, CASPAR DE, a celebrated Flemish painter, born at Antwerp; pictures and altar-pieces by him are to be seen in Brussels and Ghent (1582-1669).

CREAKLE, MR., a bullying schoolmaster in "David Copperfield."

CREASY, SIR EDWARD, chief-justice of Ceylon, author of "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," "Rise and Progress of the British Const.i.tution," &c. (1812-1878).

CREATIN, a substance found in the muscles of vertebrate animals, but never in invertebrate.

CReBILLON, a French dramatist, born at Dijon, bred to the law, devoted to literature and the composition of tragedies, of which he produced several, mostly on cla.s.sical subjects, such as "Atreus and Thyestes," "Electra," of unequal merit, though at times of great power; he ranked next Voltaire among the dramatists of the time (1674-1762).

CReCY, a French village, 12 m. NE. of Abbeville, where Edward III., with 30,000, defeated the French with 68,000, and destroyed the flower of the chivalry of France, Aug. 26, 1346.

CReDIT FONCIER, a system of credit originating in France on the security of land, whereby the loan is repayable so that princ.i.p.al and interest are extinguished at the same time.

CREECH, WILLIAM, an Edinburgh bookseller, for 40 years the chief publisher in the city; published the first Edinburgh edition of Burns's poems (1745-1815).

CREEKS, a tribe of American Indians settled in Indian territory.

CREIGHTON, MANDELL, bishop of London, born at Carlisle; previously bishop of Peterborough; has written on Simon de Montfort, on Wolsey, and on the Tudors and the Reformation, but his great work is the "History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome," a work of great value; _b_. 1843.

CReMIEUX, a French advocate and politician, born at Nimes, of Jewish birth; a member of the Provisional Government of 1848, and of the National Defence in 1870; took a deep interest in the destiny of his race (1796-1880).

CREMONA, old town on the Po, in Lombardy, 46 m. SE. of Milan; interesting for its churches, with their paintings and frescoes; noted at one time for the manufacture of violins.

CREMORNE (37), gardens in Chelsea; a popular place of amus.e.m.e.nt, now closed.

CREOLE STATE, Louisiana, U.S.

CRESCENT CITY, New Orleans, U.S., as originally occupying a convex bend of the Mississippi.