The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 147

CRESCENTINI, a celebrated Italian soprano (1769-1846).

CRESCENTIUS, a patrician of Rome who, in the 10th century, sought to destroy the imperial power and restore the republic; on this he was defeated by Otho III., to whom he surrendered on promise of safety, but who hanged and beheaded him; Stephano, his widow, avenged this treachery by accepting Otho as her lover, and then poisoning him.

CRESPI, GIUSEPPE, an Italian painter; copied the works of Correggio, Caracci, and other masters (1665-1747).

CRESWELL, SIR CRESWELL, judge, born in Newcastle; represented Liverpool in Parliament; was raised to the bench by Peel, and, on the establishment of the Divorce Court, was in 1858 named first judge (1794-1863).

CRESWICK, THOMAS, an English landscape painter, born in Sheffield; simple, pleasantly-suggestive, and faithfully-painted scenes from nature were the subjects of his art; was employed a good deal in book ill.u.s.trations (1811-1869).

CRETE or CANDIA (295), a mountainous island in the Mediterranean, 160 m. long and from 7 to 30 m. broad; in nominal subjection to Turkey after 1669, it was in perpetual revolt. The rising of 1895 led to the intervention of the great powers of Europe, and the Turkish troops having been withdrawn in 1898 under pressure from Great Britain, Russia, France, and Italy, Prince George of Greece was appointed High Commissioner, ruling on behalf of these powers. Turkey still retains the nominal suzerainty.

CRETINISM, a disease prevalent in valleys as those of the Alps, characterised by mental imbecility, and a.s.sociated with abnormal and arrested physical development.

CREUSA, a wife of aeneas, fell behind her husband, lost her way in escaping from Troy, and perished.

CREUSOT, LE (18), a town in the dep. Saone-et-Loire, near Autun, which owes its importance to the large iron-works established there; is a district rich in coal and iron.

CREUZER, a learned German philologist, born at Marburg; became professor of Ancient History and Philology at Heidelberg; his chief work, and one by which he is most widely known, "Symbolik und Mythologie der Alten Volker, besonders der Griechen," "Symbolism and Mythology of Ancient Peoples, especially the Greeks"; left an autobiography (1771-1858).

CREWE (29), a town in Ches.h.i.+re, 43 m. SE. of Liverpool, a great railway junction, and where the London and North-Western Railway Company have their works.

CRICHTON, JAMES, surnamed The Admirable, a Scotchman of gentle, even n.o.ble birth, educated at St. Andrews, had George Buchanan for tutor; early developed the most extraordinary gifts of both body and mind; travelled to Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Mantua; astonished every one by his strength and skill as an athlete, and his dexterity and agility in debate; at Mantua he became tutor to the son of the Duke, when one night he was attacked in the streets by a band of masked men, whom he overcame by his skill, recognised his pupil among them, and presented to him his sword, upon which, it is said, the young man immediately ran him through with it (1560-1585).

CRIEFF (5), a town in Perths.h.i.+re, at the foot of the Grampians, 18 m. W. of Perth, amid exquisite scenery; has a climate favourable for invalids.

CRILLON, a French military captain, born at Mars, in Provence; distinguished himself through five reigns, those of Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV., of the last of whom he became companion in arms, who designated him _Le brave des braves_, and who wrote to him this famous note after the victory of Arques: "Where were you, brave Crillon? we have conquered, and you were not there."

(1541-1615).

CRIMEA (250), a peninsula in the S. of Russia, almost surrounded by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, being connected with the mainland by the narrow isthmus of Perekop; has a bold and precipitous coast 650 m. in length; is barren in the N., but fertile and fruitful in the S.; population chiefly Russians and Tartars.

CRIMEAN WAR, a war carried on chiefly in the Crimea, on the part of Turkey aided by Britain and France, in which Sardinia eventually joined them, against the encroachments of Russia in the E., and which was proclaimed against Russia, March 24, 1854, and ended by the fall of Sebastopol, September 8, 1855, the treaty of peace following having been signed at Paris, March 1856.

CRINAN Ca.n.a.l, a ca.n.a.l for vessels of light burden, 9 m. long, from Loch Fyne, in Argylls.h.i.+re, constructed to avoid sailing round the Mull of Kintyre, thereby saving a distance of 115 m.

CRISPI, FRANCESCO, an Italian statesman, born in Sicily; co-operated with Garibaldi in the Sicilian Revolution, and since active as a member of the Government in the kingdom of Italy; _b_. 1819.

CRISPIN, the patron saint of shoemakers, of n.o.ble birth, who with his brother had to flee from persecution in Rome to Gaul, where they settled at Soissons; preached to the people and supported themselves by shoemaking; they finally suffered martyrdom in 287. Festival, Oct. 25.

CRITIAS, a pupil of Socrates, who profited so little by his master's teaching that he became the most conspicuous for his cruelty and rapacity of all the thirty tyrants set up in Athens by the Spartans (450-402 B.C.).

CRITON, a rich Athenian, friend and disciple of Socrates; supported him by his fortune, but could not persuade him to leave the prison, though he had procured the means of escape.

CROA'TIA AND SLAVONIA (2,201), a Hungarian crownland, lying between the Drave and Save, tributaries of the Danube, and stretching westward to the Adriatic. It is half as large as Ireland, wooded and mountainous, with marshy districts along the river courses. The soil is fertile, growing cereals, fibres, tobacco, and grapes; silkworms and bees are a source of wealth; horses, cattle, and swine are raised in large numbers.

The province is poor in minerals, and lacks a harbour. The people are Slavs, of Roman Catholic faith; backward in education, but showing signs of progress.

CROCKETT, SAMUEL RUTHERFORD, novelist, born near New Galloway, Kirkcudbright; bred for the Church, and for some time Free Church minister at Penicuik, Midlothian, a charge he resigned in 1895, having previously published a volume of sketches ent.i.tled "The Stickit Minister," which was so received as to induce him to devote himself to literature, as he has since done with more or less success; _b_. 1859.

CROESUS, the last of the kings of Lydia, in the 6th century B.C.; celebrated for his wealth, so that his name became a synonym for a man overwhelmed by the favours of fortune; being visited by Solon, he asked him one day if he knew any one happier than he was, when the sage answered, "No man can be counted happy till after death." Of the truth of this Croesus had ere long experience; being condemned to death by Cyrus, who had defeated him and condemned him to be burnt, and about to be led to the burning pile, he called out thrice over the name of Solon; when Cyrus, having learned the reason, moved with pity, ordered his release, retained him among his counsellors, and commended him when dying to the care of his son.

CROKER, JOHN WILSON, a politician and man of letters, born in Galway, though of English descent; bred for the bar; wrote in advocacy of Catholic emanc.i.p.ation; represented Downpatrick in Parliament; was in 1809 appointed Secretary to the Admiralty, a post he held for 20 years; was one of the founders of the _Quarterly Review_, to which, it is said, he contributed 200 articles; edited Boswell's "Life of Johnson" with Notes; was an obstinate Tory, satirised by Disraeli and severely handled by Macaulay; founded the Athenaeum Club (1780-1857).

CROKER, T. CROFTON, Irish folk-lorist, born in Cork; held a well-paid clerks.h.i.+p in the Admiralty; collected and published stories, legends, and traditions of the S. of Ireland; he wrote with a humour which was heartily Irish; his most original work being "The Adventures of Barney Mahoney"; he was a zealous antiquary; he was a brilliant conversationalist (1798-1854).

CROLL, JAMES, a geologist, born near Coupar-Angus; contributed materially to geology by his study of the connection between alterations of climate and geological changes (1821-1890).

CROLY, GEORGE, a versatile author; designed for the Church; took to literature, and wrote in all kinds, poetry, biography, and romance; his best romance "Salathiel"; died rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook (1780-1860).

CROMARTY, a county in the N. of Scotland, consisting of ten fragments scattered up and down Ross-s.h.i.+re; the county town, the birthplace of Hugh Miller, being on the N. side of Cromarty Firth, which opens eastward into the Moray Firth, and forms a large harbour 1 m. long and 7 broad, protected at the mouth by two beetling rocks called Sutors, one on each side, 400 and 463 ft. high.

CROME, JOHN, usually called Old Crome, a landscape-painter, born in Norwich, of poor parents; began as a house-painter and then a drawing-master; one of the founders of the Norwich Society of Artists; took his subjects from his native county, and treated them with fidelity to nature; his pictures have risen in value since his death (1768-1821).

CROMPTON, SAMUEL, inventor of the spinning-mule, born near Bolton; for five years he worked at his project, and after he got it into shape was tormented by people prying about him and trying to find out his secret; at last a sum was raised by subscription to buy it, and he got some 60 for it, by which others became wealthy, while he had to spend, and end, his days in comparative poverty, all he had to subsist on being a life annuity of 63 which some friends bought him (1753-1827).

CROMWELL, OLIVER, Lord-Protector of the commonwealth of England, born at Huntingdon, the son of Robert Cromwell, the younger son of Sir Henry Cromwell, and of Elizabeth Steward, descended from the royal family of Scotland, their third child and second boy; educated at Huntingdon and afterwards at Cambridge; left college at his father's death, and occupied himself in the management of his paternal property; entered Parliament in 1629, and represented Cambridge in 1640, where to oppose the king he, by commission in 1642 from Ess.e.x, raised a troop of horse, famous afterwards as his "Ironsides"; with these he distinguished himself, first at Marston Moor in 1644, and next year at Naseby; crushed the Scots at Preston in 1648, who had invaded the country in favour of the king, now in the hands of the Parliament, and took Berwick; sat at trial of the king and signed his death-warrant, 1649; sent that same year to subdue rebellion in Ireland, he sternly yet humanely stamped it out; recalled from Ireland, he set out for Scotland, which had risen up in favour of Charles II., and totally defeated the Scots at Dunbar, Sept. 3, 1650, after which Charles invaded England and the Royalists were finally beaten at Worcester, Sept.

3, 1651, upon which his attention was drawn to affairs of government; taking up his residence at Hampton Court, his first step was to dissolve the Rump, which he did by military authority in 1653; a new Parliament was summoned, which also he was obliged to dismiss, after being declared Lord-Protector; from this time he ruled mainly alone, and wherever his power was exercised, beyond seas even, it was respected; at last his cares and anxieties proved too much for him and wore him out, he fell ill and died, Sept. 3, 1658, the anniversary of his two great victories at Dunbar and Worcester; they buried him in Westminster, but his body was dug up at the Restoration, hanged at Tyburn, and buried under the gallows; such treatment his body was subjected to after he was gone, and for long after he was no less ign.o.bly treated by several succeeding generations as a hypocrite, a fanatic, or a tyrant; but now, thanks to Carlyle, he is come to be regarded as one of the best and wisest rulers that ever sat on the English throne (1599-1658). See "Cromwell's Letters and Speeches," edited by Carlyle.