Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 86

_The Countess of Crevecour_, wife of the count.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).

CRIB (_Tom_), Thomas Moore, author of _Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress_ (1819).

CRILLON. The following story is told of this brave but simple-minded officer. Henry IV., after the battle of Arques, wrote to him thus:

Prends-toi, brave Crillon, nous avons vaincu a Arques, et tu n'y etais pas.

The first and last part of this letter have become proverbial in France.

When Crillon heard the story of the Crucifixion read at Church, he grew so excited that he cried out in an audible voice, _Ou etais tu, Crillon_? ("What were you about, Crillon, to permit of such atrocity!")

[Ill.u.s.tration: symbol] When Clovis was told of the Crucifixion, he exclaimed, "Had I and my Franks been by, we would have avenged the wrong, I warrant."

CRIMO'RA AND CONNAL. Crimora, daughter of Rinval, was in love with Connal of the race of Fingal, who was defied by Dargo. He begs his "sweeting" to lend him her father's s.h.i.+eld, but she says it is ill-fated, for her father fell by the spear of Gormar. Connal went against his foe, and Crimora, disguised in armor, went also, but unknown to him. She saw her lover in fight with Dargo, and discharged an arrow at the foe, but it missed its aim and shot Connal. She ran in agony to his succor. It was too late. He died, Crimora died also, and both were buried in one grave. Ossian, _Carric-Thura._

CRINGLE (_Tom_), Hero of sea-story by Michael Scott, _Tom Cringle's Log_.

CRISPIN (_St._). Crispinos and Crispia.n.u.s were two brothers, born at Rome, from which place they traveled to Soissons, in France (about A.D. 303), to propagate the gospel, and worked as shoe-makers, that they might not be chargeable to any one. The governor of the town ordered them to be beheaded the very year of their arrival, and they were made the tutelary saints of the "gentle craft." St. Crispin's Day is October 25.

This day is called the feast of Crispian..

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered.

Shakespeare, _Henry V_. act iv. sc. 3 (1599).

CRITIC (_A Bossu_), one who criticizes the "getting up" of a book more than its literary worth; a captious, carping critic. Rene le Bossu was a French critic (1631-1680).

The epic poem your lords.h.i.+p bade me look at, upon taking the length, breadth, height, and depth of it, and trying them at home upon an exact scale of Bossu's, 'tis out, my lord, in every one of its dimensions. Admirable connoisseur!

--Sterne.

(Probably the scale referred to was that of Bossut the mathematician, and that either Bossu and Bossut have been confounded, or else that a pun is intended).

_Critic (The)_, by R. B. Sheridan, suggested by _The Rehearsal_ (1779).

[Ill.u.s.tration] _The Rehearsal_ is by the Duke of Buckingham (1671).

CRITICS (_The Prince of_), Aristarchos of Byzantium, who compiled, in the second century B.C., the rhapsodies of Homer.

CROAKER, guardian to Miss Richland. Never so happy as when he imagines himself a martyr. He loves a funeral better than a festival, and delights to think that the world is going to rack and ruin. His favorite phrase is "May be not."

A poor, fretful soul, that has a new distress for every hour of the four and twenty.--Act i. 1.

_Mrs. Croaker_, the very reverse of her grumbling, atrabilious husband. She is mirthful, light-hearted, and cheerful as a lark.

The very reverse of each other. She all laugh and no joke, he always complaining and never sorrowful.--Act i. 1.

_Leontine Croaker_, son of Mr. Croaker. Being sent to Paris to fetch his sister, he falls in love with Olivia Woodville, whom he brings home instead, introduces her to Croaker as his daughter, and ultimately marries her.--Goldsmith, _The Good Natured Man_ (1768).

CROCODILE (_King_). The people of Isna, in Upper Egypt, affirm that there is a king crocodile as there is a queen bee. The king crocodile has ears but no tail, and has no power of doing harm. Southey says that though the king crocodile has no tail, he has teeth to devour his people with.--Browne, _Travels_.

_Crocodile (Lady Kitty)_, meant for the d.u.c.h.ess of Kingston.--Sam.

Foote, _A Trip to Calais_.

CROCUS, a young man enamoured of the nymph Smilax, who did not return his love. The G.o.ds changed him into the crocus flower, to signify _unrequited love_.

CROESUS, king of Lydia, deceived by an oracle, was conquered by Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus commanded a huge funeral pile to be erected upon which Croesus and fourteen Lydian youths were to be chained and burnt alive. When this was done, the discrowned king called on the name of Solon, and Cyrus asked why he did so. "Because he told me to call no one happy till death." Cyrus, struck with the remark, ordered the fire of the pile to be put out, but this could not be done. Croesus then called on Apollo, who sent a shower which extinguished the flames, and he with his Lydians came from the pile unharmed.

[Ill.u.s.tration] The resemblance of this legend to the Bible account of the Jewish youths condemned by Nebuchadnezzar to be cast into the fiery furnace, from which they came forth uninjured, will recur to the reader.--_Daniel_, iii. _Croesus's Dream_. Croesus dreamt that his son, Atys, would be slain by an iron instrument, and used every precaution to prevent it, but to no purpose; for one day Atys went to chase the wild boar, and Adrastus, his friend, threw a dart at the boar to rescue Atys from danger; the dart, however, struck the prince and killed him. The tale is told by William Morris in his _Earthly Paradise_ ("July").

CROFTANGRY (_Mr. Chrystal_), a gentleman fallen to decay, cousin of Mrs. Martha Bethune Baliol, to whom at death, he left the MS. of two novels, one _The Highland Widow_, and the other _The Fair Maid of Perth_, called the _First_ and _Second Series_ of the "Chronicles of Canongate" (_q. v._). The history of Mr. Chrystal Croftangry is given in the introductory chapters of _The Highland Widow_, and continued in the introduction of the _The Fair Maid of Perth_.

Lockhart tells us that Mr. Croftangry is meant for Sir Walter Scott's father and that "the fretful patient at the death-bed" is a living picture.

CROFTS _(Master)_, the person killed in a duel by Sir Geofrey Hudson, the famous dwarf.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

CROKER'S MARE. In the proverb _As coy as Croker's Mare_. This means "as chary as a mare that carries crockery."

She was to them as koy as a croker's Mare.

J. Heywood, _Dialogue_ ii. 1 (1566).

CROKERS. Potatoes are so called because they were first planted in Croker's field, at Youghal, in Ireland.--J. R. Planche, _Recollections, etc_. ii. 119.

CROM'WELL _(Oliver)_, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Woodstock_.

_Cromwell's daughter Elizabeth_, who married John Claypole. Seeing her father greatly agitated by a portrait of Charles I., she gently and lovingly led him away out of the room.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

_Cromwell_ is called by the Preacher Burroughs "the archangel who did battle with the devil."

_Cromwell's Lucky Day_. The 3rd September was considered by Oliver Cromwell to be his red-letter day. On the 3rd September, 1650, he won the battle of Dunbar; on 3rd September, 1651, he won the battle of Worcester; and on 3rd September, 1658, he died. It is not, however, true that he was born on 3rd September, as many affirm, for his birthday was 25th April, 1599.

_Cromwell's Dead Body Insulted_. Cromwell's dead body was, by the sanction, if not by the express order of Charles II., taken from its grave, exposed on a gibbet, and finally buried under the gallows.

[Ill.u.s.tration] Similarly, the tomb of Am'asis, king of Egypt, was broken open by Camby'ses; the body was then scourged and insulted in various ways, and finally burnt, which was abhorrent to the Egyptians, who used every possible method to preserve dead bodies in their integrity.

The dead body of Admiral Coligny [_Co.leen.ye_] was similarly insulted by Charles IX., Catherine de Medicis, and all the court of France, who spattered blood and dirt on the half-burnt blackened ma.s.s. The king had the bad taste to say over it:

Fragrance sweeter than a rose Rises from our slaughtered foes.

It will be remembered that Coligny was the guest of Charles, his only crime being that he was a Huguenot.

CROOK-FINGERED JACK, one of Macheath's gang of thieves. In eighteen months' service he brought to the general stock four fine gold watches and seven silver ones, sixteen snuff-boxes (five of which were gold), six dozen handkerchiefs, four silver-hilted swords, six s.h.i.+rts, three periwigs, and a "piece" of broadcloth. Pea'chum calls him "a mighty cleanhanded fellow," and adds:

"Considering these are only the fruits of his leisure hours, I don't know a prettier fellow, for no man alive hath a more engaging presence of mind upon the road."--Gay, _The Beggar's Opera_. I. 1 (1727).

CROP _(George)_, an honest, hearty farmer, who has married a second wife, named Dorothy, between whom there are endless quarrels. Two especially are noteworthy. Crop tells his wife he hopes that better times are coming, and when the law-suit is over "we will have roast pork for dinner every Sunday." The wife replies, "It shall be lamb."

"But I say it shall be pork." "I hate pork, I'll have lamb." "Pork, I tell you." "I say lamb." "It shan't be lamb, I will have pork." The other quarrel arises from Crop's having left the door open, which he asks his wife civilly to shut. She refuses, he commands; she turns obstinate, he turns angry; at length they agree that the person who first speaks shall shut the door. Dorothy speaks first, and Crop gains the victory.--P. h.o.a.re, _No Song, no Supper_ (1754-1834).

CROPLAND (_Sir Charles_), an extravagant, heartless libertine and man of fas.h.i.+on, who hates the country except for hunting, and looks on his estates and tenants only as the means of supplying money for his personal indulgence. Knowing that Emily Worthington is the daughter of a "poor gentleman," he offers her "a house in town, the run of his estate in the country, a chariot, two footmen, and 600 a year;" but the lieutenant's daughter rejects with scorn such "splendid infamy."

At the end Sir Charles is made to see his own baseness, and offers the most ample apologies to all whom he has offended.--G. Colman, _The Poor Gentleman_ (1802).