to his contemporaries. Crescimbeni belonged to all the three academies in Rome, which rivalled each other in wretched verses. Out of these, he selected certain members, whose views harmonized with his own, and formed a new academy, which was sportively called the Arcadia, in allusion to the rural taste of the founder. (See Arcadians.) He was the first custode of this academy, under the name of Alfesibeo Cario, and was reelected to the office for several successive Olympiads. Crescimbeni, delighted with the success of his plan, was not the least active among his fellow poets. In 1698 appeared his Istoria della volgar Poesia-a work of vast industry, but destitute of method and criticism. He next published his Trattato della Bellezza della volgar Poesia (Rome, 1700, 4to.), which passed, in a short time, through three editions, and, like the earlier work, was first made capable of being understood and enjoyed by the Commentary intorno alla Storia della volgar Poesia (Rome, 1702, 5 volumes, 4to.). The favor of Clement XI placed him in an easy situation. In the tranquillity of his canonicate, disturbed only by the disputes of the Arcadians, the number of his works rapidly increased. He made a translation of Nostradamus's Lives of the Provençal Poets, with additions, enlarged his own Commentaries with four valuable volumes, and wrote a History of the Arcadia, and Lives of the Arcadian Poets. About this time, also, appeared the two first volumes of verses (Rime) of his Arcadia, which were well received. Clement V and Benedict XIII rewarded his labors with ecclesiastical honors; and John V of Portugal presented the Arcadia with some funds. The society erected a theatre, still existing, on the Janiculum, and their first Olympic games were celebrated Sept. 9, 1726, in honor of the king of Portugal. The poems which Crescimbeni read on that occasion were received with lively approbation. Meanwhile his constitution was yielding to a disorder of the breast. After being admitted, at his request, into the order of the Jesuits, in whose garb he wished to die, he expired, March 8, 1728. During his lifetime, he had caused his monument to be erected in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, with the inscription-I. M. C. P. ARC. C. (Joannes Marius Crescimbenius, Pastorum Arca lum Custos), and bearing the Arcadian pipe. He was of a gentle disposition, benevolent, affable and moderate. Among his numerous works, oc

15

casional compositions and eulogies, those already mentioned are all that deserve a high rank in the literature of his country. A biography of him is prefixed to his History of Arcadia (Rome, 1712, 12mo.), by the canon Mancurti of Imola.

CRESPI, Giuseppe Maria, surnamed i Spagnuolo, a painter of the Bolognese school, born at Bologna, in 1665, studied the masterpieces in the monastery of San Michaele in Bosco, and particularly imitated the Caracci, whose works he also copied. He received instruction from Canuti, then from Cignani, afterwards studied in Venice and Parma, and finally came out with his own productions in his native city. His first work was the Combat of Hercules with Antæus. From this time he had continual employment. He painted, for cardinal Ottoboni, the Seven Sacraments, now in the Dresden gallery; several pieces for prince Eugene of Savoy, for the elector of the Palatinate, for the grand-duke of Tuscany, and for cardinal Lambertini, his patron, who afterwards, when pope Benedict XIV, conferred on him the honor of knighthood. Crespi, however, has been frequently censured for the singular ideas which he often introduced into his paintings; e. g. he represents Chiron giving his pupil Achilles a kick for some fault that he had committed. Moreover he painted every thing a prima, with strong, bold strokes, in the manner of Caravaggio, and has become a mannerist from a desire to be constantly new. He had many scholars, among whom were his two sons, Antonio and Luigi Crespi. The latter distinguished himself by his writings on painting. Crespi died in 1747. CRESSY. (See Crecy.)

CREST (from the Latin crista) is used to signify the rising on the defensive armor of the head, also the ornament frequently affixed to the helmet, such as a plume or tuft of feathers, a bunch of horse-hair, &c. Warriors have always been in the habit of adorning their persons; and the helmet, from its conspicuousness, is very naturally chosen as the place of one of the principal ornaments. We learn from Homer (Il. ii, 336) that the crests of the earlier Greeks were of horsehair; afterwards plumes, especially red ones, were adopted. (VIRG. Æn. ix, 50, 271, 808.) To gain an enemy's crest was accounted an honorable achievement, as it was reckoned among the spolia. The Greeks called the crest pálos and Xogos; but some are of opinion that these words mean different things, dos signifying the raised part of the helmet (conus), and

A60s, the real crest. The crests of commanders (appiçador), of course, were generally larger than those of common soldiers. The Æginetan statues (see Æginetan Style) have crests of horse-hair. In the middle ages, when rank and honors became hereditary, and particular heraldic devices were appropriated to particular families, the crest became a distinguishing hereditary mark of honor. It denotes, in heraldry, a figure placed upon a wreath, coronet, or cap of maintenance, above both helmet and shield; as, for instance, the crest of a bishop is the mitre. The crest is considered a greater criterion of nobility than the armor generally. It is commonly a piece of the arms, as that of Castile is a castle. Crests, therefore, form an inportant subject in the unimportant science of heraldry.

CRETE. (See Candia.)
CRETICUS. (See Rhythmus.)

CRETINISM makes a very close approach to rickets in its general symptoms. It differs principally in its tendency to tha: peculiar enlargement of the thyroid gand, which, in France, is denominated goure, and in the mental imbecility which accompanies it from the first. The enlargement of the gland does not always, however, accompany the other symptoms, though it does generally. Cretinism was first distinctly noticed and described by Plater, about the middle of the 17th century, as occurring among the peasants in Carinthia and the Valais. It was afterwards found, in a still severer degree, in other valleys of Switzerland, and the Alps generally. It has since been detected in various other regions, where the country exhibits similar features, as among a miserable race called Cagols, inhabiting the hollows of the Pyrenees, whose district and history have been described by Mr. Raymond; and in Chinese Tartary, where it is represented as existing by sir George Staunton. On the first discovery of cretinism, it was ascribed by some to the use of snow-water, and by others to the use of water impregnated with calcareous earth, both which opinions are without foundation. The first is sufficiently disproved by the fact that persons born in places contiguous to the glaciers, and who drink no other water than what flows from the melting of ice and snow, are not subject to this disorder; and, on the contrary, that the disorder is observed in places where snow is unknown. The second is contradicted by the fact, that the common water of Switzerland, instead of being impregnated with calcareous

matter, excels that of most other countries in Europe in purity and flavor. The water usually drank at La Batia and Martigny is from the river Dranse, which flows from the glacier of St. Bernard, and falls into the Rhone. It is remarkably free from earthy matter, and well tasted. At Berne, the water is extremely pure; yet, as Haller remarks, swellings of the throat are not uncommon in both sexes, though cretinism is rare. As comfortable and congenial warmth forms one of the best auxiliaries in attempting the cure of both cretinism and rickets, there can be no doubt that the chill of snow-water must considerably add to the general debility of the system when laboring under either of these diseases, though there seems no reason for supposing that it would give rise to either. It is not difficult to explain why water impregnated with calcareous earth should have been regarded as the cause; for in cretinism, as in rickets, the calcareous earth, designed by nature for the formation of the bones, is often separated, and floats loose in various fluids of the body, for want of a sufficiency of phosphoric acid to convert it into a phosphate of lime, and give it solidity. And as it is, in consequence, pretty freely discharged in the urine, this seems to have given rise to the opinion that such calcareous earth was introduced into the system with the common water of the lakes or rivers, and thus produced the morbid symptoms. M. de Saussure has assigned the real cause of the disease. The valleys of the Alps, he tells us, are surrounded by very high mountains, sheltered from currents of fresh air, and exposed to the direct, and, what is worse, the reflected rays of the sun. They are marshy, and hence the atmosphere is hunnid, close and oppressive; and when to these causes we add the meager, innutritious food of the poor of these districts, their indolence and uncleanliness, with a predisposition to the disease, from a hereditary taint of many generations, we can sufliciently account for the prevalence of cretinism in such places, and for the humiliating character which it assumes. The general symptoms of cretinism are the same as those of rickets; but the disease shows itself earlier, often at birth, and not unfrequently before this period, apparently commencing with the procreation of the fœtus, and affording the most evident proofs of ancestral contamination. The child, if not deformed and diseased at birth, soon becomes so; the body is stinted in its growth, and the organs in their developement.

CREUSA; the name of several celebrated females of antiquity. 1. Daughter of Erectheus, who, before she was married to Xuthus, gave birth to Ion, the fruit of an amour with Apollo. To her second husband she bore Achæus. 2. The daughter of Priam and Hecuba, wife to Eneas, and mother of Ascanius. In the tumult of the conflagration of Troy, when Eneas fled with the images of his gods, with his father and son, he lost her, aud, after he had sought her a long time in vain, her spirit appeared to him, saying that the mother of the gods had taken her to herself, because she was not willing that she should leave Phrygia.

CREUTZ, Gustavus Philip, count of; a Swedish poet and statesman, was born in Finland in 1726. He was a member of the learned and elegant circle, which surrounded the queen of Sweden, Louisa Ulrica, sister of Frederic the Great; and his Atis og Camilla, an erotic poem in five cantos, published at Stockholm (1761), grew out of the meetings of this society. This poem and his Letter to Daphne are considered as masterpieces in Swedish poetry. He was appointed minister to Madrid, and, at a later period, to Paris, where he remained twenty years, and became particularly acquainted with Marmontel and Gretry. April 3, 1783, he signed, with doctor Franklin, a treaty of amity between the United States and Sweden. He was afterwards placed at the head of the department of foreign affairs in Stockholm, but he could not endure the climate of his country, and died in 1785. His works and those of his friend Gyllenborg are published together, under the title Vitterhets Arbeten of Creutz og Gyllenborg, Stockholm, 1795. At a chapter of the Seraphim order, April 28, 1786, king Gustavus himself read the eulogy of Creutz.

CREUZER, George Frederic (in his late publications called simply Frederic), professor at the university of Heidelberg, a philologist and antiquarian, born at Marburg, in Hesse, March 10, 1771, was devoted, from his earliest youth, to the ancient classics. He studied at the universities of Marburg and Jena, and afterwards lived in and near Giessen, occupied with the study of the Greek historians, and at the same time with teaching. About this time, he published his first literary production, Herodotus und Thucydides; Versuch einer näheren Würdigung ihrer Historischen Grundsätze (Essay toward determining the Historical Principles of Herodotus and Thucydides), Leipsic, 1798

17

The

and 1803, which was received with approbation, as was also his subsequent publication, De Xenophonte Historico (1799). In 1862, he was made professor of eloquence in the university at Marburg, and, in 1804, professor of philology and ancient history, at Heidelberg. His Dionysus sive Commentationes Academice de Rerum Bacchicarum Originibus (Heidelberg, 1808) may be considered as the first specimen of his views on the connexion of the mythological traditions of the ancient world. According to Creuzer, there existed, in the most ancien times of Greece, a body of Grecian poetry berrowed from the East. Homer, and more particularly Hesiod, instead of being the authors of the religion, or even of the mythology, of their country, merely introduce us to a previously existing world of poetry, philosophy and theology. most ancient Greek poetry contained the symbolical and even the Magian and allegorical ideas; and though this poetry, which was introduced from the East, changed its forms at different times, it was never substantially lost among the Greeks. It was preserved in the hierarchical institutions and mysteries, and was in later times an object for the investigation of historians and philosophers; but the traces which remain are only sufficient to enable us to determine and describe its most essential features. According to Creuzer, this ancient wisdom was received first from the Pelasgi, who were, if not altogether a ruling tribe of priests, yet a tribe with ruling priests. But exclusive hierarchical institutions could not prosper upon the soil of Greece. The Pelasgi were expelled by the Hellenes. After the ancient races had become extinct, the Hellenic spirit departed more and more from the spirit of the East. Families of priests had united into castes, and what remained of the old and religious poetry was confined to the mysteries. In Homer and Hesiod there are evident traces of a misunderstanding of the elder notions and traditions; yet there are also evidences that they were not ignorant of the ancient theology. The first germ of the more profound theological doctrines can therefore be found only in a revelation from above, to which we must refer the religious belief of different nations, and we must conclude that similar symbols and allegories are founded upon similar primitive views. Creuzer developed these principles in his Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker, besonders der Griechen (Leipsic and Darmstadt, 1819—

18

1821, 5 volumes, with an atlas). He has met with much opposition. G. Hermann, in his Briefe über Homer und Hesiod, vorzüglich über die Theogonie (Heidelberg, 1818), and in a letter addressed to Creuzer, Uber das Wesen und die Behandlung der Mythologie (Leipsic, 1819), opposed him with much perspicuity and force of argument. I. H. Voss declared open war against Creuzer, in the Litteraturzeitung of Jena, and published his Antisymbolik (Stuttgart, 1824), which was followed by replies from Wolfg. Menzel and others. The study of the theories of Creuzer, which are elaborated in his Symbolik with the most extensive learning, has been facilitated by a perspicuous abstract, Auszug der Symbolik und Mythologie (Leipsic and Darmistadt, 1822, 1 volume). In 1809, Creuzer accepted the professorship of philology in Leyden; but, before entering ou the office, he felt the injurious influence of the Dutch climate upon his health, and returned in October of the same year to Heidelberg. He has since published an edition of Plotinus de Pulchritudine, acced. Procli Disp. de Pulchritudine et Unitate, Nicephori Nathanaelis Antitheticus (Heidelberg, 1814). Guigniaut has partly translated, partly recomposed, Creuzer's Symbolik in his work Religions de l'Antiquité considérées principalement dans leur Formes Symboliques et Mythologiques (Paris, 1824). The academy of inscriptions, at Paris, chose Creuzer a foreign member in 1825.

CREVENNA, Pietro Antonio (commonly called Bolongaro Crevenna), a bibliographer, born in the middle of the 18th century, at Milan, received from his father-in-law Bolongaro (whose name he took) a large fortune, and lived mostly m Holland. Love for the sciences, in particular for literary history, induced him to devote his hours of leisure, from an extensive commercial business, to literary pursuits, and to collect a choice library. The learned catalogues of his books, prepared by himself and others, have given to the works which belonged to him great value in the eyes of amateurs, and the catalogues themselves have bibliographical authority. His Catalogue Raisonné de la Collection des Livres de M. Crévenna (Amsterdam, 1776, 6 vols., 4to.) contains an exact description of the Incunabula, with collations of rare books, and letters of many learned men of the 17th and 18th centuries, printed there for the first time. To understand the importance of the Crevennian library, it is necessary to compare with this catalogue another, the Catalogue

des Livres de la Bibl. de M. Crévenna (Amsterdam, 1789, 6 vols.). In 1790, he sold the greatest part of his library by public auction. What he retained may be known by the Catalogue de la Bibl. de feu M. Crévenna (Amsterdam, 1793). Towards the end of his life, he left Holland, and died in Rome, Oct. 8, 1792.

CRIBBAGE; a game at cards, wherein no cards are to be thrown out, and the set to make 61; and, as it is an advantage to deal, by reason of the crib, it is proper to lift for it, and he that has the least card deals.

CRICHTON, James, was born in Scotland, in 1551, or, according to some accounts, in 1560, of a noble family. On account of his remarkable endowments, both of body and mind, he obtained the surname of the Admirable. He was educated at the university of St. Andrew, and, before his 20th year, had run through the whole circle of the sciences, could speak and write to perfection 10 different languages, and was equally distinguished for his skill in riding, dancing, singing, and playing upon all sorts of instruments. Thus accomplished, he set out on his travels, and is said to have gone to Paris, where he offered to dispute in any art or science, and to answer whatever should be proposed to him in any of these 12 languages-Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch, Flemish and Sclavonic; and this either in prose or verse, at the option of his antagonist. On the day fixed, he is said to have maintained the contest from nine o'clock in the morning until six at night, to the great admiration of the spectators, who saluted him as the "admirable Crichton." Before and after the dispute, he was engaged in tilting, vaulting, &c., or in balls, concerts, and other similar amusements. This account is probably derived from the following letter, which has generally been applied to Crichton. "There came to the college of Navarre a young man of 20 years of age, who was perfectly well skilled in all the sciences, as the most learned masters of the university acknowledged. In vocal and instrumental music, none could excel him. In painting and drawing in colors, none could equal him. In all military feats, he was most expert, and could play with the sword so dexterously, with both his hands, that no man could fight him. When he saw his enemy, he would throw himself upon him at one jump of 20 or 24 feet distance. He was a master of arts, and disputed with us, in the schools of the

college, in medicine, the civil and canon law, and theology; and, although we were above 50 in number, besides above 3000 that were present, so pointedly and learnedly he answered to all the questions proposed, that none but eye-witnesses can believe. He spake Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and other languages, most politely. He was a most excellent horseman; and, truly, if a man should live a hundred years, without eating, drinking or sleeping, he could not attain to this man's knowledge, which struck us with a panic; for he knew more than human nature can well bear. He overcame four of the doctors of the church, for, in learning, none could contest with him, and he was thought to be Antichrist." Whoever this astonishing youth may have been, it could not, says doctor Kippis, have been Crichton; for Pasquier, from whose Recherches de la France this letter is taken, says, expressly, that this young man made his appearance in 1445, about a century before Crichton's birth. After similar exhibitions at Rome and Venice, we find him, in 1581, at Padua, exposing the errors of Aristotle, astonishing his hearers with his ingenuity and elegance in an extempore oration In Praise of Ignorance; and, finally, to confound his enemies, offering to prove the fallacies of Aristotle, and the ignorance of his commentators, to dispute in all the sciences, to answer all that should be proposed or objected, in the common logical way, or by numbers and mathematical figures, or in a hundred sorts of verses, and, during three days, sustaining this contest with a spirit and energy, with such learning and skill, as to obtain the praises and admiration of all men. His next exploit was at Mantua. There was in that city a famous gladiator, who had foiled the most skilful fencers in Europe, and had lately killed three persons, who had entered the lists with him. Crichton offered to fight him for 1500 pistoles, and, having slain him in the contest, he distributed his prize among the widows of the three persons above-mentioned. The duke of Mantua, in consequence of his wonderful performances, chose him preceptor to his son-a youth of a dissolute life and riotous temper. To amuse his patron, Crichton composed a comedy, ridiculing the weaknesses of men in all employments, and sustained 15 characters in his own play, "setting before the eyes of the spectators the overweening monarch, the peevish swain, the superficial courtier, the proud warrior, the dissembled churchman, the cozening lawyer, the lying traveller,

19

the covetous merchant, the rude seaman, the pedantic scholar, and the tricksy servant," &c. During the carnival (1583), while amusing himself with his guitar, he was attacked by half a dozen persons in masks. He defended himself, and, disarming their leader, found him to be his own pupil. Crichton fell on his knees, and presented his own sword to the prince, who immediately stabbed him to the heart. The motives which impelled his pupil to the commission of so savage a deed are unknown. It is difficult to decide with certainty on the merits of Crichton. The works which he has left us, consisting of a few Latin odes, and some sketches of scholastic reasoning, do not give us a very elevated idea of his talents; and the original sources, from which our information is derived, are not of the most indubitable character. It appears, from the usual account, that, at 20 years of age, he was acquainted with all sciences, and was master of 12 languages. His death took place 13 years after, during which period we do not find that he performed any thing worthy of his early fame. The best account of him is contained in the Biographia Britannica, and the following sentence is passed upon him there:-"What, then, is the opinion which we are to form of the admirable Crichton? It is evident that he was a youth of such parts as excited admiration of his present attainments, and great expectations of his future performances. He appears to have had a fine person, to have been adroit in his bodily exercises, to have possessed a peculiar faculty in learning languages, to have enjoyed a remarkably quick and retentive memory, and to have excelled in power of declamation, fluency of speech, and readiness of reply. His knowledge, likewise, was probably very uncommon for his years; and this, in conjunction with his other qualities, enabled him to shine in public disputation. But whether his knowledge and learning were accurate or profound, may justly be questioned; and it may equally be doubted, whether he could have risen to any great eminence in the literary world."

CRICKET (gryllus, Lin.; acheta, Fab.); a genus of orthopterous or straight-winged insects, belonging to the grylloid family, which comprises the grasshoppers, molecrickets, crickets proper. This family, like all other orthoptera, do not undergo a complete transformation. They are hatched from eggs symmetrically stuck together by a viscous material, either upon vegetables, or placed under ground;