lofty mountains, and contains one Lutheran, one Calvinist, and one Catholic church, and a Lutheran gymnasium. It is celebrated for its mines of gold and silver, and is the oldest mining town in Hungary. The situation is elevated, and the air is very cold. The town itself is very small, not containing 50 houses, but the faubourgs are of great extent. The ducats which bear the name of Cremnitz have enjoyed, for a long time, the reputation of very fine gold. They are to be known by the two letters K. B. (Kermecz Banya, Cremnitz mines), between which is the image of the sovereign. Much gold and silver from these mines is coined in Vienna.

CREMONA; a city of the LombardoVenetian kingdom, capital of the province and district, in a beautiful situation. It is about five miles in circumference, and has spacious and regular streets, with several squares, but the houses are in general ill built. Here are 44 churches and chapels, 43 convents, and an obscure university. It is the see of a bishop. The cathedral is a massy structure, with a façade of beautiful white and red marble, ornamented, in the interior, with various paintings and pictures in fresco. The tower of Cremona, built by Frederic Barbarossa, in the 12th century, is a very curious edifice, consisting of two octagonal obelisks, surmounted by a cross, and, in all, 372 feet in height. The silk manufactures of this place are considerable, and it has long been noted for its superior violins. This city is of great antiquity, having been created a Roman colony B. C. 291. The Venetians possessed it a long time; and, under Napoleon, it was, until 1814, capital of the department of Alto Po. Population, 23,000; 38 miles S. E. Milan; fon. 10° 2′ 12′′ E.; lat. 45° 7′ 43′′ N.

CREOLE (from the Spanish Criollo) is the name which was originally given to all the descendants of Spaniards born in America and the West Indies. It is also used for the descendants of other Europeans, as French, Danes, in which case we say, French-Creole, Danish-Creole. Since the native Spaniards have been expelled from the former Spanish American colonies, the term Creole is comparatively little used, in speaking of those parts of America, it being seldom necessary as a term of distinction; but, in speaking of the French, Danish and Spanish possessions in the West Indies, the word occurs more frequently. In the U. States, it is often used for the descendants of the French and Spaniards in Louisiana (many of the latter having

settled there from Spanish America), in contradistinction to Americans, meaning, by the latter term, people born in the other states, or their descendants. In 1776, Charles III, king of Spain, declared the Creoles capable of civil, military, and ecclesiastical offices, from which, till then, they had been excluded. Native Spanjards, however, still continued to have the preference, and the Creoles were treated with the arrogance which too often distinguishes the conduct of the natives of a parent country towards colonists; and the consequence was great exacerbation of feeling on the part of the Creoles. In the West Indies, the Creoles have always enjoyed equal rights with native Europeans. Before the declaration of independence by the colonies of Spanish America, there existed marked lines of distinction between the different classes, founded on difference of birth. The Chapetones were Europeans by birth, and first in rank and power; the Creoles were the second; the Mulattoes and Mestizoes (descendants of white and black, or white and Indian parents) formed the third class; Negroes and Indians, the fourth. At present, they are all entitled to equal privileges by the constitutions. Some of Bolivar's generals are dark Mulattoes, and Paez is a Llanero. The Llaneros are converted Indians. The native Spaniards formerly avoided associating with the Creoles, and formed the first class. In Venezuela, there existed a kind of Creole nobility, unknown in other parts of South America. They were called Mantuanos, and divided themselves into those of Sangre Azul (blue blood), descendants of the first Spanish conquerors, and those of Sangre Mezclada (mixed blood), Creole families of a later origin, who had intermarried with Spaniards or Frenchmen. The Creoles, in general, before the revolution, were very lazy, leaving the mechanical arts and husbandry altogether to the Mulattoes, Negroes or Indians; and, even now, the mechanics are mostly colored or black persons. The ladies are of a sallow complexion, have beautiful teeth, large, dark eyes, and are, like the men, very finely formed.—Creole dialects are those jargons which have originated from the mixture of different languages in the West Indies. They are spoken by the slaves, who have destroyed the fine grammatical construction of the European languages, and have intermixed with them some original African words. According to the European language which prevails in a Creole dialect, it is called French-Creole, Danish-Creole, &c

In St. Thomas, for instance, the latter is spoken; in Hayti, French-Creole. Among the numerous corruptions of European words and constructions, we find, very generally, in the Creole dialects, the corruptions of grammar common among children; for instance, me is used instead of I. Often no distinction is made between the possessive pronoun and the personal; e. g., me house for my house, or wi massra for our master. The infinitive is used for the finite tenses, as moi donner for je donne. It is well known that Homer has several deviations from grammar which are now peculiar to children; and the Creole dialects have several peculiarities in common with those used by Hoiner. The mixture of words from different languages is often considerable in these dialects; but most of them can be understood, without a great deal of difficulty, by a man acquainted with English, Danish, French and Spanish. We will give an example of the Papimento languagea Creole dialect spoken in St. Thomasfrom a work extracted from the four Gospels, entitled Da Tori va wi Massra en Helpiman Jesus Christus, so leki wi findi datti na inni dem fo Evangeliste: Mattheus, Marcus, Lucas en Johannes, 1816 (The Story of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as we find it in the four Evangelists, &c.) A part of the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John, from the 4th to the 8th verse, is given in this work, as follows:-Libi ben de na inni va hem, Kaba da libi ben de Kandera va somma. Kaba da Kandera de krini na dungru, ma dungru no ben teki da Kandera. Gado ben senni wan somma, dem kali Johannes, dissi ben Komm va takki vo da Kandera, va dem somma Komm bribi na da Kandera. Hem srefi no da Kandera, ma a ben Komm va takki na somma vo da Kandera. This specimen will give an idea of the strange mixture of words, and of the clumsy periphrases used to express ideas, e. g., libi ben de na inni va hem; of the poverty, e. g., ben for been, has been, has, was, and had, &c. There are, however, in all languages, heavy periphrases, our familiarity with which prevents us from being sensible of them; e. g., je venais de chez moi, or he is about to set out on a journey; which, if we had one word for undertaking a journey, and a tense for expressing the intention, might be expressed in one word. That a careful investigation of the Creole dialects would lead to several interesting discoverles respecting the origin of some grammatical formations and modes of expression, is hardly to be doubted. When the 2

VOL. IV.

allied armies invaded Fran, and the Russian and German soldier were often under the necessity of communicating with each other, and with the French, a kind of jargon came into use among them, in which the writer observed that mi-the Low German for me, and pretty nearly resembling the French moi-was used by all parties to express the first person singular. The infinitive was also used instead of the finite modes, expressing only the gross idea of action without modification. Flesh, from the German Fleisch (meat), dobri, from the Russian, for good, were also employed by all parties, as was also the word caput, to signify broken down, spoiled, &c. This last word is still in use among the lower classes of North Germany. Mi flesh caput meant, in this military dialect, my meat is spoiled. Several of the modern European languages must have originated in this way, after the irruption of the northern tribes into the Roman empire.

CRESCENDO, or CRES. (Ital.) By the term crescendo, the Italians signify that the notes of the passage over which it is placed are to be gradually swelled. This operation is not of modern invention. The ancient Romans, as we learn from a passage in Cicero, were aware of its beauty, and practised it continually.-Crescendo is also the name of a musical instrument, invented in 1778, by the counsellor Bauer, in Berlin, which is played like a piano, and, like this, is furnished with wire strings.

CRESCENT (crescens, Lat.); an emblem, representing the moon in her state of increase. This emblem of the Ottomans is of very high antiquity. The Egyptians had their Isis, the Greeks their Diana, and it is easy to conceive that the crescent, which announced the returning light of the moon, soon became an object of worship with such people. Thus Isis, Diana, and the bull Apis, are decorated with this emblem; which is also found on medals of Alexander, and other ancient monuments of art. The citizens of Athens of illustrious birth wore crescents of ivory and silver upon their buskins; and the same mark of distinction was granted to the patricians and senators of Rome. They were called lunulati calcei. The crescent was often used by females as an ornament for the head; an example of which may be seen on a bust of Marciana, in the Villa Pamfili. On many medals of queens, the bust is supported by a crescent, expressive of the relation they bore to their husbands, who, as kings, were as the sun, while they were as the moon. It is also

an emblem of the eternity of an empire. The god Lunus bears it upon his shoulder; and the denarii of the Lucretian family have it accompanied by the Seven Stars of the northern hemisphere. It is also found on medals of many cities, particularly of Byzantium, from whence it is supposed to have been borrowed by the Ottomans. Since their establishment in Europe, it has been the universal emblem of their empire. It decorates their minarets, their turbans, their ensigns, their insignia; every thing appertaining to the Mussulmans is characterized by this sign, and their states are designated as the Empire of the Crescent. During the crusades, particularly, the crescent was the distinguishing symbol of the Mussulmans, as the cross was of the Christians.

CRESCENZI, Pietro, or Petrus de, the restorer of the scientific study of agriculture in Europe, born at Bologna, in 1230, was an attorney and magistrate, till he was obliged, by civil troubles, to leave his native country. He travelled through Italy, and collected useful observations. It was not till after 30 years of absence, when order was at length restored to his native city, that he was permitted to return; and, at the age of 70, he was made senator. He now carried into execution his principles of agriculture, on an estate near Bologna, in the cultivation of which he passed the remainder of his life. See his essay on agriculture (Ruralium Commodorum, 12 books), which he composed at the desire of Charles II. He submitted his work to the examination of learned men in Bologna, by whom it was correct ed and improved. It is a remarkable monument of his time, of which it is far in advance. Apostolo Zeno has proved that these 12 books, in the arrangement of which the author seems to have followed Columella, were written originally in Lat

in.

There exists an Italian translation (Il Libro della Agricultura di P. Crescentio, Florence, 1487 et seq.), which is esteemed very highly, on account of the purity of the language, and has given rise to the opinion that Crescenzi wrote in his native tongue. He understood the ancients, and made use of them. His principles are simple, founded upon experience, and free from many prejudices, which continued to prevail in Europe for centuries after. His work was no sooner published, than it spread throughout Europe. It was translated into several European languages, particularly for Charles V of France, in a splendid manuscript (1373), which is still extant; and no soon

er was the art of printing invented, than copies of this work were greatly multiplied. The oldest known edition, which is now very rare, appeared at Augsburg, in 1471, in folio. The earliest Italian translation, the author of which is supposed to be Lorenzo Benvenuti, of St. Geminiano, and which is accounted among the models of language, is contained in the collection of the Classici Italiani (Milan, 1805). A more exact, but a less esteemed translation, was made by Sansovino. We are indebted for much information concerning Crescenzi and his work to professor Filippo Re, at Bologna.

CRESCENZI, D. Juan Baptista, marquis de la Torre, born at Rome towards the end of the 16th century, studied the art of painting under Pomerancias. Some of his early compositions attracted the attention of the pope, Paul V, who intrusted him with the decoration of the Pauline chapel. Cardinal Zapata took him to Spain in 1617, where he obtained the favor of Philip III. Some flower-pieces occasioned his receiving the commission to build the sepulchral monument in the Escurial, the splendor and finished elegance of which place it among the most remarkable monuments of Europe. (See Santo's History of the Escurial, with copperplates.) The bronze figures were executed by Roman artists. Philip IV made him a grandee of Castile, with the title of marquis de la Torre, and conferred upon him other marks of distinction. His house, which contained rich treasures in every branch of art, was ever open to artists. He died in 1660.

CRESCIMBENI, Giovanni Maria, a scholar and poet, was born at Macerata, in the Mark of Ancona, Oct. 9, 1663. When but a child, he displayed an inclination for poetry. Ariosto's verses, in particular, were impressed on his memory by an edition of Orlando Furioso, with copperplates, in which he used to search for and peruse the passages to which the engravings referred. In the Jesuits' college, at Macerata, he wrote, at 13, a tragedy-Darius. At 15, he was a member of an academy, and, at 16, doctor of laws. father sent him, in 1681, to Rome, to perfect himself in the knowledge of law; but he applied himself, with still more zeal, to poetry. Some canzoni of Filicaja, in 1687, gave him correct views of the character of the poetry then in vogue. Dissatisfied with all that he had formerly attempted, he felt himself at once constrained to imitate only the ancient models, and to recommend their simple and natural manner

His

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 Arcadum Custos), and bearing the Arcadian pipe. He was of a gentle disposition, benevolent, affable and moderate. Among his numerous works, oc

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 il 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. iii, 336) that the crests of the earlier Greeks were of horsehair; afterwards plumes, especially red ones, were adopted. (VIRG. En. 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 A6ços; but some are of opinion that these words mean different things, pálos signifying the raised part of the helmet (conus), and

Aópos, the real crest. The crests of commanders (appipador), of course, were generally larger than those of common soldiers. The Æginetan statues (see Eginetan 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 important 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 that peculiar enlargement of the thyroid gand, which, in France, is denominated goitre, 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 Cagots, 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, skeltered 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 humid, 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 sufficiently 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.