free from a crowd of feathered followers of this species, ready to disputa with the Kites and the cooks the very meat at the fire ; and when any lengthened settlement is established the Crows will build their nests of the wire from
the Englishman s soda-water bottles.CROWE, Eyre Evans (1799-1 868), journalist and historian, was born about the year 1799. He commenced his work as a writer for the London newspaper press in connection with the now defunct Morning Chronicle, and he afterwards became a leading contributor to the Examiner and the Daily News. Of the latter journal he was principal editor for some time previous to his death. The depart ment he specially cultivated was that of Continental history and politics, with which he made himself intimately acquainted by means of study, travel, and correspondence with leading public men abroad. To permanent literature he made contributions of considerable value in his Lives of Foreign Statesmen (1830), The Greek and the Turk (1853), and Reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles X. (1854). These were followed by his most important work, thp History of France (5 vols., 1858-68), which is full, impartial, and laborious, and written in a clear though somewhat colourless and unimpassioned style. It is founded upon original sources, in order to consult which the author resided for a considerable time in Paris. He died in London on the 25th February 1868.
CROWLAND, or Croyland, an ancient town and parish of Lincolnshire, situated in a low flat district, about eight miles north-east from Peterborough. It stands at the confluence of the Welland and the Catwater drain ; and at their junction there is a curious triangular bridge (figured in art. Bridges, vol. iv. p. 331), passable only on foot. The origin of Crowland was in a hermitage founded in the 7th century by St Guthloc ; an abbey was founded in 714 by King Ethelbald, which was burnt in 870 by the Danes, restored by Ethelred II., burnt again in 1091, and again rebuilt in 1112. Of this there are still some interest ing remains. Among its abbots was the historian Ingulphus. Weekly markets are held at Crowland, and there are three fairs annually. Population (1871), 2459.
CROWN, a circular ornament worn around the head. The name is applied, at present, only to the head-dress worn by kings or emperors as a badge of their dignity. Originally it was of much wider meaning. The simplest and earliest form of the crown appears to have been a fillet or band, tied about the head, and serving for use, as well as ornament, by keeping up the hair. The name of crown is also given to garlands of leaves or branches, worn by the guests at private banquets, and on almost any occasion of more than common festivity. It was natural that those who wished to mark a distinction between themselves and their fellow-men should adopt a head-dress differing from that in general use, just as they adopted different and distinctive garments. In countries governed by a king, a special head-dress was, at a very early period, one of the recognized symbols of royalty. A very simple form of the royal crown was a diadsm or fillet of gold fastened round the head and tied behind. This by degrees became more and more elaborate in its structure and ornament, and assumed a variety of forms, in most of which the original diadem is to be traced, just as the diadem itself is a clear advance of the original ribbon or garland.
Crowns are oft^n mentioned in Scripture ; but the term was applied to other ornaments for the head besides those worn exclusively by royal personages. For example, the head-dress of the Jewish high-priest a linen band with a plate of gold fastened in front is also called a crown.
Among the kings of Egypt and of the East crowns were in common use. The crowns of the Ptolemies were, in general, plain fillets of gold encircling the head, but we find them sometimes making use of the more ornate radiated crown. The Seleucidas of Syria used the plain golden fillet. But the crowns of the Oriental kings have usually been much more ornate, sometimes of very massive construction, and profusely adorned with pearls and gems.
In the republics of historical Greece and Rome the crown long continued in use in its first and most simple form. There is no mention made by Homer of the crown as a royal_distinction, nor does he seem to have known it at all except as an ornamental wreath or garland. The most celebrated crowns among the Greeks were the wreaths gained at the great inter-Hellenic games, by the victors in the races and athletic contests. In the course of later Athenian history, we find crowns of gold frequently bestowed in recognition of distinguished public services. It was by Alexander the Great, and the successors of Alexander, that the crown was first worn in Greece as the symbol of royal rank. The form used was generally that of a simple band of gold.
The early Roman kings are commonly represented with plain bands of gold encircling their heads. During the historical period of Roman history, besides the crown in private use at feasts and funerals, there were several kinds of crowns bestowed for public services, and indeed in recognition of almost any kind of honourable distinction. These were frequently so designed in shape or material as to be symbolical of the service they commemorated. The corona muralis, for instance, was a crown of gold, decorated with turrets, given to him who had first scaled the walls of a besieged place ; the corona vallaris, decorated with pales, to him who had first forced an intrenchment ; the corona navalis, decorated in general with little figures of the prows of ships, to him who had gained a signal victory at sea. The corona obsidionalis, given to a general who had delivered a Roman army from blockade, was a crown of grass or herbs plucked at the spot where this important service had been rendered. The crowns of the lloman emperors were of several forms, regulated by the fancy of the wearer, from the simple golden fillet to the radiated crown which marked an admitted claim to divine honours.
In the nations of modern Europe crowns have alwaya been in general use among personages of the highest rank. The most remarkable are the papal and the imperial crowns. The papal crown is a lofty uncleft mitre, encircled by three coronets rising one above the other, surmounted by a ball and cross, and with ribbons at each side, similar to those of the mitre of an Italian bishop. This form of crown was first assumed by Pope Benedict XII., 1344.
The crowns that are most celebrated in connection with the imperial dignity are the Imperial crown proper, the German crown, and the Italian or Lombard crown. The first of these was of gold, rising into a semicircle above the- head, surmounted by a small cross, and adorned with pearls and precious stones. The second is always spoken of as the silver crown, but it appears from the evidence of eye witnesses that its material was, in fact, gold. The third was known as the iron crown, though it appears that the only iron in it was one of the nails used or said to have been used at the crucifixion, and that in this case too the rest of the material was gold. It was with this, or with a later imitation of it, that Napoleon I. was crowned as king of Italy at Milan in 1805. The Imperial crown, now in use in the empires of the Continent, in its form is very remarkable, being cleft somewhat after the manner of a mitre, having also the general contour of a modern convex mitre in its elevated part which rises above the golden leafage that heightens the gemmed circlet. In the open space between the two divisions formed by the cleft a single arch rises, surmounted by a mound and cross.
