which clearly implied that it should be decided without the authority of the pope. Fox, who was then the royal almoner, mentioned this recommendation to the king, and Henry, eagerly catching at the hint, "swore by the Mother of God, that man hath the right sow by the ear." Cranmer's attendance was immediately required at the palace, and he was commanded to reduce his opinion to writing, and to devote his whole attention to the furtherance of this important matter, he was shortly after appointed archdeacon of Taunton, and one of the royal chaplains.
Henry was not yet prepared to hazard an open rupture with the pope, and sent Cranmer, along with several others, on an embassy to Rome about the close of 1529. The mission was unsuccessful, however, and shortly after his return, Cranmer was sent in 1531 as ambassador to the emperor on the same business. During his residence in Germany he married, about the beginning of 1532, Anne, niece of Osiander, the pastor of Nuremburg. Shortly after, Archbishop Warham died, and Cranmer was recalled to fill the vacant see. He was consecrated March 30, 1533. A few weeks later, 23rd May, 1533, Cranmer declared Henry's marriage with Catherine null and void; and on the 28th he publicly married the king to Anne Boleyn, whom Henry had privately espoused in the month of January. In 1536, in virtue of his office as primate, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry to this unhappy princess void; and again, in 1540, he presided at the convocation which pronounced the unjustifiable sentence of the invalidity of the union between the king and Anne of Cleves. In these transactions, it must be admitted, that Cranmer appears to little advantage. Meanwhile the archbishop took a conspicuous part in promoting the progress of the Reformation. He assisted in passing several statutes which materially diminished the power of the pope in England. He set on foot a translation of the Bible, assisted in the correction of a second edition of the "King's Primer," and urged the king to take steps for the suppression of the monasteries, and the application of their revenues to the advancement of religion and learning. When Henry lavished these funds upon unworthy favourites, Cranmer had the boldness to remonstrate against this misappropriation of the national property. In 1538 he strenuously resisted in the house of lords, at the risk of the king's displeasure, the enactment of the obnoxious "Six Articles" proposed by the duke of Norfolk. The Reformation continued to gain ground, and Cranmer exerted himself, in the face of great opposition, to extend its benefits throughout the kingdom. Books of religious instruction were circulated among the people, and mainly through his influence every man was allowed to enjoy the inestimable boon of reading the Bible in his mother tongue. On the other hand, it must be acknowledged that Cranmer had deeply imbibed the persecuting spirit of the old religion, and the share which he took in the condemnation of John Frith, Andrew Hewat, Joan of Kent, and others who suffered for their religious belief, has left a deep stain upon the primate's character. On the death of Henry in 1547, Cranmer was appointed by his will one of the regents of the kingdom; and by his talents, learning, and high station, contributed largely to the advancement of the protestant cause. He was the author of four of the Homilies, and one of the compilers of the Service Book, and the Articles of Religion, originally forty-two in number, were mainly, if not exclusively, drawn up by him.
Edward VI. died in 1553, and the reluctant accession of the archbishop to the injudicious scheme of elevating Lady Jane Grey to the throne, combined with his religious opinions, rendered him peculiarly obnoxious to the bigotted Queen Mary. In September, 1553, he was committed to the Tower along with Latimer and Ridley; and in March, 1554, he and his fellow-prisoners were removed to Oxford, and confined in the common prison called the Bocardo. They were ultimately condemned as obstinate heretics. Ridley and brave old Latimer underwent their cruel sentence with indomitable resolution; but the fortitude of Cranmer gave way under the pressure of misery, and the prospect of tortures and death, and he was induced by the hope of saving his life to sign no fewer than six recantations. His enemies, however, had determined that his abjuration of the protestant faith should avail him nothing, and this venerable and learned prelate was, accordingly, condemned to the flames. When brought out to execution, 21st March, 1556, he was exhorted to repeat his recantation; but, to the surprise and dismay of his adversaries, he openly declared his adherence to the reformed religion, and expressed his deep penitence for his unworthy denial of the faith. He was fastened to the stake opposite Baliol college, and suffered the cruel torture of the flames with a heroic fortitude, which his timidity and recent wavering conduct had not led his friends to expect.—J. T.
CRANSTOUN, George, Lord Corehouse, an eminent Scottish judge, the son of a landed proprietor, and grandson of William, fifth Lord Cranstoun, was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1793. The liberality of his politics operated as a drawback to his success. Notwithstanding this he ultimately attained large practice; and for many years, along with John Clerk, enjoyed a monopoly of the leadership at the bar. He was thoroughly acquainted with law, and had the reputation at the same time, of being an accomplished scholar. In 1823 he was elected Dean of Faculty, and was elevated to the bench of the supreme court of Scotland in 1826. Some time before his death, which took place in 1850, he had resigned his seat on the bench and retired into private life.—J. D. W.
CRASHAW, Richard, was born in London. The precise dates of his birth and death are not recorded, but he was dead before 1652. His father was a divine of some note, and a preacher at the Temple church. Richard Crashaw's early education was at the Charterhouse; from that he passed to Pembroke hall in 1632, and took his bachelor's degree in 1634. He then removed to Peterhouse, of which he became a fellow in 1637, and took his master's degree in 1638. In 1634 he published some Latin epigrams on scriptural subjects, "Epigrammata Sacra." In 1644 he was ejected from his fellowship by the parliamentarians, and went to France, where he adopted the religion of the country. In 1646, through the interest of the poet Cowley, he was recommended to Cardinal Palotta, who found employment for him in one of the public offices at Rome. The cardinal liked Crashaw better than his brother clerks did, and they soon got rid of him by finding for him a canonry in the church of Loretto. There, soon after his appointment, he died of fever. It was reported—without, however, any grounds being stated for the belief—that he was poisoned. The poems of Crashaw are cast in the manner of George Herbert, and the pieces printed at the end of Herbert's Temple were at one time ascribed to him. Before Crashaw left England, he had adopted views of mystic devotion, and practised exercises of ascetic piety, to which the church of England gives little encouragement, and for which she makes no provision. Of his poems, those on religious themes are the best; perhaps the very best of all is his hymn to St. Teresa. It is impossible to read them without feeling that, whatever were his errors of doctrine, his was a sentiment of genuine piety. Pope praises as superior to his other poems, that on "Lessius," that on "Ashton," and his translation of "Dies Iræ," and "the Wishes to his supposed Mistress."—J. A., D.
CRASSUS, Lucius Licinius, was the most celebrated Roman orator of his time; died in 91 b.c. He first attracted notice when he was only twenty-one, by his prosecution of C. Carbo in the year 119. The law which he proposed during his consulship in 95, compelling all who were not citizens to leave Rome, contributed to the bringing about of the Social War. Crassus, who had already been proconsul of Gaul, was made censor in 92, when he suppressed the schools of the Latin rhetoricians. He was, like many of the Romans of his age, a man of luxurious habits. Cicero introduces him as one of the speakers in the De Oratore.—R. M., A.
CRASSUS, Marcus Licinius, surnamed the Rich, a Roman statesman and general, was descended of a family of some note. He soon became known as the wealthiest citizen of Rome. During the dictatorship of Marius and Cinna he was forced to take refuge in Spain. On his return he joined Sylla, who received him with open arms, and appointed him to a command in his army. He was prætor when the revolt of the gladiators under Spartacus took place, and he was intrusted with the command of the army which was sent against them. He defeated them in a great battle, killing, according to report, more than 12,000. Elected consul on his return, in conjunction with Pompey, he used every means to gain the favour of the people. He entertained the whole populace at a feast where ten thousand tables were spread, and distributed, at his own expense, three months' provision of corn to each guest. He was more than suspected of complicity in the conspiracy of Catiline, but escaped conviction. Of the first triumvirate, which consisted of Pompey,
