CROKER CROLY 499 ordered to abandon it. For this exploit he was rewarded with the brevet of lieutenant colonel, and 22 years afterward (Feb. 13, 1835) with a gold medal from congress. He was made in- spector general, with the rank of colonel, Dec. 21, 1825, and in that capacity served with Gen. Taylor in Mexico in 1846-7. CHOKER, John Wilson, a British statesman and author, born in Galway, Ireland, Dec. 20, 1780, died at Hampton, near London, Aug. 10, 1857. He was educated at Trinity college, Dublin, where in 1800 he received the degree of bachelor of arts, and was entered as a stu- dent at Lincoln's Inn, but remained in Dublin, and was called to the Irish bar in 1802. He devoted his leisure to literature, and published anonymously in 1804 " Familiar Epistles on the Irish Stage," and in 1805 " An Intercepted Letter from Canton." In 1807 he wrote an elaborate pamphlet on " The Past and Present State of Ireland," in which he advocated Catholic emancipation. In that year he was returned to parliament by the borough of Downpatrick. When, in 1809, charges of mal- administration were brought against the duke of York, and a parliamentary inquiry was in- stituted, Mr. Croker was one of the most effective defenders of the duke. He was associated with Gifford, Scott, George Ellis, Frere, and Southey in establishing the " Quar- terly Review," the first number of which ap- peared in 1809, and he continued till his death to be one of the most frequent contributors to that periodical. In 1809 he was appointed secretary to the admiralty, and retained that office till 1830. He sat in the house of com- mons through eight successive parliaments till 1832, having been returned for Yarmouth, Athlone, Bodmin, and in 1827 for the univer- sity of Dublin. In 1828 he was sworn a privy councillor. He favored the project of Catholic emancipation, and was among the first to advo- cate a state encouragement of the fine arts. He was a resolute opponent of the reform bill, which he believed would ultimately revolu- tionize the country. The passing of that bill destroyed him politically, for he declared that he never would sit in a reformed parliament. He subsequently devoted himself to literature, and his contributions to the "Quarterly" were so caustic that for many years it was customary to attribute all the most malevolent and ablest articles of that periodical to his pen. Besides his review articles and many pam- phlets and printed speeches on political ques- tions, he published poems entitled " Talavera," " Songs of Trafalgar," and several lyrics, of which the fine lines on the death of Canning are among the most successful; "Military Events of the French Revolution of 1830;" "Letters on the Naval War with America;" and " Stories from the History of England for Children," which Scott acknowledged to have been the model of his " Tales of a Grand- father." He also translated Bassompierre's "Embassy to England," edited the "Suffolk Papers," the "Letters of Lady Hervey," Lord Hervey's " Memoirs of the Reign of George II.," and Walpole's "Letters to Lord Hertford," and furnished an edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson" with copious annotations. The last named work was severely reviewed by Macaulay; and in return, the harshest and most effective criticism upon the first volumes of Macaulay's "History of England" was from the pen of Croker. He was also long at feud with Disraeli, who lampooned him in the character of Rigby in " Coningsby," and whose political pretensions were consequently assailed in the "Quarterly." He had a con- troversy with Lord John Russell upon the publication by the latter of the "Memoirs and Correspondence " of Moore. A selection from his numerous contributions to the " Quar- terly Review " has been published. CROKER, Thomas Crofton, an Irish author, born in Cork, Jan. 15, 1798, died in London, Aug. 8, 1854. When 15 years of age he was apprenticed to a merchant, and began to make occasional rambles on foot through the south of Ireland. During these excursions, contin- ued for many years, he made the researches among the peasantry and the collections of legends and songs which furnished the mate- rials for his " Researches in the South of Ire- land " (1824), and for his "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland " (1825). From 1819 to 1850 he was a clerk in the ad- miralty, retiring with a pension. In 1829 he published the "Legends of the Lakes," and rhymes of a pantomime founded on the story of "Daniel O'Rourke," which were followed in 1832 by the tales of " Barney Mahoney " and " My Village." In 1838 he published the " Memoirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish Rebels in 1798," and in 1839 he edited the "Popular Songs of Ireland," with historical and personal annotations. CROLY, George, a British clergyman and au- thor, born in Dublin in August, 1780, died in London, Nov. 24, 1860. He was educated at Trinity college, Dublin, and, having become noted as an eloquent preacher and a versatile writer, was presented in 1835 with the rector- ship of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, London. His literary career began with a poem entitled "Paris in 1815," in which he describes the works of art collected by Napoleon in the Louvre, prior to their restoration to the various galleries of Europe after the surrender of Paris. This was followed in 1820 by the " Angel of the World, an Arabian Tale," and by several satires and lyrics, first collected in 1830. In 1824 his comedy of " Pride shall have a Fall " was performed at Covent Garden theatre with great success. He published in 1827 " Sala- thiel, a Story of the Past, the Present, and the Future," founded on the legend of the wandering Jew. It was followed by two other works of fiction, "Tales of the Great St. Bernard " and " Marston " (1846). He edited the works of Pope (1835), and the select works
