Chapter 22

(J. D. B.)

On the 22nd of February 1907 M. Zaimis, as high commissioner, took the oath to the new constitution elaborated after much debate by the Cretan national assembly. His position was one of singular difficulty. Apart from the rivalry of the factions within the Assembly, there was the question of the Mussulman minority, dwindling it is true,3but still a force to be reckoned with. The high commissioner, true to his reputation as a prudent statesman and astute politician, showed great skill in dealing with the situation. From the first he had taken up an attitude of great reserve, appearing little in public and careful not to identify himself with any faction. In such matters as appointments to the judicial bench, indeed, his studied impartiality offended both parties; but on the whole his administration was a marked success, and the cessation of the chronic state of disturbance in the island justified the powers in preparing for the withdrawal of their troops. In spite of the admission of their co-religionists to high office in the government, the Mussulmans, it is true, still complained of continuous ill-treatment having for its object their expatriation; but these complaints were declared by Sir Edward Grey, in answer to a question in parliament, to be exaggerated. The protecting powers had fixed the conditions preliminary to evacuation—(1) the organization of a native gendarmerie, (2) the maintenance of the tranquillity of the island, (3) the complete security of the Mussulman population. On the 20th of March 1908 M. Zaimis called the attention of the powers to the fact that these conditions had been fulfilled, and on the 11th of May the powers announced to the high commissioner their intention of beginning the evacuation at once and completing it within a year. The first withdrawal of the troops (July 27), hailed with enthusiasm by the Cretan Christians, led to rioting by the Mussulmans, who believed themselves abandoned to their fate.

Meanwhile M. Zaimis had made a further advance towards the annexation of the island to Greece by a visit to Athens, where he arranged for a loan with the Greek National Bank and engaged Greek officers for the new gendarmerie. The issue was precipitated by the news of the revolution in Turkey. On the 12thof October the Cretan Assembly once more voted the union with Greece, and in the absence of M. Zaimis—who had gone for a holiday to Santa Maura—elected a committee of six to govern the island in the name of the king of Greece.

Against this the Mussulman deputies protested, in a memorandum addressed to the British secretary of state for foreign affairs. His reply, while stating that his government would safeguard the interests of the Mussulmans, left open the question of the attitude of the powers, complicated now by sympathy with reformed Turkey. The efforts of diplomacy were directed to allaying the resentment of the “Young Turks” on the one hand and the ardour of the Greek unionists on the other; and meanwhile the Cretan administration was carried on peaceably in the name of King George. At last (July 13, 1909) the powers announced to the Porte, in answer to a formal remonstrance, their decision to withdraw their remaining troops from Crete by July 26 and to station four war-ships off the island to protect the Moslems and to safeguard “the supreme rights” of the Ottoman Empire. This arrangement, which was duly carried out, was avowedly “provisional” and satisfied neither party, leading in Greece especially to the military and constitutional crises of 1909 and 1910.

(W. A. P.)

Authorities.—Pashley,Travels in Crete(2 vols., Cambridge and London, 1837); Spratt,Travels and Researches in Crete(2 vols., London, 1867); Raulin,Description physique de l’île de Crète(3 vols, and Atlas, Paris, 1869); W. J. Stillman,The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-68(New York, 1874); Edwardes,Letters from Crete(London, 1887); Stavrakis,Στατιστικὴ τοῦ πληθυσμοῦ τῆς Κρήτης(Athens, 1890); J. H. Freese,A Short Popular History of Crete(London, 1897); Bickford-Smith,Cretan Sketches(London, 1897); Laroche,La Crète ancienne et moderne(Paris, 1898); Victor Berard,Les Affaires de Crète(Paris, 1898);Monumenti Veneti dell’ isola de Creta(published by the Venetian Institute), vol. i. (1906), vol. ii. (1908). See also Mrs Walker,Eastern Life and Scenery(London, 1886), andOld Tracks and New Landmarks(London, 1897); H. F. Tozer,The Islands of the Aegean(Oxford, 1890); J. D. Bourchier, “The Stronghold of the Sphakiotes,”Fortnightly Review(August 1890); E. J. Dillon, “Crete and the Cretans,”Fortnightly Review(May 1897).

1See L. Cayeux, “Les Lignes directrices des plissements de l’île de Crète,”C.R. IX. Cong. géol. internat. Vienna, pp. 383-392 (1904).2Among the features common to the two were thesyssitia, or public tables, at which all the citizens dined in common. Indeed, the Cretan system, like that of Sparta, appears to have aimed at training up the young, and controlling them, as well as the citizens of more mature age, in all their habits and relations of life. The supreme governing authority was vested in magistrates called Cosmi, answering in some measure to the Spartan Ephori, but there was nothing corresponding to the two kings at Sparta. These Cretan institutions were much extolled by some writers of antiquity, but receive only qualified praise from the judicious criticisms of Aristotle (Polit.ii. 10).3The Mussulman population, 88,000 in 1895, had sunk to 40,000 in 1907, and the emigration was still continuing. The loss to the country in wealth exported and land going out of cultivation has been very serious.

1See L. Cayeux, “Les Lignes directrices des plissements de l’île de Crète,”C.R. IX. Cong. géol. internat. Vienna, pp. 383-392 (1904).

2Among the features common to the two were thesyssitia, or public tables, at which all the citizens dined in common. Indeed, the Cretan system, like that of Sparta, appears to have aimed at training up the young, and controlling them, as well as the citizens of more mature age, in all their habits and relations of life. The supreme governing authority was vested in magistrates called Cosmi, answering in some measure to the Spartan Ephori, but there was nothing corresponding to the two kings at Sparta. These Cretan institutions were much extolled by some writers of antiquity, but receive only qualified praise from the judicious criticisms of Aristotle (Polit.ii. 10).

3The Mussulman population, 88,000 in 1895, had sunk to 40,000 in 1907, and the emigration was still continuing. The loss to the country in wealth exported and land going out of cultivation has been very serious.

CRETINISM,the term given to a chronic disease, either sporadic or endemic, arising in early childhood, and due to absence or deficiency of the normal secretion of the thyroid gland. It is characterized by imperfect development both of mind and body. The thyroid gland is either congenitally absent, imperfectly developed, or there is definite goitre. The origin of the word is doubtful. Its southern French formChrestiaasuggested to Michel a derivation fromcresta(crête), the goose foot of red cloth worn by the Cagots of the Pyrenees. The Cagots, however, were not cretins. The word is usually explained as derived fromchrétien(Christian) in the sense of “innocent.” ButChristianus(which appears in the Lombardcristanei; compare the Savoyardinnocentsandgens du bon dieu) is probably a translation of the oldercretin, and the latter is probably connected withcreta(craie)—a sallow or yellow-earthy complexion being a common mark of cretinism.

The endemic form of cretinism prevails in certain districts, as in the valleys of central Switzerland, Tirol and the Pyrenees. In the United Kingdom cretins have been found in England at Oldham, Sholver Moor, Crompton, Duffield, Cromford (near Matlock), and other points in Derbyshire; endemic goitre has been seen near Nottingham, Chesterfield, Pontefract, Ripon, and the mountainous parts of Staffordshire and Yorkshire, the east of Cumberland, certain parts of Worcester, Warwick, Cheshire, Monmouth, and Leicester, near Horsham in Hampshire, near Haslemere in Surrey, and near Beaconsfield in Buckingham. There are cretins at Chiselborough in Somerset. In Scotland cretins and cases of goitre have been seen in Perthshire, on the east coast of Fife, in Roxburgh, the upper portions of Peebles and Selkirk, near Lanark and Dumfries, in the east of Ayrshire, in the west of Berwick, the east of Wigtown, and in Kirkcudbright. The disease is not confined to Europe, but occurs in North and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia. Wherever endemic goitre is present, endemic cretinism is present also, and it has been constantly observed that when a new family moves into a goitrous district, goitre appears in the first generation, cretinism in the second. The causation of goitre has now been shown to be due to drinking certain waters, though the particular impurity in the water which gives rise to this condition has not been determined (seeGoitre). The causation of the sporadic form of cretinism is, however, obscure.

Cretinism usually remains unrecognized until the child reaches some eighteen months or two years, when its lack of mental development and uncouth bodily form begin to attract attention. Occasionally the child appears to be normal in infancy, but the cretinoid condition develops later, any time up to puberty. The essential point in the morbid anatomy of these cases is the absence or abnormal condition of the thyroid gland (seeMetabolic Diseases). It may be congenitally absent, atrophied, or the seat of a goitre, though this last condition is very rare in cases of sporadic cretinism. The skeleton shows arrested growth, most marked in the case of the long bones. The skull in the endemic form of cretinism is usually brachycephalic, but in the sporadic cases it is more commonly dolichocephalic. The pathology of cretinism and its allied condition myxoedema (q.v.) has now been conclusively worked out, and its essential cause has been shown to be loss of function of the thyroid gland.

The condition has existed and been described in far back ages, but mingled with so many other entirely different deformities and degenerations that it is now often almost impossible to classify them satisfactorily. The following is a vivid picture by Beaupré (Dissertation sur les crétins, translated in Blackie onCretinism, Edin., 1855):—

“I see a head of unusual form and size, a squat and bloated figure, a stupid look, bleared hollow and heavy eyes, thick projecting eyelids, and a flat nose. His face is of a leaden hue, his skin dirty, flabby, covered with tetters, and his thick tongue hangs down over his moist livid lips. His mouth, always open and full of saliva, shows teeth going to decay. His chest is narrow, his back curved, his breath asthmatic, his limbs short, misshapen, without power. The knees are thick and inclined inward, the feet flat. The large head drops listlessly on the breast; the abdomen is like a bag.”

When fully grown the height rarely exceeds 4 ft., and is often less than 3 ft. The skin feels doughy from thickening of the subcutaneous tissues, and it hangs in folds over the abdomen and the bends of the joints. Very frequently there is an umbilical hernia. The hair has a far greater resemblance to horse-hair than to that of a human being, and is usually absent on the body of an adult cretin. The temperature is subnormal, and the exposed parts tend to become blue in cold weather. The blood is usually deficient in haemoglobin, which is often only 40-50% of the normal. The mental capacity varies within narrow limits; an intelligent adult cretin may reach the intellectual development of a child 3-4 years of age, though more often the standard attained is even below this. The child cretin learns neither to walk nor talk at the usual time. Often it is unable even to sit without support. Some years later a certain power of movement is acquired, but the gait is waddling and clumsy. Speech is long delayed, or in bad cases may be almost entirely lacking. The voice is usually harsh and unpleasant. Of the senses smell and taste are but slightly developed, more or less deafness is generally present, and only the sight is fairly normal. In the adult the genital organs remain undeveloped. If the cretin is untreated he rarely has a long life, thirty years being an exceptional age. Death results from some intercurrent disease.

Cretinism has to be distinguished from the state of a Mongolian idiot, in whom there is no thickening of the subcutaneous tissues, and much greater alertness of mind; from achondroplasia, in which condition there is usually no mental impairment; and from infantilism, which covers a group of symptoms whose only common point is that the primary and secondary sexual characteristics fail to appear at the proper time.

Before 1891 there was no treatment for this disease. The patients lived in hopeless imbecility until their death. But in that year Dr George Murray published his discovery of the effect of hypodermic injections of thyroid gland extract in cases of myxoedema. In the following year Drs Hector Mackenzie, E. L. Fox of Plymouth, and Howitz of Copenhagen, each working independently, showed the equally potent effect of the gland administered by the mouth. The remedy was soonafter applied to cretinism and its effects were found to be even more wonderful. It has to be used, however, with the greatest care and discrimination, since personal idiosyncrasy seems to be a very variable factor. Even small doses, if beyond the patient’s power, may produce fever, excitement, headache, insomnia and vomiting. The administration must be persisted in throughout life, otherwise myxoedematous symptoms appear. The first most apparent results are those of growth, and this may supervene even in patients up to 25-30 years of age. Once started, 4 to 6 in. may be gained in stature in the first year’s treatment, though this is usually in inverse ratio to the age of the patient, and also diminishes in later stages of treatment. In young adolescents it may be so rapid that the patient has to be kept lying down to prevent permanent bending of the long bones of the leg, softened by their rapid growth. A very typical case under Dr Hector Mackenzie, showing what can be expected from early treatment, is that of a cretin aged 11 years in 1893, when thyroid treatment was started. He grew very rapidly and became a normal child, passed through school, and in 1908 was at one of the universities.

Bibliography.—Sardinian Commission, “Relazione della commissione di Sardegna per studiare il cretinismo” (Torino, 1848); C. Hilton Fagge, “On Sporadic Cretinism occurring in England,”Med. Chir. Trans.(London, 1870); Vincenzo Allara, “Sulla causa del cretinesimo,” studio (Milano, 1892); Victor Horsley, “Remarks on the Function of the Thyroid Gland,”Brit. Med. Journ.(1892); “The Treatment of Myxoedema and Cretinism, being a Review of the Treatment of those Diseases by Thyroid Gland,”Journ. Ment. Sc.(London, 1893); W. Osler, “On Sporadic Cretinism in America,”Am. Journ. of Med. Sc.(1893); C. A. Ewald,Die Erkrankungen der Schilddrüse, Myxödeme und Cretinismus(Wien, 1896); G. R. Murray,Diseases of the Thyroid Gland, part i. (1900); R. Virchow, “Über Cretinismus,”Würzburger Verhand.; Hector Mackenzie, “Organotherapy,”Textbook of Pharmacology and Therapeutics(1901); Weygandt,Der heutige Stand der Lehre vom Kretinismus(Halle, 1903); Hector Mackenzie, “Cretinism,” Allbutt & Rolleston’sSystem of Medicine, part iv. (1908).

CRETONNE,originally a strong, white fabric with a hempen warp and linen weft. The word is said to be derived from Creton, a village in Normandy where the manufacture of linen was carried on. It is now applied to a strong, printed cotton cloth, stouter than chintz but used for very much the same purposes. It is usually unglazed and may be printed on both sides and even with different patterns. Frequently the cretonne has a woven fancy pattern of some kind which is modified by the printed design. It is sometimes made with a weft of cotton waste.

CREUSE,a department of central France, comprising the greater portion of the old province of Marche, together with portions of Berry, Bourbonnais, Auvergne, Limousin and Poitou. Area, 2164 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 274,094. It lies on the north-western border of the central plateau and is bounded N. by the departments of Indre and Cher, E. by Allier and Puy-de-Dôme, S. by Corrèze and W. by Haute-Vienne. The surface is hilly, with a general inclination north-westward in the direction of the valley of the Creuse, sloping from the mountains of Auvergne and Limousin, branches of which project into the south of the department. The chief of these starts from the Plateau de Gentioux, and under the name of the Mountains of Marche extends along the left bank of the Creuse. The highest point is in the forest of Châteauvert (3050 ft.) in the extreme south-east of the department. Rivers, streams and lakes are numerous, but none are navigable; the principal is the Creuse, which rises on the north side of the mass of Mount Odouze on the border of the department of Corrèze, and passes through the department, dividing it into two nearly equal portions, receiving the Petite Creuse from the right, and afterwards flowing on to join the Vienne. The valleys of the head-streams of the Cher and of its tributary the Tardes, which near Évaux passes under a fine viaduct 300 ft. in height, occupy the eastern side; those of the heads of the Vienne and its tributary the Thaurion, and of the Gartempe joining the Creuse, are in the west of the department. The climate is in general cold, moist and variable; the rigorous winter covers the higher cantons with snow; rain is abundant in spring, and storms are frequent in summer, but the autumn is fine. Except in the valleys the soil is poor and infertile, and agriculture is also handicapped by the dearness of labour, due to the annual emigration of from 15,000 to 20,000 of the inhabitants to other parts of France, where they serve as stonemasons, &c. The produce of cereals, chiefly rye, wheat, oats and buckwheat, is not sufficient for home consumption. The chestnut abounds in the north and west; hemp and potatoes are also grown. Cattle-rearing and sheep-breeding are the chief industries of the department, which supplies Poitou and Vendée with draught oxen. Coal is mined to some extent, chiefly in the basin of Ahun. There are thermal springs at Évaux in the east of the department, where remains of Roman baths are preserved. The chief industrial establishments are the manufactories of carpets and hangings and the dyeworks of Aubusson and Felletin. Saw-mills and the manufacture of wooden shoes and hats have some importance. Exports include carpets, coal, live-stock and hats; imports comprise raw materials for the manufactures and food-supplies. The department is served by the Orléans railway company, whose line from Montluçon to Périgueux traverses it from east to west. It is divided into the four arrondissements of Guéret, the capital Aubusson, Bourganeuf, and Boussac, and further into 25 cantons and 266 communes. With Haute-Vienne, Creuse forms the diocese of Limoges, where also is its court of appeal. It forms part of the académie (educational division) of Clermont and of the region of the XII. army corps. The principal towns are Guéret and Aubusson. La Souterraine, Chambon-sur-Voueize and Bénévent-l’Abbaye possess fine churches of the 12th century. At Moutier-d’Ahun there is a church, which has survived from a Benedictine abbey. The nave of the 15th century with a fine portal, and the choir with its carved stalls of the 17th century, are of considerable interest. The small industrial town of Bourganeuf has remains of a priory, including a tower (15th century) in which Zizim, brother of the sultan Bajazet II., is said to have been imprisoned.

CREUTZ, GUSTAF FILIP,Count(1729-1785), Swedish poet, was born in Finland in 1729. After concluding his studies in Åbo he received a post in the court of chancery at Stockholm in 1751. Here he met Count Gyllenborg, with whom his name is indissolubly connected. They were closely allied with Fru Nordenflycht, and their works were published in common; to their own generation they seemed equal in fame, but posterity has given the palm of genius to Creutz. His greatest work is contained in the 1762 volume, the idyll ofAtis och Camilla; the exquisite little pastoral entitled “Daphne” was published at the same time, and Gyllenborg was the first to proclaim the supremacy of his friend. In 1763 Creutz practically closed his poetical career; he went to Spain as ambassador, and after three years to Paris in the same capacity. In 1783 Gustavus III. recalled him and heaped honours upon him, but he died soon after, on the 30th of October 1785.Atis och Camillawas long the most admired poem in the Swedish language; it is written in a spirit of pastoral which is now to some degree faded, but in comparison with most of the other productions of the time it is freshness itself. Creutz introduced a melody and grace into the Swedish tongue which it lacked before, and he has been styled “the last artificer of the language.”

SeeCreutz och Gyllenborgs Vitterhetsarbeten(Stockholm, 1795).

CREUZER, GEORG FRIEDRICH(1771-1858), German philologist and archaeologist, was born on the 10th of March 1771, at Marburg, the son of a bookbinder. Having studied at Marburg and Jena, he for some time lived at Leipzig as a private tutor; but in 1802 he was appointed professor at Marburg, and two years later professor of philology and ancient history at Heidelberg. The latter position he held for nearly forty-five years, with the exception of a short time spent at the university of Leiden, where his health was affected by the Dutch climate. He was one of the principal founders of the Philological Seminary established at Heidelberg in 1807. The Academy of Inscriptions of Paris appointed him one of its members, and from the grand-duke of Baden he received the dignity of privy councillor. He died on the 16th of February 1858. Creuzer’s first and most famous work was hisSymbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker,besonders der Griechen(1810-1812), in which he maintained that the mythology of Homer and Hesiod came from an Eastern source through the Pelasgians, and was the remains of the symbolism of an ancient revelation. This work was vigorously attacked by Hermann in hisBriefen über Homer und Hesiod, and in his letter, addressed to Creuzer,Über das Wesen und die Behandlung der Mythologie; by J. H. Voss in hisAntisymbolik; and by Lobek in hisAglaophamos. Of Creuzer’s other works the principal are an edition of Plotinus; a partial edition of Cicero, in preparing which he was assisted by Moser;Die historische Kunst der Griechen(1803);Epochen der griech. Literaturgeschichte(1802);Abriss der römischen Antiquitäten(1824);Zur Geschichte altrömischer Cultur am Oberrhein und Neckar(1833);Zur Gemmenkunde(1834);Das Mithreum von Neuenheim(1838);Zur Galerie der alten Dramatiker(1839);Zur Geschichte der classischen Philologie(1854).

See the autobiographicalAus dem Leben eines alten Professors(Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1848), to which was added in the year of his deathParalipomena der Lebenskizze eines alten Professors(Frankfort, 1858); also Starck,Friederich Kreuzer, sein Bildungsgang und seine bleibende Bedeutung(Heidelberg, 1875).

CREVASSE,a French word used in two senses. (1) In French Switzerland, and thence universally in high mountain regions, it designates a fissure in a glacier caused by gigantic cracks in the ice-mass, sometimes of great depth, into which climbers frequently fall through a light bridge of snow which conceals the crevasse. (2) Adopted from the French of Louisiana, it signifies locally a wide crack or breach in the bank of a canal or river, and particularly of the “levee” of the Mississippi.

CREVIER, JEAN BAPTISTE LOUIS(1693-1765), French author, was born at Paris, where his father was a printer. He studied under Rollin and held the professorship of rhetoric in the college of Beauvais for twenty years. He completed Rollin’sHistoire romaineby the addition of six volumes (1750-1756); he also published two editions of Livy, with notes;L’Histoire des empereurs des Romains, jusqu’à Constantin(1749);Histoire de l’Université de Paris, and aRhétorique françoise, which enjoyed much popularity.

CREVILLENTE, a town of eastern Spain, in the province of Alicante, and on the Murcia-Alicante railway. Pop. (1900) 10,726. Crevillente is a picturesque old town built among the eastern foothills of the Sierra de Crevillente. Its flat-roofed Moorish houses are enclosed by gardens of cactus, dwarf palm, orange and other subtropical plants, interspersed with masses of rock. The surrounding country, though naturally sterile, is irrigated from two adjacent springs, which differ in temperature by no less than 25° F. The district is famous for its melons, and also produces wine, olives, wheat and esparto grass. Local industries include the manufacture of coarse cloth, esparto fabrics, oil and flour.

CREW, NATHANIEL CREW,3rd Baron(1633-1721), bishop of Durham, was a son of John Crew (1598-1679), who was created Baron Crew of Stene in 1661, and a grandson of Sir Thomas Crew (1565-1634), speaker of the House of Commons. Born on the 31st of January 1633, Nathaniel was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, and was appointed rector of the college in 1668. He became dean and precentor of Chichester in 1669, clerk of the closet to Charles II. shortly afterwards, bishop of Oxford in 1671, and bishop of Durham in 1674. He owed his rapid preferment to James, then duke of York, whose favour he had gained by conniving at the duke’s leanings to the Roman Church. After the accession of James II. Crew received the deanery of the Chapel Royal. He served in 1686 on the revived ecclesiastical commission which suspended Compton, bishop of London, and then shared the administration of the see of London with Sprat, bishop of Rochester. In 1687 he was a member of another ecclesiastical commission, which suspended the vice-chancellor of the university of Cambridge for refusing the degree of M.A. to a monk who would not take the customary oath. On the decline of James’s power Crew dissociated himself from the court, and made a bid for the favour of the new government by voting for the motion that James had abdicated. He was excepted from the general pardon of 1690, but afterwards was allowed to retain his see. He left large estates to be devoted to charitable ends, and his benefaction to Lincoln College and to Oxford University is commemorated in the annual Crewian oration. In 1697 Crew succeeded his brother Thomas as 3rd Baron Crew, He died on the 18th of September 1721, when the barony became extinct.

CREW(sometimes explained as a sea term of Scandinavian origin, cf. O. Icel.krú, a swarm or crowd, but now regarded as a shortened form ofaccrue,accrewe, used in the 16th century in the sense of a reinforcement, O. Fr.acreue, fromaccroître, to grow, increase), a band or body of men associated for a definite purpose, a gang who jointly carry out a particular piece of work, and especially those who man a ship, exclusive of the captain, and sometimes also of the officers.

CREWE, ROBERT OFFLEY ASHBURTON CREWE-MILNES,1st Earl of(1858- ), English statesman and writer, was born on the 12th of January 1858, being the son of Lord Houghton (q.v.), and was educated at Harrow and Trinity, Cambridge. In 1880 he married Sibyl Marcia Graham, who died in 1887, leaving him with two daughters. He inherited his father’s literary tastes, and publishedStray Versesin 1890, besides other miscellaneous literary work. A Liberal in politics, he became private secretary to Lord Granville when secretary of state for foreign affairs (1883-1884), and in 1886 was made a lord-in-waiting. In the Liberal administration of 1892-1895 he was lord-lieutenant for Ireland, having Mr John Morley as chief secretary. In 1895 he was created 1st earl of Crewe, his maternal grandfather, the 2nd Baron Crewe, having left him his heir. In 1899 he married Lady Margaret Primrose, daughter of the 5th earl of Rosebery. In 1905 he became lord president of the council in the Liberal government; and in 1908, in Mr Asquith’s cabinet, he became secretary of state for the colonies and Liberal leader in the House of Lords.

CREWE,a municipal borough in the Crewe parliamentary division of Cheshire, England, 158 m. N.W. of London, on the main line of the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 42,074. The town was built on an estate called Oak Farm in the parish of Monk’s Coppenhall, and takes its name from the original stations having been placed in the township of Crewe, in which the seat of Lord Crewe is situated. It is a railway junction where lines converge from London, Manchester, North Wales and Holyhead, North Stafford and Hereford. It is inhabited principally by persons in the employment of the London & North-Western railway company, and was practically created by that corporation, at a point where in 1841 only a farmhouse stood in open country. Crewe is not only one of the busiest railway stations in the world, but is the locomotive metropolis of the London & North-Western company, which has centred here enormous workshops for the manufacture of the material and plant used in railways. In 1901 the 4000th locomotive was turned out of the works. A series of subterranean ways extending many miles have been constructed to enable merchandise traffic to pass through without interfering with passenger trains on the surface railways. The company possesses one of the finest electric stations in the world, and electrical apparatus for the working of train signals is in operation. The station is fitted with an extensive suite of offices for the interchange of postal traffic, the chief mails to and from Ireland and Scotland being stopped here and arranged for various distributing centres. Its enormous railway facilities and its geographical situation as the junction of the great trunk lines running north and south, tapping also the Staffordshire potteries on the one side and the great mineral districts of Wales on the other, constitute Crewe station one of the most important links of railway and postal communication in the kingdom. The railway company built its principal schools, provided it with a mechanics’ institute, containing library, science and art classes, reading rooms, assembly rooms, &c. Victoria Park, also the gift of the company, was opened in 1888. The municipal corporation built the technical school and school of art. The borough incorporated in 1877, is under a mayor, 7 aldermen and 21 councillors. Area, 2185 acres.

CREWKERNE,a market town in the southern parliamentary division of Somersetshire, England, 132 m. W.S.W. of London by the London & South-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4226. It is pleasantly situated in a wooded hollow, in the upper valley of the river Parret. The church of St Bartholomew, one of the finest in the county, is in the Perpendicular style characteristic of the district. The ornamentation throughout is beautiful, and the west front especially notable. The grammar school dates from 1499, but occupies modern buildings. Sail-cloth, horsehair, cloth and webbing are manufactured.

CRIB(a word common to some Teutonic languages, cf. Dutchkriband Ger.Krippe; it has a common origin with the O. Eng. “cratch,” a manger or crib, cf. Fr.crêche), a manger or framework receptacle for holding fodder for cattle and horses, and so, from early times in English, particularly the manger in which Jesus was laid. It is thus used of a “cradle,” from which in form it should be distinguished as being a small bed with high closed-in sides. The word has many transferred meanings, as a rough, small hut or dwelling, from which comes the slang use of “crib” as a berth or situation, or, as a burglar’s term for a house to be broken into; also, technically, in engineering for a timber framework for masonry constructed with a caisson in laying foundations below water, or in mining for a timber lining to a shaft. “Crib-biting” is a vicious habit in horses, probably due in the first instance to indigestion; the horse seizes the manger or other object in its teeth, and draws in the breath, known as “wind-sucking”; the habit may be checked by the use of a throat-strap. The slang meaning of the verb “crib,” to steal, especially used of petty thefts, is probably derived from an obsolete use of the substantive for a small wicker basket; this meaning occurs in the expression “time-cribbing,” used of an illicit increase of the hours of labour in a factory or workshop, especially by the running of machinery each day slightly beyond the time of ceasing work. “Crib” and “cribbing” in this sense are also applied to any unacknowledged appropriation or plagiarism from an author, and particularly to the secret copying by a schoolboy of another’s work or from a book, and also to the secret use of a translation and to such translation itself. “Crib,” in the game of cribbage, of which it is a shortened form, is the term for the cards thrown away by each player and scored by the dealer.

CRIBBAGE,a game of cards. A very similar game called “Noddy” was formerly played, the game being fifteen or twenty-one up, marked with counters, occasionally by means of a noddy board. Cribbage seems to be an improved form of Noddy. According to John Aubrey (Brief Lives) it was invented by Sir John Suckling (1609-1642).

A complete pack of fifty-two cards is required, and a cribbage board for scoring, drilled with sixty holes for each player and one hole (called “the game hole”) at each end, the players usually scoring from opposite ends. Each player has two scoring pegs. The game is marked by inserting the pegs in the holes, one after the other, as the player makes a fresh score, commencing with the outer row at the game-hole end and going up the board. When the thirtieth hole is reached the player comes down the board, using the inner row of holes, until he places his foremost peg in the game-hole. If the losing player fails to obtain half the holes, his adversary wins a “lurch,” or double game.

The game may be played by two players, five or six cards being dealt to each, and each putting out two for what is called “crib”; or by three players (with a triangular scoring board), five cards being dealt to each, each putting out one for crib, and a card from the top of the pack being dealt to complete the crib; or by four players (two being partners against the other two, sitting and playing as at whist, and one partner scoring for both), five cards being dealt to each, and each putting out one card for crib.

Two-handed five-card cribbage was formerly considered the most scientific game, but this verdict has now been reversed in favour of the six-card game. In six-card cribbage both hands and crib contain four cards, and 121 holes are scored.

The players cut for deal, the lowest dealing. If more than one game is played, the winner of the last game deals. The cards rank from king (highest) to the ace (lowest). At the two-handed five-card game, the non-dealer scores three holes (called “three for last”) at any time during the game, but usually while the dealer is dealing the first hand. This is not part of the six-card game, which we take as our example.

The dealer deals six cards to each, singly. The undealt cards are placed face downwards on the table. The players then look at their hands and “lay out,” each putting two cards face downwards on the table, on the side of the board nearest to the dealer, for the “crib.” A player must not take back into his hand a card he has laid out if the cards have been covered, nor must the crib be touched during the play of his hand.

After laying out, the non-dealer (when more than two play, the player to the dealer’s left) cuts the pack, and the dealer turns up the top card of the lower packet, called the “start,” or “turn-up.” If this is a knave, the dealer marks two “for his heels.” This score is forfeited if not marked before the dealer plays a card.

The non-dealer plays first by laying face upwards on the table on his side of the board any card from his hand; the dealer then does the same, and so on alternately. When more than two play, the player to the leader’s left plays the second card, and so on. As soon as the first card is laid down the player calls out the number of pips on it; if a picture card, ten. When the second card is laid down, the player calls out the sum of the pips on the two cards played, and so on until all the cards are played, or until neither player can play without passing the number thirty-one. If one player has a card or cards that will come in and the other has not, he is at liberty to play them; at the six-card game he must play as long as they can come in, and he can score runs or make pairs, &c., with them. If one player’s cards are exhausted, the adversary plays out his own, and can score with them. When more than two play, the player next in rotation is bound to play, and so on until no one can come in. At the two-handed five-card game, when neither can come in the play stops; at the other games the cards are played turned down, and the remainder of the cards are played in rotation, and so on until all are played out.

The object of the play is to makepairs,fifteens,sequences, and the “go,” and to prevent the adversary from scoring.

Pairs.—If a card is put down of the same denomination as the one last played, the player pairing scores two holes. If a third card of the same denomination is next played, a “pair royal” (abbreviated to “prial”) is made, and the maker scores six holes. If a fourth card of the same denomination is next played, twelve holes are scored for the “double pair royal.” Kings pair only with kings, queens with queens, and so with knaves and tens, notwithstanding that they all count ten in play.Fifteens.—If either player during the play reaches fifteen exactly, by reckoning the values of all the played cards, he marks two.Sequences.—If during the play of the hand three or more cards are consecutively played which make an ascending or descending sequence, the maker of the sequence marks one hole for each card forming the sequence or run. King, queen, knave and ten reckon in sequence in this order, notwithstanding that they are all tenth cards in play; the other cards according to the number of their pips. The ace is not in sequence with king, queen. If one player obtains a run of three, his adversary can put down a card in sequence and mark four, and so on. And, if there is a break in the sequence, and the break is filled up during the play, without the intervention of a card not in sequence, the player of the card that fills the break scores a run. Thus the cards are played in this order: A-4, B-3, A-2, B-ace, A gets a run of three, B a run of four. Had B’s last card been a five, he would similarly have scored a run of four, as there is no break. Had B’s last card been a four, he would have scored a run of three. The cards need not be played in order. Thus the cards being played in this order, A-4, B-2, A-5, B-3, A-6, A-4, B-2, A-5, B-3, A-5, B-6, B takes a run of four for the fourth card played, but there is no run for any one else, as the second five intervenes. Again, if the cards at six-card cribbage are thus played, A-4, B-2, A-3, B-ace, A-5, B-2, A-4, B-ace, A takes a run of three, B a run of four, A a run of five. B then playing the deuce has no run, as the deuce previously played intervenes.The “go,” end hole or last card is scored by the player who approaches most nearly to thirty-one during the play, and entitles to a score of one. If thirty-one is reached exactly, it is a go of two instead of one. After a go no card already played can be counted for pairs or sequences.Compound Scores.—More than one of the above scores can be made at the same time. Thus a player pairing with the last card that will come in scores both pair and go. Similarly a pair and a fifteen, or a sequence and a fifteen, can be reckoned together.When the play is over, the hands are shown and counted aloud. The non-dealer has first show and scores and marks first; the dealer afterwards counts, scores and marks what he has in hand, and then takes what is in crib. In counting both hands and crib the “start” is included, so that five cards are involved.The combinations in hand or crib which entitle to a score are fifteen, pairs or pairs royal, sequences, flushes and “his nob.”Fifteens.—All the combinations of cards that, taken together, make fifteen exactly, count two. For example, a ten (King, Queen, Knave or Ten) card and a five reckon two, called as “fifteen two.” Another five in the hand or turned up would again combine with the ten card, and entitle to another fifteen (“fifteen four”); if the other cards were a two and a three, two other fifteens would be counted (“fifteen six,” “fifteen eight”)—one for the combination of the three and two with the ten card, and one for the combination of the two fives with the three and two. Similarly two ten cards and two fives reckon eight; a nine and three threes count six; and so on for other cards.Pairs.—Pairs are reckoned as in play.Sequences.—Three or more cards in sequence count one for each card. If one sequence card can be substituted for another of the same denomination, the sequence reckons again. For example, 3,4,5 and a 3 turned up reckon two sequences of three; with another 3 there would be three sequences of three, and so on.Flushes.—If all the cards in hand are of the same suit, one is reckoned for each card. If the start is also of the same suit, one is reckoned for that also. In crib, no flush is reckoned unless the start is of the same suit as the cards in crib.His Nob.—If a player holds the knave of the suit turned up for the start he counts one “for his nob.”A dialogue will illustrate the technical conversation of the game, in a game at six-card cribbage. The cards for crib having been discarded, A holds knave of hearts, a four and a pair of twos: B holds a pair of nines, a six and a four. Two of hearts is turned up by B. The hand might be played thus. A lays down a two and says “Two”: B plays a nine and says “Eleven”: A follows with a four, saying “Fifteen two”; pegging two holes at once: B plays his four and says “Nineteen; two for a pair,” and pegs: A putting on his knave, “Twenty-nine”; B says “Go.” A lays down his two, his last card, and says “Thirty-one; good for two.” B plays his nine and six, saying “Fifteen two, and one for my last—three.” The points are marked as they are made. A then counts his hand aloud. “Six for a pair-royal” or “Three twos—good for six,” and “One for his nob—seven,” and throws down his hand for B’s inspection. B, “Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, fifteen eight, and a pair are ten.” B then looks at his crib and counts it. It contains, say, king, eight, three, ace and the “start” is also reckoned. B counts “Fifteen two and a run of three—five.”After the points in hand and crib are reckoned, the cards are shuffled and dealt again, and so on alternately until the game is won.The highest possible score in hand is 29—three fives and a knave, with a five, of the same suit as the knave, turned up.

Fifteens.—If either player during the play reaches fifteen exactly, by reckoning the values of all the played cards, he marks two.

Sequences.—If during the play of the hand three or more cards are consecutively played which make an ascending or descending sequence, the maker of the sequence marks one hole for each card forming the sequence or run. King, queen, knave and ten reckon in sequence in this order, notwithstanding that they are all tenth cards in play; the other cards according to the number of their pips. The ace is not in sequence with king, queen. If one player obtains a run of three, his adversary can put down a card in sequence and mark four, and so on. And, if there is a break in the sequence, and the break is filled up during the play, without the intervention of a card not in sequence, the player of the card that fills the break scores a run. Thus the cards are played in this order: A-4, B-3, A-2, B-ace, A gets a run of three, B a run of four. Had B’s last card been a five, he would similarly have scored a run of four, as there is no break. Had B’s last card been a four, he would have scored a run of three. The cards need not be played in order. Thus the cards being played in this order, A-4, B-2, A-5, B-3, A-6, A-4, B-2, A-5, B-3, A-5, B-6, B takes a run of four for the fourth card played, but there is no run for any one else, as the second five intervenes. Again, if the cards at six-card cribbage are thus played, A-4, B-2, A-3, B-ace, A-5, B-2, A-4, B-ace, A takes a run of three, B a run of four, A a run of five. B then playing the deuce has no run, as the deuce previously played intervenes.

The “go,” end hole or last card is scored by the player who approaches most nearly to thirty-one during the play, and entitles to a score of one. If thirty-one is reached exactly, it is a go of two instead of one. After a go no card already played can be counted for pairs or sequences.

Compound Scores.—More than one of the above scores can be made at the same time. Thus a player pairing with the last card that will come in scores both pair and go. Similarly a pair and a fifteen, or a sequence and a fifteen, can be reckoned together.

When the play is over, the hands are shown and counted aloud. The non-dealer has first show and scores and marks first; the dealer afterwards counts, scores and marks what he has in hand, and then takes what is in crib. In counting both hands and crib the “start” is included, so that five cards are involved.

The combinations in hand or crib which entitle to a score are fifteen, pairs or pairs royal, sequences, flushes and “his nob.”

Fifteens.—All the combinations of cards that, taken together, make fifteen exactly, count two. For example, a ten (King, Queen, Knave or Ten) card and a five reckon two, called as “fifteen two.” Another five in the hand or turned up would again combine with the ten card, and entitle to another fifteen (“fifteen four”); if the other cards were a two and a three, two other fifteens would be counted (“fifteen six,” “fifteen eight”)—one for the combination of the three and two with the ten card, and one for the combination of the two fives with the three and two. Similarly two ten cards and two fives reckon eight; a nine and three threes count six; and so on for other cards.

Pairs.—Pairs are reckoned as in play.

Sequences.—Three or more cards in sequence count one for each card. If one sequence card can be substituted for another of the same denomination, the sequence reckons again. For example, 3,4,5 and a 3 turned up reckon two sequences of three; with another 3 there would be three sequences of three, and so on.

Flushes.—If all the cards in hand are of the same suit, one is reckoned for each card. If the start is also of the same suit, one is reckoned for that also. In crib, no flush is reckoned unless the start is of the same suit as the cards in crib.

His Nob.—If a player holds the knave of the suit turned up for the start he counts one “for his nob.”

A dialogue will illustrate the technical conversation of the game, in a game at six-card cribbage. The cards for crib having been discarded, A holds knave of hearts, a four and a pair of twos: B holds a pair of nines, a six and a four. Two of hearts is turned up by B. The hand might be played thus. A lays down a two and says “Two”: B plays a nine and says “Eleven”: A follows with a four, saying “Fifteen two”; pegging two holes at once: B plays his four and says “Nineteen; two for a pair,” and pegs: A putting on his knave, “Twenty-nine”; B says “Go.” A lays down his two, his last card, and says “Thirty-one; good for two.” B plays his nine and six, saying “Fifteen two, and one for my last—three.” The points are marked as they are made. A then counts his hand aloud. “Six for a pair-royal” or “Three twos—good for six,” and “One for his nob—seven,” and throws down his hand for B’s inspection. B, “Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, fifteen eight, and a pair are ten.” B then looks at his crib and counts it. It contains, say, king, eight, three, ace and the “start” is also reckoned. B counts “Fifteen two and a run of three—five.”

After the points in hand and crib are reckoned, the cards are shuffled and dealt again, and so on alternately until the game is won.

The highest possible score in hand is 29—three fives and a knave, with a five, of the same suit as the knave, turned up.

CRICCIETH,a watering-place and contributory parliamentary borough of Carnarvonshire, Wales, on Cardigan Bay, served by the Cambrian railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 1406. It is interesting for its high antiquity and the ruined castle, a fortress on an eminence where a neck of land ends, projecting into the sea. Portions of two towers are on the very verge of the rock. A double fosse and vallum, with the outer and inner court lines, can be traced. Apparently British, the castle was repaired later, probably in the time of Edward I. Across the bay is seen Harlech castle, backed by the Merionethshire hills. An old county-family mansion near Criccieth is Gwynfryn (happy hill), the seat of the Nanneys, situated near the stream Dwyfawr and within some 7 m. of Pwllheli. Not far is a tumulus,Tomen fawr. At a distance of 5 m. is Tremadoc (which owes its name. Town of Madocks—as does Portmadoc—to Mr W. Madocks, of Morfa Lodge, who made the embankment here). Criccieth has become a favourite watering-place, as well as a centre of excursions. The neighbourhood is agreeable, and the Cardigan Bay shore is shelving and suitable for safe bathing. Cantref y Gwaelod (the hundred of the bottom) is the Welsh literary name of this bay, on the shores of which geological depression has certainly taken place. Mythical history relates how Seithennin’s drunkenness inundated the land now covered by the bay, and how King Arthur’s ship was wrecked upon Meisdiroedd Enlli near Bardsey. TheMabinogiontell how Harlech was a port. Similarly, in Carnarvon Bay, about 2 m. seaward, at low water, are visible the ruins of Caerarianrhod (fortified town of the silver wheel), a submerged town—due to another geological depression.

CRICHTON, JAMES(1560-? 1582), commonly called the “Admirable Crichton,” was the son of Robert Crichton, lord advocate of Scotland in the reign of Mary and James VI., and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Stewart of Beath, through whom he claimed royal descent. He was born probably at Eliock in Dumfriesshire in 1560, and when ten years old was sent to St Salvator’s College, St Andrews, where he took his B.A. in 1574 and his M.A. in 1575. In 1577 Crichton was undoubtedly in Paris, but his career on the continent is difficult to follow. That he displayed considerable classical knowledge, was a good linguist, a ready and versatile writer of verse, and above all that he possessed an astounding memory, seems certain, not only from the evidence of men of his own time, but from the fact that even Joseph Scaliger (Prima Scaligerana, p. 58, 1669) speaks of his attainments with the highest praise. But those works of his which have come down to us show few traces of unusual ability; and the laudation of him as a universal genius by Sir Thomas Urquhart and Aldus Manutius requires to be discounted. Urquhart (in hisDiscovery of a most exquisite jewel) states that while in Paris Crichton successfully held a dispute in the college of Navarre, on any subject and in twelve languages, and that the next day he won a tilting match at the Louvre. There is, however, no contemporary evidence for this, the only certain facts being that for two years Crichton served in the French army, and that in 1579 he arrived in Genoa. The latter event is proved by a Latin address (of no particular merit) to the Doge and Senate entitledOratio J. Critonii Scoti pro Moderatorum Genuensis Reipubl. electione coram Senatu habita....(Genoa, 1579). The next year Crichton was in Venice, and won the friendship of Aldus Manutius by his Latin odeIn appulsu ad urbem Venetam de Proprio statu J. Critonii Scoti Carmen ad Aldum Manuccium....(Venice, 1580). The best contemporary evidence for Crichton’s stay in Venice is a handbill printed by the Guerra press in 1580 (and now in the British Museum), giving a short biography and an extravagant eulogy of his powers; he speaks ten languages, has a command of philosophy, theology, mathematics; he improvises Latin verses in all metres and on all subjects, has all Aristotle and his commentators at his fingers’ ends; is of most beautiful appearance, a soldier from top to toe, &c. This work is undoubtedly by Manutius, as it was reprinted with his name in 1581 asRelatione della qualità di ... Crettone, and again in 1582 (reprinted Venice, 1831).

In Venice Crichton met and vanquished all disputants except Giacomo Mazzoni, was followed from place to place by crowds of admirers, and won the affection of the humanists Lorenzo Massa and Giovanni Donati. In March 1581 he went to Padua, where he held two great disputations. In the first he extemporized in succession a Latin poem, a daring onslaught on Aristotelian ignorance, and an oration in praise of ignorance. In the second, which took place in the Church of St John and St Paul, and lasted three days, he undertook to refute innumerable errors in Aristotelians, mathematicians and schoolmen, to conduct his dispute either logically or by the secret doctrine of numbers, &c. According to Aldus, who attended the debate and published an account of it in his dedication to Crichton prefixed to Cicero’s “Paradoxa” (1581), the young Scotsman was completely successful. In June Crichton was once more in Venice, and while there wrote two Latin odes to his friends Lorenzo Massa and Giovanni Donati, but after this date the details of his life are obscure. Urquhart states that he went to Mantua, became the tutor of the young prince of Mantua, Vincenzo di Gonzaga, and was killed by the latter in a street quarrel in 1582. Aldus in his edition of Cicero’sDe universitate(1583), dedicated to Crichton, laments the 3rd of July as the fatal day; and this account is apparently confirmed by the Mantuan state papers recently unearthed by Mr Douglas Crichton (Proc. Soc. of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1909). Mr Sidney Lee (Dict. Nat. Biog.) argued against this date, on the ground that in 1584 and 1585 Crichton was alive and in Milan, as certain works of his published in that year testified, andregarded it as probable that he died in Mantua c. 1585/6. But these later works seem to have been by another man of the same name. The epithet “admirable” (admirabilis) for Crichton first occurs in John Johnston’sHeroes Scoti(1603). It is probably impossible to recover the whole truth either as to Crichton’s death or as to the extent of his attainments, which were so quickly elevated into legendary magnitude.

Back to Index Next