Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/433

 again to make choice of a new profession. In 1797 he came to London, and after his marriage to a Miss Southgate, who subsequently edited ‘Tales for Children from the German,’ became classical master at Thorp Arch School, Yorkshire. In order to acquire a mastery of the German language he went in 1801 to Bremen, where he supported himself at the same time by teaching English. On his return he published a ‘German Grammar for Englishmen,’ ‘Extracts from German Authors,’ and ‘German and English Conversations,’ all of which became very popular as instruction books, and passed through many editions. He also wrote an ‘English Grammar for Germans.’ In 1814 he entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner, and graduated B.A. in 1821 and M.A. in 1822, with mathematical honours. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1829, and adopted the practice of conveyancer and chamber counsel, but on account of his retiring manner was not very successful, although his ability as a lawyer is sufficiently shown by his various legal publications. The principal of these are a ‘History of English Law,’ 1829, founded on Reeves's ‘History of English Law;’ ‘Digest and Index of all the Statutes at Large,’ 4 vols., 1841–7; ‘Law of Real Property,’ 2 vols., 1846; ‘Series of Precedents in Conveyancing and Common and Commercial Forms,’ 3rd ed. 1845. He was also the author of various dictionaries which obtained wide popularity, including a ‘Dictionary of English Synonymes,’ ‘Universal Technological Dictionary,’ a ‘Universal Historical Dictionary,’ and a ‘Dictionary of General Knowledge;’ and the ‘New Pantheon or Mythology of all Nations.’ His later years were passed in eccentric seclusion, and he died 4 Dec. 1851. 

CRABB, HABAKKUK (1750–1794), dissenting minister, was born at Wattesfield, Suffolk, in 1750, being the youngest but one of fifteen children. His father was a deacon of the congregational church at Wattesfield, a man of private property, who latterly became a maltster. Habakkuk was a pupil of John Walker, congregational minister at Framlingham, and in 1766 proceeded to Daventry Academy under Caleb Ashworth [q. v.] He injured his constitution by close study. Leaving Daventry in 1771 he became minister at Stowmarket, where he was ordained on 3 June 1772. In 1776 he removed to Cirencester, and thence to Devizes, as assistant to his brother-in-law, John Ludd Fenner, in 1787. On 25, Feb. 1789 he undertook the pastorate at his native place, but his theology (he was probably an Arian) was too latitudinarian for the congregationalists of Wattesfield; he resigned the charge on 15 Aug. 1790, and became minister at Royston. The more orthodox portion of the congregation quietly seceded. Crabb was much beloved by his own people, and esteemed by all. Robert Hall speaks of his character as ‘too well established to have anything to hope from praise, or to fear from censure.’ He died after a short illness on 25 Dec. 1794. In 1778 he married Eliza Norman of Stowmarket, who died in childbed in 1792, and left seven children. Henry Crabb Robinson, the diarist, was his nephew.

A posthumous publication was ‘Sermons on Practical Subjects,’ Cambridge, 1796, 8vo (published by subscription for the benefit of his family). 

CRABB, JAMES (1774–1851), Wesleyan methodist preacher, was a native of Wilton, Wiltshire, where his father was a cloth manufacturer. He learned the business of his father, for whom he travelled for two years, but afterwards became a teacher of a school at Romsey, Hampshire. Here he married a Miss Radden, whose pious beliefs led him to become a preacher among the Wesleyan methodists, and he ultimately became pastor of a chapel in Southampton, while at the same time retaining his school. At an early period he took an active interest in the welfare of the gipsies in the New Forest, whom he occasionally gathered together and entertained at his house, these ‘gipsy festivals’ being attended by many of the neighbouring gentry. Among various institutions in Southampton which owed their origin to efforts which he initiated were the Hampshire Female Penitentiary, the Kingsland Place Infant Schools, the earliest of the kind in the country, and a Bethel for sailors, with a school for children near the quay. He expounded the needs of the gipsies in a tractate entitled the ‘Gipsies' Advocate,’ and he was also the author of ‘Address to the Irvingites, in which many of their errors are exposed,’ 1838, and ‘Account of the Life and Experience of Captain John Bazin,’ 1838. Crabb is the missionary referred to by Legh Richmond as having brought the ‘Dairyman's daughter to a sense of religion.’ He died 17 Sept. 1851. 