Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/101

  some of the manuscripts of Malmesbury actually read Wicfridus instead of Winfridus in this passage, for the former reading appears in the extract given in the ‘Monumenta Germaniæ,’ x. 454; the English editions, however, have Winfridus, and do not mention any variation.) In any case the authority of an English writer of the twelfth century is, on such a question, of no weight when opposed to the unanimous testimony of continental writers of earlier date. There is, consequently, no reason for supposing that Frederick was either of English birth or descent, and his biography is outside the scope of this work; but it has seemed expedient briefly to indicate the real state of the case in order to prevent future inquirers from being misled. Bale's account of ‘Cridiodunus’ has been followed by Pits, by Dempster (who, after his manner, makes St. Frederick a Scotchman, and adds some imaginary details), and by Bishop Tanner.

 CRIPPS, JOHN MARTEN (d. 1853), traveller and antiquary, son of John Cripps, was entered as a fellow-commoner at Jesus College, Cambridge, on 27 April 1798, and came under the care of Edward Daniel Clarke. After some stay at Cambridge, he set out on a tour with his tutor, which, though originally intended for only a few months, was continued for three years and a half. In the first part of their journey to Norway and Sweden, they were accompanied by the Rev. William Otter (afterwards bishop of Chichester) and Malthus, the well-known political economist, both members of Jesus. The result of these wanderings was embodied by Clarke in six quarto volumes—his famous ‘Travels’—in which the services of his pupil, ‘the cause and companion of my travels,’ are adequately acknowledged. Cripps brought back large collections of statues, antiques, and oriental flora, some valuable portions of which he presented from time to time to the university of Cambridge and to other public institutions. In 1803 he was created M.A. per literas regias, and subsequently became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, his name appearing for the first time on the list for 1805. By will dated 1 Oct. 1797 he inherited the property of his maternal uncle, John Marten, which included possessions in the parish of Chiltington, with the manor of Stantons, Sussex. Having built Novington Lodge on the Stantons estate, Cripps fixed his residence there, and devoted much of his time to practical horticulture. His investigations were the means of bringing into notice several varieties of apples and other fruits. From Russia he introduced the kohl-rabi, a useful dairy vegetable. He died at Novington on 3 Jan. 1853, in his seventy-third year. By his marriage on 1 Jan. 1806, to Charlotte, third daughter of Sir William Beaumaris Rush of Wimbledon, he left issue.

 CRISP, NICHOLAS (1599?–1666), royalist, was descended from a family possessing estates in Gloucestershire and engaged in trade in London. His father, Ellis Crisp, was sheriff of London in 1625, during which year he died (Collections relating to the Family of Crisp, ii. 3). He was a widower, age 29, when he married Sara Spenser 28 June 1628 (, Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, p. 355). He was, therefore, probably born in 1598 or 1599. Frequent mentions of Nicholas Crisp in the 'Colonial State Papers' show him actively engaged in the African trade from 1625 onwards. In 1629 he and his partners petitioned for letters of reprisal against the French, stating that they had lost 20,000l. by the capture of one of their ships. On 22 Nov. 1632 Charles I issued a proclamation granting to Crisp and five others the exclusive right of trading to Guinea, which was secured them by patent for thirty-one years. Nevertheless in 1637 Crisp's company complained that interlopers were infringing their monopoly of transporting ‘nigers’ from Guinea to the West Indies (Cal. of State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 75, 114). The wealth thus acquired enabled Crisp to become one of the body of customers who contracted with the king in 1640 for the two farms of the customs called the great and petty farm. The petition of the surviving contractors presented to Charles II in 1661 states that they advanced to the king on this security 253,000l. for the payment of the navy and other public uses (Somers Tracts, vii. 512). Crisp was knighted on 1 Jan. 1639–40. He was elected to both the Short and Long parliaments for Winchelsea, but was attacked as a monopolist directly the latter parliament opened. On 21 Nov. 1640 he was ordered to attend the committee