Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/116

 John Norris of Bemerton, 14th ed., corrected by Herbert Croft,’ 1790. It was dedicated to Lord Thurlow, and the letter to Priestley related to the proposed dictionary. 13. ‘A Letter from Germany to the Princess Royal of England on the English and German Languages,’ Hamburg, 1797. A gossiping, rambling production of ninety-six pages on Johnson's ‘Dictionary,’ translating from German, the connection of the two languages and the charms of the town of Hamburg. 14. ‘Hints for History respecting the Attempt on the King's Life, 15 May 1800,’ 1800; detailing the events and lauding the king's resolution. 15. ‘Sermon for the Abundant Harvest, preached at Prittlewell,’ 1801. 16. ‘Sermon preached at Prittlewell on the Peace,’ 1801. This was dedicated to his old schoolfellow Addington. 17. ‘Horace éclairci par la Ponctuation. Par le Chevalier Croft,’ Paris, 1810. This whimsical production, which consisted of a few of the odes of Horace printed on a new system of punctuation as a specimen of a work which he had long meditated on the subject, was dedicated to Lord Moira, with whom he had been a student of University College, Oxford. 18. Croft was then dwelling near Amiens, and much of his time was spent in the society of the lady whose work, ‘La famille du duc de Popoli, ou Mémoires de M. Cantelmo, son frère, publiés par Lady Mary Hamilton,’ appeared in 1810 with a dedication to Croft, dated 4 June 1810. He acknowledged the compliment by some verses, dated at Amiens 20 Feb. 1811, ‘on the death of Musico, a piping bullfinch belonging to the Right Hon. Lady Mary Hamilton,’ which were added to a second edition of ‘Popoli’ issued in that year. 19. ‘Consolatory Verses addressed to the Duchess of Angoulême,’ Paris, 1814, on the first return of the royal family to France. 20. ‘Réflexions soumises à la sagesse des Membres du Congrès de Vienne,’ 1814. 21. ‘Critical Dictionary of the Difficulties of the French Language.’ 22. ‘Commentaires sur les meilleurs ouvrages de la Langue Française,’ vol. i., Paris, 1815. The whole of this volume was a commentary on the ‘Petit-Carême’ of Massillon and the two sermons printed with it, which was written with great critical acumen and deep knowledge, much of which was probably due to Nodier. Croft had collected a mass of notes on the grammar and the moral teachings of Fontaine's fables, which was to have formed the second volume in the series of commentaries; but his collections never saw the light, meeting a like fate with his observations on ‘Télémaque,’ which he had brooded over for at least ten years. To Croft was due the discovery of the ‘Parrain Magnifique’ of Gresset, which was believed to have been lost, and was published for the first time in Renouard's complete works of that writer.

These are the separate works of Croft, but many fugitive pieces from his pen appeared in the periodical publications of the day. Several sets of his verses in English and Latin appeared in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ and a paper on chess, communicated by him to Horace Twiss, and published in Twiss's ‘Book on Chess,’ was reprinted in that journal, lvii. pt. ii. 590–1. His epitaph on Bishop Hurd is printed in Nichols's ‘Literary Anecdotes,’ vi. 508, and a printed letter from him to a pupil is criticised in Boswell's ‘Johnson,’ June 1784. The faults of Croft's character are perceptible at a glance, but his linguistic attainments—he knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Anglo-Saxon, and spoke French, Italian, and German—exceeded the power of most of his contemporaries. A warm tribute to his charitable disposition was paid by the author of a ‘Poetical Description of Southend,’ who had been his curate for some years.



CROFT, JAMES (d. 1590), lord deputy of Ireland and controller of Queen Elizabeth's household, descended from an old Herefordshire family, was son of Sir Edward Croft, by his second wife Catherine, daughter of Sir Richard Herbert of Montgomery. His father was sheriff of Herefordshire in 1505, was knighted about 1514, became one of Princess Mary's learned counsel in July 1525, and died early in 1547. James was knight of the shire for the county of Hereford in 1541; served at the siege of Boulogne in 1544 where two of his brothers were killed; was knighted 24 Nov. 1547; became governor of Haddington in 1549, where he gained a high reputation (, Chron. s. a. 1549); served in the Calais marches in 1550, and in March 1550–1 went to Ireland to superintend the fortification of the Munster coast. On 23 May 1551 Croft was appointed lord deputy of Ireland in succession to Sir Anthony St. Leger; took vigorous measures to