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  in the army he married privately at Edinburgh, on 22 May 1745, Anne, daughter of David Murray of Leith. In 1746 he disowned the marriage, but the lady insisted on its lawfulness, and the commissaries, on 1 March 1748, granted a decree in her favour, with an annuity of 40l. sterling for herself and 10l. for her daughter so long as she should be alimented by her mother. The cause of Cranstoun's conduct was that he had fallen in love with Miss Mary Blandy [q. v.], the daughter of an attorney of Henley-on-Thames. Mr. Blandy objected to Cranstoun paying his addresses to her on the ground that he was already married, and resenting his interference Miss Blandy poisoned her father on 14 Aug. 1751. She afterwards alleged that the powder she administered had been sent to her by Cranstoun from Scotland as a love-potion; but apart from her statement there was nothing to connect him with the murder. He died on 9 Dec. 1762.

 CRANWELL, JOHN (d. 1793), poet, graduated B.A. at Sidney College, Cambridge, in 1747, and M.A. in 1751. Having taken orders he was elected to a fellowship by his college, and received the living of Abbott's Ripton, Huntingdonshire, which he held for twenty-six years. He died on 17 April 1793. Cranwell translated two Latin poems in the heroic couplet, viz. (1) Isaac Hawkins Brown's 'Immortality of the Soul,' 1765, 8vo; (2) Vida's 'Christiad,' 1768, 8vo.

 CRANWORTH,. [See 1790–1868.]

CRASHAW, RICHARD (1613?–1649) poet, only child of William Crashaw, B.D. [q. v.], by his first wife, was born in London about 1613, and was baptised by James Ussher, afterwards primate of Ireland. His mother, whose name is not known, died in the poet's infancy, but his father's second wife, who died in 1620, when Richard was only seven years old, received the praise of Ussher, who preached her funeral sermon, for 'her singular motherly affection to the child of her predecessor.' Crashaw was educated at the Charterhouse, on the nomination of Sir Henry Yelverton and Sir Randolf Crewe, and inscribed two early Latin poems to Robert Brooke, a master there, to whom he acknowledged all manner of obligations. He lost his father, a sturdy puritan, in 1626. On 6 July 1631 he was admitted to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, although he did not matriculate (as a pensioner) till 26 March of the following year. He cultivated at the university a special aptitude for languages, and became proficient in five 'besides his mother-tongue, viz. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish.' He was fond of music and drawing, and his religious fervour was always marked. In St. Mary's Church he spent many hours daily, composing his religious poems, and there, 'like a primitive saint, offered more prayers in the night than others usually offer in the day.' The death of a young friend, William Herries or Harris, of Pembroke Hall, in 1631 deeply affected Crashaw, who wrote many poems to his memory. Another friend, James Stanninow, fellow of Queens' College, who died early in 1636, is also commemorated in his verse. His tutors at Pembroke proved congenial to him. John Tournay, one of the fellows, he describes in a Latin poem as an ideal guardian, and the master of the college. Benjamin Laney, also received from him the highest praises. In 1634 Crashaw proceeded B.A., and in the same year published anonymously at the university press his first volume (wholly in Latin), entitled 'Epigrammatum Sacrorum Liber,' and dedicated it to Laney. Earlier Latin elegiacs of comparatively small interest had been contributed to the university collections on the king's recovery from smallpox in 1632; on the king's return from Scotland and on the birth of James, duke of York, both in 1633. But the epigrams (185 in all), published when the author was barely twenty-one, denote marvellous capacity. They include the famous verses (No. xcvi.) on the miraculous conversion of the water into wine at Cana (John ii. 111), whose concluding line ('Nympha pudica Deum vidit et erubuit') is perhaps better known in Aaron Hill's translation than in the original. The conceits are often very whimsical, but there are many signs of fine classical taste, and very few of immaturity. In 1636 Crashaw migrated to Peterhouse. He was elected a fellow there in 1637, and proceeded M.A. in 1638. Joseph Beaumont the poet [q. v.] was his contemporary at Peterhouse, and they discussed together their poetical projects. Crashaw's piety increased, and he contemplated taking Anglican orders, but the growth of puritanism, which revolted him, and his intimacy with friends who inclined to Roman Catholicism, led to the abandonment of the design. Robert Shelford, also of Peterhouse, a beneficed clergyman of Kingsfield in Suffolk, who protested against the identification of the pope with antichrist, had great influence with him,