Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/630

596 neglected by the Tories very much as Sydney Smith was by the Whigs. Croly was a great pulpit orator, and continued, not unworthily, the illustrious school of Irish eloquence, which boasts such names as Burke, Sheridan, and Grattan. lie was also a ripe classical scholar, and in early life showed no common aptitude for music. He died on No vember 24, 1860. Croly was a man of restless energy, and won laurels in many fields. It is as a literary man, however, that he claims attention. And here the first thing that strikes us is his extraordinary versatility. Poems, biographies, dramas, sermons, novels, satires, magazine articles, newspaper leaders, and theological works were dashed off by his facile pen ; and, according to Hogg, the Ettrick shepherd, he was great in conversation. While a young man, Croly wrote dramatic criticism for a short-lived paper called the Neiv Times. His genuine satiric vein was seen in one of his earliest works, The Times, and in one of his latest, the Modern Orlando, which appeared in 1854. His poems were first issued in a collected form by Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, in 1830. The principal are Paris in 1815, which embodies a description of the works of art then to be found in the Louvre ; The Angel of the World, an Arabian tale ; a collection of short poems, with corresponding engravings, entitled Gems from the Antique; Catiline, a tragedy; and Sebastian, a Spanish tale. Pride shall have a Fall, a comedy, is not included in this edition. His poetry, although of a high order, suffered from being contemporaneous with that singularly rich outburst of song in virtue of which the early years of the present century almost rival the Elizabethan era. The pieces, too, are remarkable rather for fine passages than for sustaining the interest of the reader throughout. Paris in 1815, however, achieved a temporary popularity; some of his lyrics inspire enthusiasm; and he is particularly successful in his conception of Catiline s character. Croly s prose writings cover a wide field. He was one of the earliest contributors to Blackwoo&s Magazine ; he edited the Universal Review, and wrote a number of leaders for the Britannia, a Conservative organ, which supported the system of protection. To theology he contributed, in 1827, The Apocalypse of St John, a new Interpretation ; and volumes of sermons were issued by him from time to time. He is the author, too, of a number of sketches, a Life of Edmund Burke, a character of Curran, a history of King George IV., and an able review of Napoleon s career. Croly, however, was most successful as a novelist. His chief fictions are Tales of the Great St Bernard ; Marston, or the Soldier and Statesman; and his masterpiece, Salathiel, The Immortal. Salathiel is the character better known as the Wandering Jew. This legend has been treated poetically by various writers, including A. W. von Schlegel, Schubert, Goethe, and Mrs Norton, and is the subject of Eugene Sue s famous work, Le Juif errant. Croly s book gives us vivid pictures of scenery in the East, and is full of striking imagery and noble bursts of eloquence. Indeed the language, as well as the scenery, is Asiatic in character ; and its Oriental luxuriance sometimes passes into extrava gance. Croly s works, as a whole, exhibit strong sense, a fertile imagination, and a genuine, if somewhat too showy, eloquence. He is a signal instance of great professional success, joined to high distinction in other fields.  CROMARTY, a county in the north of Scotland, consist ing of eleven detached portions scattered throughout Ross- shire, with which county it is for most purposes incorpor ated. One of these portions, that which is situated on the south shore of the Cromarty Firth (from which it takes its name cromachty, or crooked bay), is the original county; and this district still preserves for Cromarty a separate lord- lieutenancy and commission of supply. As a county, it was originally very inconsiderable in extent ; but by the additions which were made to it towards the end of the 17th century it was increased to fifteen times its former size. Of these additions, one is a small district surround ing Tarbat House, on the northern shore of Cromarty Bay; and a second runs from the south side of Tain Firth to the Moray Firth, cutting off that portion of the county of Ross which terminates in Tarbat Ness, the extremity of which also belongs to Cromarty. Two more fragments lie on the south of the River Carron, in the parish of Kincardine; the sixth extends northward from the burgh of Dingwall, situ ated chiefly in the parish of Fodderty, and occupied in great part by the peak and slopes of Ben Wyvis ; the seventh lies to the north of Loch Fannich in the parish of Contin, at some distance to the north-west of which a triangular morsel is found to the north of Loch Nid ; the ninth is that which stretches along the southern shore of Little Loch Broom ; and the tenth is the district of Ullapool and Coygach, with the adjacent islets, lying between the northern shore of Loch Broom and Sutherlandshire. This district, which is the largest portion of the county, occupies an area of about 20 miles in length by 9 in breadth. The straggling arrangement of Cromarty was produced by the influence of George, Viscount Tarbat, afterwards earl of Cromarty, who, wishing to have all his various lands included in one shire, got them annexed to his own county in 1685 and 1698. The total extent of the county is esti mated at 220,800 acres, or 345 square miles, equal to about a tenth of the area of the united county of Ross and Cromarty. The Cromarty Firth forms one of the finest harbours on the east coast of Scotland, securely sheltered at its mouth by two remarkable crags called the &quot; Soutars.&quot; See.

, the county town, is situated near the mouth of the firth of that name on its southern shore, 16 miles N.N.E. of Inverness. It is a small irregularly built town, and carries on some trade in herring and white fish. The corporation consists of a provost and nine coun- cillors, and the town forms one of the Wick group of burghs, which returns one member to Parliament. Population, 1476.  CROME, (1769-1821), English landscape painter, founder and chief representative of the &quot; Norwich School,&quot; often called Old Crome, to distinguish him from his son, was born at Norwich, December 21, 1769. His father was a weaver, and could give him only the scantiest education. His early years were spent in work of the humblest kind ; and at a fit age he became apprentice to a house-painter. To this step ho appears to have been led by an inborn love of art and the desire to acquaint himself by any means with its materials and processes. During his apprenticeship he sometimes painted signboards, and devoted what leisure time he had to sketching from nature Through the influence of a rich art-loving friend he was enabled to exchange his occupation of house-painter for that of drawing-master ; and in this he was engaged throughout his life. He took great delight in a collection of Dutch pictures to which he had access, and these he carefully studied. About 1790 he was introduced to Sir William Beechey, whose house in London he frequently visited, and from whom he gathered additional knowledge and help in his art. In 1805 the Norwich Society of Artists took definite shape, its origin being traceabJe a year or two further back. Crome was its president and the largest contributor to its annual exhibitions. Among his pupils were Stark, Vincent, Thirtle, and Bernay Crome, his son. Cotman too, a greater artist than any of these, was associated with him. Crome continued to reside at Norwich, and with the exception of his short visits to London had little or no communication with the great artists of his own time. He first exhibited at the Royal 