CRANMER, THOMAS (1489-1556).—­Theologian and Churchman, b. at Aslacton, Notts, ed. at Camb., and became an eminent classical and biblical scholar.  He supported Henry VIII. in his divorce proceedings against Queen Catherine, gained the King’s favour, and obtained rapid preferment, ending with the Primacy.  He was one of the chief promoters of the Reformation in England.  On the accession of Mary, he was committed to the Tower, and after a temporary failure of courage and constancy, suffered martyrdom at the stake.  It is largely to C. that we owe the stately forms of the Book of Common Prayer.  He also wrote over 40 works, and composed several hymns; but the influence of the Prayer-book in fixing the language is his great, though indirect, service to our literature.

Fox’s Book of Martyrs, Strype’s Memorials of Cranmer, Hook’s Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, etc.

CRASHAW, RICHARD (1613?-1649).—­Poet, s. of William C., a Puritan divine, was b. in London, and ed. at Charterhouse and Camb., where he became a Fellow of Peterhouse, from which, however, he was, in 1643, ejected for refusing to take the Solemn League and Covenant.  Thereafter he went to France, and joined the Roman communion.  He suffered great straits, being almost reduced to starvation, but was, through the influence of Queen Henrietta Maria, appointed Sec. to Cardinal Palotta.  About 1649 he went to Italy, and in the following year became a canon of the Church of Loretto.  He d. the same year.  C. is said to have been an eloquent preacher, and was a scholar as well as a poet of a high order in the ecstatic and transcendental style.  His chief work is Steps to the Temple (1646), consisting mainly of religious poems somewhat in the style of Herbert; his Weeping of the Magdalen is full of the most extravagant conceits, a fondness for which is, indeed, his besetting sin as a poet.  His friend Cowley commemorated him in a beautiful ode.

CRAWFORD, FRANCIS MARION (1854-1909).—­Novelist and historian, s. of Thomas C., an American sculptor, b. at Bagni di Lucca, Italy, and ed. in America, at Camb., and in Germany, he went to India and ed. The Indian Herald (1879-80).  Thereafter he settled in Italy, living chiefly at Sorrento, and becoming a Roman Catholic.  His principal historical works are Ave Roma Immortalis (1898), The Rulers of the South (reprinted as Sicily, Calabria, and Malta, 1904), and Venetian Gleanings (1905), but his reputation rests mainly on his novels, of which he wrote between 30 and 40, the best known of which are perhaps Mr. Isaacs (1882), Dr. Claudius (1883), A Roman Singer (1884), Marzio’s Crucifix (1887), Saracinesca (1887), A Cigarette-maker’s Romance (1890), generally considered his masterpiece, Don Orsino (1892), Pietro Ghisleri (1893), and The Heart of Rome (1903).  His one play is Francesca, da Rimini.  His novels are all interesting, and written in a style of decided distinction.  His historical works, though full of information, lack spirit.