Guy, 'La condition politique de la Croatieslavonie dans la monarchie austro-hongroise' (Paris 1910); Ellinek and Pliverich, 'Das rechtliche Verhältniss Kroatiens zu Ungarn' (Zagreb); Farlati, Danilo, Illyricum Sacrum) (Venice 1751-1801); Francev, 'Einige Bemerkungen zur Geschichte des Schrifttums in Kroatien (Archiv. für Slavische Philologie, Berlin 1914); Klun, Slovency, Ocerk istorii ih slovensnosti (Russkaya Besyeda, Moscow 1859) ; Leger, Louis, 'Serbes, Croates, et Bulgares: études, historiques, politiques et litteraires) (Paris 1913); Lopashich, Spomenici Hrvatskie Krajine (Zagreb 1884-1915); Lucii, Joannis, 'De regno Dalmatiae et Croatia, libri sex' (Amsterdam 1666); Lyubich, 'Pregled Hrvatskee Povjesti (Fiume 1864); Radonich, J., 'Politichki i kulturni razvoj moderne Hrvatske (Letopis Matice Srpske, Novi Sad 1914): 'Rad Jugloslovenske Akademi je Zanonosti unjetnosti Agram' (Zagreb); Seton-Watson, R. W., 'Absolutism in Croatia) (London 1912); and The Southern Slav Question and the Hapsburg Monarchy' (London 1911); Shulek, 'Hrvatski Ustav ili konstitucija godine' (1882); Shurmin, Djuro, 'Povjest Knjiz-hevnosti hrvatske i srpske (Zagreb 1898); Smirnov, Ocherk istorii horvatskago gosudarstva do ptochinoniya yevo ugorkoy koronye) (Kazan 1879); Svear, Ogledalo IIliriuma) (Zagreb 1839-42); Tkalchich, J., Hrvatska Povyesnitza (Zagreb 1861).

W. M. PETROVITCH,

Chief Slavonic Division, New York Public Library.

CROCHET, krō-shā', a species of knitting performed with a small hook of ivory, steel or wood, the material used being woolen, cotton or silk thread.

CROCIDOLITE, krō-sid'ō-lit (Gr. "threadstone") a mineral of the amphibole group composed of long, delicate fibres and also occurring massive and earthy, and then called abriachanite. It has the formula NaFe (SiO3)2. FeSiO., part of the iron being frequently replaced by magnesium and calcium and part of the sodium by hydrogen. The mineral has a hardness of 4 and a specific gravity of about 3.25. The fibrous varieties have a silky lustre and vary from blue to green. Crocidolite occurs in Griqualand West, Africa, in the Vosges Mountains of France and Germany, in Greenland, in Ontario and in Rhode Island. The South African varieties are often altered by oxidation of the iron and by infiltration of silica, until they are of a brown or yellow color and exhibit a chatoyant lustre. Specimens of this kind are known as "tiger-eye," and, when polished, are used in the manufacture of umbrella handles and other ornamental articles.

CROCIN, CH70O28, a coloring matter obtained from the fruit of Gardenia grandiflora, Chinese yellow pods, hwang-chi, which is largely used in China for dyeing silk, wool and other fabrics yellow. The color is extracted from the pods by a complex process and forms a red powder, which is soluble in water and in spirit. By dilute acids it is decomposed into crocetin, which dyes a fine yellow. Crocin has been identified with a body obtained from saffron.

CROCKER Charles, American capitalist: b. Troy, N. Y., 16 Sept. 1822; d. Monterey, Cal,

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1914.

CROCKET, a Gothic architectural ornament projecting boldly, usually in imitation of curved and bent foliage, but sometimes of animals, placed on the angles or the sides of the The name is pinnacles, canopies, gables, etc. also given to one of the terminal snags on a stag's horn. This ornament is probably derived originally from the corner volutes of the Corinthian type of capital with the acanthus leaves curled up under them.

CROCKETT, David, an American pioneer: b. Limestone, Greene County, Tenn., 17 Aug. 1786; d. Alamo, Tex., 6 March 1836. He spent a number of years in hunting and pioneer work in western Tennessee, and finally settled in Franklin County in 1811. He served in the Creek War under Jackson; and in 1821 and 1823 was elected to the Tennessee legislature. In 1826 and 1828 he was elected to Congress; was defeated for re-election in 1830 because of his outspoken opposition to Jackson's Indian bill; but was again a successful candidate in 1832. In Washington, although his eccentricities of dress and manner excited comment, he was always popular on account of his shrewd common sense and homely wit; although generally favoring Jackson's policy, he was entirely independent and refused to vote to please any party leader. At the end of his congressional term, he joined the Texans in their war against Mexico, and in 1836 was one of the force of 140 which defended Alamo, and, as one of the six survivors who surrendered, was shot by order of Santa Anna. He was unlettered and probably dictated the following works, of which he is the acknowledged author: A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett' (1834); A Tour to the North and Down East'; 'Exploits and Adventures in Texas'; 'Sketches and Eccentricities (1847). The best popular biography is by E. S. Ellis (Philadelphia 1884).

CROCKETT, Samuel Rutherford, Scottish novelist; b. Little Duchrae, Galloway, 24 Sept. 1860; d. Avignon, France, 18 April 1914. He was educated at Edinburgh and Oxford, and entering the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland in 1886 was for several years pastor

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at Penicuik. A volume of verse, Dulce Cor, and The Stickit Minister,' his first novel (1893), showed literature to be his vocation. He produced in rapid succession a series of novels, about 50 in all, making his native Galloway country on the Scottish border his special field. He was one of the leaders of the "Kailyard School," with Ian Maclaren and James M. Barrie. His later works include The Raiders' (1894); The Lilac Sunbonnet' (1894); 'Mad Sir Uchtred' (1894); 'Bog Myrtle and Peat' (1895); 'The Men of the Moss Hags' (1895); Sweetheart Travelers' (1896); Cleg Kelly) (1896); Lad's Love' (1897); 'Lochinvar) (1897); The Standard Bearer) (1898); 'The Black Douglas (1899); 'Kit Kennedy' (1899); Joan of the Sword Hand' (1900); The Stickit Minister's Wooing' (1900); 'Love Idylls' (1901); The Dark o' the Moon' (1902); Raiderland' (1904); 'Maid Margaret' (1905); (Sir Toady Crusoe' (1905); 'The Cherry Ribbon' (1906); White Plumes of Navarre (1906); Little Esson' (1907); Deep Moat Grange (1908); Men of the Mountain (1909); Dew of their Youth' (1910); 'Love in Pernicketty Town' (1911); (The Moss Troopers (1912); 'Sandy's Love Affair' (1913).

CROCODILE, a huge reptile of the genus Crocodilus and order Crocodilia, distinguished from the other genera of the family by having the enlarged fourth lower tooth fitted into an emargination, and not a pit, in the upper jaw, the dorsal head and trunk plates not united and the nasal bones not entering the nasal canal as a septum. The bones of the head have a peculiar corroded and pitted appearance, the skin is marked into transverse rows of hard quadrate areas and in addition protected dorsally by large keeled bony scutes, and the tail is provided with a partly double crest. Although fitted for terrestrial locomotion, the feet are as well adapted for aquatic life by being webbed. More remarkable adaptations for life beneath the waters are valves on the snout for closing the nostrils and external ear openings, and especially the arrangement by which the glottis fits into the internal nares, enabling the crocodile to breathe while the mouth is open and to hold a struggling animal beneath the surface until it drowns. A crocodile's stomach is constructed much like a bird's gizzard and is a receptacle for stones and other hard substances by which the food is ground. About 10 living species are known, all of which are strictly aquatic animals; three are American, an equal number African and the remainder distributed through the Indo-Malayan and North Australian regions.

The only species which enters the United States is C. americanus, which is of rare occurrence in southern Florida, where it has been known to exist since 1875, but more common in the West Indies, Central and South America. Little has been written of its habits. It may be readily distinguished from the very much more abundant alligator by the longer, more slender snout with a median ridge, besides the generic characters mentioned above. The extreme length appears to be about 14 feet. Unlike the alligator it enters brackish and salt water. The African crocodile (C. vulgaris) is the longest and best known. It ranges throughout the continent and swarms in the waters of Madagascar and of the upper Nile, but has been extermi

nated in lower Egypt. Like the alligator, the crocodile is essentially a scavenger, but attacks, drowns and devours various animals which enter the water in which it lives, not excepting full grown cattle, or even man, especially after nightfall. It is said that, like the tiger, the crocodile acquires a taste for and prefers human flesh. The Mugger, or crocodile of the Ganges, is C. palustris. It is the object of religious worship by the natives. Crocodiles construct dens in the river banks above the water level, which they enter by means of long burrows opening beneath the water; they are used as retreats in case of danger, and in which to devour their prey. Numerous eggs are deposited in a hole or nest in dry earth, the mother remaining near to guard them, a point in which as, indeed, in most of its habits the crocodile resembles our well-known alligator (q.v.). In one of its associates, however, it is unique. A species of leech (Limnatis nilotica) infests the great saurian's mouth, which is said to be habitually entered by a plover-like bird for the purpose of feeding upon the parasites. It is not clear to just what species of bird this habit is to be attributed, but most ornithologists_consider it to be Pluvianus ægyptius. The Egyptian crocodile was anciently the object of elaborate worship, possibly, as was suggested by Eusebius, because it appeared in greatest numbers at the time of the flooding of the Nile; hence it was connected with the fertility of the soil, was cared for by the priests, and in many cases embalmed after death.

CROCODILE-BIRD, an African plover, credited since the days of Herodotus with entering the open mouths of basking crocodiles to feed on the bits of food clinging to the reptiles' teeth, or possibly to pick out parasites. Two noisy plovers common along African river-banks, and both called "zic-zac" from their cries, are said to indulge in this dangerous performance, but the name crocodile-bird belongs more properly to only one of them-the crested, spur-winged plover (Hoploptenus spinosus) of the Nile Valley. There is good evidence that this bird does actually enter the mouth of crocodiles, which welcome the bird's attentions. Consult Lydekker, 'Royal Natural History (Vol. IV).

CROCODILES, Fossil. Crocodiles are a very ancient group of reptiles and were much more abundant and widespread in former geological periods, when the climate was more tropical than it is to-day. They have changed comparatively little in external appearance from the beginning of the Age of Reptiles until now, and the bony plates over the head and back were from the first characteristic of them. The most ancient crocodilian animals were the Belodontia (see BELODON) of the Triassic Period, partly intermediate between crocodiles and dinosaurs and with many archaic characters. In the succeeding Jurassic Period flourish primitive marine and fresh-water crocodiles (Teleosaurus, Bemissartia, Goniopholis), in which the vertebræ were bi-concave instead of convexoconcave, as in true crocodiles. In the later Cretaceous and Tertiary periods true crocodiles were abundant, their range extending much farther north than it does now. They are found in the New Jersey green sands, in the Bad Lands of western United States and Canada,

and in various parts of northern and central Europe, and their distribution was probably world-wide and not restricted, as now, to tropical or sub-tropical regions.

CROCODILIA, a sub-class of reptiles characterized by the possession of four welldeveloped, approximately equal legs, long tails, fixed quadrate bones, teeth firmly implanted in alveolæ and restricted to the jaws, solid vertebræ, cervical and thoracic ribs with distinct tubercular end capitula, compound abdominal ribs, simple pubic bones and the separateness of the two pubic bones and ischia. There is a strong quadratojugal arch in the skull. The cloaca is longitudinal and the copulatory organ of the male is single and anterior. The heart is almost perfectly divided into four chambers; the limbs, head and body-walls receive arterial blood, while that which goes into the viscera is mostly venous. The existing Crocodilia are divided into gavials (q.v.), with long and slender snout and a large number of approximately equal teeth, and crocodiles and alligators (qq.v.), with a relatively blunt snout and unequal teeth. For the differences between alligators and crocodiles, see the articles on these animals.

CROCOITE, native chromate of lead, PbCrO. Crocoite crystallizes in prismatic forms belonging to the monoclinic system, and also occurs in granular and columnar forms. It is scarlet red in color and translucent, with an adamantine lustre. It has a hardness of from 2.5 to 3 and a specific gravity of about 6. It was in this mineral that Vauquelin discovered the element chromium in 1797. Crocoite occurs in the Ural Mountains, also in Brazil, and in small quantities in Hungary, the island of Luzon and in Maricopa County, Ariz. Tasmania is by far the most important locality, having produced many specimens which rank among the finest mineral specimens known.

CROCUS, in mythology, a youth who was enamored of the nymph Smilax and changed into the flower which was named after him. According to another tradition he was metamorphosed by his friend Hermes, who had killed him in a game of discus. Consult Ovid, Metam. IV, 283.

CROCUS, a genus of perennial herbs of the family Iridacea. It includes about 70 species characterized by corms, showy, long, funnelshaped, erect, sometimes fragrant flowers of six nearly equal segments, three stamens and a three-celled ovary containing numerous nearly globular seeds. They blossom in autumn or early spring, the spring species being most widely known, and valued for their diversely colored flowers, the ease with which they are cultivated, and the cheapness of the corms, commonly called bulbs. The corms are planted about three inches deep in any good garden soil in autumn, and allowed to remain for several years, when, owing to the formation of the new corms above the old ones, the plants are in danger of becoming uncovered. little corms which have been developed by the old ones are separated, stored in a dry place until autumn and replanted. They are often planted in lawns, but must there be frequently renewed, because in two or three years the grass chokes them. C. sativus yields the formerly well-known dye, saffron, which was prepared from the dried stamens. This coloring-matter

The

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has been largely replaced by aniline dyes. About 30 species are cultivated in American gardens and greenhouses. Consult Bailey, Cyclopedia of American Horticulture' (New York 1914).

CROCUS, or COLCOTHUR, a polishing powder composed of oxide of iron and prepared by calcining ferrous sulphate. Crocus is purplish in color and differs from rouge chiefly in its comparative coarseness. (Formerly called "crocus of Mars" or "crocus Martis astringens").

CROES, John James Robertson, American civil engineer: b. Richmond, Va., 5 Nov. 1834; d. 1906. He was graduated at the College of Saint James, Maryland, in 1854; and was engaged as civil engineer, principally in hydraulic and sanitary work, after 1856. He was engaged in the waterwork construction in New York, Brooklyn and Washington; became an expert on the problem of water-supply, sewerage, waterworks and water power valuation, irrigation and rapid transit in cities; and wrote numerous articles on engineering subjects. was treasurer in 1877-87 and president in 1901 of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was editorial writer for the Sanitary Engineer 1880-90.

He

CRESUS, krē'sus, king of Lydia of the Mermnadæ line. He succeeded his father, Alyattes, 560 B.C. The territory governed by him included nearly all of Asia Minor, which he had conquered. His riches, obtained chiefly from mines and the gold dust of the river Pactolus, were greater than those of any king before him, so that his wealth became proverbial. Proud of his treasures, he carried his love of splendor to extravagance and thought himself the happiest of men. His capital, Sardis, became the brilliant centre of arts and letters. The legend says that, vain of his wealth, he asked the philosopher Solon what he thought of his good fortune. "I pronounce no man fortunate until his death," was the sage's reply. Subsequently Croesus was made prisoner by Cyrus, king of Persia. When seated on the funeral pyre and about to be burned to death, he recalled the words of Solon, and thrice repeated his name. Cyrus demanded an explanation. Croesus gave it, and Cyrus not only spared his life but also took him into his favor and protection. At the death of Cyrus he recommended Croesus to the favor of Cambyses. Consult Horo and Wells, 'A Commentary on Herodotus' (Vol. I, pp. 99– 100, Oxford 1912); Jebb, 'Bacchylides' (London 1905).

CROFFUT, William Augustus, American prose writer and poet: b. Redding, Conn., 29 Jan. 1835; d. Washington, D. C., 31 July 1915. Engaged in journalism from 1852 and connected editorially with leading newspapers, he was widely known as correspondent and humorist, and as one of the earliest shorthand reporters. He received the degree of Ph.D. from Union College; was executive officer of the United States Geological Survey, 1888-94; wrote opening ode of Chicago Exposition, 1893. published 'War History of Connecticut' (1867); A Helping Hand' (1868); 'Bourbon Ballads' (1880); (A Mid-Summer Lark' (1882); 'Deseret, a comic opera- Mormon theme music by Dudley Buck (1882); 'The Vander

He

bilts (1886); The Prophecy and Other Poems (1893); 'The Folks Next Door' (1902); Fifty Years in Camp and Field' (1909); and many pamphlets.

CROFTERS, a term applied in Scotland to a species of small farmers, the occupiers of small pieces of land, from which they derive their livelihood, or great part of it, by cultivation or rearing and grazing cattle. Their origin can be traced to the fact that the chiefs of the clans came to be regarded as proprietors of the land. The followers of the chieftains settled on the land, paying rent in lieu of personal services. Crofters are numerous in the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland, and they live for the most part in townships, each with his own piece of arable land, but with a joint tenancy in mountain pasture. From some districts, in recent times, they have been summarily removed to make room for sheep farms and deer forests, so that they are now chiefly congregated on the seashore, where they are able to maintain themselves in part by fishing, and generally eke out a precarious existence. They have often complained of many grievances, such as high rents, want of compensation for disturbance, small holdings, excessive local rates and want of harbors and railways. In the early 19th century measures for relief were undertaken. A parliamentary commission was appointed in 1883 to investigate their conditions. Under the Crofters Act (1886) some of these hardships have been removed, and great reductions of rent granted. This act is applicable only to the counties of Argyle, Sutherland, Inverness, Caithness, Ross and Cromarty, and Orkney and Shetland, where there are estimated to be 40,000 families of the crofter class. There are crofters to some extent also in other counties, but generally these seem to be in more favorable circumstances. (See SCOTLAND). Consult Dalriad, "The Crofter in History (Edinburgh 1888); Guernier, 'Les crofters écossais' (Paris 1897).

CROFTS, Ernest, English painter: b. Yorkshire, 15 Sept. 1847; d. 19 March 1911. He studied art at London and Düsseldorf, and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874. He became a Royal Academician in 1896. He attained celebrity as a painter of historic battle scenes. His works include 'Napoleon at Ligny' (1875); The Morning of Waterloo (1876); Cromwell at Marston Moor) (1877); Wellington's March from Quatre Bras (1878); 'The Evening of Waterloo (1879); 'Napoleon Leaving Moscow) (1887); The Execution of Charles I (1890); The Conspirators' Last Stand at Holbeach House' (1896).

CROGHAN, kro'gan, George, American military officer: b. near Louisville, Ky., 15 Nov. 1791; d. New Orleans, 8 Jan. 1849. He was graduated at William and Mary College in 1810, and greatly distinguished himself at the defense of Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson in 1813, receiving a gold medal from Congress. In 1814 he became lieutenant-colonel but resigned in 1817 and was appointed postmaster at New Orleans in 1824. He became inspector-general with the rank of colonel in 1825, joined General Taylor's forces in Mexico in 1846 and took part in the battle of Monterey.

CROKER, B. M. (SHEPPARD), English novelist. She was married to Lieut.-Col. John

Croker of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, and spent 14 years in India and Burma. Her writings include 'Pretty Miss Neville) (1883); (Some One Else' (1884); A Bird of Passage) (1886); Diana Barrington' (1888); Two Masters (1890); A Family Likeness' (1892); "Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies (1894); 'Married or Single' (1895); The Real Lady Hilda' (1895); In the Kingdom of Kerry (1896); Beyond the Pale'; (1897); Miss Balmaine's Past (1898); (Terence (1899); ‘A State Secret (1901); Angel' (1901); The Spanish Necklace (1907); Katherine the Arrogant' (1910); 'In Old Madras) (1913); 'Lismore' (1914).

CROKER, John Wilson, Irish miscellaneous writer: b. Galway, 20 Dec. 1780; d. Hampton, 10 Aug. 1857. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and entered Lincoln's Inn as a student in 1850, being admitted to the Irish bar two years later. His capacity for satire revealed itself in 'Familiar Epistles,' a clever satire on the Irish stage, and An Intercepted Letter from Canton. His (Songs of Trafalgar' spread his fame as a poet. In 1808 he issued 'State of Ireland, Past and Present,' a pamphlet on Catholic emancipation, which brought him before the notice of the politicians; and in the same year he was elected member of Parliament for Downpatrick. In 1809 he became Secretary to the Admiralty, a post which he held for more than 20 years. He was one of the founders of the Quarterly Review, and contributed many violent political articles, as well as many personal and abusive criticisms, notably of Keats' Endymion.' He was caricatured by Disraeli in Coningsby.' Macaulay's review of Croker's edition of Boswell's 'Life of Johnson' and the latter's counterblast on Macaulay's History of England' are among the celebrities of literary duels. He was a Tory politician of intense fervor, permanently resigning his seat in Parliament because of the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. He published also 'Stories from the History of England for Children' (1817) and a poem, The Battle of Talavera (1809), which received much praise. Consult Jennings, 'Diaries and Correspondence of Croker' (London 1884).

CROKER, Richard, American politician: b. Black Rock, Ireland, 24 Nov. 1843. When two years of age he came to America with his parents and received his early education in the public schools of New York city. Associating himself with Tammany Hall, he became prominent in politics during the scandal of the Tweed ring, whose schemes he vigorously opposed. In 1868-70 he was alderman; 1873-76, coroner; 1883-87, city fire commissioner; 1889-90, city chamberlain; also being the recognized leader of Tammany Hall 1884-1903. In the latter year he retired to a country life in England and Ireland, as a recreation interesting himself in horseracing. In 1907 he won both the English and the Irish "Derby" with his racehorse Orby. In 1908 he was made a freeman of the city of Dublin. Consult Lewis, 'Richard Croker' (New York 1901).

CROLL, krõl, James, Scottish geologist: b. Little Whitefield, Perthshire, 1821; d. Perth, 15 Dec. 1890. He received the ordinary education of a peasant's son and then studied philosophy and physical science and published a treatise

on Physical Cause of the Change of Climate During the Glacial Period' (1864). In 1859 he was appointed keeper of the museum in the institution known as Anderson's University, Glasgow, a position which he occupied till his appointment to a minor post in the Geological Survey of Scotland in 1867. His writings include The Philosophy of Theism (1857); Climate and Time in their Geological Relations) (1875), perhaps his ablest work; 'Discussions on Climate and Cosmology) (1886); 'Stellar Evolution) (1889); (The Philosophical Basis of Evolution) (1890). Consult Irons, T. C., Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, with Memoir of His Life and Work (London 1896).

CROLLIUS, Oswald, German chemist: b. Wetter, Oberhessen, about 1580; d. 1609. He is remembered as author of a Latin work entitled 'Basilica Chymica,' which appeared at Frankfort in 1609 and went through 18 editions, was translated into French, into German and by Richard Russell into English under the title of 'Royal and Practical Chymistry) (London 1670). This is a remarkable mixture of speculative ideas about the action of chemical substances in different diseases and practical skill in the preparation of the substances themselves. Crollius was obviously quite familiar with the details of the processes he described, although they sometimes would, sometimes would not, yield the bodies he intended, and although he was of course ignorant of the true composition of many of them. By his manipulative skill he discovered new preparations, which he introduced into medicine, and which still remain, and this practical ability seems to have given weight to his therapeutic theories.

CROLY, krō'li, Jane Cunningham ("JENNIE JUNE"), American author and journalist: b. Market Harborough, England, 19 Dec. 1831; d. New York, 23 Dec. 1901. She removed to New York in 1841, and in 1856 married D. G. Croly. She was editor of Demorest's Magazine 1860-87, and of The Cycle and The Home-maker. She was one of the founders of "Sorosis" and its president for 14 years; founded the New York Women's Press Club in 1889 and in 1892 became professor of journalism and literature in the Rutgers' Women's College; and was one of the most active_promoters of the Federation of Women's Clubs. She published Talks on Women's Topics' (1863); For Better or Worse' (1875); "Three Manuals for Work' (1885-89); 'History of the Women's Club Movement in America' (1900), etc. Consult Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, "Jennie June" (New York 1904).

CROMARTY, krō'mer-të, Scotland, a former county in the north, consisting of 14 detached portions scattered over the county of Ross, with which county it is now entirely incorporated. The total area was about 220,800 acres. This singularly awkward county was formed at the request of an earl of Cromarty, who desired that one county might contain all his lands wherever situated.

CROMARTY FIRTH, a long, narrow inlet of the sea running into the united county of Ross and Cromarty in a southwesterly direction, and having a length of about 18 miles and an average breadth of two to five miles,

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and from 5 to 40 fathoms deep. Its entrance from the Moray Firth, between two bluffwooded headlands called the Sutors of Cromarty, is about a mile wide, with 30 to 40 fathoms of water. Being completely landlocked it affords excellent shelter for shipping and is often crowded in stormy weather. At its upper end it receives the river Conan, and this portion of the firth is shallow, several square miles of mud-flats being laid bare at low water. On its shores are the towns of Cromarty, Invergordon and Dingwall.

CROME, John, English landscape painter: b. Norwich, 22 Dec. 1768; d. there, 22 April 1821. His school education was very scanty, but after some struggle and a long apprenticeship to a sign painter he succeeded in getting established as a drawing-master. He studied the Dutch masters, his favorite being Hobbema, but his distinguishing characteristic is his genuine English realism. He paid great attention to detail, and though this is sometimes exaggerated in his work, there is always a mastery of feeling for light and out-of-doors which give great force and individuality. In 1805 he founded the Norwich Society of Artists, of which he became president as well as chief contributor to its annual exhibitions. Some of his pictures are 'Household Heath'; View of Chapel Fields, Norwich'; 'Carrow Abbey); and Clump of Trees'; the 'Oak at Poringlane (in the National Gallery); the 'Willow'; 'Hautbois Common) (in the Metropolitan Museum); and The Old Oak' (also in New York). His visit to Paris enabled him to catch the livelier note in his 'Fishmarket at Boulogne' and 'Boulevard des Italiens, Paris' (Keswick Hall, near Norwich). He excelled in depicting the scenery of his native county, and especially in his handling of trees; and his high place among British landscape painters is now universally acknowledged. He also practised etching with great success. His etchings were published posthumously under the title of 'Norfolk Picturesque Scenery (1834, 1838, 1850). Consult his biography by Turner (Norwich 1838); Wodderspoon (ib. 1858); Hardie, in the Connoisseur (London 1904); Van Dyck, 'Old English Masters' (New York 1902); Dickes, The Norwich School of Painting' (London 1905); Binyon, J. Crome and J. S. Cotman' (ib. 1906); Theobald, John Crome's Etchings' (ib. 1906). He is sometimes called "Old Crome," to distinguish him from his son, J. Berney Crome, also an artist (q.v.).

CROME, John Berney, English landscape painter: b. Norwich 1794; d. 1842. He was the son and pupil of John Crome (q.v.), and is called "Young Crome," to distinguish him from his father. In 1819 he became president of the Norwich Society of Artists. His pictures are mostly river and coast scenes of England, France, Holland and Italy. He imitated his father's style so closely that much confusion of authorship has resulted, especially in 'Yarmouth Water Frolic,' which was for a long time considered the masterpiece of the elder Crome. Toward the end of his life he painted inferior subjects. Consult Dickes, W. F., The Norwich School of Painting) (London 1905).

CROMER, Evelyn Baring, 1ST EARL, English statesman and diplomatist: b. Cromer Hall, Norfolk, 26 Feb. 1841; d. London, 29 Jan.