CROSSENplane, was pre-eminently feminine in every word and idea. George Eliot, less reckless, less romantic than the Frenchwoman, less spiritual than the Spanish saint, was more masculine in style than either, but her outlook was not, for a moment, the man’s outlook; her sincerity, with its odd reserves, was not quite the same as a man’s sincerity, nor was her humour that genial, broad, unequivocal humour which is peculiarly virile. Hers approximated, curiously enough, to the satire of Jane Austen, both for its irony and its application to little everyday affairs. _ Men’s humour, under all its headings, is on the heroic rather than the average scale. It is for the uncommon situations, not the daily tea-table. Again, George Eliot was a little scornful to those of both sexes who had neither special missions nor the consciousness of this deprivation. Men are seldom in favour of missions in any field. She demanded, too strenuously from the very beginning, an aim, more or less altruistic, from every individual, and as she advanced in life this claim became the more imperative, till at last it overpowered her art, and transformed a great delineator of humanity into an eloquent observer with far too many personal prejudices. But she was altogether free from cynicism, bitterness, or the least tendency to pride of intellect. She suffered from bodily weakness the greater part of her life, and but for an extraordinary mental health—inherited from the fine yeoman stock from which she sprang—it is impossible that she could have retained, at all times, so sane a view of human conduct, or been the least sentimental among women writers of the first rank—the one wholly without morbidity in any disguise. The accumulation of mere book knowledge, as opposed to the friction of a life spent among all sorts and conditions of men, drove George Eliot at last to write as a specialist for specialists : joy was lost in the consuming desire for strict accuracy: her genius became more and more speculative, less and less emotional. The highly trained brain suppressed the impulsive heart,— the heart described with such candour and pathos as Maggie Tulliver’s in The Mill on the Floss. For this reason—chiefly because philosophy is popularly associated with inactive depression, whereas human nature is held to be eternally exhilarating — her later works have not received so much praise as her earlier productions. But one has only to compare Romola or Daniel Deronda with the compositions of any author except herself to realize the greatness of her designs, and the astonishing gifts brought to their final accomplishment. Life of George Eliot. Edited by J. W. Cross. 3 vols. 188587. (p. M. T. c.) CrOSSC n, a town of Prussia, at the influx of the Bober into the Oder, 31 miles south-east of Frankfurt by rail, capital of the circle of Crossen, Government district of Frankfurt. It has two Protestant and one Catholic church, a real, a mechanics’, a horticultural, and other schools, and a brisk shipping trade. Population (1890), 6657 ; (1895), 7911 ; (1900), 7369. Crowe, Sir Joseph Archer (1828-1896), English consular official and art critic, was born in London on 25th October 1828. At an early age he showed considerable aptitude for painting, and entered the studio of Paul Delaroche in Paris, where his father then resided as correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, but he never achieved any great distinction with the brush. During the Crimean War he was the correspondent of the Illustrated London News, and during the Austro-Italian War represented the Times in Vienna. He was British consulgeneral in Leipzig from 1860 to 1872, and in Diisseldorf from 1872 to 1880, when he was appointed commercial attache in Berlin, being transferred in a like capacity to
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Paris in 1882. In 1883 he was secretary to the Danube Conference in London; in 1889 plenipotentiary at the Samoa Conference in Berlin; and in 1890 British envoy at the Telegraph Congress in Paris, in which year he was made K.C.M.G. During a sojourn in Italy, 1846-1847, he cemented a lifelong friendship with the Italian painter Cavalcaselle, and the two friends engaged in works of artistic research. Notable among these are Early Flemish Painters (London, 1857); A New History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century (London, 1864-66, 3 vols.). The latest work from his own pen was Reminiscences of Thirty-Five Years of My Life. He died at Schloss Gamburg in Bavaria on 6th September 1896. Crowther, Samuel Adjai (181 -1891), African missionary-bishop, was born in Yoruba, and was sold into slavery in 1821. Next year he was rescued, with many other captives, by H.M. ship Myrmidon, and was landed at Sierra Leone. Educated there in one of the Church Missionary Society’s schools, he was baptized on 11th December 1825. In the course of time he became a teacher at Fousah Bay, and afterwards an energetic missionary on the Niger. Summoned to England in 1842, he entered the Church Missionary College at Islington. On 11th June in the following year he was ordained by Bishop Blomfield. Returning to his native land, he laboured with great success amongst his own people, and afterwards at Abeokuta. Here he devoted himself to the preparation of school-books, and the translation of the Bible and Prayer-Book into Yoruba and other dialects. He also established a trade in cotton, and improved the native agriculture. In 1857 he commenced the third expedition up the Niger, and after labouring with varied success, and encountering great danger from a powerful native chieftain, returned to England and was consecrated, on St Peter’s Day 1864, first Bishop of the Niger Territories, and was warmly welcomed in his native land. Before long a commencement was made of the missions to the Delta of the Niger, and between 1866 and 1884 congregations of Christians were formed at Bonny, Brass, and New Calabar, but the progress made was slow and subject to many impediments. In 1872, during a violent persecution, two converts suffered martyrdom. In 1888 the tide turned, and several chiefs embraced Christianity, and on Bishop Crowther’s return from another visit to England, the large iron church.known as “St Stephen’s Cathedral” was opened, and all the objects of superstitious worship were given up. For three years more the bishop laboured, and then died of paralysis at the end of October 1891, having displayed as a missionary for many years untiring industry, great practical wisdom, and deep piety. (g. f. m*. ) Croydon, a parish and county borough, 10 miles south of London by rail, in the north-east of Surrey. It was once supposed to mark the site of the Roman station Noviomagus, but this opinion is now rejected, and Holwood Hill, Keston, is believed to be the true site of that station. It was formed into a municipal borough in 1883, a parliamentary borough in 1885, and a county borough in 1888. The population of the registration district was in 1881,101,241 ; in 1891, 151,771 ; and in 1901, 194,425. The population of the county borough in 1891 was 102,695, and in 1901, 133,885. The parish church of St John the Baptist appears to have been built in the 14th and 15th centuries, but to have contained remains of an older building. The church was restored or rebuilt in the 16th century, and again restored by Sir Gilbert G. Scott in 1857-59. It was destroyed by fire, with the exception of the tower, on 5th January 1867, and S. HI. — 38
