"Cum tabulis animum censoris sumet ho- dignity and importance of the art of criti nesti." And for the direction of his judgment he can take no guide so sure, as those principles which have been sanctioned, by the approbation of enlightened ages, as the laws of just taste. To enter into a regular detail of the objects embraced in a system of the rules of criticism, would be inconsistent with the design of the present work; but a short enumeration of the principal writers on the subject may not be altogether useless. Aristotle is the great father of the critic art; and his treatises on Poetry and Rhetoric exhibit the fundamental principles on which that art is built. His style is compressed and abrupt; and his language is so devoid of the attractions of ornament, that, as a celebrated French scholar has justly observed, "in order to be able to read his works, a person must be fully bent upon obtaining instruction. The dryness of his manner, however, is amply compensated by the perspicuity of his arrangement, the ingenuity of his disquisitions, and the profundity of his thoughts. Many useful observations on the general principles of composition are to be found in Cicero's treatises on the subject of oratory; and the Institutes of Quintilian also contain a rich mine of criticism. Much useful instruction may also be gained from the critical dissertations, which occasionally occur in the Satires and Epistles of Horace, and especially in his Epistle to the Pises on the art of Poetry. Longinus's work on the Sublime, though occasionally deficient in precision, is written with singular energy and spirit, and evinces a feeling mind, the emotions of which are regulated by exquisite taste. The spirit of Horace was infused into Boileau, who, of all the French critics, was the most delicate in judgment; though much praise is also due to the critical works of Rapin, Bossu, and Bonhours. Rollin's treatise on the Belles Lettres is a book of great value; and in our own days, the seeds of good taste have been widely scattered through the continent of Europe by the publication of La Har. pe's Lycée. The English language is rich in critical disquisitions, of which many excellent ones are to be found in the prefaces prefixed by Dryden to his multifarious productions. In his "Advice to an Author," Lord Shaftesbury has well asserted the ,cism, and has detailed, in measured and elevated style, the principles of fine writ ing, which he had collected from the study of the Ancients. Pope's Essay on Criticism is too well known to stand in need of commendation; and the critique of Addison on the Paradise Lost is perused with interest by every Englishman of cultivated mind. At a more modern period, Mr. Harris, in his Philological Enquiries, has exhibited the substance of the writings of Aristotle; and Dr. Johnson, in his observations upon the works of the English Poets, has, notwithstanding the occasional aberrations into which he was betrayed by prejudice, given decisive proofs of a superior intellect. Ward's Treatise on Oratory, Priestley's Lectures on Oratory and Criticism, and Kaimes's Elements of Criticism, respectively contain systems of considerable merit. But the standard book on this subject is Blair's Lectures on Belles Lettres. Blair was a scholar and a philosopher; and his works only want a portion of the spirit of enthusiasm, to render them a complete model of didactic composition. CRITICISM, verbal, is the art of settling, with probability, or, as a practitioner of that art would say, with precision, the text of the ancient Greek and Latin classic authors. This species of criticism takes its rise from the state in which the writings of those authors have come down to modern times. The art of printing being unknown at the period when they were composed, they were presented by transcription; from which circumstance they were evidently liable to be deformed by errors, and those errors must necessarily have been greatly multiplied by the lapse of ages. A passage in Aulus Geilius, which states that a reading in Cicero was justified by a copy made by his learned freedman Tyro, and a reading in Virgil's Georgics by a book which had formerly belonged to Virgil's family, at once demonstrates the early corruption of works of taste, and the early stress which was laid upon the authority of ancient manuscripts. In the long night of ignorance, which succeeded the subversion of the Roman empire by the barbarians of the north, the classic authors were forgotten, and their works were neglected, and left to perish. But when literature revived in Italy, they became the objects of the most eager and diligent research. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the discovery of an ancient Greek or Latin manuscript was CRI celebrated as an event of the greatest importance, and gave occasion to the most enthusiastic exultation. The difficulty of perusal, however, which was experienced in some instances, called into exercise the skat of the most practised scholars; and the real or supposed corruptions of the text, in most of the codices which were at this period brought to light, afforded a copious subject for the acumen of the ablest critics. The letters of Ambrogio Traversari, of Leonardo Aretivo, and of Poggio Bracciolini, abundantly prove, that emendation was one of the first duties of the fortunate man of letters, who had rescued a classic author from oblivion. There is too much fear that this duty was not in every instance discharged with the requis.te ability and discretion; -but, however this may be, the copies, which were multiplied by the hands or under the inspection of the revivers of literature, are at this day almost the sole authority, to which the learned can refer, in settling the text of the compositions of the most distinguished writers of Greece and Rome. The invention of the art of printing was, as might naturally be expected, soon employed in multiplying copiesofthe ancient class.cs, the impressions of which were Carefully superintended by he great luminaries of the age. Among these shine, with pre-eminent lustre, Politian, Landmo, and Marcus Musurus, who, by the collation of MSS. and the application of temperate conjecture, endeavoured to exhibit the works of the classic writers in their purity. But of all these friends and promoters of goo: literature, the place of most distinguished honour is due to Aldus Manutius. This illustrious scholar, by his fame, and by his munificence, attracted to Venice, the place of his residence, the ornaments of the lite. rary world, by whose assistance, in the examination of MSS. and in the other duties of an editor, he was enabled to publish copious editions of almost every Greek and Latin classic, which may be yet regarded as unrivalled in elegance and correctness. From his time, to the present day, may be traced a succession of scholars, who have endeavoured, with various success, to evince their learning and their acumen by their emendations of the text of the ancient classics; and whosoever has studied with due attention the lucubrations of a Heyne, or a Porson, will readily acknowledge, that even at this late period, a rich harvest CRO may be gathered in the field of verbal criticism. It is much to be lamented, however, that the art of verbal criticism has been brought into discredit by the rasliness of certain editors of the ancient classics, who, inspired with the rage of innovation, have despised the authority of manuscripts, and have deformed the finest models of antiquity, by the introduction of their own crude fancies, under the torm of conjectural emendations. It has been well observed,,that, by such critics. as these, authors have been taken in hand, like anatomical subjects, only to Nearly allied to verbal criticism is Illustrative Criticism, or the art of explaining the ancient classic authors. This art gave rise to the tribe of scholiasts and commentators. Of these, some restricted themselves to the illustration of particular authors, and others exercised their talents upon a selection of passages from a variety of writers. Among the former may be mentioned Didymus and Eustathius, who bestowed their labours upon Homer, and among the latter may be classed Politian, whose miscellanea contains a copious fund of erudition. The modern writers of these two classes, under the denomination of editors, commentators, and translators, are in a manner innumerable. CROCODILE. See LACERTA. CROCODILE, fossil, one of the greatest curiosities in the fossil world which the late ages have produced. It is the skeleton of a large crocodile, almost entire, found at a great depth under ground, bedded in stone This was in the possession of Linkius, who wrote many pieces in natural history, and particu larly an accurate description of this cu rious fossil. It was found in the side of a large mountain in the midland part of Germany, and in a stratum of black fossil stone, somewhat like our common, slate, but of a coarser texture, the same with that in which the fossil fishes in many parts of the world are found. This skeleton had the back and ribs very plain, and was of a much deeper black than the rest of the stone; as is also the case in the fossil fishes which are preserved in this manner; the part of the stone where the head lay was not found, this being broken off just at the shoulders, but that irre ularly, so that in one place a part of the back of the head was visible in its natural form. The two shoulder bones were very fair, and three of the feet were well preserved: the legs were of their natural shape and size : and the feet preserved even to the extremities of the five toes of each. CROCUS, in botany, a genus of the Triandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Ensate. Irides, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla sixparted equal; stigmas convolute. There are two species, with many varieties, viz. C. officinalis, officinal crocus, or saifron, and C. vernus, or spring crocus. CROISADE, CRUSADE, or CRUZADO, a name given to the expeditions of the Christians against the Infidels for the conquest of Palestine; so called, because those who engaged in the undertaking wore a cross on their clothes, and bore one on their standard. This expedition was also called the holy war, to which people flocked in great numbers out of pure devotion, the pope's bulls and the preaching of the priests of those days making it a point of conscience. The several nations engaged in the holy war were distinguished by the different colours of their crosses; the English wore white, the French red, the Flemish green, the Germans black, and the Italians vellow. From this enterprise several orders of knighthood took their rise. They reckon eight croisades for the conquest of the Holy Land: the first began in the year 1095, at the solicitation of the Greek Emperor and the Patriarch of Jerusalem. CROMLECH, in British antiquities, are huge broad flat stones, raised upon other stones set up on end for that purpose. They are common in Anglesea. They are supposed by some persons to have been tombs, though others imagine that they were altars for religious services. CROSIER, or CROZIER, a shepherd's crook; a symbol of pastoral authority, consisting of a gold or silver staff, crooked at the top, carried occasionally before bishops and abbots, and held in the hand when they give the solemn benedictions. The custom of bearing a pastoral staff before bishops is very ancient. Regular abbots are allowed to officiate with a mitre and crosier. Among the Greeks none but a patriarch had a right to the crosier. CHOSIER, in astronomy, four stars in the southern hemisphere in the form of a cross, serving those who sail in south latitudes to find the antarctic pole. CROSS, in heraldry, is defined, by Guilum, an ordinary composed of fourfold lines, whereof two are perpendicular, and the other two transverse; for so we must conceive of them, though they are not drawn throughout, but meet by cou ples, in four right angles, near about the fesse-point of the escutcheon. The content of a cross is not always the same; for when it is not charged, it has only the fifth part of the field; but if it be charged, then it must contain the third part thereof. This bearing was bestowed on such as had performed, or, at least, undertaken, some service for Christ and the Christian profession: and is therefore held by several authors the most honourable charge in all heraldry. What brought it into such frequent use was the ancient expeditions into the Holy Land, the cross being the ensigns of that war. CROSSOSTYLIS, in botany a genus of the Monadelphia Polyandria class and order. Essential character: calyx simple, four-parted; corolla four-petalled; nectary twenty, corpuscles between the filaments; stigmas four-jagged. There is but one species, viz. C. biflora, a native of the Society Isles. CROSSELET, a little or diminutive cross used in heraldry, where the shield is frequently seen covered with crosselets; also fesses and other honourable ordinaries, charged or accompanied with crosselets. Crosses frequently terminate in crosselets. CROTALARIA, in botany, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class and order. Natural order of Papilionaceæ, or Leguminosa, Jussieu. Essential character: legume turgid, inflated, pedicelled filaments connate, with a fissure on the back. There are thirty-two species, all very mouth of the destroyer. This opinatives of warm climates. CROUTE, sour croute. As this preparation of cabbage has been found of Sovereign efficacy as a preservative in long voyages from the sea-scurvy, it may not be unacceptable to give a concise account of the process for making it, according to the information communicated by an ingenious German gentleman. The soundest and most solid cabbages are se lected for this use, and cut very small, commonly with an instrument made for this purpose, not unlike the plane which is used in this country for slicing cucumbers. A knife is used when the preparation is made with great nicety. The cabbage thus minced is put into a barrel in layers, hand high, and over each is strewed a handful of salt and carraway seeds; in this manner it is rammed down with a rammer, stratum super stratum, till the barrel be full; when a cover is put over it and pressed down with a heavy weight. After standing some time in this state it begins to ferment; and it is not till the fermentation has entirely subsid ed that the head is fitted to it, and the barrel is finally shut up and preserved for use. CROTALUS, the rattlesnake, in natu ral history, a genus of Amphibia, of the order of Serpentes. Generic character: scuta on the abdomen; scuta and scales beneath the tail; rattle at the end of the tail. There are five species, all natives of America. The C. horridus, or banded rattle-snake, inhabits North America, and is from three to five feet in length, of a yellowish brown colour. The rattle is fixed at the end of the tail, and is composed of dry and hollow bones, nearly of the same form and size. The tip of every bone, superior to the two last, passes within the two immediately beneath it, thus producing a firm coberence, and also an increase of noise, as during the sounding of the rattle each bone strikes against two others. The object of this curious instrument has not a little perplexed naturalists, and some have considered it design. ed to warn other animals of their danger, while others have regarded it as intended, indeed, to sound the alarm of peril, but such an alarm as is followed by consternation, under which the affrighted victim experiences a prostration of all its faculties, and is bereaved at once of intelligence and motion. These animals were supposed to possess the power of charming others, or of operating upon them by some ineffable power, to induce them to drop from their stations into the nion, long prevailing, but now exploded, not unnaturally arose from the circum-. stance just mentioned. The appearance of the rattle-snake to these creatures, who instantly recognize it for their mortal enemy, and the sound of that instrument, which is as it were the signal of execution, impresses them occasionally with a degree of terror, which withers all the energies of their frame. These animals have been known to enter houses in America, and even to insinuate themselves into beds. They move with great slowness; and, with respect to all other animals but those which they subsist on, never inflict any injury but in retaliation, wounding on provocation, and not in aggression. Their bite is not only poisonous, but rapidly fatal, and has been known to kill a man in a few minutes. When the bite is received in a fleshy part, the Indians apply the knife with all possible speed. In slight cases they have recourse to various roots; and in some cases they suck the wound: but when a principal vein or artery is penetrated with the animal's full strength, they aban lon their case as hopeless, and apply no remedy whatever. In the territeries of America but thinly inhabited, rattle-snakes are abundant; but in others they are almost exterminated. They are seldom seen farther north than Lake Champlain, or south than Brazil. They are extremely fond of frogs. In summer they are generally seen in pairs; in winter they are gregarious, and secure themselves from the rigours of the season by withdrawing deeply in the earth, whence a fine day sometimes induces them to ap pear, but in a state of great weakness, in which they may be attacked without dan ger, and in which a single person has sometimes destroyed with a stick several score in a single morning. The largest ever seen by Catesby, who, while in Carolina, paid particular attention to them, was about eight feet long, and nearly nine pounds in weight. It is mentioned by Dr. Shaw, from Bouvais, that this snake, which is viviparous, possesses the mode of securing its young ascribed to the European viper, of swallowing them during the period of danger, and disgorging them after it is over. Mr. Bouvais having inadvertently molested a rattle snake in his walk, saw the animal instantly coil itself up, and distend its jaws, into which five young ones rushed with great rapidity. He watched it for about a quarter of an hour, at the end of which time he saw them thrown up. To remove the possibility of deception, he then re-approached, and saw the paren open the same asylum, and the offs ring avail themselves of it with the same celerity; after which the snake moved beyond his observation. From experiments made on various dogs by the bite of this snake, one was killed in a quarter of a minute; another bitten afterwards in two hours, and a third, bitten last, in above three. It was a matter of natural curiosity to ascertain whether the animal would destroy itself by its bite, and being provoked by some means to inflict on itself a wound, it expired in about twelve minutes afterwards. CROTCHES, in ship-building, very crooked timbers in the hold or breadroom,from the mizen-step aft, fayed cross the keelson, to strengthen the ship in the wake of the half timbers. CROTCHET, in music, one of the notes or characters of time, marked thus , equal to a half minim, and double of a quaver. CROTCHET, in midwifery, an instrument used in extracting the fœtus. CROTCHET, in printing, a sort of straight or curved line, always turned up at each extreme; serving to link such articles as are to be read together; and used in analytical tables, &c for facilitating the divisions and subdivisions of any subject. CROTCHETS are also marks or chaPacters, serving to inclose a word or sentence, which is distinguished from the rest, being generally in this form [] or this (). CROTON, in botany, a genus of the Monoecia Monadelphia class and order. Natural order of Tricocca. Euphorbiæ, Jussieu. Essential character: male, calyx cylindric, five-toothed: corolla fivepetalled: stamens ten to fifteen: f male, calyx many-leaved; corolla none; styles three, bifid; capsule three-celled; seed one. There are 53 species. The plants of this numerous genus are herbaceous, or more frequently shrubby. Leaves accompanied with stipules, generally alternate, seldom opposite: flowers axillary, or terminating usually in spikes, but sometimes in corymbs: the spikes, are mostly monaecous. These plants are chiefly inhabitants of the East and west Indies. CROTOPHAGI, the ani, in natural history, a genus of birds of the order Picæ. Generic character: bill compressed, semi-oval, arched end cultrated at the top; nostrils round; tongue flat, pointed at the end; tail of ten feathers; toes two before, and two behind. There are four species; the principal of which is the C. ani, or the lesser ani. These are found in many parts of the West Indies and South America, and are about the size of a black-bird. A curious peculiarity connected with the history of these birds is, that many females will unite in the construction of one nest, where each will deposit a certain number of eggs, and contribute her part to he general process of incubation. Each will also contribute, after the young are hatched, to provide, as far as her means extend, for the whole, family. As soon as she has laid her eggs, the female has been remarked invariably to cover them with leaves, never failing also to do the same previously to her short absences in quest of food. In the warm climate of the West Indies this singularity is not easily accounted for. The food of these birds varies with the season, and consists of grain, worms, and insects, as well as fruit. They appear in flocks of about twenty, are rank and unpalatable as food, and by a chattering and screaming noise, which they utter under every impression of danger, often interrupt and defeat the hopes of the sportsman, by alarming valuable game beyond the reach of his efforts. CROW. See CORVUS. CROW, in mechanics, a kind of ironlever with a claw at one end, and a sharp point at the other: used for heaving or purchasing great weights. CROW's feet, in the military art, machines of iron, having four points, each about three or four inches long, so made, that whatever way they fall there is still a point up: they are thrown upon breaches, or in passes where the enemy's calvary are to march, proving very troublesome by running into the horses' feet and laming them. CROWEA, in botany, a genus of the Decandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx five parted; petals five, sessile ; stamina flat, subulate, connected by interwoven hairs; antheræ growing longitudinally from the inner part of the filaments; capsules five, united; seeds coated. One species; viz. the saligna, a native of Australasia. CROWN, an ornament worn on the head by kings, sovereign princes, and noblemen, as a mark of their dignity. CROWN, in heraldry, is used for the representation of that ornament, in the mantling of an armory, to expres the dignity of persons. See HERALDRY. CHOWN, in commerce, a general name for coins, both foreign and domestic, |