Chapter Critic to Cropland of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Cromwell’s Dead Body Insulted. Cromwell’s dead body was, by the sanction if not by the express order of Charles II., taken from its grave, exposed on a gibbet, and finally buried under the gallows.

Similarly, the tomb of Amasis king of Egypt was broken op en by Cambyses; the body was then scourged and insulted in various ways, and finally burnt, which was abhorrent to the Egyptians, who used every possible method to preserve dead bodies in their integrity.

The dead body of admiral Coligny [Co.leen.ye] was similarly insulted by Charles IX., Catherine de Medicis, and all the court of France, who spattered blood and dirt on the half-burnt blackened mass. The king had the bad taste to say over it—

Fragrance sweeter than a rose
Rises from our slaughtered foes.

It will be remembered that Coligny was the guest of Charles, his only crime being that he was a huguenot.

Crona [“murmuring”], a small stream running into the Carron.—Ossian.

Cronian Sea (The), the Arctic Ocean. Pliny (in his Nat. Hist. iv. 16) says, “A Thulê unius diei navigatione mare concretum a nonnullis cronium appellatur.”

As when two polar winds blowing adverse
Upon the Cronian sea.
   —Milton: Paradise Lost, x. 290 (1665).

Crook-fingered Jack, one of Macheath’s gang of thieves. In eighteen months’ service he brought to the general stock four fine gold watches and seven silver ones, sixteen snuff-boxes (five of which were gold), six dozen handkerchiefs, four silver-hilted swords, six shirts, three periwigs, and a “piece” of broadcloth. Peachum calls him “a mighty clean-handed fellow,” and adds—

“Considering these are only the fruits of his leisure hours, I don’t know a prettier fellow, for no man alive hath a more engaging presence of mind upon the road.”—Gay: The Beggar’s Opera, i. I (1727).

Crop (George), an honest, hearty farmer, who has married a second wife, named Dorothy, between whom there are endless quarrels. Two especially are noteworthy. Crop tells his wife he hopes that better times are coming, and when the law-suit is over “we will have roast pork for dinner every Sunday.” The wife replies, “It shall be lamb.” “But I say it shall be pork.” “I hate pork, I’ll have lamb.” “Pork, I tell you,” “I say lamb.” “It shan’t be lamb, I will have pork.” The other quarrel arises from Crop’s having left the door open, which he civilly asks his wife to shut. She refuses, he commands; she turns obstinate, he turns angry; at length they agree that the person who first speaks shall shut the door. Dorothy speaks first, and Crop gains the victory.—P. Hoare: No Song no Supper (1790).

Cropland (Sir Charles), an extravagant, heartless libertine and man of fashion, who hates the country except for hunting, and looks on his estates and tenants only as the means of supplying money for his personal indulgence. Knowing that Emily Worthington was the daughter of a “poor gentleman,” he offers her “a house in town, the run of his estate in the country, a chariot, two footmen, and £600 a year;” but the lieutenant’s daughter rejects with scorn such “splendid infamy.” At the end sir Charles is made to see his own baseness, and offers the most ample apologies to all whom he has offended.—G. Colman: The Poor Gentleman (1802).