Chapter Coxe to Cranmer of C by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Coxe to Cranmer

Coxe, William (1747-1828).—Historian, was born in London, and educated at Eton and Cambridge As tutor to various young men of family he travelled much on the Continent, and published accounts of his journeys. His chief historical work is his Memoirs of the House of Austria (1807), and he also wrote lives of Walpole, Marlborough, and others. He had access to valuable original sources, and his books, though somewhat heavy, are on the whole trustworthy, notwithstanding a decided Whig bias. He was a clergyman, and died Archdeacon of Wilts.

Crabbe, George (1754-1832).—Poet, born at Aldborough, Suffolk, where his father was collector of salt dues, he was apprenticed to a surgeon, but, having no liking for the work, went to London to try his fortune in literature. Unsuccessful at first, he as a last resource wrote a letter to Burke enclosing some of his writings, and was immediately befriended by him, and taken into his own house, where he met Fox, Reynolds, and others. His first important work, The Library, was published in 1781, and received with favour. He took orders, and was appointed by the Duke of Rutland his domestic chaplain, residing with him at Belvoir Castle. Here in 1783 he published The Village, which established his reputation, and about the same time he was presented by Lord Thurlow to two small livings. He was now secured from want, made a happy marriage, and devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits. The Newspaper appeared in 1785, and was followed by a period of silence until 1807, when he came forward again with The Parish Register, followed by The Borough (1810), Tales in Verse (1812), and his last work, Tales of the Hall (1817-18). In 1819 Murray the publisher gave him £3000 for the last named work and the unexpired copyright of his other poems. In 1822 he visited Sir Walter Scott at Edinburgh. Soon afterwards his health began to give way, and he died in 1832. Crabbe has been called “the poet of the poor.” He describes in simple, but strong and vivid, verse their struggles, sorrows, weaknesses, crimes, and pleasures, sometimes with racy humour, oftener in sombre hues. His pathos, sparingly introduced, goes to the heart; his pictures of crime and despair not seldom rise to the terrific, and he has a marvellous power of painting natural scenery, and of bringing out in detail the beauty and picturesqueness of scenes at first sight uninteresting, or even uninviting. He is absolutely free from affectation or sentimentality, and may be regarded as one of the greatest masters of the realistic in our literature. With these merits he has certain faults, too great minuteness in his pictures, too frequent dwelling upon the sordid and depraved aspects of character, and some degree of harshness both in matter and manner, and not unfrequently a want of taste.

Life prefixed to edition of works by his son (1834), Ainger (Men of Letters, 1903). Works (Ward, 3 vols., 1906-7).

Craigie, Mrs. Pearl Mary Teresa (Richards) (1867-1906). daughter of John Morgan, R. born in Boston, Massachusetts. Most of her education was received in London and Paris, and from childhood she was a great reader and observer. At 19 she married Mr. R. W. Craigie, but the union did not prove happy and was, on her petition, dissolved. In 1902 she became a Roman Catholic. She wrote, under the pseudonym of “John Oliver Hobbes,” a number of novels and dramas, distinguished by originality of subject and treatment, brightness of humour, and finish of style, among which may be mentioned Some Emotions and a Moral, The Gods, Some Mortals and Lord Wickenham (1895), The Herb Moon and The School for Saints (1897), and Robert Orange (1900), The Dream and The Business (1907). Her dramas include The Ambassador and The Bishop’s Move.

Craik, George Lillie (1798-1866).—w riter on English literature, etc., born at Kennoway, Fife, and educated at St. Andrews, went to London in 1824, where he wrote largely for the “Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge.” In 1849 he was appointed Professor of English Literature and History at Belfast. Among his books are The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties (1831), History of British Commerce (1844), and History of English Literature and the English Language (1861). He was also joint author of The Pictorial History of England, and wrote books on Spenser and Bacon.

Cranmer, Thomas (1489-1556).—Theologian and Churchman, born at Aslacton, Notts, educated at Cambridge, 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