542 



CRAIG-FLUKE 



CRAMP 



birth of James VI. Besides several more Latin 

 poems, and the masterly Jus Feudale ( 1608 ; 3d ed. 

 1732), by which he is chiefly remembered, he wrote 

 three other Latin treatises on James VI. 's right 

 to succeed to the English throne, on the advisability 

 of a union between the two kingdoms, and on the 

 homage controversy between Scotland and England. 

 He stood high in favour with James, who wanted 

 to knight him in 1603, and, on his declining, (dis- 

 pensed with the ceremony, but gave him the title. 

 He died 26th February 1608. See his Life by P. F. 

 Tytler (1823). 



Craig-fluke (Pleuronectes cynoglossus), a flat 

 fish in the same genus as Dab, Plaice, and 

 Flounder (q.v. ). 



Craigleith Stone, a siliceous sandstone be- 

 longing to the lower carboniferous series, quarried 

 at Craigleith, 2 miles W. of Edinburgh, and largely 

 used for building in that city, for which it is 

 admirably adapted by its purity and durability. 



Craik, GEORGE LILLIE, a versatile and indus- 

 trious author, born at Kennoway, Fife, in 1798, 

 was educated for the church at St Andrews 

 University, but, preferring a literary career, came 

 to London in 1826, and formed a connection 

 with Charles Knight. His first work of importance 

 was the Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties 

 (1831). He also contributed largely to the Penny 

 Magazine and Cyclopaedia, and in 1839 became 

 editor of the Pictorial History of England, some 

 of the most valuable chapters of which were 

 written by himself. From these his Sketches of 

 the History of Literature and Learning in Eng- 

 land (6 vols. 1844) and his History of British 

 Commerce (3 vols. 1844) were reprinted. In 1849 

 Craik was appointed to the chair of History and 

 English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast, 

 a situation which he occupied till his death on 

 25th June 1866. His other works include Spenser 

 (1845), Bacon (1846-47), Romance of the Peerage 

 (1848-50), The English of Shakespeare (1856), His- 

 tory of English Language and Literature (1861; 

 9th abridged ed. 1883). His youngest daughter, 

 Georgiria Marion (Mrs May), born in 1831, began 

 to write at nineteen, and had at her death in 1895 

 published some thirty novels and stories. 



Craik, MRS. Dinah Maria Mulock, well known 

 as the author of John Halifax, Gentleman, was 

 born at Stoke-upon-Trent in 1826. She early 

 took the burden of supporting an ailing mother 

 and two yoxinger brothers, and wrote stories for 

 fashion-books, as well as for graver publications. 

 Her first serious appearance as a novelist was in 

 1849, with her story The Ogilvies, which was 

 followed by Olive, The Head of the Family, and 

 Agatha's Husband. But she never surpassed or even 

 equalled her domestic novel John Halifax ( 1857), 

 which has had, and still continues to have an 

 extraordinary popularity, and has been translated 

 into French, German, Italian, Greek, and Russian. 

 The scene is laid at Tewkesbury, where a marble 

 medallion has been placed to her memory in the 

 abbey. A pension of 60 a year, awarded to her 

 in 1864, she set aside for authors less fortunate 

 than herself. In 1865 she married Mr George Lillie 

 Craik, a partner in the publishing house of Mac- 

 millan & Co. (nephew of the subject of the pre- 

 ceding article), and spent a period of quiet happi- 

 ness and successful literary industry at her home, 

 Corner House, Shortlands, Kent, where she died 

 12th October 1887. Much of Mrs Craik's verse 

 is collected in Thirty Years' Poems ( 1881 ). She 

 wrote a good deal for the magazines, and produced 

 in all forty-six works, viz. fourteen more novels, 

 and several volumes of prose essays, including A 

 Woman's Thoughts about Women (1858), and Con- 

 cerning Men, and other Papers (1888). See 



Mrs Oliphant's sketch in Macmillan's Magazine 

 (1887). 



Crail, an antique little coast-town in the ' East 

 Neuk ' of Fife, 2* miles WSW. of Fife Ness, 10 

 SE. of St Andrews, and 43 NE. of Edinburgh by 

 rail. There is a fragment of a castle of David I. ; 

 and the church, which was made collegiate in 1517, 

 is an interesting Second Pointed structure. John 

 Knox here preached his 'idolatrous sermon,' 9th 

 June 1559 ; and in 1648, James Sharp was ap- 

 pointed minister. The fishing is not what it once 

 was, and the harbour has little trade ; but Crail 

 is a pleasant summer-resort. It was made a royal 

 burgh in 1306, and unites with the other six St 

 Andrews burghs to return one member to parlia- 

 ment. Pop. ( 1861 ) 1238 ; ( 1881 ) 1148 ;( 1891 ) 1115. 



Crake. See CORN-CRAKE. 



Crambe\ a genus of Cruciferse, having a pod 

 (silicula) of two unequal joints, of which the 

 upper is globose and one-seeded, the lower 

 abortive. C. maritima is well known as Sea- 

 kale (q.v.). C. tartarica, of Eastern Europe, 

 with much divided leaves and a great fleshy 

 root, is cultivated in Roumania as cauliflower, 

 and its root is eaten either boiled or in salads. 



Cramer, JOHANN BAPTIST, pianist, was born 

 at Mannheim in 1771, the son of WilheLm Cramer 

 (1745-99), a musician of repute, who settled in 

 London in 1772. From 1788 the son undertook 

 concert tours on the Continent, and gained a high 

 reputation as a facile and expressive performer. 

 He founded the musical publishing firm which 

 bears his name in 1828, and after some years' 

 residence in Paris, died in London, 16th April 

 1858. Most of his compositions are now forgotten, 

 but his series of Studies is a work of importance. 



Cramp is a word applied to muscular contrac- 

 tions of an irregular kind, in a somewhat variable 

 way. 



( 1 ) In its common use, it denotes an involuntary 

 and painful contraction of a voluntary muscle or 

 group of muscles. It is most apt to occur when a 

 muscle has been fatigued ; though any muscle may 

 be affected, those of the calves most often suffer. 

 It is especially common in pregnant women and 

 persons of a gouty diathesis, and is a prominent 

 feature in some diseases, especially cholera. There 

 is no specific for preventing it ; each case must be 

 treated on its merits. The contraction and accom- 

 panying pain is usually cut short if the affected 

 muscle be stretched e.g. in the case of the calf- 

 muscles, the knee must be straightened and the 

 foot bent up as far as possible towards the front of 

 the leg, to lengthen the affected muscles to the 

 utmost, and similarly with other cases. 



(2) Writer's Cramp is the commonest and best 

 known of a group of diseases called trade spasms. 

 The person affected can use his fingers for any 

 purpose, even the most delicate manipulations, so 

 long as he does not attempt to write ; but when- 

 ever he does so, the muscles refuse to obey his 

 will, and the pen either drops from his hand 

 or executes spasmodic purposeless movements. 

 Similar conditions may occur in telegraphists and 

 pianists in fact, in any case where frequent and 

 continued use of particular muscular actions is 

 necessary. These distressing and troublesome 

 affections have recently been cured in some cases 

 by means of Massage (q.v.) and systematic gym- 

 nastic exercises of the affected parts. 



(3) Bather's Cramp. A good swimmer, while 

 bathing, is seen to throw up his arms, perhaps is 

 heard to cry out once, and then sinks to rise no 

 more. It is said that ' bather's cramp ' has been 

 the cause of his death. This phrase, however, 

 is merely an apology for ignorance : what has 

 happened, and whether it is the same in all 





