CRAMP RINGS 



CRANBERRY 



543 



apparently similar cones baa yet quite uncertain. 

 damp, in the ordinary aense, of one or more 

 limlis, though very embarrassing and alarming, 

 WOUld not !>< su di>aM runs to a practised swimmer 

 as in make him sink without a -t i ujj-^le ; an<l, 

 though riiiiimiiii in bathers, cannot IK; accepted as 

 tin- cause of all the fatal accidents like that 

 described above. Of other theories advanced, the 

 tiHi-t prolialilc is that sudden failure of the heart's 

 in lion, a partial or total taint, is the cause of the 

 calamity, at least in very many cases. A sudden 

 plunge into cold water by itself causes some strain 

 upon the heart ; and swimming, ahout the most 

 severe of all forms of exercise, increases its work 

 very greatly sometimes, it is easy to believe, 

 beyond safe limits. The recorded experience of 

 Minn- who have narrowly escaped death from this 

 cause makes it appear extremely probable that it 

 is the real explanation of at least some of these 

 sad accidents. No one when out of practice should 

 attempt a long swim in cold water ; and persons 

 with weak hearts should le especially careful to 

 avoid fatiguing themselves when bathing. 



Cramp Rings were rings which were sup- 

 posed to cure cramp and the 'falling-sickness.' 

 They are said to have originated as far back as 

 the middle of the llth century, in a ring presented 

 by a pilgrim to Edward the Confessor, which, 

 after that ruler's death, was preserved as a relic 

 in Westminster Abbey, and was applied for the 

 cure of epilepsy and cramp. Hence appears to 

 have arisen the belief that rings blessed by English 

 sovereigns were efficacious in such cases ; and the 

 custom of blessing for distribution large numbers 

 of cramp rings on Good Friday continued to exist 

 down to the time of Queen Mary. The accom- 

 plished Lord Berners, ambassador to Spain in 

 Henry VIII.'s time, writes from Saragossa to 

 Cardinal Wolsey : ' If your grace remember me 

 with some crampe ryng^s ye shall doo a thing 

 muche looked for ; and I trust to bestow thaym 

 well with (ioddes grace.' The metal the rings 

 were composed of was what formed the king's 

 offering to the cross on Good Friday, usually 

 either gold or silver. The superstitious belief in 

 the curative property of cramp rings made out of 

 certain pieces of silver obtained in particular ways 

 still lingers in some districts of England. 



Cran ( Gaelic ), a measure of capacity in Scot- 

 land for herrings when just taken out of the net. 

 It amounts to 3?i imperial gallons, and comprises 

 about 750 herrings on an average. 



Cranacll, LUCAS, a celebrated German painter, 

 so named from Kronach in the bishopric of Ham- 

 berg, Upper Franconia, where he was born, 4th 

 October 1472. Little is known of his early life, but 

 he seems to have been instructed by his father, and, 

 possibly, by Matthew Grundewald ; to have resided 

 in (lotha, where he married Barbara Brenghicr; 

 and to have accompanied Frederick the Wise. 

 Elector of Saxony, to the Holy Land in 14!Ki. 

 Certainly he was befriended by that prince, and 

 was his court-painter at Wittenlierg, an appoint- 

 ment which he received in 1508, along with a 

 patent of nobility, and the 'motto,' or kl?.inn<l, of 

 a crowned and winged serpent, with which he 

 marked his subsequent works, instead of (some- 

 times in combination with) the initials which he 

 had previously used. Monopolies for printing and 

 the sale of medicine were also bestowed U|MHI him. 

 The house in which he carried on his manifold 

 occupations was standing at Wittenberg till 1871, 

 and bis importance in the town may be gathered 

 from the fact that in 1537, and again in l.">40, he 

 was elected a burgomaster. In 1509 he accom- 

 panied an embassy to the Emperor Maximilian, 

 and while in the Netherlands he portrayed the 



prince, afterwards Charles V., then a )xy of nine. 

 After the death of the Elector Frederick in 1535, 

 he was continued in his official position by bin 

 brother, and also by his successor, John Frederick 

 the Magnanimous, whose captivity at Augsburg 

 the artist shared, and whose release he is believed 

 to have procured from the emperor in 1552. He 

 returned with his master to Weimar, and died 

 thru- on 16th October of the following year. The 

 superiority of his earlier works, both in painting 

 and engraving, is doubtless to be accounted for by 

 the fact that in later life the pressure of numerous 

 commissions necessitated the assistance of his 

 sons, and of many other pupils. His paintings, 

 executed in oils on panel, include sacred and a few 

 classical subjects, hunting-scenes, and portraits. 



His drawing is commonly hard and defective, bat 

 his colouring is rich, warm, and effective, and a 

 certain hcmely earnestness, sometimes mingled 

 with humour, characterises his productions. A 

 quaint portrait of a girl in an elalwrate costume 

 from his hand is in the National Gallery, London. 

 He was closely associated with the German Re- 

 formers, many of whom were portrayed by himself 

 and his pupils. Figures of Luther and Melanchthon, 

 arid the painter himself, are introduced in his 

 ' Crucifixion ' in the Stadtkirche, Weimar, a work 

 engraved in Waagen's Handbook of Painting (ed. 

 of 1874), and usually regarded as the artist's most 

 important composition. Three of his copper en- 

 gravings, dated 1519, 1520, and 1521, represent 

 Luther ; and among his other principal works with 

 the burin are ' The Penitence of St John Chrysos- 

 tom ' ( 1509), and a portrait of the Elector Frederick. 

 His wood-engravings are more numerous, including 

 'The Passion,' 15 cuts; 'The Martyrdom of the 

 Apostles,' 12 cuts; and 'The Wittenberg Ha^i- 

 ology,' 119 cuts. He had three sons, all of whom 

 were painters. The second of them, LUCAS, the 

 younger, born 1515, was a burgomaster of Witten- 

 berg. He painted in the manner of his father, and 

 their works are difficult to distinguish, especially 

 as both artists used a similar mark. According to 

 Schuchardt, however, in the productions of the son 

 the crowned serpent appears with the wings folded, 

 instead of erect as in those of the father. His 

 'Crucifixion,' or 'Nativity,' and a picture of 'The 

 Lord's Vineyard,' symbolical of the progress of the 

 Reformation, are in the Stadtkircne at Witten- 

 l>erg, and his works may also be studied in Berlin, 

 Munich, and at Dresden, where are his portraits 

 of the Electors Maurice and Augustus, and a 

 ' Crucifixion.' He died at Wittenberg in 1586. 



Cranberry (Oxycoccus), a north temperate 

 and arctic genus of small evergreen shrubs of the 

 order Ericaceae (sub-order Vaecineaj). The only 

 British species (0. jmlustris, formerly Vaccinia in 

 Oxycoccus) grows in peaty bogs and marshy 

 grounds, and is a small wiry shrub with creeping 

 thread-like branches, and small oval leaves rolled 

 back at the edges. Large quantities of the fruit, 

 which is chiefly used for making tarts, are collected 

 in some parts of Britain, as also in Germany and 

 other European countries, although the draining of 

 liogs has now made it scarce where it was once 

 plentiful. The berries are an excellent antiscor- 

 butic, and hence furnish an excellent addition to 

 sea stores. Wine is made from them in Siberia, 

 and a beverage made from them is sold in the 

 streets of St Petersburg. The American Cran- 

 berry (0. marrocarpa) is of similar distribution, 

 but is a larger and more upright plant, with bigger 

 leaves and berries. The i>erries are not now col- 

 lected by means of a rake, but by hand, as the 

 former met hod bruises them. Large quantities are 

 exported to Europe, and the berries are also im- 

 ported into Britain from Russia and other parts of 

 northern Europe. Both kinds may be cultivated ui 



