584 



CROSS 



CROSSBILL 



feelings. As these structures were incorporated 

 with or surmounted by a crucifix, the term cross 

 was so indelibly associated with them 'that it sur- 

 vived the religious character of the fabrics. The 

 earliest examples of this kind consisted, probably, 

 of tall crucifixes of wood, such as are still seen by 

 the waysides in some continental countries. After- 

 wards, stone shafts would be substituted ; and 

 according to the increase of market revenues, or 

 progress of taste, these town-crosses assumed that 

 imposing character which they latterly possessed. 

 The crosses at Cheddar in Somersetshire arid at 

 Malmesbury in Wiltshire, are open vaulted struc- 

 tures, with a commodious space beneath as a 

 refuge for market-folks during rain, and sur- 

 mounted with a kind of Gothic turret. At Chi- 

 chester, Bristol, and Winchester, the market- 

 crosses, while similar in form, are of a higher 

 architectural quality. Adjoining St Paul's in 

 London stood Paul's Cross, a structure which we 

 read of as early as 1259, in the reign of Henry III. 

 At this preaching-cross, by order of Henry VIII., 

 preachers delivered sermons in favour of the Re- 

 formation, and here Queen Elizabeth attended to 

 hear a thanksgiving sermon for the defeat of the 

 Spanish Armada ; but in 1643 the cross incurred 

 the displeasure of the Puritans, and was demolished 

 by order of parliament. See The Ancient Stone 

 Crosses of England, by Alfred Rimmer ( 1875). 



Scotland offers no specimens of memorial or 

 Norman crosses, unless it be the modern Scott 

 Monument, at Edinburgh, which is essentially a 

 Norman cross of a gigantic order. The simpler 

 kind of Scottish market-cross consisted of a shaft of 

 stone, standing on a flight of circular or octangular 

 steps the grander market-cross consisted of a tall 

 stone shaft, on an imposing circular, hexagonal, or 

 octagonal substructure, 10 to 16 feet high. The top 

 formed a platform, which was surrounded with an 

 ornamented stone parapet, and was reached by a 

 stair inside. Losing their religious character, the 



Scottish market- 

 crosses were em- 

 ployed for royal 

 and civic pro- 

 clamations, and 

 as places where 

 certain judicial 

 writs were ex- 

 ecuted. The 

 oldest cross of 

 Edinburgh stood 

 in the centre of 

 the High Street, 

 but was removed 

 in 1617. A new 

 m a r k e t-c r o s s 

 was then erected 

 farther down the 

 street, on the 

 south side, which 

 consisted of an 

 octangular base, 

 with a stone shaft 

 of about 20 feet 

 in height ; its 

 removal in 1756, 

 by the civic 

 authorities, is in- 

 dignantly referred to by Scott in Mctrmion. The 

 shaft, which had been preserved, was re-erected 

 on a similar substructure near the same site in 

 1885, at the expense of Mr Gladstone. 



CROSS, in Heraldry, is one of the ordinaries, 

 and is represented with four equal arms, and con- 

 sidered to occupy one-fifth of the field if not 

 charged, and one-third if charged. Argent, a 

 cross gules, is the cross of St George. Like 



Edinburgh Market-cross, 1617-1886. 



other ordinaries, the cross may be engrailed, in- 

 vecked, &c. When its central square is removed, 

 it is said to be quarter-pierced; and when it does 

 not extend to the margin of tlie 

 shield, it is called humettee. But 

 the cross of heraldry is often found 

 varied in other ways, the varieties 

 having each separate names. 

 Thirty-nine varieties are enumer- 

 ated by Guillim, and 109 by 

 Edmonson. Those most frequently 

 occurring are here mentioned ; and 

 it may be remarked that they St George's Cross, 

 have rather the character of com- 

 mon charges than ordinaries not extending to 

 the margin of the shield, and being often borne 

 in numbers as well as singly. The cross moline 

 (fig. 1) has the ends turned round both ways; the 

 cross fleury (fig. 2) has each end terminating in a 



fleur-de-lis ; the cross botonnee ( fig. 3 ) has each 

 end terminating in a trefoil ; the cross patonce 

 (fig. 4) has three points to each limb; the cross 

 patee (fig. 5) is small in the centre, but widens 

 towards the ends; the cross crosslet (fig. 6) is 

 crossed at each end ; and the cross potent ( fig. 7 ) 

 is crutch-shaped at each end. The Maltese cross 

 ( fig. 8 ), which converges to a point in the centre, 

 and has two points to each limb, though not fre- 

 quent as a heraldic charge, derives importance from 

 being the badge of the Knights of Malta and other 

 orders. Any of these crosses is said to be fitchee 

 when the lower limb terminates in a point, as in 

 fig. 9, representing a cross patee Jitchee. Besides 

 these and other crosses with equal limbs, there 

 is the cross Calvary (fig. 10), being the cross of 

 crucifixion elevated on three steps, and the patri- 

 archal cross ( fig. 1 1 ) with two horizontal bars. 



Cross, MARY ANN. See ELIOT, GEORGE. 



Cross, SOUTHERN. See SOUTHERN CROSS. 



Cross Bill, a bill of exchange or promissory 

 note given in consideration of another bill or 

 note. 



Crossbill (Loxia), a Passerine bird in the 

 finch family ( Fringillidae ), well known for the 

 curious way in which the points of the upper and 

 lower bill-halves cross one another. There seems 

 to be no constancy in the direction of crossing, for 

 in different individuals, even of the same species, 

 the upper and lower portions are found variously 

 directed to right or left. This peculiarity is prob- 

 ably for the most part a directly mechanical adap- 

 tation to the food-habit of the bird, which consists 

 in tearing up the cones of firs and pines for the 

 sake of the seeds. Bringing the two points 

 together, the crossbill inserts its beak into the 

 cone, then opens it with a strong lateral move- 

 ment, and with its scoop-like tongue detaches and 



