588 



CROWBERRY 



CROWN 



is remarkable for the resemblance of its voice to 

 human speech. Sir J. E. Tennent gives an inter- 

 esting account of the small glossy gray-necked 

 crow of Ceylon (C. splendens), which frequents the 

 towns, feeding on offal, and boldly enters rooms 

 through open windows, to snatch some morsel from 

 the dinner-table. See also CHOUGH, JACKDAW, 

 JAY, MAGPIE. 



Crowberry, or CRAKEBERRY (Empetrum nig- 

 rum), a small procumbent shrub, with characteristi- 

 cally inrolled leaf-margins, of the order Empetra- 

 cete, a native of the colder northern parts of the 

 world, abundant in the moors of Scotland and the 

 north of England, and common throughout Canada, 

 Alaska, and Siberia. The order consists of a few 

 heath-like shrubs, which, however, are usually 

 associated with Euphorbiacese ( Spurges, &c. ), with 

 amall trimerous unisexual flowers, the fruit a small 



Crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ) : 

 a, flowering branch ; 6, flowers enlarged ; c, fruit 



berry seated in the persistent calyx. The berries 

 of the crowberry are nearly black, surround the 

 branches in crowded clusters, and each contain six 

 to nine bony seeds and a watery acidulous juice. 

 A fermented liquor is prepared from them in some 

 northern countries. They are a favourite food of 

 game. E. rubrum of Cape Horn differs little, 

 except in having red berries. The berries of the 

 Camarinheira (Corema alba) are employed in 

 Portugal for the preparation of an acidulous drink 

 in fevers. The plants of this order, especially E. 

 nigrum, have taken considerable part in the forma- 

 tion of peat. 



Crowe, MRS CATHERINE (nee Stevens), 

 authoress, was born at Borough Green, in Kent, 

 in 1800. In 1822 she married Lieutenant-colonel 

 Crowe, and spent great part of her after-life in 

 Edinburgh. She died in 1876. Her mind was 

 morbid and despondent, ever hovering on the 

 border-line of insanity, which it crossed once in 

 one violent but brief attack. Her translation of 

 Kerner's Seeress of Prevorst ( 1845 ) prepared the way 

 for her well-known Night Side of Nature, ( 1848), a 

 great collection of supernatural stories, told, in- 

 deed, with vigour and verisimilitude, but hopelessly 

 credulous and uncritical. She wrote also tragedies, 

 juvenile books, and novels ; of the last, the best, 

 Susan Hopley (1841) and Lilly Dawson (1847). 

 Her Spiritualism and the Age we live in (1859) 

 has no value, save as autobiography. 



Crowe, JOSEPH ARCHER, C.B., art-writer, born 

 in London in 1825, studied and travelled widely 

 on the Continent, where in 1847 he met Caval- 

 caselle ; their joint works will be found in the 

 article CAVALCASELLE. Crowe was a special corre- 

 spondent in the Crimean war, the Indian mutiny, 

 and the Franco- Austrian war ; and in 1857-59 was 

 director of the School of Art at Bombay. In 1860 

 he was appointed British consul-general at Leipzig, 

 and afterwards at Diisseldorf ; in 1882 he was named 

 commercial attache at Paris. Made a C.B. in 1885, 

 he was raised to the dignity of K.C.M.G. in 1890. 

 He contributed the article RAPHAEL to this work. 

 He died 6th September 1896. See his Reminiscences 

 (1895), mainly of his career as journalist. 



Crowfoot. See RANUNCULUS. 



Crow Indians, some 4000 in number, of the 

 Dakota stock, live on reservations in Montana. 



Crowland, or CROYLAND, an ancient market- 

 town in the south of Lincolnshire, on the Welland, 

 in the Fens, 10 miles NNE. of Peterborough. Here 

 in 716 King Ethelwald founded a monastery in 

 honour of the hermit St Guthlac, which, burned by 

 the Danes in 870, and again destroyed by fire in 

 1091, was restored in 1113, and thereafter became 

 a mitred Benedictine abbey of singular magnifi- 

 cence. The north aisle of its church now serves as 

 the parish church, and part of the west front also 

 remains. Ingulph (q.v. ) was abbot of Croyland. 

 Pop. of parish, 2929. See G. Perry's Croyland 

 'Abbey (1867). The 'Triangular Bridge' is de- 

 scribed in our article BRIDGE, Vol. II. p. 436. 



Crown (Lat. corona). The crown of classical 

 times was a circular ornament of metal, leaves, or 

 flowers, worn on festive and solemn occasions, and 

 as a reward of worth, talent, and military or naval 

 prowess. Among the Greeks the crown (stephanos) 

 was sometimes used as an emblem of office, as in the 

 case of the archons ; sometimes as an ornament for 

 the heads of the victors in the public games ; and 

 sometimes as a mark of distinction for citizens who 

 had merited well of their country. The Romans 

 made great use of crowns as rewards for valour. 

 The most highly prized was the corona obsidionalis, 

 which was bestowed by a beleaguered garrison or 

 army on the general who rescued them. It was 

 made of grass or wild-flowers, gathered from the 

 place which had been beset by the enemy. Next 

 in order was the corona civica, a garland of oak 

 leaves and acorns, which was given as a reward to 

 any soldier who had saved the life of a Roman 

 citizen in battle ; the corona navalis, a gold circle 

 decorated with beaks of ships, was the reward for 

 naval services ; the corona muralis, a similar circle 

 surrounded with battlements, was bestowed on him 

 who first scaled the walls of a besieged city ; and 

 the corona vallaris, a circle ornamented with pali- 

 sades, on the first soldier who forced his way into 

 the enemy's camp. There was also the corona 

 triumphalis, bestowed upon a general when he 

 obtained a triumph. 



Other crowns were emblematical, such as the 

 sacerdotal, funeral, convivial (of roses, violets, 

 myrtle, ivy, and even parsley), and nuptial crowns. 

 The custom of wearing bridal wreaths or even 

 bridal crowns of metal is not unknown in modern 

 Europe as in Germany and Norway and medieval 

 England ; and the bridal wreaths of young 

 brides are still suspended in some Derbyshire 

 churches. ( 1 ) Corona sacerdotalis, worn by the 

 priests and bystanders when engaged in sacrifice. 

 (2) Corona funebris or sepulchralis, with which 

 the dead was crowned, a custom which prevailed 

 both among the Greeks and Romans. In Greece, 

 these crowns were commonly of parsley. (3) 

 Corona convivialis, worn by guests on festive occa- 

 sions. 



