621 



COXWOLD. 



CRAIL, 



622 



Northwood and hundred of West Medina, is situated in 50" 45' N. lat., 

 1 18' W. long., distant 4 miles N. from Newport, and 78 miles S.W. 

 from London. The population of the town of West Cowes in 1851 

 was 4786. There are two livings, which are perpetual curacies in the 

 archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester. 



The town of West Cowes is situated on elevated ground on the left 

 bank and at the mouth of the river Medina. Henry VIII. built a 

 castle at this place, and from that period the rise of the town is pro- 

 bably to be dated. The castle, which has a crescent-shaped battery, 

 stands at the entrance of the harbour. The streets are narrow and 

 inconvenient, but their position on the slope of the hill on which the 

 town stands produces a picturesque and pleasing appearance. The 

 upper part of the town is the most recently built, and contaias many 

 good houses and villas. Being much resorted to in summer for sea- 

 bathing, there are numerous hotels and lodging-houses ; there is also 

 an assembly-room. 



As Cowes is the port of the island and the point of communication 

 with the mainland by way of Southampton, there is necessarily a large 

 amount of traffic carried on in the place. Cowes is the head-quarters 

 of the Royal Yacht squadron, which has a club-house here ; the annual 

 sailing-match of the squadron usually attracts numerous visiters from 

 nee. There is constant communication with the mainland by 

 steam-vessels. 



Cowes harbour affords a safe and convenient haven. On December 

 31st, 1852, there were registered as belonging to the port of Cowes 

 119 vessBls under 60 tons, with an aggregate burden of 2967 tons, and 

 51 vessels above 50 tons, with an aggregate burden of 5597 tons ; and 

 one steam-vessel of 21 tons. During 1852 there cleared inwards and 

 outwards at the port of Cowes the following vessels, namely : Coast- 

 wise, inwards, 146 vessels, 54,375 tons ; outwards, 427 vessels, 10,295 

 tons : colonial and foreign, inwards, 55, tonnage 3638 ; outwards, 58, 

 tonnage 3923 : steam-vessels, inwards, 2, tonnage 2934 ; outwards, 2, 

 tonnage 2133. Ship-building has been long carrind on at Cowes, 

 which has acquired celebrity for the construction of quick-sailing 

 craft : of this the yachts made for the Royal Yacht squadron are 

 examples. 



Etut C'owes, on the opposite shore of the Medina, may be regarded 

 as a suburb of West Cowes : it is a small place, with several well-built 

 houses, and is in considerable repute as a resort for bathing during 

 the summer. The custom-house is in East Cowes. A large mansion, 

 in a so-called gothic style, built by Nash, the architect of Buckingham 

 Palace, as a residence for himself, is called East Cowes Castle. Oaborne 

 House, the marine residence of her Majesty, is a short distance from 

 East Cowes. 



(The Land We Live In, vol. it ; Parliamentary Returns.) 



COXWOLD. [YonKSHinE.] 



CRACOW (Krakow), a part of the old kingdom of Poland, now of 

 the empire of Austria, which from 1815 to 1846 existed as an inde- 

 pendent republic under the protection of the states of Austria, 

 Russia, and Prussia. Previous to 1809 Cracow was incorporated with 

 Austria. By the Partition Treaty of 1809 it formed with western 

 Oalicia the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. At the Congress of Vienna in!815 

 the three powers not being able to agree as to which of them should 

 have Cracow, formed it into a republic, guaranteeing the perpetual 

 neutrality and inviolability of its territory, except in case of its 

 harbouring offenders against any of the protecting powers. When 

 the Polish insurrection occurred iu 1846, the insurgents seized the 

 city of Cracow, but were dispossessed thereof and effectually crushed 

 by the united forces of the three powers, who decreed on Nov. 16, 

 1846, that the territory of the republic should be re-incorporated 

 with Austria ; and this was done accordingly. 



Cracow is in the north-eastern part of Central Europe. It lies 

 between Austrian Oalicia, Prussian Silesia, and the south-western part 

 of Russian Poland, along the left bank of the Vistula, and contains an 

 area of about 496 square miles. The surface consists of an undulating 

 plain, broken by low hills and woods, and extends to the Vistula, 

 which forms its southern boundary towards Oalicia. The Vistula, 

 which is the chief river of Cracow, receives within the confines of 

 the territory the waters of several small rivers, and becomes navigable 

 under the walls of Cracow. There are neither canals nor lakes in 

 the country ; at Krzeszowice there are warm sulphurous springs. 

 The climate is moderate, though not genial enough to ripen the 

 grape ; it is however salubrious and agreeable, and milder than in 

 the other parts of Poland. The soil is rich, but produces scarcely 

 more grain than is numcient for the consumption of the inhabitants. 

 The vegetables and fruits are excellent. Its chief productions are 

 corn, pulse, flax, wax, and honey. Oxen, sheep, swine, game, and 

 mljint. Coals, iron, marble, freestone, clay, &c. are found. 

 Tlif quantity of wood is inconsiderable. 



Cracow contains only two or three manufacturing establishments, 

 the chief of which are the ironworks of Krzeszowice. The peasantry 

 npin and weave their own cloth, nnd there is little trade except in 

 the capital. The population is about 14j,000, of whom probably 

 fate-tenths are of Polish extraction ; the remaining tenth being 

 almost all Jews. The principal towns are CRACOW, the capital, 

 now, and Krzemiowioe. Chnanow is situated on the river 

 ,nt 27 miles W.N.W. from Cracow. There is a consider- 

 able trade. The population, about 4000, are chiefly Jews. Krzea- 



zowice, where are extensive iron-works, is a station on the Cracow and 

 Breslau railway, about 20 miles from Cracow. 



CRACOW (in Polish, Krakoo), the chief town of the territory of 

 Cracow in the Austrian empire, is situated at the foot of Mount 

 Krakus, or Wavel (699 feet above the level of the sea), in the delightful 

 and extensive valley of the Vistula, and on the left bank of the river, 

 at its confluence with the Radeva; in 50 4' N. lat., 19 50' E. long., 

 distant about 158 miles S.S.W. from Warsaw. It is inclosed by 

 three hills; the St. Bronislava, on which a monument 150 feet high, 

 has been erected, in memory of Kosciuako ; the Krakus, or Wavel, 

 and the Wanda. It is united to the town of Podgorze by a bridge 

 of rafts. 



Cracow is surrounded with promenades, which have replaced the 

 old ramparts. It consists of three distinct quarters, Cracow, Stradom, 

 and Kazimierz, which last lies on an island in the Vistula, and is 

 joined to the rest of the town by a bridge. It is the residence of 

 the Jews, who have here a synagogue. The suburbs are likewise of 

 some extent. The space between the city proper and the suburbs i.< 

 laid out as a public garden'with promenades. The site of the public 

 garden was formerly occupied by fortifications. 



This ancient capital of Poland, where its kings were crowned and 

 buried, received its name from Krakus, duke of the Poles and 

 Bohemians, or White Chrobatia, who is said to have founded Cracow 

 about A.D. 700. It was wrested from the Moravians by Ziemowit, 

 the Bohemian, and was taken from the Bohemians in 999 by Boleslaus 

 the Great, who raised it to the rank of the capital of Poland. Its 

 ancient limits were far more extensive, and its population about 

 double the present amount. It had a flourishing commerce, and its 

 numerous lofty towers and buildings still give to it, in the distance, 

 the appearance of a large and handsome city ; but this impression is 

 destroyed on entering ita dark, narrow, and deserted precincts. The 

 town is however clean, and has a very spacious public square, 

 surrounded with low miserable shops. 



The cathedral of Cracow is a beautiful specimen of gothic archi- 

 tecture, and the finest in Poland ; it was destroyed by fire, and 

 rebuilt by Nanker, bishop of Cracow, in the year 1320. Here the 

 kings of Poland were crowned, and its numerous chapels recall the 

 events of the history of this kingdom, from Boleslaus to Kosciusko. 

 It has 50 altars, above 20 chapels, and contains the tombs of most of 

 the Polish monarchs, of Casimir, John III., Sobieski, St. Stanislaus, 

 whose remains are inclosed in a silver coffin, Prince Poniatowski, 

 Kosciusko, and Dombrowski, &c. There is a statue by Thorwaldsen 

 of Count Vladimir Potocki, who was killed before Moscow in 1812. 

 The archives and library preserved in this edifice contain many 

 valuable manuscripts. Its bell, the largest in Poland, was cast 

 in 1520. 



The castle, called the Kbnigsburg, on Mount Wavel, a very spacious 

 gothic structure, the first building of which was, it is said, the work 

 of Krakus about the year 700, suffered by two great conflagrations. 

 It was restored to its pristine splendour by Augustus II. of Poland. 

 It was fortified by Dumourier in 1768, and repaired when in posses- 

 sion of the Austrians, who converted it into barracks. Its subterranean 

 vaults, which are excavated iu the mountain, were formerly the 

 depository of the royal regalia. Of the 76 churches which Cracow 

 once contained, only 46 are now devoted to the purposes of divine 

 worship. The finest of these are St. Mary's, which is second only to 

 the cathedral, the church of St. Stanislaus, which is the oldest church 

 iu the city, the Protestant church of St. Martin, and many magnificent 

 convents. The Episcopal palace is a spacious building of modern 

 construction, with an historical museum for Sarmatian remains. The 

 old town-hall is a quadrangular, tower-like structure, evidently built 

 for defensive purposes. The Roman Catholic university, which was 

 founded in 1364 by Casimir the Great, and in 1780 assumed the title 

 of Schola Regni, is the oldest university in Poland. It contains 

 a library of about 30,000 volumes, chiefly old books, and a collection 

 of 5000 manuscripts, principally on theology ; an observatory, 

 situated in the suburbs of Wessola, and a cabinet of natural history. 

 Cracow possesses also a gymnasium, in which 446 pupils are instructed 

 under 23 professors, a school of arts, an academy of painting, a 

 1'iarist college, and normal and various elementary schools, several 

 hospitals, an orphan asylum, &c. Under Sigismund I. Cracow had 

 80,000 inhabitants; in 1818 they had dwindled down to 24,556; 

 the number of inhabitants is now about 43,000, of whom about 

 one-fourth are Jews. There are no manufactures, except a few of 

 cloth and woollens. The trade, which is principally in the hands of 

 the Jews, is not extensive, although Cracow is the chief dep6t of 

 Hungarian wines, salt, and wax, and the central point of commerce 

 between Poland, Galicia, and Hungary. In the neighbourhood of 

 Cracow are extenshe salt-mines. 



Near the town is Lobzoff, a summer residence of the former kings 

 of Poland, built by Casimir the Great. Cracow is connected by 

 railway with Warsaw, Berlin, and Vienna, and by electric telegraph 

 with Berlin and Vienna. 



CRAIL, Fifeshire, Scotland, a royal burgh in the parish of Crail, 

 is situated oil the south-east coast of the county, iu 56 16' N. lat., 

 2 87' W. long., about two miles S.W. from Cape Fifunuss, and about 

 30 miles N.N.E. from Edinburgh. The population of the burgh in 

 1851 was 1247. It is governed by two bailies and seven, councillors, 



