m € R A 
writing contrary to my heart, my hand /hall firft be 
punifhed: for, when I come to the fire, it (hall be firft 
burned. As for the pope, I refufe him, as Chrift’s ene¬ 
my and antichrift, with all his falfe dodtrine ; and as for 
the facrament, I believe as I have taught in my book 
againft the bifliop of Winchefter.” Thunder-ftruck as 
it were with this unexpected declaration, the enraged 
crowd admonifhed him not to diflemble. “ Ah!” re¬ 
lied he with tears, “fmce I have lived hitherto, I have 
een-a hater of falfehood, and a lover of fimplicity, and 
never before this time have I diffembled.” Upon which, 
they pulled him off the flage with the utmoft fury, and 
hurried him to the place of his martyrdom, near Baliol- 
college ; where he put off his clothes with hafte, and 
Handing in his fhirt, and without (hoes, was fattened with 
a chain to the flake. Some prefling him to agree to his 
former recantation, heaufwered, fhewing his hand, “This 
is the hand that wrote, and therefore it fhall firft fuffer 
punifhment.” Fire being applied to him, he ffretched 
out his right hand into the flame, and held it there un¬ 
moved, except that once he wiped his face with it, till 
it was confumed, crying with a loud voice, “ This hand 
hath offended and often repeating, “ This unworthy 
right hand!” At laft, the fire getting up, he expired, 
never flirring or crying out all the while ; only keeping 
his eyes fixed to heaven, and repeating more than once, 
“ Lord Jefus, receive my fpirit!” He died in his fixty- 
feventh year. 
He was an open, generous, honeft, man ; a lover of 
truth, and an enemy of falfehood and fuperflition. He 
was gentle and moderate in his temper; and though hear¬ 
tily zealous in the caufe of the reformation, yet a friend 
to the perfons of thofe who moft ftrenuoufly oppofed it. 
Thus, in 1534, he endeavoured to fave the lives of bifliop 
Fiflier and fir Thomas More ; and afterwards, when Tun- 
Hail bifhop of Durham came into trouble, and a bill was 
brought into the houfe of lords for attainting him, Cran- 
mer fpoke freely, nay, proteHed againft it. He was a 
great patron of learning, and of the univerfities, and ex¬ 
tended his care alfo to thofe proteftant foreigners who 
fled to England from the troubles in Germany; fuch as 
'Bucer, made profeffor of divinity, and Fagius, profefTor 
of the Hebrew tongue, at Cambridge ; Peter Martyr, 
profeffor of divinity at Oxford ; John a Lafco, Ochinus, 
Tremellius, &c. He was a very learned man himfelf, 
and author of the following works : 1. An Account of 
Mr. Pole’s Book, concerning Henry the VUIth’s Mar¬ 
riage. 2. Letters to divers Perfons. 3. Three Difcourfes 
upon his Review of the King’s Book, intitled The Eru¬ 
dition of a Chriftian Man. 4. Other Difcourfes. 5. The 
Bifhop’s Book, in which he had a part. 6. Anfwers to 
the fifteen Articles of the Rebels in Devonfliire in 1549. 
7. The Examination of moft Points of Religion. 8. A 
Form for the Alteration of the Mafs into a Communion. 
9. Some of the Homilies. 10. A Catechifm, intitled 
A fliort InflruiStion to Chriftian Religion, for the Angular 
Profit of Children and young People. 11. Againft un¬ 
written Verities. 12. A Defence of the true and catholic 
Doftrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our 
Saviour Chrifl, &c. 13. An Anfvver to Gardiner, Bifliop 
of Winchefter, who wrote againft the Defence, See. Lond. 
3 551, reprinted 1580. It was tranflated into Latin by fir 
John Cheke. Gardiner anfwered, and Cranmer went 
through three parts of a reply, but did not live to finifli 
it; however, it was publifhed. 14. Preface to the Englilh 
Tranflation of the Bible. 15. A Speech in the Houle of 
Lords; concerning a General Council. 16. Letter to 
Henry VIII. in junification of Anne Boleyne, May 3, 
1535. 17. The Reafons that led him to oppofe the fix 
Articles. 18. Refolution of fome Queftions concerning 
the'Sacrament. 19. Injunctions given at his Viiitation 
within the Diocefe of Hereford. 20. A Collection ot 
Paffiiges out of the Canon I,aw, to fliew the Neceflity of 
reforming it. 21. Some Queries in order to the Correct¬ 
ing of feveral Abufes. 22. Concerning a further Refor- 
C R A 
mation, and agarnft Sacrilege. 23. Anfwers to fom? 
Queries concerning Confirmation. 24. Some Confidera- 
tions offered to King Edward VI. to induce him to pro¬ 
ceed to a further Reformation. 25. Anfwer to the Privy 
Council. 26. Manifefto againft the Mafs. Thofe works 
of Cranmer, which remain in manufeript, are, 1. Two 
large volumes of collections out of the holy feripture, 
the ancient fathers, and later doctors and fchoolmen. 
Thefe are in the king’s library. 2. Lord Burleigh had 
fix or feven volumes more of his writing; 3. Dr. Bur¬ 
net mentions two volumes more that he had feen. 4. 
There are alfofeveral letters of his in the Cotton library. 
Dr. Sturges, chancellor of the diocefe of Winchefter,. 
in his Reflections on the Principles and Inftitutions of 
Popery, publifhed in 1800, has given the following cha¬ 
racter of archbifhop Cranmer : “ His temper was better 
fitted for literature and ftudy, than for the collifions of 
politics and the faCtion of courts. Placed however in a 
poft of eminence, being fully impreffed with the invali¬ 
dity of all the papal pretenfions and with the abufes of 
the Roman church, knowing alfo the difcordance of 
many of its doCtrines with found reafon and true Chrif- 
tianity, he had uniformly forwarded all the meafures 
tending to promote the reformation. And though its 
advance was continually checked by Henry’s prejudices 
and caprice, yet in all thefe changes fo fatal to many of 
his fubjeCts, Cranmer’s virtues were refpeCted, and the 
king’s protection was never withdrawn from him. The 
archbifhop was ftneere in his religious opinions, and 
wiflied to propagate them without force. He was there¬ 
fore always an advifer of gradual changes, and averfe 
from thofe which were Hidden and violent. But he was 
fubjeft to an imperious mafter ; and amidft the conflict 
of contending parties it was difficult to recommend mo¬ 
deration with fuccefs, or to efcape himfelf with impu¬ 
nity. During the reign of Edward, the reformation ad¬ 
vanced with a more uniform and Heady pace. On the 
acceflion of Mary, the fliare he had in her mother’s di¬ 
vorce, and the eminent part he bore in the feparation 
which took place with the fee of Rome, naturally point¬ 
ed him out as the principal objeft of her bigotry and re¬ 
venge. As fuch lie was treated ; for being deftined to 
the moft cruel death, he was, with a refinement in cruel¬ 
ty, induced by perfuafion and terror to retradl his opi¬ 
nions, not in order that his life might be fpared, but 
that infamy might be added to his death. He amply 
atoned, however, foij this^moment of weaknefs, by him¬ 
felf condemning it, and by fupporting with undaunted 
conftancy the torments under which he expired. Who¬ 
ever well confiders himfelf, and what his own feelings 
would be in fuch a dreadful fituation, will not be dif- 
pofed to judge too rigoroufly of men expofed to the fe¬ 
vered trials that human nature can endure.” 
CRAN'NIED, adj. Full of chinks..—A very fair 
fruit, and not unlike a citron ; but fomewhat rougher 
chopt and crannied, vulgarly conceived the marks of 
Adam’s teeth. Brown. 
A wall it is, as I would have you think, 
That had in it a crannied hole or chink. Shahefpeare. 
CRAN'NY, f. \_cran, Fr. crena, I.at.] A chink ; a 
cleft; a filfure.—The eye of the underttanding is like 
the eye of the fenfe ; for as yon may fee great objects 
through fmall crannies or holes, fo you may fee great 
axioms of nature through fmall and contemptible in- 
ftances. Bacon. 
CRAN'SAC, a village of France, in the department 
of the Aveiron, celebrated for its mineral waters : fifteen 
miles north-weft of Rhodez. 
CRAN'STON, a town of the American States, and 
the fouth-eafternmoft townfhip of Providence county, 
Rhode Illand, fituated on the weft bank of Providence 
river, five miles louth of the town of Providence. The 
compact part of the town contains a handfome fchool- 
houfej a diltiliery, and a number of fuw and grift mills. 
