67-i . GUO 
able merit} born in-1677, at-Nether Katingtoir, in V/ar- 
wickfnire. He was ..educated in the chapel-royal under 
Dr. Blow, and his fir ft .pre-ferment was to the place of 
o.rganj'ft at St..Anne's* Weftminfter. In 1707 he was 
made joint-crganift of the chapel-royal with his mailer; 
and, upon Dr. Blow’s death, in 1708, lie obtained the 
place of fp.le organift, with that, likewife, or organift to 
Weftminfter-abbey. In 1712 he publifhed a colletticn 
of feleCt anthems ufed at the chapels-royal, under the 
title of Divine Harmony : it contains the words only, 
not the mufe. In 1715 the degree ofdodlor of mulic 
was conferred upon him by the univerlity of Oxford. 
His exercife, on this occafion, was the letting of two odes, 
one in Latin, the other in Englilh, wiitten by Dr. Trapp. 
He was frequently employed to commemorate the victo¬ 
ries iii queen Anne’s reign, by the compofition of thanks¬ 
giving hymns or anthems, performed when the queen 
celebrated thole events by going to tHe church in (late. 
In 172s.Te publiflied, by fubfeription, a collection of his 
own choral compolitions, in two volumes folio, under 
the title of Mufica Sacra, or feledt Anthems in Score. 
This fplendid work, which was tlie firft of the kind en¬ 
graven on pewter plates in fcore, is the foundation of his 
mufical fame. Dr. Burney, after fome particular re. 
marks upon the principal pieces, concludes with obferv- 
ing, that the author, “ though lie, perhaps, never reaches 
the fublime, yet is lometimes grand, and often pathetic. 
His allegros are always more feeble than his How move¬ 
ments.” Dr. Croft died in 1727, and was buried in 
Weffiminfter-abbey. Belides his church mufic, he com- 
pofed fome folos and fonatas, and fet feveral fongs, among • 
which is tlie well-known piece of Mr. Byrom, “ My time, 
O ye Mufes.” 
CROF'TON (Zachary), a learned non-conformift di¬ 
vine, in the feventeenth century, born in the city of 
Dublin. He was one of tlie fugitives who came into 
England, when his native country became a Icene of 
civil war and maftacre, during the reign of Charles I. 
He arrived in a deftitute condition at Chefter, with only 
one groat in his pocket. His fufferings, however, and 
excellent character and abilities, loon procured him 
friends ; and not long afterwards he obtained the living 
of Wrenlbury, in Chelhire. In this fituation lie met 
with much trouble, on account of his attachment to the 
caufe of royalty, and was finally deprived of his benefice 
for refilling to fubferibe to the inftrument of government 
called tke engagement, and for his zealous efiorts in per- 
fuading others to follow his example. On this event he 
came to London, with ftrong teftimonials in favour of 
his character; and after having officiated as minifter for 
fome time at St. James’s, Garlickhithe, he obtained the 
living of St. Botolph, Aldgate, which he appears to have 
Held, till he was ejected under tlie aCt of uniformity. 
Soon after the reftoration he entered into a controverfy 
with bilhop Gauden, refpecting. the obligation of the lo- 
lemn league and covenant; for which lie pleaded witli 
much Ipirit. By the boldnefs and freedom which he 
difplayed in this controverfy, he provoked the indigna¬ 
tion of the bilhops and the court, and was committed to 
the Tower, where he was detained for a long time. His 
Cafe foberly confidered and plainly ftated, &c. which 
was publiflied in 1661, and dedicated to the earl of Cla¬ 
rendon, muft have made an ingenuous adverfary blufli 
at the means of confutation to which his opponents had 
recourle. Having at length obtained his liberty by a 
petition to the crown, he retired for a time into Chelhire; 
and afterwards let up a fchool, in the parilh of Aldgate, 
London, where the knowledge of his virtues and abili¬ 
ties procured him much encouragement. In this fitua¬ 
tion he died about the year 1672. He was the author of 
numerous controverfial trafts, fermons, &c. the titles of 
which may be feen in Calumy’s account of the ejected 
minifters. 
CROG'HAM, a river of Ireland, which runs into 
Qughter Lough, fix miles weft of Cavan. 
C tt 0 
CRO'JA, a town of European Turkey, iri tlie pro¬ 
vince of Albania, anciently tlie capital and refiderice of 
the Albanian kings. The famous Scanderberg ufed this 
place as a fortrels, from whence he continually haralied 
the Turks ; but when the Turks became mailers of Al¬ 
bania, they deftreyed ilic fortifications.. It is the fee of 
a bilhop, luffragan of the archbifltop of Durazzo : twenty 
miles north-eaft of Durazzo. 
CROISA'DE, or Croisado, f . [■ crcifa.de, Fr. from 
croix, a crofs.] A holy war ; a war carried on againft in¬ 
fidels under the banner of the crofs.—See that he take 
the name of Urban, becaufe a pope of that name did firft 
inftitute the croifada ; and, as with an holy trumpet, did 
ftir up the voyage for the Holy Land. Bacon. 
Thefc famous expeditions commenced in the year 1096. 
The foundation of them was a fuperftitious veneration 
for thole places and relics where our Saviour performed 
his miracles, and accomplillied the woik of man’s re¬ 
demption. Jerufalem had been taken, and Paleftine con¬ 
quered, by the Turks, which proved a conliderable in¬ 
terruption to the pilgrims, who flocked from all quarters 
to perform their devotions at the holy fepulchre. They 
had, however, ftiil been allowed this liberty, on paying 
a fmall tribute to the Saracen caliphs, who w'ere not 
much inclined to rnoleft them. But, in 1065, this city- 
changed its mailers. The Turks took it from the Sara¬ 
cens ; a: d being much more fierce and barbarous than 
the former, the pilgrims now found they could no longer 
perform their devotions with the fame fafety they did 
before. An opinion was about this time allb prevalent 
in Europe, which made thefe pilgrimages much more 
frequent than formerly. It was imagined, that the thou- 
fand years mentioned in the twentieth chapter of the Re¬ 
velations, w ere fulfilled ; that Chrift was foon to make 
his appearance in Paleftine, to judge the world ; and 
confequently that journeys to that country were in the 
highelt degree meritorious, and even ablolutely necef- 
fary. The multitudes of pilgrims which now flocked 
to Paleftine meeting with a very rough reception from 
the Turks, filled all Europe with complaints againft 
tliofe infidels w ho profaned the holy city by their pre¬ 
fence, and derided the facred myfteries of Chriftianity 
even in the place where they were fulfilled. Pope Gre¬ 
gory VII. had formed a delign of uniting all the princes 
of Chriftendom againft the Mahometans; but his exor¬ 
bitant encroachments upon the civil power of princes had 
created him fo many enemies, and rendered his ft hemes 
fo fufpicious, that he was not able to make great progrefs 
ill this undertaking. The work was relerved for a meaner 
inftrument. Peter, commonly called the hermit , a native 
of Amiens in Picardy, had made the pilgrimage to Je¬ 
rufalem ; and being deeply aftebted wit; the dangers to 
which that adt of piety now expoled tlie pilgrims, as well 
as with the opprefllon under which the eaftern Chriftians 
laboured, formed the bold, and, in all appearance, im¬ 
practicable aefign of leading into Alia, from the fartheft 
extremities of the Weft, armies fufficient to fubdue thofe 
warlike nations that held the Holy Land in flavery. He 
prop olid his fcheme to Martin II. who then filled the 
papal chair ; but he, though lenlibie enough of the ad¬ 
vantages which muft accrue to himlelf from fuch an un¬ 
dertaking, refolved not to interpofe his authority till he 
law a greater probability of fuccefs. lie fummoned, at 
Placentia, a council confiding of 4000 ecclefiaftics and. 
30,000 ieculars. As no hall could be found large enough 
to contain Inch a multitude, the aifembly was held in a 
plain. Here the pope himlelf, as well as Peter, ha¬ 
rangued the people, reprefenting the difmal fituation of 
their brethren in the Eaft, and the indignity offered to 
the Chriftian name in allowing Jerufalem to remain in 
the hands of the infidels. Thele fpeeches were fo agree¬ 
able to thole who heard them, that tne whole multitude 
declared for the war, and folenmly devoted themlelves to 
perform this lervice, which they believed to be fo highly 
meritorious. 
But 
