Chapter XIV: Front Matter (14)

CRAWFORDSVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Montgomery county, Indiana, U.S.A., situated about 40 m. N.W. of Indianapolis. Pop. (1890) 6089; (1900) 6649, including 230 negroes and 221 foreign-born; (1910) 9371. It is served by the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and the Vandalia railways, and by interurban electric lines. Wabash College, founded here in 1832 by Presbyterian missionaries but now non-sectarian, had in 1908 27 instructors, 345 students, and a library of 43,000 volumes. Among manufactures are flour, iron, wagons and carriages, acetylene lights, wire and nails, matches, brick paving blocks, and electrical machinery. North-east of the city there are valuable mineral springs, from which the city obtains its water-supply. Crawfordsville, named in honour of W. H. Crawford, was first settled about 1820, was laid out as a town in 1823, and was chartered as a city in 1863. It was for many years the home of Gen. Lew Wallace.

CRAWFURD, JOHN (1783-1868), Scottish orientalist, was born in the island of Islay, Scotland, on the 13th of August 1783. After studying at Edinburgh he became surgeon in the East India Company's service. He afterwards resided for some time at Penang, and during the British occupation of Java from 1811 to 1817 his local knowledge made him invaluable to the government. In 1821 he served as envoy to Siam and Cochin-China, and in 1823 became governor of Singapore. His last political service in the East was a difficult mission to Burma in 1827. In 1861 he was elected president of the Ethnological Society. He died at South Kensington on the 11th of May 1868.

Crawfurd wrote a _History of the Indian Archipelago_ (1820),
_Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries_
(1856), _Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Ava in 1827_ (1829),
_Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China,
exhibiting a view of the actual State of these Kingdoms_ (1830),
_Inquiry into the System of Taxation in India, Letters on the Interior
of India_, an attack on the newspaper stamp-tax and the duty on paper
entitled _Taxes on Knowledge_ (1836), and a valuable Malay grammar and
dictionary (1852).

CRAYER, GASPARD DE (1582-1669), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp, and learnt the art of painting from Raphael Coxcie. He matriculated in the guild of St Luke at Brussels in 1607, resided in the capital of Brabant till after 1660, and finally settled at Ghent. Amongst the numerous pictures which he painted in Ghent, one in the town museum represents the martyrdom of St Blaise, and bears the inscription A deg. 1668 aet. 86. Crayer was one of the most productive yet one of the most conscientious artists of the later Flemish school, second to Rubens in vigour and below Vandyck in refinement, but nearly equalling both in most of the essentials of painting. He was well known and always well treated by Albert and Isabella, governors of the Netherlands. The cardinal-infant Ferdinand made him a court-painter. His pictures abound in the churches and museums of Brussels and Ghent; and there is scarcely a country chapel in Flanders or Brabant that cannot boast of one or more of his canvases. But he was equally respected beyond his native country; and some important pictures of his composition are to be found as far south as Aix in Provence and as far east as Amberg in the Upper Palatinate. His skill as a decorative artist is shown in the panels executed for a triumphal arch at the entry of Cardinal Ferdinand into the Flemish capital, some of which are publicly exhibited in the museum of Ghent. Crayer died at Ghent. His best works are the "Miraculous Draught of Fishes" in the gallery of Brussels, the "Judgment of Solomon" in the gallery of Ghent, and "Madonnas with Saints" in the Louvre, the Munich Pinakothek, and the Belvedere at Vienna. His portrait by Vandyck was engraved by P. Pontius.

CRAYFISH (Fr. _ecrevisse_), the name of freshwater crustaceans closely allied to and resembling the lobsters, and, like them, belonging to the order Macrura. They are divided into two families, the _Astacidae_ and _Parastacidae_, inhabiting respectively the northern and the southern hemispheres.

The crayfishes of England and Ireland (_Astacus_, or _Potamobius_, _pallipes_) are generally about 3 or 4 in. long, of a dull green or brownish colour above and paler brown or yellowish below. They are abundant in some rivers, especially where the rocks are of a calcareous nature, sheltering under stones or in burrows which they dig for themselves in the banks and coming out at night in search of food. They are omnivorous feeders, killing and eating insects, snails, frogs and other animals, and devouring any carrion that comes in their way. It is stated that they sometimes come on land in search of vegetable food.

On the continent of Europe, _Astacus pallipes_ occurs chiefly in the west and south, being found in France, Spain, Italy and the Balkan Peninsula. It is known in France as _ecrevisse a pattes blanches_ and in Germany as _Steinkrebs_, and is little used as food. The larger _Astacus fluviatilis_ (_ecrevisse a pattes rouges_, _Edelkrebs_) is not found in Britain, but occurs in France and Germany, southern Sweden, Russia, &c. It is distinguished, among other characters, by the red colour of the under side of the large claws. It is the species most highly esteemed for the table. Other species of the genus are found in central and eastern Europe and as far east as Turkestan. Farther east a gap occurs in the distribution and no crayfishes are met with till the basin of the Amur is reached, where a group of species occurs, extending into northern Japan. In North America, west of the Rocky Mountains, the genus _Astacus_ again appears, but east of the watershed it is replaced by the genus _Cambarus_, which is represented by very numerous species, ranging from the Great Lakes to Mexico. Several blind species inhabit the subterranean waters of caves. The best known is _Cambarus pellucidus_, found in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.

The area of distribution occupied by the southern crayfishes or _Parastacidae_ is separated by a broad equatorial zone from that of the northern group, unless, as has been asserted, the two come into contact or overlap in Central America. None is found in any part of Africa, though a species occurs in Madagascar. They are absent also from the oriental region of zoologists, but reappear in Australia and New Zealand. Some of the Australian species, such as the "Murray River lobster" (_Astacopsis spinifer_), are of large size and are used for food. In South America crayfishes are found in southern Brazil, Argentina and Chile. (W. T. CA.)

CRAYON (Fr. _craie_, chalk, from Lat. _creta_), a coloured material for drawing, employed generally in the form of pencils, but sometimes also as a powder, and consisting of native earthy and stony friable substances, or of artificially prepared mixtures of a base of pipe or china clay with Prussian blue, orpiment, vermilion, umber and other pigments. Calcined gypsum, talc and compounds of magnesium, bismuth and lead are occasionally used as bases. The required shades of tints are obtained by adding varying amounts of colouring matter to equal quantities of the base. Crayons are used by the artist to make groupings of colours and to secure landscape and other effects with ease and rapidity. The outline as well as the rest of the picture is drawn in crayon. The colours are softened off and blended by the finger, with the assistance of a stump of leather or paper; and shading is produced by cross-hatching and stippling. The art of painting in crayon or pastel is supposed to have originated in Germany in the 17th century. By Johann Alexander Thiele (1685-1752) it was carried to great perfection, and in France it was early practised with much success. Amongst the earlier pastellists may be mentioned Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757), W. Hoare (1707-1792), F. Cotes (1726-1770), and J. Russell (1744-1806); and in recent years the art has been successfully revived. (See PASTEL.)

CREASY, SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD (1812-1878), English historian, was born at Bexley in Kent, and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. He became a fellow of King's College in 1834, and having been called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn three years later, was made assistant judge at the Westminster sessions court. In 1840 he was appointed professor of modern and ancient history in the university of London, and in 1860 became chief justice of Ceylon and a knight. Broken down in health he returned to England in 1870, and after a further but short stay in Ceylon died in London on the 27th of January 1878. Creasy's most popular work is his _Fifteen decisive Battles of the World_, which, first published in 1851, has passed through many editions. He also wrote _The History of the Ottoman Turks_ (London, 1854-1856); _History of England_ (London, 1869-1870); _Rise and Progress of the English Constitution_ (London, 1853, and other editions); _Historical and Critical Account of the several Invasions of England_ (London, 1852); a novel entitled _Old Love and the New_ (London, 1870); and various other works.

CREATIANISM AND TRADUCIANISM. Traducianism is the doctrine about the origin of the soul which was taught by Tertullian in his _De anima_--that souls are generated from souls in the same way and at the same time as bodies from bodies: creatianism is the doctrine that God creates a soul for each body that is generated. The Pelagians taunted the upholders of original sin with holding Tertullian's opinion, and called them Traduciani (from _tradux_: vid. Du Cange s. vv.), a name which was perhaps suggested by a metaphor in _De an._ 19, where the soul is described "velut surculus quidam ex matrice Adam in propaginem deducta." Hence we have formed "traducianist," "traducianism," and by analogy "creatianist," "creatianism." Augustine denied that traducianism was necessarily connected with the doctrine of original sin, and to the end of his life was unable to decide for or against it. His letter to Jerome (_Epist. Clas._ iii. 166) is a most valuable statement of his difficulties. Jerome condemned it, and said that creatianism was the opinion of the Church, though he admitted that most of the Western Christians held traducianism. The question has never been authoritatively determined, but creatianism, which had always prevailed in the East, became the general opinion of the medieval theologians, and Peter Lombard's _creando infundit animas Deus et infundendo creat_ was an accepted formula. Luther, like Augustine, was undecided, but Lutherans have as a rule been traducianists. Calvin favoured creatianism.

Peter Lombard's phrase perhaps shows that even in his time it was felt
that some union of the two opinions was needed, and Augustine's
toleration pointed in the same direction, for the traducianism he
thought possible was one in which God _operatur institutas
administrando non novas instituendo naturas_ (_Ep._ 166. 5. 11).
Modern psychologists teach that while "personality" can be discerned
in its "becoming," nothing is known of its origin. Lotze, however, who
may be taken as representing the believers in the immanence of the
divine Being, puts forth--but as a "dim conjecture"--something very
like creatianism (_Microcosmus_, bk. iii. chap. v. ad fin.). It is
still, as in the days of Augustine, a question whether a more exact
division of man into body, soul _and spirit_ may help to throw light
on this subject.

See indices to _Augustine_, vol. xi., and _Jerome_, vol. xi. in
Migne's _Patrologia_, s.v. "Anima"; Franz Delitzsch, _Biblical
Psychology_, ii. S 7; G. P. Fisher, _History of Chr. Doct._ pp. 187
ff.; A. Harnack, _History of Dogma_ (passim; see Index); Liddon,
_Elements of Religion_, Lect. iii.; Mason, _Faith of the Gospel_, iv.
SS 3, 4, 9, 10. (A. N.*)

CREBILLON, PROSPER JOLYOT DE (1674-1762), French tragic poet, was born on the 13th of January 1674 at Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was notary-royal. Having been educated at the Jesuits' school of the town, and at the College Mazarin, he became an advocate, and was placed in the office of a lawyer named Prieur at Paris. With the encouragement of his master, son of an old friend of Scarron's, he produced a _Mort des enfants de Brutus_, which, however, he failed to bring upon the stage. But in 1705 he succeeded with _Idomenee_; in 1707 his _Atree et Thyeste_ was repeatedly acted at court; _Electre_ appeared in 1709; and in 1711 he produced his finest play, the _Rhadamiste et Zenobie_, which is his masterpiece and held the stage for a long period, although the plot is so complicated as to be almost incomprehensible. But his _Xerxes_ (1714) was only once played, and his _Semiramis_ (1717) was an absolute failure. In 1707 Crebillon had married a girl without fortune, who had since died, leaving him two young children. His father also had died, insolvent. His three years' attendance at court had been fruitless. Envy had circulated innumerable slanders against him. Oppressed with melancholy, he removed to a garret, where he surrounded himself with a number of dogs, cats and ravens, which he had befriended; he became utterly careless of cleanliness or food, and solaced himself with constant smoking. But in 1731, in spite of his long seclusion, he was elected member of the French Academy; in 1735 he was appointed royal censor; and in 1745 Mme de Pompadour presented him with a pension of 1000 francs and a post in the royal library. He returned to the stage in 1726 with a successful play, _Pyrrhus_; in 1748 his _Catilina_ was played with great success before the court; and in 1754, when he was eighty years old, appeared his last tragedy, _Le Triumvirat_. Crebillon died on the 17th of June 1754. The enemies of Voltaire maintained that Crebillon was his superior as a tragic poet. The spirit of rivalry thus provoked induced Voltaire to take the subjects of no less than five of Crebillon's tragedies--_Semiramis_, _Electre_, _Catilina_, _Le Triumvirat_, _Atree_--as subjects for tragedies of his own. The so-called _Eloge de Crebillon_ (1762), really a depreciation, which appeared in the year of the poet's death, is generally attributed to Voltaire, though he strenuously denied the authorship. Crebillon's drama is marked by a force too often gained at the expense of scenes of unnatural horror; his pieces show lack of culture and a want of care which displays itself even in the mechanism of his verse, though fine isolated passages are not infrequent.

There are numerous editions of his works, among which may be noticed:
_OEuvres_ (1772), with preface and "eloge," by Joseph de la Porte;
_OEuvres_ (1828), containing D'Alembert's _Eloge de Crebillon_ (1775);
and _Theatre complet_ (1885) with a notice by Auguste Vitu. A complete
bibliography is given by Maurice Dutrait, in his _Etude sur la vie et
le theatre de Crebillon_ (1895).

His only son, CLAUDE PROSPER JOLYOT CREBILLON (1707-1777), French novelist, was born at Paris on the 14th of February 1707. His life was spent almost entirely in Paris, but the publication of _L'Ecumoire, ou Tanzai et Neadarne, histoire japonaise_ (1734), which contained veiled attacks on the bull _Unigenitus_, the cardinal de Rohan and the duchesse du Maine, brought Crebillon into disgrace. He was first imprisoned and afterwards forced to live in exile for five years at Sens and elsewhere. With Alexis Piron and Charles Colle he founded in 1752 the gay society which met regularly to dine at the famous "Caveau," where many good stories were elaborated. From 1759 onwards he was to be found at the Wednesday dinners of the Pelletier, at which Garrick, Sterne and Wilkes were sometimes guests. He married in 1748 an English lady of noble family, Lady Henrietta Maria Stafford, who had been his mistress from 1744. Their life is said to have been passed in much affection and mutual fidelity; and there could be no greater contrast than that between Crebillon's private life and the tone of his novels, the immorality of which lent irony to the author's tenure of the office of censor, bestowed on him in 1759 through the favour of Mme de Pompadour. He died in Paris on the 12th of April 1777. The most famous of his numerous novels are: _Les Amours de Zeokinizul, roi des Kofirans_ (1740), in which "Zeokinizul" and "Kofirans" may be translated Louis XIV. and the French respectively; and _Le Sopha, conte moral_ (1740), where the moral is supplied in the title only. This last novel is given by some authorities as the reason for his imprisonment.

His _OEuvres_ were collected and printed in 1772. See a notice of
Crebillon prefixed to O. Uzanne's edition of his _Contes dialogues_ in
the series of _Conteurs du XVIII^e siecle_. Crebillon's novels might
be pronounced immoral to the last degree if it were not that two
writers slightly later in date surpassed even his achievements in this
particular. Andre Robert de Nerciat (1739-1800) produced under a false
name a number of licentious tales, and was followed by Donatien,
marquis de Sade.

CRECHE (Fr. for a "crib" or cradle), the name given to a day-nursery, a public institution for the feeding and care of infants while the mothers are engaged in work outside their homes, or are otherwise prevented from giving them proper attention. Infants are usually admitted when over a month old, and are kept till they are capable of looking after themselves. The advantages of such institutions are that the attention of skilled and trained nurses is given to the children, the food is better and more adapted to their needs than that given in their homes, the surroundings are cleaner and healthier, and habits of discipline and cleanliness are instilled, which, in many cases, react on the mothers. The nurseries are usually under medical supervision, and the small fees charged, which average in London from 3d. to 4d. a day, and on the continent of Europe about 2d., are much less than the cost to the mother who places her young children under the care of neighbours when at work or away from home. Institutions of this kind were started in France in 1844, and have been established in the majority of the large towns on the continent of Europe. In the industrial centres of France and Germany they have helped to check infantile mortality. The state or municipality in nearly every case grants subsidies, but few are maintained entirely by public authorities; voluntary contributions are depended upon for the main support, and the organization and management are left in the hands of private societies and charitable institutions, although some outside official supervision with regard to the number of infants admitted to each institution, air-space, and ventilation and general hygienic conditions is considered useful. In Great Britain the establishment of such institutions has been left almost entirely to private initiative; and in comparison with the continent the provision is inadequate and unsatisfactory, Paris having nearly double the proportion of accommodation for infants to the population that is provided in London. The National Society of Day Nurseries was founded in 1901 for the purpose of providing a bureau where information may be found of good methods of founding and managing a creche.

See the _Report of the Consultative Committee upon the School
Attendance of Children below the Age of Five_, issued by the Board of
Education (1908).

CRECY (Cressy), a town of northern France, in the department of Somme, on the Maye, 12 m. N. by E. of Abbeville by road. It is famous in history for the great victory gained here on the 26th of August 1346 by the English under Edward III. over the French of King Philip of Valois. After its campaign in northern France, the English army retired into Ponthieu, and encamped on the 25th of August at Crecy, the French king in the meantime marching from Abbeville on Braye. Early on the 26th Edward's army took up its position for battle, and Philip's, hearing of this, moved to attack him, though the French army marched in much disorder, and on arrival formed only an imperfect line of battle. The English lay on the forward slope of a hillside, with their right in front of the village of Crecy, their left resting on Wadicourt. Two of the three divisions or "battles" were in first line, that of the young prince of Wales (the Black Prince) on the right, that of the earls of Northampton and Arundel on the left; the third, under the king's own command, in reserve, and the baggage was packed to the rear. Each battle consisted of a centre of dismounted knights and men-at-arms, and two wings of archers. The total force was 3900 men-at-arms, 11,000 English archers, and 5000 Welsh light troops (Froissart, first edition, the second gives a different estimate). The French were far stronger, having at least 12,000 men-at-arms, 6000 mercenary crossbowmen (Genoese), perhaps 20,000 of the _milice des communes_, besides a certain number of foot of the feudal levy. Along with these served a Luxemburg contingent of horse under John, king of Bohemia, and other feudatories of the Holy Roman Empire, and the whole force was probably about 60,000 strong.

The day was far advanced when the French came upon the English position. Philip, near Estrees, decided to halt and bivouac, deferring the battle until the army was better closed up, but the indiscipline of his army committed him to an immediate action, and he ordered forward the Genoese crossbowmen, while a line of men-at-arms deployed for battle behind them; the rest of the army was still marching in an irregular column of route along the road from Abbeville. A sudden thunderstorm caused a short delay, then the archers and the crossbowmen opened the battle. Here, for the first time in continental warfare, the English long-bow proved its worth. After a brief contest the crossbowmen, completely outmatched, were driven back with enormous loss. Thereupon the first line of French knights behind them charged down upon the "faint-hearted rabble" of their own fugitives, and soon the first two lines of the French were a mere mob of horse and foot struggling with each other. The archers did not neglect the opportunity, and shot coolly and rapidly into the helpless target in front of them. The second attack was made by another large body of knights which had arrived, and served but to increase the number of the casualties, though here and there a few charged up to the English line and fell near it, among them the blind king of Bohemia, who with a party of devoted knights penetrated, and was killed amongst, the ranks of the prince of Wales's men-at-arms. The battle was now one long series of desperate but ill-conducted charges, a fresh onslaught being made as each new corps of troops appeared on the scene. The English archers on the flanks of the two first line battles had been wheeled up, the centres of dismounted men-at-arms held back, so that the whole line resembled a "herse" or harrow with three points formed by the archers (see sketch). Each successive body of the French sought to come to close quarters with the men-at-arms, and exposed themselves therefore at short range to the arrows on either flank. Under these circumstances there could be but one issue of the battle. Though sixteen distinct attacks were made, and the fighting lasted until long after dark, no impression was made on the English line. At one moment the prince was so far in danger that his barons sent to the king for aid. Even then Edward was not disquieted and he sent a mere handful of knights to the prince's battle, saying, "Let the boy win his spurs." The left battle of the English, hitherto somewhat to the rear, moved up into line with the prince, and the French attack slackened. By midnight the army of France was practically annihilated; 1542 men of gentle blood were left dead on the field and counted by Edward's heralds, the losses of the remainder are unknown. Some fifty of the victors fell in the battle. The story that the Black Prince adopted from the fallen king of Bohemia the crest and motto now borne by the princes of Wales lacks foundation (see JOHN, KING OF BOHEMIA). A memorial to the French and their allies was erected, by public subscription in France, Luxemburg and Bohemia, in 1905.

See H. B. George, _Battles of English History_ (London, 1895), and C.
W. C. Oman, _A History of the Art of War; The Middle Ages_ (London,
1898).

CREDENCE, or CREDENCE TABLE, a small side-table, originally an article of furniture placed near the high table in royal or noble houses, at which the ceremony of the _praegustatio_, Italian _credenziare_, the "assay" or tasting of food and drink for poisons was performed by an official of the household, the _praegustator_ or _credentiarius_ as he was called in Medieval Latin. Both the ceremony and the table were known as _credentia_ (Lat. _credere_, to believe, trust), Ital. _credenza_, Fr. _credence_. After the need for the ceremony had disappeared the name still survived, and the table developed a back and several shelves for the display of plate, and gradually merged into the buffet (q.v.). It is, however, as an article of ecclesiastical furniture that the credence table is most familiar. It takes the form of a small table of wood or stone, sometimes fixed and sometimes merely a shelf above or near the piscina. It usually stands on the south or Epistle side of the altar, and on it are placed, in the Roman Catholic Church, the cruets containing the wine and water, the chalice, the candlesticks to be carried by the acolytes, and other objects to be used in the ceremony of the Mass. The use of such a table, to which earlier the name of _paratorium_ or _oblationarium_ was given, appears to have come into use when the personal presentation of the oblations at the Mass became obsolete. When the pope celebrates Mass a special credence table on the Gospel side of the altar is used, and the ceremony of tasting for poison in the unconsecrated elements is still observed. In some churches in England the old credence tables still exist, as at the church of St Cross near Winchester, where there is a fine stone 15th-century example; more frequent are examples of the stone shelf near the piscina. There are some carved wooden ones surviving, one type being with a semicircular top and three legs placed in a triangle with a lower shelf. The formal use of the credence table for the unconsecrated elements and the holy vessels before the celebration has been revived in the English Church.

CREDENTIALS (_lettres de creance_), a document which ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, and charges d'affaires hand to the government to which they are accredited, for the purpose, chiefly, of communicating to the latter the envoy's diplomatic rank. It also contains a request that full credence be accorded to his official statements. Until his credentials have been presented and found in proper order, an envoy receives no official recognition. The credentials of an ambassador or minister plenipotentiary are signed by the chief of the state, those of a charge d'affaires by the foreign minister.

CREDI, LORENZO DI (1459-1537), Italian artist, whose surname was Barducci, was born at Florence. He was the least gifted of three artists who began life as journeymen with Andrea del Verrocchio. Though he was the companion and friend of Leonardo da Vinci and Perugino, and closely allied in style to both, he had neither the genius of the one nor the facility of the other. We admire in Da Vinci's heads a heavenly contentment and smile, in his technical execution great gloss and smoothness of finish. Credi's faces disclose a smiling beatitude; his pigments have the polish of enamel. But Da Vinci imparted life to his creations and modulation to his colours, and these are qualities which hardly existed in Credi. Perugino displayed a well-known form of tenderness in heads, moulded on the models of the old Umbrian school. Peculiarities of movement and attitude become stereotyped in his compositions; but when put on his mettle, he could still exhibit power, passion, pathos. Credi often repeated himself in Perugino's way; but being of a pious and resigned spirit, he generally embodied in his pictures a feeling which is yielding and gentle to the verge of coldness. Credi had a respectable local practice at Florence. He was consulted on most occasions when the opinion of his profession was required on public grounds, e.g. in 1491 as to the fronting, and in 1498 as to the lantern of the Florentine cathedral, in 1504 as to the place due to Michelangelo's "David." He never painted frescoes; at rare intervals only he produced large ecclesiastical pictures. The greater part of his time was spent on easel pieces, upon which he expended minute and patient labour. But he worked with such industry that numbers of his Madonnas exist in European galleries. The best of his altar-pieces is that which represents the Virgin and Child with Saints in the cathedral of Pistoia. A fine example of his easel rounds is in the gallery of Mainz. Credi rivalled Fra Bartolommeo in his attachment to Savonarola; but he felt no inclination for the retirement of a monastery. Still, in his old age, and after he had outlived the perils of the siege of Florence (1527), he withdrew on an annuity into the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, where he died. The National Gallery, London, has two pictures of the Virgin and Child by him.

CREDIT (Lat. _credere_, to believe), in a general sense, belief or trust. The word is used also to express the repute which a person has, or the estimation in which he is held. In a commercial sense credit is the promise to pay at a future time for valuable consideration in the present: hence, a reputation of solvency and ability to make such payments is also termed credit. In bookkeeping credit is the side of the account on which payments are entered; hence, sometimes, the payments themselves.

The part which credit plays in the production and exchange of wealth
is discussed in all economic text-books, but special reference may be
made to K. Knies, _Geld und Kredit_ (1873-1879), and H. D. Macleod,
_Theory of Credit_ (1889-1891). See also Hartley Withers, _The Meaning
of Money_ (1909).

CREDIT FONCIER, in France, an institution for advancing money on mortgage of real securities. Due to a great extent to the initiative of the economist L. Wolowski, it was created by virtue of a governmental decree of the 28th of February 1852. This decree empowered the issue of loans at a low rate of interest, secured by mortgage bonds, extending over a long period, and repayable by annuities, including instalments of capital. On its inception it had a capital of 25,000,000 francs and took the title of Banque Fonciere de Paris. The parent institution in Paris was followed by similar institutions in Nevers and Marseilles. These two were afterwards amalgamated with the first under the title of Credit Foncier de France. The capital was increased to 60,000,000 francs, the government giving a subvention of 10,000,000 francs, and exercising control over the bank by directly appointing the governor and two deputy-governors. The administration was vested in a council chosen by the shareholders, but its decisions have no validity without the approval of the governor. The Credit Foncier has the right to issue bonds, repayable in fifty or sixty years, and bearing a fixed rate of interest. A certain number of the bonds carry prizes. The loans must not exceed half the estimated value of the property mortgaged, upon which the bank has the first mortgage. The bank also makes advances to local bodies, departmental and communal, for short or long periods, and with or without mortgage. Its capital amounts to L13,500,000. Its charter was renewed in 1881 for a period of ninety-nine years.

In 1860 the Credit Foncier lent its support to the foundation of an organization for supplying capital and credit for agricultural and allied industries. This Credit Agricole rendered but trifling services to agriculture, however, and soon threw itself into speculation. Between 1873 and 1876 it lent enormous sums to the Egyptian government, obtaining the money by opening credit with the Credit Foncier and depositing with it the securities of the Egyptian government. On the failure of the Egyptian government to meet its payments the Credit Agricole went into liquidation, and the Credit Foncier suffered severely in consequence. The impracticability of the credit system to aid agriculture as worked by the Credit Agricole was very marked, and, as a consequence, the financing of agricultural associations is now entirely in the hands of the Banque de France.

The _Credit Mobilier_ is an institution for advancing loans on personal or movable estate. It was constituted in 1871, on the liquidation of the Societe Generale de Credit Mobilier, founded in 1852, which it absorbed.

CREDIT MOBILIER OF AMERICA, a construction company whose operations in connexion with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad gave rise to the most serious political scandal in the history of the United States Congress. The company was originally chartered as the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency in 1859. In March 1864 a controlling interest in the stock was secured by Thomas Durant, vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the Pennsylvania legislature authorized the adoption of the name Credit Mobilier of America. Durant proposed to utilize it as a construction company, pay it an extravagant sum for the work, and thus secure for the stockholders of the Union Pacific, who now controlled the Credit Mobilier, the bonds loaned by the United States government. The net proceeds from the government and the first mortgage bonds issued to the construction company were $50,863,172.05, slightly more than enough to pay the entire cost of construction. According to the report of the Wilson Congressional Committee, the Credit Mobilier received in addition, in the form of stock, income bonds, and land grant bonds, $23,000,000--a profit of about 48%. The defenders of the company assert that several items of expense were not included in this report, and that the real net profit was considerably smaller, although they admit that it was still unusually large. The work extended over the years 1865-1867. During the winter of 1867-1868, when adverse legislation by Congress was feared, it is alleged that Oakes Ames (q.v.), a representative from Massachusetts and principal promoter of the Credit Mobilier, distributed a number of shares among congressmen and senators to influence their attitude. Shares were sold at par when a few dividends repaid a purchaser at this price. Some in fact received dividends without any initial outlay at all. As the result of a lawsuit between Ames and H. S. McComb, some private letters were brought out in September 1872 which gave publicity to the entire proceedings. The House appointed two investigating committees, the Poland and the Wilson committees, and on the report of the former (1873) Ames and James Brooks of New York were formally censured by the House, the former for disposing of the stock and the latter for improperly using his official position to secure part of it. Charges were also made against Schuyler Colfax, then vice-president but Speaker of the House at the time of the transaction, James A. Garfield, William D. Kelley (1814-1880), John A. Logan, and several other members either of the House or of the Senate. The Senate later appointed a special committee to investigate the charges against its members. This committee, on the 27th of February 1873, recommended the expulsion from the Senate of James W. Patterson, of New Hampshire; but as his term expired within five days no action was taken. The evidence was exaggerated by the Democrats for partisan purposes, but the investigation showed clearly that many of those accused were at least indiscreet if not dishonest. The company itself was merely a type of the construction companies by which it was the custom to build railways between 1860 and about 1880.

See J. B. Crawford, _The Credit Mobilier of America_ (Boston, 1880),
and R. Hazard, _The Credit Mobilier of America_ (Providence, 1881),
both of which defend Ames; also the histories of the Union Pacific
Railroad Company by J. P. Davis (Chicago, 1894) and H. K. White
(Chicago, 1895); and for a succinct and impartial account, James Ford
Rhodes, _History of the United States_, vol. vii. (New York, 1906).
The Poland and Wilson reports are to be found in _House of
Representatives Reports_, 42nd Congress, 3rd session, Nos. 77 and 78,
and the report of the Senate Committee in _Senate Reports_, 42nd
Congress, 3rd session, No. 519.

CREDITON, a market town in the South Molton parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, 8 m. N.W. of Exeter by the London & South-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 3974. It is situated in the narrow vale of the river Creedy near its junction with the Exe, between two steep hills, and is divided into two parts, the east or old town and the west or new town. The church of Holy Cross, formerly collegiate, is a noble Perpendicular building with Early English and other early portions, and a fine central tower. The grammar school, founded by Edward VI. and refounded by Elizabeth, has exhibitions to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Shoe-making, tanning, agricultural trade, tin-plating, and the manufacture of confectionery and cider have superseded the former large woollen and serge industries. In 1897 Crediton was made the seat of a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of Exeter.

The first indication of settlement at Crediton (_Credington_, _Cryditon_, _Kirton_) is the tradition that Winfrith or Boniface was born there in 680. Perhaps in his memory (for the great extent of the parish shows that it was thinly populated) it became in 909 the seat of the first bishopric in Devonshire. It was probably only a village in 1049, when Leofric, bishop of Crediton, requested Leo IX. to transfer the see to Exeter, as Crediton was "an open town and much exposed to the incursions of pirates." At the Domesday Survey much of the land was still uncultivated, but its prosperity increased, and in 1269 each of the twelve prebends of the collegiate church had a house and farmland within the parish. The bishops, to whom the manor belonged until the Reformation, had difficulty in enforcing their warren and other rights; in 1351 Bishop Grandison obtained an exemplification of judgments of 1282 declaring that he had pleas of withernam, view of frank pledge, the gallows and assize of bread and ale. Two years later there was a serious riot against the increase of copyhold. Perhaps it was at this time that the prescriptive borough of Crediton arose. The jury of the borough are mentioned in 1275, and Crediton returned two members to parliament in 1306-1307, though never afterwards represented. A borough seal dated 1469 is extant, but the corporation is not mentioned in the grant made by Edward VI. of the church to twelve principal inhabitants. The borough and manor were granted by Elizabeth to William Killigrew in 1595, but there is no indication of town organization then or in 1630, and in the 18th century Crediton was governed by commissioners. In 1231 the bishop obtained a fair, still held, on the vigil, feast and morrow of St Lawrence. This was important as the wool trade was established by 1249 and certainly continued until 1630, when the market for kersies is mentioned in conjunction with a saying "as fine as Kirton spinning."

See Rev. Preb. Smith, "Early History of Credition," in _Devonshire
Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art,
Transactions_, vol. xiv. (Plymouth, 1882); Richard J. King, "The
Church of St Mary and of the Holy Cross, Credition," in _Exeter
Diocesan Architectural Society, Transactions_, vol. iv. (Exeter,
1878).

CREDNER, CARL FRIEDRICH HEINRICH (1809-1876), German geologist, was born at Waltershausen near Gotha, on the 13th of March 1809. He investigated the geology of the Thuringer Waldes, of which he published a map in 1846. He was author of a work entitled _Uber die Gliederung der oberen Juraformation und der Wealden-Bildung im nordwestlichen Deutschland_ (Prague, 1863), also of a geological map of Hanover (1865). He died at Halle on the 28th of September 1876.

His son, CARL HERMANN CREDNER (1841- ), was born at Gotha on the 1st of October 1841, educated at Breslau and Gottingen, and took the degree of Ph.D. at Breslau in 1864. In 1870 he was appointed professor of geology in the university of Leipzig, and in 1872 director of the Geological Survey of Saxony. He is author of numerous publications on the geology of Saxony, and of an important work, _Elemente der Geologie_ (2 vols., 1872; 7th ed., 1891), regarded as the standard manual in Germany. He has also written memoirs on Saurians and Labyrinthodonts.

CREE, a tribe of North American Indians of Algonquian stock. They are still a considerable tribe, numbering some 15,000, and living chiefly in Manitoba and Assiniboia, about Lake Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan river. They gave trouble by their constant attacks upon the Sioux and Blackfeet, but are now peaceable and orderly.

See _Handbook of American Indians_ (Washington, 1907).

CREECH, THOMAS (1659-1700), English classical scholar, was born at Blandford, Dorsetshire, in 1659. He received his early education from Thomas Curgenven, master of Sherborne school. In 1675 he entered Wadham College, Oxford, and obtained a fellowship in 1683 at All Souls'. He was headmaster of Sherborne school from 1694 to 1696, and in 1699 he received a college living, but in June 1700 he hanged himself. The immediate cause of the act was said to be a money difficulty, though according to some it was a love disappointment; both of these circumstances no doubt had their share in a catastrophe primarily due to an already pronounced melancholia. Creech's fame rests on his translation of Lucretius (1682) in rhymed heroic couplets, in which, according to Otway, the pure ore of the original "somewhat seems refined." He also published a version of Horace (1684), and translated the _Idylls of Theocritus_ (1684), the _Thirteenth Satire_ of Juvenal (1693), the _Astronomicon_ of Manilius (1697), and parts of Plutarch, Virgil and Ovid.

CREEDS (Lat. _credo_, I believe), or CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. We are accustomed to regard the whole conception of creeds, i.e. reasoned statements of religious belief, as inseparably connected with the history of Christianity. But the new study of comparative religion has something to teach us even here. The saying _lex orandi lex credendi_ is true of all times and of all peoples. And since we must reckon praise as the highest form of prayer, such an early Christian hymn as is found in 1 Tim. iii. 16 must be acknowledged to be of the nature of a creed: "He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory." It justifies the expansion of the second article of the developed Christian creed from the standpoint of the earliest Christian tradition. It also supplies a reason for including in our survey of creeds some reference to pre-Christian hymns and beliefs. The pendulum has swung back. Rather than despise the faulty presentation of truth which we find in heathen religions and their more or less degraded rites, we follow the apostle Paul in his endeavour to trace in them attempts "to feel after God" (Acts vii. 27). Augustine, the great teacher of the West, was true to the spirit of the great Alexandrians, when he wrote (_Ep._ 166): "Let every good and true Christian understand that truth, wherever he finds it, belongs to _his_ Lord."

We are not concerned with the question whether the earliest forms of recorded religious consciousness such as animism, or totemism, or fetishism, were themselves degradations of a primitive revelation or not.[1] We are only concerned with the fact of experience that the human soul yearns to express its belief. The hymn to the rising and setting sun in the _Book of the Dead_ (ch. 15), which is said by Egyptologists to be the oldest poem in the world, carries us back at once to the dawn of history.

"Hail to thee, Ra, the self-existent.... Glorious is
thine uprising from the horizon. Both worlds are
illumined by thy rays.... Hail to thee, Ra, when thou
returnest home in renewed beauty, crowned and almighty."

In a later hymn Amen-Ra is confessed as "the good god beloved, maker of men, creator of beasts, maker of things below and above, lord of mercy most loving." A similar note is struck in the Indian Vedas. In the more ethical religion of the Avesta the creator is more clearly distinguished from the creature: "I desire to approach Ahura and Mithra with my praise, the lofty eternal, and the holy two."[2] The Persian poet is not far from the kingdom into which Hebrew psalmists and prophets entered.

The whole history of the Jewish religion is centred in the gradual purification of the idea of God. The morality of the Jews did not outgrow their religion, but their interest was always ethical and not speculative. The highest strains of the psalmists and the most fervent appeals of the prophets were progressively directed to the great end of praising and preaching the One true God, everlasting, with sincere and pure devotion. The creed of the Jew, to this day, is summed up in the well-remembered words, which have been ever on his lips, living or dying: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. vi. 4).

The definiteness and persistence of this creed, which of course is the strength also of Mahommedanism, presents a contrast to the fluid character of the statements in the Vedas, and to the chaos of conflicting opinions of philosophers among the Greeks and Romans. As Dr J. R. Illingworth has said very concisely: "The physical speculations of the Ionians and Atomists rendered a God superfluous, and the metaphysical and logical reasoning of the Eleatics declared Him to be unknowable."[3] Plato regarding the world as an embodiment of eternal, archetypal ideas, which he groups under the central idea of Good, identified with the divine reason, at the same time uses the ordinary language of the day, and speaks of God and the gods, feeling his way towards the conception of a personal God, which, to quote Dr Illingworth again, neither he nor Aristotle could reach because they had not "a clear conception of human personality." They were followed by an age of philosophizing which did little to advance speculation. The Stoics, for example, were more successful in criticizing the current creed than in explaining the underlying truth which they recognized in polytheism. The final goal of Greek philosophy was only reached when the great thinkers of the early Christian Church, who had been trained in the schools of Alexandria and Athens, used its modes of thought in their analysis of the Christian idea of God. "In this sense the doctrine of the Trinity was the synthesis, and summary, of all that was highest in the Hebrew and Hellenic conceptions of God, fused into union by the electric touch of the Incarnation."[4]

Space does not permit enlargement on this theme, but enough has been said to introduce the direct study of the ancient creeds of Christendom.