Chapter C: R. E., initialism

Buried Treasures. 2 parts, London, 1851, no more published.

The first contains: The Law of Liberty ... by J. Locke, with a
life by the editor (C. R. E.) The second: On the Civil Power in
Ecclesiastical Causes ... by J. Milton, with a historical sketch
and notes.

CREYTON (Paul) _pseud._ [J. T. TROWBRIDGE].

Father Brighthopes, or an old Clergyman’s Vacation. Boston (U.S.) 1853.

Martin Merrivale, his × mark, 1854. Hearts and Faces. 1855. Boston (U. S.) 1855.

Burrcliff, its Sunshine and its clouds.... 6th thousand, 1855.

CRIB, _phrenonym_ [ ].

Secret Love; or the Phantom Barber: a burletta, adapted by Crib. [1859]. In verse.

CRIB (Tom) _phren._ [THOMAS MOORE].

Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, with a preface.... By one of the Fancy. 4th edition. London, 1819 (in Verse).

CRIBB (Tommy) _phren._ [ ].

To the Electors of the Borough of Southwark. The Presentation of the Pipkin, etc. The whole taken in shorthand by ----. Lond., 1819.

CROFT (Zachary) _pseud._ [CHARLES KELSALL].

The first sitting of the Committee on the proposed Monument to Shakespeare. 1823.

CROQUIS (Alfred) _pseud._ [DANIEL MACLISE, R.A.].

Portraits in Fraser’s Magazine.

CROWQUILL (Alfred) _pseud._ [ALFRED HENRY FORRESTER, Artist and Author].

Leaves from my Memorandum Book.

His first publication under this pseudonym. For numerous others
we must refer to _Men of the Time_, and Allibone’s Critical
Dictionary of English Literature, 1859, under Crowquill.

CRUISER (Benedict) _pseud._ [GEORGE A. SALA].

How I tamed Mrs. Cruiser. By, etc. Edited by G. A. S., with illustrations by Phiz [_pseud._]. 1858.

CRUSOE (Robinson) _fictitious name_ [DANIEL DEFOE].

The Life and surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner. Written by himself. 1st edition, 1719.

The most popular fiction in our language.

“It is remarkable that two of the most interesting tales
that ever were written,--‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Uncle Tom’s
Cabin,’--are without that which forms the chief source of
interest in most other tales--a love story.

“Robinson Crusoe” and “Gulliver,” are two works which probably
will remain as long as the English language. One of them has
even introduced a new word into our language; for _lilliputian_
is often used to denote something excessively minute. And it is
remarkable that the authors of these works, Defoe and Dean Swift,
who have never been surpassed--perhaps never equalled--in any age
or country in their own peculiar art of giving to fiction the
air of reality, were contemporaries, and held each other in the
greatest contempt and abhorrence. Their designs were different.
“Gulliver” was, of course, not expected to be believed, but
affords part of its amusement from the striking contrast between
the sober, matter-of-fact style of the narrative, and the
monstrous extravagance of the matter; as where mention is made in
his quiet way of the house in Redriff, which brought in a rent of
£30 a year; and of the little daughter Betsy, who was sewing her
sampler, and who afterwards married and had children.

“Robinson Crusoe,” on the contrary was originally put forth as a
true history (Defoe not being very scrupulous on that point) and
long after, and probably even down to the present time, was by
many considered as substantially true, and as being merely the
history of Alexander Selkirk, on the Island of Juan Fernandez;
only a little dressed up, and with a change of names. It is
possible that Defoe may have heard that history, and that it may
have suggested to him the idea of his tale; but if this be so,
it is the very utmost that could be said; for the two histories
are totally unlike, except that in each there is an island in the
South Sea, with goats upon it. Alexander Selkirk had no tools, or
stores, or arms, saved from a wreck; he had no implements, save
a pocket knife; and used to capture the goats, on whose flesh he
fed, by running them down. He never met with any savages, nor
had any friendly intercourse with the Spaniards; and there were
only two remarkable incidents that occurred during his sojourn on
the island, neither of which is found in the history of Robinson
Crusoe. One was, his being pursued by a party of Spaniards who
had landed on the island, and from whom he fled for his life,
well knowing that their design was to murder him, as was the
practice of the Spaniards with all strangers found in those seas.
He escaped by climbing into a tree with thick foliage, where he
lay hidden like King Charles in the oak.

His other adventure was catching hold of a goat.... Now both
these remarkable incidents being wanting in “Robinson Crusoe,”
it is plain that the notion above alluded to, of the one history
being taken from the other, is altogether groundless.

One part of the art by which Defoe gives his tale the air of
reality, consists in the frequently recording minute particulars
and trifling occurrences which lead to no result.... Another
apparent indication of reality is that such improbabilities as
there are lie precisely in the opposite quarter from that in
which we should expect to find them. A writer of fiction would
have been likely (as we may see for instance, in some of the
imitations of “Robinson Crusoe”) to attribute to the hero _more_
ingenuity and _greater_ success than is accordant with the rules
of probability. With Robinson Crusoe it is just the reverse....

It would be a curious and not unprofitable task to draw up a
criticism of Robinson Crusoe, showing that there are, in a
tale which, beyond all others, has been the oftenest mistaken
for a true history, such improbabilities as amount to complete
disproof. Such a work would be a kind of companion and supplement
to the “Historic doubts respecting Napoleon Bonaparte” [published
anonymously by Archbishop Whately].... His culture of _rice_
may be pronounced an absolute impossibility. He threw out, it
seems, before the entrance of his habitation, among dust and
husks, some unperceived grains of barley and rice, which grew and
came to perfection, and enabled him thenceforward, to cultivate
those crops. Now this is probable enough as far as regards the
_barley_; but Defoe was probably ignorant that _rice_, when
designed for human food, is divested of its husk by a process
which destroys its power of germinating; so that to sow rice in
the state in which it comes to market would be as vain as to sow
pearl-barley.... When Friday is pursued by three savages, and
they come to a creek, one of them turns back, as being _unable to
swim_.... A Brazilian sea-coast savage, unable to swim, may be
pronounced a total impossibility.... When Robinson Crusoe comes
forward to rescue the Spaniards who are about to be slaughtered,
he addresses one of them in _Spanish_.... Alexander Selkirk,
after only three years, could scarcely express himself even in
his own mother-tongue.

But the most wide-spread (if I may so speak) of the
improbabilities; though the one the most likely to be overlooked
by the generality of readers, is the character ascribed to
savages ... if we examine attentively all the accounts that
are given of savages by those who have had actual intercourse
with them, we shall inevitably come to the conclusion that the
representation of savages, as given by Defoe, involves a complete
moral impossibility.--_Miscellaneous Remains of Archbishop
Whately_, to which the reader is referred for the whole of this
interesting discussion.

We greatly regret that want of space prevents our giving the
whole of the Archbishop’s essay, as we consider it conclusive.

C. S., _initialism_ [C. STAUNTON].

Life and Humours of Falstaff. 1829.

J. R. S.

C. S. C., _initialism_ [C. S. CALVERLEY].

Verses and Translations. Camb., 1862. 3rd edit. 1865.

CUMBERMERE (Lord Claudius Hastings) _pseudo-titl._ [ALFRED ASSOLANT].

Les Aventures de K. Brunner, docteur en Théologie par Lord, etc. Paris, 1861.

C. W. S., _init._ [CHARLES WILLIAM SHORT, a Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel, Coldstream Guards].

A Treatise on Swimming, as taught at Berlin, in the Military College. From a German MS. _Ollivier_, 1846.

Preface signed.