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level of the clouds, and the atmospheric currents which bear them; and this indication of an approaching gust is not lost sight of by Virgil:

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-Nunquam imprudentibus imber
Obfuit: aut illum surgentem vallibus imis
Aeriæ fugêre grues; aut bucula," &c.
Georg. I., 373-5.

When a flock of cranes is engaged in
feeding, or while it is at rest, when the
birds sleep standing on one foot, with the
head under the wing, one of the number
acts as sentinel, and keeps a vigilant
watch, alarming the whole if any enemy
approach or the slightest danger threaten.
Two species of this genus are known to
inhabit the U. States-the whooping crane
(G. Americana) and the brown or sand-
hill crane (G. Canadensis, Bonap.) The
first named derive their trivial appellation
from their loud, clear, piercing cry, which
may be heard at the distance of two miles.
If wounded, they attack the sportsman or
his dog with great spirit, and are said to
have occasionally driven their long, point-
ed bill through the hand of a man. Wil-
son states that, during winter, they are
frequently seen in the low grounds and
rice plantations of the Southern States,
seeking for grain and insects. He met
with a number of them, on the 10th of
February, near Waccamau river, in South
Carolina, and saw another flock near
Louisville, Ky., about the 20th of March.
They are very shy and vigilant, and, con-
sequently, shot with difficulty. They
sometimes rise spirally in the air to a vast
height, their mingled screams resembling
the full cry of a pack of hounds, even
when they are almost out of sight. They
are distinguished from other cranes by
the comparative baldness of their heads,
and by the broad flag of plumage project-
ing over the tail. Their general color is
pure white. The brown or sandhill crane
is of an ash color, generally, with shades or
clouds of pale-brown and sky-blue: brown
prevails upon the shoulders and back.
It is a very stately bird, being above six
feet long, from the toes to the point of
the beak, when extended, and its wings
measure eight or nine feet from tip to tip.
When standing erect, the sandhill crane is
full five feet high; the tail is quite short,
but the feathers pendent on each side of
the rump are very long, of a delicate
silky softness, and sharp-pointed. The
crown of the head is bare of feathers, and
of a reddish rose color, but thinly barbed
with short, stiff, black hair. When the
wings are moved in flight, their strokes
are slow, moderate and regular, and, even

when at a considerable distance above us, we plainly hear the quill-feathers, as their shafts and webs rub upon one another, creaking like the joints of a vessel in a tempestuous sea (Bartram). The sandhill crane is common, and breeds in the savannas of Florida. It is also found in various parts of the American states and territories. It is most rare in the middle portions of the Union.

CRANIOLOGY. (See Phrenology.)

CRANK; an iron axis with the end bent like an elbow, for the purpose of moving a piston, the saw in a sawmill, &c., caus ing it to rise and fall at every turn; also for turning a grindstone, &c. The common crank affords one of the simplest and most useful methods for changing circular into alternate motion, and vice versa. Double and triple cranks are likewise of the greatest use for transmitting circular motion to a distance. In fact, cranks belong to those few simple elements on which the most complicated machines rest, and which, like the lever, are constantly employed.

CRANMER, Thomas, famous in the English reformation, during the reign of Henry VIII, was born in 1489. He entered as a student of Jesus college, Cambridge, in 1503, took the degree of M. A., obtained a fellowship, and, in 1523, was chosen reader of theological lectures in his college, and examiner of candidates for degrees in divinity. In the course of conversation on the then meditated divorce of Henry VIII from his first wife, Catharine of Arragon, Cranmer remarked that the question of its propriety might be better decided by consulting learned divines and members of the universities than by an appeal to the pope. The opinion thus delivered having been reported to the king by doctor Fox, his majesty was highly delighted with it, exclaiming, at the prospect it afforded him of being able to remove the obstacles to the gratification of his passions, "By the man has got the sow by the right ear!" Cranmer was sent for to court, made a king's chaplain, and commanded to write a treatise on the subject of the divorce. In 1530, he was sent abroad, with others, to collect the opinions of the divines and canonists of France, Italy and Germany, on the validity of the king's marriage. At Rome, he presented his treatise to the pope, and afterwards proceeded to Germany, where he obtained for his opinions the sanction of a great number of German divines and civilians, and formed such intimate connexions with the rising party of the Prot

estants, as probably influenced greatly his future conduct. He also contracted marriage, though in holy orders, with the niece of doctor Osiander, a famous Protestant divine. Cranmer was employed by the king to conclude a commercial treaty between England and the Netherlands; after which he was ordered home, to take possession of the metropolitan see of Canterbury. He hesitated to accept of this dignity, professing to be scrupulous about applying to the pope for the bulls necessary for his consecration. This difficulty was obviated by a vague and secret protestation, which can be justified only on the Jesuitical principle of the lawfulness of mental reservations or virtual falsehoods. The application being therefore made in the usual manner to the court of Rome, the pall and bulls were sent. Soon after, he set the papal authority at defiance, by pronouncing sentence of divorce between Henry and Catharine, and confirming the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn. The pope threatened excommunication, and an act of parliament was immediately passed for abolishing the pope's supremacy, and declaring the king chief head of the church of England. The archbishop employed all his influence in forwarding such measures as might give permanence to the reformation. The Bible was translated into English, and dispersed among the people; the monastic institutions were suppressed; the superstitious observances connected with them were abolished; and provision was made for the instruction of all ranks in the principles of the prevailing party. In 1536, the casuistry of Cranmer was a second time exerted to gratify the base passions of his tyrannical sovereign. When Anne Boleyn was destined to lose her reputation and her life, that the king might take another consort, it was determined also to bastardize her issue; and the archbishop meanly stooped to pronounce a sentence of divorce, on the plea that the queen had confessed to him her having been contracted to lord Percy, before her marriage with the king. The compliances of the primate served to ensure him the gratitude of Henry, though he was obliged to make some important sacrifices to royal prejudice, which was strongly in favor of the ancient faith, where that did not tend to curb the king's own passions or prerogatives. In 1539 was passed an act of parliament, called the bloody act, condemning to death all who supported the right of marriage of priests, and communion of both kinds to the laity, and who opposed transubstantiation, auricular

confession, vows of chastity and the necessity of private masses. Cranmer opposed, as long as he dared, this enactment; but, finding his efforts vain, he gave way, and sent his own wife back to her friends in Germany. He subsequently succeeded in carrying some points in favor of further reformation; and, in 1540, he published a work for popular use, chiefly of his own composition, entitled the Necessary Erudition of a Christian Man. On the death of Henry, in 1546-7, the archbishop was left one of the executors of his will, and member of the regency appointed to govern the kingdom during the minority of Edward VI. He united his interest with that of the earl of Hertford, afterwards duke of Somerset, and proceeded to model the church of England according to the notions of Zuinglius, rather than those of Luther. By his instrumentality, the liturgy was drawn up and established by act of parliament, and articles of religion were compiled, the validity of which was enforced by royal authority, and for which infallibility was claimed. Under Cranmer's ecclesiastical government, Joan Bocher and George van Paris were burnt as heretics; and the fate of the former is rendered peculiarly striking by the fact that the primate, by his spiritual authority and pressing importunity, constrained the young king to sign the death warrant for the auto-da-fé of the unhappy criminal, which he would not do till he had disburdened his own conscience, by telling the archbishop that, if the deed were sinful, he should answer for it to God. The exclusion of the princess Mary from the crown, by the will of her brother, was a measure in which Cranmer joined the partisans of lady Jane Grey, apparently in opposition to his own judgment. With others who had been most active in her elevation, he was sent to the Tower on the accession of Mary. That princess had personal obligations to Cranmer, who is said to have preserved her from the anger of her father, which menaced her with destruction, for her pertinacious adherence to the Catholic faith; but she could not forget or forgive the disgrace of her mother and herself, in effecting which, the archbishop had been so important an agent; he was therefore destined to become the victim of popish ascendency. He was tried before commissioners sent from Rome, on the charges of blasphemy, perjury, incontinence and heresy, and cited to appear within 80 days at Rome, to deliver, in person, his vindication to the pope. To comply with this mandate was impossible,

as he was detained in prison; nevertheless he was declared contumacious for not making his appearance, and sentenced to be degraded and deprived of office. After this, flattering promises were made, which induced him to sign a recantation of his alleged errors, and become, in fact, a Catholic convert. The triumph of his enemies was now complete, and nothing was wanting but the sacrifice of their abused and degraded victim. Oxford was the scene of his execution; but, to make the tragedy more impressive, he was placed on a scaffold in St. Mary's church, the day he was to suffer, there to listen to a declaration of his faults and heresies, his extorted penitence, and the necessity of his expiating, by his death, errors which Heaven alone could pardon, but which were of an enormity too portentous to be passed over by an earthly tribunal. Those who planned this proceeding accomplished but half their object. Instead of confessing the justness of his sentence, and submitting to it in silence, or imploring mercy, he calmly acknowledged that the fear of death had made him belie his conscience; and declared that nothing could afford him consolation but the prospect of extenuating his guilt by encountering, as a Protestant penitent, with firmness and resignation, the fiery torments which awaited him. He was immediately hurried to the stake,

where he behaved with the resolution of a martyr, keeping his right hand, with which he had signed his recantation, extended in the flames, that it might be consumed before the rest of his body, exclaiming, from time to time, "That unworthy hand!" He was executed March 21, 1555-6. The fate of Cranmer has shed a false lustre over his character, and procured him the reputation of a Protestant martyr, while he was, in reality, the victim of party malice and personal revenge. Successively a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Zuinglian, a defender of transubstantiation, and then a persecutor of those who believed that doctrine, the soundness, if not the sincerity of his faith, may fairly be questioned. Even the purity of his motives, as a reformer, is rendered somewhat doubtful, by the fact of his having obtained, on very advantageous terms, numerous grants of estates which had belonged to suppressed monasteries. His private character, however, was amiable; and, whatever may have been his principles, no doubts can exist as to the eminence of his talents. His continued favor with the capricious Henry is a decisive proof of his mental superiority. He steadily pursued his grand object, the independence of the English church, to the establishment of which he contributed far beyond any other individual.

Note to the Article COLOMBIA, in this Volume.

According to our promise in that article, we give here the principal facts which have occurred in Colombia since the article went to press, though there is no prospect of a speedy establishment of tranquillity in that country. In the mouth of January, 1830, Venezuela declared herself independent of Colombia, at the instigation of general Paez. Some accounts say he compelled the Venezuelians to take this step. Bolivar, about the same time, solemnly declared, at Bogotá, every imputation against him as aiming at a crown to be false. A convention is now assembled for the purpose of preparing a new constitution for Colombia. The character of the projected constitution, according to the accounts which have been received, is quite liberal. Whether it is adapted to the state of the country, is another consideration. Bolivar is said to be sinking in popularity. He retired in February temporarily from the government, on account of ill health. It is reported that Paez is using forcible means to compel the Venezuelians to remain separate from Colombia, with which they are disposed to unite under a federal government.

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Cayman (see Alligator)

Cazotte (Jacques)

17 Centigrade (see Thermometer)
"Centimani (see Briareus)
"Centiped..

"Cent Jours.

"Centlivre (Susanna)

"Cento

"Central America

18

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Fire..

Forces..

Motion (see Circular
Motion)

32 Chaban (count of)
"Chabanon

"Chabert (Joseph Bernard).
(the fire king)

"

"Chacabuco (battle of)
"Chactaws (see Choctaws)
33 Chæronea.

34 Chafalaya.

"Chagaing

35 Chaillot.

37 Chain (in surveying).

66

46

(in nautical language)
Cable (see Cable).
Timber

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