CROKER, JOHN WILSON (1780-1857). —Politician and miscellaneous writer. Ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, he entered Parliament as a Tory, and was appointed to various offices, including the Secretaryship of the Admiralty, which he held for 20 years. He was one of the founders of the Quarterly Review, and wrote some of its most violent political articles and reviews. He pub. in 1831 an ed. of Boswell's Life of Johnson. He also wrote some historical essays and satirical pieces.
CROKER, THOMAS CROFTON (1798-1854). —Irish Antiquary, b. at Cork, for some years held a position in the Admiralty. He devoted himself largely to the collection of ancient Irish poetry and folk-lore. Among his publications are Researches in the South of Ireland (1824), Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825-27), Popular Songs of Ireland (1837), Daniel O'Rourke (1829), and Barney Mahoney (1832). He assisted in founding the "Camden" and "Percy" Societies.
CROLY, GEORGE (1780-1860). —Poet, novelist, historian, and divine, b. at Dublin, and ed. at Trinity Coll. there, he took orders and became Rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, and had a high reputation as a preacher. He wrote poems, dramas, satires, novels, history, and theological works, and attained some measure of success in all. Perhaps his best known works are his novels, Salathiel (1829), founded on the legend of "the wandering Jew," and Mareton (1846). His chief contribution to theological literature is an exposition of the Apocalypse.
CROWE, CATHERINE (STEVENS) (1800-1876). —Wrote dramas, children's books, and one or two novels, including Susan Hopley (1841), and Lilly Dawson (1847), but is chiefly remembered for her Night-side of Nature (1848), a collection of stories of the supernatural. Though somewhat morbid she had considerable talent.
CROWE, EYRE EVANS (1799-1868). —Historian and novelist, s. of an officer in the army, b. near Southampton, and ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin. He wrote several novels, including Vittoria Colonna, To-day in Ireland (1825), The English in France (1828), and Charles Dalmer (1853). Among his historical works are a History of France in Lardner's Cabinet Encyclopædia, afterwards enlarged and separately pub., and a History of Louis XVIII. and Charles X.