tary, and from which
he (Crofton) retired in 1850 as senior clerk of the first class, having
served upwards of thirty years, thirteen of which were passed in the
highest class. This retirement, although he stood first for promotion to
the office of chief clerk, was compulsory upon a reduction of office, and
was not a matter of private convenience. In 1830 Crofton Croker married
Miss Marianne Nicholson, and the result of their union was an only child,
Thomas Francis Dillon Croker, born 26th August, 1831, the writer of the
present memoir.

The literary labours of Crofton Croker were attended with more gratifying
results than his long and unwearied official services. The 'Researches
in the South of Ireland' (1824), an arrangement of notes made during
several excursions between the years 1812 and 1822, was his first
important work. It was published by John Murray, the father of the
present publisher of the 'Quarterly Review,' and contained illustrations
by Mr. Alfred and Miss Nicholson: with the 'Fairy Legends,' however, the
name of Crofton Croker became more especially associated, the first
edition of which appeared anonymously in 1825, and produced a
complimentary letter from Sir Walter Scott, which has been published in
all subsequent editions. The success of the first edition of the legends
was such as immediately to justify a second, which appeared the next
year, illustrated with etchings after sketches by Maclise, and which was
followed by a second series (Parts 2 and 3) in 1827. The third part,
although it appeared under the same title, namely 'Fairy Legends and
Traditions of the South of Ireland,' may be considered as forming almost
a separate work, inasmuch as it comprised the fairy superstitions of
Wales and other countries, in addition to those current in Ireland. A
translation of the legends by the Brothers Grimm appeared in Germany in
1825, and another in Paris in 1828 ('Les Contes Irlandais, precedes d'une
introduction par M. P. A. Dufau'), but it was not until 1834 that Murray
published them in a condensed form in his 'Family Library,' the copyright
of which edition, as revised by the author, was purchased of Murray by
the late Mr. Tegg, and is now published by his son. In October, 1826,
Croker was introduced to Sir Walter Scott at Lockhart's in Pall Mall.
Sir Walter recorded the interview thus:--"At breakfast Crofton Croker,
author of the Irish fairy tales--little as a dwarf, keen-eyed as a hawk,
and