J57 



CLAPPERTON, HUGH. 



CLARENDON, EARL OF. 



258 



in public; and Voltaire, who had obvious motives for esteeming her 

 from her successful representation of several of his characters, speaks 

 of her in his ' Candide ' as a person moving in so high and select a 

 circle, that the boast of having met her in society is put into the inouth 

 of an obscure braggart addicted to telling extravagant fictions. The 

 prevailing character of her acting was the natural, and in this she was 

 distinguished from her rival Dumesnil, who was considered the repre- 

 sentative of art. Mademoiselle Clairon quitted the Com&lie-Franjaise 

 in 1705. She lived for many years as mistress of the Margrave of 

 Anspocb, and died in 1803. Some memoirs relating to her were printed 

 in 17!*9 by her pupil Millie. Raucourt, and there are many anecdotes 

 of her in the memoirs of the Margravine of Anspach and the 'Me'moires 

 de Fleury' (the actor). 



CLAPPERTON, HUGH, was born in 178S, at Annan, in Dum- 

 friesshire, N.B., where his father was settled as a surgeon and country 

 practitioner. After receiving the rudiments of a plain education, 

 with some instruction in mathematics, he went to sea at the age of 

 thirteen, being bound apprentice in a merchant-ship that Failed 

 between Liverpool and America. After making several voyages he 

 was impressed and sent on board a man-of-war as a common seaman. 

 Fortunately Clapperton had an uncle, a captain of marines, through 

 whose interest with the naval commanders then in commission in the 

 Mediterranean, he was put on the quarter-deck and made a midship- 

 man. In this capacity he gave proofs both of fortitude and courage. 

 In 1814 he went to Upper Canada, and some time after his arrival he 

 wag promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and appointed to the com- 

 mand of a schooner belonging to the British flotilla ou the lakes. In 

 1817, this flotilla having been dismantled, Lieutenant Clapperton 

 returned home on half-pay. He amused himself in his native district 

 with shooting and fishing, until 1820, when he removed to Edinburgh 

 and became acquainted with Dr. Oudney, whose mind was absorbed 

 by the subject of African discovery. In 1823 he was employed by 

 Lord Bath urt, in conjunction with Dr. Oudney and Major Deuham, 

 to make a journey to Timbuctoo, in central Africa. The doctor died 

 at an early stage of the journey in January 1824. Proceeding south 

 from Tripoli, on the Mediterranean, by Musfeia, and by Zangalia, on 

 the east of the grea f Lake Tchad, Clapperton, after great sufferings, 

 reached Saccatoo, where he was obliged to turn back. He and 

 Deuham determined the positions of the kingdoms of Mandara, 

 Bournou, and Houssa, and of their chief towns, but they were not 

 able to ascertain the course and termination of the Niger the main 

 object of the expedition. Their description of Lake Tchad, with the 

 huge hippopotami in it, and the elephants and other wild animals on 

 its shores, is exceedingly interesting. On the 22nd of June 1825, soon 

 after bis return to England, Clapperton was raised to the rank of 

 c ommaiider, and engaged almost immediately to start afresh ou the 

 same perilous journey. His companions were Captain Pearce, R.N., 

 Mr. Dickson, and Dr. Morrison, a navy surgeon and naturalist ; the 

 party was attended by Richard Lander, Dawson, and two or three 

 other servants. This time Clapperton penetrated into Africa from 

 HID coaat of the Atlantic. The party lauded in the Bight of Benin on 

 tin; -3th of November 1825, and proceeded inland from Badagry, 

 December 7 ; but they had scarcely moved from the shore when they 

 were attacked by the usual maladies of the country. Dawson died at 

 Tshow, not far from Badagry, and Captain Pearce soon after, at 

 Engwu. Dr. Morrison, who had returned towards the coast, expired 

 at Jannah. The survivors, meeting with great kindness and hos- 

 pitality from the natives, reached Katunga, the capital of Yariba, on 

 the 15th of January 1826. They proceeded to the great commercial 

 city of Kano, and thence, bearing to the west, went to Saccatoo, which 

 Clapperton had reached from the side of the Mediterranean on his 

 former journey. Here Bello, the king or chief of the country, detained 

 his old acquaintance on account of wars carrying on, and (it is said) 

 at the jealous suggestions of the Dey of Tripoli, who represented the 

 English as aiming at the possession of all Africa. Clapperton's 

 vigorous constitution gave way under the effects of the climate and 

 privation, and he died of dysentery on the 13th of April 1827, at 

 Chungary, a village four miles from Saccatoo. 



(Narrative of Travels and Ktcoveriet in Nortlicrn and Central 

 ' in Ike years 1822, 1823, 1824, by Major Denham, Commander 

 Clapperton, and the late Dr. Oudney, 4to., Loud., 1826. Journal of 

 a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa. &c., by the late Com- 

 mander Clapperton. 4to, Lond., 1829. To this volume a Memoir of 

 his Life is prefixed. Records of Captain Clapperton's Lat Expedition 

 to Africa, by Richard Lander, the only surviving member of the 

 Expedition. 2 vols., small 8vo, Lond., 1830.) 



CLARE, JOHN, was born at Helpstone, near Peterborough, 

 Northamptonshire, July 13, 1793. His parents were extremely poor, 

 big father, a farm labourer, only being able with great difficulty to 

 provide food for his family, and in his latter years constrained from 

 illness to eke out a subsistence by a weekly allowance from the parish. 

 As soon a possible the boy was sent to work in the fields, and by 

 extra work as a plough-boy and by helping his father morning and 

 evening at threshing, he earned enough to pay for occasional educa- 

 tion at the school of a neighbouring parish. He thus in the course of 

 three years learned sufficient at odd times to ba able to read the 

 Bible with ease, and from the little prizes he won by such extra tasks 

 aa the repetition by heart of a chapter in Job and tlio like, he was 



enabled to purchase a few books. A good-natured neighbour kindly 

 assisted him in mastering writing and arithmetic. As early as his 

 thirteenth year the boy had begun to write verses, and when he grew 

 to manhood, notwithstanding the hard toil and poverty of a peasant's 

 life his highest wages, and that during only part of the year, were 

 but nine shillings a week he continued to write them, though they 

 attracted no notice beyond that of his companions, till about the end 

 of 1818, when a 'Sonnet to the Setting Sun,' signed J. C., written on 

 a loose piece of paper, fell into the bauds of Mr. Drury, bookseller of 

 Stamford, who, struck by its simplicity and freshness of character, 

 enquired after the author, and having visited him at Helpstoue, was 

 shown other poems, with which he was equally pleased. The result 

 was the publication in 1820 of a small volume of ' Poems descriptive 

 of Rural Life and Scenery, by John Clare, a Northamptonshire 

 Peasant,' to which was prefixed a brief account of the author by Mr. 

 Octavius Gilchrist. The volume attracted much attention; the verses 

 were felt to be the genuine utterance of a simple-hearted peasant's love 

 of nature and natural scenery, and efforts were at once made to place 

 him in a position less hostile to the exercise of his native genius. A 

 sufficient sum was raised to place him in a house free of rent, and a 

 small income (but one larger than he had any prospect of being able to 

 acquire by field labour) was partly secured to him. His future thus, 

 as it seemed, happily provided for, Clare married the Patty of his 

 verse, and took his parents (his father now a confirmed paralytic) 

 home to live with him. But the annuity, even if regularly paid, would 

 have been insufficient to maintain his household with the new wants 

 which the introduction to a higher grade of society had created. 

 Many of the contributors however failed to keep up their subscriptions, 

 while as the annuity fell off his family increased ; he could find no 

 profitable employment ; the little trading speculations he entered into 

 were unsuccessful ; and as want and misery became imminent, he fell 

 into a deep melancholy, which issued in mental alienation. After 

 awhile the worse form of his disease passed away, and, though still with 

 a mind hopelessly deranged, he requires no constraint. Poetry, which as 

 he wrote used iu early life to "lull the throbbings of his woe-woru 

 soul," has proved a solace in the miserable circumstances of his closing 

 days. He lives ' on talking and thinking chiefly of poetry, and in the 

 harmless delusion that of every passage which recurs to his memory, 

 or which he hears repeated, he is the author. 



In 1821 Clare's poems were republiahed with another and longer 

 piece, under the title of the ' Village Minstrel and other Poems ;' a 

 year or two later the ' Shepherd's Calendar and other Poems;' and in 

 1836 appeared another volume entitled the ' Rural Muse.' His later 

 poems exhibited much greater mechanical dexterity than his earlier 

 ones, and all their hearty enjoyment of rural life and country scenery ; 

 while they showed that he had diligently availed himself of the oppor- 

 tunities afforded him of studying the works of the greater masters of 

 the art. But they showed also that Clare had not escaped the danger 

 which besets most untaught writers, of mistaking imitative skill for 

 creative power. His poems however if they display no great strength 

 of thought or striking originality of manner, are not wanting iu 

 originality of matter, while they are invariably kindly in feeling, free 

 from all affectation, and often very pleasing in expression 



* CLARENDON, GEORGE WILLIAM FREDEKICK VILLIERS, 

 fourth Earl of, born 12th of January 1800, is eldest son of the late Hon. 

 George Villiers, by Theresa, only daughter of the first Lord Boringdou. 

 He succeeded to the title on his uncle's death in December 1838. The 

 founder of the Villiers family was a favourite of James I., whose 

 descendants became ultimately earls of Jersey. About the middle of 

 last century a younger son of the then Earl of Jersey married a 

 daughter of the Earl of Essex, whose countess was heiress of the Hydes, 

 formerly earls of Clarendon and Rochester. [HYDE.] This gentle- 

 man, who was successively joint postmaster-general, chancellor of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster, and ambassador at the Court of Berlin, was 

 ultimately created Earl of Clarendon in 1776 ; and it is his third sou 

 who was the father of the present peer. 



Lord Clarendon was educated at Cambridge. He entered the civil 

 service at an early age; and in 1823 was appointed to a commissiouer- 

 ship of the excise in Dublin by the late Marquis of Anglesey. The 

 ability, intelligence, mental activity, and general knowledge displayed 

 by him in this capacity, recommended him to the home government for 

 some higher employment. Accordingly, in 1831 he was employed by 

 the government in arranging a commercial treaty with France ; and, 

 when a crisis arrived in Spanish affairs iu 1833, he was sent to the 

 Court of Madrid as British Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary. 

 Here again, though his stay was prolonged through a period of more 

 than ordinary civil strife and confusion, he was so fortunate as to 

 secure the confidence of the government which he represented, and 

 at the same time the good opinion of the inhabitants of the Spanish 

 metropolis. Soon after his accession to the earldom, in 1838, he 

 returned to England. He had not long taken his seat in the House of 

 Lords, when a speech which he delivered on the question of Spanish 

 affairs attracted the public attention ; and, on a re-arrangement of 

 the Melbourne Cabinet taking place in January 1840, Lord Clarendon 

 was appointed Lord Privy Seal, an office to which the chancellorship 

 of the Duchy of Lancaster was added on Lord Holland's death in the 

 >ame year. In 1841 Sir Robert Peel came again into power, and 

 Lord Clarendon's official duties ceasing, he remained in opposition for 



