261 



CLARKE, ADAM, LL.D. 



CLARKE, ADAM, LL.D. 





his direction it was finished some years afterwards; and the great 

 tunnel through the Frindsbury hills remains as a solid proof of his 

 ability. His next work was the suspension-bridge over the Thames 

 at Hammersmith, which was commenced in 1824 and finished in 1827. 

 It is chiefly remarkable for the small deflection of the chains between 

 the chord-line or points of suspension. The suspension-bridge at 

 Marlow was also designed by Mr. Clark, and he was employed by the 

 late Duke of Norfolk to build one over the Arun. 



Mr. Clark was however best known by the suspension-bridge which 

 he constructed across the Danube at Pesth. It was begun in 1839 and 

 finished in 1849, at a cost of 622.000/. At times the bursting of dams 

 and the pressure from accumulated ice in the winter threatened a 

 total stoppage of the works, but all obstacles were overcome by the 

 energy and perseverance of Mr. Clark, and the bridge remains an 

 admirable monument of his genius and skill. To quote his own words 

 from the volume in which he describes the bridge, it " encountered 

 probably more difficulties than any structure of a similar kind in 

 existence. The magnitude of the river over which it is thrown, the 

 depth and nature of its bed, and the velocity of the current, created the 

 misgivings, at one time almost universal in Hungary, that no permanent 

 communication could ever be established across the Danube between 

 Buda and Pesth. The moral difficulties to be overcome, no less than 

 the physical obstacles, were very great. Pride, prejudice, and jealousy, 

 had each to be encountered." Mr. Clark received a box set in brilliants 

 from the Emperor of Austria in token of his approbation at the suc- 

 cessful completion of the bridge, and the late Emperor of Russia sent 

 him a first-class gold medal in return for a design for a magnificent 

 suspension-bridge to be erected across the Neva. 



Mr. Clark was elected a Fellow of the Koyal Society in 1837 ; he 

 was a Fellow also of the Astronomical Society, and a member of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers. He died September 22, 1852. 



( LA!:KE, ADAM, LL.D., one of the most esteemed of the early 

 ministers amoug the Wesleyan Methodists, was born in 1762. His 

 parents resided in the north of Ireland. They appear to have been 

 persons of respectable character ; and by his mother, who was a native 

 of Scotland, he appears to have become early imbued with a deep 

 sense of the value of high devotional sentiment in union with religious 

 knowledge. Of education, properly scholastic or systematic, he appears 

 to have received little or none, and the want of it gave a character, 

 and that not a favourable one, to the learning which by his own 

 unwearied exertions he afterwards acquired. 



As soon as his mind began to develop its peculiarities, it appeared 

 that Adam Clarke was extremely eager after knowledge, and possessed 

 within himself resources which would enable him to overcome very 

 formidable obstacles. Placed with a linen manufacturer, who lived 

 in the neighbourhood of Ms father, to learn the trade, he soon found 

 that he was in a situation which afforded no means of gratifying his 

 desire for knowledge. He determined to change the mode of life 

 which had been marked out for him, and he returned to his home. 

 Methodism had been introduced into the part of Ireland in which he 

 resided. His father and mother belonged to that society ; and a 

 Mr. Breedon, one of Mr. Wesley's earliest ministers, was a friend and 

 the religious instructor of the family, and to him at this period of 

 his life he seems to have owed much. The religious meetings and 

 classes of the new sect afforded to the preachers a ready opportunity 

 of becoming acquainted with the character and mental capacity of 

 the young men connected with the society, and such as were suited 

 to the work and were willing to devote themselves to the ministry 

 were gladly received. The union of considerable natural powers with 

 no mean attainments, considering the great disadvantages under which 

 he lay, and of the love of study, with a mind eminently devotional, 

 pointed out young Clarke to the Methodist preachers who frequented 

 his father's house, as one who might be very useful in the ministry 

 among the people with whom his family had formed their religious 

 connection. Their impression that this was the course of life pointed 

 out for him, was communicated to the great father and director of 

 Metlioilism. The result was that Clarke removed to England, and 

 was admitted into the school which Wesley had founded at Kings- 

 wood near Bristol. He now gave himself up wholly to the acquisition 

 of such knowledge a* might be useful m his calling. Besides what 

 formed the kind of instruction which was imparted to the students at 

 Kingswood, he undertook to teach himself other things; and it was 

 while here that he began the study of the Hebrew language, which 

 was the commencement of that course of oriental study in which he 

 afterwards spent much time, and made considerable progress. 



The time soon came when he was to leave this school, and enter 

 on the duties of an itinerant or travelling preacher. He was accus- 

 tomed to relate with pride and pleasure that he received his com- 

 mission to go forth from the mouth of Mr. Wesley himself. There 

 was a peculiar and touching affectionateness in the old man's bene- 

 diction. The circuit, as it is called, to which he was appointed was 

 a tract of country near Bradford in Wiltshire. Thus in 1782 he 

 became a Methodist preacher, and so continued to the time of his 

 death. In ti.e first twenty year* he resided in various parts of thu 

 kingdom, but afterwards he lived, for the most part, in or about 

 London, or at an estate which was purchased for him in Lancashire. 



In his ministerial character he was singularly acceptable and useful. 

 His preaching attracted crowds. He advanced in influence and repu- 



tation in the body of Christians to whom he belonged : and for many 

 of the latter years of his life he was regarded as one of the chief 

 lights and brightest ornaments of that religious community. 



If this however had been his only claim to distinction, the name 

 of Dr. Clarke would not have appeared in this work or in the many 

 writings in which, since his death, mention has been made of him. 

 We have already intimated that he was eminently desirous of know- 

 ledge of very various kinds, and, while leading the laborious life of a 

 travelling preacher, he found time for a great variety of discursive 

 reading, as well as for much steady application to his philological 

 studies, especially those of Oriental literature. He first gave public 

 evidence of those studies in the year 1802, when he published, in six 

 volumes, his book entitled ' A Bibliographical Dictionary.' This work 

 gave him at once a literary reputation, and though it is not a work of 

 much original research, it was at the time of its publication un- 

 doubtedly a very convenient book for the English student, containing 

 as it did a great body of information well arranged concerning books 

 and authors to which no other easy access was presented. The book had 

 an extensive circulation, and has been more than once reprinted. 



This work placed Clarke high in reputation among his brethren and 

 the members of his connexion, though at first some were ready to doubt 

 the value of this kind of book learning. He gained also by it a certain 

 reputation among the bibliographical and philological inquirers of his 

 time. About this period of his life his acquirements in Biblical 

 knowledge and in Oriental literature began likewise to be taken notice 

 of. On his coming to reside permanently in London, the Bible 

 Society brought him into connection with some of the dignitaries of 

 the church. His connection with the Surrey Institution gave him 

 access to several persons of literary pursuits, and at the same time an 

 easy access to books. He was admitted a Fellow of the Society of Anti- 

 quaries. The University of St. Andrews conferred on him the degree of 

 M.A., and afterwards of LL.D. Some time after he became a member 

 of the Royal Irish Academy. Clarke and his writings undoubtedly did 

 much to remove the feeling of contempt with which many of the 

 cultivated classes were apt to regard Methodism and its followers. 

 The most extraordinary circumstance in his literary history remains 

 however to be mentioned. The Board of Commissioners on the 

 Public Records selected Dr. Clarke as a proper person to superintend 

 the publication of the new edition of Ryiner's ' Foedera,' with the pre- 

 paration of which they were charged. This was a great and difficult 

 undertaking; for it was not the mere reprinting the work of Rymer, 

 but a large mass of new materials were to be found and to be incor- 

 porated with the old. Some eminent antiquarian scholars had 

 shrunk from the task. What particularly pointed out Dr. Clarke as a 

 suitable person for this undertaking is not known, as it was evident 

 that his studies had previously lain in a direction, very different from 

 that which pointed to such a work as the ' Fcedera,' and ho himself 

 acknowledged that he came to the task with very little acquaintance 

 with the nature of it. He however laboured at it with much assiduity 

 for several years. It is needless to say that archaeology gained little 

 by his editorial labours, whatever theology may have lost. His name 

 appears in the title of both parts of the first volume, and in the first 

 part of the second volume, which was published in 1818, and from 

 that time Dr. Clarke relinquished his share in the undertaking. 



From the time when he settled in London he was constantly in 

 communication with the press. Of some works he was only the 

 editor; others he abridged; and he prepared some original works, 

 among which are particularly to be named a ' Supplement ' to his 

 ' Bibliographical Dictionary,' ' Memoirs of the Family of Wesley," and 

 a work for the assistance of biblical students. He was also a frequent 

 contributor to the periodical literature of his day. His, as much 

 perhaps as ever any man's, was at this period a life of incessant literary 

 exertion. 



But there was one great literary undertaking on which above all his 

 mind was intent. This was an edition of the Holy Scriptures iu the 

 English version, illustrated with a commentary and critical notes, into 

 which he proposed to throw the results of his own biblical studies, 

 together with much that he might collect from preceding commen- 

 taries. It was to form a kind of Family Bible, and yet be at the same 

 time a book which the biblical scholar might consult with advantage 

 a union which has been several times attempted. The first volume 

 appeared in 1810, and excited no small attention on account of the 

 novelty of some opinions expressed iu it respecting the tempter of our 

 first parents. From this period he pursued this work as the main, 

 business of his life, till he had completed it, which he did in 1826, 

 when appeared the eighth and last volume. For eight of these years, 

 namely, from 1815 to 1823, he lived at a place called Millbrook in 

 Lancashire, where tome friends had purchased for him a house and 

 small estate. 



We have not attempted to give an estimate of the literary value of 

 Dr. Clarke's publications, or even to enumerate them alL As literary 

 works they have their full meed of fame. It would be absurd to place 

 his scholarship on a level with that of the really great scholar^ who 

 have adorned our country ; and many of the works which he under- 

 took were such as required the union of the greatest attainable 

 scholarship with a carefully-trained judgment and sound taste. It is 

 perhaps oue of the most observable circumstances about Dr. Clarke 

 that hia mind never seems to have acquired that refinement which 



