CL08IUS, CHARLES. 



COBBETT, WILLIAM. 



IM 



of a literature that should at one* reconcile th* |>parutly dlulmiUr 

 qoaatiw of goodnsas nd ehtapOM*. through den.and fur book^ before 

 UBprv<*Uotni, gav* OOMtdmbU iuipul** to the eoer^ie* of llr. 

 Clown. 'Th- Penny llaguin*' u>d 'The Penny Cyclopedia' iued 



with umUvteling regularity fur fourteen yMn from hit printing-offloe. 

 Mr. Clown WM oot common man. Hi* powers of arraugwwat were 

 mo* MOto ; be wm at OOM bold and prudent. He wa one of those 



l who would not recognbe the wurd 'impouible' a* one to be 

 Uchtly employed. He who in 1803 had a few hundred weight of type 

 to be worked from day to day like a banker, gold, would not hesitate, 

 in the height of hi* prosperous career, to hare ton* of type locked up 

 for month* in torn* ponderous Mae-book. To print an Official Report 

 of a hundred folio page* in a day or night, or of a thousand page* in a 

 ,,,- wu BO uncommon occurrence. Mr. Clowes'* name will not be 

 moriatirl with the honour* of the great clawical printer* ; hi* wa* 

 another ambition. He lived in an ago when knowledge wa* to become 

 MM inheritance of the many ; and he furnuhed the means of carrying 

 out tab literary revolution in a more efficient manner than any of bus 

 IH iilieel mill competitor*. Hi* name will be permanently associated 

 with the intellectual development of our time. (National Cyctopcedia.) 

 CLWSIVS, CA'ROLUS, or DE LK CLUSE, CHAKLE3, wag born 

 at Antwerp on the 18th of February 1628. He commenced his edu- 

 cation at Ghent, and from thence WM removed to Louv&in with the 

 object of studying the law. But in about two years he went to 

 Marburg, where, disgusted with the law, he turned to the study of 

 philosophy. During this period he acquired a great foadneaa for 

 botany, and devoted much of his leisure to this pursuit At Marburg 

 be formed a friendship with Hyperion, who inspired him with an 

 admiration for Mclancthon, and in 1549 he left Marburg for the 



of studying at Wittemberg. From Wittemberg he proceeded 

 :rg, and from thence to Montpelicr, where he became the 



re: 



pupil of Rondelet, and devoted himself to the study of medicine, which 

 be pursued long enough to take the degree of Doctor. He resided 

 for three years at Montpelier, and then proceeded to Paris, where he 

 remained for two years, but was compelled to leave on account of a 

 civil war which broke out at that period. From this time ho visited 

 moat of the countries of Europe for the purpose of adding to his 

 botanical knowledge. In 1564 he travelled through Germany, from 

 thenco he went with Fugger* to Spain, and afterwards visited Portugal 

 In 1571 he returned to Belgium, and again visited Paris, from whence 

 be went to England, where he remained some time, being much inter- 

 ested with the results of the voyages of Sir Francis Drake and other 

 Brituh sailors. He returned to Antwerp in 1573. Here he occupied 

 himself with publishing the result of his botanical labours. Having 

 accepted the invitation of the Emperor Maximilian II. to become 

 curator of the botanical garden at Vienna, be remained there till 

 1587 ; when, through a court intrigue, he was obliged to retire. He 

 then lived at Frankfurt in a state of perfect obscurity till, in 1593, in 

 the sixty-eighth year of his age, he wu called to the chair of botany 

 at Lcyden. This position he held for sixteen years, and died on the 

 4th of April 1609. 



Few men have suffered more in following a favourite pursuit than 

 Cluiius. He has on this account been called " The Martyr of Botany." 

 As early as bis twenty-fourth year, by excessive fatigue he contracted 

 a dropsical disease, which it is said his tutor Kondelet cured with 

 chicory. At the age of thirty-nine he broke his right thigh during 

 on* of his botanical rambles, and a short time after his right arm. 

 Whilst at Vienna, he dislocated his left ancle, and eight years after 

 this accident he dislocated bis ri^ht hip. For this he was treated 

 unskilfully, and ever after was obliged to use crutches for support. 

 The want of exercise in one who had habituated himself to so much 

 brought on other diseases, the most distressing of which was stone iu 

 the bladder. During his exertions in the early part of his Ufa he 

 abo contracted a hernia, which troubled him to the end of his days. 

 But his bodily infirmities never diminished hi* mental activity, and 

 be continued teaching and writing to the very last His works are 

 very numerous, for he not only published original descriptions of new 

 plant*, but be translated into Latin works from the French, Spanish, 

 and Portuguese, and from the Latin Into French, thus rendering a 

 mewl important service in the diffusion of a knowledge of the plants 

 that were known in his day. 



The following are hi* principal works : 1. ' Histolre des Plantea, en 

 hqnelle *t content!* la Description entiere des Herbes, leurs espcces, 

 formes coon, temperament, vertus, et operations,' Antwerp, 1557, 

 folio. This wist a translation of a work by Dodoeus, to which Clusius 

 appended a chapter of his own, on gums, liquors, woods, fruits, and 

 aromatic root*. 2. ' Antidotarium Florentinum,' Antwerp, 1561, 8vo. 

 This WM a translation of an Italian work containing an account of the 

 medlcinei used by the Greek, Arabian, and Florentine physicians. 

 3. 'Aromatum et Simpliciutn aliquot Mrdicamentorum apud Indos 

 DMOtntlum HisturU,' Antw.-rp, 1487, 8vo. This work went through 

 many edition., and WM originally a translation of a Portuguese book 

 by Garcia* *b Horto, to which C1uiu* appended many notes and 

 woodcuts. He also translated into Latin two world of the same kind, 

 the on* from the Spaniih of Nicola* Monardes, the other from the 

 Spanish of Cbriitopber Aoorta, These were publiihed at Antwerp in 

 1674. 4. 'Karioram aliquot Stirpium per HLtpaniam observaturam 

 HistorU libris doobot "ipressa,' Antwerp, 1576, 8vo. This work, the 



result of his travels in Spain, WM illustrated with 239 figure* of 

 plant*, gome of which were from the works of Didoen*. 5. ' Aliquot 

 Nota in Garcia] Aromatum UUtoriam,' Antwerp, 1582. This little 

 work contained an account of many thing* he had observe 1 in 

 England, more especially an account of plants, fruits, 4c., which had 

 been brought to England by Sir Francis Drake. 6. ' Rariorum aliquot 

 Stirpium et Plantarum per Pannouiam, Austriam, et vicinas quasdam 

 PreviuciM observatarum, Historia quatuor libris expressa,' Air 

 1582, 8vo. This work WM of a similar character to the Flora of 

 Spain, and was illustrated with S58 plates. 7. ' lUriorum Plautarum 

 Historia,' Antwerp, 1601, folio. This was a union of the two works 

 on the plants of Austria and Spain, containing many additions from 

 the then living botanists, as Penney, Lobel, Plateau, I lortinann, and 

 others. 8. ' Exoticoruni Libri X., quibua Auimalium, Plantarum, 

 Aromatum aliorumque Peregrinorutu Fructuum Historito descri- 

 buntur,' Antwerp, 1601, folio. He published many other works of 

 less importance, chiefly translations. 



CLUVE'RIUS (CLUWEK), PHILIP, was born at Danzig in 1580. 

 His father intending him for the profession of the law, sent him to 

 study at Leyden ; but Cluverius showed more disposition for the study 

 of geography and antiquities, and was encouraged in his bias by his 

 acquaintance with Joseph Scaliger. In a journey which he made to 

 Louvain and Antwerp for the purpose of meeting Justus Lipsins, he 

 fell in with some marauding soldiers, who stripped him of everything. 

 On his return to Holland, finding that his father, being dissatisfied 

 with his conduct, had stopped all remittances for his support, he 

 joined the troops of the emperor, and served for two years in Hungary 

 and Bohemia. In the latter country he made the acquaintance of a 

 Boron Popel, who, being arrested by order of the emperor, had written 

 a pamphlet in his defence, which Cluverius undertook to translate into 

 Latin, and published it on his return to Holland. The pamphlet being 

 considered offensive, Cluverius was imprisoned, at the request of the 

 imperial ambassador to the States-General He was soon after released, 

 and his mother having sent him some supply of money, he set out on 

 his travels to England, where he wrote ' De Tribus Rheni Alveis,' 4to. 

 Returning to the continent, he travelled through France and Germany, 

 and published his 'Germania Antiqua,' folio, Leydcn, 1616. It is a 

 work of considerable research, intermixed with much conjecture. 

 Having made a journey into Italy, ho was well received there, espe- 

 cially at Rome and Bologna, where his familiar acquaintance with most 

 of the European languages excited great admiration. His next work, 

 ' Siciluo Antiqua; Libri Duo,' to which he added a short description of 

 Sardinia and Corsica, folio, 1619, has been considered by many as big 

 best work. On his return to Holland from Italy, he suffered severe 

 domestic losses, and his health rapidly declined. It was under these 

 circumstances that he wrote his 'Italia Antiqua,' which was published 

 after his death, a work of great research, but one that requires cor- 

 rection from the more exact observations or discoveries of later geogra- 

 phers and antiquarians. Cluverius wrote also 'An Introduction to 

 Universal Geography,' which has been repeatedly published. He died 

 at Leyden in 16'23, forty-three years of age. Danielis Heinsii, ' Oratio 

 iu obitum P. Cluverii,' at the end of the ' Introduction to Geography,' 

 Leyden, 1624, gives an account of the principal incidents of Cluverius's 

 life. 



COBBETT, WILLIAM, was the son of a fanner and publican at 

 Faruhom in Surrey, where he was born in March 1762. He has himself 

 related the incidents of the first portion of his life in ' The Life and 

 Adventures of Peter Porcupine,' first published in 1796. This tract 

 contains a most interesting account of his self-education, carried on 

 under circumstances of difficulty, and with an ardour and steadiness 

 of purpose that has never been surpassed. He WM trained up to 

 country work, and so employed from an early age till tho autumn of 

 1782, when on a visit to the neighbourhood of Portsmouth he first 

 beheld the sea, and the next day made an unsuccessful attempt to get 

 employment on board a man-of-war. In May the following year, on 

 the impulse of a sudden thought which took him at Guildford fair, he 

 came to London, and soon, by the assistance of a friend, obtained a 

 situation as copying clerk ; but at the end of nine months he went 

 to Chatham, where he enlisted in a regiment of foot, which was sent 

 out to Nova Scotia, and WM eventually ordered to New Brunswick. 

 For hij excellent conduct he was made a corporal before the regiment 

 left England, and soon after its arrival in America he was raised nt 

 once, over the heads of thirty Serjeants, to the rank of scrjeant-major. 

 In New Brunswick he mode his acquaintance with his future if.-, 

 then a girl of thirteen, the daughter of a Serjeant-major of artillery. 

 His own account of his courtship and marriage is, it may be fairly 

 said, one of the most pleasing moral picture* ever drawn. Cobbett's 

 regiment did not get back to England till tho end of the year 1791, 

 when at his earnest request ho obtained his discharge, with a testimonial 

 from bis commanding officer, declaring that he had served honestly and 

 faithfully for the space of eight years, and was discharged " in con- 

 sideration of his good behaviour and the services he had rendered tho 

 regiment." lie now engaged in a proceeding, of his conduct in which 

 and the motives by which he wan actuated no intelligible explanation 

 has ever been given ; we mean his bringing charges of peculation 

 against four officer* of his late regiment, and then, when a court-martial 

 WM appointed to try them, and every arrangement connected with it 

 made in the manner he himself required, declining to come forward 



