CLEUMONT 



201 



(nil Laity. Thin use of the terminvuiv 

 In-ill^ found in < 'IriniMit of Alexandria (De Divite. 

 Si-ri'itni/u, 46) and Tertullian (De Monog. 12), and 

 appears to have gradually lieeome prevalent, OH 

 the minister* of religion more and iimn- i-M-lu 

 sively, instead of the memlierM of tin; Christian 

 church generally, legan to be regarded as (lull's 

 ' heritage ' and ' priesthood ' ( 1 Peter, ii. 9 ), con- 

 secrated to him, and peculiarly his. The distinc- 

 tion between the clergy and the laity became 

 more marked through the multiplication of offices 

 and titles among the clergy, the ascription to 

 them of a place in the Christian church similar 

 to that of the priests and Levites in the Jewish 

 Church, with peculiar rights and privileges ( which 

 occurs as early as Clement of Home, Ep. cut. 

 Corinth, i. 40), their assumption of a peculiar dress 

 and of official insignia, the growth of monastic 

 institutions, and the introduction of celibacy. In 

 Inn inony with the notions on which this distinction 

 is founded, is that of an indelible or almost indelible 

 character derived from ordination, so that a renun- 

 ciation of the clerical office is either viewed as an 

 impossibility, or a sort of apostasy. These notions 

 in their highest degree belong to the Church of 

 Rome. In the Protestant churches, the distinction 

 between clergy and laity is much less wide ; and 

 although the same terms are often used, it is 

 rather conventionally than in their full significa- 

 tion. The employment of official robes by the clergy 

 preceded their assumption of a peculiar ordinary 

 dress ( indeed, for the most part, there was no direct 

 adoption of a special garb for ordinary occasions, 

 but the clergy did not change their fashions as the 

 laity did, and continued to wear attire, such as the 

 cassock, which was once commonly worn by all 

 persons, but was discarded by the laity), and 

 is not so intimately connected with any peculiar 

 pretensions. 



Among the privileges accorded to the clergy 

 by the Roman emperors, and in the middle ages, 

 was exemption from civil offices ; among the rights 

 asserted by them, and which caused much dispute, 

 was exemption from lay-jurisdiction, even in cases 

 of felony. With the revival of the Western 

 Empire oy Charlemagne, the clergy became one 

 of the Estates of the empire, and the bishops 

 were given baronial rank, and entitled to sit 

 along with the temporal nobles in the imperial 

 Diets. This institution survived the break-up of 

 the Carlovingian empire, and prevailed in several 

 parts of Europe, very noticeably in France until 

 the Revolution. In England the clergy are still 

 technically and constitutionally one of the three 

 Estates of the realm, and taxed themselves in their 

 convocations as late as 1663. The bishops who sit 

 in the House of Lords do so in virtue of baronies 

 annexed to their sees, but not as prelates of the 

 church, and it was held by parliament in Henry 

 VIII.'s time, and later by CoKe, that the right of 

 session in convocation made the clergy of the 

 second order ineligible to sit in the House of 

 Commons. But the point remained doubtful till the 

 Act 41 Geo. III. chap. 63, sec. 4 definitely excluded 

 clerks in holy orders from sitting there, under a 

 penalty of 500 per day if so sitting or voting. 

 Those only who nave formally relinquished the 

 clerical office can sit, in virtue of the Clerical Dis- 

 abilities Act of 1870. The clergy were distinguished 

 into the higher clergy and the lower clergy, that is, 

 those in the ' major orders ' of bishop, priest, and 

 deacon (and, since the 13th century, sub-deacon), or 

 those in the ' minor orders' of 'acolytes, lectors, 

 exorcists, &c. The term Secular Clergy is the 

 designation of priests of the Latin and Greek 

 churches who do not follow any religious rule 

 (regula), but have the care of parishes. Monks 

 who are in holy orders are designated Regular 



Clergy. S. . I ; i . \ i . i IT OP CLERGY, BISHOP, ORDERS 



(Iloi.v), I'IMKST, HKCTOR, &c. 



Clergyman*!* Sore Throat* See THROAT. 



Clerlcus, JOHANNES. See LE CLERC. 



Clerk (Lat. clerictu), properly a clergyman; 

 also, in old usage, a scholar ; an dfficer attached to 

 eoiiit-, ami corporations, who keeps the record H ; a 

 lawyer's assistant ; a 1 looking or railway clerk ; 

 and in the United States, a shopman. 



Tin- PARISH CLERK is an official in the Church 

 of England, who leads the responses in a congre- 

 gation, and assists in the services of public worship, 

 at funerals, &c. There is usually one in each parish. 

 In cathedrals and collegiate churches there are 

 several of these lay-clerks ; and in some cases they 

 form a corporate "body, having a common estate, 

 besides payments from the chapter. Before the 

 Reformation, the duties of parish clerk were 

 always discharged by clergymen in minor orders. 



Clerk* JOHN, of Eldin, writer on naval tactics, 

 was born in 1728, the seventh son of the 

 antiquary, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Mid- 

 lothian (1676-1755). He prospered as an Edin- 

 burgh merchant, and by 1773 purchased the small 

 estate of Eldin at Lasswade, where he devoted 

 himself to etching, to geology, and to studying 

 deeply both the theory and practice of naval 

 tactics. In 1779 he communicated to his friends a 

 new manoeuvre for ' breaking the enemy's line ' in 

 a naval battle ; and during a visit to London the 

 following year, he claimed to have had some con- 

 ferences on the subject with naval officers, among 

 whom was Sir Charles Douglas, Lord Rodney's 

 captain of the fleet in the memorable action of 

 April 12, 1782, when the experiment was tried for 

 the first time, and a decisive victory gained over 

 the French. In 1782 Clerk printed 50 copies of his 

 Essay on Naval Tactics, for private distribution 

 among his friends. It was reprinted and published 

 in 1790 ; three parts were added in 1797 ; and the 

 work was republished entire in 1804, with a preface 

 explaining the origin of his discoveries. Clerk died 

 May 10, 1812. His son, JOHN CLERK (1757-1832), 

 was raised to the Scottish bench in 1823, when he 

 assumed the judicial title of Lord Eldin. 



Clerkenwell, a London parish, lying within the 

 parliamentary borough of Fmsbury, and due north 

 of St Paul's. It is largely inhabited by watch- 

 makers, goldsmiths, and opticians. The Fenian 

 attempt to blow up Clerkenwell prison took place 

 13th December 1867. Pop. (1891)66,216. 



Clerk-Maxwell. See MAXWELL. 



Cleriliont (in the middle ages, Clarus Mons, or 

 I'lnriiiiuntiuin) is the name of several towns in 

 France. The most important are : ( 1 ) CLERMOXT, 

 in the department of Oise, 41 miles N. of Paris by 

 rail, with a large hospital and a prison for women. 



Pop. (1891) 3783. (2) CLERMONT-FERRAND, the 



capital of the department of Puy-de-D6me (the 

 Augustonemetum of the Romans, in the country of 

 the Arverni), which is finely situated on a gentle 

 elevation between the rivers Bedat and Allier, 135 

 miles S. of Paris by rail. Among the principal 

 buildings are the old Gothic cathedral, built of 

 dark lava from a neighbouring range of extinct 

 volcanoes ; the fine church of Jsotre Dame, where 

 Peter the Hermit preached the first Crusade ; the 

 handsome Palais des Facultes; and the government 

 buildings, formerly a convent ( 1250). The town is 

 the seat of a medical and a theological college, 

 technical schools, and several scientific bodies, and 

 has a public library with 40,000 volumes. The 

 streets, with the exception of a number of fine 

 squares, are narrow, tortuous, and steep. The chief 

 manufactures are candied fruits, wax matches, chem- 

 icals, linen, rope, lace, and machines, and there IB 



