C L A 



672 



C L A 



, Ja 



r ; 



Hinory. 



ait* being, in fact, to only in appearance, and from 

 interested motive*. The Catholics in this county are 

 certainly rery numerous. Two gentlemen of thii per- 

 lutMon are called on the grand jury. The county mi- 

 litia contittt almost entirely of Catholics, with the ex- 

 ception of the officer*. 



The number of inhabited house* in the county of Clare, 

 was, in the official return of 1791, stated to be 17.396, 

 from which the amount of the population may be con- 

 cluded to be about 1(H,000. Two members represent 

 this county in the House of Commons. There ia one 

 alto for the burgh of Ennis. This, which is the county 

 town, is situated ou the Fergus, and is the only town of 

 note in the shire. 



The ancient name of the county of Clare was Tho- 

 mond. It was a principality under the O'Brien?, descen- 

 dants of Brien Boromhe, the King of Ireland, who was 

 slain fighting against the Danes A.D. 101-1. One of the 

 family was acknowledged King of Thomond by Henry 

 III. ; and Murrough O'Brien, on resigning the old title 

 of prince, was made Earl of Thomond by Henry VIII. 

 Thomas de Clare, son of the Earl of Gloucester, ha- 

 ving come to Ireland in 1276, and settled in this coun- 

 ty, had a large portion of it conferred on him in proper- 

 ty by its petty prince, or, according to other accounts, 

 by King Edward I. From him, or some of his family, 

 the county received its present name. It had always 

 been considered as a part of Munster, as is implied in 

 it* original appellation ; but when Connaught was di- 

 rided into counties in 1562, Clare was included in their 

 number. As at that time, however, each province had 

 a peculiar governor, called lord president, and as the 

 earls of Thomond having possessions in other parts of 

 Munster, were mostly connected -with it, they ob- 

 tained, upon their petition, to have the county of Clare 

 again comprehended under that province in 1602. In 

 this connection it has since continued, and its bishopric 

 is subordinate to the primacy of Munster. 



In the county of Clare, there are several interesting 

 remains of antiquity ; such as the Ogham inscription on 

 Callan Mount ; also various ruins, particularly those of 

 Quin Abbey, and the island of Inis Scattery. See 

 Beaufort ; Young; and Wakefield's Statistical and Poli- 

 tical Account of Ireland, Sfc. (K) 



CLARET. See WINE. 



CLARINET, in music, is a wind instrument, very 

 common in military bands, having, however, rather a 

 coarse croaking kind of tone, except in the hands of the 

 most expert performers, tome of whom have places in 

 the best concerts. 



C and F arc the only keys that are usually in good 

 tone on the common clarinets, the scale of which reaches 

 from E below the bast cliff, to e, an octave above the 

 treble stave. For general use in the orchestra, the per- 

 formers have also B[) clarinets, A clarinets, D clarinets, 

 B clarinets, and G clarinets, for accompanying pieces in 

 these keys. John Christopher Denner, of Leiptic, is 

 said to hare invented this instrument, sometime about 

 the year 1600. (() 



CLARION-Sror, in music, is the name of a range 

 of reed pipe* on the organ, sometimes called the octave 

 trumpet-stop, from its near resemblance to the upper 

 notes of that instrument. The notes of this stop are 

 tuned an octave higher than those in the open diapason, 

 and an octave higher than the trumpet- stop. The cla- 

 rion- (top i* never used alone, but in conjunction with 

 other stops, to give power and effect to the chorus 

 part*. (<) 



CLARISIA, a genus of plants of the class Dicecia, d. 

 and order Diandria. See BOTANY, p. 340. CUrkr. 



CLARKE, SAMI i i., an eminent divine and philolo- """"Y""'' 

 gist, was born at Norwich in the month of October 

 Hi7'. His father, Mr Edward Clarke, a gentleman of 

 high respectability, was an alderman of that city, and for 

 tome years one of its representatives in parliament. After 

 acquiring in the grammar school of Norwich a consider- 

 able acquaintance with the learned languages, young 

 Clarke was, at the age of sixteen, entered a student at 

 Caius College in Cambridge. Here the splendour of his 

 talents, and his unwearied assiduity in the pursuit of 

 knowledge, soon attracted general admiration. The in- 

 genious but fanciful theories of Descartes were still held 

 in high esteem, and taught with enthusiastic zeal in the 

 university of Cambridge. But their fallacy was easily 

 detected by the penetrating genius of Clarke, who, young 

 as he was, had carefully studied and thoroughly under- 

 stood the Principia of Newton, then recently published; 

 and while the sublime discoveries of that great philoso- 

 pher were slowly making their way against ancient pre- 

 judices, and were comprehended and appreciated only by 

 a few profound mathematicians, this youthful admirer was 

 meditating the most effectual plan of recommending them 

 to more general observation. With this view he under- 

 took the arduous task of translating from barbarous into 

 elegant Latin, Renault's System vf Pliilotophy, then the 

 text book in the university, to which he subjoined a va- 

 riety of judicious and excellent notes, calculated to lead 

 the student insensibly to the percepliixi of the absurdi- 

 ties of the Cartesian hypothesis, and to the adoption of 

 the new theory. This task lie executed with great abi- 

 lity, and complete success. His translation ot Rohault, 

 passing through four editions, continued fur many year* 

 the standing text-book in the university, till it at length 

 gave way to the avowedly Newtonian publications of 

 Rutherforth and Rowning. 



Having directed his views to the church, he now gave 

 his whole attention to the studies which he considered 

 necessary to qualify him for the able and faithful exer- 

 cise of the sacred office. He began by perusing, in the 

 original languages, the scriptures of the Old and New 

 Testament, and the writings of the primitive Christian 

 fathers ; his accurate knowledge of which is admirably 

 displayed in many of his theological publications. Soon 

 after taking holy orders, he was introduced by Mr Whis- 

 ton to Dr Moore, bishop of Norwich, an ardent admirer 

 of literature, and a zealous patron of learned men. On 

 the collation of Whiston to the living of Lowestoffe, 

 (1698), the bishop appointed Mr Clarke his domestic 

 chaplain. During the twelve years that he remained in 

 this situation, he lived with his learned patron on the 

 friendly and familiar habits of a brother ; and the bishop, 

 at his death, gave the most unequivocal proof of the 

 high value which he entertained for him, by confiding 

 to him the entire management of his family concerns. 



In 1699, he published Three practical Essays upon 

 Baptism, Confirmation, and Repentance, and anonymou* 

 reflections on part of a book called Amyntor, the produc- 

 tion of Toland, who rejected as spurious the writings ascri- 

 bed to some of the apostles and primitive Christians, and 

 refused to acknowledge the inspiration of the evangelists 

 St Mark and St Luke. These publications, though in- 

 ferior in literary merit to the subsequent productions of 

 our author, are highly creditable to his piety, and show 

 him to have been, even at his outset in his theological 

 career, intimately acquainted with the practices and the 

 writings of the early Christians. Hi* next publication 



