272 



CLOACAE CLOCK. 



Ills success was much applauded without much in- 

 quiry as to the means ; and, in 1761, he was raised 

 to the Irish peerage, by the title of lord Clive, baron of 

 Plassey. He had not, however, l>een long in Eng- 

 l.-md before a disagreement took place between Meer 

 J.iil'uT and Mr Holwell, who then officiated as go- 

 vernor, which ended in transferring the nabobship 

 from the former toliis son-in-law Cossim- Ally-Khan ; 

 but in consequence of the shameful monopolies and 

 usurpations of the British traders, the new nabob 

 (In-hired the trade of the country free for all. It 

 was in consequence, resolved to depose him, and re- 

 store Meer .latlirr ; and, after a temporary success, 

 he was obliged to take refuge with the nabob of 

 Oude. On the news of these commotions reaching 

 Great Britain, the company appointed lord Clive 

 president of Bengal, with the command of the troops 

 there, and in July, 1764, he returned to India, being 

 first created a knight of the Bath. Before his ar- 

 rival, major Adams had defeated the nabob of Oude, 

 Sujah ul Dowlah, and obliged him to sue for 

 peace ; so that Lord Clive had only to settle terms 

 of agreement with the country powers, which he did 

 to the great advantage of the company, who acquir- 

 ed the disposal of alfthe revenues of Bengal, Bahar, 

 and Orissa. In 1767, he finally returned to England, 

 being the chief contributor to the immense posses- 

 sions of the East India company. In 1 773, a mo- 

 tion, supported by the minister, was made in the 

 house of commons, " that, in the acquisition of his 

 wealth, lord Clive had abused the powers with which 

 he was intrusted." The charges brought forward 

 in support of this motion had a very serious aspect, 

 but, with the assistance of Mr Wedderburne, he made 

 such a defence, that it was rejected, and a resolution 

 passed, " that lord Clive had rendered great and me- 

 ritorious services to his country," which, however, 

 was no contradiction to the motion. From that time, 

 lu's broken health, and probably his injured peace of 

 mind, rendered him a prey to the most gloomy de- 

 pression of spirits, under the morbid influence of 

 which he put an end to his life and sufferings, at the 

 age of fifty, in November, 1774. 



A physiognomist would scarcely have been fa- 

 vourable to lord Clive, who possessed a remarkably 

 heavy brow, which gave a close and sullen expres- 

 sion to his features ; and he was, indeed, of a reserv- 

 ed temper, and very silent ; nevertheless, among his 

 intimate friends, he could be lively and pleasant. 

 He was always self-directed, and secret in his deci- 

 sions, but inspired those under his command with 

 the utmost confidence, owing to his great bravery 

 and presence of mind. Lord Chatham character- 

 ized him as a " heaven-born general, who, without 

 experience, surpassed all the officers of his time." 

 His talents, in fact, were as great as his political mo- 

 rality was disputable ; and, as in the case of Warren 

 Hastings, the services done to his country have para- 

 lyzed the disposition to investigate too nicely into 

 the character of them. He was a member of parlia- 

 ment from 1760 to his death, but seldom spoke ; 

 though, when roused, he could display great elo- 

 quence. In private life, he was kind and exceedingly 

 liberal. He married the sister of the late astronomer- 

 royal, doctor Maskelyne, by whom he had two sons 

 and three daughters. 



CLOACA ; subterranean works in Rome, of stu- 

 pendous size and strength, constructed in the time of 

 the Tarquins, for conducting off the overflowings of 

 the Tiber, the waters from the hill, and the filth of 

 the city. The cloaca maxima, or principal branch, 

 received numerous other branches, between the Ca- 

 pitoline, Palatine and Quirinal hills. It has stood 

 2500 years,' surviving the earthquakes which have 

 shaken down the palaces, churches, and towers of the 



superincumbent city, and still stands as firmly as on 

 the day of its foundation. It is formed of three con- 

 centric rows of enormous stones, piled above each 

 oilier without cement. The height, inside, is 18 Ro- 

 man palms, and the width about the same. 



CLOCK. For many inventions which do honour 

 to the human mind, we are indebted to the monks of 

 the middle ages, who, in their seclusion, free from 

 the necessity of providing for their support, employ- 

 ed the time during which they were not engaged in 

 their devotions in the practice of various arts, lx)th 

 useful and useless. Among the inventions which we 

 owe to them are clocks, or time-keepers, which are 

 set in motion by wheels, pendulums, and steel 

 springs. The word horologium was in use, even 

 among the ancients ; and it might almost be inferred, 

 from many expressions, that they possessed instru- 

 ments similar to our pocket watches and chamber 

 clocks. It is, however, certain, that their time- 

 pieces were sun-dials, hour-glasses, and clepsydrae. 

 The latter Julius Caesar brought with him from 

 Great Britain. It was a clepsydra which Cassiodo- 

 rus, in the sixth century, recommended to his monks, 

 when a cloudy sky prevented them from observing 

 their sun-dials. The gourmand Trimalchio, describ- 

 ed by Petronius, had a clepsydra in his dining-room, 

 and placed a trumpeter near it to announce the 

 hours. Vitruvius mentions an Alexandrian artist, 

 who, 140 years before our era, combined spring- 

 wheels with the clepsydra ; but the account is too 

 confused and incomplete to afford a correct idea of 

 its construction. In an old chronicle, it is related 

 that Charlemagne received a clock (see Automata) 

 from Haroun al Raschid in 809, to which small bells 

 were attached, and in which figures of horsemen, at 

 the hour of twelve, came forth through little doors, 

 and retired again. There is a more exact description 

 of this work of art in the Franconian annals, attri- 

 buted to Eginhard, hi which it is particularly said to 

 have been a clepsydra, and that, at the end of each 

 hour, little balls of metal fell upon a bell, and pro- 

 duced a sound. It is not probable that the clock 

 which Pacificus, arch-deacon of Verona, is said to 

 have invented in the ninth century, could have been 

 equal to our present clocks. The words on his tomb 

 are so indistinct that nothing positive can be inferred 

 from them. The discovery of clocks has likewise 

 been attributed to the famous Gerbert of Auvergno, 

 who afterwards became pope under the name of Syl- 

 vester II. , and died in 1003 ; but Ditmar of Merse- 

 burg, a trustworthy witness, only relates that Ger- 

 bert placed a horologium in Magdeburg for the em- 

 peror Otho, after observing, through a tube, the star 

 which guides the seamen. This must have been a 

 sun-dial, which Gerbert placed according to the 

 height of the pole. In the twelfth century, clocks 

 were made use of in the monasteries, which announced 

 the end of every hour by the sound of a bell, put in 

 motion by means of wheels. From this time for- 

 ward, the expression, " the clock has struck," is often 

 met with. The hand for marking the time is also 

 made mention of. Of William, abbot of Hirschau, 

 his biographer relates, that he invented a horologium 

 similar to the celestial hemisphere. Short as this ac- 

 count is, it still appears probable that this abbot was 

 the inventor of clocks, as he employed a person par- 

 ticularly in arranging his work, and keeping it in 

 order. This abbot died at the end of the eleventh 

 century. In the 13th century, there is again mention 

 of a clock, given by the sultan Saladin to the emperor 

 Frederic II. This was evidently put in motion by 

 weights and wheels. It not only marked the hours, 

 but'also the course of the sun, of the moon and the 

 planets in the zodiac. It is hardly prol)able that the 

 Saracens learned the art of clock-making from the 



