390 



CLONMEL CLOWES. 



the diocese are united into fourteen. The bishop's 

 palace is adjacent to the vi!' 



CLONMEL; a market-town anil parish of Ire- 

 land, the latter partly in the county of Waturford, 

 but chieily in that of Tipperary. The town is si- 

 tuated twenty-three miles W. by N., from Wuur- 

 fordand eighty-two S. W. by S. from Dublin, upon 

 the river Suir, which is navigable by large barges 

 hence to Carrick and to Wuterford. It consists of 

 several good streets, a martcet-house, court-house, 

 gaol, church, Roman Catholic chapel, and other 

 public buildings ; and has a handsome bridge of 

 twenty arches across the Suir. It is a town of 

 ancient foundation, built previous to the first 

 Danish irruption, and originally protected by walls. 

 Oliver Cromwell demolished the castle and fortifi- 

 cations after he became master of the place. The 

 government of the town is vested in a mayor, sheriff, 

 recorder, two bailiffs, and a town-clerk; the living 

 is an entire rectory in the diocese of Lismore and 

 arch-diocese of Cashel. The town returns one mem- 

 ber to parliament. The manufacture of woollens 

 used to be carried on here, but is now nearly ex- 

 tinct. A factory for weaving cotton has recently 

 been established. There is a large carrying-trade 

 of agricultural produce from this place to the sea- I 

 port of Waterford, by means of the river Suir. 

 The tide, which flows a little higher than the town, 

 facilitates the inland navigation. Clonmel is a 

 permanent military station, and the assize-town of 

 the county of Tipperary. There are some exten- 

 sive breweries and distilleries in Clonmel and the 

 neighbourhood. The town is also head quarters 

 for Mr Bianconi's extensive car establishment, and 

 altogether has the air of a thriving district. Popu- 

 lation of the parish 20,035, of which 13,505. are 

 in the town. Lawrence Sterne was a native of 

 Clonmel. 



CLOWES, JOHN, M. A., rector of St John's 

 church, Manchester, a zealous apostle of the doc- 

 trines of Emanuel Swedenhorg, was born in 

 Manchester, Oct. 20, 1743, O. S., the fourth child 

 of Joseph Clowes, Esq., barrister, who for many 

 years practised in that town and its neighbourhood, 

 and Katherine, daughter of a respectable clergy- 

 man named Edwards, rector of Llanbedar, near 

 Ruthin, in Wales. He was educated at the gram- j 

 mar school of Sal ford ; and at the age of eighteen 

 was entered a pensioner of Trinity college. In 

 the year 1766, when he took his degree, he was 

 the eighth wrangler on the Tripos paper, proving 

 that he was no ordinary proficient in mathematical 

 attainments ; and that he was equally distinguished 

 as a classical scholar, is shown by his gaining one 

 of the two prizes given by the members of the uni- 

 versity to the middle bachelors, for the best disser- 

 tations in Latin prose ; and again, the following 

 year, when he was senior bachelor, the first prize 

 for a similar dissertation. In the midst of this 

 career of academical distinction, the church of St 

 John, Manchester, then building at the sole expense 

 of Edward Byrom, Esq., was offered him by the 

 patron, which he accepted ; and he continued its 

 rector, refusing more than one offer of high prefer- 

 ment in the church, for the term of sixty-two 

 years. 



In the spring of the year 1773, he became ac- ' 

 ^uainted with the theological writings of the hon. 

 Emanuel Swedenborg. "The delight, : 'he said, "pro- 

 iluced in his mind by the first perusal of the work 

 entitled * Vera Christiana Relifjio,' no language 

 fould fully express ;" and from that hour he dedi- 



cated all his energies to the publication of these 

 doctrines, both in the pulpit and by the press. Fur 

 many years he was employed in translating them 

 from the original Latin ; and as each volume was 

 translated, it was printed by a society established 

 in Manchester under his auspices. This society led 

 to the formation of another in London, which is 

 still actively and busily engaged in printing and 

 circulating the writings of the hon. Emanuel Swed- 

 enborg. 



The literary labours of Mr Clowes were not, 

 however, confined to translations ; for he published 

 at different times many other works on sul< 

 connected with religion and philosophy, and all of 

 them agreeing with the views of his favourite 

 author; in whose sentiments he, to the last, en- 

 tirely acquiesced. His manly and explicit avowal 

 of-these sentiments produced opposite effects: while 

 in some it excited the spirit of persecution, in others 

 it was the subject of approbation and delight. Such 

 was the opposition at one time by a few of his par- 

 ishioners, that secret attempts were made to dispossess 

 him of his living : but the applications which were 

 made for this end were rendered abortive by the 

 bishop of his diocese, Dr Porteous, from his lord- 

 ship's conviction of his virtues and piety ; and his 

 worst enemies in a few years were changed into 

 admiring friends. Much obloquy was cast upon 

 him in consequence of his retaining his living after 

 his adoption of sentiments not in unison with the 

 articles of the established church ; but all this ori- 

 ginated in perfect ignorance of the man, and of the 

 motives of his conduct. It was not the emolu- 

 ments of the church that bound him to the esta- 

 blishment, but the supposition that he could be 

 more generally useful in the station which he was 

 called to fill in the order of providence. He pro- 

 fessed also a remarkable and strong attachment to the 

 forms of the establishment. At one time he enjoyed 

 sanguine but delusive expectations, that his opin- 

 ions would be universally adopted in the established 

 church, and he supposed that he should be able to 

 bring in all the stray sheep into his fold ; but he 

 lived long enough to see that this was a hasty and 

 a false conclusion. He certainly was the instru- 

 ment by which this class of Christians became suf- 

 ficiently numerous to form a separate denomination. 

 During his lifetime they consisted of two parties, 

 separatists and non-separatists. Those who at- 

 tached themselves to the church of England, under 

 the title of non-separatists, lost in him their centre 

 and leader. To his labours they, however, stand 

 indebted for the diffusion of those opinions not 

 only in this country, but throughout Europe, in 

 America, and in numerous parts of the world. If 

 Swedenborg is to be considered as the founder of 

 the sect, Mr Clowes, after him, must be considered 

 as his chief apostle. 



During the latter years of his life he resided 

 wholly at Warwick, blessing, to the last moments 

 of his consciousness, those around him, and blessed 

 by all who came within the circle of his affections. 

 He died May 29, 1831. His funeral took place on 

 the 9th of June. 



The following is a list of Mr Clowes's publica- 

 tions: "An Affectionate Address to the Clergy 

 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and lie- 

 land on the Theological Writings of Emanuel 

 Swedenborg," 8vo. " Dialogues on the Nature, 

 Design, and Evidence of the Writings of the hon. 

 Emanuel Swedenborg, with a brief account of 

 some of his Philosophical Works," 12mo. 1788. 



