EARLY LIFE. 39 



who had buildings to erect on their estates. In and 

 near London those most remarkable are Caen Wood, 

 the villa of Lord Mansfield, and Lansdowne House, 

 formerly Bute House.""" They took part in Parliament 

 with the Whigs, which lost them the King's (George 

 III.) office of architect. They represented the county 

 of Kinross, as did a younger member of the family, 

 who afterwards was Chief Judge of the Jury Court 

 in Scotland. Of the Clerks, the father of Lord Eld in. 

 (Scotch judge) married an Adam ; he was author of 

 the system of naval tactics adopted with such signal 

 success in the navy. Sir Howard Douglas has denied 

 this as regards Eodney's battle in 1782 his father, 

 Sir C. Douglas, having been captain of the fleet. 

 But the fact is undeniable that Clerk had brought 

 his plan to maturity, and communicated the parti- 

 culars to several persons, long before Eodney's action, 

 and while Eodney was abroad ; he having gone to the 

 West Indies in January 1780, and Clerk, as he states 

 in the preface to his book, having gone to London 

 in 1779, when he met by appointment Mr E. 

 Atkinson, Admiral Eodney's particular friend, and 

 Sir Charles Douglas, his captain, to whom he detailed 

 and explained every part of his system, for the ex- 

 press purpose of having it communicated to the 

 Admiral before his departure with the fleet. Mr 



* Of the two brother architects, Robert and James, a good account is 

 given in the fragment of a general biographical dictionary by the Society 

 for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The well-known fagade of the 

 Adelphi, off the Strand, has its name to commemorate the joint work of 

 the brethren. 



