66o 
C L E 
A nice and juft regard to his fame made him deftroy every 
paper which he thought, ufelefs or unfinilhed, fo that he 
left behind him none of the rubbilh which crowds the 
defks of fo many great authors, and furnilhes matter for 
polthumous degradation. In reading his writings to 
others, of which he was fond, if he difcovered that the 
hearer was the lead embarraffed about the meaning of a 
paflage, he direftly altered it ; and he paid ready atten¬ 
tion to every critical remark. When he had made many 
corrections in a manufcript, he employed an amanuenfis 
to tran.lei ibe it, and then he would correft it again. He 
told M. de Sechelles, that the Etudes de la Nature were 
written over eighteen times. He fpoke with rapture of 
the piealines derived from literature; and he preferred 
tlit books,to theeonverfation, of learned men, the latterof 
which, he laid, had almoft always difappointed him. Hence 
he himfelf Varely attempted more than to trifle in com¬ 
pany.* He maintained a correlpondence with'feveral per- 
ibris of rank and eminence, among whom one of the great- 
elc in every view was the late emprefs of Ruflia, who ably 
criticifed fome of his opinions, and favoured with great 
zeal in her dominions his refearciies in natural hiltory. 
Notvvithlfanding great fufferings from the Hone and gra¬ 
vel, he prolonged his life to his eighty-firft year, dying 
on April 16th, 1788, in the full polfefiion of his fenfes, 
His funeral at St. Medard’s was attended by a great con- 
courf'e of academicians, and perfons of rank and literary 
diftinotion. He left one lbn, who fell a viftim to the 
atrocities under Robefpierre. 
CLE'REVAUX, a town of France, in the department 
of the Aveiron, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift 
of Rhode-/.: eight miles north-weft of Rhodez. 
CLERFF, or Clervaux, a town of the Netherlands, 
in the duchy of Luxemberg: ten miles north of Luxem¬ 
burg. 
CLERGOU'X, a town of France in the department of 
the Correze, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
Tulle: fix miles north-eaft of Tulle. 
CLER'GY,/ \_derge, Fr. clerus> Lat. Gr.] That 
venerable body of clerks or ecclefiaftics, who are de clero 
Domini, of our I.ord’s lot or Hi a re, as the tribe of Levi was 
in Judaea; and are feparate from the noife and buftle of 
the world, that they may have leifure to lpend their time 
in the duties of the Chriftian religion. The clergy were 
formerly divided into regular and lecular; thole being 
regular which lived under certain rules, and of fome reli¬ 
gious order, and were called men of religion, or the re¬ 
ligious; fuch as abbots, priors, monks, See. Thefecular 
were thole that lived not under any certain rules of the 
religious arders; as bilhops, deans, parfons,.&c. Now, 
the word clergy comprehends all perfons in holy orders, 
and in eccleftaitical offices, viz. archbilhops, bilhops, deans, 
and; chapters, archdeacons, rural deans, parfons, (who are 
either reftors or vicars,) arid curates. 
The clergy have feveral privileges allowed them by our 
municipal’laws, and had formerly much greater, which 
were abridged at the time of the reformation, on account 
of the ill ufe the then clergy had endeavoured to make 
of them ; for the laws having exempted them from almolt 
every perfonal duty, they attempted a total exemption 
from every lecular tie. The'perfonal exemptions, how¬ 
ever, for the moft part continue: a clergyman cannot be 
compelled to ferve on a-jury, nor to appear at a.court-leet, 
or view of frank-piedge, which almolt every other perfon 
is obliged to do ; but, if a layman is fumtnoned on a ju¬ 
ry, and before the trial takes orders, he (ball, notwith- 
itanding, appear and be fworn. 4. Leon. 290. A clergy¬ 
man cannot be chofen to any temporal office, as bailiff, 
reeve, conftabie, or the like, in regard of his own con¬ 
tinual attendance on the facred funftiora. Finch. L. 88. 
Turing his attendance on divine fervice lie is privileged 
from arrefts in civil fuits; for a reasonable time, eutsdo, 
redeundo, & morando, to perform fervice. Scats. 56 E. Ilf. 
c. 51. j R. II. c. 16. In cafes of felony he lhall have be¬ 
ne fit of his clergy, without being branded; and may Uke- 
C L E 
wife have it more than once. Clergymen alfo have cer¬ 
tain dilabilities ; it was long doubted how far they were 
capable of fitting as members of the houle of commons ; 
but a bill has juft palled the two houfes to make the law 
clear upon the fubjeft ; yet, as it had not received the 
royal affent when this article went to preis, (June 26, 
1801,) we cannot with propriety infert any of its enact¬ 
ments. 
By flat. 21 H. VIII. c. 13. the reftor is not to reftde 
out of his parilh for a month together, on penalty of terl 
pounds a month. Several actions have been lately brought 
upon this aft, and verdifts obtained; but a bill is now 
pending in parliament to relieve the clergy from the 
inconvenience of it, or at leaft to qualify its rigour 
under peculiar cireumltances. By the fame aft the clergy- 
are not, in general, allowed to take any lands or tene¬ 
ments to farm, on pain of ten pounds per month, and to¬ 
tal avoidance of the leafe, unlefs where they have not fuf- 
ficient glebe, and the land is taken for the neceffary ex- 
pences of their houiehold ; nor, on like penalty, to keep 
any tanhoute or brewhoufe y nor may they engage in any 
trade, or fell merchandize, on forfeiture of treble value. 
Yet it appears that a clergyman may trade lo as. to be¬ 
come a bankrupt: in the London Gazette, May 21, i8oj, 
the name of the reverend fir Henry Clerke, miller, is among 
the bankrupts. See the article Bankrupt, vol. ii. p. 682. 
and Cowp. 745. 
By the ftatute called articuli cleri, 9 E. II. flat. 1. c. 3. 
if any perfon lay violent hands on a clerk, the amends for 
the peace broken lhall be before the king, that is, by in- 
diftment, and the affailment may alfo be fued before' the 
bilhop, that excommunication or bodily penance may be 
imposed; which, if the offender will redeem by money, 
it may be fued for before the bifhop. 4 Comm. 217. 
Although the clergy claimed an exemption from all 
fecular jurifdiftion, yet Mat, Paris tells us, that loon after 
William I. had conquered Harold, he lubjefted the bi- 
fhoprics 'and abbeys who held per baroniain, that they 
ftiould be no longer free from military fervice; and for 
that purpofe he in an arbitrary manner regiftered how 
many lbldiers every bifhopric and abbey ftiould provide, 
and lend to him. and his fuccelfors in time of war; and, 
having placed thefe regifters of ecclefiaftical fervitude in 
his treafury, thole who were aggrieved, departed out of 
the realm; but the clergy were not, till then, exempted 
from all fecular fervice; becaule, by the laws of Edgar, 
they were bound to obey the lecular magiftrate in three 
cafes, viz. upon any expedition to the wars, arid to con¬ 
tribute to tlie building and repairing of bridges, and of 
cattles for the defence of the kingdom. It is probable 
that, by expedition to the wars, it was not at that time 
intended they ftiould perfonally ferve, but contribute to¬ 
wards the charge; one they mull do, as appears by the 
petition to the king, anno 1267, viz. Ut omnes cl^rici te- 
nentes per baroniam vcl feudtim laicum, perj'oncditer arrnati 
procedercnt contra regis. ad-uerfarios, <vel tantum fernsitium 
in e.xpediiione regis in uenirent, quantum pertineret ad tan- 
tarn terrain mel tenementum. But their anfwer was, that 
they ought not to light with the military but with the 
Spiritual fword, that is, with prayers and tears ; that they 
were to maintain peace and not war, and that their baro¬ 
nies were founded on charity ; for which reafon they 
ought not to perforin any military fervice. 
That the clergy had greater privileges and exemptions 
at common law than the laity, is certain ; for they are 
confirmed to them by Magna Cliarta, and ocher ancient 
ftatutes; but thefe privileges are in a great meafure loft, 
the clergy being included under general words in later 
ftatutes; fo that clergymen are liable to all public charges 
impofed by aft of parliament, where they are not parti¬ 
cularly excepted as above ftated. Their bodies are not 
to be taken upon ftatutes-merchant or ftaple, &c. for the 
writ to take the body of the conufor is fi laic us fit ; arid, 
if the Iheriff, or any other officer, arreft a clergyman upon 
any fuch procefs, it is faid an aftionof falfe imprifonment 
