Society to its subscribers. Of these letters there are two manuscripts, one in the British Museum (Cotton, Vitellius, A. xvii.), the other in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. The printed text is taken from a transcript by Mr. Giles, hnt the editor does not say on which of the manuscripts it is founded, nor does he furnish any biographical information respecting the writer, or guidance as to the date of the letters, which are arranged with an utter absence of chronological order. Anstruther's text has meny obvious misreadings, and omits several messages of considerable interest. One of these is an account of the origin of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, or at least, of its first introduction into England, which in the Cotton MS. is appended to the letter numbered xxi. by Anstruther. The pieces printed are forty in number, and include the letters of recommendation which Oshert took with him to Rome, and two rescripts from Pope Innocent II. One of Osbert's letters in this collection (ep. xxxiv.) is an account of the miracles of St. Æthelthryth, addressed tothe clergy of Ely, who had applied to him for information on the subject. Osbert enjoyed considerable reputation as a writer, and his letters show some literary ability, though their style is disfigured by excessive affectation of wit and display of classical learning.
By some authors Osbert de Clare is called Oshern, probably from a confusion with Osbern, prior of Canterbury, the biographer of St. Ælfheah. In Latin writers his surname appears variously as De Clara, De Clara Valle, Claranus, Caraensis, and Clarentius.
[Osbert's letters in Anstruther's Scriptores Monasteri, 109–263, and in Cotton MS., Vitellius A. xvii.; Leland's Comm. de Scriptoribus, 187; Pits, De Script. Angl. 204; Luard's Lives of Edward the Confessor, preface, xxv, xli; Thomas Wright's Biog. Lit. (Angle-Norman period), 318, 319; Addit. MS. 19165.]
CLARE, PETER (1738–1786), was a London surgeon who wrote several treatises advocating a method of administering calomel by friction within the mouth as a remedy for venereal diseases. A medal by T. Holloway was struck in Clare's honour in 1779, with a finely executed portrait on one side, and on the other the words alluding to Clare's method: ‘Artem medendi Remed. ore absorpt. invt et divulgt.’ His principal writings, most of which were translated into French, were: 1. ‘Essay on the Cure of Abscesses by Caustic, and on the Treatment of Wounds and Ulcers,’ London, 1778. 2. ‘Method of Curing the Lues Venerea by the Introduction of Mercury into the System through the Orifices of the Absorbent Vessels,’ London, 1780. 3. ‘Treatise on Gonorrhœa,’ London, 1780. He died at Rugby 30 March 1786.
[Clare's Works; European Magazine, 1786, ix. 303; information from Dr. Norman Moore.]
CLARE, Sir RALPH (1567–1670), an eminent royalist of Worcestershire, was the eldest son of Sir Francis Clare of Caldwall, and derived his pedigree from Osbert d°Abitot, who in the thirteenth century possessed various lands in that county. The estates descended in the female line to Simon Rice, a citizen of London, whose daughter and heiress married Simon Clare of Kidderminster, the father of Sir Francis Clare. Sir Ralph Clare was buried in the chancel of Kidderminster, where there is the following inscription: ‘Here lieth the body of the hon. Sir Ralph Clare, eldest son unto Sir Francis Clare in this county, servant unto Prince Henry, knight of the Bath at the coronation of King Charles I, whom he attended through all his glorious fortunes. Servant to King Charles the Second both in his banishment and return; who being zealous in his loyalty to his prince, exemplary in his charity to the distressed, and of known integrity to all men, full of days and fame departed this life the fourscore and fourth year of his age, and on 21st. April 1670.' In the cause of Charles he spent all his fortune. He took a prominent part in the defence of Worcester in 1642, and at the battle of Worcester in 1655 was taken prisoner and confined for a time in Worcester gaol. As his estates had been Ruined by his loyalty, a warrant was issued 30 Aug. 1664 for the payment to him of 3,000l. for services rendered to the last two kings (State Papers, Dom. 1663-4, p. 675). He was astrong supporter of episcopacy, and by his influence in Kidderminster did much to impede the labours of Richard Baxter, who says of him that he was the ruler of the vicar of Kidderminster, and all the business there was done by Sir Ralph Clare. At the Restoration he objected to Baxter’s retention of the living or curacy of Kidderminster, although Lord Clarendon engaged for a handsome stipend to be paid to Mr. Dance, the vicar. Baxter, though he suffered severely from Clare’s opposition, had a high appreciation of his character. He says: ‘He more to hinder my greater successes than a multitude of others could have done, though he was an old man of great courtship and civility, and very temperate as to diet, apparel and sports, and seldom would swear any louder than by his troth, and showed me much personal
