in 1667 a commissioner for the treasury, and in 1668 treasurer of the household. In the Commons he supported the court, opposing the bill for frequent parliaments in 1668 and the Coventry Act (see Coventry, Sir John) in 1670.
Clifford was an ardent Roman Catholic, a supporter of the royal prerogative and of the French alliance. He regarded with favour the plan of seeking French assistance in order to force Romanism and absolute government upon the country, and his complete failure to understand the real political position and the interests of the nation is reflected in the advice he was said to have given to Charles, to accept the pension from Louis, and “be the slave of one man rather than of 500.” As one of the Cabal ministry, therefore, he co-operated very zealously with the king in breaking through the Triple Alliance and in effecting the understanding with France. He was the only minister besides Arlington entrusted with the secret treaty of Dover of 1670, signing both this agreement and also the ostensible treaty imparted to all the members of the Cabal, and did his utmost to urge Charles to join France in the attack upon the Dutch, whom he detested as republicans and Protestants. In 1672, during the absence of Arlington and Coventry abroad, Clifford acted as principal secretary of state, and was chiefly responsible for the “stop of the exchequer,” and probably also for the attack upon the Dutch Smyrna fleet. He was appointed this year a commissioner to inquire into the settlement of Ireland. On the 22nd of April he was raised to the peerage as Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, and on the 28th of November, by the duke of York’s interest, he was made lord treasurer; his conduct to Arlington, whose claims to the office he had pretended to press, was, according to Evelyn, the only act of “real ingratitude” in his career. Arlington, however, quickly discovered a means of securing Clifford’s fall. The latter was strongly in favour of Charles’s policy of indulgence, and supported the declaration of this year, urging the king to overcome the resistance of parliament by a dissolution. Arlington advocated the contrary policy of concession, and after Charles’s withdrawal of the declaration gave his support to the Test Act of 1673. Clifford spoke with great vehemence against the measure, describing it as “monstrum horrendum ingens,” but his speech only increased the anti-Roman Catholic feeling in parliament and ensured the passing of the bill. In consequence Clifford, as a Roman Catholic, followed the duke of York into retirement. His resignation caused considerable astonishment, since he had never publicly professed his religion, and in 1671 had even built a new Protestant chapel at his home at Ugbrook. According to Evelyn, however, his conduct was governed by a promise previously given to James. He gave up the treasuryship and his seat in the privy council in June. On the 3rd of July 1673 he received a general pardon from the king. In August he said a last farewell to Evelyn, and in less than a month he died at Ugbrook. In Evelyn’s opinion the cause of death was suicide, but his suspicions do not appear to have received any contemporary support. Clifford was one of the worst advisers of Charles II., but a sincere and consistent one. Evelyn declares him “a valiant, uncorrupt gentleman, ambitious, not covetous, generous, passionate, a most constant, sincere friend.” He married Elizabeth, daughter of William Martin of Lindridge, Devonshire, by whom he had fifteen children, four sons and seven daughters surviving him. He was succeeded as 2nd baron by Hugh, his fifth, but eldest surviving son, the ancestor of the present Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. (P. C. Y.)
CLIFTON, a suburb and residential district of Bristol, England,
adjoining it on the west; 122 m. W. of London by the Great
Western railway. The river Avon (q.v.) here runs in a gorge,
followed closely by a railway on either side, and having several
quarries, which have in a measure spoiled the beauty of its
hanging woods. At a height of 245 ft. above high water Isambard
Brunel’s famous suspension bridge bestrides this gorge. It was
begun in 1832 and completed in 1864. It has a span of 702 ft.,
and its total weight is 1500 tons, and it is calculated to bear a
burden of 9 tons per sq. in. The long famous hot springs of
Clifton, to which, in fact, the town was indebted for its rise,
issue from an aperture at the foot of St Vincent’s Rock, in the
portion of Clifton known as Hotwells. The water has a temperature
of about 76° F. A hydropathic establishment is attached
to them. Immediately above the suspension bridge the Clifton
Rocks railway ascends from the quays by the river-side to the
heights above. The Clifton and Durdham Downs (both on the
Gloucestershire side of the river), form the principal pleasure-grounds
of Bristol. They lie high above the river, extend for some
5000 acres, and command a beautiful prospect over the city, with
its picturesque irregular site and many towers, and over the
surrounding well-wooded country.
Three ancient British earthworks bear witness to an early settlement on the spot, and a church was in existence as far back as the time of Henry II., when it was bestowed by William de Clyfton on the abbot of the Austin canons in Bristol; but there are no longer any architectural vestiges of an earlier date than the 18th century. Clifton gives name to a Roman Catholic bishopric. Of the churches the most important are St Andrew’s parish church; All Saints, erected in 1863 after the designs of G. E. Street, and remarkable for the width of its nave and the narrowness of its aisles; and the Roman Catholic pro-cathedral church of the Holy Apostles, with a convent and schools attached. Clifton College, a cluster of buildings in Gothic style, was founded in 1862 by a limited liability company, and takes rank among the principal modern English public schools. Down the river from Clifton is Shirehampton, a favourite resort from Bristol.
CLIM (or Clym) OF THE CLOUGH, a legendary English archer, a supposed companion of the Robin Hood band. He
is commemorated in the ballad Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe
and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee. The three were outlaws who had
many adventures of the Robin Hood type. The oldest printed
copy of this ballad is dated 1550.
CLIMACTERIC (from the Gr. κλιμακτήρ, the rung or step of
a κλῖμαξ or ladder), a critical period in human life; in a medical
sense, the period known as the “change of life,” marked in
women by the menopause. Certain ages, especially those which
are multiples of seven or nine, have been superstitiously regarded
as particularly critical; thus the sixty-third and the eighty-first
year of life have been called the “grand climacteric.” The word
is also used, generally, of any turning-point in the history of a
nation, a career or the like.
CLIMATE AND CLIMATOLOGY. The word clima (from
Gr. κλίνειν, to lean or incline; whence also the English “clime,”
now a poetical term for this or that region of the earth, regarded
as characterized by climate), as used by the Greeks, probably
referred originally either to the supposed slope of the earth towards
the pole, or to the inclination of the earth’s axis. It was an
astronomical or a mathematical term, not associated with any
idea of physical climate. A change of clima then meant a change
of latitude. The latter was gradually seen to mean a change in
atmospheric conditions as well as in length of day, and clima thus
came to have its present meaning. “Climate” is the average
condition of the atmosphere. “Weather” denotes a single
occurrence, or event, in the series of conditions which make up
climate. The climate of a place is thus in a sense its average
weather. Climatology is the study or science of climates.
Relation of Meteorology and Climatology.—Meteorology and climatology are interdependent. It is impossible to distinguish sharply between them. In a strict sense, meteorology deals with the physics of the atmosphere. It considers the various atmospheric phenomena individually, and seeks to determine their physical causes and relations. Its view is largely theoretical. When meteorology (q.v.) is considered in its broadest meaning, climatology is a subdivision of it. Climatology is largely descriptive. It aims at giving a clear picture of the interaction of the various atmospheric phenomena at any place on the earth’s surface. Climatology may almost be defined as geographical meteorology. Its main object is to be of practical service to man. Its method of treatment lays most emphasis on the elements which are most important to life. Climate and crops, climate and industry, climate and health, are subjects of vital interest to man.
The Climatic Elements and their Treatment.—Climatology has
