CLERK
51
CLERKS
Clerk, John, Bishop of Bath and Wells; date of
birth unlcnown; d. 3 January, 1541. He was edu-
cated at Cambridge (B.A., 1499; M.A., 1502) and
Bologna, where he became Doctor of Laws. When he
returned to EnRJand he attached himself to Cardinal
VVolsey, and much preferment followed. He became
Rector of Hothfield, Kent, 150S; Master of the Maison
Dieu at Dover, 1509; Rector of Portishead (Somer-
set) 151.3; U'ychurch (Kent), West Tarring (Sussex),
and Charlton, all in 1514; South Molton (Devonshire)
and Archdeacon of Colohester, 1519; Dean of Windsor
and jvidge in the Court of Star Chamber, 1519.. He
was also Dean of tlie King's Chapel. He was useful
in diplomatic commissions both to Wolsey and the
king. In 1521 he was appointed ambassador to the
Papal Court, in which capacity he presented King
Henry's book against Luther to the pope in full con-
sistory. He acted as Wolsey's agent in Rome in the
conclave on the death of Leo X. He returned to Eng-
land to be appointed Master of the Rolls in October,
1 522, which office he held till 9 October, 1 523. When Wolsey resigned the See of Bath and Wells, in 1523, Clerk was appointed bishop in his stead. As bishoj}- elect he went on another political embassy to Rome, where he received episcopal consecration, 6 December,
1523. He remained in Rome for two years and once more unsuccessfully represented Wolsey's interests at the conclave in which Clement VII was elected pope. He left Rome in November, 1525, but was so useful as a diplomatic agent tliat he was never long in England, and his diocese was administereil by his two suffragan bishoi)s. When the question of the royal divorce was raised Clerk was appointed as one of the queen's coimsellors, but Wolsey )iersuaded him to agree on her behalf that she should witlidraw from proceedings at Rome. Afterwards he joined in pro- nouncing sentence of tiivorce, and is believed to have a.ssisted Cranmer in works on the sujiremacy and tlie divorce. His last embassy was in 1540, to the Duke of Cleves, to explain the king's divorce of Anne of Cleves. On his return he was taken ill at Dunkirk, not without suspicion of poison, but he managed to reach England, though only to die. He lies buried at St. Botplph's, Aklgate, not at Dunkirk, as sometimes stated.
Clerk wrote " Oratio pro Henrico VIII apud Leonem pontif. Max. in exhibitione operis regii contra Luth- erum in consistorio habitam" (London, 1541), trans- lated into English by T. W. (Thomas Warde?), 1687.
Leltera and State Papers of Henry VIII (London, 1S30-52); Cherbury, Life and Reign of Henri/ Vlll (London, 1714); Hunt in Did. of Nat. Biogr.. s. v.; i)ODD. Church Hist. (Lon- don, 1737), I, lSl-2; Coopeh, Athcnte. Cantab. (Cambridge, 1.S5S), I, 77; GiLLOw, Bibl. Diet. Kng. Calh. The account ..f Pitts, De Ang. Scriploribus (Paris, 1619), is erroneous.
Edwin Burton.
Clerke, .■Vgnes Mary, astronomer, b, at Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland. 10 February, 1842; d. in Lon- don, 20 January, 1907. At the very beginning of her study she showed a marked interest in astronomy, and before she was fifteen years old she hatl begun to write a history of that science. In 1861 the family moved to Dublin, and in 1S63 to Queenstown. Sev- eral years later she went to Italy where she stayed until 1877, chiefly at Florence, studying at the public library and preparing for literary work. In 1877 she settled in London. Her first important article. "Co- pernicus in Italy", was published in the Edinburgh Review" (October, 1877). She achieved a world- wide reputation in 1885, on the appearance of her exhaustive treatise, " A Popular History of .\stronomy in the Nineteenth Century". This was at once recog- nized as an authoritative "work. Miss Clerke was not a practical astronomer; in 1888, however, she spent three months at the Cape Observatory as the guest of the director. Sir David Gill, and his wife. There she became sufficient Ij' familiar with spectroscopic work to be enabled to write about this newer branch of the
science with increased clearness and confidence. In
1892 the Royal Institution awarded to her the Acton-
ian Prize of one hundred guineas. As a member of
the British Astronomical Association she attended its
meetings regularly, as well as those of the Royal
Astronomical Society. In 1903, with Lady Iluggins,
she was elected an honorary member of the Royal
Astronomical Society, a rank previously held only by
two other women, Caroline Herschel and Mary Somer-
ville. Her work is remarkable in a literary as well as
in a scientific way. She compiled facts with untiring
diligence, sifted them carefully, discussed them with
judgment, and suggested problems and lines of future
research. All this is expressed in polished, eloquent,
and licautiful language. With this scientific tempera-
ment fihe loiiihined a noble religious nature that made
her acknowli'dge "with supreme conviction" the in-
sufficiency of science to know and predict the possible
acts of the Divine Power. Her works, all published
in London, include, "A Popular History of Astron-
omy in the Nineteenth Century" (1885, 4th revised
ed., 1902); "The System of theStars" (1890; 2nd ed.,
1905); "The Hersehels and Modern Astronomy"
(1895); "The Concise Knowledge Astronomy" — in
conjunction with J. E. Gore and A. Fowler (1898);
"Problems in Astrophysics" (1903); "Modern Cos-
mogonies" (1906). To the "Edinburgh Review"
she contributed fifty-five articles, mainly on subjects
connected with astrophysics. The articles on astron-
omers in the " Dictionary of National Biography";
on "Laplace" and some on other astronomers and
astronomical subjects in the "Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica"; and on "Astronomy" in The Catholic
Encyclopedi.4, were from her pen, as well as numer-
ous contributions to "Knowledge", "The Observa-
tory", the London "Tablet", and other periodicals.
Ellen Mary, sister of preceding, journalist and novelist, b. at Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland, 1840; d. in London, 2 March, 1906. A gifted and accomplished writer, she was for many years an edito- rial writer for the London "Tablet". Her knowledge of the intricacies of the religious and political prob- lems of Continental Europe was remarkable. A seven years' stay in Italy made her intimately familiar not only with its language and hterature, but also with every phase of its public life. She contributed a series of stories, perfect in Italian phrase, idiom, and local colour, to periodicals in Florence. Her pamph- lets, "Jupiter and His System" and "The Planet Venus", were valuable additions to the literature of popular astronomy. In 1899 she published "Fable and Song in Italy", a collection of essays and studies and specimens of Italian poetry rendered into Eng- lish in the original metres. A novel, "Flowers of Fire" (1902), was her last work.
The Tablet, files (London, March. 1906; January, 1907); Obituary in Monthly A'olices of the K. A. S. (London, 1907); Macpherson in Popular Astronomy (Lontion. March, 1907); The Messenger Magazine (New Yorii, March, 1907).
WiLLI.VM Fox.
Clerks of St. Viator. See Viator, St., Clerks of.
Clerks of the Common Lite. See Common Life,
Bretuhkn of the.
Clerks Regular. — Canonical Slahts. — By clerks regular are meant those bodies of men in the Church who by the very nature of their institute unite the perfection of the religious state to the priestly office, i. e. who while being e.ssentially clerics, devoted to the exercise of the ministry in preaching, the administra- tion of the sacraments, the education of youth, and other spiritual and corporal works of mercy, are at the same time religious in the strictest sense of the word, professing solemn vows, and living a community life according to a rule solemnly approved of by the sov- ereign i)ontiff'. In the "Corpiis Juris Canonici"the term clerks regular is often used for canons regular, and
