the north of Ireland in 1760 or 1762. After receiving a very limited education he was apprenticed to a linen manufacturer, but, finding the employment uncongenial, he soon abandoned it, and devoted himself to study. His parents belonged to a Methodist congregation under the pastoral charge of Breedon, one of Wesley s earliest associates in the Methodist move ment, by whose advice young Clarke was sent to the school founded by Wesley at Kingswood, near Bristol. In 1782 he entered on the duties of the ministry, being appointed by Wesley to the Bradford (Wiltshire) circuit. His popu larity as a preacher was very great, and his influence in the denomination is indicated by the fact that he was three times chosen to be president of the Conference. He served twice on the London circuit, the second period being extended considerably longer than the rule allowed, at the special request of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who had employed him in the preparation of their Arabic Bible, He had found time during his itinerancy for diligent study of Hebrew and other Oriental languages, undertaken chiefly with the view of qualifying himself for the great work of his life, his Commentary on tJie Holy Scriptures, the first volume of which appeared in 1810, and the eighth and last in 1826. It is a work of much learning and ability, and it still possesses some value, though it is in groat part superseded by the results of later scholarship. Dr Clarke s other literary works were very numerous. In 1802 he published a Bibliographical Dictionary in six vol umes, to which he afterwards added a supplement. He was selected by the Records Commission to edit Rymer s Ftedera, a task for which he was not well qualified, and which he did not complete. He also wrote Memoirs of the Wesley Family (1823), and edited a large number of reli gious works. He died of cholera in London on the 16th August 1832. His Miscellaneous Works have been pub lished in a collected form in 13 vols., and a Life by
J. B. B. Clarke appeared in 1833.CLARKE, Edward Daniel (1769-1S22), LL.D., an English traveller, was born at Willingdon, Sussex, June 5, 1769. In 1786 he obtained the office of chapel clerk at Jesus College, Cambridge, but the loss of his father at this time involved him in many difficulties. In 1790 he took his degree, and soon after became private tutor to the Honour able Henry Tufton, nephew of the duke of Dorset. In 1792 he obtained an engagement to travel with Lord Berwick through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. After crossing the Alps, and visiting a few of the principal cities of Italy, including Rome, he repaired to Naples, where he remained nearly two years. Having returned to England in the summer of 1794, he became tutor in several distin guished families. In 1799 he set out with a Mr Cripps, on a tour through the Continent of Europe, commenc ing with Norway and Sweden, whence they proceeded through Russia and the Crimea to Constantinople, Rhodes, and afterwards to Egypt and Palestine. After the capitula tion of Alexandria, Clarke was of considerable use in securing for England the statues, sarcophagi, maps, manu scripts, ttc., which had been collected by the French savans. Greece was the country next visited. From Athens the travellers proceeded by land to Constantinople, and after a short stay in that city, directed their course homewards through Rumelia, Austria, Germany, and France. Clarke, who had now obtained considerable reputation, took up his residence at Cambridge, and there he continued chiefly to reside till the day of his death. He received the degree of LL.D. shortly after his return, on account of the valuable donations, includiug a colossal statue of the Eleusinian Ceres, which he had made to the university. He was also presented to the college living of Ilarlton, to which, four years later, his father-in-law added that of Yeldham. Towards the end of 1808 Clarke was appointed to the professorship of mineralogy, then first instituted. Nor was his perseverance as a traveller other wise unrewarded. The MSS. which he had collected in the course of his travels were sold to the Bodleian Library for 1000 ; and by the publication of his travels he realized altogether a clear profit of 6595. Besides lecturing on mineralogy and discharging his clerical duties, Dr Clarke eagerly prosecuted the study of chemistry, and made several discoveries, principally by means of the gas blowpipe, which he had brought to a high degree of per fection. His health gave way under too ardent study ; and after a short illness he expired at London, March 9, 1822. In all the relations of life Dr Clarke was a most amiable man ; and his enthusiasm was united with a great capacity for enduring long-continued exertion, both mental and physical. The following is a list of his principal works:—
Testimony of Authors respecting the Colossal Statue of Ceres in the Public Library, Cambridge, 8vo, 1801-3; The Tomb of Alexander, a Dissertation on the Sarcophagus brought from Alex andria, and now in the Uritish Museum, 4to, 1805 ; A Methodical Distribution of tJie Mineral Kingdom, fol., 1807 ; A Description of the Greek Marbles brought from the Shores of the Euxine, Archi pelago, and Mediterranean, and deposited in the University Library, Cambridge, 8vo, 1809 ; Travels in various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 4to, 1810-1819.
lish philosopher and divine, was the son of Edward Clarke, alderman of Norwich, who had represented that city in parliament for several years. He was born October 11, 1675 ; and having finished his education at the free school of Norwich in 1691, removed thence to Caius College, Cambridge, where his uncommon abilities soon began to display themselves. Though the philosophy of Descartes was at that time the reigning system at the university, yet Clarke easily mastered the new system of Newton, and contributed greatly to the spread of the Newtonian philo sophy by publishing an excellent translation of Rohault s Physics with notes, which he finished before he was twenty- two years of age. The system of Rohault was founded entirely upon Cartesian principles, and was previously known only through the medium of a rude Latin version. Clarke not only gave a new translation, but added to it such notes as were calculated to lead students insensibly to other and truer notions of science. " The success," says Bishop Hoadley, " answered exceedingly well to his hopes ; and he may justly be styled a great benefactor to the university in this attempt." It continued to be used as a text-book in the university till supplanted by the treatises of Newton, which it had been designed to introduce. Whiston relates that, in 1697, he met young Clarke (at that time chaplain to Moore, bishop of Norwich), then wholly unknown to him, at a coffee-house in that city, where they entered into conversation about the Cartesian philosophy, particularly Rohault s Physics, which Clarke s tutor, as he tells us, had put him upon translating. i; The result of this conversation was," says Whiston, " that I was greatly surprised that so young a man as Clarke then was should know so much of those sublime discoveries, which were then almost a secret to all but to a few particular mathe maticians. Nor do I remember," continues he, " above one or two at the most, whom I had then met with, that seemed to know so much of that philosophy as Clarke." This translation of Rohault was first printed in 1697, 8vo. There have been four editions of it : the last and best is that of 1718, which has the following title : Jacoli Kohaulti Physica. Latine vertit, rccensiiti, et ulerioribus jam Annotationibus, ex illustrissimi Isaaci Newtoiti Philo- sophia maximum parterti haustis, amplificavit et ornavit S. Clarke, S.P.T. Accedunt etiam in hac quarta editionc nova;
aliquot tabulte ceri incises et Annotationes multum sunt