of African discovery. After the return of Captain Lyon from his unsuccessful attempt to penetrate Northern Africa, the government resolved to send out a second expedition to explore that country; and with this view Dr. Oudney was directed by Lord Bathurst to proceed as consul to Bornou in Central Africa; and Captain Clapperton and Colonel Denham were appointed to accompany him. They set out from Tripoli early in 1822, and advanced in a line nearly south to Mourzook which they reached on the 8th of April. Finding it impossible to proceed farther at this time, Denham returned to Tripoli, while Clapperton and Oudney made an excursion westward into the country of the Tuaricks, and penetrated as far as Ghraat, E. long. 11. Denham rejoined them in October; and on the 29th of November they set out for the kingdom of Bornou. On the 17th of February, they reached Kouka, the capital, which they made their headquarters for some months, undertaking occasional excursions to the south and west. On the 14th of December, Clapperton and Oudney quitted Kouka, for the purpose of exploring the course of the Niger. They reached Murmur in safety, but there Oudney breathed his last; and Clapperton, prosecuting his journey alone and in deep distress, succeeded in penetrating as far as Saccatoo, N. lat. 13, and E. long. 6½ , where he was obliged to turn back. On his return to Kouka, 8th July, he was rejoined by Denham, who had meanwhile been exploring the shores of the great lake Tchad, and scarcely recognized his emaciated friend. After a harassing journey across the desert, the enterprising travellers reached Tripoli, January 26, 1825, and thence proceeded to England, where they arrived on the 1st of June. The results of this expedition were published in a work entitled "Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the years 1821-24." Immediately after his return, Clapperton, who had been raised to the rank of commander, was engaged to undertake another expedition in company with Captain Pearce, R.N., Mr. Dickson, and Dr. Morrison, and attended by a youth, named Richard Lander, and two or three other servants. This time Clapperton resolved to penetrate into Africa from the Guinea coast. He left England on the 25th of August, 1825, and landed in the Bight of Benin on the 28th of November. The party commenced their journey into the interior on the 7th of December; but Pearce and Morrison soon sunk under the maladies of the country. The survivors, who met with great kindness from the natives, reached Katunga, the capital of Yariba, on the 15th of January, 1826, and soon after crossed the Niger at Broussa, the scene of Mungo Park's lamented death. They then proceeded to the great commercial town of Kano, which Clapperton had previously visited. Then turning westward, he went on to Saccatoo, the extreme point of his former expedition. It was his wish to obtain permission from Bello, the sultan of Saccatoo, to proceed to Timbuctoo and Bornou. But Bello was at this time carrying on a war with the sheik of Bornou, to whom Clapperton carried considerable presents from the king of England, and detained him for several months at Saccatoo. The vigorous constitution of the English traveller gave way under the effects of the climate, and privation, and vexation. He was attacked with dysentery, 13th March, and on the 13th of April, 1827, expired in the arms of his faithful attendant Lander. Captain Clapperton was admirably fitted, both bodily and mentally, for arduous and hazardous enterprises. He was tall, robust, and manly in his frame, and united indomitable courage and resolution to great gentleness and simplicity; though he failed in the main object of his expedition, he contributed greatly to our knowledge of Northern Africa.—(Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa, &c., by the late Commander Clapperton; Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa, by Richard Lander.)—J. T.
CLARAC, Charles Othon Frederic Jean Baptiste, Comte de, antiquarian and artist, born at Paris in June, 1777. Having quitted France on the breaking out of the Revolution, he took up his abode in Russia, devoting himself to study, and becoming a proficient in several languages. He accepted in 1808 the place of tutor in the family of Murat, king of Naples, and while thus employed had an opportunity of examining Pompeii, of which he published an account. In 1814 he went to Brazil attached to the embassy, and on his return was appointed keeper of that splendid collection of antiquities which enriches the museum of the Louvre. Having had his mind opened to the surprising excellence of ancient art, he resolved upon attempting a history of the subject. His work, derived from a study of the objects under his own care as well as from examinations of collections in other countries, is not considered to have exhausted so fertile a subject. He died in 1847.—J. F. C.
CLARE, John Fitzgibbon, first earl of, was born in 1749; a nd being destined by his father, an eminent barrister, to follow the same profession, he received a good education, and entered Trinity college, Dublin, where he was the contemporary and rival for academic honours of Grattan. When called to the bar, his energy, industry, and talent at once insured his success, and in 1777 he was elected to represent the university of Dublin, giving his support to the government. In 1784 Fitzgibbon was appointed attorney-general for Ireland, an office due as well to his high professional position as to his parliamentary services. His position was an arduous one, as it arrayed against him the popular opposition of the demagogues of the day; and he exhibited undoubtedly much wisdom, courage, and firmness in the discharge of his duties. In 1789 Fitzgibbon was promoted to the office of lord chancellor, and raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Fitzgibbon. Few men had to contend with greater political difficulties than the chancellor. Ireland was in a state of secret disorganization, that shortly was to eventuate in open rebellion; and no doubt the vigour and wisdom of his measures did much to keep the daring spirits of the day in check. In 1795 he was created Earl of Clare, and in 1799 his signal merits were rewarded by a peerage of the United Kingdom as Lord Fitzgibbon. Lord Clare was one of the most prominent and able advocates for the legislative union, which measure he did not long survive, dying in 1802. His intellect was rapid, clear, and full of power, but its power seems to have consisted more in sagacity and common sense than in depth or extraordinary comprehensiveness. Still, for mere intellect, he may be placed at the head of the eminent Irishmen amongst whom he was an actor. With profound, but rough and masculine strength of feeling, he was endowed with an amount of moral firmness and superiority to popular influences rarely found amongst public men. Few men have been more exposed to censure and calumny than Lord Clare; but we believe that, on the whole, those who carefully weigh his conduct will acquit him of the charges which his enemies were ever ready to bring against him. It is true his zeal may have been sometimes carried beyond the bounds of lenity, but it must be remembered that the crisis demanded strong action, and great allowance may be made in minor matters for one who, nearly alone in that trying time, stood firm and unappalled at the post of duty.—J. F. W.
CLARE, John, the peasant poet of Northamptonshire, was born at Helpstone on the 13th of July, 1793. His parents were very poor, and John was at an early age obliged to assist his father in the labours of the field. He was never sent to school; but when ten years of age he learned to read from an old dame who held her school in the church belfry, his earnings for five days in the week enabling him to attend school on the sixth. At a later period he was taught to write by a kind exciseman at Helpstone, named John Turnbull. At the age of thirteen Thomson's Seasons fell into his hands, and inspired the composition of his first verses, "The Morning Walk." In 1818 Clare, who was still engaged in the toilsome labours of the field, published his first volume of poems on "Rural Life." The volume was cordially reviewed in the Quarterly and other journals, and obtained for the author the liberal patronage of Lords Fitzwilliam, Spencer, and Exeter. In 1821 Clare published "The Village Minstrel;" in 1827 "The Shepherd's Calendar;" and in 1835 "The Rural Muse." A pure vein of genuine poetry and feeling runs through the whole of his verses; and his descriptions of nature are true and loving, and are clothed in picturesque and nervous language. Clare unfortunately embarked in some unsuccessful speculations, in which he lost his little all. He sunk in consequence into a deep melancholy, and was for many years a patient in the Northampton lunatic asylum. He died on the 19th of .May, 1864.—J. T.
CLARE or CLARA, St., founder of an order of nuns called after her name, was born at Assisi in Italy in 1193, and died in 1253. At the age of eighteen she fled from her parents, who were persons of rank, and placed herself under the care of St. Francis, who established her in a nunnery, which the fame of its superior soon crowded with ardent devotees. She was canonized two years after her death by Pope Alexander IV.
CLARENDON. See Hyde.
