"A Classical and Elementary Manual of Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology, containing an account of all the parts of plants, and their functions." It is illustrated by eight lithographic plates, containing one hundred and sixty figures, and is preceded by a small Flora of France.—J. H. B.
CLERISSEAU, Charles Louis, an architect and painter in water colours, born in Paris, who came over to England with Robert Adams the architect. He made the drawings for the "Ruins of Spalatro," &c., published in 1764. On the bankruptcy of Adams he returned to France, where he published "Antiquités de France;" "Monumens de Nimes," and other works. In 1783 he was appointed architect to the empress of Russia. He is noted for his very excellent water-colour drawings, which are highly prized. He died in Paris in 1820, in his ninety-ninth year.—W. T.
CLERKE, George, an English navigator who was born in 1741. He was educated at the marine academy of Portsmouth, and at an early age went to sea, where he distinguished himself by his intrepidity and zeal. In June, 1764, he entered as midshipman on board the Dolphin, and made his first voyage round the world under the command of Commodore Byron. He undertook a second voyage in 1768 with Captain Cook in the Endeavour as assistant-boatswain's mate. In 1771 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and during the remainder of his life was associated on the most intimate terms with his illustrious commander. He accompanied him a second time in the Resolution in 1772; and again in 1776, as commander of the Discovery, he joined Cook in his last voyage. On the death of that intrepid navigator, 14th February, 1779, Captain Clerke assumed the command of the expedition, and displayed great prudence and energy in the critical circumstances in which he was placed. After quitting Owhyhee he made some exploratory researches among the other Sandwich islands; and in spite of the feeble state of his health, he resolutely persisted in carrying out the object of the expedition by visiting Kamtschatka and Behring's Straits. On the 28th of March he reached the bay of St. Peter and St. Paul, and after spending some time in repairing and victualling his ships, he proceeded to follow out the attempt to discover the north-east passage; but finding it impossible to penetrate through the ice, either on the coast of America or that of Asia, Captain Clerke was compelled to return to the southward, and on the 22nd of August, 1779, he died of consumption at the age of thirty-eight. Although the voyage was thus unfortunate as regards the two commanders, it made a great addition to our knowledge of the earth's surface. One of the islands near the entrance of the North Sea, discovered by Captain Cook in 1778, was named by him Clerke's island after his colleague.—J. T.
CLERK, John, an English Roman catholic divine, who was at one time chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey. He was deputed by Henry VIII. to present to Leo X. the treatise of the king against Luther, which obtained for Henry the title of Defender of the Faith. On his return in 1523 he was nominated bishop of Bath and Wells. He was subsequently employed by Henry in negotiating with the duke of Cleves regarding the divorce of his sister Anne. The bishop died in 1540.—J. T.
CLERK, John, of Eldin, N.B., author of a famous essay "On Naval Tactics, Systematical and Historical, with Explanatory Plates." In this work is embodied and explained the celebrated naval manœuvre, technically called "breaking the line," which was employed for the first time by Lord Rodney in 1782, and led to his decisive victory over the French under De Grasse in the West Indies, and was adopted with invariable success by Lord Howe, Nelson, and others during the war with France. Mr. Clerk's friends claim for him the invention of this manœuvre. They affirm that he first broached his notions on this subject in 1779, and that, in the following year, he mentioned his plan to Mr. Richard Atkinson, the particular friend of Admiral Rodney, by whom it was communicated to that distinguished officer. On the other hand, this view has been zealously controverted by General Sir Howard Douglas, who affirms that Mr. Clerk's essay could not have been communicated to Lord Rodney before his engagement with the French fleet. It is curious that the author of this ingenious essay had never made a single voyage. Mr. Clerk was a zealous antiquarian. He died in 1812.—(See Scott's Life by Lockhart, vol. i.; Edinburgh Review, vol. vi. p. 301.)—J. T.
CLERK, John, Lord Eldin, a distinguished Scottish lawyer, son of the preceding, was born in 1757. He was educated at first with the view to a career in India; but afterwards turning his attention to the law, he was called to the bar at Edinburgh in 1785. His success there was striking; but being a liberal in politics, he was excluded from holding any of the great offices, except for a short time that of solicitor-general for Scotland, under the coalition administration of 1805, Henry Erskine being lord-advocate. After Erskine had retired from practice, and Blair, Hope, Boyle, and one or two others, had been raised to the bench. Clerk remained undisputed leader of the bar; the next after him being Cranstoun, who used generally to be retained on the other side; and until about 1820, when his faculties began to fail, he was in the receipt of one of the largest professional incomes ever earned in a Scotch court. In personal appearance, as well as in manner of pleading, he was remarkable. His large head; broad, massy, projecting brow; eyes full and clear, overhung by rough shaggy eyebrows; a mouth with lines marking decision; and a lurking sense of humour—spoke to great intellectual vigour. His frame was robust and full of nerve, and a slight lameness in one limb scarcely disfigured him. When pleading, so long as he was unexcited he was slow, distinct, sensible, but nothing more. Once roused, and no man was more easily roused, the words flowed in a torrent of invective; sarcasm and ridicule were heaped on his opponent, and even launched at the bench if he were crossed. His powers of reasoning at the same time were strong, his knowledge of law vast, and he never applied either better than when hurried away by this enthusiasm. But he was very unequal. Few great counsel, it is said, ever made so many poor appearances. From his hastiness and love of opposition, it may easily be believed that he delighted in paradox, and the more he was thwarted, the more strongly would he insist that he was right. When he spoke, crowds gathered to hear him, and it was rare that some piece of brilliant sarcasm or strong humour did not reward them. His hearers relished it none the less that he delivered it in his native Scotch, which with him, however, was tainted with nothing vulgar. His fame extended beyond the courts of law. Although a man so fond of opposition could hardly have been expected to have adopted the politics of those in power, the liberality of his principles had a deeper foundation, and formed part of him. His courage in maintaining them was everywhere respected. He was known as the man who, after Henry Erskine, was the boldest in the popular cause. The threats and allurements of the Dundases and the other tory lawyers who then monopolized power and patronage, had no influence over him, and his example had doubtless effect on others in lower ranks. The parliament house then was one of the few places having an air of publicity, where opinion was freely expressed. When Clerk first entered on life the opposition press had hardly a respectable writer, the terrors of the law of libel hung over it, and public meetings were unknown. Certainly some of the merit of producing that change which he lived to see, must be attributed to the bold, able, and outspoken lawyer. Among his merits, also, it must not be forgotten that he steadily supported law reform. In private life Clerk was almost a different man from what he was in public. Cultivating literature of all kinds, he was passionately devoted to the fine arts. He had great knowledge of painting, was himself a clever drawer and etcher, and also modelled occasionally. A great part of his income was devoted to the formation of a fine private gallery of pictures and of other objects of art, the benefits of which he was far from confining to himself. In times when everyone was social in Edinburgh, he was a favourite with its best society. In his earlier days he would remember when every citizen in Edinburgh, from the judges downwards, spent some portion of his evening in some club or place of public entertainment. In his later days this spirit had not died, though its form had somewhat altered. The age of exclusiveness had not begun. "People visit each other in Edinburgh," said the author of Peter's Letters writing about 1816, "with all the appearance of cordial familiarity, who, if they lived in London, would imagine their difference of rank to form an impassable barrier." This freedom extended to all circles. The literary men, among whom were conspicuous Scott and Jeffrey, and the host of rival contributors to the Edinburgh Review and to Blackwood's Magazine, with Dugald Stewart and other professors in the university, did not find themselves too enlightened for their fellows; and, while they raised the whole tone of society, in turn profited themselves by an ever fresh knowledge of human nature and
