fied from serving by the corporation act, he not having taken the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the church of England,"—he pronounced in favour of religious liberty, and the judgment of the lower court was reversed. In the celebrated Douglas case, which was an appeal from a decision of the court of session, in favour of the duke of Hamilton, Lord Camden delivered a most elaborate judgment in favour of the appellant, and the house, without a division, reversed the decision. Under his auspices the nullum tempus act, 9 Geo. III., c. 16, was passed, by which an adverse enjoyment of property for sixty years gives a good title against the crown. When England witnessed the unparalleled sight of a prime minister at the age of twenty-four, Lord Camden readily joined the cabinet of Pitt as president of the council. In his seventy-fifth year, he conducted with great learning and ability those remarkable debates on the constitutional questions which the malady of the king forced on the consideration of parliament. But his last appearance in the arena of political contest, was perhaps the grandest event in his life. On the 16th of May, 1792, the bill, improperly called Fox's libel bill, came up to the lords. There was a full attendance of peers. Thurlow, with his "tremendous white bushy eyebrows," sat savagely on the woolsack. Near him was the shabby Kenyon, lynx-eyed and law-armed. Bathurst was there, too, ready to follow the leader, and at least bark. Against the unanimous opposition of the law-lords, Camden rose in his place to defend the bill. Leaning upon his staff, and beginning in a low tremulous voice, he gradually warmed into the passionate enthusiasm of younger days:—"I ask your lordships to say who shall have the care of the liberty of the press—the judges or the people of England? The jury are the people of England. The judges are independent men! Be it so. But are they totally beyond the possibility of corruption from the crown? The truth is, they may be corrupted; juries never can. . . . If it is not law, it should be made law, that in prosecution for libel the jury shall decide upon the whole case. In the full catalogue of crimes, there is not one so fit to be determined by a jury as libel." The debate terminated with the following dialogue:—
Thurlow—"Will my Lord Camden agree to a clause to authorize
the granting of a new trial, if the court should be dissatisfied with a
verdict for the defendant?"
Camden—"What, after a verdict of acquittal?"
Thurlow—"Yes."
Camden—"No, I thank you."
These were his last words in the house. Two years after this, on the 13th of April, 1794, in the eighty-first year of his age, Lord Camden died full of years and honours, and was buried in the family vault in the parish church of Seal in Kent.—G. H. P.
CAMDEN, William, called the "Strabo of England," was born in the Old Bailey, 2nd May, 1557, and died 9th November, 1623. Left an orphan and unprovided for, he received his early education at Christ's hospital and St. Paul's school. In his fifteenth year he entered Oxford as servitor at Magdalen's Hall; but being disappointed of a demi, removed to Pembroke college, where he won the favour and eventually the patronage of Dr. Thornton, the tutor of Sir Philip Sidney. After a residence of five years, without obtaining college honours, family affairs recalled him to London; and in 1575, through the kind offices of Mr. Goodman, dean of Westminster, he was appointed under-master of Westminster school. Being of studious habits and of a retiring disposition, he devoted his leisure hours and holidays to the study of antiquity. To qualify himself for deciphering ancient records and monumental inscriptions, he acquired Gaelic, Welsh, and old Saxon. After ten years' preparation, his first work, the "Britannia," was published in 1586, and received with applause. Thus brought into publicity, the bishop of Salisbury appointed him in 1588 prebend of Ilfracombe. Five years after he succeeded Grant as head-master of Westminster. In 1597 his "Greek Grammar" appeared, which was received in all the colleges, and passed through forty editions. This same year the office of clareneieux-at-arms falling vacant, Camden was raised to that sinecure; but so modest was his disposition that a short time afterwards he declined the honour of knighthood. He shared the remainder of his life between scientific pursuits and his official duties. To collect materials he made frequent exploratory visits to various parts of the kingdom. A Latin distich which appeared in his lifetime, hints that he explored England with two eyes, Scotland with one, and Ireland with none. In 1613 he received the degree of M.A. His life closed when his popularity was in its zenith. A fond remembrance of his humble origin was with him to the last. To the guild of painters and members of the craft, by which his father had earned a scanty living, he bequeathed a sacramental goblet on which the donor's name was inscribed. The year before his death he founded the Camden professorship of history in Oxford. The work which made his name famous is "Britannia, or a Chorographical Description of England, Scotland, and Ireland." It is written in familiar and elegant Latin; and so accurately are places described, that, in many instances, notwithstanding the changes of time, they can even now be recognized. Professor Holland in 1610 translated it into English; but the best edition of this interesting work is that of Richard Gough, published in London in 1789. In 1838 a society was formed for the publication of early historical and literary remains, which, in recognition of the public worth of this author, was called the Camden Society. His "Anglica Normannica Cambrica," &c., published in 1603, contains extensive selections from Asser, Walsingham, Thomas de la More, Giraldus Cambrensis, &c. The "Annales Rerum," &c., is a history of the reign of Elizabeth. Compelled to advert to contemporary events, his remarks aroused such personal hostility as to induce him to postpone the publication of the sequel until after his death. His minor productions are entitled "Reges, Reginæ, Nobiles," &c.; "Actio in Henricum Gametum;" indifferent Latin verses, "Sylva Hybernia." The fullest account of his life is given in a book published in 1691 by T. Smith, "Gulielmi Camdeni Epistolæ." Camden possessed those great qualifications of an antiquarian—patience, assiduity, and enthusiasm. He died at the advanced age of seventy-two, and was buried with much solemnity in Westminster.—G. H. P.
CAMELLI or KAMEL, George Joseph, a German botanist of the seventeenth century, in honour of whom Linnæus has named a species of plant, growing in Japan, Camellia. He was a jesuit missionary to the Philippine islands.
CAMERARIUS, Elias, a German physician, second son of Elias Rudolf, and brother of Rudolf Jacob Camerarius, was born at Tubingen in 1673, and died there in 1734. He graduated as M.D. at Tübingen, and afterwards filled the chair of medicine in that university. He was first physician to the duke of Wurtemberg. He was elected a member of the society Naturæ Curiosorum. He adopted some peculiar views in regard to medicine and science, the publication of which called forth attacks from various quarters. He had a decided leaning to the marvellous, and believed the statements in regard to magic.—J. H. B.
CAMERARIUS, Elias Rudolf, a German physician, was born at Tubingen in 1641, and died 7th June, 1695. He studied medicine, and became professor of medicine at Tubingen. He was also first physician to the duke of Wurtemberg, and a member of the academy Naturæ Curiosorum. He wrote medical works on palpitation of the heart, on pleurisy, on fracture, and ischuria; as well as a treatise on chicory.—J. H. B.
CAMERARIUS, Joachim, a German physician and botanist, was born at Nuremberg on 6th November, 1534, and died in that town on 11th October, 1598. He prosecuted his medical studies in Germany and Italy, and took his degree of doctor of medicine at Bologna in 1562. On his return to Nuremberg, he commenced the practice of medicine, and he was the means of founding an academy of medicine in his native city. He was elected dean of the medical faculty. Amidst the duties of professional life, he devoted attention in a special manner to chemistry and botany. He instituted a botanic garden at Nuremberg, and enriched it with specimens from Prosper Alpinus, Dalechamp, Clusius, and other eminent botanists. He became possessed of Gesner's botanical library, and of all his wood-cuts. He was physician to the electors of Saxony, and seems to have rendered them special services. Plumier has dedicated to him the genus Cameraria, one of the apocynaceæ.—J. H. B.
CAMERARIUS, Joachim, an eminent German scholar, whose original surname was Liebhard, was born at Bamberg, April 12, 1500. After having studied at the universities of Leipzig, Erfurt, and Wittenberg, he became classical master at the gymnasium of Nurnberg, and in 1530 was chosen deputy of this city to the diet of Augsburg, where, in company with Melancthon, he drew up the Augsburg Confession. Some years later he was called to Tubingen in order to reorganize the university, a task of which he acquitted himself so honourably.
