CARRUTHERS, ROBERT (1799-1878).—Journalist and miscellaneous writer,b.in Dumfriesshire, was for a time a teacher in Huntingdon, and wrote aHistory of Huntingdon(1824). In 1828 he became ed. of theInverness Courier, which he conducted with great ability. He ed. Pope's works with a memoir (1853), and along withRobert Chambers(q.v.) ed. the first ed. ofChambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature(1842-44). He received the degree of LL.D. from Edin.
CARTE, THOMAS (1686-1754).—Historian,b.near Rugby, anded.at Oxf., took orders, but resigned his benefice at Bath when required to take the oath of allegiance to George I. He was sec. toFrancis Atterbury(q.v.), and was involved in the consequences of his conspiracy, but escaped to France, where he remained until 1728. After his return hepub.a life of the Duke of Ormonde (1736), and aHistory of England to 1654in 4 vols. (1747-54), the latter a work of great research, though dry and unattractive in style.
CARTER, ELIZABETH (1717-1806).—Miscellaneous writer,b.at Deal,dau.of a clergyman. Originally backward, she applied herself to study with such perseverance that she became perhaps the most learned Englishwoman of her time, being mistress of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, besides several modern European languages. She was also well read in science. She translated Epictetus 1758, and wrote a small vol. of poems. She was the friend of Dr. Johnson and many other eminent men. She was of agreeable and unassuming manners.
CARTWRIGHT, WILLIAM (1611-1643).—Dramatist,s.of a gentleman of Gloucestershire, who had run through his fortune and kept an inn at Cirencester,ed.at Westminster School and Oxf., entered the Church, was a zealous Royalist, and an eloquentpreacher, and lecturer in metaphysics. He also wrote spirited lyrics and four plays. He was the friend of Ben Jonson, H. Vaughan, and Izaak Walton. Hed.at Oxf. of camp fever. Among his plays areThe Royal Slave,The Siege, andThe Lady Errant. His virtues, learning, and charming manners made him highly popular in his day.
CARY, ALICE (1820-1871), and PHOEBE (1824-1871).—Were thedau.of a farmer near Cincinnati. The former wroteClovernook PapersandClovernook Children, and other tales, and some poems. The latter wrote poems and hymns. Both sisters attained considerable popularity.
CARY, HENRY FRANCIS (1772-1844).—Translator, wasb.at Gibraltar, anded.at Oxf., where he was distinguished for his classical attainments. His great work is his translation of theDivina Commediaof Dante (1805-1814), which is not only faithful to the original, but full of poetic fire, and rendered into such fine English as to be itself literature apart from its merits as a translation. He also translated from the Greek. C., who was a clergyman, received a pension in 1841.
CATLIN, GEORGE (1796-1872).—Painter and writer,b.at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, practised for some time as a lawyer, but yielding to his artistic instincts he took to painting. He spent the 7 years, 1832-39, among the Indians of North America, of whom he painted about 500 portraits. He became thoroughly acquainted with their life, andpub.an interesting work,Illustrations of the Manners, etc., of the North American Indians(1857). His later years were spent chiefly in Europe.
CAVE, EDWARD (1691-1754).—Publisher,b.near Rugby, started in 1731The Gentleman's Magazine, for which Dr. Johnson was parliamentary reporter from 1740. Hepub.many of Johnson's works.
CAVENDISH, GEORGE (1500-1561).—Biographer, was Gentleman Usher to Cardinal Wolsey, to whom he was so much attached that he followed him in his disgrace, and continued to serve him until his death. He left in MS. a life of his patron, which is the first separate biography in English, and is the main original authority of the period. Admitting Wolsey's faults, it nevertheless presents him in an attractive light. The simple yet eloquent style gives it a high place as a biography.
CAXTON, WILLIAM (1422-1491).—Printer and translator,b.in the Weald of Kent, was apprenticed to a London mercer. On his master's death in 1441 he went to Bruges, and lived there and in various other places in the Low Countries for over 30 years, engaged apparently as head of an association of English merchants trading in foreign parts, and in negotiating commercial treaties between England and the Dukes of Burgundy. His first literary labour was a translation of a French romance, which he entitledThe Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, and which he finished in 1471. About this time he learned the art of printing, and, after being in the service ofMargaret Duchess of Burgundy, an English princess, returned to his native country and set up at Westminster in 1476 his printing press, the first in England. HisRecuyellandThe Game and Playe of Chessehad already been printed—the first books in English—on the Continent. Here was produced the first book printed in England,The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers(1477). C. obtained Royal favour, printed from 80 to 100 separate works—many of them translations of his own—andd.almost with pen in hand in 1491. His style is clear and idiomatic.
CENTLIVRE, MRS. SUSANNA (1667-1723).—Dramatist and actress, was thedau.of a gentleman of the name of either Rawkins or Freeman, who appears to have belonged either to Lincolnshire or Ireland, or was perhaps connected with both, and who suffered at the hands of the Stuarts. Shem.at 16, lost her husband in a year, thenm.an officer, who fell in a duel in 18 months, and finally, in 1706,m.Joseph C., cook to Queen Anne, with whom she lived happily for the rest of her days. She wrote 18 or 19 plays, well constructed and amusing, among which may be mentionedThe Perjured Husband(1700),The Busybody(1709),The Warder(1714), andA Bold Stroke for a Wife(1717). She was a strong Whig, and sometimes made her plays the medium of expressing her political opinions.
CHALKHILL, JOHN (fl.1600).—Poet, mentioned by Izaak Walton as having written a pastoral poem,Thealma and Clearchus. As nothing else is known of him it has been held by some that the name was anom-de-plumeof W. himself. It has been shown, however, that a gentleman of the name existed during the reign of Elizabeth. W. says he was a friend of Spenser, and that his life was "useful, quiet, and virtuous."
CHALMERS, GEORGE (1742-1825).—Antiquary,b.at Fochabers, Elginshire, emigrated to America and practised law in Baltimore; but on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War returned to Britain, and settled in London as a clerk in the Board of Trade. Hepub.in 1780 aHistory of the United Colonies, and wrote lives of Sir David Lyndsay, De Foe, and Mary Queen of Scots. His great work, however, is hisCaledonia, of which 3 vols. had beenpub.at his death. It was to have been a completecoll.of the topography and antiquities of Scotland; and, as it stands, is a monument of industry and research, though not always trustworthy in disputed points. Besides those mentioned, C. was the author of many other works on political, historical, and literary subjects, and had projected several which he was unable to carry out.
CHALMERS, THOMAS (1780-1847).—Divine, economist, and philanthropist,b.at Anstruther, Fife,s.of a shipowner and merchant, studied at St. Andrews and, entering the ministry of the Church of Scotland, was first settled in the small parish of Kilmeny, Fife, but, his talents and eloquence becoming known, he was, in 1815, translated to Glasgow, where he was soon recognised as the most eloquent preacher in Scotland, and where also he initiated his schemes for the management of the poor. In 1823,he became Prof. of Moral Philosophy at St. Andrews, and in 1828 of Divinity in Edin. In 1834 he began his great scheme of Church extension, the result of which was that in seven years £300,000 had been raised, and 220 churches built. In the same year, 1834, began the troubles and controversies in regard to patronage and the relations of Church and State, which in 1843 ended in the disruption of the Church, when 470 ministers with C. at their head, resigned their benefices, and founded the Free Church of Scotland. C. was chosen its first Moderator and Principal of its Theological Coll. in Edin. The remaining four years of his life were spent in organising the new Church, and in works of philanthropy. He was found dead in bed on the morning of May 30, 1847. His chief works, which werecoll.andpub.in 34 vols., relate to natural theology, evidences of Christianity, political economy, and general theology and science. Those which perhaps attracted most attention were hisAstronomical Discoursesand hisLectures on Church Establishments, the latter delivered in London to audiences containing all that was most distinguished in rank and intellect in the country. The style of C. is cumbrous, and often turgid, but the moral earnestness, imagination, and force of intellect of the writer shine through it and irradiate his subjects. And yet the written is described by contemporaries to have been immeasurably surpassed by the spoken word, which carried away the hearer as in a whirlwind. And the man was even greater than his achievements. His character was one of singular simplicity, nobility, and lovableness, and produced a profound impression on all who came under his influence. The character of his intellect was notably practical, as is evidenced by the success of his parochial administration and the "Sustentation Fund," devised by him for the support of the ministry of the Free Church. He was D.D., LL.D., D.C.L. (Oxon.), and a Corresponding Member of the Institute of France.
Memoirs(Hanna, 4 vols.). Smaller works by Prof. Blaikie (1897), Mrs. Oliphant (1893), and many others.
CHAMBERLAYNE, WILLIAM (1619-1689).—Poet, practised medicine at Shaftesbury. On the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Royalists and fought at the second battle of Newbury. He wrote a play,Loves Victory(1658), and an epicPharonnida(1659). With occasional beauties he is, in the main, heavy and stiff, and is almost forgotten. He influenced Keats.
CHAMBERS, ROBERT (1802-1871).—Historical and scientific writer, wasb.at Peebles. Early dependent on his own exertions, he started business as a bookseller in Edin. at the age of 16, devoting all his spare time to study, to such purpose that in 1824 hepub.Traditions of Edinburgh, a work in which he had the assistance of Sir W. Scott. Thereafter he poured forth a continuous stream of books and essays on historical, social, antiquarian, and scientific subjects. He joined his brotherWilliam(q.v.) in establishing the publishing firm of W. and R. Chambers, and in startingChambers's Journal, to which he was a constant contributor. Later ventures wereThe Cyclopedia of English Literature(1842-44), of which several ed. have appeared (last 1903-6). andChambers's Cyclopædia(10 vols. 1859-68; new 1888-92). Among his ownworks may be mentionedVestiges of Creation,pub.anonymously (1844), a precursor of Darwinism,A Life of Burns(1851),Popular Rhymes of Scotland(1847),History of the Rebellions in Scotland,Domestic Annals of Scotland(1859-61),Ancient Sea Margins(1848),Dictionary of Eminent ScotsmenandThe Book of Days(1863). He was LL.D. of St. Andrews.
CHAMBERS, WILLIAM (1800-1883).—Publisher and miscellaneous author,b.at Peebles, started in 1832 with his brotherRobert(q.v.)Chambers's Journal, and soon after joined him in the firm of W. and R. Chambers. Besides contributions to theJournalhe wrote several books, including aHistory of Peeblesshire(1864), and an autobiography of himself and his brother. C. was a man of great business capacity, and, though of less literary distinction than his brother, did much for the dissemination of cheap and useful literature. He was Lord Provost of Edin. 1865-69, and was an LL.D. of the Univ. of that city. He restored the ancient church of St. Giles there.
CHAMIER, FREDERICK (1796-1870).—Novelist, was in the navy, in which he rose to the rank of Captain. Retiring in 1827, he wrote several sea novels somewhat in the style of Marryat, includingLife of a Sailor(1832),Ben Brace,Jack Adams, andTom Bowling(1841). He also continued James'sNaval History, and wrote books of travel.
CHANNING, WILLIAM ELLERY (1780-1842).—American Divine,b.at Newport, Rhode Island, was for a time a minister in the Congregationalist Church, but became the leader of the Unitarians in New England. He had a powerful influence on the thought and literature of his time in America, and was the author of books on Milton and Fénelon, and on social subjects. The elevation and amiability of his character caused him to be held in high esteem. He did not class himself with Unitarians of the school of Priestley, but claimed to "stand aloof from all but those who strive and pray for clearer light."
CHAPMAN, GEORGE (1559-1634).—Dramatist and translator, wasb.near Hitchin, and probablyed.at Oxf. and Camb. He wrote many plays, includingThe Blind Beggar of Alexandria(1596),All Fools(1599),A Humerous Daye's Myrthe(1599),Eastward Hoe(with Jonson),The Gentleman Usher,Monsieur d'Olive, etc. As a dramatist he has humour, and vigour, and occasional poetic fire, but is very unequal. His great work by which he lives in literature is his translation of Homer. TheIliadwaspub.in 1611, theOdysseyin 1616, and theHymns, etc., in 1624. The work is full of energy and spirit, and well maintains its place among the many later translations by men of such high poetic powers as Pope and Cowper, and others: and it had the merit of suggesting Keats's immortal Sonnet, in which its name and memory are embalmed for many who know it in no other way. C. also translated from Petrarch, and completed Marlowe's unfinishedHero and Leander.
CHAPONE, HESTER (MULSO) (1727-1801).—Miscellaneous writer,dau.of a gentleman of Northamptonshire, wasm.to asolicitor, whod.a few months afterwards. She was one of the learned ladies who gathered roundMrs. Montague(q.v.), and was the author ofLetters on the Improvement of the MindandMiscellanies.
CHARLETON, WALTER (1619-1707).—Miscellaneous writer,ed.at Oxf., was titular physician to Charles I. He was a copious writer on theology, natural history, and antiquities, andpub.Chorea Gigantum(1663) to prove that Stonehenge was built by the Danes. He was also one of the "character" writers, and in this kind of literature wroteA Brief Discourse concerning the Different Wits of Men(1675).
CHATTERTON, THOMAS (1752-1770).—Poet,b.at Bristol, posthumouss.of a schoolmaster, who had been a man of some reading and antiquarian tastes, after whose death his mother maintained herself and her boy and girl by teaching and needlework. A black-letter Bible and an illuminated music-book belonging to her were the first things to give his mind the impulse which led to such mingled glory and disaster. Living under the shadow of the great church of St. Mary Redcliffe, his mind was impressed from infancy with the beauty of antiquity, he obtained access to the charters deposited there, and he read every scrap of ancient literature that came in his way. At 14 he was apprenticed to a solicitor named Lambert, with whom he lived in sordid circumstances, eating in the kitchen and sleeping with the foot-boy, but continuing his favourite studies in every spare moment. In 1768 a new bridge was opened, and C. contributed to a local newspaper what purported to be a contemporary account of the old one which it superseded. This attracted a good deal of attention. Previously to this he had been writing verses and imitating ancient poems under the name of Thomas Rowley, whom he feigned to be a monk of the 15th century. Hearing of H. Walpole's collections for hisAnecdotes of Painting in England, he sent him an "ancient manuscript" containing biographies of certain painters, not hitherto known, who had flourished in England centuries before. W. fell into the trap, and wrote asking for all the MS. he could furnish, and C. in response forwarded accounts of more painters, adding some particulars as to himself on which W., becoming suspicious, submitted the whole toT. GrayandMason(q.v.), who pronounced the MS. to be forgeries. Some correspondence, angry on C.'s part, ensued, and the whole budget of papers was returned. C. thereafter, having been dismissed by Lambert, went to London, and for a short time his prospects seemed to be bright. He worked with feverish energy, threw off poems, satires, and political papers, and meditated a history of England; but funds and spirits failed, he was starving, and the failure to obtain an appointment as ship's surgeon, for which he had applied, drove him to desperation, and on the morning of August 25, 1770, he was found dead from a dose of arsenic, surrounded by his writings torn into small pieces. From childhood C. had shown a morbid familiarity with the idea of suicide, and had written a last will and testament, "executed in the presence of Omniscience," and full of wild and profane wit. The magnitude of his tragedy is only realised when it is considered not only that the poetry he left was of a high order of originality and imaginative power, but that it was produced at anage at which our greatest poets, had they died, would have remained unknown. Precocious not only in genius but in dissipation, proud and morose as he was, an unsympathetic age confined itself mainly to awarding blame to his literary and moral delinquencies. Posterity has weighed him in a juster balance, and laments the early quenching of so brilliant a light. Hiscoll.works appeared in 1803, and another ed. by Prof. Street in 1875. Among these areElinoure and Juga,Balade of Charitie,Bristowe Tragedie,Ælla, andTragedy of Godwin.
The best account of his life is the Essay by Prof. Masson.
CHAUCER, GEOFFREY (1340?-1400).—Poet, wasb.in London, thes.of John C., a vintner of Thames Street, who had also a small estate at Ipswich, and was occasionally employed on service for the King (Edward III.), which doubtless was the means of his son's introduction to the Court. The acquaintance which C. displays with all branches of the learning of his time shows that he must have received an ample education; but there is no evidence that he was at either of the Univ. In 1357 he appears as a page to the Lady Elizabeth, wife of Lionel Duke of Clarence, and in 1359 he first saw military service in France, when he was made a prisoner. He was, however, ransomed in 1360. About 1366 he was married to Philippa,dau.of Sir Payne Roet, one of the ladies of the Duchess of Lancaster, whose sister Katharine, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford, became the third wife of John of Gaunt. Previous to this he had apparently been deeply in love with another lady, whose rank probably placed her beyond his reach; his disappointment finding expression in hisCompleynt to Pité. In 1367 he was one of the valets of the King's Chamber, a post always held by gentlemen, and received a pension of 20 marks, and he was soon afterwards one of the King's esquires. In 1369 Blanche, the wife of John of Gaunt, died, which gave occasion for a poem by C. in honour of her memory,The Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse. In the same year he again bore arms in France, and during the next ten years he was frequently employed on diplomatic missions. In 1370 he was sent to Genoa to arrange a commercial treaty, on which occasion he may have met Petrarch, and was rewarded by a grant in 1374 of a pitcher of wine daily. In the same year he got from the corporation of London a lease for life of a house at Aldgate, on condition of keeping it in repair; and soon after he was appointed Comptroller of the Customs and Subsidy of Wool, Skins, and Leather in the port of London; he also received from the Duke of Lancaster a pension of £10. In 1375 he obtained the guardianship of a rich ward, which he held for three years, and the next year he was employed on a secret service. In 1377 he was sent on a mission to Flanders to treat of peace with the French King. After the accession of Richard II. in that year, he was sent to France to treat for the marriage of the King with the French Princess Mary, and thereafter to Lombardy, on which occasion he appointedJohn Gower(q.v.) to act for him in his absence in any legal proceedings which might arise. In 1382 he became Comptroller of the Petty Customs of the port of London, and in 1385 was allowed to appoint a deputy, which, enabled him to devote more time to writing. He had in 1373begun hisCanterbury Tales, on which he was occupied at intervals for the rest of his life. In 1386 C. was elected Knight of the Shire for Kent, a county with which he appears to have had some connection, and where he may have had property. His fortunes now suffered some eclipse. His patron, John of Gaunt, was abroad, and the government was presided over by his brother Gloucester, who was at feud with him. Owing probably to this cause, C. was in December, 1386, dismissed from his employments, leaving him with no income beyond his pensions, on which he was obliged to raise money. His wife also died at the same time. In 1389, however, Richard took the government into his own hands, and prosperity returned to C., whose friends were now in power, and he was appointed Clerk of the King's works. This office, however, he held for two years only, and again fell into poverty, from which he was rescued in 1394 by a pension from the King of £20. On the accession of Henry IV. (1399) an additional pension of 40 marks was given him. In the same year he took a lease of a house at Westminster, where he probablyd., October 25, 1400. He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, where a monument to him was erected by Nicholas Brigham, a minor poet of the 16th century. According to some authorities he left two sons, Thomas, who became a man of wealth and importance, and Lewis, who died young, the little ten-year-old boy to whom he addressed the treatise on theAstrolabe. Others see no evidence that Thomas was any relation of the poet. An Elizabeth C., placed in the Abbey of Barking by John of Gaunt, was probably hisdau.In person C. was inclined to corpulence, "no poppet to embrace," of fair complexion with "a beard the colour of ripe wheat," an "elvish" expression, and an eye downcast and meditative.
Of the works ascribed to C. several are, for various reasons, of greater or less strength, considered doubtful. These includeThe Romaunt of the Rose,Chaucer's Dream, andThe Flower and the Leaf. After his return from Italy about 1380 he entered upon his period of greatest productiveness:Troilus and Criseyde(1382?),The Parlement of Foules(1382?),The House of Fame(1384?), andThe Legende of Goode Women(1385), belong to this time. The first of them still remains one of the finest poems of its kind in the language. But the glory of C. is, of course, theCanterbury Tales, a work which places him in the front rank of the narrative poets of the world. It contains about 18,000 lines of verse, besides some passages in prose, and was left incomplete. In it his power of story-telling, his humour, sometimes broad, sometimes sly, his vivid picture-drawing, his tenderness, and lightness of touch, reach their highest development. He is our first artist in poetry, and with him begins modern English literature. His character—genial, sympathetic, and pleasure-loving, yet honest, diligent, and studious—is reflected in his writings.
SUMMARY.—B.1340, fought in France 1359, by his marriage in 1366 became connected with John of Gaunt, employed on diplomatic missions 1369-79, Controller of Customs, etc.,c.1374, beganCanterbury Tales1373, elected to Parliament 1386, loses his appointments 1386, Clerk of King's Works 1389-91, pensioned by Richard II. and Henry IV.,d.c.1400.
The best ed. of C. isThe Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer(6 vols. 1894), ed. by Prof. Skeat. Others are Thos. Wright's for the Percy Society (1842), and Richard Morris's in Bell's Aldine Classics (1866).
CHERRY, ANDREW (1762-1812).—Dramatist,s.of a bookseller at Limerick, was a successful actor, and managed theatres in the provinces. He also wrote some plays, of whichThe Soldier's Daughteris the best. His chief claim to remembrance rests on his three songs,The Bay of Biscay,The Green Little Shamrock, andTom Moody.
CHESTERFIELD, PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, 4TH EARL OF (1694-1773).—Statesman and letter-writer, was the eldests.of the 3rd Earl. After being at Trinity Coll., Camb., he sat in the House of Commons until his accession to the peerage in 1726. He filled many high offices, including those of Ambassador to Holland, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Sec. of State. He was distinguished for his wit, conversational powers, and grace of manner. His place in literature is fixed by his well-knownLettersaddressed to his natural son, Philip Dormer Stanhope. Though brilliant, and full of shrewdness and knowledge of the world, they reflect the low tone of morals prevalent in the age when they were written. He was the recipient of Johnson's famous letter as to his "patronage."
CHETTLE, HENRY (1565-1607?).—Dramatist. Very little is known of him. He ed. R. Greene'sGroat's-worth of Wit(1592), is believed to have written 13 and collaborated in 35 plays. He also wrote two satires,Kind Harts Dreame(1593), andPierre Plainnes Prentship(1595). He was imprisoned for debt 1599.
Among his own plays, which have considerable merit, isHoffmann, which has been reprinted, and he had a hand inPatient Grissill(1603) (which may have influenced Shakespeare in theMerry Wives of Windsor),The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, andJane Shore.
CHILD, FRANCIS J. (1825-1896).—English scholar,b.at Boston, Mass., was a prof. at Harvard, one of the foremost students of early English, and especially of ancient ballads in America. He ed. the American ed. of English Poets in 130 vols., and English and Scottish Ballads. He was also a profound student of Chaucer, andpub.Observations on the Language of Chaucer, andObservations on the Language of Gower's Confessio Amantis.
CHILD, MRS. LYDIA MARIA (FRANCIS) (1802-1880).—Was the author of many once popular tales,Hobomok,The Rebels,Philothes, etc.
CHILLINGWORTH, WILLIAM (1602-1644).—Theologian and controversialist,b.anded.at Oxf., was godson of Archbishop Laud. Falling into theological doubts he subsequently became a convert to Roman Catholicism, and studied at the Jesuit Coll. at Douay, 1630. In the following year he returned to Oxf., and after further consideration of the points at issue, he rejoined the Church of England, 1634. This exposed him to violent attacks on the part of the Romanists, in reply to which hepub.in 1637 hisfamous polemic,The Religion of the Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation, characterised by clear style and logical reasoning. For a time he refused ecclesiastical preferment, but ultimately his scruples were overcome, and he became Prebendary and Chancellor of Salisbury. C. is regarded as one of the ablest controversialists of the Anglican Church.
CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815-1890).—Divine, historian, and biographer, wasb.at Lisbon, anded.at Oxf., where he became a friend ofJ.H. Newman(q.v.). He took orders, and became Rector of Whatley, Somerset, and in 1871 Dean of St. Paul's. He was a leading member of the High Church party, but was held in reverence by many who did not sympathise with his ecclesiastical views. Among his writings areThe Beginning of the Middle Ages(1877), and a memoir onThe Oxford Movement(1891),pub.posthumously. He also wrote Lives of Anselm, Dante, Spenser, and Bacon.
CHURCHILL, CHARLES (1731-1764).—Satirist,s.of a clergyman, wased.at Westminster School, and while still a schoolboy made a clandestine marriage. He entered the Church, and on the death of hisf.in 1758 succeeded him in the curacy and lectureship of St. John's, Westminster. In 1761 hepub.theRosciad, in which he severely satirised the players and managers of the day. It at once brought him both fame and money; but he fell into dissipated habits, separated from his wife, and outraged the proprieties of his profession to such an extent that he was compelled to resign his preferments. He also incurred the enmity of those whom he had attacked, which led to the publication of two other satirical pieces,The ApologyandNight. He also attacked Dr. Johnson and his circle inThe Ghost, and the Scotch inThe Prophecy of Famine. He attached himself to John Wilkes, on a visit to whom, at Boulogne, hed.of fever.
CHURCHYARD, THOMAS (1520?-1604).—Poet and miscellaneous writer, began life as a page to the Earl of Surrey, and subsequently passed through many vicissitudes as a soldier in Scotland, Ireland, France, and the Low Countries. He was latterly a hanger-on at Court, and had a pension of eighteenpence a day from Queen Elizabeth, which was not, however, regularly paid. He wrote innumerable pamphlets and broadsides, and some poems, of which the best areShore's Wife(1563),The Worthiness of Wales(1587)repub.by the Spenser Society (1871), andChurchyard's Chips(1575), an autobiographical piece.
CIBBER, COLLEY (1671-1757).—Actor and dramatist,b.in London,s.of a Danish sculptor, anded.at Grantham School. Soon after his return to London he took to the stage. Beginning with tragedy, in which he failed, he turned to comedy, and became popular in eccentricrôles. In 1696 he brought out his first play,Love's Last Shift, and produced in all about 30 plays, some of which were very successful. In 1730 he was made Poet Laureate, and wrote some forgotten odes of no merit, also an entertaining autobiography. Pope made him the hero of theDunciad.
Among other plays areThe Nonjuror(1717),Woman's Wit,SheWould and She Would Not,The Provoked Husband(1728) (with Vanbrugh).
CLARE, JOHN (1793-1864).—Poet,s.of a cripple pauper, wasb.at Helpstone near Peterborough. His youth is the record of a noble struggle against adverse circumstances. With great difficulty he managed to save one pound, with which he was able to have a prospectus of his first book of poems printed, which led to an acquaintance with Mr. Drury, a bookseller in Stamford, by whose help the poems werepub., and brought him £20. The book,Poems descriptive of Rural Life(1820), immediately attracted attention. Various noblemen befriended him and stocked a farm for him. But unfortunately C. had no turn for practical affairs, and got into difficulties. He, however, continued to produce poetry, and in addition toThe Village Minstrel, which had appeared in 1821,pub.The Shepherd's Calendar(1827), andRural Muse(1835). Things, however, went on from bad to worse; his mind gave way, and hed.in an asylum. C. excels in description of rural scenes and the feelings and ideas of humble country life.
CLARENDON, EDWARD HYDE, EARL of (1608-1674).—Lawyer, statesman, and historian,s.of a country gentleman of good estate in Wiltshire, wasb.at Dinton in that county, anded.at Oxf. Destined originally for the Church, circumstances led to his being sent to London to study law, which he did under his uncle, Sir Nicholas H., Chief Justice of the King's Bench. In early life he was the friend of all the leading men of the day. Entering Parliament in 1640 he at first supported popular measures, but, on the outbreak of the Civil War, attached himself to the King, and was the author of many of his state papers. From 1648 until the Restoration C. was engaged in various embassies and as a counsellor of Charles II., who made him in 1658 his Lord Chancellor, an office in which he was confirmed at the Restoration, when he also became Chancellor of the Univ. of Oxf., and was likewise raised to the peerage. His power and influence came to an end, however, in 1667, when he was dismissed from all his offices, was impeached, and had to fly to France. The causes of his fall were partly the miscarriage of the war with Holland, and the sale of Dunkirk, and partly the jealousy of rivals and the intrigues of place hunters, whose claims he had withstood. In his enforced retirement he engaged himself in completing his great historic work,The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, which he had begun in 1641, and which was notpub.until 1702-4. C.'s style is easy, flowing, diffuse, and remarkably modern, with an occasional want of clearness owing to his long and involved sentences. His great strength is in character-painting, in which he is almost unrivalled. TheHistorywas followed by a supplementaryHistory of the Civil War in Ireland(1721). C. also wrote an autobiography,The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon(1759), a reply to theLeviathanof Hobbes, andAn Essay on the Active and Contemplative Life, in which the superiority of the former is maintained. C.d.at Rouen. He was a man of high personal character, and great intellect and sagacity, but lacking in the firmness and energy necessary for the troublous times in which he lived. Hisdau.Anne married theDuke of York, afterwards James II., a connection which involved him in much trouble and humiliation.
Agar Ellis'sHistorical Enquiry respecting the Character of Clarendon(1827),Lifeby T.H. Lister (1838),History(Macray, 6 vols., 1888).
CLARKE, CHARLES COWDEN (1787-1877).—Writer on Shakespeare, was a publisher in London. He lectured on Shakespeare and on European literature. Latterly he lived in France and Italy. His wife, MARY C.-C. (1809-1898),dau.of V. Novello, musician, compiled a completeConcordance to Shakespeare(1844-45), and wroteThe Shakespeare Key(1879) and, with her husband,Recollections of Writers(1878).
CLARKE, MARCUS (1846-1881).—Novelist,b.in London, thes.of a barrister. After a somewhat wild youth he went to Australia where, after more than one failure to achieve success in business, he took to journalism on the staff of theMelbourne Argus, with brilliant results. He wrote two novels,Long OddsandFor the Term of his Natural Life(1874), the latter, which is generally considered his masterpiece, dealing in a powerful and realistic manner with transportation and convict labour. He also wrote many short tales and dramatic pieces. After a turbulent and improvident life hed.at 35. In addition to the works above mentioned, he wroteLower Bohemia in Melbourne,The Humbug Papers,The Future Australian Race. As a writer he was keen, brilliant, and bitter.
CLARKE, SAMUEL (1675-1729).—Divine and metaphysician,b.at Norwich, wased.at Camb., where he became the friend and disciple of Newton, whose System of the Universe he afterwards defended against Leibnitz. In 1704-5 he delivered the Boyle lectures, taking for his subject,The Being and Attributes of God, and assuming an intermediate position between orthodoxy and Deism. In 1712 hepub.views on the doctrine of the Trinity which involved him in trouble, from which he escaped by a somewhat unsatisfactory explanation. He was, however, one of the most powerful opponents of the freethinkers of the time. In addition to his theological writings C.pub.an ed. of theIliad, a Latin translation of theOpticsof Newton, on whose death he was offered the Mastership of the Mint, an office worth £1500 a year, which, however, he declined. The talents, learning, and amiable disposition of C. gave him a high place in the esteem of his contemporaries. In the Church he held various preferments, the last being that of Rector of St. James's, Westminster. He was also Chaplain to Queen Anne. His style is cold, dry, and precise.
CLEVELAND, JOHN (1613-1658).—Poet,s.of an usher in a charity school, wasb.at Loughborough, anded.at Camb., where he became coll. tutor and lecturer on rhetoric at St. John's, and was much sought after. A staunch Royalist, he opposed the election of Oliver Cromwell as member for Camb. in the Long Parliament, and was in consequence ejected from his coll. in 1645. Joining the King, by whom he was welcomed, he was appointed to the officeof Judge Advocate at Newark. In 1646, however, he was deprived of this, and wandered about the country dependent on the bounty of the Royalists. In 1655 he was imprisoned at Yarmouth, but released by Cromwell, to whom he appealed, and went to London, where he lived in much consideration till his death. His best work is satirical, giving a faint adumbration ofHudibras; his other poems, with occasional passages of great beauty, being affected and artificial. ThePoemswerepub.in 1656.
CLINTON, HENRY FYNES (1781-1852).—Chronologist,b.at Gamston, Notts,ed.at Southwell, Westminster, and Oxf., where he devoted himself chiefly to the study of Greek. Brought into Parliament by the Duke of Newcastle in 1806, he took no active part in political life, and retired in 1826. He bought in 1810 the estate of Welwyn, and there he entered upon wide and profound studies bearing upon classical chronology, and wrote various important treatises on the subject, viz.,Fasti Hellenici, Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece, part i. (1824), part ii. (1827), part iii. (1830), part iv. (1841),Fasti Romani, Civil and Literary Chronology of Rome and Constantinople, vol. i. (1850), vol. ii. (1851),An Epitome of the Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece(1851), the same for Rome (1853). He also wrote a tragedy,Solyman, which was a failure.
CLOUGH, ARTHUR HUGH (1819-1861).—Poet,s.of a cotton merchant in Liverpool, he spent his childhood in America, but was sent back to England for his education, which he received at Rugby and Oxf. While at the Univ., where he was tutor and Fellow of Oriel, he fell under the influence of Newman, but afterwards became a sceptic and resigned his Fellowship in 1848. In the same year hepub.his poem,The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich, written in hexameters. After travelling on the Continent for a year, he was in 1849 appointed Warden of Univ. Hall, London. In 1849 appearedAmours de Voyage, a rhymed novelette, and the more serious work,Dipsychus. In 1854 he was appointed an examiner in the Education Office, and married. His last appointment was as Sec. of a Commission on Military Schools, in connection with which he visited various countries, but was seized with illness, andd.at Florence. C. was a man of singularly sincere character, with a passion for truth. His poems, though full of fine and subtle thought, are, with the exception of some short lyrics, deficient in form, and the hexameters which he employed inThe Bothieare often rough, though perhaps used as effectively as by any English verse-writer. M. Arnold'sThyrsiswas written in memory of C.