Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1129

CLI , the head of a junior branch of the great house of Clifford. After completing his education at Oxford, he travelled on the continent, and there went over to the Roman catholic faith. He was elected a member of the parliament which restored Charles II., and soon showed himself one of the most ardent defenders of the royal prerogative, and strove by every means in his power to augment the authority and revenue of the crown. He joined the fleet as a volunteer during the war with Holland in 1665 and 1666, and fought with signal bravery in several engagements. On his return, he was sworn of the privy council, and appointed first comptroller, and then treasurer of the household. He soon became one of the most confidential advisers of the king, and was a member of the notorious "cabal" ministry. He was the most respectable of the number, although he recommended the fraudulent and infamous measure of shutting up the exchequer and robbing the banks, which led to the downfall of the cabal. In 1672 he was elevated to the peerage by the title of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, and made lord-treasurer. But, in the following year, Charles was compelled to give his consent to the celebrated test act, and Clifford, refusing to conform to it, was obliged to resign his office. Overwhelmed with chagrin, he retired to the country, where he died soon after, September, 1673. Evelyn says he was "a valiant, uncorrupt gentleman; ambitious, not covetous; generous, passionate, and a most sincere constant friend."—J. T.  CLIFT,, a distinguished naturalist, born at Burcombe, near Bodmin, on the 14th February, 1775. He was the youngest of seven children. His father, Robert Clift, died a few years after the birth of his son, leaving his widow and family in narrow circumstances. William was put to school at Bodmin, and soon distinguished himself for the readiness with which he acquired knowledge. His great natural talent for drawing brought him under the notice of Colonel Gilbert of the Priory, whose lady was an intimate friend of Miss Home, who afterwards became the wife of the great John Hunter. Thus Mrs. Gilbert heard of the loss which Mr. Hunter suffered in the departure of his assistant and draughtsman, William Bell, for Ceylon in 1790; and she accordingly suggested to Mrs. Hunter that possibly her young protege might in some measure supply his place. The proposal was accepted; and William Clift was sent to London, and duly apprenticed to John Hunter for six years in the year 1792. The inestimable advantage of this position of amanuensis, artist, and clerk to such a man, was cut short by the death of John Hunter in 1793. Hunter died in difficulty and debt: the sole provision for his family was his museum. Dr. Baillie, one of the executors, gave Mr. Clift free admission to his anatomical lectures; and the other, Mr. Home (afterwards Sir Everard) occasionally employed him to assist in his operations on private patients, or in the dissection of rare animals. Hunter's premises consisted of the residence in Leicester Square, a house in Castle Street, and the museum which ne had built in the intermediate space. The house in the square was let to lodgers; the house in the rear was occupied by Mr. Clift and the old housekeeper of the family; and thus accommodated, Mr. Clift undertook the custody of the museum until government should determine to accept or decline the terms on which it was offered by the testamentary directions of Hunter. After seven years' resistance the government at last purchased the Hunterian collection for £15,000; and it was then transferred to the corporation of surgeons in a better state of arrangement and preservation than when it received in 1793 its last addition from the hands of its immortal founder. The corporation having been reincorporated by charter in 1800 under the title of the Royal College of Surgeons, one of its first acts was to appoint Mr. Clift conservator of the museum, under the superintendence of a board of curators chosen from the council. From this time forwards the time and talents of Mr. Clift were exclusively devoted to this service in various ways, and great were his devotion and zeal in this prime object of his life. His own immediate contributions to science are few. Two only appear in the Transactions of the Royal Society; the first is entitled "Experiments to ascertain the Influence of the Spinal Marrow on the Action of the Heart in Fishes," in the year 1815; and the other is a "Description of some Fossil Bones found in the Caverns at Preston," published in 1823. Both papers are peculiarly clear, simple, and worthy of attention. Soon after their publication Mr. Clift was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and served in the council in the years 1833 and 1834. He communicated some papers to the Geological Society, "On the Megatherium," and "On Fossil Remains from the Irawaddi." Mr. Clift, however, worked assiduously for others in determining fossils and in figuring them. His labours are gratefully acknowledged by Baron Cuvier and by Dr. Mantell. From the duties of his office Mr. Clift was allowed to retire, with a full salary of £400 a year, a few years before his death, which took place on the 20th June, 1849."—E. L.  CLINIUS, father of Alcibiades, fought at the battle of Artemisium in 480 ., and fell at Coronea in 447.  CLINIUS, a Pythagorean philosopher, a contemporary and friend of Plato, lived at Tarentum. Some fragments of his writings are preserved in Stobæus.  CLINTON,, governor of New York, was born at Little Britain, Orange county, in that state, March 2, 1769. He was the son of General James Clinton. In 1798 he was elected a senator in the New York legislature, and in 1802 was appointed by the governor of New York, a senator of the United States. In 1803 he was appointed to the post of mayor of the city of New York—an appointment which he continued to receive by annual bestowment till 1815, with the exception of the years 1807 and 1810. During this period he laid the foundations of several of the most important public institutions of the city, among which were the Orphan Asylum, the Academy of Arts, and the Historical Society. At his suggestion in 1817 the New York legislature authorized the construction of the Erie Canal, to connect the Hudson river with lake Erie. He was president of the board of canal commissioners in 1823 and 1824; and in 1826 witnessed the completion of the Erie canal, and participated in his official capacity in the splendid ceremonies with which the waters of the great lakes were, on that occasion, made to mingle with those of the Atlantic. The length of the Erie canal is three hundred and sixty-three miles, and its cost was near six millions of dollars. It is the noblest monument to the enterprise and sagacity of Clinton, and its beneficial results to the state of New York and to the whole country have more than realized his highest expectations. He died in 1828.—W. G.  CLINTON,, governor of New York, and vice-president of the United States, was born in Ulster county. New York, in 1739. He was elected to the continental congress in April, 1775, and voted for the declaration of independence. In February, 1777, he was appointed brigadier-general in the regular army; and a few months afterwards was chosen governor of New York—a post which he continued to hold, by successive re-elections, for eighteen years. He commanded the forts on the Hudson when they were stormed and taken by Sir Henry Clinton—a temporary reverse from which he soon recovered. Clinton was in opposition under the administrations of Washington and the elder Adams, having no voice in the federal councils; but he was chosen vice-president under Jefferson in 1804; and again, though with high claims to the presidency, under Madison in 1808. He held this office till his death at Washington in 1812.—F. B.  CLINTON,, an English general, who commenced his military career in the Seven Years' war, in 1750, and in 1778 was appointed to succeed Lord Howe as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. Obliged to evacuate Philadelphia, he made a skilful retreat to New York. He captured Charleston in 1779, but failed in an attempt to drive the French from Rhode Island. It was Sir Henry who entered into a negotiation with the American general, Arnold, to betray the important post of Westpoint, which led to the apprehension and execution of the unfortunate Major Andre. General Clinton was recalled in 1782, and two years after published an account of his American campaigns under the title of "Reflections on the history of the American war." He was appointed governor of Gibraltar, and died there in 1795.—J. T.  CLINTON,, a most accomplished classical scholar and author, was born in 1781, and was the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. C. Fynes Clinton, prebendary of Westminster and incumbent of St. Margaret's, Westminster. He was educated first at Westminster school, and then at Christchurch, Oxford. His accurate and extensive scholarship was worthy of his remarkable industry. Having inherited an ample fortune from a distant relative, he represented the borough of Aldborough in parliament from 1806 to 1826, when he was succeeded by his brother. His reputation, however, rests not on his political career, but on his literary productions, and mainly on his "Fasti Hellenici" and "Fasti Romani"—works which have deservedly <section end="1129Zcontin" />