ures, 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 not _pub._ 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. The _History_ was followed by a
supplementary _History of the Civil War in Ireland_ (1721). C. also wrote
an autobiography, _The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon_ (1759), a reply
to the _Leviathan_ of Hobbes, and _An 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. His _dau._ Anne
married the Duke of York, afterwards James II., a connection which
involved him in much trouble and humiliation.

Agar Ellis's _Historical Enquiry respecting the Character of Clarendon_
(1827), _Life_ by 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 complete
_Concordance to Shakespeare_ (1844-45), and wrote _The Shakespeare Key_
(1879) and, with her husband, _Recollections of Writers_ (1878).

CLARKE, MARCUS (1846-1881).--Novelist, _b._ in London, the _s._ of a
barrister. Afte