the monasteries, being, for example, the birthplace of
the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1731, and the scene of Dr Johnson's work
in connexion with that journal. In modern times the gatehouse again
became associated with the Order, and is the headquarters of the St
John's Ambulance Association. An Early English crypt remains beneath the
neighbouring parish church of St John, where the notorious deception of
the "Cock Lane Ghost," in which Johnson took great interest, was
exposed. Adjoining the priory was St Mary's Benedictine nunnery, St
James's church (1792) marking the site, and preserving in its vaults
some of the ancient monuments. In the 17th century Clerkenwell became a
fashionable place of residence. A prison erected here at this period
gave place later to the House of Detention, notorious as the scene of a
Fenian outrage in 1867, when it was sought to release certain prisoners
by blowing up part of the building. Clerkenwell is a centre of the
watch-making and jeweller's industries, long established here; and the
Northampton Polytechnic Institute, Northampton Square, a branch of the
City Polytechnic, has a department devoted to instruction in these
trades.

CLERMONT-EN-BEAUVAISIS, or CLERMONT-DE-L'OISE, a town of northern
France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Oise, on the
right bank of the Breche, 41 m. N. of Paris on the Northern railway to
Amiens. Pop. (1906) 4014. The hill on which the town is built is
surmounted by a keep of the 14th century, the relic of a fortress the
site of which is partly occupied by a large penitentiary for women. The
church dates from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The hotel-de-ville,
built by King Charles IV., who was born at Clermont in 1294, is the
oldest in the north of France. The most attractive feature of the town
is the Promenade du Chatellier on the site of the old ramparts. Clermont
is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance, a
communal college and a large lunatic asylum. It manufactures felt and
corsets, and carries on a trade in horses, cattle and grain.

The town was probably founded during the time of the Norman invasions,
and was an important military post, during the middle ages. It was
several times taken and retaken by the contending parties during the
Hundred Years' War, and the Wars of Religion, and in 1615 Henry II.,
prince of Conde, was besieged and captured there by the marshal d'Ancre.

COUNTS OF CLERMONT. Clermon