(quick) and the devel cliver on
sinnes," _i.e._ quick to seize hold of; this would connect the word with
a M. Eng. "cliver" or "clivre," a talon or claw (so H. Wedgwood, _Dict.
of Eng. Etym._). The ultimate original would be the root appearing in
"claw," "cleave," "cling," "clip," &c., meaning to "stick to." This
original sense probably survives in the frequent use of the word for
nimble, dexterous, quick and skilful in the use of the hands, and so it
is often applied to a horse, "clever at his fences." The word has also
been connected with O. Eng. _gleaw_, wise, which became in M. Eng.
_gleu_, and is cognate with Scottish _gleg_, quick of eye. As to the use
of the word, Sir Thomas Browne mentions it among "words of no general
reception in English but of common use in Norfolk or peculiar to the
East Angle countries" (_Tract._ viii. in Wilkins's ed. of _Works_, iv.
205). The earlier uses of the word seem to be confined to that of bodily
dexterity. In this sense it took the place of a use of "deliver" as an
adjective, meaning nimble, literally "free in action," a use taken from
Fr. _delivre_ (Late Lat. _deliberare_, to set free), cf. Chaucer,
_Prologue to Cant. Tales_, 84, "wonderly deliver and grete of strength,"
and _Romaunt of the Rose_, 831, "Deliver, smert and of gret might." It
has been suggested that "clever" is a corruption of "deliver" in this
sense, but this is not now accepted. The earliest use of the word for
mental quickness and ability in the _New English Dictionary_ is from
Addison in No. 22 of _The Freeholder_ (1716).

CLEVES (Ger. _Cleve_ or _Kleve_), a town of Germany in the kingdom of
Prussia, formerly the capital of the duchy of its own name, 46 m. N.W.
of Dusseldorf, 12 m. E. of Nijmwegen, on the main Cologne-Amsterdam
railway. Pop. (1900) 14,678. The town is neatly built in the Dutch
style, lying on three small hills in a fertile district near the
frontier of Holland, about 2 m. from the Rhine, with which it is
connected by a canal (the Spoykanal). The old castle of Schwanenburg
(formerly the residence of the dukes of Cleves), has a massive tower
(Schwanenturm) 180 ft. high. With it is associated the legend of the
"Knights of the Swan," immortalized in Wagner's _Lohengrin_. The
building has been restored in modern times to serve as a court of
justice and a prison. The collegiate church (Stiftskirche) dates from
about 1340, and contains a number of fine ducal monuments. Another
church is the Ann