Chapter Clinton to Colenso of C by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Clinton to Colenso

Clinton, Henry Fynes (1781-1852).—Chronologist, born at Gamston, Notts, educated at Southwell, Westminster, and Oxford, 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, son 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 Oxford While at the University, 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 he published 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 University Hall, London. In 1849 appeared Amours 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 secretray of a Commission on Military Schools, in connection with which he visited various countries, but was seized with illness, and died at Florence. Clough 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 in The Bothie are often rough, though perhaps used as effectively as by any English verse-writer. M. Arnold’s Thyrsis was written in memory of C.

Cobbe, Frances Power (1822-1904).—Theological and social writer, was born near Dublin. Coming under the influence of Theodore Parker, she became a Unitarian. Her first work, published anonymously, was on The Intuitive Theory of Morals (1855). She travelled in the East, and published Cities of the Past (1864). Later she became interested in social questions and philanthropic work, and wrote many books on these and kindred subjects, including Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors (1869), Darwinism in Morals (1872), and Scientific Spirit of the Age (1888). She was a strong opponent of vivisection.

Cobbett, William (1762-1835).—Essayist and political writer, born at Farnham, Surrey, son of a small farmer, his youth was spent as a farm labourer, a clerk, and in the army, in which his good conduct and intelligence led to his promotion to the rank of sergeant-major. After moving about between England and America, and alternating between journalism and agriculture, in the former of which his daring opposition to men in power got him into frequent trouble and subjected him to heavy fines in both countries, he settled down in England in 1800, and continued his career as a political writer, first as a Tory and then as a Radical. His violent changes of opinion, and the force and severity with which he expressed himself naturally raised up enemies in both camps. In 1817 he went back to America, where he remained for two years. Returning he stood, in 1821, for a seat in Parliament, but was unsuccessful. In 1832, however, he was returned for Oldham, but made no mark as a speaker. Cobbett was one of the best known men of his day. His intellect was narrow, but intensely clear, and he was master of a nervous and idiomatic English style which enabled him to project his ideas into the minds of his readers. His chief writings are English Grammar, Rural Rides, Advice to Young Men and Women. His Weekly Political Register was continued from 1802 until his death.

Cockburn, Henry (1779-1854).—Scottish judge and biographer, born (probably) and educated in Edinburgh, became a distinguished member of the Scottish Bar, and ultimately a judge. He was also one of the leaders of the Whig party in Scotland in its days of darkness prior to the Reform Act of 1832. The life- long friend of Francis Jeffrey, he wrote his life, published in 1852. His chief literary work, however, is his Memorials of his Time (1856), continued in his Journal (1874). These constitute an autobiography of the writer interspersed with notices of manners, public events, and sketches of his contemporaries, of great interest and value.