An account of the infancy, religious and literary life, of Adam Clarke ...

Preface

PREFACE.

There are some circumstances respecting the succeeding Memoirs which require explanation, and others which need statement.

" If these Memoirs were written by the late Dr. Clarke, how happens it that they speak in the third person, and appear as though composed by an intimate friend?" — The third person was assumed in order to obviate an unpleasant appearance of egotism which Autobiography must always assume, more or less offensive, according to the skill of the Narrator. In this, Dr. Clarke did but follow the example of other great names, and availed himself of a disguise, previously made known to the Readers, that the mere Individual might not be perpetually obtruding himself upon their notice: the attention being fixed upon the passing events and described feelings, the Author temporarily forgotten, the judgment may be thus formed, not from the bias of Dr. Clarke's felt

8 PREFACE.

presence, but from the facts as recorded in the Narrative . - a mask which gives courage but conceals no feature.

Various members of his family, as well as some of his most intimate friends, frequently and urgently pressed Dr. Clarke to publish, or prepare for publication, a Memoir of himself ; stating that this would be the only effectual mode of preventing false or weak productions being palmed upon the world as faithful Memoirs. To all representations, however, he remained deaf, till one day a friend came and told him, " he had received sure information of a Life of him being even then in preparation ; that all his Conversations had been taken down, all his Letters treasured up, all his Observations noted, with the view of being embodied when the anticipated event should take place to call them into public being ; that little discretion would be used in selecting ; since, the object beinggain, all would be published which would sell ; and that even were some conscience shown, still there was no judgment to direct ; but indiscreet zeal, or the hope of * ungodly gains,' would slay his fame in the house of his friend."* Dr. Clarke felt the force of such observations,

* It is not one of the least remarkable facts connected with the life of Dr. Clarke, that the individual here alluded to died before the Doctor ; and was visited by him and his youngest son during a long and tedious illness. There is a farther notice of this affair in the following Letter to his eldest son.

Liverpool, June 15, 1819.

My Dear John,

Some time ago, you wrote requesting me to set about writing the -kistory of my Life ; this is a task which, while I have contemplated-,

PREFACE.

and the next morning when he came down to breakfast, he said to his friend, " I have been up long before day,

I have feared to attempt ; but I have thought more of the subject, since you wrote ; and have lately been obliged to think deeply on it too, in consequence of receiving credible information, that my Life is ready for the greedy eye of the public, so soon as my heart shall be cold !

I came here yesterday evening, and in a private conversation with

my friend Mr. , he most solemnly begged, and charged me to begin

the work, because he knew some hackneyed, and hunger-bitten scriveners were ready to praise me to death, and to murder me in verse so soon as I ceased to exist among men ; and I was led to believe that all the conversations, and anecdotes relative to myself and family for several years past, have been carefully taken down, and as carefully preserved. Mr. Comer took up the same subject, and most earnestly begged me instantly to begin, and defer it no longer. Well, what can I do 1 the Commentary is still hanging on my hands. True, I am free from the Records, which gives me a measure of leisure, and saves me from much anxiety ; laying all these considerations together, with the semel calcanda via, and Mr. Comer being in good earnest, and having provided and laid on his study table ruled paper for the purpose, I sat down yesterday and made atrial! * * * * And thus have I brought myself on in my journey through life, to the ninth year ot my age : and unless death stop me, I shall not stop in it till this be finished. I have written it in the third person as to the subject, and in the first person as to the narrator. This form may be altered if necessary. I recollect, when Mr. Thorsby wrote his own life, the pronoun J occurred so often in it, that the printer was obliged to borrow i's from his brother printers, as his i's had run out. Your father has never been in the habit of speaking much of himself ; he has never boasted, nor pretended great things ; and it would ill become him, when about to pass the great deep, to occupy his time, or that of his Readers, with unreal history, or unceremonious, and, generally speaking, unwelcome pronouns. Now, suggest to me, my dear John, any thing that strikes you — any thing I should not forget, or any thing on which I should lay particular stress, &c. &c.

July 3. I go on but slowly with the Life ; and yet I get on. A few pages more might terminate what may be called my initial and religious history, and here I might leave it, for all the purposes of illustrating either God's providence or His grace. My literary life, as it may be called, is another thing ; and belongs more to the world, than to the Church of God ; and I question if ever I shall attempt it.

10 PREFACE.

and have written several quarto sheets of my very close and small writing as a commencement of the history of my early life." This he continued, at various short intervals, till be brought it down to a period beyond which no inducement or solicitation could persuade him to proceed, " My early life" [much in this manner he would speak,] " no one can know ; nor can any one describe my feelings and God's dealings with my soul, some of which are the most important circumstances in my life, and are of most consequence to the religious world : — these I have now secured, and placed in their proper light : — what therefore others could neither have known nor described so truly as I, are here prevented from being lost : — my public life many have known, and it is before the world j if it be of importance, there will be found some who will transmit its events to posterity; and being passed before the eyes of all men, should there be misrepresentations, there will necessarily be plenty who can correct them : — at any rate, I have done what I feel to be the most important part ; for the rest, there are ample materials ; and, as the living will, in all probability, write of the dead, let my survivors do their part. — Nothing shall ever induce me to w rite the history of that portion of my life when I began to acquire fame, and great and learned men saw fit to dignify with their acquaintance, and to bestow honours and distinctions on, a Methodist Preacher." In this resolution he never for a moment wavered, and hence there was no more of his Life written by himself than what is contained in the present volume.

PREFACE. II

When Dr. Clarke was told of the above intention to publish after his death all that he had either written or spoken in the confidence of private friendship, or in the familiar intercourse of occasional conversations, he was very indignant, expressing his abhorrence of such " premeditated treachery/' as a man's coming into a family to act the part of a spy, — to record mutilated opinions, hand down disjointed conversations, and to proclaim as the result of deliberate judgment what might have been either a hasty expression of feeling, or a merely casual or unimportant remark : — " In conversation or correspondence I never either spoke or wrote for the public ; friendly intercourse was my sole object in the one case, and in the other relaxation from severe thought ; after I have been writing and studying from five in the morning till halfpast seven at night, it is hardly likely that I should come into the parlour with a disposition or preparation to shine.— I write because it is necessary, and I talk because I am cheerful and happy." The strong feeling of Dr. Clarke on this point is thus recorded, that the Public may not hereafter be deluded upon the subject, as if he had authorized any to take down any of his conversation on any occasion : — he had too much respect for the good sense and regard of mankind ever to come before them with inconsideration ; and was the last man in the world ever to be himself a party consenting to the wounding of his hard-earned fame by the publication of unprepared documents. Such conduct he always considered as treacherous in a friend, disgraceful to a man, and shameful to a Chris-?

12 PREFACE-

tian. His opinion of the publishing Letters, because they were written by a certain individual, he has himself expressed in the following pages. (See page 200.)

The Editor of this volume has had very little trouble in the performance of his office ; for the Manuscript was left in so complete a state by Dr. Clarke, that few things needed any alteration. No addition of any kind has been made, not even the insertion of any thing which the Author himself had formerly written, but had not himself introduced: this was judged necessary, that Dr. Clarke might not be rendered accountable for what another had chosen to insert : for this reason some Letters are referred to the end which might otherwise have been included and wrought into the body of the Work.

It may be expedient to add a few words concerning the remaining portion of this Work, which has been written by "A Member of the Family. 55 For this part Dr. Clarke supplied all the materials ; he gave up his Journals, his Common-place Book, his private papers, and wrote many of the accounts contained in it with his own hand ; and after the whole was digested into a Narrative, up to the year 1830, he looked over it and placed his signature to each sheet as a testimony that the alleged facts were true, leaving the Author of course accountable for the manner of their expression, as well as for the mode of their combination. Any farther particulars which may be necessary will be mentioned in the Preface to the succeeding volume.

PREFACE. IS

It is highly probable that many, on the perusal of this Work, may be inclined to exclaim, " We have heard strange things to-day;" and others may be excited to purer faith and greater diligence in the ways of godliness. To the latter, may the Author of all good grant an assurance to their faith, and strength and continuance to their working ; while to the former, may their hesitancy be overcome, that they may walk in a like path, and the "strange things" be converted into the experienced feelings of their own hearts, and the enjoyed blessings in their own souls.

Frome, November, 1832 2

Introduction

INTRODUCTION.

It is to be regretted that few persons who have arrived at any degree of eminence or fame, have written Memorials of themselves, at least such as have embraced their private as well as their public life. By themselves or contemporaries their public transactions have been in general amply recorded, with the apparent motives which led them to their particular lines of action, and the objects they aimed at by thus acting : but how they became capable of acting such parts ; how their minds acquired that impulse which gave them this direction ; what part an especial Providence, parental influence, accident, or singular occurrence, and education, had, in forming the man, producing those habits which constitute his manners, and prepared him for his future lot in life, we are rarely told. And without this, we neither can trace the dispensations of Providence, nor the operations of those mental energies by which such effects have been produced. Hence the main benefit of biography is lost, — emulation leading to imitation has no scope. We cannot follow the man because we do not see his previous footsteps : he bursts generally on our sight, like a meteor, and we are dazzled with the view : to us he is inimitable 2*

18 INTRODUCTION.

because he is enrobed with all his distinguishing perfections and eminence before we are introduced to his acquaintance. Were it otherwise, we should probably see that those who have reached the highest degrees of elevation beyond those who were born in the same circumstances and line of life, were not indebted so much to anything extraordinary in themselves, as to a well-timed and sedulous use of their own powers, and such advantages as their circumstances afforded ; and that what occurs to others, as mere accidents, were by them seized and pressed into their own service, and shewed them the necessity of attentive observation, that neither occurrence nor moment, should pass by unnoticed or unimproved.

We may rest satisfied that effects, which evidently have nothing in them supernatural, spring from natural causes : that the whole is an orderly procession, and appears astonishing to us, only because we do not see that concatenation of circumstances which, by a steady operation, produced the result.

Few men can be said to have inimitable excellencies : let us watch them in their progress from infancy to manhood, and we shall soon be convinced that what they attained was the necessary consequence of the line they pursued, and the means they used. But these things are not known, because we have not the history of their lives in any consecutive order : that of their infancy, when life ordinarily gets its direction and colouring, is generally suppressed by them-

INTRODUCTION IQ

selves or narrators ; possibly, because it is deemed insignificant; or because men who have risen out of the lower or middle classes of life, to literary or civil distinction, are unwilling to tell their small beginnings ; and thus, through false shame, what would really redound to their honour, explain apparent mysteries in the Providence which conducted the affairs of their lives, and would render those lives truly and endlessly usefu], by shewing that they were perfectly imitable, is lost to mankind. I say nothing of those things which may not be improperly termed biographical romances, — lives which were never lived, and virtues which were never practised.

To exhibit a man through every period of his life, who has obtained some distinction as well in the republic of letters as in religious society ; and how he acquired this distinction, is the principal design of the following sheets: and the reason for doing this, is threefold: — 1. To manifest the goodness of God to those who trust in Him ; and how He causes all things to work together for the good of such persons ; that He may have the praise of His own grace : and, 2dly, To prevent the publication of improper accounts, the only object of which is to raise unholy gains, by impositions on the public. Sdly. To shew to young men, who have not had those advantages which arise from elevated birth and a liberal education, how such defects may be supplied by persevering industry, and the redemption of time. Young Ministers, especially, may learn from these Memoirs a useful lesson. They see what has

20 INTRODUCTION.

been done towards mental improvement, in circumstances generally worse than their own, and that a defect in talents frequently arises from a defect in self cultivation : and that there is much less room for excuse than is generally supposed : in short, that no quarter should be shewn to those who ivhile away time, and permit a sort of religious gossipping to engender in them the disgraceful habits of indolence or sloth. It is hoped, and not unreasonably, that they will see from a perusal of this work, that the divine Providence is never parsimonious in affording all necessary advantages, and if duly improved, neither they, nor the people to whom they minister, will have much cause to complain of a deficiency of gifts through inadequate supplies of Providence, or inefficient influence from grace. Those who consider such cases as that here exhibited without profit, must have an incurable hebitude of disposition, with which it would be in vain to contend, as they have reconciled themselves to its indulgence, and thus have become " such as cannot teach, and will not learn."

Contents

i

CONTENTS.

Book I

The great human family speedily divided into branches . . §7 The surname of Clarke originated from the office of clerk . 38 The knowledge of letters not common in ancient times in England . . . . ■ [ 38

Withred, king of Kent, A. D. 700, signed a charter of Liberties

with the sign of the Cross, because he could not write 39 Henry the First, the only one of his family that could write . 39 Boldon Book contains a Survey of the Bishoprick of Durham,

Adam, the Clerk, mentioned as tenant in it ... 39 Various instances of surnames in that and Domesday, derived from offices and employments, .... 39 Different kinds of names among the Romans .... 40 Difference between the prcsnomen, nomen, and cognomen . 40 Ingenui among the Romans, the same as gentleman among

the English 41

Family of Clarke originally English 41

Went over to Ireland in the seventeenth century, and settled

in the county of Antrim . . . . . .41

Matrimonial connexions 41

Hugh Stuart Boyd, allied to the family of Clarke by marriage, and still holds some of the estates ... 42 Short pedigree of the Clarke family .... C note) 42 Anecdote of William Clarke, great-great-grandfather of Adam

Clarke (note) 42

John Clarke, the great-grandfather, has 19 children, — 18 sons

and 1 daughter . . . . . (note) 42

Horseman Clarke died of hydrophobia in consequence of being

spattered with the foam of a mad dog . . (note) 43 The Clarke family lost their estates, in consequence of the absence of a material witness in a trial at law (note) 43 John Clarke, father of Adam, takes his degree of M. A. at

Edinburgh and Glasgow . . . . . .44

Enters as Sizer in Trinity College, Dublin, being intended

for the church .44

His prospects in the church blighted by a premature marriage ; . 45

Licensed as a public parish schoolmaster .... 45 Marries Miss Hannah Mac Lean, descended from the Mac

Leans of Mull 45

Feud between the Mac Leans and Mac Donalds . . 45 Mr. John Clarke embarks for America, with the promise of a

professorship in one of the new Universities there . 46

Is prevented from sailing by his father .... **^5 Gets into difficulties in consequence of breaking up his establishment 47

Settles in an obscure village in the county of Derry, called

Adam, his second son, born 47

No register of the time of his birth preserved ... 47 Tracy CLARKE^the eldest son, licensed by the Consistorial Court

of Derry, as a parish schoolmaster .... 48

Bound apprentice to a surgeon • . 48

Goes to Dublin, and studies anatomy under Dr. Cleghome,

of Trinity College .48

Sails in a slave ship to Guinea and the West Indies . . 48

His journal destroyed by the captain of the ship . . 48 Various instances of cruelty witnessed by him during his

Is disgusted with the horrid nature of the traffic ; abandons

it, and establishes himself as a surgeon, near Liverpool, 50

Adam Clarke very hardy in his infancy 51

His uncle, the Rev. J. Mac Lean, remarkable for his

One of his aunts very diminutive 52

The district remarkable for having produced tall strong men 52 Adam gets well through the small pox by naturally adopting the

cool regimen 53

His early religious impressions and conversations with a

school-fellow 54

Anecdote of Dr. Barnard 55

Adam has a horror of becoming fat 55

Has his fortune told by a spae-man 55

Is a very inapt scholar 56

Prediction of a neighbouring schoolmaster concerning him 56

Unfitness of many public teachers for their employment . . 57

Adam abandons his Latin grammar in despair .... 58 Is severely reproved by the master, and taunted by his

school-fellows ■ . .58

His intellect becomes suddenly enlightened, and he advances

in his learning rapidly 58

Reflections upon this sudden revolution ... 59

Advice to schoolmasters .59

Adam never makes any great progress in arithmetic . . 60

Depressed state of the family . 60

The prices of various branches of education in Ireland at the

latter end of the 18th century 60

Mr. John Clarke cultivates his farm according to the rules laid

down by Virgil in his Georgics . . . 61 Adam and his brother alternately work in the farm, and instruct

each other 61

Read the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil in the midst of

scenes similar to those described in that work . . 62 Fragments of a Satire written by Adam on one of his school-fellows 62

Scholia on ditto 64

The love of reading in Adam and his brother becomes intense 64

They lay by their half-pence and pence to buy books . 64

C0NTENT8. 25

Page

A catalogue of their books (35

Works of imagination useful to young minds .... 66

Adam reads the Pilgrim's Progress 66

His reflections as a child upon the conduct of Christian in

the dungeon 66

More mature reflections 67

Becomes an enthusiastic admirer of the Trojan hero, Hector, from hearing his father recite portions of the Iliad 67 Is induced to attempt to obtain a knowledge of occult philosophy 68

Forms an acquaintance with a company of travelling tinkers,

who profess to be adepts in magic .... 68 Is deterred from pursuing his magical studies, by reading an answer to a question on that subject in the " Athenian Oracle" 69

From the reports spread in the neighbourhood of his supernatural powers, marauders are deterred from robbing

his father's premises 69

Receives the first taste for Oriental literature by reading the

Arabian Nights' Entertainments 70

Derives great benefit from reading the adventures of Robinson Crusoe and iEsop's Fables 71

Manner in which the peasants of the North of Ireland spend

their winters' evenings 71

Strong impression made upon the memory of the hearer by the

relation of the Gaelic stories 71

Baptism of Fion ma cool, or Fingal, by St. Patrick ... 72

Manners of the Irish peasantry 72

Adam's Mother, a Presbyterian of the old puritanic school . 73

Her method of reproving her children .... 73 An instance of the effect of her reproofs upon her son

Adam 73

Her creed leads her to represent the Almighty rather as a

God of justice than a God of mercy .... 74

She impresses on her family a great reverence for the Bible 74

Evening prayer taught by her to her children ... 75

Morning prayer and Doxology 75

Her manner of spending the Sabbath with her family . 75

Religious education of the family 76

Mode of practising sacred music in the North of Ireland . . 76 Various instances from sacred and profane history of the

antiquity of this mode of singing .... 76

Not in use among the Irish Roman Catholics ... 78

An account of the Caoinian or Irish howl .... 78

A. C. learns dancing . . . . 79

Its evil effects upon him 79

His protest against this branch of education ... 80

Various projects for A. C.'s settlement in life .... 80 Has a very narrow escape for his life in consequence of a

fall from his horse 81

A. C. has another narrow escape from death by drowning . 81

Conversation with Dr. Letsom on the subject ... 82

Sensations while under water, and on coming to life . . 82

A remarkable anecdote of an attempted robbery and murder . 83

Unfortunate accident by an incautious use of fire-arms . . 86 3 figM

Remarkable events attending- the deaths of two brothers . 06

General belief in fairies in that part of Ireland ... 87

BOOK II. Summary of religion oS

A. C.'s first religious instructors 88

He hears for the first time of the Methodists, through the

medium of a newspaper 89

Is induced to go to hear them by the prospect of deriving amusement 89

Is struck by an observation of the preacher . . 90

Is induced to go to hear him a^ain .... 90

Adam's parents approve of the Methodist doctrines . . 91

The preachers are invited to, and entertained in, their house 91

A. C. begins to feel an increasing attachment to religion . 91

True religion makes no man slothful 92

A. C. is stirred up to greater diligence in prayer, by a conversa- '

tion with Mr. Barber 92

He is dispirited by opinions of religious friends . . 92

Determines to search the Scriptures for himself . . 93 He forms the Articles of his Creed from his own study of the Sacred Writings, without referring to any human

creed or confession of faith 93

A. C. is taken by his mother to a class-meeting . . . 93

Is taken notice of and encouraged by the leader . . 94

His mind becomes filled with doubts .... 94

An anecdote of the Caliph Aalee 95

A. C. is filled with doubts concerning the Atonement . . 95 This proceeds so far that he conceives himself guilty of

idolatry by praying in the name of Christ . . 96

Is delivered from this state of mind by earnest prayer . 96 From his own feelings on this subject, he always thought it his duty to caution others against the Arian and Soci-

nian errors 96

A. C, from his own experience on this occasion, forms his opinion of the spurious doctrine of the Eternal Sonship of Christ 96

Arguments against this doctrine ... 97 Danger of young converts mingling with persons who are fond

of doubtful disputations 97

A. C.'s mental sufferings from the temporary perversion of his

creed 97

He has a strong desire to receive the Sacrament for the first

time 98

His preparations for that solemn ordinance . . 99

The clergyman much affected while giving him the bread 99 A. C.'s feelings during the ordinance, and his opinion of the

nature of this Sacrament 100

Advice to communicants 100

A. C. undergoes great spiritual anguish 101

Reflections on this 101

Finds peace with God 102

Converses with Mr. Barber on the subject .... 102

Page

Receives the witness of the Spirit, and a clear evidence of

his acceptance with God 103

Extract of a Sermon preached by him, on this subject,

se.ven years after, at Plymouth .... 104

Reflections on the nature and uses of religion .... 106 A. C. finds his mind enlightened and more adapted to receive

instruction through his increase in spiritual knowledge 106 Acquires a taste for Natural Philosophy, by the perusal of " Derham's Astro-theology," and " Ray's Wisdom of

God in the Creation" 107

The Dictionaries of John Kersey and Benjamin Martin of

great use to him 108

Two of his sisters join the Methodists .... 109 He is the means of the conversion of one of his school-fellows . . .109

Account of Andrew Coleman 109

His wonderful progress in learning 110

Straitened circumstances . . . . . . .110

An intimate friendship formed between him and A. C. .110 He is employed as a class-leader . . . . .111

Sent out as a travelling preacher Ill

Dies at the age of eighteen of a consumption . . .111

A. C.'s reflections on his death Ill

Instances of Andrew Coleman's extraordinary memory . . 112 Adam Clarke begins to exhort in the neighbouring villages . 112 His method of procedure in such cases .... 113 Sometimes preaches in nine or ten villages in one day . 113 Turns his attention to mathematics . . . .113

His profits in Gnomonics 113

Makes considerable exertions to obtain a knowledge of the

French language 114

Occasionally amuses himself with attempts at poetry . 114 A. C. is placed on trial, prior to being apprenticed with Mr.

Francis Bennet, a linen merchant . . . .114 All his religious friends averse to this arrangement . .114 Mr. John Bredin writes to Mr. Wesley concerning him . 115 Mr. Wesley offers to take him into Kings wood School . 115 His parents receive the proposal with indignation . .115 Mr. Bennet offers to set him up in business as an Irish provision merchant 115

He meets with many judicious and religious friends at

Coleraine 116

He derives much spiritual benefit from the perusal of " Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest," and the " Journal of

David Brainard" 116

He attracts the notice of Mr. Rutherford and other preachers 116 He is unpleasantly situated in Mr. Bennet's family, owing

to a termagant of a servant 117

And a sick relative . . . . . .118

His method of reproving sin . . . . . t 118