Biographical Notice of ROBERT CLARKE OF SUNDERLAND. FROM THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY, 1799. RIVATE life, however distinguished by peculiar worth or talent, generally flows in such an even stream, as to want that variety and interest, which attract the pen of the biographer; but where that worth is of so superior a cast as to offer a shining example, or when those talents have been successfully exercised in matters of public utility, it then becomes a duty to save from oblivion those virtues we may imitate, and those talents which may lead to honest emulation and improvement. In goodness of heart and indefatigable application of inventive ability, few men, within the same portion of time, have gone beyond ROBERT CLARKE. From his father, Mr. Cuthbert Clarke, whose knowledge and ingenuity in the North of England had brought him into notice, he inherited a genius leading to natural and experimental philosophy, and in very early life discovered taste and talents in the imitative arts. At the period of his birth, in August 1767, his father was engaged in agriculture in some part of Northumberland, and soon after at Dalton, in the county of Durham. His early years passed over at Belford, in Northumberland, where, under the superintending eye of his father, the bent of his genius was allowed its undivided application to those objects and studies, in which he afterwards became so conspicuous: for, at a more advanced period, he obtained a perfect knowledge of the French and Latin languages, finding them indispensable to the completion of his scientific pursuits. To unite the researches of science with a course of practical utility, and to open a way to independance through the medium of a liberal profession, his father was induced to fix upon surgery and the practice of medicine, as an apt state for the attaining of those different objects. The commencement of his professional career was under Mr. Maxwell, of Newcastle upon Tyne, with whom he continued to the age of nineteen. He then proceeded to Edinburgh and attended the lectures of the different professors; amongst which, those of Dr. Black on Chemistry, seemed to have peculiar attractions; that being a branch of science to which he became particularly attached, and in which he advanced to a very considerable degree of proficiency. In 1787, he engaged himself as an assistant to a medical practitioner in Sunderland, with whom he continued about twelve months. The two following years we find him in the employment of Mr. George Midford, of Morpeth. This gentleman's opinion of Mr. Clarke's abilities and general conduct, may be best gathered from a circumstance that occurred some time after, when Mr. Midford politely offered him an immediate introduction to his friends and connections at Morpeth, then left at liberty by the removal of a Mr. Hawden, who had succeeded him, and a tender of his services in any way that Mr. Clarke might have occasion for. This occurred at a time when other prospects opening on his view, induced him to decline the engagement. He, at this time, attracted the attention of Dr. Keith, with whom he continued a scientific and friendly correspondence, and whose good opinion and esteem were eminently useful to him on future occasions. A short time before he quitted Morpeth, his father died at Leith, after having received subscriptions for a course of lectures in natural and experimental philosophy, which were obstructed by his declining health and subsequent dissolution. Mr. Clarke soon proceeded to that place, and offering to return the subscription-money or to deliver the lectures himself, the latter was preferred; and, from every account, there is reason to believe the subscribers were much gratified by his method, and the masterly way in which he acquitted himself on the occasion. For a lecturer, indeed, he was well qualified, uniting to a knowledge of his father's theory and experiments, a good elocution, winning address, and a forcibly interesting manner. Mr. Cuthbert Clarke had been for many years publisher of "The Astronomical Tide-Calendar for Sunderland, Shields, Newcastle, Leith, &c." this, after an accurate survey of the places for which the tables were adapted, was continued annually by our young philosopher, with the most accurate correctness, till the winter of 1796, when other objects engrossing his attention he was induced to discontinue the publication. In 1791, he entered into another professional engagement at Sunderland, which continued about two years; and where the cultivation of some private friendships, and a growing estimation of his talents and virtues fixed the destiny of his future life. At this time he distinguished himself by his activity and assistance in the establishment of a Humane Society at that place; for which, and for his successful treatment of some cases of "suspended animation," he received the thanks of the Committee and was elected an honorary member of the institution. His engagement closed in the spring of 1793, about which time we find him employed in drawing plans necessary to the specification of a patent for a "Machine Rope Manufactory," since estab lished, on an extensive scale, in the neighbourhood of Sunderland. The state of dependence to which Mr. Clarke had been hitherto confined, was deemed unworthy of his talents by some private friends, who liberally offered to support him another winter in Edinburgh for the completion of his medical and chirurgical studies. This plan was carried into effect in the October following, and the warm recommendations of Dr. Keith introduced him to the notice and intimacy of several of the most eminent professors. At Edinburgh he became dissecting pupil to Mr. John Bell, and exerted himself with such intelligence and unwearied application in his anatomical pursuits, as to gain the approbation, and esteem, and future correspondence of that able and ingenious professor. Midwifery too, and other subjects connected with his professional line, obtained a proportionate share of his diligence and observation—so that it may be fairly said, that nothing was neglected which seemed necessary to form a character, fitted to practice with success in a place of such consideration, as that, in which his interest and his inclination seemed now disposed to fix him. On his return to Sunderland in March 1794, he commenced practice; and very soon had the satisfaction to see himself respectably supported. A Dispensary being on the eve of establishment at this time, the solicitation of many of his friends, an honest consciousness of his own abilities, together with the earnest recommendation of Mr. John Bell, induced him to offer himself as a candidate for the office of surgeon, to which a numerous and independant support fully justified his pretentions. But an opposition, as unmerited as it was unexpected-over which, however, at this time, it may be best, perhaps, to draw a veil-had influence enough to defeat his election. The conduct of some, on that occasion, wounded his sensibility deeply, and we believe he never, entirely, lost the sense of it. His professional avocations did not totally detach his mind from other scientific pursuits, but rather pointed out a direction in which his combined knowledge of surgery and mechanics might be productive of practical utility. An alteration in the construction of the key-tooth-instrument, and an improvement in the field-tourniquet of M. Savigny were among the fruits of his leisure-hours. The principles upon which they were constructed, with explanatory drawings, were communicated, amongst other eminent surgeons, to the ingenious Anthony Carlisle, by whom the former was inserted in the "Medical Facts and Observations; and the plan of both was received by professional men with great approbation. The usual mode of working pumps, by means of a brake, had, for some time, attracted his attention; a mode which appeared to him little وو His productive in proportion to the muscular labour employed. inventive genius soon pointed out an improvement in the use of a curved lever, and making the action the same with that of rowing, conducing, at once, to the superior ease as well as muscular power of the person so employed. This was successfully carried into effect, on board a new ship, the Archimedea of Sunderland, and an ample account of his plan, with requisite engravings, was published after his death in the "Repertory of Arts." During the construction of that stupendous work, the cast-iron bridge at Sunderland, in the years 1795-6, Mr. Clarke was, upon different occasions, consulted by the architects, and his opinions generally received attention. To indulge a favourite amusement, to present a token of respect to an intimate friend, and at the same time to preserve some vestige of the means by which so vast an arch was turned, he was impelled to make a drawing of that elegant structure previous to the centres being taken down. In this design, beauty and accuracy were so intimately blended, that with all the general effect of an excellent picture, every block of iron of which the outward range was composed, every piece of timber of which the scaffolding was framed, and every tier of stones in either buttress might be minutely distinguished. The admiration of all who saw this drawing, and the warm approbation of the gentleman* immediately concerned in this noble and useful structure, induced him, with some reluctance, to publish this view, together with a companion print of the Bridge in its finished state. The two beautiful aquatinta plates, with a plan of the sectional parts, now before the public are ample proofs of his ingenuity and minute application, and will remain monuments of his taste, judgment and general execution, and what must very much enhance the quickness and versatality of his talents, the writer of this article may add, from his personal knowledge, that though he had occasionally practised drawing with a view to anatomical representation, this was his first attempt at landscape and perspective. His character as a man of genius and talents was now fully established, and a rapidly increasing practice promised amply to reward his exertions; when his friends, with extreme concern, saw in him evident symptoms of a consumption. In the spring of 1797, these appearances alarmingly gained ground, and he was urged by his friends, in vain, to try a change of air: his consent could not be obtained until a removal was considered as no longer advisable. conviction of his approaching dissolution long attended him, and under this idea he committed his papers to the flames; amongst VOL. II. * Rowland Burdon, Esq. M. P. for the County of Durham. 3 G which was an anatomical work, in which he had made considerable progress. Occasionally the vigour of his genius seemed restored, and his love of science to the last was prevalent with him. A few weeks before his death, in a conversation with some intimate friends, on the early period nature had frequently put to the pursuits of artists, he feelingly observed, "she has put an indelible stamp on me." His illness gained fast upon him at the commencement of 1798, and on the 24th of February he closed a short but useful life, to the great regret of numerous admirers of his ingenuity and exertions, many of whom, sympathising in the fate of departed merit, followed him to the grave. He was a man of virtue and liberality, with uncommon powers of mind, and with an intenseness of application truly wonderful. He excelled in correct delineations of the human figure in its anatomical relations; and his drawings of plans of mechanism and philosophical apparatus, through all their minute and complicated parts and appearances, were accurate and beautiful. His figure was genteel, his aspect pleasing. His powers of excitability were remarkably energetic: he received impressions with keen sensibility-but he gave them back, modified by his own peculiar turn of thinking, with a re-action, at least, equally forcible. His mind bearing continually its direction on objects of magnitude and interest, the turn of his language became proportionably raised, and was, in general, above the colloquial level. In discussing, his eye brightened, his features protuberated, and his whole countenance became ineffably animated. In a word, he was one, in whom an inventive genius, comprehensive knowledge, and active application, were dignified by simplicity of manners, suavity of disposition, and a heart of universal benevolence. INSTANCE OF A Life preserved after falling into a Coal-pit. FROM THE "GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE." OHN BOYS, a collier, employed in the coal works belonging to the hon. the late Lady Windsor, and the late Mr. Alderman Simpson, of Newcastle upon Tyne, at Lanchester common, in that neighbourhood, going to his work very early one morning in the year 1763, and, according to custom, on his turn to descend the shaft, in waiting to take out the ascending hook, in order to his making a loop to introduce his thigh for that |