CLIFFOED
CLODD
of the Eoyal Society in 1874. From 1872
to 1875 he lectured occasionally for the
London Sunday Lecture Society, and the
printed lectures show that he rejected all
religion and regarded matter and ether as
the only realities. To these he added
" mind-stuff," from the atoms of which
mind is composed. Eeligion he regarded
as a harmful superstition. The selection
of his papers published by the E. P. A.
(Lectures and Essays, 1918), and edited by
Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Frederick
Pollock, gives an excellent idea of his fine
personality and his hostility to all religion.
" Keep your children away from the
priest," he says, in italics, " or he will
make them the enemies of mankind "
(p. 121). A good biographical sketch is
prefixed to the selection. Clifford was
one of the most brilliant mathematicians
and most promising students of his time.
Of tireless industry, of noble and unselfish
character, he wore himself out prema
turely, though he had already attained
a remarkable distinction. D. Mar. 3, 1879.
CLIFFORD, Mrs. William Kingdon,
writer. A daughter of Mr. John Lane, she began to write at an early age for the magazines. She married Clifford in 1875, and his premature death caused her to resume her pen. Her first publication was a volume of stories in 1882, and her Mrs. Keith s Grime (1885) laid the foundation of her popularity. She has since written a large number of essays, novels, and plays of high literary value. Mrs. Clifford shared, and retains, the Eationalism of her brilliant husband, and has written in the B.P.A. Annual.
CLINE, Henry, surgeon. B. 1750. Ed. Merchant Taylors School (London). He graduated in surgery in 1774, and became surgeon to St. Thomas s Hospital. In 1810 he was appointed Examiner to, and in 1815 Master of, the College of Surgeons. It is said that his private practice brought him 10,000 a year. Cline w T as a great admirer of Home Tooke,
167
and shared his scepticism. He " thought
there was a cause superior to man, but
believed that nothing was known of the
future " (Dict.Nat. Biog.}. D. Jan. 2, 1827.
GLODD, Edward, writer. B. July 1, 1840. His father, the captain of a brig, belonged to Aldeburgh, and Clodd was educated there. Evading the wish of his. parents that he should enter the Baptist, ministry, he became a clerk in London, and in 1862 he entered the service of the- London Joint Stock Bank. In 1872 he was appointed secretary, and he held the post until he retired in 1915. From the Baptist creed he passed in early manhood,, especially under the influence of Huxley and Tylor, to Theism, and at this stage^ wrote his Childhood of the World (1872), He presently won the friendship of Grant Allen, Clifford, Spencer, Eomanes, York. Powell, etc., and shed all religious beliefs (see his Memories, 1916). He was the second Chairman of the Eationalist Press. Association, and by his active interest in it. and his numerous writings has contributed heavily to the spread of enlightenment in England. His Story of Creation is one of the best popular manuals of evolution that, has appeared, and has passed through many editions ; and he has written a large number of works which are little less popular. In 1910 he delivered the Conway Memorial Lecture on " Gibbon and Chris tianity." His most recent work, The Question, "If a man die, shall he live again ?" (1917), is a drastic and disdainful rejection of the claims of Spiritualism. Mr. Clodd is almost the last survivor of the great Victorian Eationalists. His genial and generous personality and varied culture have endeared him to hosts of distinguished men. His rejection of religion, in all forms, is peremptory and disdainful. He is an Agnostic, and he thinks that " the. mysteries, on belief in which theology would hang the destinies of mankind, are cunningly devised fables whose origin and growth are traceable to the age of Ignorance,, the mother of credulity." 168
