[Francis Clerke for about forty years practised the civil law in
the Court of Arches, Admiralty, Audience, Prerogative, and
Consistorial of the Bishop of London. In 1594, the Oxford
University conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law.
His principal work, entitled _Praxis curiæ Admiralitatis Angliæ_,
passed through several editions. A short notice of the author will
be found in Wood's _Athenæ_, i. 657. (Bliss), and a list of his
other works in Watt's _Bibliotheca Britannica_.]
_Nine Days' Wonder._--Did any particular circumstance give rise to the
saying, "A nine days' wonder?"