CLAYTON, ROBERT, D.D. (1695-1758), a distinguished prelate and member of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies of London. He was advanced to the bishopric of Killala in 1729, translated to the see of Cork in 1735, and to that of Clogher in 1745. His preference, in spite of his Arian opinions, was chiefly owing to the influence of his friends at court; but having ventured to propose in the House of Lords that the Nicene and Athanasian creeds
should be expunged from the liturgy, a prosecution was ordered against him by the crown. He died, however, on the day fixed for the opening of the trial.
His publications are, 1. A Letter in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 451, p. 813, giving an account of a Frenchman seventy years old (at Inishnan, in his diocese of Cork), who said he gave suck to a child; 2. The Chronology of the Hebrew Bible vindicated, 1751, 4to; 3. An impartial Inquiry into the time of the coming of the Messiah, 1751, 8vo; 4. An Essay on Spirit, 1751, 8vo; 5. A Vindication of the Histories of the Old and New Testaments, in answer to the Objections of Lord Bolingbroke, in two Letters to a young Nobleman, 1752, 8vo; 6. A Defence of the Essay on Spirit, with Remarks on the several pretended Answers, 1753, 8vo; 7. A Journal from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, and back again, translated from a manuscript written by the prefato of Egypt, in company with some Missionaries to propagandæ fide at Grand Cairo; to which are added, Remarks on the Origin of Hieroglyphics, and the Mythology of the ancient Heavens, 1753, 8vo; 8. Some Thoughts on Self-love, Innate Ideas, Free-will, Taste, Sentiments, Liberty and Necessity, occasioned by reading Mr Hume's Works, and the short Treatises written in French by Lord Bolingbroke on Compassion, 1754, 8vo; 9. A Vindication of the Histories of the Old and New Testaments, Part II., adorned with several Explanatory Cuts, 1754, 8vo; 10. Letters between the Bishop of Clogher and Mr William Penn, concerning Baptism, 1755, 8vo; 11. A speech delivered in the House of Lords in Ireland, on Monday, 24 February 1736, for omitting the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds out of the Liturgy, 1756, 8vo; 12. A Vindication, Part III., 1758, 8vo.