CLEVER. In this country the word _clever_ is most improperly used in the sense of good-natured, well-disposed, good-hearted. It is properly used in the sense in which we are wont most inelegantly to use the word _smart_, though it is a less colloquial term, and is of wider application. In England the phrase "a _clever_ man" is the equivalent of the French phrase, "_un homme d'esprit_." The word is properly used in the following sentences: "Every work of Archbishop Whately must be an object of interest to the admirers of _clever_ reasoning"; "Cobbett's letter ... very _clever_, but very mischievous"; "Bonaparte was certainly as _clever_ a man as ever lived."
CLIMAX. A clause, a sentence, a paragraph, or any literary composition whatsoever, is said to end with a _climax_ when, by an artistic arrangement, the more effective is made to follow the less effective in regular gradation. Any great departure from the order of ascending strength is called an _anti-climax_. Here are some examples of climax:
"Give all diligence; add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."
"What is every year of a wise man's life but a criticism on the past! Those whose life is the shortest live long enough to laugh at one half of it; the boy despises the infant, the man the boy, the sage both, and the Christian all."
"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!"
CO. The prefix _co_ should be used only when the word to which it is joined begins with a vowel, as in _co-eval_, _co-incident_, _co-operate_, etc. _Con_ is used when the word begins with a consonant, as in _con-temporary_, _con-junction_, etc. _Co-partner_ is an exception to the rule.
COMMENCE. The Britons use or misuse this word in a manner peculiar to themselves. They say, for example, "commenced merchant," "commenced actor," "commenced politician," and so on. Dr. Hall tells us that _commence_ has been employed in the sense of "begin to be," "become," "set up as," by first-class writers, for more than two centuries. Careful speakers make small use of _commence_ in any sense; they prefer to use its Saxon equivalent, _begin_. See, also, BEGIN.