Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie, Knight

and Moral, and

re in iambic pentameters, and are for the greater part sextets in form; but though the versification is occasionally smooth, these compositions do little credit to the Muse who inspired them. They are, without an exception, pointless; and an epigram without a point is about as useless and e

ge."[153] We could hardly conceive of any responsible authorities being so far "left to themselves" as to do a deed like this. The story may be either the misapplication

guishable. There is no reason why anyone should have written them, but, on the other hand, there is no reason why anyone should not. They express the usual commonplaces: the inevitableness of death, and the worth of endeavour. A mildly Horatian sen

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he neglects truths that are obvious, and occupies himself in discovering and bringing forward those that are recondite. The sentiments to which he gives utt

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his mind, are expressed in the piece entitled "The generous Speech of a Noble Cavall

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cs that proves an author's possession of poetical and rhetorical gifts, and a volume of poetry which leads one to think that the singer is an accomplished mathematician, are gifts with which the world is but seldom favoured, and as it is likely that their merits will not instantly be observed, the zeal of the author in calling our attention to them is by no mean

dern reader will probably, however, be inclined to think that this modest opinion of them is far too flattering. At times there is a faint suggestion of

ently prepared to go on with more "bookes" of the kind, if he got any encouragement from publishers or public, but, probably, both thought it about time for him to stop. The fact that, in five years after this volume of poems had appeared, a second edition should

author's political associates or friends. The persons thus honoured are the Marquis of Huntly, the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Dorset, the Earl of Holland, the Earl of Newcastle, the Earl of Stafford, Lord Craven, and Lord Gaurin (Gowran). According to the custom of that time, the reader finds his progress barred by several prefaces, respectively named, in this instance, as the "Isagoge," or "

s Urquhart's handwritin

them also are of a sportive turn, and are more in accordance with the standard of taste and manners which prevailed in the middle of the seventeenth century than with that, of our own day. From the "Animadversion" it seems that Urquhart "contryved, block

valuable by soldiers, sailors, architects, astronomers, and others, the volume seems to have dropped at once into the depths of oblivion, without even having produced a ripple upon the surface of the waters. No one is known to have read it or to have been able to read it. Lord Bacon, indeed, says that things solid and weighty are drown

The book is not absolute nonsense, but is written in a most unintelligible way,[162] and so as never book was written before nor since. On this account it is truly a literary curiosity. There appears to have been a perverted ingenuity exercised in writing it, and I imagine that, with some patience, the author's plan might be understood, but I doubt if any man would take the trouble; for, after he had overcome the difficulty, there is nothing to reward his labour. I presume the object of the author was to fix the rules of Trigonometry in the memory, but no writer since his time has adopted his invention. Indeed, I do not observe the least mention of

[than] my selfe am happy, as from my heart I doe acknowledge it, in the just right your Ladiship hath to the eternall possession of the never-dying powers of my soule." The following passage from the same "Epistle" reminds one of the adulatory terms in which Sir Walter Raleigh and Spenser addressed Queen Elizabeth: "By vertue of your beloved society, your neighbouring Countesses, and other great dames of your kindred and acquaintance, become more illustrious in your imitation [i.e. in imitation of you]; amidst whom, as Cynthia amongst the obscurer planets, your Ladiship shines, and darteth the angel

and many others equally hard and thorny. Even the author himself finds it necessary to append to the work a glossary, containing an explanation of a number of the words of which he had made use. "Being certainly perswaded," he says, "that a great many good spirits [i.e. worthy

told, "is said of the concordances of those moods which agree in the manner of their inversion; that is, in placing the second and fourth termes of the analogy, together with their indowments, in the roomes of the first and third, and contrariwise." Probably only those who are able to follow the statement that "oppoverti

ston, the inventer of Logarithms, were to be unmindfull of him that is our daily benefactor; these artificiall numbers by him first excogitated and perfected, being of such incomparable use,[168] that by them we may operate more in one day, and with lesse danger of errour, then [than] can be done without them in the space of a whole week; a secret which would have beene so precious

or of logarithms, it is very amusing to find J. A. remarking of Sir Thomas Urquhart, that "the praise he hath beene pleased to confer on the learned and honourable Neper, doth, without any diminution, in every jot as duly belong unto himselfe."[170] As all our author's eulogies are constructed on a vast scale, it is not surprising to read that the new method of measuring triangles, as compared with the old, is like the sea-jou

, when houses and possessions will change their owners, the wealthy become poor, and the children of the needy enjoy the treasures of those whose heires are impoverished. Therefore, seeing for the many-fold uses thereof in divers arts and sciences, in speculation and practice, peace and war, sport and earnest, with the admirable furtherances we reape by it in the knowledge of sea and land, and heaven and earth, it cannot be otherwis

t some strong affirmations were needed in the case. Probably he agreed with the old saying that, if you wish work to be thoro

er, and assures the author that Scotia, whom by his writings he was exalting to the stars, looked down upon him with a benig

n ancient sa

d Alexander

r Thomas Urquhart's treatise; for his verses[173] would have been equally appropriate if

the same kind. His dignified attitude towards carping critics is very impressive. "But as for such," he says, "who, either understanding it not, or vain-gloriously being accustomed to criticise on the works of others, will presume to carp therein at what they cannot amend, I pra

mas Urchard, Knight. London: Printed by Barna

m ours. In modern times point or "bite" is regarded as essential to such kind of compositions. The original id

Biographical H

Works,

hibley, New Rev

used for her Italian lessons, that they were "moral to the last deg

. ix.). A somewhat different and more sombre turn of thought than the above was suggested to Southey's Dr Dove by the resemblance between the words. "Woman,

nce, being no lesse fruitfull then [than] pleasing to the diligent Peruser, are entitled Apollo and the Muses. Written by the Right Worshipfull Sir Thom

or all such as would attaine to the exact knowledge of Fortification, Dyaling, Navigation, Surveying, Architecture, the Art of Shadowing, taking of Heights and Distances, the use of both the Globes, Perspective, the skill of making Maps, the Theory of the Planets, the calculating of their motions, and all other Astronomicall Computations whatsoever. Now lately invented, an

ncement of

italics

his opinion of the book of Heraclitus the Obscure. "Those things," he said, "which I understood were exce

Works,

orks, p

Ibid.

onversation of the pleasant company in Illyria, when they began "to speak of Pigrogromitus, and of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of Queubus" (Twe

stand the title as simply equivalent to "laird." He calls himself on one of his title-pages Baro Merchistonii, but that phrase is merely

that class of our readers. The following explanations are, therefore, intended for those members of the inferior sex whose education on the mathematical side has been neglected. The idea of logarithms arose in the mind of Napier from the wish to simplify the p

1. 5. 32.

. 64. 1

. 128.

. 256.

. 512. 1

e the (13-8)th or 5th power, which from the table is 32. By means of this principle calculations can by made by persons whose business it is to do so, and stored up apart for use. The vast saving to mental labour by this simple an

Works,

Ibid.

Works,

s" controverted by Sir Thomas Browne. It is interesting to know that he was probably the last person in Scotland who heard the voice of the water-kelpie. "One day," he says, "travelling before day with some company near the river Don in Aberdeen, we heard a great noise and voices calling to us. I was goi

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ion of professional critics is respe