³ Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer-Royal 1765–1811; famous as the founder of the Nautical Almanac and for his Schiehallion experiment (1774). Hutton was selected to determine, from Maskelyne’s observations, the estimated mean density of the earth; several references to this work appear in these letters. Hutton at this time had as a colleague Bonnycastle, chiefly remembered for The Scholar’s Guide to Arithmetic, and later was joined by John Evans, F.R.S., so perhaps his loneliness was thereby relieved. See also under (1).

⁴ “Our friend Williams.” This is probably Edward Williams, R.A. (see Kane’s List of R.A. Officers). He became a Captain in 1775, and was on the staff of the Governor of New York, 1778–1780, and died, a Lieutenant-Colonel, in 1793. The reference will be understood by remembering that this country was then in a perilous position. We were at war with the revolted American colonies, and with half Europe; fifteen months earlier Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga, two years later Cornwallis capitulated at Yorktown. In the summer of this year 1779, the combined fleets of France and Spain swept the Channel and threatened Plymouth.

⁵ Blomefield was the very celebrated Gunner of his day, who went to America in 1776 as a Brigade Major, and was wounded before Saratoga. In 1780 he was made Inspector of Artillery and of the Brass Foundry (in the Arsenal). Here he carried out a drastic purge, condemning 496 pieces in one year. From Blomefield dates the high character of British cast-iron and brass pieces (see Kane, loc. cit.). At Woolwich the degree of fame of the big men in the R.A. (and Woolwich soldiers generally) is marked by the names of public-houses and roads; Bloomfield Road is a main road in Plumstead.

⁶ The papers (1776-1778) for which Hutton was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society were on “The force of exploded gunpowder and the velocities of balls”

⁷ William Emerson (1701-1782) was born at Hurworth, near Darlington; after a short spell of teaching, he devoted his time to mathematics, living at Hurworth on a small income left to him by his father. Emerson wrote books on most branches of mid-eighteenth-century mathematics and natural philosophy, the earliest being his Doctrine of Fluxions. He had a big reputation in his day, too big, according to De Morgan; but he declined to become F.R.S. The account of Emerson in Hutton’s Dictionary exhibits him as a hot-tempered and odd-mannered man; pos sibly he and Hutton were a pair. Hutton says : “His manner and appearance were that of a rude, and rather boorish countryman; he was of very plain con versation, and indeed seemingly rude, commonly mixing oaths in his sentences, though without any ill intention” Emerson was a determined walker, hating to ride in a carriage, and, again according to Hutton, “He often walked up to London when he had any books to be published” As regards his books, he had a habit of omitting his name from the title-page; if his prefaces were not signed, half his books would be anonymous.

⁸ Rotherham or Rotheram was a common surname in the South Tyne area; and the famous dissenting academy at Kendal was run by Caleb Rotheram. But this Rotheram is probably John, Professor of Natural Philosophy at St. Andrews, born at Hexham, educated at Newcastle Grammar School at the time when Hutton was teaching in Newcastle. John Brand, History and Antiquities of thè Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I, p. 447, footnote, quotes from the Newcastle Courant of September 22, 1770, a notice of the publication of “Dr. Rotheram’s Philosophical Enquiry &c concerning the waters in or near Newcastle” The D.N.B. gives among his works A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature and Properties of Water.

⁹ Lowthian is probably Samuel Lowthion; according to Brand (loc. cit.) “a popular preacher, and published several sermons. He died of the gout in his head, Nov, 17th, 1780”

¹⁰ Samuel Horsley, well known for his theological controversy with Priestley and as the editor of the only edition of Newton’s Works. See also under (1).

¹¹ P H. Maty took a strong part in the dispute between Banks and Hutton. Rather surprisingly in view of this letter, Maty seems to have been on Hutton’s side, though this may have been rather as against Banks than for Hutton.

¹² “My son Harry” rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and died in Ireland, 1827 He must have been well thought of, for when in 1814 a large number of Gunners were retired, he received a pension of £700 per annum. Coxheath Camp was one of the Militia camps established during the American war, at a time when a French invasion of this country seemed likely.

¹³ Probably John Muller, Professor of Fortification at the “Shop” and the first of the civilian staff at its foundation in 1741. “The father of engineering for 40 years in Britain.”

¹⁴ No doubt Benjamin Robins, a versatile performer in many fields, mathematics and gunnery in particular. He was an unsuccessful competitor for the Professorship obtained by Muller at the R.M.A. Robins invented the ballistic pendulum (about 1740), and was the first man to determine the velocity of a shell. Mathematically, he may be remembered for his Discourse concerning the Nature and Certainty of Sir Isaac Newtoris Methods of Fluxions, and of Prime and Ultimate Ratios, and other papers on the same topic.

¹⁵ Henry Clarke, Professor of History, Geography and Experimental Philosophy at the Military College, Great Marlow (afterwards Sandhurst), author of several mathematical books. This book, A Dissertation on the summation of infinite con verging series with algebraic divisors, exhibiting a method not only intirely new, but much more general than any other which has hitherto appeared on the subject (1779), is “translated from the Latin of A. M. Lorgna, Professor of Mathematics in the Military College of Verona” and has “illustrative notes and observations” and “an appendix, containing all the most elegant and useful Formulae which have been investigated for the Summing of the different Orders of Series” It is dedicated, in the florid style of the time, to Hutton. Clarke declares in his preface that Lorgna’s methods are to be preferred to Simpson’s, “both with respect to the perspicuity of his investigations, and the generality of his conclusions” Landen (17) considered that due credit had not been given to Simpson’s work, and published some tracts on the subject, about which Hutton remarks : “Mr. Landen did not shew less mathe matical skill in explaining and illustrating these theorems, than he has done in his writings on original subjects; and that the authors of them [De Moivre, Stirling, Thomas Simpson] were as little aware of the extent of their own theorems, as the rest of the world were before Mr. Landen’s ingenuity made it obvious to all”

16 “My friend Sam” Clark started the Diarian Repository as a rival to Hutton’s Diarian Miscellany; this, and other actions of Clark’s, provoked Hutton consider ably The Repository was described as edited by a “Society of Mathematicians”, but this appears to have been a Society with one member only, “my friend Sam”

¹⁷ John Landen, an estate agent, wrote on many mathematical topics, and is best remembered for his work on elliptic arcs, the genesis of the familiar Landen trans formation of elliptic functions. As regards the Mathematical Memoirs, the first volume contained results on the motion of a body under no forces; attacking the general problem later, Landen obtained results differing from those of d’Alembert and Euler, which “made him long dubious of the truth of his own solution” (Hutton). Eventually he published it, and was thereupon engaged in a controversy in which Wildbore (19) took part. In spite of a serious and painful illness, Landen was able to prepare a second volume of the Memoirs, and a copy of the published work was placed in his hands the day before his death, which occurred in 1790. See also under (1).

¹⁸ “Old Peat”, Thomas Peat, “Writing-Master and Teacher of the Mathematicks at Nottingham”, was a founder of the Gentleman’s Diary or the Mathematical Re pository in 1741; he was connected with the Diary till his death, editor 1757–1780. For Hutton’s close connection with the Diary, see Archibald, Gazette, XIV, pp. 379–400.

¹⁹ The Rev. Charles Wildbore, of Sulney, Notts., edited the Diary till 1802. See also under (17).

²⁰ The Rev. G. Walker was born at Newcastle and educated at the dissenting academy at Kendal under Caleb Rotheram. Among his works are A Treatise on the Conic Sections. In five boohs. (1794), though in spite of the title-page, this is only Book I, nothing further being published : and On the doctrine of the sphere, in six books : to which is added an appendix, containing the solution of a problem for ascer taining the latitude and longitude of a place, together with the apparent time (1777).

²¹ William Scott, later Lord Stowell, a former pupil of Harrison’s (2), D.C.L. Oxford 1779, is said by the Encycl. Brit, to have contested the Oxford University seat unsuccessfully in 1780. If his brother John, later Lord Eldon, was taught by both Harrison and Hutton (1, 2) this reference seems curiously vague, but the identification is probably correct.

²² Hutton seems here to confuse father and son. William Jones, author of Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos and editor of the Newton tracts, died in 1749. His younger son, Sir William Jones, was the linguist and Persian scholar, and to him this sentence must refer; he was a candidate but withdrew before the election.

²³ “a Mr. Herschel at Bath” is undoubtedly William (later Sir William) Herschel, “the most illustrious astronomer of the latter half of the 18th century” (Rouse Ball).

²⁴ For the astronomical-astrological dynasty of the Wings, see D.N.B.

²⁵ F Maseres, “Mathematician, historian and reformer”, Cursitor-Baron of the Exchequer. Although a reformer, he clung to old customs (see Lamb’s Essays of Elia), and in mathematics he and William Frend, De Morgan’s father-in-law, resolutely rejected the concept of negative numbers. Maseres is best known mathe matically for his Scriptores Logarithmici.

²⁶ “Mr. Soane, an eminent architect”, is possibly John (later Sir John) Soane, the architect of the Bank of England and founder of the Soane Museum. At this date Soane already had won a silver and a gold medal of the Royal Academy, and must have been known as a promising young man. Burdon is a well-known Durham surname.