The UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE for OCTOBER, 1792. 241 MEMOIRS of the LIFE of the Reverend JOHN THEOPHILUS DESAGULIERS: With a fine Portrait of this eminent Philofopher. JOHN Theophilus Defaguliers, who introduced the reading of lectures in experimental philofophy in the metropolis, and who made feveral improvements in mechanics, was the fon of the Reverend John Defagu liers, a French proteftant refugee, and born at Rochelle, March 12, 1683. His father brought him an infant into England; and having taught him the claffics himself, fent him to Christchurch, in Oxford. When Dr. John Keil left the univerfity, and went abroad with the Palatines, in 1702, young Defaguliers fucceeded him in reading courfes of experimental philofophy, which he performed at Hart-hall. In 1712, he married, and fettled in Channelrow, Westminster, foon afterward; and there continued his courfes féveral years. In 1714, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, of which he was a very useful member, as appears from a great number of his papers printed in their Tranfactions,' on optics, meteorology, and mechanics. About this time, the duke of Chandos took him under his patronage, made him his chaplain, and presented him to the church of Edgware, near his own feat at Canons. George I, before whom he performed a courfe of lectures at Hampton-court in 1717, intended for him the valuable living of Much Munden in Hertfordshire; but the earl of Sunderland, at the head of the ministry at that time, obtained it for another perfon, and prevailed with a friend to prefent him to a small living in Norfolk, worth 70l. per annum. benefice he afterward exchanged for one in Effex, at the prefentation of George II, before whom, as well as the rest of the royal family, he had the honour of reading his lectures: and his royal highness Frederic prince of Wales made him afterward his chaplain. In the latter part of his VOL. XCI. This life, he removed to lodgings over the Great Piazza, in Covent-garden, where he carried on his lectares with great fuccefs till his death, which happened in 1749. He was a mem ber of feveral foreign academies, and correfponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. He obtained from many competitors the prize propofed by the French king, for the beft account of electricity. He published A Courfe of Experimental Philofophy, 1734, 2 vol. 4to. and an edition of Gregory's Elements of Catoptrics and Dioptrics, with an Appendix, containing an account of Reflecting Telescopes, 1735.' 8vo. 6 Such are the few particulars we have been able to collect of a man' diftinguifhed by great genius and great application. Indeed, it is an obfervation that has been repeated, till it has become perfectly trite and hackneyed, that the lives of fuch perfons, inceffantly devoted to study and me ditation, can feldom be expected to abound with interefting adventures. And yet one would imagine, that the life of this great philofopher (toward the end of it at leaft) was marked by fome very melancholy incidents: for in Mr. Cawthorne's Poem on the Vanity of human Enjoyments, in which he speaks of the fate of fcientific men in particular, the illuftrious names of Halley and Defaguliers are thus introduced: Yet, fpite of envy, fcience might be great, Could fcience but allow her fons to eat : Could he, whofe name along the stream of time Expanded flies, and lives in ev'ry clime, Immortal Halley! thy unwearied foul Com Excellent Character of LEWIS XII, King of France. T is the unanimous opinion of the times to raise extraordinary taxes; virtues, with fewer defects, were never more confpicuous in any of their princes, than in that of their excellent monarch Lewis XII. France, they fay, was never happier, richer, nor more tranquil than under his aufpicious reign. Juftice was never better administered, wifer laws were never enacted, and scarcely any ever fo well executed. Military difcipline was never fo exact or so fevere; but, at the fame time, the troops were punctually paid. In fucceeding times, the quartering of them in provinces was esteemed a grievance. But in the time of Lewis it was confidered as an advantage, and the provinces folicited it as fuch. His family and his court, the nobility and populace, equally admired him, and unanimously called him their father; the title with which he was most pleased, and which he made it the study of his life to deferve. He began his reign with aboTithing impofts; and, at the time of his death, he had diminished above half of them. He was obliged fome purpofe, he did it with tears. His very misfortunes endeared him to his fubjects; for he might have maintained his conquefts in Italy, if he would have raised large fums upon his people. But he thought any lofs light, when compared with that of their affections. He was thought a little too faving; and, in the beginning of his reign, his fubjects took the liberty of expreffing this in fatires, and even of ridiculing it on the ftage. The king knew it very well; but it gave him no offence. He faid upon that occafion, what ought ever to be remembered: I had much rather my fubjects fhould laugh at my parfimony than weep at their own diftrefs.' The cuftom in France then, was for the crier to proclaim the demife of perfons of all ranks; and they did his, in these words: ‹ The good king Lewis, the father of his people is dead ;'-at once the most artless and the most confummate panegyric. The The HISTORY of KNOWLEDGE, LEARNING, and TASTE, in Great Britain, during the Reign of Queen ELISABETH. Part the Third*. [ From the New Annual Register, for the Year 1791. ] THE HE great objects of religion, of compared with thofe of fir John government, of naval difcovery, and of philofophical and medical knowledge, fo far as they relate to the period now before us, we have already confidered. These are the objects that come under the head of science, more diftin&tly fo called; and they undoubtedly fuftain the first rank in the departments of literature. It is not, however, to matters of fmall confequence that our attention is now to be directed. Claffical and polite learning, history, poetry, and the fine arts in general, prefent to us very interesting, as well as very pleafing fubjects of contemplation. With the cultivation and improvement of them the honour and advantage both of individuals and of nations are clofely connected. They cannot be properly and rationally ftudied without contributing, in an eminent degree, to enlarge the understanding, to captivate the fancy, to engage the affections, and to refine the tafte; and, therefore, we turn to the confideration of them with peculiar pleafure. Cheke, fir Thomas Smith, and Roger Ascham, whom, in a former article, we have defcribed as eminent im- * provers of claffical tafte. Smith and Afcham may in part be mentioned as belonging to the prefent reign; for Smith's Treatifes, on the just pronunciation of the Greek tongue, and on the proper mode of writing the English language, were not published till the year 1568, and Afcham's fchool-mafter was firft printed in 1573. His Latin epiftles did not appear till 1576; but this was eight years after his decease. We may add to these diftinguished names John Kaye, whom we have before spoken of in the medical line, and who united with his skill as a phyfician the talents of a philological fcholar. In 1574, not long after his death, a work was publifhed, which he had written on the pronunciation of the Greek and Latin languages. To the critical parts of Greek and Roman literature there were not fo many perfons devoted as could have been wished, and, indeed, as might have been expected, when we reflect upon the ardour with which the ftudy of them was purfued abroad. But this must be afcribed to the circumftances of the times. In a fcene of great and unavoidable theological difputation, the scholars of England were obliged to direct their principal attention to objects that were esteemed of infinite importance; and confequently they had not much leifure for researches into the niceties of languages and learning. We have no names, in this period, that can be One of the most important effects of the revival of letters in Europe, was the giving to the world correct editions of ancient authors. In this the firft fcholars abroad were employed, and immenfe benefits have refulted from their labours. To the fame kind of glory it was long before England could lay any confiderable claim; nor is it difficult to account for the fact. There were not many original manufcripts of the old claffic writers in the libraries of our own country; and the accefs to foreign libraries, and especially to foreign manufcripts, muft have been peculiarly difficult. This department of literature, however, was not wholly neglected. It was attended to, at leaft, by one eminent individual, fir Henry Savile. The refult of his fkill and diligence did not, indeed, appear till the next * See our Magazine for September 1791, page 205. reign; |