that we ought to judge of the continuance of one, as we may judge of our perseverance in the other, according to a maxim in the ethics of Confucius; not by this, that we never fall from either, since in that sense there would be no one good nor no one happy man in the world; but by this, that when we do fall we rise again, and pursue the journey of life, in the same road. Let us pursue it contentedly, and learn that, as the softest pillow, on which we can lay our heads has been said by Montagne to be ignorance, we may say more properly that it is resignation. He alone is happy, and he is truly so, who can say, Welcome life, whatever it brings! welcome death, whatever it is! 'Aut transfert, aut finit.'-Fragments or Minutes of Essays.

XXIX.

JOHN ARBUTHNOT.

1675--1734-5.

JOHN ARBUTHNOT, an eminent physician and one of the most celebrated wits in the reign of Queen Anne, was the son of an episcopal clergyman of Scotland, and was born in 1675. He studied at the University of Aberdeen, where he took the degree of M.D. The Revolution deprived his father of his preferment, and young Arbuthnot left Scotland to settle as physician at Doncaster, a place noted in that day for its salubrity. Finding, as he humorously said, that he' could neither live nor die there,' he removed to London, where he first became known by The Examination of Dr. Woodward's Account of the Deluge. This work brought him into notice, and introduced him to practice. His elegant and agreeable manners, his wit and pleasantry, and the learning which he combined with these qualities, soon made him the associate of the chief literary men of the day, and the friend of Pope, Swift, Gay, Atterbury, Congreve, Addison, Parnell, and others. He was also the friend both of Harley and of Bolingbroke, and in politics was always faithful to the Tory party. He became physician to Prince George of Denmark, and also to Queen Anne, whom he attended in her last illness.

His most important work is entitled Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures; it has still some authority. He wrote several successful treatises on Hygiene, but his pieces of Wit and Humour-among which is his History of John Bull, a political allegory of great merit-have, together with his Letters, established his place in literature. Many of Arbuthnot's pieces were written in partnership with Swift and Pope, and are often

ascribed to them; but Mr. Wharton calls him the author of the History of John Bull, and of the best parts of Martinus Scriblerus, and adds that 'they abound in strokes of the most exquisite humour.' His friends were warmly attached to him, and not more for his intellectual endowments and brilliant wit, than for his manly and honourable nature. Pope says 'that he was fitter to live or die than any man he knew; that his good morals were equal to any man's; but his wit and humour superior to all mankind.' During a great part of his life his health was bad; he died in 1734.

1. The Usefulness of Mathematical Learning.

MATHEMATICAL knowledge adds a manly vigour to the mind, frees it from prejudice, credulity, and superstition. This it does two ways: first, by accustoming us to examine, and not to take things upon trust; secondly, by giving us a clear and extensive knowledge of the system of the world; which, as it creates in us the most profound reverence of the almighty and wise Creator, so it frees us from the mean and narrow thoughts which ignorance and superstition are apt to beget. How great an enemy mathematics are to superstition appears from this, that in those countries where Romish priests exercise their barbarous tyranny over the minds of men, astronomers, who are fully persuaded of the motion of the earth, dare not speak out: but though the Inquisition may extort a recantation, the Pope and a general Council, too, will not find themselves able to persuade to the contrary opinion. Perhaps this may have given occasion to a calumnious suggestion, as if mathematics were an enemy to religion, which is a scandal thrown both on the one and the other; for truth can never be an

enemy to true religion, which appears always to the best advantage when it is most examined.

-Si propius stes,

Te capiet magis.

On the contrary, the mathematics are friends to religion; inasmuch as they charm the passions, restrain the impetuosity of imagination, and purge the mind from error and prejudice. Vice is error, confusion, and false reasoning; and all truth is more or less opposite to it. Besides, mathematical studies may serve for a pleasant entertainment for those hours which young men are apt to throw away upon their vices, the delightfulness of them being such as to make solitude not only easy but desirable. . . .

...

The next thing that is necessary for the improvement of mathematical learning is, that mathematics be more generally studied at our Universities than hitherto they have been. From those seminaries the State justly expects and demands those who are acquainted both with the speculation and practice. In those are all the encouragements to them imaginable, leisure and assistance. There are still at hand books and instruments, as also other scholars that have made equal progress, and may be comrades in study, and the direction of the professors. There are also in perfection all the incitements to this study, and especially an acquaintance with the works of the ancients, where this learning is so much recommended. There other faculties are studied, to which it is subservient. There, also, are the nobility and gentry bred, who, in due time, must be called to their share in the government of the Fleets, Army, Treasury, and other public employments, where mathematical learning is absolutely necessary, and without which they, though of never so great natural parts, must be at the mercy and discretion of

their servants and deputies, who will first cheat them, and then laugh at them. And not only public employments, but their private concerns demand mathematical knowledge. If their fortunes lie in woods, coal, salt, manufactures, &c., the necessity of this knowledge is open and known: and even in land estates, no undertaking for improvement can be securely relied upon without it. It not only makes a man of quality and estate his whole life more illustrious, and more useful for all affairs, but in particular, it is the best companion for a country life. Were this once become a fashionable study (and the mode exercises its empire over learning as well as other things), it is hard to tell how far it might influence the morals of our nobility and gentry, in rendering them serious, diligent, curious, taking them off from the more fruitless and airy exercises of the fancy which they are apt to run into.

The only objection I can think of that is brought against these studies is, that mathematics require a particular turn of head, and a happy genius that few people are masters of, without which all the pains bestowed upon the study of them are in vain. They imagine that a man must be a mathematician. I answer, that this exception is common to mathematics and other arts. That there are persons that have a particular capacity and fitness to one more than another, everybody owns: and from experience I dare say, it is not in any higher degree true concerning mathematics than the others. A man of good sense and application is the person that is by nature fitted for them, especially if he begins betimes: and if his circumstances have been such that this did not happen, by prudent direction the defect may be supplied as much as in any art whatsoever. The only advantage this objection has is, that it is on the side of softness and idleness, those two powerful allies. There is nothing further remains, Sir, but that I give you my thoughts