MACBETH RECONSIDERED, an Essay, &c. 8vo. 1786. MACBETH AND KING RICHARD THE THIRD, - an Essay, &c. Crown 8vo. 1817.

TRANSLATED.

LODOISKA, a Musical Drama from the French, 1794.

ALTERED.

OH! 'TIS IMPOSSIBLE,-from the "Comedy of Errors," 1780; never printed.

PANNEL,a Farce, from Bickerstaff's Comedy, ""Tis well 'tis no worse," 1788.

FARM-HOUSE,

a Comedy, from Charles Johnson's

"Country Lasses," 1789.

---

LOVE IN MANY MASKS, a Comedy, from the first part of Mrs. Behn's "Rover;" 1790.

THE PROGRAMME of ALEXANDER THE GREAT,- a Pantomine, invented by M. D'Egville; 1795.

CELADON AND FLORIMEL; or, The Happy Counterplot ;— a Comedy, from Cibber's "Comical Lovers," 1796; never drinted.

ADAPTED TO THE STAGE.

All's Well that Ends Well; As you Like it; Cymbeline; Coriolanus; Cato; Comedy of Errors; Double Dealer; De Montfort (never printed); False Friend (never printed); Henry IV., part 1st; Henry IV., part 2d; Henry V; Henry VIII; Hamlet; Julius Cæsar; King Lear; King John; Katharine and Petruchio; Maid of Honour (never printed); Merchant of Venice; Merry Wives of Windsor; Much Ado about Nothing; Macbeth; Measure for Measure; New Way to Pay Old Debts; Othello; Plain Dealer; Richard III; Romeo and Juliet; Rule a Wife and have a Wife; Revenge; Tempest; Twelfth Night; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Venice Preserved; Winter's Tale; Way of the World.

57

No. III.

CHARLES HUTTON, Esq. LL.D.,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON AND EDINburgh, AND OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES OF HAARLEM AND AMERICA; FOR MANY YEARS PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN THE ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY, WOOLWICH.

DR. CHARLES HUTTON was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on the 14th of August, 1737. He was descended from a family in Westmoreland, one branch of which had removed into Northumberland, another branch into Lincolnshire, where a female of the family married into that of Sir Isaac Newton, being indeed the aunt of that illustrious philosopher. Dr. Hutton's father, though not a man of theoretical science, had considerable knowledge and skill in practical mechanics, and had extensive employment as a viewer of mines; being also for some years land-steward to the then Lord Ravensworth. He intended devoting his son to his own profession; and to that end procured for him the best instruction which could be obtained at Newcastle, and from a clergyman in a neighbouring village; the knowledge he thus acquired extending simply to the rudiments of the English and Latin languages, and the leading principles of mathematics.

From the earliest infancy young Hutton manifested an uncommon simplicity, and docility of manners, rendering him the favourite of all his acquaintance. He was at once serious, sincere, affectionate and devout. When a boy of only ten or twelve years old, he wrought himself up to such a height of enthusiasm by reading some old devotional tracts (for he eagerly devoured all sorts of books that fell in his way) that among other acts of piety, he formed a little retired arbour, in

a wood through which his path lay, that he might step aside to pray in it, for a few minutes, as he passed to and from school. A little after, he made a considerable sacrifice to the sincerity of this disposition, by destroying all the ballads, and little "Border" legends and stories, of which he had amassed a great number, by the entire sacrifice of the money from time to time given him; the practice of collecting what he considered curious works being a predominant passion with him, through all the stages and changes of his life. It was never sufficient for him to read a book, and then part with it; it was necessary that he should possess it as his own, and add it to his collection, to refer to on any occasion.

The youth received an injury in one of his arms in very early life, which, by unfitting him for such active pursuits as his father had proposed for him, rendered it necessary that he should devote himself still more sedulously to study. When it became necessary for him to choose a profession, the natural bent of his inclination led to that of a mathematical tutor; to prepare himself for which he laboured day and night, with unwearied vigilance and assiduity.

About the age of 18, having long before lost his father, and his master having, upon being presented with a living, resigned the school in his favour, he commenced the employment of a teacher of mathematics, at the then delightfully sequestered village of Jesmond, near Newcastle. During the short period of his residence at this place he became for a time a close and zealous follower of the Methodists, and at length ventured to write sermons, and even to preach among them. This turn of mind left him on his removal to Newcastle, that noble capital of the northern mining districts, to which, in consequence of his success, and of the great proficiency of many of his pupils, he was soon invited.

Here, although he required for his instructions about double the terms that had previously been charged in that quarter of the kingdom, his pupils soon became numerous; among them he had the honour to reckon Lord Eldon, the present Lord Chancellor, a circumstance which will be fur

ther noticed towards the conclusion of this memoir. He did not, however, confine himself to the mere business of instruction, arduous as it was; but being fired by the laudable ambition of reaching the acmé of his profession, neither the duties of his immediate occupation, nor the cares of an increasing family (Dr. Hutton having married on his removal to Newcastle), could deter him from the determination to prosecute an extensive course of mathematical reading. This he pursued chronologically, going cautiously over the principal mathematical productions of the Greeks, Romans, Spaniards, French, and Germans, as well as those which had appeared in Britain. Such an extensive course at once proceeded from a genuine love of science, and increased it; and this, together with his unfailing success as a preceptor, greatly augmented his well-earned reputation. His character became accurately appreciated at Newcastle, so that he was frequently consulted and employed in reference to other important points than those which related immediately to his profession.

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his avocations, he found time for investigation and composition, and made himself known to the world as an author. Before the year 1760, he was a frequent contributor to those well-known publications in England, the " Ladies' and Gentleman's Diaries," and "Martin's Magazine;" in all of which he proposed and solved many mathematical problems of considerable difficulty as well as utility. His first avowed separate publication was a small treatise on "Arithmetic and Book-keeping," for the use of schools. It made its appearance in the year 1764, and has since gone through numerous editions. In printing the first edition, to supply the want of proper mathematical types in so distant a provincial town as Newcastle, Dr. Hutton was obliged with his own hand to cut with a penknife, on the reversed end of old types, many of the algebraical characters that were used in the vulgar fractions, and other parts of the work.

Soon after this, he began to employ his leisure in the composition of a much more elaborate and recondite work, viz. "A Treatise on Mensuration, in Theory and Practice." At the time when Dr. Hutton commenced this undertaking, the books on mensuration that were generally adopted in seminaries of education were those of Hawney and Robertson. Of these, the first contained some attempts at theory, but exhibited in so inelegant and inaccurate a manner, as to render the volume altogether useless. Robertson's work was neat and correct, but limited in its nature, being confined altogether to the exhibition of practical rules and examples. There had been, it is true, from the time of Wallis and Huygens, and especially since the invention of the fluxional analysis, a variety of disquisitions and investigations relative to rectifications, quadratures, cubatures, &c. inserted in the works of eminent mathematicians, and in the transactions of different societies and academies, both at home and abroad; but there needed some masterly hand to seize and collect these scattered fragments, to reduce them to method and order, to correct what was erroneous, curtail what was too protracted, expand and elucidate what was incomplete and obscure, and develop with perspicuity the practical results and applications. All this is attempted with complete success in this Treatise on Mensuration, which was first published in periodical numbers, and then altogether in a quarto volume, in the year 1770. A second, and improved edition, was published in a thick octavo volume in 1788; since which time there have appeared two more editions. There can be no question that this is by far the best treatise on mensuration, in its several branches, which has yet been published in any country. Indeed, the subject is so exhausted in this performance, that subsequent writers upon it, at least in England, have attempted little else than mere abridgments. The author treats copiously and elegantly of plane trigonometry, the determination of heights and distances, the areas of right-lined and circular figures, the mensuration of prisms, pyramids, spheres, &c. polyhedræ, solid rings, conic sections,