called the father of our North American empire. In the September of 1583, Gilbert left St. John's Harbour to explore the coast, being himself on board a small sloop, The Squirrel, of only ten tons burden, and having two larger vessels with him. One of his consorts soon foundered in a storm; and Gilbert then steered for home through a tempestuous sea, still remaining in the little sloop, and accompanied by the Golden Hind, the survivor of the two larger ships. The latter vessel alone ever reached land. On the ninth of September her crew saw the last of the sloop that carried Gilbert. They were close to her for a short period during that day, both vessels being in imminent peril, especially the Squirrel. The Golden Hind drifted by her a little before nightfall, and the crew of the larger bark plainly discovered Gilbert standing on the stern with a book in his hand, and they heard him exclaim to his men, Courage, my lads, we are as near Heaven at sea as on land.” 66 For some hours those on board the Golden Hind saw a small light rise and fall at a little distance from them, and they knew that it was the lantern of their admiral's vessel that was plunging and rolling among the stormy waves. Soon after midnight the light suddenly disappeared. The little bark had been swallowed up by the sea, and the brave and good Sir Humphrey Gilbert had perished with her. (Chalmers' Biog. Dict.-Hakluyt's Voyages. -Warburton's Conquest of Canada.) WILLIAM OUGHTRED. THE increased attention that has lately been paid at Eton to the study of mathematics, augments the pleasure with which we recognise among the Etonians of the sixteenth century the first mathematician of his time, and one of the ablest that England has ever produced. William Oughtred was born at Eton in 1573, was educated on the foundation of the College, and became a Kingsman in 1592. Aubrey, in his curious biographical memoir of Oughtred, says: "His father taught to write at Eaton, and was a scrivener; and understood common arithmetique, and 'twas no small help and furtherance to his son to be instructed in it when a school-boy." Oughtred made diligent use of the advantages which Eton and Cambridge gave him for acquiring classical and philosophical instruction; but the bent of his genius was to the mathematics; and in boyhood, youth, manhood and old age, he spent the greatest part of his time in what he fondly termed "the more than Elysian fields of the mathematical sciences." At the age of twenty-three he wrote his Horologiographia Geometrica, a treatise on geometrical dialling, which was first published in 1647. In 1600, he projected the instrument now known as the Sliding Rule, by which the processes of addition and subtraction are performed mechanically; and which by the use of logarithmic scales is adapted for the similar performance of multiplication and division. Oughtred set little value on this most ingenious and scientific invention, nor was it till thirty years afterwards that his casual mention of it in conversation with one of his pupils caused it to be given to the world. A most dishonest attempt was made by a person named Delemain to pirate the invention, but Oughtred then came forward and fully vindicated his title as the original discoverer. In 1631 appeared Oughtred's "Arithmeticæ in Numero et Speciebus Institutio," or as it was speedily and generally called his "Clavis." This work soon became the text-book for mathematical students at Cambridge, and the first mathematicians of the age lent Oughtred their assistance in passing successive editions through the press. Other works of high merit and reputation on mathematical subjects were published by him during his life; and, according to Aubrey, more scientific discoveries might have been given by him to the world, had it not been for the penurious disposition of a lady whom he married, and who "would not allow him to burn candle after supper, by which means many a good notion is lost and many a problem unsolved." This, however, seems only to have been the case in his extreme old age; for Aubrey elsewhere tells us, on the authority of Oughtred's eldest son, that Oughtred "studyed late at night: went not to bed till 11 o'clock; had his tinder box by him; and on the top of his bedstaffe he had his ink-horne fixed. He slept but little. Sometimes he went not to bed in two or three nights, and would not come down to meale till he had found out the quæsitum." The same authority states, "None of his sonnes he could make any great scholar. He was a little man, had black hair and black eies, with a great deal of spirit. His witt was always working; he would draw lines and diagrams in the dust." Oughtred's marriage, which Aubrey thinks to have been so prejudicial to science, took place some time after he obtained the living of Albury, in Surrey, to which he was presented about 1600. He was rector of this parish for more than half a century, and was uniformly esteemed and beloved for his exemplary discharge of his pastoral duties. It certainly appears, according to Aubrey, that some of the neighbouring clergy at first criticised his sermons rather severely; yet even these admitted that in his old age, when he attended a little more to the study of divinity and a little less to that of mathematics, "he preached admirably well." He resided at his living, and his house was frequented by scientific men of all nations, who came to consult him and do him honour; and it also was continually filled with pupils, who sought the benefit of his teaching. Among others, the Earl of Arundel engaged his services to instruct his sons. Aubrey says, "that this nobleman was Oughtred's great patron, and loved him entirely. One time they were like to have been killed together by the fall of a grott at Albury, which fell downe but just as they were come out. My Lord had many grotts about his [Oughtred's] house, cutt in the sandy sides of hills, wherein he delighted to sitt and discourse." Fuller says that Oughtred was "unanimously acknowledged the prince of mathematicians;" and there is a strong proof of how high Oughtred's fame must have stood abroad, in the fact, which Aubrey records, that when the troubles of the civil wars broke out in England, the Duke of Florence invited Oughtred over to Italy, and offered him 5007. a-year; but Oughtred declined it on account of his religion. Oughtred did indeed pass through the troubles of these times without actual molestation, though not without some hazard. In 1646 he was in danger of a sequestration; but by the influence of Lilly, the astrologer, he escaped. Oughtred retained his faculties both of body and mind in rare perfection to the great age of eighty-seven. His death is said to have been accelerated by excess of joy at hearing of the restoration of King Charles the Second. Fuller, in his Book of Worthies, says of him, "This aged Simeon had a strong persuasion that before his death he should behold Christ's anointed restored to the throne, which he did accordingly, to his incredible joy, and then had his dimittis out of this mortal life, Jan. 30th, 1660." (Biog. Brit.) THOMAS TUSSER, the author of "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," and the favourite poet of English agriculturists, was an Etonian, and was at Eton during this century. Southey says of him:— "This good, honest, homely, useful old rhymer was born about the year 1520, at Rivenhall, near Witham, in Essex. He died about the year 1580, in London, and was buried in St. Mildred's Church, in the Poultry. The course of his industrious but unprosperous life, is related by himself among the multifarious contents of his homespun Georgics; a work once in such repute that Lord Molesworth, writing in 1723, and proposing that a school for husbandry should be erected in every county, advised that 'Tusser's old Book of Husbandry should be taught to the boys, to read, to copy, and to get by heart;' and that it should be reprinted and distributed for that purpose." Udall was Headmaster of Eton while Tusser was there, and the poet thus records the severity of his "Plagosus Orbilius :” "From Paul's I went to Eton sent, To learn straightways the Latin phrase; For fault but small, or none at all, It came to pass thus beat I was. See, Udall, see the mercy of thee I must plead guilty to an inability to wade through Tusser. We know that "Molle atque facetum Virgilio annuerunt gaudentes rure Camœnæ," His but the author of our English Georgics is utterly destitute of these qualities. Tusser's versification, however, is curiously elaborate for the time when he wrote. Warton has pointed this out. rhythm also is always good, and his language free from inversions; two merits that have probably gone far in insuring his permanent popularity among the class for which he wrote. I turn with pleasure to two other Eton poets of a little later period, to PHINEAS and GILES FLETCHER. Southey says, "No single family has ever in one generation produced three such poets as Giles and Phineas Fletcher, and their cousin the dramatist." Eton has the honour of having educated the two first of the poetical triumvirate. They were the sons of Dr. Giles Fletcher, who will be soon mentioned in these pages. Phineas Fletcher was elected from Eton to King's in 1600. He became a Fellow of the College in due course, and continued to be one till 1621, when he was presented to the living of Hilgay, in Norfolk, by Sir Henry Willoughby. He held this living till his death in 1650. The poem of "The Purple Island," by which he is known to posterity, was chiefly written by him in youth, as is proved by allusions in it to the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign. "The Purple Island" is a long allegorical poem, wherein a shepherd gives to his companions, under the guise of describing an island, its inhabitants, and enemies, first an anatomical description of the human body, and then a metaphysical account of the passions, vices, and virtues of the human mind. No genius could render such a subject attractive; but it is greatly to the credit of the author's purity and taste, that in his hands no part of it is coarse or repulsive. He is an obvious admirer and follower of Spenser; and those who find the "Faery Queen" tedious, will certainly find "The Purple Island" unreadable. On the other hand, a true lover of Spenser will read Fletcher with pleasure. His versification is graceful, his language clear and well-chosen, and there are some passages in his poem which would command the praise of all who became acquainted with them. I select for quotation the description of Despair and the Two Deaths, among the foes whom the Old Dragon sends against the Soul :- "The second in this rank was black Despair, His looks fast nail'd to Sin; long sooty hair Fill'd up his lank cheeks with wide staring fright: His leaden eyes, retir'd into his head Light, Heav'n, and Earth, himself, and all things fled: "Instead of feathers on his dangling crest A luckless raven spread her blackest wings; His hellish arms were all with fiends embost, "Two weapons, sharp as death he ever bore, Of snaky whips the damn'd souls tortureth: "The last two brethren were far different, Only in common name of Death agreeing; The first arm'd with a scythe still mowing went; Yet whom, and when he murder'd, never seeing; * |