49. QUESTION (IV. March) anfwered by A COBBLER. B Let L reprefent the place where the fhips met, B and C the ports they failed from, LD the differ. CD ence of latitude, LB, LC the distances run by the two ships, and which, confequently, are to each other as 5 to 3, or as 1 to 3 which put = m make p260 (not 250, as was printed in the queftion) the fum of the three fides, LB, LC, and BC; a=LD, 64, and x LB. Then, becaufe : m :: x: mx, LC; and, by the question, x+mx+ √x2—a2 + √ m2x2-a2 = p. Hence, x-a2 +√ m2x2—a2 = p-a-mx; and, by fquaring both fides of the equation, and making proper reduction, x-a1×m2x2— a2 = } p2+a2—px−pmx+mx2. Put b}ƒ2+a2, and n=p+m, and again, fquaring both fides, we obtain 2mnx3—x2×a2—a2m2 — n2a2+a2m2+n2+2bm 2bm+2bnx=b2—a+; or x3— 2mn L 2bnx 62-a4 × x2 + = 2mn which in numbers is x3—448,92179487x2+63160x=2843208,33, &c. Now, in order to refolve this equation, it may be confidered that as LD is 64, LC cannot be leis than 64; and, as LC is to LB as 3 to 5, LB (x) cannot be less than 1063. Again, as LB cannot be less than 1063, and LD is 64, DB cannot be less than ✓ 1063-6412, 85,4 confequently, LB (x) cannot be fo great as 110,6. Having thus got LB within fuch narrrow limits, we readily find x=106,83, by the common methods of approximation: LC, the distance run by the other fhip, is, therefore, = 64,1; and the distance of the ports 89,07 miles. The course of one of them is S. 53° 12′ W. and of the other S. 3° 12' E. MATHEMATICAL QUESTIONS. 64. QUESTION I. by NUMERICUS. Q. E. I. What three numbers are thofe, the fum of which is a cube number; and if this cube be increased by half the product of the two leaft, the fum will then be a square number: moreover, the fum of the fquares of the two least is equal to the fquare of the greatest. 65. QUESTION II. by R. M*. Given the bafe of a plane triangle, and the fum of the fides and perpendicular, to determine the triangle when the vertical angle is a maximum, 66. QUESTION III. by Mr. THOMAS MOSS. If upon any indefinite right line, DQ, two circles be defcribed whofe diameters DB, DC, are in any given ratio to each other, and two other circles be defcribed upon another indefinite D right line, dq, whofe diameters, db and de are likewife in the fame given ratio of DB to DC; and if from the points B and b, as centers, two, other circles be Ꮐ R E F B Q fo This gentleman is requested to send answers to fuch questions as yet remain with the editor, as the motives for propofing those questions do not appear to him without them. fo defcribed as to ent the peripheries of the two larger circles in G and g, equidiftant from the points D and : then if any two lines be drawn from the two points D, d, cutting the peripheries of the circles in R, S, E, and F, and in r, s, e, and ƒ; and fo as to make DS ds: I fay that the correfponding chords DR, dr, and SF, f; as alfo the diftances RS, 17 rs, and RF, rf, intercepted by the two peripheries will be refpectively equal to each other. The anfwers to thefe queftions may be directed (poft-paid) to Mr. Baldwin, in Paternofter-row, London, before the 1st of October. BIOGRAPHY. THE LIFE OF CHARLES CHURCHILL. CHA HARLES CHURCHILI.*, an eminent fatiric poet, was born in Vine-street, in the parish of St. John's, Westminster, in the year 1731. His father, who was a very refpectable clergyman, was curate and lecturer of the parish, and was poffeffed, befides, of a living in the country. Young Charles, as might be expected, from the vicinity of his fituation, received his grammatical education at Weftmintter school; in which he foon diftinguished himself fo far, as to make his tutors fenfible that he was a lad of confiderable abilities. His application, however, as is too frequently the cafe with youths of lively parts, by no means kept pace with his natural talents; fo that the chief character he obtained was, that he was a boy who could do well if he would. One day, baring been enjoined to make an exercife, he failed in bringing it at the time appointed; for which reafon his mafter not only chaftifed him with fome feverity, but even charged him with upidity. The laft reproach made a frong impreffion upon Charles Churchill's mind, and the fear of fhame wrought an effect which the fear of ftripes could not produce. On LOND. MAG. July, 1784. the next day, he brought his exercife finished in fuch a manner, that he received the public thanks of the maters of the fchool. This instance of his fenfibility, and of the applaufe that refulted from it, was not followed by a complete reformation of conduct.. The vivacity of his imagination, and the diffipation of his temper, ftill prevented his walking regularly forward in the trammels of a fcholaftic education. When, therefore, he was fent by his father to the University of Oxford, he was refufed an admittance into that illuftrious feat of literature, upon account of his want of a proper skill in the learned languages. This, no doubt, was a great mortification to himself, as well as a fevere difappointment to a worthy parent. Churchill, in the subfequent parts of his life, often mentioned his repulfe at Oxford; and the following turn was given to it by himfelf and his friends. He and they frequently afferted, that he could have anfwered the college examination had he thought proper; but that he fo much defpifed the trifling queftions which were propofed to him, that, inftead of returning fuitable replies, he only launched out into fatirical re D flections This life is abtracted from that inferted in the new volume of the Biographia Britannica. flections on the abilities of the gentleman whofe office it was to make the trial of his literary improvements. If this was really the truth of the cafe, Mr. Churchill's conduct, to fay the leaft of it, was highly imprudent. Whoever wishes to receive the benefit of an univerfity education muft comply with the cuftomary forms of admiffion; and it would be perfectly ridiculous for a young man to have it in his own power to preferibe in what mode he hould be examined, previously to his matriculation. Churchill's rejection from Oxford will fupply one very probable reafon for the feverity with which, in the courfe of his writings, he hath fometimes treated that famous feminary. After this event, Mr. Churchill continued to profecute his ftudies at Weftminster school; and there can be no caufe to doubt, but that he would foon have been efteemed properly qualified for an entrance into one of our learned universities, if his views of this kind had not been prevented by an act of imprudence, which had a confiderable effect upon the colour of his future life. When he was little more than feventeen years of age, he contracted an intimacy with a young lady in the neighbourhood, which fprang up into a warm affection, and was followed by a hafty marriage. This, like many others, was a match which began in paffion and ended in difguft. Their regard, however, for each other, which in its origin was mutual and fincere, was preferved in its purity and ardour for a number of years. In the fequeftered life which Mr. Churchill was now obliged to lead, he made fuch a progrefs in literature, and fuftained fo good a character, that, notwithitanding is want of an univerfity education, he was thought worthy of being admitted into holy orders, at the ufual age of obtaining them, and accordingly was ordained by Dr. Sherlock, at that time Bishop of London. The firft preferment he received in the church was a very trifling ene, being only a fmall curacy of thirty pounds a-year, in Wales. To this remote part of the kingdom he carried his wife, and, having taken a little houfe, he applied himself to the duties of his station with affiduity and chearfulness. His behaviour gained him the love and efteem of his parishioners; and his fermons, though fomewhat raised above the level of his audience, were commended and followed. What chiefly disturbed him was the finallnefs of his income, which would, indeed, have been too narrow for the fupport of a family, even where a much greater degree of economy was exercifed than was fuitable to Mr. Churchill's natural difpofition. To fupply, therefore, the deficiency of his feanty falary, he entered into a branch of trade, which he hoped might raife him to competence, and, perhaps, to riches; but which, in fact, involved him in debts that long involved him in perplexity and trouble. The bufinefs in which he engaged was that of keeping a cyder-warehoufe, with a view of vending that commodity in the different parts of the neighbouring country. A man of genius and a poet was but ill qualified for fuch an undertaking. Mr. Churchill could not defcend to the patience and frugality which are neceffary in the common courfe of merchandise, where fmall gains are to be quietly expected, and carefully accumulated. A kind of rural bankruptcy was, therefore, the confequence of the attempt. The ill fuccefs of Mr. Churchill's trading fcheme brought him back to London, and his father foon after dying, he fucceeded him as curate and lecturer in the parish of St. John's. The emoluments of his fituation not amounting to a full hundred pounds a year, in order to improve his finances, he undertook to teach young ladies to read and write English with propriety and correctnefs, and was engaged for this purpose in the boarding-fchool of Mrs. Dennis, a governefs, who had the honour of being one of the firit introducers of a laudable cuftom, which hath fince been adopted in many of the reputable feminaries of female education. Mr. Churchill conducted himself in his new employment with all the decorum becoming his clerical profeffion. Still, however, his method method of living bore no proportion to his income; fo that he contracted a variety of debts, which he was totally incapable of paying; and a jail, the terror of indigent genius, feemed ready to close upon his miferies. From this wretched fituation he was relieved by the benevolent interpofition of Dr. Lloyd, the fecond master of Weftminfter-fchool, and father of Robert Lloyd, the poet. The Doctor undertook to treat with Churchill's creditors, and fucceeded in engaging them to confent to a compofition of five fhillings in the pound. In an inftance which fell under the knowledge of the writer of the prefent article, as an executor and a guardian, Mr. Churchill, when he had obtained money by his publications, voluntarily came, and paid the full amount of the original debt. It is highly probable, from this unfolicited and unexpected act of equitable retribution, that his conduct was the fame in fome other cafes. The time now approached for Mr. Churchill's appearing in the world as an author. Hitherto nothing had come from him in this character, though he was known among his acquaintance to be a man of a very vigorous imagination, and a ftrong understanding; and though he was in the habits of intimacy with Thornton, Colman, and Lloyd, who had already begun to make a confiderable figure in the republic of letters. With the laft of thefe gentlemen he was connected in the ties of the clofeft friendship. Mr. Lloyd had printed a poem, entitled the Actor, which met with a very favourable reception from the public, and justly procured him a confiderable degree of reputation. By the fuccefs of his friend, Mr. Churchill is fuppofed to have been ftimulated (how truly we know not) to exert his poetical talents upon a fubject of a fimilar kind, though more appropriated and perfonal. The theme he pitched upon was admirably fuited to his genius and his taste. He had long been a frequenter of the theatre, and had bestowed inceffant attention on ftage reprefentation. The fcene of his obfervations was ufually the first row of the pit, next to the orchestra. From this place he thought that he could beft difcern the real workings of the paffions in the players, or the artifices which they fubftituted in the room of genuine nature and feeling. As Mr. Churchill was thus qualified, by judgement and experience, for delineating the excellencies and defects of the actors, fo the vigour of his fancy, and the ftrength of his conceptions, enabled him to do it in the most lively colours. In the month of March 1761, the "Rofciad" appeared. The first edition ftole as it were into the world, being very little advertifed, and published without a name. A fecond impreffion was foon called for, in the title page of which the author afferted his claim to his own performance. Scarcely ever was there an inftance of a poet's rifing fo fuddenly from the moft perfect obfcurity to the greatest celebrity. To this the players themselves contributed more than any other fet of men. They ran about the town like fo many ftricken deer; and while they ftrove to extract the arrow from the wound, by communicating the knowledge of it to their friends, fpread abroad more and more the fame of the piece. It was pleafant enough to obferve how artfully fome of them, who were, in fact, the most hurt, pretended to be unaffected by the injury done to themfelves, but to feel extremely for the obloquy thrown upon others." Why (exclaimed one of thefe difinterested perfons) fhould this man attack Mr. Havard? I am not concerned at all for myfelf; but what has poor Billy Havard done that he must be treated fo cruelly ?" "And pray (replied a gentleman who was prefent at this artificial declaration of benevolence) what has Mr. Havard done too, that he cannot bear his misfortunes as well as another?" Whilst the actors, in different ways, expreffed their refentment, the public enjoyed their diftrefs. The Rofciad was regarded, in general, as a pleafant and reafonable retaliation for the mirth which the ftage had continually excited, by the reprefentation of the follies and frailties of mankind. The poem was not wholly employed in fatire. Mr. Garrick was commended D 2 in in the higheft terms of applaufe; and the various and peculiar excellencies of Mrs. Pritchard, Mrs. Cibber, and Mrs. Clive were celebrated with equal warmth and juftice. Excepting Mir. Garrick, there was not a fingle man, amongst the players of that period, who in the art impreffion entirely efcaped the poet's fatirical lath. Thofe who were the most eager in expreffing their anger had only the misfortune of being treated with greater feverity in fubfequent editions. In this refpect, Mr. Churchill has been blamed by fome writers; and it has been faid, that the Rofciad was not always benefited by the alterations which it received. Perhaps there is little foundation for this affertion: but, however that may be, it is certain that its excellence enabled it firmly to maintain its ground againt all oppofition. Though various pamphlets and poems were published againit it in vindication of the players, they were fo poorly written, that they only ferved to fwell Mr. Churchill's triumph. The Critical Reviewers happened to be peculiarly unfortunate in the account which they gave of the Rofciad. In fpeaking of the firft impreffion of it, they afcribed it, with fome degree of confidence, to Mr. Lloyd; and though they wouldnotabfolu ely pretend to affert that it was folely written by him, they ventured to afirm, that it was the production, jointly or feparately, of the new Triumvirate of Wits, who never let an opportunity flip of finging their own praifes. The Triumvirate here referred to confifted of Thornton, Colman, and Lloyd. The miflake, however, if it had been delivered in lefs offenfive terms, was pardonable, as the author had pot fet his name to the performance. When he afferted his claim to the work, the critics acknowledged their error, but did not do it with a very good grace, or, at least, in fuch a manner as was fati factory to Mr. Church. Beides his not being well ple.fed with the account which had been given of his poem, he wifhed to add fomething further on the fubject of the Rofciad, and to justify the attack he had made on the players. Accord ingly, in a fhort time he published his Apology; addreffed to the Critical Reviewers." Whatever reafons thefe gentlemen had to be diffatisfied with the poem, the players themfelves were not fo much offended as they had been with the Rofciad. The author had, indeed, treated the profeffion of acting with great contempt; and had painted, in the strongest colours, the meanness and diflrefs of itinerant companies, and the unhappy fhifts to which they are occafionally reduced. But all this the London actors regarded as a trifling injury, compared with the fatire which had been directed against their perfonal faults. It was, likewife, no small confelation to them, that their master, the mighty Rofcius himself, had not wholly been fpared: for Mr. Garrick was certainly aimed at in the following lines: "Let the vain tyrant fit amidst his guards, His peny green-room wits, and venal bards, Ne'er will flitter, cringe, or bend the k., To thole who, laves to all, are llaves to me." The manager felt all the force of thefe farcaftic, ftrokes, and was extremely unhappy that he fhould have provoked fo irritable and fe powerful a writer. Accordingly, he wrote a long letter to Churchill, which, befides comprehending an apology for himself and the players, was full of encomiums upon his uncommon vein of poetry, and contained a kind of deprecation of his future wrath. A friend, to whom Mr. Garrick fhewed the letter, entirely difapproved of it; and informed him that the author of the Rofciad, who was a man of quick difcernment and undaunted fpirit, would not think the better of him for his humiliations and flatteries. Mr. Churchill being now become fo greatly celebrated, and having, at the fame time, precured a large number of enemies, it was natural that refearches fould be made into his fituation, connections, and character; and upon enquiry it was found that he was not remarkable |