HOB 



Robertson, flowery, equal, and majestic, harmonious beyond that of 

 Hr. ni ,,st I'.n^li-,!! writers, yet seldom deviating in quest of 

 *" ~V~"~" harmony into invei.Mon, redundancy, or aflVetation." 

 " It may, prrlnp-, he questioned by some, whether Dr. 

 Ro!uTt-<Mi has not carried to an extreme his idea of 

 wti.it h-- lias himself called the dignity of history ; but 

 wfiatever opinion we form on this point, it cannot be 

 (li-))iit-cl tint his phn of separating the materials of 

 historical composition from those which fall under the 

 provinces of the antiqinry and of the writer of memoirs, 

 was on the whole happily conceived ; and that one 

 great charm of his works arises from the taste and 

 judgment with which he has carried it into execution. 

 Whenever his subject admits of being enriched or 

 adorned by politic*! or philosophical disquisitions, by 

 -picturesque description, or by the interesting details of 

 a romantic episode, he scruples not to try his strength 

 with those who have excelled the most in those differ- 

 ent departments of literature." 



In estimating the relative merits of Dr. Robertson's 

 different works, Mr. Stewart is of opinion that his 

 Charles V. is that which unites the various requisites 

 of good writing in the greatest degree. The style 

 he considers as more natural and flowing than that of 

 the History of Scotland. The style of his History of 

 America he regards as less uniformly polished than 

 that of his other works, and as less simple and concise, 

 though it contains many passages equal, if not supe- 

 rior, to any thing else in his writings 



Dr. Robertson continued to superintend the affairs 

 of our national church, as the leader of the General 

 Assembly, (to which he was returned as a member 

 every ye-r by the University,) till the year 1781, when 

 he withdrew from the bustle of active life. In the 

 -most essential qualifications of a speaker, Mr. Stewart 

 is of opinion, that he was entitled to rank with the 

 first names which have in our times adorned the Bri- 

 tish senate. " Ilis eloquence'," he remarks, " was mild, 

 -rational, and conciliating, yet manly and dignified." 



In his pastoral character Dr. Robertson was exem- 

 plary in the discharge of his duties, and his diligence 

 in this respect increased as he advanced in years. He 

 had unfortunately lost, before he left Gladsmuir, a vo- 

 lume of sermons, which he had composed with care, 

 otherwise we might have been gratified with more spe- 

 cimens than we possess of his pulpit eloquence ; but 

 his colleague, Dr. Erskine, informs us, " that his dis- 

 courses wtre so plain that the most illiterate might 

 easily understand them, and yet so correct and ele- 

 gant, that they could not incur their censure whose taste 

 was more refined." 



In his private character, Dr. Robertson displayed 

 all the virtues of domestic and social life. He had the 

 satisfaction of leaving his family in prosperous circum- 

 stances; and his eldest son, the present Lord Robertson, 

 has raised himself, by his talents and character, to one 

 of the highest dignities of his profession. 



In stature Dr. Robertson was rather above the mid- 

 dte size, and his form was vigorous and robust. There 

 is a picture of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds, from 

 which a good mezzotinto has been engraved ; and 

 there is another taken at a later period, at the request 

 of his colleagues, and placed in the library of the uni- 

 versity. 



In the year 1781, Dr. Robertson was elected one of 

 the foreign members of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Padua, and, in 1783, one of the foreign members of 

 the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. 

 The Empress Catharine was so much delighted with 



ROB 



his work*, that she presented him, through the late R0b*. 

 1).-. Rogerson, with a handsome gold enamelled snuff- ?*, 

 bo*, richly set with diamonds. ( ' ni 



Dr. Robertson was the founder of the Royal Society 

 of 11 linburgh, and exerted hirmelf with his usual zeal, 

 not only in forming the plan of that institution, but in 

 carrying it on after it wa established. 



Those who wih for farther information respecting 

 the life and writings of this eminent author, are re- 

 ferred to Mr. Dugald Stewart's Account of the Life and 

 Writinsx "f Dr. Robertson, I.ond. 1801. 



Hi >BESPIERRE. See FRANCE, Vol. IX. p. 6S5. 



ROBINS, BKNJAMIN, a celebrated English mathe- 

 matician, was born at Bath in the year 1707- Although 

 his parents, who were Quaker", were not able to give 

 him much education, yet, from the native vigour 

 of his own mind, he initiated himself into various 

 branches of knowledge, particularly mathematics. II w 

 friends being desirous that he should be brought into 

 notice, wished him to settle in London as a teacher of 

 mathematics, and contrived to get him introduced to 

 Dr. Pemberton, who conceived a high opinion of hit 

 mathematical acquirements. 



Robins accordingly went to London, and began to 

 fit himself for the duties of a teacher, by perusing the 

 writings of the most celebrated mathematicians. In the 

 course of these studies, he was led to demonstrate the 

 last proposition of Sir Isaac Newton's Trcntise. on Qua- 

 drniitres, which appeared in the Philosophical T> ant- 

 actions fur 1727- In the following year he pub- 

 lished " The Present state of the Republic of Letters, 

 in Refutation of the Dissertation of John Bernouilli on 

 the Laws of Impact in Moving Bodies," which had 

 lost the prize offered by the Academy of Sciences in 

 1726'. 



Having thus brought himself into notice as an able 

 mathematician, Robins laid aside the dress of a Qua- 

 ker, and began to take mathematical pupils. The ac- 

 tivity of his mind, however, did not allow him to be 

 satisfied with his theoretical studies. He began a 

 series of elaborate experiments in gunnery, with the 

 view of establishing the great influence of the resist- 

 ance of the air upon projectiles. He *lsp directed his 

 attention to the various branches of civil engineering, 

 and he made several tours to Flanders, for the purpose 

 of studying the subject of fortification. 



Upon his return from one of these joumies into 

 Flanders, in 1734, he found the scientific world thrown 

 into a state of alarm by the appearance of Dr. Berke- 

 ley's Analyst, in which that ingenious author attempted 

 to refute the Newtonian doctrine of fluxions. Robins 

 was requested to devote himself to its defence, and he 

 accordingly published, in 1735, ' A Discourse con- 

 cerning the Nature and the Certainty of Sir Isaac 

 Newton's Method of Fluxions, and of Prime and Ul- 

 timate Ratios." Some exception was taken at this de- 

 fence, even by some of the friends of the fluxionary 

 method; which led our author to publish two or three 

 additional discourses on the subject. 



In the year 1738 Robins defended Newton against 

 an objection in Baxter's Mat/io; and in 1739 he pub- 

 lished his remarks on Euler's Treatise on Motion* on 

 Smith's System <>f Optics ; and on Jurin's Essay upon 

 Distinct and Indistinct Vision, published at ihe end of 

 the last of these works. 



Robins did not confine his talent to their proper 

 sphere of mathematics and. natural philosophy. He 

 took a keen part in the politics of th day, and com- 

 posed three pamphlets on the affairs of the times. The 



