MATHER MATHIAS. 



Gmiinden, Peuerbach, Regiomontanus, Pacciolo, Tar- 

 taglia, Cardanus, Macrolycus, Vieta, Ludolphus de 

 Ceulen, Peter Nunez, Justus Byrge, and others. To 

 this period, however, all mathematical operations of 

 any extent required a weary length of detail ; when, 

 in the seventeenth century, Napier, by the introduc- 

 tion of logarithms, immensely facilitated the process 

 of calculation ; and Newton and Leibnitz, by their 

 infinitesimal calculus, opened the way into regions, 

 into which, before them, no mathematician attempted 

 to penetrate. From this time, the science obtained 

 a wonderful extension and influence, by the labours of 

 such minds as Galilei, Torricelli, Pascal, Descartes, 

 L'Hopital, Cassini, Huyghens, Harriot, Wallis, Bar- 

 row, Halley, James and John Bernoulli!, and others. 

 Thus it became possible for Manfredi, Nicoli, Nic. and 

 Dan. Bernouilli, Euler, Maclaurin, Taylor, Bradley, 

 Clairaut, D'Alembert, Lambert, Tobias Mayer, Kast- 

 ner, Hindenburg (the inventor of the combinatory 

 analysis) Lagrange, Laplace, Legendre, Gauss, Bes- 

 sel, and the later mathematicians in the eighteenth, 

 and in our century, to make great advances, and to give 

 us satisfactory conclusions, not only respecting our 

 earth, but also the heavenly bodies, the phenomena and 

 powers of nature, and their useful application to the 

 wants of life, to establish firmly so many notions, pre- 

 viously vague, and to correct so many errors. (See 

 the articles on these mathematicians, and the works 

 mentioned in the articles on the various branches of 

 mathematics.) The number of mathematical manuals 

 increases daily, without, however, much surpassing 

 the best of the earlier ones in perspicuity, novelty, 

 and method, or rendering them unnecessary to the 

 thorough student. 



MATHER, INCREASE, D. D., one of the early 

 presidents of Harvard college, was born at Dorches- 

 ter, Massachusetts, June 21, 1639, and graduated at 

 Harvard, in 1656. He was ordained a minister of 

 the gospel in 1661 ; but had preached before with 

 great success at the North church in Boston. In 

 June, 1685, he was called to preside over Harvard 

 college, which he continued to do until 1701. His 

 learning, zeal, and general abilities were of great 

 utility to the institution. He distinguished himself 

 also as a very skilful and efficient political servant of 

 the commonwealth. When king Charles II. signi- 

 fied his wish that the charter of Massachusetts should 

 be resigned into his hands, in 1683, doctor Mather 

 contended against a compliance. In 1688, he was 

 deputed to England, as agent of the province, to pro- 

 cure redress of grievances. He held conferences 

 with king James on the situation of the province, 

 and, when William and Mary ascended the throne, 

 urged his suit with them in audiences and by memo- 

 rials. In 1692, he returned to Boston, with a new 

 charter from the crown, which some of his old friends 

 condemned ; but the general court accepted it, with 

 public thanks to the reverend agent, for the industry 

 and ability with which he conducted his negotiations 

 for settling the government of the province. He died 

 at Boston, August 23, 1723, in the eighty-fifth year 

 of his age, having been a preacher sixty-six years. 

 He is said to have commonly spent sixteen hours a 

 day in his study, and his sermons and other publica- 

 tions were proportionably numerous. During the 

 witchcraft delusion, which he laboured to mitigate, 

 he wrote a book to prove that the devil might appear 

 in the shape of an innocent man, " by means of 

 which a number of persons, convicted of witchcraft, 

 escaped the execution of the sentence of death." By 

 some of the biographers, he is styled the father of 

 the New England clergy. An octavo volume entitled 

 Remarkables of the Life of Doctor Increase Mather, 

 contains a catalogue of eighty-five of his publications, 

 not including " the learned and useful prefaces, which 



the publishers of many books obtained from him, as 

 a beautiful porch unto them, and which, collected, 

 would make a considerable volume." 



MATHER, COTTON, D. D., the eldest son of In- 

 crease, rivalled or surpassed his father in learning, 

 influence, and the variety and multitude of his pro- 

 ductions. It is recorded in his diary, that, in one 

 year, he preached seventy-two sermons, kept sixty 

 fasts and twenty vigils, and wrote fourteen books. 

 His publications amount to 382, some of them being 

 of huge dimensions. His reading was prodigious ; 

 his research exceedingly diversified and curious. He 

 was born in Boston, Feb. 12, 1663, and graduated at 

 Harvard college in 1678. In 1684, he was ordained 

 minister of the North church in Boston, as colleague 

 of his father. He died in 1728, aged sixty-five years, 

 with the reputation of having been the greatest scho- 

 lar and author that America had then produced. His 

 piety and benevolence were almost commensurate 

 with his learning. Credulity, pedantry, quaintness, 

 eccentricity, are blended, in most of his works, with 

 marvellous erudition, and instructive details of history 

 and opinion. He was a fellow of the royal society 

 of London. His largest and most celebrated work 

 is his Magnalia Christi Americana, or the Ecclesias- 

 tical History of New England, from 1625 to 1698, 

 in seven books, folio. His Life is extant in an octavo 

 volume, written by his son and successor, Samuel 

 Mather, D. D., also a learned divine and author 



MATHEWS, CHARLES. See Matthews. 



MATHIAS, THOMAS JAMES, a distinguished 

 scholar, was educated at Eton, and at Trinity college, 

 Cambridge, where he took the degree of B. A. in 

 1774, and, in 1775 and 1776, gained some academical 

 prizes. His first publication was odes, chiefly from 

 the Norse tongue (4to, 1781). This was followed 

 by a pamphlet on the Evidence relating to Rowley'? 

 Poems (1783). For several years after the publica- 

 tion of the last of these works, he did not again come 

 forward as an author. He was elected fellow of his 

 college, but, after taking the degree of M. A., was 

 called away from his fellowship, to be clerk to the 

 treasurer of the queen. In time, he rose to be vice- 

 treasurer a place he held for many years and after- 

 wards, on the queen's death, he had a pension 

 assigned him. In 1794 came out, anonymously, the 

 first part of the Pursuits of Literature, attributed to 

 Mr Mathias. The poetry does not often rise above 

 mediocrity : the notes, however, prove great learn- 

 ing, with keen criticisms on public men and opinions. 

 Three more parts were subsequently published, and 

 a volume was added containing translations of the 

 notes. Some of the persons assailed were so highly 

 indignant, that it would scarcely have been safe for 

 any man at that time to have avowed himself the 

 author. In 1794, Mr Mathias gave to the press the 

 Imperial Epistle from Kien Long to George III., and, 

 in the following year, the Political Dramatist of the 

 House of Commons a satire on Mr Sheridan. In 

 1796, appeared his Letter to the Marquis of Buck- 

 ingham ; in 1797, a Pair of Epistles to Doctor 

 Randolph and the Earl of Jersey, occasioned by the 

 loss of some letters which the princess of Wales had 

 addressed to her mother, and, in 1798, the Shade of 

 Alexander Pope on the Banks of the Thames a 

 satirical poem, with notes. These works were all 

 published without his name. Mr Mathias, in 1814, 

 removed from England to Naples, where he resided 

 until his death, which took place in August, 1835. 

 Fie there made excellent Italian versions of the Lyci- 

 das of Milton, and the Sappho of Mason, and has 

 published, in a uniform and elegant manner, the fol- 

 lowing valuable works : Componimenti Lyrici dl 

 piii illustri Poeti d' Italia (3 vols.); Aggiunta ai 

 Componimenti (3 vols.) ; Commentarj tnlorno all' 



