262 N'ations lately become Literary. [Ch. XXVI- 



house, Evving, Williamson, Patterson, and Elli- 

 cott, of Pennsj'h ania ; and of Madison, Page, 

 and several more of Virginia, are so well and so 

 respectably known, that it is unnecessary to en- 

 large on their merits*. Beside the learning and 

 talents of these native citizens, lieutenant-gover- 

 nor Golden, mentioned in several former chapters, 

 and professor Minto f, both of North Britain, de- 



estate of an earldom in Scotland, of which country his father was 

 a native; and although when he went to North Britain in pur- 

 suit of this inheritance, he failed of obtaining an acknowledg- 

 ment of his claim by government; yet, among his friends and 

 acquaintances, he received, by courtesy, the title of lord Stirling. 

 He discovered an early fondness for the study of mathematics 

 and astronomy, and attained great eminence in these sciences. 



* The author, in this list, has only introduced the names of 

 such mathematicians, astronomers, &c., as, by means of some 

 publication or other display of their learning and talents, ap- 

 peared to him to have made themselves more than usually 

 known. He is sensible that a number of the professors of these 

 branches of knowledge in the colleges, both native citizens and 

 foreigners, stand high in the estimation of all Avho know them ; 

 and though not brought so immediately before the public, yet 

 possess perhaps a degree of erudition and skill little if at all in- 

 ferior to those possessed by the persons above named. 



t Walter Minto, LL. D., was a native of Scotland, and received 

 a liberal education in that country. Early in life he visited 

 Italy, and spent a number of years at Pisa, pursuing, with great 

 diligence, his mathematical and astronomical studies. Soon after 

 the close of tRe revolutionary war, he came to America, and 

 about the year 1787 was appointed professor o^ inai'iemaiics and 

 n<Ltural philosophy in the college of New Jersey. In this situation 

 he was respected and useful. He was beyond all doubt a great 

 mathematician and astronomer, as appears from his Researches 

 into some Parts of the Theoiy of the Planets, &c., 8vo, London, 

 1783; and also from his Oration on the Progress and Importance 

 of the mathematical Sciences, &c., 1788. He died about the year 

 1796. 



