34 LETTERS ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS. 



JOHN BULKELEY TO THOMAS HARRIOT. 



[MS. Orig. in Sion College.] 



Erudito viro Thomas Harrioto amico suo Johannes Bulkelaus 

 salutem dicit. 



Obtemperavi tibi tandem, mi Harriote, et felici auspicio id 

 factum sit, si tacuissem mea mihi non meruissent, aut nunc 

 fortasse suo judicio perivit sueto. Non eo animo aut con- 

 silio haec scripsi, quo laudem hinc mihi aliquam acquirere 

 contenderem, si vituperim effugiam voti mei compos fiam. 

 Legimus in prooemio quarti [libri] Conicorum Apollonii, Co- 

 nonem Samium, quern Archimedes vir acerrimi judicii propter 

 ejus singularem prudentiam summis laudibus extulit, a Ni- 

 cotele Cyrenaeo tanquam non recte in demonstrationibus ver- 

 satum reprehensum fuisse. Scripsit quoque Eutocius Asca- 

 lonita inventa initasse Erastosthenis Nicomedem ; atque So- 

 cratem, Apollonio oraculo sapientissimum judicatum, nichi- 

 lominus carpebat Aristophanes. Denique Archimedi ipsi 

 quandoquidem non defuit reprehensor. Quomodo ego spe- 

 rabo me posse carere calumnia ? Verum si criticorum mor- 

 sibus dilaniare in te cudetur faba, qui tua culpa, tua, inquam, 

 maxima culpa, praecipua causa fuisti cur haec mea, qualia- 

 cumque sint, in lucem perclaram prodierunt, quae antea demi 

 in tuto silentii mcenibus defensa latebant. Quamobrem in 

 tuam tutelam protegenda suscipias velim, quoniam tibi tuo- 

 que nomini ea dicamus tanquam amicitiae quae inter nos mihi 

 ob virtutem solam interessit. Hisce igitur laborantibus, 

 ubi opus sit suppetias ferre (uti confido) ex humanitate tua 

 et ingenii acumine non dedignabere. Vale. Ex aulula Mona, 

 pridie calend. Martii, anno 1591*. 



* This letter forms a dedication to a large work by Bulkeley on the quadrature 

 of the circle, the original manuscript of which is in the library of Sion College, 

 and is, perhaps, the only remaining memorial of one who appears to have been an 

 ingenious mathematician, considering the time in which he lived. From this de- 

 dication it appears that Bulkeley, under the advice of Harriot, had intended to 

 consign his work to the press ; and the reason why the project was abandoned 

 does not appear. This is also an early notice of Harriot as a mathematician ; al- 

 though Gabriel Harvey, in bis " Pierces Supererogation," 4to Lond. 1593, p. 190, 

 classes him as a " profounde mathematician," along with Digges and Dr. Dee. 



