CHAPTER IX. 



DE MOIVRE. 



233. Abraham De Moivre was bom at Vitri, in Cliampagne, 

 in 1667. On account of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 

 in 1685, he took shelter in England, where he supported himself 

 by giving instruction in mathematics and answers to questions 

 relatiuGf to chances and annuities. He died at London in 1754. 



John Bernoulli speaks thus of De Moi^Te in a letter to 

 Leibnitz, dated 26 Apr. 1710; see page 847 of the volume cited 

 in Art. 59 : 



...Dominus Moy^Taeus, insignis certe Geometra, qui liaud dubie 

 adluic haeret Loudini, luctans, ut audio, cum fome et miseria, quas ut 

 depellat, victum quotidianum ex informationibus adolescentum petere 

 cogitur. O duram sortein hominis! et parum aptam ad excitanda 

 ingenia nobilia; quis non tandem succumberet sub tam iniquae foi-tunae 

 vexationibus ? vel quodnam ingenium etiam fervidissimum non algeat 

 tandem ? Miror certe MoyvTaeum tantis angustiis pressum ea tamen 

 adhuc praestare, quae praestat. 



De Moivre was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1697 ; 

 his portrait, strikingly conspicuous among those of the great 

 chiefs of science, may be seen in the collection which adorns the 

 walls of the apartment used for the meetings of the Society. It 

 is recorded that Newton himself, in the later years of his life, 

 used to reply to inquirers respecting mathematics in these words : 

 " Go to Mr De Moivre, he knows these things better than I do." 

 In the long list of men ennobled by genius, virtue, and mis- 

 fortune, who have found an asvlum in England, it would be 



