322 DODSON. HOYLE. 



or German or Latin. The subject was perhaps unpromising ; the 

 dissertations are not remarkable for novelty or interest. One of 

 the best of the writers finishes with a modest avowal which might 

 have been used by all : 



Ich maclie hier den Schluss, weil ich ohnehin mit gar zii guten 

 Griinden fiirchte, zu weitliiufig gewesen zu seyn, da ich so wenig neues 

 artiges und scharfsinniges gesagt habe. Ich finde auch in dieser Probe, 

 dass mein Wille noch einmahl so gut als meine iibrige Tahigkeit, ist. 



593. A work entitled the Mathematical Repository, in three 

 volumes, was published by James Dodson, Accomptant and Teacher 

 of the Mathematics. The work consists of the solution of Mathe- 

 matical problems. The second volume is dated 1753 ; pages 

 82 — 136 are occupied with problems on chances : they present 

 nothing that is new or important. The remainder of this volume 

 is devoted to annuities and kindred subjects ; and so also is the 

 Avhole of the third volume, which is dated 1755. 



594. Some works on Games of Chance are ascribed to Hoyle 

 in Watt's Bihliotheca Britannica. I have seen only one of them 

 which is entitled: An Essay towards making the Doctrine of 

 Chances easy to those who understand Vidgar Arithmetick only: 

 to which is added, some useful tables on annuities for lives (&c. &c. &c. 

 By Mr Hoyle... It is not dated; but the date 1754 is given in 

 "Watt's Bihliotheca Britannica. 



The work is in small octavo size, with large tjrpe. The title, 

 preface, and dedication occupy viii pages, and the text itself occu- 

 pies 73 pages. Pages 1 — 62 contain rules, without demonstration, 

 for calculating chances in certain games ; and the remainder is de- 

 voted to tables of annuities, and to Halley's Breslau table of life, 

 with a brief explanation of the latter. I have not tested the rules. 



595. We advert in the next place to a work which is en- 

 titled DelV Azione del Caso nelle Invenzioni, e deW influsso degli 

 Astri ne Corpi Terrestri Dissertazioni due. 



This is a quarto volume of 220 pages, published anonymously 

 at Padua, 1757. It is not connected with the Theory of Pro- 

 bability ; we notice it because the title might perhaps suggest 



