ROB 



II O B 



Tendance of the air had a much greater effect on fwift dying 

 projeftiles than was generally fuppofed. He likewife di- 

 rected his attention to the mechanic arts, fuch as the con- 

 ftruftion of mills, the building of bridges, draining of 

 fens, rendering rivers navigable, and the making ot har- 

 bours. The art of fortification, likewife, very much en- 

 gaged his thoughts : with this view he took pains to infpeft 

 all the principal itrong places in Flanders, during fome 

 journies which he made on the continent with perfons of 

 diftindion. On his return, he undertook a defence of the 

 doftrine of fluxions, as laid down by fir Ifaac Newton, in 

 oppofition to the objections brought againft it by the learned 

 bifhop Berkeley. In 1735 Mr. Robins publifhed "A Dif- 

 courfe concerning the Nature and Certainty of Sir Ifaac 

 Newton's Method of Fluxions and of prime and ultimate 

 Ratios." On the fame fubjeft he wrote two or three other 

 pieces. 



In the year 1739 he publrfhed, without his name, three 

 pamphlets on political topics, and on the popular fide of the 

 queftion ; and fo highly did they raife the author in the eili- 

 mation of the patriotic party, that when a committee of the 

 houfe of commons was appointed to examine into the con- 

 Juft of fir Robert Walpole, he was chofen their fecretary. 

 In 1742 Mr. Robins publifhed a fmall treatife, entitled 

 •■ New Principles of Gunnery ;" containing the refult of 

 many experiments, by which he difcovered the force of gun- 

 powder, and the difference in the refilling power of the air 

 to fwift and flow motions. From which it appeared, that 

 the oppofition of that medium to bullets and (hells, dif- 

 charged from cannon and mortars, far exceeded what was 

 generally imagined ; and that the track which their motion 

 defcribed differed from that of a parabolic line, to a degree 

 unfufpefted by any who had written exprefsly on the fub- 

 jeft, from the time of Galileo. This publication was un- 

 dertaken to demonftrate his own fuperiority, as a man of 

 talents, over a fuccefsful competitor, Mr. Muller, for a 

 fituation in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. 

 Some time after the publication of this work, a paper hav- 

 ing been admitted into the Philofophical Tranfaftions, con- 

 taining experiments intended to invalidate iome of Mr. 

 Robins's opinions, he thought proper, in an account which 

 he gave of his book in the fame Tranfaftions, to take fome 

 notice of thofe experiments. In confequence of this, fe- 

 veral differtations of his on the refiftance of the air were 

 read, and experiments to confirm his doftrine were exhibited 

 before the Royal Society, in the year 1746-7 ; for which 

 he was prefented with the annual gold medal by that fo- 

 ciety. His reputation was now fo high, that he was invited 

 by the prince of Orange to aflilt in the defence of Bergen- 

 op-Zoom, which was befieged by the French, and he 

 aftually eroded the fea with that view ; but he had fcarcely 

 reached the Dutch camp, before the French, owing either 

 to negligence or treachery in the garrifon, unexpectedly be- 

 came mafters of the place. 



In the year 1748, Anfon's " Voyage round the World" 

 was publifhed, bearing the name of Walter in the title-page, 

 though it was foon known to have been Mr. Robins's pro- 

 duction. No work of the kind ever met with a more fa- 

 vourable reception : four large editions were fold within a 

 year, and it has been fince reprinted very frequently in all 

 fizes. It was tranfiated in almeit all the European lan- 

 guages. He was next employed to draw up an apology 

 for the unfortunate defeat of the king's troops by the rebels, 

 at Prefton-Pans in Scotland, which was prefixed to " The 

 Report of the Proceedings and Opinion of the Board of 

 General Officers, on their Examination into the Conduft 

 of Lieutenant-General Sir John Cope," &c. 



After this, Mr. Robins had opportunities, through the 

 favour of lord Anfon, f.f making further experiments in 

 gunnery ; an account of which, with other pieces, were 

 publifhed after his death. Through the intercft of the fame 

 nobleman, he contributed to the improvement of the Royal 

 Obli-rvatory of Greenwich, by procuring for it many valu- 

 able initruments. In the year 1749 he was made engineer- 

 general to the Eaft India Company ; and with a complete 

 fet of allronomical inllruments, for making oblervations and 

 experiments, he arrived in India in the fummer of 1750. 

 He fet about the bufinefs which he had undertaken immedi- 

 atelv, with the utmoft diligence, and loon formed plans for 

 fort St. David and Madras ; but he did not live to carry 

 them into execution. The change of climate was more 

 than he could endure, and he died at the early age of 44, ir 

 July 1751. 



Mr. Robins was one of the molt accurate and elegant 

 mathematical writers of this country, and he made more 

 real improvements in artillery, and on fubjefts relating to 

 the refiftance of the air to projeftiles, than ail the preceding 

 authors on the fubjeft. His " New Principles of Gunnery" 

 were tranfiated into various languages, and commented 

 upon by feveral eminent mathematicians. Euler tranfiated 

 it into the German, and accompanied the verfion with a 

 large and critical commentary. This again was publifhed 

 in England, with an Englifh tranflation of the German 

 commentary and notes, by Mr. Hugh Brown, in 1777. 

 All Mr. Robins's mathematical and philofophical pieces 

 were collected, and publifhed in 2 vols. 8vo. 1761, by Dr. 

 Wilfon, with an account of the author, from which the 

 foregoing article is chiefly extracted. 



ROBINSON, Robert, born in Oftober 1735, at 

 Swaffham, in the county of Norfolk, was fon of Mr. 

 Michael Robinfon, a native of North Britain, and Mary, 

 the daughter ef Mr. Robert Wilkin of Mildenhall, Suf- 

 folk, a man of great refpcftability in private life, and in 

 pofleffion of a moderate independence. Robert was the 

 youngefl of their three children : his elder brother was ap- 

 prenticed to a painter, and his filter to a mantua-maker ; he 

 was fent to a Latin fchool at the age of fix years, where he 

 made a confiderable proficiency, and difcovered an uncom- 

 mon capacity for learning. His father, in the courfe of his 

 profefiion, was removed from Swaffham to Seaming, in 

 the fame county, where finding his fituation very unpleafant, 

 he left the place, his family returning home, and he fhortly 

 after died at Winchefter. At Seaming young Robinfon 

 was fent to an endowed grammar-fchool, then under the 

 care of the Rev. Jofeph Brett. Several perfons of eminence 

 received the early parts of their education at the fame fchool, 

 among whom was the late lord Thurlow. At this fchool 

 he gained a confiderable knowledge of the French, as well 

 as of the claffical languages. At the age of 14 he was 

 put apprentice to a hair-drefler, in Crutched-Friars, Lon- 

 don. For this occupation his mind was very ill adapted, 

 and he ftole from the hours devoted to fleep no fmall portion 

 of time for the improvement of his mind. During his ap- 

 prenticefhip he appears to have imbibed ferious impreflions 

 of religion, which he encouraged, by attending the moft 

 celebrated preachers of the day among the Independents, 

 the Baptifts, and the clergy falfely named evangelical ; for 

 they dwell, in their pulpit difcourfes, upon all forts of fub- 

 jefts, excepting only thofe contained in the four gofpels. 

 Dr. Guife and Gill among the diffenters, Romaine in the 

 church, and Whitfield, the leader of the Calviniltical Me- 

 thodiits, were his chief favourites. At this period Robert 

 Robinfon had a confiderable portion of enthufiafm in his 

 conftitution, which is not an undefireable quality in young- 

 people 



