SHARP, 



to his native air, at Horton, where he fitted up an obfervatory 

 of his own, having conltrudled a very curious machine for 

 turning all kinds of work in wood and brafs. He con- 

 ttruded moil cif the tools ufed by joiners, clock-makers, op- 

 ticians, and mathematical inltrument-makcrs. He manu- 

 fedlured entirely his own telefcopes and other attronomical 

 inllruments. 



He next materially afiifted Mr. Flamftead in calculating 

 mod of the tables in the fecond volume of his " Hiltoria 

 Celeiti?," and made curious drawings of the conftellations, 

 which were fent to Amfterdam to be engraved, and though 

 executed by a malterly hand, the originals were faid to have 

 exceeded the engravings in beauty and accuracy. In 1689 

 Mr. Flamftead completed his mural arc at Greenwich, in 

 which he had been greatly aflillcd by his friend Mr. Sharp, 

 who had been fome time in the obfervatory as his ama- 

 nuenfis. Mr. Smeaton, in a paper pubhflaed in the Philofo- 

 phical Tranfaftions for the year 1786, fpeaking of this 

 mural arc, fays, it may be confidered as the iirft good in- 

 ftrument of the kind, and that Mr. Sharp was the iird 

 perfon who cut accurate and delicate divifions upon attro- 

 nomical inltruments. 



In 1717, Mr. Sharp publifhed a work entitled "Geo- 

 metry Improved," in which he engraved the figures as well 

 as compoied the work. This treatife contains i. A large 

 and accurate table of fegments of circles, with the method 

 of its conllruftion, and various ufes in the folution of diffi- 

 cult problems. 2. A concife treatife of polyedra, or folid 

 bodies of many bafes, both the regular and irregular ones, 

 to which are added twelve new ones, witli various methods 

 of forming them, and their exaft dimenfions in words or 

 fpecies, and alfo in numbers. In the year 1699 he under- 

 took, for his own private amufement, the quadrature of the 

 circle, deduced from two diflerent feries, by which the truth 

 of it was demonftrated to 72 place;i of figures. Mr. Sharp 

 maintained an epillolary correfpondence with the moll emi- 

 nent mathematicians and attronomers of the day ; among 

 thefe were the illullrious Newton, Dr. Halley, and Dr. 

 Wallis. It appears fro.ii a great variety of letters which 

 remained after his death, written to hun by thefe celebrated 

 men, that he fpared neither pains nor time to piomote the 

 interefts of real fcicncc Being jultly reckoned one of the 

 abled calculators of his time, his affiiiance was required by, 

 and freely given to Flamftead, fir Jofias Moore, Dr. Halley, 

 and others, in all difficult calculations. When he quitted 

 Mr. Flamftead, he retired to Little Horton, in Yorklhire, 

 where he fpent the remainder of his days, and where he 

 died in July 1742, in the 9 lit year of his age. He was of 

 very retired habits, and admitted few vilitors, excepting 

 two gentlemen, at Bradford, one a mathematician and the 

 other an ingenious apothecary. Many of his fingularities 

 are recorded in the General Biography, and r.lfo in Hutlon's 

 Mathematical Dictionary, to which the reader is referred. 



Shaiii', John", archbilhop of York, a celebrated divine 

 of the church of England, was the fon of a rcfpectable 

 tradefman at Bradford, in Yorkftiiie, where he was born in 

 1644. He was admitted of Chrill's college, Cambridge, 

 in 1660, and in 1667 he commenced mailer of arts, and 

 was ordained. He was now appointed private tutor to the 

 four fons of fir Heneage Finch, a ilation which he occupied 

 about five years, when he obtained, through his patron'g 

 recommendation, the archdeaconry of Berkdiire. When 

 fir Heneage was raifed to the poll of keeper ot the great 

 fea), he maiiifelled fuch confidence in the fidelity and judg- 

 ment of his friend, as to commit to him the tcrutiny of 

 the characters of applicants for church livings in the gift 

 of the crown. A fermon which he prenclicd in 1674, re- 



flefting upon thofe who diftcnted from the church, gave 

 rife to a controverfy, in which Dodwell, Baxter, and others 

 engaged. In 1677 he was inftituted to the reftory of 

 St. Giles-in-the-Fields, in which parifti he refided ten years. 

 Among his parilhioners was Richard Baxter, who, though 

 he was himielf a preacher on Sunday evenings, was a con- 

 itant hearer of the reftor in the mornings ; and thefe two 

 excellent men, notwithftanding their differences in fome 

 points, lived together upon the moft friendly terms. In 

 1679 Mr. Sharp commenced D.D., and in 1681 he was 

 promoted to the deanery of Norwich. On the death of 

 Charles II., to whom he had been a chaplain, he drew up 

 the addrefs of the grand-jury of London to his fucceffor, 

 to whom he was alfo nominally chaplain. After this he 

 preached againft popery, and thus exciting the royal dif- 

 pleafure, he was obhged to quit the metropolis, and refide 

 altogether at his deanery. He employed himfelf in form- 

 ing a cabinet of coins, chiefly Britilh, Saxon, and Engliih. 

 Being wearied with his exclufion from his function in Lon- 

 don, he prefented a very humble petition to the king, in 

 confequence of which, he was allowed to return to his 

 duty in the metropohs, and he was extremely careful never 

 after to give offence, as he had done before. After the 

 abdication of the monarch. Dr. Sharp irritated the ad- 

 herents to William, by fome offenfive paftages in a prayer 

 and fermon, which he delivered before the houfe of com- 

 mons, who at firil refufed him their accullomed thanks, 

 which, however, were voted afterwards. In 1689, Dr. 

 Sharp was appointed the fuccefibr to Dr. Tillotfon in the 

 deanery of Canterbury, and he was nominated one of the 

 commiffioners for reviling the liturgy. At this period 

 fevcral bifhops had been deprived of their fees for refufing 

 to take the oaths to AVilliam and Mary, and Dr. Sharp 

 might have fucceeded to almoll any of them, but he re- 

 fufed, not through any fcruple of confcience, but on ac- 

 count of his friendfhip for the perfons deprived. When, 

 however, the archbifhopric of York became vacant in a dif- 

 ferent way, he readily accepted the high office, and he was 

 confecrated in July 1691. He filled this exalted ftation in 

 a manner, which has caufed him to be rcprefented as a 

 model of prelatical virtues, and which procured him gene- 

 ral rcfpedt and eflecm. He died at Batli in 1714, in the 

 69th year of his age. His only writings were iermons, of 

 which were publifhed two volumes, confifting of fuch oc- 

 cafional difcourfes as he had printed during his life-time, 

 and live others, that were felefttd after his deccafe. He 

 was reckoned an excellent preacher, and his ftyle and doc- 

 trine are faid to be equally of the ilandard purity. Biog. 

 Brit. 



Sharp, Thomas, younger fon of the preceding, was 

 born in Yorkfliire, and admitted of Trinity college. Cam- 

 bridge, about 1703, when he was of the age of 15. He 

 obtained a fcUowlhip in 1729, and took his doctor's degree 

 the fame year. Archbilliop Dawes appointed him his 

 chaplain, and in 1720 he was collated to the redtory ot 

 Rothbury, in Northumbcrlaiul. He was afterwards pre- 

 ferred to a prebend in Durham cathedral, and alfo to the 

 archdeaconry of Northumberland. He died in 1758. Dr. 

 Sharp wrote two differtatious concerning the etymology ot 

 the Hebrew words Elohim and Berilh — " Difcourfes on 

 the Antiquity of the Hebrew Tongue and Character." 

 He left a fon, Granville, to whofe fine charadter as a 

 genuine Englidi patriot, we Ihall endeavour to do juilice 

 in the next article. 



SiiAiti', GuANVitr.K, fon of the preceding, a moft dii- 

 tinguiihed jihilanthropill and friend to the liberties of man- 

 kind, was born in tlie year 1734. He was educated for 

 t E 2 the 



