ch. xn] The Merchant Adventurers 107 
we owe the invention of the theodolite 1 . His father 
Thomas Digges, one of the most eminent mathematicians 
of his time, was Muster Master to the Queen's Army in 
the Netherlands and prepared exhaustive reports on 
fortifications with plans 2 . Dudley Digges was born in 
1583, and was educated at Oxford under Dr Abbot, after- 
wards Archbishop of Canterbury. He took his degree, 
studied at the Inns of Court, travelled on the continent, 
and was knighted on his return. He married Mary, 
daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe and heiress of Chilham 
near Canterbury, where he built a stately mansion and 
had ten children 3 . 
In 1615 Sir Dudley Digges published a very able reply 
to an attack on the East India Company, in which he 
gave an interesting account of their ships, and of the 
progress of their trade. From that time he was inti- 
mately connected with the projects of Sir Thomas Smith, 
who was a relation of his wife. Sir Dudley was sent on 
an embassy to Russia in 1618 and an account of this 
voyage to Archangel is preserved in manuscript at 
Oxford. It gives, among other things, an account of the 
Samoyeds, of the vegetation round Archangel, and of the 
Russian boats and sailing vessels. Sir Dudley was also 
employed in a negotiation at the Hague. 
Sir Dudley was returned to Parliament in 1621 and 
again in 1626 for the County of Kent. He was a liberal 
politician and was one of the chief instigators of the 
charges against the Duke of Buckingham, for which he 
was committed to the Tower by Charles I. When re- 
leased he continued to uphold the rights of the people, 
and in 1628 boldly protested against the King's command 
to the Speaker that no member should speak against 
1 The works of Leonard Digges were edited and published by his son: 
Tectonicum, a book on land-surveying (41.0, 1556), Pantometria, a geo- 
metrical treatise (folio, 1591). 
2 Thomas Digges wrote AIcb sive Scales Mathematics (^to, 1573), 
Arithmetical Military Treatise (^to, 1579), Stratioticos, a geometrical 
treatise necessary for the practice of soldiers (4to, 1590), with an account 
of the proceedings of the Earl of Leicester for the relief of Sluys, also 
Description of the Celestial Orbs (1599), and England's Defence (folio, 1686). 
3 The eldest son, Thomas Digges, succeeded to Chilham and died in 
1687. His son Leonard died in 1718 leaving a son Thomas, whose second 
son West Digges was a celebrated comedian. Chilham was finished in 1616 
and the names of Sir Dudley Digges and his wife Mary Kempe are carved 
over the door. 
