74 
Biographical Sketch 
[March 
seem called for by the occasion, with one or two trifling particulars, which we 
happen to have acquired through the medium of some private letters of the late 
Colonel, to which we had access through the kindness of a friend. 
his 
Col. Lambton appears to have been remarkable for great reserve even towards 
3 friends ; at least in all particulars relating to his origin or to his family. It is 
not known where he was born, or what was the condition of his parents, further 
than that his silence, perhaps, warrants us in supposing the latter to have been 
humble ; which supposition is in some measure confirmed by a casual admission 
made to ’his friend, that much of his early savings had gone to support one of them. 
Even the date of his birth is not known with any certainty : the. writer of the 
letters fixes it in 1753, on the credit of the following anecdote, which, as it throws 
light on his character, we shall give in his friend’s words. 
Being- on duty with him in the Coorg country, in the year 1803, Captain Lamb- 
ton told me that, a few davs before, at a dinner party at Morikera*, the Raja 
of Coorg, Veer Rajender lVooriar (a well known personage) came, about desert 
time, with his suite, as he was wont to do, to converse with the company : when, 
from an odd whim, he proposed that every body present, himself not excepted, should 
declare their age ; and to set the example. His Highness mentionedhis own forthwith. 
The ladies who were present, met the challenge handsomely, as did every body else 
in the company, excepting the Philosopher, who rejected it as an instance of ridiculous 
cpriosity. ‘ What would you have said (he observed to me) if I had acknowledged 
Fifty ^ 
Although the place of his birth be not accurately known, his friends think he 
was either of Lancashire or Dux-ham ; and that if not box*n at Darlington, he at least 
resided thei-e during his youth. As that town was the l-esidence also of the famous 
mathematician Emerson, it is not improbable that lie owed his initiation into ma- 
thematical studies to that emiment compiler. This is rendered more probable by 
his being fond of l-epeating anecdotes of Mr. Emerson, having relation to his sin- 
gularities of disposition and person. But however this may he, his education was 
known to be chiefly his own work ; norwas he ever heard to acknowledge himself in- 
debted to any teacher for what he had acquired. He had the best teacher in his 
own steady attachment to his pursuit, and in his 7.eal to make himself master of it. 
That his thoughts were eai'ly directed to these pursuits, appears by his having 
been employed in 1784, soon after his arrival in Anxei'ica, with the 33rd regiment, 
to which he belonged, as a surveyor, to measure the grants of lands passed by the 
Government to the new settlers. During this sendee he suffered, according to his 
own account, a severe injury in his eye. Employing a common theodolite to 
observe a solar eclipse, he omitted to attach any coloured glasses to the eye piece 
the consequence of which was a cauterization of the retina of the left eye by the 
sun’s image falling on it. This accident, though it did not deprive him of the sWit 
of the eye, yet it occasioned the view by it to be distorted. ° 
Soon after this accident Mr. Lambton’s friends in Europe (and particularly 
the late Sir Brook Watson, commissary general of the army in North Ame- 
rica) procured him the appointment of barrack -master of the province of Netv 
Brunswick, with a salary of £ 400 per annum ; a provision which seemed to bury 
him for life in the forests of North America: In reality, however it moved 
the cause of that celebrity which he subsequently acquired in Asia • for it was dur 
ing his sequestration of thirteen years in that wild country, that, either from choice 
or from an abundance of leisure, he applied himself to the study of the mathen™rt« 
and (to use his own words) “ laid the foundation of that knowledge which w^s ^e 
day to bring lum to the notice of the world.” ° as on 
Independently of the civil appointment which lie thus obtained, Mr. Lambton was 
suffered to retain his ensigney in the 33d regiment ; though, from want of personal 
attendance, he obtained no promotion ; and was superseded during several years. 
It was at last the Honorable Lieutenant- Colonel 
ing lus command of the regiment, recommended him for a Thus 
&„tu^s S T„°,ir rtu “ ,ty to that mustrio “ s nobi — « 
missions, should declare by which service they mea^tt Se°/ 
1 SS ° f ,he Rajah,. 
> 
