ROBINS. 
what passed in the Common-Hall of the 
Citizens of London, assembled for the 
Election of a Lord Mayor;” the third, “An 
Address to the Electors and other Free 
Subjects of Great- Britain, occasioned by 
the late Succession ; in which is contained 
a particular account of all our nepociations 
with Spain, and their treatment of us for 
above ten years past.” These were all pub- 
lished without our author’s name; and the 
first and last were so universally esteemed, 
that they were generally reputed to have 
been the production of the great man him- 
self, who was at the head of the opposition 
to Sir- Robert Walpole. They proved of 
such consequence to Mr. Robins, as to oc- 
casion his being employed in a very honour- 
able post; for, the patriots at length gained 
ground against Sir Robert, and a Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons being 
appointed to examine into his past conduct, 
Robins was chosen their Secretary. But 
after the Committee had pre.sented two re- 
ports of their proceedings, a sudden stop 
was put to their further progress, by a com- 
promise between the contending parties. 
In 1742, being again at leisure, he pub- 
lished a smalt treatise, entitled “ New Prin- 
ciples of Gunnery ;” containing the result 
of many experiments he had made, by 
which are discovered the force of gunpow- 
der, and the difference in the resisting power 
of the air to swift and slow motions. To 
this treatise w'as prefixed a full and learned 
account of the progress which modern for- 
tification had made from its first rise ; as 
also of the invention of gunpowder, and of 
what had already been performed in the 
theory of gunnery. It seems that the occa- 
sion of this publication was the disappoint- 
ment of a situation at the Royal Military 
Academy at Woolwich. On the new mo- 
delling and establishing of that Academy, 
in 1741, our auUior and the late Mr. Mul- 
ler, were competitors for the place of Pro- 
fessor of Fortification and Gunnery. Mr. 
Muller held then some post in the Tower 
of London, under the Board of Ordnance, 
so that, notwithstanding the great know- 
ledge and abilities of our author, the in- 
terest which Mr. Muller had with the Board 
of Ordnance, carried the election in his 
favour. Upon this disappointment Mr, 
Robins, indignant at the affront, determin- 
ed to show them, and the world, by his 
military publications, what sort of a man he 
was that they had rejected. 
Upon a discourse containing certain ex- 
periments being published in the Philos. 
Trans, with a view to invalidate some of 
Robins’s opinions, he' thought proper, in an 
account he gave of his book in the same 
Transactions, to take notice of those experi- 
ments and in consequence of this, several 
dissertations of his, on the resistance of the- 
air were read, and the experiments exhibit- 
ed before the Royal Society, in 1746 and’ 
1747; for which he was presented with the 
annual gold medal by that society. 
In 1748, came out “ Anson’s Voyage 
round the World;” which, though it bears- 
Walter’s name in the title-page, was, in 
reality, written by Robins. Of this voyage 
the public had for some time been in ex- 
pectation of seeing an account, composed 
under that commander’s own inspection : 
for which purpose the Revei’end Richard' 
Walter was employed, as having been Chap- 
lain on board the Centurion, the greatest 
part of the expedition. Walter had accord- 
ingly almost finished his task, having brought 
it down to his own departure from Macao- 
for England ; when he proposed to print his 
work by subscription. It was thought pro- 
per, however, that an able judge should 
first review and correct it, and Robins was 
appointed ; when, upon examination, it was 
resolved that the whole should be written 
entirely by Robins, and that w'hat Walter 
had done being mostly taken, verbatim,. 
frora the journals, should serve as materials 
only. Hence it was that the whole of the 
introduction, and many dissertations in the 
body of the work, were composed by Ro- 
bins, without receiving the least hint from 
Walter’s manuscripts; and what he had 
transcribed from it regarded chiefly the 
wind and weather, the currents, courses,, 
bearings, distances, offings, soundings, moor- 
ings, the qualities of the ground they an- 
chored on, and such particulars as usually 
fill up a seaman’s account. No production 
of this kind ever met with a more favour- 
able r eception, four large impressions hav- 
ing been sold off within a year : it was also- 
translated into most of the European lan- 
guages ; and it still supports its reputation, 
having been repeatedly reprinted in various 
sizes. The fifth edition, at London, in 1749 j 
was revised and corrected by Robins him- 
self; and the ninth edition was printed there 
in 176L 
Thus becoming famous for his elegant 
talents in writing, he was requested to com- 
pose an apology for the unfortunate affair at. 
Preston-Pans in Scotland, This was added 
as a preface to the report of the proceedings 
and opinion of the board of general officers 
