ROB 
on their examination into the conduct of 
Lieutenant General Sir John Cope, &c. 
printed at London in 1749 ; and this pre- 
face was esteemed a master-piece of its 
kind. 
Robins, liad afterwards, by tlie favour 
of Lord Anson, opportunities of making 
further experiments in gunnery ; which have 
been published since his death, in the edi- 
tion of his works by his friend Dr. Wilson. 
He also not a little contributed to the im- 
provements made in the Royal Observatory 
at Greenwich, by procuring for it, through 
the interest of the same noble persoli, a 
second mural quadrant, and other instru- 
ments ; by which it became perhaps the 
completest observatory of any in the 
world. 
His feputation being now arrived at its 
full height, he was offered the choice of two 
•very considerable employments. Tiie first 
was to go to Paris as one of the commis- 
saries for adjusting the limits in Acadia ; 
the other, to be engineer general to the 
East India Company, whose forts being in 
a most ruinious condition, wanted an able 
.person to put them into a proper state of 
defence. He accepted the latter, as it was 
suitable to his genius, and as the Company’s 
■terms were both advantageous and honour- 
able. 
He designed, if lie had remained in Eng- 
land, to have written a second part of'the 
■voyage round the world, as appears by a 
letter from Lord Anson to him., dated Bath, 
October 22, 1749, as follows. 
“ Dear Sir, when I last sawyon in town, 
I forgot to ask you, whether you intended 
to publish the second volume of my voyage 
before you leave us ; rvhich I confess I am 
very sorry for. If you should have laid aside 
all thoughts of favouring the world with 
more of your works, it will be much disap- 
pointed, and no one in it more than your 
very obliged humble servant, 
“ ANSON.” 
Robins was also preparing an enlhrged 
«dition of his New Principles of Gunnery ; 
but, having provided himself with a com- 
plete set of astronomical and other instru- 
ments, for making observations and experi- 
ments in the Indies, he departed hence at 
sChristmas in 1749 ; and after a voyage, in 
which the ship was near being cast away, 
he arrived at India in July following. There 
lie immediately set about his proper busi- 
aess with the greatest diligence, and foim- 
ROC 
ed complete plans for Fort St. David, and 
Madras, but he did not live to put them 
into execution. For the great difference 
of the climate from that of England being 
beyond his constitution to support, he was 
attacked by a fever in September the same 
year; and though he recovered out of this, 
yet about eight months afteriie fell into a 
languishing condition, in which he continued 
till his death, which happened the 29th of 
July 17,'rl, at only 44 years of age. 
By his last will, Mr, Robins left the pub- 
lishing of his mathematical works to his 
honoured and intimate friend Martin Folkes, 
Esq. President of the Royal Society, and to 
Dr. James Wilson ; but the former of these 
gentlemen being incapacitated by a paraly- 
tic disorder, some time before his death, 
tliey were afterwards published by the 
latter, in 2 vols. 8vo, 1761. To this collec- 
tion, which contains his mathematical and 
philosophical pieces only, Dr. Wilson has 
prefixed an account of Mr. Robins, from 
which this memoir is chiefly extracted, fl® 
added also a large appendix, at the end of 
the second volume, contaiuing a great many 
curious and critical matters in various in- 
teresting parts of the mathematics. 
It is but justice to say, that Mr. Robins 
was one of the most aecur^ate and elegant 
mathematical writers that our language can 
boast of ; and that he made more real im- 
provements in artillery, the flight and the 
resistance of projectiles, than alt the pre- 
ceding writers on that subject. His new 
principles of gunnery were translated into 
several other languages, and commented 
upon by several emiment writers. The 
celebrated Euler, translated the work into 
the German language, accompanied with a 
large and critical commentary ; and this 
work of Euler’s was again tianslated into 
English in 1714, by Mr. Hugh Brown, with 
notes, in one volume quarto. 
ROBINSONIA, in botany, a genus of 
the Icosandria Monogynia class and order. 
Essential character;: calyx five-toothed; 
petals five ; berry striated, two-celled ; cells 
one-seeded; seeds villose. There is but 
one species, .uia. R. melianthifolia, a native 
of Guiana. • 
ROCHEF.ORTIA, in botany, so named 
in memory of De Rochefort, a genus of the 
Pentandria Digynia class and order. Natu- 
ral order of Dumosae. Rhamni, Jussieu. 
Essential character : calyx five-parted ; co- 
rolla one petalled, funnel-form, mfeiior, 
with tlie aperture open; fruit two-ceiled, 
Biany-seeded. There are two species, vis. 
