ST2 . 
ABRAHAM SHARP. 
c.-ient for his wants, but saved enough to build a small church, at which 
he worked himself. Yet he did not long survive his disgrace, for he 
died Nov. 2, 1729; and, it is said, of a plethora, there being no person 
at Beresowa skilful enough to open a vein. Some time after his death, 
the Dolgomkis being in their turn disgraced, his surviving son and 
daughter were recalled by the czarina Anne : the son made an offi- 
cer in the guards, with a restoration of the iifth part of his father’s 
fortune ; and the daughter had the appointment of maid of honour to 
the empress, and soon after married advantageously. 
Menzikoff had a very strong attachment to Peter I. and to his 
maxims for civilizing the Russian nation. He was affable and polite 
towards strangers, that is, to all who were submissive, and not am- 
bitious of eclipsing him in wit or other talents. His inferiors, in 
general, he treated with gentleness, and never forgot a service rendered 
to him. His courage was incontestable, and proved on many trying 
occasions. His friendship, when once tixed, was steady and zealous. 
On the other hand, his ambition was boundless ; he could not bear a 
superior or an equal, much less a rival, in any quality or advantage. 
He w^as not destitute of wit, but for want of an early polish it was 
rather coarse, His avarice was insatiable, and led him into several 
difficulties, even with his indulgent master Peter I ; and when hew'as 
disgraced, he was found to possess the value of three millions of 
roubles, in jewels, plate, and money, besides his vast estates. There 
are many features of resemblance between Menzikoff and Wolsey, not 
only in his rise from a low origin, but more particularly in the impru- 
dence, haughtiness, and ostentation, which accelerated his fall. 
Abraham Sharp. 
This eminent mathematician, mechanist, and astronomer, was 
descended from an ancient family at Little Horton, near Bradford, in 
the West Riding of Yorkshire, wffiere he was born about 1651. After 
completing his school education, he was put apprentice to a merchant 
at Manchester ; but having a strong attachment to mathematics, he quit- 
ted the mercantile business, and removed to Liverpool. Here he 
applied w ith great diligence to his favourite study, but particularly to 
those branches which relate to astronomy ; and to procure subsist- 
ence, he opened a school, where he taught writing and accounts. 
Happening to meet with a merchant or tradesman, in whose house 
at London Mr. Flamsteed the astronomer then lodged, he engaged 
with him as clerk, that he might have an opportunity of becoming 
acquainted with that eminent man. He therefore left Liverpool, ana 
on his arrival at the capital soon made himself known to Mr. Flam- 
steed, by whose interest and recommendation he obtained a more 
profitable employment in the dock-yard at Chatham, where he re- 
mained till his friend and pati’on, convinced of his great merit in 
astronomy and mechanics, invited him to be his assistant in fitting up 
the apparatus in the royal observatory at Greenwich, which had been 
erected about the year 1676. In this situation Mr. Sharp continued 
to make observations, and had a considerable share in forming a 
catalogue of 3000 fixed stars, with their longitudes and magnitudes ; 
