374 
ABRAHAM SHARP, 
clear head for contriving, and an extraordinary hand for executing, 
any thing, not only in mechanics, but in drawing, writing, and mak- 
ing the most exact schemes or figures in all his calculations and geo- 
me;trical constructions. 
In the year 1699 he undertook for his own private amusement the 
quadrature of the circle, deduced from two different series, by which 
the truth of it was proved to seventy-two places of figures, as may be 
seen in the introduction of Sherwin’s tables of logarithms, where may 
be seen also his ingenious improvements on the making of logarithms, 
and the construction of the natural sines, tangents, and secants. Mr. 
Sharp maintained an epistolary correspondence with most of the emi- 
nent mathematicians and astronomers of his time, as Mr. Flamsteed, 
Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Halley, Dr.Wallis, Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Sherwin, 
&c. and on the backs of his letters he received, wrote copies of his 
answers to them, in a short-hand of his own contrivance. It appears 
from a great variety of letters, which remained after his death, written 
by these and other celebrated mathematicians, that he spared neither 
pains nor time to promote real science. Being one of the most accu- 
rate and indefatigable computers that ever existed, he was for many 
years the common resource for Mr. Flamsteed, Sir Jonas Moore, Dn 
Halley, and others, in all troublesome and delicate calculations. 
On quitting Mr. Flamsteed, he retired to the village of Little Horton, 
in Yorkshire, where he spent the remainder of his days. He conti- 
nued all his life a bachelor, and passed his time as recluse as a hermit. 
He was ofa middling stature, but exceedingly thin, and being of a weakly 
Constitution, fell into a state of great feebleness during the last three 
or four years of his life. He died on the 18th of July, 1742, in the 91st. 
year of his age. In his retirement at Little Horton, he employed four 
or five rooms or apartments for different purposes, and in these none 
of the family were ever suffered to enter without his permission. He 
had few visitors, except two gentlemen at Bradford, one a mathema- 
tician, and the other an ingenious apothecary. When he chose to be 
visible, these were admitted on making a signal, by rubbing a stone 
against a certain part of the outside wall of the house. 
Every Sunday he regularly attended the dissenting chapel at Bradford, 
of which he was a member, and he always took care to be provided 
with plenty of halfpence, which he very charitably suffered to be 
taken singly out of his hand, held behind him during his walk to the 
chapel, by a number of poor people who followed him, without his 
ever looking back or asking a single question. He was remarkably 
sparing of his diet, and very irregular in his meals, which he frequently 
took in the following singular manner : 
A small square hole or wicket formed a communication between 
the room where he was usually employed in his calculations, and 
another chamber or room to which his servant had access. This 
hole was closed by a sliding board, which he could remove at pleasure, 
and the servant always placed his victuals before the hole, without 
speaking or making the least noise. As soon as he had a little leisure, 
he visited his cupboard, to see what it afforded to satisfy his hunger 
or thirst ; but it frequently happened that the breakfast, dinner, and 
supper were found untouched when the servant went to remove what 
