LAMBER T. 
§7 
breathe all the tendernefs of a parent, joined to the cor- 
reXnefs of fentinient of a philofophical moralift. 2. Nou- 
velles Reflexions fur les Femmes, ou Metaphyfique 
d 1 ’Amour; a work of a lively and delicate imagination. 
3. Tvaite de I’Amitic; of this, Voltaire fays (Siecle de 
Louis XIV.), that it proves how well Ihe delerved to pof- 
fefs friends. 4. Traite de la Vieillefle. 5. La Femme 
Hermite, an aft'eXing little romance. 6. Some,detached 
Pieces on Morals and Literature. Of all thefe, the ftyle 
is elegant, and the thoughts ingenious. Moreri. 
LAM'BERT (Jofeph), a pious French prieft, whofe 
praXical and devotional writings are held in great eftima- 
tion, was born at Paris in the year 1654. He was admit¬ 
ted to the degree of doctor by the faculty of the Sorbonne, 
and was prefented to the living of St. Andrew des Arcs, 
as well as to the priory of St. Martin de Palaifeau, near 
Paris. He pofl'efl'ed a confiderable fhare of learning, and 
was intimately converfant in the fcriptures and the fa¬ 
thers. He had alfo a fweet voice, and a very perfuafive 
eloquence. With thefe qualifications, at the age of thirty, 
he commenced preacher in his parilh-church, and attracted 
thither a vail concourfe of hearers. The Ityle of his fer- 
mons was plain and Ample, but remarkably fcriptural, 
and full of what the French call onElion. Thefe circum- 
flances led many Proteftants to become his occafional 
hearers ; and he is faid to have been the means of con¬ 
verting feveral Calvinifts to the catholic faith. During 
the latter years of his life, he devoted himfelf entirely to 
the fervice of the poor, whom he made it a point to vifit 
every day, edifying them with his pious converfation and 
advice, relieving their neceflities, and for their inftruXion 
he founded fchools, and wrote a variety of ufeful works ; 
and to thefe purpofes of benevolence did he apply the 
whole income of his priory. He died in 1722, when he 
was lixty-eight years of age. He was the author of, 1. 
The Evangelical Year, or Homilies, in 7 vols. umo. 1692 
and 1695. 2. Difcourfes relating to the ecclefiaftical Life; 
2 vols. i2mo. 1701. 3. The Epiftles and Gofpels of the 
Year, with Reflexions; rarao. 1713. 4. Select Hiftories 
from the Old and New Teftament, with RefleXions, 12010. 
5. Short and familiar InftruXions for Sundays, and the 
principal Feflivals of the Year, intended for the Ufe of 
the Poor, nmo. 1721. And various other pieces. 
LAM'BERT (George), was among the firft Engliflt ar- 
tifts who obtained celebrity upon the revival (if it may 
be fo called) of painting in this country; which now 
Rands' fo juftly exalted, in arts as well as arms, among the 
nations of Europe. Lambert’s tafte led him to admire and 
to imitate the ftyle of Gafpar Pouflin in landfcape; and 
he has produced feveral works of confiderable merit; 
which, if they have not the brilliancy and force of Gaf¬ 
par, are rich, and abound with beauties of a gentler kind. 
He alfo painted fcenes from common nature; and at the 
Foundling Hofpital may be feen one he prefented to that 
anftitution, which is deferving of very great praife. He 
was engaged to paint fcenes for the play-houfes, for which 
his pencil was peculiarly qualified ; and, in concert with 
Scott, painted fix large piXures of their fettlements for 
the Eaft-India Company, which are placed at their houfe 
in Leadenhall-ftreet. He died in 1765. 
LAM'BERT (John-Henry), a very eminent mathema¬ 
tician and aftronomer, was a native of Muhlhaufen in the 
Sundgaw, a town in alliance with the Swifs cantons; and 
born Auguft the 29th, 1728. His father, whofe ances¬ 
tors were emigrants from France on the revocation of the 
ediX of Nantes, was by trade a tailor, who with great 
difficulty maintained himfelf and family by his induftry. 
Having no profpeX of providing for his fon but by in- 
StruXing him in his own bufinefs, he endeavoured to ob¬ 
tain for him an education fuitable to fuch an humble fitu- 
ation in life, and fent him to the public fchool, where he 
•was taught the rudiments of learning at the expence of 
the corporation till he was twelve years old. Here he dif- 
tinguifhed himfelf fo eminently from his fchoolfellows, 
2hat his father was prevailed upon, by the repeated foli- 
Y VOL. XII. No. .81 4 . 
citations of his mailers, and the averfion which John-Henry 
difcovered from the trade for which he was intended, to 
permit him to ftudy theology. Not meeting, howfever, 
with the fupport and encouragement necefiary for that 
purpofe, he was foon reduced to the neceflity of relin 
quilhing all thoughts of a learned profeffion, and of learn ¬ 
ing his father’s occupation. While he continued to fol¬ 
low this employment, he read with uncommon eagernefs 
all the Latin books of which he could obtain poflefiion ; 
and, happening to meet with an old work on mathema¬ 
tics, his genius for this fcience foon manifefted itfelf i». 
the ardour with which he ftudied it, and the complete 
knowledge which he acquired from it of the method of 
computing almanacs, notwithft-anding the numerous er¬ 
rors which he difcovered in it, without being able to cor- 
reX them. Being wholly occupied in the day-time, he 
was obliged to devote a part of the night to his ftudies ; 
and, in order to furnifh himfelf with money for the pur- 
chafe of candles, he fold fmall drawings which he deli¬ 
neated while employed in rocking with his foot his infant 
After. One day, while fome workmen were engaged in 
repairing his father’s houfe, he took the opportunity of 
propofing feveral queftions, refpeXing the praXical appli¬ 
cation of the principles which he had found in his book, 
to the principal of them, who was induced to lend him a 
treatlfe on the mathematics. It was with inexpreffible joy 
that he found himfelf enabled, by the help of this treatife, 
to correX the errors which he had difcovered in his own 
book ; and with the aid which they both together afforded 
him, without any additional affiftance, he learned the ru¬ 
diments of arithmetic and geometry. 
The enthufiafm for the fciences which young Lambert: 
thus difplayed, at length induced fome learned men tc» 
inftruX him gratis ; and they had the fatisfaXion of fee¬ 
ing him improve with a rapidity which exceeded their moll 
ianguine expeXations. By their generous affiftance, he 
acquired in a fhort time a knowledge of philolophy and 
of the oriental languages, and learned to write fo elegant 
a hand as recommended him to the fituation of a copyiit 
in the chancery of his native town. This place he re- 
figned in his fifteenth year, upon being appointed book¬ 
keeper of fome iron-works in the vicinity of Muhlhaufen ; 
and from the advantages of this employment he found the 
means of obtaining inftruXion in the French language. 
Two years afterwards, M. Ifelin, of Bafil, who then con- 
duXed the publication of a newfpaper, engaged him in 
the capacity of amanuenfis. This fituation furnilhed Lam¬ 
bert with an opportunity of making further progrefs in 
the belles-lettres, as well as philofophy and the mathema¬ 
tics ; and his paffionate attachment to the latter fcience 
frequently led him to negleX his regular occupations. In 
the year 1748, M. Ifelin recommended him to baron Salis, 
prefident of the Swifs confederacy, to become tutor to his 
children. The excellent library which he found in the 
houfe of his new patron, the leifure hours with which he 
was indulged, together with the inftruXive intercourfe 
which he had with all the members of the family, and 
with a great number of Icientific ftrangers who vifited 
the baron, proved to him excellent means of fatisfying 
his thirft for knowledge, and enabled him to become more 
familiarly acquainted with aftronomy and the other 
branches of the mathematics, as well as with phyfic, phy- 
fiology, theology, and even with jurifprudence, eloquence, 
poetry, and the Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Ger¬ 
man, languages. 
Mr. Lambert’s uncommon talent for mathematics now 
began to difplay itfelf advantageoufly in his inventions 
and compofitions. Pafcal’s example llimulated him to the 
invention of an accounting-machine; while the numerous 
cccafions which he had for an accurate chronometer led 
him to invent a time-piece of mercury, which went twen- 
ty-feven minutes without producing the flighteft error. 
Here he aifo invented his logarithmic accounting-fcales 5 
and was likewife led, from the error which one of his pu¬ 
pils had committed in the folution of an algebraic propo- 
.C .c fitioHj 
