1796. | 
confiderable talents for poetical compofition ; 
but he foon repreffed his inclination to purfuits 
of that kind. He had too, in his early years, 
and occafionally afterwards, ftudied the Chnif- 
tian theology, and the evidences of its truth, 
and was a firm believer in its divine origin, 
through life. His parents were Diffenters ; but 
he himfelf conformed to the national modes of 
worfhip, till fome time after Mr. Lindfay had 
opened his chapel in. London; when, having 
read his Form of Common Prayer, and being 
of opinion, that by the omiffion of the Athana- 
fian and Nicene Creeds, and of fome other con- 
troverted matters, it was more confonant with the 
Scriptures than the eftablifhed form, he judged 
it right to become a member of Mr. Lindiey’s 
fociety ; from which time, he frequented the 
public fervice at his chapel as long as his infir- 
mities permitted him to go any where. 
’ Mr. Hett’s political opimions were ufually in 
fupport of the meafures of Adminittration ; and 
‘he was ever inclined to think favourably of the 
defigns of perfons in power. His difpofition 
was friendly, mild, and benevolent; and he 
was, both from inclination and principle, at all 
times ready to relieve diftreffed individuals, and 
to contribute to the advancement of publicly 
ufeful and beneficent defigns. 
On Saturday, April 30, George Ander fon, efq. 
Like Fergufon, Franklin, and many others, 
who have rendered themfelves illuttrious by 
their private worth, and fcientific attainments, 
he rofe from humble beginnings. Like them 
too, he had a right to exclaim, in the language of 
the Roman poet, 
Nobilitas eff fola, atque unica virtus. 
Mr. Anderfon was born at Wefton, a little 
village near Aylefbury, in the county of Bucks, 
tn the month of November, 1760. He was the 
younger fon of one of thofe valuable members 
of fociety, who rear a numerous and healthy 
race.on a fmall farm.—A clafs of men, which, 
if we give credit to the alarming predictions of 
the prefent times, is daily decreafing, and even 
likely to become fpeedily exting. 
Both his parents died while he was young ; 
his mother, however, lived long enough to give 
him fome little inftru€on, end, what is very 
unufual, he actually learned to read and {peak 
at the fame time. His elder brother taught him 
to write. He was fent to a day-fchool, either 
in, or near the place of his nativity, but could 
never be prevailed upon to return, after the 
firft forenoon. : 
At the age of feventeen, we find him affifting 
his brother in the various occupations of huf- 
bandry; and a refpedtable gentleman from that 
part of the country, remembers him employed 
in the humble but ufeful offices of rural life, and 
has frequently feen him bufied literally in the fame 
manner as one of our Englifh poets, before he 
vas refcued, by the intervention of Queen Ca- 
roline, from the plough and the flail. In fhort, 
the little farm was managed by the two hrothers 
Without any afhiftance whatever from fervants. 
With men of liberality and difcernment (and to 
fuch only is this addreffed) it will conftitute no 
MontuLty Mac. No. IV. 
Life of Mr. George Ander fons 
345 
{mall part of his merit, that fuch was the origins 
and fuch the early avocations of the late Mr. 
Anderfon. + 
In this obfcure fituation, from which com- 
mon men never emerge, he found means to 
excite attention, and became, what may fairly 
be termed, a willage prodigy. Ata very early 
period of life, he had conceived an irresiftible 
predilection for mathematics, and even made 
confiderable progrefs in a fcience with the very 
name of which, he was at that time, moft pro- 
bably, unacquainted. Such a difpofition, when it 
occupies a firong mind (and it certainly did fe 
in the prefent cafe) becomes a mater paffion, and 
like the rod of the Jewith legiflator, fwallows up 
all the ret. 
Accordingly, inftead of a fedulous and unre- 
mitting attention to the calls of his ftation, 
young Anderfon was feen ftrolling through the 
woods, or reclining in the fhades with a mathe- 
matical treatife in his hand, which he feemed 
rather to devour than perufe. He mutt have at- 
tained, indeed, an early proficiency in the ele- 
ments at leaft, for, while yet a boy, he tranf- 
mitted anfwers to many queftions, and refolyed 
feveral problems, that appeared fucceffively in 
the ** London Magazine’’ of 1777, which, by 
fome means, he had got into his poffeffion; to 
thefe he luckily affixed his name. ‘This cir- 
cumftance induced Mr. Bonnycaftle, who has 
fince acquired much deferyed celebrity by his 
Mathematical and Aftronomicai Treatifes, and 
now holds a refpetable fituation in the Royal 
Military Academy, at Woolwich, to make fome 
enquiry concerning him. Being a native of the 
fame county, and his father refiding in the vici- 
nity of Wefton, he ‘had an oportunity, in the 
courfe of a vifit during the winter of that year, 
to fatisfy his curiofity ; a circumftgnce not very 
difficult at that period, as the object of his folici- 
tude began already to be confidered as a kind of 
_ Provincia! Euclid. He, accordingly, fent him an 
invitation, by means of his elder brother, to pafs 
a few days with him, thinking, very juftly, that 
he fhould have a better opportunity of eftimating 
his powers in this manner, than by a fhort, and, 
perhaps, unfatisfactory interview. 
In the courfe of the firft evening, with a 
view of difcovering the bent of his genius, hs 
read to him feveral, paffages from Shakipeare ; 
but, as he was not intended by nature for a poet, 
the bard of Avon made little or no imprefiion : 
he had become, irretrievably, a mathematician ! 
In refpeé&t to every thing that concerned the 
ftudy with which he was fo deeply enamoured, 
he was, on the contrary, extremely curious, and 
liftened with all imaginable eagernefs and at- 
tention. 
During the few days he fpent at Weedon, 
the young “mathematician conducted himfelf 
with great modefty, andas was, indeed, his uni- 
form cuftom through life, fpoke with a certain 
degree of hefitation and difidence. ‘This 1s fre~ 
quently vifible in men of merit, unacquainted 
with the world, 
On learning that Mr. Bonnycaftle had brought 
down feveral books with him, many of which 
Die ag wers 
