rBOo.ys 
words, §* I cannot fay that I know - any 
one who thought it worth while to read 
through the whole, and perhaps not the 
half of it.” 
. Mathematics did not, however, engrofs 
the whole of his attention. He could de- 
dicate fome time to the fludy of his future 
profeffion ; and in 1767, he was admitted 
to the degree of Doétor of Phyfic 5 ; but, » 
whether from the incapacity of uniting to- 
gether the employments of aétive life ‘with 
abftrufe fpeculation, or from the natural 
diffidence of his temper, for which he was 
moft peculiarly remarkable ; the degree 
which gave him the right of exercifing his 
talents in medicine, was to him merely a 
barren title. Indeed, he was fo embar- 
raffled in his manners Werane ftrangers, that 
he could not have made his way ina pro- 
feffion in which fo much is done by addrefs ; 
and it was fortunate that the eafe of ie 
circumftances permitted him to devote the 
whole of his time to his favourite purfuit. 
His life paffed on, marked out by difco- 
veries, chiefly in abftract fcience ; and by 
the publication of them in the Philofophj- 
cal Tranfactions, or in feparate volumes, 
under his own infpection. He lived fome 
years after taking his doftor’s degree, at 
St. Ives, in Huntingdonfhire: while at 
Cambridge he married—quitted Cam- 
' bridge with a view of living at Shrew{bu- 
ry; but the air or {moke of the town be- 
ing injurious to Mrs. Waring’s health, he 
removed to his own eitate at Plaifley, a- 
bout eight miles from Shrewfbury, where 
he died, univerfally efteemed for inflexible 
integrity, modefty, plainnefs, and fim- 
plicity of manners. They who knew the 
greatnefs of his mind from his writings, 
looked up to him with reverence every 
where; but-he enjoyed himfelf in domettic 
circles, with thofe chiefly among whom 
his purfuits could not be the object either 
of admiration or envy. The outward pomp 
which is affected frequently in the higher 
departments in academic life, was no gra- 
| tification to one whofe habits were of a 
very oppofite nature; and he was too much 
_occupied in fcience, to attend to the in- 
trigues of the univerfity. There, in all 
queftions of (cience, his word was the law ; 
and at the annual examination of the can- 
didates for the prize inftituted byDr.Smith, 
he appeared to the greateft advantage.— 
The candidates were generally three or four 
of the beft proficients in the mathematics 
at the previous annual examination for the 
bachelor’s degree, who were employed 
from nine o’clock in the morning to ten at 
night, with the exception of two hours for 
dinner, and twenty minutes for tea, in an- 
Memoirs of Dr. Waring. 
demontftration. 
47 
fwering, vivd voce, or writing down an- 
-fwers to the profeffor’s queftions, from the 
firft rudiments of philofophy, to the deep- 
eft parts of his own and Sir Ifaac Newton’s 
works. Perhaps no part of Europe affords 
an inftance of fo fevere a procels ; and 
there was never any ground for fufpeéting 
the profeffor of partiality. The zeal and 
judgment with which he performed thts 
part of his office cannot be obliterated 
from the memory of thofe who pafled 
through his fiery ordeal. 
Withing todo ample juftice to the ta» 
Jents and virtue of the profeffor, we feel 
ourfelves fomewhat at a lofs in {peaking 
of the writings by which alone he will be 
known to potterity, He is the difcoverer, 
according to his own account, of nearly 
four hundred propofitions i in the analytics, 
and the account is fcarcely exaggerated ; 
yet we have reafon to believe, that the 
greater part of thefe difcoveries will fink 
into oblivion; and that pofterity will be 
as little attentive to them as his own co- | 
temporaries. If, according to his own 
confeffion, ce fawe thought it worth their 
while to read even haif of his works,” 
ae muft be fome grounds. for this ne- 
glect, either from the difficulty of the fub- 
ject, the unimportance of the difcove- 
ries, or a defect in the communication of 
them to the public. The fubjeéts are cer~_ 
tainly of a difficult nature, the calcula- 
tions are rahi yet Europe contained 
many perfons not to be deterred by the 
moft intricate theorems. Shall we fay 
then, that the difcoveries were unimport-. 
ant? If this werereally the cafe, the want 
of utility, would be a very {mall difparage- 
ment among thofe who cultivate {cience 
with a view chiefly to entertainment and 
the exercife of their rational powers. We 
are compelled then to attribute much of 
this neglect toa perplexity in ftyle, manner, 
and language ; the reader is flopped at 
every inftant, firft to make out the writer's 
meaning, then to fill up the chafin in the 
He muft invent anew 
every invention; for, after the enuncia- 
tion of the theorem or problem, and the 
mention of a few fteps, little affiftance is: 
derived from the profeffor’s powers of ex- 
planation. Indeed, an anonymous writer, 
certainly of very confiderable abilities, has 
aptly compared the works of Waring to 
the heavy appendages of a Gothic build- 
ing, which add little of either beauty or 
ftability to the ftructure. 
A great part of the difcoveries relate to 
an afiumption in Algebra, that equations 
may be generated by multiplying together 
ethers of inferior dimenfions. ‘The aa 
9 


