0 
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\ 
- 4801.] 
might weep in folitude; and, .at times, 
thought it criniinal, in fuch a wretch as he, 
to dare to addref{s the God whofe unrelenting 
juftice he imagined was purfuing him. 
long he continued in this horrid ftate is un. 
certain but there is reafon to believe that 
thefe feelings remained in their ut:noft vio- 
lence for more than three months. He could 
not fay to what caufe he ought to aflign the 
reftoration of his tranquillity—probably the 
growing frength of his miad may be confi. 
dered as the principal, aided, no doubt,, by 
the more pleafing reprefentations given of 
the God ‘* whofe darling attribute is mercy,” 
by thofe ‘Whofe zeal was tempered with 
knowledge. To the latef period of his life 
he could not look uponthis part of it without 
confiderable emation 3 and, it is not improe 
bable, that this circumftance laid the foun- 
dation of a difpefition to melancholy, which 
at times overpowered him, and which the 
ftrong energies of his mind, aided by the mot 
rational confiderations, were not able entirely 
tofubdue. At nine years of age he was ad- 
-Mitted a member of the fociety; and, at 
twelve, delivered his experience at one of 
their public love-feafts. Though naturally 
diffident, he {poke with fuch glowing ani- 
mation of the goodnefs of God as excited 
the admiration of his crowded audience, 
Previoufly to this event he had been very 
Much diftinguithed for his piety. In the 
youthful affociations for religious exercifes 
he was regarded as the guide and inftructor. 
if any difagreement arofe, Jolin was the 
peace-maker: his exertions were ufually 
attended with fuccefs, and his reproof was 
eficemed fo fevere a punifhment, that the 
offending party appeared before him with 
nearly as much reluctance as a criminal be- 
fore the bar of juftice. A ftriking proof, 
furely, of his excellence, that at fo. early 
an age he met with fuch refpect from, his 
equals. Religious purfuits feem to have en- 
gaged the greateft {hare of his attention till 
1792, when he was in his 14th year. He 
had, however, learnt the ufualj rudiments, 
and made confiderable proficiency in .the 
Practical parts of mathematics. Acciden- 
tally meeting with Hawney’s Menfuration, 
he was fo highly pleafed with the fpecimens 
of geometrical demonftrations which he 
found there, that he foon made himfelf 
~™after of a confiderable number of them. 
He then got.one of the Gentlemen’s Diaries ; 
but moft of the demonftrations there.rcgnired 
a greater acquaintance with mathematics 
than he then poffeffed. This, inftead of 
damping his ardour, ferved,only to encreafe 
it; and having determined to learn algebra 
and geometry, his brother, (who has com- 
municated moft of the foregoing, and feyveral 
of the following particulars), tanght him 
to folve fimple equations, and procured him 
Keil, Barrow, and Simfon’s Editions of 
Euclid, with Hamilton’s Conic Sections, 
Mc Laurin’s Algebra, &c. Thefe works 
Mon tuty Mag. No. 76, 
Yorkhhives | aay 
iow 
John. regularly-fudied through three times,- 
without any afiiftance, So indefatigable was 
he in the purfuit of mathematical know- 
ledge, that he would fcarcely allow himfelf 
time to eat or fleep: His brother ufed fre- 
quently to rife with him in winter at two 
o’clock in the ‘morning to light him a fire, 
that he might purfue his favourite ftudy 
with comfort. Such merit could not efcape 
notice: Mr. Allard, a Diffenting-minittery 
then at Rotherham, ftruck with his ferious 
deportment, and his eagerne{s in the acqui- 
fition of knowledge, urged him to direct his 
thoughts to the miniftry. His attention 
was at this.time fo wholiy abforbed by ma- 
thematics, that the propofal was agreeable 
to him, folely, or, at lea@, principally, be- 
caufe he hoped it would afford him an op- 
portunity of continuing his {cientific pur» 
fuits. Receiving the confent of his parents, 
and the apprabation of a gentleman of Mr. 
Allard’s congregation, the planwas finallyfixed 
upon in 1792. Nearly from this period till 
his departure to the academy-his time was 
equally divided between mathematics and ths 
danguages, &<c. The farmer, however, {till 
continued his grand object. In the begin- 
ning of 1793, he {pent three months with a 
{chool-mafter in the neighbourhood; and 
was in the habit of demonftrating 35 or 16 
propofitions during the half-day he attended 
him. (He was at this time little more than 
14 years old.), With him foln went, thro* 
a courfe of algebra, geometry, and trigono- 
metry.; and afterwards fludied at home the 
higher parts of algebra, and Newton’s Uni- 
yerfal Arithmetic. On thefe he wrote 
notes, which, prove that is acquaintance 
with them, was by .no mezns fuperficial. 
The fame year he was placed for three 
months under the tuition of Mr. Rotheram, an 
eminent mathematician whe had long declined 
public teaching on account of his health. 
With this teacher he went through.a regular 
courfe of all the branches of mathematics. 
Mr. Rotheram ufed to fay, that** John {urpaf- 
ted all the boyshe ever.knew--that he had been 
all his life feeking for an old head upon 
young fhoulders,, and that he had at lait 
found one when he was himfelf eparting ppt 
of the world.” —He wrote in both the Dia- 
ries for 1794, and in the Ladies’ Diaries for 
1795, 96, and 97.’ His firft geometrical de- 
monitrations for the Diazies, were produced 
when he was about fourteen years old, be- 
fore he had any farther knowledge of geo- 
metry than what he had acquired by his own 
induftry. The intereft of the gentlemen 
already mentioned had procpred him admif- 
fion as a ftudent in the Diffenting-academy 
then at Northampton, under the direction of 
the Rev. Joha Horfey, anda {mall exhibition 
to allit.infupporting him there. He went to 
Northampton inthe autumnof 17953 anddu- 
ring the three fefions he {pent there,»pur- 
{ued with unremitting diligence the ftudies 
to which he was directed by the academical 
courte, 
