382337 &c. -- 3 17 81.173 IX 31232 382337 or (1) N+ (x−1)N+(x+1)Ń This is the general theorem, given by Dr. Hutton, in his Tracts, Mathematical and Philofophical, which he there investigates by a variety of examples. From this, an in a very different manner, and illuftrates, idea may be formed of the great conver 4.32674, the value of the quantity fought nearly. From these few examples, the and usefulness of this method are fuffici-gency of the feries, expreffing the value ently evident. accuracy As the coefficients depend upon the value of alone, they will remain the fame in the extraction of the fame root, whatever the values of N, N, and r, fhall be. It will, therefore, facilitate the calculation, to have thefe coefficients previously computed, and arranged in tables like the following, which contains the coefficients of the three firft terms of the feries for the zd, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th roots that is, if A, B, C, &c. be of x, feeing, from the firft term only, a moft convenient one for practice, that has rule is derived, which is confidered as the be taken, a theorem much more accurate yet been difcovered. If the two first terms will refult. From the fame fource, many other approximating theorems may be derived in a different manner; one of which I fhall here take notice of. It is fhewn, in Simpfon's Mathematical differtations, that the value of the feries am+bm3, &c. is nearly— I I 2 3nm 8 8 8 I 40 23 125 584 35 648 1855 16 729 512 1562553320 equal to the fractions in the fame lines, correfponding to the given root, and x=Am+Bm3+Cms, &c. then will r nearly whence r Xr the re QUESTION I. Propofed in No. I. Anfwered by Mr. T. Hackman. Dictionary, vol. i. p. 111, and vol. ii. Dr. Hutton, in his new Mathematical P. 726, has given the refults of fome exAcademy, at Woolwich, one of which is, periments he made at the Royal Military that " a plane furface, or a foot fquare, fuffers a refiftance of 12 ounces, or a pound, from the wind, when blowing with a velocity of 20 feet per fecond; and that the force is nearly as the fquare of 306 Original Anecdotes, &c. Marat. [May I. F-----г. the velocity."Now, putting a the lowing question for your next Magazine, fuperficial feet contained in any plane fur- and am, fir, your obedient fervant, face erected perpendicular to the direction of the wind; b the force of the wind against that plane, in pounds avoirdupoife; and x the velocity of the wind, in feet per fecond: b Then is the force exerted against 1 fuperfi a The Question.--Required a general theorem for afcertaining the number of fignals, or changes, which can be made by a telegraph, confifting of any given number of boards, each having one motion, according to the prefent method of constructing them (May 1796); and also the number of different fignals that can be made, fo that any given portion of the whole number of boards may be displayed in each of them. QUESTION XII.---By Mr. I, F----r, Three obfervers, A, B, and C, in a right line, take, at the fame inftant, on a fignal, the altitude of a balloon: A finds it 15 degrees, B 18 degrees, and C 20 degrees; alfo B is 1000 yards from A, and C1500 from B.---Quere, The perpendicular height of the balloon. QUESTION XIII.---By Mr. T. Hackman, Companion, p. 6o, the following rule for In Waddington's Land Surveyor's reducing apparent levels to the ply the fquare of the diftance, in chains ture of the earth is given, viz. "Multiand parts (if any) by 124, and cut five curva places off from the product, and you will have the decimal parts of an inch to be allowed for the curvature."---Quere, The investigation of this rule, with correct table for reducing apparent levels to the true, ANECDOTES AND REMAINS, OF EMINENT PERSONS. [This article is devoted to the reception of Biographical Anecdotes, Papers, Letters, Ge, and we request the communications of fuch of our readers as can affift us in thefe abjects.] ANECDOTES OF PERSONS CONNECTED [Continued from our laft.] MARAT, TERMED by Dumourier, the Medu fa's head of the Revolution, and whose brutal wishes, and barbarous actions, have been eminently differviceable to the cause of liberty, throughout Europe, was not, as is generally imagined, a Frenchman. He was born at Neufchatel, the fovereignty of which, ever fince the diet of 1707, has appertained to the houfe of Brandenburg. He was therefore a Pruffian. It is well known, that he was a coward, who, "could speak daggers but not use them," yet it is not of fuch general no. toriety, that his hideous countenance was the exact counterpart of his heart. His body was placed in the French pantheon; for under the monarchy of Robespierre, Marat was a god! It has fince been removed to a more obfcure fituation, and his character is now juftly odious in France. To the Royalifts and Girondifts, this man was equally dete table; and the former, 1796]. Original Anecdotes.---Cordet... Voltaire... Mefdames. 307 former, as ufual, expreffed their joy, by means of puns, &c. immediately after his death.---Here follow two of them: Le Ciel, dans fa Miféricorde, Comme il le meritoit, vient de traiter Marat; Ci-git Marat, cet infigne affaffin, MARIE ANNE VICTOIRE CHAR- The daughter of a man, attached by a place to the court. The demoiselle Cordet was zealous for freedom; rich, young, Beautiful---a woman---fhe was nevertheless, a Republican. An enthusiast, but not a fanatic; the poffeffed the warmth of the one character, without the extravagance of the other. At the place of execution fhe uttered not a fingle word. Her face ftill poffeffed an heroic calinnefs; and the feemed conscious of future glory, and approaching happinefs. Although filent, her gefticulations were, however, eloquently impreffive; for the frequently placed her hand on her heart, and feemed to fay, "I rejoice, in having exterminated a monster! Brutus and Cordet both equally ftruck for liberty, and, alas! neither of them was happy enough to fecure it; but the execution of Robespierre feems to have effected, for modern France, what the punishment of Antony, and the banishment of Octavius, could not perhaps have produced in degenerate Rome. To this woman, Greece would have erected ftatues; Rome, temples. France may fome day infert her name in the calendar of her martyrs; --the ancients would have placed her among their gods! Tranflation of a letter from Marie Anne Victoire Charlotte Cordet, to her father, written on the evening before her trial; "From the prison of the Conciergerie, in the apartment lately occupied by the deputy Briffot. "July 16, 1793. "My dear refpected Father, "Peace is about to reign in my dear native country, for Marat is no more! "Be comforted, and bury my memory in eternal oblivion. I am to be tried to morrow, the 7th, at feven o'clock in the morning. "I have lived long enough, as I have achieved a glorious exploit. *** I put you under the protection of Barbaroux and his colleagues, in cafe you fhould be moiefted. "Let not my family blush at my fate; for remember, according to Voltaire, That crimes beget difgrace, and not the fcaffold.' "Your affectionate daughter, "MARIE ANNE VICTOIRE, VOLTAIRE, Superftition ridiculed; tyranny expofeds innocence protected :--a nation, if not preSuch were the labours and the triumphs pared for liberty, yet unfitted for bondage. of Voltaire. The Parifians were always fond of him. Their vanity was, indeed, gratithemselves to participate. On his return fied by his glory, in which they supposed from banishment, in the time of the monarchy (from what free country would the author of the Henriade have been banished?) he was prefented with a wreath of laurel, in the public theatre, and crowned like the heroes of the ancient re publics, in the prefence of the whole people. On the recovery of liberty, his afhes were claimed by the nation, and on the 10th of July, 1791, conducted into Paris, amidst the fhouts of the national guards, and the tears of the citizens. The carriage, containing the corpfe, was fhaded with green branches, and adorned with appropriate devices. On one fide was the following infcription: "Si l'homme a des tirans, il doit les détrôner." On another! "Si l'homme eft créé libre, ildoit fe gouverner." his own immortal works. The above mottos were felected from MESDAMES, The aunts of Louis XVI, were the first of the royal family that took the alarm, and emigrated from France. Belle Vue, the villa, or rather palace, in which they re'fided, was one of the most beautiful in the kingdom, being built by their father. Louis XV, for one of his many miftreffes. It is fituated on a rifing ground, between Seve and Meudon, near the great road leading from Paris to Verfailles; the ri ver Seine winds along the bottom of the hill, and by its ferpentine course, feems as if defirous to linger in fo charming a neighbour Rrz 308 Original Anecdotes.---Duc de Trefmies.... Carnot... neighbourhood. The building was erected by one of the most celebrated architects of that day; the marble bufts and bas-reliefs were cut by the chiffel of Coufton; the ftatues, by Adam and Falconet; the paintings are by Vanioo; and as to the gardens they were laid out by M. de Life, the Capability Brown of France. 1 [May come to pay his homage to her, and to make her laugh." Gentle reader, this nobleman was an hereditary duc & pair of France! Ex uno difce omnes. THE DIRECTOR CARNOT. On the refignation of the Abbè Sieyes, who, on that occafion, gave an unequivocal testimony of his difinterestedness, Carnot was elected almost unanimously, to a feat in the directory. He was, originally, an officer;` and haying enjoyed a good education, and beAting attached to mathematical pursuits, he entered into the corps of engineers, in which however, he never attained any high rank. It was here that Pompadour, revelling in the wealth of plundered provinces, prefided over the revels of Coinus, and endeavoured to vary the pleatures, and diffipate the fatiety of her royal lover. one time he would furprife him with a theatrical exhibition, in which the appeared as Venus, while he was the favoured Adonis of the drama: at another, by a kind of candle-light entertainment, on the recovery of his fon, in which an illuminated dolphin, by a happy pun, reprefented the heir apparent of the monarchy; certain fiery menfters, his late difeafe; and an Apollo, with a torch in his hand, the god of phyfic, by whofe intervention he was recovered. On the acceffion of Louis XVI, the daughters of the former monarch. were allowed to occupy this enchanting fpot, formerly the refidence of a father's iniftrefs, and the fcene of their expensive gallantries: Unlike that father, in every thing but in good-nature, they were con fantly at the fect of their confeffor, or their crucifix, and the spot which had fo often blufhied with the debauchery of its former, now edified the pious, by the devotion of the prefent, owners. At the approach of the ftorm, they repaired to the centre of catholicism for fhelter, and now fhare at Rome the beneditions of the pope, the prayers of the Abbé Maruy, lately made a bishop, by Pius VI, and the palace of cardinal Bernis, heretofore ambassador from France to the Holy See. Good, charitable, pious, perhaps to excefs, they, in character, exhibit a clofe affinity to their amiable mother, the daughter of the unfortunate Stanislaus, king of Poland ---there is a family likenefs, even in their misfortunes! THE DUKE DE TRESMES. This nobleman was exceedingly deformed; but fortune refolving to indemn nify him for the injuries of nature, elevated him to the dignity of buffoon to the miftrefs of the grand mosarque. He was fo confcious of this honour, that calling one day, and not finding the favourite at home, he wrote upon her door, the marmozet of the countefs de Barré is The Revolution, by fubftituting genius, in the room of birth and intrigue, ́gave fult scope to the talents of Carnot; and he has effentially ferved his country, under all the forms of government, and all the ebullitions of party, to which it has been fubjected; in this inftance, erhaps, following the opinion of a great Englishadmiral, who acted both under Cromwell and the commonwealth, and was accustomed to fay, that it was the chief bufimefs of a good citizen, "to keep foreigners from fooling us. 55 On the execution of Robespierré, and the profcription of his party, when the convention, after giving orders to arreft feveral of its members, who were Jacobins,' came to him, they all exclaimed, He has organized victory, let him perfevere in his exertions in favour of his native country!" This, at fuch a morent, was the greatcft of all poffible compliments: "To the exertions of this individual, the conquest of Holland and, Austrian Flanders, the victories in Spain, and the almoft uninterrupted feries of fucceffes in Italy, have been attributed. The late brilliant, but deftructive paffage of the Rhine, occurred at a period when he was out of favour; on refuming his power and popularity, he repaired the miscarriages of lefs enterprifing men; and fuch feem to have been either his powers, or his good fortune, that he has, in a manner, chained victory to the chariot wheel of France. Under him, Pichegru and Jourdan were little better than mere agents. They, indeed, executed vaft plans, but they were firft conceived by Carnot, who fitting in committee at Paris, with the elder Rochambeau and a few more able men, directed the movements in the Pa- latinate, the United Provinces,, and Flan ders. Louvois attempted to do the fame 1796.] Original Anecdotes.--Madame Lafayette. thing, during the reign of Louis XVI, and failed. It is the property of fupe rior talents, undifmayed by inefficient examples, to fucceed. but Carnot is a man of a good family; yet he detefts the claims built upon pedigree. When he entered into the engineers, thofe of noble defcent only were eligible. He has lived to fee different times, and to patronize one of the greatest generals France ever poffeffed, whom he drew from a fubordinate fituation, to carry his theories into practice. He voted for the death of Louis XVI. as did all the prefent directory, one only excepted; who, however, tranfinitted a letter of adhesion to the fentence, and lamented that his miffion prevented him from giving it viva voce. MADAME LAFAYETTE. This lady, the wife of a man, whofe hiftory is blended with two important revolutions, was a marchionefs before the late changes in France; the family name of her husband was alfo both fpelled and pronounced differently, being then De la Fayette; but the de being a mark of nobility, as having a feudal allufion (the French term it, a nomme de terre) it was, of course, omitted on the extinction of titles. Mad. Lafayette is an eminent inftance of the inftability of greatness, the mutability of fortune, and the inefficacy of wealth. Defcended from an ancient lineage, united to an amiable and illuftrious husband, who poffeffed eftates in Europe, America, and the Weft Indies; the nevertheless, has not been exempted from the most bitter calamities that can afflict fuffering humanity. When Lafayette refifted the commands of the fole remaining legitimate power in France, his "widowed wife" was arrefted. Under the defpotifm of Robefpierre, fhe efcaped death only by a miracle (part of her family was actually immolated to his vengeance) but what to fome will appear more terrible, the experienced an unremitting captivity of fifteen months, during which, the fuffered all the horrors of a clofe confinement, being immured within four walls, fubjected to a fcanty and précarious diet, fecluded from her children, and prohibited even from the light of heaven. On the death of the tyrant, the voice of humanity was once more heard, and the was liberated, and restored to the arms of her afflicted daughters. But he was a wife as well as a mother and her be 309 loved husband was ftill in bondage; for he who had endeavoured to avert the execution of Louis XVI. (fuch is the gratitude of courts) was languishing in an Austrian prison ! She accordingly repaired to Hamburgh, accompanied by her children only, for the had not wealth fufficient to hire a fingle domeftic, and the poffeffes a lofty fenfe of independence, which taught her to reject pecuniary affiftanee, even from her few remaining friends. As foon as her health was a little restored, the posted to Vienna, and proftrated herself at the feet of the emperor. Francis III. is in the flower of his youth. The chilling hand of age has not yet rendered him morofe; and furely victory cannot have blunted his feelings, and made him at once haughty and infenfible! No! no! there is not a prince of his houfe, from the obfcure count de Hapfburg, of a former period, to the late erful tenant of the Imperial diadem, who has had more occafion to find and to feel that he is a man. pow Weeping beauty did not fupplicate in vain; the German monarch raifed her from her lowly pofture, and promifed better days. With his permiflion, the flew on the wings of affection, and, ftrengthened by conjugal love, knocked at the gate of the fortrefs that confined her dearly beloved husband, whose speedy deliverance (vain idea!) the hoped instantly to announce. The maffy bolts of the dungeon give way, the grating hinges of the iron doors pierce the ears; the and her virgin daughters are eyed, fearched, rifled, by an odious and horrible gaoler; and thofe who, but a moment before, deemed themfelves deliverers, now find themselves captives ! Reclining in the bottom of thy dungeon, thefe tears cannot be feen, these fighs cannot be heard, nor can the quick decay of youth and beauty, cankered in the bloom, and diffolving amidst the horrors of a German prifon, be contemplated. But the heart of fympathy throbs for you, ye lovely mourners; the indignation of mankind is aroufed; the prefent age fhudders at your unmerited fufferings; and pofterity will fhed a generous tear at their recital. Anguifh may not yet rend the bofoms of your perfecutors, but a dreadful futurity awaits them, and, were it poffible to efcape the fcourge of offended heaven, they will yet experience all the vengeance of indignant history! THE |