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Article THE COLLECTOR. Page 1 of 6 →
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The Collector.
THE COLLECTOR .
No . vr . MEMOIR OF ABRAHAM FLETCHER , MATHEMATICIAN . HPHIS ingenious man was born at . Little Broughton , a village in - " Cumberland 1714 His father tobaccoimakerand
, . was . a -p pe ; brought up his son to the same business . Having a small paternal estate , hevvas enabled to bring up his famil y without the assistance of the parish . It is not certain that his son Abraham ever went to any school . We mention it on the authority of report only that early in life , before he was able to do any work , his parents once spared him for three weeks to attend a school in the village where youth taught at the rate
were of a shilling for the quarter . If this be true all the- education he ever had , that was paid for , cost tbrc pence . By some means or other , however , he learned to read ; and before he arrived at manhood he had also learnt to write With these humble attainments to set out with , it does him infinite honour that by dint of industry alone he became a man of science , and a man ' of learning He was of a thinking , inquisitive turn of mind ; and having taught himself arithmetic , merely' by writing with a book on the subjeft , he applied himself to mathematical invesiiratmn ..
Whoever he attempted , he did it with all his mi ght , and pursued with unwearied diligence . In the day time he was employed in husbandry or in making pipes , and at ni ght eagerly betook himself to work the theorems on which during the day he had been intensel y ruminating . Often has he sat up all ni ght delineating diagrams , to the grief of his parents , who considered only the apparent unprofitableness of such pursuitsand the loss of two of
, a lump or cannel-coal , incurred by his lucubrations . Hardly ever , even in the more prosperous periods of nis life , did he aspire to any thing beyond a rush-light . The parents contented in their ignorance , felt no ambition to have their son pass through life otherwise than they had done , in the midst of hard work and hard fare . And , as his midni ght studies , ancl abstractednes of mind ' seemed not likelto him either to work
y qualify more ; or to eat less they thought it their duty , and for bis interest , to discountenance and discourage his passion for theorems ; his books and slate were hid ; and be was double tasked with labour . It was this poor man ' s fate to begin , ancl continue through life , his pursuit of knowledge under almost every disadvantage ; yet difficulties and discouragements seemed but to encrease his ardour .
we remember his relating many years ago , with vast self-complacenceMd satisfaction , a device he had formed , by which he flattered himself he should he permitted to stick-to his studies without interruption at his few intervals of leisure . Pie married earl y ; and his wife , adopting the opinions of his parents , was no friend ' to studies
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Collector.
THE COLLECTOR .
No . vr . MEMOIR OF ABRAHAM FLETCHER , MATHEMATICIAN . HPHIS ingenious man was born at . Little Broughton , a village in - " Cumberland 1714 His father tobaccoimakerand
, . was . a -p pe ; brought up his son to the same business . Having a small paternal estate , hevvas enabled to bring up his famil y without the assistance of the parish . It is not certain that his son Abraham ever went to any school . We mention it on the authority of report only that early in life , before he was able to do any work , his parents once spared him for three weeks to attend a school in the village where youth taught at the rate
were of a shilling for the quarter . If this be true all the- education he ever had , that was paid for , cost tbrc pence . By some means or other , however , he learned to read ; and before he arrived at manhood he had also learnt to write With these humble attainments to set out with , it does him infinite honour that by dint of industry alone he became a man of science , and a man ' of learning He was of a thinking , inquisitive turn of mind ; and having taught himself arithmetic , merely' by writing with a book on the subjeft , he applied himself to mathematical invesiiratmn ..
Whoever he attempted , he did it with all his mi ght , and pursued with unwearied diligence . In the day time he was employed in husbandry or in making pipes , and at ni ght eagerly betook himself to work the theorems on which during the day he had been intensel y ruminating . Often has he sat up all ni ght delineating diagrams , to the grief of his parents , who considered only the apparent unprofitableness of such pursuitsand the loss of two of
, a lump or cannel-coal , incurred by his lucubrations . Hardly ever , even in the more prosperous periods of nis life , did he aspire to any thing beyond a rush-light . The parents contented in their ignorance , felt no ambition to have their son pass through life otherwise than they had done , in the midst of hard work and hard fare . And , as his midni ght studies , ancl abstractednes of mind ' seemed not likelto him either to work
y qualify more ; or to eat less they thought it their duty , and for bis interest , to discountenance and discourage his passion for theorems ; his books and slate were hid ; and be was double tasked with labour . It was this poor man ' s fate to begin , ancl continue through life , his pursuit of knowledge under almost every disadvantage ; yet difficulties and discouragements seemed but to encrease his ardour .
we remember his relating many years ago , with vast self-complacenceMd satisfaction , a device he had formed , by which he flattered himself he should he permitted to stick-to his studies without interruption at his few intervals of leisure . Pie married earl y ; and his wife , adopting the opinions of his parents , was no friend ' to studies