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FIELD MARSHAL HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

THE DUKE OF KENT AND STRATHEARN,

K.G. G.C.B. G.C.H.

&c. &c.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

THE DUKE OF SUSSEX, K.G.

&c. &c.

Patrons;

AND

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

THE EARL OF CARYSFORT, K.P.

LL.D. F.R.S. F.A,S. M.R.I.A.
&c. &c. &c.

President;

THE FOLLOWING

ORATION,

DELIVERED

AT THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING

June 12, 1817,

IS HUMBLY INSCRIBED

BY THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES'

AND HIS LORDSHIP'S

MOST GRATEFUL AND OBEDIENT SERVANT,

OLINTHUS GREGORY.

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich,

June 19, 1817,

ORATION,

&c. &c.

:

THERE is implanted in the minds of all men of an investigating turn, an inextinguishable desire to penetrate to the origin of things and there can be no doubt that such a desire, properly regulated, and judiciously directed, may be productive of beneficial results. It may teach us at once the strength and the weakness of human reason; may prove that though the regions of knowledge are extensive, rich, indefinitely diversified, and incessantly augmenting, they are, notwithstanding, limited. In surveying the present and past state of science and art, it is extremely difficult to make such a separation between what is known, and what was known, as shall preserve us from imputing to mankind in any given place and period, erroneous measures either in kind or degree, of theoretical or practical acquisition. The obvious consequence is that we are too apt, notwithstanding the utmost caution, to suppose them ignorant of matters which they well understood, or conversant with others with which they were unacquainted; to infer, in short, their knowledge from our own, to try their conduct by our standards, and thus, often to censure, where we ought to applaud.

If we attempt to pass to any of the extreme points, towards which the understanding is often solicitous of elevating itself, we shall find much that is delightful, not a little that is perplexing. Take for a topic of meditation, the first of any series, the first man,the first woman,-the first ear of corn, the first day,-the first night, the first solar eclipse: examine it in itself, trace it in its relations, dependencies, and results,-and how soon will the most

capacious intellect be lost in the speculation. Take, for example, the first man, endeavour to depict his thoughts or his feelings, on the first day or the first night, and you will find it exceedingly difficult, even if you can reach his probable conceptions, to select adequate language in which to describe them to others.

Our great poet, Milton, seems to have been aware of this difficulty; and in many parts of his matchless production, Paradise Lost, has evidently restrained his imagination for the purpose of avoiding those incongruities upon which he might otherwise have fallen. Yet, he has not escaped them altogether. He fancies both the first man and his angelic instructor to employ language, which is obviously inappropriate, insomuch as it implies an acquaintance with practices, customs, and ceremonies, which have only found place in a maturer state of the world.

Ádam speaks of

"The pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn:"
"The sun" that" paints their fleecy skirts with gold."

Raphaël, in describing to him the order of creation, speaks of light being

"Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and plac'd
"In the sun's orb :"

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And even in that exquisite passage, in which, with such a noble mixture of genuine philosophy and touching poetry, there is an attempt

"For man to tell how human life began :"

the whole is, in my judgment, faultless, at least in reference to this particular, till the new-created mortal, tired with his own emotion, overwhelmed with his own delight,

"On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,"
Sits "pensive down," where " gentle sleep
First found" him, and "with soft oppression seiz'd”
His "drowsed sense.'

Who does not perceive in all this, that the poet, in spite of his obvious efforts to the contrary, blends the circumstances of the pristine state with those of the times in which he lived; and thus makes the first man, while he was yet without progeny, and his celestial instructor, illustrate surrounding objects and the emotions they excite, by metaphors drawn from an acquaintance (to him impossible) with the arts, practices, institutions, benefits, and evils of polished society ;-with pledges, substitutions, painting, gilding, lamps, urns, shrines, crowns, monarchs, regents, freedom, tyranny, and oppression? Be it observed, however, that I advert to these palpable incongruities, not with the intention of censuring this admirable poet, but of evincing the nature of the difficulty, which so powerful an intellect, so sublime a genius, as his, though fully conscious of it, was unable to surmount.

In tracing the progress of science, the difficulty is of a different kind. We are not so often at a loss to ascertain what was early known with regard to any department of scientific research, or to describe it to others, when ascertained, as to mark the chronological steps in the series, to show the gradations by which it may have passed from its rude, or accidental, or imperfect origin, to the mature state in which we now behold it, and from which we are incessantly deriving so many advantages. Much, it is true, has been done in this respect, but much more remains to be accomplished. The simile of a bridge of numerous arches, by which human life has been sometimes aptly illustrated by the moralists, might with a simple inversion be applicable to what is before us : there the whole of the bridge is seen, except its extremities, which are pictured as enveloped in clouds; here the extremities are illuminated, while mists and fogs hang over many portions of the intervening space. It may, however, be useful, especially to the younger votaries of philosophy, to fix the attention for a while upon the extremities which are most plainly marked, - to contrast the appearance of the early germ with that of the mature plant, -to meditate upon the astonishing difference between the first thought and the expanded series of deductions from it, between the naked, insulated propositions which were first educated, and the complete system of acknowledged verities, of which they at present form perhaps a very inconsiderable part. Such is the object to which I would now direct your attention and, as I am unwilling to draw too largely upon your candor and forbearance, I shall endeavour to make appropriate selections; referring, for a fuller draught from so rich a stream, to the historians of science.

Allow me to commence with the subject of pure Mathematics. Among its earliest promoters was the celebrated Pythagoras,

author of the appellation philosopher,' and "rendered immortal in the annals of geometry," say the historians, by the invention of the multiplication table, and by the discovery of three propositions, viz. That only three regular plane figures, the equilateral triangle, the square, and the hexagon, can fill up the space about a point. That the sum of the three angles of every plane triangle, is equal to two right angles. And, that in any right-angled plane triangle, the square on the longest side, is equal to the sum of the squares on the two other sides. The discovery of this last proposition, excited in the mind of Pythagoras such ecstatic and devout feeling, that he is described as offering a hecatomb to the gods on account of it. This I am inclined to disbelieve, for the reason assigned by Cicero, " that it was inconsistent with his principles, which forbad bloody sacrifices." But, if the story be, as is probable, a mere fiction, it still serves to mark the state of mathematical knowledge, when a proposition which, however fertile in its consequences, is now placed amongst the lowest elements, should be characterised as the most brilliant discovery of the great man to whom we owe it.

It does not comport with the nature of an address like the present, to contrast these in detail with the modern state of geometry, of algebra, of fluxions, of the trigonometrical analysis, of logarithms, and exponentials, of series, of rectifications, quadratures, cubatures, tangencies, points of contrary flexure; together with the sublime researches in the theories of isoperimeters, variations, and partial differences. Much less can I attempt to sketch the diversified applications of these to mixed mathematics, and the contributions which have thus been made to the arts and commodities of civilised life. On these topics it would, in truth, be delightful to expatiate, were it not that I should in consequence be compelled to exclude others on which I am desirous of presenting a few remarks. It will, however, be acknowledged by all competent judges, that the eulogium of Dr. Barrow, though elaborate, is not extravagant,

While Pythagoras was at Phlias, Leon, the chief of the Phliasians, was exceedingly charmed with the ingenuity and eloquence with which he discoursed upon various topics, and enquired of him in what art he principally excelled: to which Pythagoras replied, that he did not profess himself Master of any art, but that he was a philosopher. Struck with the novelty of the term, Leon asked Pythagoras, who were philosophers, and in what they differed from other men. Pythagoras, in reply, observed that, as at the public games, whilst some are contending for glory, and others sell their wares in pursuit of gain, there is always a third class, who attend merely as spectators; so, in human life, amidst the various characters of men, there is a select number, who despise all other pursuits, and assiduously apply themselves to the study of nature and the search after wisdom; these, added Pythagoras, are the persons whom I call PHILOSOPHERS. Cic. Tuscul. Disp. lib. v. c. 3.

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