Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/440

Robins  [Ramsay's Lancaster and York, ii. 338–51; Oman's Warwick, pp. 183–4; Whitaker's Richmondshire, ii. 41; Gairdner's Introd. to vol. ii. of the Paston Letters, p. xlix; Chron. of Rebellion in Lincolnshire, ed. Nichols; Three Fifteenth-Cent. Chron. pp. 183–4; Bishop Percy's Folio MS. pp. 246, 257; Visit. Yorkshire (Harl. Soc.), pp. 74–7; Testamenta Vetusta, p. 298; Tonge's Visitation of Yorkshire (Surtees Soc.), passim; Wills and Invent. (Surtees Soc.) i. 78; Surtees's Durham, vol. ii.]

 ROBIN. [See 1744?–1785, Welsh poet.]

 ROBIN. [See 1769?–1835, Welsh poet.]

 ROBIN. [See, legendary hero.]

 ROBIN. [See 1767–1850, Welsh poet.]

 ROBINS, BENJAMIN (1707–1751), mathematician and military engineer, only son of John Robins (1666–1758), a quaker in poor circumstances, was born at Bath in 1707. At an early age he evinced mathematical ability. On leaving school, at the suggestion of Dr. Henry Pemberton [q. v.], to whom a paper by Robins had been shown, he came to London, and within a short time ceased to be a quaker. To prepare for teaching he applied himself to modern languages and the higher mathematics. Without assistance he made a demonstration of the last proposition of Sir Isaac Newton's ‘Treatise of Quadratures,’ which was printed in the ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society’ (No. 397) in 1727. In the following year Robins published in ‘The Present State of the Republic of Letters’ for May 1728 a masterly confutation of a dissertation by Jean Bernouilli on the laws of motion in bodies impinging on one another. Bernouilli had vainly endeavoured to establish Leibnitz's theory. Robins's admitted victory over the veteran mathematician procured him many scholars, whom he instructed individually and not in classes. He continued for some years teaching pure and applied mathematics and physical science; but, chafing against the confinement entailed by such a life, he gradually gave it up and became an engineer. He now devoted himself to the construction of mills and bridges, the drainage of fens, the making of harbours, and the rendering of rivers navigable. He also studied the principles of gunnery and of fortification.

In this new departure he received considerable assistance from his friend, William Ockenden, and travelled in Flanders in order to gain some acquaintance with the fortification of its strong places. On returning from one of these excursions in 1734, he found learned society in London interested in Bishop Berkeley's treatise against mathematicians, called ‘The Analyst.’ By way of reply, Robins printed in 1735 ‘A Discourse concerning the Nature and Certainty of Sir Isaac Newton's Methods of Fluxions and of Prime and Ultimate Ratios.’ In 1739 he published ‘Remarks on M. Euler's Treatise of Motion; on the Compleat System of Optics written by Dr. Smith, master of Trinity College, Cambridge; and on Dr. Jurin's Discourse of Distinct and Indistinct Vision.’ In the same year he published three able political pamphlets in the tory interest, viz. ‘Observations on the Present Convention with Spain;’ ‘A Narrative of what passed in the Common Hall of the Citizens of London assembled for the election of a Lord Mayor;’ and ‘An Address to the Electors and other Free Subjects of Great Britain occasioned by the late Secession; in which is contained a particular Account of all our Negociations with Spain and their Treatment of us for above ten Years past.’ These pamphlets brought Robins into political notice. The last of the three, published anonymously, was an apology for the defection of certain members of parliament, including Pulteney and Sandys, who, disgusted with the Spanish Convention, declined for a time to attend the House of Commons. By those whose conduct Robins defended, he was appointed secretary of the secret committee nominated by the House of Commons to examine into, and report upon, the past conduct of Walpole. The committee made two reports.

In 1741 Robins was an unsuccessful candidate for the appointment of professor of fortification at the royal military academy recently established at Woolwich. In 1742 he published his best known work, ‘New Principles of Gunnery,’ which he had begun by way of supporting his candidature. This work, the result of many experiments which he had made on the force of gunpowder, and the resisting power of the air to swift and slow motions, was preceded by an account of the progress of modern fortification, of the invention of gunpowder, and of what had already been observed of the theory of gunnery. Robins's book was translated into German by Euler, who wrote a critical commentary on it (Berlin, 1745). Euler's commentary was translated into English, and published by order of the board of ordnance, with remarks and useful tables by Hugh Brown of the Tower of London. ‘New Principles of Gunnery’ was translated into