Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/441

 Robins French by Le Roy for the Academy of Sciences of Paris in 1751.

Robins invented the ballistic pendulum, a very ingenious contrivance for measuring the velocity of a projectile, and in 1742 he read a paper on the subject before the Royal Society, of which he was admitted a fellow on 16 Nov. 1727. He also read several papers on gunnery questions, and in 1746 and the following year exhibited to the society various experiments. In 1747 he received the Copley medal.

There appeared in 1747 his ‘Proposal for increasing the Strength of the British Navy by changing all the guns from the eighteen-pounders downwards into others of equal weight but of a greater bore.’ A letter which he addressed on the subject to Admiral Lord Anson was read before the Royal Society on 9 April 1747. In this year the Prince of Orange invited Robins to assist in the defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, then invested by the French, but it was taken on 16 Sept. 1747, just after Robins arrived at the headquarters of the Dutch army.

Lord Anson, who was a friend and patron of Robins, after returning from the voyage round the world in the Centurion, appears to have entrusted to Robins for revision the account of the voyage which had been compiled from the journals by his chaplain, Richard Walter [q. v.] There has been considerable dispute as to whether Robins or Walter wrote the book, which is entitled in the quarto edition of 1748 ‘A Voyage round the World in the Years 1740–1744 by George Anson, Esq.,’ ‘published under his direction by Richard Walter, M.A.’ [see .] Dr. James Wilson, who published in 1761 a collected edition of the works of Robins, circumstantially states, on the authority of Glover and Ockenden, friends of Robins, that the printed book was twice as long as Walter's manuscript, which merely consisted of bare extracts from the journals kept during the voyage; that Robins worked them into shape, wrote an introduction, and added dissertations. In an indenture between Robins and the booksellers, John and Paul Knapton, Robins was treated as the sole proprietor. On 22 Oct. 1749 Lord Anson wrote to Robins from Bath to ask whether he intended to publish the second volume before he left England, and Lady Anson, in a letter to Dr. Birch, asks if Robins's second volume is ready. On the other hand, the widow and children of Walter claimed that the work was written by him. It seems probable that Robins revised and edited the work, and was especially entrusted with the second volume, containing the nautical observations; the manuscript he took with him to India, and when he died in that country it could not be found.

Robins's reputation as a pamphleteer caused him to be employed on an apology for the battle of Prestonpans, which formed a preface to the ‘Report of the Proceedings and Opinion of the Board of General Officers on their Examination into the conduct of Lieutenant-general Sir John Cope,’ 1749. On 4 May 1749 a paper by Robins on ‘Rockets and the Heights to which they ascend’ was read before the Royal Society, and on 13 Dec. 1750 an account of some experiments made by Robins and others on the flight of rockets. By the favour of Lord Anson, Robins was able to continue his experiments in gunnery, the results of which were published from time to time in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ He also contributed to the improvement of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich by inducing Lord Anson to procure a second mural quadrant and other instruments.

In 1749 Robins was given the choice of going to Paris as one of the British commissioners for adjusting the boundaries of Acadia or of going to India as engineer-general to repair the forts of the East India Company. He chose the latter, being appointed in Dec. 1749 chief engineer and captain of the train of the Madras artillery. His precedence in India was to rank with the third in council. He was entrusted with the appointment of all his subordinates, and given ample funds. Lord Anson expressed regret that he was leaving England. Robins set out at Christmas 1749, taking with him a complete set of astronomical instruments, and also instruments for making observations and experiments. After a narrow escape from shipwreck, he arrived at Madras on 13 July 1750. He immediately designed complete projects for Fort St. David and the defence of Madras. In September he was attacked by fever. In 1751 he fell into a low state of health, anddied, unmarried, on 29 July 1751 at Fort St. David, with the pen in his hand while drawing up a report for the board of directors.

In manner unostentatious, without pedantry or affectation, Robins was a lively and entertaining conversationalist. He was always ready to communicate to others the result of his studies and labours. He left the publication of his works to his friend Martin Folkes, president of the Royal Society; but Folkes, owing to a paralytic attack, was unable to act, and Thomas Lewis, Robins's executor, entrusted the work to Dr. James Wilson, who, in 1761, published ‘Mathematical Tracts’ (London, 2 vols. 8vo), containing ‘Principles of Gunnery,’ together with many